Dual weilding in Exalted

[Weimann]

No matter how I look, I can't seem to find the rules for this. Are they in the core book, or in some splat book?

*begs for help*

[Shades of Gray]

In Exalted you don't dual wield. You're otherworldly powers let you wield four two-handed weapons at once, just in your mouth alone.

[Talya]

This is regarding first edition, but i believe the answer is the same for 2e:

Can I "dual-wield"?
Yes, but you do not get extra actions just for holding two weapons. If you make an action with the second weapon, you take a one-die penalty for using your off hand. The main mechanical reason you might want to use two weapons is to have a powerful attacking weapon in one hand, and a powerful defending weapon in the other.

http://exalted.shaolinpunk.net/faq.html#dualweapons

[Kyeudo]

This still holds true in Second Edition. Dual Wielding in Exalted does allow you to make more attacks in a flurry (because the Rate of both weapons is seperate) but you still take all the penalties for those actions, so in a normal action you'd never want to do that.

As Talya pointed out, the main benefit is that you can use more accurate weapon for attacking and the weapon with the better defense for calculating your Parry DV.

[Weimann]

Oh, I see. Thanks

[The Rose Dragon]

You do add the rate of your weapons together when duel-wielding, as far as I remember, but you also take the penalties of the multiple attacks in a flurry, along with the -1 to attack on the off-hand. When you make so many attacks, the DV penalty and the attack penalty piles on pretty hard, so it is not very feasible without a good combo.

EDIT: Kyeudo Sidereal'd me so hard.

[Yuki Akuma]

There are also weapons that are meant to be wielded in pairs...

Not that you have to wield them paired or anything, but there is that. It's mostly for style.

[Weimann]

Such as the Short Daiklaves in Core, for example. I saw that they gave no penalties for dual wielding.

And if you are looking to kill something hard, can't you just use a flurry and burn mores on your Melee excellency?

[The Rose Dragon]

Such as the Short Daiklaves in Core, for example. I saw that they gave no penalties for dual wielding.

You don't take the off-hand penalty. The flurry penalties are still there.

[Weimann]

Naturally ^^ But every little modifier counts ^^

[The Rose Dragon]

Naturally ^^ But every little modifier counts ^^

By the way, only artifact weapons are considered "balanced". Short swords, daggers and tiger claws, for example, still have the off-hand penalty. Mostly because artifacts, once attuned, become more like extensions of your body rather than weapons outside it.

[Yuki Akuma]

If you're an Exalt who plans on fighting primarily with two weapons, you're going to be using paired artifact weapons anyway.

Or Glorious Solar Sabre, if you happen to be a Solar.

[Weimann]

It's meant for a Fire aspect, in fact :P

I'm STing a one-on-one game over email. She's never played before, so I kit her out to awesomeness. I doubt optimizing is will be her most pressing problem, but it's useful to know how stuff works, anyway.

[The Rose Dragon]

If you're an Exalt who plans on fighting primarily with two weapons, you're going to be using paired artifact weapons anyway.

Or Glorious Solar Sabre, if you happen to be a Solar.

OR you can get a Strength of 9 (with natural Strength 5 and Green Iron Heart) and dual-wield grand daiklaves.

Tell me that's not stupidly awesome.

[Yuki Akuma]

OR you can get a Strength of 9 (with natural Strength 5 and Green Iron Heart) and dual-wield grand daiklaves.

Tell me that's not stupidly awesome.

How could anyone afford that? Outside a First Age game anyway?

[The Rose Dragon]

How could anyone afford that? Outside a First Age game anyway?

Physical Primary, Strength 5. 3 Backgrounds on 2 Grand Daiklaves each. 1 Background and 4 bonus points on Green Iron Heart. 3 ability and 2 bonus points on Melee. 3 bonus points on Two-Weapon Specialty.

Any starting Infernal can pull it off. It's much, much harder for a Solar, who does not have free access to a Green Iron Heart.

