/exg/ Exalted General - Why aren't you playing Anima edition

Yeah, I would to love to learn how to play a game with multiple books of errata and houserules that bandaid a fundamentally flawed core system

But are you talking about 2.5 or anima?

Probably both, I'd guess.

I seem to recall homebrew infernals for 2e.

Hey OP, please use this link for the Anathema custom charms, as I've updated them with an Elloge charmset.

mediafire.com/folder/ddtp2932ad32j/Anathema_Custom_Files

i fell down and hit my head, suffering severe brain damage, and now i love anima

Ah, that's what we call the 'Anima Valley' where you're mentally impaired in such a way that you can enjoy Anima but also cogent enough to make any sense of the rulebook.

Surprisingly common phenomena.

Actually, I think insanity helps in extracting information from the Anima rulebook.

Infernals were never a thing in 1E.

I nonetheless seem to recall homebrew infernals for 2e. Guess they must have been created ad hoc rather than ported, then.

And what does Terrifying Argent Witches tell us on this score?

That SB/SV is full of autists?

>why aren't you playing it?
what is?

...that people love those two exalt types and aren't going to wait 9 years to use them with the new stuff?

especially since they've said they're reworking infernals from the ground up, some people might want to use the old version

Yeah, they love those exalt types enough to have to play as those splats in whichever edition they play.
But they seem to prefer 3rd edition so strongly to put in the effort to make or wait for those homebrew conversions rather than just play the existing splats in 2nd edition.

Devil Tigers were, by default, homebrew.

Which is why they are not going to be a thing this time around. Supposedly. YMMV. Morke and Holden are liars. (this post a limited liability corporation registered in jersey)

in 2ed solars gave a charm to learn from p to 5 yozi. they can't use this to unlock hereticals right?

he is talking about the ones people made from the very start based off abyssals. do a google search speculation and charmsets'll still pop up

>Hey OP, please use this link for the Anathema custom charms, as I've updated them with an Elloge charmset.
>mediafire.com/folder/ddtp2932ad32j/Anathema_Custom_Files
Yeah ok, let me get right on editing the OP...

Are you a newfag?

Nothing good, that's for certain.

>Yeah ok, let me get right on editing the OP...
>Are you a newfag?
It's generally understood it means include the link in future threads.

No. "Hey please use this link in the OP next thread" is generally understood.

What was said is autistic at best and retarded at worst.

>What was said is autistic at best and retarded at worst.
Can't think of a better way to describe

Correct. Even if a Heretical Charm only used one Yozi's Charms as prerequisites, it's still not a Charm of that Yozi.

sure....if read with your head up your ass by the light peaking in through your mouth...

I've just reread the Medicine charms for the first time in a while, and I'm baffled. What's the difference between Instant Treatment Methodology and Body Sculpting Essence Method? And why are all the high Essence charms mote managers and roll enhancers? How high could you actually need to roll on a medicine roll, that you need double 7s?

>What's the difference between Instant Treatment Methodology and Body Sculpting Essence Method?
Convalescence.
ITM can suture someone shut in an instant, but they still have to rest for the normal period, while BSEM is a combat-time Charm.

>And why are all the high Essence charms mote managers and roll enhancers?
Two factors: applying Medicine to large groups at once, and applying Medicine in combat-time, where motes are more precious.

>How high could you actually need to roll on a medicine roll, that you need double 7s?
Taking the Dawn from death's door, riddled with poisons and missing an arm, to back in the fight, all in one action.

Flat out doubling the Dawn's HLs is huge all by itself.

>I'm baffled. What's the difference
Effectively nothing. Your Storyteller definitely doesn't know or care.

It's all waffles and raspberries!

>Why aren't you playing Anima edition
>tfw your game died
I-it had a good run ;_;

Alternative, you're just on the mental state of being a semi-educated spic
>too stupid to understand why it's shit
>smart enough to be able to math

>all this talk about Anima
So what's the deal with Anima? Is it complete shit? Or is it good? Don't know anyone who talks or plays it in my city, but then again I'm not from Muricah, so it might be different there.

