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akkator · 2 years ago

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Energy Systems

In DnD 5e we have gained a few different ways to track uses of features.

This will be a long rambling post so excuse me while I go off.

But if you want to see some incite into how I expand on Ki and Psionics look below.

Spell Slots

The most obvious, and most in depth, of these systems is the spell slot. A character starts with 2x 1st level slots. Every level* you increase the number of slots you have of that level until you reach its cap (4 for 1st, 3 for 2nd-5th, 2 for 6th-7th, and 1 for 8th-9th), though spell slots of 5th and higher require their highest above tier to be unlocked before progressing (this is the reason 5th-7th gain additional slots at 18th, 19th, and 20th level).

Spell Points

The frequently overlooked brother of spell slots. Though I exclusively use it with sorcerers to help differentiate them from wizards and other full casters.

They essentially brake down spell slots into smaller bits, giving you a pool of energy to draw upon. More like a mana bar in your typical RPG.

You loose out slightly in your high tier casting (as you lose the ability to cast multiple 6th and 7th level spells) but you more than make up for it in flexibility.

These are also useful as a measuring point between energy systems.

Relegated to the monk (in official use), Ki is mostly overlooked as its total supply is frequently lacking in low level play, though gaining it back on a short rest must be worth something.

Psionic Talent Die

Used exclusively by the Psionic Subclasses found in Tasha's. They are a pull of die that an be expended to preform effects and cast spells.

Mixing it up

So doing some converting between these I present the following.

Spell Slots/Spell Points

Characters that gain spell casting when they gain their class at first level, and progress in spell casting growth each level are known as Full Casters. Characters that gain spell casting when they gain their 2nd level in a class, and progress in spell casting every other level are Half Casters. Characters that gain spell casting when they gain their subclass (3rd level), and progress in spell casting every third level are Third Casters.

At max level:

A Third Caster has:

4x 1st level Slots (8 Spell Points)

3x 2nd level Slots (9 Spell Points)

3x 3rd level Slots (15 Spell Points)

1x 4th level Slots (6 Spell Points)

Totaling: 38 Points

Half Casters have 64 Points, and Full Caster have 133 points.

This allows us to more easily show the discrepancies in power from sources based on how the power is gained.

Using some conversion, we can calculate the total energy of other sources.

If the Monk can be thought of as a Martial Half Caster of the Ki world, using a mix of martial combat and magic Ki.

A hypothetical Ki Full Caster, we'll call it a "Priest". Would have around 42 Ki at max. Probably having 2+2/Level.

A hypothetical Ki Third Caster, we'll call it a "Friar" subclass for a Rogue or Fighter. Would have 12~ Ki at max. Probably call it Ki = Proficiency x2 for simplicity.

These are the calculations I used to make my version of the Four Elements Monk, "Way of Elemental Harmony" and have it feel on par with its Half Caster siblings (though in reality it's more like a Warlock because of regaining energy on a short rest).

Psionic Talent Die

If the Psi Knight Fighter/Soul Edge Rogue are the Third Casters of the Psionic world as they are gained through subclass.

A hypothetical Psionic Half Caster, we'll call it a "Psion". Would have around 20 Psionic Energy Die at max. Probably 1/level.

A hypothetical Psionic Full Caster, we'll call it a "Mystic". Would have around 42 Psionic Energy Die at max. Probably having 2+2/Level.

#dnd #dnd homebrew #dnd 5e #d&d 5e #d&d #d&d homebrew #5e #Spell Slots #Ki #psionics

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broadway-sollux · 2 years ago

Audio

anon, ii hope thii2 really 2ell2 how 2iick and cool ii am.

...ii cant beelieve youve made me do thii2.

Yo! Im a biomachine, Gonna rock this world without bein' seen Have you ever seen a goldblood get down? Slammin' and Jammin' to the new swing sound Yeah, everybody let's move Solluxander here with the kill-Jack Groove Gonna rock, and roll this place With the power of ninja stars in your face Bec noir? I’ll make him start prayin' Devastate the game while the others just playin’ (Chorus) Ninja, Ninja, Rap! Ninja, Ninja, Rap! Ninja, Ninja, Rap! Go Go Go Go Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go! Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go! Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go! Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go! Go Go Go Go Lyrics, fill in the gap Drop that bass and get the Ninja Rap Just feel it, it’ll bee over soon Give it up, for the only Mage of Doom Just flowin', smooth with the power Sparkin’ it up, hour after hour Cause in this game have two all bee winners You better aim good so you can hit the center In it to win it, with a team of twelve Don’t worry bout me, worry bout yourselves it's the (Chorus) Villians you better run and hide This psionic’s gon’ crush your pride Dont use my weapons but I don't slip Sollux is in control with the flex of the mic grip Rockin' the game the way it should be rocked With the hella sick beat drop that you like a lot You know it’s hittin', like a Ninjassulter When the bass kicks in check your echeladder The power of a Ninja is gold Fightin' off imps until they're all out cold (Chorus) x2

#broadway sollux #broadwaystuck #sollux captor #broadway homestuck #sollux homestuck #2ong2 #2ollux.txt #twofoldAnnihilation

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companionwolf · 3 years ago

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Figured out some stuff abt TDEF!ADVENT and its Elder equivalents. Shoutout to @the-grim-squeaker-8 for helping me brainstorm this all <3

The Canopy is a group of alien energy beings (Ergon) who have extended their lifespan by becoming a hivemind but are still at risk of burning out and dying. They want a permanent solution.

They came to Earth looking for a cheap labor force, implemented systems to enforce it via a oppressive administration called PILOT. They're working on developing their technology (aiming to transfer their hivemind to a permanent body). The alien technology in general permeates into regular society.

This world is more dystopian and cyberpunk than X2, and instead of psionics, it's focused on robots and tech.

Ergon are seeded into planets with high potential for sapient life (yes I am stealing this from Bureau I think) and take most of their primary form from said primary sapient life. However a theyre made of energy they can shapeshift. They can also bond with humans similar to how Ethereals can in XCOM (I steal the things I like, okay?)

#wolf barking #what do i tag this mess

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nerdythebard · 4 years ago

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#8: Adrian 'Alucard' Tepes [Castlevania]

Surprise!

Told you I can do any fictional character. Feel free to send me your suggestions!

By the time I'm writing this, season 4 of Netflix's Castlevania shall hit our screens in two days. Because of that, I decided to do something special and build the main trio in D&D. We'll start with everybody's bundle of daddy issues - Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes aka Alucard. This half-vampire swordsman uses his charm and nimbleness to overpower his foes.

Next Time: Never tell this woman beer is better than sex with her, my man... see what happens.

Now, let's see what we need to bring Alucard into our D&D game.

Errr... besides that.

Half-Blood Prince: Alucard is a half-vampire son of Dracula. He's quite an accomplished scholar, orator, and all-around high-class fella. His strength, speed, and intelligence are obviously above that of any mortal, but I'm afraid this is D&D, not anime. We have to balance it out.

Floaty Sword: Alucard's weapon of choice is a longsword he controls telekinetically. We don't see him doing much in terms of magic and spellcasting (besides occasional quick stride akin to teleportation), so we shall focus on this one weapon.

Tough: I mean... my dude fights either shirtless or in a trenchcoat and he still can take more Punchables™ than Mama said. What I mean is, we need some good AC on him.

---

The issue of Alucard's race is pretty much non-existing; he's a half-vampire, there is a half-vampire option in D&D that is about to become official with the upcoming release of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.

Alucard is a Dhampir. We get to pick a +2 and +1 to two different stats of our choice, let's get +2 Dexterity and +1 Constitution. We get both walking AND climbing speed of 35 feet, 60 feet of Darkvision, and we get to speak Common and one other language of our choice. Most importantly, we get Vampiric Bite, which lets us use our teeth as natural weapons. We can add our Constitution modifier to both attack and damage rolls of our fangs, and the bite deals 1d4 piercing damage. If we're below 50% health, we have an advantage on the attack roll. We're not ourselves when we're hungry. If the creature we bite is not a construct or an undead, we can choose one of the following benefits:

regain Hit Points equal to the damage of our bite;

gain a bonus to the next ability check or attack roll we make (bonus equals the damage of our bite)

We can use those bite benefits the number of times equal to our proficiency bonus, and we regain all bites after finishing a long rest.

For Alucard's background, I feel like going with Noble is most fitting. We get proficiency with History and Persuasion, proficiency in one gaming set, we learn one language of our choice, and we gain the Position of Privilege feature; much like Shelter of the Faithful or Military Rank from previous builds, this one grants us ability to secure an audience with a noble, or use our status to gain entrance to more secured locations. Nobody tells the son of Dracula what he can or can't do!

ABILITY SCORES

If you ever seen Alucard, you know he's scoring 18 in every single thing right away. That makes him almost anime protagonist-level of awesome. However, once again, this is D&D. We must be fair and adhere to the rules:

We start with Constitution, as we're pretty difficult to hurt (our only weakness seems to be attractive Japanese hunters). Dexterity is next, it is our primary fighting ability, and we need it to be able to go shirtless into battle. We follow that up with Strength, we are nimble but we can still punch a full-on vampire in the face hard enough to make him feel it.

