#I also think Fig should become a paladin as well

[championofnyx]

Totally not stuck thinking about what if Bucky becomes a Paladin of Ankarna. A young boy who leaves his abusive family, but doesn't have the doubt his sister did but rather clarity because Kristian already left and she found a family. Bucky has this proof that Kristian didn't; his bigger sister, his shield gave him the conviction to act.

Sol, the sun, cast his sister out and holds his younger brother to either suffer the same fate or to continue growing in abuse. Ankarna, however, gave him fury, in light, bright, and strong as the dawn to leave, to grab his brothers and run, to protect them from the wickedness of their home.

Bucky comes to live at Mordrid, getting to pray again with Kristian, but this time to the goddesses they choose rather than the god forced upon them. The two grow into adulthood next to each other. Coming to terms with their trauma, growing from a chaotic girl and an obedient boy. Becoming, for the first time, themselves.

Sister and Brother.

Cleric and Paladin.

Prophet of Doubt.

Saint of Conviction.

[bloodyshadow1]

for the multiclassers with their level up to 14 there are options

Fabian is currently a level 6 fighter battlemaster/7 swords bard. getting a level in fighter means getting a battlemaster feature Know your Enemy. Which honestly I feel is underused in most dnd games, but can be very good for him where he's in school and has a much easier chance to observe potential enemies like the Ratgrinders. If he takes a level in bard, he doesn't get that much as it is an ability score level up so potentially he could get his 18 in charisma to 20, or he could get a feat. If he does go this route I think he should take a feat since Fabian's charisma is great already and he doesn't really use his spells in combat that much compared to the casters, he mostly uses it to get smites from Fandragor. There are a lot of cool feats that he could pick if he went this route, like sentinel that he had then lost in Sophomore year. Of course, there are other reasons to take a level, sometimes the most important thing is to take a level in a class to get closer to a higher level class feature. They don't have many more combats/episodes left, probably 1 before the finale so they could potentially have another level up. at 9th level get gets access to a 5th level spell.

Gorgug is in a similar space as Fabian, he's a 6 barbarian berserker/7 artificer barbificier. taking a level in barbarian would give him access to feral instinct that he lost when he took artificer levels. Advantage on initiative is good, but he's had disadvantage on initiative since he started getting stress tokens so I'm not sure how important that is to Zac. The level in Artificer won't give him much as it's an ability score level. He could boost his strength up to 20 to max it out or get his int to 18 for his artificer stuff. Or he could take a feat and then who knows what he's going to do. Of course, he could take 2 levels in artificer by becoming a 5 barbarian, and become a 9th level artificer to show off a feature of his new homebrewed subclass. I don't think he should since he would lose mindless rage that has saved him quite a few times and high level dnd has a lot of weird mind magic that can frighten and charm. As the biggest guy on the field he's the likely target. As we don't know much about Gorgug's barbificer subclass it could be worth it or it might not be.

Fig is more complicated since she has 3 classes, 10 lore bard/1 hexblade warlock/2 paladin. First off, I don't think she's going to take a warlock level, eldritch invocations are great, but she had them before and gave up a level of warlock for paladin. She seems to like the concept of Warlock, but mechanically it doesn't do much for her, the single level of hexblade is all she needs to be an awesome melee bard. Taking a level in bard would make sense given that we still have to see the outcome of her 30 or so roll on her new song. And doing so would give her access to 6th level spells. Also in regards to bard, I don't think Fig is going to switch her subclass again to swords or valor to get an extra attack. She might, but as a lore bard her magical secrets she gets have served her well, it's the reason she was able to use revify and counterspell. She has the normal magical secrets from being a bard, but who knows if she'd be willing to part with spells for another attack since Emily loves her spells. If she takes a 3rd level in paladin she'll be taking her oath, which is important to her story and what she's been struggling with. I'm not sure if she'd take a level this time or after their second to last fight, it might be more important for her then as a climax. She would get a class feature and honestly I could see it being a homebrewed feature since she doesn't really fit into any of the oaths currently available. Maybe conquest or redemption given how her storyline in intertwined with Ankarna, but who knows given how open Brennan is with homebrew. I also don't think Fig is going to give up her bard levels to get to 5 paladin by the end of the season. Her magical secrets she gets as a bard at 10 are just too good to pass up, she'd lose at least summon greater steed and another spell which I don't think would be worth it.

I am very excited to see how things turn out tonight to see how they level up.

