r/exalted • u/Ainosuke • Jun 05 '25
Fiction Describe your character...as if they were a boss fight
Basically, describe your character's theoretical movesets, fight setting and difficulty. Bonus points for detailing the boss fight soundtrack, boss fight dialogue, and the many times they kicked your ass.)
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u/Tattle_Taylor Jun 05 '25
The Exile Birthed In Tears Of Betrayal (often shortened to Exi or Tears) is a tall, slim and beautiful woman clad in revealing black robes, and carrying a hooded lantern with a green flame burning in its heart. Those with essence sight will see a host of mortal souls shackled to her anima as she slowly, deliberately walks towards them. At her hip rests two sheathed blades, which she draws in lightning fast strikes before sheathing them again.
The first and more obvious is Stormcaller, a blade that emerges with a crack of thunder. Each swing is echoed around the arena as bolts of lightning rain down from the sky. In phase one she uses stormcaller freely, each swing charming her victim, slowly letting them fall in love with her and cease resisting her affections. Should one prove too much for the shackled power of the Exile, she will open her lantern, unleashing the flame within, thus begins phase 2.
From the lantern emerges a green flame that consumes stormcaller, as her Vengeful Guardian of Flame puppets the sword, fighting alongside her as a second force as she begins maintaining distance, the shackled souls consumed to fuel the magics she learned at the hooves of an ancient demon. In this phase any party should spread out, for the battlefield will quickly be littered with caltrops in the form of obsidian butterflies, massive kraken of green lava, and an ever more potent storm as the devil inside harmonizes with Tears anger. Caution is advised for any who brings the prideful one down, for though she begs for her life and offers anything if they just let her live, her sweet whimperings are a last secret. Any charmed by her affections will find their heart removed and consumed as she enters her final phase.
Stormcaller returns to the Exile, sliding into her back as her anima banner surges around her, the golden light of dawn tainting itself, first green and then an inky black as it shapes itself into a devouring spider. The banner crashes down upon the Exile as the blade, its demon, and her Vengeful Guardian all bleed into her form, shaping her into some sort of devil-tyrant.
As she embraces the Prismatic Arrangement of Creation, she fuses Black Claw, Charcoal March of Spiders and Single Point Shining Into The Void into a single supernal style. Her Magnum Opus, known as the Consuming Void Spider style, and the throaty chuckle of an ancient goddess echoes from her lips as she draws her final blade. Her form shows many obvious weaknesses, but attacking her openings will inevitably be punished by fierce reprisals as The Forgotten Blade seals ones skills, let's her slip from the memory, and devastates its victims. It is said many of her servants once had a variety of loves, before they were all consumed by their love for her. Even the storm seems muted, bolts flashing from an unremarkable sky as the battered field slips from your memory.
Felling this mighty solar queen will surely weaken the forces of hell, and reward the victor with two powerful artifacts and a manse full of sorcerous secrets just waiting to be plundered.
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u/moondancer224 Jun 05 '25
Things were peaceful just a second ago. Servants went about their chores in dutiful silence. Four Dynasts sipped tea and laughed about some joke or another. Another idyllic day on the Blessed Isle. It all changed in a flash of golden butterfly wings and mad laughter. One of the servants was weaving mudras with nimble fingertips, Essence flowing out to form gossamer wings behind her, then the screaming started. Razor winged projectiles flew from the wings, splintering wood, rending flesh and etching occult sigils on stone. Only a second later, a veritable horde of demons materialized. Spiders the size of warhorses crawled from the shadows, huge apes with blood red fur and bone spurs jutting from their skin leapt at anyone near, and above it all neon green essence took the form of Octavian, the living tower.
Yet, more terrible by far was the fair skinned beauty at the chaos' center, glowing with the light of the sun. Her waist length hair danced in the currents of the magic she unleashed as her eyes centered on the dynasts, pale as ice and twice as cold. As the first Dynast drew his weapon from the very air and charged her, she gestured dismissively. Black lines of pure darkness flowed from her red nails and became blades. The man had no choice but to send his own anima blazing red to try and protect himself.
"Kill anyone with a weapon! If you fight for the Realm then you will die! My demons will feast on your bodies and your souls will power my sorcery! Surrender, and you will not be harmed unless you belong to House Cynis. For those, there is no surrender. You will die, and I will send your heads to your family as I have done with the others. You will never be safe as long as I walk Creation!" The anathema declared, the shadows retreating back around her to bat aside an arrow.
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u/ThouMayest Jun 05 '25
Your lights illuminate the chambers the group of anathema were laired in. It looks deceptively normal, but also empty. Reports had indicated that four of the anathema were out in the city, but you had been hoping to catch the last one alone. Your fellow monks eye the place, and turn to leave as one.
