So I've seen this kind of thing crop up in a few threads, there's even another thread about it but that's kind of drifted. I've got a lot to say anyway. Plus it's exam time and all my exams are over, so time to turn that hard analysis to Exalted! That means it's time for a closer look.
I'd like to point out here that I love the DB charmset as previewed and I have very very few criticisms of it. I'm head over heels for most of it and this is not meant to bring it down.
Most of what I've seen has concerned the idea of Dragonblooded being able to fight Solars, let's take a look at that shall we?
Here in the spoiler is a close mechanical look at what lead me to my conclusion below
Okay so if you actually read that, first of all thank you, second of all things are looking pretty bleak. TLDR; Solars have DBs beat in accuracy, damage, defense and soak/mitigation.
Well it gets bleaker sadly, with one of the main schticks of DBs being that they tend to do better when they're already doing well. They have a big list of charms that can only be activated if you're already ahead in initiative, or have aimed for 2 turns, or have blocked multiple attacks in a row, or punish your opponent for racking up a big onslaught penalty. Against a Solar you probably won't have higher initiative, you won't have the luxury of sitting back and aiming, you won't defend against their superior attacks very often, and they often quite easily drop their penalties.
What does this mean? It means that a combat focused Solar is a damn hard fight for a single DB! Or even a small group of them. "But Doctor Love Monkey" I hear you cry "I thought Solars weren't supposed to be impervious to DBs this time around.". Don't worry, they aren't. Let me give you a few Solar archetypes and show how they'd go. Spoilered again for space.
Almost done I swear! This is all looking awful isn't it? It feels like the Solar charmset was almost designed to counter the DB one, with cheap, easy and hard counters to almost anything the terrestrials can muster. I mean if that's the case what's even the point? Can DBs do anything? You BET they can! They can strike weapons with the power of Earth to make them 1000 times heavier, they can use charms to fly across the battlefield in an instant and strike a foe, they can use presence to breathe fire and dodge to grab an opponents attack and hurl it at another enemy instead. It's SO COOL, it's just that the raw, pure power is low. You have to dodge the attack to redirect it, and that Earth weight one is a special gambit that you need to hit with, ect. It's not impossible, and it is helpful when it happens, but it's hard to pull off.
So again, what's the point? The point is you're not always fighting Solar exalted, silly! This is where, in my opinion, DBs really shine. Fighting a Solar is a hard fought, frustrating slog, like a final boss fight. On the other hand fighting a pair of Hellboars is fantastic. For a Solar circle I wouldn't even ask them to roll, it'd be boring and pointless. For a DB sworn kinship on the other hand that's a fight! The boars can't ignore onslaught penalties, they don't have insane defense ratings or soak boosters or decisive damage negators. Plus if they stunt/willpower/environmental penalties they can actually hit a DB, whereas basically any Solar who's not intentionally gimped can raise their defense high enough to be 99% safe.
Also, here the DB ability to deal more damage to things that they're already doing well against is an actual boon. Big monsters in exalted tend to not have the skill or dice caps of a Solar, but make up for it by big health pools and special abilities. Doing well against them in initiative doesn't mean you're going to win, but those punishing charms help to ensure you will.
TLDR; So that's the light at the end of this tunnel. DBs don't have the raw power to match Solars for attack, defense, damage, soak, decisive mitigation, penalty negators or special tricks. They aren't so far behind though that Solars can't be beaten, it just takes luck, numbers and thinking outside the whiteroom. In exchange we get a splat that can meaningfully engage with most of the antagonists in the corebook with a veritable metric ton of charms that are really really cool and make for a dynamic and literally spectacular combat. Because who doesn't want to ride a self-made explosion to safety, or grapple a foe at long range with tendrils of water?
*There is absolutely nothing wrong with this character type. It's perfectly fine to have a character who's whole motivation is being the greatest fighter ever. No criticisms here for doing that. At least until you do it every time for 5 campaigns.
**Or Twilight or you know whatever...
I'd like to point out here that I love the DB charmset as previewed and I have very very few criticisms of it. I'm head over heels for most of it and this is not meant to bring it down.
Most of what I've seen has concerned the idea of Dragonblooded being able to fight Solars, let's take a look at that shall we?
Here in the spoiler is a close mechanical look at what lead me to my conclusion below
Okay so if you actually read that, first of all thank you, second of all things are looking pretty bleak. TLDR; Solars have DBs beat in accuracy, damage, defense and soak/mitigation.
Well it gets bleaker sadly, with one of the main schticks of DBs being that they tend to do better when they're already doing well. They have a big list of charms that can only be activated if you're already ahead in initiative, or have aimed for 2 turns, or have blocked multiple attacks in a row, or punish your opponent for racking up a big onslaught penalty. Against a Solar you probably won't have higher initiative, you won't have the luxury of sitting back and aiming, you won't defend against their superior attacks very often, and they often quite easily drop their penalties.
What does this mean? It means that a combat focused Solar is a damn hard fight for a single DB! Or even a small group of them. "But Doctor Love Monkey" I hear you cry "I thought Solars weren't supposed to be impervious to DBs this time around.". Don't worry, they aren't. Let me give you a few Solar archetypes and show how they'd go. Spoilered again for space.
Almost done I swear! This is all looking awful isn't it? It feels like the Solar charmset was almost designed to counter the DB one, with cheap, easy and hard counters to almost anything the terrestrials can muster. I mean if that's the case what's even the point? Can DBs do anything? You BET they can! They can strike weapons with the power of Earth to make them 1000 times heavier, they can use charms to fly across the battlefield in an instant and strike a foe, they can use presence to breathe fire and dodge to grab an opponents attack and hurl it at another enemy instead. It's SO COOL, it's just that the raw, pure power is low. You have to dodge the attack to redirect it, and that Earth weight one is a special gambit that you need to hit with, ect. It's not impossible, and it is helpful when it happens, but it's hard to pull off.
So again, what's the point? The point is you're not always fighting Solar exalted, silly! This is where, in my opinion, DBs really shine. Fighting a Solar is a hard fought, frustrating slog, like a final boss fight. On the other hand fighting a pair of Hellboars is fantastic. For a Solar circle I wouldn't even ask them to roll, it'd be boring and pointless. For a DB sworn kinship on the other hand that's a fight! The boars can't ignore onslaught penalties, they don't have insane defense ratings or soak boosters or decisive damage negators. Plus if they stunt/willpower/environmental penalties they can actually hit a DB, whereas basically any Solar who's not intentionally gimped can raise their defense high enough to be 99% safe.
Also, here the DB ability to deal more damage to things that they're already doing well against is an actual boon. Big monsters in exalted tend to not have the skill or dice caps of a Solar, but make up for it by big health pools and special abilities. Doing well against them in initiative doesn't mean you're going to win, but those punishing charms help to ensure you will.
TLDR; So that's the light at the end of this tunnel. DBs don't have the raw power to match Solars for attack, defense, damage, soak, decisive mitigation, penalty negators or special tricks. They aren't so far behind though that Solars can't be beaten, it just takes luck, numbers and thinking outside the whiteroom. In exchange we get a splat that can meaningfully engage with most of the antagonists in the corebook with a veritable metric ton of charms that are really really cool and make for a dynamic and literally spectacular combat. Because who doesn't want to ride a self-made explosion to safety, or grapple a foe at long range with tendrils of water?
*There is absolutely nothing wrong with this character type. It's perfectly fine to have a character who's whole motivation is being the greatest fighter ever. No criticisms here for doing that. At least until you do it every time for 5 campaigns.
**Or Twilight or you know whatever...
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