Leetsepeak's Ex3 Homebrew Hub

[Leetsepeak]

Hi all, I’m Leetsepeak, and I’ve made some stuff for Exalted 3e. Here’s a collection of stuff I’ve made. Most of it is QCs. Some of it is good, some of it is not very good. I hope anything you find here is useful inspiration for your own work, and I’ll update this post with changes and new stuff periodically.

Quick Characters

God-Blooded - Three sample God-Blooded with powers and backstory. Two of them are not Essence-users but still have powers while the third is more powerful and consequently has Charms. There is no template here necessarily, but if people like them, I might write up some guidelines.

Bestiary of Creation - This is an index of animal QCs! Most of these will also be conversions from previous editions, but a few might be 'original creations' or something. Currently just has a few, but will be expanded over time.

Demons of Malfeas - This page is a little index of Demons I’ve converted from previous editions of Exalted to 3rd Edition. I also tweaked a few versions of demons converted by Xefas over on Giant in the Playground. His thread is here and links to his conversions are provided next to mine in the document, in addition to one other based on a write up of the Tomescu here on the forums by Nahash.

Elementals of Creation - Here are a few Elementals I’ve converted from the previous edition. Not all are complete, and I really appreciate any feedback. Writing good Elementals is hard, and I welcome any original ideas as well as good ones from the last edition.

Records of the Funereal Order - A collection of the Dead. This will be updated as I get ideas.

Followers of the Chosen - A collection of stats for use in conjunction with the Followers Merit, or to represent other normal NPCs in the world who can be trained up to greatness.

Manual of Northern Creatures - A collection of conversions from the 1st and 2nd Edition of Creatures from the North. Also includes some descriptions for other creatures in the corebook and what they might be in the North.

Setting Material

Honored Records of Foreign Places - A collection of locations in Exalted Third Edition. These are places I've written up, come up with or expanded from extant material to try to provide more locations in the setting for use in games.

Other Things

Ancestor Sickness - This was an attempt to write up a spiritual malady, the kind you might use Solar Occult to fix, among other things. I was really interested in the concept of spiritual maladies which are discussed in Solar Occult, as well as with the idea of disease-as-character, and so I wrote it up as a distinct strain of ghosts caused by certain circumstances. Also includes a bonus Thaumaturgy Ritual for those characters with their dead ancestor in their mind, helping them do stuff like kick butt.

Wyld Mutation Mechanics (WIP) - These are pretty much a straight conversion of the rules for Wyld Mutation from 2nd Edition, except they’re a little bit simpler and reliant on ST discretion rather than tiers of mutation to determine what a character receives. The meat of it (the mutations) are just advice on which supernatural merits or flaws to use to model particular mutations. This is WIP with more mutations to be added to it. My idea is to try to get all the ones that make sense in 3rd Edition with advice on how to model them.

Crossing From Malfeas - This is a small collection of information on how the corebook demons and those I've converted enter Creation from Malfeas on their own. It's just putting all that information in one place for ease of reference, and should hopefully be helpful for figuring out ways to populate the world with Demons that aren't just the products of sorcery.

Book of Three Circles - A collection of spells for use by sorcerers in Exalted. Now contains 3 Sapphire Circle Spells.

***

That’s it for now. Plenty of this stuff is WIP. Feedback and interest helps me gauge which projects I should focus my energy on and might help me come up with a solution to the occasional writer’s block.

I put this together as a community resource because I want to help facilitate people’s games wherever possible, particularly out of gratitude to those whose ideas and work have helped me flesh out mine. I hope that the stuff here helps you run your games, and if you share stories, that would be awesome!

A bunch of this work involves tweaking of existing work or is inspired by extant work. For anyone who is uncomfortable with their work being used this way, please contact me and I will happily remove it. Including links to the original work is my attempt to source the material I worked with.

Thanks all! Any and all feedback is appreciated, actual play especially.

[Leetsepeak]

Quick update:

Another new thing!

Crossing From Malfeas - This is a small collection of information on how the corebook demons and those I've converted enter Creation from Malfeas on their own. It's just putting all that information in one place for ease of reference, and should hopefully be helpful for figuring out ways to populate the world with Demons that aren't just the products of sorcery.

[Ekorren]

Cool. I'm glad that you expanded upon my Necromancy Homebrew. I've been too busy to expand upon it myself.

[Leetsepeak]

Thank you for the framework! It is really rad. I keep coming away frustrated with my attempts at making spells for Necromancy, but it is something I want to tackle.

Another Update! A new edition to the Demons of Malfeas and a first foray at statting up a 3rd Circle Demon...

