#final fantasy subclass

[fgg5ebrewery]

New Subclasses: Class Replacements

Drive Link and Mobile Friendly Link

I'm phasing Elementalist and Ravager classes out and have worked on them as subclasses for Druid and Barbarian respectively as Circle of Elements and Path of the Ravager. All subclasses will be on the same document.

These classes were old and originally made as one off classes I made ages ago, I've been iffy on them for a while now so I decided to make this change.

Circle of Elements gets to choose an element that they will get benefits from, they also can choose to wild shape into elemental creatures or gain more spells they can cast using their wild shape uses.

Path of the Ravager gains access to heavy armor and damage dice in place of it's extra rage damage, while bringing in it's defensive abilities.

[postnuclearwar]

dungeon meshi!ffxv au where it's the chocobros traveling as a party through the dungeon bc noct suffers these visions of a kingdom in trouble that needs his help and his bros want to help him out.

[prokopetz]

Can you go over what is going on with Paladins and Clerics in DND, not from a mechanical or in universe perspective, but from what different sources/genres/tropes they are drawing on? They always seemed to have too much overlap in the basic concept to me to make sense as separate things in the dnd classes/stock character line up.

Clerics originated way back in the pre-OD&D days, when the game that would become Dungeons & Dragons was still a fantasy roleplaying add-on intended to be paired with your favourite historical wargame. One of the players in Dave Arneson's original Blackmoor campaign had an army whose commander/player character was a vampire named Sir Fang, who proved to be sufficiently overpowered that a mechanical "hard counter" was desired.

This ended up taking the form of a vampire-hunting priest character heavily inspired by Peter Cushing's turn as Abraham Van Helsing in the 1958 Christopher Lee adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula; that vampire-hunting priest in turn developed into what would become one of original flavour D&D's three core classes (the other two being the fighter and the wizard – the thief/rogue came later).

The paladin, meanwhile, was originally a direct, 1:1 lift of Holger Carlsen, the protagonist of Poul Anderson's 1961 fantasy novel Three Hearts and Three Lions, and was introduced as a subclass of the fighter – rather than a class of its own – in the 1975 Greyhawk supplement. Over the game's editions it's wandered from being a fighter subclass, to being a high-level "advanced class" to which qualifying characters can switch at 10th level, back to being a fighter subclass, and finally to a core class, where it's generally remained.

So, in short, the cleric was originally a purpose-built hard counter to vampire PCs loosely patterned after Peter Cushing's Abraham Van Helsing, while the paladin was originally for people who just really wanted to be one specific Poul Anderson character.

(I'm sorry if that's not a terribly satisfying answer, but you need to understand that practically everything in old-school D&D is a 1960s or 1970s pop culture reference – it just doesn't read that way to modern audiences because nobody gets the memes anymore.)

[operationslipperypuppet]

Fantasy High: Junior Year predictions that aren’t as much based in things I think will logically happen, but ones that either should happen or would be very fun/funny

Loose Duke reminiscent perception checks from Lou, constantly looking for Chungledown Bim.

Related, the return of Chungledown Bim, but they successfully escape him yet again.

Either a wedding between Hallariel and Gilear, or them having a kid. I just think Fig and Fabian would make great older siblings but also that they’d have a real hard time handling it.

Garthy O’Brien is at Mordred and it’s immediately clear that there’s something poly happening between them and Jawbone and Sandra Lynn.

Riz has some serious beef with another young licensed PI. This beef is mostly shown through Riz hissing at someone on the street, and they don’t meet this other person until episode 15. They’re pretty normal and the beef does not make sense.

A reveal that Porter is not evil or plotting something but that he was a member of Sandra Lynn’s adventuring party that she got kicked out of. Bonus if he was a deciding vote or the one who pushed her to leave. This would be fun to justify Fig’s paranoia a bit, but her reasoning was completely wrong. The best way for this reveal to happen would be for him to apologize (sincerely) to Sandra Lynn.

Adaine actually tries to include Alewyn in a lot of things, and they actually learn some important lore from Alewyn and she doesn’t put it forward in a condescending way.

Gorgug rolls up to Riz’s office, drags him out, and they go throw rocks at the river (like Riz wanted in Boys’ Night).

Another crab party live stream. That’s actually how the season opens. Kristen is crowned Crab King.

Someone suggests they go to a Drisden party. The boys scream “no” at the proposal.

Kristen succeeds in her first ever divine intervention roll (#BeardsleyBlessed)

Aguefort says something to Gorgug in the first episode about how difficult he finds him.

Gorgug changes his subclass. We had a lot of subclass changes at the end of fhsy and I think him focusing on artificing a bit more may cause him to refocus and not be as lost in rage as berserker works. The I’m going into a worry helps me think this lol

they start at level 11, there were talks of them double leveling post nightmare king forest but that wasn’t what happened with the one shots (which logistically makes a lot of sense to me). I also just think Adaine should get 6th level spells.

And finally, Brennan homebrews the spell Ice Feast, but only Adaine can cast it.

[ydteus]

Hello!! Fen’s Guide to Myriad Realms is in its FINAL 24 HOURS!!

I will be working as a NPC portrait designer along with 3 other incredible artists to bring Deluxe Tier backers’ NPCs to life in the book! You can even request an artist to design your NPC! But be aware that your artist request may not be guaranteed 100% if too many people request just one artist!

AND WITH OUR FIRST STRETCH GOAL BEING REACHED, I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DESIGN A MONSTER WITH ONE OF OUR WONDERFUL WRITERS AND @leidensygdom

In collaboration with 85+ Illustrators and Writers from across the world, this 5th Edition Supplemental is a breath of fresh air amongst the rising threat of AI in TTRPG spaces!

