Glories: the Unconquered Sun

Possessed:

They arent tainted by the Primordials...

This is categorically incorrect. All of the Exalted are; it's called Sorcery. It's just that only the Solar's are powerful enough to contain all of that power and actually do anything with it.

My apologies if this was already asked - but I didn't want to look through 20+ pages or start a new topic for one charm.

In Glories of the Sun, why do I have an Awareness charm in my Bureaucracy charmset instead of... I dunno, a Bureaucracy charm? I'm speaking, of course, about Heavenly Marking Mandate.

Marking people so you can see and hear what's going on around them at a distance should clearly be an awareness charm. It seems like the only reason this is a Bureaucracy charm is because there wasn't another one to fit in - so they took an Awareness charm (which probably allowed you to see and hear what was happening to people and gave you the ability use any charm through them) but gutted it (reduced the requirements from Essence 7 or 8 but also made it so you could only channel one charmset through the person) and stuffed what was left into the Bureaucracy box.

AnubisXy

AnubisXy:

My apologies if this was already asked - but I didn't want to look through 20+ pages or start a new topic for one charm.

In Glories of the Sun, why do I have an Awareness charm in my Bureaucracy charmset instead of... I dunno, a Bureaucracy charm? I'm speaking, of course, about Heavenly Marking Mandate.

AnubisXy

Because I asked myself "What would a Solar want to have in order to let him manage his burgeoning empire such that it was still an active part of play, while still letting him go off and ransack First Age ruins?"

Possessed:

While I'm sure that Primordial Principle Emulation made a many Solar fanboy happy I still think it's the single worst Charm I have seen since Zeal.

We've gone over this many time already, and that's the first thread about Glories ! It has been out for two days and we already have recurring bitching. From your reasons, I get the clear impression you didn't read what Neph have to say about it.

Possessed:

I can see no reason for them to be able to tap into Primordial Charms sets

Solar shards can be used to grant primordial charms, Green Sun princes are the proof of that. And tapping into the power of the primordial is nothing new, that's what Sorcery does. So a charm that goes further into copying the yozi's power is nothing surprising.
The rest of the comments have all been discussed and disproved earlier, but I can't adress them simply or quickly cause I'm not a very good speaker. Just look for it or wait for a benevolent poster.

I've actually got a question on the Prayer Gun... From it's name (Prayer Piece) and the fact that it seems to be a one-handed weapon, I assume it's closer to a pistol than a missile launcher.  What is confusing me is the Rate of 2 when it hold 5 rounds.  Does this mean that at maximum firing speed (2/action) it will need to be reloaded every 2.5 actions (on average) or does it shoot multiple rounds out at once, or is the Rate a typo and it should be a maximum of 5 for the quick-draw experts?

Does this mean that at maximum firing speed (2/action) it will need to be reloaded every 2.5 actions (on average)

Yup. It's like the Plasma Tongue Repeater, which has 5 chambers for ammo.

The Rate isn't a typo.

The Wizard of Oz:

Does this mean that at maximum firing speed (2/action) it will need to be reloaded every 2.5 actions (on average)

Yup. It's like the Plasma Tongue Repeater, which has 5 chambers for ammo.

Ah! Okay, thank you.  Odd as it sounds I've never actually played or run a game where someone had a PTR, so I've always skipped over 'em.

Odd_Canuck:

Ah! Okay, thank you.  Odd as it sounds I've never actually played or run a game where someone had a PTR, so I've always skipped over 'em.

wow. never had a cowboy exalt before?

Holden:

The Rate isn't a typo.

Does the ammo for it actually lack a cost (R:0) or is it simply missing.  I ask, of course, for reasons such as Phantom Arrow Technique.

And actually, while I'm talking about Solar charms. Is there a reason GSS has the Holy keyword but Immaculate Golden Bow and Solar Flare Methodology lack it?  Are you expected to use Essence Arrow Attack on every shot you want to make holy?

TheDude:

Odd_Canuck:

Ah! Okay, thank you.  Odd as it sounds I've never actually played or run a game where someone had a PTR, so I've always skipped over 'em.

wow. never had a cowboy exalt before?

I've had a player who I made what amounted to a submachine gun for, but in that case almost every bullet fired was an artifact.  Another guy I played with had the bazooka thing going, which was highly amusing.  Dex 5, Archery 5, final attack pool... 6. 