Lypothymie, the Mask of Melancholy

She's a Soul of Hegra's but most importantly for our purposes, she's a powerful thing. In her case, the striking thing about her is that she doesn't tend to exist in a materialized state in Creation or in Malfeas. Rather, she exists inside her own Essence and in the bodies of those she infects, because Lypothymie is an emotional disease. An affliction of melancholy and ennui. This is interesting because it renders her disease-self very important, and it scratches my interest in disease-as-character, but it's also important because it serves as the basis for her powers.

So my rough ideas on statting 3rd Circle Demons:

• Essence: They use the Essence values given in previous editions.
• Mote Pools & Charms: This is probably the controversial decision, but given how many of them are more aptly described as plot devices rather than characters, my current MO when making them is to forgo a mote pool. They also have Charms, but mote costs are unlisted and they're presented as Special Powers. I felt like 3rd Circle Demons would have big mote pools, and I was ambivalent on whether there's a need to actually model that.
• Dicepools: Third Circles will have between 11-14 dice in their pools for things that are directly related to them or important to them, with some stuff at 10 dice. They are a serious challenge and can compete with Solars, but I was ambivalent about just giving them a million dice. This I'm not totally sure about, but was an easier choice in this instance because Lypothymie isn't a combatant anyhow. If it's an area a Third Circle has demonstrated no really interest in cultivating, default to 8 dice. They could kick a mortal's ass in it.

Those are some ideas, and Lypothymie has some additional things. I decided combat stats were not terribly relevant for her because of how she doesn't actually materialize and because she's the Mask of Melancholy but there is advise that, if someone manages to bust in her Sanctum, navigate through the labyrinth of ennui and actually find her, that she'll talk with them or just return to Malfeas, in which case she has an Evasion of 7. I could throw some more stuff in there if people really think it necessary, but I'm not too sure about it.

Her powers expand on those core ideas presented in 2nd Edition with some updated mechanics and additional hooks. For instance, someone might think it'd make sense for her to mind control people with her disease, but that seemed a bit too active to me, so I thought it just might be really easy for her to convince her victims to do things.

She had one really cool power that I absolutely had to keep, and that's Passion-Form Apotheosis, which is awesome. A willing target can be converted into their own emotional disease spirit entity. I can imagine a sorcerer trying to summon Lypothymie to achieve immortality this way, not realizing that become an emotional disease might shift your mind in a very strange direction. I have a concept backing in my head for another character to stat up to give an example of a sorcerer who did that and became an emotional-disease, though I'm having a hard time deciding what emotion. Thoughts on this in general, this style of 3rd Circle Demon and anything else are appreciated!

Lypothymie's stats may also be found in Demons of Malfeas.

[RCa]

8-14 dice? That's a massive nerf on 2e. 2e gave them 18-25 dice "with very little effort", so I'm assuming not a full Excellency. "Infinite motes" means "they should be applying any Excellency-alikes on all rolls, so just mark it down as part of the base pool instead".

For 3e comparison, Mara, a Second Circle Demon of Essence 5 has 10-12 base dice in her focus (Social Influence at 10, Shape Sorcery at 12). Octavian, at Essence 6, has 14 base dice for Feats of Strength, 12 dice for Resistance, 10 for Join Battle, etc. and his universal Excellency-alike.

[Leetsepeak]

8-14 dice? That's a massive nerf on 2e. 2e gave them 18-25 dice "with very little effort", so I'm assuming not a full Excellency. "Infinite motes" means "they should be applying any Excellency-alikes on all rolls, so just mark it down as part of the base pool instead".

For 3e comparison, Mara, a Second Circle Demon of Essence 5 has 10-12 base dice in her focus (Social Influence at 10, Shape Sorcery at 12). Octavian, at Essence 6, has 14 base dice for Feats of Strength, 12 dice for Resistance, 10 for Join Battle, etc. and his universal Excellency-alike.

Thanks for the feedback!

So, there something to consider here:

I had a conversation with someone awhile back about how to approach 3rd Circle Demons, and the 'bucket of dice' approach of 2e felt like one of those things that looks right on paper but sounded a lot less fun when I talked to people that had dealt with it, so when redesigning them, I looked at the QC scale and decided that I'd focus things on fitting within the scale given to us for QCs.

That said, you can potentially wind up with it feeling like they can easily whiff rolls, so I think I might give a generic Excellency like that Octavian possesses to all 3rd Circles so that most of the time they can effortlessly pass most checks. I feel like the answer is not to necessarily give them a full Solar Excellency on every roll of import, but I'm open to more thoughts on that matter. Lypothymie has 12-14 dice for most things which feel like they fall under her purview, though. She's an odd one because the real meat of her power is in how easily Lypothymie spreads and the power it gives her over people, which might require more rules to adjudicate how one is supposed to do things like treat it, and possibly giving her a few more powers that reflect her control over the disease (she is the disease, after all.)

