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View Full Version : Let's rebuild Exalted's War system



tribble
2010-11-13, 03:24 PM
Ok, so I have recently discovered that Exalted has a war system that is horrific. It is, in fact, about as labyrinthe as people describe the mechanics of FATAL to be. I'm hoping to ST a game focusing on the Exalted's status as leaders of men, with lots of social stuff and mass combat. Therefore, Exalted's current war system is a major problem. So, I am endeavoring to homebrew a system I can actually use. Here's what I have so far:


Magnitude is in. I'm keeping Exalted's current system of troop counting. I will be using it as rate. Weapon Rate is gone. A magnitude 3 unit equipped with Sledges makes the same number of attacks as a magnitude 3 unit equipped with slashing swords.

Might is in. It will be calculated in the same way, and subject to the same potential modifiers. however, I will be simplifying it thusly: if your unit has higher might than your enemy, your minimum damage is the difference. This does not increase the damage of a flubbed damage roll, but it does overcome soak, in a manner similar to essence.

Special characters changed. Commanders still use their health levels to determine the health levels per unit of magnitude in their unit, and their war rating still caps the ability rating of a unit. Units use either the average ability of the unit, or that of the Commander, whichever is higher. Relays are gone, because I couldn't see any point to them. Added charcacters, such as Heroes and Sorcerers, are combined into Heroes. Heroes may now lead the ability rolls of a unit, be they melee or archery, in the same way as a commander, using the commander's War. They may also break off part of the unit to lead personally, becoming a commander, or they may take command if the commander dies. Basically, they can do anything a Hero or a Sorcerer can do under the original rules.

In addition to this, Commanders and Sorcerers may use charms, subject to ST decision. Short of fielding entire units of Dragon-Blooded, which would be seriously Endgame whichever side does it, this would be the only way to give a unit hardness.

Drill is used to determine whether or not a group can change formation, and also supplements valor checks. Valor checks would be provoked by Dawn anima, being attacked by a larger force, losing a point of magnitude, sorcerous attack, and other things subject to ST decree. Units with a Drill higher than 0 can assume formations other than loose, units with a Drill of 0 can only form into loose formation.

Attacking a unit works like this: (assuming the attacker is in range) the attacker rolls to attack using the relevant ability of the unit, whether that is the commander's melee or the unit's or a Hero's. The attacked unit uses either their Parry DV, the commanders parry DV, or a Hero's parry DV to defend. Short of perfect defense, Ranged Weapons are unparriable. If the attack still connects, the attacker rolls the damage of the unit's weapon+unit's strength. If the Unit is not homogeneous in equipment or attributes, take an average. The defender uses the average soak of the unit, NOT the commander's soak. Once soak and the damage that gets past it is resolved, the attack has been resolved. The attacking unit may make attacks equal to it's magnitude, in the same way an induvidual in personal combat may make attacks equal to his weapon's rate.

Thoughts? anything I've missed?

EDIT: added Drill mechanics.

aetherialDawn
2010-11-13, 05:54 PM
One: I think that Mass Combat needs rebuilding.
Two: I'm not sure about your changes. Magnitude as Rate seems a little odd, although it does explain nicely why more low-magnitude units are better, since 10000 people as Magnitude 1 units is a lot more attacks than as a Magnitude 9 unit. Still, linking something into flurries is rarely the way to simplify something.

Relays are part of the realism, and provide armies with 'weak points' to hit- take out the relays and you can cripple your foe's army, so I would leave them in and just allow mass combat charms to do Relay-ing for Exalted so that it's simple for the PCs and lets them take down an enemy army sneakily if they want.

tribble
2010-11-14, 03:08 PM
Relays are part of the realism, and provide armies with 'weak points' to hit- take out the relays and you can cripple your foe's army, so I would leave them in and just allow mass combat charms to do Relay-ing for Exalted so that it's simple for the PCs and lets them take down an enemy army sneakily if they want.

Commanders already provide weak points, though, and realism isn't an issue for my group, really. We've actually taken to rolling a randomly high number of dice to determine how many people whe kill/incapacitate per turn of mass combat in order to actually advance the game. It's fun and amusing, but with the impending focus on mass combat, I need something that feels grand and fun, and is also simple.

I'm not all that experienced in homebrewing, so I'll defer to your opinion on magnitude/rate. however, a huge part of why I'm homebrewing the system is just so that I can know what everything does. The current system, I don't know what might does, I don't really know what magnitude does besides give health level refreshments, I don't know what hardly anything does.

However, if you have a different idea on what magnitude should do, I would love to hear it.

tribble
2010-11-17, 08:11 PM
I hate to double post, but I really need some more feedback. bump.