[Exalted] New Player

[Blackadam]

Aloha everyone, i'm very new to this game from what i've seen of it and from my limited exposure to it think it's AMAZING and i wish to play it more. My DnD DM will be running a game with a few of us so i'm very excited about this and have an idea for a character that i want to play i'm just not sure how to make him on paper.

The idea (which came from recently watching Indiana Jones and reading the wiki on the game story line so i could have a general idea of the game) I want to create a Archaeologist/Information Broker/Assassin. This toon'z motivation is to uncover secrets and gain knowledge ( i joked around with the DM and told him OMG i want end game due or die is to destroy the Jade Prison) i'm not sure what class could best fit a stealthy character nor really what skills set would best fit this type of character. Makes his money uncovering secrets, finding lost treasures, silver tongue to get him out of a tight spot.

What i've come up with so far build wise would be:

Night or Twilight Caste

Abilities
Awareness
Mentor (for sure i will be maxing this out to get my gold faction)
Occult
Lore
Larceny
Stealth
Medicine
Athletics
Allies
Friends
Contacts
Survival

Charms
Archery
There is no wind
Essence Arrow
Forceful Arrow
Summing Loyal Bow
Immaculate Golden Bow (maybe)
Inexhaustible Bolts of Solar flare

There is this jumping moving technique i saw somewhere i can't remember what it's called i want to use....



The game will be a 2nd edition game and since it's not our usual DnD game i'm not sure if they're any house rules for this game system (at least none that have been important enough to mention anyway, the only one i know for sure is if i want i can max out Mentor and have a gold faction sidereal as my mentor (which personally i think is awesome)

[Juhn]

My immediate advice is "Wait for third edition", but considering the release is running on White Wolf time...

[golentan]

I strongly advocate you ask for the Errata to be in effect. It's a free PDF document that strongly helps with game balance, and also ups the power level of starting characters a bit (lets you buy more charms, higher willpower, easier 5 dot abilities, etc. which is good for fun).

I would also recommend getting some additional categories of charms (only archery is okay if it's going to be a combat heavy game, but it can be a bit boring). Sure you can snipe someone at any distance, but without awareness charms you can't see them to hit them beyond a few thousand feet, stealth or larceny charms will let you walk unseen in a crowd, since you're going archaeologist a quick dip in Craft, Investigation, or Occult charms may help you deal with ancient artifacts.

And I know this is silly given that I just talked about boring charm selection, but picking up some excellencies is really solid mechanically in abilities you've invested heavily in. Maybe ask your ST whether you can get a few free excellencies as a houserule.

Separate out your backgrounds from your abilities: You've got Mentor mixed in with Archery. They draw from different pools of points in character creation and use different rules.

Jumping charms are in Athletics. Monkey Leap technique (required for the others easy jumping, double distance), Soaring Crane Leap (5x jumping distance), Mountain Crossing Leap Technique (jump miles away). Foe Vaulting Method claims to be a jumping charm, but actually is a method to reestablish surprise in battle.

Hope some of that helps.

[Hopeless]

I actually preferred 1st edition but that's because to me its easier than... this.

Anyway given what you stated lets start with the basics.

Charms: Phantom Arrow Technique is the pre-requisite for Essence Arrow and Summoning Loyal Bow requiring Archery skill at 3, the Immaculate Golden Bow requires an essence of 3 and Inexhaustible Bolts of Solar Flare requires Archery 5 as well as Essence 4 I'd give those last 2 a miss.

There is no wind is the pre-requisite for Forceful Arrow but that needs Archery skill at 4 before even the pre-requisite of any one Archery Excellency Charm of which there are 3 to select from.

First Excellency costs 1 mote per die but is used to improve your die pool for the actual ability use, the 2nd costs 2 motes for every bonus success it grants and the 3rd merely costs you 4 motes to reroll a failed check.

Whichever route you're planning please remember unless you are a member of the Dawn caste you will have to obtain charms from your caste skills at least 5 if I remember correctly.

Good news is that your skill list: Awareness*, Occult, Lore, Larceny*, Stealth*, Medecine, Athletics*,Survival and Archery those marked with a * are Night Caste skills whilst those underlined are Twilight Caste skills.

Those left off are Craft, Investigation and Dodge* the rest are from the other Castes.

Backgrounds you have Mentor, Allies (Friends) and Contacts you might want to consider Artefacts or Backing, Resources or even Manse but that's up to you.

Your character has a starting Essence of 2 you'll need to increase that to 3 to even consider Immaculate Golden Bow and you'll find better use for the points elsewhere.

Not sure which of your attributes you want to prioritise since it sounds like Physical might lose out to Mental and Social given your character idea but good luck I only hope this helped!

The comment added whilst I was trying to make sense of this reply sounds like a better bet than what I typed but I'm leaving this here just to demonstrate the previous poster makes a better case than I can.