Alchemy in Tails of Equestria

For those who missed it, River Horse, makers of the Tails of Equestria RPG, released a little freebie over the holiday.

A two-page PDF presents a new talent: Alchemy. It’s quite an expansive ability, since most talents take a paragraph (at most) to describe. With a table of thirty-six possible alchemical creations, each with their own description, and a sidebar discussing advanced uses of the skill, this is a fairly impressive ability! Of course it’s no surprise that you can find a picture of Zecora in there as well.

You can find a copy of this new talent below:

Alchemy Talent

Ponyfinder: Everglow Ephemera

2019 has been, so far, a year of endings.

In August, the Pathfinder RPG was replaced with a new edition. While Pathfinder 2E is still based on the d20 System, its particulars are different enough that it’s not compatible with its predecessor. You can’t bring elements of D&D 3.0, 3.5, or Pathfinder 1E into a Pathfinder 2E game with just a little on-the-fly conversion the way you could in those games. Indeed, those three systems were essentially the same game, with only some minor differences. As there doesn’t seem to be anyone stepping up to continue the tradition, it looks like the baseline d20 System of RPGs, which were released back in 2000, has finally come to an end.

The other notable ending we’ve seen this year has been that of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Having premiered on October 10, 2010, the series finale aired on October 12th of this year. Even its spin-off series, Equestria Girls, which premiered after the third season of the main show, is airing its final production on November 2nd. While I only joined the show’s fandom near the end of its fourth season, it’s still sad to see a series that I enjoyed so much concluding.

To that end, this post is an homage to both Pathfinder 1E and Friendship is Magic. Since I prefer to post things that an be put to practical use, I’ve decided that the best way to do that is for the closest point of intersection between the two: the Ponyfinder campaign setting.

As such, enjoy these three write-ups that add new Ponyfinder options to the Pathfinder 1E game.

EVERGLOW HALF-DRAGONS

From the Everglow Bestiary, rift dragons (not to be confused with the creatures of the same name from Pathfinder Bestiary 6), while creatures drawn to ruptures between the Elemental Planes, are also described as not-unapproachable in disposition. As such, it makes sense that even they might sire offspring among Everglow’s myriad races. But the Bestiary has no entry for half-rift dragons, something the rules below correct.

Half-rift dragons use the half-dragon template with the following modifications:

Special Defenses: Half-rift dragons do not gain an energy immunity. Instead, they have the following energy resistances: acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5, fire 5.

Special Abilities: Half-rift dragons gain a breath weapon. This breath weapon is usable once per day, but only if the half-rift dragon has spent at least 1 minute (i.e. 10 consecutive rounds) inside an area charged with elemental energy in the last 24 hours. The breath weapon deals energy damage of the same type as the area of elemental energy that the half-dragon was in, inflicting 1d6 hit points of damage per racial Hit Die possessed by the half-rift dragon. The breath weapon takes the form of a 30-foot cone. It otherwise functions as the standard breath weapon in the half-dragon template.

An area charged with elemental energy is considered to be any area that deals lethal damage with an energy type as part of its natural environment (note that the half-rift dragon does not need to take damage to charge its breath weapon). These includes places of extreme cold (below –20° F) or extreme heat (air temperature over 140° F), planes with elemental traits (while planes with the fire-dominant trait are obvious for what energy type they allow to be used, treat those with the air-dominant trait as being electricity, those with the earth-dominant trait as being acid, and those with the water-dominant trait as being cold), and rifts with elemental qualities (as described in The Care and Handling of Rifts). Note that a half-rift dragon does not need to take damage from such an area in order to charge its breath weapon. If the half-rift dragon spends 1 minute or more in more than one such area in a 24-hour period, its breath weapon uses the energy type of the most recent one that they were in. If the area contained two or more elemental energies, the half-rift dragon may choose which energy type to use for their breath weapon.

In contrast to rift dragons, luminous dragons (from Princess Luminace’s Guide to the Pony Pantheon) lack the genetic primacy of other types of dragons (as indicated by their Subdued Ancestry racial trait). Children of luminous dragons do not use the half-dragon template. Instead, scions of luminous dragons use the Luminous Bodied and/or Luminous Blooded qualities from Hybrid Blood.

PANTHEISTIC/POLYTHEISTIC BLESSING

While each of the gods of Everglow have worshipers who revere them alone, strong traditions of collective worship pervade many of that world’s societies. More than a few clerics operate as pantheists, while others worship triadic groupings of gods. Even among those who don’t become divine spellcasters, this often holds true.

For those who formalize this by taking the Pantheistic Blessing or Polytheistic Blessing feats, the following present specific benefits for the pantheons of Everglow. As outlined in those feats’ descriptions, an asterisk (*) after a deity’s name indicates the head of the pantheon.

PONY PANTHEON (RACIAL)
Deities The Author, Blaze, Gentle Ripple, Kara/The Hive Queen, Lashtada, Moon Princess, Princess Luminace, Soft Whisper, Sun Queen*, Night Mare, The Unspoken
Common Believers ponies
Granted Spell-Like Ability sticky hoof (Ponyfinder Campaign Setting)

GRIFFON PANTHEON (RACIAL)
Deities Huntress, The Sun King*, White Talon
Common Believers griffons, purrsians, sun cats
Granted Spell-Like Ability heightened awareness (ACG)

ELVEN PANTHEON (RACIAL)
Deities Bristala, Gladoneral*
Common Believers elves
Granted Spell-Like Ability command

APOCRYPHAL SUBDOMAINS

For those who worship an individual god, the manner in which their deity is honored can often drift from their religion’s standard practices. In some cases this can lead to a divergence significant enough to warrant becoming a separatist cleric. But in other cases the doctrinal differences aren’t so great, focusing only on particular details without rejecting larger tenets. For such characters, the Acolyte of the Apocrypha trait allows for an atypical subdomain to be taken for their deity.

The following lists the apocryphal subdomains for the gods of Everglow (these also fit with the altered domains offered by the Moon Princess, Sun Queen, and Unspoken in the Ashen Age, as described in From the Ashes). As per that trait, an asterisk (*) indicates a domain which that deity normally doesn’t offer; such domains may be taken only as modified by the listed subdomain.

Blood (War domain)
Blaze, Huntress

Chivalry (Glory domain)
Lashtada, Gladoneral

Corruption (Evil domain)
Kara/The Hive Queen

Divine (Magic domain)
Princess Luminace

Flotsam (Water domain)
Gentle Ripple

Industry (Artifice domain)
The Maze

Judgment (Law domain)
Moon Princess, Night Mare

Loss (Darkness domain)
Soft Whisper

Martyr (Nobility domain)
Sun King, Sun Queen

Revelry (Chaos domain)
Bristala, The Unspoken

Riot (Chaos domain)
Apep, Blaze

Self-Realization (Strength domain)
Night Mare, White Talon

Solitude (Protection domain)
Emerald, Moon Princess

Truth (Madness domain)
The Author*, The Unspoken

 

Official New Monsters for the Tails of Equestria RPG

I’ve spoken before about the Tails of Equestria role-playing game, which at the time of this writing has just over a dozen products released for it, along with some helpful downloads. But recently, the company making the game, River Horse, has been releasing several new monsters for it as well. But these are only available via the company’s social media presence, specifically their Twitter, Instagram, and mailing list.

Given that those won’t reach some people, and because social media of all stripes has always struck me as being impermanent by nature (more so than a blog, at lease), I’m going to repost those monsters here. Or at least, the ones that don’t already appear in a book, since the ones that do don’t need additional archiving. So without further ado, let’s see what new monsters there are in Equestria!

The kindling is an original monster, rather than being from the show itself (but don’t ask me if they’ve ever appeared in the comics or any of the other secondary media). Technically, they appear in the adventure “A Dragon’s Bounty” in the Tails of Equestria Starter Set. However, the stat block shown above doesn’t actually appear in the book, though the kindlings play a part in the adventure.

Do the bite-acuda! These little guys come straight from the show, being introduced in Non-Compete Clause, the ninth episode of the eighth season. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time we’ve ever seen them in Tails of Equestria format. Hopefully we’ll get more show conversions in the future; I’d love to see what a bufogren or an ophiotaur’s stats are like!

There were also stats posted for another creature (an original one, not from the show): the lava bug. However, that appears in Filly Sized Follies, the most recent Tails of Equestria book to date. Hopefully River Horse won’t keep recycling monster entries going forward!

But I suspect we’ll find out soon enough. So far, these creature entries have been released on a weekly schedule. With any luck, they’ll keep putting them out for a while to come.

EDIT (06/11): And the bufogren, from The End in Friend (season eight, episode seventeen) has been released!

EDIT (07/12): Another creature from the show, heretofore unseen in a Tails of Equestria product, has been released! And this time it’s a double-feature, being stats for the winterchilla and its alternate form, the winterzilla, from the Best Gift Ever special episode that aired between seasons eight and nine! (Notice that the winterzilla’s stats need some slight errata: it should have a Stamina score of 24 rather than 20, since Stamina is your total die values for your Body and Mind traits.)

EDIT (07/19): And now we have the ophiotaurus, the Greek-inspired creature from Frenemies (season nine, episode eight)!

EDIT (09/02): I’ve been slightly remiss in updating this post to account for new creatures coming out. Here then are all of the new Tails of Equestria monsters that have come out in the last few weeks:

The octoselene is a reader-submitted creature, not appearing in the show, the RPG, or any other pony-related media that I’m aware of.

Magic books are from the “Judge Not By the Cover” adventure, where they play a central role in the plot. However, much like the kindlings (q.v.), they aren’t actually given stats in the book. As such, we have them here for the first time. The original posting even noted that it was possible for them to be used as PCs!

