2nd edition summary of social combat

[JeenLeen]

My group is starting up a game of Exalted 2nd edition, and I'm trying to get a grasp on some of the social combat rules. We do plan to houserule some stuff, probably including an ignoring of ticks during social combat. I'm making this post to ask if the below is true. If it matters, this is pre-errata.

Spoiler: Social Combat Summary

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Social combat moves ‘slower’ than physical combat, so DM fiat about how, if at all, effective Social attacks are during combat. “The best defense against a social attack is physically attacking.”
Trying to persuade someone to stop fighting is probably reasonable. Trying to make an articulate argument (without use of Charms that expressly allow such) is not.

Unacceptable/impossible orders automatically fail. These include suicidal actions & things that are literally not possible. (Whether attacking a powerful Solar is suicidal or not depends on who you are talking to.) Some Charms define other actions as unacceptable.

Applicable Abilities are Investigation, Presence, and Performance. Performance targets all listeners, as opposed to an individual. In a dramatic action, Socialize can be used.

Mental Defense
Dodge MDV (being stubborn): (Integrity + Willpower + specialties + Essence)/2, round down
Parry MDV (argue back): (Charisma/Manip + Ability + specialties)/2, round up

Some magical attacks cannot be dodged and/or blocked.

Modifiers
Appearance: subtract (Atk’s Appearance – Def’s Appearance) as a modifier to DV. Max +3/-3.

• If using a written attack, one’s Linguistics is counted as one’s Appearance.
• For intimidation, App 1 counts as a 3, and App 0 counts as a 5. Being either ugly or pretty helps here.

Values: 1 pt. modifier for Intimacies, 2 pt. for Virtues at 3+ or “patently unreasonable”, 3 pt. for against motivation.

• Can increase or decrease DV, depending on if goes for or against values.
• Bonuses do not stack, but may cancel out (+2 for Conviction, -2 for Compassion yields 0. But something in favor of a virtue and an intimacy only gets a +2, not +3.)

If you fail to resist (i.e., their successes beats DV)
Unnatural mental influence depends on the Charm. If you use Willpower to resist it, you get a point of Limit (max 1 per scene.)
You can pay a point of Willpower to resist natural influence. After spending 2 points, you become immune to natural mental influence for the scene. You must spend WP to resist something against your Motivation; however, even at 0 Motivation, you still resist the effect unless your will is broken (see #3 below).

• 1) Build or erode existing intimacies. (Creating or deleting one takes a number of Scenes equal to target’s Conviction.)
• 2) Get someone to act a certain way for a scene. Will not act against Motivation. Most NPCs will pay Willpower to not betray an Intimacy.
• 3) Break motivation. Only a valid option if the target has WP drained to 0 via attacks against their Motivation AND has not gained full WP for WP + Essence days. If this happens, the person’s will is broken. They will betray their motivation.

Attack Roll
Attack by rolling Charisma/Manip + Ability + specialties. Works like normal combat, except no Soak exists.

Social/War Actions
If doing a non-Charm against a social group, the larger group has bonuses on its Social attacks and to its DV equal to its Magnitude minus the other group’s Magnitude. Max bonus is +3. Most Social Charms that are Simple actions already include this penalty.

Social groups otherwise work as individuals, except they call WP ‘Loyalty’. The Loyalty pool is equal to their leader’s Willpower pool, but using one doesn’t deplete the other. They use their leader’s statistics (DV, Virtues) but their own Policy (equivalent to intimacies & Motivation).

Reminder: if you are 0 Willpower, you are very suggestible and always act in line with Virtues at 3+