#bori answered˚*•̩̩͙✩

[howtofightwrite]

I know DnD is not about realism but how accurate is having, say, your heavy armor wearing paladin have 10 dex or even negative dex? Where medieval knights built like The Rock or like The mountain? I’ve seen youtubers saying that you needed a lot of strength to be able to fight like a knight so women and smaller people couldn’t do it.

I think I know which YouTuber you're talking about, and you can pretty safely ignore them. Their personal misogyny takes priority over their (alleged) expertise when they're forming their arguments.

There's two logistical problems with the idea that you need someone like Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson to make up the bulk of your elite forces. The first problem is that they need to consume a frightening amount of food. This isn't as much of a problem in the modern era, when we have the capacity for truly staggering amounts of agricultural production. But, in a medieval society, with serfs responsible for most of the agriculture, the prospect of feeding each of your elite troops 10,000 calories a day would economically destroy most kingdoms. (And, yes, that is what Björnsson reports to consume on a daily basis. Other estimates place his dietary intake somewhere between 3600 and 8000.) And, to be clear, that is an absolutely absurd amount of food. But, if you want to build that kind of mass, you need a lot of energy, which means, a lot of food.

The second logistical problem is, there's only one of him. Okay, that's not literally true, The Mountain was portrayed by three separate actors, Conan Stevens, a professional wrestler, and Ian Whyte, a stunt actor who had previous appeared as a White Walker in the first season. But, Hafthor Bjornsson took over the role in the fourth season, and is probably who you're thinking of when you name drop the character.

Bjornsson is a member of the 2000 pound club, which include power lifters who can lift over 2000lbs combined between bench press, dead lift, and squats. Not many people ever get that far, and Bjornsson is one of the few individuals who can get into the 1000 pound club from a single lift.

Here's a fun name to know, Becca Swanson is also in the 2000 pound club. She credibly claims that she is the first woman to have achieved that, and I'm not sure if there are any other women in the 2000lb club, but it is achievable.

Now, here's the fun thing about all of this, because you're asking about D&D, and D&D players need to know exactly how much their character can lift. The calculation is (STR*30)lbs. (In the Player's handbook p174.) This also means if you have a real person, and you know how much they can lift in the real world, you can reverse engineer what their strength score would be in D&D.

It's 37.

If you wanted to convert Hafthor Bjornsson into D&D, his strength score would be 37.

Dude can fucking arm wrestle the Terrasque and easily win.

Putting that in perspective, it's a little ludicrous to say that if you want a viable martial character (fighters, paladins, barbarians, etc.), they need a Strength score of 37, when it's not normally possible for player characters to exceed 20 base strength. (If you're wondering, Becca would work out to have ~29 Strength. So, on par with most ancient dragons, and a few gods.)

So, there you have a man and woman who are both superhumanly strong according to D&D.

D&D and math have always had issues like this, and it pops up in a few different places here.

The basic concept that your ability to hit, and the amount of damage you deal is based on strength comes from a very, “schoolyard,” understanding of violence. It's okay to step back and abstract it out, where “strength,” is some amalgam of melee combat aptitude in addition to actual strength, but the idea that being stronger means you can hit harder with a sword or dagger doesn't make a lot of sense. It doesn't even make much sense with axes and maces (the force applied has more to do with the mass and velocity of the weapon, rather than the strength of its wielder.)

A paladin with negative DEX is dead. I don't mean that figuratively, and I do understand what you meant to say, but this rule is a little obscure in 5e. If any of a character's physical attributes (STR, DEX, CON) are reduced to zero, the character immediately dies. Ability draining effects used to be far more common, so the rule existed by itself, though, now it mostly shows up when you're looking at a monster with a physical ability draining attack.

What you probably meant was a negative DEX modifier, meaning your paladin is unusually clumsy. Outside the context of D&D, that would be an incredibly bad thing for a front line combatant. In the specific context of D&D, if they're in heavy armor, it doesn't really matter, if they're in medium, then it reverts to being “a bad thing. Specifically, the rules is that light and medium armor add your DEX modifier to your armor class. Medium armor caps this at +2, but it can go negative with either armor type. However, heavy armor in 5e ignores your DEX modifier entirely.

Now, here's the thing about D&D, its concept of armor is spectacularly weird. Unlike RPGs where armor reduces damage taken, either by subtracting a fixed amount from incoming damage or by reducing damage via a percentage, D&D's system is that your armor class grants you a chance to avoid being hit at all. (5% chance per point of AC, if you're wondering.) Narratively, this is often framed as taking a hit, but your armor turned the blade or something similar. This is because sometimes the enemy attack straight up misses, and that's (usually) determined by your dexterity. This is important, because the game is trying to balance two different power fantasies against each other.

