Five Pointed Star - FPS Group [4/4]

[Atom]

Are you still looking for another player? I'm available next semester after Christmas break, and I've always wanted to try out the rpg!

[TicTac]

Yeah, there is still one slot open.Submit a character sheet and an RP sample and I'll take a look at them~!

[Atom]

I've noticed that the perk sheet doesn't actually list the perk Advanced Alchemy. (Assuming it exists) What level should it have as a prerequisite? (Never mind, I found it in the original PNP)

Edit: Also, what is Alchemy&Chemistry used to craft? It seems like all the Alchemy recipes in the PNP use survival.

[Atom]

Xalyne

RP Sample

Xalyne groggily woke as a sunbeam from her slotted window crossed her eye. The floor creaked metallically as the generator one floor below her let out a faint splutter. She could make out a faint hissing sound to her right, a loud thumping at her door. The overpowering stench of rust and turpentine filled her nostrils.

“Wait, the Flash!” Xalyne shot out of her ratty blanket and raced over to the chemistry set on the table to her right. “Celestia dammit!” she said, twisting the gas nozzle. The hissing quieted to a faint whine as the blue liquid stopped stopped bubbling. Xalyne picked up the now nearly empty flask with a shaking hoof, white residue swirling within.

And the door to her room slammed open, revealing a zebra in a scraggly suit. Xalyne dropped the flash in surprise and it shattered, covering the floor around her in glass shards and blue-tinged liquid. “Look at what you made me do!” she screamed at the intruder.

“Drop a 2-cap flask filled with useless residue?” the well-dressed zebra said, picking up a broom from the wall as he walked towards the shattered cup. “I…I had it this time Zix! I was just coming to show you when you barged in and ruined it.” “You’re a worse liar than you think you are.” Zix looked down at his sister, grinning as he began to sweep up the glass. “You exaggerate your expressions, makes it super obvious if you know what to look for. Did you make the charcoal, or did you forget that too?” Xalyne stared up into her brother’s blue eyes, looking for any kind of hesitation.

“The Flash is our gateway off this stupid boat. If I can just get this recipe right-” “I asked you a question!” Xalyne averted her eyes, staring at the sun rays shining out the window.

Zix placed a hoof on her shoulder “I’m sorry Xal, I know how important this is to you”.

“No, it’s okay. That got out of hoof. It’s just-it feels like we’re trapped in here, you know? Between mom’s illness, the food, the materials…” She said, looking at her chemistry set. “Even with you selling the drugs, we don’t have the caps to save anymore. We’re just going through the motions.”
“Plus, I think Mom’s getting worse.”

They were quiet for a little, just starring through the window.

Zix took his hoof off Xalyne’s shoulder. “Sis, if I could stay with you all day I would, but-” “Yes, I’ve got the charcoal.” Xalyne said, as she pulled the small case of black dye from her pack. “Made a new batch yesterday.” She removed the lid and Zix slid down to the rusty floor. Xalyne dipped the tips of her hooves in the dry solution and began her work, wiping away the stripes across Zix’s fur. First hooves, then tail, then neck, and finally face. And just like every morning, she stared into the eyes of Best Batch the Earth Pony. “Thanks” he said, as he returned to his hooves and made his way towards the door.

“Thanks, Zix. Be safe.” Xalyne said as her brother existed the door. He turned his head back to look at her “I’ll try to stay out of Crimson Leaf territory this time!” He smiled and made his way down the stairs away from her.
----------------------------------
“And that was the last time I saw him!” Xalyne said to her mother as she removed the battered, fish filled pot from its hot plate and placed it at the table.

“Ooh, fish stew! My favourite!” said her mother as Xalyne poured the desiccated fish into her mother’s bowl. “Mother! Your missing son!” Xalyne said, flabbergasted. “I can’t believe you aren’t taking this more seriously.” Xalyne placed the bowl back on the hotplate and walked towards the door. The sun was nearly down, filling Baltimare bay with a hazy mix of purple and orange. “He’s never been back this late.”