[mattzerella-sticks]

Idk, I think Porter offering Fig the option of a rage deity she could swear to, to help Kristen and ultimately Cassandra, was less of an evil thing and more of Brennan dropping a story hint AS WELL AS giving her an opportunity in the final battle once this deity is brought back/they face them.

Porter's whole thing this season so far is about how rage is not something that should be seen as 'evil'. Rage, like stress, is an indicator that something is not right and needs attention. And in Fig's case that attention comes in the form of rebellion, of protecting those who she sees in need of protection, of aid, of friendship. I also think Porter's definition of rage is different from the blind rage, pointless rage, that is spreading throughout the school. In fact, that is more like wrath. And, if we take what he said about his oath of ancestors at face value, I doubt he would have left Lucy and Yolanda like that as theirs a reverence and honor to those who passed inherent in the build. As someone who joked about Porter being the big bad ironically, proving Fig's suspicions correctly, I think he is on the level this season. We're seeing the consequences to Fig's actions, in her becoming a paladin and befriending Porter because Brennan is leaning into her trying to play with Porter instead of brushing her off. Though this is probably easier when Porter has a lot to offer in terms of aid when the villain of the season is wrath/a form of rage.

As for Zara, maybe her Warlock contract is with the former deity in their new form, with their new name, or the demon in Lydia's chest, but I also think she has a benefit to Fig figuring out how to swear her oath because the most important aspect of a contract is how it's worded. And what is an oath but another form of a contract? While I think Fig's Warlock contract will more be a promise to herself to use her powers to help her friends, with radical friendship being her source of power, keeping in mind how to form a contract will be beneficial if the plan IS for Fig to pledge her support to this unnamed deity, because what if Fig makes the oath to the deity's former name rather than who they are now? Will that be enough to bring the deity back from the state it's in much like how all it took was Kristen believing in Cassandra to redeem her from the Nightmare King?

[verosvault]

🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 7🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Episode 7 "Stress Tested"

Timestamp: 00:58:33

Video Length: 3min. & 24sec.

Fig thinks about becoming a Paladin for Cassandra!

Fig: "Riz?"

Riz: "Yeah?"

Fig: "Do you think that I should offer myself to be a Paladin of Cassandra?"

Riz: "A Paladin? Not a Warlock?"

Fig: "Because I'm an archdevil of rebellion and you need doubt to imagine. You need to basically fling yourself into the unknown. That's what rebellion is."

Riz: "Okay. Yeah, that sounds- I mean, that sounds sick."

Fig: "Because maybe that would help bring Cassandra back. If Cassandra had another believer."

Riz: "You could definitely do that. You could also do Warlock with that too, right?"

Fig: "Yeah."

Riz: "Do you prefer Paladin?"

Fig: "I..."

Riz: "Do you have an interest in those classes? 'Cause it's just-"

Ally: "Paladin teacher?"

Siobhan: "How hot is the Paladin teacher?"

Fig: "Stop making me make decisions."

Riz: "No, no, no, it's not about... Look, I think we're just gonna have to put in paperwork and stuff then, though, just to make it official."

Fig: "Can I bring it up with Kristen? Kristen, do you think it would help bring Cassandra back if she had, like, a champion?"

Kristen: "Sure. Yeah."

Fig: "Okay, this feels too rash."

Kristen: "No, no."

Fig: "It's coming to me in this moment and it feels-"

Kristen: "Wait, no. I think you have so much to offer. I mean, look, I love Craig and he smells so good all of a sudden."

Fig: "He smells amazing."

Kristen: "It's like animal piss, but in a good way."

Fig: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like fermented animal piss."

Brennan: "Over in the corner, you see Craig's just sort of talking to Gorgug and says,"

Craig: "I've never seen a spell."

Gorgug: "Never ever?"

The awesome caption team: (Emily laughing)

Gorgug: "At all?"

Craig: "No, just hasn't come up."

Zac: "I kinda position myself over here to do a study over here."

BRENNAN'S LAUGHING!!! 😭😭✋✋💀💀

Gorgug: "I kinda can't help you I don't think."

Craig: "Oh, okay."

Adaine: "Kristen, your adult man is being weird."

Fig: "I'm feeling like doubt in the unknown and rebellion, it's like, rebellion is only strengthened by having no fear and doubt."

Kristen: "Well rebellion is the vehicle to get to doubt from certainty."

Fig: "Yeah."

Kristen: "Which is really claustrophobic. Yeah, I think you're totally right."

Fig: "It feels kinda rash though 'cause I literally just thought of this."

