Joke Races

I've been thinking about the so called "Joke Races" that we've got in the offical rule books strike me as more "Subraces" then real silly races to Role Play as in games. So I'm suggesting we really think up some silly "slightly" unblanced Joke Races, just for fun, and maybe even get added if they are really silly enough. Any ideas?

link to joke templates

Well, it's funny that you should bring this up, since I was already thinking of adding some more templates to that document. Although I haven't actually put anything together yet, here are some concepts I've already come up with:

- Werewolf
- Weretimberwolf
- Half-Dragon
- Half-Cloud
- Two-Sevenths-Draconequus

Any preference to which I make first?

I was really meaning making real full fleghed races that'd for some reason or another just get choices form other races that are close enought or just able to choose from the Everypony type...

But now that you bring up the Templets thingie, I'm a fan of Werewolfs and think that'll extreamly fun to play.

Also I realize that Ghost should be a Trait to add to the joke pile too.

Xel Unknown wrote:Also I realize that Ghost should be a Trait to add to the joke pile too.

Oh, right. I'll add that to my mental list.

Also, schoolwork has been brutal, so progress on these will be slow, but I think I can have at least one new template up sometime this weekend.

Jason Shadow wrote:

Xel Unknown wrote:Also I realize that Ghost should be a Trait to add to the joke pile too.

Oh, right. I'll add that to my mental list.

Also, schoolwork has been brutal, so progress on these will be slow, but I think I can have at least one new template up sometime this weekend.

Best of luck dude and really take your time. We love the jokes when you've brought your A-Game. :3

Jason Shadow wrote:Well, it's funny that you should bring this up, since I was already thinking of adding some more templates to that document. Although I haven't actually put anything together yet, here are some concepts I've already come up with:

- Werewolf
- Weretimberwolf
- Half-Dragon
- Half-Cloud
- Two-Sevenths-Draconequus

Any preference to which I make first?

Two-Sevenths-Draconequus. Please.

Okay. The Werewolf and Two-Sevenths-Draconequus templates have been added to the original document. Enjoy!

I can't wait to see what the Weretimberwolf looks like! XD

Thought I have my questions about the Seed of Strife skill... It sounds kinda dumb on paper to me. Makes it only worth the risk if you want a chance to grief the party.

Xel Unknown wrote:Thought I have my questions about the Seed of Strife skill... It sounds kinda dumb on paper to me. Makes it only worth the risk if you want a chance to grief the party.

Well, it wasn't exactly intended to be an advantage. Every template has its drawbacks, and this one should be no exception. Since it only has the one, it should be pretty major, right?

Jason Shadow wrote:

Xel Unknown wrote:Thought I have my questions about the Seed of Strife skill... It sounds kinda dumb on paper to me. Makes it only worth the risk if you want a chance to grief the party.

Well, it wasn't exactly intended to be an advantage. Every template has its drawbacks, and this one should be no exception. Since it only has the one, it should be pretty major, right?

Good point... But at the same time it's an easy drawback to avoid having to even deal with. Just never spend magic on one's element... I now get it's ment to be a drawback but even as a drawback it strikes me as dumb.

Xel Unknown wrote:Good point... But at the same time it's an easy drawback to avoid having to even deal with. Just never spend magic on one's element... I now get it's ment to be a drawback but even as a drawback it strikes me as dumb.

Fair enough. Then again, the same could be said for, say, the robot's drawbacks, if the character in question wasn't designed with Stealth in mind and always wears a flotation device. So far, pretty much all of these templates have drawbacks that can be... well, if not negated, then at the very least mitigated.

Besides, I kinda like the idea of the ability for roleplaying reasons. For instance... Is this pony a bumbling but well-meaning altruist? A surly recluse who pushes potential friends away for fear of hurting them? A giggling, psychopathic lunatic who eagerly casts his dice but doesn't care how they fall? Or someone who wants to help, but is always plagued by nagging doubts and paralyzing indecision? Really, how the character uses the ability (or doesn't) is a veritable goldmine for helping to mold its personality.

And of course, the template brings with it all of the negative stigma that being a scion of Chaos and Disharmony would have - probably more so than being a changeling, and apparantly they tend to have to hide their natures in order to (and I quote the RoE document) "avoid the torches and pitchforks". Then again, such issues aren't written into the rules, and therefore some DMs will almost certainly ignore them entirely...

