Think you might be able to do it with a Liminal (could be wrong on that) but in that case it wouldn't be the same person, just the same body.

Becoming an Abyssal, Solar, Sidereal etc? Like Chehr said, not possible. You get the one. Solaroids can become other Solaroids, but that's as far as it goes.
 
Arguably it could work with an Abyssal Exaltation, if you took some particular views about how Exaltation and death interact, and the timing of those interactions. That is, a Dragonblooded dies and, on the cusp of death their Terrestrial Exaltation expires/flees/somesuch, and an Abyssal Exaltation makes them an offer. I'm not sure Dragonblooded Exaltations work like that though, given they don't move on in the manner of Celestial Exaltations.
 
Arguably it could work with an Abyssal Exaltation, if you took some particular views about how Exaltation and death interact, and the timing of those interactions. That is, a Dragonblooded dies and, on the cusp of death their Terrestrial Exaltation expires/flees/somesuch, and an Abyssal Exaltation makes them an offer. I'm not sure Dragonblooded Exaltations work like that though, given they don't move on in the manner of Celestial Exaltations.
Eh. Seems a stretch. I don't think a person in Creation should get more than the one Exaltation per life anyway.
 
Exalted is built on lives of improbable coincidence and unlikely chances. It comes with the whole 'epic heroes' territory. For someone to be given a shot at not one, but two Exaltations in their life would be real million-to-one-chance stuff, but, well, we all know about heroes and million-to-one chances :V

I mean sure, combining the powers of both would almost certainly end up some manner of broken, but having one and then later having the other instead? Eh, if you've got a story that leans on it, it seems technically possible to me.
 
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Exalted is built on lives of improbable coincidence and unlikely chances. It comes with the whole 'epic heroes' territory. For someone to be given a shot at not one, but two Exaltations in their life would be real million-to-one-chance stuff, but, well, we all know about heroes and million-to-one chances :V

I mean sure, combining the powers of both would almost certainly end up some manner of broken, but having one and then later having the other instead? Eh, if you've got a story that leans on it, it seems technically possible to me.

Whether or not it *can* be done is less relevant than whether or not it *should* be done.

Keep in mind that by introducing this, you also introduce (among other things) the ability to remove Exaltations from a person without killing them outright.
 
Whether or not it *can* be done is less relevant than whether or not it *should* be done.

Keep in mind that by introducing this, you also introduce (among other things) the ability to remove Exaltations from a person without killing them outright.
How so? You can only be given the Abyssal Exaltation when you stand at death's door already.
 
How so? You can only be given the Abyssal Exaltation when you stand at death's door already.
... I mean

In order to remove an Exaltation from someone and then give them another, you have to remove the first one, right?

And for Abyssals in particular, if they are offered a deal, then the Exaltation leaves them before they die. And come to think of it if you factor in Exalted healing then an Exalt on death's door is so badly injured that turning mortal again would probably just kill them outright, too.
 
Any "stacking" of Exaltations, no matter how it's done or what details and drawbacks are involved, is not something I care for. Regardless of drawbacks involved, a double-Exalt is now extremely special in a way that goes beyond what even other PCs are (unless the whole Circle is that). For me, this is enough on its own, but it's not hard to see other reasons, some of which HalfTangible has already mentioned.

Beyond that, the next thing I see is that it doesn't do much else except mark you as excessively special. Unless I'm doing something terrible to the rules by making a character who freely combines her Lunar Charms with Single Point or Black Claw Mastery, or any other abusive way of reading ideas like that, it doesn't really... offer new play space. I don't see that a Getimian/Alchemical or DB/Liminal offers me ideas like "oh, now I have new types of things that I can do, that I couldn't have done with just one of these things". Exalts each develop their own suite of talents, and Exaltation doesn't lock you out of most of them, so... what does it add? A DB could master impressive martial arts without being a DB/Sidereal, and a Sidereal could disguise himself as a DB when needed, for instance.

It also doesn't add much to most of the lore or stories, that I can see. An Air Aspect/Night Caste is going to be treated as a DB until/unless the Solar mark shines, and that's not much different for social implications than someone with a godblooded ancestry trying to pass herself off as an Air Aspect when she's actually a Night Caste. Being/not being a Dynast (or Lookshyan, Prasadi, etc) is similarly equally viable in both cases.

The only territory where I see some use in it, it doesn't really require anything special, or new, and it never actually involves a character being two types of Exalt. A Liminal is explicitly not the person they were before, so an Infernal dying and then her body being used to make a Liminal is already supported and this concern doesn't come up at all. This is the only place I'd ever see myself using this, and "actually died, something else came back to life with some of your memories" is a notably different playspace than the suggestion of an Abyssal Exaltation coming to some other Exalt as they died.

So, basically, I see no upsides worth exploring and some definite downsides to including it.
 
