Legends of Equestria - Forum

Disclaimer: This is my own personal guide book when applying powers to OCs. This is merely opinion and should not be taken as law. You may have different processes as well as boundaries, which is fine. Your OCs may not fit with the power limits, but if their story is well written enough, it can be balanced. But then again, anything, if well written can be acceptable. This guide applies to OCs in general, not just pony OCs.

If you're reading this, then you're probably here for one of the following:

• I'm creating a new OC, but I need help balancing them out.


• I want to read this to review and better my own OCs.


• I'm just interested in your opinion on the matter.

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Powers

• Do: common magic such as ordinary fireballs, healing cuts and bruises, above average strength, create a sword, acrobatics and lightning reflexes


• Don't: call down a meteor, revive the dead, throw buildings, create an endless armory of swords to rain down upon their enemies, moves faster than light

What to think about in terms of supernatural powers
Powers can be a key trait in an OC to differentiate itself from other OCs. It can treated as either a natural talent or something that's unique to them. They can quite useful not only in combat but also outside of it when your OC is in a situation where they require certain attributes. For example, they can use magic or telekinesis to grab a set of keys outside of their jail cell. Powers are not limited to combat, but also to minor tasks or just for some fun. So something such as mind reading may get a couple of laughs when interacting with other characters. So when you're applying powers to your new OC, keep in mind not only the scale of it, but also how they will use it in the future in terms of escaping situations and how they will use them in terms of social interaction. Not only that, but also keep the theme of your OC consistent. What I mean by this is that their power should match their personality and/or back story. So a power befitting a thief OC would be along the lines of illusion, darkness, and speed due to their occupation. But this does mean that all thieves must have them. It can also depend on what their backstory is. For example, a young farmer boy may be gifted in fire magic, but becomes a thief to help pay for his family. The possibilities of combinations are endless so long as the story for why the power matches the character makes sense. In the case of the fire-magic wielding thief, he may use fire to create panic in one part of town as a distraction while he sweeps a nearby house of valuables (but is not limited to just as a diversionary tactic).

What about natural abilities like strength and agility?
These are perfectly fine to use so long as they're within the boundaries of mortals. Allow me to clarify, they can be physically stronger than their peers, but as strong as Hercules (Greek god). They can be as fast as rabbit, but not as fast as The Flash (super hero). How strong or agile they are should depend on their story from how they attained it and how they train to keep it. Now say that your character can bend metal and maybe even throw cars. Here is where we get into the restriction section of this guide.

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Restrictions


Physical Constraints
It can be simple as that. You can limit your OCs powers with physical constraints such as exhaustion. Everyone has a limit on what they can do, but not in the same way. For example, human characters with super strength can easily be constrained with physical limitations from muscle exhaustion, overheating, dehydration, or even physical conditions like asthma. Making your OC a cripple also helps balance out their power and may even boost them in character development. Other more permanent constraints may also be birth defects (ie deformed limbs). So afflicting an agile OC who is a master at parkour with random leg muscle cramps will definitely set a limit on how much they can move, thus rendering them with little to no power when they are at their maximum threshold. Another example is when they've been hopping over rooftops and swinging on cables for so long that it triggers their asthma, thus placing them into a vulnerable state and forcing them to rest.


Mental Constraints
Personally, I highly recommend using mental constraints over physical constraints as they are much stronger for character development and sometimes require deep analysis in order to be detected by others. They are more arduous to overcome and can be just as permanent as being crippled. Mental constraints are more effective in balancing physical powers as they give your OC more in depth scenarios. For example, your OC can easily defeat and then slay a dragon in order to claim a massive bounty, but refuses to kill it because it would be against your OCs morals or because they can't bring themselves to take a life. Now, in this situation of refusing to slay the dragon, it can work both ways. They refuse to kill it because they're not strong enough to do it or hey're strong enough not to. Other factors may apply too such as backstory, empathy, and maybe even special situations.

Here's a sample situation:
Daniel is an orphan who has struggled throughout his childhood because he didn't have the comfort of a parent. Now, fast forward about 20 years where he has children of his own. One day, his children becomes ill and but he cannot afford the medicine to cure them. The king has placed a bounty on a dragon who is dwelling in a nearby cave. The bounty is more than enough to pay for their children's medicine and on top of that, Daniel is more than capable to slay the dragon. Fast forward to the scene where the dragon is at his mercy. Right as he is about to end the dragon, he spots 2 hatchlings hiding in the back of the cave. Because he knows how painful it was to be an orphan, he empathizes with the hatchlings and spares their mother. He'll have to find another way to afford the medicine.

