Phyre
Fate of Creation
This is the Character section highlighting information on characters for my Path of Legends story. Here you will find information on both PCs and NPCs
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Dice Path of Legends (Characters)
- Thread starter Phyre
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Why player characters are ignorant of exaltations
Phyre
Fate of Creation
Why your characters do not know who they really are.
I understand coming from a player who read the rules about not knowing who they are. The reason behind it is the fact that the Immaculate Philosophy and the Dragon-Blooded after the usurpation changed the history/ origin/ abilities of all the known Celestial Exalted at the time.
They replaced it with one where the Celestials are seen as people who inherited their powers from demonic creatures of Malfeas (akin to selling their souls). Your character only interaction from the Unconquered Sun and fragments of memories of past Exaltation(s) are all you have to figure out who you are, at least in the beginning of the chronicle. The short amount of time having super powers with only a vision and tad bits of memories of other people who weren't you is all you have until you find other information pertaining to your condition. Some Solars have been killed never knowing who or what they really were. Hopefully your character's will live long enough, to discover the truth.
Don't worry it really won't kill the premise of the game, your character's will learn about who you are in the game. Even if you don't start with such knowledge. Why do I want to do this? Simple image you getting great powers on earth all of a sudden, what would you do with it this is what I am doing with your characters. The difference is the world has been feed misinformation on what you are supposed to be and you have conflicting memories and visions. How will your character interpret the vision and what will you do with the powers you have been given.
I understand coming from a player who read the rules about not knowing who they are. The reason behind it is the fact that the Immaculate Philosophy and the Dragon-Blooded after the usurpation changed the history/ origin/ abilities of all the known Celestial Exalted at the time.
They replaced it with one where the Celestials are seen as people who inherited their powers from demonic creatures of Malfeas (akin to selling their souls). Your character only interaction from the Unconquered Sun and fragments of memories of past Exaltation(s) are all you have to figure out who you are, at least in the beginning of the chronicle. The short amount of time having super powers with only a vision and tad bits of memories of other people who weren't you is all you have until you find other information pertaining to your condition. Some Solars have been killed never knowing who or what they really were. Hopefully your character's will live long enough, to discover the truth.
Don't worry it really won't kill the premise of the game, your character's will learn about who you are in the game. Even if you don't start with such knowledge. Why do I want to do this? Simple image you getting great powers on earth all of a sudden, what would you do with it this is what I am doing with your characters. The difference is the world has been feed misinformation on what you are supposed to be and you have conflicting memories and visions. How will your character interpret the vision and what will you do with the powers you have been given.
Sample Character Spotlight
Phyre
Fate of Creation
This is an example of how players should post there characters.
Please note how no numbers are specified, you don't see here caste type, her skills/ abilities only mentions the skills/ abilities she has above average proficiency or the lack there of. No charms are mentioned and if you realize she may be a sorceress no spells are mentioned. Only a brief description hinting at her motivation is mentioned.
Players when you post your characters please be sure to follow this example. All the words describing her abilities or attributes are out of the book. So please use those or similar wording.
Mnemon Karasu
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hsjzl50uB0x_gnhVAVn0BxI_LQ1PWdMmA3--qyXjCOU
Please note how no numbers are specified, you don't see here caste type, her skills/ abilities only mentions the skills/ abilities she has above average proficiency or the lack there of. No charms are mentioned and if you realize she may be a sorceress no spells are mentioned. Only a brief description hinting at her motivation is mentioned.
Players when you post your characters please be sure to follow this example. All the words describing her abilities or attributes are out of the book. So please use those or similar wording.
Mnemon Karasu
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hsjzl50uB0x_gnhVAVn0BxI_LQ1PWdMmA3--qyXjCOU
Editable PDF Character Sheet
Phyre
Fate of Creation
Here is a link to a copy of the character sheet (10- page) that can be used to create your characters. You should be able to download a copy for your own use. Please do not edit my copy, save for your own use and rename. Please do not post your character sheet in any of our forums. Once your character is created, please pm me. I'll give you my email to send me a copy. Below you will also find a couple other links that may be of help for you.
When you send me a copy of your completed character sheet please include how you spent all of your points building your character including the freebie points. Also please have descriptions on your backgrounds, how they were gained, names and locations if applicable. If you have a daiklave include it's name as well.
Character Sheet
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwaHHwhXFeStWlRmSGdodlc1NUU
Charm Expanded or Sorcery
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwaHHwhXFeStQW02NXNPdjBTbjg
Exalted Note Sheet
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwaHHwhXFeStekhxeEdiQ0Q2NGM
When you send me a copy of your completed character sheet please include how you spent all of your points building your character including the freebie points. Also please have descriptions on your backgrounds, how they were gained, names and locations if applicable. If you have a daiklave include it's name as well.
Character Sheet
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwaHHwhXFeStWlRmSGdodlc1NUU
Charm Expanded or Sorcery
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwaHHwhXFeStQW02NXNPdjBTbjg
Exalted Note Sheet
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwaHHwhXFeStekhxeEdiQ0Q2NGM
Exalted gaming and character basics
Phyre
Fate of Creation
Gaming and character basics
Time Scale:
Series: an ongoing game as a whole
Story: A complete narrative arc
Episode: An independent section of a story
Scene: A segment of a narrative action
Downtime: The abstract passage of “unimportant” events between scenes or episodes
Tick: Only relative in combat or intense situations, approximately 1 second long.
Dice: Exalted use 10-sided dice only. Whenever rolling dice a player takes each roll separately into account on rather or not they succeed at an action or not. Dice are never added up. In order to succeed at an action a character must achieve successes. A success is a die that roll a minimum number or higher (unless otherwise stated that number is usually 7). Note Exalted and powerful beings gain 2 successes for every 10 rolled (mortals do not benefit from this). The more dice that succeed the better result of the action attempted.
Traits: Every character has strengths and weaknesses, based in large part on their innate aptitudes, learned skills or the mettle of her soul. Within the game, such qualities are measured using traits, each of which has a name and a numerical rating in dots. Most traits range from 1 to 5, although some can have a rating as low as 0 or even in excess of 5.
Innate competence is expressed through nine Attributes grouped into three broad categories:
The Physical Attributes of Strength, Dexterity and Stamina govern the power, speed and health of the body.
Social Attributes represent a character’s force of personality, cunning and looks, through the Charisma, Manipulation and Appearance traits.
Mental Attributes measure the acumen, discernment and quickness of the mind, Perception, Intelligence, and Wits.
