Exalted 3rd edition pdf download

Abyssals are chosen at the moment they would die, and are given a choice — become Abyssal or perish. Liminals are weird, no explanation. Exigents are each unique. Very helpful, those last two. It urges Exalts to act, and in specific ways based on what type of Exalt they are. Exalted are simply not going to sit there and do nothing most of the time, because their Essence pushes them to do things. As Exalts grow older, their Essence Fever tends to dim, as they come more in control of their own internal power.

However, young Exalts especially are pushed to be always doing. Solars feel this as a sense of cosmic transcendence when they wield their power, which pushes them to pursue glory and victory, to always become more than they were. The experience of being a Solar is one of transcendent selfhood, always humming with joyful power. Abyssals are noted to feel similarly, but theirs is an Essence of pure darkness, thrilling in death and gothiness. They feel death as a constant companion, which makes all the experiences of life seem brighter and more vivid by comparison.

Exalts are either Celestial more powerful or Terrestrial less powerful. All Celestial Exalts are marked by a Caste Mark, a symbol that appears, glowing, on their forehead when their Essence flows strongly. Dragon-Blooded do not have Caste Marks, per se, but instead have a bunch of elementally themed markings on their bodies, such as bright red hair and glowing eyes for fire, green eyes and lips or living wooden fingernails for wood, or a constant slight breeze billowing around them for air.

Some Exigents have Caste Marks while others have markings closer to the Dragon-Bloods though I, Future Mors , note that the current devs have said Exigents will not have Castes , and Abyssals have the Solar marks but black. We also get a brief overview of the shit you might own — Artifacts, which are your magic gear, Demesnes, which are naturally occurring places where Essence bubbles out of the landscape and produces magic land, and Manses, which are when you built a geomantic palace on top of a Demesne to channel its power via the lost arts of mystical architecture and interior decoration.

And then we move into describing what Exalts exist, with the note, again, that at the time of publishing, Solars were it for play. Solars are able to do anything! They can wield any weapon with skill and can learn any kind of martial art, even the highest and most esoteric Sidereal Martial Arts. They can learn any Sorcery, including the pinnacle that is Third Circle Sorcery. They are even able to force the Wyld to take shape as new lands, due to their intense vision and leadership.

Their themes are…let me check my notes…anything. Glowing yellow. Play one of the Solar Exalted if you want Play one of the Abyssal Exalted if you want… posted: to walk with death as your constant companion.

Play one of the Dragon-Blooded if you want… posted: to challenge the five elements that move in your blood. Play one of the Lunar Exalted if you want… posted: to be a master shapeshifter, wearing a thousand stolen forms. Flavors: Chosen of Journeys , who serve Mercury and oversee the fates of travelers, roads and movement, Chosen of Serenity , who serve Venus and oversee the fates love, marriage and separation, Chosen of Battles , who serve Mars and oversee the fates of armies, conflict and bloodshed, Chosen of Secrets , who serve Jupiter and oversee the fates of secrets and revelations, and Chosen of Endings , who serve Saturn and oversee the fates of death, destruction and ending.

Sidereals are the weakest of the Celestial Exalted and the least numerous, yet the wield the power of fate and causality. They are known for being consummate martial artists, equaled only by Solars and only if those Solars have Sidereal teachers to bring them into the secrets of Sidereal Martial Arts, and can wield the power of the stars and astrology against foes to control their very destinies.

Play one of the Sidereal Exalted if you want… posted: to exercise uncanny control over destiny. Play one of the Liminal Exalted if you want… posted: to be created rather than born. Play one of the Exigents if you want… posted: to be something unique in all the world. I hate this fucking book posted: For now, Fokuf acts as a rubber-stamp for the senators of the Deliberative when not pleasuring himself in his bedchambers to the more erotic passages in the Immaculate Texts.

This is Exalted, so we kept Appearance as a stat long after other games have ditched it. Step 1: talk to the other players and figure out your concepts and what caste they belong to.

Note down the caste anima effects, which are not in this chapter. You start at 1 dot in each attribute, picking a primary, secondary and tertiary category from Physical, Mental and Social. Still in the realm of normal. You get 8 dots to spend on primary, 6 on secondary and 4 on tertiary. And I am going to flat out tell you right now: because BP is more efficient than XP, it is your best idea mechanically to put whatever you want up to 5 and leave the others at 1, because it is much cheaper to get a 5 this way than to buy it with XP.

