#i just. now that we know at least some dragons have people levels of intelligence and language and cultures | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

grailfinders · 2 years

Text

Fate & Phantasms Viewers' Choice #13: Nero (DMC V)

today on Fate and Phantasms we’re going for some Smokin’ Sexy Style by playing D&D as Nero Nolastname, that guy with the really cool theme music. Now if you’ll give me a sec, I have to smack my head against a wall a couple times to make sure I’ve completely forgotten anything about the Tulok video so this build can be original. as original as building an existing character can be, anyway.

okay, we’re back. that’s the magic of text-based fiction! so, Nero’s mostly an Ascendant Dragon Monk to get a collection of cool arms that also let him set up some ridiculous combos going, as well as a Samurai Fighter to improve his healing factor and take those combos to even sillier levels. finally, he’s a Fiend Warlock, because… that’s literally how his bloodline works. bang bang bang, pull his devil trigger, and so on.

Check out his build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Race and Background

I know Aasimar are traditionally ½ celestial and you’re only ¼ demon, but screw it, Fallen Aasimar. that gives you +2 Wisdom and +1 Dexterity, as well as Celestial Resistance to radiant and necrotic damage, Darkvision up to 60’, and Healing Hands so you can touch yourself for a little boost. seriously, he has a hand that does that. arguably he has a lot of hands that do that, but he has one hand made for it, is the point I’m tryna make. he’s also a Light Bearer for the light cantrip, and at level three his Celestial Revelation will teach him how to make a Necrotic Shroud. that makes him look all creepy, forcing a charisma save on nearby enemies or they get frightened. also, once per turn you can add your proficiency bonus in Necrotic Damage to an attack or spell. it’s not quite what it used to be, but turning into a pseudo-demon is still plenty fun.

finally, Nero was a member of a holy order of knights, but I’m also in the middle of making the faerie knights while writing this and so I’m sick to death of giving builds the knight of the order background, so Nero will have to make due with the Soldier background instead for proficiency in Athletics and Intimidation. video games are like 90% fighting anyway, right?

Ability Scores

first up is Dexterity- move fast baby, don’t be slow. after that is Constitution- devils are unsurprisingly not gentle- that’s why they cry. third up is Charisma, because that’s how you get magic from demons. (You also end a five-game-long blood feud in a single fight, which must be a high roll.) your Wisdom isn’t that great- I’m not knocking Nero’s vision, but when your theme music is constantly blaring everywhere you go it’s going to drown out a lot of noise. your Strength also isn’t anything to write home about- I know Nero can fling cars around, but we only have so many points and it’s not necessary for the build. speaking of things that aren’t needed for the build, Intelligence. you have a lot of robot hands, but you didn’t make ‘em.

Class Levels

1. Monk 1: if you want to run around in just a coat and not die, monk’s a pretty good choice. starting off, your Unarmored Defense adds your wisdom to your AC as long as you’re not wearing armor, hence the name.

you also learn some Martial Arts, letting you attack using your fists or monk weapons using dexterity instead of strength, and also dealing at least 1d4 of damage, which grows as you level up. no, you don’t start with end game equipment. finally, you can make an unarmed attack as a bonus action.

one last thing- you’re proficient in Strength and Dexterity saves, as well as Acrobatics to ride on your own hand easier and Religion because you’re the grandson of the guy people made a religion about.

2. Monk 2: second level monks get Ki points equal to their monk level per short rest, which you can spend to do cool demon stuff like dashing, disengaging, dodging, or attacking twice as a bonus action. you’ll also get more uses for it later as your devil breaker collection grows.

you also get some extra slick reaction times thanks to your Unarmored Movement. As long as you’re not wearing armor, you gain an extra 10 feet of movement speed, which also grows as you level up.

Finally, you can gain access to your longsword (once you have proficiency in it) using your Dedicated Weapon. If you spend a rest with a weapon that isn’t two-handed or heavy, you can turn it into a monk weapon.

3. Monk 3: At level three, your devil breaker arsenal explodes after you learn some new tricks from an Ascendant Dragon. Or demon, either or. Like any monk you can Deflect Missiles, blocking ranged attacks and possibly counterattacking if you reduce the incoming damage to 0.

More importantly you become a Draconic Disciple, giving you three bonuses. You can make your Draconic Presence known when you fail an Intimidation or Persuasion check, using your reaction to re-roll the check. Once you succeed this way, you can’t use it again for a day.

You can also make a Draconic Strike, changing the damage type of your unarmed strikes to acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison. As far as I’m aware devil triggers usually only come in fire and lightning as far as we are aware, but there’s nothing wrong with staying flexible. you also get the Tongue of Dragons, letting you learn Abyssal for free.

Finally, you can use the Breath of the Dragon as part of your attack action, replacing one attack with a cone or line of energy of one of the types listed above, dealing two martial arts dice in damage to everything that fails their Dexterity save in the area. You can use this proficiency times per day for free, or by spending two ki points. Having to break your arm to use your most powerful attacks may be annoying, but you always have a spare.

so: lightning spread for Overture, fire line for Gerbera, fire spread for the Mega Buster, and probably poison spread for the Monkey Business. you have no idea how long those bananas have been sitting there.

4. Monk 4: fourth level monks get their first Ability Score Improvement, so bump up that Dexterity for better dodging and faster sword-swinging. you can also Slow Fall now, making it less risky to pull off those mid-air combos. you also get Quickened Healing, letting you patch yourself up as an action by spending ki points.

5. Monk 5: fifth level monks get an Extra Attack, making your combo game even better, as well as letting you turn those attacks into Stunning Strikes. now you can add a stun to your lightning punches to really start a symphony of pain. plus, if you juust miss an attack you can use some ki points to get Focused Aim, helping you bring up your attack roll by spending more ki points. dropping combos suck, don’t do it.

6. Fighter 1 your combo game is almost legendary enough, but it needs something… more. bouncing over to fighter will help. first, you get a Dueling fighting style, as well as proficiency with a longsword, to really crank up your damage. you could wield a longsword with two hands, but since ol’ righty’s busy not existing I’ll just assume you’re doing it with one.

you also get a Second Wind so you can heal up once per short rest as a bonus action. healing is good, especially when the alternative is death.

7. Fighter 2: second level fighters can make an Action Surge once per short rest, really giving you that smokin’ sexy style you’re known for. with this, your extra attack, and your bonus action, you can pile on up to six hits in a single turn, mixing between your sword, unarmed attacks, and maybe even some dragon breath if you want to mix things up.

8. Fighter 3: at level three you become a Samurai, kind of, giving you proficiency in Persuasion. that war in your family is going to take a pretty high DC check to stop, better start training now.

you can also use your Fighting Spirit as a bonus action for five temporary HP and advantage on all weapon attacks this round. so when you want to go all out, you can either go for flurries of robo-punches, or a revved up sword blender- as the situation warrants.

9. Monk 6: now that we’ve got your combos down, let’s get a lot cooler. your Ki-Powered Strikes make your unarmed attacks magical, because… yeah, of course they are, they’re magical robot arms.

also we finally get to the punchline with Wings Unfurled letting you hop on your robot arm and get a flying speed equal to your walking speed proficiency times per day when you use your step of the wind. I’d definitely say flying 90’ in a round was worth the wait.

10. Warlock 1: I’m sure a couple of you have noticed by now- we don’t have a gun! I mean we technically do if you want a hand crossbow from fighter, but that doesn’t really work with our monk stuff, so… let’s get one that leaves our hands free for fighting anyway.

as a Fiend warlock, you have the Dark One’s Blessing, giving you a more long-term healing factor. every time you take a creature to 0 HP, you get temporary HP equal to your Charisma modifier plus your warlock level. right now that’s only 2 every kill, but it’ll get better as we go, don’t worry.

you also gain Pact Magic, letting you cast a few spells every short rest using your Charisma. grab Lightning Lure for your first grapply hand, Hellish Rebuke to keep the pressure up even when its not your turn, Hex to really pile on the style, and of course, Eldritch Blast for your hand cannon. since we waited so long to get this, you can fire off two shots in an action now, or three next level.

speaking of…

11. Warlock 2: second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations, and for once we’re not grabbing improved pact weapon right away. first off, Agonizing Blast adds your charisma modifier to all eldritch blast attacks, making your hand canon more of a canon. second, Grasp of Hadar means your blasts are pulling double duty, both as your gun and your grapplehand. once a turn, you can pull a creature you hit with Eldritch Blast closer to you by 10’.

there really isn’t another first level spell I want, but Witch Bolt is pretty consistent, especially given how easy it is for you to catch up to people.

12. Monk 7: now that all the pieces of your offensive kit are finally together, we can focus on defense a bit. now you know Evasion, making your dexterity saves one step better than most people’s. i-frames are just silly, man. also your Stillness of Mind lets you end effects charming or frightening you as an action. most demons are completely immune, and even if you’re only part demon it’s still a solid defense.

13. Monk 8: eighth level monks get another ASI let’s grab the Resilient feat to bump up your Charisma and give you proficiency in Charisma saves. I’m pretty sure you can’t get banished, but let’s make sure of it. it would suck to drag yourself all the way to hell for a fight just to get kicked back to the material plane.

