GURPS Exalted - Because I Can
When the release of GURPS Powers was approaching and the playtesters were gushing about what it could do, I was asking them half-jokingly: „But can it do Exalted?“
Well, now I have the book myself, and after thinking it over I have come to the conclusion that yes, it can. This is a stab at recreating the “core” type of Exalted, the Solar Exalted, under the GURPS rules. By neccessity, this isn’t attempt to recreate everything that can be found in the Exalted Core Rules on a one-to-one basis. Instead of trying to recreate the complex Charm Trees, I have made a decision to let players create custom abilities that fit into their type of Exalted and their overall power level, and which can be improved over time. This will allow them to create “Signature Moves” in a similar way to the Combos of the Exalted rule set.
The Basics: Solar Exalted have access to five different Caste Powers, sets of abilities that are grouped together under a common theme, similar to the psionic Powers of the GURPS Basic Set, or the numerous examples in GURPS Powers. Each caste of Solars has its own Power – thus, there is a Dawn Power, a Zenith Power, a Twilight Power, a Night Power, and an Eclipse Power. The Power Modifier for these is –10%, which represents that the abilities in it can only be powered by their Essence Reserve (-5% - more on that in a bit) and that all abilities cost a minimum of 1 Essence to power it (-5% - but note that invidivual abilities can and often do cost much more than that). There are a very few abilities that do not require this modifier, and they are listed in the individual Power description. Each Power lists the abilties appropriate to it. These can also include attributes and secondary characteristics – thanks to the fact that they require Essence to power and are thus only of limited duration, they qualify for inclusion in the power.
The following Enhancements and Limitations are appropriate for modifying the abilities associated with the Caste Powers:
The GM is free to disallow any combination of Enhancements and Limitations he considers against the spirit of the genre.
Furthermore, each Caste Power has a talent associated with it. Its level adds to all attribute-based rolls of the relevant abilities, a set of skills associated with it, and to all reaction rolls of those who witness the Solar using those skills – Solars have an easy time impressing others with the skills they are good in. Finally, it limits the maximum character point cost of any single ability associated with that Caste Power. No single ability may cost more than fifteen times the level of the talent – this is the reason why the more powerful and flashy abilities are usually purchased with a large Costs Essence limitation. Each level in the talent costs 20 points (this is more than with any other type of talent, but given that it impacts both abilities and a large number of skills, as well as influences the development of the Exalted in other ways, it seems reasonable). Starting Exalted may purchase up to five levels in an individual Caste Talent. Elder Exalted – those a hundred or more years old - may purchase even higher levels. See the “Exalted Player’s Guide” for details, and read “maximum Caste Talent Level” for “maximum Essence”.
Exalted may also purchase an Essence Reserve. This functions in a similar way to Fatigue (and also has a base cost of 3 character points per level) and powers their abilities, and they recover one point per ten minutes. They may purchase a number of levels of “Personal Essence” equal to their (highest Caste Talent level) x 3 Will/2. Using this Essence isn’t immediately obvious to observers, though if they use it to power superhuman abilities, observers are likely to suspect something. They may also purchase a number of levels of “Peripheral Essence” equal to their (highest Caste Talent level) x 7 Will. This Essence has a –10% Limitation for being very obvious in use (use the same rules for spending Peripheral Essence as in the Exalted Core Rules).
Finally, each Caste has a special Anima Ability associated with it that can only be purchased by actual members of that caste of Solar Exalted, as opposed to the “standard” Caste Talent and its associated abilities, which can be purchased by any type of Solar as long as they have the required character points.
Starting Solars should be created by using a normal human as a “base character” and then spending about 250 character points on their various Caste Powers, Abilities, and Talents. They must purchase their innate Caste Ability at at least its basic level, the following advantages, and two levels of the Talent of their Caste. The rest of these points may be spent as they wish.
Basic Solar Template (50 points + Caste Abilities): Racial Memory (Passive) 15, Rapid Healing 5, Unaging 15, Very Fit 15.
