#so this is a sort of unarmored version of that

[redbean-nom]

Bacara's horrible Fullfall ensemble

inspired by @thefoundationproject, @lumateranlibrarian, and @evilkillerpoptarts!

#star wars #soft wars #bacara #commander bacara #drawing pictures in the soft wars sandbox #not sure if the soft wars people are still active so hoping this finds its way to the right place #originally the sweater only had the purple eel but i decided it wasnt nearly bad enough so i added the christmas-ugly-sweater-type pattern #the two dots by the collar are based on his helmet design #the helmet patterns are tiny bacaras and rexes #(neyo learned to sew just to make this outfit) #(wolffe after learning about this Tradition started making eel-shaped scarves and assorted Decadent knitwear for rex so he would match) #also bacara's wrist tattoo is based off how he wrote rex and neyos names in his bracer #so this is a sort of unarmored version of that #hope i got his knee brace on the right leg!

[canmom]

kerberos final comments

ok, i think this is the end of the latest week where i take a semi-deep dive into a semi-obscure film series from the 80s-90s. after all’s said and done, then... what the hell was going on with this thing? does it manage to justify, you know... that?

So. About the Nazi thing.

If we start with the manga, Kerberos is a essentially similar concept to Ghost in the Shell (which is ofc in Japanese 攻殻機動隊 Kōkaku Kidōtai, “Mobile Armored Riot Police”) or Patlabor. It’s about a heavily armed, ethically dubious near-future paramilitary police force, the sort of people you’d find in such an organisation, and the political context that created it. Compared to GitS, its characters are much less vividly defined, but like GitS, it largely reacts to the world through the lens of Kerberos, and to a certain extent their rivals Public Security. Plotlines in Kerberos concern the individual lives of Kerberos soldiers, or the machinations of their leaders trying to expand the organisation and squabbling over territory with the normal police. It’s full of dog metaphors

Incidentally, if you’ve seen Jin-Roh, you’ve seen a better version of the first three storylines in the manga. The fourth one concerns radicals hijacking a plane, drawing on the actions of radical groups in the 70s. The leader of the the radicals takes more of a centre stage, although his motivations are kinda opaque at the end of the day; he seems like a prototype of the villain Yukihito Tsuge in Patlabor 2, at least in terms of affect, but he dies before his hijacking can get very far.

All of that on the face of it sounds reasonably interesting! The art of the manga is very nice in an Otomo-inspired sort of way, and while none of the characters are especially sympathetic, it’s a convincing window into an interesting historical pastiche.

But the first thing you’d ever notice about Kerberos is that they dress like this:

...big scary Nazis with glowing red eyes. That’s the iconic image of the series, and just about every work makes sure to have some scenes of a guy dressed like that machine gunning some poor unarmored sods, to greater or lesser dramatic effect depending on whether or not you’re Hiroyuki Okiura.

So my biggest question going into Kerberos is like, why do they dress up like weird Nazi space marine cosplayers?

Diegetically, it’s because Japan lost WWII to the Nazis, who used a nuke. Most Kerberos media that I’ve encountered doesn’t especially seem to bother spelling that out, but Jin-Roh - easily the most artistically accomplished of any Kerberos media, sorry Oshii - goes far enough to illustrate it with historical-photo styled still images of Nazi soldiers marching up the streets of Japan:

In Jin-Roh, at least, Kerberos are clearly continuous with this occupation, with an almost identical shot of Kerberos soldiers marching shortly after:

How did Japan end up in a war with Germany, a country that notably does not border the Pacific, and how the hell did they end up losing so badly as to be occupied when Germany lost the war hard even with Japan’s help in reality? (Who indeed fought the war besides Japan and Germany?) But none of the Kerberos media I’ve read have tried to address this wider geopolitical situation; the role of replacing the Americans with the Nazis seems to be to just slap a lot of WWII-era German aesthetics in a rather superficial way: replace an airline with Lufthansa here, or have the slogans of the protestors mention Lebensraum or Weimar there.

‘Nothing would have been much different if the Nazis occupied Japan instead of the Americans’ is a statement that would have a lot to unpack (an anti-American statement? discomfort over being allied with the Nazis?), but I’m not sure it’s really what Kerberos is going for. If you look at otaku-oriented media from this period, you do notice a current of Nazi military equipment obsession (which hasn’t exactly gone away, indeed acquiring increasingly esoteric iterations) coming from the ‘military otaku’ side of the subculture.

For example, in Gainax’s FLCL, there’s an episode where Naota’s father Kamon is dressed in a Nazi uniform for a paintball episode (the same one which has parodies of Western animation like South Park), complete with swastika:

Likewise, Oshii’s adaptation of Urusei Yatsura also has a few recurring bits with Nazi imagery, generally played for jokes. For example, in the second movie Beautiful Dreamer characters dress up a café with a WWII theme with a bunch of Nazi symbols, which is discussed well by Hazel in her video on Vladlove (around 11:40 if the timecode doesn’t work)...

So there’s definitely a sense that in the subculture at this time, Nazi imagery doesn’t have the ‘definitely an edgelord, almost certainly an actual fascist’ connotation that it does over here. In Western media meanwhile, Nazis are generally used as the ultimate villains over whom we were victorious, suitable for when you portray some morally uncomplicated violence. So putting in these scary Nazi suits as your main characters feels like a really dramatic statement to me, but it may not have been for Oshii.

Nevertheless, let’s see where we go with it. My general approach to the Kerberos films has been to assume that Kerberos members are by default unsympathetic, it’s drilling into the fucked up depths of fash ideology, and Kerberos certainly admits that reading. A lot of the Kerberos manga concerns the organisation’s overly violent methods and eagerness to accumulate arms causing escalations and needless deaths left right and centre.

Jin-Roh especially shows Kerberos’s conspiratorial ‘Wolf Brigade’ carrying out a ruthless purge of their enemies to preserve their organisation, and then performing a completely fucked loyalty test by demanding that Fuse murder his girlfriend to prove his dedication to being a ‘wolf’. In contrast to the stylised theatric approach of Oshii’s violence, Jin-Roh’s scenes of bodies being cut down by machine guns are about as sickening and hyperreal as animation can make them - they are honestly far nastier than they would be in live action.

In Jin-Roh, the Metropolitan Police come off every bit as fanatical as they describe their enemies. The revolutionaries aren’t necessarily cast in a particularly positive light, with Kei as the main member of the Sect to get extensive screen time - and she finds herself thoroughly disillusioned with being a bomb courier as she gets drawn into the machinations of Kerberos and Public Security. But, even with the playing around the ‘who is the wolf’ concept, by the end we see Okiura’s take on Oshii’s endless dog metaphors is that committing to Kerberos is to decide to assume the role of the rapacious wolf of Red Riding Hood, who would shoot anyone to preserve the unit.

But what about Oshii’s manga? I talked about how Oshii was of the Anpo generation, and certainly the Anpo demonstrations - and the various desperate terrorist actions of the New Left that came after - sit barely under the surface. However, the point of view it’s interested in seems to be much more the lower ranking members of Kerberos. Like dogs - good god is this man obsessed with dogs lmao - the Kerberos guys are blindly loyal, have little other place in society, and are unceremoniously disposed of every so often. The main characters of the films feature here and there - notably Bunmei is the one scheming against Kerberos here, recognisably modeled after his depiction in The Red Spectacles, and Midori gets to stop the plane hijacking - but it’s as likely to focus on a low-ranking soldier (the first Inui, model for Fuse) or a helicopter pilot. There is not, by and large, a lot of internal conflict for any of the characters.

Tachiguishi Retsuden, although it seems a different alternate history again, gives another piece of the puzzle. (Unfortunately the only subtitles I can find for this movie are badly translated from the Chinese subs, which makes it a little hard to follow.) The stand-up noodle bars are associated not just with crime but with stray dogs, who were poisoned in large numbers as a health control measure; this image is also shown in the Urusei Yatsura episode that invented the ‘tachiguishi’ freeloader concept, where we see a dog and a cat fighting outside. Oshii clearly sees something tragic in the extermination of these dogs who had no place in the more modern society, and seems to find this a suitable metaphor for his fascist paramilitary.

To me, the idea that the Kerberos were heroic in suppressing the crime and protests seemed like an obvious propagandistic fantasy, and given the choice I’m obviously gonna sympathise more with the leftist rebels rather than the Nazi-backed state in this conflict, even if the situation has decayed as civil wars do into a point where both sides are more concerned with self-preservation and ruling their turf than winning. Painting the state in Nazi colours then seems like a way of saying, don’t take this guys very sympathetically, and it’s definitely a convincing depiction of a bureaucratic state mired in infighting (no doubt because it’s drawing heavily from history).

But... I’m not entirely sure this is the angle Oshii is taking on it.

In StrayDog, lost puppy Inui searches Taiwan for daddy Kōichi to tell him what to do, with the help of a girl Tang Mie who kind of adopts these two exiles as they do their homoerotic bonding thing. They spend a long time wandering around Taiwan to slow music (it’s a very Oshii film), having muted conversations about Inui’s need to find a master to tell him what to do. Once the pair find Kōichi, although Inui is angry with Kōichi for abandoning Kerberos, they settle down and seem to be kind of happy just being some kind of lobster-fishing polycule. Inui here can’t be the same Inui as in the manga (since that Inui died), but he’s basically the same concept, a boy who is helpless without someone telling him what to do [there’s not exactly a consistent Kerberos continuity so much as variations on the same ideas].

Public Security are on the trail though, and Inui - loyal to Kōichi despite the fact that Kōichi is plainly not worth any sort of loyalty - overpowers him in order to carry out a power-armoured suicide by cop and give Kōichi a chance to escape (which we know that he uses to go to Japan and promptly get shot). If the action scenes in The Red Spectacles were weird disconnected montages that felt extremely theatrical, the action scene here, which sees Inui advancing through a building cutting down identically trenchcoated and facepainted men who run blindly towards him, feels mostly like a video game. In the end, Inui wins the battle but dies from it.

(Which means on the one hand, highly stylised and abstracted live action violence, and on the other, hyperrealistic animated violence with plausible military tactics and genuinely horrible depictions of gun death. Going in opposite directions from different starting points... I’d say they end up in a similar place, but tbh Jin-Roh, as in most things, is way more impactful.)

Anyway, StrayDog seems to have more of an “isn’t this sad” sort of flavour. The dog metaphor for Oshii in the manga is stated most explicitly in a scene shared with Jin-Roh, where Bunmei discusses disposing of the ‘Special Brigade’ in order to integrate Kerberos with the regular police. The dialogue in both versions is a speech full of dog metaphors, but in the manga, the scene is further introduced with a dead Kerberos member and a stray dog passing by. This metaphor then becomes central to StrayDog.

The manga’s Inui, like Fuse in Jin-Roh, hesitates before shooting and almost dies, but here the person he hesitates to shoot is not a bomb courier who’s prepared to take them both down, but a civilian who is trying to help one of the revolutionaries, who levels a gun at Inui. Inui’s story here is about failure to integrate into the Kerberos unit, who aren’t willing to accept this particular ‘stray dog’ despite there being no other place for him. Inui tries to prove himself with dramatic and reckless violence, gets rejected for refusing orders, and then on his way home, gets killed in a reprise of the first situation - oh this poor boy it’s so sad.

In Jin-Roh by contrast, Fuse’s hesitance to shoot is the first move in a whole character arc - at first it seems like his remaining humanity which he eventually abandons, but we are left with some ambiguity whether his original hesitance was genuine, and happened to pay off in the Wolf Brigade’s favour, or part of a very complicated ploy. (Despite being the central character, and even seeing his dream at one point, we’re given a lot of room to interpret Fuse, and the ‘why didn’t you shoot’ question is pointedly never answered.)

Anyway, so, my conclusion about all the Nazi imagery in Kerberos is... honestly I think Oshii just thought it’s cool? As we see in VladLove, he loves to just namedrop historical trivia. I’m not sure he even considers it as fraught as I do. Which isn’t fun but I feel like any other reading is unparsimonious at this point.

What is surprising is that Okiura managed to take what Oshii was putting down and make something genuinely compelling. Jin-Roh a real proof of the power of his realist style and ability to suggest character with subtle acting. Its realist animation becomes hyperreal, the abstraction of cel shading underlining how much is ‘right’ in how the drawing moves, and it works for what’s primarily a spy movie.

At the same time... Okiura did a way better job than Oshii ever did of making those scary Nazi suits seem powerful. Kerberos here are kind of the idealised supercop Judge Dredd types - I was reminded of the Dredd movie from a few years ago where Dredd unstoppably advances through a building, killing everyone in his way. Though maybe Robocop would be a more contemporary comparison.

It works for the movie, in that Fuse’s choice to side with Kerberos and use the armour to massacre the Public Safety agents moving to apprehend him is properly sickening. It becomes kind of like a horror movie at this point, with desperate attempts to stop him with grenades bouncing off the armour.

So I guess we’ve gotten back to the old question of the different ways of portraying violence in film, what a fascist film looks like etc. I don’t want to relitigate that one, although I think Okiura’s angle is appropriate - even if it is fetishistic? One Youtube commenter on the video essay I linked back on AniNight wrote:

Jin Roh is a movie about semi-realistic bullets physics. The creators be like: Guy 1: 'Hey, you know what's cool? Seeing dolls gets rag-dolled by flying bullets.'

and he’s kinda right lol, that is sorta what the movie is about. But it remains a very effective image, much like the gunfights and realistic educations in Dahufa.

All in all, I guess the result of this deep dive is basically the existing consensus: The Red Spectacles is worth digging up as a deeply weird surreal film; I wouldn’t bother with StrayDog, the manga’s OK but Jin-Roh is imo the only one that manages to justify what it’s trading in here.

And as far as all these Nazi images goes, the aspect of the Nazis we’re focusing on in any of these films is much more ‘fearsome invading and occupying power’ than ‘perpetrators of the Holocaust’. If Nazi ideology has influenced the reconstructed Japanese state in the world of Kerberos, the series never bothers to illustrate how. Despite everything... it really doesn’t seem to actually be about the Nazis on a level beyond the superficial. The conflict in Jin-Roh/the manga is basically a heightened version of Anpo, or like... any 20th-century anticolonial movement really. In the first two movies... idk, throwing darts at a board, the Meiji restoration doing away with the samurai lol?

Meanwhile Tachiguishi-Retsuden is kind of... ah, I know some of ya had fun with it, but honestly I found it dragged really badly. The janked out subs were a large part of that and I think a decent fansub could do it a lot of good, but I kind of felt like most of the gags went on too long to really work, even with the ‘spot the well known illustrator/anime director’ game it’s playing with the casting. Though maybe being tired after a long evening of films underlies that reaction, I need to learn my lesson about three-movie film nights. The animation style was interesting as an experiment at least.

And that’s quite enough of that, I think I’m satisfied. Though at some point as far as ‘fash aesthetics in anime’ go, I still haven’t gotten around to ripping Youjo Senki a new one. Expect that... sometime. It’s an exhausting anime to think about though so who knows when.

#anime #animation night #kerberos saga #jin-roh

[dailycharacteroption]

Dragon Disciple (Pathfinder Second Edition Archetype)

(art by BarelynormalActivity on DeviantArt)

 In keeping with the theme that the 2nd Edition Advanced Player’s Guide has a bunch of archetypes based on the old prestige classes of first edition and 3.5 of yore, today we’re looking at this edition’s version of the Dragon Disciple.

For those who aren’t aware, a dragon disciple is a character that seeks to emulate dragons, undergoing rituals and the like to infuse and awaken draconic power within them, often directly related to a specific dragon type.

A lot of dragon disciples are draconic sorcerers, tapping even further into the potential that already exists. Others may manifest draconic blood in some other way, or may even have no prior connection to dragonkind aside from a deep fascination with them.

Either way, these disciples complement and enhance their pre-existing sorcerer powers quite well, or alternatively, gain access to those abilities.