Because no bad rules even if you want them, I guess. A primary or secondary attribute will cost 4 BP per dot to raise, and a tertiary will cost 3 BP per dot. XP costs, on the other hand, will rise with each dot, so dot 5 is significantly more expensive than dot 2 or 3. From here, we look at Caste Abilities. Each Solar Caste, in past editions, had five Caste Abilities. In 3e, they have eight, and you pick which five your Solar has from their caste.

Martial Arts is an ability you can only get if you have the Martial Artist merit, but if you have Brawl as caste or favored, you automatically get Martial Arts the same if you have access to it. The 8-abilities-pick-5 was meant, in theory, to combat the fact that Caste abilities had a lot of overlap in past editions. Still, not the worst idea. At this point, you pick one of your five chosen Caste Abilities. This is your Supernal Ability. For this one ability, you ignore Essence prerequisites for Charm purchases.

So you can buy Essence 5 Charms at chargen in that one Ability. This is an awful, awful idea. Fortunately, only Solars get one so far. Unfortunately, it is still an incredibly bad idea because…well, Solars start at Essence 1 now, and the idea was Essence 1 Charms should still be cool and good. Except having your Supernal meant the devs could feel free to ignore that, because now you can just buy up to whatever in your Supernal Ability!

This is especially true of combat abilities, and note again, only a Dawn can have an attack ability as Supernal. All Favored Abilities must have at least one dot.

You also get 4 Specialties. You can never apply more than one Specialty to a roll. After this, you get 15 Charms. You then select your Intimacies. These are the things your character cares about. They are Ties people, places or things you care about or Principles ideals you hold. You must have at least four. At least one must be Defining, at least one must be Major, at least one must have a positive context and at least one must have a negative context.

You also select your Limit Trigger, which is what will cause you to gain Limit. Again, this will not be explained until next chapter. Finally, we spend BP. I will note, the game does at least tell you that your most efficient use of BP is going to be buying up Favored or Caste abilities or Merits, and that Charms and spells will be least efficient, because buying those with XP is flat cost. The game suggests having at least combat charms, and probably a purchase of Ox-Body Technique to give you a longer HP bar.

I still have no idea why this became an Exalted sacred cow. A chapter after you use them a lot. So, attributes. Our spread is the same Exalted has ever had.

Strength , for raw physical power and muscle, which is used in combat to determine the damage of Withering Attacks but not Decisive Attacks; both will be defined later in the combat section. Dexterity is grace and agility, and is used to determine both attack accuracy and defenses against both kinds of attacks , so…yeah, you still want a ton of it.

Of course you do. Stamina is vitality and toughness, and Is used in combat to reduce Withering Attack damage but not Decisive Attack damage , and also resists poison, disease and deprivation. Charisma is your ability to express your beliefs and orders and to convince others to obey or to think the same way you do.

It is used for social influence when you are making arguments you genuinely believe in, or used in combat to lead armies with speechifying. Manipulation is your ability to lie, deceive and tell people what they want to hear. Appearance is your prettiness and ability to use it, or your ugliness and ability to use it if you take the Hideous merit. It is used when you want to use your looks to influence people or rely on first impressions over reasoned words or manipulations.

Perception is your sensory ability and skill at understanding what you notice. It is used to detect details, investigate stuff and avoid ambushes.

Intelligence is your ability to be logical and think rationally. It is used for making connections, analytical thinking and remembering stuff, and is mostly useful for strategizing, sorcery and nerd work. Wits is your intuition and common sense, plus ability to react quickly. It is used for Join Battle rolls to determine starting initiative and helps determine your Resolve, which is used to resist social influence.

The ones important in combat, crafting or social influence are called out helpfully, which is nice. Also, Craft, as always, is cut into different spheres, so you can have multiple Craft scores for different focuses — armormaking, geomancy, artifact-making which is separate from making mundane weapons or armor, for some reason. Martial Arts is also split this way — each style will have a different Martial Arts rating to buy up separately.

That brings us to Merits. And yes, they absolutely cost more to buy with XP than with BP, because they have ratings. Of course they do. Innate merits must be taken during chargen or gained via some form of magic.

Purchased merits can be bought with XP. Story merits can only be gained after chargen via story events, but cost no XP when gained this way. Merits are worth looking at because some of them are absolutely absurd. For a lot, you can buy the merits multiple times to represent, like, multiple allies, more treasures or whatever. Allies 1, 3 or 5, Story — You have an NPC ally, with 1 dot meaning mortal or minor powers but useful resources, 3 being a supernatural ally about on par with a young Terrestrial Exalt and 5 being one on par with a Celestial Exalt.

