Skill Based and General Character Knowledge 3 page

Oh, and players: don’t think your pony can just fixate on something like survival, eating, or something else necessary out of day to day life in the wastes. A fixation should be a tight focus on an unnatural or unusual thing. A deck of unused playing cards, having an Ice-Cold Sparkle Cola RAD (though not necessarily for the sake of drinking it), seeing the sun without clouds in the way, having a bath (or just becoming clean in general), or finding a long-lost friend or parent are all good examples of fixations. Revenge on those who have wronged your character in some way is a fantastic fixation in terms of its ability to drive an entire story line. Walking in a straight line, dodging to avoid bullets, trading with merchants for supplies, and sleeping occasionally are bad examples. The general rule is that the fixation should not be on anything that your pony would do normally without going out of their way, on any item that they would normally hold on to and care for, on a person that they would normally befriend, or on any goal that would be easy to achieve.

Flightless (Requires Flight racial skill; GM approval required for half-breeds)– Characters with this hindrance once had (or should have had) the ability to fly, but for whatever reason (enervation rot, energy weapons fire, etc.) they’ve lost it. Quite frequently – but not always – they’ve lost a wing, or had a wing permanently deformed . Other times, such as not uncommon for wasteland pegasi, they simply never figured out how. Characters with this hindrance may or may not be extremely depressed about their loss, depending on their attitude towards the ability.

If the character retains one wing or sufficient portions of both wings to provide some lift, they may be able to replace the second one or the missing or damaged wing-portions with magic or cybernetics over the course of their adventures, restoring their flight ability. If that happens, remove this hindrance. Regardless of whether or not they ever regain their wings, characters that have the flight racial ability may continue to walk on clouds and interface with cloud-terminals.

Pegasi and griffins with flight as a tag skill that receive this hindrance through play automatically gain the Suicidal hindrance if they do not have it already. If the suicidal hindrance is gained in this way, it can be removed by restoring the wing or wings lost, either via cybernetics or by magical means, in addition to the normal ways available to remove the hindrance.

Flight School Dropout (Requires Flight racial skill; GM approval required for half-breeds, cannot be taken with Ace Flyer) –You never really paid attention when you were supposed to be learning all those pesky basic flight maneuvers. I mean, really, you already know how to flap your wings and move up and down, why stress about ‘specialized maneuvers’? As a result of your negligence (or whatever reason best suits your character’s lack of knowledge on more sophisticated maneuver technique), you’re just not as good at remembering all of those complex intricacies required to perform more difficult flight maneuvers. This doesn’t make you a bad flyer by any means – you can move around in the air just fine, and with a little work even some of the harder maneuvers aren’t beyond your reach – but it does mean that you’re definitely never going to be able to reach your full potential as a flight jock.

Characters with this hindrance are limited in that they cannot learn as many flight maneuvers as most of their aerial kin. They can learn only half the listed number of flight maneuvers at each of the four tiers, rounded down; Characters with this hindrance have no limit on level 1 maneuvers, but cannot learn more than AGI/2 level 2 maneuvers, or AGI/6 level 3 maneuvers. They cannot learn level 4 flight maneuvers.

Four-Eyes (Requires 1 < PER < 10, cannot be taken with Blind or Wall-eyed) –No, this doesn’t literally give your character four eyes (that would be Mutation). This hindrance just means your wastelander needs glasses. While it may cause people to call them a NEEERD, it legitimately helps them see much better than they otherwise would be able to. This hindrance permanently lowers your base PER attribute score by one, but whenever you’ve got your glasses on (prescription glasses, mind you) your PER score receives a temporary +2 bonus (this bonus stacks with other temporary bonuses granted by things like armor). Don’t forget that this bonus also grants a +10 roll bonus on all PER based skills. Characters taking this hindrance may start with a pair of glasses matching their prescription for 25 caps out of their starting funds. Just hope no one breaks them, because good luck finding a practicing optometrist out in the wasteland!

Good Natured (Cannot be taken with Sadist) –Your character is innately good. This makes things hard for them, particularly things that involve causing harm to others. Characters with this hindrance take a -10 rank penalty to the explosives, energy weapons, small guns, big guns, unarmed, and melee weapons skills at character creation (minimum rank 5), but they receive a +5 rank bonus to the speechcraft, repair, science, medicine, and mercantile skills. Be careful wastelanders, many out there will try to take advantage of your better nature.

