Friendship is Dragons
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Page 26 - Crunching the Numbers
Author Notes:
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To the people who pointed out the flaws in Applejack's ability scores... Yeah, that was a mistake. It's technically already fixed, but I need to update the character card.
Also, the difference between stuff it's useful to tell the other characters when introducing yourself, and stuff it isn't.
Poor girl.
EDIT: Fixed!
You can play a chaotic evil paladin, or a lawful good warlock.
The one who turned Luna into Nightmare Moon is still also currently unknown.
Hopefully Lauren Faust will show us at some point the answers to these two questions.
Have you been hanging around SpaceBattles?
The base classes, however, are open to anyone. Apparently someone finally got the memo about potential Paladins of Tiamat or something. Personally, I like it. Feels more free... Even though most paladins I hear about still go Lawful Good. At least it's a choice.
Though, also personally, I just think the 4e alignment system is a step towards getting rid of the alignment system entirely. Which I view as a good thing. Reducing the number of alignments to five offers more freedom within those alignments and provides a good stepping stone for traditionalists to ease into a no-alignment system, while the 4e system (and earlier systems, I admit) still have their own merits.
Wow. That turned into a ramble.
The lack of "lawful evil" really stings, I miss Chaotic Good, but mostly I find the way they're arranged to imply Lawful Good is extra good and Chaotic evil is extra evil quite annoying. At least the old one didn't say have that kind of implied moral judgement about types of good.
And getting rid of the alignment system takes away one of the things that makes D and D itself. The idea of effects that discriminate based on the spiritual qualities of the target is one with a long and effective history in fantasy.
And it provides less of a stepping stone for traditionalists to abandon the alignment system than a stepping stone for them to go play Pathfinder.
I did not mention Fluttershy's ability scores because they were spread out/min-maxed as best as she could, for a mostly roleplaying character. I have seen much worse in the way of ability score spreads for combat characters. But for someone who won't be maximizing for combat, her spread works. Just make sure to get powers that don't need you to roll dice to hit, or get a good implement and array of feats to make up for the lack of a primary ability for attack rolls.
I like the approach of coming up with a concept first, then imagining how it works mechanically. Though I have two rules I follow when making a character: No stat below 10 (phobia of negative modifiers, you might say) and no overt min-maxing. The character is to be good at what they do, not a demi-god birthed from game mechanics.
Though it usually only translates to willingly giving up a +1 or two so I'm merely good, not great. I had a 'monk lite' Brawler fighter who fought with two spiked gauntlets (refluffed, but mechanically the same) even though that meant a die size or two below what I would've got on my main weapon.
I'm explaining this so I can make it clear exactly why Fluttershy is endearing to me in this comic. And why it's unfair I can't reach through my screen to hug her.
If anything, s/he's so flustered that the character background was forgotten and all the poor player could think of immediately was to rattle off Fluttershy's stats.
And I find myself wanting to pat the poor player on the back and tell him/her to take a deep breath and relax; it's just a game.
Not to mention, her Charisma's so high anyway that noncombat NPC interactions are going to be so freaking easy.
Besides, screw minmaxing.
Why's Pinkie's intimidate higher than Fluttershy's?
Also the interrogation scene with Spike, she seems like a dab hand at this! ^^;
And then, sometimes "underpowered" or "unusual" builds can making for some very interesting RP. Don't know enough about 4E to comment if the strength 8 thing nerfs her offensive abilities enough to be a contributing factor to her character ending up being played as a pacifist. Then again, you could re-flavor that into her continually missing with spells.
Actually, that brings to mind the question of if you are going to include the Elements of Harmony as being the empathic weapon(s) with the themes they have in the show. I ask because an Evil, greedy character being the Element of Generosity seems a bit odd. Rarity pulls it off in the show because she is GOOD and GREEDY, creating a strong tension.
Would totally explain the events of Green Isn't Your Color.
she just doesn't know many spells, but the ones she knows, she knows them good
Anyways, so what? The DM should just have her change her stats, that's what I would do.
Next panal "Fortitute is 11, Reflex is 14, Will is 16"
I know this is 4e, but as a 3.5 player I found that slightly amusing.