Alicorns, Suddenly Playable!

With the new eight point system, it seems like this is a good time to make alicorns an official player race. (I always thought of Celestia as Someone Else's epic level player character to begin with.)

So here's my Idea:

Part Pegasus - [2] (Combination of it's almost like flying and weathercrafting.)
You can fly, walk on clouds, and craft weather just like a pegasus! Well, like them but less predisposed for it: You suffer -15 to Brawn and Precision checks made while flying.

Ponykinesis – At Will [1]
Mentally pick up or manipulate an object within fifty feet that weighs 25 pounds or less. You can hold only one object at a time in this way.

Cutie Mark (2)
Characters of your race gain a cutie mark.

More than a Skill [3]
Perhaps from a vulnerability to destiny, or a more powerful sense of duty, the cutie mark of an alicorn means a bit more to them. Choose one specific area of expertise for your cutie mark, similar to Freaky Knowledge. It becomes impossible to roll less than 10 on skillchecks made for associated actions.
Sample Fields:
The movement of celestial bodies.
The mechanics of affection.

Some of it's pretty simple, taking two points each from Unicorn Skills and Pegasus Skills; the last required a bit of thought. I figured it should combine a bit of the earth ponies dedication with what we know of alicorns. No matter how incompetent she gets, Celestia never fails to raise the sun. With Cadence and love, and Luna and the moon; I thought it might just be an inborn trait for those born that way. Hence: impossible to fail their thing just because of luck. I went with 10 partially because I was thinking of freaky knowledge when I did it, and partially because even the sanity system shouldn't make that specialty a critical failure.

More than a skill is much more than 2 racial points, I think. "Impossible to get less than a 10" sort of... is over powered.

Maybe I should just say 'no crit failures no matter what?'
I thought the sharply limited applicability made up for its power.

The minimum 10 thing is less of a powerful bonus, and more of a 'luck can't screw you on this' sort of ability.

I love the racial, don't get me wrong. It's just probably worth more than 2 Racial points even if it is limited.

Just for fun, I made a character sheet for Princess Celestia using all the new rules.
If we assume the actual governance and the 50 zillion 'Boons' that might come with are special story rewards, I think it actually fits her well.

You can find it here.

Oh, and let's assume for now that the overpriced ponykinesis and potentially underpriced 'more than a skill' will cancel each other out.

Z2 wrote:

Spoiler:

You say that like she just sprouts wings and is a new god, and will remain that way. She'll be back to normal by the end of the episode. It says in the synopsis that she makes everyone "switch places", and then has to fix it.

Iiiii don't know that I buy that. I've heard things from writers and VA's before.

Spoiler:

This is off topic, but winged Twilight is probably much less of a big deal than fans make it out to be. We get to laugh at her hilariously bad flying for a while, then she gains the abilities to actually visit RD's house and never use ladders again. I think it can be taken as read that Twilight won't be spontaneously getting MORE powerful at magic, I doubt she'll even need a hairstyle change.

Spoiler:

Also, this whole thread is kind of based on the assumption that alicorn ≠ deity.

[quote="Z2"]I doubt she'll even need a hairstyle change.

Well according to the picture, her hair does change just slightly.

Bronymous wrote:Iiiii don't know that I buy that. I've heard things from writers and VA's before.

Spoiler:

You've also got all the toys they are showing off and releasing soon. It'll be weird for them to release so many toys based on something which lasts one episode...

Paper Shadow wrote:You've also got all the toys they are showing off and releasing soon. It'll be weird for them to release so many toys based on something which lasts one episode...

You mean like the Canterlot Wedding stuff?

Technically two episodes, and granted a lot of it "rolls over" as it were... but still.

/end derail

On the topic of alicorns: I agree that with what you have here, however the last 2 pointer is probably more like 3 or 4, maybe even 5 racial points.

Agreed. I think we need to K.I.S.S. and stick to official stuff.

My take:

Cutie Mark [ 2 ]
Ponykinesis [ 2 ]
It's Almost Like Flying [ 1 ]
Choose One [ 3 ]
---- Friend In Deed
---- Epic PWNy

If it's just using what's already in the genetic engineering manual, then there's little point of making it a new official race. I'd be willing to accept 'More than a Skill' as a 3 point ability; but it seems profoundly wrong that Ponykinesis is just using the 2 pointer that lets you pick any utility talent, without getting to PICK the utility talent.

As an additional disadvantage, I was thinking that 'More than a Skill' would be unavailable to other races (similarly to what Epic Pwny and that Donkey skill and maybe something else I'm forgetting.) So, while other races get 2 extra points to spend as they wish (I'm hoping that isn't actually changing,) alicorns gain a slightly more powerful 2-3 point ability at the cost of CHOICE.

Edit: I only just noticed that those abilities do have equivalents in the genetic engineering doc. But the thing about loss of choice still stands (and exclusivity doesn't seem like a terrible idea).

Double Edit: It's the zebras who have an exclusive thing, so there is precedent.

The Genetic engineering is mostly to help develop additional races, Z2, which is why there are ones that aren't actually used- like the Waves utility.
But yeah, if Ponykinesis is dropped to 1, like some of us have thought about, then what you have is still applicable. We'd need to check it with the official ones though.