Travel with Fen to 4 distinctive realms based off of different genres of Fantasy!

The Endless Bloom

The Celestial Shards

The Bleeding Dream

The Calling Light

New playable Races, Classes, Subclasses, and Monsters, as well as their lore are included in this incredible project! More information can be found on the Kickstarter! I’m really proud to be a part of it!

Go support our incredible team today!

Kickstarter artwork/Cover illustration created by the amazing @jolynegarcia 🩷

[marielle555]

Astarion's story is complete.

Congratulations to all BG3 fans on the release of the final Patch 8! The story is complete, “Patch 8 will be the last game patch to introduce new content” (according to the developers themselves). I'll admit, the first thing I did after the update, was to check if Astarion was okay. And it was very pleasant to see that our Sun Lord is doing great! No new content was added, but they've already done quite a bit of good stuff for him in patch 7. It's a bit unfair, of course, that the most attractive male character in the game was deprived in terms of romance, and does not have a tender romantic line, and even a kiss and hug in the epilogue, unlike other companions. But the main thing is that Larian did the right thing and reasonably ignored the demands of haters and fans of messing up games and did not return to the game ugly bug of patch 6, which drew on the face of the player's character mimicry of a frightened victim. And no “switch” for the ability to see it in the game also did not do. And they won't. Fans of D/s romance and those wishing to add “spice” to relationships can comfortably enjoy kissing. Tav's smile in the kneeling kiss is just excellent! Perfection. For fans of classic romance and those who want to give Astarion as much love and tenderness as he deserves and really needs, there is the best mod - “Nightingale's Lord Astarion - Ascended Astarion Hugs Kisses Voiced Dialog”. I personally think this mod is just the coolest thing for all fans of Ascended Astarion, since it leaves the possibility for kissing from the original game too, and you can vary if you want. I hope that in the future, Larian will fix their issues with mod support on all platforms (it does, after all, relate to technical issues that developers have to fix, even after finalizing the game's story and gameplay), and console players will also be able to get a decent romantic fan service.

In patch 8 there are a lot of new interesting subclasses, which causes an irresistible desire to immediately start a new playthrough (I really want to try out the Swashbuckler subclass for Astarion)! And a curious photo mode. Of course, what I wanted most of all, was to change the camera angle during dialog (to bring back that wonderful angle of view that was before patch 3, when the camera during dialog remained on Astarion, and not jumped to Tav), and I was waiting for this very improvement from patch 8, but, alas, this feature was not added. But it was a loss since patch 3, and patch 8, although it did not return the lost, but added a new feature. In general, the photo mode is interesting and gives a lot of opportunities for fantasy.

Now this story is finished, and I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who, after patch 6, fought for Astarion and for our possibility of a happy playthrough of this game! Under the sun and with true freedom, for the right to see a happy and contented Astarion, to hear him laughing, “I feel alive, hahaha!”, banters at the mirror, happy walks in sunny Baldur, when it makes sense to fight on, when Astarion and Tav have a future that wants to be lived. And an adorable bat in the epilogue. Thank you for your letters, posts, and reviews! Thank you to the modders and youtubers for their amazing work! Without you, I would have had to leave this game with heartache, hatred and disgust. But that didn't happen. Larian listened to our feedback and arguments. With mods we have a great game that can only get better in the future with new mods. I wish everyone joyful evil and fun playthroughs, good playthroughs (helping a loved one escape from suffering - it doesn't make your Tav “evil”, it's an absolutely natural desire of any loving person, let moralists cry for every NPC they kill, if they are such moralists), gray and as far as your imagination is enough chaotic playthroughs with our beloved Sun Lord!

P.S. This video has a great selection of the best mods for Ascended Astarion (links to the mods below the video) that may please you in your game!

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hi! I was wondering if you happen to know of any ttrpgs that utilize dragoons as a class option/thematic presence?

THEME: Dragoons

Hello, so when I followed up with you, you mentioned that you wanted dragoons from Final Fantasy, rather than the historical dragoons - and I’m glad I clarified, because I was sifting through historical games at first. From what I understand, the main points of dragoons is that they are a class who fights with a spear, with strong elements of launching themselves into the air/attacking from heights to land hits with extreme force. I also understand that they are meant to have strong relationships to dragons. So let’s see what we’ve got.

Final Fantasy Legend Edition, by Mildra the Monk.

This is an intermediate-complexity tabletop roleplaying game based on the Japanese console RPG series, Final Fantasy.Whether you're a veteran or someone new to the series, these streamlined rules and various customization options will help you get started with ease.

When I went to check out this game, the Dragoon class was the first image listed on the storefront. This class comes with some classic jump abilities, and other character abilities that are all about pinning down your enemies from the air. You also have access to the appropriately-themed Dragon Arts, tying your character intimately to their historic roots. The game itself moves through what it calls a four-phase structure: Preparation, Exploration, Encounter and Downtime. Each arc is likely to follow a quest that has been given to your characters, and these four scenes give you a procedural structure that typifies many ttrpgs.

Megalos: Crystalpunk Fantasy Roleplaying, by matara.

MEGALOS is a game for telling stories about adventures in the clouds, fighting evil empires, and dueling ancient gods. The Worlds of MEGALOS are vast and old, each a cosmic emanation connected to one another by the Wellspring- the source of all aether in the cosmos. Make your own World of MEGALOS or play in one of ours, from the Oradam Rift to Pallid Telkane to Zone Gachette to The Erefane. Soar through the air in an airship, dogfight imperials, and wield aetheric magicks as a punk-rock witch.

