Unicorn talents

Videocrazy wrote:

- Unicorn horn-tip: Clipped from a unicorn. It re-grows after 24 hours, or sooner, with treatment. Tip-less unicorns flip a coin for every spell they do, except ponykinesis. Flipping tails causes the spell to fail. This penalty does not apply to casting "Temporal message"

Does this include combat talents in which the flavor has the character casting a spell?

No, since Dan doesn't like that sort of thing happening. The 'spells' should be changed to "Utility talents" for clarity I think

- Essence of harmony: This is collected from a player who hasn't used their element of harmony ability during that session yet. Collecting it prevents use of the ability for a day.

It says you can collect it from a player who hasn't used it that session, but that it prevents the use for a day. One session can run multiple days, so this is a little inconsistent.[/quote]

It seems good for me. The skill can't have been used that session, but the PC can use it again after that day in game.

No, since Dan doesn't like that sort of thing happening. The 'spells' should be changed to "Utility talents" for clarity I think

I know, but I ask to make sure, and aside from that it can get confusing from an in-game perspective if something's inconsistent.

It seems good for me. The skill can't have been used that session, but the PC can use it again after that day in game.

The issue I have here is that since it runs on Magic Points, it seems odd that you can use it after 24 hours, but using it even once (even though it's more than possible to use a player's Harmony power more than once in a day) causes you to be unable to tap that player for an Essence seems really odd. Perhaps if it just costs a Magic Point?

I'm confused. Where does this roll of 9 and the bonus of +12 come from? From the description, this is what I understand of the power. You make a roll, and either fail or don't like the result. If you fail, you can add a +3 to your original roll (not making a new roll), and anyone not part of the original roll can get a chance to assist. If you don't like the result, you can choose to not make the check.

You rolled 9, and added +3 to that, making the total roll +12. I should have said "it adds up to a +12 roll" instead of "they get a +12 bonus". Editing.

It says you can collect it from a player who hasn't used it that session, but that it prevents the use for a day. One session can run multiple days, so this is a little inconsistent.

It was intentional, despite the inconsistency. The idea is this: One of the players (or the caster) withholds use of their element on purpose, for the sake of finishing the temporal message. They know the message is important and should be finished, otherwise great consequences could come to their allies, themselves or others. This, in itself, is an act of harmony and friendship: You're both helping to prevent a cosmic paradox, as well as having your friends assist you/assisting your friends. Your essence gets restored very quickly because of that, despite being "depleted". Using your harmony ability causes a subconscious guilt within yourself, since you know the spell is probably much more important and you should have withheld from using it, and makes the essence "unusable" for the purpose of the spells.

Think of it as Rarity and her generosity towards Steven Magnet: She gave up her tail to fix his moustache. Afterwards, her tail was restored after they had used the elements of harmony.

As for a gameplay standpoint... Not using a harmony powers increases the odds that there will be magic points available to offer for finishing the spell, as well as ensuring that only 1 magic point is used for finishing the message. You do NOT lose magic points for having your "element" siphoned, you just delay yourself from using it. As for the "didn't use this session" part, this is to encourage the players to finish the spells early, rather than late. DMs should also try to give them opportunities to finish it early in a session, and plan accordingly (they have plenty of time to plan this out, since it happens in a following session).

Zarhon wrote:New talent time!

Zip it! - 3/day
You magically zip a creatures mouth shut, preventing them from talking (other than quiet mumbling) or opening their mouth for 3 minutes. You can also use this ability to re-roll a failed persuasion check of an ally, allowing yourself or another ally to roll again in their place.

Hahaha! I like this one!

Zarhon wrote:Turn the clock -2/day
You roll time backwards to before you made a failed check, up to two minutes in the past, allowing you to repeat or abandon the check. Repeating the check rolls the same result as before (this includes rolls for assisting allies), but adds a +3 bonus to it. Allies that were not present for the "original" check can join the "repeated" check, and must roll confirmation as normal. Your character cannot benefit from any in-character knowledge gained from the time trip, unless Out-Of-Character abilities are used.

Example: DC 15, you roll a 12. You turn back clock, and if you repeat, you get 12 + 3 = 15, passing the check. If they rolled 9 in another situation, they'd end up with a total of 9 + 3 = 12, which wouldn't be enough to pass (and the player should probably abandon it). HOWEVER, at that point an ally could help them pass it, provided they haven't been part of the "original" check.

