#I will not put the disaster wizard in my D&D campaign I will not put the disaster wizard in my D&D campaign

[mariana-oconnor]

I have absolutely not got out my copy of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist for Baldur's Gate 3 related reasons. I have not been looking at the map at all.

[seadeepy]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who liked or reblogged something from you! Get to know your mutuals, followers and all the wonderful people on here!

1. Star Trek TOS I’ve been on my TOS bullshit for a while now, and I love that when I watch it and go insane about Spirk I am following literally half a century of tradition. Those boys are married as FUCK.

2. Haven, my tiefling wizard My ludicrously pink tiefling who has more spells in her spellbook than any one individual should!! She's impulsive, well-intentioned, and kind of a disaster -- putting the 5 I rolled into her Wisdom stat was the best decision I've ever made. The campaign has been running for about 3.5 years now, and we've made it all the way from level 1 to level 15! It's also been some of the best roleplaying I've participated in, and by far the most interesting plot/worldbuilding I've encountered in a D&D game. I'm so excited to play through to the end of the story and find out if we can save the world :)

3. Music Music is the only thing keeping me in grad school rn, honestly. It gives me the energy to get going in lab and tackle the constant demands on my time and brainpower. Special mention to Fall Out Boy, MUNA, and All Time Low ✌️

4. The Locked Tomb Series These books have given me the kind of multi-year brainrot that strikes me only rarely. I dearly love Gideon and the Sixth House, but overall the books are such a delicious blend of humor, mystery, worldbuilding, horror, and amazing character moments. Their re-read potential is phenomenal, too -- I notice new stuff every time.

5. Kelsey My little baby... she's 15 years old now, and has a variety of health issues that have been wreaking havoc on my home life. But she still chirps and purrs and snuggles, and I'll keep trying to give her a good life as long as I can. She's demanding my attention right now, in fact...

[nochi-quinn]

campaign 3 episode 58: brb flying to la to steal matt's shins

I got sick again today but I'M TRYING

they got him!!

"we really should give all our producers a raise"

marisha that top

I believe the trope is magipunk but obvs I haven't seen it yet

HOWEVER magipunk is one of my favorite tropes so I'm hoping

game now called Taliesin's Baby

I hate literally every second of this

"teeth, tentacles and terror" hate that too

mapphew strikes again

"the trees have bones"

"we had a real estate agent but they ghosted us" BOO

"it's a bit much"

"I think you grabbed the one that was too big"

augh the wolf snouts coming out of it

"six :D"

HATE THAT NOISE

matt's noises are also hurting my brain so this tracks

nobody gets freaked out by legendary actions like travis gets freaked out by legendary actions

"BUT THAT'S METAGAMING"

"he's actually half butts"

matt says Make Expensive Choices

why does laura sound like she's on Old Timey Radio

I WARNED YOU ABOUT STAIRS BRO

it's a Wet Monster it should take double from lightning

Chew Again

BIT IT AND QUIT IT

"how many of its butts fell off"

guiding bolt upp the butt(s)

FEARNE

"matthew how DARE you roll a natural 20"

NINE

FRIDA

somebody curse matt's dice

trade matt's dice with laura's

frida pulling every available feat out to throw at the meat tower

Action Surge Sharpshooter Grit Point is the fighter version of Reckless Great Weapon Master

"please gif that"

"aRe YoU uSiNg ThE sAmE dIcE"

"say parmesan if you want me to hit him" "PARMESAN"

"OKLAHOMA SAFE WORD"

a whole lot of rules just got flung around and I zoned out in self-defense

"a weird divacup for this massive period stain"

AUNT FLOW

"does it have eyes" "occasionally" "you can't SAY THAT"

hey I hate it

"a roll I wish I had failed"

gay

"tree trunk of skin" [lenny]

"it's not the holy grail!" "if you read enough dan brown - kinda!"

liam is here in spirit

AND ON SAM'S GAS CAN APPARENTLY

"GIVE HER BANGS"

"no, we just got the art"

oh hate

oh HATE

please run. please leave.

it is going to Eat You

"I rolled a 1 but it comes out to 23"

this is the closest we've gotten to matt breaking out an hourglass in a while

"paper - not being humanoid - because it's a piece of paper - "

"it's nOT A DILDO"

"frida - take this down"

CHRISTIAN

"and then I burn the notes and leave" okay arkhan

"just be a little smarter, okay?"

and then it WORKED

"this gargamel motherfucker stealing smurfs"

"I've never read a book. I'm actually older than books."

not the dot matrix printer

"be careful, link….the yuck moon rises once again…"

"I only saw her from the back but my god was she beautiful"

"abs for days"

COBOSO

"I don't know why wizards would have abs"

"it was very sad, he died, clearly"

irl gifts IRL GIFTS

SHIRTS

"I invented polyester"

and in the COLOR SCHEMES

"it's segmented, sepratated" sasha nein's mindscape

"you're a mess"

don't chase the rabbit!

if there are stars when you look down -

everybody gets presents

"it's a sweatshirt made out of wood"

YOU ARE WHO YOU CHOOSE TO BE

"one more?" "…….ka-put"

EVERYBODY GETS PRESENTS

eabria come get your smut

their collective quest to get travis to turn into a tomato

I can't believe this is canon

they almost have to swap back now right. right? this is such a good place to wrap up. please return the other half of the table.

thank you for not being That Guy matt

;-;

HEY MATT??

YOU'VE SUFFERED A TERRIBLE FATE HAVEN'T YOU

the RED END

did fcg just become a champion?

IS DEANNA BEING MADE A CHAMPION?

gods going through their whole rolodex sending out SOSes

I forgot how much of a dick pelor is

I'm sorry, the ~dawnfather~

wait is the spider queen freaking out at opal? is this a disaster on both sides of the aisle?

where's opal, I wanna talk to opal

imogen is the kid who grew up secular and heard about every different religion from pop culture osmosis

(imogen is me)

it's a Stuff-Doing-Coin

see in scripted media her giving him the ring would be an enormous death flag. it still kind of is because I'm a paranoid panda but still

you have to give travis the inventory it's the rules

SDKJFLKSD

matt

THE RTA

sam sploded

this is tonight's real lore drop

just throw a dart at the map

it does DAMAGE?

"why does he say it like that"

MATTHOLOMEW MERCER

"WHAT'S NEW JERSEY"

liam's not even here to do the accent

"that's more fun" FOR WHO

NO FUCK YOU

LAURA

MATT

I HATE EVERYONE HERE

"I can't tell if she's doing a bit"

BEEN A WHILE SINCE I WANTED TO FIGHT THEM IN THE PARKING LOT AFTER THE SHOW BUT HERE WE ARE

[curseofblinsky]

Intro

Hi we're a group of 4 playing through curse of strahd! We wanted a place to put stuff relevant to our campaign of it

Jason (he/ze)

Hello, I'm Jason. Typically I'm a dm but not for this campaign and I'm thrilled. I've heard so much cool stuff about cos and have wanted to play it for a while now.

I'm playing Matija Dragović (they/them), a human redemption oath paladin who once was the squire of a tyrant but left that life behind to help people. Voted most likely pc to romance Strahd.

Tara (she/her)

Hey, I've literally never played d&d before and got roped into this by my gf Raven cause one of the groups regular players couldn't deal with the tws of cos. I'm excited to play in part cause of its eastern european setting.

I'm playing Lela Kóbor (she/her), a roma half elf order of the scribe wizard. After a natural disaster two years ago she's been looking for her family and caravan since then. Voted most likely to drop kick people.

Troy (he/him)

Hi, I'm Troy and I've been playing with this group for about five years now. I've got a fondness for werewolves and I hear there might be some in Barovia so here I come!

I'm playing Andrei Munteanu (he/him), a eladrin elf whispers bard (with a planned dip into hexlock). He's been on the run after being framed for the murder of his noble father (and Matija's former master) and would like to clear his name. Voted most likely to die (due to being a silly guy)

Raven (she/her)

Hello, I've been playing for nearly as long as Troy with this party. I also was the one to sweet talk Tara into this. I'm a huge fan of gothic media and vampires.

I'm playing Willow (she/it), a warforged grave cleric. She's the sole runner of a church and graveyard out in the forest she woke up in without any memories, she's only recently left it to investigate the source of an undead attack on the church. Voted most likely to adopt a child.

[creativerogues]

An Amateur DM’s Worldbuilding Thoughts...

I should write my own sea shanties for my nautical campaigns.

There should be a stage in the tavern in case the Bard wants to perform.

I wish I knew more about food so I could write better tavern menus.

A lot of NPCs are probably farmers; potato farmers, fruit farmers, cattle farmers etc.

I should include more diverse NPCs.

Natural disasters can be the basis for an adventure, what’s causing the tsunamis on the coast, what’s making volcanoes erupt and earthquakes happen.

I should use weather and environments to evoke emotions and imagery way more.

Asian hair tends to be thick and straight, whereas European hair tends to be thinner and can be wavy, and African hair tends to be coarse and have very tight curls.

Historical accounts suggest that some women tried to bleach their hair with lemon juice or darken it with indigo or even mud to fit the current trends, so maybe the players meet a lighter haired woman who smells faintly of lemons!

A wizard’s spellbook probably has stains on its parchment from various foods and drinks.

A mute NPC would be a fun way to test myself and see if I can express concepts and ideas to the Party without just saying them.

“Common” often refers to English, but what about different dialects?

I should come up with more fantasy slang and insults.

Some regional fantasy greetings would be a cool way to immerse the Players in the world, such as “Be Pleasured.” meaning “Hello!”.

I should expand on the cosmology of the material plane, what constellations are in the sky, can the Players see other planets if they look up, how many moons does the world have?

The Party, when they're famous enough, probably have random people wanting to speak with them or get their autograph, which would be a great way to break up any monotony caused by shopping montages or downtime activities.

