Ladies! Mentlegen! Time for more rambling!
* * *
So let's dig a little deeper, shall we?
Step 1: The Types of Essence and Beings Who Wield it
Now, I did touch on this a bit earlier, but here I'm going to try and do a better job of laying it down more directly.
Essence is the unifying structure of Creation, and all reality in Exalted as a setting. There is a single unified 'Magic' that underpins the entire setting. It has numerous permutations, but there is no X Magic vs Y Magic. It's all just Magic.
There are Flavors of Essence, and they are not created equally. The list below is not organized in explicit order of weakest to strongest.
- Wyld - Wyld essence isn't so much a flavor as it is a mirror that reflects everything else which exists, simultaneously. It has no flavor, because like all colors of light together make white, it is all encompassing in its definition of being Essence, inherently divisible down to its component parts but representing nothing as a whole.
- CreationUnderworld
- Terrestrial, or Elemental (As opposed to Gaian)
- Air
- Earth
- Fire
- Water
- Wood
- Celestial
- Primordial (Or Yozi/Infernal)
- Alchemical
The reason why 'Alchemical' is listed as a separate kind of Essence, is because it's technically the subtype "Exalted, Alchemical", which in turn is aspected along the themes of Autochthon- not explicitly drawing on his power like an Infernal Charm.
Basically, an Alchemical is an Exalt first, and Alchemical Charms are the result of Autochtonian essence/elemental-types the same way the Underworld reflects its own. So while Autochthon is the reason for that essence Being there, Alchemical Charms aren't of-Him anymore than Dragonblooded are of Primordial essence either.
I am also fairly certain/convinced that the Elemental Poles are not derived from Autochthon's Primordial charms. Instead they are great workings of meta-technical bio-titan-engineering.
Tangent aside, there are also classes of being. These include "Made of mixed essence (ie, everything)", "Essence-user (controls foreign essence)", and "Spirit (made of focused essence wrought shape by will."
Everything is made of Essence in some way, and so is everyone. Using Essence is different, however.
- Mortal
- Essence Wielder
- Enlightened Mortal
- Dragon Kings, Mountain folk, other Primordial Races.
- Godblood (which includes all subtypes)
- Exalt
- SpiritPrimordial/Yozi
- Raksha
You may wonder why the chart above is organized this way. Well, let's define some things.
A Mortal is any being with a Permanent Essence of 1 and the inability to directly manipulate Essence. A cat is mortal, Joe Heroic Mortal is well, Mortal, etc. Mortals are explicitly capable of feats like Thaumaturgy, a specialized form of external, ritualisitc Essence/Magical Physics manipulation. (They ask the world nicely to do things for them).
A general note on Thaumaturgy: Basically all of Creation's functions are thaumaturgical in nature. That grass grows, disease infect, and water forms into droplets is a thaumaturgical process. The rituals that mortals employ to evoke their least miracles are akin to computer instruction that calls up a library of functions, outside of background processes.
An Essence Wielder is any being who can harness Essence directly, and each wielder harnesses that Essence a little differently. This is usually represented by what kinds of magic they can learn.
An Enlightened Mortal cannot learn Exalted Charms, for example. They can however learn Terrestrial Martial Arts, or be granted access to the charms of a particular spirit via the various Boon-Granting mechanics. One becomes Enlightened by Wyld Questing, investiture by a spirit or Exalt in some way, ascetic thaumaturgical regime or similar feats!
As another point of comparison, the majority of unintelligent magical beasts in Creation are Also Essence-Wielders, its just that they do it as a matter of instinct, the same way a fish breathes or a cat closes its third eyelid while sleeping. They adapted magic into an unconscious trait which does not require a ritual component like Thaumaturgy to function.
The more powerful Essence Wielders have their innate magics- the Dragon King Paths for example, or the Patterns of Jadeborn. Charms yes, but specific magic unique to their expression of Essence.
Godblooded are not inherently Essence Wielders, but when they are, they share much the same limits as Enlightened Mortals.
Exalted are a very specific kind of Essence Wielder, with their own limits and trappings, and by extension, their own Charms. I've already written quite a bit about Solars, with more to come. Suffice to say, we'll continue to examine them more in depth.