This tabletop game is inspired by things like classic JRPGs, electronica music, and medieval alchemy. MEGALOS is the first game to use the SLIPSTREAM game engine, which uses pools of d20s as the core of its task resolution mechanic.

The martial damage class for Megalos is called the Throne, and it hast at least two subclasses that I think you could use to make a Dragoon-like character. As a base class, Thrones have access to a flight ability called Liftoff, and both Arklights and Champions use this ability to do some neat things with combat.

Arklights are warrior monks, interested in the “protection and cultivation of ‘good’”. They have a lot of light and wings metaphors, including an ability called Falcon Dive, which allows you to dive at your opponent while in the air, with an upgrade ability to inflict piercing damage to multiple enemies. Then there’s the Champions, fighters who are all about learning new techniques and experiencing combat as a way of life. They’re very brawl-friendly characters, but their abilities Aerial Charge (which launches you in the air) and Meteor Drop (which is practically a dive-bomb attack) give me pretty strong Dragoon vibes.

Lancer, by Massif Press - and the Field Guide to Suldan, by KaiTave.

Lancer is a tabletop role playing game centred on shared narratives, customizable mechs, and the pilots who crew them. Set many thousands of years from the present day, Lancer imagines a future where a survivor humanity has spread to the stars after weathering terrible ecological collapse on Earth -- the end of the Anthropocene as a consequence of unrestrained consumption and poor stewardship.

Lancer features a mix of gritty, mud-and-lasers military science fiction and mythic science fantasy. In the setting, conscript pilots mix ranks with flying aces, mercenary guns-for-hire brawl with secretive corporate agents, and relativistic paladins cross thermal lances with causality-breaking, unknowable beings.

Lancer’s big thing is the ability to make a mech that can do some really cool things, all based around combat. You build your mechs with pieces you gain access to through licenses, many of which are distributed by various companies and organization. The base game has the IPS-N Nelson Frame, which is all about close-quarters combat and high mobility, with a gigantic War Pike that can puncture armour. If you want to go full Dragoon mode though, you’ll want to download the Field Guide to Suldan fan expansion, which has an additional frame option for the Nelson, giving you the power of flight - and an ability called Drive Burst, which allows you to move really fast in one direction and do a whole bunch of extra damage to anyone in your way.

If you want a game that’s all about figuring out neat combos and making your machine really really good at specific things, you want to try Lancer.

Fabula Ultima, by Need Games.

FABULA ULTIMA is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game inspired by Japanese-style console RPGs, or JRPGs.  In Fabula Ultima, you and your friends will tell epic stories of would-be heroes and fearsome villains, set in fantasy worlds brimming with magic, wondrous locations, and uniquely bizarre monsters!

A game that is typically advertised for folks who want a Final Fantasy experience, Fabula Ultima is likely going to hit a lot of similar plot beats and game moments that feel familiar. When it comes to character creation, you are expected to put together a few different options to make someone with a lot of cool talents that you can expand on as you grow.

One of the pre-gens in Press Start, a quick-start version of the game, looks fairly Dragoon-like, with a heavy spear and a move called “Soaring Strike” that looks like it can send you airborne to fight flying enemies, so I think it should be fairly easy to make the kind of character you’re looking for.

First Fantasy, by Marc Strocks.

A one-page RPG created for the game(s) jam.  In the year 199X, technological cities grow thicker by the day, feeding off the planet's resources. Demonic fiends fill the wilds, attacking anything that moves. With a weapon by your side, you travel the world. This is your mission. This is your story.

First-Fantasy is a single page full of a lot of roll tables, both for character creation and adventure creation. This game feels like it’s relying on folks who are well acquainted with the lore and tropes of Final Fantasy, and gives you a few tools to add chance to your story. Character creation is pretty slim, but the Dragoon class does give you the basics: a spear or a sword, a Jump-charge ability, and the metal plate you’d probably expect a knight of some kind to wear.

UMBRA, by Star Bear Games.

UMBRA is a Table Top Role Playing Game in which you delve into a world of bug Knights! It features the quick and snappy combat of the LUMEN system.

Under and within a grand oak tree lays a sprawling metropolis known as the Cradle. Making their lives under the watchful rule of the Ashen King, are the bugs of the Cradle. Every bug has a part to play, big or small, in the kingdom. For you, oh noble Knights, your part is that of protector.

Inspired by Hollow Knight, I thought about Umbra for two reasons: one, because the titular character of the game does a lot of jumping when in combat, and two, because this game is based in LUMEN, which is all about modular combat and strategy.

You cobble together a few different things to make your character unique, including a House, a weapon, and armour called Regalia, which give you different abilities or advantages. If you want to make a Dragoon-like character, I’d recommend making a bug from Horn House, which gives you the hard-hitting, high-damage typical of an armour-puncturing spear. You’d then make your spear by taking a Point weapon and giving it tags like Reaching, to give yourself the ability to stab from a distance. Then for Shell regalia, you can take either Hovering Wings, which gives you the ability to fly, or Propelling Wings, which give you heightened jumps, allowing you to stay in the air for extended periods of time.

If UMBRA itself isn’t the setting that you want but you like this level of customization, then I recommend checking out some other LUMEN games for different genres, but the same easy-to-learn fast-action strategy.

RottenFall Heroes, by LazerSamuraiGG

In a world forever changed by cosmic disaster, ordinary lives collided with the extraordinary. It all began with the sudden appearance of mysterious beings, turning unsuspecting humans into monstrous entities known as the ROTTEN. The trigger? A mysterious collision between an Obsidian Pyramid and the moon.

As if this upheaval wasn't enough, interdimensional beings known as VILLAINS seeped into our reality, distorting familiar landscapes into surreal nightmares.

