StuntExamples
The original text for this page was written by Jakk Bey and posted to the Exalted Compendum Redux. It is posted here with permission of the author.
Stunting is possible with all abilities. Here are some examples:
Contents
Archery
Jakk sized up the opposition, and realized that was no way his hatchets would ever pass through the murder holes that Vance was hiding behind. And worse, they needed the thief alive to tell them where they'd taken Tekk.
And I'm a lot better with a hatchet…dammit.
Jakk pulled his bow as he leaped across the gangplank. With a the same motion, he threw the chain he wore as a belt and let it unwind from his waist to lock around a post. As the big man plummeted to the stones below, he pulled his bow back, feet braced on either side to give him maximum pull, and both arms cranking for all he was worth.
Jakk loosed the arrow, straight and true, only a moment before the chain yanked him to halt, and then Jakk wound his body to curl the chain and his body back to the plank he'd only left, legs spinning and gyring.
The arrow slammed into the murder hole, grazing Vance's shoulder, piercing the chain shirt and burying itself into the stone behind him, pinning him to his cubby hole until he could figure out how to cut himself free of his armor.
That ought to hold him for a minute or two…
Now how in the hell are we going to get back up there again?
(Effect: Do Bashing damage to target and immobilize him. The rest is just candy…)
Brawl
Boktor grabbed the Dragon Blood, his huge hands digging deep at the Huntsman's breeches. With a powerful pull, he yanked the man high into the air, his pants hauled rudely into his crotch, blinding the Wyldsman with sudden pain.
Boktor laughed, slinging the wedged Huntsman into his fellows, relishing in his girlish scream as they tumbled like pins…
(Effect: Cause the target to check Stamina to avoid unconsciousness from the atomic wedgie, and cost his compatriots their actions as they are forced to dodge and disentangle themselves from their compatriot.)
Martial Arts
Inside his cowl, Garret smiled as the soldiers surrounded him.
Too easy, he thought.
He allowed the first to make his clumsy swing, and folded his club behind his back, locking it tight. As he did, the others, emboldened, rushed forward. Garret swung their compatriot to absorb the blows, his head and shoulders blocking each of the clubs. Garret spun the unconscious soldier free, unmarred by their fury.
As he fell, Garret motioned for the next wave…
(Effect: Garret parries six attacks, with the body of their companion, who takes the damage for him. And then taunts them a second time.)
Melee
Jakk really wished he hadn’t been seen pocketing Phyllbis’ money pouch.
It would have saved him a lot of trouble. This kind of trouble.
A dozen Guilders, with drawn blades rushed to return the pouch, and slice Jakk’s weezend. Jakk had no idea where his weezened was, and he had no interest in finding out by bitter experience.
The dozen spread out before him. Jakk nodded to their leader, grave and serious, and the Guilder, returned the gesture. It gave Jakk the time to slip his belt chain free and lock it on the butt of his Grand Daiklaive.
“You’ve got me, Lupa. Sorry about that.” Jakk threw his hands in the air, and the great blade in the air. The crew watched the Orichalcum blade soar into the air, transfixed that the Tiger of the East would cast it aside. Jakk let the chain slide through his hands, and as it reached the apex of its rise, and snapped his arms in a wide circle.
The blade swung in a wide arc, biting through the supports of the eaves on either side of the square. The wood sheared with a crash, and tumbled down, spilling heavy clay tiles in a scatter, smashing the Guilders with debris and dust. With a hard flick, he let the blade fly again, and let the blade bite into the stone, with a yank, he launched himself over the debris, and the Guilders trapped under it.
“Next time, Lupa. I swear I’ll let you get a swing.”
(Effect: Jakk brings down the roof, making a Bashing attack against all of the Guilders at once, that also immobilizes them, so that he can escape.)
Thrown
“Wait! You don’t want to kill me. I’m here to help!” Tekk called as the Northmen drew their bows back.
The fur clad leader, shook his head. “We need no help from a Southern dog or her pet Sorcerer. We give your lives to the Waste.”
“That’s why we’re here. We know how to stop the Waste!” They’re not listening. The bows creaked back..
