#but not inneffective

[youngestdaughtersyndrome]

sorry everyone im not immune to speak now...... havent you ever been a little baby dyke in love with a christian swiftie whos an intern at her mothers office and you end up dating because she liked your gappy teeth and how you used big words and her father ended up losing his shit on u over dinner and calling you a degenerate because he found out you have a tattoo at the tender age of 14 which means u must have a history with delinquency (you really do to a degree you would never tell anyone) but ours is ur guys song and literally the stakes are high and the waters rough but this love is ours ......

[thasdorah]

Did Alleria develop any coping mechanisms to deal with the thousand years war she fought away from home? Did she ever hit a breaking point during this time? How did she stay sane through it all? Does she have any lingering habits that stayed with her now that the war is over?

meta asks ♡

— @shxwmaster

the first and most important thing that kept her going was her motivation to fight in the first place. in the war against the horde, depression and suicidal ideation, as well as a desire for vengeance, are what lead her back to the field — without a let out to her grief, she turns it into violence. but by the time she agrees to fight beside the army of the light, her perspective is considerably different.

starting from the beginning, i think it's important to point out just why alleria believed it was so fundamental to be part of the fight against the legion — because on a personal level, she did want to go back to azeroth and her family. but she is made to believe her role in fighting the legion is fundamental, to an extent denying to fight would be denying her planet a chance to survive. and this isn't at all out of any notion she is just that special (alleria certainly doesn't feel she is). but when a naaru, who she would have seen as the closest thing to a divine being she's ever interacted with (and not any naaru, but the so-called mother of light, older than azeroth itself, who she had no reason to doubt had the purest intentions at the time) suggests that you have to fight the legion, you specifically, or everything is lost, how can you say no?

Within you two [alleria and turalyon], there is hope for the universe.

that's like. one of the first things she says in that conversation. hope for the universe. and even then, when she suggests azeroth will be endangered, alleria's immediate reply is then we go back immediately and rally every nation to war, and even when xe'ra replies it won't be enough she argues it'll have to be, and after a whole speech about how they're fundamental to find something that'll destroy the legion, alleria agrees, not despite not being able to go back to her family, but for the ones she wishes she could go back to.

"I would do anything to protect Arator, to protect my people and my world. If there are enemies bent on destroying it, then I will not rest. I will give my life if necessary."

ultimately, that's what keeps her going. growing weary of fighting isn't an option any more than not staying to fight the legion was, no matter how much she may wish otherwise. and of course, ultimately that doesn't change that so much war takes its toll on her, that she's certainly a lot more hardened when she comes back to azeroth, that she doesn't know how to relax and enjoy peace because she spent a thousand years not knowing what that was. but, much like her strength against the void is found in love, i think that's true generally speaking. alleria holds on to the things that are important to her, the reasons why she's doing it in the first place. and it keeps her going.

like with any war, she would have had rest on occasion and eventual periods of whatever passed as leisure in a spaceship with the army of the light. in her free time, it would've helped to try to not think about the war — but she inevitably thinks a lot about the things she misses from home. i headcanon she took up drawing in that time as a way to remember and pour those feelings somewhere, when she missed a place or a person with particular intensity. there were likely books to be read, and maybe the occasional game to be played.

but staying in the xenedar for too long would have left her restless. she never liked staying inside for long periods of time; she's particularly prone to restlessness when there are demons to fight and kill before they can act against her planet. dealing with that would involve keeping herself busy with something that required her focus or would tire her out, like physical training.

overall, though, i think alleria's biggest problem was not having to deal with war, but that she came to not know how to exist outside of it. she brought a lot with her that quite frankly she can't get rid of, such as an enormous avoidance to talk about things or be in situations that remind her of distressing events (and even repressing thoughts of those things), constant alertness to her surroundings, and being largely desensitized to violence. she's exceptional on the battlefield, and it seems nothing can rattle her nerves — but you put her in a different situation and tell her to live a normal life and she wouldn't know where to start.

i think it's important to note she's already lived for centuries when she joins the alliance, and that she's been a ranger (and raised to be a general) for most of her life. she's not new to losing comrades and seeing people hurt, or being in life or death situations. the change here is the time the conflict lasts. but even when you think of what she's fighting, there's no great coping mechanism required to kill demons, they aren't seen as people as the people of azeroth's various races would be.

