Unicorn talents

Hmmm...Imbue with Magic could probably be incorporated into It's Witchcraft as it stands, since it never mentions a time limit on effects. For that matter, Enchanting probably could too, just with a really, really high DC. Although I suppose this might be a case where a utility talent lets you lower the DC in exchange for being more highly specific. I'd be interested to see what Stairc thinks on the matter.

Philadelphus wrote:Hmmm...Imbue with Magic could probably be incorporated into It's Witchcraft as it stands, since it never mentions a time limit on effects. For that matter, Enchanting probably could too, just with a really, really high DC. Although I suppose this might be a case where a utility talent lets you lower the DC in exchange for being more highly specific. I'd be interested to see what Stairc thinks on the matter.

Everything could always be incorporated into 'It's Witchcraft'. I've already given a lengthy explanation about why that's not something that needs to be worried about or considered.

Short version: These talents make you much better at doing this specific thing, from auto-success (making a phase-step with 'It's Witchcraft' would be a monstrously high DC) to just being a much lower DC than a comparable It's Witchcraft arcana check made without the talent.

Actually, on enchanted objects, there's a thread in mechanics on Spells. So!

Spellcraft
Prerequisites: It's Witchcraft!
Every morning, pick three spells from the list of approved spells. You can cast these spells at will during the day. ONCE A SPELL IS CAST, YOU CANNOT CAST IT AGAIN! You can select repeats of the same spell.

Enchantment Prep time, fifteen minutes
Prerequisites: It's Witchcraft!
Pick a spell from list of approved spells. Target a prepared artifact and roll arcana (DC determined by spell). If successful, you know have a MAGIC ARTIFACT. Anypony can trigger the MAGIC ARTIFACT at will.

Second one's a little OP, but I can't figure out how to nerf it.

SilentBelle wrote: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.

These look basically good, and I love the basic concept behind them, but I'm finding myself wondering why anypony would take imbue with magic; even with the uncommon items (which we could use some examples of, by the by), Enchanting just seems generally more useful.

Masterweaver wrote:Actually, on enchanted objects, there's a thread in mechanics on Spells. So!

Spellcraft
Prerequisites: It's Witchcraft!
Every morning, pick three spells from the list of approved spells. You can cast these spells at will during the day. ONCE A SPELL IS CAST, YOU CANNOT CAST IT AGAIN! You can select repeats of the same spell.

Enchantment Prep time, fifteen minutes
Prerequisites: It's Witchcraft!
Pick a spell from list of approved spells. Target a prepared artifact and roll arcana (DC determined by spell). If successful, you know have a MAGIC ARTIFACT. Anypony can trigger the MAGIC ARTIFACT at will.

Second one's a little OP, but I can't figure out how to nerf it.

Well, I'd hardly call my first rough draft of ideas a list of approved spells.
But I like the Spellcraft idea. For the cost of two utility talents, you gain versatility. I don't know, would it be too unbalanced? I wrote most of the spells on the assumption that they would be fairly rare, so some of them (like Teleportation) might be a bit too powerful. On the other hand I don't think most of them are too game-breaking ("Oh no! I forgot to factor in that my players have a Spell of Cloud-Walking!"), and I think a lot of them are pretty cool. We could get around the problem of multiple casts per day by making most of them Daily, since a lot of them have day-long effects anyway.

Actually, they do all cost a Magic Point, so you're pretty limited on how many of them you can cast per day anyway. Two if you've got Derp, maybe three if you get a lucky Instant Party.

Philadelphus wrote:

Masterweaver wrote:Actually, on enchanted objects, there's a thread in mechanics on Spells. So!

Spellcraft
Prerequisites: It's Witchcraft!
Every morning, pick three spells from the list of approved spells. You can cast these spells at will during the day. ONCE A SPELL IS CAST, YOU CANNOT CAST IT AGAIN! You can select repeats of the same spell.

Enchantment Prep time, fifteen minutes
Prerequisites: It's Witchcraft!
Pick a spell from list of approved spells. Target a prepared artifact and roll arcana (DC determined by spell). If successful, you know have a MAGIC ARTIFACT. Anypony can trigger the MAGIC ARTIFACT at will.

Second one's a little OP, but I can't figure out how to nerf it.