The kirin, and their fiery nirik forms, are from Sounds of Silence (season eight, episode twenty-three). Given that the introduction of an entirely new and eminently-playable race, it’s not surprising that they received official game stats! Moreover, they were also given a special “how to play” section as well! It largely repeats what’s in the official descriptions; note, however, that it says that kirin PCs (must?) take an additional quirk besides their nirik form.

The most recent release (as of this update) is for none other than Daybreaker herself! While Daybreaker is never shown to be a “real” character, only appearing in Starlight Glimmer’s nightmare in A Royal Problem (season seven, episode ten) and Twilight Sparkle’s worst fear in The Beginning of the End – Part 1 (season nine, episode one), she remains a fan-favorite for what could happen if Princess Celestia ever goes bad the way her sister did. While her stat block contains a few typos, this is still a great addition to any (high-level) Tails of Equestria game!

EDIT (09/08): Normally I don’t bother reprinting monsters that have already been featured in a Tails of Equestria product. But I’m bending that rule here. While the giant spiders are found in “The Festival of Lights” adventure (p. 31), this re-release also includes rules for playing one as a PC. An unusual choice, perhaps, but not that much more so than playing something like a changeling!

With that said, be aware that the actual explanations for the spider climb, web sling, and tremor sense talents are found in “The Festival of Lights,” so if you don’t have that book you might have to make some quick decisions about what those can do. Notice also that the stats for a giant spider here are slightly different than those in the book. Not only are the quirks different, but in the book giant spiders have the spider climb talent at a D8 rather than D6.

EDIT (09/13): This time around we have something a little different. Thrilly Filly is one of the original characters created for the Tails of Equestria RPG, serving as one of the three iconic ponies on the cover of the main rulebook! While we’ve received stats for her before (such as in the Starter Set, for one), I don’t recall seeing this particular version of her stat block before. Notice that, according to her Trait dice sizes, she’s 4th level here.

EDIT (09/20): And here’s the second of the three Tails of Equestria iconic characters, Firebrand!

EDIT (09/27): And last but not least, the third iconic character for Tails of Equestria, Strong Oak!

EDIT (10/11): This update adds two new monsters. Sky bunnies are an original, user-submitted entry:

The Great Prism Whale, however, is from the forthcoming Melody of the Waves adventure. While I don’t normally repost Creature Feature entries that are reprinted from another product, since that adventure isn’t out yet this monster gets in on a technicality!

EDIT (10/18): The latest update is the gloombrine hydra! Also from Melody of the Waves, this creature gets in under the same technicality as the previous one!

EDIT (11/01): Another monster from the forthcoming Melody of the Waves adventure!

EDIT (11/08): One more new monster from the soon-to-be-released adventure, Melody of the Waves!

EDIT (11/15): This time it’s another reader-submitted original creature! Notice that this one has no Body score, which I think indicates that it has no physical form?

EDIT (12/05): Here’s one more creature from the upcoming Melody of the Waves adventure!

Eclipsing Tempest Shadow

It’s been much too long since I’ve posted an Eclipse character here. Although I wasn’t planning on making another pony-related post, this was the first individual that came to mind when I sat down to stat someone up.

With its official release over two months behind us as of this post, I’ve had plenty of time to think about my reaction to My Little Pony: The Movie. My ultimate takeaway is that, while it wasn’t a bad film, it’s largely defined by its missed opportunities. The movie goes out of its way to present a stand-alone story, one which – while it does explore new areas of the world and introduce some interesting characters – is severely flawed for how many details it overlooks in the course of doing so.

Much has been made of where in the show’s timeline the movie falls, with the favorite interpretation (largely due to its release date) being that it’s between seasons seven and eight. However, that’s purely speculative, as the season seven finale makes no mention of the movie, nor foes the film itself drop any hints as to its chronological placement. Other than the fact that Twilight has wings and refers to herself as the Princess of Friendship, there’s little here to say when its story happens.

That, however, is still enough to give rise to some rather uncomfortable observations. Discord, for example, is notable in his absence, both in terms of his lack of presence and no one ever so much as mentioning his name, even though he could have solved things with a snap of his fingers. With such a gaping plot hole, it’s little wonder that we never see Starlight Glimmer, let alone any of the other more recent allies that Twilight and her friends have made, such as Thorax and the reformed changelings or Princess Ember of the dragons.

But none of these are as egregious as the Mane Six themselves apparently forgetting some of their own abilities. Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense, for example, never goes off even once during their adventure, nor does Fluttershy ever so much as try to use The Stare on their enemies. Even these are somewhat forgivable, if for no other reason than the show is equally guilty of overlooking them at times. But Twilight never teleporting, even when she’s in a cage? That’s not something that I can easily overlook.

This isn’t to say that the movie was all bad, of course. It had some funny moments, a few good songs, and added some world-building. But the single best part was, hooves down, its villain: Tempest Shadow.

Tempest Shadow, level 5 unicorn striker

She’s basically pony Darth Vader.

A unicorn mare whose horn was broken by an ursa minor when she was a filly, Tempest Shadow now serves the nefarious Storm King as his second-in-command. In contrast to her master’s whimsical attitude, Tempest presents a cold and austere personality, beneath which seethes a pit of bitterness about the isolation her disability has caused her. Desperate to have her horn restored, she’ll stop at nothing to be made whole again, even if it means leading an attack on her homeland.

Available Character Points: 144 (level 5 base) + 12 (levels 1 and 3 feats) + 6 (disadvantages) +8 (duties) +5 (restriction) = 175 CP.

Tempest’s disadvantages are History (the story about how she lost her horn, and with it her faith in friendship) and Compulsive (her overriding obsession with having her horn restored). Her duties – which she only assumed as of 2^nd level – are her tasks as second-in-command to the Storm King. Her restriction is against using melee weapons other than unarmed strikes.

Ability Scores (28-point buy):

Ability Scores	Base	Racial	Levels	In. Ench.	Total
Strength	14	-2	—	+2 enhancement	14 (+2)
Dexterity	16	—	—	+2 enhancement	18 (+4)
Constitution	10	—	—	+2 enhancement	12 (+1)
Intelligence	13	—	+1	—	14 (+2)
Wisdom	10	—	—	—	10 (+0)
Charisma	11	+2	—	—	13 (+1)

As a major antagonist in an epic film, Tempest has a large point buy for her ability scores, albeit not quite as much as Princess Celestia.

Unicorn Pony (30 CP/+0 ECL race)

• Attribute Shift, +2 Charisma/-2 Strength (6 CP).
• Innate Enchantment, caster level x spell level 1 x 2,000 gp (7 CP; 6,000 gp)
  • Greater mage hand (2,000 gp).
  • Greater mage hand (2,000 gp).
  • Electrotechnics (2,000 gp).
• Immunity/stacking limitations when combining innate enchantment effects with external effects (common/minor/trivial; only covers level 0 or 1 effects) (2 CP).
• Immunity/the normal XP cost of racial innate enchantments (uncommon/minor/trivial) (1 CP).
• Immunity/needing to concentrate on spells (common/major/trivial – only for spells of level 0 or 1), specialized for half cost/only applies to innate enchantments (1 CP).
• Immunity/verbal, somatic, and material components when casting spells (very common/major/minor – only for spells of level 3 or below) (10 CP).
• Eldritch, a unicorn’s horn glows when using innate enchantments or spellcasting, and a matching glow surrounds the target (0 CP).
• Skill Focus/Tumble (6 CP).
• Accursed. Any damage, or other harmful effect, that befalls a unicorn’s horn (e.g. must target their horn specifically, rather than the unicorn overall) causes all innate enchantments and spells cast to immediately end. No more can be used until the effect is healed (-3 CP).

ELECTROTECHNICS

School transmutation; Level bard 1, sorcerer/wizard 1

Casting Time 1 standard action

Components V, S

Range long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)

Area 30 ft. burst

Duration 1d3 rounds; see text

Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes

Electrotechnics creates a small orb of electricity that flies to a designated intersection, whereupon it immediately bursts into a sparkling display of electric fireworks. The color and pattern of the fireworks are set while casting, and can form basic images (but not complex arrangements such as maps or words). The images fade after 1 round.

These fireworks are bright enough to cause creatures within 30 feet of them to be blinded for 1d3 rounds on a failed Will save. These creatures must have line of sight to the fireworks to be affected. Spell resistance can prevent this blindness.

Having Tempest’s Skill Focus (i.e. her cutie mark) be related to the Tumble skill was a judgment call. Given that we never actually see her cutie mark in the movie – and even finding out her real name didn’t do much to suggest what her special talent was (the way so many pony names do) – it seemed best to apply it to what we see her do in the movie. Given her incredible athleticism, this seemed like the safest bet.

Basic Abilities (74 CP)

• Light armor proficiency with the Smooth modifier (6 CP).
• 5d8 Hit Dice (20 CP).
• +5 Warcraft (30 CP).
• Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +1 (18 CP).
• 0 skill points (0 CP).

As a 5th-level character with a highly combative focus, Tempest is a force beyond what your average pony could possibly hope to face. At the same time, she’s not a match for what the alicorns can do; she overcame them only because of her sudden onslaught with petrifying magic items.

It’s worth noting that the vast majority of Tempest’s resources – her ship, her minions, and most of her magic items – come from the Storm King, rather than being her own. Even Grubber, her sidekick, doesn’t really do anything to assist her (or really much of anything at all, besides make poor attempts at humor), and so doesn’t require that any Character Points be spent on her part. It’s no coincidence that we don’t see her having much of anything, save the clothes on her back, after the Storm King has been defeated. Hence, Tempest won’t have any sort of Leadership, Privilege, or related social abilities.

