#Buffing Party Member | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thatlittleegyptologist · 5 months

Note

what other weird/niche ways of committing treason in the uk do you know of?

Depends on whether it's petty treason (common law) or high treason (against the reigning monarch). But you can't really get 'niche' ways of committing treason because the law is pretty clear on it. I mostly know ways in which it's now defunct to do so, i.e. they've been overwritten with newer laws so they're not really applicable anymore, but they're still technically a law. This has been argued in both 2008, when the Law Commission deemed treason an 'Ancient Crime' and thus not really applicable anymore to modern society, and then again in 2019 when it was put forth that the archaic law should be reformed. Nothing on that front has happened yet, what with the Pandemic and subsequent implosion of the Tory Party, but it's being worked on.

The Treason Act of 1351 had the act of a wife killing her husband (but not the other way around) or a servant killing their master, listed as 'petty treason.' Basically, anything that would be considered 'an act against those to whom they swore faith and obedience' would fall under this. Thankfully, it's no longer considered treason. It is still considered murder. So...y'know...don't try this at home.

The Treason Act gets updated every so often: 1531-1534 (Henry VIII fuckery), 1702, 1790, 1795 (clearly big on treason in the 1700s), 1814, 1842 (this one adds the crime of 'weapon in the monarch's presence'), 1848, 1998. Technically the 1351 set of laws are still on the books as they were updated in 2013 with the Succession of the Crown Act (to allow women to directly inherit regardless of birth order). This is why I said we update things rather than remove them because oh boy undoing everything from 1351? No thanks.

High Treason was death by being hanged, drawn, and quartered but only until 1814 when it was removed. It didn't mean, however, that there wasn't a death penalty for it, which there was until 1998 when it was changed to life imprisonment. The last High Treason trial in the UK was in 1945 when William Joyce (or 'Lord Haw-Haw') an American born Nazi and BUF member was arrested in Germany after effectively 'defecting' to the Nazi's and thus it became a crime against sovereign and country. He was hanged in 1946.

Oh and a funny thing: they created the Treachery Act 1940, because they realised they couldn't prosecute Nazi's under the Treason Act 1695 (there's a weird reason they had to use this one and not the 1848 one and it's to do with technicalities) due to the Act of Treason having it's own special rules and thus generally inapplicable despite being An Act against Country and Sovereign. This was an emergency act that only lasted the length of the war, became inactive and was repealed in 1968 (or 1973 in Scotland and N.I.) where it reverted back to the 1351 Treason Law. This is why 'Lord Haw-Haw' was tried with the 1351 Law and not the 1940 Act.

You can read the 1351 Treason Act online here in its original Old French or Middle English (there is a modern English too, I just like seeing old ass language). This is, of course, very short because it's from 1351, but subsequent updates (which you can find if you futz about on the site) are longer.

#I'm well aware my country is built upon centuries of fuckery and it's very compelling

83 notes · View notes

ace-t-rex-in-space · 3 months

Text

Hot Take: Mochi Mayhem needed more story to it

I have a little bit of a pet-peeve of when media needs to create more media to explain itself? I feel like in the story of Scarlet and Violet you don't get the connection between the 3 and Pecharunt. If you want to know you have to watch the YouTube Video Posted on the Pokemon YouTube Channel To get the missing parts of the story. But why couldn't we get this info while playing the game?

Like Pecharunt canonically had Carmine under its control first, and we know Percharunt can control what people say, etc. So why couldn't Pecharunt use Carmine to vocalize why it was suddenly possessing the people of Kitakami? It also would have been nice to see Carmine have a bigger role than just Mochi Mochi dance. It would have been cool to see Pecharunt use Carmine and Nemona together as a defense against the protag and Kieran. That would have made for a cool double battle, especially with Carmine's Pokemon's assistance moves buffing Nemona's team. Or having both Carmine and Nemona get new team members for that final battle to increase the difficulty of that final fight.

It would have been nice too to see more people struggle with the brainwashing as well. For example, have Nemona gain a little more control during battles or have Carmine snap out of control for a second if Kieran gets hurt. I would have loved to see that little bit of struggle and to have actual dialog like when you have the 3 and Ogerpon in your party against Pechant for that final battle before everyone is free from mind control.

52 notes · View notes

prismatic-glow · 5 months

Text

new to genshin and confused? here's what EVERY character does! || p7 - hydro

Here, we are, the final part of this series! For those of you who are new, welcome to the series where I explain what every character does in simpler terms than those essays hoyo keeps writing

The final part is Hydro and honestly the only reason I did it last was because I was trying to figure out how to rewrite some of the abilities in only 2 sentences (for anybody curious, that's my process for making these since if i let myself go any longer it will end up waaaay too long)

Too see my previous posts in this series, i'll link them at the end of this one

let's begin!

╰┈➤ 4 stars

Xingqiu (Support/Off-field damage)

❥ Skill: Deals Hydro damage and creates rainswords that orbit your character. When your character takes damage, a rainsword will break, heal them (from passive), and reduce the damage that was taken ❥ Burst: Deals Hydro damage and creates an effect. Under the effect, your characters' normal attacks will trigger sword rain attacks that deal Hydro damage and the number of rainswords you have will always be at maximum ❥ Roles: Off-field Hydro application, Off-field damage ❥ Damage scales off of: Attack ❥ Healing scales off of: HP (not recommended to build him with HP)

Barbara (Support)

❥ Skill: Deals Hydro damage and creates a loop around your character that periodically heals them and applies them with Hydro. The loop will apply Hydro to enemies it touches and during its duration, Barbara's normal attacks will heal all of your characters ❥ Burst: Heals all of your party members ❥ Roles: Healer, Budget Hydro character in bloom teams, Charged attack DPS (mainly a meme build but can actually be decent) ❥ Damage scales off of: Attack ❥ Healing scales off of: HP

