Thus Spake Zaraborgstrom/ImpedingTheFlow

On Impeding the Flow

Suppose you have 10 dice to attack with, a very high-damage weapon, and 10 motes to spend on Excellent Strike. Since we're looking solely at parry Charms, you're attacking an Exalt who can't do anything but pick a parry Charm to use each turn.

You can do the following:

• Each turn make a Solar with DSD and HGD burn 3m 1W or 8m.
• Each turn make a Sidereal with ItF and SiB burn 12m.

To make the Solar burn 3m 1W, make a 20-die attack. To make the Solar burn 8m, make four 7-die attacks. To make the Sidereal burn 12m, make four 7-die attacks.

An attacker who can force the Solar to spend the Willpower can easily make a Sidereal hemorrhage motes---fast enough that the Sidereal is likely to run out of Essence before the Solar runs out of either.

The difference between 2m and 3m may not seem like much for the benefit of not having to roll---but remember that Sidereals don't *have* a 2m version. If you split your pool, they're not spending one extra mote---they're spending 150% of what a comparable Solar is. The proportional difference is huge, and that matters on a Charm where the *attacker* decides how many times a turn you need to use it.

If you have a persistent Dodge up, the situation favors the Solar to a greater degree. A persistent Dodge means that the Solar can parry significantly larger attacks with just DSD.

Comboing with Joy in Adversity Stance

rebeccaborgstrom - 11/17/2003 21:21:03

Technically, at Essence 3+, JiAS + ItF annoys me simply because it makes it impossible to answer the following question:

Is a deadly golem that makes two blockable 25L attacks a turn with 20 autosuccesses to hit a credible threat?

Accordingly, it's impossible to make a strict ruling whether JiAS even takes effect. Yes implies no; no implies yes.

One can cut this Gordian knot by asserting that attacks that cannot get through the defense used, regardless of rolls, are not a threat. For the instant of attack resolution, the attacker is too weak to pose a threat. If you want the Essence, use a 20-die MA parry. :)

If you're not dealing with unstoppable attack golems, then you can also assert that JiAS stops working after a bit unless the attacker figures out a strategy that makes them a viable threat by other means.

Rebecca