Aggressive Assault (18 CP)

• Far Shot, specialized for one-half cost/only for thrown weapons (3 CP).
• Overwhelm, specialized for increased effect/only for unarmed strikes; drives opponents back an additional 5 feet for every 5 by which the attack roll exceeded their Armor Class (6 CP).
• Opportunist/Make an attack of opportunity whenever an attacker misses her with a melee attack, specialized for one-half cost/only with unarmed strikes (3 CP).
• Bonus Attack/may make an extra attack when using unarmed strikes (6 CP).

Although there are plenty of other ponies that outclass her in raw strength or sheer speed, Tempest is by far the most physically combative pony we’ve seen to date.

Untouchable Aegis (33 CP)

• Improved Defender (dodge bonus), specialized for double effect/only when unencumbered and wearing either light armor or no armor (12 CP).
• Evasive/overwhelm (3 CP).
• Evasive/trip (3 CP).
• Evasive/grapple (3 CP).
• Acrobatics (6 CP).
• Fortune/evasion (6 CP).

Tempest’s fighting style relies on quick, acrobatic reactions. She leaps, flips, ducks, and dodges with incredible speed, never taking a hit as she moves in to attack.

Lingering Magic (34 CP)

• Immunity to her racial disadvantage (very common/minor/trivial), specialized for double effect/only for Occult Talents and Innate Enchantments other than greater mage hand (4 CP).
• Improved Occult Talent, specialized for increased effect/no 0- or 1^st-level spells; grants two 2^nd-level spells (12 CP).
• 3d6 (12) Mana, corrupted for two-thirds cost/no form of natural magic, specialized for one-half cost/may only be used to fuel Occult Talents (6 CP).
• Elemental Manipulation metamagic theorem with one level of Streamline, specialized for one-half cost/only to convert lethal damage to nonlethal damage (6 CP).
• Rite of Chi with +2 Bonus Uses, corrupted for two-thirds cost/requires 10 minutes of rest per use (6 CP).

Tempest’s broken horn is shown to be like downed power line, still sparking with a dangerous amount of power. She’s shown to have been able to harness this, firing powerful electrical blasts, although she can’t use other magic such as telekinesis. This serves as a supplement to her martial abilities, and cements her as a force to be reckoned with by those who cross her.

Tempest’s occult talents are for the electrical versions of the spells elemental bolt and elemental burst, found on pages 148-149 of The Practical Enchanter. Using these requires her to spend mana, and she can decide whether to deal lethal or nonlethal damage with each use.

Compensatory Prowess (16 CP)

• Fast Learner, specialized for double effect/only for skills (6 CP).
• Immunity to the limitations on Jump (very common/minor/trivial) (4 CP). This allows Tempest to ignore the running requirement for jumps, may double her result for long jumps and quadruple her result for high jumps.
• Innate Enchantment (6 CP).
  • +2 enhancement bonus to Strength (1,400 gp).
  • +2 enhancement bonus to Dexterity (1,400 gp).
  • +2 enhancement bonus to Constitution (1,400 gp).
  • +10 competence bonus on Jump checks (1,400 gp).

In addition to being exceptionally talented, Tempest has rerouted some of her body’s natural magic so that it enhances her body in a manner somewhat similar to an earth pony.

Equipment

As a 5th-level character who, as a major villain, should have PC-level wealth, Tempest is supposed to have 9,000 gp worth of gear. However, the only gear we see her use are the shield-penetrating orbs that release petrifying gas and her armor. In the case of the orbs, those seem to be materials she has as a result of her relationship with the Storm King, rather than her own gear. That technically goes for her armor too, but given that she’s still wearing it at the end of the movie it seems likely that she’s kept it for herself.

Given that, we’ll focus on her armor here. Since it looks to be a combination of a lighter undergarment and pieces of metal, and isn’t hindering her movements, we’ll say it’s the equivalent of masterwork studded leather (175 gp). We’ll also say that it has a +1 enhancement bonus and the spell resistance (13) magic armor special quality, which collectively are worth 9,000 gp. This approximates an underutilized aspect of the film: that the Storm King’s minions seem to have magic-resistant armor (i.e. Twilight tries to blast one early on, and her attack bounces off of its shield), and even the cage used on Twilight resists her attempting to blast it open…but not the Storm King’s using the Staff of Sacanas (powered with all four alicorns’ magic) to rip it apart.

Derived Stats

• Hit points: 8 (1^st level) + 18 (4d8) + 5 (Con bonus) = 31 hp.
• Speed: 30 ft.
• Saving Throws:
  • Fort: +1 (base) +1 (Con bonus) = +2.
  • Ref: +4 (base) +4 (Dex bonus) = +8.
  • Will: +1 (base) +0 (Wis bonus) = +1.
• Armor Class: 10 (base) +4 (Dex) +4 armor (+1 studded leather) +4 dodge (Defender) +1 untyped (martial art) = 23, touch 19, flat-footed 15.
• Attacks: +5 (BAB) +4 (Dex) +1 (martial art) -2 (Bonus Attack) = +8/+8 unarmed strike (1d4+2 lethal or nonlethal).
• Skills: 16 (Fast Learner) + 10 (Int bonus) = 26 skill points.

Skills	Ranks	Ability Modifier	Misc. Modifier	Total
Balance	0	+4 Dex	—	+4
Intimidate	3	+1 Cha	—	+4
Jump	2	+2 Str	+10 competence	+14
Knowledge (local)	2	+2 Int	—	+4
Knowledge (geography)	2	+2 Int	—	+4
Listen	2	+0 Wis	—	+2
Martial Art (swifthoof)	5	+4 Dex	—	+9
Perform (sing)	2	+1 Cha	—	+3
Search	2	+2 Int	—	+4
Spot	2	+0 Wis	—	+2
Survival	2	+0 Wis	—	+2
Swim	0	+2 Str	—	+2
Tumble	2	+4 Dex	+3 Skill Focus	+9

Tempest’s “class” skills are those listed above (including the two that she has no actual ranks in). In addition to English – or whatever ponies call the language we hear them speaking in the show – she should know two additional languages thanks to her Intelligence bonus. These can be assigned as needed, probably to represent her time in countries she helped the Storm King plunder.

It also makes sense to say that a pony as combative as Tempest has invested some skill points in a martial art. Although the movie never goes into any such details about her – nor do the secondary materials, insofar as I’m aware – we’ll say that it’s something she picked up to abet her combat skills.

Swifthoof (Dex)

This martial art is an offshoot of Stronghoof, the traditional earth pony school of unarmed combat. Unlike its predecessor, Swifthoof focuses on speed rather than strength, emphasizing dodging incoming attacks while building up momentum to deliver powerful hits. It’s too new to have gained any Occult Techniques, though this currently means that it’s open to virtually anypony who can find time to study its principles.

• Requires: Quadruped body-type.
• Basic Techniques: Defenses 4, Attack 2, Power 2, Strike, Synergy (Tumble).
• Advanced/Master Techniques: Combat Reflexes, Instant Stand, Mind Like Moon, Weapon Finesse.
• Known: Defense 1, Attack 1, Strike, Combat Reflexes, Weapon Finesse.

Further Development

As a consummate light-skirmisher type, Tempest has a number of areas where she can try and improve her abilities. She’d be very well served to increase her movement rate (and AC versus attacks of opportunity), bump up her hit points for when things get rough, and definitely buy some Luck for when she’s faced with a Fort or Will save that she needs to make. Beyond that, some additional damage for her melee attacks would be good, and if she can ever get her horn repaired (and retrains that Immunity that lets her use her magic at all), she’ll want to broaden her range of available magic in case she ends up in a bad position…as her almost being sucked into a tornado helped to showcase.

Still, as she is right now, Tempest is a powerful warrior among the ponies. Hopefully we’ll see what becomes of her now that she’s rediscovered what friendship means.

How Magic Works in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls

A few days ago, Thoth posted an updated index of My Little Pony gaming material. Naturally, this reminded me that I’ve had another article on that subject in the works for some time.

Creating an RPG adaptation of a media that wasn’t specifically written with RPGs in mind has a tendency to be difficult at best. Most media is created with a particular narrative structure in mind, and the setting is typically constructed in order to abet that. In RPGs, however, the opposite is usually true: the world – and how it functions – are created first, and the narrative is extrapolated from the adventures that the PCs have.

Still, if the world that’s presented in a given media – be it books, TV shows and/or movies, comics, video games, etc. – showcases the principles that it operates under, as well as various other salient details such as its geography and history, then constructing an RPG around it isn’t usually too tall of an order. (And of course, the scope and mechanics of the RPG system in question play a large role in this as well; rules-light systems, for example, have less that needs to be codified in the first place.) While some inconsistencies may not be avoidable, typically in the form of certain actions seen in the show not being replicable under the RPG rules (these are typically explained as being the province of special individuals, unique circumstances, or some combination thereof), most of what’s there can usually be translated into game mechanics.

That’s been the case so far for the world of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, as seen in the above link. However, the world of its spin-off series, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Equestria Girls, is something else again.

The reason for this is due to the Equestria Girls franchise being comparatively thin. Four movies, three TV episode-length specials, and a large number of animated shorts and music videos represent the totality of the series canon (since, as I’ve discussed previously, secondary materials aren’t very reliable). By contrast, its parent series has well over one hundred fifty episodes and a theatrical film. While the forthcoming Equestria Girls Youtube series might add more to what’s here, so far there’s simply a paucity of material to draw upon.

These girls make Harry Potter look like Elminster.

That’s a problem because, like the series it spun off from, Equestria Girls is neither overly concerned nor particularly forthcoming with the underlying details of how its setting works. While a lot of this can be explained as “it’s Earth (mostly)” that doesn’t help with issues like magic. To date, the magic that the protagonists use in the first four movies is different every single time. And that’s just one of the ways that the magic in Equestria Girls is so consistently inconsistent.

Or is it?

