Ok, admittedly I'm terribly biased since I did both the Merits and
Flaws and God-Blooded chapters, but I think I will comment here.
God-Blooded have 5 core heritages, of which the Half-Caste are broken
into sub-Heritages. No, you don't get a mix... ever. You're only ever
one type of heritage, and there is a system in the book to help you
figure out which one you are if mommy and daddy are different
species. I didn't want another "Abomination" situation.
With that cleared up, let's look at the supposed misnomer of
the "Exalted Players Guide." First, this *is* a book for Exalted the
game, even if only a single chapter is directly for the Exalted as
beings. Yes, the Exalted are the center stage, but that's why they
have 5 hardbacks so far. In this case, the Exalted PG is precisely
what most WW PGs have been: a grab-bag of the extras that didn't fit
into the corebook and all the other playable critters somewhere
beween mortal and demigod.
So you have Merits and Flaws. Well, some of the old and expected
traits from the World of Darkness are there, though the mechanics are
generally different. In general, you'll see a lot more variable point
traits that are extremely customizable instead of fixed costs. I like
options. I like them a lot. The other thing you won't see are Traits
that can be simulated with other Traits (at least not very many).
You'll see Merits that modify or expand Traits and many, many ways to
customize your character. The other thing you'll see is my big bold
caveat that Storytellers don't have to allow any Trait or combination
of Traits they don't want to. The system CAN be abused, but I spell
out pretty clearly that the Storyteller has to police that. Players
can't just point to the book and say "I want that because it's
there." Not a chance. If these optional rules tweaks break your game,
it's your fault. A great number of Merits and Flaws are totally over
the top in true Exalted fashion.
But then there are the god-blooded. Well, as one person noted, unless
you're a scholar, you probably don't divide the heritages out. You
just say, "Magical parents, eh? So you're a god-blood, ok." But why
so many? Well, besides the fact that they actually have different
powers but remain about the same in power, thematically they're
pretty different.
In general, Ghost-Blooded are tragic and angsty. Many of the half-
dead are suicide commandos and spies for their undead ninja clan
families, the eyes and hands of the honored ancestors. It's a pyramid
scheme of sorts, since Grandfather is already dead and he isn't going
anywhere, so every generation adds another tier. It's the mafia with
Arcanoi. Or maybe you're a deathknight's squire or a Deathlord's deep
cover operative or maybe daddy still loved mommy after he died and
you're the product of a creepy romance. Think Ghost if Demi's
character found out she was pregnant at the end. Or hell, maybe it's
creepy comedy with the Adams Family.
Contrast this gloom with a minor elemental God-Blood. Yeah, daddy
dallied with a dryad and I'm the local hero. My mother... well, not
my real mother, but the woman who raised me... she doesn't like me so
much, but that's ok. I get along with my half-siblings just fine and
I'm tough as an oak. I stopped the brigands. It was great.
You'll see more when you read the book and I don't want to give too
much away, but there are reasons for dividing them and there is a lot
that is both crunchy and delicious about this book. Also, and I can't
stress this enough, the Dragon Kings rock my world. I'm in awe. I
love them. I'm having a lizard love affair every time I read it. I
hope you like this book, but more importantly, I hope you give it a
chance. I'm a big fan. We all are. We don't want to ruin Exalted, but
options are what gaming is all about.
For a Solar or an Abyssal such as yourself, at least.
