The Magic of Flight

Characters with the racial (or magically induced) ability to fly can do much more than just flap their wings and fly south for the winter. While not as versatile as unicorn spells or zebra recipes, the magic of flight gives winged characters a distinct advantage over their grounded brethren, especially in the areas of fast-paced combat and weather manipulation.

How to be AWESOME

Unlike unicorn and zebra magic, the vast branches of which are so complex and intertwined that only the most skilled mages can even hope to approach their full breadth, fairly wide array of flight maneuvers is available to any character that possesses the requisite Flight rank. A new level of maneuvers becomes useable by characters with the flight skill upon reaching skill ranks 25, 50, 75, and 100, each level more skill-intensive (and more powerful) than the last. Simply reaching that rank does not mean that your character can perform the maneuver, however; performing an aerial maneuver takes skill, represented by a character’s rank, and practice, represented by having to perform that maneuver in controlled situations successfully before you try to bring it to bear on the field of battle.

Characters with the flight racial ability may learn a number of maneuvers equal to 1/10 their total flight skill rank, and may perform any rank-0 maneuvers without formally learning them. This determines how many maneuvers a flight-capable character starts with – just take their initial flight rank, divide by 10 and round down. Every time they pass another divisible-by-ten threshold, they have the opportunity to learn a new flight maneuver. What maneuvers are available to them are restricted by their rank – up to rank 25, they can only learn up level 1 maneuvers. At rank 50, they gain access to level 2 maneuvers, and rank 75 gains access to level 3 maneuvers. The single level 4 maneuver can only be chosen upon reaching skill rank 100.

While there is no limit to level-1 maneuvers a pegasi, griffin or alicorn can learn to perform, they may only learn up to their AGI score in level 2 maneuvers, 1/3 their AGI score (rounded down) in level 3 maneuvers, and a single level 4 maneuver. In addition to this cap, fliers can learn up to one passive flight maneuver at every level (with an unlimited number of level 0 passives – all fliers start with those).

When attempting to gain a new maneuver, the flyer must first learn how the maneuver is performed. They may do this by rolling flight at a 3 MFD step penalty and trying to make the maneuver’s listed performance MFD. They have a number of rolls equal to the character’s level available to them to make the roll. If they make it at least once, that maneuver is acquired.

Sound complicated? Here’s an example that should explain it a bit more clearly:

Deadshot Calamity just leveled up to level 15, and his flight rank has been increased to a respectable 80 (this is hypothetical, because Calamity was actually nothing particularly special as a flier). This means that all of the Level Three (Rank 75) flight maneuvers are now available to him. In celebration, the first thing he wants to try out is the Featherdance maneuver. He acquires the ability to perform that maneuver at will as soon as he has successfully performed it at least once. Each attempt to learn a maneuver requires at least one hour of in-character downtime to practice. If playing with live by luck rules, Luck cards cannot be used on rolls made to acquire maneuvers. Boisterous Incompetence, Good Luck Charm and Lucky effects may still be used as appropriate; Reversal of Fortune and any other effects not listed here may not.

Featherdance has a required Flight MFD to perform of 1. However, the first time he tries to use it, it will be at a three MFD step penalty, or MFD ¼. If he fails, not to worry; he can continue to try using the maneuver another 14 times at the same penalty level. He’s bound to get it right eventually! If he doesn’t get it even once, he can wait until he levels up once more. This doesn’t reset the number of attempts, but his new higher level allows him one more roll – let’s hope he’s luckier this time around.

Once he is successful, the next time he tries to Featherdance, it will be at the normal performance MFD. Featherdance is now a permanent fixture in his maneuver arsenal, and he can continue to use it as often as he’d like at no training penalty.

If a character hasn’t used a maneuver in a while and decides it isn’t really useful to them, they may “retrain” and replace a maneuver by spending a 2d4 days downtime. The old maneuver is forgotten, replaced with a new one which must be acquired the same way that the older one was. You cannot exceed the number of maneuvers known at each level that is dictated by your agility limit, as outlined above, using this process.

(For reference, the MFD Steps are, in descending order, 2, 1½, 1, ¾, ½, ¼, 1/10, and Critical.)

The only exceptions to the flight practice process for maneuver acquisition process are “passive” maneuvers. Any of the flight maneuvers categorized as passive simply “turn on” for your character upon reaching the appropriate Flight rank if you choose to learn that maneuver. These do not have to be practiced to learn them, but the downside is that passive maneuvers become habitual and cannot be re-trained. Once you have a passive maneuver, you will always have it. Fliers cannot learn more than one passive maneuver per flight maneuver rank (with the exception of rank 0, as noted above).

A full list of flight maneuvers follows:

Level Zero (Rank <25) Flight Maneuvers – No Limit:

Climb – MFD 1 – Increase your altitude by 5’ for every 10’ moved in any horizontal direction on the next movement action. Not as efficient as flying straight upwards in terms of gaining altitude quickly, but effectively increases your total movement speed. This maneuver is guaranteed to be easier to use than trigonometry.

Climb (Steep) – MFD ¾ - Move 5’ in any horizontal direction for every 10’ spent gaining altitude on the next movement action – you may gain altitude up to your listed move speed. Not as efficient as flying straight upwards in terms of gaining altitude quickly, but effectively increases your total movement speed. This maneuver is also guaranteed to be easier to use than trigonometry.

Cloud Computing – Passive – Flight capable characters naturally have the ability to interact with cloud terminals. Note that this does not necessarily mean that they’ll be able to hack into cloud terminals; computer interaction is still governed by the Science skill.

