#it’s a cool subclass but i wanted to feel more Special

[shuttershocky]

If you’ve been keeping up with the new CN ops, any thoughts on Ray’s kit now that she’s out?

I really like Ray's Kit, she's maybe the 6 star I'm most looking forward to between now and CN's server. There's some really cool ideas in there with just enough restrictions on her to keep her interesting.

Ray really feels like HG wanted to play with a second Ebenholz, so they made one that's close to a physical remix of his kit's ideas (though without Ebenholz's focus on Elites).

Where Ebenholz deals Arts damage and stores charges to unload all of them into one target, Ray needs to store charges (Ammo in this case) to even be able to attack regularly though she STARTS with Ammo rather than having to build it up from nothing. Her damage gets higher the more she attacks the same enemy (up to +24%), and even gets another 15% physical damage bonus when attacking an enemy scouted by her Sandbeast summon, giving her really high physical burst that's dependent on her not attacking constantly so she can reload all her ammo.

Even her skills feel like alternate takes on Ebenholz's ideas.

Ebenholz's S1 is the classic Mystic skill that narrows range into a straight line and lowers ATK interval so he can build charges extremely rapidly and burst one enemy with the built up charges (so long as they aren't in the center of his range). Ray's on the other hand, is loading a special bullet that deals a whopping 450% ATK for big burst (and shift Force 2 for some reason), but because of the Hunter subclass' specific range, and the skill not having a range increase, you're shooting down straight from the center (unless you get your Sandbeast to spot an enemy).

Ebenholz's S2 is using his stored up charges to create shifting mines in his attack range, basically attempting to make sure he never stays fully charged for long and thus not "wasting" his charges. The mines act as area denial and somewhat chaotic crowd control (as the shifting effect can send enemies everywhere). Ray's version of this on the other hand, is expanding her range (which also expands where her Sandbeast can be placed) and then having her Sandbeast actually collect the ammo she fires near it, instantly refilling her ammo when the Sandbeast retreats (and the skill reduces the Sandbeast's redeployment time as well). The skill encourages you to move the Sandbeast around Ray's range changing her focus area, and retreating to instantly recover all her spent charges and not waste time reloading, with the sheer strength of Ray's attacks on whoever is near her Sandbeast acting as the area denial itself. This is a really different implementation on the same idea of "Play with your charges efficiently with a skill that seizes map control" which makes it so fucking cool from a design perspective.

You all know what Ebenholz's S3 does by now and don't need an explanation. Ray's version expands her attack range but also makes her stop attacking until she has full ammo, her skill significantly shortening her reload interval (so she gets to full ammo faster). Once she has full ammo though (8 shots), each shot deals a huge 330% ATK nuke and binds the target for 2 seconds. Ray's ATK interval is 1.6 seconds, meaning she can permabind one enemy while she chunks them down with her powerful attacks. While this skill doesn't have targeting rules like Ebenholz's (so she can fire a precious shot at a slug), the bind means that one she picks a target, she locks them down for her barrage until she's all out of ammo and has to reload. She's not instantly killing an enemy from full health since she can't use all her stored ammo at once, but make no mistake this skill does really high DPH, enough to nuke Patriot Phase 1 for 2.7k+ damage through his DEF without any DEF reduction.

Honestly all of her skills look really good to me and scale well with specialization. While she doesn't look like she's broken enough to recommend M9ing her for meta, she absolutely looks like an M9 for fun. Her S1 stores two charges of the 450% ATK bullets btw. Combined with her increasing ATK whenever she hits the same enemy and the Sandbeast boosting her physical damage by 15%, and she's going to punch so hard with spinach in IS.

#Arknights

[childrenofthesun77]

Okay, commentary based on rough translations for servamp chapter 139 under the cut

Mahiru gets to use his uncles weapon to make the night sky as bright as midday (aka what mahiru's name means). That's so cool!!! I'm a bit suprised that he can use the weapon though because he's has no magic abilities according to tooru and I thought the weapons could only be used by magic users? Maybe being an eve helps? Or maybe it has something to do with whatever is special about mahiru. Anyway, the ritual requires a moon to work so I guess turning night into day might help to stop that.

On another note, tooru is still badly injured and starts to bleed again, please don't die on us uncle tooru.

Kuro finding the strength to stand up again as he sees mahiru's light was sweet to see. I believe the sloth demon says something about always going to remember mahiru's name when he sees dazzling light and kuro tells tsubaki that midday is no time for vampires.

I think misono is telling lily that he doesn't believe lily that it was all a farce, that he does have expectations of others and that he does want to repent for his sin, calling back to misono's talk with the lust demon at the end of the lust arc. Don't trust my translation on these things though. Anyway, misono says that you can't end a game of chess without the kings on the board by a checkmate, but you can end the game in other ways like a stalemate in which no moves are possible anymore, which is the situation misono goaded lily into, ending the game and freeing misono from the spell. Ironically the only pieces remaining on the board are pawns (aka characters/chess pieces lily seems to see little value in). Back in the garden lily turns into butterflies and vanishes while misono is confused because it should be night, but it's as bright as midday.

We also return to sakuya and mikuni. Mikuni attacks sakuya, but sakuya reveals that he used his powers and the spot he attacked was the sakuya from five seconds ago (?). Then sakuya attacks mikuni, but it's not the real mikuni either? I didn't really get it, but there seem to be multiple mikunis (I think 13 or 12 now that sakuya killed one) in different locations and tsubaki's subclass are facing them trying to stop tsubaki from destroying himself (whatever power tsubaki is using right now seems to harm him and he can only keep going because of mikuni's help. If mikuni would stop helping tsubaki might be forced to stop the ritual/would not be able to complete it. Or maybe it's about some barrier spell mikuni used? I'm not sure what exactly mikuni is doing to help tsubaki).

Higan is facing one mikuni and something prompts him to talk about the time he lived with a woman who for a short time made him feel like an artist and not like an abnormal being.

All in all it seems as if things seem to turn around this chapter! Mahiru got to use a powerful attack that seems to have filled the other heroes with hope, even though we don't know yet what exactly it managed to do (is pandora finally destroyed so the eves and servamps can finally split up into smaller battles again?), but since the moon seems to be a big part of the ritual it might help in that regard.

I still have no idea why the hell mikuni is doing any of this (his main attack, granted he developed it when he was 16, was about judging those who kill humans. So why is he okay with killing millions to gain power? Has envy's curse turned him insane too?) and I guess lily returned to his side after misono freed himself?

It's great to see that misono is now free and able to share what he learned from lily once he runs into the other characters again.

With tsubaki's subclass now also trying to stop mikuni and lily's plans (and tsubaki from destroying himself) the protagonists should be able to convince them to fight together with them right? Now that they have the same goal.

Really liked this chapter, servamp has their protagonists on the losing end a lot more often and longer than I'm used from other stories so it's nice to see the protagonists get some wins.

#servamp #servamp 139 #servamp spoilers

[theworldbrewery]

In your opinion, would a ranged battlemaster fighter work well mechanically? I'm aware that many of the Maneuvers are for melee fighting, but I've been toying around with an idea for a crossbow or gun wielding battlemaster. Tbh the only reason that I'm concerned about the "functionality" of it is because the rest of my group minmaxes like crazy and I don't want my character to die cuz it can't keep up with the rest of the group. Not to yuck their yum or say I'm not having fun in the group! I just wanna know if this is a build that will hold up.

I am pretty much constantly thinking about Battle Master maneuver strats, so you came to the right place!

A few key points:

The only Core Rulebook maneuvers that require you to be in melee when attacking are feinting attack, lunging attack, and sweeping attack (pushing attack is in a grey area; I would rule the "pushed up to 15 feet away from you" as being up to 15 feet in a direction away from your location, not that 15 is a limiting distance from your character--but another DM might not agree).

Parry and riposte involve an enemy getting into melee with you, which is possible even if you're a ranged attacker, but not necessarily ideal.

Disarming strike, distracting strike, goading attack, menacing attack, precision attack, and trip attack are all delicious options for a ranged attacker to take. (Ambush, from TCoE, is another good choice)

Basically, you should always have *some* means of melee attack if you're going to choose this subclass, because you can't guarantee that your enemies won't move around the battlefield and Get You. But in general, focusing your skillset around ranged attacks is perfectly possible.

Battlemaster mechanics are made for manipulating your enemies' and allies' options. A disarming strike gives an ally in melee a chance to steal the enemy's weapon, for example. Other options mentioned above might give your allies' attacks advantage, put the enemies at disadvantage, or impose other conditions (frightened, prone) in addition to more standard effects like dealing extra damage or boosting your own rolls.

With that in mind -- if you have a caster-heavy party and they also enjoy these types of strategic moves, you will want to choose your maneuvers with care. Nerfing an enemy will always feel cool, but with AOE effects, they can often hit multiple enemies with their effects at the same time. Assuming you're playing with people who aren't all about hogging the spotlight, though, you can just tell them this is a mechanical role you're planning to take, and they will likely not step all over your fun.

Now, as you've noted, the Battle Master isn't built with ranged combat in mind. There is another option: the Arcane Archer. It works in a similar way; you get a limited number of special effects you can apply to your ranged attacks. These effects are explicitly magical, but they are not spells. The main caveats to this proposal are as follows:

This subclass calls for a high (or at least decent) Intelligence score, since the save DCs are calculated using that ability.

You get fewer uses per short/long rest. When you take the subclass, you get two uses of the special "arcane shot" effects per short rest, instead of the 4 you start with in Battle Master.

This is likely negotiable with the right DM, but Arcane Archer is dedicated to archers specifically -- no firearms allowed, RAW.

With that information at hand, I really do recommend reviewing the list of Arcane Shot options -- they're long, so I can't recap them all here, but they tend to work more like particularly beefy cantrips with multiple damage effects and an additional, usually single-round debuff, e.g. reduced speed, banishing an enemy for a round, or limiting the enemy's field of vision.

To me, this subclass needs some reworking (a core subclass ability shouldn't be a two-and-done, IMO), but it has a charm of its own. In many ways, these two subclasses are mirrors of one another. I just think that structurally, Battle Master is more mechanically sound -- and therefore, unless you have a homebrew-minded DM, you should probably go for that one.

(Also! If you're concerned about the so-called "caster-martial divide" or other "power creep" issues, talk with your DM about it! They ostensibly want you to have a good time and not feel left behind, so if a liberal hand with martial-oriented items you can use to offset some of those power gaps.)

#class mechanics #dungeons and dragons #d&d 5e #fighter #battlemaster

[sunbeargames]

I knew pretty early on when starting the Oracle that I wanted a martial subclass. Oracles are generally relegated to the backline in combat, using their abilities to get information that will help the rest of the party be more efficient, but people always seem to like martial classes for casters and I figured there was opportunity here as well.

The solution was fairly obvious; an Oracle subclass that specializes in getting a lot of detail about the immediate future, so that they can engage foes in combat with a high degree of effectiveness. The subclass is called the Battlemind, btw.

However, I once again ran into the issue of 5e not handling divination very well, because there are existing effects that have virtually the same flavor. For instance, the Foresight spell:

This is a 9th level spell that has effectively the same net effect, it makes the target very good at fighting, but it does so in a boring (albeit powerful) way.

Foresight might be fun to experience for a session or two at the end of a long running campaign, but it doesn't make for a good mechanical basis for a character.

My main issue with taking this kind of approach to the Battlemind is that it wouldn't be very fun to play; you'd just be a Fighter but with big bonuses to your rolls instead of any of the fun stuff (action surge, fighting styles, maybe maneuvers, etc).

So maybe there could be a different way? What if instead of granting the character a massive statistical advantage and labeling it as precognition, we gave the PLAYER information about the future and can use it to navigate the fight better?

Two Steps Ahead is essentially a permanent Auspice effect, which I discussed in a previous post. Basically, you know what your next two attack rolls are going to be, but if they are bad, you can still find some source of advantage to mitigate that.

Then, two levels later, you get Warrior of Fate. This has some cool new ways to use your resources, but the thing I want to focus on right now is the third point. You can force attackers to use the rolls from your Two Steps Ahead feature. That means you now have a use for the bad rolls as well as the good ones.

I haven't gotten the chance to playtest this subclass yet, but it really excites me. I want this martial to FEEL totally different, because the way you see the fight is so altered. Your go-to actions on each turn aren't the same anymore. Rather than just attacking the closest thing and hoping you hit, you already know whether that will work out. If you have high rolls on deck, maybe you walk over to a key target and take it out. If you have low rolls, maybe you do something else with your turn then watch enemies flounder as you use Warrior of Fate to make them use those numbers for their own attacks.

