#no apologies required

[colorisbyshe]

hi!! i’m so sorry for liking old discourse posts i just forgot why i was following u and looked through some tags and found some good posts there. also the stuff u reblog these days is really nice so i’m not planning on unfollowing or anything hehe

sorry i isn’t dare to go off anon even tho u probably know who i am based on recent notifs anyways. i’m shy lol

it’s fine!!! i don’t mind when old posts are liked or reblogged, at this point they rarely recirculate in any meaningful way unless someone with like 10k followers brings it back

i stand by 95% of the stuff i said before with most of the 5% i don’t just being how i said it. (i made a lot of concessions to placate people that i wouldn’t do now, lol.)

so truly no worries about going through old content. it’s still representative of this blog i jus t don’t think it’s a pressing issue to talk about in that a. everyone has already made up their minds and b. those who haven’t are going to… actually listen to reason?

i’ll say it here tho for new followers: this person is referencing ace discourse posts because i quite strongly believe cisgender, straight people and cisgender aroace people do not belong in lgbt spaces and that holds especially true when aromantic and asexuality have been watered down to include people who do want to date and do want to have sex, respectively.

I do not believe aphobic opppression is real—I think everything described as aphobia is either rape culture/misogyny, ableism, misdirected homophobia, or is just interpersonal discrimination which is BAD but not oppression—and that even if it were, it would not make cisgender straight people or cisgender aroace people belong in LGBT spaces. Because experiencing oppression does not necessarily mitigate your role in the oppression of others.

I believe strongly in aces forming their own community, though I will say there is little incentive for them to do so considering my previous point. There’s no laws to protest, no funds to raise. So you end up with spaces just based on including everyone and catering to any possible feeling which ends up forming harmful, contradicting rhetoric.

All this said, I won’t be arguing any of these points. I have tags you can browse—ace discourse, hsdd, ace history—and again I stand by most of what is said there. If anything seems incongruous with things I currently say, assume I’ve changed my mind or message me off anon for clarification.

Otherwise… yeah. Welcome new and old to the fact that I, years ago, discussed ace discourse and did more research than any of you, therefore I know more than any of you and don’t need to talk about it at length. I know where I stand, y’all know where you stand.

Follow harder, unfollow… be free with yourselves but not with my inbox.

No need to apologize for interacting with old content either. Unless you’re arguing on it. Then get blocked.

#genuinely bring back any post you want from the dead #no apologies required #unless i need to apologize for some shit i said #which is possible

[il-predestinato]

Max Verstappen apologizes to Charles Leclerc at the end of the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix. 🎥: redbullracing

#charles leclerc #max verstappen #lestappen #f1 #my edit #* #las vegas gp 2023 #that's the second apology from him this season #max - you're only like this around him 😭 #also good on you - an apology was required 😇 #fave

[pizzazz-party]

Day two! Back to the playground with you.

#miyamoto usagi #usagi yojimbo #usagi miyamoto #pizzazz art #me looking at Usagi’s timeline: ‘he should have been at the skate park…’ #I just Really Wanted to draw him doing a trick #my apologies to the requester—i couldn’t get to the level of detail that kandi bracelets require #lineless art is pretty but line art itself has more versatility. especially for tinier details

[intotheelliwoods]

-> -> Thanks for the 4K all! <- <-

#!!!!! #wild #id do a dtiys but alas so many people are already doing them and I wouldnt want to add to the clutter of them all #+ I have no clue what to even have everyone draw! #I think the collab comic was enough of a 4k event :) #but if some other event thing outside a dtiys comes to mind ill be sure to post about it #anyways apologies for no update in a bit #motivation decided to plummet out of nowhere whoops #probably because the next update requires really weird angles im not sure how to draw aha #give me some slack here I cannot believe ive been drawing this comic for over 7 months straight! #Man. I feel like the 2al bday is going to sneak up on me one of these days. #anyways thanks for the 4k again <3 <3 <3

[cowboyinternist]

wtnv blinkies bc i went down a rabbit hole over the weekend and made a bunch :P

#they vary a lot in complexity bc like as i kept going my ideas got bigger? #i’ll make a better cecil one eventually bc he deserves it #this isn’t even all the blinkies i made these r just the nightvale ones #wtnv #welcome to night vale #blinkies #credit isn’t required to use these but i’d reallllyyyyyyyy rlly appreciate it. heart heart :3 #the quality is sooo fucky apologies

