[Exalted 2e] What next?

[Fortuna]

A while ago I bought the core rules for Exalted second edition. And that sucker has kept me reading for a good long time, and I love the system: matter of fact, we'll be playing a good long session tomorrow.

But, being my irritating self, I want more. So I'm going to ask the playground: what books add the most to a game of Exalted in the beginning stages of the campaign (So post character creation but before much has actually happened)? What books just aren't worth the memory they're stored in? And what books should I keep an eye on for if *whatever* happens?

[Weimann]

The Books of Sorcery is usually a sound investment. They expand on the Artifacts available (BosI: Wonders of the Lost Age) and detail guidelines for creating your own (BoSIII: Oadenol's Codex). There is a book containing many many spells for Sorcery and necromancy (BoSII: The White and Black Treatsies) and two that outline gods, spirits, ghosts and demons that might be usable for NPCs, antagonists or summoned companions (BoSIV and V: The Roll Of Glorious Divinity vol I and II).

The usefulness of almost any every other book depends on the properties of the game you play. Manual of Exalted Power: Sidereals won't be very useful in an all-Solar game, and Compass of Terrestrial Directions: The North is not so hot (pun not intended) in a game set in the East. The Books of Sorcery is (at least potnetially) relevant in every game, however, for Artifacts, spells and spirits are type-neutral.

I personally think that Scroll Of The Monk, containing Martial Arts styles, contains very good flavour as well, but it's generally regarded as a bit of a mess and pretty broken. I like it, but it's scheduled for a much-needed bout errata sometime in the not-too-distant future.

[Fortuna]

Perhaps a bit of background on what our game is like, then, since that will likely have an impact on what we should get.

We've got five Solar characters (I think it's a perfect circle, but I'm not sure). One of them is a social monster with intent to bring down the Realm and restore the Solar Deliberative. The others are a barbarian from the North, a ninja from the South, a gish (to use D&D parlance) from the East, and a sage/MacGyver from the West. The idea is that we'll slowly build a vast army, and we have planned that eventually the campaign will conclude with each of us leading an army from our homeland in one devastating strike on the Realm.

The Books of Sorcery look interesting, I might pick up I or III. Probably not II, but conceivably IV or V. Thanks for the suggestion.

[grautry]

We've got five Solar characters (I think it's a perfect circle, but I'm not sure).

Perfect circle = five Solars of each caste.

Still, you can do better than that. A perfect-er circle would be Five Solars of every caste with Five Lunar mates of every caste with a Sidereal advisor and Dragon-blooded soldiers.


The idea is that we'll slowly build a vast army, and we have planned that eventually the campaign will conclude with each of us leading an army from our homeland in one devastating strike on the Realm.

Haven't read it personally but Scroll of Kings is a supplement mainly focusing on mass combat, war, army tactics of various nations, siege weaponry and so on.

Mandate of Heaven(in Storyteller's Companion) contains information(and mechanics) on building your own nations(called Dominions) - that might be fairly relevant.

Compass of Celestial Directions: Blessed Isle, of course, contains lots of information on the Realm.

[Fortuna]

I can't remember whether we have two Twilights or a Twilight and an Eclipse. One of the Twilights could probably be convinced to go Eclipse anyway.

I might have a look at those too, thanks.

[grautry]

I can't remember whether we have two Twilights or a Twilight and an Eclipse. One of the Twilights could probably be convinced to go Eclipse anyway.

It doesn't really matter anyway. I don't think there are any mechanics related to the group being a perfect circle.

[Fortuna]

Ah, but I like symmetry and pattern. Seriously, symmetry is awesome. And there are few better patterns than "one of each".

[Weimann]

Perfect circle = five Solars of each caste.Annoying, irrelevant nitpick: one Solar of each caste. Otherwise you'd have a circle of 25 Solars, which is 1/12 of the entire Solar host.

Granted, that WOULD be pretty damn perfect :P

[Terraoblivion]

It would be pretty damn perfect until the either hubris or the great curse strikes. Then it would threaten spiraling completely out of control instead.

[Yuki Akuma]

Obviously the most Perfect Circle is a circle made up entirely of redeemed Abyssals who don't suffer the Great Curse anymore, then.

Also, really, the Book of Sorcery volume II (The White and Black Treatise) is a very good idea if you have any sorcerers (or necromancers) in the circle. The spells presented in the core book are nice, but... there's not much variety.

Scroll of the Monk is good if you have any guys with Martial Arts. Just don't let them take Sidereal styles (except maybe Prismatic Arrangement of Creation Style), because they're mostly hilariously unbalanced. Luckily most people don't qualify for them, though.

[TheOOB]

The storytellers companion has a lot of content to make NPCs with, a lot of it isn't the greatest, but there is a lot of it.

I find the best books for crunch are the manuals of exalted power. They are great for players because they allow a whole new player type(or even new type of campaign), and they allow GMs to make better NPCs. The dragon blooded book, as flawed as it is, is very useful for a GM who needs to throw the wyld hunt at their players.

Otherwise I would agree with most the other posters. The books of sorcerery are good(though I feel they are each a little too specific). The scroll of the monk is good if you have players who want to branch out with martial arts, the scroll of the monk has lots of cool info(merits and flaws), and helps make non-exalted NPCs, and glories of the most high are a series of good buget priced pdfs.

[Weimann]

The scroll of the monk is good if you have players who want to branch out with martial arts, the scroll of the monk Heroes has lots of cool info(merits and flaws), and helps make non-exalted NPCs, and glories of the most high are a series of good buget priced pdfs.Slight adjustment ^^

[Kylarra]

I've found that Merits are kind of useless personally, with the exception of a few specific Merits, but Flaws can add a little mechanical character if you want them.

I'd recommend Black and White Treatise to flesh out your the spells allowed, but that's because I like using sorcery a lot.

Oadenol's codex is definitely good for more artifacts and detailed manse building/hearthstones.

If you weren't from everywhere, I'd recommend one of the directional compass books, but you'd probably rather not buy 4 fluff books.