[PEACH - New exalt splat] The Fabulist Exalts, Chosen of the Raksha

[armyofwhispers]

First, I'd like to preface this that these guys actually bear superficial resemblance to the Getimian Exalted. This was completely unintentional (with the exception that Sidereal exalts find them aggravating). They have the equal peripheral and personal pools aspect, they change if they use more motes out of one pool or the other and they interact with the loom of fate. I honestly had no idea of the Getimian stuff until after I had written a good chunk of the Fabulists. I didn't have access to the kickstarter preview and knew only what the core book had on the Getimians so please don't judge to harshly the overlap there.

Anyway, on to the Fabulists themselves!

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The name comes from their role as exalts focused on stories and narrative forces. The latin word for storied is "Fabulos" according to Google Translate anyway so I went with that. The castes come from various folklore and fairytales in the real world but as far as I know don't exist in creation or exalted as such.

This is the link to the google doc I'm compiling everything in. Feel free to comment in there if you prefer. I set it such that anyone with the link can comment, but please don't abuse this and if you end up with edit privileges somehow, I'd appreciate a heads up
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

The Fabulist Exalted
There exist those who live at the edges of the wyld and are discontent with their lot. These include barbarian tribe members, exiles, castoffs, and even occasional Fae. All want to progress further into creation to gain or regain a place in the great drama of the world rather than being forced to be an extra waiting in the wings. Above all they wish to drive the narrative that is life. In very rare circumstances, the fae and humans sometimes reach an accord in their desires. An exceptional human may bond with one of the fair folk of like mind and the two-as-one may strike forth into creation with the desire to create their own narratives. The result is neither fully human, nor as alien as the raksha. They deem themselves the Fabulist Exalted. The Tale-Spinners, The Narrators, The Storied, or the Story-Weavers all know that creation is the place of tales both great and small.

The Barbegazi

Fabulists from the North. When fully human they may appear pale with wind-swept white, grey or blue-grey hair. When fully fae they appear as hunched, wizened figures with icicles for beards and wide feet. The Ice Heart’s skin appears white or grey and they blend in with snow or ice. Whether human or fae is strongest, their eyes remain a brilliant sapphire.

Caste Powers

• Immune to cold from the environment. They may walk through the heart of a blizzard or a glacier with equal equanimity. This does not grant immunity to attacks that use cold directly against them, however.
• The Airkin can burrow or move through snow and ice as if swimming through still water. Several Barbegazi have been noted to cause avalanches and ride them down a mountain for the sheer thrill of the ride.

Caste Virtue - Temperance

The Ice Heart’s core virtue is temperance. They tend towards creating or resolving stories of people ruined by their own excess, overcoming their own desires, gluttony, greed and avarice. This includes extremes of both high and low temperance. Stories of people changed by extreme indulgence and forging a path of utter temperance and forbearance. The Barbegazi stand aloof from others generally. They tend to set themselves up as a source of wisdom and let others come to them to satisfy curiosity, greed or simple confusion. They are the mystics in the mountains and the dragon guarding their horde both. The Airkin draw their Story elements towards their destinations and tempt them along as the choose.

The Boggins

Story-Weavers of the East are noted for their Emerald eyes in all their forms. When their human side is most expressed they tend towards heavily muscled, but lean forms with deep brown skin hues and hair a dark auburn sometimes with green highlights. When the Bark Heart’s Fae aspect comes out to play, their muscles turn to bark and wood and their hair becomes moss or vines.

Caste Powers

• Can Brachiate through the thickest forests at normal speeds.
• Gain the Agile Climber Merit (Double-8s rule on all climbing based rolls)
• Immune to poisons derived from plant-life.

Caste Virtue - Conviction

The Woodkin Tend towards stories based around conviction. This covers stories of people who are normally pushovers finding their spine and resolve against an enemy, or the stubborn conservative ruling council of a city bending age-old traditions for the benefit of all. Also included in their purview are stories of perseverance, survival, or holding strong against the overwhelming pressure from the outside. The Bark-Hearts love to build or follow stories of conviction both great and small. As the Boggins are masters of both perseverance and misdirection, they tend to trick or beguile their story elements onto the correct path.

