I love that aspect of Celestia, honestly. She has so much on her shoulders that she really relishes it when she gets a chance to have some actual fun.

This scene is the first time I remember noticing this.

Never seen that episode

@Pixie did you see the other Gala Episode?

It looks smoother than the earlier seasons though

@Sandwich It's the season 1 finale.

@Pixie Season one, last episode, she say that she invited the main six just because she hoped they would manage to cause some problems

Twilight has wings

@Pixie that is season 5

wrong gala

@SPArchaeologist Oh! You are correct, haha. I was thinking of a different, similar scene from the first one.

@Pixie ah, yeah I think you might not be that far,.. if you are still as far behind as you last said

that is a new Gala episode XD

I cannot find the clip I actually want, and it is bothering me. xD Funny, though, that it's so similar that just clicking and mostly listening to it, I thought it was what I wanted. :P

and anyway, she stars back in episode two

"Never said anything about Nightmare Moon , I just said you should stop reading books all day"

[blink]

Don't forget That Time With The Phoenix.

That too! But as I said, the (first season) gala was the first time I recall really noticing.

@Sandwich see also

Yeah, before that it could be bad writing, or something else.

Then at the gala it's all "...wait. The immortal godpony who banished her only equal to the Moon a thousand years ago is bored. Got it."

(Though now I'm wondering how Twilight has not noticed this by season 5.)

Hullo all. I hope everyone is having a great day.

Twilight is still not the most empathetic of ponies. He said, dully understating the case.

@sillyputty [wave]

@Pixie she sent two tickets to a pony that she knew since she was a kid (so she should know Twily panic issues) soon after she manages to discover she now has 6 friends.

Morning.

all hoping our Twily realizes the solution to 90% of mlp episodes

"Talk. Please just talk. Ask those tickets and I will send them but TALK"

@Pixie Have you read Princess Celestia Hates Tea, and its codicil A Short Story By Twilight Sparkle?

/me walks in, turns around, walks out

The Phoenix thing was also still an attempt to teach Fluttershy a lesson. Celestia trolls all the time, but it's usually with an obvious moral motive, even if she has fun doing it. Celestia in the first gala episode being thrilled that chaos happened..? That wasn't about teaching the ponies a lesson.

@BESW I have not.

...one moment.

@Pixie Princess Celestia Hates Tea, and A Short Story by Twilight Sparkle.

@Pixie are you sure she wasn't trying to teach something to the "penguins" she had to tolerate at the gala every year in the last thousand years?

(Altogether they're just over 11k words.)

The main 6 wasn't the one that were supposed to learn, they were the instrument she used to give all the others a lesson.

@Pixie See also: that smug little smile at the end of the Parasprite incident.

@BESW it seems that the first parasprite Katamari may be the cause of the invasion at Fillydelphia, so maybe she was just really trying to not laugh at the main 6 poker faces attempts

I am pretty sure she knew the source of the problem all the time

The "You didn't learn nothing today?" part was quite clear...

Didn't Paizo release a new Psionics book? I can't find it.

@DavidReeve I just smile and enjoy the fact that they all enjoy this so much. When people are genuinely enthused about something I can't help but get a little excited as well.

@Aaron they released a 'psychic magic' book, which they swear is not psionics (since they also swore they weren't doing psionics and gave Dreamscarred Press their blessing to do it). The book contains numerous rehashings and rip-offs of popular third-party material, and is widely seen among fans of those third-party publishers as Paizo stabbing them in the back.

@sillyputty The material is also really bad rehashings of the original material, and substantial amounts of what was actually somewhat interesting in the playtest was axed to cut costs and/or make room for the Paizo lead's baby

most of the classes were painfully underpowered in the playtest, and Jason Buhlmann decided to nerf several of them still further, while his own overpowered inclusion was given more spotlight/page-count in the book

Wow. I just lost all interest in that then. Happily continues using Dream-scarred stuff.

@BESW I will have to read the bulk of this later, but it's already amusing.

@KRyan ...I had a question for you. But damn if I can't remember it.

