Second Edition, is it worth it?

Hey hey there all. I'm a long time Exalted player, but new to the forums. Okay, so I have 26 books for Exalted 1st Ed. Every fat-splat, every Caste book, and most of the supplements. It represents quite an investment. So, what I am wondering is, is it worth making all of my books obsolete, and spending more money, to switch to 2nd Ed? Has enough changed to justify the cost? Has the system improved that much? What are the significant changes? And, if it is worth it, how hard is it to convert 1st Ed characters to 2nd Ed? Thanks for your help and input.

Yes.

Hekatonkhire:

Yes

cogrie:

Hey hey there all. I'm a long time Exalted player, but new to the forums. Okay, so I have 26 books for Exalted 1st Ed. Every fat-splat, every Caste book, and most of the supplements. It represents quite an investment. So, what I am wondering is, is it worth making all of my books obsolete, and spending more money, to switch to 2nd Ed? Has enough changed to justify the cost? Has the system improved that much? What are the significant changes? And, if it is worth it, how hard is it to convert 1st Ed characters to 2nd Ed? Thanks for your help and input.

God yes. The system runs faster and cleaner. Lunars went from being broken, miserable wretches to having arguably the coolest hardback of second edition, with a clean, fun, brilliant Charm set and an actual place in Creation. Abyssals are better than ever before. Alchemicals are going to be orders of magnitudes cooler and more fleshed out. Fair Folk integrate better with Creation-based games.

And we have Infernals, which are unlike anything in first edition. And the new book on Malfeas is like getting a whole new extension of the Games of Divinity demons chapter-- it's that good.

I found converting characters from 1e to 2e to be a fairly simple process-- I just looked at the character's lifetime XP tally, then made it from scratch according to 2e chargen rules, and then re-spent my accumulated XP. Bam. Easy.

In a word, Yes.

I have all the first edition books as well, including that limited edition core book. I have found that second edition has cleaned up alot of issues that first edition had.

Lunars and Abyssals are very much well rounded character types rather than being completely locked into just one concept.

The whole concept of Excellencies allowed alot of repeat charms to be simplified and the charm trees to be redone.

In my opinion, the only thing that Second Edition is lacking, is the in depth fluff of first edition. When you read say the write up for the Rat Hydra in First Edition and then read the Second Edition write up you will be left wondering where all the cool fluff information went.

So if you do decide to switch over to the new edition, your old investment will still be useful.

Besides 2nd Edition Infernals are too cool to pass up.

Holden:

God yes. The system runs faster and cleaner. Lunars went from being broken, miserable wretches to having arguably the coolest hardback of second edition, with a clean, fun, brilliant Charm set and an actual place in Creation. Abyssals are better than ever before. Alchemicals are going to be orders of magnitudes cooler and more fleshed out. Fair Folk integrate better with Creation-based games.

And we have Infernals, which are unlike anything in first edition. And the new book on Malfeas is like getting a whole new extension of the Games of Divinity demons chapter-- it's that good.

I found converting characters from 1e to 2e to be a fairly simple process-- I just looked at the character's lifetime XP tally, then made it from scratch according to 2e chargen rules, and then re-spent my accumulated XP. Bam. Easy.

What he said. The only thing to look out for would be 2E Sidereals. They need to be regressed back to 2E-ized versions of their 1E Charms in many places to compete with the power boost that everyone else got.

Other than that, 2E is glorious!!!11!! omgwtfbbqkittensthat'ssoawesomei'mcrappingmypantsandpregnant kind of cool.

cogrie:

And, if it is worth it, how hard is it to convert 1st Ed characters to 2nd Ed?

Depends.  Solars have a rather easy time, with a great number of speedbumps reduced or eliminated.  Lunars were overhauled extensively for the better; they don't have monstrously huge adjustments to Attributes from Deadly Beastman Transformation, but on the bright side, they also have Charms that are on par with where Celestial Exalted should be.  Also, Flowing Body Evasion is based on Dexterity, rather than Charisma.

Dragon-Blooded and Sidereals have some copy-paste issues.  Abyssals changed a bit more than Solars, with their thematic focus more on hurting people slowly and making them suffer than penalizing their dice pools or successes with "entropic dice reducers".  That's the Ebon Dragon's corner instead.

Two Abilities changed; if you had lots of Endurance and Resistance, this puts you in a nice spot to have lots of Integrity and Resistance.  Otherwise, pick a balance of physical toughness and intractible adherence to your beliefs.  People who were good at leading mass combat units into combat should probably reduce their Performance, if applicable, and pick up War.  Social actions have been codified to tell you when and how to use Performance, Presence and what have you.  Instead of a Nature, characters have heroic, long-range Motivations that involve changing the world.  What your character values in life can have a mechanical effect on social combat.

As mentioned by the developer himself back when 2e first came out, "roughly 90-ish% compatible".

