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Destiny: To Rule the World

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Destiny: To Rule the World Empty Destiny: To Rule the World

Post  Greywander Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:51 am

*turns around in swivel chair towards the reader, stroking a cat in his lap*

Ah welcome, I've been expecting you, Mister/Madam Reader. Please, take a seat. You've been causing quite a stir lately, but I'm afraid all your efforts have been in vain. It is but a matter of time before I am able to set the final phase of my master plan into...

*purrrrrrr*

Aw, who's a cute widdle kitty cat? Are you a cute widdle kitty cat? Yes you are! Yes you are!

Ahem, as I was saying, I was looking over the list of Destinies, and couldn't help but notice a complete lack of villainy. What sort of Destiny do you expect me to- Oh. There is a Villainous Destiny. And... Oh my. It gives you a minion. Yeah, well, uh, shut up! Mine is better!

For reasons that I've since forgotten, last night I took my first real look into the Pony Tales system, and began thinking up a suitable Destiny for a stereotypical villain archtype. I hadn't yet checked the forums here, so I was unaware of the Vile Villain Destiny, and looking at it now I don't really think it captures what I wanted anyway. In fact, while most of the official Destinies are pretty good, the unofficial ones seem kind of hit-and-miss, sometimes being overpowered, sometimes only really having one good ability in them. So I made this. It might seem overpowered, and I welcome suggestions and critique, but Destinies are supposed to be EPIC. I should look forward to each and every bonus like a child on Christmas Eve waiting to open presents. Anyway, however the mechanics need to be tweaked to balance it out, I'd like to preserve the flavor as it is. Now, without further ado, fillies and gentlecolts, I present to you:

Destiny

To Rule the World

Team Buck-It
Prepare for trouble! The fun is double! You gain two bumbling henchmen that follow you around and perform your bidding. Their base attributes start at 0, and they are each trained in one skill, granting them +10 to that skill. Additionally, one goon has +2 to all untrained skills, while the other has the Freaky Knowledge Utility talent. Both will critically fail on a roll of 2 or 3 as if they had the Derp Utility talent. If you want something done right, you're probably better off doing it yourself, so it's a good thing your henchmen can also assist you or party members. However, they each only grant a +1 bonus when assisting instead of +2. The henchmen are invincible and cannot die or be harmed, however, if they are faced with serious danger, they will panic and run away. If they are unable to escape immediately, then they will turn out to be either very resilient and/or very good at dodging.
Each henchman also gets certain bonuses and abilities depending on their race.
henchman racial traits:
[Note: From a mechanical standpoint, it's better to think of the henchmen as extensions of the player character, rather than separate characters in and of themselves. Even so, the henchmen themselves are generally worse than you are at performing any task; the real strength is that they let you *kind of* be in up to three places at once.]

Team Buck-It [No Flavor]
You have two minions/illusions/specters/droids/whatever that follow you and perform your bidding. They have base skills of 0, and each has +10 to one skill, with one having +2 to all other skills, and the other having the Freaky Knowledge utility talent. Both critically fail on a roll of 2 or 3 as if they had the Derp utility talent. They can assist in skill checks, but only provide a +1 bonus each. They cannot be harmed or destroyed, and will flee/dissipate/whatever when in danger.
They also have a few additional traits that correlate to one of the playable races. For the full list of minion racial traits, check the Flavor version.

Doomsday Device
In your quest for world domination, you've discovered, built, or otherwise somehow acquisitioned a weapon of terrifying power. You must work out with the GM the exact nature of the weapon, though there are generally some downsides or limitations.

Example Doomsday Devices

Moon Laser - 1 / week
Preparation Time: 4 hours
Your deadly laser razes a target area of 20 feet in diameter, destroying small or medium sized buildings, and inflicting heavy damage to larger buildings. If targeted on empty ground, the laser penetrates to a depth of 10 feet.

Atom Bomb - Item
Preparation Time: 1 hour
You've only got one shot, but this baby will obliterate everything in a half mile radius. Assuming it doesn't get found and disarmed first. Requires a Mechanics DC20 to set up, and a Mechanics DC30 to disarm. Remember to set to timer to allow enough time to get away before it goes off!

Weather Satellite - 1 / month
Preparation Time: 24 hours
Alter the weather in a 2 mile radius of the target. Choose anything from scorching sun to a terrific hurricane. The effects will dissipate naturally after three days, and can also be dispelled by pegasi.