These disciples may experience even stronger changes in personality and appearance than other draconic sorcerers, and even those connected to metallic dragons or goodly dragons of other clades may find themselves swelling with draconic pride, especially when they make use of their abilities.

The powers granted by this archetype are actually almost nearly identical to their First Edition counterparts as well, so that’s a nice touch for those who prefer that the two different editions feel like part of the same reality.

 Starting with the dedication, which kobolds with sufficiently draconic heritages, barbarians with the draconic instinct, and draconic (or wyrmblessed) sorcerers have access to, grants some master of magic, elemental resistance to a damage type based on a type of dragon you pick when taking the archetype, as well as resistance to paralysis and sleep. Initially, the list of choices was limited to chromatic and metallic, but has been updated to include primal and imperial dragons as well.

These disciples are also able to grow powerful claws, an ability which stacks with the sorcerous ability to do the same by making those magical claws stronger.

Many also develop a strong sense of smell, which aids them in locating foes.

Those that can cast spells but are not already draconic sorcerers can still learn the spells associated with the bloodline, even if they would normally be outside their discipline, though they must still actively seek out and learn them.

Hard scales are also a common manifestation, granting them some protection while unarmored.

Naturally, a draconic breath weapon is also a common ability these disciples share, and those that already possess this ability find they have more focus to utilize for that and other abilities as well.

Continuing, many also learn to manifest wings, which work similarly to the breath in relation to sorcerous power.

Where things get extremely impressive is how some are able to transform fully into a dragon for a brief span of time, unleashing their full draconic fury.

More powerful disciples can gain a true organic breath weapon, one that replenishes naturally every few second and is more potent.

The mightiest among them can transform into a dragon for much longer periods.

There was, however, an addition to this archetype that added three new feats specifically tied to cloud dragons, namely one that grants a modified version of dragon-polymorphing that grants appropriate abilities, one that let’s the user walk on clouds, and one that improves flight speed.

Interested in going hard into the dragon theme as a sorcerer or any other sort of dragon-themed character? This archetype is full of useful abilities, all of which find ways to augment any overlap you might see with the main archetype. That being said, you will want to look up the wyrmblessed bloodline too to get an idea of how the breath weapons of the primal and imperial dragon types are meant to work.

 I mentioned it briefly, but becoming a dragon disciple means that your mind as well as your body become more dragon-like. Even metallic dragons have great pride, and it is up to the person to find ways to temper that emotion into confidence rather than becoming insecure and quick to lash out at the slightest perceived insult.

  The underworld dragon Yamahana is in a bind, as a group of vault giants have begun raiding his territory recently, and he has quickly come to realize that he and his disciples are not powerful enough to repel the massive reptilian titans. He would pay a daring group of explorers a king’s ransom for their aid.

 Born already with the mark of reptilian power, the beastkin Naket soon discovered that not only did she embody the power of the mighty crocodile, but also a blue dragon, a fact she is eager to explore, ordering all sorts of texts on draconic mysticism.

 In order to cement his legitimacy to the throne, the upstart Kalidos enacted all sorts of rituals to unlock draconic power within himself… and he succeeded. However, his newfound red dragon blood has only made him more arrogant and a little unhinged as well.

#pathfinder 2nd edition #archetype #dragon disciple #dragon #underworld dragon #vault giant #beaskin #blue dragon #red dragon #advanced player's guide

[spinningbuster98]

Mega Man X5 Part 1

And we’re back!

Mega Man X5 marks the beginning of the dark times for the X series. Not in the sense that this game is...bad per se, especially in comparison to what comes right afterwards, it’s just....

I like to call X5 the Sonic Forces of Mega Man, not in regards to its fan reception but moreso in regards to how much it hypes itself up despite not...really being all that special. Not bad (for the most part), but certainly not worthy of being the big finale of the X series that it was originally meant to be.

You feel this right as you boot up the game: instead of the amazingly animated anime cutscenes of MM8 and X4, X5 just has static slide shows of artworks that even look kinda blurry, certainly not befitting of a game that wants to present its story as the big, climactic ending of the series. Also no voice acting (which ok not necessarily a bad thing here)

The same goes for the in-game graphics: lots of sprites taken from X4 still look great, but most of the backgrounds look...flatter, more static, blurrier and not as detailed as before. The boss sprites also look less fluidly animated than before. The whole game just looks cheaper, like there were clear budget cuts alla round (well except for the music, this is actually one of the best OSTs in the X lineup, Squid Adler’s theme here especially is a fave of mine)

But above all else the game has plenty of....weird design decisions

First of all: Alia. She’s your navigator, constantly stopping you throughout the levels to inform you of obvious shit a la Navi from Ocarina of Time. She kinda sucks. Yeah you can skip her dialogues by button mashing but c’mon, this breaks the pace constantly

Most levels in this game are...fine, competent but also offer nothing truly special

Grizzly Slash feels like a watered down version of Slash Beast’s from X4

Squid Adler’s....I actually don’t have too many issues with the Ride Chaser section specifically because it’s short and it’s at the start of the stage, meaning you can practice it as often as you want (and I guess the animal riding levels from Crash Bandicoot have sort of trained me at collecting stuff during auto scrollers), but the rest of the stage is kinda claustrophobic and its main gimmick with switches, while functional, isn’t really interesting nor does it fit a normally fast paced series like X.

(Let’s not get into how the power up system works here, I don’t have a degree quantum physics so i wouldn’t know how to explain it to you)

Still the game does introduce one cool idea: you can now choose between X or Zero before each stage!

The first half of the game does a nice job balancing between the two, as there may be some levels or bosses which are more comfortably handled with Zero while others may be more suited for X (like Squid Adler’s) but every level can be completed by either character

This balance is gonna break by the time we reach the final stages but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves

However, for everyone wanting to play this game: ALWAYS choose X for the intro stage! Why? Because if you do he starts the game with a nerfed, but still pretty powerful, version of his X4 armor. If you pick Zero X will start with no armor and Zero will just have a dinky buster that does jack shit. And like I’ll explain next time some stages in this game were....probably not fully balanced for an unarmored X...

Also shoutout to Zero having a conversation with the Dr.Light AI, while X never once speaks to him throughout the whole series. The favoritism is still running quite high

I may really like Zero as a character (mostly his Zero series incarnation) but that won’t stop me from pointing this out. I don’t hold said favoritism against him as a character, as at least the games never once have had him, or other characters, claim that he’s better than X or anything rather it’s just the narrative always giving him the the most important moments, so I like to seperate the character from the way they are handled in these cases, much like Shadow and how obviously he was the writer’s pet in 06.

#youtube #mega man #mega man x5 #my gameplay

[dm-clockwork-dragon]

A New Evolution: The Mutophage V2

Hey Guys! So I'm Not Quite Dead yet! After nearly 2 years of playtesting, and several additional months of work redeveloping, I present the second full edition of the Mutophage! This one isn't as drastic a rework as some of my other classes have gotten recently, such as the Prizefighter and Hollower. But it does represent a serious update to the mechanics of the class, especially the all-important mutations. In previous version of the mutophage, Each mutation effectively worked like a spell powered by your hit points. you primed mutations in the same way you might prepare spells, and overall, I was just unhappy with how similar the class was starting to feel to a wizard. There was also a major issue with early game survivability, not only because the hit points you are spending for mutations count a lot more when you have so few at first and second level, but because the class lacked early game access to defensive abilities like the barbarian unarmored defense. And the fact that you had to waste mutations on specific natural weapons just to compete with other classes in damage wasn't great either. To solve all of this, I basically went back to the drawing board with the mutations. Admittedly, when I initially designed the class, 90% of mutations were copied direct from my Necroficer class, with only slight alterations. this seemed like a good idea at the time, but the issue came in that those mutations were still balanced for stacking on top of multiple monsters controlled by the Player, rather for expanding the capabilities of a single PC. The First thing I did was separate out all the weapon mutations. The unnatural weapon feature had been developed as sort of an afterthought, but I honestly liked the flexibility it gave, and opted to just define natural weapons with their own weapons table, rather than making claws, teeth, and similar each their own mutation. After that, I took to addressing the way mutations scaled with level. There were a lot of mutations that really needed to be available a lot sooner than they were, but I had gated them behind prerequisites and high cost to prevent abusing things like flight being early game evolutions. A lot of mutations also felt like natural progressions of other mutations. and that gave me an idea. In the new version, each mutation has 2-3 teirs, which can be activated by spending increasing number of hit dice. The tier 1 effects of each mutation are relatively simple, and work well as Evolutions, but the more hit dice you pour into a mutation, the more powerful the effects become. I tried to group effects based on a progression of flavor, rather than just pure mechanics. This helps create a spread of unique abilities, and encourages diversification rather than forcing the player to only take mutations that fit a specific mechanical build. At the end of the day, the number of individual mutations dropped from about 55 to around 35, but the total number of unique effects (no longer counting natural weapons) increased to 89. Because the player can now get more variety out of fewer mutations, the number of mutations the mutophage knows at each level has dropped by about half, and the need to prime a subset of those mutations each day like a wizard does their spells is gone. Once you know a mutation, you just know it. Evolutions changed a bit too. You get your first evolution earlier now, and have more total than you did before. Evolutions also no longer remain permanently active (this just wasn't viable with some mutation tiers) instead, they reduce the number of hit dice you have to spend when activating a specific mutation. Each evolution still leaves a visible deformity related to the mutation it is used for, but the exact nature of this deformity is up to you and your DM Preview images above are low resolution, and do not contain all 29 pages. For the latest high-resolution PDF, as well as a whole host of other work I have done, check out this handy dropbox link. And be sure to tell me what you think!

If you like what I do and want to support me or just generally help out, Check out my Patreon page, or throw some coin at me through Paypal.me. If you wanna just come say hi on my Discord, that’s great too!

#class #5e dnd #dnd 5e #d&d 5e #dungeons and dragons 5e #5e #homebrew 5e #5th edition #mutophage #mutant #mutation #monster race #monster class #body horror #dnd homebrew #homebrew #homebrew class #clockwork dragon #Clockworkdragon

[hellyeahheroes]

Playing Doreen Green in Dungeons & Dragons 5E

New year, some bad things out of my system, time to try coming back to regural activities before this year crushes me again. And I know a perfect way. Let’s make a build for d&d, since I haven’t done one of those in a while, using a Marvel character that bings cheers, joy and friendship whenever she goes.

Steve Ditko had an... interesting idea what Squirrel Girl should look like. Funny how people who say modern take on the character disrespects vision of artists who drew her traditionally attractive never seem to think these guys themselves disrespected Ditko’s vision, isn’t it?

Goals: As always I’m lifting the template for this from Tulok the Barbrarian, so let us start with what we actually want from this character. First of all, we need to be able to beat the ever living crap out of everyone. Second, we need to show our foes mercy and hopefully get them to change their ways. Finally, we need an army of squirrels.

Ability Scores: Usually I go with Standard Points Array - 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 - because it is the simplest way. But this built will starve for Ability Score Improvements so I decided to, just like a guy from whom I’m ripping this whole idea from, cave in and use point buy. This will be simple take, however - we will replace standard array’s 14 and 10 with extra 15 and 8 

Strength: 8- not something we need to be honest. Doreen is good at everything but in D&D we need to prioritize the most important things.

Dexterity: 15 - Doreen is quick and swift as some sort of squirrel....girl...

Constitution: 12 - if someone does manage to hit her she can actually take that hit and keep going.

intelligence: 8 - wish it was higher but again, we cannot have everything. Yet.

Wisdom: 15 - Squirrels love you, you have senses of a squirrel, you survived Savage Land like a champ.

Charisma: 13 - your have a thing of talking your enemies out of villainy, as long as no one runs in to kick them in the head while you’re at it, which is rude.

Now for D&D’s equivalent of species, Race. It is unclear if Doreen is a mutant or not but I feel like trying to stray away from Variant Human a bit if we can. There is not enough animal-like things about Doreen to make her a Tabaxi, so we’ll go with Swiftstride Shifter from Eberron. You gain +2 Dexterity and +1 Charisma, Darkvision allowing you to see for 60 feet in dim light as in bright light and in darkness as in dim light, but without being able to discern colors, proficiency in Perception and Acrobatics skills, extra 5 feet of movement, Common, Quori and third language of your choice (pick something campaign relevant) and an abilitty to shift into more bestial form as a bonus action, granting you temporary hit points equal your level + your Constitution modifier, another extra 5 feet of movement and an abilitty to move 10 feet away without provoking opprtunitty attacks as a reaction whenever an enemy ends their movement next to you.

Backgorund: Build a custom one for skills in Animal Handling and Persuasion, none they offer speaks to me.

Class levels: We will start as a Monk, gaining proficiency in Strength and Dexterity saving throws, simple weapons, shortswords, a set of artisan tools of your choice and two skills - Athletics and Stealth would be my pick.

1st Level Monks gain Unarmored Defense and Martial Arts, which all work as long as you’re not wearing armor or carrying a shield. As we see from the picture above, it would be hard to call a jacket and shorts an armor. You can add your Wisdom (WIS) modifier to your Armor Class alongside yoru Dexterity (DEX) modifier, you can substitute your DEX in place of Strength for attack and damage rolls of your unarmed attacks and you roll a d4 for the damage and you can spend your bonus action to make an additional unarmed attack. You can also use simple weapons that aren’t two handed or heavy and still get these bonuses

2nd Level Monks gain Ki Points, whose number is equal to your Monk level and replenishes on short or long rest. You can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed attacks as a bonus action or take Dodge or Disengage actions as a bonus action. You also get unarmored Movement, meaning that when not wearing armor your speed busts up to additional +10 feet.

There is an option for Monk to also gain an additional abbility allowing you to between each long rest choose one martial weapon that isn’t heavy or special and you’re profficient with to treat as a monk weapon. This isn’t something Squirrel Girl would use, I’m only bringing it up because it was added in a book Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Tasha, also known as Iggwilv, is considered one of greatest villains in d&d. So it’s a good think Doreen has this whole thing about befriending and trying to reform villains because from next level on we’re gonna be best friends with Tasha and her cauldron. Consider Tasha your Kraven.

3rd Level: We will switch to a Ranger, getting proficiency in Knowledge Nature and we will grab variant Ranger features from that Cauldron. Deft Explorer makes you Canny, doubling proficiency bonus you add to one of your skills, I’d go with Persuasion so that you can convince people like Kraven to switch sides.

You also get Favored Foe - it lets you mark an enemy you hit with an attack for 1 minute or until you break a concentration check (as with spells, it is a Constitution Saving throw you make while taking damage, you need to beat either 10 or a number equal half of damage dealt to you, whichever is higher, or you lose focus). During this itme whenever you hit the target for the first time in a turn you deal an extra 1d4 of damage. You can mark a foe total number of times equal your prficiency modifier betwen each long rest.

4th Level: 2nd Level Ranger can choose a Fighting Style. Let us reach to that Cauldron and grab Unarmed Fighting, which lets your fists deal 1d6 + your Strength modifier damage, 1d8 if you use two hands and 1d4 a turn to a creature you’re grappling.

You may wonder why we picked it if we already have Martial Arts? Well, let us talk about Rules as Intended (RAI) vs Rules as Written (RAW) - the idea that the way rules in a game are written may not necessairly reflect what the author wanted and reason behind many, many, many rules debates in history of RPGs. As Intended you should use your Martial Arts dice with your Martial Arts attacks but as written there is nothing saying you have to. Talk with your DM  how they feel about it and if  they side with RAW, you can now deal damage like 11th level Monk - 1d8+your DEX modifier. If not, grab Blind-Fighting, which makes your senses so good you can effectively “see” creatures within 10 feets of you even if you’re blinded or in darkness and even notice invisible creatures who aren’t succesfully rolling stealth to hide. Only total cover (like, a wall) stops this, giving you some sweet Squirrel Senses.

Remember when Doreen beat Wolverine? I do.