Intelligence is next, we've had Dracula's entire library to kill time, and we're pretty educated. Wisdom is a bit lower than we need it to be, but we did get outsmarted by two Belmont wannabes. We'll work on that. Unfortunately, we have to dump Charisma.

H-hey! For my defence, he's been described as a teenager in an adult's body! He is educated and eloquent, but apart from that, his charm comes from how inept and awkward he is... err... it doesn't work, eh?

YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!

CLASS

Level 1 - Fighter: No big surprise there, we're not a caster or a tank, this is a damage-dealer build. As a Fighter, we get a d10 for our Hit Dice, [10 + Constitution modifier] starting Hit Points, proficiency with light armour, medium armour, heavy armour, shields, simple weapons, and martial weapons. We don't need armour for this build (we've seen Alucard using a shield in S4 trailer), and I think his sword is long and thin enough to count as a rapier. Our saving throws are Strength and Constitution, and we get to pick two class skills: Athletics and Acrobatics seems stereotypical, but they're really useful in this build.

Fighters at 1st level get to pick their Fighting Style, and if you remember Alucard's fight with Trevor, you know we're going with Duelling. This gives us a +2 to damage rolls with our weapon, as long as it's the only one we have in our hands, so we're dropping the shield. We also get Second Wind, letting us heal [1d10 + our Fighter level] once per short or long rest.

Level 2 - Fighter: At this level we get Action Surge, which lets us take one additional Action once per short or long rest.

Level 3 - Fighter: This is the level where we get to pick our subclass, our Martial Archetype. Now, if this build was done earlier, I would've picked Eldritch Knight (as Weapon Bond is especially tempting feature), but thanks once again to Tasha's Cauldron of Everything we have something that fits Alucard much better.

Alucard is a Psi Warrior. He uses much less magic than Sypha, and his main tactic is to use his sword telekinetically. This subclass has everything we need. We start with Psionic Power, which gives us a [our proficiency bonus x2]d6 of Psionic Energy Dice, which can be used to perform special effects. We regain all Psionic Dice after finishing a long rest, but once per short or long rest we can also regain one dice as a bonus action, which is useful in a pinch. We begin with the following psychic effects:

Protective Field: when a creature within 30 feet of us takes damage, we can spend 1 Psionic Die as a reaction to reduce the damage by [the result + our Intelligence modifier].

Psionic Strike: Once on our turn, when we successfully deal damage to a target within 30 feet of us, we can spend 1 Psionic Die to add extra [the result + our Intelligence modifier] force damage.

Telekinetic Movement: As an action, we can select a loose object that is Large or smaller (or one willing creature other than ourselves), and move it up to 30 feet into an unoccupied space. Alternatively, we can summon a Tiny object directly to or from our hand. Our rapier is definitely not Tiny, but moving it as close as 1 foot and using a free action to pick it up is absolutely possible. Once we use this effect, we have to wait a short or long rest, or use a Psionic Die to use it again.

Level 4 - Fighter: It's time for our first Ability Score Improvement! Instead, however, we will pick a feat. Mobile feat along with a Dexterity-based character is truly a DM's bane. Our walking (and climbing) speed increases by 10 feet; when we use the Dash action, we are not affected by difficult terrain; when we make a melee attack against a creature, we do not provoke attacks of opportunity for the rest of the turn, regardless if we hit our target or not.

Level 5 - Fighter: At this level we get Extra Attack. During our turn, as we take our Action, we can now attack twice instead of once. Combining that with Action Surge lets us attack four times on our turn.

It is also here that our Psionic Dice increases from d6 into d8.

Level 6 - Fighter: We get another ASI. Let's raise our Wisdom by 2 points. We need it to multiclass later.

Level 7 - Fighter: Our subclass gets upgraded with Telekinetic Adept. We now get two additional effects to pick for our Psionic Dice:

Psi-Powered Leap: As a bonus action, we gain flying speed of [our walking speed x2] feet until the end of our current turn. Once we take this effect, we cannot do it again until we finish a short or long rest, or spend a Psionic Die to do it again.

Telekinetic Thrust: When we use our Psionic Strike, we can force a Strength saving throw on our target (DC: 8 + our proficiency bonus + our Intelligence modifier). On a failed save, we can either knock the target prone, or move them 10 feet in any horizontal direction.

Level 8 - Fighter: Time for another ASI. Once again, we need to raise our Wisdom, but this time only by a single point. We'll put the other point into Strength, and let's get ready to multiclass into...

Level 9 - Monk: We shall now address Alucard's questionable choice of body protection... and by that I mean lack thereof. As a 1st-level Monk, we get Unarmoured Defence; when we're not wearing any armour, our AC equals [10 + our Dexterity modifier + our Wisdom modifier].

We also get our hand-to-hand combat upgraded with Martial Arts, which is going to be useful if we're somehow separated from our sword. While we're unarmed (or wielding monk weapons) and unarmoured (and with no shield), we gain the following benefits:

We can use Dexterity instead of Strength for attack and damage rolls of our unarmed strikes and monk weapons;

We can now roll a d4 for attack and damage rolls of our unarmed strikes (instead of our Strength or Dexterity modifier) and monk weapons;

When we Attack using unarmed strikes or monk weapons, we can spend a bonus action to do additional unarmed strike.

Level 10 - Monk: Halfway through the build, and we're getting access to the Monk's most important resource, the Ki energy. We start with 2 Ki Points, which we can spend to fuel some extra Monk abilities. Right from the start, we know three of those:

Flurry of Blows: Immediately after we Attack, we can spend 1 Ki Point to deal two extra unarmed strikes.

Patient Defence: We can burn 1 Ki Point to take a Dodge action as a bonus action.

Step of the Wind: For 1 Ki Point, we can take a Dash or Disengage action as a bonus action. Our jump distance also doubles for the turn.

We also get extra speedy here with Unarmoured Movement. While not wearing armour or a shield, our walking speed increases by 10 feet.

Level 11 - Monk: At this level, we shall learn how to Deflect Missiles. Whenever we're hit by a ranged projectile, we can use our reaction to reduce the damage dealt by [1d10 + our Dexterity modifier + our Monk level]. If we manage to reduce the damage to 0, we can catch the projectile with a free hand and, using the same reaction, make a ranged attack (20/60) with the same projectile.

This is also the time to pick our second subclass, our Monastic Tradition. Now, originally I wanted to do Way of the Shadow to get some more of that vampiric sneak, but then I realize it's not exactly what Alucard does. Instead, we'll go Way of the Open Hand, to enhance our unarmed combat. With the Open Hand Technique feature, we gain a boost to our Flurry of Blows. Every time on of our Flurry strikes hits, we can apply one of the following effects:

Target must make a Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone;

Target must make a Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 15 feet;

Target cannot take reactions until the end of our next turn.

We also get Wholeness of Body to double-down on our vampiric regeneration. Once per long rest, we can use an action to regain Hit Points equal to [our Monk level x3].

It is also at this level that our Psionic Dice get upgraded to a d10.

Level 12 - Fighter: We return to our Jedi Psi Warrior, just in time to get the Indomitable feature. Once per long rest, we can reroll a saving throw we fail, but we must use the new result.

Level 13 - Fighter: Our subclass gets upgraded with Guarded Mind. We are now resistant to psychic damage. Additionally, we can spend a Psionic Die to shake off the charmed or frightened effects if we start our turn under influence of those.

Level 14 - Fighter: Here, our Extra Attack gets improved; now, we can attack three times when taking the Attack action.

Level 15 - Fighter: We get another ASI. Let's raise our Charisma by 2 point, to get rid of the negative modifier.

Level 16 - Fighter: We now get an improvement to our Indomitable feature. We can use it twice per long rest.

Level 17 - Fighter: For another ASI, we shall raise our Dexterity by 2 points.

Level 18 - Fighter: We get the final upgrade for our subclass in this build. By using Bulwark of Force, we can protect ourselves and others. As a bonus action, we can choose a number of creatures within 30 feet that we can see (ourselves included), equal to our Intelligence modifier. The chosen creatures gain the benefit of half-cover for 1 minute, or until we're incapacitated. Once again, we can use it once per long rest, unless we spend a Psionic Die to use it again.

Level 19 - Fighter: For our final ASI we shall raise our Wisdom and Intelligence.

Level 20 - Fighter: Our capstone is Fighter 17. We get three uses of Indomitable per long rest, and two uses of Action Surge, which effectively gives us ability to perform nine attacks on a single target.

---

And that is my take on Alucard from Castlevania. Let's see how he presents himself:

First of all, we're a very speedy boi, with basic speed of 55 feet, with Step of the Wind giving us ability to double that movement. We also have a solid Hit Point base, 181 on average. We can make multiple attacks with Action Surge and Extra Attack, and even if we get disarmed, we can handle ourselves with bare hands.