Evil Overlord
You're not quite there, but at last you have a small kingdom or country under your rule, and soon the rest of the world will follow! Whether you choose to be a benevolent ruler or a malicious tyrant is up to you. You may have to deal with occasional rebellions, or "heroes" seeking to "liberate" your citizens, but with the infrastructure of an entire country behind you, there's little you can't achieve if you set your mind to it.

I hope you can discern the progression here. From Team Rocket villain wannabes, to a semicompetent villain that presents an actual threat, to a successful supervillain in control of a piece of the world, his foot in the door to world conquest. My understanding is that the Level 10 Destiny bonus is meant to set up the character to retire anyway, so this last one would actually set the character up nicely to return as a powerful NPC in the next campaign, maybe even as the Big Bad if played malevolently.


Last edited by Greywander on Tue Oct 23, 2012 7:10 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Destiny: To Rule the World Empty Re: Destiny: To Rule the World

Post  LoganAura Sun Oct 21, 2012 10:40 am

I like 10, I personally believe that level seven has enough drawbacks to be worth it, even if it is slightly overpowered that you can destroy large radiuses, but lv 7 needs a slight change. Destinies aren't supposed to give combat bonuses at all- even if it's +1 pip vs them being unconcious- but that's easily fixed, and it might be a bit better if the minions only have the bonuses to 1 skill and the other two utilities. It adds to the "Bumbling Henchmen" thing if they sometimes don't even help with your assists due to the thing being too hard XD
So if I understand it right, and with my fixes.
minion 1:
+10 to one skill
+2 to all others
+1 bonus to assisted when assisting others
Derp
Unable to be killed or harmed, and unable to take part in battle.
Minion 2:
+10 to one skill
Freaky Knowledge
+1 bonus to assisted when assisting others
Derp
Unable to be killed or harmed, and unable to take part in battle.
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Post  Greywander Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:37 pm

That's more or less what City said. I thought it was worth posting here anyway to see what people thought, and I wasn't completely sure if it was a hard rule or not that Destinies don't give combat bonuses. I suppose it just makes sense to me that if you have your henchmen, of course they'd help you out during battle, I'm just still struggling with the idea that they can help you flavor-wise without providing any sort of actual mechanical bonus to combat. I'm also not too familiar with the combat system yet, as I've been much more interested in the utility side of things.

Oh, and in case I wasn't clear, the base skill level for the henchmen is 0, rather than 5 like PCs. So their +10 to one skill sets that skill to 10, not 15 or something else, and all the other skills remain 0 for one minion, and 2 for the other.

What about racial traits? At the very least, whether a henchman can fly or not will be somewhat important when you send them off to perform some task. It also seems like they would at least be able to attempt things like weather crafting for pegasi or shapeshifting for changelings, though I think finding a good balance might be hard. Either the skills would be so poor that they're useless, or they would make the henchmen too powerful. I do like the additional layer of customization it adds, though I wonder if it won't make them too powerful. Here's a working list of racial traits for henchmen so far.

Earth Pony

I'm Helping!
Henchman provides a +2 when assisting, rather than +1.

Pegasus

Flight
Every Pegasus can walk on clouds and fly with poor maneuverability (henchman takes -10 penalty to Precision and Athletics skills while flying).

Cloud Pusher
Preparation Time: 10 Minutes
Your henchman can alter the atmospheric conditions in a 30-foot radius. For example, they can make a sunny day rain or a rainy day clear up within the area of effect. They can also attempt a more difficult feat, such as creating a localized hurricane or forcing thunderstrikes out of clouds to hit tall objects. These more difficult tasks require a Stunt check or Acrobatics check set at the DM’s discretion.

Unicorn

Ponykinesis – At Will
Mentally pick up or manipulate an object within fifty feet that weighs 25 pounds or less. Your henchman can hold only one object at a time.

Gooniversity Graduate
Henchucation grants your minion +1 to Knowledge.

Baby Dragon

Fireborn
Baby dragons are immune to any heat below the level of an adult dragon's breath, including natural fire and lava. Baby dragons can also create puffs of flame at will. These puffs of flame are identical to a torch in many respects and are capable of burning objects and lighting fires outside of combat just as a torch might. Puffs of flame are ordinary fire, they extinguish quickly without tinder.

So cute!
Your henchman provides a passive +1 bonus to your Persuasion when near you, and gets a +2 to their own Persuasion.

Minotaur

Break His Kneecaps
Your henchman provides a passive +2 bonus to your Persuasion checks used to intimidate when near you, and gets a +4 to their own Persuasion checks used to intimidate.