Yet, amidst the turmoil, emerged a glimmer of hope – the Heroes. These courageous individuals joined forces, establishing schools and enterprises to combat the encroaching darkness. They ventured forth into the warped realities, confronting villains and safeguarding the innocent.

Mechanically, I cannot honestly say that RottenFall Heroes has anything that looks like a Dragoon in fighting style. However, what it does have is a class called a dragon knight, which involves a person who has a solemn pact with an ancient Dragon, who has granted them access to special powers. In Dragon Form, you are especially talented at wielding two-handed weapons, and I think you can choose a spear or lance if that’s what you desire. You can also re-roll your attacks when fighting with your clawed hands, and you’re resistant to fire. If you want the connection to dragons more than the ability to jump really high and pile-drive someone from the sky, then you might be interested in RottenFall Heroes.

You might also want to check out…

The Fire Emblem recommendation post I put up a couple of weeks ago.

The Official FFXIV TTRPG has Dragoon options! And it looks like there are free versions of the rulebooks.

This playbook for SLAYERS is all about playing a Dragoon-like character.

[its-knifewife]

Memorial Day Weekend is the biggest sale on mattresses of the year

so of course I am doing a donothon for a new mattress the following Friday. Friday May 31st - join me on Twitch for a donothon for a new mattress because my back f&%king hurts and I really want to sleep comfortably. *First 5 people to donate $100 in a single donation get a custom made fragrance bundle, which includes a soap, candle, perfume/cologne roller, room/linen spray and air freshener - We will work together to make something custom for you and it will be sent to you with FREE shipping. USA only, due to shipping restrictions for perfume. You have to be comfortable giving me your address. PO Boxes also work, but please let me know your PO Box dimensions.

*Donate a total of $50 and I will put your Sim through the Death Gauntlet. If you don't already have a Simself, I will make you one based off vibes/pfp. Death Gauntlet stream will be announced TBD.

*Cheap Crowd Control Day: The game is TBD later, but we will do a cheap crowd control day where everything will be soooo cheap for you to torment me (and possibly my friends) . Community will vote on the game and I/we will play it.

*Highest (total) donor will be an NPC in a one-shot that I will run with my friends. We will stream the one shot, and I will be DMing. I will work with you to determine what kinda vibe you'd like the NPC to be, and I will put them in the one-shot with a guaranteed appearance.

$100 - Final Fantasy 6

$250 - Modded Left 4 Dead with the homies

$500 - Cheap Crowd Control Day

$750 - Darkest Dungeon

$900- Dragon's Dogma 2

$1200 - Hades

$1500 - Sea of Thieves

$2000 - D&D Oneshot

$2250 - Chat creates a dnd character with me - this is a separate NPC that will appear in the oneshot, and it will be voted on what type of character it is, including lineage, class, subclass, personality, etc.

$2500 - Face Cam in Crow Kigurumi

[phoenixcatch7]

Every so often I drift back to the overlord anime but I can never stay for long because it's a good 70% smut with the succubus and 20% side character drama that never goes anywhere. It's a similar premise to svsss, in that a modern guy accidentally gets sucked into a fictional fantasy world he was obsessed with as the villain with a group of people and a place he rules over and wants to protect, and his paranoia/procrastination combo strategises his way to victory.

So of course I thought, 'let's get our dear old scum villain (affectionate) in here'.

Cuz i'mma be real sy would make an infinitely more interesting panicking lich king. Take off that emotion nullification, for starters.

A) pidw was a vr mmorpg with a vast, overarching storyline of the rising emperor lbh, whom players could battle or wed for rewards. A respawning final boss of such strength it took a world wide unified invasion of top players to fell. When sy gets pulled into pidw and all the npcs come to life, so too does lbh, who is very confused as to what happened but remembers sy as one of the players who fronted the invasion (having dug up every nugget of lore on lbh and using that vast knowledge in strategy) and carries an immense grudge that eventually turns into love as he gets to know sy. Sqh is there too, of course, the uncredited game dev who made lbh and his right hand man mbj, who's own base in the north got retaken when mbj also resurrected and is having his own worrisome love story.

B) sy and sqh are in the same guild, named cq, and the demons are sqhs overly detailed npc. Lbh works as the guardian overseer, aka the head npc, and as they wait for the game to shut down sy sneakily makes a joke in lbhs character sheet about him loving sy. They get sucked in, the characters come to life, and sy spends the time he isn't using panicking about the situation, five dimensional politicking, or protecting the base being in denial about the whole lbh thing (and his no homo) and feeling DEEPLY guilty (and hiding it from sqh). Lbh, of course, now having free will, thinks about it a bit and decides to fall madly in love with his kind, gentle, soft hearted lich king boss in spite of his loyalty to his creator. Sqh goes 'dude, wtf' and so goes a very long back and forth as sy tries and fails to come up with the right code of ethics to deal with this insane situation he inadvertently created, meanwhile lbh is strategising how one could feasibly get railed by a skeleton and being the Best Housewife Right Hand Man Ever. And get headpats in the process.

C) sy was part of the xianxia themed cq guild, and everyone (the peak lords) got sucked into either ygddrassil (overlord world) or pidw (svsss). Basically, all the peak lords are millennials old friends running around trying to deal with the consequences of their role play and finally getting to try out the fancy food and drink. I love this one because everyone would be really comfortable with each other, lots of slang and in jokes, a well oiled team stuck in a crazy situation together with ridiculously powerful characters each and every one, and you could have sj as a member! Sy could be the beast tamer peak lord. It'd be so interesting to see what they'd class and subclass as. Sy might still be a lich, but Yqy would be a really interesting choice! Him and sj would definitely still have history though... Hulijing, wood elf, bamboo spirit, human, who knows!

