#also i know the spells mechanically do very different things and that dominate monster is much harder to dispell yada yada | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

masterweaverx · 3 years

Text

Part of the fun of these character builds is taking absolutely ridiculous characters and making them work in the context of D&D. So today I’ll be looking at Makuta Teridax, from Bionicle. That’s right, I’m expanding my palette a bit!

So Makuta Teridax is a Makuta. Which means he’s a shape-shifting robot with the elemental power of shadow, a unique shadow hand, a bit of telepathy, the ability to make Kraata and Rhakshi from himself... and, oh, fourty-two seperate Kraata Powers. Which he, himself, can also use. Also he has the mask of Shadows. Yeah, Bionicle was a wacky setting, all things told. Basically, we’re going to have to go Full Caster, with some unusual considerations.

Since we’re going Full Caster, that means we’ll be using the point buy system--all six stats start at 8, and you have 27 points to spend to up them, at a rate of 1 point for one improvement up to 13 and then 2 points per improvement after. That means upping a stat to 15 costs nine points total--and we’re going to be upping Intelligence and Wisdom to 15 to maximize our spell power. That leaves us nine points to split between Constitution and Charisma--five to Constitution, upping it to 13, because Constitution is both the ‘health’ and the ‘concentration’ stat, and 4 to Charisma, upping it to 12, because when a Makuta speaks, you listen. And Teridax is the leader of the Makuta...

Bionicle characters are biomechanical and you know what, so are Warforged! Yes I know the Makuta are actually living gas clouds in airtight armor but (1) they weren’t always that and (2) this is Flavor/Mechanics oriented, not accuracy oriented. Anyway, as an Envoy Warforged specifically, Teridax gets +1 to Constitution and +1 to two other stats--which are of course going to be Intelligence and Wisdom, since those are going to be our casting abilities.

All Warforged have Integrated Protection--instead of wearing armor, they can switch between ‘modes’ they’re proficient in every long rest, great for a shapeshifter. There’s also Warforged Resilience, which makes him immune to disease, resistant to poison, renders eating and drinking and even breathing unnecessary, and makes him impossible to put to sleep magically. Speaking of which he also has Sentry’s rest, which means on a long rest he just goes inert for six hours without going unconscious.

Envoy Warforged in particular have a few other advantages. Their Specialized Design gives them a Skill Proficiency and a Tool Proficiency, and since we’re not going to get it anywhere else Teridax is going to pick Intimidation and Thieves’ tools. And they have an Integrated Tool--they can select one tool they’re proficient with, and not only is it part of their body but they have expertise with it. I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to say that the tool, in this case, is a Disguise Kit--because Teridax is going to get proficiency in disguise kits from his background.

And what background is that? Why, Charlatan, of course! Free with proficiencies in Deception, Sleight of Hand, Disguise Kits, and Forgery Kits. It also has the False Identity feature, allowing Makuta Teridax to take on another persona (like say, Turaga Dume), and have all the paperwork on hand to prove that, no really, he’s Turaga Dume! Pay no attention to that sphere in the corner. He’s also really great at forgery of documents.

And now comes the tricky bit: getting 42 Kraata powers, plus all the other abilities Teridax has, onto a spell list. Doing that meant I had to multiclass, pick specific subclasses for each class, allow each class to meet a minimum level, and amp two different stats to their max. It was incredibly tricky, but through some very, VERY careful selection, I pulled it off. Mostly. The Elasticity Kraata Power just couldn’t fit, sorry about that. But everything else, I packed in! Are you ready for this?

Three levels in Tempest Domain Cleric...

...then seventeen levels in Nature Theurgy Wizard.

Okay, so before I explain the subclasses, I’m going to go over the standard class abilities. Clerics have proficiency in light and medium armor, shields and simple weapons, and Wisdom and Charisma saving throws. They get two skill proficiencies--I chose History and persuasion--and at three levels their big thing is just... Channel Divinity. Which I’ll get to in a moment.

Wizards, on the other hand, get Arcane Recovery, which lets them regain spell slots on a short rest once per day up to a total of half their wizard level rounded up. That’s 9 points here, so you can get three third level spell slots, or a fourth and a fifth, or five first and two second... but you can’t get seventh, eighth, or ninth spell slots back, presumably for balance reasons. The Wizard class is also where we’ll get our four Ability Score Increases, for a total of eight points to spread among ability scores--and putting four each in Wisdom and Intelligence lets us have the MAXIMUM SPELL POWER for this combination. Trust me, preparing Spells is important for clerics, and for wizards.

So now let’s talk about the Tempest Domain. Teridax gets proficiency in Heavy Armor and Martial Weapons from it, as well as Wrath Of The Storm--which means if somebody rushes in and hits him, he can use a reaction to force the creature to make a dexterity saving throw or suffer 2d8 Lightning/Thunder damage. And he can do this five times per long rest. Of course, it also gives him a Channel Divinity option; once per rest, Teridax can either Turn Undead (making them run away from him in fear), Harness Divine Power (regaining a spell slot of first, second, or third level), or unleash the power of a Destructive Wave (automatically rolling maximum for Lightning or Thunder damage).

And now... Theurgy Wizard. What does it do, you might ask? Well, it basically hybridizes Cleric and Wizard classes. A Theurgy Wizard takes a Cleric Domain--in this case, Nature--and those spells are considered Wizard spells for purposes of what they can learn. They also get some of the Domain’s cleric benefits--not the eighth level one, or any weapon or armor proficiencies from the first level, but at level seventeen, they have everything else.

Including Channel Arcana, which is slightly different from Channel Divinity. For one thing, Teridax can do it twice per rest, instead of just once. For another, the options are either Divine Arcana, giving +2 to his next spell’s attack roll or save DC, or Charm Animals and Plants, which... charms animals and plants within 30 feet for up to a minute.

Acolyte of Nature means that Teridax has proficiency in Animal Handling and a single druid Cantrip, which we’ll get back to in a moment. Dampen Elements means that, as a reaction, he can give himself or anybody in 30 feet resistance to an attack that hit them if that attack did acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage--very useful in a world where a good portion of the population has elemental powers. And Master of Nature means that he can take a bonus action to tell critters that are charmed by his Channeled Arcana what to do on their next turn.

And now, at last, we get to the spells. BUT FIRST! Let’s calculate this all out. Since Clerics and Wizards are both full casters, Teridax has all the spell slots--4 first level slots, 3 second-through-fifth level slots each, 2 sixth and seventh level slots, and one slot for eighth and ninth levels.

Clerics can prepare a number of spells equal to their level plus their Wisdom modifer--so 3+5--up to a level determined by their cleric level--in this case, up to second level. They also automatically have spells prepared from their domain, which don’t count toward the previous limit; while it’s only up to the level they can learn, it’s still an extra four spells.

Wizards, on the other hand, learn six spells at first level and two spells every level thereafter, so at level 17 that’s 38 spells. Granted, they only prepare their level plus their intelligence bonus a day, which is 22 spells from that 38 spell list, but hey! That’s on top of the 12 prepared spells of a cleric

And Teridax also has five Wizard Cantrips, 3 Cleric Cantrips, and 1 Druid Cantrip from Nature Theurgy. Which segues well into why I picked Nature Theurgy--I needed a LOT of wizard levels for most of these spells, but I also needed some Cleric levels for some spells wizards couldn’t get, and some Druid spells that neither class could get on their own. And most of the low-level spells I needed that come in a cleric domain actually are from the tempest domain, but the Nature domain has high-level spells from the druid list... hence, Nature Theurge.

So with all that said: The list below covers the spells Makuta Teridax has, and what abilities they correspond to. Spells from Cleric, Cleric Domain, or Druid List use Wisdom; Spells from Wizard or Wizard Theurgy list use Intelligence. The listed Cleric spells are considered always prepared; Teridax selects 22 of the listed Wizard and Theurgy spells every long rest.

The Makuta Power Shadow Hand has 2 component spells: Lightning Lure and Soul Cage. The Makuta Powers Project Voice Through Shadows and Telepathy have the same spell: Telepathy.

The Kraata Power Density Control has 2 component spells: Gaseous Form and Investiture of Stone. The Kraata Power Insect Control has 2 component spells: Infestation and Insect Plague. The Kraata Power Plant Control has 2 component spells: Plant Growth and Grasping Vine. The Kraata Power Rahi Control has 2 component spells: Animal Friendship and Dominate Beast. The Kraata Power Weather Control has 2 component spells: Control Weather and Fog Cloud.

The Kraata Power Stasis Field has 2 component spells: Hold Person and Hold Monster. The Kraata Power Teleportation has 2 component Spells: Misty Step and Teleportation.

The Kraata Powers Fire Resistence and Ice Resistance have the same spell: Protection from Energy. The Kraata Power Elasticity has no component spells, due to not really having a good match and most of its benefits being covered in other spells.

Cantrips: 5 from Wizard, 3 from Cleric, 1 from Druid for Nature Theurgy -Chill Touch [Wizard] --Shadow Blasts (MAKUTA) -Fire Bolt [Wizard] --Heat Vision (Kraata Power) -Infestation [Druid] --Insect Control (Kraata Power) -Lightning Lure [Wizard] --Shadow Hand (MAKUTA) -Mending [Cleric] --Forge Tools (MAKUTA) -Sacred Flame [Cleric] --Laser Vision (Kraata Power) -Thunderclap [Wizard] --Sonics (Kraata Power) -Thaumaturgy [Cleric] --Control world mechanics (MAKUTA) -True Strike [Wizard] [Concentration] --Accuracy (Kraata Power)

1st-4 Slots -Animal Friendship [Wizard Theurgy] --Rahi Control (Kraata Power) -Cause Fear [Wizard] [Concentration] --Fear (Kraata Power) -Command [Cleric] --Terrorize (MASK OF SHADOWS) -Cure Wounds [Cleric] --Quick Healing (Kraata Power) -Fog Cloud [Cleric Domain] [Concentration] --Weather Control (Kraata Power) -Inflict Wounds [Cleric] --Protosteel Armor (MAKUTA) -Ray of Sickness [Wizard] --Poison (Kraata Power) -Sense Emotion [Wizard] [Concentration] --Sense Moral Darkness (MASK OF SHADOWS) -Sleep [Wizard] --Sleep (Kraata Power) -Thunderwave [Cleric Domain] --Power Scream (Kraata Power) -Witch Bolt [Wizard] [Concentration] --Electricity (Kraata Power

2nd-3 Slots -Blindness/Deafness [Cleric] --Enshadow (MASK OF SHADOWS) -Crown of Madness [Wizard] [Concentration] --Anger (Kraata Power) -Darkness [Wizard] [Concentration] --Darkness (Kraata Power) -Detect Thoughts [Wizard] [Concentration] --Mind Reading (Kraata Power) -Enhance Ability [Cleric] [Concentration] --Adaptation (Kraata Power) -Gust of Wind [Cleric Domain] [Concentration] --Vacuum (Kraata Power) -Hold Person [Cleric] [Concentration] --Stasis Field (Kraata Power) -Immovable Object [Wizard] --Gravity (Kraata Power) -Invisibility [Wizard] [Concentration] --Chameleon (Kraata Power) -Locate Object [Cleric] [Concentration] --Sense through Shadows (MASK OF SHADOWS) -Misty Step [Wizard] --Teleportation (Kraata Power) -Shatter [Cleric Domain] --Fragmentation (Kraata Power) -Silence [Cleric] [Concentration] --Silence (Kraata Power) -Spider Climb [Wizard] [Concentration] --Magnetism (Kraata Power)