Cloud Walking – Passive – Flight capable characters naturally have the ability to walk on clouds as if they were solid matter. Note that this ability only works for clouds of sufficient thickness and puffiness; thin fog and/or haze are not applicable, nor is Pink Cloud (though why a character would want to walk on the stuff in the first place is beyond me).

Dive – MFD 1 – Move up to twice your listed flight speed in a single action, but lose at least twice your listed flight speed in altitude. You can’t perform this maneuver if your altitude isn’t at least twice your listed move speed. Well, we guess you can, but the consequences should be obvious.

Wind Sprint – MFD 1 –Flight capable characters know how to push their body to the limit, gaining them the precious speed they need in a pinch. While there isn’t a single flight equivalent for running (that is, spending two actions to move up to three times your character’s movement speed), running wind sprints allows for something similar. Performing this maneuver takes 2 actions, but allows a flier to move up to three times their listed flight speed.

Level One (Rank 25-49) Flight Maneuvers – No Limit:

Aerial Charge – MFD 1 – Similar to a normal charge, an aerial charge allows a character to move up to three times their flight movement speed and follow it up with a melee or unarmed attack. (Close combat attacks still require you to be adjacent to – within five feet of – an enemy.) In addition, a charging character may provoke a fear check in its intended target by screaming a suitably menacing battle cry. This maneuver, like a normal charge, costs 2 combat actions to perform.

Aerial Dash – MFD ½ - Something nasty on your tail? Need a little burst of speed to catch up to your target? Well, that’s what Aerial Dash is for. Succeeding at this maneuver allows a character to move at double their flight movement speed in one combat action, however, failing the maneuver means that your character must still spend that combat action to move as normal, without the speed bonus. Critically failing the maneuver means that your character zigged when it should have zagged, halving their movement speed for this combat round.

Cloudbuck (Basic) – MFD 2 – “I can clear the sky in ten seconds flat!” This most basic form of cloudbucking allows a character to remove clouds from the sky by simply kicking or punching them. This maneuver is effective against most types of non-artificial clouds, though clearing an entire storm cell or a fog bank would require a significant amount of time. This maneuver isNOT effective against Pink Cloud (you probably don’t want your character putting their hooves anywhere near that stuff anyway), or against specialized clouds such as contrails. Bucking a cloud larger than your flier increases the MFD by 1 step for every time that cloud is double your flier’s volume (so a cloud 8 –2^3–times the size of your flier would be three steps harder). This form of cloud bucking dispels the cloud entirely – bucking just the rain out of a cloud is a level 2 flight maneuver.

Cloud Cover – MFD 1 – Feeling sleepy, Rainbow Dash? Not to worry, this maneuver allows a character to create a cloud out of ambient water vapor that’s just the right size for an afternoon nap, or for one pony-sized character to hide in or behind. As a bonus, for each MFD step you make beyond what’s needed to perform the maneuver, you may double the size of the cloud.

This cloud grants total concealment to characters hiding within it. However, as it’s just a cloud, it does not provide any DT.

Cloud Sculpture – Variable

Trying to beautify the Wasteland, eh? Well then, start with the sky! The Grand Pegasus Enclave is known for nothing if not for its patronage of the arts. (Editor’s note: this is an outright lie.) Basically, if you’ve got a cloud, and you *really* want to make it look like the Venus di Mare-lo, try your hoof at this maneuver and see what you get. The GM should tell you how “good” your sculpture is based on the MFD step you make; success or failure at this maneuver is entirely contextual.

Downdraft – MFD ¾ - This maneuver allows a character to hover just above the ground and direct a steady flow of air downward by beating its wings forcefully. While not capable of inflicting damage on its own, used creatively, this maneuver can be very useful both in and out of combat. It can be used, among other things, to stifle (or stoke) fires.

Hover – MFD 1 – Unlike standing in one place on the ground, hovering in one place in the air is actually quite difficult. A character that is attempting to remain motionless (or hold combat actions) while flying must succeed at this maneuver; failing means that the character must choose to either lose ten feet of altitude or spend an action to move. Performing this maneuver in and of itself does not cost an action. You can hover in place as much as you’d like.

Rainblow-Dry– MFD 1 – Move quickly in a circle to create a miniature vortex that can dry out clothes and characters in a snap! While not practical for most combat situations, this is very handy for drying out machinery and technology, doing the laundry, emptying out kiddy-pools, and similar tasks. Keep your powder dry!

Summer Breeze –MFD ½ - Make use of the power of the elements to refresh your allies. This maneuver conjures up a light breeze in the vicinity of the flier, good for use in blowing away clouds of noxious gas or obscuring mist and smoke. The breeze can be directed such that it clears a volume of air equal to 10x the flight rank of the flier in feet cubed. How much is a cubic foot? Well, a 5’x5’ room with a 6’ high ceiling is 150 cubic feet. Estimate (or calculate) from there. The flier must first move to the edge of the patch of air to be cleared to use this maneuver. Summer breeze makes me feel fine, blowing through the jasmine in my mind…

Upside Down – MFD ¾ - You have mastered the ability to fly upside down, and it has granted you a new perspective on life. Specifically, this perspective is upside down. You can maintain this maneuver in conjunction with other flight maneuvers, though it makes all other maneuvers one step more difficult to perform. This is excellent for convincing others that their gravity is faulty, or for flying around and booping random passers-by on the nose. Who knows, this may even become useful as more than a party trick!