D) sy spent a few years as the lich king guild leader in ygddrassil (I'm definitely not spelling it right), bored by the lack of anything interesting, before the system intervened (maybe as a remnant of the original game interface?) and whisked him off to svsss. Post canon he gets either revealed as an imposter or there's some past life wife plot (some animal that was a boobacious beauty in its past life getting cursed to switch between them?) that turns sy into his old big bad lich overlord form, which is hilariously incongruent with his personality but utterly terrifying and anathema to the jianghu, but lbh is now having to crane his neck back and desperately trying to figure out how to get dommed. Everyone is fully convinced this is sy's og body, and not some modern human one they don't even get to see.

E) sy gets yoinked by system and when lbh (and maybe some others?) catch up a few years later he's in the skeleton body in ygddrassil dabbling in world domination and very eager to see them. The npcs get introduced and draw many incorrect conclusions.

[oddeyes588]

A little late to the party but I do have some thoughts about Fantasy High Junior Year now that it's over. First of all, overall? Great season, had lots of laughs... but man, is it just me, or were there a lot of parts in this season that just... were kind of annoying? For me specifically, two big things... and no, I'm not talking about the Rat Grinders. While I'm a little disappointed with how that ended, I'm not too bothered.

Like, idk if this is a hot take or not, because they were arguably the biggest parts of this season... but I found myself especially annoyed and/or disappointed about K2 and Porter.

Like, don't get me wrong, I thought K2 was funny—especially at first—and Porter being the main villain of the season was 100% for the bit and I can respect that... but man, I couldn't help but be disappointed with Porter going full irredeemably evil, as well as just straight-up annoyed by K2's existence (at least in regards to the story. gameplaywise, making a homunculus of their cleric was VERY smart) (oh god if K2 exists in our world now she might come after me. dont forget me).

In regards to Porter... he was for sure an ass, he caused Gorgug a lot of grief with the MCAT, but he also had such a really sweet moment with him when that thing finally got signed?? It was very, like, not a perfect teacher but someone who did have his best interests in mind, paired with a really nice message about how it's alright to get mad. It was an important part of Gorgug's character growth this season! Integral to unlocking his Barbificer subclass!

...and then all of that just gets thrown away because turns out Porter was evil the whole time and this was all just leading up to his big master plan of killing a god and becoming a god of war. He was never offering genuine advice, he never cared about Gorgug or had his best interests in mind, he thought Gorgug's fascination with Artificing was stupid... and now he's dead. The End.

And that just feels... really disappointing, honestly. He was a chill guy, and yeah he had no right to bar Gorgug from pursuing what he wants and force him to take so many years of school in a single year, but it also resulted in some serious growth on Gorgug's part! It was great! Him being Evil The Whole Time felt... almost like a character assassination, honestly.

And then... there's K2...

I'm gonna be real here. I don't care if using a homunculus and shit for multiple divine intervention rolls is how it actually works in the rulebooks, and I know that objectively having more rolls is always better, especially when the stakes are high... and especially considering that Ally was not getting the rolls they needed otherwise.

This was hilarious. It was also supremely annoying, because it just fully took away from any big moment Kristen could've had this season regarding her and Cassandra after her creation... and this happened TWICE.

Like, from a storytelling perspective, I feel Brennan's pain viscerally. These episodes were truly such an experience for me, because on one hand, I was laughing at the sheer comedy of it all... but there was another part of my brain thinking this truly, truly sucked.

Kristen was figuring out her devotion to Cassandra, finding an understanding in what her role as Cassandra's cleric is... and right at the end of the season all of that kind of comes to a halt because in the end K2 did the divine interventions.

...Well, at least that still leaves some room for whatever Kristen will have to deal with in Senior year. Unlike Porter, who is dead and gone and we're definitely not bringing him back.

[longwombraider]

SVMP 145 SPOILERS!

I HAVE SO MAMY THOUGJTS LMFAOOOO first of all like TOUMA BEING A DAD??? cracked me up 😭 also I think mahiru's mum was the woman at the door peeping out, and goddamn does Mahiru take after her !!

ALSO SAKUYA IS?? ALIVE?? like human right????? wtf 😨 does that mean his sister didn't jump? or did he not jump??? All the eves/human characters in this alternative timeline seem to have a happy ending (except for Nicco, rip to him, but WHAT?? how did bro die wtf😭😭 rizzler had to get nerfed😞) (I also hope this means the subclasses are alive still like Oto🥲 maybe she got her revenge against that director and didn't commit suicide)

also seeing tsubaki and kuro be so silly together and on the same team (I think) is SO refreshing and so cute like YES HOLY SHIT finally something cute and a bit light hearted (despite the dire situation)

And Hugh?? was the one carrying Kuro??? NGL I might be dumb but was it only Kuro/Tsubaki that came from the current timeline into this "mirror world"?? because how tf did every other servamp have a new eve/their own life but tsubaki and Kuro seemed so displaced + Hugh was carrying Kuro's cat form ?? And lily is nowhere to be seen as of now too

But greed team being together is so cute 😭 Apart from Licht's inverted streak, he still looks relatively the same, albeit a bit older imo. But they're so cute!!! They look like best friends ngl lol how are they getting along so well in this mirror world 🤭🤭 (bfs!!!!!!)

I was also laughing my ass off at Mikuni with the crow servamp 😭😭 bro is soo leaning into the theatrics and drama of having the dark feathers falling around him lol (Poor Tsurugi tho💀🙏)

This was all from the top of my head so I might've missed things but also this whole world, despite seemingly so perfect and happy, seems a bit..? unsettling?? like it isn't right. maybe because we know that Mikuni was the one that did some god knows what ritual to open this mirror world so it could be a fantasy/elaborate fake world for all we know.