A rating of 1 signifies below-average competence, whereas 5 marks the absolute peak of human accomplishment.
A character’s learned skills and knowledge form the basis of their Abilities, or which 25 exist. Without any dots in an Ability, a character has no training in that task. They are not fundamentally deficient without it, but simply ignorant. Even among the greatest gods and Exalts, very few have dots in every Ability. Most characters specialize according to their interests and background. With 1 in an Ability, a character is a novice. With 5, they are one of the world’s foremost experts in that field-- at least among mortals.
The qualities of a character’s soul and personality are a function of several traits. First, the four Virtues of Compassion, Conviction, Temperance and Valor establish a character’s personality and mores. As with Attributes, 1 marks a character as deficient. At the upper end, 5 is the realm of saints and heroes. In addition, every character has a Willpower rating, expressing the raw force of her mind and passion. Finally, Essence gauges the overall magic of a being and the power of her soul, with non-magical beings having 1 simply for being animate and higher ratings reserved for spirits, the Chosen and the other supernatural beings. Unlike other traits, Willpower and Essence follow a 1-10 scale instead of 1-5.
Finally, Backgrounds cover a character’s social ties, possessions and other unique advantages specific to the upbringing or nature of the individual character. The degree of privilege and accomplishment follows the usual 1-5 scale.
Pools and Dice
Whenever a character attempts an action where success and failure are both possible, their player rolls a number of dice equal to the dots that character has in the appropriate trait or traits. Most rolls couple an Attribute with an Ability, representing the combination of innate potential and learned skill that best applies to the situation. Unless otherwise stated, no roll pairs two Attributes or two Abilities. The Storyteller selects this combination when they ask for the roll. The sum of all the traits used for a roll is called a Dice Pool.
When rolling a dice pool, the player considers each die seperately to see if it contributes to the success of the action.
Target Number= the number a greater that a die needs to read in order to be counted as a success.
Difficulty= the number of successes required to achieve in an action
Failure= no successes rolled in an action
Botch (Critical Failure)= a Failure that shows a dice in the Dice Pool with a 1 (the more 1’s the worse the failure)
Rule of 10= Magical beings and heroic mortals count 10’s as two successes each
From the introduction of Exalted the 2nd edition: What sets Exalted apart from other Fantasy games.
First are the games major influences difference: Most fantasy games draw their base resource from the great Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Exalted has several references of influence both western and eastern including.
Ancient Epics: The Ramayana, The Iliad, Journey to the west, The Arabian Knights, etc…
Pulp Fiction Pre-Tolkien fantasy authors: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E Howard, and Fritz Leiber, which birthed Tarzan, Conan, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.
Manga, Anime, and Video games: Which most would be the heaviest area of influence separating Exalted from its standard Fantasy Competitors.
Secondly in most fantasy games, a player’s “heroic” character starts out as a complete wuss. They are lucky to own a rusty dagger and a loincloth, and the warrior’s fighting prowess is that of an asthmatic schoolboy. Exalted is different, Exalted characters begin the game as bad butts- reborn heroes of old wielding powerful magic and weapons so massive mere mortal’s can’t even lift them. These heroes begin the game having the potential to easily challenge armies in combat and come out the victor!
Finally what truly sets Exalted apart is the strength of its setting. Creation is a fantastic place, a flat plane larger than the whole of our Earth formed by powerful forces arrayed against it. Just beyond the edges of the world, the Fair Folk bid their time, waiting for another opportunity to march forth from the formless Wyld to undo shaped reality. Just beneath the skin of the world, necrotic lords of the Underworld plot to share the gift of Oblivion with all living things. And imprisoned within the infinite body of the Yozi known as Malfeas, the Demon Princes strive to escape their prison to wreak vengeance on the gods and the gods’ champions. Meanwhile, in the Celestial City of Yu-Shan, even the greatest of the gods cannot tear their attention away from the seductive Games of Divinity although Creation teeters on the brink of apocalypse. That leaves the Chosen of the Gods, the Exalted, as Creation’s only hope.
Those Exalted are your characters.
Character Sheet
I prefer you create your character on a 10-page fillable (editable) PDF that you can find with a web-search (Exalted 2nd Edition Fillable Character sheets) or you can follow the link below.
Step One: Character Concept
Concept: Before filling out a single dot on your character sheet, think of a concept. You don’t need to know every detail of your character’s life right now, you just need a general feel for who they are and their place in the world. Decide on something you will enjoy playing for the long haul. As you progress through the character creation, you may alter this concept to suit your needs or wants, but it gives you a starting point. An example might be, “My character was kidnapped by bandits as a child and Exalted as a teenager, transforming the bandit gang into the nucleus of her conquering army.” Your concept should be unique and interesting, to satisfy you and the storyteller.
Caste: There are five different varieties of Solar Exalted (which your character may not know much of these facts it is important when creating your character to know some facts about what some truths are) created by the Unconquered Sun (A powerful Celestial God). Each different type of caste had different duties,roles, and innate predispositions. Each of the Caste are named after one of the five states of the sun (Dawn, Zenith, Twilight, Night and Eclipse). This fact is likely to be unknown to your characters at the beginning. Instead from the teachings of the Immaculate faith for many centuries have taught others that the Solar Exalted are demons called Anathema. The order has even given names to each caste of Anathema, and today Creation wide most people only know these names for the five Solar caste (Forsaken, Blasphemous, Unclean, Wretched and Deceivers)
Motivation: Establish your character’s Motivation: a sentence describing their driving goal. Obviously, people have various goals, but this goal should be the primary one, defining how your character interacts with the world.
Most mortals have mundane and unexceptional Motivations such as “become wealthy,” “marry someone nice and have a family,” or “live a quiet life on a tropical island.” Celestial Exalted (which you character is one) are chosen specifically because they have the seed of greatness within them. Solars cannot have mundane Motivations-- by their very nature, Celestial Exalted are epic heroes, and their goals must similarly be epic. Below are sample epic motivations:
Restore the world to how life was in the First Age
Destroy the Realm and slay all the Dynasts
make a lasting peace between the Fair Folk and inhabitants of Creation
Become the leader of the Guild and transform it into a tool for the Solar Exalted
Become widely acclaimed as the best thief, musician, assassin or diplomat in all of Creation
Kill a specific powerful Deity
End slavery in Creation
Protect the inhabitants of my nation from harm
Intimacies: (Secondary motivations) Characters can have things they are loyal to that are not their primary motivation in life. Intimacies take the form of a noun --it can be a person, place, idea or any other sort of thing-- in which the character feels invested. A character can normally have a number of Intimacies equal to their (Willpower + Compassion) max. Starting character choose a number of beginning Intimacies equal to their Compassion for free and can purchase more with Bonus Points.
