IanPrice/BrawlCombo

The Brawl Combo of Doom: Sunburst Dragon Crash. Brawling, the most humble of combat styles, is yet the most deadly. Forsaking defense, the brawler focuses only on the ability to bring pain and death to his enemy, requiring nothing but his own two hands. Solar masters of this deadly skill are known for tossing their enemies around like so much refuse, inflicting horrendous damage when the victim finally hits the ground.

Charms and functions:

• Ferocious Jab: Double attack successes to add to damage.
• Fists of Iron: Add +1 accuracy and +2 damage; damage becomes lethal.
• Crashing Wave Throw: Throw target (Brawl * 5) yards (they take falling damage).
• Shockwave Technique: Throw target as per Crashing Wave Throw, but into another target so that both take damage.
• Lightning Speed: Double movement (important for falling damage).
• Monkey Leap Technique: Leap (Str * 10) yards (important for falling damage).
• Leaping Tiger Attack: Move sprinting distance and still attack, and double raw damage before soak.

Total Cost: 13 motes, 2 willpower.

Traits: Strength 5, Dexterity 5, Brawl 5, Athletics 5, Leaping specialty 3, Clinch specialty 3, Essence 3.

Equipment: Moonsilver Smashfist (Accuracy +3, Damage +3L, Defense +1)

Total Effect: Unblockable attack, successes add twice to damage, 17 accuracy, 14 dice damage, 100 levels (falling 504 feet) damage, double raw damage, damage is lethal, attack hits two targets equally, they defend seperately and sequentially.

Appearance: The Solar grabs his opponent and makes a mighty leap straight up into the air, throwing the hapless victim at the very pinnacle of the climb so that they smash into one of their own allies at incredible speed.

For further improvement: Add Wood Dragon's Claw, which can add +10 to accuracy and damage easily. Add Invulnerable Body of Bronze and Incomparable Body Arsenal for +1 accuracy and +10 damage, in addition to the soak bonuses which are very useful for a brawler, and the bonus to Strength from the latter. Increasing Strength Exercise and Body of War Meditation can each increase Strength by Essence, and the latter can increase Dexterity by that too. Remember that bonuses to Strength increase the distance leapt, both normally and the bonus from Monkey Leap Technique. This is extremely important to the effect of the attack, since so much of the damage is based on the distance the victim "falls."

For the record: This is the most damaging combo in the base book. It's pretty easy to avoid with a dodge though.

Comments

Some problems with your combo: Dragon Coil isn't an instant, so cannot be comboed. Even if it could, it is simple, so cannot be comboed with another simple (Crashing Wave Throw). Lightning Speed and Monkey Leap cannot both apply in the same turn because Lightning Speed only doubles "sprinting distance" while Monkey Leap provides leaping benefit "rather than make her normal movement action". Likewise with Leaping Tiger, which uses normal movement (it would stack with Lightning Speed, though). Lastly, buried in the rules is an indication that the word "double" in Exalted actually means "+100% normal". So, assuming the combo worked, doubling an already doubled value results in X + X + X = 3X rather than 4X. Nice image, though. - Wordman

Forgot about the duration problem. However, Crashing Wave was changed to Supplemental in the Player's Guide errata. Leaping Tiger allows you to move your normal sprinting, which I was interpreting to interact in a combo with Monkey Leap to allow you to move and do the special leap. My Storyteller allowed this interpretation, you see. You're definitely right about the doubling, though, I just found that indication. I'll fix it. New version is actually slightly more damaging, but less accurate. - IanPrice

Just a note. But unless you're using more house-rules, Monkey Leap cannot be comboed, because of it's non-instant duration. Nor can lightning speed. - Scrollreader

Exalted 2 Version

The Martial Arts Combo of Doom: Sunburst Dragon Crash. The Solar "art" of combat is artful only by sheer distressing majesty. Practitioners of the so-called "Solar Hero Form" simply do what Solar Exalted do best: steamroll the opposition. This attack showcases one of the deadlier applications of this sheer power, an inexorable clinch ending in a throw of enormous force.

