This is actually part of my next essay, but I wanted to post it now simply because I felt it was interesting. It'll probably be reposted in the upcoming completed document.
Movement in the Storyteller System
In Exalted, movement is something of a complicated beast. It has a few basic terms and rules, with modifiers on top of that, but not a lot of explanation of how it all fits together. Here's my attempt at it.
The first part of Moving in Exalted comes down to Dramatic Movement- anything that isn't handled with the Tick system. This is things like 'walking across a room' or 'making the 6 month journey to Nexus'. The latter uses an entirely different system which is rarely invoked by Charms or Artifacts, and only sometimes Sorcery.
The short version of Dramatic Movement is if you have sufficient time, you get from point A to Point B, and all it costs is time.
The second, and much more common type of movement, is Combat Movement.
Movement in Combat is described as a Reflexive, Speed 0 Action with a DV penalty of -0. It has the implied limit of 1 reflexive move action per tick. This is why movement is defined as up to [Dexterity] Yards per tick, minus Wound Penalties and Mobility Penalties. The minimum Movement speed is 1 yard per tick.
So if you have a Speed 5 action, that's 5 ticks. If you're Dexterity 3 with no penalties, That means you can move 3 yards per tick. Or move 6 yards, stop, etc. Any combination really.
A note for Players: Exalted 2e doesn't expect perfect tracking of distances in combat, but it really likes it when you have a general idea of where you're going and how far you move. It's a good idea to tell the storyteller what direction you're going and how fast.
How many ticks an Action takes up determines the maximum possible distance you can cover- real people don't move in straight lines during high-paced action, so a willingness to acknowledge 'close enough' is a good thing to keep in mind.
Using my Dex 3 example, someone moving 5 ticks in a row is 15 yards or 45 feet.
A note for Everyone: Having re-read the rules for this, (Page 145 2e core). I now believe that you essentially increment your movement by your current rate every tick unless otherwise noted. You can change your maximum possible movement rate when your DV refreshes by taking a Dash or Jump Action.
The reason I say this is the following example.
Twilight Inks is attempting to (using the Move Action) chase down a Dragonblooded pickpocket. Inks has a Dexterity of 3, so she moves 3 yards per tick. The Dragonblooded has a Dexterity of 4, so he moves 4 yards per tick.
For this example, they are starting right next to each other on the street and Tick 0. If they move for 5 ticks, the DB would pull ahead 1 yard per tick every tick, and thus eventually escape.
If Inks were one yard faster or the DB one yard slower, they would be neck and neck the whole time.
Inks can't catch the DB with just base movement. She needs to Dash. Dashing is a Speed 3, Non-reflexive action, and it adds 6 to the character's base movement rate, but in exchange for that speed, the character suffers a -2 DV penalty. They also cannot parry without a stunt or charm.
So resetting the example, Inks and DB are standing at the same point. Inks's Dashing speed is now 3+6, or 9 yards per tick. She easily outpaces the DB, and can catch him on the first tick.
Now, Dash actions as mentioned aren't Reflexive, so you either Dash, and that's your action, or you flurry. Note that flurry penalties Do not modify your Reflexive movement rates of Move Actions. A 6 attack mundane flurry will not incur a penalty to your movement rate, just your attack and action pools. If you try to flurry a Dash though, you will incur a penalty.
We had a pretty easy example for starters, let's try something more exotic. Two characters on different ticks.
We have Inks again, standing in a marketplace. She's 18 yards away from the Dragonblooded from before. She acts on Tick 2 of combat, and the Dragonblooded act on tick 4. If Ink tries to Move and Attack (Speed 0 and Speed 5), here is what will happen:
Tick 2: Inks's Acting tick: She'll move 3 yards
Tick 3: Inks move 3 more yard, total of 6
Tick 4: Inks has traversed 9 yards. It's now the Dragonblooded's acting tick.
Even though Inks cold have gotten within 3 yards of her target over 5 ticks, the DB's turn came up before she could reach him. Now he can move- let's say he move away from Inks. He moves and takes a Misc Action (Speed 5)
Tick 4: Dragonblooded moves 4 yards, so now he's 13 yards away from Inks (9+4)
Tick 5: Inks moves another 3 yards, total of 12 traversed. DB is has moved 4 more yards from his starting position. so 0+4+4 = 8. Inks is still lagging really far behind though. She was 7 yards away from where he started at tick 4, so 7+8 = 15 yards. (As you can tell, this is pretty confusing formatted like this).