Magical Methodologies

Despite how the magic in Equestria Girls seems to be utterly lacking in any coherent principles, it actually operates under certain rules. While never directly articulated, we can see them demonstrated with surprising uniformity across the series so far. These are as follows:

1) There is no native magic. All of the magic that we see across the series comes from Equestria, rather than the basically-Earth dimension that Equestria Girls takes place in. Other than Twilight invoking Clarke’s Third Law when she sees the Internet in the first movie, all that world apparently has are stories and myths, such as Timber Spruce’s (fake) story about Gaia Everfree in the fourth movie. This is important, because it provides a foundation for why some of the other principles listed here work the way they do.

2) Foreign beings with magic can still use it (subject to local conditions). It’s self-evident that the lack of magic in that world is not due to it being some sort of dead-magic zone, since beings from Equestria who possess magic are still able to use it there. However, their ability to use magic is affected by the circumstances imposed on them by that dimension. Unicorns, for example, rely on their horns to cast magic; since Star-Swirl’s mirror portal conveniently changes people who pass through it into dimensionally-appropriate shapes (clothes included!), that means that unicorns that pass through it become human, and so are unable to utilize their horns to cast spells. Likewise, the Sirens could still feed off of negative energy to power their magic, but since the negative energy of magic-less humans had no magical energy itself, their own magic was sharply curtailed.

3) That world, and its people, can only safely handle so much magic… There’s an apparent limit to what the fabric of the Equestria Girls’ dimension can take, with regards to foreign magic. While relatively small amounts of magic can be absorbed and utilized by the native people and objects of that world, too much of it causes a strain that starts to have deleterious effects on the user, or even the fabric of the universe itself!

This, in other words, is why that world’s “Mane Six” will often be seen to “pony up” without any problem; the transformation by itself is largely cosmetic, and on their own only allows them to utilize low-level effects. Rainbow Dash can fly on her own (an example of the personal flight spell; a level 2 spell from The Practical Enchanter), but can’t cast fly on Scootaloo. The “attack” magic they used against the Sirens at the end of Rainbow Rocks likewise didn’t seem to be very powerful at all, causing the Sirens consternation more than actual damage.

Beyond that point, “magic saturation” will start to have serious side-effects. Native characters that use too much magic will not only be physically warped, but will experience some sort of pronounced psychosis (e.g. Gloriosa Daisy, Juniper Montage, and “Midnight Sparkle”), and even native items that try to contain too much magic will start to fail, causing unpredictable side effects as the magic escapes (e.g. what happened with “sci-Twi’s” magic-draining locket during the Friendship Games, or Juniper’s mirror after absorbing the Mane Seven). Fortunately, most of these effects seem to be temporary, but it’s not unimaginable that prolonged use could cause permanent alterations.

To reiterate, this isn’t something that foreign characters in that dimension need to worry about (unless magic saturation was a problem for them in their native dimension), as per rule 2. That’s why, for example, Sunset Shimmer can absorb the same large amounts of siphoned magic from the aforementioned locket and not go crazy, whereas the native Twilight Sparkle lost control of herself.

4) …unless they share the burden. The exception to rule 3, of course, is if native characters cooperatively work to control stronger magic. In that case, the power is spread thin enough that they don’t suffer from any negative side-effects. Hence why the native versions of Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash can help Sunset Shimmer and the Equestrian Twilight Sparkle to create an astral construct far stronger than the ones created by the Sirens, for example. Even if any of them had been able to use that much magic alone (which they don’t seem to possess anyway), doing so would have taken a serious toll on them if they hadn’t shouldered the effort together.

5) Native characters with foreign magic will see it change over time to acclimate to them. This is the “iffiest” rule, but does serve to explain what we see over the course of the series. In the first movie, the girls are simply imbued with magic that they use reflexively, due to the crisis they found themselves in. In the second movie, they’ve found out that they can invoke that power again via music, with Sunset Shimmer trying and failing to figure out why that’s what activates their powers. By the time the Friendship Games roll around, the activation method has changed to them acting in accordance with their (Equestrian counterpart’s) Element of Harmony. Since the girls later use their “ponied up” forms in their music video without undo difficulty, they may have learned how to invoke them at will.

The RPG Connection

So how does this translate into something that you can use in an RPG game? Consider each rule in the following context:

Rules #1 and #2 contextualize what characters are capable of in the setting, at least at their outset. This helps to shape character creation within the scope of an Equestria Girls campaign. So if the GM wants the players to create native characters only, you’re going to need a very good backstory to justify having any sort of magical abilities. If you really want to be from Equestria (or some other mystic realm), then be prepared to potentially lose a lot of your power in this world.

Rules #3 and #4 set a soft limit on the degree to which magic (once it’s acquired) can be used. You want to throw around up to 2nd-level spells? Go for it. For anything higher than that, expect to start taking Charisma damage, leading to a temporary alignment change, and ending with your character at least temporarily becoming an NPC under the GM’s control. Want to use stronger magic without that happening? You better hope that everyone in your party is on board with what you’re trying to do.

Rule #5 is very nice bit of characterization for why rebuilds happen. Since low-level, continuous-use magic – which doesn’t really change once it’s fixed – is going to be a large part of what defines your character, it makes sense that players might want to alter something if they feel like they made a bad decision. And just like that, the foreign magic has “acclimated” to being used in this dimension.

Overall, these are a fairly nice set of world laws for a low-level superhero game. They create a basis for allowing low-level powers, create a plausible background for having villains with stronger abilities (either as foreign antagonists or natives who’ve gone literally power-mad), and allow the PCs a loophole for throwing around some huge effects of their own when they act as a team.

That’s how you make friendship be magic.

Tails of Equestria – Character Levels and the Mane Six

One of the most enjoyable parts of an RPG adaptation of a popular series is seeing how it stats out the characters from that series. That’s because – since RPG fans are inveterate tinkerers who want to quantify their fantasies so as to better understand (and so enjoy) them – this lets us get a better handle on what they can do. With that level of concrete information, we can evaluate them in more objective terms; this forms a more stable foundation that we can hang new possibilities on, and so let our imaginations run (even more) wild.

Tails of Equestria, with its stats for the Mane Six, is no exception to this.

Pony Power Levels

Chapter 11 goes over the process of gaining levels. In brief, a PC (pony character) gains a level every time they finish an adventure, regardless of how many sessions that takes. Experience isn’t tracked; it’s one level per adventure, period. (Mini-adventures, such as The Gift Horse, are typically meant to be dropped into their full-length counterparts as an extra scenario, rather than being treated as full adventures in-and-of themselves.)

Gaining a level if a fairly simple process in Tails of Equestria. You increase one of your traits by one die size (and, if it’s Body or Mind, increase your Stamina points accordingly). You increase all of the talents that you used during the adventure by one die size (which means that canny players will try and find a way to use as many of their talents as they can during the adventure). You increase a single talent that you didn’t use by one die size OR learn a brand new talent at D4 value. You might choose an additional quirk, though this isn’t recommended.

That’s pretty much it.

The chapter also notes that characters that reach level 10 should typically be retired. Adventures for ponies beyond that point are “epic quests” due to the scope of the challenges that ponies of such a high level will likely face. (I also can’t help but note the amusing irony that ponies above level 10 are, essentially, “epic-level” characters.)

Naturally, this leads us to wonder if the Mane Six – whose stat blocks are on pages 136-137 – are epic-level ponies. At a glance, it’s not immediately obvious, since their stat blocks don’t list their character levels. Luckily, we can reverse-engineer their stats to figure out what level they are; while this can’t be done with their talents (since those are only raised if they were “used” or not during adventures, and so can’t be reliably measured), their traits have starting values and rates of increase that are set.

All 1st-level characters in Tails of Equestria start with a D4 and a D6, which they can place in either their Mind or Body traits as they choose. Their Charm trait always starts out as a D6. Finally, earth ponies – thanks to their Stout Heart racial talent – always bump up their Body value by one die size. In other words, we know what the total value of a 1st-level character’s traits will be. Since we know that characters always bump up a single trait by one die size when they gain a level, we can subtract this from a character’s starting trait values to figure out what their level is.

How does she not have “Being Awesome” as a talent?

For example, Rainbow Dash has Body D20, Mind D10, and Charm D10. Regardless of how she arranged her initial Mind and Body trait values (i.e. whether she started out with Body D6 and Mind D4, or Body D4 and Mind D6), we can chart the number of die increases she’s received, and the number will be the same either way. In this case, her current traits represent nine increases over a 1st-level character’s trait values…meaning that she’s level 10.

Some quick calculations show that this is the same for Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity; all are level 10 characters.

Twilight probably should be the same, but there’s a bit of an issue with saying for certain. If we judge her by the starting trait values of a unicorn (since she was one originally), then she’s received ten increases, rather than nine, which would make her a level 11 character. But as I noted previously, she should likely have the Stout Heart talent of an earth pony, due to her alicorn nature. Since having this talent automatically increases your Body trait by one die size, that would mean that Twilight has only gained nine increases, and so is a level 10 character, the same as her friends. That strikes me as being more in keeping with her character (even if she has had several adventures on her own, such as the events of Equestria Girls and Rainbow Rocks).

EDIT (01/01/18): Twilight’s stat block is reprinted in The Bestiary of Equestria, with a correction in the form of her receiving the Stout Heart talent (at a D6 value). Since none of her traits are altered, this confirms that she’s a level 10 character like her friends.

Naturally, this leads us to wonder what – out of over a hundred-fifty episodes – these nine adventures have been that raised the Mane Six’s levels. It’s tempting to consider the major two-parters that constitutes most of the season premieres and finales up through the beginning of season six (the earliest that Tails of Equestria can reasonably be set, since it references Flurry Heart), but not all of the Mane Six participated in those (e.g. the events of the season five finale, The Cutie Re-Mark – Parts 1 & 2).

