[Quick Hack] Exalted Feel in NWoD

[amechra]

Here's a quick hack to get that Exalted "feel" in your NWOD. For ease of reference, I'll refer to this as Exalted: the NWOD, or EtN for short.

1. STUNTING
In EtN, heroic people get things done. More importantly, the universe is happy to let them.

Stunts are rewards for describing your actions in a way that made the table go "ooh"; as such, the lower reward (just a Beat) should be easy to get, while the harder reward should be harder (but not impossible.)

If it was just roleplayed well, then the player takes a Beat; if it made people think, wince, or feel, then the player takes a Beat and restores one Willpower.

A Stunt can do anything dramatically appropriate to the scenery; players should be able to ad-lib crowd reactions or a big bay window to throw people out of.

2. The Rule of Cool
This is more advice than a hard rule, but...

In EtN, heroic people are cool. They could be an ugly-ass Nossie, or a pretty-as-you-please Obrimos, but the point stands that they do cool things. The ST should be willing to dispense with realism in favor of players doing neat things, like swinging on chandeliers or swan-diving out of windows without breaking every bone in their body. Scene editing through stunts should be encouraged, and players should be reminded that nameless NPCs are scenery.

3 - Integrity
EtN does not use Integrity or its equivalents; whenever the rules ask for Integrity (or equivalents), Mortals have it rated at 7, and Supernaturals have their equivalent rated at 5. Do not call for Breaking Points.

4 - Aspirations
When building a character in EtN, write out Aspirations as normal; then pick a long-term one and put a star next to it. That's your Motivation; it works like a normal Aspiration except for the following:
• Completing your Motivation restores a Willpower point in addition to giving you a Beat.
• Social Maneuvering attempts that run counter to your Motivation add 3 doors instead of just 1.
• Motivations cannot be affected by Supernatural powers; Supernatural powers cannot remove or alter a Motivation.
• Whenever you complete your Motivation, your replacement Aspiration must also be a long-term goal, and is your new Motivation.

5 - Regaining Willpower
Instead of choosing a Virtue or Vice, pick three of the following Graces and record them on your sheet; you may only regain Willpower through one of them per Scene. Then, put a star next to one of them; you take a Beat whenever the starred Grace tells you to.

COMPASSION
Regain 1 Willpower: Whenever you show kindness or mercy.
Take a Beat: Whenever you show kindness or mercy to someone who doesn't deserve it.

CONVICTION
Regain 1 Willpower: Whenever you work towards your Motivation despite distractions.
Take a Beat: Whenever you ignore an important obligation while working towards your Motivation.

TEMPERANCE
Regain 1 Willpower: Whenever you turn down luxuries or comfort.
Take a Beat: Whenever you alienate others by turning down luxuries or comfort.

VALOR
Regain 1 Willpower: Whenever you swallow back your fear and rise to the occasion.
Take a Beat: Whenever you refuse to back down or drop an insult.

For fun, here are the four Raksha Graces as, well, Graces.

CUP
Regain 1 Willpower: Whenever you or your possessions are desired by others.
Take a Beat: Whenever someone hurts you because of that desire.

RING
Regain 1 Willpower: Whenever you take on a challenge.
Take a Beat: Whenever you are overwhelmed by a challenge.

STAFF
Regain 1 Willpower: Whenever you get someone to rely on you.
Take a Beat: Whenever someone you care about gets hurt through your involvement.

SWORD
Regain 1 Willpower: Whenever you display your dominance over someone else.
Take a Beat: Whenever you reject someone else's dominance, and get hurt for it.

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That should cover a lot of it, at least on the mechanical side.

[amechra]

Oh wait, I just figured something out:

Perfect Defenses and Perfect Attacks

In E:tN, Dodging is renamed to All-Out Defense; this reflects the symmetry between it and All-Out Attacks.

Defense is calculated as [Lower of Dexterity and Wits]; however, when you apply your Defense, you must choose to either Dodge (which adds your Athletics to your Defense) or Parry (which adds your Brawl to Defense if you are unarmed, or your Weaponry to Defense if you are armed with a melee weapon. If you are wielding a ranged weapon, you are considered Unarmed.)

Attacks can have any of the following tags:

Flawless: A Flawless attack ignores Dodges; if the target Dodges, their Defense is considered to be 0.
Invincible: An Invincible attack ignores Parries; if the target Parries, their Defense is considered to be 0.
Irresistible: An Irresistible attack ignores Armor; treat the target's Armor as 0 against the attack.

Certain effects grant you so-called Perfect Defenses. Their effects vary as follows:

Perfect Dodge: Remove the incoming attack's Flawless tag if it has it. Use your full Defense against that attack; in any case, your Defense must be a Dodge.
Perfect Parry: Remove the incoming attack's Invincible tag if it has it. Use your full Defense against that attack; in any case, your Defense must be a Parry.
Perfect Armor: Remove the incoming attack's Irresistable tag if it has it. If your Armor rating reduces damage to 0, you take 0 damage.

However, even perfection has limits; any effect that supplies a Perfect Defense also possesses a Ban, which can be anything from a situation where the effect fails altogether to a modification to the actual benefits of the Defense.

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As an example, Firearms attacks would be Flawless and Invincible; however, my Dusk-Caste Abyssal (OK, Gangrel with some dots in Celerity) would get a Perfect Dodge with the limitation that it sets your Defense to [Celerity dots] instead of your full Defense + Athletics. Meanwhile, the Terrestrial God she's fighting (OK, Spirit of a local river) has a Perfect Dodge and Perfect Parry, both of which fail to function if the other guy is using a Bane against them.

I think I'll write up some Perfect Defense charms as Merits...