But anyway, if you think Seed of Strife isn't a strong enough drawback, then suggestions on how to actually improve the template would be appreciated. Simply saying "it seems dumb" isn't very helpful, but coming up with additional or alternative drawbacks would be quite the boon.

Agreed and I'm sorry for not adding helpful advice on how to improve it, until now... And if anything I was more thinking they're TOO strong a drawback and strike me as just stopping you from using one's element with magic points. And I really wouldn't wanta build a character with that silly trait because of that drawback.

Best way I could think of improve it would be that one CAN'T use the normal elements but instead have to choose a darker inverted version of the elements. That'd make more sense for that template. (I know what your thinking but hey, sense making is VERY important with RPG Game Systems.)

Xel Unknown wrote:Best way I could think of improve it would be that one CAN'T use the normal elements but instead have to choose a darker inverted version of the elements. That'd make more sense for that template. (I know what your thinking but hey, sense making is VERY important with RPG Game Systems.)

Ah! Too strong a drawback! Now we're getting somewhere.

I dunno... If they have to choose a darker, inverted version, then it's hardly a disadvantage, is it? Either it's a more evil-flavored but still useful ability (in which case it's no longer a drawback, just a different character option) or it's essentially spending a Magic Point to hurt yourself (and so nobody would use the ability EVER, making it even more crippling then the original idea - a 50% chance is better than a 0% chance, after all).

Hmm... What if I decreased the probability of the "disharmonious" effect occuring - therefore still keeping the randomness and uncertainty, but making spending the MP anyway seem more attractive? If that works, should it be dropped to, say, a 1-in-4 chance? 1-in-6?

Jason Shadow wrote:

Xel Unknown wrote:Best way I could think of improve it would be that one CAN'T use the normal elements but instead have to choose a darker inverted version of the elements. That'd make more sense for that template. (I know what your thinking but hey, sense making is VERY important with RPG Game Systems.)

Ah! Too strong a drawback! Now we're getting somewhere.

I dunno... If they have to choose a darker, inverted version, then it's hardly a disadvantage, is it? Either it's a more evil-flavored but still useful ability (in which case it's no longer a drawback, just a different character option) or it's essentially spending a Magic Point to hurt yourself (and so nobody would use the ability EVER, making it even more crippling then the original idea - a 50% chance is better than a 0% chance, after all).

Hmm... What if I decreased the probability of the "disharmonious" effect occuring - therefore still keeping the randomness and uncertainty, but making spending the MP anyway seem more attractive? If that works, should it be dropped to, say, a 1-in-4 chance? 1-in-6?

That'd be great improvements in my eyes. :3
I'd say do one of those or both. Cause I'd see any of your suggestions help lessen it's bad effects a lot.

Two-Sevenths-Draconequus edited! It now has only a 25% chance of screwing things up when using its Element Power.

Jason Shadow wrote:Two-Sevenths-Draconequus edited! It now has only a 25% chance of screwing things up when using its Element Power.

And that feels like the right level between fair and unfair for that drawback. :3

I'm happy to have helped, sorry it took me a bit to explain what I felt was wrong and stuff...

New templates! The Weretimberwolf and Ghostie have just been added to the document.

I love the new joke races, and that "Giggle at..." just is so brilliant!

OH yeah, new Joke Template idea, Time Lord! I mean why didn't we think up that one already? Also I'd suggest Cyborg be a joke race too. Maybe even Anthro Pony too... For the lulz. XD

Jason, I wanted to play a half-cloud for Xel's game so we hammered one out. Could use your skill at flavor and it still needs combat talents. I hope you don't mind and like what we made and will help finish it.

Feature 1: Half-Clouds always take half-damage, in and out of combat, from all sources. However they can't gain resistance of any sort.

Feature 2 (Cloud Form?): Half-Clouds can disguise themselves as clouds that look more or less identical to themselves. Any creature that attempts to recognize a flaw in your disguise makes a perception check DC 25. The DC may be higher or lower depending on how well you act out the deception (GM's discretion if appropriate/inappropriate acting gives penalties or bonuses). They may take applicable changeling trick dependent Utilities to modify this feature. While in this form the half-cloud has no weight and is subject to the effects of strong wings, weather-crafting, and ponykenesis. Additionally, while in this form they may pass through any opening that is not air tight, though while doing this their disguise DC is lowered to 15.

Feature 3: Half-Clouds may fly with no penalty but, suffer -10 penalties to stunts and acrobatics skill checks while on the ground. If they fail they may start to float. If they critically fail they get blown away on the breeze or such and lose control of their movement for 1d5 minutes. While flying half-clouds take an extra -5 penalty to skill checks from strong winds that give penalties.