Tekk felt her blades, and let fly. Six bows, six blades, and as the Northman barked the order to fire, barely registering Tekk’s motion, his men stumbled back, cursing, lashed with whip sting of their snapped bow strings, arrows tumbling to the frozen earth.
“That could have been their throats, Cher’ak! Like I said, we’re here to help…”
(Effect: Tekk parries half a dozen bow attacks, with Thrown, and prevents them from using their bows for the scene.)
Endurance
I’ve really got to stop mouthing off. Jakk thought.
Four days of beatings had taken its toll. The Undefeated Tiger of the East was criss crossed with lash marks, bruises blossomed, and lately, the Man in White had taken to binding him with wide leather bands, and taking sand paper to rasp away exposed flesh.
Six days. I’ve got to hold on for six days. Tekk needs six days to free Lyssa.
Jakk remembered Lyssa’s face. How she’d nursed his wounds, long before he’d been touched by the Unconquered Sun. How she’d brought him food when he was bound, long before he’d assumed the mantle of king of the pits. When he’d been blinded by Horse Nose, how her smell had bloomed in his cell, as she washed the nettle juice the dying champion had splashed him with. Lyssa was the only reason he’s survived the pits, the only reason he’d become the Undefeated Tiger of the East.
And in six days, she’d be free. Four days had passed. He only had to endure two more, and then he could loose the rage inside, tap the power that the Unconquered Sun had granted him. He’d endured four days of the Guild’s attention. He only had to hold on for two more, and then the woman who’d saved him would be free. No visions of revenge danced in his head. Only Lyssa’s sweet face. Her voice still sustained him, deep in the bowels of this place.
And in two more days, she’d be free…
(Effect: Jakk delves deep to create a past montage scene to give him the resolve to endure the Guild torturers and not bust loose a can of Exalted whoop ass that would spoil his Night Caste’s plan to free his first love.)
Performance
Jakk raced ahead of the Guilders.
I am never going anywhere without my Daiklaive again.
Unarmed, taxed from the effort to maintain the Charms that had gotten he and Tekk into the city, Jakk was tired and drained. And now he had been recognized by a Guilder watchman he’d taken in a card game, years ago.
Casting around the market, Jakk saw his chance, and his hands snatched and grabbed as he ran. He called out apologies and flicked coins as he plunged ahead. A melon, two wine sacks, and an elephant blanket fluttered behind him. Kicking himself into an alley, Jakk threw his disguise on, cracking the melon in half with a practiced hand, he loosened the draw on his trousers, and slung the bound wineskins over his neck, so they dangled. The melon halves went into the seat of his pants, and the blanket whipped around, his arms rolling and snapping the thick cloth to drape properly. Jakk lashed out a kick to the pennant stick lying in the alley, and wood smacked into his hand, as he leaned forward. Transformed.
The Guilders came, running and cursing. They passed the fat beggar woman, hunched over her ragged staff who stumbled back from their rush. They paid her muttering no mind, and plunged ahead, searching for the Undefeated Tiger of the East. Who tapped his improvised cane on the cobbles and made a wobbly, but hasty retreat back to where Tekk was waiting.
(Effect: Jakk dons an improvised disguise to escape the Guild.)
Presence
“Come! Come all you dogs! Come taste the blade of the Undefeated Tiger of the East! Taste Revanche, sharper than a fishwife’s tongue!
The Undefeated Tiger of the East, who beat each and every one of you dogs, long before he was touched by the light of the Unconquered Sun. Who bested your champions, who laid low your brethren, who embarrassed your masters when he was but a prisoner and slave.
Come, face the Undefeated Tiger of the East, slave no longer. Face the Tiger of the Unconquered Sun, and face his wrath, and know first hand how he has grown in the tutelage of the Gods. Feel the blade that laid low the Behemoth Gat’ah. Bring honor to your families by being sent to the Great Wheel by a Son of Heaven. It will be more honor than you dogs deserve, but the Undefeated Tiger of the East is generous, and the army I lead will not touch you dogs. They leave you for me, and me alone. Fear not these, my Tigers and the Dragons’ scions who lead them. When I bathe in your blood, and scatter your bones before me, and lay your master’s head on a pike, only then will they act, and bring this citadel down, stone by stone.
