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I was having a few drinks with our gaming group and, talking to my buddy Mikey, he announced his opinion that not every Exalt type needed their own special kind of stupid Lore laser to which I told him in no uncertain terms what I thought of that.
He's right, though. I mean, I always knew he was right. Crypt Bolt was kind of stupid for Abyssals, and it's just as stupid ported back over to 1st Edition Solars. For Dragon-Blooded, it makes a kind of sense - the bolt feels (to me, anyhow) to be a part of their already-destructive anima that's been refined and weaponized. I feel like it'd be better in Occult, really, but I feel like Occult should (in the context of the way the world works in Exalted) be an aspect of Lore.
At the time I originally pitched it, Kilroy has spent a pretty sizeable amount of time dredging up ancient sorcery and was really falling behind in his ability to bring something to the table, ass-kicking-wise (since Sorcery isn't really the best venue for that, even if you've got the time to dual-enchant yourself with Unbreakable Bones of Stone and Invulnerable Skin of Bronze, the fight's probably over). Everyone else is walking around with custom high-level artifact diaklaves and Melee combos, so when I saw the Abyssal book had Crypt Bolt in it, I was ready to cash in. Abyssals got Lore-Bolt, DB's got Lore-Bolt, and Solars? The laser bolt power was in fucking Melee. Y'all might notice that Crypt Bolt didn't make it into 2E, though.
All things considered, neither Solars nor Abyssals really need a magic bolt power. For me, it doesn't really fit the aesthetic but I do think that it can fit an Exalted aesthetic that leans more on video games/anime than myths. It's a very video game power, to me. Mechanically, bolts are not very good either. They're Charm uses, so it's a little like every time you want to shoot an arrow or throw a punch, you can't use Charms to defend yourself and it costs essence - that's exactly the dynamic. But... Kilroy pretty much relied on them instead of more reasonable powers later on, which was both a little rediculous and really fun. Since Glorious Solar Bolt is already Melee for some reason, I need a totally different name - one that somehow doesn't use either 'Solar' or 'Bolt'. 'Celestial' also means something specific, so we're avoiding that. I'm going to go with....
Resplendent Anima Lance
Cost: 1m per 1L; Mins: Lore 2, Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Holy
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
He's right, though. I mean, I always knew he was right. Crypt Bolt was kind of stupid for Abyssals, and it's just as stupid ported back over to 1st Edition Solars. For Dragon-Blooded, it makes a kind of sense - the bolt feels (to me, anyhow) to be a part of their already-destructive anima that's been refined and weaponized. I feel like it'd be better in Occult, really, but I feel like Occult should (in the context of the way the world works in Exalted) be an aspect of Lore.
At the time I originally pitched it, Kilroy has spent a pretty sizeable amount of time dredging up ancient sorcery and was really falling behind in his ability to bring something to the table, ass-kicking-wise (since Sorcery isn't really the best venue for that, even if you've got the time to dual-enchant yourself with Unbreakable Bones of Stone and Invulnerable Skin of Bronze, the fight's probably over). Everyone else is walking around with custom high-level artifact diaklaves and Melee combos, so when I saw the Abyssal book had Crypt Bolt in it, I was ready to cash in. Abyssals got Lore-Bolt, DB's got Lore-Bolt, and Solars? The laser bolt power was in fucking Melee. Y'all might notice that Crypt Bolt didn't make it into 2E, though.
All things considered, neither Solars nor Abyssals really need a magic bolt power. For me, it doesn't really fit the aesthetic but I do think that it can fit an Exalted aesthetic that leans more on video games/anime than myths. It's a very video game power, to me. Mechanically, bolts are not very good either. They're Charm uses, so it's a little like every time you want to shoot an arrow or throw a punch, you can't use Charms to defend yourself and it costs essence - that's exactly the dynamic. But... Kilroy pretty much relied on them instead of more reasonable powers later on, which was both a little rediculous and really fun. Since Glorious Solar Bolt is already Melee for some reason, I need a totally different name - one that somehow doesn't use either 'Solar' or 'Bolt'. 'Celestial' also means something specific, so we're avoiding that. I'm going to go with....