Although you can come up with a similar artifact yourself if you really, really want to.

[Yuki Akuma]

I'm just going to stick to dual-wielding hook dailklaves.

(Totally off-topic, but they should totally make a weapon called a 'klave'.)

[Kyeudo]

I'm just going to stick to dual-wielding hook dailklaves.

(Totally off-topic, but they should totally make a weapon called a 'klave'.)

IIRC, it does exist. It's a weapon created by the Alchemical Exalted and is Exalted's take on the lightsaber.

[The Rose Dragon]

IIRC, it does exist. It's a weapon created by the Alchemical Exalted and is Exalted's take on the lightsaber.

I think that one is called "beam klave" rather than just klave.

[Weimann]

Totally different note, but does a Familiar 3 participate in combat?

I'm leaning towards that it shouldn't, but I can't really find any place where it says so.

[The Demented One]

Totally different note, but does a Familiar 3 participate in combat?

I'm leaning towards that it shouldn't, but I can't really find any place where it says so.

I'm pretty sure Familiars are fully capable of participating in combat. Granted, a Familiar is not gonna hold up too well in combat with Exalted-level opponents, but every little bit helps. Now, if you use the legendary familiar rules, one of the few gems in Scroll of Heroes, and make that familiar just an Inheritance 3 godblood with the beast shape mutation, then you might have something going.

[Weimann]

Hm... I must then find the appropriate stats for a Familiar 3 black cobra >.>

[Tengu_temp]

First edition had charms related to dual wielding, but they disappeared in the second, for some reason. I wonder why.

[The Demented One]

First edition had charms related to dual wielding, but they disappeared in the second, for some reason. I wonder why.

I am guessing they were stolen away by the fiendish Count of Words. Luckily, though, I have the First Homebrewing Excellency.

[The Rose Dragon]

First edition had charms related to dual wielding, but they disappeared in the second, for some reason. I wonder why.

You don't really need them, though, with the First Melee Excellency and Bulwark Stance. If you have the motes to spend, you can put the First Melee Excellency, Dipping Swallow Defense and One Weapon, Two Blows in a combo and go to town.

If I recall, a lot of Charms from First Edition were removed due to the introduction of the Excellencies.

[Weimann]

Okay, I'll try to leech on this thread a bit more :P

My player is a newcomer to Exalted, but has played many other talbe top RPGs. She is playing a Fire Aspect focused on assassination and seducing, and her motivation is to overthrow the Realm. Also, she is alone.

Because she has no other party member, and is new, I've given her an abundance of charms, so that she can work effectively in many situations that would otherwise be covered by her team mates. She starts with 21 charms (two of which I've homebrewed myself, and was supposed to be balanced for Solar level to begin with) instead of the usual seven, which I've calculated to correspond to a 112 xp (all the charms come from Aspect or Favoured abilities).

My question is twicefold:
# Is this a reasonable starting level, considering the circumstances?
# About opponents. There are some sample troops in the core book, but how will they stand to her, roughly? Some are extras, of course, but I want her to be challenged as well. Should I put other Terrestrials or even heroic mortals of importance at some xp bonus too, you think?

These are her stats:

Spoiler

Show

Name:
Gender:Female
Exalt Type and Caste: Fire Aspect Dragon-Blooded
Anima and anima banner: Fire fire fire!