Oh yea. I was going to ask you about a class re-write I was doing. I am not done yet however.

unfortunately chat doesn't let you @ me unless I've been in here recently, but if you can get a hold of me (and I have time when you do), I'd be happy to look at it

We can leverage a mod to power-ping him if need be.

@Pixie The codicil makes the whole first story twice as funny.

But read the main story first, do.

hah, that's a great headline

@Magician is that thing actually strong enough to roll without snapping one (or more) of those spines?

@Magician Is that thing actually balanced?

@Magician [shares with everyone everywhere]

The tweet links to the page that sells it. They're made of metal

@BESW Indeed.

anyway, off to work I go

@KRyan I was referring to the large MLP discussion, but I suppose if everyone were really excited about the new "not psionics" books by paizo I would be excited too!

Enjoy work! =)

@sillyputty Ah, that was just me clicking the wrong arrow

was meant to be @Aaron

too late to edit, ah well

@BESW Ooh. Spoilers here. Ones I have mostly had spoiled already, but I may have to stop for the moment. Someday I'll get caught up...

later everyone

See you!

See ya

@Pixie Wait, what?

@BESW I have only seen up to the first leg of season 2.

I'm trying to figure out what would be a spoiler.

Changeling stuff.

Oooh, right.

That's what I get for being seasons behind, though.

Too many things to watch. My friend looked at my My Anime List total of 156 the other day and said, "You're still beating me!" I pointed out that I had actually finished less than a third of those. :P

wait... so the "Twilight has wings" from Sandwich before...

But I assume that is pretty unavoidable spoiler if you ever enter a toy shop

Technically a spoiler but loooong spoiled. :P

(I used to work in a toy shop, for one.)

then I can at least spoil you how the whole scene sadly doesn't play out

(and yes, I know, they forgot she was supposed to have a tail)

Ridiculous

@SPArchaeologist that is most amusing

@Sandwich Well, spoiler

I need to round up everyone I know who hasn't seen Season 3 (but has seen seasons 1 and 2) and just marathon it.

Fluttershy basically does have a magical girl transformation in that one Rainbow Rocks short. I did thoroughly enjoy that.

@IronHeart i suspect there are flaws in that plan

Yeah, prolly.

So, I hesitate to ask, but can someone explain to a complete neophyte why MLP is such a good show? And this isn't coming from a derogatory place, just one that is interested in hearing your opinions and thoughts. =)

@sillyputty We actually discussed that a bit earlier. One moment, and I shall find where it began...

Neat!

@sillyputty as for me, because he actually is the first pure humor series that manage to still fit the three shonen principles

@sillyputty It starts here:

Its because Ponies are SUPAAH KAWAIIIEEE DESUUU

You need proof, Sandwich

^here, fixed

So adorable

... suddenly, I remember that I was supposed to try that Fluttershy Tom Tom navigato voice I had found some time ago.

1d20

Yessss.

Has anybody here tried to transfer a D&D character to Fate and felt satisfied with the result?

@Sandwich Saving roll against 'Shy charm spell?

@BESW yes

Ajani

I feel like he did better in Fate even

@sillyputty Also, I still claim that since Twily is the answer to the life, the universe, and anything, it is just expected that the show must be good.

I should try converting Flainn to Fate sometime. He's already been converted once, to Pathfinder, and that actually turned out pretty well. xD

Though GW2 Flainn and Pathfinder Flainn are two distinct characters, so it was more like "translated with liberties."

The two things that stick out to me from the previous discussion so kindly linked to me by @Pixie : The New Sincerity Movement. (hadn't heard of it, LOVE it. So done with detached irony. Please, let's care about something for a changed.) and...

"FiM is (sadly) unique among American female-targeted cartoons in its strong focus on female friendship rather than female competition, its ability to explore a wide range of problems and situations, and its cast full of competent, diverse women. And it does this while still embracing the fact that it is a feminine series whose primary demographic is little girls."

Ok. I get it. Right on.

Also, I sorta translated a 3.5 Spellblade into a Dresden Files (but without using the Dresden Universe?) character.