[snivyartjpeg]

world's most pathetic wet death god performs worst boom-kill to ever grace this earth, asked to leave the mystery labyrinth

#rain code #mdarc #master detective archives #raincode #yuma kokohead #swap au #well not really a swap but shinigami being his master is implied #he does the barrel minigame just as shinigami does except when it gets to the sexy pose he just awkwardly stands there #shivering like a chihuahua #he also just hands you the solution keys like a normal fucking person instead of vomiting #you do however still have to pull the sword out of his mouth #the dance isnt required but he will shyly ask you if you'll give your life for the truth with huge wibbly puppy eyes and offer a hand #he also loudly apologizes whenever he slices ur neck to make questions appear

[otrtbs]

10k words into the fic im writing 4 the jegulus big bang fest and it's only the end of chapter one.......uh oh. i'm in danger

#on the bright side im already halfway through the minimum word requirement rahhhh #but. uhhhh apologies in advance to my future beta reader........i hope you are well rn babe... all my love <3

[why-its-kai]

Scans of the booklet, back insert, disc, and obi* from the 2010 Flying Dog Trigun - Badlands Rumble - O.S.T. CD.

Scanned and edited by me.

*Obi under the cut because of photoset formatting weirdness:

#trigun #trigun badlands rumble #trigun: badlands rumble #my scan #my scans #cd #soundtrack #tsuneo imahori #vash the stampede #vash #this one required SO MUCH EDITING bc the scans came in very washed out #more so than usual #i think it was bc of the type of paper its printed on? #had to manually adjust the colors on each one so if they're a little mismatched i apologize #i did my best !! OTL

[a-vessels-thoughts]

Random Naegi HCs

The Naegi family are naturally good marksmen. Makoto has more raw talent in this than komaru does. This makes them, ironically enough, bad at baseball (their throws are too clean, too straight, and they don't have the raw strength to blitz people) but really good at basketball despite the height.

Komaru is stronger than Makoto, and by a landslide. Makoto is way more flexible, though, so at least he has that over her.

Both can't dance to save their lives. They're singers, leave their two left feet alone!

Komaru can't cook. She will make a fire with water. Makoto will make your kitchen look like a warzone. Everyone thinks the taste is worth the clean-up; it also looks really good!

Komaru is the first to notice all this and just sighs, muttering under her breath, "Isn't it supposed to be the opposite?" She's more jealous that she can't cook than anything. Was in a cooking club to learn before the tragedy.

Komaru calls Makoto Lil bro (as a jab at his height). This has made many people think she's actually the older sibling. There was an event with the future foundation, and komaru was listed as his elder. She laughed her ass off.

Komaru has NO charisma (the utter girl failure) Makoto stole it all. She talked her way INTO a fight with a pacifist by pure accident (both were trying to avoid conflict).

Makoto's talk no jutsu could almost count as brainwashing. Assassins after his head have learnt to plug their ears, because You Stand No Chance Otherwise.

Makoto is scared of fighting any woman, not out of a sense of honor or anything, he just assumes they can bend him like a pretzel (he's right, 9/10 times he's out under 5 seconds in direct confrontation).

Makoto only read manga because Komaru was into it, he's more of a... literally anything else guy. He liked some of the fluffy and Shonen manga the most.

Komaru reads BL (and yes, Makoto read some of them with her), and Toko Can't Stand It, literally has a No BL policy. Genocider and Komaru have a sorta book club over it. Could probably stop Genocider from committing any crimes (or drop anything she's doing) by saying Komaru wants to share manga recommendations.

Makoto is a complete malewife, cleans, cooks, does the laundry, is good at makeup if he ever learns, can wrap up wounds and scold you (gently) so well, but is utterly horrible at fashion. ("I can just... grab whatever, right?") He has no idea why Komaru is so smug that she has good fashion senses.

Makoto is super naturally cold, even with his shirt, thick jacket, and BLAZER combo he sometimes still feels cold! Could lowkey function as a refrigerator even in the summer. Komaru is the opposite. As kids, they were inseparable when sleeping and are cuddle monsters to this day because of it.

