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karaokebearwithal · 2 months

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Mutuals Mutuals Come one COME ALL!!!

Put your various sona's and appendages together for the unveiling of a lil' something I've been working on while being distracted from animating Dame Aylin's wings (Its long, hard, fun as all hell but the concentration required to do so seems physically impossible for a beast of my genus)

I drew all my moots tavs/pseudo-companions!!! It took a bit, but it was well worth it! Everyone's design is so unique and fun to figure out. (10 is a big number of moots)((which I am very grateful to have :3)) So without Further Ado!!! (there will be so much more Ado):

(page break cuz the images are 400x400 each but 10 times, I also go on for a bit about how much I like each Tav/pseudo-companion character) ((if anyone can give me tips on how to size pieces in a normal style digitally i'd be very grateful))

First of all is Sivvus the Fey Prince (he/him)! This elusive Eladrin Tav belongs to @thedomesticanthropologist! A gorgeous yet seemingly cold-hearted druid who tends to keep his cards close to his chest. Though if you want the challenge you can see for yourself if you can try and get close to him to see if Sivvus is as closed off as he seems to be. To be quite honest, Sivvus really grew on me. A very fancy Eladrin with a high society (fey society) upbringing ( with very good looking mood boards to match) and the like only for him to be thrust into the bg3 world with a worm to boot. He is charming! Also his backstory? <3 Defienetly go read it! 10/10 would draw the snob again :)

Second off we have Gum (He/They)! A Githyanki Cleric of Mystra. Being @piipaw's Tav you'd find this charming fruit lover trying to live a peaceful life after escaping from the creche that raised them. I like Gum a lot as the concept of a githyanki trying to find their own way in Faerun while also having no idea about any of the social customs is very gripping to me. I recommend greatly to check out the blog for Gum fics, fanart and a very cool moot . :)

Next is H'rayn of Verkos (she/her)! Now different from all the character's I drew, H'rayn is not a Tav! She's actually a pseudo-companion character with a lotta lore and history! She even has her own quest, party banter, approval and disapproval things. It's the whole deal!! @githkisser made an amazing post all about H'rayn . If you want a ton of indepth and fun info that's really really well documented, I cannot overstate how much you should it check out! I find myself going back to learn more about H'rayn as she really is as well thought out as in game companions! It's quite fun thinking up of ways tavs can interact with her and the art is mwah!!! very good indeed :3

4th! Tavern (Tav) the Bard! (they/them) This darling bard ran away from the circus.....from birth! Created by @avocado-writing, Tavern plays their way into your heart with their silly antics, warm heart and eldritch pocket dimension in their chest!

Tavern is a doll to doodle and I am amped to draw them even more in the future. The heterochromia and the inclusion of instruments does make them a fun challenge (i will draw instruments accuratley with these paws eventually). Go check them out!! :D

5th! Hvinidyr the Barbarian (he/him)! @star-bear-art (I just realised after all this we aren't actually mutuals. Which is funny since we kinda have the same name and theme with the bear thing XD) If you wanna see wonderous art of Hvinidyr as well as the other companions, go look right over here!

Winnie (Hvinidyr) has a lot of forms depending on the time period you wanna look at. The one I chose was the most recent with the large scar tissue all over the left (right? I'm horrible at directions, my paws don't make an L shape for me to tell). He was really fun to sketch out (and probably later colour in) and has a really unique design that I appreciate :)

6th Vierlin the Enchantment Wizard (and a lil' bit rouge)!!!(she/her) @sybaritick's Tav!!! Now!! This classic drow has a keen intrest in enchantment magic, teaching her crafts to nobles in Amn. After the whole tadpole fiasco, she also finds another use for her multitude of arcane skills. Most notabley depicted with a local wizard.

Now I won't get ahead of myself here but the fics that Sybaritick wrote about Vierlin are like....licking a warm pan of thickened maple syrup or a fancy meat meal with so much demi-glaze you're left smacking your lips for at least 20 mins after eating. Its indulgent. And I couldn't recommend it enough!! Read it!! (it took me a good 8 times to get the 'ie' part of Vierlin's name right, the letters look the same to me)

7th Fink the Spores Druid (they/them) belonging to @causticcontemplation! They're a pretty short Tav a 2.5ft and have a whole modern AU fic about them!!! You can read all about it here! (the pun name is amazing!)

I found it cool to use the fic to figure out how to colour them in, I ended up sending an anon ask instead and it helped great! Lovely Tav 10/10!

8th Korydass the Druid!! (She/her)!!! Conjured by @cfcreative, this seemingly non-emotive bronze dragonborn lights a spark in viewers as her tail and love for nature portrays otherwise. Art of Kory is many and also very good. Reading through her lore is fun watching her dynamics with the different origin characters change as she opens up to the party.

Now I do have slight bias, I like drawing Kory the most since her head shape is less humanoid. It's just so satifying, also her design is crazy awesome to work with so all around its great recommend I like her a lot :3

9th Asheera the Paladin (she/her) produced by @optiwashere.

To be quite honest I wouldn't even have a blog if it wasn't for Asheera's fics. They are EXCELLENT. If you want to go through a journey of a half orcs struggles, successes and gripping romance with Shadowheart, VAULT YOURSELF into Opti's A03 page and devour. You will have negative regrets about it just like I! Asheera is great I love her a lot I am the most normal about her.

(I'll keep it brief since this post is long enough to cross a river)

10th Quin the Bard (he/him) composed by @quinthebard (who'd have known?)

This darling plucky bard is the star of an ongoing comic that is very dynamic and very gripping. (My fave panel is this one). Despite being 100, Quin still maintains his joyful and kind nature when traveling with the tadpole gang.

Definetly one of the most friendlies Tavs out of all the ones i've drawn. (he was also the first i drew out of all of these!) He's a delight!! Go check him out! Thanks to all my moots for giving permission, having such great characters and being such lovely moots! <3 <3 <3

(Any pronouns or other changes that want be changed, feel free to DM about it. I love those! )

#Any spelling mistakes #incomplete sentances or nonsense words found in the post shall be fix post-posting.#Re-reading my work make my eyes glaze over and that doesn't help anyone #bg3 #bg3 tav #not my tav #not my TAVSSSSS #Also not my pseudo-companion #To be honest this took longer than actually animating Dame Aylin #But it was far more fun so it felt quick #Like i'm making art for moots!!!#What tops that????#feel free to DM me about your Tavs #Or to rp! i wanna try that!#Okay I'll be in my torpor if anyone needs me

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wizardyandcheesesammich · 3 months

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QSMP COUPLES AS DND CHARACTERS (PT.2)

Once again, doing this by parts cause I'm lazy. Also! Feel free to disagree with me in the comments or tags, but friendly reminder that this is incredibly self-indulgent :3

(Part 1) - (Part 3)

LET'S GO LESBIANS LET'S GO BAGINA TIME

Tina: My poor conflicted demon girl gets assigned Tiefling right away, simply because it would be the easiest fiend race to pass as human, as long as you destroy hide the horns and tail (and if you don't get a funky skin color, which I think she doesn't for lore reasons and health reasons cause I wouldn't trust her not to do anything drastic to hide that too). Now CLASS was actually a bit harder. After much deliberation I actually ended up landing on Druid. Her relationship with farming makes her kind of a shoe-in but Circle of Stars allows her art skills to also come into play which is neat :D The ability to acquire animal traits would also help her with the hole "Demon? What demon? I'm just a regular catgirl" thing.

Bagi: Ok, listen. I tried, ok? I really tried, but I simply cannot deny my truth. The Mystery Twins get slapped upside the head with Tabaxi and nothing will change my mind. Are they literally full-on cats? Just humanoids with cat-like traits? That's up to you to decide, but after seeing Luffy's art of Bagi I have decided these two are canonical cats, no turning back now. Deciding a class was also kind of surprisingly easy, what with all the investigating and sneaking around looking for secrets. Rogue seems to fit both siblings but Bagi in particular gets the Inquisitive subclass, what with her love for rooting out secrets and figuring out what makes people tick. Please do envision with me the little adventuring party of "Why, yes, we are just two catgirls going around solving mysteries, nothing else to see here, ha ha :)" who have completely opposite sus vibes and are ready to murder for each other at any moment, but also blush if they so much as brush hands.

#qsmp #qsmp tina #qsmp bagi #q!tina #q!bagi #bagina #teaduo #bagina au #teaduo au #Please let me know if you have different hcs! I want to make sure I'm doing the island yuri justice #i had such a hard time with tina in particular #d&d qsmp #dnd qsmp #d&d au #dnd au

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leftsidebonfire · 11 months

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Last night's D&D was intense. It was a whole new side of Unaek I've never gotten to play before. Protective, feral, angry Unaek.

See, I have built Unaek as the ultimate support. She is there to give enhancements to her friends and heal them when they need it. But last session, she was helping as a creature. (As a druid, she can transform into animals and other creatures.)

She turned into a basilisk and was using her power to petrify the enemies into stone. However, while doing that, she cannot use any healing or enhancement spells. Because of this, one of the party members, Oxen, was killed. (The player purposefully killed off his character because he wanted a new one, but obviously we wouldn't know that In-Game.)

As soon as the fight ended, Unaek ran over, huddling over his body, trying to cast Revivify. But it can't restore body parts, and his head was smashed in. She's sobbing over her dead friend, begging the spell to work, feeling like she failed her friends because she wasn't doing what she was supposed to. If only she had given him healing, given him enhancements, he could have done better.... she was supposed to support her friends, and she didn't, and that led to his death. It's all her fault. Of course, it's not her fault, and she DID help her friends immensely, but she doesn't see it like that. She sees it as her greatest failure because she was unable to help like she was supposed to.

So last night's session was interesting.

We picked up where we left off, Unaek on mourning and blaming herself, but we're in the middle of a cursed mansion and there's nothing we can do but move forward. The next fight continues, and one of her closest friends since childhood, a lizardfolk Paladin named Bok, gets annihilated. The creature blasts Bok in the face, nearly killing him. He is thrown back, face busted, covered in blood, and unconscious.

Unaek sees this, and she screams, immediately transforming into a young red dragon and going into a protective rage-filled plight. She flies at the creature who attacked her best friend, breathing fire and clawing at his face. As he teleports away, she picks up Titus (her other childhood friend, basically Bok's adopted brother) and together, they attack. She flies him over to the enemy and drops him on him, letting Titus smash him to death with his Warhammer.

Unaek, even seeing that the creature is beyond dead, still doesn't let it end there. She lands on the enemy's broken body and tears him apart, blasting fire in his face before she breaks down sobbing, transforming back into her scared self and running over to Bok, cradling him in her lap and helping him with as much care as she can manage. She sobs onto him, holding him protectively as he comes back to consciousness, and she promises that she just lost one friend, she won't lose another. Not like this. Not as long as she can help it.

A whole new side of Unaek. Self loathing, guilty, and protective, going to be the best support she can damn well be.

#Tales from Dnd #Dungeons and Dragons #TTRPG #Unaek Seveer #Flower Child #Oc tag #Druid OC #Dnd oc #Character development

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deathcupcake · 9 months

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Since Baldur's Gate 3 officially launched yesterday, I thought I'd go back through my screenshots and document my Early Access character creation to see what changed and what didn't. Early Access was fun, although we didn't have access to a lot of the variations and classes that we do now, but the major drawback was that sometimes they wiped the game and reloaded a new version and you'd lose your character and progress.

Progress didn't matter to me, since I'm not the biggest fan of the turn-based systems, and those who know me know that designing characters is probably one the things I love most about these games.

First row left: First iteration Vathi (cleric)

First row right: First iteration Vathi's companion

Second row left: Second iteration Vathi (cleric)

Second row right: Second iteration Vathi's companion

Third row left: Current Vathi (bard)

Third row right: Vathi's guardian

Fourth row left: Current Xiao (druid)

Fourth row right: Xiao's guardian

Fifth row left: In-game screencap of Vathi

Fifth row right: In-game screencap of Xiao

Thoughts on character creation:

I'm a little disappointed that the face shapes cannot be modified, and there aren't that many choices, but the breadth of colors for skin is amazing (as it was in Early Access).

