Attacking

Step One: Declaration of Attack

Order of Attack Events

1) Declaration of Attack: The attacker's player states that the character is attacking and what Charms (if any) he will activate to enhance the attack, excepting reroll effects. If the attack cannot be stopped by a particular mode of defense (dodge or parry), the attacker's player must include this information in the declaration.
2) Defender Declares Response: The defender's player decides how the character responds: A) Do nothing and accept the attack, generally resulting in severe injury, or B) Defend using best option of parry or dodge. The defender’s player must declare the use of any defensive Charms not based on a reroll.
3) Attack Roll: The attacker's player rolls (Dexterity + the Ability that governs the method of attack used—Archery, Martial Arts, Melee or Thrown) at difficulty 1, subject to the usual order of modifiers.
4) Attack Reroll: Attackers with access to reroll effects or Charms such as Essence Resurgent may use them if the player does not like the attack roll results. No die may be rerolled multiple times, and the best result is final. Characters who have already used another Excellency Charm to augment their attack may not use Essence Resurgent. If a reroll and the original roll both result in failure, the attack misses.
5) Subtract External Penalties/Apply Special Defenses: Remove successes for any external penalties that apply to the attack roll, ending with the defender’s DV. Roll the dice granted by stunts, Charms such as Essence Overwhelming and other transient dice bonuses, adding the successes to DV. Other defensive effects requiring a dice roll also occur during this step, except those involving a reroll. If no successes remain, the attack misses or the defender successfully deflects it.
6) Defense Reroll: Defenders with access to reroll Charms or like effects may use them if their DV is insufficient to completely stop the attack. In the case of Essence Resurgent, defenders can only use this Charm if they have not previously used another Excellency Charm to enhance DV against the attack.
7) Calculate Raw Damage: If the attack hits, it has a raw damage equal to its base damage (usually Strength + a fixed value for most weapons and unarmed attacks), plus a number of extra dice equal to the successes remaining after step 5. Effects modifying the raw damage of an attack apply accordingly.
8) Apply Hardness and Soak, Roll Damage: If the victim has a Hardness rating against the attack's damage type, compare the Hardness with the raw damage. If Hardness is equal or greater, the defense absorbs the attack without effect. Otherwise, the damage ignores the defender's Hardness. Next, remove the target's appropriate soak rating from the damage of the attack. If the post-soak damage is less than the attack's innate minimum damage (assume 1 unless otherwise listed), the raw damage has a final value equal to the greater of these two values. This cannot result in a greater raw damage than its original calculated value. Apply any effects that increase or decrease post-soak damage to the final value. Roll dice equal to the final damage of the attack, applying successes as health levels of the appropriate type of damage to the defender. The Twilight Caste anima effect resolves during this step after damage is rolled but before it is applied.
9) Counterattacks: If the victim retaliates using a counterattack (most commonly obtained through use of Charms), apply steps 1-8 to that attack.
10) Apply Results: Any non-damage effects of the attack also occur at this stage, as does the damage and effects from any counterattack launched by the defender.

The attacker's player states that her character is using an available action to attack. At this time, the player also declares any Charms or other magic that will improve the attack. This includes most supplemental, extra action and simple Charms, as well as any reflexive Charm that directly benefits the attack. Charms that are exempt from this declaration explicitly state so in their description. If the attack bypasses dodges or parries, the declaration must include this information.

Step Two: Declaration of Defense

Targets who are unaware of an attack cannot defend against it without the aid of magic. Similarly, a defender can always gamble on the opponent missing or not inflicting much damage (conserving defenses for more powerful adversaries or attacks). However, in most cases, defenders who perceive an incoming attack use the most effective means at their disposal to avoid injury. Unless she opts otherwise, the defender automatically falls back on whichever mode of defense has a better rating. In addition to declaring the type of defense, the defender's player must also declare the use of any defensive Charms not based on a reroll, unless the magic explicitly allows the defender to wait for the results of the attack roll before being activated.

Dodge DV

The first Defense Value is Dodge DV, which measures a character's capacity to get out of the way of incoming attacks. This trait equals the character's ([Dexterity + Dodge (+ Essence, if Essence is rated at 2+)] ÷ 2). Exalted and other divine beings round up, mortals and heroic mortals round down. For example, a mortal soldier with Dexterity 2, Dodge 3 and Essence 1 would have a Dodge DV of 2, while Anoria, the glorious Solar martial artist with Dexterity 4, Dodge 4 and Essence 5 would have a Dodge DV of 7.

Parry DV

The second DV is the Parry DV, which measures a character's ability to deflect incoming attacks by interposing a weapon or even a limb in the path of the attack. This value equals ([Dexterity + (Ability used to wield the currently equipped weapon with the highest Defense, almost invariably Martial Arts or Melee) + (the Defense of said weapon)] ÷2). Exalted and other divine beings round up, mortals and heroic mortals round down.