3rd-3 Slots -Gaseous Form [Wizard] [Concentration] --Density Control (Kraata Power) -Haste [Wizard] [Concentration] --Dodge (Kraata Power) -Major Image [Wizard] [Concentration] --Illusion (Kraata Power) -Melf's Minute Meteors [Wizard] [Concentration] --Plasma (Kraata Power) -Plant Growth [Wizard Theurgy] --Plant Control (Kraata Power) -Protection from Energy [Wizard] [Concentration] --Fire Resistance (Kraata Power) --Ice Resistance (Kraata Power) -Slow [Wizard] [Concentration] --Slow (Kraata Power) -Vampiric Touch [Wizard] [Concentration] --Hunger (Kraata Power)

4th-3 Slots -Confusion [Wizard] [Concentration] --Confusion (Kraata Power) -Dominate Beast [Wizard Theurgy] [Concentration] --Rahi Control (Kraata Power) -Grasping Vine [Wizard Theurgy] [Concentration] --Plant Control (Kraata Power) -Summon Greater Demon [Wizard] [Concentration] --Create Kraata/Rhakshi

5th-3 Slots -Hold Monster [Wizard] [Concentration] --Stasis Field (Kraata Power) -Insect Plague [Wizard Theurgy] [Concentration] --Insect Control (Kraata Power) -Passwall [Wizard] --Molecular Disruption (Kraata Power)

6th-2 Slots -Chain Lightning [Wizard] --Chain Lightning (Kraata Power) -Disintegrate [Wizard] --Disintegration (Kraata Power) -Investiture of Stone [Wizard] [Concentration] --Density Control (Kraata Power) -Soul Cage [Wizard] --Shadow Hand (MAKUTA)

7th-2 Slots -Teleportation [Wizard] --Teleportation (Kraata Power) -Whirlwind [Wizard] [Concentration] --Cyclone (Kraata Power)

8th-1 Slots -Control Weather [Wizard] [Concentration] --Weather Control (Kraata Power) -Telepathy [Wizard] --Project Voice Through Shadow (MAKUTA) --Telepathy (MAKUTA)

9th-1 Slots -Invulnerability [Wizard] [Concentration] --Limited Invulnerability (Kraata Power) -Shapechange [Wizard] [Concentration] --Shapeshifting (Kraata Power)

And I mean... LOOK AT THAT LIST OF SPELLS. It’s ridiculous. Bionicle is an amazing setting, sure, but this is insane! Even if Teridax burns through all his spells, he’s still got nine cantrips--NINE! With a lot of effects! That he can use to attack the petty heroes coming after him.

So yeah, that’s Makuta Teridax.

#Bionicle #Dungeons & Dragons #D&D 5E #Makuta Teridax #Character Build

22 notes · View notes

ginnyzero · 4 years

Text

5 Books that Got Me Interested in Werewolves

I like werewolves. Both of my current book series, Heaven's Heathens MC and the Dawn Series include werewolves. And if you've read any of my previous blog posts, you'll know that The Lone Prospect (Heaven's Heathens MC #1) was inspired after watching the Expendables 2 during a binge watching of Sons of Anarchy.

My interest in doing werewolves instead of say vampires came from reading a lot of books about werewolves, where in the series werewolves weren't the main focus. I wanted a series of books that wasn't expressly romance that focused on werewolves and werewolf dynamics and adventures and being a werewolf was more an accepted part of life than "woe is me, I am a monster."

Monsters more often than not have human faces. See Frankenstein.

These are not necessarily recommendations. But if you like werewolf books and aren't picky, you may like these.

1. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Elena Michaels is the only female werewolf that has ever survived the change. A journalist good at investigating, she used her skills to track down rogue werewolves and kill them. Until she got tired of the violence the life required no matter how much she loved the male members of her pack. She's been trying to live like a human, but an old enemy is about to resurface threatening the pack she loves. Now, she's being drawn back into that world.

This was Kelley Armstrong's first novel. I liked the original cover and that's why I bought it. It focused completely on werewolves and was an interesting start to a new series. Book 2 started introducing other races and after a while I gave up on it when it focused exclusively on the young witch that was also introduced in book 2, Stolen. Bitten doesn't really hold up to any sort of in depth critical thinking when it comes to werewolves. Why is Elena the only female werewolf? She's also an orphan who has been sexually abused and then her boyfriend changed her without permission. I can see why she left the guy. I don't care how hot he's supposed to be. My last gripe for this book was Elena really felt like a stand in for the author. They are both Canadian and the politics commentary was really heavy handed. Maybe it was supposed to make the book feel relevant in 2001. It just made me grimace a bit.

2. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

Business has been slow, no dead, for Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional Wizard. Until Karen Murphy comes with a case of brutal murder. Mutilated corpse, strange paw prints and a full moon. It's going to take all of Harry's knowledge and skill to get to the bottom of which werewolf group is performing the murders. And the answer may be closer than he thought.

Fool Moon was Jim Butcher's second Harry Dresden Case File. He hadn't quite hit his writing stride yet. (That didn't happen until book 3.) In the book, Jim Butcher went through and used about every single type of werewolf he could think of to blow the readers off the scent (see what I did there) of who the real murders were. He used a lot of "classic" Universal studios werewolf lore and lore from other werewolf, lycanthropy, berserker type werewolves as well. And then he pretty much dropped the whole werewolf thing like hot potatoes in the books after this in order to pursue his Black Council and Winter Court Fae big story lines. And the times he does end up using the werewolves, it can be rather offensive, such as werewolves going into heat and the general way he describes the female werewolves. (He also has this problem with most of his female characters. I digress.) It was a good starting point for me at least to look at the different werewolf types and go research more on my own.

3. A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison

Rachel Morgan's love life has never been that great. Now, Nick, a former boyfriend who cut and run needs Rachel's particular skills as a runner. A thief, he's stolen an artifact that could give the werewolves more power over the vampires and now he's been caught. It's up to Rachel to find the artifact and free him from the werewolves. The problem is, he's not in Cincinnati, but up in Michigan and on an island in the middle of one of the Great Lakes. And it's going to take more than a few magical spells and wishful thinking to get him out alive.

This was book 4 of Kim Harrison's Hollows Series. In one of the previous books, she'd made a one off character, an insurance adjuster, who was a werewolf. Kim Harrison is not someone who really outlines her books in advance, so this insurance adjuster suddenly became a lot more important and so did werewolves for this fourth book. Because Rachel Morgan is so caught up in vampire, demon and fae politics, other than some consequences of what happened because of this book and her joining the insurance adjuster's pack for ... insurance... purposes, after this, werewolves were dropped. So, this book was the best look at the way werewolf packs worked in her world. I liked it because there was one part of the book where it was clear that the lead female of the pack had as much power as the male leader. And in other books, there were female pack leaders as well. But the series became very much about Rachel Morgan, her love life and how she was so special. I read until the last book, but left feeling very unsatisfied as a reader. But this wasn't that bad of an adventure! I especially loved Jenks in this book. Jenks is one of my favorite characters in the entire series. This was "his" book so to speak.

4. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Mercedes Thompson is part Native American, part mechanic and all coyote shifter. When a scruffy werewolf teen ends up at her auto shop looking for a quick job and a place to sleep, she helps him because of the werewolves that raised her. When his dead body ends up on her doorstep. She goes looking for who killed him and ends up getting entangled again with the man she thought she loved and had to leave them to get away from it all.

Moon Called was a promising first book, some Native American anachronisms aside. (Becca did a better review of this than I ever could.) As far as the series went, since Mercy lived right next door to a werewolf and later ended up dating him (and I won't spoil whether that worked out or not) the books had plenty of werewolf story lines. And if you like your werewolves to be OCD barely controlled anger management monsters controlled by the patriarchy then sure, this is the series for you. Sure, there were times Mercy tried/tries to address the problem of male dominant packs but that doesn't and isn't the focus of the books. Most of the books are how Mercy somehow gets involved in another species like vampire or fae's trouble despite the fact she's a relatively low powered coyote shapeshifter. There's no real reason why Mercy is "special" and everyone wants her, she just is. These werewolves have absolutely no basis in any sort of wolf science. Being the series is so werewolf focused, it started to drive me bonkers after a while. I gave up when another "bad thing" happened to Mercy after 10 books. (The Rape happens in book 3 btw. Just a warning.)

5. Master of Wolves by Angela Knight

Officer Faith Weston, head of the Clarkston PD K-9 department is still reeling from losing her previous dog. She's hoping that an all business front and a new dog will help her move on and keep the attention of her lewd boss away from her. Her new dog Rambo was big and tough and didn't give her any crap. Too bad Rambo was more than he seemed. Jim London, bounty hunter and werewolf, is certain that the murder of his friend Tony has been covered up by the Clarkston police department. There's only one way to find out and that's to go undercover and his dog form is perfect for the job. Faith Weston though is bringing out the animal in him.

Okay, yes, spoiler alert, Master of Wolves is a romance novel. I don't read a lot of these and when I do they tend to be primarily fantasy focused. I've read Terry Spears (one book and no more, no, never again, bad wolf science, BAD,) Thea Harrison and a few others, but Angela Knight was the one I picked up back in 2006 when looking for werewolf novels to read. There are a few moments of "I don't know what Angela Knight was thinking" when it comes to the scenes about Jim being a dog and... thinking like a man hound dog about Faith and later Faith seems okay with it? Maybe it was supposed to be funny but, yeah. 4 of the 9 books in Angela Knight's series focus on werewolves and for the most part they are pretty much very formulaic romance novels and the werewolf pack dynamics were once again patriarchal and based on bad wolf science. Really, it was more the fact that this book was focused on werewolves and solving a mystery and using all the forms that the werewolf had to do it that stood out to me.

Five different books, five different treatments of werewolves, though most are the same "werewolves are monsters" based on no good modern science about wolves. But they each had different facets that got me thinking about how I would write a werewolf focused novel if I ever wrote one. Then I did and it's called The Lone Prospect, available in ebook (3.99) and paperback (7.99) on Amazon.

#books #werewolf books #werewolf #werewolves #werewolf fiction #werewolf novels #fantasy #paranormal romance #urban fantasy

16 notes · View notes

dapperkobold · 5 years

Text

Rate the Monsters: Alien Bestiary

Why yes, I already reviewed this, but I wasn’t happy with the review. I’ve thought about it, and I’ve concluded why: no one buys monster books for the BOOK. They buy them for the MONSTERS.

So, here’s a different take: I’m going to be rating the monsters based on how they’re presented in the book, on a few different measurements:

Presentation: The image and description of the monster, to make sure everyone knows what it actually IS. You laugh, but we’ve had trouble with that before.

Mechanics: Less intended to be a measure of how balanced the numbers are, more intended to be a measure of how the monster’s abilities will affect an encounter.

Lore: Lore is a measure of the writing about the monster. Note that this is limited to the writing in this particular work! If this book doesn’t really present a monster compellingly, that’s a problem. Especially if the monster is more intriguing in other works!

Roleplay: If you want something more complex than a good fight, something where the players need to talk their way through the situation, this is where you’re going to look. This is going to be related to Lore and Mechanics, but can be more complex depending on the monster’s precise nature. This is also the least impactful one if it gets a low grade: not every monster should be able to disassemble you philosophically before it disassembles you physically. Sure, mindless undead will all score Fs here, but this isn’t what mindless undead are used for. This is counting not only direct interactions with players, but possible impact on campaigns just from the raw mechanics and fluff presented.

This is inspired by Esper the Bard’s Monster Ranking videos for 5e, credit where it’s due. This kind of analysis is a really good way to measure the basic usefulness of monsters, specifically as they’re presented in specific material.

A few notes before I continue:

1. I don’t give points for historical significance, good intentions, or supplementary material. This is a rating of these monsters as presented in this book, nothing more, nothing less. Some of these monsters date back to olden D&D, some of them have been done wonderfully other places. I’m not rating those; I’m rating these monsters as they are here, in this book.

