Editing Solar Exalted

=Solar Exalted Games=
==You want to play a [[Solar Exalted]] game because==

A better question is why wouldn't you want to play a [[Solar Exalted]] game? Why wouldn't you want to play in a game where you are the reborn god-king of a lost age of wonder, chosen by the greatest of Gods to be his champion? 
Why wouldn't you want to play a game where the main group of player characters could be Wayland Smith, Achilles, Jubei, Moses and Wong Fei Hung, except with more Kung Fu? 

Why wouldn't you want to play a game where you can play a hero of classical myth viewed through an anime lens? A game where you can shake the foundations of the world or the pillars of heaven, where you can make a difference, a game where the Eldritch powers shrink back in fear of you for a change, because you are the champions of the Gods. 

Every Solar was a [[Heroic Mortal|mortal hero]], now they are near immortal prodigies who may be the last chance for the world. They are the Golden Heroes upon whose shoulders the fate of the world lies. They fight the dark things which man fears to name, and they look good doing it. 

The only catch is, the world fears their power, and the most powerful empire in creation thinks they are demons. 

A small price to pay for the glory of the [[Unconquered Sun]].

==The Library of Twilight==
''or books to pick up'' 

Indispensable: <u>Exalted</u> Core. <u>Scavenger Sons</u>: 

The Exalted Core provides all the basic rules for running the game, and the rules for running Solar Exalted [[player character]]s. 

<u>Scavenger Sons</u> provides an overview of the world of <i>Exalted</i>, known as Creation.  It is brimming with adventure hooks for a party of Solars, and leaves plenty of room for a [[Storyteller]] to insert his own kingdoms and ancient ruined cities. 

Very useful: Caste Books, all five (Dawn, Eclipse, Night, Twilight, and Zenith), <u>Book of Three Circles</u> (out of print), <u>Savant and Sorcerer</u>, The <u>Exalted Players Guide</u>, The Storyteller's Companion, <u>Games of Divinity</u> (out of print). 

The <u>Book of Three Circles</u> and <u>Savant and Sorcerer</u> are the big books of Exalted Sorcery, with dozens of spells, ranging from basic sorcery to world-shaking effects. Savant and Sorcerer is the current Exalted Magic Book (having superseded the Book of Three Circles), and has rules for crafting Artifacts of power, as well as the updated rules for the massive armoured mecha war engines of the Exalted: Warstriders. 

The Castebooks provide extra background and charms (Exalt ability magic) for the favoured abilities of the respective castes (though any can caste can learn them), and the in-character fiction is worth reading to get a feel for how each of the castes operate. In addition, each book provides five pregenerated starting characters, and several unstatted Solar NPC?s 

The <u>Players Guide</u> provides additional antagonists in the shape of the Dragon Kings (ancient lizard warriors from before the time of men), Akuma (Demon corrupted Exalted) and God Blooded (Half breed offspring of mortals and Exalts/Gods/Demons). It also provides Merits and Flaws to customise characters with, and has the alternate Power Combat combat rules (if you intend to use these, this book becomes an indispensable purchase) 

The<u> Storyteller's Companion</u> provides a Storyteller's screen, as well as simplified rules for using other Exalted as antagonists and many Spirit Charms that were later reprinted in Games of Divinity.

<u>Games Of Divinity</u> is the Exalted book of Gods and spirits. It provides expanded information on running the gods in a world where everything has a god. As such, it?s full of useful information and story ideas. Where Scavenger Sons is the book about the world of Mortals, Games of Divinity is the book of Gods. 


Useful: Any of the other hardbacks, a region book useful to the region you are running your game in, <u>Creatures Of the Wyld</u>, and <u>Manacle and Coin</u> 

The other Exalted hardbacks expand on a specific area important to the Exalt type it describes, as such; they are useful as setting and antagonist books for Solar games (since pretty much everyone is after the Solars anyway). 

The region books provide more in depth information on a specific area of creation, so if you intend to run your game in a region covered by one of these books, they are an excellent resource. 

<u>Creatures of the Wyld</u>: The Exalted book of Monsters. Useful if you want something strange (like a rhino made entirely of magical metals) to throw at your players as a random encounter, as well as providing bigger plot hooks with the more powerful creatures. Find it, slay it, take its stuff?. 

