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frogoat · 4 years

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Friday the 13th: Mrs. Voorhees Had Help!

I think if you’re in any way familiar with the horror movie genre, you’ll have heard of the Friday the 13th franchise. And even if you’ve never watched the series, Scream gives away the fact that Jason Voorhees isn’t the killer in the first film; it’s his mother Pamela Voorhees who does all the slashing. Or does she?

Lets look at the instances of murder that the film tells us Mrs. Voorhees committed. First we have the two camp counselors in 1958, Barry and Claudette. They sneak away to do the nasty but are confronted and killed shortly afterwards. Note that they don’t appear surprised to see the killer and in fact try to lie about what they were doing, suggesting a familiarity with the assailant. As we know Pamela previously worked as Camp Crystal Lake’s cook, so we can attribute these two murders to her.

Next we have the super nice Annie, who’s been hired as the new Camp Crystal Lake cook. Annie is given a lift to the crossroad half to Crystal Lake by truck driver Enus at the suggestion of Trudy, a diner waitress. Along the way Annie learns of the ‘death curse’ from Crazy Ralph and is warned about going by Enus who recounts the troubled history of the Camp. Undeterred, Annie starts walking from the turn off toward the Camp, only to be picked up by a passerby in a vehicle. This is clearly intended to be Mrs. Voorhees driving as we see her ‘arrive’ in the same vehicle at the films conclusion and it still contains the would-be Camp cook’s lifeless body.

But how did Pamela just happen upon Annie at the right moment? Was she really just passing by and saw an opportunity for a secluded kill or did she get a tip off? Notice the interior shots of vehicle show a radio handset. I suggest Pamela was perhaps tipped off by Trudy the diner waitress, as the two share a common vocation and could plausibly know each other well. Whether or not Trudy knew what would happen when she mentioned a girl had arrived in town talking about a re-opening Camp Crystal Lake is up for debate, though she is does go from sceptical to helpful very quickly when suggesting Enus drive her to the turn off.

Here it’s worth mentioning that despite Mrs. Voorhees being a middle aged woman who doesn’t demonstrate any exceptional athletic abilities on-screen, still catches up and kills Annie. I concede this was likely intended to be Pamela, perhaps without her iconic pale blue sweater and is possibly just the stuntman being glimpsed on-camera. If it is Mrs. Voorhees, then it begs the question who is lurking behind the trees watching Alice in a scene prior to Annie’s dive from moving vehicle. It can’t be Crazy Ralph because we know he was travelling by bike and couldn’t have outpaced Enus’ truck. Therefore, there must be a second person already onsite at Camp Crystal Lake, either an accomplice or Mrs. Voorhees herself. Whomever kills Annie wields the knife in their right hand and has a prominent ring on the ring finger of their left hand. We see Mrs. Voorhees has a ring on the same finger and wields a knife with the same hand in the climatic battle at the end of the film.

Time passes and the camp owner Steve Christie heads into town while the Camp Counselors take a swim in the lake, kill a snake, encounter a motorcycle police officer and meet Crazy Ralph who promptly leaves after delivering his doomsayer speech. Ned spies on lovers Jack and Marcie and is in turn spied on himself. Spotting a person in a hooded black raincoat entering a nearby cabin, Ned approaches the cabin, asking if they want help. We don’t see exactly what happens but we later see his body on the top of the cabin, his throat slit in the same fashion as Annie’s. This obscured figure could be Pamela’s accomplice, Pamela or both killers working together to lure Ned into a secluded spot to kill him.

With a heavy storm about, Jack and Marcie shelter in a cabin and get down to business, unaware that a deceased Ned is just a few feet above them on the upper bunk and a murdered lies inches beneath them. When Marcie leaves to use the bathroom, Jack is skewered through the throat as his assailant holds his head in place. This killer uses their right hand to hold Jack and strikes with their left hand. We also get another glimpse of the plaid long sleeve shirt.

Seemingly at about the same time, Marcie is followed into the bathroom block. Hearing someone approaching, Marcie calls out playfully to Jack and goofs around in the mirror until hearing more movement nearby. This time thinking it’s Ned trying to prank her, Marcie approaches the shower cubicles only to be killed with an axe blow to the head. We don’t see anything to identify the killer but shortly after when Brenda uses the bathroom, we get a glimpse of a hand behind the shower curtain, suggesting they were unable to leave with Marcie’s body until afterwards. Given that it was a downward axe swing, it’s possible the killer here was taller in height, but this one is unclear. Either way, they were stuck in there with Marcie for a while, presumably holding her upright to avoid detection.

Brenda is watched from outside her own cabin as she settles for the night, only to be drawn outside when she hears what sounds like a child’s voice calling for help. This is most certainly Pamela herself providing the voice, leading Brenda to the archery range where she is blinded by the spotlights and attacked. The left hand we see flip the spotlights on is again adorned with a ring and appears to be wearing the same black raincoat as before, which further corroborates the idea this is Mrs. Voorhees. But who grabbed her while she was blinded by the light? We’ll see Pam use the blinding tactic again, too. As is evident later, Brenda is not actually killed here, because we see her moving feebly later when she is tied up and thrown through a cabin window. More on that later.

