I think I'm missing something with Flawless Diamond Heart

[Mailanka]

I have a small question. I've searched over the forum to see if it's already addressed, but I was unable to find it, thus I apologize if it's been asked and answered already. Flawless Diamond Heart, from Dragon-Blooded (3e) page 195-196 costs 7 motes, and reduces the cost of resisting an influence by (Essence/2 rounded up) Willpower, provided the influence was opposed by a Major or Defining Intimacy. The charm requires Essence 3, so the minimum reduction is -2, but you cannot lower the cost to less than 0.

Under "Resisting Influence Rolls," Exalted 3e, page 218, it says you can spend 1 Willpower to stop a new intimacy from being formed, stop a weakening to a Major or Defining intimacy or reject an inspire action. You can also spend 1 Willpower to enter a Decision Point when resisting an attempt to get you to do something (but then you have to find some other intimacy to justify resisting). I can't find any other references to spending Willpower to resist an influence.

In all cases I can find, resisting an Influence with Willpower never costs more than 1 Willpower. The charm is instant, so it's not reducing costs "over time," just for one roll. It looks like it's just an overwrought way of saying "You can resist an influence with 7 motes rather than 1 Willpower," which seems a very specific thing, making it a rather marginal Charm, but it's a dragon-blooded Charm, so maybe that's intentional. But I can't help but feel I'm missing something, like there are specific conditions under which you would spend more Willpower, and this suddenly becomes more useful. Is that so? Am I missing something? Does this fit in a niche I don't see or understand? Or is my understanding of the charm and its interactions correct?

[Sith_Happens]

The occasional social Charm can increase the willpower cost of resisting influence and Psyche Charms fairly often cost 3wp or more to resist.

[Mailanka]

The occasional social Charm can increase the willpower cost of resisting influence and Psyche Charms fairly often cost 3wp or more to resist.

Ah, I see. Alright, based on your prompting, if I do a keyword search for Psyche, I find Soul-Snaring Pitch, which is explicitly a Persuade attempt and costs a minimum of 3 Willpower to resist. Voice-Caging Calligraphy is less clear about being an Influence, but you does reference Intimacies and costs a minimum of 2 Willpower to shake the effect (I don't know if this one counts). Mind-Swallowing Missive is similar. Twisted Words Technique is explicitly an influence and definitely counts and also increases the cost of resisting to at least 3 willpower. Enemy Castigating Judgment also explicitly describes its effects as an "influence" and and costs 2 willpower to resist. So that's at least three cases, and there are possibly more that I can find, where Flawless Diamond Heart would help.

So it wasn't that I didn't understand the social system, I just hadn't looked at the Charm interactions. It's sort of like having a charm that parries an unpyarryable attack: not really relevant in the "base" system, but highly relevant in a contest between Exalted. Flawless Diamond Heart is overkill to resist a mortal salesman, but not to resist a Solar salesman.

Thanks!

[JohnDoe244]

It's still relevant in that the minimum is 0, not 1.

Shrug off influence from mortals without needing Willpower is pretty big (depending on how generous the ST is with level 2 stunts and defending your Intimacies). 7m for 1WP isn't a fantastic exchange rate, but if your Exalt is running on WP5, you will run out of WP a lot. And between Hearthstones, combat and meditation, filling your mote pool is pretty easy.

And then on top of that, get a cost break on shrugging off supernatural influence is gravy.

It's like Heavenly Guardian Defense: The main effect is burning Initative to reduce the damage, saying "no" to Unblockable damage is bonus time.

[TheCountAlucard]

My Eclipse Socialite can throw a Persuade at you that costs 4 WP to resist. (Admittedly the Persuade will only be “try a Read Intentions action,” but still, being able to lower the cost on resisting that is way healthier than succumbing…)

[Sith_Happens]

Flawless Diamond Heart is overkill to resist a mortal salesman, but not to resist a Solar salesman.

Or a DB salesman, Distraction of the Babbling Brook costs 3wp to resist for example.