Re: Official Errata Suggestion/Discussion Thread (changes you'd like to see made)

[A1C Bronymous]

How in different official docs it'll be Times New Roman, all 12 pt, or Droid SS, 11 pt, or Arial, 12 and 9 pt. It makes it tedious to copy paste UTs, Traits, CTs, etc all from different sources and have to change them all to a matching style.

For example, on my sheets I have Arial font except for the Category Headers (Attributes, Combat, etc), and for each individual talent or trait, the name and so are 12 pt, while the description is 9 pt. This is because waaay back at the beginning when everything was consolidated, that was the formatting they primarily used.

[Kindulas]

Ideally all the content you would paste into your doc is 12 point Times New Roman. That's the main thing I think we need to change about the character template is it has a bunch of small fonts, which while look fine in a vaccum, when you paste the 12 point stuff in you feel like you need to downsize it or something (I mean, I do downsize my stuff but that's because I try to pack it into a printable). So, all the stuff you would paste over in the templates should be changed to 12

[Kindulas]

Tiny nitpick - The Speak With The Dead utility talent:

Speak With The Dead - Magic
Preparation Time: 1 Hour
You call the soul of a deceased creature back from the realms of death to speak with you. The deceased spirit must enter its corpse, and its corpse must be intact enough to be able to speak. You may compel the creature to answer one question truthfully and without distortion regarding experiences the creature had while alive. The spirit, whether willing or not, remains in the corpse for twenty minutes or until you dismiss it.

This ability, whilst cool and potentially, is utterly, horridly impractical, to the point of it being nearly impossible to use.

To just use this, you need:
- A speaking-able dead body (for some Pony Tales campaigns, there might not even BE such dead things unless the players are evil/terrible, and "speak-able corpse" is vague: does it need a fleshy throat? Does a skeleton work? Can a jaw-less zombie do it, or a creature without a larynx?).
- An entire hour to do the ritual (so you can't use it for any "quick" info gathering or if you're in a hurry, and you risk getting caught doing questionable necromantic things).
- A magic point (for a 1hr ritual and its meek effect, it's NOT worth the cost).

All that, just to get a single question answered truthfully (which is 1/3 of what you get with Honesty, for the same price, much, much simpler to actually achieve). The extra time it spends in the body is hardly useful and unlikely to be "persuadable" (what are you going to do, intimidate the already-dead creature?). It's also a bit of a lacking option compared to Animal Speak and Speak With Plants, giving only a minor, temporary "talk" with the spirit after you go through several hoops to do so.

And for a supposedly exclusively-necromantic talent, it' not even part of the Archlich destiny, which is plain silly.

So here's two variants of a fix, one which makes it practical/clarified, and another which re-works it to work similarly to "Animal Speak", as a semi-passive ability.

Variant 1:

Variant 2:

I heartily agree with this. While going over the archlich destiny for the revamp I thought getting Speak with the Dead should be part of it, but was astonished to find it costed a Magic Point. I used it recently in an adventure too to talk to a skeleton, and looking over the talent again (I just grabbed it with versatility) was again astonished to find the corpse actually had to have a working larynx! The fact it has to work on recent corpses is silly, because you should absolutely be able to ask the residents of a millennia-old-tomb about the place. Maybe that's not what "Speak-able-corpse" was supposed to mean - frankly, it probably wasn't, but it sure sounds that way. Not sure it should just work on having 3 finger bones or a heart, but I'm thinking that a talking skull or, morbidly enough, a removed face should do the trick with this thing. And to take the whole hour you have to spend on the lich's True Reanimation? I think more like 10 Min at least should be fine

[Zarhon]

I heartily agree with this. While going over the archlich destiny for the revamp I thought getting Speak with the Dead should be part of it, but was astonished to find it costed a Magic Point. I used it recently in an adventure too to talk to a skeleton, and looking over the talent again (I just grabbed it with versatility) was again astonished to find the corpse actually had to have a working larynx! The fact it has to work on recent corpses is silly, because you should absolutely be able to ask the residents of a millennia-old-tomb about the place. Maybe that's not what "Speak-able-corpse" was supposed to mean - frankly, it probably wasn't, but it sure sounds that way. Not sure it should just work on having 3 finger bones or a heart, but I'm thinking that a talking skull or, morbidly enough, a removed face should do the trick with this thing. And to take the whole hour you have to spend on the lich's True Reanimation? I think more like 10 Min at least should be fine

