General Exalted Discussion XVII: Edition of Cascading Years

[HalfTangible]

*crashes through the wall*

GUYS

GUYS

IT'S HERE

CHECK YOUR EMAIL

I JUST GOT MINE

*crashes through the wall again* ONWARD!!!

[This be Richard]

Just got mine. It's actually happening!

[Sith_Happens]

[Tome]

And we have broken DTRPG.

Called it the moment I saw the email.

[HalfTangible]

Remaking Silent Mask and Radiant Saber right now.

[Lord Raziere]

Hello everyone!

I HAVE THE BACKER PDF AND LO IT IS AWESOME.

now to tell you great news: Supernal Abilities! as soon as I read this, Solars instantly clicked for me. now they make sense. I can have Craft 5, 10 Craft charms and feel awesome about it.

Sorcery? Pact of the Ifrit lord, with a Supernatural merit to blast fire out of my hands. yea thats right!

oh and check the picture of page 236. whats that you see? A SOLAR. WITH A SILVER/BLUE TWILIGHT CASTE MARK.

Artifacts? I can easily make whatever I want now! they have been simplified into a three tier system, and can be as magitech as I want it. you know what means....

its as if they somehow ended up making it appealing to me even if they aimed for someone completely else. I am so happy.

[Nifft]

Got mine before the site went down.

The egg on my face is delicious.

[Rater202]

Can those of you that have it share some heavenly knowledge with the rest of us?

[Lord Raziere]

Can those of you that have it share some heavenly knowledge with the rest of us?

what would you like to know? I have the PDF ready and open.

[HalfTangible]

Can those of you that have it share some heavenly knowledge with the rest of us?

I remember the Devs saying something of Essence advancing without spending XP on it directly because they don't want you to have to pick between raw power and other things. Is that True, and if so, how's it work?

I'm just making a character right now, gimme a minute to look this up... as you might imagine there's a LOT of instances where the word 'Essence' shows up in this document

EDIT: Okay. Essence goes up when you've spent enough of the XP you've earned - you don't buy it directly. You hit essence two when you've earned and spent 50 XP, for example, then 125 for 3, etc etc

Also, Solar XP does not count towards this total

[Milo v3]

Hello everyone!

I HAVE THE BACKER PDF AND LO IT IS AWESOME.

now to tell you great news: Supernal Abilities! as soon as I read this, Solars instantly clicked for me. now they make sense. I can have Craft 5, 10 Craft charms and feel awesome about it.

Sorcery? Pact of the Ifrit lord, with a Supernatural merit to blast fire out of my hands. yea thats right!

oh and check the picture of page 236. whats that you see? A SOLAR. WITH A SILVER/BLUE TWILIGHT CASTE MARK.

Artifacts? I can easily make whatever I want now! they have been simplified into a three tier system, and can be as magitech as I want it. you know what means....

its as if they somehow ended up making it appealing to me even if they aimed for someone completely else. I am so happy.

And now I'm interested.

[Kobold-Bard]

HAHAHAHA!! I'm posting about 3e and nobody can stop me anymore.

[Turalisj]

I can put you on ignore

[Sith_Happens]

Which edition is that art from?

[Rater202]

what would you like to know? I have the PDF ready and open.

What do the antagonist/and or setting sections say about the other Exalt Types?

[Turalisj]

Which edition is that art from?

Looks like the CLAMP edition. Or maybe Akametsu.

[HalfTangible]

What do the antagonist/and or setting sections say about the other Exalt Types?

In chapter 1 there's a page or two devoted to each exalt type. It gives a brief overview of what they are in the setting, their castes (with their general ideas separated into several sections) and ends with a section on their overall theme. For example, Sidereals:

PLAY ONE OF THE SIDEREAL EXALTED IF YOU WANT
• to exercise uncanny control over destiny.
• to be a wise, inscrutable stranger to all that you meet.
• to master ancient, secret martial arts of incredible power.
• to live in Heaven, and command the awe of gods.

And they have sections marked as:
-Masters of Fate
-Masters of the Martial Arts
-Masters of Astrology
-Agents of Yu-Shan
-Bronze and Gold: The Truth of the Sidereals

which each give an overview of... well, that stuff

[AmberVael]

PLAY ONE OF THE SIDEREAL EXALTED IF YOU WANT
• ...to wait a really, really long time for your splatbook.

Fixed that for you.