I am also a little disappointed that there are still a lot of generic if extremely pretty faces (I mean…I do like pretty faces), with not many non-anglo/caucasian-like choices. Most of the ones that are clearly coded non-white also lean heavily white-passing (I'm choosing to call it mixed race, like me). But that's not new to gaming, and I understand the need to limit choices…somewhat.

I had forgotten that the official game would allow one to choose a non-binary/other gender, genatalia preference, and hairstyles and voices aren't gender-gated. It's no surprise that I tend to play women characters way more than men, but I am rather excited to officially be able to play as a non-binary/other character (and both of my character's guardians are set as non-binary as well). I wonder how I will integrate that into my character's back story?

Overall, I don't think my design of Vathi in any iteration varies too much. All are Drows (full or half), have my preferred skin color for a character, and where the choice of heterochromia exists, they all go that direction.

Although my first two versions were attempting to be more serious, in the current game I decided to go more cutesy, since I'll be seeing this one more often. I also repeated the octopus tattoos from the second iteration because, well, tentacles are fun.

I'm excited to play a bard, since that is the D&D character I have the most experience playing, so the abilities are pretty familiar. I chose the massive lute instead of a smaller instrument, though, and I wonder if I will regret that in screencaps.

I created Xiao after Vathi, although I don't know if I will actually play him. However, I wanted to create a different character after going through the full creation with Vathi. He's so conventionally pretty, but I like his hair color a lot more. Given the gameplay and the fact that the story will be the same (overall), I don't know that it'll be as compelling a second time, but I still do love a pretty character. I may even create a few more (dragonborn, tiefling) because those creation choices are quite cool, too.

Buns and braids are my favorite looks. Although I did also consider the lower buns for Xiao (ignore the color, that was the default)

Anyway, it's a nice diversion from the ESO I've been playing lately, when I'm not too tired after work.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #character creation #drow bard #half elf druid #early access bg3 #vathi #xiao

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mcverse · 1 year

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To the anon that requested this. I tried saving it to draft with my response, but it vanished into thin air?? so I have to start all over. Hopefully you can see this.

Point to consider when reading this, I know nothing about d&d, so I did a little research trip just for you. Be kind to me :(

And thank you for requesting Knb, I love these guys so much.

For those that don’t know what D&D is aka me, it’s a fantasy tabletop role-playing game. I believe that they have a mobile or pc version similar to it. And a campaign is a continuing storyline or set of adventures, typically involving the same characters.

I cannot imagine any of the characters playing the game willing at first. Shocker, not really like let’s be honest. The only way I can think of them getting even close to the game would be because somehow it’s Midorima’s lucky item for that day.

Like he just shows up with it one day, tucked under his arms like an added appendage, no big deal.

Kuroko would have never heard of the game.

Kise might be interested, seeing it as a challenge.

Aomine wouldn’t care because if it’s not basketball or tits, you get it.

Murasakibara is only around when it’s snacks. If it’s not snacks, he’s not interested.

Akashi might definitely does know of it simply cause he’s big brain. He taught himself how to play it so he can converse easier if it’s ever brought up in conversation.

Kagami’s just lost, stop playing with me. Midorima just gets stranger to him. Like who walks around with a board game?

Wrong, it’s a tabletop game, Bakagami.

That said, just because they weren’t interested in it at the start doesn’t mean they won’t be by time they go their separate ways.

Midorima would be annoyed because Kise definitely snatched it out of his arms. He then tells everyone to play, where they disagree simultaneously. It’s only when he taunts them, saying they’re just scared that he’ll beat them, despite it not being that kind of game, do they cave.

Akashi with his power controlling hard on takes the reigns before Kise do what Kise does; look like a fool. He explains the game, ignoring groans and mutters about not wanting to play. It didn’t matter because now he’s invested. And what Akashi says is absolute per canon.

He makes up the setting, the bad guy, end goal and even narrates the whole thing. He does give the other free range to choose their characters.

Kagami is a Barbarian, Aomine is a fighter, Kise is a bard, Kuroko is a druid, Akashi is a wizard, Murasakibara is a clerics and Midorima is a sorcerer.

Surprise, Midorima is the bad guy, for bring the damn game in the first place.

It starts off nice, them not really caring about the storyline or how it affects their character. Then it gets kinda chaotic. Like what. the. fuck.

Kuroko being the wholesome boy that he is, actually understood the game at first but now he doesn’t know what the hell is going on anymore… he likes that he was building up his animal friend roster, but Midorima needs to seriously back the fuck off with his nasty as vine spells on the forest.

Kagami is living the dream, showing unforgettable strength and purpose. Yet despite being in the same traveling company as him, he keeps picking fights with Aomine, who equally heads him on with just as much fire. Aomine still doesn’t give a fuck and he’s gonna keep giving that same energy, rest easy on that.

Seriously what the fuck, can’t even be civil in role play?? Midorima’s sorcerer is practically hurling out a lung in laughter at you, like it’s all part of his plan. To him, they were weak sauce.

Everyone thought Kise was a clown. Who chooses to be a Bard? It wasn’t exciting, there wasn’t any action. But Kise is probably the only one that greatly affected the sorcerer by distracting him with his terrible music. Midorima was so annoyed, he was hindered speechless.

How? HOW??

Be for real, Murasakibara’s not even here. He’s probably the only one that’s checked out. Too busy munching on his snacks rather than contributing to the game. Only makes a move when Akashi tells him to, still barely an effort on his part.

Akashi, unsurprisingly, is giving Midorima a run for his power. It’s almost like Akashi should have been the bad guy, with the way he’s causing more problems than actually solving. He was a menace, who knew… unlucky for him, none of his attacks or plans actually work. Wtf bitch wait!

Midorima was strategically well made for his role. He even outsmarted Akashi, with the way it was going it didn’t seem like he would ever fall. His pride crumbled when they tried a different tactic, though.

Instead of fighting alone, they all worked together as a team like it was originally supposed to be. Even Murasakibara put in a little effort for this part, having enough of Midorima’s shitty attitude.

When the game came to a close, they all vowed to never, ever play this “dumb ass game” again. It’s definitely a one time for the one time type shii.

Especially when they can hang their victory over Midorima’s head.

#✮⋆˙ 𝐈’𝐦 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 — 𝐤𝐧𝐛 #kuroko no basuke #knb #kuroko no basquet #kuroko's basketball #aomine daiki #daiki aomine #knb aomine daiki #knb aomine #aomine fluff #aomine #kuroko no basket aomine #knb scenarios #knb imagine #kuroko no basketball #kuroko no basket scenarios #knb fics

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zartophski · 7 months

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Regrettably I have no silly D&D content for your Monday/Wednesday needs this week because someone (it is me I am the problem) may have done an oops during last week's pain and suffering session, so we will simply go back in time a week

[Future commentaries will be denoted by pain and suffering campaign and complete bullshit campaign for clarity]

Go back in time a week to...

~ The instadeath bard incident ~

(This one is a long one I apologize)

A week after undead head soccer and misty stepping, here is where the party stands:

V - New PC incoming; formerly the barbarian (third dead PC from the previous week), formerly the bard (second dead PC- party killed for killing the first PC)

S - the fighter; formerly the artificer (first dead PC- killed by the bard)

D - the rogue

A - the paladin

N - the wizard

Me - the monk

So, we are introduced to V's new character. And this is where we take a left turn off a cliff, because V IS NOW PLAYING THE RESURRECTED(???) PC OF S. She is a druid now. Instead of an artificer. COOL. DEFINITELY NO MINDFUCKS THERE.

And we're wandering through the woods semi arguing about where to take the Not Hand of Vecna, which is the demonic disease AOE infesting hand of the deceased lich warlord from 600 years ago and is not the Hand of Vecna.

We run across this ghost bard in a swamp playing a sad song about his death at the hand of the evil death ray cow. He wants us to spread his final song so he can move on, and also we can loot all the shit he and his party died with when they unknowingly ran into the territory of the death ray cow.

RED ALERT: MASSIVE DM BAIT (we risked it anyway)

Actually though like we knew full well what we were doing and risking we just really did need a leg up, and we knew that I had an invisible mage hand, the rogue had a +9 to stealth, and the druid had pass without trace available, so we figured we could stealth our way through it.

The DM is rolling distraction from our ghost bard buddy, perception from the death ray cow, recharge on the death ray (3 rounds, recharge on 5 or 6), and we're rolling stealth.

Round 1 goes off in a horror show fashion that should have been our hint to fucking leave, with the rogue rolling a crit fail dirty 20 for stealth, the death ray cow rolling a 24 on perception, and the bard thankfully crit succeeding on the performance to distract the cow. The death ray fires, he's absolutely immune to necrotic damage, now we have recharge rounds.

Round 2 and 3 go off without a hitch as we collect some stuff, the rogue rolls like. base 19s on stealth, the druid and I are vibing on our checks, the cow is fucking up perception, the bard is doing well enough on distraction, We're *jamming.*

Round 4. The bard performance is okay, ish. The DM accidentally, while I'm making my turn, actually rolls a successful death ray recharge. But fairly so, dismisses the recharge because it wasn't on the turn, we're all ahead of the cow in the initiative order. AGAIN, A MASSIVE COSMIC UNIVERSE HINT TO RUN. The rogue rolls another crit fail dirty 20 on stealth. The cow's turn. The death ray recharges. The cow beats the perception roll.

ohfuck.jpg

The save for this death roll is a FUCKING DC 16 Con or take 8d8 necrotic. If you fail by 5, you take 64 necrotic flat out.

The rogue is instadead. (We are level 5 and cannot long rest without specific circumstances and DM approval, so we have constantly failing HP.) PC number 4, everyone!

It is at this point that the roll20 dice are declared homophobic once again, and then we force the DM to jail the LGBTD20 for further homophobic activity (rolling a successive string of crit successes and 19s for six rounds in a row).

LAter everyone points the target at my character as I am the only surviving PC to attend every session, and then we engage in a long discussion about if the Not Hand of Vecna should be considered ableist or not and how it would work with amputees and prosthetics. Normal post session activities, you know?

LMAO THIS IS FANTASTIC

I hope I'm right in imagining the death ray cow to just. be a normal-looking cow that shoots lasers when you look at it wrong.

rest in pieces to the rogue tho, this campaign sounds brutal. lots of death going around, 100% agree the homophobic dice are to blame here.

#rat lab reports

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ren-c-leyn · 2 years

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Happy WBW! First I would like to ask about what other signs magic types in Firewalker give off when the person is upset.:D This is just such a neat idea.

Second, any particular wip on your mind lately? Any new specific worldbuilding facts, maybe from Shackles of time👀?

@writingonesdreams

Hey, Dreams, happy WBW to you too. It's always a lovely day when you stop in ^^

As a note - all of the magic types can kill their mages if they lose control of it too far, so there are death mentions below the cut including burning alive, drowning, ect. Nothing in depth or detailed, but it's there.

I'm going to start with your update because it's partially your fault, and I do mean that affectionately :D

Soooo, I may have had another god/champion combo appear, and it's kind of an interesting one. You remember how I mentioned there might be a God who would pick Merle for the fun of corrupting her oh so noble morals? Yeeeaah, combine that with the lovely description of a space siren in @queerlilchinchin's The Fantastical World of Dreams and I ended up with a new God/Champion combo that's basically a siren goddess and her very bewildered, not at all happy with this situation champion. Their story doesn't really have a good cross section with the other chaotic god/champion duo which means I now have another story in the Forgotten Gods universe I'm probably going to write someday.

So Forgotten Gods is on the brain again, endless gnawing at my brainstem for attention, but I sorely need to buckle down and knock some Shackles of Time chapters out because once the December Book Dragon Challenge begins and people start completing the challenge, I'm going to have 0 time to work on any of my projects and as it is I don't have enough chapters banked up to even get through December, little alone my sure to be packed with art January.

I'm almost done with the rough draft of the final chapter of The Stormy Road Ahead arc in The Shackles of Time, so I'll be sinking my teeth into the second team's first arc soon. Merle, Arlen, and Night will still be the main focus of the series, of course, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to get to play with my depressed elf druid, Drusilla, again <3

Now looping back to the original question you had - Firewalker magic types and their auras.

