ExaltedAbilityExpansion

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   * Combine MA and Melee into Fight
   * Make Dodge an art of Athletics
   * Melee charm trees become exalt-type specific MA styles, allowing all weapons and all armor, but having weaker (or no) forms. Form for the "Solar Blade" style would be Fivefold Bulwark Stance, probably. DB would be Refining the Inner Blade (which actually would make the whole style cool, I thnk). Sid and lunar would probably have no form.
   * Make thrown weapon attacks use Athletics skill generically, but change thrown charm trees into specific MA styles.
   * Continue to use Archery for personal ranged weapons (bows, crossbows, firewands, etc.). Maybe change the name to "Ranged".
   * Add an ability (maybe called Seige, or Wartech, or Ordinance) which governs the use of heavy weapons (implosion bows, manse weapons). Also governs piloting (and attacking with) warstriders. If you wanted a low impact change, you could just reuse the Archery charms for this ability as well. It can think of some cool charms specific to heavy weapons and warstriders though, and some reasons why Archery charms for them would be undesireable.
   * Move Ride to Dawn list.
   * Add Eclipse ability of Instruction, and move the charms for teaching people things that are scattered all over (mostly in War and Lore) into the charm tree for this ability. Instruction could also affect training times (and, perhaps, cost). This has the advantage of making Lore less broad, something I think it could use.
   * Hell, might as well use Profession while I'm at it. This turns Sail into a more generic ability and makes Craft less generic (sort of).

So, that would leave (changes from 2nd edition solars and 1st edition everything else in bold): 

   * Dawn - Fight, Ordinance, Ranged, Ride, War
   * Zenith - Integrity, Performance, Presence, Resistance, Survival
   * Twilight - Craft, Investigation, Lore, Medicine, Occult
   * Night - Athletics (which now allows thrown attacks, but not charms), Awareness, Lingusitics, Larceny, Stealth
   * Eclipse - Bureaucracy, Instruction, Politics, Profession, Socialize
   * Air - Instruction, Linguistics, Lore, Occult, Stealth
   * Earth - Awareness, Craft, Integrity, Resistance, War
   * Fire - Athletics, Politics, Presence, Socialize, Ordinance,
   * Water - Fight, Bureaucracy, Investigation, Larceny, Profession
   * Wood - Medicine, Performance, Ranged, Ride, Survival
   * Journeys - Integrity, Ranged, Ride, Profession, Survival
   * Serenity - Craft, Linguistics, Performance, Socialize, Stealth
   * Battles - Fight, Ordinance, Presence, Resistance, War
   * Secrets - Investigation, Larceny, Lore, Occult, Politics
   * Endings - Awareness, Athletics, Bureaucracy, Instruction, Medicine

Abilities

As mentioned above, different abilities have different uses for arts and sciences. Many have none. The skills break down like so:

Ranged

Caste Ability For: Dawn, Wood, Journeys Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals: Something like aim, but a zen-like penalty thing.

Athletics

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals: Stretching?

Awareness

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals: Zen

Bureaucracy

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Craft

Artless Penalty: Using craft for anything at all, even with an art, is always done at a -2 die penalty. This is a universal penalty for all Craft tests. Worse, no charms of any kind may be used in areas of Craft for which the exalt does not have an art or applicable art specialty or subspecialty. Also, no general Craft specialties exist; all specialties must be associated with arts.
Arts: Air, Earth, Fire, Water and Wood, as per core book (pg. 107). Note that the universal Craft penalty is exactly negated by the bonus from knowing the general art. Knowing an art allows Craft charm use for tasks within the domain of the art. When a character buys their first dot in Craft, they gain a general art of their choice for free.
Sciences: The universal Craft penalty is waved for tests involving a science that the character knows even one dot of. Characters may also buy specialties in sciences as if they were arts. Known sciences include:

  • Magitech: Described in Wonders of the Lost Age, knowing the science of magitech allows use of Craft skill on magical devices. Anywhere rules call for a Craft (Magictech) roll, use plain Craft ability (plus any magitech specialties) as the pool. The rating in magitech places a cap on what the character uses to which the character can pu the skill: characters can only use the magitech science on artifacts, manses or devices with a rating equal to their magictech science rating or less. This science requires the Air and Fire arts and cannot be higher than the character's Lore rating.
  • Genesis: Also described in Wonders of the Lost Age, this science works just like magictech does, but replacing Craft (Genesis). This science requires the Wood art and cannot be higher than the lowest of the character's Lore, Medicine or Occult ratings.
  • Perfection: This science deals with creating exceptional weapons and other creations and represents the dedicated knowledge of metallurgy, heat and other minutia that are need to forge exceptional weapons. It requires an art for creating such equipment (usually Fire). The first dot of this science allows objects to be made up to the level of "Exceptional". The second allows creation of "Perfect" items. Generally learning this science beyond this is pointless. The magitech science may also be used for the creation of exceptional items, so this science is rare among exalts; however, the requirements for this science are less stringent, so mortals (and some exalts) may prefer this path.
  • Permanence: This lost science contains the secrets to making self-sustaining items (see Wonders of the Lost Age, pg. 7). No one knows it any more but, in theory, it's rating would define a limit on what level of artifacts could be made permanent.

