Alternate Core Documents

[Rippedshadow]

Well, I did say "(base) weapon AP".

And off the top of my head, I figured extra damage would be "Extra Damage = Weapon AP/5" or something.

So a knife would get +3, while a hunting rifle +8. Not perfect, but it's something to consider.

[Viewing_Glass]

That could scale quite nicely, actually, for the weapon perks. Spirit of Flame could provide additional fire damage of (Weapon AP/5) at Basic, (Weapon AP/5)+POT at advanced, and (Weapon AP/5)+(POT*2) at Expert. That would neatly solve the issue of first level unicorns causing too much damage and still rewards a unicorn for having a higher END as well as perks that boost potency at higher levels. Shamanism could provide a number of d10 based on Spirit Power, giving us a differentiation between Unicorn Imbuing and Zebra Shamanism.

[Viewing_Glass]

Speaking of Shamanism, the Fortune Finder perk currently only doubles the amount of caps you find in containers. Is it possible to update it to double the amount of caps and beauty (not rarity) of gems you find in containers?

[Kkat]

I think the biggest issue people have is the damage output of the spells Spirit of Flame, Spirit of Lightning, and Spirit of Poisons with low AP and any weapon that can burst fire or has an ROF option.

That's one potential problem which should be addressed. The overall damage output may need to be altered. I'm thinking (static bonus + Potency) rather than (Potency * multiplier). The skill-boosting perks may also be a bit too overpowered. One idea I had was creating a downward-scaling benefit or benefit ceiling. For example: Basic cannot raise a skill above 50, Advanced cannot above 75, and Expert cannot above 100.

Burst Fire weapons and ROF weapons are easy to fix: Every-time a pony spends AP to fire with a weapon enchanted with Spirit of Flame, Lightning, and Poisons, they only gain the additional damage on the first shot.

Mechanically that might work, but conceptually it makes no sense at all. And remember, every bullet shot from the Zebra Rifle has burning damage (as per the story), so even if we made that change to Imbuing, Shamanism still has to have damage-per-bullet. If Shamanism does, then Imbuing really should too for consistency. So that solution is out; I'll need to figure out something else.

Low AP weapons are a different problem. If we limit the amount of times Spirit of Flame, Lightning, and poisons can apply damage, this weakens those spells considerably. In addition, it still leaves the problem of those perks (and traits) that add to damage on each attack with low AP weapons. How to solve this problem, I simply do not know.

You are responding to "how can I improve Imbuing" and not trying to hijack this into a generic "I think stuff that adds damage per attack is broken", aren't you?
Good. I'll just pretend you never wrote that last sentence, then.

Limiting the amount of times those spells can do damage is effectively what you were just suggesting for Burst/Auto weapons -- just with a different pattern of application. And doesn't work for the same reasons (in addition to the complaint you've added that it weakens the spells unduly).

[Kkat]

What if.

And this is crazy.

Damage perks added flat damage based on (base) weapon AP, instead of more d10's? Sure it's more math, but if you're using this system you should have a calculator handy anyway, so it's one more calculation added to many others. Doesn't fix enchantments, but... It's something to consider.

First: more math is always bad.
Second: you cannot assume people will have any particular device (calculator, spreadsheet, laptop, etc). This system is being designed to be played across a dining room table with friends who have paper, pencils and dice... and not necessarily anything else. Please keep that in mind.

The mechanic has some merit, but I don't think it has enough to warrant implementation. The randomization that d10's give is a desired quality. More importantly, the only way I can see the mechanic being implemented is if that bonus damage was per bullet, not per attack. That way, the burst fire and autofire weapons will end up getting that damage applied per successfully hitting bullet. Which, I suspect, is the very thing you were suggesting the mechanic to avoid. And if we're not going to use the mechanic to change damage-per-bullet applications, is there any reason to make those perks even more complicated?

I don't actually have a problem with the perks (and traits) being complained about. I hear some people whine that "Oooh, but burst fire and autofire weapons get much more powerful!" Frankly: good. They ought to! And as someone who is running a game with a lot of Steel Rangers using autofire weapons, I can attest as a GM that they really need to. Because without those d10's, autofire and burst-fire weapons just plink off armor worthlessly. I literally could not significantly hurt most mid-to-upper level PCs with even the heaviest autofire weapon without those perks functioning as they do. I have no intention of changing them or seeing them changed.

[Rippedshadow]

To save space, not gonna quote you Kkat.

I agree, I'm fine with the mechanics the way they are for the most part. Some spells need tweaking for sure, but the system does it's job. I only threw the idea out there because I saw some people complaining about low AP weaponry.

Which reminds me, does nobody realize that low AP weapons have a big risk? What risk you ask?

More rolls to fail with.

Sure, it's not that big an issue most of the timee, but chances are that doing 8 rolls for attacks has a higher chance then doing 3 to fail. Just food for thought. Remember: bones is a dick, and will screw you over. Don't balance for bones, but keep chance in mind.

[Kkat]

Speaking of Shamanism, the Fortune Finder perk currently only doubles the amount of caps you find in containers. Is it possible to update it to double the amount of caps and beauty (not rarity) of gems you find in containers?

Done. And extended to specify pre-war bits too.

[Viewing_Glass]

Hrm...honestly I would increase the strain of skill boosting perks that are located at advanced. However, I do like the idea of locking Spirit of Light to give a limited boost; It is easily the most powerful imbuing spell in the game.

Right now the skill boosting spells at advanced only give there benefits in very specific situations (with the exception of Spirit of Machines) and that is spelled out inside of each of the perks. Increasing the strain cost by 5 at advanced and 10 at expert puts more of a limitation on how many times a unicorn can use those spells. Let's face it, most of the time a unicorn won't use Spirit of Nature to break a cap: They use it because it halves the number of ingredients needed instead. Riddles I have used to meet the 100 cap more often, but...the imbuing spells already don't break skill caps. They will reduce penalties, but won't break caps.

Let's face it, most of the time a unicorn is using these spells not to overshadow the rest of the party, but help out the party and/or fill in a missing gap that the party has. Such as a party without a lock picker, a unicorn might pick up imbuing to make up for the fact that they don't have a ton of ranks in lockpick, as they weren't expecting to have to put any in it. >.>; And if the unicorn is picking up spells to solely help a party out, IE, help their friends out, well, isn't that the point of the system?

[radmelon]

I would like to note that I am very much in support of bonus damage keyed off of weapon AP. If I am not mistaken, all weapon AP values are cleanly divisible by 5, and I don't believe it is an unreasonable assumption that people can divide multiples of 5 by 5 in their heads. The proposed fix does nicely help to counteract the whole "fast weapons kill everyone" problem.

[Kkat]

A few perk tweaks:

• The Tough Hide perk now gives +1 Stun Resistance per rank in addition to +2 DT.
• The Resilient Horn perk now gives +30 Strain.