Push – MFD 1 – Use your wings to provide thrust to an object! By rapidly flapping your wings and holding onto an object, you can push that object up to your ground movement speed. This distance may be reduced if the object is resisting or otherwise anchored somehow, but is doubled if the object has wheels or a hover-suspension. Resisting this maneuver as a living (or at least animate) character or creature is an opposed strength roll, where targets on the ground receives a 1 MFD step bonus (it can also be dodged, using the flight maneuver roll as an opposed targeting roll). Unlike nearly all other flight maneuvers, this maneuver does not require the ability to fly to execute – Here’s lookin’ at you, Scoots.

Zig-Zag – MFD ¾ - Aerial Dodge – Moving in a pattern that cuts back across itself (such as the pattern that is this maneuver’s namesake) is a relatively easy and effective way to throw off an opponent’s targeting. A success on this maneuver grants the next flight based dodge roll made by your flier that round a single re-roll. After succeeding, you should roll flight to dodge as normal. Performing this maneuver requires that the flier be able to fly at least 15 feet in a non-straight path.

Level Two (Rank 50-74) Flight Maneuvers – AGI Limit:

Aileron Roll – MFD ¾ - Aerial Dodge – This maneuver is an Aerial Dodge, intended to be used defensively when a flight capable character comes under fire. While not quite the punch-line that is a barrel roll, an aileron roll allows a character to spin rapidly in place, protecting the vital areas of the body. Succeeding at this maneuver means that your character can redirect the next burst of incoming damage to the hit location of your choice.

Barrel Roll – MFD ½ - Aerial Dodge – Do a barrel roll! Well now you can; this maneuver is an Aerial Dodge, intended to be used defensively when a flying character comes under fire. Similar, though not the same as an aileron roll (in that it requires forward motion), this maneuver spreads incoming damage across multiple locations by spinning rapidly in flight. Succeeding at this maneuver means that your character can divide the damage between two or more hit locations; for every MFD step better than your character’s baseline for this maneuver that you make, you can spread the damage to an additional location (dividing by a larger number is usually better!). In addition, succeeding at this maneuver allows your character to move up to its full flight movement speed in the direction they were flying.

Basic Contrail – Passive – Contrails, short for condensation trails, are long, thin, clouds that sometimes form behind aircraft. Conveniently, they also happen to form behind pegasi, griffins, alicorns, and anything else in Equestria with wings and the requisite skill. Flying characters with this maneuver may choose to have a contrail follow in their wake. This effect is passive, and can simply be “turned on” or “turned off” at a character’s discretion whenever they’re flying at least 20’ above the ground.

This most basic form of contrail consists of plain cloud that stretches back along the character’s flight path for up to thirty seconds’ worth of flight (they last longer at higher altitudes and lower temperatures and shorter at lower heights and higher temperatures). Other characters may use this cloud for concealment purposes while it persists, though it does not provide any DT. In addition, contrails may be cloudbucked as if they were naturally formed or magically conjured clouds. (For more information, see “Cloudbuck (contrails)”.)

For a flier to have access to any of the contrail maneuvers at higher maneuver levels, they must first learn this.

Cloudbuck (Contrails) – Variable – Contrails are still clouds, artificial or not, and at this skill level they may be cloudbucked just as if they were naturally formed. This maneuver allows magically formed clouds like contrails or those created by unicorn or alicorn magic to be dismantled just like normal clouds. Basic contrails can be dismantled at a 1 MFD step penalty. More complex magical or constructed clouds and contrails require a contested flight roll of the flier who spawned the cloud and the flier trying to destroy it. For clouds spawned by unicorn magic, roll opposed versus the magic skill instead. Characters that already have Cloudbuck (basic) get this maneuver for free, and it does not count towards their flight maneuver limit (for level 2 maneuvers or for overall maneuvers).

Cloudbuck (Rainfall) – MFD 1 – Need a quick downpour? Look no further than your nearest cloud. This maneuver is as simple as Rainbow Dash makes it look: just jump up and down on a cloud to make it rain. A pegasus-sized cloud contains approximately five units of water; larger clouds contain significantly more, especially storm clouds. Bucking a cloud larger than your flier increases the MFD by 1 step for every time that cloud is double your flier’s volume (so a cloud 8 –2^3–times the size of your flier would be three steps harder). Note that the water will be exactly as irradiated as naturally-occurring rain would be in the immediate area; this maneuver does not purify the rain in any way.

Dive-Bomb – MFD ¾ - Ah, gravity – the natural enemy of the flightless. Flying characters attempting to stalk their ground-bound prey can use this maneuver to convert altitude into increased damage. (F=ma; go figure.) Success at this maneuver means that your character’s next melee or unarmed attack gains a damage bonus equal to the number of feet of altitude lost in the dive. (Your character must make its normal melee or unarmed roll to target its attack, as usual, in addition to the maneuver roll.) Careful though! Critically failing this maneuver or the attack roll associated means that your character will face-plant into the ground, taking both its normal fall damage (1d20 per ten feet) and this bonus damage. This move is capable of being used as part of an aerial charge (at no penalty) or an aerial dash (at 1 MFD step penalty). In the former case, the attack at the end of the charge is the one that receives the bonus. In the latter case (or if you’re using this move on its lonesome), you must make a melee attack on your immediate next action, and that attack receives the bonus damage. If a close combat (unarmed or melee) attack is not made on the next action the performer takes, then the damage bonus is lost.

Dust in the Eyes – MFD ½ - Feel like fighting dirty? This maneuver allows to commit that most basic of cheap shots, getting dirt in your foe’s eyes. Assuming that your character has picked up a hoof-full or claw-full of dirt or sand (dirt, of course, being one resource the Wasteland has in abundance), success at this maneuver allows your character to use their wings to blow the dirt right into the face of any target within ten feet, afflicting them with a -50 penalty to visual perception rolls (including targeting out of SATS) for the next three combat rounds, unless the target is wearing some sort of eye protection. Critically failing this maneuver means that your character gets the dirt in its own eyes, suffering the same penalty the maneuver would have inflicted on your target.

