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11-08-2009

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Exalted Wiki:Tea House

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Contents

Fatigue?

Hi everyone, I'm a new editor on the wiki as well as a new storyteller to the exalted system, and I've been facing some issues recently, I'm trying to figure out what the rules involving Fatigue are, or even what Fatigue effects and how it works; I know it should be in the corebook, but I can't seem to find it at all; it's starting to get a little frustrating, can anyone help out? Thanks in advance. Lilinka 20:02, 28 January 2009 (EST)

There's the fatigue rules for armor that begin the second column on page 374. There's also the Strenuous Activity rules on page 130. The two aren't entirely in sync with each other. I'd replace the armor fatigue roll base time of four hours with the Stamina + Resistance period described under Strenuous Activity. -Plague of Hats 21:38, 28 January 2009 (EST)

Updated Character Template?

Bodhisattva talk contribs 18:26, 8 September 2008 (EDT): I have noticed that the template located here seems to be catching on. How do people feel about standardizing the use of this template on the wiki (after I get the formatting problem fixed)? It contains more information for use with characters that only appears as needed. Thoughts, anyone? Please feel to use the 32113250zl0.png {{+}} or 31308688sr6.png {{-}} templates to indicate approval or disapproval with the idea.

  • 32113250zl0.png Bodhisattva: I think we should standardize the use of this template once the formatting issues are fixed.
  • 32113250zl0.png StarHawk: I believe it should be a standard, it contains lots of helpful information without having to read the whole character. The revisions that would be needed should be a group effort so it doesn't fall all to one person. Is there a way we could prepare perhaps?
  • 32113250zl0.png Democritus: I don't agree with all the formatting choices but I think this is a very useful template. I'm glad to see that the wiki is still being improved :D Good job, bodhi.

Hello everyone

Just hoping to start some chatting here. I'm Democritus (or dcs666 on the WW Forum) and I've taken the reorganization of this wiki as my personal motivation. As I'm a bit anal at times you might have noticed me making minor edits to your articles here and there, to make them fit the organization. --Democritus


I for one salute you on your efforts in mission. *salute* I know little of wiki formatting, but if you need any help just let me know Thx Childoferu 21:33, 7 October 2006 (EDT)

Thank you. Nice to know my work and time spend is appreciated. The offer on wiki formatting also goes for me. if you need any help, let me know on my User talk:Democritus page. --Democritus 04:09, 9 October 2006 (EDT)

Two-Weapon Style

What is the advantage of the second weapon

For an intense and detailed cinematic combat system involving the strengths of a multitude of different fighting styles I have found it strange that two weapon style is rarely mentioned and generally not very good.

My question is this-What is the rules for using two weapons?

So far all I have found is a rule on the negatives applied to using a weapon in your offhand. The only other factor I can think of is that without the use of a charm you have access to another flurry.

Rethissunstar, there are a couple advantages. You can have one high-defense weapon and one high-offense weapon, for increased Parry DV. You can flurry up to the combined Rates of the two weapons [admittedly, flurry penalties get very large, very fast.] And last, it looks cool. How much advantage do you want? --Balrog 14:18, 31 October 2006 (EST)

Really thinking about the change from first edition to second edition Fire Dragon Style. Their is no reason for the Fire Dragon Five Glorius Path practitioners to make use of the second weapon for anything but style with the short artifact Daiklaives and in comparison to the big hit weapons it leaves a lot to be desired as it counteracts the really high Accuracy bonus of the short artifact sword. This could be much like another game I know with a great combat system where having another gun is purely for ammunition purposes. Style is good just checking to see if I missed anything. I had explained this to my player and it sounded a little hollow to us both.
Two things: First, the specific. As I understand Fire Dragon Style [book not available here] the form charm gives a flurry at -1,-2,-3... for all the attacks you can muster (vs. the normal -N, -(N+1)... -(2N-1). If you've got two Rate 4 short daiklaives, you get eight attacks instead of four. That's a lot of attacks. Second, and more generally, it seems like there was a design decision made: "Characters shall not be penalized for using only one weapon." In "Pits and Lizards" single-weapon characters [or weapon and shield] were pretty much chumps. So two-weapon fighting is a little better in some situations, but it's not MANDATORY.--Balrog 11:13, 2 November 2006 (EST)
Thank you. I agree completely. Just trying to keep Immaculate Monks a threat which is suprisingly hard to do with my very inventive players. I agree it's not mandatory and can see your point on the "pits and lizards." I did not read that in the form charm but then I haven't really played just storytelling so the amount of charms and Martial Arts forms was escaping me. I think that is a good charm and form technique for styles like that and the bonus given is in a good place as it requires some mote expenditure. Kudos and Thanks. Rethis Sunstar 13:37, 2 November 2006 (EST)
I'm sorry, but I still don't really think I have a good hold on the two weapon thing for Second Edition. Fire Dragon Style is cool, but thats just one form charm. So basically without that form charm, what benefit is there besides a higher rate which is penalized anyways. As for the artifacts, the loss of the offhand penalty is good, but it still doesn't seem anything more than stylish if there is only just a rate increase. Think of a Dawn Caste Solar... Peony Blossom Attack is an awesome charm that is such minimum requirements and prerequisite charms. Basically, a character could make a number of attacks in a flurry regardless of rate anyways (though surpassing rate means making it obvious charm). But its true with the short daiklaves, in that there is no other bonus besides rate and lack of offhand penalty. For even an average Solar melee fighter, rate wouldn't even be a factor. One could make essence based flurries with weapons of rate one and speed 6 for example. Not that speed has anything to do with it though. I understand Solars are just that awesome and these benefits might seem really great for non-Solars and that short daiklaves are only artifact 1 rating per sword, but is there really nothing more that can be gained from having two? With my character, Ping Fa, I realized that I could be effective with only one short daiklave and thus, created an atypical style of using short daiklaves, but it was effective and really cheap. I mean, it basically becomes a reaper daiklave with rate +1 when combined, depending on the material of course. My teammates use normal charmless flurries and I have seen their effectiveness in combat, but am I missing an additional purpose for two weapons? And what IS the penalty for using, lets say two daiklaves, instead of two short daiklaves? Is the discarding of the penalty for short daiklaves really that useful? DawnDragon10:45, 20 November 2007 (EST)

Armigers?? How do you make a construct??

I am fascinated that somehow I have managed to completely miss something of the Techno-Fantasy aspect of the world that is Exalted and in particular from the Dragon's of Lookshy.

The Armigers of Lookshy can be Mortal (well equipped) allies but it is also mentioned that their is the possibility of a construct. While Golem/Automaton/Android are an excellent aspect that can add that techno fantasy edge much like Battle-Chasers I have come to realize that there is currently no real coverage on the limitations (beside Storyteller discretion) on what they can do. I think I want to generate a blurb on creating such creatures as I need it for my own game.

I want to ask everyone if their is any rules guiding the creation or statistics of such creatures as any resources would be helpful. Even First edition would be okay. I have all the 1st Edition books and 2nd edition current releases up to the Compass of Celestial Directions:The Blesse Isle.

I'd be surprised if there were no rules for this in the Wonders book... --Democritus

Hmmm. I didn't see anything mentioned and the Manual of Exalted Power:The Dragon Blooded list the history of it as something new with that particular book being Newer than Wonders of the First age. I also have not read the Autochthonians as of yet and that could cover such a thing but I am unsure. Rethis Sunstar 20:03, 3 November 2006 (EST)

Hm. In my mind Constructs are nothing but Automata. And I thought rules for those were present in WoTLA. --Democritus
Your right. I found it. Forgiveness for not being able to see. Must plumb through the weighty tomes that I have again.

The Craft Excellency

I have someone trying to go the route of master craftsman of Lookshy. After reading through the artifact creation rules I came to realize that I had a bad idea of the craft skill and began to understand that the skill is still unclear to me.

  1. When you place dots in a craft skill is that to all skills or is that for one particular craft (I am under the impression you have to buy it for the particular craft)?
  2. When you purchase the craft Excellency does it have the association of that individual craft? i.e. Craft (fire) - Craft Fire Excellency.
Rethis Sunstar 19:25, 16 November 2006 (EST)
My understanding is that you buy each Craft (Fire) as a regular ability, yet the Excellency works for all of them and is only purchased once. That's a damn good question though, --Democritus
  1. It is for a particular set of crafts. The known sets are: Wood, Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Magitek, Reality and Genesis
  2. The is only one set of craft charms, they apply to all craft skills, each charm is only purchased once, with the exception of the one from Wonders of the Lost Age, which is permanent and has stackable effects.
GryMor 03:41, 17 November 2006 (EST)
Just to clarify, this is spelled out in the core book in one of the sidebars on page 211. Kukla 21:39, 30 December 2006 (EST)

Storytellers Resource / Random Talisman Generator

As some of you might know, Talismans are thaumaturgical devices similar to artifacts, however unlike Arifacts, Talismans are highly susceptable to both counter magic and to more natural means of nullification ( say like a very big rock )

You may be asking yourself; WHY!?!?! Well I have been playing Exalted for quite some time but have been a storyeller, respectivly little. So i am trying to find a nice balance when rewarding my players. At the end of a quest i dont want them feeling that they were not rewarded, or that they were putting their neck on the line, just so the Dawn Caste could get a new sword. well check it out, if your anyhing like me you like to stash away treasure for your players, however this can become a problem as whiney players tend to get upset that they are not getting their fare share o' tha loot.

