Welcome to the Sail Essay- or "Nobody takes this ability because there's not enough water!"
Jokes aside, we're in the home stretch- just two more abilities to go- some revisions to earlier essays (formatting mostly), and I'll have completed a borgstromantic analysis of the corebook Solar charmset!
So without further ado…
Sail the Ability
I'm… going to spare you all the pirate jokes, okay?
Anyway, Sail in Exalted is an often underappreciated ability, though I can't blame anyone for not quite figuring out how to use it- much like Ride. Sail is extremely important though, as it is one of the cores of mass transportation of goods and services across Creation.
Sail, when you dig down, is the ability governing not just nautical navigation and tropes, but the quite literal 'directional' traveling methods of Creation. Exalted made a point to say that every direction can use Sail, even if it's not always on water.
For one, rivers constantly wind across the surface of Creation- the ones we can see on the map, assuming their scales are accurate, are sometimes fifty to a hundred miles wide. There's a bridge near Nexus (actually an open first-age dam), that is itself one of the few ways non-water traffic can cross the Yellow River. That bridge is at least fifty miles end to end. It takes hours to walk across.
Gotta reiterate this: There are rivers in Creation that are wide enough to count as small oceans. Now Creation is flat insofar as it doesn't have curvature, so sailing on say the Yangtze or Yellow Rivers means you can probably look in any direction and see land, but it's land that's still miles away.
Next- there are airships! They're most common in the North with the Haslanti League, but in general, any non-artifact Airship could conceivably be made or built by a suitably enterprising Exalt, or even a sufficiently motivated mortal thaumaturge or sorcerer. Mass aircraft are unfeasible in the 2nd Age, but lighter-than-air balloon/dirigible style aircraft are entirely possible!
Also in the North are iceships that skate along the ice and are sailed much like oceangoing vessels. The South has the sand-skiffs of the desert as well!
Past that, there are more elaborate artifacts such as ships that can sail across soil (Oadenol's Codex), but yeah- lots of ways to sail in Creation!
And then we get to the actual oceans. Now I'm not a historical buff by any stretch, and other people have gone on about inaccuracies in the setting like using Tremieres incorrectly. Since I don't know enough to comment about it, I'm just going to not sweat it.
Instead I'm going to summarize! You can sail no matter where you are in Creation, it's just that you have to sail in the West.
Unless you can walk on water, or something.
On Player Primacy
One thing that honestly throws a lot of people for a loop in Exalted, is that players are supposed to drive the plot. They're supposed to look at their character sheet- the intimacies, dot ratings, Backgrounds and Motivation as guidelines to take actions in the game and setting.
Essentially, if you want to do something, you don't need the Storyteller to give you permission (within reason), or wait for them to read your mind and offer you the gameplay you want. The core of any good tabletop experience comes down to communication.
Anyway, what I mean by all this is, is that if you want to sail, ask your ST what it would take to sail in the given game. This is of course an obvious example based on the theme of the essay. Questions like these start leading to other questions like 'are there places to sail?' 'How much would it cost in Resources dots to have an airship instead of a sea-going vessel?'
This is essentially the start of fleshing out your Exalted, the one at your table, which matters a lot more than any Exalted I could write Essays about.
On Sail the Ability
Sailing, ocean travel… I can't even begin to encapsulate the sheer volume of cultural information we've built up as humans over the past thousand years based on the idea of getting out onto the water until you can't see land.
History, films, books, comics, theme-park adventure rides, duels between brigand raiders and silent assassins…
Well, Exalted at least is a game where you can have sky-pirates fight sun-ninjas, and no one will break kayfabe by calling them ninjas…
Anyway, Sail the ability is for handling ships in the water, air, wyld, sand or any other possible permutation. Anything from a 1-person rowboat to a hundred-crew warship are all controlled with Sail.
Unfortunately, Exalted 2nd Edition Core book doesn't actually give the rules for sailing. Those were buried partly in Wonders of the Lost Age, and elaborated more fully on in Scroll of Kings.
While those rules are important (hence me telling you where they are), what is more important, is that Sail at it's core is about the tropes of sail, dare I say the cliches of it. This is especially true for the Solar Exalted.
Its the one place where most Storytellers kind of falter and forget that Exalted uses a Attribute + Ability system for a reason. Due to the existence of Intelligence, Sail is more than just the practical Task of Sailing, but also the specialized knowledge about Sailing. Granted this is true of all abilities- Essentially 'Lore' is general academic knowledge, but you could roll [Intelligence + Anything] for specialized insight.
