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Justyn
2009-08-18, 03:47 AM
With the conclusion of the first Keychain of Creation thread, I thought that this would be a good time to start up a thread for the express purpose of discussing Exalted and it's setting rather then filling up that thread with it (besides things that directly relate to the comic).

So, I'll get this jump started by posing a question: Which is a better way of making the game more fast paced: Giving out more experience points, giving out bonus points instead of experience points, or lowering experience costs? Some way that I didn't mention?

The Rose Dragon
2009-08-18, 09:24 AM
A more important question: why do pistol-like weapons get the shaft in Exalted?

Be they Essence Cannons, plasma tongue repeaters or flame pieces, they are so horribly useless unless you have many non-Archery abilities and a very high Resources.

The Demented One
2009-08-18, 10:06 AM
So, I'll get this jump started by posing a question: Which is a better way of making the game more fast paced: Giving out more experience points, giving out bonus points instead of experience points, or lowering experience costs? Some way that I didn't mention?
What I do for online games is give out XP every week, with 1-point bonuses for the player who posted the most regularly and for the player who did the single coolest thing. It helps keep the pace of character development in line with what it would be for an real life-campaign, without making the characters skyrocket in power super-quickly: they still have to take some in-game downtime to train in anything.

Also, just as a Storyteller, skip unimportant details. The characters waking up and having breakfast? Unimportant, you can narrate that away (unless the Twilight is a Glorious Solar Chef, and cooking breakfast involves an epic culinary duel). Get to the parts where the characters get to be awesome - the fights, the exploring, the planning, the magic.

GryffonDurime
2009-08-18, 10:18 AM
(unless the Twilight is a Glorious Solar Chef, and cooking breakfast involves an epic culinary duel).

If I'm challenging Adamant East, it'll be rice pancakes. If I'm challenging North, mammoth-bacon. West is scrambled roe, and South is cinnamon buns. For Blessed Isle, oatmeal. Yu-Shan: ambrosial raisin toast. Underworld: underling.

Hm? Just making notes.

wadledo
2009-08-18, 10:35 AM
Also, a weird thought I had yesterday:

If the wyld is infinite (which there is no indication it is, but lets just go with it for now), then isn't there a chance that somewhere else, another group of primordials got together and created their own version of creation after the original was made?
And if so, doesn't that technically mean that if the boundaries of creation spread enough, that they could cobine the two worlds?

Isn't it a thought that during the first age, if say a hundred more miles were added to the *blank*, they might have found the nega-creation?

The Demented One
2009-08-18, 10:42 AM
Also, a weird thought I had yesterday:

If the wyld is infinite (which there is no indication it is, but lets just go with it for now), then isn't there a chance that somewhere else, another group of primordials got together and created their own version of creation after the original was made?
I'm pretty sure the Primordials were defined by the act of making Creation. There aren't other Primordials just by default. As for alternate worlds...I have problems with the idea. When the Primordials made Creation, it wasn't just wyld-shaping a bunch of stuff into land - they literally altered the shimaic substrata of everything to alter reality in order to accommodate Creation. It feels like if someone else were making their own Creation, they'd have to undo some of the stuff that made the normal one possible.

Which of course, makes for an awesome plot seed.

wadledo
2009-08-18, 10:47 AM
I'm pretty sure the Primordials were defined by the act of making Creation. There aren't other Primordials just by default. As for alternate worlds...I have problems with the idea. When the Primordials made Creation, it wasn't just wyld-shaping a bunch of stuff into land - they literally altered the shimaic substrata of everything to alter reality in order to accommodate Creation. It feels like if someone else were making their own Creation, they'd have to undo some of the stuff that made the normal one possible.

Which of course, makes for an awesome plot seed.

I meant primordials as "one who creates something completely new from the chaos of the wyld who was not itself constructed by something from the wyld."

I mean, think of the demons. When they saw that ebon dragons plan was actually going to work, a bunch of "lesser" ones threw their lot in for the lawls.
Who's to say that with the original creation, the primordials said "no, you didn't wanna start it, so you don't get any mortals." and changed their minds the second time around?

