Skill Based and General Character Knowledge 5 page

Their ailment causes sickly characters to suffer from a temporary -1 penalty to endurance and at least one other attribute, usually strength or agility (it’s up to the GM). At the beginning of every session of play, a character with this hindrance must roll endurance, MFD ½. If they succeed, then their pony does not suffer the temporary attribute penalty inflicted by this hindrance. A critical success on this endurance roll will raise the MFD of future Endurance rolls made to resist this hindrance’s effects by one step, making it easier to succeed. Raising it above MFD 1 will remove the hindrance entirely. If they fail, then they suffer the temporary penalty. Critical failures permanently lower the MFD by a step. If the MFD drops below ¼, the sickly pony finally succumbs to the disease and dies unless they receive immediate medical treatment (Medicine roll requiring a rejuvenation talisman or similar medical technology, MFD ¾), which prevents death but has no effect on the MFD (it stays at ¼). Chronic diseases such as this hindrance represents are not generally curable by medicinal or magical means, and thus this hindrance cannot usually be bought off and removed in the conventional way.

Regardless of whether or not they negate the temporary effects for the remainder of a session, sickly ponies are less resistant to diseases, poisons, and other sicknesses due to their weakened immune system, giving them a 1 MFD step penalty on any endurance rolls made to resist their effects.

While the sickness in question needn’t be specific, a list of contractible diseases and poisons and their effects are outlined in chapter 11. Players with this hindrance who opt to take a disease from the diseases list in the back instead of the penalties listed above must receive GM approval on the disease.

Skinny as a Rail (Cannot be taken by Alicorns or with Obese) –Your wastelander is skinny; in fact, they’re practically emaciated. It might have been years of borderline starvation, or it might simply be that they’ve got a super-fast metabolism, but they have trouble maintaining a healthy weight. As a result, they’re so light and skinny that you can play a tune on their ribs like a xylophone. It’s not a good thing to be this skinny; if a wastelander is skinny as a rail, then they’re weaker than their healthier brethren, equivalent to a -1 penalty to STR and END. They’re also a bit smaller than their healthier brethren, however, granting them a +3 bonus on rolls made to dodge. Depending on the reason why the character has this hindrance (i.e. months of near starvation versus just a freakishly high metabolism), it may be able to be removed after a few weeks of regular eating and buying it off.

Ponies with this hindrance weigh (2d6*10) units of weight less than their normal counterparts. If combined with the Pipsqueak hindrance, the weight reductions stack (add them together) and the height reduction becomes 2d10 inches instead of 2d6.

Slave– Your pony may be physically free from bondage, but their mind remains in chains. Ponies with this hindrance have been slaves for so long that they’ve practically forgotten how to be free. They may have never been free even before they became slaves, as in the case of Xenith, or they might have simply been raised in an environment where they were mentally conditioned to respond to certain things, as in the case of P-21. Either way, in some portion of their mind they are not really in full control of themselves, no matter how much they fight it, and may find themselves unwittingly reverting to their conditioned or expected behaviors. Ponies with this hindrance can recover from this state, but they must fight it every step of the way. Due to the conditions in which most slaves are kept, this perk grants the Internal/Concealed Storage trait at no cost. This hindrance is complimented well by Skinny as a Rail.

Spirit of the Security Mare (Requires the Live by Luck rules) –If you’re playing with the live by luck rules as they’re written above, then you may be wondering, ‘Why use playing cards? Can’t we use something like poker chips, or even paper clips?’ The answer to that question is ‘No,’ and the reason is this hindrance.

This hindrance works against characters differently depending on the luck cards they’re dealt. If at any point any combination of cards in a player’s hand can equal 21 (counting face cards as 10 and aces as either 1 or 11), then characters with this hindrance receive a +5 bonus on all rolls for as long as that is the case. If they cannot make 21, but can make 14 instead, they receive a -5 penalty on all rolls. If they cannot make a combination of cards from their hand equal to either number at any given time, they suffer a -10 penalty to all rolls for as long as that is the case.