Candace (Support)

❥ Skill: Tap deals Hydro damage and if used at the moment she is attacked, deals Hydro damage equal to that of a fully-charged hold skill (from passive). Hold creates a barrier that, when destroyed or released, causes her to deal increased Hydro damage ❥ Burst: Deals Hydro damage and grants your characters a Hydro infusion and an increase to the elemental damage dealt by their normal attacks + an additional increase to this based on her HP (from passive). When you switch characters, a wave will be unleashed dealing Hydro damage (max 3 triggers) ❥ Roles: Hydro infusion, Off-field Hydro application (at C6), Hydro DPS ❥ Damage scales off of: HP ❥ Buff (from passive) scales off of: HP

╰┈➤ 5 stars

Mona (Support)

❥ Skill: Creates a taunt that continuously deals Hydro damage in a small AoE and additional Hydro damage when it expires. Holding the skill will allow Mona to dash back quickly before creating the taunt. ❥ Burst: Deals Hydro damage and applies a bubble to enemies that can immobilize weaker enemies. When an enemy with the bubble takes damage, it will be destroyed to deal Hydro damage and cause the enemies to take increased damage for a short duration ❥ Alternate sprint: Mona becomes water and can move around quickly, applying Hydro to enemies she hits when reappearing. If she is in this state for at least 2 seconds before reappearing, she will create a taunt with less duration and lower damage than that of her skill (from passive) ❥ Roles: Damage buffing, Off-field Hydro application, DPS ❥ Damage scales off of: Attack ❥ Buff (from passive) scales off of: HP

Childe (DPS)

❥ Skill: Enters a melee state where his normal and charged attacks are executed with dual blades and deal Hydro damage. Hitting a marked opponent in this state will cause a small shockwave of Hydro damage to be released. ❥ Burst: In his ranged state, he will deal Hydro damage, refund some energy, and mark opponents that were hit. In his melee state, he will deal Hydro damage, trigger a Hydro explosion on marked enemies, and clear any marks ❥ Charged attack: A fully-charged aimed shot in ranged mode will apply a mark to any non-marked enemies it hits and deal 3 hits of Hydro damage to any marked enemies it hits. Defeating a marked enemy with any attack unleashes a Hydro explosion that marks any enemies it hits ❥ Roles: Hydro DPS, On-field Hydro application ❥ Damage scales off of: Attack

Kokomi (Support/DPS)

❥ Skill: Deals Hydro damage and summons a jellyfish. The jellyfish will periodically deal AoE Hydro damage and heal your active character ❥ Burst: Deals Hydro damage and enters a state that increases her normal/charged attack damage and allows them to heal all of your character when they hit. It will also allow her to walk on water and will refresh the duration of her Jellyfish if it is present when the burst is cast (from passive) ❥ Passives: Kokomi's crit rate is permanently decreased by 100 but her healing bonus is increased by 25%. In her burst's state, normal/charged attack damage will additionally be increased by her healing bonus% ❥ Roles: Healer, Off-field Hydro application, DPS ❥ Damage scales off of: Attack (Skill), HP (Burst) ❥ Self-damage buffs scale off of: HP, Healing bonus ❥ Healing scales off of: HP

Ayato (DPS)

❥ Skill: Deals Hydro damage and enters a state that causes his normal attacks to become quick slashes of Hydro damage which can be automatically preformed by holding attack. When these slashes hit, Ayato will gain a stack that increases their damage ❥ Burst: Deals Hydro damage and creates a field. The field will continuously rain down Hydro damage and increases the normal attack damage of characters within it ❥ Roles: DPS, On-field Hydro application, Off-field Hydro application ❥ Damage scales off of: Attack ❥ Damage increase from stacks scale off of: HP

Yelan (Support/Off-field damage)

❥ Skill: Moves swiftly and marks enemies with a lifeline that explodes when the movement ends, dealing Hydro damage. By holding, Yelan moves swiftly for a short duration and is able to control the direction of her movement ❥ Burst: Deals Hydro damage creates an effect that unleashes coordinated Hydro attacks when your characters use normal attacks or when her skill deals damage. During its duration, the effect will continually increase the damage dealt by your active character every second, up to 50% ❥ Charged attack: After spending 5s off-field, Yelan enters a state that allows her next aimed shot to fire a quickly-charging arrow that deals AoE Hydro damage. After using her skill, each enemy hit grants her an additional chance to enter this state ❥ Roles: Off-field damage, Off-field hydro application, Damage buffer, DPS (mainly at C6) ❥ Damage scales off of: HP (including special charged attack)

Nilou (Support)

❥ Skill: Enters a state that allows her to unleash 3 dance steps that unleash waves of Hydro damage either by pressing her elemental skill or normal attack. If the third dance step is a normal attack the state will be extended and if it is an elemental skill, create an aura around your character that allows them to apply Hydro to enemies that come into contact with it. ❥ Burst: Deals Hydro damage and marks enemies hit with an effect that will explode after a short duration, dealing another hit of Hydro damage ❥ Passives: If you only have Hydro and Dendro characters, the third dance step of her skill will cause your characters to enter a state that turns any bloom cores created into "bountiful cores" that explode more quickly with a larger AoE. The damage of these cores is increased by Nilou's max HP (9% for every 1k HP she has over 30,000, max 400%) ❥ Roles: Bloom team enabler ❥ Damage scales off of: HP ❥ Bountiful core DMG increase scales off of: HP

Neuvillette (DPS)

