The Inky Art of Scholarship
The Lore Ability is not only a measure of how much you have studied. It is also an active tool that you can use to shape the game. Unlike in many systems where your knowledge skill is mostly a way for you to ask questions, Exalted allows you to use Lore to produce answers.
Introduce Fact
You may, at any time, declare that you would like to introduce a fact. First, state the fact you would like to introduce. Then, roll with Lore to make that fact true.
If you are the Lore specialist, I’d encourage you to try and introduce a fact at least once per session.
Requirements
In order to introduce a fact, you must have Lore 3+ and a way to know it. You have a way to know it if you either:
- Have a background that would reasonably allow you to know this fact; or
- You have a speciality that relates to the fact.
If you have Lore 5, you can introduce a fact for almost any topic. You are not an expert in every field, but you have a basic knowledge of almost everything.
What It Looks Like
Introducing a fact is a player action. It is you, as a player, saying, “I think my character knows this.”
In the fiction of the game, these are the “eureka!” moments that smart characters can have in fiction. They are moments of remembering important notes from a book you read several years ago, or rapidly deducing a fact based on the knowledge you currently have.
Introduce a Fact Example
Storyteller: You have tracked the dinosaur back to its lair. It has hidden inside the cave and won’t come out.
Lore Boy: Ah, I want to introduce a fact. I stroke my chin as I stare at the entrance to the cave, and then I remember a book I read several years ago about dinosaur biology. “Aha! Everyone knows that the thunder lizard is attracted to the smell of rotting carcasses! I can lure the beast out by trapping a creature and leaving it outside the cave.”
Challenge a Fact
If you ever overhear someone making a factual statement that you know is incorrect, you have an opportunity to challenge that fact. In this case, you will roll with Lore to see if your character notices the discrepancy. If you get at least one success, you know that the statement is false, but you may not be able to state exactly why. If you beat the difficulty of introducing the statement as a fact, you know it is wrong and you know exactly why.
Challenge a Fact Example
Storyteller: The magistrate mentions that the ruin has been abandoned for over a century, and no one has come in or out. It’s impossible that Sesus Root could have acquired the World Ending Death Laser from inside the ruin. Hey Lore Boy, roll Intelligence and Lore for me, challenging a fact.
Lore Boy: I rolled 6 successes, ya boi is unstoppable.
Storyteller: Ah shit, you’re on fire. Yeah, the magistrate is wrong – you remember looking through the papers at the ministry, there was an expedition just a couple years ago that got a permit to crack open the ruin and they returned with a bunch of old treasures. The minister who approved that permit? Haru Goldeneyes, a known alias of… Sesus Root!