Editing Mnemon Explains Solar Combat (section)

====Martial Arts====
''the Odd Man Out''

"So" you say, looking at the charms available to you "What's up with Martial Arts?"

Well, MA is quite different. For a start, for mortals, there's no real difference between Martial Arts and Brawl, other than choice of weapons. They do exactly the same things. So why is there two abilities where one would do? Why are they separate charms?

The answer is - they're not really Solar charms at all. Martial Arts styles are shared amongst the Exalted. I could learn Snake Style if I felt like it. You could learn Air Dragon Style.

What does this mean? Well, for Dragon Blooded, it generally means Celestial Martial Arts charms are much better than our normal charms - that's why we get the Immaculates to fight you, since those crazy Sidereals cooked up a bunch of Celestial styles for them. For you, however, with your glorious combat charms, it generally means that Martial Arts charms just aren't as good as your normal charms.

If you wanted me to tell you how to use Martial Arts to be just as good as the Dawn with Melee and the Night with Archery, well, sorry Swan, but I'm not going to. An investment in Martial Arts just isn't as worthwhile as one in one of the other Dawn abilities. I without hesitation recommend against it for beginning players.

Still, it has its uses. For a start, Martial Arts often provides a lot of eclectic benefits that can be used well with other combat modes. For instance, Snake Style subtracts dice equal to your essence from opponents' attacks against you. There's no reason why you couldn't be using that while fighting with Melee, for instance (use one of Snake's form weapons, as clarified by the Player's Guide to be seven section staves and hook swords, and you can switch abilities seamlessly). Martial Arts also has by far the most charms for any one ability, and thus some insanely wicked combos can be constructed across styles (if you buy enough supplements to have a nice library of styles). Finally, if your GM is hostile or eccentric about custom charms, Martial Arts might be the only way to get a certain effect, since there's a published Martial Arts charm for just about everything. Indeed, without custom charms, then the most powerful charms available are the Sidereal Martial Arts.

In general, the best advice for Solars using Martial Arts is to not forget to build a bedrock of might with normal Solar charms, and then pick Martial Arts charms that exploit it. Armour Penetrating Fang Strike + Essence Venom Strike is nasty, sure, but any Sidereal can do that. Add Leaping Tiger Attack to the mix and you have something special.

The main problem with Martial Arts, however, is you need supplements. Snake Style badly needs the fixes from the Player's Guide. Then you need more books to get more styles (Violet Bier of Sorrows from the Sidereal book is particularly wicked in Solar hands). As you start, learn combat with another ability, and then you should be able to select a Martial Arts strategy that will work for you later when you understand the implications, and are resigned to paying for a few useless pre-form charms for every style you pick up.