[fgg5ebrewery]

2 More Subclasses: Oath of the Templar and Onion Knight

Drive Link and Mobile Friendly Link

2 more subclasses, this time the Templar and the Onion Knight for Paladin and Fighter respectively.

Templars are designed around countering mages and shutting down magic. Onion Knights much to their inspiration start off with very little, but grow exponentially for their last levels.

[victorluvsalice]

Help: How Do Tav!Smiler in BG3???

Hi everyone -- say, do you remember how, way back at the end of January last year, I made a post about how I'd recently gotten my hands on Baldur's Gate III and I was going to make Smiler my "Tav?" To go with my VTMB Malkavian Fledgling Alice and my FO4 Sole Survivor Victor? Are any of you wondering how that's going?

It's -- kind of not! I haven't actually gotten that far in the game, mostly because I stopped playing for most of 2024 due to a combination of "I want to play with cool mods but I'm nervous that they'll break the game thanks to these glitches I read about on the game's subreddit" and "I am already stressed about this game, Larian, if you're going to get cutesy about when Patch 6 is actually coming out I'm going back to Sims 4 and Fallout 4." I finally picked it back up again late last year, clearing out all my old saves and starting again using the in-game mod manager to manage the mods I wanted. And I made some decent progress for once: getting past the tutorial, picking up a bunch of companions (Shadowheart, Astarion, Gale, and Lae'zel), fetching Withers from his crypt, and helping the tieflings defend their gate from the attacking goblin hordes. I was all set to head into the tiefling camp, start helping them with their problems, and pick up Wyll --

And then Patch 8 came out. And while I was waiting for mods to update (a process that involved me going "shit what's going to happen with ImpUI, the creator said they weren't updating it anymore and I'm pretty sure at least ONE of my mods needs it" and "uh, how DO you update mods in the in-game mod manager?"), something happened in my brain related to an entirely different thing that I enjoy --

That made me realize "fuck, I think I need to restart again...and I might need some help figuring out what exactly it is I want to do." Let me see if I can sum it up step by step:

I. Okay, so -- all three times I've tried to get a playthrough of BG3 going pre-Patch 8, I've always had Smiler start out as a Bard. Because, well, I like the class features they get, and I felt that it suited Smiler pretty well -- they're reasonably musical (they play guitar and drums, after all), and they are definitely a high-Charisma person, which is one of a Bard's primary stats.

II. However, I've never actually been able to come up with a backstory for my Bard Smiler, beyond "probably raised by their uncle Felix instead of Matt and Carol in this universe" and "likely a traveling entertainer/alchemist pre-abduction" (since I've always used mods to have them multiclass into the Alchemist subclass of the Artificer class to represent their talent for all things chemistry and alchemy). I never worried that much about it, though, as I wasn't really trying to make a story out of any of my playthroughs (I only need ONE project like "Londerland Bloodlines" going at a time, thank you) -- they were just supposed to be about having fun. I just thought it would be nice to know what that Smiler was all about.

III. And here's where the entirely different thing comes in. Who here has heard of the web series CaFae Latte? It's a fun TikTok series (though I only watch the YouTube compilations for each season because I don't have and don't want a TikTok account) about a group of people working in and having adventures out of a fairy-owned coffee shop in a more magical version of Minnesota, by one C. M. Alongi. My friend Gigs got me into it last year, and I've been really enjoying catching up on all the various adventures of Bob, Cyrus, JC, Nicole, and all the other staff/customers/related entities who show up. In fact, I've been enjoying it so much that recently I started writing mental fanfic for it --

And me being me, it was of course Valicer-related fanfic. XD Specifically, I started thinking, "wouldn't it be fun to have Smiler get hired as a new barista at the coffee shop? I already have them working at one in the Modern AU! Though, given this is an urban fantasy series, maybe I should go for a not-exactly-human Smiler...maybe I can do something like my VITD Smiler and have them be somehow connected to our favorite eldritch god of happiness Mar-Mal? Yeah, that'd work!" So I started imaging a scenario where a Smiler with a link to Mar-Mal (expressed, of course, through their glowing yellow eyes) got a job at the CaFae and started making friends with the people already there --

IV. Which led to me thinking of a moment where one of the characters asked Smiler if their relationship with Mar-Mal was like being a D&D warlock (since some of the characters are D&D fans). And this made me think, "Hmmm -- I know that eldritch entities ARE valid patrons for warlocks in that game -- just look at Prudence from Oxventure. But can you pick one of those with warlocks in Baldur's Gate III? I've only ever looked at the Bard write-up on the wiki in detail, I should check it out, just for funsies." So one Saturday night, I did indeed check it out, going through the BG3 Wiki's entry on the Warlock class and looking at the special features you get with a Great Old One Patron --

And. Right at level one. I saw that one of the things you get is a slightly-expanded spell list to pick from for your first couple of warlock spells. With the two extra spells Great Old Ones give you being "Tasha's Hideous Laughter" -- the most Smiler spell of the lot because it's literally INCAPACITATING PEOPLE WITH LAUGHTER -- and "Dissonant Whispers" -- a spell I had LITERALLY JUST FUCKING GIVEN SMILER during their second level-up before Patch 8, because I'd decided they should focus on Psychic damage and I could headcanon the whispers as distracting creepy laughter. And then I kept going down the page, and I kept seeing all the mind control spells I thought Smiler should have on the list of spells Warlocks could pick up as they level up, and near the bottom the "Thought Shield" stuff specific to Great Old One Patrons that both grants resistance to and reflects back all psychic damage dealt to the warlock...