In a busy urban city, there’s probably a lot of street food and street performers.

In a big city, there’s probably a lot of horses and carriages passing through, so the Party probably aren’t walking in the middle of the road unless the road is too small for that sort of thing.

A country is probably broken up into provinces, counties or territories, and cities are probably broken up into districts.

What’s the longest road or trading route in the world? And why is it so popular?

What’s the longest river or mountain range in the world? Where’s the highest mountain located?

Where are the fault lines in the world? Would there be lot’s of mountains or lots of earthquakes there?

Which countries have the best archers or soldiers or cavalry? Which country has the best naval fleet?

If giant animals and dire beasts (like dire wolfs and giant owls) exist, would people try to use them like cavalry, with people flying giant owls carrying power-kegs so they could drop bombs on the bad guys, or people riding armoured dire beasts into battle...

Certain regions probably have certain cuisines, which would be reflected in their tavern menus.

Different cultures have different views on music, as well as different superstitions and different folk tales.

Different cultures have different architecture, from wood or stone buildings to tents to maybe no “Buildings” at all!

Before a person becomes an adventurer, they were most likely a farmer or labourer of some kind.

Wizards and bards would be great translators.

What does the flag or banner of each country look like, or do certain parts of the country have their own heraldry or coat of arms?

People from the Underdark probably eat a lot of fungus, plants and bugs, so most probably don’t even know what “Meat” is!

There’s lot of downtime entertainment that could engage the Party, from underground fight clubs to libraries to arenas and theatres.

Each district or province of an area probably has their own landmarks, from rivers and castles to statues and other more fantastical landmarks like famous magic shops.

Festivals, Fairs and Concerts are always a fun way to introduce players to a new culture or city. Perhaps it's a noble ball that's invite only, or perhaps the festival doesn't even take place on this plane of existence!

Most birds don’t react to super spicy food (like chilli peppers) like humans do, so most bird-like D&D Races (like Kenku and Aarakocra) might absolutely love (or hate) spicy food!

Sunlight entering water can travel about 3,000 feet under the right conditions, but there is rarely any significant light beyond about 600 feet, meaning you could potentially have underwater combat take place in complete and utter darkness!

Does my world have fishing laws? Like do they care about fish population enough to have laws to help prevent over-fishing?

A party member hears footsteps and whispers from outside their room, only to open their door and find another patron of the inn trying to sneak to their room without waking anyone up.

Fantasy street food can be pretty much anything! From chocolate to meat on skewers to noodles or even sausages stuffed and grilled quickly right in front of the Players as they walk through the streets!

It’s definitely a strength check to try and break out of bonds, but it’s a dexterity check to wiggle yourself out of handcuffs or bindings, remember that!

 Hobo Symbols (an actual thing created by wandering adventurers and nomads) could make for a great way to communicate places of interest to a Party of New Adventurers.

I should use Electrum Pieces more often.

Characters with more siblings means more fun and relevant NPCs you could put in interesting positions. For example, imagine the brother or sister of a Party Member working for the opposing side during a war....

The BBEG could have multiple enemies or allies in high and low places, meaning potential new allies and enemies for the Party to make.

If you want your Players to think you’re a galaxy brain DM, drip feed info little by little into parts of the campaign from the very start, both in and out of combat, that way when the big reveal comes along, the Players think you’re a big-brained master of plot and storytelling!

Some taverns could have darkened or tinted windows, since that'll make every drunkard inside think it's still early in the night.

If a band of bards is playing in a tavern, the Party can probably hear the noises from outside.

More taverns should have a dance-floor!

There should be more families in taverns and inns, since most taverns and inns are similar to hotels or restaurants.

The walls and ceilings of a tavern could be filled with all sorts of things: Light fixtures, chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, wooden beams supporting the walls. Or maybe something more artistic: Paintings, mounted animal heads, tapestries, curtains hanging above windows and doors, just to give a few examples...

[sif-the-tsunami]

Roll Initiative!

The Caffeine Cleric is back at her bullshit.

Here is what I think Henry and all of his characters would play in 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. For shits and giggles, I will add what kind of race and alignment I think they also might play.

Edited to add: my husband is a forever DM, and is the reason I’m into D&D. He is a pretty good judge of charcter.

Henry himself

@demivampirew​ this gif is masterpiece. I hope its okay that I used it.

The man, the myth, the nerd legend. 

There is a part of me that thinks he would play a Fighter, probably a Champion or Battle Master. He likes to be the biggest and the bestest. He would want to rally his fellow players. He is probably a Aasimar Protector. Aasimar are considered otherworldly beautiful (they are literally angels). He likes to come off as being the hero. That’s why he chooses the roles he does. Most of his characters are larger than life. He would play Neutral Good. He is here to help.

However.

However...

He is a goddamn troll. We know this. This mother fucker would probably have a back up character that is a Trickery Domain Cleric or Arcane Trickster Rogue. Most likely a human variant so he can get an extra feat. Probably chaotic good or chaotic neutral.

My husband thinks he would play a Padlock (warlock + paladin), Human variant, Lawful neutral, pact of the blade for the warlock, oath of devotion.

Geralt of Rivia

If we are being 100% honest, Geralt is my one true love. If I could get him at my table, we would put the “pal” in paladins. He would be a half elf because they also have parental problems. He might choose half-orc because sometimes he thinks of himself as a monster. He would choose Oath of the Ancients, immune to disease, fear, and he would play more tank like, with a high dexterity. He would be true neutral... or as neutral as he could play without the DM intentionally poking at his soft spots.

And always... he’s tired of the bard’s shit.

August Walker

Without a doubt, he will play a Death Domain cleric. He will play a warforged.

August is the product of mismanagement and neglect. He is a harbinger of death. If he had been treated more like a human and less like a tool, he could have saved the world.

My husband thinks that he would be a Warlock, he would trade a part of himself to gain power. Potentially a tiefling or a fallen aasimar.

Syverson

Sy was a kiddo when D&D went through the Satanic Panic, and especially being from the South, he probably isn’t that interested in playing. If his kid was really into though, he would roll up a half-orc barbarian. It would probably be named Fang.

Napoleon Solo

Leon is brilliant, he would actually be the Dungeon Master. And when you annoy him, he will absolutely kill the entire party and make you feel bad that he had to do it.

Walter Marshall

Grumpy McGrumpypants, he doesn’t have a lot of time for games. He probably only pops in and out once or twice a quarter. He plays an Elf Hunter, and he probably forgets to use Hunter’s Mark.

Clark Kent/ Kal-El

I am going to lead with my husband’s thoughts on this one. Clark Kent would be a disaster Wizard, school of illusion. Probably a gnome. He would constantly be “forgetting” what dice he was supposed to use. He would forget that he needs to components for the spells he casts. It would drive the rest of the players crazy. However, he would be playing exactly how he wants to, and how he presents himself to the rest of the world.

On the other hand, Kal-El is the most lawful good paladin to have ever paladined. Kal knows the areas rules and regulations. He knows the currency, he knows the ins and outs of the game world. He is absolutely a protector aasimar. Kal and the DM Martian Manhunter (I can’t remember how to spell his name and I’m too lazy to look up his name) have several discussions about the campaign.

I think that Clark would play a rogue assassin or necromancer wizard, because he is good ALL THE TIME, so why not break character and roleplay as someone else. He would try to play evil... but it would come off as more ebil than anything else.

Sherlock

Sherlock is a brilliant man, who is far to busy to worry about such trivial pursuits. However, if he did play, he would essentially be Percy de Rolo from Critical Role. An Aristocratic human gunslinger duelist. He would also be proficient in unarmed combat, the DM will sometimes run games where Sherlock get’s to enter the fighting pits. 

My husband seems to think that he would have a maxed out build that would deal out extremes amounts of damage.

Mikey

Mike plays an elf bard, college of lore. He tries and fails to seduce every NPC. Even the dragons... actually especially the dragons.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Hello! I'm writing a campaign that is basically the aftermath of a different campaign, in which those Great Adventurers "saved the world." However, this campaign will be about the players dealing with the consequences of those actions, and these are the ideas I have for that.

• A great, tyrannical dragon was slain and their followers either fled of shared their fate, and now a large herd of Behir have taken residence in the area now that their primary predator is gone, and the dragons followers have now become more savage and ruthless.

• A southern country was so ravaged by the arcane battles of the War that it outlawed arcane magics and turned heavily into a Theocratic society.

• The Great Adventurers entered the Feywild in need of an artifact, and were forced to steal it; the Queen of the Fae has barred all entrance into the Feywild, which in turn has cut off all Lycans and other Fae from their influence.

• During the War, one of the Great Adventurers summoned a small army of elementals to aid them in the field; after the conclusion of the battles that they were in, the elementals wandered aimlessly until an entire kingdom went silent. The elementals begin fighting amongst themselves and combining, until it finally had enough sentience to command the others and take over a kingdom.

• The High Elven kingdom was persuaded to join the War by the Great Adventurers; after the carnage and near extinction of their forces, the High Elves went into Isolationism, literally forming a magic dome around their country. The dome is powered by (the High Elf Wizard who was in the Great Adventurers' Party).

I was hoping you could help me come up with some more/different options for causes and effects of Adventurers meddling around, and also find an actual plot and connection to them. Who even is the Big Bad??

Alright, looking at this from a writing structure perspective you’ve got a lot of really great background detail but not a lot of practical, “player facing” worldbuilding going on. Which is totally alright, and is exactly what I’m good at helping with. 

I’m going to rapid fire my thoughts in no particular order, and you should feel free to use or ignore any of them

First and foremost you've got a very clear theme of a "fallen world", one where the acts of order necessary to preserve the status quo are just as damaging (if not more) than the chaos they were trying to prevent. This leads into some very interesting questions you can explore throughout the campaign such as: do the ends justify the means, chaos vs tyranny, and sacrifices made for the greater good. Ultimately it leads up to the question of "are we going to wreck the world in order to preserve it, or go wildly into a new, unknown future".