<u>Manacle and Coin</u> is an overview of the seedier side of creation, the trade in slaves, drugs and money. It gives an in depth view of the most powerful mortal organisation in Creation, The Guild, and is useful for providing non Exalted antagonists and allies for player characters. 

==Creation through Solar Eyes==
''or the primary setting for the Solar Exalted'' 

The primary setting for the Solar Exalted is the region in the eastern portion of Creation known as the Scavenger Lands. This is a realm of petty kingdoms a valley wide, ruins from the First age of man, blood, battle and trade. 
Two powers dominate the political landscape of Scavenger Lands: Lookshy and Nexus. 

Lookshy is the city founded by the Seventh Legion, a large military force of Dragonblooded and mortal soldiers who were stationed where the city of Lookshy now stands. Lookshy boasts the most advanced military in Creation, its troops still fight in the manner of a First Age army, and it acts as the primary defender of the Scavenger lands against the aggression of The Realm. 
Nexus is the most populous city in Creation. Built on the ruins of a first age metropolis, it is the hub of trade for the world, and where the headquarters of the Guild is stationed. It lies at the nexus of three rivers (hence the name) and if something can be bought, it can be bought in Nexus. 
The Scavenger Lands are by no means the only place Solar Exalted exist, however. They could appear anywhere in Creation, even the centre of the Realm?

==Playing The Unconquered Sun==
''or Advice for Storytellers''

===General advice on running Solar games===
''and problems that may arise'' 
''Think big''! Solars don't do small plots. If the fate of an entire kingdom (if not the whole world) isn't at stake, you're selling the Solars short. A moderately competent solar can create a fantastically efficient kingdom, fight an army single handed, create world shaking magic or start a cult that overtakes an entire nation in a few months. Solars can be scarily good at what they do, and it can be intimidating to create challenges for them. So think big. Array the entire Seventh Legion against your upstart nation builders, have the Deathlords take a personal interest in the fate of your characters. Make it world shaking and you are on the right track. There's nothing quite as satisfying in a Solar game as watching your players take your epic plot by the reigns and pull it in a completely unexpected direction, because dammit, they can, they're Solars.

===The PCs are the Stars===
Make sure you write your plot with the PC's as the stars. This is the most important rule for Exalted storytellers: The PC's are the most important people in the world, but not necessarily the most powerful. Be prepared for your players to wander off and do their own thing, like the aforementioned nation building. In my experience, as the Solars become more experienced, the game begins to write itself, with the characters making their own stories and forging their own epic destinies. A useful tool for preparing Solar epic stories is to prepare a write-up of what would happen if the players did nothing, then modify it according to their actions. For example, lets say the Deathlord Mask Of Winters wants to invade Nexus, and you want your players to stop him. Write what would happen to Nexus if the players weren?t involved, planning out the Masks offensive that way, and then change his actions according to PC action. This leaves a flexible structure, which allows for PC freedom while still retaining a strong narrative feel.

===Running Godlike antagonists===
The world of Exalted is a dangerous place, with numerous individuals who outstrip starting Solar Exalted in power, any of whom would gladly see them dead in the dirt. One of the possible problems you can run into with this is; why doesn't their enemy simply erase them from existence with his mighty power? The answer, in my mind, is threefold: 

*Genre: Exalted is a game of epic action and anime Kung Fu. As such, its completely out of genre for the villain to crush his enemies without thought, he has to have them at his mercy, then gloat, or destroy everything they strive to do before he kills them, or do something that gives our heroes a chance. Sure its cliché, but clichés exist for a reason? 
*The PC's are the most important people in the world. It does them a disservice to simply crush them and makes for a non-fun game. 
*No one with any power moves in Exalted without someone watching. No one acts without someone reacting. Lets take our previous example of Mask of Winters invading Nexus. We assume our players are proactive, and at least attempt to do something to stop him. Now, the Mask is unable to affect the PCs himself, because he is trapped in the Underworld, so he has to act through proxies. Let's assume Mask sends his armies to march on Nexus (a fairly simplified scenario, but it serves our purposes). Now, he has limited powerful servants (evil geniuses have limited lieutenants after all...) and these servants have to be divided amongst leading his army and directly affecting the Solar PCs. Lets say he sends a strong enough force to assassinate the PCs without any trouble (a substantial force considering the PCs are Solars). This would leave his army weakened, without its best generals, and another power could take advantage of this. In this scenario, Lookshy would probably be able to destroy the poorly led army of the Mask, when combined with the defenders of Nexus. Sure, he has taken out the PCs, but his army is routed and he's shown himself to be weak. In the same blow, Lookshy has proved itself to be mighty and earned the debt of Nexus. This is clearly a simplified scenario, but the point is, the PCs and the villain are not the only movers and shakers in creation, there is always someone out to make the equivalent of a fast buck from a weakened enemy. Remember, however, this sword cuts both ways? 


