BraincraftRemakeofExalted/Essence
Essence
0 – Unawakened. Typical of nonheroic mortals. No talent or training in the control of the essential energies of Creation. Extremely simple and weak spirits or supernatural creatures may have this rating.
1 – Awakened. Particularly talented or spiritually advanced mortals may have this rating. Weak spirits and supernatural creatures probably have this rating. Exalted generally don’t, unless they’re very young or somehow spiritually crippled.
2 – Strong. Only the most superlative mortals achieve this level of capability. Spirits at this level or above always have names and some sense of self-awareness. Almost all adult Terrestrial Exalted have achieved at least this level of spiritual power, though in this age many go no further. Supernatural creatures at this rating are generally quite fearsome to mortals.
3 – Mighty. This is the minimum level for Celestial Exalts; even the weakest unschooled Solar or Lunar is simply bursting with spiritual energy. Terrestrials at this level are fairly talented or accomplished, or at least old. Spirits and supernatural creatures at this rating are often important or influential in their area, and can easily dominate in regions without strong competition.
4 – Overwhelming. Mature Celestials and the most powerful and ancient of Dragonblooded fall into this category. Spirits and supernatural creatures of this rating are frightening and practically elemental examples of their kind, such as Celestial Guardians and minor Titans.
5 – Divine. Elder Celestials continue to grow in spiritual might, outshining all but the most worthy spirits of Heaven. Major spirits and true Titans are the company you keep at this rating. Terrestrials cannot dream of this sort of power without the assistance of rare and dangerous artifacts or techniques.
6+ – Boundless. The true limits of Essence remain a secret to the majority of even the Awakened; beings of this category rarely travel outside of Yu-Shan, the Underworld, or Malfeas. The Deathlords and the major aspects of Demon Princes are known to reside among these echelons. Only the most primal of spirits can match these levels. The Unconquered Sun and his peers are believed to be at rating 10, but it is uncertain if the same rules apply to such radiant beings. The Primordials probably cannot be defined within the boundaries of Essence as they are known.
Essence Pool sizes:
- Awakened mortals can access twice their Essence as a pool of motes. It sucks to be mortal. - Spirits can access their Essence x3 in motes, but often have charms that allow them to draw on other sources of Essence. - Terrestrial Exalted can access their Essence x3 in motes, but frequently have the Breeding Background, which increases this slightly. - Celestial Exalted can access their Essence x5 in motes. - Solar and Abyssal Exalted can access their Essence x6 in motes.
Things that all characters with Essence ratings can do:
- Spend up to your Essence rating in motes per round without cost. This is called your Essence Flow. Some things can affect this value temporarily. Spending more than this expends your Essence Pool, and causes Anima Flare.
- Sense Anima Flare. If [your Essence + (Awareness or Occult) + (the rating of the Anima flare) – (the distance between you and the Anima Flare in terms of the Magnitude table) – 5] is a positive number, you are aware that essence is being used somewhere, and the distance and direction and magnitude of the flare in broad terms. (“It’s… something big… about… a couple of miles thataway.”) A higher value means more precise information. At 1 or 2, you are barely aware of the sensation and inexperienced essence-users may write it off as nerves or the weather. At 10 or above, there’s pretty much no mistaking what’s going on and where (but that generally means someone’s channeling a huge amount of essence almost right next to you, so you’ve probably already figured that out from the explosions).
- Lend a bit of your power to another Awakened character. As a Full-Round action, you may concentrate and spend up to your Essence in motes from your Pool (you cannot use your Flow for this purpose). For every two motes you expend, a recipient that you are in direct contact with may gain one mote to their Pool, up to their normal Pool maximum. You may perform this action across rounds, so if an Essence 1 character tries to lend Essence, it takes two rounds for the recipient to gain a single mote. If an Essence 5 character channels 5 motes per round, the recipient gains two motes on the first round (when the total is 5, halved to 2.5, rounded down) and three on the second (when the total reaches 10, halved to 5).
- Recover your Essence Pool naturally. At the end of a scene in which a character’s Essence Pool is below its maximum value, that character recovers either a number of motes equal to half the difference between their current and maximum values (round in favor of the character) or a number of motes equal to their Essence, whichever is greater.
- Blood for Power. If you’re short on fuel for your charms, you can instantly gain and spend up to twice your Essence in motes. However, after this expenditure, you also gain an Aggravated Wound with a rating equal to the number of motes you have gained in this way during this Scene. This sort of feat is even harder on mortals, for whom the wound gained is of a rating equal to twice the number of motes gained. Motes gained through the use of this ability are not stored, and disappear if not spent immediately.