For example, an Immaculate monk with Dexterity 3 and Martial Arts 4 finds himself accosted by brigands. He only has the natural weapons of his body to protect himself, of which his fist has the highest Defense (+2). His Parry DV is 5. Were he equipped with a seven-section staff (Defense +3) he would still have a DV of 5, because he rounded up for his fist. Characters cannot use a hand for parrying if they are holding a weapon in it, so anyone wielding an extremely slow and ungainly two-handed weapon such as a sledge (Defense -3) must accept the negative impact this weapon choice has on Parry DV.

Parry Specialties

Melee (or Martial Arts) specialties with the appropriate weapon (such as Melee with 3 Swords specialties when using a sword) increase the die pool used to calculate Parry DV when parrying with that weapon.

Inaccplicable Defense

Whenever a particular mode of defense is prohibited by an attack, this condition lowers the appropriate DV to 0. A character who chooses not to defend has both Dodge DV and Parry DV at 0. A magical attack that is explicitly unblockable drops Parry DV to 0, but not Dodge DV. Of particular note, even the Exalted cannot parry attacks that inflict lethal or aggravated damage and/or ranged attacks if they are not armed, unless they augment their block with a stunt or magic enabling such defense. Without such conditions, Parry DV drops to 0. Tougher creatures (especially those with natural full body armor) are exempt from this limitation. Keep in mind that bonuses and penalties apply to inapplicable DVs after the reduction to zero, so a character huddled behind a rock may still benefit from its cover, and so on.

DV Bonuses

Characters have a number of ways to improve DVs, all of which are cumulative. Carrying a shield adds its appropriate Defense rating directly to both base ratings, as does the concealment afforded by cover. Shields and cover are not cumulative with one another, however, only the greater bonus applies. Opponents who are mounted or otherwise have the advantage of height add a modifier to both DVs based on the slope or lift against close-combat attacks (see table), unless their opponents are armed with weapons that have the reach tag. DV bonuses for characters mounted on an inclined surface stack with one another. Both height and cover counts as a form of external penalty. Dice awarded for stunts can temporarily inflate one of the two DVs against a specific attack, in which case the defender's player rolls the stunt dice separately and adds any successes to the character's DV. Stunts to aid defense occur immediately after the attack roll, but before determining whether the attack actually hit. Reflexive Charms may also increase or adjust DV. In particular, the three Excellencies have special effects when used to aid a defense. When Essence Overwhelming aids DV, the player rolls the dice granted by the Charm and adds successes to the DV like a stunt. Essence Triumphant adds its successes directly as points of DV. Essence Resurgent allows players to add half the Ability to the dice pool from which the DV was derived.

DV Penalties

Many factors can reduce a character's DVs, either both kinds or singly. Such penalties are cumulative with one another. The most common such penalty comes from taking actions, as noted previously. For instance, each attack the character makes reduces both DVs by one. This penalty disappears on the tick the character is next permitted to act. Wound penalties also subtract directly from both DVs. If a character is attacked multiple times by the same opponent, each attack cumulatively imposes an additional -1 penalty to both DVs (called an onslaught penalty). Therefore, a sufficiently savage cascade of blows can batter through the best defenses. Onslaught penalties apply only when defending against the character that imposed them and only against the attacks of an individual flurry. If an attacker acts a second time before the defender's DV refreshes, the onslaught penalty is reset to 0 at the start of the second series of attacks. Coordinated Attacks are another matter entirely. Most armor impedes any sudden movement such as dodging, subtracting its mobility penalty from a character's Dodge DV while worn. Terrain such as loose pebbles or marsh muck may likewise impede Dodge DV, generally between -1 for bad conditions and -3 for extreme environments. Conditions worse than a -3 simply make dodging inapplicable. Dodge also becomes inapplicable for characters who are unable or unwilling to give ground, such as those fighting in close-ranked formations or in a narrow crevasse. Characters who are unarmed may not use their Parry DV against attacks that inflict lethal or aggravated damage. Any such mundane inapplicability may be circumvented by a stunt or Charm. However, certain magical attacks directly specify that they cannot be blocked or dodged (and some horrific few exclude both modes of defense). If a description of a magical effect states that an attack cannot be dodged, it cannot be dodged, even with the aid of a stunt. The same goes for magically unblockable attacks.

Negative DV

In particularly unfortunate circumstances, it is possible for a character to have both DVs lowered so much that the highest value of the two is actually negative. Treat negative DVs as DV 0—the enemy may still miss if she rolls no successes on her attack. However, track the character’s negative DV if there is any possibility that DV-enhancing effects might be applied, as the true DV is still negative.

Automatic Defense

Finally, a sufficiently high DV can impart a limited form of automatic success. If a character's DV is higher than the Accuracy dice pool of an opponent's attack and the opponent is an extra, the attack automatically misses without a roll. This automatic miss still counts toward imposing the onslaught penalty, but this is almost a moot point since an opponent who lacks sufficient dice to pierce a character's defenses with his first attack will only degrade in effectiveness if he launches a flurry.

