Parallel containment thread for out of character discussions related to the roleplay thread.
/vx/ - Videogames and Paranormal
2169 replies and 302 files omitted.
I usually just use elite array when I make NPCs. Rolling is more fun for some, but I try to minimize the trouble I go through to make a character that the party is probably going to kill in the third round of combat.
Nice roll on the first one though.
Nice roll on the first one though.
>>181274
If theyre important, I give them a mid-combat objectives. Simple versions are "dospel the armor buffs sp can hit"
If theyre important, I give them a mid-combat objectives. Simple versions are "dospel the armor buffs sp can hit"
So*
>>181270
>I usually use elite array
<I only roll for adversaries that will live
>what if theyre gods (cuz that matters?)
>what about
Muted
>I usually use elite array
<I only roll for adversaries that will live
>what if theyre gods (cuz that matters?)
>what about
Muted
>>181292
Weakness isnt a function of stats. Its not about the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog.
Weakness isnt a function of stats. Its not about the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog.
Also, if we're all good and all,....
That grenade took off 1/3rd of Brie's health,....
That grenade took off 1/3rd of Brie's health,....
>>181296
Also, GM isnt allowed to roll damage for me anymore, especially not together with everyone. Call me paranoid, but these dice can lick my balls.
Also, GM isnt allowed to roll damage for me anymore, especially not together with everyone. Call me paranoid, but these dice can lick my balls.
>>181297
>He thinks that his feeble decrees can save him from Fortuna’s malevolent whims
Darling. Bro. I haven’t rolled damage for you even once this whole game.
>He thinks that his feeble decrees can save him from Fortuna’s malevolent whims
Darling. Bro. I haven’t rolled damage for you even once this whole game.
>>181128
^^
>>181130
Indeed. ^^ Olways lookon the bright side of life.~
>>181138
^^
>>181123
So your oc can sell mine anything
>>181226
and yours can turn her into a comfy footstool. Sorry, hoofstool.
Btw, GM I came up with few things that I'd like to run by you. As stated Hope's is yours so feel free to ignore these ideas if you feel like it.
Virgin Flame's character has continue to grow and I have come to realize that I'd prefer if she was more of bulky strong, hard-hitting kinda archetype. I like her best state to be str and I like her to buck hard that's why I was drawn to the barbarian class. However, I still want to keep the style of, well, her entire character but particularly the monk aspect. I still want her to fight unarmed for example. And while I know one can just used the aesthetics of a monk with barbarian with the feat unarmed, I like the idea of cross classing.
The idea is that during her time in the monastery, Vir was taught the monk ways but when she gained more independence due to different reasons, the her barbarian nature came out and she excelled in it instead.
Same idea goes for Hope's who was taught to heal, as in she gained levels in cleric before she later became a wizard or some other mage class of that kind.
So I was thinking something like this (1-2 lvl monk) + (5-4 lvl bar) for Vir and (1-2 lvl cleric) + (5-4 lvl wiz) for Hope's.
This could also be interesting for Hope's since she's an atheist now so it makes it interesting to see how she uses her cleric spells now or if that she's unable to use those spells (which is also interesting, I think).
Hehe, and Pew Seat could have been raised to be a paladin and then she returns as a death knight. ^^
Anyway, tell me what you think?
[Read more] ^^
>>181130
Indeed. ^^ Olways lookon the bright side of life.~
>>181138
^^
>>181123
So your oc can sell mine anything
>>181226
and yours can turn her into a comfy footstool. Sorry, hoofstool.
Btw, GM I came up with few things that I'd like to run by you. As stated Hope's is yours so feel free to ignore these ideas if you feel like it.
Virgin Flame's character has continue to grow and I have come to realize that I'd prefer if she was more of bulky strong, hard-hitting kinda archetype. I like her best state to be str and I like her to buck hard that's why I was drawn to the barbarian class. However, I still want to keep the style of, well, her entire character but particularly the monk aspect. I still want her to fight unarmed for example. And while I know one can just used the aesthetics of a monk with barbarian with the feat unarmed, I like the idea of cross classing.
The idea is that during her time in the monastery, Vir was taught the monk ways but when she gained more independence due to different reasons, the her barbarian nature came out and she excelled in it instead.
Same idea goes for Hope's who was taught to heal, as in she gained levels in cleric before she later became a wizard or some other mage class of that kind.
So I was thinking something like this (1-2 lvl monk) + (5-4 lvl bar) for Vir and (1-2 lvl cleric) + (5-4 lvl wiz) for Hope's.
This could also be interesting for Hope's since she's an atheist now so it makes it interesting to see how she uses her cleric spells now or if that she's unable to use those spells (which is also interesting, I think).
Hehe, and Pew Seat could have been raised to be a paladin and then she returns as a death knight. ^^
Anyway, tell me what you think?
>>181301
Youre correct, I accepted Dust's roll, and should have contested at the time
>feeble decrees
I had to try
Youre correct, I accepted Dust's roll, and should have contested at the time
>feeble decrees
I had to try
>>181318
Become undead: Then you can just cut off your ears and stow them in your back pocket when you're not using them.