2nd Level Rangers also get to learn spells. You know two spells of 1st level and have two spell slots you can spend every long rest to cast them.

Longstrider for 1 hour adds 10 feet to your speed. For those keeping track at home that’s now 50 feet while shifting.

Hunter’s Mark requires a concentration but let’s you as a bonus action mark a target and deal it extra 1d6 damage on every hit you deal it and have an advantage on Perception and Survival checks to find it for the next hour or until you break concentration. It it drops to 0 hit points on your next turn you can move it to another target as a bonus action. It’s Favored Foe but better. Mostly because Favored Foe originally was just Hunter’s Mark but many players felt it was too powerful and asked Wizards of the Coast to nerf it in official surveys. To the utter bafflement of everyone who discuss this game online. If I felt more political I’d make a joke this is the first case ever of silent majority being a thing but after last 4 years I cannot force myself to make it funny.

5th level: 3rd Level Monks can Deflect Missiles, letting you use your reaction to catch a ranged attack that would hit you, reducing its damage by 1d10+your Monk Level+your DEX Modifier. If you reduce damage to zero you can spend a Ki Point to send it back at the attacker, making ranged attack treating missile as a thrown monk weapon you’re proficient with.

You also get too chose Monastic Tradition and Way of Mercy from Tasha’s Cauldron will let you both show mercy to your enemies and kick some more ass. You gain Proficiency in Medicine and Insight, letting you read on villains what problems may haunt them and how to help. You also get Hands of Healing, which let you for one Ki Point as an action heal a creature an amount of hit points you roll on your Martial Arts die. You can also not spend a Ki point and replace one of your Flurry of Blows attacks with this. Doreen is kind enough to help patching up beaten enemies. Also, Hit Points aren’t meat points, they can reflect someone’s will to fight. So I don’t see why you shouldn’t use it to cheer your allies up if their spirits are down - Doreen is cheerful and friendly, she is a delight to have on a team and is sure to keep the morale up. Flavor it as a good pat on the back from your Squirrel-loving pal.

Also, you get Hands of Harm. Letting you once per turn and for one Ki Point deal extra necrotic damage on a single attack, its number equal your Martial Arts Die+ Your Wisdom Modifier.

6th Level: 4th level Monks get an Ability Score Improvement, add +1 to your Dexterity and Wisdom, and Slow Fall, letting you reduce amount of damage you take from a fall by five times your Monk level. You can refluff this as gliding down on your flying squirrel gear.

Wish it could help me find better version of this appriopriate picture.

7th Level: 5th Level Monk gets an Extra Attack, letting you attack twice as a part of your action. You also get Stunning Strike, letting you spend a ki point to make the target suceed a Constitution saving throw or be stunned until end of your next turn. And your Martial Die bumps up to 1d6 - we do not use it for Unarmed attack but we do use it for other stuff, so keep a track on it.

8th Level; 6th Level Monks’ strikes become magical for the purpose of overcoming damage resistance and immunities.  Also, your Unarmored Movement bumps up by another 5 fee, it’s not total of 55 feet of movement.

Way of Mercy gets Physician’s Touch, which also let’s you remove a single  blinded, deafened, paralyzed, poisoned, or stunned condition from a creature you use Healing Hands on or apply poisoned condition to target of your Hands of Harm. No idea how that works. I mean maybe Doreen punches someone so hard they get nausea? And knows first aid?

9th Level; 7th Level Monks get Evasion, meaning that when you make a Dexterity Saving Throw to avoid damage, if the effect says you take half damage when you suceed, you instead take none. You also get Stillness of mind, letting you end one effect causing you to be charmed or frightened on yourself. Makes sense, Doreen clearly is not afraid of anything or anyone.

10th Level: 3rd Level Rangers gain an additional Spell Slot, an additional Spell and one extra Spell from Primal Awarenes class feature - that last one you can cast once per long rest without spending a spell slot. 

You also get to pick Ranger Conclave. Swarmkeeper can summon a swarm of squirrels to aid you in combat. Whenever you hit an enemy with an attack you can dicide to make Squirrels bit them for an extra 1d6 piercing damage, force that enemy to make a Strength saving throw or be pushed away from you by 15 feet or have yourself moved up to 5 feet in any direction except up or down. You also get Mage Hand cantrip, except made of squirrels and an extra Spell you know. So for full list of spells you get:

Jump Triples your jump distance, it lasts for 1 minute with no concentration.

Speak with Animals let’s you talk to animals for 10 minutes, also no concentration required.

Faerie Fire let’s you set up lights on a 20-foot cube, making lal creatures in it roll Dexterity saving throws or be outlined, nuliffiling invisibility and giving everyone attacking them an advantage. Sadly, it requires concentration.

Mage hand can let you make a hand out of Squirrels that can carry objects no heavier than 10 pounds and do viarious tasks except for attacking or activating magical items. But this is effectively you sending a pack of Squirrels on an important quest.

11th Level: 8th Level Monks get an Ability Score Improvement, cap your Dexterity.

12th Level: 9th level Monks can now move on vertical surfaces and walk on water like Jesus as long as they don’t end their turn there. Which is good since canonically Doreen is a poor swimmer.

13th Level: 10th Level Monks gain Purity of Body, making Doreen so powerful she can punch poison and disease away from her body. I’m sure she’s still social distancing AND SO SHOULD YOU!

14th Level: 11th Level Monks' Martial Dice bumps to d8 and Way of Mercy let’s you now replace all of your Flurry of Blows attacks with healing and neither that nor touch of harm cost you ki points anymore. You can still only do the latter once each turn.

15th Level: I was sitting on 4th level of Ranger for so long, we’re taking it now for an Ability Score Improvenet....or rather a Feat. Magic Initiate let’s us learn two cantrips and a 1st level spell from the Wizard Spell list we can cas once per long rest.

Prestidigitation let’s you do small things more for mood than anything else, you can fluff it as squirrels helping you.

Message let’s you send someone a message only they can hear and let’s them reply. It’s your phone, basically.

Find Familiar allows us to conjure a squirrel that we can talk to telepatically or see through its eyes. It cannot attack but it can flank and take help action to give us an advantage on attack rolls and when it dies it doesn’t, instead it vanishes until you cast this spell again.. We can even decide to see through its eyes. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, we have Tippy Toe!

Tasha also grants you Martial Versitality, allowing you to change Unarmed Fighting to Blind-Fighting now that your Martial Arts Die caught up to it. This is the reason we waited so long for this level.

Level 16: 12th Level Monks get an Ability Score Improvement, invest in Wisdom for better Hands of Healing and Harm and Unarmed Defense.

Level 17: 13th Level Monks get Tongue of Sun and Moon, meaning you can now speak any language. I have no idea how in character it is but I could see Doreen learning extra languages to make more friends.

Level 18: 14 level Monks get Diamond Soul making you proficient in all saving throws. And you can spend a ki point to rerol a failed saving throw. Meaning now you can more or less tank everything bad guys throw at you, fireballs, Hold Persons, shove action.... And your Unarmored movement increases one last time, giving you speed of 75 feet.

Level 19: 15th Level Monks get Timeless Body, making you immune to effects of aging and no longer needing food or water to live. I kinda struggled to justifyu this one, then I remembered old Squirrel Girl from the future who is still kicking butts so here, you can now grow up to be her

Level 20: We will finish on 16th level of Monk and final Ability Score Improvement to round up Wisdom.

Before we go further let me take a moment to address possible alternatives Variant Human could let you grab Tippy Toe at first level and grab a Tough Feat. 

3 levels in College of Rhetorics Bard could allow you to be really good at talking to people by making you unnable to roll lower than a 10 on Persuasion, Bardic Inspiration you could use to both support your allies and make your enemies worse with unsettling words, an extra skill, expertise in two more skills and spells like Calm Emotions, Enchance Ability, Heroism, Animal Friendship, Vicious Mockery and  Tasha’s Hideous Laughter for puns. But I admit I could not fit them in any way that didn’t feel awkward, they did not mesh well with everything else and cost too much other features I wanted. If you want to go this way I recommend being Variant Human, taking Magic Initiate at first level and putting those Bard levels after Swarmkeeper Ranger ones, final build would be Monk 14/Ranger 3/Bard 3. Both this and previous bullet point would be fully legal under Adventurer’s League “you can use Player’s Handbook and one other book” rule.

Another option were two levels of Rogue for Expertise in Nature and Animal Handling and Cunning Action to decrease your Ki Points economy problem. 

Finally I didn’t go for Path of the Beast Barbarian despite it letting you grow tail because that tail stabs people - something your do not.

Anyway, time for Overview:

Pros: First of all, Mobility. you have movement of up 75 feet, meaning with dash you can move 150 and with double dash 225 feet in one turn, ways to move out of enemy range and even move up walls or over water. Second, you make a lot of attacks and between Hunter’s Mark, Swarmkeeper and Hands of Harm can deal consistent damage and you have Tippy Toe to ensure you keep hitting. Finally you’re plucky heart of the team/backup healer, pretty good Party Face and a skill squirrel, making you a very good party member, someone others benefit from very much.

Cons: Your HP is somewhere below 140, which means that only vew hits or one big need to hit for you to be in Power Word Kill range.  Second, your Intelligence and Strength are low enough you may fail some nasty saving throws even with Diamond Soul. Finally you have a lot of abilities that use Ki Points and Ranger spells that regenerate only on long rest, meaning you may run out of resources pretty fast if you’re not careful. 

Overall, however, I do think this is a good build. You’re hard to hit, you hit hard, you unleash fury of squirrels on your foes and you can take care of yourself. Just remember you have many abilities that benefit your allies and play a very social character - d&d is a game best enjoyed as a social one - get some friends and fight evil.

-Admin

#Squirrel Girl #marvel #Dungeons & Dragons

[winchesterandpie]

Reminders (Thorin Oakenshield x reader)

Pairing: Thorin Oakenshield x reader

Sort of Modern!AU

Word Count: 1517

Warnings: some angst, mentions of death (nobody actually dies though)

A/N: So, I watched the Battle of the Five Armies when it was on TV as part of a Hobbit marathon... naturally this included Thorin, Fili, and Kili all dying and I was Not A Fan, so I had this fix-it imagination/thing. The reader (that’s you!) got transported to Middle Earth, and saved our boys and now those three dwarves plus you watched BOTFA (don’t ask me how they got transported to and from Middle Earth, because idk, it just happened). The two lines of dots are just my way of maintaining space on the mobile version! Gif is not mine (I got it from google, but it appears to have a credit in the top corner)! Love you all and hope you enjoy!

Shoutout to the lovely (hehe) @legolaslovely​ for helping me bounce ideas and get unstuck!!

The movie was over but I could barely push myself to my feet and through the halls of my house, muttering an excuse about needing to use the bathroom. It’d been dreadfully hard to live through Thorin and his nephews nearly dying, but to have to watch them actually die over again? It was just too much. 

Why did I let those blasted dwarves talk me into watching this movie with them? I could’ve just been faster to turn it off and we could’ve avoided this whole thing but noooo. 

Even now, they were watching the beginning of the first Lord of the Rings movie, unaffected by watching their own on-screen deaths and unaware as I tried desperately to force back the tears I could feel welling up. Without paying attention, I came to sit before a window in the other room, staring out at the yard and the streets as I tucked my knees close to my chest. I sucked in a sharp breath as flashes of memory struck.

.   .

.   . 

This one dies first.

Then the brother.

Then you, Oakenshield.

You will die last.

Ice filled my veins at the words I had heard so many times before in the movies. Now, though, it was real. Fili was real and a real friend, not just a fictional character.

Helplessly, we watched from below as Azog jammed his cruel blade through Fili before letting him fall to the ice. Instinctively, I reached out, trying to slow the blond prince’s fall. Miraculously, I somehow managed to catch him, though the limp weight of him knocked me to the ground. He lay unmoving atop me as I struggled to get out from under him.

.   .

.   .

Kili charged recklessly towards Tauriel’s voice, hearing her cry out as she was attacked by Bolg. I saw him move from across the ice, separated by a horde of goblins and orcs. Muttering curses under my breath, I followed, cutting my way through the army as quickly as I could, ignoring the cuts I received in the urgency I felt to get there before it was too late. 

Alas, fate, it seemed, was against me as Azog’s son threw Kili onto the stone steps. As I reached the ledge, I saw the dwarf’s head hit the stone hard and he didn’t get back up. My last throwing knife leapt of its own accord into my hand, where it was sent with deadly accuracy and force into an unarmored part of Bolg’s head. 

My knees were almost buckling under the weight of losing both of the dwarf princes, under the weight of my own failure to save them, but I forced myself to keep moving. There was yet one more son of Durin who drew breath on this hill, and I had to try. No tears, not yet, I told myself.

.   .

.   . 

From across the ice, I could see that Azog had some dwarf I couldn’t identify pinned beneath him. My breath caught in horror as I realized it was Thorin, trying desperately to stave off Azog’s blade. I had already used most of my arrows, leaving only two in the quiver. Still, I could tell I only had time for one shot. One shot in which to pull the Pale Orc’s attention to me, as I didn’t trust my aim to kill him.

Unconsciously, I had drawn the bow, the fletching on the arrow brushing my cheek as I aimed carefully. One shot. One breath. One smooth release. The arrow flew on its way with a hiss.

It slammed into Azog’s upper arm, and his head whipped in my direction, just like I’d been counting on. Thorin’s attention was dragged to me, distracting him from Azog, which I hadn’t counted on. The orc moved to stab Thorin again, but I snapped off my last arrow before I started sprinting in their direction. The arrow tore through his stub of an arm, pushing his sword stroke aside. Or so I had hoped.

I thought I saw my arrow shift where his blade struck, but it didn’t stop him and I was still too far away. I saw the blade sink into Thorin, who couldn’t block it in his exhaustion, and the sight hit me like a physical blow. The loss of the brothers had hurt, but not like this. Not him, I begged to whatever deity would listen, Please, not him.

.   .

.   . 

I was brought out of my thoughts suddenly by a hand on my face, brushing away a tear I hadn’t realized was slipping down my cheek. My mind slowly processed and understood where I was, though the grief lingered heavily. They hadn’t actually been dead, thankfully, though that knowledge hadn’t been part of the memories I’d recalled.

“Come back to me, ghivashel.” Thorin’s voice filtered over my ears, I pulled my gaze to his face, still staring without seeing. With conscious effort, I forced myself to focus on him, registering his furrowed brow and concerned gaze.

“There you are.”

“Sorry,” I replied quietly, not wanting to disturb the quiet.

“No need to apologize. Where were you?” His hands, cupped around my cheeks, held me there as he gazed intently into my eyes.

“Erebor,” I hedged, hoping he’d leave it at that. I’d managed to keep my voice from cracking, but only just. He was worried enough about trying to get back to Middle Earth to have to worry about whether I was breaking. I was, however, betrayed when another tear slipped from the corner of my eye.

“What’s wrong, lass?” Thorin caught the tear with a gentle brush of his thumb. “I’ve been homesick, I’ve seen you homesick. This is something more. You don’t need to hide from me.”

“I… that movie… I didn’t expect… didn’t expect to watch you die today, Thorin.” My voice finally cracked as I put words to the painful thoughts.

“And you were remembering the battle.” His gaze became impossibly soft as he looked at me. Carefully, he pulled me into his chest, his fingers winding through my hair. I felt the gentle press of his lips to the crown of my head as I sucked in a shuddering breath. 

“That part of the movie always hurt, but this time…” I trailed off with a helpless shrug.

“It is understandable to be troubled by reminders of such times. You are not weak for that,” the king murmured soothingly as the hand that wasn’t cradling my head to him began to trace little patterns on my back.

“I don’t see you, or Fili, or Kili so troubled, and you were the ones who nearly died and then watched your own deaths!”

“Different things trouble different people. Besides, you were the one who watched what you believed to be our demise unfold before you in the real battle. Watching it now was as though you were reliving the memory.” 

