Alternate Core Documents

[Viewing_Glass]

I'm totally fine with pegasus combat flight speed being where it is (after a certain point it just becomes 'I go wherever I want on the battlemap'), I'm way more concerned about the out-of-combat/strategic mobility of pegasus ponies. Overland flight speed for pegasus ponies is so crazy good that if anypony's ever low on ammo or water it's always like twenty minute flight at supersonic speeds to the nearest town.

It can kind of wreck the pacing is what I'm sayin'.

Yeah... the water thing a pegasus can solve with pegasus magic. Got a cloud? You got water.

As for running around to get supplies, well... you know what we call flying enemies in the Wasteland?

Skeet.

Aim for the wings. They'll only think "I can get to town with no problems" once.

[Ghostpony]

I'm totally fine with pegasus combat flight speed being where it is (after a certain point it just becomes 'I go wherever I want on the battlemap'), I'm way more concerned about the out-of-combat/strategic mobility of pegasus ponies. Overland flight speed for pegasus ponies is so crazy good that if anypony's ever low on ammo or water it's always like twenty minute flight at supersonic speeds to the nearest town.

It can kind of wreck the pacing is what I'm sayin'.

Yeah... the water thing a pegasus can solve with pegasus magic. Got a cloud? You got water.

As for running around to get supplies, well... you know what we call flying enemies in the Wasteland?

Skeet.

Aim for the wings. They'll only think "I can get to town with no problems" once.

I also feel the urg to point out that a pegasus going super sonic will get attention from the Enclave. And not positive attention.

[Ghostpony]

Another question: should buffalo be removed from the core document, and relegated to supplemental rules systems?

The Buffalo doc found in this thread is actually pretty amazing. Also for reasons, I have to plug my batpony stuff

As for the idea why every building ever wasn't warded, permanent wards can easily be explained as being an expensive lost art, similar to permanent spell matrixes. The wards a unicorn can create now last, at most, POT days or POT Weeks.

Though, the Great and Powerful Ward should be able to be permanent... hrm. That also helps explain why every building wasn't warded (since the Great and Powerful Spells are difficult to learn, so outside a unicorn whose special talent was Warding, only the likes of Twilight Sparkle learned it ).

This makes a lot of sense. Though I personally hate spells that last weeks -- it takes all the fun and interaction out of casting a spell if you only have to do it once every 20 sessions.

While there is a lot of nice stuff in the Buffalo doc the mechanics are more than a bit dodgy. I wouldn't let some one into my game using this with out reworking a lot of the mechanics for a better play balance.

[Thanqol]

Yeah... the water thing a pegasus can solve with pegasus magic. Got a cloud? You got water.

I also feel the urg to point out that a pegasus going super sonic will get attention from the Enclave. And not positive attention.

That's another point I'd like to raise. What, exactly, is Enclave border security policy? Can a pegasus fly up to the cloud layer, grab a cloud, and tow it down? How high is the cloud layer anyway, this is relevant because:

As for running around to get supplies, well... you know what we call flying enemies in the Wasteland?

Skeet.

Aim for the wings. They'll only think "I can get to town with no problems" once.

Imagine a man on the ground with an AK47 shooting at a fighter jet. It doesn't happen, he just wastes bullets. You only need 3 stacks of the 'Extreme Range' penalty to give -120 to hit. That's 450-500 meters above ground level. That is half the height of some skyscrapers. Is the cloud level 500 meters above the ground? If it's not then a pegasus can freely skip from town to town with no risk other than flying monsters.

(For the record, a flight rank 4 pegasus can cross those 500 meters in about than three sprint actions while stacking another -50 penalty on top)

EDIT: Huh, just spotted this; '**Every additional full 450 ft adds a cumulative -5%.' Weird, but whatever: FR4, -50, 500 meters: 150+150+150 = -50, total penalty to hit: -100. Raises the 'safe ceiling' to be absolutely guaranteed against ponies with SATS to about 1K but real world low-hanging clouds start at 2K and absent any information to the contrary that's all I got to go on.

Also that 1K is still within five sprint actions for that pegasus.

[Viewing_Glass]

Imagine a man on the ground with an AK47 shooting at a fighter jet. It doesn't happen, he just wastes bullets. You only need 3 stacks of the 'Extreme Range' penalty to give -120 to hit. That's 450-500 meters above ground level. That is half the height of some skyscrapers. Is the cloud level 500 meters above the ground? If it's not then a pegasus can freely skip from town to town with no risk other than flying monsters.

(For the record, a flight rank 4 pegasus can cross those 500 meters in about than three sprint actions while stacking another -50 penalty on top)

Actually, the extreme range penalty doesn't work like that.

**Every additional full 450 ft adds a cumulative -5%.

However, if you are dealing with a flight 4 pegasus, then you are also dealing with an expert level magic unicorn. If they have Teleport, supply runs are a cinch.

As for the cloud layer question, I classified the cloud layer as Cumulus clouds that are at a height of about 1500 feet.