You NEED to have a home country that acts as a sort of neutral ground between all these disaster zones. It’s the homeland of one of the heroes ( who they now venerate as a cultural icon), and directly benefited from their champion’s actions out in the world. It was threatened by the villainous forces the original heroes were up against, but was too far away from the battle to end up scarred like the theocracy. This home country has typical d&d problems, but is bordered with/allies with others that have paid the cost. 

A remnant of the dragon’s followers is your act 1, “fakeout” villain,   deposed after the slaying of the dragon, this mid-level minion found a stretch of isolated wilderness to rule over, eventually recruiting bandits, monsters, and other creatures to its cause. They’ve formed a cult around the great dragon, but are primarily motivated by cementing their powerbase and acquiring worldly power. Their bandit raids/monster attacks/demands for tribute are the seeds for your first adventures, even if the party dosen’t find out they were a dragon-minion till later. 

I’m not sure whether the great and tyranical dragon was the primary villain of the original hero’s quest, or just an incidental one. If its the latter, put its old lairing grounds in the home kingdom: seasoned monster hunters and explorers fight against the beasts breeding in the wild and keep the kingdom’s heartland from being overrun by monsters. ( a great faction for your players to join once they’ve proven themselves, and to start to see the negative effects of the past heroes) 

I love the idea of an arcane ravaged theocracy, to the point where I’m making them the act 2 villains. Pushed to the very edge by the conflict, this formerly friendly nation is now in the process of putting itself back together. The theocracy teaches that the rest of the world were ungrateful for “Their” sacrifices, and uses this (and the hatred of magic still freely practiced elsewhere) to generate zeal in preperation for an invasion midway through the campaign. Evangels of their faith go out into the rest of the world (including Home-kingdom) to try and fervent resentment and mistrust of mages and other sorcerous folk.  Internally, the theocracy’s rule is enforced by witchhunters who act as a kind of secret police,  who hunt intellectuals, dissidents, and other “apostates” with the same hatred they turn against wizards. Terrible arcane mutants prowl the land, and will be used as warbeasts by the theocracy in their landgrab.  People are starting to show these mutations too, which gives the witchhunters yet another target. 

With the feywild closed, magical forests and other natural wonders have begun to die, cut off from the sustaining life force of primal energy. Tales are told about these places and their beauty, but increasingly these sites are little more than fetid swamps or wastes of dead trees, where hungry and terrible scavengers fight over what’s left.  In a side adventure, a druid and her fey allies hunt to find a way to open the gate to Faerie once again, and restore the world. 

Periodic elemental disasters are now common across the continent: firestorms, earthquakes, sudden glacial freezes of the ocean. The fleeting consciousness within these events are the first waking of a grand force... a chorus of elemental voices that wish to remake the world anew. While most people have learnt to deal with these disasters, a descendant of the survivors of the silent kingdom has learned to communicate with them. The survivor seeks to “wake “ the world, in order to heal its many wounds, a process that is preceded by a gauntlet of increasingly calamitous events, and followed by...... hope? ... This survivor is one of the two possible villains/allies for act 3. 

Rather than having the high elves put a dome up around their country, the survivors went back the prime elvan CITY which has a dome over it and its surroundings. The home kingdom neighbors the civilization of the high-elves, and has in some ways benefited from their disappearance in that they’ve been able to absorb all the lands outside the mystic bubble (who can say no to free feudal real estate?) . Several of home-kingdom’s fastest growing towns are built on the foundations of elvan settlements, and are populated by a culture of half-elves descended from those highborn that would not abandon the world. Set the primary settlement of the players in this expansionist zone, Elvan ruins, interesting culture, lots of history to passively absorb, and far on the horizon like a second sunset: the dome.  

Have this area invaded during act 2 as part of the Theocratic raids. They want revenge against the elvan wizard for his part in the destruction caused to their nation, and have a magic suppressing device that will allow them to breach the barrier and attack the elvan city. The barrier falls, but this incursion party is defeated. When the party goes to explore they find... a necropolis. Cut off from all light by the wizard’s barrier, every living thing within the barrier starved and died, the elves retreating to chambers within the base of their grand city to sleep eternal while they waited for their wizard to save them. The wizard has become a lich, and has spent the intervening millenia maintaining the barrier and researching methods of preserving his people from all further harm. His solution? Reset the world back to a time before the disaster and play it out again. This is the third cycle, and each time things get worse. The players are a new variable of his plans, and may consider him either an ally or villain for act 3. His plan involves draining mass amounts of elemental power from the world ( putting him in conflict with the survivor) to power his time-hopping spell. As beings of magic, the elements REMMEBER these cycles, and have given the survivor and her followers foreknowledge. 

So there you have it, a whole campaign laid out.  Chaos vs. Control with the eventual question being do the players think they can try and correct the original heroes’ mistakes, or remake the world as a fresh canvas? 

Hope that helps!

[dmsden]

From the Ruins - Further notes on post-Apocalyptic campaigns

Hullo, Gentle Readers. This week’s Question from a Denizen is a follow-up from tallowren, who had sought some advice about running a post-Apocalyptic D&D campaign. They ask, “Hi, first follow-up. Without getting too specific, my plan was to have a hyper advanced civilization be wiped out. The old civ's slaves (3 of the playable races) survived in the shadows, and much later, began rebuilding. So much was lost that technologically they had to start over. You brought up that since I described small groups, you expected the event to be recent, but I was thinking more like thousands of years. Is that reasonable? If not, what do I have to consider to make it reasonable?”

I will preface all of this by saying that, if it works for you, then it’s right. You can decide what makes sense for your campaign world. If the idea works and you like it, then you should go with it.

My feeling is that, if thousands of years have passed, then there must have been a reason why the world is still split up into smaller groups...why they haven’t made significant progress forward. It’s hard to imagine that, if our society fell tomorrow, we wouldn’t be on the rebound within a few years. We might not be back where we were immediately, but I would hope that, after a few thousand years, we’d have surpassed or at least equaled what we had once been.

Now, certain elements from your specific scenario could account for this. It sounds like the hyper-advanced civilization (I’m gonna call it the hypers from now on for brevity) is completely gone. If they had never taught any of their servants how to use their technology, it would still stand to reason that they would figure it out eventually, even in a rudimentary fashion, so, if it were my campaign, I would make one of two things true:

1. Whatever power source the hyper tech had is also completely gone.

2. The tech was specifically keyed to hyper DNA, so no one is capable of using it once they’re gone.

Now, that’s all well and good and would explain why no one used it, but it also means that the players would never get to use it, which is sad, as this seems like a great story resource. If you went with option 1, maybe the power source mysteriously turns back on. Or with option 2, maybe a millennia-old genetics experiment finally comes to fruition, imbuing specific individuals with the genetic code needed to use the tech. Either way, you can have heroes and villains now using this technology, and, of course, your players should get access.

Another interesting device might be that the hypers created a new sort of servitor-race of their own, perhaps using Eberron’s Warforged as the template. When the hypers vanish, the Warforged close up all the ancient hyper enclaves, keeping out the rest of the world. This could also explain why no one has access to these enclaves, and, of course, it also means that the players could eventually access such an enclave. It would make for a very interesting dungeon.

Putting aside the question of the hypers and what happened to them, I would think there would need to be more than this to explain why people aren’t getting together and forming nations for thousands of years. People are social animals, and we tend to cluster together for safety and the need for society. In order to subvert this, there needs to be a reason for setbacks or isolation.

Maybe the hypers last F-you to the world at large was a different king of genetic experiment...a specialized plague. When people remained in smaller groups, it wouldn’t spread, but, if too many people gather, the plague kicks in and begins to kill. (Sounds a bit harshly familiar.) Maybe the plague began suddenly shortly after the hypers vanished, and it ruined the populations of all the races of the world, forcing them to isolate and keep their numbers small. This would create the kind of small, scattered groups feel that you’re going for. Maybe entering a hyper enclave to shut the plague down could be a focus of the campaign.

You might also consider the idea of a “staged” apocalypse...a series of catastrophic events which have pushed the various peoples of the world to the brink of extinction. If the hypers kept their world in a sort of perfect stasis, maybe since they vanished there have been plagues, natural disasters, famines, invasions by demons, and the like. People who are constantly struggling to survive aren’t likely to see much advancement of their civilizations, and they’re likely to be people in need of heroes. 

In any case, these are just ideas. It’s also perfectly fine to say that civilization stagnated in your campaign world, and this is the way things are thousands of years after the fall of the hypers. I am a worldbuilder and storyteller by my nature, so, as I develop things, I ask myself, “Why?” a lot. “Why has no one ever cleared out this haunted castle before?” “Why aren’t powerful wizards across the world casting Wish all over the place?” “When someone dies, why doesn’t their family just get them raised?” and so on. I think there are lots of good answers to your question, and one of them is simply, “Because it’ll make for a fun campaign.”

I hope that helps, tallowren. Let me know if any other questions come up. I’m happy to help!