The key difference between Two Steps Ahead and Foresight is that now you have to play smart. You have to actually USE the information you have about the future, and adapt as new information comes in, rather than just sitting back to coast along on a statistical advantage. You could choose to play a Battlemind and totally ignore Two Steps Ahead, only looking at the results there when the time comes to use them, which I think makes it a much better approximation of having powers of precognition.

Unfortunately, part of the fantasy of characters like this is that they could land every blow and avoid every hit, but the math of 5e just isn't built for that. I could give you a ridiculous AC and attack bonus to make it happen, but again there's no fun in that. However, with a little luck and a bit of skill, I think you could get very close to a "flawless" performance in combat.

#it should be clear by this point that the Oracle won't be the easiest class to play #it will probably take a good understanding of the system and a mind for strategy #so if what you want is to hack and slash or blast things with fireball #this probably isn't the class for you #not all the subclasses will be this crazy though #most will be easier to pilot I think #I hope #dnd #dnd5e #dnd homebrew #d&d #d&d 5th edition #d&d homebrew #homebrew #ttrpg #sunbear games #oracle class #oracle #precognition #contessa

[bearsgrove]

going to try crucible with my fail hunter. wish me luck.

#fern.txt #i’m like ‘’yea i’m pretty good as a warlock and i’m quite confident in matches nowadays i need to feel inferior for a sec again’’ #i so don’t know how to play a hunter #i am really not looking forward to this streak of defeats but. ugh i have to get better Somehow at Some point #i feel like i have to watch a tutorial or smthin #i can’t settle for a class #didn’t really want to go with arc since my warlock has arc but #void is kinda meh grenade-wise. not feelin it. the daggers super is cool though. #but again just because the grenades feel meh i don’t feel like going with void #gunslinger is.... very good. i can’t aim with the golden gun so i prefer the knives but #idk. everyone and their mother is a gunslinger #it’s a cool subclass but i wanted to feel more Special #i guess. i could stay an arcstrider then. i do like the staff. #just thought i could go for the void :/ how do you make it powerful. the melee/grenades/whatever do.... nothing #or maybe i just don’t know how to use them

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #198

Happy New Year! (If it is not new years, please disregard.) Today we're crossing into the 2020 servants; hopefully this build makes that clear.

Today we're building Katsushika Hokusai, the daughter/fatheroctopus painter duo, most famous for... waves? And also making a deal with Cthulhu. We're grabbing some levels in Creation Bard for the former, and Hexblade Warlock for the latter. Don't worry, it'll make sense as we go.

Check out their build breakdown below the cut, or their character sheet over here!

Next up:

Race and Background

Oui is a Human. Her dad's an octopus, which is weird, but we'll deal with that later. Also, we're making her a variant human for cool stuff. She gets +1 Wisdom and Charisma, as well as Animal Handling proficiency to get along with her parents and the Magic Initiate feat, which uses her Wisdom to cast druid spells. Since magical paintbrushes aren't an official weapon in D&D 5e, we'll call it a quarterstaff instead, which means you can use Shillelagh to make it fancy and magical for the duration. It also turns the damage die into a d8, deals magical damage, and uses your wisdom instead of strength to hit things and deal damage. You also get Frostbite to splash cold water on people, and Protection from Evil and Good. You can cast that last one once a day for free, and it'll protect you against aberrations (plus celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead) for ten minutes with concentration. They'll have disadvantage to hit you, and they cant' charm, frighten, or possess you, and any existing effects of that ilk you can shake off with advantage. No spoilers, but that'll come in handy soon enough.

You also get the Guild Artisan background, because you paint for money. That gives you Insight and Persuasion proficiency.

Ability Scores

Make your Charisma as high as possible. You paint good, and you have the mental fortitude to keep an elder god from yeeting your soul from your body. Good job. Second highest is Dexterity, painting lifesized waves in the air around you doesn't actually need all the backflips, you just like to show off. Your Wisdom is also pretty good, it's hard to paint things you can't see well, and again that whole "mental fortitude" thing. Your Constitution is pretty good, you handle all-nighters pretty well. That means your Strength isn't great, but we're dumping Intelligence. You're kind of a hick, after all. Plus, really? Swordbeauties?

Class Levels

Bard 1: You weren't born with the squid powers, so we'll grab those up a bit later. Right now you're just a plucky young artist with a dream. As a bard, you get proficiency with Dexterity and Charisma saves, as well as three skills of your choice. Performance and Nature will help you paint nature, and Arcana will help you find the squid guy in the first place. You get Bardic Inspiration, Charisma Modifier d6s per long rest, and you can give one to your allies to boost one attack, check, or save by however much they roll. Nothing like some tasteful nudes to get the spirits up. You also get Spells that you can cast using your Charisma. Friends makes it easier to pass charisma checks against a creature for a minute, but they'll know you magicked them afterwards. Thankfully, getting paid doesn't take that long. Minor Illusion helps you bring your paintings to life, but just a little bit. It'll create a still object or sound that lasts for up to a minute. Creatures can tell it's an illusion with an investigation check, or by touching it. You also get Animal Friendship- your dad can be hard to get along with. Color Spray weaponizes your paints to blind creatures in the area, and Illusory Script lets you write one thing, but really write another. I'm sure you can argue this should count for paintings as well. Oh, you also get Dissonant Whispers. You're a Foreigner, you can be a little creepy if ya wanna.

Bard 2: Second level bards become a Jack of All Trades, adding half their proficiency to skill checks they aren't proficient in. You're an anime character, it's an unwritten rule you should be good at everything. You also get a Song of Rest, adding a d6 to healing your party does over a short rest. On top of that, your bardic inspiration becomes Magical Inspiration, letting your allies add it to the damage or healing of a spell. Finally, grab the spell Silent Image for moving images, so now you can paint birds and/or waves and have them look just like the real thing. Now, third level of bard is where things start getting funky, so before we can do that, let's make a deal.

Warlock 1: Bouncing over to warlock lets you become a Hexblade, which sounds kind of weird, but there's a reason for that. You don't do weird mind stuff like the GOOlocks, and you don't really use Tentacles like the Fathomlocks. What you do need though, is a fancy magic brush, and a fancy magic octopus. There isn't a familiar-based subclass yet, so we had to go with the weapon-based one, and we'll pick up your dad later. Anyways, starting off as a Hexblade lets you invoke a Hexblade's Curse as a bonus action, dealing your proficiency in extra damage to the cursed creature, crit on 19s, and heal yourself when the cursed creature dies. The curse lasts 1 minute, and you can use this once per short rest. Hokusai also become a Hex Warrior, turning one non-two-handed weapon into a special weapon at the end of a long rest. Now your brush uses your Charisma to attack, nice. Unfortunately, this doesn't include magical damage, but you can stack this with Shillelagh if you really need to. You also get another set of spells with your Pact Magic. These slots recharge on short rests, and it means your multiclassing doesn't mix slots like most spellcasting classes would. You can still use one kind of slot to cast the other kind of spells though. Speaking of spells, grab Eldritch Blast for some paint splashes, and Mage Hand for a pseudo-octopus that'll grab things for you. Cause Fear lets you paint a really creepy thing one target can see, forcing a wisdom save and scaring them if they fail. Arms of Hadar will give you a little bit of tentacles, as a treat. They'll force a strength save on creatures near you, dealing necrotic damage and making them too gooey to take reactions.

Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations, mini-feats to help you cope with only having two spell slots. Grab Armor of Shadows for free Mage Armor on yourself at will. Your family is your armor, and I mean that literally. Stop wearing your dad, it's creepy. You also get a second one, but we're saving that for the next level. Don't not take one now though, I'm just saying it won't matter in the long run.

Bard 3: Now that your pact is sealed, we can get the real living paintings going. If you're thinking 'bout an inking feel free to shuffle levels around, I just want to hit Font of Inspiration quickly. As a Creation bard, Hokusai gets an Inkling of Potential, adding extra effects to her bardic inspiration. Ability checks let the user roll twice, attack rolls deal extra thunder damage, and saving throws add temporary HP to the user. She can also enact the Performance of Creation, creating a nonmagical item nearby. Currently it must cost less than 20 times your bard level, and it has to be medium or smaller. You can do this once per long rest, or by spending a 2nd level slot, but doing so destroys the first object if it still exists. Right now this only makes medium objects, but a 5' wave of water is nothing to sneeze at. You also get Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency them. Pick up Insight and Performance for the ultimate style-copying skills. Finally, you get second level spells. We can't focus too much on non-charisma abilities, but this'll give you a leg up on seeing the true nature of things. It gives you advantage on any one kind of ability check for up to a minute.

Bard 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Charisma. Now you have more inspiration, better spells, and a bigger brush. Charisma's good, you'll like charisma. You can also paint Dancing Lights and a Phantasmal Force now. The former lights up an area, the latter creates a phantasmal creature or object that only one creature can see for up to a minute. It can break the illusion with an Investigation check, but until then it treats the thing as completely real, rationalizing away inconsistencies. It also can take a bit of psychic damage if the illusion would cause harm within 5' of itself.

Bard 5: Fifth level bards become a Font of Inspiration like we talked about earlier, giving you inspiration recharges on short rests instead of long ones. Your inspiration also jumps to d8s. Finally, grab Major Image for more major illusions than minor image. It creates an object up to 20' on each side, and includes effects like sound, smell, and temperature, as long as they wouldn't deal damage. You can also move the illusion using your action. Same rules apply to breaking it though- investigation check or just touching it.

Warlock 3: Finally back in warlock, you get your pact boon, and the Pact of the Chain gives you Find Familiar as a ritual, and you can skip your own attack to attack with your familiar. Wildly enough, Octopus is already a rules as written option for Find Familiar. Awkward point; octopi can only be out of water for 30 minutes. Good luck with that! On top of that, Mirror Image lets you paint duplicates of yourself, making it harder to hit you. Boom, evade skill achieved. You get three extra copies, and every time you get hit, there's only a 25% chance of actually hitting the real one. If an illusion gets hit, it's destroyed, so the odds go up to 33%, then 50%. You also put in the Investment of the Chain Master, giving your dad a flying speed, the ability to attack as a bonus action, magical weapons, your DC for saves, and you can react to give the little bugger resistance to one instance of damage. Literally everyone else's dad is dead already, try not to add one more to the pile. Except for Romani's, but that's sad in its own way.

Warlock 4: Another ASI, max out your Charisma. It's good, you use it for literally everything. For spells, Mind Sliver deals psychic damage an makes the target's next save a bit harder to make. You also get a Crown of Madness, which gives you control over a creature's attack action. Just because you're less spooky than Abby doesn't mean you're not spooky.

Warlock 5: Fifth level warlocks get a new invocation and third level spell. Summon Shadowspawn lets you paint one of three kinds of shadowspawn, creepy little things that can scare people by screaming at them. They'll obey your commands, and it'll last up to an hour, until they hit 0 HP, or you drop concentration. Your last invocation is the Gift of the Depths, letting you breathe underwater and swim as fast as you can walk. Now it's slightly less awkward to carry your dad around, yay. You can also cast Water Breathing for free once per long rest.

Bard 6: Finally back in bard now, sixth level creation bards can put on an Animating Performance, turning a large or smaller item into a Dancing Item with its own stats and everything. You have to use your bonus action to command it in battle, but you can inspire people at the same time. I'm not sure how well animating water would work, but it's something to look into. You also learn how to Countercharm, spending your action to give creatures near you advantage on saves against being charmed or frightened. For something better, grab Intellect Fortress. For up to an hour, you'll resist psychic damage, and you get advantage on all Int, Wis, and Chr saves.

Bard 7: Seventh level bards get fourth level spells, like Hallucinatory Terrain! Now you can paint a landscape- literally! It's only 150' in range, but that's still plenty of space to mess with people. It doesn't really change anything, but forcing people to look at non-euclidean geometry is its own reward.

Bard 8: Another ASI. Bump up your Dex now so you're less likely to get hit, then grab Phantasmal Killer to paint a scary creature that will follow the target around and beat them up. It's a shame only one creature gets to see it.

Bard 9: Ninth level bards get a better song of rest, but more importantly you get fifth level spells. Legend Lore will help you see the true meaning of things more easily, and the more you already know about something the more you'll learn. That's why your Arcana and Nature skills are so high. Oh, wait, sorry, one sec...