Caste”
A pivotal aspect of any Exalted character is their caste. Each of the Solar Exalted is chosen by the Unconquered Sun because they embody a caste’s ideals. A character’s caste affects the Abilities they show an affinity toward, the powers they develops and their role in a Circle. While members of each caste are often chosen for certain traits and qualities, your individual character may break from the caste’s stereotypical image. Example: Every Dawn Caste member is a warrior, but your Dawn Caste character could be a sorcerer who excels at spells relating to combat or a general so charismatic that the sound of their voice makes enemy troops turn traitor and join the Solar’s forces.
Dawn (Forsaken): Masters of all forms of warfare, the Children of the Dawn were once the generals and champions of the Celestial armies. The Unconquered Sun chooses the Dawn Caste from those with a talent for the arts of combat and war.
Zenith (Blasphemous): Once the leaders and priest of the Solar Exalted, the Golden Bulls are priest-kings, prophets and mystics. The Unconquered Sun chooses the Zenith Caste from those who thirst for righteousness and justice, as well as from among the leaders of men.
Twilight (Unclean): Scholars, sorcerers and crafters of the Solar Exalted, the Children of Twilight are thinkers and doers. The Unconquered Sun chooses the Twilight Caste from those who use their training and scholarship to transform the world.
Night (Wretched): Lords of stealth and trickery, the Concealing Shadows once served as the spies and police of the Old Realm. The Unconquered Sun chooses the Night Caste from those who excel at entering places where they are not wanted and finding unconventional solutions to problems.
Eclipse (Deceivers): Diplomats and bureaucrats, the Crowned Suns kept the Old Realm running smoothly. The Unconquered Sun chooses the Eclipse Caste from those who love to travel and who excel at all forms of communication.
You will need to choose a fitting Caste for your character. While it is good that players choose different Caste, so that they can have a group most suited to cover almost any type of solution. This is not required for the Chronicle but it is advised that players consider if this is important to the group.
Step two Attributes: Defines your innate capabilities and aptitudes (Physical/ Social/ Mental) a player will need to consider which group they are best in, second best and worst at. Characters begin with one dot in each attribute you are given dots for each group and can assign up to a five in any Attribute (a one would be below average, two is considered average mortal ability, three is above average, four exceptionally high, and five the maximum potential for a mortal being).
Best;Primary Group: +8 dots
Secondary Group: +6 dots
Worst;Tertiary Group: +4 dots
Remember you can always use bonus points to add to your stats, see bonus points later
Physical: Your physical potential; how fast you run (Dexterity), how much you can lift (Strength), and how healthy you are (Stamina)
Social: Ability to interact with, relate to and manipulate others; First Impressions (Charisma), ability to inspire or lead others (Charisma or Manipulation), and how attractive you are (Appearance)
Mental: Your character’s intellectual capacity; how quickly you think (Wits), how keen your senses are (Perception), and how smart you are (Intelligence)
You should use your character concept to help guide how you prioritize your attributes, but don’t feel forced into type.
Step Three Abilities: They describe what your character knows and can do, what they have learned rather than their natural potential.
Just like Attributes, abilities are rated from one to five dots. The ratings (dots) represents how competent a character is in that area of expertise. This number is usually added to an Attribute to determine how many dice you roll when your character uses an Ability. Unlike Attributes all Abilities begin at Zero (0). Not having a dot in an ability means you have no knowledge/ skill in that area.
(Caste Abilities) Abilities are divided into according to which caste best exemplifies them. Every Exalted has a natural affinity with the Abilities exemplified by their caste, making it easier for a character to raise their caste Abilities through bonus and experience points.
Dawn Abilities: Are those related to physical Combat
Archery, Martial Arts, Melee, Thrown, and War
Zenith Abilities: Those related to the power of faith, perseverance through great hardship, and inspiring/ converting others.
Integrity, Performance, Presence, Resistance and Survival
Twilight Abilities: Are those involving practical application of knowledge and learning
Craft, Investigation, Lore, Medicine and Occult
Night Abilities: Those relating to precision, subterfuge and convert activities
Athletics, Awareness, Dodge, Larceny and Stealth
Eclipse Abilities: Are those useful for organization, communication and keeping society functioning
Bureaucracy, Linguistics, Ride, Sail, and Socialize
Favored Abilities: These are Abilities your character has an affinity with like your Caste Abilities. Choose five Abilities as your Favored Abilities, they also receive the same benefits for Bonus and Experience points as Caste Abilities. These Abilities cannot be the same as your Caste Abilities.
For character generation you get a total of 28 dots to assign to your Abilities. 10 of which must be assigned to your Caste or Favored Abilities (note: you must assign at least one dot to each of your Favored Abilities but you do not have a minimum requirement on Caste Abilities. You can place the remaining 18 dots in any Abilities you chose (including Caste/ Favored Abilities) but you may not assign more than 3 dots to any one Ability. Instead, you must spend Bonus Points to raise an Ability to 4 or 5.
Specialties
Players might wish for their characters to have an area of specialty within a broader Ability. This specialty may be purchased with either bonus or experience points. Your character cannot have more than three specialties for a single Ability. Keep your concept in mind when choosing Specialties. You don’t need to purchase specialties, but they can help to flesh out your character. They are also useful for making a character good at one particular part of an Ability but not all of it or to achieve an superhuman mastery in a particular area of an Ability.
Step Four Advantages:
Advantages aren’t prioritized or ranked, just given specific values. They can also be increased with Bonus Points.
Backgrounds:
Backgrounds measure your character’s “place” in the world of Exalted. They define who your character knows, who knows them and what resources they can draw upon. You receive 7 dots to assign among the 11 different Backgrounds. Backgrounds should tie into your character concept, as defined in Step one. No background should be raised above three dots without the use of Bonus Points. Buying the fourth and fifth dot of a Background cost more than buying the first, second or third dot,
Charms:
Charms the Exalted’s mystical birthright, allow characters powers and abilities far beyond those of ordinary mortals. And Solar Exalted possess the most powerful Charms in Creation. Charms are divided according to which Ability they augment. Select 10 Charms for your character, at least five which must come Caste or Favored Abilities. Each Charm needs certain minimum Ability and Essence scores, and many require the mastery of other Charms as well. If you find yourself coming up short of the required traits for a desired Charm, you can always spend bonus points to reach the necessary levels.