Spray and Pray (Cannot be taken with Trigger Discipline) –Conserve ammo? Fuck that shit! This hindrance reflects a lifetime of wasted bullets, either as a result of recklessness or possibly simply as the end result of many, many sessions on the firing range that never helped improve your character’s accuracy in the slightest.

Characters with this hindrance operate their weapons quickly, not taking time to use the sights properly. This results in them taking a -10 accuracy penalty with any ranged single-shot weapon. If using a ranged burst-fire weapon (one that fires multiple bullets per action, such as an assault rifle, minigun or magical RCW), they do not suffer this penalty, but instead deplete its ammunition twice as fast (they have to spend most of the extra ammo leading their target). On the upside, they deal an additional die of damage with all ranged burst fire weapons, and all ranged weapons cost them 5 less AP to operate in SATS.

Stubby Little Horn/Wings (Unicorn/Pegasus Only; cannot be taken with Magical Savant, One Trick Pony, Maimed: Horn, or Flightless) –Your character is not descended from two parents of the same type of pony, or if they are, they got a bad mix of genes – not quite bad enough to make them a full-on Half-Breed pony, but still not so great either.

Unicorn ponies with this hindrance have horns far shorter than average, and their magical ability suffers because of it. Instead of their racial +10 to the Magic skill at character creation, they receive no bonus to the skill. In addition, they only get their cutie mark spell (if they even have one) and telekinesis at character creation. They may still learn spells related to their cutie mark, but find it much harder to do so, equivalent to a -10% penalty on their “New Spell” roll (see the Magic section for more details on gaining new spells).

Pegasus ponies with this hindrance have a wingspan that is only about half the norm for pegasi, preventing them from flying without magical aid. They are still capable of hovering and so do not lose the increased speed granted by flight, but cannot manage more than a dozen or so feet above the ground. If overburdened, they cannot even manage a hover. Their ability to interact with clouds and interface with cloud terminals is unaffected.

Studious (Cannot be taken with Illiterate)– Characters with this hindrance are fixated on learning, though not in the same way as those with the Fixation hindrance. The downsides of being a studious character are that you don’t get out much, and as a result are usually shy and don’t make friends easily: much of the knowledge you have of the world is gained from books, or from overhearing conversations held by more gregarious ponies. This over-reliance on books manifests as -5 skill ranks (minimum of 5) to Small Guns, Big Guns and any three of the following, player’s choice: Unarmed, Melee Weapons, Explosives, Speechcraft, Survival, Mercantile or Sneak. Optionally, they may choose to take a -3 rank penalty to five of those skills instead of the -5 rank penalty to three.

The upsides, on the other hoof, are that Studious characters are very good at learning and teaching – spells, skills, you name it. There’s almost nothing they can’t learn, and they can read books in half the time it would take others. All they need is a book or a teacher; studious characters get an additional skill rank from each skill-book or magazine they read, an effect which stacks with the bookworm perk, and may occasionally be able to increase skills through their interactions with NPCs in ways that other characters can’t. Additionally, studious Unicorns and Zebras begin play with one extra level 1 or 0 spell or recipe, respectively, which they have mastered through their studies. Zony shamans may select their spell from either list.

Note that this hindrance does not affect the possessor’s Energy Weapons skill – they work as advertised and have no recoil, making the instructional diagrams found in relevant literature much more helpful.

Stuttering –Your character has a thing for repeated consonants. That is, they can’t help repeating consonants whenever they try to talk. This is usually to their detriment, and gives them both a -5 skill rank penalty at character creation to both Speechcraft and Mercantile rolls (minimum rank is still 5), as well as a -5 penalty on all rolls made for both skills. Stutters can be removed in many cases by undergoing speech therapy, a long an involved process not generally available to most wasteland wanderers. There are also certain types of implants that may correct whatever physical or mental issue causes the character to stutter in the first place.