Artanis
2009-08-18, 11:36 AM
As for alternate worlds...I have problems with the idea. When the Primordials made Creation, it wasn't just wyld-shaping a bunch of stuff into land - they literally altered the shimaic substrata of everything to alter reality in order to accommodate Creation. It feels like if someone else were making their own Creation, they'd have to undo some of the stuff that made the normal one possible.

Which of course, makes for an awesome plot seed.

Where does it say that they altered the "substrata of everything"? The corebook says that the Primordials were "the first shaped beings", but I can't find anything about changing the entire Wyld itself. That implies to me that all they did was add a little more of what already existed.

Of course, it also says that the only thing outside creation is the Wyld, so that rules out there being other Primordials and other Creations...for now. There's always the possibility of other Primordial-esque creatures springing up somewhere in the Wyld and making their own little Creation. That'd make for a pretty neat campaign, in fact: somebody making another Creation, and it being really really close to the Original Creation's borders.

The Demented One
2009-08-18, 11:43 AM
Where does it say that they altered the "substrata of everything"? The corebook says that the Primordials were "the first shaped beings", but I can't find anything about changing the entire Wyld itself. That implies to me that all they did was add a little more of what already existed.
Graceful Wicked Masques talks about how they imposed linear time on the Wyld by creating the world, which is a main grievance the raksha have against the shaped world. There're also various references to them altering the "shinmaic substrata" of the world, which would be something even more dramatic than altering laws of physics in our world. Shinma govern/embody/create/define concepts like "Things exist," "Things can have forms," "Not all hats are the same hat." Shinma are weird.

Artanis
2009-08-18, 01:59 PM
Ah, gotcha.


That begs the question (which I am honestly asking) though, why would somebody have to undo that to create another world? I mean, if the rules are in place so that Creation could be made, couldn't some other world-maker just use those rules? Or is one of the changes you didn't list preventing that?

The Demented One
2009-08-18, 02:04 PM
Ah, gotcha.


That begs the question (which I am honestly asking) though, why would somebody have to undo that to create another world? I mean, if the rules are in place so that Creation could be made, couldn't some other world-maker just use those rules? Or is one of the changes you didn't list preventing that?
Nothing inherently. If someone possessed of whatever power the Primordials used to forge Creation and happened to have a being of sufficient power to attune to it, he could create another world that works the same way as Creation does, no problem.

The issue is, maybe he doesn't want the world to work like Creation does. If he wants, say, non-linear time, or resurrection, or all hats to be the same hat, that's where you run into problems/PCs beating metaphysical concepts into submission.

Terraoblivion
2009-08-18, 02:30 PM
I also think it largely comes down to the nature of the primordials. They are canonically not defined in nature. They might just have been a bunch of powerful raksha with an odd idea, but they might have been the antithesis of the raksha instead or creatures from beyond the wyld who were exiled there and tried recreating their home from the wyld. And these are just the possibilities mentioned in Roll of Glorious Divinity II.

Justyn
2009-08-18, 02:52 PM
...or resurrection...

I think that the "no resurrection" thing is because of the Loom of Fate rather than because of a Shinma; because CoCD: Malfeas (page 18 to be specific) says that the Yozis can resurrect the dead, but only if they died in Malfeas and only if they died in the last five days. And it also gives one of the Yozis the ability to rewrite the last five days of their lives any way they please. So, it's a mixed bag.

wadledo
2009-08-18, 03:58 PM
Question!

What happened to those Raksha captured inside of creation during its making?

Justyn
2009-08-18, 04:07 PM
Question!

What happened to those Raksha captured inside of creation during its making?

Autochthon transformed them into the Mountain Folk.

wadledo
2009-08-18, 04:11 PM
Autochthon transformed them into the Mountain Folk.

:eek:
Seriously?
Where does it say (or imply) that?:confused:

GryffonDurime
2009-08-18, 04:21 PM
:eek:
Seriously?
Where does it say (or imply) that?:confused:

In every Mountainfolk history we've ever gotten.

