Post originally by Adam at 2003-04-15 10:05:52
Converted from Phorums BB System

I don't doubt that if you're willing to spend the time and effort you can tweak Exalted's magic system to reflect anime fantasy. However, I buy roleplaying supplements so I don't have to do that much work. Adjusting the system would take more effort than adding a few super-spells and giving spellcasters more essence if you were concerned with game balance.

To be fair to the non-spellcasting characters, you should probably design the best combat spells to only be slightly better than the best combos. This would be balanced by the casting time each spell requires. You might also want to create "Spell Trees" that require players to take several prerequisite spells before the get to truly powerful effects. Combat characters have to buy pleanty of charms to get a good combo and spellcasters shouldn't get the best combat spells without making similar investments.

It takes significant time to design and playtest such spells before you can be fairly confidant that they won't unbalance your game. This is the sort of thing you really want the game company to do for you. The designers of Exalted may not have intended to make a game that can simulate anime level magic but their ad campaign's reference to Final Fantasy probably left a lot of people who bought Exalted unsatisfied with the magic system they got.

-Adam