When treated this way, the character also knows Where to sail (like trade routes), where Not to sail (storm mother territories), basic navigation on a open and featureless plain (though it won't help you track or live out there like Survival would), which spirits to petition for favorable wind and weather, the understanding of wind shear and cruising, hull balance to avoid uneven weight distribution and all kinds of other, more specialized things.
Because while Lore certainly exists, it is again about Academics and Theory, which is why it covers complex magitech vehicle piloting, but Sail is some Pretty complicated stuff for just working a rudder and a sheet of cloth bolted to a long pole.
On Solar Sail
We have no shortage of nautical heroes and swashbucklers to draw inspiration from here. All across human history and fiction, we have feats that have, will or could inspire Charms. The key to remember is that a Solar Charm isn't about being a pirate, but about being say, the sterling example of a sailor under any condition.
Piracy is a profession, and has nothing to do with how good you are at sailing.
Salty Dog Method
Sail 2, Essence 1
Starting us out, we have a charm with a name that just begs to be said aloud. It's almost as fun as 'Spoony bard'.
More seriously, this 3 mote reflexive is a penalty negator, weighing in at Sail 2, Essence 1. A 'Hobbyist' Solar could learn this Charm, and they'd be glad to, as it negates the Solar's Essence in External Penalties on all actions derived from seaboard conditions. The charm specifies things like Battle, Social, Dramatic and Military Actions. Note that it has the War keyword as well.
Now, the corebook charm says it even reduces Defense Values, but that quickly got errata'd, simply because DV cannot ever be a Penalty. Once it becomes a penalty, negation works on it and suddenly everybody explodes. Yes even you sitting at your computer reading this, will explode if DV ever becomes a mere penalty.
Aside from that, I think I need to reiterate here, that Exalted really wanted penalties to be the big toothy aspect of the crunch, just so charms like these can stand out. On top of that, it was meant as a way for low abilities to still shine. 4-6 dice with minimal penalties is a lot more fun, when you think about it.
So, borgstromancy! The basics here, is that a Solar is, again, even at the novice skill level, capable of enduring and rising above the conditions that make or break lesser sailors. This charm is saying you can ignore conditions which require men of five, ten or twenty years experience to contend with (Ability 3-4, specialty 2-3, well-honed tools all counting up to a high dice pool.)
Instead of needing lots of dice, The Solar gets by with making the roll easier. This still of course stacks nicely with die adders when you want to really succeed.
Invincible Admiral Method
Sail 4, Essence 2
A 12m+1wp Scenelong, this reflexive charm can be activated at the start of an action or in response to someone acting upon the Solar. (Step 1 or 2 for those following at home).
Invincible Admiral's Method is a logical extension of Salty Dog Method, both being Methods and both being penalty negators. IAM extends the same basic benefit of Salty Dog to other characters. To activate it, the Solar must be onboard a seagoing* vessel.
Once activated, IAM negates 1 point of external penalty from the same sources as Salty Dog (and stacks with Salty Dog for that matter). The range of this effect is any units (including solo characters) within Essence x10 miles of the Solar, and actively following their lead. It applies to actions such as boarding operations, or large scale fleet battles.
Reducing penalties by 1 point may not sound like a lot, but again, Exalted did not assume as much aggressive optimization as most people play. The game expected people to be thrust outside their comfort zone, to contend with inadequate pools and strange situations.
*I do believe this was something of an oversight in how the charm was written. It is an editorial opinion, but I'd allow it to work on any suitably 'sail' like vessel.
And of course, we accept that this is yet another Solar Leadership Charm. As long
they're following the Solar's lead, they're that much better than the other guy!
Ship-Claiming Stance
Sail 4, Essence 3
Oh yeah- now we're talking! Ownership! Ships! Ships that you own!
Ship-Claiming Stance invokes the metaphysical concept of ownership, which is detailed in a sidebar on the following page in corebook. I'll get more into that in a second, but in general, ownership is very much a thing of Exalted- all Exalted, not just Solars.
This charm has a degree of ritualism involved which should really only come up as a roleplaying treat. What you do is approach a ship that is not owned by another Essence-wielder (this includes spirits, Enlightened Mortals and other Exalted), and lay claim to it as your own. The charm instantly sets you as the Owner.
Because of this, anyone you invite onboard is now protected and bolstered by your control over the ship. It is in a very real sense, a 'captain knows their ship' charm, and extends that skill to others. However, it doesn't actually give your allies anything. Instead, it punishes your enemies!
Any character not formally welcomed onboard a ship by the owning Solar suffers a -1 external penalty on their actions. This is admittedly kind of low-key, until you recall that as an Essence 3 effect, it's scope is extremely broad, as in- Anyone you haven't welcomed aboard.