Bard 10: And that's why your Arcana and Nature skills are so high... starting now, with another round of Expertise. Your inspiration also jumps to d10s, and you learn Magical Secrets, two spells from any spell list you can cast. On top of that, you get Prestidigitation to paint up small objects. For your secrets, Conjure Animals lets you paint up some real animals that'll attack enemies for you. Alternatively, you can Control Water to make those waves we've been trying to do with way less fuss than a Song of Creation or Animating Performance. It does come with the limit of using existing water, though you can also Part Water, cause a Whirlpool, or Redirect Flow with this one.

Bard 11: Eleventh level bards get a sixth level spell, and True Seeing will help you see All Things in Nature, letting you see through illusions, invisibility and the like.

Bard 12: One last ASI; bump up your Constitution for better concentration and more HP.

Bard 13: Your Song of Rest is a d10 now, and you get a seventh level spell. Prismatic Spray is the return of Color Spray, but it's taken steroids. Now it deals plenty of damage of a random type to each creature in its area, or it has a chance to shove them into another dimension or petrify them.

Bard 14: Your last goody from the college of creation is a Creative Crescendo, allowing you to paint up to your Charisma Modifier in items when you use a Performance of Creation. Only one can be a biggun, the rest have to be small or tiny. Also, your max size is Huge now, and a 15' cube of water will make a pretty big splash. You also get another round of Magical Secrets, grabbing you Conjure Elemental for a more symbolic approach to flooding people, and Wrath of Nature to paint a landscape that'll really fuck with someone. The grass turns land into difficult terrain, the trees will slash at enemies nearby, Roots and vines restrain enemies, and Rocks will throw themselves at enemies, knocking them prone on a failed strength save. It's not mind melting geometries, but it's still mess with people's heads.

Bard 15: Your ultimate level gives you a d12 inspiration die. You also get one last spell, of the eighth level. Feeblemind will handle all the mind melting the last level failed to live up to, forcing an intelligence save and dealing damage regardless. On a failed save, the creature's Intelligence and Charisma drop to 1, and it can't cast spells, use magic items, talk, or understand people. The only ways to fix this are with another Intelligence saving throw (every 30 days) or using Greater Restoration, Heal, or Wish.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Like the regular Hokusai, this build has a great deal of flexibility, with pretty good AC, HP, and physical attack options to get up close and personal, as well as ways to buff allies and attack with spells at a distance.

Speaking of spells, they give you a lot of crowd control options. You can create extra allies with summoning spells and Animating Performance, blow them away with waves from Control Water or Performance of Creation, or keep them tied up with various illusions.

You're also really good at fighting other spellcasters. Spells like Protection from Evil and Good and Intellect Fortress will shore up most of your saves against fancier spells, and you can use Feeblemind to completely shut down anyone who isn't a wizard or artificer.

So piss off your patron and kick the ass of their flunkies, easy! Wait, there's still cons.

Cons:

Okay, so there are some problems with throwing waves all over the place: they're hard to control where exactly they end up. Also, your best wave requires real water, which won't always be available.

On a similar note, you specialize in summons and illusions, both of which tend to require Concentration saves. Yours aren't that great, and on top of that it means you can only have one up at a time. Unless you're cool with an elemental running around willy nilly, but that fits into Con #1.

Your Familiar can only stay on dry land for 30 minutes at a time. If you're going to play this in a landlocked campaign, switch the octopus and last invocation for something else, it'll be a pain otherwise.

Okay, she isn't perfect, just make sure you carry an aquarium with you, problem solved, right?

#fate grand order #fgo #D&D 5e #dnd #Katsushika Hokusai #Warlock #Bard

[cacklespark]

Since I wrote that one post about random lore from my fanclans I,,, ended up making more subclasses than tunnel runners because i want ALL the clans to have cool unique subclasses. also nurses are just a cool class idea in general,,,, every clan needs 1-3 Clan Moms and that’s simply how it is

Nurses (All Clans)

Nurses are not all necessarily presently nursing cats, though many nurses do choose to use the flexibility of their role to bear many litters for the clans. Instead, a Nurse is a subrank of warrior found in all three clans; whose duty it is to assist nursing cats and help raise kits. This is so that nursing cats who do not also happen to be Nurses may return to their warrior duties far more swiftly. This is a somewhat prestigious rank, as a Clan typically only has 2-3 Nurses at any given time. Nurses also typically serve far longer before retirement, as their main duties can be performed even by elder members of the clan.

Tunnel Runners (FlintClan)

Tunnel Runners are warriors with extreme skill in digging and navigating tunnel systems. They are exceptional underground hunters, and feel at home beneath the soil. FlintClan has this subrank of warrior, as not all of its members are suited for life beneath the ground and suffer severe claustrophobia. This is a rather honoured rank, as Tunnel Runners typically grow to be masters beneath the ground, and feed the clan even through the harshest winters. 

Botanists (TideClan)

Botanists are warriors with extreme skill in the identifying, locating and cultivating of herbs and other plants. Some may have good healing skills and others may not, but the main difference between this subrank and medicine cats is the lack of a direct connection to StarClan (save exceptional cases). This is a rather special rank, as botanists are known for being extremely hard workers, typically performing multiple duties at once to continue typical warrior work. 

Night Scouts (ShadeClan)

Night Scouts are warriors more nocturnal in nature, with senses more suited for low or even no light. The purpose of this subrank is to patrol and hunt at night, a necessity given the nocturnal nature of many of the twoleg place’s other residents. There is typically always at least one Night Scout on a wide patrol. This is a rank the clan takes pride in, as it makes the clan very difficult to attack by night.

#Warrior Cats #fanclan #lore #cacklespark speaks

[gallus-rising]

i’m still on this

ok Melone was a touch harder then Abbacchio bc i made his primary class wizard and wizards theoretically have no upper liment on the number of spells they can know and uuuuuuuuuuugng so if his spell list is off by a bit that’s why lmao. his other class is artificer which i dipped into juuust enough to pick up the  artillerist subclass for it’s eldritch cannon for reasons that will be explained Soon

Mel is a tiefling bc he’s got the Vibes, but more specifically he’s of Dispater descent bc i liked those bonus spells better for him (thaumaturgy, disguise self,  and detect thoughts)

his background is based entirely on my headcanon that he’s a flunked out medical student of some kind. i know fuck all abt Strixhaven and picked Witherbloom just for the spells. one of the background features is the feat Strixhaven Initiate, so that’s where that one came from. the other feat, skilled, was from a level up. i picked it to round out his skill proficiencies w a few i think Melone would need

class feature and *weary sigh* a few spell explanation time

k so wizards actually do get all that much in terms of class features bc there is no theoretical limit to the number of spells they can learn. all these features are from his subclass: order of scribes. this subclass’ main thing is your spellbook is sentient! as you level up your spellbook gets more powers. it can flout around/scout ahead, make casting faster, give you advantages on some skill checks, alter the damage type of your spells, and even take a bit of damage for you! the big reason i gave Mel this subclass tho is bc i want him to be able to summon as many little dudes as possible. the spellbook here being a partial representation of the Babyface Labtop, and his summons being akin to the hommunclus’ it makes

but what’s that? the sentient spellbook is only partially Babyface? here’s where those artificer levels come in babbbbby

when you pick the artillerist subclass you get a walking eldritch cannon. it has a little list of powers to choose from and it appearance is 100% customizable.

Melone’s eldritch cannon if this fuckin thing except it can also breath fire

at this level the other artificer features are mostly abt tinkering with/fixing things up, and making small items. but you also get a handful of special item infusions! for Mel i picked: homunculus servant, self explanatory. mind sharpener, an enchantment for your cloths to make it easier to concentrate on spell casting. enhanced arcane focus, +1 to spell attacks. and magic item he can always make, i went with the alchemy jug. why the jug you ask? once a day it can produce an amount of any fluid you want. moving on

hhhng for spells like i said, there’s no upper limit for how many spells wizards can know. there is a limit on how many they can have prepared to use per day tho, so i just went with that number. he got a few spells for those 3 levels of artificer too, which is why his cantrips and lvl 1 spell lists are maxed out. he could totally have more, but i’d need a separate sheet for that, so i just focused on the higher lvl ones

for his main attack cantrip i pick mind sliver bc it deals psychic damage which just feels v Melone to me for some reason lol. if i had the space for his other cantips they’d def be more damaging ones to help round him out

besides that, most of his spells are either for manipulating ppl, summoning things to fight for you, and manipulating/molding physical matter(based off how Babyface can turn things into cubes and rearrange them). for the Big Damage spells tho, no wizard is complete w/o fireball and chain lightning imho. i also gave synaptic static bc more psychic damage, and crown of stars bc it’s cool and seems like something he’d have (it’s a bunch of little specks of light circling your head and you direct them to hit ppl. either all at once, or at dif targets over the course of the fight

i made Mel’s str and dex rly low since he’s not a physical fighter at all. his cha is also low bc this man is a straight up Freak lmao. his cha bonus actually would’ve been -1 if not for the fact tieflings have extra cha as racial bonus lol

hooooookay i think that’s everything! one squadra member down More Than I Would Hope to go orz

#*furious pecking* #fictional character sheets

[elfcow]

My Critical Role Campaign 3 Predictions:

- Liam plays an Aeormaton!

He loves playing robots and I think (spoilers) that he only just got hungrier from getting to play one in the Nautilus one-shot

He got his fun in playing a battlemaster in EXU, so it's harder to guess class bc after seeing him get all flustered seeing Eadwulf be a battlemaster that would have been my first guess.

Here's a wild guess for class, he plays an Armorer Battlemaster to lean into having a power armor Aeormaton body. If I'm right about this everybody owes me 20 bucks

- Laura plays a Warlock!

She really wanted to be one for CR2 but Travis stole it lol, I wouldn't be surprised if she played one. If I'm wrong about warlock, second guess is like a cool Druid or a suave swashbuckler or something?

- Travis plays a Bloodhunter Lycan

Feels familiar to his old barb but still let's him do some really interesting stuff and have a cool edgy backstory. Less to go on here but I bet he'd also multiclass into fighter or beast barb or something with it.

Either that or Echo Knight bc that subclass is so dang cool

- Sam plays a Drunken Master monk

I think the subclass would lead to a lot of jokes that he would enjoy, and after getting dumpstered by Molly and Beau in the thunderdome one-shot I wouldn't be surprised if he goes for either monk or blood hoonter after getting slam jammed like that

- Ashley plays like... a ranger or a rogue? It's harder to guess for the players that were in EXU bc they kind of got their opposite characters out of the way - Caleb plays a pure fighter and Ashley plays a wise and soft Druid - but I think Ashley will either play like. A cool caster or a Paladin or ranger or any sort of martial class/hybrid with more flexibility.

- Marisha plays some sort of cool caster? Maybe a cleric or a Sorc?

- Taliesin finds a way to play a fun special homebrew class or subclass with a delicious mysterious twist

^ not even a prediction lol

I bet Taliesin plays some sort of cool caster or hybrid class? Like a Horizon walker ranger or something?

Anyways, that's my fun bets. I'm MOST SURE about Aeormaton Armorer Artificer (AAA for short) for Liam, the rest are much harder.

#Critical role #Cr #Cr3 #Critical role 3

[creacherkeeper]

How is the cowboi doing? :) I’d love to hear about some of their recent adventures.