Or, you may cast down your weapons now, and live. Live, and if you are worthy, you may join this host, and join the Sons of Heaven and be redeemed.
Your choice, but no matter what you choose, Dyss’n dies this day. Join him if you will. The Undefeated Tiger of East awaits your answer, with Orichalcum and steel!”
Jakk drove the blade of his Grand Daiklaive into the stone before Dyss’n’s gate, and let the golden blade slide into the rock, smooth as a knife through butter. He leaned upon the great blade and waited their answer…
(Effect: Jakk’s oratory stirs the hearts and cows the hired sell swords who protect the coward Dyss’n.)
Resistance
Ice Jaguar felt the spear slide into her belly. Pain flooded into her, but it was nothing compared to the pain that she’d suffered on her return.
She’d died, trapped under the ice. This spear was nothing compared to the shards of ice that had pinned her to the tundra. The cold that had frozen the blood, kept her from bleeding to death, and instead let her hear the skitterings of the tundra’s scavengers, unable to move, unable even to call out.
This spear was warm, the blood slicked the haft. That warmth, she reveled in. After her death on the ice, and the return to her frozen, eternally damned form this spear was like a lover’s kiss.
Ice Jaguar laughed, and grabbed the armsman into an embrace and threw herself into the wall, driving the spear through her own body, as he staggered back, her open palm slammed into his chin, and as he fell, he carried the spear from her in his own belly. And death’s sweet kiss carried him to the Great Wheel…
(Effect: Ice Jaguar remembers her own death and rebirth, and the pain of the spear is reduced to nothing, allowing her to utilized the weapon given her to attack her opponent.)
Survival
Heat shimmers confused the horizon.
Four days more to Gem, Jakk thought. And no more water.
This is a long way from the Forest. The big Easterner shook his head, and trudged on.
The desert stretched on, the pale broken only by the silhouette of a single, scrubby thorn bush.
About damn time. Jakk trudged forward, and tugged his blade free. And Boktor laughed when I took this jade pasta press from Hylfa…
Jakk laid out the roller press on the oil cloth, and dug deep into the earth. He traced the roots of the thorn bush, and found a hearty thick rope of springy wood. Jakk cut free one length, and hauled it up carefully. He brushed the sandy soil from the root, and then smiled. The length was cool and damp.
And damp is good.
Jakk slit the root open and cranked it through the jade press, the unbreakable rollers and pins creaked, but crushed the root to a pulp, and stained the oiled cloth with moisture. Over the next hour, Jakk pressed six feet of root, and from that, poured half a quart of pine flavored water into his flask, and then cut the rest of the damp pulp into bite sized bits, to suck the residual moisture from the mash.
Going to give me some cramps, but if I can find another one of these puppies, I might just make it…
(Effect: Jakk finds water in the wastes of the desert to survive a eight day trek.)
Craft
“And why should I give a vagabond like yourself a job?” Luto barked at Tetsuo.
The quiet little man nodded, and he approached the ovens. A lump of red-gold glass glowed at the end of the pipe. Tetsuo rolled the pipe in his hand and plunged it into the gates, deep into the fire. He rolled the blob around, spinning it, expanding the blob. As he blew, he brushed the blob, picking up impurities from the ash, coloring the glass. As his hands spun, he blew through the pipe, and lost himself in the moment of creation.
In moments, the glass took shape, and Tetsuo grabbed another pipe, and another. Weaving the pipes, together, he spun the glass free, pulling the glass into fantastic shapes, alternating blows into the pipes, he played with the molten sand, teasing it to his will.
Satisfied, he pulled the glass from the fire, and laid it to rest, a reproduction of Luto’s snarl cooled in the fall air.
Tetuso smiled and turned back to the glass master. “Because that’s what I call playing…”
(Effect: Tetsuo riffs and shows his inspired approach to a new master.)
Investigation
Boktor looked at the Immaculate’s library, thirty foot ceilings and all. Already, Garret and Tekk were unpacking the bottles, and Jakk was pulling out another of his damn apple tarts.
