Forked Thread: Tell me about Exalted

[Jürgen Hubert]

Does it have modules or adventure paths? Having burnt out once making everything from scratch, I'm reluctant to even think about a system without that kind of DM support.

There are a couple of adventures out there... but really, Solar Exalted PCs are so ridiculously powerful that they will curb-stomp any attempts at directing the plot for them into submission.

In D&D, it's fairly easy to entice the PCs with large sums of money. In Exalted, money loses some of its luster when the most charismatic member of the party can just go to the ruler of the next city-state and get him to hand over his treasury "out of his own free will".

So ultimately, all adventures have to be customized heavily for the party. Ultimately, it's up to the players to come up with sufficiently epic goals for their PCs (fortunately, this is an intrinsic part of character creation...), and then the GM has to figure out what kind of opposition will be in their way.

 

[Iron Sky]

We've played three Exalted campaigns of varying lengths, two 1st edition, one 2nd edition.

The first involved the a Realm noble, Ryshan of the house Kashak, who had been exiled to the Wyld Hunt (the Realm's monster and Exalt hunters - same thing since the Realm pretty much considers non-Dragon Blooded Exalts monsters). Needless to say, for a mortal, the job is exceedingly dangerous.

During a hunt for a Solar Exalted known as the Great Bear, Ryshan himself Exalted (became a Solar, the most powerful of the Exalts). He then slew the rest of the Wyld Hunt in self defense and fled. Along the way, he met Zeke the Redcoat, a Solar Pirate who was far inland for some reason I never learned.

After boarding a three-decked river barge, we inadvertantly sailed through a Shadowland, areas that during the day are part of Creation, at night are gateways to the Underworld. There, we got the attention of an Abyssal, the perverted Underwold versions of Solars, who used a charm that killed any mortals that fell asleep and were attacked by zombies that came in through the bottom of the ship.

After fighting off a few waves, we boarded off the bottom of the ship to hold the rest of the horde and went top side, only to face the Abyssal's pet River Dragon, a giant dragon-snake. After an epic fight that killed half the remaining mortal crew and destroyed half the top deck of the ship, we killed it. Then the Abyssal himself leapt onto the ship and dropped Zeke with a single blow from his Soulsteel (steel forged from shackled souls deep in the Underworld) daiklave (swords so big that most mortals can't lift them much less wield them).

The fight between Ryshan and the Abyssal destroyed most of the ship, ending with Ryshan, almost out of essense and bloodied, kneeling before the Abyssal. Confidant he had won, the Abyssal lowered his defenses (and released his bone-armor charm that had turned his skeleton into and essense-hardened exoskeleton). Ryshan threw every last bit of essense and will into a single blow that caught the Abyssal off guard and cut him in half.

Ryshan threw the Abyssal's abomination of a sword into the river, grabbed Zeke, and headed onward on foot, hoping he'd walk out into Creation and not farther into the Underworld.

The campaign lasted for another year, ending with Ryshan proclaiming himself the Phoenix, bringer of a 4th age, ruled again by Solars, and creating a city in the Scavenger Lands known as the Citadel of Ten Thousand Spirits and slowly conquering his neighbors while Zeke ruled the seas, even starting hit-and-run raids on the Realm itself.

Unfortunately, he, Zeek, and all the others were each caught alone by the most elite agents of the Realm's Wyld Hunt - the Immaculate Martial Artists - and killed. Some died in epic battles, others were assassinated alone, but eventually all were taken down due to our hubris in thinking we were better than the Realm and beyond the reach of the Wyld Hunt.


Game two was the wandering adventures of Shaen Jan'Gallows, a Night-caste swordsman who didn't realize he was a Solar - just thought he was a mortal badass so good he didn't even need armor - and his companion Eben, a slightly Wyld-mutated giant of a man who walked around in Orachalicum Heavy Plate (imagine a golden suit of anime-style power-armor powered by essense rather than technology) who distained weapons and beat everything down with his fists and bulk.

It was a cool contrast, Shaen small, light, fast, unarmored, and Eben, huge, lumbering, armored like a tank. Shaen was so fast and skilled he was almost impossible to hit, but when something did, he dropped. Eben didn't even try to dodge, just taking the hits and wearing the enemy down through armor and toughness. That game ended due to our Storyteller getting burned out (only 2 players without alot of motivation made it hard on him).