Not really popular/niche.
Pretty crunch heavy.
Has a weird ass tone (you step from maximum weeaboo to the extreme westaboo style)
Generally weird lore.
Gets a videogame next month (lolconsolegraphics).
Probably the second worst FFG translation (first one was a french weird WWII game).

Veeky Forums hates anima for some reason. Although every time they explained it, it was them playing it incorrectly or just wanting a narrative instead of crunchy game. I think it's because it shits on american mentality pnp where you must be min-maxed to all fuck, plus bad translation and mathy.

Are you talking about Exalted?

Oh no wait, you said video game next month.

From the bits I read (a friend's actually playing a so heavily homebrewed version of it it's almost another game entirely), it's a poor man's Exalted.
My friend homebrewing it to the extreme whereas he's usually a "by the book" guy also inclined my judgement.

I picked up the Anima rulebook out of curiosity when Borders went out of business.

Character creation seems cool but the system feels unplayable.

That's why I don't play Anima

Because 2e was worse than 1e so people just kept playing 1e. If 3e was worse than 2e people would just play 2e.

>Because 2e was worse than 1e
I don't know if I'd go *that* far.

Yes, that's pretty much the point I was making.

That the reason people are spending all this time and effort homebrewing all the other splats for 3E rather than just playing 2.5, is because 2.5 really is much worse than 3E.

For all of 1E's flaws, it was at least willing to use turns instead of ticks.

For all of 2e's flaws, at least its combat paradigm didn't collapse into lasting literally forever.

Well, unless you used perfect defenses in 2E, in which case yeah, /it totally did/

No, it just lasted figuratively forever. Big difference.

Say you use wound mending care technique. That charm says you need to work for fifteen miuntes to an hour and then the patient must rest for a full day in order to be healed. Instant treatment takes the work down to a few seconds but the dude still has to rest. Body sculpting takes the whole process down to a few seconds. So in essence its as close as you get to cure wounds in exalted. The bonus success charms are for dudes with alot of health levels. You can basically do open heart surgery in combat time with them

It lasted as long as all involved could keep coming up with 2-dice stunts, or stopped caring.

Does Benefit of Celestial Healing + Feint of Imparted Nature give free health levels to everyone?

For all of these straws, at least it's not your last grasp.

Sure, if you have a long enough downtime.

It isn't unplayable but it's definitely only for guys who really liked Rolemaster.

well op...if you link a rulebook pdf I'll give it a try

Veeky Forums, are there any Solar charms in 3e that let me shove an ally change an allies position? Like, if they were in harms way, I could throw them away and to safety?

Well I believe there are reflexive defend other charms that would let you at least interpose your DV against the opponents attack. If they beat it then it lets them choose to hit you or try and use the remainder against the original targets DV.

pick them up with a miscellaneous action on your turn and monkey leap away after disengaging

I think there's a Crane Style charm that lets you fly off with them.

Unassailable Guardian Posture.

I'd say it's trying for something different than exalted is.

I'd also say it's more functional than exalted 1e/2e ever was.

Does someone remember how many XP you should give instead of bonus points on character creation? (I remember there was a thread about it or something)

75xp, with flat costs for ratings.
Attributes 10xp each, Favored Abilities 4xp each, Nonfavored Abilities 5xp each, rest are normal core progression costs.

is this what you're looking for?

Have any of you had Fair Folk in your games? I'm trying to figure out how to make them serious threats to a Solar circle because they usually seem pretty disorganized, but that might just be my interpretation of them being wrong.

Everyone is say 75, but I've always done 60. 4xp per bonus point. Guess i've been doing it wrong.

So, I just tried to adapt a Tomescu to 3e. Here's how it turned out. I'd greatly appreciate all criticism and input.

