My First Exalted character

[Arti3]

Hello there. I have played DnD and still do, but recently I read the comic Keychain of Creation and that made me want to play. So while I may take a while to completely understand the mechanics of the games. So if you've played please take a look at my character and see if I understand what I'm doing. Thanks!

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Name: Feather's Midnight Shadow
Caste: Night
Concept: Vigilante Ninja
Motivation: Bring Justice to those Unfortunate
Anima: An obsidian eagle's feather, tinged with purple, and streaked with gold.
Attributes:

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-Strength | ● ● ● ●
-Dexterity | ● ● ● ● ●
-Stamina | ● ●
-Charisma | ● ● ●
-Manipulation | ● ●
-Appearance | ● ●
-Perception | ● ● ●
-Intelligence | ● ● ●
-Wits | ● ● ●

Abilities:

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-Archery (F) | ● ● ●
-Martial Arts |
-Melee (F) | ● ● ●
-Thrown |
-War |
-Integrity |
-Performance |
-Presence (F) | ● ●
-Resistance | ● ●
-Survival (F) | ● ●
-Craft |
-Investigation (F) | ● ●
-Lore | ●
-Medicine |
-Occult |
-Athletics (C) | ● ●
-Awareness (C) | ● ●
-Dodge (C) | ● ● ●
-Larceny (C) | ● ●
-Stealth (C) | ● ● ●
-Bureaucracy |
-Linguistics | ●
-Ride |
-Sail |
-Socialize |

Charms:

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-1st Melee Excellency
-Ox-Body Technique
-Easily Overlooked Presence Method | 3m
-Graceful Crane Stance | 3m
-Essense Arrow Attack (Righteous Judgement Arrow) | 3m
-Summoning the Loyal Bow | 1m
-Call the Blade | 1m
-Summoning the Loyal Steel | 1m
-Shadow Over Water | 1m
Seven Shadow Evasion | 3m (Flaw: Conviction)

Backgrounds:

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-Contacts | ●
-Resources | ● ●
-Manse (Windhands Gemstone) | ● ● ●
-Artifact (Orichalcum Short Powerbow) | ● ●
-Artifact (Orichalcum Reaper Daiklave) | ● ●
-Artifact (Orichalcum Hearthstone Bracers) | ● ●
-Artifact (Orichalcum Chain Shirt) | ●
-Manse (Monkey Stone) | ● ●

Weapons:

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-Orichalcum Short Powerbow

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-Speed | 5
-Accuracy | +3
-Damage | +5L
-Range | 300 yards
-Rate | 2

-Orichalcum Reaper Daiklave

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-Speed | 4
-Accuracy | +5
-Damage | +6L
-Defense | +2
-Rate | 4

W/V:

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-Willpower | ● ● ● ● ●
-Virtues

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-Compassion | ● ● ●
-Temperance | ● ●
-Conviction | ● ●
-Valor | ● ●

Soak:

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-Bash | 7
-Lethal | 8
-Aggravated | 7

Health:

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

Virtue Flaw:

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Red Rage of Compassion

Essence: | ● ● ●

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-Personal | 14
-Peripheral | 33
-Committed | 15 (4 Bracers, 5 Daiklave, 4 Bow, 2 Shirt) (Committed Peripheral)

DV's and MDV's

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-Dodge DV | 5
-Parry DV | 5
-Mental Dodge DV | 4
-Mental Parry DV | varies by Ability

Bonus Points:

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-7 to get Essence ● ● ●
-8 on various Backgrounds

[TheCountAlucard]

So far? Not shabby. Your Attributes look like you did 'em right (in fact, my Dawn Caste has the exact same layout, Attribute-wise), and the Abilities look appropriate.

[Tengu_temp]

No Resources mean that you don't have anything, maybe beyond some filthy rags. You should put some points here.

Looks socially crippled. Could use at least Presence for intimidating criminals. Integrity is good for resisting attempts at manipulation or breaking, too.

No Lore means you can't read. Unless that's your intent, put at least 1 dot here. Similarily, lack of Linguistics will hurt you if the campaign will take you anywhere but the place where you live.

You don't need both Archery and Thrown, you will most likely use only one of these anyway. Put these points somewhere else.

[Lochar]

With only one three dot Artifact, you're lacking something for two of your fighting capibilities. Alternately, it means you have either no armor or a weapon.

I second getting a couple of dots into Resources, so you can at least afford a mortal weapon or two.

No Lore or Linguistics means you only speak the language where you come from, and you can't read it.

You'll need to list out what group you have Influence with. It's not just Influence all over Creation. Contacts the same.

I'd suggest picking which of Thrown/Archery you like better, and reallocating the other points. 1 to Lore, 2 to either Integrity or Presence. You might want to consider using a BP or two to shore up the other.

My suggestion is, sadly enough, drop Thrown. For a standard game with no homebrew, there's just not really any good Thrown artifacts, and especially none made of Orichalcum. And since you have no Occult, you're not likely to manage attuning to another magical material very easily.


