Equestria Girls: Caverns and Critters
Chapter 2: Roll for Initiative
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The home came to life suddenly. The two shadows were suddenly revealed in the torchlight, their haggard expressions hollow and dead. They drooled from slack jaws and moved as if controlled by marionette strings, their arms and legs jerking awkwardly in their haste. Still, they got the drop on the party, swinging daggers around wildly. One of them caught the ambassador in a glancing blow, slicing him open across the upper part of his chest, close to his neck. He stumbled back with a cry, clutching at the wound with one hand while his other sought a small dagger on his hip.
“Woah!” The halfling cursed and stepped back, her deft hands flying to her shotbow. Immediately behind her was the dwarf, a paladin by the look of him, who unslung a mace from his own hip and began pulling on a large, square shield. The sorceress was the first among the six to act, having held her quarterstaff as a walking stick the entire time. With a cry, she swung the iron-shod tip around, catching one of the hands on his shoulder. With a sickening crunch, the blow connected, but didn’t seem to stop the thing. Both of the humans were stunned, blinking at the commotion in shock.
O-O-O-O
“I can’t believe I rolled a measly two!” Rarity pouted.
“Sorry, Rarity. Even with a plus two dexterity bonus, anything under a five means you’re caught flat-flooted for the first round.” Twilight chuckled, leaning back a little in her chair. “I’d like to think of it as a ‘house rule.’ Makes sense to me, if you really think about it.”
“I guess.” Rarity pouted. “I want a chance to fight.”
“Well, this isn’t meant to be a hard fight. You’ll be fine.” Twilight turned her attention to Fluttershy. “And the druid?”
O-O-O-O
The dark-skinned woman jumped into action, dashing forward and drawing her weapon along the way. The quarterstaff whistled as it swung through the air, missing the hand by a scant inch. It clacked into the floor, even as the hands readied another swing. The sorceress slipped past one dagger and deftly blocked the other with her own staff, reeling back to deliver another powerful swing. This time, the hand fell backwards, its eyes gone wide and white as they rolled back. The druid, however, was slashed across her arm, crying out in pain as the blood began to flow. It didn’t appear serious, and she recovered in time for the halfling to fire an arrow across the room.
With a solid sound, the arrow buried itself into the hand’s head, rendering it stiff as a board as it fell over. The paladin scrambled to pick up both of the burning torches and deposit them into the hearth. The rogue knelt next to the ambassador while the gruff human began stamping out what cinders had scattered from the torches.
“Stay with me, Matthias.” The slender figure pulled their hood back, revealing pointy ears and delicate features – an elf! “Don’t die on me now.”
“I told you.” The ambassador shuddered, clutching at the wound on his chest. The bleeding didn’t appear to be stopping, and he coughed once more. “I wouldn’t make it out of Solace. D-do me a favor, and burn their bodies. They might come back.”
“We will.” The sorceress said quietly, laying a hand on his shoulder. “You have our word. And we will get to the bottom of this, no matter what. Imoheen cannot get by threatening cities and assaulting officials. If half the things in this scroll are true, then he needs to be stopped.”
“Th-thank you.” Matthias coughed once more-
O-O-O-O
Twilight rolled a set of dice behind her screen…
O-O-O-O
And slowly closed his eyes, passing from this world and into whatever lay beyond. Gingerly, the dwarf took him from the rogue, leaning over to whisper a prayer. While the gruff human and the rogue rolled their eyes, they left the man to his work, going to pick through the pockets of the dead hands. Their daggers were taken, and one of them had a few gold coins in his pocket. While the dwarf scowled at them, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he solemnly began gathering the man’s body, laying him in the other room with a solitary bed.
“And these?” The druid nudged the hands, having bound her cut with some linen torn from the ambassador’s cloak.
“Toss them over the railing; we’ll burn them before we leave.”
“We leave tonight, then?” The gruff human asked, taking a quick inventory of the home. Aside from some day-old bread, there wasn’t much in the way of provisions.
