How to make D&D more like Exalted?

[LoneWolf23]

I keep hearing about how cool Exalted is on some boards and while I'm not planning on buying the game (for reasons of budget and a group that favors D&D), I am curious about how to adapt my group's favored game to better simulate the flavor of Exalted, which many seam to agree is "Pure Cool".

Here are some of the ideas I already had: -Getting rid of the Battlemap and make movement much more abstract, using description and Ranges to define movement.
-Using the Reserve Points alternate rules from Unearthed Arcana, which basically gives character a double set of HP, though the reserve points don't recover as quickly. Either that or the Vitality/Wound Point system.
-Action Points. Lots of Action Points. Heck, I'm thinking of giving them freely to players who describe their actions creatively. Or adapting the Hero Points mechanic from Mutants and Masterminds instead.
-I'll need some sort of "Stunt" mechanic, perhaps a "Bonus for Creative Description" system... But not something overwhelming, so as not to be unfair to players with a bit less imagination.

Any other advice on how I could better create a dramatic, cinematic "Exalted-esque" action flavor in D&D?

 

[Nifft]

Stunts -- Use the "DM's Best Friend": +2. Simply be liberal in what grants a +2 bonus.

VP/WP -- Fatigue and Exhaustion model the Exalted "penalty when hurt" mechanic.

Action Points -- These are somewhat like Willpower. Allow one to regenerate per session, and grant bonus ones for whatever you like -- IMC, I give away Action Points for writing journal entries, making maps of stuff, giving me good NPCs to use for plot hooks, etc.

Extras -- Ignore that whole CR thingy. BBEGs should have decent CRs, but everyone else is a low-level NPC-class mook. Orcs shouldn't have Barbarian levels (unless they're the BBEG or his Trusted Lieutenant), Goblins shouldn't be Rogues.


Or...

Play Exalted -- it's a great game, and will give you the "feel" of itself far better than D&D could. IMHO, they're very different games, and both very fun. I'm a DM of D&D and a player in Exalted. Both systems rock.

One very nice thing about Exalted is that you can actually play it straight from one book. Your GM may want another copy, but seriously -- once player creation is done, you won't keep having to look stuff up in the book all the time. There are a lot of other supplimentary books out there, but you don't need them to start. One or two copies of one Core book for 5 people is reasonable. It's not as pricey as D&D -- well, it doesn't have to be as pricey, though you can certainly spend a lot if you choose.

All in all, do your self a favor and seriously consider picking up the Core Exalted book.

-- N

 

[mr_outsidevoice]

If you have access to the Spycraft system, action dice are great. They also use critical success and failure on skill rolls.
Vitality and wounds are good, especially if you make sure NPC classes don't gain vitality. It will set the PC's and certain NPCs well above the masses, emphasizing their heroic(or villianous) natures.

 

[DanMcS]

-Action Points. Lots of Action Points. Heck, I'm thinking of giving them freely to players who describe their actions creatively. Or adapting the Hero Points mechanic from Mutants and Masterminds instead.
-I'll need some sort of "Stunt" mechanic, perhaps a "Bonus for Creative Description" system... But not something overwhelming, so as not to be unfair to players with a bit less imagination.

Combine those two. Action points are d6s. They are awarded for good stunting. Describing well gets you a d6, describing well involving the environment gets 2d6, and an ultra-wow action gets 3d6, these should be really rare. Most people that try should get the d6.

 

[PennStud77]

Exalted's stunt bonuses are 3 levels, just as DanMcS mentioned. The first level is just a bonus, and IIRC, levels 2 and 3 let you regain some a willpower score that is specific to the WhiteWolf system. One of the reasons that my gaming group went back to D&D after a few sessions of Exalted was the supreme simplicity of d20. I like the simplicity of Spycraft's Action Dice, also, so DanMcS' suggestion of straight 1,2,3d6 is a very good one IMHO. You do miss the regaining willpower of the higher levels, though I can't think of what would accurately replace that.

As for the difference between the levels, I do recall Exalted's explanation being simply that a good description (which should be fairly commonly awarded) is a 1d6, a description that interacts with other and/or the environment grants the next level 2d6, and the 3d6 level is when your stunt makes all the players stop and say "Wow".

Now, the thing that I REALLY liked about the Spycraft Action Dice system was criticals. A critical threat is not activated by a second to-hit roll, but by spending an Action Die [you can also activate NPC errors]. This allows you to control when the really cool stuff (a critical success) happens [also, every time you get an Action Die, so does the DM, which he uses to activate your errors, as well as NPC critical threats], instead of crit-ing the minions all the time and rarely doing it against the BBEGs, which is how it usually ends up IMXP. In this variant, you would have to give the d6s as separate entities (pennies, poker chips, etc.) that can be stored instead of an automatic bonus. Just an option.