A story is nothing without conflict. While this can easily be the quiet, internal conflict of making a difficult choice or the ancient, primal conflict of surviving in the face of indifferent natural forces, conflict in epic fantasy most often takes the form of person versus person or person versus organization. This section describes some of the most common of these external conflicts in a series involving mortal heroes.
People band together into communities both to survive and to accomplish mutual objectives. Often, however, those communal objectives can conflict with the objectives of another organization, either because they are mutually exclusive or because both groups are in competition for scarce resources. Characters caught in a conflict between communities might be called upon to act in the interests of the group to which they belong even when it is unpleasant. This can become especially messy when heroes come from enemy communities whose conflict stems primarily from misunderstandings or ludicrous grudges that only the characters' visions can penetrate.
Even heroes who are loyal citizens of the Realm cannot deny that the Chosen of the Dragons look down their noses at mortals with a mixture of pity and smug superiority. The child of a Dynast who fails to Exalt walks forever in a state of shame among her family. According to the Immaculate Philosophy, mortals are expected to obey the Dragon-Blooded as superior and enlightened beings. In the Realm, any significant military conflict could mean immediate conscription of able-bodied mortals. Mortal heroes may admire or despise the Terrestrial Exalted, but they have no choice but to fear them. The sons and daughters of the Realm are organized, capable, and utterly convinced of their right to rule mortals.
If mortals are men among giants when dealing with the Dragon-Blooded, they are pebbles in a stream when facing one of the Celestial Exalted. Some mortal heroes will join a Circle of Solars, Lunars, or Abyssals as retainers. Certainly, these entities have a compelling presence that tends to attract mortals in their wakes. The hero might believe in the causes of these Exalted. While a friendly Celestial can be an incredible advantage when the hero needs heavy physical or sorcerous muscle, associating with these beings can be more trouble than its worth. Powerful heroes tend to have powerful enemies, no few of whom will be other Celestial Exalted.
If it comes down to a direct confrontation between a Circle of heroes and a Lunar or Solar, the heroes don't stand a chance. Even given the benefit of suprise and powerful Heroics, these Chosen are beyond the power of heroes. A Circle of heroes that comes into conflict with a Celestial Exalted is likely to be unaware of the nature of its enemy, at first. They are more likely to face mortal allies of the Exalted and perhaps a few minor spirits or lesser demons. Once they discover what they are up against, the heroes have three viable options for proceeding. First, they can attempt to negotiate with the Celestial in hopes of finding a non-violent solution to their conflict. Second, they can get help from another Celestial Exalted, organize a mob, or appeal to the Wyld Hunt. Third, they can give up. Even the Dragon-Blooded won't chase down a Solar or Lunar without a strong advantage of numbers, and they are unlikely to defeat a Celestial without suffering casualties.
Society shapes its members, often defining their values, habits, and social roles. It is notoriously resistant to the attempts of its members to shape it in return. Nevertheless, heroes are often interested in changing some aspect of the community of which they are a part. Whether it means shaking people out of blind acceptance of obsolete practices or convincing them to add a behavior to their daily lives, this is far from easy. Reformers and rebels are often distrusted by society at large. Civil authorities might imprison or eliminate those who deviate from the norm. Heroes are bound to make enemies if they try to change the community, and more often than not, harming these enemies is out of the question because it confirms all the worst fears a community has about what the hero represents. Change comes only slowly and with constant effort.
Communities are not entirely static, either. When the members of a society collectively decide to embrace a new way or abandon an old way, it can be the conservative members who are crushed by the march of progress. Not all change, after all, is beneficial. The heroes could be the voices that oppose alliance with a Deathlord or the Realm. They might oppose the decadent new behavior of the younger generation or warn of the dangers of embracing an exotic new medicine because it is addictive.
Like communities, heroes do not always get along. Rivalries, revenge, competition, and mutually exclusive goals can all lead to direct conflicts between heroes. Sometimes, hero is something of a misnomer because a mortal hero is also perfectly capable of being a villain. These are the opponents mortal heroes are most likely to face in toe-to-toe fights. They are the most likely to be an even match for a Circle of heroes.
