General Exalted Thread

[Anasurimbor]

What circle should a spell to combine a human and an animal or two animals, creating a composite creature with the best traits of both be? For balance I'd say that it cannot be cast on Exalts unless it's a control spell, and if it's cast on an Exalt it only lasts one day. It would be a ritual costing 3 wp, and require two creatures, either a human and an animal or two animals, as components. I was thinking Celestial circle personally, but I could be wrong.

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In 3E this is a working, not a spell. It is literally one of the listed options for an ambition 2 terrestrial working. I'm not sure replicating it in a spell is appropriate.

If you want more than a couple one offs, you'll need a celestial working to make a bunch all at once. Or just be a lazy Lunar and let them breed for a couple of centuries.

 

[Khepri]

I do love me some demons... They're so handy! From the literal tool races of First Circle, to the army wrecker that is a combat focused Second Circle (Hello Sondok and Octavian!) and their more peaceable siblings. Seriously, you need an artifact built, you call the Forge of Night and let her do the heavy labour.

Third Circles... Yeah, I think they're just too powerful to interact with Creation on a regular basis. I mean fuck, they can trivally kill a city! Ligier can do the whole, I Am Literally a Sun thing where he just literally nukes a huge area. Jacint can summon his roads by speaking, and guess what,

 

[notanautomaton]

Scrap the "best of both" [1] and I'd put it at Emerald Circle. It's a mono-target spell which requires you to incap the target and carry out an extended sorcerous ritual on them, and produces a minion less useful than a first circle demon. It's not really that big an effect, and there's no reason Dr Moreau should be restricted to being a Celestial Exalt.

Plus, Dragonblooded sorcerers should totally be allowed to have unnatural creatures in their laboratory. How else are they meant to be decadent unethical sorcerers?

[1] Mostly because it's a lot less interesting than having to carefully design the fusion and pick the best specimens you can to try to minimise the downsides and carry out horrific eugenics experiments to select for only the most intelligent dog-tiger hybrids who have the power of the tiger, and the pack instincts and human obedience of the dog. You shouldn't have that handed to you for free - you should have to be a sorcerer-scientist!

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I think I'll have it be an Int+Medicine roll. Difficulty 3 to just transplant a part, like giving a hummingbird a bee's stinger or putting a human brain inside a tyrant lizard, difficulty 4 for multiple parts, 5 for full body melding, and 6 for full body melding that doesn't have weird side effects like driving the person insane or look monstrous. Failing the roll results in something that will beg you to die if it's still capable of speech. That way it still gives characters with low medicine someting to do, but also ensures that there will be a good number of horrific, monstrous failures.

In 3E this is a working, not a spell. It is literally one of the listed options for an ambition 2 terrestrial working. I'm not sure replicating it in a spell is appropriate.

If you want more than a couple one offs, you'll need a celestial working to make a bunch all at once. Or just be a lazy Lunar and let them breed for a couple of centuries.

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There are workings for summoning unbound demons of all circles and create verdant paradises out of wasteland, which are very close to actual spells. An example working is a portal that allows demons to enter creation, which is far better than demon of the first circle. Being an example working does not preclude something from also being a spell.

 

[Fortuna]

Superhuman intelligence and planning ability is one of those traits it's pretty difficult to model without involving retcons of some sort.

This is, however, at least partly because those traits tend to work the exact same way when shown in fiction. The kind of feats we see explained away with "I'm so smart" are often pretty impossible no matter how smart you are, so fictional characters get to skip the process and go straight to "haha I predicted this now let me never show you how". Speaking personally, the more of the process is actually shown, the more satisfying I find such sequences, and the more genuinely intelligent a character seems.

It's the line between responding with "oh, hey, that was a clever plan, this guy is clever" and "so, wait, the Joker got all those explosives into the hospital how, again?" In a detective story, the mystery you can work out for yourself is more satisfying than one where a solution is pulled out of the detective's ass at the last minute. Flair can cover for a lot, of course.

So in an RPG, I find the most satisfying plans are those I actually... planned, as it were. Blowing some mana or Fate points and saying "I made a plan" is not the same thing. It's unsatisfying. Nevertheless, if my character is super strong, I get to act out them being super strong, and I don't have to be super strong myself. If my character is super smart, it's much harder to act out them being super smart, and I have to be pretty smart myself.

There are two basic things one can offer, if restricted to associated mechanics.

