Modern Exalted using ST system

So I had the idea of doing a modern version of Exalted.  A modern day game of bigger than life heroes and villains.  I wondered if maybe this forum would get some more ideas sparked.  Here's what I have so far:

Premise
Sometime in the near future (probably 2012, hopefully not being too cliché) marks the beginning of the next High Mythic Age.  The spirit world reawakens and humanity, too, reawakens to its potential.  The world is in upheaval as Paragons, magnificent heroes and horrifying villains, emerge from the world's population to reshape the face of humanity in their image.

Some geopolitics
In order that we don't know exactly what year it is, the Roman calendar has fallen out of use.  In fact the Roman Catholic Church has been dismantled and Catholicism is only practiced as a grassroots faith.

The Middle Kingdom rises again as one of the original Seven Paragons crowns himself the August Personage of Jade.  He uses Politics and Occult Charms to reshape China into a mystic world power, bolstered by the might of generations of ancestor spirits and guarded by its Paragons, the Dragon Blooded.

Russia has become a frigid wasteland populated by ancient and vicious spirits.  The barbarians who are all that are left of the human population are guarded by a mysterious Paragon covered in fur who wanders the constant blizzard.

The US has a thriving celebrity cult, emphasis on the cult.  Adoration from televised events, concerts, and sermons pumps prayers to the various competing Paragons who vie for the attention and the Essence.

The conflicts of the Middle East are complicated by the resurgence of the Egyptian pantheon, led by a Paragon who calls himself Amon Ra.  The first attempted peace talks between the various factions are led by Sun aspected Paragons.  The so-called Solar Deliberative was a catastrophe, erupting into a disastrous combat between powerful Essence wielders and resulting in the destruction of Temple on the Mount.

Charm Ideas
It's kind of a make-your-own-caste system

Excellancies:  Excellancies aren't Charms, they are automatic abilities of Favored Abilities or Attributes.  Paragons choose 2 Favored Abilities and 5 Favored Skills at character creation.

Favored Attributes:  Paragons can reflexively spend Essence points (up to the max per turn as dictated by Essence [Arete?] trait) to add dice to any roll involving the Attribute on a one-for-one basis.  Favored Attributes also determine the effects of the Paragon's Corona (Anima flare).
Power Attributes - When the Paragon's Corona is raised, rolls involving the Favored Attribute are upgraded by one step (9-again becomes 8-again, 8-again becomes Rote Quality)
Finesse Attributes - When the Paragon's Corona is raised, rolls involving the Favored Attribute have their penalties reduced by Arete*2.
Resistance Attributes - When the Paragon's Corona is raised, the Favored Attribute is doubled.

Corona Effects
The Virtue of the Paragon determines the color of the aura that erupts around them when they spend too much Essence.
Fortitude - Hot white tinged with orange
Faith - Cool white tinged with blue
Temperance - Red, crimson, burgundy
Hope - Yellow, gold
Charity - Blue, cerulean, turquoise
Justice - Purple, violet, amethyst
Prudence - Green, emerald

The Paragon's Vice determines the forms that manifest from the Corona when enough Essence is spent to make the aura take visible form for all to see.
Envy - Lightning:  Electricity arcs from the Paragon's eyes or fingertips, playing over the Paragon's weapon.  Some Paragons emit the hum of high voltage or the smell of ozone.
Gluttony - Air (Smoke):  Curls of ephemeral smoke seem to rise from the Paragon's mouth, or sometimes from track marks in their arms.  For others, this manifests as a whirlwind of smoky energy, a sucking void that seems to draw everything in toward the Paragon.
Greed - Ice:  The Paragon's aura seems to form as a rime of frost on surfaces she touches, and almost encases those things she claims as her own.  Crystal snowflakes of energy dance in the air.
Lust - Life:  Vines seem to grow and twist around the Paragon, or petals descend from above, dissipating before they hit the ground.  Shadowy contrails of the Paragon's arms seem to animate and make mysterious mudras or caress the Paragon's body.  Ephemeral serpents slither over the Paragon's body.
Pride - Earth (Gems):  The Paragon's skin seems to take on the glimmer of precious stones in the color determined by her Virtue.  Almost every Paragon with this Vice manifests especially bright gemstones on their brow or above their head, crowning them in glory.
Sloth - Water:  A glowing must seems to fall gently from the Paragon's skin.  Sometimes, glowing trails of liquid seem to write glimmering tear tracks or drip from their fingers and weapons.
Wrath  - Fire:  The Corona manifests as shimmering heatwaves, colored flames seeming to lick up from the footsteps or from the mouth of the Paragon.

