Pony Tales: Aspirations of Harmony
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Sitting in the Corner: The Unpopular Utilities

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Zarhon
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Post  ZamuelNow Thu Aug 22, 2013 1:47 am

I personally have no problems with Challenge Fate/Against the Gods as long as there's a decent in character reason and the player plays that up. It could range from giving others bad luck to a Reason You Suck Speech. The player would know of the roll but the character would not. All things considered, the book canon race that has it is a minotaur so I figure intimidation was the intent behind it. As far as crappy GMs, the way you beat them is to simply leave rather than waste time dealing with them.

I think a lot of the utility talents could stand to have their preparation times, durations, and even number of uses adjusted. I think the comparison between Villainous Laughter and Illusionary Mask is a good one in that key adjustments could bring them in line with each other. The shapeshifting line as a whole would be better served with shorter durations but more uses.

Sweet and Elite is interesting since it's something I'd default to for royalty and politicians but I guess it's really campaign specific.

Spectral Steed - For LL, it's okay. For Pony Tales, it's... awkward. Ponies riding... ponies?
I'd assume horse drawn carriages. Plus, oddly enough there have been ponies riding ponies on the show though it's not common.
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Post  Philadelphus Thu Aug 22, 2013 5:11 am

You know, given that they're described as "large-sized," and can fly, I'm not really sure how they could be equine creatures. If I ever take it I'll probably flavor it as dragons or something. Dragons that are mysteriously completely unwilling to do anything BUT serve as mounts, but still. Dragons. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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Post  Zarhon Thu Aug 22, 2013 1:30 pm

Philadelphus wrote:You know, given that they're described as "large-sized," and can fly, I'm not really sure how they could be equine creatures. If I ever take it I'll probably flavor it as dragons or something. Dragons that are mysteriously completely unwilling to do anything BUT serve as mounts, but still. Dragons. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Well, we've seen the "Saddle Arabia" horses are rather large, compared to the little ponies. Same with those Cinderella-esque mice-horses that Twilight transformed. Just add wings and you've got large Pegasi mounts, made of ghost-stuff.
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Post  Jason Shadow Thu Aug 22, 2013 2:24 pm

Personally, when it comes to ponies, I like to think of the Spectral Steeds as (human) angels that give piggyback rides. I mean, normally it's winged horses with human riders, so if the riders are horses...
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Post  ZamuelNow Fri Sep 13, 2013 1:20 pm

Zarhon wrote:Words of Wisdom - This is very, very vague as to what would be allowed to use (rap, haiku, lyrical forms and rhyme. What else CAN you do to make it fit? Not much of a selection to choose from, unless "accents" count).
Sign language, Morse Code, hieroglyphics/pictographs, if a player is bilingual they can use one for the character's normal speaking voice and the other for the racial.

Sunderblade - Requires a heavy investment in both arcana/athletics, costs a MP.
Actually, it only uses Athletics since it's explicitly the ability to destroy magic with physical strength. Doesn't seem like it needs a huge investment either since for destroying non-magical objects it gives you a sizable bonus. MP cost might still be an issue to some but I actually think it's worth it.
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Post  Stairc -Dan Felder Fri Sep 13, 2013 2:52 pm

Mind Gamer wrote:I'll admit, Challenge Fate and Against The Gods sound fantastic in theory... It gives me visions of a party hellbent on dethroning effective gods like Discord or Celestia, and using this skill to make them fail at the one point it's critical for their power to keep the PCs from having a chance. (shutting down the standard, "I have super magic, you are invalid" argument godlike entities tend to use.) In practice though, I don't see a lot of DMs who make their rolls for the players to see, unless its a direct skill challenge between an NPC and PC. Which leads to the thought process of "well, can't really use that one all the time. Not even sure what's appropriate for it. Hmm... Hey, Yee-Haw! looks easy to use!" And so on.
One of the coolest moments in any of my adventures involved this. There was a situation where the players were impersonating the King of Demons, having turned a deception by the Demon King against him in a brilliant fashion (the demon king had tried to make the players think one of their members was him in disguise so that they'd try to kill the party member - and after they figured out the deception they were able to use all the clues he planted against his own followers in order to have the party member deceive those demons too). The players rode into the hell layers, only to find the King of Demons himself arriving just as they were marshalling the demon armies.

The King of Demons: "My followers, these fools are imposters. Return to your rightful Master, lest though feel the whips and scorns of a thousand agonies burned into your immortal flesh!"

Player A (OOC): "Hey... Was that... A persuasion check?"

DM (Me): "Absolutely."

Player A: "Natural 1, Bitch!"


So awesome.
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Post  ZamuelNow Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:38 pm

What is everyone's opinion of the Mook utility? I ask since it's one of the ones not brought back in the new Ability system and I remember there being some discussion about the worth of its current form compared to Companion or some of the destinies. I think it has uses if it's acknowledged that some of them are impersonal.
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