MetalFatigue/HouseRules2

House Rules for my new Fair Folk game

Note that any rules that were in effect for the Solar game MetalFatigue/HouseRules1), but are not repeated here, are no longer in effect!

In particular, I will enforce the rules as written on the following points:

• No free Ox-Body Technique.
• Specialties are limited to a total of three per Ability.
• Channeling Virtues requires spending Willpower.
• The use of most Dodge Charms must be declared before the attacker rolls to hit.

However, if any Solar (or Abyssal) Exalted NPCs turn up in the game, I will probably apply the relevant Charm revisions fromMetalFatigue/HouseRules1.

Character Creation

Characters will be created with 15 Freebie Points. After all players have created their characters, I will give 10 additional Freebie Points to each PC, allocated as I choose. NPCs will be created with the same number of total Freebie Points as the PCs (i.e., 25).

Players are strongly requested not to put any points in the Allies or Familiar Background, as they create a heavy workload for me. If such a Background is essential to your character concept, we can discuss it.

While it is not explicitly mentioned in the rules, raksha cannot raise their Virtues above 3 at character creation without spending Freebie Points, as is true for all other character types.

Experience

On E:tFF p. 321, where it says that "Caste and Common Abilities" cost (CR × 2) XP to raise, it should read "Caste and Favored Abilities." I'm pretty sure this would be in the errata, if there were such a thing.

Attributes

SeeMetalFatigue/Appearance.

Abilities

Although characters are limited to three specialties per Ability (one for mortals and ghosts), a character that has used all three specialty slots for an Ability can replace them with new ones, with the usual XP cost (and training time, if applicable) for learning new specialties.

Brawl

Attack and parry rolls with the Brawl Ability use Strength instead of Dexterity.

Craft

Instead of purchasing different forms of the Craft Ability as completely separate Abilities, each character chooses one form of Craft to be their primary Craft; this is the one shown on the character sheet. You have 2 × (primary Craft rating - 1) dots to distribute among other (secondary) Crafts, none of which may be raised above the primary Craft score: thus, when you increase your primary Craft by 1, you get 2 more dots of secondary Crafts. You can also raise secondary Crafts with XP (cost 1 XP for a new secondary Craft, or [current rating] XP to increase an existing secondary Craft by 1), but this is not anticipated to be a common occurrence.

Note that there is no good reason for a raksha character to have anything other than Craft (Glamour) as their primary Craft Ability.

Prerequisites for Ability-based Charms (such as those of the Terrestrial, Sidereal and Solar Exalted) are adjudicated based only on the character's primary Craft score.

Linguistics

A character's score in Linguistics has no connection to how many languages they speak. Instead, Linguistics will be treated like the Expression Ability from the WoD games: it determines how elegant your speech and writing are. Learning to speak an additional language family costs the same as learning a Linguistics specialty (and has the same training time); there is no limit on how many language families a character can learn. You cannot purchase Linguistics specialties in languages you do not speak.

All raksha nobles (and unshaped) have a common native language, which is the language of the Balorian crusade. Almost all commoners do as well; the most likely exceptions will be non-heroic commoners who've dwelt in Creation since the failure of the crusade, who may have "gone native," forgetting the Crusaders' Tongue and aping the dialects of the local Creation-born.

Virtues and Willpower

Each game morning, instead of rolling Conviction to regain Willpower, roll your highest Virtue, whatever that may be.

Backgrounds

Birth

A PC without at least Birth 4 is a freed slave: someone else called you forth from the Wyld, and your Graces are your own only because of that individual's generosity or destruction. It is understood that most players will prefer not to play such a character, but the de facto requirement to buy up Birth appears to be the reason why raksha nobles start with 10 Background dots instead of 7, so I'm not giving it for free.

(An NPC without Birth 4 or higher, on the other hand, is not necessarily a freed slave….)

Merits and Flaws

This optional rules subsystem (from EPG) is in use. Note that most Flaws are inappropriate for noble raksha, and as a result you probably won't have the Freebie Points to afford any Merits; I will feel free, however, to use these rules for NPCs as appropriate.

Combat

We are using the Exalted Power Combat rules from EPG. The most significant elements of this are summarized in a sidebar on p. 139 of E:tFF. The sidebar omits two important rules, however: all characters add their permanent Essence in dice to their mundane and shaping Dodge pools, and (except in certain limited circumstances) no character with the ability to channel Essence can have any dice pool reduced below their permanent Essence, except by wound penalties.

The mundane and artifact weapon and armor tables have been revised; seeMetalFatigue/WeaponAndArmorTables.

Attacks from behind can be defended against with stunts as well as Charms.

There is no penalty for fighting with your off hand (aside from the usual multiple-action penalty).

As noted on Ex p. 285, Fair Folk are not subject to wound infection or bleeding damage (though they may choose to bleed from their wounds for dramatic effect). They are unaffected by disease, hunger, thirst or fatigue. Their bodies heal naturally at the same rate as the Exalted.

Shaping and Graces

The shaping weapon charts have been revised; seeMetalFatigue/WeaponAndArmorTables.

SeeMetalFatigue/Bedlam for clarifications of that topic.

Charms

A character who knows a Charm, but does not have the required minimum Traits (Abilities, Graces, Essence, etc.) to learn it, cannot activate that Charm. Exception: Mutations continue to function even when the character's Traits have been reduced below the minimum levels for the Charm on which the mutation is based.