Heroes are often the defenders of the communities of which they are a part. As such, they are often called upon to protect the borders of their city or state from outside invaders. This can be a pack of Wyld barbarians, another community that seeks to conquer the area, or the legions of the Realm sent to eliminate resistance to their rule in the area.
The Fair Folk, Deathlords, and Spirits are often a threat to stability. While all three have been known to create and preserve human communities, they do so for their own reasons, and the societies they create are notably lacking in humanity. Whereas mortal rulers are driven by human desires for safety, communication, wealth, and power, supernatural desires are alien. Whether they subsist on ambient emotions or brutally devour the dreams and sap away the willpower of their subjects, the Fair Folk must feed. The Deathlords create an oppressive community and foster an obsession with death that strips away all of life's joy.
Spirit rulers are a diverse lot - sometimes gentle and other times brutal, depending on their natures and moods. Some ask only for small, if strange, offerings, but others demand bloody sacrifices. Whatever their desires, the whims of the gods are usually not negotiable. Even the most generous spirits are not human beings, and while some might argue that this makes them better rulers than those who are subject to mortal frailties, others are quick to point out that such blind obedience to an immortal being gives it absolute power over those it rules. There is always the risk that it will become nothing more than a petulent parasite that is all the more troublesome because it is so difficult to eliminate. Keep in mind also that any spirit that has chosen to involve itself directly with humanity is a rebel against the Celestial Heirarchy. Spirits were never intended to rule as kings and queens over men.
While the stories a gaming group can tell about mortal heroes is limited only by their collective imaginations, some kinds of stories are particularly well-suited to mortal heroes. This section details some of those.
The search for new knowledge can be a powerful motivator whether the explorers intend to share their discoveries or hoard them. An exploration story is more than finding, exploring, and plundering ancient ruins, though some involve such quests for First Age devices. It can be establishing a trade route or other relationship with a poorly understood culture, mapping an uncharted region so future wanderers may travel it more safely, or building a useful device based on blueprints discovered in an ancient tome.
Exploration stories often require some amount of travel, often through dangerous territory. If unearthing the secret the heroes seek was easy, someone would already have done it. There can be immense rewards for successful explorers - wealth, power, the opportunity to bring greater understanding of the world to all mankind. Not all discoveries are happy occasions, however. A powerful First Age weapon is going to attract some dangerous folks who will be more than happy to relieve the heroes of it. A sorcerous device might prove more direct danger to its discoverers than anticipated. Haunted ruins, insidious artifacts that gradually subvert the will of their owners, and forbidden lore that is too terrible to let loose upon the world - these, too, are the fruits of exploration.
An exploration story can be an exciting tale filled with mystery and fear, but it can also be the greatest of all fantasy gaming cliches. No discovery should be as simple as killing the monsters, evading the traps, and grabbing the loot. The first obstacle explorers face is red herrings and misinformation. Those random rumors and whispered tales aren't all true, and it's up to the heroes to sort the wheat from the chaff. Second, the heroes might have to contend with rival explorers. The heroes probably aren't the first ones ever to have heard the clues that are supposed to lead to the discovery, and anything they think worth going to great lengths to acquire is something someone else is just as eager to find. Two-thirds of an Indiana Jones movie exists because Indy isn't the only one looking for the lost treasure. This can be especially problematic if the rival explorers are Dragon-Blooded. The Realm likes to keep lost artifacts out of mortal hands, after all.
And once the heroes have blazed a trail to the ruin, survived its defenses, and unearthed its secrets, a discovery never seems to turn out to be what they expected. Some artifacts have dangerous side-effects or curses. Others are not fully functional and will require study before they can be repaired. A few might just plain have already been taken, leaving the heroes to track down their rivals or take what comfort they can from the other discoveries they have made. The best exploration stories are the ones that serve as doors leading to other discoveries.
