General Exalted Thread

Graypairofsocks · Nov 6, 2016

The other Yozi's should have Shintai's that allow an infernal to turn into a copy of their world bodies.
Like the Ebon Dragon has Tenebrous apotheosis shintai, and its upgrade dragon who devoured the sun which turns him into his signature form.
An infernal can learn it and do the same thing.

Malfeas would have something like Tortured Inverted World Shintai, that an infernal could learn to turn into a giant city.
And turn inside out in the process. That's also important.

What would be good names for the others?

linkhyrule5 said:
Don't Sids make their own Fate most of the time it'd be actually relevant? Sonething about an internal Loom.

[PATTERN SPIDERS INTERNALLY]

Accelerator · Nov 6, 2016

A question.

Solars are basically humans turned to eleven. Anything they do, their charms, is basically becoming so good at it that it become supernatural. that you're so good at slashing, you cut up a mountain. You're good enough to kill someone using words. Able to Jump over mountains.

What about Sids, lunars, dragonblooded and the rest?

Graypairofsocks · Nov 6, 2016

Accelerator said:
A question.

Solars are basically humans turned to eleven. Anything they do, their charms, is basically becoming so good at it that it become supernatural. that you're so good at slashing, you cut up a mountain. You're good enough to kill someone using words. Able to Jump over mountains.

What about Sids, lunars, dragonblooded and the rest?

Sidereals:
Fate buggering Ninjas and Bureaucrats.
Lunars:
Furries.
Dragonblood:
"BY ALL YOUR POWERS COMBINED!"
Abyssals:
Emo Solars.
Infernal:
"I REJECT MY HUMANITY JOJO!"
Alchemials:
"Autobots! Roll out!"

OctarineShrike · Nov 6, 2016

Accelerator said:
A question.

Solars are basically humans turned to eleven. Anything they do, their charms, is basically becoming so good at it that it become supernatural. that you're so good at slashing, you cut up a mountain. You're good enough to kill someone using words. Able to Jump over mountains.

What about Sids, lunars, dragonblooded and the rest?

Sids: Composite JJBA Protagonists
Lunars(TAW Style): Dionysian Witch-Royalty/Guerilla Combatants/Individually dangerous as solars with plenty of weird stuff but less infrastructure building capability than solars
Dragonblooded: Elemental Teamwork Voltron
Infernals: Humans turning into something... else.
Abyssals: The killingest things that ever killed.
Alchemicals: F-16s in the service of their nation

Frakir's brother · Nov 6, 2016

Accelerator said:
A question.

Solars are basically humans turned to eleven. Anything they do, their charms, is basically becoming so good at it that it become supernatural. that you're so good at slashing, you cut up a mountain. You're good enough to kill someone using words. Able to Jump over mountains.

What about Sids, lunars, dragonblooded and the rest?

Sids: Teacup ninjas. See also: Exotic fate effects.
Lunars: If Solars are the human heroes, Gilgamesh, Heracles, and Cu Cuhlainn, Lunars are the Monstrous heroes, Enkidu and Sun Wukong.
DBs: Sentai teams.
Abyssals: Undead death dealers
Infernals: Best splat ever.
Alchies: Communist autobots

Maugan Ra · Nov 6, 2016

Accelerator said:
A question.

Solars are basically humans turned to eleven. Anything they do, their charms, is basically becoming so good at it that it become supernatural. that you're so good at slashing, you cut up a mountain. You're good enough to kill someone using words. Able to Jump over mountains.

What about Sids, lunars, dragonblooded and the rest?

For a slightly less meme-tastic answer, the other ability-based Exalted (Sidereals, Abyssals and Dragon-Blooded) all theme their charms around 'this ability, as expressed through X'.

So a Dragon-Blooded is still going to be an excellent swordsman, but with a distinct Elemental theme. He might be swift as the wind, or imbue his strikes with the force of an avalanche, or just set his sword on fire and so on.

Sidereals are notorious for the unusual ways in which their charms work, because they interpret human abilities in a framework of astrological symbols and the celestial hierarchy. So a Sidereal bureaucrat is good enough to eliminate corruption and improve efficiency, but she can also use that same skill to kill gods by filing the appropriate paperwork.

