/exg/ - Exalted General

I'm interested to see what the differences are at all now that an entirely new group of people will have to be writing the charms.

One thing I hope is that they' ll cut down on needless fluff in Charm texts. Not that they'll remove fluff entirely, because it has its lace, but in some Charms in the core flavor text just feels awkward.

>There's a thread on OPP forums where people are talking about the new book
>Rich gets all butt hurt because someone mentioned they liked the old Meso-American design for the glyphs than the new ones he cobbled together

Christ, does everyone who touches Exalted turn into a fucking drama queen?

He's still fucking posting too. Jesus christ I don't even think Holden or Morke would have gotten that booty bazooka'd over a comment like that.

My god, I knew that Holden and Morke were the fucking scum of the earth, but I had no idea their boss was just as much of a fuckwit.

>3E has buttfucked the lore beyond recognition from previous editions with all of the changes
>people complaining when the faux-Mayan/Incan alphabet is changed

Of all the stuff to whine about, this is probably the least important by a long shot.

The thing is it was an *extremely* mild complaint. Like, not even really a complaint, more a neutrally-toned expression of personal preference.

Well, official forums are always shitholes. Even the worst of Veeky Forums pales in comparison to the autistic madness that dwells within official forums. I mean, I liked the weird little Mayan/Incan faux alphabet, but it changing after so much other stuff has-And a lot of it for no real reason-And then bothering to sperg out over it, is just...Weird.

When you all make evocations for your weapons/armor, how do you phrase them? Do you name your character in the text? Do you add fluff even if the only people the only people that'll ever read them are you and the ST? I ask because I'm not sure if I feel like I'm doing them right in that they seem to feel awkward to me after I've put them down and not looked at them for a while.

Add fluff relevant to whatever. Is it a lava sword? Make it shoot lava dicks at someone. Is it a forverial sharp super sharp razor blade? Make it leave minor cuts in the scenery (grass, leaves, whatever) within a small radius of every swing or something.

Don't just go "The sword does X and thats it". You don't have to go overboard either, just pick a theme and run with it.

So should I keep most of the fluff in the initial description of the weapon?

A bit in the opening description, and a bit as appropriate for each charm. Thats how I'd do it anyway.

I'd also write the weapon without referring to your character, since, y'know. It is a weapon. It might end up in someone elses hands.

I referred to it as the wielder in the description and as the Solar in the evocations as someone who's not a Solar won't have as powerful evocations and even then most Solars will have evocations that are different because of that whole flimflam where artifact weapons have different but similar powers for different Solars.

Who's excited for Exigents?

If I had to be honest, I wouldn't be excited for them for a while. I'd rather see, in order:

Dragonblooded, because we need the primary antagonists first and foremost.

Lunars, because they need a complete fucking rewrite-Again!-And I'd honestly rank them as needing a new book more than anyone else, but DB's have to come first because it's more important to game health to have DB's, the most numerous and most often "The bad guy" Exalts get their book first.

Gods/Demons/Spirits book because they're all more numerous than anything else and can serve all sorts of roles, from mentor to monster of the week, and serve a bunch of functions for just about anyone, from PC to NPC.

Sidereals, because we need the secondary antagonists, and because their Charm set has been a mess for 2 editions now, much like Lunars.

And then finally Exigents. And they only rank higher than the remaining few because Abyssals you can just mirror Solar Charms for as an easy cribbing to use them until they get a book, Autobots basically got removed from the setting thanks to the fucktarded writers, and Infernals just really aren't something a lot of games are going to deal with because they're the least numerous Exalt's and because they just aren't that important far as the game is concerned in terms of "This needs an update NOW".

Wow. That is some serious, A-grade butt-hurt going on there. For those that want to see the performance, the show starts here: forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/exalted/1070312-i-got-my-book-it-s-super-fancy-and-i-can-t-read-the-cover?p=1070998#post1070998

Just be careful not to post an opinion in a thread not explicitly designated for such, or you'll be accused of thread-crapping by the head of the company.

...

>head of the company damn near outright stating criticism is banned to prevent people from having hurt feelings

Thats the most honest thing I've ever seen in relation to official forums being a hugbox where criticism is unwanted. It takes a lot of balls and little brains to admit it. It's also fucking horrifying, for a ton of reasons.

