Exalted!

...Hi. Um, I'm kind of new to the game — I got the rulebooks for Exalted 2nd edition a few weeks back so I could participate in an online Exalted game. My plan for the character I was going to play as involved that the character was a sorceror. Unfortunately, the Terrestrial Circle Sorcery charm only says that you can perform said magic — and then mentions training and experience needed to cast the spells, and doesn't mention how many spells someone with the charm can access. Is there something I'm missing here?

Taking Terrestrial Circle Sorcery doesn't directly give you any spells. It unlocks the ability to purchase spells at the same cost as an Occult Charm, but you can have the Charm and not actually know any spells.

Also, welcome to Creation, here's your shovel.

Okay, that makes a lot more sense now. Thanks.

Immediate recommendation to download the scroll of Errata [1] (Safe, free, direct download link) and use it's changes in the campaign. Exalted as (mechanically) proposed in 2e is fairly flawed, and the scroll is a list of "official" fixes.

Oh, also welcome to the community/fandom. Share your stories and questions with us!

(I'm currently G Ming two Exalted campaigns, and am a player in one that's in hiatus.)

edited 23rd Apr '15 9:34:16 PM by DrTentacles

Welcome to the Exalted thread. We are currently playing a game called "waiting for third edition", the only experience more drawn-out and painful than paranoia combat. I am the resident Shards of the Exalted Dream obsessive, because alternative settings are cool.

AW DOG SHARDS OF THE EXALTED DREAM

Also playing the "Wait for Third Edition" game...

I love exalted. While the system wasn't entirely perfect (what is, though? And hopefully 3rd ed will fix it), I love the world. I loved that even though it was A World Half Full, you could make the world better by punching out Cthulu and being Awesome. And not only could you do that, it was basically (as a solar, at least) your mandate. I also like that a lot of the characters were pretty grey. The Dragon Blooded and Sidereals, while probably responsible for a lot of underserved death were desperately trying to keep the world together, and most of them believed that they were doing what they had to do. And yeah, there were some bad people, but they seemed like a lot of them had FreudianExcuses (the Abyssals and Infernals have tragedy in their background by necessity), or were basically forces of nature with Blue-and-Orange Morality. And while your allies were grey as well, you could always choose to be completely badass Ideal Hero and show everyone a better way.

... Maybe my experiences are skewed by the fact that I played a relatively idealistic Solar with Compassion 5 (and Conviction 3, and Valor 3), who liked telling the setting Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!, and being virtuous. She's definitely one of my favorite characters. She was somewhat of a Reluctant Warrior, despite being a Dawn caste (and a soldier—she had been doing the Reluctant Warrior thing for a while, even before exalting), and the Naïve Newcomer to the world of exalts, being the only one of the PCs to have lived a normal mortal life before exalting. She was definitely The Conscience in the PCs (The Conscience is kind of the trope I play the most, even when I don't try to). The other PCs were Midnight Caste Goth Loli Abyssal of the Bishop's court, who eventually started her quest for redemption; a former Bronze Faction Sidereal who used to "write obituaries" for people who hadn't died yet; a Twilight Artificer/Sorcerer who had Lore: Demon Culture on his actual character sheet, (as well as a few others that came an went, including an Alchemial, another Sidereal, an Eclipse, and a Lunar and Solar pair). While Rebecca wasn't the most powerful of the party, she was the person who kept them all from jumping off the cliff and doing bad things (to the point that the bad guys decided to try and target her to disrupt the party, as we had kind of a reputation for infernal killing at that point).

Have a great day everyone!

*glances at Maiden of the Mirthless Smile*

*glances at Gyrfalcon*

Well, maybe not necessity.

Exalted is, like Warhammer 40k, exactly as dark as you take it seriously.

Which is entirely fine with me.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

...Hey, me again. Kind of ditched the sorcerer concept due to many flaws (and we haven't even started the game yet -__-'), and now I'm trying to make a Lunar. Who's kind of a stealthy assassin. Unfortunately, I cannot seem to decide whether to have him be a No Moon or a Full Moon. Any advice?

Depends on the methodology they use. A No Moon assassin is the type to set up clever traps and ambushes, a Full Moon is the type to sneak past all defenses using their inhuman grace. What's your dude's go-to method for making a guy dead?

Bah, sneaky ninja assassins are lame. The cool assassins are the ones that just kill everyone between them and the target. And then kill the target too. And then kill everyone between the dead target and "away".

Who needs stealth when you have VIOLENCE?

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

He stalks the enemy in whatever form helps keep him from being noticed or thought of as suspicious. Once he's alone with the target and they lower their guard, he uses the element of surprise to catch them off guard and take them down.

So... Probably Full Moon, right?

Sounds Full Moon to me.

The smart assassins only kill the target, and then get paid more later to kill the guys that were between them and the target and/or away.

Why be smart when you can have fun, instead?

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

Well I glad to hear somebody else follows the same philosophy I employed in my Black Flag playthrough

And on topic: look at what supplemental stuff you want. Exalted characters aren't one trick ponies. Personally I'd go with No Moon due to having both Wits and Perception (grabbing Dex to favour)

Because the money you get from not killing people for free can be spent on fun things, so you can still have fun while you're not on the clock.

I would actually call that a Changing Moon assassin - conning your way into the enemy's location in disguise, stabbing them, and then shifting disguise if you're in danger of getting caught.

You probably want Changing Mood for the anima power, with dex as your favored attribute. The ability to disguise yourself as a random human as a base ability, without the need for sacred-hunt setup, is a godsend for an assassin.

Changing moon attributes are also good for various disguise abilities.

I will note, as a Lunar, you're going to need a lot of attributes.

Your combat tricks come out dexterity. The human-form shapechanging is stamina and wits. You want appearance for disguise, and wits for your stealth charms.

Basic other lunar advice:

Have a flight form, a stealth form, a "carrying shit" form, and an aquatic form.

edited 13th May '15 4:11:19 PM by DrTentacles

Guys, is there a release date for 3e?

Did you see this thread explode into excitement like a litter of puppies on a liter of caffeine? Then no.

And it won't have a release date until it becomes "right now".

Nope. It's in initial layout as of last update, which I understand means it'll be months yet before we see it.

Okay, guess I'm sticking with 2e.

Also, would a game featuring an Indiana Jones-style search for lost treasure work?

Absolutely. Just be creative and varied with the traps, journeys, and types of Mc Guffins offered.

Okay.

Two questions.

First off, what should I keep in mind when running an Exalted game?

Second, should they be looking for First Age artifacts or something else?