Editing Exalted Combat 101 (section)

==Combat Lesson 2: Extras==

Extras are what make the game of Exalted great, and anyone who has run a BIG fight against extras will quickly note that combat slows down. Hopefully, this illustration will show how to keep your combat fast paced and quick. I also intend to illustrate the tactics of losing initiative.

'''Steel Ribbon Warrior walked alone on the city road, his thoughts lingering on his student. She was advancing quickly, and this pleased him, but this was not why his mind dwelled on her.'''

'''Lost in his thoughts, he almost did not see the flickering motion. There was a silvery flash, and then the sound of metal against metal as Steel Ribbon Warrior unsheathed his weapon and parried the thrown knife in one smooth motion.'''

'''Assassins!'''

First, Steel must make a reflexive (free) Wits + Awareness check. We assume he passes enough to parry. Then we get a pretty stunt allowing Steel to parry in the same motion as readying his weapon.

Steel is using a masterwork Slashing Sword, his ancestral weapon. It gives him a +3 to speed, +2 Accuracy, +3L Damage, +2 Defense. For ease of play, I find it easiest to note my weapon as the writers of Exalted do: All stats and bonuses already added together. So, for Steel, we have a Speed of 12, Accuracy of 15, Damage of 6L(ethal) and a Defense of 15. Incidentally, this is about as cool as mortals get.

'''Four shadows slipped from the alleyways, knives glinting in the distant lamp light as though they were hungry for his blood. Unprepared for the sudden rush, Steel Ribbon Warrior was forced to give ground to his aggressors, retreating quickly, slipping away from their slashing blades.'''

'''He cries out as a blade kisses his flesh, blood flying into the air. He grits his teeth against the pain, readying his blade for a counter attack.'''

Turn 1:<br>
These are elite Extras, thus, have an init bonus of 6, and a dice pool of 6 in combat. They must have surprised Steel, because they rolled a 10, and he rolled a 1, giving him an init of 13, and them an init of 16. 

They go first. 

If Steel wants to live, he must abort to a defense. He has a dodge of 3 (thus a dodge pool of 8), meaning that his parry is vastly superior. However, he could only parry once if he aborted, so he is forced to dodge. This is a dice pool of 8, 7, 6, 5. This gives us 4, 3, 3, 2 successes, and our assassins (dice pool of 6) get 3, 3, 3, 3. That last one hits. (Note: Extras, unlike Exalted or Heroic Mortals, don't get 2 successes when they roll 10s, lowering their average successes on 6 dice from 3 to 2.4. For simplicity, we're rounding it up to 3. Thanks to Garris for pointing this out.--ed.) 

Assuming the assassin is of strength 2, with a knife (+1L damage), this is 4 damage (2 from strength, 1 from the knife, and 1 from the success), and it's lethal, so Steel has no soak. This averages 2 health levels. Oww. Steel is hurt (-1 wound penalty) 

There are rules for stunning and knock down on page 234 of the main book, but I feel extras wouldn't get that luxury, and it would complicate matters, so I don't bother with them.

'''Steel launches himself at them, his blade flashing, blood flying. Four quick strokes leave three dead bodies, the other assassin having sprung nimbly away from the blow.'''

Steel rolls better for his initiative this time, and so goes first. He could attack once, and parry the rest, but if he attacks, they'll have to abort to a defense rather than attack, so here, a good offense is the best defense. 

He splits his dice pool 4 ways, and with his wound penalty, he's at -1 to hit, giving him a dice pool of (10, 9, 8, 7) (That's 15, -4 for the 4 attacks, -1 for wound, and then an additional -1 for each action thereafter).

This is an average of 5, 4, 4, and 3 to hit. The Ninja have 6 dodge dice, and thus average 3, 3, 3, and 3. The last dodges.

Now comes the easy part. Because Extras can be automatically wounded for every 3 dice of damage they take, really, all we need to do is make sure we get 9 dice of damage. Steel does 6, so we need 3 successes to incapacitate. If this total is uneven, we can roll the remaining dice, or, if you're feeling generous, just round up the Heath Level's taken.

They ARE just Extras.

With the successes on the hits added to the base damage, we get 8, 7, 7 damage. Not enough to instantly kill them, but enough to give each a -3 wound penalty (enough to take them out of the fight) and possibly kill them, with the 8 very likely. 

<b><u>Remember:</u></b> For Extras, determine how many successes a PC needs to get his damage up to 9. That's all you're checking for, and then roll roll roll. The Extra is either dead, or hurting badly.

'''The remaining Ninja launches himself at Steel Ribbon Warrior, and contemptuously, the swordsman cuts him down.'''

Once more, Steel has initiative. The Ninja chooses not to abort, because he knows he's going to die, and 14 dice (15 - 1 for wound penalty) will do a stellar job of splattering ninja boy.