/exg/ - Exalted General

I'm a huge weeb so I just tried turning "green sun princess" into something resembling a japanese name for my infernal

Rush is a bit odd in the sense that it doesn't explicitly state that you move when taking the action. From reading it, it seems that you simply keep pace with whatever movement your target takes if you win the contested roll (including disengage)

However, you do get to take your Reflexive Rush as an exception to the 'one movement action/round' rule (P.197), so you can move into Short Range and then Rush so your target cannot outdistance you.

tl;dr It's a tool for melee or thrown characters to keep up with archers or sorcerors

>and the game you will NEVER find a group for
I mean, I've found four games, three of which are still going and the fourth technically finished.

Reflexive Movement with Rush*

It looks like Rush is a combat action, so unless you flurry you can't attack on your turn if you use it. So basically you use your reflexive move action to get into range, then use the Rush action so to keep them from getting out of your range until your next turn?

yes, pretty much. It's something you have to do if an opponent is kiting you.

Yeah, so imagine you're someone without a viable ranged option (Melee, Brawn, or MA) and there isn't a charm you can use to make it ranged. We'll call you Exalt and we'll call the enemy Archer.

Exalt is currently at Medium range with his weapon. He's rushing up a slope to reach Archer or some such. Exalt has won initiative by any amount and is currently acting.

Exalt uses his reflexive move to close on the opponent, reaching Short range. He cannot take another reflexive movement of course because it would violate the rule I described above. At this point, he cannot move further or make an attack. If things remain the way they are, Archer can simply use his reflexive movement to maintain the gap while raining ranged attacks on poor Exalt.

Exalt then uses Rush, beating Archer in the contested roll.

His turn over, it is then Archer's turn. Archer makes some kind of combat action, but also tries to move away from Exalt. However, Exalt automatically keeps pace due to Rush. Furthermore, since Exalt is maintaining Short range from Archer, Archer cannot make a Disengage Combat action since that action explicitly requires you to be at Close Range to be used.

As a further note, this gets all kind of fucky when Charms are in play. Some Athletics charms allow Rush to be used from Medium or Long range or to also close you with the enemy upon it's use. Dodge also changes Disengage in some ways, so it only gets more complex with this.

Well, fuck I had a huge block of text typed out for all questions... okay let's try again, short this time.

>How do you name your characters?
Mostly by hitting the 'generate realm name/threshold name' button until something tickles my fancy or I get an Idea or I can paste two good parts into something good together. Some good things come of this, like the dragonblood family naming their children through the first word in their name. Jade-Seeking Falcon had a son named Willow of Bonteous Jade, who in turn had a daughter named Rain of Willow's Tears. That's just an ally by the way. I like fleshing things out and adding details were I can.
Also names usually refer in a roundabout, poetic or very tangential way to an attribute, association or story element of a charater. Mostly in an abstraction of
>What kind of weapons does your Exalt use?
Swords atm. Or rather an empty hand and a sword. Earlier Spears and bows respectively.
>Artifacts?
Mostly. Artifacts have more character then simple weapons and I tend to only not use them when I have neither the points NOR the explanation for their existence left in character creation, after that it's a mattero what the story brings really. I love them because they are both be eye candy for the mind and extremely cool to use at once. As I said, I love putting in detail.Could I draw the way I'd like to, I'd have a picture of every concept, character, artifact, charm or otherwise that ever crossed my mind for this damn game.
While we are at it, I'd love to take this new concept I have on a ride...
>Evocations?
Not big on them. Though I like the concept. Always when I try to make some up, I end up scrapping them.

My issue with Evocations is making them worth it. A charm is almost always worth more to me than an evocation.

I know that feel on the drawing. Being able to write out every detail doesn't compare to having it visually.

Evocations can go places Solar Charms do not, or should not go. Fire manipulation on the level of Volcano Cutter isn't in theme for Solars but completely fine for an Artifact.

Hey /exg/ I was hoping you could weigh in on this;

Read like a bunch of Fire Aspect powers to me.

But I'm assuming a Dragon-Blooded would be able to use it? it'd be cool if they resonated with it and made elementally aligned evocations more powerful in their hands.

