WoA-Socratic FAQ

Marianne: I have a question about exalted mechanics, and your WoA rules. Specifically, I am wondering why you divide by 3 and not by 2 when determining unit damage. Feel free to enlighten me.

Joseph: It's done that way in order to keep damage from vastly outstripping armor values.

Marianne: Ummm... ok, but why are they so much less cool as a unit than as an individual? I can understand dividing by 2, as you get to add the attribute twice (Strength and Charisma) but 3?

Joseph: There's one more number that plays into damage. Might. After you roll damage, you add the Might of the unit to its total damage successes.

Marianne: Ahhh! So, those are auto successes?

Joseph: Yup.

Marianne: Hence the 3.

Joseph: At the end of the day, in war, it's actually less about what individual pieces of equipment folks have, and more about the quality of that equipment. Now there's a Step 8E added at the end.

Marianne: Damage, in the end is: (Strength + Weapon damage divided by 3) + Unit commanders Charisma. Add Might in auto successes.

Joseph: Yup.

Marianne: Ok, now that we have 3 factors, it makes perfect sense. Oh, another point of contention was health levels. Looking at your sample units, it looks like they get standard Health Levels: -0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Inc.

Joseph: Units full of Extras should in fact only have 3.

Marianne: But Tiger Warriors? If you are training an army of Tiger Warriors?

Joseph: Tiger Warriors should probably not be treated as Extras. They should get all 7.

Marianne: So, if I take farmers and make them fight, 3 Health Levels.

Joseph: That factor alone makes them highly badassed compared to other soldiers, even without other stat boosts.

Marianne: If I have trained them as Tiger Warriors, 7 Health Levels.

Joseph: Yup.

Marianne: Great! Ok, now about losing magnitude. You lose a magnitude when you run out of it's supplied Health Levels, yes?

Joseph: Yup.

Marianne: Ok, how does that effect wound penalties? It results in some hinky math. You have magnitude 5 at -4s, take one more level of damage and now you are Magnitude 4 with no minus... so you have regained 3 dice by losing soldiers?

Joseph: Yeah, but you also lost the benefit of having an extra point of Magnitude (which counts as automatic successes in attack rolls).

Marianne: Oh! Ok, so Magnitude is to attack what Might is to damage? yes?

Joseph: The increasing penalties reflect the fact that with losses, your men are getting harder to control. Yeah. Check Step Three. (Technically it's not adding Magnitude - it's adding the difference in Magnitude, to be precise).

Marianne: Ok, I see it, but it was kinda confusing. If I am Magnitude 5 and fight Magnitude 2, I get auto successes of 3.

Joseph: It's also the reason why it's still a tough battle for even Exalts to fight large units. Precisely.

Marianne: Brilliant!

Joseph: And when they fight you, they LOSE 3 successes.