Dice Into the Ruins - Exalted 3e OOC

[Psychie]

There are some benefits to playing a Dragon Blooded compared to being a Solar or Lunar. The biggest religion that is supported by the Realm is the Immaculate Philosophy, that teaches that the Solars and Lunars are Anathema and are worse than evil and if one shows up, you should report them right away to the proper authorities so they can be wiped out. A Dragon Blood, even one that is not affiliated with the Realm, is a Prince of Creation, and is looked on with favor by the populace.

Dragon Blooded also start out at Essence 2, and get 20 Charms where the Solar and Lunar both are Essence 1 and only get 15 Charms. But the DB lacks the Supernal Ability that lets them treat their Essence as 5 when looking at the prerequisite level for each Charm.

 

[Purr]

Wow! All of this is good to know!

So an exalted is a little like a "super-paladin" of sorts? Except that they guide their own destiny more than their deity guides them?

A deity selects a person based on their past and empowers them for reasons perhaps only the deities know. Then they kind of set the Exalted loose to do as they will, yes?

 

[Purr]

On average, do Lunars and Solars get along? I like the idea of looking into Lunars because of the role-playing possibilities. However, I sure don't want to play a character who winds up being a liability to the more powerful Solars.

 

[Psychie]

Wow! All of this is good to know!

So an exalted is a little like a "super-paladin" of sorts? Except that they guide their own destiny more than their deity guides them?

A deity selects a person based on their past and empowers them for reasons perhaps only the deities know. Then they kind of set the Exalted loose to do as they will, yes?

Basically, yes. Exaltation comes to those that are willing to go above and beyond to get their goals reached, either on the battlefield where they are thinking to sacrifice themselves against a massive host of enemies to buy time for their friends to escape and then suddenly BAM! they have a sudden burst of power and they slaughter the overwhelming numbers and come out victorious. Or they struggle against their captors and in a desperate attempt to escape after refusing to give up, Exaltation hits them.

What they do at this point forward is up to the person. There are good and noble Exalts, and there are those that are mass murderers that are evil to the core.

 

[Purr]

Okay, that's something I can play!

 

[Sherwood]

On average, do Lunars and Solars get along? I like the idea of looking into Lunars because of the role-playing possibilities. However, I sure don't want to play a character who winds up being a liability to the more powerful Solars.

In the very beginning, the Unconquered Sun wanted his Exalts to reign supreme in Creation, and he went to Luna to have her Exalts serve the Solars. She was tricky, though. She agreed that each individual Lunar would be linked to one specific Solar, following his or her orders and being subservient to them, but able to tell the other Solars to go suck an egg.

In the lore of the game, in the First Age, there was a famous pair of Exalts: Desus the Solar, and Lilith his Lunar bride. He was horrible to her, and had beaten her to the point that she lost her baby. But while she was powerful as a Lunar, she couldn't raise a hand against Desus because of the Bond.

 

[Psychie]

Lunars are different but in a good way compared to the Solars. They have their own powers that work on their Attributes, giving them some sizable advantages. With the right Charms, the Lunar can become the literal fly on the wall, able to sneak into and out of a place where someone else could not.

 

[Sherwood]

Yeah, Lunars are awesome. They are one of my favorite types of Exalts, but this time out I wanted to run something different and went with the Solar build instead.

 

[Purr]

In the very beginning, the Unconquered Sun wanted his Exalts to reign supreme in Creation, and he went to Luna to have her Exalts serve the Solars. She was tricky, though. She agreed that each individual Lunar would be linked to one specific Solar, following his or her orders and being subservient to them, but able to tell the other Solars to go suck an egg.

Hah! This Luna is my kind of gal to think on her own and look out for her own like that!

Lunars are different but in a good way compared to the Solars. They have their own powers that work on their Attributes, giving them some sizable advantages. With the right Charms, the Lunar can become the literal fly on the wall, able to sneak into and out of a place where someone else could not.

Whoa... =)

 

[Sherwood]

Hah! This Luna is my kind of gal to think on her own and look out for her own like that!


Whoa... =)

I think that I may have a fellow Lunar fanboy in the making....

 

[Purr]

Lunars are different but in a good way compared to the Solars. They have their own powers that work on their Attributes, giving them some sizable advantages. With the right Charms, the Lunar can become the literal fly on the wall, able to sneak into and out of a place where someone else could not.