2. Anyone can make something interesting if they’re creative enough. This is less a full measure of the potential of the monsters, and more a measure of the potential of the monsters as they’re presented. A clever enough DM can make anything compelling, but for less lateral thinkers out there, the writing in the books are what they have to work with.

And since there so darn many aliens in this book, for now we’ll just do A.

Aballonian

Ohhh... this is not a good start...

Presentation: The description and image are both pretty generic. A copper robot with multiple legs? Okay. Nothing to imply their special abilities or stand out at all. Grade F

Mechanics: Okay! There’s a lot of special abilities here! A weakness... a limiter on the weakness... communication ability with a very minor upside... a special attack that doesn’t have any damage or effect listed? Defensive ability that has potential but doesn’t clarify the wording... and one variable effect. This is just a mess, I get that it’s supposed to be flexible (including the ability to change abilities with a full-round action) but this set of mechanics doesn’t really suggest any kind of interaction or particular play style. GRADE F

Lore: There’s no lore listed!

Which is dumb, because I know the lore! These are supposed to be the native life form to Albion in the Pathfinder setting! Why didn’t they at least TRY to explain it? GRADE! F!

Roleplay: IT HAS NO LORE LISTED, HOW ARE PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO KNOW HOW TO ROLEPLAY IT? GRADE F F F F F this is making me seriously reconsider my analysis of this book’s capabilities!

Aboleth

Presentation: While the Description is fine, the picture is lackluster. Grade C

Mechanics: Using a mix of manipulative spell-like abilities and surprisingly powerful attacks an Aboleth has potential to be a fairly tough encounter. Charm monster can make it an ally, followed by doing solid damage with normal attacks and the occasional spell level 2 mind thrust. However! I had to calculate that mind thrust is cast as a second-level spell, it’s not stated. The main limiter is that with univeral environment suits, the threats of aboleths forcing you to breathe water or gooping your skin is far less immediate. Still, might have potential if there’s some way to break that armor! Grade B-

Lore: A description of Aboleths scouting, conquering, and then leaving planets to rot? It’s the grimdark realization of the quiet horror that we always knew Aboleths could be! Grade A-!

Roleplay: With a spell list made for interaction (at will detect lies, for instance!), good mental stats, and the lore touching on their psychology, society, and motivations, there isn’t much more you could ask for in Roleplaying opportunities. Grade A.

Aboleth, Veiled Master

It’s a CR 14 Aboleth. GET IN.

Presentation: Has no dedicated picture, and the text description really doesn’t sell me on what kind of emotions seeing it is supposed to illicit. Grade D+.

Mehcanics: Yes, it’s an upscaled Aboleth, but it’s upscaled in a creative way. Suggestion, illusion spells, dominate person bolstered by a special ability, 3rd-leve mind thrust at will and a bite attack that lets it READ MINDS. This thing wants an entourage, to mind control the party heavy, and then blow people’s heads apart with mind thrust, with support from illusions and some suggestion to keep things interesting. Also, it shapeshifts. Grade B+

Lore: It’s an Aboleth that disguises itself as a person to manipulate events in the world. Repeat, it’s a CR 14 Aboleth whose entire job is to manipulate a society without said society ever knowing it. It even touches on their place in Aboleth society. Grade A.

Roleplay: It’s an aboleth, with +25 bluff, sense motive +30, and the ability to shapeshift into any small or medium form. If that doesn’t immediately make the players among you shudder in fear and the DMs among you cackle internally, I don’t know what will. Grade A+. Excellent big bad potential, just like Aboleths were always meant to be.

Achaierai

Presentation: The Achaierai has a really bad case of presentation separation. The pictures look derpy, the description tries to be intimidating, and both massively undersell the fact that the thing is constantly oozing acidic smoke. Grade C.

Mechanics: The Achaierai is a fairly straightforward fighter, with solid melee attacks, a passable ranged attack, a breath weapon with some unique rules and an aura of black smoke. The breath weapon not only damages but confuses the target, with a DC 13 save to end that could in theory last indefinitely. The aura itself is a basic damage aura, tied to the low save of DC 13. While it has solid ideas, I’m not sure its powers stand out all that well: DC 13 is in line with the proper DC for a CR 5 monster using abilities that need saves, but all the same a DC13 save is pretty negligible and even rolling every round the penalty for failure isn’t all that high. The breath weapon is a 40 foot cone, but anyone making the DC 13 ref save takes no damage. It doesn’t have enough to be an interesting encounter in and of itself, and even as part of a greater encounter if the dice don’t favor it its unique aspects might be entirely ignored. Grade C.

Lore: The Achaierai’s lore confuses me. Sure, the core idea is cool: A four legged bird monster thing that emits acid smoke. The thing that gets me? It’s an outsider. A native to hell. Why? It would work fine as a magical beast. As a native to hell, it’s immediately near the bottom of the respect pole as a monster that does acid damage in a place where a lot of creatures are resistant to acid damage. I guess I should be happy that it’s more than just another strange magical beast monster but… I’m not. I really feel it would have made more sense as a magical beast. Grade C.

Roleplay: It’s got Wis +2, Cha +3, and speaks infernal. With that said, the lore doesn’t at all list anything that it might want to talk about, or any kind of social structure other than that it has packs. Grade D.

Adamantine Wasp Swarm

Presentation: Wasps made of metal? Cool. The problem is that while it’s a swarm of fine creatures, the flavor text says that each wasp is 1 foot long several times. I assume this is a misprint, and it’s supposed to be one inch long. Other than that, nothing all that incredible. Grade D.

Mechanics: Not all that much. It’s mainly just swarm immunity plus construct immunity plus a special venom on its attacks. The venom is interesting, it turns the target into ice, but that in and of itself isn’t explained in the lore nor condusive of an entertaining, interactive fight scene. They don’t even have DR like would be typical of things made of Adamantine. Grade C-.

Lore: The lore uses a lot to not say a lot. It mentions that they’re made to guard areas, like all constructs, and then goes on at length about how they’re wasps. Grade D.

Roleplaying: To no one’s surprise, there’s no reason to try and talk to the wasps. No, not every monster needs to provide good roleplay opportunities, but all the same it’s worth noting when they’re not present. However, mindless monsters… there’s no reason to expect them to have roleplay opportunities. So for those I’ll waive the grade.

Adherer

What’s up with adherers? Seriously? Why? I feel like back when there was one monster book they would have been a good old skool joke enemy. You know, the kind of thing where the joke punishes predictable adventuring habits and is immediately lethal. But why are they treated as a classic enemy? Flumphs have more lore and mechanics than adherers do!

Presentation: Eh? The picture is nice, but adherers always look stupid. Always. Grade D.

Mechanics: It’s a basic grapple brute. You know the type, attack, free grapple, beat the tar out of the grappled enemy. Adherers have the perk of being able to grapple on the enemy’s turn, but it’s not really going to cause a more complex series of interactions. Ranged attacks with beat them. Magic will beat them. Even melee combat can beat them if they take enough fire damage on a consistent basis! Grade D. Adherers are literally a joke. Making a memorable combat encounter using adherers is indicative of amazing GM skill, not anything innate to the monster’s mechanics.

Lore: Grade F. It’s the kind of token lore that raises more questions than answers.

Roleplaying: Grade D-. It has an int of -3, somehow speaks Aklo, and has no complex motivations nor society to speak of.

Aetherwarped

Presentation: An interesting picture and the visual elements of the templates description are effective enough. Grade B.

Mechanics: As a template, it must be kept in mind that these mechanics are in addition to other things. As thus, a blindsense variant, a strange mobility power, and a basic ranged attack aren’t all that solid of a foundation. They’re interesting by all means, but it doesn’t give the altered creature a new or definite spin on their combat style. Grade C.

Lore: It’s fine. Exposure to aether radition over time, a reliance on it, appreciation for music, it’s a bit token but not objectionable. Grade C.

Roleplaying: As a template… it doesn’t really add any roleplaying potential. The reliance on radiation might, but it also take a fair amount away. Grade D.

Akata

It’s not as good as the variant in the Alien Archive 2.

Presentation: Fine? Eh. Grade B.

Mechanics: A basic brute with a minor disease, it lacks the depth of mechanics that the official version has. Has an Alpha Akata that’s just a CR2 version. Grade D.

Lore: The most predictable variation of the parent trope, they’re alien animals that want to reproduce parasitically and make zombies as an in-between step. The problem is that they don’t have the cunning of the original alien, and at CR 1 they’re not really the most dangerous creatures. The lore says that outbreaks of Akatas can become big problems, but CR 1 or 2 monsters that reproduce through a special ability with a fort save of 10? Seriously, the local law enforcement or monster hunters need to be weak and incompetent to not take these things on. If they were CR 5, that would be one thing. But here, they’re CR 1. Grade C-.

Roleplaying: They’re dumb animals. As in, literally, they’re at int -4 putting them at animalistic intelligence, but they also don’t have any kind of social structure and no sense of self-preservation. So, not only are they animals, they’re particularly stupid ones. Grade F.

Akata Host

It has the same grades as the Akata. It’s just the zombie stage between the infection and the chest-bursting. They can do some strength damage, and on a CR ½ monster that is worth note. Just not enough to make a difference. Seriously, chryssalids are scary. These things? They’re just weak.

Alchemical Ooze Swarm

Here’s a CR 1 monster worth remembering!

Presentation: Though the image is a bit confusing, the description of a riotous mass of bubblelike oozes is very well done. It even has a consistent description of the size of the component parts. Grade B.

Mechanics: Making good use of the swarm type, the Viscous and Chemical Slime abilities add both mechanics and flavor to the swarm. Enemies hit by the swarm’s attacks can be entagled, and then start to suffer additional effects based on the chemical compounds in the oozes. It’s a very interesting idea, and though I feel the DC is way too low at 10 or 11 it has potential to be a memorable dungeon hazard or a part of a greater encounter. In addition, what secondary effect the swarm has also affects the swarm’s weaknesses and resistances. This means that the monster can be used multiple times without being too easy for the players to cheese, while still following an internal logic that the players might be able to learn and use. If anything, I feel it’s a shame this is wasted on a CR 1 monster! I’m definitely going to upscale this at some point. Grade A+!

Lore: It’s a basic ecological aesop, but the idea itself is worth some respect. The explanation to why there’s four different variants works well enough, and it gives the entire thing a feeling of slightly comical menace. If you play even a little loose with the lore, there’s lots of ways this swarm can be used in stories. Grade B.

Roleplay: Mindless.

Allip

Presentation: My response to the picture and description is a deadpan ‘ok.’ It’s not really the most evocative of description in any case, but it works. C-.

Mechanics: Babble plus touch of madness isn’t a bad setup. Definitely more made to seriously inconvenience the party than actually be a solid threat, could be better as part of a larger encounter or as rescource-stucking filler. Certainly unique, and the Madness ability is a nice fluffy addition. B.

Lore: Coming back from the dead for vengeance isn’t really a compelling story in D&D/Pathfinder/Starfinder. Half the undead want vengeance, and Allips are no exception. This is honestly just ‘exists’ lore: It opens no awkward questions, but it also doesn’t answer any interesting questions. C-.

Roleplay: It has Int +1 and Cha +4, but its entire thing is that its crazy. It’s not technically a mindless undead, but in some ways it might as well be. D-.

Amalgamite Swarm

It’s like grey goo, but big enough to punch.

Presentation: Pretty solid. Nothing to really send home about, but hey. B.

Mechanics: Interesting. A little ranged attack, a stealth ability, and a common combat feat adapted to work for a swarm. There’s clearly thought put in here, and it should all result in a very interesting back-and-forth. A.

Lore: Eh, it’s not quite generic. A little bit of extra thought put in. Nothing amazing, but I appreciate the effort. B.

Roleplay: Mindless.

Amerta

This is another monster I think is an original, made to go with the specific Aetheria setting.

Presentation: Neat. Gives an idea of the thing’s scale and has fair detail even if the design itself is a little simplistic. B.