The Salamanders

The Storied of the South are both the least noticeable as humans and the most inhuman when in their fae form. When in their human aspect their red or ginger hair in combination with their dark skin tones allows them to blend in to the south instantly. Their eyes in this form are a red deep enough to appear similar to brown eyes except on close inspection or when the Fire-Heart is particularly angry or in combat where they glow the color of hot coals. In their fae aspect, the Salamanders are transformed into a long lizard-like being with glowing red skin and furnace-red eyes.

Caste Powers

• Immune to fire. They take no damage from fire based environmental hazards but are affected normally from direct fire based attacks.
• Never go thirsty no matter how hot or inimical the landscape they are in.
• Difficulty to spot their fey nature is at +1 when not in combat.

Caste Virtue - Valor

The Firekin gravitate towards stories of courage and cowardice, Bloody battle and horrible defeat. The Salamaders often rely on action to motivate their Story elements, or inspire them to action one way or another. They tend to be the most straightforward of the Tale-Weavers.

The Asrai

The Narrators of the West are noted for their exceptional beauty in both fae and human aspect with alluring forms and a haunting gaze. For those who look closely, their deep, black eyes are often disconcerting to gaze upon. When The Water-Heart’s humanity shows they sport raven hair that tends to appear damp or wet at all times. Skin color tends to vary wildly among the Asrai but tends to be clammy to the touch. When fully fae They appear as beautiful river nymphs (not limited to female) with flowing water for hair and gorgeous proportions and skin. The waterkin gain benefit from Undertow menace merit and can breath underwater.

Caste Powers

• Breathe underwater. The Asrai can never drown or be crushed by the massive pressure in the depths of the west
• Undertow Menace (Gain double-8s on all attempts to establish stealth underwater.)

Caste Virtue - Compassion

The Asrai are great lovers of romance and revenge. Their focus on compassion lends the Water-Hearts to follow stories of love both unrequited and epic romances. They also promote stories of kindness and healing but also cruelty and destruction. They are the champions of revenge and sorrow as much as they are the purveyors of romance and comfort. These are the stories of a soldier returned to his loving family after years of being lost at sea as much as they are the stories of a man working feverishly on a cure to a disease that ravages the locals population being killed by the very people he wishes to save. The Asrai are the most persuasive of the Fabulists and often rely on their charm and beauty to send story elements to their rightful places.

Where's the Earthkin?

Given that the fae are by-and-large contained at the edge of creation, the fae that struck so far in to creation on their own must have figured out alternate ways of surviving and they need no deal to sustain themselves. In addition, the bond itself would tend to stand out on heaven’s radar and a wyld hunt would quickly exterminate such an obvious outsider that an earth aspect Fabulist would present. If any such union were to survive for long they would find that their own powers were inimical to themselves and they would either retreat to the wyld where such a contradiction could be sustained or they would fully calcify within a year of the merger. In a strange twist, any such calcified being would actually emerge as a new jadeborn on their own if uninterrupted for at least a month after calcification. All Fabulist Exalts feel some kinship with the jadeborn and this may be the root of that kinship.

Essence Pools

The essence pools of the Fabulists are not like those of other exalts. Their essence is split evenly between their human (jade) and their fae (gossamer) aspects. The Fabulist’s jade essence pool starts at [Essence x 5] + 15, and their Gossamer pool is [Essence x 5] + 15 as well. Their Gossamer pool is the equivalent of their peripheral pool and refills before their Jade pool.

Anima Banners

Much like other exalts the Fabulists tend towards displays of power when they spend essence out of their peripheral essence pools. In the case of the Fabulists, this pool is their Gossamer pool. When your character spends five or more motes of gossamer essence in an instant, their anima banner ignites or intensifies by one level for every 5 motes of gossamer essence spent. Fabulists find this fairly easy to avoid as they can spend motes out of both pools simultaneously to share out the load and avoid descending into their fae aspect. Much like spending personal essence has no effect on an anima banner one way or another, spending jade essence does not reduce an active anima banner.