Well, I'd hardly call my first rough draft of ideas a list of approved spells.
But I like the Spellcraft idea. For the cost of two utility talents, you gain versatility. I don't know, would it be too unbalanced? I wrote most of the spells on the assumption that they would be fairly rare, so some of them (like Teleportation) might be a bit too powerful. On the other hand I don't think most of them are too game-breaking ("Oh no! I forgot to factor in that my players have a Spell of Cloud-Walking!"), and I think a lot of them are pretty cool. We could get around the problem of multiple casts per day by making most of them Daily, since a lot of them have day-long effects anyway.

Actually, they do all cost a Magic Point, so you're pretty limited on how many of them you can cast per day anyway. Two if you've got Derp, maybe three if you get a lucky Instant Party.

Yes, make it so that creating the artifact costs a Magic Point, and then make it so it takes a magic point for anybody to activate it. (Not sure if we want an artifact to have charges or not though) Then your party can use a magic point to activate it each time they need it.

Illumination – At Will
Preparation Time: 10 seconds
You may use your horn to emit light. This light is normally omnidirectional and may light an area up to 50 feet in diameter, or may be focused into a tight beam that can light objects up to 200 feet away. A unicorn may continue producing light indefinitely, but may not continue producing it while asleep.

Philadelphus wrote:Illumination – At Will
Preparation Time: 10 seconds
You may use your horn to emit light. This light is normally omnidirectional and may light an area up to 50 feet in diameter, or may be focused into a tight beam that can light objects up to 200 feet away. A unicorn may continue producing light indefinitely, but may not continue producing it while asleep.

I like this one! Simple, to the point, and useful in any number of situations.

Philadelphus wrote:Illumination – At Will
Preparation Time: 10 seconds
You may use your horn to emit light. This light is normally omnidirectional and may light an area up to 50 feet in diameter, or may be focused into a tight beam that can light objects up to 200 feet away. A unicorn may continue producing light indefinitely, but may not continue producing it while asleep.

It can be used indefinitely, much in the way a pony can walk indefinitely. As DM of my game, any pony that uses this ability for over 4 hours straight is gonna start rolling endurance checks and if they fail, start to feel some small penalties building up. Argh, the migraine I get from constant magic trickling through my horn for hours while exploring this cave.

I like the ability. Simple useful abilities have always been some of my favourites.

Shaper - 2 Minutes
You may mold malleable material in any manner that you mind. DC is adjusted by the hardness of the material. If you take the extra time, material may be softened by the Weaken Substance Unicorn Utility Talent.

Receptive Telepathy - 10 Seconds
Pre-requesite: Either Telepathy or Detect Minds
You can pick up the surface thoughts of those around. This talent doesn't allow the probing of thoughts. The subject(s) must be actually actively thinking about what you're trying to pick up.

Clairaudience - 2/day
You can see remotely anywhere in 100feet. You can adjust where you see, but you can't hear whats going on. Anyone in the presence of where the remote viewing is taking place make a Medium to Difficult Perception check. If they make it, they may get the sense that they're "being watched", but can't make anything else out.

Last thing. I noticed that Master Ponykinesis doesn't have Advanced Ponykinesis as a prerequisite. Was this intentional?

Invisibility – 1/day
Preparation Time: 1 minute
You or target ally become invisible for 5 minutes. While invisible you may still be detected by sound, smell, or feel, but creatures will not be able to engage you in combat and will suffer -10 to checks made to restrain you.

Cardbo wrote:Shaper - 2 Minutes
You may mold malleable material in any manner that you mind. DC is adjusted by the hardness of the material. If you take the extra time, material may be softened by the Weaken Substance Unicorn Utility Talent.

Does this mean you get to use the power for a total time of 2 minutes each day? It might be easier to just make it an X/day power with a 1-minute limit or something like that.

Cardbo wrote:Receptive Telepathy - 10 Seconds
Pre-requesite: Either Telepathy or Detect Minds
You can pick up the surface thoughts of those around. This talent doesn't allow the probing of thoughts. The subject(s) must be actually actively thinking about what you're trying to pick up.

This one looks pretty good, and I like the "or" in the prerequisites.