Guilty Conscience (Cannot be taken with Half-Heart, Clear Conscience, Prideful, Suicidal or Amnesiac) – Your pony might not know what it is they’re being blamed for yet, but they’ve done so many bad things recently that they just know they’re responsible. Guilty characters have a problem justifying their actions to themselves, often only letting themselves see the undesirable effects of their actions. This inability to justify their own past choices can leave them in a depressed and paranoid state at times, wherein their guilt overwhelms them and they have trouble focusing on anything other than what they did that they now regret.

If a character with this hindrance is interacting with any other character and something comes up related to any past moral decision that they might regret, they take a -10 on all skill rolls until they can get over themselves. To get over their guilt, the player must make a Very Difficult Intelligence roll (MFD ½), which they can attempt once per hour starting one hour after the penalty was triggered (in-game time or real time is up to the GM, but we recommend using in-game time).

The exception to this is if the subject about which the character with this hindrance feels guilt is broached by someone attempting to be consoling – that does not incur a penalty. In fact, they must roll Speechcraft against the hindered character’s Intelligence, MFD ½. Characters attempting to console who are not emotionally close to the guilty pony take a penalty on this roll, and particularly close characters may receive a bonus (the magnitude of the penalty or bonus, if any, is up to the GM). A success on this roll means that the guilty pony will not take a penalty for thinking about that decision for the rest of the session. A critical success on this roll prevents that decision from causing a penalty ever again.

If this roll’s result is a critical failure, however, the character’s depression will escalate, and they will take a -20 penalty in the future whenever and controversial moral decision from their past is broached. A success on future consolation rolls will return this to the original -10, but if the next consolation roll is a critical failure at this point the hindered character gains the “suicidal” hindrance (this hindrance remains at -20 until a critical success on a consolation roll is made to reduce it).

Gun-Shy – Characters with this hindrance don’t like using guns. Now, this might seem like a bad idea in the wasteland to some people --people who don’t know P-21, Xenith or Rampage-- but there are plenty of other ways to accomplish the necessary daily allotment of violence that the Equestrian Wasteland recommends. Gun-shy ponies who are forced to use guns (any weapon that is associated with the Small Guns, Energy Weapons, or Big Guns skills, excepting big-guns that have an AoE effect, such as the Balefire Egg Launcher or any of the Grenade Launchers) take a whopping 4 MFD step penalty to hit. Better find some other way to kill the people shooting at you!

“Half-Decked” -- Ever heard the expression “Not playing with a full deck?” Your character is who it’s talking about. Unlike Demented, your character’s mind is completely intact; they’re simply not completely aware of what’s going on around them. They might act like they’re in a different place, or do things that are seemingly pointless, like water dead flowers, attempt to bake muffins in an oven that isn’t hooked up, or write invitations to a garden party they claim they’re having next week. Ponies with this hindrance tend to be very smart, but because they frequently lose touch with reality they don’t necessarily have a high rate of survival when the bullets start flying. This hindrance, it should be noted, can be very difficult to role-play.

Whenever a character with this hindrance starts play, roll against their Intelligence, MFD ½. If they critically succeed, that character is lucid for the rest of the session, and may act as such. If they only succeed normally, then the next time that character is put under stress (combat being a prime example of what we’re defining as “stress”) then they must roll once per round (six seconds) or once per five minute period outside of combat until they either critically succeed or fail. If they fail, they will revert to acting as if they are in a better place. Note that they may end up there, as the source of stress hasn’t necessarily disappeared; bullets may still be flying. While in their half-present state, they may make remarks and communicate with other players (though usually not coherently or in a way that pertains to the current situation), and will continue to respond in a cooperative fashion to suggestions or physical attempts to move their person.
Ghouls with this hindrance tend to forget (or simply have not yet realized) that the world has ended. They continue to relive their days just before the war, endlessly searching for loved ones or trying to make it to jobs, homes or shelters.

Half-Heart (Cannot be taken by Alicorns or with Clear Conscience, Guilty Conscience, Amnesiac, Suicidal, Optimistic, Cowardly or Faith) –You lost someone or something important to you, and you know in your heart-of-hearts that nothing you can do will ever bring that person or thing back to you.