Anima Level	Effects
Dim	The dim level of the Fabulist’s anima is subtle and cannot be detected at this stage. This is the default level of Fabulist anima
Glowing	The character’s anima glows and pulses outlining the exalt with a striking rainbow of colors, predominantly those associated with their caste. Any attempts at stealth or disguise suffer a -3 penalty
Burning	At this level the exalt’s anima seemingly becomes a separate being from themselves. It resolves itself into a brilliant display of stylized imagery depicting the events as they happen. These images may depict the characters in different ways depending on their roles in the story as it unfolds. The Fabulist's self image rarely alters much from one display of anima to the next though it does not have to accurately reflect the character's true features (A Fabulist could always depict themselves as a glorious hero or shadowy figure at the sidelines for example). All characters that the Fabulist is aware of in the fight are depicted in some way in the imagery, though these depictions won't necessarily be the same every time the Fabulist's anima activates. This mural disappears after the scene has concluded. Stealth becomes impossible.
Iconic/Bonfire	At this level the images outlined in the exalt’s anima grow in size to act out the tale across the sky. They depict epic battles or interactions visible for miles. Only major events in the fight are depicted in this manner, showcasing tense moments in the scene or great triumphs or failures. Otherwise the scenes being depicted resume their Burning Size as they continue to depict the scene.

Limit Track

The Fabulist Exalts do not suffer from limit in the same way that creation’s exalted do. For them their limit track is a measure of how in tune they are with either their humanity or their inherent fae nature. This also determines whether their appearance falls into their human face or that of their fae nature. The Fabulist gain and lose limit through the way they use their essence. If they lean heavily on their humanity and use only motes from their mortal pool, the Fabulist will lose points of limit at a rate of 1 point/5 motes. If they rely only on essence drawn from their immortal pool then they gain limit at the same rate.

Limit 0-3 - Human
The Fabulist shows their fully human face and it requires a Perception + Awareness check at difficulty 7-(Fabulist Essence) to detect that the Fabulist is more than simply human. Due to their deepened understanding of humanity and how virtues work the Fabulist gains double 9s on rolls to persuade or read intentions actions. In addition she gains the same bonus on all rally and rally for numbers actions in mass combat. [I'd like to introduce some kind of disadvantage to being human that doesn't make it completely pointless to ever be human but isn't trivial either - Armyofwhispers]

Limit 4-6 - Transitional
Noticeable Fae aspects show themselves. These are based upon the Fabulist’s caste. A Barbegazi may have a rime of frost on their eyelashes or stubble, a Salamander may have glowing swirls on some parts of their skin etc. The difficulty to spot their fae nature is now at 4-(Fabulist Essence). The Tale Weaver does not gain any special benefit from riding the balance between human and fae but nor do they suffer penalties.

Limit 7-10 - Fair Folk
At this level of limit the Fabulist displays obviously fae traits for any who know what to look for. At this level it is impossible to be mistaken for anything other than their true nature barring heavy disguises and magic. The roll to spot fae features automatically succeeds for any who perceive the true form of the Fabulist. Anyone who knows Raksha or Fair Folk on sight would instantly recognize the kinship. At this level the fabulist gains double 9’s on all rolls to bargain with or threaten a character to follow along with a Tale’s plot. This comes at a price however. So long as the Fabulist remains deeply connected to their fae nature they run the risk of becoming a character in their own stories. The first time in a story that the Tale Weaver gains enough limit to enter this category, they roll their Essence and the result is how many of their intimacies have their context changed to reflect whatever story they were most recently peddling, at the intimacies current strength (a defining intimacy remains at the defining level though it’s target and/or context will have changed to match the needs of the story). If the Fabulist does not have enough intimacies to match the successes they roll, they must take intimacies at the minor level to make up the difference. If the Fabulist remains at this level until the end of a story, they must repeat the roll to change intimacies the first time she takes it upon herself to achieve a narrative.

Sorcery, Martial Arts, Magical Materials and Excellencies limits

• The Fabulist exalted are approximately celestial level in certain areas but closer to Terrestrial in others. A Fabulist Exalt may only initiate into the first circle of Sorcery, though their Storytelling powers are actually tangential to sorcerous workings and in this regard they can be compared to the upper echelons of Celestial Circle workings. These are explained further at the beginning of the charms section.
• They have no access to necromancy.
• In Martial Arts, the fabulists follow the example of the Sidereals in as much as they tend to be teachers and guide others in the forms of Martial Arts. however, they have nowhere near the competency that the sidereals exhibit and while they do not suffer from the Terrestrial keyword limitations they do not gain mastery of martial arts either.
• The Fabulist exalts have no great power over artifacts and do not generally gain power from these sources easily. They are resonant only with artifacts crafted of gossamer, are neutral to jade and are dissonant with all others.
• Gossamer as a MM thread.
• Being creatures of narrative and stories, the Fabulists focus on what drives themselves and others. Their excellency limit is an appropriate Virtue/Vice Merit rating divided by two and rounding down with the ability to add in the rating of up to two relevant intimacies. (For example a Valor 2 Salamander could stunt lifting his sword in challenge as he races towards a foe and he could add his Major intimacy to his sword and defining intimacy to valor stories for a total of [Virtue Merit/2] + 3 [Major Intimacy] + 4 [ Defining Intimacy] = 8 dice.)