V. ...and my brain immediately went "oh hey! Can you imagine a younger Smiler, maybe running away from the local version of Kelman, getting contacted by Mar-Mal and offered a pact to help them out? With their service being to use their talents to spread happiness and joy throughout the world? By any means possible?"

...cue me realizing FUCKING HELL, I MADE SMILER THE WRONG BASE CLASS. *facepalm* Like, how the HELL did I not realize this before?! One of my favorite versions of Smiler is my VITD Smiler, who -- while not exactly in a pact with their god -- does have a strong connection with them through Mar-Mal blessing them, and who I've already decided gets at least one of their special playbook powers through Mar-Mal granting it to them ("Mesmerism," for the curious -- will allow Smiler to Sway someone, then make them forget it happened until the next time they see Smiler. Mar-Mal thinks this is a useful talent; Smiler thinks Alice is gonna get mad at them if they use it). And Warlock is another Charisma-based casting class! Smiler being a warlock of some description TOTALLY makes sense!

VI. Except -- well, it's not quite as simple as that. I've been thinking about this for the past couple of weeks, and I've come to the conclusion that there are three key things about Smiler that I would like to express in the "Tav" version --

a) Their connection to Mar-Mal, and the mind- and emotion-control spells that grants

b) Their musical talents and ability to get people's attention with a show

c) Their alchemist talents and ability to craft various potions and elixirs and whatnot

Now, of those three, a) and b) are easy enough to represent -- I was already planning on multiclassing Smiler with the help of a "go all the way up to Level 20" mod, and "Bardlock" is a very legit dual-class combination, given that both are Charisma-based casters AND learning the "Song of Rest" as a bard gives you the benefit of an extra Short Rest to recharge the warlock spell slots. Plus, for Smiler specifically, Bard has the "buff your allies" spells that I'd like them to have (like "Sanctuary" -- both because it's useful for keeping enemies away from a person and because of the name accidentally referencing Kelman's little asylum of horrors :P) and, as of Patch 8, a lovely "College of Glamour" subclass that would allow them to buff their allies, automatically Charm enemies who attack those allies in melee, and order people around in combat. All things I would love for my Smiler to have! So yeah, to cover those two items, Bardlock Smiler is definitely the way to go.

As for c), however -- that's a little trickier. While the game does have an alchemy system that characters can use to craft various items, I'm not sure that just using that a lot is enough to get across the idea that Smiler is a talented alchemist. Hence why on my first playthroughs, I was using Artificer mods to make them an official Alchemist via the power of subclass. However, there's two potential problems with doing that now:

One, that would mean triple-classing, and I'm not sure if that would be too complicated a character build -- especially since I'm not sure which class should be primary (I was thinking Warlock, as per my initial reaction to realizing how well it fit them above, but given my idea is that Smiler would have at least their alchemy skills before any pact with Mar-Mal, maybe Artificer makes more sense...) and how many levels I should take of each (I want all my feats, but I also want as many goodies as I can get from each class)

Two, the Artificer mod I was using for my latest playthrough via the in-game mod manager, "Artificer for Home Brew - Comprehensive Reworks" -- well, when I first downloaded it, I didn't realize the "Home Brew - Comprehensive Reworks" part of the title was referring to another mod that this mod was designed to work in conjunction with. I thought it was just referring to how the mod creator adapted it to BG3! The mod seemed to work fine for the short time I had it ("Home Brew -Comprehensive Reworks" is not actually required to play with it, from what I can see), but as you might imagine, I am somewhat concerned that the damn thing might break if I keep using it in a playthrough without the "base" mod (and after taking a quick look at said base mod, I'm not interested in it). I know there are other Artificer and even custom Alchemist class mods out there, but I'm not sure which ones are good and/or Patch 8 ready (and at least one seems to have used AI images to generate class icons and pictures for their write-up on how the class works, so I don't want to use that one on principle). I could also fudge it with this mod that turns the "Experimental Alchemy" passive certain Wizards get into a feat anyone can pick up, but THAT requires either waiting until I hit level 4 in a class (which feels like it could take a while) or tracking down a Patch 8-ready mod that allows me to just pick up ONE extra feat (as I feel like getting feats every level or every other level like most mods is a TOUCH overpowered).

So yeah. Shit be complicated, yo. And that isn't even getting into me debating if Smiler's background should be "Guild Artisan" (gives skill proficiency in Insight and Persuasion, has a "can happen anywhere" inspiration trigger) or "Entertainer" (gives skill proficiency in Acrobatics and Performance, has inspiration triggers involving telling stories and participating in comedy contests that do feel very Smiler)! *grabs head* I just want Smiler to be right, damn it!

Which is why I'm hoping to get some advice from the rest of you. What do you people who are more experienced with the game recommend I do to get the Tav!Smiler I want? In fact, let's do it in the form of a poll, bitches love polls:

I'd add in suggestions for how many levels to take of each class (like 12 Warlock/4 Bard/4 Artificer), but I have limited poll options and limited characters within each option, so if you have any suggestions regarding THAT, please leave them in the replies or a reblog, a la Option 7. Any help is appreciated!

[osteoptimist]

About two months after I graduated from college, my friends and I finished a 2 year campaign of D&D 5e that went for 42 sessions.

It was amazing. I'm super proud of all of them, it was a fucking blast, and I still consider it one of the greatest artistic accomplishments of my life.

After the finale, we had an epilogue session where we met at a local fantasy themed tavern and talked about the whole thing. I answered some questions about loose threads and unsolved mysteries, and we discussed what their characters and some of the NPCs might get up to in the aftermath. Good fun.