❥ Skill: Deals Hydro damage and creates 3 droplets that will heal him when absorbed by the charging of his CA ❥ Burst: Unleashes 3 waves of Hydro damage and creates 6 droplets that will heal him when absorbed by the charging of his CA ❥ Charged atttack: Unleashes torrents that continuously deal Hydro damage to opponents in an area in front of him and drain his HP. This attack must be charged up first for a short duration that can be sped up by absorbing droplets (He can move around/rotate both while charging and unleashing this attack) ❥ Passive: Triggering a Hydro elemental reaction grants him 1 stack that increases his charged attack damage. He can have up to 3 stacks but each specific reaction can only grant 1 stack ❥ Roles: DPS, On-field application ❥ Damage scales off of: HP (Skill, Burst, Charged Attack) ❥ Self-healing scales off of: HP

Furina (Support/Off-field damage)

❥ Skill: If she is in her Ousia state, deal Hydro damage and summon 3 salon members that, for a set duration, will automatically attack enemies to deal Hydro damage and drain the HP of your characters. If she is in her Pneuma state, summons a singer that, for a set duration, periodically heals your active character ❥ Burst: Deals Hydro damage and grants all of your characters an effect that gains stacks when your characters' HP change. Under the effect, your characters' damage and healing bonus are increased based on the number of stacks you have. ❥ Charged atttack: Deals AoE physical damage and switches her Arkhe alignment, immediately changing the effect of her skill (if it is currently active, her summons will immoderately change). Furina's default alignment is Ousia. ❥ Roles: Damage buffer, Off-field damage, Off-field Hydro application, Enables 4pc Marechausse Hunter on many characters ❥ Damage scales off of: HP ❥ Healing scales off of: HP

OMG WE'RE DONE?? I'm honestly so proud of myself for actually sticking with this lol. I hope you found this guide helpful!!

Since this is the final part of the series, I guess i'll touch a bit on my process.

Each of these posts takes maybe, 30 minutes? It got a lot faster with each new one since I got a bit more used to it. Now, I unfortunately don't touch grass so I already know what every ability does but as I wrote I would always cross-reference with the game. This was mainly to make sure I wasn't misremembering anything or leaving parts out but sometimes I also used it to figure out how to word things.

As I stated at the beginning, my main goal with each ability is to sum it up in 2 sentences or less. This was pretty easy for some but I honestly think this limited me a bit in others and maaay have caused me to overuse commas (i love using commas lol). For some more tricky kits I worked around this by including separate sections for some passives although this was mainly used as a way to highlight significant parts of a character's kit that weren't from their skills.

For anybody curious, here's what I think were the hardest kits to do from each element (i'm also using this opportunity to link each previous post)

Cryo - Freminet, but Eula's burst is pretty close

Pyro - Honestly none of them were that difficult but if I had to choose one it might be Lyney because his kit has a lot of different parts to it. Dehya was also a bit tricky but mainly when it came to wording things

Electro - Definitely Raiden. Her burst just does so many things that it was hard to squeeze them all in. The main issue with it was the part about her stacks since they are decently important but I feel like they kinda got squished in awkwardly at the end. As I was writing it I honestly felt like they seemed more like a passive than a feature of her burst

Dendro - Nahida. Looking back on it I think I was able to break down each component of her kit pretty well but writing hers felt overwhelming. There is just a lot going on in her kit especially with the different interactions her burst has

Geo - Probably Itto. I went into it feeling pretty confident but explaining his stacks got quite tricky. I knew beforehand that Ushi getting hit would give him stacks but I didn't know the exact other skills that would give him them. So as I read his kit to double check, I had to figure out a way to squeeze in mentions of the other ways to get stacks. While writing it and honestly while writing this, I feel like I almost could have left out the details as to what gives him stacks? Like imo it isn't necessary to understanding his kit and general playstyle but not having them in felt like I was leaving a major part of his abilities unexplained. I think he would have benefited the most from having a stacks

Anemo - OK FIRST OFF REREADING THE POST TO CHECK WHAT I WROTE FOR EACH CHARACTER I REALIZED I FORGOT TO CHANGE KAZUHA'S NAME TO WANDERER WHEN I COPY PASTED THE TEXT AS A TEMPLATE LMAO. I just fixed it now so i hope nobody noticed lol. Speaking of him, he was probably the most difficult. Squeezing in every part of his special state was quite tricky which is why I didn't mention points and instead referred to it as duration

Hydro - Despite what you may think, Nilou actually wasn't that hard. I think I struggled the most with Childe because riptide just does a lot of things in a lot of different ways. Other than that, wording Neuvilette's charges attack was a bit hard

Thank you for supporting me throughout this series!! Seeing every like, reblog, and comment genuinely makes my day because I get to see how people actually care about what I do and I love knowing that i've helped ya'll out!!

For anybody finding me through this post/series and wanting to know what i'll be making next, my next two posts will probably be talking about each traveler variant and then talking about all the characters that can be obtained for free

I also want to make content that isn't strictly aimed at begginers so I plan on making some account-improvement advice (my account used to be a disaster so hopefully i can use that experience to help) and maybe talking about every artifact set?

that's all for today! Remember to drink water, go outside, and take a break from the screen every once in a while!!

26 notes · View notes

slugdragoon · 18 days

Text

RPG Role Analysis Series #11 - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Continuing on from my earlier post about Paper Mario 64 (Part I, Part II), I wanted to talk about The Thousand Year Door, because I think a lot of elements of the game are a second attempt at executing the concept, and as a result, a lot of the character design decisions are variations on the original game. Several party members are designed to fit the same overall role, so their differences make a nice case study. A lot of what I say will build off of my PM64 posts, and I'll see if I can fit it all into one.