Become undead: Then you can just cut off your ears and stow them in your back pocket when you're not using them.
>>181321
>Im very curious how that works
It's in the SRD:
>If a cleric is not devoted to a particular deity, he still selects two domains to represent his spiritual inclinations and abilities. The restriction on alignment domains still applies.
Power comes from faith itself, not just from the gods.
If you want specific lore, I can dig up examples from half a dozen books.
I actually considered making Posey a godless Cleric (Clerics are the best necromancers), but I chose Dread Necromancer because it has Dread in it, and also because u have powergaming tendencies so I figured I should avoid tier 1 classes in favor of a specialist tier 3 class.
I'm normally not fond of godless Clerics though, at least in most conventional d&d settings.
>Im very curious how that works
It's in the SRD:
>If a cleric is not devoted to a particular deity, he still selects two domains to represent his spiritual inclinations and abilities. The restriction on alignment domains still applies.
Power comes from faith itself, not just from the gods.
If you want specific lore, I can dig up examples from half a dozen books.
I actually considered making Posey a godless Cleric (Clerics are the best necromancers), but I chose Dread Necromancer because it has Dread in it, and also because u have powergaming tendencies so I figured I should avoid tier 1 classes in favor of a specialist tier 3 class.
I'm normally not fond of godless Clerics though, at least in most conventional d&d settings.
>>181302
Hmm, actually. I haven't decided yet how I wish Vir to play. I'll think about it.
>>181321
>Heals teammates by the power of God she doesn't believe exist. ^^
Yeah, Idk. Maybe, it could just be a level of exp that she doesn't use anymore, like for story purposes.
>>181322
>Power comes from faith itself, not just from the gods.
Okay. I feel like I heard and extended diatribe about this topic but I don't remember it.
Hmm, actually. I haven't decided yet how I wish Vir to play. I'll think about it.
>>181321
>Heals teammates by the power of God she doesn't believe exist. ^^
Yeah, Idk. Maybe, it could just be a level of exp that she doesn't use anymore, like for story purposes.
>>181322
>Power comes from faith itself, not just from the gods.
Okay. I feel like I heard and extended diatribe about this topic but I don't remember it.
>>181322
>Tfw Cleric gets to cast Animate Dead at lvl 5, but Dread Necromancer needs to wait until lvl 8
Ffs....
>Tfw Cleric gets to cast Animate Dead at lvl 5, but Dread Necromancer needs to wait until lvl 8
Ffs....
I heard of another that believed they were a god sealed in a mortal form to strip them of their power/area of dominion, and so it was
>>181302
> I'd prefer if she was more of bulky strong, hard-hitting kinda archetype.
What was she before? I mean, I think you made it clear in the petting scene that she was much larger and stronger than the already reasonably sized Heather.
I suppose if you want you can make a barbarian multiclass. Barbarian is kind of an odd class as it generally refers to a tribal character. Maybe a homeless alcoholic with PTSD can be like a barbarian? It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility.
When you mentioned Hope’s Anchor being a spell caster I assumed Wizard or sorcerer. I had contemplated an atheist cleric before for other reasons. However, because of the other discussion on that subject in the thread, I’ll abstain from comment for now.
>>181307
> he rerolls for himself, hoping for a better roll
>only goes from an 8 to a 7
Hehe
>>181322
First of all, that isn’t atheism. That’s “I’m spiritual but I’m not religious” or “Non-denominational” or Prince Charlie’s “Defender of the Faiths.” That’s a very different thing from being an atheist.
>lore
Darling. Bro. This world is, first and foremost, at its core, a recursive fanfiction of my little pony. A fanfiction of a fanfiction of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. This ain’t faerun. You can most certainly draw inspiration from that, but the reason I chose Dungeons and Dragons as a system was because I needed a system, I already knew dnd 3.5e, and the system was not important enough for me to justify the effort of finding and learning a new system. It isn’t because I wanted to be wedded to its lore.
Personally, I think it’s best to be creative with religion. Not every single fantasy religion needs to be I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Hellenism/The Vikings! It’s okay to have Pantheistic faiths. It’s okay to have faiths that believe in a single, non-personal god. It’s okay to have a faith that believes in a single, universal life force. It’s okay to have dualistic faiths. In fact, if you look at most civilizations that made it past the Iron Age, you’ll see that the vast majority practiced something other than what we’d recognize as European paganism. He’ll, it’s even okay in fantasy settings, I think, to have religions that believe in a, shock and horror, a single personal creator god. There’s so much more out there than just Odin and Zeus.
>>181325
To quote a D&D forum I visited years ago
“Yeah, but immunity to wizard and resistance to fighter kind of makes up for it.” In this case it’s more like immunity to fighter and resistance to wizard, but it’s the same idea.
>>181331 →
>As we are talking about it, Zigger went ahead and made a hippie cleric that doesn’t want to follow any kind of god but just wants those good feeling vibes. You know, without clearing by the GM first.