---------------------------------------------------------------

Attributes

Physical
Strength: OOO Dexterity: OOOO Stamina: OOO

Social
Charisma: OOO Manipulation: OOO Appearance: OOO

Mental
Perception: OO Intelligence: OO Wits: OOO

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Abilities

Air Earth Fire
[ ]Linguistics: o [X]Awareness: OOO [X]Athletics: OOO
[ ]Lore: oo [ ]Craft: [X]Dodge: OOO
[ ]Occult: [ ]Integrity: O [X]Melee: ooO
[X]Stealth: oOO [ ]Resistance: O [X]Presence: oOOOO
[ ]Thrown: [ ]War: oO [X]Socialize: OOOOO

Water Wood Specialities
[ ]Bureaucracy: [ ]Archery: oo [ ]____________
[ ]Investigation: [ ]Medicine: [ ]____________
[ ]Larceny: OO [ ]Performance: o [ ]____________
[X]Martial Arts: oo [ ]Ride: o [ ]____________
[ ]Sail: [ ]Survival: O [ ]____________

---------------------------------------------------------------

Backgrounds

Allies:
Arsenal:
Artifact: O (Chain Shirt)
Artifact: OO (Dual Short Daiklaves)
Artifact: OO (Hearthstone Bracers)
Backing:
Command:
Connections:
Familiar: OOO
Family:
Manse: OO (Jewel of the Hungry Fire)
Mentor:
Reputation:
Resources: OOO
Retainers:

---------------------------------------------------------------

Charms

Lore:
Elemental Attack Bolt

Stealth:
First Stealth Excellency
Distracting Breeze Meditation

Awareness:
First Awareness Excellency
All-Encompassing Earth Sense

Resistance:
Ox-Body Technique

Athletics:
Effortlessly Rising Flame
Falling Star Maneuver

Dodge:
First Dodge Excellency
Threshold warding Stance
Hopping Firecracker Maneuver

Melee:
First Melee Excellency
Dragon-Graced Weapon

Presence:
First Presence Excellency
Glowing Coal Radiance
Unbearable Taunt Technique
Passion Transmuting Nuance

Socialize:
First Socialize Excellency
Warm-Faced Seduction Style

And two more homebrewed, related to Appearance.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Essence: OO Virtues Used:
Permanent: Compassion: O
Personal: Conviction: OOO
Peripheral: Temperance: OOO
Committed: Valor: OO

Willpower: OOOOO O The Great Curse:
Spent:

---------------------------------------------------------------

Join Combat: 6

Mental Defenses Physical Defenses
Dodge MDV: 4 Dodge DV: 5
Parry MDV Parry DV: 5
Presence: 3/3
Performance: 2/2
Investigation: 2/2

Intimacies: Soak: 3B/1L (6B/6L, Hardness 2B/2L)
Chaos

Health:
-0 [ ]
-1 [ ][ ][ ]
-2 [ ][ ][ ][ ]
-4 [ ]
Incapacitated [ ]

---------------------------------------------------------------

Artifacts, Armour and Equipment

Chain Shirt
Soak: +5L/+3B Hardness: +2L/+2B Mobility: -0 Fatigue: 0 Attune: 2

Short Daiklaves (pair)
Speed: 4 Accuracy: +4 Damage: +4L Defense: +2 Rate: 2 Attune: 6

Hearthstone Bracers
Holds the Jewel of the Hungry Fire and grants -1 speed to attacks.

Jewel of the Hungry Fire
Adds 6 soak against attacks made with fire, and adds +2 dice to rolls made to resist heat.

---------------------------------------------------------------

[Kylarra]

The thing you quickly learn about point buy systems is that you don't create monsters NPCs like you create PCs. Just give them everything you think is appropriate for what they need to do, and don't worry about the "costs", those are an abstraction created for players. The level of competency can drastically vary depending on the situation and the amount of XP sunk into things relevant to that situation.

If her charms are mainly focused towards making a well rounded character, then she'll probably only be marginally more dangerous (in a specific situation) than she'd otherwise be without the charms, it'll just be harder to "catch her with her pants down" so to speak.

[Weimann]

Wonderful, since that is exactly the way I want it :P

I guess I'll just throw a few standard mooks at her in the beginning, and see how she fares.

[The Rose Dragon]

I must ask how you have fewer -1 health levels than you have -2 health levels. Terrestrial Exalted Ox-Body Technique gives an equal number of both.