Tomescu, the Clamorous Cloud Arsenals
(Based on pages 122-123 of GoD and 89-91 of RoGDII)
It is said that every tomescu knows its ultimate destiny. From the moment of its birth, a tomescu realizes the moment of its death. The image of its own mortality burned into its consciousness, each tomescu cries out in pain twice a day. In Creation, this scream comes at dawn and dusk; in Malfeas, where the light of Ligier is unrelenting, the collective screams of the tomescu mark a passage from day to night that would otherwise be undetectable. Supposedly, only a single tomescu in 100 does not cry out. Of these, 99 in 100 are stoic or addled. Only one tomescu in 10,000 foresees a beauteous end; these tomescu, other demons fear.

The form of a tomescu generally cannot be discerned in full, for each is perpetually surrounded by a thick cloud, an airy vapor that partakes of the creature’s Essence. From this fog emerges an assortment of the tomescu's many long, insectile legs, each usually ending in a weapon of some sort bonded to the tomescu at the last joint - spiny raptorial legs, like that of a mantis, as sharp and lethal as metal blades; the smashing or spearing thoracic appendages of a stomatopod, as hard as hammers or piercing as lances respectively; axes with blades of steel-cutting keratin; even chitinous bows. Each tomescu is born with its weapons at the ready and a preternatural skill at using them. Though most of these limbs end in weapons below the joint, the innermost limbs have either hands capable of working the bows and manipulating other objects or feet like the tarsus of a spider's leg to support the tomescu in its crablike gait. Ancient texts depict the tomescu’s true form as resembling a massive snow crab with the wings of a praying mantis on its back, dozens of armed limbs jutting improbably from all sides of the demon’s body.

(cont)

Though they are quite skilled at it, the tomescu do not live for violence, existing as they do with an innate understanding of their own mortality. To them, the matters of beginnings and endings hold no interest, nor the matters of life and death. They live for the instants of the present and in furious service of the Yozis, who endure past time. They listen to the air of the Demon City and from it glean the whims and will of the Demon Princes. The tomescu move from place to place in the city, carrying out their incomprehensible tasks, performing strange, seemingly innocuous acts such as rearranging a road sign, sabotaging a wagon wheel, or saving the life of a penniless urchin. Such actions seem random and often out of character for a demon; only years later does the tomescu’s minor alteration of destiny take hold in a way that advances the Yozis’ will. Given their druthers, they do no differently when freed to act in the mortal world, as they are when occasionally summoned into Creation after destiny is thwarted.

Essence: 2; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 8 dice
Personal Motes: 70
Health Levels: -0/-1x5/-2x5/-4/Incap.
Actions: Climbing and clinging to surfaces: 6 dice; Feats of Strength: 8 dice (may attempt Strength 5 feats); Flying maneuvers: 6 dice; Interpreting omens: 7 dice; Resist Poison/Illness: 7 dice; Senses: 7 dice; Stealth: 4 dice; Threaten: 7 dice; Tracking: 4 dice
Appearance 4 (Hideous), Resolve 4, Guile 2

Combat:
Attack (Melee): 12 dice (Damage 15)
Attack (Archery): 11 dice (Damage 12; unlike its other innate weaponry, a tomescu only possesses arrows it gains in a mundane fashion.)
Attack (Grapple): 8 dice (11 dice to control)
Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion 3 (2 while airborne), Parry 5
Soak/Hardness: 10/6

(cont)

Merits:
Diabolical Herald Prognostication: By listening to the air of Malfeas, a tomescu gleans how it might best fulfill the will of the Yozi. This purpose is imprinted within them, so they are naturally in tune with the patterns of destiny and thus the astrological forces of Creation, knowing in the moment how they must meddle with the flow of destiny to achieve their master's desires. Unfortunately, it often cannot explain or doesn’t understand the significance of these omens beyond its own experience. Even so, a tomescu may be compelled to interpret its auguries in relation to those around it.
Once a day per target, a tomescu may attempt to foresee the destiny of a character with some direct relation to it at difficulty 3 using an interpretation roll of 7 dice; success allows a tomescu to make a short statement about the next major event in the character's life within the day or week, while failure means the tomescu is unable to come to any useful conclusion at that time. This prediction does not assert where the character's life will wind up, but rather something that will happen to them if their present course is maintained. In practice, the tomescu's statement is usually as insightful as a thaumaturge reading tealeaves.
After a successful reading, a tomescu has deduced what it could and cannot attempt another prediction for a character until the event it hinted at has either come to pass or has been avoided, while a failed reading cannot be retried until the tomescu renews its prophetic insight when it next screams at either dawn or dusk. The readings of one tomescu will not substantially diverge from those of another, and if one tomescu cannot glean any meaning from its omens, neither can its peers.
Because of this ability, a typical tomescu -must- cry out at dawn and at each day’s end as its intuition of destinies flow is renewed, even if it desires stealth.