Nigger are you for real?
[Read more] > I'd prefer if she was more of bulky strong, hard-hitting kinda archetype.
What was she before? I mean, I think you made it clear in the petting scene that she was much larger and stronger than the already reasonably sized Heather.
I suppose if you want you can make a barbarian multiclass. Barbarian is kind of an odd class as it generally refers to a tribal character. Maybe a homeless alcoholic with PTSD can be like a barbarian? It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility.
When you mentioned Hope’s Anchor being a spell caster I assumed Wizard or sorcerer. I had contemplated an atheist cleric before for other reasons. However, because of the other discussion on that subject in the thread, I’ll abstain from comment for now.
>>181307
> he rerolls for himself, hoping for a better roll
>only goes from an 8 to a 7
Hehe
>>181322
First of all, that isn’t atheism. That’s “I’m spiritual but I’m not religious” or “Non-denominational” or Prince Charlie’s “Defender of the Faiths.” That’s a very different thing from being an atheist.
>lore
Darling. Bro. This world is, first and foremost, at its core, a recursive fanfiction of my little pony. A fanfiction of a fanfiction of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. This ain’t faerun. You can most certainly draw inspiration from that, but the reason I chose Dungeons and Dragons as a system was because I needed a system, I already knew dnd 3.5e, and the system was not important enough for me to justify the effort of finding and learning a new system. It isn’t because I wanted to be wedded to its lore.
Personally, I think it’s best to be creative with religion. Not every single fantasy religion needs to be I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Hellenism/The Vikings! It’s okay to have Pantheistic faiths. It’s okay to have faiths that believe in a single, non-personal god. It’s okay to have a faith that believes in a single, universal life force. It’s okay to have dualistic faiths. In fact, if you look at most civilizations that made it past the Iron Age, you’ll see that the vast majority practiced something other than what we’d recognize as European paganism. He’ll, it’s even okay in fantasy settings, I think, to have religions that believe in a, shock and horror, a single personal creator god. There’s so much more out there than just Odin and Zeus.
>>181325
To quote a D&D forum I visited years ago
“Yeah, but immunity to wizard and resistance to fighter kind of makes up for it.” In this case it’s more like immunity to fighter and resistance to wizard, but it’s the same idea.
>>181331 →
>As we are talking about it, Zigger went ahead and made a hippie cleric that doesn’t want to follow any kind of god but just wants those good feeling vibes. You know, without clearing by the GM first.
Nigger are you for real?
>>181335
I didnt think it counts, I was just curious if it would have made much of a difference, which obv the dice hate me like they hated Infernius
I didnt think it counts, I was just curious if it would have made much of a difference, which obv the dice hate me like they hated Infernius
>>181335
>When you mentioned Hope’s Anchor being a spell caster I assumed Wizard or sorcerer.
Yeah, that's how I imagine her too, I'm just thinking that she could have a level in it as a vestigial feature or something. Its mostly that I think it fits that she'd be a cleric type, specifically life domain, since she learnt it from a nun. But again, I'm just throwing out ideas. Feel free to do whatever you want with her. ^^
>What was she before? I mean, I think you made it clear in the petting scene that she was much larger and stronger than the already reasonably sized Heather.
Yes, but I don't know it it comes through in her stats, or rather, I might want to make her strength the core part of her character. There are other personality reasons too but i haven't decided yet.
>Maybe a homeless alcoholic with PTSD can be like a barbarian? It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility.
She prefer between homes.^^
[Read more] >When you mentioned Hope’s Anchor being a spell caster I assumed Wizard or sorcerer.
Yeah, that's how I imagine her too, I'm just thinking that she could have a level in it as a vestigial feature or something. Its mostly that I think it fits that she'd be a cleric type, specifically life domain, since she learnt it from a nun. But again, I'm just throwing out ideas. Feel free to do whatever you want with her. ^^
>What was she before? I mean, I think you made it clear in the petting scene that she was much larger and stronger than the already reasonably sized Heather.
Yes, but I don't know it it comes through in her stats, or rather, I might want to make her strength the core part of her character. There are other personality reasons too but i haven't decided yet.
>Maybe a homeless alcoholic with PTSD can be like a barbarian? It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility.
She prefer between homes.^^
>>181326
The Cleric class supports just about any type of religion/culture you can think of. Some Clerics have faith in gods, others in the elements, some in abstract esoteric forces, some in the planes themselves, some in philosophical concepts, acts of war, dragons, extraplanar masses of mana, sometimes even in themselves.
Worth noting that although the default setting in 3.5e is Grayhawk, the Cleric class is meant for any setting, including settings where gods are complete absent (Dark Sun) or indeterminate/mystery/fictional (Eberron), or even irl-like (d20 Arcana)
That being said, any Cleric should be a religious character. In most conventional mileau I, as a DM, and not fond of players who play "ideal" Clerics just to mix and match their favorite domain abilities without roleplay restrictions, because I see that as tasteless munchkinry. I've only encountered a handful though.