Feature 4: Half-Clouds weigh half as much as normal creatures of their race and as such get +5 to Stealth and Acrobatics skill checks.

Looking good so far! I'll mull over additional things to do with this, and I expect to have the template fully completed by tomorrow evening.

EDIT: Psyche! It's completed right now! The flavor is perhaps a little different from what you were intending, Ramsus, but I hope that it still pleases.
However, I worry that it might be a little too powerful compared to the other templates. Does anyone think it could use another weakness or two?

Well I added a little help with the half-cloud... >.>

Evaporation, Condensation
Upon falling unconscious, half-clouds condense into a more-or-less ordinary puddle of water. Upon evaporation of the puddle, the half-cloud regains consciousness and returns to its normal form. However, a half-cloud can be prevented from returning to normal form by preventing it from evaporating, usually by trapping the water in some sort of container and/or freezing it. A half-cloud remains unconscious and unable to perceive or interact with anything while it is condensed.

Now... Does this effect sleep? Cause if so... I'd say it should not. Other then that I like the new joker we've got. Don't think it needs another drawback... Other then maybe just explaining a bit more what having a Half-Cloud weathercrafted can really do...


And while I've got your adtetion, Jasion... What'd you think of my, Time Pony, Cyborg, and Anthro-Pony (Anthro would work for everything, not just ponies, and the only race it couldn't be added to would be Minotaurs) joke template suggestions?

Xel Unknown wrote:Now... Does this effect sleep? Cause if so... I'd say it should not. Other then that I like the new joker we've got. Don't think it needs another drawback... Other then maybe just explaining a bit more what having a Half-Cloud weathercrafted can really do...


And while I've got your adtetion, Jasion... What'd you think of my, Time Pony, Cyborg, and Anthro-Pony (Anthro would work for everything, not just ponies, and the only race it couldn't be added to would be Minotaurs) joke template suggestions?

I don't think that sleep should result in consensation; only loss of consciousness from hit point damage. I'll go clarify that in the document.

As for your joke template suggestions... Well, some could be tricky, at the very least, for various reasons. Here are my thoughts on the subject.
Anthro: Mechanics-wise, the only thing I can think of that would make an anthro pony different from a regular pony would be ease of picking up and manipulating items. Considering, however, that ponies seem to be just as proficient at that sort of thing as baby dragons, minotaurs, and other creatures with graspers are, the Anthro template woulb pretty much be... just flavor. Might as well not bother at that point.
Cyborg: Considering the FiW style of the Robot template, which is basically a pony-like robot that's so realistic it fools even itself, the introduction of cyborgs would be rather confusing. Are their robotic components obvious, or do they look completely normal? Would they be prone to violent existential rampages like robots are? Do the Robot Police concern themselves only with destroying robots, or do they target cyborgs, too?
It seems to me that either a cyborg template would be a watered-down version of the robot one, or something so thematically different as to be incongruous. Maaaaybe I can find a way to make it work with enough thought, but that seems fairly low-priority to me right now.
Time Pony (or Gallopfreyan): It seems like a fairly simple template to work out; I'd just need to work out some mechanics for regeneration and maybe throw in a couple minor bits... Yes, I can definitely see this working. Time Pony is going on the List.

Hmmm, well I'm kinda annoyed you made the ability to disguise themselves as cloud so totally useless. Half an hour after you want a disguise is, I believe, widely known as too late to help. I understand having the new disguise thing take that long but, I don't see why they need to take longer than changelings for the rest of it (since they're limited to the options of "normal" and "a cloud").

Also I liked the walking on the ground drawback Xel and I came up with and if you feel they need more, that's what I'd suggest you use.

This part of Storm-Affinity is just bad: "Furthermore, several Utilities work differently for half-clouds. All weather-crafting Utilities count as only one-half of a Utility for half-clouds." Firstly you're basically forcing all half-clouds to be weather-crafters if they want to not be pissing away a huge benefit and secondly there are a ton of cloud themed utilities that aren't weather-crafting ones. In fact I think there are more random cloud utilities than weather-crafting ones.

Instead perhaps just let them start with three extra cloud themed or weather-crafting utilities (provided they have weather-crafting) of their choice. That way you aren't basically telling them how to build their character.

Rain on Your Parade seems kinda expensive. Maybe -6?