Putting it All Together

When confronted with an attack, establish the base values for Dodge DV and Parry DV. Most often, these will be positive numbers, but if the particular mode of defense is prohibited, then the value is 0. Next, add any applicable bonuses to each value, followed by applicable penalties. With all calculations complete, the highest of these two numbers is the DV used (unless the player wants to use the inferior defense for some reason). If positive, the DV will cancel attack successes.

Shields and Cover DV Bonuses

Type	Hand-to-Hand Cover	Ranged Cover
Buckler	+1	None
Target Shield	+1	+1
Tower Shield	+1	+2
25% Hard Cover (Shoulder and leg protected)	None	+1
50% Hard Cover (Half body protected)	+1	+2
75% Hard Cover (All but shoulder, arm and face protected)	+1	+3
90% Hard Cover (All but eyes protected)	+2	+4

Defense Value Modifiers

Situation	Modifier
Taking Actions	-(Varies)
Wound Penalties	-(1–4)
Wearing Armor*	-(Varies)*
Onslaught Penalty	-1 per successful attack**
Unstable Terrain	-(1–3)
Shield	+(Defense)
Steps/Gentle Slope/Mounted	+1***
Steep Slope/Riding in Howdah	+2***
Too Steep to Climb Without Hands/Scaling Ladder	+3***

* Reduces only Dodge DV.
** Applies only against a single attacker, unless a group makes a coordinated attack.
*** Height modifier applies in close combat only and may be negated by attacks with long weapons. Apply as a DV penalty to characters with lower height in the designated situation.

Defense of Possessions

Attempts to attack equipment or items on the character's person (for example, to slash apart a treaty stuck through a loop on the character's belt) are treated as attacks directed at the character, and may be defended against as normal.

Step Three: Attack Roll

The attacker's player rolls (Dexterity + the Ability that governs the method of attack). This roll has a difficulty of 1 and is subject to the usual order of modifiers. Most weapons grant an Accuracy bonus or penalty to this roll, and many Exalted also fortify their attacks with stunts and/or Charms. Barring the use of Charms or other rare effects, characters may use only the following Abilities to attack others: Archery (wielding bows or other "point and shoot" weapons such as firewands), Martial Arts (unarmed attacks or those made wielding weapons specifically designed for use with a formal martial art style or wielding weapons that enhance natural attacks such as a cestus), Melee (wielding a close-combat weapon) or Thrown (hurling a missile at range). Each weapon specifies the Ability (or Abilities) that may be used to wield it.

Botched Attacks

Failing an attack roll indicates a miss. A botch is invariably much worse. At minimum, the attacker throws himself off balance, imposing an additional -2 DV penalty in addition to the normal DV penalty of the attack. If any bystanders stand in the general path of the attack, the Storyteller may also rule that the attack hits one of them instead of the intended target with a number of "successes" equal to the 1s rolled.

Off Hand

By default, characters have a primary hand and an off hand. Those wielding a weapon in their off hand lose one die from all attacks with that weapon. This does not apply to unarmed fighting maneuvers, but it may apply to non-combat activities requiring high manual dexterity (such as calligraphy), at Storyteller discretion.

Step Four: Attack Reroll

This step only applies if the attacker has access to magic or other effects that permit the rerolling of dice (such as an appropriate Essence Resurgent Excellency). If so, and if the attacker's player is unsatisfied with the attack roll result (particularly in light of the target's DV), she may use these effects normally. Each die may be rerolled only once, with characters benefiting from the better of the two rolls. Characters who have already used another Excellency Charm to augment their attack may not use Essence Resurgent to do so. In the case of a complete reroll, all bonuses and penalties apply to each attempt. If a roll and reroll both end in failure, the attack misses.

Step Five: Subtract External Penalties/Apply Special Defenses

At this point in attack resolution, the attacker's player applies valid external penalties to the roll. The target's DV is always the last of these. If the defender is blocking or dodging, apply her highest DV as the last of these penalties. The defender's player may attempt to describe the defense in order to obtain a stunt bonus, generating a dice pool whose successes directly add to DV. Similarly, Charms such as Essence Overwhelming may provide dice to the same effect. Any other defensive effects that require a dice roll also occur during this step, except those involving a reroll. If the attacker has no successes remaining, the attack misses or the defender manages to deflect it, as appropriate.

Range Penalties

When making ranged attacks, characters may fire or throw a weapon out to its Range rating without penalty. They may fire out to twice this distance with a -1 external penalty, or between two and three times listed range at -2 successes. Accurate shooting beyond this range is impossible without the aid of magic.

Step Six: Defense Reroll

Defenders with access to reroll Charms or other such effects may use them if their DV is insufficient to completely stop an attack. Defenders may not use Essence Resurgent if they have already used another Excellency Charm to improve DV against the attack. For Solars, this Charm adds a bonus to DV equal to one half the Ability rating in the pool, rounded down. Other reroll powers describe how they interface with DV, since DV is not rolled.

