Exalt Types

There are ten playable Exalt types: Abyssals, Alchemicals, Dragon-Blooded, Exigents, Getimians, Infernals, Liminals, Lunars, Sidereals, and Solars. Each has its own unique playstyle, granting the player access to Exalt-specific Charms, which begin on p. XX. If this selection seems overwhelming, here’s a quick guide to help you decide where to start.

Exalts of Creation
These Exalts have their origins in places from or allied with the main body of Creation. If this is your first time picking up Exalted, start here.

Dragon-Blooded are elemental warriors who currently rule the world. If playing an elementallythemed hero or a noble Prince of the Earth seems like your thing, turn to p. XX.

Exigents are unique Exalted of lesser gods. Our example Exigent is Strawmaiden Janest. If playing a hearty, two-fisted woman of the earth sounds like a good time, turn to p. XX. This section also demonstrates how to craft your own Exalt type. I'm going to veto Exigents for this intro game. There's plenty of other choices without having to build a new one from scratch

Lunar Exalted are witches, tricksters, and monsters. They have the power to shapeshift into any animal or into humans they’ve hunted, and their inherent magic is equally transformative. If playing a tricky shifter sounds fun, go to p. XX.

Sidereal Exalts maintain the Loom of Fate in Yu Shan. They’re in charge of making sure fated things come to pass, but also masters of martial arts. If playing a fighting bureaucrat seems cool, turn to p. XX.

Solar Exalted are masters of human skill, peerless sorcerers, and wondrous craftspeople. They are people without peer whose works and deeds have no equal. If being an exemplar of humanity sounds fun, go to p. XX.

If you are brand new to Exalted, Solars or Dragon-Blooded are the simplest and most straightforward choices.

Exalts of Other Realms
These Exalts draw their power from forces outside Creation, or hold dominion there. It’s helpful to know a bit about the setting before playing one, but not required.

Abyssal Exalts are powerful necromancers and emissaries to the dead. They rule over the Underworld as its undisputed masters. If playing a chivalric deathly knight appeals to you, turn to p. XX.

Alchemical Exalted are created beings, some from the faraway world of Autochthonia or some lost to the depths of history. If playing a heroic construct or an alien from a bizarre world sounds fun, turn to p. XX.

Getimian Exalts never existed, but the power of their magic creates them and lets them remember a Creation that could have been. If playing an outsider who remembers a world that doesn’t exist excites you, go to p. XX.

Infernal Exalted have demonic power, drawn from the hell-Realm of Malfeas. They want to violently overthrow tyrants and oppressors. If playing a rock star from hell sounds too cool to pass up, go to p. XX.

Liminal Exalts are undead — the product of someone’s attempt at resurrection. They are constructs of flesh and bone, who protect the boundary between the living and the dead. If being an undead monster is your thing, go to p. XX.

Alchemicals, Getimians, and Liminals have rules that make using their powers slightly more complicated. Storytellers running the game for new players should check in with them and ask if they find this kind of complexity exciting or frustrating.

Here is a podcast that covers the 10 Exalt Types in Exalted Essence: LINK

The Dragon-Blooded are the Chosen of the Elemental Dragons. Sometimes called the Terrestrial Exalted, they are the inheritors of legendary power, and their forebears overthrew the Solar Exalted in the Usurpation. Their deeds in the millennia that followed shaped the world as it is today. All over the Creation, the Dragon-Blooded roam without fear, hunting Anathema and forging new legends. Play one of the Dragon-Blooded if you want to be a scion of the Realm, at the heart of dynastic intrigue; a soldier in Lookshy’s Seventh Legion, defending the Scavenger Lands; an itinerant monk, spreading the Immaculate Philosophy; or a wandering hero, protecting villages from bandits and monsters.

As a Dragon-Blooded, you are a Prince of the Earth, heir to the bloodline of a million heroes tracing back to the Five Elemental Dragons. All Creation respects and fears your heritage. You Exalted during puberty, earlier or later depending on the strength of your bloodline, and have been Exalted for no less than five but up to twenty years.

Dragon-Blooded Exalt Advantages
Prince of the Earth: As the only kind of Exalt fully recognized by the Immaculate Faith, Dragon-Blooded find support anywhere. Once per session, the character may select one Merit and treat it as though it had a dot rating equal to her Essence, working its acquisition with the Storyteller. This benefit lasts for the duration of the session.
Ten Thousand Dragons Fight as One: When making teamwork actions, after calculating the total successes to add as dice, add an additional die. Dragon-Blooded may use any Hearth-based teamwork effects from their Charms on any other Exalt.
Resonance: Dragon-Blooded are resonant with all types of jade.

