Exalted General

>>51984856
Complete newfag who's only kind of skimmed 3E and has no idea what he's doing, from a heavily D&D/PF/Cyberpunk 2020 background. Which edition should I learn?

>>51985097
3e for mechanics and 2e for interesting fluff

>>51985097

Third. Far and beyond the best of the lot, despite all of it's flaws. you won't have much to learn either considering all that's out. If you have any questions about the setting, mechanics, or chargen, we'll answer.

>>51984856

>How old is your character?

Typically between 25 ad 35, unless I want them to be youthful and naive or particularly world-weary.

>>51983870
>>51983884

I think that ideally the best way to implement ability charms for Infernals is to have Yozi charm trees for the different abilities. For example have Adorjan and Ebon Dragon charm trees for Stealth.

The real question is if the core book is only going to represent Malfeas, Adorjan, Cecelyne, She Who Lives Within Her Name, and The Ebon Dragon.

>>51985183
>>51985153
Neato thanks guys, I really dig everything I've read lore wise. Speaking on that, how important would you say canon, or lore comprehension is? It's a weird question but I get really caught up on OCD minutia when I run actual settings and it's why I mostly throw together homebrews. As I understand it, third is a kind of reboot compared to 2e.

Hi

Looking to bring my group to Exalted from a background in RuneQuest 6 and Eclipse Phase. Neither system quite managed to scratch the itch, and they're in the mood to be heroic characters engaged in epic duels and battles, as opposed to more or less average mortals. At the same time they want to avoid the D&D definition of an epic setting.

Hopefully I came to the right system. lol

I want to start them off with a published mission/campaign etc. What do you guys recommend? If the 2e fluff is more complete, are there any books out there that I can port pretty seamlessly into 3e? Have not read the entire 3e rulebook yet, so will probably come here with questions soon

>>51985294
Oh and also, is the book out for 3e that allows implementation of DB PCs? if not is there any decent homebrew for that purpose?

>>51985206

>I think that ideally the best way to implement ability charms for Infernals is to have Yozi charm trees for the different abilities. For example have Adorjan and Ebon Dragon charm trees for Stealth.

I'm under that impression as well. In fact, I can't see any other way of implementing more than a hand full of Yozi. Interestingly, this doesn't completely shut out the idea of Heretical charms; Triumph Forged God Body ties together speed, strength, and jumping charm trees in Athletics, who's to say there can't be a charm that ties together the themes of Isidoros and Adorjan in the same way?

>>51985241

Not too much, just general details. Realm near civil war, Anathema have returned, threats on every side. Make a low Loer character to start with and wing it from there.

>>51985314
I remember the onyx path forums had a lot of homebrew ports, I can link if you want.

>>51985294
>I want to start them off with a published mission/campaign etc.
Don't. They tend to not be very good, there aren't any for 3E yet, and Exalted is at its best in more player-driven games anyways. Just, like, run a solo prelude for each of your players if you feel like it, one where they Exalt. Think about a scenario to bring the PCs together, write up some early adversaries and see where it goes from there.

>If the 2e fluff is more complete, are there any books out there that I can port pretty seamlessly into 3e? Have not read the entire 3e rulebook yet, so will probably come here with questions soon
To be honest, I wouldn't do that. When you're starting off, it's probably a good idea to neither throw too much of the setting at your players sraight away. If you want to read some material to get a better grasp of the setting yourself, Games of Divinity and Scavenger Sons from 1E are good places to start.

>>51985314
Found them. Not sure how good it is as I'm the other new guy, but here: http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/exalted/817844-dragonblood-3e-conversion-peach

>>51985339
I think I'd like 'tying together' powers from different Yozis to be a standard and expected part of the Infernal Charms, even. It makes sense that Infernals can draw from several Yozis and make that power into something new. It's very Exalted-like. Maybe all the entry-level Charms should be associated with a single Yozi, with 'mixed' Charms being more common deeper into the Charm trees. I think focusing on a single Yozi should also offer some benefit, maybe the favor of that Yozi and his progeny and/or eventual access to Shintai Charms associated for that Yozi, with Charms being an alternative ption for those who prefer more flexibility and less ties to a particular Yozi.

>>51985389

Thanks! I assume you're the other anon who brought them up, if not then thanks to that guy too.

>>51985376
I just mean concepts and particularly cool fluff to inspire whatever rendition of the setting I come up with.

If you could still recommend a published scenario or at least the name of one, I'd like to read it to get an idea for what an official game looks like. Or even like... some kind of description of another GM's campaign that seemed really cool. Anything to get an idea of a more experienced player's idea of the game.

My biggest personal inspirations are Berserk, the fantasy series The Second Apocalypse, Planescape: Torment, Final Fantasy Tactics, and for this kinda thing I liked that it mentioned Claymore, yadda yadda yadda.

Do you think I can get some mileage out of my dark fantasy fetish with this system?

Thanks for everyone's help! I'll check out the books from 1E you mentioned.

>>51985499
Yeah, same guy. I found a decent youtuber who uploads lore videos and actual plays. I haven't watched his actual plays but his lore primers are great. https://www.youtube.com/user/SerAaronsMind
He's a 2e guy, but if all you need is inspiration he's pretty good. Abyssals and Infernals are basically like the God hand and apostles from berserk except sometimes against their will. Also Claymore is great.

>>51985499
>Do you think I can get some mileage out of my dark fantasy fetish with this system?
Sure. It is kind of unfortunate that Abyssals won't be punlished for 3E for years, because they fit dark fantasy campaigns very well, but Solars can work as well. The thing about them is that their glorious golden glowy powers kind of mess with standard dark fantasy aesthetics. Still, despite the power of the protagonists, there is plenty of disturbing shit in the Creation, if that's the kind of inspiration you want to draw from dark fantasy. If you meant the hopelessness common to such stories...well, the Creation can be a very depressing place, too, even for the Exalted, but that isn't really the default tone.

>>51985351
>>51985389
>>51985499
A Clutch of Dragons is a really good homebrew that is almost complete.

http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/exalted/881714-a-clutch-of-dragons-hub-thread

>>51985339
>I'm under that impression as well. In fact, I can't see any other way of implementing more than a hand full of Yozi. Interestingly, this doesn't completely shut out the idea of Heretical charms; Triumph Forged God Body ties together speed, strength, and jumping charm trees in Athletics, who's to say there can't be a charm that ties together the themes of Isidoros and Adorjan in the same way?

Well from reading the preview it kind of seemed like they going for solar charms with Yozi paint jobs rather than actual Yozi charms

>>51985437
>I think I'd like 'tying together' powers from different Yozis to be a standard and expected part of the Infernal Charms, even. It makes sense that Infernals can draw from several Yozis and make that power into something new. It's very Exalted-like. Maybe all the entry-level Charms should be associated with a single Yozi, with 'mixed' Charms being more common deeper into the Charm trees. I think focusing on a single Yozi should also offer some benefit, maybe the favor of that Yozi and his progeny and/or eventual access to Shintai Charms associated for that Yozi, with Charms being an alternative ption for those who prefer more flexibility and less ties to a particular Yozi.

While that is a good idea I liked how in 2e you could imagine the Yozi going Oh Shit when they found out about Heretical charms. But making some of the higher level charms be heretical as a standard seems interesting.

I think how they treat Yozi's plans and goals for their Infernal Exalted is going to determine what Infernals are going to be like.

Just noticed that there are a few references in the core about encrypted documents, but nothing about actually encrypting or decrypting in a mundane manner. Would it be fair to say that it's (Int+Lin) to encrypt, and to decrypt it's (Int+Lin) again against a difficulty of the amount of successes rolled to encrypt it in the first place?

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One of the newfags from earlier. Can someone throw together a recommended reading list of things from various editions? I imagine even if I'm running 3e it might be a good idea to read the Exalted books from other editions.

Is there a decent set of homebrews for most of the Exalt types?

Also, aside from Solar and Lunar, what are good ways or reasons for a mixed party? A DB that is either too smart for "Anathema" nonsense, or doesn't care if it ups their odds against their rivals?

>>51987127
Lost eggs or from Lookshy.

https://loom.webtelligence.com.au/#/

Reposting this awesome character creator.

Click things to get a description. Click+hold to edit things.

Click and drag left or right to get additional options

Friendly reminder that the West is the worst direction in all of Creation.

>>51987265
>worst
thats an odd way to spell awesomest.

>>51987127
Read all of the Compass Books.

>>51987300
>An island of Spooky Abyssal necromancers + artificers doing Sol knows what, evil imbred demon people, not to mention all the sacrifice happy island gods
Sounds like a wonderful place.

>>51987127

Sidereals can join a mixed party easily. They'd obviously need to be Gold Faction, though. Renegade Abyssals and Heretical Infernals as well. Be careful with DBs, because they're the weakest Exalts, and you don't want a scenario where you've a player who never shines.

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>>51987127

I had a nice long post for you but the forum software ate it, so have the short version:

- 1e books have better writing, 2e books are more to the point. One is stories other is wiki, both have uses.

- Scavenger Sons is a great romp through 1e Creation. Master of Jade 2e is a great book for telling how mortals interact with supernatural creatures. DB caste books are amazing, Solar caste books are garbage outside of Dawn and bits and pieces of Zenith.

- I made the Alchemical set here for Exalt types in 3e, but if you're using a non-seal breach game its use may be limited.

>>51987360
Did you mean worst as in bad to visit or worst as in written/designed poorly?

>>51987226
>>51985873

Thanks both of you! Bookmarked for use

I translate everything into Spanish for my players, being the only native English speaker, the biggest nerd, and the DM for our group all at once. Exalted seems like it will be quite the task, it's so heavy in terminology. lol

>>51987873
A little bit of both to be honest.

Been out of these threads for a while, have they revealed any information on new exalts?

>>51985499
>Do you think I can get some mileage out of my dark fantasy fetish with this system?

For mortal heroes, Creation is a terrifying place. Bloodthirsty bandits, mercenary armies and the forces of the Realm who look upon Threshold peasants as little more than illiterate savages are everywhere. Alien demons, the Fair Folk, rogue gods, and vicious undead are the least supernatural threats a mortal hero can expect to deal with. And the Exalted themselves? No mortal hero, no matter how skilled and brave, can hope to match even a fledgling Exalt in their area of expertise. A mortal Exalted game is excellent for dark fantasy.

>>51985499
>Do you think I can get some mileage out of my dark fantasy fetish with this system?
Yes, Malfeas and the Underworld alone are enough for that.

>>51985499

Creation's set in a weird eastern dark age where the people are only happy if they stay low to the ground and are lucky to not have one errant spirit of any kind come over and genocide them for literally no good reason.

