Dice Into the Ruins - Exalted 3e OOC

[Sherwood]

Purr In combat, you need to build up your initiative in order to be able to make a truly effective Decisive attack. If Glade can make multiple attacks first, it boosts his initiative fast, getting him to a very large amount of dice being rolled for damage. It can take out bad guys very quickly and at the same time, prevent them from being able to do a Decisive attack of their own.

So what I'm trying to say is, yes it is very bad for the bad guys to be on the receiving end of this.

 

[Psychie]

Hey Rykon ! You still with us?

 

[Purr]

Purr In combat, you need to build up your initiative in order to be able to make a truly effective Decisive attack. If Glade can make multiple attacks first, it boosts his initiative fast, getting him to a very large amount of dice being rolled for damage. It can take out bad guys very quickly and at the same time, prevent them from being able to do a Decisive attack of their own.

So what I'm trying to say is, yes it is very bad for the bad guys to be on the receiving end of this.

Sherwood Ah! Thanks, Bud!

Does the same hold true for Withering damage? What you've written makes me want to choose a charm that will increase O Mighty Fat Cat's Initiative.

 

[Psychie]

Doing Withering damage is the primary means of building up your initiative track to prepare for a Decisive attack.

Let's say you rolled an eight for your starting initiative. When it gets to your turn to act and you decide to attack, you can do either a Withering strike to build your initiative or cash in your 8i to do a Decisive attack that will have a damage pool of eight dice.

This time you go for Withering and add twelve to your initiative. That gets you a new initiative of twenty on the next round. If you then decide to do a Decisive attack, the damage pool is more, doing twenty dice instead of your previous eight.

Obviously, the higher initiative you start with gets you a huge advantage.

 

[Purr]

Doing Withering damage is the primary means of building up your initiative track to prepare for a Decisive attack.

Let's say you rolled an eight for your starting initiative. When it gets to your turn to act and you decide to attack, you can do either a Withering strike to build your initiative or cash in your 8i to do a Decisive attack that will have a damage pool of eight dice.

This time you go for Withering and add twelve to your initiative. That gets you a new initiative of twenty on the next round. If you then decide to do a Decisive attack, the damage pool is more, doing twenty dice instead of your previous eight.

Obviously, the higher initiative you start with gets you a huge advantage.

Psychie O.K.. Let me see here. 8i (8 Initiative) can translate to a Decisive attack of 8 Decisive damage that resets one's initiative (cashes in) or a Withering attack that does 12 damage and also adds 12 to one's initiative.

So when you use Withering attacks, you somehow improve your Initiative every round while using Decisive attacks cashes them in (all or nothing, I take it?).

In the example you've given, Fat Cat's initiative (foregoing the Decisive attack and using the Withering attack) gains 12, added to 8, equaling 20. This makes me want to grab a certain Initiative-improving Charm all the more.

What then decides the type of damage? Bashing, Lethal, and (rarest of all in Exalted) Aggravated? For example, can a Withering attack use Lethal damage?

 

[Psychie]

Psychie O.K.. Let me see here. 8i (8 Initiative) can translate to a Decisive attack of 8 Decisive damage that resets one's initiative (cashes in) or a Withering attack that does 12 damage and also adds 12 to one's initiative.

So when you use Withering attacks, you somehow improve your Initiative every round while using Decisive attacks cashes them in (all or nothing, I take it?).

In the example you've given, Fat Cat's initiative (foregoing the Decisive attack and using the Withering attack) gains 12, added to 8, equaling 20. This makes me want to grab a certain Initiative-improving Charm all the more.

What then decides the type of damage? Bashing, Lethal, and (rarest of all in Exalted) Aggravated? For example, can a Withering attack use Lethal damage?

Generally a Withering attack does no "real" damage unless the target is in Initiative Crash with zero initiative and the storyteller says it's thematically appropriate.

Each weapon description has a bunch of tags in it, such as Two Handed, Reach, or Martial Arts. Included in this list for the weapon will be the description of either Bashing or Lethal. Aggravated damage is very rare, and usually requires a Charm to boost Lethal damage into that category.