Characters who know one or more Sorcery Charms (derived from the Occult Ability) can begin the game knowing spells. Characters can exchange a Charm for a single sorcery spell but may not start the game with Solar Circle spells (spells of the highest level). Characters who wish to purchase spells with bonus points pay the cost for a Charm. Characters receive the in-caste discount on spells if Occult is a Caste or Favored Ability.
Virtues
Passion and emotion are powerful forces in the world of Exalted. Virtues measure how passionately committed a character is to certain types of behaviors. There are four Virtue traits, each representing the extremes the soul can reach.
Compassion, which measures the character’s empathy and forgiveness. Characters with high Compassion have difficulty ignoring the plights of others.
Conviction, which represents the character’s resistance to mental and physical hardship. Characters with high Conviction can endure (and inflict) immense pain and suffering and ignore the suffering of others.
Temperance, which measures self-control and clear-headedness. Characters with high Temperance sometimes withdraw from human contract or hold themselves above those less “pure,” partly because they can easily ignore temptations to which others yield.
Valor, which represents courage and bravery. Characters with high Valor have difficulty backing down from any challenge, however dangerous or foolhardy, but they can also face daunting foes fearlessly.
Virtues like Attributes, automatically begin with 1 dot. You have five additional dots to divide among your character’s four Virtues traits. You cannot raise a character’s starting Virtue above 4 without spending bonus points.
Choose one Virtue as the root of your character's Virtue Flaw-- the expression of the Great Curse. A character who is forced to act contrary to their Virtues too often will suffer a Limit Break and temporarily succumb to their Virtue Flaw. This flaw must be chosen for a Virtue rated 3 or higher.
This virtue, often linked to the character’s Motivation, is a central feature of the Exalt’s character. A Solar Exalted whose Motivation is “destroying the Realm” could have Conviction as her highest Virtue, while one who wishes to restore the Solar Deliberative to protect mortals from the dangers of the Age of Sorrows probably has Compassion primary.
Step Five Finishing Touches:
Here you determine your character’s final traits and finish rounding them out.
Willpower
Willpower describes your character’s self-control and their determination in adverse circumstances. A character’s Willpower can partially override an instinctive response (such as those dictated by Virtues), create automatic successes on important dice rolls, resist mental attacks or activate a Virtue. Add your character’s two highest Virtue ratings for her initial Willpower. Willpower may be increased to no higher than 8 with bonus points. Only characters with two Virtues at 4 or higher may begin the game with a Willpower above 8. Remember that even fellow Exalted will consider such a character unreasonably intense.
Intimacies
“Intimacies” is a term for things your character cares about enough that it changes how the character acts--though not enough to be a Motivation. Characters start with a number of Intimacies equal to their Compassion.
Intimacies can be anything your character cares about on a meaningful level-- a cause, an ideal, a place, a person, a nation. Don’t worry if you don’t have a good idea for all the Intimacies. Your character can start with less Intimacies than her Compassion if you’re not sure what the character chars about. You could just pick some things and try to roleplay them. Intimacies are easy to gain and lose in play, so you’ll be able to switch them around easily if you don’t like the ones you pick.
Sometimes, Intimacies can be very important, such as when they are the targets of magical effects. If this is the case, characters will generally gain an appropriate Intimacy on the spot if they don’t already have one.
Intimacies are governed by Conviction. The higher you character’s Conviction, the longer it takes her to gain and lose new Intimacies and the more secure they are against being undermined by social manipulation.
Essence
Essence measure your character’s connection to the mystical energies that permeate the world of Exalted. Most mortals have an Essence rating of only 1. Solar Exalted begin with an Essence rating of 2. This value may be increased with bonus points, but characters may not start the game with an Essence above 5. Only characters who are more than a century old can have Essence scores of 6 or higher.
Essence Pool
Scholars measure Essence in units called motes. A character’s Essence pool represents how many motes of Essence they can channel towards magic. Essence is of two types: Personal and Peripheral. When an Exalted spends Essence from their Personal Essence pool, their anima banner remains subdued. When Peripheral Essence is spent, their anima banner flares, exposing their Exalted nature.
To calculate your Personal Essence, multiply your character’s Essence trait by three and then add their Willpower. That is, ([Essence x 3]+ Willpower).
To calculate Peripheral Essence, multiply your character’s Essence trait by seven and then add the sum of Willpower and Virtues. That is, ([Essence x 7]+ Willpower + [the sum of Virtues]).
Health Levels
Health Levels track your character’s physical condition-- like how much damage they just took from a deathknight’s foul necromantic spell-- and the penalty imposed on your character’s dice pool for each level of injury sustained. Most humans, including Solar Exalted without Ox-Body Technique, have seven health levels, ranging from Bruised to Incapacitated. Unless you character has extras, she has one -0 health level, two -1 health levels, two -2 health levels, one -4 health level and one Incapacitated health level.
Bonus Points
You get 15 bonus points available to increase your character’s traits. Spend them all now, because you can’t keep them past character creation.
Spark of Life
Some qualities have nothing to do with game mechanics. You’re advised to write them down anyway. Think about each one after character creation and during games afterwards. Some will change over time, while others will be reinforced. These things make your character more than a collection of dots on a character sheet.
Appearance
What does your character look like? How do their traits affect that? Aside from her Appearance score, four dots in Strength means obvious muscles. A high Charisma will translate into how they move and talks. See how you can use her concept and traits as descriptive hooks. Your choices reflect not only your character’s Appearance score, but also how they dress, act and speak. Do they move with confidence and have a steady gaze, or is she hunched over, refusing to look anyone in the eye? Does she prefer casual, rugged clothing, or is she swathed in silks and jewels?
Social Ties
Characters don’t live in a vacuum. Think about the people in your character’s life. Are their parents still alive? Do they have a spouse? A lover? Children? What about friends and neighbors? Do they own slaves? Or was they a slave before Exaltation? How has these relationships changed since Exaltation? In what sort of social milieu does your character live?
The Prelude
The moment of Exaltation, the character’s transformation into one of the Unconquered Sun’s personal champions, is the defining instant in the character’s life. However, it is difficult to understand what that transformation means without experiencing their previous mortal life.
The prelude depicts the character’s mortal life, their Exaltation and her reaction to this momentous event. The player and storyteller establish important moments of the character’s history during this one-on-one storytelling session, compressing many years of life into a sequence of short vignettes highlighting pivotal events in the character’s life.