The auras are not exclusive to anger, pretty much any extreme emotion, sadness, too happy, ect; can do it. Anger is just the most prominent in the story since Valerian has the hardest time reining that particular emotion in. I don't blame him given the circumstances I put him in, and he's not the only mage to lose it because of anger in the story, but still.

There's different levels to each aura, and the stronger the mage the more powerful these effects are and the more dangerous they can be to the mage and the harder than are for that mage to rein in.

Fire - Begins with body temperature rising and the mage feeling their magic flowing without them pulling on it, continues on to heat around the magic user rising. The magic begins to feel like it's burning. Then flammable things around the mage, including clothing, may begin to catch fire. At this point the magic within begins to burn the mage. If they cannot get control, they catch on fire themselves and will likely die.

Water - Begins with the mage feeling like their skin is damp and magic flowing with out them pulling on it, continues to condensation on the skin much like a cold sweat. For some mages this is salty like the ocean and for others it is fresh water, depends on the god their power originated from. The humidity of the air around them then begins to increase and they feel like they've got water running down their throats or filling other parts of their body, this seems to depend on the individual. Continues on to water running off the mage and potentially causing internal damage or drowning. In cases of very powerful mages the area around them may become encased in a bubble of water.

Earth - Begins with mage feeling their magic flowing without them pulling on it and the ground beneath them begins to crack slightly. Continues onto the soil changing depending on the God that original granted the line magic, ranging from sand to rock to just loose soil. Continues onto the terrain beneath the mage changing, also ranges depending on origin of the magic. Uncontrolled magic flow begins causing internal damage. The ground will begin quaking beneath the mage and can tear open the ground beneath the mage, sometimes resulting in injury or death.

Air - Begins with the air around the mage subtly shifting and the mage feeling their magic flowing without them pulling on it. Air movement begins to strengthen and the mage feels something in their breathing change. Air currents grow stronger and more unpredictable, small whirlwinds and the breaking/moving of objects may occur. Progresses to mage having difficulty breathing due to air in lungs being affected and magic running uncontrolled through the body can cause internal harm, wind becomes too strong to move effectively through and in cases of powerful mages can even throw people around. Mage can be harmed by flying objects or lack of air. Ice - Begins with the body temperature dropping and the mage feeling their magic flowing without them pulling on it. Continues onto the temperature of the air around them dropping. Progresses to frost-like ice growth on the mage's skin and clothing. Temperature continues to drop and where the magic flows grows painfully cold. Surrounding area begins to frost. In case of strong mages ice crystals can form around the environment or grow off of them and the air gets so cold it's hard to breath. If magic is not controlled, mage's body temperature will continue to drop to dangerous and even deadly levels.

Lightening - The air around the mage begins to smell like ozone and the mage feels their magic flowing without them pulling on it. Static electricity begin to build up around them. The mage may begin to experience slight muscle spasms or jolts of pain next. Little flashes of electricity begin to dart around the mage's body and may lash out at random things, causing harm to others, start small fires, or harm the mage. The pain and spasms increase and the electricity grows stronger. In cases of powerful mages these may become very strong shocks that can kill, or seriously harm, things that get struck. During a storm, the lightening from the storm will also react to the mage's out of control magic and become more violent. If left unchecked, the mage can suffer great harm or death from the internal damage of the magic or the electricity.

Light - Body temperature rises subtly and the light around them grows brighter, the mage/knight/priest also feels their magic flowing without pulling on it. A light begins to shine behind the eyes next and the light around them grows brighter. Then, the light magic wielder may begin to feel a dull burning ache inside them as they begin to glow. Air temperature continues to rise as does body temperature and light brightness, magic wielder's out of control magic begins to cause internal damage. In particularly powerful mages, particularly flammable objects around them may begin to catch fire and looking at them may cause damage to people's eye sight. If left unchecked, the mage's out of control magic burns them out.

Darkness - Darkness is kind of a unique element in the set. It's the only magic type that doesn't have a direct means of attack or anything that it physically manifests besides shadows and darkness, and therefor how it manifests when the mage is experiencing intense emotion outwardly appears milder, but the out of control magic within is still doing internal harm like all of the other elements.

Begins with the light around the mage dimming slightly and the mage feeling their magic flow without them pulling on it. Continues to a more obvious gloom and the mage begins to feel discomfort as the magic flow begins to run wild. Progressed to a deep darkness and pain as the magic begins to cause internal harm. For particularly powerful mages this darkness can encase a large area. If left unchecked, the darkness continues spreading while the magic continues to eat away at the mage, causing significant harm or death.

And that's all of the magic types and what happens when they let their emotions run amok. It's worth noting that once a mage recognizes that their magic is moving without them pulling on it, which is just how I describe them consciously using their magic source, they usually stop what they're doing immediately and start meditating or finding another way to calm themselves down. Arguments with mages tend to stop when one or both of the parties are showing signs of their magic activating without the mage's consent and are put on hold until it's back under control.

One of the first thing mages are taught when their magic begins to manifest, assuming that they are around a more experienced mage when it happens, is control over their magic flow so they can suppress/gain control of these effects even while upset. Some have an easier time with it than others, though, and every mage has a limit to what they can handle before the magic slips.

As for new and specific world building details - Yes. Yes I do have some.

I have decided that there's a sparkly black Ocean in Forgotten Gods, see the first part about a siren goddess.

And I've been working out the details of Arlen's flow magic and some of the world's history as well as more information about Spirits and how they work in Forgotten Gods, and I've finally pinned down exactly what Cherrenth is.

An interesting thing I've learned is that flow magic can be corrupted. When it's corrupted it messes with flow casters' abilities to control their magic properly. They can call upon it easier, but hanging onto it for too long is very dangerous. You can learn more about this soon, if I'm remembering where you are in the story correctly >;)

Another interesting fact - There's an ancient order of mages in Shackles of Time's history that was dedicated to waging war on fiends, which means that the Mad War was not the first invasion that they fiends have staged through the shadow gates, which implies that they've been fully opened before in the past. Which is a fun world building detail that I've been having lots of fun playing with >;D

I have sadly also learned that there was an entire clan of wood elves that was nearly entirely wiped out by the Mad War, along with the spirits that they had lived alongside, but as an interesting side-tangent of that line of thought I discovered the wood elves have a large degree of cultural differences between the clans that partly depend on region and partly depend on what spirits they lived beside. We'll learn more about that when Drusilla and her team come in.

And that's all that's coming to mind at the moment. I'm sure there's plenty of newer details I have that are just slipping my mind right now.

Thanks for dropping by~! If you have more questions you know where to find me.

I hope you have a lovely day/evening.

#wbw #The Shackles of Time #Forgotten Gods #The Firewalker

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mylordshesacactus · 3 years

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Goals Only Matter In Soccer

A recurring theme I hear from people struggling to “figure out” roleplaying is that they feel their characters are flat, uninteresting, or that they’re otherwise bad at character creation because their characters don’t have “goals.” Or, as the flip side of that coin, that they themselves are bad roleplayers because they either can’t remember their characters’ goals, or can’t/don’t enjoy actually roleplaying those goals.

(A short break for shameless self-promotion: If you want some one-on-one assistance with character creation or are struggling to roleplay, I do one-hour consult sessions to give you specific help in tapping into your RPG character. You get tailored guidance with no attempts to tell you what you “should” do, and I get to ethically keep my therapeutic interviewing skills from getting rusty while in grad school limbo. Everyone wins!)

This is getting a bit esoteric. Let’s use some concrete examples.

Some common “goals” might be: A wizard whose goal is to become more powerful or gain a certain form of knowledge, a noble-born character whose goal is to restore their family’s name or wealth, or the evergreen goal of avenging a great wrong like the death of a loved one.

These are all great character goals! There is nothing wrong with having a character with a clear goal they work toward over the course of the game, and making a character with a clear goal is a great way to get started with roleplaying!

But it is only one method. And it’s not always appropriate.

I’m about to blow your damn mind: Characters don’t need goals.

The idea that a well-rounded character should always have a “goal” is pervasive, and honestly harmful to good character creation and roleplaying! And it’s even more difficult to overcome because if you look for roleplaying or character-building advice, “give them a goal” is generally one of the first bullet points. This is well-meaning, and it’s not bad advice. But if it leaves you feeling like your character is incomplete because they don’t have A Goal—or worse, feeling obligated to tack on a “goal” and struggle to prioritize it in roleplay—then it’s not helpful.

Characters do not need “goals”.

But all characters need motivations.

As usual, I’m going to use my own characters as an example so you don’t feel like I’m lecturing you. I think I only have one major D&D character who could be stated to have a “goal”--my halfling druid/fighter, who wants to repay her debt to the Circle so that she can make a clean and respectful break and live her own life without guilt.

But the others? Benny (Benevolence, but only her mom calls her that), my tiefling bard, doesn’t have a “goal” she works toward; in all honesty, her goal was her pre-campaign life. She likes being a travelling musician, she wants to perform and meet people across the continent! Rinda, my dwarven paladin, has five kids at home--her nieces and nephews, who she adopted after her sister’s tragic death in a mine collapse. She’s got no career ambition because she feels that chasing rank or prestige is inappropriate in a paladin, whose priority should be ordinary people and who needs to be accessible and grounded in the reality of the common folk. Her “goal” is to just keep being an honorable, mid-rank paladin and providing for her family.

That’s not remotely helpful in a tabletop RPG! Those are terrible “goals” for a character in a team-based game! If I followed general beginner RP advice and leaned into those goals, I’d end up that dreaded monstrosity, the player who says things like “but why would my character get involved? She would just let the town guard handle it”.

However, these characters’ motivations are a different story.

Benny doesn’t set out with the goal of becoming a hero; it’s not something she consciously works toward or considers a major aspiration. But she is responsible for what she allows, and at her core, Benevolence was well-named. She was raised by loving parents who taught her how to raise working animals and livestock ethically and with compassion, and who taught her the regret that comes of making selfish decisions. Helping others and minimizing suffering isn’t her life goal. She didn’t set out from home with a dream of being better than her parents, of putting good into the world instead of just mitigating the bad...but sometimes people really do just help others because it’s the right thing to do.

Rinda? Her driving purpose will always be her family. Caring for them is her goal, the thing she intentionally prioritizes, the thing she actively works for. But her motivations are not the same thing. Yes, she wants to stay close to take care of her kids...but her responsibilities as a paladin are important to. She’s a protector who swore an oath, and her children are not more important than children in the next city over who will suffer without her intervention. Her motivation is to make people feel safe, but that’s not really a traditional “goal”. And she’s a stronger character for that!

So: Motivations > Goals.

Which does NOT mean that your character shouldn’t have a concrete goal! That’s not what I’m saying at all. Rather...if your character has a concrete goal, arising naturally from their backstory, and you struggle to roleplay that goal, it may be because you’re not tapping into why your character has that goal in the first place. Are they seeking power because they’re terrified of a specific enemy? To prove a detractor or an abuser wrong? In order to accomplish a specific task--and in that case, who or what made them believe that task was important? Why is your rogue trying to avenge the death of his sister--and you can’t say “love” or “grief”. Many people have lose loved ones; what made this specific person decide that the only way forward was murder, and that his target(s) were responsible, and that he personally had to dedicate his life to killing them?

(This course of questioning may lead you to realize that you don’t have an answer. If that happens, ask yourself--is this a realization that your CHARACTER might have? That they don’t know why they’re doing this? Follow that thread! If not, it’s possible that you’ve tacked on an artificial “goal” for the sake of having one, and your character would be stronger without that anchor weighing them down.)

Sedge, that druid/fighter from earlier--her goal is to repay a massive debt so that she can be free of the Circle’s influence and live her own life. But her motivation? A mixture of shame and honor. The Circle saved her from a lot of predatory loans from bad people, rescued her, saved her life. She’s embarrassed at ending up so deep in debt and too proud to not repay that kind of kindness, but also feels a genuine gratitude for their kindness toward a total stranger. She wants to do right by them--but hates being a druid--but has always wanted to be the kind of hero who helps others exactly as selflessly as they did.

