Revision as of 19:41, 5 June 2006

A rewrite of Exalted, inspired by willows, haren, Kraken, and others in #wod.

Welcome to Dr Exalted

Dr Exalted is an effort at creating a more style-oriented system to pin the canon setting of Exalted over. At the same time, though, it represents a shift - perhaps even a significant shift - in certain aspects of the setting that tend to impose on mechanics.

Of note, Attributes are removed. There are all-new Abilities, and actions are accomplished by pairing two relevant Abilities, rather than relevant Attribute and Ability. This is intended to provide players a more specific panoply of capabilities that firmly uphold the character's personal style, without requiring undue investment in irrelevance. Yes, this means that a character can invest in fewer Abilities and be capable of many more things - this is a feature, not a bug, and is coupled with fewer starting Ability points, and increased experience point costs for improving Abilities.

In particular, the five combat Abilities are forever banished. In their place lie five new combat Abilities, each representing more a style and outlook on a method of combat than the weapons that define it. Charms stemming from these Abilities are equivalent to the current Martial Arts Styles, following the same pattern. Potentially, these Styles could be based on more than one of the new style-oriented combat Abilities.

I'm drawing a lot of inspiration from http://wiki.stryck.com/Exalted/AlternateAbilities

Abilities

Combat Abilities Attacks and defenses are always based on at least one of the Combat Abilities. Stunts and magic, however, can break this rule. Additionally, the Combat Abilities are typically used for rolls involving tactics and strategy for mass combat, reflecting the character's personal style in conflicts great and small.
The five Combat Abilities never have Charms based on them. The battle-magic of characters is structured in trees based very directly on the closed, self-contained, theme-based Martial Arts Styles. The components of these Styles are techniques (not a finalized term). The difference between Techniques and Charms may seem semantic, but I feel that there are suffecient differences between the two to warrant separate nomenclature.

Ferocity refers to a style of combat emphasizing brutality and strength.
Discipline refers to a style of combat emphasizing regimented, practiced manuevers.
Precision refers to a style of combat focused on a more delicate application of skill.
Cunning refers to a style of combat favoring "dirty tricks" and generally sneaky methods.
Insight refers to a style of combat rooted in philosophy or deep understanding of the world.

Leadership is the Ability governing interactions with a group when the character acts as an authority over them.
Fellowship is the Ability governing interactions with a group when the character is among them.
Leadership and Fellowship both are roughly analogous to the part of Presence that deals directly with interacting with groups. Generally, neither will be of great use in the stereotypical courtly setting, as that social structure is a mingling of individuals. Fellowship is also of value in group combat situations, in particular, small-unit tactics.

Puissance deals with outright physical might, ranging from sheer lifting ability to unflagging endurance.
Alacrity handles tests of agility and swiftness, including the rudiments of classic wire-fu manuevers.

Comments

Already sounds a fascinating concept, and I look forward to seeing what develops out of it. Post moar! ...DeathBySurfeit

It's taking a while. I've temporarily abandoned thoughts of classifying and honing Abilities - instead, I shall post them as they come to me, and will polish and adjust later as needed. - David.