Seiraryu/Brawl

Optional Brawl Rules

Brawl Rolls

Unlike martial artists, sometimes Brawlers are much more prone to using their attacks based on sheer size and power than their ability to manipulate their bodies in dexterous fashion. In the spirit of this, I would allow a Brawler to supplant the use of Dexterity with that of Strength for Brawl rolls (both for attack and defense). Thus, a Brawler who's style is more of strength and power than dexterity and speed, may roll Strength + Brawl rather than Dexterity + Brawl. Also, when using Charms of the Brawl Ability, specifically dice adders, the character may add up to her Strength + Brawl, not Dexterity + Brawl. The exception to this rule is, of course, Lunar and Alchemical Charms, which are centered around Attributes instead of Abilities. In these cases, the original rules still apply (until I find a way to fix it, if I even can). Most Lunar Charms that affect Brawl attacks have to do with dexterous movement anyway, so this shouldn't be an issue when style comes into play. However, this limitation isn't as suffered by Lunars, mainly because of their Deadly Beastman Transformations. Strength is a lot cheaper to raise than Dexterity, and so they can acquire humongous dicepools if they use Brawl in this fashion.

Note that for any of these rules to be effective, the player must describe his character's brawling style as one of power instead of finesse. The character is much more likely to plow through his opponents than he is of flipping around delivering lightning quick blows. Be sure to describe your character's actions as such, and keep their particular Brawl style always in theme.

Improvised Weapons

Due to the obvious superiority of Martial Arts over Brawl, it is necessary to add a little spice to the Brawl ability. One way of doing so is by giving the Brawl Ability's quality of improvised weapons a little more thought. When picking an improvised weapons, give it stats that you and the storyteller think are appropriate. Below are some examples that might help with this task. Also, I would suggest giving "minimum Brawl" ratings to different improvised weapons, to demonstrate how much brawling experience is necessary to be able to use the improvised weapon in question. It's a lot easier to swing a bottle around than it is to effectively maneuver a chair to your benefit.

Chair: Large and cumbersome, chairs are some of the most effective of the improvised weapons lot. While badly balanced and requiring of some extra momentum to get an attack out of them (because you have to swing a chair around somewhat to deliver an effective attack) they have a greatly reduced speed. However, it's not hard to hit a person with a chair, and they do hurt quite a bit. Also, defending with a chair is quite easy, as all you need to do is put it in the general path of the incomeing blow, and it's size will most likely protect you.

When defending with a chair, the attacker may calculate damage against the chair per the rules on page 239 of Exalted. A chair has an average soak of 1B and 0L, requires 1 health level to damage, and 5 health levels to destroy. The Brawler's blocking successes do not count against successes for the purpose of damage done to a chair.

Bottle: Ah, the bottle. One of the most common and cinematic of improvised weapons, the bottle is always nearby when there's a bar brawl, and should never be taken lightly, due to the extreme ease with which one can turn it into a lethal weapon. Though light, a bottle is short, and doesn't make your attack any quicker than a regular punch. It does create a bit more of an impact than a fist, however, though for defending oneself, it is usually very flimsy, and will suffer more damage than it might prevent. It's not heavy at all, though, and easy to attack with.

If a bottle blocks an attack from a weapon that has more successes than the character's Brawl rating, it breaks and becomes a Broken Bottle. If a broken bottle blocks an attack with more successes from a weapon than the character has dots in Brawl, it shatters and becomes useless. Bottles don't usually break under unarmed Brawl attacks that aren't modified by charms, though as a Storyteller, you may rule that they do.

Table: Tables are another commonly used improvised weapon, due to their sheer availability. What brawler hasn't grabbed a table and put it in front of him as a knife is pulled out in the middle of a fight? Larger tables are heavier and slower than even chairs, though they provide the most protection and are easiest to hit with (they're so damn big!). Smaller tables provide much the same benefits as chairs, since they aren't particularly heavy, but by no means light.

When defending with a table, the attacker may calculate damage against the table per the rules on page 239 of Exalted. A large table has an average soak of 2B and 1L, requires 2 health levels to damage, and 7 health levels to destroy. The Brawler's blocking successes do not count against successes for the purpose of damage done to a table. Small tables use the Object Strength for chairs, above.

Fishing Rod: The fishing rod, while it is uncommon, is a good example of the diversity with which a brawler can enter into battle. Long enough to produce a significant reach and light enough to provide a flurry of blows, the fishing rod is too light and flimsy to actually do much damage or prevent a blow from hitting it.

When defending with a fishing rod against an attack, it is most likely that the fishing rod will break. It has 0 bashing and lethal soak, and will be damaged if even 1 health level is done to it. Anything above 1 will break it in half, or pulverize it.

Bows: A lot of people believe that bows are just for archers, and they're right! But since when are archers forced to fight from a distance? Whenever a meleeist or martial artist gets close enough, an archer seems to be caught completely off guard and without weapons. It doesn't have to be that way for an archer who can brawl! Bows are long, and they provide an excellent reach; they're easy and light to manipulate, and long ones tend to be heavy, adding that little bit of oomph! that can make a difference.

When defending with a bow against an attack, the bow is likely to break if there's too much strain put on it. Bows have a soak of 1B and 0L, and will break if more health levels of damage than the bow's Maximum Strength are done to them via the system explained above in other entries. Be careful when brawling with a bow! The upside is that this damage is only calculated if the number of successes on the attack are greater than the character's Brawl Ability, as with bottles. Powerbows don't break, but after extensive brawling with one, it may require a little maintenance.

Improvised Statistics

Chair: Spd -5, Acc +1, Dmg +3B, Def +3, Rate 1, Min Str. 2

Bottle: Spd +0, Acc +1, Dmg +1B, Def +0, Rate 4

Broken Bottle: Spd +0, Acc +1, Dmg +0L, Def +0, Rate 4

Large Table: Spd -7, Acc +2, Dmg +3B, Def +4, Rate 1, Min Str. 3

Small Table: Spd -5, Acc +1, Dmg +3B, Def +3, Rate 1, Min Str. 2

Fishing Rod: Spd +4, Acc +1, Dmg -1B, Def +0, Rate 3

Short Bow: Spd +1, Acc +1, Dmg +0B, Def +1, Rate 3

Long Bow: Spd +2, Acc +1, Dmg +1B, Def +1, Rate 2