Suicidal (Cannot be taken with Clear Conscience, Half-Heart or Guilty Conscience)– For whatever reason (and players really should pick one out ahead of time), characters with this hindrance have a death wish. They might not be forthcoming about it, and they might not even be direct about how they go about trying to accomplish their final act, but in the end they’re trying to get themselves killed. Whenever given the opportunity, characters with this hindrance will go out of their way to put themselves into harm’s way. They may just walk off on their own during a night-watch shift and not come back, or they may simply insist on taking point in every compound their group investigates. Hell, they may even strap dynamite to themselves and run into a group of innocents.

If trying to kill themselves outright, as with a gun, a cliff’s edge, a noose and bucket, or any other device that requires them to off themselves, a character with this hindrance must roll Willpower (INT or CHA taking best), MFD ¾, with possible modifiers depending on the reasons for their suicidal feelings and external interference. If they succeed, the deed is done. If they fail, then something prevented them from committing the act, either internally or externally, such as leaving the safety on accidentally, or the rope breaking. If the character is prevented in this way twice in a row, then they should have a brief period of introspection or some sort of roleplaying event that leads them to re-evaluate their suicidal thoughts, and they can replace this hindrance with Guilty Conscience or Clear Conscience as is appropriate.

This hindrance can be removed by other means, but requires roleplaying reasons and should be discussed with the GM.

Thorough (Cannot be taken with Quick Witted)– Your character is something of a completionist. They absolutely hate leaving a job half finished, or without that extra bit of polish. As such, some tasks take them a little bit longer to do than other ponies. When making any sort of non-combat skill roll and not in a hurry, ponies with this hindrance may apply a +3 bonus to it. The catch is that, when rushed, forcibly interrupted, or otherwise in a hurry, ponies with this hindrance take a -5 to all skill and attribute rolls. This includes combat rolls. A character is considered “rushing” in combat if they attempt to do more than perform a single action during their turn.

Trigger Discipline (Cannot be taken with Spray and Pray) –Your character comes from an area or background where bullets and other munitions are scarce. As a result, they developed a habit of spending a few precious extra seconds to make sure that each and every bullet counts. This hindrance grants characters a +5 on all rolls made to hit with small guns, big guns, and energy weapons – any weapon that requires and expends non-reusable ammunition as a necessary ingredient to its method of dispensing death. The downside to this is that this is their shots obviously take more time to line up, and they tend to hold the trigger down a little shorter than most folks. Burst fire weapons (those that expend multiple units of ammunition per ‘shot,’ such as assault rifles and SMGs) spend 20% less bullets per shot (round down to the nearest whole number), and deal one less die of damage. Additionally, all of the weapon categories that are affected by the accuracy bonus cost 5 more AP per shot to operate in SATS.

Trusting– Your pony might not realize how trusting they really are, but if someone told them gullible wasn’t in the dictionary they might not even try to find one to look it up. Somehow, no matter how many times it comes back to bite them in the flank, they still would be willing to trust in whatever information they’re given, as long as the source isn’t obviously hostile (and sometimes even then). Ponies with this hindrance aren’t necessarily stupid, note – the same trick probably won’t work on them twice. But if you get a new trick, they’re likely to fall for it hook, line, and sinker unless someone else is around to help them see what’s actually going on. They take a -10 penalty to mercantile skill rolls (not to the skill rank score) due to their gullible nature. Ponies like this tend to rely on their friends for guidance, especially if they’ve found some friends that don’t try to take advantage of their trusting nature.

Uncontrolled Magic (Cannot be taken by races without the Magic racial skill)– Your Unicorn, Zebra, Alicorn, or Half-Breed has a problem with their magic. That is, they have trouble getting it to do what they want, when they want it to. It frequently does things that they’d rather not have it do, especially in stressful situations. For Unicorns, this can be manifest in ways such as suddenly playing beautiful music with their horn while they’re trying to sneak, your telekinesis groping someone while you were trying to pick up an object, or even accidentally casting an offensive spell when there’s an ally in front of you. Zebras might experience potions that don’t work, do the wrong thing completely, or have less-desirable effects in addition to those desired. Bat-wing talismans that grow in wings on the wrong place (say, one out of their stomach and one out of the top of their back), or a water-breathing talisman that also causes you to spit fire when you speak the letter P are other fine examples. Alicorns might find themselves teleported incorrectly, arriving upside down or in the wrong place completely. Perhaps they accidentally begin thinking in the royal Canterlot voice when they’re trying to relay a mental message, stunning their intended recipients.

