TheKawaiiEdition/KawaiiMassCombat
Exalted Kawaii Mass Combat
In Exalted: Kawaii, mass combat resembles the gang fight from West Side Story. It is a giant song and dance number with two armies manuevering in synchronized dance manuevers, in order to basically make the other side realize it is less cute and force them to run for their lives in shame. Death is minimal unless one side gets stubborn or is particularly blood thirsty.
Military units basically act as the chorus line for their unit commander and most of the actual fighting, except with particularly blood-thirsty foes, comes down to a duel between unit commanders with the units acting as moral support / psychological intimidation / stunt fodder / entertainment for the dueling leaders.
Units effectively act as boosters, increasing the skills of their commanders. You should calculate the following stats for a military unit:
Discipline: This is equal to the average Performance skill of the unit. (Specialty dice add to this) No other skill of the unit may exceed the unit's discipline rating.
Talent: This is the average Cha + Performance + specialty dice pool of the unit.
Bring the Pain (Melee): Calculate the unit's average dex + average hand to hand combat skill it normally uses (which can't exceed the unit's Discipline). Divide this by 2.
Bring the Pain (Missile): As Bring the Pain (Melee) but with the unit's preferred ranged attack.
Damage: The base damage inflicted by the unit with its chosen weapon.
Toughness: The average lethal soak of the military unit.
Cast Size: The size of the army, computed as follows: (A single person by themselves is Cast Size 0)
- 2-5 men (Hand)
- 6-25 men (Gaffer)
- 26-125 men (Stage Crew)
- 126-625 (Grip)
- 626-3125 (Troupe)
- 3125-9375 (Legion)
- 9376-20,000 (2 Legions)
- 20,000-40,000 (4 Legions)
- 40,000-80,000 (8 Legions)
Add 1 for each doubling past 80,000.
Conducting Mass Combat
Step 1 of mass combat is the opposed dance-off. Both sides try to intimidate their foes by a display of martial and performance skill. Each unit rolls a combination of its commander's Cha + Performance pool, the Unit's Talent, and the Unit's Cast Size. The difference between the two rolls is known as the 'Dance Factor'. The losing side must roll Valor (The unit's average valor) + Discipline. If their successes exceed the Dance Factor, they can either hold their ground, or they can choose to launch an actual physical attack. If they choose to hold, the winner can either launch a physical attack or repeat this step. If the losing side fails to exceed the Dance Factor with a Valor + Discipline roll, they rout, losing one point of Cast Size and moving away as fast as they can.
A commander may choose to fight on without his unit if it routs, or go with them to rally them.
Rallying: The commander of a routed unit may roll his own personal Valor + Performance against the Dance Factor which routed the unit, each Mass-Combat-Round of combat. If he beats it, the unit stops routing.
Step 2 of mass combat is Physical Combat. This is treated as a duel between the commanders, with each getting bonuses from their unit. The commanders gain bonuses from their men. They add the Unit's Bring the Pain to the combat skill pool they fight with and add the unit's Damage and Cast Size to their own damage rolls. They also add the unit's Toughness and Cast Size to their own soak. They gain bonus -0 wounds equal to half the number of wound levels an average member of their unit has + the Cast Size of the Unit.
Also, each mass combat round, the commander may split his dice pool if he chooses and try to panic the other unit, as in step 1. This is resolved as normal.
If the commander of a unit is knocked out, his unit totally collapses, losing half its cast size (round down) and the survivors rout. Any junior officers may then try to take command and stem the rout.
If the commander of a unit tries to withdraw, he must roll the unit's Valor + Discipline with a difficulty equal to the number of wounds he has suffered. If he succeeds, the unit withdraws intact if he hasn't been hurt, or loses 1 Cast Size if he has been hurt. If he fails, the unit routs, losing cast size equal to the number of wounds he suffered - his roll on the Valor + Discipline pool, to a max of half the Unit's Cast Size. (Cast Size 1 units simply cease to exist).
In the aftermath of a battle, within a few days, the unit will regain half the Cast Size it lost in the battle as stragglers return, the wounded begin to recover, etc, if the unit still exists.
