Training Times

Training Time Chart

Trait Increase	Time Required
Attribute	[current rating] x224 hours
Ability	[current rating] x56 hours. 168 hours for new ability
Favoured/Aspect Charm	[min. Ability] x8 hours
Out-of-Aspect Charm	[min. Ability + min. Essence] x8 hours
Creating a Charm	[time to learn equivalent charm] x5. Cannot be tutored or use manuals
Emerald Circle Spell	56 hours
Sapphire Circle Spell	112 hours
Adamant Circle Spell	168 hours
Creating a Spell	[time to learn equivalent Spell] x5. Cannot be tutored or use manuals

Time calculated in hours spent solely on intensive training, with the aid of a tutor.

Increasing Essence

To increase Essence beyond a character's 'natural cap' requires them to spend [new rating] in seasons engaged in nothing but meditative contemplation, and in case of Dragonblooded exposure to their element of aspect. Increasing Essence up to a character's 'natural cap' is instantaneous, requiring only a moment of personal enlightenment.

For mortals, the 'natural cap' is 1. For Exalts, the 'natural cap' is 3. Spirits do not increase their Essence by these conventional means.

Meaning of Days

In Exalted's mechanics, the issue of time is a major problem. Many things list the time they require (training, crafting, and others besides) in days, but what this means can be ambiguous.

To clarify, when a 'day' of work is specified, what is meant is a period of 8 hours focused on the task and nothing else. Considering this span, less than a third of the 25 hours in a day, to be a full day's work dates from the original design of humans: they were built to spend 8 hours sleeping to rest and recuperate, 8 hours on subsistence tasks (feeding and clothing themselves), 8 hours on service (raising children, serving the Dragon Kings, praying to gods and Primordials, etc), and one hour on prayer to the Incarnae.

A week is thus 56 hours, a month 224 hours, a season 672 hours, and a year 3360 hours.

Specialties

Increasing Specialties counts as increasing the current ability+specialty as if it were an ability, and then cutting the time required in half. Each specialty requires 2 XP.

Natural Affinity

Each hour spent training a favoured or aspect ability counts as two hours training time due to natural affinity.

Training without a Trainer

Each hour spent training WITHOUT the aid of a trainer or tutor counts as only 1/2 an hour of training time.

Training with a Manual

Each hour spent training WITHOUT a trainer, but WITH a training aid such as a high-quality manual counts as 3/4 of an hour of training time. A manual used along with a trainer provides no benefit.

Back-to-Back Training

If training is undertaken for seven or more consecutive days, an Endurance check must be passed… failure means the next day is wasted on rest and recovery.

Charm Requirements

Charms do not spontaneously generate, and must be learned from trainers/manuals. A character attempting to learn a charm without the aid of either counts as trying to design that charm.

DESIGNING Out-of-Aspect Charms

Designing Charms out-of-Aspect is a difficult thing. Unless the character has mastered the relevant style of Immaculate Martial Arts or otherwise escapes elemental surchages on charms, required time is increased by x1.5

Training Example

Sesus Mraka wants to learn his first point of Thrown. It is not favoured and he has no teacher. Mraka will have to complete a total of 336 hours of training. If he goes out back to chuck chakrams for an hour alone every morning, he'll get that first point after 12 months.

Which may seem long, but considering he's going from no knowledge at all to passable combat accuracy without any outside help, its rather impressive.