Haku/Dust Chargen
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
~ T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) - The Waste Land (1922)
Contents
Character Generation
Below are the rules for character generation in the game for normal godblooded, mortals, the 'solar exalted' aka 'sunblooded' will get their own page.
~ Haku
Valid characters allowed are mortal (pure), mortal (wyld tainted), godblooded of any and all kind (no abyssal half-castes as Abyssals DON'T exist), and 'solar exalted' (also known as sunblooded, but NOT Solar Anathema as is known by everyone).
All players are allowed to roll individually for their level of inheritence, knowledge and/or experience. In short, roll for what you want and then divide the result by 2 for the level you've got. If you want to play Godblooded, roll inheritence. Mortal thaumagist or martial artist, roll knowledge.
And if you want to push the edge, you can roll for experience, just bear in mind that for every dot of experience, that's a 10 year minimum you'll have to be (age-wise), in short, experience 5 means you're 50+ at least... more than 1/2 your mortal life is gone.
You can mix and match, want an experienced godblooded savant or scavenger lord, roll for all three. And remember, I will cater to your merits and flaws as my deranged whims take me.
Now, that you've got your base frames of how much flaws and merits you can snag. I will note that I will allow as many flaws and merits as you want. Again, this amuses me. I will generally also allow any and all merits and flaws, if you can explain it.
I would also like to note that any and all combat use the classical exalted combat as printed in the corebook, exactly.
Number Crunching
Now we get to nitty gritty of character generation for general mortals and godblooded. Sunblooded have their own rules, due to their 'specialness'.
Attributes
You get 6 / 4 / 3 for your attributes, unless half-caste, in which case, it'll be 6 / 5 / 3. Naturally, you get the classical 1 dot as your base stat for each attribute, to which you'll add the above mentioned numbers as you wish.
Abilities
For abilities, you get 30 points to be spread as you wish, with no ability going over 3 dots without use of bonus points. You also get 1 favored ability with all its benefits. Please note that all heroic mortals get 30 ability points, IF I was running a solar game, you'll still get 30 ability points. Trained Exalts such as the Realm's Dragonblooded get a higher ability point spread.
Advantages
You get 9 background points, with no background going over 3 without use of bonus points.
Artifacts are done with the solar rating, only you can buy multiple artifacts seperately.
Virtues, willpower and health are handled as per normal. You start at essence 1, if you're able to channel essence for some reason.
Bonus points
You get 21 bonus points as per the Player's guide that you can use as you wish. Bonus points cost are as per the character creation rules used for godblooded or mortal thaumatagy in the Player's Guide.
Background
As per the player's guide. You'll find that I'll allow just about things if you can give a GOOD explaination and are willing to talk to me. Convince me... show me why that level 5 artifact of utter doom should be yours. Or why you're flying about in Cid's 'Highwind' or its successor, the 'Sierra'.
Arts and Sciences
Regarding Sciences and Arts, they will be handled slightly different. Thaumatagy in this setting IS common, as just about EVERYONE has to some degree some knowledge or ritual they'll do to get better crops, lure animals in their trap.
You just need to spend 5 points per art or science to get the complete art or science. The levels and proficiency you possess is tied into your occult; for each dot of occult, you get all the rituals, arts, enchantment of that level in whatever you've bought.
That said, only the most daring of men and women become exorists, ward-crafters, or even demon and spirit queller.
Craft
Craft... There is only 1 craft. If you have it, it applies to whatever you're making... from baking bread to tanning to repairing first age automaton. Yes, this makes this skill damn effective. So be it, I'm not going to nerf craft.
Inheritence
Regarding inheritence. the total inheritence you get represents the averaged out amount of essence that both your parents have together. And you need at least a pool of 4 dots of essence to get a half-caste of any kind (which means that YES, dragon-touched ARE fairly common, even if everyone thinks they're just extra heroic mortals).
Getting at least 3 dots of worship or living in an uncapped demanse for at least 6 months give the parents 1 phanton dot of essence for the calculation of inheritence. These phantom dots are culmulative.
If you get hit by endowment, the inheritence rating is determined entirely by the essence pool of the spirit doing the endowing. Divide the spirit's essence by 2, that's your inheritence.
The rules on beastman creation remain the same as per Player's Guide on page 46. So, kinky elder dragonblooded exalts would be advised to make sure they don't get pregnent from such activities.
Attunement
A note on material attunement/resonance. Beside half-castes, Godblooded of all kinds can take material resonance as a merit. It's named 'Jade Resonance', and is a 4 point merit requiring 'Magical Attunement'.
How it works is simple. To gain the jade 5MM bonus, you can attune to the jade that is aligned with your parent's elemental alignment, so a water elemental's kid can ONLY attune to black jade. Ghostblooded and Celestial Spirits' children can attune to any single type of jade.
And yes, faeblooded can get this merit as well... it works just like it does for elemental-blooded.
And no, mortals may never take this merit.
Pimp that Charm
Any charms taken by characters can and should be customized with side effects and usage to fit the character concept. As long as the actual wording of said charm isn't violated, go hog-wide.
Exaltation and Anathema-hood
This section is a just in case. Mainly because I am a paranoid ST who understands that his players are nuclear powered kitties with very BIG glowing hitting sticks.
Players may eventually hit upon exaltation (Sidereal, Lunar or Dragonblooded), anathema-hood (Solar), god-hood, demon-hood and true fae-hood. You still get to play with your character. But the scale WILL jump up with your power levels.
You do NOT need destiny 3 or more to attain such apotheosis or transcendent state as a true Chosen of the Gods. If it happens, it happens. It'll occur depending on the situation. When you face odds above and beyond what you can face and survive, when you're doing something DAMN heroic... or hideously impressive. That is when you attract the eyes of Sol Invictis, Luna, the Five Maidens and possibly Gaia.
And if you truly, truly need just a little bit of help... to win the day. It just may come. Because the gods only help those who stunt their asses off and help themselves.
Please note that unless I say things are different, there are NO abyssal exalted and very damn few solar exalted. The jade cage is very much intact. This means that the Dragonblooded really are the bigshots in Creation.
A solar 'anathema' may go into the Underworld, seek out some dread Deathlord for the purpose of selling out her name and soul. This will result in such a character ending up as the first Abyssal.
Solar Exalted and Anathema
The solar exalted listed above are NOT the canonical solar exalted as per the Exalted books. They, however, are mini-exalts. Specially bred and designed in the First Age by some smart-assed Twilights and No-Moons who wanted to compliment the Dragonblooded with half-castes who could employ solar charms. In short, support for the dragonblooded, shoring them up with solar level capability.
These sunblooded worked closely with the dragonblooded and when the Ursuption came about, they stood firm with the dragonblooded against their creators. For this, they're rewarded by intergration into the dragonblooded society and the shogunate. And in time, the Realm.
Due to sidereal arrogance, severe usage of sidereal astrology, and a really big mix-up when the immaculate text were being written, the sunblooded were designated as solar exalted, with the solar anathema as their fallen kin.
This misconception has not being corrected in any way. In fact, the sidereals have decided to work with it.
The end result was that the cosmology of Creation and the Celestial Incarna was radically reinterpretated, along with Sol Invictis's personality, position and role in it all. The sidereal exalted have warped destiny and fate in such a manner and to such a degree that everyone (spirits with an essence lower then 5 and mortals) believes in the new cosmology even when presented with irrefutable proof that it was not so. Exalts are not so compelled. However, even the mightiest of exalts were once mortals and beliefs once shaped in childhood tend to stay shaped, even when that child has exalted and grown ancient.
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