The other problem with such a high-powered game is: what if the players mow down my carefully crafted antagonist? There are a few ways to deal with this:
*Fudge the dice: the villain turns aside the blow of the mighty solar at the last second, then, seeing himself as clearly outclassed, he flees. This is appropriate for important but minor villains, such as enemy lieutenants. However, repeatedly doing this is a sure way to annoy your players, so weigh up the importance of the antagonist with how much it would annoy the players if he got away. Removing a minor villain who has eluded them several times is immensely satisfying to the PCs, but a minor villain who always gets away is just annoying. 
*Let them win. In the world of Exalted there is almost always a bigger puppet master pulling the strings. Again, if overused this quickly becomes very annoying, but used well, it provides a nice sense of escalating villains. 
*The Villain is better than them. This is appropriate for extremely powerful villains such as elder Exalts, Deathlords, Demon Princes and Akuma. The players are not yet powerful enough to deal with the enemy. They'd better make good their escape while he gloats at their expense, then come back when they are good enough to deal with him/her/it. Again, overused, this is annoying, but used well; it provides an excellent incentive to build up a strong power base, as well as a recurring villain to pit the characters against.

==So, the Sun Chose You?==
''Or, advice for players''

===Exaltation is Character Building=== 
There is quite a lot to building a Solar character, so I will divide this into three sections: Concept and Background, Dots on the Sheet and Charming Your Way Through Life. 

===Concept and Background===
Think big, or at least have big potential in mind. Nobodies don?t exalt. Exalts are either exceptional now, or will be exceptional soon. A boy who spends his entire life in one village, cutting wood isn?t going to exalt if it?s his destiny to spend the rest of his life cutting that wood. Exalted all have tremendous strength of character in one way or another (the virtues system pretty much assures this), so your concept should reflect this. A good method to straddle the potential versus competence now line is through the Exaltation, which brings us nicely to the second part of concept and background: Exaltation. This is one the player and Storyteller should really go over together (a bit more than normal). Exaltation is the single most dramatic event in the characters life up until that point. No one Exalts lying comfortably in bed (unless ninjas burst through their window and try to kill them at the same point). Work up an Exaltation that ticks one or more of the following boxes with your Storyteller: 

*It must be cool. This is a bit of a vague category to fill, but it?s pretty much the cardinal rule of Exalted. For example battling the other relic scavenger who has been your nemesis since you took up the trade atop a ruined pyramid, in an elemental storm is a perfect time for you both to Exalt. However, a tense bargaining session, where the wrong word could cost you your life, in a bar the nemesis owns, which is full of his men could also be a great time for your character to Exalt. 
*The character must be under some pressure. Exaltation should happen at a time of stress for the character, the perfect time for a mortal hero to shine, and show the gods what he is really made of. 
*It should provide a plot hook. Sure, backgrounds exist to give the Storyteller plot hooks, but what better opportunity for the beginning of an epic quest than a message from a god. 
*It must be dramatic: Even if your exaltation is uneventful on the surface (e.g., you exalt while walking down a street of your city at night) you can make it eventful by having some sort of dramatic revelation for the character (the gladiator realises he?s wasted his time in the arena, when he could have been fighting to push back the dark in the world, the scholar who has never seen his knowledge leave the library realises that there is so much more potential for learning out there in the world). First age memories are excellent for this, as the character realises the revelation comes from the attitude of one of his former incarnations. 

With those guidelines, your Storyteller and you should be able to work up a kick ass Solar Exaltation in short order. 

