A review of some rules and fun facts written at Kukla's request.

 

This is the first draft.

 

ABSTRACTED RESOURCE GENERATION AND PURCHASING METHOD

 

Resources have a recovery period of one OOC week.  If you have expended all of your resources, on any given Saturday you will recover your resource expenditure, ready to be used again.  In-Game, this translates to a monthly recovery period.

 

However, even within a Resource rating bracket, there is great variability in the pricing and value of a given item.  This system is designed to reflect squeezing as much money out of one's resources as possible, reflecting a shrewd merchant's ability to make the most of their obols.

 

In a scene when you make a purchase that can strain your resources, there's a chance you can get a deal, or manage the financing, so that you effectively retain your maximum resource rating.

 

This process is abstracted into a roll that makes it increasingly harder to perform in the same economic recovery time period. It also does not allow you to make purchases above your rating. Purchases below your rating are, as always, insignificant.

 

The roll is (Wits/Int/Cha/Man + Bureacracy) vs Difficulty (The Resource value of the purchase) + (Set external difficulty of market)

 

The set difficulty of the market is a number from 0 to 5 that reflects what else is going on in the world that might affect the ease by which items may be available. Wars, catastrophies (Nexus, anyone?), legislation, over-taxation, high demand, limited supply, poor communications...all can add to the set(ting?) difficulty of the purchase. The difficulty will be anywhere from 0 (R0, diff 0) to 10 (R5, diff 5) for the roll. Charms like Insightful Buyer technique that removes the external setting difficulty, making the roll vastly easier.

 

On a success, the purchase is made, and the character retains use of his Resources rating. On a fail, the purchase is made, but the character loses the use of their Resources rating until the economic recovery phase at the end of the OOC week. On a botch, the character fails to make the purchase, and loses the use of their resource rating anyways.

 

After the roll is made, the difficulty of trying to make the roll again in the same OOC week is increased by one.

 

PAYING FOR MUNDANE OVERSIZED ITEMS AND EQUIPMENT

 

I want to buy Yoshi, a claw strider mount, some barding. Yoshi is bigger than a person, so how much should his armour cost?

 

Yoshi is currently weighing in at around 2.5 tonnes. About twenty times as much as a person. He's 30 feet long, nose to tail, and is not a standard shape. Barding him should be more expensive than buying a normal chain shirt, yet there aren't any rules for it. Here's what I'm proposing.

 

Custom work automatically brings the quality of the purchase up to fine. Custom measurements, custom fitting, etc. The size of the creature is then considered. If the creature is over eight times the mass of a person (1200+ lbs; like a draft horse or warhorse), add one to its cost. If it is sixty-four times the mass of a person (9600+ lbs; Like a Tyrant Lizard or mammoth), add second dot to the cost of the armour. Five-hundred twelve times (76 800+ lbs; Yeddim, small behemoths) adds a third dot to the cost. It maxes out at Resources 5, but if the above houserule is used, the lost dots that would be added to the Resource rating cost is added to the resource difficulty on the roll.

 

So, getting Yoshi a breastplate (automatically at fine quality: +5L/3B, -1 Mob, Fatigue 1) is base 2, +1 for fine, and since Yoshi is over 1200 lbs, but under 9600 lbs, add +1, for a total cost of 4.

 

This system applies to any purchase/commision that is made of a crafter of a different size than the user of the item in question.

 

MONETARY SYSTEM

 

Exalted has a ridiculously complex monetary system with two different scales of costs, one based on jade and other in silver (both widely used in the East). This is certainly realistic, but also unwieldy, with a non-decimal ranking that includes not less than 12 kinds of coins in two different, parallel systems. For sanity's sake I am simplifying the notations in this article so only 4 kinds of coins are used: jade talents, obols, dinars and yens.

 

1 jade talent (68 pounds of jade) = 1000 jade obol

 

1 jade obol = 1000 yen

 

5 silver talents = 1 jade talent

 

1 silver talent (64 pounds of silver) = 1600 silver dinars

 

1 jade talent = 8000 dinars

 

1 obol = 8 dinar

 

1 dinar = 125 yen (copper coins)

 

Talents are used only for large purchases, most common people will only talk about dinars or yens (and fractions of yens).