“I see no reason to hesitate. If we stay here, more hands could find us. Or worse; the city officials.”
“I cannae say I like t’ run from the authorities, but the lass has a point. We ought to leave.”
“To Brackenbay, then.”
O-O-O-O
“We should take a break.” Twilight stretched her arms over her head. The group had to look around and check clocks, but they found it was already almost five in the evening. Suddenly, they were all ravenous.
“Oh, I have snacks and food upstairs, don’t you worry.” Pinkie Pie rubbed her hands together deviously. “It wouldn’t be a Pinkie Pie sleepover without them!”
“Too true, darling.” Rarity frowned at her cell phone. “I need to make a quick call, too.”
“Meet back down here in, say, an hour?” Sunset offered. Her bladder was making itself known, and the prospect of food had her more excited than she cared to admit. It was difficult to believe they had already been playing most of the day; she hardly felt taxed at all! It was all so exciting, with the way Twilight described everything, and the excitement in her voice as she played out their brief fight with the puppet-like humanoids they’d just dispatched.
“Sounds good.” Rainbow Dash shot up, intent on getting first dibs on the snacks. Applejack was on her heels, telling Dash to slow down so the rest of them could eat as well. Fluttershy pulled Twilight aside, a worried look on her face. Rarity had stepped off to a corner of the basement, talking quietly into her phone. Pinkie Pie led Sunset upstairs, though even as she stepped into the bathroom, she couldn’t help but think…
’This is so awesome.’
O-O-O-O
The road out of Solace was quiet and eerily-lit by the moon. The sorceress led their way with the owl on her shoulder, the two helping pick between the trees and follow the winding path South. They didn’t all feel like travelling through the night, however, so they left the beaten path and found a clearing to set up camp in. Around the fire, the six discussed their plan of action.
“I think introductions are in order.” The elf spoke first, opening his hands. “My name is Maurin Shadowleaf. A pleasure to meet you all.”
“What is it you do for a living, Maurin?” The dwarf grumbled, casting a weary eye his way.
“Trust me, dear paladin, the less you know, the better.”
“How didye know I was a paladin?” The dwarf blinked.
“Your shield.” The sorceress pointed. “You have the emblem of the Holy Order of Nith emblazoned on it. Let me guess, you’re doing your ten years of service to the community?”
“Ye ruin a good story, lass.” The dwarf chuckled, idly tracing a finger along the emblem. “Aye, m’ name’s Steelhammer Oakenfort. Paladins of my god, Nith, spend ten years of their lives in service to the community and good kingdoms of the world before returning to our seminary. Ah’m three years into me service, and loving every minute of it.”
“Why’s that?” The halfling tilted her head to the side curiously, having laid on her stomach beside the fire.
“No oaths.” The paladin grinned. “Not of poverty nor chastity, Sobriety or even charity. S’long as we do good by the world, we can get as drunk and be as crass as we please.”
“That’s surprisingly intuitive.” The sorceress mused, stroking her chin. “It allows you to experience life to at least some extent before devoting yourself to a higher cause.”
“Aye, and many of us stay in the order longer for it. Sure, we get a few paladins a year who forsake their vows and go back to their lives of sin and debauchery… But they were never destined to stay with the order ta begin with.”
“So that’s why you can drink a man to the floor with no remorse.” The gruff human sighed, rolling up in his sleeping bag. “I’m Grenlow Briar. In it for the coin, nothing more, nothing less.”
“Short and concise. I like it.” Maurin chuckled. “What of you, m’lady? If your familiar and garb are any indication, you’re a-“
“Sorceress. Well, apprentice, as it were. I am known as Talia of Azimandas, studying under Master Sorcerer Tirithal. It was at his discretion that I come assist the ambassador of Brackenbay, once he had received word of his former student’s wrong-doing.”
“Imoheen is a former student of Tirithal?” Maurin arched an eyebrow. “That may help us in our task… What information can you tell us?”
