Rainbow Dash: But what if we get into…
Twilight Sparkle: Are all of my powers just…
Applejack: Is he gonna be able to…
DM: Alright, let me head off some concerns. Twilight, roll me an Arcana check.
Twilight Sparkle: Without my horn??
DM: For knowledge.
Twilight Sparkle: Fine… <roll> 26.
DM: You know that a pony's magic has a way of reasserting itself over extended periods of time. Even Discord can't keep your horns and wings away forever.
Discord GM: That would be boring, anyway.
Rarity: So… chances are we won't see much combat in the maze.
Rainbow Dash: Hey! That means we got the edge in there!
Pinkie Pie: Won't you miss the combat?
Rainbow Dash: I'm just saying, we've been playing together long enough to know our strengths. And there's one area where we definitely excel.
Fluttershy: You mean… roleplaying?
Rainbow Dash: Exactly! If Discord's taking away our powers so he can throw a bunch of mind games at us, then he picked the wrong group of girly magical horses. We beat all of Nightmare Moon's challenges by being weirdly awesome. All we gotta do is do that again!
Discord GM: Hmhmhmm...
DM: Quiet, you.
This is another one of those moments where, as a viewer, the sudden Rainbow Dash pep talk about friendship struck me as a little odd and sudden. I never really bought that Rainbow Dash of all ponies was really passionate about friendship. Yet from the writer's side, I can find an angle where it makes a bit more sense.
Rainbow Dash/'s player at this point doesn't really fully understand or internalize the importance of friendship / roleplaying, but she knows it's gotten them this far. When the team is down and facing incredible odds, the best thing she can think of to boost morale is a team coach pep talk. So of course she'll randomly evangelize on the subject a bit, because she knows that's what makes this group special and binds it together, gives it strength. If this were a group of Wonderbolts she was partied up with, this would sound a little different.
In my interpretation, both in show and in comic, Rainbow Dash has a greater grasp of situational context than she lets on. She would just prefer the context was almost always "Rainbow Dash is great."
She makes a good political speech, but nothing to back it up with.
It's too bad that I can't physical harm them.
I would be cut from the show faster than Butterflutter can fly.
yeah- that is why I liked the monochroming of the mane six in canon- except for fluttershy discord basically just talked them into their worst attitudes and just used magic to stabilize it- no brainwashing, no altering of their minds, just letting their own flaws come to the for and then just enough magic to hammer it in. I really like how his whole plan was basically- "make is so noone is capable of using the elements against me" he knew better than to rely on targeting the magical tools that stopped him before, so now he just makes so noone is willing or able to stop him- with the entertaining side effect of making everyone have an attitude that is less harmonious and probably more entertaining to him
Role Playing, the best way to succeed because the dice are usually against you. :3
As a GM, I find that if I pull away dice rolls, players become more willing to "get into the pool" and take a chance in the situation. So if I want to encourage players to get into a situation, I will let their Role-Playing lead, forgoing some checks to give them a bit of confidence that they can get through it without worrying that an RNG is gonna kick them in the shins.
Or just go with the path that the better the players RP, the bigger the bonus to the eventual roll is.
Sure, they could simply roll the dice to convince the guard to let them in, but the willingness to play it out will get them a small bonus. If they put on a convincing show, maybe the roll itself will get waived.
Yes, I do award RP bonuses to checks. Positive reinforcement is always more fruitful, and as you said, if they really get into the RP part, then it's a Win-Win situation.
Hold it! HOLD IT! I have discovered something very wrong with this comic! I have read the 4e players handbook front and back and there are no bards or barbarians! The class section begins with Clerics and it’s in alphebetical order! This has been an astounding realization brought to you by BackSet.
So as a quick explanation:
DnD have traditionally had a bunch of what's called sourcebooks in addition to it's core rulebooks, which are optional and not necessary to to play the game but which are nevertheless often used anyway to give both players and DM's more readymade options to use.
In 4e the bard, barbarian and Druid classes wasn't included in the core handbook, having been replaced with Warlocks and Warlords (which wasn't core in earlier edition and in Warlords case an entirely new class).
All 3 of these classes first appeared in 4e in Player's Handbook 2, which the group in this comic evidently also uses.
Also, this is a "homebrew" system, meaning it doesn't necessarily follow all the textbook rules. The rules may be based off 4E, but some things have been altered for the sake of this specific game--like having pagasi and unicorns as player races.
Dashie's got a knack for inspirational speeches. As long as she believes she will succeed, and she usually does, she can make you believe that you will all succeed. It's her best leadership quality.
Rainbow Dash/'s player at this point doesn't really fully understand or internalize the importance of friendship / roleplaying, but she knows it's gotten them this far. When the team is down and facing incredible odds, the best thing she can think of to boost morale is a team coach pep talk. So of course she'll randomly evangelize on the subject a bit, because she knows that's what makes this group special and binds it together, gives it strength. If this were a group of Wonderbolts she was partied up with, this would sound a little different.
In my interpretation, both in show and in comic, Rainbow Dash has a greater grasp of situational context than she lets on. She would just prefer the context was almost always "Rainbow Dash is great."