[Exalted] Set-Piece Battles

[four willows]

So, my players like to mess around with environmental stunts, so I wanted to think of some cool ways to give them more cookies than just stunt bonuses. And I hate doing stuff like that on the fly.

So I'm thinking about embedding effects into the environment for them to use, like follows:

Jolenta, the Creeping Oracle
(The Wisdom soul of Ekrasios)
One of the mysteries of old Chiaroscuro is this tangle of hoops and orbs and gears. One orb is made of bright green steel, and one hoop is woven of blackened brass wires. She tumbles through the streets as its parts spin and shift. Her three favorite children, the underworld serpents Furious Leaf, Coiling Brilliance, and Silent Fangs, are imprisoned within. In her motions, she blocks their every attempt to escape; studying her spinning orbs reveals the motions of the Malfean heavens.

Battling inside the Creeping Oracle imposes a number of restrictions and offers a number of opportunities.

Turning Gears: Jolenta has an instability rating of 4. Failing the Athletics roll to retain footing will eject a character from the orrery, and he must take a Dash action to reenter.

Underworld Serpents: The jasperids each have a Speed 6 biting attack with Accuracy 10. Furious Leaf's attack has +4L damage, Coiling Brilliance's attack has +8B, and Silent Fangs has +3P. After a failed attack, a serpent will Aim before attacking the same target again.

Enticing the Serpents: As a miscellaneous action, someone inside Jolenta may make a Charisma + Ride roll to direct the serpents toward a particular target. They obey the direction with most successes made since their last action.

Bystanders: Every five ticks, it is possible to snatch a passerby and use him as an improvised weapon. Passersby have the stats of a goremaul. They suffer a damage roll equal to the damage bonus of a weapon used to parry attacks made with them.

Post your own!

[braincraft]

I really like this sort of thing. My models for fight-stunts are actually video games like God of War and Kingdom Hearts II, where you have a lot of reaction commands that do really specific stunts against enemies, especially bosses.

Just to throw out a few good setpieces:


The big bad blows up a mountain just to show how tough he is. You have to fight him while jumping from chunk to falling chunk of the mountainside, perhaps hitting one at him or shattering the one he's standing on to throw his footing.

There's a big battle going on at the bottom of this cliff, and the fastest way down is to jump! Try to land on one of the flying enemies and ride it down, or jump from flier to flier, killing and killing as you go. If you're tough enough, you could even just hit the ground, creating an impact crater, but marching out of the dust on your own invulnerable feet.

You're caught unarmed in the mass tomb of the 10,000 soldiers of Kakhtar. Grab their swords and shields to defend yourself, but eventually you'll disturb their spirits so much that they'll start rising to take them back!


I don't really have anything more specific than these; I tend to make shit up on the spot.

[tk421]

Ooooh, neat!

Here's my attempt to recreate (with some nifty effects) one of my most successful set-pieces from my first Exalted game.


Rathess, Ruined Formal Gardens

Once a lush, mutli-leveled garden in the human section of Rathess, in the Age of Sorrows, this place is a sad monument to glories lost. A burst canal in a nearby waterway long ago flooded the triple ledges of the garden and the land below. The resulting waterfall and small lake, overgrown with the remnants of rare beauty that once thrived there, has its own savage appeal. Littered with several dozen shattered statues of First Age Solar dignitaries, the garden's waterfall and lake are unstable, and in the waters below lurk the degenerate remains of the Dragon Kings.

Cascading Water/Unsound Vegetation: The tri-leveled garden has an instability rating of 2. Certain parts are less stable than others, with ratings up to 5. A character can attempt to notice such weak points with a Speed 0 non-reflexive Perception + Survival roll. Those who fail to stay on the current level fall to the next level. See "Waters Below" for those who fall from the third level. Climbing up the vine-covered ledge is difficulty 2.

First Age Statues: While many are more stable, many of these 30 foot tall statues are ready to fall. A Strength + Athletics total of 8 is required to push one over in a single Speed 6, -2 DV action. Appropriate leverage may lower this requirement, per ST discretion. Falling statues "attack" those beneath them with 8 successes (successes above DV do NOT add to damage), deal 15 dice of Bashing damage, and are considered Piercing.