I nodded slightly, supposing that what he said made sense. Safe now in the dwarven king’s strong arms, the tension and grief slowly loosened their hold, helped along by quiet reassurances that he was there, that they were alive. Every inhale brought Thorin’s scent into my nose, another reminder that he was real and alive. 

“What happened to Aunt Y/N?” I heard Kili’s quiet question but didn’t move. 

I didn’t really pay attention to Thorin’s reply, just the soothing rumble of his chest as he spoke. 

“Is there anything we can do, Uncle?”

“What do you think, love? What do you need?”

I shifted my head a little as I thought, feeling the soft brush of Thorin’s lips against my forehead. “Maybe we could watch something else? Something to take my mind off it?” I only paused briefly before my jumbled thoughts slipped from my mouth. “I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t be-”

“No apologies, ghivashel,” Thorin cut me off gently, pulling back enough to lift my chin in his hand and look me in the eye. “You don’t ever need to apologize for having feelings. You are not a burden for them.” As usual, the dark-haired dwarf saw through me to where the immediate guilt was coming from. I nodded, closing my eyes and leaning into his hand as I tried to burn his reassurance into my mind. 

“We don’t know how to get to a movie, but we’d love to watch another one with you,” Kili offered after a moment had passed.

“Yeah, I should probably man the remote.” I chuckled weakly at the thought of them trying to work the unfamiliar technology.

“Fili, Kili, you get some food to eat while we watch. We’ll be there in a moment.” 

The brothers bounced toward the kitchen, jostling each other playfully as they went. I smiled at the sight before turning back to see Thorin watching me adoringly. 

“Thank you,” was all I could say. 

“Men lananubukhs menu,” was all Thorin said in reply. His hand found the back of my neck, pulling me in so he could rest his forehead against mine with the utmost care, and I knew that he knew everything I was failing to convey. 

Somehow, he always knew.

Translations:

Ghivashel: treasure of all treasures

Men lananubukhs menu: I love you

Hope you enjoyed!!

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@riddikulus-obsessions​ @addictionmarvel​ @peppermint--teas​ @mercedesbarnes​ @javapeach​

Tag list is open! Shoot me a message or an ask if you’d like to be added!

#Thorin x reader #Thorin x you #Thorin Oakenshield x reader #Thorin Oakenshield x you #Thorin #Thorin Oakenshield #The Hobbit #The Hobbit fanfiction #fix it fanfiction #Modern!AU

[theworldbrewery]

multiclass your...  BARD!!

Your bard is a caster, and a damn fine one, with the potential to inspire as a bonus action! Bards are fluid creatures--you might favor dashing swordsmanship, straight-up casting, or focus your talents toward skills. Because of that flexibility, your abilities can mesh well with a variety of classes. Here’s the breakdown:

Tough Sells:

Bard + Barbarian

I know, I know. But at the early levels, your casting-first bard is going to have a tough time if you’re raging. You can still use your Bardic Inspiration and depending on the bard college you chose, you might make this combination work, but it won’t be easy. The Barbarian’s unarmored defense and danger sense are your best assets in this combination.

Bard + Monk

You’re probably at least a little dextrous. If you’ve got the wisdom to pull it off, Monk could be a reasonable choice. But unfortunately, as a Monk, your early-level perks have more to do with melee attacks and less with flexible abilities. If you’re willing to spend time at first level wrestling with the bard and monk abilities, at second level you can use ki points to take certain bonus actions, which could be worth it. But that first level where the bard half and the monk half aren’t talking to each other...that’s hard to live with. It’s sort of like a bad marriage and you’re trying to Make It Work.

Bard + Wizard

Wizards will get you extra spell slots and cantrips, a new selection of spells--and precious little else. Arcane Recovery goes by wizard level, not total level, so there’s no recovering a 5th-level spell slot. Arcane Traditions can make this a useful multiclass, but there are better caster combinations out there, and your bard deserves the best.

Probably Worth It:

Bard + Druid

If you could speak while in Wild Shape beast form, I’d say this is a definite go. But unfortunately, if you wild-shape your bard, you’ve not only hampered your spellcasting, but also your bardic inspiration (which must be heard to be of use). If you’re only taking one level, this is a decent option, though, since you’ll snag extra level-one spell slots and cantrips and unlock new spells. The two bonus spell slots (as opposed to the 1 or 0 you’d gain by taking a new bard level) are a strong opportunity, no doubt.

Bard + Paladin

Like monks, a paladin’s wheelhouse doesn’t really mesh with yours. You won’t get new spell slots until second level, and when you do, the spells you get will mostly be for enhancing your melee attacks. But if that is your game, the paladin’s fighting style and smites could work in your favor. It’s not ideal, but it’s something you can twist to suit your needs pretty well.

Bard + Ranger

This is like a slightly-less-neat version of the Bard+Rogue multiclass further down. If your bard is very skills-oriented, the ranger can offer skills perks in favored terrain and against favored enemies as well as light spellcasting and a fighting style. Given the flexibility of the bard, the ranger’s answer seems to be “why choose one thing to be?” However, this multiclass loses points because you have to be above-average at dexterity AND wisdom just to multiclass.

Bard + Warlock

This could be higher on the list, I’ll admit. But warlocks only get you one first level spell slot at level one and two cantrips. If you play your otherworldly patron cards right, though, the efficacy of your bard can go through the roof. Throw in a pair of eldritch invocations at second level and this multiclass can be a nice change of pace--but it’s not particularly good at improving the things your bard already does, so it’s not quite there.

Go All In:

Bard + Cleric

If you find that your bard gravitates toward healing, consider dipping into Cleric! you’ll get cleric spells like spiritual weapon and cure wounds--and since you’re already a high-level caster, you can cast that heal spell in a higher spell slot! The domain you select should be influenced by your bard--each one will give you a slightly different skill set, so choose wisely--but all could be worth it. For a healing-oriented multiclass, though, choose Life or Grave domain.

Bard + Fighter

True, you’re not the best melee class out there. But if you chose college of Swords or Valor as a bard, you’re probably already boosting Dex or Strength, so you’re not spreading yourself too thin. As a fighter, you’ll gain a fighting style and Second Wind (self-heal) at first level, and if you push it to second, you’ll get that Action Surge. Picture it--you cast Vicious Mockery, you throw out a bonus action healing word or Bardic Inspiration, and then, suddenly, you come out the gate with another action! Whether it’s with sword or spell, this feature is delightful.

Bard + Rogue

Usually this is where I point out sneak attack, but look. You’re not here for sneak attack. You’re here for expertise, thieves’ tools, and a bonus skill proficiency. A bard with good dexterity has all the makings of a rogue with spells as it is, archetype-wise. For you, sneak attack is a bonus if you’re a bard that already does weapon stuff. Don’t get too caught up in it. At second level, it gets better: you’ll get those Cunning Actions--bonus actions that let you hide, disengage, or dash. For a squishy-ish spellcaster, take that and put it to good use.

Bard + Sorcerer

Okay. You’re not going to get any proficiencies from this, but that’s okay, because at first level you’ll get a sorcerous origin and cantrips and two spell slots. Your sorcerous origin offers some really good perks right away. Don’t sleep on that deal. At second level, you get sorcery points that you can convert into spell slots. That’s a big deal. If you push it to third level and choose metamagic options? hot damn! If you like being a strong caster, here’s the multiclass to make you even stronger.

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#dnd #d&d #dungeons and dragons #bard #multiclass #multiclassing

[housetyrellian]

RP ranting under the cut. tl;dr version is that the way people RP armor, maces, guns, etc is way, way less interesting than what you could do with playing it out realistically.

Ok, you asked for it. Plate and mail armor are criminally underrated in RP and guns are ridiculously overrated, and this is particularly egregious when you consider that playing it our realistically would be so cool.

Your sword isn’t going to cut through mail plate, and it isn’t going to penetrate plate at all. You know what it can do, though? If it has a narrow/heavily tapered tip, it can stab between the rings.

Imagine getting into a fight, and the armored knight is slowly bleeding out from dozens of tiny wounds where maybe half an inch of steel got through their armor and padding.

One-handed maces don’t smash plate armor, either. Two-handed maces/hammers/halberds can, but it’s harder than you’d think, and doesn’t work as well on breastplates. You know what one-handed maces can do, though?

Smash joints, bash them too much to be able to fight back. Ring their helm to distract them and make it easier to bear them to the ground and turn it into a grapple, so you can stab your misericorde, or other rigid, narrow thrusting dagger into the mail armor on armpits and groin to do the same kind of death-by-a-thousand-stabs thing you can do with a sword, or go for a more difficult target and stab them in the face through their helm’s eyeslit.

Or just attack unarmored areas, given how many idiots (yours truly included on occasion) don’t wear a helm at all, or wear armor that doesn’t actually cover anything. If you attack in groups, it becomes impossible to even defend the head effectively once you surround them.

Arrows? Don’t pretend they just go right through armor - they don’t; even crossbows and longbows need to be at close range to reliably punch through mail, and can’t penetrate the thicker parts (breastplate and tassets/thigh plates) of well-made plate armor at all, but that’s the beauty of a fantasy setting: Wouldn’t it be fun to play Arcane Shot as an enchanted arrow that hits like a mace?

Long guns (rifles, shotguns firing slugs, etc) can penetrate breastplates at close distances (but not so much at mid-to-long distances), but pistols and shotguns firing regular shot (buckshot, etc) usually can’t. You know what they can punch through? Helms, joints, nail armor in general, that sort of thing.

This extends to more modern guns like revolvers, by the way. Jim Miller (1861-1908) wore a breastplate that allowed him survive being shot seven times in the chest by a revolver. Silk armor is also effective against bullets; trauma surgeon George E Goodfellow (1855-1910) reported that a folded silk handkerchief had been able to repel .45 caliber rounds at such close range that the muzzle flare singed his shirt. Silk was used to make a practical early ballistic vest by Jan Sczczepanik (1872-1829). These wouldn’t stop rifle rounds, but were reported to be virtually immune to pistols and shotgun shot (slugs would probably work though).

Can’t afford silk? Korean inventors Kim Gi-Doo and Gang Yoon found that 10 layers of cotton could stop bullets, too.

HOWEVER. Remember that penetration and impact force aren’t synonymous. Being shot could still cause major bruising or cracked ribs, damage organs like kidneys, etc. Anything you could do by punching someone, a gun would probably do regardless of what armor you’re wearing (though the padding under plate armor specifically would probably prevent organ damage or broken ribs if the bullet does penetrate the breastplate).

There’s so much you can do to make a fight interesting once you move beyond the assumption that armor either works or it doesn’t.

A dude in leather with a dagger is 100% fucked if he fights a dude in full plate, but if he got a bunch of his buddies, they could probably knock him down and kill him with knifes and hammers, as happened to the French at Agincourt when their horses were killed by arrows. Your revolver won’t do much against a guard if you hit them in the chest or thighs, but it’ll punch right through the mail protecting their groin and armpits, and even if they get lucky and their helmet isn’t dented enough to kill them anyway, that’s an extremely disorienting blow that could disable them long enough to tackle them to the ground and stab or shoot them in the face.

Don’t want to risk getting murdered before you get close enough to tackle him? Use a polearm with a hook to try to pull him to the ground (especially if he’s on a horse), or wedge a spear tip into a gap in his armor and push hard enough to knock him down, or coordinate the shove with your buddy, who smacks him in the back of the knees at the same time.

Or use a halberd or two-handed hammer to smash his helm (there’s records of kings having their brains spill out after a halberds went right through their helm). Or use the halberd or hammer to smack them hard enough somewhere other than the breastplate that the armor crumples so badly that they can’t use that part of their body anymore. Or hit them enough times in the chest that you dent the breastplate enough to make it hard to breathe. Or just fucking break their arm, why not?

On the other hand, armor-of-proof (ie, bulletproof) is both more expensive and heavier than regular plate armor - if your knight wants to specialize in fighting on foot, they might be more vulnerable to guns. If they’re more concerned about guns than swords and spears, they might choose to omit armor on their legs and upper arms, equipping themselves like a 17th century harqubusier.

That jacket, by the way, is called a buff coat - one of the very few confirmed versions of historical leather armor. It’s made of rawhide, is good against slashes (but not thrusts), and the most expensive examples combined fashion with function, and were worn by high nobility.

Or maybe you remembered the cotton coat from earlier, and wore it as a gambeson (padded jacket worn under armor). Now even if a pistol round gets through your breastplate, it stops before it can penetrate - though it’d cause much more blunt trauma than if the breastplate had repelled it. Compare: Injuries from being shot while wearing a modern bulletproof vest.

#OOC #RP combat

[hanbeihood]

A D&D 5e Build: Ron Stoppable

I did one of these sometime last year for Halloween and just wanted to do another, so here it is. First up: Why am I attempting to build Ron and /not/ KP? Simply put, Kim is a fairly straight forward build in 5e terms. She’s an Inquisitive Rogue with a single dip into Monk. You could give her some Fighter levels (that UA Unarmed Fighting Style is so tempting) to keep up with Shego’s combat prowess, but her brain is honestly her key feature, making those Rogue levels very valuable (11 at minimum as far as I’m concerned). She’s you’re basic, average girl, and she’s here to save the world. Ronald, on the other hand, is remarkable by just how unremarkable he is while still somehow keeping up with Kim. Barely. For those who didn’t watch Kim Possible when they were younger or don’t have Disney+, he might not even seem like an adventurer. But Ron’s amazing in game terms; he’s at that level of naco cheesiness I just love to play. Plus, he has Rufus, and everyone loves Rufus. Spoilers may appear.

Let’s get into it:

I’m going to be using the standard point array from the PHB. If you would like to roll for stats, just keep in mind where to put your higher and lower rolls.

Ron’s 15 is going into Wisdom. He may seem like a totally inept doof, but he’s incredibly insightful and holds onto his own philosophies. Also, his best friend aside from KP is a naked mole rat (a very smart one at that, but that’s cartoon logic). I’m going to put 14 in Charisma. Ron isn’t intended on being conventionally attractive, but Charisma =/= being hot. It’s all about your presence and ability to get people to listen to you and consider what you’re saying. Ron is somehow able to casually talk with so many villains, so his CHA must be high. Also, he’s an honorary Pixie Scout. 13 is going straight into Constitution. He is R-unstoppable after all... He can take a real beating from even the more threatening foes and eats so many nacos that an above average CON is the only reason he hasn’t been hospitalized for his diet. I’ll give 12 to his Dexterity. He’s dodged lasers, booby traps, and incoming fire from all sorts of things. An adolescence of fighting robots and super-humans will leave you light on your feet and your hands. This may sound weird, but I’m giving his Strength the 10. He’s worked in retail and has lugged around some pretty heavy looking things. And that leaves Intelligence with 8. Ron isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. He says good stuff, but don’t ask him to tutor you for the upcoming exam unless it’s a subject he excels at without question. I know he was kind of a genius when he became evil that one time, but I’m going to rationalize that as his INT & WIS swapping places when his alignment got shifted. Ron’s a Neutral Good guy with Chaotic leanings, so going Evil is bound to mess with your brain in more ways than one.

STR 10 || DEX 12 || CON 13 || INT 8 || WIS 15 || CHA 14

Ron’s a Human of the Variant variety, but if you want to play him as a Bugbear, that’s cool I guess. I’m not your dad. I’m going to bump up his WIS to 16 and CON to 14. And I’m going to give him the Magic Initiate (Wizard) feat. Prestidigitation & Mending can reflect parts of his Movie Makeup Magic Kit, but I’m really taking this feat for Find Familiar so we can have Rufus right off the bat. He’ll also get the Animal Handling skill because Rufus loves him.

For his Background, I’m going with Entertainer for proficiency with Acrobatics, Performance, Disguise Kits, & a musical instrument of your choice. This solidifies his place as the Middleton Mad Dog mascot, the costume of which he made using his MMMK, and he has disguised himself as Mr. Dr. Possible & The Fearless Ferret. However, if you feel that the By Popular Demand feature doesn’t fit Ron quite right, go with the Rustic Hospitality feature from the Folk Hero background.