Yeah, it's a thing I noticed retroactively as well. It looks cool, but when you'd want to use it, its likely unavailable. I even made a "Haunted" flaw that works off of the talent, its provided benefit making it more useful (giving it 3/day uses rather than an MP, though I probably should have added a prep time decrease as well).

As for the wholse "insufficient speaking parts", I kinda envisioned it as you talking to the ghost/spirit that is inhabiting the bodypart, which gains mild animation abilities (for instance, the heart beats/hops in tone with what is said, the bones can jump around, or something) whilst you hear the creatures original voice. The "Helping Hands" (from the Labyrinth) also spring to mind, when it comes to limited bodyparts. Just have the parts mimic a mouth.

Alternately, they improvise the best they can (and you somehow succeed in interpreting it flawlessly cause of rule of funny and having the talent). For instance, Charades, Morse,  Horse Code, writing it down for you, shadow puppetry, or just incomprehensible gurgling/moaning/clacking/gibberish that you understand (much like having Animal Speak and talking to an animal).

And as a plus, you can choose to withhold information you receive for your amusement / profit.  

*Clacking Bones* ("Tell the wretch he can burn in Tartarus!")
PC: "He says he misses you."

*Clacking Bones* ("I've left her an inheritance, but was unable to write it into my will prior to my passing. It is a prized jeweled statuette. I've given it to a trusted friend for safe-keeping.")
PC: "Alas, whilst there used to be an inheritance, it has been stolen, many moons ago."

Edit: On the topic of animated bodyparts, I can't remember if I mentioned this earlier or not, but - "Mind of It's Own". Should the talent get some clarification/safety clause on the "damage" of the enchanted bodypart, and consequences of such?

As written, it sort of leaves a risk of irreversible / permanent / crippling injury / outright death (vital organ damage) if mishandled, or used without the Mechanical racial to repair "damaged" parts.

The risk makes it a bit unsavory to use on an ally as well - what if they end up crippled from using it? You'll never live down their complaints.

[ZamuelNow]

Celestia’s Light:

Light Trap:

The limited number of times per day makes Light Trap notably inferior to Celestia's Light.  However, the ability to negate light makes it useful and different yet the duration make it hard to do that.  While I think that Light Trap needs more uses, my primary suggestion proposal is to increase the darkness time from 1 minute to 1 hour.  That better allows you to use it as a trap if you want to bait someone into the area.

[Kindulas]

Celestia’s Light:

Light Trap:

The limited number of times per day makes Light Trap notably inferior to Celestia's Light.  However, the ability to negate light makes it useful and different yet the duration make it hard to do that.  While I think that Light Trap needs more uses, my primary suggestion proposal is to increase the darkness time from 1 minute to 1 hour.  That better allows you to use it as a trap if you want to bait someone into the area.

Well, the main idea behind Light Trap is to run away...

[Kindulas]

I heartily agree with this. While going over the archlich destiny for the revamp I thought getting Speak with the Dead should be part of it, but was astonished to find it costed a Magic Point. I used it recently in an adventure too to talk to a skeleton, and looking over the talent again (I just grabbed it with versatility) was again astonished to find the corpse actually had to have a working larynx! The fact it has to work on recent corpses is silly, because you should absolutely be able to ask the residents of a millennia-old-tomb about the place. Maybe that's not what "Speak-able-corpse" was supposed to mean - frankly, it probably wasn't, but it sure sounds that way. Not sure it should just work on having 3 finger bones or a heart, but I'm thinking that a talking skull or, morbidly enough, a removed face should do the trick with this thing. And to take the whole hour you have to spend on the lich's True Reanimation? I think more like 10 Min at least should be fine

Yeah, it's a thing I noticed retroactively as well. It looks cool, but when you'd want to use it, its likely unavailable. I even made a "Haunted" flaw that works off of the talent, its provided benefit making it more useful (giving it 3/day uses rather than an MP, though I probably should have added a prep time decrease as well).