The Circle
Numbers are an advantage, and no young Solar Exalt excels at everything. To fulfill their destiny and reestablish a just and glorious Solar Deliberative, the Chosen must work together. Ancient manuscripts refer to groups of Solars bound by oaths of loyalty, friendship and blood, their vows sanctified by a witness of the Eclipse Caste. These bands of glorious heroes were once known as circles. A circle’s oaths were tested and tried by battles and quests, until peril and struggle forged the companions’ bond into an unbreakable brotherhood.
The returning Solars find themselves compelled to seek their kind. In addition to other obvious benefits, only other Solar Exalted can truly understand the wonder and challenges of being suddenly made champions of the Unconquered Sun and charged with rebuilding the world.
During the First Age, a circle including one member of each caste was known as a perfect circle. This type of circle was considered the most auspicious, believed to be blessed by the Unconquered Sun. Today, the Dragon-Blooded consider a perfect circle the most dangerous possible grouping of Anathema.
Unfortunately, the modern Solars are scattered across the world, and it’s far from easy to find one member of each caste. Many modern circles lack the numbers or the diversity for a perfect circle. Most don’t care, however, as any gathering of Solar Exalted has the potential to completely Change Creation.
Creating The Circle
The circle is the series’ center, around which everything else revolves. Characters can join, and they can die, but the circle remains. The player must agree on the sort of circle they want to play, as that directly impacts the direction of the game. If a player decides they don’t like their character two stories into a series, they can easily switch to a new one. If the player decide they don’t like the circle’s nature, however, if may be necessary to completely overhaul the series.
The exact nature of the circle is crucial to the series’ direction. Some circles are simply bans of Exalts who work well together, while others have specific long-term plans-- from truly vast goals such as ridding Creation of shadowlands to more modest ones like conquering and ruling the Southeast. The players and the Storyteller should discuss the sort of circle they want before the series begins.
The players should also discuss their circle’s beginnings and perhaps play out their characters’ initial meetings and decision to form a circle. The circle prelude should be done after all the individual preludes are finished, perhaps as part of the first session of play. When playing this scene, it is important that the characters all actually end up as members of the circle. If a character or two simply isn’t compatible, renegotiate the type of circle, or have their players create characters who are more compatible.
Leadership and decision-making is important within the circle. Some circles work by consensus, but most have a distinct leader. Players can either decide on a leader ahead of time or allow one to emerge naturally once they see how their character interact. These options work equally well, as long as the leader’s player is fair and avoids having their character take actions that cause the other players to have less fun.
Time Scale:
Series: an ongoing game as a whole
Story: A complete narrative arc
Episode: An independent section of a story
Scene: A segment of a narrative action
Downtime: The abstract passage of “unimportant” events between scenes or episodes
Tick: Only relative in combat or intense situations, approximately 1 second long.
Dice: Exalted use 10-sided dice only. Whenever rolling dice a player takes each roll separately into account on rather or not they succeed at an action or not. Dice are never added up. In order to succeed at an action a character must achieve successes. A success is a die that roll a minimum number or higher (unless otherwise stated that number is usually 7). Note Exalted and powerful beings gain 2 successes for every 10 rolled (mortals do not benefit from this). The more dice that succeed the better result of the action attempted.
Traits: Every character has strengths and weaknesses, based in large part on their innate aptitudes, learned skills or the mettle of her soul. Within the game, such qualities are measured using traits, each of which has a name and a numerical rating in dots. Most traits range from 1 to 5, although some can have a rating as low as 0 or even in excess of 5.
Innate competence is expressed through nine Attributes grouped into three broad categories:
The Physical Attributes of Strength, Dexterity and Stamina govern the power, speed and health of the body.
Social Attributes represent a character’s force of personality, cunning and looks, through the Charisma, Manipulation and Appearance traits.
Mental Attributes measure the acumen, discernment and quickness of the mind, Perception, Intelligence, and Wits.
A rating of 1 signifies below-average competence, whereas 5 marks the absolute peak of human accomplishment.
A character’s learned skills and knowledge form the basis of their Abilities, or which 25 exist. Without any dots in an Ability, a character has no training in that task. They are not fundamentally deficient without it, but simply ignorant. Even among the greatest gods and Exalts, very few have dots in every Ability. Most characters specialize according to their interests and background. With 1 in an Ability, a character is a novice. With 5, they are one of the world’s foremost experts in that field-- at least among mortals.
The qualities of a character’s soul and personality are a function of several traits. First, the four Virtues of Compassion, Conviction, Temperance and Valor establish a character’s personality and mores. As with Attributes, 1 marks a character as deficient. At the upper end, 5 is the realm of saints and heroes. In addition, every character has a Willpower rating, expressing the raw force of her mind and passion. Finally, Essence gauges the overall magic of a being and the power of her soul, with non-magical beings having 1 simply for being animate and higher ratings reserved for spirits, the Chosen and the other supernatural beings. Unlike other traits, Willpower and Essence follow a 1-10 scale instead of 1-5.
Finally, Backgrounds cover a character’s social ties, possessions and other unique advantages specific to the upbringing or nature of the individual character. The degree of privilege and accomplishment follows the usual 1-5 scale.
Pools and Dice
Whenever a character attempts an action where success and failure are both possible, their player rolls a number of dice equal to the dots that character has in the appropriate trait or traits. Most rolls couple an Attribute with an Ability, representing the combination of innate potential and learned skill that best applies to the situation. Unless otherwise stated, no roll pairs two Attributes or two Abilities. The Storyteller selects this combination when they ask for the roll. The sum of all the traits used for a roll is called a Dice Pool.
When rolling a dice pool, the player considers each die seperately to see if it contributes to the success of the action.
Target Number= the number a greater that a die needs to read in order to be counted as a success.
Difficulty= the number of successes required to achieve in an action
Failure= no successes rolled in an action
Botch (Critical Failure)= a Failure that shows a dice in the Dice Pool with a 1 (the more 1’s the worse the failure)
Rule of 10= Magical beings and heroic mortals count 10’s as two successes each
From the introduction of Exalted the 2nd edition: What sets Exalted apart from other Fantasy games.
First are the games major influences difference: Most fantasy games draw their base resource from the great Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Exalted has several references of influence both western and eastern including.
Ancient Epics: The Ramayana, The Iliad, Journey to the west, The Arabian Knights, etc…
Pulp Fiction Pre-Tolkien fantasy authors: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E Howard, and Fritz Leiber, which birthed Tarzan, Conan, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.
