Friendship is Dragons
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Page 315 - Up Down All Around
Author Notes:
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38 Comments:
There isn't one in 4E. I don't know if 3E lets you make ride checks if your mount is the same size as you.
And it looks like I might have to brush up on my 3.5 knowledge again, because WotC has given people the option to play their next launch weekend event, Murder in Baldur's Gate with 3.5 rules (as well as 4E or as a Next playtest).
And it looks like I might have to brush up on my 3.5 knowledge again, because WotC has given people the option to play their next launch weekend event, Murder in Baldur's Gate with 3.5 rules (as well as 4E or as a Next playtest).
No ride skill in 4e? So... how does riding a mount work?
I think 3e will let you ride a mount your size with a penalty (assuming the mound is strong enough to carry you).
I think 3e will let you ride a mount your size with a penalty (assuming the mound is strong enough to carry you).
Player characters can ride a creature at least one size larger than them, sharing a single set of actions between rider and mount. Controlling the movement of an untrained creature in combat might require a Nature check, but no skill was otherwise required. Particularly difficult stunts might require a check by either the mount or rider, as appropriate.
Before the Essentials rule set came out, creatures with the mount keyword offer special benefits to a rider of with the Mounted Combat feat, provided the rider's level was at least as high as the mount's. Essentials appears to have removed the feat requirement.
Before the Essentials rule set came out, creatures with the mount keyword offer special benefits to a rider of with the Mounted Combat feat, provided the rider's level was at least as high as the mount's. Essentials appears to have removed the feat requirement.
http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/8407/does-riding-a-mount-ever-require-any-special-skills
To summarize a bit, it seems that riding is overall considered an inherent skill, but the Mounted Combat feat is a good investment for maximum effectiveness while riding, as the feat appears to render the skills and abilities of both rider and mount as one.
To compensate for the vagueness of this, however, it is implied that a GM could apply skill or stat checks in certain situations if they so desire.
EDIT: Sorry, Zuche, your answer wasn't there when I researched this. I think this still helps, though :)
Thanks Zuche, thanks Steel.
Both answers explained it perfectly. :)
Both answers explained it perfectly. :)
It's pretty awesome to see this happening, but I have to wonder, what's it like for the actual players? Is the DM acting this out, complete with sound effects?
About the only sound effects in this scene would be dirt and rocks sliding about and echoing screams of terror (and one of joy), all of which could be accomplished with a box of said dirt with rocks and some good role playing all around, the rest would have to be up to their respective imaginations.
Wouldn't that be something! A particularly dedicated GM could bring items for sound effects! Why not? We use miniatures, maps, and portraits as visual aids, why not the occasional noisemaker for auditory aids? Brilliant!
The possibilities for this, especially in a horror or sci-fi game, are boundless!
I use good description and sometimes art, but generally keep to description when I think it is awesome, as the minds fill in.
something like "Spike holds onto the fishing rod while screaming as you are all dragged in line through a myriad of tunnels. You are sent flying as you all jump a ravine, only to and on the other side safely and continue being dragged through tunnels."
something like "Spike holds onto the fishing rod while screaming as you are all dragged in line through a myriad of tunnels. You are sent flying as you all jump a ravine, only to and on the other side safely and continue being dragged through tunnels."
With my group, I've found that playing Yakity Sax is all the "sound effects" I need to get a scene like this across to them. :D
Now, see, that's a narration that wouldn't be so awesome. What would have been better would have been to describe how little you can see in the tunnels, how it's all basically high-speed darkness, only for it suddenly open up into a huge ravine. And be sure to let them know how huge we're talking. That could be a pit that leads to molten core of Equus itself. There could be massive crystal deposits, so large that you can barely see the teams of diamond dogs chipping away at them like ants on a half-eaten peach. Give them a little more detail, and then let the mind go wild.
Applejack! Rainbow!
Don't speak with your mouths full.
and yes, more spike screaming.
Don't speak with your mouths full.
and yes, more spike screaming.