Given the huge setting of Exalted, it is imperative that you work with your Storyteller to create a character appropriate to the area the game is going to be set in and the style of game you are going to be playing in (yup, I know this is stock advice, but in my experience, it is of more importance in Exalted than pretty much any other game I?ve played). Nothing sucks more than crafting a fantastic background for your northern ice-walker chief who exalted while battling the Fair Folk, and now leads a coalition of tribes to reclaim the North from the Fairies, only to find out your Storyteller wants to run a game of sea bound adventure in the South West, battling deadly pirates and demon cults. Not that it couldn?t be done, however. 

===Dots on the sheet===
When building a Solar character, one of the things to remember is you have a fairly large number of points to play with. Your character can be staggeringly competent in one area and still be able to hold his own in others. Naturally this offers a fair bit of freedom for character generation. 
First, look at your attributes. You get a fair number of points to put into these too, so the biggest decision is what to make your primary and secondary attribute set. Generally a frontline combat character should have high physical stats, a savant or sorcerer should have high mental stats and a socialite or religious icon style character should have high social attributes. This doesn?t however mean that that section has to be their primary attribute set, the secondary set gives just enough points to be very competent in that area (as opposed to the staggering competence of the primary attribute set). Either way, it?s generally a good idea to have physical as either primary or secondary, or sink some bonus points into increasing your attributes; Exalted is an action game, and not being physically capable of the impressive stunts you?d expect to be able to do can be annoying. Again, there are exceptions to this, it?s a guideline at best. 

====Abilities====
A good idea at this stage is to look over the Charms section of the book (and the charm picking guide of this 101)and pick a few you like the look of, then note their minimum requirements, so you don?t have to point juggle too much at the next stage. Picking your favoured abilities is extremely important, as you can buy dots in them for less, and you get discounted experience costs to increase them, and charms in them cost less. Ideally you want a combat ability (archery, brawl, martial arts, melee, thrown) and dodge, if they are not already caste abilities. This is because you will need to be able to hit your enemies, and cheap increases and charms helps this immensely, and dodge is useful to pretty much everyone (there are exceptions, but I?ll get into those later...) Generally, picking one of the social abilities (presence, socialise, bureaucracy) is also a good idea, a fast tongue can avoid many dangerous situations, especially when combined with the phenomenally powerful social charms of the Solars. 
So, the first things you should buy are the prerequisites for the charms you have picked. Remember, however, that to buy an ability at 4 or more, you need to spend bonus points. Then you can spread any remaining points around. As a general rule of thumb, to be competent enough to be chosen as a Solar Exalted, you should have either one ability at 5, and one or two at 3+, or two abilities at 4 and a few at 3. However, this isn?t a hard and fast rule, more a way to get the most out of those starting points. Specialities are a good way to increase an ability that would otherwise be lower, or to push an ability to the limits of mortal competence, in certain areas. Picking specialities for favoured abilities is very cost effective in terms of adding basic dice to your pools, but when it comes to adding to those pools with charms (such as the dice adder charms in the melee tree) specialities don?t count to the attribute + ability maximum addition. 

====Virtues====
In some ways, these four simple stats are amongst the most important to your character; They influence the way he acts in a broad swathe of situations, they can dramatically increase a characters prowess for a short period of time, and most importantly, they define how the great curse of the Exalted manifests. You have only seven points to distribute here, so doing it according to character is the order of the day. Pick what you would like to play: A cold, calculating mercenary captain would have high conviction and valour, but a low compassion, and possibly low temperance (maybe behind the iron exterior he hides a liking for hard liquor). The best recommendation for picking virtues is go with what feels right, since it?s down to how you want to roleplay the character. 

====Essence====
This begins at two, if you intend to play a sorcerer, remember Essence 3 is needed, as terrestrial circle sorcery requires it. However, I would recommend taking essence 3 to all starting characters, the benefit it gives outweighs the bonus point cost.
No if it suits your character to have three essence, have three, if not, don't.