Temporal message - 1 / Session [Magic]
Prerequisite: Turn the clock
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Requires materials: 1 x Dragon nail-clipping/scale/tooth, 1x jar of liquid rainbow, 1x Unicorn horn-tip, 30lbs of gems, 1x Essence of Harmony.
Duration: 2 min
You contemplate sending message through time to yourself, in order to aid your quest in the future. As you do so, you are suddenly visited by yourself from the future. They verbally relay an important message, hint, or piece of information within the spells duration, before vanishing back to their time. The message is recited by the DM, and must be relevant and useful to the player for the current session.

Relaying the message has its price, however. If the player does not successfully cast the spell at some point during the following session, they will create a temporal paradox, causing cosmic retribution from the DM. To do so, they must gather all the materials required for the spell, and the time traveler must be uninterrupted for the required preparation time. The DM must allow for all materials to be obtainable in some way to allow the spell to be cast. The DM can extend or shorten the required time for the spell to be cast, depending on need. The spell can only be cast AFTER the relayed message is properly utilized. There cannot be multiple "temporal messages" in effect at any given time.

The materials required are:
- Dragon nail-clipping, claw, or tooth: Any one of these can be obtained from any kind of dragon.
- Jar of liquid rainbow: This can be collected by a pegasus from any rainbow, or from a liquid rainbow pool/stream.
- Unicorn horn-tip: Clipped from a unicorn. It re-grows after 24 hours, or sooner, with treatment. Tip-less unicorns flip a coin for every spell they do, except ponykinesis. Flipping tails causes the spell to fail. This penalty does not apply to casting "Temporal message"
- 30lbs of gems: Any gems serve for this purpose.
- Essence of harmony: This is collected from a player who hasn't used their element of harmony ability during that session yet. Collecting it prevents use of the ability for a day.

Turn the Clock is very confusing, even for time travel. I much prefer Temporal Message here, because it's fun and timey-wimey without being excessively complicated.

LoganAura wrote:I'm trying to rehash my "Babble" thing.

Enchanted Explanation [Magic]
Time: 30 minutes
You effortlessly explain something in a broad spectrum of ideas using an assortment of complex words. If used with a player, the explanation gives a +2 bonus for the rest of the session in a skill related to that subject, according to the DM's discretion. If used against a NPP, that pony is distracted and gets a -5 to perception checks against anything other than the caster.

I like this one! Bonus points if the player can actually do that. XD

Zarhon wrote:New talent time!

Zip it! - 3/day
You magically zip a creatures mouth shut, preventing them from talking (other than quiet mumbling) or opening their mouth for 3 minutes. You can also use this ability to re-roll a failed persuasion check of an ally, allowing yourself or another ally to roll again in their place.

Hahaha! I like this one!

Zarhon wrote:Turn the clock -2/day
You roll time backwards to before you made a failed check, up to two minutes in the past, allowing you to repeat or abandon the check. Repeating the check rolls the same result as before (this includes rolls for assisting allies), but adds a +3 bonus to it. Allies that were not present for the "original" check can join the "repeated" check, and must roll confirmation as normal. Your character cannot benefit from any in-character knowledge gained from the time trip, unless Out-Of-Character abilities are used.

Example: DC 15, you roll a 12. You turn back clock, and if you repeat, you get 12 + 3 = 15, passing the check. If they rolled 9 in another situation, they'd end up with a total of 9 + 3 = 12, which wouldn't be enough to pass (and the player should probably abandon it). HOWEVER, at that point an ally could help them pass it, provided they haven't been part of the "original" check.

Temporal message - 1 / Session [Magic]
Prerequisite: Turn the clock
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Requires materials: 1 x Dragon nail-clipping/scale/tooth, 1x jar of liquid rainbow, 1x Unicorn horn-tip, 30lbs of gems, 1x Essence of Harmony.
Duration: 2 min
You contemplate sending message through time to yourself, in order to aid your quest in the future. As you do so, you are suddenly visited by yourself from the future. They verbally relay an important message, hint, or piece of information within the spells duration, before vanishing back to their time. The message is recited by the DM, and must be relevant and useful to the player for the current session.