I am == not == going to eat another one of those damn things.
Boktor breathed in, and closed his eyes. “Unconquered Sun, guide your priest’s hand. We need speed to serve thy will, we need the Scroll of Toka-Ri-Ta to serve thy will. Guide my hand, so that I can server thy will and the Mandate of Heaven.”
Boktor felt the tug of intuition, and broke open the drawer of the High Priest’s desk. Out tumbled the Scroll of Toka-Ri-Ta into his hand.
No more damn apple tart. Ever.
(Effect: Boktor uses his faith and the guiding hand of the Unconquered Sun to cut down his search time, in a display of divine inspiration and luck to search the vast library.)
Lore
“So we’ve got a few thousand Beastmen coming down the pike. Any ideas?” Boktor watched called from the tower.
Tetsuo looked at the panel before him. First Age technology, obviously. The rods beside the tower were sheathed in Jade and Moonsilver. There was a two foot slot beside the panel. Obviously, the panel needed a key to activate the Force Cannons.
But where was the key?
Then Tetsuo remembered his early lessons in First Age Technology. The First Age Solars were confident, and while rivalries were famous, they weren’t conflicts in the same sense of the Second Age. The defense of this facility might be entrusted to a Solar, but would it be just one Solar, or would any Solar do?
Tetsuo pulled his short Daiklaive from its sheath, and slammed it into the slot. The Orichcalcum transmitted the mystic charge, and the Force Cannons began to rise…
(Effect: Tetsuo guesses on how to activate the cannons.)
Occult
“Getting hot in here.” Jakk called out. The jade scorpions were igniting with blue flames and racing towards them. In the hundreds.
Tetsuo clucked his tongue and shook his head. “You have no faith Jakk. No faith at all.” He watched the hundreds of flaming scorpions spill from the walls, triggered by Tekk lifting the gem from the dias.
Tetsuo thought for a moment. He traced the words from the entrance, from the map, and the dais. He’d seen the words before. In his apprentice days, he’d been enthralled by the tales of tomb robbers, and the traps that waited for them. The Flaming Jade Scorpions were a long favorite. Each was inscribed with the name of their builder, and that name, according to legend, was the key to deactivating the trap. Few thieves were well read in First Age script as well as Tetsuo, and Tetsuo guessed that the builder of these Jade Scorpions was the same as all the rest.
Tetsuo stepped forward and let his sleeves flutter in the breeze, as the heat from the Scorpions drove air away. He faced the tide of Jade Scorpions as they closed in on them and whispered one word.
“Melchior…”
The tide stopped, and the heat disappated quickly, as the Scorpions retreated back to their holes.
Jakk slapped his companion on the back. “That was amazing. Why didn’t you do that before Tekk grabbed the gem though?”
“Because I had to guess…”
(Effect: Tetuo guesses how to disarm a First Age trap.)
Athletics
Jakk ran into the alley, the Guilders chasing him closing in fast.
Dead end.
Jakk didn’t hesitate and leaped to one side of the alley, his feet finding purchase and launched himself into the air. Kicking and leaping, Jakk scaled the wall, each kick launching himself to the other side of the alley, each kick finding purchase on the rough stone, and with a somersault threw himself to the roof of the building, barely pausing and leaving the Guilders to figure out how to scale the wall on their own…
(Effect: Jakk scales a wall without tools, or losing a round to climbing.)
Awareness
Garet realized that he was screwed.
The barbarians has sprung their trap well. As he passed the wash, desert heat baking the hard pan rocklike, cracks in the pan exploded open. Mirrors focused on him, sun blinding him with searing light.
And they wouldn’t do that if they didn’t have something in mind…
Garret closed his eyes and listened. Long tuned to the songs of the night, he was at home without sight, and without the distraction of the flashing lights. The whisper of cloth and the rasp of hard pan on leather sang before him. Garret swung his blade above him to ward off the blow he knew would come, and lashed out a kick to take the rusher to the ground.
