There are 25, or arguably 27, base abilities which characters in Exalted can be fluent in: but the real way that all of them should be rated on any given character are never properly defined, this page provides the basic rating system for them and the reasoning behind it then provides links to the individual pages for each ability. (Or the top page in the case of Craft.)

Base Precepts

Different books give different standards for what an ability of 1 means VS and ability of 5, to be able to give meaningful information these rules give one unified standard to all of them, which necessitates the following assumptions.

1: All abilities are being used by mortals, so a rating of zero confers a -2 penalty to the roll.

2: In order that an ability show meaningful mechanical growth at each level we also assume that the related Attribute is equal to the ability in question so that we can assume an increase of 1 success per level on the arbitrary roll. In most actual game situations an increase of 1 success per dot is not a reasonable assumption, so the mechanical benefits you would see when actually playing a character with these ratings would probably be somewhat lower. (This does not apply to an ability of 0, which normally cannot be paired with a like attribute.)

3: For completeness sake we rate all abilities from 0 dots to 6. Abilities higher than this are the province solely of elder exalted and gods and are in most cases not especially relevant as PCs would not normally have them. While some argument could be made for going to a rating of 9 due to the effects of specialties this does not map properly with our assumption 2 above so we have decided to save ourselves the work and not go there.

The Rating Scale

Each ability will be rated based on the following scale, with explanations of what this means mechanically and game wise included at each level in their own writeup.

Zero

The Following words or terms could describe someone with a rating of 0 in an ability: Incompetent, laughable, illiterate, foolish, lack wit, and Rank Novice.

Simply put without immense natural talent someone with this level of skill will be almost incapable to doing related tasks. When writing up this level in the related notes failure is assumed.

One

The Following words or terms could describe someone with a rating of 1 in an ability: Apprentice, initiate, novice, trainee, new blood, cadet, and basic skill.

Simply put those with 1 dot in an ability are ether new to the skill and it's associated profession or have not bothered to develop it after attaining a rudimentary understanding.

Two

The Following words or terms could describe someone with a rating of 2 in an ability: Journeyman, Sophomore, Associate, Member, and Gifted Amateur.

Simply put those with 2 dots in an ability are trained in their ability but still a cut bellow true professional competence, probably working on honing their craft or going through a finishing process before taking their places as full experts in their field.

Three

The Following words or terms could describe someone with a rating of 3 in an ability: Master, Artisan, Practitioner, Graduate, Officer, Certified, and Professional.

Simply put those with 3 dots in an ability are the people who make their full time living at the ability and are considered ready to begin training others. They still have things to learn but they are skilled enough at their art, science, or craft to pursue it full time as a profession without a person standing over them providing guidance.

Four

The Following words or terms could describe someone with a rating of 4 in an ability: Grand Master, Artist, Skilled Professional, Luminary, Professor, Expert, and Captain.

Simply put those with 4 dots in an ability are More than mere professionals, they are the individuals that lead crafts guilds, teach the intricacies of difficult fields of study, and represent the elders and experts that lesser practitioners call upon when they find themselves out of their depth.

Five

The Following words or terms could describe someone with a rating of 5 in an ability: Best in their Field, Honored One, THE (Blank), Dean of (Blank), Generalissimo, and Secret Master.

Simply put those with 5 dots in an ability are among the best in the world, at these lofty heights only a handful outside the Exalted tread, people with this level of skill are spoken of with awe by their leasers as they know that to reach such heights is a feat they will never achieve and has taken a dedication and depth of study which few will manage.

Six

The Following words or terms could describe someone with a rating of 6 in an ability: Living Legend, (Person's Name) 'The Great', Arch-Dean, Prince of (Profession), inhuman, demi-god, and chosen.

Simply put those with 6 dots in an ability are BETTER than most Exalted can be without their charms, and better than some are WITH them. This level of skill is the province of people trained to their art, craft or Science from birth, and those who have natural talent such that their names will go down in history as legendary practitioners who will be remembered for ages to come.

The Abilities

The 27 base abilities each are broken up into 6 sections of 5 or less abilities based around the castes of Solar exalted and then the two which were introduced in Shards.