Exploration Story Ideas:
Not all heroes are far-ranging wanderers or ambitious men and women with dreams of greatness. Some focus on local problems and spend more time mediating disputes between husbands and wives than tracking down the leaders of dark and sinister cults. A story of this kind focuses on the heroes as human beings. While this may seem a little strange to players who prefer high adventure and epic deeds, some groups enjoy interacting with other characters in circumstances that don't promise bloodshed or grave personal peril.
Hometown games generally take place in a small area - such as a town or the neighborhood of a city - and are primarily concerned with day-to-day struggles and local worries. The heroes are people first and heroes second. Combat takes a back seat to social interaction. The heroes are often called upon by their community as councilors, representatives, and, as a last resort, muscle. Maybe they are the local authorities, or maybe they simply have a reputation for getting things done.
To prepare for a hometown game, the Storyteller should, of course, detail the hometown itself. This need not be a physical map of each and every building, but she will need to have some idea about the size and geography of the area. Local customs, holidays, laws, and points of interest all add to the sense of the area being a real place. The main focus, however, should be on the inhabitants of the area - their interests, loyalties, and relationships with each other. Storyteller and players alike should be sure to tie the characters to several of the inhabitants - friends, family, allies, enemies, and rivals - and to each other. The heroes in this sort of game are a part of the community in which the story takes place.
Hometown Heroes Story Ideas:
Mortals don't live nearly as long as Exalted do, and no few heroes devote a substantial portion of their careers to the pursuit of immortality. Whether it means finding a mythical fountain that arrests the aging process, creating something of lasting value to bear your name, establishing a dynasty, or proving yourself worthy of Exaltation, the desire to outlive one's fellow mortals is an ancient one filled with many opportunities for adventure and misadventure.
An immortality story is not something a Storyteller can tell unless the players' characters already have an interest in extending their lives in one way or another. The desire to live forever must motivate all or many of the heroes, and those who do not seek it must still have reason to aid the others in this most maddening of quests. The path this journey will take depends largely on the road to immortality the heroes intend to follow. A Circle that seeks the fountain of eternal life is likely to spend a great deal of time in libraries, travelling the world, and investigating dangerous and wild places, while one that desires Exaltation is more likely to focus on performing great deeds on par with the Chosen.
A casual examination of myths on the subject will show that no quest for immortality is ever easy or without cost. The heroes will face defeats, Pyrrhic victories, and the scorn of outsiders who learn of their quest. In stories like this, the heroes might well envy the Exalted, ally themselves with them, or resent the treatment they receive at the hands of the Chosen. Their quest is filled with red herrings and charlatans.
Immortality Story Ideas:
You don't have to be a Dynast to mire yourself in the politics and secret manueverings of the Age of Sorrows, and the heroes are up to their elbows. Some heroes might have little choice but to play a part in the dangerous games of the powerful. A sufficiently clever enemy can blackmail even an honest man. Others might seek to manipulate the existing system in order to bring about positive change to their community. If you would wrestle pigs, you are bound to get some dirt on your hands. Perhaps loyalty to family or a group motivates the heroes to play hardball with the masters of deceit and betrayal. In a really dark story, the heroes might participate in cutthroat politics for their own personal benefit. Whatever the case, an intrigue story requires tact, mistrust, and the occasional dose of betrayal.
Intrigue stories are highly character-driven. The players need to know what their characters want. The Storyteller has a respectable challenge ahead of him. He needs to know as much about who are the pawns, who are the puppetmasters, and who are the puppetmasters of the puppetmasters. People in an intrigue story have a reason for becoming involved in such intricate and, at times, dangerous games, whether it is loyalty, self-interest, or high-minded ideals. A Storyteller needs to establish the relationships between the factions involved and the relationships between the members of each faction. Double-agents, spies, traitors, blackmail, scapegoats - all add new dimensions to any intrigue story. A sword does you no good when you don't even know who your enemy really is.
Intrigue Story Ideas:
Mortal heroes often face seemingly impossible odds. In a perilous quest story, they must overcome incredible obstacles, often by their wits alone. Whether they are working together for the first time or have endured trials as bad or worse than this one before, the quest will require teamwork and planning.
