Enhanced Racial Perks Project [WIP]

[Zepheniah]

I have a few Pegasus Perks, related to either flying or leadership, since they are the most naturally organized and militaristic of the three pony races, (as per Hearths Warming Eve).

Suggestion: Change Combat Coordinator to be a Pegasus racial perk, due to its very high relative power.

Hop, Skip and a... -- Level: 14 -- Requires: AGI 7
While spending AP on melee or unarmed attacks, you may freely spend that AP on movement actions as well. Example: Move twice for 10AP each during a 20AP attack.

Shock and 'Awww Yeah!' -- Level: 10 -- Ranks: 2
On the first round of combat, you deal 2d10 bonus damage per rank.

Focus Fire -- Level: 6 -- Requires: CHA 6
For 15AP you may designate a target. All other members of the nearby party have a 10% increased chance to hit the target and deal 1d10 bonus damage to the target until your next turn.

Crazy Neighvan -- Level: 6 -- Requires: AGI 8
Once per turn, you may have one attack that hit you, miss you, or turn a critical hit into a normal hit. You must be aware of the attack and have AP for one movement action available.

[Viewing_Glass]

Well, I didn't mean it necessarily needs to stop ignoring armor, but maybe make it conditional? The reason I suggested precise strikes was because obviously they cost more AP to perform (thus making them a choice whether to use or not), and thematically it makes some sense. If we'd not like it tied into that, maybe it can be its own special attack that costs base+x AP to perform?

Hrm...well...what if we restricted the armor piercing to occur when ever the target was prone? This would mean the zebra would have to make a trip or buck to gain the benefit. Now if they encountered another target that was prone, that would be a different story.

I have a few Pegasus Perks, related to either flying or leadership, since they are the most naturally organized and militaristic of the three pony races, (as per Hearths Warming Eve).

Suggestion: Change Combat Coordinator to be a Pegasus racial perk, due to its very high relative power.

Hop, Skip and a... -- Level: 14 -- Requires: AGI 7
While spending AP on melee or unarmed attacks, you may freely spend that AP on movement actions as well. Example: Move twice for 10AP each during a 20AP attack.

Shock and 'Awww Yeah!' -- Level: 10 -- Ranks: 2
On the first round of combat, you deal 2d10 bonus damage per rank.

Focus Fire -- Level: 6 -- Requires: CHA 6
For 15AP you may designate a target. All other members of the nearby party have a 10% increased chance to hit the target and deal 1d10 bonus damage to the target until your next turn.

Crazy Neighvan -- Level: 6 -- Requires: AGI 8
Once per turn, you may have one attack that hit you, miss you, or turn a critical hit into a normal hit. You must be aware of the attack and have AP for one movement action available.

Ok, these perks are really cool, but far too powerful when used with existing perks. 'Hop, Skip and a...' means a pegasus can hit every target on a field and not spend AP on movement actions.

Shock and 'Awww Yeah!' works with any weapon...which is a significant problem. Automatic weapons already benefit from adding dice to damage in a ridiculous fashion. In fact, add in the 4d10 in the first round of combat to all the bullets the pegasus could put out, and the fact the pegasus could easily go first...well, everything goes down hill from there.

Focus Fire: I like this perk, and think in a system that focuses on friendship, there should be other perks that are similar. However, remove the additional damage or the bonus to hit; having both is slightly much.

Crazy Neighvan: This perk takes Clever Prancer, a perk twice its level, and then makes it better. Pegasus are already difficult to hit, we don't need to add additional perks that make them impossible to hit.

[Zepheniah]

Well, I didn't mean it necessarily needs to stop ignoring armor, but maybe make it conditional? The reason I suggested precise strikes was because obviously they cost more AP to perform (thus making them a choice whether to use or not), and thematically it makes some sense. If we'd not like it tied into that, maybe it can be its own special attack that costs base+x AP to perform?

Hrm...well...what if we restricted the armor piercing to occur when ever the target was prone? This would mean the zebra would have to make a trip or buck to gain the benefit. Now if they encountered another target that was prone, that would be a different story.

I have a few Pegasus Perks, related to either flying or leadership, since they are the most naturally organized and militaristic of the three pony races, (as per Hearths Warming Eve).

Suggestion: Change Combat Coordinator to be a Pegasus racial perk, due to its very high relative power.

Hop, Skip and a... -- Level: 14 -- Requires: AGI 7
While spending AP on melee or unarmed attacks, you may freely spend that AP on movement actions as well. Example: Move twice for 10AP each during a 20AP attack.

Shock and 'Awww Yeah!' -- Level: 10 -- Ranks: 2
On the first round of combat, you deal 2d10 bonus damage per rank.