Why does this penalty even exist? For two dots, you also have prehensile feet. Artifact , Story — You have an artifact. Two dots is something minor but magical, 3 is your normal-scale magic sword or armor, 4 is a famous and legendary magic item, 5 is a treasure of immense power and require ST approval. Command , Story — You lead a military force. It gets better with more dots, having better mass combat stats. Contacts 1, 3 or 5, Story — Each purchase is a network of contacts of a specific sort.

The more dots, the more priests and worshippers you have, with 4 dots being an entire nation and 5 being widespread across an entire Direction. You basically get free Willpower points equal to your cult rating each arc. Demesne 2 or 4, Story — You own a magical place of power, usually aligned to one of the elements but possibly to something else, like death or the sun.

Outside combat, it causes you to regenerate Essence faster and you can sense use of Essence within its bounds. It is also a boost to doing Sorcerous Workings that resonate with its nature. For four dots, it is exceptionally powerful, making it better at all those things. You can share attunement with friends, also, and choose not to block them even if you are present. Direction Sense 1, Innate — You can always determine the compass directions relative to the five Poles, and get -2 to difficulties to navigate to fixed, known locations or retrace your steps.

Totally worth it. Eidetic Memory 2, Innate — You get one automatic success on any roll to remember details from past scenes and events. Familiar , Story — You have a pet animal which serves you and can share its senses with you. Followers , Story — You have a bunch of mortal followers of a specific type of person, like blacksmiths.

They are above average in skill at their job and are loyal to you personally. More dots, more followers. You are between 7. This might actually be worth it. Hearthstone 2 or 4, Story — You have ownership of a magical rock formed from the geomantic flow of a Demesne or Manse. If you also control the Manse and put the hearthstone into an artifact you own, you benefit from the effects of being in the Manse no matter where you are, and the rock also has its own powers, with more dots being better rocks.

Hideous 0, Innate — Your Appearance rating is about being scary and ugly. It boosts intimidating and threats rather than persuasion, and is a penalty to seduction. Influence , Story — You have standing and pull in a society. More dots, influence over a wider region. You can digest anything edible, and get -2 difficulty on Survival rolls to forge for yourself exclusively or rolls to recover from food poisoning.

Totally gonna come up ever. Language 1, Purchased — You speak one additional major language past your native tongue each time you purchase this. If you have any Linguistics dots, you can also read and write it. Alternatively, one purchase gives four highly specific local languages, spoken by a single tribe or group.

Manse 3 or 5, Story — For 3 dots, you get the effects of Demesne 2 and Hearthstone 2. For 5, you get them at 4. Also, your Demesne has a cool magic house built on it to channel its power. Mentor , Story — You have a teacher and advisor of greater experience. More dots means they have wider field of expertise, greater power and influence, or both. You get bonus dice to Feats of Strength.

Natural Immunity 2, Innate — You get -2 Difficulty to rolls to resist infection, sickness and disease. Pain Tolerance 4, Purchased — Your wound penalties are reduced in severity. You have to buy this separately per attack-usable Ability. Totally worth doing, huh? Resources , Story — I usually hate Resources because having none means being dirt poor so everyone has to take it. Selective Conception 1, Innate — You have complete conscious control over your own fertility.

You may choose, male or female, to just not cause conception when you have sex. If female, you may spend 1 WP to ensure conception, and automatically know when you are pregnant. Why does this exist? You can hold your breath for several minutes normally, or under duress for about twice as many rounds as a normal person.

Tempered by the Elements 2, Purchased — Pick an environment. You can move through difficult terrain in that environment at normal speed. Even Selective Conception.

Which…why does that exist, why is that — ugh. Anyway, there are also Supernatural Merits that can generally only be obtained by magical means, such as Wyld mutation or being beastmen. The book notes that Wyld mutants and beastmen are very rarely chosen to become Solars, though it is still possible. I guess the Unconquered Sun is racist against furries.

Chameleon 3, Innate — You can change color to match your surroundings. You must make a Willpower roll when stressed to avoid reflexively shifting colors slightly. Your unarmed Decisive Attacks for claws, horns or hooves or Decisive Savaging Attacks in grapples for fangs can deal Lethal instead of Bashing damage.

For 4, your natural weapons are bigger and meaner, getting both of the prior abilities and also count as a Medium Weapon for Withering Attacks. However, they also give a penalty to disguises if that large. However, you have a physically obvious mutation representing this, such as unusual eye shape or color, or giant ears or a giant nose. You can heal from any injury, with only the worst even leaving scars, and will perfectly mend no matter the damage for anything short of a completely severed or destroyed limb.