Additional: the Alchemicals possess a Sorcery-equivalent spell that shapes Wyld zones into stable Creation-esque areas. Raksha caught inside are turned into Jadeborn eggs.

Justyn
2009-08-18, 04:22 PM
:eek:
Seriously?
Where does it say (or imply) that?:confused:

Scroll of Fallen Races, pages 8-9. Technically speaking, Autochthon didn't make them directly. At least, that's the most thorough one I know of.

Weimann
2009-08-18, 04:22 PM
Right, I just found something that I will have to ask the more Exalted-savvy people around about, because I just can't make any sense of it.

It's about the Night caste's anima power. The first part, I can understand. When using Peripheral motes, it lets you pay additional motes to the cost of an effect to prevent that it intensifies your anima flare. that fits neatly with the concept of the Night caste and is fully straightforward.

The second part, though, confuses me.
The Nightbringer may also extend her muted aura like an imperceptible veil around her. This extended anima lasts for an entire scene and costs 10 motes of Essence to evoke. The anima mutes the senses of of those attempting to perceive her, as well as the evidence she leaves behind for those who would follow her trail. Shadows are darker, sounds are muffled, and scent and footprints are buth much litghter than normal.

This muting increases the difficulty of all rolls to notice or track the Exalted by half the character's Essence (round up), so long as her muted anima effect is active. Once the solar spends 11-15 motes of Essence, thought she is just as obvious as any other Exalt, her features are completely obscured by her anima display. Thus, assuming none of them saw her prior to her anima flaring, witnesses would be aware a Solar had been in their midst, but not her identity.
This in itself is already a bit strange. Usually, an Exalt can channel 10 motes through her anima to activate an anima effect, or gain this effect for free once the anima flared at 11+ intensity. However, the part
thought she is just as obvious as any other Exaltsuggests that the muting effect actually is removed when the Exalt's anima burns at 11+ intensity. That's weird.

Now, let's add in this:
4-7 motes: The character's caste mark burns and will shine through anything placed over it. It is impossible to mistake the character for anything but what she is. Stealth charms and other such magic, including the Night caste's ability to mute sensory perception, fail. A character may still use a Stealth ability to hide in natural cover, but all such attempts incur a +2 difficulty.

This paragraph confuses me to no end. It states that the muting effect of the Night caste Solar's fail when the anima flares at more than 3 motes' intensity. Thing is, it costs 10 motes to use the damn thing.

I can see it working two ways. Either, you are supposed to use the first part of the anima power to suppress the flaring, which will make the muting coast 11 motes instead. Or, you are supposed to use your personal motes so that the anima doesn't flare.

Both of those are kind of against the concept of anima powers, though. You gain an effect precisely because the anima is flaring. It's the source of the buff.

Is this a known issue, or have I just misunderstood something?

wadledo
2009-08-18, 04:37 PM
In every Mountainfolk history we've ever gotten.

Additional: the Alchemicals possess a Sorcery-equivalent spell that shapes Wyld zones into stable Creation-esque areas. Raksha caught inside are turned into Jadeborn eggs.

How the Void did I miss this?

Weimann
2009-08-18, 06:00 PM
Short reply to myself.

My friend explained to me about the first problem. I was seeing an effect meant to enhance stealth. Such an effect would indeed be made useless at 11+ motes of intensity. However, what it really is, is an effect to protect identity. At low intensities, it has the form of a muting effect that enhance stealth. At high intensities, since stealth is impossible, it has the form of a shadowy casing that covers the Exalt's appearance. So the effect is in fact free at 11+ motes, if you view the effect as being the latter.

When I brought up the point that, at low intensities, using 10 motes to trigger the effect would actually make the anima flare at an intensity that made it fail (unless suppressed or triggered with personal motes, which is stupid for reasons stated above) he just stated that White Wolf had bad editors :P

The Rose Dragon
2009-08-18, 06:33 PM
When I brought up the point that, at low intensities, using 10 motes to trigger the effect would actually make the anima flare at an intensity that made it fail (unless suppressed or triggered with personal motes, which is stupid for reasons stated above) he just stated that White Wolf had bad editors :P

Night anima power does not count as peripheral essence.