Makoto is naturally drawn towards caliginous colours. Give him all the edgy dark colours, they're his; black is probably his favorite. Komaru doesn't actually have a preference, as long as it doesn't clash when she wears it.

Both naegi's are really good at spotting romances and pairing people up... when it isn't themself. It's genuinely frustrating for others because they can call people getting together before it even gets platonic, but you could pin the naegis to a wall, whisper huskily in their ear before kissing roughly, and you'd have a 50/50 chance that they interpreted it right.

"Oh, we're just friends, why would they be interested?" -both naegis, despite literally raising children with their partners. Both are Actively at risk of becoming black holes.

Komaru is somehow an amazing and HORRIBLE mother. The girl failure energy is too strong. Her (likely adopted) children would trash talk her before they could crawl. It might've been Toko's doing, but still... trash talked by babies. At least the family is loving, and she would never lock any child in a closet... on purpose. 100% apologizes profusely if it happened.

Both are incredibly snarky. Makoto is way less obvious, and he rarely has the chance to be during/after the killing game, but Komaru is a ball of sarcasm and teasing after some therapy. Hina finds both of them bickering with each other and kind of short circuits. (They were both so kind normally??? What was this??? ) She can barely wrap her around the fact that this is their Natural State. Makoto decides to use this to his advantage by being sarcastic/jokingly passive-aggressive when people are least expecting it; Komaru lives for it. It catches even Kyoko off guard for the first few times.

Komaru is good at physics; Makoto isn't and hates it like any other maths related subject. He actually really likes history. Komaru sucks at psychology. Both agree that English sucks. Literature is kinda... there, to them. Both are good at chemistry, but for different reasons. Makoto has a great memory, Komaru is Just Good At It. Can also make it explode at will, for some reason??? No one understands why.

Makoto was gloomy and shy as hell as a child (also an outcast), Komaru was the brave and outgoing one. No one believes her when she says this, ever. (Even as children, people thought Komaru was older because of their dynamic and Makoto relying on Komaru way more than she did him, to outsiders).

Their parents kinda suck.

Makoto has broken several laws, got into fights, and was probably a vigilante at some point. He rarely talks about this. People don't believe any of it until he committed treason.

#danganronpa #makoto naegi #komaru naegi #random thoughts #headcanon #you are now required to inagine makoto dropping the most obvious hints hes a criminal #and no one so much as blinks an eye. #makoto escaped prison bc the cops saw him apologize to a wall he bumped into. #“this kid could not burn someones house down.” #he did in fact burn that house down. he would do it again even.

[dailymothanon]

oops. Well you see I burnt my brain out from trying to draw Punk Ny again but none of it was working out so I opted to let loose and just draw my girlfriend’s version of the states. They’re not wttt, not in any way, mind you— we’ve drawn these silly fellas way before I found out about the Table! Anyways, this is Nukilik, for simplicity I won’t refer to them by the state name; also cuz my gf is really proud of choosing out names B) she loves doing that part, although I am sure y’all could probably figure out who is who. Sometimes I wish y’all asked about them tho cuz they feel more refreshing for me to talk about

This one is more sloppy because I should be asleep but. It’s okay 👌 normally I’d like to spend more time even for sketches but I’m way positive y’all know who this is. We don’t have a human name for him yet tho 🤔 Boy Kisser it is then

#Nukilik’s like the humanish moosish equivalent of a blanket #His gender is… nobody is really sure #not even he knows #Idk why I feel like I need to apologize whenever I don’t post Table content brah like I do this for free and daily and I’m not required to #ocs #original character #oc design #oc artwork #sketch #sketches #technically fanart #oc art dump #oc sketch #oc

[echofades]

We’re good together. I don’t want to be here.. I want to be wherever you are. HACKS 2.07 | 2.08

#hacks #hacks hbo #hacksedit #hacks spoilers #ava x deborah #ava daniels #deborah vance #photoset #the lack of two-shots in ep 7 felt like an insult to me personally #so my sincerest apologies to marcus and jimmy but some creative cropping was required

[wellnoe]

in a lot of ways telepathy and the way its used in superhero comics is kind of inherently fucked but it is also often kind of hot. imo.