 

[Purr]

So the only way to cause non-Withering damage is to use a Decisive attack? And Decisive includes Bashing, Lethal, and Agg?

 

[Psychie]

Basically, yes.

 

[Purr]

What is meant by "stack this Charm," please? Does this mean you have to buy the Charm over and over again or do you buy it once and just pay more motes to enhance more senses?

Spoiler: Charm

The Lunar shifts her body to hone one of her senses. She chooses a single sense, rerolling 1s until they cease to appear on Perception rolls using it, and ignoring (Essence) points of penalty from overstimulation or understimulation of that sense even on non-Perception rolls. She could ignore penalties to vision caused by darkness or blinding light, but not by fog or distance. The Lunar may stack this Charm to enhance different senses. The cost of activations beyond the first is reduced to one mote.
(bold mine)

 

[Sherwood]

I believe it means that you spend the needed Essence to activate the Charm for each sense you wish to enhance.

 

[Psychie]

That is how I read it, too.

 

[Chowlett]

So the only way to cause non-Withering damage is to use a Decisive attack? And Decisive includes Bashing, Lethal, and Agg?

The way to understand how Withering, Decisive and Initiative work mechanically is to return to the flavour they describe.

Initiative is how prepared and how well positioned you are for the fight. If you have the upper hand, you have a higher initiative; you go earlier in the combat order. An outside observer would say that the battle is in your favour.

Withering attacks involve you doing something that improves your advantage in the fight, without necessarily cutting your opponent or significantly injuring them. Maybe a swordsman springs forward with a flurry of quick strikes, forcing his opponent onto the back foot or into a corner. Maybe Glade pings a dart off an enemy's sword arm as they go for a strike, distracting them. Maybe Fat Cat swipes at their feet, forcing them off balance. If the attack succeeds, then you shift the fight in your favour - you steal your opponent's initiative and add it to your own.

Decisive attacks are when you go in for a damaging blow, and the more the fight is in your favour, the more dangerous they are. With your opponent harried and in a corner, you thrust your blade between their ribs. While they're already off balance, you throw them to the ground. You can try to launch a decisive attack even if the fight isn't going your way - lashing out from your corner, hoping for a lucky shot into a seething melee - but it's much less likely to work. If you succeed, you deal real health-level damage, and then you have to spend some time recovering yourself - pulling your sword free, refocusing on the fight around you - and you reset to 3 Initiative. If you miss, the dance goes on and you don't lose as much.

 

[Rykon]

Hey Rykon ! You still with us?

Yeah, I'm still around just been really preoccupied. I'll try and catch up on things today.

 

[Sherwood]

Psychie what language is the lion speaking in? I want to make sure I can understand it before replying.

 

[Psychie]

Psychie what language is the lion speaking in? I want to make sure I can understand it before replying.

It is speaking in each of your native languages; or at least, you all hear it in your native tongue. There must be magic in play here.

 

[Sherwood]

Ok thank you.

 

[Sherwood]

Anther question. I think I know what these lions are, but can I see if Amara knows? Would it be an Int + Lore roll?

 

[Psychie]

Lore or Occult. Either one would work.

 

[Sherwood]

Ok. Rolling.

Four successes.

 

[Psychie]

Amara would recognize the two as Celestial Lions, servants of Yu-Shan and supposedly incorruptible. Legend says that they are fearsome fighters.

Edit. They are also very proud, and will not brook insults at all.

 

[Purr]

I might ask to make the same roll, but O Mighty Fat Cat has not a dot in Lore or Occult! Heh!

 

[Purr]

I thought I was caught up in OOC before I posted. I see now that I wasn't. Sherwood Sorry, Bud, if I stepped on something you wanted to do with Amara here!

 

[Purr]

Sherwood Would you prefer I change/delete my post so Amara can go first? I can do that if you like. =)

 

[Sherwood]

No need. You are fine, and I'll have a post up for Amara shortly.

 

[Purr]

Who has this Key that was given to you by Dunbar?

Psychie That definitely will not be O Mighty Fat Cat as he never met the man, er, ghost. =)

Wheee!