ence 20
Sidereals receive Astrology as a free Anima Descriptor. When performing Feats, Sidereals may always spend motes up to their Essence.
Dragon-Blooded
Flesh 10 Caste 5 Anima 10 Descriptor 10 Prince of the Earth or Immaculate Martial Arts Essence 25
Most Dragon-Blooded receive Prince of the Earth as a free Anima Descriptor, reflecting their superior education and social status, though members of the Immaculate Order receive Immaculate Martial Arts instead. When performing Feats, Dragon-Blooded may spend motes up to the sum of their Flesh and Caste, if each of them is relevant to the action.
Fair Folk
Flesh 5 Caste 5 Diplomat / Warrior / Entertainer / Worker / Noble Anima 10 Descriptor 10 Glamour Essence 25
In place of Caste, Fair Folk have an attribute for their Type, which functions identically and is one of Diplomat, Warrior, Entertainer, Worker, or Noble. They receive Glamour as a free Anima Descriptor. When performing Feats, Fair Folk may always spend motes up to their Anima. Fair Folk have an effective Essence of Zero when defending against attacks made with cold iron.
Mortals
All forms of mortals are low enough in power to be represented by nearly identical stats which cannot be raised with experience. These fixed stats are given below. In place of Caste, they have their everyday profession.
Heroic Mortals
Flesh 1 Profession 1 Anima 0 Descriptors None Essence 1
When performing Feats, Heroic Mortals may spend one mote, or two if their profession is applicable.
Mortals
Flesh 0 Profession 1 Anima 0 Descriptors None Essence 1
When performing Feats, Mortals may spend one mote.
Extras
Flesh 0 Profession 1 Anima 0 Descriptors None Essence 0
Note that since Extras have Essence Zero, any number of them can be affected by a single Feat without increasing the difficulty.
Combat & Injury
Combat is divided into turns, roughly three seconds long. All characters involved in the combat state what they are doing for the turn, and these actions will all resolve simultaneously. By default, characters can perform a single Feat. If a character wishes to perform more than one Feat, then the difficulty of all the Feats he is performing is increased by the number of Feats he is performing. Feats used to injure other characters can be opposed by another Feat. If the attack is not opposed, then it will deal damage to the target equal to the difficulty of the Feat before increasing it due to the target's Essence. (That is, if a character with combined skill 5 attacks a character with Essence 2 who does not defend himself, then the defender will take 3 levels of damage.) Defending against an attack with a Feat subtracts the difficulty of the defending Feat from the damage dealt; attacks reduced to zero or less damage are not successful. The defending Feat does not have to overcome the attacker's Essence.
In addition to instantaneous Feats, persistent Feats can also be performed. By increasing the difficulty of a Feat by 5, that Feat can happen automatically whenever it is appropriate for the remainder of the scene. For example, with a Feat of difficulty 9, a character could receive an automatic defense of 4 on every attack against him for the rest of the scene. Another difficulty 9 Feat could give him a level 4 counterattack against every attack as well.
Characters can only take a limited amount of damage. Characters have three health levels, plus two health levels for every point of Flesh they have. These levels are evenly divided into +0, +1, and +2 health levels. In cases where the total number is not divisible by three, if there is one extra level, it is +1, and if there are two extra levels, they +0 and +2. When characters take damage, they check off one health level per point of damage, starting with +0 levels, then +1, and finally +2. The difficulty of all Feats a character attempts is increased by the highest health level marked off. Damage heals at the rates given in the original Exalted rules. If a character takes Ox-Body Technique as an Anima Descriptor, then he may add his Anima to his Flesh for purposes of computing how many health levels he has. When in Deadly Beastman Form, Lunars also add their Anima to their Flesh for the purpose of computing health levels. (This is cumulative; if a Lunar has Ox-Body Technique, then he receives this bonus a total of twice while in Deadly Beastman Form.)