If you'll notice, the colors of the different anima flares kinda match the colors of the seven Incarnae, which will be the spiritual embodiments of the seven human Virtues.  I was thinking of matching the Vices with Yozis and Neverborn, but I actually don't know those very well.

Any suggestions?

Given how far away this really is from Exalted... I guess I'm not sure why not just use Scion?

Zeev:

Given how far away this really is from Exalted... I guess I'm not sure why not just use Scion?

I was kinda predicting I was going to get that response.  I think it's because I like the idea of Excellancies and Charms based on Skills as well as a heroic game about human heroism and not being the children of gods.  Skill based Charms really makes it very humanistic to me.  Instead of some kind of godly sphere of influence it's more like human abilities taken to godly levels.  Scion didn't really appeal to me for some reason.

I also like the NWOD system.  I love the Physical/Mental/Social and Power/Finesse/Resistance grid, I just think it's a thing of elegance.

Favored Skills:  Paragons can reflexively spend Essence points (up to the max per turn as dictated by the Arete trait) to add extra successes to any roll involving the Skill.  Every two motes spent gains the Paragon one extra success.  (See "Extra Successes" World of Darkness, page 134)

In essence I built the First Excellancy into Favored Attributes and the Second Excellancy into Favored Skills.

Ophidimancer:

I think it's because I like the idea of Excellancies and Charms based on Skills as well as a heroic game about human heroism and not being the children of gods.

That's really not a great reasoning to base things on Exalted over Scion, especially since you're not sticking to almost anything remotely Exalted in terms of fluff.

The idea of powers based on Skills really only applies to the Solars/Aybssals in Exalted.  The Lunars use Attributes, the Sidereals and Terrestrials use Skills but with thematics that wildly fly in the face of just doing X better, Spirits/etc. use Virtues, the Infernals use Yozi-themed Charm sets and the Alchemicals... well we don't actually know but were Attribute based in the last addition.

Exalted is also very much not about human heroism.  The Exalted stopped being humans when their patron deities shoved an Exaltation into them.  It's a bit more abstract than being the literal off-spring of man and goddess (or any other combination), but it's still functionally the same thing.

Zeev:

That's really not a great reasoning to base things on Exalted over Scion, especially since you're not sticking to almost anything remotely Exalted in terms of fluff.

Perhaps, but be that as it may, this is what I want.  I'm taking some basic mechanical concepts from Exalted and applying them to a more contemporary setting.  I'm also moving the emphasis away from the exaltation by outer beings and more an eruption of inner power.  It's neither the World of Darkness nor Exalted.  It takes the ambiguously (meaning not tied to real world cultures while allowing one to fit them in if they like) mythic scope of Exalted and mixes it with the very humanistic focus of the World of Darkness while bypassing the godly politics of Scion.

Zeev:

The idea of powers based on Skills really only applies to the Solars/Aybssals in Exalted.  The Lunars use Attributes, the Sidereals and Terrestrials use Skills but with thematics that wildly fly in the face of just doing X better, Spirits/etc. use Virtues, the Infernals use Yozi-themed Charm sets and the Alchemicals... well we don't actually know but were Attribute based in the last addition.