As for the wholse "insufficient speaking parts", I kinda envisioned it as you talking to the ghost/spirit that is inhabiting the bodypart, which gains mild animation abilities (for instance, the heart beats/hops in tone with what is said, the bones can jump around, or something) whilst you hear the creatures original voice. The "Helping Hands" (from the Labyrinth) also spring to mind, when it comes to limited bodyparts. Just have the parts mimic a mouth.

Alternately, they improvise the best they can (and you somehow succeed in interpreting it flawlessly cause of rule of funny and having the talent). For instance, Charades, Morse,  Horse Code, writing it down for you, shadow puppetry, or just incomprehensible gurgling/moaning/clacking/gibberish that you understand (much like having Animal Speak and talking to an animal).

And as a plus, you can choose to withhold information you receive for your amusement / profit.  

*Clacking Bones* ("Tell the wretch he can burn in Tartarus!")
PC: "He says he misses you."

*Clacking Bones* ("I've left her an inheritance, but was unable to write it into my will prior to my passing. It is a prized jeweled statuette. I've given it to a trusted friend for safe-keeping.")
PC: "Alas, whilst there used to be an inheritance, it has been stolen, many moons ago."

Edit: On the topic of animated bodyparts, I can't remember if I mentioned this earlier or not, but - "Mind of It's Own". Should the talent get some clarification/safety clause on the "damage" of the enchanted bodypart, and consequences of such?

As written, it sort of leaves a risk of irreversible / permanent / crippling injury / outright death (vital organ damage) if mishandled, or used without the Mechanical racial to repair "damaged" parts.

The risk makes it a bit unsavory to use on an ally as well - what if they end up crippled from using it? You'll never live down their complaints.

I can see safety measures added to it.
As for Speak with the Dead, the issue I can see allowing other body parts to animate to a limited extent makes it a little bit less clear what they're allowed to do, since as is all it can do is talk, but adding some kind of "Well it can like kinda animate if it's a hand to communicate some" is plausible, but less slick. I get the idea of just calling the ghost into the tidbit and still being able to talk, but I rather like the restriction of at least needing a face-esque part for this talent. Maybe we'll dial it back further, but for right now we're at least buffing it this much:

Speak With The Dead - 1/Day
Preparation Time: 10 Minutes
Touch a creature’s corpse or skeleton and call its soul back into its body. You must have at least its skull or face. You empower the creature to speak even if it’s decayed enough it shouldn't be able to. You may compel the creature to answer one question truthfully and without distortion regarding experiences the creature had while alive. The spirit, whether willing or not, remains in the corpse for twenty minutes or until you dismiss it.

[ZamuelNow]

Well, the main idea behind Light Trap is to run away...

Didn't know that. Assumed it was meant for semi offensive uses ranging from the blinding light to using the total darkness in conjunction with Nightwatch to get the jump on someone. Plus, considering the setting it seems like a localized blackout would be a viable use. That said, I could still see 10 minutes being more usable since an hour is way too much for the stated intent but a minute may not be enough for a good head start.

[Kindulas]

Well, the main idea behind Light Trap is to run away...

Didn't know that. Assumed it was meant for semi offensive uses ranging from the blinding light to using the total darkness in conjunction with Nightwatch to get the jump on someone.  Plus, considering the setting it seems like a localized blackout would be a viable use.  That said, I could still see 10 minutes being more usable since an hour is way too much for the stated intent but a minute may not be enough for a good head start.

