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Shades of Gray
2009-04-12, 04:03 PM
I just picked up Exalted via their free download giveaway. I'm stuck. I can't make sense about a lot of the system. I can make my character... sorta, but I'm stuck at what to do when choosing

In addition, I'm also stuck on Essence. Generally how much you have (It says either two ,or 6+Willpower or something), and what it actually does besides making your forehead shoot off beams of happy sunshine and love to the universe.

The Rose Dragon
2009-04-12, 04:09 PM
Essence is used for everything Willpower isn't used for. And most things Willpower is used for.

You have a permanent Essence, which begins at 2 and can be increased, and an Essence pool, which has a higher value.

See the Charms section for a very small amount of things you can use Essence for (it increases with every new supplement).

MeklorIlavator
2009-04-12, 04:11 PM
First off, this thread may be of some assistance.

Still, what exactly is the trouble with character creation? If I remember, that chapter was one of the better laid out. You might try this (http://anathema.sourceforge.net/) program. I find it's very straight-forward.

kamikasei
2009-04-12, 04:13 PM
You have an Essence stat, and a pool of Essence motes. Think of it as being like your casting stat vs. your mana pool. And as the analogy suggests, it's used to power most of your abilities.

Shades of Gray
2009-04-12, 04:14 PM
And a mote is the name of a unit of essence? So one mote is simply taking one point of essence out of your essence pool?

Also, when I said I can "sorta" make my character, I meant that I can't make my character concept work with the stuff provided in the core book. The character I have in mind is more fitting as an Abyssal.

Tengu_temp
2009-04-12, 04:20 PM
Remember that not all Solars are heroic saviours, many of them are anti-heroes or outright bastards. Still, the core book covers only them - while the Storyteller's Companion is enough to create different kinds of Exalted as NPCs, if you want to create one as a PC you will need their specific book.
Also, grouping different kinds of Exalted is hard, both for story and mechanical reasons - it's doable, but requires an experienced ST.

MeklorIlavator
2009-04-12, 04:21 PM
And a mote is the name of a unit of essense? So one mote is simply taking one point of essence out of your essence pool?
Kinda ya, kinda not. Think of it like this. Essence=money, mote's=cents. Really, at this point it's more semantics than anything else.


Also, when I said I can "sorta" make my character, I meant that I can't make my character concept work with the stuff provided in the core book. The character I have in mind is more fitting as an Abyssal.
Well, then that's a problem that can only be solved by getting the appropriate book. The program in my post does have some information on Abyssal, but I've never used it in that way, so I'm not sure how useful it'll be.

Shades of Gray
2009-04-12, 04:27 PM
Mostly the problems I was having were because my character was an antisocial, physically weak man. I had too many points to spend. This, of course, was not "minmaxing" at all. He was a twilight caste solar somewhat like Kore from Goblins (A paladin who despises evil and kills innocents who he believes are evil) who realized the error of his ways and decided to live a simple life. He gave himself a new title and vowed never again to use his powers. So he became weak over time. I was thinking of just giving him high Occult, Lore, Essence, and Willpower. But I have Far too many points to spend, even before bonus points.

The Rose Dragon
2009-04-12, 04:32 PM
Exalts are not weak. Even if they were weak, their Exaltation gives them great physical prowess (considering that you get four dots to give to your lowest priority attributes, that means to get two ● attributes, the third one must be ●●●●●).

Exalts are simply that good.

Shades of Gray
2009-04-12, 04:35 PM
Wait, that doesn't make sense. If you have four dots to spend, wouldn't the options be:
●●



●●●

_

●●●●
_
_

MeklorIlavator
2009-04-12, 04:39 PM
Remember that Exalted are essentially Demigods, and that doesn't quite do them justice. For Example, Solars in the First age were the Law and dealt with any God Below Incarnate Level.

Also, all Celestial Exalted are driven in some manner: Solars are driven to greatness(for good or ill). Plus, Solars are only chosen if they have the will to reach that greatness.

Really, you're being very narrow. If he's really Exalted he should still have some skills by the nature of his exaltation.


