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exalted:cheat_sheet:social_combat

Social Combat

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Exalted p169

Order of Attack Events

Exalted p173

  1. Attacker Declares Attack: Decide on CHA vs MANIP and what Skill to use. Should also declare desired affect of the attack. (Skills: Bureaucracy, Integrity, Investigation, Linguistics, Performance, Presence, Socialize)
  2. Defender Declares Defense: “I stubbornly refuse!” (dodge) or “I object and argue!” (parry)
  3. Attack Roll: ([CHA or MANIP] + [relevant attack ability] + Charm bonus dice) + [Charm auto successes], difficulty 1
  4. Determine Effect: This compels behavior or force willful resistance, so no mental soak, no damage.
  5. Apply Effect: In place of damage, the usual effects of the attack occur at this step
    • Choose to accept attack (do what the attacker wants) or resist by spending a Willpower point. For actions that would violate a character's Motivation, a willpower MUST be spent
    • Only 2 points of Willpower can be drained from a character per scene using natural (non-magical) methods of persuasion. The character becomes jaded, and all other attempts beyond this fail within the same scene.
    • Unnatural (supernatural) persuasion suffers no such limitations, and may force characters to pay more than one willpower to resist, and can possibly drain all temporary willpower in a single scene.

Definitions

Attack Effects (p173):

  • Building/Eroding Intimacies: Characters must spend a total number of scenes deliberately establishing an Intimacy equal to their Conviction rating in order to gain the effects of the Intimacy. The scenes do not have to be consecutive. Each successful social attack can reduce or grow an Intimacy by one point.
  • Compelling Behavior: Getting a dude to cheat on his wife (which will reduce his Intimacy with her by one), inciting a crowd into an angry mob, etc.
  • Breaking Motivation: Reducing a character to zero temporary willpower through social attacks opposing her Motivation and goes (Willpower + Essence) days without ever recovering back her full Willpower, then her will is broken. In this state, a character may be compelled to take actions violating her Motivation. It does not change her Motivation, it just convinces her to betray it.


Misc:

  • Speed: The number of ticks you must wait in between each attack using this attack method
  • Accuracy: Adds dice to attack pool
  • Defense: Adds to Mental Parry DV calculation
  • Rate: The maximum number of attacks you can make on your tick, based on your attack type
  • Tick: (p169) Approximately 1 minute


Special Actions:

  • Unexpected Attack: Ambushed characters have DVs of 0. Aggressor rolls (MANIP + Socialize) vs defender's (PERCEP + Investigation).
  • Showing off: -1 to -4 to attack roll.
  • Fierce Blow: -1 to attack roll gains +2A, +2L, or +3B (whatever damage type the weapon inflicts normally).
  • Intimacies/Virtues/Motivations: Characters being convinced to do something in support of an intimacy/virtue get a -1 to MDV. If a dominant Virtue (3+ rating), the penalty is -2 MDV. Social attacks that directly align with a character's motivation receive a -3 MDV penalty. The opposite is true, for a +1, +2, and +3 respectively. These do not stack. It is possible that situations may occur in which bonuses and penalties to MDV cancel.

Calculations

  • Join Debate: (WITS + Awareness) + [Charm bonus], person with the highest number of successes goes on zero, all other players go on Tick: (highest successes) - (their successes). No one can go slower than 6. A character who botches a Join Debate starts on 6.
  • Join Ongoing Debate: Roll Join Debate as usual. Character joins debate on (6 - success) from current tick or the next tick, if 6+ is rolled.
  • Mental Parry DV (MDV): ([CHA or MANIP] + Ability + speciality + [Charm bonus])/2 (round up for Exalts, round down for all else)
  • Mental Dodge DV (MDV): (Willpower + Integrity + speciality + Essence (if an exalt) + [Charm bonus])/2 (round up for Exalts, round down for all else)
  • Relative Appearance: Defenders who are more attractive (or less) than attackers get a bonus (or penalty) to DV equal to (Defender's APP - Attacker's APP). Cannot exceed -3 and +3.

Action Speeds/DV Penalties

Action Speed DV Penalty Notes
Attack Varies -2
Dash 3 -3 This counts as an action and forfeits opportunities for rebuttal – typically only used for running away
Guard 3 0 See p143
Move 0 0 Must remain within talking distance of opponent. Movement matters little in a social debate.
Inactive 3 Special
Join Debate 0 0 (WITS + Awareness + [charm bonus dice])
Monologue/Study 3 -2 This is equivalent to the Aim action in melee combat
Misc 5 -2
Flurry Varies Varies p143
Activate Charm/Combo/Power Varies Varies
exalted/cheat_sheet/social_combat.txt · Last modified: 2011/07/04 21:07 by tara