Dawn Caste
Anima Ability: Terror, with the Selective Area (+20%) Enhancement and the Costs 10 Essence (-50%) Limitation (for a total of –30%). Dawn Caste Solars may purchase a number of –1 penalties to the Fright Check equal to their Day Caste Talent level.
Dawn Caste Talent: 20 points/level
Dawn Caste Abilities: Alternate Time Rate, Claws (with No Signature, +20% - this represents the devastating Martial Arts attacks such characters are capable of, not any actual claws!), Combat Reflexes, Constriction Attack, Daredevil, Enhanced Defenses, Enhanced Tracking, Extra Attack, Innate Attack (Burning – this ability can not cost more than 5 character points per Dawn Caste Talent level, instead of the usual 15), Striking ST, Trained By A Master (does not require Power Modifier), Weapon Master (does not require Power Modifier).
Dawn Caste Skills: All Weapon and Unarmed Combat Skills, as well as Cloak, Fast-Draw, Parry Missile Weapons, Shield, Soldier, Strategy, Tactics, Throwing, and any skills that have Trained By A Master or Weapon Master as a prerequisite which aren’t listed under another Caste.
Zenith Caste
Anima Abilities: The Zenith Caste Solar may burn the body of a fallen mortal for 1 point of Essence, which prevents it from being raised as a zombie or becoming a hungry ghost 1. Zenith Caste Solars have an Innate Attack (Corrosion [10/level] with Costs 5 Essence (-25%), Reduced Range 2 (-20%) and Accessibility – Only versus demons and undead (-20%)). They must buy at least four levels at character creation and can buy a number of levels equal to twice their Zenith Caste Talent. Finally, they have the same Terror ability as the Dawn Caste Solars, but with the added Accessibility – Only versus demons and undead (-20%). This affects even creatures that are normally unaffected by Terror.
Zenith Caste Talent: 20 points/level
Zenith Caste Abilities: Absolute Direction, Affliction (versus demons and undead only, -20%), Amphibious, Breath Holding, Charisma, Damage Resistance, Doesn’t Breathe, Doesn’t Eat or Drink, Fearlessness, FP, Hard to Kill, Hard to Subdue, HP (does not require Power Modifier), High Pain Threshold, HT, Indomitable, Injury Tolerance (No Blood), Less Sleep, Metabolism Control, Mind Shield, Recovery, Reduced Consumption, Resistant, Temperature Tolerance, Terror.
Zenith Caste Skills: Enthrallment, Fishing, Group Performance, Hiking, Intimidation, Leadership, Mental Strength, Mind Block, Musical Influence, Musical Instrument, Performance, Public Speaking, Religious Ritual, Singing, Survival, Teaching, Theology, Tracking, Weather Sense.
Twilight Caste
Anima Ability: When a Twilight Caste Solar is injured, he can activate his Anima as a last-ditch defense to avert injury. This is represented by several levels of Damage Resistance [5/level] with Cosmic (+50%) and Costs 5 Essence (-50%, since it only protects for a single injury). A Twilight Caste Solar must buy at least four levels at character creation, and may buy a number of levels equal to four times his Twilight Caste Talent level.
Twilight Caste Talent: 20 points/level
Twilight Caste Abilities: Affliction (versus spirits only, 20%), Binding (versus spirity only, -20%), Channeling, Clairsentience, Clinging, Compartmentalized Mind, Detect, Eidetic Memory, Enhanced Time Sense, Gagdeteer (first level only, but can be taken without the Power Modifier – this represents their ability to create artifacts), Innate Attack (versus spirits only, 20%), Intuition, Lightning Calculator, Medium, Oracle, Psychometry, Regeneration (up to Regular), Very Rapid Healing.
Twilight Caste Skills: Alchemy, Architecture, Area Knowledge, Armoury, Astronomy, Carpentry, Detect Lies, Diagnosis, Engineer, Exorcism, First Aid, Forensics, Geography, Heraldry, Herb Lore, Hidden Lore, History, Law, Leatherworking, Machinist, Masonry, Mathematics, Mechanics, Meditation, Metallurgy, Meteorology, Naturalist, Occultism, Pharmacy, Physician, Physiology, Prospecting, Research, Ritual Magic, Smith, Surgery, Symbol Drawing.