Xalyne’s mother was quiet as she slowly consumed her stew. Her blind eyes staring at nothing. Xalyne sighed and filled her own bowl with what was left of the stew. “I just don’t know what I’d do if he doesn’t come back.” She wiped the wetness from her eyes and shoveled a spoonful of soup into her mouth. She looked back up at her mother. “Do you want more stew?” Her mother shook her head. Xalyne got up from the table and took hold of her mother’s hoof, leading her towards her mother’s ground floor room. She helped her mother onto her bed and grabbed the IV sitting next to it.

“Don’t use your energy worrying, that’s not what the spirits want of you.”

“Are…Are you talking to me?” Xalyne said.

“No amount of regretting can change the past, and no amount of worrying can change the future. Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can do about it.”

Her blind eyes stared up at Xalyne, she could almost make out comprehension in her mother’s white eyed stare. She sniffed, and wrapped her forelegs around her mother’s still form. “I have to find him.”

Xalyne rushed out of the room, taking all the supplies she could. She put on her saddlebags and and ran back into the kitchen. She picked up her leftover stew and brought it over to her mother’s room placing it onto the floor next to her bed. She grapped the IV needle, and placed it softly in her mother’s foreleg. Xalyne gave her mother one last hug, and walked out the door.

She looked back at the kitchen one last time. The musty smell of cooking and the overpowering stench of rust filled her nostrils, and the hotplate hissed next to her. “The hotplate…Celestia, I almost forgot!”. Xalyne twisted the power on the hotplate down to 0 and gave a sigh of relief before looking back at her mother’s room one last time. She could almost make out a smile on her mother’s lips.

Xalyne left the beached boat which had been her family’s home for the past six months and entered the pitch-black night, with only the moon to light her way. Climbing from the bay towards the harbor, and into Baltimare itself.

[TicTac]

Sorry about the late post, work has been keeping me busy.

Okay, so, a few things here. While there aren't any major issues with your sheet, just minor ones, I do have concerns about the overall build of the character. Playing a foal in this setting honestly really isn't too viable. I mean, you can, but with how you've got her built, if she takes one hit, she's pretty much toast. One blast to a leg and she's paralyzed. Min/maxing, like you have done, is generally not good either. In all other games I've played you're not allowed to have any SPECIAL stat under 3, and since it's not explicitly stated in these rules, I'm going to make that ruling myself. The other players in the game also brought up a myriad of other concerns about the build, but I don't want to turn you away from the game. Your RP sample is good! Basically, the biggest issue is that the survivability of this character is not very high, and with a 4-person party it's generally not a good thing.

Other things: Stat & Skill buffs from similar equipment sources don't stack. It's not very well known, but I'll make it known here. So the Backpack and Saddlebags won't stack, and only get the +25 bonus, and the +1 CHA bonus won't stack either from the sunglasses and Merc Outfit, so you only get it once. Same with the +5 Firearms from the Merc outfit and Duster. You only get one set of bonuses from armor/clothing/chems/spells/ect. Anything that only gives a temporary bonus will not stack.
A Bi-Pod on a pistol... really? I mean, I know it's technically not against the rules, but this is another reason why I'm going to enforce that 3 SPECIAL min requirement.

Overall, I'm going to say you need to retool this character, or come up with a different one, though your RP sample is very good so I do want you in the game if you can rework this character or make a different one.

[Atom]

Got it. I'll change up the character. I will admit, I saw the Attribute Caps in the Perks list and I though to myself "Why are these here if they aren't meant to be used?"

But jokes aside, would simply bumping up Xalyne's Endurance be enough to make her survivable? I figured that since she could brew Super Restoration potions, crippled limbs wouldn't be as much of a problem once she or someone else increased Medicine to 75 or more. Plus I figured she'd be more of a support character. Repairing equipment, hacking terminals, sneaking around and the like. I imagined her as a bit of a small willowy foal, not really able to hold her own when actually confronted with violence. She would avoid actual combat; I thought that would be more acceptable in a more established city, but I'll make sure she can hold her own. And I could drop the foal aspect of her character if you want. She's at the upper end of foalhood, I could bump her age up to 15-16 and lose the foal template. I just though getting her Glyph mark could lead to some fun roleplay.

