Alternate Core Documents

[TyrannisUmbra]

Well, the damage bonus is pretty big even if it's only for melee/unarmed sneak attacks. Plus, the item-based effects are strong as well. I'd personally take Dancing Shadows for the item bonus over the sneak bonus, it's almost not even a factor in the decision.

And... there is a such thing as gun-based martial arts. They tend to focus on proper and fluid use, as well as the necessary art of keeping your gun in your own possession at all times. I could definitely see it working off of things like fast reloads, fast draws, and resistance to disarms. Maybe some kind of reduction of accuracy penalties.

[Dance_Explosion]

The item based effects are the primary bonus for Dancing shadows, the damage boost is simply there to encourage the type of style it is meant for, sneaking up behind things and stabbing them over and over and over in a flurry of sneak attacks with a poisoned bowie knife.

[Ilushia]

Until I get more information, I'm undoing the change to regarding Stun damage getting half DT.

This issue with Stun damage is that Stun becomes drastically superior against higher-armored characters and monsters. Unfortunately, after a little math, I realized that the change to Stun damage was pushed through by extreme examples and that the new rules make Stun damage drastically *worse* than normal damage, as opposed to at least 20% cooler. Defense against Stun should be, in most cases, inferior to normal DT, but not cripplingly so.

Rosemary Thyme
Level 9
DT 4, Shield +8
Stun DT 12

Artifica
Level 14
DT 19
Stun DT 12

With these two examples, Rosemary already has more than double resistance to Stun (28, because shield gets double) and adding half DT just makes the gap even greater. Artifica, whose protection against Stun is appropriately lower suddenly gets a resistance to Stun higher than her actual DT. I similarly went through each of the PCs in both the Beyond Equestria game and uSea's game (where I play Artifica). Applying the proposed +1/2 DT rule to those characters cause every single character to gain a defense against Stun that was greater than their defense against normal damage. (In many cases, their Stun DT was already better than their normal DT, and drastically so for characters with shields.)

More examples from active PCs played under the current rules would help. If you would be willing to post your current characters' name, level, Stun DT and normal DT (with shield DT noted separately), this could be a big help.

Until then, I have instead changed heavy armor, power armor and higher monster armor perks so that they give a bonus to Stun DT, as well as a few individual light and medium armors. I hope that should actually solve the problem.

The primary problem with stun damage is that the rules treat it as less 'lethal' (In the sense of being lower-risk to the target and thus more of it per lethal damage being acceptable), where as the reality tends to be that it's not any less lethal than the alternatives. Being KOed for an hour may as well be dead for the purposes of the remains of that fight. And if that happens to the entire party then they may well end up ACTUALLY dead, since with an hour of free time even a Str 1 character with their bare hooves could kill pretty much anyone whom they could pull out of their armor (Which is basically anyone not wearing Steel Ranger power armor).

Stun damage shouldn't be dramatically better or worse against targets than lethal damage. It should just allow you an option to take someone alive, rather than critically wounding them, if that's your desire.

[Thanqol]

Idea. How to make Earth Ponies cool.

Answer: Innovation Points

[Aqu]

Idea. How to make Earth Ponies cool.

Answer: Innovation Points

This needs to be official.

[Dance_Explosion]

well, not really, Earth ponies have a metric fuck ton of stuff they can do, like be the most powerful specialists in almost everything in the game, have all the racial perks and bonus perks. now with that said, do enough people think earth ponies need a Pegasus style trick system for making things? To be fair Zebra's specialize in making things [alchemy and shaman enchantments] and earth ponies specialize in well specializing with the ability to break the 115 cap with cyber pony [which does need work].

Now looking at the list so far, i can say right now that players should not be able to make power armor, much like unicorns are not allowed to make new spell matrix configurations, simply because it will spiral out of control and go completely nanners. but the list has potential.

[Viewing_Glass]

Agreed. Pre-War items should not be able to be reinvented in a game. Otherwise the list looks alright. My only concern is this clashes with the current rules that allows an Earth Pony to invent an item related to their special talent using their special talent skill, as well as clashing with the rules for building things from a schematic.

[Thanqol]

well, not really, Earth ponies have a metric fuck ton of stuff they can do, like be the most powerful specialists in almost everything in the game,

I don't think so. I've spent the past few days theorycrafting up an EP build and I endlessly come back to the conclusion that if I made the exact same character except as a unicorn he'd be significantly stronger and more mobile without even a single perk invested in spellcasting.

have all the racial perks and bonus perks.

One bonus perk. Singular. One perk for an entire Unicorn spellset is absolutely worthwhile. And if you don't take Cyberpony then Earth Pony is without purpose or merit.

Now looking at the list so far, i can say right now that players should not be able to make power armor, much like unicorns are not allowed to make new spell matrix configurations, simply because it will spiral out of control and go completely nanners. but the list has potential.

Agreed. Pre-War items should not be able to be reinvented in a game.

Level 20 gives players access to a Sonic Rainboom, which can utterly revolutionise the setting by damaging the cloud layer and forcing an Enclave response. Level 20 also gives a small group of pegasus ponies the ability to shut down an entire battlefield worth of robots and power-armoured Steel Rangers with one move. Finally, a small group of unicorns at level 20 with Matrix Casting and the right facilities can throw megaspell-level effects - I understand that's how megaspells were created in the first place.

Level 20 is the point where players of every type get access to incredible, setting-disrupting effects. If a pegasus is riding into the final battle with Spitfire's Thunder and a Unicorn is dropping battlefield-shaping spells it doesn't seem to follow why an Earth Pony inventor can't rock up wearing home-made Power Armour. I dunno, maybe I've just got a different view of what level 20 means, but I'd prefer to add an appropriate cost to producing (like needing a workshop, say, or lots of raw materials) rather than "Nope, never".

Otherwise the list looks alright. My only concern is this clashes with the current rules that allows an Earth Pony to invent an item related to their special talent using their special talent skill, as well as clashing with the rules for building things from a schematic.

It doesn't 'clash' with those rules. It replaces them. And it doesn't 'replace' them because there's nothing to replace. I haven't seen any rules in the core document for building items from hoof, or what's involved, or what the costs are, which means that it's entirely in the realm of GM fiat. And I don't like the core special ability of characters being purely within the realm of GM fiat.

[Viewing_Glass]

Ah, ok. So, with your system in place then, unless a unicorn or pegasus took a perk, then only earth ponies could invent things? And zebras are just left out in the cold, unable to invent anything? I might have misread your chart.

[Thanqol]

Ah, ok. So, with your system in place then, unless a unicorn or pegasus took a perk, then only earth ponies could invent things? And zebras are just left out in the cold, unable to invent anything? I might have misread your chart.

Things can be invented - as in, imagined and put into mass production - by anypony, sure. But if you want to build a jetpack in five minutes out of earnings clipboards and 200 year old coffee you need an Earth Pony on deck.

And if a pony wants to go all Tony Stark and come up with the idea for a Holorifle while out in the wasteland and without, say, a military-industrial complex under their hooves with dozens of staff and assistants working together on the blueprints, then yeah. That's an Earth Pony.

Pre-War Equestria doesn't conflict with this. Zebras leveraged their Shamanism to make Spirit-possessed robots and enchanted guns, they didn't leverage their brainpower to come up with Power Armour and Anti-Material Rifles.