Inner Shine – MFD ½ - If you thought a nice summer breeze was refreshing, you should see this maneuver in action. Through the magic of flight, a character with this maneuver can ‘sweep up’ ambient sunlight into a glowing beacon of light, energizing their friends while simultaneously blinding their foes. This maneuver requires both that your flier be at least 10 feet higher in altitude than all characters they want to affect, and that there is a suitably bright source of ambient light. The GM should decide whether the ambient light is bright enough to perform this maneuver.

Once in position, they focus the light around them into a glowing beacon. This illuminates the flier and everything within 50 feet as though it was noon on a cloudless day. Any rainclouds within this radius are dried up immediately and become normal clouds.

Hostile characters and creatures within this radius must make an endurance roll, the MFD set at the roll of the flier performing this maneuver. Failures are affected as a flashbang grenade. Successes are unaffected.

Friendly characters within this radius receive a 1 MFD step bonus to all non-combat skills (any skill not being used to harm others) for the next five minutes.

Parade Rain – MFD ¾ - Time to – what else? – rain on your enemy’s parade! This maneuver creates and unleashes up to 9unfriendly rainclouds over your opponents, which follow them wherever they try to run! It takes two actions to perform; the first action is spent matching your target’s movements – you have to get directly above your target (minimum of 5’ above them) and remain above them for the duration, or the clouds you’re creating will miss their target. The second action must also end above the opponent. When the second action ends, every opponent within a five foot radius below your character gets a cloud above them. For the next two rounds immediately after the second action is spent, everyone below your 5’ radius of rainclouds is caught in a soaking wet downpour. During this time, they suffer 1 MFD step penalty to all targeting rolls as well as all speechcraft, survival, charisma and endurance rolls. The maneuver requires that at least five feet above the target opponent remain unobstructed for the duration. If it becomes obstructed, the rain (and its penalties) will stop. If the maneuver performance roll is ¼ or below, the clouds controlled will occasionally shoot lightning at their hapless targets (Roll 1d4 for each cloud once per round – on a 1, it shoots electricity that round), dealing ongoing Electricity damage as per the special weapon effect (no immediate effect – damage at the end of the round for the duration). Clouds will follow targets they come into existence over for 1 round, and move at up to half their creator’s flight movement speed (rounded down).

Second Wind –MFD ¾ - Finished already? Heck no, you’re just getting started! This maneuver can be performed to do one of two things: Immediately recover your character’s AP pool to full, or reduce the amount of non-lethal wounds they are currently suffering from by half (round up on what’s left). Each option can be performed only once per combat. The fight isn’t over until you say it is!

Stay On Target – MFD ½ - “Dash, you’ve disengaged SATS – what’s wrong?” Use this maneuver when an opponent tries to dodge out of the way of your fire. If your flight roll is successful, they must re-roll their dodge attempt, and take the worse of the two. If you critically fail, they may re-roll their dodge attempt and take the better of the two. This can be used once per target attempt to dodge, and does not cost an action.

Stomp– MFD ¾ - Use of your wings allows you to use all four of your hooves to get your point across! When you’re airborne, you can make a devastating unarmed-skill attack using all four of your hooves as the same time. This attack is targeted normally, but deals one and a half times and much damage as a normal unarmed strike would if it connects. If the attack hits in the head, it deals double damage instead (replacing the 1.5x normal headshot damage multiplier).

Super Speed Strut – MFD ¾ - Use your flight to leave your enemies in the dust, all while carrying a regal posture! This maneuver allows your character to move with incredible speed without actually becoming airborne, moving them at triple their ground movement speed distance. Movement must occur on the same action as the maneuver was performed. This maneuver doesn’t work if you’re trying to sneak (at least not without a stealth field)!

Level Three (Rank 75-99) Flight Maneuvers – AGI/3 Limit:

Aerial Ace– MFD ¾ - Sick of missing with those cumbersome wing blades? This griffin-derived flight maneuver is excellent for making melee combat a huge part of your dogfighting strategy!

Execute this maneuver instead of rolling to target a melee or unarmed attack against an aerial opponent (they don’t need to be flying under their own power, or even flying at all – they simply must be airborne; falling opponents work just fine, if you can catch them). If you succeed on the maneuver and are within one movement action of the target, you move adjacent to them and automatically score a hit. The attack cannot deal bonus damage (even from special weapon effects or sneak attacks) or score a critical hit, nor can it be a critical failure. Opponents cannot attempt to dodge this attack, though they may attempt to block it if they have the means and are aware of it.

Barnstorming – MFD ½ - Fillies and Gentlecolts, let’s plow the road! Combining an Aerial Charge with the full lethality of bullets, bullets, and more bullets, this maneuver allows a character to move up to three times their flight movement speed while simultaneously unleashing hell with their guns. Specifically, a character performing this maneuver may fire two weapons (or a single weapon twice, no reloading allowed), one right after the other, while closing on their target. Note that unlike an Aerial Charge, your character does not have to finish this movement within melee range of its target, but, like an Aerial Charge, this maneuver requires TWO combat actions to perform. This maneuver allows a character wearing a battle saddle to fire both of their saddled weapons twice at the normal penalties.