Here are my thoughts on how to manage dicepools for Third Circles, thinking about it some more.

• They have between 14-16 dice for things they are the most skilled for. Their Excellency further augments this so that they can casually achieve even the most difficult actions, but they're still rolling dice against, say, a Solar and his group.
• They have 10 dice for unlisted actions. This may not seem like much, but it's equivalent to the most talented/most capable mortal, and let's keep their Excellency in mind. Their worst is equivalent to our best and stuff!
• They have an Excellency. Because of their infinite motes and how this one works, they can pretty much automatically pass most mundane checks, and trivialize the most difficult ones.

Third Circle Excellency

Infernal Might Unleashed (Reflexive; Instant): The Third Circle Demon may add up to three successes to any roll. If she is either upholding an Intimacy, spending Willpower to add a success to the roll, or using a Power that enhances it, she may instead add up to five successes.

It's Octavian's Excellency, except they don't have to pay motes. So basically any Difficulty 3 action they can just automatically pass, and they can potentially do this to a Difficulty 5-6 action too, if there's an Intimacy involved, they've spent a Willpower or they're using a power.

Honestly, with this single Excellency, it sort of obviates any great need for general dice tricks in the Third Circle Powerset, so this sort of inspires me to go back and play with some powers.

Again, this is thinking through the problem rather than sitting down and declaring one true way, so I welcome further thoughts or ideas on how to approach it.

[RCa]

Yeah, that is better, although I'm not sure of the benefits of giving them a success-adder that needs to be considered separately rather than just increasing their base dicepool (regarding the universal three rather than the conditional five). I suppose it works to represent something they actively invest themselves in, even if it costs them nothing mechanically.

One balancing point I hadn't considered earlier is that Demon of the Third Circle now plays against Resolve, and there's no mechanic given to pay motes to buy dice beyond the Excellency. It needs to be possible but very difficult. Intimacies are probably involved too, modifying the Resolve up or down as applicable.

[Leetsepeak]

Update!

Anuhle, the Demon Spider

The anuhle, spooky demon spiders, has been added to the Demons of Malfeas. They're several breeds of demonic spider with different types of venom and webbing that is hard as steel, so those were the key elements I focused on. They're not phenomenal combatants, but their webbing has the potential to give them a large amount of control of a battle if they can set up and lure someone into an ambush.

Some cool little things: I was pleased when I hit on my idea for special venoms for each breed, I'd love your feedback on that guys. I'm also wondering if they could use an additional Charm to make them better at grappling by using their webbing, though they already have one which makes the control roll much easier for them.

I'd also really like some thoughts on whether their webbing Charm looks good. Does it offer too many good advantages? Is it overcosted or undercosted? Fun little note: They're mentioned to be tough as steel, so I used "break a sword" as the metric for Difficulty 3. I feel really bad for the Strength 2 peasant who gets webbed up by one of these guys.

I wrote up a tentative restrain-webbing charm, and would appreciate thoughts on that. Thanks y'all!

[PraxisCat]

I really love the Anhule! Great work on them and on all of your homebrew. Is the idea that the Scarlet Anhule's venom is not useful in combat, but is much more useful in-narrative? If so, really cool addition and can be used to create interesting dramatic tension and a race to find a cure! I love it.

My only criticism of them is that their evasion and parry seem a little high to me. They're pretty big spiders, and the Anhule already has the speed zip around charm. Spiders aren't known for very high speed manual dexterity or being exceptionally speedy for longer than very quick bursts, and given that they're pretty big, they're also easier to hit. I'd give them Evasion 2, Parry 3, which helps balance out their very high damage potential. I would also consider decreasing their soak to 6 or 7, given that spiders all have asthma and probably do not have a high stamina.

I also really like Lypothmyie, but I agree with RCa, without that Excellency-alike, she is deeply underpowered, even if she is not a directly combat-or-social demon. For example, I feel like Final Dismal Expulsion and Labyrinth of Ennui should have a difficulty of 4 or 5, and the virulence when Lypothmyie herself infects you should likewise be 5, IMO.

[Leetsepeak]

I really love the Anhule! Great work on them and on all of your homebrew. Is the idea that the Scarlet Anhule's venom is not useful in combat, but is much more useful in-narrative? If so, really cool addition and can be used to create interesting dramatic tension and a race to find a cure! I love it.

Yeah, the Scarlet Anhule's venom is probably used on a captured captive to devour them, or allows the Scarlet Anuhle to attack its prey, wait for it to weaken, then hunt it down and murder it. It's one of those things one of them sticks you with if you invade their lair and can cause a complication if you can't beat the resistance check and need to see a doctor. Very likely to kill mortals.