Epic Ponies

By now it’s fairly obvious why the rules recommend retiring a character that hits 10th level: a unicorn or pegasus that hits 14th level (or an earth pony that hits 13th level) will be able to max out all of their traits as D20s! What happens if they continue gaining levels after that? Well, the rules don’t say, but they do give us a hint…

Several creatures have multiple dice for a trait, such as how the ursa minor has a whopping 3D20 for its Body trait! More relevant to ponies is that Zecora’s (p. 135) traits are Body D12, Mind D20+D6, and Charm D20. From this, we can infer what happens for ponies that want to increase their traits past a D20 value: they start adding a second die! As per Zecora’s stat block, second dice for the Body or Mind traits count towards your total Stamina points.

Presuming that Zecora started out with the trait values of a typical pony (i.e. a D4 and D6 for her Mind and Body stats and a D6 for Charm), then her current trait dice make her a level 15 character!

A second die for a trait – which I’ll go ahead and say should always start at a D4, just like a new talent – is most likely treated similarly to how you use talents in conjunction with traits. That is, you roll both dice at once, and take the highest value rolled; you do not add them together. So if Zecora were rolling her Mind trait, she would roll a D20 and a D6, and take whichever rolled the highest (if she were using a relevant talent,  such as Keen Knowledge: Potions (D20), she would roll that as well, taking the best result from all three dice). Having a second die therefore means that you’re much less likely to have bad rolls (this will become more true if you continue to increase your second die’s size). GMs should probably strictly enforce the note on page 87 that no trait should be more than two die sizes above any other…though ironically Zecora herself, with her Body D12 and Mind D20+D6, is breaking that guideline!

These same rules should apply for talents that are increased beyond a D20 as well. Note that any trait or talent that reaches a D20 value – let alone gets a second die – is no longer able to use the Exploding Hoof technique (page 57); when you’re already rolling a D20 normally, rolling a only single die in hopes of getting maximum die value so that you can roll the next larger die is pointless.

In the event that a character ends up with 2D20 and still wants to increase the die value, then they can add a third in the same way, with potentially no limit to the number of dice that can be gained, though at that point you’ve likely gone well beyond what the book would consider to be epic adventures!

For a character that powerful, becoming an alicorn is likely something of an afterthought.

Tails of Equestria – Suggested Errata

So I imagine that my longtime readers (all four of them) are wondering why I haven’t had anything to say about the official My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic RPG, Tails of Equestria, up until now. After all, I’ve made quite a few posts about ponies in RPGs up until now, so why not a peep about the game since it released a few weeks ago?

In fact, I’ve been eagerly anticipating the game since it was first announced, and have already gotten a copy and reviewed it on various other websites. I haven’t mentioned it here simply because I use this blog for making more substantive posts than simple reviews, such as posting sample builds, suggesting variant rules, or mentioning some changes that I think should be made. This post is one of the latter, as there’s a (somewhat minor) issue that I noticed:

There seems to be an error in Twilight Sparkle’s stat block.

Before going any further, I should note that – as with all RPG systems that I talk about here – familiarity with the game rules is assumed. Use the link to the aforementioned review for an explanation of how the Tails of Equestria game rules work.

Pages 24-29 lay out the characteristics of each of the three pony types, noting that each has a racial talent at a D6 value: Fly for pegasi, Telekinesis for unicorns, and Stout Heart for earth ponies. Page 30, which briefly covers alicorns (and flat-out says that you can’t play one) says that they combine the characteristics of all three types of ponies: “Alicorn magic is not fully understood, but it is known that Alicorns have the magical powers of the Unicorns, the flying abilities of the Pegasi, and the strength of the good, true-hearted Earth ponies.” That seems to suggest, in other words, that alicorns should have the talents of each type of pony.

On page 137, however, Twilight only has two of them: Telekinesis (D20) and Fly (D6).

“She is Twilight Sparkle. Equestrian. She will not complain, so I complain for her.”

While it’s a bit odd that her Fly talent is so low – that would mean that, since becoming an alicorn (presuming that she gained her Fly talent as a D6 and not a D4, which seems like a reasonable assumption), her ability to fly has never been “used” during an adventure, since every talent you use is automatically bumped up by one die value when gaining a level (see page 87) – that she doesn’t have Stout Heart at all is a notable oversight.

That’s because, as outlined on page 25, the Stout Heart talent represents the only time in the entire game where you modify a die roll via elementary arithmetic: in addition to bumping your Body trait up by one die size, Stout Heart lets you roll the die associated with it (that is, the die associated with the Stout Heart talent itself) and add the result to any test that uses your Body trait. That’s the only time addition or subtraction are used in the game; all other mechanical interfaces with the rules rely on changing the number of rolls you get, how many dice are rolled, or the size of the dice being used.

This means that Twilight not having Stout Heart listed among her talents isn’t a purely academic notation; she’s actually (albeit slightly) reduced in what she can accomplish under the game rules. Most likely, she should have this at a D6 value, the same as for her Fly talent. Hopefully this will be corrected in future printings.

EDIT (01/01/18): Twilight’s stats are reprinted in The Bestiary of Equestria, and I’m quite pleased to note that they’ve added the Stout Heart talent for her (at a D6 value), neatly fixing this problem. Kudos to the writers for addressing this!

From Dusk Til…Dusk

Sonata Dusk has lived an interesting life.

Born a Siren in Equestria, she and her sisters Adagio and Aria were long ago banished to Earth by the great pony wizard, Star-Swirl the Bearded. Living as humans there, they managed to retain a low profile for a long time, stewing in their frustration at having their powers stunted by Earth’s magic-poor nature. Without sufficient magic, they had no way to enchant others to shower them with the adoration that they knew they inherently deserved.

It was purely by chance that they noticed the presence of Equestrian magic in the battle that Twilight Sparkle and her friends fought against Sunset Shimmer. But that was enough for them to hatch a plan to regain their full powers, eventually succeeding only to be near-immediately defeated again. That seemed like the end of the Sirens’ story, consigning them to an eternity of mundane drudgery on Earth, but something happened that no one could have predicted…

The three sisters somehow found themselves transported to the world of Everglow.

How exactly it happened remains unclear. Sonata remembers meeting an unknown pony on Earth – a dull-grey mare – who offered to restore their powers and transfer them to a world almost as magic-rich as Equestria, which she and her sisters eagerly accepted. But the identity of their benefactor is a mystery that she’s never felt was important enough to think back on, let alone solve.

What mattered to her was that, once on Everglow, Sonata and her sisters immediately returned to their old tricks. But a familiar face turned up to stop them; although Twilight had different friends with her this time, the result was the same, with the Sirens being defeated yet again.

For Sonata, that was enough. Renouncing her sisters (she’d never liked them very much anyway), she decided to try living in a way that didn’t make everybody want to stop them all the time. For a creature that wanted to be adored more than anything, the constant string of defeats was a pretty clear sign that they were doing it wrong.

That breakthrough had a profound effect on her, changing her from her original body (which she and her sisters had regained once they’d transferred to Everglow) into that of a pony. Precisely what precipitated that change was indeterminate, but was largely attributed to some sort of lingering mutability due to the body-altering side effects of the transfer between dimensions. Either way, Sonata was stoked by her new form, and started making a new life for herself, trying to learn about how to get people to like her without having to force them.

It was shortly thereafter that she met the unicorn Lex Legis.

Thrown together by happenstance, both of them were shocked when they began to develop feelings for each other over the course of their adventures. By the time they returned to Equestria, things between them had grown into a full-blown romance. Shortly thereafter, Lex took the western third of Equestria for his own, renaming it Legesia, and the two were wed as king and queen.

Current Sketch

Waifu 4 Laifu.

Currently, Sonata is happier than she’s ever been. Her life is one of luxury, she’s still head-over-hooves in love with her new husband, and the public absolutely adores her. Everything is perfect, and she has no intention of letting anyone or anything disrupt that.

To that end, she’s almost as active socially as her husband is politically. While she does help him with very important negotiations and public addresses – he uses a message cantrip to transmit his words to her, and she parses them into more manageable and empathetic language, e.g. using her Diplomacy score rather than his – she spends a great deal of her time singing. From fundraising concerts to public rallies to private parties for important nobles and visiting dignitaries, Sonata’s voice has proven time and again to be the grease for the wheels of government that Lex has constructed.

Of course, it’s not very surprising that she’s been so effective, since she’s enchanting her audience.

Although she knows that Lex would be furious if he knew, Sonata regularly uses the magic of her voice to sway people so that they feel positively towards her husband and his regime. As far as she’s concerned, this is only fair, since most ponies simply can’t seem to appreciate the scope of his reforms; she’s heard plenty of them badmouth him for instituting taxes and regulations, but none of them seem to praise him for using that money to lay down a new series of brick roads or opening new schools. To Sonata, using some magic to help Lex get the recognition she feels he deserves is an act of love.

To that end, Sonata has no sympathy for those that she thinks are trying to ruin the happiness she’s found. Those who threaten her husband or her home will find that, in contrast to her usual sunny disposition, she’s capable of great cruelty. Although she respects the laws that Lex has made, if she feels that breaking them is necessary, she won’t hesitate to do so in order to protect everything she’s gained.

Sonata Dusk, Level 9 Enchantress

Naturally enough, Sonata’s stats are made with Eclipse: The Codex Persona, a d20 supplement that allows for point-buy character-generation.