Resplendent Anima Lance
Cost: 1m per 1L; Mins: Lore 2, Essence 2; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, Holy
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
This Charm permits a Solar to fire a bolt of holy energy derived and refined from his anima from his hand toward a target. The bolt is targeted with (Dexterity + Athletics), (Dexterity + Archery), or (Dexterity + Thrown), whichever is preferred, with an Accuracy bonus equal to the Solar’s Essence and a range of (Essence x 30) yards. The bolt inflicts 1L per mote spent up to a maximum number of motes equal to the (Solar’s Stamina + Lore + relevant Specialties). The lance has the Holy keyword, and does aggrivated damage against undead and Creatures of Darkness.
Characters may enhance a bolt's accuracy with Lore (or Athletics, if using that ability). If using Archery or Thrown, the character can enhance it as normal for an attack using the Ability and may place Resplendent Anima Lance in a Combo with Charms of that Ability.
Anima Lances have an Overwhelming tag with a minimum of the user's Essence.
. . .
So, I patterned this pretty heavily from the post-errata Dragon-Blooded version, with a few exceptions. First, the anima lance does 1L per mote and not 2L. This makes it much less essence efficient than the Elemental Bolt. It's not Cooperative, and doesn't have a Leader tag - that's the hallmark of the Dragon-Blooded host, and the Solars don't get to horn in on them. It doesn't get any of the elemental bonuses that DB's get, either. Those are the downsides.
First, it's got an expanded range - from Essence x 20 to x 30. If you don't like this, cut it; it's just a bump afforded to Solar Essence. While it's much less efficient than the Dragon-Blooded version, Solars can spend more to make up for it, and even add up to Specialty dice, which just mirrors how they're allowed to spend essence for most Charms. They can also double up by comboing it with dice-adding excellencies making me really hope you're going to hit whatever you're aiming at because you're like as not to be tapped the fuck out trying that shit. A better bet is probably custom Lore Charms or the weird character idea based around a custom Charm who's using Thrown with this one. (I bet a disciple of Kilroy's might try that kind of thing, if he had one.)
The big difference is the Holy tag, which would make it particularly good against servants of the Deathlords and demons. I thought the tag was pretty appropriate since Crypt Bolt has negative, stultifying effects against Wyld energies so the Solars would get death and demon negating powers.
Both the Dragon-Blooded and Abyssals got branches off the main - especially for burst blasts and stuff, but I'm not going to write those up here. I also considered making one for different caste anima effects at the cost of a 1 or 2m surcharge to do things like instill a Dawn Caste's fear, but it was conceptually difficult to manage and this already takes a lot of time. So, I feel with the base here, I've done what I said I'd do, and if you like it you can build something off it as easy as you'd like.
Characters may enhance a bolt's accuracy with Lore (or Athletics, if using that ability). If using Archery or Thrown, the character can enhance it as normal for an attack using the Ability and may place Resplendent Anima Lance in a Combo with Charms of that Ability.
Anima Lances have an Overwhelming tag with a minimum of the user's Essence.
. . .
So, I patterned this pretty heavily from the post-errata Dragon-Blooded version, with a few exceptions. First, the anima lance does 1L per mote and not 2L. This makes it much less essence efficient than the Elemental Bolt. It's not Cooperative, and doesn't have a Leader tag - that's the hallmark of the Dragon-Blooded host, and the Solars don't get to horn in on them. It doesn't get any of the elemental bonuses that DB's get, either. Those are the downsides.
First, it's got an expanded range - from Essence x 20 to x 30. If you don't like this, cut it; it's just a bump afforded to Solar Essence. While it's much less efficient than the Dragon-Blooded version, Solars can spend more to make up for it, and even add up to Specialty dice, which just mirrors how they're allowed to spend essence for most Charms. They can also double up by comboing it with dice-adding excellencies making me really hope you're going to hit whatever you're aiming at because you're like as not to be tapped the fuck out trying that shit. A better bet is probably custom Lore Charms or the weird character idea based around a custom Charm who's using Thrown with this one. (I bet a disciple of Kilroy's might try that kind of thing, if he had one.)
The big difference is the Holy tag, which would make it particularly good against servants of the Deathlords and demons. I thought the tag was pretty appropriate since Crypt Bolt has negative, stultifying effects against Wyld energies so the Solars would get death and demon negating powers.
Both the Dragon-Blooded and Abyssals got branches off the main - especially for burst blasts and stuff, but I'm not going to write those up here. I also considered making one for different caste anima effects at the cost of a 1 or 2m surcharge to do things like instill a Dawn Caste's fear, but it was conceptually difficult to manage and this already takes a lot of time. So, I feel with the base here, I've done what I said I'd do, and if you like it you can build something off it as easy as you'd like.