Weimann
2009-08-18, 06:41 PM
Ah, wonderful. That explains that :)

They could have stated as much in the book, however >.>

Artanis
2009-08-18, 07:01 PM
Nothing inherently. If someone possessed of whatever power the Primordials used to forge Creation and happened to have a being of sufficient power to attune to it, he could create another world that works the same way as Creation does, no problem.

The issue is, maybe he doesn't want the world to work like Creation does. If he wants, say, non-linear time, or resurrection, or all hats to be the same hat, that's where you run into problems/PCs beating metaphysical concepts into submission.

Ah, I see what you mean now :smallsmile:

The Demented One
2009-08-18, 07:04 PM
Ah, I see what you mean now :smallsmile:
Yeah. Really, most of this is just metaphysical conjecture on my part, drawing on what's been said about the creation of...Creation. There's really nothing written in canon about alternate Creations, and no one should let a couple lines in a few books stop them from running the game if they think it's awesome. It's Exalted, rule of cool trumps canon.

The Rose Dragon
2009-08-19, 03:44 AM
Ah, wonderful. That explains that :)

They could have stated as much in the book, however >.>

That's pure conjecture on my part, actually. The Day Caste anima power does not contribute to anima display, so neither should Night Caste.

Maybe it's in the errata.

The Demented One
2009-08-19, 09:24 AM
Random tangent:

Rebecca Borgstrom/Jenna Moran is an Exalted author; she did Manual of Exalted Power: The Sidereals, The Fair Folk, and Games of Divinity in 1st edition. She is also fantastic. She's got a fiction blog called Hitherby Dragons; it's mostly defunct now, but has some great stuff in the archives. Here're a few of the more Exalted-ish stories:

Legend of Perfectly Defensive Samurai (http://imago.hitherby.com/?p=960): Dr. Borgstrom's wuxia love poem to Heavenly Guardian Defense.

Ragnarok (http://imago.hitherby.com/?page_id=1655): Superfriends vs. the Norse Apocalypse!

Four Horseman (http://imago.hitherby.com/?p=87): The Riders of the Apocalypse as teenage giant mecha pilots.

Before He Was Cool (http://imago.hitherby.com/?p=409): Gives me fun ideas for the Raksha.

An Unclean Legacy (http://imago.hitherby.com/?p=628): A long, multi-part series with an Abyssal Exalt in all but name, dark sorcery, and one of the coolest shapeshifting duels I've ever read. Also, Smurfs.

The Rose Dragon
2009-08-19, 09:35 AM
By the way, why didn't anyone answer my question about pistols?

lesser_minion
2009-08-19, 09:37 AM
Ah, wonderful. That explains that :)

They could have stated as much in the book, however >.>

The paragraph above actually mentions that they can spend an extra mote each time they spend peripheral essence in order for it not to count against their anima display. The only exception they mention there is sorcery, so I'm guessing that you can use that. Or use Personal Essence.

The "spend 10 motes" power in the case of the Night caste wouldn't become free if her anima flared at 11-15 motes in any event - their anima power is mostly about being able to stop that happening.

The Demented One
2009-08-19, 09:44 AM
A more important question: why do pistol-like weapons get the shaft in Exalted?

Be they Essence Cannons, plasma tongue repeaters or flame pieces, they are so horribly useless unless you have many non-Archery abilities and a very high Resources.
I'm not totally sure what you mean. Solar Archery charms work just as well with fire weapons as they do with bows.

The Rose Dragon
2009-08-19, 09:50 AM
Mostly, the maintenance and the ammunition costs. Flame pieces are very weak, compared to long bows, but that wouldn't be a problem if ammunition problems weren't a bitch. Phantom Arrow Technique doesn't even work since both firedust and alchemical fuel have a Resources cost. Essence cannons require huge amounts of Essence to be practical, and they require calibration after each battle.