Night Caste
Anima Abilities: Night Caste Solars may spend twice the usual amount of Peripheral Essence to avoid the obvious side effects of that type of Essence 1. They may also make it harder for others to detect or track them. This is the equivalent of a Talent [5/level], with the difference that it gives a penalty of –1 to Perception, Observation, Shadowing and Tracking rolls of others made against the Solar, and has the Cosmic (+50%) and Costs 2 Essense per minute (-10%) modifiers. Night Caste Solars must buy at least two levels at character creation and can buy a number of levels equal to their Night Caste Talent.
Night Caste Talent: 20 points/level
Night Caste Abilities: 360° Vision, Absolute Timing, Acute Senses, Ambidexterity, Basic Move, Basic Speed, Brachiator, Catfall, Clinging, Danger Sense, Darkvision, Discriminatory Hearing, DX, Enhanced Move (Ground, Jumping), Flexibility, High Manual Dexterity, Lifting ST, Per, ST, Mimicry, Night Vision, Obscure, Parabolic Hearing, Perfect Balance, Peripheral Vision, Sensitive Touch, Silence, Slippery, Super Climbing, Super Jump, Telescopic Vision, Terrain Adaption.
Night Caste Skills: Acrobatics, Acting, Climbing, Counterfeiting, Criminology, Disguise, Escape, Filch, Flying Leap, Forgery, Gambling, Holdout, Invisibility Art, Jumping, Knot-Tying, Lifting, Light Walk, Lip Reading, Lockpicking, Mimicry, Observation, Panhandling, Pickpocket, Poisons, Running, Scrounging, Search, Shadowing, Sleight of Hand, Smuggling, Stealth, Streetwise, Swimming, Traps, Urban Survival, Ventriloquism.
Eclipse Caste
Anima Ability: Eclipse Caste Solars and those who accompany them have Claim to Hospitality with spirits, demons, and the Fair Folk 10. This doesn’t mean that these beings will neccessarily be friendly towards the Solar, but they will not harm him or his companions unless they attack first. For 10 points of Essence, Eclipse Caste Solars can also sanctify oaths 10. If either side breaks the oath, the oath-breaker will have the Cursed disadvantage until things go catastrophically wrong for him a number of times equal to the Eclipse Caste Talent level of the Solar. Finally, Eclipse Caste Solars can learn abilities of any other supernatural entity (whether spirit, Exalted, demon, ghost, or something else entirely). This costs twice the usual amount of character points, and the Solar learns the ability exactly as it works for that entity, and he cannot learn any associated talents.
Eclipse Caste Talent: 20 points/level
Eclipse Caste Abilities: Animal Empathy, Fashion Sense, Modular Ability (Languages, Cultural Familiarity), Cultural Adaptability, Empathy, Language Talent, Plant Empathy, Rapier Wit, Social Chameleon, Speak With Animals, Speak With Plants, Spirit Empathy, Voice.
Eclipse Caste Skills: Accounting, Administration, Animal Handling, Art (Calligraphy), Boating, Body Language, Cryptography, Current Affairs, Diplomacy, Economics, Finance, Gesture, Intelligence Analysis, Interrogation, Linguistics, Literature, Market Analysis, Merchant, Navigation, Philosophy, Piloting, Poetry, Propaganda, Psychology, Riding, Savoir-Faire, Sex Appeal, Shiphandling, Sociology, Speed-Reading, Teamster, Veterinary, Writing.
Sample Ability:
Heavenly Guardian Defense (-80%): Enhanced Parry 21 (Cosmic +50%, Costs Essence: 13/turn –130%) 42: For one turn, the Solar may parry absolutely anything, whether swords, warstriders, or mountains thrown at him, and his defenses may not be weakened by anything short of a Cosmic attack. It is entirely appropriate for the GM to waive the Parry roll antirely.
Sorcery:
Technically, Sorcery falls under the Twilight Caste Abilities (and the Twlight Caste Talent), but it follows several special rules. There are three circles of Sorcery available to Solars. Terrestrial Circle Sorcery requires Twlight Caste Talent 3, Celestial Circle Sorcery requires Twlight Caste Talent 4, and Solar Circle Sorcery requires Twlight Caste Talent 3.