 

REVISED MONETARY GAINS

 

The resource background in page 113 of the core books explains what a character can afford with each resource level quite well, falling short only for resources 5. This is just a small addition.

 

No resources: The character has no source of income at all. He or she hunts or begs for food and pocket change. Beggars and slaves.

 

Resources 1: The character is poor, but has a source of income that gives him 1 to 4 dinars each month (20-60 yearly). Most peasants and apprentices gain this.

 

Resources 2: The character is middle class, a landowning commoner, journeyman artisan, entertainer, shop owner, professional soldier, etc. The character earns 4-40 dinars monthly, (60-600 yearly).

 

Resources 3: The character is definitely wealthy. Famous master craftsmen, master merchants, engineers, architects, sorcerers, alchemists, army officers, large ship captains, famous artists, successful courtesan, and minor nobles usually have resources 3. This is usually the minimum wealth level of a dragon-blooded dynast, since even if they are not leading the family's business or possess large land tracks, dragon-blooded dynast are given a stipend by their families to live at the levels of luxury society expects from them. The characters earns or receives at least 40 dinars monthly, and maybe several hundreds. In a year the character can earn 600 dinars to one jade talent (8000 dinars).

 

Resources 4: The character is very wealthy. Generally only important nobles or merchant princes are this wealthy. There is no profession that gives this kind of revenue, the character doubtlessly possesses vast farmlands, or a rich mine, or maybe a fleet of merchant ships. Likely hundreds of peasants or slaves work for him. The character gets (at this point it cannot be said she "earns") several talents of jade annually, several thousands dinars monthly.

 

Resources 5: The character is fabulously wealthy. He or she rules a prosperous kingdom or leads a vast merchant empire. Only very successful guild factols, kings and some Dynasts posses these levels of wealth. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of mortals work for the character. The character better has the skills to run the kingdom or financial empire, or at least very skilled administrators. The character gets several jade talents every month, possibly one hundred or more yearly.

 

EXPANDED RESOURCES RANKINGS

 

Resources 6/Salary 4: Only the rulers of great kingdoms, the leaders of some of the houses of the Dynasty, some Deathlords or influential celestial gods (or senior Sidereals) have this kind of near-bottomless pocket, handling hundreds of jade talents each month, thousands at the end of a year.

 

Resources 7/Salary 5: The equivalent of the entire budget of the Scarlet Empire. Only the Scarlet Empress commanded this level of wealth in Creation (the Realm Treasure, backing the Realm financial system, contains 50,000 talents of jade) although no doubt Chejop Kejak and perhaps some elder sidereals could claim this level of resources too (breaking several laws of Heaven if they use them in creation). In Heaven only the most influential and powerful gods have so much.

 

REVISED COSTS

 

Many of the costs in the Core book make no sense. For instance, it costs resources 4 to equip a whole legion, yet each reinforced breastplate also costs resources 4, and a legion usually has several scales of heavy infantry and cavalry that wear reinforced breastplates.

 

Also, because artifacts cost rank+2 resources, in many instances artifacts are cheaper than common gear. For instance, ashigaru power armor cost the same than reinforced plate, offering several additional benefits.

 

Too cheap to mention:

A normal meal, a walking staff, a club, a cheap knife, a beer. Less than half a yen.

 

Resources 1:

A simple weapon (spear, short sword, mace, axe, bow), a set of normal clothes, a good meal for a score people, a few sheep, one cow, a dose of opium or other cheap drug, non metal armor. Goods worth from a yen to half a dinar.

 

Resources 2:

A complex or large weapon (crossbow, composite bow, sword, pole axe), a high quality (fine) simple weapon, an ox, a normal horse, high quality clothes, an unskilled slave, a small wooden house, a cheap apartment, a dose of an expensive drug, light or medium metal armor, a ship passage for a months-long trip. Goods worth from half a dinar to around 15 dinars.

 

Resources 3:

A large animal (elephant, yeddim), a trained warhorse, noble clothes (silk and jewels), an exotic pet, an apartment in a good area of a city, a comfortable stone country house, a yatch or small merchant ship (carries 6-10), an alchemical personal weapon, heavy or superheavy metal armor, high quality (fine) light or medium armor, exceptional quality small or simple weapons, a small artifact. Goods worth 15-200 dinars.

