Difference between revisions of "MartialArtsRelay/Raksha"

Revision as of 09:04, 3 April 2010

The Twentieth Theme is Raksha

The new theme is... Raksha! What would a style invented by a Raksha be like? Is it a series of gossamer Charms that can be taken as mutations? Does it amplify their already inhuman attributes? Does it tell a story about ascetism? Or the wondering (and wandering) hero? Does it emphasise teamwork? Or solitary master? Or both?

I imagine it would be Terrestrial in level. And probably compatible with armour. Weapons... I dunno...

Number of charms... one per Fair Folk 'Caste' is un-feasible... Shall we say 8 plus Form? 2 per Grace, plus Heart?

Suggested specifics for style (just to get things rolling and at the risk of setting too much in stone): A 9 charm terrestrial style. The style allows any armor with no mobility penalty (note that this includes all gossamer armor). Form weapons are staff, straight sword, fighting ring and fighting cup.

A fighting ring is a heavy metal hoop about a yard in diameter, largely a defensive and grappling weapon. Stats left to someone else.

A fighting cup resembles a thick metal bell about the size of an American football. It is a bashing weapon that produces a noise when struck (perhaps charms could make use of this somehow). Stats left to someone else.

For charm layout, I'd suggest that the first five be flat, with no prereqs, one for each grace and/or weapon (Cup, Staff, Ring, Sword, Heart) or the corresponding virtue. These lead to the form, which leads to two others which lead to the pinnacle. Of the charms listed, we have the form already. Working the Ornamental Heart seems like a natural for the Heart charm. Honorable Warrior Bearing seems very much in line with Staff to me, which is responsible for social contexts and inflicting obligations and taboos on others. Creation is My Scabbard is Sword, obviously, but it may be a bit to powerful for an opening charm.

As for themes, I'd suggest that this style is really about inflicting the graces on Creation, as embodied both by their literal representations (embodied by the form weapons) and their deeper meaning.

Working the Ornamental Heart - FlowsLikeBits

Cost: 3m per dot + 1 willpower per grace increased

Duration: 1 Story

Type: Reflexive

Keywords: Combo-Ok, Shaping

Minima: MA 3/ Ess 2

Prereq. Charms: None

At their core, the primary threat to a Raksha is boredom. With this charm, they work on their shaping, and work to over come this. Giving their nature, this is difficult, but possible.

Every 3 motes spent increase one of the users Graces by 1. In addition, the user must spend 1 willpower per Grace effect, no matter how much the Grace is raised by. This charm cannot raise a Grace more than 1 point above it's linked Trait. Creatures of Creation can raise their effective Heart Grace by 1(p109, E:tFF) with this charm.

Exalts may vastly increase their amusement value using this charm. Creatures of Creation may take part in shaping contests using Graces bought with this charm, along with their normal ablities. They may also use shaping weapons, in the unlikely event they come into possession of one and manage to bond it.

A grace created with this charm is an actual object, although it's reality is tied to the essence invested in it. The invoker of charm chooses the form and is considered to "own" the grace. A user cannot augment a grace he does not "own".

Solar Exalted using Wyld Shaping Technique may use it make themselves temporary graces. In that case, the Solar may invoke this charm while using Wyld Shaping(Or a similar, more advanced charm, such as Wyld Cauldron), and they may count that charms cost against the cost of this one by commiting the motes instead of releasing them at the end of the dramatic action. Thus, an Exalt who spent 20 motes and 1 Willpower could reduce the cost of invoking this charm by 20 motes and 1 willpower.

Honorable Warrior Bearing ~WillCoon

Cost: 4 motes

Duration: 1 Story

Type: Reflexive

Keywords: Combo-Ok

Minima: MA 3 / Ess 2

Prereq. Charms: None

The Raksha assumes the mien of an idealized martial artist, and those around her must comply with the implications of that form. All those who seek to attack her are automatically targeted by an unnatural social attack at her Charisma + Presence which instructs them to give her warning before attacking and to allow such preparation time as she requires (within reason). This attack occurs as soon as and every time a foe resolves to engage her in combat, no matter where the Artist is at the time. The attacker need not reveal the extent of her capabilities, nor the legion she has concealed over the nearby hill, simply her intent to engage in combat with the Artist. If the Artist attempts to flee an opponent before reasonably engaging in battle, that opponent is no longer bound by this charm's effects.

If the Artist does not herself follow these rules when initiating combat, the charm ends immediately.

