SolarDodge/DariusSolluman
A trio of Charms for the selfless hero in you.
Shadow Caught in Light Cost: 1 mote Type: Reflexive Duration: Instant Min. Dodge: 2 Min. Essence: 1 Prereqs: Reed in the Wind
By invoking Shadow Caught in Light, the Exalt may jump in front of the incoming attack of anyone within their full movement. They are the target of the attack for this round, which is considered undodgeable and unparryable to them.
Storm Taming Willow Cost: 3 motes Type: Reflexive Duration: Instant Min. Dodge: 4 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Shadow Caught in Light
The Storm Taming Willow allows the Exalt to jump in front of any incoming attack of anyone within their full movement. They are the target of the attack for this round, but get a reflexive, full dicepool Dodge attempt, and may use a parry if they have one available. Reducing the attack's successes below 1 does not negate the hit, however; instead, they reduce the pre-soak damage at a one for one rate. (So, an Attack with 4 successes and +6L damage, on which the Exalt used Storm Taming Willow and got 5 successes, would be struck for 5L damage).
Light Baffling Darkness Technique Cost: 4 motes Type: Reflexive Duration: Instant Min. Dodge: 5 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Storm Taming Willow
The Light Baffling Darkness Technique allows the Exalt to jump in front of any incoming attack of anyone within their full movement. They are the target of the attack for this round, but get a reflexive, full dicepool Dodge attempt, and may use a parry if they have one available. If the attack is reduced to zero successes, it fails, as per normal.
Baffling Quicksilver Dance Cost: 6 motes, 1 Willpower Type: Reflexive Duration: One Scene Min. Dodge: 5 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Flow Like Blood
When the Baffling Quicksilver Dance is active, all attack against the Exalt suffer a penelty equal to the Exalt's Permanent Essence. The benefits of the Baffling Quicksilver Dance do not stack with other persist penelties, such as the Snake Form. If the Exalt is suffering a mobility penelty while invoking the Baffling Quicksilver Dance, reduce the functional Permanent Essence by that penelty for the purposes of the Charm.
While the Snake Form's bennie feels like it makes a good Dodge Charm to me, I'm uneasy with the slight schtick step-on ness of this. At the same time, the higher cost, greater depth, ability appropriateness and ability to wear armor all make this feel justified and worthwhile. DS
Comments
Sorry, I just have to comment on the first charm, and its viciousness. "Okay, I just need to slay the daughter of the Anathema, then she's done for. [I need not to use multiple actions this turn, the Forsaken is well out of range. Whaddayamean she jumps in between and takes the hit with a combo!? What, there's more to the combo? Essence-Gathering Temper, Snake Strikes the Heel, Armor-Penetrating Fang Strike, Essence Venom Strike, and Iron Kettle!!]. Ouch! Why does my chest hurt so bad? Gee, the sky surely is beautiful tonight.." This charm is very cute and useful. On the other hand, why make the first charm's attack unblockable? Isn't it enough to make it undodgable? -Clebo
The first Charm is unblockable for precisely the reason you named- throwing it into a combo of doom. SCIL is all about the heroic self-sacrafice; using it functionally has an implicit health level cost to make it cheaper relative to the later charms- the cost of getting hit by whatever you're jumping inbetween. DS
This is a good idea, but I don't think the last Charm makes sense. If you jump in front of a fireball heading for your friend, but then dodge out of the way of the fireball, there's absolutely no logical reason for the fireball to not hit your friend. \\ _Ikselam
A very easy solution to that problem would be to include pushing the original target out of the way or some kind of aikido attack control as part of the Charm's effect. - willows
Quite. Or, your interference in the attack is enough to make yourself the target, and then the magic of the Charm still allows you to Dodge- like the reverse of Safety Among Enemies. Solar Charms don't always make much sense in that regard ;) DS
- I disagree. That kind of semi-nonsensical makes-sense-if-you-think-about-it-really-I-swear stuff is what Sidereals do. Solar Charms tend to not have much postmodernism to them at all. I can see a Solar body-checking his friend out of the way and taking the hit, but I can't really see him taunting a thrown weapon in order to cause it to alter its trajectory just to hit him. \\
On a constructive note, if you went with the push notion, you could put in a clause where the pushee can be moved a certain distance as part of the push (probably in a direction determined by the pusher, but not necessarily).\\ _Ikselam
- Then explain Heavenly Guardian Defense parrying a bath of acid, Seven Shadow Evasion dodging a crushing avalanche of stone in which there is litterally not enough physical space for me not to be crushed, or Flow Like Blood turning me partially into mist. It doesn't make logical sense, and can't be envisioned from a purely mechanical point of view- it works because magic bloody well makes it work. The nature of the more advanced magic, in this case, is to both get a friend out of danger and then attempt to minimize the risk to yourself. DS
Willows, there is already a DB charm that shoves a friend out of the way, Virtuous Negation Defense, so that would copying. -Clebo
Imitation isn't always bad, especially with effects that aren't super-esoteric. As long as you make an effort to change the flavor around a little, I think it's perfectly okay to "steal" moves left and right.\\ _Ikselam
Okay, copying per se is not that bad, but I think it would be a tad dreary to simply steal a Db charm. Nonetheless, I think that the interception charms are best combined with blocking. To use a reflexive dodge charm to get in between, and the dodge again feels a bit like double dipping. I can easily see version of this used in Melee or even athletics. On the negative side, the team aiding charms have this DB feel over them. I think of Solar as the perfect individuals, not team players. The tragic hero is glorious in herself, but she can't help getting her loved ones killed, not even in the battlefield. I don't know. -Clebo
- Which, I suppose, comes down in part to a question of what attribtues you would grant to the perfect hero. I don't see them as being forced to passively watch as their loved ones are cut down- not if they could spare said loved ones at a personal cost. And, to be clear, I was aware that this was a bit Dragonblood stepping on- but, as it is both more speedbumpish and more self-sacraficing than anything else, it didn't see totally incorrect.
- As for the dodging the attack you're getting it the way of- imagine it as barreling into the other person to knock them a few inches out of harm's way, and then jumping back to the fight proper. DS
