Does Crucible of Legend Fix Exalted 3rd Edition?

[@HWJoker]

Great work as always, a good review. I bought it last week and I see it similar to you with most changes to the Core Book. The funny thing is, that we us the alternative version of the Teamwork rule for more than a year, because it seemed logical to us. We also use the virtues like they were in Edition 1 and 2, linked them to Limit Break and let the players channel their Willpower throught their virtues. They have a lot of fun with their virtues and also refer their roleplay to them. The new virtues, well if they aren't linked to the something else except intimacies really seem to be very unnatural. And I absolutely agree that the action economy of the Inititive and Withering Attacks system is the main problem to Exalted combat, not the turn order. A single really mighty opponent can be overcome relatively easily because of the many attacks a Player group has. Such mighty opponents early get into crash and then hardly have a chance to get out of it. I started to use a homebrew rule I red in a forum, which gives such an opponent 2 or even 3 initiative trackers and only when all are crashed the opponent is crashed. That gives such single opponents the power and steadiness to be serious opponents for the player characters and to make the fight interesting and challenging for them.

[@Spicybees_]

i appreciate the work as always! your section on social influence reminded me that i would greatly appreciate a video someday about that and maybe intimacies, as i still feel quite shaky on running that system in my games. again, thank you for the video!

[@tempy2440]

Doing The UCS/Ancients/Neverborn/'Balor's work here! Thank you for making this.

[@Mendozam4]

What's with my man dawgin' on Virtues? Exalted 2E was my first ttrpg, and I thought virtues were amazing. In fact they were my favorite part. As someone who had never roleplayed before, they really helped me understand how to play as someone outside of myself when dealing with actions outside of a characters specific motivations. I do wish they had a more mechanically important role in 3e though.

[@ekorren]

I liked Virtues in 2E. Not so much in 3E. I just wish they did something new and exciting if they are to be included.

[@Iamsparticus49]

@@ekorren TLDR: The Virtues are intended as predefined Intimacies to make the social system more accessible for socially awkward players. (Doing the TLDR up front so it's visible without "show more") The following is pure speculation based on personal experience. As someone who has a hard time with IRL social activity it is somewhat difficult for me to define Intimacies out of thin air when creating a character. This gets even more dodgy when trying to phrase them in such a way that they stand a chance of being applicable when engaging with someone else's story. Most of the friends I play Exalted with ultimately fall into the same category. I don't believe the inclusion of Virtues in ExEss and CoL is intended by the devs as a new system with it's own mechanics and implications. Their mechanical similarity to Intimacies is intentional. I think the devs included them with intent that they be a guide to aid those players who may want to play social characters, but who have a hard time imagining social situations due to their own IRL difficulties. Having a limited list of named and defined ideological principles makes it easier for socially awkward players to get into the game and still be able to interact with the social system.

[@ekorren]

@@Iamsparticus49 Do you think the current implementation of Virtues meets your expectations or would you rather have seen a streamlining or additional guidelines for how to approach Intimacies?

[@bigsarge2085]

The one book we don't have yet! Appreciate your deep dives, always learn something new/get a new perspective.

[@TheCrazyPlayer]

Late to the party, but interesting video. I've always wanted to get into Exalted, but the timing has never worked out. Your videos on the game have definitely made me more interested in the game.

[@SamuraiMujuru]

If memory serves, another reason they didn't include a ST chapter in the core was the original line devs decided it wasn't worth including because anyone picking up EX3 was already familiar with Exalted and knew what they were doing. Not terribly conducive to growing the player base.

[@ekorren]

There were a lot off weird and contradictory statements during the original development of Ex3. I remember the devs commenting that they wanted Ex3 to be welcoming to newcomers as well.

[@fighterpantsguy6961]

It's interesting to hear your perspective about the great curse and virtues. I have not played enough to have well developed opinions about it, but I was brought up in a very virtue focused group, channeling virtues and limit break building up was not uncommon and something the Storyteller did well when they planned properly. I had a great experience, and the lack of virtues was part of what lost my interest in 3e. Tbh this form of virtues does not scratch that itch.

[@patrickmorgan8075]

I'd rather have the 2nd ed Virtues than 3rd ed Intimacies. I've always loathed having to list out what "precisely" a character has emotional connection to. The problem with Conditions is COD, far TOO many. And lastly, 90% of the book is what my group and I have already house ruled.

[@WanderingMendicant-qd7mv]

Crucible of Legends doesn't really effect my opinions of 3e. It's still just too much work to run and play and unlike other complex games like Pathfinder 2e and Mage I don't see the logic of the developer's decisions in making it so complex. I'm sticking in Essence.

[@EhhmmmNo]

As a 2.5 enjoyer (who still thinks 2.5 is a bit too messy), this book sadly doesn't do anything to get me interested in 3e again. Too much to track, too slow, unsatisfying to do stuff, never really feel powerful unless the GM handwaves half the systems that exist X(