It creates a lot of in-depth roleplay possibilities that wouldn’t exist if I’d just left that goal as simple as “acquire X amount of gold to pay off her student loans” and proceeded to play Sedge as simply money-obsessed.

Even if your character does have a clear goal, their motivations can change and come into conflict with it! A heroic character with debts to repay might easily refuse a huge payday if it requires them to do something shady...but they might not. How desperate are they? A wizard whose goal is to unlock the power to cast Wish might see a path to that goal...but pursuing it would mean abandoning a helpless village in the path of an orc army, and if she stays to defend that village, she loses her opportunity.

What wins out, in the end? And what effect will that choice have on her psyche?

Suddenly it really, really matters why she’s so dead-set on learning Wish. Whether it’s out of pride or fear (which might be easier for her to set aside in the face of innocent lives) or out of a deep-rooted belief that something absolutely essential rests on her learning this spell—something a lot harder to turn her back on.

These conflicts can occur with or without a “goal”. But, whether a character has a “goal” or not, these conflicts and intimate, pivotal character moments absolutely cannot exist in a character without motivations.

#d&d #character creation #rp development

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thecreaturecodex · 3 years

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Thri-Kreen

Image by Brian Despain, © Wizards of the Coast. Accessed at the Monster Manual II Art Gallery here

[The thri-kreen was never meant to be a PC race. At least, not originally. They originally appeared in the AD&D Monster Manual II with 6 Hit Dice and a load of special abilities. In Dark Sun, thri-kreen player characters didn’t get all of these abilities all at once, but were partitioned out over the first six levels. The ones with racial HD were called “tohr-kreen”... which then got retconned when 6 HD thri- and tohr-kreen both existed separately later in 2nd edition. The tohr-kreen were forgotten for a long while. 3e made thri-kreen a race with 2 HD and used their level adjustment system. I certainly played a thri-kreen character that abused the heck out of the Multiweapon Fighting chain. 4e toned them down to be a bit more in tune with the player powers of the rest of their Dark Sun races, and 5e went back to the AD&D 1e model, where they are just monsters, not player characters at all.

So I had a lot of history to choose from. I wanted to make them PCs, but that required toning them down significantly from their 3e levels. I created feats that help them get more towards that value, but still not entirely. PFRPG is much stingier with multiple attacks than 3.x was, and a PC race with five attacks from the get-go is right out. A lot of their mechanical flavor has already been swiped by Pathfinder races (the kasatha got the deserts and four arms; the trox got the big bugginess and natural attacks), so I wanted to make sure they were differentiated. I consulted with my friend @bowelfly for what they thought were vital to the feel of a thri-kreen, as they are a connoisseur of bug people.]

Thri-kreen CR ½ CN Monstrous Humanoid (kreen) This humanoid mantis is a dusty yellow color. It has four arms, but two seem to be its primary ones. It wears little clothing and carries multiple strange weapons.

The thri-kreen are sometimes called “mantis warriors”, as this describes both their physical appearance and their cultural values. Thri-kreen are nomadic hunters, and combine keen loyalty with a fierce need for competition. Members of a clan would hardly consider betraying one another, but they jockey constantly for position, and fights to the death are not unheard of to obtain a leadership role from a leader considered past their prime. They are skilled and patient hunters, moving frequently to avoid depleting prey items or causing undue ecological stress. Thri-kreen mate for life, and the care of the young is shared between all members of the clan. They grow to adulthood quickly, being mature within 5 years of age, and are considered ancient if they live to the age of 35. Thri-kreen often decorate their chitin exoskeletons with etchings and paints, the latter only for special occasions.

Thri-kreen prefer to attack from ambush, using their ability to change color to hide and their remarkable leaping ability to spring to the attack. The weapons of a thri-kreen are among their only possessions, and are thus well cared for. The primary melee weapon used by thri-kreen is a two-headed, crescent-bladed polearm called a gythka (treat as an orc double axe). As ranged weapons they use oversized shuriken known as chatkcha (treat as a starknife). Unusually, armor is only worn by the boldest and most confident thri-kreen, as it interferes with their camouflage abilities.

Thri-kreen advance by character class. Most of them choose classes with a full base attack bonus, like fighter, ranger or brawler. Their spellcasters are typically psychics, especially with the lore or self-perfection disciplines. Those that cast divine spells are usually druids—they do not trust gods, which they cannot see or taste, as opposed to natural forces which they can.

Thri-kreen as Player Characters Thri-kreen do not have racial Hit Dice, and advance by character class. A thri-kreen character has the following attributes

+2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Cha Thri-kreen are nimble and tough, but have alien minds and emotions. Monstrous Humanoid Thri-kreens are not subject to spells and effects that target humanoids only Medium Size A thri-kreen gains no benefits or penalties from its size Low-light vision +1 natural armor Normal Speed Bite A thri-kreen gains a bite attack as a primary natural weapon that deals 1d4 points of damage Chameleon Skin (Ex) A thri-kreen can change the color of its carapace to match its environment. It gains a +4 racial bonus to Stealth checks if it is wearing no armor and only light clothing. If wearing light armor, or clothing that covers the body, it gains a +2 racial bonus on Stealth checks. If wearing medium or heavy armor, it gains no bonus. Master Leaper (Ex) A thri-kreen gains a +4 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks made to jump. It takes no penalty to Acrobatics checks made to jump without taking a running start. If it does take a running start, it doubles the distance covered. Secondary Arms (Ex) The secondary arms of a thri-kreen cannot be used to wield weapons or shields, but can be used to draw or stow small objects as a swift action. They can be used to provide somatic components even if both hands are full. Weapon Familiarity (Ex) A thri-kreen treats starknives as a simple weapon, and treats orc double axes as a martial weapon. Languages Thri-kreen start play speaking Kreen. A thri-kreen with an Intelligence bonus may choose from the following languages: Common, Dwarf, Elven, Gnoll, Halfling, Sylvan.

Statistics for a sample thri-kreen character, and feats for thri-kreen characters, under the cut

Thri-kreen ranger 1 CR 1/2 XP 200 CN Medium monstrous humanoid (kreen) Init +3; Senses low-light vision, Perception +5 Defense AC 14, touch 13, flat-footed 11 (+3 Dex, +1 natural) hp 12 (1d10+2) Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +1 Offense Speed 30 ft. Melee double axe +3 (1d8+3/19-20), bite -2 (1d4+1) or double axe +1 (1d8+2/x3), double axe +1 (1d8+1/x3), bite -2 (1d4+1) or bite +3 (1d4+3) Ranged starknife +4 (1d6+2/x3) Special Attacks favored enemy (magical beasts +2) Statistics Str 15, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 6 Base Atk +1; CMB +3; CMD 16 Feats Two-Weapon Fighting Skills Acrobatics +4 (+8 when jumping), Climb +6, Heal +5, Knowledge (nature) +4, Perception +5, Stealth +11, Survival +5 (+6 following tracks); Racial Modifiers +4 Acrobatics when jumping, +4 Stealth Languages Kreen SQ chameleon skin, mighty leap, track +1, secondary arms, weapon familiarity, wild empathy -1 Ecology Environment warm deserts and plains Organization solitary, pair, gang (3-6), patrol (7-12 plus 1 leader of 3rd level) or clan (13-40 plus 50% noncombatants, plus 1-3 leaders of 3rd-7th level) Treasure NPC gear (double axe, two starknives, other treasure)

Thri-kreen Feats A thri-kreen’s body and mind can develop in unexpected ways over the course of their lives, enhancing their natural abilities. Thri-kreen may choose from the following feats

Chitinous Claws (Combat Feat) Your fingers end in sharp claws instead of dull points. Prerequisites Improved Unarmed Strike, kreen subtype Benefit: Your unarmed strikes can deal bludgeoning, piercing or slashing damage, as you choose.

Effective Limbs (Combat Feat) You have trained your secondary limbs until they are as strong as ordinary arms Prerequisites Str 17+, base attack bonus +6, kreen subtype Benefit You may use your secondary limbs to wield weapons, hold shields and do anything else a limb can do.

Improved Chameleon Skin You have great control over your ability to change color Prerequisites Wis 13+, character level 3rd, kreen subtype Benefit Your racial bonus to Stealth checks when unarmored increases to +8. When wearing light armor or covering clothing, it decreases to +4.

Improved Venomous Bite (Combat Feat) You can produce paralytic enzymes at an incredible rate Prerequisites Con 15+, base attack +9, kreen subtype, Venomous Bite Benefit You may use the poison from your Venomous Bite feat a number of times per day equal to your level + your Constitution modifier.

Tohr-Kreen Casting You can tap into the magic of the mantis nobles Prerequisites Intelligence 13+, character level 5th, kreen subtype Benefit You gain the following spell-like abilities. 3/day—mage hand; 1/day—blur, invisibility. You use your Hit Dice as your caster level, and your Intelligence modifier for concentration checks.

Venomous Bite (Combat Feat) You can produce paralytic enzymes in your saliva Prerequisites Con 13+, base attack +4, kreen subtype Benefits You may choose to inflict poison on a creature you hit with your bite attack a number of times per day equal to your Constitution modifier Kreen Poison; bite—injury; save 10 + ½ Hit Dice + Constitution modifier; duration 1/round for 2 rounds; effect 1d4 Dex damage; cure 1 save.

#thri-kreen #dark sun #D&D #playable races #pathfinder 1e

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urnooboo · 4 years

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LIFELINES AND LEGACIES - A D&D inspired TS4 Legacy Challenge

By me, @urnooboo!

Even though I’m not active, I wanted to start another legacy challenge, but I didn’t want to do a normal one. Since my friends and I play D&D and love it, why not take inspiration from there? And so here is the culmination of that little brainstorm! It’s my first time making a challenge like this, so hopefully it won’t be that bad. :D It’s a legacy challenge based on the Dungeons and Dragons classes!

If you want to try this challenge out, please use the tags #L&L challenge or #ts4 L&L ! I’d really appreciate it if anyone tries this out just for fun!

Bit of a warning, this challenge gets a bit chaotic in the middle because...honestly, I dunno,,,,

Rules and requirements under the cut!!

Pack Requirements: All the EPs and GPs except for Star Wars (ew), but you can always skip some requirements if you don’t have the packs for them

You can choose to do this on normal lifespan, but playing on long is allowed too.

So, how do you want to do this?

GENERATION 1: Fighter

You don’t have much right now, but you’re determined to build yourself from the ground up and start a family. You have a strong will to fight when needed and you’re quite athletic. You don’t have to be completely alone at the start of this journey, however, and a long time best friend of yours can be part of your party.

RULES:

Must have Active trait

Fight/”Friendly Spar” with at least 3 different sims and 1 occult sim

Complete Successful Lineage aspiration

Starting funds must be less than 20,000 simoleons after buying a house

Get a job in either the Fitness career or the Military career

OPTIONAL: Can have another sim in the household when starting out, and must be friends with them. They can be your family, childhood friend,existing lover, or just some random roommate. (Also yes, you’re allowed to romance them. Unless if they’re your family, yikes)

GENERATION 2: Druid

Your family may not have had the best financial state starting out, but you don’t let things like money phase you. You’ve always loved nature and going out, and dreamed of wanting to do more for the environment as an adult. You like to take things a bit slowly, and love to lounge around.

RULES:

Must have Vegetarian, Lazy, and Loves Outdoors traits

Lot must be off-the-grid

Have a green eco footprint

Marry in adulthood instead of young adulthood

Meet and become friends with the hermit in Granite Falls

Max out the Gardening skill and grow your own food

Optional: You must only have one lover and you must woo them with bees

GENERATION 3: Artificer

You’re dissatisfied at how your family lounges around most of the time, and you’re quite the workaholic compared to them. Your career is your life, and you happen to be both ambitious and gifted. Though you love your child but you have absolutely no idea how to be a parent. So you might end up being a bit of a helicopter parent…

RULES:

Must have Ambitious and Genius traits

Graduate college on a scholarship

Get a job in the Scientist career

Have at least level 6 Robotics skill

Have only one child, born from a one night stand/fling

Never get married

Only do strict parenting interactions with your child

OPTIONAL: Complete the element collection

GENERATION 4: Wizard

You grew up in a house with high expectations, and always wanted to please your family. You worked hard in your studies and in the end- it paid off. But at the cost of you not having much of a social life. However, that really isn’t your priority. Instead, you chose to start learning the magic arts, enthralled by its mystic ways. You were always good at school, so why not start getting good at magic now? As long as you put your mind to it, it shouldn’t be that hard...right?

