sol invictus.indd

CHAPTER 2 • EXTENDED CHARM TREESparried attack, regardless of successes rolled on thefoe’s defense. This is also a perfect effect.PERFECT CIRCLE STANCECost: 5 motes, 1 WillpowerDuration: One sceneType: ReflexiveMinimum Melee: 5Minimum Essence: 4Prerequisite Charms: Ready in Eight DirectionsStanceThe character’s weapon cuts immaculate arcsinto air around her, making approaching her adangerous proposition at best. For the rest of thescene, whenever the character is attacked by anopponent within hand-to-hand range, she mayimmediately make a reflexive Dexterity + Meleecounterattack. As with Solar Counterattack, thisattack is rolled after the opponent’s attack butbefore the opponent’s damage, and cannot be madein response to any counterattack. In addition, thecharacter may choose to reflexively attack anyopponent who enters her hand-to-hand range withTWEAKING DEFENSE COSTSBecause of how dangerous attacks can be inExalted, no one factor affects combat balanceas heavily as the cost of defenses. Every combatcharacter buys defensive Charms — if she wantsto live, at least. Even slight changes to their usagecosts can have huge effects on how combat playsout.By default, Exalted makes powerful defense cheapfor Solars. With cheap access to persistent andperfect defenses, Solars are encouraged to quicklyobtain these Charms and to use them extensively.This strengthens the image of Solars as powerful,invulnerable warriors, but at the potential costof cool attacks — defenses are so efficient thatelaborate Combos and strange Charms oftenresult in poor mote economy for their users.Depending on how you want combat to work inyour game, you may want to consider changingthe costs of the key defensive Charms.Cheap DefenseThis approach moves even a little beyond theExalted corebook. This approach results in a gamewhere combat is a drawn-out battle of resourcedepletion, since most attacks will be triviallydefended against. For heavy stunters who aren’tinterested in using a lot of weird attack powers,this approach can work well. (This approach alsomakes Solars much more powerful in relation toother Exalts than they would otherwise be.)Seven Shadows Evasion — 4m. Heavenly GuardianDefense — 3m,1w. Fivefold Bulwark Stance — 4m,1w.Unyielding Adamant Defense — 6m,1w.Moderate DefenseUsing the costs given in Sol Invictus will result ina middle road — spending resources on the attackis still viable, but defense is still strong enough tomake expensive attacks inefficient and potentiallyunwise.Expensive DefenseIncreasing the costs of defense encourages theuse of offensive abilities, including extensiveCombos. This also makes combat significantlymore deadly and emphasizes tactical play, sincecareful rationing of resources is necessary toavoid death. This approach makes it easy for evenpowerful Solars to fall in battle to much weakeropponents, given bad luck or poor strategy.Seven Shadows Evasion — 8m. Heavenly GuardianDefense — 5m,1w. Fivefold Bulwark Stance — 8m,1w.Unyielding Adamant Defense — 8m,2w.55