Alternate Core Documents

[Viewing_Glass]

Alright, even if there's no check to keep the spell, shouldn't we implement something like we did for degrading armor condition, so that an unicorn with high DT can't be locked down from casting with a simple BB gun? Just as easy a change as "A successful hit that damages the unicorn's horn will cause the caster to lose the spell."

Ooooh, good catch. I approve.

[Kkat]

If you can destroy a horn in this fashion, shouldn't the same rule apply to all limbs? I feel that including one necessitates including the other.

The rules already comment on severed, destroyed and disintegrated limbs. However, unlike those, the horn really does require this extra level of detail so that nobody rules all crippled horns to be shattered horns.

Alright, even if there's no check to keep the spell, shouldn't we implement something like we did for degrading armor condition, so that an unicorn with high DT can't be locked down from casting with a simple BB gun? Just as easy a change as "A successful hit that damages the unicorn's horn will cause the caster to lose the spell."

That would require all attacks designed to stop a spellcaster from casting a spell be also designed to cause harm. I think that would be an awful idea. Rarity had hers magic negated by a thwap of Sweetie Belle's hoof, and I'm pretty sure Sweetie Belle didn't attack in such a way as to cause medical damage to her sister.

If you want to stop your party member from casting Illusion of the Taste of Radroach on you, you shouldn't have to physically hurt her. Forcing a PC to do damage to another PC is bad. Remember, you are already having to overcome a truly hefty attack penalty. Requiring the overcoming of a damage quota just means that this becomes an action that demands use of your highest calibre... exactly the opposite of the non-lethal method of dealing with spellcasters that we are looking for in this option.

[Viewing_Glass]

Alright, even if there's no check to keep the spell, shouldn't we implement something like we did for degrading armor condition, so that an unicorn with high DT can't be locked down from casting with a simple BB gun? Just as easy a change as "A successful hit that damages the unicorn's horn will cause the caster to lose the spell."

That would require all attacks designed to stop a spellcaster from casting a spell be also designed to cause harm. I think that would be a bad idea. Rarity had hers magic negated by a thwap of Sweetie Belle's hoof, and I'm pretty sure Sweetie Belle didn't attack in such a way as to cause medical damage to her sister.

True! But as we've seen in the show, when Rainbow Dash had her wing broken (read: Crippled) and in the Story, when Calamity had his wing crippled, neither of them could fly, yet we have made modifications to the rules to still allow that. While keeping accurate to show canon, we should also make sure that we don't let a core mechanic for a race not get interrupted by a BB Gun when they are wearing Power Armor.

[Kkat]

You have a bad habit of replying while I'm editing.

My edit points out that making this require dealing damage is actually extremely undesirable and counter-productive to the purpose of the rule.

[Ragebrew]

Since there are folks actively discussing things, I'm going to put forward something I've been working on for a while

Taint!

At the moment it's just the classic save or die environmental hazard, and only the classic touched by taint perk or whatever the DM pulls out of their hate at the time. I've complied 100 unique mutations, getting progressively worse the higher one rolls. It's still a work in progress, I feel it still needs tuning in places, but I think it's pretty solid at heart. I've heard a lot of groups have been using it, so I'm making my bid to see if it's up to snuff for Core rules.

Expanded Taint Chart http://tinyurl.com/mxn9wqk

[Viewing_Glass]

You have a bad habit of replying while I'm editing.

My edit points out that making this require dealing damage is actually extremely undesirable and counter-productive to the purpose of the rule.

True.

However, the point still stands. I mean, two, maybe three raiders with a BB Guns can chill and force an alicorn/unicorn to never be able to cast a spell, which is no fun for a player who is playing a unicorn.

As for the taint rules Rage, I'll dig into it when I get home.

[Ragebrew]

Don't forget that -50 to hit right off the bat to do a ranged hit to the horn. Then any range penalties, cover penalties, dodge bonuses, perk bonuses... Plenty of ways to make shooting someone in the horn impractical, and if you are up close and personnel, that has it's own set of problems. I doubt their allies will like you being up close, bapping them in the horn.

[Viewing_Glass]

Don't forget that -50 to hit right off the bat to do a ranged hit to the horn. Then any range penalties, cover penalties, dodge bonuses, perk bonuses... Plenty of ways to make shooting someone in the horn impractical, and if you are up close and personnel, that has it's own set of problems. I doubt their allies will like you being up close, bapping them in the horn.

Fair enough. I'm still not fond of it instantly shutting down a unicorn (especially after we took all that work to make sure that a pegaus who had a crippled wing wasn't instantly shut down) but maybe it just needs some testing.

[Ragebrew]

Again, going for a unicorn's horn is difficult, and only stops them from casting spells. This doesn't stop them from attacking you with mundane means.

[Night Light]

It is because in the show, it was shown how a unicorn's spell could be interrupted by a simple flick to the horn.

That would require all attacks designed to stop a spellcaster from casting a spell be also designed to cause harm. I think that would be an awful idea. Rarity had hers magic negated by a thwap of Sweetie Belle's hoof, and I'm pretty sure Sweetie Belle didn't attack in such a way as to cause medical damage to her sister.

Unless I'm misremembering, weren't most of those instances where friends were interrupting other friends? I could see that easily argued away as simply being surprise, or that, when such disapproval was shown, they voluntarily decided to end the spell. There may well be examples I'm forgetting though.

If you want to stop your party member from casting Illusion of the Taste of Radroach on you, you shouldn't have to physically hurt her. Forcing a PC to do damage to another PC is bad.

True, but you're still forcing them to take an attack action, so you're already into a PvP situation. At that point, I'd say functional combat mechanics would trump that concern. Besides, much like I noted above, between two caring party members, such a show of disapproval would be akin to smacking someone to make them drop something - it might not hurt or even impede your ability to perform that action, but if you care about the person you're likely to stop.

The rules already comment on severed, destroyed and disintegrated limbs. However, unlike those, the horn really does require this extra level of detail so that nobody rules all crippled horns to be shattered horns.

I'll agree the horn requires an extra level of detail, but I don't understand why a critical hit that cripples can shatter a horn whereas a critical hit that cripples can't sever an arm, which, given you're working with muscle and tendon rather than solid bone, should be much easier.

True! But as we've seen in the show, when Rainbow Dash had her wing broken (read: Crippled) and in the Story, when Calamity had his wing crippled, neither of them could fly, yet we have made modifications to the rules to still allow that. While keeping accurate to show canon, we should also make sure that we don't let a core mechanic for a race not get interrupted by a BB Gun when they are wearing Power Armor.

Excellent points.

The penalties for hitting the horn keep this from being an issue at lower levels, but at higher levels I'm concerned about the balance. Being able to lock down a unicorn like this feels very similar to the mechanic of crippling a wing used to drop a flier from the sky, which we just removed for similar concerns.