Alice and Bill go to Brenda’s cabin to investigate a scream only to find the bloodied axe in her bed. Given the short period of time between Brenda’s scream and the duo’s investigation, I think it’s more plausible the accomplice planted the axe immediately after Brenda exited her cabin before approaching her from behind while she was blinded. Finding no one, Bill and Alice try the phones and the car only to discover they’ve been disabled. Given we know someone was already present at the Camp during the daytime and the whole group of Counselors were at the lake at one point, it’s likely this is when the sabotage took place.

Meanwhile, Steve Christie leaves the diner after a brief chat with waitress Sandy and heads back toward the camp in his 4 Wheel Drive with trailer in tow, only for the vehicle to become bogged and apparently have engine trouble. He is given a lift most of the way back to Camp Crystal Lake by Sgt. Tierney before the latter is called away to a crash. Making his way back on foot, Steve is blinded by a person with a torch in front of the Camp Crystal Lake sign before being stabbed. This is evidently Pamela herself as Steve recognizes his assailant, and we know she had worked for the Christie family back in the 1950′s before her son Jason drowned. I’d suggest the diner worker Sandy may have tipped off Pamela that Steve was returning so that she could lay in wait for him.

The generator is turned off, causing Bill to venture out to investigate and restore power while Alice tries to get some sleep. Evidently some time passes between Bill’s departure and Alice going to find him, as he is found hung on the outside of the generator room’s door with his body filled with a number of arrows and his throat slit. As Bill leaves his raincoat in the generator room, it would appear he too was lured out by Mrs. Voorhees before being attacked and killed. Given the sheer strength required to suspend a man on a door in such a way, I believe we can attribute at least some of this task to Pam’s accomplice.

Now in a panic, Alice returns to the main cabin and attempts to secures the door from within and arms herself. At this point, the still faintly alive Brenda is thrown through one of the windows, presumably killing her. Brenda appears to have ropes wrapped around her and is covered in blood. Moments later, Alice sees the headlights of Mrs. Voorhees vehicle approaching from the front of the cabin, causing her to remove her barricade and pleas for help. While it’s only an assumption on her part, Alice remarks ‘Please don’t leave me! They’ll kill you too!’ The obvious question here is if Pam did all this herself how did she manage to throw Brenda through the window (or swing her on a rope pulley, perhaps?) and also drive up in her vehicle from the opposite direction within seconds?

After her mental flashback, Pamela draws a knife from her left hip with her right hand. Here we can see what appears to be the plaid shirt beneath Pam’s sweater. When brandishing her knife at Alice, Pamela makes erratic stabbing motions, rather than the clean slices we saw on some of the victims. Alice discovers poor, sweet Annie’s body in the car, apparently having been left there since her murder. Next, Alice runs into Mr Christie who’s body is suspended from a tree upside down with a knife still lodged in his chest. Clearly a passionate slaying.

With Alice now running and hiding from Pamela, we move into genuine Final Girl territory. Notice that Mrs. Voorhees struggles to break down the pantry door and swings her weapons wildly as though without skill. Compare this with the early more methodical and precise throat stabbings and we paint a clearer picture of the second person. Finally we have the iconic decapitation of Mrs. Voorhees which also gives a clear shot of her ring.

Notice that several of the attacks have involved luring the victim to a secluded location alone before attacking. It’s also noteworthy some of the victims have been moved after death to delay their discovery, often in elaborate ways involving both physical strength and planning. Finally, note that there were primarily two mechanisms of injury: slit throats and far more messy stabbings. I would argue that this indicates a second person present at Camp Crystal Lake that June 13th. Two personalities and two types of attacks. One is more cold and calculated, the other more emotional and aggressive. It could be argued that this is just an indication of Pamela’s psychosis manifesting (and that’s a perfectly acceptable answer) but I think the sheer amount of physical strength, the timeline of events occurring around the camp, the presence of someone hiding at the camp while Annie is being killed and the sheer amount of moving and planning needed to pull this all off indicates an accomplice on-site at the camp. This is in addition to the far more passive assistance from certain members of hospitality industry who likely had no idea what Pamela had planned.

The movie presents at least two occasions where the assailant is forced into hide after a killing, preventing them from moving on immediately to the next victim, leaving us to wonder how they could have possibly moved about so quickly. We also have several elaborate set ups for the victims to be revealed in a dramatic fashion which clearly require time not afforded to a lone killer. The evidence of violent strength only seen on some of the victims, particularly those lured aware and killed off-screen indicates a second participant, one with greater physical prowess than that seen from Pamela in the film’s finale. The real question shouldn’t be was there a second killer. Rather, it should be who was the second killer in Friday the 13th?

But that’s a discussion for another time.