Well give em some talismans and hide maby ONE cool artifact, this way every one gets something, and you don have to hear the babies complaining! you know if i hear "My DEMI-GOD doesnt have a arifact five blade of doomy doomyness." one more time im gonna shove that artifact blade up their...

any whoo i created a chart that uses d-10 rolls to come up with random trinkets

you can find it at the old Exaled Wiki site Scorn's Random Talisman Generator

I want to add a new set of menus for Types before i turn this into a Java App, so if anyone has any ideas please let me know!

I'd suggest adding more variance in terms of type. For example - no warding talismans? Those are supposed to be the most common!
Also, GM's choice is lame. I don't need a chart's permission to make my own decision.
Great start, tho. Kukla 21:32, 30 December 2006 (EST)

THose are great suggestions, and some how i forgot aboutt the most common of talismans. Thanks ill get started right away :) --ScornMeticulous 16:08, 31 December 2006 (EST)

Hi! Just a big question

I don't understand why they changed Abilities from 1st edition into 2nd edition. I talk about Brawl and Endurance.

I've just read that Brawl was exchanged for War because it´s the same as Martial Arts; I think both are different. Martial Arts has different fighting styles (the one in Exalted Book -at least in 1st edition- could be taken as one sytle, the Serpent style), and Brawl is just raw free-for-all fighting.

Endurance was changed for Integrity, and if Integrity is more focused on social and mental aspects, I think Resistance should be the exchanged ability. Endurance is more physical. I don´t understand this either.

I don´t have 2nd edition Corebook, so I'd be most grateful if someone can explain this to me. --Sabel 03:41, 09 January 2007 (EST)

1. Endurance and Resistance have been merged into Resistance. This does not mean that endurance is gone and only resistance remains. Instead resistance now deals with physical resilience against knockdown and disease AND with physical endurance against fatigue, holding breath etc. There is nothing lost here, rather some very similar abilities have been merged
2. Integrity was added to work with the new Social Combat system. It is similar to both dodge and resistance in social combat. It measures your ability to be uninfluenced by the opponents words. Useful ability.
3. Brawl and Martial Arts both deal with unarmed fighting. Just as above, both were merged into one ability called Martial Arts. There still is unformed unarmed fighting, you just raise Martial Arts and say it's rough street brawling and not a refined fighting style. Works well (not considering the fact that the MA charm trees are inhertly confusing - but thats 1E and 2E AND my personal viewpoint)
4. Welcome to the wiki. --Democritus

Combos Between Righteous Devil Style and Archery Charms

In the introduction to Scroll of the Monk's Righteous Devil Style, it suggests that martial artists keep their archery skill as high as their martial art, if for no other reason than to combo the martial arts charms with "powerful archery charms". How is this possible? Normally, only Reflexive charms are allowed in combos incorporating charms from another skill, and Archery has none while Righteous Devil Style has only two. Of those two, one is a quick-draw, and the other is a reload charm: nice but redundant charms when compared with the charms in Archery. What's going on here? Is there some exception to the normal combo rules that I missed? The text in Scroll of the Monk hints that there's some relationship between the Martial Arts form and the Archery Skill, but if there's an explicit exception I haven't found it yet. Help? --Richard Daly 00:29, 1 February 2007 (EST)

RRimmelWithout my books, but I believe i have the cheap as heck answer. Doesn't rightous Devil require you to have ranks of archery? Several of the other MA forms require you to have some levels of something. Following that, if you have a charm that requires Archer 2 and Martial Art 4, couldn't you combo it with either Archery or Martial Arts charms... or both?
Richard Daly 00:22, 1 February 2007 (EST): It's true that the style does require ranks in archery... I guess that might count. I don't think it's the charms that require the archery, but the style instead, but I guess there's an argument to be made.... I'll look into it, thanks!
Bodhisattva 00:40, 1 February 2007 (EST): Firewands are the signature weapon of the style. Just as styles that allow certain types of Melee weapons to be wielded as if they were unarmed attacks, this style allows firewands. However, since many of the Charms do not explicitly state that you're making a Dexterity + Martial Arts roll when you're making your attacks after activating your Charms, it can be assumed that the writers of the style intended for you to be using your Dexterity + Archery to wield the firewands. This is a departure from the norm, but it seems "reasonable". In reading through those Charms, it seems that as a Martial Arts style, they require certain levels of Martial Arts to activate the Charm, but the use of the firewand seems to be a separate event, even though some of the Charms are supplemental to the action, while other simple and extra-action Charms do indicate that as a part of the Charm, you fire the weapon (assuming that you use Dexterity + Archery to do so). The writers should have been more clear, since the implication is that you're using Archery to make your attacks. However, another line of thinking is that since you'd need to know how to fire your firewands or plasma tongue repeaters before even attempting to learn this style and thusly do use Martial Arts to fire your weapons. However, I think the most clear point of evidence is found on page 99 under the heading Complimentary Abilities where they talk about practitioners keeping their Archery as high as their Martial Arts for the purpose of comboing Charms. This implies that the entire style could be assumed to be combo-compatible with Archery Charms if you're using your style weapons (firewands) as your Archery weapon.
To answer RRimmel's question, none of the Charms themselves require Archery, however, the style requires Archery 2 as a minimum to learn it.
Bodhisattva, You mentioned that there's no requirement to use Dexterity + Martial Arts with the style charms. I would consider the text at the top of page 369 of the Core to be applicable, just substitute "Archery" for every instance of "Melee". -- ArykAran 18:23, 14 March 2007 (EDT)

Combos and Martial Arts

RRimmel 13:10, 1 February 2007 (EST) This actually merits a bit of an additional discussion. The combo rules allow you use charms within an ability, which normally is fine, however if you have Martial Arts you have the potential to make up some truly rediculous strike combining 2-3 moves from several different martial arts styles and it is completly legitimate. That said, adding in the ability to use Archery or Melee to what they can already do doesn't seem so... over the top, functionally at any rate. I, and consider how permissive I am as a ST, recently moved that while your excellencies are certainly cross the board, you need to be in a form to use any charms that follow the form. I have my reasons, mainly an undefendable combo that killed everyone in the first tick of combat that I had an Essence 4 sidreal use. Think about it, we have about 40 melee charms and that sounds impressive until you realize that MA has what 200? You are eventually going to find a completly legitimate combo that does not work as intended.