Relaying the message has its price, however. If the player does not successfully cast the spell at some point during the following session, they will create a temporal paradox, causing cosmic retribution from the DM. To do so, they must gather all the materials required for the spell, and the time traveler must be uninterrupted for the required preparation time. The DM must allow for all materials to be obtainable in some way to allow the spell to be cast. The DM can extend or shorten the required time for the spell to be cast, depending on need. The spell can only be cast AFTER the relayed message is properly utilized. There cannot be multiple "temporal messages" in effect at any given time.

The materials required are:
- Dragon nail-clipping, claw, or tooth: Any one of these can be obtained from any kind of dragon.
- Jar of liquid rainbow: This can be collected by a pegasus from any rainbow, or from a liquid rainbow pool/stream.
- Unicorn horn-tip: Clipped from a unicorn. It re-grows after 24 hours, or sooner, with treatment. Tip-less unicorns flip a coin for every spell they do, except ponykinesis. Flipping tails causes the spell to fail. This penalty does not apply to casting "Temporal message"
- 30lbs of gems: Any gems serve for this purpose.
- Essence of harmony: This is collected from a player who hasn't used their element of harmony ability during that session yet. Collecting it prevents use of the ability for a day.

Turn the Clock is very confusing, even for time travel. I much prefer Temporal Message here, because it's fun and timey-wimey without being excessively complicated.

LoganAura wrote:I'm trying to rehash my "Babble" thing.

Enchanted Explanation [Magic]
Time: 30 minutes
You effortlessly explain something in a broad spectrum of ideas using an assortment of complex words. If used with a player, the explanation gives a +2 bonus for the rest of the session in a skill related to that subject, according to the DM's discretion. If used against a NPP, that pony is distracted and gets a -5 to perception checks against anything other than the caster.

I like this one! Bonus points if the player can actually do that. XD

Seeing how the Hippogriff's Thunderbird talent uses charges, could the Teleportation talent possibly be re-written to use them too? I know it's a small thing, but my poor brain just balks at the idea of expending additional "uses" to do something, whereas expending additional charges seems to fit better. Gameplay-wise they'd be exactly the same, it's just a flavor thing...

Philadelphus wrote:Seeing how the Hippogriff's Thunderbird talent uses charges, could the Teleportation talent possibly be re-written to use them too? I know it's a small thing, but my poor brain just balks at the idea of expending additional "uses" to do something, whereas expending additional charges seems to fit better. Gameplay-wise they'd be exactly the same, it's just a flavor thing...

Quite possibly, as long as it doesn't make the talent more confusing. You can, of course, reflavor it however you like.

I think the Races expansion will come next, then the Talent Show. I'd prioritize the Talent Show - but the races are almost done as-is.

As a guy who has a character with a teleportation cutie mark, I'm kinda against charges. Unless there's a second ability that increases them.

And actually that seems like a decent compromise. Also there should be an ability to put up Telenodes that you can teleport instantly to, though maybe that should be level checked I/E/ you can only get them at level X.

Masterweaver wrote:As a guy who has a character with a teleportation cutie mark, I'm kinda against charges.

Any particular reason why? Just curious.

And thanks for the reminder about re-flavoring Stairc, that's what I'll probably do if I ever take that talent.

You see, the character is a glassmaker who uses her teleportation on the molten glass she woeks with, as well as having her FORGE in Manehattan but her SHOP in Canterlot. This is all pre-system fluff, mind you, so she might be adjusted once translated. My point is she uses teleportation pretty darn often and has been using it since a young age, so saying she can only use it five times a day kinda seems OOC for her.

But the "5/day" thing applies whether you call it charges or uses...oh, wait, I see what you mean. You're not against the word "charges" specifically, just being limited in general.

So does she teleport the molten glass from Manehattan to Canterlot? Or how does she use teleportation?

Well...

Remember she's entirely freeform RP originated. She can teleport anywhere she knows, in a fixed radius, teleport anything she knows about in a fixed radius to her, teleport anywhere she can see, and set up telenodes for long distance teleportation (although that requires her to get there without teleporting first). In theory she could teleport your organs out, in practice... she's not that kind of girl

Yep, sadly not all character concepts can be supported by the system. Some just have imbalanced powers or those not fun for gameplay. Like imagine if someone wanted to build a character that had an at-will Fluttershy stare. It just wouldn't be balanced, despite how interesting the character concept.