Interwoven Cypress Spirit (Form) - willows

Cost: 5m

Duration: 1 scene

Type: Simple

Keywords: Combo-Simple, Form-type

Minima: MA 4 / Ess 2

Prereq. Charms: ???

With this Charm, the raksha imposes his form and energy on those things that spring from him. All beings whose Heart he commands, and those he contains as subsidiary entities (e.g. with Harmonious Primordial Spirit) share in the effects of his Charms and mutations. This may temporarily calcify some of these beings; they return to life at the end of the Charm.

In addition, the raksha draws sustenance and terroir from these beings. He may adopt the greater of his Ring or Essence in mutation points' worth of mutations while the Charm is in effect, duplicating a mutation of a subsidiary or compelled entity. These mutations do not count against the raksha's mutation point total, for the purposes of calcifaction and the like.

Creation Is My Scabbard - Wordman

Cost: 4m + 1wp

Duration: 1 scene

Type: Simple

Keywords: Combo-Basic, Shaping

Minima: MA 5 / Ess 3 / Sword 3

Prereq. Charms: ???

The raksha embeds his Sword grace into the local reality, bringing the glory of his Sword to bear within the hideous confines of Creation.

This charm may only be used as part of the raksha's single shaping action for the scene and, as such, is activated in "shaping time". This charm may only be comboed with other shaping charms.

For the remainder of the scene, the raksha may reflexively spend a point of gossamer to enhance her martial arts prowess with her shaping talent until her next turn (or action, in 2E). The raksha may activate any shaping charm she knows that is of Instant duration and capable of enhancing or defending against a Sword-shaping attack as if references to shaping attacks in the charm text referred to normal attacks. Such charms also work in normal combat action time, but may only enhance unarmed Martial Arts attacks or defend against normal attacks. The raksha may use combos of such shaping charms if he knows them, but may not learn combos that mix normal and shaping charms together. This charm does not allow the use of shaping weapons or charms that enhance them in normal time.

Example: Cahlenna has previously activated Creation Is My Scabbard. Prior to her action, she is attacked. She reflexively spends a point of gossamer, then activates a shaping combo containing Assertion of a Greater Vision (a shaping dodge), Unparalled Terror Technique (double successes for determining damage for a Sword-shaping attack), and Endless Armies of the Storm (buy extra Sword-shaping attacks) and uses Assertion of a Greater Vision to dodge the attack. She gets attacked again, still before her action and uses AoGV again. When her action comes, she uses Endless Armies of the Storm to buy three unarmed Martial Arts attacks, all backed with Unparalled Terror Technique. She could continue using AoGV until the end of the turn, but then would need to spend gossamer again to use more shaping charms.

King of Cats Attitude - nikink

Cost: 1wp or 2m

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Keywords: Combo-Ok

Minima: MA 5 / Ess 3 / Feeding Grace 3

Prereq. Charms: ???

This Charm allows a Raksha low on essence regain it from it's enemies' stunts. Whenever an opponent declares a Stunt within MA + Ess + Feeding Grace in yards radius, the Raksha may reflexively spend a point of Willpower or 2 motes to benefit from that stunt as the opponent does.

Feedback

I think it would be pretty cool if each Charm had dual aspects, just like the Fair Folk Castes, but I can't think of how that would look... I leave this in the talented hands of the Wikizens... go forth and be creative! B-) - nikink

There's only 12 Raksha caste's, so 1/caste isn't that bad. Personally, I'd do 12 more , where each charm has a dual function. That's just me though -

Edit: If we wanted 2 per grace, that could work also, if 12 is to long. Working the Ornamental Heart works in that case also. :)

FlowsLikeBits

Really? I must have misremembered. Yeah, 12 wouldn't be too bad. I guess this is a hard theme, not much action so far! Well, I hope it picks up anyway. With respect to Working the Ornamental Heart, if someone (and Exalt or Essence Using Mortal) uses this to give themselves a Grace, do they get an object, the same way Raksha Graces are also objects? - nikink

Fixed. - FlowsLikeBits

Hmmm... Obviously this is a hard and / or uninspiring theme... Sorry folks! - nikink Bump

Random ideas for charms: 1) a charm that allows reflexive cancellation of an assumption charm, used to escape death. 2) charms that make good use of the single shaping action raksha get per scene. 3) one or more scene length charms that allow supplemental charms that augment shaping attacks to augment normal attacks and/or shaping defenses to be used against normal attacks. 4) Some way to regenerate/feed on Essense, maybe by doing weird things to target Virtues or a permanant that allows Essence gain any time someone around you channels a virtue. 5) Using the unusual sensation of being wounded in "real life" to create gossamer. 6) Something to do with bedlam. -- Wordman

