The Crusader’s ‘character sheets’ as produced by Observe were... interesting.
Identity: Sweetie Belle, 15, Female, Unicorn Personal Information: Job: Student, No Position Title: Cutie Mark Crusader, ? Specialty Current Status: Status (Normal) Experience: Level 5, XP to Next Level: 978 Attributes: STR: 10 DEX: 14 VIT: 13 INT: 22 WIS: 19 LUK: 22 Identity: Scootaloo, 16, Female, Pegasus Personal Information: Job: Student, No Position Title: Cutie Mark Crusader, ? Specialty Current Status: Status (Normal) Experience: Level 5, XP to Next Level: 760 Attributes: STR: 13 DEX: 29 VIT: 17 INT: 10 WIS: 15 LUK: 18 Identity: Apple Bloom, 15, Female, Earth Pony Personal Information: Job: Student, No Position Title: Cutie Mark Crusader, ? Specialty Current Status: Status (Normal) Experience: Level 5, XP to Next Level: 410 Attributes: STR: 23 DEX: 19 VIT: 23 INT: 17 WIS: 14 LUK: 7
In addition to dropping the History segment, Spike trimmed off a few other small sections. The main one was that to his eyes 'Status' also included their emotional state. Not much sense writing that down, it was going to change too often to be useful. It made sense to keep Status line as a whole, just to prove they were all in good condition. Chalk that up as another use for Observe: He could probably do some fantastic diagnostic work at the Ponyville General Hospital. Volunteering might be a good way to grind skills... Onto the list it went. In the meantime, he tried to keep an ear out for what the Crusaders thought about their stats.
"Mah luck is seven?"
"Aw, why am I so... balanced?"
"WHOO! So fast. I mean, probably? Um, what's the base like?
"I started with ten and that seems normal, from the ponies I saw."
"OK, sweet! Then I am very fast. Awesome."
"Seven?"
"I mean, it definitely seems right, but geez, Scootaloo's got twenty-nine dexterity and-"
"-and Ah have SEVEN LUCK. Can we come back around ta that?"
Spike frowned down at the sheets.
"Yeah, about that... Actually... Huh. Give me a minute here, I want to do some math."
"...That is not a normal sentence."
"Ya'll OK?"
"Hey, I like math!"
Tally it all up, carry here... Weird. So if everypony had 10 in each stat to start, and then everypony but him got 5 points to spread on level-up (or got a level when they earned five points? how do levels even work? was it just abstracting these stats from their potential when he used Observe, or was it a static fact that only he could see and understand?), and all the Crusaders were Level 5... Added up that would be 85. But Apple Bloom, despite her Luck complaints (and the fact that everypony started with 10 made seeing a single-digit number even weirder, actually) had the highest total of them... at a staggering 103.
So where did the other 18 points come from? That was more than three levels' worth! They had to come from training, given what he knew about the system... And that made sense. A worrying amount of sense. Their never-ending Cutie Mark Crusade inevitably involved all sorts of high-end strenuous activity, pushing their limits trying to learn anything and everything. As they had gotten older they'd diverted into just as many mental pursuits as physical: Scootaloo spent six solid weeks last year studying old Cloudsdalian war tactics, for just one example.
Spike wondered if the girls would be anywhere near this powerful if they had already gotten their Cutie Marks at a normal age, instead of striving constantly and still lacking. Would they have the same raw stats, except more focused? No, they'd almost certainly be weaker... He felt that there was a lesson here, something about spreading out and confronting your weaknesses instead of just relying on the places where you're already strong. He also realized he was digressing again: The Crusaders all looked at him expectantly, clearly having come to a similar conclusion a while ago.
"So all the crusading and adventuring that we did..."
"Worth a whole mess a' points, huh?"
"...Spike, what are your stats like?"
He looked nervously from the Crusaders to the pile of random implements they had brought down.
"Uh, I think because of The Gamer it... Started me off fresh? So, um, Eleven-ish. All around."
Their eyes lit up with a very worrying gleam, which was when things got a little hectic. Spike remembered agreeing to work on his stats and maybe even grind his skills while they were at it. And he very clearly remembered the setup, making sure they understood his limits, deciding on a signal in case something dangerous happened. The basics, you know? As for what came next...
"Hay Spike can ya Observe how many marbles are in this here jar?"
"Spike, can you lift me? What about after buffs?"
"Oooh! Can you calculate how much buffing it takes, out to two decimals?"
"Carve a stone statue! Doesn't matter how bad, just try it."
"Alright, now that I'm on your back, how much slower are you? Try sprinting!"
"Start using that Heartsong thing! I'll accompany you, that works right?"
"Oooh, that's actually pretty nice. Can ya try to do it up as sheet music? In dragonfire!"
"I'm your training weight for now! Do normal exercises but with me on top of you."
"Croup dock haunch, shoulders hip- How long can we interrupt the song?"
"Ya'll both slowed up real bad there: So... Not long from the lookuvit. Less than a bar?"
"OK, throw me! Just toss me, I'm good at tucking and rolling. See how far I can get."
"That's enough song testing for now: Let's make our way into town!"