On the other hand, our Charisma makes those particular saving throws a bit difficult. Same thing with our Intelligence, which modifier fuels some of our subclass abilities. We also have a relatively low AC (16 unarmoured), but we do have several skills attributing to avoiding getting hit (the Mobile feat, Patient Defence, etc.)

---

Anyhoo, that's it for Alucard. Next time, it's everybody's favourite tomboy wizard!

- Nerdy out!

#dnd #d&d 5e #dungeons and dragons #castlevania #netflix #netflix castlevania #castlevania season 4 #alucard #adrian tepes #fighter #psi warrior #monk #way of the open hand

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spamtonromantic · 4 years ago

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wait so, what color is solkats blood?

TL;DR: ITS LILAC

WELL AS YOUVE LIKELY OBSERVED NOW, SOLKATS HORNS ARE BROKEN IN FOUR DIFFERENT PLACES!

THE ONLY INTACT HORN HE HAS IS HIS SECOND BLUE ONE, AKA THE INNER ONE. TECHNICALLY, THE OPPOSING RED HORN WOULD BE THE SAME IF IT WASNT CHOPPED OFF.

WHICH, VEERING BACK ON TOPIC, MEANS YOU CAN SEE HIS BLOOD COLORS! AND YOU MIGHT ASK “WELL IS IT BLUE OR RED?” AND THE ANSWER IS NEITHER. AS THE COLOR IN THE FACE SUGGESTS, HIS BLOOD IS PURPLE! BUT NOT PURPLE LIKE CLOWNS OR VIOLET LIKE MOST SEADWELLERS. THE CLOSEST COLOR TO IT IS LILAC! A BRIGHT LILAC.

WELL WHERED THE BLUE COME FROM YOU CRY! WHY ITS THE INVERTED (AND SATURATED) COLOR OF GOLDBLOODS, WHICH IS HOW MOST PEOPLE MAKE MUTANT BLOOD COLORS. SO TECHNICALLY, SOLKAT IS A MUTANT X2.

ALTHOUGH HE IS ALSO A PUDDLEBLOOD (I CANT REMEMBER WHERE I HEARD THAT)! ITS WHERE A TROLL IS HATCHED WITH TWO BLOOD COLORS. I LIKE TO THINK THAT MAKES THE FUN LITTLE PHENOMENON OF TWO DIFFERENT COLORED HORNS BUT SOLID COLORED BLOOD! WHICH WOULD MEAN, FROM A TECHNICAL STANDPOINT, SOLKAT WOULD HAVE BOTH PSIONICS AND ~POWERFUL LIME POWERS~. ALTHOUGH I DOUBT HED EVER KNOW HOW TO USE THEM OR ID EVER LET HIM. (:B

#sk vantor #crab.txt

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wearesorcerer · 5 years ago

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Ioun Bloodline Arcana

Whenever you have an ioun stone orbiting you or implanted, you bond with that stone. You may telekinetically recall one bonded stone within 20 feet per Sorcerer level, causing it to orbit your head as a swift action. You may use ioun stones as thrown weapons that function as darts and deal bludgeoning damage, and you are considered proficient with them. The stones count as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. You lose your bond with any stone out of your possession after 24 hours.

I need to unpack this a little. My evaluation is fairly mean, but this ability is a C+/B- - because of the Bloodline Powers.

First of all, the paragraph needs to be reorganized:

Whenever you have an ioun stone orbiting you (or implanted, for that matter), you bond with that stone. You lose your bond with any stone out of your possession after 24 hours. As a swift action, you may telekinetically recall into orbit one bonded stone within 20 feet per Sorcerer level. You treat ioun stones as thrown weapons with which you are proficient; they function as darts, but deal bludgeoning damage and count as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

There we go: actions required before effects, passive abilities before active ones, generalities before specifics, normal rules before exceptions, and relevant tangents in parentheses.

Effectively, this gives you an ability slightly better than a cantrip, but in contradictory ways.

The first contradiction:

As a swift action, you may telekinetically recall into orbit one bonded stone within 20 feet per Sorcerer level.

Bonus Feats: Acrobatic, Craft Wondrous Item, Magical Aptitude, Quick Draw, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Skill Focus (Knowledge [history]), Throw Anything.

You won’t want to use Quick Draw (iterative attacks [like you have any] for thrown weapons) because of the action restriction. Now, the recall ability exists both for the attacking and to combat kleptos from yoinking your stones, so maybe that’s for balance. However, given the capstone power, I suspect it’s because someone thought returning (a +1 enchantment that makes thrown weapons work like how they say boomerangs do) would be too powerful for first level characters to have.

(<3 Bowie-sama.)

The second way it’s contradictory is in range. Most attack cantrips work at Close range (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels, meaning 25 to 75 ft.). Darts have five range increments of 20 ft., with a cumulative -2 penalty on increments two through five. Yes, your maximum range with recall becomes available at 5th level. However, you will always take a penalty to match the maximum range of the cantrip (even though you can exceed it). Further, since most attack cantrips use ranged touch attacks¹ and you still have to roll against armor, you’re not going to hit shit.

You are still better off with a crossbow, given that to use either you need to be within closing range of, say, an enemy Fighter. (I will make a big stink about this point when I review Reserve feats.)

So, onto the second question: how exactly are these

(DMG 3.0 and 3.5, but art with similarly sized stones exists all over.)

comparable to something like this?

The dart used in D&D/Pathfinder (pictured above: late Roman plumbata) is most closest to today’s lawn dart, not the tiny things used in the game of the same name (though they do descend from the military ones). The comparison this Bloodline uses is a bit of a misnomer chosen for the sake of mechanics.

See, darts are mechanically nearly identical to sling bullets:

One dart weighs 1/2 pound (in D&D, at least). Sling bullets come in groups of 10 and such a group weighs 5 lbs. Math: it’s what’s for dinner. (Bum bum bum.)

Both the dart and the sling deal 1d3 (Small) or 1d4 (Medium) damage.

Both have a crit of x2 with a normal crit range.

Both are simple weapons.

They vary in three respects: price (pft, we’re using magic items, which are loads more expensive than either), damage type (already accounted for), and range. As I explained above, slings have a range increment of 50 ft. (nice!), whereas darts have one of 20 (sad face!). So, the comparison is more to this:

Still, this seems off; ioun stones are usually shown to be really small, like pea-sized. Does any source (3.x, Pathfinder, fifth edition, something else) provide sizes to corroborate or contradict the art? Not that I could find.

Thus, I tracked down the stones’ origins: Jack Vance’s short story “Morreion,” coincidentally also about finding the sources of ioun IOUN stones. The ones in D&D are lifted from that (with Vance’s permission; yes, they are copyright Vance, not TSR/WotC/Hasbro or Paizo). It took me a while to acquire the story (I had to use the regional interlibrary loan consortium), but right there at the beginning of chapter 2 (of 41 pages²) was what I sought:

“each approximately the size of a small plum.”

A brief Wiki Walk told me that plums are about 2 to 7 cm (3/4″ to almost 3″); Google confirmed about 1-3″ plums.

How big is a sling bullet? Well, Wiki claims about 1″ in diameter, though they’re oblong. The key is that they’re often made of lead. Ioun stones don’t get weights, but that’s easily waived (or else presumed to be irrelevant because of telekinetic force).

So yes, this ability is reasonable in principle.

In application, could/should this have been better? In all ways, yes. I will give my version of how this should have worked come the end of the week.

Is it a bad Arcana? Not really; I’d give it a C+/B-, but mainly because of its interactions with your Bloodline Powers.

¹ The main exception to this is telekinetic projectile, which launches an item out to close range as a thrown weapon attack. The trade-off is that it deals 1d6 non-magical bludgeoning (regardless of what you throw) rather than 1d3 magic of an energy type. However, it’s an abomination for one reason: it also deals damage to the object thrown.

² Bear in mind the 41-page count while I explain some things - or, rather, go on a rant.

Jack Vance’s Dying Earth series is one of the primary sources used to develop Dungeons & Dragons - hence “Vancian casting” (and Vecna, an anagram and homage). Had he not inspired the casting system, we likely would have had a spontaneous arcanist from the beginning. (Psionics have been spontaneous since Eldritch Wizardry [OD&D Supplement III, 1976]; had they not earned a reputation for being broken af, the would-be Sorcerer of 3rd edition would likely have been a Psion instead.)

I say all of this because neither H.P. Lovecraft nor Gary Gygax, both noted for their use of strange words, hold a candle to Vance. So horrendous is his diction that it took me several days to get through those 41 pages.

Mind you, I have a Master’s in English with foci in literature (specifically Shakespeare) and linguistics; I’m used to word choices people don’t like and trained not to get annoyed by them.

This did.