Regardless, I expect teleport will have an upgraded path that makes it better.

I've got a question regarding "It's Witchcraft" and it various utilities/limitations. And I'm posting it here because I wouldn't know where to put it elsewhere.

Anyway, from what I've seen from the show, it's my understanding that Unicorns all have ponykinesis and a couple of spells related to their talents/cutie mark. This lore/flavour does clash a bit with the mechanics of "It's Witchcraft", something that allows Unicorns to cast spells or achieve magical effect that don't have anything to do with their talents.

Furthermore, a PC with a significant high enough Arcana (18 is the max without the aid of Freaky knowledge) can regularly pull off a DC of 30 and higher with guaranteed succes and achieve a multitude of magic spells/effect, something only Twilight, Celestia, Luna and Discord managed to achieve (potentially also Cadance) It's this clash between game mechanics and game lore/show canon that confuses me. For instance, a Unicorn who's specialized in taking care of plants could easily start raining down fire from the sky, something that doesn't make sense from a role playing perspective.

I'm merely asking this because it tends to come up a lot in my games as "It's Witchcraft" combined with high Arcane gets (ab)used as a catch all for anything magic related, even things that don't make sense. Further combined with adding in magic points, Generosity and whatnot, a "It's Witchcraft" on full power (18 Arcana + 5 Generosity) already amounts to 93 without even rolling. I just want to know what kind of consequences this can have (and I'm not even talking about (cutie mark) criticals, in which case the DM has even less wiggle room)

Also, in a related question, can "It's Witchcraft" be used to boost the effects of other magic spells/effect? There was some debate in my game wether or not a Unicorn could boost his Teleportation utility trait without have to spend additional charges. Or to use "It's Witchcraft" combined with Detect Minds to potentially detect every living thing in an X miles radius. Or "It's Witchcraft" together with Master Ponykinesis/Precise Ponykinesis/Mind Over Matter to drastically alter the limitations on those. You can tell where I'm going with this.

Don't have time to give a full answer right now (or even read the full post). However, ahve you checked the special section regarding, "It's Witchcraft" in the DM's Guide?

Demonu wrote:

I'm merely asking this because it tends to come up a lot in my games as "It's Witchcraft" combined with high Arcane gets (ab)used as a catch all for anything magic related, even things that don't make sense. Further combined with adding in magic points, Generosity and whatnot, a "It's Witchcraft" on full power (18 Arcana + 5 Generosity) already amounts to 93 without even rolling. I just want to know what kind of consequences this can have (and I'm not even talking about (cutie mark) criticals, in which case the DM has even less wiggle room)

Just how often are your players getting Magic Points? I'm under the impression that you get a max of one a day, and they don't accumulate. So if they use it on an "It's Witchcraft" check, they can't use it on anything else until the next day.

Stairc -Dan Felder wrote:Don't have time to give a full answer right now (or even read the full post). However, ahve you checked the special section regarding, "It's Witchcraft" in the DM's Guide?

I have read it and I'm asking this because it still leaves a lot of grey areas. Setting DC's at 100+ for things that shouldn't be possible can still be attained with the worst/best case scenario. But I'm talking more about the things that would fall beneath that.

If it's a significant advantage for the group, apply a Difficult, Expert, Master, Grandmaster or higher check as appropriate.

But DC's of 40 or 50 can be reached by one with high Arcana and if 1 or 2 are willing to spend magic points. I know that's the principal behind working together as a team but some players are quick to figure out that this would also mean they can (potentially) fire the Friendship Orbital Cannon once a session and nuke/oneshot whatever they attempt.

And what about (cutie mark) critical rolls? You may set a DC at 100 but if a PC rolls a (cutie mark) critical, the general outline is that they succeed at whatever they're attempting to do. Would that strech out even to things that are impossible, hence the DC of 100+ ?

Just how often are your players getting Magic Points? I'm under the impression that you get a max of one a day, and they don't accumulate. So if they use it on an "It's Witchcraft" check, they can't use it on anything else until the next day.