Your wounds also never become infected, ever. Extra Limbs 3, Innate — You have extra limbs of some kind, causing your flurries to have a lesser penalty on your choice of one of the actions. Gills 0 or 3, Innate — The free version means you only have gills, not lungs, and will suffocate after several minutes out of water. For 3, you can breathe both air and water.

Poisoned Body 1, 2 or 5, Innate — Your body is toxic somehow, equivalent to snake venom. For 1, your blood is ingested poison. You cannot turn this merit off, ever. Quills 5, Innate — You have sharp quills. Anyone trying to clinch you automatically loses 1 Initiative per round while grappling.

Subtlety 2, Innate — You purchase this attached to another Supernatural Merit. That merit becomes non-obvious when not in active use. Tail , Innate — You have a tail. For 2, it is prehensile but suffers the off-hand penalty. If hidden under clothes, your tail loses all benefits until revealed. Thaumaturgist 4, Innate — You can perform thaumaturgy.

Any Exalt that can do Terrestrial Circle Sorcery gets this for free. Venomous 3 or 4, Innate — You have venom equivalent to snake venom that can be applied by your natural attacks. For 3, you either must have a natural weapon that can deal Lethal damage as well, and can use it to poison people a few times a day on a Decisive Attack, with uses based on your Stamina, or you spit poison as a Gambit, aimed per a Thrown weapon, with similar Stamina-based use restriction.

For 4 dots, you get both, but they draw off the same Stamina-based supply. Wall Walking 4, Innate — You can cling to and walk or crawl across walls and ceilings, though ceilings and slick surfaces are difficult terrain. However, your hands and feet are visibly inhuman. Wings 3 or 5, Innate — For 3, you have wings that allow you to glide, increasing your leap distance and allowing you to ignore falling damage as long as you have room to glide. For 5, you can fly at the same speed you can walk.

However, you always have a large disguise penalty either way, and actions requiring finesse or precision such as attacking get a penalty while airborne. Next time: Flaws, Willpower, Intimacies…. They cost nothing, you can take them if you want to or you can not. Whenever a Flaw comes up in play and either harms or significantly inconveniences the character that has it, they have a chance to gain Solar XP, which will be explained ten pages from now.

If it's just mildly annoying or if you can easily compensate for it and aren't really inconvenienced, no benefit. But what are the example Flaws? Are they just fluff descriptions and you trust your GM to work with you to make them come up? Why, no! They all also have mechanical components. Addiction : You are addicted to a thing, such as a drug or the Wyld.

While in withdrawal, you get -1 to all actions until you get your fix. Amputee : You are missing a limb. If an arm, you get -3 to any action that needs two hands to do right. If missing a leg, all terrain is difficult terrain for you. Blind : You can't see. You get -3 to all actions primarily dependent on sight. Deaf You can't hear. You get -3 to all Awareness checks at least partially dependent on hearing, and will have trouble communicating when you don't have time to read lips, like in combat.

Derangements : oh wait what is this here list time for me to break out of it and start hollering Derangement is the term Exalted is using for "some malady of the mind. And it's an inherited term, dating back to the early days of White Wolf.

And it is an evil term. It treats mental illness as a failing, usually a moral one, and a "flaw" that can be fixed. As a person on the Autism spectrum, I find this extremely offensive. And, indeed, so should everyone. It is an outdated, actively harmful treatment of mental illness made much worse by the mechanics of it. What is that mechanic? Well, your Derangement is either Minor, Major or Defining. Anyone can use it for social influence as though it were one of your Intimacies.

You must spend 1 Willpower per session or day, whichever is longer, to resist a Minor Derangement, whichever is shorter for a Major, or per scene for Defining. And then we get the examples. Hysteria : Hysteria is a historical diagnosis used to belittle and medicalize women not doing what men wanted. But in Exalted, it's having emotions that "swing out of control" when you botch a roll or suffer extreme stress or anxity, causing you to lash out at others or try to flee into isolation if you fail a Willpower roll, harder the more intense your Derangement is.

Madness : You have withdrawn from reality, hallucinating and suffering violent mood swings whenever you botch a roll, experience intense anxiety or run out of temporary Willpower, unless you make a Willpower like with Hysteria. Megrims : This is depression. Whenever you botch a roll or hit 0 temporary Willpower, you must make the Willpower roll as above. If you fail, you can't spend Willpower for "the next several days" except to temporarily suppress this. Obsession : You are fixated on a thing, idea, person or action.

Whenever you encounter the focus of your obsession, you will focus on it to the exclusion of all else. When you run out of Willpower, you must make a Willpower roll as above or else you will drop everything to go find or indulge in your obsession. Have you noticed that all of these are pretty terribly implemented yet?

