XerExaltedLite/Combat

Combat

The Combat rules for Exalted Lite are similar to, but not identicle, to the Core rules.

Turns last for three seconds, as usual. See the Prowess section for movement rates and other athletic feats that may be used in combat.

Pre-Combat

Determine Ambush: The would-be victims make a Reflexive Intelligence+War (or appropriate Awareness skill) versus the attacker's Desterity + Subterfuge (or appropriate Stealth skill). If the attackers succeed, then the defenders may not take any non-Reflexive actions such as attacking during the first Turn.

Surprised characters must make another roll, Wits+War to try and get whatever successes they failed with their first roll. If this fails, they are totally defenseless and may take no actions whatsoever during the First Turn.

During a Turn

Determine Initiative: Characters roll Wits + Prowess (if any, Initiative is the relevant skill). The player with the higher success total goes first.

• In the case of a tie, it is resolved: Major Characters before Minor before Extras, then compare Dexterity, then War.

Some weapons, manuevers, and Charms will allow for 'Strike First, Strike Last' rules. For such resolutions, Charms take first precedence, then weapon abilities.

Movement: Characters may move their walking distance without penalty. Running counts as a single action - Characters must split their die pool to take additional actions, though they can still abort to a full Dodge or Parry.

Abort to Full Defense: Aborting to a Full Dodge or Parry is like splitting actions, except that the difficulty penalty begins at +0. Characters may make no more Parries in this manner than their Dexterity+Wits.

Damage: Damage is not rolled. It is applied raw, after soak, with a minimum equal to the attacking character's Essence.

Multiple Actions

Major Characters may split their die pool to take a number of actions (total, including the first one) equal to their Dexterity+Wits, without the use of Charms. Each action imposes a cumulative +1 difficulty penalty. Thus, the first action is at +1 difficulty, the second at +2, third at +3, and so on.

Weapons may only be used so often in a Turn. Weapons that need to be drawn (including most thrown weapons, arrows, and crossbow bolts) take a die action to ready without the aid of Charms

How fast a character can weild a weapon depends on her Brawn compared to the weapon's Minimum Brawn.

• If her Brawn is less by 3, she may not weild that weapon.
• If her Brawn is less by 2, both readying and swinging the weapon is a die action that may not be split - it takes the full turn, forcing a 1/2 rate.
• If her Brawn is less by 1, readying the weapon is a die action as if it were being drawn.
• If her Brawn is the same, readying the weapon is a Reflexive action useable once per Turn.
• For each dot her Brawn exceeds the Weapon's minimum Brawn, she may make an additional reflexive ready action in a Turn.

Dual-weilding may freely take advantage of this.

Bleeding

Characters who suffer Lethal or Aggravated damage bleed at a rate of one Bashing health level per minute. A Wits + Natural (First Aid) roll will stabalize the Character. The difficulty is the number of wounds suffered from any single blow, +1 if self bandaging.

Exalted have no risk of bleeding.

Infection

Combat is in some ways the first form of biological war. The roll to resist infection from any given hit is Brawn + Might (Resist Disease), difficulty 3, plus any penalties from wounds or poor conditions (such as swamps). If wounds are left undressed, this roll must be made each time the character otherwise risks infection, though only at difficulty 1. UnExalted characters who suffer from infection must make Brawn+Might (Resist Disease) rolls daily, or suffer the normal consequences without treatment.

Terrestrial Exalted subtract 2 from the successes they need to resist infection, and fight off the infection if they make their daily Brawn+Might roll, always at difficulty 1. If they fail, though, they suffer +1 difficulty to all actions until they fight it off.

Celestial Exalted are immune to infection.

Penalties

Apply penalties to all appropriate actions.

• Off-hand: +1 Difficulty
• Stunned: +1 Difficulty
• Blind: +3 Difficulty
• Deaf-Blind: +6 Difficulty
• Height Disadvantages:
  • Small (Stairs, slope, knee deep water, shallow mud): +1 Difficulty
  • Designed (Trick stairs, Abatis): +1 additional Difficulty
  • Vicious (Too steep to climb without hands, scaling ladder, knee deep mud, waist deep water): +2 Difficulty
  • Complications (Scree, Thorns): +1 Additional Difficulty.

Maiming

Although called shots do not exist in terms of bypassing armor and trying to actively kill, that is not always the goal of the player.

Specifics are difficult, though the general pattern follows Artful Maiming Onslaught.

• Targetting an arm, leg, or similarly sized appendage is at +3 Difficulty. In order to remove the appendage, twice the target's Brawn in damage must be dealt.
• Targetting a hand, eye, nose, and such is at a +6 Difficulty. In order to remove the appendage, the target's Brawn in damage must be dealt.

The target suffers no more damage than the minimum necessary to cut off the limb. UnExalted characters also bleed profusely, 1 health level per -Turn- for a 'minor' maiming, and twice that for a loss of limb, until the bleeding is staunched at double difficulty.

Clinching (Grappling)

Initiating a Clinch is a Strike Last maneuver, rolling either Brawn or Dexterity, plus the Combat (Wrestling) ability. The defender gets to reflexively roll the same. The winner of the roll controls the Clinch and has three options:

• End the Clinch, with the option of pushing the victim back her Brawn in yards, or knocking her victim prone.
• Hold, but do no damage
• Deal (Brawn + Extra Successes) bashing damage to the loser.

The (Brawn or Dexterity) + Combat (Wrestling) roll is made every Turn, until the victor of a given round ends it in some manner.