MailAndSteelAbilities
This is a discussion of the in-game abilities that affect Mail and Steel combat, either canonical or house-ruled.
Contents
The Abilities
Bureaucracy - the skill of "negotiating political, governmental and economic systems". This is obviously an ability of immense value to anyone running an organized, disciplined army.
Lore - people with this skill are "educated in history, ... and similar scholarly pursuits". Lore has no place in the canonical Mail and Steel rules.
Performance - this skill covers "public speaking" and "the theatrics of large-scale leadership". The current Mail and Steel rules use it only when consolidating units.
Presence - this is the principal skill used in conducting maneuvers. The core rulebook uses the words "effective, long-term leadership", and it is this, rather than the mere ability to stand up in front of a band of soldiers and orate skillfully, that really determines an army's effectiveness. Men under your command will follow your orders swiftly and without question if they have confidence in your leadership; similarly, an untried commander, no matter how charismatic, will never experience the same amount of control over his forces as one who understands how to form bonds with his subordinates and takes the opportunity to do so.
It is the author's opinion that "the ability to be a general" is spread across the Abilities mentioned above, and that a successful leader of soldiers will possess all of the above Abilities in some measure. Such leaders are distinguished from less civilized war-leaders, who lead men into battle principally by demonstrated force of arms or charismatic personality. In an otherwise-balanced engagement between drilled soldiers and barbarians led without strategy, the advantage goes generally to the soldiers.
Interactions Between Abilities and Unit Statistics
Charisma + Presence is used almost exclusively when governing unit statistics. However, in the long term, there is no solid mechanism for improving some numbers, such as Drill.
House Rules
These are suggestions for how to bring a broader base of skills into play in Mail and Steel.
Lore As Strategy
If a commander draws up battle-plans before a campaign (or a major battle) and communicates those plans effectively to her subordinates, then the Drill statistic of any units under her overall command:
- cannot be lower than half her Presence (rounding up),
- cannot exceed twice their normal Drill,
- cannot be higher than the number of successes on an Intelligence + Lore (Strategy) check, and
- cannot be higher than 5.
The consequence of this is that for the duration of the planned campaign, units led by anyone with practical leadership training have a minimum Drill of 1 - the only units who would lack even this rating are undisciplined mobs, while an unskilled commander cannot utilize elite troops to their fullest capacity. However, even the best commander cannot make full use of inferior troops.
Improving Drill
Drill is increased by anything that increases Valor in the long term, such as Tiger Warrior Training Technique. Drill will also increase by 1 after every successful battle-campaign, up to a natural limit of the leader's Presence ability; further increases may happen at the Storyteller's discretion.
Improving Might
Exalted can produce talismans, walkaways, and other "good luck" Charms through effort. Mortal thaumaturges can also create such things, though it is always more difficult. Variants on the "Tiger-Warrior Training Technique" Charm might also produce trained thaumaturges in quantity, effectively empowering a whole unit.
Tactics (or Strategy or War) Ability
Some people have advocated a "Tactics" skill, presumably filling the missing slot in the consolidation of the Brawl and Martial Arts Abilities in the Dawn Caste abilities. Presumably it would function in place of Presence.