Unique Race: Altered Siren (31 CP/+0 ECL)

• Adept, specialized for one-half cost/only for Perform (sing) and Swim (3 CP).
• Attribute Shift/-2 Int, +2 Cha (6 CP).
• Fast Learner, specialized for one-half cost/only for skills, corrupted for two-thirds cost/only for Adept skills (2 CP).
• Adaptation/underwater (6 CP).
• +2 bonus to Swim checks (2 CP).
• +3 bonus to Perform (sing) checks, specialized for double effect/only for Mystic Artist (3 CP).
• Immunity to aging (uncommon/minor/great) (6 CP).
• Privilege/being treated as fey versus type-based effects (3 CP).
• Being a quadruped grants +10 movement speed, +50% carrying capacity, and +4 on checks to avoid being tripped. This is balanced against minor penalties (much smaller than normal for quadrupedal creatures): their ring and hand magic item slots are combined (as anklets), and they are only considered to have a single hand for wielding/holding things – that being their mouth; this does not prevent comprehensible speech or interfere with verbal spell components (no cost).

Having been born as a (hippocampus-like) Siren, spending centuries on Earth as a human, and finally becoming a pony after arriving on Everglow, Sonata’s racial characteristics are now a muddle of all three. She has a human’s skillfulness, applied to a Siren’s specialties, with a pony body.

Available Character Points: 240 (level 9 base) + 10 (disadvantages) + 30 (levels 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 feats) + 6 (starting traits) = 286 CP.

Sonata’s disadvantages are Foolish (she has trouble with concepts like “consequences” and “learning from experience.” Lex is helping her to offset this somewhat via the Mentor ability; see below), History (the events of Rainbow Rocks), and Inept (all Intelligence-based skills).

Ability Scores (20-point buy):

Ability Scores	Initial Scores (point cost)	Racial Bonuses	Level Bonuses	Items	Total
Strength	10 (0)	—	—	—	10 (+0)
Constitution	12 (2)	+2	—	+2 belt	16 (+3)
Dexterity	12 (2)	—	—	—	12 (+1)
Intelligence	10 (0)	-2	—	—	8 (-1)
Wisdom	13 (3)	—	+1 (8th level)	—	14 (+2)
Charisma	17 (13)	+2	+1 (4th level)	+4 headband	24 (+7)

Sonata uses the Pathfinder package deal. This gives her an additional +2 to an ability score (applied to her Constitution) and her “favored class bonus” has been put into hit points.

Basic Abilities (93 CP)

• Proficient with simple weapons and light armor (6 CP).
• 9d6 Hit Dice (18 CP).
• +6 BAB, corrupted for two-thirds cost/no iterative attacks (24 CP).
• Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +6 (45 CP).
• 0 skill points (0 CP).

She’s an (Evil) Enchantress (95 CP)

• 9 caster levels, specialized for one-half cost/wizard progression only (27 CP).
• 9 wizard progression levels (Charisma-based; arcane magic; components and studies (spontaneous casting) limitations), specialized for one-half cost/only spells with the mind-affecting or sonic descriptors are on her spell list (49 CP).
  • 5^th (2/day) – dominate person, hold monster, sonic thrust.
  • 4^th (3/day) – charm monster, overwhelming grief, shout, triggered suggestion.
  • 3^rd (5/day) – deep slumber, heroism, hold person, nixie’s lure, rage.
  • 2^nd (6/day) – hideous laughter, qualm, scare, seducer’s eyes, shatter, unnatural lust.
  • 1^st (6/day) – cause fear, charm person, ear-piercing scream, forced quiet, hypnotism, lock gaze, moment of greatness, sleep, sow thought.
  • 0 (at will) – backup performers (new), call domestic animal, daze, earworm (new), enchant instruments (new), instrumentality (new), lend assistance (new), know performance (national anthem of Legesia) (new), rearrange voice (new), sonic snap, soothe infant, sotto voce.
• Immunity to charm effects (common/major/major), this grants immunity to charm effects of 5^th level or below, and a +6 bonus on saves versus those of higher levels (6 CP).
• Shaping, specialized for increased effect/only works for level 0 wizard spells on her spell list, corrupted for two-thirds cost/must be free to gesture and speak (4 CP).
• Easy metamagic modifier, specialized for one-half cost/only for material and somatic components (3 CP).
• Streamline, specialized for double effect/only for the Easy metamagic modifier (6 CP).

Since Sonata uses the studies limitation with her magic progression, set to limit her to a list of spells known, it’s necessary to list what specific spells she has. Ergo, her spells known are listed above. Note that she only treats sorcerer/wizard spells with either the mind-affecting or sonic descriptors as being on her spell list; this affects what spell trigger or spell completion magic items she can use.

For the spells listed above, those not in the SRD are hyperlinked to their source. However, trying to assign her twelve 0-level spells turned out to be rather difficult, since there simply aren’t that many sorcerer/wizard cantrips that have one of those two descriptors! As such, I had to reach further afield. She has two spells from the hedge wizard list (consider them to be arcane variants, since that’s a unique spell list), and one from the 3.5 Spell Compendium. One is from the SRD, and another is from an obscure Pathfinder supplement.

The last seven are new spells, listed below:

Backup Performers

Enchantment (Charm) [language-dependent, mind-affecting]

Level bard 0, sorcerer/wizard 0

Components V, S

Casting Time one standard action

Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)

Target one creature/level

Duration 1 min./level

Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)

Creatures enchanted by this spell gain insight as to how to sing and dance in such a way as to enhance someone else’s performance. For the duration of the spell, they gain a +2 bonus on Perform (dance or sing) checks made to aid another.

Earworm

Enchantment (Compulsion) [mind-affecting]

Level bard 0, sorcerer/wizard 0

Components V

Casting Time one standard action

Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)

Target one creature

Duration 1 minute

Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes

When casting this spell, you sing, hum, whistle, or otherwise vocalize a tune as part of the spell’s casting. If the target creature fails its saving throw, this tune then becomes stuck in their head, becoming a mild distraction that causes a -1 penalty on skill and ability checks.

 

Enchant Instruments

Transmutation [sonic]

Level bard 0, sorcerer/wizard 0

Components V, S

Casting Time one standard action

Range touch

Target one instrument touched/level

Duration 10 min./level (D)

Saving Throw none (object); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)

When this spell is cast, the touched instruments begin to play themselves. The tune played can be adjusted by the caster as a free action. This accompaniment is of basic quality, and grants any musical-based Perform check a +1 circumstance bonus, even if the instruments are of masterwork quality. Damaged or substandard instruments still apply any penalties that they would normally impose.

Instrumentality

Transmutation [sonic]

Level bard 0, sorcerer/wizard 0

Components V, S

Casting Time one standard action

Range touch

Target object touched (see below)

Duration 1 min./level

Saving Throw none; Spell resistance no

This spell allows a touched object to serve as an improvised musical instrument, with no penalty for its improvised nature. This spell may work on a small group of objects if they’re all being used together as a single instrument. For example, this spell can be cast on a knife, fork, and metal bowl, allowing them to function together as a drum.

Know Performance (Various)

Enchantment (Charm) [mind-affecting]

Level bard 0, sorcerer/wizard 0

Components V, S

Casting Time one standard action

Range touch

Target creature touched

Duration 10 minutes

Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)

There are many different kinds of know performance spells, each one specific to a different type of performance. The recipient receives a +15 bonus to the relevant Perform check when making that particular performance. For example, a version of this spell keyed to the song The Ballad of Barnaby Bramble would receive a +15 bonus when making a Perform (sing) check to sing that song, but not for any other Perform check, including other instances of Perform (sing). The bonus received from this spell does not stack with any other skill bonuses the character might have in Perform, including ranks, synergy bonuses, Skill Focus, spells or magic items, etc. However, bonuses from ability score modifiers, masterwork items used in conjunction with the performance, and circumstance bonuses still apply. Penalties of all types still apply as normal.

Lend Assistance

Enchantment (Charm) [mind-affecting]

Level bard 0, sorcerer/wizard 0

Components V, S

Casting Time one standard action

Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)

Target one creature

Duration 1 minute

Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)

You grant the target creature the ability to provide helpful assistance where it normally wouldn’t be able to do so. For the spell’s duration, it can make aid another attempts with trained-only skills that it has no ranks in. This does not help with skill checks for tasks that take longer than the spell’s duration (unless you can extend this spell to last as long as the period of time that the skill check covers), or allow aid another checks to be made for skill checks that cannot normally receive them. At the GM’s discretion, certain skills may be too alien for this skill to assist with (e.g. Occult Skills).

Rearrange Voice

Transmutation [sonic]

Level bard 0, sorcerer/wizard 0

Components V, S

Casting Time one standard action

Range touch

Target creature touched

Duration 10 min./level (D)

Saving Throw Fort negates; Spell Resistance yes

This spell causes a touched creature’s voice to change, allowing the caster to set it to anything from a squeaky soprano to a sepulchral bass. The determination is made when the spell is cast, and cannot be changed thereafter. This spell merely changes the recipient’s vocal range; it cannot be used to make them sound like someone else, though the altered voice does grant a +2 circumstance bonus to Disguise checks.

Alluring Voice (77 CP)

• Mystic Artist for Perform (sing) (6 CP) with Amplification x3 (18 CP), Echoes (6 CP), Enduring (x10 modifier) (12 CP), Projection (6 CP), Rapid (6 CP).
  • Inspiration abilities: emotion, competence, greatness, mass greatness, mass excellence.
  • Manipulation abilities: hold audience.
  • Synergy abilities: block, amplify, harmonize (emotion and hold audience), serenity.
• The Path of Whispers modifier: Subliminal (6 CP).
• Art of the Occult modifier: The Hidden Way (6 CP).
• The Celebrated Way modifier: Fame (6 CP).
• Traceless/magic, specialized for one-half cost/only for Mystic Artist abilities (3 CP).
• Skill Focus/+1 Perform (sing) (2 CP).

When she sings, Sonata’s Mystic Artist abilities make the magic she brings to bear virtually impossible to notice. The use of Subliminal, The Hidden Way, and Traceless allow for Sonata to use myriad abilities – including casting spells – during a performance without anyone being the wiser for it, even if they use detection magic.