Oh boy, time for the class.

Ron is a Monk, first and foremost. Despite his clumsy, slacker nature, he’s incredible capable when it comes to dodging blows from Shego & Kim even with his hands behind his back. In addition to Martial Arts & Unarmored Defense, he’ll receive proficiency in Cooking Utensils, Insight, Stealth. He will continue down this class for some time, but what kind of Monk would he be? In the show, he eventually becomes the Supreme Monkey Master as recognized by Master Sensei (I know what you’re thinking.), so we should probably begin with looking for which subclass could best emulate Monkey Kung Fu.

There is a lot of history when it comes to Kung Fu, more than I’m going to type out. That’s not even to mention the 5 variations of the Tai Shing system. I bring this up because Ron’s arch-nemesis, Monkey Fist, is a pracitioner of Tai Shing Pek Kwar and probably would be best described as a user of Wooden Monkey. However, the beauty of 5e is that many different martial art styles can be emulated based on how you use your action economy and describe your attacks & movements. Flavor is everything.

If I were to put all the Monkey magic from the show aside, I would guess Ron could pass as a user of various styles due to him not being nearly trained as much as Monkey Fist in a particular discipline. For D&D 5e, he could be seen as a Drunken Master or Open Hand Monk, but he does have that Monkey magic, putting Four Elements on the table even if we want to say the more mystical side of his simian abilities are due to multiclassing.

At 2nd level, Ron gets access to Ki Points that he can use for Flurry of Blows, Step of the Wind, or Patient Defense. PD is especially handy for the sidekick who would rather avoid danger. He also gets Unarmored Movement which is incredibly useful for a guy like Ron. His running ability landed him a spot on the Middleton High School American football team. Crazy right?

With all that out of the way, I’m going to say once he reaches 3rd level of Monk, Ron will adopt the Way of the Four Elements, learning Elemental Attunement (a more elemental version of Prestidigitation that we can swap out later) & one other viable Four Elements Discipline of your choice. Fist of Unbroken Air is a great option for pushing a foe back while dealing damage. He also gets the ability to Deflect Missiles which is always good.

4th level Monks get the option for an Ability Score Increase or a feat. Take the Lucky feat. It’s honestly super impressive that Ron survived so long fighting baddies before he started his martial arts training. Remember, Kim Possible is one of those shows that has stuff going on off-screen, so there have been many missions between the episodes we see. Monks get Slow Fall here too; Ron falls a lot and this may be how he’s avoided concussions when he should clearly get one.

5th level gives Ron an Extra Attack and Stunning Strike. The best way to avoid a punch is to insure your opponent can’t even throw one. Also, your Martial Arts die is now a d6.

At 6th level, Ron can gain a new 4EleDis as well as swap one out for another. Drop Elemental Attument like I mentioned earlier for Gong of the Summit. This allows you to cast Shatter, and we can flavor this to be a sort of mystical monkey screech. Pick up Clench of the North Wind so you can cast Hold Person; KP will have an easier time boppin’ bad guys when they aren’t moving. Also, your unarmed strikes are now magical when it comes to overcoming resistance and immunity against non-magical attacks & damage. Talk about that Ron factor.

7th level Monks get Evasion for even more ways to avoid danger & Stillness of Mind; he may seem like a coward, but Ron Stoppable won’t be swayed into abandoning his friends.

8th level gives Ron another chance for an ASI/feat. Bump up DEX by 2 to 14 so you can start dealing more damage and have a higher AC. 15 isn’t great but PD has probably served you well if you’ve survived this long.

At 9th level, Ron’s Unarmored Movement is improved so you can have him run along walls or over liquids as long as you keep moving. This isn’t super in-character, but it’s useful.

10th level of Monk gives our boy Purity of Body, making him immune to disease and poison. Looks like he won’t be able to miss school unless he fakes being sick.

11th level is really what we wanted from the Four Elements because now Ron can use Ride the Wind to cast Fly on himself like the Supreme Monkey Master he is. Plus, his Martial Arts die is a d8 now.

For 12th level, we have another ASI/feat opportunity, so that’s another +2 to Ron’s Dexterity for a 16. This gives him an AC of 16 with the ability to take the Dodge action as a bonus action with PD.

I’m going stop here with this build because I think this is a solid place that could potentially coincide with the show, but if you want to take Ron to 20th level, Monks do get two more ASI/feat opportunities at 16th & 19th level. Use these chances to bump up your DEX & WIS to 18 each, or make one of those a 20. Four Elements Monks also get one more Discipline they can take at 17th level; Ron would probably take the Fist of Four Thunders in order to cast Thunderwave. However, if you don’t want to continue levels in Monk, almost any subclass of Fighter or Thief/Swashbuckler Rogue (if your DM is cool with Martial Arts counting towards Sneak Attack) could be viable.

If you decided to opt out of the Magic Initiate feat I took at 1st level, you could easily just take the pet mouse from the Urchin background equipment. Or you could make Rufus a player character with an Awakened Rat as the race if you want him to be more involved.

#ron stoppable #rufus #kim possible #Dungeons and Dragons #dnd #character build #5e

[vesperlord]

So I went ahead and made some 5E D&D character sheets for team RWBY in (late) celebration of Volume 7 being released! I may do more characters down the line, I already have some ideas for JNPR and a definite race in mind for Penny.

Here’s a link to a google drive folder for pdf downloads, for both first level and 20th level (PDFs also contain my spell choices!). I’ve got a bit of explanation and reasoning for my various choices under the cut (mostly talking about the full, 20th level builds) if you’re interested in checking out my thought processes behind each build.

Feel free to use this in any D&D games you have, although you might want to run the sheets by your DM as all of them except for Yang don’t use the starting equipment but instead use the maxed-out starting gold for each class option (though not all of that was spent). If you wanna make any sort of changes go right ahead, I think it’d be really cool to hear other people’s ideas! Also if you have questions that aren’t covered under the cut, or you find that there’s an error of some kind on one of the sheets, please send an ask in.

In terms of races, Ruby, Weiss, and Yang are all variant humans with feats I think work well for them, and Blake a Tabaxi because cat person, even if Tabaxi are significantly more cat-like than the Faunus.

Picking classes for Blake and Weiss were pretty obvious, Weiss as a conjuration focused wizard and Blake as an Arcane Trickster were easy choices given their abilities in the show itself.

Ruby and Yang were a bit trickier, but with Yang it was mostly just a matter of figuring out what I wanted where. I definitely wanted  at least 14 levels of Barbarian to get all the Storm Soul abilities (which- desert soul was my obvious subclass choice since it causes a fire aura when raging) but debated about whether or not I wanted to take levels in Monk or the Tavern Brawler feat. In the end I went with six levels of monk in order to get that sweet resistance-overcoming punch damage, but I would recommend taking the monk levels right after first level in order to get the martial arts ability and be able to punch stuff better quicker. Definitely start with Barbarian though, mostly because in terms of this build, it has a better version of Unarmored Defense.

Ruby stumped me for a while, but I eventually went with 8 levels of Ranger (specifically the revised ranger, because I still prefer it even with the new class features Unearthed Arcana seriously revamping the ranger) and 12 levels of Divine Soul Sorcerer so that she gets some good radiant damage spells to function as her silver eyes. I also gave her a few healing spells, even if she doesn’t have those sort of abilities in the show because team RWBY could use a healer considering none of the other girls have healing abilities. (Fun fact I didn’t realize until actually finishing up this build that she got 8th level spells after all and built her without intending Sunburst to be available. I was very pleased when it turned out I could take that spell after all.) Annoyingly, I couldn’t find a good equivalent to a scythe, or a two-handed weapon that was still finesse, so I went with a scimitar for her melee weapon as a finesse weapon that did slashing damage.

Backgrounds were mostly just kinda random, at least for Ruby and Yang, again I just had an easier time overall building Weiss and Blake. I chose ones that I thought fit them decently but especially with Yang’s it’s kinda like “Hmm. Maybe I should change that.”.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you have fun using these in any D&D games you play!

#rwby #dnd #dnd 5e #character sheets #rwby volume 7 #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #conjuration wizard #arcane trickster #hunter conclave ranger #divine soul sorcerer #open hand monk #storm soul barbarian

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing 14-20 July 2019

Here’s this week’s roundup!

Remember to give your content creators some love! And join in on the events at the bottom!

~Mod Hel

Fanfiction/Snippets/AU Ideas:

@bobo-is-tha-bomb​

Unchain Utopia (Ch. 8-13) https://archiveofourown.org/works/19717810/chapters/46896790

Rating: Mature

Relationships: Zechs Merquise/Reader

Characters: Zechs Merquise, Relena Peacecraft

Additional Tags: Romance, Fluff, Summer of Zechs, Summer of Zechs 2019, Sexual Content, Lime, Drama, Family

Summary: When unexpected political roles are pushed upon you and your husband, you find your life turned upside down. The challenge is far greater than anything you have encountered before, but also leads to new insights. And who knows, you might even find the ultimate happiness there.

@duointherain​

Beneath (Ch. 10) https://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/186326980629/beneath-10

They’d been under the lake. Not deep enough for any kind of pressure concerns, but Heero was absolutely sure he’d have felt some kind of repercussion from the approach, however slow, of such a large vessel. He wasn’t even sure a vessel of this size could have fit in the lake, but then, he admitted, he wasn’t sure that it had.  

From Duo’s bubble, Heero had stepped into what seemed like an airlock to him, but it was long, well lit, and clean on some kind of storybook-movie kind of level, like things just weren’t like that in real life.

@sevdrag​

Mandatory Leave https://archiveofourown.org/works/19825453

Relationships: Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

Characters: Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell

Additional Tags: Mutual Pining, Idiots in Love

Series: Part 9 of Sev’s Commission Run 2019

Summary: “Yo,” Duo greeted him, breezing past into Heero’s apartment. “Figured you’d be as out-of-sorts as I am. Probably more, really, cause I’m not the kinda guy who’s not gonna enjoy a few days on the D-L, you know, so I figured I’d come help you out.”

Heero and Duo are assigned mandatory leave after a slew of missions. Duo decides Heero needs some guidance as to how to enjoy it. Heero decides he needs to do something about Duo.

Fanart/Gunpla/Photo Manips:

@cyberbeastswordwolfe​

https://cyberbeastswordwolfe.tumblr.com/post/186426877654/custom-build-dm-1100-tallgeese-iii-led-unit

Custom Build: DM 1/100 Tallgeese III + LED uni, gunpla

MODELER: 最后的月牙天冲

@duointherain​

https://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/186348212474/just-a-silly-sketch

Duo Maxwell

https://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/186373582564/duo-referenced-from-a-photo-by-olliumi-on-da

Duo Maxwell

@janaverse​

https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/186379199883

Heero Yuy, photo edit

https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/186423023663/playing-around-with-screencaps-in-photoshop-i

Trowa Barton, photo edit

https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/186378095873/i-love-the-battles-between-01-and-05-and-02-and-03

Heero Yuy, photo edit

@jellyfishflan​

https://jellyfishflan.com/post/186434469199/wild-wing-boys-even-more-stickers-for-animefest

Heero and Duo, stickers

kohakuyureru

https://mobile.twitter.com/kohakuyureru/status/1150921537899204610

Hilde and Duo near a lighthouse.

@letsbuildgunpla​

https://letsbuildgunpla.com/post/186423134482/mg-gundam-the-origin-rx-78-2-and-mg-anime-version

MG Gundam the Origin RX-78-2 and MG Anime Version Wing Gundam, gunpla

@dbressler

@lookitsmorefandomtrash​

https://lookitsmorefandomtrash.tumblr.com/post/186347475335/felt-ambitious-drew-hands

Quatre Raberba Winner

@rx-79bluedestiny​

https://rx-79bluedestiny.tumblr.com/post/186388255070/its-coming-p-bandai-but-i-dont-care-i-am-so

Heavyarms coming to Bandi gunpla!

SeraphicZero

https://www.deviantart.com/seraphiczero/art/Lineart-Wing-Gundam-HYC-unarmored-2019-07-14-805675794

Wing Gundam HYC (unarmored)

@yourfavehatesautismspeaks​

https://yourfavehatesautismspeaks.tumblr.com/post/186395151580/duo-maxwell-from-gundam-wing-hates-autism

Duo Maxwell from Gundam Wing hates Autism Speaks!

Photosets/Gifsets/Screenshots/Manga Pages:

@disturbed02girl

https://disturbed02girl.tumblr.com/post/186408773480

Heero Yuy, Mercurius

https://disturbed02girl.tumblr.com/post/186347782205/this-cracks-me-up-every-time

WuFei taking out a guard.

@janaverse

https://janaverse.tumblr.com/post/186382917333/do-i-need-a-reason-to-share-grrrduo-i-didnt

Duo Maxwell, screencap

@posthumanwanderings

https://posthumanwanderings.tumblr.com/post/186343212343

Small take from the end of an episode.

Fandom Discourse:

@vegalume

https://vegalume.tumblr.com/post/186435340340/incorrectgundamwingquotes-quatre-wakes-up-after

Quatre & Heero

@incorrectgundamwingquotes

Quotes:

@incorrectgundamwingquotes

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/186433000444/mariemaia-theres-a-monster-under-my-bed-trowa

Mariamaia & Trowa

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/186428485329/relena-one-quick-question-before-we-sit-down-to

Relena, Quatre, Sally, Noin, and Heero

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/186335003351/undercover-work

Duo Maxwell

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/186405662725/duo-excuse-me-little-lady-mariemaia-uncle

Duo, Mariemaia, & WuFei

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/185717832052/wufei-knowledge-is-knowing-that-tomato-is-a

WuFei, Quatre, Heero, Trowa, & Duo

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/186424576779/wufei-whats-for-dinner-duo-updog-heero

WuFei, Duo, & Heero

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/186381903735/im-worried-about-what-would-happen-if-i-asked-for

Heero Yuy

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/186386992833/quatre-why-cant-we-just-all-love-each

Quatre & Heero

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/186410621534/duo-have-you-considered-telling-relena-how-you

Duo & Heero

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/186420742604/noin-to-the-gundam-pilots-how-do-you-ever-get

Noin & Duo

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/186417936488/quatre-ive-never-seen-a-ghost-quatre-i-asked

Quatre, Iria, & Zayeed

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/186391293947/bar-fights

Where they all stand in a Bar Fight.

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/186374165993/wufei-how-did-this-happen-trowa-stuck-in-a

WuFei & Trowa

Calendar Events:

@gundam-wing-bingo

Gundam Wingo is a go!

Come and sign up for a card here: https://gundam-wing-bingo.tumblr.com/post/185466400076/gundam-wing-bingo

@gwcocktailfriday

Cocktail Fridays!

Post responses on Friday, during Happy Hour between 3 & 5 pm in your own timezone.

Here’s the prompt for Friday, July 26th! https://gwcocktailfriday.tumblr.com/post/186422282550/cocktail-friday-post-responses-on-friday-july

For those going to Pillowfort, find us here.

If anyone has ideas for prompts, PLEASE send them in! Our ask box is always open.

In need of Fall and Winter prompts!