#Friday the 13th #Pamela Voorhees #Mrs. Voorhees #Jason Voorhees #Theory #1980 #Second killer #Scream #Final Girl #Mystery #Horror Movie

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monstersdownthepath · 4 years

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Spiritual Spotlight: Groetus, God of the End Times

Chaotic Neutral God of Oblivion, Empty Places, and Ruins

Domains: Chaos, Darkness, Destruction, Madness, Void Subdomains: Catastrophe, Entropy, Insanity, Loss, Night, Stars, Truth

Inner Sea Faiths, pg. 46~51

Obedience: Preach of the coming end times to a listener who has not yet accepted this truth. If the person leaves or otherwise refuses to listen to you for the full hour, you must find another person to preach to so that you are proselytizing the entire time. Alternatively, if no one at all is available to listen, spend an hour contemplating ways and times the world might end—do so in an empty place where nothing lives and no person except Groetan worshipers have been for at least a month. While you contemplate, deface any surface available to you with unholy images and symbols, such as a skull-like moon. Benefit: You gain a +1 sacred or profane bonus on Will saving throws.

the sad part is that pretty much every god in inner sea faiths is like this. First Ghlaunder and now THIS! Paizo was scared of Deific Obedience when it was first written, and it shows!

God you really are just tasked with being an annoying doomsayer for an hour, huh? Standing around with a sandwich board that reads THE END IS NIGH every single day you want your god’s blessing. You can easily get away with just preaching to your party every day, provided they don’t mind listening to this crazy babble... and, of course, provided that the end of the world isn’t actually coming, or else your evangelism will come off as tasteless. But, what do you care? You’ve been saying it all this time! It’s likely going to get you punched in the face or even mauled by a crowd if you try it in the middle of a city currently undergoing a crisis (as cities in Pathfinder are wont to do), though. So, uh, be careful.

This is one of the rare Obediences where the primary method is actually easier to do than the secondary, because it specifically demands that you find somewhere “nothing lives.” While a merciful DM may allow you to share a space with vermin, this does mean you can’t simply find a quiet area in a woodlands, because trees, brush, and grass all count. Stick to the cities or in ruined civilizations! Ironically, this means that being captured and thrown in a dungeon is actually beneficial for you, provided no one else has been locked in that specific cell for more than a month.

All this hard work for a measly +1 though. I’m insulted, honestly; it’s a universal bonus to the most important saving throw you have and it stacks with everything, but it’s only a +1! It would have been fine at +2! Come on, Groetus, shell a bit more out to your flock!

Boons are acquired slowly: the first once you reach 12 hit dice, the second at 16, and the third at 20. However, the Evangelist, Exalted, and Sentinel Prestige Classes can be entered as early as level 5; doing so grants you the Boons at levels 8, 11, and 14 instead. As Groetus is a true deity and does not require Fiendish Obedience, you earn the right to enter the classes earlier than those who serve fiends!

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EVANGELIST

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Boon 1: Doomsayer. Gain Doom 3/day, Augury 2/day, or Bestow Curse 1/day.

Oooh, Bestow Curse! That’s always fun to see! It’s a Save-Or-Suck that keeps on s--being terrible long after the battle has ended, if the enemy you slap with it gets away! It’s ALSO a touch spell entirely negated by a save, and we all know how I feel about those. Better make sure it sticks and sticks hard, or drawing into an enemy’s melee range can earn you a pretty severe slapping.

Augury is decent to have as a spell-like (I’d never prepare it as an actual spell), though its limited gaze of only 30 minutes into the future is an equal blessing and bane and it relies entirely on DM fiat... AND there’s a non-negligible chance it simply won’t work! Which means that if you don’t want to rely on the Save or Suck of Bestow Curse, your best bet (eugh) is the tragically weak and ironically ominous Doom--WAIT THAT’S RIGHT I ALMOST FORGOT! The Shaken condition also imposes a -2 to saving throws! Ok yeah, if you don’t want to rely on BC, Doom is a pretty good way to go if you have some way to bolster its pathetic saving throw of 11+Cha mod.

Boon 2: Consume Essence. 1/day, you may touch a corpse. That corpse must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 your HD + your Cha mod) or be reduced to dust as per Disintegrate. You gain 1d8 temporary HP, which last for a number of hours equal to your Hit Dice.

Before we get into the rest of this mess, I just really need to point out that an unattended, nonmagical object is not able to make saving throws, and a corpse is an object. ThereFOR, it should not even get to make a save against this ability!

What stats do you even use for it? The former creature? Because that’s just unnecessarily confusing, especially if you use it on the corpse of a long-dead creature. I really, really don’t see why this ability should allow a save, especially since A) it’s only usable once a day and B) it’s incredibly weak. Under what circumstances would you use this? Because I’ll tell you right now, using this against a baddie that’s supposed to be recurring will simply make the DM contrive a reason for them to come back anyway. Turning them to ash will just make it harder. I suppose there is a niche use in bringing it against creatures who can reanimate themselves, or against casters who may have Contingencies in place, but

but still, like. It’s a bad Boon. If you want a body destroyed, hacking it to pieces or burning it is just as easy, all this ability does is save you time. And maybe not even then! Because it gives the body a saving throw! For WHATEVER reason! And you only get to do it ONCE a day! Honestly, everything about this ability is just a progressively more insulting middle finger, all leading up to the pitiful 1d8 HP you get. There’s a lot of Boons that are straight up bad or useless, but I think this is the first one I’ve actually hated. Lets move on...