(cont)

MORE Merits:
Many-Limbed Deterrence: The tomescu's excess of weapon-tipped limbs makes it extraordinarily difficult for enemies to find an opening. It does not take onslaught penalties to its Parry Defense from any attack, although magically-inflicted onslaught penalties still apply against it. Experts at fighting multiple opponents, tomescu ignore the onslaught penalty they would otherwise receive from being affected by a pincer attack.

Unseen Sight: Tomescu can perceive immaterial spirits even while they themselves are materialized.

Offensive Charms
Preordained Encounter Readiness (3m; Supplemental; Instant; Essence 2): The tomescu is ever prepared against opponents it knows it was destined to fight. This Charm supplements a Join Battle roll, granting the tomescu a single additional success for each opponent it rolls higher than on its Join Battle roll, even as a result of this charm, up to a maximum of 5 successes.

Unending Tide of Strikes (7m; Simple; One scene; Essence 2): The tomescu's limbs attack wildly in a rampant onslaught against their foes. Enemies with an Initiative three points or more below the tomescu's own take a -1 onslaught penalty to Defense against it, while the tomescu gains +1 Parry against their attacks. Whenever the tomescu successfully deals Initiative damage with a withering attack that causes its attacker’s current Initiative to fall below its own, it may reflexively activate Unending Tide of Strikes.

Principle of Motion (10m, 1wp; Reflexive; Instant; Essence 2): The cloud arsenal moves with blinding speed, taking a flurry without the usual restrictions—it can flurry two of the same action if desired, and it ignores the usual penalties to dice pools and Defense.

(cont)

Defensive Charms
Preemptive Retaliation (1m or 4m; Reflexive; Instant; Counterattack, Decisive-only; Essence 1): The tomescu already knows its opponent's vector of attack and responds accordingly. Successful defense strips a point of Initiative from the tomescu's attacker and, for an additional 3m, allows the tomescu to respond with a decisive counterattack. It may use this counterattack to make a disarm gambit.

Miscellaneous Charms
Hurry Home (10m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): The demon fades away and vanishes on its next turn, drawn instantly to its summoner’s side. This Charm is unavailable when the demon is unbound.

Immaterial Intersection (1m; Supplemental; Instant; Uniform; Essence 1): Because of their unique role as herald's of the Yozi's transcendent wills, a tomescu's body may briefly span the threshold between the material and immaterial without fully shifting states, never wholly cut off from its masters. This is a Supplemental Charm that allows the Tomescu to take limited action against the immaterial while they are materialized, such as nudging immaterial objects, or act on the material while they are dematerialized, such as whispering a brief message to a material individual. For 1m, they may launch a single attack against an unmanifested spirit while material. They may not attack the materialized while they themselves are dematerialized, but they may take Defend Other actions for a material ally, briefly manifesting as an impeding wisp of smoke.

Materialize (35m, 1wp; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): A cloud of thick grey smog abruptly puffs into existence and expands to the tomescu's proper size, followed by its many limbs extending outward.

Measure the Wind (5m; Simple; Instant; Essence 1): The tomescu can discern the nature of anyone it recalls from its prophetic auguries.

And there you have it. Any critique, corrections, pointing out ways in which this write-up is fucked, etc. is very much welcomed. Thank you in advance.

Do the parry bonuses of the defensive Melee charms stack with the bonuses of the Crane style?

