Uncouth/Combat

Standard combat works very similarly to Exalted 2E, with the following changes:

• Adapts to the wayUncouth/Effects change the game.
• Uses a different notion of timing.
• Can work at multiple time scales at once.
• Uses the same mechanics within these different time scales, rather than building separate systems for use in each. (That is, no special social, unit or other types of combat.)
• Eliminates the concept of flurries.
• Decouples the refresh of magic use and defense from Speed.
• Separates movement from the action system

Spheres

Timing in Uncouth is similar to the tick-based system used in Exalted, with some simplification in some places and complication in others. Once a point is reached where tests are necessary, time begins to be tracked within a sphere. A sphere can be thought of as a period in which time moves at a certain pace, measured in ticks. Within a sphere, all ticks are the same duration, but that duration may vary from sphere to sphere. Spheres are set up any way you like, but some common spheres are:

• Combat - standard combat timing, with each tick acting as a second or so. Actions in this sphere are typically descriptions of very specific actions, such as attacking with an axe or leaping off a building (or both).
• Debate - social interaction where tests are necessary. (As mentioned inUncouth/Mechanics, Uncouth makes the assumption that this only happens when magic is being used socially.) Actions here are typically making a specific argument or pursuing a specific social tactic and ticks are usually a minute or so.
• Correspondence - a type of debate sphere where each action consists of producing a single letter, and the ticks may last months.
• Battle - in a typical unit combat, focus is more on tactical moves than playing out each strike. Ticks are usually a minute or more. A single set of Traits in this sphere usually represents a military unit.
• War - when units clash, focus is more on the strategic moves than the specifics of each battle. Ticks are usually measured in days. A single set of Traits in this sphere usually represents an army or fleet.
• Politics - diplomatic actions, with each tick measured in weeks. Actions in this sphere may be enacting specific economic plans, industrial production and so on. A single set of Traits in this sphere usually represents a nation or bureaucratic division.
• Shaping - a sphere for the reality defining magics of the Fair Folk, with each tick representing ten minutes or so. Actions represent scenes in a story that the shaper is trying to convince reality is true.

Action is typically contained in one sphere at a time, but this need not be the case. If your players can handle it, it can be rewarding to have more than one sphere running at a time. Actions in both are conducted entirely independently, as if each sphere was the only one running, but the results of actions in the spheres overlap. The Storyteller needs to outline how the action will switch between the spheres ahead of time. This is typically done on a tick by tick basis, with a ratio between the interacting spheres. Things like DV penalties are tracked independently for each sphere.

A common example would be a fight where the combatants are trying to taunt each other with magic. The storyteller runs two spheres, one for the combat and another for the social interaction. He decides that it will be most fun if the two interact on a five to one ratio, where five ticks are handled in the combat sphere, then one tick is handled in the social sphere, then five more combat, one more social and so on.

Groups who become comfortable with this technique could also probably mix a battle sphere with a combat sphere, sticking in the battle sphere most of the time, but dropping into the combat sphere when it became interesting to do so.

Another idea is something you don't see in Exalted, but shows up in much of the material that inspired it: the "psychic duel", where two characters are fighting both physically and on some altered plane of consciousness at the same time. Such combats could be overlapped simultaneously, such that ticks go by in each sphere at the same time, but the two "tracks" of ticks are still handled independently.

Spheres could also be used to simulate a fight where intangible creatures, existing without the burden of a physical body, function much more quickly than their meat-bound counterparts. Such a battle might have an "incorporeal sphere" and a "physical sphere", where three actions passed in the former to each in the latter.

Cycles

As a character acts, two things refresh on a cycle: the character's ability to use magic and the integrity of their defense. In Exalted, both of these refresh automatically each time the character acts. In Uncouth, this is not the case. Instead, the character must spend time to reset in order to start a new cycle (see the Reset action, below). When the new cycle begins, the DV penalty accumulated from actions resets to zero, and the character's use ofUncouth/Effects resets. DV penalties continue to accumulate until the character starts a new cycle with a Reset action.