A Spirit is an incorporeal being, composed of Essence and as mentioned previously, focused and maintained purely by self-contained Will. A Spirit is a thread of Willpower that holds itself together.
Gods are a specific class of spirit, forged by the Primordials as custodians and overseers for their great work of Creation. To be a God in Creation is to Observe, Report and Maintain. They come in three varieties; Terrestrial, Celestial and Incarnae.
Terrestrial Gods are 'Of Creation', focused with their tangible domains of "This River" or "That Rock."
Celestial Gods meanwhile govern whole concepts- God of Rivers, God of Rocks, and so on.
Incarnae are a special exception, technically counting as Celestial Gods, but also being a class above them in power and nature.
An Elemental is a unique kind of spirit sub-species.
Gods are inherently Dematerialized, existing as intangible presences of Essence as they go about their jobs, or living in their Sanctums. Elementals are inherently Material, and wrought of the five Terrestrial Elements of Creation. They 'Blue Collar worker' to a Terrestrial God's "Middle Management", and Yu-Shan's 'Corporate headquarters'.
Demons and Deva are the spirit sub-souls of the Titans. They range from the race-as-tool First Circle, of which there are teeming uncountable numbers of. Not just species, but individuals of same. To count the hairs on a Blood Ape is as such to count every Blood Ape in Malfeas.
The Second Circles are the expressions and foundations of their betters, the Unquestionables. Facets of personalities that are so huge and overwhelming, they can only be fully realized as thinking, acting beings all their own. They share many similarities with Gods, and few limits.
First and Second Circle souls are spirits forged by their greaters, self-propagating to a degree, but beholden to their progenitors in a way that Gods are not.
Lastly are the Third Circle Souls, the masterwork spirits of the Primordial. If a Second Circle is a nation unto itself, a Third Circle is a civilization in all the ways that matter, focused into a deific being with incredible power.
These previous three spirits, be they Demon or Deva, (largely a political distinction), compose the greater: The Yozi or Primordial. They are not Spirits, not in and of themselves. Instead the Primordials Are.
Lastly, Raksha. The Fair Folk. They are not spirits per se, at least not the kind native to Creation. Nor are they Demon, Deva, Elemental or Exalt. They are the rarefied Essence Wielder. They shape Reality, working upon the most mutable Essences of the Wyld and Chaos.
Part 2: The Essence Scale
1. Flavors of Essence are roughly equal in applicability and utility.
2. Things that use Essence are not equal.
Because of 'Point two', I cannot actually give you a unified Essence Scale. One doesn't exist. Instead all I can do is start with Solars, and mention points of comparison. These points below refer to the Essence Minimum of a Charm in question.
Essence is not a question of Duration, Cost, or Keywords. You do not (usually) get Cheaper Magic because it happens to be Essence 4 or 5. Essence is scope, either in the expression of the Charm (How deep it digs into an ability theme), or it's range (how far it reaches).
Looking at it from another direction, it should also be pointed out that Solar charm limits exist as the 'top', and from there, everything else is defined in relation to them. The Solar defines the upper tier, of mote efficiency, effectiveness, and required effort on part of the player.
But for all of that, the Solar is the exception to the much wider world of Creation. Not entitled to be better, but better so that they may contrast with the vastly more entrenched, experienced and otherwise established world they arrive in.
Without further ado, Solar Essence.
Essence 1: The Enablers, the simple tricks and clever cantrips of the Exalted. Your Excellencies, a handful of minor magic, and so on. These are the things that affect you or a single target, if they target anything at all. Remember; Essence is Scope, not something so pedestrian as Duration, Cost or keywords.
A fair amount of Solar Penalty Negation occurs here as well. There Is No Wind is an Essence 1 effect, which upgrades into an Essence 3 effect automatically. Hungry Tiger Technique, (Pre-Errata) One Weapon, Two Blows and Fire and Stones Strike also finds their home at Essence 1.
These expressions are very straight forward, usually focused on dice in some way. Giving you more, making sure you don't lose a lot to outside factors, etc.
