Exalted/Solars

The champions of the Unconquered Sun, greatest of all the gods. The stories heroes of legend. Once, they led armies, they ruled Creation. Then they were betrayed, murdered and usurped.

Amongst their number are mighty warriors, the wisest of priests, the most powerful sorcerors, diplomats who united an entire world, and assassins who ruled the shadows.

: Exalted/Abyssals are better! -- Sotto voice of Xarak

Now, they return to the world....but they are hunted. Declared anathema by the ruling DragonBlooded, and feared by the mortal population.

CURS ran a Solar campaign last year, Scavenger Sons.
Requiem ran a Solar campaign this year, "Better To Light A Candle" - except it got a little more 'mixed' than he had anticipated and far more 'weird' than anyone really thought possible.

What are the castes, and are they associated with character types or classes? --AlexChurchill

AIUI they are mostly flavour - if you're familiar with other WhiteWolf stuff you'll instantly recognise their own special "we don't have classes. Almost." system. --Vitenka

Bascially, yes. Each caste has five favoured abilities associated with it; the characters get xp discounts for taking skills in these. This ought to lead to Dawn castes (Archery, Brawl, Martial Arts, Melee, Thrown) becoming warriors, Zenith castes (Endurance, Performance, Presence, Resistance, Survival) becoming Monks/Preists? and the like, Twilight castes (Craft, Investigation, Occult, Lore, and Medicine) becoming healers, craftsmen and sorcerors, Night castes (Athletics, Awareness, Dodge, Larceny and Stealth) being theives and assassins, and Eclipse castes (Bureaucracy, Linguistics, Ride, Sail and Socalise) as diplomats and all-rounders. Each caste has their own caste-specific ability(ies), too ("anima power"); these are normally less useful things such as being able to prevent small amounts of damage or making their visage terrible to behold to enemies. --SF

And like Vitenka said, it's not easy to pigeonhole them. I've seen fantastic fighters in Dawn, Zenith and Night, Eclipse at high XP can have whatever power they like from any other type of Exalted, and so on. The only one I've never seen out of archetype is Twilight, but I think that Senji will help us with that one. --Requiem

: Hmm, I don't know how much out of archetype Vasily's going to be. On the other hand, I suspect I am going to use at least 4 of my charms on Stealth and Martial Arts, so... -- Senji

Castes:
Dawn (Fighters): Archery, Brawl, Martial Arts, Melee, Thrown.

Zenith (Priests): Endurance,Performance, Presence, Resistance, Survival

Twilight: (Sorcerers): craft, Investigation, lore, medicine, occult

Night (Rogues): Athletics, Awareness, Dodge, Larceny, Stealth

Eclipse (Diplomats): Bureaucracy, Lingistics, Ride, Sail, Socialise.

Each caste also has a unique anima power. In addition to the five favoured abilities above you get five others of your choice. This means Caste IS important but isn't the be all and end all of your character. -- King DJ

I always find that the five I pick don't match up very well with the ones I actually spend XP in... -- Senji

: Normally, I seem to squeak by okay. But there was the time I spent most of a session falling off a horse due to not being able to ride at all. --Requiem

Yes. Unlike in, say, AD&D, any character can become good at anything. It's slightly easier for some castes to do certain things than others...but very slightly. In order to become a master swordsman, you just buy Melee as one of your 5 or so favored abilitys and then it's very easy indeed. A Dawn caste automatically has Melee as a favored ability, but apart from that, there's no difference. Which is a VeryGoodThing?, I say. However, I think that Solars are the most boring of the types of Exalted. They're basically good at everything, wheras the Sidereals are great at martial arts and predicting/altering the future, Lunars are great at melee combat, etc...also, there is very little infomation given about Solar society, customs, etc. This is because they don't really have any, but still, it makes them a bit shallow, if you ask me.- Xarak

: Think outside the box... -- Senji

Solars have the advantage from a character creation point of view that they are just ordinary people who have Exalted so you aren't a dynast or a field agent and thus don't have to take certain skills.

: *grins* -- Senji

: Since I would never want all the combat skills as class skills I would never be a dawn cast. I know they get a shiny anima power but I would rather be one of the other casts that gets more useful skills so I can have a broader character.

I don't think D&D 3rd ed is all that limited. Certain classes have more flexiblity than others (there are only a few ways to build a paladin for example) but classes like fighter and rogue offer lots of flexiblity. -- King DJ

D20 is better, yes - but I still can't help seeing classes and levels as a crutch to aid people in the transition from WarGaming? to RolePlaying. --Vitenka (Not that WarGaming? isn't great fun!)

D20 is a nice flexible system. It does contain a few anomolies that grate a bit like strength checks. I figure if people what to roleplay they don't need dice to do that so the system isn't so important. A few indicators here and there of how attractive your character is, how good they are at lying etc. is all you need the system to provide. Combat basicly is detailed wargaming anyway. -- King DJ

In my opinion, combat is not detailed wargaming. It is in d20, because d20 is based on a wargaming system. But it isn't in any other system. --Requiem

You are right. Combat in Exalted has more in common with Magic the Gathering than wargaming. d20 However is realistic combat simulation (at low levels at least). Wargaming is fun. I used to like Warhammer until they changed all the rules to the d6 system.-- King DJ

You guys are deliberately trying to tempt me now, aren't you? ;) --AlexChurchill

All I know is that I get MtG and Exalted terminlolgy mixed up. I've almost referred to Essence as Mana before, and I keep saying 'reflexive' for 'instant' and vice versa. Now to write me an Exalted set for MtG...

You want StuartFraser for that.... -- Senji

: Aha! We need an Exalted block! --Requiem

That could work rather well... But the point still stands. --Vitenka

The whole concept of RolePlaying originated from WarGaming? though - and the systems have mostly remained true to it. There has been some deviation towards Narrative combat systems over simulationist ones, but many games - and D20 especially - stick close to their roots. For this alone, I curse D20. Or will, once I discover how to pronounce Shaam :) --Vitenka

Curse is (N+1)thed. ^_^ --Requiem

Suggest a seperate page for the inevitable StoryVersusSimulation discussion. --Vitenka (Assuming someone here prefers simulations?)

: Simulate combat, narrate story. --King DJ