“Nothing much, I’m afraid.” Talia sighed. “Tirithal wasn’t very forthcoming about Imoheen; the way I understand it, my master views Imoheen’s exodus from Azimandas as a personal failure. It brings him shame.” She looked into the fire with intent eyes. “I would do anything to save my mentor the anguish he feels; even if it means taking Imoheen’s life.” A silence descended on them, but only for a moment or so.
“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m Bupin Baglind.” The ranger smiled at the group. “It’s nice to meetchya all.”
“They call me Shay.” The dark-skinned, barefoot woman rounded them out. “I will take first watch tonight. Who wants second?”
“I will,” Talia offered, crawling towards her own bedroll. “Who has the third?”
“I never sleep past the dawn anyways. I’ll take it after ye, lass.” The dwarf flipped his shield over and laid his head against it, passing into his dream almost instantaneously. The group slept through the night, not bothered by anything save the wayward animal shifting in the underbrush.
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Morning came upon them sooner than later, and after taking a few moments to prepare breakfast and wake themselves with cold water from a nearby creek, the group was on their way. Sometime in the night, a wolf had strode in out of the woods, and Shay went to lay her hand on the creature’s back. While it had originally frightened Talia, as it had happened on her watch, Shay calmed her fears by nuzzling into the beast’s neck warmly. Past that, the wolf was a welcome addition to the party, and even her owl seemed to get along with it.
Now, on their way south towards Brackenbay, the six began to discuss their plans for discovering more about Imoheen.
“I say we check with the guard, first thing.” Maurin suggested. “They always know what’s going on around the city.”
“But Imoheen may have informants in the guard. The way Matthias made it sound, we wouldn’t really get any help from them unless we have some strong evidence.” Bupin intoned. “I suggest we ask around local taverns and shops; those guys have all the information on what’s happening.”
“We stand just as much a chance of running into one of Imoheen’s informants that way, too.” Talia sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Maybe if we… I dunno, see who we can trust? Maybe do some errands or work for someone in town. If we prove we can be trusted, they’ll either give us the information we want, or reveal they’re working for Imoheen. We just need to make it look like we’re not after him, is all.”
“So these are kind of condemning, then.” Steelhammer tossed his scroll in the air. “If we’re caught with them, it’ll look bad.”
“Agreed. We should get rid of them.”
“We’ll burn them at camp tonight.” Talia nodded her agreement. The scroll suddenly felt like a condemning article; one that would spell her doom were she caught with it. “Though maybe one of us should hold onto it, in case we need to prove to the authorities where we came from and what we’re doing.”
“It’s still a slippery slope either way. I’m all for keeping one, but we shouldn’t show it unless we have absolute faith we can trust the other party.” Maurin drew his hood up over his pointed ears, casting a wary glance to the left and right of the path. The day was wet and overcast, and a fog was rolling in off of the ocean to the west. It made their speech muffled and their footsteps quiet, but also that of anyone out there. They passed few people, mostly traders and cattle-drivers, along with the occasional contingent of the Brackenbay city guard. They were paid little mind as they made their way further south, nearing the city limits by the time night had fallen.
“First order of business, we need to find a place to stay.” Talia felt exhausted from the long day of travelling, and her companions were showing similar levels of tiredness, save the gruff fighter, who merely appeared hungover. “We’re going to be in town for quite some time, so a house or tenement would suffice.”
“I know of a place.” Maurin turned towards the East, immediately inside of the city gates. They went unaccosted by the guards upon their arrival, who appeared too wrapped up in their dicing to stop a group of wet and weary adventurers. Maurin led them a short ways into the East side of the city, which appeared to mostly be a commercial area; full of warehouses and shipping companies. Down several streets was one lone lantern still lit at such a late hour, and it was there that Maurin turned. The lantern hung above a sign boasting an all-night stable, accepting caravans and lone travelers alike.
“Follow my lead.” He spoke quietly, winking at the party to indicate he was going to pull something. “Stablehand! I say, stablehand! Anyone here?!”