alleria also spent some time not necessarily at war while initially deserting the army of the light to seek out the void and the locus-walker (though she was still fighting on her own, and continued to face the legion, which eventually led to her imprisonment in niskara), her time training in the void itself, and her later imprisonment by the army of light. none of those circumstances were without their own share of stress and mental strain, nonetheless (quite the opposite). in many ways, those extreme environments also reinforced some of her behaviors mentioned before, be it in holding on to what she loves not to lose sight of what this is all for, or making her even more watchful of her environment, suspicious of most things, desensitized to violence and even more stressed about any mildly confining space, to name a few things.

[steaksex]

Important for you all to visualize: ive been working with powertools and saws and shit in my garage and im in a tanktop and im all sweaty and its hot as fuck but also know this: im not good at thia shit i learned how to use a drill and a dremel and shit when i was like 10 but ive lost all those skills so i was just fucking failing the whole time and ultimately accomplished nothing. But i am still hot and sweaty and its sexy as fuck know that

[skullinahat]

blegh

[every-character-ever-poll]

The entries themselves cause harm on sight. By being publicly visible, they can therefore suddenly and unexpectedly cause harm to people who are susceptible without giving those people advance warning and the choice not to see them. Blocking tags is inneffective because Tumblr does not have enforcement of tags being standardized, or even present, meaning people who are susceptible cannot block everything that is dangerous to them.

That's a fair point, but I don't really see a way to warn for every potential trigger. I was under the assumption that someone opening the form was agreeing to potentially see a character they do not want to see. I am the 'Every Character Ever' poll blog, there is an understanding that there will be a wide range of characters from a wide range of medias.

On tumblr, you're also right that the tag system is not the best. I too have tags I block and still end up seeing things I'd rather not, but that has more to do with the fact that many people tag with several varieties of the same tag, making it difficult to cover everything. I use a very specific system of '"#character" "#media"', with no censoring the name of either thing. If someone wants me to tag something a particular way, I'm more than happy to oblige.

I understand that you're concerned about seeing something you don't want to, but respectfully, I don't really see what else I can do, apart from removing arbitrary characters, which I am not going to do. I've done my part to make this blog as accessible and easy to navigate as possible, but if you don't like it, you can block this blog and move on. I apologize that I'm not able to help curate your tumblr experience, but at a certain point, you need to understand that is just not how I do things here.

I hope you have a good day, and I wish you all the best in the future. I'm sorry that this blog isn't what you wanted it to be.

[starlit-mansion]

I'm not an expert but the 50k note laundry stripping post doesnt pass my smell test just based on like. my knowledge of cleaning chemicals. Seems like the kind of thing that would just seem effective bc it's stripping dye out to make it your soak water like sludge, or would only be effective for like. Heavily soiled, several year old items. This is giving me "dawn dish soap in the washing machine" vibes (which is to say... technically effective but not great over time). Probably just clean your washing machine and dont use fabric softener lmao. Like there is such a cycle of inneffective or dangerous cleaning hacks going around and i def wouldn't just try it willy nilly for fun

[maurofonseca]

If you were given the chance, how might you reintroduce Heavy and Bomb in the Sonic games or comics?

hmm. by memory, their general deal was nonexistent in the original JP manual, right, they're just not mentioned, so you're left to assume they're mass-produced "hazards" Eggman put in the Combi Catcher to your detriment; and in the US manual, it's said they're two robot mechanics for Robotnik, who rebelled and joined the Chaotix, but with an implication that they might just be secret moles from Robotnik to hinder the heroes.

That's the gist of it, right?

I guess the best way to use them would then be in Classic Sonic stories as kind of antagonists to the Chaotix, but maybe very inneffective and friendly ones? Like, the heroes don't see them as a threat, just annoyances at most, let them hang around? Either that or just have fun with them being mass produced, maybe treat them a bit like classic-style Omochao. Dunno, but it is something I've pondered on, just since they've such fun designs.

[sifu-kisu]

a todos los jóvenes maestros de méxico,

Le recomiendo encarecidamente que vaya a Jalisco para este evento.

