Help for a new Storyteller [Exalted, my players OUT]

[Fortuna]

Hi all!

A while ago I picked up the pdf of Exalted, and loved it. My group was winding down anyway, so we quit and I started up an Exalted group from the remnants. Once we got the idea, wwe got straight into character creation. All fine, we wound up with a circle of one Zenith, one Twilight and one Night character, with one more person who couldn't make it this week. No problem, we started playing for now, with plans for encountering the other character next week.

I start them off on a thorp on the edge of the tundra, about to set off with the annual expedition of the bored and testosterone-fueled from which noone has returned for centuries. A week before the expedition leaves, there is a traditional feast for honoring the members and giving them a pseudo-funeral. This is where we start the campaign.

And here we hit the snag. The Zenith caste asks me how big a penalty he'd take for converting the entire place to the worship of the Unconquered Sun without them noticing. I hesitatingly posit an increase of the difficulty (assuming 2 to start with) by three.

He then rolls 14 dice for it.

So this is the problem. This character is nigh-invincible as far as I can tell, because he has 5 in all social attributes and 5 in most social abilities, plus charms for further effectiveness. His response to any sort of combat is likely to be "I ask them nicely to join our cause", and as far as I can see he'll pull that off without trouble. How can I challenge such a character without nullifying the more martial characters?

[Kylarra]

It's actually relatively simple to avoid. Your antagonist simply burns a willpower when attacked socially and performs a join battle action on his/her first action, removing you from social combat and putting you into normal combat. This might not always be possible, depending on situation, but it's worth keeping in mind.

Also remember that while social combat is fairly powerful, it takes multiple hits to do anything significant. Unlike normal combat, a billion successes over target MDV is no different than beating it by a single success. Recall that a single attack can be resisted by willpower and then to the above, but also that the consequences aren't instant brainwashing, without charms. You can either erode or build an intimacy or compel an action, that doesn't break Motivation, for a scene.

In addition for serious antagonists, remember that there are also charms that defend against social attacks, and you just have to remember that the major antagonists will definitely take things to protect their minds.