[getallemeralds]

Explorers of Arvus: uhhhh / 3.23.21

today's notes are different from usual bc. well. you'll see

LAST TIME ON EXPLORERS OF ARVUS i broke my sleep schedule and am barely existing so this is fine. we went back to camp vengeance an uhhhhhhhhhhhh we are now going to fuck off into the forest to die or prove a very important point

oh god we forgot to level up

[mgd voice] BOOSTING NYX TO MAXIMUM LEVEL

im so fuckin tired. what on earth am i doing. how do i level again

k is not here this time but instead we've got mae+nii bonking their heads together to simulate 2 braincells and so far it is not working. i might just have to like fuckin, drop out n zzz partway thru or somethin. would be fun to see how chaotic michael makes charlie in my absensce

oh wait i can do d&dbeyond i think. how do i work this again. will i ever remember i have shield

what level am i. level 6? pog. oh shit i think i have a new thing

. new spell

. 3 total 3rd level spell slots

. bend luck! i can now screw people over on purpose (and will probably use my sorcery points FINALLY)

michael is leveling charlie up bc my brain is apple sos

ASDXFKLJFH I FEEL CALLED OUT zec rb'd my most recent art of MaX with "all i know about xem is that leo likes xem a lot that's the extent of my knowledge" THANK U FOR SUPPORTIN ME ANYWAY

there will be less blaseball distractions than last time bc blaseball is now on siesta. however i will still have MaX brainrot in the background bc i was drawing xem

wyatt mason my beloved

OKAY I GOTTA MUTE THE TACO STAND FOR THE ENTIRETY OF D&D i cannot and will not get distracted. we can do this. we

nintendo wii

we havent even started yet and im already incoherent

ok i have made a decision and that decision is that i do not have the brainpower to play. however i do have the brianpower to take notes hopefully! so ill just like. vibe. this will be a first

oh man im gonan pick up Blink. charlie is gonna be a fucking menace to herself and others

oh my god its not concentration so charlie may continue teleporting while unconscious. thorne is going to hate this

[charlie gets her soul eaten by a ring] [charlie singing dragonston din tei at halvkWAIT JORB HAS A PRIZE

jorb got a thing! an evil genius thing! figure man. fugrine. figuring. help

GREEN HAS DIAGNOSED ME AS TIGREX MONSTERHUNTER i love this

my notes are a disaster. this is so sucks

serotonin is stored in the wiggly zoomy jorb camera

jorb: his pinky is the size of the rest of his fingers

leo: he has a disease

jorb: he has a disease.

jorb: that disease is male pattern baldness

leo: [reduced to tearful giggling for mysterious reasons]

LAST TIME, ON EXPLORERS OF ARVUS: we've returned to camp vengeance! taure is still unconscious, which is not very great. camp vengeance is doin better tho!

michael, as part of the recap: ingrid is getting railed by her new girlfriend,

first dice roll of the day is michael rolled a 1. good start

OH THORNE IS AN ARTIFICER NOW thorne took a level in artificer!

"...it's like figuring out the right mathematical equation to summon a gun."

group is gonna go check out the statue that we passed by now that we're not WHAT DO YOU MEAN PONK AND GEORGE CANONICALLY HAVE IBS thats it im not looking at 772 anymore

im doing a bad job of paying attention but at least im Present

SIERON LEARNED FLY AND USED IT ON CHARLIE

michael: what do you want to do with your new flying powers?

leo: how many problems can i cause in 10 minutes

guard 1: ...why is the halfling flying?

guard 2: [rolls a 3 on intelligence] i think they can just do that

groundhogs, the real scourge of the campaign

silje and sieron are gonna hunt a big elk. they got distracted and sieron is putting grass on silje's head. i think

WAIT WE'RE ON WATCH NOW FUCK

we have discovered kali's tragic backstory whoops

update i am. too sleepy for this. good nigh everyone

[ and then leo went and somewhat took a nap! solar, normally playing thorne, started playing charlie in my stead. @jorbs-palace, local hero, started taking shitpost notes in my stead. ]

jorb's ghostwritten notes for leo:

help solar is immediately doing a cursed voice for charlie. charlie can do so many crimes

congratulations, charlie is now temporarily immortal!

dwarves can hit things with their beard

kali wants to know if she's legally allowed to bail

she'd feel really bad if she had to loot our corpses for payment if we died.

we have entered the Tree Zone

one of the corpses is now a flamingo (has one leg)

silje has decided to stab the ground. take that, dirt

kali was large size for a second there but then she remembered to not be a giant

"you accidentally deleted my cat?!"

silje has learned naruto cloning jutsu

be gone, thot

oh boy, making an int check to look at a statue! 11! silje is dumb apparently.

hmm. the statue has divination magic. it's also affecting silje.

SILJE LEARNED A 6TH LEVEL SPELL? its only single use but still

you solved my statue riddllllleeeee

thorne forgot to have eyes

its a shame mac and cheese doesnt exist in the d&d universe

wizards are just math criminals (the criminal part is setting people on fire)

sieron crit fails a check but it was still a 9 because of having +8

thorne is looking for what's weird!

uh oh music got scary, never a good sign

hmm. those leaves over there weren't dead a moment ago.

UNDEAD TROLL TIME! rolling initiative

"it's ok, im a wizard, it's my duty to be correct." "wow! waow!"

woooah here he comes

IT JUST DID HALF SIERON'S HEALTH AS A PASSIVE END OF TURN EFFECT?

thorne backed up and cast eldri- oh, ray of enfeeblement. character development continues

charlie is going to just blink out of existence for a minute.

big chungus has grabbed silje and sieron. BIG CHUNGUS HAS THROWN SILJE AND SIERON.

sieron is using hit and run tactics! isn't good at his extra attack yet though

silje is activating bid bid blood blood blood

thorne uses beam of skipping your leg day. troll's legs are now skipped.

michael is trying to determine what a 'clavicle' is

"does that mean the star trek kind, or the bdsm kind?"

charlie wants to cast magic missile.

charlie has vanished back into the ethereal plane mid-taunt

silje has decided to not get bitten today

silje may or may not have stats.

oh, right, trolls are weak to fire! and also we forgot to upgrade sieron's firebolt. so it actually hurts now!

silje is full of knives and blades and does 31 damage in one turn!

charlie shouts words of encouragement from the ethereal plane. a nearby ghost vibes with this.

🎉 eldritch blast 🎉

kali remembered she hates the sun

silje is enthuasiatic about charlie saying "get him cat boy!"

charlie contemplating using fireball to nuke the troll and also the entire stonehenge

charlie has decided to use magic missile instead, probably for the best

the troll bit at charlie SO POORLY it broke some of its teeth on the ground

charlie is too small to hit

accidentally rolled advantage on a firebolt, so got to learn it WOULD have done 29 damage with a crit but instead it missed because it was not actually with advantage

silje has just sliced open its entire back and made a spray of frozen blood! radical. big boy is down!

we have burned the body because we are not stupid. well, we ARE stupid, but not stupid in the way of leaving a body full of necrotic magic around

[dr coomer voice] i think it's good that he died!

we're also doing a funeral pyre for the other corpses that were around. just to be sure.

our loot is: the satisfaction of a job well done

thorne is cosplaying as charlie

charlie has located the direction troll came from! she found the 'the way to sweet loot' sign

thorne is apparently better at survival checks than our hired guide? wack

we found a viking house! it has: mead, a shield, gravestones,

found a gold coin in the mead! maybe it was thirsty

oh theres a LOT Of coins in there actually. 60 gold and 120 silver!

have successfully pointed out a hole in the DM's logic :)

there was a raven! it cawed and left. ok bye buddy

and that's where we leave it! heading back to camp vengeance next time.

someone rated this session a 7.2 out of 10, which is very specific

good night mr coconut

[utilitycaster]

Your fav character from each class in all the actual plays you’ve watched?

THE BEST QUESTION (if hard). I’m only counting regular PCs here; see the end for some guest/NPC/one-shot mentions. As you can see I love basically all characters but I do have my favorites.

Barbarian: there is a high potential, now that Ashley is back for good, that Yasha will win this next year but for now Gorgug and his sweet awkwardness and confused attempts to find his dad wins. (some other good barbarians: Grog, Beryl from Relics and Rarities who was a. kind of a stoner and b. an absolute delight and c. a cool depiction of path of the ancestral guardian, and Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt, sweet crepe loving failure)

Bard: I love Fig, but I have to go Scanlan. You know that art piece of the Vecna battle that’s overlaid with the All Work No Play “what would the worst character be” line? Yeah. From “I’m snoring after having sex” to “I was saving it for Vax”. You just can’t beat that. (some other good bards: Annabella from Relics and Rarities, Misty from Dimension 20)

Cleric: this is probably the hardest category (shout out to a lot of clerics. Jester, Kingston, and Kristen are tied for second place) but I think I have to go with Caduceus. I love how much he sees of everyone else and how little we know of him. I love how not-so-secretly judgemental he is. I love his bone flute. I love that he’s quietly trying to save his dying home, and perhaps find family that might be dead. Someone hug him for me. (I would like to recognize Pike and Merle of course, as well as Efink Murderdeath here, and while I’m only 7 episodes in I think Zolf is already my favorite of RQG. )

Druid: Keyleth. I feel like TAZ is at a disadvantage because they’re so early on in Graduation, but also I love the Firbolg but I am not sure a druid will ever surpass Keyleth, with all her messy awkwardness and genuine desire to do good at any cost. (shout out to Ricky Huckster for being a really unique take on the druid, Lillith from Escape from the Bloodkeep for being a great wine mom, and to Kugrash who is currently ripping my heart out)

Fighter: I’m surprising myself here but the recent developments with Fabian Seacaster have put him in the forefront, I think because his story is still ongoing and because I’m a sucker for an arrogant jock suddenly confronting mortality and failure. I do still love Percival De Rolo a lot though. (shout out to Magnus Burnsides who is good at everything, and Veros the O.G. Himbo from Relics and Rarities)

Monk: Beau. This is another case of like, I love Sofia Bicicleta too, but Marisha Ray has some kind of genius for playing female characters that really tap into like, things that many women I think feel but don’t know how to express (at least, I, a woman, feel these things and don’t know how to express them). Beau is such a complicated abrasive character who feels things deeply, and who has genuinely tried and succeeded in changing. She’s so dynamic and wonderful and I love her to bits.

