Environment

Outside of gladiatorial arenas, most battles do not take place on an open, empty field or in a 10’ x 10’ featureless room. Terrain and unit placement has a substantial effect on combat's outcome, whether it's a personal brawl or a clash of armies. Moreover, many aspects of the environment are dynamic or timing related, such as surprise or being surrounded.

Flight

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Mounted Combat

Control Rating

Control Rating	Examples
0	Automata, Artifact Vehicles, Undead
1	Simhata (ridden by Exalted), Marukani Finest
2	Trained Warhorse
3	Horse, Mule, Yeddim, other conventional mounts
4	Wild/Unbroken Horse
5	Simhata (ridden by un-Exalted), Domesticated Claw Strider, other predators
6+	Tyrant Lizard, other super-predators

Unstable Footing

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Water or Muck

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Multiple Opponents

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Unexpected Attacks

Characters might not always perceive every attack made against them, whether as a result of ambush or a treacherous knife in the back. Unless a character has a magical means of detecting unexpected attacks (such as Surprise Anticipation Method) or a magical defense that guards against unperceived attacks (as most defensive Charms do), the attack is unblockable and undodgeable. That is, the character has a Dodge and Parry DV of 0 automatically, but matters such as cover can improve the value.

In the case of ambush or an opening attack by an invisible opponent, roll the attacker's (Dexterity + Stealth) against the victim's (Wits + Awareness). If the victim is distracted by conversation or focused on some other activity rather than casually looking around (or if the attacker is completely outside the field of her senses, as by being directly behind), the victim suffers a -2 internal penalty to this roll. Conversely, add one die if she is actively wary and suspects danger.

Setting up an ambush from plain view is also possible (such as in the case of an assassin who wishes to throw a knife at someone during a peaceful banquet without telegraphing her aggressive intentions in advance), but doing so adds two to the difficulty of the Stealth roll and requires that the scene is not currently in combat. Make this roll immediately before rolling (Wits + Awareness) as part of a Join Battle action. If the defender wins, she notices the attack in time to respond to it normally with a block or dodge. Her DV still drops normally if faced with an invisible opponent, but she can defend, which beats the alternative. If the attacker wins, the defender suffers from an unexpected attack and must rely on passive defenses or magical defenses that work against surprise.

Players of Exalted characters should keep in mind that Melee Charms require that an Exalt be armed with a ready weapon to use them. As such, characters whose magical defenses focus on evasion will have an advantage against ambush unless the parry expert expects trouble enough to unsheathe her blade.

Reestablishing Surprise

Unexpected attacks normally open hostilities but are not often a factor once fighting is underway. Once a traitor stabs his master in the back or an assassin shoots a blowdart from his concealed perch, everyone present reacts by initiating a Join Battle action. Regaining the considerable advantage of surprise is not easy. The character must try to hide while alert opponents do everything in their power to track his movements. Even invisibility does not guarantee a new surprise attack, although it certainly helps.

Whenever a character wishes to hide, doing so is a miscellaneous action that may be part of a flurry as normal. Roll the attacker's (Dexterity + Stealth), and make independent reflexive opposed rolls of (Wits + Awareness + 2) for all witnesses. If the hiding character is invisible or similarly obscured from senses, add two bonus successes to the Stealth roll. Using a distraction, movement, or some aspect of the environment to aid in hiding is a stunt, adding bonus dice as normal. If the environment affords no hiding spots and the character cannot hide or cloak himself magically, he cannot attempt concealment. Any witness who loses the contested roll loses track of the character entirely and cannot continue to attack or interact with him until he reveals himself—or until someone else who still sees him points or calls out the general location or direction. The hidden attacker may launch new surprise attacks against anyone who doesn’t know his present location, granting the full benefits of surprise.

Once the character launches a new surprise attack, he gives away his location to everyone until he can hide again. Until then, any character can take a miscellaneous action to try to find the character (potentially as part of a flurry), rolling a (Perception + Awareness) check against a difficulty of the successes on the roll to hide. Those who find him can immediately shout out to others (subtract two successes from the Stealth roll for alerted searchers) or keep the knowledge to themselves.

Extras

As a cinematic high-action game, Exalted assumes that protagonists and major supporting characters will scythe through legions of minions and flunkies with comparative ease. Within the combat rules, the concept of extras reinforces this idea. Simply put, an extra is a nameless, faceless adversary of no particular consequence, dangerous only in mass numbers. From a narrative sense, extras serve several functions. First, they provide animate scenery upon which protagonists can show off their phenomenal skill and powers. On the reverse side, they slow down the Chosen and/or force them to waste precious Essence before they can face the "real" enemies. The following rules define the extra template:

Reduced Health: Extras have only three health levels of damage. They can be Unhurt, -1, -3, Incapacitated or Dead, with their -3 level treated as -4 for the purpose of impaired movement. Extras usually die as soon as lethal damage reduces them below Incapacitated rather than spending a period of time dying. However, the Storyteller may relax this rule for dramatic purposes so a mortally wounded soldier can deliver a final report or an enemy can gloat how his master will destroy the heroes, et cetera. If a creature already has three or fewer health levels before being classified as an extra, use those instead.

Automatic Damage: Damage is not rolled against extras. Instead, divide the final raw damage after soak by three, rounded up. Apply the result as levels of the appropriate damage type. This does mean that any attack that hits an extra will inflict at least one level of damage.

Not Heroic: Extras do not count 10s as two successes, nor are they normally capable of stunts. If a scene requires a measure of drama that qualifies as a stunt, the Storyteller may relax this limitation on a rare case-by-case situation. Extras do not spend Willpower for bonus successes or to channel Virtues except in defense of their Motivation.

Profile Statistics: Most extra profiles have full statistics, if only because they may serve another role in the story. However, every member of that profile uses the same statistics, allowing the Storyteller to keep notes for "Generic Zombie" or "Varangian Militia" or "Veteran Mercenary" as needed for encounters. Sone sample profiles for a variety of basic character types may be found in Mortals page.

Morale

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Special Attacks

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Grappling

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Called Shots

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Pulling Blows (-1)

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Showing Off (-1 to -4)

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Disarming (-2 or -4)

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Fierce Blows (-1)

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