General System Structure

Creation is an enormous, diverse place where almost anything might happen—and need to be resolved by the players and Storyteller. Although Exalted has many rules, they almost all refer back to a simple resolution system, explained below.

Time

Exalted has five general measurements to describe the division of time within the game, progressing from the largest to the smallest unit:

• Chronicle—A complete game focusing on a continuous series of characters or events. Similar to the full run of a television series of cycle of books.
• Story—A discrete portion of narrative that often takes several sessions to play out. Stories generally have an overall goal or framework, such as "Overthrow the satrap," "Find the ancient ruins of Lost Zarlath," or "Escape from the Wyld Hunt after being ambushed and trapped in the city."
• Session—A single evening of gaming, generally encompassing several scenes.
• Scene—A segment of action and roleplaying that takes place without a cut in time and location, like a scene in a film. A scene takes as few or as many rounds as are necessary to resolve events—in-setting, a scene might be as short as a few minutes or as long as a few hours.
• Round—A unit of time used to measure combat scenes, considered long enough to take one action. A round normally lasts about three seconds in combat situations, but could potentially represent more time during fights involving large battle groups. The point during a round when you declare your character’s action is called your turn.

Existing outside of this scale of progression, there is also: Downtime—Time between scenes or sessions that pass without roleplaying, which is narrated in an abstract fashion—"Three weeks later, you finally arrive in Nexus," or "My character spends the remaining days before the festival rigorously practicing martial arts on the mountaintop."

Dice

The Exalted Storyteller system uses 10-sided dice; each player should have at least 10 dice of her own, though dice can be shared in a pinch. 10-sided dice can be purchased at most hobby outlets, or from online retailers; alternately, countless free virtual dice-rolling applications are available online.

Traits

Characters possess a variety of traits describing their innate capabilities, trained skills, and other measurable qualities, such as their Strength, Intelligence, and Stealth ratings. Most traits are rated in dots (•) ranging from 1 to 5, much like the "five-star" system critics use to rate movies, wherein • is a low or poor rating, •• is average, and ••••• denotes superlative excellence at the outer edge of human potential.

See also:

• Abilities
• Attributes
• Traits (Category)

Dice Pools

When a character takes an action in Exalted, her chance of success is represented by her dice pool, which is normally formed by combining the most logically applicable Attribute and Ability that pertain to the task. For example, a character attempting to pick a lock (a task requiring nimble hands and criminal expertise) would combine her Dexterity rating with her Larceny rating. Assuming she has Dexterity 3 and Larceny 2, she then has a dice pool of 5 dice.

Which Attribute and Ability should be combined to attempt an action is generally up to the best judgment of the Storyteller.

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