Wait, that doesn't make sense. If you have four dots to spend, wouldn't the options be:

Well four dots in addition to the minimum of one. So more like this:

The Rose Dragon
2009-04-12, 04:41 PM
Wait, that doesn't make sense. If you have four dots to spend, wouldn't the options be:
●●



●●●

_

●●●●
_
_

You get ● to start with in all Attributes.

Shades of Gray
2009-04-12, 04:42 PM
@^

...

*clubs self over the head*

And now I know.

Regardless [Insert Long Title Here] once had a great cause and motivation, but lost sight of that motivation for a long time. Later her realized that, and retired. I guess I can just give him those physical exaltation power. I guess I was just in the mindset that only Dawn, Night, and possibly Zenith get super strength etc. when they become exalted.

The Rose Dragon
2009-04-12, 04:57 PM
As I said, Exalts are just that good.

As in, all of them.

Kyeudo
2009-04-12, 05:01 PM
@^
Regardless [Insert Long Title Here] once had a great cause and motivation, but lost sight of that motivation for a long time. Later her realized that, and retired. I guess I can just give him those physical exaltation power. I guess I was just in the mindset that only Dawn, Night, and possibly Zenith get super strength etc. when they become exalted.

Castes aren't straight jackets. They are like talents. Every Dawn Caste is talented at sword play, but that doesn't mean they can't also be great diplomats. Every Night Caste is talented at sneaking around, but that doesn't mean they can't be great generals.

Rad
2009-04-12, 05:01 PM
He is a Twilight, right?
1) Start giving him lots of crafts. Remember that Craft is actually 5 different skills to be bought separatedly.
2) Everybody needs excellencies, some defense charma and some offense charms. They will have minimum dots. Dodge is a good choice.
3) the "traveling" abilities sound good from his time as a wandering Kore.
4) If he is half as stubborn as Kore is, he should have, like, integrity 5. I'd pump up his MDV.

Hope this helps...

Yuki Akuma
2009-04-12, 05:02 PM
A Solar Exalt can start with a Strength of 1. But his other physical abilities will be incredibly high because of it.

Shades of Gray
2009-04-12, 05:04 PM
Right, so I'm changing him to Zenith Caste anyway (what I was going with originally) to better fit in with what he was before he stepped down from the title of "The burning and all-cleansing light" rather than after he took the title of "The sorrowful blinding anger" or somesuch. I suck at exalted titles as you can all see.

Most of his abilities would be going into abilities to mess with and fight Abyssals/Evil Spirits/ whatever else is dark and creepy crawly. That would probably be Occult, Integrity, and Resistance, right?

kamikasei
2009-04-12, 05:04 PM
Regardless [Insert Long Title Here] once had a great cause and motivation, but lost sight of that motivation for a long time. Later her realized that, and retired.

I'm brand-new to the system too, but my overwhelming impression is that it's simply nonsensical for a Solar Exalted to "lose sight of motivation and retire". If he strayed from a righteous path and then came to his senses, you'd expect her to pursue atonement and his original goal with redoubled zeal.

Your Solar is someone who already had the seed of a great destiny within her and was given the power and drive to realize it. I think part of the problem is that you want a character who's been Exalted for a while - essentially, to start a low-level character with the backstory of a high-level character who got level-drained or similar (:P for the D&D terminology, I'm sorry!), while the book advises your Exaltation be a recent thing. You might be better off if she did her ill deeds as a mortal and her Exaltation accompanied/caused her change of heart (it is possible to be Exalted late in life).

edit: d'oh, read "her" without realizing you meant "he". Please mentally substitute male pronouns above.

Shades of Gray
2009-04-12, 05:08 PM
@Kamikasei

That does make a certain degree of sense. I was originally going to just blame his low status as a result of him being retired for a while and being a little (read: A lot) rusty, but I simply haven't read up enough on the setting as it seems.(and the system...)

EDIT: Favored Abilities are not from your caste, correct? So A dawn caste couldn't have archery as a favored ability, it just comes naturally to him?

Starbuck_II
2009-04-12, 05:22 PM
I just picked up Exalted via their free download giveaway. I'm stuck. I can't make sense about a lot of the system. I can make my character... sorta, but I'm stuck at what to do when choosing

In addition, I'm also stuck on Essence. Generally how much you have (It says either two ,or 6+Willpower or something), and what it actually does besides making your forehead shoot off beams of happy sunshine and love to the universe.

