dont forget gear when you start looking into backgrounds... the base book does have material for wepaons and armor that is geared for abyssal exalts (soulsteel I believe) that you can peek at now... I am sure the abyssal book will have more but you can look at those till more is available..
That which is not dead can eternal lie and with strange eons even death may die
My Color is Blue
I value Knowledge, logic, and deceit. I love to pursue wisdom but also to manipulate and deceive. At my best, I am brilliant and progressive. At my worst, I am treacherous and cold. My symbol is a water droplet. My enemies are green and red.
My Color is Blue
I value Knowledge, logic, and deceit. I love to pursue wisdom but also to manipulate and deceive. At my best, I am brilliant and progressive. At my worst, I am treacherous and cold. My symbol is a water droplet. My enemies are green and red.
So, as many of you may remember during the Exalted talk during our group vacation, the concept of having multiple different Exalt types in the group came up. Due to a number of reasons, the only Exalt type that will currently be not played are the Sidereals, and this is mostly due to the logistic in-game complications of having a Sidereal (or two, as Cheyne has already noted that his mentor/ally is a Siddie) with the group are undesireable. They also require an extensive knowledge of the in-game world to really be played well, since they invariably know more about what is going on than anyone else. To top it off, one of their major flaws, the Arcane Fate, makes people (even Exalts) forget who they are. For all of these reasons, I will not at this time be allowing a player to play as a Sidereal, though you will probably have some interaction with at least one.
So far the line-up looks something like this:
Solar - Adam (Dawn Caste)
Abyssal - Cheyne (Moonshadow Caste)
Lunar - Paul (unknown; probably even by him)
Dragonblooded - Possibly Thael (anyone playing 'Dragonblooded' will get two characters as an experimental compromise to compensate for power differences)
I am perfectly content to have doubling up on any Exalt type, esspecially as this was originally envisioned as an all-Solar game. I would encourage anyone that is largely unfamiliar with the setting to play a Solar (or be talked into something else by myself) as you really can't go wrong with them, they're the most powerful Exalts in the setting, and they've got a lot going for them (they're my favorites :P).
So far the line-up looks something like this:
Solar - Adam (Dawn Caste)
Abyssal - Cheyne (Moonshadow Caste)
Lunar - Paul (unknown; probably even by him)
Dragonblooded - Possibly Thael (anyone playing 'Dragonblooded' will get two characters as an experimental compromise to compensate for power differences)
I am perfectly content to have doubling up on any Exalt type, esspecially as this was originally envisioned as an all-Solar game. I would encourage anyone that is largely unfamiliar with the setting to play a Solar (or be talked into something else by myself) as you really can't go wrong with them, they're the most powerful Exalts in the setting, and they've got a lot going for them (they're my favorites :P).
yeah I will be trying to make a pair of dragon-blooded... I like the elemental feel of them and as much as I want to like the idea of playing a lunar they just dont make me want to... should the experiment fail I will swtich to a solar most likely... I think cheyne is stretching the limits on playing a non-evil/destroyer of worlds abyssal and a second would be too much... but I am sure I can have fun either way...
likely going to make one an immaculate arts - Wood (seems pretty cool) and want to play around with sorcery for the second but I am going to have to go over the spells available first... some in 1st circle are hard to use (not counting casting difficulties for all spells) like the obsidian butterflies that hit all targets in area... fireball in the back anyone?? but I am reading and thinking... more later... what is your advice Steven on the various sources of dragon-blooded (dynast, lookshi, outcaste)... suggestions are welcome from anyone who read the relevant books...
likely going to make one an immaculate arts - Wood (seems pretty cool) and want to play around with sorcery for the second but I am going to have to go over the spells available first... some in 1st circle are hard to use (not counting casting difficulties for all spells) like the obsidian butterflies that hit all targets in area... fireball in the back anyone?? but I am reading and thinking... more later... what is your advice Steven on the various sources of dragon-blooded (dynast, lookshi, outcaste)... suggestions are welcome from anyone who read the relevant books...
That which is not dead can eternal lie and with strange eons even death may die
My Color is Blue
I value Knowledge, logic, and deceit. I love to pursue wisdom but also to manipulate and deceive. At my best, I am brilliant and progressive. At my worst, I am treacherous and cold. My symbol is a water droplet. My enemies are green and red.
My Color is Blue
I value Knowledge, logic, and deceit. I love to pursue wisdom but also to manipulate and deceive. At my best, I am brilliant and progressive. At my worst, I am treacherous and cold. My symbol is a water droplet. My enemies are green and red.
Dynasts are certainly the best off of any of the Dragonblooded, but they may also be difficult to integrate into an otherwise-Celestial party, since they're, you know, conditioned from birth to think of them as Evil Incarnate™. That said, opinions can change when given sufficient evidence to do so, and a lot of dynastic Houses are adopting people from the outside to bolster their numbers (particularly the Tepet).
Edit: Lookshy is another option, they're a bit more open minded about Celestial Exalts than the Dynasts might be, though they don't really have access to the Immaculate Martial Arts styles and pay more for the Breeding background.