Sifu Kisu es un hermano y es de la misma familia que mi hermano Sifu Steve en las vegas.

Esta familia, como saben, es un grupo muy unido que tiene un entendimiento muy claro entre ellos.

y eso es....

mantener la antigua tradición china de aprender tanto como sea posible de diferentes maestros para ampliar su conocimiento... lo que en última instancia beneficiará a sus estudiantes, los jóvenes, los ancianos, su comunidad y su posición como líder comunitario.

Si usted como profesor todavía está buscando conocimiento personal... como he dicho en el pasado... está en las ligas inferiores y está perdiendo el tiempo.

como docente... tu enfoque debe estar en aprender con "la intención clara y concreta" de mejorar la sociedad compartiendo el conocimiento.

No cometa el error de otros profesores del pasado que aprendieron por sí mismos y enseñaron a algunos estudiantes... bajo la ilusión de que el kung fu tiene demasiados secretos elevados. Este paradigma mental está obsoleto e ineficaz. no tiene ningún valor para la Madre México.

asista a este evento y preséntese usted y la comunidad con honor.

Sifu Kisu no es un maestro cualquiera. él trae a México conocimientos que son raros y valiosos para el crecimiento del Camino de la Virtud Marcial en México.

to all the young teachers in mexico,

***

to all the young teachers in mexico,

i strongly suggest that you go to jalisco for this event.

Sifu Kisu is a brother and is from the same family as my brother Sifu Steve in las vegas.

this family as you know is a very strongly knit group that has a very clear understaning between each other.

and that is....

to uphold the old china tradition of learning as much as possible from different teachers in order to expand your knowledge... which ultimately is to benefit your students, the youth, the elderly your community and your standing as a community leader.

if you as a teacher are still searching for personal knowledge... as i have said in the past... you are in the lower leagues and you are wasting time.

as a teacher... your focus must to be on learning with the "clear and concrete intention" of improving society by sharing the knowledge.

do not make the error of other teachers in the past who learned for themselvse and taugh a few students ... under the illusion that kung fu has too many high secrets. this mental paradigm is outdated and inneffective. it has no value for Mother Mexico.

attend this event and present yourself and community with honor.

Sifu Kisu is not an ordinary teacher. he brings to mexico insight that is rare and valuable for the growth of the Way of Martial Virtue in Mexico.

[jaypea00101010]

Monster Manual Drow are Kinda Boring: Here's Why, and Here's How to Fix Them

I had a big long post planned going through a bunch of monsters in the monster manual and talking about problems with designs, but realised it was a bit rambly, so going to split it up a bit to go into a bit more detail and hopefully come out with something useful.

One of those monsters I was going to discuss, randomly picked by random.org, was the drow. They're not bad, but they could be so much more, so lets have a look.

Drow have 5 features: Fey Ancestry, Innate Spellcasting, Sunlight Sensitivity, and a Shortsword and Hand Crossbow attack.

Before we even get to the features though, it's also worth pointing out a few other things about the drow statblock. It has two skill proficiencies, stealth and perception, perception being a proficiency all player elves get, so a nice way of typing them in, and stealth telling you a bit about how to build a combat using them. They're sneaky and stealthy, and so would prefer staying in the shadows, especailly combined with their darkvision. They also speak two languages: Elvish and Undercommon. This might not be the best fit for all games as you kind of want players to communicate with NPCs, but having them not speak common as a baseline goes a fair way to establishing how apart from the regular world they are. Fey ancestry like perception proficiency links with all elves, though I can't help but feel it's a little boring, just a static defensive buff.

Innate spellcasting is a nice feature, but, while the spells gotten are the same as the player race, typing them together nicely, I don't think these spells should be on the statblock. In my opinion, spells should only be on a statblock if they add something to the fight, otherwise put them in a sidebar or something so DMs won't spend time looking for them to cast and realising they're not good, or just casting them anyway making the creature seem inneffective, MCDM does this great in Flee Mortals! by giving creatures a 'utility spellcasting' header. As it is though, all three of the spells feel out of place on this drow: dancing lights is weird given they seemingly want to be in the shadows, darkness is weird because they can't see through it, and again, if they're hidden, why do they need to stop people seeing them, and finally faerie fire also feels strange as a way to get advantage given again, the stealth proficiency feels like they should be hiding a lot, it works on the statblock as it is, but not what an ideal drow could look like (which we'll get to later).