Somewhere towards the end there he ended up slipping into a harness attached to a modest sledge. It was something they pulled around town during school fundraisers, or they’d drag it out of mothballs when their families needed help to move things. Spike had helped haul it before, although usually he wasn’t alone and it was full of cloth or produce. Today he had to pull it solo, and it was over-full with three over-excited fillies. They didn't stop testing his abilities and limitations either, save for was some attention paid to keeping his MP stable: With his current stats self-buffing was required to drag them all across town, so testing Active skills right now was off the table.
They got some strange looks, but not much stranger than usual: Ponyville kind of inured you to shenanigans after the first few months. Around halfway to the Library, Spike realized that in a cosmic sense this whole thing was his own fault: The Crusaders had only encountered this kind of ridiculous multi-disciplinary training in comics and games thanks to him, and now it came full circle to bite him. That bite was softened just a little by the constant parade of stat bonuses, skill ups, fresh acquisitions and Mastery system pings. Turns out when you've got the body of a video game character, you can do impossible ridiculous grindy training like one too. Who would've guessed?
CUTIMARK CRUSADERS MONTAGE TRAINERS YAAAY.
Dont forget to Observe your Observe skill, Spike and Net that in return.
Hope the CMC dont forget Military Training part. Get Major Tom to help Spike, Jump Real Good?
Pathfinder at least works on the principle that your base stats, when average, are average for the average species, age, class etc that you are at any point, and then Size -1 has a negative offset, Youth, Child, Babe, Egg etc have negatives due to lack of relexes and experience etc relative to adults.
Which puts Sweeties cooking skill at a totally different God class level when even with Luck 22 she can burn water.
I didnt say God of Quality cooking.
Just had a dumb idea of spike with a max level skill (if you get this you're great).
"I AM THE GOD OF MAIL FIRE! AND I BRING YOU, MAIL!"
Sorry Spike, you're the CMC's character now.
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Luck 22, Intelligence 22, Wisdom 19. For her level, she should be stacked for getting things to work right. The funny thing is though, she did get things to work the way she wanted at the beginning of Sisterhooves Social, which was the only time in the show we saw the result of her cooking. People seem to forget the most important part of that scene as it pertains to Sweetie Belle's cooking ability. Her mother taught her to do that. If Pinkie would give her private lessons, she'd be unlearning all that crap in no time, I guarantee it.
Luck is Apple Bloom's dump stat. RIP
Makes sense. The CMC get up to a lot.
Training montage, success!
Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Intelligence, Wisdom, Luck. Dexterity apparently also covers the area usually provided by an Agility stat. So Strength covers offensive and defensive ability, on top of being what it says on the tin. Dexterity covers all things nimble. Vitality determines the health pool and how quickly you recover from injury (for non-gamers it translates to shorter hospital stays and briefer periods of bed rest). Intelligence increases magical potency, as well as problem solving and perception, all on top of being what it says on the tin. Wisdom increases magical accuracy as it pertains to both target and intent (higher wisdom makes magic more likely to strike a target AND do exactly what you want it to do, magic is finicky like that), as well as intuition and strategic planning ability, all on top of being what it says on the tin. Luck affects rare drop rate and can act as a sort of sixth sense when high enough, on top of being what it says on the tin.
All this is just my guesses, mind you. It's what I perceive these stats being for. All this being said, what accounts for people skills? There's no Charisma stat, so that must be handled by something else. My question is, what? Or is Charisma going to be a skill instead? I could see that.
10036031
Or charisma could be a hidden stat, I have seen that done in some stories, where charisma represents an innate propensity for others to agree with you. Or it could just be a skill and/or combination of other stats.
Loved Scootaloo's idea for lifting, carrying and throwing. This whole chapter was just sweet!
Going to going some grinding now myself!
Having read the source material, I've got a pretty good idea how Spike's going to convince Twilight that he's a game character.
"Invite Twilight Sparkle"
*Ding*
"Eeep!"
So it seems like Spike is the one on the CMC's wild ride.
10037501
That was immediate first thought as well. Nothing works better to show a skeptic that you can see floating menus, than shoving one right in their face.
No one in-universe knows to not show the cmc anything.
Those stats explain so much about the Crusaders. Something tells me that they’re going to be invited into Spike’s party at some point.
10079141
It explains why Applebloom always lands in sap...
Perhaps the CMC will... no, wait, he probably would have noticed a "Flaws" section, unless it was below the stuff he purposefully didn't read.
Anyway:
A.B. -x luck
S.B. Autofail cooking.
Scotia Flightless (If so, we are all hoping flaws can be bought off. )
I'm pretty sure you meant sled or sleigh here and in the next chapter.
10103052 In English, the term sledge is perfectly valid for a vehicle that slides on runners or a smooth base. Americans don't use it, but it is correct.
Lucky Spike! If he would get 'EA' ( Electronic Arts ) grind system he would need 3 kingdomes worth of gold to get to were he is right now.
10035886
*Hulk Level Smash* "You wanna run that by me again?"
Spike: *stares at 200 feet deep crater Derpy just created* "I'm sorry. I only said that cause I send mail to Celestia. god-like beings use god-like mail services. Muffin?"
"Muffin!!!!!"
We normal mortal can decrease in skill ( video games are very good for that example ). But Spikes are like muscle memorys it seems
Shield hero is quite similiar. Minus Spike can actualy fight on his own, isn't betrayed on like the second day and actualy got support.