SoF Exalted/CC Summary

Character Creation Summary

(introductory blurb)

Note: I've put these headings in and for now they're summaries with links, but we may wish to bring them all into this page. At least the shorter ones, Anima Powers is probably too long to fit in here even with titles for navigation.

The stages of character creation are as follows:
1. Determine Campaign Power Level (CamPL)
2. Choose appropriate concepts and character types
3. Select five Character Aspects
4. Purchase Abilities
5. Select five Speciality Aspects
6. Purchase Advantages (including Power Packages and Anima Powers where relevant)
7. Purchase starting equipment

These steps are largely unchanged from those on page 15 of the SoF rulebook

Campaign Power Level

The choice of Campaign Power Level (CamPL) for the game is a critical one because it defines the capability and competence of the PCs. It also, to an extent sets out the parameters for advancement as well; a game starting as Heroic Mortals has a much broader scope of advancement potential than one starting out as Celestials. The GM/group should select the CamPL appropriate to the sort of game they want to play.

This adaptation uses customised Campaign Power Levels (CamPL) which are felt to be more appropriate to both the power of the various types of Exalt, but also reinforces the distinctions between the various tiers. A Heroic Mortal should not expect to be able to take on a Dragon-Blooded in single combat and live, not stacking the deck in their favour in significant ways.

Note that one exception to the usual rules is that the limits on how many APs you can spend on a single Advantage remain in place during play, not only while character generation is going on. This is to preserve the distinction between the tiers, and encourage a broadening of capability rather than hyper-specialisation on one or two things.

The CamPLs for Exalted are shown in the table below.

Campaign                           Abilities  Adv.    
Power Level             Refresh     (Max)    Points      Available Advantages 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mortal                     4        24(3)     2(1)       Expert Only
Expert Mortal              5        25(3)     5(1)       Expert Only
Heroic/Enlightened Mortal  7        28(4)     9(2)       Expert, Heroic and Powers (Restricted)
God-Blooded                8        29(4)     12(5)      Expert, Heroic and Powers (No Super Powers)
Dragon-Blooded             9        30(5)     15(6)      Expert, Heroic and Powers (No Super Powers)
Celestial Exalted          10       32(6)     20(10)     All, Metro Class Super Power Only
Experienced* Celestial     10       34(6)     30(12)     All, Up to World Class Super Powers Only

Mortal: You are an average denizen of Creation. Good luck.

Expert Mortal: A mortal with a useful skill set.

Heroic/Enlightened Mortal: You are an extremely capable mortal, possibly with a powerful Destiny. You may even be Enlightened, possessing the ability to use Essence to surpass mortal limitations.

God-Blooded: You are the child of a powerful being, most commonly a God of some sort, but possibly an Elemental, Ghost, Demon, or even one of the Exalted.

Dragon-Blooded: You are one of the Terrestrial Exalted, the most common (and weakest) of the Exalted. With teamwork and discipline you can face nearly any threat.

Celestial Exalted: You are one of the most powerful of the Exalted. Your potential is practically limitless, but there are likely a lot of people who want you dead.

*Experienced: Mortals and Celestial Exalted are not the only types of characters that have an Experienced option, they're simply the only ones listed as such. Experienced Heroic/Enlightened Mortals, God-Blooded, and Dragon-Blooded are all made using the next Campaign Power Level.

See page 16 of the SoF rulebook for more information.

See Campaign Power Level Table for details of how CamPL impacts character resources. 

Note: Should we fold the CamPL page into this one and have all that detail in one place?

Tech Level

The general Tech Level (TL) of Creation is TL2 and in some places with strong surviving magitech TL3. First Age artifacts and the like can raise it higher than this. This gives a guide to the sorts of mundane equipment available.

However, with regards Powers, a special Power Tech Level (Power TL) is used, which is based on character tiers.

See page 15 of the SoF rulebook for more information.

Power Tech Level

An exception to the usual way in which Tech Levels are used is with regard to Powers. This is designed to enforce the strict differences in scale between the different tiers of character. Thus when Powers use TL as the basis for their effects, use Power TL for your character's type instead.

In most instances Power TL is fixed. The exception to this are mortals, who might become any of the higher-tiered types in play.

Character                 Power    
Type                       TL      
--------------------------------
Mortal, Expert Mortal       0          
Heroic Mortal               1          
Enlightened Mortal          2          
God-Blooded                 3          
Dragon-Blooded              4          
Celestial                   5          

Character Concepts

Once you have an agreed CamPL, that should start to inform the kinds of characters that would be appropriate in the game. Drawing on the agreed details of the setting (eg where and when in Creation) and specific premise (eg a particular location and who the PC group are), try to encapsulate what your character is about in a few sentences or so.