My only criticism of them is that their evasion and parry seem a little high to me. They're pretty big spiders, and the Anhule already has the speed zip around charm. Spiders aren't known for very high speed manual dexterity or being exceptionally speedy for longer than very quick bursts, and given that they're pretty big, they're also easier to hit. I'd give them Evasion 2, Parry 3, which helps balance out their very high damage potential. I would also consider decreasing their soak to 6 or 7, given that spiders all have asthma and probably do not have a high stamina.

Their Evasion, Parry and Soak values are derived from the values given for them in previous editions, though that's not necessarily a sign that I'm married to any of them. I'm not sure I would balance them around how spiders actually work, because they aren't actually spiders, but that's a good note, and I'll fiddle with the numbers.

I also really like Lypothmyie, but I agree with RCa, without that Excellency-alike, she is deeply underpowered, even if she is not a directly combat-or-social demon. For example, I feel like Final Dismal Expulsion and Labyrinth of Ennui should have a difficulty of 4 or 5, and the virulence when Lypothmyie herself infects you should likewise be 5, IMO.

That's fair. I'll raise their difficulties.

[Leetsepeak]

Another update, this time with a new Elemental, added to Elementals of Creation!

Thunderbird

So these guys are sort of weird. Base idea is totally cool, but they also have this stuff about warclubs and worshippers that seem uncharacteristically like God stuff, though I ultimately left it in out of interest o try and design around it. Consequently, these guys are a little weird.

They share their storm Charms with the Storm Mother, but their version of the storm-stirring lash does not have the Eclipse tag and is Essence 4. Why? Because it can be used anywhere instead of being limited to the sea.

Not totally sure about all of their Charms, because a bunch of these are new 'types' of charms so I'm not sure what make good costs or limitations. Any ideas to that effect would be totally appreciated.

At least we have another Air Elemental, right?

[Leetsepeak]

So one of the things I'm still mulling over is the costing of Charms. I think I'm too eager to apply a Willpower cost to them, and too hesitant to apply Initiative costs. Willpower is a fantastic way to limit really crazy good abilities, but it's one of those things which might be overly applied here. I'll be making a development pass of the Demons of Malfeas for this sort of thing, and to look at Charm balance in general.

If anyone has used some of these in play and is willing to provide feedback, I'd appreciate it!

Also Robert Vance if you have any advice for costing NPC charms, I would be very grateful for it!

[The Unsung Hero]

Another update, this time with a new Elemental, added to Elementals of Creation!

Thunderbird

So these guys are sort of weird. Base idea is totally cool, but they also have this stuff about warclubs and worshippers that seem uncharacteristically like God stuff, though I ultimately left it in out of interest o try and design around it. Consequently, these guys are a little weird.

They share their storm Charms with the Storm Mother, but their version of the storm-stirring lash does not have the Eclipse tag and is Essence 4. Why? Because it can be used anywhere instead of being limited to the sea.

Not totally sure about all of their Charms, because a bunch of these are new 'types' of charms so I'm not sure what make good costs or limitations. Any ideas to that effect would be totally appreciated.

At least we have another Air Elemental, right?

I was really excited for this until I saw Essence 4. Can't summon one. My sorcerer weeps.

[Leetsepeak]

The Unsung Hero,

Yeah, they're actually Essence 3 in previous editions, but I felt that in order to grant them the kinds of powers I wanted them to have and some of the stuff they had in previous editions, I wouldn't necessarily want them to be summonable with them because they'd trump all other things.

That said, if you want a version that you can summon, I personally advise these changes:

Drop Essence to 3.

Remove the Merit "Mighty Storm Warclub" (Which includes their artifact warclub) and they lose the Charm Voltage Hammer Strike (Though you can increase its cost to 15m, 3i and maybe refluff it as an attack innate to raptor for if you like! It doesn't give this Juvenile Thunderbird much incentive to be in human form though. Maybe it's one of the Thunderbirds that hasn't yet learned how to assume its human form?)

Remove Essence 4 Charms (Winged Wind Dismissal, Blessing of Thunder)

Lower Storm-Calling Cry to Essence 3 and give it a locational limitation, such as "in the mountains" or "in the Thunderbird's territory" or "in or near the land of its worshippers."

I can take a crack at offering you a juvenile thunderbird with some different charms if you'd like one for your sorcerer to summon. Might help me overcome some of my misgivings about their charmset, honestly.

[PraxisCat]

I was really excited for this until I saw Essence 4. Can't summon one. My sorcerer weeps.

Not true at all. The way I read character sheets, especially for Essence users, is that they're just descriptions of your average elemental. You could probably create an Essence 3 Thunderbird, just take away any E4 charms and decrease a few stat pools, and you're good! An E3 juvenile thunderbird!