Yeah I can see it being something more along the lines of 5-10 minutes

[Philadelphus]

Teleportation & Flash Teleport:

Looking at these two talents, I can't help feeling that vanilla Teleportation is superior to Flash Teleport in every way except preparation time. After all, with Flash Teleport, you give up the ability to teleport other party members, the ability to teleport more than 60 feet total (either by expending additional uses or by spending a Magic Point), and 3 uses/day. It leaves Flash Teleport with really only one legitimate use: instantly teleporting yourself out of dangerous situations. Teleportation, on the other hand, is much more generally useful: teleport other party members over/around/through obstacles, spending a few uses to explore someplace otherwise inaccessible without blowing all your daily uses, and, in a pinch, teleporting really far by expending additional uses and/or a Magic Point.

Now, I get that the Instantaneous prep time is very, very, powerful. But as I've said, the hyperspecialization of this talent really leaves it with very little use – teleporting yourself out of danger (and leaving your friends behind, if the whole party is caught in something), and, maybe, using it to teleport out-and-back for exploration of a place your character couldn't normally reach.

I'd really like to see this talent get a small buff to make it more generally useful, because as it is, if you want to be helpful to the party, Teleportation is a far superior option; Flash Teleport mainly only helps your character. I can think of two ways to do so off the top of my head (note that these are either/or/both, I'm not necessarily suggesting that both must be implemented together):

One: Increase the number of daily uses to 4, so that you can at least use it better for exploration (teleport into the bad-guy lair, take a quick look around, teleport back out without blowing all your charges at once, etc.) Possibly also increase the range slightly by 10-20 feet.
Two: Make it so that by spending a Magic Point you can affect allies with this talent. This would, I think, go a long way towards making it more competitive with base Teleportation. Right now, if, say, an ally springs a lethal trap and isn't able to dodge? Too bad, alas poor Yorick, we knew him well. With this change? Jump into action, spend a Magic Point, and teleport your ally out of harm's way. (This exact situation happened to me in a campaign where we were using my Talent Specialization System: the chap with Teleportation had bought the ability to use it instantly, and teleported my character from certain crushing death after I failed all my dodge rolls. It was a really cool moment, he got to look awesome, and I think it'd be great if that kind of awesomeness was available to people in the base system.)

[Kindulas]

Teleportation & Flash Teleport:

Looking at these two talents, I can't help feeling that vanilla Teleportation is superior to Flash Teleport in every way except preparation time. After all, with Flash Teleport, you give up the ability to teleport other party members, the ability to teleport more than 60 feet total (either by expending additional uses or by spending a Magic Point), and 3 uses/day. It leaves Flash Teleport with really only one legitimate use: instantly teleporting yourself out of dangerous situations. Teleportation, on the other hand, is much more generally useful: teleport other party members over/around/through obstacles, spending a few uses to explore someplace otherwise inaccessible without blowing all your daily uses, and, in a pinch, teleporting really far by expending additional uses and/or a Magic Point.

Now, I get that the Instantaneous prep time is very, very, powerful. But as I've said, the hyperspecialization of this talent really leaves it with very little use – teleporting yourself out of danger (and leaving your friends behind, if the whole party is caught in something), and, maybe, using it to teleport out-and-back for exploration of a place your character couldn't normally reach.

I'd really like to see this talent get a small buff to make it more generally useful, because as it is, if you want to be helpful to the party, Teleportation is a far superior option; Flash Teleport mainly only helps your character. I can think of two ways to do so off the top of my head (note that these are either/or/both, I'm not necessarily suggesting that both must be implemented together):

One: Increase the number of daily uses to 4, so that you can at least use it better for exploration (teleport into the bad-guy lair, take a quick look around, teleport back out without blowing all your charges at once, etc.) Possibly also increase the range slightly by 10-20 feet.
Two: Make it so that by spending a Magic Point you can affect allies with this talent. This would, I think, go a long way towards making it more competitive with base Teleportation. Right now, if, say, an ally springs a lethal trap and isn't able to dodge? Too bad, alas poor Yorick, we knew him well. With this change? Jump into action, spend a Magic Point, and teleport your ally out of harm's way. (This exact situation happened to me in a campaign where we were using my Talent Specialization System: the chap with Teleportation had bought the ability to use it instantly, and teleported my character from certain crushing death after I failed all my dodge rolls. It was a really cool moment, he got to look awesome, and I think it'd be great if that kind of awesomeness was available to people in the base system.)