One major difference that is core to the game itself: Party Members have their own HP now, so where they fall on that curve signals something about their role.

Goombella - Just like Goombario, Goombella has access to Headbonk, Tattle, & Multibonk so she sizes up enemies and can focus down one enemy (of some kinds) with good input. She swaps Charge for Rally Wink, so instead of powering herself up, she gives Mario an extra turn. Multibonk can still focus down a single enemy (and she gets access to it earlier than Goombario), but since she isn't self-buffing, it requires timed inputs for longer. Giving Mario another move can be really powerful, since he's the strongest, but Goombella's variant of an strategist character deemphasizes personal combat just that slight bit more, but essentially uses a Haste effect. You also get a permanent Tattle Log, which is a new UI option, but it's her domain, so I'll give her an edge toward the strategy side over Goombario. Her HP is dead average.

Koops - Like Kooper, Koops gets Shell Toss and Power Shell, attacking grounded and low-hovering enemies, but ditches the ability to daze enemies for Shell Shield, which protects Mario from damage (but crucially not himself). Instead of fire damage, his stronger ground-based Shell move ignores Defense, which is also battering ram-like, but really more of a cleave/pierce than bashing them regardless of Defense would be, but Shell Shield makes me want to call him a shield knight. Oddly, Koops has slightly low HP, but has 1 point of Defense and blocks 1 incoming damage, so he isn't a tank, but blocks well. This notably wasn't true of Kooper because PM64 Party members didn't have their own HP.

Flurrie - Flurrie was a fun one once I realized. As a kid, I thought she was supposed to be some kind of Boo, now I know she's meant to be a wind elemental of some kind. Her abilities at first glance seem like they borrow from Lakilester (Gale Force is similar to Hurricane, Dodgy Fog to Cloud Nine) and Sushie (maybe? Her Body Slam is like Belly Flop), but no, she's a vampire, dude. Her unique move is Lip Lock, which steals a decent amount of HP, it's a life drain ability, but consider the ones she borrows more closely as well. Her version of Cloud Nine (granted its still targeted at Mario) is reflavoured to fog? Fog and life draining are totally vampire traits. Also, Gale Force is a multi-target instant death spell, and unlike the ones from PM64, you do get experience from it instead of scaring or blowing enemies away (you do blow them away, but mechanically it's analogous to them being defeated). So Flurrie is a vampire lord that summons violent storms. Pretty cool.

Yoshi - I think Yoshi is a monk? Ground Pound hits one enemy many times, but for small amounts of damage, so it can be blocked by armor, and Stampede (though it's flavoured as summoning a bunch of Yoshis) is the same but with more hits against random enemies. These remind me of a flurry of blows-flavoured unarmed attack, with some mobility between multiple targets. Gulp is a throw that grabs the closest enemy (physical contact is a factor, because it doesn't work on enemies on fire, so it really is a grad and throw) and tosses them into the enemy behind to damage them both, ignoring Defense. Mini Egg is weird, it's also multi-hit to random enemies, but can shrink enemies? I don't know where that fits, but ultimately being Tiny decreases their Attack power, so it's like catching them off guard by battering them with consecutive small hits.

Vivian - Vivian, like Bow, can hide Mario and themselves completely for a turn (and in the overworld), avoiding damage but skipping a turn. Already thinking kind of rogue-ish for that alone Their basic attack can target anyone and leaves enemies with a burn, but in this game that's just damage over time. Vivian is surely fire-themed, but this is like your basic Poison mechanically, so another point to rogue. Fiery Jynx hits all enemies, ignores Defense, burns them, and is definitely fire elemental mechanically, because it hits Ice-based enemies for more damage, so I'll call that one elemental magic, but the pierce/apply burn(poison?) effect is also like an assassin rogue though now with a clear fire elemental component. Vivian can also mass-confuse enemies. They've got all the traits to be some kind of fire mage/assassin hybrid.

Admiral Bobbery - Bobbery is obviously pretty comparable to Bombette from PM64, and his Bomb move works the same way, and overworld ability to bomb walls is similar, but his other moves have changed. Bobbery also has the highest HP of any party member, making him pretty tanky. His new moves include throwing a set of time bombs that explode on a later turn, Hold Fast which prepares him to punish enemies with revenge damage for hitting him directly, and the move Bob-ombast which is a mass-damage explosion which also sends flying enemies to the ground, as well as flip some armored enemies. Bomb Squad's time bombs can hit flying enemies, but it's hitbox-based, so grounding them first could help with this. If enemies had enough HP to require this, a good strategy could be to set up the bombs and ground/unarm everyone on the turn they go off, though I think by then most enemies will already be finished, and Bob-ombast is expensive to cast. He could be some kind of patient trapper with a Counter ability, I'm just not entirely sure what to call him overall.

Ms. Mowz - Love Slap pierces Defense, Kiss Thief steals items, and Tease attempts to daze all enemies (which this time lowers their accuracy instead of stunning them). Below average HP. Her overworld ability helps you find items. So straightforward, Ms. Mowz is a thief rogue both in the narrative and mechanically. Her one other move is Smooch, which heals Mario, but she isn't meant to be healing very much IMO. This is by far the highest FP cost move of any Party Member in the game, and I don't think it was meant to be a reliable healing option as much as it is a way to flavour her as a femme fatale.

So that's it for TTYD! Probably I'll do Super Mario RPG some day, I'm not sure the other Mario RPGs have much in the way of character class analogues between them, but I'm not sure this works for the other Paper Mario games and I'm more familiar with the first two Mario & Luigi games where all you party members do very similar things to one another, maybe later games in the series would surprise me.