In terms of game mechanics, this hindrance works best with the Live by Luck rules in play. If the GM spends a luck card to activate this hindrance, they pick a character with the hindrance and a spell known by them. That character’s player must make a magic skill roll at a penalty of -10, MFD ½. If the player succeeds, then the spell doesn’t go off. If they fail, however, the spell goes off as the GM would like it to. This can happen as many times per session as the GM has luck cards. If the spell goes off, note that it will still cost the caster strain or ingredients, and possibly actions if during a combat situation.

Without the Live by Luck rules, this hindrance activates whenever the caster or alchemist fails or critically fails their magic roll, in addition to whatever penalties that magical mishap may have already caused. Some GMs may also want to activate it whenever the caster is under extreme physical or mental duress.

Additionally, whenever the character with this hindrance tries to cast a spell on their own, they take a -10 penalty to the casting roll and a -10 penalty to hit, if the spell needs to be targeted. Targeting spells to do things when they’re supposed to do them is less of a problem, but characters with this hindrance have more difficulty than most when it comes to focusing their magic.

Unforgivable (Cannot be taken with Amnesiac or Stable Dweller) –Your character has done something awful in their past. In many cases they are genuinely sorry for what they did, and work hard to prove to themselves and others that they aren’t the same pony from that past incident. On the other hoof, they might not be sorry at all – perhaps they feel no remorse for their actions, and coldly justify them. Either way, nopony has forgotten the things they did, and their reactions towards your character will be affected by it. This hindrance can be taken up to twice at character creation, and allows characters to begin play with negative karma. It gives -50 karma every time it is taken. This is equivalent to a -5 to Speechcraft versus those with good karma.

Characters with negative karma run a high risk of becoming an embodiment of a corrupted virtue. This hindrance works well in conjunction with Guilty Conscience.

Unstable Genetics (Cannot be taken by Ghouls or Alicorns) – Radiation could be a more serious problem than normal for ponies with this hindrance. Genetically unstable ponies have suffered from some effect that has rendered their DNA a little more malleable than others, perhaps from some scientific mishap or perhaps simply because they were born that way. Regardless of how they came to be this way, they’re much more susceptible to the effects of magical radiation and taint than their fellow equines, and suffer from a -30 penalty on endurance rolls to resist taint, and take an additional -5 penalty to any skill linked to an attribute that is currently affected by radiation poisoning. Ponies with this hindrance are also more prone to becoming mutated by radiation or taint, meaning that they must make an endurance roll every 200 rads or at every mark on the taint slider, instead of at the normal progression points (see radiation and taint mutation rules, nestled up right next to the ghoulification rules in the GM section section). Be careful, wasters – most mutations are not beneficial to your pony’s wellbeing! Nopony likes to hear that they’ve got cancer of the everything.

Wall-eyed – We’ll be straight with you: you look a little derpy (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). Wall-eyed characters have a lazy eye, one which tends to focus on things other than what a character is actually trying to focus on. Those with this hindrance tend to be perceived as more foolish or even outright stupid by many of their compatriots, and people generally tend to assume that wall-eyed characters are naturally quite oblivious. This is not actually the case; wall-eyed characters see on average 35% more than characters with more normal ocular motion, granting them a +5 on all visual perception rolls, especially those made to detect sneaking opponents.