OH WELL IT'S ME + ALSO MY DICE HATE(/love) ME SO YOU KNOW THEYRE GETTING WHUMPED CONSTANTLY LMAO

there have certainly been some Events Unfolding so those are under the cut, casey since youre in our campaign now NO PEEKING

fair warning this is .... long ..... you have asked me to talk about my dnd character and you simply CANNOT stop the floodwaters now. enter at your own risk

okay so basically the first arc of the campaign kind of kicked off with them getting a vision from their goddess (the grain goddess/goddess of agriculture) saying that she was trapped in a fey gate and that they needed to come rescue her

so erley immediately Rallied The Posse and set off to do that. they NUMEROUS times tried to pray to her, commune with her, basically just get ANY sort of communication or guidance from her, but the dice like to tell their story so i literally never got above an 11 (paladin with only +2 to religion my beloved) and they never heard from her, which was making them. pretty nervous. when it seemed like everyone else was able to talk to their gods just fine

well we eventually figured out that there was a huge gathering of fey in the woods (me: this might be too big for us to fight. what if its like 30 fey? / my dm, glancing at his notes where he has 2000 fey written down: (: ) and basically the fey like. had captured and were trying to kill what was left of the pantheon so they could bring back gaia as the One True God

we found all this out because it turned out several members of the party had been lying about how much they knew of the fey and had personal connections to the fey they'd kept hidden. and erley, who is ALSO HIDING A LOT from the party like. immediately went on the offense and was just generally very unhappy about this

there had been this fey merchant who kept popping up wherever we were trying to sell us magic weapons that seemed tied to us specifically. erley was always VERY suspicious of her and did everything in their power to stop the others from buying her weapons (which we literally had to buy with -5 to a skill point, not money, v sus) to mixed results. but basically when we got to the fey gathering (we called it gaiapalooza) erley rolled a 1 on their survival check to get through the magic field and like. got teleported to her. and they really wanted information from her so they basically were like LEORA I DONT KNOW WHO TO TRUST I THINK MY PARTY HAS BEEN LYING TO ME, CAN YOU TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT THEM CAN YOU SEE US WHEN YOURE NOT THERE? and basically pretended to need a therapy session in order to milk her for information lmao. she also seemed like. REALLY interested in erley and i was also very nervous about that

and i was RIGHT to be suspicious of her because we found out she WAS ACTUALLY THE BIG BAD and we had to fight her in the arc finale. and several of our party members had rl stuff and were not there, and in game our druid was away casting an 8 hour long spell to try and stop the palooza ceremony, so our party was SUPER nerfed and also as soon as erley realized it WAS actually leora who was behind all of it and she WAS trying to hurt them with those weapons (the weapons were tethers to the gods to be able to kill them basically), they got .... a little angry

and my party found out after irl a year of playing these characters that erley's first level is barbarian :))

so erley raged and did frankly a staggering amount of damage in this fight, and also only stayed up because of rage because they took a LOT of hits. but also. they dont rage FOR A REASON so it sort of took them over and when leora dropped, one of the other pcs ran over to stabilize her as she was making death saves and erley :) maybe :) drove a spear through her heart and killed her :)

and her body immediately just like. overgrew with plants and vines and flowers and basically wrapped the spear in a bed of plants and it was very cinematic and cool

(we have since found out that leora was like. actually an aspect of gaia so. that is. interesting)

of course then erley popped out of rage and was like FUCK this is why i dont do this, i went too far, it always goes too far, THIS is why im ashamed of this, and just got very emo boi about it. so they used their last spell slot to cast restoration on the space they had fought in and reached out to their goddess, having just saved her and the rest of the pantheon like she had asked them to

and i rolled a nat 1!!!

(the dm was like "you have committed this violent act, you feel so low and so bad and in need of guidance, and reach out to your goddess. and the absolute lack of a response just makes you feel empty inside" and i was like :) oh :) okay cool :) you love to see that with your paladins huh)

at this point the druid came back in and, instead of erley like. examining any of their own shit immediately lashed out at her and was like "why did you lie to me about the fey, why did you lie about why you were here, why ARE you here because i realize now it wasnt to help me"

and at that point ONE OF THE FEY QUEENS WALKED IN and the druid was like "... mother ..." and we were all :O

so it turns out the fey queen is her birth mom but had like? kidnapped one of the children of her firbolg tribe and was holding her hostage and the druid was on a quest to find her and bring her back

so erley :) felt :) even more bad about that :) and very shamedly pledged their help to her, and basically was like "as long as youre on this noble quest i will follow you if you'll have me"

so we're on our second arc now, which is traveling across the country to go meet the fey queen and get this kid back. as we were traveling my dm had me roll religion and a luck check and i got a 21 ON RELIGION FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER and a 6 luck. and he was like "you dont usually dream, but you have a nightmare. you know this nightmare was given to you, it was divinely inspired, but you dont know who sent it" and it was just erley killing leora over and over and over again. so they were like. well fuck

(my dm also messaged me privately and we talked and he was like. yeah you can get rid of your oath of devotion and change it to oath of the ancients, i am not telling you or erley why the subclass has changed and you also might get nerfed later. also level up barbarian for the next fight)

so erley was. feeling PRETTY DANG BAD and very guilty and stressed and all that. they did also realize their barbarian side was getting stronger which, considering their backstory is all tragic barbarian shit they were NOT happy about. i was fully prepared to have them be more ostracized from the party and go into full angst mode, but then the druid actually like. pulled them aside and explained why she had hidden information from them, and had a very sweet conversation with them and held their hand and it was VERY touching (she also had the baller line "you think your goddess can hear you and she's not answering. but maybe you're talking in a whisper and she needs to hear you scream")

we had another fight (we're level 7 and my dm told us after it was a cr 32 fight like. dude??? what the fuck?????) and once again erley didnt go down only because of rage

THEY ALSO UNINTENTIONALLY CAST MISTY STEP (which is an ancients spell they didnt have before) and were like WELL NO TIME TO UNPACK WHAT THAT WAS RIGHT NOW, HAVE TO NOT DIE

after the battle was over i asked to roll a check to figure out why i had access to that spell and got :) yeah you guessed it :) another nat 1 :) so erley has literally no idea how they cast that or what it could mean. we just had a new pc introduced who is a sorcerer so erley is definitely going to talk to her and see if she knows anything. because they are FULLY IN THE DARK about their subclass change or what that means in game

we're also (because of the fucking cr 32 fight) going to be leveling up again soon, and babey you KNOW im leveling barbarian. after rage kept me up and then rolling another nat 1 religion check, and also me the player not knowing whats up with their goddess/magic, i simply cant level paladin rn. so im BETWEEN A FEW SUBCLASS OPTIONS and ive been thinking them over but i think it really depends how the next few games go

my FULL ANGST option was to make them level into zealot barbarian like their awful dad, but i thought that made the least sense in universe rn

secondary angst option is to level into berserker, which i think fits pretty closely with how i've been roleplaying the rage so far. trading off an extra attack for a level of exhaustion fits pretty closely. also whump central

the NICE option is to have them be a totem warrior barbarian, and have both their paladin steed and their totem be a bull :) (they are a cowboi after all) i think thats the closest i can marry their two classes and potentially have some healthy growth for them, let them see that the rage doesnt HAVE to be a bad thing, that being a barbarian isnt something they HAVE to be ashamed of. reskinning the bear totem would give them resistance to all damage but psychic while raging, and im planning on taking the tough feat, so theyd pretty much be ... an unstoppable tank. plus i can still divine smite while in rage so theyd be VERY powerful

and now youre all caught up on my very special boi :))))) bet you didnt expect quite that much of an infodump but. listen. listen im simply obsessed with dnd i cannot help it. any chance to talk about my characters i WILL TAKE IN A HEARTBEAT (thank u for prompting my ramble lmao)

#ERLEY RYZER THE COWBOI MY BELOVED <333 #god this is literally SO long im sorry lmaooo #i have several friends not even in our party who are like 'will you PLEASE be nice to erley stop whumping them' #and im like #no <3

[mihidecet]

Sbi&CO d&d AU: F1nn5ter character analysis

Hello! I hope everyone is doing well on this wonderful day! 

The month of October is over but that simply means that I have more time to plan out what will happen in the story! ;)

This character analysis was requested some time ago, and I hope the anon that asked for it will enjoy it! Finn is a cool dude, I dig his content and I'm strong enough to admit I simp for him a bit. 

Most of all, I wish I could switch my gender presentation as well as he does.

My requests are still open, if anyone is interested in anything in particular! I will soon start working on the MCC Tournament, but that is a long term thing ahah

So, let's get into this!

Finn is a chaotic being. Honestly, while I don't watch much of his content, I feel like he's extremely fond of mischief. He just gives me that vibe - that, and the fact that he's friends with Skeppy, and his e-girl omegle videos. 

So I thought, what class better encapsulates somebody being chaos personified? And well, the Wild Magic Sorcerer is just sitting there, waiting for me to realise it exists ahahah

To be fair, at first I was thinking of him as like a rogue? Rogues are pretty sneaky and chaotic and they enjoy mischief usually.

But I do see Finn as being a magic user, and Wild Magic is like ,,, so good. I love wild magic. I will now attempt to explain why I love this subclass so much.

So first of all, Sorcerers are hella cool. They're a super hard class to manage if you're not used to spellcasting, because basically: they have the ability to cast spells, and then they have sorcery points (let's imagine them like little balls of energy) which they can use to make the spells different. Like, you use a ball and you can double the range on your spell; or you use a ball and suddenly the huge fiery explosion you throw in the middle of the fight doesn't hit your friends. 

It is hella cool. 

But also, you can use the balls to cast more spells (you have a limited amount of energy to cast spells) or you can use spell-slots (the amount of energy you have to cast spells) to have more balls. 

It's cool and very useful if you have the energy to manage this stuff (lord knows I don't).

Now, on top of this, Wild Magic adds the fact that every time you cast a spell, you also have to roll a d20. If you get a 1 on that roll, you have to roll a d100 on the "wild magic surge" table, that creates a special effect that happens as you cast a spell. 

So what this means is that you might cast a spell against the enemy, and then BAM there's a spectral shield that appears next to you and protects you. Another time, you cast a healing spell, and from that point on you have to shout whenever you speak. 

And finally, a personal favourite: it's the final battle against a boss, the epic culmination of your campaign. Your party is struggling, but you're pushing through. It's the sorcerer's turn, and they strike the lethal blow on the enemy: smoke rises from the ashes of the monstrosity you were fighting, but when it clears … where a moment ago stood your sorcerer, now sits a potted plant. 

That is an actual thing that can happen (it reverts back almost immediately BUT STILL how hilarious is that?!?!). 

Wild Magic is the best, I rest my case.

Now, I have to say that I don't know if in a standard d&d campaign this would be easily accepted by a DM - everyone has different rules and that is more than ok, always respect your DM's wishes - but I would like to make Finn a Changeling. 

Changelings make for very good sorcerers because they get hella bonuses to charisma, but I choose this mainly because they can change their appearance as an action. The main restrictions are keeping the same number of limbs and not changing your size (so you're limited from like, 4 ft to 6 ft in height), but that would allow Finn to switch between Finn and Rose at will, basically. He did say he would like to be able to do this, and honestly same. Everyone who wants to do this should be able to. 

And finally, for his background, I'd go for a faction agent. I can see him being a sneaky mf working for a secret organisation.

So, in summary:

Finn isn't born as Finn, but that is the form he usually takes. 

He is taught, since birth, by a member of the Harpers, who find him abandoned in a dirty allway and decide to take him in. 

Not many appreciate changelings, as they are usually feared, but the human Finn is mostly welcome anywhere he goes. Sometimes he is Finn, sometimes he is Rose, sometimes he is a draconid, sometimes he is an elf. He is always a member of the Harpers. 

The Harpers give him a home, a place to stay. A family, friends, acceptance and most of all an objective: to work for the people, those who can't work for themselves. 

Ever since he's young, there is chaos in his blood, even though nobody can ever truly explain to him why. There's energy thrumming under his skin, and for all that he tries, he cannot contain it. He is taught how to harness it, how to reign it in, but his magic is strong. 

He has more magic in the tip of his finger than an adult mage does in their whole body, his tutor tells him when he is but a teenager. And while this does scare him, it also fuels him. 

He might not be the master of his own magic, but he can certainly stick around for the ride.

#sbi dnd au #now sbi&co #f1nn5ter #our queen #requests are open!

[the-nut-queen]

I Have a lot of thoughts on beyond light so I’m going to share them

spoilers for beyond light obvs

The Nut Queen’s thoughts on Beyond Light/SotH:

Campaign:

·       Pretty much went how I expected, i.e. nothing unpredictable or particularly interesting/mould breaking

·       That being said, I liked it! And had a lot of fun

·       Good to see Variks again, good to see the Stranger.

·       Eramis was a pretty decent villain, but pretty much had the same motives as every other Eliksni enemy before her (Skolas, Aksis, Siviks, etc.)

o   Very much felt like Rise of Iron… 2! With the Eliksni taking a new power that they didn’t fully understand to wreck shit, and also, it’s Clovis’ fault again

·       The boss fights felt a little dull. Getting to the end and just spamming stasis got old pretty quickly. I think having that for the first time work, then being able to use stasis as a subclass going forward would have been better (instead of getting the subclass at the very end of the campaign, I haven’t even started upgrading it with shit yet)

·       Liked the ghost lines and voices lines that would happen as you travelled to places

·       The progression felt very smooth, I hardly noticed when the game switched from “story mission” to “kill some adds for some stuff to progress” which was nice.