And that genocide stuff tends to happen really, really often.

By any chance is the guy who made the chargen system for mobile still around? This one, I mean:

http://loom.webtelligence.com.au/

how should I make a first level character with the intent of becoming Aku, shapeshifting master of darkness

>>51990198

Lunar with heavy darkness themed MA/sorcery, maybe an Ebon Dragon Akuma.

>>51990198
>first level character
? You mean Essence?

>>51990255
you know what I mean, nerd

Was any progress on that infernal conversion in the op ever made or has it died?

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>>51990981

I intend to continue it one day, but right now I'm doing a time sensitive project that I need to finish beforehand.

>Your character is suddenly ambushed by ninjas who exclusively use Swallowed Darkness Style

Are they fucked?

>>51991086
Man, what a hero!
Also do you still have that bestiary floating around? I never was able to grab it when it was fresh

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>>51991162

Here ya go.

has anyone played a game where a player made a First Age Artifice? What did they make? What could it do? I'm having trouble coming up with what a First Age Artifact is besides power armour or warstriders, so I'm looking for ideas.

>>51984856
Just out of curiosty, 3e Splat books Never?

I mean, the main book hasn't, afaik, hit shelves, so 3e has officially rotted on the vine, yeah?

>>51992300
I think they do print on demand for onyx path books now or some shit and splatbooks will come....never in our lifetimes

Jesus this 3e charm list though. Any advice or tips on what to avoid? Are there "ivory tower" levels of traps here, or is it decently balanced to choice? I heard 2e had a lot of lopsided things as far as perfect defenses and one hit kill rocket tag.

>>51992648

As far as I can tell it isn't "Jungian Combat" types stuff, and if you don't know what that is do yourself a favor and don't ask, but if you're playing a Solar there is a strong skew toward melee being to your advantage. Ivory tower isn't as much a problem this edition though.

>>51992372
That's a real shame. Me and my roomate had quite the Exalted World going. Chars across all the exalt types with a kind of seven degrees of sepration thing going on. There was the Dawn Cast Solar general. One of Cathack Cainin's thousand or so grandchilren. Served as his father's aide de camp in the Wyld Hunt. Exalted durring a battle with Fair Folk raiding party. Killed his father and ran. (Dad was already OOE from the fighting with the Fair Folk)

Then his little Fire Blood little sister who was a massive Brocon, her sworn sister hood consiting of a House Menmon wood blood Mage Tech and a House Tepis air blood archer. Little sister didn't realize she was a full blown bro con till she had a talk with a twilight cast Delzhan woman who funded her archeological expidetions by being part of a sexy gyspy dancing troupe. who was friends with a Night Caste who exalted in a Barbarian Tribe and was being raised by the old ass No Moon to be a weapon against the wyld and his full moon bonded mate... You get the idea.

>>51992676

>Jungian

I'm drunk. Chungian.

>>51992676
1E was alright mechanicly, but of course then the stats for the high end badasses came out and you were left wondering "How in the hell did the Exalts EVER manage to win the Primordial War? I can't even figure out how my party could take out the Mask of Winters, let alone a Third Circle Demon."

Then they dropped 2E with the "Here's how exalts get older and get E5+," Dreams of the First Age and Ink Monkys stuff showed off high level Exalted power at which point it was an overcompensation and you were playing OverPowered Shounen Protag: The Game

Never mind the jaw drop when the devs flat out admitted the different exalt types were never balanced against one another so you were never supposed to have exalts of different types fighting one another. Just slap around some mortals, monsters, and the occasional Spirit.

For all the fluff that pitted the diferent exalts against one another that seemed like a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE fuckin design flaw.

>>51992863

That was one thing that Holden and I were never on the same page on. When you bring up that Solars are categorically OP'd in every area he and other dev's would say "niche protection". But when the niche is pure fluff and doesn't translate into any kind of mechanical endgame then it doesn't matter. Sometimes I wonder if that very debate isn't why the various splats are taking so long to come out.

When will the Dragon Blooded book be out?
DragonBlooded best Exalt

>>51992648

It's far harder to fuck up a character in 3e. Granted 5/5 combat pool still dominates, but in this edition is merely shooting yourself in the foot rather than blowing the entire foot off. Likewise skill challenges have be lessened in difficulty so you don't need a 5/5 split in other areas just to be competent. Doing Lore rolls with 6 dice before stunts and charms can still do a fairly good job of making most facts up, while an excellency can push that to 12 dice and makes passing the occasional difficulty 5 Lore roll far easier.

In terms of combat trees, I tried doing a breakdown in my ST guide of sorts. Though most of the combat trees, but still largely WIP.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sG52v0QCij7-vI0Y3Mb2s2gusu8dfkzdUOLkmMshw3Q/edit

>>51992863
Does 3e address anything high end yet or is it mostly just assorted mortal/spirit/lesser detailed exalted slap fighting?

>>51992863

>Never mind the jaw drop when the devs flat out admitted the different exalt types were never balanced against one another

The Dragonblooded/Solar split has always been deliberate even in fluff since 1e though. Probably not as big of a gap as 2e makes it out to be, but still there.

>>51993134

Terrestrial vs Solar tier was a gap in total output vs efficiency. A well built terrestrial with CMA could go toe to toe with Solars up until they built to the point where their passive output eclipsed the difference in mote efficiency that a properly built DB could run with.

The bigger issue was the gap between Solar and Celestial tier exalts.

>>51993046
As a core book it's back down to Biblical/bronze age Heroes. Think of Brad Pit playing Achilles in Troy, when he chucked that spear and Hector said it was "an impossible throw" there's your triple throwing distance charm.

Working up to the high end shit always involves getting out splat books.

>>51993164
Yeah, this was balanced by the Terrestrials having access to more toys then a starting Solar. Dude in Jade Full Plate with a Grim Cleaver dosen't really need to use too many charms when you're mundane Slashing Sword struggles only ever gets to roll 1 die and his weapon can knock you into -2's with even 1 net success on the hit.

>>51992938
I remember the first time I read the splat that stated up the Incarna and I couldn't help think to myself, "If they had just STARTED with this there wouldn't be so much damn crossover with bland charms." Just give each Exalt a few special keywords that tie in to their God's portfolio, you know? Instead of this here's your extra attacks, here's your damage adder, here's your Kill Ghosts and Spirits blah de blah blah. It felt at times like the only thing separating Exalt was Essence Pool, Excellency Limits, and Ox-Body

>>51993394

The toys were only meaningful because the Terrestrials more efficient charmset meant that they could afford to sink the motes upfront.

>only ever gets to roll 1 die

Now now, be fair.

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So... Fair Folk look pretty beastly this edition where their natively high mote pools actually mean shit and they already have a native perfect. Ready to kneel to Rakshastan?

>>51993514
Yeah,fair folk looks decently troubbling, finally, hope they can still make awesome crafting materials from souls.

>>51993660

Now now, when they are still in mortal bodies they are called souls. When they are eaten they are just gossamer and essence :^).

>>51993673
Okay, that's fine. Could you now process this mortal martial artist into leather and a mindless husk?

>>51992863
>1E was alright mechanicly,

For everything other than combat, maybe. (Combat was the only real system)

>Never mind the jaw drop when the devs flat out admitted the different exalt types were never balanced against one another so you were never supposed to have exalts of different types fighting one another. Just slap around some mortals, monsters, and the occasional Spirit

This is just plain not true. The writer for 1e Sidereals talked at length about how Sidereals were balanced against Solars in combat.

>>51992863
>"How in the hell did the Exalts EVER manage to win the Primordial War? I can't even figure out how my party could take out the Mask of Winters, let alone a Third Circle Demon."
UCS, Luna and the Maidens actively buffed the Exalted back then, like a chargen Solar can jump up to E5 in half a year or so, not to mention Autobot and his minions were shitting out Artifact 5 like nothing, but the true reason to why they managed to win is because someone murdered a Primordial and Theion just couldn't believe it and ordered everyone else to stop fighting.

>>51994213
> true reason to why they managed to win is because someone murdered a Primordial and Theion just couldn't believe it and ordered everyone else to stop fighting.

This is retarded. Fuck 2e

>>51994222
That's how they explain it really.
See if all of the Primordials, especially SWLiHN was allowed to use full force we would have Gunstar timeline.

>>51994277
This is only true in 2e, there is nothing to suggest that the Primordials did not fight with all their strength in Games of Divinity.

One of the few direct references to the conflict is a story about the armies of the Exalted weathering the magical onslaught of Adrian, who encircled all of Creation with fire, razors and ice, until the Solar Marus closed with her fetich and slew it. In a few short sentences it captures the imagination; despite its scale, this is just one small part of an epic conflict, this is what the Primodials were capable of but still the Exalted killed and imprisoned them.

>>51994433
It does mention that the war began in ambush, which is probably there to draw a parallel to the usurpation.

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>>51985499
>Or even like… some kind of description of another GM’s campaign that seemed really cool.
http://www.exaltwitch.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woQuG6NfQJk&index=1&list=PLiS0McnLDI6Q0PmHK9Z7W61UCjzx9HN2r

>>51990198
Fiend, probably?

>>51985097
None of the above. Wait for Scion 2.

>>51990174

Yes, but I'm on Australia time, so I'm likely going to be responding at odd times.

>>51985206
ugg. ability based infernals. remove everything that made them fun to play....and of course the one thing they're keeping is the "special-est snowflake in all of exalted" bits ;P and after their whole rant on how deviltiger was a story killer too. you'd have thought they'd focus on everything that came before it instead

>>51990198
lunar for shapeshifting, no moon with dex fav would hit it, martial arts, ebon shadow style and stealth.

>>51995420
Ability-base charms are fine as long as Infernal still has option to turn into a supernova or spheres of crystals

>>51995535
this.
taking the fundamental changes that come with being an infernal out of the infernal makes it... green painted mutant solars.

>>51995642
>Green Solar but with lesser power level
Worse than 2e Luna if they go this route, the sell point of Infernal is that if Solar gets to be the best sailor in the world then Infernal gets to become the sea in that world

>>51995680
now I want these two in a fight, the infernal trying to make sailing impossible the solar trying to cross the infernal, literally.
>"TAME THIS!" cue acidic wave of cthonic horror

>>51995018
Oh? Can you elaborate?

>>51993134
>>51993164

I thought that's the point, right? Like, a starting Solar - assume that Solar is unarmed, has nothing better than mortal armor and weaponry - should be able to take out several Dragonblooded.

Otherwise, if a Solar can't do that, he won't even survive his prelude. The less powerful Solars are, the less meaningful their return to Creation is.