I know it was already mentioned (and you probably figured it out)

Essence (this is a status of power: starts at 2)
What you use when using Charms:
Personal Essence: Essence x 3 + Will power
Peripheral essence: Essence x 7 + Will power +(Virtues sumed)
If Will power: 2 Highest Virtues

Example:
With of 2 Highest Virtues 3 and 4: you have sum of 7.
So Will power is 7.

With Virtues: 3, 4, 1, 1.

So Will power 7.
You'll have Essence 2
Personal Essence: 6 + 7=13
Peripheral Essence: 14 +7+9= 30

When spending Peripheral that causes the glowy showing stuff.

Essence motes are used to power charms (and spells which are charms), empower weapon/ armor artifacts (required to activate them), etc.

The Rose Dragon
2009-04-12, 05:24 PM
EDIT: Favored Abilities are not from your caste, correct? So A dawn caste couldn't have archery as a favored ability, it just comes naturally to him?

Correct, good sir.

Shades of Gray
2009-04-12, 05:28 PM
Now, onto other stuff (sorry that I'm so thick, It's very hard for me to undestand a system over PDF, rather than good old dead tree format), what exactly do backgrounds do? Also, do I choose a trait flaw for each virtue, or just my highest one?

The Rose Dragon
2009-04-12, 05:30 PM
Just your primary virtue.

Backgrounds do whatever it says they do in the descriptions.

Starbuck_II
2009-04-12, 05:40 PM
Now, onto other stuff (sorry that I'm so thick, It's very hard for me to undestand a system over PDF, rather than good old dead tree format), what exactly do backgrounds do? Also, do I choose a trait flaw for each virtue, or just my highest one?


According to the book:
Backgrounds measure your character’s “place” in the world of Exalted. They define who your character knows, who knows him and what resources he can draw upon.

• Allies—Aides and friends who help in tasks.
• Artifact—Wondrous devices of the First Age.
• Backing—Standing and rank in an organization of power and influence.
• Contacts—Information sources and people in useful places.
• Cult—Mortals who worship you.
• Familiar—An animal companion.
• Followers—Mortals who look to you for leadership.
• Influence—Your pull in the world around you.
• Manse—A place of power and Essence.
• Mentor—A teacher and instructor.
• Resources— Material goods and money.


Notes:
Familiars are according to the book immortal (they cannot die unless you die first since they are linked to you). Three points here gets you a decent familiar that grants extra essence.

Artifacts are great: they provide cowabunga (your term of awesome may vary) benefits. They are like magic items in D&D (if you played that).

Warriors want Artifact armor or weapons at some point (either at beginning if they can afford it or later).
Everyone else wants some for amulets, etc.

You want at least 1 point in resources unless you want to be a poor dude (as that means you have nothing without a dot there).

Shades of Gray
2009-04-12, 05:41 PM
Do I have to spend all my background points? "The sorrowful blinding anger" doesn't have any real followers, but I suppose I could give him an artifact and some resources. But even if I max those two I'm still one short of the minimum background points. How big/powerful is a level one manse, and what are the differences between manse size? It just gives a static rate of "recovering four time the usual", and "two times the usual" for a Demesne.

Note: My knowledge of Exalted comes entirely from "Keychain of Creation" As such, it generally isn't too good.

Nohwl
2009-04-12, 05:43 PM
where is this free giveaway?

Shades of Gray
2009-04-12, 05:45 PM
DRAMATIC SOUND EFFECT NINJA! (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?cPath=403&products_id=3671&it=1&action=log_in&freebie_login=1)

@V You, get back here. I saw that...

Starbuck_II
2009-04-12, 05:55 PM
Do I have to spend all my background points? "The sorrowful blinding anger" doesn't have any real followers, but I suppose I could give him an artifact and some resources. But even if I max those two I'm still one short of the minimum background points. How big/powerful is a level one manse, and what are the differences between manse size? It just gives a static rate of "recovering four time the usual", and "two times the usual" for a Demesne.

Note: My knowledge of Exalted comes entirely from "Keychain of Creation" As such, it generally isn't too good.