Step Seven: Calculate Raw Damage

If the attack hits, the attacker's player must figure out how deadly it is. First, take the base damage of the weapon (usually Strength + some value, although some exotic weapons such as crossbows and firewands do not rely on physical might for power). See Weapons. Next add the number of successes from the attack roll. The sum of base damage and accuracy successes is called raw damage. Effects that modify the raw damage calculation of an attack apply as written. Finally, establish which of the three types of damage the attack inflicts (this will be specified by a single letter abbreviation listed with the base damage of the weapon). If the attacker has a Charm that explicitly allows him to wait until after the opponent's defense to activate it, the Charm must be declared and activated at this stage.

Bashing

Bashing damage is caused by bludgeoning or crushing attacks and other blunt trauma. The unarmed attacks of humans inflict bashing damage by default, although equipment or magic can modify this. Characters who are beaten below their Incapacitated health level with bashing damage pass out. Bashing damage heals relatively quickly: one level per 12 hours of rest for mortals or one level per three hours of rest for Exalted and beings of similar resilience. Furthermore, even the comparatively frail bodies of mortals can take a degree of pummeling without suffering substantial damage. As such, all characters have a natural soak (innate ability to absorb damage without injury) equal to their Stamina unless otherwise noted. This said, bashing damage isn't always trivial.

A sufficiently forceful blunt impact can crush a skull like a melon, to say nothing of the mess left behind when a victim falls from great height onto a hard surface.

Lethal

This category of damage is exactly as its name suggests, injury intended to maim or kill. Piercing or cutting wounds cause most lethal damage, be it from the claws and teeth of beasts or the blades of men. Characters reduced below Incapacitated with lethal damage begin dying and soon expire unless some form of magical healing stabilizes them. Mortal bodies have no natural soak against lethal damage, so such characters must rely solely on armor for protection. Exalted, spirits and the like have a natural lethal soak equal to half their Stamina (rounded down). Levels of lethal damage take a variable amount of time to heal based upon their associated wound penalty: -0 (one day of rest or two days of normal activity for mortals; six hours of rest or 12 hours of activity for Exalted), -1 (one week of rest or two weeks of normal activity for mortals; two days of rest or four of normal activity for Exalted), -2 (two weeks of rest or four weeks of normal activity for mortals; four days of rest or eight of normal activity for Exalted), -4 and Incapacitated (one month of rest for mortals, cannot heal without rest; one week of rest or two weeks of normal activity for Exalted, though even an Exalt won't be able to do anything but rest if he's lying on death's door at Incapacitated).

Aggravated

Wounds classified as aggravated are innately supernatural, caused only by the most horrific magic or by exploiting the banes of a magical being (such as iron against the Fair Folk). A number of Solar Charms exist that allow them to inflict aggravated damage against creatures of darkness such as demons, ghosts and the walking dead. Abyssal Exalted have magic that does the same to mortals and denizens of the Wyld. Lesser types of Exalted have so little or sporadic access to aggravated damage that their effects cannot be classified along such broad lines. Unless otherwise stated, no being has a natural soak against aggravated wounds, and only the strongest healing magic can mend such grievous injuries swiftly. Fortunately, armor provides an aggravated soak equal to its lethal soak. This type of injury heals naturally at the same rate as lethal damage.

Step Eight: Apply Hardness and Soak

Unless the victim of an attack is very fragile (such as mortal flesh against blades), the target will reduce the amount of raw damage using a derived trait called soak. Before worrying about soak, however, the attacker's player should compare the raw damage of the attack to any Hardness rating the victim possesses. Hardness is a rare form of protection granted by certain forms of heavy artifact armor and powerful protective magic, measured with a value for each damage type against which the Hardness applies. (For instance, the spell Invulnerable Skin of Bronze, grants sorcerers a Hardness of 6L/12B, meaning it has a Hardness of 6 against lethal damage and a Hardness of 12 against bashing damage.) If a character has multiple effects granting Hardness, only the highest rating for each damage type applies. The function of Hardness is to exclude minor injuries altogether. If an attack does not have a raw damage greater than the victim's Hardness, the attack is utterly ineffective and automatically fails to inflict any damage. If the raw damage exceeds Hardness or if the target has no Hardness rating, proceed to the next step in damage resolution: soak.

Latest errata: The minimum damage value of attacks not absorbed by Hardness is one die, rather than the attacker's Essence rating. Attacks made with weapons possessing the Overwhelming tag, as well as certain Charms (such as Violet Bier of Sorrows Form), may produce higher minimum damage values.