Besides, I'm pretty sure the PCs are supposed to be playing as Solars. The other splats are there to enable them: Dragonblooded are the starting enemies and then later the foot soldiers, the Lunars are there to be the waifu, the Sidereals are the wise mentors and Jedi-like dudes who don't fight much but are all mysterious and occult when they do.

Meanwhile, Abyssals are the dark villainous half, and the Infernals are the chaotic villainous half. (DEATH SOLARS and HELL SOLARS respectively.)

The game doesn't work as well otherwise.

>>51996347

>should be able to take out several Dragonblooded.

Debatable. They should be able to survive a Wyld hunt, which could be anything from a DB leading a team of mortals or a Sidereal leading a dedicate death squad. While a Dawn might be able to take out several Dragonblooded, the other castes will likely deal with them differently.

>>51985499
Well, you need Abyssals, Ghosts, and the Underworld. You can't be more dark fantasy than a dimension made of the souls of the dead, where necromantic monsters of bones, metals and chains roam the roads to steal the souls of the imprudent, where even the magical materials are screaming and in pain for all eternity. The Underworld is dark as fuck.

Unfortunately, no Abyssals, Ghosts and Underworlds rules for 3e before a long, long time.

Alternatively, Malfeas is a good dark setting, though less dark than fucking metal and quite weird.

>>51996401

I'll point out that Swan, the non-combat-optimized Eclipse Caste, is canonically capable of killing the fuck out of a Wyld Hunt with Snake Style as a starting character.

That's sort of the starting power-level we're looking at. In the fluff, the only ones who had trouble with the 'fighting' thing are the Twilight Castes, and that was in 1E.

Why do people hate tattoo artifacts?

>>51996433

Was this a full DB Wyld hunt? In the 2e comic a perfect circle went up against 5 DBs and the Dawn ended up killing the Eclipse by accident.

Besides, in the new edition, the power curve is being flattened, specifically so we don't get Wyld hunts that can't do shit.

>>51996457

The fluff isn't specific, just that Swan killed a few Dragon-blooded while Arianna was out of it.

>>51996347
>I'm pretty sure the PCs are supposed to be playing as Solars. The other splats are there to enable them: Dragonblooded are the starting enemies and then later the foot soldiers, the Lunars are there to be the waifu, the Sidereals are the wise mentors and Jedi-like dudes who don't fight much but are all mysterious and occult when they do.

this right there, this is shit.

>>51996347
>Otherwise, if a Solar can't do that, he won't even survive his prelude
Back when just after the Usurpation DB could afford multiple Wyld Hunt squads to take out Solar before they had chances to grind for xp, but in the Age of Sorrow the majority of DB are called back to the Blessed Isle to prepare for civil war, hence newbie Solar can survive just fine, assuming he is not a retard.
Seriously if DB are that weak there's no way they could beat the 300 E6+ Solar and more than dozens of Lunar back then.
>>51996457
That udon comic is kinda shitty though, like the DB has no PD and died when Dawn threw an ox at them.

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>>51996347
>Like, a starting Solar - assume that Solar is unarmed, has nothing better than mortal armor and weaponry - should be able to take out several Dragonblooded.

Unless your starting Solar is a specced dawn, that's completely false.

A good rule of thumb is that a starting, decent Solar, specialized, but not unduly so, in one category, is as powerful as a trained, old DB specialized in the same category.

So a starting decent melee Solar is as good as an older, trained, specialized melee DB. If you start to pill several of those on the same decent melee Solar, your Solar will lose quite quickly.

Ultra specced Solar with the help of supernals can get absurdly powerful at chargen, but that is expected: if you want your Dawn to become Murder of Gods at chargen and are willing to pay all your xp to make it so, then yes, your Dawn will be able to fend off several experimented DBs.

>>51996480

>Seriously if DB are that weak there's no way they could beat the 300 E6+ Solar and more than dozens of Lunar back then.

I thought they had the Sidereals helping them? Like, 1E and 2E basically said that the Solars were caught with their pants down, and even then it led to an exceptionally terrible and costly war.

I mean, the Solars didn't make it easy for them. It was a grueling, protracted campaign even though one side had all the guns, magitek and the element of complete surprise.

>>51996500
Sid could only help so far, I doubt among the 300 Solar nobody sniffed out the smell of traitors when they got multiple Investigation charms. Noted that Solar were mad and kinda paranoid at that time.
Even if we assume those bullshit E6+ OP charms were not used they still have tons of xp and time to become captain turbo killshit with at least one or two artifact 5 hidden in their sleeves all the time.
DB are Exalted too and they should have considerable power level, like ok 1v1 or 1v2 chargen Solar can win but no way he can beat a squad of 5 DB, not without suffering heavy wound or something pricey in return.

>>51996564
keep in mind even the dragonbloods were lessened by the usurpiation. the first age was bounteous for all exalted to cultivate skills and mastery of essence. Legendary Breeding was the norm and dragonbloods were trained to perfection by their peers and sometimes a solar overlord who wanted a specialist for something. enlightenment was readily available and deep insights in essence and the nature of the world gave everyone power

>>51996564

Weren't there like millions of Dragon-blooded?

I only remember the hot girl who became Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS.

>>51996564
Not saaying you're wrong about your main point, but part of the reason why it worked so well was that Solars were paranoid, headstrong fuckers.

So when the Dragonblooded came in with weapons at the ready, about half the Solars leaped up, drew their weapons from elsewhere, and declared "So, it has come to this!"

And then proceeded to immediately jump their own pet hated enemy who they've been expecting to betray them for years now.

>>51996948
I'm not terribly a fan of that, it downplays the work of the Dragonblooded and Sidereals. Millions of DBs outfitted with a crazy amount of preptime aided by the preptime Exalted should be more than enough to take down 300 Solars without having to make the Solars be fighting amongst themselves at the same time.

>>51996485
This seems reasonable. In-setting, it's also impressive as fuck. An old, experienced Dragon-Blooded who has truly mastered something is a legend in whatever his specialty is, and some you freshly-Exalted whelp being his equal is nothing short of a miracle as far as most people in the setting are concerned.

>>51996975
Assuming 2e mechanics, it's really not near enough, and basically relies on every single Solar being literally retarded and not bothering to us any of the charms that would have made the usurpation impossible.

Assuming 3e, then sure. That works.

>>51993439
>Now now, be fair

I am! The comparison was about how the massive numbers that artifacts can give allow an exalt to avoid essence expenditure. Solar with mortal weapons vs Dragon Blood with 20E worth of attuned artifacts that Solar is blowing Essence every turn just to make up for that shit. Sure, all he needs is a fire and stones strike to mitigate or even negate the Jade Supreheavy plate, but he's also got to be worried about that Grim Cleaver/Grand Daiklave/Dire Lance.

That's the whole point of artifacts, nice fat numbers WITHOUT having to spend resources every single time you cast SWORD.

>>51994153
>This is just plain not true. The writer for 1e Sidereals talked at length about how Sidereals were balanced against Solars in combat

I think we're talking about two different kinds of balanced here. I don't mean balanced as in "Sticking to the teirs of power established in the fluff" I mean balanced as in "These two types can do battle without it being a boring game of insta-kill vs. perfect defense until one of the combatants runs out of essence or someone tosses an instakill that the other dosen't have a perfect defense for"

If I had to guess, that would be the number 1 most voiced complaint about Exalted. In a tabletop that should have had combats looking like shit from Asura's Wrath ended up with it being more like Inu-Yasha.

>>51997084
>That's the whole point of artifacts, nice fat numbers WITHOUT having to spend resources every single time you cast SWORD.
That is debatable. In 3E, the point is probably supposed to be Evocations rather than raw number. Personally, I'd prefer it if Artifacts had the same base stats as their mundane equivalents by default, with the powers specific to a given artifact being their point. There could be the occasional oversized hammer or supernaturally sharp sword with some extra damage, with other artifacts having different attunement bonuses of their own.

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>>51996347
1v1? Sure. 3 or even 5v1? With the Dragon Bloods packing teamwork charms and 15-20 essence worth of artifacts? He might get one or two but he's gonna die if he doesn't run. One trrestrial with 50 realm infantry formed up into a mass combat unit? He's fucked if he tries to fight that.

Now if that Solar is Essence 4+, with his own panoply of artifacts? Combat spec guy is going to take all those things apart, even non combat spec guy has a chance if he's got some basic charms.

And if you break into the E6 realm? Well that's when Muscle Wizard grabs Jugernaut by his rotting nutsack, lifts him up over his fucking head, and shakes Juggy until he and the Mask of Winter's palace rip in two.

>>51997124
It's true that I find the Evocations kinda neat. The idea that artifacts should be more than just fat numbers, esp when made for the limited number or Celestial Exalts as opposed to the mass production stuff given to Dragon bloods. Not entirely sure how I feel about the evocations being the way that's achieved though.

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>>51997234
Well, yeah. It was better in the leak.

Bleach was a huge inspiration, with multiple tiers of power, the emphasize on getting to know the soul of your weapon and interesting powers with strange synergies. It was, all said, well implemented, and quite well liked, from what I've seen. I don't participate to the circlejerking of the official forum, though, so I can't say what the morons here decided. I only know that cesspit's opinion by what spills around.

Then the release came and it's D&D "it's a flaming swerd, son, it does flames".

If I wanted a flaming +3 swerd that does flame, I'd play Pathfinder, honestly.

The official forum seems to have rationalized the loss away, though. It seems the circlejerking stance is that the old system was too good, too interesting, too in-depth, and that was bad. Somehow. Maybe? Something like that.

Trying for minimal tweaks for a mostly vanilla setting and game in 2e. How does this list look so far? http://pastebin.com/BeSh6mhS Suggestions?

>>51997462
>The official forum seems to have rationalized the loss away, though. It seems the circlejerking stance is that the old system was too good, too interesting, too in-depth, and that was bad. Somehow. Maybe? Something like that.
Too hueg, 20 charms/weapon instead of a manageable 5/weapon

>>51997479
Titan Straightening Method should add: "Can only be used on things that are actually titans" or something to that effect. Jugernaut? Fine. Some Wyld Critter that is a mountain made out of glass snakes filled with hot chocolate? Sure. Ma Ha Suchi? Nope.

>>51997063
Oh yeah the Usurpation is straight impossible in 2e, I was talking from a purely narrative standpoint.

>>51996485
What is the big guy with giant... spear looking thing?

>>51998739
power armour

Am I getting this right?