Too easy…
(Effect: Garret removes the penalties for being blinded by the mirrors by closing his eyes and turning Blind Swordsman on their asses…)
Dodge
Tekk dropped among the War Wolfs’ formation.
She rolled among the soldiers, diving between their legs, ducking their blows, side stepping their swings, and letting the soldiers hack each other in an attempt to hit her in close quarters. Skipping around, she dove through the soldiers and leaped into the open sewer grate, to escape their wrath, and the archers on the roof.
Behind her, she heard the Wolves’ wails that told her they hadn’t been so lucky…
(Effect: Tekk performs a full round Dodge, against multiple opponents while moving to her goal, the sewer grate, and directs attacks at her person to others.)
Larceny
As Synna shoved Jakk into the cell, the brigand turned and caught the lovely Dragon Blood in his arms and kissed her with a savage glee, his hands squeezing her buttocks with firm insistance and delight.
For a moment she struggled, but then melted into the embrace. Rough hands roamed, and then Synna’s hands clapped Jakk’s wrist to the manacle on the wall.
“Nice try, bandit.” Synna rocked Jakk’s head with a savage slap. “But I am not going to jeopardize my position by letting one of your ilk free. But maybe later I’ll return and we can discuss how to make your stay here more…enjoyable…” Synna laughed as she slammed Jakk’s cell shut, leaving the Bandit King alone in the damp and the quiet.
Quiet, save for the jingling of the keys that Jakk had taken the liberty of relieving his jailer of while she concentrated on the sensations from her sizable fanny…
(Effect: Jakk picks the pocket of his jailer as she locks him away.)
Stealth
Jakk skittered along the narrow walls, wedged into the passage too close for two, careful not to disturb too much dust. He followed the guards as they patrolled, careful to note their patterns. The temple held only one item of note, the Ruby of Hassa, and Jakk was determined that the temple would pay handsomely for its return. And send a legion of Priests to kill the one who dared shake them down for its return, which made it perfect for framing Ballo-Gri.
Dropping down without a sound, he followed the guard on his fifth pass, sure that the guard would be accustomed to his path by now. A few feet behind, he moved light, into the steps of the guard as he scattered flour ahead of him. By now, the guard was paying more attention to the steps he’d already taken, and the patterns the flour had formed, and that would make him less attentive to sound.
Jakk followed the guard to the Ruby’s chamber, always a few steps behind him, ready to leap above the guard. As the guard inspected the Ruby, Jakk lifted himself above the man, quiet as a church mouse. As the guard turned to leave, Jakk swung down, and snatched the gem from its fittings, and then lowered himself to follow the guard back out to where Tetsuo would be waiting with the Stone Door Mirror that had allowed them access to the chamber in the first place…
(Effect: Jakk follows directly behind the guard through his entire pass to carry out his prize directly under the nose of those who are supposed to be guarding it.)
Bureacracy
“Your proposal will be put onto the docket in four months.” The Spirit took Sin’s chit and motioned for the door.
“I don’t think so. I think I’ll see the Director, now.” Sin smiled.
"And why do you think so?” The Air Spirit Materialized fully, a wisp phantom.
“Because if I don’t, I think that I might be forced to bring a few irregularities to the attention of the Jade Lions. And if those irregularities were brought to their attention, I suspect that when you reformed after their attentions, that you’d be busted back down to blowing breezes off the dung heaps of yeddim in the Northern Wastes.” Sin continued to smile.
“I’m sure that I have no idea what you are talking about…” But the Air Spirit slowed setting the chit down on the docket. Sin smiled amiable and calm. He held up a scroll case, and tapped it on the Spirit’s desk.
“If you aren’t worried, that’s fine. I’m sure that the Director will understand about your abuse of this office for your own gain. I hear he’s a very understanding fellow.” Sin smiled again. “Of course, if I got to see him today, then I would be too busy with this project, to have time to devote to the Jade Lions, or even be in the Heavens for much more than the afternoon. If I was forced to wait, I would obviously have more time to talk to the authorities…”
The Air Spirit sighed, and moved Sin’s chit to the head of the docket. “Why don’t you go ahead…”
(Effect: Sin bullies a minor bureaucrat to get an early appointment.)