Last game was the first I ran and was 2nd edition. It started out fun, the group trying to save their city from attack by a Wyld Barbarian army led by Fey Nobles, but eventually the 2nd edition rules killed it for me - well, that and my girlfriend at the time not getting the rules and my attempts to teach her turning into fights

Between "social combat," diplomacy ability rules not being in the book, static defenses, the "tick" combat system, integrated power-combat rules that were optional in an add-on book in 1st edition, and the "auto-Immune" Zenith party caste ability - not to mention not one of my players ever really got how the "third excellency" rules worked... bleh. The only real improvements I saw in 2nd edition was the more consistant art, cool comics, the increased usefulness of non-combat charms, and the slightly better book-binding (1st edition books' spines just came apart).

So, overall, 1st edition Exalted has one of my favorite rulesets and settings in one package. I'd recommend it to just about anyone. 2nd edition might not be so bad if you've never played 1st edition. For us though, when we get the hankering for some Exalted, we go to our beaten-and-tattered 1st edition books while the 2nd edition book collects dust on the shelf.

 

[RandomCitizenX]

My brief experience with Exalted has led me to believe that ultimately it is a game that requires the PC's to be proactive. The setting and scope of the PC's powers mean that there is very little of the traditional "we kill things to get rich" going on. If you have a party that has very entwined motivations (are at least parallel ones) it makes it much easier to set everything up, and their motivations will practically write the scenario for you (well the basics at least.)

 

[jdsivyer]

In flavor and style its not remotely close to a D&D game. The players, even as starting characters, can take out a squad of city guard. But the antagonists Abyssals, Fae, Dragon-Blooded and even their fellow "heroes" (Sid's and Lunars) are more than up to the challenge.

Can you be a little more specific about what you want to know?

I'm guess what I'd really like to know is what experience people have had with it, how it runs, and what they thought of the mechanics and the setting. There's been some good comments here so far, but more opinions are always appreciated

 

[Rechan]

I'm guess what I'd really like to know is what experience people have had with it, how it runs, and what they thought of the mechanics and the setting. There's been some good comments here so far, but more opinions are always appreciated

I personally adore the setting.

If you've played WoD, then you have an IDEA of the mechanics: Roll d10s, you have a POOL of dice (usually Stat+Skill). It's wholly possible to wind up rolling nine or ten d10s for an action.

Damage is a very dangerous thing; if you get hit, you now take a -1 on all your rolls. If you take some more (depending on how many boxes you have), you now have -2 on all your rolls. So, getting hit is a very scary thing, it results in a downward spiral.

The intricacies of the system, I can't really speak of. It's been a long time since I played, and I forgot all the ins and outs. Also, I played online, with a program that specifically counted the successes/failures of dice rolls.

However, I would agree that when you get very very powerful, combat that's just straight up is a very big slowdown. At that point, you should save combat for the climax of an adventure, a real big showdown, whathaveyou.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I'm guess what I'd really like to know is what experience people have had with it, how it runs, and what they thought of the mechanics and the setting. There's been some good comments here so far, but more opinions are always appreciated

It's a fun system that, unlike many other games, really allows the PCs to follow their own ambitions, no matter how over-the-top they might be. But you have to work to make sure that each PC gets his own "spotlight time". Solar PCs may complement each other as members of a Circle, but it's rather easy for each of them to go on solo adventures without the aid of their comrades.

 

[Khairn]

I'm guess what I'd really like to know is what experience people have had with it, how it runs, and what they thought of the mechanics and the setting. There's been some good comments here so far, but more opinions are always appreciated

As Jurgen mentioned above, the game (setting & system) enables the players to really follow their own ambitions. And I think that's a key element in the game.

