#All-in-one animation toolkit
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reazreviewzone · 5 months ago
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AdMotion Review: Create Trending and High Conversion Movie-Style Video In 1-Click by [Arifianto Rahardi]
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Welcome to my Honest Review AdMotion Review. The current world depends on video marketing social media video marketing, and running ads. The content creator and marketer compete with each other. How to promote their video, how to instant viral media, and how unique to each other. Recently launched a powerful software to help you create a cinematic video in any language, thumbnail design, create intro video, marketing video, run ads, animation, and you forget about expensive production costs, endless editing hours, and outdated video-making methods- AdMotion Create any video in 3 simple steps. TURN NORMAL VIDEO INTO HIGH-QUALITY CINEMATIC VIDEO WITHOUT HAND-FREE.
What is AdMotion? AdMotion is a high-converting video creator app that creates cinematic videos in any language like Bollywood- just 3 simple steps without any skill and monthly fees, the AdMotion works automatically and generates Ordinary Videos into Stunning, High-Converting Cinematic Commercials Video Effortlessly in a Few Seconds. AdMotion is easy to use for your favorite social media, Video Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Run Ads, Design Thumbnail, Intro Video, and Ready-Made templates, and does not require complicated downloads, or frustrating installations- just make seamless, professional-quality videos from your Canva Free Account in a few seconds. I believe it! You forget 100% about expensive production costs, endless editing hours, and outdated video-making methods and start a new journey with AdMotion. Grab attention, engage your audience, skyrocket your results, transform Marketing, and create cinematic video and animation start everything with AdMoton,
Overview – AdMotion Review First, a customer optimizes the products quality or benefits the site. Who is the person who built the app? Discount price: why build the app? And who is the best choice for it? Everything. That is an ideal customers quality. Don`t worry; I covered the part for an ideal person. I think you are an idealistic reader.
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Author/vendor – Arifianto Rahardi Product –AdMotion Launce date – 9/03/25 Official website – VISITE HERE Front-end price - $19 Business – ok Instantly Create Text Into High-Quality 4k HD Video Watch/ Create Video – Any Language Social Media Marketing – Number One passive income – ok Recurring System – OK Payment – ONE Time Local Business – High Recommend Money-Back – 30 Days Money-Back Guarantee Funnel/Tool – Automated & Done-For-You Support – Effective Niche – Any Niche of your choice
How does AdMotion Work? AdMotion review works in 3 simple steps. Set it unique to other apps. Use simple steps to generate thousands of profits every single day.
Stpe-1 Sing Up, Login & Choose Template:- The First Sing-Up & Login your Canva account and choose the template you want.
Step-2 Customize & Rebrand:- After Choosing the right template quickly upload and rebrand, replacing the video, pictures, and text to your choice.
Step-3 Publish & sell:- After a customized process ready to use your favorite social media, business, and more you want.
Why Unique AdMotion to Other App? AdMotion app has some wonderful parts that make it unique to other apps worldwide. Every time you feel cinematic videos test and grow your audience day by day, and dominate your business win competition with each other.
How can AdMotion Help You? Different software has different quality. The same AdMotion has some effective different quality. 1- Cinematic style: AdMotion automatically generates cinematic animation like Bollywood cinema that surprises any customer for a few moments.
2- Promote Video Ads: It is too easy to promote video ads. The app makes realistic videos of hypersonic quality.
3- Intro Animation Effect: This is amazing. AdMotion creates automatic intro VIDEO human-like. So the agency wants to choose a template only.
4- Outro Animation: Create a realistic and cinematic outro in a few seconds.
5- Third Animation: That is too popular for your young generation. The generation demands software that makes a video hero worldwide.
6- Call Out Animation: Users can easily promote a country, office, project, agency, and any video they want. AdMotion gives all free templates.
7- Square Video Animation: Every social media does not allow uploading all-size videos. The social media company fixed a few sizes. Don`t worry you promote square video easily.
8- Vertical Video Animation: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook short video and YouTube Short video allow vertical video. To promote an easily vertical video and grab money in your bank account.
9- Thumbnail Design: There are thousands of free templates. Log in, choose, and promote then profit.
Key Highlight – AdMotion There is an awesome key feature that helps make profits, grow an audience, and promote video seamlessly. The feature converts your audience to more leads. AdMotion Review is the world's first revolutionary software that gives you high-quality content and designs.
Why AdMotions is a Breakthrough? The video and graphic agency wants to buy software that helps them with high-speed internet, improved video compression methods, and the widespread availability of powerful computing devices. As a result, the agency built an app that provides lower costs and more production for content providers and distributors for entrepreneurs. The app provides the audience with user-friendly tools high-quality effects, and content, including professional-grade software like Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. Every video's quality is cinematic like a Bollywood movie. Does not require monthly fees and subscriptions. If the app doesnt work qualityful or doesn`t provide cinematic video then he money back in 30 days -announced to audience Arifianto Rahardi. The agency gives a PLR license to the audience. An audience can create unlimited video and design. Who is AdMotion's Best Choice? Every person can use the app to promote everything. The agency needs to unlock the app and the app works in 3 simple steps generate video, design, thumbnail, data upload, File upload & export, and promote any product easily with AdMotion. Now who is the best choice for it:
Digital Marker: Make your audience with awesome, high-quality unique video animations then convert lead generation to the sales page.
Affiliate Marker: Promote product or service by creating unlimited cinematic videos and animation to get the best-converting sales.
eCommerce Store Owner: Create unlimited video or animation for product promotion.
Advertisers: Eyecatching videos grab new and valuable audiences easily.
Freelancer: Freelancers would demand money from clients to create movie-style videos and designs.
Social worker: instantly viral every video and grow audience in a few months- follow only 3 simple steps.
Home Business: A mother can create her world with AdMotion easily and earn massive income from large companies.
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AdMotion`s Positive & Negative site
Positive site: -Instant create thumbnail -High-quality cinematic video -Valuable outro video -Real animation of intro video -Image, music, file video unlimited export and import -Customize any design or thumbnail -Promote any product in any language -Provide PLR-free license -World-class effective support -30-day money-back guarantee -Humanlike and real-like video creation.
Negative site: -Depend on internet connection -Everyday post on your site -Make unique ideas.
OTO, Funnel & Bonus
Front-End Price: $14 - $24
OTO 1 Price: $27
OTO 2 Price: $47
OTO 3 Price: $54
Cinematic Movie Style Animation Templates (Worth $750) Promo Video Ads Animation Templates (Worth $750) Intro Opener Animation Templates (Worth $450) Outro Animation Templates (Worth $450) Lower Third Animation Templates (Worth $375) Call Out Animation Templates (Worth $375) Square Post Animation Templates (Worth $750) Vertical Post Animation Templates (Worth $750) Thumbnail Designs (Worth $500) YouTube Channel Designs (Worth $500)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Are images and videos included? Yes, They have done all templates. You use this template of your choice.
How to get the app? First log in, select the template, and promote the video on social media.
Is there any passive income system? Yes, the agency gives us the utmost priority for recurring and passive income.
Are there monthly fees? No, one-time payment and auto-update are all features.
Affiliate disclaimer
Thank you for perusing my genuine audit. My fair conclusion is shared within the survey.
An affiliate disclaimer may be an explanation to advise gatherings of people that a company or person may gain a commission or other emolument on the off chance that they buy items or administrations through joins on their site, web journal, social media, or different stages. This disclaimer is basic for keeping up straightforwardness and complying with legitimate requirements, such as those set by the Government Exchange Commission (FTC) within the Joined Together States. It guarantees perusers or watchers know of any potential predisposition or budgetary motivating force behind proposals.
Ordinarily, the disclaimer is set noticeably at the start or conclusion of substance and clearly states the nature of the partner relationship. For illustration, "This post may contain partner joins, meaning I win a commission if you buy through my joins at no additional taken a toll." This builds belief with the group of onlookers while ensuring the substance
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thewriteadviceforwriters · 1 year ago
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25 Prose Tips For Writers 🖋️✨ Part 1
Hey there!📚✨
As writers, we all know that feeling when we read a sentence so beautifully crafted that it takes our breath away. We pause, reread it, and marvel at how the author managed to string those words together in such a captivating way. Well, today I'm going to unpack a few secrets to creating that same magic in your own writing. These same tips I use in my writing.
But before I begin, please remember that writing is an art form, and like any art, it's subjective. What sounds beautiful to one person might not resonate with another. The tips I'm about to share are meant to be tools in your writer's toolkit, not rigid rules. Feel free to experiment, play around, and find what works best for your unique voice and style.
Power of Rhythm 🎵
One of the most overlooked aspects of beautiful prose is rhythm. Just like music, writing has a flow and cadence that can make it pleasing to the ear (or mind's ear, in this case). Here are some ways to incorporate rhythm into your writing:
a) Vary your sentence length: Mix short, punchy sentences with longer, flowing ones. This creates a natural ebb and flow that keeps your reader engaged.
Example: "The sun set. Darkness crept in, wrapping the world in its velvet embrace. Stars winked to life, one by one, until the sky was a glittering tapestry of light."
b) Use repetition strategically: Repeating words or phrases can create a hypnotic effect and emphasize important points.
Example: "She walked through the forest, through the shadows, through the whispers of ancient trees. Through it all, she walked with purpose."
c) Pay attention to the stressed syllables: In English, we naturally stress certain syllables in words. Try to end important sentences with stressed syllables for a stronger impact.
Example: "Her heart raced as she approached the door." (Stronger ending) vs. "She approached the door as her heart raced." (Weaker ending)
Paint with Words 🎨
Beautiful prose often creates vivid imagery in the reader's mind. Here are some techniques to help you paint with words:
a) Use specific, concrete details: Instead of general descriptions, zoom in on particular details that bring a scene to life.
Example: Instead of: "The room was messy." Try: "Crumpled papers overflowed from the waste bin, books lay spine-up on every surface, and a half-eaten sandwich peeked out from under a stack of wrinkled clothes."
b) Appeal to all five senses: Don't just describe what things look like. Include smells, sounds, textures, and tastes to create a fully immersive experience.
Example: "The market bustled with life. Colorful fruits glistened in the morning sun, their sweet aroma mingling with the earthy scent of fresh herbs. Vendors called out their wares in sing-song voices, while customers haggled in animated tones. Sarah's fingers brushed against the rough burlap sacks of grain as she passed, and she could almost taste the tang of ripe oranges on her tongue."
c) Use unexpected comparisons: Fresh similes and metaphors can breathe new life into descriptions.
