The UnEarthing - Mechanics

Gaming Basics


Important Rules of Exalted




  1. Have Fun
  2. If you don’t like it, change it


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 separately 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


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.


 


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R-jxgQMxDaWGQvbZB6pDfpFjwR2R9zH6DOvXizc9ovw/edit?usp=sharing
 
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