Kristen: "I think we should run with it full speed."

Fig: "What?"

Kristen: "I think you should." *puts hand out*

Ally: "I spit in my hand and put pine needles in it."

Fig: "Wait, ****. I had a whole other plan. I had a whole other plan and this just occurred to me."

Kristen: "Wait, but what classes have you been liking?"

Fig: "So I really like Warlock, I do wanna continue. And then I was gonna go to my Bard teacher and try and get them to let me do an independent study."

Kristen: "For Paladin?"

Fig: "No. No, this Paladin plan just came to me. That's why it's coming up so roughshod."

Kristen: "No, like Helio and all that 💩. Paladin feels very squeaky clean. You know what I mean? I think Cassandra would want a Warlock."

Fig: "Not the way I would do it."

(BRENNAN'S BURST OF LAUGHTER HERE! 💀✋)

Ally: "You'd be a nasty *** Paladin? Dirty Paladin."

Emily: "Dirty Paladin."

Kristen: "I think Warlock could work-"

Emily: "I'd be a Paladin you can't take home."

Kristen: "-...if you wanted to still do that."

Ally: "The Paladin you don't take home to mom."

Fig: "Okay. Okay. I'm just gonna, like, put that on ice."

Kristen: "Okay."

Fig: "This feels really rash."

Riz: "I mean, thinking about it, all this stuff with devils and doing deals and everything, it's not too-"

Fig: "I mean, it's another relationship thing, which is my- pledging myself to people is pretty much all I do."

Riz: "Maybe you were meant to be a champion."

Fig: "It's just too big of a decision to make right now. I don't wanna make any decisions."

Kristen: "Don't run away! Hey, stop!"

Fig skateboards away! 😭✋

Brennan: "Fig, you skateboard away."

[infaethable]

saw another class swap au so i just want to line up what classes i personally think the bad kids should have been if they were not their own class.

fabian: swashbuckler rogue / storm sorcerer multiclass. fabian being a rogue would honor cathilda, and the fact this specific rogue subclass is so charismatic works as well for fabian. storm sorcerer in sophomore year could be really poetic, as he reconnects with nature, his elven roots, his bloodline. but it’s not completely elven, it’s something uniquely him.

kristen: way of the sun soul retrained to way of mercy monk. kristen canonically was almost a monk! her intro includes the fact that she was almost sent to a helioic monastery. way of the sun soul is all about righteous fury, light. way of mercy is about balance. works perfectly for kristen’s sophomore year journey.

adaine: path of wild magic barbarian. adaine has anger issues, and she has trouble controlling when to use her magic in episode one. i think it would be interesting if that manifested as this.

fig: trickery domain cleric. has a lot of similarities to fig’s m.o in the whole first season. i once had a character concept about a character who wanted to be a warlock but accidentally made a deal with a god and so they became a paladin, and i think it would be really funny if fig’s genius plan was to become a warlock to find her dad, and then she failed step one. for her multiclass between seasons, i’d love to see her with two levels of druid to get circle of wildfire (fire motif and the druid/ranger similarities honor her mother in the same way her warlock honors her father. also: baby as a familiar) is this a multiclass that makes a lot of mechanical sense? not really. but i love it.

gorgug: abjuration wizard. gorgug was canonically bullied, and he’s very introverted. retreating to study and books and gravitating towards a school that would protect him makes a lot of sense. for his one level multiclass i would go celestial warlock, after meeting garthy. celestial warlock isn’t great in the long run, but it’s good for one level, and that extra healing is clutch (also, guiding bolt wrecks house at lower levels). 

riz: paladin. i have written riz as almost every kind of paladin. i have played, personally, almost every kind of paladin. so hear me out when i say that while this would be an extremely different build for riz, it is emotionally very similar. i would go with oath of the crown for canon riz, especially in season one. the sort of devotion to a system, to a way of thinking and doing things. to protection, and justice. this is riz in season one.

[kc-anathema]

RotTMNT: Shadow of Evil

Finally, a little of what I was hoping for.

First, a bullet dodged. When I saw the opening credits, I braced myself for the worst--yet another incarnation of two of the most overused fanboy callbacks in the series. “If they mutate that rhino and boar, we’ll be outclassed!” No, Mikey--you’ll be saddled with a painful dose of nostalgia.

Instead, they passed by this and we get a giant mutated bird instead. A mutated giant bird that was passing threatening and interesting in design. Score one for the new kids.

Another plus for the show? We finally, finally, after almost a whole season, get actual plot!

