I know I said I'd do Solar Charms of some flavor today, but I realized a little bit after yesterday's post on DB's that Mortals are actually something I need to put some serious thought to.
You see Solars for a baseline, or rather a ceiling-line. They are the biggest. They are the strongest. I can safely just say 'they do this insane stuff' and leave it at that, so long as I've gone insane enough. The other Celestial Exalted are mostly defined by how far below the Solars they are. Abyssals and Infernals are not below the Solars. Lunars are very slightly below the Solars. Sidereals are a ways below the Solars but make up for it a little bit by having Astrology and SMAs. Alchemicals are around Sidereal Level but with just good stats and weapons rather than Astrology and SMAs.
Dragon-Blooded don't compare well to Solars. They're really cut from a different cloth. I could argue that both Sidereals and Alchemicals are too, but I'm talking about DBs and Mortals today. The Dragon-Blooded are best defined as the best of the worst: they are the greatest of the Common character types, and so defining what they can do is less about comparing them to Solars (which I'd been doing) and more about comparing them to Mortals.
Mortals are the lowest tier of theoretical Exalted play, in practice I've never heard of anyone actually running a Mortals game as anything more than a prelude to Exaltation. Mortals come in 3 categories, which I intend to keep: Extras, Normals and Heroes, but I want to both clarify and expand all three of these categories throughout lower tiers of Exalted Character Types for the Rework.
The "lower tiers" consist of Humans, Humans Plus (Crafted Races, Mutants and Beastmen), Mountain Folk, Dragon Kings, God-Blooded of all flavors (God-Blooded, Half-Caste, Demon-Blooded, Ghost-Blooded and Fey-Blooded), Gods, Elementals, Demons, Ghosts, Fair Folk and at the top of the heap, the Dragon-Blooded.
Extras occur in all of these groups. Extras exist when the GM does not have time to come up with names, faces, backstories and is not interested in doing so. Extras, however, are a narrative conceit, not an in-character one. There can be extras among the Mountain Folk and Dragon Kings, or Elemental extrs, Demon extras or even, if you're a group of Solars fighting the Ebon Dragon or the Avatar of Oblivion or something, Dragon-Blooded extras. "Extra" is GM shorthand for 'characters who I don't care about and won't give the screen time for you to care about'.
Normals are Extras with plot relevance. There is a common mistake (and I'm guilty of it myself) that any time an Exalt asks a Mortal their name, the mortal suddenly becomes a Heroic Mortal. This is understandable and it's fine if it happens... sometimes. But it's important that there be normal mortals who have names and faces and hopes and dreams... but aren't heroes. They are the ones who weep tears of gratitude when the players save them, they are the ones who plead with the players not to kill them when they are threatened by them. In the Rework, Normals generally have Skills at 1 and no assets worth speaking of, unless they are in a position where they must have that Asset (a high-ranking priest or a weak-willed monarch, for instance). The majority of God-Blooded, Humans Plus, Mountain Folk, Gods Elementals, Ghosts, Demons and Fair Folk also fall into this category.
"Heroic Mortal" is a term that Exalted uses that, in the core game, is primarily mechanical in definition. "Heroic" in the core game means "gets 2 successes for rolling a 10 rather than 1," and that's honestly a terrible definition, so I'm changing it. In the Rework, what defines a Heroic character is their Virtues. Normals do not have Resonant Virtues. While they may be kind or determined, self-controlled or brave, they are not bound by the heroic demands of the four virtues and they do not draw strength from them. Heroic Mortals (and Gods, and Demons, and Elementals, etc), do. Players are assumed to be playing Heroic Characters, and, indeed, Celestial Exaltations are incompatible with non-Heroic souls, or perhaps the Exaltation Shards naturally charge the latent virtues of their bearers. Nevertheless, Heroic Mortals should stand out among mortals. They should have heroic motivations (though smaller-scale than those of the Exalted), substantial skills and be potent individuals in their own right.
Note that in Exalted, Heroism is not goodness, and that all four of the Virtues can be turned to evil. Heroism is greatness of spirit, a desire to change the world, and the will to see that desire made real, whether that desire is the abolishment of slavery or the slaughter of one's enemies. Low-tier Heroic Villains make for good antagonists for starting Exalts, whether they be Mortals, God-Blooded, Gods themselves or even Demons or lesser Fair Folk.
For the Rework, the Lower Tiers are further divided into non-Essence-wielding and Essence-wielding categories, that is Mortals and Mortals Plus vs everything else. Heroic Non-Essence wielders receive a special Asset called Willpower, which they get a number of points of equal to 3 + 1 per Resonant Virtue. Willpower can be spent for two things: A Willpower point spent allows a Heroic Mortal to take an Improbable Stunt, or allows them to win a tied Conflict (unless their opponent has an ability that lets them win instead). Willpower refreshes like Essence, with Virtuous Deeds.
There are a number of Non-Essence Wielder Assets as well, most notably Enlightened Essence. Technically a character with this is an Essence-Wielder, but they retain their Willpower pool, which they can also now spend to spend 1 of their Essence Points, assuming they have Charms or sorcery to use with it. Mortals can still raise their Essence to 3, and learn Terrestrial Martial Arts or Sorcery, though each of these requires an Asset to learn. Without ceasing to be a Mortal, Mortals never gain active control over their Essence.
Combined with the Complication system, Mortals actually are fairly potent combatants in the reworked System. The ability to win ties is a very specific +1, and is functionally the 'Mortal Excellency'. They are very limited in their stunts, as they must be, unless they are pushing themselves to their limits, when they are still very limited, but less so.
Essence-Wielders follow the standard pattern of "May spend Essence," though notably only the Exalted have Anima Banners to ignite. All of these have access to Charms (or things that resemble them in functionality, such as Arcanoi or Shaping). Gods, Demons, Elementals and Fair Folk normally have very specific powers (or, in the case of the Fair Folk, are limited to specific powers by their shaped form), as do their children, where Ghosts, Ghost-Blooded, Half-Castes, Mountain Folk and Dragon Kings have powers that they have personally chosen to learn, though from a broad list available to those of their type, more like the Exalted.
What does this tell me about the DBs? Directly, not much. Most Heroic Mortals will, on average, be able to manage Conflict Scores of around 5 or 6, maxing their mechanical power at 8, if they want a true victory, winning ties (Skill 3, the mortal cap, +4 Ultimate Sacrifice + 1 Recent Virtuous Action). That's high enough to be a valid challenge to most Dragon-Bloods with their current mechanics. Dragon-Blooded will need only a handful of mechanical bonus effects, my primary Charm focus can be in giving them broad-spectrum Improbable and specific Impossible stunts, things that Mortals will never do, and a wider range of power than most spirits will have.
Okay, with that I've gotten a lot of my thoughts on the less-played character types out on paper and a bit better idea of what I need to do with DB charms. Tomorrow will probably be on to talking about Solar Charms unless I'm struck by more inspiration for something else.
Thanks for reading and please feel free to leave questions or comments.
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