@thisweekingundamevents

Gundam Wing Unorthodox Undercover Work Mini Bang

Sign-ups are open!

https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/186251049145/unorthodox-undercover-work-gundam-wing-mini-bang

An update! https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/186338370655/unorthodox-undercover-work-mini-bang

#Gundam Wing #This Week in Gundam Wing #Weekly Roundup #14-20 July 2019

[toasttz]

From the Tabletop #6

As of the end of the last session, where #5 left off, we've been doing alternating games, between D&D and a new Exalted campaign, swapping every Saturday. So, I'll start with D&D as there's a bit less to report on at-present. We're in an original world of the DM's design, with a design so subtle that the instant he described it to me, I was like "Wait, so the world is all on top of a giant, like Xenoblade Chronicles. Except this is a woman laying on her back?" The main town we operate out of literally has a name meaning "Belly Button". So, for context, a fellow of this party and I were inspired by JoCat's amazing "Crap Guide to D&D" video series and decided to take his advice, form a party of holy class heroes called the A-Men and rock the world around us. This never came to fruition as two of the supposed party fo 4 never showed up for a session. So this is how our party ended up with two clerics out of four players. I guess I'll go first this time. My character is Laga, a Half-Orc Solar Cleric, who follows St. Helbram, an original deity of the DM's. I decided to make Laga as an example to the other half of the party (the same half that was the problem half in Exalted in previous installments), to demonstrate how one plays against type and expectation - by playing a Lawful-Good version of a creature strongly associated with Chaotic-Evil stereotypes. It's a very different mindframe, as I play her as excessively goody-goody in her nature and a strong desire to use diplomacy to get by, rather than force. Our other cleric is Lucius, a Human Forge Cleric, who actually is quite openly racist against non-human characters. He acknowledges Laga, on account she's a lady of the cloth and also in that, despite being half-orc, she's still half-human too. He's been unable to join us for a few sessions, but already set himself up as quite the forceful personality, being the spear to Laga's olive branch. Next is Laguna, a male Drow (apparently those exist) wizard, who runs a pawn shop as a front for the mafia. I actually need to give mad props to his player on this one, as not only has he actually worked really hard to make the character interesting, but he also has very gracefully endured the ribbing the other characters give him. Apparently he is an incredibly beautiful male and, thus, is often mistaken for a woman. And lastly is Kaz. No, that's not his full name, but no one particularly cares. Kaz is the party's munchkin, who decided to play a Aarakocra Monk (and fuck you, where-ever you are right now, Kaz, for making me bother to look up how that stupid race's name is spelled). If you're not familiar, this means that he basically fudged it so he had 20 on Dexterity and then he tried to stack every movement he makes based on Dex. He even tried to argue that Natural Weapons (key word: WEAPONS) counted as unarmed attacks and, thus, should be based on dex. And he also really, really likes the words "BONUS ACTION", on account he's trying to just play himself as a living pinwheel of dex-based attacks. Seeing as he sucks at everything else he tries. So, taking a nod from Rising of the Shield Hero, in town, we find a countdown to the next disaster in town square - 7 days. The people of Belly Button (fuck you, DM-san, that's its name for the sake of these blog posts!) are honestly so used to this that they've become incredibly jaded towards the countdowns. This actually alarms Laga, who finds that the apathy worrisome, as one disaster being worse than the previous ones would be all it takes to cause untold harm. She meets with Laguna, who she has a brief history with (teasing him playfully that he should give up his 'sinful' pawn shop, due to the shady history some of the merch has) and they, more or less accidentally meet Kaz in so doing. Long story short, Laguna and Kaz agree with Laga's assessment, and they set off to try to learn what they can of the impending disaster and what they can do to deal with it. Long story short, they sign up to take on work at a sort of hunter's guild, resulting in a very impromptu battle against a freakin' dinosaur inside the test chamber. Due to... reasons I've honestly forgotten already, Laguna actually wasn't present for this. Laga, seeing this unarmed and unarmored idiot bird-man in harm's way, swiftly takes to the front line, shield and mace at the ready. For reference, Laga's AC is 18, between chain mail and a shield. Due to the aforementioned min/maxing, Kaz has 20. Kaz also wears just a karate gi, essentially. This ultimately results in Laga getting ragdollized as she attempts to protect said idiot bird-man. Thankfully, she has HP for days and, thus, took it like a champ as Kaz rolled 2-3 attacks in a row (this was before the DM and the rest of the party realized he was rolling his talons as unarmed attacks) and easily dropping the beast where it stood. Turns out, it was mechanical and the test was just to see how we'd react, but it was treated as a win, so we were largely satisfied with the results. Some faffing about later (the nature of each impending disaster seems to vary greatly between each instance of such, so information was sparse), so we decided to restock supplies before we leave. There, we meet Gunther, a stout fellow with a shop full of odds, ends, and everything inbetween. He even has wyrmstone, a magically-potent element semi-rare of this world, legendary weapons and tomes, and more. Laga purchased a book that, when united with the other Dragon Ba-- I mean -- copies of the same book, will grant the user a wish. She admitted fully that she wasn't 100% sure she trusted wish-granting magic, or that she could even phrase the wish such that there was assuredly no trouble from doing so, but the mystique won out and she bought it anyway. The entire time, Laguna, default rival of Gunther, kept attempting to... um... smooth things over between rivals. Or... trying to at any rate? On account that everything he said came off as a veiled threat, and it was only because Laga vowed to keep him on a short leash that Gunther relented and let us shop peacefully. Afterward, we ultimately headed to the bar to regroup. There, Laga spotted a proud hound in the corner of the bar. Squeeing like a small girl at a boy band concert, she asked permission to pet and feed doggo. Doggo approved. Turns out he was a mighty hound named Regnar, who the party would soon briefly recruit. I confess this scene made me irrationally happy, even out of character, as the idea of this large, thicc half-orc completely losing her marbles over a cute dog was too endearing not to enjoy. While at the bar, a girl from the DM-original race of Warcur, sought out our help due to a missing sister. She was last seen in the company of a noble, so our goal was clear: we needed to get into the ritzy part of town. No small fear due to us all being demi-human races in a town that really frowns on that. Ultimately, I was able to sweet-talk the guard, on my honor as a cleric. We then spotted the noble in question, and we devised a plan. ... Not... not a particularly SWIFT devising of plans, mind. While Laguna and Laga were largely on the same page, Kaz slowed deliberation down a bit and often confused the nature of the scheme. By the time we broke huddle and prepped to put it into motion, the DM joked that the man was already several blocks down the way, forcing us to race after him in a mad dash. After a brief, but ultimately fruitless, confrontration, the noble went on his way. But not without leaving a note behind. Laga was able to read part of it - something about "Four Sacrifices". Immediately, we put it together: the missing Warcur girl was likely to be killed off in the name of some dark deity! There was murder afoot and it was taking place just outside of town, beyond prying eyes, that very same night! We swiftly recruited Regnar, for his master tracking, and made way for the destined place. There, we saw goblins. Hundreds of them! We approached as stealthily as we could muster, well aware that one misstep would result in us being rushed by hundreds of the green menace, but also the deaths of four innocent maidens! Then, Laguna had a plan. Laga, due to her orc/cleric combination, actually spoke the most languages in the party - common, orc, goblin, and giant. This is important for several reasons, not the least of which was Laguna's plan was to mask Laga as the goblin's primary deity of choice, and then have her, speaking the goblin language, talk down this murderous army from their attempts at sacrificing maidens. His set up was masterful and I actually thought the plan was pretty concrete. We even saw the four girls in question, on a raised platform of some sort at the center of the gathering. Then I screwed up my charisma roll. Laga: You must not proceed with this! This is terrible! Warcur Girl: HEY! How dare you call our band terrible! We only just started playing! Laga: ... WHAT?! Y'ever... have your DM just pull a fast one on you? Well, ours sure as Hell did. And it all started because of a wry observation I made, out of character. In the D&D 5e manual, it lists the available languages and the alphabet they are written in. Turns out that dwarven, golbin, giant, and a few other languages all are written in the dwarven alphabet. DM-san then informs me that he fully planned the dwarves of this world to be very much akin to feudal Japan. Which is a pretty neat idea. And so he began joking that goblin language would be akin to Korean. And if you haven't put it together just yet, we had just walked into a multi-ethnic goblin-pop idol sensation band. G-Pop. And, due to the misunderstanding, Laga herself became something of a pop idol sensation, despite having yet to sing or dance yet. "The Four Sacrifices" was a band name and we had just inadvertently heckled their concert. When they returned to town, bootleg Laga merchandise had begun to make its round, much to Laga's deepest regrets. Not long after, Lucius joined the party, just in time for us to find a help wanted poster. When we sought out the interested party, we found a jilted lover situation - where a terrible witch had seduced and taken away her man! The client wanted us to steal something, which Laga admittedly had a hard time rationalizing away, up until Lucius clarified that liberating items from the witch and turning them over to the church would be a means by which furture generations could be better prepared against black magic - and that set Laga's indecision to rest. We agreed to break into the homestead and "liberate" the item in question. We entered using a magic doorway and this lead us to agreeing to always asking more questions about the nature of our work before we get underway. We were transported into an unsettling and otherworldly library, with strange entities keeping watch over things. Kaz attempted (and spectacularly failed) stealth, nearly knocking an entire bookshelf over on Laga and Lucius - the latter of whom was bopped over the head with a book that he would then claim as his own. We quickly made haste into the hallway, where we engaged with... God-damn Demons. The one race I decided would be fine for Laga to harbor a racial hatred of. The fight was brief, but brutal, as we easily laid them to waste. Then the puzzles began. Each door was guarded by an enchanted, speaking plaque which had a question about the lord of the manor. And, instead of using the... y'know, room FILLED WITH BOOKS AND KNOWLEDGE THAT CLEARLY WOULD'VE HELPED US... we decided to brute force the solution. One instance, when asked what the lord held in highest regard, this exchange actually happened: Kaz: Money? Plaque: No. Lucius: Gettin' laid? Plaque: No. Laga: Love! Plaque: I... y-yes, technically. ("It was actually his 12 wives. But, whatever." ~DM-san, after pointing out how fucking stupid we all had been.) Eventually, we get tired of guessing randomly and head 'forward' best we can manage. This results in our being prompted to roll for perception, which only Laga passes. I then get to be sole witness to a massive, gaunt, nigh-invisible figure approaching us. I desperately attempt to explain what's happening to the others as it nears, and it finally dawns on me (Huehuehue) that one of my basic cantrips is to make objects I touch glow. So, upon nearly getting strangled, I set the figure aglow and the battle begins in earnest, most of the damage being dealt via the two clerics and their divine powers (CoD of War indeed). Eventually we banish the killer and make our way to the safe, which Lucius pries open... only to then have a tiny, cat-like creature (which the DM informs us is called a Poogem) roll out and begin sounding the alarm. With its mouth. Too stunned to think straight, Lucius takes the gambit of the session: Poogem: I'm an alarm! WAY-WOO-WAY-WOO! Lucius: No, you're not! You're my best friend! DM: Roll charisma. Lucius: 20! DM: ... Poogem: I AM?! YAY! Then, we recovered the item and fled as quickly as we could, to the satisfaction of our employer. Afterward, the party split up as Lucius and Laguna went their own ways and Kaz and Laga went to the bar, met by bands of Warcurs. Kaz immediately humiliates himself by failing to understand cultural nuance more complex than "This race is typically NG" and spends 10 real-world minutes trying to fumble a name for his character's father (not a joke). Laga, meanwhile, sits with the female Warcurs and is offered a drink from one after hearing that they spent all day slaughtering demons. Now, due to meta-knowledge, I knew this drink was not safe for consumption. However, I throw my hands up and went with it, having Laga bottoms-up that tankard into her maw. DM: Okay. Roll Constitution. Me: 20! DM: ... Well, alright then. You enjoy it but it has a weird aftertaste. And, holy crap, this has gone on way longer than I expected so, join me next time as the D&D party undertakes a new mission and: Kaz is useless again! Laguna goes on one hell of a trip! Laga seduces a dragon and gets embroiled in TEEN GIRL SQUAD political movements! Laguna gets cursed by MegaSatan! Kaz nearly gets the party killed by offering a dragon a potato sack dress! And Laguna dies in boiling magma! See you there!

#Tabletop RPG #D&D #Dungeons & Dragons #That Guy Story

[hellyeahheroes]

Building Rose Wilson in D&D 5e

I kinda cannot find myself other things to do, especially as I decided to not do anything for April Fools this year because, well, how do you even top the nonsense that is happening. And feel like making one more of those, so let’s build another daughter of an assassin

Because I shamelessly lifted the template for writing these from Tulok the Barbarian, let’s start with defining some goals for this build. First of all, we need to be able to move and strike like a daughter of enhanced super-soldier with assassin training would. Second, we need to be able to see the future and use it to our advantage. Third, we need a sword striking like a weapon from the future. Finally, we need to be able to do all the acrobatic fighting in armor. Rose’s most popular costume is some weird-ass skintight chainmail, which is likely bad for the skin as hell. Don’t worry, if you’d rather have her indifferent, lighter outfit, I’ll leave a few alternatives to make that work too.

For Ability Scores, we’ll be using Standard Point Array, 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8. If you or your DM prefers a point buy or rolling, use these as guidelines, just remember you need to have at least 13 in Charisma, Dexterity, and Intelligence, there is going to be some multi-classing here.

Strength: 10, we don’t need it but you are supposed to have at least somewhat enhanced strength.

Dexterity: 14, you’re extremely acrobatic and fast, enough to keep up with likes of Cass Cain or your asshole father.

Constitution: 12, you can take a hit and sadly we’ll be straying from higher hit dices this time.

Intelligence: 13, you are much smarter than some give you credit for. 

Wisdom: 8, you tried to challenge Big Barda to a fistfight, that’s the opposite of this ability score.

Charisma: 15, you may act aloof to people but if you can interrupt Wonder Girl and Supergirl romantic moment with a rocket launcher and not get pulverized, you know how to talk yourself out of trouble.

Race: It’s how D&D calls species! Sorry, Christoper Priest was about burst through the door to remind us Rose is Hmong, and that’s a serious quarantine breach. Anyway, I think she counts as a metahuman, which sounds a lot like Variant Human. If you have an issue with it, pick Half-Elf, but we’ll go with Human. Variant Humans get +1 to two Ability Scores, pick Charisma and Intelligence. You get one free skill proficiency, I’d go with Acrobatics, and one free language, pick something campaign relevant. Finally, you get a free feat. Human Determination allows you to add +1 to your Dexterity and once per long rest give your self an advantage on an ability check, attack roll or a saving throw.

Unarmored Rose: Redistribute +1s so that you have 16 in Charisma and Dexterity.

Background: I wasn’t exactly sure which one to pick, but Rose and her father share that weird thing in their outfits that make them look like pirates so why not, let’s go with that. Criminal and Soldier can also work if, but I like the idea too much. Pirate gains proficiency with Athletics and Perception, navigator’s tools and water vehicles and gain Bad Reputation, which lets you get away with minor offenses in a civilized settlement because people are afraid of you and won’t report it. Rose can be rude to people and get away with it after all.

Now to the meat of the building, character levels

1st Level: We’ll start as a Rogue, gaining proficiency in 4 skills - Intimidation, Deception, Stealth, and Persuasion - Thieve’s Cant secret language, Dexterity and Intelligence saving throws, thieve’s tools, simple weapons, short and longswords, rapiers, hand crossbows, and light armor. Moreover, you can gain expertise in two I’d recommend Acrobatics and Athletics - of those, doubling your Proficiency modifier for them.

Rogue’s also gain Sneak Attack, allowing you to add 1d6 to a ranged or melee attack made with a light or finesse weapon when you have an advantage to attack roll or another, not incapacitated, an enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it and you don’t have a disadvantage on the attack roll. Rapier is a finesse weapon and can easily be refluffled to serve as a stand-in for majority of swords Rose uses.

2nd Level: We’ll now take a quick dip into the Warlock to get you that sword.

Warlock gets an Otherworldly Patron. Hexblade has one forged with some sort of weapon of unknown origin that may be sentient. It has been sort of left ambiguous if Willow is a spirit possessing you or split personality caused by brain trauma, but whichever version you want you can work into this. As Hexblade you are Hex Warrior, gaining proficiency with Medium Armor, shields and martial weapons. Once every long rest you can pick a single weapon you are proficient with that isn’t two-handed and can use your Charisma in place of your Dexterity or Strength for attack and damage rolls made with it.