Volcano Cutter's fire manipulation is very specific and centered around combat (and are a bitch to get working in any combat beyond massive battles besides). I understand that artifact weapons and armor have evocations based on just that, combat, but that doesn't mean I want to buy their charms any more than say... the ability to reflexively clash anyone who attacks me, even from Ambush.

The problem isn't that Evocations are ineffective or thematically inappropriate, it's that I can get much more mileage out of most charms that aren't on the entry level of an Ability.

Does that mean the Archmage class from D&D 3.5? If so, Archmage. If it's your any old man with a variety of flashy magic spells that don't break the universe, Exalt.

the linked thread is the CoD/WoD general so presumably it's a Mage: The Awakening/Ascension style Arcmage

So probaly a dumb qustion, but I'm a newb so I suppose dumb is to be expected.

How do you lot generaly "start" you Exalted games, like what would be the Exalted version of "you all meet in a tavern"?

There's a few ways to do it that are relatively generic. Some examples off the top of my head:

1. Have the circle have been together for a short period (maybe six months) and have gathered members organically through that period.

2. Have them all be present at some large event, such as a battle. Fate might conspire to bring them together at a point of great contention or turmoil (or just pass each other on the street)

3. Have them all Exalt as mortals together. That way they can have been a group previously. A group of warrior-thanes from the east Exalting as they fight off a Realm legion invading their kingdom is an example.

Depends on the exalt type, but I like my names to fit the overall theme. Only name I'm 100% happy with was my alchemical named 'Impervious Wall of Attrition'. He was pretty tanky, as you would imagine.

Never gonna end up actually playing an Exalted game since I can't even get my friends to get together to play D&D, let alone try to get these guys to learn Exalted.

Post your Discord.

Last time I just sort of threw the players in the same general location, then waited for one of them to do something flashy and the others to look into it. It was not ideal but it worked.

After the newly exalted solars fled their respective realm controlled city, they all meet together at some random far away ish village and decide it is time to build their empire with that said village.

thanks all, those examples really help put things in perspective.

So them Limit Triggers, huh?

I couldn't think of anything nice, so mine was just "Denied his vices for reasons" which mostly were alcohol and sex, so there wasn't much limit gained

nevermind that faggotry, what about your shaping rituals?

Failing a hunt for my solar huntsman was nice. Dude saw every challenge as a hunt and when he found himself unable to complete a hunt due to a lack of skill or information, he'd run of to kill something supernatural and offer it's head to his goddess as sacrifice. Dude was crazy. Would make a nice Exigent these days, I guess.

i think of a name and i go damn, that is a good name, and then i give it ot my character. hope this helps.

So if you were the Storyteller of your game and one of your players asked if they could stunt using Fate Shifting Solar Arete with Flowing Mind Prana/Tireless Learner Method would you let them?

I'm coming in from CofD, so I get the basics of Exalted's system, but there are some differences. One thing I'm trying to figure out is if there is a penalty for using abilities untrained. In CofD you have a -1 penalty when you use physical and social skills untrained, and a -3 when you use mental skills untrained. Is there anything like this when using abilities you have no dots in, or do you just end up rolling the relevant attribute by itself?

Only for mortals. Exalts shine with divine skill at everything.

What are the penalties, for mortals, and where can I find them in the book?

2e, page 121, minus two dice.
3e, penalty has been removed AFAIK.

All 3e has on playing mortal characters is one sidebar regarding chargen though IIRC.

Huh.

On the one hand, removing it in 3e leads to silly situations where mortals can asspull feats of accomplishment through SPIRAL POWER DETERMINATION! Completely untrained skill, below-average attribute, attempting a difficult task? Well, I'll stunt my action for one success and spend Willpower for a second success...

On the other hand, the 2e penalty (combined with the 2e "sample mortal citizen" statblock) led to the ridiculous result that everyone died in childbirth by the rules as written.
Because surviving childbirth was a Stamina+Resistance roll of difficulty 1, and the sample mortal was written with Stamina 2, Resistance 0. So they took a two-die penalty and autofailed.

And the report of a playtester whiping two scales of legionares out with a heroic mortal...

