Character Creation: Exalted 1st Ed

Go make a sandwich, this'll take a while.

The Game: Exalted 1st Edition
The publisher: White Wolf
Degree of familiarity: I played a pretty substantial campaign back in Atlanta, and then another one when I moved back to Cleveland
Books required: While I do have a few of the caste-books kicking around, I'm sticking with just the core.

 
OK, when making Exalted characters, I always found it fun to pick their home society and go from there. My Eclipse character (Atlanta) was Haltan (though he wound up marrying Marukani nobility; I suspect he's probably dead now, since the other players in that game hate my guts), and my Twilight character (Cleveland) was from the west (Jale, the Sorcerer-King of Milash). So this time around, I'll pick... the South!

My character is nominally from Gem, deep in the South. Gem's a big city, built into the side of a mountain, but he hasn't actually seen it. His grandfather got into trouble with the legal authorities. It wasn't a criminal matter, exactly, but financial - Gramps got overextended. In order to make ends meet, he married off his daughter (my character's) to one of the city's militia captains. That guy (my character's father) shipped out into the desert, patrolling the southern keeps (if there aren't any, there should be) to make sure that nomadic tribes and monsters and so on don't get too close to civilization. My character was born in the blazing desert, at the moment the sun reached its Zenith.

Fast forward 20 years. My guy is still out in the desert, taking up with Dad and his folks. He hits his 20th birthday while out on patrol, and suddenly a sandstorm blows up. He gets separated from his patrol, and winds up in a dust devil so hot that the sand could sear flesh from bone. And then he finds the eye of the storm, and stares up at that sun. He raises his hands, there's a blinding flash of Essences, and he blows the sandstorm flat. And then he walks into the desert, Exalted, a Pillar of Heaven.

Step One: Character Concept. See above. Obviously, he's a Zenith. My problem right now is that I'm having trouble figuring out his concept and story arc. He feels generic, beyond the backstory. What does he want? Well, he Exalted in the middle of a crazy-powerful sandstorm. I think that the notion of a crucible is fun for him; he endures. He passes through the fire (of the Sun) and comes out stronger every time. I see his arc as a series of getting badly injured and then recovering (injury is nothing to sneeze at in this game, IIRC, because healing magic isn't easy to come by). So I'll take Survivor as his nature. I see his Anima banner is the whirling sandstorm and a wave of white heat.

And, this being a Solar character, if he goes nuts as he grows more powerful, he becomes the sandstorm - uncaring, unwavering, just pure destruction.

Step Two: Choosing Attributes. 8/6/4 split. Boy, tough call. Gotta go with Physical first, then Mental, then Social, though I might raise Charisma later.

Physical: Stamina 5, duh. I'll split the others evenly between Strength and Dexterity.

Mental: Even split, 3 across the board.

Social: One each into Charisma and Manipulation, and two into Appearance. I see him as very clean-cut. Shaved head, neat beard, trim features. Sand never clings to him, even after riding all day.

Step Three: Choosing Abilities. First I've got to choose my Favored Abilities. Well, I know I want Lore (Southerners are superstitious) and Bureaucracy (this guy's very up on the law, I think). I'll take Athletics because the Charms are cool, and I need at least one combat Ability, so I'll take Brawl because I see this guy as a no-nonsense kind of fighter. One more. I could take Investigation, kind of a "nothing hides from the Sun" sort of deal. Yeah, sounds good.

OK, now I get 10 dots to put into Caste and Favored Abilities. Nothing higher than 3 at this point. OK, I'll put 3 into Resistance, Endurance and Survival, and the 10th in Brawl. Right, now I get 15 more than can go anywhere. I'll put two more into Brawl, two into Athletics, one into Awareness, two into Presence, one into Bureaucracy, two into Ride (everyone rides in the south), two into Investigation and three into Lore.

Step Four: Advantages. Here's all the fun stuff. Backgrounds first. I get seven dots, but I can't go over three. I'll put two dots into Influence; he retains his rank in the militia, but he's not well-known in Gem proper (never having been there). I'll put two into Backing for the same reason. I'll take two in Followers (three surviving riders from my unit), and stick the remaining dot into Resources (savings).

Virtues. I get five dots to break up amongst them, and I can't go over four. I think Conviction is going to be this guy's high point, that and Valor. So I'll put two into Conviction, and one each into the others. I like Heart of Flint as a Limit Flaw, but I'm not crazy about the trigger. I think I'd rather have it have something to do with failing to withstand hardship. When people around him seem weak in the fact of obstacles that their lives really should have prepared them for (like, y'know, the sun if you live in the South), he might gain Limit.

And now, Charms. Oy. I know that the 2nd Ed really revamped these, and it's led to new terminology and "builds." And indeed, even in this book, there's a section that says "Better take Ox-Body, or you gonna die!"

You know what? That's bad game design. If there's a trait your character isn't viable without, then it should come standard, or it's nothing but a limiter. So I'll take what I think is appropriate and ask my non-existent GM to remember that this isn't fucking WoW.

Anyway. As it happens, Ox-Body Technique is very much in-concept here, so I'll start with that. And you know, fuck it, I'll buy three slots on it. I have lots of Health Levels. I'll take Harmonious Presence Meditation, not because I particularly like it, but because it's a speed bump to Majestic Radiant Presence, which I do want (that makes people have to roll Willpower to attack me, yo). That's five Charms. Sigh. They go so fast.

OK, under Resistance, I want Durability of Oak Meditation and Iron Skin Concentration. Actually, what I want is Adamant Skin Technique, but I can't quite afford it.

Better take some combat Charms. Sigh. I'll take Ferocious Jab and Fists of Iron Technique. That leaves me one more freaking Charm. Well, it'd be highly out-of-concept not to take Hardship Surviving Mendicant Spirit, which allows me to resist environmental things. So there's that.

Step Five: Finishing Touches. My Willpower starts at 5 (equal to my two highest Virtues). My Essence starts at 2, though I might raise it. I'll figure my Health Levels after I do...bonus points!

I get 15. I'll boost Endurance, Resistance and Survival to 5 (costing me 6). I'll put Brawl to 4, while I'm at it. I'll buy Graceful Crane Stance because it opens the door to so many cool stunts, and I'll buy 10 Magistrate Eyes, because automatic successes on Investigation rolls keep the game moving. That's all my freebies.

Health Levels: I'll take a -0, two -1, and one -1 and two -2, for a total of a lot of Health.

Essence: My Personal Essence pool is 11. Peripheral is 28.

My character's name is Hrun Aric (that's Aric of the Hrun family), but his followers call him "Sirocco".

As for his progression, I seriously suspect that his first "death" will involve his Backgrounds. They should all be stripped away, flayed like flesh in the sandstorm. And then at some point he needs to learn the value of armor. Likewise, I think the "protection from the Wyld" Charm tree would be a necessity at some point. Definitely a long-range character.

Also less of a hardass than a lot of the Zeniths I've seen. This guy is a desert soldier, it's just that now he has a higher calling than killing tyrant lizards. And he's not entirely sure what to do with that, but he needs to burn off the weakness first. I can see this guy becoming very Achilles-like in play, down the tragic end. But maybe he burns off that last bit of mortality, too.