====Backgrounds====
Several of the backgrounds available to Solar characters can be relatively easily picked up during play: Followers can be picked up by anyone with decent social abilities, Resources by anyone with good Larceny and Stealth (and no morals). Familiars, at least at lower levels, can be picked up with basic survival charms. Influence, backing and contacts simply accrue through play, without any specific effort to get them. The big reason to buy these backgrounds straight out is simple: You begin play with them, no effort at all has to be expended to get them. This can be very important, since generally you will want to be doing more heroic things than bankrolling your expeditions, or training a pet. 
*Followers can be useful if your storyteller allows them to be more capable than the average man on the street (or in the jungle or whatever), but otherwise, they can be more of a hindrance than anything else, unless you?re feeling particularly heartless and you want a meat shield. 
*Resources is a very campaign dependant background; either you will pretty much require it, or it?ll be a nice extra. One thing to remember is that there is a comprehensive price list at the back of the core book (pg 324 onwards) and that a purchase of equal to your resources value permanently reduces your resources by one. This means if your Storyteller is using resources for the purchasing of starting equipment, you may want to stock up on it. 
*Familiar is, at higher levels, a fairly useful background that can be difficult to get in play; the familiar is a magical creature linked to the characters essence. At lower levels, the familiar has no interesting powers, and is basically a normal animal. At higher levels, however, the familiar gains some interesting abilities; the ability to share senses with it can provide excellent spying possibilities, and the ability to drain some essence from it can be useful. 
*Influence is one thing Solars can guarantee gaining through play: Being one of the most powerful entities in creation (at least potentially) means some folks will listen to you, and the incredible social prowess of the Solars means that listening is the first step to following. 
*Backing and Contacts essentially achieve the same thing in the game world: Give you access to people and things to make your life easier. Both require some sort of recompense for the access, and both can be advantages and drawbacks. 

Backgrounds that are definitely worth picking up at character creation: 
*Allies: Allying with someone is worth a couple stories by itself, since allies are extremely close friends, and the default power level is a starting solar character. 
*Artefact: Orichalcum artefacts are very difficult to come by, since the setting assumes that any known orichalcum artefacts are either heavily guarded, in the hands of someone important, or lost to the world. 
*Manse: Unguarded manses are very rare, so to get a manse in play generally involves evicting the current owners. While this may be fun, it certainly isn't easy, since manse owners are either fae, Exalts or spirits, and as such can present a challenge to a competent solar circle, especially if they're fighting on their home turf. 
*Mentor: Having someone show you the ropes of being an exalt is worth its weight in orichalcum and that is only part of what the mentor can do. 
A good way to break up your backgrounds is to think of every background dot as what would be a single story's worth of play time in game, since that?s about how long it takes to build up one background dot.

===Charming your way through life=== 
A starting Solar character begins with ten charms. That is at least 80 experience points worth of charms, or put more clearly, a fair amount of bang out of the box. So what do you do with this bang to make it as loud as possible? 

Well, it is a good idea to have a broad selection of charms; being really, really good in one area, like the best in creation (which could be just possible if you sink all ten charms into something, maybe) might seem like a good idea, but when you face some competition in anywhere except that area, especially if it is Exalted competition, you are going to wish you?d generalised a bit more. 

Assuming you are not into [[Exalted Martial Arts]] or [[Exalted Sorcery]], a 5/5 split between direct combat and non-combat charms is a good way to divide up your charms. At least three of the combat charms should be defences of some kind, whether soak boosts (e.g. Iron Kettle Body), dodges (e.g. Reed in the Wind) or parries (e.g. Dipping Swallow Defence). The defensive charms should be taken from two different abilities if possible as well. This is because you can parry an attack once, dodge an attack once, then boost your soak to take any remaining damage, hopefully reducing it down to ping damage. For offensive charms, picking two from the same tree isn?t a bad idea, since it gives you good combo possibilities, and more importantly, options for attack. Lets, for example, take brawl charms. You could pick both Fist of Iron technique and Thunderclap Rush Attack, meaning you could pre-empt your enemies, or hit harder than normal. For the five non combat charms, a range of abilities is important. There are several trees which are worth picking up for almost any character build. For example, athletics charms are always useful, whether increasing your mobility, or boosting your strength. The initial athletics charm from the acrobatic side of the tree is known in many groups as the ?wire-fu charm? for good reason. It allows you, without dice rolls, to perform actions which wouldn?t be out of place in a Jet Li or Jackie Chan movie. 
The Solar social charm trees are also well worth getting a foothold in, since they are the most efficient and powerful charms available to Solars, especially at the top levels. Ox Body Technique is a very good investment for starting characters, and it is a good idea to take one level of it regardless of concept, since it improves your survivability dramatically. Overall, taking almost any of the non combat charms is useful, with only Ox Body being close to necessary. 

====Martial Artists and Sorcerers====
Martial Artists and Sorcerers require somewhat different charm picks from regular exalted; the unusual way their abilities and/or charms work merits special attention. 