Like normal abilities, Sorcery always cost Essence (which means at least a –5% limitation, but spells almost always cost more, usually a lot more), and can only be powered by Essence (-5%). In addition to that, they also have the Takes Extra Time limitation (-10%/level) – one level for Terrestrial, two levels for Celestial, and three levels for Solar Circle Sorcery. Finally, they can all be Neutralized by specialized spells of the same circle of Sorcery (-5%).
Sorcery spells aren’t subject to the usual limits for buying abilities. To build a spell, you can use almost any combination of advantages, enhancements, and limitations, though certain things can be vetoed by the GM as inappropriate to the setting (Things like ressurecting the dead or traveling through time are right out). Terrestrial Circle spells can be built on up to 50 character points, Celestial Circle spells on up to 100 character points, and there is no limit on Solar circle spells. However, learning spells is an all-or-nothing proposition – once the spell is learned, it can never be altered again – it can’t be made more effective (by, say, increasing the level of an Innate Attack), and all its enhancements and limitations are fixed and can’t be bought off.
Sample spell:
Death of Obsidian Butterflies (90%): Innate Attack (4d-1 Cutting 26, Area Effect – 30 yards wide, 100 yards long, and 10 yards high, starts from the caster (200%), costs 18 Essence (-90%), Power Modifier (-20%)) 77: A stream of butterflies made from razor-sharp obsidian appears and flies past the caster, injuring everyone and everything within its path.
Afterthoughts:
These are the basics for Solar Exalted. A few notes on other types of Exalted that should help writing these up for those who are interested:
- Dragon-Blooded: Their maximum Essence pools are much lower than that of Solars, and while their Talents also give bonuses to a large number of skills, their abilities can only cost a number of character points equal to the relevant Aspect talent level times five, not fifteen. If the GM runs a mixed Solar/Dragon-Blooded campaign and allows an equal number of character points for Solars and Dragon-Blooded, the Dragon-Blooded will likely be very experienced and the Solars very experienced. Still, the GM should make sure that the Dragon-Blooded put a large portion of their points into Wealth, Social Status, and various Contacts, Allies, and other social advantages rather than Exalted abilities.
- Lunars: Their main powers center around a powerful Alternate Form and other shapeshifting and survival-oriented powers. The latter can cost a maximum of 10 points per Talent level, but the Alternate Form can be much more expensive than that. The Lunar Caste Talents never give a bonus to any skills, and thus only cost 5 character points per level, but their abilities often give them bonuses to their attributes which can make up for it.
- Abyssals: They function similar to Solars in most ways, though they cannot recover Essence in Creation without stealing it from somewhere. Since they can recover Essence in the Underworld while the Solars cannot, this is not worth any points. They also have the same skills and similar abilities associated with their various Caste powers, though they center more on causing pain and suffering instead of inspiring and healing others. Afflictions, Terror, Vampiric Bite and similar advantages are all appropriate.
- Sidereals: Their talents give bonuses to skills as well, though to slightly different skills, and the cost of their abilities is limited to ten times per Caste talent level. Their abilities often center on being in the right place at the right time – Serendipity and Wild Talent are rather common. They are effectively Zeroed in Creation (though not in Heaven), and Modular Abilities limited to Social Advantages are appropriate to simulate their ability to play new “roles” whereever they go.
- Autocthonians: Most of their abilities should be bought as Modular Abilities with large limitations for the fact that they need access to their Vats to change them. They have several talents that represent different types of funktions of their abilities (Close Combat, Ranged Combat, Perception and Observation etc), and any single ability that falls under one of these functions can not cost more than ten times the talent level. Since these talents do not give any skill bonuses, they cost only five points per level.
Fair Folk: I’m not touching this one.
That’s all. I’m hereby giving permission to anyone to post it on your website, Wiki, and so on as long as I get credit for the original idea, and encourage you to develop it further if you are interested (since it is unlikely that I will have the time for it).
Any thoughts?