Paranoia : You have delusions of persecution and mistrust everyone. Whenever you suffer intense stress, you distrust all strangers and lose the benefits of all positive Ties unless you succeed on the Willpower roll as above. I hate derangements. So much. Mute : You can't talk. Sterile : You can't have kids. Whether you can fuck is up to you. Why is this a Flaw on the same level as the others? Fuck you, that's why. Wyld Mutant : You are clearly inhuman or mutated.

You get -3 to all social interactions with strangers or outsiders not used to Wyld mutants. You have a rating of Willpower between 1 and Well, between 5 and 10, because you start at 5 as an Exalt. That is your permanent rating. You also have a pool of Willpower points. You start play with points equal to your rating, but you can have more or less than that, as Willpower points gained in some ways can cause your pool to go over your rating, to a max of When you make Willpower rolls, unless otherwise specified, you're rolling your rating, not your pool of points.

You can spend Willpower to: 1. Get an automatic success on a single roll. You can only spend 1 Willpower per roll this way and must do so before rolling. Increase a static value such as Defense or Resolve by 1 for a single roll. You can only spend 1 Willpower per roll this way andm ust do so before the opponent rolls. Spend to reject certain social influence. Fuel charms that cost Willpower. You gain Willpower by: 1.

Having a full night's rest. However, the Willpower gained this way cannot bring your pool over your permanent rating. If you don't have to sleep, you can still regain Willpower by spending hours resting or meditating whil awake, but can still only get this bonus once a day.

When you under go significant hardship or sacrifice in support of a Major or Defining Intimacy. You can only gain 1 Willpower per scene this way, but it can go over your permanent rating. When you achieve a major character or story goal, the ST may award you Willpower, depending on the scale and significance of the achievement, and it can bring you over your permanent rating. When you perform a two-point stunt, you gain 1 Willpower, but it can't go over your permanent rating.

When you perform a three-point stunt, you regain 2 Willpower and it can go over your permanent rating. At the start of each story, your Willpower resets to its permanent rating if it was lower. At the end of Limit Break, your Willpower resets to its permanent rating, regardless of what your pool was at before that. Intimacies are the core of the social influence system, as they help determine what social influence will or won't work on you.

We've talked about Ties and Principles already. Again, they can be Minor, Majopr or Defining. Minor intimacies are notable but only really matter when their subject is directly relevant to what's going on. Major Intimacies are more important, and can come into play even when only indirectly or tangentially related to what's going on. Defining Intimacies have sway over every aspect of your life and worldview, and generally speaking you'd die to protect or uphold them. We aren't going to explain social influence for another 45 pages, though.

Charms can occasionally be empowered by Intimacies. When these are in play, Minors are worth 2, Majors 3, and Defining 4 - so if a Charm adds dice based on Intimacy ratings, those are the numbers they use. A character starts with whatever Intimacies are appropriate to them, but must have at least 4 Intimacies.

Of those, one must be Defining, one must be Major, one must represent something the character opposes or dislikes, and one must represent something the character supports or likes. Intimacies can be gained in play in several ways, and can be overruled by the ST in any case.

They must always make sense in terms of the events of the story, so you can't just gain them because it's mechanically beneficial to do so - you have to actually play out caring about this thing in the way you want. Social influence can create Minor Intimacies or strengthen Intimacies up by one level. Whenever the player feels it appropriate and the ST agrees, a character can gain a new Minor Intimacy or intensify an existing one by one step.

In extremely rare cirucmstances, an Intimacy might be able to be gained at a higher level - such as if an Abyssal murders your sibling and you want to skip straight to Major or Defining Tie for hating that Abyssal. Intimacies can be reduced similarly - they can be degraded one level by social influence, or even removed if Minor.

When a player feels it appropriate and the ST agrees, you can just remove a Minor Intimacy or downgrade a Major or Defining one at the end of a scene. Whenever the ST judges you haven't played in a way that reflects the Intimacy, they may just declare it has been downgraded or even just vanished, largely to keep PCs from gaining a tton of Defining Intimacies, which the book says should come up in play at least once per story.

I think the intent is the ST shouldn't prune out Major or Minor Intimacies much, just downgrade Defining ones that don't come up much. The game also notes that extremely broad Intimacies 'I bow to no one' , while potentially legitimate, are also extremely powerful - they represent greater ability to resist a lot of influence, and if worded in away that breaks the system, they should be disallowed, such as overly generic or vague ones such as 'Some people just rub me the wrong way' or things that are specifically trying to be worded to game the system.

