Exalted: Obsidian Requiem - House Rules

The following describes a set of house rules I am using.

Backgrounds - Ratings and When to pay

Backgrounds that you pay for are generally considered "part of your character". Usually this means that I won't take those things away from you, or if I do, then you'll get recompensated with the opportunity to obtain some other background of equivalent total rating later (may not necessarily be the SAME background ... in other words, loss of a manse doesn't mean you'll automatically get a new manse later). However, poor player decisions can lead to loss of backgrounds without recompensation, such as sending your best ally on a suicide mission, or treating the ally shoddily. Otherwise, such decisions would carry less consequences, and thus lose their meaning.

The way I deal with when to buy (or not buy) backgrounds is as follows:

If you are taking a background at character creation, obviously you will have to pay for it.
If you take an object that qualifies as a background, but do not pay for it, then it simply has no plot immunity. Easy come, easy go.
The Storyteller does not have to allow you to purchase a background simply because you have points or just because you've found something that you want. Don't assume he will.
If you are deciding to add a background to your character on your own initiative, then you have to buy it. You also have to explain the history surrounding it, and probably why it has never been mentioned in the game before.
If I give you the option of taking something that has cropped up in the story as a background, or you ask me if you can claim it and I let you, then you have to pay for it.
If I simply tell you to take something background-ish as the result of what you've done in the story, then you do not have to pay for it. But, you should, if you want that item to have the same degree of "part of the character"-ness as those you've bought. Otherwise I will feel no qualms about taking it right back as a result of the story.
The cost of the first dot of a new background is "2 exp". Each artifact, manse, or familiar should be purchased separately.
The cost for dots beyond that is "current rating x 2".

I also allow the use of Adversarial backgrounds (Enemy instead of Ally, etc.) if they make sense. Adversarial backgrounds can normally only be taken by players at character creation or by special request, as they must be worked into the story.

Armor and Martial Arts

There are various Martial Arts form charms, such as Mantis Form (Castebook Eclipse) that don't normally allow the use of armor. But artifacts like Silken Armor and charms like Glorious Solar Plate call into question what constitutes armor.

My ruling is that such charms are hampered by the rigidity and weight of armor, not its mere presence. Therefore, if a character is wearing armor with a total mobility penalty of -1 or better, and a total fatigue value of 0 or 1, he can still use these charms. Note that this is total armor on the character, not the total on each individual piece of armor. Jade and moonsilver adjustments to fatigue value and mobility penalty (respectively) can help. Charms that reduce or eliminate the fatigue or mobility of armor can help, but unless they have a long duration, they'd have to be comboed normally.

This rule does NOT apply to charms that appear to be incompatible with armor for some reason unrelated to its weight and flexibility (i.e., as a mystic side effect).

Below, I've listed for easy reference the armor by background cost, the modifications for magical materials to artifact armor, and a few non-canon pieces of artifact armor.

Armor (by Background cost)
Type	Soak	Mobility Penalty	Fatigue Value	Cost	Commit
Buff Jacket	4B/3L	-1	2	Resources 1
Breastplate (Artifact)	4B/6L	0	0	Artifact 1	2 motes
Breastplate	2B/4L	-1	1	Resources 2
Chain Shirt	1B/3L	-0	1	Resources 2
Reinforced Buff Jacket	6B/5L	-2	2	Resources 2
Reinforced Buff Jacket (Artifact)	10B/7L	-1	0	Artifact 2	3 motes
Chain Hauberk	7B/6L	-3	2	Resources 3
Lamellar Armor	8B/6L	-2	1	Resources 3
Reinforced Breastplate (Artifact)	9B/10L	-1	1	Artifact 3	4 motes
Articulated Plate (Artifact)	14B/12L	-2	1	Artifact 4	6 motes
Chain Swathing	14B/11L	-6	5	Resources 4
Plate-and-Chain	10B/8L	-4	3	Resources 4
Reinforced Breastplate	6B/7L	-2	1	Resources 4
Articulated Plate	9B/9L	-3	2	Resources 5
Superheavy Plate	12B/12L	-4	3	Resources 5
Superheavy Plate (Artifact)	15B/15L	-2	2	Artifact 5	8 motes

