Skills

In My Little Pony - Savage Adventures, there are 21 skills to choose from.

Note that some of these skills use the skill specialization setting rules from the core Savage Worlds rules. When your character first selects a skill, pick one of the specialization options. When attempting to use that skill outside your specialization, you have a -2 penalty. For more details, see the core Savage Worlds rules.

Athletics [Strength]

This represents your pony's general athletic abilities, and is used to perform athletic feats or sport activities (think Olympics). The Athletics skill combines the Climbing and Swimming skills from core Savage Worlds, and thus is used to climb mountains, ford rivers, win races, as well as fly through storms (Agility is just used to keep you from falling), run a marathon, and perform rodeo events.

Note that as Athletics encompasses the Swimming skill, it also determines your Swimming "pace."

Fighting [Agility]

Defined and used just like in core Savage Worlds.

Gambling [Smarts]

Defined just like in core Savage Worlds. Note that the use of this skill is fairly dependent on the type of game you're playing; while it does have a distinct "Western" aspect, gambling is also frequently encountered in fantasy tavern carousing and espionage ("Or as he's known the spy world, Mane. Con Mane."). You never know when you're going to want to put some bits down and roll the dice!

Healing [Smarts]

Defined and used just like in core Savage Worlds.

Intimidation [Spirit]

Defined just like in core Savage Worlds.

In MLP:SA, Intimidation Test of Wills are more effective. See Game Rules.

Investigation [Smarts]

Defined just like in core Savage Worlds.

Knowledge (something) [Smarts]

Defined just like in core Savage Worlds.

Note that Knowledge(Battle) is used for Mass Combat, each language is a Knowledge(language) skill, and basic information is still covered by Common Knowledge and a character's background.

Leadership [Spirit]

Leadership is used to inspire, encourage, or rally your friends and allies on. Aka this is the skill for every single sports movie speech ever. Never give up! Go! Fight! Win! (maybe without the newspaper)

Thus, as an action, the Leadership skill can be used to inspire your friends. A success on a Leadership roll means allies adjacent to you get +1 to their next action for the rest of the round. There is no additional bonus with a raise (you need edges for that) and doesn't stack with different Leaders.

You can attempt to inspire your allies once per round during combat, but outside of combat (excluding "healing"; see below) it is once per session.

The Leadership skill is also the "mental Wound" corollary to Healing, used to treat "mental Wounds" acquired from Tricks and Test of Wills.

As with the Healing skill, you get only one Leadership attempt to heal a mental Wound (although multiple leaders can attempt to rally a single ally). On the plus side there is no Golden Hour and the attempt doesn't take 10minutes (so you can definitely pep-talk an ally within a combat round ;D).

Leadership also replaces the Knowledge(Tactics) skill (used for the Tactician edge).

Lockpicking [Agility]

Defined just like in core Savage Worlds.

Note that this is the default skill for disabling traps, although your GM may decide a different skill may be more applicable for a certain trap.

Nature [Spirit, specialization: Land or Air]

In MLP:SA, Nature represents a pony's ability to manipulate the elements of the world around them. Aka the pegasus and earth pony's version of "magic." This is the skill to use to whip up clouds, grow crops, talk to animals, spin up tornadoes, and create earthquakes. >D

  • Land specialization: talking to land/water animals, farming. Also includes "earth pony magic"
  • Air specialization: talking to flying creatures, weather-control. Also includes "pegasus magic"

There isn't a "water" specialization, unless for some reason your GM wants to include sea ponies. For the most part, Nature(land) covers animals that live in the rivers/ponds/oceans.

Note: "Pony of Earth" and "Pony of Air" for Earth and Pegasus ponies does not mean those races get their specializations automatically; it means if a character is completely untrained in the Nature skill (ie, rolling at d4-4 due to the specializations rules) they roll instead a d4-2 for their respective race. Upon taking the Nature skill, you could still choose the "opposite" specialization (ie, Earth pony choosing Nature(air) at d4, but still rolling a d4-2 for Nature(land)).

Note 2: Even if an earth pony takes Nature(air) that doesn't mean they can suddenly control the weather, or vice versa. However, said earth pony would be experienced in working with birds and coordinating with pegasi for proper rainfall, etc.

After all, a pegasus could have a strong affinity to talking to creatures on the ground instead...

