Solar Hero Style

[Kyeudo]

I'm starting to think about possibly revising Solar Hero Style myself (I don't like the route the errata took), but I'm a little lost as to just what people think it lacks. That it got errata means that a large enough portion of the fan base find it lacking, but I don't see the problem the errata is fixing. Anyone want to let me know what's wrong with one of my favorite Martial Arts Styles?

 

[Brickwall]

I haven't the first clue. I happen to love it, even before the errata. I just almost never play brawly types. It's certainly not from a lack of power. A decent combo from that style can nearly one-shot a character of equal power level, as long as they don't put up a PD.

 

[Kyeudo]

I know! It's all the perfection and power of a Solar applied to a barroom brawl. What's not to love?


If I ever made an Exalt that practiced the Ikari Style of martial arts, I'd stat him using Solar Hero Style.

 

[Teln]

I was reading a thread on the official forums and it seemed they'd decided that Solar Hero Style was simply too weak. Chung apparently believed that it had to be equal to the Melee tree, or else no Solar would bother to learn it. But since it's an MA, it would be accessible to all Celestial Exalts, making them more powerful than Chung wanted. Hence the Enhancement keyword.

 

[Kyeudo]

What's in Solar Melee that completely outclasses Solar Hero Style?

 

[Brickwall]

Stuff like Fire and Stones Strike, I think. That and, well, Solar Hero has pretty much 0 defenses besides "you can now parry Lethal with fists without stunting".

 

[Kyeudo]

Sounds to me like they just needed to print some better Expansion Charms.

 

[cyl]

Well when we were revising it with braydz a year ago, we realized that most Martial Arts are "balanced", mixing attack with defense, and trying to add some style and personality according to the theme.


Solar Hero Style just doesn't do that.


It's raw, pure efficiency, and focused on one purpose only: dealing damage.


The revision just corrects that attack / defense angle, adding soak, and the possibility of parrying lethal damage without stunting... but still enhances the style ability to deal damage without giving it any soul whatsoever.


When you look at SHS and DMS, of course they are very similar, but DMS has at least the Illustrative Overkill Technique.


That's the gory bad guy schtick !!! :twisted:


The first question you should ask yourself IMHO is: what's the Solar Hero schitck ?!

 

[Brickwall]

The first question you should ask yourself IMHO is: what's the Solar Hero schitck ?!

RAAARGHPUNCHBOOM!


Repeat until all is BOOM!

 

[cyl]

Well, that be the problem :mrgreen:

 

[chalicier]

Solar Hero Style will always be "blaxploitation cop fighting style" in my head.


"YOU WANT SOME, BITCHES?"


HEAVEN THUNDER HAMMER


"WHO'S NEXT, SUCKAS?"

 

[Tsuranis]

The big problem with Solar Hero is that a solar wants it as a native charm tree, but is stuck following the linear makeup of a CMA tree. Let's say that you have no interest in clinching charms - you have no choice but to move through them to get to the higher up charms. With purely native trees such as melee, there's a few different starting points and the prerequisites are generally more appropriate.


That said I do love the style.

 

[Malekith]

My biggest issue with it is that its very weak in comparison to the other Exalt styles, unless I am missing something.


Also, it was born out of 1st edition where it was supposed to be a combat tree [brawl] on its own to be used with dodge, and as such, not a style on its own. Then in 2nd edition, they just ported it over and added a couple of things. And like many things originally ported, it was weak in comparision with the new material.


I mean, is the perfect unarmed warrior just a damage machine? and with that, a relatively weak one until the pinnicle is reached?


Then there the whole thing about throwing someone into the ground to max damage [though that might have changed with the errata, I havent checked.]

 

[Revoke]

I came across Chung's Solar Hero revision a while ago, and I recall rather liking the look of it. I especially liked the charms that made your unarmed (ie, kick and punch) attacks better. It annoys me a little that you can't fight actually unarmed, without accepting significant mechanical penalty.


As for what's wrong with Solar Hero: the form charm is singularly uninspiring. Fist of Iron is a bit crap, and would be better as a scene length or something. The other two pre-form charms don't actually help you hit dudes. The other charms are pretty good for smashing.


All the expansions from Ink Monkeys and whatnot help some, if I recall, but they don't help the fact that the base charms in the tree are mediocre. Also, the expansions don't always mesh well with the original charm tree; the new Solar Hero Supremacy make Ox-Stunning Blow redundant. The stuff in Scroll of the Monk like Dancing with Strife Technique adds a lot of nice options, but it's an awful lot of stuff that costs a charm activation that you'll have to add to your combos.


EDIT: I just noticed the solar hero and solar melee improvements in the scroll of errata, so much of what I said above is invalid. In particular they added a bunch of solar-only improvement to many solar hero charms, and several solar melee charms can now also be used with martial arts. So, solar hero is looking considerably better.