>Chosen of Journeys attacks from ambush
>Essence Thorn Practice + Willful Weapon Method
>First attack is from Willful Weapon Method and has the unexpected quality
>Second attack is the Essence Thorn which is only unblockable
>Chosen of Journeys re-establishes surprise with a ninja-style stunt
>Chooses to "Hold" every action, but can reroll for both projectiles until one hits
>The attacks lose their unexpected and unblockable tags but continue to be rolled every turn
>Excellencies can subsequently be triggered by the Sidereal since they are reflexively modifying subsequent rolls

Seems like an effective setup that's mote inefficient.

>>51996485
Couldn't give the lunar a chair shes gotta drape herself over the guy's feet? lol

What's the silliest thing you've ever come across in game?
We've got to deal with a bunch of odd shrine maidens in the game I'm in.

>>51999000

>fate ninja'd some double trips

Mechanically I think that's right, but I'd have to double check. Practically though it isn't a great way to fight on it's own because your target is going to continue stunting their defense and regaining more motes than you are forcing them to blow.

>>51997084
>I mean balanced as in "These two types can do battle without it being a boring game of insta-kill vs. perfect defense until one of the combatants runs out of essence or someone tosses an instakill that the other dosen't have a perfect defense for"

Oh, yeah, 2e's combat system was just perfect defense spam. They seem to have embraced it later in the game line or at least acknowledged its unavoidable, because they statted high-end monsters to also have spammable perfects, like the Viator of Nullspace. But...I'm not sure that means the 2e Devs never intended the different Exalted to fight, even if the combat system was boring and stupid.

>>51997479
For the familiar background, add "By paying an extra dot to it's rating the familiar is also incapable of being slain in battle, recovering by drawing upon the character's life and essence.

Either you can either immediately pay twice it's rating out of personal essense for it to ignore a death blow entirely, or heal as a mortal while your regeneration applies to the pet instead. Withholding both of these permanently kills the familiar.

Additionally in return for this closer and more mystical bond the animal also gains the "hurry home" charm allowing you to call it to teleport to your side as a reflexive action, this is paid for out of it's 5 mote reserve."

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Is it normal for spirits to immediately recognize Celestials they knew in their last lives? The Lady of the Lap pegged my Solar instantly.

Remind me, what were the rules of first circle demons coming back to life without spirit eating attacks? Something about a cult rating right?

>>52000002
was he showing his anima and is it somehow distinctive for his past life?

>>51996347
>Otherwise, if a Solar can't do that, he won't even survive his prelude. The less powerful Solars are, the less meaningful their return to Creation is.

That's the whole point of Wyld Hunts - they're generally capable of killing starting Solars. They were designed so they could periodically hunt down the few continually-reincarnating shards that escaped the Jade Prison. If they couldn't do that, the DBs would have given them up as a bad idea ages ago.

The saving grace for present-day Solars is two-fold: firstly, with all Solars shards now free, there aren't enough Wyld Hunts to go around. Chances are, you won't have to fight one as neophyte; secondly, the Terrestrials are occupied with politicking now that the Imperial throne is vacant, and what Wyld Hunts they have are undermanned and underfunded, decreasing their chance of success.

>>51997462

Nah, the leak was stupidly huge for things that are supposed to be home-brewed.

>>51997625

Why?

>>51999021

My cat doesn't get a chair either. Maybe a scratch pole.

>>52000359
>Remind me, what were the rules of first circle demons coming back to life without spirit eating attacks? Something about a cult rating right?
They usually die if they're killed, but if they have a Cult, they can put themselves back together.

>>52000512
Hope you don't wonder what's going on when your Lunar mate betrays you, then.

What are some good things to create for an anima banner?
I'm having a hard time coming up with one that I like.

>>52000925
Is there a minimum rating or cost involved in that? and the timeframe is a year and a day right?

>>52001019

Something that fits your central character concept, a reference to your moment of Exaltation, something related to your Supernal Ability, etc.

>>52000937
http://dubiouscompany.com/comics/2012/02/16

>>52001019
Make it display your banner. which displays your banner. which displays your banner which displays your banner which displays your banner which displays your banner which displays your banner which displays your banner which....


nothing but glorious solar awesome all the way down

>>51987873

>>51989012
What he said. It just falls short with quality of other regions. In comparison it is barren of content and not as interesting.

>>51987226
Is there a way to raise essence? I'm trying to recreate my sheet and there doesn't seem to be a way to do so without going through the exceptionally tedious process of starting from chargen and working my way up

>>52001045
Sadly, I don't recall the answer to either question with certainty. If my vague recollections are to be trusted, however, there is no minimum rating and the timeframe is probably what you say it is.

>>52001218
If you're adapting a sheet from a previous edition that seems like something you should talk to your ST about

>>52001228
thanks

In 3e how often do you let yourself get hit with withering attacks, or at least risk getting hit? It seems like taking hits and dishing them out with the new initiative system is just part of the game, and I sort of wonder if it's even worth it to spend motes unless you're crashed or almost crashed.

>>52001154
...so yellow?

>>52001839

Initiative is needed to make decisive attacks. If you get hit with a withering attack, your opponent gains initiative and may suddenly decide to kill you next turn. If he's got a shit ton of initiative, you better do something quick.

>>52001912

So you are of the no-hit mentality? Or are you selective about it.

>I can take a hit from that
>Can't risk being hit by this one at all
>This one's on the fence, I'll spend a few motes to try to block it

>>52001996
Dodge makes you WANT toget hit by something big so you can return the favor.
Really it depends on your available charms and how you have planed out the situation.

>>52002109
>>52001996
Sorry attacked =/= hit

>>52001996

Try to mitigate what you can. being on the receiving end of an Alpha Strike could make the fight all but lost, while multiple weak strikes from many opponents will build up onslaught. Heavy armour is a quick and cheap passive defence, clashing can let you shut down any attack if you pump up your own offence, and dodge is it's own bag of tricks.

No such thing as a perfect fight, but you should strive for it nonetheless.

>>52000002
I'd allow it if your Solar triggers their Measure the Wind condition. So a Dawn that shows up in his battle gear before Ahlat might cause Ahlat to remember that guy's past incarnations.

>>52001996
You're right, figuring out which attacks you can take is part of the game.

Should I be concerned about my GM talking about statting boss fights, explicitly using Past Lives as a thing to fuck with his players, and a general lolrandumb attitude towards Exalted in general? I.e, focusing on all of the wacky random shit Sidereals can pull with fate etc? 2.5E game btw.

>>52002734

Depends on your GM. It can be shit or silly fun like Kung Fu Hustle.

>>52002776
I keep thinking he's gonna go full silly, which would be fine, but he's also asking for detailed descriptions of limit breaks and exaltation events and such, that just makes me think he's going serious. He's also talked about bringing in his character from a game he's a player in, which set off a few alarm bells.

>>51996609
>I only remember the hot girl who became Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS.
Who?

>>52000495
It's an overpowerd Ink Monkies charm, but it's one with a clear intent. Here's how your Solar Hero can take on giant abominations with 50 to 100 health levels without having to resort to some magitech or N/A ratted artifacts.

In that respect, it's all well and good. But being able to apply the same kind of damage to something that lacks those absurd amount of health levels is just game breaking.

>>52000002
There has been some fluff from the first age that suggests the anima banner of a Solar Exalt stays the same from incarnation to incarnation. Due to the subtle weaving of fate that leads UP to a Solar Exalt being made the Solar Core will find someone who will merge well with it. Not just the caste abilites but the deeper meaning of the Anima banner will also work with the new host.

There was a first age Solar named the Sun Dragon, who "wielded the Unconquered Sun's sword of authority." Speculating at this point, but he could have taken his name from his anima banner. That is, his banner was a golden dragon. Now when that Solar Essence finds a new host, perhaps it's a child who belongs to a Gens or a Dynastic House, just as an example.

>>52001218
>http://dubiouscompany.com/comics/2012/02/16

The only way to raise Essence in Ex3 is by spending XP, so no, not really.

Unless you mean the rules for starting as advanced Solars, which I should implement, but haven't yet.

>>52001996

Honestly, if the attack is withering, and it's not going to crash me, I'm not too worried about taking it, unless I'm ready to unleash my own decisive, and it'd drain too much from my pool.

Getting crashed sucks, because it removes all hardness, allowing any enemy with even a tiny amount of initiative to start the death of a thousand cuts, and even a small amount of actual damage kicks off the death spiral.

>>52003555
2e is already broken. Oh no! You can do a bunch of damage to an Exalt on a successful att- buwhahahah

>>52003754
Getting crashed is bad but not game ending in my experience. its very possible to recover from

>>52003754

Something that I've actually considered doing is setting up passives and just not worrying about defense beyond that unless an attack is lethal as a way to conserve motes since crash is recoverable.

does anybody use the chargen program "ed's exalted toolkits"?

if so can you please either post your mdb file or export your artifacts list and post that? my artifact list got all screwed up somehow and I'd like to import a clean version but didn't want to install the program from scratch just to do it

>>52003911
http://www.edexalted.com/

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>>51984856
newfag on his first second breath here. Where can i find some good character art? i only have some folders for WoD but all I have is modern clothed people

>>52003835
>>52003865

If you're crashed, and being kept in crash my continually having your initiative taken, it'll be very difficult to win the fight, unless you have non-initiative-based ways of doing lethal damage.

Crash is recoverable, but if your opponents manage to get you far enough in the negative, it's possible to keep you there for three rounds, and three rounds of decisive attacks - even just doing ping damage - can really hurt.

I mean, it's not certain death, and if you have enough defensive charms to make sure your enemies can't exploit it, it might not be all that bad, but for characters who aren't built to survive it, it's not a good place to be.

>>52003965

Describe your character to us.

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>>52000359
No, we sent a runner to ask her to meet us, and when she came out she greeted us with 'they didn't say it was you!' Then the ST started hitting me with the flashbacks.

>>52004020
In the process of making a character, I like to think about the character in an unphysical way (His story, relationships, flaws and strenghts) and only after that think about his physical appearence, what "shell" would best fit what I'm putting in. Since I'm not very close to the end of the first process, I would like to just have an online folder where to find some character arts when i'm done.

>>52003983
Why aren't your circlemates saving your ass? Either with defend other or beating on the guys beating on you.

>>52004144
Is he a combat wombat or the party face? What Direction is he from?

What is the best artifact armor for a 2e lunar's tattoos? Looking for a recommended balance of protection vs motepool loss and going through the scattered books looking for artifacts is a pain in the ass since the wiki was diminished

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>>52004340
You have literally two choices. Breastplate and chain shirt. Breastplate has better stats, and the same commitment cost.

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Which motepool do commitments come from?

