GregLink/SolarBureaucracy

Assuming the Place of the Creation-Prince

Cost: 2m/die
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Bureaucracy: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisites: None

With an insight not granted simply by business acumen, but by Essence, the Solar Bureaucrat is a powerful force to be reckoned with. When performing a bureaucracy-related task, the Solar can assume his mantle of leadership more clearly, and more carefully, purchasing additional dice of bureaucracy for a cost of 2m per die.

Financier's Masterful Eye

Cost: 3m
Duration: One evaluation
Type: Simple
Minimum Bureaucracy: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisites: Asssuming the Place of the Creation-Prince

While all businessmen have opinions, few opinions carry the weight of the Solar Exalted. The opinions formed by such men are not just based on experience or training, but on the raw flows of creation itself. When evaluating a business or business plan, the Solar can choose not to rely on simply his own skill, but on the thrum of the universe itself. This charm may be activated anytime the Solar is called upon to verify the promise of a given bureaucratic plan, such as a troop organization, business model, or even food allocation program. The Solar first obtains all information he can about the plan, through things such as business plans, troop listings, and firsthand experience. He then rolls a standard Attribute+Bureaucracy roll (with the relevant attribute determined by the Storyteller based on the situation), at a difficulty determined by the amount of accurate information the Solar had available. A difficulty 1 task is one where the Solar has firsthand information, such as talking with the head of a particular guild caravan, or has met many of the troops and officers in a given army. A difficulty 5 task is one where little to no accurate information is available, such as "Deploying the 7th legion to defend the South, and leaving the 5th legion to defend the North", when one has only heard rumors of the effectiveness of either army, and of the situations developing at the opposing poles. With a single success, the Solar can determine whether this given model would be considered 'above average' or 'below average'. Each additional success scored gives additional information about the likely quality of the plan or business, dividing into another two categories per success. For example, if 3 successes are rolled, the plan would fall into one of 8 categories, such as "top 1/8 possible, second 1/8, ..." down to "7/8 of all ideas are better than this one". This is especially useful when evaluating where to invest one's time and resources, as one can clearly sift the well-run organizations from those doomed to fail.

A Penny Saved...

Cost: 2m
Duration: As specified at charm activation
Type: Simple
Minimum Bureaucracy: 3
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisites: Asssuming the Place of the Creation-Prince, Frugal Merchant Method

While all businessmen have opinions, few opinions carr

...is a Penny Earned

Cost: 2m
Duration: As specified at charm activation
Type: Simple
Minimum Bureaucracy: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisites: A Penny Saved...

While all businessmen have opinions, few opinions carr

Comments, Questions, and Snide remarks

First off, /SolarBureaucracyOldComments

The general gist of them was that the second charm, as written, allowed you to do things like "If I were to pit the 7th legion against the oncoming Alchemical menace, who would win?" without knowing anything about anyone. I added a difficulty modifier to the roll to help fix the 'prescience' part of the charm. Does it help enough? - GregLink

That's a lot better. It plays to the Solar strengths of knowing something about everything, but not being actual seers. A Solar who wants to use the Charm to analyze unknown situations must then go in and learn something about them first (and thereby hangs a tale, etc.). Looks good -- BillGarrett