Basically, Righteous Devil is not really a viable character once you consider how difficult he is to play.

The Demented One
2009-08-19, 09:52 AM
Mostly, the maintenance and the ammunition costs. Flame pieces are very weak, compared to long bows, but that wouldn't be a problem if ammunition problems weren't a bitch. Phantom Arrow Technique doesn't even work since both firedust and alchemical fuel have a Resources cost. Essence cannons require huge amounts of Essence to be practical, and they require calibration after each battle.

Basically, Righteous Devil is not really a viable character once you consider how difficult he is to play.
Resources are pathetically easy for an Exalt to come by; any Solar worth his salt should be able to buy or make all the ammunition he needs. Maintenance isn't much of a problem either, for the weapons that require it - the circle's Twilight can pretty much repair anything if he's got a Craft excellency. Essence cannons are pretty mote-heavy, but if I recall correctly, plugging in a hearthstone negates the mote cost for all but the biggest.

The Rose Dragon
2009-08-19, 10:20 AM
Essence cannons are pretty mote-heavy, but if I recall correctly, plugging in a hearthstone negates the mote cost for all but the biggest.

Very small essence cannons have no hearthstone sockets, and they are the only ones that can pass as pistols.

A solo character requires Craft (magitech), Craft (water), Lore, Occult and the 2nd degree in the Art of Alchemy to create his own alchemical fuel and repair his gun. That is in addition to buying Archery to be able to shoot the thing, or Martial Arts if he wants to specialize in using flame weapons.

It's just very difficult to have a flame weapon-centric fighting style as a starting character unless you are OK with having little else.

The Demented One
2009-08-19, 10:22 AM
A solo character requires Craft (magitech), Craft (water), Lore, Occult and the 2nd degree in the Art of Alchemy to create his own alchemical fuel and repair his gun. That is in addition to buying Archery to be able to shoot the thing, or Martial Arts if he wants to specialize in using flame weapons.

It's just very difficult to have a flame weapon-centric fighting style as a starting character unless you are OK with having little else.
The Craft issue - yeah, requiring two crafts is a bit of a kick in the gut; I've gotten used to my houserule, so I'd not thought about that. Still, a solo character shouldn't have to do all that - the circle's Twilight is almost doubtlessly gone have lore and occult, and getting the right crafts and alchemical degrees will hardly hurt him, compared to you.

And with the MA's, I have to quibble with that. A Solar who wants to specialize in firewands is best off taking Solar Archery charms and a firewand specialty. Righteous Devil would be strictly worse.

wadledo
2009-08-19, 10:24 AM
It is odd.
I suppose you could make a version of Fire Pearls (perhaps Lesser Fire Pearls?) that work with Plasma Tongue Repeaters and Fire Wands?
Perhaps 1L per tick, though I wonder how many dots of artifact you would need to fill two PTR's.

The Rose Dragon
2009-08-19, 10:30 AM
The Craft issue - yeah, requiring two crafts is a bit of a kick in the gut; I've gotten used to my houserule, so I'd not thought about that. Still, a solo character shouldn't have to do all that - the circle's Twilight is almost doubtlessly gone have lore and occult, and getting the right crafts and alchemical degrees will hardly hurt him, compared to you.

And with the MA's, I have to quibble with that. A Solar who wants to specialize in firewands is best off taking Solar Archery charms and a firewand specialty. Righteous Devil would be strictly worse.

Righteous Devil has no circle, though. That's the problem. We're expected to believe he's a viable character, since he seems to defeat every single antagonist he has ever (except for that Infernal chick, and we're not sure exactly what transpires there).

If Scroll of the Monk didn't say he committed suicide, I'd say he had a Charm that allowed him to agelessly hibernate through the Second Age and thus has the power of a First Age Solar, but that'd be ridiculous. :smalltongue:

The Demented One
2009-08-19, 10:30 AM
Overall, I would guess that the relative difficulty of using firearms was meant to give a mechanical reason for their rarity. I'm personally not a fan of that implementation, since it hamstrings character concepts, and would probably houserule it away if a player wanted to use firewands and wasn't happy with it.

