Elephant/Mammoth

Elephant/Mammoth

Throughout Creation, from the savannas of the South to the arctic wastes of the far North, people respect and revere elephants and mammoths as totems of strength and power. Full-grown bulls travel alone or in loose groups, standing twice the height of a mortal and weighing up to seven tons. Females gather in intimate family groups with their young; they have two-thirds of a male’s height and mass. They use tusks — found on male Southwestern elephants, or both genders elsewhere — to guard against predators, engage in mating battles, and tear up roots and bark for fodder. They gather near freshwater sources. Elephants live for decades, with intelligence, memory, and emotional sophistication akin to a human’s. They gather food and use tools with their prehensile trunks, and though they cannot speak, they exhibit love, grief, generosity, and humor. People keep them in captivity to haul goods, transport passengers, or trample foes in war. Hunters kill wild elephants for their valuable ivory. Northern tribes also hunt the mammoth for its meat.

Essence: 1; Willpower: 5; Join Battle: 4 dice
Health Levels: −0x3/−1x6/−2x6/−4x6/Incap
Speed Bonus: +1
Actions: Endure Extreme Conditions: 9 dice; Feats of Strength: 14 dice (may attempt Strength 7 feats); Find Water: 10 dice; Intimidate: 9 dice; Senses: 7 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 1

COMBAT
Attack (Stomp): 15 dice (Damage 16, minimum 4)
Attack (Tusks): 12 dice, or 13 with bladed tusks (Damage 18, minimum 5); Tags: Piercing (with blades only)
Attack (Trunk): 13 dice (Damage 15); Tags: Flexible
Attack (Grapple): 11 dice (14 dice to control)
Combat Movement: 7 dice
Evasion 2, Parry 4
Soak/Hardness: 16/6, or 20/6 with armor

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Gore: Decisive tusk attacks add extra successes to damage against enemies with lower Initiative, as long as the elephant hasn’t taken any other actions (including reflexive movement actions) that turn.
Massive Charge: If the elephant moves at least one range band toward a target and makes a decisive attack against it on the same turn, the attack gains the Smashing tag (Exalted, p. 586).
Overwhelming Might: Elephants make unopposed grapple control rolls against enemies of smaller size, unless the victims use magic allowing them to grapple larger foes, such as Dragon Coil Technique (Exalted, p. 280).
Rampaging Stampede: Spend one Willpower to flurry a withering stomp attack with a decisive tusk or trunk attack, each with a different target.
Trample: If the elephant reflexively pursues an enemy after a successful rush and makes a stomp attack against them on its next turn, a successful hit knocks the enemy prone. Apply the Defense penalty from being prone (Exalted, p. 202) retroactively when calculating the attack’s threshold successes.
Trunk Grapple (Latent): An elephant takes no Defense penalty for grappling, but can’t make savaging attacks. However, one with bladed tusks automatically deals lethal damage on a decisive throw, as it tosses the enemy into the air and then slices them — perhaps in half.

MERITS
Keen Nose: Gain double 9s on scent-based Perception rolls.
Legendary Size: An elephant suffers no onslaught penalties from attacks from smaller opponents, unless they’re magically inflicted. Withering attacks from smaller enemies cannot crash it unless they have at least 10 post-soak damage dice, although attackers still gain the full amount of Initiative damage dealt. Decisive attacks from smaller enemies cannot deal more than (3 + attacker’s Strength) levels of damage to it, not counting levels added by Charms or other magic.

STORYTELLER TACTICS
Elephants flee after taking 4+ levels of damage, unless protecting their young or kept under control by a rider. Against larger opponents they use their Massive Charge to protect their territory or wards more often than they attack directly. They are difficult to harm due to thick hides and versatile trunks, but they have trouble maneuvering quickly or attacking foes directly behind (or atop) them.
Those who train elephants for battle often have steel-bladed tips crafted to fit the animals’ tusks, which the elephants use like swords to cut their opponents in half. War elephants in Kirighast use their trunks to swing about modified flails with incredible accuracy. Since preparing an animal of this size for war requires huge investments of time and money, their owners also fit them with padded armor that allows them the freedom of movement to use their trunks and tusks against their enemies.