Something that CamPL will determine is just what sorts of characters are available. These are outlined in more detail below.

Non-Exalted Character Types

While the focus of the core game is often on Exalts, they're not the only people in Creation who are out there doing important things. There are a variety of non-Exalted types from mortals to the children of powerful beings with supernatural power flowing through their veins. Not only that, there are a lot of them, they are the majority of PC types in existence.

Mortals

The vast bulk of the population of Creation are mortals, teeming in their untold millions. While it could be easy to dismiss them because of their short lifespans and lack of Essence, they are the bedrock upon which every society rests. Without the common man or woman, the great heroes have nothing to eat, drink or wear, no one to fight and die for. One additional nuance is that many of the Exalted begin their lives as mortals, discovering their heritage or destiny later in life.

Ordinary Mortals

Most mortals are average people who might have a trade or a craft. Farmers, artisans, labourers, priests, merchants and the like. Tradition, inherited privilege, hard work, practised skill and applied effort are some of the ways they get by. They are built using the Mortal or Expert Mortal CamPLs, and they have no Advantages that are out of the ordinary or supernatural in origin.

Heroic Mortals

A small subset of the ruck and run of humanity are just a little bit more capable and competent than the rest. Whether by birth, circumstance or some other factor, they excel. They are built using the Heroic Mortal CamPL.

Enlightened Mortals

An even more select group are those who by exposure to the Wyld, extreme meditation and exercise, the application of divine powers or several other means have their spark of life Awakened. This allows them to manipulate Essence like the Exalted and other powerful beings, stealing just a fragment of that divinity for themselves. While they are normally built using the Heroic Mortal CamPL, they also get the Enlightened Mortal Power Package for free.

Optional Rule: Gritty Consequences

Mortals are distinguished from all the supernaturally-powered beings in Creation by their fragility. They bleed profusely from wounds, suffer infection and disease, fall easily to poison. If you wish to evoke this in all its glory, even beyond what is covered in the SoF rulebook, one option is to use Gritty Consequences.

This means that when mortals take Consequences, they may take more than just time and rest to recover from. Needless to say, Exalts with their blessed constitutions do not need to worry about any of this.

See pages 269 and 285 of the SoF rulebook for more information on Disease and Poison/Drugs.

God-Blooded

Where mortals have to make their way in life through luck and effort, the collection of beings known as God-Blooded do so because of their august heritage. Sired by powerful beings, they carry a spark of that divinity in their blood. They do not approach the true Exalted in sheer power, but they are even more numerous than the Terrestrial Exalted.

A God-Blooded character's nature is dependent on their parentage. This determines what Powers they have access to. All God-Blooded have a Power Package in common, which they receive for free.

Exalted Character Types

Terrestrial Exalted

Air Aspect

Earth Aspect

Fire Aspect

Water Aspect

Wood Aspect

Other Character Types

Design note: Do we want to go there? Are we in the business of statting up those below for PCs, or should we just have a GM-related page for how to do them as antagonists/allies?

Abilities

The regular Abilities are unchanged in this adaptation. They range from 0-6, with 2 being average for a mortal and 5 being the pinnacle of mortal ability. 6 is reserved for the seemingly superhuman abilities of some Celestial Exalted in their favoured fields.

You purchase them normally at chargen, adding extra Ability points with the Experienced Advantage.

See page 103 of the SoF rulebook for Experienced.

The Essence Affinity Ability

There is an additional thirteenth Ability in this adapatation, Essence. It is the Affinity Ability which enables all Essence-fuelled supernatural powers. Most ordinary mortals have an Essence rating of 0, they cannot manipulate the flows of Essence at all.

See page 92 of the SoF rulebook for more on Affinity Abilities.

Speciality Aspects

Choose five Speciality Aspects against your Abilities as normal. Using the Aspect Alphabet is optional.

Advantages

Choose Advantages as normal. The CamPL tells you how many you have to spend, and the maximum you can spend on any one Advantage.

Note also that there are several New Advantages specific to this adaptation.

Expert and Heroic Advantages

These represent mundane and non-supernatural areas of strength.

Power Advantages

All supernatural abilities fall under the aegis of Powers in this adaptation, no matter what their source. There are two sets of potential "freebies" available to characters who are more-than-mortal, Power Packages and Anima Powers. Everything else is done with Power Advantages, which might be considered Mortal Thaumaturgy, Sorcery or Supernatural Martial Arts amongst other things. The Power Advantages rules are used to model everything that mundane skills and knowledge cannot do, whether it's done by an Exalt, Fae, Demon or God.

