Spending 10 motes allows a Night Caste to become harder to track, as we all know. However, I need a little clarification: does this expenditure actually increase one's anima level?
I can see this going two ways:
a.) It does, obviously. It's literally the effect of your empowered anima. You can't just spend from Personal to stop your anima from showing, because that would necessarily mean that you're not actually getting the effects of your anima. It's like saying you want to get the soak from your armor without actually wearing it. As a result, however, this would also mean that activating this anima power voluntarily would make stealth automatically impossible, an obvious problem considering the Night Caste's typical role (not to mention it makes the power completely worthless: what's the point of making tracking difficult if your opponents automatically succeed?).
b.) It doesn't, obviously. The Night Castes are designed for stealth, and so is their anima power. If activating it would make stealth difficult (impossible, actually), then it just doesn't make sense. As a result, a Night caste can use this anima power by spending 10 personal, while still retaining the ability to hide without his caste mark giving him away.
I think I answered my own question here, but I'd like to know the opinions of everyone else. How do you think the Night Caste anima power should interact with the anima flare that all Solars have to deal with?
I can see this going two ways:
a.) It does, obviously. It's literally the effect of your empowered anima. You can't just spend from Personal to stop your anima from showing, because that would necessarily mean that you're not actually getting the effects of your anima. It's like saying you want to get the soak from your armor without actually wearing it. As a result, however, this would also mean that activating this anima power voluntarily would make stealth automatically impossible, an obvious problem considering the Night Caste's typical role (not to mention it makes the power completely worthless: what's the point of making tracking difficult if your opponents automatically succeed?).
b.) It doesn't, obviously. The Night Castes are designed for stealth, and so is their anima power. If activating it would make stealth difficult (impossible, actually), then it just doesn't make sense. As a result, a Night caste can use this anima power by spending 10 personal, while still retaining the ability to hide without his caste mark giving him away.
I think I answered my own question here, but I'd like to know the opinions of everyone else. How do you think the Night Caste anima power should interact with the anima flare that all Solars have to deal with?