Characters with this hindrance tend to develop a very cynical, fatalistic attitude towards life, even more so than your average wasteland wanderer. This influences almost all of their actions, up to the point that some of the things they do might even seem suicidal. Don’t be fooled though -- half-hearted characters aren’t suicidal (there’s a completely separate hindrance for that), they’re just no longer afraid of death, knowing that they’ll never truly be able to find happiness in this life again anyway. This fact tends to steady their hooves in life and death situations, preventing them from flinching even as bullets fly inches from their heads and explosions tear at their cover. In combat, half-hearted ponies are extremely focused, making excellent snipers and ranged weapon specialists or deadly close combat fighters. They receive a +3 accuracy bonus to all rolls made to hit. Additionally, they receive a +25 bonus on fear rolls and cannot be caused to run by a Horror check – they do not fear death, and have a hard time being scared of anything else.

The downsides are many – half-hearted ponies tend to be, as previously stated, fatalistic. They won’t run from combat under almost any circumstance, more than willing to give up their life so that a goal can be accomplished. Their cold, impersonal demeanor makes them difficult to interact with, giving them a -10 penalty to all speechcraft rolls. On top of both of those things, Half-Hearted characters are much more likely to fall into suicidal tendencies than others. If a half-hearted pony would ever be given cause to feel guilty about something they’ve done, such as a might result from making a difficult moral decision, instead of developing a Guilty Conscience like most other ponies would, they develop suicidal tendencies as per the aptly named hindrance, Suicidal. This is effectively a different type of Guilty Conscience, and as such any given character cannot have both hindrances at the same time.

Hallucinations – Ponies with this hindrance see, hear, and occasionally smell things that aren’t always there, or perceive certain things differently than they are. They might believe that the dust is rainbow-colored, or that rad scorpions all have bright smiling expressions; sometimes, they might even see things as they really are. When affected characters are having them, however, the hallucinations come in two flavors – harmless, or extremely dangerous. Harmless hallucinations might include believing walls can talk to you, or perhaps that someone attacking your friend is a horrible monster (assuming that they’re not actually) that needs to be put down. Dangerous hallucinations might include a belief that the glass windows of a submarine are a horrible monster that needs to be put down, or a belief that monsters can talk to you, and want to be friends. Characters who take this hindrance don’t get to pick which type they’re having, and the hallucinations themselves don’t need to be consistent.

Table VI: Hallucinations Hindrance Explanatory Table

At the beginning of every session, characters with this hindrance must make two rolls (or, if they’d prefer not to know, have the GM make them using their character’s stats), one for intelligence and another for perception, both with an MFD of ¾, no penalties or bonuses. Depending on the results of those rolls, their hallucinations for that session will turn out differently, as shown in the table above. The GM should take time to describe the hallucinations to the affected player accordingly.

Hard of Hearing (Cannot be taken with Deaf or Big Ears) – While not the same as Deaf, your pony still has a difficult time hearing things. Whether your character forgot to put on noise cancellers when they were working in the turbine shafts, or listened to too much loud music as a foal, they have trouble making out what other people are saying. This manifests as a -10 on speechcraft and mercantile skill rolls in any situation where they might have to talk to people at normal volumes or below, and a -25 on all auditory perception checks. Also, if they’re trying to sneak and have to hold a conversation with anyone, forget about subtlety – In order to hold a conversation with characters who are Hard of Hearing, both parties must take a -50 penalty on their sneak rolls to successfully get the point across. Communicating with symbols or by written means is still silent, however.

Hot Blooded (Cannot be taken with Cowardly) –WHO THE HELL DO THEY THINK YOU ARE?! YOURS ARE THE HOOVES THAT WILL REOPEN THE HEAVENS! When the stakes are down, YOU GET BACK UP AND FIGHT! YOU PUSH YOURSELF BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE!

Characters with this hindrance are possessed of a unique, powerful-but-reckless energy that gives them an edge up in combat at a price. While crippled in the head or torso, they deal an additional +5 damage on all attacks and are temporarily immune to fear checks, but also take a -2 temporary penalty to agility and perception (and a corresponding -10 penalty to their linked skills).

This hindrance does not, unfortunately, come with a set of cool looking but impractical sunglasses, but it works quite well in tandem with Ponikaze.

Illiterate (Cannot be taken with Astronomer, Ministry Employee, Formal Education, Stable Dweller, Power Armor Training, Specialization, Studious, Trained under a Medicine Mare, or Organization: Steel Rangers, Applejack’s Rangers, EVC or Caesar’s Legion) – Your character may be extraordinarily intelligent, but they’re totally unable to read. They never learned how. This is an absolutely debilitating hindrance for those who rely on the science skill (illiterate ponies cannot have science as a tag skill), and prevents them from quite a lot of options in life. Illiterate characters are totally incapable of using the science skill to unlock terminals, but more importantly are prevented from reading books or any signs they come across in the travels. They may still be fluent in multiple languages, but are unlikely to have received any sort of formal education. Learning to read is a long and arduous process, but if sufficient time and resources (and likely a series of INT rolls at varying difficulties) are applied, it’s not impossible for a character to buy this hindrance off.

