Abilities
Yes, You Can Take a 5
It's incredibly rare for someone in the world of Exalted to have an Attribute or Ability rated at five dots. A professional soldier enlisted in a standing army most likely has Melee ••, while a cunning courtier whose web of lies and blackmail have snared an entire court in his influence might only have Manipulation •••. A character who has five dots of raw talent in an Attribute or five dots of skill in an Ability is a prodigy even among other prodigies of his field, a living legend whose feats might defy belief.
Sounds like the Exalted, doesn't it?
If you want your character to be one of the strongest men in the world, the greatest savant in generations of scholarship, or an unsurpassed master of the martial arts, you can take five dots. While we encourage you to let your character concept define the ratings of their Attributes and Abilities, rather than the other way around, it is totally valid to buy a trait all the way up to five at character creation if that's what makes sense for your character.
Abilities represent skills that have been developed and honed through training, education, and experience. While an Attribute embodies a character's raw aptitude for succeeding at a given task, an Ability represents the skill and technique she uses in applying that aptitude—thus, both are used in calculating the dice pool for any given action. For mortal and Exalted characters, Abilities are rated on a scale of zero to five dots.
| Ability Rating |
Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0 | The character has no training or significant experience in this Ability. |
| • | The character has been trained in the fundamentals of the Ability, or is experienced enough to be familiar with using it. This is the level of apprentices, interested amateurs, and dabblers. |
| •• | The character has trained in the Ability to a professional level, or has experience equivalent to a professional. This is the level of most soldiers, healers, savants, and merchants in the world of Exalted. |
| ••• | The character's training in the Ability surpasses the competence expected even of professionals, marking her as an elite or veteran in her field. |
| •••• | The character's mastery of the Ability sets her above even experts in her field. Seasoned veteran soldiers pale before her prowess; the top physicians of noble families consult her for guidance; clever and wealthy merchants envy her business acumen. |
| ••••• | The character is a legendary master of the Ability—or else, she will be once word of her skill spreads. She has a comprehensive understanding and utter command of every aspect of her skill. |
While all characters benefit from their Abilities, the Solar Exalted are capable of drawing even greater power out of their skills. Practiced mastery and the empowering Essence of their Exaltation allow them to achieve feats of supernatural prowess, called Charms. Each Solar Charm is governed by an Ability, requiring a certain minimum rating in that Ability before it can be learned.
Abilities: Archery | Athletics | Awareness | Brawl | Bureaucracy | Dodge | Integrity | Investigation | Larceny | Linguistics | Lore | Martial Arts | Medicine | Melee | Occult | Performance | Presence | Resistance | Ride | Sail | Socialize | Stealth | Survival | Thrown | War