Richard Daly 14:38, 1 February 2007 (EST):If I understand you correctly, you're saying that in your games a martial artist must activate a particular style's Form Charm before she can use charms that have that Form Charm as a prerequisite? If there are a lot of abusive combos turning up I can see how you might want that (especially given how hard your games seem to push the power level). Personally, I'd be tempted to start by banning individual combos first, or by modifying charms. I mean the book does say, "Storytellers are always free to veto the combination of certain Charms, and the Storyteller's decision is final when it comes to defining how a given Combo Works." But in the games I play, the ST isn't gunning for the character's lives with maximum prejudice in every fight, and neither are the characters built for maximum power. Because we're a bit more casual about things, it hasn't really cropped up yet.
DawnDragon 00:01, 23 January 2008 (EST): I think as far as the rules go, the way martial arts is done is pretty fair. In response to RRimmel, I think that perfect or near perfect attacks, executed on any tick, are part of the game and especially with those of higher essence levels. With all due respect, if allotted enough time, players should generally muster up a perfect defense or two and be able to combo it effectively if need be. The easiest defensive combo to negate a perfect unblockable undodgeable surprise attack is actually only a two charm dodge combo. and you need three charms. Reflex Sidestep Technique, Seven Shadow Evasion, and Shadow Over Water (as a prereq for the perfect defense)... player only needs 2 essence and 4 dodge. If they are at the point in a game when a sidereal comes at them with such powerful combos mastered, even at essence 4, it should kind of be expected that they can muster some sort of defense against it as solars are not supposed to be so narrowly focused in their charms and combos. Also, I think that it is fair because, as my circle members have discussed, the best martial artists fight barehanded. For instance, a martial artist couldn't use a snake style charm or combo with one in it while wielding a non-snake style weapon like a bamboo staff. therefore the combos are only limited to people fighting barehanded. plus its a sidereal in the example, hey are pretty frickin ridiculous at martial arts and it should be expected. sometimes massive death happens when fighting a sidereal who has mastered enough martial arts and combos to wield such power. also, two charm combos like Seven Shadow Evasion with Leaping Dodge Method prevent magical close combat flurries from even being a threat. basically it perfectly defense against the attack and then allows the character to jump back letting the remaining attacks be wasted. an abyssal used this on my character and damn it was costly but made perfect sense because of the amount of tmie the abyssal had to learn the combat style of my character as an undercover agent posing as champion. Ultimately, for martial arts, i think its fair that charms and combos that cross styles remain with the limitation that the character accommodate all style requirements (like no armor, specific weapons, etc). If that isn't the flavor, then i agree, being in form before activating style charms could be beneficial. here is also another way to further that: if you allow activation of all charms AFTER the form charm in the charm tree only after the form charm is activated. that could allow for more simple charms to be beneficial like the first charm in snake style or mantis style. And I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm criticizing the players or characters because I don't mean to. I'm always fighting to find just the right balance of combat charms, combos and etc but what the hell is right? So I understand that it is difficult to figure out how things could happen otherwise against a Sidereal master martial artist. Plus its hard to know as players what we are going up against and it is hard for storytellers to know just what player characters can take on. Sometimes it might seem too easy but then any harder and its clearly too hard... but i commend you for pushing the envelope. sometimes many celestials do die at the hands of one powerful fighter in one fell swoop when caught unprepared.
Also, while I haven't read through the Sidereal Martial Arts, their reputation in my group is that they're mighty bad-ass. It may just be that Sidereal Martial Arts are overpowering when pushed hard?

clinc functionality added to other templates

Mainly the hearthstones, for now at least. My new project is self entitled... EVERY POSSIBLE HEARTHSTONE, and as such I require certain background elements. I'm planning on doing several hearthstones (25 in fact) that are Level 1 ability stones all the way up to level 5 abilitiy stones. Given that the vast majority of the text on each will be repeats, I feel that the easiest way to do this would be to stack them like MA forms and the clinc tag seems, by far, the easiest. I really need to improve my wiki-fu. RRimmel

It's already there. It's called "hlinc". clinc = C-something-INClude, hlinc=Hearthstone. I believe we have a slinc for Spells too. There might be others but I can't really recall them right now. I'll look them up and add them to the contributing content template overview. --Democritus

Hi all.

Hey, everyone. My name is Joel, or Drasticale... however personal or impersonal I'm feeling for the day. Just joining up, and I'm quite immersed into the world of Exalted. Trying to learn a little about editing.. (By the by... how do I contribute a character?)

Figure I'll be placing a few pieces here and there, and looking for a bit of critique. Plan on running a game of Exalted, and I want to make sure I can make the world come alive.

Joel

Welcome to the gang, joel. I guess you first start out with the QUICK START GUIDE and follow it up with the GUIDE TO CONTRIBUTING. Both can be reached from the left hand side menu. --Democritus
Thanks, I've figured out a little bit on my own, and the Quick Start Guide is making everything else fall into place. One bit of something that is perplexing me... In User Created Characters subcategory, how do I get it alphebetically correct? (Never mind, what a little bit of pirating other people's code can get you) -Drasticale 14:56, 3 March 2007 (EST)
[[Category:User Created Characters|ALTERNATIVE SORTING]] is what you do. Usually it sorts by name, but if you use the |ALTERNATIVE SORTING it will use that to sort, and not the article name. Also definitely check out the contributin content ! --Democritus 15:09, 3 March 2007 (EST)

Linking to a category?

Right, I wanted to add a link on my user page to show all my characters (which are all in a specific category... =), but when I tried to use "categories:blah" I got that it wanted me to edit the non-existant page, and when I tried "category:blah", it added that cute little box at the bottom with which categories the article belonged to... =)

Melindrea

[ [insert character name] ] then whatever you want after it. I'll add your characters on there for you and then you can add your blurbs from there. Alright I added them all for you now you can edit them from there as you like.
Taronkov

Hiyas!

I'm Kaja. Anyway, I joined up mainly because Kukla seemed to think my character interesting enough to post on this wiki. I'll probably just post a few things here and there, such as Lunar Knacks/Charms. And hopefully I can customize a sample Lunar charsheet (cribbed from Bodhisattva and Democritus's own sample Solar charsheet). Kaja 12:35, 11 April 2007 (EDT)

Hey, I worked on that sheet too :(( ;). Anyway, welcome. Hope you're having a fun and productive stay. Democritus
Howdy Kaja! See you at the game today. --Kukla 14:55, 24 April 2007 (EDT)

Final Diploma Presentation today

I know this is totaly unrelated, but the Wiki Tea House is for off-topic talk too.

Thing is, today I have to hold the final presentation of my career as a student of architecture.

Wish me luck, guys.

-- Democritus

Good luck, Democritus! --Kukla 03:16, 24 April 2007 (EDT)
The very best of luck to you, Democritus! I hope this is one of the best days you've ever had! – Bodhisattva 11:47, 24 April 2007 (EDT)
Fuck yeah. It is. --Democritus

congrats! hope you enjoy today! Childoferu 21:54, 24 April 2007 (EDT)

New

Hi, I'm new to the whole editing of Wikis thing. I'm getting involed cause there's alot of holes in this Wiki(the locations section is fairly sparce). I've started though, with the Great Houses. I've done House Cathak and I was wondering what people though of it? Does it look good, and what could I imrove on it?

Democritus: I welcome you to the wiki and compliment you for the fine article on House Cathak. I did some cleanup there, mainly for style/visual reasons. I didn't change the content a bit as it was pretty good already.

Storytelling Adventure System

Has anyone played around with using the SAS format for their Exalted adventures? Bill 03:53, 19 July 2007 (EDT)

The Bull of the North and Loss of the Tepet Legions

I'm planning on working a heavy story plot that involves the events that lead up to and comprised of the destruction of the Tepet Legions at the hands of the Bull of the North. I could use all the information available. So far I've got a good grasp on some of the main players and their general roles. But there are details that could use clarifying so I know what extent I could make up what happened. I know that I could always rewrite the history and what really happened and in a way I am already doing that, but if there is published material on it or details regarding what specifically happened, then that could be really helpful as I'd like to keep it as much on par with what is happening in the comics of the books as they get released as possible, for fun's sake.

For instance, I know that Tepet Ejeva was sent away because of Tepet Lisara's influence on her commanding officer or something. But was this before the battle? During the battle? Was there more than one battle? Two? Three? How did it pan out tactically? Even the basics are missing. For example, when the Bull of the North captured the Tepet Legion warstriders, he lured them into pits and so on. But was this a mass maneuver in which he lured the entire legion into traps and scattered them all over? Did he lure the troops over thin ice and let them drown?

Again, anything would be really helpful. If anything I'll wait until the Scroll of Kings comes out to understand the Realm and Icewalker tactics more in detail. And anything I find we may change anyways for the purposes of the story but still it is good to know. Thanks.

23:40 pm EST DawnDragon 22 January 2008

I've got you covered on that in the Halten book from first edition. I'll get it to you as soon as I get back.
Taronkov

Linowan Masks

From what the main book details, the Linowan Nation has shamans who may create masks for individual people whom they deem worthy in some form or another. Has anyone come up with or know of a way to generate these individually unique masks? I have Oadenol's Codex and I'm sure my circle could think of some way using that as a resource but outside help is welcome. 00:45 am EST DawnDragon 23 Jan 2008

How are these Wiki Games played?

So I am wondering about all the stuff that seems to be related to SL's based on or intigrated with the wiki. Can anyone just put stuff from their own game up here, or is there some master plan in play that your not suposed to mess up? The Ghost 23:18, 29 January 2008 (EST)

Anyone can add there own stuff up here just don't make changes other than gramatical and such without asking the user that put it up's permission. Most people just have their own and their groups characters and information along with what they are doing in the world. The games here aren't linked to each other in any kind of way. Taronkov
Thanks for the info. I will follow that guideline. The Ghost 22:08, 1 February 2008 (EST)


I have put up 3.5 creations, (one is incomplete) and would appreciate some feed back, you can reach them all through my user page. Thanks in advance. The Ghost 17:33, 10 February 2008 (EST)

Shameless Plug!

Hey guys. I'm new to the wiki, and looking forward to helping the community grow. I've written my first article, a write-up of my homebrew campaign setting of Prismat. It needs a lot of help with the wikification process, so I encourage anyone with the yen for it to roll up their sleeves and dig in. And, of course, C&C on the content is welcome.