Which y'know, could be everyone but your friends. Not even roosting birds. Cue the Solar captain seeing a seagull try to land and miss, repeatedly. Food for thought.
Interestingly, part of the Borgstromantic aspect of this Charm is that it invokes the Least God of the ship in question- and all invitations and revocations of welcome have to be made in Old Realm, and in earshot of the ship.
I also may as well just say it- this is magic that backs up the nautical ritual of asking 'Permission to come aboard?'.
On a further note, I want to touch on some of the Origins of Charms. By corebook (and you of course can take this as far or near as you like), the charms we see here are all the most refined examples after several thousand years of iteration, refinement and so on. The first Charms were essentially Spirit Charms- though we don't fully know how it worked exactly and I don't want to presume overmuch.
But as I say that, I get an idea. Ship-Claiming Stance evokes the ritual of asking the captain permission to come aboard. What is likely, is that ritual existed before the Charm did. Least gods certainly existed beforehand, as did the concept of Ownership.
Thinking that, perhaps the original Solar sailors performed these rituals, feeling their arete and potential surge within them. They observed the effects of good decorum on the seas, of how to treat with the spirits of the oceans and storms. All of these experiences, mingling with their own reserve of power might have lead to insight and the understanding we now see as Ship-Claiming Stance.
By nearly mastering the art of Sail, the Solar in turn gleaned how to empower the very rituals he learned from watching the little gods.
On Ownership
Alright, first thing's first- this is some high level borgstromantic concept here that for 99% of the game, won't come up. We're talking Lore/Occult of 5+, appropriate specialties and so on. It just doesn't come up that much.
With that out of the way- Ownership! Owning things in Creation, the designation of ownership, is part of what Least Gods do. It's part of their purpose as aspects of Creation. It's also a reminder that Creation is intensely animist, down to your gear having a least god, your food, your money and your house.
How do you own things though? The sidebar makes it pretty clear- if you pick it up, and no one else owns it, now you do. If an object has conflicting loyalties (commitments = intimacies, as a system term), you persuade the object to your side.
Persuading an object is interesting, because you have a few ways to do it- you could waken its Least God with a prayer roll, thaumaturgy or some other kind of action, or you could have a Charm that lets you speak to it directly. The last way to persuade an object, to secure its loyalty, is to use it and take care of it.
Mechanically, the corebook essentially equates the traits of most objects as MDV 3, WP3, and Conviction 2- that means it takes at most 2 scenes to erode an existing intimacy, and 2 more to build a new one. Mundane objects are essentially Extras.
Remembering that Exalted is intensely animist, let's take a sword. If a sword is beaten, rusty and otherwise unkempt, it probably doesn't have a strong intimacy towards its current wielder. By taking that sword, cleaning it and caring for it, performing melee forms and so on, you can communicate with it and secure it's loyalty. Recall however that you have to erode an intimacy and build a new one, if they are diametrically opposed.
Anyway, as previously mentioned, this won't come up very often, but if you have to do it faster, persuasion charms like Worshipful Lackey Acquisition (which creates a Servitude effect) would let you secure that loyalty much more quickly!
As for what good this does- a loyal tool in the hands of a wielder can have any number of interesting benefits, like that sense of closeness and intuition you get when using a well-worn pen or pencil. The feeling you get when you know everything about your computer, having built it yourself. In strict terms, there's no mechanical benefit to loyalty in this manner, but it gives you a very large platform to spring off of when stunting, designing your own Charms, and so on.
Now, anything that has a soul does not have a least god, and under metaphysical terms, cannot be owned without special action. You can 'own' a dog or cat because you can forge an intimacy of loyalty in it towards you, but you can't make a sapient, sentient being like a human do that, not without magic. Even then, a mortal can only commit their loyalty to another mortal.
Lastly, a discussion on Attunement: This is something like super-ownership. Artifacts being artifacts have stronger least gods, though they're still not conscious or otherwise active participants. Attuning to an Artifact is akin to owning it and simultaneously investing a part of your own soul and essence into its form. This and the enchantments layered into the blade is what allows a Daiklave to be a huge, 20-40 lbs slab of metal and yet you can swing it around as if it were a stick.
On a final note, Raksha more than any other splat really abuse Ownership as a concept, forking it into Hold (Physically carrying it), Possess (Have metaphysical ownership, the same described as Corebook), Own (Attune to it, investing motes into it), and in the case of their Graces and only their Graces, 'bear' them with no attunement. The reasons for these distinctions tie into how Raksha basically interact with each other and take each other's things of varying import.