Example: Instead of: "The old man was very thin." Try: "The old man was a whisper of his former self, as if life had slowly erased him, leaving behind only the faintest outline."
Choose Your Words Wisely 📚
Every word in your prose should earn its place. Here are some tips for selecting the right words:
a) Embrace strong verbs: Replace weak verb + adverb combinations with single, powerful verbs.
Example: Instead of: "She walked quickly to the store." Try: "She hurried to the store." or "She dashed to the store."
b) Be specific: Use precise nouns instead of general ones.
Example: Instead of: "She picked up the flower." Try: "She plucked the daisy."
c) Avoid clichés: Clichés can make your writing feel stale. Try to find fresh ways to express common ideas.
Example: Instead of: "It was raining cats and dogs." Try: "The rain fell in sheets, transforming the streets into rushing rivers."
Play with Sound 🎶
The sound of words can contribute greatly to the beauty of your prose. Here are some techniques to make your writing more musical:
a) Alliteration: Repeating initial consonant sounds can create a pleasing effect.
Example: "She sells seashells by the seashore."
b) Assonance: Repeating vowel sounds can add a subtle musicality to your prose.
Example: "The light of the bright sky might ignite a fight."
c) Onomatopoeia: Using words that sound like what they describe can make your writing more immersive.
Example: "The bees buzzed and hummed as they flitted from flower to flower."
Art of Sentence Structure 🏗️
How you structure your sentences can greatly affect the flow and impact of your prose. Here are some tips:
a) Use parallel structure: When listing items or actions, keep the grammatical structure consistent.
Example: "She came, she saw, she conquered."
b) Try periodic sentences: Build suspense by putting the main clause at the end of the sentence.
Example: "Through storm and strife, across oceans and continents, despite all odds and obstacles, they persevered."
c) Experiment with sentence fragments: While not grammatically correct, sentence fragments can be powerful when used intentionally for emphasis or style.
Example: "She stood at the edge of the cliff. Heart racing. Palms sweating. Ready to jump."
Power of White Space ⬜
Sometimes, what you don't say is just as important as what you do. Use paragraph breaks and short sentences to create pauses and emphasize important moments.
Example: "He opened the letter with trembling hands.
Inside, a single word.
'Yes.'"
Read Your Work Aloud 🗣️
One of the best ways to polish your prose is to read it aloud. This helps you catch awkward phrasing, repetitive words, and rhythm issues that you might miss when reading silently.
Edit Ruthlessly ✂️
Beautiful prose often comes from rigorous editing. Don't be afraid to cut words, sentences, or even entire paragraphs if they don't serve the overall beauty and effectiveness of your writing.
Study the Masters 📖
Please! Read widely and pay attention to how your favorite authors craft their prose. Analyze sentences you find particularly beautiful and try to understand what makes them work.
Practice, Practice, Practice 💪
Like any skill, writing beautiful prose takes practice. Set aside time to experiment with different techniques and styles. Try writing exercises focused on specific aspects of prose, like describing a scene using only sound words, or rewriting a simple sentence in ten different ways.
Remember, that developing your prose style is a journey, not a destination. It's okay if your first draft isn't perfect – that's what editing is for! The most important thing is to keep writing, keep experimenting, and keep finding joy in the process.
Here are a few more unique tips to help you on your prose-perfecting journey:
Create a Word Bank 🏦
Keep a notebook or digital file where you collect beautiful words, phrases, or sentences you come across in your reading. This can be a great resource when you're looking for inspiration or the perfect word to complete a sentence.
Use the "Rule of Three" 3️⃣
There's something inherently satisfying about groups of three. Use this to your advantage in your writing, whether it's in listing items, repeating phrases, or structuring your paragraphs.
Example: "The old house groaned, creaked, and whispered its secrets to the night."
Power of Silence 🤫
Sometimes, the most powerful prose comes from what's left unsaid. Use implication and subtext to add depth to your writing.
Example: Instead of: "She was heartbroken when he left." Try: "She stared at his empty chair across the breakfast table, the untouched coffee growing cold."
Play with Perspective 👁️
Experiment with different points of view to find the most impactful way to tell your story. Sometimes, an unexpected perspective can make your prose truly memorable.
Example: Instead of describing a bustling city from a human perspective, try describing it from the point of view of a bird soaring overhead, or a coin passed from hand to hand.
Use Punctuation Creatively 🖋️
While it's important to use punctuation correctly, don't be afraid to bend the rules a little for stylistic effect. Em dashes, ellipses, and even unconventional use of periods can add rhythm and emphasis to your prose.
Example: "She hesitated—heart pounding, palms sweating—then knocked on the door."
Create Contrast 🌓
Juxtapose different elements in your writing to create interest and emphasis. This can be in terms of tone, pacing, or even the literal elements you're describing.
Example: "The delicate butterfly alighted on the rusted barrel of the abandoned tank."
Use Synesthesia 🌈
Synesthesia is a condition where one sensory experience triggers another. While not everyone experiences this, using synesthetic descriptions in your writing can create vivid and unique imagery.
Example: "The violin's melody tasted like honey on her tongue."
Experiment with Sentence Diagrams 📊
Remember those sentence diagrams from school? Try diagramming some of your favorite sentences from literature. This can give you insight into how complex sentences are structured and help you craft your own.
Create a Sensory Tour 🚶‍♀️
When describing a setting, try taking your reader on a sensory tour. Move from one sense to another, creating a full, immersive experience.
Example: "The old bookstore welcomed her with the musty scent of aging paper. Dust motes danced in the shafts of sunlight piercing the high windows. Her fingers trailed over the cracked leather spines as she moved deeper into the stacks, the floorboards creaking a greeting beneath her feet. In the distance, she could hear the soft ticking of an ancient clock and taste the faint bitterness of old coffee in the air."
Use Active Voice (Most of the Time) 🏃‍♂️
While passive voice has its place, active voice generally creates more dynamic and engaging prose. Compare these two sentences:
Passive: "The ball was thrown by the boy." Active: "The boy threw the ball."
Magic of Ordinary Moments ✨
Sometimes, the most beautiful prose comes from describing everyday occurrences in a new light. Challenge yourself to find beauty and meaning in the mundane.
Example: "The kettle's whistle pierced the quiet morning, a clarion call heralding the day's first cup of possibility."
Play with Time ⏳
Experiment with how you present the passage of time in your prose. You can stretch a moment out over several paragraphs or compress years into a single sentence.
Example: "In that heartbeat between his question and her answer, universes were born and died, civilizations rose and fell, and their entire future hung in the balance."
Use Anaphora for Emphasis 🔁
Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences. It can create a powerful rhythm and emphasize key points.
Example: "She was the sunrise after the longest night. She was the first bloom of spring after a harsh winter. She was the cool breeze on a sweltering summer day. She was hope personified, walking among us."
Create Word Pictures 🖼️
Try to create images that linger in the reader's mind long after they've finished reading. These don't have to be elaborate – sometimes a simple, unexpected combination of words can be incredibly powerful.
Example: "Her laughter was a flock of birds taking flight."
Use Rhetorical Devices 🎭
Familiarize yourself with rhetorical devices like chiasmus, antithesis, and oxymoron. These can add depth and interest to your prose.
Example of chiasmus: "Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country." - John F. Kennedy
Even the most accomplished authors continue to hone their craft with each new piece they write. Don't be discouraged if your first attempts don't sound exactly like you imagined – keep practicing, keep experimenting, and most importantly, keep writing.
Your unique voice and perspective are what will ultimately make your prose beautiful. These techniques are simply tools to help you express that voice more effectively. Use them, adapt them, or discard them as you see fit. The most important thing is to write in a way that feels authentic to you and brings you joy.
Happy writing, everyone! 🖋️💖📚 - Rin T
Hey fellow writers! I'm super excited to share that I've just launched a Tumblr community. I'm inviting all of you to join my community. All you have to do is fill out this Google form, and I'll personally send you an invitation to join the Write Right Society on Tumblr! Can't wait to see your posts!
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axl-ion · 3 months ago
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Every Merc and their surprising skills:
+ Miss Pauling and Zhanna
Scout:
Scout has the reputation of being a rather simple Merc, kinda a little silly guy at that. Maybe some street smarts too.
He often surprises people with his visual memory tho, being able to identify places he's been to with the most basic of clues like some piece of road, a garden and a fence. He's also great at identifying paintings.
Soldier:
Soldier already has the reputation of being the Jack of all traits on the base, at least when it comes to jobs. He's got many skills that he applies from time to time, but only if really needed.
What the others found surprising about him is his orientation skill. As someone with a helmet covering his eyes, being partially deaf since he's not protecting his ears from the explosions, one wouldn't assume he navigates himself all that well. But he's can do that. He can lead you from the middle of the desert to civilisation in no time as long as you can run after him. Some suspect he's got a nose of a dog, others that he can use the Earth's magnetic field to find the way.
Pyro:
While Soldier is a man of almost no surprises when it comes to skills, Pyro is the opposite. So mysterious that any skill revealed feels like "Damn, they can do that?"
Pyro has majorly surprised her colleagues with the knowledge of animal care. From horses and dogs to frogs, lizards and even bugs, Pyro knows how to take care of many of such critters to various extent.
Engineer:
Being very problem solving oriented guy, Dell has earned the reputation of being the practical person. As such he's mostly expected to know a lot about technology and science. As a country boy most of his colleagues also assign him knowledge about farming and love of music.
The biggest surprise when it comes to skills that came from Engineer are his skills connected to working with leather. Even tho he's a farm boy and as expected, has slaughtered some animals in the past for meat, nobody really expected him to know how to make things out of leather and take care of it. He's even got a special toolkit and everything, the only thing he lacks is a station for processing raw leather.
Demoman:
Similarly to Pyro, this man is almost always a surprise, because nobody expects much of him. Due to his alcoholism, they set the bar of expectations pretty low for Demoman, only raising it after learning he's got multiple jobs.
Demoman's unexpected skill is definitely vexillology - the knowledge of flags. He's very well educated on both the country flags, but also pirate flags, interesting flags of smaller areas and even some very obscure groups. He even made a couple designs for their team flag, but he's keeping them locked in a drawer.
Heavy:
Heavy's most expected skills are connected to survival and guns. Guns because he's the Heavy Weapons Guy, survival because even when he's not talking about it to anyone, everyone can tell he's went through some rough times in the past. Also he has to deal with people automatically assuming he's a meathead pretty often, which doesn't help.