In addition, pegasi and earth ponies can use Nature to attack or defend:

  • Pegasus-only
    • Buffet
        • You can flurry your wings so fast to create a blast of wind at your foes.
        • Make a Nature(air) roll; a success places a Cone Template (9" long, 3" widest point). Friends and foes in the template area may make an opposed Strength roll to your Nature(air) roll to avoid the blast or be Knocked Prone. If the targets can find some sort of cover, they get the Cover bonus to their Strength roll.
      • Lightning Bolt
        • If there's a cloud nearby (so you may need to go get one or create it yourself via another Nature roll), a pegasus can use it to zap a lightning bolt on an opponent. Let's have a little shock and awe, shall we?
        • Make a Nature(air) roll, and treat it like a ranged attack at 3"/6"/12" (with +1d6 damage on a Raise as usual). The damage of a basic lightning bolt is 2d4 points of nonlethal damage, with AP2 due to electrical strikes. >D
  • Earth Pony-only
      • Stomp
        • Stomp your hooves and do a little shake - or an earthquake, in this case! Earth ponies can stomp the ground hard enough to cause the earth to heave and shake, spewing up rocks (meaning you can even hit airborne targets!).
        • Make a Nature(land) roll. Anything in a straight line from your hooves (choose a direction to face) suffers 2d4+1 nonlethal damage if they're 1" away (adjacent to you), 2d4 damage if they're 2" away, and 1d6 damage if they're 3" away. This hits anything in the line of fire, whether friends or foe, so be careful! Targets may make an opposed Agility roll to your Nature(land) roll to avoid the upheaval. A Raise on your Nature(land) roll over their Agility roll gives +1d6 damage, as per normal Area of Effect attacks. look it's pokemon attack
      • Earthen Wall
        • Earth ponies can also use their surroundings to make a rough barrier to defend themselves. Also I'm pretty sure there's a Captain Planet joke here I could make
        • Make a Nature(land) roll; a success means you've cracked the ground enough to slam up a makeshift barrier, be it a slab of rock, pile of dirt or tangle of vines. This protective wall is 1" (6 feet) wide and counts as Light Cover. For Breaking Things purposes it has Toughness 5 and for Obstacle purposes it gives +1 Armor (see core Savage Worlds). It counts as Difficult Ground if opponents want to climb over it.

Notice [Smarts]

Defined just like in core Savage Worlds.

Perform (something) [Spirit]

The Perform skill is formally included in MLP:SA (rather than a small footnote in core Savage Worlds), to include all performance skills and a majority of the arts. Like the Knowledge skill, the Perform skill is a catch-all skill that requires a focus of some sort, like Perform (Dancing), Perform (Stage Magic), Perform (Cello), Perform (Poetry), or Perform (Dressmaking). It can be taken multiple times with different focuses, and basically represents a pony's professional ability in that particular performance skill.

Although Spirit is used as the linking attribute, this isn't a hard and fast rule; the GM can decide if another attribute is more appropriate, like Perform(Dancing) [Agility]. Most musical instruments are their own focus (a piano player can't

instantly play guitar, although they can probably strum a few bars with a penalty).

A character with the Perform(skill) can usually ply their trade about once a week. With a venue or main customer, the performer can earn $1d4 x their skill in tips, earnings, and the like. With a critical failure though, the character does so poorly that they're banned from that venue or shunned by that customer until the character raises their skill by a die type.

Piloting [Agility, specialization: Flying, Land, or Water vehicles]

In MLP:SA, Piloting combines the Boating/Driving/Piloting/Riding skills into one large skill, using specialization rules to distinguish between the types of vehicles:

  • Flying specialization: airship, hot air ballon, flying chariots (the base Piloting skill in Savage Worlds)
    • Land specialization: trains, carriages, chariots, tractor :P (the base Driving skill in Savage Worlds)
    • Water specialization: ships, boats, jetskis (the base Boating skill in Savage Worlds)

Also, in appropriate situations, the Piloting skill may be used to "ride" an animal, instead of Nature. Nature is used to talk to a elephant; Piloting(Land) is used to ride the elephant like a mûmak chaaaarge, and Survival is used to find the elephant in the first place. ;D

Persuasion [Spirit]

Defined just like in core Savage Worlds.

With the Silver Tongue edges, Persuasion can also be used as a Test of Wills, as opposed by Smarts.

Repair [Smarts]

Defined just like in core Savage Worlds.

Shooting [Agility]

In MLP:SA, Shooting combines the Shooting and Throwing skills from core Savage Worlds.

Spellcraft [Smarts]

The arcane skill for Arcane Background(magic), as defined just like in core Savage Worlds.

Note: non-unicorns can take this skill, although they can't cast spells with it. In this case, it merely represents their arcane knowledge.

Stealth [Agility]

Defined just like in core Savage Worlds.

Streetwise [Smarts, specialization: High Society or Commoner]

Defined just like in core Savage Worlds.

In MLP:SA, a distinction is made between the setting of information gathering: High Society settings (fancy parties, big businesses) versus Commoner (the streets, shady businesses, saloons). In addition, the Streetwise skill is also used to properly "act" in a setting; while proper manners at a Canterlot tea party include hoofshakes and correct soup spoons, accepted mannerisms in a back alley bar may include brohoofs and spitting in a kettle!

Survival [Smarts]

In MLP:SA, Survival combines Survival and Tracking skills from core Savage Worlds.

Taunt [Smarts]

Defined just like in core Savage Worlds.

In MLP:SA, Taunt Test of Wills are more effective. See Game Rules.