Exalted d20?

[Corinth]

A d20 version of Exalted ought to work from this intention: lay a solid foundation for Heroic Mortal gameplay first. Exaltation shall consist of taking a Heroic Mortal character and overlaying an Exaltation Template upon that character. This template has the effect of making the Exalt character a Gestalt character, simultaneously developing his magical and mundane abilities.

A d20 version of Exalted should not be designed as if it were a third-party D&D supplement. It should be designed to be a stand-alone fantasy role-playing game, yet retain the fundamental mechanical concepts of the d20 System that makes it so user-friendly: the core resolution mechanic, the three Saving Throw categories and the six ability scores. Everything else is negotiable.

I agree with the suggestion of using the Damage Save mechanic, as expressed in both Mutants & Masterminds and Unearthed Arcana. That mechanic alone, if it's calibrated to be very harsh towards mortal characters and more merciful towards more magical characters, will go a long way towards realizing of the feel of Exalted's gameplay in a d20 context. There are other worthwhile considerations that ought to go into the development of a d20 version of Exalted, and I think that White Wolf Game Studio is well aware of that. Should they decide to go that way, I am confident that they will do a bang-up job of 'porting Exalted over.

 

[ThoughtBubble]

A d20 version of Exalted ought to work from this intention: lay a solid foundation for Heroic Mortal gameplay first. Exaltation shall consist of taking a Heroic Mortal character and overlaying an Exaltation Template upon that character. This template has the effect of making the Exalt character a Gestalt character, simultaneously developing his magical and mundane abilities.

AAAAH! My eyes! They're bleeding! Couldn't we define Exalts, and then slap a "sucks" template on them to make them mortal?

Actually, I kind of agree with the idea that, if they're going to do it, hope they do it right. The question is finding out what right is.

Funnily enough, here's a quote from a conversation I had just days ago. "Why the heck do they have to make D20 versions of everything? They take all the systems I like, and ruin them." The person in question hates D20 on expierence with D&D, and the notions he's absorbed from playing it.

For me, one of the best things about Exalted was the change in mindset that was brought to the table as soon as we switched to a 'storyteller' system.

 

[Grodd JoJoJo]

To be honest, I don't have ANY problems with the Storyteller mechanic - I enjoy playing the game as it is. I don't want to start a war, and I do resent the implication that I'm a dork who refuses to shift systems. That said, I guess I didn't make that absolutely clear to all concerned.

I presented this largely as a thought experiment. I never stated that I didn't care for the system - at least, I didn't intend to. However, I did state that my players don't like the shift - that's their problem, not mine.

 

[Grodd JoJoJo]

I forgot to add: I'd appreciate it if this discussion was more civil.

 

[Tsyr]

I would not want it. Exalted is one of those games where the rules and the flavor are so intermingled that to try to seperate either would create an abomination at worst, or something that was only superficialy like what you wanted at best.

 

[Tsyr]

And, I'm no D20 publisher, but I'm pretty sure BAB is INTEGRAL to conforming to the D20 stystem. Like, you can't not have it. It must be there. Along with the stats Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha, and no others... Of course, looking online for said assumption just turned up nothing of the sort. So, If you can change those sorts of things, and still run something as D20, then it wouldn't be too bad (except converting all the altered charms, and the relationships therin, and now back to my initial point).

It's kinda a gray area (Do you define them as character generation?), but I would say probably these can be changed.

And if not, you could always say all clases have a BAB of 0 permanently and offer other ways to increase it