Talion/CreationSurvivingStrategies

Creation Surviving Strategies

This is the place I'll be dumping some of my ideas for surviving Creation as a Raksha.

Note: Some of the tricks mentioned are overpowered for some types of games, this is purely looking at how far some of the tricks can be taken. Being able to successfully Lie to everything you meet may lead to a dull game.

Standard Methods

I'll fill this in later. No doubt I'll highlight the Regeneration mutation as key tool to turn the Raksha into an unkillable annoyance. Seriously, 2 motes to gain a stamina roll in health levels, reflexively? The Raksha can practically heal on stunt fodder.

= Don't be a Target

Raksha are never going to be a fair match against the best combat setup Exalted. No matter what you do, sooner or later they run into the I'm not [Attribute] enough to trick you problem. In this situation they may be forced to fight fair! Since such a thing would just be wrong (not to mention reveal how underpowered they are), don't fight. Well, at least not personally.

Raksha can hide inside the innocent as minor Wyld taints. They can also hide inside various other things such as vehicles and with Raksha Boy's help, objects [should insert proper link here]. They also have very little difficulty summoning up some suitable puppets to play out 'their' part in the story. This way, no matter how many times those nasty Exalts pick on the poor Raksha, it can just keep coming back for more. Just make sure your Raksha is good at repairing their puppets.

See Talion/CreationSurvivingStrategies/TheMercifulParasite as an example of this plan.

Be the Best Non-Combat Character You Can

Raksha have many ways to be helpful to a non-Raksha group. Primarily these ways are not based on fighting things though. They can have contacts where ever they roam, never be short on cash, bring in loyal red shirts and deprive political enemies of their resources. The aim here is to be so useful that the rest of the group will go out of their way to protect the poor weak little Raksha.

Bring the Wyld With You

A cursory read of the Artifact Waypoint artifact, will not fully reveal the amazing utility it can provide Creation traveling Raksha. Indeed this particular idea could be quite easily veto'd by your Storyteller. The rules on Freeholds make it quite clear that you can't remove outright, the connections between their weypoints, only move them about. So what happens if you enchant some of those waypoints with the artifact and invoke it into Creation? Do the waypoints themselves stop being shapable? Certainly you could argue that this was the case. Do the connections back to the Wyld waypoints go away? Absolutely not. Now the Raksha can take the Wyld with it where ever it travels.

Lie, Disemble and Point the Other Way

This particular strategy comes from connecting two charms together. First we have Beguilement (Or Undetectable Lie really) and next it we place multiple purchaces of Glorious Hero Form (+1 Charisma, +1 Appearance; only the Charisma matters for Beguilement). Assuming the character starts out at 7 and maxes out the mutations at +5, we get 12 charisma. Unless the target's wits+essence is greater than 12 they aren't going to see through this trick. That requires at least essence 7 to reach (generally speaking). How often is the Raksha going to have to actually face a being with essence 7 by itself? For that matter if we take Undetectable Lie (bye bye appearance and charisma, hello manipulation), we can use it in combat to do something nasty (eg You must obey me). That said the costs involved in making this work tend to turn the Raksha into a bit of a one trick pony. Unless we move some of those mutation costs onto a Behemoth of course (turn those mutation costs into attunement costs), Provided only one specific (but repeated) use is needed, anyway.

When All Else Fails, Gang Up

Oh sure, most Exalts have no problem dealing with one 16 dice attack, but what about 5? Or better yet, 25. You see the standard (ie you should cheat) limit on the number melee opponents is 5, if they all have Grace of the Infinite Rovolving Spheres they get 5 attacks each (with no defense). If they are all level 1 Behemoths (6 mutation points to spend, so 2 left for other stuff at this point) attuned to the Raksha (15 mote attunement, ouch) then they get the Raksha's stats, after mutation (could end up a lot more than a mere 16 dice). Mind you that annoying attunement cost is getting in way a bit. Oh wait the Raksha doesn't have to pay it. Of course having a follower attune things means using their stats, but this is still after mutations. A specially mutated follower who's only purpose is to ensure your emergency attackers are prepared? Why not.

If That Fails, Run Away

The thing to remember about the Creation dwelling Raksha is that they are defined not by their strengths but by their weaknesses. So plan ahead, work out what trickery you have left in store for anything that ignores your Raksha's initial defenses. Sooner or later you may run into the monster perfectly attuned to beating your Raksha up, this is the time not to be in the same place as it. Remember that your Raksha hangs out with a bunch of Celestrials for a reason, so they can protect it. This is the time to take that short cut to the Wyld or to burn the remain gossamer on summoning land inbetween you and the foe. If fighting can't be avoided expect to lose, anything that is tough enough to beat the monsters (not to mention all the trickery used to avoid a fight), won't even break out in a sweat taking your Raksha apart.