14. Monk 9: ninth level monks get an Unarmored Movement Improvement, letting you run up walls and over water, as long as you end your turn somewhere solid. no word on if this lets you hop on enemy’s heads like Mario, but that sounds cool enough I’d allow it.

15. Monk 10: tenth level monks have a Purity of Body, which means you can’t be diseased or poisoned. you run around some pretty nasty places when you fight, best not to worry about the sewer water in your cuts.

16. Monk 11: eleventh level monks have an Aspect of the Wyrm you can activate once a day for a minute as a bonus action. this creates a 10’ radius aura that either makes you frighten a creature in this area once a turn, a minute per creature, or you can give your allies resistance to one of the five elemental choices from earlier. demons are tough, you are demon, do the math.

I know I said this was once a day, but you can also do it again by spending three ki points.

17. Warlock 3: okay, basics down, you’re tough as hell, you combo good- lets make the sword a little spicier. the Pact of the Blade makes your longsword magical, and you can use an action to summon it out of the ether. you can make the sword yourself, or turn any magical weapon into your pact weapon, your choice.

also grab Earthbind to drag flying enemies to the ground. you can go up to them, or they can come to you. again, your choice.

18. Warlock 4: for our last ASI, bump up your Charisma again for stronger shots, more health per kill, and to just look cooler when you hit stuff.

you also get Blade Ward for resistance to physical damage types for a round because god knows you didn’t have enough damage types to block, as well as Misty Step. I know you’re already fast enough that this barely helps, but flash stepping is still cool. that, and sometimes you don’t want to break a window to get in. you’re not Dante, after all.

19. Warlock 5: fifth level warlocks get third level spells like Spirit Shroud for the most spice a sword can handle. now you can deal radiant, necrotic, or cold damage on your sword, (none of which account for it catching fire, admittedly) and you slow enemies and prevent them from healing while in the area. it’s not quite witchtimey enough to be Ragtime, but there’s only so many levels we can throw into magic.

you also get an Improved Pact Weapon, finally, so you can use your sword to cast your spells, and it’s a +1 blade to boot.

20. Warlock 6: for our final level you get the Dark One’s Own Luck for the ultimate in protagonist powers- once a short rest, you can add a d10 to a check or save before you find out how well you did. some fights are literally just save after save after save, best come prepared.

speaking of saves, the best saves to make are the ones you don’t have to roll. grab Counterspell to make that dream a reality. I know Nero can’t completely negate attacks in game, so just chalk this up to his improbable dodging skills.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

so first off, the big one. you’re fast as hell, with 50’ of movement speed, the ability to run up walls, and you can fly. flying monks are terrifying, just look at how many tables straight up banned Aarakocras before they got nerfed literally into the ground.

you also deal good damage, a lot of it, very quickly, in a lot of different flavors. use hex or spirit shroud to add a little damage to every attack, then make six in a single turn while also switching up your damage type on every unarmed strike- it’s like a rainbow of pain. a painbow, if you will. if something has a weakness, you will know. if they have a resistance, you can avoid it.

speaking of, you have a lot of resistances, making you surprisingly hard to kill. you can block elements, holy and unholy damage, physical strikes- if you know what you’re fighting, you can fight it for a lot longer. on top of that, you can heal yourself in multiple ways, including when you kill something or when you’re about to kill something. which is 90% of the time.

Cons:

this build is pretty MAD, and I’m not just talking about the darkness of night falling around your soul. no, I mean Multi-Ability Dependent. we need dexterity for your sword and ac, constitution to not die, wisdom to multiclass, and charisma for your gun and grapples. that’s a lot, and its why we couldn’t get more fun punching stuff like Crusher to really sell your super strength.

you also have to manage multiple resources at once, most of which have some pretty tight limits. you’ve got three fighting spirits per day, plus 11 ki and two spells per short rest. Nero takes a pretty big brain to play, even if he has negative intelligence.

while flexibility is the name of your game, you do have a couple skills that require you to lock in what you’re doing ahead of time. if you use hex or spirit shroud you’re probably not going to use dragon breath for a while. if you use Aspect of the Wyrm you’d best know exactly what kind of enemy you’re going up against, or you just wasted your resistance. it’s not the end of the world since most of the time demons are either one-note or your dad, but it’s something to keep in mind.

#dnd 5e #dnd #devil may cry #dmc #Nero #fighter #warlock #monk

20 notes · View notes

mikaey43 · 1 year

Text

#17 A Wind at the Door

by Madeleine L’Engle

Rating: 3/5

Pages: 245 (with “Go Fish: Questions for the Author)

Publisher: Squarefish (an imprint of Macmillian)

While the first novel in the series was a breeze to read (it took me about a month), the second novel was more like an updraft that took me about two years to get through (not counting life events). I finally finished it June 2021 by scheduling reading time. I don’t know if many people know that this is a series that follows the lives of the Murrays. The journey so far has been moderately pleasant but also a bit confusing. This is A Wind at the Door by Madeleine L’Engle.

This story begins as abruptly as the previous book ended. I don’t know if L’Engle’s new idea will stretch across the remaining three books, but I see something developing. While the concept was interesting in the first book, this first sequel, at least for me, lacked some of the charm of the first novel. On the other hand, I don’t know what I was expecting would happen to the trio this time around. I thought there would be some sort of connection between the two books but there didn’t seem to be anything, except the smallest hint of the mention of the tesseract as a passive thought but no mention of Mrs. Whatsit, Who, or Which. We are instead taken on a journey to one of the most rooted places in the universe. Along with new characters that help Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace on this journey.

We find out during the first few chapters of the novel that about a year has passed since the last adventure and both Charles Wallace and Meg, as well as the rest of the family, have either forgotten that adventure or it’s as if nothing ever happened. And if they do remember it, it seems more like it was either inconsequential or that something like this always happens to them, which being the second novel in the series, it does. We start with Charles Wallace telling Meg that he believes that there is a “drove of dragons” in their backyard. Meg believing that Charles Wallace is exaggerating find that this, along with his high intelligence, is what gets him bullied at school. I find that the village just doesn’t like Charles Wallace. They didn’t like him before because they felt he wasn’t interacting at a “normal” level, and they don’t like him now because he is smarter than everyone else. This town just finds things to be prejudiced about when it doesn’t meet their “approval.” We then find out that Charles Wallace is sick, and help is sent to figure out why and possibly save his life because it is hinted that his life serves a bigger purpose.

In this adventure we come across some new faces. Some good, whose help becomes imperative to have, while others are deadly opponents.

We meet Proginoskes, nicknamed “Progo” by Meg, a cherubim that is partnered up with her to pass a series of tests for both the good of the universe and the greater good.

Sporos, an inhabitant connected to Charles Wallace.

Blajeny, the teacher that guides both Charles Wallace and “Progos” through this journey.

And although he isn’t exactly a new character, we become further acquainted with Meg’s former principal, Mr. Jenkins.

The Ecthori are the villains who are going around the universe destroying and “X-ing” anything and everything.

And yes, like last time, the focus is again on Meg’s struggle with leadership of sorts. But it falls a bit flat this time around. Meg is constantly whining and rejecting the call of her mission before the first test ever happens—which by the by happens halfway through the book. While it’s understandable that she is only a child with an enormous task, constant complaining doesn’t help anyone. We hardly see Charles Wallace after the first quarter of the book and Calvin barely registers in the story. It reads more like a brainstorming idea that is all over the place. It somewhat reminds me of “1001 Nights” where there is a collection of stories framed into the main plot of the bigger story. Unfortunately, at this point, I don’t know what the main story is. But then again this is only the second book in the series. I know that there are a few other series connected to the Time Quintet but as a reader, I personally don’t want to read every other book in the bibliography, so I hope that the questions related to these three characters are answered in the following books of this series.

There are a few things I found interesting in this book. We learn that the communication style Calvin and Charles share is called “kything.” It’s not named in A Wrinkle in Time (AWT). But in A Wind in the Door (AWD) it is described as having the ability to read a person’s mind or feelings as if the person is either “one” with the person or communicating as if they were face-to-face. There is a running theme of “non-physical sight” at every turn from “not everything is as it appears to be” and “there is more to what one sees,” but also seeing by “sensing,” either through “kything” or rhythm of being. This had been implemented in AWT but is picked up again in this story and making it a strong point so that Meg is able to save her brother and the day.

At the beginning of the story, before the adventure is well underway, Meg is worried about Charles Wallace being bullied by the kids in his elementary school. Meg is frustrated that even though her parents are scientists, they don’t seem “smart” enough to realize how constantly he is bullied at school. She mentions this to Calvin, who responds that he might be better off in a “city school where there’re lots of different kinds of kids … [and] [m]aybe he wouldn’t stand out as being so different if there were other different people too.” And that the only reason the twins and Calvin have fared better in their respective schools is because they “play by the law of the jungle.” Something Meg and her youngest brother don’t do at all. It almost feels that L’Engle is commenting on how things could be or should be in society, apart from all the “world saving from dark forces” aside. The two Murry children that refuse to be other than wholeheartedly themselves are outcasts and the twins and Calvin blend to survive. This is survival is on a different scale than that of the “Ecthori.” It is still the same battle where Meg will always name herself before letting anyone “X” her or who she is. In that respect, I believe that Meg is admirable. It does offset her whining a bit.