Come now, Pinkie, everyone else is pulling their weight, you should too! :P
Also, it appears that they're being pulled through a region of the planet's core, allowing laws of gravity to be more lax. In adventure situations like this, Watch out for those magma pits and loose stalactites, and bring plenty of fire resistance. Oh yeah, and bludgeoning resistance too, for those Rock Elementals and Cave Trolls. Dragons like Spike would thrive; For the Ponies, more of a challenge...even the Earth Ponies.
(Sorry, a bit more of a lecture than I intended!)
Regarding your comment Spud, you're right; Creation of a coherent story and decent humor takes work, and it definitely shows in the "rant" comic...and sometimes less is more, such as in this comic where the visuals pretty much speak for themselves. This is great when you need a fast comic, or a break from something more complex.
Sings...
Spike keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin',
Into the dog's lair,
Spike keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin',
See how much I care.
'Cause Fluttershy's like no eagle,
As you can see,
Soars like the beagle,
As he chases the Red B,
Not going to try to look regal,
Not Pinkie,
On, horde, to Rarity's rescue!
Save Rarity,
Who'd prefer a place that's clean,
Poor unicorn,
Don't ask how she's been,
To that pony,
Such filth is obscene,
Oh, no, save her we must do!
But Fluttershy's not an eagle,
No Dashie,
Shy's not an eagle,
And she'd rather be a tree,
I'm told that Twilight passed legal,
What's that mean,
Rhymes don't work like they used to.
Spike keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'...
Spike keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin',
Into the dog's lair,
Spike keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin',
See how much I care.
'Cause Fluttershy's like no eagle,
As you can see,
Soars like the beagle,
As he chases the Red B,
Not going to try to look regal,
Not Pinkie,
On, horde, to Rarity's rescue!
Save Rarity,
Who'd prefer a place that's clean,
Poor unicorn,
Don't ask how she's been,
To that pony,
Such filth is obscene,
Oh, no, save her we must do!
But Fluttershy's not an eagle,
No Dashie,
Shy's not an eagle,
And she'd rather be a tree,
I'm told that Twilight passed legal,
What's that mean,
Rhymes don't work like they used to.
Spike keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'...
All we need now is some ROCK music! 8P
*dodges thrown rocks*
Equestrian Girls:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ltqb0Fd5vdg&feature=youtu.be
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ltqb0Fd5vdg&feature=youtu.be
I don't think you read Homestuck. You probably wouldn't have made that comment if you read Homestuck. I don't know, however.
Speaking of "frustrating", this comic just reminded me of Rarity's stage in the Mega Pony fan game (based off Mega Man).
Literally, you are holding on to Spike in the first half, dragged through a stage by the fishing hook as you try to shoot/dodge/jump/cuss your way past sharp crystals of death, pit traps, instakill walls, and gem-throwing diamond dogs.
And then the fishing pole finally catches up to what has been dragging you this far...
O_O
Literally, you are holding on to Spike in the first half, dragged through a stage by the fishing hook as you try to shoot/dodge/jump/cuss your way past sharp crystals of death, pit traps, instakill walls, and gem-throwing diamond dogs.
And then the fishing pole finally catches up to what has been dragging you this far...
O_O
And now I'm imagining Diamond Dogs as Minecraft mobs.
Every time I see this scene from the show, I immediately think of this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWenahARoKw
I deliberately didn't leave an Author's Note on Page 310 because, well, I couldn't think of anything to follow it up that wouldn't diminish the punchline. But writing it was actually an interesting process.
That joke, that punchline - the reversal of the whining scene - was planned pretty much since... probably as far back as the beginning of Dragonshy. But when the time came to write the script for that page, I realized I didn't know what the rant would actually contain. It needed to be a real rant. It needed to make sense, even if only its own twisted kind of sense. And while I don't like ranting about ponies if I can avoid it, I think it made the punchline even stronger than I had initially imagined.