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2010-05-24, 04:43 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2009
[Exalted] What are the various power levels of character types?
As the title. Basically, I understand that it goes
Solar/Abyssal/Infernal
Lunar/Sidereal
Alchemical
Dragonblooded
Dragon King/Spirits
God-Blooded
Essence-using Mortal
Non Essence-using Mortal
Is that right? And where do the fair folk and jadeborn land?
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2010-05-24, 06:24 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
Re: [Exalted] What are the various power levels of character types?
Probably about right. Lunars are generally somewhat better than Sidereals at lower Essence levels, but possibly weaker once the Sidereals have got Sidereal Martial Arts. Also, as a general thing, it's easier to play a reasonably powerful Lunar, whereas with Sidereals you have to leverage their charmset to the greatest possible extent to make them really work.
Alchemicals are strange fish. They lack the continuous breadth of the other Exalted, but an Alchemical focused in an area can beat Lunars and Sidereals, and probably approach Solars in that area. And then they can go back to the vats, and refit so they're focused in a different area, and can beat/challenge you there.
Spirits occupy such a range of power levels (and conceptually, they 'start' at or near whatever power level in most cases, rather than having to work their way up like everyone else.
Godblooded have some advantages over 'normal' Essence using mortals, from the merits they can access, and if they're Half-Caste, from the superior charms they can get, but their main advantage is they have backing. A godblood with a few of her daddies charms, versus an enlightened mortal with Sorcery and Terrestrial Martial Arts, is probably going to get her arse handed to her.
Fair Folk (and I'd guess Jadeborn, but I don't know them well enough to be sure) probably fall at the Dragon King level – distinctly more powerful than humans, but their powers have less breadth than those of Exalts. A starting one sufficiently carefully built could beat a starting Dragonblooded, but given time the DB will pull a long way ahead. Of course, you also have the Noble/Non-Noble thing with Fair Folk, as those two are definitely not made equal.
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2010-05-24, 08:57 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2006
- Location
- Oxford, England
- Gender
Re: [Exalted] What are the various power levels of character types?
The thing to bear in mind with fair folk, as I have discovered in the game I'm currently running, is that they start out very powerful - possibly even Solar-level powerful in a narrow area of expertise - but after that they're static.
My PCs took down the combat monster Lord of Frost and Silver by out-socialising him to isolate him from his lackeys, then using perfect dodges against his auto-hit spear (it's a fair folk charm) and making surprise attacks to bypass his absurd parry DV. Once they started using options he wasn't able to respond to, he went down in short order.I write a gaming blog. It also hosts my gaming downloads:
Fatescape - FATE-based D&D emulator, for when you want D&D flavour but not D&D complexity.
Exalted Mass Combat Rules - Because the ones in the core book suck.
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2010-05-24, 10:28 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2007
- Location
- Reykjavík, Iceland
- Gender
Re: [Exalted] What are the various power levels of character types?
A related question: How do you gauge the actual difficulty of encounters in Exalted? Eyeball it? Am I too used to the (disfunctional) helping hand of ECLs and CRs? I'll be starting a (Solar) Exalted game in a few weeks and this aspect confuses me. I'd hate to throw something way too hard at them when they have no sense of their own strength and don't know when to walk away, and walkovers are no fun. Any tips?
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2010-05-24, 10:54 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
- Location
- Poland
- Gender
Re: [Exalted] What are the various power levels of character types?
Siela Tempo by the talented Kasanip. Tengu by myself.
Spoiler
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2010-05-24, 10:59 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2008
Re: [Exalted] What are the various power levels of character types?
I use black for sarcasm.
Call me Rose, or The Rose Dragon. Rose Dragon is someone else entirely.
If you need me for something, please PM me about it. I am having difficulty keeping track of all my obligations.
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2010-05-24, 03:26 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
Re: [Exalted] What are the various power levels of character types?
Well firstly, that's just silly. So some way round it is needed.
Secondly, Scroll of Heroes page 49. If you get your enlightened essence in play, you either a) get it for free, b) get flaws/lose stuff equal to the value of the merit, or c) pay XP = double the cost of the merit, going into XP debt if you can't.
Assuming the auto-hit spear was using Imposition of Law, then either a stunt or any charm aiding their efforts not to be hit will shut that down.
Fair Folk are very variable, but not so much on how well they're made (though it's certainly relevant) but on how well those they face are made – if your game is fairly Chungian (aka optimised), with all the players having the base paranoia combos, and able to perfect, stunt and mote-tap the Raksha, then they'll take them down fairly easily. Whereas at lower levels of optimisation, the high stats of the Fair Folk will be rather more scary.
I've not ST'd myself, but I'd suggest looking at the Combat Strategy pages from 247 of the core on, working out where your players fall on that, and using that to make foes that will challenge, but not obliterate, them.
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2010-05-24, 03:37 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2009
Re: [Exalted] What are the various power levels of character types?
I use Epsilon's NPC system as a guide. There's a section on assigning stats by challenge rating, and you can eyeball from there depending on the opfu levels of your group.
BEEP.
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2010-05-25, 12:48 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2009
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2010-05-25, 01:33 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2005
- Gender
Re: [Exalted] What are the various power levels of character types?
I no longer actively read the forums, and probably won't respond to any PMs. I'm fine with people using my homebrew in anything, including fan-compilations and wikis, as long as you credit me.
Homebrew by The Demented One.
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2010-05-25, 01:52 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2010
- Location
- Queensland, Australia
- Gender
Re: [Exalted] What are the various power levels of character types?
Doesn't the Fair Folk power level also depend on if they're in the Wyld or not? Would a raksha inside the Wyld be considered any higher on the powerscale?
It's like an old steam train, but powered on insanity and pain.
Uncle Fong avatar by Elagune
My Homebrewed Creatures:
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2010-05-25, 02:57 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2008
Re: [Exalted] What are the various power levels of character types?
I use black for sarcasm.
Call me Rose, or The Rose Dragon. Rose Dragon is someone else entirely.
If you need me for something, please PM me about it. I am having difficulty keeping track of all my obligations.