Exalted brainmeanderings
Mar. 24th, 2007 01:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leticiaI've been contemplating the relative power levels of Half-Caste Exalted. Given equal Inheritance, they all start with approximately the same power level. However, I think they, much like their Exalted forbears, are not equal in power. The differences are, of course, more subtle (for one thing, they're all built on the same template) - and surprisingly ordered.
The catch is this. The Half-Caste can learn Charms appropriate to their Exalted parent's type. Solar Half-Caste can learn Solar Charms, etc.
But there are some limitations. No perfect defenses, no scene-long persistent defenses. Lunar Half-Caste have sharply limited shape-changing. Siddie Half-Caste can't learn - or rather, use - the Charms which require the Maidens' approval. All pay the same price for their Charms.
Exalts, supposedly, are ordered strongest to weakest:
Solar/Abyssal->Siddie/Lunar->Dragon-Blooded
This is basically /reversed/ for their children. Why?
Because none of the big Solar advantages apply to their offspring. Half-Caste all pay the same price for Charms and increased Esesnce. They have the same sized pool - Solar Half-Caste do not get to share the bounty of their Exalted ancestors - but the Charms they have access to are priced to that scale still.
Solars are often/largely dependent on Charms which are explicitly illegal for Half-Caste - For Half-Castes, their one-off reflexive defense Charms are less efficient or more expensive for ongoing use than the perfects and persistents which their parents prefer.
Lunars and Siddies both have the further reaches of their Charms capped - though it's worth noting no Half-Caste can exceed Essence 3, so all Half-Caste have the same hard cap on potential to some degree. Lunar byblows can have up to two /other/ shapes (beyond their natural) and have lesser shapeshifting effects. Siddies as above. Both are limited with the same no-perfect defense, no-persistant defense - but neither Siddies or Lunars (as written in 1e, anyhow) used such THAT often. (Aggravating 'automatic' defenses which work against anything but a perfect attack? Sure! But that's not a /perfect/.) Both have Charms written to the scale of Celestial Essence pools - if not /Solar/ Essence pools.
Dragon-blooded, however...
The offspring of Dragon-Blooded can learn pretty much any Dragon-Blooded Charms of the appropriate Essence; nothign is explcitly forbidden them, and DBs are already written to cope without the Charms Half-Castes aren't allowed to have. And Dragon-Blooded are already known as the most efficient Essence users. With the small pools available to Half-Castes of all heritages, this is more valuable than the wasteful Solar power or even that of Siddies and Lunars.
So, in effect, generally speaking, the most powerful Half-Caste will be /Dragon-Blooded/ Half-Caste.
Of course, none of this changes the fact that Solar Half-Caste can Exalt into Solars, and Dragon-Blooded Half-Castes can never exceed their Terrestrial parents.
Thoughts?
The catch is this. The Half-Caste can learn Charms appropriate to their Exalted parent's type. Solar Half-Caste can learn Solar Charms, etc.
But there are some limitations. No perfect defenses, no scene-long persistent defenses. Lunar Half-Caste have sharply limited shape-changing. Siddie Half-Caste can't learn - or rather, use - the Charms which require the Maidens' approval. All pay the same price for their Charms.
Exalts, supposedly, are ordered strongest to weakest:
Solar/Abyssal->Siddie/Lunar->Dragon-Blooded
This is basically /reversed/ for their children. Why?
Because none of the big Solar advantages apply to their offspring. Half-Caste all pay the same price for Charms and increased Esesnce. They have the same sized pool - Solar Half-Caste do not get to share the bounty of their Exalted ancestors - but the Charms they have access to are priced to that scale still.
Solars are often/largely dependent on Charms which are explicitly illegal for Half-Caste - For Half-Castes, their one-off reflexive defense Charms are less efficient or more expensive for ongoing use than the perfects and persistents which their parents prefer.
Lunars and Siddies both have the further reaches of their Charms capped - though it's worth noting no Half-Caste can exceed Essence 3, so all Half-Caste have the same hard cap on potential to some degree. Lunar byblows can have up to two /other/ shapes (beyond their natural) and have lesser shapeshifting effects. Siddies as above. Both are limited with the same no-perfect defense, no-persistant defense - but neither Siddies or Lunars (as written in 1e, anyhow) used such THAT often. (Aggravating 'automatic' defenses which work against anything but a perfect attack? Sure! But that's not a /perfect/.) Both have Charms written to the scale of Celestial Essence pools - if not /Solar/ Essence pools.
Dragon-blooded, however...
The offspring of Dragon-Blooded can learn pretty much any Dragon-Blooded Charms of the appropriate Essence; nothign is explcitly forbidden them, and DBs are already written to cope without the Charms Half-Castes aren't allowed to have. And Dragon-Blooded are already known as the most efficient Essence users. With the small pools available to Half-Castes of all heritages, this is more valuable than the wasteful Solar power or even that of Siddies and Lunars.
So, in effect, generally speaking, the most powerful Half-Caste will be /Dragon-Blooded/ Half-Caste.
Of course, none of this changes the fact that Solar Half-Caste can Exalt into Solars, and Dragon-Blooded Half-Castes can never exceed their Terrestrial parents.
Thoughts?
