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==Abilities==
==Forgotten Suns==


===Craft===
''This section contains excerpts from the "playtesting" sections of the [http://rpg.divnull.com/exalted/forgotten/ Forgotten Suns] adventure.''
Gutts, a dawn caste solar with a huge sword, started as part of a mercenary company operating in the plains south of Nexus. He dreamt of standing on spire watching the rising sun, surrounded by jungle. His perspective in this dream, on one spire looking out, meant that he never saw the other spires in his dreams, which turned out to cause a lot of conversation later on. He followed the pull to the south fairly readily.
Guen, a changing moon caste lunar who doesn't like other lunars much, started just after her rites of passage, hanging out around the Ten Tribes of the Oak. He dreamt of a moon rising over a five-spired building surrounded by jungle (while in cat form, at night). He followed the pull to the southwest easily.


By official rule, “characters who wish to master multiple crafts must take this ability multiple times.” In our campaign, this rule is replaced with the following: Craft uses specializations to represent the various crafts a character knows. Any craft roll within a specialty that a character has is rolled normally including the bonus from the specialty; however, craft rolls in an area in which the character does ''not'' specialize have three dice subtracted and their difficulty increased by one. Characters who learn Craft gain one specialty for free. In addition, Craft ignores the usual limitation on three specialities per ability, allowing as many specialities as desired, though no one speciality may be chosen more than three times. This is spelled out in a bit more detail [http://exalted.xi.co.nz/wiki/wiki.pl?Wordman/Craft here].
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
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| colspan="2" |'''10th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Eastern jungle''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}
Both Gutts and Guen approached from roughly the same direction. Guen was in cat form and Gutts 'smelled unusual' to him. They discussed their dreams very soon after introducing themselves. To cross, Gutts used his massive sword to cut down a tree. One of Guen's animal forms was an alligator, so the two crossed the 60 feet of tree, then swam the remainder. The swimming roll was made less difficult for Guen in alligator form and, with Gutts holding on and both of them rolling pretty well, they made it across.  


===Lunar Shapeshifting===
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
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| colspan="2" |'''11th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Eastern jungle''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}
Gutts and Guen dispatched the spiders without much problem, though they did take damage. They learned a lot about exalted combat, as well as their own strengths and limitations.


When in animal form, a lunar's own Brawl and Martial Arts abilities are supplanted by the Brawl skill of the animal form when making natural attacks. This reflects the fact that much of the training represented by human Brawl and Martial Arts skill assumes human limbs and hands. Lunars may buy specializations to Brawl skill that will add to fighting when in a specific animal form.
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
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| colspan="2" |'''12th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Eastern jungle''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}
An NPC ([[Cruxis]]) was introduced in this encounter. Having been ambushed in his sleep while making camp on the lake shore, the bandits were rifling through his belongings and celebrating. Cruxis spent the encounter hog tied, as the circle pretty much annihilated the bandits.  


When wearing moonsilver armor to which they are attuned, a lunar may choose to banish the the armor Elsewhere when shapeshifting into any form. Such armor is still attuned and any hearthstones mounted in it continue to provide their effects. Lunars can only "summon" this armor by making another shapechange. This costs the same and takes just as long as normal. A lunar, for example, could change any form (including normal human form) into their normal human form with armor for the standard 1 mote, reflexive shapechange. Changing from any form into an armored animal form costs a simple action and the normal 3 motes, etc.
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
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| colspan="2" |'''13th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Eastern jungle''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}
Guen, a lunar, has a crocodile as one of his forms, which proved able to kill the serpent nearly single handily.  


==Backgrounds==
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| colspan="2" |'''14th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769'''
|-
| ''Eastern jungle''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}
The pursued was the NPC [[Jorias]], who used Graceful Crane Stance and Monkey Leap Technique to run across the tree branches (and, consequently, glowed brightly). After a brief conversation, combat erupted. The speed of [[Volaris]]' blade kept Gutts dodging most of the combat, though he eventually cut him in half (as well as some infantrymen). Guen took his woolly mammoth form and, though taking a lot of arrows, disarmed and later killed [[Mordock]]. Cruxis eventually managed to kill an infantry man that was harassing Gutts (and was extremely proud of himself). Jorias managed to pretty much savage [[Suriel]], who used Shrouding the Body and Mind to evade him after taking a lot of damage. He also transferred some damage from Gutts to himself, allowing Gutts to continue the fight.
Suriel, meanwhile, attempted to keep attacking, as her comrades were still alive at that point. Her wounds made this difficult, however, and her attacks allowed [[Trieste]] to locate her. He used that moment to switch sides and (with a really lucky shot), he put an arrow in her chest. The combat finished soon after, with everyone but Trieste being killed. The last of the infantry died most spectacularly when Guen (still in mammoth form) hurled him into the air and Gutts (on Guen's back) bisected him in midair.
Trieste was spared, and he delivered his proposal to the party. After some discussion, they agreed to send word to a specific bar in Nexus to arrange a meeting with Trieste's benefactors.


===Heart's Blood===
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| colspan="2" |'''17th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Eastern jungle''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}
The party was confused by the [[Lady of the Vine]], and distracted by her nakedness. They behaved themselves, though, and the Lady gained an improved opinion of them, though she elected to remain mostly neutral in what followed.


This lunar background has been substantially [[Heart's Blood|reworked]].
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
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| colspan="2" |'''18th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Eastern jungle''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}
The first of the mutant thunder lizards didn't last a turn, as he had no interest in dodging. His mate was harder to kill, however, and managed to do a little damage before succumbing.
The party didn't detect the barrier until someone went through it. They all decided to go through and take the essence drain without investing much in stopping the effect.
The circle did 40 points of damage in two rounds, so the spine chains didn't last long.
Through a convoluted variety of techniques, including numerous shape shifts, the characters managed to attach a makeshift rope to the lower balcony of the Dawn tower and climb up.  


