Rules Tweaks

Player Dice Pool

The Player Dice Pool is a new attribute, ranging from 0 to 10, which I anticipate to rise and fall fairly quickly. Only the PCs have a Player Dice Pool.

A player can, at any time, spend a point from their PDP to add another die to their dice pool, up to their full Player Dice Pool. This is entirely a player based decision- the character in no way, shape or form influences when a player spends these dice. Thus, if a character is being mind controlled into attacking the Circle with everything it's got, the player is in no way expected to use their Player Dice to make them more effective.

Dice from the Player Dice Pool must be committed before the dice are rolled. On any roll. Spending Player Dice is a sign that you really want to succeed at a particular action.

By being Cool. No, seriously- the bonus dice from Stunts get shoved into the Player Dice Pool. If you want to spend them again right away, feel free. But they can also be saved for later use. Thus, while a two die bonus for taking down some mooks might not be terribly helpful, a ten die bonus to taking a cracking at Mask of Winters probally would be. You also get a Player Die when you follow your Nature in adversity, or when a Flaw is problematic.

Credit for the Player Dice Pool goes to Drew Stevens, who has an Exalted website.

Insignia

At the beginning of the game, each player gets a card, which says something like cool set description, Nice Stunt, interesting dialogue, Intelligent Problem-Solving, or thinking on your feet. Whoever holds one of these can hand it to another player when they think that the other player's fulfilled the condition on the card; the recipient gets a temporary Willpower point or a Player Die; recipient's choice. At the end of the session, a player who has been given any Insignia during that session gets an extra Experience Point.

The Dance of Virtues

Virtues in standard Exalted are, in my opinion, too far out of the spotlight. Here's my take on them. First, a review of what I didn't change:

• If you want to act against the dictates of a Virtue of 3 or greater, you must fail a Virtue roll or turn a point of temporary Willpower into a point of Limit.
• Whenever you encounter your Limit Break Condition, you must make a Limit check - roll the relevant Virtue, and gain one point of Limit per success.
• When your Limit Meter is full, you suffer a Limit Break.
• When a Limit Break ends, you gain temporary Willpower points equal to the score of the instigating Virtue. This can cause your temporary Willpower to go beyond your ordinary maximum.

These are my revisions or additions to the existing rules:

• You can spend a point of temporary Virtue and a point of Willpower to add a number of dice equal to that Virtue's score to any dice action serving that Virtue - spending Compassion to save a little boy from a bullying gang, for example, or Valor to defend one's own honour.
• When a Virtue instigates a Limit Break, all its temporary points are restored.
• A character's Limit Meter is 10 or Essence multiplied by two, whichever is greater.

Exalted Wushu Rules

If Exalted is too crunchy for you, then maybe you want to try out one of the Wushu conversions for it. Benjamin Baugh wrote one; you can contact him to get a copy of it.

I did one too; I call it Whispering Fury after my Abyssal. You can download it by clicking on the name.

New Charms

There are new Charms here.

Dramatis Personæ

Starring Roles

Zoran is a warrior dedicated to restoring justice to the wronged. Until recently, he was working as a mercenary in Nexus, having not found any particularly exciting wrongs in his power to right. He is haunted and angered by dreams of the First Age and the Usurpation; a hatred for the Dragon-Blooded who took those close to him blooms dark in his heart.

Daren is the estranged warrior-prince of an outlying principality near Nexus. He has come to the city seeking assistance in his quest: rid his homeland of the shadowland rising beneath it. In this taks, he has enlisted the help of Kondo and the Flayed Damsel; they intend to restore the place's broken Manse.

Rachelle grew up in Nexus, but then fled it following a political blunder of her mother's resulting in the death of her three brothers and the encasement of her mother in ice. She spent the next few years in Chiaroscuro, where she met her Exaltation. Since then, a strange urge has been pulling her back to her hometown's rich theatre culture and the politics of its underside. She also goes by the name Duman.

In recent days, Rachelle has done a favor for the Fair Folk known as Blackened Phoenix and Empty Crow, and travelled to Whitewall, where she has become something of a diplomat.

Kondo is a thrillseeker and a master of the shadier arts. He frequents the less savoury parts of the city, and assigns himself mindless tasks in an attempt to give meaning to the emptiness of his existence, or perhaps simply to escape it.

Supporting Cast

Helena is a mortal theatre owner, who has recently and much to her delighted "surprise" acquired ownership of a highly coveted property. She occasionally employs Rachelle.

Shalrina, the Daimyo of Faces, is a player in the spirit world's power games and a seller of extraordinary masks.

A man with connections in the sorcerous black market, Glass Knife united Daren with Whispering Fury when Daren asked for sorcerous assistance in his quest.

Blackened Phoenix and Empty Crow are Southern faerie entertainers. They are strangely catlike, and have a bodyguard who has not introduced himself. Shalrina currently holds something which they wish to have returned to them; though it is unclear exactly what this thing is, the entertainers seem to believe that it is essential for them to perform at their greatest skill. They refer to this thing as "their faces", but it is clearly some magical secret.

The ghost of a Twilight Caste, Jade Lotus Opening was forced to haunt a nearby city of tomb-builders' descendants when his ziggurat's sanctity was violated. His tomb has recently been resealed, but his staff Treebreaker and his book of spells have been stolen, and he is not done being upset.

A Daybreak Caste Abyssal, 'Whispering Fury was an architect and archæologist before her Black Exaltation. Now she defiles tombs and raises angry spirits in servide of her masters. She can be recognized by the forever-bleeding gashes on her hands. Despite these and other stigmata, she is bleakly beautiful.

Recently the Flayed Damsel has come to remember her Exalted past, and seeks the freedom and glory of her soul's Solar days. She aids Daren in his quest, hoping that her deeds will gain her favor in the eyes of the Unconquered Sun.

Props

An orichalcum o-naginata with black jade handle, Voice of the Rising Sun can change the length of its handle as a reflexive action, from two to twenty feet. It sizzles with righteousness; it adds its wielder's permanent Essence in damage to target with a lower Compassion. Voice of the Rising Sun is Zoran's weapon.

The weapon of a fallen Dragon-Blood, Smoldering Karma Tongue is a red jade daiklave. Its wounds bite with Essence fire; the turn after it damages a character, that character takes another health level of bashing damage, which must be soaked as though it were aggravated. Daren and Rachelle have sold this blade to a certain weapon merchant.

A soulsteel moon-pursuing-meteor, this chain has a leaf-shaped blade at each end. Like Voice of the Rising Sun, it can change its length. It leaves a noxious smoke trailing behind it as it screeches through the air. This smoke can choke and obscure. The Flayed Damsel Whispering Fury wears the Final Gasp around her neck.