Paladin: Vax. I wrote a whole piece about my experience of listening to CR campaign 1 episode 57 that I never published or posted. I think there’s something deeply profound and beautiful about sticking to an oath that you didn’t ever think you’d choose, and to a promise you fell into. (also, spoilers but Fjord’s going to be my choice for Warlock so I cover that there even though one of my favorite things about him is his switch to Paladin). (shout out, of course, to Ricky Matsui)

Ranger: Vex. Due to some valid and some invalid complaints about the ranger class few people play it, which is a shame because the revised ranger options are pretty great (Horizon Walker is amazing, I say as an admitted fan of weird planar shit) and because like, Aragorn was my favorite LOTR character. But yeah, everything I’ve said about Keyleth and Beau applies to Vex, the D&D character I think I relate most to despite my irl stats not matching hers at all (I do not have 17 Charisma). The imposter syndrome, the need to appear that everything is under control, the sibling loyalty, the stubbornness, the quiet leadership - it’s all so perfect and so unique and I love her very much. (Sokhbarr was a fun take though)

Rogue: put Vax as Paladin so I could nominate Riz as my favorite rogue (and again, I love Nott and enjoy what I’ve seen of Argo, and to be fair, Sasha seems very good as well) but I think the inquisitive subclass is so cool and Riz has such a wonderful arc. Also, goblin with gun is great but goblin high schooler with gun is straight up genius.

Sorcerer: a very rare class, tbh, with Pete getting it by default. He is indeed a fascinating character though, and tying his sorcery into the mythology of the world is a pretty brilliant DM move. (I also am very into Hamid thus far, not in the least because I love halflings)

Warlock: Fjord. I liked Fjord from the start, and even when he was being an ass during the pirate arc found him relatable. I think it might be my background as a bard player that makes me love this disaster who survived for years on just a high constitution and being really good at talking and playing roles; I also love someone who isn’t the greatest leader but falls into it, and someone with control issues working through it (see also: Vex, Percy) And finally, I don’t know if Travis was telling the truth about him being lawful good but he genuinely does want to make things better for people and he takes responsibility very seriously. (obviously, I also really liked Leland, and while I think of both Fig and Sofia as primarily of their main classes of bard and monk, they are cool as warlocks. I get why Emily Axford keeps gunning for Hexblade).

Wizard: Caleb. Given all the other sources of magic it’s always fascinating to see why someone becomes a wizard specifically, and I also like how complex Caleb is - not just the trauma, though that’s part, but the humor and the versatility. (Adaine was a close runner-up though, and Taako was my favorite of THB but is a little too goofy to be a favorite).

Artificer: I mean, obviously Tary.

NPCs and guests, with less commentary:

Barbarian: gonna go with Lionel the True Polymorphed Duck here.

Bard: Hazel Copperpot, she of the 1930s radio accent

Cleric: again very difficult, but then again, not so difficult. Lieve’tel was great.

Druid: Nila, the sweet and calming presence in our hour of need.

Fighter: oh god I don’t know if I can choose between Keg, bisexual dwarven disaster, and Brian David Gilbert’s Hargis, awkward goliath theater kid.

Monk: Ferriwen Breeze, who I do hope shows up again because she was my favorite Darrington Brigade character and I really love Genasi; also Expositor Dairon, natch.

Paladin: few people play paladins as guests which is weird. I do like Kerrek, and I do like Arkhan, but like, Kima, clearly.

Ranger: Sandralynn Faeth, hands down. A wonderful NPC.

Rogue:  I do love Cathilda, and I do love Twiggy, but I laughed about the Owlbear for the entire Darrington Brigade one shot.

Sorcerer: I mean...it has to be Gilmore, right? Calianna is great but no one can beat Gilmore.

Warlock: Zahra, who also, incidentally, is the only non-Hexblade Warlock who’s shown up. I mean hexblade is objectively amazing but Zahra is too.

Wizard: there have been many wizard NPCs across games and it was a very difficult choice but who else is graceful, unendingly kind and patient, and reliable in all situations? Allura Vyesoren is the wizard you wish your wizard could be. Yussa and Essek and Lup and Arthur Aguefort and Barry and Lyra and Ranier and far more wizard NPCs and guests are all wonderful in their own ways but like, did you think you could come for Matt Mercer’s self insert? you could not.

.

[nipuni]

How has your D&D campaign gone? What have been your favourite/funniest things that have happened? 🐲

OH MAN!! I realize I’ve never posted about it!! It was amazing, and we all survived!! So many things happened, I have endless favourite moments but I am going to ramble about disaster wizard love now brace yourself!! 

One of my favourite dramatic moments was when we found this magic tome that had dangerous information about the location of the resting place of the first vampire that we all read, but we shouldn’t have because now this information could be extracted from our minds by the enemy so Ulthi our warlock wiped all of our memories of the tome but also wiped any memories we had of her in order to disappear with it so it would never be found, but the thing is Velare my wizard was secretly in love with her and so was she and she does this without telling anyone she was going to because Velare would have opposed it so we are all discussing what to do with the tome when she starts crying and says she is sorry and kisses Velare for the first time!! puts her ring in his pocket and takes a portal scroll from him then casts the spell, we just went different ways without remembering her for a big part of the adventure after that, but when Velare finds her ring in his robes he tears up and is confused, he starts to sort of remember, and well a ton of things happen but we end up finding her again during a siege in a very dangerous situation but he runs to her and he is so mad, that she considered that plan and didn’t trust him with it and she put herself in danger and they are kneeling on the floor and !!!! it was so beautiful, my friend and I were screaming the whole time while playing this it was the best!! 😭💕 Here is the art I made of them for anyone interested! We are planning a new campaign, this time I’ll be playing an elf arcane ranger that happens to be Nuven 😆

[toasttz]