===Manse===
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
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| colspan="2" |'''19th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Manse''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}
As the circle was new to Exalted, and neither player character had any lore skill to speak of, the NPC Jorias (pg. 54) educated them on manses. Guen attuned to it on the first attempt. Gutts required several, having only one die to make the attempt. Just by coincidence, Guen's dreams were not very powerful or frequent, which led the players to believe that lunars were not as strongly connected to the manse.
The clinching strategy proved fairly effective against the circle initially, particularly since the parrots initially only faced two of the characters. Once the rest of the group entered the combat, the parrots were not much of a problem, though the combat went on for more rounds than expected. The circle, apart from the lunar, also elected to use these birds as food.
The circle befriended the [[Groundskeeper]] and tended to call on him when they were confused.


If a hearthstone is mounted into an artifact to which you are attuned, you gain the benefits of the hearthstone (both essence respiration and other abilities) through the attunment, regardless of where the artifact is. Skin contact is not required. This functions even if the artifact is Elsewhere, but not across other dimensional boundaries. So, if you were in Creation, but an artifact with your hearthstone was in Yu Shan, no benefit would be derived from the stone. Effects of specific realms on hearthstones continue to apply in the way most detrimental. For example, if you are in the Underworld, but an artifact with your hearthstone is Elsewhere (or vice versa), the penalty preventing essence respiration in the Underworld still holds.
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
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| colspan="2" |'''20th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Manse''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}
After all of [[Qurrl]]'s planning, his plot was interrupted when the party's lunar tracked him by smell and found him alone in the magic library (solar sublevel, pg. 41). He immediately unleashed charms, but Gutts was uncharacteristically interested in negotiation. Completely surprised by this, Qurrl simply asked them to turn the barrier off. Guen convinced the party to do this, but only on the condition that the demons return to directly to Malfeas. To enforce this, the demons would be locked into the testing room (solar sublevel) when the barrier was turned off. The demons readily agreed, swearing to return to hell.
The flaw in this plan is that once the barrier was turned off, the demons could just dematerialize and leave the manse undetected, which is what they did and are now roaming the jungle. Unfortunately for the circle, the only member with enough occult skill to spot this flaw in the plan (an NPC) botched his roll.
The deal with [[Morakken]] was more cordial, and he just left once the barrier was reversed.  


==Combat==
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| colspan="2" |'''21st day of Resplendent Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Manse''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}
The solars passed through the barrier while the party was investigating the lunar sphere. After resting to regain their essence, [[Yrminas]] and [[Adrios]] scaled the courtyard wall while [[Righteous Glimmer]] remained in his cloud trapeze.
After a quick tour of the solar tower, they moved to the central building. Yrminas bored of this, and left to explore the lunar sphere while Adrios remained in the central building. The players saw Yrminas coming through the archway of the central building into the lunar courtyard. Given her jade armor and arrogant attitude, they assumed she was dragon-blooded.
After some well-meaning but ill-fated negotiations, two circle members walked out to meet Yrmanis. One of these was Guen, a lunar who bows to no one and really hates dragon-blooded, so Yrmanis' ultimatum did not go over well and swords were drawn pretty quickly.
The length of the courtyard, as well as a Magma Kraken spell, kept the party separated for a good deal of the combat. This proved nearly fatal to Guen (particularly with some lucky damage rolls by the solars in the first round); however, Yrmanis figured Guen would be of more use to her alive.
The Magma Kraken spell was not as lethal as it might seem, though it would have been more so in a more confined space. Towards the end of the battle, Gutts pitted his Peony Death Blossom against Flow Like Blood. The verdict: a blossom plus grand daiklave creates a flow of blood, though Gutts was also fairly badly wounded.
One party member (Cruxis) spent an entire round doing nothing but trying to spot the source of Adrios' arrows, so managed to defeat him. By sheer coincidence, both Yrminas and Adrios were brought down to exactly incapacitated, and the party spared them.
Adrios accepted an offer to join the group. Yrminas avoided death by swearing (and sanctifying) an oath to a) leave the manse, b) release Adrios from his oath to her, c) never attack the circle again, d) show people more respect and e) 'try to help people'. The party returned her armor and weapon, and she left. Glimmer managed to flee in his cloud trapeze, but passed through barrier without enough essence and plummeted to his death.


Since the characters were built with standard rules, we continue to use standard combat rules, with a few exceptions.
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| colspan="2" |'''22nd day of Resplendent Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Manse''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}


===Clinches & Holds===
Two characters spotted [[Saerssa]] trying to sneak out of the lunar Sphere and managed to tackle her before she could escape. She took on her beastman form and broke away, but was soon tackled again. While struggling, the lunar managed to calm her down and convince her to talk. Ultimately, she agreed to trade the hearthstone for permission to attune to the manse and training in how to do so. While being trained, Saerssa took a fancy to one of the NPCs (Cruxis, pg. 52) as a potential (if temporary) mate.


Clinches and holds are resolved using the new Power Combat mechanics. These just make more sense and are easier to apply.
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
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| colspan="2" |'''1st day of Descending Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Manse''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}


===Delaying Action===
The party took in Regret willingly, and brought him back to health.


We tend not to have "race towards zero" problems, but the following rules are used to delay action. If you do not want to act on your standard initiative tick, you may do one of two things. You may ''conditionally delay'' your action, specifying a condition that will trigger your action. For example, you might delay and say "if someone tries to attack my friend, I will attack them." If the condition is triggered, you may act ''before'' the condition takes effect. The delay generates no penalty for your action. To continue the example, when an enemy declares an attack on the friend you are protecting, you may act first, effectively interrupting the attack. Once your action is completed, if declared actions of others were interrupted, they may change their minds and redclare their action.
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
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| colspan="2" |'''2nd day of Descending Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Manse''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}
The lunar turned into a bird to scout out the approaching army. He managed to slip into the line and talk to the slaves, but was nearly discovered and had to flee.  
Meanwhile, the rest of the circle dug a trench around the solar tower (where the main doors are) and filled it with spikes. They also scouted out several ambush sites to use in case the shield failed. From an earlier encounter (pg. 24) the players had access to huge chunks of obsidian, which they used to build deadfall-type traps.  