#paper mario #paper mario ttyd #the thousand year door #ttyd #rpg #game design #rpg design #jrpg #rpg classes #video games #gamecube

9 notes · View notes

vivi-the-goblin · 2 years

Text

5e Mechanic Variant

I'll admit I don't have every book, nor have I played a ton of systems (6 in total), so I might've just reinvented something that exists. I haven't heard of it though, and its been successful in the sessions I tried it in. It's a variant on 5e's group skill checks. When the group is trying to do something together, instead of a DC 15 four times, you'd do a DC 15 times four, so DC 60. The players add their results together and see if they can beat the DC. What this does is let the players who specialized in a skill help the others out, instead of rolling a 25 and it being functionally the same as a 15. In my opinion there are two primary types of skill checks that can benefit from this. The first is "everyone succeeds or we fail" For instance stealth, the paladin clanking behind might not get YOU caught but it will kill the stealth section. Doesn't matter if you got double the DC, you can either go it alone (killing session pacing and abandoning the party) or you can end stealth. Plus everyone is actively looking for you now, so you might suddenly get found anyway. Now the rogue is showing them the proper path or making small distractions to cover the barbarian's stumble. You don't have party members who feel like they failed everyone, and it gives benefit for specializing because you can help the party. The second is in team checks. Lets say the barbarian wants to topple a stone pillar or push a giant boulder down a hill. He could get advantage from the help action 10 times over, it's not going to make him able to move 4000 lbs of stone. This lets you say "It's like a DC 80, this thing's huge. Then the party gets together and keeps trying (I set a limit on times you can try a strength check before exhaustion) before finally getting that 26+18+14+22 and succeeding. It also lets them know something's technically possible without letting it be within easy reach, giving them a sort of puzzle on how to reach that goal (getting help, using pulleys for advantage, etc) The closest thing I know of this in 5e is "If half the people make it everyone does", but I find this works better. The basic reason is "You work together and overcome the DC 80 skill check" sounds impressive and feels like everyone contributed to a difficult goal nobody could accomplish on their own. "ok cool, the two specialists passed so we'll just call it a win" makes me feel like you shouldn't have bothered asking everyone to roll, just make it a single person check if my roll is just meaningless.

The more complicated reason- it gives the specialized players a reason to continue their specialization. Think of the Rogue, for an easy example. They chose the sneak class to be good at sneaking, right? well now they're level 11, and they don't get to play anymore. They can't roll lower than a 10 and even a CR 30 can't find them without proficiency in perception. The fun minigame they built a character around becomes "I'd like to-" "Don't bother, you're in the next room now, moving on." Future stealth bonuses don't functionally do much. Also your ranger's still angry because they have high stealth too but don't get to use it. With this model, keep buffing your stealth, disguise, whatever, it still helps! It lets you lower the effective DC for your friends. And other people who are proud of their score but don't get to use it because you're better? Well they're really useful now too! Use a group deception to infiltrate, the bard patching holes in the fighter's story. Group acrobatics to make that leap, the others benefitting from having a perfect example to copy and someone to correct their form. Sure, in some cases it's not that functionally different from base rule, but it just feels better to me. I recommend at least trying out something like this. It has worked great for me so far.

#dnd 5e #dnd 5e homebrew #5e homebrew #5e #homebrew #5e variant rules

400 notes · View notes

dukeofdogs · 10 days

Text

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game | Wild Party Bundle

They other party-members observed, with a whole range of emotions, the effect seventeen potions, eight mind-control spells, four magic rings, some unidentified leaves, and an inspiring bagpipe melody have on a man.

Avatars: Concerned Skald, Highland Madman, Over-buffed Individual, Elven Sorceress, Vampire Lordling, Eager Thief

#gwent #gwent: assets

8 notes · View notes

dailycharacteroption · 29 days

Text

Retrograde Revision 3: Archaeologist

(art by BorjaPindado on DeviantArt, featured in Arkham Horror)

And it’s time for another revisit to some of my oldest entries on the blog, and this time, it’s the archaeologist!

I’ve said many times that certain archetypes of certain classes feel almost like entirely different careers and vocations than offshoots of the same class, and today’s entry, from Ultimate Combat, is what actually introduced me to the concept!

While this archetype has more in common with Dr. Indiana Jones or Dr. Evelyn Carnahan than it does with the real thing, it’s easy to see why bard was used as the basis for bringing this concept to life, even if the investigator rivals it in many ways. After all, a bard has access to a deep pool of knowledge and their spellcasting can be either flavored as them studying the arcane and occult secrets of ancient civilization or simply a practical skill to pick up for field work in a world where the relics of the past often have strong opinions about being recovered by modern civilizations.

This archetype also does a good job of expressing “bard that is trying to emulate the traditional skillset of a rogue.”

Regardless of that, in a world of ancient wonders and past civilizations, it only makes sense that archaeology would exist in some form in a fantasy setting, recovering relics for historical study or profit, depending on who’s doing the digging. Both can be equally devoted to the work though.

Whether it’s boldness or some form of supernatural luck, these archaeologists can draw upon seemingly otherworldly fortune when they need to, functioning similarly to a combination of inspire courage and inspire competence, but also applying to their saves and only affecting them. Insert your jokes about humming adventure music while they perform activities here.

They also train to notice small details as well as disabling mechanisms, both important skills in the trap-laden tombs they often visit.

They also gain both uncanny dodge and evasion, similar to a rogue, deftly avoiding danger.

Additionally, these bards also learn many different talents associated with rogues, including a few advanced ones as well.

This archetype is good for those that want to be a problem-solver for the party. Yes, they are especially good at dealing with traps and noticing details, but they also have access to both bardic spells and rogue talents, making them very customizable. I recommend a combination of buffing spells, utility spells, and a mix of utility and combat talents for a character that can do a little bit of everything though specializing ain’t bad either.