... I mean

In order to remove an Exaltation from someone and then give them another, you have to remove the first one, right?

And for Abyssals in particular, if they are offered a deal, then the Exaltation leaves them before they die. And come to think of it if you factor in Exalted healing then an Exalt on death's door is so badly injured that turning mortal again would probably just kill them outright, too.
I think that seems strange. It is easier to just say that you are offered the Exaltation at death's door and if you don't take the Abyssal Exaltation you die. Why bother with all this?
 
Whether or not it *can* be done is less relevant than whether or not it *should* be done.

Keep in mind that by introducing this, you also introduce (among other things) the ability to remove Exaltations from a person without killing them outright.
And while that is a valid concern for the writers of the books, it is much less so than for people playing the games. If those things end up ruining the games (instead of just offering fun new opportunities for the current game) you can just start over or change your mind.
 
Keep in mind that by introducing this, you also introduce (among other things) the ability to remove Exaltations from a person without killing them outright.
That's already existed. There's a whole bunch of Fates Worse Than Death &c that release your Exaltation despite you not being dead yet.

I don't see why the Last Breath shouldn't be one of them.
 
I don't see any point in double Exaltations myself, and feel it goes against, hmm. Spirit? Feel? Thematic? Of everything.

You're already special among the more-than-god chosen whose kin cast down the Titans for being a player character, and you want to be doubly special and chosen and more-than-god?

Just sounds like you want to have an extra important snowflake to me, honestly.
 
I don't see any point in double Exaltations myself, and feel it goes against, hmm. Spirit? Feel? Thematic? Of everything.

You're already special among the more-than-god chosen whose kin cast down the Titans for being a player character, and you want to be doubly special and chosen and more-than-god?

Just sounds like you want to have an extra important snowflake to me, honestly.
More like a former snowflake, now a different snowflake.

Guess that's what for Abyssal redemption is for, though.
 
I would, hypothetically, allow DB-died-turn-to-Abyssal Exalted on my table. I don't feel it violates the spirit, much. Maybe somewhat unusual, but eh.

Obviously no DB charms and such, though. Stacking is forbidden.
 
I think that seems strange. It is easier to just say that you are offered the Exaltation at death's door and if you don't take the Abyssal Exaltation you die. Why bother with all this?

It's "easier" to just have someone who didn't Exalt take it. Why "bother" having a former Deeb become an Abyssal? It makes little sense and is thematically iffy at best.

And while that is a valid concern for the writers of the books, it is much less so than for people playing the games. If those things end up ruining the games (instead of just offering fun new opportunities for the current game) you can just start over or change your mind.

If you introduce a character that does this and allow someone to play it at your table you can't just decide that it's not in your game anymore.

That's already existed. There's a whole bunch of Fates Worse Than Death &c that release your Exaltation despite you not being dead yet.

I don't see why the Last Breath shouldn't be one of them.
Isn't it a point in this setting that you can't force an Exaltation to do anything once it's inside someone? Hence why the gods even considered it a viable weapon in their rebellion against the titans?

I agree with @Imadaman, this really just seems like a convoluted way to get a super special snowflake. I'm fine with it for a Liminal since they're explicitly not the person who's body is being raised, but not Abyssals. One character, one Exaltation.
 
Isn't it a point in this setting that you can't force an Exaltation to do anything once it's inside someone?
All of the ways to make an Exaltation let go before someone dies involve having been able to kill them in the first place.

And they're generally things like getting hit by Malpheas' "your soul burns for 10,000 years before you are allowed to die" where allowing the Exaltation to be locked up all that time is... a problem for the Rebellion.

Similarly, throwing an Exalt into Elsewhere for long enough if they don't have a way out, etc. Basically, if you more-or-less permanently get rid of an Exalt without killing them, the Exaltation treats it as if you'd killed them, 'cause Autochthon and the Gods were quite aware that if the Primordials could get rid of the Exalted that way, they would.
 
Eh, that doesn't really sound better to me. Changes the "nothing except death can remove your exaltation" and/or gives the finger to "no resurrections".
"Nothing except death can remove your Exaltation" has never been a thing, and Abyssal Exaltation has never been a resurrection.
If you introduce a character that does this and allow someone to play it at your table you can't just decide that it's not in your game anymore.
Sure you can. Player groups aren't published books, thude, people can change their minds.

But fundamentally, I don't regard "this just seems like a way to play a special snowflake" as a valid complaint. Yes, it is a way to play a special snowflake. So fucking what? This is Exalted! The game never bothers to ask whether you're special and stand out from the crowd, it skips straight to asking why you're special and stand out from the crowd as early as chargen! Like, it's a game about power and consequence, sure, but you can't tell stories of examining what people do with power and what power does with people, without enabling power fantasies.