Will, I love Honorable Warrior Bearing. In practice, because of the way social combat works, it really becomes just a "you must spend Willpower to surprise me" charm, but that seems OK to me. I really like the idea that raksha essentially forces others to comply to his reality. Very in theme, and a good guideline for how this style should work, IMO. -- Wordman

^ ^ Glad you like it. It seemed to me that the Raksha might use their Martial Arts for the purpose of extending their storytelling into Creation, rather than purely as an extension of Wyld- or Creation-combat prowess. Of course, they still need some way to deal with those tiresome, peripheral neccessities...
I imagine somewhere down the line a charm descends from this that uses that shaping action for something useful, as you suggest - such as setting the scene for a battle, encouraging certain styles of combat, or the like.
~WillCoon, as for ignoring the charm via WP expenditure, one spends WP to stand up to a Raksha's storytelling in the wyld, so I imagine they're used to it by now.

Wordman, cool idea! Make the Shaping Styles applicable in one on one combat... very handy for the Cataphract who knows everything! B-) Don't Raksha Charms need a Gossamer cost to work inside Creation though? Or is this Charm only for when the Raksha Warrior is outside Creation? - nikink - liking the chaotic nature of this style already; no one knows yet how the charms all fit together!

I changed the cost to include gossamer, as the intent is to allow working in creation. This has the additional effect of allowing this charm to be taken as a mutation, which I'm not sure I like. It makes an already powerful charm more powerful. Maybe it should cost 1 point of gossamer to invoke each shaping charm in normal combat? -- Wordman

Well, it's technically a MA charm, rather than a FF charm. So that may mean it cannot be taken as a mutation. -FlowsLikeBits

I could just state that it cant be mutated; however, thinking about it, I'm tempted to remove the restriction on instant charms, but add a gossamer cost to each charm used. This would, in particular, make using Howling Dream Consumption Prana a possibility. On the other hand, that might open more timing problems, and is probably to powerful for a terrestrial style. -- Wordman

OK. I think I like Creation Is My Scabbard now. Also, I declare this style to be a Terrestrial style, since it seems this hasn't been stated definitively. I'd suggest form weapons of Ring, Sword, Staff and Cup. -- Wordman

It now looks a bit crippling to the Raksha. If I'm working this out correctly, it's 20% of their total motes (at Ess 3, a bit better if above that) and a WP, to be able to use shaping arts as hand to hand combat, at the cost of whichever charm, plus 1 Gossamer per charm. How much Gossamer can Raksha get? It's such a valuable resource for them, I was under the impression that they don't have much even when they have a lot...? - nikink - Probably comes down to a poor understanding of Fair Folk rules...

0 to infinity? In all seriousness, there's no cap on how much Gossamer a raksha can have at once, and it doesn't go bad or disappear at the end of a story. So, a raksha with the right Charms and backgrounds could have over a hundred Gossamer on hand; on the other hand, chances are most raksha aren't going to have more than five to twenty. (Such a useful range) - FrivYeti, who really felt that a (Essence + Willpower) x2 cap would have done wonders

As a general rule of thumb it seems unlikely that a given Raksha protagonist will have more than like five to ten skeins of gossamer to blow at any given time; furthermore one operating in Creation has to be even stingier, as it is even harder to come by there and is necessary for a number of their Creation charms to function. Perhaps a Charm higher in the style allows the Raksha to 'trap' the Charm activated with C.i.m.S in an additional skein of gossamer, allowing it to be used a certain number of additional times at a later date without having to reactivate C.i.m.S? This style is far afield from the thematics of the raksha's own shaping arts styles, so I'm a little at a loss as to what it's trying to do. -- BerserkSeraph

Keep in mind this is a terrestrial style (apparently). This charm gives access to what are essentially celestial level effects (raska Sword-shaping charms are mechanically similar to a lot of solar Melee charms) and dice pools. So, I don't think the cost is out of line. I also don't think the gossamer cost is "crippling". I mean, the closest raksha have to a canonical persistant parry in normal combat costs 1 gossamer per parry. But nikink is right that the mote cost may be to high, so I've lowered it a bit. As for what the charm is trying to do... I dunno. I was just trying to fill out a style that had almost no definition to begin with. Some more initial guidance on this style would have been useful. -- Wordman

