Exalted Lite/Essence

Essence

Essence has undergone some basic changes. It's a far more visible Trait, adding to health levels, movement speed, healing rate, defense values, and so on, for all characters.

It is also far more expensive. See [[../Advancement|Advancement]] for costs. The crippling nature of this expendature is intentional. There is no hard rule for how long a character must be Exalted in order to attain a certain Essence level (But see the guidelines below). Literally, when they are ready to devote the time to it, they are able to grow. [[../Celestial|Celestial]] Exalted can naturally reach lofty heights of power extremely quickly if under significant pressure.

Outside of a Manse or Demesne, most characters receive Essence at a rate equal to their permanent Essence in motes per hour of restful activity. Mortals with Awakened Essence require the Essence Recovery Merit to recover Essence at this rate, otherwise they merely gain 1 mote per hour. This doubles while in meditation.

Maximum Essence

• Celestial Exalted: 10
• Alchemical Exalted: 9
• Elemental: 9
• Dragon Blooded: 3 + Breeding, +1 with assistance or special practices
• Dragon King: 6
• Raksha: 6
• Enlightened Mountain Folk: 5 (6 with Great Geas lifted or transcended)
• Ghost: 5
• Half Caste: 3 (4 with assistance or special practices, 5 with both)
• unEnlightened Mountain Folk: 3
• Dragon-Touched: 3
• Spirit-Blooded: 3
• Mortal: 3

Essence - Age Guidelines

The following is the recommended minimum age a character should be before being allowed to purchase a given Essence score. The pace isn't terribly different from canon, except the higher levels come significantly faster to Celestial Exalted. It is a soft limit, intended as a guideline.

• 1: - (1 xp total)
• 2: 4 years (17 xp total)
• 3: 20 years (98 xp total)
• 4: 71 years (354 xp total)
• 5: 196 years (979 xp total)
• 6: 455 years (2,275 xp total)
• 7: 935 years (4,676 xp total)
• 8: 1,755 years (8,772 xp total)
• 9: 3,067 years (15,333 xp total)
• 10: 5,067 years (25,333 xp total)

• Divide by 4 for Alchemical Exalted, Dragon-Blooded Exalted, Reborn Elementals, and Half-Caste.
• Multiply by 3 for Moderate Elementals
• Multiply by 15 for Raksha, Minor Elementals, First Circle Demons, and Ghosts
• Insignificant Elementals are stuck forever where they began. Gods and Greater Demons, though they can improve themselves, do not follow the same rules.