Manses are useful because they create Heartstones. Pg 82 has example of Abu having 4 points there (requires backgound point to above 3) to create a heartstone at same time (free artifact).

Manses primary benefit is the Heartstone they create.

Both manses and Demesne have the benefit of increasing essence recovery while away from them. But while near them they also increase it more.

Example a level 1 site grants while beside it: 4 essence/hr (this is in addition to normal gain of essence).
Example level 1 site when away from it: 2 essence/hr (this is in addition to normal gain of essence).

So the level determines how much essence recieved every hour.

Yuki Akuma
2009-04-12, 06:00 PM
Yes, you have to spend all your background dots. It would be like starting a D&D character without selecting your starting feat(s).

Shades of Gray
2009-04-12, 06:03 PM
Thanks everyone. So If I put one dot into Manse, I can have either a level one manse or a level two demesne? I think I'll take the latter one, for flavor purposes.

I'm just on charms and combos, and suggestions?

I favored Dodge, Athletics, Occult, War, and Melee. I put most of my points into Resistance, Survival, and integrity from the Zenith caste.

Agrippa
2009-04-12, 06:05 PM
After downloading and reading White Wolf's Exalted handbook (thank you White Wolf for the free download) and the Demented Ones homebrew Charms I came up two concepts. One was a Dawn Caste Exalted who rode in an orchalicum (sic?) chariot drawn by five orchalicum clad tyrannasaurs who are also used as living arrows and search and rescure animals. The second was basically a Twilight Caste madboy, who by dint of unstable intellect can create massive technological wonders in war, medicine and transportation. He would also be a gifted speaker. Is there anything wrong with me, or is this pretty tame?

Cubey
2009-04-12, 06:42 PM
The latter concept is pretty tame. The former, not so much. That's for one reason - orichalcum is extremely rare and even more extremely difficult to make (it requires purifying gold into "pure gold" by vaporising it in magical, magma-powered forges). A chariot + 5 dinosaurs, all clad in orichalcum = too much to afford for a starting character, unless it's a creosotically rich one. Well, you COULD spend all your bonus points on various Artifacts... So it's an over the top, but doable concept.

Except that Exalted doesn't have tyrannosaurs. They have a different name, and piss heroin - an extremely minor part of the game, and you probably won't even hear about that ICly unless you play in a certain part of the South, but TVTropes and many other sources tend to overblow that point. Kinda annoying.

Shades of Gray
2009-04-12, 06:49 PM
The second was basically a Twilight Caste madboy, who by dint of Earth -shatteringly unstable intellect can create an army ofmassive technological wonders in war, Super regenerative medicine and transportation A giant space whale. He would also be a gifted an incredibly charismatic and attractive speaker. Is there anything wrong with me, or is this pretty tame?

Also he's on fire.

There you go. de-tamed it for you. :smalltongue:

Agrippa
2009-04-12, 07:19 PM
The latter concept is pretty tame. The former, not so much. That's for one reason - orichalcum is extremely rare and even more extremely difficult to make (it requires purifying gold into "pure gold" by vaporising it in magical, magma-powered forges). A chariot + 5 dinosaurs, all clad in orichalcum = too much to afford for a starting character, unless it's a creosotically rich one. Well, you COULD spend all your bonus points on various Artifacts... So it's an over the top, but doable concept.

Except that Exalted doesn't have tyrannosaurs. They have a different name, and piss heroin - an extremely minor part of the game, and you probably won't even hear about that ICly unless you play in a certain part of the South, but TVTropes and many other sources tend to overblow that point. Kinda annoying.

Isn't that called "something to work your way towards?"

Agrippa
2009-04-12, 07:21 PM
There you go. de-tamed it for you. :smalltongue:

Just replace "on fire" with "surrounded by a crackling electrical field."

Starbuck_II
2009-04-12, 07:28 PM
The latter concept is pretty tame. The former, not so much. That's for one reason - orichalcum is extremely rare and even more extremely difficult to make (it requires purifying gold into "pure gold" by vaporising it in magical, magma-powered forges). A chariot + 5 dinosaurs, all clad in orichalcum = too much to afford for a starting character, unless it's a creosotically rich one. Well, you COULD spend all your bonus points on various Artifacts... So it's an over the top, but doable concept.

