Official Errata: Changes and fixes to the game (Subscription Recommended)

Well, I guess I'll reserve the rest of my commentary till after you show us the race making system. Currently I don't understand how Earth Ponies are stronger than Pegasi for example.

Also, where did the Changeling and other previous non-main race specific Utilities go? Quick change and other things should still be things that can be taken even if right now only one race has access to them. (And that will change as soon as you release the build your own race stuff.)

Ramsus wrote:Well, I guess I'll reserve the rest of my commentary till after you show us the race making system. Currently I don't understand how Earth Ponies are stronger than Pegasi for example.

Utility Talents are worth 2 trait points (unless we're incentivizing them to be racial abilities due to their either being niche or to give an advantage to those naturally born to that sort of activity, so things like Freaky Knowledge, Weathercrafting and Flight get a discount). Friend in Deed is worth 3 points (three people with this giving you a bonus would give you +12 - which is better than a magic point - and it can happen at-will) and Epic Pwny is worth 3 points as well. Cutie marks are worth 2 points.

All told, that gives the Earth Pony 9 points (freaky knowledge only costs 1 trait point).

The budget for races is 6 points.

Flight on the other hand only costs 3 points, as it usually costs 2 utility talents to afford basic flight and we want to make natural fliers better at it than non-natural fliers, and weathercrafting is a niche ability that costs 1 point and also should be better for those naturally born to it. Thus a pegasus has the requisite 6 points when you add their cutie mark.

Even if we didn't reduce the costs of some utility talents, the comparison would be 10 for the earth pony to 8 for the pegasus. That's a significant advantage for the earth pony.

Anyway, that's the logic behind it. That said, you can still take the Friend in Deed trait. If you go blank flank, you can even combine it with the epic pwny trait like you used to, just no freaky knowledge.

I'm assuming then that having a Cutie Mark costs a point?

I think this point was made before but, wouldn't it be better just to give ponies more points rather than nerf one of the main three races?

Edit: And I've never been a fan of incentiveising like that. It means there are now bad ways to build your character.

Yeah the idea of buffing other races is a better move then nerfing one race.....

Ramsus wrote:I'm assuming then that having a Cutie Mark costs a point?

I think this point was made before but, wouldn't it be better just to give ponies more points rather than nerf one of the main three races?

A cutie mark costs 2 points.

And while it would be better if it was that simple, it isn't. We'd have to give more points to the pegasus, the unicorn and nearly all the non-pony races to catch up with earth pony. This means adding a lot more abilities to every race, which would take more design time, and also would have the racial traits dominate a lot more of the character creation process than I'd like. Plus, the extra time developing all this would delay all the other expansions I hope to come out with soon.

It's a lot easier to simply trim the extra ability.

However, if you would like to run a super-race campaign; feel free to simply add 3 trait points to everyone during character creation. You'll be able to use the Make Your Own Race feature (that you yourself gave us the core idea for) to play exactly how you like. =)

I asked before but, you didn't answer. What happened to Quickchange and other such Utilities that were in the other Talent show document?

Edit: Also what's up with Drone/Still learning? Arbitrary bonus nerfing those races? That makes them cost less than 6 points you realize right?

Ramsus wrote:I asked before but, you didn't answer. What happened to Quickchange and other such Utilities that were in the other Talent show document?

Funny, I typed out an answer. Must not have posted it. They're being added to the Talent Show.

Ramsus wrote:Edit: Also what's up with Drone/Still learning? Arbitrary bonus nerfing those races? That makes them cost less than 6 points you realize right?

Actually, it doesn't. Because the extra point from the free skill-training would put them over 7. Might change the writing to emphasize all the other races getting the skill training boost though, rather than the 2 races that don't. Emphasize the positive

That would probably cause a lot less confusion.

Ramsus wrote:That would probably cause a lot less confusion.

Quite possibly.

Btw, have you considered just... not having non-CM/ES races? It's one of the more fun mechanics of the system and it seems sorta mean to deny people it.

You could just have it be, Cutie-Mark for the pony-races, and we reflavor it to be an Export Skill for the non-CM races?

Ramsus wrote:Btw, have you considered just... not having non-CM/ES races? It's one of the more fun mechanics of the system and it seems sorta mean to deny people it.

That's exactly why I don't want to let Living Legends players miss out on it. That's what we have in the living legends system, but the damnable Faust only lets ponies (and maybe zebras) have cutie marks. I guess you *could* super-twist things and argue that every creature has an Expert Skill - ponies just get a flank-tattoo that formalizes theirs... But that's kind of weird to force into the system. And then the system would need some other way to handle blank-flanks too...