The soak rating of a target is denoted in the same fashion, so 4B/2L means a soak rating of 4 against bashing damage and 2 against lethal. A character's total soak is calculated as the sum of natural soak (granted by Stamina, as well as innate adaptations of some mutants and nonhuman species and most soak-boosting Charms) and armored soak (granted by some form of armor, with a rating dependent on the protection worn; see Armor). Three differences separate the subcategories. First, armor has an aggravated soak equal to its lethal soak rating, while natural soak does not. Conversely, effects that bypass armor (in full or part) only pierce armored soak and do not reduce the protection afforded by natural soak in any way. The most common armor-bypassing effect is called piercing damage, a special tag used by some weapons (such as target arrows). Piercing weapons ignore four points of soak from the target's armor. If this would give the armor in question an effective soak value of less than 2, the weapon does not ignore the armor's final 2 points of soak. As a final soak consideration, many Charms (particularly those based on formal styles of martial arts) prohibit the use of armor, forcing characters who rely on such magic to find ways of enhancing their natural soak or avoiding injury through active modes of defense.

Provided that Hardness does not eliminate the possibility of injury, subtract the defender's soak from the raw damage. In most cases, this is the final damage of the attack. Certain large weapons have a minimum damage denoted in their statistics.

Characters wielding such attacks use this value or their permanent Essence rating (whichever is greater) as the minimum damage of each attack. Characters using smaller weapons that lack their own minimum damage rating simply use permanent Essence for minimum damage. If (raw damage – defender soak) is less than the minimum damage of the attack, the final damage equals minimum damage. In the unlikely event that final damage exceeds the original raw damage (such as a weak attack delivered by a high Essence being), the attack has a maximum damage of its raw damage. In short, Essence can overcome soak, but it cannot generate damage where it does not exist. Apply any effects that increase or reduce post-soak damage to the final value after factoring in minimum and maximum damage as necessary.

Stunting Soak

(Latest errata)

You may not stunt to add to your soak, because—unlike soak—your DV is assumed to be a rolled value. We just abbreviate that step and derive the DV instead. It is still based on a normal dice pool.

Step Nine: Counterattacks

Some defenders have artifacts, Charms or other magic granting them access to counterattacks. A counterattack is resolved at this stage as if it were a normal attack launched by the victim against the aggressor. A counterattack hits simultaneously with the attack that triggered it and follows the usual steps 1-8 of the attack-resolution process. However, characters may not use one counterattack to retaliate against another counterattack.

Step Ten: Roll Damage/Apply Results

Minimum Damage

The minimum damage value of attacks not absorbed by Hardness is one die. Attacks made with weapons possessing the Overwhelming tag, as well as certain Charms (such as Violet Bier of Sorrows Form), may produce higher minimum damage values.

Damage from Effects

(Latest errata)

When effects (I presume Charms, Sorcery, anything that is not a weapon or unarmed attack) deal levels of damage, that damage is not rolled, but merely applied as if they were all successes. Soak does apply as normal to this damage, however.

The automatic levels are soaked first. So, for example, an attack that is inflicting 10 dice of lethal damage plus five levels of lethal damage going up against a lethal soak of 7 inflicts eight dice of lethal damage: the five automatic levels are soaked first, then the first two dice of damage follow, leaving eight dice of damage.

If, for example, you have an effect that deals 12 Levels of Damage dealt by a character with Essence 5, who hits someone with a soak of 9, the damage would be soaked down to five dice of damage (Essence ping), by a strict interpretation of the rules. It is a fair approach, however, to permit the damage to be three automatic levels of damage, plus two dice thereof.

Other Damage

The attacker's player rolls a number of dice equal to the remaining damage of the attack. Apply the number of successes as health levels of the appropriate type of damage against the victim. Unlike most rolls, this cannot be botched, nor do 10s count double. If the attack has other effects (as from a Charm or magical weapon), resolve these along with damage. If the target responded with a counterattack, apply the effects and damage of the counterattack at this time as well.

Players record injuries on the health section of the character sheet, marking a number of boxes equal to the levels of damage sustained. Each type of damage uses its own mark: slash (/) for bashing, X for lethal and asterisk (*) for aggravated. When marking a health track, start with the top health levels and fill down. Health levels are grouped in tiered blocks according to their associated wound penalty (an internal penalty). Characters who suffer injuries experience increasing dice penalties and other debilitation depending on what tier their lowest level of damage occupies. Greater damage always displaces lesser damage, pushing the minor injuries further down in the chart. When converting damage in a health box from a lesser type to a more serious type, it is not necessary to erase first, as a second slash (\) converts bashing to lethal and (|) makes lethal aggravated.

Example: Despite his master horsemanship, Lorn couldn't escape the dinosaur bearing down on him. The claw strider catches the mount's flank in its jaws and jerks its head, sending the Exalted warrior tumbling from his saddle. He sustains two levels of bashing damage from the fall (see Figure 1), bringing him to a -1 wound penalty.

Distracted by its grisly feast of Lorn's mount, the dinosaur does not pay any attention as the warrior rises and draws his bow, firing an arrow point blank into the beast's eye. It bellows and falls thunderously from its mortal wound. Victorious but exhausted, Lorn limps across the plains toward a distant plume of smoke, hoping to find a settlement where he can rest and obtain a new mount.

