Who else here plays Exalted?

[Crothian]

Such as?

d20

I've got some of the books and they are hit and miss. Nothing about the game has every grabbed me enough to want to run or play it.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

d20

I like d20 as much as the next guy, but at least in its standard D&D incarnation it gets much too unwieldly once you hit high level. Far too much stuff to keep track of. And thus, I prefer Exalted for my over-the-top gaming experiences - Solars start out as the equivalent of 10th level D&D characters and are rapidly reaching the "epic levels". You are supposed to be playing someone who can topple kingdoms and save the world from the very start.

I've got some of the books and they are hit and miss. Nothing about the game has every grabbed me enough to want to run or play it.

The stunting rules alone are gold. I mean, merely by being cool and a show-off you not only make your current action easier, you replenish your energy for future efforts.

D&D, on the other hand, is mostly concerned about keeping track of a variety of resources, not about being cool.

 

[Crothian]

D&D, on the other hand, is mostly concerned about keeping track of a variety of resources, not about being cool.

I don't need a game to include ways fto tell me my character to be cool. I make my character cool and show it. Its all in the way you run it.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I don't need a game to include ways fto tell me my character to be cool. I make my character cool and show it. Its all in the way you run it.

Yes, but how much do the rules support your character in being cool?

 

[Crothian]

Yes, but how much do the rules support your character in being cool?

cool and rules have nothing in common. Cool is style, rules are mechanics. I don't need or want the rules to tell me I'm cool, that's not what cool is.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

cool and rules have nothing in common. Cool is style, rules are mechanics. I don't need or want the rules to tell me I'm cool, that's not what cool is.

Player: "I want to get to get to the top of the cliff by jumping from one small precipice to another, brandishing my sword and screaming defiance at my mortal enemy above me!"

Exalted GM: "Hey, cool! Make a Dexterity + Acrobatics roll at Difficulty 4, and take a two dice stunt bonus while you are at it - two bonus dice to the roll, and two motes of Essence back to your pool for the great visual!"

D&D DM: "OK, let's assume for simplicity's sake that there are five precipies at a distance of 6 yards each. This is a High Jump, so the DC is 24 for the first jump and DC 48 for the remaining four because you no longer have a running start. Each jump is a move action, so you get to the top in the third rounds if you succeed with all the rolls and don't fall down in the meantime, in which case you have to start over..."


See the difference?

 

[Crothian]

See the difference?

Yes, I admiot the mechanics of the games are different. However, I faiul to see how one makes the character cooler then the other. In fact, its so easy to do that in Exalted I'd argue its a routinue manuveur, but in d20 that's an impressive feat. But again, cool does not enter into it. That is just reflecting the fact Exalted characters are a lot more powerful by designb then D&D charcaters. If that defines cool, the Nobolis characters must be cooler then Exalted characters.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Yes, I admiot the mechanics of the games are different. However, I faiul to see how one makes the character cooler then the other.

Well, one character gets rewarded for doing something that would ordinarly be next to impossible - the task gets easier if the character describes the basic task - getting to the top of the cliff - in a suitably impressive way. The other one has to do a number of rather difficult dice rolls and spend a lot of time on something that it would be easier and more sensible to use spells or magic items to do the task instead.

On average, players tend to do whatever is most effective in any given situation. In D&D, that means that the characters will stick to the most sensible and tried and true methods that work, such as using spells or taking the long way up the cliff. In Exalted, the most effective way of doing things is to describe your actions with really impressive visuals so that the task gets easier and you can replenish your resources in doing so.

So, while Exalted characters might not be inherently cooler than D&D characters, they certainly tend to act cooler.

In fact, its so easy to do that in Exalted I'd argue its a routinue manuveur, but in d20 that's an impressive feat. But again, cool does not enter into it. That is just reflecting the fact Exalted characters are a lot more powerful by designb then D&D charcaters. If that defines cool, the Nobolis characters must be cooler then Exalted characters.

Actually, ordinary mortal PCs can stunt in Exalted, too (unless the GM explicitly prohibits it because he wants to run a very grim and gritty game) - while most of them can't use the bonus motes of Essence, they can get the bonus dice. And like for the Exalted, stunts explicitly allows them to attempt the impossible! The above task, while difficult for most mortals that aren't especially dextrous or athlectic, certainly isn't out of reach for them, especially if you factor in the stunt dice.

So the inherent power of the character is only one part of the story - the mechanics are at least as important. In Exalted, the game mechanics award you if you try over-the-top things. In D&D, they punish you for attempting them unless your character was already hyper-competent anyway.

 

[evildmguy]

I was running an Exalted game but I stopped it. I wasn't ready for it. I didn't understand enough of Exalted and its back story to effectively run it. Even with that bad experience, though, I had a LOT of fun with it. And, yes, my players were doing great things in the small amount of time we played.

Lots of fun!

Crothian: I am with Jurgan on this. I am NOT invalidating what you have said. However, I find the underlying mechanics of d20 to be more restrictive than Exalted. The point being that if a *Player* knows the DC is 28 (or 38, or 48, or 58 . . .) and can figure it out without the DM, he might not even try it. So, the question is, are you cool *within* the game rules? If not, then aren't you only cool either a) within the character's mind and b) at the DM's whim?

Again, I can't stress this enough, this is NOT an attack on you or the effectiveness of d20 in what it does well, which is many things. However, in my Exalted campaign, the characters did some pretty cool things, such as jumping out of windows or jumping INTO windows that were on the second floor, and it was allowed by the rules.

Have a good one! Take care!

edg

 

[Crothian]

So the inherent power of the character is only one part of the story - the mechanics are at least as important. In Exalted, the game mechanics award you if you try over-the-top things. In D&D, they punish you for attempting them unless your character was already hyper-competent anyway.

And it has nothing to do with cool. Exalted is a game of different assumptions and different power levels ofr the PCs so of course the so called impossible is easier for them. If I rewrk d20 so all the characters start out epic then such challenges become easier for them to. If I through in a hero point option then it gives the players more options to make the impossible happen. But I fail to see how this makes a character cool. Ya, in our worlkd the things are hard and chanllenging, but in the world of exalted this impossible taks happen on a daily basis. So, it becomes mundane in the eyes of the exalted player.

and how does d20 punish you? Its just harder. Its not like the rules say "Psst, DM if the player tries something over the top have a dragon attack him". THat is pounishing the players. d20 just doesn't have the characters as demi gods that are expected to succeed at over the top things all the time. Two different games and two different assumptions; both fit what the game is trying to do.