Chehrazad · Nov 6, 2016

Frakir's brother said:
Infernals: Best splat ever.

That's a funny way to spell "Dragon-Blooded".

EDIT: Scarlet Empress, represent!

pheonix89 · Nov 6, 2016

Dragonblooded also have a soldier thing going. They're pretty fond of effects that get stronger when used en masse, and they have attack charms in wierd places. Dragonblooded Lore includes the Elemental Bolt Attack line, which turns scholars into into artillery pieces, and they've got Three-String Sword Prana in perform. It's not that great a charm, but Dragonblooded orchestras doubling as artillery is pretty damn cool. Could really use some expansions to enable Walls of Jericho stuff.

horngeek · Nov 6, 2016

ManusDomine said:
That's a funny way to spell "Dragon-Blooded".

EDIT: Scarlet Empress, represent!

Y'all don't know how to spell 'Solars'.

Accelerator · Nov 6, 2016

pheonix89 said:
Dragonblooded also have a soldier thing going. They're pretty fond of effects that get stronger when used en masse, and they have attack charms in wierd places. Dragonblooded Lore includes the Elemental Bolt Attack line, which turns scholars into into artillery pieces, and they've got Three-String Sword Prana in perform. It's not that great a charm, but Dragonblooded orchestras doubling as artillery is pretty damn cool. Could really use some expansions to enable Walls of Jericho stuff.

Shouldn't those be in war?

horngeek · Nov 6, 2016

Accelerator said:
Shouldn't those be in war?

No. War's where the big effects happen, but DBs can play music and shoot elemental effects at you with Performance.

Imrix · Nov 6, 2016

SerGregness said:
I love this interpretation, but what's the canon support for it? I haven't read through the 1e core, but the Ex2 core book says that Solars don't need training to raise favored or caste Abilities, and it says that charms in favored or caste Abilities don't need tutors, but that implies that non-caste/favored charms do, and it's also mentioned that raising Essence over 3 requires pilgrimage and meditation. The Ex3 core says that 'many characters train their charms by exercising the Ability under duress', but just above that there's a blurb that 'neither training nor experience alone is sufficient for mastery'.

Since Charms never state that they require external tutelage, they default to the base rules, which is simply that lack of a tutor doubles the training time.

Accelerator said:
Shouldn't those be in war?

No. It's Solars who get straightforward Ability Charms, everybody else filters it through their own aspects, with some weirdness as a result.

Chehrazad · Nov 6, 2016

Accelerator said:
Shouldn't those be in war?

Every scale of the dragon is sharp and ready for death.

Dragon-Blooded get to kill you with Lore because the Ten Thousand Dragons are the best fucking army of supersoldiers that you will ever fucking see.

They also get to make huge vortexes of elemental death with War, kill you with music with Performance, murder you with shouts in Presence and fuck you up with Medicine.

Because Ten Thousand Dragons rule the world motherfucker.

Kylar · Nov 6, 2016

Accelerator said:
Shouldn't those be in war?

Well, honestly, probably yes as far as Elemental Bolt goes. But War didn't exist in 1e, and parts of it was split everywhere- including Lore. So it went there are stayed there.

(My opinion here has a bit to do with the fact it would actually give Earth DBs a native attack option that they lost when Brawl got cut for 2e and MA got shuffled to Water Aspects. And the tree for Rampart of the Obedient Earth and Dragon Vortex Attack makes rather more sense with Elemental Bolt in it. And Air Aspects have Thrown anyway, and don't need another source of tossing murder elements at people.)

Three Strings Sword Prana 100% belongs in Performance though.

linkhyrule5 · Nov 6, 2016

Accelerator said:
....wrong exalt.

No, @ManusDominus was referring to Resplendent Destinies, only Sidereals have those. And they're really the only ones with Fate powers anyway.

beowolf · Nov 6, 2016

linkhyrule5 said:
No, @ManusDominus was referring to Resplendent Destinies, only Sidereals have those. And they're really the only ones with Fate powers anyway.