Cardbo wrote:Clairaudience - 2/day
You can see remotely anywhere in 100feet. You can adjust where you see, but you can't hear whats going on. Anyone in the presence of where the remote viewing is taking place make a Medium to Difficult Perception check. If they make it, they may get the sense that they're "being watched", but can't make anything else out.

Clairaudience is a cool idea, though I don't know if the last two sentences are really necessary. It works just fine without them as a nice, simple power. I like all these ideas, I think they have some real potential.

Cardbo wrote:Last thing. I noticed that Master Ponykinesis doesn't have Advanced Ponykinesis as a prerequisite. Was this intentional?

I believe it is, as you can have either 100 lb. weight limit thrice a day with no Magic cost, or a 1,000 lb. weight limit once a day costing a Magic Point. Or both.

Philadelphus wrote:Invisibility – 1/day
Preparation Time: 1 minute
You or target ally become invisible for 5 minutes. While invisible you may still be detected by sound, smell, or feel, but creatures will not be able to engage you in combat and will suffer -10 to checks made to restrain you.

Why particularly to restrain you? May be it might work better as +10 to your stealth check? Or -10 on an opposed perception check?

Philadelphus wrote:

Cardbo wrote:Shaper - 2 Minutes
You may mold malleable material in any manner that you mind. DC is adjusted by the hardness of the material. If you take the extra time, material may be softened by the Weaken Substance Unicorn Utility Talent.

Does this mean you get to use the power for a total time of 2 minutes each day? It might be easier to just make it an X/day power with a 1-minute limit or something like that.

I based it off of Strengthen/Weaken Substance, which has a 2 minute prep time. I'm not sure I want to make it a daily. I don't think its too overpowered, and I can't really think of a reason why you could only use it a couple of times a day.

Philadelphus wrote:

Cardbo wrote:Clairaudience - 2/day
You can see remotely anywhere in 100feet. You can adjust where you see, but you can't hear whats going on. Anyone in the presence of where the remote viewing is taking place make a Medium to Difficult Perception check. If they make it, they may get the sense that they're "being watched", but can't make anything else out.

Clairaudience is a cool idea, though I don't know if the last two sentences are really necessary. It works just fine without them as a nice, simple power. I like all these ideas, I think they have some real potential.

Ok, I guess that works.
Clairaudience - 2/day
You can see remotely anywhere in 100feet. You can adjust where you see, but you can't hear whats going on.

Philadelphus wrote:

Cardbo wrote:Last thing. I noticed that Master Ponykinesis doesn't have Advanced Ponykinesis as a prerequisite. Was this intentional?

I believe it is, as you can have either 100 lb. weight limit thrice a day with no Magic cost, or a 1,000 lb. weight limit once a day costing a Magic Point. Or both.

Ok, I guess that makes sense. It does seem a little strange that its not a straight progression.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback!

Cardbo wrote:Why particularly to restrain you? May be it might work better as +10 to your stealth check? Or -10 on an opposed perception check?

Because if you can't see someone you're trying to restrain, you can't easily predict their movements, making it more likely that they could do something unexpected and slip out of your grasp. But it does seem a little strange now that you point it out. Adding +10 to your stealth would be a good idea. Thanks for the input!

Invisibility – 1/day
Preparation Time: 1 minute
You or target ally become invisible for 5 minutes. While invisible you may still be detected by sound, smell, or feel, but you get +10 to your stealth checks, creatures will not be able to engage you in combat, and will suffer -10 to checks made to restrain you.

Cardbo wrote:

Philadelphus wrote:

Cardbo wrote:Shaper - 2 Minutes
You may mold malleable material in any manner that you mind. DC is adjusted by the hardness of the material. If you take the extra time, material may be softened by the Weaken Substance Unicorn Utility Talent.

Does this mean you get to use the power for a total time of 2 minutes each day? It might be easier to just make it an X/day power with a 1-minute limit or something like that.

I based it off of Strengthen/Weaken Substance, which has a 2 minute prep time. I'm not sure I want to make it a daily. I don't think its too overpowered, and I can't really think of a reason why you could only use it a couple of times a day.

Not sure if that was the original time, but the prep time is down to 10 seconds now (~yay!). I don't think you have to make it a daily, but Strengthen/Weaken Substance are both 3/day utilities with a duration of 1 minute. I mean, if you want it to be a flat 2 minutes/day usage that could be cool too, I don't think there are any other powers that have a variable time-use like that.