Focus Fire -- Level: 6 -- Requires: CHA 6
For 15AP you may designate a target. All other members of the nearby party have a 10% increased chance to hit the target and deal 1d10 bonus damage to the target until your next turn.

Crazy Neighvan -- Level: 6 -- Requires: AGI 8
Once per turn, you may have one attack that hit you, miss you, or turn a critical hit into a normal hit. You must be aware of the attack and have AP for one movement action available.

Ok, these perks are really cool, but far too powerful when used with existing perks. 'Hop, Skip and a...' means a pegasus can hit every target on a field and not spend AP on movement actions.

Shock and 'Awww Yeah!' works with any weapon...which is a significant problem. Automatic weapons already benefit from adding dice to damage in a ridiculous fashion. In fact, add in the 4d10 in the first round of combat to all the bullets the pegasus could put out, and the fact the pegasus could easily go first...well, everything goes down hill from there.

Focus Fire: I like this perk, and think in a system that focuses on friendship, there should be other perks that are similar. However, remove the additional damage or the bonus to hit; having both is slightly much.

Crazy Neighvan: This perk takes Clever Prancer, a perk twice its level, and then makes it better. Pegasus are already difficult to hit, we don't need to add additional perks that make them impossible to hit.

I should have added a disclaimer that these perks are more rough concepts than anything else, but yes some of them are definitely too strong or too easily accessible.

Shock and 'Awww Yeah!' I've since switched over to a different damage-scaling system using %, which gets rid of the horrendous stacking of dice that goes on. It's +20% damage, after DT in the original version and I just converted it to the 'official' system's equivalent.

Focus Fire The simple solution would be to split this perk into two ranks, giving one of the bonuses per rank of the perk you take.

Crazy Neighvan This was indeed woefully low-level and that's been corrected. That six should have been a 20, but I have no idea how I overlooked the error.

[Viewing_Glass]

I still think Crazy Neighvan is too good. Especially when you consider that a Pegasus at level 20 is likely to have 10 or more movement actions available to them.

As far as Shock and 'Awww Yeah!' and Focus Fire...I still think these need to be scaled down. The only one who can give out damage to allies (and even then, at a prohibitive Strain/Cap cost) is Unicorns and Zebra. Maybe that's the way it should remain.

[Zepheniah]

Concerning your comments to Shock and 'Awww Yeah!', I don't think that that standpoint is a particularly solid one:
First off, unicorns can do practically everything, from healing, to damage, to protection, to skill bonuses, to stealth, to...
You get the idea.
In same vein one could contend that the Leader perk should be restricted to unicorns and Zebras, since it adds DT to everyone.

Pegasi adding power to other team-members fits their racial archetype as the most organized and militaristic of the three pony races and they are very much lacking perks to support that so far. (They have some 'Hoo-Haa' in some of their flavor text, but that's about it.)
As another oversight on my behalf, the perk was missing the clause "You may only have one target marked like this at any given time."

As for Crazy Neighvan, one could argue putting it at level 24, where it's on par with Rampage's Wrath and Calamity's Might, putting it among the 'endgame' Perks.

[Viewing_Glass]

Hrm...I don't think using unicorn's as an example is a particularly good one there. I actually have a unicorn, using Kkat's revised ruleset, who has probably the most spells of any unicorn character in the game (If you count the different expertise levels of the spell as different spells, I think he breaks 50 spells, otherwise he has around 35 spells) and I can honestly say that a unicorn who takes the perks to do all those things may be able to do them...but will not be able to do them near as well as a specialist. And the Unicorn's strain is limited severely; unlike Shock and 'Awww Yeah!' which can apply to everyone and give them a rather large bonus. Creating bonus DT in a system with large damage amounts is one thing. Giving everyone a bonus to hit and damage is another, even if it is against one target.

I will say that in regards to Rampage's Wrath and Calamity's Might, I do not like those perks. Even with the changes that were made to them, I feel that they break the system worse than anything else. But that's because as I test this game at higher levels, I am seeing the symptoms of 'Missile Tag'. While I approve of a perk that increases survival chance, a perk that will, when stacked with both ranks of Clever Prancer, cause even a sneaking crit build with a 49% crit chance to miss all but 12% of the time might be a bit much.

[TyrannisUmbra]

I like a lot of those perk concepts. The idea of giving pegasi more party support perks seems amazing to me, though I do kinda agree on the concerns about how strong they are (Not necessarily in a numbers sense, but in a how-this-perk-works sense.) Neighvan is just... too strong. It might be more considerable if the condition was once per session, as opposed to once per turn, but as Viewing Glass said, pegasi already have a lot of evasion themed perks. I added something like this to the zebra list, after tossing the idea around to as many people as I could, who pretty much all unanimously agreed that it should be limited to once per session, as opposed to any of the other ways it could have been changed. The perk is essentially a "I don't care what you rolled, this doesn't get to hit me" thing. You basically get to break the rules when you use the perk, and all the other perks that let you do that have a limit on the number of times they can be used per session.