Except that Exalted doesn't have tyrannosaurs. They have a different name, and piss heroin - an extremely minor part of the game, and you probably won't even hear about that ICly unless you play in a certain part of the South, but TVTropes and many other sources tend to overblow that point. Kinda annoying.

There is that Charm that lets you create creatures (though not at beginning).

Kyeudo
2009-04-12, 09:42 PM
Except that Exalted doesn't have tyrannosaurs. They have a different name, and piss heroin - an extremely minor part of the game, and you probably won't even hear about that ICly unless you play in a certain part of the South, but TVTropes and many other sources tend to overblow that point. Kinda annoying.

Cubey, have you been smoking something? Tyrant Lizards are statted right in the Core book. They are not the Beasts of Resplendant Liquid that you are referring to.

Shades of Gray
2009-04-13, 07:52 PM
Okay, did I do it right?

Sorrowful Blinding Light
Solar Zenith Caste


Strength: ● ●
Dexterity: ● ●
Stamina: ● ● ●

Charisma: ● ● ●
Manipulation: ● ● ●
Appearance: ● ● ●

Perception: ● ● ●
Intelligence: ● ● ● ● ●
Wits: ● ● ●

Archery
Martial Arts
[F]Melee ●●
Thrown
[F]War ●●

Integrity ●●●● [1BP]
Performance
Presence ●● [1 BP]
Resistance ●●●● [1BP]
Survival ●●

Craft
Investigate
Lore●●
Medicine ●●●
[F]Occult ●●●

[F]Athletics ●●
Awareness ●
[F]Dodge ●●
Larceny
Stealth

Bureaucracy
Linguistics
Ride
Sail
Socialize ●●

Backgrounds:
Resources: ●●●
Artifact: ●●●
Manse: ●

Virtues:
Temperance: ●●
Compassion: ●●
Valor: ●
Conviction: ●

Flaw: Red Rage of Compassion

Charms: Stubborn Boar Defense, Phoenix Renewal Tactic, Enemy Castigating Solar Judgement, Iron Skin Concentration, Durability of Oak Meditation, Ox Body Technique, Spirit Strengthens the Skin, Flawless Diagnosis Technique, Spirit Detecting Glance, Spirit Cutting Strike

Essence: 3
Peripheral: 33
Personal: 12
Willpower: 6
Health Levels: 7


Any suggestions? How about my charm choices?

Kyeudo
2009-04-13, 10:24 PM
Problems:
You don't have enough dots in your Social Attributes.
I don't see your Caste listed (I'm assuming Zenith).
You don't have your Conviction listed.
You need an Integrity Excellency as prerequiste to Pheonix Renewel Tactic.
You need a Presence Excellency as prerequiste to Enemy-Castigating Solar Judgement.
You need a Medicine Excellency as prerequiste to Contagion-Curing Touch.
You will want an Excellency in Melee so you can boost your attack rolls when needed. Combat is a deep part of the game.

Thoughts:
Do you really want Contagion-Curing Touch? All it does is prevent penalties for not having the proper tools.
Spirit Strengthens the Skin is a good choice of a semi-perfect.

Shades of Gray
2009-04-14, 04:26 PM
Do excellencies take up charm slots? If so, what should I get rid of? I won't need the medicine one, as I'm no longer taking healing touch.

Starbuck_II
2009-04-14, 04:37 PM
You will want an Excellency in Melee so you can boost your attack rolls when needed. Combat is a deep part of the game.

True, but as long as you not fighting exalted too much: you can handle extras with no excellancies: just need 8 Xp (if favored) to buy one (about 2 sessions).


Just makes it hard.

Kyeudo
2009-04-14, 07:31 PM
Do excellencies take up charm slots? If so, what should I get rid of? I won't need the medicine one, as I'm no longer taking healing touch.

Yes, they take up Charm slots. They are the most basic Charms themselves.

I'd ditch Stubborn Boar Defense (being in Limit Break is not a normal state of affairs and so limitied), Spirit Strengthens the Skin (Iron Skin Concentration is better for now), and Flawless Diagnosis Technique.