“I hear ya, stop yer belly-achin’.” A disgruntled old halfling waddled down out of the rafters of the stable. He smelled of stale hay and horse droppings, but brightened at the sight of the party of six. “Oh! What brings yer like ‘round here? Ain’t a horse ‘twixt the lot o’ ya…”
“I’m a friend of the owner’s, he promised us room and board. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?” Maurin withdrew his hood, winking kindly at the halfling.
“Oh, master Yewind! So glad you could make it!”
“But you’re not-“ Talia covered Steelhammer’s mouth before he could blow their cover. Thankfully, the filthy halfling hadn’t heard him.
“Right this way, master, right this way! Master Moorish is out on business for the next two weeks, but he said you could use his personal quarters. It might be a bit tight for six of ye, but it ought to work, aye?”
“Oh we’ll fit just fine.” Talia smiled, still covering Steelhammer’s mouth with a hand. “Thank you for your hospitality, little master…?”
“Sling, they call me.” The halfling beamed at Talia. He obviously wasn’t used to receiving compliments. Or tips, as it were, as she passed him a gold piece and a wink.
O-O-O-O
“Hot damn, you’re good at this, Sunset!” Rainbow Dash grinned. “I never expected he’d fall for that!”
“All the better for us.” Sunset blushed at the compliment, marking the lost gold piece on her inventory. “He’s obviously expecting someone, so if they show up, it’s best he’s on our side; the nice ones with the money. Plus, we really need this place if we’re going to find out what Imoheen’s up to.”
“Woah, girls.” Rainbow Dash was looking at her watch. “It’s already eleven.”
“What? No way.” Sunset pulled her phone out, checking the time. Sure enough, it was just a little past eleven at night. The half-windows sunken into the basement were dark, and upstairs was uncharacteristically quiet. None of them looked tired, though. In fact, Sunset felt like she could go all night.
“Do we want to keep playing? We’re kind of at a good stopping point…” Twilight was scrolling down something or other on her laptop, but Fluttershy shook her head.
“We just got to Brackenbay, there’s no point in stopping now…” She flagged a bit, concern crossing her features. “Though I’m not sure where to start…”
“Well, I can recommend some things.” Twilight smiled at them. “On your sheets, you should have a skill called ‘gather information.’”
“Right, but, it’s not check-marked.” Rainbow Dash lofted an eyebrow. “Can we still use it?”
“Oh absolutely. There’s nothing saying you can’t use a skill that isn’t a class skill… You see, you can only put MORE points into those that are. That’s why there’s two numbers there; a class-skill cap, and a non-class-skill cap… Right now, it should just be two and four. Two for non-skill classes, and four for skill classes. Right?”
“That’s what I have here.” Sunset affirmed.
“Good, then you can put points into non-class skills all you like, as long as it isn’t more than whatever your non-class-skill cap is. Rarity?”
“I actually put all four points I could into gather information… It seemed really useful.”
“And it very well may be. See, in cities, we can either take turns by full days, or by four-hour blocks. So, if you’d all like, I can suggest that you take a day to gather information and see what you want to find out. Setting out with a goal in mind is generally best, so you can split up or stay grouped all you like.”
“Hmm. Alright, then. Girls, I think we should-“
O-O-O-O
The next day dawned bright and early, with the whole group feeling rested and relaxed. They prepared a quick breakfast and convened whilst eating.
“I believe Grenlow and I should check with the local authority and see if there’s any contract work to be had. He’s familiar with working for coin, and I’m no slouch when it comes to talking to others myself.” Talia spoke firmly. Grenlow frowned, casting a quick glance towards Shay.
“I wanted to go with the pretty druid.”
“Too bad, buddy.” Talia deadpanned. “You’re stuck with the ugly sorceress.”
“Hey, I never said you were-“
“Moving on.” Talia rolled her eyes. “Shay, I’m guessing you don’t like the city all that much?”
“I’m not a fan.” Shay grimaced.
“Why don’t you and Bupin check the surrounding farms and communities? I’m sure there’s plenty of people who need help outside of the city walls, plus you can learn a little of the countryside while you’re at it.”