Hey /exg/, has anyone run a game of the more low-power character types? I'm talking Dragon-Blooded and below, like Heroic Mortals, God-Blooded, Ghost-Blooded, Demon-Blooded, etc.

How did it go? How did it compare to other "normal" Exalted games you've played?

I'm thinking of running a game in the near future with these types. I know the main pull for playing Exalted is being a powerful demi-god, but I think the DBs and other non-Celestial Exalts are more grounded and a bit better for RP, which is what my group focuses on.

Well, that would explain the multitude of supernatural halfbreeds there are if every mortal mother dies in childbirth...

Considering that Fate Shifting Solar Arete enhances an action, no. The roll for regaining experience from Flowing Mind Prana is not part of any one action on the Solar's part. That's just how I interpret it though.

I played a ghost party after the demise of an entire group.

It was arguably funnier to play. Lot less powers, lot less wriggle room, lot more of people who can fuck you up. It suddenly started to be a political/munchkinery play.

Why does everyone seem to only Exalt during combat? Not every Exalt is a Dawn Caste senpai.

What you need to remember is that the DB level is the perfect powerlevel to have meaningful interactions and still have an impact to the world of Exalted. Playing a DB group is a lot of fun, and a good balance between roflstomping and being absolutely useless. You want low level games? Go DB route.

Heroic Mortals and the diverse *-Blooded are, by nature, inconsequential. They can have an importance locally, as the protectors/guardians of a tribe or a village, and they excel at it, but they won't be able to fight against 99% of Creation. If you go this route, be certain that your group want to play hard-mode. Because it will be hard, very hard. Or be certain that they are fine with playing in a small pond, as the protectors of the tribe Hillyfish of the village McTreehuggering.

You can certainly have good scenario with very low level characters, and the feeling of hopelessness can certainly be good to create a sense of urgency. Just be certain that this is what your players want, and that they know absolutely that they should flee when they encounter any essence wielder, not charge in.

Ghosts, Mountain Folks and Dragon Kings are less powerful than DBs, but change incredibly the tone of the game. Mountain Folks are all about supergenius with the Spark leading magitek armies against monsters. Dragon King games are big on the spiritual and survival side - they are local, but in a good way. Ghost stories are best stories.

source on this japanese comic?

The Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer

My martial arts supernal character has "Being defeated in a fight, or otherwise forced to surrender" as his limit trigger. His goal is to be the absolute strongest fighter in Creation, and fancies himself as one of the top players even now at Essence 1. He doesn't take too well to being defeated as a result, and surrendering is just as bad in his opinion. He actually Exalted when he took a challenge from someone while knowing the other guys was gonna ambush him with his friends and other people that hated him, but he went anyways and won, so he's the kind that really really hates backing down even when it's the smart thing to do.

Then there's my Righteous Devil Eclipse character, whose limit trigger is just "Willingly allowing harm to come to innocents", which is fairly simple but combines well with some of his intimacies, like a Defining principle that says "Killing is wrong" and a second Defining Principle that says "But sometimes, if it's for the greater good, you have to be that bad person", so any time he actually deals with someone he considers a bad guy, there's that internal conflict that usually ends in limit. I like making characters like these, lots of people hate limit as a concept, but I feel like it's got a lot of good storytelling and character-developing angles.

I don't like limit mainly because I'm shit at making up a limit break and intimacies

I'm the opposite, actually. Making intimacies is easy-peasy for me, and as for limit breaks, I try to make them related to either the character's limit trigger or one of their intimacies. So, if a character has "Being defeated or otherwise forced to surrender" as their limit trigger, I'd spring it when they're facing some really bad odds, and make it so their character just refuses to back down (although I'd leave options for how he can survive, such as being captured or giving the party some method of forcing him to back off from the fight), or if the character has an intimacy of "Killing is wrong" or "But sometimes, if it's for the greater good, you have to be that bad person", then I might make it so they just can't bring themselves to finish off an enemy at a critical moment, or alternatively they just go cold-hearted for the scene and say "Fuck it, I'm taking the easy way. Everyone dies, and if they get in my way they die too". Essentially, just make it something related to the stuff that made them limit break in the first place.