Unfortunately, real-world archaeology, particularly western archaeology, while scientific and historic in nature, still has nasty elements of tomb robbing in it’s own history, relics of the past curated in museums far from the very people whose cultures those items are a record of their heritage. Now, the Pathfinder Society in the Lost Omens setting subverts this by having lodges in multiple countries so that the relics deemed safe for public viewing can be put on display for the people whom find them culturally significant. Of course, villainous archaeologist associated with the Aspis Consortium could make good villains as well.

The idol of Xaxitl has vanished from the museum it was displayed in. Some blame the locals retrieving it from those who defiled their ancestors temples, but Professor Herris believes it was stolen by members of a daemonic cult and political party he has run across before, seeking to use the idol’s dark power to their own ends. The biggest challenge may not be retrieving the artifact, but dealing with the professor’s abrasive personality, however.

Isea Ferdt, the most knowledgeable authority on ancient mountain elf culture has gone missing. She was last heard from planning an expedition to a newly discovered dig site in the Amarac foothills. As certain signs depicted in mountain elf culture are beginning to manifest, discovering her whereabouts, and perhaps rescue, has become paramount, as only her expertise can correctly interpret these prophecies.

Doomsday cults are often crackpots establishments ran by deranged, but otherwise relatively harmless madmen. The Cult of the Blinding Eye, however, has recently become tenfold more dangerous than before, as if they were being guided towards their endgame by someone with the knowledge of archaic evil that they otherwise lack.

#pathfinder #retrograde revision #archetype #bard #archaeologist #elf

9 notes · View notes

moorheadthanyoucanhandle · 5 months

Text

PROPHET SHARE

Opening this weekend:

The Oath--The warrior Moroni lives in a cave in a primordial forest. The strapping fellow is the last surviving member of his clan, exterminated by Aaron, the King of a rival tribe. One day he comes across Bathsheba, a beautiful concubine who has escaped Aaron's clutches. He gives her shelter from the storm, and they gradually bond. But of course, the cruel Aaron isn't done with either of them.

From his name alone, you may recognize that this film's hero is based on a figure from The Book of Mormon. The last of that tome's prophets, Moroni is supposed to have stashed the gold plates on which it was written, and after his death is supposed to have revealed them, as an angel, to Joseph Smith near Palmyra, New York in 1823.

In this movie, he's played by director-co-writer Darin Scott, buffed and bearded and armored in a reasonable approximation of the Viggo Mortensen-Alexander Skarsgård mold, but with little sense of barbaric danger (despite some broadsword combat, the movie is only rated PG-13). He's a studly but saintly paragon; at one point Bathsheba playfully tells him "You are boring." She's not entirely wrong, alas--he murmurs his lines, and spends a lot of his footage meditating or gazing into the spiritual distance--but he has a dash of guileless, unassuming Mormon sweetness that makes him endearing anyway.

Besides, the heavies liven up the picture. Most amusing is Billy Zane as the rotten Aaron, belting out his lines from behind a Muppet-like ball of frizzy beard in what at times sounds for all the world like an Irish accent. Karina Lombard is formidable as a lethal archer, as is Eugene Brave Rock as Aaron's henchman. "Why fight for a soulless coward?" Moroni wails at them at one point; it struck me as a good question for the contemporary Republican party.

Whether any of this is scripturally accurate or doctrinally sound in LDS terms, I'm clearly in no position to say. But taken simply as a sword-and-sandal romance-adventure, the movie is pleasant, using breathtaking New York State locations to (mostly) belie its budget limitations. The first half is sort of slow going, and the New-Agey music gets a little oppressive at times, but when we finally get to the confrontation between hero and villains, it's pretty satisfying. It's certainly no sillier in any way that I could see than, say, Conan the Barbarian or the Lord of the Rings flicks. And it's at least as heartfelt.

#the oath #darin scott #billy zane #karina lombard #eugene brave rock #nora dale

13 notes · View notes

dd-dailybarks · 2 months

Text

"Hold this powder under your tongue."

#Arbalest #Focus Quote #Buffing Party Member #Darkest Dungeon

0 notes

hollowtones · 1 year

Note

if you were a party member in paper mario, what kind of abilities would you have?

Some kind of focus on buffing the party & taunting enemies to deal retaliatory damage. Probably a Bob-ulk or a Chain Chomp. In the overworld it'd be about busting up cracks in walls and stuff.

82 notes · View notes

game-boy-pocket · 6 months

Text

Well, today I beat the Super Mario RPG remake. Only 4 days did it take, but i'm a veteran who knows this game very well and I was using almost every moment of free time I had to play. Not that i'm saying less experienced people are in for a 100 hour game, it's a very short game for an RPG... but I kind of like that it's not overly long. If any series can get away with being a short RPG, it'd be Mario.

I have almost no complaints with this. There's a few changes I don't care for, but none that are significant enough for me to care that much about.... except for two things...

Enemies that know sleep abilities really love to spam them, and it annoyingly reactivates the sleep status. Yeah there's accessories that prevent sleep, but I don't always know when these enemies are going to have these abilities, and they didn't spam them so much in the originals anyway.

The other one is the fight against the boss, Boomer. There's frame rate issues here that throw off the timed hits. I couldn't get ANY timed hits right because of the lag.