Another question- when posting original content, is it "good form" to indicate your authorship on it? If so, what's the preferred format?

Cheers!

--Robothedino 19:48, 2 February 2008 (EST)

Bodhisattva talk contribs 12:22, 3 February 2008 (EST): It is good form to indicate your authorship on the project. The preferred format can be found at the beginning of most of the. For example...
This article focuses on Social Combat in Second Edition. 
It was written by RRimmel with urging from Democritus and has been edited by a large number of wiki residents.

Breeding Dragon-Blooded

I know that the Breeding background for Dragon-blooded aids in the roll that represents their attempts to sire offspring with a chance of Terrestrial Exaltation. However, what IS the roll? For some reason I cannot find what the actual roll is in the Dragon-Blooded manual. If there is some obscure article in any book that details of what the rules are for the determining whether the offspring exalts or not, please let me know. --DawnDragon 13:51, 12 March 2008 (EST)

--StarHawk 00:45, 14 March 2008 (EDT): The rules for that are in the First Edition Dragon-Blooded book, and were left out of the Second Edition book. Basically, you roll 1d10 and depending on the parents the child will Exalt on a...

Two patricians of good pedigree: 1-2; one Dragon-Blood and one person of poor stock: 1-3; one Dragon-Blood and one patrician of good stock: 1-4; two Dragon-Bloods: 1-6. The bonus from Breeding increases the range. - Plague of Hats 15:25, 12 March 2008 (EDT)
Thanks a bunch for the response. It will be very helpful. I still have a few questions though. The bonuses from Breeding in the Second Edition add dice directly to the roll. So, for instance, if two Dragon-bloods mate and have a child and one has Breeding 4 (which adds 1 die to the roll), then the roll to see whether it exalts or not will be two dice and they only need success on one die with a roll between 1 and 6 on either. This seems different and maybe it is because it is a unity of the Second and First Edition rules but maybe that's just how it is supposed to be.
The bonuses listed in both editions are identical. Also, since there is no new system to use for Exaltation, there is no other system to apply such rules to. There is no reason to think that the bonus listed in the Second Edition book adds dice instead of increasing the range on the single die which indicates the child has Exalted. -Plague of Hats 16:58, 12 March 2008 (EDT)
Also, how does one determine the Breeding rating of the child? Is it also a roll... or some measure of success on the initial Exaltation roll? Or is it a set rate that if the child exalts he or she gets an average or something from the parents? --DawnDragon 13:51, 12 March 2008 (EST)
How to determine the child's Breeding was not discussed in either book. -Plague of Hats 16:58, 12 March 2008 (EDT)
Bodhisattva talk contribs 20:09, 12 March 2008 (EDT): I would think it's safe to assume that the Breeding rating is equal to the average of the two parents, just as the pedigree of a dog. Mate a pedigreed dog to a mutt and the puppy's basically a step above a mutt. Breed two pedigreed dogs together and the pup is a pedigreed puppy. Obviously, the child wouldn't have the strength of Breeding of the higher-bred parent, but they'd have more powerful Breeding than the lower-bred parent.
I prefer a slower approach, to make the "degradation" of Dragon's Blood less immediate and so slightly more sinister (or, "sinisterer"). If you average them, once the Terrestrials start spreading things around Breeding ratings quickly approach 1. However, if you simply reduce the Breeding by one when a purer Terrestrial mates with a less pure specimen, low Breeding ratings creep up on the world. Even in the first generation of Terrestrial-mortal spawn, the children have an 80% chance to Exalt, which could conceal how "wrong" the couplings are for quite some time. -Plague of Hats 06:46, 13 March 2008 (EDT)
Bodhisattva talk contribs 13:30, 13 March 2008 (EDT): The more I think of it, the more I don't like your approach, Plague of Hats. But, to be fair, I really don't like my own answer, either. The Breeding of successive generations of Terrestrials should be getting stronger and stronger, I would think, rather than weaker. There are more Terrestrial Exalts running around now than the 10,000 or so there were in the First Age. Terrestrials are not diluting their Breeding to the point where they're becoming an endangered species, either. They're having more children, spreading out that heritage, and a certain percentage of those statistically Exalt as Terrestrials. This seems to imply that both Plague of Hats and I are wrong, and that Breeding would be getting better, not worse. Of course, at some point, all Terrestrials would hit Breeding ●●●●● if they've got two Terrestrial parents. I propose the following alternative mechanic which would better preserve the Breeding ●●●●● rating and ensure that eventually, other Terrestrials could be bred to match that rating.
When the child of any Terrestrial is born and Exalts, the child has a Breeding rating of the lesser bred parent (be it Breeding ●●●●○, ●●●○○, ●●○○○, ●○○○○ or ○○○○○ due to low breeding or a parent being a mortal) plus one. Here's an example...
Cynis Daedalaen, a Breeding ●●●●● Water Aspected Terrestrial Exalt has a child with Mourning Reed, a very winsome, if sad, mortal woman. The child, Cynis Emrara, exalts as a Water Aspected Terrestrial Exalt with Breeding ●○○○○ which reflects her weak Breeding as being the child of a mortal woman, but some stronger connection to the Elemental Dragons with Daedalen as her father.
Cynis Emrara eventually grows old enough to have children of her own and pairs up with Ragara Orolo, a Wood Aspected Terrestrial Exalt who also has Breeding ●○○○○. Their child, who is claimed by House Cynis, Cynis Gurdane, exalts as an Air Aspected Terrestrial Exalt with Breeding ●●○○○, owing to the fact that both of his parents had some stronger connection to the Elemental Dragons than the average Terrestrial Exalt (as not every Terrestrial's player takes the Breeding background), and since his parents had that connection, his is even stronger.
Eventually, Cynis Gurdane is married to an exceptionally well-bred scion of House Mnemon by the name of Mnemon Avandine, an Earth Aspected Terrestrial Exalt of Breeding ●●●●●. Their child, Mnemon Sursha ends up exalting as an Earth Aspected Terrestrial Exalt of Breeding ●●●○○, a bit better bred than her father, but not as well bred as her mother.
Should Mnemon Sursha choose to have children with her mortal lover, Handsome Stud or her husband, Ragara Xephlan, the children who exalt will either be Breeding ●○○○○ Terrestrials (if Handsome Stud is the father) or Breeding ●●●●○ if Ragara Xephlan is of equal or greater Breeding than Mnemon Sursha. Should Ragara Xephlan be of lesser breeding than Mnemon Sursha, their children would be one dot higher bred than Ragara Xephlan.
Of course, any children who do not Exalt at all have Breeding ○○○○○, regardless of the Breeding rating of their parent(s), and should those children marry Terrestrials, any children they may have would start the process again at Breeding ●○○○○. Since not every child of a Terrestrial Exalt exalts as another Terrestrial Exalt, this wouldn't spread out the Breeding trait so far as to indicate that every person would eventually become a Terrestrial Exalt or have high Breeding.
I think that's a workable alternative to both my original proposition and Plague of Hats' suggestion.
I prefer the inevitable, terrible degradation of the Dragon-Bloods. I don't want them to be able to perform a few generations of smart pairing to get back to or near their original purity. -Plague of Hats 14:36, 13 March 2008 (EDT)
I don't think you really have to worry about that. It doesn't look like the Realm is on it's way back to the original purity. A solution to that may be that while two dragon-blooded parents children are more likely to exalt make it harder for them to conceive the more powerful the bloodline. So while yes the child will be more powerful there will be less of them. Khamal
I don't care about in-setting justifications for why something hasn't been or can't be attained. My solution, which I prefer, makes attaining their original purity impossible without extreme external means. Making higher-Breeding Dragon-Bloods less fertile also flies in the face of...nearly everything involving Dragon-Bloods. -Plague of Hats 15:07, 13 March 2008 (EDT)
Bodhisattva talk contribs 16:27, 13 March 2008 (EDT): The problem, as I see it, is after several generations, the Breeding rating will head further and further toward ○○○○○. By the point in the Second Age that Exalted takes place at, there wouldn't be any Breeding ●●●●● Terrestrials left (or ●●●●○, ●●●○○, ●●○○○ or ●○○○○, for that matter). They'd have gone through dozens, if not hundreds, of generations where the purity of the Elemental Dragons has become so diluted that there's absolutely none left, and then we wouldn't have the need for the background at all.
Which is only correct if pure Terrestrials pretty exclusively mated with mortals and impure Terrestrials throughout the ages. This is demonstrably not the case in the Realm, where high-Breeding pairings are encouraged, and largely contradicts what little information we have on the First Age says about Terrestrial mating as well. It was taboo to mate with impure humans, but this was eventually accepted; however throughout their existence purity of blood has played an important role in Terrestrial society. -Plague of Hats 16:43, 13 March 2008 (EDT)
Bodhisattva talk contribs 16:58, 13 March 2008 (EDT): That still doesn't address the post-First Age society. Even though high-Breeding pairings are desired, they'd be incredibly rare and the resulting offspring over the generations would be so inbred that they'd likely not be recognizeable as humans anymore. 10,000 Terrestrials doesn't make for a very large gene pool and you'd probably start to see the results of inbreeding (be they physical or mental deformities) within about 13 generations or so. Since the Terrestrials breed once a decade (and let's say they don't start breeding until they're 40, just to make things last a while), t--StarHawk 00:45, 14 March 2008 (EDT)hat means that's only 520 years or so before every Terrestrial is related to all the others. After that point, it's only a matter of time (and relatively short, as well) before the impurities of inbreeding start to occur. The Empress has only reigned for 700+ years. There's bound to be some pretty serious and widespread problems by now.
A problem which doesn't exist or exists in small capacity in Creation. Or it's not a problem for Dragon-Blooded. As per the Terrestrial Host's origins, since their inception until centuries after the end of the Primordial War, they bred only amongst themselves. By your own estimations the vast majority of any Terrestrials surviving into the time they began sticking it wherever they want to would be hopelessly deformed. But that still doesn't have to be the case; the 10,000 original Terrestrials could each be of completely different descent, which broadens the latitude of their interbreeding a great deal, and is something that is often forgotten when people "oo" and "aah" over the "incestuous" beginnings we think mankind has. Neither humanity nor Terrestrials sprang immediately from the same source, even if they can trace milestones in their heritage to remarkably constrained points. -Plague of Hats 17:14, 13 March 2008 (EDT)
As for making higher purity impossible without extreme external means, what would those means be? Finding an Elemental Dragon and saying, "Make me pure!"?
Sure, that sounds kewl. -Plague of Hats 16:43, 13 March 2008 (EDT)
Bodhisattva talk contribs 16:58, 13 March 2008 (EDT): I rather thought it sounded hokey.
I wouldn't allow it, and I certainly don't like anything that's "kewl." What do you want from me? You're asking me for a solution to something I view along the lines of the Great Curse. It's not something that's necessarily going to be addressed and solved in any game. -Plague of Hats 17:14, 13 March 2008 (EDT)