Barring extraordinary circumstances, this hindrance can only be taken at character creation. It works well in tandem with the Young and/or Slave hindrances.

Impatient (Cannot be taken with Cautious) – You hate waiting. Let’s get this show on the road, already! Characters with this hindrance won’t wait for instruction – they just do it. This can be great, unless you need them to execute part of the plan at a specific time. These sorts of characters are great at ruining months of planning and hours of waiting in ambush. They tend to get themselves and their accomplices killed, and they refuse to plan (or agree to be part of a plan) any more than is absolutely necessary. This is a roleplaying hindrance. It works well in combination with Hot Blooded or Curious.

Imprecise Magic (Unicorns or Alicorns only; cannot be taken with Magical Savant) –Your grasp of magic isn’t poor, per se, but your aim with it is simply awful! Targeting spells is 1 MFD harder, and the Telekinetic Precision spell and spells requiring it will forever be beyond your ken. It’s also much more difficult for you to aim weapons while using telekinesis and you suffer a -10 roll penalty to repair, medicine, science and lockpicking rolls – especially those made using telekinesis. On the upside, you gain Telekinetic Force as a free additional spell at first level.

Jinxed (Cannot be taken with Lucky or Good Luck Charm) – You’re just an unlucky pony (or hellhound, griffin, zebra, etc.). Bad things always seem to happen around you, or to you. Usually they only affect you, but sometimes your friends aren’t so lucky (unlike bad luck, where they happen exclusively to you – though some characters may be so unlucky that they have both hindrances).

Characters with this hindrance are very unlucky. Once per session, the GM may force characters with this hindrance to reroll any success or critical success. If playing with the Live by Luck rules, the GM may spend their own luck cards to activate this ability more than once per session at a rate of one card per reroll. Characters with this hindrance start each session with one less luck card than they would otherwise receive.

This hindrance’s effects stack with Bad Luck Charm.

Literal Minded – Your pony tends to take things a bit… literally. Companions will quickly realize that the use of euphemisms, sarcasm, and colorful metaphors around you is not the best idea. Your character may understand the idea of a euphemism, but unless explicitly instructed they’ll not recognize one if they see it. -10 to Speechcraft rolls. (This is the shortest hindrance description!)

Maimed (Cannot be taken by Alicorns or with Canterlot Ghoul or Cyberpony)– Your pony is missing something. It might be an ear, it might be an eye, it might even be a leg, but it’s gone. (Horns are fair game for this hindrance as well, but if you’re missing a wing or a tongue go look at the “Flightless” hindrance or the “Dumb” hindrances, respectively). Now, missing a limb negatively affects your wastelander, but they’ve gotten along as best they could since their accident. A table of effects related to what’s missing is below.

If there is visible scarring around the wound, for each wound or removed portion of your pony they take an additional -5 penalty to Speechcraft rolls unless trying to be intimidating. If they’re trying to be intimidating, it becomes a bonus. This is similar to the Scarred hindrance, though that hindrance is specifically intended for disfiguring facial scars; the effects of these hindrances stack.

On the upside, if characters with this hindrance have the caps and the luck to run into a cyberdoc or a sufficiently talented unicorn or zebra, they can get fixed right up. Not always quite as good as new, but enough to remove the penalties listed above (your results may vary, especially when it comes to removing scarring. The exception to that rule is magic – when your horn is removed, even if it is replaced or regrown, your character’s ability to perform magic may be gone until some major even triggers its return. More rules on this can be found in the magic section.

Table VII: Maimed Hindrance Explanatory and Summary Table

Masochist –Your character likes pain, either consciously or subconsciously. They like it on some level, and they embrace it in the name of whatever purpose they serve. They act more reckless than most others, often for reasons that aren’t necessarily the brightest. This isn’t really a good thing for them in the long run, but it keeps them going when many others wouldn’t be able to continue. When crippled, masochist ponies suffer reduced penalties to the affected area: -10 instead of the normal -25 penalty to associated rolls (this does not affect the other hindrances, traits and perks that may give additional upsides or downsides to being crippled in specific locations–the penalties or bonuses stack). This comes at a heavy price for them, however; the lack of care with which they treat their wounds leads them to be much more difficult to heal. Healing items and magic will consistently heal 1d4 less wounds (minimum of zero) for masochist ponies, and when resting to recover from wounds they recover at half the normal rate. If they become crippled in an area, healing magic applied to that area heals 2d4 wounds less (again, minimum of zero).