From the Tabletop #6

As of the end of the last session, where #5 left off, we've been doing alternating games, between D&D and a new Exalted campaign, swapping every Saturday. So, I'll start with D&D as there's a bit less to report on at-present. We're in an original world of the DM's design, with a design so subtle that the instant he described it to me, I was like "Wait, so the world is all on top of a giant, like Xenoblade Chronicles. Except this is a woman laying on her back?" The main town we operate out of literally has a name meaning "Belly Button". So, for context, a fellow of this party and I were inspired by JoCat's amazing "Crap Guide to D&D" video series and decided to take his advice, form a party of holy class heroes called the A-Men and rock the world around us. This never came to fruition as two of the supposed party fo 4 never showed up for a session. So this is how our party ended up with two clerics out of four players. I guess I'll go first this time. My character is Laga, a Half-Orc Solar Cleric, who follows St. Helbram, an original deity of the DM's. I decided to make Laga as an example to the other half of the party (the same half that was the problem half in Exalted in previous installments), to demonstrate how one plays against type and expectation - by playing a Lawful-Good version of a creature strongly associated with Chaotic-Evil stereotypes. It's a very different mindframe, as I play her as excessively goody-goody in her nature and a strong desire to use diplomacy to get by, rather than force. Our other cleric is Lucius, a Human Forge Cleric, who actually is quite openly racist against non-human characters. He acknowledges Laga, on account she's a lady of the cloth and also in that, despite being half-orc, she's still half-human too. He's been unable to join us for a few sessions, but already set himself up as quite the forceful personality, being the spear to Laga's olive branch. Next is Laguna, a male Drow (apparently those exist) wizard, who runs a pawn shop as a front for the mafia. I actually need to give mad props to his player on this one, as not only has he actually worked really hard to make the character interesting, but he also has very gracefully endured the ribbing the other characters give him. Apparently he is an incredibly beautiful male and, thus, is often mistaken for a woman. And lastly is Kaz. No, that's not his full name, but no one particularly cares. Kaz is the party's munchkin, who decided to play a Aarakocra Monk (and fuck you, where-ever you are right now, Kaz, for making me bother to look up how that stupid race's name is spelled). If you're not familiar, this means that he basically fudged it so he had 20 on Dexterity and then he tried to stack every movement he makes based on Dex. He even tried to argue that Natural Weapons (key word: WEAPONS) counted as unarmed attacks and, thus, should be based on dex. And he also really, really likes the words "BONUS ACTION", on account he's trying to just play himself as a living pinwheel of dex-based attacks. Seeing as he sucks at everything else he tries. So, taking a nod from Rising of the Shield Hero, in town, we find a countdown to the next disaster in town square - 7 days. The people of Belly Button (fuck you, DM-san, that's its name for the sake of these blog posts!) are honestly so used to this that they've become incredibly jaded towards the countdowns. This actually alarms Laga, who finds that the apathy worrisome, as one disaster being worse than the previous ones would be all it takes to cause untold harm. She meets with Laguna, who she has a brief history with (teasing him playfully that he should give up his 'sinful' pawn shop, due to the shady history some of the merch has) and they, more or less accidentally meet Kaz in so doing. Long story short, Laguna and Kaz agree with Laga's assessment, and they set off to try to learn what they can of the impending disaster and what they can do to deal with it. Long story short, they sign up to take on work at a sort of hunter's guild, resulting in a very impromptu battle against a freakin' dinosaur inside the test chamber. Due to... reasons I've honestly forgotten already, Laguna actually wasn't present for this. Laga, seeing this unarmed and unarmored idiot bird-man in harm's way, swiftly takes to the front line, shield and mace at the ready. For reference, Laga's AC is 18, between chain mail and a shield. Due to the aforementioned min/maxing, Kaz has 20. Kaz also wears just a karate gi, essentially. This ultimately results in Laga getting ragdollized as she attempts to protect said idiot bird-man. Thankfully, she has HP for days and, thus, took it like a champ as Kaz rolled 2-3 attacks in a row (this was before the DM and the rest of the party realized he was rolling his talons as unarmed attacks) and easily dropping the beast where it stood. Turns out, it was mechanical and the test was just to see how we'd react, but it was treated as a win, so we were largely satisfied with the results. Some faffing about later (the nature of each impending disaster seems to vary greatly between each instance of such, so information was sparse), so we decided to restock supplies before we leave. There, we meet Gunther, a stout fellow with a shop full of odds, ends, and everything inbetween. He even has wyrmstone, a magically-potent element semi-rare of this world, legendary weapons and tomes, and more. Laga purchased a book that, when united with the other Dragon Ba-- I mean -- copies of the same book, will grant the user a wish. She admitted fully that she wasn't 100% sure she trusted wish-granting magic, or that she could even phrase the wish such that there was assuredly no trouble from doing so, but the mystique won out and she bought it anyway. The entire time, Laguna, default rival of Gunther, kept attempting to... um... smooth things over between rivals. Or... trying to at any rate? On account that everything he said came off as a veiled threat, and it was only because Laga vowed to keep him on a short leash that Gunther relented and let us shop peacefully. Afterward, we ultimately headed to the bar to regroup. There, Laga spotted a proud hound in the corner of the bar. Squeeing like a small girl at a boy band concert, she asked permission to pet and feed doggo. Doggo approved. Turns out he was a mighty hound named Regnar, who the party would soon briefly recruit. I confess this scene made me irrationally happy, even out of character, as the idea of this large, thicc half-orc completely losing her marbles over a cute dog was too endearing not to enjoy. While at the bar, a girl from the DM-original race of Warcur, sought out our help due to a missing sister. She was last seen in the company of a noble, so our goal was clear: we needed to get into the ritzy part of town. No small fear due to us all being demi-human races in a town that really frowns on that. Ultimately, I was able to sweet-talk the guard, on my honor as a cleric. We then spotted the noble in question, and we devised a plan. ... Not... not a particularly SWIFT devising of plans, mind. While Laguna and Laga were largely on the same page, Kaz slowed deliberation down a bit and often confused the nature of the scheme. By the time we broke huddle and prepped to put it into motion, the DM joked that the man was already several blocks down the way, forcing us to race after him in a mad dash. After a brief, but ultimately fruitless, confrontration, the noble went on his way. But not without leaving a note behind. Laga was able to read part of it - something about "Four Sacrifices". Immediately, we put it together: the missing Warcur girl was likely to be killed off in the name of some dark deity! There was murder afoot and it was taking place just outside of town, beyond prying eyes, that very same night! We swiftly recruited Regnar, for his master tracking, and made way for the destined place. There, we saw goblins. Hundreds of them! We approached as stealthily as we could muster, well aware that one misstep would result in us being rushed by hundreds of the green menace, but also the deaths of four innocent maidens! Then, Laguna had a plan. Laga, due to her orc/cleric combination, actually spoke the most languages in the party - common, orc, goblin, and giant. This is important for several reasons, not the least of which was Laguna's plan was to mask Laga as the goblin's primary deity of choice, and then have her, speaking the goblin language, talk down this murderous army from their attempts at sacrificing maidens. His set up was masterful and I actually thought the plan was pretty concrete. We even saw the four girls in question, on a raised platform of some sort at the center of the gathering. Then I screwed up my charisma roll. Laga: You must not proceed with this! This is terrible! Warcur Girl: HEY! How dare you call our band terrible! We only just started playing! Laga: ... WHAT?! Y'ever... have your DM just pull a fast one on you? Well, ours sure as Hell did. And it all started because of a wry observation I made, out of character. In the D&D 5e manual, it lists the available languages and the alphabet they are written in. Turns out that dwarven, golbin, giant, and a few other languages all are written in the dwarven alphabet. DM-san then informs me that he fully planned the dwarves of this world to be very much akin to feudal Japan. Which is a pretty neat idea. And so he began joking that goblin language would be akin to Korean. And if you haven't put it together just yet, we had just walked into a multi-ethnic goblin-pop idol sensation band. G-Pop. And, due to the misunderstanding, Laga herself became something of a pop idol sensation, despite having yet to sing or dance yet. "The Four Sacrifices" was a band name and we had just inadvertently heckled their concert. When they returned to town, bootleg Laga merchandise had begun to make its round, much to Laga's deepest regrets. Not long after, Lucius joined the party, just in time for us to find a help wanted poster. When we sought out the interested party, we found a jilted lover situation - where a terrible witch had seduced and taken away her man! The client wanted us to steal something, which Laga admittedly had a hard time rationalizing away, up until Lucius clarified that liberating items from the witch and turning them over to the church would be a means by which furture generations could be better prepared against black magic - and that set Laga's indecision to rest. We agreed to break into the homestead and "liberate" the item in question. We entered using a magic doorway and this lead us to agreeing to always asking more questions about the nature of our work before we get underway. We were transported into an unsettling and otherworldly library, with strange entities keeping watch over things. Kaz attempted (and spectacularly failed) stealth, nearly knocking an entire bookshelf over on Laga and Lucius - the latter of whom was bopped over the head with a book that he would then claim as his own. We quickly made haste into the hallway, where we engaged with... God-damn Demons. The one race I decided would be fine for Laga to harbor a racial hatred of. The fight was brief, but brutal, as we easily laid them to waste. Then the puzzles began. Each door was guarded by an enchanted, speaking plaque which had a question about the lord of the manor. And, instead of using the... y'know, room FILLED WITH BOOKS AND KNOWLEDGE THAT CLEARLY WOULD'VE HELPED US... we decided to brute force the solution. One instance, when asked what the lord held in highest regard, this exchange actually happened: Kaz: Money? Plaque: No. Lucius: Gettin' laid? Plaque: No. Laga: Love! Plaque: I... y-yes, technically. ("It was actually his 12 wives. But, whatever." ~DM-san, after pointing out how fucking stupid we all had been.) Eventually, we get tired of guessing randomly and head 'forward' best we can manage. This results in our being prompted to roll for perception, which only Laga passes. I then get to be sole witness to a massive, gaunt, nigh-invisible figure approaching us. I desperately attempt to explain what's happening to the others as it nears, and it finally dawns on me (Huehuehue) that one of my basic cantrips is to make objects I touch glow. So, upon nearly getting strangled, I set the figure aglow and the battle begins in earnest, most of the damage being dealt via the two clerics and their divine powers (CoD of War indeed). Eventually we banish the killer and make our way to the safe, which Lucius pries open... only to then have a tiny, cat-like creature (which the DM informs us is called a Poogem) roll out and begin sounding the alarm. With its mouth. Too stunned to think straight, Lucius takes the gambit of the session: Poogem: I'm an alarm! WAY-WOO-WAY-WOO! Lucius: No, you're not! You're my best friend! DM: Roll charisma. Lucius: 20! DM: ... Poogem: I AM?! YAY! Then, we recovered the item and fled as quickly as we could, to the satisfaction of our employer. Afterward, the party split up as Lucius and Laguna went their own ways and Kaz and Laga went to the bar, met by bands of Warcurs. Kaz immediately humiliates himself by failing to understand cultural nuance more complex than "This race is typically NG" and spends 10 real-world minutes trying to fumble a name for his character's father (not a joke). Laga, meanwhile, sits with the female Warcurs and is offered a drink from one after hearing that they spent all day slaughtering demons. Now, due to meta-knowledge, I knew this drink was not safe for consumption. However, I throw my hands up and went with it, having Laga bottoms-up that tankard into her maw. DM: Okay. Roll Constitution. Me: 20! DM: ... Well, alright then. You enjoy it but it has a weird aftertaste. And, holy crap, this has gone on way longer than I expected so, join me next time as the D&D party undertakes a new mission and: Kaz is useless again! Laguna goes on one hell of a trip! Laga seduces a dragon and gets embroiled in TEEN GIRL SQUAD political movements! Laguna gets cursed by MegaSatan! Kaz nearly gets the party killed by offering a dragon a potato sack dress! And Laguna dies in boiling magma! See you there!

[luvr4fantanim]

So let me talk about Molly one last time

So, with the cast officially leaving and moving on from Molly’s grave (and all reunited) it seems to me that we won’t see our purple tiefling anymore during this storyline. A lot of people are wondering why some still haven’t gotten over the fact that he died or upset about the fact that no resurrection attempts were done. And, while I can’t speak for all of us, I want to share my little experience going through Molly’s death.

For a little bit of background, I love every single member of the M9. I love their interactions with each other, how they grow, how they’re developing and all of their backstories are so interesting and exciting! So, why am I hyperfocusing on this one?

First of all, when Molly first appeared he didn’t immediately go to be one of the baes. He wasn’t a favorite then (honestly for a long while Caleb held that spot) and while I was interested in him, I was still not fully into him. And then episode 7 hit.

If anybody knows me, I’m a sucker for Widomauk. I shipped them lowkey in the show but super Highkey in the fandom. I wasn’t expecting them to become canon but I had a bit of hope that they would waaaayy down the line. This wasn’t the episode where I necessarily started shipping them, but it’s the one that got me the whole “hmmm interesting” vibe you get before starting to ship something.

But this is not why episode 7 hit me. Personally I didn’t find the kiss to be super duper shippy... but I felt it was important and while it gave hints to Caleb’s past, it also gave hints to Molly’s personality. Molly, a dude from a circus who barely knew Caleb and who could’ve definitely just left the handling of his panic attack to his much more closer friend Nott, decided to personally douse the flames and attempt to help him out of it (not in the most healthy way or correct way but he’s not the smartest one of the bunch). And so... I became a little bit more interested in him.

What took the gold was episode 9 and the Syphillis bandits and that... was it. After that incident I knew I was a goner and that he was going to be the fave of this campaign. The way he handled it, the way he treated the bandits and the way he kind of did it with some excellent lines along the way? All good shit.

I became more intrigued with him after episode 13 and the reveal (or partial reveal) of his backstory. There was so many possibilities and so many things with it that I had questions and I was excited to find out. So, even more tabs on him were placed.