And I'm going to mix the use of Skill and Attribute Charms within the same playable character type.  As for castes, I'm going with customizable castes based on the chosen Favored Attributes.  That's because I think "human but better" should include both Skills and Attributes.

Zeev:

Exalted is also very much not about human heroism.  The Exalted stopped being humans when their patron deities shoved an Exaltation into them.

That's one direction to take it, but I do see very humanistic (albeit heroic) tones in Exalted.  I don't think it could be said to be completely not humanistic in theme.

Now, have any helpful suggestions?  Do you like the idea of playing a game with such mechanics/setting?

Ophidimancer:

Now, have any helpful suggestions?  Do you like the idea of playing a game with such mechanics/setting?

Exalted involves very high dice pools, due to the skill enhancement charms.  Even toned down, you'll still have quite a handful.  Exalted deals with this well because Defense > Offense in almost all cases.  There's not just dodge/parry, but also soak to prevent the massive handfuls from overwhelming you.  However, the NWoD is 100% Offense > Defense.  I think it would be very difficult to deal with such a conversion for that reason alone. 

Its going to be hard not to end up the way high level Godlike/Wild Talents fights end up: "Who goes first?  You?  Ok, you obliterate them instantly before they act."  (Though don't get me wrong, Godlike/Wild Talents are fantastic games, they just don't scale up so well).

Anyway, if you can change the rules sufficiently to bypass the defensive to offensive paradigm change, it should be neat mechanically.

The setting, well, I don't get the point, and I am not a fan of your geopolitical scene, since it seems kind of arbitary.  Why not just play in the actual world and just have people exalt?  Especially if you're removing the whole mythology about Exalted being chosen soldiers of the gods and all?  Well, I am assuming you're removing that because its the same thing you didn't like about Scion.

mplindustries:

Anyway, if you can change the rules sufficiently to bypass the defensive to offensive paradigm change, it should be neat mechanically.

Ok, I'll have to keep that in mind.  I was going to design entire new Charm trees, though I'll probably steal liberally from Exalted.  One of the design changes I had in mind was to change effects that give 9 agains and the like.  Instead of specifically giving specific levels, I was going to have each effect just upgrade the modifier.  For example, one effect may grant the 9 again bonus, and another effect can be stacked on top to increase it to 8 again, another stacked on top to give it the rote quality bonus.

mplindustries:

The setting, well, I don't get the point, and I am not a fan of your geopolitical scene, since it seems kind of arbitary.

Well yes, it is.  They were just random ideas that popped up for what would happen after awhile.

mplindustries:

Why not just play in the actual world and just have people exalt?

This is definitely possible as a Year Zero kind of thing.

mplindustries:

Especially if you're removing the whole mythology about Exalted being chosen soldiers of the gods and all?  Well, I am assuming you're removing that because its the same thing you didn't like about Scion.

Generally.  I mean the Incarnae will still be there, but they won't quite as present as they are in the Exalted setting.

Ophidimancer:

I'm taking some basic mechanical concepts from Exalted and applying them to a more contemporary setting.

Which then?  And really, is it fair to call the idea, "Modern Exalted with the ST system?"

Wanting to make a superhuman game with the ST system is not making an Exalted-present day system.

Ophidimancer:

That's one direction to take it, but I do see very humanistic (albeit heroic) tones in Exalted.  I don't think it could be said to be completely not humanistic in theme.

Um... Exalted is exceedingly not humanistic.  Humans, in Exalted, are one of the most pathetic and worthless creatures in the setting.  They were created to be weak, superstitious and fearful so that they'd make a good source of prayers for the gods.  They were so poorly regarded that the Primordials didn't bother securing themselves against them, because the Primordials couldn't contemplate the notion that all of humanity combined could ever do anything to harm them in any way.  And they were right not to fear humanity up until the gods betrayed them and gave some humans godlike power without controls.

Ophidimancer:

Now, have any helpful suggestions?

What do you really want to do with all this?