Anima
A Dragon-Blooded’s elemental Aspect dictates her anima banner’s appearance. It glows with colors associated with that element, and may make the Terrestrial’s own Aspect markings stand out more. At the iconic level it’s accompanied by related sounds and scents, like crackling fire or crashing waves. When a Dragon-Blooded has five or more anima, all characters within close range must make reflexive Physique rolls at a difficulty equal to the Exalt’s Essence plus two or take one level of damage from exposure to raw elemental essence.

Dragon-Blooded Aspects
The five Dragon-Blooded Aspects represent each of the elements. Here is a podcast where they discuss the Dragon-Blooded in detail: LINK

The Chosen of Luna live on boundaries of Creation, traveling in and out of the Wyld as no other Exalt dares. They forged their own castes with magic never seen before or after. Once, they were soul mates to the Solars, and still rage and mourn over the Usurpation. Lunars pass wisdom and lore down through the Silver Pact, presenting a more-or-less united front against the Realm. Sorcerers of the Pact also seek out newly Exalted Lunars, offering moonsilver tattoos to affirm their chosen Caste.

As a Lunar Exalt, you were Chosen by Luna after a period of great struggle and strife, receiving her blessing and unleashing your potential. You likely encountered another Lunar soon after and were invited (but not compelled) to join the Lunar society known as the Silver Pact. You have been Exalted for less than five years.

Play a Lunar Exalt if you want to oppose the established powers of the world, you love the free and wild places of Creation, or if you want to be a shape-shifter of a thousand forms.

Lunar Exalt Advantages
Ten Thousand Forms: The Lunar gains access to an animal shape, representative of their character, during their Exaltation. They also have a mode of Sacred Hunt, which the player chooses at character creation. Predators must ritually hunt their target and drink their heart’s blood; Tricksters must outwit or beguile their target; Stalkers must observe and pursue their target (if the target is sentient, that means learning at least one of their Virtues or Intimacies). If the hunt is successful, the Lunar may add this target to the shapes they know.

The Lunar can spend one mote to shift into these shapes. Even shifted, however, they retain a unique Tell such as silver eyes, black nails, or razor teeth — choose this, too, during character creation. A Lunar may start play with as many forms as the player and Storyteller deem appropriate. The Lunar can acquire additional forms throughout the course of the game. While in the form of the animal, the Lunar gains access to the animal’s special quality (for example: a jellyfish’s ability to sting), plus any other narratively appropriate bonuses or penalties. She uses her dice pools as normal. See the section on animals on p. XX. Transforming into another human grants their appearance and voice but no other special skills or traits without the use of magic. Transforming into another magical creature (such as a demon or god) requires special Charms (see p. XX).

Passionate Ideals: Once per story, if the Lunar would gain a new Intimacy, she may create it at the Major rather than Minor rating. Furthermore, the Lunar gains an extra die when her roll is supported by a Major Intimacy or Virtue.

Resonance: Lunars are resonant with Moonsilver.

Lunar Castes
The Lunars count three castes of their own making. They all tend to have animalistic anima banners — a wolf howling at the moon, a cobra poised to strike — but the color and radiance of their anima changes with their Caste. Here is a podcast where they discuss the Lunars in detail: LINK

The Sidereal Exalted are the Chosen of the Maidens of Fate. They are secret agents, dispatched from the heavenly city of Yu-Shan to smooth out tangled fates. With the gift of astrology, they see the future — and weave it to their own ends. They are also the masters of the esoteric Sidereal Martial Arts.

As a Sidereal Exalt, your Exaltation was destined before your birth, and your life before was filled with strange coincidences and omens of fate. You were compelled to join the Sidereal society called the Fivescore Fellowship, those who serve under the bureaucracy of Heaven. You have been Exalted for less than five years.

Play a Sidereal if you want to be a powerbroker in celestial politics, a wise advisor guiding your fellow heroes, a genius martial artist, or an oracle working from the shadows.

Sidereal Exalt Advantages
Arcane Fate: After a scene interacting with a Sidereal, other characters forget her appearance, voice, and other defining traits. Instead, they attribute the Sidereal’s actions to a passer-by or happenstance. Nontrivial characters may resist with a Difficulty 5 Integrity-based roll. This doesn’t affect the character’s Circle, characters with an Intimacy towards the Sidereal, or heavenly officials (including other Sidereals).
Weaving Destiny: Spend 1 mote to weave a destiny based on a broad archetype, profession, or social role, granting it to a character with a touch. Once per scene, when attempting a task that resonates with that archetype, the target may transform up to the Sidereal’s Essence dice into automatic successes. New destinies override old ones.

