#She IS a mastermind rogue

[theology101]

I wonder who initiated the Rat Grinder-Starbreaker team up?

First bet is probably either Jace or Porter (by way of Jace) restoring one or more Rat Grinders to life while in the Mountains of Chaos. The issue with that is that Lucy didn’t get the Rune until well after Springbreak AND as far as we are aware Porter has been present each time the runes were confirmed used (Lucy, Yolanda and Buddy). If Lucy hadn’t died, then she could’ve rezzed them herself

Second one, kinda out of left field, is that it was Oisin’s Grandma. Blue dragons, especially one powerful enough to have a massive brood of Wyrmlings under her control, is incredibly powerful, cautious and self-interested. For her to commit so many resources because 1 of her presumably HUNDREDS of descendants is a little odd in and of itself. However, given that Hakinvar Sr had been friends with Kalvaxus, it isn’t out of the question that she made a deal with Jace and Porter for revenge - and also some presumably powerful rewards to make it worthwhile. Then all it took was her telling Oisin to nudge his party that way (So he changed the name to Rat Grinders, knowing it would piss of Kipperlily and make her easy for Porter to control). Which would make sense, seeming as how he is VERY involved with several steps of the plan, more so then even Jace

Last one is an oddball - what if it was Kipperlily making contact with Porter, after being manipulated by Jace? Jawbone “What can you do to be more successful as an adventurer?” is what Jawbone asked her when she was angry at the Bad Kids. Well, after their springbreak, what did they do? Restore a God to life. And where did the Rat Grinders go (under Jace’s supervision)? Ankarna’s Lost Temple. I think that Kipperlily then did the detective work to realize who Porter is, connect him to the Barkrock attack, and then ask to be in on it.

Lucy wasn’t going for it, of course, but Porter is familiar with Devil’s Honey from Bobby Dawn so he has Kipperlily order some. She convinces the party to go along with her plan to bring back Ankarna and work with Porter and Jace (“After all, the bad kids already have such an advantage, its only fair we get this) and has varying levels of success. Oisin, Ivy and Mary Ann go right along with it, cause why not? Reuben feels uneasy about it, something happens to him (maybe attacked the same way Yolanda was by Porter, brought back and was then down? Or maybe he’s just Rage Crystalled without dying) that makes him change his vibe and then he’s down.

And Lucy? Well, it works on Lucy for a little bit, enough that she changes her God. But it isn’t enough, Ruvina gets through yo her and Lucy changes back. Demanding a show of loyalty (and a promise that Lucy WILL come back on their Side), the Rat Grinder’s kill her, Porter places the Rune and she rejects it.

We’ll find out in an hour 40 but still, worth a theory

[jq37]

What is it that the Rat Grinders actually want exactly? Or at least, what does Kipperlilly want since she's the one we know the most about.

At the top of the season it seemed like she wanted to Be The Best at school and Be Recognized in a very Tracy Flick/Sara Berry kind of way and was just going to crazy lengths to get there because this is a world where you help a dragon kidnap girls so you can be Prom Queen and life goes on. But now we know that the Rat Grinders are a part of Porter's larger plan and one of the major steps of that plan is completely abolishing Aguefort as an institution.

It's clear what Porter gets out of this. He gets to be a god and he gets to continue his imperialistic family legacy. And I would maybe get what Kipperlilly would get out of this is she were the Cleric/Paladin of the plan. She'd get to be the new god's champion, like she was gushing to Lucy. That's maybe worth something to an achievement hunting, Type A individual.

But she's not gonna get to be the best student at Aguefort if Aguefort doesn't exist anymore. Hell, Elmville won't really exist anymore. Is Porter planning on opening a new Adventuring School in Rage Elmville and she gets to be the god Principal's pet? Does she think he's gonna make things "fair" for her somehow? How? Retroactively killing her parents? Does she want to use the powers she cheesed from the easy XP he drip fed her to be a renown adventurer? Kinda hard to pull that off when everyone knows you were part of the plan that doomed the town. Maybe she thought they were going to get away with it without being implicated? Does she literally not want anything other than a chance to kill the Bad Kids? Or even pettier, to just to be stronger than Riz? Is that worth it to her? To damn the whole town just so she can say that she beat Riz once? Did she want something concrete at one point but at this point she's just lost in the sauce and doing whatever the next task is without knowing what she'd even do with a victory if she got it? Did she already get what she wanted in the free XP and now she's just paying her end of the bargain?

I'm just very unsure about what her version of a happy ending is here.

