Drama and Systems
New Action: Composition
The act and art of composition is known throughout all of Creation, utilized equally by mortals and spirits. Written verse, documentation, blueprints and so on are all created using the Composition action. Composing anything is by default an [Intelligence + Lore] roll, though a clever stunt can allow a character to stretch their skills further, using a different ability in place of Lore.
The result of a successful composition is a Procedure, which is a rote-recording of the instruction or information created by composing. A song, speech, blueprint or novel are all considered Procedures. As long as a character holds a copy of a Procedure, they may use it as if they knew it.
For students, temporarily memorizing a procedure requires a Difficulty 2 [Intelligence + Lore] roll, while permanently fixing it in one's mind costs a point of Experience. So long as Procedures are recorded accurately, they can be taught indefinitely. Authors of Procedures never spend Experience to learn their own work, but they may have to roll to remember if they don't keep notes.
* Written Social Attacks are composed with Presence or Performance, with Linguistics standing in for Appearance.
* Architectural blueprints are composed with Craft*. This includes the design phase of constructing Artifacts and Manses.
* Court policies and plans are composed with Bureaucracy or Socialize, depending if they are logistical or social in nature.
The amount of successes needed to compose a Procedure varies wildly based on the author's objective. Most forms of composition are single rolls, but they can be extended or even contested- if say two or more individuals are competing at seeing who's plan is implemented or to determine who finishes first.
Likewise, the difficulty varies based on the scope. A difficulty zero Procedure is akin to a grocery list, while a recipe for an healthy meal could be Difficulty 1, while the directions for a cold-curing broth could be Difficulty 3. Drafting a budget for the year could be Difficulty 1 in a tiny village, 3 in a small town, or 5 in a sprawling city with multiple districts.
Procedures have meaningful in-setting effect, leading to feats like well-designed roads, civic services, government policy and advances in magical science or education. Instead, composition and Procedures are best used to model the extent of leadership in a region- a well planned city with scheduled harvests is markedly different from an ad-hoc hamlet of mutually supportive farms.
They are not Charms or Sorcery though, so they cannot evoke miracles. That being said, Charms or Sorcerous workings can utilize Procedures or create them as part of their effects.
Mechanically, mundane Procedures inform the author of any readily apparent needs like Resources, labor forces, or potential pitfalls to a given action- proofreading a letter before it is sent, for example. Procedures negate the Unskilled Penalty, and in the case of quality compositions, offer tool or circumstance bonuses with the breadth of a specialty. A Procedure composed with 5+ threshold successes offers +3 dice or +1 automatic success within its domain.
Sidebar: Intent of this Mechanic
I basically wanted a system-term for PLANS that becomes a kind of hook to hang other important mechanics on- planning is a Thinking Being Thing, so it should be open to Everyone, not just Solars or Exalted or whatnot.
Now, flat out, I am not happy with the difficulty examples. This is one of those frustrating facts of Exalted design (game design honestly), in that you MUST without fail communicate what the rules can DO, meaningfully, as QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. The fact that I have to write a sidebar like this is a failure.
But it's an acceptable failure.
Anyway- so what this is supposed to look like in play, is "I draft a procedure", which is kind of like saying "I want to test this out small scale before I implement it. The ST then tells the player some useful information about what they're planning, and the plan itself can be updated, copied, shared, communicated to other people.
*I actually want to finish my craft-rewrite, where you have Research (Lore) followed by Design (Occult) and then Construct (Craft). For now this is just a kept-simple workaround.