Waters Below: Those who fall from all three levels (or are flung more than 10 yards out by Knockback or other effects) must hazard the murky lake. Like the ledges, the lake is dotted with First Age Statues, which a character could climb on to (difficulty 3). However, any movement in the lake will likely attract an aquatic reptile predators. If the character has any lethal wounds, he may attract several.

Vine Canopy: Several large trees loom over the area, with thick vines that hang down at all levels. An adventuresome character can attempt to swing from these vines to reach the statues in the lake or the outer rim of the lake.

Useful Vegetation: The flowers cultivated here in the First Age were not only beautiful, but rare and with several purposes. Some of these may even be combat related. A character can (as a Speed 6, -2 DV action) attempt to spot a useful plant with Perception + (Lore or Survival) against difficulty 5. Sample flowers present are Witchweed (can be applied to a bladed weapon to act as a poison), Dawnpetals (can be eaten to regain 3 motes), and Possum Pods (can be eaten to induce a deathlike state, which wears off in an hour).

[tk421]

Bump. Needs more awesome.

[The Incredible Bohemian]

Racing to escape the city of Magnolia as it sinks into the western ocean, complete with toppling towers, flooding streets, various unsavoury creatures fleeing the sewers, floating debris (carts, beds, pieces of roof...), and the Fair Folk attacking.

[Vargo Teras]

JasonK, no reading this post!




I'm about to open an Exalted game with the Wyld Hunt having cornered a Dawn Caste, and the rest of his circle riding to his rescue. So far, I've figured out that they're going to be in the mountains of the Marukan Range, in a valley that was the site of a major clash in the Battle of Mishaka, and is thus carved and riven by Essence weapons. The Dawn is cornered in a shallow crater-lake near the top of the valley; uphill is an essentially impassible cataract (climbing 30 feet isn't normally much of a challenge, even in a waterfall, but the Wood Aspect archer would have too many clear shots), and downhill is the river which drains the swampy lake. Aside from rubble from the earlier battle (up to cottage-sized rocks such as the one the Dawn will be using for cover), reeds, and normal marsh life (turtles, herons, possibly a beaver dam), what interesting scenery should there be here?

[TygerTyger]

I'm subscribing to this thread for later perusal. I'll also try to find the notes for the clock-tower battle against an Abyssal I had planned at one point; it was full of nifty environmental features and effects.

[Kapten]

Mainly for Solar Hero- users but a list of improvised weapons that can be used, like pieces of iron for use against fair folk etc. Also pointing out areas where a throw would cause lethal damage for throwing against and things like pillars etc which can change scenery when broken (this goes for heavy weaponry as well of course).

I also think about letting players getting concrete info on the battle field at the beginning of each battle Iron Heroes-style. Like: breaking the pillars can make the roof collapse and by throwing someone in the spiked pit it will make them take serious damage.

[catmandrake]

Originally Posted by Vargo Teras

JasonK, no reading this post!




I'm about to open an Exalted game with the Wyld Hunt having cornered a Dawn Caste, and the rest of his circle riding to his rescue. So far, I've figured out that they're going to be in the mountains of the Marukan Range, in a valley that was the site of a major clash in the Battle of Mishaka, and is thus carved and riven by Essence weapons. The Dawn is cornered in a shallow crater-lake near the top of the valley; uphill is an essentially impassible cataract (climbing 30 feet isn't normally much of a challenge, even in a waterfall, but the Wood Aspect archer would have too many clear shots), and downhill is the river which drains the swampy lake. Aside from rubble from the earlier battle (up to cottage-sized rocks such as the one the Dawn will be using for cover), reeds, and normal marsh life (turtles, herons, possibly a beaver dam), what interesting scenery should there be here?

Floating logs to surf down the white water river on.

Unexploded Essence munitions.

"Why do they call it Balancing Rock again?"

One huge, Wyld-twisted swamp monster drawn to the valley by the residual, ambient essence after the battle.

Spires of volcanic glass created by Essence weapons superheating/vaporizing the rock around them. They can be broken off an used as improvised weapons.

[tk421]

Originally Posted by TygerTyger

I'll also try to find the notes for the clock-tower battle against an Abyssal I had planned at one point; it was full of nifty environmental features and effects.

Please do!