Or any other parry/tank happy charm sets really.

I mean... there's nothing saying they technically can't, as long as you're unarmored and using a war fan?

Martial Arts Charms can't be combo'd with native Charms.

Some STs will let you stack scenelongs between the two, others won't.

>Martial Arts Charms can't be combo'd with native Charms.

However, *combo* isn't defined particularly well anywhere in the system, so that doesn't actually communictae much.

The rules don't use the word combo, I did.

>In short—Martial Arts Charms are not compatible with Brawl, or any other combat Ability, unless they explicitly state otherwise. A bare-handed attack cannot benefit from both the maiming precision of Snake style’s Crippling Pressure-Point Strike and the devastating force of the Heaven Thunder Hammer; wielding twin blades in the katas of Steel Devil style is entirely unlike the pragmatic fundamentals of the Melee Ability.

Crane Charms raise your Crane style MA Ability-based Parry, Melee Charms raise your Melee Ability-based Parry.
You could use Melee Parry to defend against 1 attack, and Crane Parry against another, within the same turn.
You can use one for offence and one for defence, but generally you can't use them on the same thing at the same time.

At least, this is what I'm getting based on the reading and developer responses.

You can't use the charms at the same time in the same action as they count as different maneuvers, but ongoing effects like scene-long and indefinite charms are fair game.

homebrew spells, tg, i want them

Which means that the answer to the original question is "yes", because the defensive bonuses in Crane style are from it's Form (scene-long) and Fluttering Cry of Warning (round-long).

Which makes it pretty clear that a single attack can't be enhanced by multiple charms, but it doesn't say much about the interaction between scene-long effects and reflexive charms - which is usually the source of the problem.

>Does Benefit of Celestial Healing + Feint of Imparted Nature give free health levels to everyone?
Yep! Just slap it on anyone you even vaguely care about so they're far more resilient. Don't worry about betrayal, though, as you can cancel the bonus at any time...

If your parry is enhanced by a martial arts form charm to be +2 for the scene, then that bonus only applies to parries created through your martial arts ability.

Like if you also had Melee 5, you would basically have two separate parry values, one derived from Melee and one derived from MA. So Fivefold Bulwark Stance would not negate onslaught penalties to your MA based parry.

How do I build a Brawl-centric character right from the start to not be shit? I feel like Brawl is inferior to Melee. I just want to be the unstoppable punchy death machine.

Assume a standard char-gen allotment for everything character, Brawl Supernal Dawn.

I see. Thanks for the clarification Veeky Forums!

Brawl is not inferior to Melee. If you want the minimum to be strong, then I think Falling Hammer Strike, Ferocious Jab, and Fists of Iron do most of what you're looking for

Firstly, what about MA charms that enhance dodge? Do you then calculate your dodge based on your MA?

Secondly, that might be a good house rule - it might even be close to what the authors intended - but it's not anything that they actually managed to write in the rulebook.

forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/exalted/869895-gm-manual-progression-charm-build-combos

The very first post has what you'll need. Enjoy!

Has anyone tried editing the pdf into 2 books?
A simple general core book with intro, setting, resolution mechanics, st stuff, quick characters etc. With a second book just for solar character creation?
The book is pretty intimidating to new comers, and I'd rather give them an easier time to get caught up on the essentials before plowing into creating their characters.

Since it's just a first circle demon, maybe the onslaught negation should be toned down a notch? Maybe just something like 'The first attack a character makes each round against the tomescu doesn't apply onslaught penalties'?

It is worst than 2e. I don't play fundamentally broken games.

So, a few threads ago I posted a work-in-progress entry level War charm that's kind of a grab-bag of effects (like Salty Dog Method). After taking into account the feedback I got last time, I have:

Supreme Martial Instinct
Cost: - ; Mins: War 3, Essence 1; Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisites: None

As a peerless soldier and strategist, the Solar feels the flow of battle as easily as the breath in her lungs. Purchasing this charm provides the Solar with the following permanent enhancements to her capabilities:
-The Solar may roll Join Battle using her (Wits + War) if the encounter would be subject to a Strategem.
-For every enemy character or battle group who scores lower than the Lawgiver in her first Join Battle roll of a scene, any number of allied battle groups may gain one point of initiative.
-The Solar gains (Essence/2) initiative whenever an opponent rolls join battle after the first round of the fight.