Those are the only real significant blemishes on the game. But they're not significant enough for this to not be the definitive way to play the game for me ( I still might pop in the SNES version once in a while for shits and giggles, but this is better in almost every way )

I will say, this remake solved one problem I had with the original. Once I got Bowser and Peach in my party, I almost never switched Mallow or Geno back in. I liked them. But Bowser was a powerhouse and Peach was an OP healer. There were only three active party members, and no switching out mid battle. Because of that, the only time i've ever beat SMRPG playing mostly as Mario Mallow and Geno was me forcing myself to do it as a self imposed challenge run.

Well this game feels like it buffed both Mallow and Geno, or in Geno's case, fixed him so that his special attacks actually functioned as intended. It gave Mallow a purpose of finding out weaknesses and reistences, as well as getting completed entries in the monster log book. The triple specials are also different for every party combination, and if one party member falls in battle, or is put to sleep, or just because you feel like it, they can be swapped out in mid battle. So for once, I was actually using my whole party, and even swapping out strategically so I could buff someone with Geno's boost, or swapping in both Mallow and Peach to do a super healing move on specific turns, it was great, it feels like this is how the game should have worked to begin with.

Now it might sound like this change makes things a bit too easy... well first of all, let's not kid ourselves, Super Mario RPG is a very easy game, especially if you know what you're doing, and even if you don't grind... second of all, this game imposes limits on recovery items you can carry, so only six revival items instead of filling your whole inventory with them. They also introduce the occasional special enemy that provides more challenge and a frog coin on defeat... that's another issue addressed because Frog Coins were way too tough to come by. They're still rare in this game, but you no longer have to grind ridiculous jumping challenges to get them.

This remake is very faithful, but every mechanical change they made is more than welcome in my eyes.

I've taken a little peek at the post game, emphasis on little, I really don't know what all is in store for me, but I have a general idea of how it's going to go... how they've implemented it seems very clever, doesn't seem to step on the toes of the ending much. But it looks like it's going to be a hell of a lot tougher than the main game, so I may need to do some level grinding. I'm just glad there's still some things to do, because, and I know i've said this with almost every major release lately, i'm not ready to be done playing.

It feels so fucking good to be a fan of Mario RPG right now. I do hope the Thousand Year Door remake makes Paper Mario fans feel similarly happy. I still think it's an odd choice not to remake the N64 game first but the fans didn't campaign for that now did they? Here's hoping Mario and Luigi RPG fans have something to look forward to as well.

That's it for now, maybe i'll give further thoughts when I beat the post game, but this covers most of the important stuff I think.

#pocket plays #super mario rpg

10 notes · View notes

crowholtz · 1 year

Text

Nothing says Curse of Strahd like fighting Baba Lysaga, suffering a lot of npc ally casualties in the process, being absolutely exhausted and half-dead afterwards, only for Strahd to ambush you and try to romantically kidnap your party cleric (hi that's me), Ireena, and take the Tome and Holy Symbol from you while you're weak.

Nothing could have possibly prepared him for the possibility of us barricading ourselves in our vistani party member's caravan, having our shapeshifter turn into a fucking ROC, pick up the caravan, and fly away, being buffed by so many speed spells that they fly 1000ft in a turn. I suck at math but I THINK they were going a bit

over 100mph.

All the while Strahd is chasing us, flying and pelting spells at us, an excited grin on his face. We were exchanging spells right back at him, stunning him, Silencing him. Finally we got a Power Word: Stun off and he plummeted to the ground, and we got away.

That was one of my favorite moments in this entire campaign. HOLY SHIT. AGDKSHSJKS.

#cos blogging #curse of strahd #curse of strahd spoilers #that was just amazing #party: cursebreakers

45 notes · View notes

utilitycaster · 2 years

Note

Do you have any tips for a level 8 light cleric on how to be better at preventative healing? For context, I just joined a campaign where there's a house rule that healing from unconsciousness gives the healed target a level of exhaustion. Many guides for clerics tell you to wait until people are unconscious to healing word them, which would be detrimental in this campaign. When I asked a thread of self proclaimed dnd "optimizers" for advice, I was told by 3 people to wait until level 9 and stock up on diamond dust for greater restoration.

Hey anon,

So, to be honest, I hate the unconscious exhaustion rule, and so while I think the “optimizers” you spoke to aren’t dealing thoughtfully with your reality or actually listening to you, I do get where they are coming from. I also want to apologize for using this as an opportunity to vent a lot of stress, and have given you a brief summary in which I try to be normal and placed the venting at the bottom where you can ignore it.

The short-ish answer in which I am normal:

It’s ok and good to just heal people after they’ve taken a hit, and I actually disagree quite strongly with the strategy of waiting until people go unconscious to heal; pre-emptive healing is actually very smart. Also, talk to your party members! It is not metagaming to say “how are you doing”; it’s an acknowledgement that you cannot actually see the imaginary blood from their imaginary wounds. Build a strategy in which you use your cantrips and channel divinity, or if your stats permit, weapon attacks, to deal damage; and spam healing word. Alternately, if you’re willing to get up close and personal, Cure Wounds and Spiritual Weapon pair well together.

Buffing the party, particularly their HP, before combat is very useful. The spell “Aid” is your best friend. Casting Sanctuary on yourself and then focusing ONLY on buffs is not a bad idea either; Warding Bond and Beacon of Hope are also your friends.

This rule sucks and is very poorly balanced. It is worth talking to your DM about how it really hamstrings healers in particular, and has the potential to become a massive death spiral, and honestly isn’t fun or interesting. Ask them why they’ve chosen to use this house rule, and see if you can’t make the case for getting rid of it, because it is terrible.

The long answer in which I am unhinged, but am hopefully funny to someone other than myself, and largely say the same thing as was said above, plus more, is below the cut.