Manga, Anime, and Video games: Which most would be the heaviest area of influence separating Exalted from its standard Fantasy Competitors.
Secondly in most fantasy games, a player’s “heroic” character starts out as a complete wuss. They are lucky to own a rusty dagger and a loincloth, and the warrior’s fighting prowess is that of an asthmatic schoolboy. Exalted is different, Exalted characters begin the game as bad butts- reborn heroes of old wielding powerful magic and weapons so massive mere mortal’s can’t even lift them. These heroes begin the game having the potential to easily challenge armies in combat and come out the victor!
Finally what truly sets Exalted apart is the strength of its setting. Creation is a fantastic place, a flat plane larger than the whole of our Earth formed by powerful forces arrayed against it. Just beyond the edges of the world, the Fair Folk bid their time, waiting for another opportunity to march forth from the formless Wyld to undo shaped reality. Just beneath the skin of the world, necrotic lords of the Underworld plot to share the gift of Oblivion with all living things. And imprisoned within the infinite body of the Yozi known as Malfeas, the Demon Princes strive to escape their prison to wreak vengeance on the gods and the gods’ champions. Meanwhile, in the Celestial City of Yu-Shan, even the greatest of the gods cannot tear their attention away from the seductive Games of Divinity although Creation teeters on the brink of apocalypse. That leaves the Chosen of the Gods, the Exalted, as Creation’s only hope.
Those Exalted are your characters.
Character Sheet
I prefer you create your character on a 10-page fillable (editable) PDF that you can find with a web-search (Exalted 2nd Edition Fillable Character sheets) or you can follow the link below.
Step One: Character Concept
Concept: Before filling out a single dot on your character sheet, think of a concept. You don’t need to know every detail of your character’s life right now, you just need a general feel for who they are and their place in the world. Decide on something you will enjoy playing for the long haul. As you progress through the character creation, you may alter this concept to suit your needs or wants, but it gives you a starting point. An example might be, “My character was kidnapped by bandits as a child and Exalted as a teenager, transforming the bandit gang into the nucleus of her conquering army.” Your concept should be unique and interesting, to satisfy you and the storyteller.
Caste: There are five different varieties of Solar Exalted (which your character may not know much of these facts it is important when creating your character to know some facts about what some truths are) created by the Unconquered Sun (A powerful Celestial God). Each different type of caste had different duties,roles, and innate predispositions. Each of the Caste are named after one of the five states of the sun (Dawn, Zenith, Twilight, Night and Eclipse). This fact is likely to be unknown to your characters at the beginning. Instead from the teachings of the Immaculate faith for many centuries have taught others that the Solar Exalted are demons called Anathema. The order has even given names to each caste of Anathema, and today Creation wide most people only know these names for the five Solar caste (Forsaken, Blasphemous, Unclean, Wretched and Deceivers)
Motivation: Establish your character’s Motivation: a sentence describing their driving goal. Obviously, people have various goals, but this goal should be the primary one, defining how your character interacts with the world.
Most mortals have mundane and unexceptional Motivations such as “become wealthy,” “marry someone nice and have a family,” or “live a quiet life on a tropical island.” Celestial Exalted (which you character is one) are chosen specifically because they have the seed of greatness within them. Solars cannot have mundane Motivations-- by their very nature, Celestial Exalted are epic heroes, and their goals must similarly be epic. Below are sample epic motivations:
Restore the world to how life was in the First Age
Destroy the Realm and slay all the Dynasts
make a lasting peace between the Fair Folk and inhabitants of Creation
Become the leader of the Guild and transform it into a tool for the Solar Exalted
Become widely acclaimed as the best thief, musician, assassin or diplomat in all of Creation
Kill a specific powerful Deity
End slavery in Creation
Protect the inhabitants of my nation from harm
Intimacies: (Secondary motivations) Characters can have things they are loyal to that are not their primary motivation in life. Intimacies take the form of a noun --it can be a person, place, idea or any other sort of thing-- in which the character feels invested. A character can normally have a number of Intimacies equal to their (Willpower + Compassion) max. Starting character choose a number of beginning Intimacies equal to their Compassion for free and can purchase more with Bonus Points.
Caste”
A pivotal aspect of any Exalted character is their caste. Each of the Solar Exalted is chosen by the Unconquered Sun because they embody a caste’s ideals. A character’s caste affects the Abilities they show an affinity toward, the powers they develops and their role in a Circle. While members of each caste are often chosen for certain traits and qualities, your individual character may break from the caste’s stereotypical image. Example: Every Dawn Caste member is a warrior, but your Dawn Caste character could be a sorcerer who excels at spells relating to combat or a general so charismatic that the sound of their voice makes enemy troops turn traitor and join the Solar’s forces.
Dawn (Forsaken): Masters of all forms of warfare, the Children of the Dawn were once the generals and champions of the Celestial armies. The Unconquered Sun chooses the Dawn Caste from those with a talent for the arts of combat and war.
Zenith (Blasphemous): Once the leaders and priest of the Solar Exalted, the Golden Bulls are priest-kings, prophets and mystics. The Unconquered Sun chooses the Zenith Caste from those who thirst for righteousness and justice, as well as from among the leaders of men.
Twilight (Unclean): Scholars, sorcerers and crafters of the Solar Exalted, the Children of Twilight are thinkers and doers. The Unconquered Sun chooses the Twilight Caste from those who use their training and scholarship to transform the world.
Night (Wretched): Lords of stealth and trickery, the Concealing Shadows once served as the spies and police of the Old Realm. The Unconquered Sun chooses the Night Caste from those who excel at entering places where they are not wanted and finding unconventional solutions to problems.
Eclipse (Deceivers): Diplomats and bureaucrats, the Crowned Suns kept the Old Realm running smoothly. The Unconquered Sun chooses the Eclipse Caste from those who love to travel and who excel at all forms of communication.
You will need to choose a fitting Caste for your character. While it is good that players choose different Caste, so that they can have a group most suited to cover almost any type of solution. This is not required for the Chronicle but it is advised that players consider if this is important to the group.
Step two Attributes: Defines your innate capabilities and aptitudes (Physical/ Social/ Mental) a player will need to consider which group they are best in, second best and worst at. Characters begin with one dot in each attribute you are given dots for each group and can assign up to a five in any Attribute (a one would be below average, two is considered average mortal ability, three is above average, four exceptionally high, and five the maximum potential for a mortal being).