The downside is that this hindrance really does make it more difficult to focus. If a wall-eyed character uses a ranged weapon without first taking an action to line up the shot using the sights, they suffer a -10 accuracy penalty. After they’ve moved the weapon to use the sights or scope, they needn’t spend another action to use the sights unless they’re forced to run (spend both actions to move up to three times their movement speed), perform an aerial maneuver, or dodge. SATS negates this accuracy penalty.

Due to others’ negative perception of their disability, they suffer a -5 speechcraft penalty whenever they are trying to appear smart.

Wartime Stress Disorder (WSD)– Before the balefire bombs fell, ponies diagnosed with WSD actually had one of a myriad of stress related disorders, including things like chronic depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The usual treatment provided was basically a complete removal of the memories that caused the stress or depression --an attempt to remove the source of the mental disturbance. As audio logs will probably reveal to your ponies at some point, this method of treatment does not work worth a damn, and tends to leave ponies with gaps in their memory that more often than not effectively lobotomize them, as well as subconscious reactions to the trauma that they no longer comprehend. For the purposes of simplifying, ponies with WSD as a hindrance actually have extremely severe PTSD (because more minor forms of WSD, including full-fledged ‘normal’ PTSD, are practically indistinguishable from a sane reaction to life in the wastes), and should act accordingly. If they’re lucky, they might run into someone who knows how to treat this particular psychosis without just lobotomizing ’em.

Now, take into account that life in the wasteland is frequently brutal, never comfortable, and always violent (when it isn’t cut short). Your pony has seen things that were far worse than what ponies suffer through on a daily basis in this hellish landscape. She’s seen things that have made her brain attempt to crouch and hide behind her nasal cavities. Things she can never forget, and probably doesn’t ever want to talk about. This manifests in a variety of ways. Some ponies develop a ‘thousand-yard stare’; others scream and twitch in their sleep. All ponies with WSD as a hindrance have trouble sleeping, manifesting as a constantly visible set of dark shadows under the eyes. They occasionally shake uncontrollably when relaxed and tend to think and speak a little more slowly than normal, as if their thoughts were elsewhere. In combat, they are extremely focused and lethal, and may possibly be reliving their previous traumatic experience. This occasionally can result in hurting or almost hurting friends.

In game terms, the WSD hindrance does not directly affect actions taken during combat (unless the GM and the affected character’s player have something else going on in the affected pony’s mind), but gives a -5 penalty to all INT, AGI and CHA based skills outside of combat situations. As a reflection of the experience your pony gained from watching whatever horrific act occurred, this hindrance also grants a +5 skill rank bonus to Small Guns, Explosives, Big Guns, Energy Weapons, Melee Weapons, Unarmed or Survival (pick one) if taken at character creation.

Ponies with the WSD hindrance cannot also take the Abused hindrance at character creation. This is in part due to their similar and sometimes indistinguishable symptoms, and in part because they’ve seen enough horrors out in the Equestrian Wasteland to have lost their faith in equinity.

Whiner –That’s not whining; THIS is whining! Your character is a whiner. They whine incessantly about their general situation, chores, taking watch duties, how much their wounds hurt, how they hate walking – you name it. This is extraordinarily grating. Most whiners find themselves suffering from terminal bullet wounds before they can accomplish too much in the wasteland. Whining about getting shot didn’t prevent them from getting shot again, it seems.

Whiners suffer minus -15 to all speechcraft and charisma rolls, but receive a +5 bonus to all mercantile rolls – sometimes complaining incessantly really does help get you a better price!

Young (Cannot be taken by Alicorns or with Elderly) – Characters with this hindrance are colts or fillies (or hatchlings, pups, etc.) Being young doesn’t mean they’re not capable of fending for themselves, though. It does mean that they’ve got a little less experience with some things, but the reduced size of young ponies means that in combat they’re that much harder to hit!

Young characters take a -3 to their rank in all skills except sneak, including tag skills, at character creation and a permanent -1 penalty to STR. Similarly to characters with the Pipsqueak hindrance, they take one wound per 8 damage dealt to them at character creation, but their smaller size grants them a +5 bonus to dodge rolls. Both bonuses to dodge and penalties provided by the Young and Pipsqueak hindrances stack – if a character has both hindrances they take one wound per 6 damage dealt to them (at least up until level 3, where it increases to 7), and receive a +10 bonus to dodge.