You also get Hexblade Curse, letting you once per short or long rest curse a single opponent within 30 feet from you that you can see as a bonus action. As long as the target is cursed, which is until a minute passes, either one of you dies or you are incapacitated, you add your Proficiency Bonus to damage rolls against it, crit against it on roll of 19 or 20, and if they die you regain hit points equal your Warlock Level + your Charisma modifier.

As a Warlock, you gain access to Spells. You know two cantrips and two spells and have a single spell slot you regain on short rest. Spells that require an attack roll do it with modifier equal your Charisma Modifier + your Proficiency Bonus, if your target needs to make a saving throw against your spell, Difficulty for it equals the sum of these two numbers +8.

Blade Ward is a Cantrip that until the end of your next turn grants you resistance against bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage. Your HP will not be something to write home about, spoiler warning.

Booming Blade lets you attack as a part of casting a spell, on a hit your target takes damage as from normal attack but if they willingly move until the start of your next turn they take 1d8 thunder damage. 

Hex lets you curse one creature you can see with 90 feet, making you deal it extra 1d6 necrotic damage when you hit it with an attack and grants it disadvantage on all checks for one Ability Score of your choice. It is a concentration spell and lasts up to 1 hour and if your target dies early, you can just move it to another target as a bonus action on your next turn.

Shield is cast as a reaction when you are hit by an attack or Magic Missile, allowing you to add +5 to your AC until your next turn, including against the attack or Magic Missile that caused you to cast it. Play it as you being hit was just your vision and you managed to avoid the damage.

3rd Level: Back to the Rogue now, 2nd Level Rogue gets Cunning Action, allowing you to take Dash, disengage or Hide as a bonus action or use said bonus action to Aim, giving you an advantage on next attack as long as you don’t move during this turn.

4th Level: 3rd Level Rogue bumps their Sneak Attack to 2d6 and gets to choose Roguish Archetype. Swashbuckler gains rakish audacity, letting you add your Charisma bonus to your initiative rolls and use Sneak Attack if you are within 5 feet of an opponent and no other creature is within 5 feet of you and you don’t have a disadvantage on the attack roll. You also gain Fancy Footwork, meaning if you make a melee attack against a creature, it cannot make opportunity attacks against you until the end of your turn. So if your dad drugged another heroine to fight you, you can strike her, don’t even need to hit, and then just slip past her to stab Slade next turn. And if you hit her with Booming Blade she cannot even chase you without taking more damage.

Have I mentioned your dad sucks?

5th Level: 4th Level Rogue gets an Ability Score Improvement, but we’ll go with a feat - Medium Armor Master lets you increase your Dexterity by 1, increases maximum bonus from Dexterity to AC you gain in Medium Armor from 2 to 3 and removes disadvantage Medium Armor imposes on Stealth checks. Rose’s iconic suit is some weird skintight chain shirt or scale armor, but you can even pick up Half-Plate for a total of 18 AC, 20 with a shield, if you want.

Unarmored Rose: Take the feat we will be taking when Rose hits Rogue 8 

6th Level: 5th Level Rogue gains Uncanny Dodge, letting you use your reaction to halve damage against you when you are hit by an attack. Again, play it as you seeing the vision of attack and using that to be able to avoid it. Also, your Sneak Attack increases to 3d6.

7th Level: One more detour, time to start messing with the fate some more. No, not with Doctor Fate, that would be lethal. Anyway, 1st Level Wizard gets a Spellbook with 3 Cantrips and 6 1st Level Spells and 2 1st level Spell Slots. The Save DC and Spell Attack rolls are like Warlock’s but use Intelligence instead of Charisma. Wizard and Warlock count their spell slots separately but you can use one class spell slots to cast spells you know from the other class. Wizard recovers them on a long rest but Arcane Recovery lets you once per day on a short rest recover a number of spell slots equal half of your Wizard level, rounded up.

Friends lets you for the duration gain advantage on all Charisma checks against one creature, but once it ends it is aware what you did and gets angry at you. The fact this is a cantrip explains some things about few of Rose’s relationships.

Message lets you send a small message to another creature and get a short reply. You can use it as a team communicator for rest of the Titans.

Shocking Grasp is a paralyzer, letting you make a meele spell attack against a single target to deal it 2d8 lightning damage (it scales as most damage-dealing cantrips) and making it unable to take reactions until start of it’s next turn.

Cause Fear is a vial of fear toxin you stole from Scarecrow that forces a target to make a Wisdom Saving throw or be frightened of you for the duration or until it akes a saving throw on one of its turns. Doesn’t work on constructs or undead. Honestly, it would be much better as a Warlock Spell but I wanted to get Shield faster, feel free to switch the two around.

Disguise Self is your holographic projector that lets you alert your looks to make you look like another humanoid in the same size category and having the same array of limbs.If fails under closer scrutiny as it is an illusion.

Feather Fall lets you slow down the fall of you and up to five creatures within rage and if those affected reach the ground before the spell ends, they take no damage. I guess it’s your parachute.

Fog Cloud is a fog grenade, obscuring heavily everything within the area for up to 1 hour or until wind disperses it. Use it to retreat if things go badly.

Protection from Evil and Good gives all aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey fiends and undead disadvantage on attack rolls against you (or someone else you use it on), makes you immune to being charmed or frightened by them or, if you already were, grants advantage on saving throws to break out of it. I don’t know if Granny Goddess counts as a celestial but this could be pretty useful against mind control stuff done by Hellfire Club or when Blackest Night falls from the sky again.

Sleep allows you to roll 5d8, add the results and then put to sleep creatures in the spell’s rage of your choice, starting with the one who has the least amount of HP, are put to sleep until the combined HP of creatures you put down this way equals the sum of your rolls. Sleeping gas, a friend of any human fighting superheroes and supervillains on regular basis.

8th Level: 2nd Level Wizard gets an extra Spell Slot and gets to choose a School. School of Divination grants you Portent - after finishing a long rest you roll 2 d20s and write down the results. Until next long rest, you can use these rolls in place of an attack roll, saving throw or an ability check made by you or a creature you can see. The downsides are you have only two of them, each is of single-use, if you don’t spend them they’re lost, you need to declare you use them before the dice is rolled, and you can only do it once per turn. But these are extremely powerful and let Rose act in accordance of visions she sees. Hell, it can easily be played in line with how Doctor Villain theorized her powers work

Pretty much how it is working.

9th Level: So now that made these detours, let’s go back to Rogue for some more fighting prowess and better skills. 6th Level Rogue gains Expertise in two more skills, I’d go with Intimidation and Persuasion.

10th Level: 7th Level Rogue gains Evasion, letting you take no damage instead of half damage if you succeded on Dexterity Saving Throw against all spells and effects that ask of one. Your sneak attack increases to 4d6.

11th Level: 8th Level Rogue gets an Ability Score Improvement, but we’ll instead take one last feat - Lucky gives you 3 luck points per long rest that you can spend to roll one additional die on an attack roll, ability score or saving throw and choose which result is used. You can also spend them when a creature attacks you to roll a d20 and decide which roll the attacker is using.

Unarmored Rose: Spend the rest of your Ability Score Increases to round up first your Charisma and then Dexterity.

12th Level: 9th Level Swashbuckler gains Panache, letting you make a Persuasion check against target’s Insight - if they fall nonhostile creature is charmed by you for one minute and hostile one gains disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you and cannot make opportunity attack against a creature other than you for 1 minute or until you are more than 60 feet apart or another ally hits them with an attack or a spell. Also, your Sneak Attack increases do 5d6.

13th Level: 10th Level Rogue gets an Ability Score improvement, time to invest into Charisma.

14th Level: 11th Level Rogue you gain a Reliable Talent - whenever you roll for a skill you are proficient with, you treat rolls below 10 as 10. And your Sneak Attack increases to 6d6.

15th Level: 12th Level Rogue gets another Ability Score Improvement, round up your Charisma.

16th Level: 13th Level Swashbuckler can execute an Elegant Maneuver to, as a bonus action gain an advantage on the next Acrobatics or Athletics check you’ll make during the same turn. And your Sneak attack rises up to 7d6.

17th Level: 14th Level Rogue gains Blindsense, which lets you discern the location of hidden or invisible creatures near you.

18th Level: 15th Level Rogue gains Slippery Mind, which means proficiency in Wisdom saving throws. Which is good if Slade tries to gaslight you into his new bullshit again. Your Sneak Attack increases to 8d6. Also, your dad sucks, have I mentioned that?

19th Level: 16th Level Rogue gets our las Ability Score Improvement, increase your Constitution for better Hit Points and Concentration, remember your HP increases also retroactively.

20th Level: Our capstone is the final ability of Swashbuckler, Master Duelist, which lets you reroll an attack roll with an advantage if you miss it once per long rest. And your Sneak Attack increases to 9d6

Overview: Rose Wilson is a Swashbuckler Rogue 17/School of Divination Wizard 2/Hexblade Warlock 1. Let us see how good this build is:

Pros: First of all you are incredibly hard to hit or hurt in general, with AC around 18 or 20 and multiple ways to reduce the damage or turn a hit into a miss - Uncanny Dodge, Evasion, Shield, Portent, Lucky. Second, you have a lot of ways to screw with your own dice, making them do what you want through a combination of luck and foresight. There is a reason why Lucky Divination Wizard is seen as one of the most powerful things in the game and you add to this Reliable Talent, Master Duelist, Elegant Maneuver, Friends, Hex and Hexblade Curse. Third, with Hex, Hexblade Curse, Booming Blade and Sneak Attack you can deal huge damage, especially with your increased crit chance. You are also very  Finally, you are incredibly mobile for someone in a half-plate, which will catch many opponents off-guard.

Cons: Your HP is decent but nothing to write home about, few hits will drop you into the danger area of Power Word: Kill easily. Your sword may be enhanced but is not magical so unless DM gives you a magical weapon a lot of enemies will be able to resit your damage or simply be immune to it. A lot of your abilities compete over your use of reaction or bonus action as well, making them somewhat redundant. Finally, your Intelligence and Constitution are not that good and it’s gonna hurt some of your spell rolls, especially concentration. Also, if you abuse your future-seeing powers too much DM will hate you.

Overall, however, you are a very good party member, fitting as both a skill monkey and damage-per-turn and even a small-part controller or defender in a pinch with power to bend dice to your will. Sweep into the battlefield, hit hard, move out and have the opponent have to go through Superboy to hit you back. Just remember that you work better as a part of a team so maybe don’t antagonize party members too much. Except if you’re on a team with Slade.

Your dad sucks.

Alternatives: 

If you don’t like the whole Willow thing and don’t feel like refluffing and fixing it, skip Hexblade level for one more of Rogue, you’ll gain Elusive, ensuring no attack against you is made with an advantage.

If your Ability Scores are so high you can get an extra feat, consider either Defensive Duelist, which lets you use your reaction to add your Proficiency bonus to your AC when a creature hits you with a melee attack. Or, if you play Half-Elf Rose, Elven Accuracy for +1 to either Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma and an ability to roll an additional dice when you make an attack roll with advantage using any of these 4 Abilities.

- Admin

#Ravager #Rose Wilson #DC #Dungeons & Dragons

[feyariel]

Favorite D&D/PF Class

@we-are-knight asked: Thanks for answering the ask! Here's another! Your fave race is Fey in D&D/Pathfinder, what is your fave Class?

TWO asks in ONE day?!

(Y’know, I’m going to exhaust these cute anime reaction gifs, I bet...)

Anyway, this is a more complicated question for me (even though I’m only going to talk about 3.x), so I needed to employ (drumroll) A CUT!

I’m indecisive as fuck, hence why I made a spreadsheet to figure out which Pokémon were my favorites by type.

On the rare occasion that I do pick a favorite, by contrast, it’s fairly quick. With Pokémon, it was Mewtwos.

So, short answer to this question: the 3.5 version of the Warlock.

Surprisingly, no, I don’t like the Kineticist nearly as much.

So I’ma divide this up a bit to get to that point. Some bias: I loathe Vancian casting. I came into D&D from games that used mana systems, free-form RP, tales of characters tapping into ley lines to sculpt spells, and stories of psions doing things at will. I bring this bias up because it is pervasive and is ultimately one of the reasons why I like the 3.5 Warlock best of all, even if it could be a lot better.

Favorite Martially-Inclined Class: Monk

This has very little to do with the monk’s magical abilities, which have varied from “What the crap?” to “Oh, it’s trying not to be crap; ki’s cool” to “Yay PsyWar!” Nor does it have anything to do with the monastic flavor, the lawful alignment (bleh), or the use of flurry of blows (even with my newfound love):

(Yes, that seems to be a CGI + live action Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. No, I have no other information about it.)

The reason I love monks so much is only secondarily their speed (which I love, but there are other ways of accomplishing the same thing; the class essentially has haste built into it and is best when it stacks with both haste and Two-Weapon Fighting).

Nope, it’s the AC Bonus.

I.

HATE.

Armor.

Or, rather, I hate having to wear armor. I’m not against other people wearing armor and sometimes I'll really like how a suit of armor looks. It’s just that, if I want to make a character high on my “things I really like to do” list, that character won’t be wearing armor. It helps that, as a person, I have never liked wearing clothing that’s heavy or “tight” (anything that isn’t really loose), the exception being one shirt that I had when I got really skinny (it was sheer, didn’t feel restrictive, and made me feel sexy [otherwise not something I’ve felt]).

I favor mobility. My like of the monk’s speed goes along with that. However, I grew up with Fighting games in the arcade and am used to dodging out of the way of attacks. I’m all the more impressed when a character almost stands still and evades blows. Consequently, my favorite class features are the Monk’s unarmored AC bonus (which you can get with a Monk’s Belt, but I prefer having my key abilities come from feats and class features) and (Improved) Uncanny Dodge. Why it isn’t a Monk ability is beyond me. I mean, c’mon, you see it all the time:

That flip at the beginning is against an opponent who had flanking (especially if we’re going with facing rules). Could you just do that with a high Dex, let alone a Dex/Wis build? Certainly. Doesn’t it seem to illustrate Uncanny Dodge, though? Yup.

Now, there are an awful lot of base classes in 3.5 (especially if you count ones out of Dragon), so there are others that try to do the Monk thing without having the weapon and alignment restrictions. I have yet to see one that works as well as a Monk does in this regard. Most have some sort of pool to make the AC better, don’t do the AC all that well in the first place, or skimp on other class features.

Favorite Skill Monkey: Yes.

I just like skill monkeys.

For perspective, the character I’ve been trying to make forever, Lyk, who is supposed to be a Warlock and might work as a Bard, will almost certainly have a level of Complete Warrior Ninja for skills and AC. (Lyk is an infiltrator, but does a recursive pretending to be another class thing.)

I can’t think of a single class with lots and lots of skills that I have not wanted to play. Bard, Beguiler, Hunter, Investigator, Ninja (Complete Warrior and Pathfinder), Ranger, Rogue, Scout, Spellthief, Vigilante - even Inquisitor (kinda churchy for me), Mesmerist (Paizo’s psychic magic isn’t much to my liking, but I know it’s a somewhat common opinion to think they didn’t try terribly hard with Occult Adventures), and Vampire Hunter (I only recently found out about it and it looks a little too specific for my tastes).

There’s kind of a reason why I have an awful lot of roguish characters. (Contrast with why I like we-are-rogue’s blog: ‘cuz I learn stuff from it.)

Favorite Divine Caster: Umm...

This is not to say that I don’t like divine casters, it’s that I don’t have a favorite because I don’t tend to play them. Like, the Shugenja (Oriental Adventures) is just an elementalist Sorcerer. I get that it’s divine, but only because D&D forces that split: Rokugan’s Shugenja are more like Wizards than anything who deal a lot with “the fortunes” and elementals (so basically Archivists). However, when I have played one, I’ve inevitably felt like I was just a Sorcerer - maybe one that somehow learned Bard healing spells, but a Sorcerer nonetheless.

