Revision as of 08:06, 5 April 2010

Exalted Second Edition

$39.95. Published March 20, 2006; 400 pages. Hardcover.

ISBN: 1-58846-684-1

Writers: Alan Alexander, Rebecca Borgstrom, Carl Bowen, Zach Bush, Joseph Carriker, John Chambers, Genevieve Cogman, Dawn Elliot, Michael Goodwin, Conrad Hubbard, Peter Schaefer, John Snead, Andrew Watt, William Wulf.

• back to Books.

Shataina wrote a review of Exalted 2 for Gamegrene.com.

Kasumi wrote a pretty decent and very detailed combat overview over on RPG.net.

Catalog Blurb

Do not believe what the scientists tell you. The natural history we know is a lie, a falsehood sold to us by wicked old men who would make the world a dull gray prison and protect us from the dangers inherent to freedom. They would have you believe our planet to be a lonely starship, hurtling through the void of space, barren of magic and in need of a stern hand upon the rudder.

Close your mind to their deception. The time before our time was not a time of senseless natural struggle and reptilian rage, but a time of myth and sorcery. It was a time of legend, when heroes walked Creation and wielded the very power of the gods. It was a time before the world was bent, a time before the magic of Creation lessened, a time before the souls of men became the stunted, withered things they are today.

This is the story of that time.

THIS IS THE STORY OF THE EXALTED.

Exalted Second Edition is a 400 page hardcover.

General Comments on Exalted 2

So - question for the wiki: In 2nd, it seems that it's no longer possible to have stacked Dodge+Parry effects, and as such, the traditional ISP is no longer quite the same as she used to be. Sure, she can FLB, or FFBS, to keep her DV's high, but they are still independent (and static) DV's, not added together. Admittedly, adding them together makes you really hard to hit, but then again, that's what Exalted do. Cool, unreasonable things. So - is there a time, place, or method that you can add them, or do them together? Would there be an Essence 4+ Dodge (or Melee) charm to add part of one to the other? A Dodge charm that adds +Something to all physical DV's, as you evade incoming strikes? -- GreenLantern

I don't think so, but the bonuses FLB and 5-Fold supply should stack--in other words, a parry fiend could activate FLB to avoid the coordinated attack penalties of a well-organized Wyld Hunt. They don't state a particular ability requirement in the charms. Heck, you could probably make a case for the entire parry tree under Melee applying to Martial Arts parries as well. They're reflexives, and unlike the offensive branch, they don't specificly state 'Melee' in the charm names. If you're going for defense diversity in 2e, though, the better strategy seems to be taking either melee or dodge alongside resistance. Between Solar DV and ISC, it seems very unlikely that direct damage is going to hurt you. Now, if you want a non-dodge or non-melee charm to pump up your evasions further... look to MA. Snake Style's second charm gives you a flat bonus to your DV, no matter which one you choose, and it isn't hard to imagine more powerful effects further in a MA style tree or within Siddie MA. Yes, Virginia, there is a DV 20 Santa Claus -- Ketrus returns!

Ebon shadow also does a flat DV increase, simply due to the way it's written. I agree that the Melee set could be used for MA-weaponed parries, if so desired, because as long as you've got a weapon, it counts, I'd think. I guess I'm gonna have to figure out a dodge or melee charm to add 50% of the DV from one to the other... -- GreenLantern

This would best be done as a Dodge Charm, that adds your Dodge rating to your (Dexterity + Ability) Parry rating, thus making your Parry DV (Dexterity + Ability + Dodge) / 2 + Defense - Mobility. --Ialdabaoth

And another one. Has anyone but me noticed that the new less speedbumpy medicine tree has only one charm that requires higher than Medicine 3? It's Anointment of Miraculous Health, and it requires Medicine 4. Other than the 'general' charmset, you don't need Medicine 5 to get every listed medicine charm. If you're willing to ignore AoMH, you can pick up almost the entire set at Medicine 3. Which is pretty crazy, if you think about it. Wonder what kind of charm-power we'd get at a prereq of Medicine 5, given the existence of some 10 non-generic charms that aren't Medicine 5. -- GreenLantern, just noting

Not happy to rest, I've noticed another thing.

Page 127: You can throw 'heavy' objects up to (Strength+Athletics) yards, as long as your (Strength+Athletics) total is five dots higher than is necessary to lift the object. This requires a Speed 5 attack roll to toss the object, at a three-die accuracy penalty. Penalties for throwing beyond range accrue normally.

Hatchets, Axes, Clubs, and Needles all have a "Range" trait of 10.

Our test character, Bigthar, is a Dawn Caste throwing master, with Strength 5, Thrown 5, and Athletics 5. He has a 3-point specialty in Athletics of "Heavy Objects". Thus, according to the chart on page 127, he has a 13-point (Strength+Athletics) total, allowing him to lift up to 1,800 pounds, such as a yeddim. Five points below that is 800 pounds, such as a horse. Much farther down, at 160 pounds (Str+Ath=2) is a full-grown man.

In a heated fight scene, Bigthar is therefore able to pick up nearby deceased horses, and throw them at opponents. Due to his 13-point Str+Ath total, he can throw them with a 13-yard range increment. Thus, he is able to throw horses farther than he can throw an Axe. More importantly, if he activates something such as Increasing Strength Exercise, bringing his total up by only 1 point, to 14, he can throw up to 1,000 pounds, which, according to the table, is both a horse and its rider. Thus, in the event of Cavalry action, Bigthar is able to pick up dead horses (with dead rider of course) and toss them at other horse-rider pairs, fairly effectively. Amplified by charms such as the Triple-Distance Attack Technique, Bigthar is able to throw cows (often deceased prior to launching) 39 yards base, at a maximum range of 3 times that, or nearly 120 yards. At this point, launching infected cows into an opponent's castle is a perfectly valid form of siege.

Thus, we have a character who can pick up giant hunks of rock, and throw them farther (and of course, more deadly) than a given actual throwing weapon, which is pretty cool. And crazy.

Well, first of all, nothing necessarily prevents him from using the same system to throw hatchets, axes or whathaveyou. He does so at a -3 Accuaracy instead of whatever the weapon's Accuracy would normally be, and they only do 1B (piercing) instead of their usual damage, but it is possible. (Of course, since his specialty wouldn't apply, he doesn't technically get to throw them as far as the rock... but that's what you get for taking an overly-narrow specialty, I guess.) As for being more deadly... well, that dead horse would do 8B (piercing), and the hatchet would be 8L. I don't really think it qualifies as more deadly in the long run.

That said, the fact that you can easily hurl hroses as martial weaponry is something I love about this game. - Hpaushet, And Bigthar definitely needs a "Heavy Objects" specialty for his Thrown as well