Discussions/WishlistForSecondEdition

• The abilities arranged alphabetically in the corebook.
• Rules for 2 weapons in normal situations
• Clear examples of movement rules in cooperation with combat actions.
• Solar charms that actually are on par with the other Exalted types charms and without speedbumps.
• A defined glossary for game mechanics. Especially charm description.
• Divide the charm description into flavor text and mechanics sections.
• An alphabetical Index instead of an Index based on something randomly cool.
• A rules chapter instead of intermingeling the rules and the abilities.
• Movement and healtlevels like in nWoD
• A gm screen without prosa and lots of wasted space
• Spirit combat charms that makes powerfull spirits actually powerfull.
• An improved balance for Hardness/Armour/ping damage
• Clearified(finnished) Thaumatury rules
• A clear consept of the powerlevel of the setting related to technology(Outcast book anyone?).
• New hearthstone rules. They are more powerfull than artifacts. And all of a sudden there are different types of them.
• Have a timeline. Maybe not publish the complete. But at least not have every book contradict every other.
• Include speed in Range weapons. Or something similar.
• carry over the artifact creation rules from S&S to the main book or give a simplified version to make it easier to dtermine artifact power levels.
• slow down the movement again.

trueform

• Worshipping gods is bad.
• Lunars aren't masters of illusion, they just got a few raksha tricks.
• Some of the nature of Abyssal asthetics.
• Being overcharged with one's Essence is in the corebook, but it actually is describing the Great Curse. Oops.
• Better anima banner details in the antagonists Chapter, such as Abyssal bleeding, Sidereals being so damn dimn, or Dragon-Blooded not having Castemarks.
• Dragons are all weird now. Not sure what they are anymore.
• I agree, the technology level for some regions needs to be better detailed. The Realm and Lookshy seem a bit more technologically advanced then originally though.
• More mentioning of Yu Shan and Sidereals being there would be nice.

Blaque

I love it! I'm especially behind the idea of a clear, concise, and actually usable index and glossary in all of the 2nd ed. books. Not to mention more organization in the way material is presented, I'm SICK TO DEATH of hunting around the books for obscure lil rules. - Dreaming Nymph

I don't agree with everything here myself, but I agree with a bit. Main things I'm not to keen on:

• Two-weapon fighting is in the rules. You split your dice pool and stunt. Take a specialty or Merit and negate the off-hand penalty. No new rules neccessary.
• Flavor text seperated from mechanics is very much something I'd like. Sidereals had a bit of problems with that.
• On combat spirits, you never fought Octavian.
• Changing hearthstone rules is simaller to the above mentioning. ANd I actually find the corebook ones are the only broken ones. Outside of there, they actually get pretty damned tame.
• The timeline only contradicts in two spots, the current date (Scavenger Sons) and the fact they keep screwing up on how old House V'Neef is.

Mechanicswise, I think there are some things tha tneed to be detailed. A more detailed lexicon for mechanics, better index, and stuff would be nice. I also think that some things with Charm type need to be dealt with. Form Charms need to be actually define din the corebook, with atleast rudimentery MA rules. Just note they are universal, that Solars learn Sidereal harder, and then if they redo hardcovers, ntoe their levels in there. Also, mention Necromancy atleast in flavor text. More examples would b enice too. As well as a better combo rules seciton, maybe even a summary chart or something.

Just my two cents. Blaque

Things I would actually like to see (take 1):

• Clearer mechanics for social Charms. Make them less all-or-nothing.
• Non-Sidereal Stealth charms that aren't worthless when it matters.
• More permanent Charms for Solars
• Martial Arts flavor text that emphasises that all MA is combat in a thematic style (rather than Brawl-with-benefits).
• Some explanation of how the Bronze Faction (who answer to the Maidens who answer to the Unconquered Sun) gets away with pushing Wyld Hunts along... or whether the U.S. knows/cares.
• Improve the scale for Artifact ratings.
• Make Familiars more worthwhile (this can be done within the Background or via Charms, I don't care).
• Improve Thaumaturgy.