If Holdorke had a similar policy during playtesting, that would explain some things.

As someone who lurks on the OPP forums a lot and doesn't have a problem with them in general, even I have to admit that Rich is being kind of ridiculous there. Although he did seem to readjust his position afterwards while talking with Blaque.

I mean it's not like someone was saying they prefered someone else's work over his or anything. He did the previous Old Realm alphabet too.

>Although he did seem to readjust his position afterwards while talking with Blaque.

He did, yeah, so fast that I now kind of wonder if he doesn't have a mild bipolar disorder.

Or someone in meatspace tapping him on the shoulder when they realise he's lost it.

I don't know, that doesn't seem reasonable. Considering the nature of forum discussions, I think he probably had the time to have a cup of tea, eat something, listen to some Vulfpeck or whatever and came back a lot less annoyed at the whole thing.

Or maybe this is him saving face.

I don't think any fool that changes their mind on the internet is bipolar.

>I don't think any fool that changes their mind on the internet is bipolar.

You're *probably* right, I was just taken aback by the abrupt 180.

Hey guys. I am new to Exalted. My GM really wants to run an Exalted game but I have never touched the system. My GM told me a bit about the setting and how powerful Exalted are and sold me. He then gave me this fuckhuge book to read.

We came to the conclusion I should be a zenith but then I was left to my own devices. So since I can't currently contact him I figure I will ask you guys so I can focus my reading at first. I know I want to use a sword so melee seems like something to invest in. But I am playing a princess of a small kingdom and I was told there would be ways to not directly brainwash people but change the culture of the greater population as I see fit. Mostly if we invade and conquer former enemies and expand the kingdom. What we talked about was the ability to convince individuals or groups of people in a rally like or speech format but we never went over how to do it on a greater level. What ability should I be looking at? Is it even possible or do you just do rolls over time saying you convince people individually?

pls no bully

>What we talked about was the ability to convince individuals or groups of people in a rally like or speech format but we never went over how to do it on a greater level. What ability should I be looking at?
Presence

>convince people individually?
Socialize

I would say Bureaucracy, if you're talking about gradually re-shaping the attitudes of a kingdom.

Presence is for emotionally-charged rallies and rabbel-rousing

Performance is for eloquent and moving speeches

Linguistics is for writing compelling treatises and manifestos

Socialize is for understanding the cultural context, motivations, and relationships between people.

Bureaucracy is for re-shaping large organisations.

>Presence
I thought that was more individual one to one. At least that is what my GM told me.

Bureaucracy? Alright I will give the magic a look over. Anything special I should be looking for? My GM just mentioned its good for businesses and figuring out how to sell stuff. I was planning on getting some points in it since I figured it would be useful for managing a nation but I did not know it could influence as well. Thanks.

I'll be someone's internet bitch in public and private in exchange for a solo game.

...

oh no. not the 2e lore.

So, in 2.5 are there any artifact throwing knives or something like that? Or any other throwing weapons besides the ones in the core rulebook? I'm pretty set on a character chucking knives and shit at people but I didn't want chakrams or giant boomerangs.

Most of the applicable bureaucracy charms are defensive - guaranteeing honesty in your officials, knowing when someone's trying to subvert them, deflecting hostile magic employed against them.

But, as a ST, if you asked me what check you could make to gradually shift the attitude of your population over time, I'd make it an extended bureaucracy check. But check with your ST - it's not explicitly covered by the rules, so it's more of a judgement call.

Make Strength Great Again.

Yeah I saw that. I guess he will probably make me use either Presence or Performance to sway people's opinions over time if there is no magic to do so. Seems kind of like a big hole in powers. Especially considering he told me that we are suppose to be god-kings.

never going to happen

The only thing necessary for the triumph of Dex is for Str-mains to do nothing.

what a bitch.

The other perspective would be that you don't change a nation's culture through a single skill, you do so through a variety of reforms, and speaking to specific people, and speaking to the crowd, and sometimes avoiding a coup d'état or a dagger in the back.