#a wind at the door #timequintet #madeleine l'engle #meg murry #calvin o'keefe #charles wallace #echthroi

11 notes · View notes

white-weasel · 9 months

Note

I loved reading about finnean in your tags of that poll reblog. This is your sign, if you want one, to talk about him (or any of your other characters) all you want. Fascinating little guy

Anon you have unleashed the floodgates I think... This is gonna be a mix of general information, campaign recaps related to him, and just general brain rot so uhhhhh who's to say if this will be even remotely intelligible lmao

So like I laid out in the tags of that post, Finnean Galondel is a high elf Order of the Scribes Wizard (currently we're at level 14). He's currently 91 and since elves reach the age of maturity at ~100 at least according to the PHB, I started by playing him as the equivalent of someone going off to college for the first time: very smart, but because he had never traveled very far outside of his village before so kinda naive about how the world actually works. He's certainly matured over the course of the campaign, but he does still tend towards optimistic outlooks

The backstory I originally provided for him was pretty brief. Essentially, Finnean's father had been out of the picture ever since he was 5 years old. Nobody really knows what happened to him. His mother told him that he was a very dedicated scholar, studying magic and history in general, but specializing in one specific area thousands of years old. Then, one night, he apparently stumbled on a huge discovery and told her that he needed to take it to the village elders right away. He left and wasn't back the next morning, the village elders saying that he never even approached them that night. Nobody knows why he decided to leave the village, or if it even was a voluntary decision at all. However, since 85 year had passed since then, Finnean and his mother essentially treated him like he was dead by that point.

And Finnean and his mom!! He is SUCH a mama's boy it's not even funny. Before the campaign, she was his best friend in the world. He loved helping her out around the house and just spending time with her. However, she was the one who pushed Finnean to leave home so that he could branch out in his training. She knew that he was pretty sheltered and needed real world experience if he was to actually improve and become a better wizard like he wanted. I have written multiple letters to my DM in character throughout the campaign for what Finnean was sending to his mom to keep her up to date

There was also Daemaris (hate this fucking bitch) who I originally included as Finnean's childhood bully. He's basically the village golden child who has always outshone Finnean and then rubbed it in his face. He left the village to strike out on his own a couple years before Finnean did and for right now all you need to know is he's an asshole and I hate him ajafsldf (he will become important later tho)

So yeah not to get into the details of everything we did in the first part of the campaign, but we played through the Dragon Heist module with some supplementary side adventures. Here, Finnean gets his first experience with violence and actually taking a life, as everything he's done before has been in controlled environments. He struggled with this for some time, about the realities of adventuring compared to all the books he had read that had made it sort of idyllic and heroic (because of course he's a huge book nerd, he's a wizard)

The thing that kinda makes him come to terms with death and killing is the group's first encounter with an evil cult (typical dnd stuff yknow). Basically it's all the horrible things, the group saw piles of bodies, but also saw a few survivors who were horrible brainwashed + traumatized from everything. We fought this cult leader, Vialis, but before we could finish him off, he teleported away. Finnean, seeing all the death and carnage around him, realized that he wished that they had been able to kill this man so he could never do this to anyone else again. Sometimes the world is a better place with certain people dead. (This cult encounter is where we have gotten one of the lines that has become our paladin's maxim throughout the campaign and has now become a central theme: "Death is inevitable, but not today" Whether that death is the PCs, those NPCs/citizens we are trying to protect, etc. Everyone will eventually die, but that doesn't mean we won't fight like hell to push it down the line later. So yeah, Finnean realizes that sometimes killing is necessary and it's part of his duty as an adventurer to carry it out.

During the course of Dragon Heist, Finnean and his friends (our party calls themelves The Keepers of the Howling Moon because we set up/own a karaoke bar in Waterdeep called The Howling Moon and it just sounds sick as shit) work for Vajra Safahr, the Blackstaff. She's basically the archmage of Waterdeep and I love her so much. Finnean and her have developed a friendship throughout the campaign. At first, I'm pretty sure she viewed him as a kid with a good heart, but green in the gills. However, as the party learned and grew and saved Waterdeep from devils, she has become much more comfortable with the party. Finnean opened up to her about his own self-doubt to her and she in turn revealed her own insecurities as the youngest Blackstaff in Waterdeep history and how she is pulled in a million different directions always. Whenever we're in Waterdeep and have downtime, Finnean spends a lot of time with her. Usually, he'll visit her tower and they'll each work on whatever they need to together. We have sending stones that connect directly to her and are CONSTANTLY trying to fill her in on what's going on with us. I just... love her so much

Another important NPC to Finnean is one Renaer Neverember. I wanna say we met him in session two, saw him be insanely competent in battle, and Finnean was IMMEDIATELY smitten with him. At the beginning of the campaign there was... so much failed flirting and obliviousness on Finnean's end. I think the most mortifying one was, Finnean went to his house, followed a courting ritual suggested by another party member (who, unbeknownst to him at this point, had just escaped from a cult so her perspective on romance was severely skewed), and then, when Renaer tried to let him down gently, misinterpreted his words and believed they were dating. After lots of second hand embarrassment, Finnean got his ass handed to him emotionally (Renaer basically said "look, you seem like a great guy, but I have a lot going on with my dad rn" but was never a dick) and resolved that they would never be more than friends.

However, there have been so many moments where Renaer singles out Finnean specifically from the rest of the party: getting bracers of defense for his birthday, lingering touches as the party goes off the Baldur's Gate, etc, etc. So in character, Finnean has already resolved they can never be more than friends based just on how badly all previous attempts at pursuing him went. Out of character I am just SCREAMING because the stories of Finnean and Renaer are so similar to each other, but so different.

Renaer has a bad relationship with his father Dagult, who is an important figure in the city of Neverwinter. His father embezzled a shit ton of Waterdeep money and then dipped. Renaer has had to deal with the mess his father left behind, despite how much he wants to wash his hands of everything and be his own person. To most people he will be a Neverember first, and then Renaer. Finnean, on the other hand, barely knew his father. He used his father's books to study and connected to him that way, but there was never any expectation placed on him to be anything but himself. However, when he learns more about his father, who he was and how he disappeared, he knows that he must finish what his dad started, no matter how much the idea of it scares him.

Speaking of Finnean's dad, Finnean found out more about him by a Cleric/Warlock of the Raven Queen literally giving him the memories of his father's last moments. He had been researching this ancient lich and had finally figured out his location. He left a package and letter to Finnean and then set out to confront the lich. He didn't tell anyone what he was doing and didn't take any sort of backup with him. He ultimately died in his quest.

So cue a couple weeks in game later, we finally make our way back to Finnean's village to retrieve this package for Finnean, which pointed out some suspect ruins. There was a SHIT ton of stuff that happened there for each of us PCs (Paladin/Barbarian from the cult of Orcus had an emotional confrontation with her older brother, trying to save him from whatever entity's control he was under and Warlock/Sorcerer basically found out that she was not who she thought she was (too convoluted to explain easily, but essentially due to the trauma of seeing her sister die in front of her, she took on the persona of her sister to shield herself from that truth + her patron took advantage of that trauma further in making their pact)). The shit that happened with Finnean was twofold

Motherfucking DAEMARIS of all people was in these ruins, performing a ritual to open a portal for the bbeg lich. Finnean always knew he was an asshole, but he never thought he could ever actually be evil. They had a very intense confrontation, and when Finnean tried to get an answer about why Daemaris was doing this and hurting people, Daemaris accused Finnean of being a hypocrite. He wasn't very clear, but essentially said that they both play judge, jury, and executioner. They both kill. We have not played much past this, but now Finnean is spiraling because he thinks that Daemaris might be right. The first time Finnean killed someone, he literally threw up. Now though, he and his party members kill those they deem evil without hesitation and is that right for him? Yes, some people are probably better off dead, but to the extent of what they've been doing? He has a lot to think about. Even if this isn't true, Daemaris' mind games have worked on him. I definitely see a future where Finnean hesitates in the heat of battle and either he, or worse, one of his friends gets hurt because of it. Also, even though I as a player really really want to kill Daemaris, I think Finnean will struggle with this a lot more and probably won't be able to finish him off

Nezerac, the lich, was able to get through the portal and gave a long villain speech and one of the things he said implied that something about Finnean was only able to do all this because of him (so that could mean the source of his magic, his lineage, his village, SOMETHING) which is really just horrifying. And also probably gives a hint as to why Daemaris is working with Nezerac. He also revealed that he had been keeping an eye on the whole party since the very beggining which is so concerning. Nezerac then straight up killed Finnean and the Warlock and then provided two diamonds for the paladin to revivify them as a power move/taunt. And like I said, haven't played past this yet but Finnean is gonna SPIRAL and feel a shit ton of guilt about the entire encounter because the only reason his friends were there was because of him.