Due to the power and scope of the Solar characters (or Dragon Blooded, or Lunars, or Sidereals, or Abyssals etc) I've personally found Exalted to be a game where the GM will have a hard time "rail-roading" a story. Not that it can't be done, rather that the best games are where its not done. In my experience really great games take place when the players drive the story with their goals and motivations, while the ST takes on the job fleshing out where the PC's are going. From the ST's perspective that often feels like herding cats, but the stories can truly be described as being epic.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

I'll note that what I've seen of the Quickstart rules doesn't even scratch the surface of the rules you get in the books. The quickstart rules are _much_ lighter it seems.

A lot of the crunch in Exalted seems to come from their charms and stuff. If you groove on the whole optimizing thing and like figuring your feat chains and stuff in D&D/d20, then Exalted should be a pretty good match for you in terms of system. I personally loathe it.

But the setting seems darn nifty.

I would _really_ suggest looking through a book physically. Some people really dislike the art ("It's too anime!!), some people really dislike the system ("It's too crunchy and fiddly!!") and some people just don't like the setting (too anime or too high powered or too whatever).

I personally happen to find D&D to have too many fiddly rules, so Exalted is way over for my tastes in terms of system.

I say you should check it out and see what you think. If the setting grabs you but the system doesn't, you can always pick up a book or two and simply convert it to run a different system. Either Your Favorite System, or even the pretty good system they've got in the Quickstart rules.

Online at least, Exalted seems to be one of those "touchstone" games that people like to convert to other systems for a variety of reasons. Kinda like Star Wars.

 

[TerraDave]

The setting for Exalted is very well detailed and also very interesting...... The rules of Exalted are so bad and damaged that the game is almost unplayable without houserules.

So typical WW/WoD then?

 

[Staffan]

If you've played WoD, then you have an IDEA of the mechanics: Roll d10s, you have a POOL of dice (usually Stat+Skill). It's wholly possible to wind up rolling nine or ten d10s for an action.

Nine or ten? Try 20+ for a maxed-out starting character who really wants to succeed at something (5 stat + 5 skill + 10 from the Excellency charm, plus possibly up to 3 from specialization and maybe some other modifiers like weapon accuracy).

Unlike older versions of the Storyteller system, the target number for those dice is a constant 7 (unless messed about with by one of the Exalted types, whose schtick is to mess about with fate), with 10s counting double (which means that you get on average ½ success per die). If something is more difficult, that's represented either by losing dice (for things that make you less capable, like being wounded) or requiring more successes (for things that are more difficult in and of themselves).

The Excellency thing mentioned above might need some explanation. The game has 25 different skills, each of which has a set of Charms attached to it (magical abilities linked to the skill). These charms are mostly different from one skill to another (Melee charms make you do more damage, get extra parries, counterattacks, and summon weapons; Presence charms lets you impress, persuade, or scare people; Bureaucracy charms let you speed up or slow down organizations or make stellar trade deals), but all share a couple of basic charms called Excellencies. There are three of those, which are independent of one another (you don't need the First excellency to take the Second excellency). One lets you add dice to a roll, the second lets you add successes directly, and the third lets you reroll and take the best.

As to the differences between first and second edition, they each have their weaknesses. There was some skill reorganization in 2nd ed, such as merging Brawl and Martial Arts (both are about unarmed combat, and differed only in what charms were available) and adding the War skill (about mass combat, which is quite appropriate for a game where you're playing a potential God-King). They also cleaned up some stuff from the previous edition, like the spells.

On the other hand, the combat system went from a turn-based system to a "tick-based" one. Each tick is approximately one second long, and performing an action takes a certain amount of ticks. But you can also perform a "flurry", combining multiple actions into one (and take a penalty for it). This leads to a system that feels like it discourages posing and dialogue and such - in a nebulous "round", it's easier to include those than in a system that takes each second into account. It also leads to an odd quirk where weapons have two stats measuring how fast you can swing them: "Rate" which says how many attacks you can make in a flurry, and "Speed" which says how many ticks attacking takes.

The new combat system isn't all bad though. One of the advantages was adding passive defense. In 1st edition, you had to spend actions on actively dodging or parrying attacks made against you. This lead to some weirdness based on the way actions were declared ("OK, I'll attack him once and use two actions for parries." - "Hah, then I'll parry once and attack you three times!". Now, parrying and dodging and stuff is just assumed, although the defensive value is lowered the more attacks you make.