Tick 6: Inks has moved 15 yards. This is actually the last action she gets to move before her DV refreshes on Tick 7. DB has moved 12 yards. There was 9 yards of space still separating them- so DB is around 21 yards away from Inks. (Assuming I did that math right).
The point of this example is that if you cannot reach your target before their acting tick comes up, they can set their movement direction and speed to get away from you- and you have to wait until your DV refreshes to adjust!
What if Inks Dashed, way back on Tick 2?
Tick 2: Dashing Inks moves 9 yards per tick. She's now 9 yards away from her target.
Tick 3: Dashing Inks moves another 9 yards, and now she's 0 yards away from her target.
Tick 4: DB can now act, and is 0 yards away from Inks. He could try attacking her, or he could try Dashing too. His Dash rate is 4+6 yards per tick, so he automatically gains a 1 yard lead trying to get away from Inks's Dash of 9, which is going to conclude on Tick 5.
So what's the point of all this?
The big deal here of this second example, is that critical Tick 3, where Inks reached the Dragonblooded before he could act. Unfortunately, Inks can't do anything until Tick 5, because she didn't flurry. On Tick 5 when she act again, she can flurry a Dash and an Attack. This puts her 2 yards behind the Dragonblooded, but- that's close enough to attack him in melee, at least at penalty or with a stunt!
Important Note: Exalted 2e corebook does not have ranges for melee weapons. I am assuming for the purposes of this essay that a little common sense is being used. I think it's safe to assume that anyone can attack out to about 1 yard from themselves with a punch, kick or close-combat weapon.
Attacking someone who is just barely out of melee range is best modeled by a -1 or -2 External Penalty, which the Reach weapon tag partially or fully negates.
Moving Moving, lots of Moving
As previously stated, you can move [Dexterity] yards per tick minus certain penalties. You can move on your Acting Tick, and all waiting ticks, but only one Reflexive Move Action per tick. You cannot dash and move on the same tick. Once you start Dashing, you Dash at whatever speed you set yourself at before other penalties. So Move Move Move Move Move becomes Dash Dash Dash Dash Dash.
Stick and Move
The long and the short of it it is, Exalted doesn't want you to sweat fiddly positional details when dealing with melee ranges. They want you at worst, to compare values and make a fair judgement of what would happen.
If two or more people have the same movement rates after all sources of penalties (wounds, armor, terrain), then they will never change position relative to each other unless one chooses to move faster, slower, towards or away from each other.
If one person has a higher movement rate, then it is safe to assume that any attacks made on them by slower characters are made at Penalty, baring stunts, charms or the Reach Tag. Don't apply lots of penalties though. Penalties are for things like "You're constantly lagging 5+ yards behind him." Not "You're 1-2 yards away."
Player: I move 5 yards per tick. How many ticks does it take for me to reach him?
Storyteller: He's 50 yards away and not moving. Maybe you should dash.
Player: Dashing then. I move 1 tick for 11 yards. He's now 39 yards away. Has he started moving?
Storyteller: He does start moving. He's 44 yards away.
Player: So he's moving 5 yards a tick, and I'm moving 11. I still outrun him by 6… Moving for my 2nd tick.
Storyteller: 44 minus 11 equals 33, plus 5 = 38 yards away.
Player: Dashing for my 3rd tick. 38 - 11 = 27, +5 means he's 32 feet away after his move.
Storyteller: That's right! You are gaining on him.
Player: But not very fast, goddamn.
Writing this out, I have come to a realization. I personally have played Exalted 2e for a long time basically ignoring non-acting ticks, but having looked more closely at these movement rules, I believe now that the intent was to resolve each tick as a small snapshot of movement while Acting Ticks were the big updates to things like how fast you were moving and the like.
Climbing and Swimming
This is actually pretty basic- unless you have Charms, tools,Mutations or other factors that modify your movement rates, climbing and swimming are your Movement or Dash speeds cut in half after all other modifiers.
Jumping
Jumping is a Miscellaneous (Speed 5 DV -1) action.
Your default Supernatural Jump vertical distance is [Strength+Athletics] in yards. Your horizontal or 'angled' jump is double that. Both of these from standing starts. At Str 1 Ath 0, that's 3 feet straight up. At Strength 5, Athletics 5 that's 10 yards vertical, 20 horizontal.
Note that if you flurry a Jump,you will take a penalty equal to the number of actions in the flurry, as well as the rest of the penalty depending on the order of actions. Attack Attack Jump means you have -2d on the first attack, -3 on the 2nd, and -4 yards on the jump.
Jumping has no stated assumption of when you move or land within the space of the action. You could go airborne on your Acting Tick, and land when your DV refreshes. That seems reasonable, but its never stated.