On one side you have the players who want to roll in heavy plate armor, and soak all the hits, and on the other you have players who want to go with light armor, and dodge around enemy attacks. Realistically, that's not an option, but D&D permits it, and again, that's fine. The fantasy of lightly armored fighters makes a lot of sense. I'd even go so far as to say that the barbarian's unarmed defense bonus (where they add CON modifier to their DEX modifier while unarmored) is a really good change in 5e even if it does make no sense objectively. It contributes to the fantasy of this brutal fighter who runs around without armor slapping people silly with their weapons, and shrugging off damage because they're too stubborn to die. In (nearly all cases) the ability to deliver the player fantasy of a class is more important than a strict adherence to reality, and that's fine, that's the point, but the realism of D&D doesn't translate off the page in any meaningful way.

If you wanted a more, “realistic,” (and, yeah, that's incredibly loaded in this context), approach to armor for D&D, I'd say gate access based on your Constitution (or Constitution modifier). Sort of like how your equip load in Dark Souls is based on your Endurance attribute. Give armor and weapons a burden value, and if the combined burden on a character exceeds their CON, the character risks taking levels of Fatigue when they're fighting in heavier gear than they're conditioned to deal with. Maybe add a Conditioning feat or skill if you want to add some other attribute modifiers to the mix should you end up with your heavy armor fighters being underequipped. (Then again, I am one of those psychopaths who really liked the D20 Star Wars' vitality system.) So, ultimately, tinker with the balance until you find something you, and the people at your table, are happy with. Roleplayers who have more meaningful build choices tend to be happier, so long as they don't feel like they're being punished for having a character fantasy.

One of the more amusing descriptions I've read of medieval knights is that they were built like methheads. I can't fully vouch for that, because I'm not an expert on the physical appearance of medieval knights, but it's certainly credible. These guys were eating pretty well for the era, and engaged in a lot of physical activity. Depending on what they were doing, that could easily result in some fairly bulky guys, but it could also result in some wiry looking guys who hide their muscles. Just, knowing what I do about the human body, the answer was probably both, depending on their metabolism and diet. But the image of Sir Methhead, Knight of the Realm, and his implausibly clean teeth, still amuses me.

It's worth remembering that a lot of the times I've seen someone say, “they were built like athletes,” they'll drop an image of a bodybuilder. No. That's not what you would get. Bodybuilding is designed to create its own physique, one that doesn't occur unless you're abusing your body in some very specific (and unhealthy) ways. It's probably better to think of someone like a high-school football player. Bulky, but without the carved physiques of a Boris Vallejo painting. (If you don't know who that is, look up his art. It is a bit dated, but it's gorgeous.)

Alternately, if you do want your characters to look like those paintings, it is your fantasy, have fun.

-Starke

This blog is supported through Patreon. Patrons get access to new posts three days early, and direct access to us through Discord. If you’re already a Patron, thank you. If you’d like to support us, please consider becoming a Patron.

[onyxmistkes]

raises my hand ✋ can i request ima alice and/or holly and/or featherworth on your style too 👀

Now that I've finished all my classes, I had to sketch all of them

[brainyrot]

So

How we feeling after the newest chapter? :)

What can I say..

[bboricha]

HAVE U SEEN NEUVILLETTE?? AUFGHHGHG that man would eat pussy every night i’m calling it he’d be so sad when u go away for like a business trip or something cause he can’t eat you out.

anyways, NEUVILLETTTEEE AUGHHHH

LAJASLDSJ omg i can see it NOW.

(somnophilia warning) he comes back from his business trip at like 2 am, you're already asleep, and he just yanks half of your body off the bed and starts eating you out. his suit is still on, his hair is disheveled, he just needed to have you right then and there. maybe you'd wake up a bit groggy, maybe you'd only wake up once you cum, but either way, that man will not stop until he's had his fill.

[patiann345]

NO BUT LITERALLYYYYYY

And in regards to fnaf; these books are way less wack than those and fit really comfortably in the timeline/universe! There is no reason to claim "Oh actually they're not canon" except to try and save their asses (which isn't working!! People are pissed, rightfully so!)

Kress didn't say anything about it (and, why would she?), and look, I don't wanna put words in her mouth or assume how she feels, but if it were me? This whole situation about them claiming now that they're non-canon, them white-washing characters who were very POC coded, and just generally how this novel is turning out.. to me, I'd feel insulted. These books (at least in my opinion) are the BEST pieces of media this series has. Kress is carrying this series, on god. LIKE,, JDS CAN'T EVEN FIX THEIR FLAGSHIP TITLE, BATIM IS STILL A VERY BROKEN GAME. Fucking hell man,,

I know a lotta people regard Meatly as the lesser of two evils, but I am so sick of him and Mike. According to them, they essentially say yes and no to products, merch, etc. And they said yes to this. And then Mike gave the worst response he could muster. Not to do better, not to fix the issue and actually address it, but to spit on Bendy book fans (and in general Bendy fans) and ignore it by pulling the ol' "Not canon" card.

They're both awful, and they've hit some lows, but this? This is a new kind of low.