I think I could play something like that. =)

In the very beginning, the Unconquered Sun wanted his Exalts to reign supreme in Creation, and he went to Luna to have her Exalts serve the Solars. She was tricky, though. She agreed that each individual Lunar would be linked to one specific Solar, following his or her orders and being subservient to them, but able to tell the other Solars to go suck an egg.

So if I decided to go with a Lunar, my character would be bound to a Solar somewhere? A PC or an NPC?

 

[Sherwood]

I think I could play something like that. =)


So if I decided to go with a Lunar, my character would be bound to a Solar somewhere? A PC or an NPC?

You'll need to get the Lunar book in order to be able to play one. They have different Charms and character creation rules compared to the Solars.

Yes, all Lunars have themselves bound to a Solar. You may not ever run into your Solar you are bound to, but it is possible.

 

[Purr]

I can do that! =)

 

[Psychie]

If you go with a Lunar, you can discuss it with the others to see if they would like to have you as their Lunar Bond. It is not required, though.

 

[Purr]

Why do the Lunars get increased Attributes?

Do the Lunars have any specific weaknesses or disabilities a player should know about? Like, you know, werewolves not liking silver? =)

I'm considering playing a "Changing Moon" stealthy Rogue/scout build. Preferably a ranged attacker of some kind. Any tips or recommendations, please?

 

[Sherwood]

Why do the Lunars get increased Attributes?

Do the Lunars have any specific weaknesses or disabilities a player should know about? Like, you know, werewolves not liking silver? =)

I'm considering playing a "Changing Moon" stealthy Rogue/scout build. Preferably a ranged attacker of some kind. Any tips or recommendations, please?

Lunars have some advantages and liabilities compared to the Solars. The Lunar can boost his or her own Attributes, but lack the Supernal ability that the Solars have. The boost that the Lunars get to their stats is a part of the physical focus that they have compared to the other kinds of Exalts.

The good news is that there is no general weakness to something like silver or cold-forged iron.

Go for a high Dexterity. The Charm that lets you get to mouse or insect size is based off your Dex, and to be able to sneak in somewhere you'll want to be able to shift small. Also, it is usually a good thing to pick up the Charm of Ox-Body Technique for extra health levels. It can make a real difference. I'll pull out my Lunar book and do some reading to come up with other Charm suggestions.

 

[Sherwood]

What kind of combat style are you looking to use? Ranged, or hand-to-hand? There are different Charm focus directions you can pick from depending on which route you have.

 

[Purr]

What kind of combat style are you looking to use? Ranged, or hand-to-hand? There are different Charm focus directions you can pick from depending on which route you have.

I'm really not sure yet. Part of me wants to go Ranged (as we appear to have plenty of melee types already), but I don't know how feasible or worthwhile it will be. Your mentioning of the Glorious Solar Cannon from Exalted v2.0 had me hyped, but... as rare as Essence ranged weapons appear to be, and because I've never played an Exalted, I don't know if it would be worth my PC going ranged at all. In short, I don't know if going Archery + some little bow and arrow is worth it against something like the Wyld Hunt?

Hand to hand would be neat. You know of my passion for martial arts. I understand Martial Art Charms require the Martial Art Skill (which makes perfect sense to me!). My main problem with either ranged or hand to hand is this - I'm having serious trouble determining a (what do you call it?) Spirit Shape?

Being able to transform into something small to spy is great and all, but I wanted to play something that could pick up the party and carry them around (since you guys seem to lack horses and it would give my character a pretty cool role to have). However, you saw how that played out in Conversation and the idea of choosing something big (my PC could really become something called a 'sky whale?') makes me think all I'll be doing is making a huge target of my (quite likely the weakest of the team) character. So yeah. I want to be helpful, not a liability. Useful with a strong role, but nothing that will give our Game Master headaches.

I haven't found a middle ground yet.

 

[Sherwood]

In order to get a form large enough to be able to carry us all around like that, you'll need a Strength of 4 to get the Str Charm Towering Beast Form. That can then let you take on a massive form like a Roc or something similar.

 

[Purr]

O.K..! I loved the idea of playing the Catbus because it was a smaller, more evasive target than a Roc or similar creature. I mean, let's face it - a gigantic flying bird or sky whale is one heck of a huge target! What's the point of me playing a PC that can carry the party if they blow him out of the sky and the rest of the team (do they call them teams here?) with him?