Me, I actually liked the original version with the instant charm restriction. You could just raise the cost to 2-3 gossomer if it was to cheap before. I don't think FF can use anything other than terrestial styles. Currently, I sort of envisioning it as a bit of a bridge style, with effects that allow Raksha to do some creation stuff, and the Creation born to do some limited raksha stuff. I actually considered doing an inverse to Creation is my Scabbard, although mapping charms to Sword, Ring,Staff, Cup might be hard. -FlowsLikeBits

I actually kept the instant charm restriction. Dropping it is much too powerful for a terrestrrial style (it would allow scene length full pool defenses, for example). With the correct mutation, raksha can learn martial arts charms "as if they were terrestrials", so they can learn gateway charms and learn celestial styles. -- Wordman

Since this style seems to be languishing and without focus, I've suggested some more specific direction (probably to specific) above. Feel free to edit it, ignore it, whatever. The hope is that it will focus the process one way or the other. -- Wordman

My internet access has been fitful recently, so I've not been able to look in on this Relay as much as I would have wished. I like the ideas developing, and I think your suggested guidance will help move the project along despite the apparently narrow interest. I'm not going to jump into posting anything new until after a little more personal thought on the logic and structure of the style, but I think this could turn out quite interesting.

Some immediate thoughts, though: it seems like it might be easiest to make this a Celestial style, dedicated to inflicting the wyld upon creation rather than subsuming one's wyld nature to creation's laws as might be assumed natural for that level of MA prowess. Also, another possible focus: the Sword and Staff, creating a style about binding your opponents to your own laws of conflict before crushing them with your mastery, an Oath-Bound Blade style created by a powerful Anarch.

Just some ideas, I'll post when I have something more concrete. ~WillCoon

Direction occurs in the form of Charms, and people choosing to design subsequent Charms so as to produce positive interactions. - willows

Precisely so. The suggestions above, speaking only for myself of course, are intended as possible interpretations of the existing charms and, therefore, inspiration for future charms. They are not intended to be replacements for further charm development, but rather, akin to placeholders for potential development. ~WillCoon, but I need a nap.

I'm afraid I wasn't clear. Where's the evidence of people choosing to follow the direction of prior posters in this relay? It feels, to me, like every Charm is unrelated. - willows

I see. Well, this relay has had an unfortunate history, considering the lapses in interest. When the relay started to lag after the first two charms, my contribution was intended to suggest a two-pronged, wyld/creaton parallel approach to the style. I personally envisioned Working and Bearing as the starting points for two shaping and creation-bound paths, respectively, that would meet at the form and lead on thence to 'integrated' charms, though I did not intend to enforce this in any way.

Naturally, a more swiftly arising and more unified vision would be desirable, but it seems that at this point it would be best for future charms to assume that the existing charms make sense within some as yet undisclosed framework, and to attempt to fit into whatever that is.

~WillCoon, who is thankful for the chance to try out these theories on such a suitable ground as a dead relay, and the resultant opportunity to gain practical insight into the workings of the MartialArtsRelay, and who hopes some shape can be imposed upon this style.

Addendum: I apologize to willows for making him put up with me at every turn, and I thank him for the guidance he has given me, however trying a student I may be.

Structure is good. I really had no idea of how it would lok when I posted the theme, but Willows has a point that the Charms so far have little interelation (notable exception -> Working the Ornamental Heart can be used to aid Interwoven Cypress Spirit (Form) by increasing the Raksha's Ring grace). The reason I felt this Style would be Terrestrial in level is that Raksha have access to Terrestrial MA in Canon, but not Celestial. Creation Is My Scabbard allows access to Celestial level Charms, so perhaps it should be the capstone? Also, to Create a Raksha who is strong in Creation at char-gen, they must generally forgo any skill with Shaping Arts. My last point for now is how crippling on the Essence of the Raksha this Charm is so far - 16m committed + 2wp minimum and four turns activation. At Essence 3 they've only got 30!!! So I think they need Charms to keep up Essence flow, and action speeds. Maybe a Charm that steals Essence from opponents Stunts? You are only so cool because of being around me, King of Cats Attitude? Eh, I'll post it up above - please feel free to rip it to shreds, or even constructively critique... B-) - nikink

This theme seems to have stalled for good. Perhaps a new one should be presented? Nikink

Agree. Any ideas? -FlowsLikeBits

Well, Wordman directly inspired the final charm of Festering Cadaver Style, so maybe he should choose? IanPrice was the penultimate Charm author, so perhaps he should choose? Wordman wrote the last charm in this style before I did, so maybe that's another vote for him? Or maybe just whoever can come up with an inspired theme? I had an idea but don't want to hog two in a row, especially when this one has failed. B-) - nikink