Best;Primary Group: +8 dots
Secondary Group: +6 dots
Worst;Tertiary Group: +4 dots
Remember you can always use bonus points to add to your stats, see bonus points later
Physical: Your physical potential; how fast you run (Dexterity), how much you can lift (Strength), and how healthy you are (Stamina)
Social: Ability to interact with, relate to and manipulate others; First Impressions (Charisma), ability to inspire or lead others (Charisma or Manipulation), and how attractive you are (Appearance)
Mental: Your character’s intellectual capacity; how quickly you think (Wits), how keen your senses are (Perception), and how smart you are (Intelligence)
You should use your character concept to help guide how you prioritize your attributes, but don’t feel forced into type.
Step Three Abilities: They describe what your character knows and can do, what they have learned rather than their natural potential.
Just like Attributes, abilities are rated from one to five dots. The ratings (dots) represents how competent a character is in that area of expertise. This number is usually added to an Attribute to determine how many dice you roll when your character uses an Ability. Unlike Attributes all Abilities begin at Zero (0). Not having a dot in an ability means you have no knowledge/ skill in that area.
(Caste Abilities) Abilities are divided into according to which caste best exemplifies them. Every Exalted has a natural affinity with the Abilities exemplified by their caste, making it easier for a character to raise their caste Abilities through bonus and experience points.
Dawn Abilities: Are those related to physical Combat
Archery, Martial Arts, Melee, Thrown, and War
Zenith Abilities: Those related to the power of faith, perseverance through great hardship, and inspiring/ converting others.
Integrity, Performance, Presence, Resistance and Survival
Twilight Abilities: Are those involving practical application of knowledge and learning
Craft, Investigation, Lore, Medicine and Occult
Night Abilities: Those relating to precision, subterfuge and convert activities
Athletics, Awareness, Dodge, Larceny and Stealth
Eclipse Abilities: Are those useful for organization, communication and keeping society functioning
Bureaucracy, Linguistics, Ride, Sail, and Socialize
Favored Abilities: These are Abilities your character has an affinity with like your Caste Abilities. Choose five Abilities as your Favored Abilities, they also receive the same benefits for Bonus and Experience points as Caste Abilities. These Abilities cannot be the same as your Caste Abilities.
For character generation you get a total of 28 dots to assign to your Abilities. 10 of which must be assigned to your Caste or Favored Abilities (note: you must assign at least one dot to each of your Favored Abilities but you do not have a minimum requirement on Caste Abilities. You can place the remaining 18 dots in any Abilities you chose (including Caste/ Favored Abilities) but you may not assign more than 3 dots to any one Ability. Instead, you must spend Bonus Points to raise an Ability to 4 or 5.
Specialties
Players might wish for their characters to have an area of specialty within a broader Ability. This specialty may be purchased with either bonus or experience points. Your character cannot have more than three specialties for a single Ability. Keep your concept in mind when choosing Specialties. You don’t need to purchase specialties, but they can help to flesh out your character. They are also useful for making a character good at one particular part of an Ability but not all of it or to achieve an superhuman mastery in a particular area of an Ability.
Step Four Advantages:
Advantages aren’t prioritized or ranked, just given specific values. They can also be increased with Bonus Points.
Backgrounds:
Backgrounds measure your character’s “place” in the world of Exalted. They define who your character knows, who knows them and what resources they can draw upon. You receive 7 dots to assign among the 11 different Backgrounds. Backgrounds should tie into your character concept, as defined in Step one. No background should be raised above three dots without the use of Bonus Points. Buying the fourth and fifth dot of a Background cost more than buying the first, second or third dot,
Charms:
Charms the Exalted’s mystical birthright, allow characters powers and abilities far beyond those of ordinary mortals. And Solar Exalted possess the most powerful Charms in Creation. Charms are divided according to which Ability they augment. Select 10 Charms for your character, at least five which must come Caste or Favored Abilities. Each Charm needs certain minimum Ability and Essence scores, and many require the mastery of other Charms as well. If you find yourself coming up short of the required traits for a desired Charm, you can always spend bonus points to reach the necessary levels.
Characters who know one or more Sorcery Charms (derived from the Occult Ability) can begin the game knowing spells. Characters can exchange a Charm for a single sorcery spell but may not start the game with Solar Circle spells (spells of the highest level). Characters who wish to purchase spells with bonus points pay the cost for a Charm. Characters receive the in-caste discount on spells if Occult is a Caste or Favored Ability.
Virtues
Passion and emotion are powerful forces in the world of Exalted. Virtues measure how passionately committed a character is to certain types of behaviors. There are four Virtue traits, each representing the extremes the soul can reach.
Compassion, which measures the character’s empathy and forgiveness. Characters with high Compassion have difficulty ignoring the plights of others.
Conviction, which represents the character’s resistance to mental and physical hardship. Characters with high Conviction can endure (and inflict) immense pain and suffering and ignore the suffering of others.
Temperance, which measures self-control and clear-headedness. Characters with high Temperance sometimes withdraw from human contract or hold themselves above those less “pure,” partly because they can easily ignore temptations to which others yield.
Valor, which represents courage and bravery. Characters with high Valor have difficulty backing down from any challenge, however dangerous or foolhardy, but they can also face daunting foes fearlessly.
Virtues like Attributes, automatically begin with 1 dot. You have five additional dots to divide among your character’s four Virtues traits. You cannot raise a character’s starting Virtue above 4 without spending bonus points.
Choose one Virtue as the root of your character's Virtue Flaw-- the expression of the Great Curse. A character who is forced to act contrary to their Virtues too often will suffer a Limit Break and temporarily succumb to their Virtue Flaw. This flaw must be chosen for a Virtue rated 3 or higher.
This virtue, often linked to the character’s Motivation, is a central feature of the Exalt’s character. A Solar Exalted whose Motivation is “destroying the Realm” could have Conviction as her highest Virtue, while one who wishes to restore the Solar Deliberative to protect mortals from the dangers of the Age of Sorrows probably has Compassion primary.
Step Five Finishing Touches:
Here you determine your character’s final traits and finish rounding them out.
Willpower
Willpower describes your character’s self-control and their determination in adverse circumstances. A character’s Willpower can partially override an instinctive response (such as those dictated by Virtues), create automatic successes on important dice rolls, resist mental attacks or activate a Virtue. Add your character’s two highest Virtue ratings for her initial Willpower. Willpower may be increased to no higher than 8 with bonus points. Only characters with two Virtues at 4 or higher may begin the game with a Willpower above 8. Remember that even fellow Exalted will consider such a character unreasonably intense.