PC's start with 1 magic point a day but they can gain additional magic points. Those additional magic points aren't permanent as they vanish when the group takes an extented rest and start out with 1 magic point again but before that, they're free to spend it any way they see fit.

And there are ways of gaining magic points. Derp lets you start the day with an additional magic point, rolling a 20 with Instant Party gets you a temporary one and as a personal perk, I give out a temporary one to a PC that manages to achieve a cutie mark critical.

Demonu wrote:I have read it and I'm asking this because it still leaves a lot of grey areas. Setting DC's at 100+ for things that shouldn't be possible can still be attained with the worst/best case scenario. But I'm talking more about the things that would fall beneath that.

Then you can always either...

1) Set the DC at 1000.

2) Just limit the players to using no more than a single magic point, or some upper ceiling of them, on certain checks. That's in the rules too. You can say, "Okay, this is a very delicate task - you can only use a maximum of one magic point total on it". Whether one magic point per person, if they somehow have lots of extras, or one or two magic points *total*.

"Demonu"But DC's of 40 or 50 can be reached by one with high Arcana and if 1 or 2 are willing to spend magic points. I know that's the principal behind working together as a team but some players are quick to figure out that this would also mean they can (potentially) fire the Friendship Orbital Cannon once a session and nuke/oneshot whatever they attempt.

It's Witchcraft can't be used offensively, the magic of harmony cracks it apart. You may allow them to try triggering indirect things, like rockslides, if you feel like it - but you can't actually nuke anyone.

However, you're correct. They can get one overpowering check and be totally awesome once per day if they feel like. If your group decides they want to do that, don't try to limit it - give them a punching bag. Give them some incredibly important, epic-awesome obstacle to overcome in addition to the ones they normally plan. Let them sink all their Magic Points into blowing the check out of the water... And then they can deal with the rest of your adventure on more even terms.

For example - let's say the adventure you have in mind involves them going to a forgotten kingdom. Just put a forcefield around the kingdom, or have it lost in time and needing a complex magical gate to be forged to reach it. Make the DC *in-frickin-sane* and let them blow all their magic points breaching the obstacle. Then they get to feel awesome and you won't have to worry about them launching their friendship canon at something else.

Demonu wrote:And what about (cutie mark) critical rolls? You may set a DC at 100 but if a PC rolls a (cutie mark) critical, the general outline is that they succeed at whatever they're attempting to do. Would that strech out even to things that are impossible, hence the DC of 100+ ?

CMCs are like Felix Felicis. They give you the best possible shot of what you're trying to do. However, they can't do the impossible. A CMC on Heal could let a pony perform an incredibly skillful surgery with just tools they have lying around... But it wouldn't let them resurrect the dead. CMCs are very open to DM interpretation though, you can use them however you like. If you want a purely mathematical approach, maybe consider it like rolling a 30 and then add more modifiers on top. But in general, just let them do absolutely cool things with Cutie Mark Criticals that make the session *better* - not things that get in the way of the adventure.

Demonu wrote:I give out a temporary one to a PC that manages to achieve a cutie mark critical.

Yeah, that could be a problem. Not only does it provide an incentive for players to keep trying random skill checks related to their cutie mark until they get a critical, which can disrupt the flow of the game, but Magic points are rare and special for precisely this reason. They let you do awesome things and overcome epic obstacles. This should feel special. Having too many Magic Points can also be a problem for DMs to manage. I'd avoid handing out Magic Points for any reason in the future, unless it's part of the mechanics or the players really need *and* deserve a significant extra advantage.

Demonu wrote:I've got a question regarding "It's Witchcraft" and it various utilities/limitations. And I'm posting it here because I wouldn't know where to put it elsewhere.

Anyway, from what I've seen from the show, it's my understanding that Unicorns all have ponykinesis and a couple of spells related to their talents/cutie mark. This lore/flavour does clash a bit with the mechanics of "It's Witchcraft", something that allows Unicorns to cast spells or achieve magical effect that don't have anything to do with their talents.

Yep, sadly what works for a show isn't always what works for an RPG system. After all, if we only let unicorns use magic related to their cutie marks - we'd actually cripple cool-but-narrow cutie mark concepts by punishing them with less power... And we'd have a bunch of people with 'fightin' stuff' or, 'magical shizz' as their special talents.