#sorry. however!! i feel like it is obvious i held this opinion #w.me #hmm in retrospect this innocuous opinion validated by comics does not require an apology #however the sorry was genuinely felt so i will leave it in

[darkfinch]

face blind quinn is so important to me.......eliot puts up his hair and quinn's like "okay that's a hitter and he's vaguely eliot-shaped but i don't know if he's eliot. what if he's a bad guy...shit. shit. oh wait nvm he moved and he walks like eliot, the eliot walk with the eliot shoulders, we're good <3" he can recognize eliot best mid-fight or through a scope :3

he always knows Where parker is but if there is a single other blonde woman in a five mile radius he's like. sweating. parker moves and talks like parker (also, wears black, is thief-shaped) but if shes doing her Normalcy Grift she is fucking imperceptible as a concept. who is she where is she. sneaky

nate is the annoying guy in the dumb hat doing Nate Things and talking the loudest in every room, very easy to spot and identify nates in the wild

hardison is friend-shaped and in the van, a prime hardison location. he is always typing on his phone and he wears very identifiable graphic tees, usually featuring media properties quinn's not familiar with, one time they go to a Nerd Store and quinn loses alec immediately, very distressing please come back

he cannot find ms devereaux at any point during any con and does not even try. always waits for her to talk to him first (she does this ''mister quinn" + fond elbow pat combo and this is his Sign that this shorter-haired german woman is, in fact, local shapeshifter sophie devereaux)

also: quinn spots a hitter in the crowd and tries to warn the team about him and he's like "he's the guy with the cop walk and the jangly keys" and everyone except for parker and eliot are like "but what does he LOOK like"

#this is 100% me projecting so apologies to any faceblind folks if this does not align with ur experiences etc #99% of the time i recognize people through context + body language + voices. im very good with voices. im lending the lad my own suffering #if i see a picture of someone and then i see them irl my brains like. its not flat so it's a different person ksdjflkjhsldkfjh #hair is great except sometimes people change? their? hair? like criminals? like criminals doing recognition crimes??? #why does everyone not just wear the same outfit every day and sit in the same place so i know who they are. sigh #the WORST is when seasons change and everyone switches up their wardrobe/colour palette/hair and its like. hey. hey. knock it off wHO ARE U #eliot should be required to wear red by law. thank you #ALSO: hardison does a quickchange into a suit in an elevator (à la that time he did that) #and quinn's like *frantic* ''guys i lost the nerd'' #finchtalks

[aprofessionalwithoutstandards]

Sorry for bringing this up again but the person who wrote a callout post about you sent an ask to the aita tumblr blog about it. Losing my mind

LMAOOOOO OH MY GOD well I truly live rent-free in some people's minds it seems. Thrilled to see how that turns out btw I wonder how you can spin "someone on Tumblr who does not owe me the time of day refused to debate me about transandrophobia discourse, so I misgendered him and called him a transphobe, a chaser, and a danger to the transmasculine community at large" to make it sound like you Aren't the asshole. Well I spent today hanging out with my family and completely forgetting that this even happened so I think that should tell you which one of us I think has "won"

#i've already apologized for publishing the ask with the person's username and i deleted it i recognize that as trashy #but like. yknow i would Maybe say that that doesn't require any of the shit he's been saying about me lol #i mean whatever *i* don't care. I'M not mad. if he tries to paint my partners telling him off for misgendering me as like Harassment #or whatever well you heard it from me that it was my partners telling him off for misgendering me #ask #anon

[wyllzel]

🔗 Link to Google Doc.

This is how I built Vampire Ascendant Astarion in my latest Tactician playthrough. As a dual-wielding Gloom Stalker Thief, Astarion has his canon Rogue flavoring with the added bonus of the Ranger class’s Extra Attack and other sneaky, more martial abilities.

I like to run Astarion as a Thief Rogue, but Assassin Rogue also works well (though possibly with different gear – for example, you may want to use a longbow instead of dual hand crossbows).

The vibe of this example of a Gloom Stalker Thief is a stealthy, consistent damage dealer. When you reach Act 3, Astarion can focus on a 100-200 HP enemy and take it out (or at least whittle it down) easily. Or, he can spread his many attacks across lower HP minions and take out a bunch in one round.

