FrivYeti/HeroicTraits
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Chapter Four: Traits
Standard Backgrounds
Heroic Exalts use the same Backgrounds as Solars in the following categories: Allies, Artifact, Backing, Contacts, Familiar, Followers, Influence, Manse, Mentor, Resources.
Heroic Exalts use the same Backgrounds as Dynastic Dragon-Blooded for the purposes of the Reputation background.
Altered Backgrounds
Savant: The Savant background does not function precisely as the background from Exalted: The Sidereals. Instead of serving as a connection to a character's previous lives, it serves as a connection to their Essence Shard, and the wisdom of Autochthon.
Once per story per dot of Savant, a character may choose to replace any Ability with their Savant score for a single roll. This change may only happen once per roll. The Ability is replaced completely for the roll.
Style: Style provides Heroic Exalted with a number of free stunt dice equal to their Style rating. These dice refresh at the beginning of each session. Style dice may be applied after the Storyteller grants stunt dice. They may not push a stunt above three dice.
New Backgrounds
Cipher: The Cipher background allows a character's past and activities to go unnoticed. It serves to blur the connections between the character and others. Mechnically, it applies as a die-pool penalty to any roll made to try and track the character down, and as a difficulty penalty to any roll made to uncover the character's associates, past, or similar information about them. The character may choose to surpress her Cipher at any time.
Library: A Library gives a character access to mystical writings, usually beyond those that he or she might own. Instead, the character has access to the writings of an organization. Your rating in Library determines both your access and the size of the library in question.
Libraries have two effects. First, every dot of Library gives you one 'specialty' die that applies to all Lore and Occult rolls made within the Library. No more than half your Library rating may give dice for a single specialty. (Examples: Fair Folk, Spirits, Demons, First Age). If you have three specialties, you may merge them into +1 die on all rolls instead of having general specialties. Secondly, having a library gives you a chance of learning spells. Once per story, you may roll your Library rating. If your roll is successful, you may study and learn a Terrestrial Circle spell of your choice. If you have a Level 5 Library, you may roll at +1 difficulty to try and learn a Celestial Circle spell.
Multiple Backgrounds
It is theoretically possible for Heroic Exalts to have numerous copies of a given Background, as follows:
Heroic Exalts may choose to purchase Artifact or Manse repeatedly, with each Background representing a different object. Alternately, they may purchase Artifact or Manse as a background covering many smaller objects, in order to benefit from the higher rating. Once the Background has been purchased in a given way, it may not change. The highest rating that the character has is what is applied for the purpose of Charm prerequisites.
Heroic Exalted may have Backing in two or more organizations, in which case each applies a seperate Background - they do not stack. They may have a number of Familiars equal to their Essence score, and may have multiple Mentors (although this could cause problems). In all these cases, only the highest Background is used for the purposes of Charm prerequisites.
Characters who want a larger number of Followers or Allies may purchase the Background a second time after it reaches 5 dots. In these cases, the higher Background applies, not the lower.
A Heroic Exalt may have multiple cases of Reputation only if she is operating under numerous identities. In this case, each identity benefits from its own Reputation only, which is both a benefit and a curse - the character can act under two sets of expectations, but cannot gain benefits of another identity. Either way, the character uses the higher of the two Reputation ratings for all her Charm purposes.
Anima Banner
1-4 motes: The character takes on an edge to their personalities that tends to draw attention to them. All attempts at stealth are at +1 difficulty. With a successful Wits + Awareness roll, at difficulty 2, observers may feel a sense of awe about the character that they will recognize as being of the Heroic Exalted if they have felt it before.
5-8 motes: The air around the character seems to pulse and blur, and they leap to the forefront. All attempts at stealth are at +2 difficulty, and anyone watching the character recognizes them, at least in the abstract sense, as a hero. The character adds +1 die to all Social rolls that are in the service of their Caste. Anyone who sees them instinctively recognizes their Caste if they succeed at a Perception + Socialize roll.
9-12 motes: The air faintly crackles with power, and everyone in the area can sense that something important is at hand. Depending on their personality, people will either gather, sensing a great confrontation, or flee, avoiding the gathering danger. The character is unmistakeably one of the Heroic Exalted; although there is no literal anima banner around them, the eye is bluntly drawn to them. Stealth is impossible. The character adds +1 die to all Social rolls. In addition, anyone who sees them instinctively recognizes their Caste.
13+ motes: The character's anima stretches out, resonating in the souls of everyone within their Essence in miles; all Heroic Mortals, Exalts, and supernatural beings in the area instinctively sense their presence. The character is obviously the source of this power if visible, although this effect does not grant their exact location, only the fact of their existance and their general direction. Stealth is utterly impossible. This effect persists for the rest of the scene. Anyone who sense the Exalt also senses their Caste if they succeed at a Perception + Socialize roll at difficulty 2; in the presence of the Exalt, this succeeds automatically.
The character's anima banner drops at a rate of one level per scene. In the case of long scenes, the effect drops after twenty minutes of time. Each time it drops, it sets to the highest mote amount of the next level down, so any Peripheral expenditure will trigger it again.