It's the GM's choice for how he wants to treat Clerics in his mileau.
>>181335
>First of all, that isn’t atheism. That’s “I’m spiritual but I’m not religious” or “Non-denominational” or Prince Charlie’s “Defender of the Faiths.” That’s a very different thing from being an atheist.
You are correct. I was mistaken. An "atheist" Cleric would be something more like an Ur Priest.
>This world is, first and foremost, at its core, a recursive fanfiction of my little pony. A fanfiction of a fanfiction of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
True.
However, wouldn't the Harmonist Cleric we encountered who wasn't devoted to the princesses be the equivalent to an "ideal Cleric" in this mileau?
>Personally, I think it’s best to be creative with religion. Not every single fantasy religion needs to be I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Hellenism/The Vikings! It’s okay to have Pantheistic faiths. It’s okay to have faiths that believe in a single, non-personal god. It’s okay to have a faith that believes in a single, universal life force. It’s okay to have dualistic faiths. In fact, if you look at most civilizations that made it past the Iron Age, you’ll see that the vast majority practiced something other than what we’d recognize as European paganism. He’ll, it’s even okay in fantasy settings, I think, to have religions that believe in a, shock and horror, a single personal creator god. There’s so much more out there than just Odin and Zeus.
I totally agree. 3.5e has mechanics and lore to support all of those. Deities and demigods has a lot of tips on how to support various approaches to faith (monotheistic, dual theistic, completing pantheons, etc).
I think there are at least a couple actual deities in MLP FiM. Discord is an lesser-to-intermediate deity, easily statted as a great wyrm ascendant chaos archdragon (chaos dragons look exactly like discord). Celestia is something like a demigod, probably base her stats on a half celestial unicorn with divine stat array and several levels in Cleric and Radiant Servant. Same with Luna, except she'd be a Shadowcaster, and lower rank.
.... But there's no real reason to make statblocks for characters that the party won't interact with...
>To quote a D&D forum I visited years ago
“Yeah, but immunity to wizard and resistance to fighter kind of makes up for it.” In this case it’s more like immunity to fighter and resistance to wizard, but it’s the same idea.
I'm not really sure what that poster means, but okay.
Btw, I was thinking, you have before expressed frustration with Posey's durability. I am open to nerfing Posey. Posey has 55 HP, which is admittedly a lot for a lvl 4 character in a low-op game. 8 of those Hit Points come from Desecrate, and 6 of those Hit points come from Undead Mastery (also the source of her enhancement bonus to stats): they are both functions of Posey being created by her Mentor, an 8th level Dread Necromancer that Posey had access to through the apprentice feat. When I made her as a character, I considered Posey's creation to be one of her limited favors from her Mentor. In the interest of balance, I would be open to eliminating both the 16 bonus HP and her enhancement bonuses to Str and Dex that she gained from her master, although I would like for Posey to be able to reapply those traits if she ever gets to lvl 8 one day.
I could remove the spellstitching too, although tbh I like the ability to cast floating disk and unseen servant, and to buff the party with create magic tatoo.
Posey has three sources of Damage Reduction: Her class, (2/bludgeoning and magic; class), her inherited template (5/silver or magic; half vampire), and her applied template (5/silver or magic; spellstitched). These sources of Damage Reduction are redundant; I would strongly prefer to keep the first two, since they are Posey's class and racial abilities, the latter she paid two levels for, but it's your call.
To alter Posey in-universe, perhaps Posey's masters in the Dread League may have determined her to be a lackluster emissary for not having already conquered Baltimare in two weeks, and may have remotely taken away everything they gave her as punishment, telling her to become a master herself and earn her own powers.
[Read more] The Cleric class supports just about any type of religion/culture you can think of. Some Clerics have faith in gods, others in the elements, some in abstract esoteric forces, some in the planes themselves, some in philosophical concepts, acts of war, dragons, extraplanar masses of mana, sometimes even in themselves.
Worth noting that although the default setting in 3.5e is Grayhawk, the Cleric class is meant for any setting, including settings where gods are complete absent (Dark Sun) or indeterminate/mystery/fictional (Eberron), or even irl-like (d20 Arcana)
That being said, any Cleric should be a religious character. In most conventional mileau I, as a DM, and not fond of players who play "ideal" Clerics just to mix and match their favorite domain abilities without roleplay restrictions, because I see that as tasteless munchkinry. I've only encountered a handful though.
It's the GM's choice for how he wants to treat Clerics in his mileau.
>>181335
>First of all, that isn’t atheism. That’s “I’m spiritual but I’m not religious” or “Non-denominational” or Prince Charlie’s “Defender of the Faiths.” That’s a very different thing from being an atheist.
You are correct. I was mistaken. An "atheist" Cleric would be something more like an Ur Priest.
>This world is, first and foremost, at its core, a recursive fanfiction of my little pony. A fanfiction of a fanfiction of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
True.
However, wouldn't the Harmonist Cleric we encountered who wasn't devoted to the princesses be the equivalent to an "ideal Cleric" in this mileau?