Even without using spells, Sonata’s abilities allow her to manipulate her audience on a grand scale. She’ll typically utilize her emotion and hold audience powers to remind everyone of everything Lex has done for his country, with Echoes making that take effect the next time someone speaks ill of him or his accomplishments. And of course, Fame guarantees her access to the upper strata of society both in Legesia and Equestria (on top of her privilege; see below).

Monarch Among Social Butterflies (21 CP)

• Mentor (6 CP).
• Finesse/use Charisma for skill points per level (12 CP).
• Privilege/nascent queen (3 CP).

Sonata’s mentor is, as mentioned previously, Lex. Although the queen of a country would normally have Major Privilege, Sonata still acts more like a pop idol than newly-minted royalty, eschewing formality and ranks in favor of having a good time.

Gear

• Headband of alluring Charisma +4 (headband). 16,000 gp.
• Chain shirt +3 (armor). 9,250 gp.
• Ring of protection +2 (ring/hand). 8,000 gp.
• Amulet of natural armor +1 (neck). 2,000 gp
• Belt of mighty constitution +2 (belt). 4,000 gp.
• Cloak of resistance +2 (shoulders). 4,000 gp.
• Necklace of fireballs type II (slotless). 2,700 gp.
• Pearl of the sirins (slotless). Free.
• 50 gp.

Sonata’s gear was purchased for her by Lex, over the course of several trips to Everglow. As he was worried about her, he focused on defensive magic items, though he did bring her a few that would enhance her abilities. Her necklace of fireballs is meant to be used as a last-ditch weapon. Similarly, her pearl of the sirins was a wedding gift to her from Lex, and came out of his gear value rather than hers.

Derived Stats

• Hit points: 6 (d6; 1^st level) + 28 (8d6) + 27 (Con bonus) + 9 (“favored class bonus”) = 70 hp.
• Speed: 40 ft.
• Alignment: Chaotic Neutral.
• Saving Throws:
  • Fort: +6 (base) +3 (Con bonus) +2 resistance (cloak) = +11.
  • Ref: +3 (base) +2 (Dex bonus) +2 resistance (cloak) = +7.
  • Will: +6 (base) +2 (Wis bonus) +2 resistance (cloak) = +10.
• Armor class: 10 (base) +2 (Dex bonus) +7 armor (chain shirt +3) +2 deflection (ring of protection) +1 natural armor (amulet) = 22, touch 14, flat-footed 20.
• Attacks: +6 (BAB) +0 (Str bonus) = +6 touch.
• Ranged Attacks: +6 (BAB) +2 (Dex bonus) = +8 ranged touch.
• Combat Maneuver Bonus: +6 (BAB) +0 (Str bonus) = +6 CMB.
• Combat Maneuver Defense: 10 (base) +6 (BAB) +0 (Str bonus) +2 (Dex bonus) +2 (ring) = 20 CMD (24 vs. trip).
• Skills: 45 skill points (Cha bonus) + 9 skill points (Fast Learner; only for Perform (sing) and Swim at half-cost each).

Skills	Ranks	Ability Modifier	Class Bonus	Misc. Modifier	Total
Appraise	9*	-1 Int	+3	-2 disadvantage	+9
Bluff	9*	+7 Cha	+3	—	+19
Diplomacy	9	+7 Cha	+3	—	+19
Perception	9	+2 Wis	+3	—	+14
Perform (sing)	9	+7 Cha	+3	+6 racial (Mystic Artist only), +1 Skill Focus	+20 (+26 with Mystic Artist)
Perform (dance)	9	+7 Cha	+3	—	+19
Sense Motive	9**	+2 Wis	+3	—	+10 (+18 to sense enchantments)
Spellcraft	9	-1 Int	+3	-2 disadvantage	+9
Swim	9	+0 Str	+3	+2 racial	+14

Sonata’s class skills are Acrobatics, Appraise, Bluff, Craft, Diplomacy, Disguise, Intimidate, Perception, Perform, Profession, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Survival, Swim. As the above table indicates, she’s only taken ranks in a few of these.

*Because Sonata gains skill points from Charisma, rather than Intelligence, Charisma-boosting items such as her headband of alluring Charisma +4 grant her additional skill ranks. In this case, the additional ranks are for Appraise and Bluff.

**5 skill ranks purchased normally, the other 4 are specialized for double effect; only to detect if someone is under an enchantment.

Further Development

Sonata is vaguely aware that her powers aren’t good for all situations. While she knows that she can beguile enemies and support allies with her magic – and function to a great degree in watery environments – she’s fully aware that outside of these situations she’s relatively powerless. When facing off against creatures that are mindless or not vulnerable to enchantments, she has very few options open to her. Likewise, a single silence spell can severely curtail what she can do.

Despite this, Sonata has little desire to try and diversify her powers; even with Lex’s mentoring, she simply gains experience too slowly (thanks to her Foolish disadvantage) to make that feel worthwhile. She instead prefers to surround herself with protectors and allies that can cover her weaknesses should a fight break out. These are typically some of her husband’s retinue.

Beyond that, Sonata’s only ambition is to protect her current status quo. Although she worries about Lex’s continued striving to raise his power to new heights, she’s determined to stay by his side no matter what. Those who try to change that will find her preparing their funeral dirge.

A Magical Medieval Society: Equestria

I really don’t know how it is that I never purchased a copy of A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe, from Expeditious Retreat Press. It wasn’t like I was unaware of the book, given the accolades that it had accumulated upon its release, and its focus on verisimilitude in the game world was perfectly aligned with my interests. And yet somehow, I never picked it up.

This changed after I read a review of the book by Brandes Stoddard, over on Tribality, a few months previous. While it didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, the author’s particular style of writing – a brilliant mixture of insightful and entertaining – was enough to convince me that it was time to rectify this particular gap in my library. And so I went to purchase a copy of the book, now well into it’s second edition.

However, I didn’t go through with the purchase, having found on the author’s blog that a third edition was in the pipeline. While it added only a new section on devising place-names (actually a separate product that was being incorporated into this one), I nevertheless waited for the new edition to be released, picking it up as soon as it was.

Having just concluded reading through the book, I have to admit that it lives up to the hype. Not only is it an excellent primer to medieval European life, but it does an incredible job taking that information and translating it into the magical society that’s presented by the d20 (specifically 3.5) game mechanics.

Perhaps the most notable aspect of these rules is their bottom-up – rather than top-down – nature. This allows them to function at smaller, very nearly individual, levels, rather than being a “big picture” sort of effort to simulate how a kingdom functions. Of course, this means that sometimes the minutia becomes teeth-gritting in how deep it goes, but that’s the price you pay for something this comprehensive.

As a gamer, I naturally wanted to put the book to use after I read it. Luckily, since MMS:WE’s focus is on the background elements of a campaign, this can be done as a world-building exercise. To that end, I naturally wanted to apply it to Equestria, the setting for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which I’ve written about here before.

However, that was something of an awkward fit. While MMS:WE isn’t set in any specific game world, it does presume that the sociopolitical and economic structures used in a campaign are inherently feudal in nature. That’s…iffy when it comes to Equestria. While certain aspects of the show do evoke a feudal system (such as having royalty and nobility), other parts suggest otherwise (such as the lack of taxation and the evidence of a free enterprise market).

Ultimately, Equestria’s nature as an idyllic realm seems to paint a picture of it being an enlightened absolute monarchy (or diarchy, or whatever a multi-princess system of government is called) with a laissez-faire market, which begs the question of how Princess Celestia and Princess Luna – to say nothing of all the other ponies whose cutie marks don’t seem to be career-oriented (such as the Cutie Mark Crusaders) – earn the money that they must surely need.

So giving the “magical medieval” treatment to Equestria proper was out, since the implicit assumptions of the show couldn’t be reconciled with those of MMS:WE. Luckily, there was a third option available. The update that I’d previously posted for my original pony character, Lex Legis, had him seizing a portion of Equestria and making it his own country. Since he’s an autocrat who’s obsessed with systems and processes, that makes his new nation perfect for being run through MMS:WE’s rules.

The Kingdom of Legesia

A full year after having founded his new nation, Lex has overcome multiple challenges both foreign and domestic. His policy of a strong and proactive government has, in the wake of his world’s assimilation into the wider multiverse, found many adherents among the population. Having made peace with an incursion of elementals, subdued a rampaging dragon, and dealt a severe blow to a belligerent Yakyakistan, Lex has amply demonstrated to the citizens of Legesia that their king is devoted to their safety and well-being.

To Equestria and its princesses, as well as the rest of the world, it’s rapidly becoming clear that – for the time being, at least – the Kingdom of Legesia is here to stay.

Country Name The Kingdom of Legesia; Ruler(s) Lex Legis/King Sombra II (king), Sonata Dusk (queen); Size 26,941 sq. mi.; Population 3,200,000; Population Density 118/sq. mi.; Rural Population 2,986,560 (93.33%); Urban Population 213,440 (6.67%); Acres Under Cultivation 1,493,280.

The Kingdom of Legesia is formed from what was formerly the western third of Equestria. Despite this, only a tenth of Equestria’s ponies lived there, owing to large concentrations of forests and mountains. Today, the vast majority live in the “little breadbasket” region in the northwest, with the rest occupying communities along the western coast, and a minority living in small woodland or mountain settlements.

The base assumptions regarding the size of Equestria and its population come from Thoth’s excellent article on the subject.

Metropolises 1 (Las Pegasus); Large Cities 2 (Tall Tale, Vanhoover); Small Cities 6 (Friesno, Seaddle, Tabiano Port and three others); Large Towns 16 (Bronco Downs, Hoofington, Pineville, Spurfield and twelve others); Small Towns 27 (Lipizzan Heights, Neighton, Pinto Creek and twenty-four others); Manors 6,637.