Ranger has some good control-type spells, but I primarily run the Gloom Stalker Thief as a ranged martial.

This build is not reliant on elixirs, illithid powers, or mods. While I don’t think this multiclass is dependent on gear, the gear I’ve listed will go a long way in ensuring Astarion is a very competent machine gun. 🤗

Disclaimer: While I tried to powergame as much as I could with this build, I also wanted to keep it easy to follow and fairly thematic. I'm not claiming that this is the most powerful Vampire Ascendant build ever!

(Fair warning: Possible spoilers ahead!)

Levelling

I like to start Astarion out in Rogue for the canon flavoring and Extra Bonus Action (Thief Rogue Level 3). But once my party reaches Level 5, I’ll go to Withers and restart Astarion as a Ranger instead for the Extra Attack (Ranger Level 5).

How you progress in the levels is up to you – I recommend reading through the BG3 Wiki pages on Ranger and Rogue and see which of the classes’ benefits you think are most useful! These are just my personal preferences. I’ve also added a star (⭐) next to each of the features I tend to prioritize or take advantage of.

To start with, this is my Astarion’s base stats:

Astarion’s Wisdom Score should be higher than his Intelligence score; any spells he’d be using are Ranger spells (and Rangers cast off Wisdom).

This build guide assumes that Astarion is not the party face – therefore, it’s fairly safe to dump his Charisma stat.

Level 1: Rogue (Level 1)

Sneak Attack ⭐

Select:

Expertise: Stealth, Sleight of Hand

Level 2: Rogue (Level 2)

Cunning Action: Dash

Cunning Action: Disengage

Cunning Action: Hide

Level 3: Rogue (Level 3)

Improved Sneak Attack Damage (+1d6) ⭐

Select:

Subclass: Thief

The Thief subclass has the following benefits:

Fast Hands (Extra Bonus Action)

Second-Story Work (Resistance to Falling Damage)

Level 4: Rogue (Level 4)

Select:

Feat: Ability Improvement (aka ASI) = +1 DEX, +1 WIS ⭐

This should take his Dexterity to 18 and his Wisdom to 16.

Level 5: Rogue (Level 5)

Proficiency Bonus

Improved Sneak Attack Damage (+1d6) ⭐

Level 6: Ranger (Level 1)

Weapon Proficiencies: Simple weapons, martial weapons

Armor Proficiencies: Light armor, medium armor, shields

Select:

1st Favored Enemy: Bounty Hunter

1st Natural Explorer: Urban Tracker

Level 7: Ranger (Level 2)

Select:

Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting ⭐

Spells: Ensnaring Strike, Hunter’s Mark

The Archery Fighting Style could also be good, but I run Astarion as equally reliant on his standard Actions and Bonus Actions – therefore Two-Weapon Fighting works for my build.

Level 8: Ranger (Level 3)

Select:

Subclass: Gloom Stalker

Spells: Fog Cloud

The Gloom Stalker subclass has some awesome benefits:

Dread Ambusher (Extra Attack during the 1st round of combat) ⭐

Dread Ambusher: Hide (Basically another Cunning Action: Hide)

Umbral Shroud (Become Invisible if Obscured)

Superior Darkvision (Darkvision is now 24m / 80ft)

Disguise Self (Gain the ritual spell Disguise Self)

Dread Ambusher, Umbral Shroud, and Superior Darkvision are probably the best features for the stealthy machine gun Gloom Stalker Thief.

Level 9: Ranger (Level 4)

Feat:

Sharpshooter (-5 to Ranged Attack Rolls, but +10 to Ranged Damage Rolls) ⭐

Level 10: Ranger (Level 5)

Extra Attack ⭐

Misty Step (from Gloom Stalker Subclass) ⭐

Select:

Spells: Spike Growth

Level 11: Ranger (Level 6)

Select:

2nd Favored Enemy: Mage Breaker

2nd Natural Explorer: Wasteland Wanderer: Fire

I selected Mage Breaker because I had Astarion’s backstory in mind – Cazador, Astarion’s ultimate antagonist, is primarily a caster during Astarion’s final quest battle. However, True Strike is a notably unhelpful cantrip, so you may want to choose a different Favored Enemy.

