Two possible Twilight builds, and one Sci-Twi, for Dungeons and Dragons · 11:35pm May 7th, 2020
Because I've had Dungeons and Dragons on the brain lately, and have actually been thinking about this. I have come up with two builds for MLP's Twilight Sparkle, and one for EqG's Sci-Twi. These are going to be set up as level one builds in order to use as PCs. I am also using only official material, and of that, what I actually know about. They are also not intended to be perfectly optimized for power gaming or such. Finally, I am not going to be putting the actual numbers in the Ability Scores as they can vary based on method used. Instead, I will be simply setting them in the order of highest to lowest.
Build one: Classical Wizard Twilight Sparkle.
Ability Scores:
- Intelligence: Twilight is well-read, spending most of her time doing so, as well as studying and practicing.
- Constitution: Although intended as humor, we do see Twilight take quite a beating and keep going. Plus, in the pilot, we see her run from the park to her apartment in Canterlot without getting winded, among other things.
- Charisma: Although a bit of a shut-in, Twilight does have ponies that think of her as a friend. Also, she was able to goad Rainbow Dash into doing her job.
- Dexterity: Although not the fastest, Twilight does show she has some decent reflexes, such as when she catches Spike on her back, or stops her run after teleporting past Nightmare Moon.
- Wisdom: This is low due to her being more of a shut-in with limited social skills, but also somewhat accurate. For instance, when she meets the Apples, we see that she knows Apple Bloom is manipulating her with the puppy-dog eyes, but ends up being unable to resist all the same.
- Strength: At the end of the day, Twilight is more about intellect, trying to think things through and understand them instead of relying on brute force. Also, we normally don't see her actually carry much of anything herself (other than Spike). Most often, it is through the use of her telekinesis.
Race: High elf. The use of elves as analogs for unicorns is something done before through out the fandom, as both are supposed to be highly magical races, and the high elves are supposed to be the most magical of the sub-races.
Alignment: Lawful good. Although very much a recluse, at the end of the day, Twilight wants to keep Equestria safe and do what is best for it all as a whole. Even if it means going outside her comfort zone, or putting herself at risk. What is more, we see that Twilight very much believes in the laws and rules which govern Equestrian society. Even if she is told to do something which she does not like (such as go to Ponyville and check on the set-up for The Summer Sun Celebration), Twilight will still obey them and do as she is told.
Background: Acolyte. While Sage and Noble are both viable options, Twilight is the personal student of Princess Celestia, who is seen by ponies as being very deific-like, if not a full on deity. Plus, Twilight does look up to, if not fully revere, the princess as some great and powerful entity for her to look up to. As such, it could be seen as having her study under a demigod in her own church, which is how I am going with it for this. Plus, it can also allow her to pick up the Religion skill without having it as a Wizard skill
Class: Wizard (Conjuration School). Twilight is a highly intelligent character, who learns her spells through study and practice. As such, wizard is clearly the first choice for her class. As for the school choice: one of the spells we see her use multiple times, if not the most often, is teleportation, which is a conjuration spell. It also allows for Tenser's Floating Disk, which can be used to carry more than regular Telekinesis. Also, it should be kept in mind that specializing in one school does not prevent the character from learning spells in others.
With that, you have Twilight as a classical wizard, trained by a near-goddess in the ways of magic before being sent out into the world to learn more and make it a safer place for all.
Build two: Twilight Sparkle, The Blessed Cleric of Friendship
(Note: Equestria simply has magic for the most part, and while it does have some of it's own categories such as "chaos" and "dark," it doesn't differentiate between arcane and divine. Now, admittedly, we don't see one of the most common uses of divine magic in healing spells, but we do see some spells that can be used by divine casters such as protection and detection spells.)
Ability Scores: Same as above. Although this is a different build in many ways, the base of Twilight remains the same in this aspect.
Race: Aasimar (protector). Aasimars could be seen to divine as high elves are to arcane. As such, having a divine spellcaster version of Twilight be one makes sense. Plus, having Twilight as an Aasimar foreshadows her eventual ascension to a princess and near-deity figure herself later on. This is also why I have chosen the protector type, as this means that she will be able to temporarily sprout wings and fly, similar to her change form unicorn to alicorn.
Alignment: same as above.
Background: Sage. Again, both Noble and Acolyte (as used above) could fit. However, I am using Sage this time so as to give the character a little more depth and personality than Acolyte would (which would mean it was a divine based race, with a divine based background, and a divine based class). It also means that she can have both arcana and history in her skills from it.
Class: Cleric (knowledge domain). Where as arcane Twilight got her magic from study, divine Twilight is getting her powers from a source beyond herself and her studies. Specifically, it would be through the bonds of friendship which starts with her group, expands to most of Equestria, and eventually even grows beyond. However, there are no domains that represent this. As such, I went with the knowledge domain to represent Twilight's interest in learning and wanting to understand things. It could also be helpful in letting the group learn about things as well.
(domain note: here is a place where some homebrewing could go quite a ways if the DM is okay, or even willing to help. Twilight could be granted power from a domain called "Friendship," or "Protection" if you want something more in line with general D&D instead of MLP specifics. Such a domain would likely focus on buffing or helping allies, and possibly stopping enemies to grant opportunities at redemption.)
(Conceptual note: while working on this, I came up with one other possible class for MLP Twilight. A warlock. I'm not going to do a full build as I just came up with it, but the main concept would be that the power of Harmony would be a living entity, which has chosen Twilight as its champion, and as such, has granted her the powers she has.)
Build three: Sci-Twi the Master Builder
Ability Scores
- Intelligence: Much like her Equestrian counterpart, Sci-Twi is a very studious and intelligent individual. Her first method to understand something is to study and research it.