The Sidereal may weave a destiny for herself; while active, she loses Arcane Fate, allowing others to remember their destiny’s persona. Casting off this destiny reasserts Arcane Fate, causing others to forget the false identity.

Resonance: Sidereals are resonant with starmetal.

Anima
While active, a Sidereal anima is a bright outline of color based on the Sidereal’s Maiden, trailing stardust as they move. At the iconic level, they gain halos inscribed with ancient prophecies and radiate a sense of their Maiden’s domain.

Sidereal Castes
The Sidereals are divided into five Castes, one for each of the Maidens of Fate: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Their Caste Marks are the astrological signs of those Maidens. Here is a podcast where they discuss the Sidereals in detail: LINK

The Chosen of the Unconquered Sun are champions who exhibit great potential and aspire to lofty ambitions. Solar Exalted are warriors, orators, spies, scholars, sorcerers, and engineers. They were the Lawgivers to Creation.

As the Great Curse set in, some First Age Solars grew power-hungry, went mad, or declared war on former allies. The destruction they wrought threatened Creation itself, and the Dragon-Blooded, aided by the Sidereal Exalted, overthrew them. Now, they’ve returned to the world, ready to save or destroy it.

As a Solar Exalt, you were Chosen for your excellence and potential, and seek to uphold the virtues of the Unconquered Sun. Though you are hunted by the Realm, you have thus far escaped the Wyld Hunt, and have been Exalted for less than a year.

Play one of the Solar Exalted if you want to be a legendary hero seeking to right ancient wrongs; a religious leader inspiring your followers to improve the world; a sorcerer in search of long-forgotten magics; or an adventurer exploring abandoned ruins and places of power.

Solar Exalt Advantages
First Among Equals: Solar Exalts always win ties, even when there’s no clear defender. Solar players’ characters win ties against Solar Storyteller characters; player characters vying against one another use normal tie rules.
Supremacy of Ability: Solars don’t pay the mote cost to activate Excellencies.
Divine Resonance: Solars are resonant with all magical materials, especially orichalcum.


Anima
When active, the Solar’s anima blazes with the sun’s golden light, and gusts with hot summer wind. At the iconic level, the banner becomes a brilliant beacon. It swirls with the Solar’s personal imagery and illuminates the immediate area in bright sunlight. Solar

Castes
The five Solar Castes represent each stage of the day. Here is a podcast where they discuss the Solars in detail: LINK

The Solar Exaltations stolen by the Deathlords were transformed into the Abyssal Exalted. Each Abyssal was offered their Exaltation at the moment of death, knowing that the only way to escape their own demise was to become a harbinger of the world’s end. They have no names, having cast that identifier into the Void — so most go by their bestowed title. As dark mirrors to the Solars, Abyssals embody the overwhelming and inevitable powers of the Void. They are carnage-bringers, deathknights, and lords of the grim kingdoms of the Underworld, masters of the dark secrets of necromancy, and — sometimes — tragic heroes in search of redemption.

As an Abyssal Exalt, you suffered an untimely and likely gruesome fate, only for a Deathlord to offer you dark power and immortality moments before your death. The price was your name, and your obeisance to beings seeking to obliviate all life. Having completed your training and swearing fealty to your feudal lords, you have been a deathknight for less than a year.

Play an Abyssal if you want to be caught up in the Underworld’s ghostly melodrama, pursue knowledge and power with neither hesitation nor scruples, or speak for the dead in a world that would rather forget.

Abyssal Exalt Advantages
Death’s Champions: Abyssals are considered undead whenever it is beneficial to them; while they may still be incapacitated by fatigue, hunger, thirst, or asphyxiation, they enter torpor rather than dying, recovering in a later scene. In places touched by death, such as the Underworld or a blood-soaked battlefield, they gain a one-success bonus on any action that evokes fear, sorrow, dread, or acceptance.
Cruel Banquet: Once per scene, an Abyssal may replenish their Essence by inflicting a level of damage or committing an act that frightens, subdues, or angers the target. Draining or terrifying a trivial character restores one mote; an elite character restores two; and a powerful character — such as another Exalt — restores three.

Resonance: Abyssals are resonant with soulsteel.

Abyssal Castes
The five Abyssal Castes are corruptions of their Solar origins, turned to the service of the Underworld. Their Caste Marks are likewise bleak and blackened versions of their Solar opposites. Here is a podcast where they discuss the Abyssals in detail: LINK

Legend tells that Autochthon, the King of All Craftsmen who slumbers beyond the reaches of Creation, created the Alchemical Exalts as proof to the gods that Exaltation could be their greatest weapon. Autochthon left Creation long ago, but sometimes, a community in need of a champion finds a hero hidden away in a time-lost vault.