I selected Wasteland Wanderer: Fire because Fire is a common Damage type that enemies dole out. For the same reason, Wasteland Wanderer: Poison is also a good selection.

Level 12: Ranger (Level 7)

Select:

Spells: Silence

I picked Silence since it’s almost always useful, but if you have a Cleric (or another caster with access to Silence) on your primary team then you may want to pick a different spell.

Alternatives…

If you went 4 Rogue / 8 Ranger, you’d lose Rogue’s Uncanny Dodge and additional 1d6 damage on Sneak Attack (Level 5) – but gain Ranger’s Land’s Stride: Difficult Terrain (Level 8) and an additional Feat (Level 8).

If you went 5 Rogue / 5 Ranger / 2 Fighter, you’d lose Ranger’s additional Favored Enemy, Natural Explorer (Level 6), and additional spell (Level 7) – but gain Fighter’s Second Wind, Fighting Style (Level 1), and Action Surge (Level 2).

I picked a lot of offensive Ranger spells, but the Ranger class also has some great buff spells like Longstrider and Enhance Leap.

Final Composition

By Level 12, Astarion should have the following notable qualities:

Extra Attack and Extra Bonus Action, resulting in 4 possible Attacks per round.

Sharpshooter: On a ranged weapon hit, deal an extra +10 Damage.

Sneak Attack: On a Sneak Attack hit, deal an extra 3d6 (3-18) Damage.

Two-Weapon Fighting, which adds your Ability Score Modifier (+4) to the damage of your offhand attack.

Gear

I like to equip Gloom Stalker Thief Astarion with the following gear. The evil flavoring on some of the pieces (Helldusk, Bhaalist) definitely adds to the ambience of a Vampire Ascendant Astarion.

I’ve made a small note of why I equipped each piece of gear, but you can visit each Wiki link for the full benefits on each piece! None of this gear is really necessary (except maybe the Risky Ring), but I do recommend having Astarion dual-wield to take advantage of Thief Rogue’s Extra Bonus Action.

Headwear: Marksmanship Hat

+1 to Ranged Attack Rolls

Also, he looks cool in it. LOL.

Armor: Bhaalist Armor

Aura of Murder: Enemies within 2m / 6.5ft become Vulnerable to Piercing Damage (unless they are Resistant or Immune to it)

+2 to Initiative Rolls

Cloak: Shade-Slayer Cloak

Reduces the number needed to roll a Critical Hit while Hiding by 1

Handwear: Helldusk Gloves

+1d6 Fire Damage per Weapon Attack

+1 to Weapon Attack Rolls

Footwear: Helldusk Boots

Any boots that give Astarion the option to position himself more aptly are excellent. For example, the Disintegrating Night Walkers or Spaceshunt Boots are also very good.

Amulet: Amulet of Bhaal

On a hit, inflicts Bleeding on targets that have maximum HP

This feels very apt for a Vampire Ascendant.

Ring A: Risky Ring*

Advantage on Attack Rolls

Disadvantage on Saving Throws

*This ring is extremely important to the build, IMO! The Advantage on Attack Rolls does a lot to offset the -5 to Attack Rolls from the Sharpshooter feat.

Ring B: Caustic Band**

+2 Acid Damage per Weapon Attack

**This ring can add up to +10 Acid Damage, since you have four Attacks and an additional attack on your first round of combat from Dread Ambusher. However, this +8-10 may not be negligible by the time you reach Act 3 – instead, the Killer’s Sweetheart ring (basically one free Critical Hit on demand per long rest) may be more overall effective.

Melee Main Hand: Crimson Mischief

+1d4 Piercing Damage when you have Advantage on targets with <50% of their HP

+7 Piercing Damage when you have Advantage on a target

If you’re wearing the Risky Ring, you’ll almost always have Advantage, so the added Piercing Damages are basically a guarantee.

Melee Off Hand: Rhapsody

Scarlet Remittance: Gain +1 to Attack Rolls, Damage, and Spell Save DC for each foe you slay (up to +3)

Sweet Bloodletting: Possibly inflict Bleeding when hitting a target with this weapon while Hiding or Invisible

Rhapsody used to belong to Cazador – so I find it thematically fitting for a Vampire Ascendant Astarion to now use this knife. But if you’d rather avoid it, Knife of the Undermountain King is also a good one!