Instead, Lorn discovers a burning village overrun with zombies commanded by a black-armored deathknight of the Mask of Winters. Although the zombies fear the righteous fury of the Solar and withdraw from his anima, the deathknight strikes the warrior with her moaning daiklave, using a horrific Charm that fills her blade with necrotic power. Thankfully, the Abyssal lands only a glancing blow, inflicting a single level of aggravated damage (see Figure 2). Much to the deathknight's surprise, Lorn answers by smashing her in the face with his fist and pummeling her savagely. He does not stop until one of her zombies sneaks up behind him and bites into his shoulder, inflicting three levels of lethal damage (see Figure 3). Realizing he's no weakling, the Abyssal takes this opportunity to slip away and mount her skeletal warhorse, ignoring the shouted threats by Lorn vowing to hunt her down. He has no trouble dispatching the handful of zombies, before sinking down against the blood-spattered wall of a barn to recover.

Incapacitation and Death

When a character's Incapacitated level fills with bashing damage, she immediately passes out and remains unconscious until that level heals. In combat, she immediately enters the inactive state, repeating that "action" as long as the incapacitation persists. A character may cling to consciousness long enough to deliver a final retort to her enemies or exhortation to her allies before collapsing, if the Storyteller deems such would be dramatically appropriate.

If she suffers additional bashing damage while Incapacitated, her highest bashing level of injury converts into a lethal wound. This process continues until she has no more levels of bashing damage remaining. If the character suffers any lethal damage, this "pushes" the remaining levels of bashing down below Incapacitated, where they cycle back to convert the top remaining bashing injuries into lethal. The same applies to aggravated levels sustained while bashing levels remain. Once a character fills his Incapacitated level with lethal or aggravated wounds, he hovers at the brink of death. He has a number of Dying levels below Incapacitated equal to his Stamina rating. Any additional bashing or lethal damage pushes him over that edge, spilling over into the Dying levels as lethal damage. Aggravated wounds push into Dying levels as they are. A mortally wounded character remains inactive with each combat action, but at each such interval, she also suffers an additional level of unsoakable lethal damage. When she has no more health levels remaining, she perishes. Major characters should not die without getting some chance for a parting soliloquy or a chance to see their lives flash by in a stirring montage, but they certainly cannot continue to fight or do anything more than dramatically expire.

With advanced medical tools (costing Resources 4), legendary skill and a good deal of luck, physicians can occasionally stabilize dying patients through emergency surgery. Doing so requires a (Wits + Medicine) roll at difficulty (5 + the current number of the patient's Dying levels filled with injury). On a success, the patient heals all Dying levels and hangs onto life at Incapacitated. On a failure, the patient immediately dies. Charms or other magic that directly restore health levels automatically stabilize a dying character without requiring a roll.

In Exalted, death is permanent. Resurrection is impossible, even to the miracles of Solar Circle sorcery and the Charms of the greatest gods. While the dark arts of necromancy may call a ghost from the Underworld and even bind that spirit to a corpse, the creature never partakes of life again. Only in the cleansing release of reincarnation and new birth may souls return to life.

Injury Complications

As noted, the most basic consequence of injury is an agonizing continuum from discomfort to death. However, not all injuries are so simple. What follows are the additional effects wounds may impose:

Bleeding

Characters suffering from lethal or aggravated damage continue to deteriorate as a result of hemorrhaging until they stanch their wounds. Exalted and beings of similar resilience may draw their wounds closed with a successful reflexive (Stamina + Resistance) roll (difficulty 2) on the part of their players, and they may attempt this feat in combat on any tick in which they may act. Outside of combat, characters can try this every five seconds. Furthermore, bleeding stops as soon as anyone with Medicine 1+ takes an action to treat the wounds.

Mortals are not so lucky as the Chosen. Stanching a wound requires a successful (Wits + Medicine) roll at a difficulty equal to the number of lethal or aggravated health levels associated with that injury. This is a standard miscellaneous action in combat. For instance, a character who was stabbed twice in the belly for two and then three level health levels would need to succeed at two separate stanching attempts, one at difficulty 2 and one at 3, respectively. Stanching requires bandaging materials, but these materials can be improvised under duress from any torn strip of cloth. Any strenuous activity, including combat and anything requiring Athletics rolls, will reopen a mortal's stanched wounds, but the Exalted and other magical beings with an innate lethal soak are immune to the dangers of reopened wounds. As long as a character suffers from bleeding wounds, she suffers one level of unsoakable lethal damage every increment of (Stamina) minutes. Mortals who do not receive prompt medical attention can and will bleed to death.