Druids appeal to me, but the druid spell list is fairly limited and still leave us with perhaps the most powerful class in the game (besides Clerics, but Clerics don’t get animal companions save through the Animal domain [and even then don’t get them as powerful as Druids do]). Hell, I prefer WoW’s druids (which have stellar/lunar-themed arcane damage) to D&D’s, even if they are essentially the same thing.

Oracle is neat, too, but again, I feel like I’m playing a Sorcerer with some alternate class features.

Favorite Vaguely Multiclassed Class: Complicated?

I could easily put Bard here, as it’s one of my favorites (easily in the top five), but I’m not because I want to go further afield than that.

I love the concept of the Arcane Archer, especially since bows will usually have longer ranges than spells (save for Long range spells at 18th level and above). I have never played one for good reason: up until Pathfinder, it wasn’t a viable build option. In Pathfinder, it still could use some tweaking.

Otherwise, my favorite gish might be the Hexblade, if for no other reason than it’s a spontaneous caster that still tries to do the half caster thing. Duskblades have the better ability, but they are an armored class (as are Magi without certain archetypes). Magus seemed a bit all over the place to me (I had trouble making a crit-build using a Dhampir with that one trait that gives you an extra 20 on the die [it’s only once/day, but it would be really powerful otherwise]), but I’ve heard tell that it’s mechanically very powerful.

That’s if you don’t count Psychic Warrior. I looooooove Psychic Warrior. Lovelovelovelovelove.

Binders, Factotums, and Incarnates all have interesting ways of replicating other classes. I like to think that Binders should more-or-less be the mechanical basis for divine casters, while I wish Factotums worked a little more like Final Fantasy Mimes. Incarnates are just spiffy, now that I have a better understanding of what they are.

Favorite Full Caster: Almost Anything Sorcerer-esque

All of the Sorcerer-like classes have some appeal to me (except Warmage [too restricted in the least powerful school] and Dread Necromancer [eh]), but they all have their shortcomings:

Until Pathfinder, Sorcerer was just spells and familiar. This wasn’t horrible by any means, it just meant that you had few options for altering the class and had to rely on spell selection and prestiging for flavor.

Beguiler is a nifty class, but it locks you in: unless you want to forgo advancing your Cloaked Casting and Advancing Learning class features, you don’t want to go into a prestige class. I dislike that you get all of the spells on your spell list (it takes away that bit of fun that you get from Sorcerer by tailoring your spells to your character) or that all of your spells (save through Advanced Learning or the Extra Spell feat) are limited to the list provided in that book (and I think that’s it, but it might be elsewhere, too). That said, I love that there’s a class that lets me make Lyk pretty much as Lyk. I kinda wish it was a set of alternate class features, since I prefer Warlock, but eh.

Psions are lovely, but the more I’ve looked at the XPH, the more disappointed I have been about what is and is not included as a psionic power. Bruce Cordell’s third party books almost seem mandatory now. Where are my sleep and fear effects?! Why is telekinesis three powers instead of one?

Similar note: I like what they were going for with Wilder, but I don’t think they executed it correctly. They needed to give it at-will casting if they were going to give it so few powers, which is a problem given the amount of augmentation a Wilder would be capable of doing if it optimized through multiclassing and/or going through Metamind.

Psychic isn’t as cool as Psion. XPH’s augmentation system + power points > x1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 > spell slots, however easy it is to keep Psychic as well supported as anything else in the system. (That’s proven largely unnecessary and untrue, obvs.)

...I could go on.

Favorite “3/4″ Caster: Bard and/or Summoner

I had thought for a moment that Bards get buffing enchantments through their Bardic Music abilities equivalent to 9th-level spells, but no: even Pathfinder’s addition of Deadly Performance doesn’t exceed the power of a 6th-level spell with the Death descriptor. (I kinda wish they did get such power, but they’re already versatile enough.)

I really like eidolons, ‘cuz you can have stands -

- or a pack of velociraptors -

(These are supposedly Archaeopteryxes, but they could just as easily be raptors. Note I mean the turkey-sized things.)

- or an enormous, spectral bear -

-or something strange yet mythological, like a baku -

- or you could go full Lovecraft and summon a Hound of Tindalos -

- or you could just say, “Hey, I’m take the Warlock implication and make it the demon just weird -

- or just about anything else.

So eidolons do that thing that Astral Constructs did: they give your imagination only the constraints absolutely necessary to make the creature conjured about as powerful as any other minion someone might have. Otherwise, the sky’s the limit to what you can make.

Warlockery

The reason I like the Warlock the most is pretty simple: I can discard the flavor very easily and just have at-will casting of a limited repertoire of powers with very general effects, just like core psionics or a Fighter. I like being able to do that a lot. The less I have to worry about keeping track of a resource, the happier I am. The more flexible I am with my repertoire, the happier I am.

Like, a Wizard is like Batman: they have a bunch of gadgets and have to spend some time every day trying to determine what the day will bring and how best to pack for that. A Wizard needs to be very decisive in this, otherwise things could go very, very poorly for everyone involved. Playing a wizard requires a lot of thinking about what sort of environment the character is in, what has happened and might happen, what sorts of enemies the character is going to encounter, how best to stop them, and even metagaming.

A Fighter, by contrast, makes certain that they’re comfortable with the fighting style they’ve selected, packs appropriate for the weather and length of trip, and then relies on themselves.

A Warlock works a lot like that. Unlike a Fighter, whose combat style is a much more practical matter, a Warlock’s spell selection is much more of a personality issue than a practical issue: they have so limited a selection of abilities that all available abilities need to be practical (there are some bad choices, as always).

I prefer Warlocks to Dragonfire Adepts because DfAs are more about their breath weapons and less about their invocations. I can completely ignore a Warlock’s eldritch blast if I so choose - and frequently do. Lyk should have a color spray effect instead of an eldritch blast, while I’ve also made a summoner character (pre-Pathfinder) who had basically no use for it.

Kineticists are similar to DfAs, but with more wild talents. They still feel overly restrictive, though, because of the unnecessary Elemental restriction. Like, I get wanting to make spontaneous casters like Sorcerers and Warlocks thematic, along the lines of a specialist wizard. The problem is that by forcing that on the mechanics, you end up putting too many restrictions on what is already a very restrictive class. What if I have a nuanced character concept that doesn’t use more abilities than allotted, but won’t stick to the number of schools or elements I’m given? The rest of the class demands taking an archetype, as it’s just weird. Seriously, this could have been done with the Warlock framework, some core spells, and a toned-down version of XPH’s augmentation system (a pool that might stack with, say, a Magus’s Arcane Pool or a Monk/Ninja’s Ki Pool).

Warlock has a few problems: the DR isn’t all that helpful, it could use some more alternate class features, Pathfinder‘s cantrips make a lot of sense with the Warlock, reserve feats and the “two cantrips and a 1st-level spell” (mostly from Complete Arcane) as alternate invocations would be a great way to expand the Warlock’s tiny spell list, Lesser Invocations are the best invocations when they really shouldn’t be, you’re selling yourself short if you don’t select from a list of half a dozen of those lessers (crawling eye, the dead walk, disembodied hand, fell flight [if it replicated fly], flee the scene, and walk unseen; maybe one or two others), and they’re late in getting abilities others get (like how it takes Epic feats to get teleport, plane shift, or two energy types on an eldritch blast).

Despite that, I love that it’s nearly a free-for-all with at-will abilities. The only other class that does that is the Binder, which is more of a Vancian take on a mimic (equip class features) than it is at-will spells.

S’yeah, 3.5 Warlock sans flavor.

[raeynbowboi]

Into the Dragon’s Dungeon: How to Play as Itachi in DnD 5e

After covering one of my favorite villains and then my favorite superhero, it’s time to tackle my favorite anime “villain” by building the illusion master Itachi Uchiha from the Naruto franchise. Unlike the last two options, only one person has been responsible for creating and choosing the powers of this character, so I don’t have to look at multiple sources to pin down his powers, skills, and abilities.

The Makings of A Hero

Race probably seems like a no brainer. Itachi is a human. Super duper Simple. But for me personally, I tend to view most Shonen anime characters as Variant Humans. If a character can get kicked against a wall so hard they make a crater and then get up like it’s nothing, that’s not a normal human. So, I file them under Variant Humans in my builds.

When it comes to morality, it’s very easy to argue that Itachi is Lawful Evil. He’s committed horrible attrocities in the name of the law. But the slaughter of his family was for the greater good of the village, so you could also call that Chaotic Good. You could even argue that he’s sort of neutral. So the alignment you give him will depend largely on how you view him.

As a ninja, and a former secret police ninja to boot, Spy is a possible background for him. However, he’s also a rogue ninja, meaning he’s a wanted criminal, which could fit the Criminal background. Since Itachi is a member of the criminal organization Akatsuki, he could be considered a Faction Agent. And since he’s killed his entire clan, you could make him a Haunted One.

Fighting Style

The number one most important factor in a proper Itachi build is a high AC. Itachi’s best quality is that the guy is hard to pin down. I’d bet that if I went back through the entire series, I could count the number of times anyone actually managed to hit Itachi on one hand. Itachi tends to prefer to fight from mid to long range. When he was a child, he was much more focused on his physical combat. It wasn’t until Itachi was an adult that his focus shifted to magic and illusions. However, by the time he first appears in the series, his magic has become his primary means of fighting. Itachi is a very defensive fighter. Above anything else, Itachi is focused on avoiding damage and turning an opponent’s power against them.

The Sharingan

The magical eyes of the Uchiha Clan can copy techniques, mirror unknown jutsus in real time, and see through illusions. The Sharingan also improves reflexes and reaction time by giving the wielder an enhanced sense like Spider-man’s Spidey Senses. The evolved version, the Mangekyo Sharingan gives Itachi access to three important abilities. Amaterasu, a black flame so hot it can burn through the esophagus of a fire-breathing mountain toad. Susano’o, a giant skeletal spectral warrior that surrounds the user and protect them. And Itachi’s most signature ability, the Tsukuyomi, a powerful illusion that traps targets in a nightmare world that tortures them. While Amaterasu and Susano’o are a little harder to work into this particular build, Tsukuyomi is a lot easier to fit to the dnd format.

Physical Abilities

Itachi is one of the fastest characters in the series. In most video games, Itachi moves noticeably faster than the other characters. So a good build of Itachi should focus on mobility. However, just as important is the rapidness of his attacks. The more he can attack, the better.

Itachi is adept at fighting with shuriken (darts), kunai (daggers), and his short sword, all of which are finesse weapons.

Magical Abilities

All ninjas in the Naruto franchise are able to walk on water, walk up vertical surfaces, disguise themselves as other people, and create non-corporeal clones of themselves.

Every member of the Uchiha Clan has an affinity for Fire ninjutsu, and Itachi’s secondary affinity is Water ninjutsu.

Itachi takes the standard ninja clones one step further, creating his famous Crow Clone, an illusory clone of himself that disperses into a flock of crows upon being damaged. Itachi uses these crows to confuse, distract, and disorient his opponents.

Itachi is the strongest master of illusion magic in the series. Itachi has caused his foes to feel pain from shuriken he never threw, fight someone made to look like Itachi with illusions, turn another master illusionist’s genjutsu against her, and has made people waste time and energy fighting the air instead of him. 

Itachi’s Spellbook & Feats

Mobility     Haste (Sorcerer, Wizard)     Longstrider (Bard, Druid, Ranger, Wizard)     Mobile (Feat)

Basic Ninja Abilities     Alter Self (Sorcerer, Wizard)     Disguise Self (Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard)     Spider Climb (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)     Water Walk (Artificer, Cleric, Druid, Ranger, Sorcerer)

Fire     Aganazzar’s Scorcher (Sorcerer, Wizard)     Delayed Fireball Blast (Sorcerer, Wizard)     Dragon’s Breath (Sorcerer, Wizard)     Fireball (Sorcerer, Wizard)     Fire Bolt (Sorcerer, Wizard)     Flaming Sphere (Druid, Wizard)     Immolation (Sorcerer, Wizard)     Investiture of Flame (Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)     Scorching Ray (Sorcerer, Wizard)

Water     Control Water (Cleric, Druid, Wizard)     Shape Water (Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard)     Tidal Wave (Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard)     Wall of Water (Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard)     Watery Sphere (Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard)

Sharingan     Alert (Feat)     Arcane Eye (Wizard)     Defensive Duelist (Feat)     Detect Magic (Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Sorcerer, Wizard)     Dispel Magic (Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)     Foresight (Bard, Druid, Warlock, Wizard)     Slow (Sorcerer, Wizard)     True Seeing (Bard, Cleric, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)

Illusions, Counters, Crows, & Redirection     Blur (Artificer, Sorcerer, Wizard)     Confusion (Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard)     Counterspell (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)     Enemies Abound (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)     Flock of Familiars (Warlock, Wizard)     Hallucinatory Terrain (Bard, Druid, Warlock, Wizard)     Illusory Dragon (Wizard)     Major Image (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)     Minor Illusion (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)     Mirage Arcane (Bard, Druid, Wizard)     Mirror Image (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)     Mislead (Bard, Wizard)     Phantasmal Force (Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard)     Phantasmal Killer (Wizard)     Programmed Illusion (Bard, Wizard)     Project Image (Bard, Wizard)     Psychic Scream  (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)     Seeming (Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard)     Silent Image (Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard)     Simulacrum (Wizard)     Synaptic Static (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)

Tsukuyomi     Cause Fear (Warlock, Wizard)     Eyebite (Warlock, Wizard)     Fear  (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)     Feeblemind (Bard, Druid, Warlock, Wizard)     Maddening Darkness (Warlock, Wizard)     Mental Prison (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)     Mind Spike (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)     Power Word: Pain (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)     Weird (Wizard)

Get to Class

Itachi’s mix of martial and magical combat means he’s going to be multiclassing. While he could be an Arcane Trickster Rogue, there’s a wider selection of spells that a Wizard class would help him with. So, a good build for Itachi is a mix of Wizard, Rogue, and a little bit of Monk for the unarmored defense. As a rogue, the most useful subclass for him is the Scout, as it allows him to disengage whenever enemies get too close, letting him keep his distance in a fight. As a monk, the Way of Kensei will give Itachi the use of the Agile Parry and the Kensei’s shot, which will improve his aim with ranged weapon attacks. But the most important class for an Itachi build is a School of Illusions Wizard.

Stats and Proficiencies

First and foremost, Itachi needs to have a high AC because pinning this guy down is nigh impossible. So the higher you can make his AC, the better off he’ll be. So Dexterity is going to take top billing. As a Wizard, he’s going to cast spells with his Intelligence modifier, so that’s the next priority. Due to his monk levels and Itachi’s keen Sharingan eyes, Wisdom is going to be the next most important. Next, Deception is a vital part of convincing people to believe your illusions are real, so a good Charisma modifier is needed. Next up is Strength. because Anime characters are pretty strong. And we’ll have to dump Constitution, but as long as he can avoid being hit, that shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

Itachi is a prodigy, becoming an elite secret police officer by the age most of us are popping pimples and worrying about asking that special someone to the dance. As such, he’s going to have a lot of skills. Luckily, being a Rogue gives Itachi more skills to choose from and more expertise. His skills include: Acrobatics (Dex) Athletics (Str) Deception (Cha) Insight (Wis) Intimidation (Cha) Investigation (Int) Perception (Wis) Sleight of Hand (Dex) Stealth (Dex)

This build was particularly frustrating. Not because I didn’t know how to build him, but because it got accidentally deleted when I was halfway through it. Still, I hope I’ve built Itachi the right way to encompass his abilities and fighting style. I did my own level 20 build which you can check out right [here]. Do you agree with how I built Itachi? Do you have a better suggestion for how to build him? And I’m taking requests. Do you have a character you’d like to see me build? Let me know and I’ll see you next time in the Dragon’s Dungeon.

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