EDIT: I mean, "I was a Terrestrial Exalt until I bled out my dragon's blood upon the soil, and the Last Breath came upon me!" might be a heck of an exceptional fringe case story, but as a game Exalted is by its nature pretty friendly to exceptional fringe cases, and this one seems like rather fertile narrative soil, to me. S'got some strong parallels, for example, to those First Age Solars so desperate to cling on to the grandeur and relevance they were accustomed to that they willingly became the Deathlords.
 
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Sure you can. Player groups aren't published books, thude, people can change their minds.

You would be willing to tell someone that their character idea sucks and they need to either retcon it or throw it out and make a new one partway into a campaign? That'd be fun to you?

But like, fundamentally, I don't regard "this just seems like a way to play a special snowflake" as a valid complaint. Yes, it is a way to play a special snowflake. So fucking what? This is Exalted! The game never bothers to ask whether you're special and stand out from the crowd, it skips straight to asking why you're special and stand out from the crowd as early as chargen! Like, it's a game about power and consequence, sure, but you can't tell stories of examining what people do with power and what power does with people without enabling power fantasies.
I don't think I could disagree more if you paid me.

On special snowflakes: Yes, part of Exalted is the power fantasy. The game also has different Exalt types, multiple players (each of whom should be contributing), and limits on our attribute/ability dots at chargen. A TTRPG is not meant to be one person's stageshow.

And even if that wasn't the case this really just seems unnecessarily complicated. Exaltations are an uncommon thing to begin with.

I will leave it at that.
 
You would be willing to tell someone that their character idea sucks and they need to either retcon it or throw it out and make a new one partway into a campaign? That'd be fun to you?
Fun? No, not really. But if an aspect of someone's character is damaging enjoyment for the rest of the table, then talking about it and finding a solution is a thing a group can do, yeah, up to and including retconning the aspect or admitting the character doesn't work out. Things'd have to get pretty bad before that was warranted, and honestly I don't see how it'd cause that much trouble, but if things do get that bad then yeah the conversation is warranted, and a table can have it. This isn't a rulebook encouraging people to do something super volatile at the table with no safty rails, the standards are different.

EDIT:
I don't think I could disagree more if you paid me.

On special snowflakes: Yes, part of Exalted is the power fantasy. The game also has different Exalt types, multiple players (each of whom should be contributing), and limits on our attribute/ability dots at chargen. A TTRPG is not meant to be one person's stageshow.

And even if that wasn't the case this really just seems unnecessarily complicated. Exaltations are an uncommon thing to begin with.

I will leave it at that.
Yeah I've been thinking on it and I think we really do have to leave it at that and agree to disagree, because all I can really say is, okay, and? Yeah, a TTRPG isn't one person's stage show, and? What does that have to do with a backstory element that probably like, informs their ability and merit choices? Yeah, it is unnecessarily complicated, what of it? People do not live by bread alone, writing a good story doesn't mean paring it back to only the elements which are strictly necessary.
 
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You would be willing to tell someone that their character idea sucks and they need to either retcon it or throw it out and make a new one partway into a campaign?

Yes.

If a player's character is causing problems for the rest of the group(distinct from the player causing issues, which is a whole 'nother kettle of fish), I see absolutely no reason why I can't or shouldn't stop and talk to them about it and then help brainstorm something else they can have fun with.

If it's causing problems, it's causing problems. There's nothing wrong with trying something out and then going "Okay, didn't work out like we hoped. Gotta come up with something else."
 
You would be willing to tell someone that their character idea sucks and they need to either retcon it or throw it out and make a new one partway into a campaign? That'd be fun to you?
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Like, obviously not in those words, but part of the value of a session zero is that we can talk about what works as a group, and if a concept is at odds with what other players want out of the game, the easiest thing might be to change it. Sometimes you miss those things even after a session zero, and you need to reconsider some stuff after everyone's had a chance to play their characters, although that's less ideal.

Mind you, for me, I would just flatly head things off at the "I want to play a double Exalt!" stage. I agree with some of the previous posters that I don't really see any value created by allowing that concept that would justify changing that element of the setting. The ST is also a player, and for me to do my job right, I need to be able to be a fan of the PCs and get excited for helping to tell their stories. So that's a concept where I'd definitely like... ask someone to play something different and work with them to hopefully find something similar we're both into.
 
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/me pulls at my hair frustratedly

nobody has suggested playing a double exalt! Even the thude who asked the question that started all this acknowledged,
That does not actually change anything! When I say double Exalt, I am including ideas like that, and I don't think that you need to have that kind of reaction to what I think was a pretty reasonable stance from me.

The original framing bothers me for its own reasons. Dragon-Blooded are either my favourite or my second-favourite splat depending on the day, and I have negative enthusiasm for any character concept that's like, treating a Dragon-Blooded Exaltation as something to be upgraded away from, or stressed as somehow "so different from the other kinds of Exalt" that something like this should be possible for them in particular.
 
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