Infection

In addition to bleeding, any character who suffers lethal or aggravated damage runs the risk of those wounds festering with disease. Infection uses the same overall statistics as other ailments (see Disease)—Virulence: 3 (normal battlefield conditions) or 4+ (tropical climate, dirty weapons, putrid undead claws, etc.), Untreated Morbidity: 1 (cumulatively increases by one per day after the first), Treated Morbidity: Special (As Untreated Morbidity, but stops increasing once successfully treated), Difficulty to Treat: (same as Treated Morbidity). As long as a wound receives swift treatment and remains bandaged until it heals, characters need check against the Virulence only once. Otherwise, new rolls must be made every time the character exposes the wound to possible contagion. If a wound is sterilized with alcohol within an hour after it is received, Virulence drops to 2. If it's cauterized within an hour, no Virulence check is required, but the character suffers one level of unsoakable bashing damage from the minor burn. Success avoids infection.

If the character fails the Virulence check, the daily roll to overcome the infection starts at difficulty 1 and increases by one each day. Once the victim’s player botches or the difficulty exceeds the character's (Stamina + Resistance), she succumbs to fever and spends the next (Stamina) days painfully dying at a -4 internal penalty, unless she receives magical assistance. Treating an infected character requires a daily (Intelligence + Medicine) roll at a difficulty of the current Morbidity. Success keeps the Morbidity from rising any higher and negates the need for further checks as long as the healer continues to administer daily care. If treatment ceases, the infection rages out of control again, increasing in Morbidity as normal. A treatment regimen against infection generally requires drugs costing Resources 2 or a successful (Perception + Survival) roll at difficulty 3 to gather the required plants in climates that support a broad range of vegetation. Otherwise, treatment is impossible without magic. Once the victim successfully beats the Morbidity of an infection, it leaves her body completely. Note that wound penalties do subtract from Resistance rolls against infection, so severe wounds are more likely to become septic by dint of weakened constitution. While fighting an active infection, mortals suffer a -2 internal penalty to all non-reflexive actions as a result of fever and discomfort.

Exalted and other supernaturally hardy magical beings susceptible to disease subtract two from the Virulence of any infection. The Morbidity starts at 1 and does not increase, even without treatment. Once the character beats the Morbidity, she throws off the infection. Until then, she suffers the usual internal penalty for carrying an infection. Like most diseases, infections can only inconvenience the Chosen.

Disabling

Most injuries take the form of lacerations, contusions and broken bones, with the occasional burn thrown in for good measure. The normal system of recording injuries models such wounds easily. Yet particularly grievous injuries can pulp, mangle or outright amputate tissue in ways that don't allow for re-growth as health levels return. Within play, such crippling can happen as a result of several possible situations.

Mortals who suffer 4+ health levels of lethal or aggravated damage from a single injury suffer a disabling wound. This condition should be recorded on the character sheet by drawing a light circle around a number of health boxes equal to the number of damage levels sustained, starting with the topmost. The character heals normally, but the phantom injuries generate wound penalties and restricted movement as if he remained injured. Removing a crippling wound requires agonizing surgery involving an (Intelligence + Medicine) roll with a difficulty based on the number of health levels in the injury. This surgery also inflicts a number of unsoakable levels of lethal damage equal to the levels in the crippling wound, which run the usual risk of infection but heal normally. When these wounds heal, the handicap is gone. If a character suffers enough crippling health levels to take her to -4 or Incapacitated, the only way to get rid of the handicap is through major tissue removal and amputation appropriate to the location and nature of the original injury. The surgery to re-break and properly set crippling damage takes two hours per health level.

Characters armed with heavy crushing weapons or bladed melee weapons may elect to maim victims with a coup de grace. (Through the use of Charms or a vicious stunt, characters can maim their enemies with other weapons or even barehanded.) Making a coupe de grace imposes -1 external penalty to the attack roll for aiming carefully. If the blow successfully kills the target with the damage roll, the attacker’s player may instead decide to inflict as many levels of lethal damage as desired by mangling/amputating a selected part of the victim’s body. Alternatively, the character can decide to strike a killing blow after all. Maiming injuries bleed profusely according to normal rules. Striking additional maiming wounds against a freshly crippled victim without reducing her health below Incapacitated is possible, but blood loss will quickly finish her off if someone does not stanch her wounds. The Storyteller may also rule that any extra who is reduced to Incapacitated by lethal damage is crippled in some spectacularly gruesome way, particularly if doing so illustrates the devastating combat prowess of the Exalted. Should a mortal survive maiming, time will not heal the lost body part.

Fortified by their Essence, the bodies of the Chosen never suffer disabling wounds from sustaining massive injuries. Attacks specifically intended to maim can do so, but Exalted will recover as soon as they heal their injuries. Even mangled limbs and pulped bones grow back straight without anything more than the faintest scarring. Only aggravated damage leaves lasting scars, though even these typically fade with time. Severing a body part is the only way to prevent Exalted from healing it back naturally.

This is considered to be a natural effect with the Crippling keyword. For information on treating injuries with the Crippling keyword caused by Charms, see page 152 of this chapter (???). For information on the Crippling keyword, see Crippling.