Boon 3: Whispers of Insanity. 1/day as a standard action, you may whisper Groetus’ Truth into the mind of a creature within 30ft. This acts as the Insanity spell, but the save DC is 10+1/2 your HD+your Cha mod. In addition to the normal methods of curing Insanity, a Modify Memory spell or similar can end the effect. A Knowledge (Religion) check (DC same as the saving throw) reveals this information.

Insanity is a decent spell, essentially being a permanent Confusion... but it only affects a single target, and whoever you’d want to use it against is typically not going to last long enough for the permanent duration to matter. I suppose slapping someone you hate but don’t necessarily want to kill is good enough, or blasting some poor random sod who hasn’t accepted the Truth, but as a Boon? Groetus really doesn’t bless his Evangelists with anything good.

Insanity is not only a level 7 spell while most 3rd Boons grant 9th level effects, but in stark contrast to a normal third Boon, the version you get here is actually weaker than just getting the spell normally, because Insanity has a Long range (100ft + 10ft/lvl) and can only be removed with 7th+ level magic (Greater Restoration, Heal, etc). Having a much easier method of dispelling the effect is just insulting, even if it is flavorful. This would be considered a second tier Boon by most deities, or even demigods! Come on, Groty, step it up!

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EXALTED

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Boon 1: Maddening Voice. Gain Lesser Confusion 3/day, Mad Hallucination 2/day, or Confusion 1/day.

Off to a bad start. Lesser Confusion may as well not even be a spell, so we’re moving on from there. Mad Hallucination is a fun spell to not need components for, barraging a single target with visions of insanity for upwards to an hour, though mechanically it’s only a -2 to a very small number of relatively unimportant checks (caster level really only applies to players, who must regularly pierce SR). Rather uniquely, it’s not mind-affecting, but is instead a phantasm Illusion, allowing it to affect a wider range of creatures than normal! But it’s still not really super useful, because as it’s negated by a Will save and penalizes Will saves with a successful application, wouldn’t you have preferred a Save or Suck first?

This leaves Confusion which, as area of effect spells go, isn’t the best. There’s a 1/2 chance that they essentially lose their turn, but a 1/4 chance that they’re unaffected by the confusing magic and a 1/4 chance that they attack the nearest creature... Which, more often than not, means your allies anyway. Speaking of, Confusion doesn’t discriminate between ally and enemy, so blasting a crowd that happens to have a friend inside will force them to make a Will save as well.

It’s a hysterical spell to drop on a crowd of smaller enemies (or a crowd of innocent civilians), but the coin flip nature of its effect makes it terribly unreliable. It’s still the best option among the three, though.

Boon 2: Silent Witness. 1/day as a full-round action, you can protect yourself with the effects of Invisibility, Nondetection, and Sanctuary for 10 minutes per Hit Die you possess. Anyone who succeeds at a Will saving throw (DC = 10 + 1/2 Hit Dice + Wis mod) or a caster level check (DC = 11+your HD) against these effects sees a glimpse of something unfathomable and becomes confused for 1 round unless it succeeds at a second Will save with the same DC.

Have you ever wanted to be this gif?

Then good news! Exalted of Groetus can live out that dream! With little more than a gesture and a bit of concentration, you can just vanish from the world for a little while. It’s not a complete disappearance, mind, because anything with blindsense, blindsight, or scent can still track you, but by god can absolutely no one see you (remember you’re shielded from Detect X spells!). And, thanks to Sanctuary, even if they have a way to keep track of you, there’s a chance that they won’t be able to act on it.

The mindbogglingly massive 10 min/level duration effect on each of the effects screws over Nondetection (with a normal 1 hour/level duration) but is a monstrous buff to Invisibility (1 min/lvl) and especially to Sanctuary (1 round/lvl), because someone failing their save against Sanctuary means they can’t target the warded creature for the duration of the spell! While normally a fighting monster could just pull back and wait for the effect to expire as they focus their efforts on the rest of the party, good luck kiting for 10 minutes. The shielding effect breaks the moment you attack, but you can get around that by never casting damage-dealing spells! Crowd control and SoS spells all day!

Invisibility and Nondetection also make you the undisputed king of sneaking into places, too. Mundane eyesight and magical detection spells will fail to pierce your veil, requiring the 6th level True Seeing to actually see where you’ve gone. I really enjoy the added touch that anyone successfully piercing the spell effects has to make a save or become confused. It’s just some nice frosting atop this cake! Already Groetus is looking better and better!