If it’s hard to parse out that image, it’s two darker colored imps pulling at a glowy shard of metal.

“Mystic metal? That’s a first.”

Yes, Donatello, yes it is. We could have had hints of these earlier on in the previous episodes, setting us up with intriguing clues and portents of things to come. There could have been suspense ratcheting up through the show instead of episodes devoted to a repossessing insect mutant, a sad bellhop bull, and a friendly capybara mutant. Ah well. At least the plot finally decided to show up.

It’s funny how the plot shows up in an episode that’s twice as long, too. About the length of a regular cartoon. Go fig. I’d be happy if this was going to be the time from here on out, but my low hopes are already soaring at this point. Can’t ask for everything.

Man...when they decide to go for the heroic pose, the animators do a fine job of it. It’s a shame that, throughout this episode, most of the fight scenes don’t involve the ninja turtles save for scenes of them being ignored (Draxum, who calls them losers, and Splinter, who beats them up and then grounds them. There is one last scene of them taking on the Foot, but I’d be more impressed if ninja-in-disguise-only April wasn’t keeping up with them. If she’s going to be holding her own in these fights, I wish they’d provide some backstory for her abilities.

As a side note, I’m still hopeful for Leonardo’s role in this series as he keeps getting these crouching/kneeling poses, and if he could be more ninja than hero, more thief to Raphael’s paladin, I’d be very happy.

Speaking of ninjas...

Look! A plot showed up!

The mystic metal is part of an armor that swallowed the soul of the man who put it on. So owe have our Shredder, a demonic dark armor, which means that it can be cut apart without the blood or sense of death that would keep Nick from showing off its violence. Not gonna lie, it’s a good design, like the insectoid dragon feel of it, it’s got a good introduction...just wish that it had been telegraphed in previous episodes.

The pacing of this show...well, I just really hope this is the writer’s finding their feet, as with many good shows.

And...what I really did not like.

I could have gone all day without the Splinter comedy. I see where they’re going with his characterization, the Lou Jitsu (ten bucks says that’s his stage name and not his real name) becoming a more competent or at least more likable character. The gravitas and sense of seriousness from previous Splinter’s isn’t a requirement, but I wish the writers wouldn’t have their cake and eat it, too. If he’s a rotten parent, the turtles should ignore his authority completely. If he’s going to be such a bad mentor, there should be in-world consequences for it. There just doesn’t seem to be much in the way of repercussions...which goes right back to the pacing, world building and characterization in this show.

I kinda hope we get to see who this was. I don’t think it’s Karai, as I’ve seen some speculation. My money is more on Tang Shen.

Anyway.

At least this is leaps and bounds above the capybara episode, much better than what’s come before, and it gives me some solid plot anchors to grab onto. I have more hope for the show than I did with the past episodes--the turtles and main characters are front and center, the major villain is teased, and there seems to be violence and mayhem of a darker variety in the wings. I’m still not happy about the character building I’m seeing, but at least there’s a good chance that they’ll deepen and gain some conflict over time.

I’m also very hopeful that we’re going to see some of the earlier plot hooks returned to, particularly the Battle Nexus.

If nothing else, I have the multidimensional reflective orb neutralizer to add to my fics.

Is Mikey chewing on Raph’s shell?

Designs aside, the animation on this is pretty darn good.

[verosvault]

🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 8🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Fracas at the Frostyfaire Folk Festival

Timestamp: 34:54

Video Length: 4min. & 45sec.

Research into Cassandra and Ruvina + Learning about Oblivati Mori (Pt.1 | ‣Pt.2 | Pt.3)

Fig: "Do you want a Bardic?"

Fabian: "I can... Hey, The Ball? Let me help."

Riz: : "Okay, yeah. It's just-"

Gorgug: "Can I have a Bardic?"

Riz: "It's just the dust mites."

Fig: "Do you want some help?"

Riz: "I'm a little worried about the dust mites!" 😭✋ (Murph's CONCERNED FACE! 😭✋)

Fig: "Here!" *starts to play* 😭✋

Riz: "Oh no! It's okay!" 😭✋

Emily: "If you see me wink, you get a Bardic." (😭😭😭😭✋✋✋✋)

Murph: Okay, okay. (*blocking Emily's winks with his hands*! 😭✋)

Lou: "Can my Bardic just be that I run screen?" 😭✋

Fabian: "No, no, look at me. No!"