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Okay, I think that's enough for the first post. TLDR: These guys are are all about stories. They can start in their own stories or have someone else star in them for them. They run potentially creation spanning tales that hijack the lives of people and places around them. They are exalted!

More to come with how the stories work, the charms of the Storied Exalts and descriptions of the virtues/vices that they control to make their story elements dance to their tune.

I realize that this is still a very rough draft and needs a lot of work, but what do you guys think?

[armyofwhispers]

Reserved for Tale-Spinning mechanics

[armyofwhispers]

Virtues and Vices

The Fabulists are something of a study of contrasts. Humanity tends to focus on their intimacies and the strong feelings that guide them. The Raksha forge their graces in a sort of imitation of human motivations. The virtues lie somewhere between these two concepts. The four virtues are compassion, temperance, conviction, and valor. Compassionate people are highly empathetic and generally go out of their way to ease pain wherever they see it. The opposite of this are those who are cruel or purely narcissistic. Temperate people tend to resist temptations and do not give in to indulgence often or at all. Intemperate people are often marked by gluttony, greed, avarice or jealousy. Convicted people hold to their beliefs and their paths no matter what comes to try to cause them to stray. People who lack conviction are easily led astray and do not hold to any belief or cause for any longer than it takes to find another. These are people who give up easily as well. Finally those of high valor never let fear take control of their actions. They cannot be bullied, or intimidated in their actions. A high valor does not lead one to recklessly attack an enemy no matter the odds, but rather allows a daring individual to take the path less travelled for great reward. A person of low valor would be jumpy or easily spooked. It takes nothing more than shadows and a breeze at the wrong time to force one such to flee in utter terror. The vast majority of the citizens of creation fall in the middle of these scales with only exceptional individuals falling to one side of the scale or the other. Where the Fabulists tread, these exceptional individuals become the stuff of legends.

As beings focussed on the virtues, the Fabulists gain access to 8 unique purchased merits rated 1-5. These merits are detailed as follows but roughly correspond to high and low extremes of each virtue. These merits represent the Fabulists control over and ability to engender high or low virtue of any of the four types but do not represent the Fabulist’s own virtues or vices. True masters of each pair have maximum ratings in both the virtue and vice such that they can manipulate all sides of each encounter. In addition, each virtue has a list of abilities that they can almost always work with provided that they fall within the scope of the virtue. Compassion could not be used on a medicine roll to cause someone unspeakable agony for instance. These are guidelines only and stunting should allow the player to use virtues on roles outside these skills.

Temperance (0-00000)

This represents the Fabulist’s control over the virtue of Temperance. This is the ability to resist temptation and to stay aloof from pettiness or jealousy that plague others and to be happy with one’s place in the world. As a Fabulist gains in seclusion and aloofness they tend to align themselves with the mystical facets of the world and gain a certain clarity of understanding. Once per story a Fabulist can channel Temperance to forgo the needs of her body for a number of days equal to her rating in this merit. This includes food, water, or even air. At the end of this vigil they will have the appearance of a starved person having wasted away subsisting on nothing but their own body. This does not prevent environmental damage.

Greed (0-00000)

Greed is the opposite of Temperance. The stronger that a Tale-Spinner gets at his understanding and power over greed, the easier it is to convince others to release their inhibitions and attempt to take what they want. Once per story the Fabulist may channel greed to automatically understand a person’s ‘price’. They instantly know what kind of reward would be sufficient to tempt the target to do what the Fabulist wants. As the Fabulist gets better at this they gain insight into manipulating the greed of others. When they activate this power they gain bonus non-charm dice on a bargain action equal to their rating in Greed. This counts as a psyche effect for the purposes of powers that specifically protect against such things.