You may also ''unconditionally delay'' your action. This allows you to act at a later time in the round without penality; however, it does ''not'' allow you to interrupt the actions of others. You can act before someone declares an action, but once they have done so, you cannot use your action until they are done.
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
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| colspan="2" |'''3rd day of Descending Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Manse''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}
This encounter has been changed somewhat because of what happened during field testing. Originally, [[Carrionis]] delivered the ghost's message in person, yelling it from the edge of the jungle. The circle was able to hunt down Carrionis before he could exit the shield (lunars that can fly tend to be able to outrun anything on the ground) and kill him after a pretty brutal battle. This threw all of the plans into chaos.  


If you chose to conditionally delay and wish to react to something that doesn't involve the condition, you can abandon the conditional delay and follow the rules for an unconditional delay.
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| colspan="2" |'''4th day of Descending Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Manse''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}
 
Due to the circle's killing of Carrionis early and subsequent actions, only the early stages of this plan were brought to fruition. Vision had long since fled by the time a negotiation with Makarios would have been completed.
The circle managed to kill Carrionis early (pg. 29) and had a number of methods of reconnaissance available to them (though it took them a while to realize the scrying pools (pg. 39) could be used for this purpose). Guen realized that, being a Changing Moon, he had the ability to appear as Carrionis. This idea was all the more effective against fairly mindless creatures like zombies, and the circle brought the strategy to bear with devastating effectiveness.
Disguised as Carrionis, Guen visited each working group of zombies, pointed to the manse and said "go". Because the zombies had been raised by the Lover and given instructions to follow Carrionis (and after some really good manipulation + performance rolls on Guen's part), the zombies moved in groups to the manse, where upon they destroyed themselves one after the other against the shield. A fight broke out with one of the spine chains before Guen got to it, but the circle took it down. The other chain happily strolled into the shield. Guen saved her best rolls for the exquisite undead aide, who also was convinced to assault into the shield (leaving behind a sturdy, if confused, horse).
The same tactics proved as decisive when brought to bear on the other side of the manse. Guen even managed to fool Vision, though her robes were not fooled at all, and attacked Guen. When Vision realized what this meant, she ran. Meanwhile, Gutts couldn't resist swinging huge pieces of obsidian in great arcs to crush many zombies at once. Some of the zombies and deathrings got sidetracked by this and started to attack Gutts, though they were soon redirected by Guen.
As the zombies shambled towards the shield, the captive humans scattered. A couple of them were killed by a fleeing Vision to feed her essence pool. With the zombies dutifully incinerating themselves, Guen took the form of a hawk and tried to track down [[Vision Consorting with the Dead]]. By the time the circle caught up with her, she had sacrificed her horse and entered the Labyrinth.


In either of these cases, you may split your pool when you announce that you are delaying. Usually you would do this to declare defenses that can be used while you wait. Such defenses may be used without defaulting your action.


===Martial Arts Styles===
Of the different plans, this one was defeated last. Using tactics similar to they way they defeated Plan D (pg. 34), the characters managed to free most of the captives and convinced the undead to destroy themselves. Vision managed to escape, however, after a chase.
The characters allowed the humans into the manse for a night and though Guen tried to convince them (particularly the monk) they had nothing to fear from anathema, Gutts tended to toy with the humans, somewhat defeating Guen's case. All of the surviving mortals were allowed to return home, including [[Moraj]].


A clarification: martial arts styles can be divided into four groups:
==Interlude==


#Styles that allow use of armor at all times
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
#Styles that allow specific (usually light) armor at all times
|-
#Styles that prohibit use of armor with their form (and maybe one or two other) charms, but allow it with other charms of the style
| colspan="2" |'''5th day of Descending Water, RY 769 to 25th day of Descending Water, RY 769'''
#Styles that prohibit use of armor with all charms in the style
|-
| ''Manse''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}


It is often forgotten that most styles are actually the third type. Five-Dragon and Immaculate styles are the first type, except Fire-Dragon, which is the third.
[[Jaguan]] responds to summons. Agrees to train Saerssa if:


===Celestial Practice of Immaculate Styles===
*He can attune to manse.
*Guen and Saerssa agree to scarring ceremony.
*Saerssa gives gift in exchange (she chooses horn of the ways).
*Fox gets free access to manse and Saerssa's domain.


The errata to the ''Dragon Blooded'' makes several changes regarding the Immaculate Martial Arts styles, most of which became official in the ''Player's Guide''. Some, however, did not, making it a bit ambiguous. Regardless of the intent, this campaign works as follows:
Regret bails. Increasingly paranoid about Fair Folk. Resonance increases. Screaming matches with Kruxis on occasion.


*Celestials do not need to make rolls when activating Immaculate forms.
Ardios wants to stay behind and guard the manse. Digs the simple life.
*Celestials do not need to dedicate themselves to an Immaculate path, so may learn other Celestail Martial Arts without before, during and after mastering an Immaculate style.
*Celestials transcent the need for "elemental harmony", so gain signature weapon benefits and do not pay a 1 mote penalty for each charm.


==Charms Changes==
Jorias discovers water communication (visual only).Jorias may want to stay and study the manse, but eventually elects not to.


===Power Combat Changes===
Lady of the Vine makes a proposal: turn off the shield most of the time, and she will alert us to coming intruders.


