The Exalted

As for Playbooks, it looks like each caste in each splat has been broken out into its own playbook. That’s a lot of playbooks! Further, it looks like the playbook moves are inspired by popular charms which at least means there should be plenty to choose from. I’m worried that there won’t be much variation between playbooks, but let’s find out together as we get into it.

Table of Contents

General

Each Splat has their own little section that discusses things that the castes have in common. These include Stat spreads, limit break, possible advancements and a couple of splat moves.

And then each caste has a bunch of moves. I don’t think I’ll go over them all, but I’ll highlight anything I find particularly interesting.

The Solar Exalted

• Caste Moves
  • Know where the sun is!
  • One Step Beyond When you are out of Essense, you can spend 1 more by taking the condition Tapped out.
  • Supernal Glory Spend one essence to go full DBZ and power up. While powered up, you can shatter stone, leap buildings, smile with blinding light.
  • Those last 2 moves are probably what give Solar that edge their supposed to have compered to the other exalted.

Dawn Caste

• Anima move: Spend 1 essence when you Throw Down to get a 10+.
• Battle Fury Focus When you gain limit to avoid death, full heal.
• Five Fold Bulwark Stance Spend an Edge on someone, avoid their physical attacks for the rest of the scene
• Heavenly Guardian Defense Spend 1 essense to perfect defend any single attack once per scene. Can be used to defend. Attacker gains a HOLY SHIT WTF condition.
• Heaven Thunder Hammer Your enemies becomes rag dolls and your fists become launchers. That’s always fun.
• Iron Whirlwind Attack “I didn’t miss” the move. Reroll a throw down.
• Ten Ox Meditation You have freakish strength, which translates to Do Something Reckless and Deadly melee attacks.

Thoughts

Wow. The Dawn is really set up to be a power house on the battlefield, as is expected. If the other castes can keep this up for their respective fields, Solars are gonna be nasty to deal with.

Zenith Caste

• Anima Move: Can touch inanimate dead bodies and send their soul to the next life. works on torpid vampires.
• Adamant Skin Technique Perfect Defense. Attacker gains HOLDY SHIT WTF condition.
• Body Mending Meditation You heal harm at the end of the scene even if you are exerting yourself.
• Hardship-Surviving Mendicant Spirit Ignore harsh environments. Spend an essence to resist deadly environments, like standing in a fire or lava.
• Memory-Reweaving Discipline Memory rewrite!
• Celestial Bliss Trick Automatic 10+ to inspire or manipulate if you share a moment of intimacy first.
• Masterful Performance Exercise Spend essence to 10+ to inspire

Thoughts

So the Zenith is the master of resisting stuff and inspiring. Not quite as overwhelming feeling as the Dawn at Dawning, but not bad at all!

Twilight

• Anima Move: Spend essence to escape a scene. Ghosts/spirits are visible/audible in your presence
• Arete-Shifting Method Spend an edge, roll smarts because you’re just that smart.
• Craftsman Needs No Tools As expected. I am the tool…. wait.
• Dogstar Ruminations This one’s interesting! Once per story, predict the future. on a 10+, it will laund on enemies. 7-9, on everyone. on a miss, you are the target.
• Ghost-Eating Technique Kill a ghost! Scare the non-living daylights out of any incorporeal beings who witness it.
• Red Anvils Ringing Build fast!
• Will-Bolstering Method Use logic to stand your ground.
• Wholeness-Restoring Meditation Cure anything shy of death for 1 essence.
• Wonder-Forging Genius Magic items! You will need special ingredients or something. So more like the Savant’s workshop or the Doomed’s Sanctuary. But still cool!

Thoughts

So 3 moves dedicateed to making things, a couple of moves forusing smarts in different ways and dealing with ghosts, and just 1 for medicine. Well, at least medicine doesn’t have to be a whole charm tree anymore.

Night Caste

• Anima Move: Impossible to recognize. People forget you. Unless they have an edge on you.
• Easily-Overlooked Presence Method Oh that’s interesting. Istead of making you harder to find, you get an edge when you successfully do something shady.
• Eye of the Unconquered Sun So much for hiding!
• Flawlessly Impenetrable Disguise You can do impossible disguises. Grow a lightning beard. Lose yoru reflection. etc. You can spend 1 essence to 10+ a shady roll. All impossible elements are trickery and sleight of hand and don’t actually let you like… fly or anything beyond upholding the disguse.
• Graceful Crane Stance One of my favorite charms, reduced to Do something reckless with shadowy. Ah well.
• Seasoned Criminal Method Exploit a system with your dark shadowy connections!
• Soaring Crane Leap Do something reckless like running across bullets or balancing on a falling leaf!
• Preying on Uncertainty Approach As long as someone doesn’t have an edge on you, you get +1 to shady. If you get above +3, you cannot fail.

Thoughts

Night cast are still the master thieves. Flawlessly Impenetrable Disguise is amazing. Preying on Uncertainty Approach means that you are going to be amazingly good at stealing stuff from bystanders that have no idea who you are.

Eclipse Caste

• Anima Move: Spend once essence to sanctify an oath. Oathbreakers suffer a horrendous curse.
• Asp Bites its Tail When you would gain a social condition such as humiliated, spend one essence to give it to someone else.
• Intent-Tracing Stare Spend an essence in pace of an edge you have.
• Knowing the Soul’s Price What would you sell your soul for?
• Mastery of Small Manners Reroll a manipulate
• Penumbra Self Meditation Spend an essence to erase someone else’s edge on you
• Sagacious Reading of Intent Can’t miss a read the room.
• Speed the Wheels turn a 7-9 on an exploit to a 10+
• Inverted Ego Mask Screw you. You don’t get an edge!

Thoughts

AH! My favorite caste. Lots of ways to intereact with edges. Some cool charms that just don’t make sense without cool magic, like making someone else feel humiliated, but like.. cool!