Blaque/LunarCharacterCreationandTraits

Lunar Character Creation and Traits

I decided to sit down and work on changes on how I would do chargen for Lunars. Since I run them mostly as NPC's with the experience advancements in the Player's Guide, I think its fair to show players what I'm working with and all that. So with that, here we go I guess. Note that I borrow from some other pages for this, so I'll not the credit to the wiki-ites at the bottem of the page.

Step One: Conept

This is exactly the same as the rules presented in Exalted: the Lunars. Create your character concept, and select your Caste, Nature, and Totem.

Step Two: Attributes

This is mostly the same as with the canon rules, with one exception. Select one Favoured Attribute from outside your Caste. This Attribute is treated mechanically like a Caste Attribute for Charm costs, training times, and raising. A favored Attribute must have atleast three dots, simaller to how favored Abilities have to have atleast one dot. This Attribute may be sacrificed to favor Martial Arts Charms instead, in which case the Abiliity must atleast have three dots in it as well and be a favored Ability as well.

Lunars still get the same amount of Attribute dots as normal to divide.

Step Three: Abilities

Ability selection is as presented in Exalted: the Luanrs. While not all Lunars probably favored Survival in the First Age, it is now so valuable to the Chosen of Luna that it seems almost programmed into their Essences at this point, possibly as a result of No Moon tampering.

As noted above, if a Lunar Exalted choose to favor Martial Arts Charms, they must have atleast three dots in the Ability, and use one of their four additional favored Abilites on Martial Arts as well.

Step Four: Advantages

Casted Lunars recieve seven (7) Background dots, plus any granted by society. Casteless Lunars get seven as well, but use the Solar Background list, rather then the Casted Lunar list.

Casted Lunars get nine Charms, plus Finding the Spirit's Shape, five of which must come from Caste or Favored Attributes. Non-Casted Lunars get seven Charms, which does not have to include Finding the Spirit's Shape.

Distribute six (6) beastman Attribute points and two (2) gifts, plus any gained from Tell.

Virtues and Willpower are calculated as normal.

Finishing Touches

Note the Lunar's Essence pool, health levels, and other traits as normal.

Trait Changes

The following are additional changes to some traits about.

Background Changes

Backgrounds not mentioned here are assumed to be as presented in Exalted, or Exalted: the Lunars. A character must have atleast one dot in Society in order to gain any of these changed Backgrounds. Otherwise, they lack any support network beyond what might of given them their Caste (if they have one at all), and thus, use the equivailant Solar Backgrounds, with the exception of Heart's Blood and Tell.

Artifact
With the social network Lunars hold, and their ability to create moonsilver items, a Lunar is more likely to be able to gain access to magical weapons and equipment. While not able to claim the arsenals of the Scarlet Dynasty, Seventh Legion, or the Deathlords, a Lunar is still better off then his Celestial pears when it comes to items of wonder.

Additionally, Lunars can use this Background to purchase glamour sorceries and behemoths, as per Exalted: the Fair Folk. These still require the usual gossamer and Essence costs to activate, however.

X - You posess no Artifacts, your mentor either seeing you as not worthy of such, or you simply have found no use for thee items.

o - A pair of one-dot Artifacts.

oo - Three dots worth of Artifacts, none higher then oo.

ooo - Four dots worth of Artifacts, none higher then ooo.

oooo - Six dots worth of Artifacts, none higher then oooo.

ooooo - Eight dots worth of Artifacts, with no cap except no N/A.

Followers
Lunar Exalted do not take this Background anymore. They get Horde, as described elsewhere.

Heart's Blood
Like others, I prefer the LunarHouseRules/ExpandedHeartsBlood . This is mainly 'cause the Background as written in the main book is rather non-useful at the lower levels. As such, I use this version.

Sorcery
This first appeared in Exalted: the Outcaste, page 67. Lunar Exalted are allowed to take this at double the background cost.

New Backgrounds

First off, thanks to DariusSolluman for creating these Backgrounds. I found them really cool, and had to use them. For more on his take on various things Lunars, even if I don't use them all, check out DariusSollumanLunarsRevised. Note these are more my take on some of them then verbatum his stuff, but its just a note.

Horde
You have rallied followers to your cause and service. They might be active members of your Cult, or simply humans who see you as a strong leader. Either way, they follow your orders and desires, atleast, within sanity.

Each dot of Horde gives a certain amount of followers. These are considered to be elite opponents. They can be swapped out on a five-to-two basis in order to instead have superior opponent followers. These can be God-Blooded, thaumaturges, or beastmen., and can serve as lieutenants of the Lunar. Simalerly, a single elite extra can be traded out for three basic one-die extras, representing the standard swarms of not-so-good horde members.