Dizzying Contrail – MFD ½ - “You spin me right ‘round, baby, right ‘round, like a record…” The closest thing that this game has to an offensive Induce Vomiting spell, this specialized form of contrail consists of brilliantly pulsating lights that disorient and confuse anything whose gaze lingers too long on it. The flight roll (and one combat action) for this maneuver is what is required to “turn on” this effect, as standard contrails are a passive effect.

When activated, the flashing lights will reach back along your character’s flight path for the entire length of its contrail (the last 30 seconds’ worth of its flight path). Anything within close sight of it, about 50 feet, must either fail a visual perception roll or roll END MFD ½ in order to not lose their lunch (and by extension, their next action). If the endurance roll is critically failed, the afflicted target’s confusion is so intense that they actually hurt themselves, dealing one wound to their own head.

Note that each of the Level Three specialized contrails (Dizzying, Flaming, and Thundering) must be trained and practiced independently, and while a character may have the ability to use all three of them, only one may be active at a given time.

Dust Storm – MFD ½ - Taking the cheap shot to a new level, this maneuver allows a character to whip up a furious cloud of dust with their wings, temporarily blinding everything nearby. Specifically, everything (including player characters) within 30 feet of the user that do not have eye protection suffer a 2 MFD penalty to visual perception and accuracy rolls (SATS negates the penalty) for the remainder of combat. Critical successes and failures for this maneuver are largely dependent on local conditions and it should be up to the GM to determine their effect. This maneuver is also useful for putting out fires, as the choking cloud of dust it generates has a stifling effect.

Falcon Punch– MFD ½ - Use your wings to throw your entire weight into a single, powerful melee attack! By spending three consecutive actions on a single melee or unarmed attack, you can gain a x5 damage multiplier on that single attack. Targets of this maneuver receive a +2 MFD bonus to dodge the attack.

Fantastic Filly Flash– MFD ¼ - Move at the speed of light to confuse and outpace your foes. Using this exceptionally difficult to perform maneuver does not cost an action. When performed, it creates a blinding flash of light centered at the character’s starting position and hyper-accelerates the flier (as a flashbang with radius 5’, centered on the flier). For the next 1d4 combat rounds, this allows them to move and act at dizzying speeds. So long as they do not contact the ground (or anything anchored to the ground) for the duration, they receive one extra action per combat round, starting the round immediately after that in which they’ve successfully performed the maneuver (the extra action was effectively spent making the activation of this maneuver ‘free’). Unsuccessful performance rolls waste an action. This maneuver was so famous during the war among equestrian fliers that its name later became associated with a stimulant that produced a similar effect.

Winners don’t do drugs – the effects of this maneuver don’t stack with those of the similarly named addictive chem, Filly Flash.

Featherdance –MFD 1–Fliers, you should ask yourselves: Have you preened yourself lately? This unconventional maneuver makes use of something that most fliers are never without: Feathers. If successful, it reduces the accuracy of a single opponent within half of your flight speed movement distance in feet by 2 MFD steps… by covering them in an obfuscating cloud of your shed feathers! These feathers are difficult to remove, but will come off enough to remove the penalty if the target moves at least 20 feet. This penalty can be removed by either movement of at least 20 feet (it doesn’t have be in a single action), or spending two actions to clear them all off. They can also be burnt off – any weapon, spell, maneuver or other attack with the fire effect that hits the target (it doesn’t have to break armor or actually light them on fire) will remove the feathers and the associated accuracy penalty… though this method is usually less pleasant for the afflicted target.

Just don’t ask us how the hell this maneuver works for bat ponies, zebra with batwing talismans, or other fliers without feathered wings – we have no idea where the feathers come from either.

Flaming Contrail – MFD ½ - “I don’t want to set the world on fire…” Maybe not, but how about the sky? This specialized form of contrail allows your character to be so hawt that flames quite literally follow in their wake. The Flight roll (and one combat action) for this maneuver is what is required to “turn on” this effect, as standard contrails are a passive effect.

When activated, the flames will reach back along your character’s flight path for the entire length of its contrail (the last 30 seconds’ worth of its flight path). Anything that crosses the flames or occupies the contrail’s space takes 4d8 damage as AoE to all locations, carrying the ‘Fire’ special weapon effect (3d12 damage to all locations, dealt at the end of each combat round).

Note that each of the Level Three specialized contrails (Dizzying, Flaming, and Thundering) must be trained and practiced independently, and while a character may have the ability to use all three of them, only one may be active at a given time.

Fog Bank– MFD ¾ - Similar to the Cloud Cover maneuver, this maneuver allows a character to create a patch of fog out of ambient water vapor. This fog bank occupies roughly a ten foot cube, centered on your character; for each MFD step you make beyond what’s needed to perform the maneuver, you may add ten feet to the size of the fog bank (in all three dimensions).

Fog gives an accuracy penalty of -25 to those attempting to target something it conceals, with the usage of SATS negating this penalty. This fog lasts for 30 seconds (5 combat rounds) before it dissipates.

Fortress of the Fantastic – MFD 1 - Yeah… we don’t really even know what the logic was behind this particular maneuver. The flier spends two consecutive combat actions to create a miniature ‘fortress’ out of super-dense magically charged cloud around them. The clouds of the fortress are so magically dense that even magical targeting assistance spells (like SATS) cannot accurately pick out targets through them. The fortress walls are 10’x10’x10’, with an opening on one face of the cube. It provides 15 DT versus magical energy weapons and total concealment for anyone hiding completely behind the walls, but provides no DT against other attack types (explosives, melee strikes, bullets, etc.) which may pass through the walls without disrupting them. Unarmed attacks made by characters with cloud-walking enabled (or by pegasi) find the walls impermeable.