Essentially, Raksha must take special action to own things, but Creation-born can own things by simply picking them up and carrying them off. I just wanted to share that because it was cool.
Hull-Preserving Technique
Sail 5, Essence 3
Another Essence 3 charm, this is a miracle in terms of nautical matters. Ships are fragile, even before you get mythic heroes with kung-fu magic and salvaged first age weapons.
At the core, HPT is a Perfect Soak. It is the Solar's great skill (sail 5) being exerted just the right way at the right time to prevent catastrophic damage. As the Charm declares, it can be invoked against an enemy ramming the ship, a reef, or a horrible underwater monster.
The main limitations of this charm are it's costs- 8 motes and 1 Health Level; Charm cost notation is that 'xHL' means a Bashing level, while aHL and lHL are of course, Aggravated and Lethal respectively. The other is that you must be onboard the ship at the time of activation, hence the Touch keyword.
Now to reiterate, as much as this is a blatant Magical effect, it still is a product of the Solar's skill. This is the codified magical technique of knowing how to turn the wheel just so to deflect a blow, of putting yourself in the right spot to shore up a crushing impact with your own grit and muscle. What it looks like is largely up to the player and the Solar, but it is still a matter of Skill that becomes magic.
Shipwreck-Surviving Stamina
Mins: Sail 5, Essence 3
Another Essence 3 charm, and again hinging on the idea of a 'miracle with scope'. It affects a ship, which can encompass anywhere from a handful to hundreds of people. It isn't just a measurement of how much personal power an Exalt can exert, but the degrees of separation and connection between people, places and actions.
Activated in Step 10 for 4 committed motes, this Charm basically lets the Solar tell the ship to 'Not fall apart/burn/explode/otherwise be destroyed even when it should have been. Objects have their own damage rules- they don't have Incapacitated and Dying levels mostly. In the case of Shipwreck-Surviving Stamina, you use it to prevent the result of all HLs being filled with damage from occurring.
Notably, this Charm can be invoked repeatedly. Once you're maintaining 1 commitment, the ship essentially has a single pseudo-HL that you're maintaining by force of will and magic. Once that 'invisible' HL gets filled by new damage, you can invoke Shipwreck-Surviving Stamina again, committing an additional 4 motes, and repeating as needed until you're out of danger.
This Charm and Hull-Preserving Technique do not need the Solar to be the captain of the vessel. Or even the owner. They just need to be onboard to use it.
Perfect Reckoning Technique
Sail 3, Essence 1
Alright, we're dipping back down to lower minimums and Essence requirements. Perfect Reckoning Technique is an… interesting charm.
First, it requires the Solar be onboard the vessel (for obvious logical reasons), and then authorized to navigate either by being the person at the helm, or being given the task of plotting a course.
By spending the 4 motes, this Simple Charm, Dramatic Action essentially declares the vessel will travel at it's maximum speed until something like sleep, combat, or some other kind of distraction forces the Solar to take another Action. (Inactive as a system term is in fact an Action. You can in fact, 'Do' Nothing in Creation.)
As a consequence of the above effect, the Solar is assumed to automatically succeed on any valid Sail roll for negotiating known hazards to a given destination. This is where I think a lot of people would get tripped up, because 'valid roll' doesn't get enough play in the rules text.
Okay- who here remembers Applicability? I'll wait.
Alright, a 'valid roll' in system terms is one that 'could have been rolled all things being equal'. An invalid roll is one that says 'You have a dice pool of zero, or the action is inapplicable for other reasons'. Like, Invisible Statue Spirit renders non-Touch based Awareness rolls Invalid/Inapplicable, therefore the observing players are not allowed to make rolls based on Awareness.
So what this means, is that Perfect Reckoning Technique is intended to automate things you do know. Things you're already accounting for. If there's a crazy ten-turn course through a razor-sharp maze of reefs and sandbars- as long as you know all ten turns, this charm lets you automatically succeed on the roll to navigate them.
However, this Charm cannot interact with something you don't know. If you are trying to go somewhere uncharted, Perfect Reckoning will not work directly. You can however use it indirectly by breaking up an uncharted journey into 'chart-able' sections. Finding specific landmarks and reference points to navigate around.
What landmarks though, in the middle of the ocean? Off the top of my head, there are 25 constellations in the sky of Creation, as well as the the Five Maidens. Those all have predictable places in the sky. The Imperial Mountain is also visible from any point in Creation above sea level- it is the setting's 'magnetic North' for a reason.