Our campaign, having gone on fairly long using the original combat rules, elects not to use the new power combat rules from the [[Exalted Player's Guide|Player’s Guide]]; however, these rules contain a some changes/clarifications to charms that make sense for either rules system. Note that some of them are significant changes. The following are considered official in our campaign:
NPCs during two months:


====Archery====
*Regret of the Sun: Headed into desert, possibly to Gem.
*Trieste: Travel back to Nexus.
*Vision Consorting With the Dead: Walking the Labyrinth
*Yrminas: Witnessed approach of army of dead. Shadowed the group of mortals back to their homes. En route, they were attacked by predators and hobgoblins, and she interceded to save them. Once they reached the village, she left the mortals and a legend behind.
*Qurrl: Exploring the world.
*Limonis: Returned the hell.
*Render, Spew & Margruff: Materialized just outside the manse and traveled through the jungle and into the Marukan Alliance. Raped, slaughtered and ate a village. Discovered and enlisted by Fair Folk.


''Immaculate Golden Bow:'' Accuracy and rate equal to Essence. Range 300 yards.  
Circle training at manse.


''Trance of Unhesitating Speed:'' Costs a flat 3 motes per attack. No more extra attacks than Essence.
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
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| colspan="2" |'''26th day of Descending Water, RY 769'''
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| ''Grey River''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}


====Athletics====
While en route to [[Nexus]] the circle finds a guild checkpoint on the river who have bound [[Mikani]], a water spirit, with a magic jar and are using her to extract tolls. The are destroyed and the spirit is set free.


''Feather Foot Style:'' Cost now 5 motes. Duration one scene. In addition to effects listed in book, also doubles running and sprinting rate (though this does not stack with other speed enhancemnets).
Downriver, a village on the river is on fire. The smoke can be seen from many miles away. All of the inhabitants have been killed or dragged away. By the time the boat gets there, it is mostly just smoldering.


''Monkey Leap Technique:'' Distance measured in yards, not feet.
[[Griffin]], Gutts' old commander walks the ruins with seven soldiers. They just got there and claim they are tracking some supernatural force that is tormenting Varsi. Reports vary, but it could be Fair Folk, demons or a cult. They always seem to have disappeared by the time the Band of the Hawk gets there.


''Spider-Foot Style:'' Cost now 3 motes, duration one scene.
Griffin is intrigued to see Gutts, but the others will give him the cold shoulder.
==Varsi==


====Brawl====
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
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| colspan="2" |'''1st day of Ascending Earth, RY 769 to 3rd day of Ascending Earth, RY 769'''
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| ''Varsi''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}


''Sledgehammer Fist Punch:'' Type now supplemental, duration instant.
Fair Folk have subverted a Barbarian horde. The diplomat feeds on their religious fervor. The cataphract feeds on their lust for battle. The diplomat is also trying to fill the dreams of the inhabitants of Varsi with terror. To this end, they have recruited the tree demons (Render, Spew and McGruff), who sneak into the town and brutally kill three people each night, usually well guarded people. The barbarians (who hold the ape sacred) will eventually invade, with the demons charging with them. If possible, the Fair Folk will attempt to bait and ambush hunting parties looking for the barbarians. Fair Folk frequently enter city, having taken over ownership on an inn.


====Endurance====
Barbarians, demons, fair folk.
Birds, snakes, etc.
Aquire [[moonsilver box]] from a merchant named [[Jarvick]], who pays them to deliver it to [[Milo Divivovich]] in [[Nexus]].


''Armored Scout’s Invigoration:'' Cost now 3 motes per point of mobility and fatigue negated, a max number of times equal to Endurance. Each 3 motes negates a point of each.
{| width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
|-
| colspan="2" |'''4th day of Ascending Earth, RY 769 to 20st day of Ascending Earth, RY 769'''
|-
| ''Grey River''|| align="right" |''6 January 2004''
|}


''Essence-Gathering Temper:'' Each success on the roll gains a number of motes equal to Essence, though no more successes provide benefit that the character has points of Stamina.
Mikani sped Cruxis' [[pocket boat]] down the [[Grey River]] tirelessly until reaching Nexus.


''Front-Line Warrior’s Stamina:'' Cost now 5 motes + 1 Willpower. Cancels all fatigue and mobility until the armor is removed.
Horde of karmeus stealing local children for food. What to do with the child? Thorbin from Bounty. Training. Snakebud when near Nexus. Jorius gets nervous as the circle approaches Nexs and wants disguising. Disguised as "Kerrick".


''Tiger Warrior’s Endurance:'' Cost now 6 motes + 1 Willpower + 1 lethal health level. While in effect, character regains Essence as if meditating (8 motes/hour) and cannot suffer fatigue checks or penalties. Character does not and cannot sleep. Duration is Essence + Endurance in hours. Health level remains “comitted” while the charm is active.
[[Forgotten Suns: Log - Nexus|next chapter]]
 
====Martial Arts====
 
''Armor-Penetrating Fang Strike:'' Cost now 4 motes + 1 Willpower.
 
''Essence Venom Strike:'' Cost now 7 motes + 1 Willpower.
 
''Striking Serpent Speed:'' Cost now 6 motes only.
 
====Melee====
 
'' One Weapon, Two Blows:'' Cost now 2 motes.
 
''Peony Blossom Attack:'' Costs a flat 3 motes per attack. No more extra attacks than Essence.
 
====Presence====
 
''Majestic Radience Presence:'' The Willpower roll to oppose or attack character made every time attempting to disobey or harm character, but no more than once per turn.
 
''Terrifying Apparition of Glory:'' The Valor and Confiction rolls to oppose or harm character made every time attempting to disobey or harm character, but no more than once per turn.
 
====Resistance====
 
''Durability of Oak Meditation:'' Cost now 1 mote per 2B added to bashing soak. A roll is no longer needed. May be used with existing armor.
 