Next time: Health, healing and Essence. You have a health bar, and each box on it has an associated wound penalty. All of your rolls and static values take the highest penalty of your filled boxes. By default, you have seven boxes: -0, -1, -1, -2, -2, -4, Incapacitated. Charms can give more, and Giant gives you an extra Decisive Attacks can cause damage to your health, as can environmental hazards, poison or other similar effects.

Damage is Bashing, Lethal or Aggravated. If your Incapacitated box fills with Bashing, you are unconscious. If it fills with Lethal or Aggravated, you are dead or dying ST's choice.

Bashing damage gets pushed further down your track when you take Lethal - so if you have 3 boxes filled with Bashing, then take two Lethal, your Bashing boxes get pushed down two spaces to make room for the lethal damage. However, if you take Bashing damage while your bar is already full of it, then it starts to upgrade the existing Bashing damage to Lethal, one for one. Aggravated damage is special damage caused, generally, by powerful magical effects.

It functions as Lethal damage, but cannot be healed by magic or have its healing speed decreased. Only natural rest and healing will cure it, and it is always the last damage healed, after Bashing and Lethal. It pushes both Bashing and Lethal damage down your track, just like Lethal does to Bashing. Fast healing is pretty much exclusively the realm of magic. Wounds do heal naturally, but it takes time, and it takes longer the worse you're wounded.

Bashing damage heals first, then Lethal damage, then Aggravated, and damage always heals from the furthest health box first. Exalts, gods and other beings with Exalted-scale healing heal at the following rats: A -4 box heals in 2 days if Bashing or 5 days if Lethal or Aggravated. A -2 box heals in 1 day if Bashing or 3 days if Lethal or Aggravated. A -1 box heals in 12 hours if Bashing or 2 days if Lethal or Aggravated.

A -0 box heals in 1 hour if Bashing or 1 day if Lethal or Aggravated. Incapacitated heals at a speed determined by the ST. Being knocked out with Bashing usually ends at the end of the scene, but if combat ends before the scene does, the ST may allow it to be faster, or it might take several hours.

Incapacitation due to Lethal or Aggravated damage is usually fatal, but the ST may allow survival for several rounds to all characters a chance to attempt emergency medical aid. If this is applied, it may take hours, days, or weeks at the ST's option before the character regains consciousness and heals the Incapacitated box.

Mortals heal significantly slower. A mortal will heal a -0 box at the -1 rate, a -1 at the -2 rate, and -2 at the -4 rate, and a -4 will take one week to heal if Bashing or one month if Lethal or Aggravated. Mortals cannot heal -2 or -4 boxes at all unless they spend all their time resting, and if they take Lethal damage greater than or equal to their Stamina from any single attack, they will begin to bleed to death at the rate of 1L per minute until the bleeding is stopped with a Medicine roll.

If a mortal is incapacitated with Lethal or Aggravated damage and somehow recovers, they will almost always suffer a permanent disability of some kind, though it can be minimized by medical treatment. Essence flows through everything, and every Exalt has an Essence rating, which will in practice vary between 1 and 5. In theory, it can go higher than that I guess?

In practice, no Charm with requirements higher than Essence 5 has been written or, per current devs, is ever planned. Your Essence rating helps determine the size of your Essence mote pools. That's how much Essence you have for use at any ghiven time, and it's split into two pools.

Your Peripheral Mote Pool is the Essence which floats near the surface of your body, allowing it to more easily escape and ignite your anima banner when used. Your Personal Mote Pool lives in the depths of oyur soul, and is smaller, but can't escape so easily to make glowy lights. Whether they narrowly escaped death, struck a death-bargain with the goddess of sharks, or faced hellish aberrations, their heroic deeds ring throughout the ages.

Stories are Adversaries of the Righteous: Adeimantus From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike.

Crooked traders, vile occultists, and even zealous protectors of the Realm can be found in every city, satrapy, and region waiting for unsuspecting targets or standing their ground as they prepare for the inevitable. In this collection you will meet new foes, encounter old enemies, Adversaries of the Righteous: Afohdha, the Lady of the Well From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike.

Adversaries of the Righteous: Ashana Ikatu From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike. Adversaries of the Righteous: Boscu, Prodigal Son of the Swamps From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike. Adversaries of the Righteous: Cynis Borok and Ragara Feria From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike.

Adversaries of the Righteous: Eska of the Seven Blades From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike.

Adversaries of the Righteous: Fivefold Masks and Lies From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike.

Adversaries of the Righteous: Harrowing Silence From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike. Adversaries of the Righteous: Iron Siaka From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike.

Adversaries of the Righteous: Isabet Maken, the Master of Cauldron Valley From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike.