·       Liked the likewise smooth integration of the empire hunts to the main story line (good source of repeatable content for the future) although I was a little confused when I got a triumph for empire hunts since I literally hadn’t heard House of Salvation call themselves an Empire before

·       Ghost being super concerned with you using the darkness then the guardian just not fucking saying anything is kinda dumb lol but that’s pretty standard

·       It was pretty dumb when at the final boss fight Eramis freezes your ghost and shatters your splinter and freezes you then the stranger’s voice over is like “look within” and you can just suddenly use stasis because why not lol

o   Would have been cool to have a “guardians make their own fate” reference here instead

·       WHAT IS THE POINT OF FIRETEAM “E” (Elsie/Stranger, Eli/Drifter, Eris) Don’t get me wrong, I love them! and I love that 1 solitary cutscene where they’re brawling and using stasis, but they literally serve no purpose to the story? Especially dumb how mara and the nine were like “ooh only 3 have transcended their design ooh they are so special” and then they just stand around a campfire while you do all the work lol

o   Sidenote, the Stranger’s little floaty thing: what is it? And what is the point of it besides looking cute in one cutscene??

·       Also really annoyed that the BOSS for the Glassway Strike is just another boring fucking hydra, like wtf. You introduced a fucking sick new Vex type!!! (wyvern) and you DIDN’T use it as a BOSS for the NEW VEX strike. The boss fight was so boring too, it was literally just a hydra but with lots of health and sometimes it disappeared, come on bungie

 New Light:

·       Pretty cool! Shaw Han is boring though. Bungie you need more women characters and more GHOST characters (also like any non-binary characters)

o   It’d be funny to see a guardian/ghost duo NPC where the guardian doesn’t talk and the ghost does! Like with literally every npc except Osiris/Sagira their ghosts just don’t fucking say anything . (I get that it is more money to hire more voice actors and to write more lines etc. etc. etc. but its getting a bit old. GHOSTS HAVE OPINIONS!

o   Maybe even an npc who is just a solo ghost! They haven’t found their guardian or their guardian was slain by the hive or something that would be cool

·       Where is Shiro-4?

·       Where is Misraaks/House Light?

·       Navota: also boring. Just a hive wizard. You may as well have just had Omnigul come back. Or her nightmare (though I understand that that was dealt with on the moon in the nightmare hunts but still)

o   Disgraced strike: also boring. And the boss fight is also boring and takes forever?

·       Cosmodrome: Cool to be back, was fun to get annihilated by an immune hive night in skyshock as is tradition

o   Annoyed there doesn’t appear to be any Rise of Iron continuity with the landscape, the splicers fuck some shit up in the divide and outside the wall

o   Also, is the path to the Rasputin bunker just gone?

o   Yeah I just checked, the path to the grottos area (from D1) from the forgotten shore has just disappeared in D2 they just put more cliff there

o   Wtf why

o   Also the D1 location maps are so awful lol (wow, we really used to live like that huh)

·       Cosmo lost sectors: nice. Hive labyrinth was fun. Sad they didn’t reuse like the Rasputin bunker but that’s chill

 Season of the Hunt:

·       I’m keen to see my BOYS Pulled Pork and Crow

·       SPIDER DON’T HURT CROW ISTG

·       Not sure what the seasonal content has in store

·       I hope it isn’t as boring as season of undying that sucked asss (obvs I have this worry since they spent the majority of the time developing Beyond Light/Europa, (I assume))

·       It looks like a combo of nightmare hunts and other seasonal public-style events

·       Maybe an escalation protocol/blind well style thing? Idk we’ll find out

 Overall:

·       BUGS! So many fucking bugs

o   you fucked up a perfectly good game, look at it, it has anxiety

o   omg bungie please help us

o   girl help, I’m trapped under the prison of elders grav lift thingo

o   girl help I’ve been launched into the wall at mach speed

·       GAMBIT:

o   You fucked up gambit too. You took all the cool shit out of Prime then mixed it with the lame shit from regular gambit to make gambit whatever the opposite of “prime” is

o   My idea for a better gambit TM:

o   Each class gets one (1) class item

o   They look like the prime class items except not coloured/glowy

o   There are 4 mods you can slot in the “combat style” mod slot ie the last slot

o   They’re like, idk 6 energy to slot

o   And they give you the gambit prime role! And the class item glows in the respective colour and you get an aura too

o   you get all the fun prime perks without having to grind r*ckoning and also have a full set of amour equipped, so you got freedom with your gear

o   it would be GOOD

o   sigh

o   gambit is the worst now

o   it’s like just as hard as prime was too but you don’t get good perks so you just eat shit

o   gambit rant over, moving on to planet rant:

·       YOU CAN’T SAY THAT FOUR CELESTIAL BODIES HAVE “DISAPPEARED” CANONICALLY ONLY LEAVING AN “ANOMOLY” (AS DESCRIBED BY WEBLORE) AND THEN

·       AND THEN fucking have CRUCIBLE AND GAMBIT MATCHES ON THE DISAPPEARED PLANETS

o   I totally get that for time, resources, crunch, and hell even desire would mean throwing out a heap of crucible matches would be not ideal because then there would be like 3 left

o   But

o   WHAT THE FUCK. Maybe if you said idk the vanguard has quarantined the four legacy planets due to the giant fucking darkness pyramids looming there so you’re not allowed to go there any more (as like an in game/lore reason for the planets being vaulted)

o   Cus like yeah you can’t patrol there anymore but drifter doesn’t care about vanguard sanctions so he can just ignore it for the gambit maps

o   And shaxx

o   Could like come up with a reason? Idk

o   It’s just really

o   Really

o   Stupid

·       I like the move towards being chill with gender (changing “male” and “female” to “Masculine” and “feminine” however I would like to see this go further. Ability to change your pronouns whenever you want, ability to change your characters gender presentation whenever you want, ability to be “androgynous” and use “they/them” pronouns

o   Like really, we’re space wizards in the far far future and some of us are even robots. there’s no doubt there would be trans guardians

Final thoughts:

I love this game, I love bungie, I am keen for what the future has to offer

But

I can’t help but feel like this is just another “beginning”

Like shadowkeep was supposed to kick off the era of darkness with the discovery of the first pyramid ship then we just had two random seasons after it that just felt like Curse of Osiris and Warmind Redux

Then arrivals was a phenomenal season

But yeah I was expecting things to be more high stakes I guess? The beyond light campaign didn’t feel very high stakes and it kinda just felt like “oh look you can use the darkness now”

in short, bungie hire me for good ideas and more queer characters

#me #long post #beyond light #beyond light spoilers #destiny 2 #d2 #spoilers #bungie #I would love the big destiny blogs to validate me #but no pressure lol

[living-in-the-state-of-dreaming]

I wanted to get this in before the end of the night because it was Tsubaki’s birthday. ^~^ So I hope you all enjoy it, I really hope it’s not garbage because I feel like it may be. x_x Happy birthday you beautiful, underrated dork. ^~^

The ending of the year had arrived, bringing with it the festivities of new years as fireworks lit up the sky and festivals were held for the occasion. Such festivities were ones that you would often find yourself enjoying with your friends; including one celery haired vampire. However, there was another reason why the coming of the new year was so important to you and that was because of the date that fell right at the beginning of every year. 

Tsubaki’s birthday. 

For the entire month of December, your thoughts had been filled with nothing but ideas of how you all could celebrate, or simply how you could make the day special for him, which included pulling ideas from things that you knew he enjoyed to the places that he would often frequent. You had discussed your plans with Sakuya and the others but did so only while Tsubaki was not present; as you had insisted that they keep what you all were planning a secret as to not ruin the surprise. Shamrock, Otogiri, Hegan, Sakuya; even Belkia had all agreed to your request, including the other subclasses; and it had all been going well, aside from a single and brief slip of the tongue that had nearly caused your entire plans to be revealed, but other than that, the plan was still going accordingly as you all worked together secretly to get all of the preparations in order. 

“ Where exactly are we going s/o? “ 

Glancing up at the small black twin-tailed fox that was currently perched on your shoulder, his soft twin tails gently coiled around your neck, you offered a reassuring smile 

“ You’ll see. Don’t worry we’re almost there. “ 

You wanted to tell him, but you felt that if you did then the surprise would be ruined, which would put all of yours and the others efforts to waste. 

That same morning you had dressed into a Yukata which matching sandals, after showering and freshening up; the beautiful delicate floral patterns and the soft pink of the fabric complimented your complexion as well as your long silver tresses, which were now done up in a traditional bun and when Tsubaki had come out of his room, you were quick to greet him that morning with a smile and a happy birthday, causing a soft and genuine smile to cross Tsubaki’s expression as he took in the sight of you dressed as you were; while offering a genuine thank you in response.

Come late morning you had taken Tsubaki to the usual place where he would usually go and shouted him the entire meal; while the amount that you had saved up just for this day easily allowed you to do so with plenty to spare. When he had looked surprised before thanking you, only to state that you didn’t need to do such a thing, you had only brushed it off with a smile and insisted upon it. With part one of what you had planned over; by the afternoon, phase two was put into effect, which was what you both were currently making your way too right now. After catching a train with the fox still on your shoulders you got off at your stop and began making your way up the path which was surrounded by vermillion tori while quietly and contentedly enjoying the sight as Tsubaki’s interest seemed to instantly pique upon noticing them. However regardless of how you weren’t a stranger to wearing a Yukata; walking up the path in the Yukata and sandals combined with the heat that the summer weather had decided to give you wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences, but you knew it would be worth it when you both got to your destination.

As your sandals met the white tiled concrete, you found yourself glancing at Tsubaki from the corner of your eye again when you felt one of his twin tails brush against the skin of your neck in silent and wrapped interest and curiosity; while you found yourself to be unable to keep the smile from your expression while allowing Tsubaki to climb down from your shoulder onto your arm before jumping down onto the ground beside you. This was your first time at the shrine as well, but after being recommended to it by Sakuya and Hegan you couldn’t help but take Tsubaki there especially after hearing how they described it during your discussions the previous nights. And as your eyes took in the beautiful and seemingly ancient structures before you, you found yourself making a note to thank both Sakuya and Hegan yet again for mentioning this place when you both returned home. 

It was stunning, from the beautiful vermillion tori and eerie kitsune statues that decorated the shrine as if they were its silent eternal protectors; to just the overall air ancient atmosphere that the entire place gave off, the sheer brilliance of the place had you silently marveling at the view and as you looked over to Tsubaki, who was still taking the form of a fox, your smile grew at noting the way he seemed to marvel at the scenery around him as well, especially at the tori and Kitsune statues. 

Rather than look to the shrine, your attention was fixated on him as you smiled to yourself, happy that he seemed to be enjoying this little trip, you didn’t interrupt him though and instead, you allowed him to wander around the shrine on his accord fully knowing that he could take care of himself, as you wandered around while enjoying and taking in both the atmosphere and scenery. 

As you wandered, so did your mind to the thought of bringing Tsubaki here at night and the idea of just sitting here, enjoying each others company as you sat in such a beautiful place lit only by the light of the moon was enough to set your heart aflutter as your cheeks heated up with a faint rosy hue that complimented the complexion of your skin. As the blush remained, your smile did also even if the idea did fill you with a shy embarrassment. Maybe you would bring up the idea later, but for now, you were just content with Tsubaki enjoying himself. His enjoyment and happiness were what this day was all about after all, or at least, it was in your mind.

Maybe you were just naive, too soft and innocent but...Tsubaki had been given so much pain and heartbreak in life, so much loneliness and there were so many moments where you wanted to make him smile, to do something- anything- to erase all of that heartbreak that you knew he held within him beneath the smiles and demeanors he would show; even though you knew, in reality, you would likely never be able to fully erase it; and so when you had heard that his birthday fell on the beginning of every year, it had given you the perfect opportunity to do just that. To give Tsubaki a day that was entirely about him and only him and you truly and sincerely hoped that you had been able to do exactly that.

When you both returned home in the evening you were left exhausted and in your half asleep and dreary state you couldn’t help but be disappointed in yourself for not being able to do everything that you wanted to do; including the party that the others had decided to postpone until the following night when they noticed how tired and worn out you seemed; causing a small frown to come to your expression as you laid down on your bed.