''Iron Skin Concentration:'' Big change: now reflexive and of instant duration, costing 3 motes only. It reduces the damage dice of any attack you are aware of to the attackers Essence.
 
''Spirit Strengthens the Skin:'' Big change: now reflexive and lasts one scene. For 2 motes and 1 willpower, you may soak lethal damage with your bashing soak until the end of the scene. Incompatible with armor. (Note that this is somewhat similar to what Iron Skin Concentration used to do, but is slightly cheaper with a higher resistance requirement).
 
''Unfailing Toroise Technique:'' Cost now 2 motes. Character's natural lethal soak becomes Stamina + Resistance to defend against a single, even unanticipated, attack. Charm is compatible with armor.
 
''Iron Kettle Body:'' Cost is now 3 motes. Character gains +8B/+9L soak to a single attack. In addition, if the number of damage dice rolled for the attack starts at eight or less, the attack does no damage at all.
 
====Thrown====
 
''Fiery Solar Chakram:'' Cost now 4 motes. Accuracy bonus equal to Essence.
 
===Additional Charms===
 
The following charms are legal in this campaign and may be learned like any others:
 
*[[Leopard Style]] martial arts
*Any of these additional [[Exalted Charms|charms]]
*Any of these combos [[Exalted Combos|combos]]
 
==Sorcery==
 
===Rushing Sorcery===
 
You may invoke a sorcery ''charm'' of a given circle to cast a ''spell'' of a lower circle to speed up casting. Spells so cast release one round earlier than they would if cast with the "proper" charm. For example, a terrestrial circle spell cast using Celestial Circle Sorcery would activate as soon as it was cast, rather than requiring a round of essence-gathering.
 
There are some caveats and drawbacks to speeding magic in this way, however. The first is that if the spell description indicates it takes longer or shorter to cast than normal, casting from a higher circle has no effect. More importantly, failures of rushed spells are treated as if they were botches (see pg.217 of core rulebook). Botches of rushed spells are twice as bad, doing double the damage over double the distance.
 
For purposes of dispelling, the circle of the ''spell'' is used, not the charm used to cast it. Rushed spells may not be "strengthened" (see below).
 
Casting can never be quicker than instant, so casting terrestial magic with Solar Circle Sorcery provides no speed benefit over using Celestial Circle Sorcery; however, casting from two circles above will avoid the increased failure penalities.
 
These rules also apply to necromancy.
 
===Strengthening Sorcery===
 
You may invoke a sorcery ''charm'' of a given circle to cast a ''spell'' of a lower circle to make the spell harder to dispell. Spells so cast use the level of the charm to determine how difficult they are to dispell and cost 10 additional motes per extra level. Casting time is standard for the charm.
 
For example, a terrestrial circle spell cast using the Solar Circle Sorcery costs 20 additional motes and takes four turns to cast, but may only be dispelled by Adamant Countermagic.
 
These rules also apply to necromancy.
 
===Lunar Sorcery===
 
Lunars have an innate connection to the Wyld and a lot of practice shaping themselves with their will, both of which make them natural sorcerers, particularly no-moons. To reflect this, experience costs for lunars to learn new spells are reduced to 7xp for no-moons and 9xp for other castes.
 
Costs for learning necromancy remain unchanged.
 
==Training==
 
===Combo Training Time===
 
As written, the rules do not set a fixed training time for combos. In this campaign, the base time for learning a combo when all of the charms in the combo are in a favored ability is equal to the sum of the minimum abilities of all the charms in the combo, plus the highest minimum essence of the charms, in days. If ''any'' of the charms in the combo are unfavored, add the minimum essence of ''all'' charms in the combo.
 
The training time assumes a teacher is available. If the exalt is self-training, ''triple'' the base time. The idea behind this rule is to provide role-playing incentive for tracking down combo trainers.
 
===Modifying Existing Combos===
 
Using cannon rules, combos cannot be modified. If you want to add a charm into a combo, you must learn a whole new combo. Unfortunately, this has the effect of preventing people from developing combos. In our game, we allow this rule to stand, but provide steep discounts in xp cost and training time for learning the new combo.
 
Suppose you have a combo with two charms in it and you want to add a two more charms into it. Determine the training time (T<sub>2</sub>) and xp cost (X<sub>2</sub>) spent learning the two charm combo. Then determine the xp cost (X<sub>4</sub>) and training time (T<sub>4</sub>) that would be required to learn the four charm combo from scratch. To learn the four charm combo, you pay X<sub>4</sub>-X<sub>2</sub> xp and you must train for T<sub>4</sub>-T<sub>2</sub>. At the end of this, you know both the original two charm combo and the new four charm combo.
 
If you want to learn a subset of a combo you already know, you must learn a brand new combo; however, as with adding charms, you do so at a much reduced cost. Removing charms is much easier, so to learn such a combo, you pay a number of xp equal to the minimum Essence of each charm removed. You must train for a number of hours equal to the minimum attribute/ability of each charm removed. Note that, since reflexive charms in combos do not require activation when the combo is use, learning a subset combo should really only be needed to remove non-reflexive charms.
 
===Attribute Training Time===
 
Being masters of their own form, Lunars cut the training time to raise an attribute in half.
 
===Trainers Required===
 
In addition to things in the rules that ''require'' trainers to learn, characters must have tutors to learn the following:
 
*Your very first martial arts charm of any kind
*Any martial arts form charm
*The pinnacle charm for a martial arts tree
*Any Immaculate martial arts charm
 
===Training Others===
 
Exalted can both learn and teach at the same time. Thus, two exalted could be teaching each other different charms simultaneously. This is slightly non-sensical, but makes the game flow a little more smoothly (particularly since training times are long enough already).
 
===Lunar Martial Arts===
 
Lunar characters may learn martial arts charms from a style based on their totem animal for eight experience points each. The lunar may do this with one and only one style, selected by the lunar.
 