I think Finnean has half a thought that he should not let them get involved further, that he needs to hide his guilt that he feels about putting them in this position. He needs to be stronger and strong means that he would be able to handle this on his own. But then he also remembers the last memories of his father (which are now as good as his own memories), where he tried to confront Nezerac on his own and the only thing he did was get himself killed and give Nezerac another soul to gain power from. Maybe if he had spoken with Mordenkainen, or any of the other powerful wizards he knew, he would still be here and Finnean wouldn't be the one who has to deal with all of this. Something something, treading the path of his father but not making the same mistakes

There's probably stuff I'm leaving out about him, but like... I love him. If anything happens to Finnean I will genuinely be inconsolable for at least a week. He's the first dnd character I ever created and I absolutely love playing him because he has all this real shit going on, but also has the capacity to be Just A Little Guy when we aren't in the thick of it. (And I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I think he gets a lot of good, funny moments outside of serious scenes to keep things from getting too dire)

Rapid fire little moments/facts about Finnean:

He has a ferret familiar named Fenny (short for Fenjamin). Fenny's "wriggly body is optimized for dance" and essentially when he's running around the battlefield and distracting our enemies (aka giving the help action to give one of us advantage on attacks) he's "dancing" :)

Met Volo (aka in-universe writer of Volo's Guide to Monsters), had an insane fanboy moment, and got him to sign multiple things including a copy of the book which he kept as a prized possession

His wizard robes were sewn for him by his mom and his name is stitched into the neck part

His spellbook is actually a library book from his hometown. He didn't realize that those needed to be returned though, so it's horribly horribly overdue (we actually just got back to his village a session or two ago and he had to pay a huge fine on it because it's now so beat up it can't be returned lol)

Made the poor choice of buying a Gucci belt for way too much gold (from Old Man Gucci at Ye Old Gucci Shoppe) but then became disillusioned with the drip when he kept seeing assholes wearing them

Helped make magical WWE called Mage Mania (I ordered shirts for my group as Christmas gifts after 2 years of us joking about it. I'm so excited for these)

For an event at the karaoke bar, he disguised self to make himself look like a women. Rolled a nat 20 for hotness and so was disguised as an extremely hot MILF. Daemaris (back before we knew he was like... actually evil) hit on him endlessly and it was very fun to see his reaction when Finnean dropped the disguise and revealed that he had been pursuing the "idiot loser" all night

Loves to study and learn languages (he initially bonded with the paladin/barbarian by taking Abyssal lessons from her)

#thank you anon for giving me an outlet to be mentally ill about him. this for sure is word vomit and probably makes like 10% sense to others #but it let me think about him for a bit so I very much appreciate it #ask #dnd #Finnean Galondel #(gonna start tagging stuff for him I think. in case I wanna spout more bs about him or the campaign)#long post #like really long post holy shit I'm so sorry nobody is obligated to read this

4 notes · View notes

exoticalmonde · 1 year

Text

Two new runs and I actually did more terrible than ever, but lessons learned. This is what I get for not paying enough attention to my own accomplishments and instead asking to be aided constantly.

Traps from Trap Masters do not, in fact, 'see' there are enemies coming and let them just walk through. Maybe I shouldn't have pi ked the option that gives me random chips for operators when I cant even plan ahead on the ones I pick myself.

Same goes for the Sobbing Doggo...

Just what I needed, Jessica bleeds out profusely like a pricked water baloon.

Well, I died in the second floor...

New run!

I know it will be better because Ebenholz is with me in spirit.

Well now I know I'm being set up too, this is rediculous. I got the other mini boss map 4 times in a row and now you decided 'Haha, Eve got used to it, might as well spice it up!'

I forgot they need to be killed at the same time to die.

THAT'S SO FUNNY SJSKSJZISK

We're taking it with us.

This is where I die. The wrath of Siracusans got to me.

But hey, at least I finally got enough materials to M3S3 my fav little Aegir so he could become viable in the upcoming events. Can't believe the skip between lvl60 and lvl80 was of significance, leveling up 6 stars I dont actually consider husbands feels like a waste, like E2ing 5 stars.

But then again my first lvl90 M9 was Ebenholz maybe 4 or 5 months ago and now it's Chongyue's turn... Right after I finish Ling. Who is Lvl 60 and I'm just waiting for that sweet trust 100 to be able to get her Module so the dragons don't cost 24DP

And because farming today was good, Ifrit is gonna be the next target for E2, just in case.

Hope Dr. Pinkie doesn't yell at me to level her up. Shining is doing such a good job at E2 lvl1 you can't possibly blame me for doubting.

And speaking of doubt,

I have this very fun story from yesterday. You see, Dr. Kryo is a very intelligent and good friend. We've spent a lot of time together and we learn from each other. A lot of definitely good things have been learned yesterday.

I learn he is too lucky for his own good and might be mooching out of our collective luck bucket because this is rediculous.

He learns that I am a whiny little apricot.

Because I had a dream that same evening I got Silverash from now here. I adore Silverash and he was definitely on the priority list of people I want rewlly really badly. Something something big brother sindrome happening in my head.

Anyways, I wake up and Im sad it's not a reality. I tell the chat, then bring it up again with Kryo. I really want Silverash, Gnosis, Stainless. I think these are the ones I don't have yet from the 6-stars.

He falls silent.

I hear the sound: tintintintintinting!

I fall silent.

Me: "Who is that, Kryo?"

Kryo: "Eve..."

Me, voice cracking: "Go on. Which 6 star is that?"

It was GNOSIS.

What a premonition.

We hope I lose the rolls on the Monster Hunter banner though and I get one of the husbands + Noir Cornealter since that is the one I'm rooting for.

I think the next banner is Guiding ahead so I have time to save up some more. Get the medals, get a little spike on the originium crystals because I have plans for skins and only 14 of those golden boys in my pocket.

...

Lumen Module time!

His story is so adorable actually. As adorable as it can be with the reminder at the end that Iberia is not having a fun time. Why do the worst cataclysms always happen to the most advanced counties? Reminds me of that one meme of a poster that said: 'Don' t eat in the library, it attracts ants. And if they are in the library they will learn to read, become smart and take over the world.'

#arknights lumen #lumen arknights #doctor arknights #ifrit arknights #thorns arknights #Iberia #Arknights IS3 #Story time #Gnosis arknights #silverash arknights #doctor of ri shenanigans #Crying profusely #I'm going to eat all the aegir

3 notes · View notes

liliths-missing-pen · 2 years

Note

Hi, can I get a twisted wonderland matchup? Students only if possible. Also not rook (sorry rook). For some basic info about myself I am an ENTP, 5w4. I have ADHD. I am a short king (5'1), chubby, have long auburn hair, and I normally dress very casually.

For how I would describe myself well uhh Idk so I asked my friends and they said I'm "smart, nerd(positive), and passionate." I also am known to be a bit bossy and stubborn I Kno. Not Riddle levels but yeah. I am really into reading, hisotry, and video games. Those are my main hobbies I partake in. I also love romance books and stuff. I normally love the theory side and analysis side of fandoms, and I will finish a series just to dive deep into the analysis. I also in general love to learn and educate. I am known for making PowerPoints and the like of random stuff I'm into and presenting it to my friends or I will just go on long rambles about random things I'm into. I will need a partner who would put up with that. My most recent one was an hour long PowerPoint on the world of dragon age. Okay it was a half an hour but turned into an hour due to participation from my friends. These things are long 🙏. I am quite bubbly and I've been told I'm charismatic around my friends, but I'm also a bit of a loner. I would say I am like a cat in a way. I am cuddly and loving at times, but I also need my alone time. I would like a partner who would accept that I will be clingy one second and then completely gone doing my own thing the next. I am more of a loner around strangers and more bubbly and talkative around my friends, but I still will just randomly go and do my own thing for a while.

For my type I'd say I like powerful men. I like loyal men. And I don't like himbos. I'm sorry but I value at least average intelligence in men, and I don't want my partner to get tricked or something u kno? I also like men that have some layers to them cuz I find that more fun. Uhhhh yeah I'm hoping I put enough

Thank you bestie have a good day or night or whenever u look at this <3

Again I apologize for this taking so long, it’s been like what, 4 months? Anyways I match you up with…

Azul Ashengrotto!

When you first started to describe yourself Azul was the first guy that came to mind, why might you ask? You’re bubbly but yet have lots of interests that would match up with his quite well. And honestly I see Azul after watching a show, movie or even a book getting into the analysis about it. He’s knees deep in the fandom theories lol

So I feel like once you mention analysis of books or a show he’d start consume that content as well just to get into it and understand the theories and your analysis of them. He wouldn’t be afraid though to voice his own theories and point out where there are plot holes in your own

Also those presentations you hold? He will sit through them and as well ask and add onto your presentations (only if you allow him that is) he’ll find it interesting just to listen to your rambles about different topics.

Now, powerful men you say? He might not be powerful like Malleus in the sense of whole world power but your little octopus has some tricks up his sleeves. As you see in Book 3 he’s quite stacked when it came to contracts. Even though he might have gotten banned from taking contracts and basically running his whole shady shabang he still has his own connections we don’t know much about people in Octivinelle but he’s got to be doing something right if he’s the housewarden as a second year. Not to mention as well he’s still got a smooth rizz charisma way of talking to way. He’s powerful but in his own way.