As far as Immaculate Styles, they're all pretty awesome, and I highly recommend at least one of yours using them, because they're so cool. Personally, I'm rather fond of Earth Dragon Style, but I'm fond of the Earth Aspect in general, which biases me. Others that are neat are both Air and Wood, both of which can get ranged attacks. Wood also has some highly coveted instant regeneration charms - very very hard to get in the Exalted setting.
Dragonblooded are only so-so at Sorcery. They only have access to the Terrestrial Circle, whereas all of the Celestial Exalts have access to the Celestial Circle of sorcery as well (Solars additionally have access to Solar Circle Sorcery). Their effectiveness within the Terrestrial Circle is roughly the same as everyone else, but do note that they tend to have a smaller essence pool to draw on for casting that other Exalts do. This can be mitigated somewhat with a high Breeding, but not a ton. If you're interested in seeing a lot of different spells, I'd highly recommend checking out the White Treatise, which has the majority of spells currently in print. (Cheyne may want to check out the Black Treatise which has all but 2 Necromancy spells that I am aware of that are currently in print (the other 2 are in the Abyssals book))
Edit: Lookshy is another option, they're a bit more open minded about Celestial Exalts than the Dynasts might be, though they don't really have access to the Immaculate Martial Arts styles and pay more for the Breeding background.
As far as Immaculate Styles, they're all pretty awesome, and I highly recommend at least one of yours using them, because they're so cool. Personally, I'm rather fond of Earth Dragon Style, but I'm fond of the Earth Aspect in general, which biases me. Others that are neat are both Air and Wood, both of which can get ranged attacks. Wood also has some highly coveted instant regeneration charms - very very hard to get in the Exalted setting.
Dragonblooded are only so-so at Sorcery. They only have access to the Terrestrial Circle, whereas all of the Celestial Exalts have access to the Celestial Circle of sorcery as well (Solars additionally have access to Solar Circle Sorcery). Their effectiveness within the Terrestrial Circle is roughly the same as everyone else, but do note that they tend to have a smaller essence pool to draw on for casting that other Exalts do. This can be mitigated somewhat with a high Breeding, but not a ton. If you're interested in seeing a lot of different spells, I'd highly recommend checking out the White Treatise, which has the majority of spells currently in print. (Cheyne may want to check out the Black Treatise which has all but 2 Necromancy spells that I am aware of that are currently in print (the other 2 are in the Abyssals book))
Other notes, I'm going to be implimenting some House Rules that have been suggested from various forum sites, as I can see a lot of them fixing things that are currently broken with Exalted's mechanics. One of these things will make Familiar a more viable background, others are aimed at making Social Combat less clunky, or fixing certain parts of the mechanics of the game that just feel wrong to me. I'll be making a wiki post that has all of this and either links or wholesale copy/pastes of the relevent material.
In other news, Cheyne, have you come up with a neat title for your Abyssal yet? She doesn't get to have a name :P
In other news, Cheyne, have you come up with a neat title for your Abyssal yet? She doesn't get to have a name :P
I had a wonderful House Rule wiki page ready and then it got eaten. I guess i should save to a text file or something more often. Stupid time-outs. I'll recreate it when I get home. Most of the changes so far are going to be to the Familiar background and to the soak charms in the Solar Resistance tree (to improve them, because they suck compared to everyone else's). We'll all be using all official errata unless I find something I don't like. I'll post a link to it in the wiki as well.
I'll note that Deadly Beastman Transformation allows for some spirit-shape appropriate mutations for free, and Hybrid Body Rearrangement can allow some based on Heart's Blood shapes you know.
If you just wanted to be a terribly warped individual, sure, you can have them. Keep in mind that they'll show up in pretty much every form.
I'm making a wiki page with a list of all of the positive Wyld Mutations I could find. If you want negative ones, feel free to take them, but consult me first, just so I know. Also, remember that when it comes up in game, "I told you so." :D
If you just wanted to be a terribly warped individual, sure, you can have them. Keep in mind that they'll show up in pretty much every form.
I'm making a wiki page with a list of all of the positive Wyld Mutations I could find. If you want negative ones, feel free to take them, but consult me first, just so I know. Also, remember that when it comes up in game, "I told you so." :D
"I told you so." is noted. I am reading the Lunar book and coming up with possible ideas as I go, so me picking up mutations is not a definite, however it fits with the tentative story line that I am coming up with. Essentially I am thinking of playing a young man in a nomadic tribe, whose tribe was the victim to a Wyld raid (I forgot the name of the masters in the Wyld). The orchestrators captured me because I was the strongest and they wanted to experiment on me (this is before I Exalted). The purpose of these experiments was to see if they could warp a human enough that they would serve them...essentially create their own warriors or even Exalted (like I said tentative, correct anything that could not or would not happen). After months of being their guinea pig and captive they had warped me enough that they thought that I was ready for the final stage, as I was surrounded by them I took my Second Breath and escaped but not unscathed.
Works for me. Do note that there is a limit listed somewhere for how mutated you can be before you're no longer able to survive in creation. Passing that limit also disqualifies you for Exaltation, as you're no longer sufficiently human. I think it may be in the Wyld book. I'll look around to see if I can find it (probably tomorrow though, its getting late)