@sillyputty How'd that work for ya?

@sillyputty Well, it is "silly" as in Pinkie style silly. It do try to teach something. Friendship is the main theme in the show. The ponies manage to put one some of the silliest faces ever and fan arts just make that better. That's enough for me.

(I just would like them to remember that a 99% female population isn't exactly credible. Put a male somewhere for once - no, not Flash another one)

@sillyputty That isn't the only reason I watch it, but it's an important thing to me as both a socially aware animation fan and someone who was once a little girl lost in a sea of rehashed, stereotypical media.

@BESW Well....the concept sorta ported a little bit. His first iteration was a (n obviously) sword-wielding Lawful Neutral contract killer. Because of the widely different homebrew setting, his new iteration is a gunslinging "morality is black and white" religious cult-hunter/killer. Same in spirit, but not enough to tell whether or not porting the character really "worked" per se.

@Pixie Yea, I gotchya. Entertainment is entertainment, but it's great when it's socially aware and responsible entertainment! Sounds great, actually. I don't know if I'll ever actually watch it, because I so rarely watch tv, but I'm glad for it.

Are you pleased with the result? Do you feel that your DFRPG character has retained those elements which made you choose the D&D character to translate in the first place?

@SPArchaeologist Now you perhaps know what I feel like about the vast majority of mainstream media. :P When you say it isn't "realistic," the thing is, men really obviously do exist in FiM's world. Plenty of 'em. The show just isn't about them, and that's fine.

(Because almost every other show is about them.)

....... rats.... ok, let me upload it from HD

.... history even fails me?

ok, here.

take the link

no way to repost that.

I must recognize it is a little big

I just resized my window

With Ctrl+(-)

EZPZ

@Pixie Sorry, I must have poorly explained what I mean. Group shoots are well mixed, with background male and female ponies. It is the fact that they don't seem to have any boy around other than Big Mac that feels strange :P

At least have Shinning chat with some male friend at the wedding.

anyway....

@Pixie orig11.deviantart.net/5c59/f/2014/309/b/c/…

this one

this one is why.

@BESW I am! The character is different now, but he retained his "follows a strict code of conduct" behavior, (just no longer with written contracts with employers). And his "I'm not an assassin, if I fight you, you'll know it." ethos. I'm really excited to continue playing him, actually. =)

@SPArchaeologist I had a question about changelings. They feed off love correct?

@Aaron correct. If you are about to ask WHY they can't live pacifically with the ponies, no one ever knows

Wow. D&D 5e knockout rules are extremely generous.

@SPArchaeologist I was. I thought they didn't really hurt anything they just need to be around people who love right?

They can love but can't feed from eachother or something?

@Aaron Actually it is unknown to which degree they are bound to be "parasite" and how much they can control how they feed.

Shinning was show to be pretty debilitated during the wedding episodes.

@SPArchaeologist Oh well that is slightly disappointing. They were one part of the show I found interesting when I did watch it.

but we don't know how much of that was due to the queen "feeding" on him and how much it was because of the energy spent for the shield

Hmm.

@SPArchaeologist In an ideal world, perhaps casts would be well-balanced. But they aren't, at all. They're just usually unbalanced in the other direction, in favor of a strong (or even exclusively) male presence, which often no one finds at all strange. FiM doesn't have that, and it doesn't need that, either. FiM is about female characters -- that is simply part of what FiM is.

@Pixie Isn't FiM(Friendship is magic?) when they are human?

@Aaron That's Equestria Girls.

Oh

@Pixie I know I know :P It is just strange that there is a brother every 20 sisters :P, not really upset or anything.

I will become upset if they manage to show Scootaloo mother but not the father, but that is because she is better without either since I like the fact they may actually hint she is orphan.

@Aaron that said, the latest Fiendship is Magic comics talk about Queen Crys backstory and well... she seem to be somehow power hungry even if she didn't need to feed her people

The real surprise is the tale of Sombra

which both manage to be totally sad, reference "The tale of one shadow" and show him as bound become what he was (or... is)

... shoot. Plothook is down, possibly indefinitely. I do not have Flainn's sheet elsewhere. (That is my fault, but still.)