The first is information - rather than having a utility belt that your character can fiat into including those tools they "predicted" they'd need, your Storyteller can help you actually predict what tools they'll need, by telling you about the challenges you're going to face as your character "works them out" through investigation. Rather than being able to spend a Fate point to go "aha, I totally knew about your evil plan all along and acted like I didn't to bluff you", the Storyteller can just... have you roll to work out their plan ahead of time, and you can decide to bluff them or screw with the plan or whatever.

The second is good Storytelling - or "cushioning", if you prefer. That is to say, if an Intelligence 5 War 5 character comes up with a plan, assume it's a good one. The Storyteller can and should nudge the player if it's terminally stupid - this is an inverse of the fact that they shouldn't demand that the player of the Strength 5 Athletics 5 character do push ups - but often it's easier for him to just run it as though it were a good plan. Show off how if they'd taken the other path, they'd have run into a ton of guards. Look at that dead saboteur - if they'd not laid those traps, they would have been ambushed in the night. That troop placement was a totally great move that forced the enemy to ford a river or whatever.

It's not impossible to represent superhuman intelligence without disassociated mechanics, it's just a bit harder - and less likely to produce cinematic supersmart moments because most of the time those moments rely on the audience not knowing what's going on in the genius' brain, which is something denied to players and their characters - obviously - outside of retcon mechanics.

Note that Solar magic imitates but is not "human excellence". It is magic. A Solar can break a genuinely unbreakable code like a one-time pad by blazing "I SEE THE TRUTH OF ALL THINGS, MORTAL". As a result, you have more options for providing information and cushioning through associated mechanics without looking goofy.

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This brought to mind a couple of examples of less objectionable, I suppose less-dissociated (is that even a coherent way of putting it?) mechanics for representing this, particularly in relation to 'cushioning' (which, by the by, seems dissociated in the first place). To clarify, these are intended as intermediate between what you set forth and full retcon.

One possibility is enforced plans. This is essentially a mechanical implementation of cushioning - the player has their character make a plan, rolls for it, and if they roll well then things go according to plan - even things that seem like chance. This method is good for plans which mostly involve the environment, but breaks down in terms of PvP, or if you have NPCs involved and want PC/NPC equality. EDIT: One way to address this weakness is to impose the plan on such characters by incentives - bonuses for following the plan or penalties for doing otherwise - but this loses some of the association of the mechanic.

The other is virtual contingencies. This is much more obviously a relative of the retcon mechanic, but the chief difference here is that rather than going "Aha, I knew all along!" after the fact, you roll to have your character anticipate contingencies beforehand - possibly, depending on how the mechanics work, quite specific ones - and then take in-character actions with a bit of abstraction to take advantage of that knowledge. For example, a character with good War and Intelligence might roll to predict where two armies will meet, and then have his sorcerer friend whip up some magical traps on the site - without the site actually being specified until the armies actually do meet. This example doesn't play to the mechanic's strengths, which are that it can adapt to PCs (and NPCs with PC equality) without the same kind of procedural unfairness as full retcons. If you want, you can even allow other characters to mess up the plan - say if someone acts against a Major or Defining Intimacy in a way that influences the outcome, the original prediction is invalid because your prediction didn't account for that character's actions.

 

[horngeek]

...also, Revlid, your Kimbery Charms are awesome in that really, really creepy way. Just saying.

 

[Lioness]

Also on the subject of certain powers in NPC hands... We're told repeatedly that NPCs don't track experience points.
If you're going to work out all NPC Doctor Doom's craft projects then... with all due respect, that's baggage from how you interacted with the old system that you've brought forward with you.

 

[Roadie]

Or just be a lazy Lunar and let them breed for a couple of centuries.

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Now I will be sad if there isn't a Lunar Charm to let you start a Bureaucracy project and then take a nap until it finishes on its own.

 

[earthboy]

Now I will be sad if there isn't a Lunar Charm to let you start a Bureaucracy project and then take a nap until it finishes on its own.

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Oak Branch Org Chart Hibernation

 

[Giygas]

Why, though?

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Mostly because it looks like the style itself is tired of his strangeness and is going"Do you know what? I am done."

 

[The Nomad]

Ooooh my fucking Ficle Lady, the goddamn Mice of the Unconquered Sun.