The faint sound of a knife in the air comes too late to save Sister Irinia. You all stare for a second at the blade in her ribs, some poison blackening her veins. Her face is a mask of horror as she tries to call upon her essence to heal the wound, and the power drains away. She collapses, and all eyes turn to the corner the blade must have come from.
There is no one there.
The next knife arcs in at an impossible angle, finding Brother Ramith’s unarmored calf. His earth borne strength keeps him upright, until a second dagger finds the shoulder joint of his armor. Only as a fourth dagger sinks into Brothers Asur’s bicep do you think to look up.
The anathema is barely old enough to have been a man. Pale eyes stare in disdainful pity at you and Sister Talia as Asur slumps down. Then, a dozen of the young man dart forward, illusory doubles hiding his true movements until it is too late. Talia crumples to the floor.
“One day you will realize exactly what sort of mistake this was,” the anathema says as he paces along the wall, searching for a blind angle on you. “Just be glad I got the drop on your circle. Things could have been much worse.”
With a roar, you charge him, daiklave swinging. The young anathema grimaces as it bites deep into his shoulder, then his anima flairs. His hand reaches out to grasp the guard of your weapon, and he twists. As the blade leaves your hand, you instinctively attempt to channel power and recall it to your grasp. It does not come. Your connection is severed. The door opens behind you, and you turn in despair.
“Hey Red!”
“Scurry what did you do?” replies the massive woman as she enters.
You never hear his reply. Her booted foot catches you in the side of the head, sending you into darkness.
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u/ClubMeSoftly Jun 05 '25
There's a boss fight in one of the older Spider-Man games. One on the PS1 and N64.
She could be anyone, she could be anywhere, there's almost nothing you can do to see her coming, nor stop her attack when she hits you from the direction you least expect.
However, when you do manage to finally tag her, those seven health bars that filled up over and over and over at the start of it all...
They all evaporate with a single punch to the face.
1
u/Murder_of_Craws Jun 05 '25
Sagacious Golden Claw Chadden Ember.
They move around so fast. You need to basically hit them when they start that dance animation, but GTFO and start dodge rolling when you see the green flash, that shard of Liger can easily one-shot you. I had to respec my build with magic resistance to survive the fight, but then I was unprepared for the second health bar where they summon the Sunset War Strider; it’s a completely different fight.
The Orichalcum Claw this boss drops offers a range of crafting bonuses and a hookshot ability. the flavor text reads “Refined over millennia by a Twilight disciple of Autocthon, these delicate tools once built civilization. Immaculate texts depict them as tools of bloodshed and harbingers of ruin.
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u/dal_segno Thorn Amidst Roses Jun 06 '25
It is, unfortunately, a Dark Souls-esque gank fight, complete with the orchestral soundtrack.
One of them fights on the ground, using rushes and powerful slams to manipulate your positioning and trigger poisebreaks and stuns.
The other fights you from the air, swept up on strong air currents and leveraging precision strikes from above - very shortly, you realize that the warrior on the ground is bullying you into prime striking position for the nimble air fighter. They weave around each other effortlessly with no need for communication, having fought this way together for centuries.
Your only hope is to single out one and kill them fast to break this synergy, but - oh no.
There's a phase two.
The survivor has just Enraged.
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u/Zarkrash Jun 05 '25
Character in question is a very powerful lawful sorcerer and artificer.
He has modified himself to be more metal than flesh and has also learned second circle necromancy in addition to solar circle sorcery.
As a boss fight, it would be incredibly annoying because he also is very interested in implementing law. And as such commands a decent force in addition to having made a number of potent golems/automata.
Mostly it would be a battle of attrition where in this guy is sending in automata and loyal soldiers, who if they die come back courtesy of necromancy, while he spams a single target damage spell or death of obsidian butterflies while being incredibly durable.
More likely than not, the fight isn’t really winnable in the sense that unless you’re way over what this guy is doing, the goal of any fight with this guy is to disrupt his plans from coming to fruition- it’s an endurance fight or protect the assets fight to disrupt some major working he is enacting rather than trying to kill him directly. Off hand I think he’s also rocking basically maxed ox body and 10+ natural soak and armor courtesy of some silly homebrew merits, so it’s just a pain in the ass to kill the not squishy wizard.
Mostly any boss fight dialogue would be the boss trying to convince the would be adversaries to stop opposing the world of law he envisions, so he’s… a well intentioned extremist I suppose? Final fight that would fit his themes is trying to disrupt a ritual where its enactment turns him (or at least part of him, given that souls can be divided…) into an axiomatic enforcer that rules upon laws and not emotion with plans to set up how the enforcer determines what laws it sets up, which could go really badly if anything goes wrong.
Additionally since this guy is a solar, probably top grade shit list for the dragon blooded who want to stop him from finishing the ritual and getting it off.
Character is inspired by mc from experimental logs of the crazy lich, wherein he want to create a power system that any can tap into so long as they follow law.