Combat Coordinator - I won't be making any direct changes to the basic perks. Any that you might see in the basic perk page in the GDoc are explicitly for my own personal use/reference.

Hop, Skip and a... - Might be a little too excessive. I like the basic idea though, maybe instead of getting movement actions in addition to attacks with it, it allows you to move short distances with a melee/unarmed attack? Say... "When you would make a melee/unarmed attack but are not in melee range of your target, you may move up to half of your normal movement range in addition to the attack, once per combat round." Needs polishing on the wording, though.

Shock and 'Awww Yeah!' - I like it. The only problem comes in when you realize that most combat tends to end in the first round anyway, but as long as it's only a single instance of damage gets the bonus, then I think it should be fine. Worth testing, at least.

Focus Fire - I like it. It could use a bit more theming though if it's going to be a pegasus perk specifically. The version you've suggested would probably work better as a general perk. Numbers-wise, I don't think it's inherently too strong, but there might need to be a change to the level requirement if it gives both a d10 and accuracy bonus at once.

[Zepheniah]

I like a lot of those perk concepts. The idea of giving pegasi more party support perks seems amazing to me, though I do kinda agree on the concerns about how strong they are (Not necessarily in a numbers sense, but in a how-this-perk-works sense.) Neighvan is just... too strong. It might be more considerable if the condition was once per session, as opposed to once per turn, but as Viewing Glass said, pegasi already have a lot of evasion themed perks. I added something like this to the zebra list, after tossing the idea around to as many people as I could, who pretty much all unanimously agreed that it should be limited to once per session, as opposed to any of the other ways it could have been changed. The perk is essentially a "I don't care what you rolled, this doesn't get to hit me" thing. You basically get to break the rules when you use the perk, and all the other perks that let you do that have a limit on the number of times they can be used per session.

Combat Coordinator - I won't be making any direct changes to the basic perks. Any that you might see in the basic perk page in the GDoc are explicitly for my own personal use/reference.

Hop, Skip and a... - Might be a little too excessive. I like the basic idea though, maybe instead of getting movement actions in addition to attacks with it, it allows you to move short distances with a melee/unarmed attack? Say... "When you would make a melee/unarmed attack but are not in melee range of your target, you may move up to half of your normal movement range in addition to the attack, once per combat round." Needs polishing on the wording, though.

Shock and 'Awww Yeah!' - I like it. The only problem comes in when you realize that most combat tends to end in the first round anyway, but as long as it's only a single instance of damage gets the bonus, then I think it should be fine. Worth testing, at least.

Focus Fire - I like it. It could use a bit more theming though if it's going to be a pegasus perk specifically. The version you've suggested would probably work better as a general perk. Numbers-wise, I don't think it's inherently too strong, but there might need to be a change to the level requirement if it gives both a d10 and accuracy bonus at once.

Thank you for the feedback, it's greatly appreciated.

Crazy Neighvan -

Hop, Skip and a... - I think restricting it to once per combat round would be reasonable, although then it ends up being a slightly re-flavoured version of A Little Dash. I'd welcome suggestions to help make this a movement/melee oriented perk. The goal of my original concept was to give a pegasus the ability to 'hop' between close targets. Maybe: "Once per attack, the pegasus may make half a flight-movement action for free that must end at an eligible target for unarmed or melee attacks. If there's no target available within range, the pegasus may not use the effect of this perk." It's tricky.

Shock and 'Awww Yeah!' - Combat lasting only for very brief periods of time would probably be more of an attribute on the side of the game that's being run. One or two rounds is short, but in my personal experience 3-4 rounds is more typical, while more fortified fights last for 5 or more. With that said, the final word on a new perk is up to the GM, so if very short combat is typical for a game, then s/he can opt out of adopting it, since it has kind of a binary nature in terms of its power in that case.

Focus Fire - A fair point. When I originally concipated it, it was only the +10% to hit, but I later went back and modified it, before posting it here for discussion. I'd probably increase the level requirement to 14 or 12. As for the theming, I'm not sure how one would further go about tailoring it to pegasi beyond the semi-militaristic organisational approach that's the base of the perk.

Hrm...I don't think using unicorn's as an example is a particularly good one there. I actually have a unicorn, using Kkat's revised ruleset, who has probably the most spells of any unicorn character in the game (If you count the different expertise levels of the spell as different spells, I think he breaks 50 spells, otherwise he has around 35 spells) and I can honestly say that a unicorn who takes the perks to do all those things may be able to do them...but will not be able to do them near as well as a specialist. And the Unicorn's strain is limited severely; unlike Shock and 'Awww Yeah!' which can apply to everyone and give them a rather large bonus. Creating bonus DT in a system with large damage amounts is one thing. Giving everyone a bonus to hit and damage is another, even if it is against one target.