Mechanics: It’s a Colossal CR 18 monster with a mix of melee damage, a breath weapon, and some utility-focused spell like abilities. There’s some creativity here, but nothing that really makes me jump. B.

Lore: It mentions details specific to the setting, but the basic idea isn’t hard to get. I will say that I think it leans on historical significance more than current-day significance, which can make it difficult to integrate into campaigns in interesting ways. B.

Roleplay: It has telepathy and can talk to plants, and there’s a seed of it in the Lore, but nothing that really grabs me. C+.

Amoeba

This entry is the giant amoeba and the amoeba swarm, but I’ll rate them together to save us all time.

Presentation: Eh? Not much to see, not much to say. Not ugly. C-.

Mechanics: These two creatures are basically two versions of the same one, one’s a generic swarm and the other is a generic small ooze. Literally, I can’t find anything special about them. Also, the giant amoeba references the ‘constrict’ universal rule, but at the time of this writing (before Alien Archive 3 comes out) there is no such rule! F.

Lore: None of note. Seriously, I’m impressed how little is communicated here. F.

Roleplay: It’s a mindless ooze.

Animated Object

I feel like this entry is unfitting as either the original idea of the animated object, a Starfinder implementation for the animated object, or the implementation for the enemies actually presented in the book.

Presentation: The description is meh, and the image is amazing up until you realize it’s out of scale with the sizes in the state blocks. And one of the things has no image or personalized description at all. D+

Mechanics: Presented here in the Animated Object blurb is not generic stat blocks usable for various animated objects, but instead two specific animated objects that could have worked perfectly well as robots. And they’re both boring. One has con damage attached to its grappling, the other has trample. D-.

Lore: No fluff text. F.

Roleplay: Mindless.

Ankheg

Presentation: The description is a little generic, and the image is derpy-looking. D.

Mechanics: The idea is that it’s a bite n’ grab monster, with a bite attack that also does acid damage. However, it has an area attack that disables the bite attack’s acid damage when used. Sound interesting enough? Yeah, it doesn’t work as written. The damage is listed as “P & A,” so even parts piercing and acid. The deactivation clause in the Spit Acid ability says that it loses out on the “additional acid damage”, which leaves it unclear how much the damage is reduced. Is it halved after rolling? This could work, but it’s not made clear in the text: when I read that I expected to see something like “+1d8 A”, clearly differentiating the additional damage. Also, the bite attack has the burn critical effect, which reflects things bursting into flames. Even if you replace that with the corrode effect, the rules text doesn’t say to remove it with the acid spit. The monster simply does not operate as intended and needs another pass. F.

Lore: The lore text is effective enough, but has some mechanical notes in it that don’t fit in the fluff text well. They really should either be included in the stat block somewhere or left vague, how they make their tunnels doesn’t matter as long as it happens off-camera, right? C-.

Roleplaying: Normally, as a non-social monster, I’d just flub it. However! It’s specifically mentioned that it could be used as a mount, and its temperament as a mount, meaning it could indirectly affect another role play encounter in an interesting manner. C-.

Aoandon

Presentation: The description and picture are interesting. There’s enough flourishes and detail to intrigue, with a little bit of artistic flair. Hm! A.

Mechanics: It’s got touch of madness, a suite of nasty spell-like abilities, constant true seeing, and it’s incorporeal. Intriguing, no? Not the most outstanding of mechanics, but could still pose a reasonable threat. C+.

Lore: So, it looks like a hologram, it has a touch of madness, and it casts spell like abilities. Just what is… the Aoandon? I’m gonna read it!

“An aoandon is an incorporeal outsider formed from the spirit of a woman who died pursuing some ill-fated relationship.”

...what?

Dead people don’t form outsiders! They form undead! Why isn’t it undead? Native outsiders are a wonky bunch in any case, but this is literally an undead blurb! It doesn’t discuss her combat style at all, it’s literally just the undead hatred against those who wronged her! F!

Roleplaying: I don’t care that it speaks 5 languages and it has Int and Cha +4. It’s just another undead that hates stuff. D-.

Asquenti

Presentation: The description is good enough, but the image really doesn’t sell the ‘Tauric crustacean’ idea. To the point that I don’t think the artist knew what it meant. C-.

Mechanics: Seem effective enough. The ability descriptions could have used another pass to better clarify the abilities and fit to the standard style of monster entries. A skilled editor was really needed here. C-.

Lore: Eh, nothing amazing, nothing bad. Just enough to keep it from feeling hollow, but nothing really that stands out. C.

Roleplaying: There’s certainly potential here, but we don’t get into their culture enough to really spark the imagination. C.

Assassin Vine

Presentation: The picture doesn’t mesh with the description at all. D.

Mechanics: Nothing too startling, though I’m not sure how the entangling plants aura is supposed to work. I’m also unsure if keeping the resistances from the original was a good idea; in Starfinder, it’s possible that a party could have no physical damage at all (if unlikely) making energy resistance/immunity more powerful. C-.

Lore: Eh? It’s fine. C.

Roleplaying: Mindless.

Asteroid Worm

Presentation: A full splash page illustration and a description that causes me to feel actual emotions. A+.

Mechanics: The worm’s gimmick is effectively that it’s a larger than colossal enemy, and whoever wrote this entry sells it really well. The abilities are straightforward enough and still do what they set out to do, while giving the DM amazing chances for description. I’m unsure how well this monster would work as a straight fight, but it would make a wonderful set piece. A+.

Lore: It’s got it. It’s effective enough, if not really riveting. C+.

Roleplaying: Mindless. There’s a lot of these in this book, huh?

Atoth

Presentation: Both description and image are sufficiently spectacular. A+.

Mechanics: Well… this is very interesting. The idea is that when someone uses teleportation or the like, this monster shunts the target into a pocket dimension where it uses a mix of melee attacks with Con drain and some basic spell-like abilities to murder them. It’s the kind of thing that a good chunk of a campaign can be based around, especially since the range is one million miles. How far is that? Easily enough to cover one planet and its moons, but not enough to cover multiple planets (I checked). The fight looks interesting, and part of me wishes it was slightly lower CR so I might be able to run it sometime. A.

Lore: Hm, some points docked for the hungry undead trope, but it has a unique enough situation that connects to a different monster in the book. It’s pretty okay, but I would have liked to see more about how it operates. B.

Roleplaying: The primary appeal here is not as roleplay with it, but instead to roleplay around it. Imagine a world terrified to use teleportation because then the Atoth will get you. I definitely think there’s potential there! C+.

Aurumvorax

Presentation: Good picture, and the description isn’t bad. B+.

Mechanics: Very durable, and the setup is one I recognize from Pathfinder monsters: Natural attack with Grab, into Rake. The problem is that Starfinder doesn’t have Rake as a universal monster rule, and instead of adding it in manually the creator didn’t give them anything. This neuters the entire setup, the Aurumvorax can still do more bites to keep the grapple but it doesn’t get that sweet bonus Rake damage. C.

Lore: It’s the same as usual. An angry, heavy, badger-like thing that chews gold and fools. A few interesting notes. A-.

Roleplaying: A nice little mention that they can be trained if they’re picked up young, giving them a little bit of potential. D+.

Azaka

Another group that I’m going to all lump together, but this one is new. To me, at least.

Presentation: There’s a definite shared theme, good art, fair descriptions. A-.

Mechanics: The Hive Mind is an interesting take on the mechanic of the hive mind, and the mechanics of the creatures themselves seem effective enough. The Thoughtseeker is a caster, and the Warrior is a combatant, and both have fitting abilities. A-.

Lore: Hm, interesting enough, but very connected to the specific setting they’re made for. No real context on why and when they interact with the rest of the universe. B.

Roleplay: The hive mind is smart, but they’re just angry zerg-like creatures that want to enslave others and eat radioactive rocks. Not a lot to really RP with. D-.

Final Thoughts

This has been a trip. Some great examples, some absolute failures, a few great endgame monsters, a great CR1 monster, and this is only the first letter of the alphabet. Hit and miss, by all means, and an unusual amount of mindless creatures, but not really a super good claim toward or away from buying the book. This is a mixed bag, and for some people the good will be enough to make it worth it.

#Rate the monsters #Alien bestiary #Starfinder #I pasted this in from a word doc #not sure if that'll mess with the formatting #I feel like this book needed another editing pass #Editing isn't just proofreading #it's checking and cross-checking to be sure everything works together #and it's hard

8 notes · View notes

dare-to-dm · 6 years

Note

I'm worried my party is getting a bit too overpowered. It's a group of five and they were all level five and they went to the arena and fought off a Hydra and then a Froghemoth with very little difficulty. It wasn't until they then fought a Spirit Naga that dominated one of them and blighted another that they really started to sweat. I feel like they should have had a tougher time and most of their problems shouldn't have been solved with just a short rest between rounds. Do you have any advice?

There are a lot of different factors that could be at play here, so I’m going to briefly address several things that could be causing you problems, and the basic solution for each. In no particular order:

Problem: The players might be cheating.

I’ve known even good players to fall prey to this behavior. The desire to win drives them to break the rules. Fudging rolls, exploiting mechanics, “forgetting” penalties, always having the perfect spell “prepared”… I’ve seen it all. The sad thing is, they’re denying themselves the pleasure of a hardfought victory.

Solution: If you think this could be happening, you need to keep more of an eye on your players.

Try to be in a position where you can see the dice rolls. If they tell you a suspiciously high number, ask them how they got it. Ask to see their spell lists at the beginning of the day. The good news is, for most players I’ve caught cheating, calling them out on it usually stops it and then they’re just fine.

Problem: You might not be playing the opponents effectively.

It happens. You forget some special ability the monster has or don’t realize how many natural attacks it can make in a round. Did you remember that the Froghemoth has a 15 foot reach (30 with its tongue), has multi-attack and can’t be flanked? Forgetting any one of those facts can change the entire course of how the battle plays out.

Solution: Familiarize yourself with the tactics of the baddies before the session.

Read its entry in the Monster Manual or online carefully before the session. If you see any special abilities or rules you’re not familiar with, take the time to look them up. For some monsters that have a lot going on, I find it useful to write down a simple strategy guide.

Problem: The PCs gear is too high level.

Are you running a Monty Haul? It’s normal to want to reward your players with neat things, but if you give them too much stuff it can unbalance the game and mess with your CR calculations.

Solution: Hold off on giving them more stuff til they’ve leveled up.

Personally, I think it’s mean to take away toys you’ve already given the players. But in the future, be careful about the loot you hand out. When in doubt, give less. That’s an easier problem to solve! This also goes for special abilities you give the players or house rules that give them an advantage. Those things can be fun, but they can also have unintended consequences.

Problem: Your players are just that good.

This isn’t really a problem, but it is a challenge. Some groups have a really good command of the system, an excellent grasp of strategy, great creative thinking skills, or effective teamwork. Or all of the above! When this is the case, you just have to work harder to make things interesting for them.

Solution: Alter your expectations, make things tougher for them.

The group that I usually run for is like this. So when calculating their Average Party Level, I generally add 2. That means they’re facing tougher opponents than a group of their level generally would. I also alter encounters on the fly when I’ve accidentally made something too easy for them.

Anyway, I could write about any of these issues at greater length, so let me know if that’s something you’re interested in. Thanks for the question, and good luck with your campaign!

#asks #DM advice #RPGs #D&D #DnD #Pathfinder

224 notes · View notes

twitchesandstitches · 5 years

Note

When it comes to this "thicc crossover AU", will the girls from Monster Musume be there too? What about digimon since they're interdimentional beings (and in a scrapped script for Adventure02 they were supposed to arrive from space) or maybe humanized version of the Godzilla kaijus? (Ghidorah, Gigan, Megalon, SpaceGodzilla and many others either comes from space or have been in space.) Or what about Rayman, Warcraft or Skyrim?

