Simple D6 expansion Exalted

Intro

This is a (very small) expansion for running Exalted with the Simple d6 system, third edition.

Obviously, this is meant to be used if you're annoyed at Exalted's excessive complexity and don't mind losing a LOT of "detail" from the original system.

(I'm assuming that you already know Exalted, because I'm not going to explain it here.)

The basic idea behind this expansion is that the characters created with Simple d6's basic rules (1 quality, 5 skills, 5 hit points) are "heroic mortals" in Exalted terms.

Qualities

Heroic Mortals have a Quality as per normal Simple d6 rules.

When they Exalt, their Quality changes and becomes their Caste! Dawn Caste, Changing Moon, Fire Aspect, and so on. If you know Exalted, you know what these will mean.

Using the old signature characters as examples:

Dace would have Mercenary -> Dawn Caste.
Panther would have Gladiator -> Zenith Caste.
Arianna would have Scholar -> Twilight Caste.
Jade would have Assassin -> Night Caste.
And Swan would have Diplomat -> Eclipse Caste.

As you can see, the "Exalted" Quality always seems to be broader than their original, "mortal" Quality. This is by design, of course.

Aspects

There are three Aspects: Physical, Social and Mental.

Physical Combat is just that, combat. Someone who is defeated in physical combat is either dead, dying, or knocked out (GM's call).

Social Combat is persuasion, seduction, and all that sort of thing. Being defeated in Social combat causes you to gain an INTIMACY. This just means that you care about a thing and you gotta roleplay that.

Mental Combat is trickery, planning and mindgames. Defeat means you've been out-masterplanned by someone else, and they now get to dictate what situation you end up into (within reason). This usually shows up at the political/strategic level.

All mortals start with Defense 1 and 5 HP per aspect. (so, 1 Physical Defense and 5 Physical HP, 1 Social Defense and 5 Social HP, 1 Mental Defense and 5 Mental HP.)

All Exalted start with a baseline Defense of 2 in all three aspects.

Remember that the Exalted recover from physical harm faster than Mortals and never have healing complications.

Skills

Skills are freely picked, as in standard Simple D6. The GM might want to suggest these 20 Skills to players:

Archery, Athletics, Awareness, Bureaucracy, Craft, Investigation, Linguistics, Lore, Medicine, Melee, Occult, Performance, Presence, Resistance, Ride, Sail, Politics, Survival, Thrown, Warfare

You can buy a Skill twice for double cost (4 XP instead of 2), or three times for triple cost (6 XP). So for example, if you want to buy War 3, starting from War 0, you need to spend 2+4+6=12 XP!

Essence

When you Exalt, you gain an Essence Pool. You now have 5 points of Essence. You regain one of them per scene, or two per scene if you do nothing but rest.

You can increase the size of your Essence Pool by 1, by spending 4 XP. It goes up to 10. (15 for Experienced Exalted, 20 for Elder Exalted.)

Charms

Pick an interesting charm from some Exalted book, that doesn't have complicated dice math stuff and that DOES something unique, or make one up. You can now buy it! Charms cost 5 XP, or 4 XP if they belong to your Caste/Quality.

Charms are either "always on", or they cost Essence to activate (usually 1).

Interesting things that Charms can do, depending on the type of Exalted you are:

Count as weapons/armor/tools that you can use.
Let you do incredible jumps or run at amazing speeds.
Give you hints towards the solution of a mystery.
Grant extra skills to mortals or animals.
Hit multiple targets with a single attack.
Inflict extra damage to Creatures of Darkness.
Making your melee attacks ranged.
Protect your against unusual effects like poison or shaping.
Let you heal Physical HP at incredible speeds.
Let you perfectly defend against a single attack.
Let you talk to animals.
Give you amazingly sharp senses.
See immaterial beings.
Hit immaterial beings.
Change the wind direction.
Raise someone as an undead soldier.
Do amazing surgery that wouldn't normally be possible.
Specific spells of Sorcery.
Gain incredible strength for the purpose of lifting or breaking stuff.
Let you work and make stuff at super fast speed.

Things that are NOT interesting and that you shouldn't let them do:

Extra dice.
Extra HP.
Increase your defenses.
(etc.)

Character Creation

Exalted Characters start with their Caste Quality, a Defense of 2 and 5 HP in all three Aspects, 5 Skills, 5 motes of Essence in their pool, and 5 Charms, or 6 Charms if they're all Caste charms.

On top of that, you get 10 XP. You can't give up one of your Skills to increase HP or Defense in aspects as you do in normal Simple D6, but you can use these 10 XP to customize your character.

Costs are:
New Skill at level 1: 2 XP
Bring a Skill at level 2: 4 XP
Bring a Skill at level 3: 6 XP
Gain an extra Physical, Social or Mental HP: 3 XP, capped at 10/15/20 for starting/experienced/elder Exalted
Gain an extra physical, Social or Mental Defense: 4 XP, capped at 4/5/6 for starting/experienced/elder Exalted
Caste Charm: 4 XP
Non-Caste Charm: 5 XP
Increase Essence: 4 XP, capped at 10/15/20 for starting/experienced/elder Exalted