Aspect Abilities

When 1st edition Exalted was still being produced, and the Dragon-Blooded book had not yet released, I had a discussion with now-developer, then-editor John Chambers. The five Dragon-Blooded Aspects each had a combat skill which came naturally: Earth had Martial Arts and Water had Brawl. I asked why that was so. John indicated that he agreed with me, but that it was too late to make changes that big.

Fortunately, years later we got to do Exalted Second Edition. Finally, we moved Martial Arts from being an Aspect Ability of Earth to being one of Water. Ah, excellent.

Except, Brawl didn't go to Earth. It went away (rightfully so). In its place the skill War arose, and Earth inherited it. Once again, I approached now-developer John, to ask why that was so.

In my unofficial view, War should be an Aspect Ability of Fire.

• House Sesus and House Cathak, the Dragon-Blooded Houses of the Realm which are best known for their military leaders, are Fire Aspected.
• Fire Aspects have Dodge, which is sort of the "sixth combat skill," and therefore are less affected by inheriting the least directly personally useful of the five combat Abilities.
• Fire Aspects have Presence, so the leadership aspects of War mesh well.

So, what does Earth get then? Well, Melee, of course.

• Melee involves hitting people with objects, which often are made from the substance of the earth.
• Earth has Craft, so they are naturally good at making those objects.
• The Earth Immaculate signature weapon is a giant, extremely obvious Melee weapon.

Maybe, five or ten years from now, if we do third edition, it might happen...

Related Links

• Discussion of the same issue in my blog
• X-alt a collection of alternative ideas for Exalted
• Exalted