The answer to all of these is a BIG RESOUNDING YES.The first relevant detail is that in the thicc crossover AU, ya gotta be sure whether it refers to membership in the MILF fleet or not; they’re a large group, but they don’t comprise every group in everything, ever, that i personally happen to like! They may be part of other factions, antagonist or otherwise, or be people they meet along the way, or groups with their own agendas, doing their own thing.

Additionally, I lean towards some things where I don’t much care for groups in general or know much abou the canon, but i find species really interesting, and in which case, those species form large amounts of background characters; different factions might have a lot of monster girls, orks, or elves or Digimon somewhere in the background. So even if specific characters aren’t mentioned, the species certainly are there somewhere.

Monster Musume - In this case, the monster people of Monster Musume are explicitly the same kind of beings as the monsters of Undertale, and are either a seperate sub-group tha tsplit off from an analogue to the kingdom of Asgore a long time ago, or have attempted to coexist with humans, possibly in various dangerous environments where they protect humans in exchange for the humans being their lovers to reproduce the monster girls. I have an AU of Monster Musume with a MILF vibe, where the monster gals of canon are notably older than Kimihito and protect him, and the idea of a polyamorous relationship is set up from the beginning. They’re also much bigger than in canon, with even Papi dwarfing a human (and being a major shortstack, to boot), and far more monstrous and inhuman in appearance, leaning more towards the ‘monster’ part of the equation.

As Undertale-style monsters, these gals are effectively masses of living magic, perhaps being species that in the AU taken on a form that has some weight in the collective consciousness; hence, monster girls adopting forms similar to human mythological concepts. They are thus vulnerable to raw hatred, but are enormously powerful, not to mention curvaceous. But that goes without saying in this AU. Assume that the monsters in general are huge, towering over humans by several times.

My interest in the series is limited to mostly liking the fan art, that slice of life monster girl series that preceded it, reading a few chapters, and liking minor character like Cathyl and Tionishia. Consequently, most of the characters of significance are not part of the MILF fleet, though they may be part of associated groups that could merge with them over time or are considered cousin fleets. They’d likely be allies, but not part of the core group? Tionishia would be an exception, and definitely part of the main group. If you like, I can go into more detail about how the monster girls differ from canon, in their size and monstery looks.

Digimon: an interesting case! Digimon was one of my biggest and first true fandoms (alongside Transformers, Gargoyles and similar series, which may explain why i love nonhuman protags so much), so of course they gotta be in here somewhere. In this case, I’m drawing a bit on the old notion of Cyberspace that was used a lot in Digimon, and while I’ve mentioned this before, it bears repeating.

The Digital World here is effectively the old concept of cyberspace as its own realm; all data and information takes on a life of its own, and the Digimon are self-aware emanations of this realm, effectively AIs with inherent power that may or may not be magic-ish in nature. Mostly the tone is inspired by the original Digimon world, with aspects from the first two seasons and Tamers: Digimon are effectively immortal, having a symbiotic relationship with the mortal planes; cyberspace is basically born in individual servers, and may take on its own life if those servers ceased to function, but it would be a chaotic and distressed life.

All Digimon that are canon, and plenty that aren’t, can be in the AU as background characters, with a few rules. Firstly, Digimon normally do not enter into the physical world on their own, existing mostly within the realms of cyberspace. They can slot into mechanical bodies or upload themselves into robots and operate them, but they don’t have any special powers; however, they do have access to a lot of computing power, and serve as the dedicated AI networks of the fleet’s ships, maintaining things for everyone, regarding it as diving into a strange and alien world.

Digievolution levels might be based on an individual Digimon’s complexity, and most spend their time in Rookie or Champion levels, stabilizing there; they can digivolve into stronger forms, but this doesn’t often last long, and as they weaken, they will enter weaker forms until they hit Baby and In-Training, and then must recuperate. ADditionally, they are becoming less complex as they devolve, and find the experience unpleasant, like losing bits of your mind for a while. (if you’re familiar with eclipse phase, they are basically infomorphs.)

Some Digimon can assume hyper curvy monster girl forms, if it pleases their aesthetics. Rarely, they can directly materailize into the physical realm, though this often requires a partner to help them, and its often a revolving set of different people they happen to be friends with. Common Digimon include Guilmon and Tentomon, and canon characters, including Digimon, are present throughout the AU in the different factions, though fairly different from canon; Digi-Destined is not a relevant thing here. They might be technicians working closely with the Digimon or explorers into the data realms, though.

Godzilla: I’m also including Gamera here. And yes, it’s very possible! In this AU, the kaiju of Godzilla and similar series are all canon, and are explicitly divine entities that embody concepts predating humanity. They are god-like figures that don’t hate humans, and at worst are indifferent to them, perhaps embodying the need to achieve symbiosis with the world rather than attempting to dominate it (and the hubris to follow). The ‘Good Kaiju’, such as Godzilla and their followers, may regard humans with vague interest, such as one might give to ants that spell out your name, and don’t mean them harm. They are likely worshiped across the cosmos, and have no direct link to the fleet; Godzilla or GAmera might have some connection to the fleet, but it may be as incredibly potent summons they might put enormous effort into calling forth… and since this involves being pregnant with the being in question before they are ready to materialize, this is a heavy duty. The kaiju might then take on some of the summoner’s characteristics, and take a shine to them.

The malicious monsetrs, such as Ghidorah, are spare-faring agents of raw destruction, gods of annihilation that wipe away all they see, perhaps as primordial architects of the mysterious cataclysm… or involved in it in some way, in the same way that the ocean is involved in the sinking of Atlantis. It didn’t cause it, but it certainly ended the continent all the same. They can also be hyper curvaceous and giantesses, as that seems to be an aspect of enough magic power in this AU? The villains might pregnancy-summon them in a fashion. Possibly the Cobalts have a kaiju or two in their repertoire, but it would have to be one that is sufficiently mild. Or it might be something like Destroyah, a hyper curvy monster girl in their hands, that has been tamed and soothed by their attention. She’s something like their kraken now, or even toes their flagship while slumbering, awakening only when they want something to feed her bloodlust?

Rayman: I can see Rayman being it’s own world/demiplane within the realms of magic, Rayman himself as a kind of protector golem (which is sorta canon) and the fairies as magical lords over their world, with the world itself as their domain. Of these, Edith Up is likely to be the most relevant because have you seen her, she is ADORABLE. The Razorbeard Pirates can certainly make suitable space pirate antagonists, perhaps as part of a criminal organization that tends towards more malicious deeds than suits the like of the Cobalts.

Warcraft: The Blizzard franchises are all looped together here, Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo and the other Heroes of The Storm games are part of a complicated network of alliances, rivalries and foes right by a particuarlly nasty magic rift where all kinds of power leaks from across the planes. Celetials and fiends can emerge here, embodiments of justice and evil alike, and have orchestrated terrible wars and conflict, and so the events of Warcraft may have happened in such a fashion; orcs (or orks) were manipulated by demons that are efffectively the Burning Legion but with a more Diablo aspect into war against the Alliance (a faction of humans, human relations, eldar, and others, all tightly tied to magic more than other spacefaring human societies) in a desperate hunt for a new homeland. Thrall emerged as per canon, rising up and uniting the dispossed into a true Horde looking out for each other, and is heading a tentative alliance between the various good-ish forces against the literal demons from Hell, including the Starcraft, Overwatch and other Blizzard properties.

Name a Horde race, and it likely has denizens aboard the fleet, as well as the other factions present. Something similar would apply for the other factions throughout. Named characters are trickier, since I don’t know much about them in general; the united group of Heroes of the Storm are likely their own entity, and big enough to serve as a proper sci fi fleet that can stop demons and monsters from escaping that area of space, and may regard it as their duty to protect the rest of the multiverse from letting those things get loose. Alextrasza, however, is an exception; I’ve read about her and cool badass dragon mom who is kind to all beings and once swallowed a bad guy whole, WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME ABOUT HER SOONER. She is definitely on the fleet, but in what capacity I’m not sure.

Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls setting is likely a lage expanse of space, heavily influenced with raw magical energy, but considering the weirdness of the original setting, it might also do as a demi-plane within the magical realms. In any case, the gods and daedra are likely to be worshiped throughout the multiverse. Malacath might have some vague approval of the milf fleet, while Molog Baal is a major antagonist because he FUCKING DESERVES IT THE ASSHOLE. Possibly some of the mightiest fleet moms are plotting to devour him and take his power for their own, or the goddesses associated with the fleet are deliberately scheming to do just that. Sanguine, in contrast, is probably backing the Cobalts for the fun of it.

The races in the Elder Scrolls can make up a wide variety of background characters throughout the cosmos; in general, assume that if you’re talking about actual elf ethnic background, think in terms of Elder Scrolls, with different elf types as more cultural or faction-themed. Dunmer are very common, and make up most of the eldar on the MILF fleet, for instance. The orsimer are orks,with a greater emphasis on martial honor and ferocity, and may be magically altered by a connection to Malacath specifically; perhaps descended from orks thatt revered him and took his essence into themselves. The Cobalts might have Snow Elves and Aldmer as a lot of the elves on their group due to them moving in the areas where those elves have settled over the eons. Argonians are also pretty common in the fleet!

The Empire is known as the Cyrodillic Imperium, and has way more influences from the real life inspirations of the different cultures in the Elder Scrolls to fit a more diverse, old society like a proper space opera should have, and the Aldmeri Dominion is probably the asshole elves you expect.

I’m not sure how to handle the specific characters, but some examples: update the Skyrim Civil War o be a cosmic battle, with the Stormcloaks as a rebel fleet with Ulfric as a somewhat sympathetic warlord. He might be an antagonist, but not one with morals opposed to the fleet; he’s just a human-centric ruler with little interest for others that aren’t ‘his people’. The dragons in general, especially Alduin, would be way more eldritch horror here, with optional hyper busty monster girl forms. With an element of kaiju; they’re probably big enough to wreck starships and can exist in space.

#Anonymous #anon replies #/#//#///#////#crossthicc AU #queued

3 notes · View notes

morshtalon · 6 years

Text

Dragon Quest

What would be the consequence in the videogame industry if Dragon Quest never existed?

For those who somehow don’t know yet, Dragon Quest, released as Dragon Warrior overseas due to some complications with trademarks, while there is some controversy as to what was truly entirely pioneered by it, is credited as the first game to embrace and present the common tropes we associate with classic, console jRPGs today. Even if those credits can be contested, however, it still bears undeniable meta importance within the zeitgeist of japanese gaming, and countless upon countless games can have their origins traced back into DQ’s legacy...

For example, Mr. Shigesato Itoi would use it as direct inspiration for his mother series (the first game bearing many similarities to Dragon Quest with some fresh coatings of paint), which later went on to itself inspire a certain game called Undertale, don’t know if you’ve heard about it?

For further example, there’s this one series called Final Fantasy that basically owes every aspect of its existence to Dragon Quest, considering most of its own games are improvements and twists on mechanics taken from DQ’s own installments. How’s that one doing now?

Also, if you scroll down a bit, you’ll come across my Lufia 1 review. Give it a read while thinking about this, if you could.

In any case, it’s interesting to form this “genealogy” and view just exactly how powerful an impact one thing can have within its medium.

That said, it is essentially a 1986 game with few guidelines driving its design, drawn from its own inspirations in the Wizardry and Ultima series of western RPGs, which can have their lineage traced back to dungeons and dragons, which emerged from tabletop wargames, which... anyway, I digress. Nowadays jRPG gaming has evolved into something far, far apart from DQ’s idiosyncrasies, going on to develop idiosyncrasies of its own, and therefore with modern eyes the game doesn’t even feel like it belongs in the same place. I’ve read reviewers having trouble distinguishing nostalgia from things that are actual merits of the game, and the answer to the question of whether it is an antiquated piece of vaporware belonging in a museum or the aforementioned different approach to concepts that have drifted away over the years is difficult to answer with that state of mind. The first time I played DQ to completion was in 2018, so bearing absolutely no nostalgia for it, I will aim to answer this question in the clearest manner possible.