''Martial Artists'' 
Solar martial artists are in something of a strange situation when it comes to picking abilities and charms: Martial arts provides both unarmed and armed combat options (in this, it is similar to Brawl) and the charms have effects commonly associated with several other abilities (notably Lore, Occult, Dodge and resistance, depending on the martial arts tree). Also, a solar martial artist has the problem that their non martial arts charm options are often more attractive, as they tend to be more powerful or wide reaching in effect. However, the wide range of effects available within a single tree makes up for less directly powerful charms. 

Overall, martial artists still want to have a broad selection of defensive charms, with the three charm guideline still applying. Another good guideline for the dedicated Martial artist is to buy all the charms up to and including the form charm at character creation; the pre form charms tend to be slightly underpowered, while the form is dead on power level, and the post form charms are slightly overpowered. Buying up to the form gives a wide range of effects for a starting martial artist, and generally provides at least two charms to combo together early on. It?s also worth noting that taking much more than the form at character creation tends not to pay off in the same way as taking a large number of melee charms; you sacrifice flexibility for domination of a single niche. It is important to remember, however, that a very competent Solar martial artist takes time to build, usually 20-30 exp points, by which point you should be deep enough in your chosen tree to have access to good abilities, and powerful combos. Remember too, to factor in whether your chosen martial arts style allows armour to be worn with it, when choosing defensive charms: A naked (comparatively) martial artist may need a stronger active defence than an armoured one. It?s also worth stressing again that a Solar martial artist who picks only Celestial level martial artists will not have the same raw power of a solar Brawler or Meleeist, but will have far, far more flexibility in the effects of his charms. 

''Sorcerers''
Sorcery is the area where the Solar Exalted excel best, their large essence pools make them more capable than other terrestrial and celestial level sorcerers, and only they have access to the most powerful magic in creation: Spells of the Solar Circle. 

Overall, as a starting Sorcerer, a 4/3/3 charm split between sorcery/combat/non combat charms is a good guideline: It gives you Terrestrial Circle Sorcery and three spells, three combat charms to be split between offence and defence, and three other charms to be used to broaden your abilities. 

As far as spell picks go, the only spell which is really necessary is Emerald Countermagic: It is the spell to take sorcery to get: The ability to shut down enemy sorcerers as they cast is not to be underestimated, especially when you consider how powerful even terrestrial spells are. As far as other spell picks go, check what you want out of sorcery; want to be the best battlefield sorcerer of a generation, take Storm of Obsidian Butterflies. Sorcerer-savant who searches for ancient texts; The Eye and the Mouth. It is also important to consider how your spells interact with your other charms: You don?t necessarily need a powerful defensive charm if you can cast Invulnerable Skin of Bronze against powerful opponents. From your three combat charms, taking two defensive and one offensive is a good rule of thumb if you want to be effective in a fight aside from sorcery. For the non combat charms, naturally the non sorcery occult charms are very useful (especially All Encompassing Sorcerers Sight) and social charms will help overcome the in setting stigma associated with sorcerers in some areas of creation. Overall, specialising in the broad area of -the unusual and occult- isn not a bad idea, as this vague area includes most of the abilities associated with the Twilight caste, except Craft.

This brings up another benefit of sorcery: the knowledge of magic to craft powerful artefacts: If you decide to take Crafts as a sorcerer, the combination of high crafts and the high occult needed to buy sorcery gives an excellent starting dice pool for artefact creation. 


====Are You Experienced?==== 
Once you have experience, you are going to want to spend it. Early in your career as a Solar, where you sink your experience can make a big difference to the effectiveness of your character. As you start to reach middling experience levels, where you sink your points into matters less and less until you reach the point where no matter what you buy, you will be deadly in one way or another. So this experience guide is broken into three stages: New exalts, experienced exalts, and masters of the universe. This guide doesn?t really apply to dedicated marital artists or sorcerers, who will be covered separately 

''''New exalts (0-40 exp)'''': As a new exalt, there are two things you should be spending your experience on: Basic combos, especially defensive ones, and heading deeper into your favoured charm trees. 

''Combos'': Combos are what set competent exalted apart from their peers, and having a good range of basic combos sets you in good stead for later advancement. A powerful defensive combo, or a combo with an attack and a powerful defensive element are virtually essential, and are not expensive to build, most costing about the same as a new charm. 