===Sidereal Martial Arts===
 
The ''Sidereals'' book implies that any celestial, including lunars, can learn sidereal level martial arts (in addition to sidereals, of course). The ''Players Guide'' restricts this to only solars and abyssals. In this game, Lunars can learn sidereal martial arts at a cost of 18 xp per charm (16 if MA is favored).
 
Note that all sidereal MA charms ''require'' a tutor, and finding one is the most difficult part of learning these styles. Sidereal ''sifu'' tend not to give up these secrets lightly, if at all. In this game, to qualify as a tutor to non-sidereal exalted, the teacher must be a master (i.e. know ''all'' of the charms) of the tree he or she is teaching.
 
===Fair Folk Charms===
 
As mentioned in the Fair Folk book, Lunars (along with Eclipse and Moonshadow caste) can learn Fair Folk charms, provided a Fair Folk has forged an appropriate grace for them. In a departure from the standard rules, however, Lunars pay only 17xp to learn these charms (not double cost).
 
===Graces===
 
Non-Fair Folk may improve the rating of any grace forged for them, even if they do not own it. All graces held by non-Fair Folk are considered to be minor graces.
 
==Armor==
 
Clothing of any kind may be used with charms that do not allow armor, even if the clothing provides soak bonuses. Charms that don't allow armor (such as martial arts forms) conceptualize this restriction with the idea that the bulk of armor restrains movement needed for the charm, which is not a factor in clothing (else the charm could only be used naked). Examples of clothing with soak bonuses would be Demon Embracing Robes or the gossamer garments of Fair Folk. Note that such clothing ''is'' bypassed by charms that explicitly penetrate or avoid armor (e.g. Armor Penetrating Fang Strike). To balance out this change, such clothing provides no soak against aggravated damage.
 
==Astrology==
 
Officially, a character may not have "two of the same destiny on herself" (side.218). In this campaign, this is purposely misinterpreted to mean that the sidereal cannot have two of the exact same identities at the same time; however, a sidereal ''may'' have multiple destinies from the same college on themselves, provides they are distinct identities. The practical result of this is that sidereals use effect dice from one destiny for special effects while reserving those of a maintained identity in the same college. Since the number of astrological effects on a single person is already limited by their Essence, this does not seem particularly unbalancing.


[[Category:Forgotten Suns]]
[[Category:Forgotten Suns]]
[[Category:House Rules]]
[[Category:Campaign Log]]
[[Category:Exalted]]

Latest revision as of 16:49, 5 December 2007

Forgotten Suns

This section contains excerpts from the "playtesting" sections of the Forgotten Suns adventure.

Gutts, a dawn caste solar with a huge sword, started as part of a mercenary company operating in the plains south of Nexus. He dreamt of standing on spire watching the rising sun, surrounded by jungle. His perspective in this dream, on one spire looking out, meant that he never saw the other spires in his dreams, which turned out to cause a lot of conversation later on. He followed the pull to the south fairly readily.

Guen, a changing moon caste lunar who doesn't like other lunars much, started just after her rites of passage, hanging out around the Ten Tribes of the Oak. He dreamt of a moon rising over a five-spired building surrounded by jungle (while in cat form, at night). He followed the pull to the southwest easily.

10th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769
Eastern jungle 6 January 2004

Both Gutts and Guen approached from roughly the same direction. Guen was in cat form and Gutts 'smelled unusual' to him. They discussed their dreams very soon after introducing themselves. To cross, Gutts used his massive sword to cut down a tree. One of Guen's animal forms was an alligator, so the two crossed the 60 feet of tree, then swam the remainder. The swimming roll was made less difficult for Guen in alligator form and, with Gutts holding on and both of them rolling pretty well, they made it across.

11th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769
Eastern jungle 6 January 2004

Gutts and Guen dispatched the spiders without much problem, though they did take damage. They learned a lot about exalted combat, as well as their own strengths and limitations.

12th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769
Eastern jungle 6 January 2004

An NPC (Cruxis) was introduced in this encounter. Having been ambushed in his sleep while making camp on the lake shore, the bandits were rifling through his belongings and celebrating. Cruxis spent the encounter hog tied, as the circle pretty much annihilated the bandits.

13th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769
Eastern jungle 6 January 2004

Guen, a lunar, has a crocodile as one of his forms, which proved able to kill the serpent nearly single handily.

14th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769
Eastern jungle 6 January 2004

The pursued was the NPC Jorias, who used Graceful Crane Stance and Monkey Leap Technique to run across the tree branches (and, consequently, glowed brightly). After a brief conversation, combat erupted. The speed of Volaris' blade kept Gutts dodging most of the combat, though he eventually cut him in half (as well as some infantrymen). Guen took his woolly mammoth form and, though taking a lot of arrows, disarmed and later killed Mordock. Cruxis eventually managed to kill an infantry man that was harassing Gutts (and was extremely proud of himself). Jorias managed to pretty much savage Suriel, who used Shrouding the Body and Mind to evade him after taking a lot of damage. He also transferred some damage from Gutts to himself, allowing Gutts to continue the fight.

Suriel, meanwhile, attempted to keep attacking, as her comrades were still alive at that point. Her wounds made this difficult, however, and her attacks allowed Trieste to locate her. He used that moment to switch sides and (with a really lucky shot), he put an arrow in her chest. The combat finished soon after, with everyone but Trieste being killed. The last of the infantry died most spectacularly when Guen (still in mammoth form) hurled him into the air and Gutts (on Guen's back) bisected him in midair.

Trieste was spared, and he delivered his proposal to the party. After some discussion, they agreed to send word to a specific bar in Nexus to arrange a meeting with Trieste's benefactors.

17th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769
Eastern jungle 6 January 2004

The party was confused by the Lady of the Vine, and distracted by her nakedness. They behaved themselves, though, and the Lady gained an improved opinion of them, though she elected to remain mostly neutral in what followed.