]

Philadelphus wrote:

Cardbo wrote:

Philadelphus wrote:

Cardbo wrote:Shaper - 2 Minutes
You may mold malleable material in any manner that you mind. DC is adjusted by the hardness of the material. If you take the extra time, material may be softened by the Weaken Substance Unicorn Utility Talent.

Does this mean you get to use the power for a total time of 2 minutes each day? It might be easier to just make it an X/day power with a 1-minute limit or something like that.

I based it off of Strengthen/Weaken Substance, which has a 2 minute prep time. I'm not sure I want to make it a daily. I don't think its too overpowered, and I can't really think of a reason why you could only use it a couple of times a day.

Not sure if that was the original time, but the prep time is down to 10 seconds now (~yay!). I don't think you have to make it a daily, but Strengthen/Weaken Substance are both 3/day utilities with a duration of 1 minute. I mean, if you want it to be a flat 2 minutes/day usage that could be cool too, I don't think there are any other powers that have a variable time-use like that.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant the Preparation Time was 2 minutes, like Strengthen/Weaken Substance, but since thats also changed with the new update, I've changed the below as well.

Shaper - 3/day
Preparation Time - 10 Seconds
You may mold malleable material in any manner that you mind. If you take the extra time, material not originally meant for shaping, solid granite or molasses for example, may be softened or hardened by the Strengthen/Weaken Substance Unicorn Utility Talents.

So, Rarity's spell in A Dog and Pony Show.

Could be covered by It's Witchcraft!, of course, but then again so, technically, could most of the talents exclusive to unicorns.

Anywho,

Dowsing Spell
Preparation Time: 6 seconds.
Select a narrow category of non-living objects when you take this talent, such as gemstones, apples, or musical instruments. You may, at will, check any cone of space up to 10 feet in front of you using this talent. You are made aware of the presence of any existing objects within the cone that may belong to your chosen category, even if the objects are hidden or totally encased in, say, solid rock. You may take this talent multiple times, choosing a new category each time.

Finders Keepers Spell
Prequisite: Dousing Spell
The range of your Dousing Spell (all of them, if you have more than one) becomes a 40-foot sphere instead of a 10-foot cone.

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:So, Rarity's spell in A Dog and Pony Show.

Could be covered by It's Witchcraft!, of course, but then again so, technically, could most of the talents exclusive to unicorns.

Anywho,

Dousing Spell
Preparation Time: 6 seconds.
Select a narrow category of non-living objects when you take this talent, such as gemstones, apples, or musical instruments. You may, at will, check any cone of space up to 10 feet in front of you using this talent. You are made aware of the presence of any existing objects within the cone that may belong to your chosen category, even if the objects are hidden or totally encased in, say, solid rock. You may take this talent multiple times, choosing a new category each time.

Finders Keepers Spell
Prequisite: Dousing Spell
The range of your Dousing Spell (all of them, if you have more than one) becomes a 40-foot sphere instead of a 10-foot cone.

I do like this one! Captures the spell rather well, I think, although I believe you want "Dowsing" rather than "Dousing".

The Warrior of Many Faces wrote:...although I believe you want "Dowsing" rather than "Dousing".

DANGIT

Dousing Spell:
Preperation time 6 seconds
This summons a small raincloud over the head of one pony, either to emphasize sorrow, or just to get somepony or something covered in water.

Cardbo wrote:Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant the Preparation Time was 2 minutes, like Strengthen/Weaken Substance, but since thats also changed with the new update, I've changed the below as well.

Shaper - 3/day
Preparation Time - 10 Seconds
You may mold malleable material in any manner that you mind. If you take the extra time, material not originally meant for shaping, solid granite or molasses for example, may be softened or hardened by the Strengthen/Weaken Substance Unicorn Utility Talents.

Ah, that looks better. Was there supposed to be a time limit for it, since it's 3/day? Ten minutes, perhaps, like Strengthen/Weaken Substance? Nice alliteration, too.

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:So, Rarity's spell in A Dog and Pony Show.

Could be covered by It's Witchcraft!, of course, but then again so, technically, could most of the talents exclusive to unicorns.