Also, it's fine for the players to be exceptional in some things - if they weren't they probably wouldn't be player-characters. This is just one element that can make them special. The rest of the NPC ponies in the setting can certainly conform to the usual rules of the show.

Demonu wrote:Furthermore, a PC with a significant high enough Arcana (18 is the max without the aid of Freaky knowledge) can regularly pull off a DC of 30 and higher with guaranteed succes and achieve a multitude of magic spells/effect, something only Twilight, Celestia, Luna and Discord managed to achieve (potentially also Cadance) It's this clash between game mechanics and game lore/show canon that confuses me. For instance, a Unicorn who's specialized in taking care of plants could easily start raining down fire from the sky, something that doesn't make sense from a role playing perspective.

Not 'easily'. Trying to improvise magic like that is crazy-hard and if 'It's Witchcraft' starts duplicating the effects of lots of other utility talents... You're probably making things too lenient. A DC of '30' is way too low for most effects. You can fiddle with prexisting enchantments and bend them one way or another with 30 DCs quite well, but using such a wide variety of crazy different effects from scratch? Nuh-Uh. As you've said, that's something only Celestia or such should be able to do. Set the DCs appropriately.

Demonu wrote:I'm merely asking this because it tends to come up a lot in my games as "It's Witchcraft" combined with high Arcane gets (ab)used as a catch all for anything magic related, even things that don't make sense. Further combined with adding in magic points, Generosity and whatnot, a "It's Witchcraft" on full power (18 Arcana + 5 Generosity) already amounts to 93 without even rolling. I just want to know what kind of consequences this can have (and I'm not even talking about (cutie mark) criticals, in which case the DM has even less wiggle room)

That can have whatever consequences you want. Magic like that can be unpredictable and fluid and lots of factors can influence the difficulty. In short, you have wiggle-room to interpret the results however you like. But usually a 80 or 90 should definitely be able to duplicate the effects of utility talents It just shouldn't let you do anything super-campaign-breaking-crazy like take control of the heavens to bring the sun up during night. But you could certainly set off a fantastic visual fireworks display or help crack a powerful magical barrier or help someone break a horrible curse on them. On the other hand, if breaking such a curse would ruin the campaign's fun - make sure there's a realistic reason why a simple arcana check couldn't do all the work.

Example: Right now, my players want to perform a powerful magical act and enter the mindscape of one of their allies to help her. They have great spellpower, but the task was unthinkably dangerous due to the terrible nightmares assaulting her and the delicate nature of her mind... Mistaken spell could shatter their friend's mind. So they had to get an artifact that could help them with the spell first, before trying to enact it.

Demonu wrote:Also, in a related question, can "It's Witchcraft" be used to boost the effects of other magic spells/effect? There was some debate in my game wether or not a Unicorn could boost his Teleportation utility trait without have to spend additional charges. Or to use "It's Witchcraft" combined with Detect Minds to potentially detect every living thing in an X miles radius. Or "It's Witchcraft" together with Master Ponykinesis/Precise Ponykinesis/Mind Over Matter to drastically alter the limitations on those. You can tell where I'm going with this.

Yep, the answer to magical effects is always "yes". Witchcraft is to magical effects what Mechanics or Stunts is to physical things, like picking locks or bucking boulders. However, the DCs are always really, really high. Only specialists, as you've described should have any chance at all in doing such things. 30 should be the lowest end of the spectrum to do cool things, unless there are extenuating circumstances. Using Detect Minds like that would take an Arcana check of 50 or more. But extending a teleport's range a bit in a tough situation is much easier. Around 30 or perhaps even as low as 25... Depending on how game-breaking it is.

Yeah, that could be a problem. Not only does it provide an incentive for players to keep trying random skill checks related to their cutie mark until they get a critical, which can disrupt the flow of the game, but Magic points are rare and special for precisely this reason. They let you do awesome things and overcome epic obstacles. This should feel special. Having too many Magic Points can also be a problem for DMs to manage. I'd avoid handing out Magic Points for any reason in the future, unless it's part of the mechanics or the players really need *and* deserve a significant extra advantage.

I already told my players that they can't do successive rolls for anything. I mean, if you fail a perception check to see if you notice anything odd about something, you shouldn't be able keep rolling until you notice anything. Keeping on rolling until you get the desired result isn't how it's done.


