CorlanDashiva/RandomThoughts

I'm thinking about all the people who buy up their essence pool with no real reason, and I'm thinking that's wrong... And I'm thinking it'd be nice to have some way to tell roughly how tough an Exalt is, or something that proved their toughness, and I've come up with this. It's fairly radical, but let me know what you think - I'm wearing my flame-proof vest...

Rules change:

In order to increase their Essence, an Exalt must have at least 4 charms whcih require his current level of Essence to learn. So to purchase Essence 4, an Exalt must have 4 Essence 3 charms.

(This may screw over the Sidereals, but tbh I don't much care, I dislike the Sidereals)

Addendum:

All Exalts gain one charm or ability for every dot of essence they have, as follows:

Solars: Essence

1. the Solar gains access to the anima power of his or her caste
2. the Solar gains Essence Gathering Temper (core book, page 171)
3. the Solar gains Chosen of the Unconquered Sun (stolen shamelessly from DariusSolluman - see below)
4. the Solar gains Virtous Servant of the Sun (modified from another of Darius' charms - see below)
5. the Solar gains Perfection Incarnate (I just wrote this one, but I'm sure I've seen something like it somewhere - see below)

Lunars:

1. the Lunar gains access to the anima power of his or her caste
2. the Lunar gains their choice of Humble Mouse Shape or Towering Beast Form (Exalted: the Lunars page 127-128)
3. the Lunar gains Prey's Skin Disguise (Exalted: the Lunars page 129)
4. the Lunar gains the ability to take on the form of Spirits he has slain (fully slain)
5. the Lunar gains Lunar Dematerialisation (see below)

(really not sure about Lunar #3, any thoughts?)

The Charms

Exalts do not need to meet the prerequisites of charms they gain by virtue of gaining a dot of essence, however if they are taught to any other type of Exalt (Eclipse Solars or Moonshadow Abyssals for example) then the person learning must meet the prerequisites.

Chosen of the Unconquered Sun (also found at DariusSollumanCorlanDashiva/RandomThoughts/Willpower)
Cost: 1 Willpower, 3 motes / die
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplimental
Min. Willpower: 5
Min. Essence: 1
Prereqs: None

The Solar Exalted are superhuman, in a very literal sense of the term. They can do impossibly well at almost any thing anyone can do. Even if they have very little talent at the actual task at hand, they almost never fail, if they don't want to. The Chosen of the Unconquored Sun is a dice adder which can be applied to any Ability, and counts against the normal limit of such supplemental dice. They may add either up to their Permanent Willpower or their Attribute+Ability in dice, whichever is lower.

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Virtuous Servant of the Sun (renamed and greatly enhanced version of Glorious Golden Drive from DariusSollumanCorlanDashiva/RandomThoughts/Willpower)
Cost: none
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Willpower: 8
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: none

Taking what they have already mastered, some Exalted learn to most closely harness their inner drives. They may focus with such inhuman belief and will as to be likened to a god or elemental caught in a passion. Any time the Exalt with Virtuous Servant of the Sun channels a virtue he adds successes instead of dice to his result. This still counts as a use of the virtue.

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Perfection Incarnate 
Cost: 10 motes, 2 Willpower
Duration: Varies
Type: Simple
Min. Willpower: 10
Min. Essence: 5
Prereqs: none

This charm is used on a single action, which cannot be further enhanced by any other charms. That action is considered perfect. The action still takes as long as normal (instant for an attack or defense, up to months for some crafting efforts) but works in a perfect way.

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Lunar Dematerialisation
Cost: 5+ motes, 1 WP
Duration: Varies
Type: Simple
Min. Willpower: 
Min. Essence: 5
Prereqs: none

The Lunars, although beings of Creation have been exposed to the Wyld. In the First age they were the hunters of rogue Spirits, and after the Wyld exposure have gained the ability to emulate some abilities of Spirits. With the use of this charm the Lunar can dematerialise for one hour plus one hour for every additional 5 motes spent. While Dematerialised, the Lunar cannot affect material beings at all except with the use of Essence 6+ charms. This charm can not be ended prematurely unless there is less than one hour remaining of it's duration, at which point it can be ended for the cost of one willpower. The Lunar is disoriented and unable to act for one round after this charm ends.

Comments

Hm. My reflexive response is that, if you're to do this kind of thing, you have to have a different power progression for each Caste, which helps them specialize in their niche more effectively. Advanced anima powers, if you will. I'd also like these to be just Charms that you can buy when you get the reqs, buy they're fancy not-tied-to-Ability Charms... I don't ever like the idea of inherent powers. The Charm ideas are workable at first blush, though. - FourWillowsWeeping