“ s/o? What’s wrong? You look upset about something. “ feeling his hand gently cup your cheek, your eyes lifted to meet his own crimson hues as he lay beside you, but it wasn’t long before your self-disappointment led you to lower your gaze from his own once more, and as you spoke that same self-disappointment seeped into your voice.

“ It’s not that I’m upset I’m just..I’m just disappointed in myself that I wasn’t able to do more with you on your birthday. “ 

“ Oh I see, so that’s what it’s about, and I was wondering why you seemed so busy all of a sudden, “

As his words seeped with the realization, even though you knew he must’ve realized it long before now and during the entire course of the day, you could feel your cheeks heat up in the same familiar blush.

“ I just..I just wanted today to be special for you, you’ve had so much sadness in life...All I want is for you to be happy. “ as you heard the silence come from Tsubaki, embarrassment caused your blush to darken on your cheeks and you instantly found yourself regretting saying those words; causing you to look to him again while parting your lips to correct yourself, but the look that was now on Tsubaki’s face stopped you in your tracks. it wasn’t annoyance or anything else your thoughts had assumed, but instead it was one of surprised awe as his red eyes were soft with a flurry of emotions. When it faded, the same soft smile came to his lips as he allowed his fingers to softly splay across your cheek, before placing a gentle kiss to your forehead, his cool breath softly brushing against your skin; as the next words that he spoke made your heart sore with relief and happiness, along with the content that could easily be heard within them. 

“ Don’t worry, I promise, you’ve already done more than enough. “

#Servamp #Tsubaki #Who Is Coming #servamp of melancholy #Birthday Special #Tsubaki x Reader #Reader x Tsubaki

[toxicdogars]

((Hilbert +D&D because I'm curious about how this would turn out-))

Tumblr Meets D&D - Your Muse as a D&D Character

Hilbert Dean Bailey

So, Hilbert here is the male protagonist of Pokemon Black and White, though @luckynatured here decided to take the character in her own direction, basing the muse in its entirety on a Nuzlocke Challenge of Pokemon Black. One of the aspects of this particular challenge drew my attention- the fact that Rowan chose to implement a rule involving dice rolls or coin flips any time there was a choice to be made. Leaving things to the whim of fate, almost seems perfect for a D&D character. Let’s make that a goal, we need a little randomness. Reading through some of Hilbert’s interactions also points to evidence that he’s extremely determined and exceptionally lucky to get so far without losing core team members. Speaking of team members, let’s make sure we have varied damage types to account for any threats, paying special attention to Hilbert’s main, league-winning team. Once again, we’ll be using Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition and all books and articles related to it.

Ability Scores

These ventures will use standard array, a set of numbers given as a sort of average stat pool. Feel free to roll for stats if you wanted to use this character, just treat this arrangement as a general order for what stats are most important. No need to worry about multiclassing with this build.

Strength: 8 (Not needed) Dexterity: 13 (Useful) Constitution: 14 (Will be useful later) Intelligence: 10 (Hilly’s decently smart) Wisdom: 12 (Hilbert’s determined, and that tends to equate to decent Wisdom related saving throws and the like) Charisma: 15 (Our most useful stat here)

Race

Hilbert will be, surprise surprise, a Human. I could have gone a type of Halfling, which would have given him some extra luck, but Hilbert is shockingly tall, so that seemed a little out of place. Even so, we can make some choices early to get some handy bits of luck. Variant Humans also get some snazzy bonuses. Put the two free points Variant Humans get into Dexterity and Charisma to round those odd numbers up to evens. Then you’ve got your typical 30 feet of movement speed, a skill proficiency, and a free Feat. For Hilbert, also gets a base speed of 30 ft, a skill proficiency, and a free Feat. It might seem like a silly choice but let’s give him Perception. It will help with noticing things going on around him, and hopefully keep him aware of any dangers and it’s not a skill he’ll be able to grab from his class. As for his Feat, well I did say our boy needed to be lucky:

Lucky: You have inexplicable luck that seems to kick in at just the right moment.You have 3 luck points. Whenever you make an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can spend one luck point to roll an additional d20. You can choose to spend one of your luck points after you roll the die, but before the outcome is determined. You choose which of the d20s is used for the attack roll, ability check, or saving throw.You can also spend one luck point when an attack roll is made against you. Roll a d20, and then choose whether the attack uses the attacker's roll or yours.If more than one creature spends a luck point to influence the outcome of a roll, the points cancel each other out; no additional dice are rolled.You regain your expended luck points when you finish a long rest.

Class and Background

Alright, but hear me out on this. Hilbert... is a Sorcerer. Not only do magical effects line up well with Pokemon attacks, but there’s a certain subclass of the Sorcerer that is the definition of random, and is the best way, in my opinion, to reflect his combination of luck and skill that got him to where he is today.

Sorcerers start with a d6 hit die (which is... not the best out there), proficiency in Constitution and Charisma saving throws, daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, light crossbows, and two skills from a short list. Of the options listed, Insight and Persuasion make the most sense. 

As for his background, let’s focus on his rise as a Champion and give him the Folk Hero background, giving him proficiency in Animal Handling and Survival, as well as with two tools, two languages, or a language and a tool. Gaming sets are tools, so let’s giving our boy proficiency with a dice set, and might as well toss on a language like Elvish or something. Humans in the D&D world tend to pepper their native tongue with Elvish and Dwarvish words anyway, so it tracks.

This build is taking Sorcerer all the way from one to twenty, so let’s hit up what Hilbert gets at these levels one by one. At level one, he gains the ability to cast spells. Charisma is his casting stat, and it is added to his spell attack rolls and the DC of any spells of his that require saving throws to resist. He is notably able to use a spellcasting focus to ignore material components- let’s make that coin he always has in his wallet a casting focus. He can also pick a Sorcerous Origin, and the one that best fits our chance-manipulating mage boy is the Wild Magic Sorcerer. Wild Mages get two abilities:

Wild Magic Surge: Immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher, the DM can have you roll a d20. If you roll a 1, roll on the Wild Magic Surge table to create a random magical effect. A surge can happen once per turn. If a surge effect is a spell, it's too wild to be affected by Metamagic. If it normally requires concentration, it doesn't require concentration in this case; the spell lasts for its full duration. Tides of Chaos: You can gain advantage on one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. Once you do so, you must finish a long rest before you can use this feature again. Any time before you regain the use of this feature, the DM can have you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher. You then regain the use of this feature.

These two abilities work well in the randomness aspect of things, and give Hilbert some utility to manipulate what fate gives him. As for the spells he gains at this level, he starts with four cantrips and two first level spells from those in with sorcerer list. In case someone doesn’t know the difference, cantrips are simple magical tricks you can pull off at will, while leveled spells require expending one of your spell slots of a level equal to or higher than the spell’s level. First, the cantrips:

Shape Water: A transmutation cantrip that basically lets you manipulate water. A simple utility cantrip that you could make use of for a few clever things. A good reference to his starter being an Oshawott. Light: An evocation cantrip that gives you a flashlight so your weak little human eyes can see in the dark. Just kinda useful to have. Chill Touch: A necromancy cantrip that deals necrotic damage and restricts the affected foe’s ability to heal themselves. A neat little ghostly trick to represent Chandelure, perhaps?  Ray of Frost: An evocation cantrip that deals cold damage by firing a beam of icy energy- sounds like an Ice Beam if you ask me, something fitting for his Beartic or any Pokemon that knows Ice Beam.

And the spells:

Mage Armor: A first level abjuration spell that buffs up your armor class, setting it to 13 + your Dexterity modifier, which at this moment brings your AC from 12 (10 + Dexterity modifier) to 15. Pretty okay for a caster. It also lasts eight hours, meaning you can cast it at the start of a day and basically be armored for all your encounters moving forward. Chaos Bolt: Now this is the good shit. It’s just a first level evocation spell, sure, but the damage is pretty good, 2d8 + 1d6. And it can be decided what damage type it deals practically at random by selecting one of the d8s and using the element that corresponds to the number, starting with acid at 1, cold, fire, force, lightning, poison, psychic, and thunder at 8. Even more wild, if the d8s roll the same number, you can select a second target for the spell and make another round of rolls. This spell has some seriously wild propagation and represents so many types that it’s insane. 

Onto second level, which gives Hilbert a Font of Magic, which gives him Sorcery Points equal to his level, which he can spend to make more spell slots (or vice versa, converting spell slots to sorcery points) and, thanks to a class feature variant Unearthed Arcana article, cool protagonisty shit. Won’t go into too much depth on the making more spell slots thing or the converting spell slots to sorcery points, that can be found in the Player’s Handbook easily enough. The fun stuff are in the protagonist powers, like Empowered Reserve, which lets you spend two sorcery points in order to gain advantage on an ability check; Imbuing Touch, which lets you spend two sorcery points to make a nonmagical weapon magical for one minute; and Sorcerous Fortitude, which lets you spend a number of sorcery points and roll that many d4s, the result of which you gain as temporary hit points. Really handy options. He also learns another first level spell, so why not try out:

Sleep: A first level enchantment spell that has you roll some dice to determine how many hit points worth of individuals you can put to sleep. Great example of the Hypnosis move Munna and Musharna are famous for.

Sorcerer 3 gives ya access to Metamagic, also known as the stuff you spent your sorcery points on before that class feature variant UA. You get two metamagic choices at this level and can only apply one of them to a given spell at a time unless it’s stated otherwise. The ones I feel that reflect Hilbert most are the following two:

Unerring Spell: A metamagic option from the aforementioned UA, it lets you spend two sorcery points to reroll a missed spell attack roll, and you can use it even if you’ve used a metamagic option on the spell. You do have to stick with whatever the second roll is though, but if you’re using this then I would expect that first roll to be terrible. Pairs well with Tides of Chaos.  Careful Spell: Spend one sorcery point to make a number of targeted allies about to be hit by one of your area spells instantly succeed on the saving throw. A big way to prevent damage to your allies, though it won’t be to him right now since he doesn’t have any spells that could cause more trouble. Wonder when we’re going to fix that.

Sorcerer 4 nets you an Ability Score Improvement, let’s put that +2 in Charisma to make your spells- ahem, your Pokemon- even more badass. You also get a new cantrip and new spell, but you also get another spell at Sorcerer 5 and not much else, so let’s cover that too. That spell at Sorcerer 5 can be a third level spell so, I think you know what this means:

Shocking Grasp: An evocation cantrip that deals lightning damage and restricts the use of the target’s reaction. Pretty handy.  Mind Spike: A second level divination spell that deals psychic damage and magically tracks a foe, pretty handy representation of Musharna’s Psychic attack and his general ability to perceive things.   Fireball: A third level evocation spell that does big fire damage over an area, perfect for blasting shit with Chandelure. This is the one you wanna use your Careful Spell on so you don’t get any... accidents.

Sorcerer 6 will give Hilbert another fun way to manipulate dice rolls with the Bend Luck feature:

Bend Luck: When another creature you can see makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can use your reaction and spend 2 sorcery points to roll 1d4 and apply the number rolled as a bonus or penalty (your choice) to the creature's roll. You can do so after the creature rolls but before any effects of the roll occur.

And one more spell, still of third level or less:

Tidal Wave: A third level conjuration spell that calls up a giant wave of crushing water. You know. Like Surf. Which I’m sure Michelle knows. 

Sorcerer 7 unlocks fourth level spells, but let’s not take any of those, instead dipping back to the third level:

Fly: A third level transmutation spell that gives ya a flying speed. Requires your concentration, but your Con saves are pretty good. Keep out of range on the back of your Altaria and you’ll be fine. 

Sorcerer 8 gives you an Ability Score Improvement, cap your Charisma at 20. Let’s also give him another spell, and let’s dip back to first level for:

Expeditious Retreat: A first level transmutation spell that lets you dash as a bonus action for ten minutes. Also a concentration spell, but if you need to make a run for it, this is the best way to go about it.

Sorcerer 9 gives our boy fifth level spells, so let’s take one:

Synaptic Static: A fifth level enchantment spell that is basically FIreball but for psychic damage. Wreck face with the power of your team leader, Hilbert!

Sorcerer 10 is also pretty simple, another metamagic option and a spell:

Quickened Spell:  When you cast a spell that has a casting time of 1 action, you can spend 2 sorcery points to change the casting time to 1 bonus action for this casting. Erupting Earth: A third level transmutation spell that rips up the ground, damaging foes and making int into difficult terrain. Perfect for an Excadrill’s Bulldoze if you ask me.

