[X] Plan Reaperman
Yeah fire being a catch all thing is definitely more a lot of beings are affected by it kind of thing than a everything is. Also for wizards being more hardy than mortals eh I'd toss it up to theatrical movie logic. Than Dresden actually being any hardier than normies. It's stated time and again a single sniper bullet could kill just about any senior council member if caught unaware.
1)Being able to soak Agg doesnt make you tougher against a 50 cal AP bullet.
It just means you get a roll to mitigate things like fire damage and loup garou claws instead of an automatic"lol you're fxkd"
2)A world-class sniper(Dex 5, Firearms 5) with a standard rifle(Dmg 8L) and a scope(-1 DC)rolling at DC 5 after Aim(+2 dice)as a surprise round is rolling 12 dice with an avg of 7 successes.
Which translates to 7+8 = 15 damage dice, against a wizard with soak of Stamina 2-4.
First shot is an incap, second is a kill.
No real difference.
3)No it isnt stated.
We see one assassin, Kinkaid, state that using a sniper rifle from several hundred yards away is his preferred option.
We also see Ebenezar literally walk into the teeth of a company of mercs with automatic weapons and no shields and have his robes literally ignore automatic weapons fire.
I'm pretty sure the downside to GSNF is that you have to have already done damage, and thus defeated their soak, before you can activate it. Then it lets you pay a point of essence to increase the done damage by 4A. Otherwise it seems way too weak for a 3-dot charm. As is, there's not much reason to use it, since one essence is a little expensive for a chance at doing more damage. It kind of feels like a waste of a 3-dot charm we could have spent on other things, like a perfect defense from Kakuri.
GSNF inflicts the highest of Strength,Charisma or Intelligence automatic aggravated HLs.
Its a damage booster that gets more powerful the more buffs you are already running, like shintai or Mo Kung.
Thats my understanding.
Reasoning is that most entities in ExWoD have 7HLs; you literally have to go up to Methuselahs and higher to meet antagonists with routinely greater health tracks. Being able to potentially throw 5 Agg or more to a person's health track essentially ends most fights, since you've dumped them into -5 wound penalties or Incap.
So it has to be soakable.
GSNF says it inflicts automatic damage pretty sure that means you don't get to soak it.
The book appears to state or imply when damage is unsoakable.
Then there's the math.
If GSNF allowed you to ignore soak and deal, say Intelligence/Strength/Charisma 5 Agg damage directly to the health track of anyone you hit, every fight would end with the first Excellency + GSNF.
I mean, imagine an Infernal with base Str 5 + Mo Kung 3: Tigers Strength to raise his Strength to 7-8.
Even people who didnt die with the first strike would suffer crippling wound penalties.
That does not appear to be working as intended.
So your interpretation is inaccurate.
By the way there any way we can get something cheaper to open ways eventually? I know the charms likely have more uses. But, the cost for a normal wizard to open a way vs us is a rather big difference. Once we get charms or magic that allows it.
Same reason I want the sight eventually even if we have to use primacy to not go insane if we see something we really shouldn't look at or explode.
There are Charms for opening Ways.
Ultimate Darkness Internalization allows Molly access to the Shadowlands for 1 Essence, and Hellwalker Technique to the Penumbra for the same cost. And I think there's one Ancient Sorcery spell, though its more expensive.
We could use Conveyance Path, but its likely easier for us to recover Essence than to recover WP from using a Path.
So its only likely to be preferred if we're moving a party.
