Exalted: Scroll of the Monk

by Dean Shomshak, Peter Schaefer, Lydia Laurenson

From the back alleys of Nexus to the hectic thoroughfares of the Imperial City, from the wide avenues of Yu-Shan to the twisting corridors of the Labyrinth, martial artists of all kinds stride the mean streets of the Exalted world, living their lives by esoteric codes of honor and neither offering nor accepting quarter from their enemies. Will the return of the Solar Exalted throw the Martial Arts World into chaos, or will that culture's Sidereal masters rein in the Lawgivers or put them down permanently?
A martial arts sourcebook for Exalted featuring:

Details on the Martial Arts World, a warrior culture that spans Creation

More than 25 supernatural martial arts styles, ranging from the simplest Terrestrial styles to the inscrutable Sidereal fighting arts

An array of martial arts weapons and their artifact equivalents

160 page softcover supplement for Exalted Second Edition

Genres: Role Playing Games, Gaming

160 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2006

Reviews

[Jorge Desormeaux · Rating 1 out of 5]

Scroll of the Monk came out shortly after I had bought the Exalted Second Edition corebook. I was excited over it, as it promised to give the players of my nascent campaign access to stylish combat options that would spice up the game. I was excited enough to purchase both the PDF and the physical book separately.

The book turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. Many of the Celestial Martial Arts Styles presented obvious problems even to our then-untrained eyes. Some effects were excessively weak, others too strong, and yet others barely interacted with the rules at all, or else were grievously broken. The faults are systematic and taint most of the different martial arts styles included, such that anyone who knows what he's doing would find it as easy to rewrite the material from scratch as it would be to houserule it into a workable state. Those who aren't familiar with Exalted mechanics should not even try: it isn't worth it.

This is possibly the worst single roleplaying manual that I own. It is not worth your money.

[Mark Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whether or not you are a huge fan of exalted's martial arts, this book is an essential part of your exalted collection. It contains a massive variety of martial arts, from fairly generic styles that a character who is 'a martial artist' can weild to the highly stylish styles that almost define a character by themselves. All levels of martial arts mastery are represented as well, from Terrestrial all the way up to Sidereal. There are even sections on Creation's mortal martial artists and the ways they seek to master their essence and brief discussions of gods and demons as martial artists. Crunch-wise, this book is a must-have.

The fluff is a little less exciting. I'm normally a fluff over crunch man, but the chapters on Creation's martial arts world I can take or leave. It's well thought out and well written but ultimately the sort of thing a good ST could easily cobble together by watching a few good kung-fu movies.

All in all, a brilliant supplement.