The designations used for each type of settlement are in accordance with the 3.5 DMG. That is, a “metropolis” has 25,001+ people, a “large city” has 12,001-25,000 people, etc. This breakdown is important since the number and category of urban settlements (along with manors) are one of the primary factors in calculating national revenue.

Station	Number	Manors	Average Manors/Pony	Allodial Holdings
King	1	133	133	50%
Great Landowners	8	996	124.5	37.50%
Nobility	64	1,327	20.73	12.50%
Gentry	1,600	4,181	2.61	0%

The table above serves to list how the country is broken down among its aristocracy. The “Number” column, for example, says how many individuals occupy each listing on the “Station” column (e.g. there are sixty-four members of the nobility in Legesia). “Manors” indicates the total number of manors, and associated villages, that are assigned to each social strata, while “Average Manors/Pony” breaks them down among individuals. Finally “Allodial Holdings” shows how much of the country’s land is owned by each class of the upper echelons.

Type Traditional monarchy; Strength of King Strong (with Sonata) or Average (without Sonata); Total Tax Revenue 19,512,000 gp; Total Scutage Revenue 9,756,000 gp; Total Mine Income Revenue 763,255 gp.

As indicated above, while Sonata does not technically occupy a rank on her own merits – her status as queen is dependent entirely on her marriage to Lex – her ability to connect with the populace at large, and to ameliorate her husband’s poor personality, is so significant that without her, Lex’s ability to govern would take a very large hit.

Station	Base Manor Income	Manor Income	Tax Income	Scutage Income	Mine Income	Town Income	Total Income
King	8,250 gp	1,097,250 gp	8,390,160 gp	4,878,000 gp	381,627.5 gp	315,810 gp	15,070,247.5 gp
Great Landowners	6,500 gp	6,474,000 gp	7,219,440 gp	3,658,500 gp	286,220.63 gp	236,857.5 gp	17,875,018.13 gp
The Average Great Landowner	6,500 gp	809,250 gp	902,430 gp	457,312.5 gp	35,777.58 gp	29,607.19 gp	2,234,377.27 gp
Nobility	6,500 gp	8,625,500 gp	3,902,400 gp	1,219,500 gp	95,406.88 gp	78,952.5 gp	13,921,759.38 gp
The Average Noble	6,500 gp	134,773.44 gp	60,975 gp	19,054.69 gp	1,490.73 gp	1,233.63 gp	217,527.49 gp
Gentry	7,500 gp	31,357,500 gp	0 gp	0 gp	0 gp	0 gp	31,357,500 gp
The Average Gentry	7,500 gp	19,598.44 gp	0 gp	0 gp	0 gp	0 gp	19,598.44 gp

This table is the result of all of the other information posted above (though the pertinent calculations weren’t posted here). This chart lists how much money the government takes in, and where it goes. Note that, while the “King” row applies to that strata and the individuals within it simultaneously (since there’s only a single individual who is king), subsequent rows showcase either an entire social strata (e.g. “Nobility” is the sum of all the nobles in the country) or a particular individual within that strata (e.g. “The Average Noble” is for any particular member of the nobility).

While this amount of money – which represents the total income collected by the government per year – might look outrageous (over 78 million gp!), this money isn’t all personal revenue. On the contrary, Lex mandates that 90% of this must be spent on various government projects that he has outlined, with only 10% being allocated for personal income. To enforce this, he has created a branch of his Office of the Exchequer devoted to aggressively auditing income vs. expenditure among the aristocracy. Those who embezzle government funds are punished harshly.

Despite this, the money that remains is typically enough to afford very lavish living conditions. For example, even after giving back 90% of what they’ve taken in, the average member of the gentry can still afford to live a “wealthy”-class lifestyle, and have some money left over. This is even more true for the nobles and great landowners, who can afford to live extravagantly.

Lex naturally also adheres to this stricture, reducing his personal income to just over 1.5 million gp. Of course, he splits his income evenly with his wife, but even after this – and subtracting the 1,000 gp/month cost to live an extravagant lifestyle; done after all other calculations (see below) – he still has an enormous amount of gold coming in on an annual basis.

According to Appendix II of MMS:WE, a certain percentage of income comes in the form of magic items, rather than money. Lex maintains that this must be given back in the same proportion that it’s received in, which means that he – as king – receives only 10% of the above revenue in magic items. All of the rest is in coins, gemstones, valuable objets d’art, and other forms of non-magical wealth with high liquidity.

Given that he has only recently introduced divine spellcasting to his country, as well as created a college for arcane magic, most of the 75k worth of magic items that he’s received have been scrolls and potions, none of which are higher than 2nd-level, along with numerous charms and talismans created via Equestria’s native spellcasting. However, Lex is able to save all of these from year to year if he wants, since he’s voluntarily taking in less than the 25% level of magic item retention suggested in MMS:WE.

This, of course, leaves the question as to what Lex does with the 600,000+ gp in cash that he still has after all other considerations – such as magic items and lifestyle costs – are taken into account. While some is spent on stronger magic items that he goes on special off-world trips to acquire, most of the rest of his money is spent on various personal projects, some of which he keeps hidden from everypony…

Baby Got Backlash

Cutest engine of destruction EVAR!

The premiere of the sixth season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic introduces baby Flurry Heart, the daughter of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. It also reintroduces a particular quirk that infant unicorns – or, in this case, infant alicorns – have in the show: that they’ll manifest powerful magic at random.

This idea was first brought up with the introduction of the Cake twins, way back in the show’s second season. While it makes for some amusing antics, and creates the conflict in the current season’s premiere, this particular quirk of unicorn physiology is somewhat awkward to model in d20 terms. As Thoth put it:

Even counting Twilight Sparkle as an exception, Pumpkin Cake can break chains, dimension door or teleport, phase through matter, move and animate objects, and fly around – at one month old. In the comics, Sweetie Belle, who certainly doesn’t seem to be a magical genius or exceptionally powerful, accidentally transforms half the ponies of Ponyville into animate fruit, apparently irresistibly. Yes, that seems to be mostly cosmetic (and so could be considered an illusion or a rather minor transformation rather than a major one) – but it’s still pretty impressive for someone who can barely levitate a broom.

Characters that get weaker as they grow up don’t fit into d20 as easily as most. Sure, you can just handwave it in a lot of games – but even if child PC’s are uncommon, kids are very common indeed. It makes it kind of hard to raise tension with a monster attacking a village if the smaller local kids panic-response can be expected to include blasting it with horrific spells. Given that that doesn’t seem to happen, it seems likely that very young unicorns only have mighty magical powers when it’s cute and funny for the audience.

Now, at least part of this problem is solved in the latest episodes, since there’s a line that Sunburst rather off-handedly (off-hoofedly?) tosses out when discussing what spells to use to solve the problems that Flurry Heart’s random magic has created:

“…and a little Fledgling’s Forbearance for the parents… Heh. That should curb the little one’s power fluctuations.”

Those two sentences help to provide a great deal of needed context with regards to how pony society deals with this problem. A spell designed to safely curtail the random discharges of magic that baby unicorns experience is one of those things that not only makes sense in-and-of itself, but helps to explain why, for example, Pumpkin Cake doesn’t seem to be running amok anymore.

But while that provides for an in-universe explanation for how this particular problem is dealt with, it doesn’t answer the question of how we’d model it in the first place. The underlying issues that make this difficult to manage in a d20 game (what with baby unicorns being, at least temporarily, stronger than the adults, and their magic being more disastrous than dangerous) are still present.

To answer the first problem, I’m of the opinion that the best way to model this is via a template. Since templates are a discrete aspect of a stat block, and can be added on top of a character, they can also be removed from said character (even if that is much more rare). Hence, we can simply create a template that includes whatever mechanics we’ll use, with the condition that it’s removed as the baby unicorn grows older (or has the appropriate spell cast on them).

Insofar as the second issue – that these magic surges tend to be troublesome more than truly hazardous (though they can be that too) – we’ll just make that into an aspect of the magic itself. That’s not particularly hard because only NPCs are going to have this template anyway, and so if we introduce a random element into how their magic works, that just creates more latitude for the GM.

In d20 terms – using Eclipse: The Codex Persona, of course – the result would probably look something like this:

Wild Child template (9 CP/+0 ECL)

• 4d6 mana with Unskilled Magic (24 CP), specialized and corrupted for increased effect/caster level is equal to the user’s highest mental ability score (Int, Wis, or Cha) and maximum spell level is equal to the user’s lowest mental ability score, spells cast do not need to meet caster level minimums; subject to involuntary random spellcasting, when a spell is cast roll 1d6 – on a 1-2 the spell functions as intended, on a 3-4 the spell’s parameters (e.g. effects, targets, duration, etc.) are randomized, and on a 5-6 a different spell is cast instead.
• Rite of Chi with +4 Bonus Uses, specialized and corrupted for one-third cost/does not allow for additional uses of Rite of Chi at the cost of negative levels, requires at least a short nap to use (4 CP).

In addition to what’s above, the entire template is specialized and corrupted for one-third cost/this template can only be applied to a character at the “infant” life stage (level -2), and is automatically removed when they advance to “child” (level -1), or if a casting of fledgling’s forbearance spell is used on them.

Given that it’s a spell with no applications beyond removing this template, there’s not really any need to write up fledgling’s forbearance. At most, we’d only need to know its spell level, which I’d presume is 1st.

With a total cost of 9 CP, this template is one that’s fairly cheap to apply for what it offers. Of course, the cost is somewhat academic anyway, as there’s really no way to apply this to any character that’s remotely likely to be a PC. But if you want to make sure that your plot hook has stats, this should do the trick.