RULES:

Must have Perfectionist and Loner traits

Have less than 5 friends

Must finish Whiz Kid child aspiration

Become an “A” student in both grade school and high school

Must have “Responsible” trait when you reach Young Adulthood (via high responsibility value)

Graduate college with a distinguished degree

Become a spellcaster

OPTIONAL: Take the teaching or doctor career

GENERATION 5: Sorcerer

You were born with a magical bloodline, and you love to show it off. You want the whole world to see that you’re a cool prodigal spellcaster. You’re the complete opposite of your parent; loud, outgoing, quick to make friends. You’ve even developed a knack for acting in order to impress people, and you dream of becoming a famous star in order to show those who wronged you before that you’re the best thing on earth.

RULES:

Must have Self-Absorbed and Erratic trait

Must have weak bloodline trait from parent and become a spellcaster

Reach the Adept, Master, or Virtuoso rank

Become at least a B-Lister

Get to level 7 of the Actor career

Have some sort of rival

Must have “Good Manners” trait when reaching Young Adulthood (via high manners value)

Must have good reputation

Optional: Be the leader of a popular club and have the Insider trait

GENERATION 6: Bard

You’ve got it all. Rich and famous family, a magical bloodline, musical skill, lots of friends...but something inside you just feels...missing. Thanks to this, you started going around looking for lovers, carelessly tossing aside those who happened to not meet your indecisive standards. It would probably take you years before you calm down and settle with someone you truly care about, but all the heartbreak you’ve caused before that is quite impressive, to say the least.

RULES:

Must have Romantic, Music Lover and Non-Committal traits

This sim has to be the hottest generation. Go all out yo!!!!

Must have strong bloodline trait but cannot be a spellcaster

Complete the Serial Romantic Aspiration

Work in the Entertainer career as a musician

Have as many affairs as you want and have illegitimate kids BUT…

Your heir must be the result of an affair with an occult sim that isn’t a spellcaster. See rules for next generation below

OPTIONAL: Only get married in late adulthood or elder life stage. You can’t have kids with this person.

GENERATION 7: Warlock

You never really had a close relationship with your “famous” parent, and spent more time with your occult family, making you pretty close with each other. Your half siblings don’t like you because you inherited a part of your famous parent’s fortune, despite being...you know...a paranormal freak? To get around this, you developed quite a skillful tongue, and you know your way around words. Now you’re looking for someone to get some more money from...

RULES:

Must have bloodline trait AND be part of an occult race that isn't a spellcaster. Like, you could be a mermaid, vampire, or alien with the bloodline trait, or even a half alien or half vampire.

Have a high relationship with your occult parent

Reach level 10 charisma skill and get yourself a sugar daddy/mommy. :D

Now, your path for this generation will differ depending on whether your parent is an alien, vampire, or mermaid, and is based on some of the D&D warlock patrons. However, this divergence is completely optional. and you can just focus on finding a sugar daddy/mommy only

ALIEN PARENT (Great Old One patron) You can be either a full alien or half alien for this one.

Get a job in the Astronaut career and visit Sixam

Max out your Logic skill

If you’re a full alien, memory wipe at least one person who you had a high relationship with if they find out you’re an alien.

Must have Insensitive trait when you reach Young Adulthood (comes from having low empathy)

VAMPIRE PARENT (Undying patron) You can be either a full vampire or half-vampire for this one.

Max out your vampire lore skill

Own a cowplant for as long as possible

If full vampire, turn at least one person into a vampire

Become friends with the Grim Reaper, by any means necessary :)

MERMAID PARENT (Kraken/Lurker in the Deep patron) (UA) You can only be a full mermaid for this one.

Max out your fishing skill

Try to have one child with Sulani Mana trait

Collect 5 rare fishes

Die from polar bear plunge (jumping into a pool outside when it’s freezing cold)

GENERATION 8: Cleric

The generation before was…chaotic, to say the least. You may have occult blood in you but you’re gonna try to set things straight for future generations. How are you gonna do that? BY GETTING RICH, OF COURSE! SPREAD THE WORD OF CAPITALISM AROUND BY STARTING YOUR OWN RETAIL STORE! Or a restaurant, that works too. The most prominent thing that you’ve inherited from your parents is your love of money, and you’re constantly coming up with schemes to get more. Gods may not exist in The Sims, but you might as well worship something that’s powerful. And money is power.

RULES:

Must have Materialistic trait

Have a job in the Business career, Politics career, or Civil Designer career (Civic Planner) and bop bop bop, bop to the top

Own at least one retail store/restaurant with a rating of at least three stars

Complete the Fabulously Wealthy Aspiration

Eventually move to a penthouse OR one of the big apartments in the business district in San Myshuno

Have only one child

Fall in love with someone from work, then divorce them after having a fight

GENERATION 9: Paladin

Despite the unique circumstances that happened before your birth, you grew up...pretty normal. There’s not much to say about you since your magical bloodline and occult genes are probably dwindling from here, and sooner or later your family legacy will go back to being humans. You’ve always wanted to protect this world and be the one to bring justice to it, so you take up a job in the police force. You and your lover unfortunately had a kid, and even though your lover may have wanted it deep down you actually hate kids. You’ve heard about strange events going on in a town called Strangerville, and you’ve been itching to investigate…

RULES:

Must be close with Generation 8 sim

Must have Hates Children trait

Have a job in the Police career

Complete the Strangerville Aspiration and become the Hero of Strangerville

Have the “Mediator” trait when reaching Young Adulthood (from high conflict resolution)

Stay in the penthouse/apartment your parent got

OPTIONAL: Complete the “Rambunctious Scamp” child aspiration and get “Physically Gifted” trait

GENERATION 10: Rogue

Ironically, despite your upbringing, you ended up becoming a deviant that has constant run-ins with the law. Your relationship with your family isn’t great, but you’re determined to make a name for yourself as a slippery troublemaker. Your true dream however, is to find your one true lover, since you’re a secret hopeless romantic. Your flirting skills are laughable though, and you tense up whenever you have to do something romantic. How are you gonna find love like this?

RULES:

Have bad relationship with Generation 9 sim

Must have Kleptomaniac, Gloomy, and Unflirty traits

Reach the top of the criminal career

Complete both the Soulmate aspiration

Whenever you visit another sim’s lot, steal something from their house

Have up to two exes before finally settling on the one you wanna marry

Get friendzoned at least once

Move out of your parents’ penthouse/apartment and into a small 20x15 lot

OPTIONAL: Have negative reputation

OPTIONAL: Be BFFs with your other parent

You can end the challenge here, but there are still some more D&D classes left to do, so here they are, the optional generations!

GENERATION 11: Barbarian

You take after your parent a lot, and you’re skilled in making people absolutely hate you. Your emotions are just as stable as Philippine wifi, and you have this terrible habit of getting into fights a lot. But just because people don’t like you doesn’t mean you can’t go out and have fun. In fact, you’re quite infamous for going out to parties and starting bar fights.

RULES:

Must have Hot-headed and Mean traits

Must have “Uncontrolled Emotions” trait when aging up into Young Adulthood (from low emotional control)

Fight as many people as possible, make lots of enemies

Throw a lot of parties and go to lots of bar nights and events

Complete Public Enemy aspiration

OPTIONAL: Die from cardiac arrest

GENERATION 12: Monk

For someone with a public nuisance for a parent, you’re pretty chill. You love to make stuff, and your way of life is quite tranquil, to say the least. You’re handy and artistic, and love to do things yourself, even if it does give off the impression that you’re super cheap. You’ve always got a gift for someone during christmas, and your inventory is full of stuff that you’ve made, or components to make stuff with. The world is cool with you, and you’re cool with the world. You’re not the type of person who could hold down a regular job though...

RULES:

Max out the Wellness skill

Must have Maker trait

Be at least level 4 in the all following skills: Handiness, Fabrication, Painting, Writing, Flower Arranging, and any instrument skill. (Also Knitting, if you have it)

Always change jobs when you reach level 4 in them, and your only truly stable source of income is from selling the stuff you’ve made

Live on an off-the-grid lot, preferably somewhere near the water or near a forest

Have twins for kids and only those twins (you can cheat to get this ahhaha)

Elope only, cause weddings aint your style

Explore Selvadorada with your family at least once

GENERATION 13: Ranger

After you and your family went on a vacation to Selvadorada, you decided that you’d travel the world, no matter what! Your twin sibling was originally gonna help you complete this dream, but unfortunately they died due to mysterious circumstances. While you mourned away your sorrows, you came across a stray animal that reminded you of your late sibling and decided to take it in. Once you got yourself together out of your slump, you decided to pack your bags and start travelling around the world for realsies.

RULES:

Be BFFs with your twin

Twin sibling must die during their teenage/early young adult years

Adopt at least one pet after that (yeah, you can have more)

Complete Friend of the Animals aspiration

Visit all the vacation worlds at least once in your lifetime

Discover all the secret lots except Sixam

Visit at least one lot in each normal world with your pet

Move household at least once

Don’t have children

And that’s it! I hope you guys enjoy this challenge!! I’ll try to play this too, though I might be even more inactive since school is finally starting hnnng you guys are free to tweak some requirements to better suit your gameplay so just have fun and enjoy!!!

#ts4 L&L #L&L challenge #ts4 legacy challenge #sims 4 legacy challenge #the sims 4 legacy challenge #legacy challenge #ts4 challenge #sims 4 challenge #ts4 legacy #sims 4 legacy #s4 legacy #s4 legacy challenge #legacy gameplay #ts4 challenge prompt #ts4 prompt

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panharmonium · 3 years

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@bloomiii asked: Hey! Do you think merlin actually hates Mordred?

Heya! I’m assuming this is a follow-up question to the ask that @once-and-future-gay sent me the other day, and I gotta say, I love this question just as much as I did that one, so thank you! :D It’s a great ask - relevant one, definitely, for Season 5.

I have kind of a lot to say about it, so I’m going to put most of this reply under a cut, but the short answer is this:

No, absolutely not. I don’t think Merlin hates Mordred.

I think Merlin hates himself.

I wrote in the previous post on this topic (which I think this ask is a response to) about the actual reasons why Merlin is in conflict with Mordred, none of which are based on personal dislike and all of which come back to Merlin knowing that he has to prevent Mordred from killing Arthur, not out of a selfish personal desire to keep Arthur safe, but because Arthur’s survival is supposed to be the thing that is going to bring peace to the land and liberate the magical world.

But Merlin, as I said in that post, does not want to be in conflict with Mordred. He likes Mordred. He says as much, to Gaius. He cares about Mordred as someone who shares his oppression, as shown in the beginning of the Disir. He agrees to keep Kara a secret from Arthur, at the beginning of 5.11. And Mordred’s philosophy - “the love that binds us is more important than the power we wield” - is literally as close to Merlin’s own as it can be. That is exactly how Merlin, at his core, sees the world.

Everything Merlin does to Mordred, he does for no other reason than that he thinks he has to. (And I discussed in that other piece how Merlin is not foolish or mistaken for thinking so, either - important to keep in mind.) But all of the things he has to do go completely against his nature, and by the time we hit the end of 5.11, I really feel that Merlin has descended into a pit of self-loathing that the show, because its ending is so poorly constructed, never allows him to climb out of.