After surprising folks with his PhD in Russian literature, he also surprised them with his knowledge of some musical instruments, like trombone, harmonica or even some very basic stuff on balalaika (last two he got from a port in Russia as a kid, from a lonesome fisherman, in exchange for a cigarette, which while Heavy is not very proud of, he was very capable of stealing).
Medic:
Often regarded as the most one-trick pony guy on the base and just a crazy scientist, he's also a constant surprise. The difference between him, Pyro and Demo tho is that, when he's about to reveal some surprising skill, others tend to run away. They don't feel like potentially risking it all.
After much hesitation, since he's pretty ashamed of this one, he did eventually reveal he enjoys and knows quite a lot about plumbing. It's kinda a family thing, where few of his uncles were plumbers so he kinda picked up on that. The thing is, he doesn't believe himself to be very good at it, but he's actually pretty decent and least afraid of get his hands dirty.
Sniper:
Regarded as the bushman, an outbacker, whatever you want to call him, for the most part he's got survival skills. And he's very proud of them. From recognising dangerous creatures, to foraging. Animal care? Yeah, he knows that too. He's got all the skills to be self reliant and dwell in the desert.
While he hid his knowledge of saxophone, the most surprising skill he revealed was just how and when he could fall asleep. Sitting up? Yes. Standing up? Did that once. He can essentially do it on command and has abrupted an annoying fight in the car by scaring the living shit out of everyone by taking a quick nap behind the wheel. Aside from that, it was rafting.
Spy:
Jack of all traits of espionage and so on, Spy has everything he needs for any job of his qualifications. Poisons, arranging the murder scene, disguise etc. He's also a polyglot and has good listening memory. Reading people as open books.
What Mercs found surprising about him, was plant knowledge. He is very knowledgeable in plant symbolism, plant care, what flowers go into a bouquet for what occasion, how many. Sure, many think he's a flirt or used to be one, but it still kinda surprises them when he points at a random plant and is like "Ah, a [insert Latin name], commonly known as [insert name], from the genus [something]. Outdoor plant, needs to be planted into a very sunny area, no..."
Miss Pauling:
Regarded as the most skilled as she was the Administrator's helper for years. From destroying evidence to more mundane stuff like making a basic phonecall, she has all the skills needed to get by.
What surprised both her and the Mercs is her natural ability to tell when it's going to be raining. Maybe she smells the chemical change in the air, maybe it's in her bones, but all and all, somehow, she always knows when it's going to rain.
Zhanna (my bbg):
As the last person to engage with the Red team before everything came to a head, nobody had really any expectations of what she's like and what skills she has. For the most part it was assumed she has most of Heavy's skills, except the expertise in miniguns.
Zhanna has the ability to repeat information word for word. She may not understand the information, but she'll parrot it to the beat. This pairs well with her love for films, having a big library of film quotes in her head.
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detectivestucks2 · 7 months ago
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Geto as Your Next Door Neighbor
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18+ content, Minors do NOT interact
Pairing: Geto x Single Mom F!Reader
Warnings: NSFW, mentions of pregnancy, masturbating, suggestive content
Word Count: 1124
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Next Door Neighbor Geto who is used to women throwing themselves at him but knows the more beautiful the woman, the more she uses her beauty for her own gain
Next Door Neighbor Geto who has no interest in a woman’s games so he keeps to himself, even when he sees you move in across the hall.
Next Door Neighbor Geto who thought he was impervious to feminine charm but, to his own annoyance, finds himself looking out his peep hole, searching for a reason to bump into you.
Next Door Neighbor Geto who can’t help himself from watching you every day. He is hypnotized by your kind and beautiful appearance and through his spying, he realizes you’re a single mother to a little girl.
Next Door Neighbor Geto who steps out into the hall one day when he hears you desperately trying to shush your little one to no avail, offering to hold the toddler while you grab your keys. It’s not the first time he’s seen you overwhelmed by your solitary role but it is the first time he’s had the guts to intervene. You’ve seen the hulking man in passing and always thought he was handsome, but you’ve never spoken to him and are absolutely humiliated that this was your first real interaction with him.
Next Door Neighbor Geto who is pleasantly surprised to find a thank you package of homemade cookies and fudge on his doorstep the next day. Though he doesn’t normally eat sweets to maintain his excellent physique, if they’re from you, he’ll make an exception.
Next Door Neighbor Geto who pretends to have a mail mix up just so he can find a reason to talk to you again. When you answer the door and let him in, he sees you require several visits from the building’s super who isn’t great at responding to maintenance requests.
Next Door Neighbor Geto who spends the next entire Saturday at your place with his toolkit, fixing anything you point your finger at while your toddler, Sarah, brings him her baggies of apple slices and animal crackers to quench his appetite. 
Next Door Neighbor Geto who stays for dinner when you offer to feed him, remembering how good your baking is. He’s happy to have an excuse to stay behind, longing to spend more time with you.
Next Door Neighbor Geto who laughs when your daughter refuses to eat her mac and cheese, taking the fork from your hand and shoveling the pasta into Sarah’s mouth for you. Amazingly, she chooses to be well behaved for him, a stranger, but not for you. While he finds this amusing, you find it confounding and wonder what makes him so special.
Next Door Neighbor Geto who got free tickets to the zoo from his work and asks if you and Sarah would like to join him. When you grab the carseat from the back of your sedan, he’s already figuring out how it will fit in his back seat. 
Next Door Neighbor Geto who intimidates most people but is beloved by your daughter as if he’s her biological father. She holds his hand and reaches for him to pick her up, trusting him when he tells her to pet the animals.
Next Door Neighbor Geto who just can’t seem to go back to his apartment at the end of the day because he can’t spend enough time with you and Sarah. He asks if he can come over for a movie before Sarah goes to bed and you agree, unable to turn down his request.
Next Door Neighbor Geto who watches from the door as you tuck your daughter in, reading her a bedtime story and kissing her nose before turning on her white noise machine and constellation light. 
Next Door Neighbor Geto who joins you for a nightcap, listening to you excitedly tell him all about your new job and recent move, committing every word to memory.
Next Door Neighbor Geto who goes home and jerks off to the thought of you, feeling his core burn with desire at the idea of making you a mother again. He imagines how he’ll stuff you with his seed and care for you as your belly grows. His brow, sweating at the image of your swole breasts full of milk. He can’t help how hard he cums from his unstoppable runaway thoughts, the tissue soaked from his spend.
Next Door Neighbor Geto who invites himself to your home everyday, playing with Sarah and joining you for dinner before talking till bedtime, looking for his opening to express how he feels about you. 
Next Door Neighbor Geto who wishes you goodnight as he passes through your front door only to turn around and spontaneously kiss you. The gesture so unexpected it makes you dizzy and knocks you off your feet. 
Next Door Neighbor Geto who doesn’t let you fall because his hands are already grabbing you and roaming the outline of your body. He supports the back of your head while his other hand grabs a fistful of your sweatpants, pulling you flush against his bulky chest. 
Next Door Neighbor Geto who comes to his full height during the kiss, pulling you up and wrapping your legs around his torso. He then carries you over to the kitchen counter so he can grind up into you like he does in his dreams. The warmth of your center radiating through the fabric against his stiffening bulge and driving him wild. 
Next Door Neighbor Geto who doesn’t take it further despite your soft pleas because he wants to take you on a proper date first, stating that you’re too precious to be treated like the little slut you’re trying to be for him.
Next Door Neighbor Geto who won’t change his mind, making sure you agree to go to dinner first before continuing the searing make out session, dying to be inside of those pulsing walls that he can feel clenching around nothing through your pants. 
Next Door Neighbor Geto who finds it hard to pull away but forces himself to amid your panting. He’s going to start this thing off the right way and he’s not going to let his dick ruin this by jumping the gun. 
Next Door Neighbor Geto who stands outside your door the next night dressed in a black button up and khaki dress pants, holding a bouquet of flowers when you answer the door in a high-neck black leather dress. 
Next Door Neighbor Geto who realizes he’s head over heals in love and completely fucked from just the greeting.
“Hi” you ring as you rake him up and down with your eyes.
“Hi” he rumbles back, lust dripping from the single word alone.
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Affair Partner Sukuna
Affair Partner Geto
Masterlist
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autumnbrambleagain · 2 years ago
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It's like, you go up to Baldur's Gate 3 and you're like, hey, you're a fantasy game. Can I play as something weird? Like maybe a centaur? That's a fantasy race, right?
And Baldur's Gate 3 says, uhm, no. You can play as a human. If you really must be different you can play as a dragonborn.
And it's like. oh, neat! That's like, a dragon?
And they're like, well, it looks more like some kind of fish... maybe like, you know those shrink-wrapped dinosaurs from the earlier days of paleontology?
And it's like... oh. Okay. What about modded races? Did someone mod in a centaur?
And BG3 is like, buddy. Buddy. Do you know how hard that would be for fans to animate? We don't even have a modding toolkit for you to use. Of course not. You can't play as a centaur. You play as a human.
And it's like... no, sure, of course, I'm sorry for bothering you.
You go to Caves of Qud and ask if you can play as a centaur.
CoQ says oh, sure, one of the first npcs you run into is a taur! The extra legs let you outspeed enemies and also give you a carry weight bonus! But what's that over there is that your fursona
and i'm like, oh, what, uhh
and CoQ is like, yeah! What is that, two-headed, four-armed foxthing? Why don't you play as that instead?
and i'm like, I'm sorry, what?
and CoQ is like, yeah, having two heads lets you wear two kinds of helmets for different bonuses, and also lets you use mental abilities quicker AND helps you shake off mental effects faster! the extra arms lets you stack up a whole bunch of weapons at once, it's a really powerful base to build your character around!
And I'm like... well... what about the visual representation of it?
and CoQ goes, we use sprites with 2 colors and negative space, so you don't need to relearn 3D modeling and animation to have your guy represented in the game with the same fidelity as everything else that already exists in it! no problem!
and like... of course, the Thing You Can Play As isn't the only factor that makes a game good! but after experiencing this, it's so hard to enjoy games like BG3. Like yeah the story and its writing and your ability to affect it are unmatched in BG3 it especially makes Bethesda look like hot steaming garbage!
but i have to either play as a human or a shrink wrapped fish dinosaur from 60s paleontology to do it? and every game makes me just play as a human. the most fantastical games with the craziest settings all mostly moderate themselves to "medieval europe... with a little bit of weirdness"
meanwhile in CoQ turning a locked door sapient, recruiting it, and giving it a chaingun so i have a literal metal door wielding a chaingun is a perfectly viable answer to getting through a locked door
anyway that's why i think the developers of CoQ should be given the budget of BG3 tyvmia
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nectar-cellar · 7 months ago
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some thoughts on creating custom cars
i tried to give the hunka 711 a longer wheelbase (as pictured above) and it resulted in some trouble.
