Exalted nerds, help a fellow nerd out!
 

Here's the thing.

At the end of our last game, my character befriended an ancient Sidereal recluse who acts like the first five minutes of Yoda all the time. We've got a year of downtime between now and the next game. Through this guy, I've got access to pretty much any Celestial style (including, I assume, Violet Bier).

My question to you is: which style(s) should I go for, and why? I've got 44xp saved -- up to five charms deep into any one tree. Yeee!

We're running 1st ed Player's Guide rules. My dude's a Solar. Combat-wise, his concept is an unarmed martial artist. I've already got every Mantis charm except Grasping Mantis Defense and Unfolding Retribution. I want to leave those be for now and build up other styles.

My first instinct was Tiger Style to switch between Defense/Disable and Offense/Murder as needed. I haven't ruled it out entirely yet, but it's not really the style of play I'm going for. Seems there's very little combo and crossover opportunities since they don't share tiger claws (yeah, I said unarmed earlier, but gloves with little knives on them hardly count as grand daiklaves).

At the moment, I'm looking at Snake, Violet Bier, or -- I can't believe I'm saying this -- Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Style. They've all got some killer tricks, and they all seem to work with Mantis not next to it. The current front runner is Snake Style, but I'm open to suggestions. Ebon Shadow, Celestial Monkey, a defense of Tiger -- whatever!

Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Style is the one I'm trying out for my new sidereal and its rather effective. Plus the top tier charm for that style is on par with sidereal martial arts. But its most effective if your character is socializing. It also has an unusually large number of combo-ok charms for a celestial style.

Is your character combat focused? What method for winning do you preffer? Most people that take mantis try to immobilize their enemy and not kill them. If thats your goal I'd suggest using Art of Victorious Concession. Its the compassion style and focuses on stunning damage, by-passing armor, and healing. Plus nearly every charm is combo-ok. I personally also love the ability to negate all reflexive and supplimental charms in an attack and suck up the essence in them.

The only thing I don't like about Dreaming Pearl Courtesan is the form you take in that final charm. Finned Space Dragon-Goat or whatever just ain't my thing.

Can't use the stuff from Imperfect Lotus, as it's 2nd ed and we're 1st ed dorks. Although, I dunno, there's really not much difference between 1st and 2nd ed Martial Arts that I've compared. Socializing is not my guy's specialty. He spent most of his life in libraries (running them or researching), so he's a little incompetent in social situation.

When it comes to combat he likes to make the opposition stop as efficiently as possible. His role in the group is debuffs and controls. Enemies have a habit of losing their weapons and getting clinched out of all their dice actions when he's around. He tends not to kill, but if that's what it takes he won't hesitate (Compassion 1, wooooooo).

...you're breaking my balls here, Brian, you're breaking my balls.

Anyway. *cough* Perfected Lotus would be pretty fine to use. The entire book was basically a giant copy-paste from 1ed, so converting something back and forth isn't that hard. And I'm a Righteous Devil Style fiend. (Honestly, that style has some of the best damn fluff in the game. Playing in a game right now that involves finding the Unnamed Man's lost Obsidian Manse in the Southern Wyld to find the lost pinnacle charm, but that's another story.)

Dreaming Pearl is a pretty good MA...it's just that it has a few really really good charms, and a lot of crap ones that you'll just buy to get to the good ones. And a problem with the final charm is that if you accidentally stay in it for longer than a scene, there's a high chance of "transcending". (I.E. time to stat up a new character, 'cause you're done, son.)

Hmmm...interesting that it's a Sidereal. They have access to ALL MA styles...perhaps you should see if you can get initiation into Water Dragon Immaculate MA, since you seem to have a preference for clawed glove weapons. They're pretty much Celestial Styles for DBs, and it's DAMN strong. Especially in the hands of a Solar Exalt.

The best Styles for a clawed fighter would be Tiger/Water Dragon/Hungry Ghost (The Abyssal Style). But with the kind of fighting style you're going for in this character, I'd recommend Water Dragon Immaculate MA with Mantis Form up. That's just all kinds of a beat down. However, if your ST/The Sid won't allow it, just go with Tiger Style. Sadly, Tiger Claws aren't a very popular form weapon, so your choices are limited.


Also. Going unarmed (relatively) martial artist is rough enough. Something I suggest to put on a wish list? Perfected Kata Bracers. They're popular in 2ed, but they have 1ed versions as well. You can find them in the Earth Aspect Book. Even if you don't want all the benefits, a dumbed down version of them will really only cost you Artifact 2, and they do wonders for increasing your unarmed combat ability. And since using an MA Style with an in-form weapon considers it to be fighting unarmed...well, your Tiger Claws will become legendary.

If you need any books, I've got every single Exalted book on .pdf, though from the sounds of it your group has a great hold of them already.

Two questions:

What caste are you? (I'm assuming Twilight from your description which would mean you've got some extra soak in your anima power if you need it.)

Do you only have access to celestial styles or could you pick up something from the Five Dragon Paths of the Immaculate Order? There are some styles you might want to look into. They are more elemental but they have interesting effects. I'd also suggest checking caste books in the magic of section as they sometimes have useful martial style charms buried in them.

Damn Ninjas.

The wonder of Solar charms.

"You see that fancy sword on the guy's hip? Take it. Go ahead, take it. W-why are you pulling out your dice? Put the dice down, and grab the damn sword. It's yours."

I kind of fell in love with the Earth aspect MA. Mostly because I like making craftsmen type artifact heavy characters. That and the earth aspect MA allows you to break things really really easily. Like scary easy. I had a DB that could swing his normal goremaul, not even a grand one, and smash through over 120 feet of solid reinforced castle wall. He was a walking siege machine. Hell he could punch through about 30-40 feet of solid wall. I can only imagine how great a solar craftsman with access to solar charms as well would be.

This Exalted sounds kinda nifty. Im assuming I can find the books where I normally could find D&D stuff?

Honestly, I'd prefer to stay unarmed than use tiger claws. But I figured, if I went Tiger, I may as well use them since they're only barely weapons.

Not sure about the availability of Immaculate styles, but I admit to being interested in Water.

And, yeah, Dreaming Pearl isn't amazing on its own, but its subtle style and tricky ways are a good fit with where the character's mentality. And with Mantis as a backbone, you can whip out some mean combos. The final charm isn't much of a problem (8 Willpower helps) and I can probably convince the ST to make it work with a more humanoid transformation if I ever got it that far so I wouldn't feel like a fruitcake.

I've already got Hearthstone Bracers now, but will look into these filthy Terrestrial artifacts you mention.

Honestly, the more I look at that old workhouse Snake Style the more I like it. Which is funny because I never liked it, even when it was the only game in town. But now I see a ton of stuff that works well on its own and with Mantis. A scene length charm that makes all attacks piercing? Another charm that negates all armor? A cheap extra action charm? Aggravated damage? It's Painville, population: The Realm.

And to answer Sithdarth, yes, Twilight.

http://stevencreech.com/images/posters/exalted.jpg

It's true. And yeah, you should be able to at least find the 2ed Corebook there, amongst others. Sadly White Wolf has been focusing more on Scion lately, which sucks, but Abyssals 2ed should be coming out soon.

Again, thanks to a little work, I have every Exalted rulebook every printed on .pdf. All it takes is a PM, and I can hand them out.