The shortsword is just a basic attack, it's alright, but the shortbow is so much better, this isn't a bad thing though, it gives them an option if they're forced to get into melee, but also shows the DM that they're intended to fight ranged. The shortbow isn't just a normal shortbow though, on a hit, the target has to make a con save, becoming poisoned for 1 hour on a fail, or falling unconscious if they fail by 5 or more. Like I said this is pretty good, it tells you how they're meant to play, shooting from a distance, but unconscious feels a little too good for a creature this weak, and once you've poisoned a target there's not much reason to keep doing ranged attacks over melee other than that chance of unconscious, as stated making players unconcious just doesn't feel good at all, and while poisoned is good, lasting for just a straight hour also doesn't feel great either.

So what can be done to fix this?

Well, that's what I've tried to do

First, lets figure out what we want to do with this revision. My goal is to focus in on stealth and darkvision, this revision will make drow more sneaky and focused on hiding in darkness, I also want to give more reason to keep using that shortbow and staying at range, rather than just doing to poison and then doing whatever attack they want.

So, how to do it. First lets just completely scrap innate spellcasting. It doesn't add anything to this revision (or the original), so lets get rid of it. Second, lets add something else to encourage that hiding and staying in the darkness. to this end I've added two features: one that lets drow hide even just in dim light or darkness, and then one that lets them hide as a bonus action.

I then reworked the shortbow, instead of forcing a con save, now just doing extra poison damage on a hit, making it already just better than the shortsword, and then if the drow beats the target's AC by 5 or more, it also poisons them until the end of their next turn. This speeds up gameplay a bit, keeping everything on just a hit, and then also encourages the drow to hide. If the drow hides, not only do they have a better chance to hit, but also now to poison, even more encouraging use of the shortbow.

I did also include a variant that's closer to the original poison/unconscious though, for players that want to use it.

My idea is that with these drow, other statblocks (of other drow) could be used to create darkness and shade, to help these drow and feel more cohesive, in fact I made another drow just like that to go along side this revision, so here they both are!

If you've gotten this far and are interested in this kind of thing, come join my discord where I show these things off first and is generally just a great place to discuss 5e homebrew.

[lasudio]

VeronaHills, Round Three: Goldstein

It was freeing for Catherine and Betty to be so openly affectionate with each other.

The pair had been close friends for several decades now, and used to form a close-knit triad with their late friend Linda. When the latter had her son, Andrew, Betty and Catherine felt a duty to watch over him. The term "co-parenting" wasn't familiar to them at the time, but looking back, they realised they had formed a family that defied conventions. And along the way, Betty had sat with her feelings for Catherine and Linda, quietly sweeping them away so as not to leave a cloud over their friendship - especially when they were both married, and happily so.

Modernity ushered in an acceptance of such feelings. Mortality necessitated confessions of the truth. Magic - if you believed in it, Betty wasn't sure -made sense of those wild dreams.

"You look beautiful today," Catherine said. Her voice was like a warm blanket, wrapping itself around Betty's shoulders.

"You too," Betty replied. She stopped herself short of an impulsive proposal - she'd heard of others in town having bad luck with their engagement attempts, but more importantly, Catherine wasn't interested in getting married again. Their love was going to remain in this eternal place of seeing beauty in each other just as they were, and Betty had to be okay with that. She attempted to prove she was moving on by inviting Antonio Monty for dinner, but his charm proved inneffective and she lost interest. Conversely, Catherine gained a new possible paramour.

[cogbreath]

i know a guy in malta whos rlly into black metal and talks about being in a coven and always posts on his ig story countdowns until he kills himself in ritual suicide by doing something stupid and inneffective by like starving himself ... its funny to me though because he literally lives in like a mansion with his rich family 😭 like has a maid and everything

[icecreamkink]

also i love that merlin like, immediately starts tidying up arthurs room seemingly out of habit in the background..... but in like a completely unhinged, sloppy, inneffective way. just picking up arthurs EXPENSIVE plate armour and dumping it on the ground behind the wardrobe. chucking the fruit back on the bowl. just fuckn.... Flinging arthurs coat across the room over the trunk

[theliterarywolf]

I know we've been having a good, productive stretch of talking about the pitfalls of BookTok in regards to the platform's inneffectiveness as a venue for people to find good books to read/find out viable recommendations and reviews

But we also have to acknowledge some of the misinformation and quote-unquote 'hacks' that everyone on TikTok loves doing because they think they're beating a system or reinventing the wheel. When, in reality, they're just making messes or making people's lives harder.