18th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769
Eastern jungle 6 January 2004

The first of the mutant thunder lizards didn't last a turn, as he had no interest in dodging. His mate was harder to kill, however, and managed to do a little damage before succumbing.

The party didn't detect the barrier until someone went through it. They all decided to go through and take the essence drain without investing much in stopping the effect.

The circle did 40 points of damage in two rounds, so the spine chains didn't last long.

Through a convoluted variety of techniques, including numerous shape shifts, the characters managed to attach a makeshift rope to the lower balcony of the Dawn tower and climb up.

19th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769
Manse 6 January 2004

As the circle was new to Exalted, and neither player character had any lore skill to speak of, the NPC Jorias (pg. 54) educated them on manses. Guen attuned to it on the first attempt. Gutts required several, having only one die to make the attempt. Just by coincidence, Guen's dreams were not very powerful or frequent, which led the players to believe that lunars were not as strongly connected to the manse.

The clinching strategy proved fairly effective against the circle initially, particularly since the parrots initially only faced two of the characters. Once the rest of the group entered the combat, the parrots were not much of a problem, though the combat went on for more rounds than expected. The circle, apart from the lunar, also elected to use these birds as food.

The circle befriended the Groundskeeper and tended to call on him when they were confused.

20th day of Resplendent Water, RY 769
Manse 6 January 2004

After all of Qurrl's planning, his plot was interrupted when the party's lunar tracked him by smell and found him alone in the magic library (solar sublevel, pg. 41). He immediately unleashed charms, but Gutts was uncharacteristically interested in negotiation. Completely surprised by this, Qurrl simply asked them to turn the barrier off. Guen convinced the party to do this, but only on the condition that the demons return to directly to Malfeas. To enforce this, the demons would be locked into the testing room (solar sublevel) when the barrier was turned off. The demons readily agreed, swearing to return to hell.

The flaw in this plan is that once the barrier was turned off, the demons could just dematerialize and leave the manse undetected, which is what they did and are now roaming the jungle. Unfortunately for the circle, the only member with enough occult skill to spot this flaw in the plan (an NPC) botched his roll.

The deal with Morakken was more cordial, and he just left once the barrier was reversed.

21st day of Resplendent Water, RY 769
Manse 6 January 2004

The solars passed through the barrier while the party was investigating the lunar sphere. After resting to regain their essence, Yrminas and Adrios scaled the courtyard wall while Righteous Glimmer remained in his cloud trapeze.

After a quick tour of the solar tower, they moved to the central building. Yrminas bored of this, and left to explore the lunar sphere while Adrios remained in the central building. The players saw Yrminas coming through the archway of the central building into the lunar courtyard. Given her jade armor and arrogant attitude, they assumed she was dragon-blooded.

After some well-meaning but ill-fated negotiations, two circle members walked out to meet Yrmanis. One of these was Guen, a lunar who bows to no one and really hates dragon-blooded, so Yrmanis' ultimatum did not go over well and swords were drawn pretty quickly.

The length of the courtyard, as well as a Magma Kraken spell, kept the party separated for a good deal of the combat. This proved nearly fatal to Guen (particularly with some lucky damage rolls by the solars in the first round); however, Yrmanis figured Guen would be of more use to her alive.

The Magma Kraken spell was not as lethal as it might seem, though it would have been more so in a more confined space. Towards the end of the battle, Gutts pitted his Peony Death Blossom against Flow Like Blood. The verdict: a blossom plus grand daiklave creates a flow of blood, though Gutts was also fairly badly wounded.

One party member (Cruxis) spent an entire round doing nothing but trying to spot the source of Adrios' arrows, so managed to defeat him. By sheer coincidence, both Yrminas and Adrios were brought down to exactly incapacitated, and the party spared them.

Adrios accepted an offer to join the group. Yrminas avoided death by swearing (and sanctifying) an oath to a) leave the manse, b) release Adrios from his oath to her, c) never attack the circle again, d) show people more respect and e) 'try to help people'. The party returned her armor and weapon, and she left. Glimmer managed to flee in his cloud trapeze, but passed through barrier without enough essence and plummeted to his death.

22nd day of Resplendent Water, RY 769
Manse 6 January 2004

Two characters spotted Saerssa trying to sneak out of the lunar Sphere and managed to tackle her before she could escape. She took on her beastman form and broke away, but was soon tackled again. While struggling, the lunar managed to calm her down and convince her to talk. Ultimately, she agreed to trade the hearthstone for permission to attune to the manse and training in how to do so. While being trained, Saerssa took a fancy to one of the NPCs (Cruxis, pg. 52) as a potential (if temporary) mate.

1st day of Descending Water, RY 769
Manse 6 January 2004

The party took in Regret willingly, and brought him back to health.

2nd day of Descending Water, RY 769
Manse 6 January 2004

The lunar turned into a bird to scout out the approaching army. He managed to slip into the line and talk to the slaves, but was nearly discovered and had to flee.

Meanwhile, the rest of the circle dug a trench around the solar tower (where the main doors are) and filled it with spikes. They also scouted out several ambush sites to use in case the shield failed. From an earlier encounter (pg. 24) the players had access to huge chunks of obsidian, which they used to build deadfall-type traps.

3rd day of Descending Water, RY 769
Manse 6 January 2004

This encounter has been changed somewhat because of what happened during field testing. Originally, Carrionis delivered the ghost's message in person, yelling it from the edge of the jungle. The circle was able to hunt down Carrionis before he could exit the shield (lunars that can fly tend to be able to outrun anything on the ground) and kill him after a pretty brutal battle. This threw all of the plans into chaos.

4th day of Descending Water, RY 769
Manse 6 January 2004

Due to the circle's killing of Carrionis early and subsequent actions, only the early stages of this plan were brought to fruition. Vision had long since fled by the time a negotiation with Makarios would have been completed.