Abilities of Temperance and Greed

The skills that resonate with temperance and greed are: Awareness, Bureaucracy, Larceny, Lore, Linguistics, Martial Arts, and Occult

Conviction (0-00000)

This merit represents the fabulists understanding and control over sticking to a path once chosen, being able to ignore external forces trying to sway you from your path and sheer willful stubbornness. Once per story the Fabulist may rely on their conviction to see them through a trial. When activated, they reduce damage from environmental source by their rating in conviction for a single scene. This power does not negate damage from direct attacks.

Indecisiveness(0-00000)

When a person cannot make up their mind, when they hold to no path, when they are paralysed by indecision, when they lose their way these may all be results of the manipulations of the Fabulists strong in this vice. Once per story the Fabulist can choose a target and obscure their path and instead lead them on a path of the Fabulist’s choosing. This is a form of magical manipulation but the target may be able to see the correct path with a roll against a difficulty of the Fabulist’s Indecisiveness merit. The roll may be different based on how the Fabulist is manipulating them. If they are being led to a different physical location this roll may be Perception + Awareness or perhaps Perception + Survival if they are following a trail. In social situations where a target is being led to an incorrect conclusion, the target may roll Perception + Socialize as appropriate. This may not be used to lead a target into immediate and obvious danger. You cannot lead someone off of a cliff, though you could make it look like there is a shorter path through a bog for instance. This counts as a psyche effect for the purposes of powers that specifically protect against such things.

Abilities of Conviction and Indecisiveness

The abilities that resonate with Conviction and its opposite are Archery, Athletics, Craft, Stealth, Survival, and Thrown

Compassion (0-00000)

Compassion is the Drive to help others and to understand them and their actions. It is empathy and love without requirements. It is kindness. When a Fabulist reaches 3 dots in Compassion she may channel it once per story to cure someone of any single disease of Morbidity equal or less than their compassion. They become immune to this disease from that point on regardless of whether it was naturally instilled or magical. If an exalted charm would attempt to re-infect the target it goes to Essence roll-off where the Fabulist gains [Compassion] bonus dice.

Callousness (0-00000)

Callousness is the opposite of compassion. It is hardening yourself to suffering. It is achieving yours ends no matter who it may harm. It is narcissism. It is turning your back on the hurt and suffering of others. Those who gain power over Callousness can deaden the feelings and empathy of those they choose. They can target a person once per story and deaden their inhibitions. This causes the target to act out in a way which they always wanted to but would never normally do for whatever reason. This may be punching your boss, kissing the girl you like or being rude or vile to anyone who does not meet your standards. In game terms, it forces the target to replicate one of the following Solar Virtue Flaws for one scene: Berserk Anger, Deliberate Cruelty, Heart of Flint, or Rampaging Avarice as determined by the storyteller. This effect may be resisted if the target’s resolve is greater than the Fabulist’s rating in the Callousness Vice. This counts as a psyche effect for the purposes of powers that specifically protect against such things.

Abilities of Compassion and Callousness

The skills that resonate most with Compassion and Callousness are Dodge, Integrity, Investigation, Medicine, Presence, Socialize, and Survival

Valor (0-00000)

A Fabulist with high valor has a grasp of what inspires people to action and what stops them from running in the face of overwhelming odds. In short, Valor is courage and never turning from a fight. A Tale-Spinner may use their Valor once per story to add bonus dice to resisting fear effects and to rout checks equal to their rating in Valor.

Cowardice (0-00000)

A master of Cowardice can send his enemies fleeing in fear. He can inspire a hardened soldier to wet himself at the oncoming rush of enemies. He can force a man to compromise his principals to save himself or his family. Cowardice allows all of these stories and more. A Tale-spinner with high cowardice is a terrifying thing to behold. Literally. Once per story they can channel their mastery of cowardice into a single intimidate or threaten action and benefit from [Cowardice] non-charm dice on the roll even against creatures that do not normally feel fear such as undead or constructs. This counts as a psyche effect for the purposes of powers that specifically protect against such things.

Abilities of Valor and Cowardice

The final set of abilities, that resonate with Valor and Cowardice, are: Brawl, Martial Arts, Melee, Performance, Ride, Sail, and War.

[armyofwhispers]

Reserved for Fabulist Charms

[Remedy]

Just a minor thing, but in the 0-3 Limit track for being human, you only state that there's a Perception+Awareness roll, not what it's actually for (though I can guess it's to tell that the Fabulist isn't quite human).