Seriously, that section kind of annoys me. Yes, I want to play an Exigent. They sound all kinds of fun. SO STOP TAUNTING ME WITH THEM AND GIVE THEM TO MEEEEE.

[Turalisj]

Fixed that for you.

Seriously, that section kind of annoys me. Yes, I want to play an Exigent. They sound all kinds of fun. SO STOP TAUNTING ME WITH THEM AND GIVE THEM TO MEEEEE.

Give it about 4-5 years per splatbook......

[Guancyto]

Maaaan.

They cut the wicked cool section about the Immaculate Order's various branches and goals and outreach efforts (quite apart from killin' anathema) and all that. I understand why, it's a super long book already, but maaaan.

I'll keep mum about the content because it'll probably reappear in the Realm book, which means I will be buying the Realm book guaranteed.

(They also cut the really silly bits about Big Red, so you know, the system works.)

(Also noticed: Harmonious Jade has not only failed to acquire some pants, but has continued the trend where she gets less pants as the editions go on!)

[Serafina]

Simple rules hack for anyone who doesn't want to deal with 50+ Charms and a subsystem for Craft:

Crafting mundane stuff takes a normal craft roll, and takes however long the storyteller thinks is appropriate.
Crafting Artifacts is done via Sorcerous Workings.
Write maybe 5-10 charms that enhance Craft if one of your players really wants to play a Crafter. Stuff like Craftsman needs not Tools and so on - at worst you pick the good ones and change the prerequisites.

Now, how does crafting an Artifact work here?
First question: Do you require Sorcerous Initiation to craft Artifacts?
If yes, it's simple: just assign an ambition (my suggestion: Rating 3 Artifact=Ambition 2 Terrestrial. Rating 4=Ambition 2 Celestial. Rating 5=Ambition 3 Celestial, Rating N/A=at least Ambition 1 Solar)) and treat it like any other sorcerous working (using means and finesse and experience cost) except you're using Craft instead of Occult.
If no, then just go assign a target number and ignore the different circles and experience cost. Use everything else.

This is ever-so-much simpler than the Craft-system (50+ charms!) in the book. And it comes with the added advantage that Finesse (=not everything goes perfectly according to the sorcerers will unless he pours in a ton of energy and does really well) explains perfectly why every artifact is unique.

[HalfTangible]

Maaaan.

They cut the wicked cool section about the Immaculate Order's various branches and goals and outreach efforts (quite apart from killin' anathema) and all that. I understand why, it's a super long book already, but maaaan.

I'll keep mum about the content because it'll probably reappear in the Realm book, which means I will be buying the Realm book guaranteed.

(They also cut the really silly bits about Big Red, so you know, the system works.)

(Also noticed: Harmonious Jade has not only failed to acquire some pants, but has continued the trend where she gets less pants as the editions go on!)

No, but Big Red's leg is now covered by her dress.

Because that's the important part Can't even bother making the edit look natural, either... honestly all the art is kinda hit or miss. Admittedly more hits than misses - where it works it REALLY works, but there's also a lot of bits that are just ugly as sin. I need to read this more in-depth...

[Kobold-Bard]

Maaaan.

They cut the wicked cool section about the Immaculate Order's various branches and goals and outreach efforts (quite apart from killin' anathema) and all that. I understand why, it's a super long book already, but maaaan.

...

I noticed that, hopefully they haven't cut it and it's been moved to the DB book. They also cut the story of the Blood Ape babysitters and for some bewildering reason Unity Of The Closed Fist as a Solar spell.

In case a mod passes by: Can we post stuff from the leak now that the actual book is out?

Which edition is that art from?

It's from the 3e book.

[HalfTangible]

Okay, took a closer look at Lunars.

The Solar Bond exists in the lore. Or more accurately, it existed but was broken after the Solars fell. A few of the charms in the book mention Lunar mates and the Lunar's section talks about something 'stirring in their hearts' at the solar's return, implying that there's still something.

That is... interesting. Wonder where they're going with this...

[Chambers]

In case a mod passes by: Can we post stuff from the leak now that the actual book is out?

Mod of the Broken Pattern: No, posting copyrighted material that was obtained illegally is still not allowed. Discussing material from the recently released PDF falls under the normal Forum Rules, i.e. it is allowed pursuant to the guidelines in the rules for quoting copyrighted material.

[Rater202]

I remember somebody mentioning something about the Bond being an optional thing that can be pursued.