X - None. You are a lone wolf.

o - Five elite followers.

oo - 25 elite followers

ooo - 100 elite followers

oooo - 500 elite followers

ooooo - 1,000 elite followrs.

Society
This Background represents a Lunar's standing and reputation within a particuler Society of the Moon. The Silver Pact is but one of these such societies, which usually have between as few as a single pack, to as amny as the two-hundred that the Silver Pact holds. Most of these organizations aren't soley consisted of Lunars, and might include god-bloods, thaumaturges, or evven Terrestrial Exalted who have sided with the Silver Pact.

Each dot of this Background gives a character additional dots in Backgrounds. This functions much like the Patron Background as seen in the Exalted Player's Guide. Dots gained with this Background can be used to raise Backgrounds above 3 at the rate of one each.

Atleast one Background dot is required for a Lunar to have access to the Lunar Artifact, Horde, and Sorcery Backgrounds.

Each dot of this Background costs an additional Background or bonus point to achieve. So the first three dots cost two Backgrounds or two freebies each, while the third and fourth dots cost three freebies each. Additional dots from this Background can not be used to buy the Background itself up.

X - You have no ranking in any Society of the Moon, and are probalby Casteless. If you are indeed Casted, you probably either were made such by a No Moon with no standing in any such society either, or you have chosen not to participate in any. Use the Solar Artifact and Followers Backgrounds.

o - You belong to a small group, maybe consisting of no more then two or three other Beloved of Luna, or are a nominal member of a larger group. While there might be regular meetings, they are hardly mandatory, and you can probably go a couple years without visiting an appropriate tlak. You gain 3 additonal Backgrounds, and have access to Lunar Backgrounds.

oo - The society to which you belong consists of as many as a dozen Lunars, with a moderate amount of other beings such as god-blooded, and maybe even a deity of some sort as a patron. This also represents being a recognized member of a larger group, and even expected to occassionally congregate with them atleast once a year. 6 addtional Background dots.

ooo - Either you are part of a large organization, numbering as many as thirty Lunar Exalted and dozens of other supernatural beings, or are a recognized mover and shaker in a larger group. Your society congregates once a season, and while its not mandatory to show up, its suggested. 9 additional Backgrounds.

oooo - You are a member of one of the largest of the Societies of the Moon. The society to which you belong has as many as seventy Lunars, or you might be a prime diciple of one of the to-ranking members of the Silver Pact itself. You are expected to do some task for the organization as often as once a month, though you may be on extended tasks, or your relation with a high-ranking Lunar makes it easier for you to get by. You gain 13 additional Background dots.

ooooo - You are an elite of the Silver Pact, the largest of the Societies of the Moon. The Brotherhood of the Moon sees you as one of its topmost exemplars, and you hold station with the likes of Ma-Ha-Suchi, and the Queen of Fangs. You are always expected to be on duty for the organization, and uphold its beliefs to the best of your ability. 17 additional Backgrounds.

Tell
Through some fluke of your Casting, you have a Tell, a certain trait that no matter what form you assume, seems to remain consistant. This might include cat's eyes, a patch of silver somewhere on your body, backwards-pointed fingers or toes, or a tail. Whatever form it takes, the greater an Exalt's Tell, it seems the more poerful she becomes, at the risk of loosing some of her shapeshfiting capabilities. No one knows the origins of the Tell, but it seems that the current Casting methods of the Lunar Exalted have aggrivated its developement. In days past, all Lunars could reach maximum potential without the need of this trait, but times have changed, and the current Caste-fixing methods can't create subtle Tells as once seen in the Fist Age.

Each dot in Tell gives the Lunar additional bonus points, as well as increasing the power of her beastman form. Only Casted Lunars can take this Background, though they are not required to purchase the Society Background in order to do such. Extra freebies from this Background can only be spent on Caste and Favored Attributes, Favored Abilities, beastman Attributes and gifts, and the Familiar and Heart's Blood Backgrounds.

In exchange for this increased power, the Lunar does pay a price however. Each dot of Tell increases the visibility of the trait, making it more obvious when the Lunar shapeshifts into different forms and hurtin gher utility as a shapeshifter. This is more apparant in the Lunar's true forms, but starts to become especially visible in her other forms as well. The severity of the Tell doesn't necessarily represent its actual appearance. The Tell can be as simple as cat's eyes, or a patch of white fur, but as it increases, it becomes harder to conceal, as it is the nature of the Tell to be hidden to those who don't know of it, but show itself ot those who know it. Their clothing might tear, their glasses broeak, but something will happen, be it through an oddity of Fate, or the Tell's physical nature, that will reveal it.

Comments

That's it for now I guess. Thoughts are welcome. Thanks for DS again, BTW. I think I might use more of your stuff in the future, just tell me if its alright and whatnot:)

Don't mind me, I found it. - H