Alternate Core Documents

[Viewing_Glass]

Silverlight: While true, it would make Unicorn's the best at battlefield control. Can't handle that foe? Pop him/her in a shield and run away!

[SilverlightPony]

Silverlight: While true, it would make Unicorn's the best at battlefield control. Can't handle that foe? Pop him/her in a shield and run away!

I'm not sure if it's actually written in the rules, but as we've been playing it, the shield is not a "fire and forget" spell; it must be willfully maintained and can only be cast within a certain range, so if you run away, you have to drop the shield.

[Viewing_Glass]

I'm talking more about the Advanced version of the spell. Of course, once you exceed a certain range the shield goes away, but at that point your enemy might have a problem catching you (unless its a flier, which means you have more problems than a shield can fix)

[Godna]

To be fair at low levels the shield kinda can serve that function anyway, but it's still a terrible idea.

Also you can do the same thing with a shape spell. Shape the Ground. Or if in a multi layered building phase the ground

That aside the shield should not be that potent just from the point of being a pain to Deal with.

[Night Light]

An alternate rule idea for the Shield dilemma: As a 45 AP action, a character may attempt to push through a magical shield. She must succeed at a Strength check with a penalty equal to the half the caster's Potency (for Basic) or the full caster's Potency (for advanced), with a minimum effective Strength of 1. Against expert Alicorn shield, the alicorn's Potency is considered two higher, and minimum effective Strength is 0.

As for Built to Destroy, the basic idea behind the perk is someone who is more brutal in combat at the cost of significantly greater wear and tear on their equipment. Adding to crit failure chance doesn't really fit the spirit and intention of the trait. Perhaps, instead, add it a penalty to Mechanics rolls to repair the characters equipment? Or even increase weapon degradation to a level every crit failure?

I really like that approach to pushing through a Shield, keeps it difficult and slow but possible.

A degradation level per critical failure feels a little less clunky to me than the penalty to Mechanics (especially given that someone with a sufficiently high Mechanics could negate that -25 penalty and thus the drawback of the perk). With either solution though, the perk will still be very powerful in a high-Luck Crit build as AMARDA pointed out.

Interesting idea Kkat, but if they succeed in getting inside the shield, would I have to recast/reshape the shield to get them back on the other side?

I would imagine you'd need to recast it, otherwise a melee opponent trying to push themselves inside to get at a unicorn would effectively be wasting their time. That way it'd at least be a drain on your Strain if you chose to do a cat-and-mouse game to keep them away.

Strange question, but if you're standing behind a shield that is for example an alicorn has their shield up around them and an opponent tries to shoot through the shield to hit a pony behind it would it have to pierce the shield twice? (one to get inside once to get out?) or say a pony shapes their shield like a wall and folds it over itself like a folded towel?

Oh and can a shield be used as a platform to stand upon?

Really good point there, Godna, I hadn't even thought of that. I would imagine it'd only need to do sufficient damage to pierce the Shield once, if only because the latter example would make the spell far more powerful than it's balanced to be.

Given it takes significant focus and strength to push through a Shield, I'd imagine you could use a Shield as a platform.

Point of order: As I understand it, in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, SPECIAL stats are hard-capped at 10 and absolutely nothing can push them higher than that. Since this system is largely based of those two games, I would think the same would apply here.

In the show, the shield is a barrier that seemingly can only be penetrated by something that is explicitly allowed to do so; in FoE, the same generally holds true except when it's hit by something that completely overwhelms it (e.g., Spitfire's Thunder or SteelHooves' arsenal, or the special effect of Hellhound claws, against a typical alicorn shield);

A solid point there, Silverlight. I think the fundamental difference (and the logic behind the choice to allow a select few things to break the 10 cap) is that this system has magic, and only very powerful magic or powerfully magical perks have been noted to allow someone to break that cap.

Worth noting, there are a couple times in FOE where we do see attacks breath through a Shield without shattering it and where characters pass through a Shield (pointed out to me by Kkat and noted in my last post). Also, to my recollection, we've never actually seen someone try to force themselves through a Shield in the show, with the exception of the city-wide version which is pretty clearly (system-wise) a Great and Powerful Expert+ version of the spell.

[AffeTrollkarl]

Worth noting, there are a couple times in FOE where we do see attacks breath through a Shield without shattering it and where characters pass through a Shield (pointed out to me by Kkat and noted in my last post). Also, to my recollection, we've never actually seen someone try to force themselves through a Shield in the show, with the exception of the city-wide version which is pretty clearly (system-wise) a Great and Powerful Expert+ version of the spell.

Well, there is that time that Twilight casts a shield bubble around the library to keep the crusaders out in Ponyville Confidential~

[Kkat]

Telekinetic Grasp: The additional line has been added to Telekinetic Grasp in order to keep the spell to it's original and very specific function rather than being treated as generically upgraded TK: Telekinetic Grasp, while powerful, is extremely clumsy and unsubtle; it cannot be used for wielding weapons or any sort of fine manipulation.

[Night Light]

Well, there is that time that Twilight casts a shield bubble around the library to keep the crusaders out in Ponyville Confidential~

Very true, that's actually the scene I was referring to when I was saying "we've never actually seen someone try to force themselves through a Shield in the show." While they may bang on it, they never actually try to force their way through.

[Viewing_Glass]

Interesting idea Kkat, but if they succeed in getting inside the shield, would I have to recast/reshape the shield to get them back on the other side?

I would imagine you'd need to recast it, otherwise a melee opponent trying to push themselves inside to get at a unicorn would effectively be wasting their time. That way it'd at least be a drain on your Strain if you chose to do a cat-and-mouse game to keep them away.

Though keep in mind if you fail the check to reform the shield, you lose the shield and have to recast the spell.

[Kkat]

Precise Strike/Shot: This maneuver cannot be used with a "Wild" attack (that is, an attack using Wild Shot, Wild Strike or Wild Cast).