During a cycle, the character can only use a small number of the effects he knows as primary effects (seeUncouth/Effects for more).

One of the purposes of this change is to make fast attacks less unbalancing. If using a combination of weapon perks and magic, you manage to make Speed 1 attacks, this is not as useful when your DV doesn't refresh and you don't get a free application of magic, particularly since Uncouth also eliminates flurries.

Characters may also spend of point of Willpower to take a reflexive Reset action at any time.

Joining

A sphere starts by participants electing to join it. This is done largely following the Join Battle rules, but allowing for more flexibility in the type of Attribute + Ability pairings that are used. Typically, the Storyteller will set a standard pairing that all who join the sphere roll (e.g. Wits + Awareness is a typical pairing for combat), though some may perhaps provide a decent reason to join using an alternative. This roll is resolved like Join Battle, resulting in a "delay" before the character can act based on the number of successes.

The cycles of all participating characters reset at the very beginning of a Join.

Moments

The point at which a character can act is called that character's moment. When the moment starts, the character can take an action. The list of choices is smaller than Exalted, but function similarly. Each has a Speed rating, indicating how many ticks must pass before the character's next moment arrives, and a DV penalty, indicating a penalty to all defense that accrues until the character clears it. (Again, DV does not refresh automatically.) The character's choices are:

• Wait (1/-0): The character waits for a tick. A Waiting character can change this choice to Act in response to other events that occur during the tick. When the character declares that they will be Waiting, they announce what they are waiting for. If the character elects to Act in response to an event, if that event matches what the character was waiting for, she may Act before the event, otherwise she must Act after it. A typical use for this action is to defend against hit and run attacks.
• Join (Varies/-0): A character outside of the sphere can join it with a Join roll (see above). The Speed of this action is 6, minus the successes on the roll (min zero).
• Reset (1/-0): The character ends her current cycle and starts a new one, instantaneously. Note: all characters may also declare a Reset by spending a point of Willpower.
• Act (4/-1): The character can perform any activity that fits into the space of a tick duration; however, only one test may performed in this period. All activity is assumed to occur on the starting tick of the moment. The Speed of this action can be modified by effects and other sources.
• Aim (1/-1): Similar to the Wait action, the character looks for a weakness in a target. The character can abort the aim to make an attack on that target at any time. Each consecutive full Aim action spent immediately prior to the attack adds one die to it (maximum of three dice).

That's it. Note that flurries do not exist (though they can be semi-emulated with very low Speed attacks).

The Rate stat of weapons becomes essentially meaningless.

Movement

At every moment within a sphere, a character is in exactly one movement mode. These modes control how far a character can move in a single tick. If Acting in that tick, the character can move before the action, after it or both, so long as the total movement isn't exceeded. Each mode alters the character's defense for that tick and that tick alone. The modes are:

• Immobile (Special): The character cannot move at all. They may be unconscious, clinched, bound, etc. Immobile targets have a physical DV of zero, but may still be able to defend against non-physical attacks. They typically can take only Wait actions, unless they are conscious and have some ability to act while immobile. If the condition making them immobile stops, they must make an immediate Join action to determine when their next moment is.
• Stationary (-0): The character is more or less motionless, moving at a very slow pace. In typical combat ticks, movement is zero yards. In spheres with longer ticks, being stationary might mean something like staying within the same room, etc.
• Slow (-1): The character moves slowly. In typical combat ticks, movement is "walking speed": Dexterity + 6 - current wound penalties - armor mobility penalty yards per tick (min 1). Other spheres use whatever rate for "walking" would be appropriate to the sphere.
• Fast (-2): The character moves rapidly. In typical combat ticks, uses "running" speed: Dexterity - current wound penalties - armor mobility penalty yards per tick (min 2). Other spheres use whatever rate for "running" would be appropriate to the sphere.