1: wheels
so the first thing i learned is: if cloning from an EA car, keep the meshes of the wheels in the same place, do not move them forward or backward along the z-axis. shifting them on the x-axis, such as making them wider/thinner, seems fine. you must keep the wheels of a custom car mesh in the same place as the ea car clone, or else the wheels will animate horribly when the car is in motion even if the bones are assigned correctly.
bloom says that if you're cloning from a Fast Lane SP car, it is possible to shorten/extend the wheelbase using his method, however i haven't tried this. i believe most cc cars (freshprince, dailycard, understrech) are not cloned from Fast Lane SP cars, but regular EA cars instead.
the joints are usually assigned this way: 1 for the car body, then 1 joint for each of the 4 wheels. you can look at an EA car for reference. it is probably best to assign the bones/joints manually as using Mesh Toolkit may assign bits of the car's body mesh to the wheel joint, causing that area to distort when the car is in motion.
2: rigs
as mentioned above, in bloom's forum post, he describes a way to edit the Fast Lane car's wheel placement by editing the RIG resource inside the car's package file.
the rig editor is an add-on to s3pe which can be downloaded here.
to edit a car's rig resource, you need to install the add-on. then: open the car's package in s3pe, right-click on the "rig" resource, then click on "rig editor".
the rig resource also controls where the sim sits inside the vehicle. if you want to edit the sim's position, this is what you need to edit in rig editor:
look for the resources with "IKtarget_seat" in the name. this controls the general seat placement of the sims in the vehicle. in the rig editor's screen on the right, you can edit the X Y and Z coordinates of the position. the X coordinate will move the sim left or right, Y will move the sim up or down, and Z will move the sim forward or backward. there are 4 "IKtarget_seat" resources, i don't know which controls the driver seat or passenger seats but you'll probably want to edit all the coordinates with the same changes to be consistent.
"IKtarget_foot": these resources control the placement of the sim's feet when sitting inside the car, like how stretched out or tucked in their legs are.
"IKtarget_SteeringWheel_01 and 02": these resources control the left and right hand placement on the steering wheel. if your sim's hands are misaligned with the steering wheel while driving, these are the resources to edit.
3: shadow meshes
in tsr workshop, each level of detail's mesh (high, medium, low) has a corresponding shadow mesh. if you've made significant changes to an existing car mesh, or if you've imported an entirely new car mesh over an EA car, you will also want to generate new shadow meshes so that the car's shadow looks correct in-game. if you do not generate new shadow meshes, you are likely to see weird misaligned shadows on the car's body, and the car's sun shadow on the ground will look off. so make sure to generate new ones for EVERY level of detail. tsr workshop has a one-click button that does it so it's pretty quick once you're satisfied with the actual car mesh. you can try generating high, medium and low LOD shadow meshes, or you can try generating shadow meshes using the high LOD mesh for the high, medium and low shadows to see if you get better quality shadows in-game.
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ok so those are some not-so-obvious things i learned while working on my car projects... i hope it's useful to someone !!!
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supremefloof · 28 days ago
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i saw this on the tbhx reddit and i have no motivation to draw rn but i really like yapping about tbhx so i figured id take a crack at it. channeling my inner annoying power scaler...
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the reddit user mentions that everybody is in their prime, and that e-soul is specifically new e-soul. Lin Ling I think is supposed to have a power boost because the user mentions his ranking is based on the popularity vote, which is why he is so expensive.
Pros and cons breakdown of everybody, followed by my personal choices under cut. this is a LONG post.
Lin Ling has the ability is to "punch real good'"/ "Bastard Fist". He has probably the single highest-power attack here, because currently he's ranked #1. However, he doesn't offer a lot of utility, with his ability being one-directional and only for himself. Also, he has a psychological weakness for Moon. If you pick him but not Moon, then she would mess with his ability to fight the other side properly. If you pick both of them, then the attackers could distract Lin Ling by targeting Moon. Lastly add his lack of experience and I would personally say he isn't worth the 75 points; I think although a huge challenge for sure you could play around him. could be good though!
Ahu seems to have decent battle prowess and shape shifting kind of? Not much to say here - I don't see much reason to pick him over other attackers besides cost.
Lucky Cyan is an interesting one and an extremely tempting option. Luck powers are VERY useful. she also has decent movement options and a ranged attack. I don't see much downside, and if you don't pick her then the attackers get luck on their side.
Luo Li is another interesting option. She seems to have ranged attacks as well as close-up attacks. It's easy to think she's too squishy since she depends on metal armor but Trust Value probably helps her there. I think I still wouldn't choose her, but if there was a lot of prep time then she could be a competitive option especially if she can make you armor.
Dragon Boy is who I would recommend if you really wanted someone with Lin Ling's powers. In the PVs we can see that he has very high movement speed. he is briefly knocked out by a metal pipe for a minute but after that it was straight carnage. Dragon boy also doesn't offer a lot of defensive utility, but I'm a lot more worried if he is on the attacker's side.
Moon offers extremely high value for low cost. if you stick by her she can teleport you anywhere which is an excellent escape option for defense. Con is that she's got low power and is probably the weakest + squishiest hero on this chart by Trust Value. She depends on her gun for teleporting, so if she loses it then you're in trouble. However, this could also mean that you can take the gun for yourself and have Moon do something else (like maybe fending off the enemy Commoner).
Queen is worth the investment. She's likely the strongest person on this list and has an extremely versatile powerset. she can fly, set rules of all kinds in an area, and summon homing spears. If you DON'T pick Queen then you have to deal with like fifteen homing meteor spears raining down on you while anybody who gets close to her gets locked down.
Ghostblade we don't have a ton of info on but he's probably capable with weapons. If I had to guess he has also has speed and stealth powers in some way? He's ranked #4 so he's likely very strong. I don't really know how to place him.
The Johnnies are also kind of vague powers wise but we know LJ can control animals. Big Johnny is VERY LARGE and could be good for area control.
Nice probably also shouldn't be picked sorry... I'll assume Nice at his prime means as strong as when he was #10 as Lin Ling? or possible before the Hero Smile incident. But his toolkit seems not very unique and again no utility. He would probably derail Wreck quite a bit though...
Smile is basically Nice but stronger and with projectiles. his power could possibly have some condition attached to it since Bowa just started beating him suddenly out of nowhere? he's also expensive.
E-Soul is a strong contender because super-speed is difficult to deal with. And that pretty much sums it up. he also has bullets that are strong enough to take out regular people in one go. However, he can't fly and heroes with durability can take him. This means that E-soul isn't particularly helpful for you, because he can't one-shot other Heroes, but is very dangerous if you don't pick him.
Enlighter/God Eye is easily the highest value and a must-pick. he's smart, can pick out weaknesses of heroes, and can create disguises of you. he's also the only one you can buy multiple of. He won't be winning fights unless it's vs Nice but he can help strategize and direct your team while making decoys of you or other people important to your enemies...
Firm Man would be a decent choice if you could buy multiples of him but on his own he's questionable. he's very strong but he literally can't bend his knees which is a very significant weakness imo. You could task him with defending you on the ground while someone else defends you in the air.
Bowa is terrifying on the other team. She can fight Queen nearly to a standstill and we know she can beat Smile. She has surprising versatility with her powers and she knows how to use them. she's likely the most experienced fighter on this list and I think she's a strong contender for your investment.
Wreck is a sleeper pick for 20 points! he's got a grade of A in episode 12 and I think he's decent for crowd control. he can build barriers and cause widespread destruction. main cons: he can't fly and he's lacking in power compared to other options.
So without further ado here is my tiering and personal choices:
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Lucky Cyan, Moon, Queen, Bowa, and five copies of God Eye
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lagncx · 10 months ago
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Don’t be afraid of the lightning, it cannot get through me to get to you.
Inspired by Ethel Cain.!!! Karl x reader
Gn reader if it says a gender word my bad.
For @nonchalantgat0 ^^
—-
He was free so why the fuck did he feel so trapped?
You and Heisenberg met when you fell at his feet after running from lycans. Your front tooth chipped on the edge of his boots you could have sworn.
“The hell you come from?” You looked up at him, your jaw vibrating from the initial bump and you smiled. He was jaw-dropping in a…weird way. You ended up telling him who you were and that you were from outside the area pointing at your shoes while crying.
—---
You cried as you pointed at your own boots now completely fucked. “You wouldnt believe this i fucking fell look at my timbs! You know how much these cost?” You sighed “I got chased by some crazy mountain man growling and barking behind me and I lost my damn footing.” the man just chuckled “Sounds like a day.” He smirked at you his glasses hiding his eyes his head dropped to its side head looking up and down at you. You smiled at him, the small chip in your tooth making the air you breathed in whistle in a cute dorky way. You were a dork. So you looked smitten “Uh yea…it was a long day babe- uh today today.”
——
After that you were stuck like glue but he got out of the village with help from Ethan and Chris ... .even the duke though Karl wouldn’t admit it. Things have changed. Everything is…different from the town so you stayed home with him for weeks before taking him out.
——-
The ride to the new home is far from the village thank god. It was long before you had to explain everything about a vehicle to him. The packing was short, not many things filled the trunk except scrap…lots of it.
Need to keep my hands busy…please.
You cursed at yourself falling for his silver puppy eyes and his manly toolkit that you put a sticker on from an old concert you went to. He was busy bending something before putting it on the dashboard.
You sighed, banging your head on the wheel for a second while driving in the dark, making sure to follow the road and fence while surrounded in darkness. “Okay guess.” He said “Karl-“ he shushed you and pointed at it “guess.” You sighed and looked at it squinting and flicking your view to the road and back. “Is it….a bear?” He shook his head “Nope.” You sighed “Is it a…badger?” Picking it up with one hand on the wheel. “That’s two guesses..one more you're out.” He hummed holding the animal magazine close to his chest “Uhm-…It’s a panda!” You smiled knowing you were right “Boom 3 to me. 1.5 to Karl!” He laughed and shook his head “Nope. It’s a red panda” Your mouth dropped open looking at him then the road “The hell?! What’s the fucking difference?” You only sighed in defeat when he showed you the page with the red panda page. “Okay, I’m done with this damn game.” He only laughed and threw the magazine behind him before messing with the passenger window, rolling it down and up “Karl…” down, the sound of the window was becoming a little irritating. He stopped. “What if I can’t adapt to this…modern world?”
——-
That question he asked you laughed at dismissing it as just jitters but he couldn’t get the hang of life here. Away from the village not able to use his powers it almost was like an itch the way he couldn’t really…use them like it was wrong but being with you in that little starter house it was. Everything but nothing felt good except you. You were safe and made him feel safe. Hugged him even when he fought it, kissed away his tears through the rough nights. Settling in was hard. You kept him in the house for three weeks like when a new cat hides under the bed when put into a new environment.
First experience was shopping for clothes and food. He stuck close to you looking at all of the other men dressed in either graphic tees or plain sweaters. He cleared his throat. Obviously feeling self-conscious. The loud noises and the sound of carts pushing were a bit overwhelming being around so many different people…so many people, normal something he’ll never be again. His fist clenched the tip of his gloved fingers brushing against the seam on the side of the palm.
You didn’t realize how bad it actually fucking was.
There was a sound of a baby crying two rows down? What really got him was the banging the baby did on the shopping cart like it vibrated his bones he felt the checkouts being used every beep every electric current. He had leaned against you making you grunt from his weight “Karl? What’s up?” You asked. He whispered “Can we go?” You sighed “Karl we need food and clothes for you.” You continued down the aisle.
The Music playing on the grocery store's speakers suddenly slowed and went down in pitch, the buzzing of the freezer lights became louder like a swarm of bees. You looked around and then looked at Heisenberg “Karl, stop.” He wasn’t looking at you he was looking down at the floor which started to shake. You looked behind him eyes widening in fear at the large metal shelf frames that held the heavy stuff, sand, fire wood, beer.
Everything. Now You knew it was serious, he wasn’t supposed to use his powers, Chris threatened you both. “Help.” The faintest whisper came from your lover, he was overstimulated, and anxious. You immediately pulled him out and to the car the emergency alarms buzzing through the parking lot.
Getting into the car you both sat in the back lucky for you, you got tints. You took off his jacket, his breathing was erratic, uneven. You took off his hat and glasses. His eyes were watery but he couldn’t look at you, he was embarrassed of himself. “Karl, my love. You’re okay.” You whispered and you grabbed his arm putting his hand on the back of your hair feeling his fingers tangle into it “There we go, what’s wrong baby?” You whispered leaning close.
Karl swallowed “It’s her fault.” He said “She turned me into this, now I’ll never be normal, or happy.” He sobbed, hiding his tears from you leaning into your chest. You took a deep breath, Karl had electrified organs, stopped him from having kids too. But you weren’t gonna let something stop him.
You hummed softly over the noise. The engines that he could feel through the stores the machines the landlines the phone towers, fuck the noise. The car alarms blaring were no match to your voice. You sang to him his breathing slowed and he felt himself being pulled back. Back before Miranda. Before you.
—-
Karl crawled into his moms lap, tears streaming down his face he pointed to a scar on his arm and his mom comforted him kissing his face and his arm she smiled and showed him one of her scars and in German she whispered to him “Scars make you strong Karl, everyone is a journey and lesson. They hurt but don’t worry I’ll always be here to kiss away the pain.” She laughed nuzzling him.
——
Karl breathing hitched as he smiled thinking about his mother, though she wasn’t here. She kept her promise. Someone was here to kiss the pain away. He knew she’d approve.
You both stayed like this for hours, the alarms stopping.
You made the call to move to the countryside less stimulating. Heisenberg sat in the passenger seat reading a book about world history.
The radio cut “Hello to everyone! Thanks for tuning in on 98.6 for you we have Ethel Cain- Family Tree! Enjoy your cruising stay safe and weird.” Heisenberg looked down at the radio using his powers to turn up the volume slightly. “Who’s this?” He asked looking at you as you chewed on one of his cigars to keep yourself busy while you fixed your tank top “Ethel Cain, sorta a southern gothic type.” You hummed “Don’t listen to her much.” You shrugged, he nodded, he looked around a smell hitting him “What. The. Fuck. Is that fucking shitty ass fuck smell.” You laughed rolling down the windows making it stronger “Probably fertilizer or a cow herd nearby.”
And sure enough Karl looked over seeing the cows spread around the mountain clearing grazing. Watching a baby calf run across the golden brown grass field. He smiled. This was better than the city. “Sorry we have to live over here.” He frowned. “Oh please, my parents are from this side, they’ll let us live in one of their houses.” He blinked “are they rich?” You shook your head “Nah, just…they always wanted me out of the city.” You shrugged the climax of Family tree hit and Heisenberg liked it more than he would’ve thought “Can we see her live?” You laughed “Yea Karl, next time she goes on tour I promise.” You had promised to take him to every concert ever. You promised him the world and you were gonna give it to him.
You pushed something in your pockets down, two thick silver rings. For later…way later. You looked to your left, slowing down “Karl…Heisenberg.” You said making him whip his head to glare at you “Don’t call me th-“ you jerked your thumb to the running majestic animal. You laughed and said “horse.”
The animal's hair whipped like the long grass in the wind. that made him crawl over the middle console to your window making the car swerve slightly.
Heisenberg knew he’d love it even more. This was good, better. Mom always said things will always get better even when it’s low.
——
This is to suffice for like idk. The unfinished stuff.
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witchyintention · 6 months ago
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Where It All Began: The Ancient Roots of Witchcraft
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Witchcraft didn’t appear out of nowhere like a mysterious cloaked figure under a full moon. Its roots stretch deep into the soil of human history, sprouting from the primal desire to understand, interact with, and occasionally charm the forces of the natural world. In essence, witchcraft was humanity's first attempt to make sense of life’s mysteries—birth, death, illness, and those pesky harvests that sometimes failed to cooperate.
Mesopotamia: Magic at the Dawn of Civilization
In the ancient lands of Mesopotamia, magic was woven into everyday life like the intricate patterns of a Sumerian tapestry. Priests and priestesses doubled as magicians, using rituals to appease gods or ward off mischief-making demons. The Assyrians and Babylonians developed complex systems of divination, like hepatoscopy (reading the entrails of sacrificed animals) and astrology, where the movements of celestial bodies were believed to influence earthly events. Think of these practices as ancient spreadsheets for managing cosmic chaos.
One standout Mesopotamian magical figure was the āšipu, or exorcist. Armed with incantations and symbolic objects, they combatted evil spirits with the confidence of someone holding a holy water squirt gun. Their spells were recorded on clay tablets, many of which have survived, offering us a peek into their magical toolkit.
Ancient Egypt: Spells, Deities, and Afterlife Insurance
Move over Cleopatra—Egyptian magic deserves its own red-carpet moment. For the Egyptians, magic (heka) wasn’t just a tool but a divine force that existed before creation itself. Gods like Thoth and Isis were thought to wield heka with unparalleled mastery, inspiring humans to follow suit.
The Egyptians had spells for almost everything: curing snake bites, securing a prosperous journey in the afterlife, or even ensuring a good hair day (yes, beauty magic existed). Amulets were their magical multitaskers, offering protection, health, and a little pizzazz. The famous Book of the Dead was essentially a magical user manual for navigating the perils of the afterlife. If reincarnation were an obstacle course, the Egyptians were determined to ace it with cheat codes.
Greece and Rome: The Birth of Western Esotericism
The ancient Greeks and Romans didn’t just dabble in magic—they wrote dissertations on it. In Greece, philosophers like Pythagoras and Plato explored metaphysical concepts that later influenced magical thought. Pythagoras, for example, wasn’t just a math guy; he believed numbers had mystical properties. So next time you curse algebra, remember it might have been a magical tool at some point.
The Greeks also gave us some of the earliest grimoires, such as the Greek Magical Papyri. These texts were chock-full of spells, invocations, and recipes for crafting magical potions. They even included tips for summoning deities or spirits, proving that ancient people also loved a good life hack.
Meanwhile, the Romans took a more practical approach to magic, using it for love, revenge, and keeping those pesky neighbors in check. Curse tablets, thin sheets of lead inscribed with hexes, were buried at sacred sites to call upon the gods for justice. It’s basically the ancient equivalent of subtweeting someone, but with higher stakes.
The Far East: Mysticism and Balance
Across the globe, ancient Chinese and Indian traditions were also steeped in magic and mysticism. In China, Taoist practices incorporated rituals, talismans, and alchemical experiments to achieve harmony with the Tao, or the natural order of the universe. The blending of spirituality and practicality was key, with many rituals aimed at promoting health, longevity, and prosperity.
In India, the Vedic texts described rituals and hymns to invoke divine powers. These practices evolved into a blend of spirituality and mysticism that still influences Hinduism and other traditions today. The emphasis on balance and connection to universal energy feels remarkably modern, doesn’t it?
Shamanism: The Universal Foundation of Magic
Before the rise of organized religions, shamanic traditions thrived across cultures from Siberia to South America. Shamans acted as intermediaries between the physical and spiritual realms, often entering trances to seek guidance or heal their communities. Whether they were chanting, drumming, or consuming psychedelic plants, shamans were the original multi-class characters—part healer, part mystic, part community leader.
The tools of their trade—herbs, bones, and natural objects—laid the foundation for many magical traditions that followed. The use of sympathetic magic (the idea that like affects like, such as using a doll to represent a person) can be traced back to these early practices.
Magic Across Africa and the Americas
In Africa, magic and spirituality were deeply intertwined with everyday life. Practices like Ifa divination in Yoruba culture involved intricate systems of symbols and interpretations, revealing paths to healing, growth, and understanding. Meanwhile, in Mesoamerica, civilizations like the Maya and Aztecs used rituals and offerings to communicate with their gods, often centering around natural cycles like the harvest or the movements of the sun and stars.
The connection to nature in these practices wasn’t just poetic—it was practical. By aligning their magic with the rhythms of the earth, ancient people ensured their survival and fostered a sense of harmony with the world around them.
The Bigger Picture
From the rivers of Mesopotamia to the temples of Egypt and beyond, early witchcraft and magical practices were about survival, connection, and understanding the mysteries of existence. These ancient roots remind us that magic isn’t just about casting spells—it’s about fostering relationships with the forces that shape our world, whether they’re gods, spirits, or the natural elements.
Now, when you light a candle, hold a crystal, or write in your journal, remember: you’re participating in a tradition as old as time. How’s that for a little magic in your day?
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thydungeongal · 8 months ago
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I haven't talked about Magical Land of Yeld enough even though it is one of the games I've most enjoyed reading this year. It's basically "what if someone made a Dungeons & Dragons: the Animated Series: the Game," so basically a bunch of kids from the real world get isekaid into the titular Magical Land of Yeld, and now they have to become the heroes that Save the Day.
There's a lot I absolutely adore about Yeld, but the thing where I wish more games sat down and listened to Yeld is in how it basically comes with a campaign framework straight out of the box. While every group's version of Yeld will still be unique because the game leaves a lot in the hands of the group, the game has an almost checklist-like structure of "this is the stuff the heroes must do to save the world." There is still room for the GM and the group to color outside the lines a bit, but just by reading the rules you will get a clear idea of what the game expects play to look like. Something where I think most games stumble. It primes all players with expectations, and given that the game assumes something of a campaign structure, priming those expectations will probably go a long way into making the players play proactively.
And like I absolutely love a toolkit game where the game only vaguely gestures at the types of action that the game can accommodate, but sometimes it's fun when a game just gives you long-term support from the get-go.
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valentinedagger · 1 year ago
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i have a bit of a hot take: "you have to read novels to improve your writing" is technically, literally true insofar as you're talking about, like, prose structure and style. however, if you're already satisfied with your prose itself, i do not think that's true and i think prose writing sincerely benefits from a multidisciplinary approach that one might get from studying writing across art forms other than novels.
comics, film, television, video games, web-based unfiction like ARGs, concept albums, and pretty much any other narrative art i can't think of right now -- they're all fertile ground for developing your understanding of character work, framing, pacing, establishing symbolism and other motifs, setting work, pretty much everything i would consider the fundamental building blocks of narrative fiction. you can learn just as much from picking apart the narrative structure and choices in your favorite manga as you can from doing the same with your favorite novel.
more than that, i think taking a multidisciplinary approach to studying fiction can result in better, more interesting novels--breaking away from your medium of choice allows you to think about art using different lenses entirely and examine your own medium in new ways. studying a TV show could give you insight into how serial, episodic writing differs structurally from trad published novels, and could allow you to take a fresh structural approach on writing a series of novels. studying a comic might cause you to think about your choices of visuals and visual framing, and to be intentional about your "directorial style" in-text as much as you are intentional about your prose style. et cetera and so on and so forth!
i do appreciate where the sentiment "you have to read novels to improve your own writing" is coming from -- i mean, for one thing, i agree that the best art tends to come from a genuine enthusiasm for the medium you're working in -- but quite frankly, narrative fiction is narrative fiction. we're all working with the same basic toolkit, there's just different ways to use those tools based on medium.
full disclosure: i, as an author, am not a huge reader of novels. i get through 2-4 novels a year, on average. i am, however, a voracious enthusiast of multimedia web-based fiction, comics, animation, and television, and i do the vast bulk of my artistic criticism and analysis in those mediums. i do study prose through the novels i read, but on the whole, even my prose improvement tends to come from studying poetry (something that is painfully obvious in my writing at times, and is not to everyone's taste). don't get me wrong -- i am not saying i produce outstanding quality work that should be compared to that of lifelong professionals or anything, but my writing is generally acceptable, and i continue to make marked improvements over time -- because my course of study is intentional, regardless of medium.
tl;dr: narrative is narrative, if you set out with the intention to understand what makes a narrative tick, it doesn't matter what medium you're studying, you're still learning.
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talenlee · 1 year ago
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Why Is Druid?
Say that like ‘where is Wizard Hut?‘
I love the 4e Druid. This is a marked change from how much I liked the 3e druid, or how often you might see me playing a druid in a Baldur’s Gate game. Back in 3rd edition, the druid, despite being very powerful, never really engaged me, in part perhaps because I was always trying to find something exploitative and powerful rather than merely accepting the juggernaut of a toolkit the game just left in the Player’s Handbook. You couldn’t get clever with the Druid, you just had to pick it up and use it, like some sort of society of creative anachronisms where one of the anachronisms available to the players was has gun. Valid, but hardly sporting.
The Druid in 4th edition is different. Wildly different. Weirdly different, and different in one of those ways that shows what I think of as a seam in the design between 4th and 3rd editions of D&D.
The Druid was one of 3rd edition’s great mistakes, a full spellcasting class with healer capacity to serve as a pinch-hitter healer in a group that wanted things a little more varied, addressing an enormously complex potential build from its earlier edition, 2e, and all in the process, resulting in some deeply confused mash up of abilities that attempted to address confusion with volume. The druid of 2e had a special unique set of rules compared to the Cleric — for example, at a certain level, you passed into a specific category of Druidic ability and now you were technically a Hierophant, and Hierophants had seven extra spells of every level. Of course there was a limited supply of Hierophants in the world, so there was a question of if you could level up if another one existed, and maybe there’s a one-in, one-out policy? First in, first fired?
Anyway, I can’t speak to how it played, but I am at least aware, on the edges of it, that the 2e druid was odd. It had a lot of things it could do, but much of how it worked, reading the books, seemed to be interesting but challenging to manage. You could wild shape, you could heal, you could cast utility spells, you could even fight with some melee weapons — personally, I didn’t see any of it worth it, because none of the things it could do it could do very well.
3e addressed this seeming difficulty by instead taking all those different options and bringing them all up to the same level. Wild Shape worked by checking traits of monster units, which meant that you weren’t limited to specific reinterpretations of animals and instead could do what a druid feels like it should do — you know, turn into an animal. The spells were rebalanced and shared across different classes, which meant that they tended to work in a more standardised way. Armour rules were aggregated, and weapons were made less terrible.
The result was that the 3e druid went from being ‘decent’ at a bunch of things to ‘good’ at everything it wanted to do. The problem of the druid then became about picking the thing you wanted to at every opportunity, and doing a good job of it — you’d have druids carrying wands of healing so they could dedicate their spell slots to more important tasks, like Flame Striking opponents, or messing up the battlefield with roots. You’d also see druids keeping the ‘best’ list of animals on hand, and every new monster book presented a new chance for druids to develop a new best form.
It also created the strange question of What does the druid do?
The answer was ‘everything.’
The 4e Druid, in comparison and contrast to these designs is something very different that touches, at best, on the periphery of what the 3e Druid could be. I mean it stands to reason, you can only ever touch on doing everything when something you’re working from is so powerful. 4e with its role system of Defender, Striker, Leader and Controller, and its reliable, reusable balance math suddenly was confronted with fitting an elephant into a shoebox.
How do you represent something busted that could do everything in the context of a new system that sought to explicitly prevent that? I joked when the game was new that the four roles were Defender, Striker, Leader and Miscellaneous. That any class too powerful, with too much stuff it could potentially do, got thrown to the Controller role as suggested by the first Controller we ever saw being the Wizard. Oh and back in Player’s Handbook 1, the Wizard had a few builds that were pretty ridiculously pushed — the pinball wizard, I’ll talk about it sometime — and that meant that it was easy to feel like the Controller Does Everything.
That impression diluted through experience, of course, and eventually it came to that while yes, the Controller sure has some Miscellaneous vibes, the core of what the Controller was there to do was to attack the enemy action economy. Nice and obvious to a non giga-nerd, right? Okay, how about this: The leader lets you do more things, the controller stops them from doing more things?
And into this space, they poured the druid.
It works beautifully, for my tastes; the druid needs to do lots of things to feel properly druidy, but you need to make sure the doing lots of things doesn’t unbalance the game. Controllers have the widest variety of things they can do and ways they can do them – inflicting status conditions, changing enemy position, preventing specific action types, making areas on the battlefield inaccessible, these are all ‘controllery’ things, and that means there’s a lot of different ways you can flavour them. The Invoker is most famous for making zones in the play space hard to deal with, the Wizard has a build that slides things all over the place, and the psion controls people with immense penalties to their damage rolls.
Obligatory pause where, while reading this aloud, for either Fox or I to comment on how amazing it is that Dishearten is an AOE power.
Anyway, the druid was designed to be a mode switcher class. That is, there are two ways a druid can do things. One is a melee controller that makes a single target’s life harder, the other is a ranged controller that makes a large group of enemies’ lives harder. This mode switching then adds a new element to the class that your powers can interact with, where you now have control powers that can add a mode switching element to them as well. This is your Wild Shape – you transform into some kind of nonspecific beast, which can use your Wild Shape powers. Each form has fewer powers to manage, and you can build your druid to specialise in one or the other or do a mix.
This lets the druid do the ‘a lot’ without letting them actually do everything. You have a lot of choices and a lot of ways to play with those pieces, but even just how often you use the mode switch is part of what the druid does to control the battlefield. When I first played a druid, it was not uncommon to start a fight out of wild shape, use the first turn to make some kind of area control power, then shift into wild shape for the rest of the fight kicking people into that area control power. There are druids builds that work like wizards and only ever shapeshift to get away from problems, and make a hit while scuttling away, or to sit on a specific type of problem. There were druids who focused on summoning monsters and using them as kind of turrets on the battlefield, positioning allies in a way that benefitted them around those summons.
Lone artillery combat encounters, where you have a bunch of stuff in front of a long-ranged attacker? Druids love those. Even at level 1, that artillery is spending their days completely stuck underneath a Fire Hawk power.
Problem is, of course, that if you want to do Everything doing a Lot is going to miss something. That was what led to the subclasses of the druid, the ones that added healer elements to the druid, because the druid back in 3e could do that. It added animal companions, because the druid back in 3e could do that. Now I don’t worry too much about these things because if I wanted an animal companion on my Druid, I’d take a theme for that, but also because these changes were introduced in an Essentials book.
Which is to say, they’re crap.
They’re not crap crap, like I try to defend Essentials as giving players a choice for simplified character builds, but in the specific case of the Essentials Druids, in order to work with the simplified choices, these Essentials druids with their animal companions and their healing powers have to look at all other Druid powers and not use them. The only use they get out of their animal companion is using the specific subset of powers that make them work, and that makes combat more samey. But again: That’s a thing you probably want if you want a simplified build.
Still, it gives rise to my favourite joke – I mean like, funny thing, not really a joke, there’s no subversion of reality or anything here – about the Healer Druid. See, every Leader in the game gets an encounter power, usable twice a combat at level 1, that heals an ally with a bonus. Every class gets their own version that lets them distinguish their class specifically and add some interesting detail that shows how this Leader differs from other Leaders.
The Healer druid build gets Healing Word.
The Cleric power.
Literally, the same power, same name, listed as a Cleric power.
Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!
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qwertyprophecy · 2 years ago
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and the Unrelenting
Character Design of The Dark Queen of Mortholme, Pt. 2
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(Pt. 1)
With the story playing out from the point of view of their opponent, the Hero is characterised mainly through the mystery they present to the Queen. They're unassuming, yet determined to go further than the Queen could ever imagine. Humble in a way she might view as lowliness, yet a way they try to prove holds the key to remaining open to improvement. They might not be powerful, efficient or elegant—not next to the Queen, at any rate—but they for sure are resilient.
The first priority was for them to look tiny in comparison to the Queen; it shouldn't come as a surprise how little damage to the Queen they do per hit. Not weak, but certainly overpowered. More stocky and short, like all of their considerable willpower has been crammed into a compact package. A lot of the exaggerated proportions like the poofy trousers, big head and little hands and feet are to make them a bit cute and goofy. This is not a hardened adventurer, this is someone who's trying their best.
At the start I had some sketches with an uncovered head to contrast with the Queen's helmeted one, maybe to have a long ponytail to give the Hero's movements a nice flowy follow-through. That's before I decided to characterise them as a mystery, however, and all the subsequent designs got a hood to hide their face.
I even considered a whole cape, but it was too much. They're not actively hiding themselves; it's only the Queen who has difficulty comprehending their nature. Next to her decked head to toe in plate armour, the Hero should come off as someone comfortable being more vulnerable. Maybe they're a bit of a dumbass, maybe they're boldened by the knowledge that even if they get hurt, it won't stop them for long.
Thus, practical if rather unintimidatingly floppy-sleeved chainmail it was. They get a sword, because they're meant to evoke the most typical fantasy protagonist possible. Our interest with this character isn't in the character per se, but in the player-like will behind the avatar, so an overcomplicated design would only serve as a distraction. The only extra detail they get are the belts to suggest resourcefulness.
It's implied that between their attempts at the boss, they have whole little RPG adventures outside of the boss room that the player is locked in. The Queen doesn't get to participate in any of it, so we know nothing about this part of them. Yet we see the results as they with their new abilities, tools, perhaps dialogue hinting at their emotional attachment to some storylines that motivate them to push through. Design-wise, I thought I'd like to depict their updating toolkit not only through their animations, but through an evolution of their sprite: a shield appears in their off hand, a bow on their back, potions on their belt. (It's possible this will be cut content due to the effort of making multiple versions of every single sprite sheet, but who knows. I have poor impulse control.)
The palette, unsurprisingly, is mellow grays and warm hues to oppose the Queen's starkness and cold. Gotta use the clichés when they work! I didn't want the Hero's main colour to be too bright a red, though. It was picked (from the few potential options that would stand out from the blue-dominated background) to represent their fierce determination, but in her own way the Queen is determined, too. It's the Hero's stubbornness to improve, their malleability, which distinguishes them. So they wear a softer, earthier red.
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cyten0 · 11 months ago
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A Symphony in Crimson
The Prelude
You awaken. Where are you?... Who are you?
You can't remember. You.. You try and think. But you're too hungry. Your stomach hurts. You can't think.
You need to eat. You need to eat.
Movement. An animal. You crawl, a thousand limbs speeding you towards their delicious scent. But you have to be quiet. Don't let them flee you.
Trees. Move up. Climb. Look down. Deer. Wait. Wait.
Now.
You drop, and grapple it to the ground. You open your mouth and rip into it. The taste of flesh fills your mouth, savory and delicious. The metallic taste of it's blood is so invigorating. It twitches as it tries to escape, but it's too weak. You dive into it's organs, so many textures and tastes, all in such sharp detail. You crunch through its bones, leaving nothing but the bloody stain on the ground.
Better. You're still hungry. But now. You can think.
...You know this isn't your home. You can't remember what your home was.
But your name. Your name. What... The only word that comes to mind is Siffrin.
But you know that's not your name. You think. You remember it as if it was. But other memories aren't. Which ones are which? You can't tell.
But... You... You think. What you just did. Feels familiar. But. Humans.
No. You don't like that. You hate that. But. It feels like it was real. Did. Is Siffrin. Someone you did it to?
You're crying. You... Don't want to hurt. But you did. And it felt good. It shouldn't feel good! You don't want to have been that monster. You don't...
You need to see yourself. There's a pool of water. You look.
A pair of glowing red eyes look back at you, surrounded by tendrils and teeth in a vaguely human shape, a red and white star in it's chest.
It's not human. Why. You can't stand looking at it. It's wrong. It's wrong it's wrong it's wrong it's wrong
You begin clawing at your body. Carving it into shape, even as it hurts. You feel it growing back, but you keep molding it. You grow skin, morph bone matter to cling to, and prune it into the right form.
Still wrong, you can feel it underneath, those memories don't have that, you don't want the monster ones! You want the human ones!! You want Siffrin's!!!
You look again. Not quite right, looks off. You keep going. It's starting to look right. The face at least. The rest still looks off. Blind it, you can't remember what the rest should look like!!!!
...But it's better. You're just. A little more Siffrin. It's enough for now.
You need to find out where you are. You vaguely remember being near the shore earlier. You listen for the ocean. That way.
You trace your steps back. You see a wrecked ship. And your tracks from it.
You see... A cloak? and a hat. You grab them. You can hide your body until you can get it right. As you put them on, you feel things in it's pockets. A dagger, a toolkit, and a device with a screen. You turn it on, and images and sounds play from it that hurt your head. You turn it back off. You hold the dagger. It feels familiar in your hands. So do the tools...
You guess a monster wouldn't need these, so maybe they're Siffrin's? You aren't sure though. You do think Siffrin wore white, but the fabric feels different.
...If so, these are all that's left of them. That, and these fragmented memories. You. You don't want him to be gone.
No. He's not gone. He's in you, right? Just let him be the one in charge, focus on those memories. And he can live. And the monster will go.
You leave the wreckage. You have a new life to live, Siffrin.
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canmom · 1 year ago
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I will admit, as a fan of old scifi TV, I prefer the more theatrical style of filmmaking? Particularly for more fantastical genres. Partly because it gives each series it's own unique feel - you can identify old TV scifi by sound palette and shot type alone, and it lets you know you're in for a scifi romp rather than a crime procedural or a sitcom. Like, a lot of modern scifi uses the same shots and a similar sound palette, and like. A lot of storytelling language is unavailable to the realistic styles.
Also, the emotional heart of scifi and fantasy relies on being able to empathise with situations and people who are not familiar or human, sometimes with bodies that cannot do human body language. Theatrical TV allows the show to do the live-action version of those big ghibli tears - you know, the ones that look unrealistic but are exactly what sobbing feels like? Which is really useful when you want your audience to empathise with a character who is extremely non-human, and also in cases where the special effects have not aged well. Like, the monster might obviously be aquarium tubing covered in vaseline, but the theatrical nature of the acting, camerawork, sound and lighting etc can still produce a thrill of terror.
[in reference to this post]
I definitely agree! So would Bertolt Brecht, probably, who was strongly of the opinion that you should draw attention to the constructed nature of a play rather than try to hide it. ( @baeddel and I would always be going on about how Drakengard was Brechtian, those were the days...)
'Naturalism' in cinema, acting etc. is not actually 'natural', but something carefully constructed in a way that tries not to draw attention to its constructed nature. The most 'naturalistic' acting would be a candid video of someone who isn't aware they're being filmed, but that doesn't typically make for good film.
One of the interesting things that comes up towards the end of that video on acting is how there's been a bit of a return of the theatrical style, or something of a blend of that with the "naturalistic" practices developed in the last half-century. He reels off a bunch of examples, such as Wes Anderson or Yorgos Lanthimos's films, particularly Emma Stone's performance in Poor Things. Which I haven't seen yet so I can't comment.
However, in animation, I would definitely talk about the puppet stop motion films of Barry JC Purves, who adopts a very theatrical style. For example, look at the way Tchaikovsky moves in this one:
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His films on classical themes, like the one on Achilles, are perhaps even more so. The vibe of this is fantastic, perfectly suited to the range of motion of the puppets (which are limited in terms of facial expression) and coming across as very intentional and distinctive. I wrote about him a year ago for Animation Night 161, where I've collected all the films of his that I can find online.
Really there's no one 'best' acting style - it's a toolkit, which you can apply to different ends. The kind of 'naturalism' that pleases the Academy can be a very good tool for a drama, but there are plenty of other ways to do it, especially in animation where the entire world can support the performance far more easily than choreographing a comparable sequence in live action. Something like Revolutionary Girl Utena or Rose of Versailles would not be improved by a more naturalistic acting style! But equally Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade benefits hugely from its realist style and reserved performances. Maybe if there's any advice to give, it's that be conscious you're making a choice and commit to it whole hog...
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grailfinders · 5 months ago
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Grailfinders #355: Ibuki Douji (Berserker)
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tonight on Grailfinders it’s time to paaaartay! we’re building Ibuki Douji (Berserker), which means we have two goals: get drunk off our ass, blast every square inch of the battlefield with water, and cheer on the rest of our team!
to do all that, Ibuki Douji is a Prismari Druid, as well as a Drunken Master Monk. I know, I’m disappointed we can’t just dump wisdom too.
check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!
next up: you must construct additional museums!
Ancestry & Background
like before, Ibuki is a Yuan-Ti Pureblood, meaning she gets +1 Dexterity and +2 Constitution (thanks, Tasha!) as well as Darkvision to dunk on puny mortals, Innate Spellcasting for poison spray and animal friendship (only at snakes) for free, plus one casting of Suggestion per day starting at level three. Ibuki’s a real force of nature, people just kind of follow in her stead. you also get Magic Resistance. yes, to all magic. like, all of it. everywhere. all at once. plus, you’re immune to poison, both the damage type and the condition.
you might think Yuan-Ti are busted, but that's only because they are!
Ibuki’s also still a Hermit, since it’s the closest we can get to a wandering nature spirit, giving you proficiency in Medicine and Religion.
Ability Scores
our lowest score is Intelligence. you have no idea how much it hurts me that we can’t dump wisdom, but it’s needed for multiclassing. second is Strength. obviously Ibuki is strong, but we can get that power elsewhere and D&D builds are supposed to be balanced. this means your Constitution is just above average, but with your ancestral bonus that’ll be plenty. Wisdom is set to the absolute minimum we can get it while still multiclassing. you are literally drunk all the time in this form. if I could get it below three I would. Charisma is next up- again, you are a social storm that drags people along in its wake, but I can’t really justify making your highest stat something that isn’t useful, especially when your wisdom��s so low. that means Dexterity is highest. you don’t really wear armor, and this is where your strength will come from in just a bit, so it all works out!
Class Levels
1. Druid 1: starting off as a druid means you can learn Druidic! it’s a language. you also learn Spells this level, and their power is based on your Wisdom. you can prepare different spells each day, so feel free to experiment- any spells we mention here are nice, but you can always pick whatever fits your party best.
for cantrips, grab Control Flames and Frostbite to start off your elemental party right. Ibuki’s toolkit is mostly physical attacks and water, but she does have fire and lightning abilities as well, so feel free to mix things up as you go.
our first level spells of note are mostly cheerleading, with Faerie Fire giving you some lanterns that will give everyone else advantage on hitting creatures, Protection from Evil and Good blocking out any bad vibes from ruining your summer, and Healing Word letting the party go on longer.
2. Druid 2: second level druids can graduate from Prismari, which I’m justifying because… most cheerleaders are for colleges? maybe? idk, I don’t think Ibuki thought her outfit through much either. second level druids can Wild Shape, but we aren’t turning into a snake any time soon, so grab Wild Companion instead. now that you can use your shape charges to find a familiar instead, you have goldfish! (note: find familiar brand goldfish do not fly, grailfinders is not liable for any dead fish caused by trying to match ibuki’s in-game sprites.)
the real fun this level comes from your prismari goody bag- with Creative Skill you get proficiency in Athletics and Acrobatics to perfect your cheer routine. you also learn some Kinetic Artistry, letting you dash as a bonus action proficiency times per day, with one of three added effects. with a Boreal Sweep, you can walk on water, and force strength saves on any creature you move near, knocking them prone on a failure. your Scorching Whirl lets you let off a fireball once while you run, dealing a bit of damage to every creature nearby if they fail a dexterity save. finally, a Thunderlight Jaunt lets you pass through creatures without taking opportunity attacks. everybody kind of teleports around to fit the phone screen, but Ibuki doesn’t even have a hopping animation, she just goes.
3. Monk 1: speaking of hopping, bouncing over to monk gives you an Unarmored Defense, adding a whopping +1 from your wisdom modifier to your AC. better yet, you get Martial Arts- as long as you aren’t wearing armor, you can use dexterity to attack and deal damage with your fists, simple weapons, and short swords. outside of spells and unarmed attacks, your arsenal consists of an umbrella, a pool toy sword, and a big stone pillar, so they all work. ..maybe that last one would be too heavy if you weren’t a god, but flavorwise it should be fine.
you also deal at least 1d4 with all monk weapon attacks, and that will grow as you level up. as a plus, attacking with a monk weapon or unarmed lets you make an unarmed attack as a bonus action for free!
4. Monk 2: second level monks get 2 Ki points per short rest, and even more as they level up. right now, you can spend one ki per turn to attack twice, dodge, disengage, or dash as a bonus action. to make dashing even more dashing, you get Unarmored Movement this level as well, adding ten feet to your regular movement speed, and -say it with me now- more as you level up! monk is a very gradual class.
5. Druid 3: which makes the shift back to druid all the more jarring, but we need that NP! at level three you get second level spells like Continual Flame to make permanent lanterns, Lesser Restoration to cheer up people who got a summer cold, and Flame Blade. the blade is a metaphor. for your tail. the tail is literal.
6. Druid 4: fourth level druids get a wild shape improvement but we don’t care about that! we do, however, care about that sweet, sweet, Ability Score Improvement, which will bump up your Dexterity a bit higher. you also get the Guidance cantrip this level, so everyone’s ability checks can be a bit higher. just a reminder that spells are obvious, so maybe cast this before you enter the shop, not right before you haggle with the wine seller.
7. Druid 5: fifth level druid, third level spells! this is the level things get spicy. grab Aura of Vitality for one more cheer, because after that it’s time for fun! Call Lightning is one of druid’s premiere damage spells, creating a 60’ radius space that you can blast lightning down on with impunity for up to 10 minutes. you can even piggyback off a real storm for even more damage! speaking of, Sleet Storm is a bit too cold for our tastes, but it’s still a good downpour, and we really needed one of those. it makes the ground all slippery, and anyone inside has to make saves to keep concentration on spells. ‘course, if you want water without all that flavor nonsense, there’s always Tidal Wave. you can create a 30’ long wall of water that deals bludgeoning damage to everything inside. it also extinguishes fires, but weirdly doesn’t have any other explicit interactions with objects.
8. Druid 6: sixth level prismari cheerleaders have a Favored Medium of cold, fire, or lightning, giving them resistance to that damage type. when you deal that damage with a spell, creating an aura around you that spreads that resistance to nearby friends. despite consistently flooding the battlefield, your other party members don’t get hurt- this is why.
don’t worry too much about which to choose, by the way- you can swap the damage type each long rest.
9. Druid 7: congrats on surviving long enough to use fourth level spells! Control Water isn’t quite as spectacular as tidal wave since it requires water in the area to start with, but that’s why you carry a wineskin with you. among other reasons. you can make the water flood out by twenty feet, part the water to let your less aquatic party members walk through, redirect the flow in impossible ways, or create a whirlpool that sucks creatures in.
you can also cast Ride the Lightning to teleport from point a to point b, zapping everyone around you as you move.
10. Druid 8: use this ASI to max out your dexterity for the hardest hits and the hardest hide- you also get another wild shape improvement but nobody cares about that right now.
11. Druid 9: ninth level druids get fifth level spells, and we kind of get our NP this level. it’s weird, the NP description basically says it’s a big wave, but she’s obviously summoning a giant water snake in the animation, which is where Summon Draconic Spirit comes in. like all newer summon spells it’s a bit neutered, but it can still hit like it has multiple heads and it comes with water breath! you can also use Cone of Cold to blast people with water pellets from your… lanterns? sure, why not. one last thing- Maelstrom creates a 30’ radius of deep water that draws people in, slows them down, and deals bludgeoning damage.
12. Druid 10: at tenth level, prismari mages learn to make a Focused Expression, adding an extra effect to your favored medium when you deal damage with your chosen damage type. if you picked cold, you’ll deal extra cold damage to one of the targets, and if they fail a constitution save they’ll be slowed down for a round, slipping and sliding on wet patches. with fire, you deal extra damage and an ally gets temporary HP. lightning also deals extra damage, but if the target fails a dex save they’ll also be prevented from making reaction that round.
also you get Resistance, so everyone can have a slightly stronger save. if you want them to, of course. make them beg a little for it.
13. Druid 11: eleventh level druid, sixth level spells! we’re getting to the point where the spells available are mostly too specific to grab as Ibuki, but thankfully the Investiture of Flame/Ice are both good picks- the former makes you immune to fire damage and resist cold, while also creating an area around you that deals fire damage to everything inside- you can even spend an action to deal a line of fire damage that forces a dexterity save for as long as you concentrate. the ice type is similar, swapping the damage protection around and instead of dealing damage it makes the area slippery, a.k.a. difficult terrain. also, instead of a line of fire, it’s a cone of cold damage, with the bonus of slowing down enemies further on a failed constitution save.
14. Druid 12: that was way too much text for two spells. lightning round- ASI. Charisma. done.
15. Druid 13: another level of spells, another way to look terrifying. with Draconic Transformation, you can turn into a dragon for a minute. it’s not as long as the last spells, but it comes with blindsight and wings, which more than make up for it in my opinion. annoyingly, this spell only deals force damage, so that’s yet another spell on the board for “things that should deal cold damage but don’t.
16. Druid 14: fourteenth level mages have an Impeccable Physicality, which is why this build is probably going to be my most popular in a while. you gain proficiency in dexterity saves, with the added bonus that every dex save will roll at least a ten now. that’s a minimum of 21 every time. on a saving throw. I’m starting to see why these subclasses were never released fully.
17. Druid 15: our last level of druid finally gets us the mechanical version of our NP, Tsunami, as well as Control Weather. Tsunami creates a 300’ long wall of water that is 50’ thick, dealing bludgeoning damage to everything inside it. each turn, it moves 50’ away from you, dragging everything it picked up along with it. each turn the wall deals a bit less damage than before, but you don’t grab tsunami to deal damage, you grab tsunami to send a message. control weather is also fun, and can be very godly, but it’s super slow- this is mostly just to keep the theme park nice and balmy.
18. Monk 3: we’re finally back to monk! at third level you set down the path of the Drunken Master, though to be honest if you were sober up until now you probably aren’t cut out for Ibukidom. (I would honestly put these level earlier in the build, I just wanted to get to the NP as soon as I could.)
drunken masters can Deflect Missiles like all monks, but more importantly you have the Performance proficiency to cheer your heart out, and your Drunken Technique lets you use your flurry of blows to disengage and speed up at the same time!
19. Monk 4: fourth level monks have their clouds to slow fall on, reducing their fall damage by five times your monk level. you can also spend ki as an action for some Quickened Healing.
and I guess we’ll use this last ASI constructively. the Gift of the Gem Dragon lets you react to a nearby creature hurting you, forcing it to make a strength save or get knocked back ten feet proficiency times per day. everybody forgets to dodge the tail…
and yes, it also increases your… ughhhhhh… Wisdom, so it’s even now.
20. Monk 5: fifth level monks have d6s for fists now, which makes your Extra Attack and Stunning Strikes even more useful. the former is exactly what it says on the tin, but the latter is a bit more complicated. when you hit someone with a melee attack, you can spend a ki point to force a constitution save on them- if they fail, they’re stunned for a round. hugely powerful for melee builds.
if you need someone to stay still so you can hit them, maybe try hitting everywhere at once with a wave. if that’s not an option for whatever reason, you can use Focused Aim by spending ki points to add on to your attack roll, possibly turning a miss into a hit.
Pros & Cons:
Pros:
you are really good at crowd control, making a large number of creatures as miserable as possible through watery areas of denial. the waves, maelstrom, control water- they all slow down and push back creatures over a massive area.
while we focus on water and ice in this build, you still have plenty of options for damage, in case you come up against something that resists your specialties. most builds get a bit one-note, so this is a big point in your favor.
you yourself end up pretty mobile in this build, with prismari and monk features coming together to render you immune to your own chicanery, letting you literally wade into battle and pick off whatever enemies you want, while they’re all stuck floundering in the tide pool.
Cons:
your wisdom is too bad to be a good monk or druid, and it’s too good to be a good Ibuki. it’s the exact sour spot, and there’s not much we can do about it.
not using wild shape is throwing a ton of druid’s utility right out the window for the sake of playing to character. turn into wolves and stuff if you want, have fun. heck, Ibuki does kind of have a snake form, so it’s not a huge stretch to turn back into her.
like all water-based casters in RPGs, Ibuki Douji exists just to suffer. water has to share design space with ice, making it so half your spells don’t work with the prismari stuff, and the other half are us desperately pretending not to read the descriptions of the spells themselves.
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