Unicorns with this hindrance do not start with the normal level 1 spell in addition to basic telekinesis. If they have a cutie mark, they may still start with a cutie mark spell.

Young also grants +1 to CHA and Luck, and reduces carrying capacity by 50 pounds. Characters with this hindrance are 2d12” shorter and (2d10*10) units of weight lighter than their adult counterparts.

This hindrance is required to become a member of the Crusaders (see the Organization trait) at character creation. Older characters may join the crusaders at a later point if they have the “Foal at heart” perk, and can gain the organization’s favor.

Virtues – Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity, and Laughter (Joy)

Maintaining a virtue isn’t easy in the equestrian wasteland. It’s difficult – which is why in this system taking one counts as a hindrance, and gives you a creation point back as a reward if you pick one at character creation. Ponies don’t have to take a virtue, though the wasteland tends to be easier to survive for ponies that know what their virtue is and actively live up to it; all ponies who want to make the wasteland a better place should at least read through and consider it. Virtues can also be earned by characters that demonstrate them frequently during gameplay. Some GMs might even want to only allow virtues to be earned in this way.

Taking a virtue does not by guarantee that your character is the embodiment of that element of harmony; that decision should be made by individual GMs based on the way a character is played. Players who pick a virtue but do not embody it or manage to corrupt it through their actions may find themselves losing karma as a result. And don’t forget: only ponies can be elements of harmony that we’ve seen, but having a virtue can apply to anyone – Alicorns, Zebra and Griffins as well as any of the other myriad races that still manage to survive in Equestria. If your GM wants to have a zebra as the element of kindness, that’s up to them. Just don’t take virtues lightly – the fate of Equestria ultimately depends on the Elements of Harmony, which in turn depend on virtuous ponies. Characters with negative karma run a high risk of becoming an embodiment of a corrupted virtue.

Generosity – Your pony frequently gives to others, at personal expense if necessary. Even if they might only barely have enough to survive themselves, generous ponies continue to give to those less fortunate. They might have no qualms taking what they need from the more fortunate, though. Generous ponies frequently sacrifice themselves in order to aid in the escape of others, and give what they can to help any they come across who are in need. Corrupted ponies with generosity as a virtue might only give to those who they deem worthy, or only give of themselves to save their close friends.

Honesty – Ponies with this virtue might find themselves thinking, “The Truth will set you free,” quite a bit. Lying and deception are not your style; you are not necessarily completely straightforward, but lies, even what some would call “white lies,” you find to be repulsive. You believe that if everything were fair and honest, the world would be a better place – even if you know that sometimes the truth hurts the most. Telling the truth might not fix the problem immediately, but you know full well that even if it might cause some pain in the short run, it enables the healing process to begin. You are honest, sometimes to a fault; lying for you is nearly impossible, and when you do manage to do it it’s completely unconvincing. Take a -100 penalty on Speechcraft or Mercantile skills when you lie or attempt to broker what you know to be an unfair deal. Honest ponies that aren’t corrupt often have trouble even withholding information that they know might help others (if those being helped are known to be trustworthy). Examples of corrupted honesty tend to be manipulative, using the truth to tell lies.

Kindness –You are a kind pony. You try to help those in need, often at great personal cost. It might not be a perfect world, but you believe that we can do better than we are to make it one simply by being kind to others. Some others might try to take advantage of this, but you’re certainly no fool; your kindness towards both friend and foe is done in the knowledge that, whether or not they are grateful, you’ve done the right thing. Kind ponies who are not corrupt must try to be kind, even to their enemies if given the opportunity, but that doesn’t mean they won’t defend themselves or their friends. Corrupted kindness is both dark and brutal; it manifests most commonly where ponies give up on being kind to individuals in order to help what they decide is a “greater good.”

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 818