Hey, thanks for the help everybody. I reread the Breeding bonuses and realized I just imagined the "dice" word there and in fact it was not. Sorry for the confused message. I appreciate the help from both of you. --DawnDragon 21:47, 12 March 2008 (EST)

Just thought I'd poke my head in here and comment. Breeding is supposed to represent not just how many terrestrial exalts there are in your line, but also what aspect they are and how many of them have been the same aspect. In your previous example, I don't think they would have maintained the breeding, and I don't think it would have improved since they have been breeding with other aspects for generations. I know the background is misleading because it states at Breeding ●●●●● one might be related to the Empress (and I don't think she can be all aspects at once....) According to the book, not all of the empress' children are extremely well bred either. I don't have my book to site this right now but I recall V'Neef is supposed to be the best bred of the children because the Empress was playing with the breeding and picked a man of good stock to be V'Neef's father. I digress, Breeding is I believe supposed to show if your mother, and her mother, and her mother before her were all wood, and your father, his father, and his father before that were all air I don't think you would have a breeding of 5 if you exalt fire. Nor do I believe such a child would exalt as Fire, they would either exalt as air or wood and then they wouldn't have the same breeding as their parent because the parent diluted the line with another aspect. --StarHawk 00:45, 14 March 2008 (EDT)
Bodhisattva talk contribs 10:20, 14 March 2008 (EDT): Actually, this is a very good comment, StarHawk. Re-reading the section on the Breeding background (pp. 105-106, The Manual of Exalted Power:Dragon-Blooded), it does say that it takes several generations of careful eugenics to reveal low levels of improvement in outcaste Terrestrials, and that careful breeding programs strengthen the blood of all Terrestrials (which is counter to Plague of Hats' argument. While it doesn't say on those pages anything about three successive generations of Terrestrials all having to have the same Aspect to increase their Breeding rating, it might be in the First Edition book (Unfortunately, I don't have the .pdf file with me at the moment). The only mention in the second edition book with regard to Aspect in the family line is when you start getting to Breeding ●●●○○. So, I'd have to edit my example to be something like this...
Cynis Daedalaen, a Breeding ●●●●● Water Aspected Terrestrial Exalt has a child with Mourning Reed, a very winsome, if sad, mortal woman. The child, Cynis Emrara, exalts as a Water Aspected Terrestrial Exalt with Breeding ●●○○○ which reflects her weak Breeding as being the child of a mortal woman, but some stronger connection to the Elemental Dragons with Daedalen as her father.
Cynis Emrara eventually grows old enough to have children of her own who Exalt as Water Aspected Terrestrial Exalts, then grandchildren who likewise Exalt as Water Aspects and one of them pairs up with Ragara Orolo, a Water Aspected Terrestrial Exalt who also has Breeding ●●○○○. Their child, who is claimed by House Cynis, Cynis Gurdane, exalts as an Water Aspected Terrestrial Exalt with Breeding ●●●○○, owing to the fact that both of his parents had some stronger connection to the Elemental Dragons than the average Terrestrial Exalt (as not every Terrestrial's player takes the Breeding background), and since his parents had that connection, his is even stronger.
Eventually, Cynis Gurdane's grandchild (who again, came from an unbroken line of Water Aspected Exalts) is married to an exceptionally well-bred scion of House Mnemon by the name of Mnemon Avandine, a Water Aspected Terrestrial Exalt of Breeding ●●●●●. Their child, Mnemon Sursha ends up exalting as a Water Aspected Terrestrial Exalt of Breeding ●●●●○, a bit better bred than her father, but not as well bred as her mother.
Should Mnemon Sursha's grandchild (again, coming from an unbroken line of Water Aspected Exalts) choose to have children with her mortal lover, Handsome Stud or her husband, Ragara Xephlan, the children who exalt will either be Breeding ●●○○○ Terrestrials (if Handsome Stud is the father) or Breeding ●●●●● if Ragara Xephlan is of equal or greater Breeding than Mnemon Sursha. Should Ragara Xephlan be of lesser breeding than Mnemon Sursha, their children would be one dot higher bred than Ragara Xephlan.
Of course, any children who do not Exalt at all have Breeding ○○○○○, regardless of the Breeding rating of their parent(s), and should those children marry Terrestrials, any children they may have would start the process again at Breeding ●●○○○. If the Exaltation simply skips a generation, the Exalted grandchild of the Exalt would have Breeding ●○○○○, again, all providing that they're all the same Aspect. Since not every child of a Terrestrial Exalt exalts as another Terrestrial Exalt, this wouldn't spread out the Breeding trait so far as to indicate that every person would eventually become a Terrestrial Exalt or have high Breeding.
Either that, or change it to reflect the unbroken line not as an "every three generations" you gain a dot of Breeding, but you have to have three generations to start bringing the Breeding back up again. For Example, Family Founder (FF) is a Fire Aspect, so is their child (F1), and the next child (F2) who would then have Breeding ●○○○○. At this point, the Breeding rating has started to rise, so the next Fire Aspected scion (F3) would have Breeding ●●○○○, then their Fire Aspected child would have Breeding ●●●○○ and so on. This would take 7 generations to go from Breeding ○○○○○ to Breeding ●●●●● as opposed to the example in the blue box above that would take 11 generations to go from Breeding ○○○○○ to Breeding ●●●●●. I prefer the 11 generation method, myself, as it demonstrates an increased difficulty and time to raise Breeding up from nothing (or a sudden drop in Breeding, such as a child born to two differently Aspected parents or a child born to a Terrestrial and a mortal). This also complies with the "generational skips" allowed for in the text of the Breeding background (specifically, the ●○○○○ text on p. 106). To address the text of the ●●○○○ portion of the background, I edited my example to show that if you've got a parent who is an Exalt, you essentially start at Breeding ●●○○○. So, it's a bit more complicated than my previous example, but does fit with canon material (so far, anyway).
In reference to the relationship to the Scarlet Empress, perhaps when your Breeding gets to ●●●●●, your bloodline is so strong that if you're having children with other Breeding ●●●●● Terrestrials of different Aspects, it no longer matters, because the bloodline is strong enough in both lines that the Breeding is maintained. This would allow for the Empress' children to potentially be Breeding ●●●●● Terrestrials, even though their Aspect is different from hers. Either that, or if you ever get to Breeding ●●●●● ●○○○○ (if that's even possible, and the Scarlet Empress would be the only example we would have of such a Terrestrial), you have such a strong connection to the Elemental Dragons that you transcend Aspect entirely (which would also explain why we're not really sure what her Aspect actually is, but we believe it to be Fire, and that might also explain her longevity as well). Perhaps the Dreams of the First Age materials will give us better insight into what happens to extremely well-bred Terrestrials.
"which is counter to Plague of Hats' argument"; there's a difference between an argument and a preference. -Plague of Hats 11:39, 14 March 2008 (EDT)
Bodhisattva talk contribs 15:18, 14 March 2008 (EDT): Poor choice of words. My most sincere apologies, Plague of Hats.
Too late. The gauntlet is down. -Plague of Hats 15:41, 14 March 2008 (EDT)
Bodhisattva talk contribs 17:45, 14 March 2008 (EDT): Then pick it up, and be quick about it! You can't leave such things lying around where someone might trip over them and hurt themselves! Think of the liability!