What got me in the next episodes was the fact that... he didn’t shine in a lot of things. He was an ok character in battle (doing a lot of damage and some disadvantages but not a lot of defense or long range or healing), he didn’t have high charisma (so no talking himself out of stuff, which is something that Tal excels in ) all he had were exceedingly good character moments (Nott and the letter, the swords with teleportation, dunking Fjord in the water, the vases in the dungeon, the tapestry, inciting a drinking competition, etc.)... so then why is he fave? It’s because I could relate to him a lot. Not just because of his representation (which as a fellow bisexual, it is important to me as well) but because of his pseudo confidence, the way that he just put up a wall of bullshit in front of him to prevent people from touching his past or himself... it’s something I personally do sometimes. A wall of flamboyance and overconfidence. The only person that I actually saw him bring it down a little was Yasha whenever he interacted with her. And slowly, so so very slowly, the others.

So, when episode 25 happened and I learnt he was going to be in a situation that forced him to interact with the teammembers he usually had not exactly the closest relationship with? (He essentially had his best friend, current roommate and growing friend, and the tiefling that he instantly clicked with gone and would be forced to interact with the disaster lesbian he was always fighting with, the goblin whom he had a strange but friendly? antagonistic relationship and a wizard who was still dealing with the fact that he was #aLot) and I was very, very VERY excited. Because he was going to have to interact with them, he was going to be forced into a very stressful situation with them and stressful situations could lead to unification. And I was. So. For. It.

A bit into my personal life for this, around the same time that 25 hit major changes were happening in my life. Major stressful changes. A lot of things were happening that I had no control over and that I understood that things wouldn’t be the same. Because I was in the middle of it, I essentially compartmentalized it and focused on CR2, which was my leading fandom at the time (like when we obsess over something for a long ass time because we’re like WOAH) mostly because it was a lot less stressful than what my life was. During the break week between ep 25-26, I had to say a lot of goodbyes to people I really care about and so I was not in a very happy place. So I went into 26 being very excited about this character I super related and was excited to see their development because people kept saying that he barely had any development with other characters before.

And then... IT happened.

I wasn’t even watching the livestream because I was already emotionally exhausted but I tuned in on Twitter to see if the episode was over and saw people freaking out about it... so I tuned in... and within 5 min of me opening the new twitch tab, Molly died.

And everything in me exploded.

And it was dragged out. Because I knew it was very impossible for them to resurrect him on the spot (being a D&D player myself I knew the limitations). I knew that there may not be a high level cleric around. Or anything else. And yet I kept on hoping and hoping and hoping until it was official. Because all I wanted to see was him growing into this family he created and now we may never get a chance to see it.

So of course I’m upset. Not just because of the lack of potential. Of us potentially never finding out what was up with his backstory. Of us never seeing the true winner of the initial shipping wars. Of him and Fjord starting their own version of a prank war. Of the disaster tieflings. Of the unpleasant and obnoxious duo. Of him and Nott snarking at each other constantly. Of him slowly starting to spread his physical affection with the rest (mostly Mr. Caleb-still-can’t-admit-theyre-friends). Of his relationship with Yasha. But because he was somebody I really identified with. Somebody I wanted to see canonically grow into a better and different person. And now I can’t. And it’s unfair, and it’s sad.

I do like Clay. I do like his backstory and his design and the peace he brings to this group that is desperately in need of somebody like him. (Hell I wrote a fic about him because I do believe he does the M9 good.) And he’s not replacing Molly and I don’t think he ever will. And while I’ll be very happy to see his interactions with the rest of the group, it still won’t be the same. And that’s ok! New characters bring new and interesting dynamics, but it doesn’t stop us from missing the old ones.

And so, because of all the mess of emotions that became tangled with ep26. I still can’t go back to the series. But I do still love critical role. And I do want to see the end of it. I just need to re-discover why I love it.

A good friend of mine once lost a character she really liked in a series (he died permanently as well, and well before his time too). And she took a break from it because all she kept seeing was how people moved on from him and while it was beautiful and good, she couldn’t handle the fact that her fave was not there anymore and that people were already moving on. Surprisingly, I got into the series about a year after this happened and because I kept texting her about it and being super duper excited about it... she got back into it and got up to date with it despite what had happened.

And so, I will definitely get back into the series (and writing more stories about it). And I still wanna know what’s up with the rest. But it will take some time and some healing. And then I’m sure I’ll find myself being super duper excited about something that happens that I’ll just HAVE to start watching it again.

But for now I’ll rest up. So don’t blame people who are still sad about this. And don’t expect people to not be upset about a character that died early on in the series. People associate fandoms and art with different things and we still need time to process stuff.

And so. Rant ended. I’ll see you guys in a few after I finish CR1 and get my feelings back in order. But I know I’ll get back into it my own way.

[godaime-obito]

my fill for Madatobi week: August 3rd: Supernatural/fantasy

@madatobiweek

available on ao3 or under the cut

Tobirama approaches the great castle reluctantly. He’d much rather not be here, but as the most renowned necromancer of the age he really cannot skip the most important convening of wizards. It only happens once a decade and people will notice if he skips, unlike ten years ago. When he was a 28-year-old upstart he left early to make out with Madara Uchiha in the woods by the castle and no one noticed. Of course, that entire scenario is a lifetime away, Madara himself is supposedly a premier illusionist now. He really can’t picture it. Tobirama hasn’t seen Madara in eight years, and at that point the man’s primary form of wizardry was accidently setting things on fire, which isn’t even part of the Illusionist school of magic.

He walks briskly through the entry towards the main meeting chamber. The ornate chandeliers overhead glimmer with enchanted flame, and the smell of magic clings everywhere. It’s an invigorating feeling, and the atmosphere of the event almost makes up for its content. Unfortunately, though, nothing can entirely make up for a full day of arguing between the top members of all eight schools of wizardry: Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, Transmutation. Tobirama and his colleague Orochimaru’s main goal for this meeting is to adjust regulation and the education template to better promote Necromancy, which is to say try to improve PR, so it isn’t the ‘evil’ school. Personally, he thinks it would be easier to run a smear campaign against another school so it becomes the evil one, the school of Illusion perhaps. He’s not just saying that because of Madara, the school’s emphasis is ‘Deception and trickery.’ Using such negatively connotated words is asking for a smear campaign.

In the chamber, everything is almost precisely as he remembers it being ten years ago, for the short bit he did attend at least. However, there is a feeling in the air that he does not recall. A sour tinge to the ambient magic, that grows stronger the closer he draws to the alter at the head of the room.  Tobirama glances around to see if anyone else notices, but no one is acting as though anything is wrong. Perhaps he’s being paranoid, but his magic sensing has always been a cut above the rest.

Tobirama turns sharply and retreats out of the chamber. Until he figures out the cause he’s not exposing himself to the alter and whatever is wrong with it. Worried about the potential disaster something going wrong at a meeting like this could trigger, he hurries toward the castle library. Hopefully he has time for some research. Rounding a corner, he smacks into something, no, someone.

Madara. He appears to have been in just as much of a hurry as Tobirama, and just as surprised at running into him. His hair is disheveled with pieces falling out of its high ponytail, and his face is flushed. As soon as his shock wears off Madara sets right into his customary sputtering. One of them is going to have to move this encounter along.

“Madara, how… good to see you,” Tobirama says.

“Don’t say it like that!” Madara seethes. He really hasn’t changed a bit.

“Say it like what?” he asks.

“You know exactly what I mean!” he says, and flicks some of his loose hair out of his eyes with more frustration than Tobirama thought could be put into such a small gesture. “Actually, it doesn’t matter. What are you doing away from the meeting?” he continues.

On second thought Madara has changed. He must have gotten some anger management to just let it go like that. Tobirama is reluctantly impressed; perhaps this is a manifestation of the breakthrough that finally allowed him to move on from his long-lasting accidental fire phase.

“Something is wrong with the alter, and no one else seemed inclined to investigate. I won’t be attending till it’s fixed,” Tobirama explains.

“You felt it too!” he exclaims, then continues in a more subdued manner, “or at least something similar. I’ve been running around trying to figure out what was going on, since I sensed some strange illusion magics in the main chamber.”

“I sensed a sour tinge to the magic originating from the alter in the main chamber, and was headed to the library to look into it,” he clarifies, “but knowing it is likely illusion based does give me a point to start researching at.”

“I’m coming with you,” Madara asserts. Tobirama starts moving towards the library without answering. If he wants to come he’s completely free to follow. Tobirama hardly has monopoly of access to the library.

They’ve been looking through illusion magic tombs, as well as any books they believe might have information on the alter itself, for about two hours and have yet to make any headway. The meeting has probably hit full swing, and if two people of their caliber don’t show up soon, someone is likely to come looking for them. Maybe whoever it is can help them look through the shelves. Although, it has been nice to spend time alone with Madara again after all these years.

Technically they split amicably when they broke up eight years ago. They agreed they were simply at two different places, and with their careers to think of, didn’t have the time to make it work. However, in practice neither of them are the type to take a split from something they were that invested in well, so they ended up faintly bitter. Tobirama and Madara are both at the tops of their fields now, in more stable places both career wise and, as it seems from Madara’s improved temper, emotionally. Is this impromptu study session a sign to give it another try? Tobirama can’t help but think it might be.

He is deciding what to say to broach the topic tactfully, when a great rumble shakes the library. Tomes and scrolls fall from the towering shelves with great thuds, and a few of the shelves themselves look ready to collapse. He and Madara jump from their seats and race out the door simultaneously to find the whole castle is shaking. The strange magic is spreading out from the main chamber, and rapidly changing from an off-putting sour feeling to a corrupt black miasma. Running towards the source, Tobirama spots a prone figure laying on the hall floor.

“Orochimaru?” he calls. He crouches down to check on his fellow necromancer. He must have been coming to see why Tobirama never met up with him. He’s alive, but seems to be caught by the spreading corruption.

“Whatever this is it’s caught him in an illusion,” Madara announces from where he is peering over Tobirama’s shoulder at him.

“If he’s only in an illusion what’s causing the very physical shaking?” he wonders.

Madara opens his mouth to reply, but stops short when a tremor grows under their feet, and a large white substance bursts from the ground. Great white tendrils form from the viscous liquid and encase Orochimaru. Tobirama grabs Madara by the arm and takes off toward the nearest window as the tendrils reach towards them.

“Prepare for a sudden exit,” he shouts over the renewed sound of crumbling stone. Tobirama breaks through the stain glass window, with Madara right behind him. They both hit the ground from the second story window rolling, and transition cleanly into a run.

“Oh gods! She returns!”

“Who the fuck returns Madara? Is this some illusionist nonsense?” Tobirama yells. He does not have time for cryptic babble while running for his life.

“The evil goddess Kaguya. This must be her,” Madara says. They’ve gotten a good distance into the forest and slowed their pace. The corruption’s spread seems to have slowed significantly from its initial outburst. At least for now.

“Is the evil goddess Kaguya an illusion related evil goddess? Is that why you know about her supposed return?”

“… She wasn’t always evil,” Madara defends.

Tobirama knew the school of illusion was the real evil school of wizardry. Oh gods, he’s going to be stuck on some sort of goddess slaying quest, isn’t he? He takes back what he thought earlier, he doesn’t want to get back together with Madara at all.

This is basically the start of d&d style adventure, where Madara, Tobirama, Touka, Izuna, are sent on a quest by the sage of the six paths, along with his high priestess Princess Mito of Uzu, to retrieve his staff and journey back to the alter to use the staff to destroy it and stop Kaguya’s return. Along the way Madara and Tobirama get back together, and Mito and Touka elope. Izuna is a bard who has a fun time with various people along the way.

[nairdde32]

He Just “Come at be Broed” You! A Guide to the Human Monk

I said I was going to do one of these for every character so here we go. As usual if you’re new to dnd, I would highly recommend watching “How to Play Dungeons and Dragons 5e – Intro” by Don’t Stop Thinking on YouTube. I will try and use as little jargon as possible so people who are new to D&D can figure it out. This week it’s everyone’s favorite disaster, Beauregard, the Human Monk.

Race: Variant Human

Technically (technically) there are two kinds of humans in dnd. There’s the normal boring human that gets absolutely nothing and nobody plays, and then there’s variant human. Variant humans get a feat! Why is that important you may ask? Well you see, in older editions of dnd, feats weren’t all that great. They were more like little level up bonuses. You needed a lot of them before they actually started making a difference. But in Fifth Edition D&D, Feats were drastically reduced. There are far less of them, and you get far fewer (to the point where they’re optional in the players handbook) as you have to sacrifice ability score increases to get them. But, they’re incredibly powerful now, some to the point of game breaking (anybody remember grog’s great weapon master shenanigans?). Because of how strong they are, being able to get a free one at 1st level is pretty fantastic.

The Deets

Ability score increase. +1 to two ability scores of your choice. While many will scoff, the fact that you can choose where to put them means that humans can be literally anything. Half-Elves have it better but still.

Skills. Free proficiency in one skill of your choice. Pretty good, but Half-Elves still have it better.

Feat. You get a free feat, so long as you meet the prereqs. If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of us salty Half-Elf players in the distance OH HEY THERE XGTE.

Class: Monk

The monk is a rather versatile class that focuses on big damage. They forgo any sort of armor in favor of mobility, and have a wide variety of abilities that make them good in almost any situation. They also have really high ac.

The feetsies.

Hit Points. You get a d8. This seems paltry, especially for someone who’s supposed to be a front line fighter. But hp doesn’t matter when you have a sky high ac and you can dodge like Neo.

Proficiencies. You get nothing. Ok that’s not quite fair, you do get a tool. Or an instrument, but like, don’t? Bards? Exist? That’s what they want you to think.

Unarmored Defense (1). Remember how I was talking about that big AC? Well this is how. With 20/20 in Dex/Wis your ac is 20. That’s the same as a fool in full plate & a shield! And you can run on walls, so that’s pretty cool.

Martial Arts (1). Congratulations, you are now (insert anime martial artist of your choice here). Your punches git gud, and only get better. The damage even applies to the weapons you’re proficient in!

Ki (2). This is your magic. You get “Ki Points” equal to your level, used to fuel various abilities. It doesn’t do a whole lot at first (besides turning you into Neo, and making you Star Platinum, ok maybe it does do a whole lot) but there are a few nifty tricks you can do later.

Unarmored Movement (2/9). Become sanic. And later, become hardcore parkour! A lot of people forget you can run on walls/water at 9th level.

Monastic Tradition (3). You can now choose to become one of the following: Kenshiro, Ezio Auditore, Aang, Jackie Chan, Ahsoka Tano, SSGSS Ultra Instinct Kaio Ken x20 Goku, Edgy or (if you have the Tal’dorei Campaign Guide) a Librarian. Beauregard has chosen to become a librarian.

Deflect Missiles (3). You can now catch arrows. Need I say more?  

Ability Score Improvement (4/8/12/16/19). You get five, same as everyone else sans fighter and rogue. Standard rules apply, moving on.

Slow Fall (4). You can reduce falling damage by a decent amount. Useful for when the wizard didn’t prepare feather fall, or you don’t have wings.

Extra Attack (5). You now attack twice. If you’re using a weapon (which you should be unless you’re Goku), it now become twice as good.

Stunning Strike (5). Stun on demand. For those of you who don’t get how powerful this is, if you’re stunned you auto fail dex saves. Disintegrate requires a dex save.

Ki-Empowered Strikes (6). Your unarmed attacks are now magical. Useful for the levels when you’re starting to encounter bigger foes that are immune to normal attacks.

Evasion (7). One wordy explanation later, you are now immune to fireball. Identical to the rogue feature, and NO you don’t have to actively use it. This isn’t uncanny dodge.

Stillness of Mind (7). You can use your action to not be scared. Alright then.

Purity of Body (10). Complete immunity to poison and disease? Yeah that’s good.

Tongue of the Sun and Moon (13). You understand everything and everything understands you. Who needs language when you’re a literal universal translator!

Diamond Soul (14). You have proficiency in all saving throws. All. Saving throws. And you can reroll failed saves so long as you have the Ki. Hooooooooooo BOY. That’s good.

Timeless Body (15). This walking disaster doesn’t need food or water and basically is immune to old age. How? Just become a Monk 15.

Empty Body (18). “Non-concentration invisibility for one minute plus resistance to most damage that doesn’t go away when you attack can be yours, for the low low price of just FOUR Ki points! Call now and we’ll throw in the ability to astral project!”

Perfect Self (20). Roll initiative, acquire Ki. Getting back Ki points when you need them but don’t have them is pretty good.

The base monk class is a sold chassis for some pretty fun and creative subclasses (but everyone goes Open Hand because memes). It has everything a damage focused martial character could need and just a little bit more.

Subclass: Way of the Cobalt Soul

A brand new subclass appearing in the Tal’dorei Campaign Guide, the Way of the Cobalt Soul is based on the Monks of the Cobalt Reserve. Joking aside, it is a rather powerful subclass, especially in a campaign where there’s significant homebrew. Which is Critical Role in case you couldn’t catch my meaning. The good stuff:

Mystical Erudition (3). Get more languages and spend Ki points to get advantage on knowlage checks. “But Beau already gets every language!” No, she can understand all languages. Learning a language means you can read it too. Which is really important when your DM writes everything in celestial.

Extract Aspects (3). When you hit someone with multiple attacks you can spend ki to learn several key pieces of info. Really, really good when your DM homebrews everything.

Extort Truth (6). You get a mini Zone of Truth at the cost of ki. Still requires you to land multiple attacks, though.

Mind of Mercury (6). You have more reactions each round based on your intelligence. They require Ki points though, so if you’re not careful you’ll exhaust yourself before you know it.

Preternatural Counter (11). If an attack misses you, you get to attack back. Synergizes nicely with other monk abilities.

Debilitating Barrage. For the low low price of three Ki, you can give something disadvantage on attacks until the end of the next round, and you can select a type of damage that they’re then vulnerable to. If you have a rogue in the party who uses a certain damage type (like piercing) that’s pretty good.

I never knew librarians were this badass. Huh. Remember kids, make sure to turn your library books in on time.

[myss-little-smartone]

Please tell me you play d&d and what your campaigns are like. :3c

I do play D&D and let me tell you, shit be crazy. Okay so two separate campaigns.

First one has Kuolema, a Neutral Human Barbarian who is just there because she is. She has practically adopted the small gnome wizard and the Bard is just like “this is now my friend”. She’s a hard hitter in the campaign and I love her and her backstory. It involves Demons, having a family, being Bi, and other fun things.

The second one has Ming Yue Tsao (I typically put Tsao in front because she along with Kuo are existing OCs turned into D&D characters). Chaotic Good, Moon Elf Wizard. She is very much a Necromancer and her aesthetics point this fact out. But she is a very sweet, VERY MUCH LESBIAN, Elf who moms everyone and keeps talking to gods. Like direct line talking to gods. The Big Bad on the campaign is on her shit list because Death is very much important to her and even as a Necromancer, she respects the fuck out of the dead being dead (her whole thing is she raises the dead so the living and the dead can say their goodbyes and put business behind and to rest so all parties can grieve and move on.) She has a GF that she plans on making her wife and will talk about her ALL THE TIME IF YOU LET HER! She also befriended the Prince. Ming is a great disaster and I love her.