“That sounds like fun!” Bupin chimed in. “I could use a nice hike.”
“Then Maurin and I c’n ask around town fer others that need help.”
“I do this sort of work better on my own” The slight elf cleared his throat. “No offense, Steelhammer, but you’re not the most ‘subtle’ dwarf out there.”
“Hhmph.” Steelhammer grunted. “Well, I’m sure Nith has a church here in Brackenbay. I c’n check wi’ my bretheren.”
“I may have an associate or two around town.” Maurin nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Alright, it’s settled. We’ll find out what we can and rendezvous back here at night. Agreed?”
A chorus of ‘deal’ and ‘agreed’ rang out from the group. As Talia and Grenlow left the stablemaster’s home for the city center, though, he leaned in close to her.
“Talia, what’s a randy-voo?”
O-O-O-O
“Come on, Rainbow Dash, that was so lame even my grandpa groaned.”
6750093
Meh. I'm rusty. The spirit of the game is there, so I'm sure I'm safe from all but the rulesiest of rules lawyers.
6750131
Sad to say, Thunder Quill beat ya to it.
I'm just as surprised as you are XD He commented VERY quickly.
Min/maxers? I've heard this term before. What does it mean? (I have zero experience in any role playing games)
6750200
Folks who optimize their perks and whatnot in order to achieve ridiculous possibilities earlier in levels than usual. Most fighters would avoid things like Quick Draw or Endurance if it meant taking Weapon Focus or Weapon Proficiency, so they could do whatever it is they want to do quicker.
For instance, Rainbow Dash mentions cleaving (which is an ability that allows you to take another swing if you kill an enemy with your first one.) If she were to min/max her perks, she could feasibly attain that ability by level 3.
Dash as 18? I take it this isnt the variation where she then rolls percentile and gets bonuses for 18/00 say?
Does Pinkie have a feat that allows her to use natural items, such as fungal spore bombs, pollens, or would that be in wizard as this system wouldnt have alchemy?
So far, this looks like one of the classic gaming sesions from the golden age, except without the hours of shopping for gear up front like what my regular group did.
Fluttershy should have the highest body count early on going on her actions and historical games. Pinkie is she lets Diane roam, and Rarity if she decides to give the enemy the Blueblood treatment. Is unseen servant still allowed to do heart attacks?
The part about Briars INT reminded me about something.
In one of campaigns I played, we started with lvl 6 characters, to make it more interesting. I was a warrior in a band of four, with rogue, ranger and bard. I had second highest intelligence out of all (11), only being two points behind our caster bard. It was funny when I had to remind our ranger when he complained about 'my' stupidity, that he's two points dumber than me.
BY THE POWER OF THE DM Let this campain hit many many hysterical moments
Loving it. Reminds me of when I played DnD. My first character was Stone Fist. He was a dwarf on his way to becoming a Dwarven Defender and he had a returning hammer named Weed Whacker cause he killed a giant plant with it. One time he killed 4 giant all by himself (I had great rolls that night. Kept getting 20s)
6750240
Minor nitpick: If you're referring to the regular 'Cleave' feat, its possible to get that at level 1 as a human character (or a Fighter of any race). If it's Great Cleave (you can continue attacking as long as you defeat an enemy with each attack and you have a target within reach) then Fighters can access that at level 4 while other classes have to wait until level 6 (due to base attack requirements and the way feat acquisition works).
I wouldn't worry too much about any rules errors though; This is your story, and you're not obligated to follow the actual game system it is based on.
IMHO, Rule No. 1 of any tabletop RPG (or fanfics based on such) should be 'don't let the rules get in the way of good storytelling/having fun'. Addendum: While it's not necessary to strictly follow the system you're basing it on, it helps if the story is at least internally consistent with itself.
6750300 18/00 is AD&D 2nd ed., not D&D3.5.
