intimate...or just friends?

[Kae'Yoss]

And furthermore it needs to be ongoing. Having this Nymph friend over there, just isn't enough to keep the benefits. You must visit her regularily, etc.

Bye
Thanee

Can I quote you guys with all the "must have sex regularly" when I try to convince a Nymph to help me get that Feat - in order to serve Goodness, of course


Actually (if you're a Nymph, don't read on): I wouldn't insist on the sexual part, but it has to be a close relationship. Especially if the character wants to use those two Nymph-inspired spells from the BoED, named after the beauty effects of a Nymph - unearthly and otherworldly beauty? - (if you don't know what I mean, look up the components of those two spells)

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

And furthermore it needs to be ongoing. Having this Nymph friend over there, just isn't enough to keep the benefits. You must visit her regularily, etc.

and not a feat I would ever take giving that race’s fickle nature... It's soon to be lost.

 

[andargor]

Just hand out the abilities depending on how "intimate" the relationship is: first base, second base, third base, or home.

Andargor

 

[Iku Rex]

So, our question is: what does intimate mean? Does it have to be a sexual relationship?

NO!
-- Flutterberry, heterosexual pixie

(To elaborate: We had a monk in the party with this feat. My pixie got a few comments about it...)

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I think that Nymphs, though attractive in the extreme, aren't very sexually active. They're just the epitome of human(oid) beauty. They'll probably won't have any sexual relationships with mortals as a rule.

 

[Scion]

I dont think that it has to be necissarily sexual, or even physical. I would allow someone with a close family friend (say a tree nymph that has been a friend to the family for generation after generation.. to the point where the family practically depends on that nymph to be there) or even directly familial (my grandma is a nymph, I grew up with her, we are as close as two can be.. even while adventuring I still make time to visit with her for a week or two, the peacefulness of her grove travels with me always).

 

[Squire James]

Since the term "nymphomaniac" came from somewhere, I'm pretty sure that nymphs, at least in classic myths, were strongly sexual in nature. I would contend that most "intimate" relationships with nymphs would be sexual in nature unless the non-nymph has an extremely good Will save! The same would go for satyrs, of course.

I'd judge this on a case-by-case basis. For instance, if the character and a pixie travelled together for months and saved each others' lives on a fairly frequent basis, then it qualifies as "intimate". If that pixie were taken as a cohort with no previous mention in the character's background, and he wants to take Nymph's Kiss at the same time, I'd say "not yet".

One of the problems of Vow of Poverty is the rather low of Exalted feats compared to how many they get. It seems like every VoP character I've seen is huntin' fairies (in a good way, of course) around level 6 or so....

 

[Three_Haligonians]

Stop spying on me!

I'd judge this on a case-by-case basis. For instance, if the character and a pixie travelled together for months and saved each others' lives on a fairly frequent basis, then it qualifies as "intimate". If that pixie were taken as a cohort with no previous mention in the character's background, and he wants to take Nymph's Kiss at the same time, I'd say "not yet".

Creepy!

The situation that started this just happens to be a pixie cohort that has been with the party for months and months..

J from Three Haligonians

 

[Sejs]

Since the term "nymphomaniac" came from somewhere

The male version of the same disorder being Satyriasis. Now you know, and knowing's half the battle.


Anyway. The way I've run it in the past is that "intimate" equates to "very emotionally close". Be that romantic or familial - what I don't do is count a relationship that is primarily sexual; casual sex buddies without a much deeper emotional bond. That doesn't count. Romantic ties that may well include sex would work just fine. As would the raised-by-fey scenario. You don't have any desire to sleep with that Dryad that raised you your whole life, but you love her as anyone would love their mother.


Way I see it, the ability is representative of an emotional bond. It's not a Sexually Transmitted Feat.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Anyway. The way I've run it in the past is that "intimate" equates to "very emotionally close". Be that romantic or familial - what I don't do is count a relationship that is primarily sexual; casual sex buddies without a much deeper emotional bond. That doesn't count. Romantic ties that may well include sex would work just fine. As would the raised-by-fey scenario. You don't have any desire to sleep with that Dryad that raised you your whole life, but you love her as anyone would love their mother.


Way I see it, the ability is representative of an emotional bond. It's not a Sexually Transmitted Feat.

Interestingly, I feel the opposite. Though it's a vulgar comparison, I very much consider the benefits of the feat to be the result of intimate contact with a fey creature. Sighing after a dryad doesn't suddenly make you more charismatic. But repeated physical encounters, embracing her magical nature and what have you, might.

Basically, if you sleep with a nymph for a while, the tiniest bit of her magical nature will, ahem, rub off on you.

I'd allow it for a true familial bond (i.e. grandmother was a nymph), as a sort of "nymph-touched" deal, where the feat represents the PC's own nymph-blood expressing itself. Less than Fey-touched, more than human, as it were.

I'd allow it for a PC raised by nymphs. Being around the nymph magic for all those years might have left an impression.

But I wouldn't allow it for an "intimate friendship" unless it was one of those "friends with benefits" deals. Emotions aren't the issue here. Intimate physical contact is.

Or at least, that's how I rule it.