An artificial human made of sacred clay and magical materials, your Alchemical was created before the Divine Revolution and left behind in stasis when Autochthon abandoned Creation. They might also be a new Alchemical who has ventured into Creation to save their world of industrial horrors.

As an Alchemical Exalt, you were created and Chosen by Autochthon as living proof to the Unconquered Sun that Exaltation could be the weapon of the gods. The Great Maker sealed you away before the Divine Revolution thousands of years ago, to await an unspecified hour of need. That time is now, and you have been awakened and part of a community for less than ten years.

Play an Alchemical Exalt if you want to be an animated relic from a lost time, a stalwart champion of your chosen community, or a peerless machine with endless and customizable potential.Alchemical Exalt Advantages
Living Artifact: The Alchemical is a carefully created machine, perhaps closer to an artifact than a living being. She may hold an artifact to take one of its Evocations as her own Charm. If the Evocation has any prerequisites, she must meet those. Once installed, the Alchemical can use the Evocation as if it were an innate Charm, without access to the artifact itself. The Alchemical
can only have one such Evocation-Charm at a time, but may switch between existing ones during a reconfiguration. Alchemicals may learn Evocations from their own Artifacts with Exalt Milestones; these are represented as certain technological aesthetics applied to the artifact itself, such as a daiklave developing embedded circuitry.
Community Spirit: The Alchemical has a deep need to find a community that will accept her as their own, and to whose purpose she may lend her strength. This doesn’t mean she’s fixed in place, as her chosen community may range far such as "orphaned children" or "oppressed laborers." They believe in her as a guardian, and once she’s found them, this awakens a power deep inside her. Design this as a custom effect based around the Exalt’s purpose, one that should be tied to her community.

Examples include:
• Increase Resolve by one when someone targets an Intimacy towards her community.
• Increase Defense by two when using Defend Other on a community member.
• Add a three-dice bonus to attacks when fighting for the community.

Whatever it is, it grants a small but meaningful effect. Refer to Bonuses and Penalties on p. XX.

Resonance: Alchemicals are resonant with the material for which they take their Caste name.

Anima
Alchemical animas are the radiant versions of their magical material’s hue, given life and energy. Their anima banners show the process of their making, whether it’s a great machine, ancient runes, or weird crystal shapes.

Alchemical Castes
Alchemical Exalts come in six castes. Their bodies are made of one magical metal, from which they take their name, in addition to copper, crystals, stone, and whatever else their maker could get their hands on.Here is a podcast in which they discuss the Alchemical Exalted in detail: LINK

A Getimian does not exist until Exaltation. They are discarded destinies, heroes who were never born because their existence was inconvenient to the petty bureaucracy of Heaven. They fight now to remake Creation into the world they alone remember.

As a Getimian Exalt, you never existed, Chosen and incarnated from a discarded destiny by the combined might of the titans now known as Oramus and Sacheverell before their diminishment and imprisonment in Malfeas. Called into service in a war against Heaven by the rogue Sidereal, Rakan Thulio, only you remember your life as a hero in another world. You have existed in Creation for less than five years.

Play a Getimian if you want to be an outsider plucked from an unrealized destiny, embittered by a world that does not recognize your glory; a ruthless seeker of self-enlightenment; or a rebel against the hegemons of Heaven.

Getimian Exalt Advantages
Getimian Alchemy: Divide the Getimian’s motes into two pools — Flowing and Still. They may reallocate their pools between sessions or during downtime, but must leave at least 1 mote in either pool. When they regain motes, they may choose which pool to restore first. They gain a one-success bonus on rolls with Force when their Flowing pool is larger or with Finesse when Still is larger, and also with Fortitude when the pools are balanced (within 1 mote of each other).
Infected Fate: The Getimian may spend 1 mote to bind a target into her personal Loom of Fate, naming a role in relation to the Getimian, such as bodyguard, business partner, or apprentice. While acting in that role, the character transforms the Getimian’s Essence in dice into successes before rolling; if they act against it, they suffer a one-success penalty. This lasts for one day.
Resonance: Getimians are resonant with starmetal.

Anima
Getimian animas are pale colors mixed with black and white Essence. At the active level, this anima surrounds them, either ever-flowing or perfectly tranquil. At the iconic level, it bursts outwards, becoming a web of unrealized possibilities. Vistas from the Getimian’s world can be seen within — as can scuttling pattern spiders, reshaping Creation in that world’s image. Spring Castes have cherry-blossom pink scattered through their anima, while Summer Castes display a grass-green color. Autumn Castes’ animas have a fallen-leaf orange tint, while Winter Castes’ animas are the gray-blue of light reflected on snowfall.