The circle managed to kill Carrionis early (pg. 29) and had a number of methods of reconnaissance available to them (though it took them a while to realize the scrying pools (pg. 39) could be used for this purpose). Guen realized that, being a Changing Moon, he had the ability to appear as Carrionis. This idea was all the more effective against fairly mindless creatures like zombies, and the circle brought the strategy to bear with devastating effectiveness.

Disguised as Carrionis, Guen visited each working group of zombies, pointed to the manse and said "go". Because the zombies had been raised by the Lover and given instructions to follow Carrionis (and after some really good manipulation + performance rolls on Guen's part), the zombies moved in groups to the manse, where upon they destroyed themselves one after the other against the shield. A fight broke out with one of the spine chains before Guen got to it, but the circle took it down. The other chain happily strolled into the shield. Guen saved her best rolls for the exquisite undead aide, who also was convinced to assault into the shield (leaving behind a sturdy, if confused, horse).

The same tactics proved as decisive when brought to bear on the other side of the manse. Guen even managed to fool Vision, though her robes were not fooled at all, and attacked Guen. When Vision realized what this meant, she ran. Meanwhile, Gutts couldn't resist swinging huge pieces of obsidian in great arcs to crush many zombies at once. Some of the zombies and deathrings got sidetracked by this and started to attack Gutts, though they were soon redirected by Guen.

As the zombies shambled towards the shield, the captive humans scattered. A couple of them were killed by a fleeing Vision to feed her essence pool. With the zombies dutifully incinerating themselves, Guen took the form of a hawk and tried to track down Vision Consorting with the Dead. By the time the circle caught up with her, she had sacrificed her horse and entered the Labyrinth.


Of the different plans, this one was defeated last. Using tactics similar to they way they defeated Plan D (pg. 34), the characters managed to free most of the captives and convinced the undead to destroy themselves. Vision managed to escape, however, after a chase.

The characters allowed the humans into the manse for a night and though Guen tried to convince them (particularly the monk) they had nothing to fear from anathema, Gutts tended to toy with the humans, somewhat defeating Guen's case. All of the surviving mortals were allowed to return home, including Moraj.


Interlude

5th day of Descending Water, RY 769 to 25th day of Descending Water, RY 769
Manse 6 January 2004

Jaguan responds to summons. Agrees to train Saerssa if:

  • He can attune to manse.
  • Guen and Saerssa agree to scarring ceremony.
  • Saerssa gives gift in exchange (she chooses horn of the ways).
  • Fox gets free access to manse and Saerssa's domain.

Regret bails. Increasingly paranoid about Fair Folk. Resonance increases. Screaming matches with Kruxis on occasion.

Ardios wants to stay behind and guard the manse. Digs the simple life.

Jorias discovers water communication (visual only).Jorias may want to stay and study the manse, but eventually elects not to.

Lady of the Vine makes a proposal: turn off the shield most of the time, and she will alert us to coming intruders.

NPCs during two months:

  • Regret of the Sun: Headed into desert, possibly to Gem.
  • Trieste: Travel back to Nexus.
  • Vision Consorting With the Dead: Walking the Labyrinth
  • Yrminas: Witnessed approach of army of dead. Shadowed the group of mortals back to their homes. En route, they were attacked by predators and hobgoblins, and she interceded to save them. Once they reached the village, she left the mortals and a legend behind.
  • Qurrl: Exploring the world.
  • Limonis: Returned the hell.
  • Render, Spew & Margruff: Materialized just outside the manse and traveled through the jungle and into the Marukan Alliance. Raped, slaughtered and ate a village. Discovered and enlisted by Fair Folk.

Circle training at manse.

26th day of Descending Water, RY 769
Grey River 6 January 2004

While en route to Nexus the circle finds a guild checkpoint on the river who have bound Mikani, a water spirit, with a magic jar and are using her to extract tolls. The are destroyed and the spirit is set free.

Downriver, a village on the river is on fire. The smoke can be seen from many miles away. All of the inhabitants have been killed or dragged away. By the time the boat gets there, it is mostly just smoldering.

Griffin, Gutts' old commander walks the ruins with seven soldiers. They just got there and claim they are tracking some supernatural force that is tormenting Varsi. Reports vary, but it could be Fair Folk, demons or a cult. They always seem to have disappeared by the time the Band of the Hawk gets there.

Griffin is intrigued to see Gutts, but the others will give him the cold shoulder.

Varsi

1st day of Ascending Earth, RY 769 to 3rd day of Ascending Earth, RY 769
Varsi 6 January 2004

Fair Folk have subverted a Barbarian horde. The diplomat feeds on their religious fervor. The cataphract feeds on their lust for battle. The diplomat is also trying to fill the dreams of the inhabitants of Varsi with terror. To this end, they have recruited the tree demons (Render, Spew and McGruff), who sneak into the town and brutally kill three people each night, usually well guarded people. The barbarians (who hold the ape sacred) will eventually invade, with the demons charging with them. If possible, the Fair Folk will attempt to bait and ambush hunting parties looking for the barbarians. Fair Folk frequently enter city, having taken over ownership on an inn.

Barbarians, demons, fair folk. Birds, snakes, etc. Aquire moonsilver box from a merchant named Jarvick, who pays them to deliver it to Milo Divivovich in Nexus.

4th day of Ascending Earth, RY 769 to 20st day of Ascending Earth, RY 769
Grey River 6 January 2004

Mikani sped Cruxis' pocket boat down the Grey River tirelessly until reaching Nexus.

Horde of karmeus stealing local children for food. What to do with the child? Thorbin from Bounty. Training. Snakebud when near Nexus. Jorius gets nervous as the circle approaches Nexs and wants disguising. Disguised as "Kerrick".

next chapter

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