On the Nature of Soak

Spells should almost never ignore Soak, regardless of what Specialization they originate from.

Soak can be rather strange in terms of how it meshes with fluff.  It typically represents a combination of physical toughness and magical warding that let you withstand harm for a while without taking truly debilitating damage.

Think about it like this: A Skimpy mahou Outfit doesn't grant Soak because it's physically protective, but because it's laced with magic to protect you from harm.  Enhanced Outfit and Eternal Style further follow this trend.

Meanwhile, Soul Jar grants Soak because it makes it easier for a girl to dissociate herself from injury and pain.  And of course, Vitality works to make a mahou more durable and able to withstand nasty hits that would fell mortals with relative ease.  Above 7 VIT or so, a character's toughness is outright beyond the realm of what any mundane human can hope to achieve.

In terms of relating fluff to mechanics, a character who has lost all of their Soak but has taken no wounds to their HP is not necessarily still pristine and free of harm.  They may "feel it in the morning", develop bruises, and/or accumulate small cuts.  It merely is not enough harm to impede their abilities.


If that's not satisfactory, then here's a meta reason.  Spells that outright ignore soak have historically been pretty much universally unbalanced and are obnoxious to deal with in both PvP and PvE.  They also invalidate one of the only two things VIT typically grants.  Mystic attack only ignores soak due to its pitiful fixed damage.  While Mystic could in theory instead grant a Soak Ignore or Penetration of 1, that would just slow things down even further when it already is a weak, chip-damage weapon.  As such, it does not.