DRAGON-BLOODED REVISED

Holden:

Lunar Hero, as I said, is one example. I seem to recall that the Arguments of Virtue have some benefits if gods decide to use them? (could be misremembering that)

Lunar Hero is a hero style though.  And as such, they're native Lunar charms, aren't they?  (I mean, Solar Hero Style is just the 1e Brawl Tree, no?)

The Gods thing I guess counts.

I was really looking for something with hard mechanical benefits, rather than simply earlier access though.

Black Paper Moon:

Kudos to you guys for this. I really appreciate the effort you've put into it, and that you publish the errata even before the books are out. A part of me wants to say "about goddamn time", but you deserve better. Thank you and everyone else on Errata Team Prime for this.

This is probably unfair to everyone else who has been working on the line recently, but it feels like Exalted revived after Holden got on board. Sidereals are reportedly functional and Dragon-Blooded mechanics are everything they should have been. Most of the bitterness I had is evaporating. Even Scroll of the Monk can't get much vitriol from me anymore—hell, we have a few excellent non-Hero CMA styles now.
I'm looking forward to what you come up with next. White Wolf has open access to my wallet again.

It actually has me enjoying some of John Chung's posts. That's almost enough for me :)

Holden:

Mendrian:

Wow I... huh. Wow. Absolutely amazing. My only regret here is that I have to bounce between my book and this document so much.

As a question, does this mean that with Unassailable Body of (Element) and the changes to Portentous Comet Deflecting Mode, a DB can hypothetically stand up to Celestial-level attacks for at least a few rounds? I mean, I can see something that negates a DB's ability to use Shaping Charms (and thus negate UB(E) ) or something similar, but if one is broken by Undodgeables and the other is broken by Unblockables, it, in theory, means that a character with both can actually expect to survive instant death attacks, at least until they run out of willpower, no?

I could be completely misreading the changes to PCDM, which made it sounds like it can only be broken by Unblockables or, obviously, failing the required roll. UB(E), obviously, remains broken by Undodgeables and a unique, element specific flaw, as well as any kind of AoE anti-shaping magic. Is this true or do my eyes decieve me?

It seemed like having Portentous Comet Deflecting Mode often lauded as the weakest, lamest Charm in the game was not a desirable state of affairs.

Holden:

"Naw, mate, this is an errata update."

Badass. Thanks to all involved. My wife and I both thank you. Sooo many of her PC's charms just became more useful now...

And now, we see why going into mass combat with the Realm or Lookshy means that you're just asking to get owned.

Holden:

They have a normal second excellency. There's nothing meh about it-- it works the same as what Solars and Lunars use.

Fair enough.

So, why is the 1st so awesome then? I don't see me ever taking 2nd Excellency when I have the 1st as a Dragon-blooded player.

Raeth

Looks nice, I can finally start designing DBs without avoiding a lot of valid types because the charm technology sucks. It's been awhile. Also makes the game I'm playing more interesting.

I also want to say I'm happy that Five Dragon Style is now officially defined as elementally neutral (due to lacking elemental text under the new rules)

And....I'm a bit scared of Immaculate Monks in mass combat now. It appears that if you want to go to war as an MA guy, you pick up Five Dragon, Terrestrial Hero, or one of the Glorious Dragon Styles so you can use all your charms without sacrificing your stunt bonus.

I guess the other Celestial Styles have to rely on either sacrificing stunt dice or attacking separately from their unit, which is not entirely out of theme....Celestials being one man armies and all, but I'm curious to see if anyone thinks the Leader keyword pushes the Glorious Dragon Styles up too far. I personally don't, since it's just a couple of dice, but I'd like to see the discussion.

Next, what happens with Virtuous Negation Defense if both parties (the original target and the charm user) had used Defend Other on each other? After the redirection, you'll have the original target, which has already perfectly dodged the attack, defending the charm user, which could be problematic if the attack exceeds the parry DV and the attacker chooses to hit the guy who already perfectly dodged.....does the "whenever" clause kick in again allowing it to be activated again  move the attack back to the charm user? Do we have other timing issues because the attack's being moved around in an odd way toward someone who already defended against it? I'd like to see Holden or Neph do a step by step if that's possible.

Do the soaks/parries that fail against magical attacks fail against attacks that use only excellencies? I'd assume so, but the original wording was less than clear and I want to make sure.

Finally, has the weakness been removed in the DB Excellencies that prevents them from being used when it's not their action? Does the "Action-Only" keyword effectively re-define this?

Raeth:

So, why is the 1st so awesome then? I don't see me ever taking 2nd Excellency when I have the 1st as a Dragon-blooded player.

Because troopers require luck?  with the 1st I can pump 4 motes into it and my DV can stay exactly the same... or it can go up by 16.  The second I'm certain of getting a fixed amount, something I can count on.  Of course given the choice I'd sooner go for the 3rd... or better still work in a group and use Reinforcement.

Lafing Cat:

So uh, where's the CMA that only benefit celestials, that this errata tells us exist?

Don't forget that DB's pay surcharges for all CMA except Dragon Styles and Celestials don't.

"The steady dilution of the Dragon-Blooded race has made Purity magic vanishingly rare, almost legendary. Knowing about each of these Charms requires an (Intelligence + Occult) roll at a difficulty of the highest minimum trait required for them. Incidentally, this is also the difficulty to know about the special support effects of each Terrestrial Charm capable of aiding Celestial Exalted leaders, as the Immaculate Order does its utmost to stamp out this heretical knowledge."

Ok, I haven't read everyone post, though I have skimmed them and did a quick search through the errata.  Where are these charms with special effects for aiding there Celestial Leaders?  Long have a theorized them but until now it was all a dream...

BogMod:

Where are these charms with special effects for aiding there Celestial Leaders

Look at Integrity

BogMod:

"The steady dilution of the Dragon-Blooded race has made Purity magic vanishingly rare, almost legendary. Knowing about each of these Charms requires an (Intelligence + Occult) roll at a difficulty of the highest minimum trait required for them. Incidentally, this is also the difficulty to know about the special support effects of each Terrestrial Charm capable of aiding Celestial Exalted leaders, as the Immaculate Order does its utmost to stamp out this heretical knowledge."

Ok, I haven't read everyone post, though I have skimmed them and did a quick search through the errata.  Where are these charms with special effects for aiding there Celestial Leaders?  Long have a theorized them but until now it was all a dream...

Probably part of Neph's new stuff in the book that will contained this errata.

Black Paper Moon:

This is probably unfair to everyone else who has been working on the line recently, but it feels like Exalted revived after Holden got on board.

I think this was partially coincidence. My observation (outside-looking-in and all that) has been that White Wolf seems to be shifting more responsibility (and more freedom) onto talented, dedicated freelancers rather than letting progress bottleneck at the in-house development and editorial folks, who have commitments to other lines. This has proven to be a great strategy. Their love for the game is palpable in their writing, and the line excels because of it. Holden is certainly an example of such, but so are Neph, Bohdi, hatewheel, Stephenls, and the other (comparatively forum-averse) writers.

Again, well done all.

Holden:

It seemed like having Portentous Comet Deflecting Mode often lauded as the weakest, lamest Charm in the game was not a desirable state of affairs.

I just noticed that though it retains its usual vulnerability against magic.....it has the Leader keyword and can now perfect the attacks of complementary units against your unit, which means that if they don't have an Exalt or equivalent, you shred their unit even more certainly.

It looks like the Resistance soaks now work the same way, so they are the "my mortals run over your mortals" set.

OK, I know it's just adding my voice to the choir, but I and my DB character would like to say a very big *thank you* to all those involved in writing and posting this.

Sooo.... happy.... !