Dragon Quest is the story of one lone dude with historically inaccurate viking headwear on a bloodline-driven quest to square off against a not-ancient (!!!) evil dude, who took an incandescent lightbulb (that really has no point being there at all), painted it black so the light wouldn’t shine through the coating and that resulted in the land being overrun with monsters conveniently spread out from his fortress to the hero’s starting position in a balanced scaling level of difficulty, in order to provide the hero with the opportunity to build up his muscles and learn healmore eventually because you can’t win the game without it. In the way, there are no plot surprises, there are no rivals, heck, there aren ‘t even any friends (though there is one quite friendly character), you have one major goal given to you right at the start that never changes and one minor one that’s entirely optional and also pretty much given to you at the same point, a cute little world to explore, a few puzzle-esque minor hoops to jump through in order to reach the final dungeon (which together probably don’t amount to half an hour) and tons and tons and TONS of level grinding to do. But how does it execute it all?

Depending on what you’re looking for, holding dragon quest up to scrutiny with the most recently released wizardry or ultima at the time is akin to comparing a book to a movie: many of the complexities and raw content of the formats being used are eschewed in favor of a simpler, trimmed-out experience with a more visual approach (which is humorous now considering the intense density of text contained in DQ in comparison to modern games). Yuji Horii intentionally designed the game to be an experience that newcomers would find easy to learn but veterans would still dive into the intricacies of the mechanics. There is only one party member, only one enemy per battle, only 2 stats besides HP and MP, spells are few and perform simplistic effects, equipment follows a straightforward progression with no multiple choices to he found and the list goes on. To that end I must say I don’t agree with the second part or Mr. Horii’s statement: of course there ARE people who dissected the entire game and have figured out, mattered and exposed every single assembly line there is about this product, but only liminal knowledge of the mechanics is required for one to complete the game, and there is an at best marginal need to even know what’s going on in order to play it with reasonable success; there is just THAT little to it. The most complex strategies involved in the battles amount to casting sleep or stopspell beforehand to prevent enemies from murdering you if you are at a suboptimal level and otherwise wailing away until one or the other gives in.

Is it possible, then, that one of the pivotal and more dearly beloved games in history only achieved its success due to favorable circumstances and a nice (at the time) coating of paint hiding an otherwise non-daring and understimulating product?

...Yes. It is entirely possible. It’s happened many times before with other media, and it’s happened many times since. So is the game a piece of shit? Well... that’s a more complicated answer.

You see, with many future dragon quest games; there’s always something or other I can pinpoint as being a particularity pioneered or otherwise codified and popularized by dragon quest. For example: 2 made popular the common party member progression utilized in many RPG’s throughout time; 3 brought party customization and archetypes (mostly reworked from its blood fathers) into the mainstream; 4 had that AI controlled party member thing and a creative chapter-based method of storytelling (not to mention having a plot back in the day), and so on. Up until now, I hadn’t been able to do the same for the first installment; as previously showcased, the game doesn’t really have innovation, it’s just a simplified version of older stuff.

Then it hit me: the keyword I’ve been looking all along is structure. It’s so obvious to me now that it baffles me I hadn’t thought of it beforehand.

Allow me to illustrate: Ultima barely knew what to even do with its numbers. Levels didn’t serve any purpose for at least 2 games, HP was gained extremely arbitrarily and so were weapons, dungeons also served little to no purpose and there were more red herrings in the game than not-red herrings. Wizardry was more functional but no less loose; party members were these transient things that sort of mattered but sort of didn’t, stats rose and fell in a completely arbitrary fashion and it was once again difficult to discern any practical function in them whatsoever (there are still discussions nowadays about what exactly they do, with only at best vague answers based on more common sense things). Dragon Quest, in its simplicity, had a clear-cut, very obvious flow, everything does exactly what you think it does, nothing is ever lost arbitrarily and items and equipment are beseeched and acquired in 100% non-obtuse, sensical and understandable fashion with no need for peripherals outside the game. This set the base for further development and complexity as the series went on without ever losing track of the main, core design principle of “anyone could pick this up and spend very little time internalizing the concepts herein”. As the complexity began to accumulate, Horii’s statement forged its path to full realization, and along with Dragon Quest, basically every single jRPG followed suit in its advances.

Therefore, this game’s -practical- importance is still, in my opinion, entirely credulous and valid; it’s a stepping stone and a filter, in its reductiveness refashioning dated concepts and sculpting the mindset of players for the ushering in of a new, refined design philosophy, one which would be built upon by its own successors too, but also its peers, all collectively working to fully inject and transform RPG gameplay into the idiossyncratic identity it retains in electronic gaming to this day.

So, that’s all nice and good to discuss, but what is one’s emotion and response when actually playing the game?

There’s no way to answer this question outside of 100% personal input, so in my humble opinion, it’s enjoyable-ish for the right mindset. I already went into it knowing that I would have to appreciate some stuff more conceptually than practically, and I did in fact get enthralled by its offbeat quirks, for what it’s worth. The game really is one “big” item collection puzzle, almost a simplified King’s Quest if you took out the battles, and this worldwide exploration quest would go on to dominate early DQ’s core mindset, with 5 being the first one to break away from it and offer a more linear progression. Frankly, I really enjoy the fact that these old games can get away with disregarding logic sometimes in favor of making the puzzles more interesting (i.e. abusing map boundaries to circle around city walls and access a secret area), and I’m glad the precedent, for a while, was set with DQ, without going overboard with oblique design the way point and click games usually did - perhaps as a byproduct of the memory being busy handling the RPGness of it - and becoming far more fun for it. As previously stated, there is a lot of level grinding, and nothing can really prepare you from the hours of boredom walking left and right waiting for a random encounter, which does act in the game's detriment, but the remakes have softened up the chore I guess so there’s always that option.

Synthesizing the museum piece and actual game aspect of it, Dragon Quest, to me, deserves a 6 out of 10. It is, unfortunately, too simplistic to warrant any higher a rank, and focuses far too much of its time on gameplay that isn’t fun, almost enough to surprise me that the game fared so well, being so intimidating with its earlygame grinding. As I said, however, its importance hoists what fun the gameplay does have into bearably numbing status, and it will give you a feeling of accomplishment when you do strike that death blow against the final boss, like you completed an initiation ritual. I’d recommend it if you’re a genre enthusiast, but you probably already played it if you are so...

#game #rpg #review #criticism #dragon quest

6 notes · View notes

deepintoforestwego · 6 years

Text

Pros and cons of two hearts and other peculiarities: A personal account

For @slavicafire, a urban fantasy story based on lore of strzyga. Sorry it took so long and is so short. Hope you (and others) like it.

1# early childhood

Your father was a folklorist. Your mother was witch.

What that meant was, that when you were born, with two sets of teeth (one, to be fair, smaller then other) and monitor picking up two heartbeats, they almost immediately knew what was up.

Which also meant your mother got in trouble for casting several rather harsh illusion and memory altering spells. Which are complicated and iffy on their own, and much less when witch in question is only half conscious and just went through labor. Your grandparents are still giving her earful about that.

Point is, anyway, that sometimes children like you were abandoned. it is rarer in this new, smarter, thankfully less superstitious age (though some, as always, would argue it is worse), but in centuries before such children, or those suspected for no good, true reason, were abandoned in woods, or at best, chased away after certain age when community couldn’t stand them.

Your parents, however, were reasonable, caring and good people who wouldn’t allow such tiny thing to get in way of loving and appreciating their daughter(s). They didn’t call attention to your strange behaviors, or try to forget them-loving whole of you.

Even if it made feeding time very awkward.

2# Being wonder child

Most kids like you do not actually display any abilities before certain age, or in case of accident, which of course requires you to lose one half of your being. Thankfully, you didn’t have to go through that traumatic experience, as well as devastating mental consequences it contained when one half of your mind/life/best friend forever is lost.

However, training and keeping those powers secret, when you live in a village (which, whether because such is nature of small communities, or because your people are like that, means deaf grandma of your mom’s hated neighbor knows what you ate for breakfast) was rather hard and embarrassing.

But you learn on mistakes. And at least your dad’s best friend’s annoying cousin never comes over again. It was worth lecture and denied chocolate.

3# Smelling blood

A fantastic nose capable of smelling, discerning and categorizing blood. Useful for detecting sickness, knowing which blood group you need when making transfusion (other nurses turn blind eye to that) and discerning whether meal is fresh.

It is also not good pick-up line, small talk and way to greet grandma.

4# Shapeshifting

Do you know what wonder it is, to have your whole body just-change and become something else? For mass to shrink and cells to rearrange, in direct defiance to laws of nature, for you to become animal but still think like human, to rise and soar through air, wind and moonlight caressing your feathers.

Plus owl are amazing. Even if it hurts at first to transform in one.

5# Detecting life

This is how a strzyga hunts:her soul senses and feels life around her sensing it’s different shades and forms. Life of doe and rose tastes very differently for example.

And even dead carry feelings of it, shadows and memories. To taste death is to taste cold ash upon tongue, and murky, freezing river traveling through your bowels, a sound of laments echoing through your head.

But it can be so damaging, so painful, to sense it all. You need to learn to numb it, make it weaker, ignore it, even as you earn to taste it all. Some strzygas, old and powerful enough, can even feel microbes, which is why they generally go mad.

6# Two minds

Having another person up there with you is an amazing, wonderful feeling.You are never alone, and it feels like having best friend who always understands, a sister you never truly had. Plus, it is extremely helpful when you are at university and swamped with work.

Downsides:appearing to forget some appointment because your other half didn’t remember to tell you what they promised, conflicting crushes, fashion tastes (gothic for human, pastel and cute for demon) and some contrasting lifestyle choices ( we do not talk about week your human half decided to go vegan).

Anyway, you invest in lot of stick-it notes.

7# Trance

That is how you decided to call feeling your other side feels enters when it isn’t in control. A half dream, blind and deaf, yet getting emotions and hearing thoughts of dominant half, and whispering advices like some crazy, unstoppable conscience that also happen to have no idea what it is doing.

8# Meeting your girlfriend

You are floored and confused and completely non responsive (general state of strzyga, who, as strzygons are rather rare, are in your experience mostly feeling preference for other woman).

she is beautiful, but that hits you last, and her AB positive blood group comes close to it. What hits you first is sense of her life, of power within her. Energy within her swirls and twists, coils like a snake around you, with force of tempest about to unleash it’s fury, like thousand spring flowers waiting to bloom.

‘‘Are you okay?’‘ She asks, and syringe meant to take her blood for her blood test misses and hits you in forearm.

9# First date

It is an awkward, busy mess both of times. Two souls inside of you both scream and panic, while she seems so relaxed and confident (you will learn, later, that you two together were both more collected then she was). Fact that she is witch and actually remembers each of your names, favorite foods and music tastes just adds to it.

You make awkward joke she rolls over on floor, makes waiter blush and old people look funny at you thrice, break two dishes and spill wine twice. In your defense she overshares five times,and once accidentally makes lightbulb break.

You find common taste in tv shows, get in discussion which animals best (hedgehog, toad for two of you, snake for her) and dance on cobblestones in rain.

10# Family dinner

Your parents already accepted you. It is however quite wonder when you are invited for Easter to spend time with hers.

Anxiety fills you up, when you see her hundred and counting rich cousins, meet her awesome mothers, both accomplished sorceresses ( genetic scientist and mechanic also), her spinster singer and model aunt (who has no makeup, yet looks exactly as she does on photos, too many illusions and glamour magics) and actually get involved in fight about her fourth aunt not coming over despite not knowing how it happened.