- Constitution: Admittedly, there isn't much reason to have this so high, but there isn't much reason to move it either. We do at least know that she can get from the Canterlot High statue to the bus stop without getting winded.
- Strength: Where Equestria's Twilight had magic her whole life, Sci-Twi did not. As such, anything she wanted to carry, such as a large numbers of books, she would have to do on her own. Plus, she tends to build and invent, and some of her equipment looks on the heavy side. This can even be seen in the "Mad Twience" music video.
- Charisma: Here we reach some low spots for her. Twilight is awkward in social situations, and "bad at public speaking," but there are hints that she's not completely clueless. Although she does struggle to interact, she is quite capable of expressing herself, and even has at least one friend in Vice-Principal Cadance at the start of Friendship Games.
- Dexterity: Although quick, she is not very agile or graceful to start. We see her struggle to succeed in the obstacle course, although not falling into the mud, and has trouble hitting the target before getting help. However, as she is able to escape Sunset and perform a few other acts shows she does have some grace.
- Wisdom: Sci-Twi's lowest stat. Not only because we see her get manipulated multiple times throughout the movie (such as being forced to participate in the game to begin with, and release the magic she had collected), but we also see her make simple mistakes such as accidentally cutting in line for the bus. There is also the scene where Sunset blows up at her, yelling about not thinking about possible consequences. It is a flaw she continues to have later on, often having one of her friends -- or at least Spike -- being the one to show some wisdom and give her advice.
Race: Human. This is mainly to reflect the fact that this version of Twilight is from a world where there is no magic, and is predominated by humans.
Alignment: Neutral Good. Where the Equestria Twilight Sparkle was taught and partially raised by an individual that she looked up to, which helped to form her, and likely aided in leading her toward the lawful alignment, Earth Twilight was educated by multiple teachers as is typical of school, and also set in a hyper-competitive one at that. One where it was more about the results than the methods. Add in the fact that Principal Cinch blackmailed her into playing the games, and it makes sense that Sci-Twi would have some issues with following rules and regulations that were there. This is even demonstrated in the fact she brings Spike to school, even though it is against the rules. Admittedly, she could be played as true neutral, as her entire point is to study and understand, but I do not want to go that way. As such, I am taking into account the fact she regrets her actions when it hurts others, and later on proceeds to actually try doing good and helping others.
Background: Sage. In this case, Acolyte cannot be used as she attends just a school, and while the principal may think of herself as GOD, she neither directly teaches Sci-Twi (that we see), nor does she have any powers that could be seen as arcane or divine (although she does have the power of political connections). Alternatively, Noble is still an option, although more as a reflection of her being from a family of wealth which can afford such a prestigious school instead of any sort of hereditary title.
Class: Artificer (Battle Smith). Sci-Twi is essentially an engineer. Yes, she studies most type of sciences, but we see her show a strong interest and knack for building. We see her build the spectrometer which ends up absorbing magic, a flying camera drone she built herself, and a robotic dog. This is why she would not only be an Artificer, but one that is a Battle Smith Specialist specifically. While all specialties might be able to build, it is the Battle Smith which builds a Steel Defender (essentially a magic powered robot which battles alongside the artitificer).
With that, we reach the end. You now have a list of possible builds to use for Twilight Sparkle in Dungeons and Dragons: two based off of Friendship is Magic, one that is a broad concept, and one based on the human counterpart from Equestria Girls. Hope you find them interesting and useful, and yes, feel free to use them if you want.
For clarification for those unsure, this is for 5e. Though I don't think that you would need to do THAT much to tweak the builds for other editions. Then again, what do I know? All my knowledge is second hand.
Have to say, this IS pretty good reasoning on the D & D/O & O style character builds for Twilight.
A Friendship domain is certainly interesting. The closest thing in 5e might be the Solidarity domain from Plane Shift: Amonkhet. If we diverge to my preferred medium, Pathfinder gives us the Community domain. (And, since PF clerics get two domains, Twilight can still grab Magic on top of that!)
Also, I appreciate how you felt the need to justify Sci-Twi as being human.
Very nice stuff all around here. Thank you for it.
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3e: Teleportation was Transmutation until the 3.5 revision moved it to the same school as summoning effects, and "backgrounds" as relevant mechanical dongles is a 5e thing, but otherwise the wizard build tracks. The cleric build gets a second domain, and a wider selection that includes the "Community" domain 5258059 mentioned (or at least one much like it). Artificer loses the free robot buddy but gains a crafting system that was hilariously abusable before the artificer's special bonuses to it got involved. Overall, these weren't really fleshed out enough to cause issues with the edition that gets top billing from anyone except WotC itself.
4e: I was going to make a crack about how the original post isn't quite enough to be called "builds" as such, but it contains more customization than 4th edition actually allows before level 20 of 30. I wish I was kidding, and so did 3rd party adventure creators Paizo when they decided to make Pathfinder for the purpose of continuing to print 3e adventures after 3e was discontinued, and so did enough of 3e's playerbase to keep Paizo in business after they decided to do that. Which is why 5e brought back most of the stuff it took out.
2e: Artificers aren't a thing yet, so Sci-Twi will have to dig through Spelljammer content and hope she finds something capable of approximating modern technology.I don't know enough about the TSR era to say whether she would be successful.
1e: These were the hinterland days, where the rules were more like suggestions and you didn't bother giving your character a name until they'd metaphorically made a name for themselves (and sometimes not even then; the inventor of a certain Acid Arrow spell only ever had "M(ale) Elf" as an identifier)