A character who knows a Charm, but does not know all of that Charm's prerequisites (direct and indirect), can still use the Charm in question, but cannot learn any Charms that have it as a direct or indirect prerequisite.

Modified or Clarified Charms

Assumption of Dreams and Passion (154)

This Charm adds the character's highest feeding Virtue (not Grace) to appropriate mundane Social rolls.

Essence-Disrobing Passion (155)

When using the Mote-Scattering Storm power, add the extra successes on the attack roll to the amount of Essence drained.

Imposition of Law (155)

With Storyteller approval, this Charm may instead affect a normally unrolled mundane action.

Howling Dream Consumption Prana (158)

The character need not be aware of an attack to dodge it with this Charm.

Subtle Breath of Ruin (162)

The effects of multiple applications of this Charm are cumulative.

Whispers Behind the Eyes (167)

The target of this Charm can respond to the raksha's sendings telepathically, but cannot otherwise initiate communication.

The Naming of Secrets (168)

This Charm always costs 2 gossamer to invoke, regardless of the number of successes. The effect is a work of glamour affecting only the raksha.

Unsightly Rigor Approach (171)

All Essence spent on this Charm is committed until the Charm ends.

Chaotic Soul Sledgehammer (171)

The difficulty penalty imposed by this Charm is cumulative with multiple applications, but only affects mundane rolls.

Mind's Grip Rigor (172)

Round down when halving extra successes on attack rolls enhanced by this Charm. Shaping parries and dodges enhanced with this Charm gain +6 successes. It is not necessary to place this Charm in a Combo in order for it to benefit non-combat Charms invoked in non-combat situations.

Ordinary Object Conjuration (179)

The duration of this Charm is instant, not permanent.

Worker's Gift (180)

This Charm is permanent/Special, not instant/Simple. The character gains gossamer even if her temporary Willpower is already at its maximum.

Gossamer-Forging Art (181)

Ranged weapons have no minimum Strength, so gossamer versions of them instead add one dot to their maximum Strength, or (in the case of weapons such as firewands whose damage is not based on the wielder's Strength) gain +1 damage.

Crafter's Arsenal (182)

The gossamer cost of this Charm is equal to the base difficulty of the roll, unmodified for improved craftsmanship.

Forging the Heart Grace (185)

Note that, unlike Shape-Forged Servant, this Charm has no incubation time requirement.

Gaping Virtue Mouth (187)

The XP cost of this Charm is waived when using it to reopen a Grace sealed by an effect such as Iron Nightmare Muzzle.

Iron Nightmare Muzzle (187)

Graces sealed by this Charm may be reopened by Charms other than Iron Nightmare Muzzle if accompanied by an appropriate stunt.

Great Works of the (Grace) (191)

Unshaped (Grace) Transformation (191)

The duration of these Charms is one or more stories, not instant.

Eight-Corner Ring Binding (195)

The character invoking this Charm need not be a participant in the ring being formed; many raksha procure the services of an akshata when forming a new ring. However, the destruction of the akshata immediately terminates the Charm's effects.

Unparalleled Terror Technique (196)

Note that, unlike Heart-Cutting Style, this Charm must be invoked before the attack is rolled.

Thematic Stunting Methodology (200)

If the character has no Style background, she gains a temporary five-die stunt pool, which never refreshes and disappears at the end of the story if not exhausted. Multiple invocations of this Charm are cumulative.

Hundred-Hand Style (203)

Millipede Mind (203)

Grace of the Infinite Revolving Spheres (203)

The reduction in multiple-action penalties offered by these Charms applies only to mundane actions, not shaping actions.

Surpassing Excellence (204)

The "specialty" provided by this Charm does not count against the normal limits for specialties known or applicable to a single roll. In fact, it is more like an environmental bonus than a specialty.

Armament of Flesh (204)

This Charm may be invoked as a reflexive shaping Charm with a cost of 5 motes and 2 gossamer and a duration of one story, instead of always having to be a mutation.

Racing Dragon Speed (205)

This Charm may be invoked as a reflexive shaping Charm with a cost of 3 motes and 1 gossamer and a duration of one story, instead of always having to be a mutation.

Root of the Perfected Lotus (205)

This mutation allows a Fair Folk to purchase Terrestrial-level Martial Arts Charms at the same XP cost as a Dragon-Blooded (but using the normal training time rules for Fair Folk). No raksha can achieve initiation into the Bulb of the Perfected Lotus and learn Celestial-level Martial Arts (such as the Five Glorious Dragon Paths) except through a feat of legendary scale; seeMetalFatigue/NirvikalpaAspect for one example.

Forging the Way Grace (211)

SeeMetalFatigue/WayGrace.

Artifacts

Charms placed into spells of glamour sorcery are considered to be invoked by the spell, not by the spell's owner. (Example: if you put "Adored by All the Worlds" into a glamour sorcery spell, it's the spell that gains Allies and/or Followers, not you.) However, a character prominently displaying the spell's material manifestation (such as by wearing a mask) will in most cases gain the benefit of any Backgrounds conjured by the spell.

Note that some of the example artifacts cannot actually be constructed under the published Charm rules. This appears to be the result of inconsistent editing. Gotta love White Wolf.