Every decision Merlin is forced to make about Mordred makes him hate himself a little more. The decision to let Mordred die in 5.05 is visibly traumatizing for him. He takes no pleasure in leaving Mordred behind for Morgana in 5.10. And 5.11 is the ugliest, most soul-killing situation Merlin has been confronted with yet - he is torn between doing what he truly wants to do and what he feels like he has to do, when Kara comes into the picture. He initially tries to hide Kara from Arthur, because there is no part of him that wants a Druid to be captured and harmed, even if she was with Morgana’s forces. Mordred tells Merlin, “she’s one of us,” and Merlin agrees. “Your secret is safe with me,” he says (and those are sacred words for Merlin; they’re exactly what Lancelot says to him in 1.05; this is not something Merlin would ever promise lightly). He doesn’t betray Mordred’s secret, and when Kara is captured (through no fault of Merlin’s own) Merlin is the one who originally urges mercy, telling Arthur, “you’re breaking his heart/you’ll lose his trust” when Arthur claims he has no choice but to pursue execution.

However, after that, when Merlin learns that Mordred plans to escape with Kara, he boomerangs back to “he’s going to run to Morgana and then he’s going to kill Arthur and I am not allowed to let that happen/magical and godly forces have all told me that the entire fate of Albion and the future of magic all depends on me preventing Mordred from killing Arthur.” And so he tells Arthur that Mordred is planning to escape, ultimately leading to Mordred and Kara’s recapture.

But THEN, after THAT, when they’re back in custody - Merlin urges mercy yet again. He tells Arthur to “free them both.” He says, “How will one more death bring about the peace we long for?” Merlin does not want Kara to be killed. He does not want Mordred to suffer. He does not want any of this to have happened; he did not rat Mordred out because he wanted to; he did it because he truly believed (for legitimate reasons) that he had no choice. Like I talked about in that previous post - Merlin, at this point in the show, feels that his life has no purpose beyond the fulfillment of the destiny that has been prophesied. He has come to see himself as a tool, with no intrinsic worth or value beyond what he can do to ensure Arthur’s survival (and thus the establishment of peace for all people). He hates the things he’s supposed to do, but he literally cannot see an escape for himself. This is just what he was “born” to do.

Even as far back as Season 3 we see this helplessness growing in him:

You feel trapped. Like your whole life has been planned out for you, and you've got no control over anything, and sometimes you don't even know if what destiny has decided is really the best thing at all.

Merlin, in 5.11, doesn’t feel like what destiny has decided is the best thing. But he also has reached a point where he feels like he has to do what he was told. He’s seen the future. He’s been told by multiple magical and divine sources that Arthur is the Once and Future King who is going to build the “the world we dream of.” And so he does things that he thinks will enable that future to arrive (like preventing Mordred from running away with Kara), but because these things go so completely against his nature and cause him such pain, he then whips around and says, “Don’t kill her. Let them go.” He can’t help himself from slipping back into the kind of person he truly is on the inside.

He is trapped between his true self and what he feels is an inescapable duty. And every step he takes away from his true nature makes him hate himself more.

Kara’s interview with Arthur, where she refuses to repent her “crimes” in exchange for her life, has one of the most telling, devastating shots in the show, when she says, “It is not a crime to fight for the right to be who you are.” The camera, in that moment, is trained on Merlin’s face, not hers:

That is done on purpose. The cinematography is trying to say something. It wants us to look at Merlin and listen to Kara’s word’s and hear the contradiction. It wants us to recognize that Merlin is dying inside. The absolute MISERY locked down in his expression here! He has been forced to do things that seem to work against the very goal he’s been told he’s trying to achieve (to have the right to be who he is), and it’s been going on for so long that it’s shattered his soul. He listens to Kara being able to say that, proudly, without fear, and he hates himself for not being like her.

But he can’t see any way to escape the things he knows he’s supposed to do. So ultimately, at the very end, he does nothing, and Kara’s execution proceeds.

He despises himself for it, and when Mordred escapes and runs to Morgana, Merlin’s only reaction is a dull, hollow resignation. He doesn’t blame Mordred for whatever’s going to happen next.

He blames himself.

This is, yet again, another reason why the Merlin finale is garbage storytelling.

It makes no narrative sense for the show to give us 5.11, which ends with Merlin in quite possibly the darkest and most miserable, conflicted spot he has ever been in, and to then start the next episode with him having a raucous good time at the tavern. Merlin, after what happens with Kara and Mordred, is not going to be out laughing and cheering, playing dice, and making casual, tongue-in-cheek, meta jokes about his secret like it isn’t the most painful and soul-destroying burden he’s ever had to carry (“Ah, I knew you’d discover my secret in the end. There is just no fooling you, my lord!”). It is inconceivable for him to be out partying, after the previous episode. It’s insulting to me as a viewer, that the writers thought they could show this to me as if it’s an even remotely rational direction for the story to go, as if I’m not going ask “what the HECK is going on???” when I see Merlin gleefully stumbling home like a drunken frat boy, without a care or concern in the world.

There is ZERO tonal consistency between the end of 5.11 and the beginning of 5.12. It’s horrendous writing, and it’s why I continuously say that Merlin BBC does not actually end, it just STOPS - abruptly cut off after 5.11, with a slapdash two-episode finale tacked on, one which does not actually resolve anyone’s arcs, or address any of the central questions of the show, or follow where the narrative was naturally heading prior to that point.

Merlin’s arc with Mordred is what finally takes him to a place where he is irrevocably, inescapably confronted with the conflict that he has been struggling with from day one - how is he supposed to justify the things that Destiny is asking him to do, when what it’s asking him to do seems to be hurting the very people he’s trying to help? How is he supposed to reconcile his responsibility to his people (and HIMSELF) with an externally-imposed responsibility to protect Arthur? He’s been wrestling with this cognitive dissonance for years, and 5.11 is the inevitable crisis point - Kara is dead, Mordred has defected to Morgana, Merlin’s secret is OUT, and Merlin has never hated or doubted himself more. It makes no sense for the beginning of the next episode to show us Merlin living it up at the tavern. Merlin is tortured, at the end of 5.11. He’s dying inside. The next episode was supposed to be a natural progression from that moment, meaning Merlin should have had the chance to finally confront his conflict head-on, rather than having it all completely wiped away by the pile of garbage that was the finale.

The correct fallout from Mordred’s “turn” should have been a reckoning. Merlin never wanted to be in conflict with Mordred in the first place; he hated himself for everything he had to do, and I really think the end of 5.11 took us to a place where Merlin had finally been pushed over the edge; it was the last straw. The only correct progression from that point would have been change, and Merlin was finally desperate enough to do what he needed to do to find himself again and make things right, but we never got to see it, because the people in charge decided to completely abandon every complicated question they’d been pursuing, in favor of “actually Arthur’s the good guy and we’re gonna pretend we didn’t just spend an entire episode reminding people how Camelot is still an unjust place.”

I don’t understand it. The same people created 5.11, too. They wrote Kara’s righteous speech. They framed her execution as an evil, and they framed Mordred’s flight as something Merlin and Arthur brought upon themselves.

And then they did a 180 and dumped every ethical question they ever raised. They never let Merlin find his feet or hold his head up high, and I’m honestly never going to forgive them for that.

#the once and future slowburn #meta #the druid boy #replies #merlin S5

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chaos-burst · 4 years

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your homebrew is super impressive !! you also wrote at some point that your setting is completly homebrew is there anything you like to share about it? your campaign posts are very cool too ! reading makes me wanna play with my group too but covid : /

Hey there! Thank you for the kind message, I’m glad you enjoyed the small homebrew stuff :D My setting is completely homebrew, yeah, because I have no self restraint and I love worldbuilding. Bless my players’ patience with me and my endeavors.

Have a random bullet point list about things that shape my setting:

It all started because I wanted Sky Pirates. So I made some. They live on a flying island, they have flying ships and they are united under their leader, Queen Yezenia - a mystical and legendary figure that most people don’t even believe exists

Nature fights back in my setting. Druids are illegal because magic that taps into the forces of nature is deemed dangerous and unstable. Druids have banded together to help nature fight back under the banner of an organization called the Green Ward.

I splitted magic into three classifications for my setting: Arcane, Divine and Primal. Arcane is considered the highest form of magic. Divine magic is mostly considered meh. Primal magic is illegal and punishable by imprisonment or even death. (Since this system was made by people with high arcane affinity, aka Elves, it is flawed. Evocation Wizards or Nature Clerics would certainly be side eyed because they use nature based magic, even though they are neither Druids nor Sorcerers. The Elves don’t care much.)

My setting is a continent that used to be made up of many little provinces that existed side by side. All of that changed when, according to elvish historians, the first king of the empire united the provinces against an enemy invasion and founded the Empire of Enor. Elves are the ruling class (or race. you know) in this setting and they dictate laws, culture, religion etc.

My Dwarves used to have magnificent kingdoms under the mountains. Those kingdoms were lost by unknown means and Dwarves are now exclusively surface dwellers, because the depths under the mountains are inhabited by Duergar. Orcs live in the swamps in tree houses and are competent healers/midwives/pathfinders. My halflings are poly and adopt everyone who doesn’t have a home. My drow are desert nomads who worship their ancestors. There are no evil races in my setting because evil races suck. (I cannot say anything more about other races bc. Spoilers.)

My deities are divided into major and minor deities. They work pretty similar to Terry Pratchett’s gods - the more followers a deity has, the more power they get. Currently there are only seven major deities who reside in the Upper Planes. The others are minor deities who actually run around on the continent and do their own thing. Some of them are - you guessed it - illegal.

I love me some guilds and factions, so I made an assassins guild, a thieves guild that was founded by a minor goddess hundreds of years ago before she vanished. Mystery! I have a famous band of smugglers, an archeologists guild, a wandering black market and ten billion more.

My players have discovered that the world is out of balance! Oh No! Old Gods are dying! Some of them have been sleeping for hundreds of years and are now waking up! Ancient ruins of ancient civilizations have been uncovered! Dangerous diseases plague different parts of the Empire! Minor deities have told the players that the world was broken a thousand years ago! Drama! Primal magic is dying, and so are primal magic users! There is a lot of stuff going on. And can you believe that all of this was 70% inspired by The Last March Of The Ents from Lord of the Rings.

They just reached level 5, so there is a still tons to uncover and learn :D I’m sorry that you haven’t been able to play D: We usually play via discord, because we live far away from each other (and also Covid). Maybe that might work for your group too?

I’m glad you enjoy my ramblings about my campaign ^-^ It makes me happy. Both the campaign and that my players (and some other people) enjoy it <3

Thanks for asking!

#enor campaign #d&d #dungeons and dragons #ask #anon #screeching into the void #text #coherency? i dont know her.......#Anonymous

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nerdythebard · 3 years

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#4: Ah Puch, Horrific God of Decay

Welcome back, gods and goddesses!

Today, we take a quick peek into the domain of death with Ah Puch (pronounced either ah-POOCH or ah-puh-ASH), one of many Maya gods of death residing in the cold and dark afterlife called Xibalba. We know very little of Ah Puch (as is the case with a lot of Maya and other Mesoamerican gods), but from several texts we do have, we can learn he was known as "Ruler of the North" and that he was later banished for breaking his promise to the Maya king. But let's see what SMITE tells us about him!

Next time: Here comes the Sun... Is it a dog? Is it black ninja fire? No, it's...

As always, let's see what we need for Ah Puch to sow decay and death around:

Corpses: We need to do all kinds of freaky stuff with corpses of our enemies (including but not limited to: animating them, exploding them, making them heal us).

Decay: Related to the previous one. Area damage from miasma is another technique we need to implement.

High Area Damage: Ah Puch's Ultimate skill is a large AoE that summons the dead to rush the enemies. We need to find a way to empty the crypts en masse.

--- Once again, we're gonna play around a little bit. None of the established races fits Ah Puch... we could've picked Fallen Aasimar for that spark of divinity and a smell of the underworld, but let's follow the previous build's example and turn to the Wizards' Unearthed Arcana playtest material. This time, Gothic Lineages from 2021!

Ah Puch is a Reborn creature. This gives us a double creature - it lets us force a Wisdom saving throw on a target and paralyse them if they fail. Remember, it only works on humanoids; it will not stop animals, monsters, dragons, etc.g speed, 60 feet of Darkvision, and two languages – Common and one of our choosing. We also get to add a +2 and +1 to any of our ability scores. Let's get +2 Wisdom and +1 Intelligence.

There are two key features Reborn creatures get. First is Deathless Nature, which gives us several benefits:

Resistance to poison damage;

Advantage on saving throws and being poisoned;

We don't need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe;

Magic cannot put us to sleep. Similar to elves, we can finish our long rest in 4 hours instead of 8 by remaining in a motionless state.

We also get Knowledge from the Past, which doesn't necessarily fit Ah Puch's lore, but it's too good to pass on. We get a pool of d6 dice equal to our proficiency bonus. When we make an ability check that uses a skill, we can roll a d6 and add the number to the result. We get all of the dice back when finishing a long rest.

Ah Puch walks the world of the living far and wide, so making him an Outlander seems like a good choice. We get proficiency in Athletics and Survival skills, proficiency with one musical instrument, and we get to learn one more language. We also get the Wanderer feature, which gives us photographic memory when it comes to geographical features and nearby terrain.

ABILITY SCORES

We start with Intelligence and Wisdom for our two best scores. Then follow it with Constitution, because spellcasters need those Hit Points, then Charisma for when we need to scare somebody into the afterlife, and we're gonna finish it with Dexterity and Strength.

CLASS

Level 1 - Druid: Some of you probably can see where this is going. Yes, I am that predictable. OR AM I!?

Ekhm... Our Hit Dice is a d8, we start with Hit Points of 8 + CON mod. We get proficiencies with light armour, medium armour and shields (with a note that druids will not wear armour or use shields made of metal), as well as clubs, daggers, darts, javelins, maces, quarterstaffs, scimitars, sickles, slings, spears and Herbalism kit. Our saving throws are Wisdom and Intelligence and we get to choose two class skills; let's get Insight and Medicine.

At the first level, we learn yet another language – Druidic – which is unreadable for anybody but other druids, unless by means of magic. We also get Spellcasting from the very start. For our two cantrips, Shillelagh transforms our staff (we got one from our Wanderer background) into a magical weapon for 1 minute and lets us use our Wisdom modifier instead of Strength when attacking with it. Poison Spray creates a puff of toxic gas within 10 feet range. The target must make a Constitution saving throw or suffer 1d12 poison damage.

At the first level, we get two 1st-level spell slots and we can have four 1st-level spells prepared:

Charm Person targets a single creature; if it fails a Wisdom saving throw, it is charmed for 1 hour (no concentration needed). A "charmed" creature cannot directly or indirectly attack us, and we get an advantage on any ability checks while interacting with it. Remember, it's not a mindless control, and the creature realizes it was charmed when the spell ends.

Earth Tremor forces targets in 10 feet range to make a Dexterity saving throw, or take 1d6 bludgeoning damage and fall prone from the ground shaking.

Fog Cloud creates a 20-foot-radius sphere of fog centred on a point within 120 feet from us. It lasts for 1 hour (concentration) and is a great way to either obscure our movement or to sneak up to the enemy.

Detect Poison and Disease lasts for 10 minutes (concentration) and shows us any and all poisonous things and diseased creatures within 30 feet from us. It also lets us identify the kind of poison and disease.

Level 2 - Druid: Next level of Druid gives us their signature ability – Wild Shape. This lets us assume the form of an animal and the CR of the animals we can turn into increases at the 4th and 8th level. This doesn't necessarily work for us, who make Ah Puch, but there is another option: Wild Companion from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything lets us burn one usage of our Wild Shape to summon a creature to our side as per the Find Familiar spell.

We get another 1-st level spell: Faerie Fire summons colourful flames in 20-foot-cube that stick to all inanimate objects and creatures that fail their Dexterity saving throw. For 1 minute (concentration) any attacks against creatures and objects affected by the fire get an advantage, and the targets cannot benefit from concealing effects, such as invisibility.

At the second druid level, we get to pick our Druid Circle and for Ah Puch, there is nothing better than the Circle of Spores. Those who find beauty in fungi and moulds are perfect subjects for the Lord of Decay. When we pick this Circle, we learn the Chill Touch cantrip, with more spells coming to us at later levels.

Our first Circle feature is Halo of Spores. We are surrounded by microscopic necrotic spores that are harmless unless we activate them. When a creature moves within 10 feet of us, we can use a reaction to deal 1d4 necrotic damage to it, unless it makes a Constitution saving throw.

We also get the Symbiotic Entity feature, which lets us channel some more magic into our Spores. As an action, we can sacrifice one Wild Shape use to gain 4 Temporary Hit Points for every Druid level. We also get an additional dice roll for our Halo of Spores and if we have a melee weapon, it deals additional 1d6 necrotic damage to any target it hits. Those benefits last for 10 minutes, until we lose all Temporary Hit Points, or until we use Wild Shape again.

Level 3 - Druid: At this stage, we don't get any new class features. It's focused mostly on spells:

From our subclass, we get two spells - Blindness/Deafness, which does exactly what it says if the target fails their Constitution saving throw, and Gentle Repose, which prevents the target from decaying and becoming undead.

We unlock 2nd-spell slots, which means we can get Hold Person - it lets us force a Wisdom saving throw on a target and paralyze them if they fail. Remember, it only works on humanoids; it will not stop animals, monsters, dragons, etc.

Level 4 - Druid: Our Wild Shape improves, we can now assume a form of a 1/2 CR creature (such as a crocodile, a shark, an ape, etc.) without flying speed. We also get our first Ability Score Improvement of the build! Let's raise our Wisdom by 2.

We get two more spells, since raising our Wisdom puts us at 18.

Locate Animals and Plants lets us name a specific kind of plant or animal and notifies us of its position within 5 miles of us.

Healing Spirit summons a small nature spirit to soothe the wounds of an ally who walks into its range.

Level 5 - Druid: We don't get new class features, but we get to unlock 3rd-level spell slots. For this, Revivify brings back to life a creature that died within 1 minute of casting the spell. It consumes a diamond worth at least 300 gold pieces, so remember to hit up a jeweller whenever stopping at a town.

Feign Death lets us touch a willing creature (or ourselves) and put it into a state indistinguishable from death. The target is blinded, incapacitated and its speed is 0. It has resistance to all damage except psychic.

Our subclass gives us two extra spells: Animate Dead lets us bring a pile of bones or a corpse for our temporary service as a skeleton or a zombie for 24 hours. Gaseous Form transforms us (or a willing creature) into smoke. For 1 hour (concentration), we get a flying speed of 10 feet, we have resistance to non-magical damage, and we can slip through openings even 1 inch in diameter.

Level 6 - Druid: We get another subclass feature. Fungal Infestation lets us infest a Small or Medium corpse with our necrotic spores and animate it. The animated creature comes back to life with 1 Hit Point and obeys us for 1 hour after which it crumbles away and dies again. We can use this feature a number of times equal to our Wisdom modifier and we regain the uses when finishing a long rest.

We get another spell - Barkskin turns our skin into rigid, rough, and tree-like. For the duration (1 hour, concentration), our AC cannot be lower than 16.

Level 7 - Wizard

Come on, be honest, who saw that coming? :D

Time to play with some magic bois! Picking the first level in Wizard gives us 4 + our CON modifier of Hit Points, no extra proficiencies, but we do get Arcane Recovery, which lets us regain some spell slots the combined level of which is equal to half of our Wizard level (rounded up) and they cannot be 6th level or higher. For now, it will let us recover 1st-level slots, but we'll make it useful later.

We also get three more cantrips from the Wizard (yes, they stack when you multiclass!):

Fire Bolt hurls a mote of fire, which deals 1d10 fire damage on a successful hit.

Ray of Frost deals 1d8 cold damage on a successful hit and reduces the target's speed by 10 feet.

Toll the Dead forces a Wisdom saving throw on one target and deals 1d8 necrotic damage on a failed save. If the target misses any Hit Points, they instead receive 1d12 necrotic damage.

1st level Wizards get to pick six 1st-level spells at the very beginning. I'm not gonna describe all of them because it would take forever, so let me just list the ones we should get:

Ray of Sickness

Tasha's Caustic Brew

False Life

Cause Fear

Feather Fall

Mage Armour

Level 8 - Wizard: At this level, we get to pick our Arcane Tradition and to nobody's surprise we pick School of Necromancy. We get Necromancy Savant, which halves the cost and time of writing spells in our spellbook, and we double down on death magic with Grim Harvest - whenever we kill a target with a spell of 1st level or higher, we regain Hit Points equal to 2x that spell's level (or 3x if it's a Necromancy type spell).

Every time we gain a Wizard level, we can learn two new spells. For this one, let's get Shield for some extra AC in a clutch, and Witch Bolt.

Level 9 - Wizard: Since we get access to Wizard's 2nd-level spells here, let's pick Ray of Enfeeblement which lowers the target's damage dealing by half, and Spider Climb for some better mobility.

Level 10 - Wizard: For our halfway point, we get our next Ability Score Improvement. Let's bump up Constitution for better Hit Points and put the second point in Intelligence.

We get another cantrip, so let's get Infestation, to conjure some nasty creepy crawlies on those who fail their Constitution saving throw.

We also get two more 2nd-level spells: See Invisibility lets us detect all invisible creatures within our field of view for 1 hour (no concentration required). Phantasmal Force is a personalized illusion, which creates a creature, object or another phenomenon, perceivable only by a target that fails their Intelligence saving throw. Flavour it as threatening the target with being dragged to Hell, or their hands shrivelling up and decaying, etc.

Level 11 - Wizard: No new class features, but we do get 3rd-level spell slots unlocked. For this one, we can get Bestow Curse - which affects a target who fails their Wisdom saving throw. The curse produces several effects:

We pick one ability score. For 1 minute (concentration), the target has a disadvantage on all checks and saving throws using that ability;

Their attack rolls against us gain disadvantage;

At the start of each turn they have to make a Wisdom saving throw, or completely lose their turn doing nothing;

While the target is cursed, our attacks against them deal extra 1d8 necrotic damage

For our second spell, Spirit Shroud uses a bonus action to summon a horde of ghosts circling around us for 1 minute (concentration). Until the spell ends, every attack we make within 10 feet of us deals extra 1d8 radiant, cold, or necrotic damage (our choice). Additionally, any creature hit by this extra damage cannot heal until the start of our next turn AND any creature that starts its turn within 10 feet of us has its speed reduced by 10, until the start of our next turn.

Level 12 - Wizard: At this level, we get the subclass upgrade - Undead Thralls. Normally, it would give us the Animate Dead spell for free, but we already know that one because of our Druid subclass spells; therefore, I would just give that spell the upgrade mentioned here. When we cast Animate Dead henceforth:

We can target one additional pile of bones, or a corpse, for two thralls to control at the same time;

Our thralls' Hit Points are increased by our Wizard level;

The thralls can add our proficiency bonus to their weapon attacks

We also get two more spells: Summon Shadowspawn calls forth a shadowy wraith in an unoccupied space within 90 feet from us. We get to choose between three types of shadows (Fury, Despair, and Fear). To further enhance our Army of the Dead, Summon Undead works in a similar way, except it summons an Undead Spirit, also with three types (Ghostly, Putrid, or Skeletal). Both spells come from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.

Level 13 - Wizard: No class features, but we do unlock 4th-level spells here, so let's add two of those: Blight causes a wave of necromantic energy to strike one target; they have to make a Constitution saving throw or take 8d8 necrotic damage (half damage on a successful save). If we target a plant creature or a magical plant, it takes maximum damage. If we target a regular non-magical plant, it withers automatically.

Sickening Radiance creates a 30-foot-radius sphere of necrotic energy within 120 feet of us. When a creature enters the sphere starts its turn there, it must make a Concentration saving throw or take 4d10 points of necrotic damage, suffer one level of exhaustion (i.e. disadvantage on ability check) AND glow like the fresh rivers of Chernobyl, which also prevents them from becoming invisible, for 10 minutes (concentration).

Level 14 - Wizard: We get another ASI at this level. Let's go for Intelligence and Constitution for some better casting ability and HP.

For our spells, Banishment forces a creature to disappear from the Plane of Existence it currently resides in, provided it fails a Charisma saving throw. If the creature is native to the Plane we're banishing it from (e.g. a bugbear in the Material Plane), it is transported to a pocket dimension for the spell's duration (1 minute, concentration) and reappears in the space it left. If the creature is not native to the Plane we're banishing it from (e.g. a fire elemental in the Material Plane), it returns to its home plane and doesn't return, provided we manage to hold the spell without breaking the concentration for 1 minute.

Phantasmal Killer is similar in mechanics to Phantasmal Force, except here if the target fails its Wisdom saving throw, it is frightened for the duration (1 minute, concentration) and it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw every turn or take 4d10 psychic damage.

Level 15 - Wizard: No new class features, just spells. We unlock 5th-level spell slots, which gives us a few new delicious death-themed magicks:

Danse Macabre lets us animated up to five corpses to raise as either a skeleton or a zombie. They obey our command for 1 hour (concentration) and as a bonus action, we can issue a command that all five of them will execute.

Negative Energy Flood sends out lashes of necrotic energy at a single target. It must make a Constitution saving throw or suffer 5d12 necrotic damage (half damage on a successful save). If the creature is killed with that spell, it comes back as a zombie albeit not under our control. If we target an undead creature with this spell, it gets half of 5d12 Temporary Hit Points.

Level 16 - Wizard: This level gives us our second-to-last subclass feature - Inured to Undeath. We now gain resistance to necrotic damage and our maximum Hit Points cannot be reduced.

We get our final cantrip - Mind Sliver, which forces an Intelligence saving throw on one target. On an unsuccessful save, the target suffers 1d6 psychic damage (3d6 in our case, because of lv. 16) and must subtract 1d4 on its next saving throw made before the start of our next turn.

For this level's spells, we take Enervation, which deals 4d8 necrotic damage on an unsuccessful save, and it lets us trigger 4d8 necrotic damage every turn for the spell's duration (1 minute, concentration). It takes an action to activate the automatic damage, and the spell ends if the target leaves its range (60 feet) or is behind a full cover.

Hold Monster is the same as Hold Person but can be used to paralyse beasts, monstrosities, aberrations, etc. It cannot be used against the undead, but we've got those under control.

Level 17 - Wizard: Once again, no new class features, but we do unlock 6th-level spell slots. For this, let's take Create Undead which does exactly what it says on the packaging; up to three corpses become ghouls under our control for 24 hours. We can extend the control over them indefinitely if we continue to re-cast the spell before the current 24 hours end.

Magic Jar is the closest thing D&D players have to become a lich and let's be honest - Ah Puch is the closest SMITE players have to a lich. The spell rips our soul from our body and stores it in a pre-prepared container for as long as we desire. We cannot do anything while we're stored inside a container, except attempting to possess a humanoid body within 100 feet of us. We can jump bodies as many times as we desire but if we decide to jump back to our own body and we're 100 feet or further away from it, we die.

Level 18 - Wizard: For our last ASI, we'll max our Intelligence to 20.

For this level's spells, we'll grab Contingency, which acts as a sort of failsafe program; we can pick a 5th-level or lower spell and select conditions for its activation (e.g. "cast water breathing as soon as the head is submerged in water or similar liquid").

Soul Cage allows us to use a reaction to snatch the recently deceased humanoid's soul and store it in a tiny silver cage. It is another "lich" spell, as it allows us to utilize the captured soul in several ways: we can regain Hit Points, ask a question, etc.

Level 19 - Wizard: Here is where we receive our 7th-level spell slots. However, there isn't that many 7th-level spells we need. Instead, let's pick two more 6th-level spells:

Disintegrate is a concentrated ray of green energy that strikes one target within 60 feet from us. If the target is a living creature, they must make a Dexterity saving throw, or take 10d6+40 points of necrotic damage. If the target is reduced to 0 HP with this spell, it turns to dust immediately and can be only brought back via True Resurrection or Wish spells. The spell can be also used to destroy inanimate objects and magic constructs, such as barriers.

Guards and Wards is a powerful protection spell that transforms our resting place into a secured fortress (after all, we're the Death God of Xibalba, we need to have our own stronghold). We create a ward that protects an area up to 2.500 square feet of floor space, up to 20 feet tall. Within the protected area, all corridors are filled with dense fog, all doors and windows are sealed and locked, and all stairs are covered in sticky webs. The protection lasts for 24 hours (no concentration), but if the spell is cast on the same area every day for a year, it becomes permanent.

Level 20 - Wizard: For our capstone, we get another subclass feature. With Command Undead we can now bind all undead to our control, even those created by other wizards. As an action, we can choose one undead within 60 feet of us; it has to fail a Charisma saving throw against our Spell Save DC, or be friendly towards us and obey our commands until we use the feature again.

For our final two spells, let's move to 7th-level:

Finger of Death causes a blast of necromantic energy to pierce a single target. The target must make a Constitution saving throw or take 7d8+30 necrotic damage (half damage on a successful save). A humanoid killed by this spell rises back as a zombie permanently under our control.

Power Word: Pain targets every creature within 60 feet of us. If they have 100 Hit Points or less, they feel immense pain throughout their bodies. While affected, the creature's speed cannot be higher than 10, it has a disadvantage on all rolls (skill checks, attacks, saving throws) except Constitution, and it prevents any spellcasting unless the target succeeds on a Consitution saving throw. At the end of its turn, a creature can make a Constitution saving throw to shake off the spell's effect.

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Now, let's see what we got from making the Death God of Decay.

First off, we've got cantrips for days, 20 Intelligence and 18 Wisdom, various types of corpses on our beck and call, and enough death-related spells to put a few liches to shame.

Unfortunately, we barely scratch the surface of 100 Hit Points, and we gotta manage two casting classes with two casting abilities. Our Charisma score is also not that good, so those saving throws might be difficult for us.

Anywho, I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I'll see you next time!

Edit: WOW, that took way longer than I expected. I'm really sorry, I guess this was a difficult build and I worked pretty slowly on it. I'll do better from now on!

- Nerdy out!

#ah puch #maya #xibalba #druid #circle of spores #wizard #necromancy #dnd #d&d 5th edition #character building

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tanoraqui · 4 years

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I have no idea what critical role is but you reblog it a lot. Is it just a bunch of people playing video games or something?

Critical Role is an ongoing RPG game (D&D 5e) played by a bunch of notable voice actors from video games, including Ashely Johnson (The Last of Us), Liam O’Brien (idk, he voiced some guy named Illidan somewhere? I know very little about video games), and Laura Bailey (she’s Laura goddamn Bailey). The Dungeon Master is Matthew Mercer (blanking - Overwatch cowboy) who’s REALLY GODDAMN GOOD at being a DM, and indeed does it as part of his full-time job now, because at some point they all went “fuck it” and incorporated as their own company. Because fuck yeah. Last spring (my god it was only last spring) they did a kickstarter to fund an animated series of some previous RPG adventures, and it broke several records and now - slowed by the global pandemic - there’s gonna be 2 seasons of an animated show, hosted by Amazon I think? (Every time I think about that I scream softly in excitement in my mind.)

It’s currently on its second big, multi-year campaign, with the adventuring party The Mighty Nein. Their previous campaign starred Vox Machina. Some highlights, arbitrarily mixed together, include:

that time Vox Machina had a cannonball contest, displaying their distinct personalities and powersets really well, actually

that time the Mighty Nein accidentally got into a fight with some smugglers and then the city guard, accidentally stole a ship, and thus, and I cannot emphasize this enough, accidentally became pirates

“Take me instead, you raven bitch.” - Vax’ildan of Vox Machina, half-elven rogue, offering his own life to the goddess of death in exchange for his sister’s and (unbeknownst to him at the time) beginning of long character arc of multiclassing as a paladin

Vox Machina’s archnemeses: doors, and also the elderly

the Mighty Nein’s archnemeses: chairs

Veth Brenatto, sometimes Nott the Brave, of the Mighty Nein regaining - with the help of her friends - her halfling form after years as a goblin, and immediately dip-kissing her husband and kicking all aforementioned friends (and her son) out so they can have sex

Taliesin Jaffe had eerie luck with nat20s in the Vox Machina campaign, but I maintain that Laura Bailey [harp music] actually has the best record for narratively on-point nat20s, including but not limited to:

two consecutive nat20s as Vex’ahlia of Vox Machina, half-elven ranger, to shoot the Briarwoods (sexy wizard/vampire couple) when they were about to kill her brother

True Love’s Nat20, rolling as part of the resurrection ritual to bring back Percy (Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III, human gunslinger of VM)

in the culminating moment of an episode in which the M9 one by one spoke with ancient, evil hag about what they might trade her in order to lift the curse on Nott, tiefling Jester Lavorre rolling at nat20 deception check to trick the into hag eating a cupcake laced with magic dust that lowered her ability to resist the Modify Memory curse Jester immediately cast, convincing the hag that she’d already agreed to the deal without demanding anything in return

not a Vex roll but Vex-enabled: dropping Grog (goliath barbarian) out of basically a magical pokeball with perfect dramatic timing for him to roll a nat20 final blow on his evil abusive uncle, cleaving him in twain

“Call me child one more goddamn time--” - Keyleth of the Air Ashari, half-elven druid of VM, snarling at the ancient green dragon who’d orchestrated the destruction of 1/4 of Keyleth’s people

“You were not born with poison in your veins....Welcome to the Mighty Nein.” - Caleb Widogast, human wizard, consoling/forgiving/welcoming aa lawful evil NPC who they’d caught playing a major part in creating a war between two empires for The Greater Ultimate Good (and kinda his own personal gain)...but he was their friend already at that point and Caleb had his own history with doing terrible things that he thought were right at the time, and actually someone else might’ve said the “Welcome to the Mighty Nein” part but that’s intrinsically part of it, and it’s...something they say to a lot of people; to a range of NPCs and guest characters. Which is interesting because Vox Machina DIDN’T; they were a tighter family unit but...well, they were a tighter family unit. And kinda...better people, more Heroes(TM)? Disastrous and often very fucked up inside and sometimes out, but Heroes(TM), on the whole.

whereas the M9 are more trying to sort out their own personal problems, and stumble into international politics almost by mistake. Even their relationships with NPCs are different - they don’t trust, none of the M9 trust in a way VM did, the party took much longer to gel just with each other. Partly, admittedly, because by the time Vox Machina came to the YouTube screen, the cast had been playing at home for about a year, whereas we’ve been watching the M9 from level 1...but even accounting for that, they’re all much less trusting people. Most of them had big secrets in their backstory

which is why it’s all the more wonderful every time they invite someone new it, either outside the group or just with each other. And it pays off - I don’t have a whole meta, but I’ve been thinking idly for a while about how kinda...the big (DM-created) plot twists in the VM campaign were generally...disruptions, dissolutions, or betrayals? The deception of Raishan (aforementioned ancient green dragon.) Hotis’s assassination attempt on Vax, while disguised as a trusted NPC. When Emperor Uriel stepped down and before he’d even finished his speech, there was a sudden invasion of 4 goddamn ancient dragons. Whereas the M9...not only have no NPCs unexpectedly turned on them (the grievous actions of aforementioned lawful evil NPC were mostly pre-story), but it feels almost like a plot twist every time an NPC in authority is benevolent? Like, they arranged peace negotiations between the warring empires and I think every single fan and player was waiting with bated breath for it to all go wrong...and it didn’t. There’s a truce, now. Will it last? Who knows. Jester’s god turned out to not be a god at all, just an archfey in over his head, but he’s not trying to hurt anyone - he came clean and asked for help.

Idk, man. Critical Role streams on Twitch every Thursday at 7pm, or at least, it’ll keep doing so if public health concerns don’t make it take a break again, and it makes me unironically happy to watch, pretty much every time. The cast has great friend chemistry and, now that they’ve all warmed up to each other, so do the characters.

Episodes DO tend to be 3-4 hours long, shaving off maybe half an hour in the podcast versions, so be aware of that. But I just kind of set Thursday evenings aside and I love it.

it’s funny bc I told my roommate I probably wasn’t going to go on a long emphatic ramble in response to this but Here We Are

#critical role #random anon asks

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