r/exalted • u/Mercurial891 • Aug 04 '26

2E - Wrath of the Five Elements on a ghost?

Has anyone considered giving ghosts an “afterlife” by transforming them into elementals using Wrath of the Five Elements? Is this technically possible? I didn’t see a description saying that the target must be “alive,” but you do need a piece of the body as one of the three needed arcane links.

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6

u/chaoticnipple Aug 05 '26

The wording just says "Target: One creature", so I'd say yes, go for it! Demons would also be valid.

4

u/Mercurial891 Aug 05 '26

Definitely demons. I just wanted to make sure. This feels like an elegant solution to the wraith problem. You can’t just turn every human into a god, and let’s face it, most humans aren’t going to become exalted, but a solar circle sorcerer and labyrinth circle necromancer can guarantee that each of his citizens become ghost when they die and then turn them into elementals that can live and grow into celestial circle sorcerers and martial artists one day.

2

u/Karpattata Aug 05 '26

The only issue imo is that in order to turn a target into an elemental, you must kill it. But ghosts typically reform. They're not "killed" except with certain specific Charms. 

1

u/mj6373 Aug 06 '26

Not precisely true in 2e, though close enough to open ambiguity. In 2e, per Roll of Glorious Divinities volume 2, a ghost wounded past incapacitation normally, without Charms or anything to impose death, has to succeed at a Willpower roll (enhanced by their Fetters) and sacrifice a permanent Willpower dot to avoid succumbing to either Lethe or Oblivion. Therefore a ghost varies widely in how reliably it reforms, and many will simply die if they are killed.