>Personally, I think it’s best to be creative with religion. Not every single fantasy religion needs to be I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Hellenism/The Vikings! It’s okay to have Pantheistic faiths. It’s okay to have faiths that believe in a single, non-personal god. It’s okay to have a faith that believes in a single, universal life force. It’s okay to have dualistic faiths. In fact, if you look at most civilizations that made it past the Iron Age, you’ll see that the vast majority practiced something other than what we’d recognize as European paganism. He’ll, it’s even okay in fantasy settings, I think, to have religions that believe in a, shock and horror, a single personal creator god. There’s so much more out there than just Odin and Zeus.
I totally agree. 3.5e has mechanics and lore to support all of those. Deities and demigods has a lot of tips on how to support various approaches to faith (monotheistic, dual theistic, completing pantheons, etc).
I think there are at least a couple actual deities in MLP FiM. Discord is an lesser-to-intermediate deity, easily statted as a great wyrm ascendant chaos archdragon (chaos dragons look exactly like discord). Celestia is something like a demigod, probably base her stats on a half celestial unicorn with divine stat array and several levels in Cleric and Radiant Servant. Same with Luna, except she'd be a Shadowcaster, and lower rank.
.... But there's no real reason to make statblocks for characters that the party won't interact with...
>To quote a D&D forum I visited years ago
“Yeah, but immunity to wizard and resistance to fighter kind of makes up for it.” In this case it’s more like immunity to fighter and resistance to wizard, but it’s the same idea.
I'm not really sure what that poster means, but okay.
Btw, I was thinking, you have before expressed frustration with Posey's durability. I am open to nerfing Posey. Posey has 55 HP, which is admittedly a lot for a lvl 4 character in a low-op game. 8 of those Hit Points come from Desecrate, and 6 of those Hit points come from Undead Mastery (also the source of her enhancement bonus to stats): they are both functions of Posey being created by her Mentor, an 8th level Dread Necromancer that Posey had access to through the apprentice feat. When I made her as a character, I considered Posey's creation to be one of her limited favors from her Mentor. In the interest of balance, I would be open to eliminating both the 16 bonus HP and her enhancement bonuses to Str and Dex that she gained from her master, although I would like for Posey to be able to reapply those traits if she ever gets to lvl 8 one day.
I could remove the spellstitching too, although tbh I like the ability to cast floating disk and unseen servant, and to buff the party with create magic tatoo.
Posey has three sources of Damage Reduction: Her class, (2/bludgeoning and magic; class), her inherited template (5/silver or magic; half vampire), and her applied template (5/silver or magic; spellstitched). These sources of Damage Reduction are redundant; I would strongly prefer to keep the first two, since they are Posey's class and racial abilities, the latter she paid two levels for, but it's your call.
To alter Posey in-universe, perhaps Posey's masters in the Dread League may have determined her to be a lackluster emissary for not having already conquered Baltimare in two weeks, and may have remotely taken away everything they gave her as punishment, telling her to become a master herself and earn her own powers.
>>181342
I'm getting more of a devotion/worship of life/death and the natural cycle sort of vibe, rather than nature
I'm getting more of a devotion/worship of life/death and the natural cycle sort of vibe, rather than nature
>>181340
>I, as a DM, and not fond of players who play "ideal" Clerics just to mix and match their favorite domain abilities without roleplay restrictions, because I see that as tasteless munchkinry
This really gets to the core of the issue. Actual IRL religions impose moral codes and restrictions on what you can and cannot do. They impose duties. There are rituals that have to be followed. They almost always have societal institutions with their own hierarchies and impositions and social relations. People who are “””spiritual but not religious””” want the “everything is permitted” of being an atheist but without the downer parts. They want the feel goody goodness of religion, and the cushy happy ending afterlife, without any of the obligations that religion imposes.
A cleric with a religion has a moral code they must follow. They have a deity whose word they must follow, whose favor they must maintain - and if the BBEG has the power to threaten gods - whose wellbeing they have an interest in preserving. There are rituals that must be performed and customs that be followed. There is an institution with a hierarchy that must be respected and interacted with. There’s a whole theology that adds lore and depth to the setting and campaign. And even besides all of this, there’s a general expectation that if a cleric hears “hey, the BBEG is burning down temples of your religion!” that cleric is supposed to care and react. Bypassing all of this is… well it’s not as compelling.
>wouldn't the Harmonist Cleric we encountered who wasn't devoted to the princesses be the equivalent to an "ideal Cleric" in this mileau?
The character was a deliberate ass pull for Brie. A joke character that pokes fun at the people who stand on street corners and talk about Jesus. I do think he was based on a “””non-denominational””” Protestant. However, even this is a very specific form of a specific faith that follows a specific tradition.