On a more esoteric level, Judge's Ear Technique is an Essence 1 charm. This is actually speaking to the Solar's thematics as Lawgivers- where the ability to discern Lie, Half-Truth and Believing What They Say is the lightest magic available to them. On a metatextual level, that this Charm is Essence 1, is so that it plays nice with Charms like Power-Awarding Prana.
Integrity Protecting Prana is also an Essence 1 charm, as thematically, the perfected sanctity of self is key to the themes of the Unconquered Sun, and his Chosen.
What Goes Here:
- Basic Dice Adders - Excellencies, Fire and Stones Strike
- Some Dice/Success Doublers - Hungry Tiger Technique
- Penalty Negators - There is No Wind, Dipping Swallow Defense
- Cantrips - One Weapon, Two Blows (Pre Errata), Solar Counterattack (!?)
- Enablers - Joint- Wounding Attack, Whirlwind Armor Donning Prana
- Thematic flourishes, IPP, Judge's Ear, Horseman's Techniques
Essence 2: The Bread and Butter, PB&J of your Charms and choices. To be an Essence 2 Exalt is to be an Action Movie Star. To be an Essence 2 Solar is to stand head and shoulders above your peers. As with Essence 1, these charms are primarily focused on you or your immediate surroundings. The people in the scene, most particularly.
The first Essence 2 Archery Charm is Forceful Arrow- evoking the iconic stunt of 'my arrows can knock over men, horses, carriages and more.' It is much like the trope of bullets blowing a hapless mook across the room.
For Melee, Peony Blossom Attack is the first Charm at Essence 2- and either pre-errata or post errata, it is a reasonable example of such- you attack more times than your weapon can allow, or hit more targets with ideal effectiveness than possible with normal mortal skill. Iron Whirlwind builds on this same premise, and remains at Essence 2.
Solars as a rule get their Reflexive (Step 2) Perfect Defenses at Essence 2, such as Heavenly Guardian Defense and Seven Shadow Evasion. Other Exalted tend to get their perfect effects at Essence 3, as a reflection of Solar's meteoric rise to power and prowess.
Lest I over-emphasize combat, let's take a look at Investigation. Crafty Observation Method is the classic 'Sherlock Scan' of a room, condensing a 15 minute action into 5 seconds. That is an Essence 2 effect, because it's primary purpose is keeping the scene moving.
Graceful Crane Stance- perhaps my most favorite charm in Solar Athletics, is Essence 2, for it provides a near-miraculous faculty at balance and athletics, letting the player relax and focus on stunting and roleplaying.
All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight, a fantastically useful charm, is also Essence 2.
Wise-Eyed Courtier's Method, Taboo-Inflicting Diatribe, and all but two Bureaucracy Charms are Essence 2 as well, speaking to the Solar's thematics as lawgivers, leaders and enablers of great works. These charms have their own internal mechanisms for governing scale. By comparison, Charms of other beings may be of later Essence, but different limits and parameters.
What goes here:
- The rest of the Dice/Success Doublers - Solar Hero Form, Cascade of Cutting Terror, Unsurpassed (Sense) Discipline.
- Action Hero Feats - Heaven Thunder Hammer, Forceful Arrow, Iron Whirlwind, Graceful Crane Stance
- Early Access Miracles - Heavenly Guardian Defense, Seven Shadow Evasion, Wise-Eyed Courtier's Method and the like.
A Note on Keen (Sense) Technique and Unsurpassed (Sense) Discipline:
Both these Charms are Essence 2, differing only in Ability ratings. The reason for this is that they both have two functions: Adding 'superhuman' senses, and adding or doubling successes.
The former is the most important part, because no matter what, no amount of adding dice or successes can take an action past 'human' without something giving room for those successes to go. Because the extent of their effect is 'Success Adding/Doubling', they belong at Essence 2, whereas Essence 3 describes more miraculous feats.
The dice are an expression of a mundane action, and there is no hard limit on the number of successes when a mundane action suddenly becomes magical. There's always a chance, however small, that a heroic mortal with 10 dice in her pool can plant 20 successes. 20 successes is a phenomenal, one-in-a-billion achievement,but a mortal can still perform it.
Now Storytellers are fully within their rights to just give players great results for great rolls! I do it all the time myself, but, at the end of the day, dice are not superhuman.