[ominous-horse-noises]

watching pt2 of the finale rn and YEAAAAAH SUCK SHIT KIPPERLILLY APOLOGISTS I ALWAYS KNEW THAT UPPER MIDDLE CLASS BITCH WAS EVILLLLLLL

[cookiecrumbconundrum]

new idea for a dnd character. she was forced to go to wizard school. absolutely shit at being a wizard but her parents are forcing her to finish out the year there. however! she has the outlook of a girlboss and decides to use this to her advantage. her very tired grad student wizard tutor is very tired and very underpaid so she takes them out to lunch as gets them to talk about their experimental research into potions. gets how they look, how they would taste, how they would. then she sells that info to people who make fake potions and profits. and of course she always buys lunch.

[fellsilver]

[terresdebrume]

So I previously assigned Booker as Druid because of the rule of cool, though being the explosives specialist makes him a good candidate for Artificer also

BUT

I just realized

He's highly skilled (like everyone else in the Guard lbr) and distinguishes himself by his ability to use multiple methods to win a fight and get what he wants

You know what DND class is also a literal Jack of All Trades? Bards!

So I submit for your perusal

Bard Booker

[fishsticxz-art]

i redesigned my gf’s dnd character leondir :]

[kaiisens]

new dnd character <3 her name is loralei

[yourfatherjustinmcelroy]

Rewatching the first few episodes of fhjy because i guess i have nothing better to do and the way you can see how kibblespilly was supposed to be a counter to riz is so fucking funny. Its all there from the very beginning- the attitude, the tactics, the way she interacts with the party and everything- this is supposed to be riz's counterpart to run against him for student body president and have a terrible battle of wits and barbs

But in a twist that is perhaps THE most befitting to her ideal story of running against the boy she chose to be her antagonist, the intrepid heroes just straight up not taking the bait resulting in her instead having to go toe to toe against her idealized perfect rival's aggressive near-flunkie unsubtle chaotic friend is SO FUNNY.

Like I know some people are disappointed we dont get the riz vs kipperlily presidential whatever, I know it doesnt make tons of sense in that specific narrative way. But the fucking hilarious meta that even this didnt go her way is so funny. Because instead of rogue sneaking and behind the shadows plays and spy vs spy shit, we have just outward schoolyard taunts and shit like kristen exploding and jumping over the school and the exact kind of play that baits kipperlily into rage every single time and its so fucking funny. Kristen runs naked through the school and does party stunts and is STILL BEATING HER. She even clearly constructed her party to mirror the bad kids perfectly and craft each of them their own nemesis/counterpart and for the most part it like kind of worked EXCEPT FOR HER.

It must drive her fucking crazy that her cute little plot of rogue vs rogue didnt pan out at fucking all despite ALL the signs pointing to that making the most sense. This was something she just couldnt predict, couldnt mastermind. She got up onto that metaphorical stage for a debate and instead was met with a clowning act. Its so funny. I love fantasy high. Nothing you could have done would have changed this, fourdogs. You never had any power at all.

[pyroangelo]

God it makes me so weirdly happy that Kipperlily was honestly a nothing rival to Riz. At every turn her Masterminding was fucked up by his friends.

Kristen jumped in and decided to run for president instead of Riz because Ally couldn’t stand Kipperlily’s type A personality.

Fig was in German Shepard mode constantly and prevented Kipperlily from ever coming after Kristen

Fabian’s lofi study sessions open to the entire school kept the Bad Kids names in everyone’s mouths and constantly bolstered Kristen’s campaign. Meanwhile Kipperlily’s intensity weirded other kids out.

A literal horde of dragons attacked Fabian’s Birthday Bash/Voting Booth Celebration, and yet they fully killed Oisin’s grandma and several of his relatives while smoking with the very Rogue teacher Kipperlily had to threaten to get a pass in Rogue studies.

And then when it finally came to blows in a fight. Kipperlily slashes at Riz for 7 points of damage, he turns around and slices her with his epic ninja Sword of Shadows for triple that damage. He baffles her by jumping into lava to make a play and finally he uses his Blindsight plus his combat experience to ready an action for the moment Kipperlily tried for another attack at him to cast Hold Person right over the lava she would emerge over from stealthing.

Kipperlily wishes, WISHES she was half the adventurer Riz Gukgak is, and she accepted rage and frustration to try and close the gap. But just like that 5 foot gap she attempted to jump she fell short and straight into Riz’s sight.

“Very good on paper, but no practical application.”

Kipperlily was nothing to Riz but another minion in a fight against his real antagonists, she’s another Dane or Penelope that collaborated with a corrupt adult to further her own story but she had no substance to her other than her rage and her hatred of the Bad Kids. She thought she could be Riz’s BBEG but how could she ever shine in the spotlight like a real villain when all she ever did was hide and kill rats.