Getimian Castes
Each of the four Getimian Castes embodies a certain kind of destiny which was stolen from the Exalt — and which she is empowered to reclaim. Their Caste Marks display an astrological sign representing that which vanishes from the heavens, and then returns.Here is a podcast where they discuss the Getimians in detail: LINK

Once the victims of injustice and betrayal, the Infernal Exalted stride across Creation seeking brutal vengeance and sweeping revolution. With the Yozis’ promises singing in their hearts, and stolen Solar Exaltations crowning them with righteousness, the formerly-downtrodden have become the Green Sun Princes, determined to remake the world in Hell’s image.

As an Infernal Exalt, a demon offered you the alien might of the imprisoned titans called the Yozis. Having lived a life of oppression and humiliation, yours is a spirit kindred to their rage. You are fêted by the Demon Princes of Hell and empowered to seek vengeance against a world that has wronged you. You have been Exalted less than a year.

Play an Infernal Exalted if you want to be a fallen hero on a vengeful quest, an anarchist liberating the oppressed, or a general leading a demon-army.

Infernal Exalt Advantages
Corona of Fury: While the Infernal is at her Critical health level or at four or more anima, the breath of war (p. XX) restores two motes instead of one, and she recovers one mote between actions during social influence scenes or ventures.
Unwoven Coadjutor: An Infernal develops a direct spiritual connection with the Demon City itself. This manifests as a reservoir of demonic knowledge and will that only the Infernal can access. Once per session, the Infernal may ask up to her Essence in questions to learn about a specific situation, such as: Can you tell me the nature of this spirit? What strange history happened here? What do you know about this place/object? What unusual weaknesses does it have? What would it take to destroy it? And so on.
Resonance: Infernals are resonant with orichalcum.Anima
Every Infernal’s anima banner glows with the sickly green light of Ligier, the Demon City’s sun. It exposes the flaws in all it illuminates, and causes materials to rot or corrode. Often, they display subtler shades of green and other colors, listed with the Caste. At the iconic level, imagery of the Yozis and the demons who serve them swirl in its miasma. Any demons within long range are drawn to the Infernal’s beacon.

Infernal Castes
The five Infernal Castes are twisted reflections of the Solar Exaltations they once were, representing astronomical positions. Their Caste Marks are similar, but different in subtle ways.Here is a podcast where they discuss the Infernals in detail: LINK

Liminals are created with dug-up corpses, dirt, and thaumaturgy, the result of an attempted resurrection. The dead cannot be brought back, but sometimes, a strange force of the Underworld puts something new in their shell when someone makes the attempt. A Liminal might be a child yanked back from a too-early grave by a grieving parent, or the result of a powerful god trying to reanimate a perfect servant. They look like mortals, but their flaring anima reveals their inner monster: patchwork stitched-together skin and necrotic limbs.

As a Liminal Exalt, you were Chosen by the Dark Mother, the chthonic entity who dwelled in the cycle of reincarnation before Time began. You are a new entity created from an attempt to bring life from death, answering the silent impulses of your Mother and charged by her to fortify the lines between living and dead. You have been Exalted for at least five years.

Play a Liminal Exalt if you want to be a doll on strings struggling for freedom, a mournful protector of the living from the dead, or if you only find solace in the company of the restless dead.Liminal Exalt Advantages
Undying: The Liminal resurrects herself so long as her brain remains intact. This takes five days minus the Liminal’s Essence, after which the Liminal returns to Incapacitated health. She heals normally from there. A Liminal with access to appropriate body parts, such as the remains of her enemies, can replace missing limbs or organs through necrosurgery and heals at twice the normal rate. Liminals may also replace limbs lost to dramatic injuries in the same fashion. Undying doesn’t work if the Liminal drowns, or lies buried under running water — the former holds true death, and the latter requires someone moving her body before she can regenerate.
Child of Death: Liminals are considered undead. She can interact with incorporeal ghosts as if they were corporeal and may sense ghosts possessing objects or people. Ghosts can see, touch, and communicate with her regardless of language barriers. Her anima powers affect the living and the dead.
Resonance: Liminals are resonant with soulsteel.

Liminal Aspects
Liminals have five aspects. They have no Caste Mark but bear an individual symbol or rune their maker carved on their forehead. The Liminals body changes and exhibits the call of the grave when they spend too much Essence, revealing them to be patchwork corpses. Their anima banners are similarly gruesome, swirling displays of luminous muscle, blood, and soil.Here is a podcast where they discuss the Liminals in detail: LINK