Thematically, well, aside from my pedantry about what does and doesn't count as making somebody Exalted as opposed to a different class of being, I'm quite fond of this. Thematically at least, it carries a lot of potential. I am curious what unique directions you take their mechanical abilities, though - how will their human side tamper with their Fair Folk powers to turn them into something new and different? Will certain Charms only be usable with Essence from a particular pool?

All sorts of fun ways this could go. I'm interested in learning more about them.

[armyofwhispers]

Just a minor thing, but in the 0-3 Limit track for being human, you only state that there's a Perception+Awareness roll, not what it's actually for (though I can guess it's to tell that the Fabulist isn't quite human).

Thematically, well, aside from my pedantry about what does and doesn't count as making somebody Exalted as opposed to a different class of being, I'm quite fond of this. Thematically at least, it carries a lot of potential. I am curious what unique directions you take their mechanical abilities, though - how will their human side tamper with their Fair Folk powers to turn them into something new and different? Will certain Charms only be usable with Essence from a particular pool?

All sorts of fun ways this could go. I'm interested in learning more about them.

Whoops! You're right though, that should be the difficulty to detect that they're more than human.

Thanks for your feedback! I've got more written up for them in the document linked but I figured I'd let people take a look at some of the core themes of them first and see if they're worth pursuing further.

I'm not currently planning on having charms work differently based on which pool they spend out of. Especially since this is apparently how the Getimians are supposed to work and I'm already accidentally hogging their design space with the mote pools.

Thanks for your kind words!

[Clophiroth]

I like what I have seen. Back in May, one of my players and me were talking about something like this, so, this catched my interest. Tales sound like a cool idea, and although you didn´t specify it (or did, and I was the one who didn´t see it), I guess they cost experience, like the sorcerous workings? Or are they suppossed to be "for free"? I guess they have the same botches rules that sorcerous workings have?

Also, "It´s Only a Model" sounds like a fun fun charm to use

[armyofwhispers]

I like what I have seen. Back in May, one of my players and me were talking about something like this, so, this catched my interest. Tales sound like a cool idea, and although you didn´t specify it (or did, and I was the one who didn´t see it), I guess they cost experience, like the sorcerous workings? Or are they suppossed to be "for free"? I guess they have the same botches rules that sorcerous workings have?

I'm leaning towards them not costing experience actually. The Tales are sort of the main way in which the Fabulists enact change around themselves. Most of their charms interact with the story they're weaving or must be targeted at Story elements.

If I make the Tales themselves cost xp then this creates a tax on the fundamental way in which the Fabulists interact with creation and reality. To me this would be the equivalent of asking other Splats to pay an xp surcharge to go on an adventure. Unlike sorcerous workings, these aren't a way for the Fabulists to achieve their goals, it's the only way in most cases.

As for botches, I think that adding in complications to the Tales makes perfect sense when you botch a role. It's a great place for a 'twist' to occur.

Also, "It´s Only a Model" sounds like a fun fun charm to use

Thanks! I quite like that one too!

[armyofwhispers]

Edited my posts to get rid of most of the extraneous formatting. Hope that helps for comments.

[A Not Quite Simple Soul]

This is for E3 right?

The merit system is interesting, but I don't like the direct mechanical benefits of the merits themselves. They seem overly complicated, and not really on par with what a five dot merit can do. I'd suggest breaking them up into merit chains. -or- Making them simpler (resolve Bonus, or maybe a vice/virtue specialty in one associated skill per dot of the merit, or maybe the supernatural once a story effect but instead of being essence powered the effect is boosted base don how many dots you have in the merit).

[armyofwhispers]

This is for E3 right?

The merit system is interesting, but I don't like the direct mechanical benefits of the merits themselves. They seem overly complicated, and not really on par with what a five dot merit can do. I'd suggest breaking them up into merit chains. -or- Making them simpler (resolve Bonus, or maybe a vice/virtue specialty in one associated skill per dot of the merit, or maybe the supernatural once a story effect but instead of being essence powered the effect is boosted base don how many dots you have in the merit).

This is for E3, correct.

My reasoning for the merits was thus:

1. As an exalt, the Fabulists need something to base their charm requirements on.
2. Neither Attributes, nor abilities seem to fit the ideas I'm going for with the Fabulists. They're not super skilled, nor are they focused on their physical forms. They are in a lot of ways a really externally focused exalt, though the Sidereals are also very external and rely on abilities.
3. No other trait currently existed that seemed to match the needs of the Fabulists (Intimacies being the closest, but they're free to take and can be eroded. Not great to use as prerequisites)
4. The prerequisites can't do nothing else as that would make them unique, boring, and simply a tax on getting charms. I discarded that idea immediately.