Supersonic charge, can cause an enemy to murder his dignity while he injures or kills himself trying to hit them... and can share the non-permanent effects of a Solar master's anima. Can cause aggravated damage to demons and undead. Can reduce Limit if you pet them.
Also actually bona fide immortal as long as their master lives.

Why do I feel so embarassed, and why DO I FUKKEN WANT ONE at the same time?

And what was the UCS thinking when he unleashed those critters on Creation? Snorting litteral Celestial Cocaine (not the metaphor for the Games of Divinity)? Was he frustrated with his early efforts to create his Exalted and just said "Fuck this shit"?

 

[Giygas]

Ooooh my fucking Ficle Lady, the goddamn Mice of the Unconquered Sun.

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I see that you just joined the Glorious Mice of the Unconqured Sun master race.

Good. Lets the mouse flow into you!

 

[Imrix]

Superhuman intelligence and planning ability is one of those traits it's pretty difficult to model without involving retcons of some sort.

This is, however, at least partly because those traits tend to work the exact same way when shown in fiction...

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Quoting this for ease of finding it later; it's really good.

 

[Jon Chung]

I'm going to expand on this because it's a good starting point, although Chung might not agree with what I say I think it's still important.

It's not just the fact that this is a results-based charm that declares a narrative result (you fail to kill someone and kill their robot double instead) that's a problem. It's that it fails to interact with the system. The system is built with the assumption that the process you use to get somewhere means things. You can deal with a problem, or interrupt someone, not simply by getting into a narrative fight with them about the results, but rather by actually taking discrete steps in-universe that create a result. If Dual Magnus Prana and other Retcon Charms actually acted like they were shortcuts to an end, versus how they currently act where the process isn't actually a discrete thing in-universe that you can interact with them, I suspect that the criticism of the charm would be far more muted and basically entirely localized to "so you can mass produce Solaroids now?"

Because Dual Magnus Prana right now isn't a Solar Charm. It's a o/nMage spell. Correspondence (or Space) 3/Matter 3: "Ha ha ha you gigantic sucker. You killed my body double." (Do notice that that Corr/Space 3 is sufficient to teleport and you can make a corpse via Matter 3).

This makes the "Solars can't bring back the dead or teleport" spiel in the front of the charm chapter super funny because the easiest way to describe Dual Magnus Prana's mechanical effects is "you teleport to safety and leave a corpse in your stead." And as a oMage player you can yell until you're blue in the face that you're not actually teleporting but I don't see it. Can I actually track your real self down and stab you to death? No?

It's Correspondence 3. I don't care if you give me a ~nwo~ explanation about how you were really always there and you had a body double. You're still teleporting. Now eat that paradox.

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Yes. We are in agreement. That's what the line about fiat-based narrative mechanics not meshing well with heavily mechanistic systems was about.

This is made worse by the fact that the buy-in is so high due to the weight of the system, so the feeling of being horribly cheated when the game pulls the 'stuff is resolved using this (very complex, very large) system you had to learn to play the game' rug out from under you is worse.

 

[Jon Chung]

Yet you certainly have enough enthusiasm to write a wall of text complaining about it!

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Writing these posts costs me almost no effort. I do it while commuting.

God King's Shrike isn't an auto-win like Zeal is! It summons a disaster to destroy infrastructure, it doesn't autodestroy infrastructure in and of itself. You don't think that a country can't get its own supernatural mojo going to deal with a flood or drought? A volcano eruption isn't the end of the world: it's a disaster you'd see in a typical game session for Exalts to deal with. The worst disasters listed are things like the dead erupting from a Shadowland during Calibration or a Behemoth rampaging Kaiju style in another country. For this setting? It's almost banal!

Oh, hardly flawlessly. I totally think a group of Dragonblooded can efficiently deal with things like a forest fire or an incoming tsunami. A plague? Well good thing we have Solar Medicine, my friend!

If the charm does see use in my game, it's because I want a ready-made plothook for my game. I don't know about you, but I'd think that Mask of Winters is already hurling behemoths, armies of the dead, and plagues of disaster on people by default. It's not anymore absurd than a Sorcerer using Rain of Doom or Death Ray to flatten a city, and I'd almost say it's less bad because an ST could just say 'all right, the Realm has diverted the Wyld Hunt to deal with the Behemoth your character called up. What do you do now that the Legions of the Realm are distracted by this disaster?