Boon 3: Infinite Patience. You cannot die of old age, even through magical means. You still physically age, accruing bonuses and penalties as normal. In addition, once per day as a standard action, you can choose any one action you could ready and define a condition under which you will take that action. Within the next 24 hours, whenever you observe that condition, you can take the chosen action as an immediate action.

Age without youth isn’t something you see a lot of nowadays, except in cases of diabolic bargains going haywire. To have a god inflict it upon its followers is something special; I like enjoy the fact that you’ll eventually just need to outright mummify yourself if you want to keep moving (or invest in mechanical/magical parts). It brings to mind the mental image of a cult to Groetus opening an ancient coffin to reveal their absolutely skeletal leader, old enough to have seen Earthfall and coursing with madness and might in equal measure.

But post-campaign shenanigans aside, the primary use of this ability is a pseudo-Contingency that you can use to prepare anything. Any action you could conceivably ready (an attack, a standard-action spell, a sudden move, a sabotaging strike, etc) is usable with this ability! And because you don’t have to name the action or condition right away, with a bit of good guesswork (or divination magic), you can custom tailor your immediate action for maximum benefit; you can go the mundane route and have it be something simple, like “if an enemy strikes me with a melee attack, teleport to safety” or “if I am brought below half health, cast Heal or Mass Heal on myself/my allies,” or the bonkers route like “the instant the enemy opens their mouth to monologue, cast Disintegrate” or “if someone compares me to an animal, use magic to turn into that animal.”

This ability rewards both creativity and thinking ahead, so get good at both! Because used right, this ability is “cast any spell w/ a standard action casting time as an immediate action,” and used wrong it’s “do nothing.”

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SENTINEL

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Boon 1: Endbringer. Gain True Strike 3/day, Death Knell 2/day, or Keen Edge 1/day.

I’m 90% sure there’s been Boons named Endbringer before, and nowhere else is it less appropriate than this menagerie of mediocrity. Oh, sure, Keen Edge is nice and all, but want a fun fact? Groetus’ sacred weapon is the heavy flail, which deals bludgeoning damage, and Keen Edge can ONLY be applied to a piercing or slashing weapon. That means you, the Sentinel, the holy martial warrior, cannot bless your own holy weapon chosen by your god. Sure, you can bless someone else’s stuff, but it still boggles my mind that they’d give you spell that cannot work on your own weapons!

Ironically, despite that, it’s probably your best choice. True Strike is useless unless you can cast a Quickened version, and Death Knell saves you basically no time (if you want a dying enemy to die, walk over and stab them 2~4 times). The only real use for Death Knell for a martial character is to take care of creatures with Ferocity or Diehard, or cheesing a creature with Regeneration.

Boon 2: Visions of the End. 1/day as a full-round action, you can gain the benefits of Augury, Know the Enemy, and Locate Weakness simultaneously, all regarding the same creature or object (even if the spell normally doesn’t function with objects) and its death or undoing. These effects apply only to the target.

Because these are relatively niche spells: Know the Enemy lets you make an immediate Knowledge check versus the target with a +10 insight bonus, and Locate Weakness lasts 1 min/level and allows you to roll twice for critical hit damage and take the better results. While normally KtE only affects creatures, this ability allows you to make it against objects as well.

Evangelists got screwed, huh? Imagine not being able to cast three spells at once (this post made by Exalted And Sentinel Gang). Now, granted, this ability isn’t as useful as Silent Witness above is, but it’s a pretty handy way to deal with a creature you’ve never seen before. With Locate Weakness’s lengthy duration, you can use this ability before combat begins and use the knowledge gained from Augury (perhaps asking if a certain tactic would work?) and Know the Enemy to better prepare yourself and your party.

The added flexibility of being able to focus this power on an object opens up a lot of options as well, such as using it to parse the history of an Artifact, to know where or when an item may have come from, and how best to destroy it if need be. This spell combo isn’t the best, but even at its worst it’s a free +10 to a Knowledge check against any critter or object and an Augury against the same target to let the DM sprinkle some hints for you here and there.

Boon 3: Frightful Presence. You can terrify foes as a free action whenever you take an offensive action, such as attacking. Foes within 30 feet of you and with fewer Hit Dice than you must succeed at a Will saving throw or become shaken for a number of rounds equal to your Hit Dice (DC = 10 + 1/2 your HD + Cha mod). If the victim has 4 or fewer Hit Dice, it becomes panicked instead. Foes with more Hit Dice than you are immune to this ability.

Frightful Presence is a massively powerful ability when it’s on a dragon or powerful Outsider, terrifying whole armies at once and sending them scattering--perhaps even to the point of attacking one another to get away--but in the hands of a player? It’s not exactly as strong. When you face something with Frightful Presence, there’s a 100% chance that they’ll have more HD than you (and maybe your entire party), assuring that you’ll be shaken up at least once in the fight. If you have FP, however, it’s never going to work on anything you desperately want it to, because anything with your HD or higher is entirely unaffected and unimpressed by your antics, and of course anything worth fighting has more HD than you.