Now, I'm not completely happy with them either. In some cases they grant things that may be game-breaking as I've never playtested these ideas. In others they offer very little. On the other hand, simply granting a flat +1/level to resolve when useful is somewhat boring to my mind and might also be game breaking. The social system is such that a +5 on top of regular might well make them immune to persuasion which does not seem in theme or acceptable.

I'm not sure what you mean by merit chains, can you explain?

My original idea was to go with powers that were one/story or [rating]/story effects based off of the rating in the merit. I could see going back to that idea, but originally I was having trouble figuring out what each virtue/vice could actually do.

So currently the once/story powers are:
Temperance - ignore the needs of your body for [resistance] days, including food water and even air.
Greed - Identify a target's 'price' IE figure out what you'd have to offer them to convince them to perform a task. This would be useful for a bargain action
Conviction - shrug off one instance of environmental damage that would impede them (this is a problematic one since it currently gives no limits other than single use)
Indecisiveness - confuse someone and lead them down the path of your choosing. (this was created with will-o-the-wisps in mind)
Compassion - cure a disease a' la laying on hands
Callousness - suppresses inhibitions in a target. They lash out impulsively regardless of consequences or others.
Valor - Auto-succeed at a rout check
Cowardice - Instills fear in a target individual or battle group

So I could actually just work these back into being the merits at different levels. What do you think?

Thanks for your feedback!

[armyofwhispers]

These would be my potential replacement powers.

All are once/story powers.

Temperance - may ignore physical needs or comforts for number of days equal to temperance rating. Does not to eat, sleep, or even breathe. Takes no penalties from exposure or deprivation. Does not prevent environmental damage.
Greed - may target a character and will instantly know what price they may be bought at. This translates to a bonus of non-charm dice to bargain roles equal to [greed] rating
Conviction - may activate to reduce environmental damage by an amount equal to Conviction rating for one scene.
Indecisiveness - Can attempt to mislead or confuse a target for a scene. difficulty to spot the misdirection is equal to Fabulist's Indecisiveness rating. Can be used to lead into a trap or lead to do something they would normally not, but cannot be used to lead someone into obvious danger. Cannot walk off a cliff for instance.
Compassion - able to cure a disease with morbidity no equal or less than rating in compassion
Callousness - removes inhibitions from a person for a scene. The target acts as if they were under one of the following virtue flaws as detail on pages 136-137 of the core as determined by the storyteller. Berserk Anger, Contempt of the virtuous, Deliberate Cruelty, or Heart of Flint. The target must roll Intelligence or Wits + Integrity to resist this urge at a difficulty equal to the Fabulist's rating in Callousness.
Valor - gains bonus dice on fear or rout checks equal to rating of Valor
Cowardice - grants a number of bonus dice to threaten/intimidate actions equal to cowardice rating. alternatively imposes penalty to rout checks equal to cowardice rating.

The theme is mostly that the virtues empower yourself while the vices are targeted at others. The exception to this is compassion of course. I'd prefer a bonus from compassion that follows this framework. Any thoughts?

[Clophiroth]

This is for E3, correct.

My reasoning for the merits was thus:

1. As an exalt, the Fabulists need something to base their charm requirements on.
2. Neither Attributes, nor abilities seem to fit the ideas I'm going for with the Fabulists. They're not super skilled, nor are they focused on their physical forms. They are in a lot of ways a really externally focused exalt, though the Sidereals are also very external and rely on abilities.
3. No other trait currently existed that seemed to match the needs of the Fabulists (Intimacies being the closest, but they're free to take and can be eroded. Not great to use as prerequisites)
4. The prerequisites can't do nothing else as that would make them unique, boring, and simply a tax on getting charms. I discarded that idea immediately.

That was my problem when I was theorycrafting Fair Folk this Summer: I wanted to do them Virtue based, but, as in my model Virtues were only a prerequisite to buying charms, they were a EXP-tax, which is incredibly lame.