 

Resources 4:

A mansion, small palace, a manse of 3rd or lesser rank, a keep or manor house, an outfit for a king, including royal jewels, a warship or large merchant ship, gear to equip a wing of light infantry or archers, or a scale of cavalry or heavy infantry, supplies for a month for a legion (garrison or the battlefield, it is far more expensive keeping it going in the battlefield, but not quite resources 5), a trading caravan with dozens of wagons, perfect weapons and armors. Goods worth 200 dinars to half a jade talent

 

Resources 5:

Raise a manse of the 4th or 5th rank, perform geomantic engineer in a demesne, build a castle, build a grand palace, a powerful talisman, a king's ransom, equip a legion of light infantry or archers or a dragon of heavy infantry or cavalry, a good alchemical/sorcery workshop equipped to work magical materials, a small fleet of frigates or galleons armed to the teeth. Goods worth from half a jade talent to 10 jade talents.

 

Perfect Equipment:

Perfect weapons and armors are generally cost resources 4, because those are usually done by famous smiths that spend months working in weapons and armors that are not just incredibly good, but also works of art decorated with jewels and precious metals. The cost also takes in account they are so damn rare the smiths can often sell them at any price they want.

 

It should be noted few smiths would bother with things like "normal" plate-and-chain or superheavy plate. Those armors are for nobles, require master smiths, and they take months to craft, so those able to create them tend to spend the extra effort to ensure they are exceptional armors and usually succeed. Reinforced breastplate is an exception because it is standard armor for veteran legionnaires, and there are factories in the Blessed Island and Lookshy that build them en masse, even though they are very expensive.

 

Miscellanea:

Gear costing Resources X costs approximately what a person with that level of wealth gains in a month; for that reason I think purchases of equal level equipment should reduce the resources of the purchaser for a month at most - i.e, no more than 3 such purchases per season. It should be noted that wealth increases by a factor of approximately x20 to x40 per dot; players and storytellers should consider this point when increasing the income of the characters, and when considering how many purchases of lower level items are possible in a month (that is, not an infinite number, but certainly a score of lesser purchases).

 

 

COSTS OF MANSES AND ARTIFACTS

 

In general, these cost level + 2 in resources. This means Artifact ranked 4 and 5 are basically priceless for most people, including the Dynasts. Such items are only very rarely traded for jade, but they might still be purchased in exchange for: similarly valuable artifacts or manses, rights over rich prefectures, large cities and even satrapies, large tracts of land (including palaces and castles) on the Blessed Isle, or immeasurably valuable favors such as deification.

 

Acquiring artifact equipment for your character using resources can be done. However, there are steep limitations.

• You can't acquire 'unique' or 'special' equipment this way. You wind up with the generic discards of others - servicable but unneeded equipment.
• You can't start play with them. Every single one must be roleplayed, a vast sum trading hands creating a business relationship that can be tapped later, by others or you, for good or ill.
• Such items take time to acquire. Finding a seller, establishing what you'll pay with, establishing how you can meet their price at all, guaranteeing fidelity... all these require time. Often it can take at least an IC month. If you commission such an item, you'll not see it for years - which makes for good roleplay but bad character advancement at our timescales.
• Such items have no plot immunity whatsoever, and in fact tend to be prone to misfortune. If they're damaged, destroyed, or lost, you're not getting them back.

The advantage to this is that it's perhaps the only way to reasonably explain how you afford to produce artifact equipment for a small strikeforce of exalts or other divine types.

 

In Heaven, where building such powerful items is not so hard, they can still be purchased or commissioned for quintessence or ambrosia, although one should remember most Celestial gods move at a far slower pace than mortals when trading, bartering or crafting, treating years as men treat weeks.

 

Manses follow a similar pattern. Notice this means capping a level 1 demesne is often not worth it, since building even a small manse is a resources 5 endeavor if you begin with a temporary cap on the demense (as outlined by Oadenol's Codex, page 58) and raising the power of a demesne requires resources 5 regardless of the new or old rating. Remember, most manses held by Dynasts do not belong to any particular Dynast, but to their House or the Scarlet Empire as a whole. The Dynasts are given the privilege of attuning to the manse, and the Hearthstones loaned to them, for a period of time usually equal to a few years or decades.

 

(Check also Mela's Resources Bible)