>>52003005
>He's also talked about bringing in his character from a game he's a player in, which set off a few alarm bells.

this really is alarming. How old is he? I can understand this being youthful stupidity but if he isn't in adolescence there isn't a good explanation for GMPC.

>>52004340
Armor is boring, go for effects. Get the Everyman Armor from Oldmcdonalds. Or the raptor bracer and bring a moonsilver bird-tattoo to life as a construct/projection

>>52004393
any. so peripheral.

>>52004393
Peripheral Pool, but you won't grow like a light bulb

>>52004419
He's 19, I don't think he was talking about a GMPC, more just a cameo, but even then it's slightly concerning. He's also mentioned that we can't go to the southern part of Creation because that's "Where the plot happens," which makes me think he's trying to run it alongside the game he's playing in for some weird reason.

What offensive strategy do you personally use in 3e?

>Archery/Thrown
>Grappling
>Solar Melee spam
>Martial Arts
>Sneak attack, re-establish surprise, and repeat

What defensive strategy do you use?

>Soak monster
>Dodge
>Melee/MA parry
>Clash instead

Or something else entirely?

>>52004440
ask the ST to reduce the armor rating and level of "broken vase armor" to 5L/5Bsoak 2L/2Bhardness -0mobility 0fatigue and light. represent it with frankenstein stitching tattoos

>>52004468

>19 years old. Yeah, he is still in his goofball years.

As long as South isn't more important than what you guys are doing, you should be fine.

>>52004708
My current plan is to just go to session 1 and see how it goes, if it's all lolrandumb shit with no coherent plot other than follow his railroad then I'll bug out.

>>52004723

that is fine. If you aren't having fun no reason to stick around.

>>51987226
This seems pretty fucking great. Not Anathema yet, but still awesome. Pretty good for mobile, but I haven't been able to get the drop down menus to work on my phone. Everthing works on PC so far.

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>>52004144

>>52004183

Because, assuming this combat is non-trivial, they are dealing with their own threats. Besides, that's a stupid non-answer to the question posed: if you think that way, nothing's ever dangerous, because you just always assume your circlemates will be available to bail you out.

>>52004393

Any. Which you choose depends on your character. DBs might attune from personal, because they don't care as much about flaring, or about the collateral damage of their anima. If your Solar has charms that require expenditure of anima levels, you might want more peripheral motes available to fuel them.

>>52004662

I've played two characters so far - one went supernal athletics for big stronk, and favoured pushing buildings/mountains on people. The other was stealth/single point alpha-strike.

Neither were combat primaries.

Next character has lots of fire resistance, and likes throwing burning raptors at point-blank range. Possibly not a team player.

>>52004988
sure, but the guy was positing dying to death by a thousand cuts. Like multiple dudes hitting him while crashed. Unless you're drastically outnumbered you shouldnt really get focus fired, and thats not really how combat works

>>51999000

Only if it works that way in 3e, otherwise it's much more limited than that.

>>52004662

I'm trying to build a Sid sniper in the absence of the core book. The "every excellency is essence auspicious" thing is pretty fucking cool.

>>52005066

If you can't get out of crash, you're in it for 3 rounds. During that time, one opponent can get, at minimum, 3 attacks in. Most challenging opponents would have extra attack charms, even if its just Principle of Motion, so 3 is low-balling. And fights aren't always numerically balanced - especially for Solars. It's quite possible each of your Circle is facing multiple opponents.

>>52001218

Actually, ignore my previous post - I have already implemented it. Swipe left (or hold left mouse button and drag left on desktop) and there's a settings sidebar. One of thes ettings is "Chargen Mode: Regular" change it to "Experienced" and it'll use the chargen rules for experienced Solars in the core.

>>52003983
>If you're crashed, and being kept in crash my continually having your initiative taken, it'll be very difficult to win the fight, unless you have non-initiative-based ways of doing lethal damage.
>Crash is recoverable, but if your opponents manage to get you far enough in the negative, it's possible to keep you there for three rounds, and three rounds of decisive attacks - even just doing ping damage - can really hurt.
>I mean, it's not certain death, and if you have enough defensive charms to make sure your enemies can't exploit it, it might not be all that bad, but for characters who aren't built to survive it, it's not a good place to be.
If they're doing Decisives, then they're returning to base initiative, which gives you a good opening to crash them, earning Initiative Shift bonus to reset your initiative to 3 + 5 + (Join Battle roll) and take an extra action.

In this case then you'll have had a full three turns in between their turns...

>>52005766

That's along the lines of what I'm shooting for in terms of build and strategy.

>Passives upfront
>Force opponent to spend motes and wp to hit me with withering attacks at a disproportionate rate while stunting my own reserves back up
>Hit crash
>Expend resources to stop decisive
>Hit opponent with built up resources
>Either drain down their remaining resources or get Initiative Shift
>Go for a much easier kill

The problem is that if I get mobbed by 2-3 opponents or if I get hit with something too big that sends me over the edge without an opponent having to spend a ton of motes to do it I'm working up from a deficit.

>>52005871
>while stunting my own reserves back up

Not a thing in 3E. Stunts increase your dice pool, but you don't regen motes any more. Thank goodness.

I imagine the best sort of build for that strategy would be a defensive/counterattack build - either melee, or Crane style. The problem with those sorts of builds is always "why would I attack the defensive wall, instead of ignoring him, and smacking his buddies", but both those charm-trees have Defend Other shenanigans that force enemies to interact with you.

>>52006473

So that means that playing the mote conservation game is even more important then I guess.

I'm going to have to look into various charm sets and go over combat mechanics more before going that way.

Running Exalted for the first time soonish, probably 3e. Are there any specifics I should know or use as far as setting, or should I try to integrate it bits of a time? Also is there anything I should avoid using or bringing up, I don't want to overload my players.

Good Infernal combat builds suggestion?

>>52007949

For first time I would suggest only using two types of Exalted. One for players and one for antagonists.

>>52008088

Good thing we only have one type to pick from!

>>52007949

Exalted is fundamentally a character piece. The PCs are sufficiently powerful that looting and killing monsters is generally beneath them: instead, focus more on the motivations of why they're adventuring, and the reactions of people to them.

Expect your PCs to tear through most opponents like tissue paper. Mortal enemies will stand no chance, and only Dragon-blooded will be remotely challenging. This is how the game's supposed to be played.

Give PCs broad objectives instead of specific quests, because a Circle of Solars will solve a quest in seconds. I hesitate to use the word 'sandbox', but the vast capabilities of everyone involved mean that you can't expect a linear game.

The PCs are roughly as powerful as when Merlin, Casanova, Sherlock Holmes, Jesus and Guts from Berserk decided to team up and kick ass. Plan accordingly.

>>52008048

Malfeas and Ardojan.

>>52007380

You get five free motes every turn.

>>52008153

I'll add that your PCs will eventually become god-kings. Their actions will have immense effects on a region, and things will just generally escalate from a small-town to a regional scale. In a way, that's actually the best part of things - the PCs will get to see how they're affecting the world around them.

Note that Exalted antagonists are rare, and even DBs aren't ubiquitous. Even then, very little can stand up to a Circle of Solars. Proceed on the assumption that the PCs won't just win fights, they'll utterly destroy anyone who opposes them.

What ho /exg/! I have run out of things to add to the sheet for the time being and turn now to you! What features or suchlike would you like to see in the sheet? This is not a promise! A feature might be harder than you think or I might be lazier than I would like, but if I like your idea I'll promise to at least try.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pfjmZKzcUqAX9mB58IAEUIFkZr8rq4CvdRRM4kzwwgU/edit?usp=sharing

how much hardness is good in 2.5?

>>52008235
>Even then, very little can stand up to a Circle of Solars

So how can you challenge them if they roll through every challenge?

Just how good does the sid excellency look in 3e compared to the others?

>>52008371

Because just smashing your way through things has consequences. Yeah, sure, you could butcher that Immaculate monk who's calling you out as Anathema, but he's actually a moral and well-respected member of his community, and slaughtering him will just reinforce everything the people have heard about Solars being ravening monsters. Your social monkey could turn on the charm, and get them on side despite your actions, but now you've just violated the will of a whole bunch of people. Every time the easy way out has a consequence, the easiest way out is a greater application of power. At some point, you're going to look up, and find that you've become the image of the First Age Solars, and will end the same way.

The challenge isn't being able to smash enough faces, it's being given ultimate power and not becoming a monster.

As a Storyteller, your job is to provide realistic (or maybe, "internally consistent" is a better phrase) problems, and consequences to the player's solutions to those problems. The solution to one problem creates a complication that leads to the next. You're not supposed to screw them over, but the party shouldn't be able to murder-hobo their way across Creation withouit consequence.

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Out of curiosity, does every DB belong to a dynast, if they're living in the realm?

>>52008371

By giving them things they can't punch their way through. For instance, if the PCs are up against a Yozi cult, perhaps the cult has multiple suicide bomber set to go off around the city. Or they're going to try and assassinate the Magistrate, and the PCs have to thwart the assassination...But they'll set off the bombs if the assassination fails!

Basically, set it up so that punching isn't the only way out of things. Remember, the five Solar Castes each excel at different things. Combat was the not the sole focus of the Exalted, even though they were exceptionally mighty in combat.

At the very least, you likely have one of the greatest wizards to ever walk Creation, a guy who could re-ignite a religion, and a diplomat supreme. Sure, you have an assassin and the ultimate warrior, but the other three guys aren't just tagalongs.

>>52008537

Not necessarily, but Lost Eggs and Outcastes don't tend to be treated as well.

>>52008577
Are there minor notabilities, or is it just Dynast or bust?

>>52008593

Probably the former, but the Dynasts have an advantage in all fields.

>>52008552
>For instance, if the PCs are up against a Yozi cult, perhaps the cult has multiple suicide bomber set to go off around the city.
MALFEAS AKHBAR

>>52008644

Generally, most problems aren't hard for Exalted to overcome. Their antagonists are literally only human. Even if the Dawn Caste isn't in full murder-mode, the Night caste can sneak in and cut everyone's throat, or the Zenith caste can convert everyone to Christianity.

Hell, the Twilight can probably whip up some kind of sorcery to make the bad guys think their demon masters have called off the whole thing. Or alternatively, just summon demons to eat them.

>>52008597
For DBs in the immaculate order, are they mostly outcastes, or can a Dynast DB also be a monk?

>>52008732

Anyone can join the Immaculate Order. Outcastes only get to pick between the Order and the Army, if I remember correctly. But generally, Dynasts are discouraged from entering the Order because Dynasts are encouraged to have a lot of children.