There is same power in them all, but different from hers, a great weight of life and energy that struggles as if their bodies are to small for it, tasting of hundred different species, hundred different demons, their energies sluggish and thick and bitter and hurting you from intensity, even as she squeezes your arm and asks if you need to go outside.

Her smirk when you insult her loud, angry uncle by showing him both of your teeth sets is worth it all though.

11# Lifetime

‘‘Are you sure it will work?’‘ You ask, for now there are both of you, brought by her magic, her will, awake at same time.

‘‘Of course my dears. One of you is already undead, it will be no trouble to make others so.’‘ She says with quick kiss, magic sparkling like electrical charge at lips.

‘‘But how will it work is completely other question.’‘ Voice calls out from behind, dark and low, and you almost jump, because for first time in your life you feel nothing at all.

You turn, and from shadows steps a woman, tiny and upper end of middle ages, dressed in modest , elegant skirt and button up shirt, eyes obscured by netlike veil hanging off small cute hat covering her bun.

You close your eyes, breathe deep and sharp, and take step back. This woman is blind spot in your otherworldly vision, a presence you cannot find and identify, world silent and empty around her, as if she was never alive at all.

‘‘Auntie, please don’t lecture me.’‘ Your love groans, and you wonder if she knows how her aunt ( madwoman witch monster demon dirty blood teen pregnancy bastard stain upon family unfortunate choice widow foreigner not ours criminal you remember, remember what they told about her) does that, how can she wrap herself behind so much magic you cannot even feel she exists and not choke on it, and wonder if your love will learn that someday too.

‘‘I will if I have reason to. Binding human to demon side is easy. Making yourself live on after what you were afforded isn’t. It requires blood.’‘ She says, and in step crosses over, like winter wind.Your love looks down on her.

‘‘I know. I know the price, and for her- for our sake, I will pay it.’‘ Her power blazes, a bonfire and storm and earthquake, and you delight in it, in her strength and magic and stubborness.

‘‘Of course you will. It is love, after all.’‘ Her aunt moves lace covered hand and puts on her cheek.

‘‘When you do ritual-be sure that sacrifice is somebody deserving. The Cold Lady’s ire will be earned either way, but by this it will be appeased for some time, instead of invoking Her wrath. Be smart.’‘ She says, and in tradition of all aunts across Balkan, shoves money in your love’s palm, and spends next fifteen minutes arguing whether it is appropriate gift (your love snatches it away finally, acceptable loss).

‘‘As for you... Love her well, and that will be good enough. Otherwise...’‘ And before disappearing in shadows she smiles, and you are sure her teeth are sharp and white, kind that can feast upon bones.

‘‘And that trouble is gone too...Now let us get on track, shall we?’‘ She asks, before you start playing with her hair.

12# Lifegoals

So, what should strzyga, her artificial vampire sister/other half and their quasi-immortal witch girlfriend do with rest of their long lives.

Well, love, explore, do whatever they want, and curse those that get in way of it, of course.

#slavic folklore #urban fantasy #writeblr #vampires #wlw

46 notes · View notes

aerial-ace97 · 2 years

Text

17. Naga - D&D 3.5, Pathfinder, PF2E, 5E

There is no creature on this list that I’ve had more of a conflicted time of placing. There are so many great elements but so many things that hold back the naga for me because of simple logistics. The first is how to differentiate the naga. There are 9 to 10 nagas in D&D’s lore, and each of them have a small amount written about them. They aren’t exactly alternate variants of each other though and so it felt like a disservice in some ways to place them altogether to each of the individuals like I might do for variant beholders or illithid. At the same time splitting them up wouldn’t leave enough lore for any of them to get very high on this list and even if it did, it would mean they’d take up more spaces for worthy creatures and that couldn’t do either. I didn’t want to not give them the over all credit that they should get but I also didn’t want to fill this page up with naga either. So I ended up sticking with keeping them all together. The other problem however comes in how powerful and utilized naga have been throughout multiple editions, despite the fact that any time that the lore has been expanded it has been disappointingly vague.

This symptom that naga endures digs into a greater root issue of D&D and Pathfinder as symptoms actually. That while they want to incorporate elements of Eastern fiction and mythology, they seemingly have very little comprehension on how to do so without just utilizing them as background and skin shallow aesthetics. And that doesn’t at all mean that capable DMs can’t make something more of these base concepts, but I find it difficult not to acknowledge these limitations when I am simply pulling from RAW. As well as the naga could be utilized, it is somewhat held back by the fact that it doesn’t have a very effective baseline in terms of lore. But I also didn’t want to drop it too far down the list because of that, because I know what the Naga could be for the purpose of working into Indian and Nepalese themes, which as a creature that has appeared a lot, it serves the best gateway into that realm. So 17 might not be the greatest nor least number I could have given it depending on if someone had either tried more ardently to give them a baseline or just not given any credit at all, but that’s where it lies today.

I will speak to the lore still, as the lore is not bad, its just kind of basic and more showing without telling. AKA, its less than it could be and thus I’m disappointed but don’t confuse that for meaning that what is there isn’t good. The first thing you should know is that a naga is a big deal and should really be treated as such. They are made for rulership and to be the central monster of a particular battlefield. While their are many types, the absolute lowest CR of any of them is 6 between all editions, and they are very much a creature that can utilize classes, particularly in monk or caster classes. All variants have potent spell casting capabilities, mostly focusing on various different subgenres based upon theme, with dream focusing on mesmerist spell casting, deep being mainly druidic, royals focusing in spells of domination, and others having vastly different collections of arcane spells. Several more powerful variants are equipped with some form of gaze effect of divinatory effect focused on gaining information. They each have some form of venom that is applied through their teeth or a longer range spit attack. Many of them have independent abilities that make the mechanical options of nagas incredibly flexible on that front. 5e’s naga amps itself up even more by being essentially unkillable, regenerating itself a few days after its death and definitely being a creature that is meant to be a very important and awe-inspiring thing... in spite of its lore.

Speaking of the lore, we have two different stories going on for us. Well, more a story and then also a complete absence of a story. The latter comes from D&D, which I mention above. The story in terms of D&D on the naga is that they were created as guardians by ancient humanoids. That’s pretty much it on the whole. Thanks Wizards. I should be fair, we get a little bit more in the individual types, such as their enmity towards the yuan-ti, which is helpful, and the fact that they now seek rulership through different means, whcih I’ll talk about more later since it is something Pathfinder did as well. Some of the older lore also gives some information on their faith, but all it really amounts to is a listing of names that don’t have too much information themselves. There’s a bit more on magic, but drawing from older editions, that drew a lot more from supplementary and third party material doesn’t really solve the modern variant of the naga we have today. Pathfinder helps a whole lot more with its connections to Indian mythology, which tracks with Pathfinder’s diversification emphasis, even if it still only amounts to being an origin point that they leave for you to deal with on your own.

Created by the goddess Ravithra with the intent of being immortal, this process was stopped by the first Garuda. This sparked the enmity that naga have held with the garuda, which somewhat replaces their rivalry with yuan-ti but under a supposedly very different light as yuan-ti are neutral evil and garuda are chaotic good. In spite of this small misstep, teh naga were still incredibly powerful, gaining rulership over the entire country of Vudra in Pathfinder’s Golarion. Their they enjoyed massive influence, being worshipped their and centering the caste system as the aspect of society that would continue to apply to Vudra through modern times. Their empire came to a sudden end under uncertain circumstances where they then disappeared for hundreds of years, which does leave a lot of interesting possible implications around their absent period. When they returned, the naga separated into factions that had great emphasis in two things, one being a desire to rule and one being a fascination with history. Their fractious groups all chose to impose rulership in vastly different ways either through respect, benevolence, or fear, and thus you have multiple different alignments to play with when you look into what sort of naga your looking at. They have their own independent country but have also spread across the world to become rulers over smaller factions of humanoids. After their fall from grace however, one other factor that remains prevalent no matter the motives of any naga, is a streak of paranoia that has been caused by the many betrayals they’ve endured.

I hesitate to go into each of the individual naga because there are so many but I’d feel remiss not to bring some light to their individual quirks. I’ll give the highlights. Dark naga (LE) seek to rule through fear and align themselves with raider races from the deep that serve in their conquering. Deep naga (NE) are more solitary and territorial than most naga and infuse themselves deeply with the power of planar or arcane leylines that they might gain additional powers from them. Dream naga (N) inhabit the Dimension of Dreams and often are encountered in sleep where they are often interpreted as religious portents (also this is the type pictured above). Guardian naga (LG) seek out places of great natural or spiritual wonder that they then choose to put it upon themselves to keep watch over these places and embody their history. Lunar naga (CN) serve.as seers and spiritual philosophers and can form cults of personality about them. Royal naga (LN) are authoritative but sociable and defend and rule over ancient civilizations. Slime naga (NE) live in the undertow of cities, forming criminal empires that covertly manipulate the culture. Spirit naga (CE) almost serve as hags in their occult focus and inhabit unholy places that they believe they inherit the legacy of. Water naga (N) are territorial but also well traveled and flexible in their situation, being more interested in culture and stories than true social interaction.

This gives so many options and I think that the naga could be used in a lot of situations as a Big Bad. But they also employ a lot of history of Indian and Nepalese mythology. I urge those who utilize them to research the thematic nature of these stories and how to employ them into a story centering around a naga rather than simply using them as a placeholder monster.

#Naga #Janu-Alien #BMEG #Pathfinder #Dungeons and Dragons #Big Monster Evil Guy

1 note · View note

birdfriender · 7 years

Note

What's so bad about D&D 3.5?

I’ve had this ask sitting in my inbox for ages bc I want to give a proper answer and that might take a little while.

Fucken long post under the cut

So the first an most obvious criticism is the balance issue, a lot of words have been said by a lot of people on this but basically there are some classes that are so weak as to be useless unless carefully optimized by someone who knows what they are doing (eg monk) and other classes that are so overpowered as to trivially break the game unless carefully reigned in by someone who knows what they are doing (eg druid).

To expand on both those points: monk has a core issue with the design of the class, firstly it is strongly dependent on multiple different attributes. The monk cant wear armour. this is theoretically offset by them adding their wisdom bonus to AC however in order to keep up with other melee combatants this means the monk needs to have high stats in both dex and wis. Additionally, the monk needs strength in order to deal damage as their unarmed attack bonuses do not scale well enough to make up for their lack of magic weapons. Additionally, as a melee combatant with d8 hit dice the monk really cant afford to dump constitution or risk being extremely vulnerable to a couple of lucky attacks. Finally the monk has the second lowest skill points per level of any class, meaning that in order to have any out of combat utility they need to have a little bit of int. This leaves only charisma as a viable dump stat (this is the dump stat for almost every class in the game by the way, another flaw of D&D). As if all this wasn’t enough, the monk doesn’t even have full BAB scaling for gd knows what reason? Additionally the monk has several abilities that benefit them for moving or encourage them to move around, suggesting that the monk should be a fast and mobile fighter, however their key damage dealing ability, flurry of blows, requires a full action and therefore cant be used in the same turn as movement. Flurry of blows ALSO imposes an attack penalty which couples with the monks low BAB means the monk struggles to ever hit enemies, let alone deal meaningful damage.

On the other end of the spectrum, the druid only really ever needs Wisdom. Freeing them up to put their second highest stat in constitution or intelligence for general utility. The druid gets an animal companion which being entirely honestly is usually a more useful combat unit than a monk, and takes its own entire turn every combat in addition the druids fairly powerful array of spells. At level 6 though the druid gets the option to take the Natural Spell feat which, taken on its own with no optimization or further thought put into it, completely breaks the game, letting the druid shapeshift into animals with extremely strong physical stat lines while keeping the druids mental stats AND spellcasting. A casual player with no effort and without meaning to can pick this feat because it sounds cool and suddenly have a character that is basically as powerful as the rest of the party combined.