If the point is to make a game, essentially, about spiritual-transhumans, drop the pretext of basing anything in Exalted.  The themes don't work and the mechanical transfer is all headaches.  Nothing in the nWOD base system is ever going to feel 'Exalted' in power level.  As well, Scions Knacks model the idea of powers-as-outgrowth of base abilities better than the Excellencies do, with the base set of Legend bonuses providing a decent base-line bonus.  There's a lot of mechanics in Scion besides Boons.

Ophidimancer:

Do you like the idea of playing a game with such mechanics/setting?

As you've presented it so far?  Not really.  It looks like a compromise in the worse possible way:  dropping all the great stuff that makes these various games unique and interesting for the sake of combining them into something else.

Exalted without its history, fluff, and culture is not Exalted at all.  At this point you are making a dark super human game.  Now dark super human game is not bad, but it is not modern exalted.

Zeev:

And really, is it fair to call the idea, "Modern Exalted with the ST system?"

Is that your issue with it?  What I'm calling it?

Zeev:

Wanting to make a superhuman game with the ST system is not making an Exalted-present day system.

Ok, but "Modern Exalted" is easier to say than "transhuman game in a post magical awakened setting."  If you want me to call it something else, how about you suggest something?  I'm not even

Zeev:

And they were right not to fear humanity up until the gods betrayed them and gave some humans godlike power without controls.

Which then makes it into a Promethean (as in the Greek Titan, not the Created) story and brings it right back into humanistic themes.  Zeev, the Exalted genre is big enough to hold a lot of themes and do you really need to argue about this?  I saw humanism and I didn't just skim Exalted.  Scion I may not have read in as much depth as I should have before judging, but I did not just skim Exalted.

Zeev:

What do you really want to do with all this?

Take the themes of empowered humanism from Exalted (not interested in any further arguing about that, by the way, go with that or not) as implied by mechanical concepts as the Excellancies and apply it to a post magical awakening modern world.

Zeev:

If the point is to make a game, essentially, about spiritual-transhumans, drop the pretext of basing anything in Exalted.

I'll admit that what I want is pretty far from Exalted, but I'm heavily inspired by Exalted.  I wasn't even going to call them Exalts, I was actually going to call them Paragons.

Zeev:

As well, Scions Knacks model the idea of powers-as-outgrowth of base abilities better than the Excellencies do, with the base set of Legend bonuses providing a decent base-line bonus.  There's a lot of mechanics in Scion besides Boons.

See this, I think I will have to take a closer look at.  Unfortunately, I have access to Exalted, not Scion.  I will have to see if any friends have Scion.

Zeev:

As you've presented it so far?  Not really.  It looks like a compromise in the worse possible way:

Well then thank you for your opinion, maybe I will like the Scion mechanics better when I get a chance to look at them.  While appreciate you sharing your opinion, though, I am not necessarily trying to make the game to please you.  If you want nothing to do with this venture, I will invite you to do just that and have nothing to do with it.  All at your discretion, of course. ^_^

Zeev:

dropping all the great stuff that makes these various games unique and interesting for the sake of combining them into something else.

I am definitely going for something else.  The rest of it I will take as my personal prerogative to judge.

DavidT:

Exalted without its history, fluff, and culture is not Exalted at all.  At this point you are making a dark super human game.  Now dark super human game is not bad, but it is not modern exalted.

Yes ok, I get that.  I'm ok with the game not being Exalted, maybe I should have been more clear with that.

I mean, I am inspired by Exalted heavily, if that counts for anything.  I want Anima flares, I want Skill and Attribute based Charms, I do want the Incarnae there somewhere, I want an animistic setting, I want stunts and heroism.

On the other hand, I also want the elegant design elements of the NWOD.  I want the NWOD Attribute and Skill set.  I tied the "caste" into Attributes and Virtues and Vices, making it more personal.  I want to use modern day setting, though granted my initial ideas were to set it some time after Year Zero of the magical awakening.  I'm definitely open to suggestions as to what to do with it.