Uh oh

It's not a huge deal since we weren't ever picking that game back up anyway, but it's still a bit sad.

Yep... it's gone, apparently without any notice, as of late July. I feel terribly sorry for the people who had long-running games on the forums there. I just lost a couple of sheets I was done with and could probably rebuild pretty easily from memory.

I don't like when stuff like that happens to good websites

Yeah. I really preferred their Pathfinder sheets to Mythweavers, too.

But unreliability is the price I paid for convenience, and also not backing things up. As I said, that is my fault. xD

I use Google docs for my sheets.

@Pixie What system do you play?

(I have been down this road and lost much more important things often enough that this doesn't faze me much. "Oh, I forgot again, and now something is lost to the sands of time. C'est la vie.")

@Aaron This particular sheet was for Pathfinder.

@Pixie Oh I have a sheet for you then.

Ah, it's not the sheet template, it's my level... I want to say 7 alchemist's information. xD

That is pretty handy, though! Thank you.

I need to fix my template. Something happen so some of the boxes have double spacing.

Ahh, formatting mysteries...

Yea. Something happen to it after Google updated Spreadsheets

I fixed it on one of the pages just have to remember how I did it

(@Pixie small question - in the end, was the fan comic I tried to post multiple times viewable with the link?)

@SPArchaeologist Yep. It was hueg, but I was able to actually read it by ctrl+ing without maximizing it.

ok good ^_^

I'm not sure "Eh, Why Not" is even a remotely functional aspect, but it does sum up Flainn pretty well. :P [statting him in Fate for fun because I miss him]

Hmm. I wonder how I would express his mutagen-induced planty armor. I think most of his bomb effects would probably be modeled under the Create an Advantage or Attack options of Shoot without fuss.

Pathfinder!Flainn is a half-elf, and he's more resilient (and considerably more planty) when he's consumed his mutagen. Once that wears off, he's more physically vulnerable again. Physique adds stress boxes, but he doesn't get stronger, just tougher. I don't know how to handle stress boxes appearing and then going away later.

Would armor be a good way to replicate that? I'm not very good at Fate. But "if mutagen then armor" seems like it could work? Spend a point to get some damage resistance?

@sillyputty It's temporary armor in concept, but armor isn't really a thing Fate does by default either.

Maybe some kind of... temporary stress soak? Something to reduce shifts of physical stress taken? But I don't have a good sense for how often this should work and how powerful that is.

@BESW There was a reference behind Adam Horusson that I missed, and it's pretty neat. Apparently, first person to use the term necromancy.

Strands of Fate has armor as a concept. The way it works is the same as a weapon rating (not sure if Core Fate has that either). Essentially, a physical attack roll is made. Then, if the attack succeeds, weapon and armor rating are taken into account to see how many shifts of stress are inflicted.

@sillyputty I believe there's a bit in Core that talks about adding weapon and armor ratings as extras. I do not know if I would like using them.

Example: I have a chestplate with an armor rating of 2. My Agility is also a 2. The guy attacking me with his fists has a strength of 4. We roll: He rolls a +1 for a total of 5. I roll a +1 for a total of 3 (Agility plus the roll). He succeeds. But because I have an armor rating of 2, he actually does 0 stress to me. (it can't go to negatives)

Ah...well...okay then! =)

Would work if I were, though!

Stress soak does seem ideal. It's mainly a matter of how much/how often/at what cost it's fair, which I lack the experience to determine.

@sillyputty, I would just like to say, that I love your face.

Oh NOOOOO

DR. MCNINJA IS ENDING

D:

Is that a McSnack I am not aware of?

Because that must be the best name for a happy meal ever.

@Althis Aw thanks! and @Sandwich Bummer. That's been a looooong runner. Is it at least going to be wrapping up, or is it just kinda....ending?

Its gonna be wrapped up

But the webcomic artist said its the final arc

Well at least there's that. I may not be happy when Order of the Stick is finished, but at least I know it will have a satisfying conclusion. An end to the story. I think that's the best fans of a series can ask for.