Ranged Main Hand: Ne’er Misser

Deals Force Damage rather than Piercing Damage

Gain one use of Magic Missile Level 3 per Short Rest

I like this hand crossbow a lot because some enemies are Resistant to Piercing Damage – but very few (if any?) are Resistant to Force Damage. But since it doesn’t deal Piercing Damage, this hand crossbow won’t benefit from the Bhaalist Armor’s Aura of Murder.

Ranged Off Hand: Hellfire Hand Crossbow

+2 Weapon Enchantment

Hellstalker: Possibly inflict Burning when attacking while Hiding or Invisible

Damage Numbers

After you finish leveling and equipping Vampire Ascendant Astarion, your final Damage stats should look something like the following table. When calculating these numbers, I assumed the following: 

The target isn’t Resistant to Piercing, Force, Acid, Necrotic, or Fire Damage

No conditional Damage on Crimson Mischief

Sharpshooter is toggled on

(I tried to calculate the above numbers by hand… So apologies if my calculations are fudged due to an incorrect understanding of Damage rolls, haha! This should be approximately correct, at least.)

Example: Combat Against Githyanki

For an example of how this build plays, here’s how Level 12, Vampire Ascendant, fully equipped Gloom Stalker Thief Astarion did against a group of Vlaakith’s githyanki warriors (Elfsong Tavern) in Tactician:

Here, Astarion did 43+75+26+35 Damage, or a total of 179 Damage in one round. (And that’s with four Attacks instead of five.) This is pretty standard for how my Act 3 combats tend to go, so I think this is a fair representation of this Astarion build’s abilities.

Conclusion

Of course, there are many other builds for Vampire Ascendant Astarion that can also do ridiculous (if not far more!) Damage. For example, some powergamers will class Astarion as a Monk (usually with the Tavern Brawler feat) – whether that’s Way of the Open Hand for maximum Damage output, or Way of Shadow for more vampiric vibes – with a multiclass dip in Thief Rogue for the Extra Bonus Action. This gives Vampire Ascendant Astarion a standard six Unarmed Strikes per round of combat; he adds 1d10 Necrotic Damage to each of those for an additional 6d10 Necrotic Damage total.

And, of course, even without the Vampire Ascendant trait, this build tends to do a good deal of Damage and can work for any character (whether that be an edgy Tav, the Dark Urge, or a different Companion). For example, a lot of the infernal gear might be cool for a post-Pact Ranger Wyll.

Thanks for reading, and hope this gave you some ideas for your ranged martial builds! :)

#chelle.txt #ch.build #astarion #i have been working on this for a while now LOL #happy to finally post this! #apologies if the damage table looks wonky - i'm sure i messed up some math somewhere haha #and yes this build requires being a bit amoral since 1) ascension and 2) bhaalist gear #so it's definitely not for everyone #but i think it's fun!

[neotrances]

i think for a lot of white people labeling themselves as leftist or blm while not actually continuing to do the work to unpack their racism (and i say continue, not ‘done’ because its never really work you can finish) is because they want absolution from the guilt that they carry for being white/benefitting from an entire historys worth of racism

and the thing is while in a lot of leftist spheres guilt/shame is considered an unproductive emotion and ‘white guilt’ is specifically considered a nuisance (and it is when its thrown at the feet of poc to soothe and deal with) that doesnt mean people… shouldnt feel anything either. at the very least discomfort is not a bad emotion. you SHOULD be uncomfortable with the poor treatment of poc and you should never consider yourself exempt of being capable of it.

ive found thats how it is with hurting others and leftism in general ive found. people want to have a boogeyman they can cleanly villainize and they want to be able to be the shining hero that denounces them. there isnt any possibility for self analysis or continued reflection/change because it ‘feels yucky’. in order to be a better person to others you have to realize youve been bad sometimes and people dont like that.

anyway sorry for the long ask. youre someone follow for a lot of reasons (youre cool for one) but you also are someone i stay to listen and learn from. so thank you, i hope this makes any sense!

#don’t apologize ur fine and yes all this #like addressing ur complacency in this system is required to destroy it #✉️