Incidentally, most doctors hate masochistic patients. If the doctor knows of their patient’s reckless behavior, they can expect a tongue lashing the next time they waltz into the clinic with their leg dangling by a thread.

Multiple Personalities Disorder (MPD)– Your wastelander thinks that they’re multiple people trapped in the same body, or perhaps acts as though they are multiple people within the same body but doesn’t realize it. The Equestrian Wasteland is a weird place; it is completely plausible that they are in fact multiple minds forced to inhabit the same body. This is a recommended mental hindrance for “Original” Alicorns. The editor would like to note that this is a difficult hindrance to role-play, but if done well can be used to create some very interesting characters.

There are two main ways to treat this hindrance as a player; the first method is to create a single “main” personality and then create (or have your GM create) at least 3 “satellite” personalities that only emerge under a specific condition or set of conditions. The main personality and satellite personalities may need their own character sheets, as they should have differing mental stats (INT, CHA, and PER) and skills. The satellite personalities may not take traits, but can take hindrances as desired, and will level up their skills whenever the main character does. Hindrances taken by the satellite personalities only provide half the amount of creation points towards increasing attribute scores, rounded down, and they cannot possess abilities that the main personality’s body is incapable of performing. You can have a Hellhound or a Pegasi as personalities, but they won’t be able to make your pony fly, dig or walk on clouds unless the body of the character is physically capable of those things (although they might think they can and act accordingly). They may also select their own perks as the main personality levels up. The personalities may or may not be capable of interacting with each other, and the level of interaction that they have with each other might vary as the mental state of the pony changes.

The second way of handling this might appeal more to players of Alicorn characters. Your waster has a main personality, but it is comprised of multiple facets of other minds. This over-consciousness is aware of the multiple personalities which comprise it—has access to their experiences, inputs, etc. -- and acts as a sort of representative between them and the outside world. This over-consciousness may be the most powerful mind among the facets, or perhaps a conglomeration of the most powerful emotional states of its facets, or it might even be something else entirely. Either way, it has all of the bad experiences of its component minds as well as the good, and it can become overwhelmed in certain situations as a result. Situations that trigger resurgences of memories or emotions from one or more of the component minds may cause hesitation or complete catatonia for a brief period – the GM briefly would tell the player to pause for a second, perhaps lose a combat action, even in a potentially dangerous situation, until something happens to snap the character out of it (like being on the receiving end of a bullet). Larger shocks may take more than a physical stimulus to snap out of. For an example of this type of mind, see Lacunae of Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons. At least three component minds should be fleshed out as characters, and may require their own character sheets as above, though their stats will not usually ever directly influence the dice rolls of this type of MPD character.

In both cases, this hindrance must be discussed with your GM before being taken. At least twoof the hindered character’s personalities and histories must be developed by the GM, though the playershould develop the mind that is dominantly in control.

Mutation (Cannot be taken by Alicorns or Ghouls)– Your waster had a run in with a large dose of radiation or taint that left them a little bit different. Perhaps they have some cosmetic alteration that is normally only found on Ghouls or other wasteland mutants, such as glowing eyes or tongue, loss of hair, scaly skin, or a permanently discolored patch of flesh that constantly smells of rot. Taint may have warped a few of their features, making them into horns, fins, or something else unnatural. Maybe their limbs grow back when they’re suffering from radiation poisoning, but look a little… off. Either way, this mutation isn’t usually directly harmful (some mutations, like Blackjack’s eyes, can often be very helpful), but it is always noticeable under some specific normal condition (i.e. being in the dark, being under water, being in an enclosed space). It tends to unsettle those who don’t know your pony very well, giving you a -5 to Speechcraft, Mercantile, or other charisma based checks against ponies who don’t know you (or at least haven’t heard of you) if it isn’t hidden. Individual mutations may give additional penalties or bonuses on top of this penalty, and a vast majority of them will likely be slowly killing your character. For an example, see Project Horizons Chapter 3 (or the “Glowing Eyes” quest perk listed below).

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 785