You are the weakest link.
Among the outstanding Books of Sorcery series that brought us the White Treatise, First Age Glories of Wonders of the Lost Age and the advanced manse and artefact rules (very useful) of Oadenol's Codex this book stands out. Unlike in it's successor II the Charms for the gods and elementals are very bland compared to the Charms for ghosts in volume II which have Virtue minimums and are grouped into cascades. Unfortunately rather than having a proper set of individual powers demons use the same Charms as gods do. It makes for very uninteresting reading. As with much in Exalted it creates more potential in the mind of the player than it actually expresses itself. The idea of Spirit Charms being expressions of the spirit's nature and personality is excellent but they don't realise this idea in an interesting way. The definition of the ghosts' Charms in volume II is far better, as with Yu-Shan the atmosphere of this book is very bland. I think it would be better if they drew directly on mythological ideas or created characters and traits similar to them, the gods in Exalted both in this book and in Yu-Shan lack an elemental power that's present in mythology and other, more basic forms of fantasy. I was looking at a book of fantasy art one day and although it was primitive had a certain fundamental power that Exalted lacks and I think would be better if it had. Players not particularly committed are better off looking at Exalted Charms and creating their own gods' powers from original ideas or using the Glorious Divinity vol.II for inspiration.