The scaling on this ability means basically no minions will march into battle against you without being shaken, and swarms of minor foes trying to clog you up will be sent running to the hills by your terrifying aura. It’s a satisfying feeling of power to walk into an area filled with low level enemies (or civilians) and force them to run in utter, pants-soiling terror at the mere sight of you. What’s better than a tank that draws aggro? One who ends it.

There’s no per-day use on this ability and no 24-hour immunity clause on it, so even if you fail to scare the crowd once, you can just try, try again every single time you attack. So, it’s safe to say that while Groetus started off pathetically weak with his basic benefit and the travesty of his Evangelists, his Exalted and Sentinels more than make up for it in terms of power and flexibility. Not bad! And soon, we’ll see what sorts of actual sentinels he’s got on his side...

You can read more about him here.

#Spiritual Spotlight #Neutrality Notes #Pathfinder #Dungeons and Dragons

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voidsentprinces · 5 years

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I honestly don’t know what we were expecting from Urianger in Shadowbringers. This is the same elezen who woke up one morning and went, “Okay...so how do I get the Scion’s attention without seeming desperate? Okay scratch that, how do I become Garlemald’s most wanted for a second?” and after he accomplished that, his first instinct is, “Cool...now that the Warrior of Light will come running...I should prepare some beasts to attack them.” after which the next logical step was, “Imma start spreading some rumors about myself, including but not limited to serial killing, BUT not before I become a doomsayer cause that seems ideal.”

Upon running into Detective Hildibrand, who was like: “I MET URIANGER I MUST BE THE DESTINED HERO! I WILL FIGHT DALAMUD MYSELF”. Urianger just went, “No...yeah you punch that moon man.”

This guy has been out EXTRA-ing Emet-Selch before Emet-Selch was even a thing.

#{ words from beyond }#{ 1.0 Urianger is fucking wild }

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thecomicsnexus · 5 years

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Fearful Symmetry

WATCHMEN #5 JANUARY 1987 BY ALAN MOORE, DAVE GIBBONS AND JOHN HIGGINS

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE)

Moloch wakes up to hear someone intruded his home and picks up a gun for safety. Remembering his last encounter with Rorschach, he checks the refrigerator and inside finds a note that read "Behind You". Moloch turns around to be confronted by Rorschach, who then interrogates him about The Comedian's visit to Moloch's a week before his murder, and makes a reference to Moloch being one of the many victims given cancer allegedly given by Dr. Manhattan. After threatening Moloch by locking him in the fridge, Rorschach realizes that Moloch has no part for discrediting Manhattan. He then instructs Moloch to leave a note in a trashcan with any information regarding to discrediting Dr. Manhattan.

Meanwhile, Steven Fine and Joe Bourquin are at the scene of a murder-suicide in which a man, fearing nuclear holocaust, had murdered his two daughters before taking his own life in front of his wife. After having finish questioning the wife, the detectives leave while Bourquin advise Fine to not let this incident ruin his day.

The newspaper vendor discuss about World War III with a delivery man, who put forward the idea that in World War III, as opposed to World War II, there will be no place to run to. The vendor muse on the delivery man's words before dismissing the likelihood of a nuclear holocaust and start complaining how the war is disrupting his newspaper deliveries.

During this time, Dan and Laurie are having lunch at a diner. Laurie tells Dan that she has no home to go to and her expense account is suspended by the government, as they saw no further use for her after Dr. Manhattan had left Earth. Sympathetically, Dan offer Laurie to stay at his place. As Laurie and Dan leave the diner, they are observe by an unmasked Rorschach, who wait for news from Moloch, via a secret message.

Adrian Veidt is about to meet with representatives from a toy company who are proposing new characters in their Ozymandias line. While walking with his secretary, a gunman attempts to shoot Veidt but only to fatally shot the secretary. Veidt fights and quickly subdues the gunman, who eventually bite into a suicide capsule to prevent Veidt discovering who sent him.

At police headquarters, Fine and Bourquin are looking over evidences taken from the murder-suicide case, reflecting on the recent attempt on Veidt's life, and trying to do paperwork on Edward Blake's murder. They then receive a phone call from an anonymous tip who gives them information on the whereabouts of "Raw Shark".

Rorschach arrives at Moloch's place in which Moloch wanted to see him. He only finds Moloch murdered, with a bullet shot in his head. Suddenly, the police with Detectives Fine and Bourquin have surrounded the building and demanding Rorschach to come out and surrender. Rorschach realizes he has fallen into a trap and attempt to escape. After subduing several SWAT members, Rorschach jumps out of the window and lands on the street where he is immediately overwhelmed by the police. He is then unmasked, revealing him to be the doomsayer who have been appearing sporadically in the city.

