sol invictus.indd

CHAPTER 1 • CHARM DESIGNsimply by wearing armor. Soak is also automaticallyapplied to every incoming attack, requiring noeffort on the part of the person being attacked. Theresult is that soak is both a simpler defense and aless powerful one — its lesser power is a tradeofffor its automatic nature.Charms that grant soak (or which closely resembleit) are an exception to this rule, because they requiresome effort on the part of the player. However, theystill typically provide a more mote-efficient defensethan dodge and parry. Soak can be obtained on ascenelong basis much more easily than persistentdodges or parries, and soak directly subtracts fromdamage, rather than simply attempting to holdback attacks. Therefore, Charms that grant soakshould naturally be somewhat weaker than dodgeor parry defenses.Resistance-based defenses that are not basedon soak can be treated somewhat differently.Adamant Skin Technique is essentially comparableto Seven Shadows Evasion, and should be costedsimilarly.DODGE VS. PARRYAfter soak come the two active defenses: dodge andparry. For other Exalts, the difference is significant;each of the two defenses has a completely distinctset of Charms associated with it, making the choiceof defense an important tactical decision. Solars,however, have significant parallels between theirMelee and Dodge trees.Each of the two defenses has one obvious drawback.Dodge is a narrow ability; it doesn’t provide21