He was thinking of the Geminis, or whatever they are, when he said it was the wrong exalt type. The ones that actually do have an internal, independent loom inside them.

Azrael · Nov 6, 2016

linkhyrule5 said:
No, @ManusDominus was referring to Resplendent Destinies, only Sidereals have those. And they're really the only ones with Fate powers anyway.

beowolf said:
He was thinking of the Geminis, or whatever they are, when he said it was the wrong exalt type. The ones that actually do have an internal, independent loom inside them.

The Loom thing is an Earthscorpionism.

Regardless, I would be of the opinion that Resplendent Destinies work fine in Malfeas. Maybe the Surrender Oaths force his Mythos to accept the workings of Sidereal Astrology or something. Maybe the Destinies are so good at disguising Sidereals they fool Malfeas' Mythos. I dunno.

I can kinda see an argument for why they wouldn't though.

linkhyrule5 · Nov 6, 2016

No, I'm pretty sure it was in one of the errata, as a fix for the "lol half of Sidereal Charms and their Big Non-Charm Thing (that isn't Martial Arts) just flat doesn't work in half the setting" problem they had. I remember really liking the idea, though. Maybe it was part of 2.5e?

EarthScorpion · Nov 6, 2016

ManusDomine said:
Question: Since I am too lazy to go look it up, do Resplendent Destinies work in Malfeas or fall under the "haha faq u no Fate" clause?

By RAW, beings Outside of Fate, as well as Sidereal Exalted, do not see the Resplendent Destiny persona and see the Sidereal underneath.

Therefore, by RAW a Sidereal can use a Resplendent Destiny in Malfeas and so use the powers associated with it. However, everyone around them will just see a Sidereal holding some props.

Dif · Nov 6, 2016

pheonix89 said:
Dragonblooded also have a soldier thing going.

In retrospect, I honestly have to say the Soldier-focus of the last few books was probably a mistake for them. Because what makes a good soldier doesn't make for a good nobility, and making that conflict of interest between "follow orders, know your role, work as a team, fight to live" and "pursue luxury, ambition is life, watch out for #1, political acumen rules the day" something being pushed by their very Essence and Charms, only seems to double-down on the oft-repeated idea that Dragonblooded exist to be disposable chumps catching arrows for the REAL warriors of the gods, and are defying the natural order of things by attempting to rule unjustly.

It creates a situation where Dragonblooded cannot aspire and grow as a type the way the Celestials have/can, having developing their old skills and practices at being a militaristic host and modifying it into a rulership context, because the game keeps telling you "First Age hierarchy has always been part of the blood, paramount above all other things. Quit acting stupid and incorrect, get off the throne and back on the battlefield where you can die ingloriously."

Its bad enough when half the setting is informing the Dragonblooded narrative that way, it doesn't need to be the core drive underlying their powerset as well.

Chehrazad · Nov 6, 2016

EarthScorpion said:
By RAW, beings Outside of Fate, as well as Sidereal Exalted, do not see the Resplendent Destiny persona and see the Sidereal underneath.

Therefore, by RAW a Sidereal can use a Resplendent Destiny in Malfeas and so use the powers associated with it. However, everyone around them will just see a Sidereal holding some props.

lawl that's hilarious

wait does this mean that i just look like an idiot flapping his arms when i turn into a corvid with Feathered Cloak Trick

"Yu-Shan Man flaps his arms at Ligier and flies away."

Dif said:
Its bad enough when half the setting is informing the Dragonblooded narrative that way, it doesn't need to be the core drive underlying their powerset as well.

Indeed.

If the Dragon-Blooded are anything, they are not soldiers, but the Officer Corps of the Exalted, and they definitely shouldn't be forced to be the "footsoldier Exalted", when a much more appropriate source of inspiration would be medieval knights (those who were men-at-arms, that is) and samurai instead of MAGICAL FOOTSOLDIERS.

Because forcing them to be MAGICAL FOOTSOLDIERS is fucking toxic to people who actually like the Dragon-Blooded and don't insist on calling them Mook-Blooded whenever they get the chance.

The life of a Dragon-Blooded fan is a hard one.