Also since your cuddle at first he’ll be quite awkward especially because of his childhood and he isn’t used to so much affection. He’ll try his best though to make sure that you know he appreciates you even if he might not express it in cuddles and what not. He’d do anything to make you happy. Also he doesn’t mind that you switch your mood(?) towards being cuddly and such. He’s known Floyd for much longer and has much worse mood changes so he doesn’t mind that you’re off doing your own thing he does have people to scam deal with.

So all in all Azul is a very compassionate partner for you. He’ll to you, be there for you and a plus he’s intelligent and is the one scamming others rather than being scammed

Runner-Up

Jamil Viper

#💞 | lilith’s matchups #azul ashengrotto #twst #twst matchups #disney twisted wonderland

2 notes · View notes

theia-eos · 2 years

Text

On laguz and Branded aging

I think a good question everyone wants to know is: how long do the laguz live? And the follow-up question is: how long do the Branded live?

Because I don’t want to clutter everyone’s feeds with long, nonsensical, barely coherent theories and rambling, I will discuss my answers to these questions after the cut. Also, unapologetic spoilers for FE9 and FE10 incoming.

If you want to know canon facts, there is next to nothing. For laguz, all we know is that Janaff is somewhere around 110 in Path of Radiance, and that the dragons live for a long time, barely aging once they reach a certain level of maturity.

Janaff: I used to be quite the daredevil before I grew into adulthood. Nothing ever seemed to please me. Shinon: How old are you, anyway? Janaff: I'm a bit over 110 years old. Shinon and Janaff: A Support, Path of Radiance

Nasir: It may be difficult for you beorc to believe, but... We of the dragon tribe live for a very, very long time. When we reach a certain maturity, we stop showing almost all signs of further aging. For example, do you remember Prince Kurthnaga whom you met in Goldoa? Ike: Yeah, he was a nice kid. Nasir: The prince is the youngest in all of Goldoa, yet for all his apparent youth, he's at least a hundred years old. Chapter 27, Path of Radiance

Beyond that? Absolutely nothing. As far as the Branded go, we get lots of other facts about them, but not about how they age beyond:

Stefan: You may have already started to notice. We age differently than the beorc. Of course, the specifics of it depend on the type of laguz blood that flows in your veins. Soren and Stefan: A Support, Path of Radiance

Micaiah: That must be it… Oh, Sothe, ever since he was small, he’s tried to act more grown up than the grown-ups… I’ve taken care of him so long, and still I’ve never seen him smile so easily before. Muarim: Hm… Watch what you say. Comments like that… They reveal that your appearance belies your true age. Micaiah: What are you-- Muarim: Among the laguz, there are those who detest and revile half-breeds such as yourself. They call you "parentless," and deny you any laguz heritage, honor, or dignity. Take due care. Chapter 1-7, Radiant Dawn

Micaiah: I’ve avoided people most of my life to conceal my brand...and my powers. But there’s no way to hide how very slowly I age. I just keep moving through Daein. The same holds true now... I won’t be able to stay in this army long. Chapter 1-F, Radiant Dawn

Stefan: One day, the laguz blood shows itself, marking the child’s body with a brand. How old is that girl, hmm? I don’t think she’s as young as she looks. The other curse is that we age differently from beorc. It depends on what laguz blood the child has, but it always slows how fast we age. Base Conversation 4-F-1: Visitor, Radiant Dawn

So, you know, slower than beorc, but nothing set in stone or factual about how old certain Branded are. That would be too convenient.

Fortunately, they released artbooks with profiles and information about the world that's not discussed in-game. Perhaps something in there?

One of the artbooks provides this delightful tidbit of information:

Which, while useful, leaves something to be desired. It contradicts some in-game information, specifically by implying that Branded blood can be diluted to be more like beorc, whereas in the games, Branded seems to be a recessive gene that can skip generations and still have the same impact. I think this chart came from an earlier development idea, but wasn’t something that stuck the landing when Path of Radiance was released.

There was also a Q&A that was posted by Intelligent Systems after the release of Radiant Dawn regarding the lifespans of the laguz that show us what the development team was thinking after making both Tellius games (translated by the lovely amielleon)

Question: About how long are laguz lifespans? Answer: Compared to the beorc, the beast tribes' are about 5~6 times. The hawks and ravens of the bird tribe are nearly 10 times. The herons' are over a thousand years, and the dragons' are over two thousand years.

If you compare to the pre-Path of Radiance early development chart, this obviously shows they’ve extended it out a little bit for all of the tribes. The chart also cuts everyone off at 60 years old, and we know it is possible for humans to live longer than 60 years old, so the laguz must live much longer than that. (Nealuchi is designed to look around 72, so he's beating that average by a lot).

So anyway, where does that leave us? Well, we have a starting base, and we have a few facts we know for certain:

Janaff is a bit over 110 years old in Path of Radiance. Janaff was designed to look about 30 in both Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. Janaff is 5 years older than Ulki, but Ulki was designed to look about 30 years old as well.

So, whatever answer I come up with, Hawks should look about 30 when they’re 105-113 (Ulki being 105 in Path of Radiance, and Janaff being 113 in Radiant Dawn).

We also know that Branded begin aging normally like a beorc, but then they start aging a lot slower. Soren and Zelgius both mention that they have recently noticed that they’re aging a lot slower than the beorc around them, and Stefan’s conversation with Soren seems to imply that Stefan knows this is a normal thing for Branded.

Stefan: You've grown quite good at hiding it. But, it's merely a matter of time before your heritage becomes...evident. Soren: ...Evident? Stefan: You may have already started to notice. We age differently than the beorc. Of course, the specifics of it depend on the type of laguz blood that flows in your veins. Soren: I thought I was aging normally... Well, until about three years ago. Soren and Stefan: A Support, Radiant Dawn

Zelgius: Lord Sage, I-- I realized some years ago that I was aging more slowly than others do. ???: And you wish to conceal that fact, don't you? Is that why you rarely remove your armor, even when indoors? Zelgius: Yes...but this ruse will not last indefinitely. In a few years, I will be forced to leave this army's service. Chapter 4-F-2, Radiant Dawn

Nasir says that “we reach a certain maturity, we stop showing almost all signs of further aging.” Combined with how the Branded believe they’re aging normally until they’re suddenly not, this statement leads me to believe that the laguz also probably age the same as beorc for the first few years of their lives and then age slower as they grow older, probably earlier and more extreme in the slow down than a Branded. The only fact I have to support myself is that laguz and beorc share the Zunanma as a common ancestor, and evolved separately from them, so it makes more sense to me that they age about the same when born.

I also hate the idea of a dragon baby being born and not being the equivalent of 1 year old until they’ve been alive for 17 years, so there’s that too.

As far as how long the Branded live, I don’t like this “dilution” mechanic of the early development chart. I much prefer the idea that the Branded age half as slowly as the laguz tribe/clan their blood comes from. I have no facts to support myself with, except that it feels right for Zelgius and Stefan to be much older than they appear to be than the dilution mechanic allows (Stefan is designed to be 29 in both games, and there’s no way he's only 35-38, and Zelgius is definitely older than 36-39, considering he looked like an adult before Greil left Daein and so he couldn’t have only been about 16-19 back then). And the chart was prepared by a Begnion noble, so obviously we have to ask what the bias of the writer was when Branded are considered a crime against the goddess that noble worships. (Not me questioning the integrity of a fictional scholar writing about fictional species.)

Anyway. If you just want to use the original chart despite the flaws I have with it and not think about complexities, the stronger/more physical clans live shorter lives than the weaker/more magical clans within the different tribes, and wolves feel somewhere between tigers and cats, so I would put them between those two, and here’s an updated chart with dilutions for all the different kinds of Branded. I’ve also added a max of 100 year life spans so you get a better feel for it. According to the chart, Janaff should be looking to be about 32 years old, not 30, but it’s not too far off to be considered non compliant with canon. I shouldn’t have to explain to the website that spawned Spiders Georg how averages and outliers work.

But if you want to go deeper, like I did, I will. The Q&A shows that the developers later felt that the different tribes would live a lot longer than even the 100 year old max allows according to the early development chart. The beast tribes don’t live to be about 500-600 years old, the hawks and ravens don’t get to be near 1,000, the herons don’t exceed 1,000, and the dragons don’t exceed 2,000.

So, doubling down on the idea that the laguz are born and age like beorc and then slow down, I think the best time for this to start would be around puberty because that's when all the changes occur in the body, and then the older they get, the slower they age. This also ties into Nasir’s “reach a certain maturity” statement from before, as the beginning and end of puberty mark the greatest maturity shifts in the growth process (Though, as a woman in her 30s, I would just like to throw in that I am firmly of the opinion that no one IRL is mature until they’re in their mid to late 20s).

I think for the Branded to only be able to notice it a few years ago when they’re older in appearance, their laguz blood might not start impacting them until they're post puberty or at the end of puberty. There are almost exactly 0* canon facts to go off of, but it feels the most logical to me to fit in with what all the characters say in game. *Soren is designed to look 16 in Path of Radiance and look at Zelgius when he's saying that quote I had before:

I realize by anime aesthetic, Zelgius is almost definitely meant to look 10 or something like that, but Fire Emblem tends to skew slightly closer to realistic ages...sometimes...maybe...in my dreams...