[eternalgirlscout]

the foundational level 3 feature for the mastermind rogue subclass is the ranged bonus action Help. it's a fantastic feature to have and kipperlilly "bad at this game," "no practical application" copperkettle never, ever used it. this is the person who lead a party that clustered up in perfect fireball range. this is the person who, at the cost of all her friends dying, undertook the rage ritual willingly. at any time, she could have helped them and over and over she chose not to. now that's strong characterization through mechanics

[rooksilver]

ok so ive been thinking about this. for the plan to work, kipperlilly copperkettle needs to be president. but kristen applebees is going to be president. sure, she cant win if shes dead, but i feel like porter and jace wouldnt throw all their chips on the possibility of the rat grinders being able to beat the bad kids. even with buffs, thats a fair fight.

im thinking about kipperlilly. shes a mastermind rogue, and she has a style. she got the rogue teacher to reveal herself by threatening to desecrate her grave. her style is leverage. she needs to be president, and kristen applebees is in her way. kipperlilly needs leverage over kristen.

i’m thinking about bucky applebees.

[villadiodatis]

Give it up for the Bad Kids at level 14!

After acing the Last Stand and their junior year, the Bad Kids have gotten a well-deserved level up to 14! Let's see what's in store for them. (As always, my previous recaps for levels 11, 12, and 13 can be found at these links!)

Adaine: Wizard 14. Adaine learns two new 1st-7th level spells (in addition to whatever she's learned from her downtime rolls, which as of this episode is MANY new spells). She also gets her final subclass feature, Greater Portent, which lets her roll 3 portents every long rest (improved from 2). She can also now prepare 19 spells a day (previously 18).

Fabian: Fighter 6/Bard 8 (was Fighter 6/Bard 7). Fabian gets a second 4th-level spell slot and learns a new 1st-4th level spell. In addition, he's increased his charisma by 2, taking it to 20--he is now the most dexterous and most charismatic you can be without magical help! Maximum Legend indeed. With this increase, his modifier goes up to +5, and his spell save DC, attack bonus, and all CHA-based skills (Deception, Intimidation, Performance, Persuasion) go up by one. He can also now use Bardic Inspiration 5 times per short rest, improved from 4.

Fig: Bard 10/Paladin 3/Warlock 1 (was Bard 10/Paladin 2/Warlock 1). Fig has reached her paladin Sacred Oath subclass! We don't know which it is yet (although many people have speculated Devotion), but it will include access to two new spells specific to her oath and two Channel Divinity options, which she can use once per short or long rest. I believe her spell slots remain the same due to multiclass shenanigans, but please correct me if I got that wrong. She also gets Divine Health, which makes her immune to disease.

Gorgug: Barbarian 5/Artificer 9 (was Barbarian 6/Artificer 7). Gorgug continues to swap around barbarian and artificer levels! With this change, he loses Mindless Rage (so he can now be charmed or frightened while raging) and gains an unknown feat, access to 3rd level spells and two 3rd-level spell slots, and an unknown Barbificer subclass feature. (EDIT: I had forgotten he's not a Battle Smith anymore; thanks to @lookin-reproachfully for reminding me!)

Kristen: Cleric 14. Her Destroy Undead ability can now destroy undead creatures of CR3 or lower on a failed save, which includes ghasts, ghouls, poltergeists, and skeletons, although there are a lot of undead Brennan could throw at them. She can also now prepare 19 spells a day (previously 18).

Riz: Rogue 14. We saw Riz put his new feature, Blindsense, to great use this episode! He is now aware of any hidden or invisible creatures within 10 feet of him, as long as he can hear. (Hopefully he can use that against Kipperlilly too…) He also learns one new 1st-3rd level spell, which can be a Wizard spell from any school.

And across the board, everyone's HP goes up and they get another hit die!

One little bonus--this episode, we discovered Kipperlilly is a Mastermind Rogue. An ability of hers that might come in handy is Master of Intrigue--if she has observed a creature for 1 minute, she can "unerringly mimic" their speech patterns and accent. I'll let you all speculate on what she might do with that, and I'll see you all if/when we hit level 15.

[spectralreplica]

Uhhhhhhhh Sburb AU!! This was more of an excuse to classpect and make sprites, so don’t ask me questions about plot details because I put like zero thought into it. Tsumugi probably had something to do with setting up the session, and she’s hiding her real title and the fact it’s not her first session. Baby Kiibo is a robot baby because I thought that was the funniest option.

Drawing with anti-aliasing off really brings me back...