It’s like he sat down with a thesaurus and consulted it for the least-used words he could find for every word in dialogue and many words in narration. On top of that, the plot didn’t make a lot of sense (there were lots of weird jumps in logic, in part because of the diction, but also just bizarre behavior). In the end, I felt I had wasted an interlibrary loan (What if I had accidentally damaged the book? I’d have lost ILL privileges on this tripe!) and a lot of reading time I could have put towards The Starless Sea (which is due sooner and has a line waiting for it, but I wanted to get this post done).

I cannot speak fairly of the Dying Earth series because I haven’t read enough of it, but the diction is something that Vance is noted for. I don’t want to write off Gygax’s tastes, but so many of the things I detest about D&D go back to his personal preferences, in particular Jack Vance. I’m unsure if I will try again another time because I think I’m being highly unfair, but seriously, I hated this.

At least we have IOUN stones. (No idea why Vance insists on the capitalization, but he does.) And grues. And robes of eyes. And several other nifty things.

#ioun #bloodline arcana #arcana #Jack Vance #Vance #dart #sling #bullet #thrown weapons

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mutantpowerlist · 6 months ago

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Mastermind - Jason Wyngarde

• Casts exceptionally realistic psionic illusions

Teams: Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Factor Three. Hellfire Club, X-Corps: Krakoa Relatives: Mastermind (daughter), Lady Mastermind (daughter), Pixie (alleged daughter) TV / Movies: X-Men: The Animated Series (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), X2: X-Men United (2003), X-Men (anime) (2011), X-Men '97 (2024) First Appearance: X-Men #4 (Jan 1964)

#Marvel #Mutant #Powers #Mastermind #Jason Wyngarde #Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (1964)#Factor Three (1966)#Hellfire Club (1976)#X-Corp: Krakoa (2021)

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gratuitousauxiliatrix · 3 years ago

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🍑x2

Kanaya froze as she felt two quick psionic slaps across each of her wide cheeks before looking down and half-glowering and half-pouted at the diminutive psionic."Using psionics is cheating..."

#ic #contaiinedarmageddon2 #gratuitousauxiliatrix

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crowleplays · 7 years ago

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Phobos Deimos

Basics

Name ► Phobos Deimos Nickname[s] ► Pho, PD, Cinders (she does not enjoy this one at all) Blood Color ► Yellow Age ► 14 sweeps Voiceclaim ► Angel Coulby D.O.B. ► March 20 Astrological Sign ► Pisces/Aries cusp Alignment ► Chaotic Neutral Gender ► Female Height ► 5’2” Weight ► 142 lbs Body Type ► Pear shaped, toned but still soft Orientation ► Pansexual but good luck getting her to open up romantically Occupation[s] ► Witch and owner of an occult shop, which sells items of varying magical legitimacy and safety Lusus ► Springbok Antelope Abilities Psionics ► Spiritual & Arcane Perception – Phobos is able to pick up on spiritual and arcane activity and energies, the latter of which she’s generally able to identify the type for. She’s also able to see most ghosts. Other Abilities ► Fire, Sand, Light, and Healing/Growth Magic – She’s a witch it’s her MO. Not obscenely powerful, but enough to be on par with a gifted psionic. Flight – She has wings structured like a hummingbird hawk moth’s, which allow her to fly for short amounts of time. Astral Projection – Her soul was jiggled a little loose during her near-death experience, so she’s able to tug it out and let it roam. The further distance she travels, the more it drains her, and while she’s able to perceive things on both ends if she wants to, it works better if she focuses on the projection fully and zones out physically. Strife Specibus ► x2 Haladiekind – They are mainly her foci for magic, but can also be used for physical attacks. Doubled edged, double bladed daggers with a central grip and knuckle dusters on the outside. Pistolkind – Sometimes it’s better to not be flashy and just shoot a bitch. PC Info Trollian Handle ► reawakenedTheurgist Typing Quirk ► Replaces L’s with £, stutters when upset/scared/flustered/ect Example ► Tends t'speak with a regiona£ accent an' c£ips the endin' off certain words. I-I-If sh-sh-she's u-upset o-or s-s-s-scared sh-she s-s-stutters.

▼ Personality ▼ Formerly a very open, trusting, and bubbly individual, the past few sweeps haven’t been kind to the mindset that Phobos once held. She comes across very blunt, only dancing around her genuine opinions of people and what she thinks when she’s around someone she perceives to be a threat. Even then, she’s not above pushing her luck in certain situations, as should things turn violent she has a considerable amount of magic she can rely upon to take care of what faces her. Or, well, a decent amount of what faces her. At the end of the night, Phobos is focused on one thing and one thing only: survival. If she has to run to save her skin, she’ll do so, and unless someone has endeared themselves to her (or she is required to act otherwise), she’ll leave them behind in the dust. However when it comes to the fight vs flight ratio, Phobos is absolutely someone that will throw down first. Combat is something that she’s grown from hating to enjoying a lot, as it allows her not only to exercise but vent her emotions in a…”productive” manner.

That’s not to say she doesn’t care about other people, of course. She’s just very reluctant to allow herself to be open with people, especially considering the very recent mutation she’s had to hide. Anxiety over many of her past relationships failing also hasn’t helped at all, as she sees herself as an irresponsible and unhealthy individual to be quadrants with. Friends are a possibility, but Phobos requires a lot of reassurance and proof that someone is not only patient enough but can emotionally handle all the chaos that comes along with her life. If she doesn’t think the relationship will work out and could potentially hurt someone, she’s quick to say so and warn them of that fact. She struggles with not cutting people off out of fear of hurting them, often dropping contact with nothing but her first warning to go off of.

Should you ever gain her friendship, though, she’s incredibly nurturing and caring, as well as unshakably loyal once you’ve earned her faith. While she’s struggled with following it, Phobos is also fairly good at dispensing advice and can dip into more pale or ashen tendencies if she believes someone needs that. Of course this is paired with her regular amounts of cynicism and sarcasm; it’s recommended not to have too-thin skin around Phobos. She’ll compliment just as much as she’ll playfully rag on you, likely swearing up and down the entire Alternian language the whole way. She has a filter for this when she’s around children, as she was a teacher in her former life, but the moment she catches them swearing casually it’s gone. Her “old demeanor” is still very much present despite what she’d like to think or say, it’s just hidden behind a lot of walls, suspicions, and anxiety.

Most of what other people get to see, though, is the witch behind the counter of an occult shop. She really likes to play up the mystical aspect and spooky vibes of her job. Helps convince people to buy stuff and spreads the word to bring in more customers. Whether or not they believe her magic is real doesn’t matter; it sells when you make it flashy enough.

▼ Strengths VS Weaknesses ▼

Strengths ► Perceptive | Driven | Honest

Weaknesses ► Cynical | Stubborn | Flighty

▼ Likes ▼

✔ General “witchy” paraphernalia ✔ Relaxing near fireplaces ✔ Loose, comfy scarves ✔ Libraries ✔ Incense (Dragon’s Blood and Cedar are favorites) ✔ Bird watching ✔ Anything with an autumn aesthetic ✔ Handmade clothes ✔ Walks in the woods ✔ Honey candy ✔ Cats

▼ Dislikes ▼

✘ Subjugs ✘ Too much noise ✘ Sudden movements ✘ Being touched without warning ✘ “Unnatural” silence ✘ Uppity trolls ✘ Generally most trolls blue and above on principle ✘ Any kind of religious zealots or evangelists ✘ Dealing with her bosses ✘ Cheap liquor ✘ Centipedes, to the degree that she’ll panic and shoot at them

▼ Extra ▼

► While she’s far better at using her magic in combat than to heal, she’s recently been practicing to try and get better at it. It’s a skill she let atrophy after moving away from home, which she regrets doing now that she has to relearn what she was once really fucking good at. ► She’s willing to tolerate most people if it benefits her, but highbloods will have a harder time gaining her trust. ► She has a very hard time sleeping fully through the day, usually due to her psionics allowing her to see and hear ghosts. ► Her wings are bound most of the time, though the way they’re structured allows her to lay them flat against her back naturally and prevents the binding from damaging them too much. ► Flying takes a lot out of her. She’s only had her wings for 4 sweeps and they’ve only been fully grown for 2. ► She’s more in-shape and toned than you’d expect for a lowblood. One of her old teachers was ex-fleet and made her do basic training exercises nightly, which is a routine she tries to keep up. ► That being said, she has very little love for the fleet and is suspicious of anyone she finds bearing the emblem. ► Before everything started to fall apart, she planned to dodge the draft with her ex-moirail and just travel through space with her. ► Now she’s set up an occult shop and sells minor enchantments and crystals to goth kids and hipsters. Also some cursed items and magical advice. Really anything that’ll sell, honestly. She needs the money. ► There’s always at least some kind of notebook on her. She’s very diligent about recording information that she feels is important. It also gives her a way to voice her thoughts without talking to anyone. ► She grew up with very little exposure to modern Alternian technology for the most part, which has driven her to learn as much as she can about it. The prospect of technomancy fascinates her, though she’s not able to perform any herself.