Sorcerer 11 unlocks sixth level spells, and let’s take one:

Investiture of Ice: A sixth level transmutation spell that transforms you into an awesome iceman, blasting cones of freezing energy, gaining immunity to cold and resistance to fire respectively. Something tells me Hilbert doesn’t like dragons. Put them on ice. Just don’t try using this tactic on a cold-focused chromatic dragon. A White Dragon... Like Kyurem. In D&D terms anyway.

Sorcerer 12 no new spell, but he does get an ASI. Let’s use that to bump up either his Dexterity or his Constitution, depending on preference. Dex will help him not get hit by attacks and Con will help him maintain his concentration spells.  

Sorcerer 13 unlocks seventh level spells, let’s take one:

Teleport: A seventh level conjuration spell that, well... let’s you teleport. Weird, right? Anyway, there’s some minute rules about how it works, but it basically boils down to making sure you have an object with a connection to where you’re going and you’ll be fine. Maybe Hilbert can use it to go home and talk to his mother for once. 

Sorcerer 14 helps streamline the randomness a bit with the Controlled Chaos feature:

Controlled Chaos: Whenever you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table, you can roll twice and use either number.

Sorcerer 15 unlocks eighth level spells, and we’re taking one.

Earthquake: This one’s for you, Garfield and Jude! An eighth level evocation spell that does just what it says on the tin, smashing up the ground and structures to damage foes directly and crush them under toppling buildings. A really fun spell that may very well be able to crumple a sparky sparky boom dargon held by a dude with a letter for a name. Specific, I know. 

Sorcerer 16 just gives you an ASI, so how bout we bump up either of Hilbert’s secondary stats? If you put this +2 in the same one, then you could max that stat in a couple levels, which could be really nice.

Sorcerer 17 gives our boy his final metamagic as well as unlocks ninth level spells, the strongest spells out there. 

Empowered Spell: When you roll damage for a spell, you can spend 1 sorcery point to reroll a number of the damage dice up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one). You must use the new rolls. You can use Empowered Spell even if you have already used a different Metamagic option during the casting of the spell. Wish: A ninth level conjuration spell and one of the strongest spells in the game, capable of duplicating the effects of any other eighth level or lower spell, or alternatively any number of possible things that could be phrased in the form of a wish. This spell is a little finicky though and it really up to the DM how easily it’ll work out. Regardless, it’s the ultimate way to manipulate fate, which is why I chose it for this build. 

Sorcerer 18 if a nifty little level for Hilbert, since it gives him a nasty little ability I like to call Judgement. Same he ain’t from Sinnoh, it would reflect Arceus well. For now it will just represent the badassery of Reshiram:

Spell Bombardment: When you roll damage for a spell and roll the highest number possible on any of the dice, choose one of those dice, roll it again and add that roll to the damage. You can use the feature only once per turn.

Sorcerer 19 gives our boy his last ability score. Cap that secondary stat, or spread it around a bit. Focus on what’s mattering most based on how his battles go. Dexterity if he keeps getting hit, Constitution if he keeps dropping his concentration spells at the wrong moment.  

And last we have Sorcerer 20, which only gives you one kinda eh ability. I suppose it’s nice if you use them pretty often, which a lot of the Wild Magic features do make use of them pretty consistently. So maybe it actually will benefit Hilbert xD.

Sorcerous Restoration: You regain 4 expended sorcery points whenever you finish a short rest.

Final Thoughts

Okay, so the biggest pro we got with this build is the sheer amount of damage types available by all those spells. Even Chaos Bolt alone can deal a bunch of different damage types. Wish is also a fantastic spell that can easily save yer ass. Hilbert is a really good blaster with his spells, but he also has some utility with flight and the like, not to mention ways to protect himself and his allies by manipulating dice rolls. Don’t hesitate to make use of those Wild Magic abilities. Depending on the surge table the DM uses, there’s some darn good options on there that will greatly benefit you. 

Unfortunately, there’s just as many bad things that could happen. Or you could turn into a potted plant and be unable to do anything for several turns. Not to mention you’d have just... terrible hit points. Taking the average puts you well under even Homika’s 88 hitpoints. d6 hit dies are not your friend if you wanna soak damage. But that’s not what you’re good at. You’re good at taking down the big monster before you go boom. 

I tried to get something on there for Stoutland, but there aren’t many ways to get a Normal Type in there. ‘Cept maybe some thunder damage, equating it to Hyper Voice. I always wanted to get Awaken on this build so Hilbert could get his awakened shrub Carmen, but apparently Sorcerers don’t get the spell. I’d have to take him through bard or wizard or something like that too far to justify it. 

I hope you enjoyed this. Feel free to tell me how wrong I am with my choices

#[Memes] #luckynatured

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #200

Wow, what a milestone, huh? It feels like only yesterday we were building Mash. Didn't even know you could grab multiple fighting styles back then. We were also one person back then. Things change. Things change even faster when you have magic eyes that let you bend anything you can see, so let's hurry up and build Asagami Fujino already. She is a Quandrix Sorcerer to tear apart anything she lays eyes on, as well as expand her field of vision beyond what her eyes can see. Dangerous combination, that.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: In the dark of the night, evil will find you! (If Rasputin ever become a playable character I am really going to regret using that one here.)

Wait, what's that...

Race and Background

No surprises here, Fujino is a Variant Human, because normal humans can't tear people apart with their mind. That means she gets +1 Dexterity and Charisma, as well as proficiency with Perception (kind of her deal) and the Tough feat. HP isn't just how much body you have to get hurt, it's also how badly getting hurt affects you. Fujino's deadened sense of pain means she can take hits and keep going, purely due to the fact that she doesn't realize she should stop. That means you're getting an extra 2 HP each level.

Fujino is a schoolgirl, so the closest thing we have is the Cloistered Scholar background. That gives you History and Nature proficiency.

Ability Scores

Your highest score should be Charisma. Your magic eyes are an innate part of you, and it's really easy to be frightening when you can tear a bridge down around you. Second highest should be Constitution, for the reasons we outlined in your background feat. Your Dexterity should probably be pretty high, you fight in clothing, and you fought against Shiki for more than five seconds without dying. That's impressive. Your Intelligence isn't that bad, though you're still going through school. We aren't dumping Strength, it's alright, but we are dumping Wisdom. You have a hard time feeling yourself and feeling connected to other people.

Class Levels

You're a Sorcerer, giving you proficiency with Constitution and Charisma saves, as well as proficiency with the Intimidation and Arcana skills. You've got magic implanted in your face, and again, bridge. As a Sorcerer, you can cast spells using your Charisma. Blade Ward deadens your senses further, giving you resistance to physical damage types for a round. Mending lets you twist a small item back together, instead of tearing it apart. Sword Burst is a short range bending... sorta. Force damage is hard to quantify. But it's free, so that's nice. You can also Shape Water to bend liquids to your will. For first level spells, Mage Armor helps you not die, and Magic Missile lets you shoot little bursts of twistiness that'll never miss. You also join the school of Quandrix, which gives you the starting gift of the spells Guidance and Guiding Bolt. They aren't super in character, but they're free, so suck it up. More Importantly, you learn Functions of Probability, helping you bend luck in your favor. When you cast a leveled spell targeting a creature, you can add an effect to a nearby creature (yourself included). A Diminishing Function forces a wisdom save (DC 8 + Chr mod + proficiency), and if it fails it subtracts 1d6 from the next attack roll it makes this round. Turns out swordfighting is hard when your sword is a corkscrew. Alternatively, a Supplemental Function lets a creature add a d6 to an attack or save made in the next round. This part is less believable, but if you're creative I'm sure it'll look good.

Second level sorcerers are a Font of Magic, giving you sorcery points equal to your level per long rest. You can turn them into slots, or turn slots into points. Eventually you can do other things. Also, you can cast Thunderwave now. It destroys objects, you destroy objects, it's a match made in heaven.

Now that you're a third level sorcerer, you can make your spells truly your own thanks to Metamagic! If you cast a Heightened spell, one creature in its effect has disadvantage on their save against it. If you cast an Empowered spell, you can re-roll a couple damage dice. Tearing people in half is generally hard to avoid, and kind of damaging. You can also bend the air itself by casting Dust Devil, creating a Medium sized tornado, dealing damage to creatures nearby and pushing them around. It'll even pick up dust and make things hard to see, though that's kind of a drawback for you.

Use your very first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Charisma. Kind of a spell-based build, to be honest. Speaking of, Mage Hand probably doesn't have much tearing force behind it, but it's free. You can also cast Shatter for more indiscriminate destruction.

Fifth level sorcerers gain third level spells like Clairvoyance! Now you can see a bird's eye view of the battlefield, tearing your way through it like, well, you.

At sixth level it's about time you started bending the earth to your will. You can Velocity Shift nearby creatures if they start their turn or move within 30' of you. If they fail a charisma save you can shove them to any other point within 30' of you. You can react this way 30' per long rest. Twist debris at people and watch them scatter, it's fun. To help with that, you can also cast Erupting Earth, bending the ground in a 20' cube. This forces dex saves on creatures in the cube, dealing damage and making the area difficult terrain until it's cleaned up.

Seventh level sorcerers get fourth level spells like Stoneskin for even more deadened senses. Now you resist physical damage without having to waste your action every turn. It does use your concentration, but it lasts an hour.

Another ASI! Max out your Charisma for super special eyes. You can also Control Water to create truly damaging whirlpools. There's other options, but whirlpools! Who'd want anything else?

Oh hey, I found something you might want else. It's fifth level spell Bigby's Hand! You can grab people and play with them like a stress ball. Technically there isn't a twisting option, but a Grasping Hand is probably the best you'll do. It'll grapple a huge or smaller creature, and if it successfully does so you can Crush it as a bonus action for damage.

Another Metamagic option! Technically these spells are all just you looking at things, so grab Subtle Spell so you don't have to yell out all your attack names. You can also Mold Earth. It's not that powerful, but it's free twisting. You also get Telekinesis! Again, no "twisting" in the rules, but it's strong enough to lift an object of 1000 pounds, and fine enough to open a door. Their heads should be popping off here.

Sixth level spells! Here are the big boys of the spell world. If you twist anything enough, eventually it'll Disintegrate, dealing plenty of force damage and leaving behind a mess you can't even revive. A little too clean for Fujino, but it's destructive enough.

ASI time. Bump up Constitution for a thicker skin and more HP. HP changes retroactively, so you get an extra 12 HP here.

Did you know turning into rotini is painful? Your enemies certainly know that, thanks to Power Word Pain. If a charmable creature has 100 HP or less, their speed drops to 10', and it gets disadvantage on all attacks, checks, and saves, aside from constitution saves. If it tries to cast a spell, it'll be wasted if it can't pass a constitution save. The target stays in pain forever until it can pass a constitution save.

Cool, so fun thing about these Multi Class Subclasses! As long as you're the correct level, you can take any one feature they have each time you hit the appropriate level in your main class. Since the highest requirement is 14, we're taking Quantum Tunneling now, and we'll pop back to the other one later. Your senses permanently deaden, giving you complete resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. You can also bend your way through any physical objects, as long as you're willing to deal with a halved movement speed and 1d10 damage each square you move. You also have to end your turn in an empty spot. Playing to character this should leave a huge hole behind you, but maybe you're conscientious? You weren't raised in a barn, after all.

Your eighth level spell is Earthquake. Now no structure in your view is safe from your destructive powers. Tear open the earth, shatter structures, and interrupt concentration, there's nothing you can't do!

Bump up your Dexterity this ASI. Not getting hit is still pretty useful, even if you can't feel it.

Remember when I said turning into rotini hurts? I was wrong. Actually, it kills you. Please grab Power Word Kill to reflect these changes. You have become death, destroyer of mages. You also learn how to cast Distant Spells, doubling your spell's range. Your range should be "anywhere in sight", so this is a step in the right direction.

Okay, I guess we'll grab Null Equation. Once per turn you can twist up a creature you damaged. If they fail a constitution save, they get disadvantage on strength and dexterity saves, and they only deal half damage with weapon attacks, all for a round. You can do this Proficiency times per long rest. Again, real hard to hit people when your femurs are spring shaped.

Use your last ASI for more Constitution for more HP and better concentration.