A perilous quest story can be the meat and potatoes of a mortal hero game because one of the themes that often permeates a mortals game is beating the odds. Sometimes the quest sounds easy enough until unforseen obstacles complicate the task beyond the heroes' expectations. Sometimes there is never any doubt that the quest is ludicrously suicidal. Perilous quests are the time for heroes to cash in a few favors, pool all the resources at their disposal, and plan out the actual operation in mind-numbing detail even before making their first move. Of course, in any proper perilous quest story, not everything goes according to the plan.
Perilous quest stories can be as deadly serious or farcical as the group wishes. A quest for a medicine that can cure a plague that threatens to wipe out the population of a city is pregnant with possibilities for dramatic tension. Sneaking into the heavily-guarded Manse of a Dynast's political enemies to recover a bauble accidentally left behind following a sexual escapade with a mortal servant there is going to have a far less desperate and probably comical feel to it. Sometimes the heroes nod grimly and agree to do the impossible because they are the only hope others have. Other times, they can't help but ask if this is a sick joke.
Perilous Quest Story Ideas:
The Age of Sorrows is a time of great violence. On a given day, it is probable that a battle is taking place somewhere in the world. As was mentioned earlier in this chapter, it is not uncommon for heroes to find themselves in military service of one kind or another, whether they joined as volunteers, mercenaries, or conscripts. The trouble with running a warfare story is that individuals usually have little importance in large-scale battles. In truth, like most roleplaying games, Exalted does not deal well with battles between large groups with anything approaching alacrity.
The trick, then, is to focus on those moments in a campaign when individuals can make a significant contribution to an army's situation. This includes reconnaisance missions, rescuing important prisoners, sabotaging enemy defenses, buying supplies, defending baggage trains, delivering important messages, and meeting enemy leaders on the battlefield or at the negotiating table. It can also mean leading small forces to raid enemy supply trains, create a diversion, open a breach during a siege, or move a First Age weapon into position without letting it fall into enemy hands. If the group wants to plan the strategy and command the movements of large groups of soldiers on the battlefield, they should work with the Storyteller to create a system for running mass combat. The hex and grid maps used for strategy games can make this process much simpler, though try to keep in mind that the heroes are not likely to have a bird's-eye view of the battlefield. Even modern soldiers can be surprised by an ambush or discover an enemy position they did not even know existed. In a fantasy setting, the fog of war is going to seriously hamper any general, especially one with unreliable reconnaisance.
The Storyteller must know the answers to some important questions before running a believeable warfare story. First, what caused the war? Was it a rebellion, an invasion, or did two powerful nobles finally decide to take their political differences to the field and argue with the words of other people's blood. Second, whose side are the heroes on? If the heroes voluntarily joined one side over the other or are the leaders of one force, this is probably the same as the side they are fighting on, and the enemy is on the other side of the battlefield. If they were conscripted, they might be soldiers of the enemy or not regard either side as an actual enemy. Third, who is the enemy? Invasion by the Realm is a constant threat in the Scavenger Lands and for any city in the Threshold that attempts to gain its independence from the Realm. City-states throughout the world often make war on one another. Many of the returning Anathema have wasted no time raising armies and carving out nations. The Fair Folk and Wyld Barbarians offer communities near the edges of Creation little peace.
A little research at the library or on the internet can provide a wealth of basic information about the manner in which war is conducted, but here is a brief synopsis. A war is not a neat or pretty series of events wherein two armies line up on either side of a field and try to kill each other. Armies don't fight until one side or the other is completely annihilated. Wars don't last until one side or the other runs out of resources and soldiers. War is a gamble for an attacker. If you're lucky, you cause enough damage early on that you convince the enemy that further aggression on their part is futile. If you're not quite so lucky, the enemy wins a few key victories early on and forces you to cease hostilities. If you're foolish, the war drags on for several years, making your nation and citizens too weak to defend itself from any opportunistic neighbor who decides to invade you. The defender in a war generally uses a different strategy, which is to make the war so costly to the enemy that the invader dare not continue it. If you're lucky, they leave without causing too much damage. If you're really lucky, the enemy loses everything early on, providing you with the opportunity to make a swift counterstroke. If you're less lucky, the war drags on for several years, disrupting your country and its people so that even in victory, it remains vulnerable to opportunistic neighbors. If you're particularly unlucky, it means fleeing the country or going into hiding once it has been conquered.