▼ Quadrants ▼

► Moirail: N/A ► Matesprit: N/A ► Kismesis: N/A ► Auspistice: N/A

▼ Other Relationships ▼

Eeleth Kuvlew [Pure Hope] ► Your ex-matesprit and the source of a never-ending flood of complicated emotions. You hurt him deeper than anyone ever could or has, which haunts you worse than any ghost. Recently, you spoke with him after a sweep of silence, though had your hands not been tied it would’ve been much sooner. Things are still complicated, and you doubt he’ll respond to any of your letters or online messages, but that won’t keep you from writing him about important things. You don’t want to give up talking to him.

Marcel Bradik [Lowered Humanity] ► Your other ex-matesprit, though one of a much shorter time. You don’t blame him for anything that happened; all of that was on you. He taught you a fair few things while you dated, the most important being how to shoot a gun and to carry one on you at all times. The thought has crossed your mind to try and seek him out, but you’ve decided against it due to the fact that he’s a shadowdropper and prone to having a temper. Best to let sleeping dogs lie.

#Troll Bio #Phobos Deimos #fINALLY SHES DONE AAAAAAAA

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justanothercinemaniac · 8 years ago

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Epic Movie (Re)Watch #176 - Logan

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: Yes. #477

Format: Blu-ray

0) This is Hugh Jackman’s final turn as the character he made iconic seventeen years ago. While there might still be a chance the character could come back (likely if it were for a Deadpool crossover or if he got to fight The Avengers) this is likely it. And embracing that allows this film to go to places no X-Men film before it could (as does its R-rating).

1) The opening scene with the carjackers establishes a lot for this film. First of all, we get a good look at just how fucking disheveled and miserable Logan is. It even shows in his imagery; the gray hairs, the tired face, all of it. It also establishes the film’s more grounded tone. This isn’t X-jets and time travel, this is war and violence. R rated and bloody violence, which is also established in the opening scene.

2) Marco Beltrami returns to compose this film after The Wolverine, and his score is quite strong. It is subtle, nuanced, moving, and embraces its Western still in a surprising and emotional way. I absolutely loved.

3) Logan IS a Western more than it is a superhero film. In a superhero film characters KNOW what they are. Superman is aware he gives people hope, Batman knows he is order in a world of chaos just as the audience does. Logan however? He’s not a symbol. He’s not a warrior. He doesn’t play into tropes. Life is a sad, abysmal, bloody mess where nothing makes sense and it’s all just HARD. A lot of the best Westerns are like this (notably Shane), so Logan is really setting itself apart from the superhero crowd by embracing this.

4) Boyd Holbrook as Donald Pierce.

Holbrook makes the villainous Pierce wonderfully skeezy. He’s got this wonderful energy and charisma which makes the audience just love to hate him. Holbrook is an absolute delight in the part and helps elevate the film be being totally despicable.

5) Stephen Merchant as Caliban.

I mentioned in my X-Men: Apocalypse recap that both that film and this one features an adaptation of the character Caliban from the comics. This was the result of just poor communication between the filmmaking teams meaning both characters ended up in both films. But they play notably different roles, with Caliban being more of a plot device in Apocalypse but an actual character with decisions and consequences in this film. I have a head canon that Apocalypse Caliban is Logan Caliban’s father. I don’t know if anything supports this but I like it.

Merchant is wonderful in the decidedly NON comedic part (considering the actor has considerable comedic talent which he has shown off in the past). He is quiet, understated, you see that there is a pain there always lurking underneath (or not so underneath) the surface. Wonderful at drumming up empathy and occasionally giving exposition without forcing it down our throat, Merchant is the hidden gem of this film and absolutely glorious.

6) The decline of Xavier’s health in this film allows Patrick Stewart to play the character notably different than before.

For one thing, it is really interesting to hear Xavier dropping, “fucks,” left and right. But more than that the hope which has so defined the character for seventeen years is now largely gone. Not totally though, it’s still there. But it’s mixed in with pain and heartache, anger and confusion, bitter disappointment and self doubts. It is an absolutely heartbreaking and conflict filled role which allows Stewart to really shine in what is also HIS final turn as the beloved Professor X.

7) This line is very telling not only of Charles’ state in the film but also Logan’s conflict.

Xavier: “I always know who you are its just sometimes I don’t recognize you.”

8) When I first saw the film I thought this was just a nice wink to the first X-Men film.

Logan [after Charles says someone is waiting for him at the statue of liberty]: “Statue of liberty was a long time ago, Charles.”

Only with this viewing did I realize the motel where Logan meets Laura and Gabriella is the Liberty Motel with a statue of liberty logo.

9) This is part of the whole “the characters don’t know what they’re supposed to represent” trope in Westerns, but Xavier is kind of a dick in this film.

Xavier: “What a disappointment you are.”

Like, I get that you’ve had a hard life too Charles. But Logan is around 150 years old (I think). He’s been through the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, lost his memories, got them back at some point, and of course went through the events of every single X-Men film that happened before (including losing everyone in Days of Future Past then getting them back then losing them again before this film).

10) I thought it was a smart decision to only HINT at what happened with the X-Men instead of actually showing it.

Xavier: “Logan, what did you do? What did you do!?”

I’ll talk more about this in a little bit though.

11) Gabriella going to Logan for help feels like a Western trope. Like in The Magnificent Seven, the former outlaw/gunslinger trying to lead a quiet life is pulled back into it by someone who NEEDS them. In this case Logan is the gunslinger.

12) Dafne Keen as Laura.

Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. This girl. This fucking girl. This fucking girl is so fucking incredible. It is wildly difficult for me to wrap my head around how fucking amazing Dafne Keen is as Laura. I mean, her first sign of unique character and strength is when she fucking knocks out Pierce by throwing a damn pipe at his head! A mostly silent part for the first half (two-thirds?) of the film, Keen is able to embrace the physicality of her role BEAUTIFULLY. The way she moves, the look in her fucking eyes. She’s SO intense and that’s amazing. Everything about her. The fact that an eleven year old girl could be so damn intimidating speaks massively to her performance in this film. Hugh Jackman has been playing this part for longer than she’s been ALIVE and she can hold her own with him in every one of his her fucking scenes! This girl is a tiny badass! You know you don’t want to mess with Laura because she will fuck you up! I mean holy shit, she walks up to a group of bad guys with a fucking decapitated head. SHE GETS A HARPOON SHOT THROUGH HER CHEST AND IT BARELY PHASES HER! That entire first fight scene with her, Logan, and Pierce’s crew at their makeshift home shows off her skills as an actress phenomenally! She is a raging force of nature you do NOT want to piss off! Dafne Keen is the breakout star in Hugh Jackman’s last time as Wolverine! That tells a lot!

13) Bad guys deluding themselves into thinking their good guys is very honest to reality, but honestly how can you hunt down and murder children like a fucking sack of shit and think you’re still the good guy?

Pierce [to Caliban]: “I’m gonna need you to do one more thing for the good guys.”

14) Fuck Transigen. This film really did a good job of making films who you are hoping get brutally massacred by Logan and Laura. THEY BIRTHED CHILDREN FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF STUDYING THEM AND SELLING THEM AS SOLDIERS!

Dr. Rice [Transigen head scientist]: “Do not think of them as children. Think of them as things with patents and copyrights.”

I cannot begin to express how absolutely fucking horrific and despicable that concept is. THIS IS A COMPANY WHO TRYS TO KILL CHILDREN BECAUSE, “They could not be controlled.” BECAUSE THYE DIDN’T SERVE A PURPOSE! BECAUSE THEY WERE ACTUALLY HUMAN CHILDREN TRANSIGEN TRIED TO FUCKING MURDER THEM!

I look forward to their deaths.

15) I dig this.

Xavier: “She’s your daughter Logan.”

In the comics X-23 is a female clone of Wolverine, pushing that forward into a father/daughter relationship I think is strong. You can feel their relationship in her performance. Even when Laura is giving Logan a death stare you can feel that they’re connected. I mean, he’s the only one who gets ANYWHERE by telling her what to do.

16) Shane is prominently featured in a scene during the first half of the film.

Xavier talking about an early memory of seeing Shane in the theaters (when he was a kid) was reportedly an improvised moment. According to IMDb, this is an actual memory Patrick Stewart has from his youth which he brought up for the film. Shane was a large influence on the film, and one of the most iconic moments from the film ties very significantly into the movie.

Shane: “A man has to be what he is, Joey. Can’t break the mold. I tried it and it didn’t work for me. Joey, there’s no living with…with a killing. There’s no going back from one. Right or wrong, it’s a brand. A brand sticks. There’s no going back. Now you run on home to your mother, and tell her…tell her everything’s all right. And there aren’t any more guns in the valley.”

17) Logan losing it at the X-Men comics he finds is very telling of how he views the past. The very first page he opens to is Wolverine saving Rogue, who is notably absent from this film and who Logan had the strongest relationship with in X-Men and X2. This is how he WISHES life was. A big adventure, where he got to save his friends and the world on a more regular basis. Instead he’s left with pain and heartache.