>>52008758
What would you say a good headcount of each Dynast house would be, in general? I know they make up a bulk of the military might, and they're all about mass production but in my head most noble houses in other fiction are smaller with some branch families so I'm trying to wrap my head around it.

>>52008797

Damn, it's pretty complicated. In addition to the main branch, each house has a LOT of cadet families. Remember, Dragonblooded live a long time and they pass on their Exaltation through their bloodline. Cathak Cainan, for example, has been around for a long time - he'll die soon, but he's still physically powerful and extremely active. (I think his wife has had like 30 children or something.)

There are a lot of those fuckers running around.

What's the best combat ability for a stealth solar? Also, should I supernal stealth or dodge?

>>52008833

It's really up to you, but I still think Melee's best because it means you can parry too. Supernal Stealth, rely on Parry as your defense, or just drop back into Stealth to spring out and gib people.

You could always use Ebon Shadow Style, if you prefer.

>>52008833
Thrown has the most direct synergy I believe but I had great success using Single Point Shining into the Void with Stealth for absolutely ludicrous amounts of damage.

I'd say Supernal Stealth, if you do things right you'll barely get hit so choosing Dodge is betting on your failure. If you are actually Stealthing well you won't need your strongest ability.

>>52008833

Stealth.

Archery or Thrown is a good bet, as with those you'd rarely need to move (which causes penalties) and you bypass one of their biggest issues: Poor Withering attacks outside of nova bursting.

>>52008870

Single Point + Stealth is great, but I found I was mostly only good for a single alpha strike, after which I had almost totally tapped my mote pool. My general strategy was alpha strike the toughest bad guy in the scene, then Belt of Shadow Walking to go immaterial. I wasn't a primary combat monkey, so having a fairly limited combat shtick was acceptable.

>>52008758
On the other hand, Great Houses have to let some of their scions join the order. It'd cast some serious doubts on their piety if they didn't.

>>52005289
The other side-effect of losing your Hardness in crash is sudden vulnerability to DB animas. Don't get crashed when there's a bunch of DBs flaring their anima nearby.

A few more setting questions, is your Caste what it was in all previous lives?

Do DBs have to have previous lives?

Are DB Castes hereditary, or if you Exalt and your parents were both fire could you be earth?

Would the Unconquered sun ever think to make more Solars in response to more getting corrupted?

>>52010526

Yes to the first, no to all others.

>>52010526
>Do DBs have to have previous lives?

"Previous life" is a bit of an inaccurate term. Exalted's spirtuality is Eastern-ish; sentient creatures have a two-part soul - the Hun, and the Po. The Po is the lower, animal soul - the only sort of soul non-sentient animals have. Upon death, it may linger for a while as a ghost, then dissipate into nothingness.

The Hun is the higher soul. Upon death, it moves to Lethe, where it is washed of all it's previous life experiences, before reincarnating.

For Celestial Exalts, their Exaltation is separate from their normal souls, and is not part of the reincarnation cycle. When you die, it seeks out another host, and Exalts them.

Thus, for Celestial Exalts, you actually have two past lives - the past life of your Hun, and the past life of your Exaltation. Dragonblooded don't have Celestial Exaltations that are constantly re-used, so they don't have that past life, but they do have a Hun that has experienced past lives.

>Is your Caste what it was in all previous lives?

Yes. Your Caste is an aspect of your Exaltation, so every host that Exaltation ever had was of the same Caste.

>Are DB Castes hereditary, or if you Exalt and your parents were both fire could you be earth?

DB Castes are called Aspects, and are hereditary, but much like real hereditary, it's not so simple as just taking after your parents. You will have a strong tendency to take after your parents, but throwbacks happen. If your line is "pure" (ie: your parents where both Fire, and so where your grandparents, and their parents, etc) then you will almost certainly exalt Fire, if you exalt. If you have more of a mixed line, then you are more likely to diverge from your parents.

>>52010526
>Would the Unconquered sun ever think to make more Solars in response to more getting corrupted?

Up to your Storyteller, but I don't think such a thing would ever be canon. For one thing, Sol is canonically absorbed in the Games of Divinity, to the point of abrogating his responsibility to Creation. For another, Solars are created out of his essence, so continually creating Solars would result in a diminuation of his Essence. Thirdly, if you buy into the 2E Autocthon lore, he doesn't have the capability, as Autocthon helped the Celstials create the original Exaltations, and he is no longer available.

is there a list anywhere of which attributes are associated with which ability?

my guesses don't balance well between them.

str: melee,brawl
dex: archery,martialarts,thrown, athletics, craft-mundane, larceny, stealth, dodge
stam: resistance, ride
char: performance
manip: bureaucracy, socialize, craft-fate,glamour,ghostflesh/haunting
app: presence
per: awareness
int: linguistics, lore, occult, medicine, war, craft-magitech,genesis,nechrotech
wits: investigation, craft-vitriol, integrity, sail, survival

>>52003945
looks like it's down temporally

>>52011098
I get what you're doing, but it's pretty much Dex for everything that involves moving. Dexterity as a concept in RPGs is not a good concept. Too broad. There need to be things that it can't do. No help from Exalted here, since it's better than Stamina at making you harder to kill and is broad enough to do some of Strength's job of helping you deal more damage.

That old joke comes to mind. The Wyld Hunt has a really easy time detecting anathema, they just accuse everyone with a Dexterity of 5.

>>52010526
yes

yes, but it's the same background as mortals not the one solars get (although honestly calling solar/infernal pastlives pastlives is silly. just because you have your grandfather's sword doesn't make you your grandfather. neither of your souls belonged to that other guy unless something unusual is going on, he just had the same superweapon stapled to them as you and some memories rubbed off on it. the significance the setting places on that is dumb)

they were in 1 and 2e, 3 has decided it is more fun not to be for some reason. personally I found the elemental bloodlines more interesting but i'ts hardly the only thing 3e rebooted that I don't care for

no, that doesn't make any sense. why would he? the solars going bad made him turn away from the world and go full crackhead and as far as he knows nothing is actually wrong with them persay. he'd have every expectation of the new batch going the same and he'd pay a big price to do it. also I'm pretty sure he can't since there were only so many shards

>>52010526

It's not possible to create more Solar Exaltations, as a matter of fact. They're completely and utterly invulnerable, so that makes up for it.

2E outright stated that even if the entire universe slipped into Oblivion, the last things that would remain would be the Solar shards.

>>52010733
>Yes. Your Caste is an aspect of your Exaltation, so every host that Exaltation ever had was of the same Caste.

Lunar's being the exception here. There Caste's are fluid. In the First Age they would settle in to one of five castes normally, but the castes were broken and now Lunars must be tatooed to set their caste. They also only have three castes instead of the five they once did. If you DON'T get your Lunar Ink then your caste is literally dependent on the phase of the moon and you run a much greater risk of gaining permanent Wyld mutations, even if you're no where near the Wyld, until you go completely insane.

Thanks for all the answers. I'm really excited to run the game but it's a tall order to absorb, especially all at once. 3E also seems to not mention certain things or address them in weird spots, I think the only mention of past lives or reincarnation at all is in a few charms.

For now should I just try to run with the 3e core book, and build on it in later sessions/campaigns?

Something my players brought up. A Solar needs to have redeeming features somewhere, and be great or mighty, but can they be dicks or do some immoral deeds? Like, if my players want, can they just try to conquer stuff, or make huge west based pirate kingdoms? I figured the shards would be more discerning of who they exalted but ultimately it was their excellence and deeds that stood out. For that matter, would it be reasonable to have other Solars come at them later as rivals or antagonists?

>>52011339
>but can they be dicks or do some immoral deeds?

ahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA

That'd be a solid yes.

"Although it’s rare for cruel blackguards to gain the Unconquered Sun’s blessing, there’s little consistency in the morality of those that are Chosen. Many consider themselves righteous, but their definitions of righteous behavior vary widely enough to have brought the Solar Exalted to war in the past—and will again."

>>52011339
Solars being dicks - from a certain point of view, at least - is the rule rather than an exception. They're not supposed to be DnD paladins or anything like that, just remarkable people given an immense amount of power. Conquest, piracy and banditry, revenge taken on whole nations, Solar-on-Solar conflict, pursuit of one's own goals regardless of collateral damage and such are all pretty common behavior for Solars. Well, as common as any behavior can be when talking about people who're as rare as Solars, anyways.

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>>52011339
There is no moral empowerment in the Solar exaltation, and the Solar exaltation is as likely to chose a mass murderer as a paladin.

Even without taking into account the Great Curse which will make all your Solars go insane with power eventually, 'that mortal rapist who tried to rape an entire household of Dragon Blooded' is a perfectly valid target for Solar exaltation.

Even if the Solar is a good guy to begin with, and is too young to be seriously taken by the Great Curse, he is still a simple mortal who was given ultimate cosmic power with zero accountability. Power on this scale corrupts.

>>52011339

Not exactly. Havesh the Vanisher is an infamous example of a Solar Exalted who is totally villainous. (In 2nd Edition, however, he's finally - reluctantly - found something more constructive to do with his life, namely tracking down his Lunar mate.)

>>52012193
>'that mortal rapist who tried to rape an entire household of Dragon Blooded'
I find this shit so disturbing, doesn't the exaltation have some sort of mechanic to gauge the potential of an individual? Why would it pick a rapist and why would UCS bless that mortal?

>>52012506
>doesn't the exaltation have some sort of mechanic to gauge the potential of an individual?
Sure, that's why someone who is genuinely incompetent or utterly apathetic and without ambition probably won't Exalt.

>Why would it pick a rapist and why would UCS bless that mortal?
Some of the dumber parts of 2E aside, UCS isn't necessarily a good guy. He is virtuous, perhaps, but in the previous editions where Virtues were objecive and clearly defined parts of the setting, high ratings in said Virtues were really not unambiguously good. Things that disturb humans aren't necessarily big deals for UCS. What matters is that his Chosen have the will and ability to put their power to use.

>>52012506

This is mainly because it relies on the old definition of hero i.e. 'someone who performs epic feats'. Gilgamesh and Hercules are legendary heroes, but they do amazingly shitty things.

Remember, the Solars were picked to kill the Primordials. They were an eternally-respawning army. Some Exalted, like Fehim, are especially treacherous to the point that Fehim is an Akuma in 2E.

>>52012239

That's a good example. He Exalted because he had the willpower to buck the caste system he lived in, and because he was desperate enough to take on a sorcerer with his bare hands.

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>>52012506
The Solar exaltation gauges if you have the strength of will to do the impossible and change the world.

Doing the impossible here could be mauling an Exalted dynast and ass-fucking his wife. Think Conan or any mythological hero ever.