I think this whole thing can just be resolved if we all have sex with at least one Terrestrial in the next few days... wait 9 months, then see what pops out. Off topic idea - Terrestrials should have a charm that speeds up the processes of natural birth. Maybe reducing the time spent in the womb by having the mother be submerged for periods at a time in her elemental aspect. MAYBE Gaia and the natural elemental dragons wouldn't think it natural enough for elemantal exalted therefore making it impossible. But MAYBE they would under certain conditions or maybe infernals have access to it, thus allowing them to breed Infernal Terrestrials at a quicker rate! ....... I can't wait to hear from you all in nine months. DawnDragon 9:40, 17 March, 2008 (EST)

This topic is so large and in my opinion so important that I am makeing it it's own page; HERE. The Ghost 23:36, 21 March 2008 (EDT)


Random thought I don't think this counts as working solution. I think it's still a discussion in progress. We haven't really resolved anything.Taronkov

Recruiting for Mass Combat Units

Me and my friend were figuring out the rules for recruiting Mass Combat units in the Exalted world. It lists a general outline of the time and we can figure out circumstantial logistics (i.e. if the village has 100 people total, no way can you recruit a Mag 5 unit), but we thought that the guidelines were a bit lackluster. First of all, to recruit from Magnitude 7 to Magnitude 8 unit, would only take 8 days. To recruit a total force of 10,000 would take 45 days assuming that there are enough people to conscript or volunteer. I assume that the rulebook lists average times for conscription and not volunteer armies. We are currently debating whether we should even use the guideline at all as only a few days to jump magnitudes seems a bit ridiculous. However, there is merit to the system if regulations are applied. For instance, assuming circumstances are allowing, a commander may only be able to recruit in a given area up to his Bureacracy or War score at a given time to demonstrate the swiftness of his military organizational skills (hence the application of bureaucracy too). We have in no way tried out or come up with really solid and exception regulations or adjustments. But that is one idea. Also, we came up with the idea of doubling the number of days for recruitment if we are asking for volunteers instead of conscripting troops. either that, or turn it into weeks. Up until now, we've simply role-played all troop acquisition and etc however it may be more useful to make a universal or guiding system of recruitment and training for military units in the future. Has anyone else done anything other than roleplay out such things via winging it or has anyone else tried using the guidelines set in the Core Book in the Mass Combat section and found they liked it? didn't like it? Let me know if there was a system you used instead that we might try for our game. user:DawnDragon 9:55 pm EST

My Wiki Fu is not great enough,

To fix the flaw in THIS template. It should include an Install Cost, but does not. This is probably true of This One as well but I care far less about that. The Ghost

  • I also would love to see more work on the Character Template, I would write one up myself but I do not even begin to have the skills necessary. I would love to learn those skills, but for now I must rely on the good graces of my fellow contributors. The Ghost 00:29, 8 April 2008 (EDT)
Bodhisattva talk contribs 09:59, 8 April 2008 (EDT): The flaw is in neither of those templates. There is no information in the basic Charm template that accomodates for installation costs, which could be listed in the text of the Charm anyway.
Could be, but wheres the fun in that? ;)... Oh well, I guess I will have to do this the hard way. Thanks anyway. The Ghost 17:40, 14 April 2008 (EDT)


Gem of Incomparable Wellness

Some friends and I are starting up a 2nd edition game in a few weeks. I used to have a character who was fairly sturdy who's wounds would passively heal, and was nigh invincible as long as he had his manse stone and his manse wasn't damaged. Any idea how to make a poor man's version of this character for 2e? VictusFate