Intimacies
“Intimacies” is a term for things your character cares about enough that it changes how the character acts--though not enough to be a Motivation. Characters start with a number of Intimacies equal to their Compassion.
Intimacies can be anything your character cares about on a meaningful level-- a cause, an ideal, a place, a person, a nation. Don’t worry if you don’t have a good idea for all the Intimacies. Your character can start with less Intimacies than her Compassion if you’re not sure what the character chars about. You could just pick some things and try to roleplay them. Intimacies are easy to gain and lose in play, so you’ll be able to switch them around easily if you don’t like the ones you pick.
Sometimes, Intimacies can be very important, such as when they are the targets of magical effects. If this is the case, characters will generally gain an appropriate Intimacy on the spot if they don’t already have one.
Intimacies are governed by Conviction. The higher you character’s Conviction, the longer it takes her to gain and lose new Intimacies and the more secure they are against being undermined by social manipulation.
Essence
Essence measure your character’s connection to the mystical energies that permeate the world of Exalted. Most mortals have an Essence rating of only 1. Solar Exalted begin with an Essence rating of 2. This value may be increased with bonus points, but characters may not start the game with an Essence above 5. Only characters who are more than a century old can have Essence scores of 6 or higher.
Essence Pool
Scholars measure Essence in units called motes. A character’s Essence pool represents how many motes of Essence they can channel towards magic. Essence is of two types: Personal and Peripheral. When an Exalted spends Essence from their Personal Essence pool, their anima banner remains subdued. When Peripheral Essence is spent, their anima banner flares, exposing their Exalted nature.
To calculate your Personal Essence, multiply your character’s Essence trait by three and then add their Willpower. That is, ([Essence x 3]+ Willpower).
To calculate Peripheral Essence, multiply your character’s Essence trait by seven and then add the sum of Willpower and Virtues. That is, ([Essence x 7]+ Willpower + [the sum of Virtues]).
Health Levels
Health Levels track your character’s physical condition-- like how much damage they just took from a deathknight’s foul necromantic spell-- and the penalty imposed on your character’s dice pool for each level of injury sustained. Most humans, including Solar Exalted without Ox-Body Technique, have seven health levels, ranging from Bruised to Incapacitated. Unless you character has extras, she has one -0 health level, two -1 health levels, two -2 health levels, one -4 health level and one Incapacitated health level.
Bonus Points
You get 15 bonus points available to increase your character’s traits. Spend them all now, because you can’t keep them past character creation.
Spark of Life
Some qualities have nothing to do with game mechanics. You’re advised to write them down anyway. Think about each one after character creation and during games afterwards. Some will change over time, while others will be reinforced. These things make your character more than a collection of dots on a character sheet.
Appearance
What does your character look like? How do their traits affect that? Aside from her Appearance score, four dots in Strength means obvious muscles. A high Charisma will translate into how they move and talks. See how you can use her concept and traits as descriptive hooks. Your choices reflect not only your character’s Appearance score, but also how they dress, act and speak. Do they move with confidence and have a steady gaze, or is she hunched over, refusing to look anyone in the eye? Does she prefer casual, rugged clothing, or is she swathed in silks and jewels?
Social Ties
Characters don’t live in a vacuum. Think about the people in your character’s life. Are their parents still alive? Do they have a spouse? A lover? Children? What about friends and neighbors? Do they own slaves? Or was they a slave before Exaltation? How has these relationships changed since Exaltation? In what sort of social milieu does your character live?
The Prelude
The moment of Exaltation, the character’s transformation into one of the Unconquered Sun’s personal champions, is the defining instant in the character’s life. However, it is difficult to understand what that transformation means without experiencing their previous mortal life.
The prelude depicts the character’s mortal life, their Exaltation and her reaction to this momentous event. The player and storyteller establish important moments of the character’s history during this one-on-one storytelling session, compressing many years of life into a sequence of short vignettes highlighting pivotal events in the character’s life.
The Circle
Numbers are an advantage, and no young Solar Exalt excels at everything. To fulfill their destiny and reestablish a just and glorious Solar Deliberative, the Chosen must work together. Ancient manuscripts refer to groups of Solars bound by oaths of loyalty, friendship and blood, their vows sanctified by a witness of the Eclipse Caste. These bands of glorious heroes were once known as circles. A circle’s oaths were tested and tried by battles and quests, until peril and struggle forged the companions’ bond into an unbreakable brotherhood.
The returning Solars find themselves compelled to seek their kind. In addition to other obvious benefits, only other Solar Exalted can truly understand the wonder and challenges of being suddenly made champions of the Unconquered Sun and charged with rebuilding the world.
During the First Age, a circle including one member of each caste was known as a perfect circle. This type of circle was considered the most auspicious, believed to be blessed by the Unconquered Sun. Today, the Dragon-Blooded consider a perfect circle the most dangerous possible grouping of Anathema.
Unfortunately, the modern Solars are scattered across the world, and it’s far from easy to find one member of each caste. Many modern circles lack the numbers or the diversity for a perfect circle. Most don’t care, however, as any gathering of Solar Exalted has the potential to completely Change Creation.
Creating The Circle
The circle is the series’ center, around which everything else revolves. Characters can join, and they can die, but the circle remains. The player must agree on the sort of circle they want to play, as that directly impacts the direction of the game. If a player decides they don’t like their character two stories into a series, they can easily switch to a new one. If the player decide they don’t like the circle’s nature, however, if may be necessary to completely overhaul the series.
The exact nature of the circle is crucial to the series’ direction. Some circles are simply bans of Exalts who work well together, while others have specific long-term plans-- from truly vast goals such as ridding Creation of shadowlands to more modest ones like conquering and ruling the Southeast. The players and the Storyteller should discuss the sort of circle they want before the series begins.
The players should also discuss their circle’s beginnings and perhaps play out their characters’ initial meetings and decision to form a circle. The circle prelude should be done after all the individual preludes are finished, perhaps as part of the first session of play. When playing this scene, it is important that the characters all actually end up as members of the circle. If a character or two simply isn’t compatible, renegotiate the type of circle, or have their players create characters who are more compatible.
Leadership and decision-making is important within the circle. Some circles work by consensus, but most have a distinct leader. Players can either decide on a leader ahead of time or allow one to emerge naturally once they see how their character interact. These options work equally well, as long as the leader’s player is fair and avoids having their character take actions that cause the other players to have less fun.
