Buying Backgrounds

As they advance, characters often find themselves wanting to buy Backgrounds with XP that they were unable or unwilling to buy at character generation. The Exalted MUSH uses a modified version of one of the systems the Exalted Storyteller's Guide puts forward for handling this problem.

Cost of Backgrounds

Backgrounds cost the same XP as unfavored Abilities to buy up. Backgrounds bought up with XP are not protected from any sort of ST dickery; the world is harsh and cruel! However you will of course get a full XP refund if your backgrounds are ruined or wrecked, because we are not assholes.

Some backgrounds will require IC justifications to raise - An Influence raise requires some social maneuvering, a manse raise will demand aquiring a manse, etc.

Some backgrounds are not functional traits of the character at all - the character has a manse which is useless to him, or a large sum of money which actually belongs to his patron and is not his to spend, or perhaps he simply has a daiklave propped up in the back wall of his house somewhere, uninterested in it except as a conversation piece or a potential gift for a friend some day. These generally don't require XP expenditure, but STs can make exceptions - a broken manse that can be repaired instantly, or a daiklave that can simply be picked up and wielded, has some real value, and you might need to devote a very small quantity of XP to maintaining a 'fallow' background.

Favored Backgrounds

Some backgrounds can be justified supernaturally well. It is right and proper for a man with the voice of a deity and the will of a monster to bend the masses to his will, as Followers. Any background justified with charms, sorcery, or other supernatural traits can be paid for as a favored Ability rather than an unfavored. The first dot of such backgrounds costs 1 XP, not 3, as per the rules in Imperfect Lotus(One of the few times a background is given hard price). There are, however, no reimbursements.

In the wake of increasing demand, we have established more specific guidelines as to what the requirements are for each background. House Rules: Favored Backgrounds

Concrete backgrounds: Artifacts and Manses

Artifacts or Manses chosen as Backgrounds are presumed to have on hand and for you to be attuned to them - to use as you like. If you can build these things, you can build them, but keeping them and enhancing your power with them involves an XP expenditure. Even if you lack XP expenditure, powerful crafters can capitalize on their skill.

You can hand them out as gifts, by which I mean bribes. Everyone likes a nice artifact, especially people who you want to feel endebted to you, or servants or allies who you wish to empower. (PC allies can be handed artifacts this way - in this case, THEY pay XP for them, but thanks to you, they pay the favored XP cost.

Second, you can build infrastructure. Don't underestimate the value of an aquaduct, decent plumbing, a good manse that you aren't attuned to that blesses the surrounding countryside, or a bridge, or a solid road, or - and so on. Furthermore, magical versions of all of these are possible and awesome. A city that turns sewage in to rich loam via an elemental furnace is a city whose gardens will rival the Blessed Isle and whose bathrooms smell like daisies. More practically, if you build something deeply personally useful to you and several of your closest friends, you can split the XP cost among you.

Third, you can build non-artifact equipment. No one will kick a man who can field strip and reassemble a catapult in ten minutes out of their army.

Losing Backgrounds

In the event that you DO lose a Background you spent XP on, due to the machinations of your own self-destruction or the attacks of other player-characters, you can either be assured of promptly regaining something equivalent, or your XP will be refunded. Yes, if you now qualify for a Favored Background that you paid for previously, this does mean that the 'optimal' strategy is to overreach yourself, lose everything you've worked for, then build yourself back up. This is intentional on the part of Kukla, and he's open to criticism.