17.1) The X-Men comics had to be special made for this film, as Marvel wouldn’t allow the studio to use actual X-Men comics.

18) Xavier’s Oklahoma City seizure.

When I first saw this film in theaters, this was the moment I went, “Holy shit, this film is amazing.” The fact that they turn this scene where everyone is frozen into a pseudo-action scene is amazing. Logan taking the time to go around and kill the bad guys is not only intelligent and organic but amazing to the eye. According to IMDb:

Professor Xavier's Psionic blast was done by shooting shaky footage and then re-stabilizing the frame in post. Resulting a footage containing strange motion blur with smearing effect, that is both organic and very unusual. The team shot the sequences slightly wider than was needed so that shots could be blown up to hide the edges of the stabilizing effect.

All of this makes the scene CRAZY strong and memorable, with Laura even participating by killing the one guy Logan missed.

19) What exactly happened to the X-Men.

News Reporter [reporting on the Oklahoma City incident; referring to a similar instance back in Westchester a year ago]: “…and took the lives of several mutants, including seven of the X-Men.”

In the comics, because of a psychic attack on Wolverine, he killed what he thought were super villains attacking X-Mansion which turned out to be his fellow teammates. In pre production there was the idea to film this as a prologue to the movie, while in the later dinner scene there was a deleted moment where Xavier went into detail about what happened at X-Mansion. I prefer this because it allows us as the audience to have hope that our favorite X-Men survived. (I may have even gotten the quote wrong; the reporter could have said, “seven mutants, including several of the X-Men.”)

20) Logan and the family dinner.

This was a concept first introduced in X-Men Origins: Wolverine; Logan finding a bit of peace and normalcy before his life goes crazy again. It is a nice moment of warmth in a story of heartache. What makes it all the worse? Logan, Xavier, and Laura. They WANT this. They are eager to have it.

Xavier [to Logan, about the family]: “You should take a moment and feel it.”

This is the goal. Xavier wants the Sunseeker boat with Logan, Laura wants her friends and family, but only one of the three gets this. Excuse me, I’m sad now.

21)

Will Munson [after Logan takes care of some redneck thugs]: “You’ve had training.”

Logan: “Some.”

22) Well. This is heartbreaking.

Charles: “This was without a doubt the most perfect night I’ve had in a long time. But I don’t deserve it, do I?…I think I finally understand you. Logan?”

Except he’s pouring his heart out to NOT Logan, but a Wolverine clone who murders him!

23) Fucking Logan clones.

(GIF originally posted by @notias1)

The dual Hugh Jackman-s in this scene are amazing, especially the seamless transition between X-24 walking down the stairs and Logan looking after him. The fight is strong as well, but nothing compared with what’s to come.

24) I love that these are Caliban’s final words, in reference to what Pierce told him earlier. It’s surprisingly badass.

Caliban [before setting off some grenades]: “Beware the light.”

25) Can I be totally honest with you guys? Hugh Jackman deserves a fucking Oscar nomination for this film. Like, 100%. Maybe there’ll be enough better performances towards the end of the year, but it at least deserves to be TALKED about. Just look at the scene where he’s standing over Xavier’s grave. He barely says a fucking word but still there is so much incredible raw emotion in his performance. There is heartache, there is anger, and it is all just SO amazing. But of course it’s the Oscars. He won’t even be a part of the conversation because it’s a comic book movie that came out in March.

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26) Having a mute character speak COULD take away from what makes them interesting, but because of Dafne Keen’s performance Laura she is even MORE compelling.

Logan: “I don’t know how you got me here [to the hospital] but thank you.”

Laura: “De nada.”

The passion, honesty, ferocity, and focus which made her physical performance so compelling in the first half of the film all carries through beautifully into her voice and it just works so seamlessly. I fucking love it.

27) I’m not crying, promise.

Laura: “You’re dying. You want to die. Charles told me.”

Logan: “What else did he tell you?”

Laura: “To not let you.”

This was the exchange that made me think Logan was going to survive the film. Boy, was I wrong.

28) Okay, um…

Logan [when Laura shows him his adamantium bullet]: “Actually, I uh…was thinking of shooting myself with it.”

In X-Men Origins: Wolverine Logan got shot point blank in the skull with an adamanitum bullet and survived, he just lost his memories. You could say he wouldn’t survive in this film because of his healing being weaker, BUT that’s how they kill the Wolverine clone X-24 by shooting him in the head with it. BUT IT DIDN’T WORK IN X-Men Origins!

29) Laura is vicious!

Logan [when Laura is being distant from him]: “I even gave back the money!”

Laura [coldly]: “Such a nice man.”

(GIF originally posted by @rocktheholygrail)

30) I’m not crying. I promise. Not yet.

Logan: “Bad shit happens to people I care about. Understand me?”

Laura: “Then I’ll be fine.”

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

31) Wolverine fighting in the woods to save the kids from being murdered by Pierce and Rice is probably the worthiest cause Logan has ever fought for, and the way he is choreographed as fighting alongside Laura shows their relationship is as strong as ever. They work with/off of each other, making each other stronger and helping the other survive. Because they’re family.

32) The fact that Wolverine’s final battle is against himself (or, a clone of himself) is probably deeply poetic but I’m too fascinated by what’s going on screen to analyze it. Again, he and Laura are fighting side by side here. Hell, it’s Laura he’s fighting for! And it’s Logan Laura is fighting to save. She’s the one who shoots X-24 in the head to kill him in an attempt to save Logan. But…oh boy…I don’t know if I can write this…

33) Pierce’s death is horrible and gratuitous and SO fucking cathartic considering he spent the entire film DESPERATELY TRYING TO MURDER CHILDREN! (Warning, below video features graphic content from an R-rated film. Viewer discretion is advised.

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34) Logan’s death.

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For one thing (holy shit I’m tearing up as a write this, what the fuck?), the prophecy Yukio made in The Wolverine comes to pass.

(Screenshot taken from a GIF set originally posted by @highsmith)

Except it’s not literally his heart, like in The Wolverine. It’s Laura. Laura is his heart. And, um…wow this is fucking hard. Okay look: I didn’t cry when I saw this in theaters. Everyone else did, but I kinda saw it coming. But a lot has happened between now and then so it hits closer to home. Anyone who has lost a parent or a loved one will be moved as Logan’s daughter watches him while he dies.

Logan: “Don’t be what they made you. Laura…”

Logan: “Ah, so this is what it feels like.”

This is the only time Laura refers to Logan as her father and also the only time Logan doesn’t deny it. Showing that they’ve accepted their relationship, but then he dies. Holding his daughter’s hand in his own. Because she’s his heart. Okay now I’m tearing up.

You know what makes the scene even harder? The little fucking funeral all the kids have for their savior. For the Wolverine. For Logan. And the fact Laura uses the same quote from Shane harkens back not only to a brief moment of just being a kid with Xavier and her dad in the other room, but also just what kind of impact those words have in a new light.

Laura [quoting Shane]: “A man has to be what he is, Joey. Can’t break the mold. There’s no living with a killing. There’s no going back. Right or wrong, it’s a brand. A brand that sticks. Now you run on home to your mother, and tell her everything’s all right. And there are no more guns in the valley.”

And then, in what is probably the most fitting final image of this 17 year old character, Laura turns the cross into an X.

Logan is a masterpiece. Working in a different style and going against established superhero and X-Men tropes makes this a worthy finale to Hugh Jackman’s tenure as the character. He is as strong as ever, Patrick Stewart is as strong as ever, and newcomer Dafne Keen fucking hits it out of the park. It’s heartbreaking and brutal and amazing because of these things. It’s fantastic and I think everyone should see it. Just...wow.

#Logan #X Men #Hugh Jackman #Patrick Stewart #Dafne Keen #Stephen Merchant #Boyd Holbrook #Epic Movie (Re)Watch #The More You Know #Jimming the Camera #Shane #Movie #Film #GIF

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companionwolf · 3 years ago

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Why did you buy some of your dice?

The purple/blue dice I got are called Psionic Combat, which is exactly what's happening here in the good end of X2. And I do love me a good X2 reference.

#wolf barking #barking asks #were the dice makers actually making a ref? idk but it sure is a coincidence

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hanbeihood · 6 years ago

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A fun little Halloween 5e build

With Halloween right around the corner, I figured I’d post a 5e character build that I made a little bit ago. Some might call them creepy or unsettling, but they won’t say anything in response, if they’re a pro. Get your Player’s Handbooks ready, and let’s build a fucking mime.

Okay, first things first. We need the physical ability to hold positions like sitting in a chair for at least a brief period of time. Secondly, we need to be able to make those invisible walls, effects, etc. Finally, we need to be silent.

Let’s use the standard point array for our base stats (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8). You don’t have to use this method if you prefer others, but be mindful of multiclassing prerequisites (DEX & WIS). At the end of the day, stat distributions are just another type of flavor that add to the role-playing aspect of D&D.