The main thing I'm still working on is the third perk. For a while, I had it as 'The solar gains (Essence/2) initiative for striking a battle group rather than the usual 1' but battle groups are a black hole of initiative by design, so I figured it was better not to mess with that.

I like the effect that's in there now a lot more on thematic grounds, anyway, but I suspect the rate on it may be a bit too good. What do you think anons? (Essence/2) initiative for extra JB rolls, or just 1 since it's not a full charm's worth of power budget?

Its not a houserule, that is how it actually works - you're right it should be more explicitly stated.

As for dodge, it is not defined as a 'combat ability' so you can freely combine it with MA

forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/exalted/737402-please-help-me-understand-3e-martial-arts?p=750752#post750752

It would be nice if the beginning of the martial arts section actually defined what 'combat abilities' meant, instead of it being clarified in a forum post

>Its not a houserule, that is how it actually works - you're right it should be more explicitly stated.

I think that's wrong. The 'useful calculations' sidebar on p.196 lists Martial Arts as an option for parry, but not for evasion. Per the link though, you should be able to freely use MA charms to boost your evasion, though. You just need to actually buy dots in dodge to have a good evasion in the first place.

Oh, I meant having two parry derivatives was how it worked. I was not sure if MA gave you evasion, but your citation is correct, it gives parry only

>It would be nice if the beginning of the martial arts section actually defined what 'combat abilities' meant, instead of it being clarified in a forum post

If it's not in the books, it's a houserule - even if its a forum post by the devs. Your average player can't (and shouldn't) be expected to go out and hunt down random forum posts to establish the rules effects of the game.

Rules as written, the way MAs interact with defences is almost entirely indeterminate. That's just not on with a book that's taken so long, and has had the opportunity (even if not realised) to have so many eyes on it.

> Per the link though, you should be able to freely use MA charms to boost your evasion, though.

So Snake Form's dodge bonus can be applied alongside Shadow Over Water to eliminate onslaught, but Crane Form's parry bonus can't be applied alongside the almost-identical parry version, Dipping Swallow Defence.

That sound completely idiosyncratic and unintuitive to anyone else?

>So Snake Form's dodge

Urgh, Snake Form's is a penalty to the attack. That's what I get for relying on memory. Say, Black Claw Form instead.

>If it's not in the books, it's a houserule - even if its a forum post by the devs.

It is in the books, Melee and Brawl are explicitly called out, as well as other 'combat abilities,' which were not named.

>That sound completely idiosyncratic and unintuitive to anyone else?

No, not really. Both Brawl and Melee have their own parry defense charms that only apply to their respective derived values. Its just that Melee is a better defensive tree than Brawl.

The appeal of dodge is its universal application, and the martial arts charms seem to be balanced accordingly. Its not like you could use dipping swallow defense to negate penalties to an unarmed parry anyway.

There are quite a few onslaught penalty negators to pick from in MA anyway, if you want them - Revolving Crescent Defense, Gathering Light Concentration, Harmony in Opposition Stance, etc.

As a follow up, and about Crane Style in particular, it is capable of insane parry ratings and giving it casual access to Solar Melee penalty negators would be OP.

Let's say you have 6 base parry. You're allowed to use medium weapons in Crane style, so that is increased by 1.

Now you have 7 parry from medium weapon bonus. Crane form gives an additional +1, so that is 8 parry. Crane style encourages you to take Full Defense actions - it costs nothing and you make unlimited counterattacks!

So, 10 parry at no cost.

Fluttering Cry of Warning is 3m to defend other reflexively, and you get an additional +2 parry and you counterattack.

3m for 12 parry every turn is insane, I'm glad you can't use Fivefold Bulwark Stance on that.