Holden:

Because I asked myself "What would a Solar want to have in order to let him manage his burgeoning empire such that it was still an active part of play, while still letting him go off and ransack First Age ruins?"

I still think this charm should be in the Awareness tree. It feels like it was just jammed into the Bureaucracy tree as an after-thought. Maybe the first purchase of the charm should have just given anyone the Solar hit with it an Intimacy of Loyalty towards the Solar and a number of extra dice on their Bureaucracy, Integrity and maybe Socialize rolls equal to the Solar's essence. As is, I think that the charm is in the wrong tree and does stuff that it shouldn't be doing. I still like the basic idea though, and it won't take much to move it around.

I'm still making my way through the Solar list. There's a couple other charms I'm on the fence about. I do want to say though that I really like the Lunar charms and knacks. I actually had... no serious problems about them. I'm the sort of person who always looks for the "bad" stuff the first time I read something, but I didn't see anything to complain about there. ^_^

You did a smash-up job on the stuff in Luna's book.

AnubisXy

AnubisXy:

I still think this charm should be in the Awareness tree. It feels like it was just jammed into the Bureaucracy tree as an after-thought. Maybe the first purchase of the charm should have just given anyone the Solar hit with it an Intimacy of Loyalty towards the Solar and a number of extra dice on their Bureaucracy, Integrity and maybe Socialize rolls equal to the Solar's essence. As is, well no offense but I think that the charm is in the wrong tree and does stuff that it shouldn't be doing.

I'll disagree because of where the charm starts.  The final ability I'll grant you is pure Awareness.  But the first effect, marking your territory?  That's not awareness.  Bureaucracy is the best fit for THAT part of the effect.
But hey, two different people disagreeing on something is not the end of the world.  YMMV, IMO, LOL, SSC and all those other random letter combinations apply.

Odd_Canuck:

I'll disagree because of where the charm starts. 

Well, the first purchase of the charm is... worthless. "You can make people glow when they're working for you." Wow.

If the charm didn't actually have the upgrades I think most people would agree that it was one of the most worthless Solar charms ever printed. The two upgrades however make it amazing. At the same time though, the things those upgrades do shouldn't be in a Bureaucracy charm, they should be in an Awareness charm.

I was just a little surprised that, with Holden and Neph combining forces to write the charms, the only one we got for Bureaucracy was just an Awareness charm in disguise. Whatever though - like I said, it's easy enough to change the way the charm works and move the effects of a 2nd and 3rd purchase back to the Awareness tree.

AnubisXy

Holden:

Because I asked myself "What would a Solar want to have in order to let him manage his burgeoning empire such that it was still an active part of play, while still letting him go off and ransack First Age ruins?"

Yeah, I guess that's my problem with it.

See, the way I see it, if you're investing in Bureaucracy, it's not so you can NOT do Bureaucracy. Setting up a dependable power structure is a part of Bureaucracy, but that's not just in appointing individuals to positions of power. I dunno, I guess I'm asking too much, but I find myself still wanting a Bureaucracy charm that helps me Bureaucracize without depending on a system that doesn't exist, and which isn't there to allow me to ignore my Bureau so I can do Dawn or Night adventures instead.

I really like a lot of these charms, but I have to admit there are a couple that, by explicitly allowing certain types of Awesome, make the whole rest of the game less implicitly Awesome. This is chiefly three charms, but I'm pretty sure I'll find more eventually. Crane Style's Humbling Enlightenment Commentary, which grants you stunt dice for talking about your opponent's style, mid-combat. Awesome, right?... But it implies that anyone without that charm doesn't get stunt dice for commenting on their opponent's style. Rose-Lipped Seduction Style seems like it's specifically there to force victims of Husband-Seducing Demon Dance to sleep with you, but since it exists, you can no longer safely assume the Intimacy of Love as a compulsion from the prerequisite charm will be enough to convince them not to spend the willpower.

I've already mentioned Dragon-Riding Meditation, but I'd really like to expand briefly. See, instead of just clarifying that ride charms could be used on sentient mounts with their consent, but rather providing Solars a charm that lets them do it, it makes such Awesome impossible for Sidereals or Dragon-Bloods. The Sidereals cannot benefit their God or Dragon mounts created through their own charms with their own Glory Path charm. Dragon-Bloods, who have the most thematic reasons for riding Dragons, won't be able to protect them from their Anima. Heck, it means sort of implies that Ride Excellencies are useless astride a Dragon without that charm.