Two things I could have happen: the first is that the capital in question (such as the Imperial City), has enough Exalts, gods in its pocket, and divine favor to combat the disaster, letting them survive but be bruised and bloody and forced to deal with a lot of casualties, so they can't just lolnope your charm because that's lame. The second is equally good: the Solar flattens a city without the resources to deal with it. Now deal with the fallout. You have a Shadowland full of confused and angry ghosts furious that a star flattened their home. You have Sidereals scouring the loom for you because they really would not want you to do that again. Even if the charm goes off without a hitch something interesting happens rather than a simple 'a winner is you.' Wiping out a city with no infrastructure to deal with your magical mojo isn't all that different from a Third Circle Sorcerer in previous editions wiping out a city of mortals because they had no capacity to counter it!

"Oh no a volcano is exploding"

"Eh, I'll just carve a trench with melee while somebody else screams at the Volcano God to cut this shit out."

It's 'summon average session plot-hook' the Charm.

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Yeah, no. Look, I'll expend a little bit more effort, grab the thing and quote the charm text for our usage here, since I don't trust your citations thanks to the highly amusing bit earlier.

Sage-emperors returned from their long slumber, the Solars' great beards have shattered their stone tables. In their great and terrible throes, they may call upon the forces of doom in order to save their world. The Solar must spend a full week contemplating and researching a region's history, climate, geography, etc. before using this Charm. Casting her gaze toward a foe, the Solar draws deep from the well of her experience, her knowledge of this life connecting to her knowledge of lives before. Through this Charm she reaches realization of a certain calamity that must happen, and her consciousness is recognized, in turn, by the universe. In this instance, what the Solar realizes she causes to happen. Roll the Solar's (Intelligence + Lore) against difficulty 5. A basic success is tantamount to the Solar predicting a natural disaster that has relatively damning effects: flash floods ruin roads, a drought destroys crops, an earthquake disables a vitally important manse, and so on. Two to four extra successes results in a more devastating cataclysm: a tsunami wipes out a fleet of battleships; a series of earthquakes devastate the infrastructures of several cities and roads; a volcano detonates and wipes a city entirely off the map, etc. Five or more extra successes equates to the Solar predicting one of the seven great dooms: a star falls and annihilates a region; a behemoth rises from its slumber and plows through a number of predicted cities; an army of the dead spills from its Shadowland during Calibration to wreak havoc, and so on. Though this Charm's duration is instant, the motes spent activating it are committed for one week. This Charm may only be used once per season.

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Roll ten successes and drop a falling star on an entire region (multiple cities and all their surrounding infrastructure!), annihilating it. Charm's instant. Requires a week of windup to fire off, targeting must be done at the start of the process. Can be done from anywhere, at any time, with no ability to trace it back to the caster because it just happens. Once a season cooldown, lulz. Negligible costs relative to the effect. What an utterly convenient military tool, this. I couldn't ask for a stealthier and more effective personal WMD.

Yeah, uh, your thesis doesn't hold up, dude. Hell, Aquillon undersold this thing, it doesn't one-shot a single city, you get the entire region. Do you really think "I can drop falling stars that annihilate entire regions in perfect stealth anywhere in Creation (once a season kekeke)" is "a thing talented Solars should be able to do"? Because if you do, I have a copy of Scroll of the Monk to offload.

 

[Alectai]

Thing is, it's not even hard to really make it balanced.

"You Declare in advance that your creation is actually a doombot, and are capped at using (X) number of Charms for it".

There, it becomes a meaningful decision now. You can use your Doombot to adventure without putting yourself at personal risk, but you have to make a commitment ahead of time--and in the event of an NPC doing it, they're distinctly weaker and less flexible then they otherwise would be, which can tip you off that you're not dealing with the real mccoy.

I like the core system of third edition, but there's a couple really really stupidly done ideas, like how they turned Dual-Magnus Prana from something cool (DOOMBOT), into a perfect defense against consequences.

 

[Fortuna]

Thing is, it's not even hard to really make it balanced.

"You Declare in advance that your creation is actually a doombot, and are capped at using (X) number of Charms for it".

There, it becomes a meaningful decision now. You can use your Doombot to adventure without putting yourself at personal risk, but you have to make a commitment ahead of time--and in the event of an NPC doing it, they're distinctly weaker and less flexible then they otherwise would be, which can tip you off that you're not dealing with the real mccoy.

I like the core system of third edition, but there's a couple really really stupidly done ideas, like how they turned Dual-Magnus Prana from something cool (DOOMBOT), into a perfect defense against consequences.