Anywho,

Dowsing Spell
Preparation Time: 6 seconds.
Select a narrow category of non-living objects when you take this talent, such as gemstones, apples, or musical instruments. You may, at will, check any cone of space up to 10 feet in front of you using this talent. You are made aware of the presence of any existing objects within the cone that may belong to your chosen category, even if the objects are hidden or totally encased in, say, solid rock. You may take this talent multiple times, choosing a new category each time.

Finders Keepers Spell
Prequisite: Dousing Spell
The range of your Dousing Spell (all of them, if you have more than one) becomes a 40-foot sphere instead of a 10-foot cone.

Personally, I think you could combine these into one spell as Rarity didn't seem to have any sort of directional restrictions. If you really want a more powerful version, you could have the basic version only show the location of the closest item, and have a more powerful version that reveals all of them (like the difference between when Rarity and Twilight did it).
Also: "Select a narrow category of non-living objects when you take this talent, such as gemstones, apples, or musical instruments."

LoganAura wrote:Dousing Spell:
Preperation time 6 seconds
This summons a small raincloud over the head of one pony, either to emphasize sorrow, or just to get somepony or something covered in water.

Bwahaha! Or, you know, to actually douse a fire.

The Finders Keeper's Spell is the version that reveals all of them, basically. It's just, how exactly do you determine "all of them"? All of them in a "general area" just opens up room for arguments on what a general area is, as does stuff like "in the current room". As for Rarity's initial spell...I admit I haven't seen the episode in a while, but I seem to recall the initial search pattern Rarity used being...non-automatic, if that makes any sense. It required looking for, and the cone-ten-foot-range seemed the best way to incorporate that.

Non-living objects including apples is a problem, I'll admit that. But the problem with removing the "non-living" phrasing is the fact that living creatures like deer, ponies, and even dragons could then be included, since they are all technically objects. But, again, non-living excludes things like apples, too. Anyone got any idea how to compromise this.

...also, ha-ha on the Dousing Spell, LoganAura.

Eh. I like the classical elements. Speaking of, the other 3 and a light/darkness
Light. 6 sec prep time. your horn shines with a soft glow, illuminating an area around you (10 foot diameter?)
Fire. 6 sec prep time. creates a small flame to burn tinder or light torches.
Wind. 6 sec prep time. Creates a gust of wind.
Earth. 6 sec prep time. (No ideas)
Dark. 6 sec prep time. Turns out all lights in a 10 foot diameter area?

LoganAura wrote:Eh. I like the classical elements. Speaking of, the other 3 and a light/darkness
Light. 6 sec prep time. your horn shines with a soft glow, illuminating an area around you (10 foot diameter?)
Fire. 6 sec prep time. creates a small flame to burn tinder or light torches.
Wind. 6 sec prep time. Creates a gust of wind.
Earth. 6 sec prep time. (No ideas)
Dark. 6 sec prep time. Turns out all lights in a 10 foot diameter area?

For Earth, maybe something to do with plants? Boosting their growth or something?

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:The Finders Keeper's Spell is the version that reveals all of them, basically. It's just, how exactly do you determine "all of them"? All of them in a "general area" just opens up room for arguments on what a general area is, as does stuff like "in the current room". As for Rarity's initial spell...I admit I haven't seen the episode in a while, but I seem to recall the initial search pattern Rarity used being...non-automatic, if that makes any sense. It required looking for, and the cone-ten-foot-range seemed the best way to incorporate that.

Non-living objects including apples is a problem, I'll admit that. But the problem with removing the "non-living" phrasing is the fact that living creatures like deer, ponies, and even dragons could then be included, since they are all technically objects. But, again, non-living excludes things like apples, too. Anyone got any idea how to compromise this.

Sorry, I guess I wasn't very clear. What I meant was something like:
Dowsing Spell – reveals location of closest 'object' in 10-foot radius.
Finders Keepers Spell – increases radius to 40 feet and reveals all objects of that type.
To me, it seemed like the difference between Twilight and Rarity's versions of the spell was that Twilight was able to find every gem in a radius, while Rarity was only finding one at a time, not that there was any directional aspect. I haven't watched that episode in a while, though, so I could be wrong.