Otherwise, let's see what the rest of it looks like.

[Arti3]

Updated... I'm working on a backstory where he was just a normal merchant, wife and daughter, going through the motions of life, not really liking the Empire for several reasons, when some guards kill his wife and daughter after doing some unspeakable things. When he finds out, all he remembers is a shining golden light. After that, the guards where dead. He was covered in blood. He buried his wife and child, leaving the guards, and running. He ran for a long time. When he finally stopped running, he felt calm. A breeze played through the air. He found a blue tower, and it was calling his name. The door was locked, but when he put his hand on the door, he heard ancient First Age mechanisms grinding and groaning. The door opened and he stepped inside. Inside, he found many artifacts of ages past, and he felt their familiarity. He found a little money, and used it to buy a house in a nearby town. After disguising himself, he started "living" in the town while secretly staying at his windy tower. When he cannot sleep, he roams the town on the roofs, silent as a shadow. Whenever he finds injustice, he fixes it. It is his call to aid those that need him most.
[Edit] He also found a brown stone inset to his bow, but cannot find where the manse is. Another quest for him.

[Lochar]

1: All your virtues start out at 1 dot. You get 5 dots to spread around, if I remember correctly. I know you get more than 3, however.

2: You get 10 Charms, so you can pick up 4 more. I'd go with a Presence Excellency(First, most likely), Ox-Body Technique, and a couple others of your choice.

3: Committed Essence is your own Essence, personal or peripheral, you commit to make your artifacts work as intended. Without committing essence, you don't get any real bonuses out of them. Orichalcum chainmail will weigh about 20-30 pounds and has the stopping power of normal chainmail. Diaklaves will nearly snap your wrists, etc. You commit essence to them to draw their latent abilities out and make them work better. You also get specific bonuses based on what magical material it is, if it resonates with you.

[Sanguine]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't fighting for Justice connected to Compassion? If I'm remembering correctly with your motivation you should have a higher Compassion then 1 since 1 Compassion means your a Heartless Bastard(or close to it anyway).

[Kylarra]

The distinct lack of Ox-body Technique makes me sad, you'll want at least one of those. Maybe Body Mending Meditation, depending on your ST. I'd pick up some stuff to do that isn't related to combat, definitely. Right now your character is pretty limited on that front. Also grab a perfect defense. You'll thank me later.

I'd actually not worry too much about resources. One dot is fine, and you're a Solar, so you can always awesome your way into more.

[Yuki Akuma]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't fighting for Justice connected to Compassion? If I'm remembering correctly with your motivation you should have a higher Compassion then 1 since 1 Compassion means your a Heartless Bastard(or close to it anyway).

You do not have to be compassionate to believe in Justice.

Justice without compassion is scary, but it exists.

[Sophismata]

Justice without compassion is scary, but it exists.

Indeed. (Warning: Very slightly NSFW. I hadn't ever noticed until posting it here.)

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[Arti3]

I thought it was 5 total, my bad. Made Compassion his main virtue, thought it fit. I will have to change the flaw.
^^^ That made me laugh

[Sanguine]

You do not have to be compassionate to believe in Justice.

Justice without compassion is scary, but it exists.

My point was that Exalted connects fighting for justice to Compassion, not to mention his Motivation specifically mentions the "Unfortunate", to me that doesn't seem like the motivation of a one Compassion character, I could see a two Compassion or if he removed the bit about those "Unfortunate" but as his motivation stands I don't see his Virtues lining up with it. IMHO

Edit: It seems the OP agrees with me.

Edit2: You no longer qualify for a Conviction Flaw since it's only two points now you want to change either your virtues or the flaw.

[Arti3]

I'm looking at the Reaper Daiklave entry, is Committed Essene the Attune, Cost, or something else?

[Sophismata]

Attune is the essence you need to commit. Cost is the artifact or resource cost. Note that these are accidentally reversed on a couple of the artifacts.

[Arti3]

OK, I think I got the committed essence right. But it's more than my personal, so... what does that mean?

[Sanguine]

OK, I think I got the committed essence right. But it's more than my personal, so... what does that mean?

You don't have to use your Personal Essence for commitment in fact most people don't.

[Sophismata]

Commit your peripheral. The glow will go away.

[Arti3]

Awesome. So, am I missing anything?

[Sanguine]

Awesome. So, am I missing anything?

Your missing your DVs and your MDVs.

[Kyeudo]

I don't see any defensive Charms in your character's arsenal. Get yourself Shadow Over Water and Seven Shadows Evasion. That will improve your character's life expectancy from "until I first face a Immaculate Master and/or Celestial Exalt" to "Until I'm caught out of motes in combat."

As for what to get rid of to make room for those, ditch Invisible Statue Spirit and Phantom Arrow Technique. Easily Overlooked Presence Method can get you almost anywhere on its own, while arrows are really cheap.

[Arti3]

Makes sense.