I like the idea of a Magic Point to teleport the party. A lot.
Having it buffed to make it useful for exploration defeats the purpose of its existence, however, which is to escape.

[Mind Gamer]

There IS a simple way to give it that buff, then.

Make it a team thing.

If two characters, both with Teleport, use it together, they can use it to teleport an entire group of 6.

[SparkImpulse]

There IS a simple way to give it that buff, then.

Make it a team thing.

If two characters, both with Teleport, use it together, they can use it to teleport an entire group of 6.

Recent changes prevent any form of stacking unless explicitly allowed.

Although, if they have separate targets, its not precisely "stacking" is it?

[Mind Gamer]

It's not stacking if it's combining spells to create a separate effect, is it?

Plus, if it's a team, it implies that they need to have time to co-ordinate the spell. Extra prep time.

[Philadelphus]

I like the idea of a Magic Point to teleport the party. A lot.
Having it buffed to make it useful for exploration defeats the purpose of its existence, however, which is to escape.

Fair enough. The Magic Point idea just came to me while I was writing and I find I'm quickly preferring it myself.

[Kindulas]

I like the idea of a Magic Point to teleport the party. A lot.
Having it buffed to make it useful for exploration defeats the purpose of its existence, however, which is to escape.

Fair enough. The Magic Point idea just came to me while I was writing and I find I'm quickly preferring it myself.

It's a really cool idea

[Philadelphus]

Thanks!  

On the subject of the new expansion stuff, I'm slightly confused about the appropriate targets for Minimize:

Minimize - 3/Day [Inspired by Zarhon]
Preperation Time: 1 Minute
You and/or up to 6 willing allies Target willing creature you can see becomes 1/4th an inch tall or long (whichever is it’s longest measurement)

[Kindulas]

Thanks!  

On the subject of the new expansion stuff, I'm slightly confused about the appropriate targets for Minimize:

Minimize - 3/Day [Inspired by Zarhon]
Preperation Time: 1 Minute
You and/or up to 6 willing allies Target willing creature you can see becomes 1/4th an inch tall or long (whichever is it’s longest measurement)

Basically, you can target up six allies, just yourself, or yourself AND up to 6 allies.

[Zarhon]

Minimize - 3/Day [Inspired by Zarhon]
Preperation Time: 1 Minute
You and/or up to 6 willing allies Target willing creature you can see becomes 1/4th an inch tall or long (whichever is it’s longest measurement)

What prevents the unfortunate scenario of a creature having only its length (but not height) shrunk, or only its height (but not length) shrunk, transforming a creature into a horrifying paper-thin abomination or worm-like creature (suffering system shock and dying horribly afterwards)? From the wording, that's what you get if you don't spend 2 charges.

Hmm, actually, would the use of this talent allow you to become "paper-thin" and use it to act like a Super Paper Mario character / protagonist (become practically 2-dimensional)?

[Stairc -Dan Felder]

Gotta be a typo. I'll flag it for Kindulas.

[A1C Bronymous]

I think the "or" is meant to say that you choose whichever is your longer dimension, and the rest is scaled along with it. It technically spells it out, but it could still be clearer.

[Philadelphus]

That's how I interpreted it too. If you shrunk a human they'd up a quarter inch tall, whereas a pony would end up a quarter inch long...and maybe tall as well, since they actually seem to have a fairly square aspect ratio now that I think about it.

[ZamuelNow]

Burrower should probably specify taking a skill to use with it since it mentions skill checks at the end for moving faster. Selecting the skill keeps it in line with the recent style of variability so you can have a digging creature, a burrowing machine you pilot, or geokinetics.

[Zarhon]

Burrower should probably specify taking a skill to use with it since it mentions skill checks at the end for moving faster.  Selecting the skill keeps it in line with the recent style of variability so you can have a digging creature, a burrowing machine you pilot, or geokinetics.

Persuasion: "MOVE ASIDE, DIRT. I HAVE PLACES TO BE."

[Stairc -Dan Felder]

Stealth: "I sneak past the dirt."

[Sponsored content]