Exalted Specialties
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What's a Specialty?
Specialties are one of the most commonly misunderstood traits in character creation.
A specialty is a trait you buy for an ability that grants a single extra die to a relevant use of that ability.
So, if I had a Melee ability of 4, and bought "Swords" as a specialty, I'd add 5 dice instead of 4 to a roll calling for the Melee ability when I was using a sword - 4 for Melee, 1 for my specialty.
Generally we'd write this down as Melee 4 (Swords).
What happens if I have more than one?
Specialties stack with each other, but you can never have more than three for an ability! You can, however, buy the same specialty more than once, so long as you never have more than three for an ability.
So, if I had Melee 4 (Swords), and I bought two more specialties for Melee - let's say "Swords" and "On Horseback", I'd have three Melee specialties - Melee 4 (Swords, Swords, On Horseback). I could never again buy a Melee specialty.
If I was using Melee with a sword, I'd add two dice - one for each Sword specialty. If I was using Melee with a lance on horseback, I'd add one die, since only my "On Horseback" specialty would apply. If I was using Melee with a sword on horseback, all three specialties would apply, and I'd add three dice! Yay!
But I keep seeing things in the books like Melee (Swords 3), and the character sheet has five dots for specialties! Can't I buy up my rating in a specialty?
No. A specialty is a single trait that adds a single die - it doesn't have a rating.
When you see Melee (Swords 3), it's best to understand that as a shorthand - it's just a quicker way of writing Melee (Swords, Swords, Swords). That character has three specialties in Melee, not a single specialty with a rating of 3.
The character sheet has more spaces for specialties than you can actually use, so don't worry about it.
Note that some monsters and gods have more than three specialties for a single ability - they, and certain Sidereal charms, are exceptions to the rule. You get better charms than they do anyway, so don't begrudge them an extra die or two :)
Can I buy the same specialty for more than one ability?
Yes. You could, for instance, have Melee 4 (Swords, Swords, On Horseback) and Martial Arts 2 (Swords, On Horseback). However, these specialties would never stack, because a specialty only adds its die to a use of its ability, and you only ever roll one ability at once.
Specialities for different abilities don't interact with each other at all, so go wild!
Specialties in favoured or caste abilities cost 1 bonus point per 2 specialties - but I can only have 3 in each ability! Does that mean I have to pay for 4 to get 3 specialties?
Not exactly. You can't spend half bonus points, so you can't buy an odd number of favoured or caste abilities at character creation. You can, however, spread the specialties out over caste and favoured abilities, like this:
I've bought up my Occult to 5. Yay! Solar Circle Sorcery here I come!
I want to buy 3 specialties in Occult - Horribly Destructive Sorcery, Horribly Destructive Sorcery and Horribly Destructive Sorcery.
I buy the first two with 1 bonus point. To buy the third, I spend 1 bonus point, and get two specialties. Only one will fit in Occult, so I can put the fourth in Socialise - I buy the specialty of "Swan" :)
This gives me, for 2 bonus points:
Occult (Horribly Destructive Sorcery, Horribly Destructive Sorcery, Horribly Desctructive Sorcery)
Socialise, (Swan)
How broad can a specialty be?
The core book has suggestions on specialties for each ability, so check those for a good guideline.
Other than that, make sure a specialty IS a specialty, and not a generality. Melee (Combat) essentially means you'll get the extra die every time without limiting yourself. Melee (Swords) you might still end up getting the die every time, but only if you're willing to always use swords - you'll miss out on the die if you swap to a spear.
Your specialties really say something about your character, so choose specialties that fit your concept, theme, and the kind of things you want to do in game. On the flip side, do try to make sure your specialties do cover things that will come up fairly commonly in play - you want to make sure that you get value out of them, and that they actually will do their job of helping to portray that element of your character. Specialites that you can use proactively, rather than ones that would only apply in situations created by your ST, are a good choice, since you can make sure yourself they come up.
STs - the specialties your players choose are preferences they're stating about how they'd like to use their abilities! Pay special attention to them.
Players - in the end the best thing to do is check with your Storyteller on whether a given specialty is appropriate for their game - and make sure to ask if it will be useful!
How do charms interact with specialties? I can buy 13 dice with Excellent Strike now I have the power of Specialties, right?
Er, no. Later, if you're good, Arianna will explain how charms and dice interact, but just for now I'll clear this up:
Dragonblooded are the ONLY Exalts who have specialties as part of their cap for dice-adding charms - they can add Ability Specialty, though they can only do that if the Specialty applies to the roll.
Everybody else has their own dice adder caps, but none of them use Specialties as part of it.
This means, to be absolutely clear, if you're a Solar you can only add Attribute Ability to a dice pool with charms, NOT Attribute Ability Specialty.
So, let's say I'm trying to use a frying pan to bludgeon Swan for unspecified (but entirely justified) reasons:
I have Dexterity 5, Melee 4 (Swan, Swan)
My normal pool to hit him is 11 - Dex 5 Melee 4 2 dice from Specialties. If I use Excellent Strike to boost the attack, though, I can add no more than 9 dice - 5 for my Dexterity and 4 for my Melee. This cap is always Attribute Ability, and nothing will change the amount of dice I can add other than raising my Dex or Melee with XP.
So my pool to hit Swan is Dex 5 Melee 4 Specialties 2 Charm Dice 9 = 20. Yay!
HOWEVER, if a charm doesn't add dice, but effectively grants an action, like an Extra Action charm, or a reflexive defence like Dipping Swallow Defence or Flow Like Blood, you get to roll your full pool, including specialties.
So, if in a completely UNRELATED incident I'm trying to not die as Lilith irrationally attacks me for NO REASON, and I have:
Dex 5, Dodge 5 (Lilith, Lilith, Falling Rocks)
and I use Flow Like Blood to dodge, my pool is:
Dex 5 Dodge 5 Specialties 2 = 12 dice
...assuming she isn't attacking me with falling rocks.
Original Author: Kasumi on RPG.net