Donkey

Determined - 1 / day
Your henchman can reroll the result of any task they attempted, and take either result.

Buffalo

Unmovable
When you order your henchman to stay in one place or block off a passage, a Stunts check with DC25 is required to push them out of the way.

Hippogriff

Eagle’s Wings
Hippogriffs can walk on clouds and fly with poor maneuverability (henchman takes -10 penalty to Precision and Athletics skills while flying).

Flying Brick - 3 / day
Your henchman can fly at blazing speeds, covering a distance of up to 300 feet in a few seconds. They can only fly in a straight line while doing so, but they are unstoppable short of running into a wall or much larger creature.

Zebra

Voodou Hoodou - 1 / session
You're henchman's mystical powers allow you to reroll the result of a check and take either result.

Griffon

Half Eagle
Griffons can walk on clouds and fly with poor maneuverability (henchman takes -10 penalty to Precision and Athletics skills while flying).

Show Off - 1 / week
Your henchman can automatically pass a Stunts or Acrobatics check with a DC25 or less without having to roll. You must activate this ability before rolling.

Changeling

Dude Looks Like a Changeling
Your henchman is able to disguise themselves as any other race! Sort of. It's really more like a horrible caricature of the race in question. A Perception check passing a DC15 will see flaws in the disguise. If a changeling is in a form with wings, it can fly with poor maneuverability (-10 to Athletics and Precision checks while flying). If a changeling is in a form with a unicorn horn, it can use ponykinesis.

Obviously, something like the zebra's bonus would be universally useful, but it's only once per session, whereas something like the changeling's ability would open up a lot more utility options, but is less reliable. I THINK this makes it remain comparable to other destinies (compare the zebra bonus to the tier 1 Master Detective bonus, which also offers rerolls/rolling twice), but if not, I guess reducing them to flight and/or ponykinesis would work (although that would encourage taking changeling goons, who can do both).

Another option might be to make a short list of traits that aren't tied to race, and pick a few for each henchman, with flight and ponykinesis taking up one of those slots. For example, I could see swapping the minotaur and buffalo traits, so there's not really any reason why those specifically need to be tied to race.


Last edited by Greywander on Sun Oct 21, 2012 7:39 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Destiny: To Rule the World Empty Re: Destiny: To Rule the World

Post  tygerburningbright Sun Oct 21, 2012 7:08 pm

Minotaur

Break His Kneecaps
Your henchman provides a passive +2 bonus to your Intimidation when near you, and gets a +4 to their own Intimidation

Zebra

Voodou Hoodou - 1 / session
Your henchman's mystical powers allow you to reroll the result of a test and take either result.


Intimidation is not a skill and there are not such things as tests.
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Post  Greywander Sun Oct 21, 2012 7:26 pm

tygerburningbright wrote:Intimidation is not a skill and there are not such things as tests.

Intimidation is a specific execution of the Persuasion skill, and I believe I've seen abilities that give bonuses to it elsewhere. As for the other issue, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Tests, checks, whatever: any time you roll the dice to determine if an action or effect succeeds or not.

I don't know if I should be happy or disappointed that those where the only issues you felt needed to be addressed. :/
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Post  City Strider Sun Oct 21, 2012 7:28 pm

tygerburningbright wrote:
Minotaur

Break His Kneecaps
Your henchman provides a passive +2 bonus to your Intimidation when near you, and gets a +4 to their own Intimidation

Zebra

Voodou Hoodou - 1 / session
Your henchman's mystical powers allow you to reroll the result of a test and take either result.


Intimidation is not a skill and there are not such things as tests.

So change the wording to "persuasion when used to intimidate" and "checks". Simple fix.
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Post  Greywander Sun Oct 21, 2012 7:41 pm

City Strider wrote:So change the wording to "persuasion when used to intimidate" and "checks". Simple fix.

Done. I didn't realize people thought exact wording was so important. Any comments on the actual mechanics? Some of these might actually make decent utility talents, if tweaked slightly.
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Post  Greywander Tue Oct 23, 2012 7:09 pm

Since I haven't gotten any additional feedback, I went ahead and updated the original post with the suggested changes, as well as adding in the henchman racial traits, with the addition of diamond dog and sleipnir traits.
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Post  Stairc -Dan Felder Wed Oct 24, 2012 1:36 pm

This is a really fun idea. It'll need to be tinkered with of course (just imagine if a group of players took this destiny and destroyed cities multiple times a week without a clear way for the city to fight back) but it's imaginative and, most importantly, something that would probably get players excited. Nice job.

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