Dawn Caste Anima Ability

[Persell]

The No Moon ability IS great...if you plan on casting a lot of spells in one scene.  You can pay 14 motes and then cast Death of Obsidian Butterflies for 1 mote and 1 Willpower...then cast it again for 1 mote and 1 willpower...then cast Stormwind Rider  for 1 mote and 1 Willpower...then cast Magma Kraken for (cost of MK - 14) motes and 2 Willpower.  Get's sort of ludicrous after a while.  Outside of such a (multi-spell) situation, though, it's not horribly useful.  

Was this errata'd anywhere? I was reading the Lunars book last night and it clearly states that the maximum amount of motes you can use to harmonise your anima with spells is equal to twice your essence, so in the above example that would require a lunar of essence 7. Though I still believe its a great anima power for a character focused on sorcery.

 

[Dracogryff]

The No Moon ability IS great...if you plan on casting a lot of spells in one scene.  You can pay 14 motes and then cast Death of Obsidian Butterflies for 1 mote and 1 Willpower...then cast it again for 1 mote and 1 willpower...then cast Stormwind Rider  for 1 mote and 1 Willpower...then cast Magma Kraken for (cost of MK - 14) motes and 2 Willpower.  Get's sort of ludicrous after a while.  Outside of such a (multi-spell) situation, though, it's not horribly useful.  

Was this errata'd anywhere? I was reading the Lunars book last night and it clearly states that the maximum amount of motes you can use to harmonise your anima with spells is equal to twice your essence, so in the above example that would require a lunar of essence 7. Though I still believe its a great anima power for a character focused on sorcery.

Not errata'd anyhwere I've seen. It also wouldn't work this way because you CANNOT reduce the cost of a spell by more than half (rounded down). No matter how many motes you spent, you couldn't reduce Death of Obsidian Butterflies to less than 7 (15/2=7.5, then round down). Still nice, but not as killer as Athrun made it sound. So even if you could spend the 14 motes, you'd only get the full effect of 14 less motes on that Magma Kraken he mentioned. The others would still cost 7m and a willpower apeice.

 

[Persell]

Maybe the Eclipse can go for permanent charms, like "Perfection in Everything". That way, it's only double xp, and you get a reduction in TN in some situations, for no cost.


Agreed, not terribly useful, but it can make a difference, and I'm not sure that  the Solar can make custom charms that reduce TN.

 

[Persell]

the oath effects VERY Powerful if the storyteller is not deliberately trying to screw the players over.


It allows a Eclipse caste to ensure that his Dawn caste companions soldiers will never mutiny or reveal his status as anathema to the realm.


And the intimidation power of the dawn caste IS Princible built around intimidating extras  I'll admit.


I think that white wolf needs to revise some of the caste abilitys.


the zenith dissolve corpses into dust ability though undramatic is useful as its economical.

 

[Hanat-Osul]

The only Anima power's I've used have been my Full Moon's and my Alchies(Who' date=' in my opinion, have some of the best anima powers around).[/quote']
YES YES YES.  Alchemicals have the best powers, hands down: the most immediately useful, the most caste-appropriate.  Also: Alchemicals rule HARD.

 

[Kajata]

I find the Dawn caste power to be too weak, pretty much always have, and, since I'm lazy , I just ended up house ruling that by spending 5 motes the Dawn can add his essence to his accuracy or defence pool in combat.


Probably not the best thing you could come up with, but it's alright


As for the Eclipse caste power I personally think it's the best there is.  I mean, sure people can refuse the oath, but, most likely, if they do so they're not very trustworthy anyways, so at least you know that much, and, sure, the horrible botch is a story point, but it's also useful.


As for the learning other Exalt stuff; I think it's pretty fun.

 

[Quchu]

Alchemicals have the best powers' date=' hands down: the most immediately useful, the most caste-appropriate.  Also: Alchemicals rule HARD.[/quote']
Agreed. Hard.


And of Solar anima powers, I think Twilight one is the most useful with Power Combat... For example, let's say Five Metal Shrike uses Godspear of mecha death on Twilight Ted. Twlight Ted uses Iron Skin Concentration  and Twlight anima power. Ted suffers 1 or 2L from the most destructive attack in the game (I think.) Kinda makes Five Metal Shrike look silly.

 

[memesis]

Alchemicals have the best powers' date=' hands down: the most immediately useful, the most caste-appropriate.  Also: Alchemicals rule HARD.[/quote']
Agreed. Hard.


And of Solar anima powers, I think Twilight one is the most useful with Power Combat... For example, let's say Five Metal Shrike uses Godspear of mecha death on Twilight Ted. Twlight Ted uses Iron Skin Concentration  and Twlight anima power. Ted suffers 1 or 2L from the most destructive attack in the game (I think.) Kinda makes Five Metal Shrike look silly.

Making super-attacks look wimpy is the province of the Solars anyway.

 

[Flagg]

I "fixed" the shittiness of the Dawn Caste power by making the difficulty of the Valor roll equal to the Dawn's Essence, instead of 1.


-S

 

[Persell]

Twilights I'm going to change eventually, but I still haven't come up with something to my satisfaction.  The damage reduction power is totally out of place for them, period.  You can say "Oh, but it helps them while they are casting..." but there's nothing about it that is specific to casting or their role.  It's damage mitigation, nothing else.  I may give them something like being able to cast a single Spell in advance and store it within their anima banner, being able to release it reflexively anytime their anima is showing (it would need to be recast and restored to be used again in this fashion).