While constructing the fortress, the flier gains no benefit from it (in terms of concealment or DT).

Juke – MFD ¾ - Aerial Dodge – Make your enemies look left as you fly right – it’s a pegasus city shuffle. Success on a Juke performance roll allows you to force your opponent to roll a second time to target their attack, at a 1 MFD step penalty. They must take the worse of their two targeting rolls against you.

Recoil Manipulation – MFD ½ - Ever wondered why everypony in the Enclave is so fond of magical energy weapons? Unfamiliarity with this maneuver, that’s why! Recoil Manipulation allows a flier to convert a single gun’s kickback into backward momentum, launching it in the opposite direction of the line of fire. Specifically, success at this maneuver means that, when your character fires a gun (energy weapons, bow-and-arrow, and thrown explosives are not applicable to this maneuver, but crossbows and blowguns still work), you may have them move backwards a distance up to the total damage the gun deals (without applying DT or critical multipliers) in feet, rounded down to the nearest 5’. Careful though; critically failing this maneuver means that your character absorbs that kickback in a more…let’s say visceral way, taking half the damage dealt by the weapon (rounded up) to whatever area was holding the gun you fired. A gun fired from a battle saddle that critically fails at this maneuver will break the battle saddle partially, rendering the fire controls for the recoiled weapon unusable until it can be repaired, as well as leaving a nasty bruise on the firer’s torso. If firing two weapons in tandem (like you might see on a battle saddle), then take the average of their damage.

Thundering Contrail – MFD ½ - “She got the current in her wing, shock you like you won’t believe…” Maybe not in her wings, but definitely in her wake! This specialized form of contrail allows your character to create contrails so electrically charged that they don’t need to be cloudbucked to make lightning; they’re just fine discharging on their own. The Flight roll (and one combat action) for this maneuver is what is required to “turn on” this effect, as standard contrails are a passive effect.

When activated, the charged clouds will reach back along your character’s flight path for the entire length of its contrail (the last 30 seconds’ worth of its flight path). Thundering contrails discharge once per round, at the end of each round, at everything (yes, even friendly characters, but not the flyer itself) within 10 feet of it. Their bolts deal 4d12 damage, carrying the electricity special weapons effect and ignoring metallic armor, to a random location. If this damage is sufficient to deal at least one wound to that location, it must roll END versus MFD ¾ or become paralyzed for the next combat round. This damage is doubled versus robots, targets wearing powered armor or other primarily metallic armors, or if the randomly-chosen location happens to have a PipBuck affixed to it. (See Special Weapon Effects – Electricity for more details on how electricity interacts with spell matrices.)

Note that each of the Level Three specialized contrails (Dizzying, Flaming, and Thundering) must be trained and practiced independently, and while a character may have the ability to use all three of them, only one may be active at a given time.

Vortex Shedding – Passive – Something trying to catch up to you in the air? Not so fast; a character who has reached a Flight rank of 75 has refined their flying skills such that the wingtip vortices forming in their wake are strong enough to repel any would-be pursuers. Any character or creature that flies through airspace recently occupied by your vortex shredding character moves at only half their normal flight movement speed. All airspace moved through by a character with this maneuver in the last combat round (it resets when the character has taken their first action of a new round) costs twice as much movement to pass through. This doesn’t stop them from tailing your flyer, but it sure helps!

If using a battle map grid, everything moving through a space that a character with this ability has moved through in the last turn does so at double cost. In other words, they must spend 10’ of movement to move through 5’ of vortex-shredded air-space. This methodology works best for hex-patterned battle mats.

As a high level passive ability, this maneuver is not automatically acquired. However, fliers that choose to learn this ability may learn one additional flight maneuver. Normal rules for acquiring abilities still apply; the number of maneuvers a flier with this ability may know is simply increased by 1.

Tail Spin –MFD ½ - Aerial Block – Use your tail to generate a cone of compressed air that deflects slow-moving projectiles. This action should be used as a dodge or block in response to an attack declared on your flier. Creating a tail spin automatically deflects any slow moving or thrown projectiles, such as grenades or other explosives, zebra alchemical thrown items, or arrows and crossbow bolts. This includes grenades and explosive projectiles fired from any AOE big gun, with the notable exceptions of self-propelled projectiles like missiles and rockets, and relatively high-speed projectiles such as those fired from anti-dragon cannons (like the IF-98). It also cannot deflect energy weapons fire or bullets (…unless your enemy is throwing bullets at you for some reason). Grenades and other area of effect weapons caught in a Tail Spin block are rebuffed 10 feet in the direction from which they were thrown (or bounced), while lighter non-explosive projectiles are harmlessly cast aside. Yes, this means that grenades and other AOE weapons blocked with this maneuver can still hurt you – but hey, at least the hits weren’t direct!

Blocking with this maneuver (like all blocks) requires that the character be aware of the direction from which the attack is generated. The maneuver also requires that the performer not be Maimed in the tail.

Level Four (Rank 100) Flight Maneuvers – Limit 1:

Pink Cloud Contrail (Requires Canterlot Ghoul) – MFD ½ - Exactly what it says on the tin. A Canterlot Ghoul that has managed to achieve a Flight rank of 100 may choose to create a contrail composed of the very necromantic gas responsible for keeping them “alive”. The Flight roll (and one combat action) for this maneuver is what is required to “turn on” this effect, as standard contrails are a passive effect.