I bumped up the factors from the original chart for everyone but the dragons because they were all so far from what the Q&A* said they should end up like and then I decided that there were three phases to account for:

Beorc aging: From birth to the onset puberty for full laguz, and from birth to the end of puberty for Branded

Moderately slow aging: For the duration of puberty for full laguz, and from the end of puberty to about “25” for Branded (which is about when the mind is “fully developed” in humans)

Slower aging: Lasts for the rest of their life, aging continues to slow down the older the individual becomes.

*For the hawks and ravens, I couldn’t get them up to living anywhere close to 1,000 years the Q&A implied without drastically not meeting the requirement that Janaff and Ulki look around 30ish in the 105-113 range, so the in-game facts have to take precedence over the Q&A facts.

If you want something a lot more detailed, I will add the charts below that show each laguz type by each “year” of their life. Since afab individuals and amab individuals hit puberty at different ages, the chart shows that too for the averages: from 12-14 for afab individuals, and 13-15 for amab individuals. Obviously individual characters might go through the different phases at different times, but the charts below are averages and guidelines.

I apologize for the clutter and quality of these last charts.

63 notes · View notes

tigerkirby215 · 2 years

Text

5e Kaden, the Dragon Slayer build (DOTA: Dragon’s Blood)

(DOTA: Dragon’s Blood produced by Studio Mir and distributed by Netflix. Based on the game DOTA 2 by Valve Software.)

League players wondering why I’m making builds based on the DOTA 2 anime like...

youtube

I mean, Arcane is right there!

Jokes aside I actually got into MOBAs playing... Awesomenauts. Yeah if the handful of builds for Awesomenauts on this account doesn’t make that obvious it was my first experience, and I still genuinely recommend it for someone trying to get into MOBAs as its easily approachable and not as hard to understand as something like League.

That being said DOTA was my second major MOBA which I mostly played because it was on Steam along with Awesomenauts. I don’t play it anymore because the toxic community drove me away but DOTA still holds a place in my heart all these years later.

Anyways Dragon’s Blood is pretty freaking cool. It’s a bit of a slow burn anime but it really picks up later on. It has some of the problems I was scared Arcane would have (it uses its Mature rating as an excuse to say “fuck” a lot and often it feels like DOTA heroes show up for people to point at the screen and go “hey look it’s [character] from the hit Valve Software game DOTA 2!”) but it manages to tell a good story and bring some much needed lore to the DOTA universe and personality to some of the game’s more boring characters.

But why are the non-heroes just... cooler? Fymryn is a great character with cool powers (I was like 80% sure she’d turn out to be Phantom Assassin or something), Bram is the best damn squire in Dragonhold, people loved Marci so much they made her a hero in-game... And then of course there’s Kaden. Holy shit Kaden’s badass. I’m not going to spoil the show but seriously watch it because the fights are surprisingly intense and Kaden is super cool.

Please for the love of god give us Kaden as a hero in DOTA, Valve. Like I’ll come back for Kaden. His sword’s already in DOTA Underlords (apparently) so it can’t be that hard, right?

GOALS

I don’t exactly have a list of quotes for Kaden so I get to invoke my inspiration from Tulok and make bad puns instead.

Damage Voided - Void dragons are a thing (don’t tell Kai’sa) and Kaden can use his sword to both strike harder and create forcefields to protect himself and his allies.

Air Jordans - Making boots from air dragon scales makes you lighter than air, which translates into a lot of super jumps.

Now you see me - Kaden's armor is crafted from a chaos dragon, which can teleport I guess.

RACE

Kaden is a human, no matter how much he steals from dragons. A very particular point of the Dragon Knight order is that they’re all humans fighting on behalf of humanity... Doesn’t mean we can’t have some variance though.

Take Variant Human with +1 to Strength and Constitution. Grab the History skill to know about dragons, and the Draconic language because I mean... it’s funny? As for your feat at level 1 you will mostly be using a greatsword so grab good ol’ Great Weapon Master to put some heft in your swings.

ABILITY SCORES

15; STRENGTH - Kaden swing a greatsword and wears heavy armor; a knight by every sense of the word.

14; INTELLIGENCE - To fight dyne enemy you must know dyne enemy.

13; CONSTITUTION - Fighting dragons is risky buisness. You need to be able to shrug off a blow.

12; DEXTERITY - Kaden can fight even without armor on, and dodging breath weapons is very helpful.

10; WISDOM - Kaden is a very good tracker but we simply needed everything else more. He’d probably lose to Mirana in a hunt anyways.

8; CHARISMA - Kaden is... gruff, to say the least He’s a man of few words and a lot of action.

BACKGROUND

There’s many backgrounds that fit Kaden: Knight (obviously, and you get a squire!), Faction Agent (if you want to flavor the Dragon Knights as being a secret order), or just good old-fashioned Soldier. But we’ll be going for Haunted One because you don’t go on a hate-fueled vengeance quest against all dragons just because one cut you off in traffic. Grab proficiency with Arcana and Investigation as well as two languages (one regular one exotic) that will be used less for chatting and more for gathering information.

Your background feature Heart of Darkness will let people know why you fight. Seeing all your friends die to a dragon changes a man, and you need only look in their eyes to see that they’re doing more than just protecting innocent people... thankfully those innocent people will try to help you if they can.

(Concept art for DOTA: Dragon’s Blood made by Studio Mir.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - FIGHTER 1

I mean what were you expecting? A wizard? Regardless starting off as a Fighter for proficiency in Athletics and Survival as well as any weapon and armor proficiencies you might want. You also get a Fighting Style at level 1 and Defense is kinda just universally good for more AC.

Additionally you get Second Wind to heal for a d10 plus your Fighter level as a Bonus Action, just to make sure that you can go for a few rounds against a dragon.

LEVEL 2 - FIGHTER 2

Second level Fighters get Action Surge, allowing them to take an additional action once per Short Rest. For now that just means more attacks, but it will be more valuable later.

LEVEL 3 - FIGHTER 3

Third level Fighters get to choose their Martial Archetype, and man: if only there was a Fighter subclass that let you increase the damage of your blows, defend your allies, push people around, and jump super high. Anyways we’ll be going for Psi Warrior for Psionic Power, or I suppose it would be Draconic Power?

You get a number of Psionic Energy dice equal to twice your proficiency bonus. They are currently only a d6, but they’ll increase as you level up. You can use your Psionic Energy die in a variety of ways:

When you or another creature you can see within 30 feet of you takes damage, you can use your reaction to expend one Psionic Energy die to create a Protective Field to reduce the damage taken by the number rolled plus your Intelligence modifier.

Alternatively you can perform a Psionic Strike when you hit a foe, dealing extra force damage equal to the number rolled plus your Intelligence modifier.

Finally as an action you can move an object or creature with Telekinetic Movement. You target one loose object that is Large or smaller or one willing creature other than yourself: if you can see the target and it is within 30 feet of you, you can move it up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. Alternatively, if it is a Tiny object, you can move it to or from your hand. You can do so once for free per Short or Long Rest, and can do so again by using one of your Psionic Energy die.

LEVEL 4 - FIGHTER 4

4th level Fighters get the first of many Ability Score Improvements, and you’re still a Dragon Knight. More Strength to swing your sword would be good.

LEVEL 5 - FIGHTER 5

5th level Fighters get an Extra Attack, allowing them to attack twice instead of once with their action. That does basically double your potential damage output!

And additionally your Psionic Energy dice are now a d8, meaning more potential damage dealt or blocked!

(DOTA: Dragon’s Blood produced by Studio Mir and distributed by Netflix. Based on the game DOTA 2 by Valve Software.)

LEVEL 6 - WIZARD 1

The Dragon Knights borrow their power from the dragons they slay, and while that would arguably make him a Warlock (or maybe a Cleric idk) but Wizards effectively borrow their powers from the weave, don’t they? Anyways Wizards obviously get Spellcasting: you learn 3 cantrips and 6 spells at level 1.

CANTRIPS

Kaden doesn’t have a ranged attack but it’s still good to have; take Fire Bolt to shoot some dragon fire at dragons other than Slyrak.

Prestidigitation will let you do all sorts of generic borrowed draconic abilities.

And Light will let you see with your dumb human eyes. Davion has a glowing knife; there’s no reason you can’t have one either.

SPELLS

Detect Magic will help you sense any dragons or draconic artifacts that may pose a threat to you.

Before we get ways to properly fly Jump is good for some low-tier air dragon-enhanced jumps.

Likewise Feather Fall is good to make sure you don’t break your legs from those jumps.

Tenser’s Floating Disk is good for hauling dead dragons back to Dragonhold.

False Life will give you the power from... some... dragon. Well it will give you more strength to fight.

And Shield is just generally a good defensive spell; use it against smaller attacks that you can completely block instead of negating damage with your Protective Field.

You also get Arcane Recovery, letting you recover expended spell slots equal to half your level on a Short Rest. There’s more to it than that (higher level slots are worth more) but I’d recommend reading the ability yourself for a better understanding of how it works.

