Exalted 3e Playtest Leaks - Discussion

[Shining Lotus Sage]

Probably stealing the withering/decisive mechanics (and basically as much of the rest of combat as I can make fit) to run in a world with 2.5e setting assumptions, since what I've heard about the setting changes is enough of a turn-off that the mechanical improvements (which are legion) doesn't make me want to run 3e. But I don't really do crunchy games.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

You'll find that the setting assumptions of of 2e are a bit difficult to reconcile with the system changes, since a good amount of the 2e experience was rooted in emergent consequences of the mechanics. If you're deadset on that course of action it's doable, however.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

Obviously, my mind won't be made up until I've actually read the core book of the edition. But at first blush, I'm just not digging the stamp of Scion all over the setting.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

I don't really get what you mean by that.

 

[FeMChara]

I haven't read Scion myself-care to elaborate? (Also, I don't think much of the setting has really been seen, outside of the comic that was released.)


As far as I'm concerned, nothing's canon until the books are out. It's kind of silly to judge a book until it's finished up but it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea of course. Not in terms of mechanics, not in terms of lore though the two aren't always hand-in-hand. Some may like the overhauled lore but dislike the system while others love the system, are eh or worse on the canon.


I had heard Scion be described as Exalted-lite, which concludes my knowledge entire upon the subject.

 

[MAXedOUT]

Anything interesting about charm use and combos?

 

[Lord of Chaos]

As far as I can tell, it works the same as it did in 2.5, except without the combo keywords. All charms are essentially combo-ok, you don't need to pay xp/wp for combos and you can use multiple charms on the fly.

 

[MAXedOUT]

Thanks again!

 

[JayTee]

My only real complaint so far (which is based off of a playtest document two cycles out of date) is the introduction of powers that only work once a day or once a scene to Exalted. It feels far to artificial for the normally organic style of magic that Exalted's charms have previously had.

 

[Lord of Chaos]

Fortunately, most of those powers have a condition that resets them, and many of them reset at a thematically appropriate time. Still, I guess it's not really worse than charms that last a scene. If you think about it, it doesn't make much sense for a charm to sometimes last minutes and sometimes last hours or days

 

[JayTee]

Charms that last for a "scene" feel way more organic to me than charms that can only be used once and have to be reset. They lend themselves better to telling a story or doing epic deeds, rather than "one and done" of once per day/scene style charms. I guess it's a personal preference thing.

 

[Lord of Chaos]

I imagine it would be a pretty simple houserule to replace the limit with "The first time you use this charm it costs the listed amount. Every time after that, it costs one more wp (so +0wp the first time, +1wp the second, +2wp the third etc). The listed reset condition resets this counter to 0wp". You get a similar feel of certain powers being more difficult to use repeatedly and it fits your desired level of organicness better.


Of course, this is just a playtest and I'm very much looking forward to seeing how they turn out when it's finally done. While I'm definitely going to play around with houserules and tweaks once the final system comes out (I find tweaking systems to be fun, no matter how good the base is), I'm very impressed with most of what I've seen here, and the bits I'm not impressed with are either just personal taste or very likely to be improved

 

[Gonzo]

I too thought that people would start over-hating Ex3, but I'm pleasantly surprised!

 

[JayTee]

Well jeez, far be it for me to subvert your expectations, then.


*inhale*


God @#$% they've ruined Exalted forever! This is this is the worst possible thing that they could have done! We should have just stayed in 1st edition, it was perfect! The devs have no idea what they're doing! They completely don't get Exalted at all! None of this narrative @#$%$@# that we see anymore! Pure mechanics! No more worldbuilding! Who cares about any of that crap?! I'll tell you! No one!


OMGWTFBBQ TEH EXALTEDS IZ RUND 4 EVAHH!!!!!!!


*exhale*


Happy now? :tongue:

 

[Gonzo]

 

[JayTee]

 

[MAXedOUT]

I invested a good chunk of money into the Kickstarter, lets just say "hundreds". This system is by far my favorite system to RP in. I just want them to finalize the thing so I can get the PDF in my hands and have a field day with characters. Solars are by far my favorite (more for flavor reasons, not so much power levels), but I have to say the God-Exalted dudes (the name is escaping me right now) seem amazing. I love fully realizing my character and his/her back-story. I'm now going off on a tangent.