In my opinion, magical invincibility due to manses or objects is overrated and kind of lame, especially if you are starting a new character in second edition. Every attempt at ultimate invincibility is usually flawed like you said with the manse. One of our players had his character begin with a hearthstone that turned all lethal damage into bashing and then used his lunar charms become capable of healing bashing health levels with motes of essence. Also, his bashing soak was extremely high, thus only minimum damage usually got through. He died after overwhelmed by the Wyld Hunt, but he took TONS of damage and stayed at -0 health levels for a long time before being brought down. Also, Solar charms can be as close to invulnerability as you can get often times. Also, Body-Mending Meditation is a good solar charm that lets you heal 10x the normal rate. Sure, we all want to regenerate quickly and without spending motes, but I recommend you try out an array of Resistance charms for a Solar or Stamina charms for a Lunar before designing such powerful manses. However, as i mentioned before, check out some of the hearthstones and just make them compliment your charms - this is probably the best way to try for near invulnerability. A good solar combination of charms and artifacts can help too, not just hearthstones. For instance, artifact armor with hardness 8 or higher is good and one of the solar resistance charms reduces raw damage dice by 1 per mote spent to a min of 0, eliminating all damage from the attack. This can get costly, but with a high hardness, all you have to do is reduce raw damage to equal your hardness and then the enemy receives no post soak minimum damage (unless they have some other charm that guarantees post soak damage dice regardless of hardness). Then for anyone who hits you and clearly does more damage than you care to spend motes to reduce, you can simply spend 4 motes and invoke a perfect defense. Then any damage you do take, you can invoke body-mending meditation and heal. So... conclusively, if you are going for invulnerable characters, it would take a solid combination of Resistance charms, complimentary Artifacts and complimentary Manse/Hearthstones. user:DawnDragon 12:35 EST April 8, 2008
Thank you so much for the input. The artifact armor combined with the reduction of damage dice by 1 per mote spent sounds excellent, with the backup being a perfect defense (if damage exceeds my mote expenditure), body-mending meditation. The juggernaut character was the idea, some offense (maybe a two handed daiklave) but mostly focused on surviving an array of attacks (maybe some extra health levels too the last line of defense if a perfect defense fails me). VictusFate
Also, in the same Resistance charm tree as the raw damage reduction and perfect resistance defense is another charm that allows you to make a (Stamina + Resistance) roll with a difficulty of opponent's essence (im pretty sure that is the correct roll but i might be wrong). If you succeed, then the attack is perfectly defended. If you do not succeed, then you still get a big bonus to your soak for resolving that attack. You have to get this charm in order to get the perfect defense, so I'm sure you'll see it there. Definitely the extra Ox-body's will help. With three Ox-body's you can have up to 9 extra health levels or a solid 8 (equal number of -1s and -2s). I'm not sure if such a charm exists, but like the Melee perfect block, there could be another perfect defense for resistance in which you sort of store up on them. I'm sure it would be at least require Essence 5 or maybe more, but perhaps such a charm simply hasnt been published because it wouldnt be appropriate for the Solar method, but who knows. Also, each Caste anima does something different (sort of obvious) but if you look at a Twilight Caste anima, they can spend motes to reduce actual damage done to them. This is innate and not a charm action. So lets say you perfectly defend against one attacker but then a soulsteeel grand daiklave comes out of nowhere at you and then you have already used your charm, you might still be able to spend motes to reduce the damage you take so you don't die. The Dawn Caste anima is also very useful as it simply increases DV when your essence is equal to or higher than the enemy's valor. Make sure to take a look at the anima effects because who knows, maybe an invincible Twilight Tank who pilots a Royal Warstrider might be just what you are looking for. Or perhaps its simply a ridiculously tough Dawn Caste. DawnDragon April 9, 2008
So I started using Anathema [1] and it looks like I have to really narrow the focus of the character down. If I go with some resistance picks (1 excellence, 1 healing meditation, 4 charms (no adamant), 1 oxbody (want 2) ) I really can only get a few charms in one other area, 3 melee excellence? or some occult. I really wanted some athletics abilities (they look fun). Blargh. VictusFate
Bodhisattva talk contribs 11:20, 17 April 2008 (EDT): Well, don't forget, that starting characters (especially) can't do everything. Going through character-growth is what really enriches both the game-play experience and your stories. Don't sweat having to narrow your focus for starting characters. Of course, now that there are Excellencies in Second Edition, you can't quite take as many unique Charms as you used to be able to in First Edition, but at least you can play around with dice pools in every ability, not just some. Happy Gaming!
I agree with Bodhi. Don't worry about being spread too thin with ability/charm focii. In fact, from our experience, there are several ways of flourishing at the start without being an overweight character in one area. For example, while Ping Fa had three or 4 war charms, 2 resistance charms, and 4 melee charms to start (equaling that starting 10), I chose to spend many bonus points and ability points to make sure that he was pretty well rounded with at least 3 and 4 in most attributes and having being decent at several things which would be most crucial to his personality and goals. for instance, even though he has no social charms or even lacks many social skills, his ability to inspire is derived from Charisma and Presence or Performance most of the time. he would still love to develop othersl ike investigation, but he has managed to accomplish much with just having a decent 3 pool. so for starting characters, BP spent with abilities is not bad at all even though abilities seem the cheapest to raise by exp. On another note, characters who had one strong focus and several weaker ones did well too. having just excellencies in an ability practically make you awesome at it. White Shadow had a sstrong focus in martial arts starting with 4 martial arts charms (an exc and snake style), only 1, maybe 2, athletics charm (graceful crane and spider foot), 1 bureaucracy excellency, 1 stealth exc, 1 res charm (oxbody), 1 socialize charm that affects whole societies, only 1 or 2 larceny charms (for disguise)... he had no combos either. it was this character who, along with Ping Fa, managed to survive from day 1 of the game to our present day situation, adapting easily to the situation. and he was able to pick and choose his fights and how he fought them more easily, thus being capable of fighting a larger variety of opponents as well. he also did this all with minimal artifacts. in combat, if it werent for Ping Fa's anima and artifact equipment, White Shadow would indeed be the most powerful fighter in the group as well as the most versatile. We have several newer characters who have flourished too like Asha who has survived the longest next to Ping Fa and White Shadow. She began with 2 ox body, 1 performance exc, only 2 melee charms, 2 awareness exc, 1 dodge, 1 athletics charm, 1 occult charm (spirit detection). she has thus far proven to be quite an effective fighter with only beginning with an Orichalcum reaper daiklave as well as proving to be useful in almost every other part of the gameplay including taking part in social situations all kinds. She is useful when dealing with dematerialized spirits, fighting of all kinds, and can hold her own with dodge and resistance strengths. she has used nearly all of her abilities that she did not get charms in, such as survival, presence, and archery and been successful when using all of them. while we all have nearly died once or twice, but White Shadow got through many of his challenges using the wide variety of charms to escape harm and make the most out of his advantages, Asha has made creative use of her performance charms and her noncharm strengths to get out of tight situations, while Ping Fa has made efficient use of all of his charms and he has used them all at least once and often multiple times in the same situations when necessary. if anyone is spread too thin at the moment, it would be him as i'm his player, and what i try and do is make sure that i don't rush him into fights and always have a plan. because war is his specialty, anytime i fight with anyone, even the village idiot, i can make powerful and devastating coordinated attacks so numbers on my side always matter. its not like we aren't without deficiencies and the newer characters are all equally capable of flourishing through gampeplay, im just the three listing characters who have lasted the longest and been given the most chances to die as well. remember, solar excellencies are incredibly powerful and having only a few charms in one ability like melee can mean you are powerful enough to take on entire armies of mortal enemies already, or can make you capable of withstanding the most powerful mortal attacks, or can make you more socially skilled than even the most clever mortal diplomat and even many dragon-blooded as well. dont underestimate the earlier charms in the solar charm trees. the first stealth charm is practically invisible and just 3 charms in snake style give you the form charm and one of the best join battle charms, if not the best join battle charm, that there is available DawnDragon 20:15 EST April 20, 2008
for the character you've just described, i think that you should consider simply what you'll learn first. the athletics charms do seem really fun. night castes in general can be super fun. the easiest and simplest stunts are athletics oriented after all. so just get one excellency in athletics, either first or 2nd exc depending on how much dice you are rolling and what kind of personality he has. if going by standard experience earnings, a good session will award you 4 xp, which is enough to purchase a new ability, get an ability to 3, half of a charm, or get virtue from 1-2. if charms are your primary concern, think about it in these terms, a productive and fulfilling session will grant you roughly 4 exp so 2 such sessions will give you enough for 1 charm. lets say you are particularly productive and particularly doing well, progressing storylines, coming up with creative stunts, and fulfilling your characters' goals, you might earn an extra xp from time to time as well. what i do is save them up until im sure of what to buy but since you laread have stuff in mind, you can go a head and get started. the player of white shadow does this and has progressed in many different ways as he is very focused in his goals and his character direction and needs. if i were you, id get that 1 excellency, get only 2 other resistance charms besides 1 oxbody and bodymending meditation, that would still leave you 5 other charms before needing to spend exp on them. you dont really need a resistance excellency with the other fighting charms available. if you plan on comboing it with the one resistance charm that you roll Res+Stamina to absorb all damage to the attack, then that is a really good idea and you definitely dont need the other resistance charms. also, the battle resistance charms are after the excellency and if you plan on going that direction too, it isnt a bad idea. these charms will make a big difference in combat but do have drawbacks that you should read into. since you probably wont be severely injured in session 1 and maybe session 2, (depending on how you play of course or what you get into), you can leave out body-mending meditation and purchase that first. so thus youll have, 1 athletics exc, 1 ox body, 2 and other resistance charms, 1 res excellency. thats five and you it really depends on what else you want to do. if you get 1 melee excellency and maybe two other melee charms and then the combat resistance charms like Battle fury focus, you'll be a very effective tank fighter as they are scene length charms taht augment your ability to take damage and your ferocity in combat. maybe only even 1 melee excellency. that puts you at 7 charms if you get Battle Fury Focus and one melee excellency. then consider what else you might want. is he social? does he do athletic stuff all the time? that leaves you 3 more charms before you need to spend BP to get athletics charms or social charms or whatever else you might want. DawnDragon 20:51 EST April 20, 2008

Mass Combat Units

As an unofficial project, I've decided to try and encourage users to contribute Mass Combat Units to the List of Mass Combat Units page. they have some decent generic unit templates to work off of, compliments of Taronkov. These can be copied and pasted from (but no deleted, hehe) Ping Fa's Elite or Guardians of the Flame. Feel free to customize your own. I'm just a big fan of the mass combat fun and would like to see all sorts of mass combat units that people have brought into the game. Once our RP group acquires some solid names and consistently present or important units to include that are not official panoply, we'll add them. Fair Folk units, DB legions, outcaste armies, solar tiger warriors, snail cavalry, bandit followers, pirate fleets, hawkmen from halta, abyssal hordes, the bodyguard of a deathlord, verious wyld hunt troops, local militia, mobs of fanatics, a cobra lunar's host of snakes and snakemen, an entire nation of peoples in exodus forced into an unprepared and illequipped stand against a pursuing tyrant, demon hordes, a contingent of celestial guardians and gods lead by sidereals, your very own 5-solar-army taking on an entire realm legion, or simply the remnants of a lost tribe are all amongst the many possibilities for candidate mass combat units. try it out, see how you like it, no stats or obligation necessary but it is a good resource for users to see how other exalted RPers developed and personalized their own followers, troops, or extras at large on the mass combat scale. culture, quarks, and personalities of the troops work into it as well. so there it is... a nice encouragement and two templates for all characters who find themselves engulfed by the world of war or mass combat from time to time. and keep it in mind next time you plan on buying some cans of whoop ass in bulk. ;-) DawnDragon 21:24 whatever Finland's time zone is, 26 May 2008

Also, just a day ago I added a Furious Mob unit which is a mob of villagers summoned forth by the Solar war charm Fury Inciting Presence. The charm is useful not just for inciting mobs to violence when you need a village to turn on the local wyld hunt but it is also useful to cause distractions in urban settings by creating confusion and chaos where none previously existed. Keep it in mind warlords of the wiki when you consider how to get more out of a charm such as Fury Inciting Presence than its face value promises. -DawnDragon

Indeed, I am persistent with this topic. Hah. I created the Legion of the Shredded Veil as a potential war ghost unit or army for anyone whose campaign involves the armies of the Deathlords and/or the safety of the Underworld and/or the inhabitants of the shadowlands. Smaller units of the same can become renegade war ghosts who then become Solar followers perhaps. Or they can become a Solar Ghost's elite troops. Or they can be renegades who simply plunder areas of the underworld trying to escape the grasp of their Deathlord. Meanwhile, they may also be the elite forces of a Deathlord, as they were originally intended to be. They are troops with a story behind them that can help fill in plot details and enhance the plot's design. They were originally mortals; enslaved, tricked or forced into training as warriors, tortured and beaten to become Hardened Killers, and then ultimately becoming the elite forces for either their nation (like the Thorn Guard) or the elite mortal forces in a Deathlord's advancing army. They were then tricked into death in battle or forced to commit ritual suicide and in their afterlife, they were enslaved again by the same Deathlord (or perhaps a different Deathlord or servitor). Perhaps they rebelled against their Deathlord patron by the leadership of one of the Solars and then were killed by their Deathlord. As punishment, they are sent into battle as his elite advance force (though never his bodyguard). There are a thousand ways to spin the tale of these Dark Marauders but I hope it proves useful as their presence at a battle could turn the tide for any army... granted they have natural might and are of superb quality.