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With the caveat that some Charms/wards/spells can detect it, maybe even break the link... I still don't think this should exist as a Solar Charm, because doombots don't strike me as falling into Solar thematics, but at least I don't object to its existence in the game. So there's a step up, anyway.

 

[Deations]

Yeah, no. Look, I'll expend a little bit more effort, grab the thing and quote the charm text for our usage here, since I don't trust your citations thanks to the highly amusing bit earlier.

Roll ten successes and drop a falling star on an entire region, annihilating it. Charm's instant. Requires two weeks of windup to fire off. Can be done from anywhere, at any time, with no ability to trace it back to the caster because it just happens. Once a season cooldown, lulz. Negligible costs. What an utterly convenient military tool, this. I couldn't ask for a stealthier WMD.

Yeah, uh, your thesis doesn't hold up, dude. Hell, Aquillon undersold this thing, it doesn't one-shot a single city, you get the entire region. Do you really think this is "a thing Solars should be able to do"? Because if you do, I have a copy of Scroll of the Monk to offload.

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Your argument was "this breaks the game in half." I argued otherwise. I still argue otherwise. The falling star example is one example, along with 'an army of the dead marching from a shadowland' and 'a behemoth rampaging' to give an ST an idea of a rough ballpark of what kind of disaster is summoned, not 'this is the only disaster that is summoned.' I think the 'and so on' part is a little important. The first tier is a natural disaster that's on a smaller scale, the second tier is a natural disaster that has far reaching damage, and the third tier is a supernatural disaster like ghosts or behemoths or falling stars. Man, if you're the ST and just stick to falling stars specifically, knock yourself out but the power is basically just 'have your GM come up with whatever disaster s/he thinks is best, with examples given on the page.'

Falling Stars are a bit of a pain in the ass unless there's an exalt nearby with a Perfect Parry or enough sorcery to push it away, but nobody's gonna be surprised when dead dudes run out of the Underworld during Calibration.

And the charm's not really so stealthy when there's a council of dudes with a preternatural mastery of Destiny that can divine that a Solar Bin-Laden is on the loose. Especially when predictions and prophecies are sort of their hat.

 

[Carrnage]

With the caveat that some Charms/wards/spells can detect it, maybe even break the link... I still don't think this should exist as a Solar Charm, because doombots don't strike me as falling into Solar thematics, but at least I don't object to its existence in the game. So there's a step up, anyway.

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it works better as an actual artifact.

 

[Hazard]

Doombots should probably fall under the auspices of Sorcery or as an Alchemical Charm.

What Solars should get in its place is a Charm tree that existed in 2nd Edition already, in Lore IIRC, which lets you basically declare 'this guy works for me, speaks for me and may borrow my power at any time. Anger him at your own peril because I'll be backing him up.'

 

[Jon Chung]

Your argument was "this breaks the game in half." I argued otherwise.

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Cute. No. My argument is "this charm is dumb, and so is the other one". Misrepresentation isn't cool, dude.

I still argue otherwise. The falling star example is one example, along with 'an army of the dead marching from a shadowland' and 'a behemoth rampaging' to give an ST an idea of a rough ballpark of what kind of disaster is summoned, not 'this is the only disaster that is summoned.' I think the 'and so on' part is a little important. The first tier is a natural disaster that's on a smaller scale, the second tier is a natural disaster that has far reaching damage, and the third tier is a supernatural disaster like ghosts or behemoths or falling stars. Man, if you're the ST and just stick to falling stars specifically, knock yourself out but the power is basically just 'have your GM come up with whatever disaster s/he thinks is best, with examples given on the page.'

Falling Stars are a bit of a pain in the ass unless there's an exalt nearby with a Perfect Parry or enough sorcery to push it away, but nobody's gonna be surprised when dead dudes run out of the Underworld during Calibration.

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You really like this game, don't you? Which is fair, but, really, you're trying too hard. This is not an effective line of argument in terms of convincing me that this is not a dumb charm. Yes, I can softball it, nerf it, don't use it, whatever, I have absolute GM power. Doesn't have any impact whatsoever on the argument.

And the charm's not really so stealthy when there's a council of dudes with a preternatural mastery of Destiny that can divine that a Solar Bin-Laden is on the loose. Especially when predictions and prophecies are sort of their hat.