Mortal Thaumaturgy

Thaumaturgy is the only supernatural learning available to the un-Awakened.

Mortal Thaumaturgy

Power Packages

Beings at the higher character tiers are gifted with "Power Packages" (ie they are free at character generation) to represent the very basic properties they have regardless of any other distinctions. These are things common to everything of their type, and are the access points to all of their Power Advantages. Without one of these Power Packages, you cannot use Power Advantages, Sorcery or Supernatural Martial Arts.

Enlightened Mortal

This package represents the basic characteristics of those mortals who possess Awakened Essence.

Enlightened Mortal Package (3 AP)

• The Essence Affinity Ability at 1(1 AP)
• An Essence Stress track (2 AP)

God-Blooded

This package represents the basic characteristics of the various beings known as the God-Blooded.

God-Blooded Package (6 AP)

• The Essence Affinity Ability at 1 (1 AP)
• An Essence Stress track (2 AP)
• Resistance [Disease - Improved Resistance] (2 AP)
• Resistance [Poison - Resistance] (1 AP)

Exalted

This package represents the basic characteristics of all Exalted.

Exalted Package (12 AP)

• The Essence Affinity Ability at 2 (2 AP)
• An Essence Stress track (2 AP)
• Regeneration (2 AP)
• Resistance [Disease - Immunity] (4 AP)
• Resistance [Poison - Improved Resistance] (2 AP)

I've left this link in for now, but if people are happy with the above staying I'll delete. Power Packages and Power Tech level

Anima Powers

All Exalted have a collection of innate Powers, called Anima Powers. These are detailed at length in Anima Effects.

Exalted Powers

Anything that isn't covered by another category falls into Powers.

Supernatural Martial Arts

Distinct from the mundane fighting and meditative arts learned by mortals are the Supernatural Martial Arts which those with Awakened Essence can learn.

Sorcery

Sorcery is performed using the Control (Reality) Power, and the base power represents Terrestrial Circle Sorcery. Celestial and Solar Circle Sorcery are modifiers on the base template.

Sample Power Aspect: Mastery of Terrestrial Circle Sorcery

Base AP Cost: 6AP

Activation Difficulty: 2 + Control Modifiers

Activation Time: Free Action

Base Template: Control Reality (9AP), Rote Dependent (-3)

Requires a Power Source and the Essence Affinity Ability

[blurb]

Modifiers:

A Note On Negative Modifiers: Negative Modifiers (beyond Rote Dependent) are very unusual for an Exalted to possess. They are most commonly found among God-Blooded and Enlightened Mortals, where they represent specialization or flawed understanding of some aspect of Sorcery.

-1 (Inability to Focus): You may not spend additional rounds to focus on a use of Sorcery.

-1 (Strenuous): You find Sorcery more enervating than normal. Your base activation difficulty is 7 instead of 3.

-1 (No Rituals):

-2 (Limitation: FP Cost): Each use of Sorcery costs a Fate Point to activate, in addition to the Activation roll.

-1 or -2 (Limitation: Increased Activation Difficulty): Sorcery's Activation Difficulty is increased by 2 or 4, depending on the version of this Limitation taken. This is treated as a Control Modifier, rather than increasing the base Activation.

+2 (Celestial Circle): blah. There is minimum Power TL of 5 to use Celestial Circle Sorcery.

+4 (Solar Circle): blah. Note this replaces (and does not stack with) Celestial Circle. Only Solars can use Solar Circle Sorcery.

See page 189-197 of the SoF rulebook for more details. 

Rotes

Some example Rotes to get people started.

Death of Obsidian Butterflies

Control:(Attack)

Sample Power Aspect: Razor-Sharp Magical Manifestation

Activation: 12 (2)

Activation Time: Simple Action

You unleash a swarm of razor-sharp obsidian butterflies that leave a wide swath of distruction in their wake. This is treated as a +6 ExR attack that affects an entire Zone.

Emerald Countermagic

Emulate Power: Nullify

Sample Power Aspect: First Circle Dispelling

Activation: 8(2)

Activation Time: Simple Action

Modifiers: Improved Nullifcation (+1), Deconstruction (+1)

This spell can be used to counteract another spell being cast in the Sorcerer's presence, or used to dispell a spell already in effect.

Invulnerable Skin of Bronze

Emulate Power: Armor

Sample Power Aspect: Body of Bronze

Activation: 8(2)

Activation Time: Simple Action

Duration: Scene (24 hours with FP)

Modifiers: Passive (+2)

Your body is transmuted into living metal, granting you a +6 AR that lasts for one scene (24 hours with FP).

Sorcery

Equipment

Purchase equipment normally.

Equipment

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