Linguistics
“What did you just tell that Ferrymen to get us on board?” Jakk asked Tekk.
“I just relayed a story about his home town. A sad tale of a girl lost, and the kind stranger who set her back on the path, and the rewards that the Gods reserve for those kind to strangers.” Tekk smiled demure.
Tetsuo snorted. “She told him if he didn’t give us tickets on this airship, she’d feed him his balls. Northmen seem to respect that sort of salty talk from their women. Her turn of phrase was especially filthy, involving implications that he’d enjoy the flavor of the penis and the tickling of hairs on his tongue. It was very nasty. Very, very, very nasty…”
(Effect: Tekk shows a display of swearing in a foreign tongue that impresses a man enough to give her what she wants…)
Ride
Jakk leaped from wagon to kick the bandit from his horse. As the man sailed from his seat, the horse began to buck. Jakk wrenched the horse’s ear, and whispered into it. In moments, the horse slowed to trot and turned back to the wagon, gentle and docile. Tekk and Boktor had the chief bound and gagged by then.
Boktor turned his head a bit, sure that the massive stallion would have taken Jakk for a bounce around the countryside, and the horse shied a bit from the priest.
“I just told him that if he calmed the fuck down, I’d be sure to protect him from the priest who liked horseflesh…” Jakk chuckled and began to cool the horse down…
(Effect: Jakk brings the horse under control, scaring it into submission, using Boktor’s bulk as his bludgeon.)
Sail
Sin laughed as the boat sailed through the air, crashing back to the rough seas. The winds whipped the tiny sailer, as Sin ordered the crew to loosen the oversized sails. Calling to the Spirits of the Air, who owed him a few favors, Sin waited for the wind to come.
And they did. The larger galley was coming into view, and Sin grinned again. He kept his chant, calling upon all the Gods of the Seas he knew, and a few of their servants as well, and had the crew open the sails full.
“Get ready Jakk. Give ’em hell.” Sin called to the big bandit, as he timed the rough swells and the howling wind. As they neared the galley, at full sail, in the middle of a storm, the tiny sailer was flung high, propelled over the galley with one huge swell, caught by the wind. As the sailer was tossed into the skies, Jakk leaped for the galley’s deck, leaving Sin to wrest control of the boat. Jakk’s got the easy part, Sin thought, as the rough swells and winds carried the boat into the skies again and again…
(Effect: Sin jumps a sailboat over a war galley. Seriously, if you can’t see the potential for Stunting with Sail or Ride, you need to put down the books, and give up on the whole RPG market…)
Socialize
Jakk smiled as he entered the room.
“Dollus! I greet thee in the names of my people and salute the Prince of Incestuous Relations with Goats. You sir, are royalty in the realm of beastiality.” Jakk bowed deep.
Dollus’ color was already rising. “You see, ladies and gentlefolk, your Lord Dollus is known far and wide in the East as a Goat Fucker. A long and varied tradition, for those who lack the skills and charm to win women. While I’m sure that he has a sweet young thing attached to his arm on this evening, I am led to wonder how much he payed for her services, and sadly, in the East, where Dollus was in charge of Guild Slave Acquisition, we had few such lovelies, and Dollus has always prided himself of never sleeping with a slave…” Jakk dipped his head just a moment. “In reverence for his own mother, who was enslaved to House Cynis as I recall.” Jakk nodded sagely. “Which shows his familial respect.”
“Of course, that didn’t keep him from selling his own sisters to the Cynis, or watching others enjoying their charms every time he visits his Cynis masters on the Blessed Isle. I suppose it’s an acquired taste. But at least he doesn’t sleep with slaves.” Jakk bowed to the gurgling Dollus, already struggling for his blade.
“Oh, Dull-us wishes to challenge me? I accept, with the blessings of the Council of course.” Jakk nodded to the robed figures in attendance and waited for their nod before decapitating the frothing slaver. Decorum must be observed, after all…
(Effect: Jakk goads a slaver to acting rashly and allowing him the proper sanction before he enacts his revenge on the man who sold him to the pits.)