>>52013824
>Doing the impossible here could be mauling an Exalted dynast and ass-fucking his wife.
I know what my new character's backstory is now.

>>52011183
Uh what, 3e Aspect is still absolutely hereditary. Yeah it's not a 100% chance for two Fire Aspects to have a Fire Aspect kid, but it never was in prior editions either. There have always been weird differently Aspected offshoots in all the Great Houses.

>>52012780
It wasn't a sorcerer, it was a wealthy old craftsman who happened to be tougher than he looked. Also Havesh had a knife, which he used to stab the old guy in a surprise attack, which failed because the guy had suspected that his life was in danger and wore armor under his clothes.

>>52012239
>>52012193
>>52012183
>>52011483
Thanks, I was just wondering in case I felt the need to throw another Solar with contrarian goals at them, or if was just a better choice to make it an abyssal or something.

3E doesn't go into great detail about it, how does the bonding work between a Solar and a Lunar? Like, in every incarnation they'll feel the subtle need to seek out their bonded partner?

>>52011183
Grandfather's sword analogy doesn' work here dude.
Youare not inhereting a sword, but a third piece of soul that is imperishable and grafts itself so much onto your soul only it shattering into higher and lower soul and drifiting into lethe can make it return to Lytheks cabinet, where it then has so much 'spiritual baggage' as they called it, accumulated, it needs to be cleansed or, as with the mantle of domnica, the wholeness of that bagagge can overwhelm the next person to inherit the exaltation.

>>52016552
It's gone I believe.

Lunars number approximately 400 now so the 1 to 1 pairing is out, so I'm running it as being drawn to the other type as conkie and luna intended it that way but past that the lunars are purposefully pulling away from their traditions so it's a case by case thing

>>52016552
>Thanks, I was just wondering in case I felt the need to throw another Solar with contrarian goals at them, or if was just a better choice to make it an abyssal or something.
Yeah, a Solar antagonist is totally fine. Of course, neither side needs to be bad guys for that to happen. Two Solars or groups of Solars with different ideas about what's right and just and best for thei corner of the Creation can be at each other's throats even if both sides have the best of intentions.

>3E doesn't go into great detail about it, how does the bonding work between a Solar and a Lunar? Like, in every incarnation they'll feel the subtle need to seek out their bonded partner?
First of all, at one point at least the devs implied or outright stated, can't remember which, that in 3E not every Solar will have a Lunar mate and vice versa. It's more of something related to the 'lineage' and history of particular Exaltations rather than an inherent part of the nature of Solars and Lunars. From what I understand, those who do have a bonded mate don't necessarily feel drawn to where they are, but if they meet them - and Fate may or may not subtly lead them to meet each other - they'll feel something. Some kind of recognition, some kind of connection, not necessarily love or attraction, but something that can't just be ignored.

>>52016790
there's no numbers in 3e, it's whatever your gm says

>>51997214
This post makes me want to play a sorceror with a strength-based shaping ritual.
Fuck MA, Brawl+Sorcery.
Sorcerous working for total annihlation fists when?

>>52016815
No, there are numbers. They aren't all as strict as in prior editions (although there's still exactly and explicitly 100 Sidereals), but there are official numbers, and for Lunars that's "somewhere around 400".

Currently working on a Barbarian Martial Art. Base idea is that they take a drug to get really angry, then wreck faces. Here's the outline, thoughts?
Drug-making charm
>Charm to alter Drug
>>Form Charm (Get Initiative from HL damage, Ignore HL penalty, can take HL damage from Withering Attacks)
>>>Extra Temporary Health Levels
>>>>Change HL damage into a bonus
>>>Scary barbarian
>>>Big Decisive
>>>>Maiming
>>>>>Death of Giants

>>52016977

1 charm into form is too soon, try to have at least two.

>>52016977
>>52017023
Two independant charms are the least you have to set before the form, three is the average, more then four only happened once. Strange and erratic styles like all the SMAs can get away with having mutiple forms or early form charms.
Remember: they give the martial artist the ability to channel the enlightenment inherent in a particular martial art properly. Form charms are, thusly, a signof a certain mastery of a principle.

>>52017023

There are two. Drug-making charm and charm to alter drug's effects.

>>52017450
While mechanically sound, maybe you should thing about using one of the lesser effects of the form to make it a charm in it's own right, maybe the initiative from HL damage, fluffing it as inherent understanding of rage and drawing from it reflexively for small cost. Form reduces cost to near or nothing, by tapping deeper still into rage.
Also think forward about mastery effects and how lesser exalts might want to learn from you if you live long enough, i.e. terrestial keyword.
Looks good overall though.

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>>52016904
page?

>>52018018
http://avatarcomic.net/exalted-wiki/Exalts

"We're cranking [the numbers of each Exalt type] back toward 1e, where we do know how many Exalts there are, but we didn't explicitly reference exact numbers of Exalts all the time. Except Sidereals-- there are still exactly 100 Sidereals for sure and that'll be mentioned repeatedly lol (Holden)"

"The Unconquered Sun made 300 Solars. Luna made ~400 Lunars. There has never been more than 300 Exigents at once, and the actual number is probably far, far fewer than that. (John Morke)"

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>>52018090

>>52018090

The extra hundred Lunars just feels completely arbitrary.

>>52018324
hard numbers in general feel arbitary

>>52018333

True, but the "One Lunar for every Solar" thing made sense.

>>52018360
Yes, but not having one Lunar for every Solar makes an equal amount of sense.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10yMZdGyua3xHwoVk4aH86UFM5TEBt7r6Z9MRAn4IxX0/edit?usp=sharing

Feel free to take the whole thing apart, this is my first 3e homebrew and I recognize that.
Won't be able to respond for a bit though.

https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?799438-Exalted-3-Hidden-Horse-Style

What do you all think of this?

>>52012554
>>52012748
>>52013824
>Gain super power for being an asshole
Wow thanks for nothing!

>>52018808
No, you gain super powers for being an impressive person. Being an asshole is not a part of the criteria, it's just irrelevant.

>>52012506
>Why would it pick a rapist and why would UCS bless that mortal?


dude is on crack 24/7 hes not exactly operating at his best, at this point the exaltations are set to purely automatic and he no longer pays attention to the world

>>52019160
And even if he did, he is not human. He is closer to Zeus than Jesus. His standards are not the standards of humans, his morals aren't the morals of humans.

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>>51985499

OK, so I'm the newbie who asked about dark fantasy Exalted. I probably won't run a mortal game, because my whole point to changing to this system is to allow the PCs more agency and the feeling that they can seriously impact the world with their presence, at least more than the gritty Runequest 6 campaign we're coming out of.

But I still want to keep it kinda gritty. I saw that there was a brief debate over DB power levels and this is something I was pondering already.

I was hypothesizing a little about the campaign I'll run.

Haven't really thought of how the Circle will come together, but I was thinking that the first session could start with their attempt to harass the local imperial infrastructure without exposing themselves. Had an idea where they encounter a group of DB in a tavern en route to intercept what they suspect is a tax collector's caravan. Haven't looked into charms so I don't know how easily they would detect each other if both groups were intent on hiding, but in any case the idea of the encounter would be to stealthily avoid drawing attention while accomplishing their objective of learning the caravan's whereabouts or whatever.

Then the DBs would surprise the party when they show up as the caravan's guards and the PCs find out that there was something much more important than taxes involved.

However I'm a little worried that the game paints DB as fodder. I was thinking that a group of 4 or 5 trained DB catching a fledgling Circle off-guard would be enough to pose a serious threat, or at least a respectable one.

Am I wrong? Can I homebrew DBs to be fairly formidable opponents, albeit naturally inferior ones? I like the idea of five or six trained DBs working in tandem fucking up a Dawn Caste, but all that I've read makes it seem really out of place.

Illuminate me, Exalted players

>>52020525

Well, just from reading the whole thread after I posted this leads me to believe I might be selling the PCs short even at the very beginning to have them be so clandestine. My questions about DB balancing still remain though.

A little more high scale, I was thinking that their first "quest" could involve the dying god of a local river or lake request that the Circle protect a religious figure of remarkable purity who is supposedly on a pilgrimage to rekindle life in the desecrated and forgotten shrines throughout the countryside. The Circle would uncover evidence that leads them to believe he's being targeted by some kind of enemy Exalted, only for him to reveal himself as an Abyssal when they see him devouring a god or something that he's supposed to be saving.

Important caveat is that I have no idea how I would fluff any of that until I dig deeper into the system, but having only skimmed the 3e corebook it's what I came up with as far as a plot. I'm really not used to thinking about things that could affect PCs this powerful.

>>52020525

It really depends on the Circle. If there's only one Dawn, and none of the others have much combat focus, 4-5 experienced DBs would be a handful.

If there's only one Dawn, and the rest of the circle have high combat skills and a couple of basic defensive charms, the DBs will probably go down, but it'll take some effort.

If there are multiple combat-supernal characters, they'll take the DBs apart with little effort.

This is all assuming the characters have made good mechanical selections, of course. You can be combat-supernal, and still not take the really juicy charms if you don't understand the system well.

>>52020237
Like how before he blessed humans (and left all other races to get fucked) (coincidentally right after autochthon made primordial slaying superweapons human only) he used to shine on the dragon kings....who had big aztec pyrimids where they'd rip out the beating hearts of human slaves enmasse purely to honor the unconquered sun. With Conky you're the best or you're the rest.

Is there a mirror for the OP tutorial? I played it years ago but the link is broken now.

>>52020940
yeah, let me get it for ya bud.

>>52020940
mengtzu.github.io/exalted/sakuya.html

Pretty sure that's it.

>>52020525
houserule dbs more powerful to smooth out the curve a bit(especially since 3e took most of the db's toys when they nuked "the badwrongfun scifi contamination in my sword and sandal story about flawed solar godlings"). solars are a bit op and throwing other solars(the only thing on their level) at them constantly is weaksause

>>52021077

How would you recommend I accomplish that? Being someone with little experience in the system

Is it also easy to retool 2e and 1e fluff for 3e mechanics? If not is it worth using 3e anyway despite how little content is out?

Thanks to anon for the link to that tutorial

>>52018808

You can become a Solar for utterly terrible reasons. Imagine if you're a slave-owner, and one day the slaves revolt. You stand against them, alone where all the other guards flee, because you're utterly convinced in the rightness of your cause, and you give them a passionate speech about why some men should rule over others and why it would be best for everyone if they returned to their chains.

You could get a Solar Exaltation for that. For convincing them to go right back to, you know, being slaves.