We've finally done it, we've made a pure sorcerer build! It's time to finally learn the dark secret of the Sorcerer capstone. What feature could be so powerful we've completely avoided it for 200 builds? It's Sorcerous Restoration. You get 4 sorcery points per short rest. It's not good. Sorry.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

You're good at dealing damage, and your most powerful spells deal Force damage, which almost nothing blocks against. That means you're consistent and deadly, a solid combination.

You're so good at damage that it isn't just limited to creatures. Use telekinesis, mold earth, and shatter to tear apart structures that are getting in your way. Walls? Torn down. Steel Beams? Melted. Bridges? Falling down.

Despite spending your entire time in a class with the worst hit dice imaginable, you're pretty tough to kill, with just over 200 HP, a decent AC for a spellcaster, and permanent resistance to physical damage types. To make things worse for fighters, it's also a pain to get near you, since you can tear up the area around you and shunt melee fighters away as a reaction.

Cons:

While you do have magic missile, a lot of your spells deal damage in wide areas, so your party might have words with you about using earthquake one too many times.

While you're good at tearing things up, that's just about all your magic can do. There's the occasional Clairvoyance and some defensive spells, but by and large you're either dealing damage or doing nothing.

Despite your great physical defense, you struggle a bit more against other damage types. If you end up fighting someone who can turn their knife into psychic damage, you might have a problem on your hands.

#fgo #fate grand order #kara no kyoukai #Asagami Fujino #D&D 5e #DND #Sorcerer

[tigerkirby215]

Battle Master Sett and others (League of Legends build errata)

(Artwork still by @victorli_ran on Twitter.)

I’m going to be honest: like 80% of the reason I made the Sett build was an excuse for me to make JoJokes. The other 20% of the reason is because I constantly see this motherfucker on the Rift. Whenever I don’t ban him he gets instapicked because Rito can’t balance for shit and made such a brain-dead champ OP as hell. But my complaints about Sett aside the few people I’ve met who played Sett because they genuinely enjoyed him (and weren’t spamming him because he’s Rito’s latest opee opee champ) were super nice and friendly, and Sett as a whole is a cool character who seems fun to play. I’d buy him myself but I’m waiting for the balance team to stop reading Jojolion and do their goddamn job.

With that out of the way Sett is one of the few times I honestly feel like 2 levels is more than enough to capture a character. With 1 level in Fighter for Unarmed Fighting (because Barbarians don’t get a Fighting Style lol) and 1 level in Barbarian (for Unarmored Defense) you have pretty much everything I’d want to play Sett except for False Life from the Aberrant Dragonmark Feat. (Which is nice but more of an afterthought for more Temp HP.) The 18 levels in Fighter were done entirely for the Survivor trait from Champion, which is strong yes but it involves you getting to level 18 first. What’s more is that 2 levels in Barbarian means that you’re missing out on the 4th attack from Fighter, and if you’re going to go to level 18 in a class you may as well get the level 20 capstone feature as well. I make these builds for roleplay first and practicality better since I doubt anyone is coming to this Tumblr for OP builds.

With that being said I did promise to provide a build for Battle Master, and I’d like to offer some other potential multiclass dips and the strengths and weaknesses of each. I’m not going to go too deep into the levels of each class myself (to be honest just read them yourself) but I will give the reason why you’d want each class and subclass in the notes.

BATTLE MASTER MANEUVERS

Full disclosure I know very little about Battle Master so most of my advice is going off a guide as well as my roleplaying recommendations.

OFFICIAL

Commander’s Strike - The boss bossing around his teammates is highly in flavor, but unless you have a Rogue (who can sneak attack) or someone with a similar damage boosting ability this ability is fairly redundant. 3/5 ROLEPLAY - 3/5 PRACTICALITY

Disarming Attack - Very in-flavor for Sett to try to get the upper hand by punching a weapon out of his opponent’s hand. Also very useful in combat, especially if you either take their weapon or kick it away. 4/5 ROLEPLAY - 3/5 PRACTICALITY

Distracting Strike - You can give yourself Advantage with Reckless Attack, and can afford to do so since you have so much health. That being said helping your allies get hits is very useful, especially if you have a Rogue or something similar. You can also argue that this would be Sett getting a good Facebreaker in to set up for his allies. 5/5 ROLEPLAY - 4/5 PRACTICALITY

Evasive Footwork - Knuckle Down lets Sett zoom at his enemies but not away from them. More importantly you have more than enough health and AC to take some opportunity attacks. This can make you a little sturdier but it’ll eat up your maneuver dice; it’s just not worth it. 2/5 ROLEPLAY - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Feinting Attack - Very in flavor, but you already have a way to generate Advantage. Good if you don’t take a second level in Barbarian. 4/5 ROLEPLAY - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Goading Attack - INSANELY useful as you’re the tank, so this will stop the enemies from targeting your allies. Also definetly in-flavor for Sett to taunt his enemies into going for him instead of his fight partners. 5/5 ROLEPLAY - 5/5 PRACTICALITY

Lunging Attack - Literally Haymaker, but in the wise words of rpgbot.net: “Just move closer to your target.” You can afford to take an Attack of Opportunity by moving away after attacking. 5/5 ROLEPLAY - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Maneuvering Attack - See my points on Commander’s Strike. Only difference is that this ability is even less useful since movement isn’t that special in 5e. 3/5 ROLEPLAY - 2/5 PRACTICALITY

Menacing Attack - In flavor for Sett to growl and snarl, but you don’t care about taking hits and if there’s one thing you don’t want its for enemies to stay back. 3/5 ROLEPLAY - 2/5 PRACTICALITY

Parry - Very in flavor but sadly your DEX mod isn’t that high. 5/5 FLAVOR - 4/5 PRACTICALITY

Precision Attack - Since you already have Advantage this can be great to break through some tough ACs. It’s not as impressive but it gets the job done, and considering that your fists are your only option hitting hard enough to get through Braum’s shield would be very useful. 4/5 FLAVOR - 5/5 PRACTICALITY

Pushing Attack - Could be ruled that this is you using your ultimate but it’s very impractical. 3/5 FLAVOR - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Rally - Much like the other “commander” maneuvers it’s decently in-flavor for Sett, but you don’t have the biggest investment in Charisma. You’re no support and you’re far better off leaving the healing to the Cleric. 3/5 FLAVOR - 2/5 PRACTICALITY

Riposte - The more in-flavor and more useful version of Parry for a tank build. Screw defense; more damage! 5/5 FLAVOR - 5/5 PRACTICALITY

Sweeping Attack - Titanic Hydra? But while this is rather in-flavor the damage is just extraordinarily low. 3/5 FLAVOR - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Trip Attack - In-flavor for Sett to fight dirty, and rather useful, but not the most useful overall. 3/5 FLAVOR - 4/5 PRACTICALITY

CLASS FEATURES UA

Ambush - What are you? A Rogue? 1/5 FLAVOR - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Bait and Switch - Very cute if you’re playing bodyguard, but you probably won’t be. It’s just far too conditional to be used. 2/5 FLAVOR - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Brace - This is essentially Riposte but slightly different. Much like Riposte it’s very in-flavor, but I’d probably stick to Riposte. 5/5 FLAVOR - 4/5 PRACTICALITY

Restraining Strike - Was used in the Champion build but Grapples are garbage. 5/5 FLAVOR - 2/5 PRACTICALITY

Silver Tongue - Lets you keep some of Sett’s charm but you’re hardly the face of the party, unfortunately. 3/5 FLAVOR - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Snipe - These fists ain’t thrown love, though I guess you could pull out a knife and scream MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA before throwing it. 1/5 FLAVOR - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Studious Eye - What are you? An Inquisitive Rogue? 1/5 FLAVOR - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Here’s a theoretical list of maneuvers I’d take:

LEVEL 3

Distracting Strike

Goading Attack

Riposte

LEVEL 7

Disarming Attack

Precision Attack

LEVEL 10

Lunging Attack

Trip Attack

LEVEL 15

Pushing Attack

(Choice)

P.S. Leatherworker’s Tools are probably the most in-character tool for you to have proficiency with as Sett.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

OTHER CLASSES TO TRY

BARBARIAN 20

The only reason we went full Fighter in the original build was for Survivor, but the only reason we even took a level in Fighter was for the Unarmed Fighting fighting style. (Because Barbarians don’t get a Fighting Style lol.) If you have a cool DM who’ll let you either reflavor your weapon as unarmed strikes or flat out let you attack with hands as strong as weapons (or if you have an Artificer who can make you an Arcane Propulsion Arm [removal of a hand required], or can find a similar magic item that gives you an Unarmed Strike) then Barbarian 20 is more than viable.

The main strength of going full 20 in Barb (other than the vast majority of your hit die being larger, meaning that on average you’ll roll a lot higher) is their level 20 ability Primal Champion, giving you 24 in both Constitution and Strength for the hardest punches and the toughest grit. Most of the other general Barbarian abilities are admittedly somewhat subpar however. Fast Movement and Feral Instinct are nice and all but other than that you only get Rage features and more damage on your crits. The Rage improvements are nice (as are more rages and more damage on those rages) but at best you’re probably going to get a d8 out of your fists, meaning the brutal crits won’t do that much more. Also without value levels in Champion you only have a 5% chance to crit baseline, or a 10% chance with Advantage.

PROS: Much tankier, even stronger.

CONS: Weak features on the way, only worth it for level 20.

With that being said: subclasses. Ironically Path of the Battlerager (IE “the worst one”) probably fits Sett the best, with Reckless Abandon recreating Pit Grit and Battlerager Charge recreating Knuckle Down. With that being said Battlerager is absolute garbage, primarily because the Spiked Armor and the class features based on it suck. You certainly won’t be wearing Spiked Armor as Sett (what are you? Mordekaiser?) which means that the features are completely wasted on you. If you can find a good Homebrew variant for Battlerager or can make one on your own it can be a good pick but while it is in-flavor it’s far too weak to be reasonably played.

PROS: Highly in flavor, more mobile and sustainable.

CONS: Weaksauce, useless armor.

Path of the Totem Warrior is the obvious one to mention as its the typical opee opee Barb. The Bear Totem Spirit is forever a powerful choice but truthfully the Tiger Totem Spirit is far more in-character. The thing is that Tiger is probably the most impractical, so Elk or Eagle are also good picks.

Much like with my Frank West build the Bear Aspect of the Beast would be extremely in-character for Sett (and would be the only way I could justify Sett grabbing a dragon and slamming that shit down on Teemo’s fucking face.) Elk, Tiger, and Wolf would also be in flavor.

For your Totemic Attunement the spirit of the Elk, Tiger, or Wolf would all be in-flavor. Bear could make sense but you don’t need that level of tankiness this late into a build.

PROS: Opee opee, tons of options, tons of utility.

CONS: Going to be accused of powergaming, going to get yelled at for not picking Bearbarian.

Other interesting subclasses to mention:

Path of the Beast (UA) gives you punching claws but almost all the other features play on the werewolf motif. More of Warwick’s thing... or maybe Rengar’s.

Path of the Beserker is extremely powerful but is a little too wild for Sett.

Path of the Zealot is great if you want to infuses your punches with the wrath of the gods - perfect if they ever make a God Fist Sett skin, or if you find a stone mask lying around.

MONK

Monk gives you an unarmed strike, and while mixing Barbarian and Monk is weird it is quite doable if you want to play a STRonk. (Strength Monk) For subclasses Way of the Open Hand recreates some of your movement effects with Open Hand Technique and Pit Grit with Wholeness of Body. Your level 11 and 17 abilities aren’t as impressive so I’d probably invest between 7 to 8 levels in Open Hand Monk for Evasion.

PROS: Movement imparing effects, more pit grit, Evasion, movement speed.

CONS: d6 attack dice, not a lot of Ki, stacking Unarmored Defense, Wisdom requirement

Way of the Drunken Master could also work but that’s much more Jackie Chan than pit fighter.

PROS: Mobility, great in crowds.

CONS: Out-of-character, somewhat weak.

PALADIN

Okay hear me out here: Conquest Paladin 20.

PROS: Hit very hard, counter attacks, innate Pit Grit that can be shared with allies, anime transformation.

CONS: Fear based, need armor, spellcasting isn’t in flavor, Charisma requirement

ARMORER ARTIFICER (UA)

Like I said when Armorer Artificer came out the class would be very good for Mecha Kingdom Sett. The thing is I think the build would be so different from default Sett (with an Intelligence focus among many other things) I’m not going to talk about it.

#DnD 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #dnd #League of Legends #dnd fighter #jojo's bizzare adventure