Giygas · Nov 6, 2016

ManusDomine said:
Keris has attained Real Ultimate Power.

And it seems that it takes the form of having the ability to make @EarthScorpion throw stuff at you at any point you desire.

Truly a power, grand and terrible.

Warning: gaining such power also gives EarthScorpion the ability to throw stuff at you when you don't desire such stuff, or throw at you just plain undesiderable stuff.

Trurly a grand terrible power.

Frakir's brother said:
Infernals: Best splat ever.

ManusDomine said:
That's a funny way to spell "Dragon-Blooded".

EDIT: Scarlet Empress, represent!

horngeek said:
Y'all don't know how to spell 'Solars'.

Fools! All of your Exalted belongs to Discordians! Also *Something Something* Nocturnals. And also TAW Lunars, i guess. (I like Homebrew. Sue me!)

And now: Giygas rambles about his foetal homebrew!

... Nah, there isn't much to ramble now. I decided to go post in a place dedicated to RPG design, and got half a dozen Touhou Tabletop RPG games to check and three or four other games.... then i realized that i can simply take a combat system that would fit in exalted and support lot of important dudes slugging it out, and bolt several of these dudes together interchangeably.

Still going to read the half a dozen Touhou's games, because i am curious and maybe i can find something that can inspire myself/is useful. (Watch as the Homebrew that i will produce will be thinly disguised Touhou stuff.)

rikalous · Nov 6, 2016

ManusDomine said:
The life of a Dragon-Blooded fan is a hard one.

There, there. Laugh at the shit other splats have to deal with and feel better. Like how nobody can agree what canon Lunars are supposed to be about. Or how Abyssals are supposed to restrict themselves to 2.5 stories. Or how Infernals have a splatbook that starts at chapter three.

Dif · Nov 6, 2016

ManusDomine said:
If the Dragon-Blooded are anything, they are not soldiers, but the Officer Corps of the Exalted, and they definitely shouldn't be forced to be the "footsoldier Exalted", when a much more appropriate source of inspiration would be medieval knights (those who were men-at-arms, that is) and samurai instead of MAGICAL FOOTSOLDIERS.

Part of the increasingly extreme broadening of Exalted's themes without trying to scale them against anyone but Solars, I'd have to say. Because by bringing in a more cosmic-emphasis on "primordials are the shit you fight now" and 2e's mechanical issues informing a lot of how people interpreted the fluff meant that the 1e idea of Exalted forming armies of mankind to rise against the primordials became a fucking joke. Because 1e DBs were never characterized as mere spear-holders for the Celestial vangaurd, because even in the armies of the Exalted host they were classified as Heroes foremost, and many roles of the Scarlet Empire like the status of Prefect were rarely handed to them because it wasn't seen as Challenging enough.

Tiger Warriors existed to be Tiger Warriors, not the interim step between gathering a literal army of Dragonblooded under your command, and the ideals behind "ten-thousand Dragons" intended to give the reader some impression of the sheer Scope involved in the Wartime conflict, not try to reduce things down to "All the Celestials, the ten-thousand DBs as their legions, and I guess the Jadeborn providing logistics support while the Dragon Kings were annihilated in the opening salvo."

It has the weird result of making the power scale higher for no reason while also making the number of stories to be told so much narrower in the process.

fitzgerald · Nov 6, 2016

Speaking as someone whose running a Dragon Blooded game right now, I find their current space makes it extremely fast and easy to tell stories especially if you aren't in the extreme edges of Creation. Not to mention the freedom to actually go back earlier before the release of the Solars

You've got a whole society of equals (taking the Dragon Blooded Host as a whole ~ obviously the old, rich and personally powerful DBs with better breeding are still at the top but PCs can strive for the wealth and personal power) which includes rivals, friends, allies and a whole support structure to back one up with.

Beyond the usual "Heroes please help us solve X" you can play with stories of really being Heroes of a Colonial Empire (having the armies of troops and bureaucrats backing you up), actually having superiors (at least in the form of family elders) [shared space with Infernals and Sidreals], and for the really vicious Academic Politics

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