Dice Trial by Fire - Exalted 2e OOC

[Red Shadow Claws]

Am here. Looking forward to grab some treats, so Sirocco can soon start her Sorcery trials.

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

So, I've totally forgotten what I wanted to do with this summoning. Anyone have ideas for me? Otherwise I think I'll try to set up a contract with them.

 

[Rykon]

Might as well start building an entourage of spirits. Never hurts to have a pocket full of angry critters to unleash on someone. Figuratively speaking.

Edit: Otherwise you could have them look for manses.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Set them as guardians
Bind one to serve you
Ask them questions
Send them to discover what's behind any of the locked doors
Send them to map out the underways

 

[Kalin Scarlet]

Set them as guardians
Bind one to serve you
Ask them questions
Send them to discover what's behind any of the locked doors
Send them to map out the underways

I love most of those.

 

[Rykon]

Here's some additional food for thought. Mechanically speaking, you have 2 options. Bind them as a servant for a time (limit is stated in the spell write up), or bind them to complete a task.

Depending on the help you're looking for, it's going to be generally more useful to have them as a servant unless you have one project in mind that could take a very long time.

Other ideas that came to mind would be keeping a spirit as a retainer or using them to build rapport with various elemental/territorial spirit courts. Usually, the big wigs of elementals will displace personal summons with a vassal of theirs. So, attempts at specific high-level summons are going to result in calling at least one of their vassals/subordinates most of the time.

Still, great way to make friends in various places if you treat your spirit buddies well. Also, most importantly, you can always conjure more.

 

[Rykon]

I didn't think it was possible to kick a door's ass but here we are. Nice roll.

 

[Sherwood]

I'll have an IC post up in a bit

 

[D. Rex]

Hey there! Been searching around for another dice rp and this one caugh my attention. Was wondering if it was open?

 

[Sherwood]

I can be persuaded to let you into this. What kind of character are you pondering? I'd also have to figure out how many points to start you out at.

 

[Rykon]

Happy to have you on board. My only big concern is for everyone already here getting a chance to do their thing. We do still have some notable gaps, so it shouldn't be a huge issue, other than maybe pacing.

Let me know if I can be of any help with character creation. I'm at my best in 2E Exalted.

 

[D. Rex]

Then I would need to be at the top of my persuasion game cause I have no idea what Exalted is



As for concept of char. I have some in mind, but I'm not sure yet. What is the story and setting? And what sort of character roles do you have in play? As I'm not adverse to filling in gaps. (I ask because the character sheets are currently untranslatable to me right now due to me not knowing anything about exalted)

Nor am I adverse to starting low level for sake of fairness.

 

[Rykon]

Spitballing Template: CharacterBrainstorm.xlsx

2.5E for the Curious and Insane (Solars)
An Exalted Guide by Rykon

Here's a quick reference for what points you get and how to use them. Errata included

Spoiler: Sherwood's Game Shortcut of Magic

Step 1. Concept
Pick a Name, Caste, Motivation, and Concept (this last one has no mechanical implications it just helps you commit to a theme)

Spoiler: Castes

Dawn-King Leonidas
Abilities: Archery. Martial Arts, Melee, Thrown, War
Zenith-Reverend Juggernaut
Abilities: Integrity, Performance, Presence, Resistance, Survival
Twilight-Nerds
Abilities: Craft, Investigation, Lore, Medicine, Occult
Night-Psychopaths
Abilities: Athletics, Awareness, Dodge, Larceny, Stealth
Eclipse-Nomadic Assholes
Abilities: Bureaucracy, Linguistics, Ride, Sail, Socialize

Step 2. Attributes
Allocate 8 points to a primary attribute group, 6 to a secondary attribute group, 4 to a tertiary attribute group. Each attribute starts at 1, you can raise them up to 5. Assume point spend is 1 for 1 unless specifically called out.

Spoiler: Groups

Physical-Strength, Dexterity, Stamina
Social-Charisma, Manipulation, Appearance
Mental-Perception, Intelligence, Wits

Step 3. Abilities
Pick 5 favored abilities that aren't your caste abilities. You get 28 points to allocate across all abilities, at least 10 must fit in caste and favored, each favored (not caste) must be at least 1. You can raise any ability up to 3 with this pool.