-szilard

Toram's list of improvements:

• I'd like to see a major reorganization of the content to make it easier to find things. I hate having to search through multiple books to find the background/merit/artifact/whatever I need.
  • Ideally, there would be one core rulebook, not specific to Solars, and then handbooks for each Exalt type.
  • All the spells should be in one book.
  • All the artifacts and hearthstones should be in one book.
  • All the geography-specific setting material should be in one book.
• Better power balancing. There should be consistent guidelines for balancing between:
  • Charms
    • How do charms of different exalt types compare? What effects are more/less efficient/powerful for each one?
    • What prereqs (Ability/Essence/# of other charms) are appropriate for a given level of effect power?
  • Sorcery
    • What can each circle of sorcery do?
    • How do the power levels available to each circle compare to Charms?
    • How many motes should a spell cost?
  • Martial Arts
    • What can each level of initiation do?
    • How do the power levels available to each initiation level compare to normal Charms/Sorcery?
    • Initiation should be a charm (like Sorcery)
    • If a Martial Arts charm mimic some other ability's charm, it should be less efficient.
      • For example, a MA charm that boosts Soak should be less efficient than a Resistance charm that does the same.
• Explain: If the Unconquered Sun is a GoD-addicted abandoner of Creation, why should he be revered?

Things I would actually like to see (take 2):

• Changes for Lunars
  • Shapeshifting becomes a subsystem like Astronomy (but simpler) rather than a Charm set
  • Charms are reduced in cost and far less speedbumpy
• Get rid of weapon speed, or at least treat it consistently, have good rules for when it applies, and get rid of its trump over ranged attacks (which makes no sense).
• Have core Solar Charms that actually boost the abilities they are attached to for each ability - we shouldn't need to turn to a Caste Book for a Linguistics Charm that lets you speak other languages, and there ought to be Lore Charms that actually boost things related to the Lore Ability.
• Distance the game mechanics from the Cosmology. As it is, the latter is influenced by the former... whereas it should be the other way around.

-silard

• Index

The exalted indexes are simply the worst. Why oh why they are not alphabetical in order escapes me completely. The type of index used the exalted books is usually only used in books with topics that can be CLEARLY split in to seperate topics. Something which does not apply to say hearthstones and manses.

• Solar charms

The solar charms need to be polished up pretty bad with some fluff. Also several of the speed bumps really need to go, especially in say medicine. Also clearly marking perfect effects would be nice. Likewise would be a seperation of fluff and crunch. Took me forever to figure out if flows like blood actually allowed one to dodge undogable attacks or if that was just pretty prose.

• Glossary

Gloassary for game terms would be very nice espeically a unified one that uses any wacky terms from the other books. It would also be nice if the glossary was the basic rules of the road for the way things work like the section on combos is. For example: There is no place that definitively says that extra action charms preclude spiltting your dice pool. Instead this keeps gettting repeated everytime an extra action effect in printed. With the few exceptions clearly stated. The along comes dreaming pearl courtesan style.... ah... can you you use the extra actions and split your dice pool? The fluff seems to imply yes but the historical weight of rules says no.

• Hardness/ping and such.

Yes hardness needs to be reworked perhaps reduce the ratings and have the hardness subtract from ping. This has to handled very gingerly though. Also I would like to see either a hand full of solar poke and your deazd class charms or some very very clear warning that there are amny other charms out there for other exlat types that can make "your soul fall off."

• Archery speed

I agree that the archery speed is silly, mind much of the EPC speed rules are generally silly. I solved this by ruling that if one must close the distance to the archer then the archer goes first otherwise a ranged weapon has a spd +0.

-Nerfette

The Vaegrim/ExaltedRebuild page seem to be doing some good work regarding this

Things I would actually like to see (take 3):

• One Craft skill. Decent rules for using multiple types of media without Craft being a ridiculous xp sink.
• Guidelines (at least) for exerting social influence over individuals and groups without the use of overt Charms.
• Brawl retained. Charms that boost improvised weapon use. Perhaps relax the Combo restrictions on some Brawl charms, making them more competitive with Martial Arts (though they already are, if you wear armor).
• No Warcraft or Tactics skill. I know a lot of people see the need for such a thing. I never have.

-szilard