Discussions/UniversalCharms
Why is MA such a big deal?
Martial arts charms can be learned by other exalts. Terrestrial MAs can be learned by mortals, Terrestrials, Celestials and Solars. Celestial MAs can be learned by Terrestrials, Celestials and Solars. Sidereal MAs can be learned by Solars and Sidereals.
Ignoring for the moment the fact that I think the top tier should be learnable by Lunars (everyone else can learn one level above themselves - why not Lunars? Or is this their way of telling us Lunars are actually another form of Terrestrial?) and that the top tier should be Solar (although the way the Sidereal MAs have been done in 2nd so far is better than in 1st Ed, and probly on a par with Solar charms of corresponding requirements, why should Sidereals get charms as good as Solars?), what is it about Martial Arts that that leads to them being so universal?
I think a lot of the problem is with the idea that Martial Arts are uber. It also helps the writers because in each new supplement they just have to detail a couple of new MA styles and there's something for everyone, which is a lot less work than writing seperate charm trees for each Exalt type - but that leads to hundreds of MA charms being available compared to a relative handful for each other ability.
I'm pondering a system whereby any Exalt type can learn any other Exalt's charms. Obviously they'd still have to meet all the requirements of the charm (pre-reqs etc) and they'd have to pay more than they would for one of their own charms, but it could be a nice way to help balance things...
It'd probably be something like:
- Tier 0 - Mortals
- Tier 1 - Terrestrials
- Tier 2 - Sidereals, Lunars, Alchemicals, Spirits
- Tier 3 - Solars, Abyssals
You can learn a charm from another exalt type in your own tier or any tier below you for 1.5x the normal xp cost and at a cost to use of 1.5x normal. From the tier above it costs 2x, and the cost is multiplied by 2 for each tier you go up. Additionally to purchase charms from a tier above you'd have to do some sort of awakening (whether it be by training or wyld mutation, or somesuch). So a Terrestrial wanting to learn a shiny Solar charm would have to pay 4x the cost in xp to buy it (2 tiers difference), would have to be awakened and would have to have all the pre-reqs (making HGD possible, but very very expensive).
Additionally you'd need a teacher to learn any charms not of your own type.
Thoughts, ideas, suggestions? Can anyone tell me why MA really is all that? :) - CorlanDashiva