When activated, the pink cloud trail begins immediately following your flier, and can reach back along your character’s flight path for the entire length of its contrail for up to 12 actions (the last 30 seconds’ worth of its flight path). The contrail itself consists of pink cloud at density level 4 (maximum density), making travel through it a nigh-suicidal proposition. The cloud will dissipate naturally into the environment at a rate of one level of density every two combat rounds after it has been created; ambient (or magically-induced) wind effects will disperse the cloud faster, lowering its density by one to two steps per combat round, though at the risk of spreading it significantly beyond its original reach. (Because of pink cloud’s inherently unstable nature, the effects of this are largely subject to GM interpretation.)

Pink Cloud Contrail does not stack with the Level Three specialized contrails (Dizzying, Flaming, and Thundering), though of course a character with training in those maneuvers may switch between those and this at any time.

Seismic Toss – Special – “I can show you the world... from very, very, high up.” That’s what this maneuver lets your character do…to their enemies! This maneuver takes two full combat rounds (or four combat actions) to perform; the progression is as follows:

1) You character flies at high speed toward a target character and attempts to lift them off the ground (or whatever they’re standing on) by sheer momentum. Your target must be on a surface, and not airborne, to initiate this maneuver. This invokes a roll based on momentum – check your opponent’s weight. The base MFD for this roll is 1 if your flier’s total weight (including gear) is greater than or equal to the weight of your target. For every 100 weight the target is heavier than your flier, the MFD for the roll becomes 1 step harder. If they weigh in at more than 500 macs heavier than you, you simply cannot get them off the ground, and your maneuver fails. (This roll is used in lieu of a standard targeting roll for this maneuver.) Failing the roll means that your target successfully resists your attempt to lift off, and that your first combat action is spent; winning the roll means that your character is successful and may continue with the maneuver.

2) Your character flies straight up into the air, to a height of twice its normal flight movement speed. There are no more required rolls for the flier after stage 1, but for their following three combat actions they can neither dodge nor block and incoming attacks – and neither can the target they’re holding!

Starting at this stage, held victims may try to attack your flier or to break free if they have any (held) combat actions. They can only use melee or unarmed weapons or ranged weapons designed for close quarters (range increment less than 20) to attack. Held targets cannot use battle saddle-mounted weapons or other weapons with a restricted arc of fire or use. Breaking free at this stage is an opposed strength roll, where the flier receives a 1 MFD step bonus. Bear in mind that if the target succeeds, they’ll still be up in the air….

3) The flier accelerates in vertical circles in midair, gaining another thirty feet of altitude. Your target may attempt another opposed roll at this point (after the altitude is gained) to break free; to do so still costs them an action, and, unless they’re capable of flight themselves, simply breaking free is probably not enough to fully resolve their predicament. They may also still attempt to attack your flier, though the same weapon restrictions from stage 2 apply.

4) The payoff. Your character plummets downward, accelerating even further, and slams your target mercilessly into the ground. The total damage dealt is roughly double what they’d take from an uncontrolled fall; 1d20 per five feet thrown, ignoring DT, as massive damage applied to locations based on how you threw them.

We lied about there being no more flight rolls – there’s just one more needed for the last part of this death-defying stunt. Roll one more time, looking for critical successes or failures. A critical success means that your target takes that damage to every location; a critical failure means that your character is unable to pull up in time and slams into the ground atop your target, taking that same amount of damage (1d20 per five feet lost, ignoring DT), as massive damage to the head, torso, forelegs and wings. Just like normal fall damage, damage dealt by this maneuver ignores DT. Barring a critical failure on the final roll, your flier ends the maneuver hovering five feet in the air above the splattered remains of their target.

Shadowbolt Blitz –MFD ¼- You’ve learned how to perform the Shadowbolt Blitz, the terrifying aerial technique that Rainbow Dash’s top MoA agents used on the battlefield to systematically stun, disable and kill zebra-allied dragons. This maneuver is an extremely high speed attack that hits an aerial opponent (or an opponent you just kicked up into the air) several times from multiple directions with every type of weapon in your character’s arsenal. Effectively, this maneuver grants a flyer the use of 100 AP worth of attacks within a single action once per combat round. The MFD for the flight roll to perform this maneuver after taking this perk is ¼, but it becomes one step easier for every other character in the party that has flight 75 or higher and spends a combat action in tandem with you to enact this maneuver.

Buccaneer Blaze –MFD ¼ - Swooping and diving to maximize the air friction on your wingtips, you can actually ignite the air behind you in a stunning swathe of fire. This maneuver is a dive-bomb that brings the flyer close in to the ground, moving them double their flight movement speed at the cost of all altitude. In the process, the acceleration focuses the air friction to create a flash fire in across the last 10 feet of the sweep. The initial flash functions as a flashbang (see the explosives chapter), centered fifteen feet away from the end-point of the dive-sweep. Following the flash, the final fifteen feet of movement takes place 5’ above the ground, igniting everything below it with the “fire” special weapon effect. Living creatures or characters beneath the flier during this time take damage as though hit with a heavy incinerator, with all of the effects that such an attack would imply. At the maneuver’s end, the flier ends five feet above the ground with a trail of flamer behind them.

To perform a Buccaneer Blaze, the flier must begin their maneuver between 20 and 60 feet off the ground (inclusive), and must be able to move in a straight, unbroken path for a distance equal to twice their flight speed. It requires two actions to perform.

Sonic Rainboom –MFD 1/10 – The Sonic Rainboom was ministry mare Rainbow Dash’s signature move, capable of clearing all of the clouds within a mile radius of the epicenter. It begins with a period of hyper-acceleration, followed by a speed barrier break as the innate magic of flight allows the performer to shatter the visible spectrum of light in a radiating pattern, with them at the epicenter.