[Fortuna]

Amusingly enough, I'm in exactly the same boat as the OP. Would someone mind looking over my character?

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Name: Radzan Jeev
Caste: Dawn
Concept: Once-Respected Military Officer
Motivation: Bring peace to Creation, the Underworld, and anywhere else that he can
Anima: A golden disc, similar to his caste mark, but marked out with the vague shape of the continents in Creation.
Attributes:

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-Strength | ● ● ●
-Dexterity | ● ● ● ●
-Stamina | ● ●
-Charisma | ● ● ● ● ●
-Manipulation | ● ●
-Appearance | ● ● ● ●
-Perception | ● ●
-Intelligence | ● ● ●
-Wits | ● ● ● ●

Abilities:

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-Archery (C) | ● ● ●
-Martial Arts (C) | ● ● ● ● ●
-Melee (C) |
-Thrown (C) |
-War (C) | ● ● ● ● ●
-Integrity (F) | ● ●
-Performance |
-Presence (F) | ● ● ●
-Resistance (F) | ● ● ●
-Survival | ●
-Craft |
-Investigation |
-Lore | ●
-Medicine | ●
-Occult |
-Athletics | ● ●
-Awareness |
-Dodge (F) | ● ●
-Larceny |
-Stealth |
-Bureaucracy | ●
-Linguistics | ●
-Ride |
-Sail |
-Socialize (F) | ● ●

Charms:

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-First War Excellency
-Second War Excellency
-First Martial Arts Excellency
-First Prescence Excellency
-Rout-Stemming Gesture
-Mob-Dispersing Rebuke
-Ox-Body Technique (x2)
-Fists of Iron Technique
-Hypnotic Tongue Technique

Backgrounds:

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Cult | ● ●
Resources | ● ● ●
Artifact (Orichalcum Razor Claws) | ● ●
Artifact (Orichalcum Breastplate) | ●
Artifact (Orichalcum Short Powerbow) | ● ●
Weapons: Razor Claws

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Speed 5
Accuracy +5
Damage +5L
Defense +3
Rate 4

Short Powerbow

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Speed 6
Accuracy +3
Damage +3L
Rate 2
Range 300 yards

W/V:

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-Willpower | ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
-Virtues

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-Compassion | ●
-Temperance | ●
-Conviction | ● ● ●
-Valor | ● ● ● ●

Soak:

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-Bash | 8
-Lethal | 9

Health:

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

Virtue Flaw:

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Foolhardy Contempt

Essence: | ● ●

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-Personal | 13
-Peripheral | 30
-Committed | 12

Bonus Points:

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-8 on attributes
-4 on abilities
-3 on background

How does that look? I'm not sure if I've got everything right.

[Arti3]

I think you have an aggravated soak equal to your lethal minus natural, but I'm not sure. Otherwise, cool concept, now you just need a backstory.
Although I am not an expert in these matters.

[randomhero00]

Your name clearly needs to be longer How about, "Feather Falling in a Midnight Shadow" ?

Heh, I always loved coming up with the longest names for my Exalted characters.

[Arti3]

Your name clearly needs to be longer How about, "Feather Falling in a Midnight Shadow" ?

Heh, I always loved coming up with the longest names for my Exalted characters.

I thought those were reserved for Abyssals :D

[kamikasei]

Your name clearly needs to be longer

Actually...

It does look perhaps too much like a D&D spell name.

[Jerthanis]

Attributes:

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-Strength | ● ● ●
-Dexterity | ● ● ● ●
-Stamina | ● ●
-Charisma | ● ● ● ● ●
-Manipulation | ● ●
-Appearance | ● ● ●
-Perception | ● ●
-Intelligence | ● ● ●
-Wits | ● ● ● ●

You don't seem to have enough points here. Remember, you get 8/6/4 and the first dot is free. So you appear to have 6 in physical, 7 in social and 6 in mental. You bought 2 points with BP, so that accounts for your 6 mental, but you should still have 8 in your social, so get Appearance 4 (appearance is the godstat of Social stats)

Charms:

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-First War Excellency
-Second War Excellency
-First Martial Arts Excellency
-First Prescence Excellency
-Rout-Stemming Gesture
-Mob-Dispersing Rebuke
-Ox-Body Technique (x2)
-Fists of Iron Technique
-Hypnotic Tongue Technique

Abilities are fine, but you probably don't want more than one War Excellency. War is somewhat seldom rolled, and when it is you won't need more than one way to boost it.

Mob Dispersing Rebuke is, by the way, my #1 or #2 favorite charm.

Backgrounds look fine, just remember you get to choose what kind of arrows you fire from your bow. Arrow types are listed on page 372. I suggest Target arrows.

[Arti3]

Maybe we should start a beginners game :D

[Sjet]

I'd be interested in a beginners game. It wasn't until seeing something on these forums that I actually learned about the game at all. Ah how these interwebs expand the mind.

[Arti3]

We would need an experienced Storyteller.