Sample Amputation Effects

Arm/Hand

Obviously cannot use arm or hand for tasks; remaining hand (if any) becomes primary after one month of regular use. Victim suffers -2 internal penalty to Athletics checks from poor balance, which can be offset with weighted garments or some other clever means. Loss of both arms makes any task of manual dexterity impossible without a remarkable stunt. Loss of just one hand makes two-handed tasks impossible but imposes no Athletics penalty. Loss of both hands makes tasks of fine dexterity impossible without hooks or other prosthetics (and these at -1 die penalty).

Disfigurement

A brutal injury can leave a character either merely scarred or a ruined wretch that children run from in abject terror. Such maiming inflicts an Appearance penalty of -1 or greater, reducing the character’s effective rating in the Attribute to a minimum of 0. If the wound is magically healed, the penalty goes away, and the character regains her former Appearance. Exalted heal away one dot of disfigurement penalty per day. If a character's actual Appearance is low, this is not disfigurement and cannot be magically healed away as a substitute for raising the Attribute with experience points.

Eye

Vision penalties do not apply to blind characters. Instead, characters who cannot see clearly (i.e. lost one eye) suffer a -2 internal penalty, while true blindness increases the penalty to -4. Functionally, blindness (i.e. loss of both eyes) affords the same approximate hindrance as true darkness, but the nature of the penalty is different because darkness is an external obstacle whereas blindness impairs a character's ability to function. (Latest errata.)

Leg

Can move at half speed with a crutch or peg leg; -3 internal penalty to footwork-based Athletics checks. If both legs are missing, automatic failure on all footwork-based Athletics rolls. Paraplegics cannot walk, but they may crawl at 1/10 speed by painfully dragging themselves across the ground.

Knockdown

If an attack inflicts more raw damage than a defender's (Stamina + Resistance), the force of impact hurls her to the ground unless her player makes a successful reflexive ([Dexterity or Stamina] + [Athletics or Resistance]) roll, difficulty 2. Rising from prone requires an action (see Rising from Prone). Deliberately tackling someone prompts an immediate knockdown check for both parties if the attack connects. Even if the target's player makes this roll, the character is stunned. Sweeping a target with a chain, kick, staff or any appropriate weapon reduces the Accuracy of the attack by -2, but if it hits (whether or not it inflicts damage), the victim must check for knockdown.

Knockback

As a more cinematic alternative to basic knockdown, a character may be hurled back one yard for every three dice of raw damage inflicted by the attack, skidding to a halt prone. If she strikes a particularly solid object, this arrests her flight painfully, though she crashes through any fragile objects. In no case does knockback cause extra damage, as it is purely intended to spice up a fight scene. Rising from prone requires an action.

Stunned

Characters who suffer a greater number of actual health levels of damage than their Stamina rating might find themselves shaken and disoriented from the trauma. Reflexively roll (Stamina + Resistance) at a difficulty of (damage – Stamina). Failure leaves the victim at -2 dice to all non-reflexive rolls until the tick when the attacker next acts.

Inanimate Targets

Characters may choose to assault an inanimate object rather than other characters or creatures. Doing so uses slightly different rules. Most inanimate objects aren't noted for dodging or parrying, so unless some extraordinary exception exists, assume that they have no DV with which to defend themselves. Moreover, if an attack on an animate target actually hits, it does not have a minimum damage. This means that all objects effectively have a Hardness rating equal to their soak. However, the corollary to this added protection is that damage against objects is not rolled. Instead, every die that penetrates soak generates one success and inflicts one level of damage. Objects do have health levels, but they do not suffer any form of wound penalty (obviously). Instead, objects have two health values separated by a slash: Damaged/Destroyed. Damaged indicated the number of health levels necessary to functionally impair the object. For a statue, this might mean that limbs are severed rather than the stone being scratched on the surface. For a door or wall, a state of damaged means that a small hole exists—wide enough to attack through (though targets on the other side benefit from 75% cover). Breaking a door down completely or opening a section of wall wide enough for characters to pass requires the object to be destroyed.

Note that some powerful magical objects might deviate from these rules in a variety of ways. An enchanted stone wall of Shogunate Era design might require that damage be rolled against it rather than applying the value that beats its soak, while a First Age counterpart might require rolled damage and be completely immune to attacks that are not made using magical weapons or enhanced with Charms. Also note that it is possible to break objects outside of combat through sheer strength, but doing so takes time and is outside the scope of combat rules.

Sample Object Soak and Health Levels

Sample Object	Soak (L/B)	Health Levels (Damaged/Destroyed)
House Door	1/3	3/10
Oak Door	3/5	10/20
Fortress Gate	8/10	20/40
Wood Wall	3/5	8/12
Brick Wall	6/10	24/40
Stone Wall	12/18	40/80
Wood Statue	2/4	3/16
Stone Statue	4/8	4/28
Iron Statue	6/12	6/50

See Next

Environment