@Sandwich WHHHAAAAATTT

I know right

Dr. McNinja is the best

That guy should have his own comic book

I guess, given recent storylines, that's not too surprising.

Just the stuff with King Radical could take them through a few more arcs

Then he could make up a new more badass villian

Or do more family stuff

Since his family is ninjas

Or delve into his background with his grandpa more

And release the ghost wizard

What do you guys do when your players end up killing your BBEG way to fast? I figured that they BBEG I made would be too strong for them to fight in combat and they might have to build up to him, but they just maneuvered around fighting and between poison and rolling well on stealth checks. Now his lieutenants and his army is left but I'm not sure if I should salvage this adventure or let it fade and bring up a new BBEG. Advice?

Maybe have the BBEG's lieutenant run away, complete a dark ritual, and become even more powerful than the original BBEG

@Sandwich I've considered that, however I'm not sure how to make that happen without forcing it.

Narratively you just have to turn your actual BBEG into a mook

What I mean by that is

That your old (currently dead) BBEG was actually a figurehead and the Lieutenant was actually running things behind the scenes

and you my friend have just saved my campaign!

Glad I could help

Normally that happens more than you might think

For example the person being manipulated has connections that the second-in-command doesn't have so the latter uses the first-in-command until he's able to build up a relationship with those connections or gains enough power so that he can ignore the problem entirely

That also gives me a reason for having BBEG #1

If you tell me more about your BBEG I can probably come up with a dynamic that fits your campaign

Alright perfect

An Eye of Gruumsh is normally a pretty high ranked orc

He's the one I think I'm going to make the next BBEG.

> Mutagen Defence. Once per session I can begin an encounter with the aspect Plant armor, with two free invokes.

There's a ritual described in one of the R.A. Salvatore books where an Orc shaman scoops out the Eye of Gruumsh's eye during the night of the full moon and it fills him with the Power of Gruumsh One-eye ( If you read up on Obould Many-Arrows you can read more into the ritual )

So you just need to have this guy go through that ritual, and usurp control of the tribe and take his rightful place as your BBEG

Wouldn't that essentially make him blind?

He'd still have one eye

Oh, I thought that an Eye or Gruumsh had already given up one eye to get his powers?

You could make a template for NPCs that already have levels in the class

To buff them up to a level of power you're comfortable throwing at your PCs

Oh I see.

I think that's what I'll do.

I've got some narrative ideas to explain away BBEG #1 and why The Eye will be worse.

The ritual I was talking about turned Obould from a strong orc to an Absurdly strong orc capable of cutting down armies by himself

Welp, that's intense.

Now I just have to have him steal back a chest from the party.

If he's the new BBEG you can always have him use minions

Get the best of those mooks

Orc Ninjas and whatnot

Definitely at this point he's got what would be left of the first guys army.

He probably has his own forces as well

Devils in the Nine hells commonly keep armies even when helping one another so that if one group gets too weak or too much of their army is killed they can swoop in and Rout them

If he's even the smartest bit clever he'd probably do something similar

Well that's just inconsiderate.

@Sandwich thanks for the help, I think it's time that I go outside and face the Sun.

I don't do the sun personally

We aren't on speaking terms

@Sandwich Well being outside got rid of my headache, but when I stubbed my toe on a brick I decided that enough was enough.

I normally use ice and a dark room to get rid of my headaches :<

I couldn't imagine actually HAVING to go out in the sun

I thoroughly enjoy the great out doors, at least when it's not frigid.

Its the opposite for me

I only like the outdoors when its cold

@BESW That could work.

It just seems a bit transient vs. Pathfinder (where it provided passive increased resistance for a length of time). It would feel a lot different to be spending Fate points after the second time it helped.

Not that I'm sure how many, say, defend actions are normal for a conflict. But now I am thinking about those too, when I probably should have the whole time, so... :P

Hmm. This may be helpful. Slight tankiness is ideal for Flainn (though the problem is that it's always temporary tankiness).