I will say that in regards to Rampage's Wrath and Calamity's Might, I do not like those perks. Even with the changes that were made to them, I feel that they break the system worse than anything else. But that's because as I test this game at higher levels, I am seeing the symptoms of 'Missile Tag'. While I approve of a perk that increases survival chance, a perk that will, when stacked with both ranks of Clever Prancer, cause even a sneaking crit build with a 49% crit chance to miss all but 12% of the time might be a bit much.

Shock and 'Awww Yeah!' only applies to the perk-holder and as I mentioned above, it's effect can either end up as minor, or as very powerful, depending on how the combat in games typically plays out. Games that tend to have very short combat would see this perk be a much more relatively powerful one, while more drawn out fights reduce its power significantly ...which is kind of the idea behind "Shock and Awe". The bloated damage of the current base PnP system doesn't help none, but that's a different issue that would have to be addressed elsewhere. It'd be fair to say that this perk in its current form isn't suited for the current state that the system is in. Maybe make it an AP increase on the first round of combat instead?

Well, to benefit from Crazy Neighvan, you must be aware of the attack, so sneak nullifies it entirely and I don't know where you're getting those numbers from, so unless you detail how you got those results, I can't really respond to that further.
An idea would be to require you to call the source of the shot you're going to dodge at the beginning of the turn, making it more useful on pegasi that draw a lot of fire/aggro and thus still reliably take damage. It'll only make the difference between life and death when facing high crit damage or simply high base damage weapons.

As for Calamit's Might and Rampage's Wrath... The fact that going past level 20 is intentionally flagged as "Optional" basically signals that you're now definitely into the so-called "Epic Levels" that aren't suited for traditional play. Critting a room full of enemies to death in one turn is something you can do, because in "Epic Levels" you're expected to fight things much, much more resilient and threatening than the standard wasteland fare.
Taking level 30 as a benchmark for balanced play is an easy pitfall. Level 20 and level 10 are more appropriate for that purpose.

[Viewing_Glass]

Oh, I am not balancing around level 30, I'm balancing against the level the perks are suggested at. As far as the critical numbers...

10 Luck, 20 for sneaking, 4 for two ranks of Clever Prancer, 4 for Finesse, 3 for Built to Destroy, 2 for Perfect Condition, 2 for Plasma weaponry, 1 for Luck Implant...and now for the optional perks...

+2 if they are not deformed from Wasteland Surgeon

+5 if they are a faction from Fight the Power.

If you fit the two optional perks, I was incorrect. 53% crit.

However, two ranks of Clever Prancer reduce that to a 13% chance to crit.

[Zepheniah]

Oh, I am not balancing around level 30, I'm balancing against the level the perks are suggested at. As far as the critical numbers...

10 Luck, 20 for sneaking, 4 for two ranks of Clever Prancer, 4 for Finesse, 3 for Built to Destroy, 2 for Perfect Condition, 2 for Plasma weaponry, 1 for Luck Implant...and now for the optional perks...

+2 if they are not deformed from Wasteland Surgeon

+5 if they are a faction from Fight the Power.

If you fit the two optional perks, I was incorrect. 53% crit.

However, two ranks of Clever Prancer reduce that to a 13% chance to crit.

While you are sneaking Crazy Neighvan is null and void and doesn't have any effect, because the pegasus isn't aware of you. (I'd actually suggest adding that clause to Clever Prancer.)
So now your crit is, say 28% (No Fight the Power, but Wasteland Surgeon.)
Reduced to 25% by Clever Prancer, this ends up at 7% Critical Hit chance. (I'd contend that the issue here is more one with Clever Prancer and its power-level.)
Assuming you're using a Plasma Defender (35+2d10, Ignoring 2DT) and have taken no damage perks, shooting a 22DT target.
Now, let's say you get your AP-Costs down to 10 AP and can attack 10 times per turn at 50% accuracy.
So, out of five hits, you land four and an extra miss, or five hits after getting a crit negated. The latter comes into play three times out of four.
What do we end with? A statistical decrease of 10% accuracy.
Four hits and a miss deal and average of: (46-22+2)*4 = 104 Damage
Five hits deal an average of: (46-22+2)*5 = 130 Damage

Without Crazy Neighvan:
Five hits deal an average of: (46-22+2)*5 = 130 Damage
Four hits and a crit deal and average of: (46-22+2)*4 + (46+46+46-22+2) = 222 Damage

Based on these statistics, I'd suggest removing Crazy Neighvan's ability to negate critical hits, but otherwise leave it as:
"Once per turn, you may have one attack that hit you, miss you, unless it's a crit. You must be aware of the attack and have enough AP for a move-action available."