The Rose Dragon
2009-08-19, 10:33 AM
Me, I would just be happy if we could reload flame weapons using Phantom Arrow Technique. It's not like it's superior to using powerbows that way, except for the lack of attunement.

Justyn
2009-08-19, 11:45 AM
Righteous Devil has no circle, though. That's the problem. We're expected to believe he's a viable character, since he seems to defeat every single antagonist he has ever (except for that Infernal chick, and we're not sure exactly what transpires there).

Let's see who he's fought: A group of five Autocthonians in the core book, Moonsilver Caste Alchemical Excessively Righteous Blossom in Scroll of the Monk, and that -I would assume- Infernal Exalt in Wonders of the Lost Age. Five extras, an Exalt of a type that sits midway between the Celestial and Terrestrial levels, and whatever the hell the skull-mask guy is; And I don't know if he actually fought Sulumor (The Malefactor) or not. Well, I don't think that we are expected to believe that he's a viable starting character.


If Scroll of the Monk didn't say he committed suicide, I'd say he had a Charm that allowed him to agelessly hibernate through the Second Age and thus has the power of a First Age Solar, but that'd be ridiculous. :smalltongue:

Well, Scroll of the Monk also says that The Nameless Solar's soul and Exaltation are unaccounted for in both Yu-Shan and the Underworld, that could mean anything from his Exaltation became one of the Green Sun Princes to that he might have faked his death.

Justyn
2009-08-19, 04:34 PM
Sorry for the double post.

Anyway, I'm going to ST for the first time soon, anyone have any tips? Well, beyond "don't get too attached to any NPCs", or "don't plan things out too far ahead".

The Rose Dragon
2009-08-19, 04:54 PM
Keep things going.

That is an important part of any PbP game. They are like sharks that way: they stall, they die.

Things may keep going despite, rather than because of the players, but as long as you have at least a few players to play with, it will work out.

EmperorSarda
2009-08-19, 05:12 PM
I would like to be able to use occult excellencies with sorcery...

Terraoblivion
2009-08-19, 07:35 PM
Also the Twilight of the circle might not actually be present, i cannot recall ever playing a game of Exalted that had a perfect circle. It is also far from impossible that the Twilight doesn't care about crafting and doesn't feel like spending several sessions' worth of experience on being able to maintain you weapon. Of the three Twilights i have ever made, only one cared about crafting at all. The others knew just enough to be able to cook, but that was it.

lord_khaine
2009-08-20, 04:00 AM
The story, "An unclean legacy" that The Dementet one linked before is really, really good, i lack words to proberly describe it.

The Rose Dragon
2009-08-22, 07:59 AM
Also, why is it so difficult to find players for non-Solar games around here? I'm sure there are more players than a thread gets applications around.

wadledo
2009-08-22, 08:46 AM
The same reason Debeers is evil.
Because they cost money.

Sanguine
2009-08-22, 10:49 AM
Also, why is it so difficult to find players for non-Solar games around here? I'm sure there are more players than a thread gets applications around.


I must agree with the post above me. I personally would love to play as a Lunar or Abyssal but don't have the money for the books.

The Rose Dragon
2009-08-22, 12:43 PM
The problem is that 1) Solars are relatively bland compared to other Exalt types, and 2) there are already excellent Solar games on GitP.

Raz_Fox
2009-08-24, 08:56 PM
So... I've been looking around on the Exalted Wiki after poking around the core rulebook, and I'm wondering if there is any Charm or Sorcery that will allow the user to transform - presumably involuntarily - others. Kind of like Circe?

Also, what is everyone's favorite direction, and why? I like the South for the "Arabian Nights" feel it offers, but I'm slowly growing to like the East. The Hundred Kingdoms are a great blank slate...