If one were to catch him unawares, he wouldn't be able to augment himself, so he'd be stuck relying on his agility (in the case of Fate, raw Athletics). I think the important thing to express mechanically is that there are kind of two states of being for him. Maybe I should look back at the suggestions on my magical girl question...

Is mutagen a limited resource for him?

@BESW Yes, but only by time and appropriate circumstances in PF. A given dose lasts a specific amount of them, and then it takes an hour to brew a fresh dose, which requires you to have the right equipment (though it's portable).

Fate is a lot less focused on measuring specific amounts of time, so altering that might be ideal, but definitely it's not a thing he can just make happen all the time.

Yeah. Fate's happiest when measuring time in narrative units: scene, session, milestone, etc.

Older iterations of Fate like DFPRG did have a time ladder.

An effect would have a default amount of time it lasted. Increase the difficulty to make it last longer, decrease the difficulty to have it last less time.

I do not think that would be a pleasant thing to reintroduce. I am quite happy to be less specific on this. xD

Hmm.

(One of the things that makes Fate appealing is that we don't have to worry so much about things like "how many minutes have we been fighting.")

Is having access to the time and equipment to brew the dose an important/interesting thing?

Or would it be okay to just assume he's got "enough" doses unless compelled otherwise?

Also, does he chug them casually, or is it painful/unpleasant or for some other reason he would try to go for other options first?

@BESW I'll have to think on that! In Pathfinder, it was at least important. He often didn't have the opportunity to make more for a while because, well, when you're fighting your way through a dangerous dungeon, when are you going to sit down and break out your mini lab? But I'll have to ascertain how interesting that is. It's certainly a good place to add complication.

In Pathfinder it may have also been considered a "balance" feature.

@BESW Chugs them casually.

Fate can balance things in other ways than enforced scarcity.

Yes.

@BESW Well, it's more that it balances everything on the scarcity of a specific handful of things.

> Mutagen Sports Drink. Because I constantly chug mutagen, I have armour:2 against physical attacks.

Aside from mutagens not being unpleasant in and of themselves, Flainn will casually drink a lot of things, even things he probably shouldn't. He tests things on himself once they're out of the "pretty sure it won't kill me" gate. He's got a pretty iron stomach.

> Mutagen Enrichment. By drinking mutagen, I can use Lore to create advantages by placing free invokes on my character aspect My bark is worse than my bite.

> Iron constitution. Because I drink anything, including mutagen, I can use Physique to defend against physical attacks, and I get +2 when doing so.

Hmm. Those could work. Thy are certainly getting much closer. Thanks!

> Leafy exterior. Because I have a protective planty exterior, I have a second 2-stress consequence slot which can only be used to absorb physical stress. I must use Lore to brew a mutagen potion in order to recover from this consequence.

That's an interesting way to do it. Sort of flips it around so that damage is potentially taken first and repaired with the mutagen.

You described it as a 'wearing off' of the protective layer.

This represents that more closely.

But only if the protective layer is casually accessible as a normal rule.

Which it kinda sounds like you want.

Oh! I see it now.

You might even go for a second stunt like...

It doesn't make as much sense if you use this particular consequence slot for diverse things, but if the consequence is "doesn't have leafy exterior anymore," that makes sense.

Right, that's implied by the narrative but we can make it more explicit in the stunt.

> Leaf Defence. While my Leafy Exterior consequence slot is open, I get +2 to defend with Physique.

Or "...I can use Physique instead of Athletics to defend against physical attacks."

I seeeee.

@BESW physique is already for this!

Or even "...I can use Lore instead of Athletics to defend against physical attacks" because that's the source of his power.

One thing I was avoiding was supplementing Physique wholesale because it also represents physical strength. Flainn has some of that, but not a lot.

Then subbing in Lore might be the way to go.

@Pixie Oh! Oh! This is what I did with Stellata!

She has Athletics (she's great at it) and Tooth & Claw which is around tearing stuff up with your natural weaponry (I love that this is an actual skill). She has absolutely nothing put into Physique, except for this stunt: