[Exalted] where to go from here?

[Lentrax]

Okay, so I went for an archer build. But now I have a problem. I have topped out the Archery Charm tree.

Where do I go from here? I was thinking about making my character become a sort of priest, beginning to convert people back from the IO, but I am not sure what, if any, of the charms would be decent enough to take. Or even which ability to use for that matter.

My other way would be to go martial arts. Our group has no real Melee player, and I thought branching into Martial Arts would be cool.

[TheCountAlucard]

Mind sharing your sheet with us?

[Lentrax]

Soon as I get home. I'm on tablet right now.

[The Rose Dragon]

Buy more Archery Charms! If there are no official ones, invent some!

Buy Athletics, Awareness and Dodge Charms. They are pretty useful to archers, whose best defense is staying away from pointy things.

Buy dots in Occult. They are great for fighting spirits, which you might do often in most series.

Buy Charms with the Martial keywords that can be used with Archery.

When you are done buying fighting stuff, take either Presence or Performance, and become the god king you are meant to be.

In general, buying Martial Arts for people who are not Solars or Sidereals is a poor choice (except maybe Infernals who like being horrible monsters), since you are not gonna have great Charms to supplement your mundane prowess. I would rather suggest getting Melee and hitting people with your powerbow. Don't worry, it's an artifact, it can take it.

[TheCountAlucard]

Also, are you using the 2.5e rules? That's gonna be a significant factor in how much we can help you.

[Lentrax]

Using 2.5 rules:

Strength 3
Dex 4
Stamina 4
Charisma 3
Manip 2
Appear 4
Perception 2
Int 3
Wits 2

Archery 5
Martial Arts 4
Thrown 2

Athletics 2
Awareness 3
Dodge 5

Performance 3
Resistance 1

Bearau 1
Linguistics 1
Socialize 3

Craft (magitech) 2
Lore 2

Charms:
2nd Arch. Exc.
Entire Core Archery tree minus Forceful Arrow, Inexhaustible Bolts, and Solar Flare.
Ox-Body x1
2nd Dodge Exc.
Shadow Over Water
Seven Shadow Evas.


Need more of the stats?

Oh, and one more thing. I am playing as one of the people of the air.

[TheCountAlucard]

Everyone loves defenses. Reflex Sidestep Technique will help to prevent surprise attacks, which Seven Shadow Evasion doesn't help against (Surprise Anticipation Method sadly has holes in it, and is harder to get). Sagacious Reading of Intent isn't the best social defense, but since you don't have any dots in Integrity it's the easiest one to pick up. On that note, Integrity-Protecting Prana is a good Shaping defense; it's worth buying a dot of Integrity for it.

Is your default weapon still a bow? If so, you might pick up Wood Dragon Style, though good luck finding someone willing to teach it to you; since Strength helps determine bow damage, you might also grab Strength-Increasing Exercise. If not, there's a couple of styles devoted to flame weapons - Righteous Devil Style and Golden Exhalation Style. Regardless, Thunderbolt Attack Prana also helps add to the pain.

Since you can fly, I'm assuming you don't get attacked close-up a lot. Am I right? If that's the case, you probably don't need Leaping Dodge Method all that much; otherwise, it's a good Charm for getting out of range. There's also lots of goodies in Solar Resistance, such as Invincible Essence Reinforcement, a stackable Charm that permanently boosts your soak.

For the social option, since you've got Performance, that's what I'm going to suggest you work with; Presence has tricks that are helpful, but luckily you've got some very good tools with you in Performance, letting you hold others' attention, affect their emotions, and even rewrite their memories.

[TimeWizard]

Since you can fly

Mind sharing how that is done?

[The Rose Dragon]

Mind sharing how that is done?

Wings? Most people of the air have wings. I'm thinking that helps.

[Lentrax]

Thanks for the help. I would not have known about any of those charms since I never had a character with resistance or integrity.

Definitely going to look into these.

[tensai_oni]

Get some awareness and social combat charms that can be used to defend against others. Your character seems very combat-focused, but that won't do you much good when your enemies try to assassinate you in the night, poison you, or send a brilliant speaker to persuade you to follow their cause.