TALES OF THE BLACK FREIGHTER

Nearby the news vendor, the kid continues reading "Tales of the Black Freighter" in which the mariner decided to find a way back home and un-burying his shipmates so he could use their gas-bloated bodies to support his raft. The mariner left at night and sustain himself by eating capture sea gulls and drinking sea water. He is soon beset by sharks, who they take away the dead shipmates' bodes. The mariner is then attack by a large shark that he eventually kills it by stabbing a splinter of the mast into its eye. The dead shark provide the mariner with food and support for his raft since it was entangled with its cords.

TREASURE ISLAND: TREASURY OF COMICS

Treasure Island: Treasury of Comics is a book which details the creation of Tales of the Black Freighter and the appeal of pirate comics, which first became popular after the 1950's when comic books were scrutinized (except for certain comic books that were inspired by government-sponsored agents).

In May 1960 Tales of the Black Freighter was created by artist Joe Orlando and relatively new writer Max Shea and published by National Comics (now called DC), and tells the story of "a vessel from Hell" that takes on the souls of "evil men so that they may walk its blood-stained decks for all eternity." Although the title did not escape controversy as it was notable for its horrific scenes of piratical brutality and excesses, it did not lose its audience.

After nine issues, Orlando left the project - due to creative differences with Shea - and he is replaced by Walt Feinberg, a relatively unknown but capable artist who is best known for his western titles.

One of their more notable collaborations was the two-part "Marooned" story in issues 23 and 24. A one-character story about a young mariner shipwrecked by pirates of the Black Freighter and his desperate attempt to warn his hometown of the hell-ship's approach. Until issue 31, Shea quit the project following similar creative differences and he disappeared from the public eye.

REVIEW

The theme of this issue is symmetry and palindromes, feel free to find them all, but the clearest example of this are the layouts for the whole issue. The first and the last page have mirrored layouts. These symmetry can be traced until the very center of the book:

It’s for things like this that Watchmen is considered a masterpiece.

The Black Freighter story intensifies here. I am going to talk spoilers here in case you don’t know how the story ends, after the break...

As you can see in the back of the Black Freighter comic, there is a text for the “Veidt method” that says “I will give you bodies beyond your wildest imagin[ings]”, that’s ironic considering the end.

Also the Black Freighter story seems to “dialogue” with the main action, you can check this in how the captions and the dialogues seem to acknowledge each other.

As it has been said before, Veidt is the only character that doesn’t have a dedicated story (until the third act), so the Tales of the Black Freighter are an allusion to him and his plan for world peace.

To be continued...

#alan moore #dave gibbons #john higgins #dc comics #comics #review #1987 #modern age #watchmen #black freighter #ozymandias #symmetry #rorschach #vertigo comics

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echannelhub · 4 years

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10 Powerful Ways AI is Being Used in eCommerce

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become more prevalent in many corners of our society. No longer just reserved for sci-fi enthusiasts and doomsayers, AI is a very real technology that is having an impact on dozens of industries.

One area that has been especially affected, is eCommerce. With the help of AI, many eCommerce businesses have become more profitable, efficient, and streamlined than they previously thought possible.

First, here’s a brief introduction to this revolutionary technology.

What is Artificial Intelligence – Evil Rising? Or a Vital Tool?

Artificial intelligence, in its simplest description, is the endeavor in which a machine is ‘thinking’ as a human.

For decades, pieces of cinema and literature have made us squirm in our seats when they depict an AI uprising of dystopian proportions.

Although there is an argument for this, it seems far more likely that the rise of AI will lead to a loss of jobs rather than a race war between humans and robots. This could have negative impacts in the short-run, but none so catastrophic as the fall of the human race.

Philosophically, AI is a fascinating topic. Arguments and theories from both sides are plausible and worthy of discussion. Many experts struggle to even agree on what defines intelligence in the first place. If it is just rational thinking, or the ability to understand complex algorithms and theorems, then machines are already leaps and bounds in front of us.

No matter where you stand when it comes to AI, there are some very real use-cases for this technology. E-Commerce as an industry has been rapidly implementing AI to great benefit.

Below are 10 ways AI is being used by eCommerce businesses to drive traffic, increase profit margins and streamline processes.

1. Chatbots & Customer Service

Due to advancements in technology, chatbots have now received widespread adoption across eCommerce platforms. When they were first developed, chatbots’ ability to hold realistic conversations and be of service to customers was negligible.

Nowadays, they deal with up to 85% of customer interactions — sometimes with greater results than that of their human counterparts.

Chatbots have also been highly beneficial to eCommerce businesses, which have the economic advantage of being able to remain open for business 24/7. With no need for rest, AI chatbots are able to provide unparalleled customer service. In doing so, they also free up time for human workers to deal with issues that require different modes of thinking.

2. Sales Forecasting

Because AI can analyze and build detailed customer profiles, it can provide businesses with accurate sales forecasting. This valuable data can then be used for budgeting and improving marketing efforts.

AI accurately ‘scores’ leads, by sifting through enormous volumes of historical and real-time data. Using this information, it then identifies individuals marketing teams can target for a higher chance of a conversion.

Predicting sales success with AI is becoming standard practice within the eCommerce industry, as it provides businesses with a roadmap they can follow to ensure growth.