The good news? Always waiting until people are unconscious to heal them fucking sucks as a strategy even without this rule and people who say to do it are wrong. It presumes the DM isn’t going to have a particularly bloodthirsty enemy hit when you’re down; it presumes the wizard doesn’t throw an errant fireball; it presumes they won’t roll a nat 1 on the death save; it presumes the healer doesn’t get stunned or knocked out before they can get to people. Like, yes, sure, the last hit point is the only one that matters, but if they have 10 HP, and you heal them for 5 HP so they have 15 HP, and then they take a hit of 11 HP, then they are still up! Do you only fill your car up when it’s on empty? Do you only go grocery shopping when there’s nothing in your house but freezer burnt cauliflower, uncooked brown rice, and baker’s chocolate? Do you only go to sleep when you start swaying and being utterly unable to focus your eyes? Or do you ENGAGE in some fucking PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE and SELF CARE from time to time?

So I don’t have a formula or anything, and anyone who does have a formula is either psychic or overconfident, but having played a main healer, heal people when they seem to have taken a few hits or when they say “I’m in rough shape.” Lean heavily on decent damage cantrips (you’ve got potent spellcasting) and don’t hold back on using Radiance of the Dawn. If someone’s taken a lot of hits? Healing word them.

Some other things to consider:

Aid is an under-utilized low-level cleric spell that grants 3 of your allies 5 temp HP for 8 hours, without concentration. If you upcast it you increase the temp HP by 5 per level, ie, if you’re willing to use a single 4th level slot on this, that’s 45 HP you don’t need to healing word bit by bit.

In general, look at buffs. See below for why I think the actual solution is to tell your DM that this rule is hot garbage and they should get good; but until such time as that has been resolved I strongly advise taking advantage of the extensive passive damage options available to you. The reason why I think that telling clerics, specifically, to only heal when a PC goes down is so fucking bad is because the cleric spell list is literally fucking built on the presumption that you cast one thing and then spam heal. Spiritual weapon is a bonus action so that does assume you’re doing cure wounds instead but Spirit Guardians, Sanctuary, Beacon of Hope, Warding Bond, and Protection from Energy will all either protect you, do damage without you having to cast a spell, protect your allies, or optimize the healing you get. Also, pick up Mass Healing Word so that one person going down doesn’t turn into multiple people going down.

Tell your DM that this rule is dumb and bad. Maybe be more tactful than that, but also, maybe don’t! Because this rule fucking sucks. Even Rusty Quill Gaming, which was run in the far more unforgiving pathfinder, by someone who delights naught but misery and subpar financial management skills, did not have this rule. It really does make the role of the main healer about a thousand times less fun, particularly for a light cleric who has access to such things as scorching ray and fireball. I like playing a healer; I was a primary healer bard main for several years which really is perhaps the most non-damaging character you could play, but I still do not actually wish to be a healbot, and this pushes the healer towards that, and it’s fucking stupid and unfair and if I find whatever Reddit knuckledragger came up with it, I will make them require healing and take a point of exhaustion, that’s for fucking sure.

It’s a radical concept, I know, but what if the rules of D&D as written were, perhaps, means tested by people who considered both game balance and player enjoyment! The overwhelming majority of house rules are made by people who think their cheeky little addition makes them fucking Marcel Duchamp creating L.H.O.O.Q. but they are in fact a toddler drawing on the wall with a crayon that they are then going to stick up their nose, and then try to eat.

I mean, this is wildly out of scope for this question, but I think a lot of people see D&D Ideas (TM) on the internet that, at best, are made for very specific scenarios and should be used sparingly, in those specific scenarios, after serious discussion with everyone at the table and ideally unanimous approval, and should be frequently reviewed to see if they still work for everyone. At worst they are just like, things that suck that someone added because they lacked the self-control to simply admire the shiny red fire hydrant that is Dungeons & Dragons 5e and instead just had to piss on it to mark their miserable little territory. And I think people are reluctant to say “hey this house rule sucks” because it’s something someone created, but on the whole I think the majority of house rules suck and shouldn't have been created! And house rules you find on the internet usually SUCK MORE because you’re NOT EVEN IN THE HOUSE THEY WERE INTENDED FOR.

The exhaustion rule is also particularly stupid because I think the motivation is often said to be “realism” and it’s like, well, in real life people cannot cast Eldritch Blast, you fucking idiot, and not becoming exhausted by a little concussion from a troll's club is part and parcel of that same fantasy world.

One of the many really good things Brennan Lee Mulligan said recently on Adventuring Academy is that players learn the logic of the world from the DM. If every NPC attacks the party, suddenly the party will begin attacking first. If going unconscious grants exhaustion…well then why get in fights? Why not focus on assassination or deception for encounters? Why not fucking quit and become potato farmers? Why not take two nights rest after each fight, saying “well we know the world is ending tomorrow, but consider: we have a level of exhaustion because of YOUR FUCKING BULLSHIT”? Why not start stealing health potions, if this is the logic of the world you live in? Why not run away from encounters if your health is getting low - monsters do that all the time!

I think people forget that D&D is actually a relatively delicate balance, and this is looping back around to what I said about means testing. Like, have a mature talk with your DM like an adult and give them a chance to say "oh, that makes sense" because it could be that they are well-intentioned and merely inexperienced. But if they still cling to this rule after you tell them that it sucks, I am giving you carte blanche to engage in blisteringly malicious compliance in and out of game. Conspire with the rest of the party to all take the tough feat. Bully the magic shop owner for HP-boosting items. Generally become the living worst, because this house rule is AWFUL.

Anyway: tell your DM to rethink this, heal early and often, use buffs, and if your DM does not rethink having this as their house rule then burn down their house or at least rethink having them as your DM.

#answered #Anonymous #d&d mechanics #long post

66 notes · View notes