>>52021195
meh, that's more worthy than being some coked out gladiator who got bored and... suddenly became a zenith for no reason like panther

>>52021228

Some of the 1E Exaltations are weird, like Demethus Exalting after doing, well, what he normally does. Panther's could be argued as a 'moment of enlightenment'.

Only 2E really refined it. Not to mention that 2E isn't actually a fantasy setting - It's a strictly magitech setting.

>>51984856
is there a guide for reading the corebook?

>>52020525
>>52020525
Play as DB lost eggs or Lunars, don't go with solars in the first place. That should help the powerlevel a bit. http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/exalted/881714-a-clutch-of-dragons-hub-thread Not sure which Lunar port is good.

>>52020525

Technically, a Circle of Exalted is an insanely dangerous threat. One Solar can likely take on one to two Dragonblooded by himself. If there are three to four of them, holy shit.

got any good homebrew lunar limit breaks? wanted to expand the 2e options

Feel like my first foray into the systrm should probably be with Solars though, for my sake and for my players

>>52021077
>3e took most of the db's toys when they nuked "the badwrongfun scifi contamination in my sword and sandal story about flawed solar godlings"
Say what? Elaborate please.

If I'm a Steel Devil stylist, for example, and I attack without using a Martial Arts charm, do I roll Melee or Martial Arts?

>>52023707
Up to you

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>>52023707

>I'm a Steel Devil stylist

>>52023804
Why, is it shit?

Between the merit and having to buy skill dots for each martial art I want to use, before then buying the charms, I honestly don't see the appeal of martial arts. The charms look cool, but not cool enough to deal with all this shit.

>>52023853

oh. yes, it is. its thematically boring as hell and mechanically terrible. it is usable when you hit e3 and get every charm but its hands-down the worst MA until then, and honestly still is afterwards - just the gap is smaller. any other MA will be more enjoyable to play.

>>52023886

I actually really enjoy the thematics.

I won't deny it needs a heavy crutch to work though. You need a good artifact weapon to fire off double attack technique reliably.

>>52023270

Well, yeah. The game is meant to be played as a Circle of Solars. Things get wonky if you don't. (For instance, I'm still confused about how Resplendent Destinies work.)

>>52011174
>The Wyld Hunt has a really easy time detecting anathema, they just accuse everyone with a Dexterity of 5.
You got a chuckle out of me, I can just imagine the Wyld Hunt bursting into a track meet and arresting the 1st place winner.

>>52021077
For the love of Desus, who stole your cookie man? Calm down.

>>52023410
2E went to be less and less about Exalts with time (DBs, Solars, Lunars, Sidereals...) and more about magical plane strafe-bombing magical nuke into magical tanks helped by magical mechas.

This became quite silly for the tone of Exalted (which appropriately isn't called Magical Tanks: the Game).

3E introduces a change of venue. Magical planes, magical tanks and magical mechas can't be mass produced anymore. They work by breaking reality or some shit, so it's more like the Numidium rather than like a Gundam. They are so rare you probably won't find even one in any given campaign. They are not the explicit focus.

Magitech is toned all the way down. Magic exists and can produce wondrous result, but you can't mass produce flying cars from your magical factories. At best you'll summon mist clouds pushed by air elementals, or some appropriate shit.

It is mostly cosmetic, but I like it very much. This isn't a change to bitch about in 3e, not when Craft is so broken or when the Evocations are stillborn.

>>52025254
>not when Craft is so broken or when the Evocations are stillborn.
Any exalted GM's out there?
Does anyone have any suggestions or methods they use for keeping crafting out of hand? Could you make the materials to forge any artifact past a certain tier rarer or something?

>>52023410
solars are so much stronger than db, but they get stashes of artifacts and first age tech to back them up in 2e

>>52025254

To be fair, I don't think they could be mass-produced in 2E. Dreams of the First Age had a lot of this stuff, but DoTF was basically unplayable as a setting. (Besides, as a PC Solar, you'd have access to all of that stuff.)

Personally, I always thought it was for Solars to steal and convert to their side. Basically all that stuff can be punched to death or hijacked with startling ease.

To me, the biggest change to 3E is that even mortals can use Sorcery, and Sorcery is a lot more flexible with Workings. In 2E, mortal sorcerers could barely do anything.

>>52022741
curse of the wandering cat:
The character hears stories or meets people of far-off and exotic location, begins to get too bored in her current location, or is simply overcome by the desire to see what lies just over the horizon. He grows discontent and bored with his current surroundings, wishing to explore and discover. When the Character’s Limit Breaks he will immediately abandon his current home and any responsibilities tied to that location, setting off on an epic journey to some exotic location “never to return again”. Goodbyes are typically quite short, or absent all-together, as the character simply leaves one night without forewarning. Few possessions are taken with him, and much is simply left behind. This Limit Break only rarely results in a permanent resettling (unless the character is the type to wander on his own, or really takes to the wandering lifestyle – in which case this Curse will result in it being impossible for him to settle down in one location), as it only lasts a number of days equal to his Temperance roll before wearing off. The Character will often complete whatever journey he has set out upon, explore his destination to some degree, and then return back home as is sensible. Anyone following him to convince him to come back will have no luck for the duration of the Curse, but could convince him to turn around once the time limit has passed if the need was pressing enough or the character turns out not to really wish to travel to whatever his destination is after all.

partial control: He will find somebody he trusts to handle his responsibilities first and may tell his friends where he is going and a general sense of when he is likely to return, but the timer doesn't start until after the journey begins.

curse of the thieving magpie: see the shiny take the shiny

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>>52026350
>To be fair, I don't think they could be mass-produced in 2E.

In 2e, Paragon made a deal from a god to create a magical factory able to mass-produce Artifact ***.

Lookshy has several. The Realm ditto.

The Underworld also mass-produces necrotech at a stupid scale.

Artifacts are perfectly okay in Exalted, but they should be incredibly difficult to produce and impossible to reproduce perfectly. Or else they aren't really important artifacts to begin with.

In the leak, with the best evocations, there were good examples of artifact creations: i.e a sword made from the tooth of a slain elemental dragon of wood and forged continuously by three generations of DB. Or that ice-mirror sword I really like. Good shit.

>>52026710

Necrotech seems absurdly useless to me, however. The fact that you need Abyssals to create the more powerful ones limits the utility even more.

But really, a thing I didn't like about 2E was how the items weren't really items of legend. Your Daiklaive was basically the same as any other Daiklaive, and there were places that could mass-produce the fucking things.

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>>52026725
Yes, and moreover:

A lot of distinction should be made between an object that is simply enchanted, and an artifact. This is an important difference. The difference between a flaming sword and a Daiklave.

The flaming sword is the mortal side of the mortal/exalted dichotomy. Everybody can enchant a sword to make it produce flames. It's easy for a sorcerer. You should get a minor bonus to damage for the burn, and that's it.

An artifact isn't a sword that produces flames. An artifact is a sword created in the caldera of an active volcano, from lava mixed with the blood of a thousand sacrifice. It will produce flames. It will also produce volcanoes, eruptions, ashes, and have a burning soul screaming for the burning of all life on earth. That's an artifact.

Ex3 makes reference to gold being able to be turned into Orichalcum using lava and mirrors that concentrate sunlight, much the same as it could be done in 2e.

Would this be a major or superior project? Should the Lava+Mirror formula be strictly kept or should a Twilight be able to bypass it with Craftsman Needs No Tools and Thousand Forge Hands?

What about Soulsteel? Same gig?

Are there any gauntlet rules? I only find cestus ones in the core e3

>>52027476

What's the difference between a gauntlet and a cestus? Aren't they both gloves you use for fighting?

>>52027506
the cestus is more like a bandage with solid materials intended to deal harm while a gauntlet is much more like a piece of armor made in steel that functions as a glove both to protect the hand and to enhance hand to hand combat.

tl;dr cestus is light and the gauntlet is medium

>>52027561

So why not take a cestus and give it stats of a medium weapon?

>>52026840
This has 100% no correlation to in game in 3rd ed either.

>>52027067
The crafting rules would make a lot more sense to me if you got your crafting xp by making components for your big projects rather than the deliberately farcical billion chairs examples people keep suggesting.

Sorry, don't have helpful advice for you. I try to pretend that 3e's crafting rules don't exist.

>>52027703
I thought getting into the unique powers of individual artifacts was the whole point of evocations in 3e.

>>52028011
I shoulda quoted like someone who isn't an idiot. I was referring to the forged in the caldera of an active volcano with blood lava part. Craft as designed is intended to make as much of that irrelevant as possible, so most projects eventually get done in a handful of weeks alongside 5 similar projects. Not a lot of room for cool daiklaves when you make 75 a year.

>>52028011
That's true, but the other part doesn't work. The game has done away with effects that give minor mechanical bonuses, like that flaming sword example. This is just good design, I think; if something every PC can get gives a +1, then every PC will get that +1, +1 becomes the default, and +0 becomes a penalty. Nothing changes, except that people who don't like flaming swords now feel penalised.

I feel like power should have a source in this game. Anything wondrous has a person animating it, whether that person is an exalt or a spirit. Ideally this would build into a very sharp division between charms and sorcery; sorcery cannot be controlled after being cast, the sorcerer provided a spark but now the pattern acts beyond their control. That sort of works with the bronze skin spell, which can't be dismissed, but not so much for the switchable wood dragon claw or the controllable cirrus skiff or stormwind rider. In any case, I'm not a big fan of magic items in exalted that just work without input. Love them in Eberron, not convinced in Creation. Not that the Linowan shouldn't have a vast supply of Yasal Crystal-equivalent bound demon masks and entire raiding parties of mortals with the combat charms of blood apes and such.

>>52028179
>The game has done away with effects that give minor mechanical bonuses, like that flaming sword example.

Completely false.

In 2E there is elemental blessing, which game minor magical enchantment.

In 3E there is several examples of enchanted shirts and an enchanted sword with minor enhancement.

No Exalts are supposed to play with those, mind you. It's underpowered, but perfect for mortals.

so how fast is combat resolution in this game? or is it fun enought that it doesnt matter

>>52028695
OK, I remember elemental blessing, but that was the sort of thing I thought they'd gotten rid of along with craftsmanship bonuses for weapons and armor.

Where are the magical shirts and swords in 3e? I'm not seeing them?

>>52029295
In the quick antagonist section. Mostly fluff and tidbits like 'hardness 10: enchanted shirt'.

It explicitly told that the new thaumaturgy can enchant objects, and the new sorcery too.

It seems reasonable to me. Yes, your thaumaturge can create fire swords. They're just absolutely useless in the hand of any exalt, break no less easily than any sword.

Just like what's the new niche for thaumaturgy. No exalt will ever use that, but it is useful to mortal.