And yes, "It's Witchcraft" cannot be used offensively but that doesn't mean there aren't other ways to (ab)use it, even be indirectly offensive.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time and effort to answer my questions. I appreciate it.

Demonu wrote:I already told my players that they can't do successive rolls for anything. I mean, if you fail a perception check to see if you notice anything odd about something, you shouldn't be able keep rolling until you notice anything. Keeping on rolling until you get the desired result isn't how it's done.

Some things can be attempted successively though, like multiple attempts to climb a tree. Just attach a penalty to failure (you fall and take damage).

But that doesn't actually prevent the problem I bring up. You can use different iterations of attempts for criticals to gain extra magic points. Like... If I have an Acrobatics cutie mark...

"I'll try juggling those rocks! 15. Dang. I'll try a flip! 19. Dang. I'll try a hoof-stand! 12. Dang..."

... Much later...

"... I'll try loopdee-hooping. Sweet, Cutie Mark Critical! Gimme the Magic Point please!"

You probably have a way to prevent this of course.

Demonu wrote:And yes, "It's Witchcraft" cannot be used offensively but that doesn't mean there aren't other ways to (ab)use it, even be indirectly offensive.

Yep. I hope I've addressed those. It's Witchcraft is made for players to mess with. Just make sure that if they want to really abuse it, they have to spend a lot of resources (specializing in Arcana, spending the utility talent to take it and spending lots of magic points or assistance). At that point, the players deserve something cool. And you can give them an obstacle specifically designed for them to smash through this way, as mentioned.

Demonu wrote:Anyway, thanks for taking the time and effort to answer my questions. I appreciate it.

Any time.

Some things can be attempted successively though, like multiple attempts to climb a tree. Just attach a penalty to failure (you fall and take damage).

Yes, it depends on context. If anything, I always ask for a reason.

If anything, it seems I have too lenient towards my players. I've been too... soft.
Oh, the irony

Anyway, seems like cutie mark criticals = magic point are a faux pas so I'll have to abolish that practice.
I can already hear them complain and trying to negotiate...

Demonu wrote:Anyway, seems like cutie mark criticals = magic point are a faux pas so I'll have to abolish that practice.
I can already hear them complain and trying to negotiate...

Lol, it's not a social error or anything. Just something I'd be wary of. Like you said, Magic Points can give players absurd capabilities that can be hard to account for. However, they seem to add an excitement and dynamism to the game - as well as a sense of teamwork - that makes them more than worth it. But give them access to too many magic points and they stop feeling special... So the hassle starts to outweigh the raw coolness and excitement of that moment each session when you get to spend your Magic Point.

Demonu wrote:
Anyway, seems like cutie mark criticals = magic point are a faux pas so I'll have to abolish that practice.
I can already hear them complain and trying to negotiate...

Is that something you've been doing for the other group? 'Cause I don't remember it happening. Although, now that you mention it, I don't think anyone in Pony Team Bravo has actually gotten a cutie mark critical yet...

So I just stumbled across the topic of Enchanted Items as player rewards, so I logically came to the conclusion that Unicorns would be the ones to enchant stuff. So I had two ideas:

Imbue With Magic - Magic
You place magic within an object to change it's properties for a period of 8 hours. You must roll an Arcana check with a DC appropriate to the particular feat you are trying to accomplish. (Think of it as It's Witchcraft! but on a day-long basis) For example you could decide to change a rock into a Top Hat for 8 hours at a relatively low arcana check (Maybe 20 or so). Or maybe you want to make that same rock into a thin bridge to cross a 10 foot gap, which would have something like a DC:30. After the time expires, the object reverts to the way it was, though it might be in a significantly different location.

Enchantiing - Magic
You take one hour, and use a variety of different materials (Uncommon materials that must either be bought or acquired through various means) to create a permanent enchantment on an object (Generally rarer materials have to be found in order to permanently hold stronger magic, and if we had a market system it would be quite pricey). You must roll an arcana check with a DC appropriate to the effect you want to create. Such as making a Rock shed 5 feet of light permanently, DC:20 Or having a door automatically open when a 'keyword' is spoken. DC:30

So these are just some ideas I've been bouncing around. And they are far from perfect, but I've always loved my magic items in DnD.