>I think there are at least a couple actual deities in MLP FiM
I don’t think that Discord is a deity. Yes, he is a god in almost every way, such as evidently being immortal and possibly timeless. He represents a force within the universe. He has the power to create things out of air. He is a pagan style deity - or even stronger - in close to every way. However, I do not remember a single instance in the show of any character, be it discord or any one else, using any kind of religious language in reference to him. It’s true that My Little Pony has been deliberately scrubbed of any kind of religious language in order to appease The Guardians, but you’ll still hear religious references to Celestia, like Twilight saying “don’t take Celestia’s name in vain.” The characters don’t seem to think of Discord as a god, so I don’t think we should. I think that the reason for this is that he is based off of a character (Q) from an atheistic setting where it’s understood that gods are just ancient aliens. Thus, Discord is never referred to as a god.
Celestia has religious language associated with her and definitely has something to do with godhood, though whether that means that she’s a god, an angel, a demigod, a buddha, or a paragon of harmony is up to interpretation.
I think the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic setting has one, clear, unambiguous, and ultimately powerful god: Harmony. It’s the source of all ultimate power, it has definite virtues in loyalty & courage, strength & honesty, laughter & hope, kindness & health, generosity & beauty, and friendship & magic. These virtues create magical power. It can spawn and power the elements of harmony, which can one shot even a super powered Luna or discord. And most importantly of all it took physical form and became sentient in the episode “what lies beneath” like a pony Jesus.
In my interpretation, Harmonism is a more or less pantheistic religion that proposes that “Harmony” is a spiritual force that pervades the universe and is the source of all life force. Harmony is associated with the familiar virtues, and these virtues literally create harmony magic and cause it to grow in power. The universe is has always existed, presumably in cycles. This is basically the theology Aristotle seems to propose in his works, with “reason” replaced with harmony, and thus logically “Armonia” and its highest subset virtue of friendship being placed above the non-moral virtues knowledge. Whether Celestia is an outright minor deity, a paragon, or anything in between, is a matter of interpretation that gives rises to the various denominations of Harmonism.
>Nerfing Posey
This is very much appreciated, but at minimum it’s going to need to wait until I’m back at the hotel to address it.
[Read more] >I, as a DM, and not fond of players who play "ideal" Clerics just to mix and match their favorite domain abilities without roleplay restrictions, because I see that as tasteless munchkinry
This really gets to the core of the issue. Actual IRL religions impose moral codes and restrictions on what you can and cannot do. They impose duties. There are rituals that have to be followed. They almost always have societal institutions with their own hierarchies and impositions and social relations. People who are “””spiritual but not religious””” want the “everything is permitted” of being an atheist but without the downer parts. They want the feel goody goodness of religion, and the cushy happy ending afterlife, without any of the obligations that religion imposes.
A cleric with a religion has a moral code they must follow. They have a deity whose word they must follow, whose favor they must maintain - and if the BBEG has the power to threaten gods - whose wellbeing they have an interest in preserving. There are rituals that must be performed and customs that be followed. There is an institution with a hierarchy that must be respected and interacted with. There’s a whole theology that adds lore and depth to the setting and campaign. And even besides all of this, there’s a general expectation that if a cleric hears “hey, the BBEG is burning down temples of your religion!” that cleric is supposed to care and react. Bypassing all of this is… well it’s not as compelling.
>wouldn't the Harmonist Cleric we encountered who wasn't devoted to the princesses be the equivalent to an "ideal Cleric" in this mileau?
The character was a deliberate ass pull for Brie. A joke character that pokes fun at the people who stand on street corners and talk about Jesus. I do think he was based on a “””non-denominational””” Protestant. However, even this is a very specific form of a specific faith that follows a specific tradition.
>I think there are at least a couple actual deities in MLP FiM
I don’t think that Discord is a deity. Yes, he is a god in almost every way, such as evidently being immortal and possibly timeless. He represents a force within the universe. He has the power to create things out of air. He is a pagan style deity - or even stronger - in close to every way. However, I do not remember a single instance in the show of any character, be it discord or any one else, using any kind of religious language in reference to him. It’s true that My Little Pony has been deliberately scrubbed of any kind of religious language in order to appease The Guardians, but you’ll still hear religious references to Celestia, like Twilight saying “don’t take Celestia’s name in vain.” The characters don’t seem to think of Discord as a god, so I don’t think we should. I think that the reason for this is that he is based off of a character (Q) from an atheistic setting where it’s understood that gods are just ancient aliens. Thus, Discord is never referred to as a god.
Celestia has religious language associated with her and definitely has something to do with godhood, though whether that means that she’s a god, an angel, a demigod, a buddha, or a paragon of harmony is up to interpretation.
I think the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic setting has one, clear, unambiguous, and ultimately powerful god: Harmony. It’s the source of all ultimate power, it has definite virtues in loyalty & courage, strength & honesty, laughter & hope, kindness & health, generosity & beauty, and friendship & magic. These virtues create magical power. It can spawn and power the elements of harmony, which can one shot even a super powered Luna or discord. And most importantly of all it took physical form and became sentient in the episode “what lies beneath” like a pony Jesus.