So in this sense, Bureaucracy, Presence, Performance, Socialize, Linguistics, and even Lore would all be appropriate, depending on the specific time and specific task you're undergoing.
There are many ways to proceed. You can start by writing a Manifesto describing your philosophy (Linguistics) and encouraging widespread adoption of it throughout your administration, bodies of government and court (Bureaucracy, Socialize, Performance, Presence all apply). Make sure that all nobles read from it, and make it the foundational principle of your police force.

Finding and sponsoring artists that support your views and making their art accessible to the general public is a good way to start disseminating your ideas through the populace (Presence will help ensure their cooperation provided you summon them Emhyr style). So does getting the clergy in your pocket, and on that front, Lore has a couple tools that you can exploit (God Kings gonna prophecize).

War might even have its uses. If your reforms are too radical, you'll probably have to face some form of uprising or other. Even if they aren't, conflicts of interest that you cannot rapidly resolve through negociation might very well degenerate into violent conflict.

Don't forget that even if you're the God-King, you don't govern alone. The other Solars in your Circle might have things to contribute, and having at least some of them in official positions will only help enforce your position.

Depending on where you're sitting on the map, you might want to be careful not to piss your neighbors off for a while, so do make some attempt at subtility.

But strength is already great

Best way to do it is make everyone literate and then hit them with Linguistics. You don't personally have to speak and can just pump out books that constantly spam social attacks at everyone who reads them. There unfortunately is no easy way to make everyone literate. Although you could ask if you can make an essence 3 or 4 custom charm expansion to Single Voice Kata which lets you write things that are understood by all even if they don't know how to read. There are no real charms to help you. Pick up Flowing Elegant Hand as its pretty much the only thing that gives any use for this function of lingustics. Mingled Tongue Technique and Single Voice Kata you should pickup if you can make that custom charm as they will be useful if you conquer people who don't speak your language.

I would Supernal Presence and then use some of the Presence charms in your written instill works (basically creating an intimacy or making them care what you want them to care about). Presence is a damn fine charm tree and will work out well for what you want to do and is excellent for when you are not running a nation and need to work with other leaders or enemies.

Bureaucracy will help with running of your government and rooting out corruption. Performance is nice but I would not supernal it compared to Presence.

Does anyone have the 3e charm cards that is willing to share them?

From a pure mechanical standpoint, and before charms come into play, what is the difference between performance and presence for social influence? Is there a type of action that one can do that the other cannot? Do they have different types of penalties?

Also, can I use socialize for influence rolls?

>Autobots basically got removed from the setting thanks to the fucktarded writers

Are you really that fucking stupid? There's a picture of Lissome Avid Engineer in the 3e core you goddamn lackwit.

>what is the difference between performance and presence for social influence

Presence is the actual talky talky skill. It's for most sorts of social influence. Performance is for doing a dramatic dance to turn their favor to you, or premade (key word there, premade) rousing speeches.

If you want to mess with or reform their budgets/body of law/etc, thats Bureaucracy.

>he didn't pay attention to the dev comments on Autobots and Autocthon

Can you clue me in? I need to know if it is time to mourn

If it's holden and morke's I will laugh at you.

You mean comments like these?

"Q: Will we finally get colossi and municipal charms? (Mizu005)
A: This is a tricky one, because one of our goals is to make Alchemicals friendly to the atmosphere of Creation and less of a complete mismatch. In 2e, these things were never written because the writer doing them would have been unequivocally murdering the appearance that 2e was still about Exalted heroes doing mighty feats as opposed to "whee powers! I'm a robot/Yozi/whatever!" In 3e, we may be able to blend them into the setting by altering our perspectives a bit. (John Morke) "

"Q: So... do I understand correct, that Green Sun Princes and Alchemicals are non-classic, and will have less attention? That makes me feel sorrow, as they are high in my "favourite Exalt type" list. (Vi-Zet)
A: Alchies are my favorites. They are also peripheral and have always been peripheral. They were peripheral in 2e. I think they were still a hell of a lot of fun and got decent support, regardless. (Holden) "

Holden and Morke are no longer in charge, but they, at least, never in any way implied that Alchemicals would be removed from the setting. In fact they made it pretty clear that they intended to get around to writing them eventually.

The Exalted community has never let facts get in the way of a hateboner, user

I mean that's why SV exists

Not sure how this is relevant to the question.