15 is going into Dexterity. You’re a physical actor, so you need to be limber. Next is 14 for Charisma; you don’t have to be liked to have your smile leave an impact. 13 is for Constitution. Sometimes you’ll decide to sit in an invisible chair and have to stick it out for a little bit. Also, you’re HP will thank you. 12 is going into our Wisdom. One of the perks of staying quiet is the opportunity to notice things every now and again. We’re also going to get our zen on a little bit; you kind of need to when you can’t always communicate effectively with your party members. Strength is going to be our 10. I’d dump it if it wasn’t for how physically taxing some miming can be. That just leaves the 8 for Intelligence. Yeah, it sucks, but it’s the least important stat for this build. Like I said, you only need to /really/ pay attention to the multiclass prereqs. A higher INT won’t break the character.

For the race, our mime will be a Gith, specifically a Githzerai, from Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. That’s a +1INT & +2WIS, bumping them up to 9 & 14 respectively. Githzerai also get a 30ft speed, speak Common & Gith, and have Mental Discipline which grants advantage on saving throws against the Charmed & Frightened conditions. But the real reason we’re choosing this race is for their Githzerai Psionics. This’ll give us Mage Hand, Shield at 3rd lvl once per long rest, and Detect Magic at 5th lvl once per long rest. These spells use your Wisdom score. The best part is that they don’t require any components at all, and Mage Hand cast this way is invisible. So that last feature gives a way to manipulate the environment with reasonable deniability, a once-a-day invisible wall to defend yourself, and Detect Magic because I guess mimes can sense when you’re bs-ing them. Don’t try to cheat a mime.

We’re going to take the Charlatan background gaining proficiencies in Deception, Sleight of Hand, Disguise kits, & Forgery kits. What’s more unsettling than a mime? A mime you know you can’t trust. We also get the False Identity feature to have a secondary persona to slip into when need be; you could flavor this to be the difference between makeup on and off.

For our 1st level, we’re taking Rogue. Gotta love the image of a mime with a dagger or shortsword, huh? Now, most of the Rogues proficiency options are good, and we get 4. Performance is a must, and I strongly recommend Acrobatics. The other 2 are up to you. I’m going to choose Stealth & Perception. As a Rogue, we get Sneak Attack (duh), Thieves’ Cant (a way to communicate via miming?), and Expertise (x2 proficiency bonus for Performance & Stealth? yes please).

Time to immediately multiclass into Monk for our 2nd lvl. Unarmored Defense & Martial Arts are great features which can be flavored easily. The WIS bonus to your AC can be interpreted as quickly summoned invisible walls to protect you from attacks. It may seem low for the moment, but a 14 AC is better than the 13 you’d have from Leather Armor. The 1d4 unarmed strikes from your Martial Arts can be flavored to be invisible bludgeoning weapons. (I’m partial to baseball bats) I’d recommend talking with your DM about enchanting your blades to be inivisible since you can’t use Sneak Attack with your unarmed strikes despite using your DEX. (Finesse or ranged weapons /means/ finesse or ranged weapons.) You could then eventually have the party Wizard imbue those blades via Nystul’s Magic Aura to essentially make them undetectable. Just don’t lose them.

Going back to Rogue (2) for Cunning Action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a bonus action. Nothing scary about a sneaky mime.

Staying in Rogue (3) to bump Sneak Attack damage to 2d6 and to take the Thief Roguish Archetype. This gives you Fast Hands to add more options to your Cunning Action. You can now use your CA to make a DEX (Sleight of Hand) check, use thieves’ tools to disarm a trap or open a lock, or take the “Use an Object” action. You also get Second-Story Work meaning you can climbing no longer costs extra movement, and when you make a running jump, the distance you cover increases by an amount of feet equal to your DEX modifier.

We’ll stay in Rogue (4) some more to take that Ability Score Increase, bumping up our DEX & COn by 1. Odd numbers on important stats are the enemy. Our stats now look like this: STR 10 || DEX 16 || CON 14 || INT 9 || WIS 14 || CHA 14

Back into Monk (2) for our 6th level in total, we get Unarmored Movement (+10ft) and Ki! Ki is powered by your WIS stat. For future features that use Ki, your Ki DC is 8+your proficiency modifier+your WIS modifier. You get 2 Ki points per long or short rest. You can currently spend 1 to activate Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, or Step of the Wind. Patient Defense is the one we’re after the most because it let’s the mime take the Dodge action as a bonus action on your turn, i.e. another way to have mimed walls up.

Our next Monk level (3) is big. We get 1 more Ki point (and will gain 1 with each Monk level), Deflect Missiles (more walls! [if you don’t just straight up catch the projectile]), and our Monastic Tradition: Way of the Open Hand. WotOH makes the already useful Flurry of Blows even more useful. Knocking enemies prone, pushing them up to 15ft away, or keeping them from taking reactions until the end of your next turn are some great options you can impose on foes.

Let’s get another ASI, this time from Monk (4). We’ll boost our DEX by 2. STR 10 || DEX 18 || CON 14 || INT 9 || WIS 14 || CHA 14 Also, we get Slow Fall to umbrella our way down and reduce damage.

Let’s speed things along. We take 2 more levels of Rogue (5, 6). Sneak Attack is now 3d6. We gain Uncanny Dodge to halve an attack’s damage via your reaction, and we get to apply Expertise to 2 more skills or 1 skill and the thieves’ tools. I’m going to place Expertise on Sleight of Hand and Perception. (You do you, though.)

The rest of our levels will be going into Monk for this build for a total of 14 Monk levels and 6 Rogue levels. The Martial Arts die will be 1d8, and we’ll have +25ft to our movement. At the 8th and 12th level of Monk, we’ll have the option for 2 more ASI’s. If you’re happy with your current ability scores and your DM allows it, you can consider taking the Lucky and/or Observant feats. If you want an extra boost to those numbers, bump up WIS and/or CHA to 16 for more reliable skills, saving throws, and Ki DC. For my build, I’m going to take the Observant feat, adding +1 to my INT and then use the other ASI to bring my WIS to 16. STR 10 || DEX 18 || CON 14 || INT 10 || WIS 16 || CHA 14

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Let’s take a look at what we’ve got.

--Mobility (Chances are that you’re faster than people afraid of mimes) --Consistent damage (which is magical damage thanks to Monk’s 6th lvl) --Skills (6 levels of Rogue is so nice to make sure you do what you need to do) --Damage avoidance (1 Shield spell, AC 17, Evasion from Monk’s 7th lvl, and proficiency in all saving throws from Monk’s 14th lvl) --Loyal (Being a Githzerai and a Monk means it’s really hard to make you turn on your allies) --Miming (As long as you have Ki and can move around a bit, you can mess with your foes.) --Close range (If you’re using daggers, you can only throw them so far. Otherwise, you gotta get up in the enemy’s face.) --Limited damage types (You kind of only have bludgeoning and piercing damage to work with) --Mime (You aren’t proficient in Intimidation, but there are people who find you scary anyway. At 20th lvl, you’ve got a +8 without even trying. You could either be the best or worst face of the party depending on who you’re trying to work with.)

#halloween #mime #dnd #5e #character build #clown #sorta #spooky

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restartnecessary · 6 years ago

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Characters Thus Far

Itsari Phobos Pathfinder Conversion

Your description here. Female Fetchling (Kayal) Dread 7 Mask

Earned XP 23,000 CN Medium, Fetchling Outsider (Native) Init +10; Senses low-light vision, darkvision 60ft., Perception +10 -------------------- Defense -------------------- AC 21, touch 17, flat-footed 14 (+6 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 armor) hp 77 (7d8+21) Fort +5, Ref +12, Will +6

Defensive Abilities shadow blending (50% in dim), Immunities fear, Resist cold 5, electricity 5; +2 vs cold and electricity, +2 vs charms

-------------------- Offense -------------------- Speed 30 ft. Melee +1 conductive short sword +13 (1d6+3/19-20/x2), mw silver kukri +12 (1d4+2/18-20/x2), or +1 conductive short sword +11 (1d6+3/19-20/x2) and mw silver kukri +10 (1d4+2/18-20/x2)

Ranged comp(+2str) short bow +11 (1d6+2/x3) Special Attacks devastating touch +11 (1d6+12), Terror 15/day(horrible strike (+1d6, 2PP +1d6), mind drain (DC 18 Will), overwhelming fear (DC 18 Fort))

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7th)

1/day – disguise self

Powers (ML 7th, concentration +12)

3rd—mental barrier

2nd – side step, true terror, strength of my enemy

1st – untouchable aura, lingering touch, mind thrust

Power Points 33, Max PP Use 7 -------------------- Statistics -------------------- Str 14, Dex 22, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 11, Cha 20 Base Atk +5; CMB +7; CMD 24 Feats Extra TerrorsRegional, Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (Short Sword), Touch of TerrorDread, Dodge, Two-Weapon Fighting Skills Acrobatics +16, Autohypnosis +4, Bluff +7, Climb +6, Diplomacy +3, Intimidate +15, Sense Motive +2, Stealth +18, Swim +6, Use Magic Device +12, Perception +10, Knowledge (psionics) +7 Languages Common, Draconic, Netherese (dead language) SQ aura of fear