The Demented One
2009-08-24, 09:00 PM
So... I've been looking around on the Exalted Wiki after poking around the core rulebook, and I'm wondering if there is any Charm or Sorcery that will allow the user to transform - presumably involuntarily - others. Kind of like Circe?
Lunars can do this with the Lunar Blood Shaping Technique and Insidious Lunar Transformation knacks, although both require them to feed the victim some of their own blood (the first knack is voluntary transformations, the second, involuntary). Sidereal Martial Artists can do it with Pattern Spider Touch, from Charcoal March of Spiders Style, which lets them turn their victim into anything. Infernals can turn men into demons with the Inner Devils Unchained charm, which could approximate this if you used the more animalistic demons. And outside of that, I'm sure a sorcery spell could be homebrewed to do this.

The Demented One
2009-08-31, 04:28 PM
Errata, glorious errata! (http://wiki.white-wolf.com/exalted/index.php?title=Latest_Errata)

SlightlyEvil
2009-09-02, 08:55 PM
I'm involved a Solar game (real-world, not message board), and both me and the Storyteller feel that Archery is generally underpowered. The main reason for this is that, lacking dots in Melee or Martial Arts, I can only Dodge, which severely limits my armor flexibility, while the melee fighters in the group have no such limitation. I'm playing a Night caste with high Stealth. Thanks to the Craft-focused Twilight in the group, and the plot giving us access to a well-stocked laboratory situated inside a giant flying whale (it's Exalted, just roll with it), we can make Artifacts of 3 dots or less, but any armor I could have cripples my Dodge DV.

Anyone have any house rules or other ideas that make Archery closer in usefulness to the other combat skills?

wadledo
2009-09-02, 09:27 PM
I'd suggest Everyman Armor, from Oadenol's Codex.
Also, most artifact armors have very low mobility penalties, plus, most archers aren't supposed to be on the main line.
In combat, they're supposed to be the back line.

Though not taking anything in 2 combat stats (I'd suggest either Melee or MA, in addition to Archery) is a bit thoughtless.

Raz_Fox
2009-09-04, 09:58 PM
To bring the thread back from the depths, there's something over on the WW boards that disturbed me.

This (http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/forums/t/12290.aspx) thread is about a poster complaining about how the Exalted system is a muddled mess, and he's thinking about quitting Exalted because he's tired of it. Now, I'd like to hear the opinions of the Exalted players in the playground on this thread - partially because I'm a young gamer who's horrible at judging if a game system is good or not, and partially because I've seen some very, very good Exalted PbP games here, and I'm wondering how the gamers here make their games so very, very good.

Basically... how do you guys like the Exalted system? And what do you like about Exalted?

SlightlyEvil
2009-09-04, 11:41 PM
I have only ever played in one Exalted campaign, and I enjoy it immensely. The best part of Exalted is the stunts; having Rule of Cool enshrined not only as a goal, but as a game mechanic, is an excellent idea that more games should emulate. I am not a very experienced gamer, so I don't have much in the way of points of comparison, but some of the other players in my group have said they would be interested in a port of the Exalted setting into a d20 or similar system. The setting really is the main draw of the system, being able to do battle with gods and demons as a starting character makes defending a small town from an ogre seem insignificant in comparison. As an Essence 2 Night caste, I managed to break our party out of prison by picking the locks with a hair and stealing the guards' weapons off their belts; what other game could I do something that outrageous in so early on?

The Rose Dragon
2009-09-11, 05:41 AM
Well, the OP of the thread does have a point. From a gamer's perspective, Exalted has a rather flawed system (mostly because it is based on classic World of Darkness rules, where there was literally no balance). Perfect defenses are that essential if you fight like a gamer, and mote attrition is what combat turns into.

Of course, Exalted is not a gamer's game to begin with. Perfect defenses, while unstoppable (except by two Charms in the game, one of which is poorly written to begin with and the other allows a perfect defense of its own), are not supposed to be used as commonly as scene-long defenses. Given the rarity and expense of combos, few enemies will be able to use attacks that will need perfect defenses in the first place.

Basically, the setting's assumptions are the reasons why Exalted's flaws do not simply destroy the game, even if they could (because the flaws are extensive, not ubiquitous).