LEVEL 7 - WIZARD 2

Second level Wizards get to choose their Arcane Tradition and honestly there isn’t much that I want? This is one of many times that subclass doesn’t really matter, and I could honestly perhaps suggest using homebrew or maybe even UA. But I opted for the Transmutation school. Right now all that gives you is Minor Alchemy to transform the physical properties of various objects in small, fun, “parlor trick” sort of ways. Oh and Transmutation Savant, which lets you learn Transmutation spells easier, I guess.

Additionally you can learn two more spells: Identify is good to help you know what’s affecting your fellow dragon knights (perhaps a case of Draconic Infestation?), and Protection from Evil and Good will help you defend them from non-draconic threats. (Trust me: they’ll need it.)

LEVEL 8 - WIZARD 3

3rd level Wizards can learn 2nd level spells; confusing I know. But what matters is that we can now begin phasing when necessary with the spell Misty Step. It’s simple: bonus action to teleport 30 feet when in danger, but it’s obviously limited by your spell slots.

I’m going to be honest there isn’t much else I want from 2nd level, so grab Vortex Warp to phase your allies out of danger too if needed.

LEVEL 9 - WIZARD 4

4th level Wizards get another Ability Score Improvement and despite everything you’re still primarily a Fighter, so max out your Strength to ensure that even if your borrowed power is lacking you can still swing a sword.

You can also try for Ray of Enfeeblement to lower the damage of a dragon if you manage to catch them with it. Alternatively Warding Wind is a weird spell, but it will let you use some air dragon power to defend yourself from ranged attacks. Additionally you can learn a new cantrip like Message in case you need to communicate (relatively) silently when closing in for the kill on a sleeping Eldwyrm.

Now is a good time to mention that because you’re a prepared caster you probably can’t have all the spells you know ready at all times, so it’s perfectly acceptable to skip some of them, especially if they force the enemy to save against your rather low saving throw. All you really need is Misty Step, and I’m currently taking spells that are more in-flavor than strong.

(DOTA: Dragon’s Blood produced by Studio Mir and distributed by Netflix. Based on the game DOTA 2 by Valve Software.)

LEVEL 10 - FIGHTER 6

6th level Fighters get another Ability Score Improvement instead of a class feature because Fighters are cool like that. Now that your Strength is maxed you can actually invest in Intelligence for more spells, better saving throws, and more damage with your Psi Warrior abilities.

LEVEL 11 - FIGHTER 7

7th level Fighters can borrow some more abilities from air dragons with Telekinetic Adept.

As a bonus action, you can gain a flying speed equal to twice your walking speed until the end of the current turn by making a Psi-Powered Leap. You can do this once for free per Short or Long Rest, but additional air dragon jumps will require Psionic Energy die.

Additionally your Psionic Strike (that’s the damage option from your level 3 ability) now comes with additional Telekinetic Thrust. When you deal damage to a target with your Psionic Strike, you can force the target to make a Strength save against your Intelligence modifier. (It’s basically your spell DC.) If the save fails, you can knock the target prone or move it up to 10 feet in any direction horizontally.

There we go: air jumps and forceful blows with your special sword! Simple.

LEVEL 12 - FIGHTER 8

Hey look at that more Ability Score Improvements. Now that we have better uses for our Intelligence getting more of it would serve you well.

(DOTA: Dragon’s Blood produced by Studio Mir and distributed by Netflix. Based on the game DOTA 2 by Valve Software.)

LEVEL 13 - WIZARD 5

More Intelligence is also useful because we’re going back to Wizard levels. 5th level Wizards can learn 3rd level spells like Blink to phase in-and-out of existence, making you harder to hit.

A spell that’s really good to combo with Blink is Haste, since you can use the added defense to make sure you concentrate on dishing out more damage while also having more speed and defense. You obviously need to be wary however because if you get knocked out of concentration while using Haste you’ll be unable to move for a turn.

LEVEL 14 - WIZARD 6

6th level Transmutation Wizards have a flexible set of powers borrowed from dragons. Well, technically it’s from a Transmuter’s Stone but flavor is free, innit? Regardless you can choose between either Darkvision to see with your dumb human eyes, 10 extra feet of movement speed, proficiency in Constitution saving throws (which you already have), and resistance to either acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage. Obviously the last one is the most in-character for a dragon slayer but you can choose a new effect at the end of every Long Rest, or when you cast a Transmutation spell of 1st level or higher.

Speaking of spells you can prepare two more of them: every good Dragon Knight has Counterspell ready, because while dragons might not be spellcasters you’ll no doubt fight many spellcasters during your travels. Alternatively Kaden doesn’t use an ability like Ashardalon’s Stride, but it felt very in-character to borrow draconic power for more speed and the ability to avoid opportunity attacks while also dealing fire drake damage to foes you pass. And it’s a Transmutation spell too!

LEVEL 15 - WIZARD 7

Divide 7 by 2 you get... 3.5, but that rounds up to 4 so it’s time for 4th level spells! If you want a very long-ranged phase then Dimension Door will let you move across hundreds of feet in the blink of an eye! Alternatively if you just want to remain phased forever (and have permanent advantage assuming the dragon you’re fighting doesn’t have Blindsight, which they will) then Greater Invisibility will let you keep invisible while swinging your sword, putting it above regular invisibility!

LEVEL 16 - WIZARD 8

Aren’t Ability Score Improvements the best? You can get more Intelligence with them! Max spells prepared and the toughest saves woo!

And you can grab two more spells so how about we borrow more draconic power? Storm Sphere will let you channel the strength of a storm dragon to make it harder and deadlier for enemies to approach, and Raulothim's Psychic Lance is good to sunder a single foe.

LEVEL 17 - WIZARD 9

9th level Wizards can learn 5th level spells and honestly? I just went into Wizard for Far Step. You can now consistently phase around the map to evade enemies and strike foes from unexpected angles.

Other than that? I dunno. Stabbing a foe with an Ionic Dragon dagger to Hold Monster in place is nice. Steel Wind Strike is always nice. Teleportation Circle is good to get back to Dragonhold. Truthfully the only reason I went this far into Wizard was for Far Step, and chances are most of your dragon knight bounties will go into learning new spells.

(Fuck it’s hard to find screenshots that doesn’t spoil this anime, and no one draws fan art of Kaden smh. DOTA: Dragon’s Blood produced by Studio Mir and distributed by Netflix. Based on the game DOTA 2 by Valve Software.)

LEVEL 18 - FIGHTER 9

Finishing off the build with a few Fighter levels: 9th level Fighters get Indomitable, allowing them to reroll a failed saving throw once per Long Rest. You’re not going to be succeeding any Wisdom or Charisma saves, but your Strength, Constitution, and Intelligence are more than strong enough to succeed with some added insurance.

LEVEL 19 - FIGHTER 10

10th level Psi Warriors have a Guarded Mind, giving them resistance to Psychic Damage. Additionally you can use a Psionic Energy die (of which you likely have plenty) to instantly end any and all effects that may be Charming or Fearing you at the start of your turn. A dragon knight isn’t afraid of any dragon! Not even Slyrak!

LEVEL 20 - FIGHTER 11

The final level is the 11th level of Fighter for another Extra Attack. That’s right you can now attack 3 times in a turn or 6 times with an Action Surge! And as an added bonus your Psionic Energy die finally increase to a d10 for just a little bit more damage dealt and damage negated if you choose to do so.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Jack of all Dragons - You have great versatility between offense, defense, mobility, and utility. Adapting to your enemy is key to survival as a dragon knight!

Blink and You’ll Miss It - Your extremely heightened mobility ensures that you can always get into range, something that melee characters often struggle with. Always being able to strike means you can always deal good damage, especially with Great Weapon Master.

Father of Lore - It always helps to have a Brainiac in the party. The Intelligence character is a role that isn’t often filled, and being able to provide some skill check utility as the (mostly) Fighter is a great way to show that you’re not just a tough guy with a big sword.

CONS

Exhausting Work - The strength of Fighters is their ability to thrive on just Short Rests, an ability which you somewhat lack. Your spell slots and Psionic Energy die are tied to Long Rests and while you can recover some of them on a Short Rest you’re still going to be beat by a Battle Master for versatility throughout the day.

Too many Dashes - The benefit of Psi Warrior’s jumps is that you have a flight ability which doesn’t take your Concentration, allowing you to Concentrate on other stronger spells... Far Step, while thematic, isn’t all that useful for you. You’d get far more mileage out of something like Spirit Shroud, which we didn’t take.

Terror of the Blade - Low Charisma is honestly fine, but having low Dexterity and low Wisdom will cause you a lot of trouble. Sure you can deal with Charms and Fears but there are plenty of other devastating spells that you will struggle against.

But while a slayer may hunt alone the Dragon Knights are an order for a reason. 30 men may have died that day but there’s always more men (and women!) to aid you! Strike your foes down and be there to mentor any new squires and their newfound friends. You may know one of them better than you think, and maybe an old enemy can become a new friend against a common foe.

(I ran out of pictures of Kaden so here’s a poster for DOTA Dragon’s Blood.)

#dnd #dnd 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #DOTA #DOTA 2 #DOTA Dragon's Blood #Dragon's Blood #anime #Netflix #DOTA Dragon's Blood Kaden #Dragon's Blood Kaden #dragon knight #dragon slayer #dnd fighter #dnd wizard

22 notes · View notes

jackoshadows · 3 years

Text

One of the things that totally baffles and frustrates me in the asoiaf fandom is the fanon that Sansa is smarter and more diplomatic than Jon and Dany.