Warfare Story Ideas:
While this guide is primarily aimed at groups who wish to run a series that focuses on the deeds of mortal heroes, it is by no means the only possible way to use this material.
Mortal heroes often seek the company of Exalted, whether for the adventures they guarantee or for the protection they can provide. Using the information provided in this guide allows the Storyteller and players to flesh out the personalities and talents of the members of an Exalted's entourage. Certainly, it is easier to detail a small number of these heroic mortals than it is to give dozens of them a distinctive personality. For Exalted with a large number of followers, it will probably be best to create more detailed personalities for four or five of the most significant or interesting among the mortals.
Not every mortal a group of Exalted encounters is a faceless extra, and these rules can make the heroic mortals Exalted meet more interesting and more useful. The ability to activate Heroics or use mortal magic also allows the Storyteller to surprise Exalted, from time to time. It is always good to keep the players on their toes. A mortal hero who serves as a minor villain in a game involving the Exalted will have a few more tricks up her sleeve than a heroic mortal built by the rules given in Exalted, making her a little more interesting and challenging to defeat.
Once in a while, we hear a story about a player who decided to play a heroic mortal in a series where all the other characters were Exalted. While this guide isn't going to make a mortal shine in a Circle of Solars, perhaps the material will at least keep them alive longer and give them opportunities to glow a little in spite of their blazing company. We have tried not to make mortal heroes Exalted Lite, providing them with some abilities that even the Chosen cannot readily emulate. Hopefully, this will give mortal heroes a few advantages over their Exalted companions so others don't focus entirely on their unExalted fragility and lack of potent combat Charms. We wish you all the best.
It can be very rewarding to play the little guys who are always on the verge of being snuffed out, but sometimes it's fun to crack skulls with merry abandon and play at being demigods, too. For groups that simply must have both, may we suggest one Circle of Exalted and one Circle of mortal heroes in their service. The Exalted kick ass and take names on a daily basis, but they can't be everywhere at once, which is why they sometimes send their most trusted henchmen to clean up the smaller problems. Smaller, of course, is a relative term. Tasks that might be beneath a group of Dynasts might be a serious challenge to a Circle of heroes. The players play both the Exalted and the mortal heroes, alternating between the two depending on the group's mood and the demands of the story. Everyone goes home happy.
| Trait Increase | Cost |
| Attribute | Current rating x 4 |
| Favored Ability | (Current rating x 2) - 1 |
| Ability | Current rating x 2 |
| Heroism | Current rating x 10 |
| Virtue | Current rating x 3 |
| Willpower | Current rating x 2 |
| New Trait | Cost |
| New Ability | 3 |
| New Specialty (max. 3 per Ability) | 3 |
| New Edge (Favored Ability) | 12 |
| New Edge (other Ability) | 15 |
| New Spell | 12 |
| Mundane Traits | |
| New Ability | 3 weeks |
| Improving Favored Ability | no training needed |
| Improving an Ability (Other) | Current rating x weeks |
| Improving Attributes | Current rating x months |
| Gaining a Specialty | 3 weeks |
| Improving Virtues | no training needed |
| Improving Willpower | no training needed |
| Heroic Traits | |
| Improving Heroism (target Heroism of 3 or less) | no training needed |
| Improving Heroism (target Heroism of 5 or less) | rating x months |
| Improving Heroism (target Heroism higher than 5) | rating x years |
| Learning Edges from Favored Ability | minimum Heroism x days (no mentor needed) |
| Learning Other Edges | (Minimum Ability + Minimum Heroism) x days |
| Improving upon Known Edges (purchasing again) | target number of applications x days (no mentor needed) |
| Learning New Spells | Circle of spell x days |