''Charms'': Favoured charms are cheap, you should be able to afford one every other session, give or take. They are also very useful, heading partially into one or two trees is a good way to spend your experience, and it gives you a wide range of options for combos. Defensive charms are always a better choice than offensive ones, since a good defence is stronger than a good offence in Exalted. 

''''Experienced exalts (40-90 exp)'''': Experienced exalts have a few more options open to them, but one thing should dominate your exp spending, as it will make life as an exalt far easier: Persistent defences. That is defensive charms that last a full scene, and allow a free action to defend yourself. A good persistent defence frees you of using a defensive charm every turn, so you can act more effectively, using a wider variety of charms. It?s also worth noting that stacked persistent defences (that is more than one active at the same time) make you very very hard to hurt. 

Other things to spend exp on at this level are; improving your abilities, it?s cheap if they are favoured, and it makes your charms more effective. Solar social charms; this is the time to get a foothold on those social charm trees, as they are the most powerful charms the Solars have access to. If you picked some up before, now?s the time to get the more powerful ones. Essence: This is a prerequisite for persistent defences if you didn?t buy essence three at character creation, so you may want to pick this up. More combos. Wide ranges of combos are always good. Perfect effects: As you gain access to persistent effects, you also gain access to perfect defences. As the big strength of the Solars, picking these up is no bad thing. 

''''Masters of the Universe (90 exp plus)'''': Now it is time to either buy up the last few charms in your favourite tree, or make your own custom charms. Either that, or finish off the social trees. You can also up your essence to four or five, if you feel it necessary, or up some of your abilities. By now, you are powerful enough to pick and choose whatever you like to spend exp on.

==What Solars do best, an explanation of their niche==
Each of the Exalted types has one area that stands out as their own speciality. The Solars is perfection. They are the best at everything, specialist generalists, if you will. Solars have the highest cap for charms which add dice to their pools. They also have the largest number of Perfect effects and unlike the other Exalted, Solars have easy access to them. They can also create custom charms with Perfect effects, if they wish to spend the time and experience to develop them. They have access to the most powerful Sorcery too, the spells of the Solar Circle, magic on a truly epic scale, from destroying an entire city, to a single phrase so powerful and spiteful; it damages the very soul of the individual it is directed at. 

==Castes==

The Solar Exalted are divided into five [[Caste]]s.  Each Caste represents a different general method by which the Solar will bring the [[Unconquered Sun]]'s virtue and righteousness to [[Creation]] and, in turn, glory to the Unconquered Sun.  When a Solar is Exalted, her Caste is chosen according to her natural gifts and temperment.  

* <b>[[Dawn Caste]]</b> Solars are matchless warriors and champions.  They achieve glory through force of arms.
* <b>[[Zenith Caste]]</b> Solars are prophets, priests, and charismatic leaders.  They achieve glory through force of personality.
* <b>[[Twilight Caste]]</b> Solars are sorcerers, physicians, detectives, and artificers.  They achieve glory through great wisdom.
* <b>[[Night Caste]]</b> Solars are spies, assassins, infiltrators, and secret agents.  They achieve glory through unequaled cunning.
* <b>[[Eclipse Caste]]</b> Solars are diplomats, travellers, merchants, and socialites.  They achieve glory through fostering cooperation.

It is important to note that despite the stereotypes listed above, a Solar's Caste is in no way a restriction; Caste is an indicator of probable methodology, not a straight-jacket.  For example, a Twilight Caste Solar may be the greatest swordsman that ever lived, but he is likely to consider the wisdom gained through his mastery to be more important than the battles it allows him to win.

''Terminology note: Perfect effects and perfection.'' 

Perfection (small "p") means just that: Solars are very, ''very'' good at what they do, which is pretty much everything. 

Perfect Effects (big "P") are specific in-game effects which automatically succeed; the exception is where two Perfect Effects come into opposition: In Exalted, an immovable object trumps an unstoppable force, Perfect defenses always trump Perfect offenses. Examples of these effects can be found in Exalted core, pages 155 (Accuracy Without Distance), 166 (Heavenly Guardian Defence), 198 (Seven Shadow Evasion) all have examples of Perfect effects.


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Original Author : Ubermonkey on Rpgnet

[[Category:Exalted]]