Non-canon Artifact Armor
Chain Shirt (Artifact)	2B/5L	+1	0	Artifact 1	2 motes
Lamellar (Artifact)	9B/8L	-1	1	Artifact 2	3 motes
Chain Hauberk (Artifact)	7B/7L	-1	2	Artifact 2	4 motes
Plate-and-Chain (Artifact)	13B/11L	-2	2	Artifact 4	5 motes
Chain Swathing (Artifact)	17B/14L	-4	3	Artifact 5	10 motes

Effects of Magical Materials on Artifact Armor
Orichalcum	+2B/+2L	-	-	-	-
Soulsteel	+2B/+2L	-	-	-	-
Moonsilver	-	No Penalty	-	-	-
Jade	-	-	No penalty	-	-
Starmetal (-1 success after soak)	-	-	-	-	-

Damage Dice - Taking the Average

Normally in the storyteller system, combat looks something like this: Hero rolls initiative. Hero rolls to hit his target. The enemy rolls to dodge or parry if desired, which opposes the to-hit roll. If any successes are left from this opposed roll, the attack hits. The enemy's soak is subtracted from the raw damage (usually strength + weapon + extra successes on the to-hit roll) that the hero's attack would do. If any dice are left after this, then the hero rolls them. Successes are Health-levels of damage

I don't like rolling damage dice; it seems to either foreshorten combat (when one person get a lot of successes) or prolong it (when nobody gets many successes, leading to the "slap fight" phenomenon). Instead, I apply the Exalted Extras rules to all characters by default. This rule was recently discussed on RPG.net. (I call the rule "Taking the Average", similar to "taking 10" or "taking 20" in D20.) Characters may choose whether to roll their damage, but I'll be applying this rule by default.

Against non-extras: For every three full dice of damage that you would have rolled, you do one health level of damage. (Roll anything left over, which will be at most two dice.) In other words, if you've got 13 dice after soak, you do four automatic health levels and have the possibility of a fifth. If you've got 14 dice, you do four levels and the possibility of a fifth and a sixth. (I don't have a problem with that, even though with 15 dice, you'll only do 5 levels. After all, you could roll them all and potentially do up to 14 levels of damage...)
Against extras: For every two full dice of damage that you would have rolled, you do one health level of damage. (Roll anything left over, which will be at most one die.) If you've got 12 damage dice after soak, you do 6 health levels. Note that extras also have only three health levels. It will therefore take only 6 damage dice (after soak) to kill an extra under this system.
Certain charms, like Fire and Stones Strike, use motes of essence to convert damage dice into auto-successes. This works fine in this system: You pay your motes to convert some of your dice to auto successes normally (in other words, they are full health levels). Anything left over is what is divided by two or three, as described above.
Other Charms, like Tiger Claw Swat, let you pay motes of essence to get extra dice of damage. This makes perfect sense: if you have 10 dice of damage after soak, you can pay for two extra dice to make it an even 12. That way, you automatically do 4 health levels, rather than doing 3 and rolling the leftover die that you would've had. (You can, of course, pay for 5 extra dice and make it 15 dice / 3 = 5

Training Times

When learning charms for caste or favored abilities, if those charms have minimum ability scores of 3 or less, you do not need to have instruction in their use (they come to you naturally). However, you still need to practice for the amount of time listed in the book.

Abyssal essence drain

All abyssals do not feed (drain essence) in the same way, although the mechanics are similar. I encourage my players to come up with a style that fits their Abyssal and/or their Deathlord and Stygian superiors. Some alternate examples: stealing the breath, drinking the tears. Avoid the blood drinking if at all possible; I prefer my deathknights to be as distant as they can from Vampire.

Appearance Attribute, general

The Appearance attribute is treated as it is in Adventure. Specifically, the lower your score, the more forgettable and bland you look, and the higher your score, the more memorable and shocking you look (whether inhumanly beautiful or incredibly hideous). This applies to Abyssals particularly, since it means that ALL of them must raise their appearance as their Essence goes up (see abyssal-specific rule below).

The precise nature of how you can apply the attribute depends on the way the character is described: The Angsty Hawtness of the Ossified Brassiere will have an easier time with seduction, while his ooglyness, Mein of Twenty Children's Distilled Nightmares, will have an easier time with intimidation.

Appearance Attribute, Abyssal specific

I am applying the following rule to all Abyssals equally, including those below Essence 3: Your appearance rating must be greater than or equal to your desired Essence, minus 1."

Thus, an Essence 3 Abyssal must have an Appearance of 2 or higher. To go up to Essence 4, he'd need to buy his appearance up to 3 or higher.

Back to the Games index