The bipod is a Typo; the Pistol used to be a Recharger Rifle. Magical Energy Pistols only have a STR requirement of 1, so she didn't actually need it.

Would it be alright to take the Gifted Trait? I really like the idea of having 12 Luck. (But if I drop the foal template then that's less of a problem)

And thanks for letting me know about the stacking thing, does that also apply to other bonuses? (like the hacking tools or chems) Also, does it apply to DT bonuses from stacked armour? (Like the Duster) Either way, I'll make sure it's corrected.

I'll send you a PM when the changes are done.

[sophos]

Got it. I'll change up the character. I will admit, I saw the Attribute Caps in the Perks list and I though to myself "Why are these here if they aren't meant to be used?"

But jokes aside, would simply bumping up Xalyne's Endurance be enough to make her survivable? I figured that since she could brew Super Restoration potions, crippled limbs wouldn't be as much of a problem once she or someone else increased Medicine to 75 or more. Plus I figured she'd be more of a support character. Repairing equipment, hacking terminals, sneaking around and the like. I imagined her as a bit of a small willowy foal, not really able to hold her own when actually confronted with violence. She would avoid actual combat; I thought that would be more acceptable in a more established city, but I'll make sure she can hold her own. And I could drop the foal aspect of her character if you want. She's at the upper end of foalhood, I could bump her age up to 15-16 and lose the foal template. I just though getting her Glyph mark could lead to some fun roleplay.

The bipod is a Typo; the Pistol used to be a Recharger Rifle. Magical Energy Pistols only have a STR requirement of 1, so she didn't actually need it.

Would it be alright to take the Gifted Trait? I really like the idea of having 12 Luck. (But if I drop the foal template then that's less of a problem)

And thanks for letting me know about the stacking thing, does that also apply to other bonuses? (like the hacking tools or chems) Also, does it apply to DT bonuses from stacked armour? (Like the Duster) Either way, I'll make sure it's corrected.

I'll send you a PM when the changes are done.

Crippled limbs give a -3 penalty on all Strength and Endurance checks and a -30 to all attack rolls with weapons using those limbs. And you have a median 40 limb health and 120 HP. Super restoration potions don't heal broken limbs; Hydra would be a much better solution that makes more sense with your character. But even that would be extremely expensive with how little health you have. And you have no where near 75 Medicine anyway. Combat aside, Xalyne could be easily killed by a fall or exploding terminal.

Red Dot sights can't be mounted on Pistols. Bonuses from the same source types do not stack. Stampede doesn't stack with Rage, My Little Tool Rack doesn't stack with Maintenance Kits, and etc. DT from layered clothing/armour do stack.

I understand what you were going for, but you made way too many sacrifices for practically nothing. You're on the verge of death even at full health, you're combat is completely negligible unless you crit, you have no repair, nor medicine, nor sneak, nor lockpick, nor survivalism. What you do have is a whole lot of INT and LCK, as well as hacking and alchemy. I, personally, would not have made that trade.

[Atom]

Crippled limbs give a -3 penalty on all Strength and Endurance checks and a -30 to all attack rolls with weapons using those limbs. And you have a median 40 limb health and 120 HP. Super restoration potions don't heal broken limbs; Hydra would be a much better solution that makes more sense with your character. But even that would be extremely expensive with how little health you have. And you have no where near 75 Medicine anyway. Combat aside, Xalyne could be easily killed by a fall or exploding terminal.

Red Dot sights can't be mounted on Pistols. Bonuses from the same source types do not stack. Stampede doesn't stack with Rage, My Little Tool Rack doesn't stack with Maintenance Kits, and etc. DT from layered clothing/armour do stack.

I understand what you were going for, but you made way too many sacrifices for practically nothing. You're on the verge of death even at full health, you're combat is completely negligible unless you crit, you have no repair, nor medicine, nor sneak, nor lockpick, nor survivalism. What you do have is a whole lot of INT and LCK, as well as hacking and alchemy. I, personally, would not have made that trade.

On the subject of Crippled limbs, what attacks do the penalties apply to when using a Pistol? Do I only have to worry about the head? And do you think I should just drop Small Frame?

