BraincraftRemakeofExalted/Mechanics

Mechanics

The basic engine is: roll two six-sided dice. One is positive, one is negative. You add the one and subtract the other from your rating (usually an attribute + a skill) and you get what you get. For a lot of things, you don’t bother rolling; like backflipping off of a third-story roof, or being able to read and write. Either you have the rating to do it, or you don’t.

The bell curve is relatively narrow, so if you’re at a significant disadvantage you need to use stunts to make up the difference. Unless you’re a mortal, in which case you die.

Mortals usually cope with their pathetically low numbers by getting circumstancial bonuses; taking extra time, having extra-nice tools, waiting for an extra-appropriate moment, or taking a stupid risk, or having help from assistants all give small amounts of dice. An old lady with a bum leg (Agility 0, Athletics 0) could walk up and down a flight of stairs, but she'd need to take longer than a healthy woman, or get help from a friendly boy scout. When you take a Risky Action, you get to roll two positive and two negative dice and use them all, so the spread is a little better; but you’re more likely to get a really bad roll, and failing a Risky Action means you get a Critical Failure. That granny taking the stairs could rush down, but if she fails (more than half the time, with the bell curve centering around zero) she's going to fall and break her hip or worse. Usually only stupid, reckless people make use of Risky Actions, but occasionally it comes in handy (especially if you weren't expecting to live anyway).

A 'round' is an abstract unit of time representing 'a couple of seconds'. Every round, you can take one Battle Action, one Move Action, and one Stunt Action. You can also take any number of Incidental Actions as you might reasonably be able to get away with (draw a weapon, speak aloud, stand or sit, notice what is going on around you). Rarely, an action might be designated as a Full-Round Action, in which case the action obviates the opportunity for Battle, Move, and Stunt actions (Incidental Actions are still allowed unless specifically noted otherwise, and defenses remain at their standard level unless otherwise noted).

With a Battle Action, a character may either attack or defend. With an attack, the character may choose to attack any valid targets within range. This is generally a roll of the character’s Speed vs. the target’s Combat Defense. If the character wishes to attack multiple targets, he takes a penalty to Speed equal to the number of targets, unless he is using an attack with Magnitude, in which case the attack is applied to all targets within the area of effect.

When defending, the character may instead add +2 to his Combat Defense at the expense of any opportunity to attack.

With a Move action, a character may either Walk or Dash. Walking allows a character to move one zone with no roll or penalty, assuming no barriers or difficult terrain or circumstances. A Dash allows the movement of two zones, but at a penalty of -2 to all actions and defenses.

A 'zone', here, being an abstract unit of space/distance representing 'a medium-sized room'; people within the same zone are close enough to talk or fight or interact in whatever interesting ways, and you could probably fit a five-man squad in it (two squads would be a little crowded, though, especially if they're doing something athletic like fighting each other). Moving more than one zone per round, or moving in difficult terrain, is a movement action, the efficacy of which is based on your Agility + Athletics.

With a Stunt Action, the character may use their various skills and abilities to try to gain an advantage. This is usually a roll of attribute + skill vs. a defense value or circumstantial difficulty. More details are in the Stunts chapter.

In conflict, initiative order is determined by descending Cunning value. Each participant may either act as their Cunning value comes up, or delay. If you delay, you may act at any time following your Cunning value; if you have not acted by the end of the round, you take no action. The highest Cunning value always gets to choose to have his actions resolved first, even if multiple participants have delayed, or some have delayed and some have not.

When making an attack, your Speed has a base equal to your Agility + (Fighting or Marksmanship) + (weapon), which for mortal weapons usually ranges from -1 to +1. Even artifact weapons might only grant another rank or two at most, so it's not a huge deal for exalted badasses with huge numbers to throw around.

Your Combat Defense value is equal to Agility + (Athletics or Fighting), plus the result of a +/- roll. If the Speed of an incoming attack is higher than this, that attack hits you, and the difference is used to purchase Victories for the attacker.

Damage for most weapons is Might + (weapon). Weapon damage values usually range from +0 to +4 for mortal-scale weapons.

Unarmed combat has stats of +0 accuracy, +0 defense, and +0 damage.

Soak has a base of (Might) + (armor). If the Power of a successful attack exceeds this value, the difference becomes a Wound with a rank of half the difference, rounded down. 0-rank Wounds are purely cosmetic, but higher ranks of Wounds act as a penalty to Soak against future attacks. Only the highest-ranked Wound applies in this way at any given time. The Wound penalty cannot reduce Soak below zero. Hardness behaves like Soak, but is not reduced by Wounds.

If a character is suffering from a Wound of rank equal to or greater than their Might + Essence, they are Downed. A Downed character is unable to take actions and may be unconscious. If a character is suffering from a Wound of a rank equal to or greater than their Might + Essence + 3, they are Dying. A Dying character is also Downed, and will be Dead at the end of the Scene unless they receive medical attention or use an ability that prevents this. A character that suffers a Wound of rank equal to or greater than their Might + Essence + 5 is Dead. A Dead character is dead. Deceased. Expired. Visiting their Auntie Saturn. Whatever.

Some effects, groups, creatures, or characters have Magnitude. Magnitude represents size and scope - and power. A full chart detailing what each level of Magnitude means is forthcoming, but Magnitude 1 is about one zone, so a Magnitude 1 attack hits everything within a zone, and a Magnitude 1 creature or unit generally fills that zone.

The Speed and Power of attacks are modified by the difference in Magnitude between the attacker and target, to a maximum of +/- 5, in favor of the larget Magnitude.