Essence 3:
Interestingly enough, the vast majority of combat magic lies at Essence 1 and 2, with only a handful of Essence 3 effects to 'add flavor' where necessary. Combat is a 'Lateral' progress, where it's design seemed to have been focused on spreading out into numerous combos for tactical and roleplaying reasons.
This isn't to say there aren't any Essence 3 combat charms worth mentioning, it's more that at this level and beyond, combat magic grows increasingly abstract.
Accuracy Without Distance, for example, is an 'ideal' statement of the Essence 3 Combat Solar capability. "If I can see it, I can hit it." You aren't guaranteed a kill or even damage, but you will hit it.
Most Extra Action Charms, unless balanced by another factor, are also Essence 3, across all Exalted charm sets. Other factors include "Limited to a given class of weapon" or "Capped by some difficult-to-raise trait." Iron Whirlwind and Solar Hero's Hammer on Iron are the exceptions, and must be appreciated as such.
Adamant Skin Technique, the Solar Perfect Soak, is Essence 3 for reason of it's tactical/mechanical superiority, and one of the few places you'll see an obvious 'balance' cost attached to it's thematic core. That core being "Skill to harden my skin." is much more obviously magical than "Skill to dodge anything" or "Skill to block anything."
Immaculate Golden Bow, Glorious Solar Plate and Glorious Solar Saber are Essence 3 as well, and firmly define the niche of "Something from Nothing/Something from Self" that is key to Creation Exalted, and firmly epitomized with the Solars.
Lastly, and most demonstratively: Craftsmen Need No Tools and Wyld Shaping Technique. The former describes a true miracle- crafting without (basic) tools. You could build a house with your bare hands, blow glass, forge a sword, tan leather, and cook a meal. You bypass the need for a kitchen. This is a Miraculous Feat of Obvious Magic.
Wyld Shaping Technique by comparison is one of the most arduous Solar Charms to use, One being you need to be in the Wyld to use it. Of course there are ways to bring the Wyld to you, but that's a separate issue. Wyld Shaping Technique is one of the keystone 'miracles' of the Solar Charm Set, of being able to forge new worlds to conquer.
Granted, I've never played a game where I could even conquer a city at Essence 3, but that's a game pacing issue.
What Goes Here:
Outright miracles - Glorious Solar Saber, Accuracy Without Distance, Craftsmen Need No Tools, Wyld Shaping Technique, Wholeness Restoring Meditaiton.
Essence 4:
The least defined tier of the game is Essence 4, existing as an odd interstitial space between Essence 3 and 5. Not to say there aren't any charms at this level, but they're… Wobbly. Almost intentionally so.
Inexhaustible Bolts of Solar Fire allows you to waive the need for ammunition, and beyond that, grants you a superior alternative to having actual real ammo on hand. This is an extrapolation of the Essence 3 effect of 'Something from Nothing'. The 'handwaving' is strong here, preventing chaos and the like from denying you the chance to play to your strengths, in this case- archery.
Solar Flare Methodology creates a Firewand, and because of the construct's complexity, requires the 'scope' of an Essence 4 charm. It's stats are commensurate with this requirement.
Invincible Fury of the Dawn is one of the first upgrade charms we see, and it is easy to fall into the trap that 'Essence 4 is full of upgrades'. Or even that 'Upgrades' is reasonable charm design space. (It is, in moderation. Plus the Infernal charms are built on the idea of upgrades/expanders.)
The key to remember is that an upgrade charm should not only remove limitations or reduce costs. There are places where this occurs, and it can be done reasonably, like Wyld Cauldron Technology, but WCT adds as much as it takes away from Wyld Shaping Technique.
The most obvious place this happens is when an expander charm makes a prerequisite a 'non-charm' power, getting combo use. It amusingly nets out to the same average experience cost, overall.
General of the All-Seeing Sun drives home that Essence 4 is home to effects that are measured in miles. Meanwhile, Legendary Warrior Curriculum 'uncaps' several traits that are normally limited on NPC growth, letting Solars direct the greatest, most well trained forces at their whim.