>Not happening. I can't be assed to go back through the Ask the Devs thread but I think they already said they were not doing that.
I mean, am I to take your word on it? Especially when
>They did say that they were going to make the DB charmset at least not AS big as the Solar one
?

>the current Charm model is okay. The Solar Charmset could use some pruning, but does not require a complete overhaul.
Could you elaborate? You think having so many Charms that require everyone to read the full text of the Charm to figure out what they're capable of doing that you'd need a 300 page volume just to actually reference them is a good model?

You're going to need to justify that position better, desu.

>does everyone who touches Exalted turn into a fucking drama queen?
No. But also yes. The ones who can walk away from it survive, but the ones who can't end up like Isator Levi, contemplating suicide over the change in developers.

>I had no idea their boss was just as much of a fuckwit.
I think Rich is very close to just dropping Exalted. Entirely.

>Like, not even really a complaint, more a neutrally-toned expression of personal preference.
It's an innocuous comment, bluntly. "I liked the old alphabet glyphs better" would not hurt most peoples' feelings. Except Rich is the one who designed the new ones.

>Who's excited for Exigents?
>generic rules to make exalt-challenging individuals
What are things that should have been in the fucking core book?

The answer to your questions is "Who fucking knows?" Everyone you ask -- including the developers -- will have a different non-committal answer.

The best recommendation you'll get is "ignore the social rules." Or, I suppose, better yet "find a game actually designed for this like Fate."

But as a matter of opinion: Performance for groups, Presence for individuals.

>I think Rich is very close to just dropping Exalted. Entirely.

He probably hates it but it probably draws in enough cash he can't drop it. I mean, what else is gonna sell? That Vampire shit? Does anyone even play that anymore?

Goth/Emo shit died out in the 90's and early 00's, respectively.

Since I released this in a joke format last thread, here's the non-joke release:

Creation is vast, mighty, and strange indeed, but do you feel yourself starting to tire of the traditional Exalted experience? Then why not soar to Heaven and above with my expanded setting guide for Heaven's Reach to take your game into the endless expanse of stars to infinity and beyond!

- Play your favorite Exalts in brand new an exciting ways in a setting that's strange and wondrous but yet familiar at the same time!

- Detailed breakdown of the Galaxy at large. Explore how the galaxy works on a basis for individual people before exploring the Lunar ruled Thousandth Empire and it's Dragonblooded Megacorporations to brand new Empires such as the Haslanti Union as they undergo the trail pains of being one the latest kingdoms in the vast expanse of stars.

- Visit strange and alien worlds from the Haunted Terminus systems to the Canal worlds where things like physics are more guidelines than actual rules.

- A chapter detailing advanced ship combat for spaceships, also including things such as vehicles, guns, and space fighters!

- Nearly 300 pages of material as I have no idea what I'm doing with my life!

Don't wait! Read it today!

docs.google.com/document/d/1OhCM-uzILa48740W-sR6TAKucqyUPsJOU5GNd8Fjzq4/edit#

Okay, what's your Discord?

I would like your efforts better if you didn't include the word "revengence" in the opening fiction. That made my eyes bleed. I mean, A for effort on the amount of work, but jeez.

>Could you elaborate? You think having so many Charms that require everyone to read the full text of the Charm to figure out what they're capable of doing that you'd need a 300 page volume just to actually reference them is a good model?
Reading through the Charms of your Supernal Ability and skimming through the Charms of a few other Abilities that seem useful or interesting is perfectly reasonable. That's not some Herculean effort.

>What are things that should have been in the fucking core book?
Not Exigents, that's for sure.

Oh did that happen? I'm sorry, I'll make it more consistent by replacing all instances of "revenge" with "revengence"

Mostly because its kinda boring and also really stretches suspense of disbelief. Like yeah exalts are powerful, but that doesn't mean do anything powerful. Even in real life if your goal is 'change how this entire society thinks' you're kind of shit out of luck. There isn't one single way to do that. It could be its own story arch, just like conquering a kingdom would be its own story arch.
2e had two charms that were exactly that, just roll some dice and now everyone thinks different, and it was both boring and also really didn't make much sense when you think to hard about it in setting.

...

Your response doesn't fill me with the desire to look at your work, man. Take the criticism.