I think one of the greatest aspects of Appa, the Sky Bison, in Avatar: The Last Airbender was that he could fly, yes, but he was big without being enormous. Plus, bisons have long been special creatures to humankind. They're beloved to many cultures (Native Americans in certain parts especially). But here, in Creation, there are sky whales and... claw striders... and other such fantastic creatures I'm unaware of.

Are there such creatures in Creation that fit the bill here?

 

[Purr]

Also, I've stumbled across this very helpful YouTube video:

Spoiler: Exalted 3E: Creating Your First Lunar Exalted

"Exalted 3E: Creating Your First Lunar Exalted"

While much of what he is saying is going waaay over my head (Motes? Withering damage?), that he explains the basic concept of creating a v3.0 Lunar so very well has, I think, given me steps in the right direction to playing my own. I get the feeling that most or all of you are on his level of experience and Exalted understanding. I don't mind taking the time to learn and videos like this that help to explain, well, I'm glad to have them along with everyone's helpful advice and perspectives here! =)

 

[Purr]

Yet another question popped in this hyper-noodle of mine: Does the party even want a PC to act as a Transporter?

 

[jaydude]

Yet another question popped in this hyper-noodle of mine: Does the party even want a PC to act as a Transporter?

I certainly wouldn't complain.

 

[Eonivar]

My character, Mercy, has a giant house sized demon wasp mount that she can instantaneously conjure ;-)

(Silly exalts Tricks are for Twilights…)

;-)

But additional modes of transport are always welcome

 

[Psychie]

Also, I've stumbled across this very helpful YouTube video:

Spoiler: Exalted 3E: Creating Your First Lunar Exalted

"Exalted 3E: Creating Your First Lunar Exalted"

While much of what he is saying is going waaay over my head (Motes? Withering damage?), that he explains the basic concept of creating a v3.0 Lunar so very well has, I think, given me steps in the right direction to playing my own. I get the feeling that most or all of you are on his level of experience and Exalted understanding. I don't mind taking the time to learn and videos like this that help to explain, well, I'm glad to have them along with everyone's helpful advice and perspectives here! =)

Motes refer to the fuel you uses to run your Charms. Think of this like a Blood Pool from V:tM. In combat, you automatically regain 5m per round due to the dynamic flow of the fight. Even so, you will find that you will be burning through your Essence motes faster than you get them back.

Withering is one of the two kinds of damage in the game. The other is Decisive. The way combat works is you start with a Join Battle roll (Wits + Awareness is the base of this) and add 3 to the result. This is your starting initiative number. Lets say for this example that you rolled five successes on the dice. This gives you a total of 8, thanks to the 3 free points you start with. Each person rolls this up, and the highest number goes first in the round. It will start out looking like this:

12 - Stan
8 - Larry
7 - Doug
6 - Bob

Stan start out the round with his 12 initiative. He now has the option to perform either a Withering or a Decisive attack. What Withering damage does is raise up your Initiative track and at the same time lowers your foes initiative track. This is a good thing, because once you decide to do a Decisive attack, it turns your initiative number into your bashing or lethal damage dice done to your enemy. Basically, you use your Withering strikes to knock your opponent off balance until you are ready to deliver a finishing blow and (with luck) kill your opponent with one well-placed hit.

If you lower a target's initiative track to 0, this is called putting your foe into Initiative Crash. This keeps your opponent from being able to do Decisive strikes, and adds an extra +5 initiative to your track for the good work.

So! Lets say Stan uses a Withering attack on Larry. He rolls his to-hit, and tags Larry hard. He does 7i damage, but gains a total of 8i because when you make a successful attack, you get a +1 initiative. This 'damage' is now recorded like this:

Round 1
<12 - Stan>
7 - Doug
6 - Bob
1 - Larry

Round 2
20 - Stan

This gives Stan 20i. If he had done the same damage to Bob or Doug, he would have had an additional 5i because he would have sent them into Initiative Crash.

Lets say that Doug, Bob, and Larry all fail to hit Stan, and now its the start of round 2. Everyone gets 5 motes of Essence back before the round starts. Now, Stan has a choice to make. He can continue to do Withering Damage to one of his opponents, or he can shift over to Decisive Damage. He rolls to hit (usually Dex + Melee, Dex + Archery/Thrown, or Dex + Martial Arts). If he hits, his damage pool is 20 dice, quite possibly a killing blow from one hit.



This is a quick combat cheat sheet that I found somewhere online, probably on the Onyx Path site but it's been long enough that I don't remember anymore. The point is, I don't take credit for this, but I do make good use of it.