3. Predictive Marketing

Accurately being able to place the right product in front of the right person has been the modus operandi for any marketer since the beginning of time. With the invention of AI, this has been made possible.

In conjunction with the advent of the internet, AI can now utilize predictive marketing to pinpoint businesses’ target demographics to a tee. No more displaying billboards in the hope that a potential client or customer passes it. AI has made it possible to display even the most specific of advertisements to its intended target.

By using customer data, AI can now predict what a customer is likely to buy. If they have been searching for a specific type of product, this technology can now place ads for that exact product in front of them on their mobile device. When used efficiently, predictive marketing can drive sales and boost conversion rates massively.

4. Sales Automation

Companies are beginning to understand the potential impact machine learning services and AI can have on their sales processes. According to a Gartner survey, 37% of businesses have implemented AI in some form. This figure is rapidly rising too, with figures showing a 270% increase in AI adoption in the past 4 years.

Automating sales by employing AI technology dramatically reduces back-end man-hours for human workers in eCommerce businesses. Freeing up this time allows these workers to now focus their efforts on more customer-facing endeavors. This has the potential to super-charge sales and marketing teams’ abilities.

5. Enhanced Cybersecurity

Costing online businesses up to $57.8 billion in 2017, fraudulent activity has been one of the greatest threats to the eCommerce industry. Business owners were faced with the monumental task of defeating this foe. Luckily, there has been an effective solution.

To protect their business from eCommerce fraud, companies began enlisting the help of AI.

With the ability to analyze millions of events simultaneously, AI adds a strong layer of defense against phishing attacks and malicious code uploads.

As this technology is designed to learn over time from each event, it actually becomes more resilient to future attacks – much like a human body to a virus it has defeated previously.

6. Voice Search Optimization

Today, voice searches account for up to 50% of online searches. This has led eCommerce businesses to race to integrate AI technology into their processes, making sure their products and services have been optimized to be found this way.

Technology such as the Echo Dot, Google Home, Alexa, Siri, and other voice command devices have been skyrocketing in popularity — the Echo Dot alone is predicted to be in 10% of American homes as of 2019.

Once again, AI’s ability to analyze and record consumers’ search history and behavior makes it a valuable asset for eCommerce businesses looking to drive sales.

7. Managing Inventory

Managing inventory, particularly across multichannel eCommerce platforms, is a tricky task. The room for human error is massive, leaving the door open for financial risk.

This is where AI really comes into its own. This technology can accurately analyze and process volumes of data that would normally take humans years in mere minutes. In a world where the words ‘time’ and ‘money’ are interchangeable, effective inventory management has been revolutionized by this technology.

Furthermore, machine learning’s ability to forecast customer behavior can mitigate against stock issues in the future. Providing businesses with accurate reports will allow them to plan inventory replenishment, as well as preventing overstocking and understocking.

8. Crafting Copy & Content

Taking predictive marketing and customer service to a whole new level, AI technology is now being utilized to write content and effective marketing campaigns. Less developed in these fields of creativity, AI still has a way to go, but its early signs in this space are encouraging.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this development is the doors it opens for businesses to even more accurately target their consumers. Consumers could be shown personalized copy designed by AI to sell them a product.

For example, Customer A and Customer B both purchase the same dress from an eCommerce store. Customer A was shown a product description that was better aligned to the data AI had collected on him/her previously. Because Customer A has purchased items before which were specifically “environmentally friendly and made with sustainably sourced materials” this aspect of the product was highlighted to him/her.

Customer B’s previous behavior, however, indicates that they are more influenced by price. AI would craft copy that reinforces how this product has a temporary price reduction, despite being made of usually more expensive material.

9. Effective Retargeting

By monitoring where users are spending their time on eCommerce platforms, AI can effectively retarget consumers upon their subsequent visits.

If a person spent 70% of their time looking at iPhone cases when browsing phone cases – AI will not display cases more suitable for Samsungs when attempting to retarget this consumer. Instead, they will be presented with the best-selling iPhone cases.

AI can also distinguish between genuine shopping (highly likely to convert) and window shopping behavior (just browsing). Combining with deep machine learning technology, AI can look at a customer’s previous purchases and present them with relevant products and advertisements.

10. Removing Fake Reviews & Fraudulent Activity

90% of customers read reviews before purchasing from or visiting a business. This has made eliminating fake and fraudulent reviews left by bots or competitors a top priority for many eCommerce businesses.

Advanced AI can detect anomalies in writing style and formatting, helping identify reviews that may not be genuine. One AI tool developed by Harvard and MIT was able to pick out almost 75% of fake reviews in test conditions, performing better than human testers.

Being able to mitigate against this damaging practice, eCommerce businesses can now present a truer consumer consensus to prospective customers.

The Bottom Line

AI has been muscling into the eCommerce industry for the last decade. Its ability to make businesses much more efficient has made it extremely attractive to the industry. Moving forward, we shouldn’t be surprised to see it push even more boundaries in the world of online trading.

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