Has the Natural Language problem been fixed in 3e
I haven't looked at it since before release

You must be knew to my works. I constantly troll people like this. Hell even right now I'm reading through the chapters in search of spelling mistakes. If anything I thank you for pointing it out, in fact if you find anymore more please comment on it in the document itself, as I say right now it will be *far* from the first spelling or grammatical mistake you'll see.

>Holdorke
This will be the name of my next antagonist

One is easy and fun to read, the other is a dry and boring slice of words and one of the reasons DnD 4e failed.

The current devs are doing mass errata on the boards for people asking for rule clarifications.

Even on first glance, the 'sane' version isn't mechanically identical. It's also a really skewed comparison because one font is much larger than the other.

Yeah I bet you didn't even know he always plays magical girl expys.

Yeah. There are plenty of places in 3E Core where Charms could and should have been written more clearly and concisely, but moving entirely from natural language to a dry, strictly mechanical description isn't actually preferrable. Flavor text has its place in Charms.

Having to read through a paragraph of fluff to understand the mechanics of how something works is shit
If you want to include the fluff fine but you need to state the mechanics clearly or else you leave half your player base confused about how certain charms are supposed to work

Really a format like pic related is probably the way to go

>Like yeah exalts are powerful, but that doesn't mean do anything powerful

3E in a nutshell, and why Exalted has been getting worse since 2E.

Actually only ever done so once

Are they simply cutting charms out of trees?

That's the sort of pruning necessary.

Seriously, every single part of that 'sane' charm is wrong.

>top

Sane mechanics for a game, worded clearly and shown in a fashion that instantly allows you to tell exactly what it does, when, and how.

>bottom

The kind of shit that should be an opening fluff blurb, not mechanics.

Fuck 3E, I want 3.5E already.

And I clearly don't want those mechanics presented in such a fashion, as they're incredibly dry and boring. Only those lacking common sense would find such a presentation appealing.

>Trigger: Make an Archery attack
>Effect Create an arrow
But how do I make an archery attack without already having an arrow? Cause and effect are reversed here.

>Doesn't mention dice are non-charm dice

>Wrong reset condition (You can't use the effect at all until the intimacy is no longer numbed, not just with that Intimacy)

>Wrongly claims that Adamant Arrow Technique only works on arrows created with the charm

Exactly my thoughts user.

Clear concise explanation of the mechanics of an ability is more important then the fluff of how that ability works in universe. You can have both if you want but Mechanics should always come first

Then you need to fuck off, because that is the best way to present mechanics. In a quick, clear, concise way. If you want to read a goddamn novel with every Charm just to figure out what it does, congrats, you're part of the cause of Charm bloat, and why the book is so obscenely large.

This guy gets it. I'm buying a game for the game. I already know the fluff of Exalted, theres 2 goddamn editions worth of it, and whole sections devoted to it in the new edition too. I want a game that is easy to find a fucking rule for when having to look shit up mid-session.

I'm working with this pic in MS Paint
If the original was fucked I didn't make it I just found it here on Veeky Forums

>We're doing the stop liking things I don't like thing again
Stop biting.

D&D player here, people like him are fucking shitstains who want three paragraphs, a thesis, and a book report for something as simple as "Your next thrown weapon does an additional 2d6 damage". You are not alone with these kinds of unimaginative idiots.

yeah 4e when

Why does this game feel like a shitty version of Dynasty Warriors meets God of War?

And you know what the funny thing is user?

You're completely and utterly mute. A non-voice, because the developers are never going to do this no matter how much you bitch and complain.

So you have two choices. You can bitterly rage around in here while I drink the sweet nectar that is your tears and rage or you can leave and nothing of value will be lost.

because Holdorke were unequivocally fans of shitty fighting games

and pro wrestling

and i assume cousin-fucking

Personally I voted with my money.

As in OPP will never get another red cent.

No matter how good the products get.

>mfw the shitty printing company they got can't even manage to put books together the right way and some of the orichalcum editions are upside down.

I like how this is named Intelligent Design, a covert term to cover absurd and authoritarian Creationist teachings in amerifag schools. Makes too much sense.

Trying a bit too hard here. I already voted, with my wallet. The edition is fucked already. It's overly late, under performed, they just tossed and I won't be surprised if it's canned by this time next year.

*they just tossed the old dev's,

I gotta be more careful with my typing, oops.