Aspect Book Water
Aspect Book for Exalted the Dragon-Blooded
ISBN: 1-58846-679-5
Stock #: WW8843
Written by Ian Eller and John Snead
Published by White Wolf
www.white-wolf.com
96 black and white pages
$19.99
Aspect Book water details the “sailors, spiritualists and merchants without compare” that make up the Water aspect of the dragon-blooded exalted caste. Like previous books in the series, it’s broken up into six chapters with two appendices. It follows five individuals through their development as dragon blooded and the trials they go through as they develop their water aspect abilities.
Page use is fair but could be better. Chapters tend to end with a lot of white space. I’m also at a loss as to why the first page is a blank page with a faded symbol with the names of the authors. It’s not that the authors don’t deserver credit, but they get that on the credits page, which in and of itself would have had the table of contents, since the toc only have broad headings. With no index, that makes finding specific things a little time consuming. Since the space is there, perhaps they could take a page from Wizards of the Coast and instead of just putting Chapter One, could actually list out the separate parts of that chapter? At 96 black and white pages, the book is priced at the average market range of $19.99, being more expensive only when compared against Wizards of the Coast 96 page supplements which tend to be full color.
Art varies from so-so to good. The cover is probably one of the better illustrations. Full page illustrations break up the chapters. Writing is good overall, but apparently I’ve missed the glory of Manacle and Coin that introduced such quaint drugs like “crack cocaine” in Ragara Takar’s investigations on things in the Realm. For me, crack cocaine and Exalted don’t go together and there’s a huge thread about it over in the RPG.net forums. Some people love it as it shows how “real” Exalted can be and that Manacle and Coin set the pace for such drugs. Like I said, for me, it doesn’t fit. Otherwise, the fiction section is pretty useful for getting into the heads of the characters.
In this case, we have the following characters:
Peleps Japehn is a starting character good for a pregenerated character in a new campaign. His birth is a byproduct of his parents forced arrangement and he often finds himself being used as a pawn in their games. Fortunately for him, Nellens Baeden has used many favors of his own to have Japehn moved away from his parents influence and towards his destiny as a Water aspect.
Ranya Petris is another starting character. She is a pirate who origins are mundane but whose exalted live moves beyond that humble point of origin to be the captain of her own ship. As a master of the Diamond Shadow, she’s seen more than more experienced exalted.
Ragara Takar is a manipulator of events and records. He works for the Scarlet Orchid and honestly believes that things are going to end badly, he just doesn’t want such to happen on his shift so to speak, so he works to halt the various factions that seek to tear down the empire into which he has been born. More of a mid-tier character.
Peleps Deled represents the spiritualist with a monk’s fire. He runs the Wyld Hunt and takes delight in showcasing his unique understanding of the Immaculate Philosophy. Perhaps the most dangerous of the presented characters here in terms of physical menace.
Peleps Aramida fills out the ranks. She’s an older dragon blooded and has seen much in her time. One of the most impressive in terms of equipment, she caries a jade reaper daiklave with ashigaru battle armor with built-in elemental lens. This is the benefit of being the commander of part of the Realm’s Water Fleet.
Each of these characters is given full stats and details in Appendix One, Signature Characters. Each starts off with a quote, prelude, roleplaying hints, and Image. The game stats include attributes, virtues, abilities, backgrounds, charms, combat statistics and Exalted Power Combat. Useful for those using the optional rules or the core rules.
The book focuses on the fluff or story of the characters. Chapter one takes us through the characters as they grow up and the tale of their Exaltation. Moving into chapter two, we see how the characters interact with the world about them and what their viewpoints are. Looking into chapter three, we get their opinions on various factions in the Exalted setting. Chapter four gives us the flip side, how others see the Water aspects of the dragon blooded. Those looking for details of the dragon blooded before the current era will look through chapter five.
The crunch of the book comes into play in chapter six, Miracles of Daana’d. We have new charms and items for the Water Aspects to play with. For charms, we have brawl, bureaucracy, larceny, and sail. The nice thing about the different charm trees is that it allows players to focus on different aspects and don’t all involve combat, but includes combat for those who want it. For those who want great gambling skill, Perfect Gambling Prana, a charm that allows you to control an event during a game of chance, is a great aid. For those looking for battle though, they may want to don the Ashigaru Battle Armor, a two dot artifact that is equal to a reinforced breastplate but also augments their senses, helps protect against poison and cam make the wearer harder to detect.
Storytellers looking for more NPCs to throw into the fray, have appendix two to work with, Other Notable Water Aspects. Here we get the name, and history, along with an illustration to work with. The history includes things like background, as well as what the character is doing and how they look. Here the format of other companies, especially those using the d20 engine, shows a little bit of superior use as they tend to break this information out into different blocks and label it as such as opposed to just one long rambling section. This includes individuals like Tepet Yasal, one of the best brawler’s in the realm, as well as Nellens Baeden, captain of Grace of Daana’d. Useful for filling in different roles in a campaign but without stats, more background players than those that the storyteller would just whip into an encounter.
In terms of fluff, the book does a good job of providing the reader with alternative images of what the Water Exalted Aspects can do and what they are. Not all of them have the same reactions towards the Anathema for example, and some of them don’t even think about the same factions as others. By providing five distinctively different characters, it allows the Water aspect to be more than a one shot deal, but also makes it harder to easily say, “Yeah, he’s a Water aspect based on…”
If you’re read one of the other Aspect books, you have a good idea of what you’re getting into here. By following the same format, the authors insure that the readers know what their getting ahead of time. If you want more NPCs, crunch, and fiction to fill out your time and knowledge of Exalted, the Water aspect book provides that in 96 pages.
Review Summary