Spoiler: Abilities

Archery-Bows, Crossbows, and Flame Guns
Martial Arts-Fists and Exotic Weapons
Melee-Sword, Axe, Spear, Mace, etc.
Thrown-Knives, Rocks, Axes, so long as you physically throw it, it's valid
War-Tactics and Military Leadership

Integrity-Mental Fortitude and Resistance to Shaping Effects
Performance-Public Speaking, Music, Dancing, Acting
Presence-Persuasion and Deception
Resistance-Physical Fortitude
Survival-Tracking, Hunting, Foraging, Land Navigation

Craft-Save yourself the pain and move on
Investigation-Active Search, Profiling, Information Analysis
Lore-Nerd (at least one for literacy)
Medicine-First Aid
Occult-Spirit Nerd

Athletics-Balance, Jumping, Lifting, Speed
Awareness-Passive/Instant Notice
Dodge-...
Larceny-Pickpocketing, Lockpicking, Disguise, Sleight of Hand
Stealth-...

Bureaucracy-Office Nerd, Rich Asshole
Linguistic-Caligraphy/Penmanship, Number Languages Known +1
Ride-Horses, Carriages, Artifact Bikes, Clockwork Horses
Sail-Navigation in Sea or Sky, Driving anything that handles like a boat
Socialize-Manners, Reading People, Interacting with organized groups of people

Step 4. Advantages
You get 7 points to allocate in any background that isn't Artifacts or Manse (up to 3). You get 12 points to buy artifacts (up to 5), and 3 points for manses.

Spoiler: Backgrounds

Allies-I don't recommend opening this pandora's box, even for veterans
Backing-The prestige of your day job (should it come with perks)
Contacts-People you can lean on for favors and intel
Cult-Another settlement that needs your help
Followers-The settlement that gives you help
Familiar-Magic animal helper, I don't recommend this for beginners but it's doable
Influence-Fame and Political Importance
Face-Fame but specifically in Martial Arts
Resources-Money
Manse-Magic house that gives you FF7 stat buff materia...and I can't believe it's not mana regen
Artifacts-Magic items that either hurt people, provide damage resistance, or do cool shit generally speaking

You get 5 points to allocate among the four virtues. Each start at one.

Spoiler: Virtues

Compassion-Empathy. Low is Psychopath, High is Pacifist
Conviction-Give a damn factor, even in things that actually matter to you. Low is Lazy, High is Zealot
Temperance-Self Discipline. Low is Hedonist, High is Ascetic Prude
Valor-Ability to face fear and sense of honor. Low is Courage the Cowardly Dog, High is Achilles

Step 5. Finishing Touches
Your Essence starts at 2, unless you spend 7 bonus points to raise it to 3 (which I recommend you go ahead and do that right now even if you don't know what that means)

Your Willpower Maximum is 5, unless you spend bonus points to raise it. (it's 1 for 1, and it's a really useful resource to buy. This also increases your mental fortitude. I recommend spending 5 points right now to cap it to 10. Raising with XP will bankrupt your great grandchild's XP pool. This is a now or never type deal mathematically speaking if you have even a drop of munchkin in your blood. Dead serious.)

So again, I really, really recommend using 5 bp for willpower out the gate, before anything else, no questions asked. Essence you can probably buy level 3 with XP and take the level 4 freebie unless you really need Essence 3 for one of your 10 starting charms.

Spoiler

Spoiler: Mote Pool Calculations

Personal: Essence*3 + Willpower (If you trust me at my word on the two suggestions above this should be 19)
Peripheral: Essence*7+Willpower+The sum of your virtues (Again, if you took my advice, and also didn't add any additional points in virtues this should be 40)

Bonus Points
You get 18 of these. To save yourself XP slowdowns, I recommend making sure your Willpower, Abilities, and Attributes are where you want them for the foreseeable future.

For using Bonus Points...

Spoiler

Willpower costs 1/dot (and current rating x2 if you're buying with XP. so dot 6 is either 10xp or 1bp. 5bp gets you 70xp worth of Willpower)
Virtues cost 1/dot
Essence is 7/dot
Favored/Caste abilities are 1/dot
Other abilities are 2/dot
Favored/Caste specialties are 1 for 2 dots
Other specialties are 2 per dot
Backgrounds are 1/dot for dots 1-3, and 2/dot for dots 4 and 5 (obnoxious I know, we didn't write these rules)

Closing Considerations
Quick checklist of important things to remember.

Lore 1 is necessary for Literacy
Linguistics determines languages known
Awareness is used for avoiding surprise attacks(Perception Attribute) and rolling initiative(Wits Attribute). Don't dump this long-term without a way to negate surprise.
Make sure you have a way to boost your defenses with charms. This includes DV penalty negation (Melee/Dodge), Soak boost/perfect soak with free health levels (Resistance), Surprise Negation (Awareness/Dodge), Perfect Parry (Melee +some specific Martial Art styles), Perfect Dodge (I'm gonna let you guess where this one is.)

Kalin Scarlet this is what I have compiled to try and make things somewhat entertaining and less intimidating.

D. Rex this post has the character creation summary I wrote before. As for setting, you'd really just need to skim the earlier parts of the core book, which I reckon you'd also need.