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So... my ability to drop kinetic kill projectiles anywhere in Creation from my desk that annihilate entire regions is fine because Ketchup Carjack and his merry men could fiat divine my location and kill me before I can do it again. Okay, man. Totally balanced.

 

[Deations]

Cute. No. My argument is "this charm is dumb". Misrepresentation isn't cool, dude.

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Oh, we're arguing the charm is dumb now. Because yeah, it does trip over Sidereal toes quite a bit, IMO. It's not exactly thematic for a Solar! See now, I was just a bit thrown off by you comparing it to Zeal or the Creation Slaying Oblivion Kick, which seemed more like the issue was mechanics.

You really like this game, don't you? Which is fair, but, really, you're trying too hard. This is not an effective line of argument in terms of convincing me that this is not a dumb charm. Yes, I can softball it, nerf it, don't use it, whatever, I have absolute GM power. Doesn't have any impact whatsoever on the argument.

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No, no, I get that I'm not going to convince Jon Chung, but there are other people who could conceivably read this and have different thoughts than either of us.

Softball it? Man, what about the examples that were given? Behemoth is going on a rampage? Ghosts trying to sack a city? Shit, even "stop the meteor cast by Solar Sephiroth" is totally manageable for a group of Exalts.

Mortals are fucked, but mortals are always fucked! That's why they kiss up to gods.

So... my ability to drop kinetic kill projectiles anywhere in Creation from my desk that annihilate entire regions is fine because Ketchup Carjack and his merry men could fiat divine my location and kill me before I can do it again. Okay, man. Totally balanced.

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It's fine because it doesn't kill the story! You reduce one problem to a waste-land of ash and dust, and you get a new conflict that's directly caused by the fallout from the old one.

Fuck having Old Man Kejak TPK you for daring to Use A Thing, I'd much rather just run a few sessions where the group is now butting heads directly with the Sidereals and the rest of Yu-Shan. And I wouldn't mind seeing the PCs win, either.

 

[MJ12 Commando]

Yeah, uh, your thesis doesn't hold up, dude. Hell, Aquillon undersold this thing, it doesn't one-shot a single city, you get the entire region. Do you really think "I can drop falling stars that annihilate entire regions in perfect stealth anywhere in Creation (once a season kekeke)" is "a thing talented Solars should be able to do"? Because if you do, I have a copy of Scroll of the Monk to offload.

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ORICHALCUM GEAR?!

...wasn't Creation Slaying Oblivion Kick at least unintended behavior?

 

[Jon Chung]

Oh, we're arguing the charm is dumb now. Because yeah, it does trip over Sidereal toes quite a bit, IMO. It's not exactly thematic for a Solar! See now, I was just a bit thrown off by you comparing it to Zeal or the Creation Slaying Oblivion Kick, which seemed more like the issue was mechanics.

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...

No, no, I get that I'm not going to convince Jon Chung, but there are other people who could conceivably read this and have different thoughts than either of us.

Softball it? Man, what about the examples that were given? Behemoth is going on a rampage? Ghosts trying to sack a city? Shit, even "stop the meteor cast by Solar Sephiroth" is totally manageable for a group of Exalts.

Mortals are fucked, but mortals are always fucked! That's why they kiss up to gods.

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I see the bit about the extremely desirable characteristics of such a Charm as a strategic weapon has gone completely over your head.

It's fine because it doesn't kill the story! You reduce one problem to a waste-land of ash and dust, and you get a new conflict that's directly caused by the fallout from the old one.

Fuck having Old Man Kejak TPK you for daring to Use A Thing, I'd much rather just run a few sessions where the group is now butting heads directly with the Sidereals and the rest of Yu-Shan. And I wouldn't mind seeing the PCs win, either.

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[Deations]

...

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oh come on

I see the bit about the extremely desirable military characteristics of such a Charm as a strategic weapon has gone completely over your head.

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No more than how Rain of Doom or Total Annihilation also lets you wipe out entire cities at Essence 5.

facepalm.jpg

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oh come on

Iunno, maybe we're just reading this differently? I'm just seeing it as a way for a Solar to invoke the Ten Plagues of Egypt on someone who pissed them off, you're seeing it exclusively as Black Materia Prana.

 

[Imrix]

Rain of Doom also requires you to travel around the target area by land in a complex, obvious ritual, rather than simply calling down a comet from your armoured bunker half a continent away.