Worshipful Lackey Acquisition is an Essence 4 charm, because it creates a Servitude Effect- compared to the Essence 2 Knowing the Soul's Price. This is because KtSP has a built in 'gut check' of, can the Solar meet the price. WLA however simply creates the commitment to the Solar with few limitations.
Eternal Elemental Harmony is one of those charms that 'negates' a cost of a prerequisite charm, and here it is acceptable, because Hardship-Surviving Mendicant Spirit's cost was intentionally prohibitive, as to make it's use a reasoned decision. With EEH, the charm becomes a mark of an increasingly effortless grasp of Essence, reflected in it's cost reduction.
So, a costly charm can have its mote commitment reduced by an upgrade, if it was designed with that in mind- a 'staggered' charm, so to speak. The commitment is an important distinction, making an active defensive charm cheaper is usually a bad idea.
Wyld-Cauldron Technology, as mentioned, is an upgrade that is firmly focused on expanding its prerequisite with new features, not reducing 'gamist' limitations.
Mountain-Crossing Leap allows you to jump twenty miles in about five minutes. This is firmly an Essence 4 effect for that reason.
What Goes Here
- More Miracles- Things that have effects measured in miles, years or decades
- Magic that expands on capabilities or shows a marked progression of a previous one. Upgrade Charms at any level are not about making a precursor charm 'more gameable'.
Essence 5
Oh Boy. The Big Stuff. There are only a handful of Essence 5 Charms in the 2nd edition corebook. While not stated in that same book, it has been said that the Exalted fought and won the Primordial War with the Charms printed in their own splats. This statement should be taken with a grain of salt, but also be taken with a smile.
These are the four Solar Charms in the Second Edition Corebook, with an Essence Minimum of 5.
Protection of Celestial Bliss - You may 'Store' a previous invocation of Heavenly Guardian Defense, to use later when parrying an incoming attack. (The parry itself must be legal, so you have a weapon in hand.) This charm is Essence 5 for the sheer magnitude of personal security it grants- with it and Call the Blade, you may block any expected incoming attack for 5 motes.
Ideal Battle Knowledge Prana - As detailed in my War Essay, this charm is Essence 5 becaue it deals in ranges of Tens of Miles, and drastically alters the way warfare goes in Creation, halving the required number of Relays to reach those unit, and increases their Drill and Might by 1. Note that Might is normally only a product of all the forces being magical, being equipped with magical gear, or as Solars go, being lead by a Solar.
City-Moving Secrets - This charm expands the Solar's capabilities at using their Survival Charms on groups- at Essence 5, a single purchase allows them to move Magnitude 6 units with Trackless Region Navigation. Magnitude 5 is 650 people. Mag 6 is 1250. Purchasing this Charm 4 more times lets the Solar lead 10,000 people across wilderness at 10 miles across any passable terrain.
Eye of the Unconquered Sun - The top tier, highest mark of illusion-breaking and perception. This Charm is Essence 5, because it declares that all forms of 'hiding' or 'concealment' are inapplicable. Their rolls to hide were never rolled, as far as the Solar's concerned, up to and including Illusions and compulsions such as Solar Stealth, or even the Astrological backing of Resplendent Destinies.
'Hiding' and 'Finding' are not attacks, so they do not resolve with IF/UO. Instead such contests go to Charm Rolloff, and EotUCS biases that contest in its favor by Essence x2 successes.
So, that's Essence 1-5 for Solars! I hope you all find this informative! Minor change in program, instead of Pacing and Storytelling, (As I need to be in the right mood for that), next Essay will probably be Solar Integrity!
Really Informal Summary for the TL;DR crowd:
- If it's Essence 1 or 2, it can add dice, successes, or double either in some way.
- If it's Essence 1 or 2, it can give you a new capability like Daredevil Hearing or Perfect Balance, or make an existing one work really well, like (Parrying), Heavenly Guardian Defense.
- If it's Essence 3, it's an outright miracle, bypassing some key 'thing' that makes it miraculous. Sword out of Sunlight, Land out of Wyld, Crafting without Tools.
- if its Essence 4, it's even more of a miracle, transcending even more limits until it is a platonic expression of that ability or action.
- If it's Essence 5, you're probably affecting small city states, areas measured in miles or more.