[Thanqol]

Imagine a man on the ground with an AK47 shooting at a fighter jet. It doesn't happen, he just wastes bullets. You only need 3 stacks of the 'Extreme Range' penalty to give -120 to hit. That's 450-500 meters above ground level. That is half the height of some skyscrapers. Is the cloud level 500 meters above the ground? If it's not then a pegasus can freely skip from town to town with no risk other than flying monsters.

(For the record, a flight rank 4 pegasus can cross those 500 meters in about than three sprint actions while stacking another -50 penalty on top)

Actually, the extreme range penalty doesn't work like that.

**Every additional full 450 ft adds a cumulative -5%.

However, if you are dealing with a flight 4 pegasus, then you are also dealing with an expert level magic unicorn. If they have Teleport, supply runs are a cinch.

Yeah I spotted that just now. Still, you're right, that does basically address that concern by restricting it to FR4's. Concern withdrawn!

As for the cloud layer question, I classified the cloud layer as Cumulus clouds that are at a height of about 1500 feet.

1500 feet - 500 meters? You do know that mountains are minimum 1000 meters, right? And that 1000 meter definition was basically pushed by Britain so they could have more mountains. By that standard if you walked up the wrong hill you'd wind up in Enclave territory.

Low clouds can have a base from the ground up to about 6,500 feet. Some clouds in this category include cumulus, cumulonimbus, and stratus clouds.

[Viewing_Glass]

Ah, my apologies. Still, a flight 4 pegasus still has the issue of anyone with a sniper range weapon hiding from them. In addition, I would assume that anything that came within a thousand feet of the cloud layer would draw the enclave's attention... especially if its a ground-born pegasus. And any player playing a Dashite wouldn't go anywhere NEAR the cloud layer out of risk of getting gooed.

Seriously though, the game past 14th level isn't about food and water. If you have a zebra in the group, they can make a canteen that solves the groups water problems at level 8.

[Thanqol]

Ah, my apologies. Still, a flight 4 pegasus still has the issue of anyone with a sniper range weapon hiding from them. In addition, I would assume that anything that came within a thousand feet of the cloud layer would draw the enclave's attention... especially if its a ground-born pegasus. And any player playing a Dashite wouldn't go anywhere NEAR the cloud layer out of risk of getting gooed.

A thousand feet: 300 meters. Real world clouds begin at 2.1KM or so. That leaves 1.8 Kilometers for a pegasus to fly around in, and a range interval of 150M means that there's only a -95 penalty to shoot a pony flying nearly two kilometers away. Seems to work as advertised so, like I say, I withdraw the point but damn. The longest confirmed sniper kill in recorded human history was 2.5KM and there are literally only 10 others on that list before we get to 1.25KM. Meanwhile a pony with 100 guns and a Pip-Buck can make that shot one out of three times no problems without aiming.

Seriously though, the game past 14th level isn't about food and water. If you have a zebra in the group, they can make a canteen that solves the groups water problems at level 8.

Yeah I conceded the point; it was the misunderstanding about how extreme range penalties worked made me think it was doable from level 2.

[Viewing_Glass]

Oh, alright. Not sure what your current issue is with it then. The pegasus flies up and avoids the combat on the ground. With the new flight rules, there is no doubt going to be some wind he or she has to deal with.

[Thanqol]

Oh, alright. Not sure what your current issue is with it then. The pegasus flies up and avoids the combat on the ground. With the new flight rules, there is no doubt going to be some wind he or she has to deal with.

The only issue I have right now is the observation that ponies can reliably nail targets two or more kilometers away with ballistic weapons but that's more a humorous observation than a problem that needs to be solved.

Looking over the new flight rules:

Adverse conditions can artificially increase or reduce a flying character’s effective flight rank. Strong head winds can reduce flight rank by up to two effective levels to the character’s movements rates. Strong tail winds can add an effective level of flight rank to the character’s movement rates. Effective flight ranks do impact whether or not a character can pull off a pegasus trick -- any trick that requires a level in flight to learn cannot be performed if the character’s effective flight rank drops below that requirement. Effective flight rank cannot allow a character to perform a pegasus trick that they have not learned (although there have been rare cases when the pegasus trick corresponded to the pegasus’ Special Talent).

Questions:
- Many pegasus tricks have damage ratings which are something like 15*Flight Rank; the document isn't clear if these are affected by effective flight rank.
- Also, what happens if flight rank changes over the course of a round - I ascend for 15 AP and then descend directly for 30 AP?
- Does effective flight rank influence the -20/-50 to hit associated with Flights Rank 3 and 4? If I have effective flight rank 5 or 6 (sonic rainboom straight down) does that defense penalty raise or stay the same?

If the collision is intentional by any creature involved, that creature must make a successful Unarmed attack roll and does not gain their Stun DT against the damage.

Either that 'and' is an 'or', else I need to know what happens when you fail that Unarmed attack roll.