Emily: "Don't you want it? Don't you want it?" (😭😭😭😭)

Murph: "Okay, right off the bat, dirty 20. Should I throw this on there and try to-"

Emily: "Yeah!"

Siobhan: "why not?!"

Lou: "Come on, baby. Let's cook."

Murph: "26."

Lou: "We stay eatin'!"

Brennan: "Hell yes."

Ally: "A feast."

Murph: "So afraid of dust mites. Are there..." 😭✋

Brennan: "So I think you're going through Rana's stuff, which is all the actual, the poetic... She was the cleric of the group, right? And you're going through Cormyr's stuff. Cormyr was a sorcerer, but you actually see, for someone that was innately magical, Cormyr had very meticulous notes, beautiful script, and has something written out which is a long... You can tell it's a copying of another text. As you arrive at it, it's basically, he wrote a glossary literally for the possibility that they would all die on this mission, and another group of adventurers would find this stuff and could pick up where they left off."

Emily: "We should remember to do that in the future." 😭😭😭✋✋✋

Siobhan: "Put it on the board. Put it on the board!"

Brennan: "You find-"

Gorgug: "A for Adaine."

Brennan: "You find-"

Adaine: "That's my name! What?"

Fig: "I think it's the information, not us." 😭✋

Gorgug: "Oh, well, how holistic is it?"

Adaine: "Catch up. Stop thinking about-[inaudible]"

Riz: "I texted you this stuff, man!" 😭✋

Gorgug: "Got it." 💀💀

Brennan: "What you see is, there is the beginning of a text that is written- and I think that... Adaine, go ahead and give me one more- give me actually, an Arcana, 'cause you rolled History. Give me an Arcana real quick."

Siobhan: "I did roll History...23."

Lou: "Sexy." 😂💀

Brennan: "You are able to point out- you know that what you're looking at is not a spell. But Adaine, you're familiar that there's lots of kinds of magical writing that are not spells. There's ways of annotating things that are magical laws or precepts, and what you are seeing here is a dually arcane and religious axiom of magical law of Spyre. And what you see is it says, "Obliviati Mori."

Emily: "Remember you will die? Or forget you will die?!" (👀👀)

Brennan: "Clerics call it Obliviati Mori, but you see that as an arcane rule, it is called the Law of Theothanatic Silence."

Siobhan: "So that's when a god dies, you forget their name."

Brennan: "Yes. But you see that he's writing down all the mortal stuff you already know. When a god dies, you forget their name. When a god dies, they're scrubbed from existence. When a god dies, da da da da da. But you guys also know that for all that being said, 'Yes!' is dead because nobody believes in it, but people remember 'Yes!', right?"

Siobhan: "Oh, we all remember 'Yes!'." 😭✋

Brennan: "You all remember 'Yes!'."

Zac: "I'll never forget that thing."

Siobhan: "They had a cogent philosophy that we comprehended deeply."

Ally: "Maybe we should forget, though." (😭😭✋✋)

Fig: "Just to be clear, when I was talking about becoming a paladin, it was for 'Yes!'." (😭😭✋✋)

Kristen: "Wait, what? No, no!" 😭✋

Adaine: "Wait, for 'Yes!' or for 'Yes??'" 💀💀💀

Zac: "I'll never forget that thing sliding out of-" 😭✋

Ally: "Yeah, sliding out of that hole." 😭✋

Siobhan: "Just so wet."

Murph: "That thing getting pooped out of space." 😭😭✋✋

Brennan: "Basically, there is an intense series of rules and restrictions, but you see this rule doesn't apply to mortals. It applies to the gods."

Siobhan: "Oh! So the gods also forget the name?!"

Brennan: "They do not."

Siobhan: "Oh! And that's why we remember Yes!, 'cause we're all gods!" (😂💀 IMAGINE! 😂💀)

Brennan: "You're all gods! Obliviati Mori is a precept that binds deities to not evangelize or even speak of fallen deities to mortals. In other words, it's written out as a precept of basically like, if a god succumbs to some form of death, they become archfey, they become a demon or a celestial rather than a full deity, if they only have a few dozen followers and another god kills them and they don't have the strength to withstand that, or if literally, in the most extreme cases, their name is fully forgotten, other deities are not allowed to effectively remind mortals of their existence."

Siobhan: "So does that mean that the person who wrote the note that is supposed to be from Lucy was actually a god?"

Brennan: "It makes it very unclear who could have written that. Because you're in this weird position where you guys can all write Yes!, you can write Cassandra. This god is one whose name has actually been forgotten or scrubbed by every single mortal."