wordman
Two Thousand Club
Some random notes on the Lunar PDF:
- PDF chapters have bookmarks, but that's all. Better than nothing, but not great.
- Vector based PDF. Yay. Not too much odd rendering from overcomplicated backgrounds (unlike, say, the Black & White Treatise).
- I've come to the conclusion that the comics at the start of the chapters suck. They are scripted cheesily and the art is generally a cut below the art in the rest of the book. I didn't read the prose at the start of 1E chapters either, but at least that wasted fewer pages. Also, the "full page art" followed by page of prose in the old books usually had some of 1E's best artwork. No one would accuse the comics of that.
- Many faces of luna. Possibly the first multi-aspected god detailed in Exalted.
- Skimming the history bits, it seems to fill holes that needed filling. To tell how well, I'll need to go back and read in more detail. One thing that makes the history seem more logical to me is the realization that, during the Usurpation, the lunars didn't know about the Jade Prison. This makes sense, but I never thought about it before. As a result, after the attack, they make a strategic retreat, assuming the solars will reincarnate soon for a counterattack in force. Oops. Also, decent explanation of why the lunars had to retreat into the Wyld (because it is outside Fate).
- The Silver Pact is sort of much less mandatory than before, now more of a survival mechanism than a cultural force.
- Quite a bit more on culture building that I expected. Perhaps more than is necessary. Though, any information on Chiaroscuro is most welcome to me. I think the meta idea of the Thousand Streams River is to place lunars as both the secret and not so secret masters/influencers of the "fringe nations", connecting them to humanity more than in 1E. My first impression is that this allows some cooler stories and easier integration of lunars into campaigns.
- All shapeshifting stuff changed into "Knacks", not charms. At generation, Knacks are cheaper than out of caste charms, but more expensive than in caste charms. Knacks have prerequisites, but no other traits (i.e. no cost or type). This means, among other things, that some shapeshifting that was reflexive in 1E (e.g. DBT) no longer is. Basically, knacks work like permanent enhancements to the lunar's basic shapeshifting ability. Both charms and knacks are still stupidly expensive xp wise, for no evident reason.
- Heart's Blood is slightly less stupid than before. I still like my version better, but the 2E version may make more sense, given the new sacred hunt rules mean learning forms is a bit more involved than just eating now.
- Mechanical advantages of having Solar mates. Interesting.
- Artifact tattoos are cool.
- Anima effects are about what you'd expect, given the 2E changes to solar anima.
- Fans of Harmonious Jade are likely to be perturbed.
- In case dice pool limits in 2E weren't complicated enough, they get even more wacky when shapeshifting is involved. And with Attribute excellencies that "also increase a character's Attribute directly".
- Not sure I like the Tell mechanics.
- Interesting knacks: giving someone else a shape, some for taking shapes not previously valid for lunars (e.g. demons, elementals, wyld mutants, plants), learning forms without killing target, learning shapes from other lunars, various ways of circumventing restrictions of the new shapeshifting mechanics.
- DBT is not nearly as powerful as it was in 1E. For many character types, I can see it being unnecessary and superfluous. At the same time, DBT actually seems cooler now. Many of the cooler DBT gifts are eliminated in favor of charms that do the same thing, with caveats in the charm that expand their abilities under DBT. Since the the higher xp cost for 1E charms was supposedly "justified" by the power of DBT, nerfing DBT without adjusting xp costs seems even stupider.
- This phrase is most welcome "As is normal, Charms that add automatic successes or remove penalties do not count as increases to a dice pool unless otherwise noted." This means that the rules for Second Excellency in the Core Book are definitely the exception, not the rule.
- As with the Core Book, charm trees have been made wider, but not as deep. This is a huge change for lunars, as some of the 1E trees were seven or more charms deep. Given the high xp cost, though, this is probably still broken, as there are a lot of charms and some trees still go pretty deep.
- Relentless Lunar Fury is the new DBT, though is a neat idea. Gives lunars a bit of the "better to burn out than fade away" that terrestrials have, though only briefly and only with certain effects. Fits the "raging beast" metaphor better than 1E DBT did, I think.
- Snake Body Technique (possibly the best 1E lunar combat charm) now part of Lunar Hero Style, but only for lunars.
- Regeneration isn't what it used to be.
- To many charms to read completely right now.
- Skimmed the chimerae section. Seems ok.
- Skimmed Storytelling section. Decent summary of the tribes in canon in the middle of it.
- Official word on when the phases of the moon occur. Names of the days.
- Caste Attributes and anima effects of the lost castes! Yay.
- Index sucks. Surprise, surprise.
- Character sheet is a muddy scan. Bizarre.
