Scion: How different is it from exalted?

[golentan]

Pretty much exactly what it asks in the title. I know at least the basics of setting, and the core conceit of the game. I'm wondering how mechanically different it is from Exalted, and if there are any pitfalls/stumbling blocks I should keep an eye out for if I start playing in the scion game which looks likely to replace my weekly dose of dragon's blood.

[Yuki Akuma]

Scion is really more similar to Aberrant than it is Exalted.

[The_Snark]

They're reasonably similar systems. Most of the changes in character creation will be spelled out for you: the list of Attributes and Abilities isn't quite the same, you have a Nature rather than a Motivation, everyone has a different set of Virtues, and so on. The supernatural stuff doesn't use the same rules; don't expect to see Charms. But most of the conflict resolution rules are pretty close to Exalted, if a little less detailed. (For example, Scion lacks rules for social combat and mass combat. Whether that's good or bad depends on what you thought of those in Exalted, I guess.)

One of the differences that's easy to overlook on paper but very important in play is soak. In Exalted, soak is subtracted from raw damage and generally can't reduce damage to 0. In Scion, soak is subtracted from the levels of damage rolled, and it can reduce damage to 0. This goes a long way towards making all three physical stats valuable: Dexterity still governs both attacking and defending, but Stamina can make you very hard to hurt at all, and Strength becomes valuable for getting through the soak of tough opponents.

Unfortunately, this contributes to one of the game's worst issues, namely its tendency to create large gaps between characters. A giant might have a soak of 7L/9B; manageable for a strongman son of Thor armed with high Epic Strength and a big axe, but his partner, a smooth-talking scion of Loki who focused on social Attributes and only carries a handgun for personal defense, won't even be able to scratch it. To use a mythological example, any monster that can stand up to Hercules will completely ignore anything that Theseus could do to it. Weak attacks cannot wear down strong enemies, whether it's a low-Dexterity person attacking a nimble enemy or a low-Strength Scion trying to hurt an armored leviathan.

This problem is manageable at the start, but gets progressively worse as the characters become more powerful and the potential gap between their fields of expertise widens. (Doesn't help that Epic Attributes grant bonus successes rather than dice, which removes a lot of random variation.) Ideally, it forces players to find clever ways to contribute against an enemy they can't fight normally, but that can be hard to do, and it's a headache for the Storyteller when designing encounters.

[Mr.Bookworm]

Also note that exactly like Exalted, it's complex but fairly manageable at low levels (Hero), frustrating but semi-playable at higher levels (Demigod), and at the God tier you might as just well start roleplaying freeform (the developers apparently think the exact same thing, since the best powers in the game are literally "the game is now freeform") or go play Nobilis.

Also also note that perfect defenses aren't a thing except for one or two high-tier powers, so unless you have a crapload of Epic Stamina you're going to be squishy as hell.

[beyond reality]

It's been a while since I looked at either system but here's some general differences.

Scion is designed to play more like a super-hero game with mythic trappings than Exalted. There's lots of abilities (like flight for example) that are fairly easy to grab in Scion that are much harder or even impossible to obtain in Exalted. Also many abilities function constantly (namely epic attributes) where Exalted ties more directly to a character's supply of essence.

magical weaponry is significantly less important and useful in scion (at least for combat).

[Friv]

Mechanically speaking, Exalted is a troublesome beast, but put it next to Scion and it's a work of freaking art.

Scion is loaded down with pitfalls and traps. Most of them are easily dealt with if your group likes handwaving and ignoring rules for the sake of narrative, but if you don't do that, the game will mess you up.

Of particular aggravation is the fact that, if you aren't within one Epic Attribute dot of your opponent, you might as well turn in your hat and go home. That legend where Arachne outweaves Athena? Never, ever going to happen, under any circumstances. Totally impossible. Orpheus swaying Hades' heart with a beautiful song? Not a chance, sir.

By the time you're midtier into the game, everything pretty much devolves into rock-paper-scissors. Loki can always trick Thor, but Thor can kill Loki with one punch.

[TheOOB]

Its not fair to call Scion "modern exalted", but it's hard to describe it without saying that. At first it looks like the game is the same, but with a different supernatural type, but the rules are actually a good deal different...but similar enough where you will confuse one-another all the time if you read both systems.

Honestly, I think Scion is broken so bad as to be virtually unplayable. White Wolf has always focused on a good story and made poor game mechanics. This caused Exalted to have a number of problems that make the game difficult to play but have a good enough setting to sometimes be worth it, but Scions mechanics are horrible, and it's setting is "We looked at some Wikipedia articles about old religions"