Because of setting elements like that, the strength of this charm cannot be oversold. It may not be able to help you track down say, a moving target (which is by definition invalid because you don't have a set destination). It can however automate the process of moving around the ocean searching for that target.
Essentially, the more concrete you know of a 'route' or journey, the more effective this Charm is at automating that voyage. Beyond that, this charm is very much a highly specialized Excellency, conferring automatic success (by zero) on a given subset of rolls, as well as securing full speed until interrupted.
Storm-Weathering Essence Infusion
Sail 4, Essence 2
As we start looking at more Sail Charms, we start to get the idea that most of the things Solar Magic does is make everything around Sailing easier. Penalty negation was the first of this. Now we're getting straight into success adding.
Storm-Weathering Essence Infusion is a Step 1 Reflexive Charm that costs 6m+1wp. It requires the Solar be onboard a vessel and authorized to direct the crew. Again a leadership effect- who knew?
Anyway, assuming the activation is valid, this Sail 4 Essence 2 Charm grants the Solar and their crew two automatic successes on any action that directly serves the survival of the ship. This includes Combat actions (repelling boarders), repairing damage, navigating a hazard and so on.
This is essentially giving everyone the Solar can command 4m worth of Second Excellency on any possibly relevant 'Directly serving the ship's survival' roll. Suddenly, any Difficulty 2 roll is automatically passed. Further these are Bonus Successes- they don't by RAW count as Dice from Charms, so you can stack these with regular Excellencies, if you so desire.
Sea Ambush Technique
Sail 4, Essence 2
Ahh, the last corebook Sail Charm. Sea Ambush Technique!
For 10m+1wp, the Solar can Supplement a Stealth Action taken by a naval unit he commands (which of course can be a single vessel. I however don't know if a naval unit can be made of multiple ships.). This charm doubles the Solar's successes on the aforementioned roll before external penalties are subtracted. Such penalties are like "It's the ocean- there's nothing to hide around" or "Star and moonlight makes it easy to see you in the dark."
On top of that, like most of Solar Stealth, this Charm automatically increases the contested difficulty to see the hidden naval unit by +4, even if there are no obstructions in the way.
Now, I'm reading this, and it could be interpreted two ways.
The first way, is that if there are no obstacles to hide behind (islands, fog banks, other ships), you simply cannot make a Stealth roll- it's Inapplicable normally. The books don't say and if someone can tell me where, I'd appreciate that!
In this case, the +4 Difficulty clause is a proviso against that; Instead of rolling Stealth, you simply set the difficulty to spot you and your naval units to +4, on top of whatever difficulty the Storyteller assigns normally on the Awareness roll.
The second way, is that it stacks with the initial Stealth roll. It guarantees you a minimum of Difficulty 4 to be spotted, on top of your doubled stealth successes before external penalties.
Regardless of the way it works, it is a fairly basic Solar 'template' effect, granting a minimum amount of competence that must be opposed before other actions.
Aside from the raw crunch of it though, the statement this Charm makes is that a Solar can, with sheer skill and audacity hide a fleet.
A Closing Note on Sail (and other abilities)
So you might recall from earlier in this Essay I mentioned that 'Sail' the ability (and almost all other Abilities) are Specialized Knowledge- that you can roll almost any combination of Attribute with Sail and get a reasonable result.
The same applies to Charms. You are not required to stick in a 'box' of actions derived from the existing Charms. As long as it fits in the ability, you can in theory make a Charm for it within reason. A good example in Sail itself is how we have a Charm for 'navigation', which really has nothing to do with say, 'rigging a ship for sail'.
Building on that, Sail as an Ability can be used when tying knots. You could make a knot-tying charm. You could also make a Survival rope-use charm for similar reasons.
Obviously, some abilities like Lore and Integrity don't quite have the same thematic space at first glance. You could however make say, an Intelligence + Resistance Charm to formulate an awesome diet regime. Or an Appearance+Occult Charm to elevate your standing amongst vain gods prone to envy and weak to lust.
The point is, you can look at an Ability less as a list of actions provided by the core rules, and more a category of knowledge and skill. Consider a Perception+Melee Charm that lets you identify the better swordsman at a glance… and then effortlessly gauge the quality of their weapon. Or perhaps a Wits+Melee effect that lets you shatter a cheaply made weapon?
Whew. One more charm essay to go. Following that, I'm hoping to revise Melee a bit, format everything all nicely and provide some suitable 'archive' of all these essays for easy access.
After that, I'm planning on doing a brief analysis of Attributes, building on what I just mentioned, then a more general 'ST advice' series.
So stay tuned ladies and mentlegen- the last corebook Solar Essay is Socialize!