Combat Gear +1 conductive short sword, mw kukri, comp(+2str) short bow, 20 arrows, 20 silver arrows, +1leather armor, headband of alluring charisma +2, amulet of natural armor +1, cloak of resistance +1, burglars outfit, wand of cure light wounds (50 charges), belt of dexterity +2, mw potion belt (potion of cure moderate wounds x2, potion of invisibility x2) Other Gear mw backpack, bedroll, water skin, trail rations (10), 30pp, 4gp,9sp, 4cp

Sanity Score 43; Damage ___

Sanity Threshold 5

Sanity Edge 21

Madness’

Paranoia The afflicted character gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against charm effects, but takes a –2 penalty on Bluff, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive checks. When the afflicted character attempts a Sense Motive check, the GM rolls the check in secret, and failure gives the afflicted character the impression that those whose motives he is trying to sense are plotting against him in some way. Lastly, any time the afflicted character tries to use or gain a benefit from the aid another action, or is the target of a beneficial spell or effect from an ally, he must succeed at a Will saving throw in order to take the aid another action or gain the benefit from the action, spell, or effect. Description A paranoid character is convinced that the world and society are conspiring toward his ruin. Typically those afflicted with paranoia are fidgety, argumentative, sullen, or extremely introverted.

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Pertyr Grimthorne Pathfinder Conversion

Your description here. Male Half-Drow Wizard 5 Fighter 1 of Mystra

Earned XP 28,483 LN Medium, Half-Elf Init +6; Senses low-light vision, Perception +5 -------------------- Defense -------------------- AC 22, touch 14, flat-footed 19 (+2 Dex, +6 armor, +1 dodge, +1 deflection, +1 shield, +1 nat) hp 71 (5d6+2d10+21) Fort +8, Ref +5, Will +9; +2 vs enchantments, +1 will vs fear

Immune sleep

-------------------- Offense -------------------- Speed 30 ft. Melee mw elven curved blade +9(1d10+6/18-20x2), +1 called heavy mace +9(1d8+5/x2), +1 adamantine frost long spear +9(1d8+7+1d6cold /x3) Special Attacks hand of apprentice (8/day)

Wizard Spells Prepared (CL 5th; concentration +10)

3rd – fireball (DC 18)

2nd – knock, scorching ray, web (DC 17)

1st – burning hands (DC 16), enlarge person, magic missile, sleep (DC 16), shocking grasp (DC 16)

0 (at will) – detect magic, light, message, prestidigitation

School Universal -------------------- Statistics -------------------- Str 18, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 20, Wis 16, Cha 13 Base Atk +4; CMB +7; CMD 21 Feats Craft Wonderous Item, Dodge, Arcane Armor Training, Improved Initiative, Point Blank Shot, Cosmopolitan, Craft Magical Arms and Armor, Quick Draw Skills Appraise +12, Bluff +3, Climb +9, Diplomacy +3, Fly +7, Handle Animal +7, Intimidate +10, Linguistics +13, Ride +6, Sense Motive +5, Spellcraft +15, Survival +13, Swim, +9, Perception +5, Knowledge (arcana, dungeoneering, history, local, nature, religion) +9, Knowledge (engineering, geography, nobility, planes) +9 Languages Abyssal, Auran, Chondathan, Common, Celestial, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Halfling, Illuskion, Orc, Terran, Undercommon SQ arcane bond(bonded ring), bravery +1

Combat Gear

mithril breastplate, buckler, mw elven curved blade,+1 called heavy mace,+1 adamantine frost long spear, amulet of natural armor +1, cloak of resistance +2, bonded ring of protection +1, ring of sustenance,

mw potion belt (cure light wounds (6), cure moderate wounds (2), cure serious wounds (2)), potion of bulls strength, wand of cure light wounds (24 charges)

Other Gear

spell book, travelers outfit, spell component pouch, backpack, paper (25), ink+pen, bedroll, 50ft hemp rope, scroll organizer, water skin,starry gonosis, bag of holding type II,utter dark wine, jewelry (100gp), 480pp, 78gp, 7sp

Sanity Score 49; Damage ___

Sanity Threshold 5

Sanity Edge 24

Madness’

Melancholia ??

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Lillie (Gwanod Leben) Pathfinder Conversion

Your description here. Female Half-Elf Ranger 7 of Fenmarel Mestarine

Earned XP 27,000 CN Medium, Half-Elf Init +2; Senses low-light vision, Perception +18 -------------------- Defense -------------------- AC 21, touch 13, flat-footed 19 (+2 Dex, +8 armor, +1 luck) hp 90 (7d10+20) Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +7; +2 vs enchantments

Immune sleep

-------------------- Offense -------------------- Speed 30 ft. Melee +1 rhoka +13/+8 (1d8+6/18-20x2), or +1 cold iron Warhammer +13/+8 (1d8+6/x3), or mw short sword +13/+8 (1d6+5/19-20x2)

Ranged comp (+5 Str) longbow +9/+4 (1d8+5/x3) Special Attacks favored enemy (aberration +2, undead +4)

Ranger Spells Prepared (CL 2th; concentration +5)

1st – endure elements, detect animals or plants

2nd – spike growth

-------------------- Statistics -------------------- Str 20, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 13 Base Atk +7; CMB +12; CMD 24 Feats Endurance, Two Weapon Fighting, Improved Two Weapon Fighting, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Rhoka), Double Slice, Combat Reflexes, Power Attack, Luck of the Hero, Quick Draw Skills Acrobatics +7, Climb +14, Disable Device +3, Heal +11, Intimidate +10, Stealth +11, Survival +11(Track +14), Perception +18, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +8 Languages Common, Damaran, Draconic, Elven SQ favored terrain (forest), hunters bond (shared favored enemy bonus), track +14, wild empathy +7, woodland stride

Combat Gear +2 mithril breastplate, +1 rhoka, +1 cold iron warhammer, mw short sword, comp (+5 Str) longbow, cloak of resistance +1, ring of sustenance, slippers of spider climbing, mw potion belt (cure light wounds (10), cure moderate wounds (2), cure serious wounds (1)), potion of bulls strength, wand of cure light wounds (37 charges) Other Gear explorers outfit, backpack, spider silk rope (50ft), sun rod (2), 20 arrows (3), 3 orc slaying arrows, 3 grappling arrows, chalk (10), flint and steel, mug, piton (4), periscope, powder (2), earplugs, blanket, 916pp, 20gp

Sanity Score 38; Damage ___

Sanity Threshold 3

Sanity Edge 19

Madness’

Phobia ??

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Vairlim Greycastle Pathfinder Conversion

Your description here. Male Aasimar Cleric 7 of Lathander

Earned XP 23,000 CG Medium, Aasimar Init +1; Senses darkvision 60ft., Perception +8 -------------------- Defense -------------------- AC 22, touch 12, flat-footed 21 (+1 Dex, +8 armor, +2 shield, +1 luck) hp 65 (7d8+9) Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +14

Resist acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5

-------------------- Offense -------------------- Speed 30 ft. Melee +1 heavy mace +12 (1d8+5/x2)

Ranged mw crossbow light +7 (1d8/19-20x2) Special Attacks channel positive energy 11/day (DC 19 4d6)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7th)

1/day – daylight

Domain Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7th)

9/day – touch of good, resistant touch

Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 7th; concentration +13)

4th – blessing of fevor, resoration, holy smited

3rd – blindness/deafness (DC 19), dispel magic, searing light (DC 19), protection from energyd

2nd – bull’s strength, death knell, gentle repose, grace, lesser restoration, shield otherd

1st – divine favor, doom, sanctuary, shield of faith, spiked armor, stunning barrier, protection from evild

0 (at will) – detect magic, light, read magic, stabilize

D domain spell; Domains Good, Protection -------------------- Statistics -------------------- Str 18, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 22, Cha 22 Base Atk +5; CMB +9; CMD 20 Feats Channel Smite, Extra Channel, Guided Hand, Quick Channel, Selective Channel, luck of the Hero’s Skills Bluff +6, Climb +3, Diplomacy +18, Heal +16, Intimidate +6, Sense Motive +14, Survival +6, Swim +3, Perception +8, Knowledge (arcana, nobility) +7, Knowledge (history) +6, Knowledge (planes) +9, Knowledge (religion) +10 Languages Chondathan, Common, Celestial, Draconic, Elven SQ aura

Combat Gear +2 mithril breastplate, +1 light steel shield, +1 heavy mace, mw light crossbow, mw potion belt (cure light wounds (10)), headband of alluring charisma +2, belt of giant strength +2, Other Gear travelers outfit, bedroll, water skin, handy haversack, trail rations (5), holy symbol tattoo, bolts (10) x3, 510gp

Sanity Score 58; Damage ___

Sanity Threshold 6

Sanity Edge 29

Madness’

#pathfinder #statblocks #tabletop rpg #forgotten realms

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