Characters in combat will often wish to attempt collaborative Feats to attack powerful opponents. Collaborative Feats allow multiple characters to contribute to a single, more powerful Feat. Each attacker must overcome the defender's Essence individually, but any skill available past that point is added to the skill of the combined Feat. For example, two characters with applicable skill of 5 and 7 attacking a character with Essence 3 will deal (5-3)+(7-3)==6 levels of damage if the victim uses no defense. He could defend against this with a single Feat, but perhaps the defender is capable of stopping two separate attacks of 2 and 4 damage, while some of the 6 damage may get through.
Artifacts
Artifacts are represented as objects with attributes and one or two descriptors which can be used by the character attuned to them just like any other attribute. The attribute rating of the artifact equals its dot-rating under original Exalted rules. For example, a Daiklave is Melee:2, and would contribute two points of skill towards any task involving close-range combat. Artifact armors add their rating to the difficulty to be affect by enemy feats in combat. Artifacts purchased at character creation should generally cost five points per dot. (For reference purposes, the Eye of Autocthon is Everything:10.)
Example
Let's show all this in action:
Glorious Anthem, a young Night Caste Solar Exalt, and her No-Moon Lunar spouse, Drinks-But-Monthly, whose totem is the camel, are engaged in a rather distracting activity.
Glorious Anthem
Flesh 2 Caste:Night 3 Anima 2 Descriptors Daring Thief Essence 3 Descriptors Charming, Intuitive, Steal First Age Artifacts
Drinks-But-Monthly
Flesh 2 Caste:No-Moon 2 Anima 3 Descriptors Shapeshifter, Sorcery Essence 2 Descriptors Determined, Explore the Wyld
(Note that both are legal starting characters.)
Porkchop Handaxe, secretive Bronze Faction Sidereal Assassin, attacks them at an inopportune moment.
Porkchop Handaxe
Flesh 3 Caste:Secrets 4 Anima 3 Descriptors Astrology, Trustworthy Advisor, Obsidian Daggers of the Heart Style Martial Arts, Relentless Hunter, Learned Doctor Essence 4 Descriptors Cynical, Handsome, Loyal, Maintain Order
Artifact: The Weeping Claw, a Hand-to-Hand:1 weapon
(Porkchop Handaxe is a much more experienced character.)
Reacting to sneak attacks is difficult, but both of the targets are very perceptive. Flesh clearly lets you sense your surroundings, as do Caste:Night and Daring Thief. Caste:No-Moon also covers perception, and Drinks-But-Monthly is in his Beastman form at the time, letting him use his enhanced Shapeshifter senses. Each of the ambushees has a skill of 7 with respect to detecting the attack.
Stealth is a natural thing, thus covered by Flesh, and definitely under the domain of Secrets. That's a skill of 7 already. Relentless Hunter might be applicable, although it leans more towards determination than sneakiness, and while Obsidian Daggers of the Heart is a vicious style, it's not particularly subtle. Porkchop could increase his skill by spending motes, but he'd rather save them, especially since his targets could as well. It doesn't matter much in any case, as both of our heros want to take defensive actions on the first turn anyway.
Glorious Anthem declares that she will Flow Like Blood, setting up a persistent dodge effect. Again, her Flesh, Caste, and Anima are applicable. This gives her 7 skill, with the option to spend up to seven motes, of which she has thirty. Figuring that keeping her own skin safe is an important priority, she splurges, yielding a total skill of 14. She uses this to set up a persistent dodge at skill 9, invoking automatically whenever she is attacked for the remained of the scene. Between her Essence of 3 and her Flow Like Blood of 9, it'll take 13 points of skill to actually hit her.
Drinks-But-Monthly wants to create a persistent rapid healing effect using the resilience of his Beastman form. Instantly healing wounds is not even remotely possible for mortals, so Flesh is not applicable. It's not a No-Moon skill either, so he has only his Anima of 3 contributing skill. However, his Essence Descriptor of Determined could reasonably apply to the tenacity needed to keep getting back up even under massive punishment, so he gets one point