I also remember somebody suggesting that, instead of being magically bound to specific solaroids, the Lunar Bond was something that could be established between any given Solaroid and Any-given Lunar.

Maybe something like that?

Though we'll have to wait for the Lunar book to go into development, at the earliest, before we'll know for sure.

[Sith_Happens]

It's from the 3e book.

So my next question was going to be a sarcastic "So is it confirmed in the lore that Exalting as a Solar forces you into a single standard 'Heroic Build' based on sex," but considering what Solars represent I've dropped (most of) the sarcasm.

(...Crap, I just lit the thread on fire didn't I?)

[TimeWizard]

It's all looking good so far. Attacks are made as Withering or Decisive (you chose when you attack). Withering attacks lower your opponents Initiative and boost yours, simulating how advantage is won in battle (momentum, balance, fatigue, etc..) and you can cash those in for a Decisive attack to gain bonus damage. The system is heavily inspired by Final Fantasy Dissidia's Bravery/HP mechanic.

There are soo many charms. So, so many. On a minor note, Ox Body is now way better. It gives you a bunch of health based on your Resistance stat, and retroactively raises them when you bump Resistance.

Oh, Caste abilities are now like, 9 per caste with some overlaps. For example, Night Caste and Dawn both get "Athletics" as a caste ability. You pick one Caste ability as your Supernal ability, unlocks certain charms earlier than you would be allowed to by them, giving each character one thing they truly excel at beyond measure. Solar Circle Sorcery requires Occult to be supernal, but I'm not sure if you can make abilities supernal after character creation.

Backgrounds have changed a little in that now you can buy/raise them in game. There's a nifty (Free!) one called Hideous that effectively multiplies your Appearance rating by -1, so that you scare rather than attract people. Think Krieg and Maya from Borderlands 2. Flaws were greatly reduced.

Stunting is back, awesome, and gives bonus xp. Giving someone the spotlight when they have the right tools for the job at hand rewards you with bonus xp as well, encouraging the group to be cool.

Oh, Martial Arts is NOT a skill. It is a subset of Brawl. I haven't read through it or Evocations yet, but it seems to be a set of bonus abilities for people who want to employ special techniques.

Yeah, it's pretty cool so far.

Edit: Ninja'd

So my next question was going to be a sarcastic "So is it confirmed in the lore that Exalting as a Solar forces you into a single standard 'Heroic Build' based on sex," but considering what Solars represent I've dropped (most of) the sarcasm.

(...Crap, I just lit the thread on fire didn't I?)

The Sidereals, Lunars, and some other artwork show people in size ranging from "Trim and athletic" to "10 foot tall meat-mountain". In the new iconic characters we have a thick-thighed lady, a Lady of War, a svelte transvestite, a burly-but-athletic man, and an Old Guy. So no, not really. Nobody has Dadbod or anything like that, but there is a lot of diversity.

[This be Richard]

Oh, Caste abilities are now like, 9 per caste with some overlaps. For example, Night Caste and Dawn both get "Athletics" as a caste ability.

It looks like there are eight per caste -- with Martial Arts and Brawl treated as a single ability for the purposes of favored or caste abilities -- and you choose five of them as your character's official caste abilities.

You pick one Caste ability as your Supernal ability, unlocks certain charms earlier than you would be allowed to by them, giving each character one thing they truly excel at beyond measure. Solar Circle Sorcery requires Occult to be supernal, but I'm not sure if you can make abilities supernal after character creation.

Supernal drops essence requirements, and you get enough charms to start that you can come out of the gate as an amazing exemplar of your chosen ability if you build for it. I don't think Solar Circle Sorcery requires supernal Occult, though. From what I'm seeing, rather, it's an exception to the supernal rule: you can't get it without essence five even if you have supernal Occult.

Stunting is back, awesome, and gives bonus xp.

But, notably, it doesn't give motes! Instead you get a flat five motes back per round in combat or per hour out of combat.


What else is there...

Training times are still a thing.

Having glanced through the Melee charms, it seems like there are a number of charms that interact with roll results in ways that will be problematic for some digital dice rollers. And will be somewhat problematic to keep track of if you're using fewer dice than the size of your pools.

Social influence is hugely focused on intimacies now and doesn't feel so mind-rapey anymore.

[Rater202]

There was a charm in preview that made your familiar more awesome. Are there others like it?