Hey everyone,

So me and a few friends were about to start Anima and we went over the book and found (what we think is) a problem. For summoners or warrior summoners who try to use The Arcana (listed at pg 182), an extremely high amount of zeon cost is neccesary. Now while these costs are managable for the lower arcana, once one starts to move into any of the arcana above 7, the zeon cost becomes outrageous.

This coupled with the fact that MA multiples for Summoners are at 60 DP, these arcana would most likely consume all a players zeon, and wont allow them to be cast for another month or so (assuming zeon regeneration = zeon accumulation). Were the Arcana not intended to be used Summoners? Or perhaps they were meant to be used a lot more sparingly then I have imagined them to be?

Either way, the effect of the Arcana are generally one-use, and if these abilities are meant to be as expensive as they are, wouldn't you think that they require a much to high of a DP investment to be useful?

Hamstar said:

First, yes the cost of using the Arcana is expensive. Outrageously so, if you ask me, however there are a few advantages as well.

1. Summoners do not have to accumulate the Zeon to use the Arcana. So they do not need to buy any MA. ever.

2. As of the Arcana Exxet a Summoner (or any other class) can buy Zeon Regeneration Multiples. These cost half the price of an MA multiple (30 for a summoner) and work in the same way except they increase ZR only, not MA.
In example with a Base MA of 10 and buying 2 ZR multiples (60DP) you have 10MA, but regenerate 30Zeon/day.
Or a Summoner with a Base MA of 10 could buy 1 MA and 1 ZR giving him an 20MA and 30Zeon/day.

3. With the existence of ZR multiples the advantage Superior Magic Recovery becomes even more useful. Officially you need The Gift to obtain Superior Magic Recovery, however (I believe, won't have Arcana Exxet myself until it is in english) you can officially substitute The Limited Gift (1CP version of The Gift that does not provide the bonus to MR and requires a POW check to cast spells). Unofficially, most GM's I know allow you to take Magic Advantages without The Gift because a Summoner does not need The Gift but can be helped a lot by Magic Advantages.
In the above example with 30Zeon Regeneration, with the 2CP version of Superior Magic Recovery they get x3 final ZR (30x3=90Zeon/day) or at least thats how I understand it.

4. (I believe) The Arcana are supposed to be a last ditch effort on the part of summoners, their main job is Summoning and Controling supernatural creatures to protect them. However there is a type of summoner that specializes in The Arcana use. In Arcana Exxet a Summoner has the option of not being able to Summon creatures at all. In exchange Arcana he uses cost half the normal amount. He can still Control, Bind, and Banish supernatural creatures he meets as normal, he just can not summon them to himself.

I see, so without Arcana Exxet I guess it's extremely difficult to make a character based around the Arcanas?

Thanks for the reply and if I could trouble you with another off-topic question..>

While browsing through the forums, many people mention that Martial Knowledge was obtainable through DP. I went and re-read the Ki / character creation sections and could not find that. The closest that I saw was spending DP to obtain Martial Arts which would increase Martial Knowledge. Is that the method that people are mentioning or is there another option that I'm missing?

That rule is from the Dominus Exxet. A character can buy 5Ki for 5DP, up to 10% of their total DP, and the DP comes from Combat Primary.

Most people on this forum have the Dominus Exxet and there have been a lot of translation into the Arcana Exxet so we assume people know the rules from multiple books, unless someone notes they do not know that rule. We are happy to help, but we can't know what you don't have or don't know unless you say something, so ask as many questions as you like. Someone will assist when they can.

And yes, without Arcana Exxet basing a Summoner around arcana is difficult. However if you're GM allows the rules I mentioned above it can work better. There are a lot of different rules online - both official and fan made (people will tell you if they are official or not, normally in the topic header) - and if you use them the game works better (In My Opinion).

Hm, thanks for all the info,

At the moment, I only have my hands on the Anima Corebook, but Dominus Exxet should be coming in the mail by Wed, so that might clear up some of the problems I had. If you don't mind me asking, where would one find the translated rules from Arcana Exxet?

There are a lot so here is what I can find quickly

1. Translating spells to the core exxet version:
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=85&efcid=3&efidt=524929
Now instead of being able to increase the Zeon cost by 10 for "added effects" there are 4 "Levels" of spells- Base, Intermediate, Advanced and Arcane. You need a certain INT to use each level.

2. Sheela
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=85&efcid=3&efidt=539382
Most is explained in the first post.

3. Advantages from Arcana Exxet
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=85&efcid=3&efidt=535373
Self-explanatory.

4. Spell sub-paths
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=85&efcid=3&efidt=534632
An alternative to Free-access spells. (Use core exxet spell rules so you will probably have to use them to use these).

5. Metamagic
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=85&efcid=3&efidt=527916
another thing wizards can use spell levels on to change how their spells work.

6. Incarnations
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=85&efcid=3&efidt=547217
Another ability Summoners can have, to become stronger themselves instead of creatures. More explained in the article.

There may be more if you search the forum...but that's what I found.

There would be more for specialized Invokers in Arcana Exxet, actually there are a lot of Invocations consisting in a lot of Great Beasts, but it seems no-one has translated them to English, yet.

Wow, these will work just fine for the moment.

Many thanks for digging these up for me
And also many thanks to anyone who did / helped with the translations.

Now if I may impose on you one last time, (My apologies for all the questions)
You mentioned in your first post that summoners can sacrifice their ability to summon other creatures to reduces the zeon cost of The Arcana by 1/2 correct?
Would that be an advantage (couldn't find that on the new advantages link)? or is that something that any summoner may just "choose" to do?

Hamstar said:

I believe that it is an ability they can choose. It is not an advantage, but as that I do not have the book I do not know exactly how it works. Unfortunately I cannot read Spanish, so I can only go off of what people who can say. Though I would like to once again thank them for the work they have done in translating the books that have not been released in English. I know it must be a hard job.

Simply put, at any Level a SUMMONER (or WARRIOR SUMMONER) may choose to "Specialize" as an Invoker. His class somewhat "changes", into this alternative.

The Invoker can only use Invocations and Incarnations with his/her summoning abilities (note that he/she can still use freely Control, Bind, and Banish on creatures), but Zeon cost for such stuff is halved.

I would allow a character to switch between Summoner/Invoker Warrior Summoner/Warrior Invoker at any Level-Up, since their sheet is identical and they're two aspects of the exact same class.

Of course when you start the game, you may also choose between being a Summoner or an Invoker and the same goes if you change your class from something else to Summoner...

I hope this was explanatory

Lia Valenth said:

I really need to see about getting those Incarnations done, and then move on to other parts of the book. I will endeavor to get back on track and some more translations up soon. Perhaps another Incarnation up. Glad that someone has those links and has been paying attention.