Classpect thoughts under the cut if you really want:

Immediate caveat: I mention speculative stuff here like unconfirmed active/passive class pairs and inversion theory. If you don’t like those things or otherwise disagree with the titles I gave people that’s fine but just know I’m not super interested in debating about it and won’t reply.

So, to start out with I wanted to make the 8 of them a session, so I needed no overlaps in class or aspect and one Time + one Space. I also wanted to have Kaito and Kokichi as opposing aspects. In general, I think of a Title as kind of the end of your assigned character arc, so depending on your level of maturity/introspection at the start, it can seem either really obvious or really unintuitive. I tried to base them off of the hypothetical chapter 6/survivor versions of characters, since those (plus maybe the chapter 5 deaths) of the ones that get a full arc in DR canon.

Immediately Tsumugi seemed like a deadringer for Space, not so much because of the literal physics-related stuff but because of its associations with creation/narratives and setting things up for other people to act. I made her Sylph of Space here, but that's a facade. She's actually a Muse of Space who participated in past session(s) and wants to watch how things play out.

Based on the Extended Zodiac description, Kaito or Kaede has to be time, but Kokichi CANNOT be Space by any stretch of the imagination. I made her Heir of Time with the interpretation of Heir as someone who invites change/influences of/through their aspect. Time is also associated with music and death, which is both fitting and a little mean. (I can also see Kaede as Breath outside of having to have someone be Time.)

So moving onto Kaito and Kokichi, I was considering Hope vs Rage (belief vs doubt, possibility vs restrictions), but 1) Rage is defined partially by hatred of lies despite otherwise sounding Kokichi-ish (that alone could be interesting, with the possibility of a negative/reverse title or else giving him Hope and Kaito Rage for the unexpected swerve........) 2) I really wanted to give Hope to Kiibo. So instead I went with Heart and Mind (emotion vs logic, intuition vs planning, identity/motivation vs action/decisiveness).

Kokichi is Thief of Mind for taking away other people's decisions for his own purposes but also for generally "stealing" things (e.g., the Mastermind Role, narrative importance in general, along with literal items) through his own cleverness. Vs Kaito, a Knight of Heart, who uses his constructed identity as a weapon to face challenges. I'm also a fan of inversion theory, so I think at low points they'd both trend towards Page of Heart (grows powerful late in the narrative based on his own ego/identity) and Rogue of Mind (taking choices/agency/logic away from people for their own good), respectively.

I always wanted Kiibo to be Hope since 1) Ult. Hope Robot 2) big on possibilities/faith but can be a little self-centered. I went with Bard at least partially to make a "guess we know whether he has a dick or not now!" joke, but I also think "inviting destruction through Hope, inviting destruction of (false) hope" is pretty spot on for chapter 6 Kiibo. Like, as the camera/audience surrogate, he's been forced into passively leading the others to despair, not to mention how the audience takes him over to destroy the hope of ending the show. But Kiibo ends up reversing this and helping destroy the audience's faith in Danganronpa, destroying the whole academy in accordance with the vote. (Sidenote: I wonder if Kiibo gets taken over by Horrorterrors and goes grimdark? Or if he's just really, really susceptible to orders from his Exile)

Shuichi, Page of Void, was another one that immediately came to mind. Like, "starts off weak but becomes really strong/important by the end" is Shuichi's thing! Also, counterpart to Kaito's Knight. And Void is all about secrets, mystery, etc. From the Extended Zodiac: "Where others might be compelled to go out and seek answers, the Void-bound lean more toward casting doubt on what is already considered understood. They don't take much on faith and would rather live in a state of confusion- than believe something that might be untrue or bow to intellectual authority... At their best, Void-bound are wise, intuitive, and vibrant. At their worst, they can be dismissive, indecisive and apathetic." 

I had considering Light, for seeking out knowledge/truth, but Shuichi's character arc ends on "fuck you, I refuse to play. You all get nothing more from us" and learning to live with ambiguity, so I think he's way more Void. But, again, inversion would be Thief of Light, so selfishly taking away knowledge/importance from others.

Speaking of Light, I made Miu Mage of Light. Mage is like, active Seer, seeking out knowledge for yourself (vs advising others) and Light is luck, knowledge, and also importance/plot relevance. As an inventor, Miu keeps innovating and figuring things out, plus she's very motivated by her own importance to the world. She wants to be seen more than anything else and loves being smarter than those around her. Also: "At their best, the Light-bound are resourceful and driven. At their worst they can be fussy, pedantic, and insensitive." Inversion is Heir of Void, so "inviting change via hiding things" or "changing what's kept secret", which suits Miu when plotting murder.