One other thing to keep in mind is that Pony Tales is meant to be simple enough to play over the Internet, so many (most?) games don't incorporate any sort of game board, so a "cone" adds extra complexity that a simple sphere bypasses. ("Ok, what direction is your character facing?" "How should I know? You just said that we entered a large circular room, not which way we were facing.")

Now that I think about it, why would you need a spell to determine the location of apples? Couldn't you just look up at the tree?

LoganAura wrote:Eh. I like the classical elements. Speaking of, the other 3 and a light/darkness
Light. 6 sec prep time. your horn shines with a soft glow, illuminating an area around you (10 foot diameter?)
Fire. 6 sec prep time. creates a small flame to burn tinder or light torches.
Wind. 6 sec prep time. Creates a gust of wind.
Earth. 6 sec prep time. (No ideas)
Dark. 6 sec prep time. Turns out all lights in a 10 foot diameter area?

If you look up the thread a few pages, I actually proposed an illumination spell earlier.

I'm sorry to keep disagreeing with you, but isn't it going to be any player's natural instinct to turn their character in the direction/towards the object they suspect will have their chosen object hidden in it?

On a more pertinent note, a quick lookup of the episode on youtube reveals Rarity walking around and turning the direction of her head while using her spell - something that would be unnecessary if the spell's range really was sphere-shaped. Thusly, even without a game board, the spell is either "Straight line" or "cone-shaped". I suppose I just felt like being generous.

That point is, of course, moot if people agree with Philedelphus that the spell needs to be changed no matter what the show says. Game balance before show accuracy should always be a must.

@LoganAura: Those powers almost seem too bland, I hate to say. Perhaps their effects could do with some strengthening?

Spoiler:

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:I'm sorry to keep disagreeing with you, but isn't it going to be any player's natural instinct to turn their character in the direction/towards the object they suspect will have their chosen object hidden in it?

No worries, I know we only disagree because we both want this spell to be awesome and just have different ideas how to do so. I guess I could have been clearer. What I meant to say is that Pony Tales as a game doesn't really use the concept of direction, since it is intended to be easily played over voice chat with no visual component. Players don't usually keep track of what direction their character is facing, and may have no idea what direction to point to look for an object. The reason behind making it non-directional is more of an anti-frustration feature, in my mind. I'm just imagining conversations like the following:
"Ok, I scan the wall for gems!"
"Which wall?"
"Um...the north wall?"
"You've been walking through this cave, twisting and turning for an hour now. You really expect to be able to tell north down here?"
"Ok, the closest wall."
"Alright, your scan reveals nothing."
"Rats. Ok, I...turn 90 degrees to the right? And scan that wall?"
"Still nothing."
"Shoot. Ok, I turn again and scan."
"Your scan reveals a single cluster of gems about a foot behind the face of the wall..."
(And this, of course, doesn't even touch the possibility that the gems might be above or below the player, or even non-existent.)

Whereas for the non-directional version, the conversation would be:
"Ok, I scan the area for gems!"
"Your scan reveals a single cluster of gems directly behind you, about a foot behind the face of the wall..."

Making it non-directional removes much of the hassle of having to know which direction to look for something in order to, well, look for it.

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:On a more pertinent note, a quick lookup of the episode on youtube reveals Rarity walking around and turning the direction of her head while using her spell - something that would be unnecessary if the spell's range really was sphere-shaped. Thusly, even without a game board, the spell is either "Straight line" or "cone-shaped". I suppose I just felt like being generous.

I went and watched the episode too, and there certainly isn't much to go on one way or the other. However, if you watch at right about 4:23 (sorry, don't know how to link it to that point), right after Rarity gives Spike the sapphire, her horn glows and she does a 180-degree turn while exclaiming "There are more over here!", which would seem to indicate that she located gems that were behind her back. Not much, but it's probably where I got the idea that it was non-directional in the first place. I figured that her walking around was her doing multiple sweeps of an area – maybe her spell isn't 100% efficient.

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:Well, yeah, obviously the apples will probably be in the trees, but what happens when they're not because Discord has been unsealed and has moved all the apple trees underground and you need to find them fast because an apple is the last component of the spell that will seal him away, huh?! WHAT THEN?!?!?!?!

Panic?