[babitim-royal-au]

Does mugs know abt cup hurtin himself?

WARNING!!!! A SMALL BIT OF BLOOD!

[midnightfire830]

(For the Asulmy Au) (hope I spell it right lol) How crazy is cuphead on scale 1 to 100?

He’s not exactly INSANE…. But he’s not exactly… sane.

Oh, and, it’s spelled Asylum. Tho that name will change… as soon as I find a replacement…. Hopefully…

Thanks for the ask!

[qftim-c]

Hey so does Bendy have fur like Boris? I'm aware one of them is adopted but is Bendy some mixed breed ooorrr...?

He would look goofy if we cut his hair for once

[hascious]

Chapter 7 of Cycle 360 has been dropped on a whim

i only read over it a few times so lmk if you see typos or something idk

this was probably one of my favorite chapters to write tbh... as much fun as rise was i love the dynamic between these 3 bozos so much. the main part of this chapter comes from part 4 of The Illusion of Living by Adrienne Kress, so be warned, there's spoilers for that. if you for some reason havent read the books, i'd highly suggest it, they're amazing. TIOL specifically was one of my favorite (if you couldnt tell)

and heres some bonus art i've made since the last post, unrelated from cycle 360:

also!! i havent directly said this here but if there's any questions at all about cycle 360, and i mean any, send them my way!! im more than happy to answer, especially given how long its taking me to write these chapters. worst case scenario, the answer is a spoiler and i'll just give a vague hint. or even if youve just got something to say, feel free :)

[meteors-lotr]

Love the implication that the entire story of lord of the rings wouldn’t have happened if Denethor had been dead

Well it certainly wouldn’t have hurt would it?

[sirensea14]

could you draw mugman? Cuz he so cute

Behold, Mugman blushing at your comment

[sonicranger1]

BREAKS IN :3

Q!Cuphead?? mmayhaps-

Of course, of course (Click image(s) for better quality)

(OG sketch under the cut 👇)

[onyxmistkes]

:O can you draw more im cup? you draw his hair so pretty

a couple of quick sketches and one that I felt like coloring

[brainyrot]

Cuphead is deff 100 % some type of queer fr

This scene says it all

[anonymouspuzzler]

If opposites really attract, is Boris a big morning person who conks out at 8pm.

Kamal is probably not a big morning person I'm guessing? He's got that sleepy head disease. 🌼

i literally do ascribe to this headcanon yes and thank you for giving me the excuse to draw this. I wrestled with clip all day to make this happen

[Image IDs/transcripts under cut!]

[Image 1 ID: A black-and-white digital drawing of Kamal and Habit from Smile for Me. Habit is kneeling on the ground by a garden full of bushes and flowers, wearing a ringer t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up, jeans with patches on the knees, laced boots, an apron, and gardening gloves. He has his hair in a ponytail and is holding a trowel, and is smiling up at Kamal, who is peeking out the window wearing a striped robe and holding a cup of coffee. His hair is a mess and he looks half-asleep. Habit cheerfully says (in misspelled Habitspeak) "Good morning Kamal!!! You missed a pretty sunrise also while you were sleeping I did laundry and started the slow cooker and found lots of cool friend worms". Kamal, meanwhile, has a "LOADING..." symbol in a thought bubble above him. End ID.]

[Image 2 ID: A black-and-white digital drawing of Kamal and Habit from Smile for Me. Both are lying in bed, Kamal sitting up against the headrest wearing a t-shirt, Habit topless and lying on his stomach. Kamal has a few books around him and is writing in a notebook, looking down at it with his tongue sticking out and a determined expression, while Habit is peeking up over his shoulder looking exhausted. There is a nightstand next to Kamal with a lamp, a bedside water carafe, and a digital clock reading "11:37". There are word balloons reading as follows: Habit: Kamal Kamal: Mhmm Habit: (in misspelled Habitspeak) It is bedtime Kamal: Yeah uh-huh just a minute End ID.]

[patiann345]

EXACTLY. This looks.. AWFUL on them. BOTH of them for the record.

I'm gonna be very blunt; look, I know Meatly is like fandom's darling compared to Mike,, but gang? They're both awful people and are going about handling this in the worst way possible. I'm holding both of them accountable, because where Mike is blatantly awful on the main, Meatly has been quiet the entire time. He's complicit.

Actually, they've been awful for a long time! Really this isn't anything new; I know of two extremely well-made videos going over how terrible they really are! Here :)

Some things never change, and Mike particularly hasn't. Did you know his sister was the head of HR for their company? Did you know she was super immature and many an issue stemmed from that alone? Did you know that there were accusations of discrimination in the workplace? Not confirmed ofc, but with how Mike is handling the stuff with Norman rn? With what he's said about adding minorities like queers, about fucking,, gamergate? Personally, I believe those allegations. This isn't new.

I think some people in the fandom either don't know their history or have forgotten. Here's your reminder; don't forget.