Does your group have big issues with Exalted (1st Edition)? Do you have problems with social situations being hard to resolve? Do you play Lunars? Does combat tend to cause issues from rolling too many dice?

If you answered "No" to these questions then, no. Ex2 isn't worth it. There are improvements, especially to the Lunars. There are also some rather nasty flaws in the new system. In my opinion, it evens out and it comes down to your personal preferences as to how the systems work.

Personally,  I don't like Ex2 at all aside from the improvements to Lunars. I don't have an opinion on Infernal Exalted but from what I heard from Neph, he did an alright job on them so they might be a plus. I don't really care for them as PCs, so no skin off my nose that they aren't detailed in Exalted.


It comes down to you WANTING to swap editions. There's no real huge reason to do so unless you want to play Lunars. The problems in Exalted can be fixed by a few house rules, but so can the problems in Ex2. Way I see it, if you're happy running your games under the Exalted rules, just buy the Ex2 books that cover things that Exalted didn't and stick to the Exalted rules.

Telgar:

Does your group have big issues with Exalted (1st Edition)? Do you have problems with social situations being hard to resolve? Do you play Lunars? Does combat tend to cause issues from rolling too many dice?

If you answered "No" to these questions then, no. Ex2 isn't worth it. There are improvements, especially to the Lunars. There are also some rather nasty flaws in the new system. In my opinion, it evens out and it comes down to your personal preferences as to how the systems work.

Personally,  I don't like Ex2 at all aside from the improvements to Lunars. I don't have an opinion on Infernal Exalted but from what I heard from Neph, he did an alright job on them so they might be a plus. I don't really care for them as PCs, so no skin off my nose that they aren't detailed in Exalted.


It comes down to you WANTING to swap editions. There's no real huge reason to do so unless you want to play Lunars. The problems in Exalted can be fixed by a few house rules, but so can the problems in Ex2. Way I see it, if you're happy running your games under the Exalted rules, just buy the Ex2 books that cover things that Exalted didn't and stick to the Exalted rules.

Never listen to Telgar unless it has something to do with familiars.

Hekatonkhire:

Never listen to Telgar unless it has something to do with familiars.

That's not fair.  He has a valid opinion.  If you dont think there's anything wrong with 1E then you should stick with it (unless you play Lunars.)  I personally couldnt stand 1E but I can see why someone would like it.  Also Telgar's avatar has the coolest facial hair  Ive ever seen.  That has to say something for his taste

EzekielReigns:

Hekatonkhire:

Never listen to Telgar unless it has something to do with familiars.

That's not fair.  He has a valid opinion.  If you dont think there's anything wrong with 1E then you should stick with it (unless you play Lunars.)  I personally couldnt stand 1E but I can see why someone would like it.  Also Telgar's avatar has the coolest facial hair  Ive ever seen.  That has to say something for his taste

I understand that sarcasm is difficult to notice over the internet, so allow me to tell you that my previous comment was sarcastic.

Hekatonkhire:

EzekielReigns:

Hekatonkhire:

Never listen to Telgar unless it has something to do with familiars.

That's not fair.  He has a valid opinion.  If you dont think there's anything wrong with 1E then you should stick with it (unless you play Lunars.)  I personally couldnt stand 1E but I can see why someone would like it.  Also Telgar's avatar has the coolest facial hair  Ive ever seen.  That has to say something for his taste

I understand that sarcasm is difficult to notice over the internet, so allow me to tell you that my previous comment was sarcastic.

I understand.  In fact my entire post was just a thinly veiled reason to compliment Telgar's avatar.

Adamant Siaka:

Two Abilities changed; if you had lots of Endurance and Resistance, this puts you in a nice spot to have lots of Integrity and Resistance.  Otherwise, pick a balance of physical toughness and intractible adherence to your beliefs.  People who were good at leading mass combat units into combat should probably reduce their Performance, if applicable, and pick up War.  Social actions have been codified to tell you when and how to use Performance, Presence and what have you.  Instead of a Nature, characters have heroic, long-range Motivations that involve changing the world.  What your character values in life can have a mechanical effect on social combat.

Of all these changes, though I have my personal philosophical qualms with Social Combat (I feel it takes a lot of control of what a character cares about from the player, in short. Discounting that, it's a strong, useful system), the only real issue I have is Motivation. I've always felt that it is more important to know what sort of person a character is when roleplaying them than it is to know what their 'win condition' is.

Fortunately, the Natures from First Edition are pretty much plug and play compatible. One can even do both, using one as a barometer for willpower gain, and the other (if excessive willpower is a concern) as a measuring stick for roleplaying.

Hekatonkhire:

Never listen to Telgar unless it has something to do with familiars.

Or Artifacts. Or Hearthstones. Or Dragon-Blooded. Or flying islands. Or orbital neuromentacular mind lasers.

Telgar:

orbital neuromentacular mind lasers.

I would never agree with you about orbital neuromentacular mind lasers.  Only the non-orbital variety do we see eye to eye on.