In my interpretation, Harmonism is a more or less pantheistic religion that proposes that “Harmony” is a spiritual force that pervades the universe and is the source of all life force. Harmony is associated with the familiar virtues, and these virtues literally create harmony magic and cause it to grow in power. The universe is has always existed, presumably in cycles. This is basically the theology Aristotle seems to propose in his works, with “reason” replaced with harmony, and thus logically “Armonia” and its highest subset virtue of friendship being placed above the non-moral virtues knowledge. Whether Celestia is an outright minor deity, a paragon, or anything in between, is a matter of interpretation that gives rises to the various denominations of Harmonism.
>Nerfing Posey
This is very much appreciated, but at minimum it’s going to need to wait until I’m back at the hotel to address it.
>>181345
>This really gets to the core of the issue.
I've only encountered it a few times, but it's also an easy issue to fix, imo, because I can at this point spot the difference between a person who wants to roleplay a different take on religion, and a tasteless munchkin. Dusty is the former.
First time I detected a player who was only playing a godless cleric to mix and match abilities without roleplay restrictions, I just houseruled that godless Clerics could only choose PHB domains. To this day, how I treat godless Clerics mostly depends on how much I personally like the character presented.
>Yes, he is a god in almost every way, such as evidently being immortal and possibly timeless. He represents a force within the universe. He has the power to create things out of air. He is a pagan style deity - or even stronger - in close to every way.
This can mechanically describe a deity in d&d.
He should statistically be an ascendant Chaos dragon though, because Chaos Dragons look just like him, and live in Limbo.
>I do not remember a single instance in the show of any character, be it discord or any one else, using any kind of religious language in reference to him.
Not all gods are worshipped like mortals, particularly the unknowable Lovecraftian kind of gods, or elder evils that have been sealed alway and forgotten.
Discord definitely falls in the category of "Elder Evil who was sealed away and forgotten".
>The characters don’t seem to think of Discord as a god, so I don’t think we should.
Sure, but do you really want to eliminate the potential for "Chaos Cultists" in your mileau? They sound like they could make good villains. Also, 40k references are fun.
With Discord unsealed, and evidently unwilling to intervene in these chaotic times of war, his cult may re-emerge as a faction of deranged cultists who only cares about spreading mayhem and madness.
>Celestia has religious language associated with her and definitely has something to do with godhood, though whether that means that she’s a god, an angel, a demigod, a buddha, or a paragon of harmony is up to interpretation.
If you're not interested in the cool demigod statblocks I was making for Celestia, and want to give her minimal power, you could probably just use a Solar for her statblock, with some abilities modified.
>I think the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic setting has one, clear, unambiguous, and ultimately powerful god: Harmony. It’s the source of all ultimate power, it has definite virtues in loyalty & courage, strength & honesty, laughter & hope, kindness & health, generosity & beauty, and friendship & magic. These virtues create magical power. It can spawn and power the elements of harmony, which can one shot even a super powered Luna or discord. And most importantly of all it took physical form and became sentient in the episode “what lies beneath” like a pony Jesus.
You could probably stat Harmony as something similar to the monotheistic deity presented in Deities and Demigods, of state the elements individually as deities in a pantheon that join together to become a super deity. I think Clerics who devote themselves to one of the elements over all of them could make sense.
>In my interpretation, Harmonism is a more or less pantheistic religion that proposes that “Harmony” is a spiritual force that pervades the universe and is the source of all life force. Harmony is associated with the familiar virtues, and these virtues literally create harmony magic and cause it to grow in power. The universe is has always existed, presumably in cycles.
Pantheism is a thing in d&d, particularly Eberron with the Sovereign Host.
[Read more] >This really gets to the core of the issue.
I've only encountered it a few times, but it's also an easy issue to fix, imo, because I can at this point spot the difference between a person who wants to roleplay a different take on religion, and a tasteless munchkin. Dusty is the former.
First time I detected a player who was only playing a godless cleric to mix and match abilities without roleplay restrictions, I just houseruled that godless Clerics could only choose PHB domains. To this day, how I treat godless Clerics mostly depends on how much I personally like the character presented.
>Yes, he is a god in almost every way, such as evidently being immortal and possibly timeless. He represents a force within the universe. He has the power to create things out of air. He is a pagan style deity - or even stronger - in close to every way.
This can mechanically describe a deity in d&d.
He should statistically be an ascendant Chaos dragon though, because Chaos Dragons look just like him, and live in Limbo.
>I do not remember a single instance in the show of any character, be it discord or any one else, using any kind of religious language in reference to him.
Not all gods are worshipped like mortals, particularly the unknowable Lovecraftian kind of gods, or elder evils that have been sealed alway and forgotten.
Discord definitely falls in the category of "Elder Evil who was sealed away and forgotten".
>The characters don’t seem to think of Discord as a god, so I don’t think we should.
Sure, but do you really want to eliminate the potential for "Chaos Cultists" in your mileau? They sound like they could make good villains. Also, 40k references are fun.
With Discord unsealed, and evidently unwilling to intervene in these chaotic times of war, his cult may re-emerge as a faction of deranged cultists who only cares about spreading mayhem and madness.