Finally, Maki is Prince of Blood. Blood is trust, bonds, relationships, stubbornness, duty, obligation (vs freedom, change, choices) so "someone who breaks bonds/destroys relationships" but also "someone who destroys using/motivated by duty/relationships". Like, Maki is inherently a fracture point in the group because of her talent and then directly breaks the group apart and sabotages her relationships with the others in chapter 5, but also she's deeply motivated by her bonds to others in all of her destructive actions (protectiveness for orphanage/friend, love for Kaito). This sound super negative, but I think this is also the Maki who commits to destroying the institution of Danganronpa in chapter 6. Sometimes you have to be decisive and cut bad relationships out of your life.

Inversion would be Sylph of Breath, so "healing via change" or "encouraging growth towards freedom", which you can argue is sort of the way Kaito wants her to go? But she just doesn't. Idk, for better or worse, I think Maki is very aware of who she is and how people related to her, so even at her worst she's true to herself, vs, say, Kaito or Kokichi, who act "ooc".

[novankenn]

Er... WHUT?!?

Beacon's grounds were awash with White Fang, Grimm and rogue robots, as Jaune raced to catch up to Pyrrha. But it was in vain. She just outclassed him too much for him to catch up.

Jaune: There must be something I can do...

It was then he saw three transfers from Haven moving towards Beacon tower.

Jaune: I don't know what it is... but they look like trouble...

Taking a deep breath, Jaune screwed up all his courage and even though he had always been warned to only use the "Arc Technique" in the most dire of situations...

Jaune: If this isn't dire... I don't know what is...

/==/

Cinder, Mercury and Emerald closed on Beacon tower only to find a ancient looking castle now blocking the entire path.

Cinder: ...

Mercury: ...

Emerald: Was this always here?

Cinder: No.

Mercury: We sure?

Cinder: Yes.

Emerald: Then what...

It was then a well armored figure popped his head above parapet.

Cinder: You there!

Jaune: (bad French accent) Yes?

Cinder: Who... no... WHY are you talking like that?

Emerald: (Whispering to Mercury) IS that REALLY what she should be asking?

Cinder: What is the meaning of this? I have need to get past this... this... castle?

Jaune: (Bad French accent) So? What for?

Cinder: My DESTINY! I must get the Fall Maiden!

Mercury: (Whispering to Emerald) Should she be telling him that?

Jaune: (Bad French accent) Fall Maiden? Fall Maiden... We have one of those...

Cinder: You have one???

Cinder: Huh... one of... GIVE HER TO ME!!

Jaune: (Bad French accent) Umm... let me think... NO!!!

Cinder: HOW DARE YOU!!!

Cinder: ???

Emerald: ???

Mercury: *SNORT*

Cinder: Why YOU... FRENCH BASTARD!!!

Jaune: (Bad French accent) I am NOT a Bastard! Bastards are the children of unmarried couples! My parents are married! I was the ring bearer at the ceremony!

Cinder: *Chokes on air*

Emerald: ...

Mercury: *Snorts* *Choked off Laugh**Full on Laugh*

CinderI will!!!

Jaune: (Bad French accent) I see... unleash the RABBIT!!!

Cinder: Rabbit?

Emerald: Rabbit?

Mercury: (Rolling on the ground laughing at the absurdity of it all)

Emerald: CINDER!!!!!

Mercury: (Passed out from laughing so hard)

Narrator: And so with Cinder Fall's defeat Amber the Fall Maiden awoke before the Aura Transfer could happen. With the mastermind of attack dispatched... the Grimm faded away and the White Fang retreated as the defenders assisted by Pyrrha Nikos and Amber quickly thrashed the rogue droids...

[ironinkpen]

i still don't like kipperlilly HOWEVER it would be VERY interesting if the twist is that she's been playing the long game against porter to get revenge for lucy's death

devil's nectar is used to lie to gods. porter wants to be a god.

gertie mentions in ep14 that the last order of nectar was twice as much as usual.

we know from ruben's dream that the rat grinders have been taking devil's honey for some reason

lucy was killed by multiple assailants but it's never confirmed it was the rat grinders—ruben's house has a perfect view of the lake, so the rat grinders could easily have witnessed lucy's murder

jace and porter seem to want the whole school at graduation for some reason, but kipperlily drafted an order to disband aguefort the moment she becomes president. undermining the plan?

kipperlilly was "very fond" of lucy

kipperlilly keeps provoking the bad kids despite jace saying not to—maybe intentionally trying to get the bad kids on their trail?

if nothing else, that's proof being rage-starred doesn't mean she's a mindless follower who agrees w everything porter/jace say

which means her rage could have easily turned on porter

kipperlilly is a mastermind rogue