I also told them that it was my intention to never run D&D again.

They were all understandably a little confused. Hadn't we just had an amazing time playing D&D?

And so I explained that yes, while we had lots of fun playing D&D, almost none of that fun was derived from D&D itself.

We had fun because we were all friends hanging out, telling a story together, getting to share a world and see these characters change the lives of each other and the people around them. None of that is unique to D&D, and D&D is actually worse for facilitating some of the things we had the most fun with than a lot of other games!

Moreover, I know D&D 5e about as well as someone reasonably can. I've written a massive amount of homebrew for the game, a lot of which we were able to seamlessly integrate into the campaign. I've written two classes, hundreds of spells and magic items, dozens of subclasses, and with a handful of exceptions nearly every monster they fought in that campaign had a statblock I modified or wrote from scratch.

And so by the end of that campaign, I could see exactly how it was holding me, and my players, back from what we might be able to do in a system more conducive to the kinds of stories we wanted to tell.

I love big setpiece fights that drive an overarching plot, intense social encounters with complex NPCs, and stories that shape the people in them as much as they are shaped in turn.

Now, it might sound like I just described a bunch of things DND is great for! But DND doesn't help me make any of that happen, at best it has nothing to say on the subject and at worst the system is actively working against me.

I also like to play other games, since those aren't the only kinds of stories I like to tell, and I enjoy learning new games and gaining new perspectives on how to use TTRPGs to tell stories in the first place.

Currently I think my next "main" game is going to be Draw Steel by MCDM. It is designed with the express purpose of facilitating all the things I mentioned loving above, and it isn't being weighed down by any of the legacy ideas that make a D&D game a D&D game but now mostly just get in the way.

Anyways, I say all this as someone who has poured countless hours into 5e, there really is so much to gain by branching out. I heartily recommend trying some new games with your group, and spending some time to really figure out what you want from your time at the table and which games are the best to help you do that. If that's DND, great! But even if that's the game you end up coming back to, you WILL be a better player and GM for having tried.

[ponett]

I see you cite Final Fantasy as one of SLARPG's inspirations, but I'm curious which FF games in specific you're referring to.

I would specifically cite:

FF1 - The GBA version was the first RPG i really sunk my teeth into as a kid, so this is basically my Rosetta Stone for What A Turn-Based RPG Is. Arriving in a new town and buying new gear and spells so you can go back out and fight monsters better. That sort of thing. As I explained in a Patreon post a while back, a certain character is also partially an homage to Bahamut's role in this first game

FF5 - The job system here very heavily influenced the direction I went in with the Spellbook system. Spellbooks were initially envisioned as premade "decks" with different combinations of spells, sort of like the premade chip folders you sometimes receive in Mega Man Battle Network, but playing FF5 inspired me to make all of the Spellbooks more thematically distinct and treat them as a subclass system

FF3 - On a completely different note, I can't stand how FF3 handles its job system, which also influenced Spellbooks. I hate how certain bosses all but require certain jobs, and if you don't have that job leveled up already then you just have to stop and grind. So I made it so that Spellbooks have all of their abilities unlocked by default with no need to level them up, and no point in the game explicitly requires the use of any one Spellbook. Your build is up to you

FF6 - Pretty foundational to my understanding of how to tell a story in a top-down 16-bit RPG, with the little sprites all running around and emoting for the audience sort of like it's a stage play, and the battle system often being used as a storytelling device. I'd also cite the relics (along with Paper Mario's badges) as the inspiration for SLARPG's Charms, and there's probably a little Kefka in Javis

FF7 - Again, this is just a foundational game to my understanding of JRPG storytelling. I might point to FF7 as the first RPG I played growing up that was focused on the dramatic arc of a single predetermined main character who already has relationships with most of the other main characters when the story begins, as opposed to either a silent protagonist, a customizable character, or a protagonist who isn't particularly supposed to stand out among the ensemble cast. (FF4 also did this with Cecil, but I haven't played as much of FF4.) A lot of things in FF7's story remain kind of the gold standard for me, like how the bombing mission is still one of the best intro sequences to any game ever, so I refer back to it a decent amount. You can definitely see some influence from Cloud's story in Melody. And Anthony and I also compared a certain set of optional bosses to the Ruby and Emerald Weapons when we were planning them out

FF9 - Maybe some broad aesthetic influence. I haven't played as much of 9 as you'd probably assume

FF14 - I had yet to make it all the way through ARR before SLARPG came out, but I'd tried making a White Mage multiple times, which led to Gridania being an early influence on what I wanted Greenridge to look like. I don't think the influence is that recognizable in the final product, but you can kiiiiiiiiiinda see it in some of the architecture if you squint

[sailorsplatoon]

What roles would everyone fulfill in a fantasy setting? (Think LOTR and Final Fantasy)

hehehehehehehe 

so I’m really into DnD, and this gives me the perfect opportunity to give everyone a race and class.

Four would be a goblin barbarian, and Acht would be a tiefling warlock (subclass being The Undead). Both Callie and Marie would be sea elf bards. Elita would be a half-orc rogue. Shina would be a goblin ranger. Shiver would be a dragonborn druid who really likes using wildshape to turn into a shark. Birch would be a goblin paladin (yes, all of Four’s family are goblins). Frye would be a kobold monk. Elle would be a goblin cleric (trickery domain subclass). Pearl would be a halfling barbarian, and Marina would be an elf artificer. Big Man would be a loxodon bard. Captain would be an arakocra blood hunter. Eight would be a changeling sorcerer. And last but not least, Neo would be a tabaxi rogue.

Thank you for the ask!!! You might not have been looking for me to flood this post wuth DnD jargon, but I had fun with it!