Lunar Knack Question

Perfected Hybrid Interaction allows you to ignore the mutation point guidelines for Deadly Beastman Transformation. Does this mean that you can take the Large pox? Or, for that matter, the Giant blight? It seems like too much of a benefit from a single low essence charm, and it makes higher essence charms like Devastating Ogre Enhancement much less special. --Lueksy

No it does not. It allows you to ignore the part about taking things that relate to your spirit shape. Like take wings if your spirit shape isn't a bird.Taronkov

Head, meet desk

New person here. I'm trying to figure out how to add virtue flaws. Any help? Please? Astra 00:30, 3 March 2009 (EST)

Bodhisattva talk contribs 07:45, 3 March 2009 (EST): Try looking here to check out other examples.
I was trying to figure out how to add them to the wiki, not make them.  :) But I figured it out.Astra 08:50, 3 March 2009 (EST)
Bodhisattva talk contribs 10:28, 3 March 2009 (EST): I'm glad that I was able to be of assistance to you.  :)

Random Page Link

Do we have one [i.e. a link one hits on the left sidebar that routes the user to a random page on the wiki] that I'm just missing? If we don't have one then what would it take to get one? I'm rather fond of them. - Tikor 3/10/3009

Bodhisattva talk contribs 16:10, 10 March 2009 (EDT): It would take Administrative rights.

Tell me who to e-mail? - Tikor 3/10/2009 It is implemented, and I have been enjoying it immensely. Tikor 16:12, 16 June 2009 (EDT)

Warstrider / Vehicle Templates

Are there any templates or anything to help with putting down things for custom warstriders or vehicles? An edited artifact armor template would probably work, but I was wondering if there was anything better for the sake of ease of formatting or whatnot. Either way, hi! I'm pretty new and it's a lot to take in, but I'm excited about helping out in any way I can here since Exalted is such an awesome game. ReiDuran 00:34, 21 March 2009 (EDT)

Bodhisattva talk contribs 12:59, 21 March 2009 (EDT): There is a template now. It is located here, along with instructions for its use. Simply copy the code and go to town. Just don't violate White Wolf policies about posting materials from the books, located here, under Important Note. Please note that vehicle templates will be coming soon.
Thank you so much! This is going to be a great help! Can't wait for vehicles, either =D ReiDuran 14:02, 21 March 2009 (EDT)
Bodhisattva talk contribs 20:15, 21 March 2009 (EDT): You're welcome. The Vehicles template is now complete and ready for use. Again, please remember not to violate White Wolf policies about posting materials from the books, located here, under Important Note.

Stone of Temperance and The Art of Meditative Discussion

Does the Stone of Temperance's increase to one's temperance dice pool also increase effective temperance for the purpose of charm effects? For example: Increasing the duration of Cautious Comments. --Lueksy

Fair Folk Assumptions

Ok so the book implies that the cost of an assumption is not committed where it says... "The Laughing Boy has Gossamer 3, which gives Conrad six points of gossamer to spend. Assumption of Fire Shape costs one gossamer, as well as 10 motes of Essence that, once the Laughing Boy has entered Creation, can be regained only through the use of Feeding Charms." However the erretta posted on the site states that it is committed. By having the cost of an assumption committed it is difficult to have the essence to do more than the occasional charm at essence two. So I'm curious what other peoples thoughts are on this and if this may actually be a mistake and it is not meant to be committed. Taronkov

Personal thoughts on this are that it naturally shouldn't be easy to charge into Creation out of the gate with huge stores of essense. The 10-mote surcharge stings, but this is where stunting, ambient feeding through BoC and perhaps custom charms (an approach I'm working on... slowly).
It's NICE when a ST lets you do the no-commit route, though. Still, I'm fine with the final answer. Just forces you to be a little more creative. -Darkheart One
The whole point to my citing the example in the book is the fact that an example usually implies that they thought out what the effect of what they are doing. Seems to me that the answer was rushed without actually looking at what was already published. And the answer came out so fast that there is no way it was raised as an issue from players saying there was a problem.
They can't ever actually charge into creation with a huge store of essence given that they don't have a way to get past that 10 x current formula. They have no equivilent to Essence Plethora or other such charm. One problem is that walking into creation you are incapable of actually using many of your charms without the threat of death. It would be relatively easy for a ghost or Abyssal to destroy with one hit or for that matter the mere act of walking into a shadowland can cause your destruction through a bad roll to not lose essence. If you use a charm costing 10 motes ,and there are plenty of them, then get hit by something that drains essence you are likely to die.Taronkov
Bodhisattva talk · contribs · Exalted Wiki Administrator 11:47, 12 October 2009 (UTC): Sometimes, when answers come out that fast, it's because either the developer or the freelancer who wrote the item in question realized that this might become an issue after the section went to print, but before it got into your hands and prepared errata in advance. I know of several items to which errata was prepared prior to the release of a book.
That having been said, an Essence 2 Raksha walking into Creation is intended to be weak. They're not going to be able to accomplish much, especially against an Exalt. To mortals, they will provide an adequate challenge—a danger that is not to be ignored. A Terrestrial should be able to enter a village and strike down the Essence 2 Raksha that has been menacing the villagers for the past several months. They don't become a serious threat to an area until they've either increased in Essence or there's a pack of them.
To someone playing an Essence 2 Raksha, this can be quite the frustration, as you're set at a lesser power scale than an Exalt. You have to be crafty and work to avoid notice, all the while building up your reserve of power. You could be a spy for the Lords of Chaos, or perhaps a renegade seeking asylum with the puny, pathetic mortals upon which you feed. Either way, you're headed for one heck of a story; something the Raksha live for.

New Monthly Nomination Category

I am thinking we should add a new category for characters/spirits/monsters/familiars ect. Limiting to new Custom Magic and House Rule seems to exclude a fairly broad swath of material that gets posted.

Bodhisattva talk · contribs · Exalted Wiki Administrator 02:16, 11 November 2009 (UTC): I'm in favor of that. However, we're not getting votes for the current categories. We only got nominations for Custom Charms, but nothing more. If we're going to add more categories, we really need more activity in the current ones to justify expansion.
AjaxTorbin 04:57, 11 November 2009 (UTC)I think the Monthly Nominations banner across the top of the page was a good move and will help the nominations. I know that I kept forgetting about it until reminded at the end of the month by Bodhisattva.

I'll be honest gentlemen, part of the lack of nominations on my part is due to a lack of understanding a.) how to nominate and b.) familiarity with how to breakdown my searches of material by most recent post.

Specific Exalt Charm Pages

Hey all, I was just wondering what you guys think of the Exalt Charm Pages I've been working on, and if you had any suggestions for improvement. I'm gonna do Lunars, then figure out a way to do Infernals and Fair Folk (and Alchemicals as well, when the book comes out.) After that, I plan on adding on the Charms from other sources besides the hardback splats, like GotMH and DotFA. Anyway, any suggestions you have to improve them or ideas on where they can link would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Alloran 10:09, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Honestly I'm flat out impressed buy the number of charms you've gotten up in such a short time. Well done. You charm tree's are an excellent idea. I think something that would be cool would be if you could click a link in each charm to see its charm tree. Although I'm sure that one has to be run through others for formating purposes.Taronkov
Actually, you can! On any specific Charm page just click on the respective ability in the box and that'll take you to all the trees I've done so far for that ability (or attribute, hopefully tonight). And the idea wasn't mine, it was Bodhisattva's. He showed me a template and I... well. I kinda took it and ran. ^^ Alloran 00:04, 21 November 2009 (UTC)
Bodhisattva talk · contribs · Exalted Wiki Administrator 00:43, 21 November 2009 (UTC): What would really be useful, gentlemen, would be adding in Charms, spells, artifacts, etc... From sources that are not yet complete. This includes, but is not limited to, the vast majority of First Edition. The Exalted Wiki is a great space to store custom works and to use as an encyclopedia.  :) Thanks for all your hard work, Alloran. It's lookin' good!
Thank you very much! Unfortunately, I started in Exalted around the time Second Ed was coming out. I do not have access to any of the First Edition books or I'd have added them up. However! I will look around to see what I can find when it comes to First Ed, and put up such if I can find them! Alloran 04:02, 21 November 2009 (UTC)
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