6750200 Some of a character's creation is random, some is chosen. Min/maxing is when you choose to invest as little as possible in your weaknesses and nearly everything in your strengths. Most systems have some kind of diminishing rewards to overspecialization, but at the same time the strongest, most optimized characters are those that can reliably generate high rolls in their defining role, not a generalist. A min/maxed character is going to have incredible strengths and equally incredible weaknesses.
Rainbow Dash taking a bonus feat instead of rerolling a low Intelligence score, a statistic most Fighters never use anyway, is VERY much what a min/maxer would do. That she then spent her feats on a random scattering of abilities that don't synergize well and don't open up options for higher levels is the exact opposite of what a min/maxer would do.
Huh. I now have a strange urge to play DnD. Other than that, I love this story and I'm looking forward to more!
Wow, this is getting really good. The way you're breaking up between the role-play and the actual players is well done. Enjoying the back-and-forth between the seven, both in-game and otherwise.
This is definitely one of my favorite stories so far.
... And through it all, he never leveled up once,
Have to say, this is quite enjoyable so far.
Of course, I can't help but wonder if RD's having her character flirt with Shy's character is just characterization, or symptomatic of suppressed feelings she refuses to address.
I ask this not from a shipping standpoint, but from a psychological standpoint, as such things can have a major effect on gameplay, especially in D&D.
6750500
I know that no one around me is even slightly interested in D&D and other Tabletop games, but I found a site called Roll20 that scratched that itch pretty damn well. I'd suggest checking it out.
6750775 Technically, there's no xp for fighting. That's a video game shortcut.
6745211 I like your choice more. caverns and critters is also a lot easier to pronounce and remember
6750775
You know how hard it is to forego all those commoner levels to get one level of Adventurer? Man, it's a pain. But once you breach into the PC class... Well, fun trouble starts!
Another excellent chapter, as usual.:D
I see that neither Sunset or RD found the Flaws in Unearthed Arcana. If they did they didn't find the extra feats valuable enough.
With SciTwi's house rule my characters would almost always start combat flat-footed. I would have to roll an 11 just to get an initiative of 5. (+0 DEX Mod, -6 from Unreactive Flaw.)
should probably be shortbow
Still loving this story, good job Loyal!
6750844
mrwgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Joke-Goes-Over-Your-Head-Star-Trek-Gif.gif
6750240
6750382
I see, I would have thought that making your character as powerful as possible would be the whole point, but I think I understand. Min/maxers are disliked for putting their characters power and abilities ahead of it's story. Rainbow's comment was to indicate that she is here for the story as much as kicking ass. Right?
6751306
As an atheist, I can say that they need Jesus.
6751341 Nah, just made my saving throw.
6751278 nah, it's a magical bow that shoots 16 darts instead of an arrow
6750924
Fair enough. In this case I meant to imply more that the training Sunset's character described was far more academic than would typically be given to a sorcerer and more reminiscent of what she would have gotten as a unicorn or wizard, especially since she used charisma as a dump stat for some reason...
6751750 That's part of it. It's always a matter of degrees. If min/maxing leads to one character being more powerful than the rest, the game often suffers. It can become hard for the DM -- Twilight -- to design challenges that let everyone have the spotlight for a bit rather than just the min/maxer running the show. So the other players are pressured to step up their game, which can mean abandoning neat-but-impractical concepts. That can cause serious problems. Or it might not. It's all about knowing the kind of game everyone wants to play.
6752025
Well, there's nothing stopping a sorcerer from getting more academic training. Since they don't need much formal training with their magic, they'd logically have more time to spend on more academic pursuits if they had the opportunity and inclination. Although, looking at Talia's stats, she looks like would be better off as a Wizard instead of Sorcerer. They also look suspiciously like stats that pony Twilight might have as a D&D character (pre season one)*.
*This is not necessarily a bad thing
6752019 oh, okay that works for me
You know my brother once told me of something he did in game, you see this king of a city decided to try to kill his sorcerer and his party. The sorcerer escaped the city, raised an army of Iron Golems, have them lay siege to said city, marched into the palace while the royal guard was occupied with the army, froze the king while he was in mid-sentence and shoved a Delayed-Fireball down his throat and walked away and exited the throne room just as the explosion kicked in.