Charms and functions:

• First Martial Arts Excellency and Essence Flow: Add to accuracy.
• Solar Hero Form: Double attack successes to add to damage.
• Fists of Iron: Add +1 accuracy and +2 damage; damage becomes lethal.
• Crashing Wave Throw: Throw target (Martial Arts x 10) yards downwards (they take damage = each yard not traveled).
• Heaven Thunder Hammer: Throws target 1 yard for each die of pre-soak damage (they take damage = each yard not traveled).
• Dragon Coil Technique: Add Essence to rolls to initiate, maintain, and control clinch. Clinch damage is lethal and also adds Essence.
• Soaring Crane Leap: Leap 5x normal distance (important for falling damage).
• Mountain-Crossing Leap Technique: Leap Essence x 5 miles (x25 when accumulated with Soaring Crane Leap, for falling damage).
• Thunderbolt Attack Prana: Add a bonus success in step 3, and double post-soak damage in step 7.
• Thunderclap Rush Attack: Used to negate DV penalty primarily.
• Knockout Blow: Ensures opponents with great soak and health level totals still have something to fear.

Total Cost: 46 motes, 3 willpower.

Traits: Strength 5, Dexterity 5, Martial Arts 5, Athletics 5, Clinch specialty 3, Essence 4.

Equipment: Moonsilver Smashfist (Speed 5, Accuracy +2, Damage +7B, Defense +3)

Total Effect: Successes add twice to damage, 27 accuracy + 1 success, 111L piercing damage, double post-soak damage dice, no DV penalty, Speed 3 (however, the leap lasts much longer).

Appearance: The Solar grabs his opponent and makes an impossibly mighty leap straight up into the air, throwing the hapless victim at the very pinnacle of the climb so that they smash into the nearest unpleasantly hard and pointed object at incredible speed.

For further improvement: Add Wood Dragon's Claw, which can supplant the Smashfist with a +10 accuracy/+5 damage weapon. Add Invulnerable Body of Bronze and Incomparable Body Arsenal for +1 accuracy and +10 damage, in addition to the soak bonuses which are very useful for a brawler, and the bonus to Strength from the latter. Increasing Strength Exercise can increase Strength by Essence. All of this together would make the damage total 141L (still piercing and doubled after soak), and the accuracy total 37 + 1 success. The DV bonus of the smashfist would go away, but the soak and hardness from the two sorceries make up for that.

For the record: This is no longer the most damaging combo in the base book, due to the limit of 25 dice imposed on falling damage in this edition. However, the advent of the Excellency makes it much more likely to hit something, though the lack of a Combo-OK tag on Shockwave Technique cuts out the lovely unblockable nature which formerly supported this madness. Still, this attack is Hazard 4 in accuracy and Hazard 5 in damage. That's saying quite a bit. Note, however, that use of this technique will effectively remove you from combat due to the length of time you will be up in the air. Great for escaping the Wyld Hunt though.

Cheap Quickie version: Mountain-Crossing Leap Technique + Dragon Coil Technique + Heaven Thunder Hammer + Crashing Wave Throw + Thunderbolt Attack Prana. 23m, 2w: Attack for ([Str + Essence] x 2) + (Brawl x 10) + 25 lethal damage (Str 5, Brawl 5, Essence 4 = 93L). Damage is piercing, and dice rolled double after soak. 1 extra attack success.

New Comments

Well, as a matter of questioning, how does the throw-based damage stack (if at all!) with the fall-based damage? My gut reaction is that really, being thrown from 500 yards up is nearly identical to falling from 500 yards up, and as such, you can either make them take falling damage, or throwing damage. I'd think that you'd be better off without the jump included, just crashing them into some nearby tree, hill, etc. Also, there's a spell ... umm... Unbreakable Bones of Stone (I think), that adds Essence to your physical attributes, that might come in handy as well. -- GreenLantern

My take on it is that the fall would be X distance, and the throw adds Y distance that wouldn't normally be there, so Y is handled by the charm's rules for distance interrupted by a hard surface. I did know about the Unbreakable Bones spell, but that's not base-book, and one of my objectives with this Combo was to keep it possible in the base book. - IanPrice

That's a whole lot of motes and willpower for a good amount of damage. Especially for a minimal amount of motes i auto or perfect defense your combo. If I am spending 3 wp and 43 motes, there better be a perfect in there, otherwise, a dragon blood will simply SAE and boom you kill your friend and waste a lot of motes and wp. Madoka

A good stunt can be better than a perfect attack. Note that in Exalted 2e, all the Solar perfect defenses are applicability-trumping, but they all have a Flaw of Invulnerability. This combo would require learning an opponent's flaws, if he or she had such defenses. In fact, the best way to make this combo (or any like it) more sure of hitting is to bring in Ebon Shadow Style, and use Blow-Concealing Gesture. Applicability-trumping defenses don't trump surprise. But, as I noted above, this is a base-book combo. So yes, it's vulnerable. - IanPrice

Well met....its always good to know your opponent....and surprise is always advantageous.