These sorts of issues pervade all of D&D 3.5 and all its sourcebooks. These examples are just from the core rules but it gets honestly worse the more content you add. Balance isn’t the only issue though, there is a general lack of cohesion with the design across different sourcebooks and different designers. There are often multiple different implementations of the same concept or idea but done in subtly different ways. For instance the alternate class feature system is used very inconsistently and infrequently. There are many sourcebooks that implement “new” classes that could very obviously just have been sets of alternate class features for existing classes, I have a bad memory for the specifics of these but classes such as the Ninja and Swashbuckler jump to mind. Another example of this issue is in bonus typing. There is supposedly a system in 3.5 where every bonus has a type such as enhancement and that multiple bonuses of the same type dont stack, however this is once again applied inconsistently and there are many places in sourcebooks with “untyped” bonuses where neither the designer nor editor cared to correctly implement the rules. These may have eventually been fixed in errata but as far as I know they were not.

Related to the issue of incoherent design vision there are frequently mechanics or ideas where there is no indication as to how the designer intended these things to be used. The most obvious example of this is Beholder Mage which is a prestige class that is clearly ludicrously overpowered as it was supposedly designed for DMs to use for enemies, however nowhere does anything indicate that this is the intention. On its own this may not seem like a huge issue but when there are lots of these cases scattered across different books and articles it adds a huge overhead on the GM to make sure everything is being used as intended (i.e. that they dont let players play Beholder Mage even when nothing mechanically prevents them from doing so).

One thing that is more of a personal gripe is the issue of “simulationist” games in general. D&D aims to simulate a world by tying everything down with mechanics. Every NPC is built on the same stats and skill system as the player characters when there is absolutely no need for this to be the case. The effect of this is that the DM has to put in a lot of work maintaining the simulation; generating entire stat blocks for every monster and NPC, maintaining all their status effects and spells/day etc. and while many people would argue that DMs dont have to do this and can just handwave it all, that is not what the rulebook tells you to do! When you spend money on the rulebook for a roleplaying game you are placing your faith in the designers of that game to have made a good game with a coherent ruleset that is fun to play, as soon as you start ignoring chunks of the rules to make the game fun or playable THEN THATS A BAD GAME! If the solution to having fun with a game is to just handwave and ignore the actual rules then those are bad rules! its a bad game!

Finally the reason I hate D&D so much and why i cant just ignore it and let people have their “fun” (i remain unconvinced) is the way the design attitudes and sensibilities behind D&D dragged down roleplaying games for so long. I dont think it’s unfair to call D&D the World of Warcraft of tabletop games. For decades, every new RPG copied the fundamental ideas behind D&D, that enemies and players all work on the same system, that the GM should just be expected to do all the work and spend all the hours sorting everything out and that the GM should be the ultimate arbitrator of everything and therefore responsible for everything. Even games that I think are broadly pretty good still suffer from this core conceit, Savage Worlds, Dark Heresy, World of Darkness, etc all would likely be better if they hadn’t approached their design from a D&D dominated perspective.

Honestly I probably forgot some stuff? But thats in broad terms why I think D&D and especially 3.5 are so bad.

#extremelyfowl

49 notes · View notes

archonreviews · 6 years

Text

The Archon’s Review of Dominions 5: Warriors of the Faith

Dominions 5: Warriors of the Faith is a fantasy turn-based strategy game created by indie developers Illwinter Games. The world was once well-ordered and prosperous under the auspices of the supreme god, the Pantokrator. However, the Pantokrator has vanished from the world, and many divine or infernal beings have risen up to take the supreme god’s place. Now, as one of these Pretenders, you must guide your nation in their wars against all the other nations, and thus claim the Thrones of Ascension, thereby achieving godhood!

So, fair warning beforehand: this review is basically just me sucking this game’s dick for a few paragraphs on end. So if you don’t want to witness hardcore human-on-videogame fellatio, maybe don’t read this one. Sorry lads/lasses/non-binary basses.

So, Dom5 has the whole “God’s gone away” background story, but there’s no overarching campaign. Instead, it’s more like a game of Civilization; you play each game as its own instance, and when you win, you can boot up another one, assuming it’s not 4 am. Or assuming it is 4 am. Either way. This helps the player create their own narrative about their Pretender character, and while the Dominions roleplaying communities aren’t very robust, that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to create and really play as a god. Basically, because the scope is epic, you get invested, but because each game is insular, you can decide how your character and how their nation operate, in very much a freeform manner.

The thing that I like most about this game is that it may be one of the deepest games I’ve ever played. It’s got strategic depth aplenty, and despite the lack of a story campaign, there’s depth of lore as well.

In Dom5 the one thing that may stick out is how many options and how many choices the player has to make. First they’ve got to pick a technological era to play in, which may alter, remove, or add nations for the player to choose. Then, they’ve got to pick a nation to play as, of which there are asstons. Then, they’ve got to pick the terrestrial form of their Pretender, the choices for which are more-or-less unique to each nation, and they’ve got to define what sort of dominion that god holds and what magic they know and what blessings they can bestow on their sacred soldiers.

(This many unit choices for like, 25-30 playable factions for three different technological eras. And this isn’t even taking into account the magic choices. It’s a lot.)

This allows for plenty of strategic possibilities, and you have to take into account your chosen nation’s qualities, and your opponents’, so as to choose the best Pretender options and the best army compositions. You should also take into account your choice of magic spells as well as your opponents’, because global enchantments can be simply game-changing.

Speaking of magic, it may be one of the most fun magic systems in a strategy game. There are two types of spells: combat and ritual, and both feel awesome. Watching fireballs streak across the battlefield is always fun, especially if you’ve got a large cadre of wizards all flinging spells one after the other. Ritual spells, on the other hand, are another matter entirely. This is where having a high-level wizard, or a powerful god can come in handy. Ritual spells include the ability to summon entire armies, create a second sun, engulf the world in darkness, or, if you happen to be feeling particularly sadistic, you can even accelerate the aging of all living beings in the world so that they die faster. The magic in this game feels all powerful and utterly amazing.

Now, my all-time favorite aspect of this game is the depth of lore. Literally every nation has oodles of flavor text over all its generational iterations, and each unit and each spell has it’s own flavor text. One could spend literally hours reading the flavor text on each thing in the game. The flavor itself borrows heavily from real-world mythologies, all doused with a heavy helping of what the sages call “Rule of Cool”. Some of it gets pretty explicit, with many civilizations named directly after their real-world counterparts, such as Tír na nÓg, or Rus. Some are slightly more oblique, such as Mictlan, which is an analogue for the Aztec empire, and Ermor, which you can figure out if you remove the first R and flip the resultant word. There’s even an R’yleh civilization, which only gets more and more fucked up as it progresses through its iterations.

(See all that text in the topmost paragraph? Yeah, it’s not at all unusual for units to have that much flavor text, sometimes even more. This game’s got a lot of reading for those interested.)

One detail I dig is that there’s a sort of amorality coursing through the narrative, the mechanics, and even the cosmology of the game. You are expected to run an efficient, powerful, and overall grandiose war machine, as your goal is nothing short of godhood; nothing else matters. You need to sacrifice those virgins to power your spellcraft? Go right ahead, no-one’s judging you. You need to pillage those provinces for money? Hey, they’re your own citizens! You need to force the world’s population to age rapidly until they’re all nothing but dust? Awesome, fuck the haters!

You see, I once played a game called Total War: Empire. It takes place in the age of empires, when men were calculated as mere numbers. They were not flesh and blood people, but guns, horses, and cannons. That game did a great job getting me into that mindset, wherein each casualty was merely another bullet-shooter to be replaced in pursuit of my goal of the domination of Europe. Dom5, in comparison, takes this mindset to the extreme. When not engaged with the flavor and depth, I was churning out soldiers as if from an assembly line, before sending them into battle, and very likely, to their deaths; or at least, to their crippling. See, each time a soldier or creature is struck in combat, it has a chance of getting an affliction, some of which can be quite debilitating. Does this prevent me from including them in my armies? Of course not! Every body is useful. Dom5 posits that the goal of godhood comes before everything else; the thoughts and problems, and therefore, the morality of a god, are all so far removed from those of mere mortals that they cannot be judged for their atrocities, or even for their benevolence. Hell, you don’t even intervene directly in your subject’s lives; that’s determined by your dominion. Basically, Dom5 states that your goal is all that matters; you can be good to your subjects as far as the game allows, or evil to them in great measure, but no matter what, you must achieve your objective, or else all is lost.

(Do you see the ladies in white surrounding the two antler-guys in the back? Yeah, they’re probably going get sacrificed for magical powers. And it’s likely that I will feel nothing for it.)

So, after a great segue, let’s talk about the problems this game, does admittedly have (if we’re still using the fellatio metaphor, this is me admonishing the game for shooting off in my hair while absentmindedly stroking the game’s dick gently. This blog may not be for children). For one, the game’s learning curve is total crap. The tutorial is in the “tools” menu for some reason, and even after finishing it, unless you’re a series veteran, you may struggle to pick up all the concepts. And this is quite a heavy game. It’s improved considerably since Dom4, but even still, new players may be turned off by the terrible learning curve.

(The game’s UI, plus a lovely shot of a game’s map. While cluttered, the UI can be intimidating to explore for people used to Civilization or Total War.)

In addition, the graphics leave a lot to be desired. We’re talking in bits here, not polygons, and not very many of them, at that. Each sprite has only two states, “static”, and “action”. Of course, all this is to compensate for the literal hundreds of soldiers and dozens of particle effects that can appear on screen at once, and the tonnes of different entities on the overworld map and the AIs controlling them. This game’s got a lot going on.

Speaking of combat, it claims to be real-time (while the administration and map movement is turn-based), but as someone who played Dom4, which was turn-based, I don’t see much of a difference between the two. This is because the combat system is actually pretty interesting. Instead of controlling your soldiers directly, you assign them pre-programmed orders, which they execute to the best of their abilities upon meeting the enemy. This requires you to think of a strategy beforehand to suit your nation’s strengths and weaknesses and those of your opponents. After you engage in combat, you can watch the replay, which is where you can actually see what happened in real-time. It’s actually really rad to see your hordes of warriors carving a swath through your opponent, and your mages slinging spells overhead. It’s like watching Lord of the Rings, except pixellated and probably with giants and sea monsters instead of dudes and orcs.

(A scene of my Fomorian giants surrounding and obliterating a horde of summoned creatures. This will only be one battle in an uncountable series.)

One last thing before the ending wrap-up: I suppose I should make it known that I am quite self-aware, and I know that sacrificing virgins to power blood magicks, and enslaving people to fight in your wars are all horrible things in real life. In a big way, one of the things I like about this game might be one of its biggest turn-off to some people. So I suppose if you’re sensitive to the concepts of violence toward women, enslavement, and, but limited to, cannibalism, maybe don’t pick this one up. I’m not actually joking about cannibalism, that happens.

I like this game. A lot. So much that I’m actually having trouble describing why I like it. Like, I’ve described elements about it that I like, but writing this out, I realize I haven’t gushed nearly as much as I wanted to or thought I would. Maybe I’m more a melancholic person that I thought? In any event, I guess I should apologize to the game; it’s going to bed with a mild case of blue-balls. In all seriousness, I totally recommend this game to anyone, especially people who like ancient mythology and turn-based strategy. I will probably play the fuck out of this for a long time to come, assuming they don’t release Dominions 6 any time soon.

(Actaeon, Lord of the Wilds, and the Most Ironically Named. He was always one of my favorite gods to play as.)

#archon reviews #video games #video game #review #fantasy #turn-based strategy #dominions #dominions 5 #dom5

0 notes