Adversaries of the Righteous: Ixier, Who Dreams for the Dead From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike. Adversaries of the Righteous: Ku Nenaveya From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike.

Adversaries of the Righteous: Meimuna Kyree From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike. Adversaries of the Righteous: Ninegala, Forge Goddess of Makelo From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike.

In this collection you will meet new foes, Adversaries of the Righteous: Odara, Chosen of Ash From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike. Adversaries of the Righteous: Peremuz, Rogue Homunculus From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike.

Adversaries of the Righteous: The Bloodthirsty From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike. Adversaries of the Righteous: The Broker and Ifraja the Librarian From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike.

Adversaries of the Righteous: The Prince Resplendent and Gleaming Gneiss From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike.

Adversaries of the Righteous: The Quaghead Tribe From the bustling streets of Nexus to the savage western seas, Creation is ripe with threats to mortals and Chosen alike.

Arms of the Chosen Take up the panoply of legendary heroes and lost ages, and awaken the world-shaking might of their Evocations. Before the dawn of time, the Exalted wielded god-metal blades to cast down the makers of the universe.

Now, in the Age of Sorrows, kingdoms go to war over potent artifacts, Through command of the elements and mastery of every martial discipline, their ruling bloodlines exercise dominion over the wealth and armies of the world.

Dreams of the Second Age: An Exalted 3rd Edition Music Suite Dreams of the Second Age includes inspiring soundtrack themes inspired by the adventure, locations, and beings of the world of Exalted 3rd Edition, and can be played to set the tone as you adventure through Creation in your games or are seeking inspiration for new stories. This soundtrack was made possible by the backers of the Exalted 3rd Edition Whether they narrowly escaped death, struck a death-bargain with the goddess of sharks, or faced Exalted 3rd Edition This is the tale of a forgotten age before the seas were bent, when the world was flat and floated atop a sea of chaos.

This is the tale of a decadent empire raised up on the bones of the fallen Golden Age, whose splendor it faintly echoed but could not match. This is a This is due to a prolonged and widespread campaign of propaganda orchestrated by the Terrestrials, via a now firmly established religion known as the Immaculate Order. The nature of Solar charms tends to express itself instead through human excellence taken to superhuman extremes, and as such their raw prowess in most skills easily exceeds any of the others.

Their three greatest advantages are their large Essence pools that give them more raw power to work with, their powerful, efficient, straightforward charms, and their ability to use the highest of all forms of sorcery, the Adamant Circle — also called the Solar Circle due to the Solars alone being able to access that circle of sorcery.

With the addition in the third edition of Evocations—powers derived from legendary artifacts—the Solars have attained another area in which they are the undisputed masters. Loyal servants of the Deathlords , [9] the Abyssal castes are a dark reflection of their Solar counterparts; Dusk soldiers, generals, and martial champions , Midnight priests and leaders , Daybreak scholars and artisans , Day assassins and spies , and Moonshadow bureaucrats, diplomats, and couriers.

In the present of Exalted, the Neverborn sow their revenge from beyond the grave through their Deathlord servants. The source materials, primarily the second-edition sourcebook The Manual of Exalted Power: Abyssals , present the Deathlords as the largely insane ghosts of First Age Solars slaughtered in the Usurpation, who are easily among the most powerful beings in the Underworld of Exalted. The Deathlords have varied goals, but most strive not to conquer or corrupt Creation, save as a path to the Neverborn's desire: the complete destruction of existence.

The named agents of the Deathlords in the world of the living are the Abyssal Exalted, also known as Deathknights; these antagonists are dark reflections of the Solar Exalted and are presented as being their equal in power.

They were created by the Deathlords through powerful sorcery taught to them by the Neverborn, using Solar Exaltations stolen from the Jade Prison. Using Solar Exalted can also be converted to Abyssal Exalted with powerful magic. They field vast undead armies, bolstered by ancient knowledge long since lost in the world of the living but still readily available in the lingering dead, and a powerful form of magic known as necromancy. Several sourcebooks present the Abyssals and the Deathlords as having a tentative foothold in Creation, likely representing a grave threat.

Presented as the most anarchistic and chaotic of the Exalted. In the sourcebooks, they are often referred to as cunning shapeshifters, skilled fighters, and capable generals. Within the game's history, they were very tightly bound to the First Age Solars. While many stood and died beside their Solar friends and spouses in the Usurpation, those that were not killed along with their companions fled to the edges of Creation.

At the borders of the order of Creation and the chaotic turbulence of the Wyld , their natures were changed over a great many years. Lunars follow at best a loose tribal hierarchy and ritually tattoo each other to protect themselves from the warping effects of the Wyld.

This further serves to mark them as different from the rest of humanity; the tattoos are made of moonsilver and are often visible over much of the Lunar's body. Second edition materials detailed the Lunar Exalted's subversive influence on Creation's societies and revealed the Thousand Streams River Project, a complicated system of social engineering designed to create self-sufficient human societies that do not require Exalted leadership to function.

Several major societies within the game were declared the results of centuries of subtle, behind-the-scenes guidance, with varying degrees of success. These Celestial Exalted are the least numerous of all the Exalted types with the exception of the newly-created Infernals , yet are described as major players in the fate of Creation. Sidereals, in addition to their mastery of martial arts, evidenced by their access to the highest forms of martial-arts magical abilities known as Sidereal martial arts , excel at foreseeing and manipulating fate.

They were the viziers, prophets and cunning advisers of the First Age. Toward the end of the First Age, a prophecy came to them that warned that without action, Creation would fall to darkness. Seeking to save the world, the Sidereals looked into the future and saw two options: attempt to reform of their maddening kings, or destroy the Solar Exalted and raise up the Dragon-Blooded in their place.

The Sidereals, possibly under the effects of the Great Curse laid upon them by the Neverborn, elected the path that offered a guaranteed future for Creation. As such, they orchestrated the end of the First Age, known as the Great Usurpation.

Sidereals slip from the minds of those who meet them, mortal and Exalt alike, which can be beneficial to Sidereal characters or harmful, depending on their intended goals as player characters and non-player characters. Some unpredicted events prior to the 'present' setting of Exalted, such as the Great Contagion, have jarred their faith in their precognitive abilities.

Meanwhile, the loss of the Scarlet Empress, their secret ally at the top of the Scarlet Dynasty, has greatly weakened their influence. In the present, a growing rift between the Bronze Faction which supports the Dragon-Blooded hegemony and the Gold Faction which backs the newly-returned Solars renders the Sidereal Exalted uncertain of their future.

They are less powerful than other types of Exalted, but most of their strength lies in their inheritance — rather than being chosen by a god, the Dragon-Blooded have the potential to share their Exaltation through their bloodline. With their comparatively massive numbers, along with the help and guidance of the Sidereal Exalted, they were able to overthrow the Solar Exalted at the height of their power and end the First Age.

The most prevalent Dragon-Blooded in Creation make up the ruling class of the Realm, currently the most powerful empire in Creation. The state-sanctioned faith known as the Immaculate Order paints the Solar and Lunar Exalted as dangerous Anathema who will bring ruin to the world if allowed to exist.

Because of this, the Realm organizes the Wyld Hunt, which actively seeks out dangers to the Realm such 'Anathema' include many other types of Exalted, rogue gods, and the Fair Folk and destroys them. This practice had effectively kept the Solars from rising to power again since the end of the First Age, but has faltered with the recent disappearance of the Scarlet Empress; the power struggle to fill the resulting vacuum has destabilized the Realm and allowed the Solar Exalted to escape the purges of the Wyld Hunt and rise in Creation once more.

Most houses were founded by and named after one of the Scarlet Empress's Exalted offspring, though at least two are descended from the Empress's late husbands and consorts, and three unspecified houses are descended from adopted children of the Empress.

They were introduced in the supplement 'Time of Tumult'. The Champions are infused with the souls of dead Autochthonian heroes, they serve as protectors of the inhabitants of a parallel world made up of the body of Autochthon himself, and enforce the will of the Tripartite , the theocratic government of this world.

They divide themselves into castes according to which material was mainly used in their construction: there are five canon castes, one for each of the Five Magical Materials, as well as the optional Adamant caste.

Instead of wielding Essence directly and using their Charms in a 'magical' fashion like other Exalted do, the Alchemicals have Charms 'installed' like peripheral parts.

As Alchemical Exalted grow in power, they also increase in size, eventually physically joining with Autochthon and forming living, sapient cities. In gameplay, in place of curse driven insanity, they have a Clarity track which measures their distance from humanity. Those Alchemicals who have been infected with Autochthon's illness have a Dissonance track in place of a Clarity track, with Dissonance measuring their madness, corruption, and drive to violate boundaries.

A brief tour of the world of Autochthonia can be found on the game's website. They currently have less published material covering their nature, back-story and abilities than other Exalts.

Akuma are Exalted of another type who have given themselves over to the cause of the Yozis and have been remade according to their masters' desires. They retain access to their native charm set and gain the ability to learn and use their patron Yozi's Infernal charms.