SolarMulti/IanPriceOldComments

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Glad to see you back Ian! Nice charm, perfectly logical, but I worry that the charm pre-reqs are a bit high. 2nd Ed seems to have a lot shorter trees than 1st, meaning that 5 prereqs is a lot of prereqs. My gut reaction would be to require only the 3rd Excellency, and either the Infinite Mastery or the Essence Flow. Just my gut thoughts. -- GreenLantern (formerly known as GregLink)

Hi there GL, and it's good to have the time to be back. As for prerequisites, *cracks open new 2ed tome* check out some of the only other Essence 5+ charms printed in this edition. We have Ideal Battle Knowledge Prana in War. This 5/5 minimum charm grants full knowledge of friendly troop movements within Essence x10 miles, and increases the Drill and Might of all such units by one, for an entire scene. Effectiveness? Similar to mine, certainly. Prerequisite charms? Six, as it is the culmination of two lines of the tree. Also, we have the new Protection of Celestial Bliss. Another 5/5 charm, which has four prerequisites. It is more powerful, as it enhances a perfect effect, but also much more limited. After all, it only helps defense, and suffers from a Flaw of Invulnerability. This is, of course, the place from which I gained the inspiration and precedent for a permanent charm, building on and modifying others, which also gains effect with a higher Essence score.

Thus, I feel my list of prerequisites is justified. After all, the use of all three excellencies is modified through the use of this charm, even in the Essence 5 version. Think of the implications for a defense: this could allow a DV to go up by 1.5 times its base value every time it is applicable (dice pool 10 = DV 5, 2nd excellency can add 5 = DV 10, 3rd excellency can add 3 = DV 13, not counting specialties, Essence, weapon defense, or shields). After all, the motes could be committed in advance at this stage, and the excellencies no longer qualify as charm uses. The implications are even greater on the attack, particularly if the First Excellency is used along with the Third. Remember that the Third Excellency keeps the preferred roll's total, so you can't shoot yourself in the foot. Then of course there is the Essence 6 effect, which speaks for itself. - IanPrice

I just realized that Infinite (Ability) Mastery and (Ability) Essence Flow specifically disallow their use together. I suppose this is a reasonable limitation, but I think it should not last past Essence 5... so I made a charm for that. - IanPrice

Ian - First, let me point out Darloth's comment below. He posted first, so deserves a quality reply. I'm just riding his coat-tails, but wanted to re-open the point I made some time ago. I'm still not 100% convinced that all three excellencies are required. Even if there was some other thing or charm, such as even a single non-'generic' charm of a given ability. I just don't think forcing them to have all three excellencies, and thus giving them the options you provide above as default is a good thematic idea. I want players who crawl up this tree to say "Finally - it's worth buying that extra Excellency that I otherwise wouldn't use!" as opposed to saying "Grumble. I gotta buy the second excellency now, even though I won't use it until I learn the next charm in the tree. That's the cool one I really want." Just some saying. I'll shut up now, regardless, as otherwise I really like these, but do agree with Darloth. -- GreenLantern

I like your take on the anima expansions - everyone seems to have new good ideas about them. One thing I do question though is the utility of the Twilight's power. Having tried to assign one myself, I know it's hard, but I am also finding it difficult to name even one example where crosscomboing occult, investigation, medicine craft and lore would be handy. Can you give us some examples? :)
-- Darloth

To reply to both of you at once, first I'll talk about the Twilight anima power expansion.

• I didn't want to buff the damage resistance they have. It's sick enough already, and while I think it's appropriate due to the dangers they must face, I think any expansion need not give them more of what they have enough of.
• I honestly intended the ability to create Combos involving Spells to be invoked during the Cast Sorcery action as the most potent ability, but didn't want to utterly lock Twilights into the role of Sorcerers.
• Custom charms are more affected than others, but it could be useful to Combo Spirit-Cutting Attack with Order-Affirming Blow, or Spirit-Detecting Glance with Chaos Repelling Pattern.

That being said, I admit it's the weakest concept of the bunch, but I don't have a better one for it right now. I'm quite open to suggestions on the subject, and I will be considering it for later revision myself.

On the subject of prerequisites...

• I like to have all three excellencies anyway. For Solars, I feel this is a wise course of action, since in no situation are the First or Second really more or less effecient with the motes (it's just a matter of certainty versus potential), and the Third is useful for those situations when you wouldn't think you'd have needed an excellency, but suddenly you do. Thus, by my charm-buying philosophy, this is not really a "speedbump" requirement any more than any other requirement of multiple Ability •, Essence • charms would be.
• I see Excellencies as "the basics." And as extensions of that, Infinite Mastery and Essence Flow represent mastery of the basics of Essence as it relates to a particular Ability. Since the above charm is about unlocking something basic and essential about the caste, I felt it appropriate to require a full understanding of the basic flow of Essence through all Caste Abilities.
• I did not think it appropriate to lump together any effects based on the more complex charms beyond Excellencies, however basic to the Solar nature they may be.
• When dealing with non-Excellency charms, I like to deal in specifics. I find it strange and inappropriate to simply say "5 charms of X, Y, and Z abilities," because Solars could fill these slots with so many different things. The only exception to this would be if I were designing something for Sidereals.

GL, I think your objection to my style of prerequisite-assignment stems from your basic "one excellency - First or Second - is enough, with maybe the Third to back it up" mentality. I, on the other hand, like having the option of both or either, as a Solar. This changes if I'm something else, of course; as a Sidereal or Dragon-Blood, I prefer the First Excellency always. As a Lunar or God, I almost always prefer the Second Excellency. But these are Solar charms, and therefore I come at them with my Solar-oriented paradigm. Dice are good when I'm rolling against someone, as they give me the potential to roll lots more. Successes are my preferred way to add to DVs or to beat static difficulties, because in those situations I don't want to be screwed by low rolls. And as I said earlier, there are some rolls I think I've got covered with my normal dice pool, but I suddenly need to undo my botch. Therefore, as a Solar, having all three Excellencies is like having shoes for both feet and a walking stick, just in case I need to lean on it. - IanPrice