Dodging and parrying.

[Skycroft]

Let's say I'm playing a combat-focused Twilight Solar who uses Melee. Is it wise to take Dodge as a Favored ability? The reason why is that my DDV is simply going to be higher than my PDV in almost all circumstances. There are other advantages too, such as the Dodge charms being cheaper (though perhaps not as good) as the corresponding Melee charms, the fact that I don't need to have defense meaning I can get a better weapon, etc. My question is simply whether all that is worth spending a favored ability on Dodge.


I don't have much experience with this game, so help would be appreciated. Is dodging as much better than parrying as I think it is?

 

[cyl]

I don't have much experience with this game, so help would be appreciated. Is dodging as much better than parrying as I think it is?

It certainly is... except that there are a few things in this world that are specifically undodgeable, in which case using a high PDV rocks.


Flow Like Blood also has a negating effect on coordinated attacks that its melee counterpart does not have (it has a flurry penalty reduction instead).


If you're playing a twilight though, you got a pretty decent anima power for yourself, so I wouldn't worry about that too much... just pick the defensive style that works for you most, and rock on :wink:

 

[Virjigorm]

If the character is combat-focused, dodge is definitely a good pick, as it gives you another line of defense and one against unblockable attacks. The only issue I take with dodge is that the charm tree is pretty shallow and therefor you don't save all that much exp by having it favored. It's worthwhile to take as your favored abilities those which you think you will buy the most charms for (which, by extension, makes them the ones most central to the character's concept).


I'd suggest resistance as a favored ability for any combat-minded character character because it has great defensive charms and a good selection of non-combat-specific stuff too. For a Twilight, the resistance ability can keep you alive in combat with soak, and keep you awake for a week in the workshop or library when the need for craft-stunting arises.

 

[Persell]

If you already have Melee as Favored you don't need to take Dodge as Favored too. Just make sure you invest in it at chargen to save yourself time and XP.

 

[Skycroft]

Ah, excellent point. The dodge tree is small meaning I don't need to take it as favored to get the benefits.

 

[cordimus]

While your DV is going to oftentimes be higher, Parry tends to be a better defense value to focus on because the melee excellencies can be used to both attack and defend, which means you can boost both types of actions without the need of a combo. Regardless of what you settle on you're going to need both for all those pesky things that prohibit one or the other.

 

[Man of MYSTERY]

Don't worry about balancing and tweaking too much. Just stay in character.


Decide how your character would deal with an enemy attack.


Does he dodge it, moving and weaving around enemy attacks?


Does he parry it with his weapons, sparks flying from the clashing of steal?


Or does he absorb the hit, laughing it off with his resistance charms and soak? (This one will chew up essence motes quickly.)


Just imagine which one your character would be most inclined to do.


And if you screw up, you can beg the Storyteller to let you fix some mistakes you made. (If it's a few sessions in, this should be no problem.)

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Just throwing my hat into the mix here. I have a combat Twilight and I rarely dodge or parry. I instead invested heavily in the Resistance trees. Durability of Oak Meditation, Iron Skin Concentration, Iron Kettle Body. Essence Gathering Temper Combo-ed with Iron Skin Concentration. Add to this the crazy mad MA tree that is Snake Style and you have a guy that when he gets hit, usually either has to deal with ping or soaks it entirely and regains Essence to boot.


Captain Hesperus

 

[Mr. S]

Just throwing my hat into the mix here. I have a combat Twilight and I rarely dodge or parry. I instead invested heavily in the Resistance trees. Durability of Oak Meditation' date=' Iron Skin Concentration, Iron Kettle Body. Essence Gathering Temper Combo-ed with Iron Skin Concentration. [/quote']
I've had a similar solar once. Kinda backfired though, since there's a lot of charms that don't do damage when they hit. Crazy stuff like paralysis or exploding your personal essence pool. It worked great for the first leg of the campaign, but at higher essence I strongly recommend investing in a second line of defense.

 

[Tadanori Oyama]

Don't you still have to contend with minimum damage when you get nailed by a big hit if you build yourself like that?

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

That's why they're Twilights. Twilight Anima can get rid of such. Also, perfect soak does fully reduce, and there's a number of methods for avoiding minimum damage, though that's actually easier for Lunars and Infernals than Solars.

 

[Tadanori Oyama]

Knew perfect soak did it but I totally forgot about the Twilight trick. Nevermind.