I've never sold writing on Amazon. I don't want to because the percentage they take on top of their 'you can't publish this writing anywhere else' clause is shit on top of shit. However, for the people who do who are now logging into their Kindle Publisher dashboards and seeing negative charges on top of negative royalties because some BookTok 'book lover' has been encouraging people to use a 'hack' and treat Amazon ebooks like a library?

That's kind of shitty. Don't fucking do that. It's one thing to do this with an ebook or book that's backed by a major publishing house or is already hyper-popular because you returning it isn't going to cut into the profit-margin that much.

Indie writers, however, are already getting fucked over by Amazon and pulling that shit isn't going to dig into Amazon's pockets, Amazon is just going to take that shit out of the writers' pockets.

And before anyone says 'well, what if I start reading and I don't like it?' That's fine! That's literally fine! I'm more talking about the people who buy an ebook, read it, then return it.

[nicholas-wolfwood]

Picks up plush Nico. "Ha! Your turn to be tiny."

"H-hey! Put me down!!" His kicking and squirming are... inneffective, at best.

[abarelysapientpairofshoes]

SHOE! My ghost huntin' partner <3

Gimme your top 5 historical pieces of armour/ uniforms

Sure thing pardner!

5. The frogmouth helm

When it comes to things, I love me a cripplingly overspecialized thing. The frogmouth helm is good for jousting and literally nothing else. It's nice and thick and well shaped to deflect incoming lances, but visibility while wearing it is terrible enough without mentioning that you can't move your head in it without moving your entire torso. Sure looks cool though.

4. The attempts to bring back plate armor during World War 1

World War 1 sucked. Like, extraordinarily so. It got to the point where the various militaries involved were worried they might Literally Run Out Of Men. The armies of Europe (and also the US) came up with dozens of... let's say wacky ideas, including the return of plate armor. While some designs, such as the above Brewster body shield, did prove somewhat effective at stopping individual rifle rounds, they were usually too heavy for the average soldier and were completely inneffective against machine guns or high explosives, which were the primary causes of death on the frontlines. (And no I don't know why the guy in the picture is holding a flintlock musket)

3. The horned helmet of Henry VIII

2. The Adrian Helmet

Look, I know it's French. But it was also the first modern combat helmet to see service. The French army was the first to decide that too many of its soldiers were dying of shrapnel-induced head wounds on the battlefields of World War 1 and Actually Do Something about it. While not thick enough to deflect a direct hit by a rifle bullet, these things did their job of protecting the head from shrapnel and they did it well. It did it so well, in fact, that it does it better than the US Army's newest model of combat helmet.

1. The hounskull bascinet

hehe dogy :)

[shiftycryptid]

PoV: You just asked for 6pc mcnuggie meal

The Crimson Splitwing is a large, carnivorous bird found in the drier regions of the Deep Plains. They are primarily scavengers, chasing more successful predators from their catches, but have been known to hunt in small groups.

Their tough claws and serated beaks are designed to tear through the thick hides of plains megafauna but have little dexterity, making them largely inneffective in combat against smaller opponents. Instead, they rely on intimidation tactics - raising their hindwings to both make themselves appear larger and show their eye-spots, moving their heads in erratic patterns, and stamping the ground aggressively. Despite their fearsome appearance, they are quite cowardly, and will quickly back down if confronted. For this reason, the term 'Splitwing Dancing' or just 'Splitwinging' is used among Plainsfolk to refer to hollow displays of aggression and machismo.

Splitwing meat is typically dry and unappetizing, so it is rarely eaten by Plainsfolk if there are other options available. Still, they are a reliable standby during lean years, when they are more likely to acost hunting parties. Their claws and beaks have many practical uses, however, and their bright feathers are popular additions to clothing and jewellery.