Basically, they need to get this thing to the printer so that they can launch the next kickstarter for the next book (I think they said Dragon Blooded)! I need my 3rd Ed collection to be bigger than my 2nd Ed collection!

 

[Beron the Grey]

I too thought that people would start over-hating Ex3, but I'm pleasantly surprised!

I don't hate it, yet, but so far the spoilers I've read in this thread haven't made me any more enthusiastic about 3e, and that's speaking as a kickstarter backer. The combat system is especially disappointing. I know it's already massively delayed, but right now I just want Onyx Path to tear up their work so far and start again from scratch.


They need to create something much easier to run, that still allows all the cool stuff from previous editions.

 

[Gonzo]

What I hate about Ex3 has nothing to do about the game engine. I dislike the lack of substantial updates for the backers. Every now and then we get an amazing spoiler telling us exactly what we knew from previous updates or worse, previous editions.


The raksha spoiler... meh...


The elementals spoiler... meh...


The music suite spoiler... I couldn't care less... in fact I'm pretty sure I won't like the music pieces...


Why can't they give useful info?

 

[Gonzo]

Also, the Ex3 comic felt like: "Hey here's Ex3 guys! Buuut we won't really tell you anything about it... so here's one of those semi-mute characters you all like! Say what? You don't like the protagonist? LOOK ACTION! Yeah! You saw the Lunar? Well we won't tell you anything more about anything really, have a nice day."

 

[MAXedOUT]

I think I am in Gonzo's Camp here. They are not saying much about the new content, and not to sound too full of myself, I am one of the reasons they could make this book. I pledged to fund the project, so I feel like they should be forthcoming with information about the book. Not just "The Craft Tree is now complete, on to Social combat..."

 

[Ashurbanipal]

It's worth noting the kickstarter was specifically for the deluxe edition; 3e was being written regardless, those who donated contributed to more bells and whistles. You did not actually help make sure the book was being written and did, in fact, have no bearing whatsoever on anything that was ever going to happen, so the sense of entitlement, while understandable, is misguided.


As for the updates, you've gotten fluff, you've gotten Charms, you've gotten communication. I can't tell what would make you happy except full system previews which aren't on the table for obvious reasons.


And sadly, Beron, they're not tearing anything up. This game might not be for you!

 

[MAXedOUT]

Well Ashurbanipal, I guess I do see your point with the first part. It was for the Deluxe version of the book. I am in love with the setting and just wanted a super deluxe version on my shelf. Be that as it may though, do you really think that the $600,000+ dollars they made on Kickstarter has no influence on the finished product of the game? Most of the stretch goals were aimed at improving the book, in fact we got almost nothing "extra" for free. Almost every Kickstarter out there adds extra things that you get as the total rises, I did not expect action figures or anything like that but maybe some dice or a game aid, and they gave us those but they made everyone pay more money for the extras that the pledger wanted, so I did spend a bit more to get those extras. So when it comes to the one year anniversary of the Kickstarter's finish, I expect information. I want teasers. I don't care if they tune a spoiled charm here of there, or even remove something that they spoil, but this once a month (if we are lucky) update system is getting old, fast.


So in the end, I agree that I funded a Deluxe version of the game but I know that a great amount of that Kickstarter directly helped the finished product of the entire setting and the normal "Standard Version" book. I just want more info on progress and some spoilers.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Again, I'm not sure what you want, update-wise. You're getting progress reports, you've gotten fluff, mechanics. What more do you desire?

 

[MAXedOUT]

I want to know about the big players around creation. Like Mask of Winters and the Bull of the North. I want to know about some of the charm trees. I want to know about Character Creation. I want to know how you scale your characters (XP costs) and how much XP they recommend each character gets. I also want to know about the antagonists ( DBs and the like). I understand most of this may still be under revision, but I really want to get my hands on the stetting so I can start formulating a campaign for when the game launches, so we can just start playing. I am traditionally the person who runs our Exalted games, so I would love to get a head start on the materials so I can build within the new setting.