In an alternate situation:
In this one Daniel was not an orphan and practiced hunting in the woods. One day, he takes down a wolf in order to claim the bounty on her. A few days later, he finds out that the wolf was a mother of 2 now orphaned pups. He realizes the pain he has caused and regrets his actions. From that day on, he refused to pick up his sword in fear of causing more pain to the innocent. Fast forward to where his children are ill and the mother dragon has a bounty on her. In this situation, he refuses to slay the mother because he doesn't want to experience the guilt he did when he slew the mother wolf. Daniel does not want to repeat the past. He'll have to find another way to afford the medicine.


Mental Constraints vs Physical Constraints
As stated earlier, mental constraints are more effective at portraying and conveying your OC as it shows the background as well as the internal motive of your OC. Compared to a physical constraint, which can sometimes be cured using third-party influences such as medicine or artificial limbs, mental constraints take root within the mind and as a result, are much harder to overcome, especially if your character is afflicted by stubbornness. In the situation where your OC receives the option to receive limit-breaker for their constraints, physical conditions can be removed quickly as opposed to mental constraints which must be carefully pulled by the roots. While physical constraints can give your character a form of vulnerability (ie unable to walk), mental constraints give a different form of vulnerability. Allow me to elaborate, compare an OC who cannot walk and an OC who is a coward. Both of them are armed with a sword, but neither can defend themselves from incoming hostiles unless special conditions are met. You may even associate both constraints if you please. For example, you can have a super strong OC who cannot tap into his strength because of his lack of confidence in his own abilities. A mental barrier is also causing a physical barrier and can also be vice versa if you can write it.

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:) this is very nice.

I just recently started making my own unicorn pony and I was still anxious about what power he should specialize in if he does. -w- this is very helpful
:) thanks

This is a pretty handy guide you have here. I would like to offer my thoughts and opinions on the topic.

First, on a technical note, you might want to specify that this is a guide to balancing powers, unless you plan to add to this with other balancing issues. I'm also a bit uncomfortable with balancing a power around its use in combat, because I honestly don't think combat has any place in the Equestrian universe. In fact, I would avoid calling them "powers" due to its combat-oriented connotations. Talents I find to be a more appropriate word.

What you refer to as a physical constraint I will be refering to as a handicap. I rarely see handicapped ponies, and for good reason too. Ponies in Equestria are well taken care of and are typically in good health. Of course there are still handicapped ponies, but as you said, physical constraints shouldn't be avoided unless it's a critical part to the character. The way Equestria is built actively attempts to prevent defomities in its population, and it's shown to work. 99% of ponies are fit as a fiddle.

What you refer to as a mental constraint I will be refering to as personality or a conflict of interest, because I don't find it to be a constraint of any sort. Everypony is unique in their experiences and how they shape that pony's perspectives and personality. From these, a pony decides what is right and wrong and thus their morals are established. Anything that goes against these morals generates a conflict of interest, in which the pony must make a decision about what is more important to them. This inner struggle can be more complex the grayer the issue is. In short, I agree with you that mental constraints really help develop a character!

About balancing good traits with bad is a misconception, in my opinion. You don't need to give a bad trait to a character simply because they have a good one, or even too many good ones. Instead, you should change your perspective and flip some of these good trait. Each positive trait could simply be the bright side of a two sided coin, but what lies on the opposite side? Ask yourself what could be a possible negative result of having this seemingly positive trait and would that be the case with my character? You can find a lot of flaws with traits simply by asking why they are there. Most likely it came to be in order to prevent or cover up a negative trait or experience.

A few examples: Why am I honest? Because I lied once and somepony got hurt because of it. Now I can say I'm scared of lying or I feel guilty when I'm forced to lie or keep secrets. Why am I really fast? Because I was teased for being slow, so I trained hard! Now I can say I'm self conscious and I conform to how society precieves me.

On a final note, I would like to point out something I always consider when adding any sort of element to my characters. Regardless of how strong or weak an attribute of a character is, I measure it against my Willing Suspension of Disbelief (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief). I don't ask if it is too strong, I ask if it's believable in this universe. Let's be honest, the ability to move the sun at will is probably overpowered, but in this universe, it's established that weather does not move on its own, so it's plausable to assume the sun doesn't move by itself either. Even so, moving something like the sun requires an alicorn princess whose only special talent is specifically moving the sun. The title "Alicorn Princess" was probably earned conisdering the established hierarchy in Equestria and what Twilight had to do to become one, so I'm not going to say Princess Celestia won the lottery to become an alicorn or a princess. No sign of a negative trait to balance this, though, but I still find it balanced. Think a bit about it.

I probably have more to say, but I don't remember anything else at the moment. As always, though, good luck with your OCs! Remember I'm always available to evaluate them!

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I may also be adding and editing this guide in the future thanks to the contribution from other members such as Gracie Sky. Feel free to voice out your opinions.