If you're not horrified by skimming through the IC posts of this campaign, I can help you get past the initial learning curve over DMs if you want. Just let me know a rough idea of what concepts interest you most.

Party composition for reference:
Aredin Lentier: Up and coming emperor. Currently focused in swordsmanship and diplomacy.
Darian Lambert: Up and coming empress, high priestess, and esoteric martial artist with very keen senses.
Viktor Zeiss: Blacksmith, artificer, and sorcerer engineer.
Annika: Thief, spy, and assassin.
Pale Heaven's star "Heaven": Dedicated sorcerer and occultist
Seven Winged Sirocco: Shapeshifting warrior and body guard.

Hope all of that helps.

Edit: Biggest notable gaps are the abilities of War, Survival, and Medicine. Sail also is lacking but that's a bit of an odd one that'd really change the nature of this campaign if anyone wanted to make frequent use of it.

As for combat, there's probably a way to make any favored weapon / approach really effective with enough dedication.

 

[Sherwood]

First off, D. Rex any word on your character? I can assist you if it is needed.

Second, I have another Exalted game set in the heart of Autochthon that could use a few new players. If anyone is curious as to the setting or is interested in signing up, here is a link to the IC thread.

Inside the Great Maker - IC Thread

 

[Rykon]

I can give it a shot if you need another player, but I'd have a massive amount of reading to catch up on just to understand enough to figure out what I'd want to do.

If anyone else is particularly passionate about the splat, I'd rather them get first dibs here.

 

[D. Rex]

Terribly sorry! I made the mistake of closing the tab before responding and trusted myself to come back to it. The mistake being trusting my memory.

That said, I have been doing some reading of the exalted 2e pdf. So have familiarized myself SOME of it. To at least not only see gobbledygook when reading stuff.


To that end, I have prepared four loose character concepts. Each based on the gaps you mentioned.

Zedradon, the surgeon - An accomplished swordsman but even more accomplished surgeon. A highly compassionate individual who will help for only the price of asking. Wishes to end the systems of slavery, of which he knows intimately.


Oseidon, the general - Once a famed military general, who was known for wanting the best for his soldiers and the fair treatment of his enemies, was marked for death by the wyld hunt once exaltation reared it's pretty face. He saw the true colors of what he once fought for, and now seeks to bring about a peace to turbulent times.

Ragnar, the savage - A hulk of a man raised in the wilds. Born to a small tribe, he lost his family to the Wyld Hunt. With nothing but his herculean might and the toughness of his skin, he took to rage and swore to end the wyld hunt by any means necessary.

Edric, the sky pirate - A swashbuckling man of adventure, he believes the age has gone stale and holds little regard to the traditions of the world. Desires for freedom, and to liberate those who dont wish to be under the empires yoke, and Hope's to discover more wonders of greater ages so that they might come about again.

Do pardon if any one is unfeasible. And let me know which one you think would be most appropriate.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

I think each of them is feasible, and it should come down to which of them YOU want to play.

 

[D. Rex]

Yupperooni! And I made all of them to do just that. That I could have fun with. The latter three perhaps moreso than the first. Yes with the game have gone a ways, I'd figure I'd give the GM a chance to see which one he felt would fit best.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Sirocco would find Ragnar to be a closer kin than any of the others. But she can find her place with all of them.

 

[Psychie]

I personally like the sky pirate! Either that one, or the General. Those are my favs.

 

[Rykon]

I like Ragnar, but I'm also a Vikings fan, so bias noted. Also, bare-handed fighting is easily the most powerful option for Solars if you know what to grab. Since most of the baseline Melee kit has martial tags for martial arts, you can mix in just enough to have a good parry, excellent soak, and damage that rivals the grossly incandescent man himself. Alternatively, if you don't want anything in melee for concept reasons, Dodge is a perfectly good alternative for passive defense outside of soak monstering.

EDIT: Also, no reason Ragnar can't be good at war either for what it's worth. Oseidon, Ragnar, and Edric could all fit as a Dawn Caste if you want to go that route.

 

[Sherwood]

It all depends on what you would like. If you continue on the nation building path, you will need an army, and that calls for a general to make it happen. I like the sky pirate too, but I guess that's my adventurous side coming out.

That being said, I can handle any of the character ideas you have put forward.

 

[D. Rex]

I think I could indeed Ragnar in war. And given how i have him in mind. It could be pretty fun. A few tweaks here and there and it could work pretty easily.



I will go with Ragnar! But I got to ask. Is it possible to willpower a punch so hard it sends a goon to the sun?

 

[Rykon]

Sort of.

Spoiler: it's actually a counterattack throw

 

[D. Rex]

I like it.