Performing a Sonic Rainboom requires that the flier be able to move in a straight, unbroken path for at least five times their flight movement speed in distance. It requires three consecutive dedicated actions to perform, during which the flier must continue moving in a straight path at their maximum flight movement speed. During the second and third action the flier moves at double their normal maximum flight speed, and becomes 2 MFD steps harder to hit in every location unless fired at from directly in front of their flight path.

At the end of the third action, the Rainboom occurs, disrupting all clouds within a 1 mile radius of the performer. Additionally, those at the epicenter of the Rainboom are affected as though by a balefire egg explosion centered on the flier (though without the Rads special weapon effect). If the flier exceeds the MFD to perform the maneuver by at least one step, the epicenter explosion’s deals twice as many dice of damage (effectively doubling its radius as well as its lethality). Yes, that means you can deal 40d20 damage to someone, at least in theory. Now you understand why the Enclave keeps pegasi capable of performing this feat under very close scrutiny.

If the path travelled during acceleration is towards the ground (i.e. altitude loss is strictly greater than forward movement), it is 1 MFD step easier to perform this maneuver.

Sonic Radboom (Requires Alicorn or Ghoul) –MFD 1/10 – The Sonic Radboom is a modified Sonic Rainboom, one that clears the skies with a burst, not of fractured prismatic light, but of highly charged, ionized radioactive air particles. Editor would like you to know that, as an engineer, that last sentence was physically painful to write. Like the sonic hadowfl, this technique clears all clouds within a 1-mile radius. The radiation at the epicenter is very intense, and is enough to kill even completely healthy ponies within protective suits almost instantaneously (2400 Rads) – this is why only ghouls and alicorns are capable of performing the maneuver.

This maneuver functions identically to the Sonic Rainboom maneuver bar two facets. Firstly, the explosion created at the epicenter carries the Rads special weapon effect. Secondly, the performer must be irradiated to at least 800 rads before performing the maneuver. If they have at least 1600 rads absorbed, the MFD to perform increases to ¼.

Don’t ask me to explain why the radiation is required, because the pseudo-scientific babble I would have to generate for you to explain this phenomenon would hurt my brain. Suffice it to say that it takes radiation to correctly initiate the maneuver. Otherwise the ambient atmospheric radiation doesn’t coalesce properly, or something silly like that. If a character has insufficient radiation to perform this maneuver, it simply fizzles when they try to perform it.

Toraindo– MFD ¼ - Become one with the elements, unleashing the power of wind and rain to become a one-pony (or griffin, etc.) tornado! This maneuver must be maintained and steered to achieve full effect, but the pay-off is worth it. Once the maneuver is initiated, the flier and everything adjacent to them (fifteen foot radius centered on their initial position) are swept up into an incredibly strong waterspout. While in the waterspout, characters and creatures (and objects) take half the controlling flier’s AGI score in d20 massive damage every turn, but become 2 MFD steps harder to target (4 MFD steps for energy weapons due to the reflective and refractive water interference, and projectile AoE effects like grenades and missiles will be deflected up and out into the surrounding area randomly unless they score a direct hit – pick your favorite method of randomly choosing direction, and spit it back out that way!). Creatures of weight less than 1000 macs (including friendlies) that cannot anchor themselves to something (STR check, MFD ½, once per round) will be picked up and thrown up to 5xAGI feet from the outermost edge of the wind-wall, dealing 1d20 damage per five feet they were moved (for a maximum of up to 15+ (5xAGI) feet, or (3+AGI) d20 damage). This damage is dealt as falling damage, in that it ignores DT provided by worn armor. Creatures that do manage to remain anchored within the whirlwind still take AGI/2 d20 damage per round from the strong winds and debris. Movement within the whirlwind on the ground is reduced by five feet per action, and flight of any sort within this storm requires a flight roll MFD ¼ (digging speeds are notably unaffected). Performing any aerial maneuvers while within a Toraindo is 3 MFD steps more difficult than normal.

Additional damage and effects may be dealt situationally depending on what the Toraindo picks up from its environment. The controlling flier is immune to the damage for as long as they maintain control. For the controlling flier, escaping the waterspout once inside is a flight or STR roll MFD ¼ (after penalties) that requires the flier to relinquish control before rolling.

Unlike a tornado created purely with magic, the Toraindo-waterspout has no set duration – instead, it lasts for as long as the flier can control it. They must roll flight, MFD ¼, every round as their first action to remain in control. While in control, the tornado will move with the flier perfectly – even into tight spaces like underground, forested areas between trees, and into the air. In cases where they lose control (by failing or critically failing a roll) or elect to end the Toraindo, the effect doesn’t simply dissipate – it stays around for 1d4 more combat rounds (and critical failures double the duration)! Until it dissipates, the now-uncontrolled hellish waterspout moves seemingly of its own accord, moving 5’ per round at the end of the round towards the nearest source of water (this is often a character or creature!). The flier still needs to escape the Toraindo with a flight or STR roll MFD ¼.

If a Toraindo is uncontrolled, any flier who knows this maneuver may attempt to fly into the Toraindo and seize control of it. This will prevent the Toraindo from dissipating, and you’ll have to wait for it to dissipate again when you fail to control it or choose to end it. In regions with no ambient water vapor, the Toraindo may manifest as a normal tornado (removing the targeting penalty effect on energy weapons fire), or a dust devil (increasing the targeting penalty by 1 step against those within it, with no additional penalty for energy weapons). In recently burnt regions, it may even create a terrifying Ash Devil (3 MFD step targeting penalty for those within it, 5 MFD step penalty for energy weapons, +3d20 damage dealt to those within it per round).

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 784