Rituals:

Politics

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

The relationship of Politics to other social skills is akin to the relationship War has to more personal combat skills.

Integrity

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Investigation

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Larceny

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals: luck

Linguistics

Artless Penalty: Linguistics tests using a language the character does not know imposes a -4 die penalty.
Arts: Linguistics has only one general art: Calligraphy. Characters with this art may use Linguistics skill instead of Craft (Air) for tests of penmanship. Languages are purchased as general art specialties. With each dot of linguistics, the character gains a language for free. Subspecialties usually represent dialects.
Sciences: None
Rituals: Written stuff?

Lore

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: Instruction?
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Martial Arts

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: Allows combo mixing per style. Also allows own skill use when in animal form, instead of animal's skill.
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Medicine

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Fight

Fight allows a character to engage in personal close combat, with or without weapons, but not in warstriders (see Ordinance). It combines Melee and Martial Arts (and, in the case of First Edition, Brawl) into a single ability, with a number of arts covering various styles of fighting.

Specialties: Specialties cover situational aspects of fighting such as Multiple Opponents, Single Combat, In Formation, While Blind, Under Water, Mounted
Artless Penalty: Fighting without knowing a related Art carries a -2 internal penalty. Fight charms provide no benefit in situations where no related art is known. Even with arts, without the science of Martial Synergy, charms from different arts may not be comboed.
Arts: Each fight-based art defines a particular fighting style, eliminating the penalty and allowing charm use (if any) with the weapons and techniques of that style. Learning the Snake Style art, for example, allows use of known Snake Style charms would eliminate the -2 internal penalty when making attacks in the snake style while unarmed or using the style's form weapons. The canonical Melee charm trees are each considered a style, but with an additional complication regarding style weapons: an different art is required to use each category of weapons. For example, the Solar Blade art would allow the use of the canonical solar Melee charms and eliminate penalties, but only for actions involving bladed weapons. The charms themselves need be learned only once, but an art must be purchased separately for each of the four weapon categories: blades, impact, polearms, martial arts.
For each dot of Fight purchased, a character may learn one Fight art for free. A solar with Fight 4, for example, might learn Solar Blade, Solar Impact, Snake Style and Solar Hero. A mortal with Fight 4, who does not care about charms but wants to avoid the artless penalty, might learn Unarmed, Blades, Impact and Polarms as arts.
Aspects: A typical aspect to a fighting art include various maneuvers or techniques used within a style, such as clinching, parries, attack, maiming, disarming, pulling blows, dual-weilding, etc. Focus: A typical focus to a fighting art is a particular weapon. For example, someone with the Lunar Polearms art might choose a focus of Short Spear.
Sciences: Those who learn Fight sciences dedicate a large part of their lives to understanding every aspect of combat. They are often reclusive masters or famous sifu, or both. Often, they will have written philosophical texts on combat. The two known Fight sciences are:

  • Martial Synergy: Those who dedicate time to this science study the flows of essence and underlying meaning of fighting styles. Their deep

knowledge of the Perfected Lotus allows them to combine magic from different fighting styles. The rating of this science acts as a limit to the number of additional styles that may be added to Fight combos the character creates. So, a character with a rating of two in this science would allow the character to build combos containing charms from up to three fighting styles. Each such combo could contain a different combination of styles, but no more than three per combo.

  • Expanding the Lotus: Only those who truly and deeply study the Perfected Lotus and its relation to the universe are qualified to add to

it. Those who know this science have incorporated this knowledge into themselves so thoroughly, that they may create new martial arts styles. The first level of this science allows creation of mortal and terrestrial styles. The second allows creation of celestial styles and the third allows creation of sidereal styles. Sidereal characters reduce the cost (in bonus points or xp) to learn this science by three. Other Rule Changes: When using this skill, canon Melee charm trees are considered distinct fighting styles, much as First Edition Brawl trees were turned into styles in Second. Such styles may or may not have forms. For solar melee, Fivefold Bulwark Stance might work as a decent form. Terrestrial melee might use Refining the Inner Blade as a form. Other trees, like lunar armed combat may have no form at all. All, of course, allow armor. Rituals:Zen?

Occult

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Performance

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Presence

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Profession

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Resistance

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Ride

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Socialize

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Stealth

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Survival

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

Thrown

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

War

Artless Penalty: None
Arts: None
Sciences: None
Rituals:

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