A similar problem is the one I have right now, with Getimians. I don´t think either Ability or Attribute-based fit them, as I don´t see them supernaturally strong or good at melee, but owners of a... unknowable power, which bends reality and Fate. I was thinking to do them Infernal-style, in the Second Edition or Sandact´s homebrew version, with no requirements but Essence, and a charm-tree with weird, thematic charms. But I don´t know if it is a good fit either XD

[A Not Quite Simple Soul]

These would be my potential replacement powers.

All are once/story powers.

Temperance - may ignore physical needs or comforts for number of days equal to temperance rating. Does not to eat, sleep, or even breathe. Takes no penalties from exposure or deprivation. Does not prevent environmental damage.
Greed - may target a character and will instantly know what price they may be bought at. This translates to a bonus of non-charm dice to bargain roles equal to [greed] rating
Conviction - may activate to reduce environmental damage by an amount equal to Conviction rating for one scene.
Indecisiveness - Can attempt to mislead or confuse a target for a scene. difficulty to spot the misdirection is equal to Fabulist's Greed rating. Can be used to lead into a trap or lead to do something they would normally not, but cannot be used to lead someone into obvious danger. Cannot walk off a cliff for instance.
Compassion - able to cure a disease with morbidity no equal or less than rating in compassion
Callousness - removes inhibitions from a person for a scene. The target acts as if they were under one of the following virtue flaws as detail on pages 136-137 of the core as determined by the storyteller. Berserk Anger, Contempt of the virtuous, Deliberate Cruelty, or Heart of Flint. The target must roll Intelligence or Wits + Integrity to resist this urge at a difficulty equal to the Fabulist's rating in Callousness.
Valor - gains bonus dice on fear or rout checks equal to rating of Valor
Cowardice - grants a number of bonus dice to threaten/intimidate actions equal to cowardice rating. alternatively imposes penalty to rout checks equal to cowardice rating.

The theme is mostly that the virtues empower yourself while the vices are targeted at others. The exception to this is compassion of course. I'd prefer a bonus from compassion that follows this framework. Any thoughts?

Yeah something like this is much cleaner, I'm not sure what you're asking in regards to compassion.

Clophiroth What about will power as a secondary gate since fighting fate generally requires a level of bull-headedness? No... Mono-stat gates are probably bad for character spectrum. How about derived stats? Guile, Soak, Join Battle? With the caveat that gear/charms/merits/etc. don't work, just the basic inherent skill-attribute equation results?

[Clophiroth]

Yeah something like this is much cleaner, I'm not sure what you're asking in regards to compassion.

Clophiroth What about will power as a secondary gate since fighting fate generally requires a level of bull-headedness? No... Mono-stat gates are probably bad for character spectrum. How about derived stats? Guile, Soak, Join Battle? With the caveat that gear/charms/merits/etc. don't work, just the basic inherent skill-attribute equation results?

Willpower has the problem that, if that is the only stat that unlock charms, it is a no-choice: you just raise Willpower as soon as you can, probably putting it at 10 at character creation, and that is. You are right, mono-stat is bad. Derived stats... Eh, not a bad idea, but it has the problem you usually need to raise an Ability and an Atribute to raise them. So, if the Solar "I´m awesome at lying" charm only needs you to raise Socialize, asking you to raise both Socialize and Manipulation to have a greater Guile is a bit dickish. Not a bad idea, but I see it a bit clumsy.

I´m not really a fan of Attribute-based charms (mostly because I associate it with Lunars, and I don´t like Lunars, at least how they traditionally worked. Lunars as an idea are awesome. Lunars as they are in the game... meh). I probably would do them like Infernals, with theme-based charmsets, or do like Sidereals, Ability-based, but link each Ability to a weird, esoteric concept. Mostly, the idea I have of Getimians charms is something Unknown Armies-ish: little weird esoteric effects, which grow from little, almost coincidential effects, to "WTF". So, you start being able to always free yourself from any cage or bond, and end being able to ignore the Resolve-penalty of certain intimacies, as you free yourself from prejudices and preconceived ideas, or escape from ANYWHERE (prison, Hell, the Underworld, a battle) by opening your own personal Pandora Box, leaving something important to you behind, like an emotion (gaining a Derangement as you are unable to channel that emotion) or a Defining Intimacy, as it is the only thing unable to escape. When you see a Getimian you should think that they may not be evil, and yes, their goals may even be noble and even right, but they are clearly WRONG. You want to have them as far as possible from you, and if you are a Sidereal fighting against one...

Prepare yourself, `cause you are for a ride