I have also thought about a power helping them to cast spells, but that really doesn't give justice to their craft aspect. Or the savant aspect. A twilight doesn't actually have to be a sorceror, although most are. I haven't implemented this yet, as I don't have any twilights in my group, but am considering a lore-gathering power. No matter what sort of Twilight you make he would probably need lore of construction techniques, magical theory, forgotten languages or the like. Maybe a power that helps the Twilight to find sources of knowledge or draws the lore to him while meditating. Any thoughts?

 

[Persell]

By the way, I also go with the Dawn caste inspiring mortal followers. Something along giving valor penalties to foes (as stated) AND valor bonuses to friends.

 

[Hanat-Osul]

Full Moon Anima Power is more useful in most fights than any Solar Anima Power, assuming your group actually meticulously keeps track of movement allowances.  Lunars all ready tend to have large movement rates due to high Dexterity, and doubling those rates has quite an effect, allowing at times a Lunar to maneuver in, strike, and maneuver out without being able to be struck.

I'd never thought about that.


I smell a Lunar NPC fight scene.

In my games, Dawn Castes using their power add 2 dice to all they lead into battle, rather than the lame intimidation thing.  I find it much more reasonable, and much more true to their "inspiring leader" motif.

Either that or making the diff. to resist the normal Dawn power = their Essence is utterly essential.

Twilights I'm going to change eventually, but I still haven't come up with something to my satisfaction.  The damage reduction power is totally out of place for them, period.  You can say "Oh, but it helps them while they are casting..." but there's nothing about it that is specific to casting or their role.  It's damage mitigation, nothing else.  I may give them something like being able to cast a single Spell in advance and store it within their anima banner, being able to release it reflexively anytime their anima is showing (it would need to be recast and restored to be used again in this fashion).

Yeah, shouldn't they have the No Moon power or something?  I like your idea.

 

[Fruan]

I "fixed" the shittiness of the Dawn Caste power by making the difficulty of the Valor roll equal to the Dawn's Essence, instead of 1.
-S

Perhaps half (rounding up) their essence would be better; as virtues cannot go above 5, giving people a difficulty 6+ roll feels a little wrong.

 

[Forn Clakes]

I "fixed" the shittiness of the Dawn Caste power by making the difficulty of the Valor roll equal to the Dawn's Essence, instead of 1.
-S

Perhaps half (rounding up) their essence would be better; as virtues cannot go above 5, giving people a difficulty 6+ roll feels a little wrong.

Maybe, but still inkeeping with the image of a glorious Dawn Caste charging into battle.  If they are meant to be the lords of the battlefield, then shouldn't they be able to turn the tide of battle with their powerful connection to Creation?


~FC.

 

[Persell]

Yeah, sure, and they can under Fruan's suggestion. But they don't overwhelm everyone until about Essence 9. There should always be room for a truly heroic mortal to have a reasonable chance of facing one while all others flee.


Hmmm. Can you channel Virtues on Virtue rolls?

 

[Flagg]

Failure only means you have a -2 to attack the Dawn. I have no problem with mortals not being able to avoid that penalty vs. a truly powerful Dawn.


Characters only flee on a botch, which you have the exact same chance of doing wether the difficulty is 1 or 50.


-S

 

[Viragos]

Not that Joseph is around much but a potential fix I thought of for the Twilight anima power. Drop the damage reduction garbage, and instead for the rest of the scene for 1 mote per die and not more than doubling their pool allow them to add dice to any dice roll used during spellcasting, probably barring the contest of wills used in demon summoning mind you.


This would put them more on par with the No Moons, where No Moons are more efficient spellcasters, Twilights are more effective ones.


Just a thought.

 

[Forn Clakes]

Sounds good.  Not sure about the contested Willpower rolls against demons, unless the cost is increased for the demon's Circle.


~FC.

 

[Persell]

Not that Joseph is around much but a potential fix I thought of for the Twilight anima power. Drop the damage reduction garbage, and instead for the rest of the scene for 1 mote per die and not more than doubling their pool allow them to add dice to any dice roll used during spellcasting, probably barring the contest of wills used in demon summoning mind you.
This would put them more on par with the No Moons, where No Moons are more efficient spellcasters, Twilights are more effective ones.


Just a thought.

This still doesn't take their other aspects into account. They are not only spellcasters. They are also crafters and savants. Their abilities are primarily knowledge oriented. They also have Medicine, which gives them a healer aspect.


Giving them a bonus to spellcasting would actually be limiting for Twilights.

 

[Persell]

Failure only means you have a -2 to attack the Dawn. I have no problem with mortals not being able to avoid that penalty vs. a truly powerful Dawn.
Characters only flee on a botch, which you have the exact same chance of doing wether the difficulty is 1 or 50.


-S

Oh yeah! My bad. The Dawn power really does suck...

 

[Fruan]

My same also bad.


Yeah, in that case having it an auto -2 for essence 5 plus exalts is totally resonable (well, you *could* roll lots of 10s... but whatever).


However, it would be not unreasonable to make the power that you have to face a valour roll at 1/2 the exalt's essence or run away, sucsess allowing you to attack them at -2 penalty, which is what I though we were talking about.

 

[Kajata]

I think that would be a bit too potent for a Solar anima power; especially once you add to that quite how potent the average Dawn is in combat.  It's unfair that, no matter how many successes a person gets, they're still at a -2 to the Dawn.  It takes away from heroic resistance  :wink: