Become Legend As Onyx Path Release Exalted Third Edition
April 21, 2016 by dracs
Onyx Path are stepping away from the World of Darkness to turn their attention to the Second Age of Man with the release of the third edition of the classic high fantasy RPG Exalted.
Taking place upon a flat world in the middle of a sea of pure chaos, Exalted sees players take on the role of legendary beings, favoured by the gods themselves. Drawing upon a diverse array of sources for inspiration, from world mythology to Japanese anime, Exalted differs from its original publisher, White Wolf's, World of Darkness series by letting the player really let loose with their god given powers.
The new edition's cover art appears to step away from the more anime-inspired style we have seen with the game previously. It also contains a lot of content. Here's what Onyx Path have said we can expect to see:
- New Fiction – Read a new tale by original Exalted developer and author Geoff Grabowski.
- New Artwork – See the Realm in a new light with stunning artwork by both new and classic Exalted artists working under the direction of Maria Cabardo.
- Expanded Locales – Expand your campaigns with a detailed overview of the sprawling and decadent Second Age of Man. In addition to classic locales such as Chiaroscuro and Nexus, find many new locations not detailed in previous editions, from the treacherous intrigues of Port Calin to the proud warriors of the frigid plains and forests of Medo, held in check only by the iron hand of the Realm.
- Intrigue and Mystery – Discover a revitalized Realm, still standing at the brink of civil war, but more dangerous than ever before; and the Lunar dominions which harry its borders, seeking redress for ancient crimes while pursuing modern ambitions.
- Expanded Character Creation – Create and play Solar Exalted characters and compelling mortal heroes with more information and fleshed out details.
- Combat System – Fight with a new cinematic combat engine, primed to deliver dynamic, exciting, and easily resolved battles between heroes, gods, and armies.
- Charms – Explore a vibrant new Charm set encompassing both classic Solar powers from previous editions and all-new powers to shift the course of Creation.
- Onyx Path Publishing
With all this, it's easy to see why the new edition is so large!
That's quite the weighty tome. I wonder how many coffee tables that is going to wreck!
Did you ever play Exalted? What changes do you hope this edition has brought to the game?
"Exalted sees players take on the role of legendary beings, favoured by the gods themselves..."
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Loved the core setting, was much less enamoured with the mechanics.
I had a lot of fun with Exalted, the core mechanics were good (as with all oWoD) but despite streamlining the fighting was far too clunky and involved too many dice. There was a real desire to avoid combat because a fight scene was definitely going to take up the rest of the session, and there’d be no time for the fun part of being semi-Godlike.
I think the setting was always as anime as you wanted it to be – they always had interpretations of the characters and world in many different styles – and more than any other game if you had an idea for a story then there was somewhere in the world of Exalted that suited it perfectly, no matter how fantasy or sci-fi you wanted the feel of it to be.
Exalted is a great setting, but both previous editions were hampered by what was a clunky system for combat – something which Exalted should have alaways been able to do seamlessly at all scales of conflict.
Most of my inspirations for the game were Ninja Scroll, Escaflowne, Shadow Skill, and Book of the New Sun.
I need to get the pdf to look at the rules though in order to give this edition a good assessment.
I backed this on Kickstarter, way back when, so I got a look at the backer pre-release. Trust me; the combat mechanics are a *hell* of a lot more streamlined this time around.
Each turn, a character gets a move and an action. Multiple attack abilities are rare. Most attacks you make are Withering Attacks – these don’t do any health damage and are rolled against a semi-static defence value (the target, if they’re another Exalt, a spirit or some other supernatural being, can use their Essence to raise it against that attack, of course). If the attack hits, you make a damage roll that’s reduced by the target’s Soak. Each success on the damage roll transfers a point of Initiative from the target to the attacker. The attacker also gains a point of Initiative simply by making a successful Withering Attack. There are mechanics for falling below 1 Initiative (known as Initiative Crash) but explaining that’s a bit too in-depth for this.
In the narrative, these are still attacks meant to kill, but mechanically they just shift the target off-balance and soften them up in preparation for a Decisive Attack made in a future turn.
A Decisive Attack is made with the same modifiers as a Withering, save that you don’t include the weapon’s accuracy modifier. If you roll fewer successes than the target’s defence, you lose some Initiative (potentially putting you into Initiative Crash) and the attack does nothing. The raw damage you roll is equal to your Initiative (so if you’re up to Initiative 12, then you’d be rolling 12 dice for the Decisive Attack’s damage) and each success on this roll marks a point of damage on the target’s health track. The attack also resets your Initiative back to its base value of 3.
Haven’t had a chance to try it myself, but it seems like a very cinematic style of combat. Think about a scene from a martial arts movie – how many of those attacks actually injured one of the fighters and how many just knocked them off-balance? The former are the Decisive Attacks while the latter are the Withering ones.
That sounds interesting, but I guess I’ll reserve judgement until I see it and try it out. I’m assuming there are other streamlining aspects, because the part you’ve explained sounds cool for Exalted but it does sound like a lot more goes on between damaging attacks, which sounds intrinsically slower.
Although it was a bit complex at times, I really did like the speed mechanic as an alternative to rounds, but then if things like that stop you playing the game so much in practice I guess they need to go no matter how cool they are in theory.
Well that whole “actions take X ticks to perform” thing’s been dropped, it just made 2e more convoluted than it needed to be.
And while it does sound like more happens between damaging attacks (I assume you’re referring to Withering Attacks here, which do no health damage but shifts points of Initiative which can change turn order), you really only need to get a couple of good Witherings in to get enough Initiative for a good Decisive. Well, unless the other guy’s making equally-good Withering Attacks on you and taking back that Initiative, of course.
Big problem with that, though, is that it’s easy for a Dawn Caste built to be a real combat monster to just about one-shot anything short of a Third Circle Demon or a greater god, like a Directional Censor (the gods in charge of a whole fifth of Creation) just by burning most of their Essence. Which actually feels like a decent trade since it regenerates at 5 motes/hour outside of combat and 5 motes a turn while in combat. Max out the Join Battle roll to have a high starting Initiative, burn more Essence on a good Withering attack in the first round, then second round use it all in a Decisive Attack and employing every possible Charm you can on it. Should split even Peleps Deled in two along with the teahouse behind him.
So you can something I’ve nicknamed “Saitama Syndrome” – where you make a combat character so good at combat that you never fight anything that can give you a real challenge. That latter bit should ease up as more books come out, but it is an issue at the moment with just the core book.