Considering the rest of Rainbow's rolls, the 18 isn't even that big of a deal.
(This is the part where I feel grateful that I play Pathfinder, because Humans get a +2 to an Ability score at start.)
You'd think that RD would have used the word 'awesome' somewhere in her character sheet
6750796 Gosh I hope not. Shy doesn't seem to like it one bit, and that would be a very awkward way to come out of the closet.
Might want to change that to Hands, since it's actually a title.
Now that they split the party, I wonder what mayhem might come a'callin'?
6750102
So far I'm enjoying this more than any other 'ponies play tabletop' story I've read. Good frigging work, here.
I'm not that much of a rules Nazi, but I will put my wtf hat on if Sunset casts anything higher than a level two spell. That's just, like, intrinsic to the class. Also easily explained away by you simply saying this game is different, and sorcerer's primary stat is wisdom, or whatever you decide it is.
Regardless, this issue isn't enough to sour the story. Just bug me
6752846
That shouldn't be a problem; sorcerer's get level three spells at level 6. By that point she'll have had the opportunity to raise her Charisma to 13. Level four spells shouldn't be a problem either, her Cha can be raised to 14 by level 8. Problems only start when Talia gains access to level five spells at level 10 since she can only raise her charisma to 15 at level 12. All this assuming no stat boosters are involved (which she's going to need if she wants to use level eight or nine spells).
Good thing Hasbro is the parent company of Wizards of the Coast, the publishers of Dungeons and Dragons. They wouldn't get too angry with their beloved Equestria Girls for supporting a game that is too similar but not the same as DnD.
6752846
I will say this much:
I am a very big fan of the 'Galadoriel' party buff, where the adventurers are given small but meaningful gifts that assist them in some way through their journey. This isn't some huge spoiler, but Sunset made a mistake in making her character, and Twilight is going to give her a little help where her otherwise-lacking stats are concerned. A bag of holding for Bulpin, maybe some immovable rods for the rogue, an amulet of eagle's splendor...
It's a favorite trope of mine, and allows for the gifts to be taken rather sentimentally.
Isn't Turin in Italy? If so, Rainbow Dash must have pretty powerful magical abilities. I mean, traveling through space and time can't be that easy, right?
6752466 Sounds like something my old DM would have come up with(then again he did hit someone with sipia snake sigal three times in a row!)
6753193
I was honestly kind of hoping that was going to be a plot point later on, Sunset having an 'oh shit!' moment and Twilight having known all along. Didn't want to inject my musings in haphazardly, though.
6752903
True, but those points could be really useful somewhere else, like rounding out her odd numbered abilities to get a higher bonus. That's what I usually used them for, anyway, turning my thirteens into fourteens and so-forth. That seventeen is a crime...
6750240 I'm kind if surprised that a fighter with 18 strength, no mental attributes above 10 and 3 bonus feats at 1st level is mocking min/maxers. That's some solid powergaming right there.
6753773
True, most pure spellcasters put their highest odd attribute to their spellcasting stat and use the stat points they get to round it up.
6753915
That fighter is also wrecked by anything requiring a will save. Besides, there's a druid in the party; i wouldn't be too worried about the fighter being op.
Besides that, Sunset's sorcerer (even with her messed up stat distribution) can be potentially more effective in combat with the right spell selection.
Cool fic, looking foward for the next chapter
I never played D&D, or any RPG (except Final Fantasy, Pokemon, etc. but those doesn't count), but hopefully I'll start playing this weekend when my friend's cousin comes for xmas.
6754876 Every fighter is wrecked by a will save, if you want to play a fighter with a good will save, you play a paladin.
6755052
For melee classes with good will saves, there's also the monk... but that class has other problems.
Pure fighters almost need to min/max to some degree to have any meaningful impact in combat (beyond being a meat shield) at later levels.
Look what I've found
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