Super Restoration Potion (Requirements: Medicine 50 or Survival 75. Ingredients: 2 Healing Potions, 1 Green Herb): Creates a Super Restoration Potion, heals 60 wounds instantly on use. If administered with a Medicine skill of at least 75, it can also heal crippled limbs and will heal magical energy damage without scars or debilitation. Using more than 1 Super Restoration Potion within 5 turns is poisonous, causing -1 to Strength, Endurance and Intelligence for 5 turns.

Xalyne doesn't have nearly enough Medicine to use them properly, but Silent has nearly enough to help. My intent was to use Luck, Perception and Alchemy to supply potions and other equipment to the group and let Silent use the potions. I would use Hydra (and it totally does fit) but I don't know where I would find any Hydra blood.

I totally missed the Red Dot Requirement. I've replaced it with a 1.5x Scope.

I don't really intend for her to be crazy in combat, but she isn't terrible. All enemies get -5% to hit her, which is likely a 10% reduction in hits (Assuming skill of around 50). And while her damage output isn't amazing, it's pretty good. All enemies are at -13 DT and the MEPistol does 2x9+++ with Max Charge Ammo. That's about 50 Damage per Hit when their DT is 0. She fires 6 Times per round and crits every 1/8 shots. A Crit does 150 Average Damage, which is probably enough stopping power to kill most enemies in a single shot. Plus she has high initiative and a good speed, which should allow her to use cover to her advantage before any enemies have a chance to fire.

Traps are a worry, but that's why her Perception is so high. Falls could be a problem though, I'm not sure to what extent saves (Roll vs. Stat or Skill) would be allowed.

She will be a little shit at first, but once she gets a couple of levels and fills out her most needed skills she should be fine. That seemed pretty of fitting for a Foal on her first real adventure.

[Menti]

Honestly, the bigger issue here (for me, anyway) is that the character is a foal. This is a PNP. At some point the party is going to be asked to do something dangerous. To risk their lives. They're going to have to trust one another to not get each other killed.

That's /really/ hard to do with a foal. Especially in a city setting where opportunity isn't necessarily scarce. Why put your life in the hands of a kid when there is certainly something else you could be doing. I would hate to see your character get pushed out of the group because ICly she isn't wanted (which is likely how Sunny Smiles will feel about it, though not guaranteed) or to have someone in the group go, "Screw this!" and search for greener pastures that don't involve relying on a foal to keep them from being ded. It's hard enough to trust someone in the wasteland as it is, even more so if they're an unproven child.

I don't think her survivability is that big of an issue so long as you understand the risks you're taking. Six months down the line she might get crit in the head and drop with nothing you can do about it. All that hard work and time invested just... gone. It's not the most fun thing I can think of, but honestly that's up to you. Sunny isn't the most durable of stallions himself. That's why I blew almost half of his starting caps on his armor, but I also think that between his smooth talking and his pretty good (if pressed to use them) melee abilities will keep him alive so long as he doesn't do something really stupid.

I'm not saying playing a foal is impossible in a PnP, nor am I saying your character won't work. It's entirely possible that you and TicTac could work out a scenario where Sunny is okay with having a kid around in the group. I'm just bringing this up because I don't want to look like an asshole if Sunny tries to throw your zebra filly out of the game or throws himself out if that doesn't work. At least this way I've voiced my concerns.

[Atom]

I see your point. Just about the only visible thing she has going for her right now is that she's really good at making drugs and hacking. It's not necessarily something any kind of squad really needs. Plus she doesn't really have the caps to pay anyone to help her. On the other hand, she is a zebra with a specific mission; finding her brother. If there's any among the party with a good heart and a hero complex, I could imagine somepony helping. Honestly I was thinking that Silent might be willing to help, based on his character sheet. He needs MEW Ammo and healing potions, and doesn't really have an amazing way to get them without help yet.

Also, I assume there's fairly decent money to be made selling drugs in Baltimare, and she is very good at making them. I don't really know if future profits would be a sufficient incentive, but she has a good potential business and she isn't a complete idiot. I could even see her swearing herself to indentured servitude to another character to get help.

What would it take for Sunny to work with her? I can make alterations to the build just based around that.