>Celestia has religious language associated with her and definitely has something to do with godhood, though whether that means that she’s a god, an angel, a demigod, a buddha, or a paragon of harmony is up to interpretation.
If you're not interested in the cool demigod statblocks I was making for Celestia, and want to give her minimal power, you could probably just use a Solar for her statblock, with some abilities modified.
>I think the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic setting has one, clear, unambiguous, and ultimately powerful god: Harmony. It’s the source of all ultimate power, it has definite virtues in loyalty & courage, strength & honesty, laughter & hope, kindness & health, generosity & beauty, and friendship & magic. These virtues create magical power. It can spawn and power the elements of harmony, which can one shot even a super powered Luna or discord. And most importantly of all it took physical form and became sentient in the episode “what lies beneath” like a pony Jesus.
You could probably stat Harmony as something similar to the monotheistic deity presented in Deities and Demigods, of state the elements individually as deities in a pantheon that join together to become a super deity. I think Clerics who devote themselves to one of the elements over all of them could make sense.
>In my interpretation, Harmonism is a more or less pantheistic religion that proposes that “Harmony” is a spiritual force that pervades the universe and is the source of all life force. Harmony is associated with the familiar virtues, and these virtues literally create harmony magic and cause it to grow in power. The universe is has always existed, presumably in cycles.
Pantheism is a thing in d&d, particularly Eberron with the Sovereign Host.
To the issue of meta, the ability to sufficiently appreciate the potential of the crown would mechanically be based on a knowledge arcana check, probably high dc. 3 guesses what Brie's ranks are, trained only. The only things he knlws about magic items is how to sometimes get them to work (use magic), and a bunch of random tidbits. The odds of him knowing enough to really decipher what hes seen is very low, but he does know theres funny business hes QUITE keen to get to the bottom of.
>>181353
>the ability to sufficiently appreciate the potential of the crown would mechanically be based on a knowledge arcana check, probably high dc
I rolled a 30. 30 is high.
>the ability to sufficiently appreciate the potential of the crown would mechanically be based on a knowledge arcana check, probably high dc
I rolled a 30. 30 is high.
>>181353
Through basic observation on its effects both before and after it was removed from the griffon's head, Silver could probably surmise that the crown has some kind of mind control power/curse and that it increases the natural abilities of its wearer. He has absolutely no knowledge of magic or the arcane (a result of being raised by a single Earth Pony father) outside of what his daughter White Light has told him in excited descriptions of her latest studies when she was a filly, and as such would have no deeper understand of how the crown actually operates than the next pony.
Through basic observation on its effects both before and after it was removed from the griffon's head, Silver could probably surmise that the crown has some kind of mind control power/curse and that it increases the natural abilities of its wearer. He has absolutely no knowledge of magic or the arcane (a result of being raised by a single Earth Pony father) outside of what his daughter White Light has told him in excited descriptions of her latest studies when she was a filly, and as such would have no deeper understand of how the crown actually operates than the next pony.
>>181354
Well, heres the thing. I WANT Brie to immediately grasp the significance of what he has so far detected, cuz I appreciate the significance of what he's seeing, but thats meta.
In reality, Brie owes knowledge, insight, and a few other checks to put together what I already know, and several checks he should automatically fail. Im gonna leave it up to GM to weigh on how I can roll to be as prescient as I was trying to overreachingly have him be.
Well, heres the thing. I WANT Brie to immediately grasp the significance of what he has so far detected, cuz I appreciate the significance of what he's seeing, but thats meta.
In reality, Brie owes knowledge, insight, and a few other checks to put together what I already know, and several checks he should automatically fail. Im gonna leave it up to GM to weigh on how I can roll to be as prescient as I was trying to overreachingly have him be.
I'm not rolling for the vomiting OR the critical stab thats healed. I did roll to notice the stashing of the magic sword but willfully neglected to sense motive, the crown Ill voluntarily waive/fail, so sense motive on the spoopy obsessive behavior/emotes.
[1d20+8 = (17+8) = 25]
[1d20+8 = (17+8) = 25]
K, so Brie can tell that Rosey is jizzing her pants at the crown but really doesnt want anyone to know. And, he cant know why she would be jizzing her pants, though she did claim profession,... but that captain summoned something, and these Griffons are talking mind control. More questions
>>181362
Even in spite of my tantrum, Brie would not have entered the buildings with them, he would have maintained an arial vantage. He came into this mission:
1. Thinking he had it already figured out, and it was military/commie/mercenary (conventional)
2. Thinking they could be walking into a trap
It actually makes sense for him to fuck off for that portion, even though I was shitting my pants ^,_,^
Even in spite of my tantrum, Brie would not have entered the buildings with them, he would have maintained an arial vantage. He came into this mission:
1. Thinking he had it already figured out, and it was military/commie/mercenary (conventional)
2. Thinking they could be walking into a trap
It actually makes sense for him to fuck off for that portion, even though I was shitting my pants ^,_,^
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