I notice you haven't updated Unicorns with stuff (and they're currently sitting at 3/4 points). If you can't think up anything (I certainly don't have any ideas) of which specific thing they should get, you could simply say they get 2-3 (I'd lean towards 3 as PK would be incentivised) points of stuff from the Racial Diversity doc. (Ok yes, this is kinda a cop-out but.... Unicorns are all about being magical and.... that's a lot of variety.)

Edit:
Optional Flaw: Blank Flank
You may not have an ES/CM but you gain an additional point for racial traits. (Don't be a moron and take an extra trained skill.)

The blank flank flaw would be pretty much the same as doing it the way we currently do it. Just give 1 less bonus for the cutie mark.

As for unicorns, they're sitting at 6 points now. Extra utility talent and ponykinesis are 4 points. Cutie Mark is another 2 points for a total of 6.

Oh right, I keep forgetting to factor in the CMs. (And then I'd forget to factor them in as costing 2 if I remembered anyway.)

The difference I think with having the flaw and giving everyone CM/ES's as default would be that it might fix some weirdness with the non-default CM/ES races. Also, I sorta think the default point spread should be 6+CM's not 5+CM's. *shrug* (Though this is largely because I want to actually see people playing Changelings that make sense and have A Thousand Faces and Flight and not having a pitiful 2 Skills. If it's 5 points then they can't take both those traits. Though I suppose they could with the flaw. But then they're still sad because they still have only 2 Skills and lose a Utility to grabbing PK if they want to feel authentically Changeling.)

Since the current system will work just fine and it would be odd to have a single flaw you could take, I'd rather emphasize the positive here and make cutie marks something you can purchase with trait points. Simpler than adding a separate thing, just as you got confused by the 'you don't gain training' flaws I slipped in earlier.

Also, I've added a 1 trait-point version of "It's Almost Like Flying". This makes the 3 point flight trait redundant, but I'll keep it in for now to avoid confusing those who see that it's a listed 3 point trait in several races. This will make it less expensive for races that dabble in flight to take it.

I really don't get why at this point we don't figure out a way to give the non-cm races cutie marks and try to work the system that way... Might be seen a wonderful buff for all races if we did that. Here's an idea... I noticed how the hippogriffs got an option with two different traits to pick from... Maybe we should tool that into every race? That might fix things.

Actually, that's really good. Then you can have A Thousand Faces, It's Almost Like Flying, and an Extra Utility (PK) and you have yourself a Changeling. (Who cries because they only have 2 Trained skills but, whatever, they could have taken a CM if they wanted and PK as a Utility instead.)

Yeah. I'd love to give everyone expert skills. Seems like it might make cutie marks less special than most people associate them with though.

Ramsus wrote:Actually, that's really good. Then you can have A Thousand Faces, It's Almost Like Flying, and an Extra Utility (PK) and you have yourself a Changeling. (Who cries because they only have 2 Trained skills but, whatever, they could have taken a CM if they wanted and PK as a Utility instead.)

Glad you like it.

Do people actually think the CM's themselves are that great? So far I've just noticed people love the mechanic. The flavor of the CM is just bonus flavor for your character and an image Elfy has to make for me. =P

I don't really think having everyone have CM/ES would make them feel less special since it's the same feeling you get when you get a nat 20 (but better!!!!?). Everyone being able to do it isn't what matters. The sheer awesome of the moment is what matters.

When you do add things like Quickchange back in, made sure they apply to all kinds of shapeshifting, not just Changeling's Trick or A Thousand Faces. It should work equally well for both of those as well as anything else.

Ramsus wrote:When you do add things like Quickchange back in, made sure they apply to all kinds of shapeshifting, not just Changeling's Trick or A Thousand Faces. It should work equally well for both of those as well as anything else.

Great point. Will do that.

There are two racial abilities that do the same thing - "Against the gods(5)" and "Challenge Fate(3)", which, as a Magic talent could be used several times a day.

A for Appkes wrote:There are two racial abilities that do the same thing - "Against the gods(5)" and "Challenge Fate(3)", which, as a Magic talent could be used several times a day.

One's a 1/Day ability. One's a Magic point. That's a big difference, enough to warrant the point increase. =)

After the latest destiny expansion, it's clear that self-discovery had an underpowered level 10 feature (two level 7 features don't quite equal one level 10 feature) and the level 4 feature was a bit boring. So I did a quick change to this instead.

Self-Discovery
Multi-Disciplined
Your journey of self-discovery has brought you on many paths and you’ve tried your hand at many disciplines. You gain two additional utility talents.

Call to Adventure
A hint of purpose calls to you. It may or may not be your ultimate path, but it is one you will pursue for now. Gain the level 4 feature of a destiny of your choice.

Make My Own Fate
You have moved beyond the trappings of fate to forge your own destiny. Gain the level 7 features of three different destinies of your choice.