How can anyone read the books and come to the conclusion that Sansa is more diplomatic than Jon and Dany? On what basis is this comparison made? Jon and Dany are military leaders and rulers respectively who have successfully negotiated from disadvantaged positions. What is the equivalent of this for Sansa?

These are the issues that Dany faced in Meereen - olive trees burned down, winter on the horizon making agriculture disadvantageous, former merchants and slaves with no money and a blockade on Meereen by surrounding regions. Jon has 19 decrepit castles on the wall that he has to refit and rebuild and get ready and he has no money, food or men to do this. What is Sansa’s more smarter and diplomatic tactics to deal with these issues?

What is his tax policy? How does he feel about crop rotation? How does he handle land disputes between two nobles, both of whom think that they should have the village, so they burn it down to establish their claim. This is the hard part of ruling be it in the middle ages or now. It’s not enough to be a good man to be an effective ruler. It’s complicated and it’s hard and I wanted to show that with repeated examples in my books with my kings and hand of the kings - the prime minister if you would - trying to rule. And whether it be Ned Stark or Tyrion Lannister or Tywin Lannister or Daenerys Targaryen or Cersei Lannister trying to deal with the real challenges that affect anyone trying to rule the 7K or even a city like Meereen and it’s hard. You know, we can all read the books or read history and say oh, so and so was stupid and made a lot of mistakes and look at all these stupid mistakes they make. But these kind of mistakes are always much more apparent in hind sight than when you are actually faced with the decision about, oh my God, what would I do in this situation. How do I resolve this thing? Do I do the moral thing? But what about the political consequences of the moral thing? Do I do the pragmatic, cynical thing and kind of screw the people who are screwed by it? I mean, it is HARD. And I want to get to all of that - GRRM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJCb3xyWyAg

Where has Sansa dealt with the above issues to make a determination on how she would do better than Dany? Or even do better than Cersei for that matter?

Here is GRRM talking about how frustrating it is that he was not able to compare Daenerys and Cersei as rulers in ADWD:

His biggest lament in splitting A Feast for Crows from A Dance with Dragons is the parallels he was drawing between Cersei and Daenerys.

Cersei and Daenerys are intended as parallel characters --each exploring a different approach to how a woman would rule in a male dominated, medieval-inspired fantasy world.

GRRM, SSM, July 08, 2007

George regrets that Cersei and Dany will not be contrasted directly. He likes the extra breathing room to flesh out the characters. Bran didn't have any chapters and Dany's ending was different. Now he likes the way she ended. I think he actually may be doing more with Dany.

Comic-Con (San Diego, CA; July 20-23)

Where has he talked about contrasting Dany and Sansa? Or Sansa and Cersei? Where are the parallel leadership arcs for Dany and Sansa or Jon and Sansa like there is for Jon and Dany in ADwD?

Jon Snow has negotiated a loan with the Iron Bank, Dany agrees for peace with Yunkai by marriage with Hizdahr and Sansa managed to persuade an eight year old to eat his dinner. How are they even compared at the same level?!

It took an entire book and Ned Stark losing his head for Sansa to realize that the Lannisters were not the good guys. Despite the Lannisters doing increasingly evil things like ordering Sansa’s pet wolf killed. Her younger siblings like Arya cottoned onto that in their first chapters. Sansa then thought that beautiful, charming Margaery was simply the best and the Tyrells ended up using her. She thought Dontos was a good guy. In the Vale, she is pushing the Maester to do what LF wants with respect to SweetRobin. How is she smarter than Jon, Dany or the rest of her siblings? It’s this weird changing of canon in the completely opposite direction. Take the least smart character among the youngsters in the books and make them the smartest in fanon.

I know the show is responsible a lot for pushing this piece of fanon, when Benioff, Weiss and Cogman stripped book Jon and Dany of their leadership arcs and tried to hand them off to Sansa to prop up their favorite character.

But what’s baffling is the so called asoiaf book experts writing about stupid Jon and smart Sansa. About psychopathic assassin murder baby Arya and clever, measured leader Sansa, about ignorant, impulsive Dany and calm, compassionate, hope for the future Sansa. The thing is, no one knows on what basis and metrics they come to this conclusion. It just is. There are no detailed essays comparing Jon and Sansa’s leadership arcs, or Dany and Sansa’s arc of being rulers. But Sansa is still somehow more intelligent and diplomatic.

It’s also connected to this rather sexist strand of thought that only women who wield soft power are smart and level-headed. Tyrion is the only male character allowed to be smart and women who wield hard power like Dany or gnc characters like Arya and Brienne are impulsive, arrogant and ignorant.

In some ways I can see why this has happened. A lot of fandom want Sansa to be special in some way and have an important role to play. And since her narrative story arc is with Littlefinger, she is assigned to be the SMART one. But to be special, she has to be the only smart character.

Plus, Sansa has progressed the least in her arc compared to her peers. She’s a blank slate on whom her fans can project their desires and wishes for her character. The show did something similar - only D&D were too lazy to come up with something original and gave her Jeyne Poole’s story.

But still, there has to be a basis for such statements about the book characters. It’s not just enough to keep repeating that Sansa is the smartest ever - like ultimate hacks D&D did on the badly written garbage show did. They were rightly laughed at for their ‘Sansa is the cleverest person’ dialogue. But for some reason such statements are accepted for the book version.

The books are well written with gradual character development. Surely, if Sansa is smarter than Jon and Dany we should read that in the books? That this fanon has literally become canon despite not having any basis at all in the books is one of the most frustrating aspects of asoiaf fandom.

#Jon Snow #Daenerys Targaryen #ASoIaF fanon #ASoIaF canon #ASoIaF #anti GOT #GRRM #fandom nonsense #Fandom wank #ASoIaF fandom

190 notes · View notes

aerltarg · 3 years

Note

Maybe this is a stupid question, buuuuut:

I just can't imagine a world that Rhaegar comes back from the Trident, wins the war and becomes king. No, I'm not a anti Rhaegar, matter of fact I like him very much, I'm just can imagine how would Lya, little Jon, this whole affair, would settle in the capital. The norm that fics (at least those I read) tend to follow is to make Rhaegar:

1. A douche, paranoid and destiny-obessed king.

2. Completely incompetent, aloof monarch, that deep down has a heart of gold, but can't really be understood.

I mean, isn't he supposed to be a scholar since he was a kid? What's are your thoughts about it?

oh, yeah, i can totally understand this! it's is the whole point in canon actually, "the wrong man came back from the trident". you would expect a hero win against his antagonist and have a happy ending w his lady love but it doesn't happen. instead the subversion happens to them with rhaegar being killed by robert who becomes obviously a shitty king and lyanna dying after him. they were never supposed to have happy ending, they were created as tragic and doomed and dead from the beginning for the whole plot to start, jon to have his parentage mystery and dany to take the passed baton as the last dragon, prophesied savoir and the heir who has to carry entire house on her back now.

as for the realistic rhaegar wins aus that's the difficult question. tbh we just don't know enough abt their situation, plans and wishes. you see, e.g. in agot we can be right in ned's head and see his motivations, what he was thinking abt, what he was planning, what he was hoping to do. but if his story was told the way rhaegar's was i bet he would have his own crowd of haters and ~intellectuals~ jumping out every two seconds w their "hot takes" how actually all hints abt what rlly happened (ned being a good man w his own sense of honour, justice and experiences affecting him and the deal w cersei's children) doesn't matter and he was an ambitious prick, planned to grasp the power by being joffrey's regent and make his daughter sansa queen. (you can actually insert there any bullshit and still don't reach the level of stupidity of such "hot takes" this fandom loves so much lmao). also he would be blamed to the hell and beyond for being too stupid and not foreseeing the future and actions of other ppl bc ofc after everything happened it's so easy to say what was so obvious to notice. also they would say that the deaths of his men and horrible fates of his kids are 100% his fault and even straight up say he killed them lmao. i can rant abt it for hours so yeah. this is a situation w too many unknown variables bc it depends too much on actions of too many characters we don't know enough abt. the only thing it's possible to tell for sure is the fact that there couldn't be any perfect solutions since things got too complicated at this point.

such fics as you've mentioned tho are just a part of this dumb fanon where rhaegar is "too prophecy obsessed"/"incapable of love"/shrodinger's rhaegar both smart and stupid at the same time/whatever/all of this combined lmfao. the man was notably intelligent from the early age as you've absolutely rightly mentioned, his guesses abt himself being tptwp have nothing to do w egocentrism as some parts of the fandom would want us all to believe unless he wouldn't be so reasonable abt it and later on, after so many years, wouldn't have changed his mind and thought his son could be tptwp.

and literally fuck all antis that think you shouldn't consider prophecies that hold real power in this fantasy world lol. you know, aegon the conqueror was said to be motivated (or at least partly) to unify westeros by the prophecy and still got the treatment of perfect/maximum close to perfect figure of a leader everyone should look up to from the narrative and grrm. prophecy obsessed much, huh? i don't even talk abt all these parallels between him and rhaegar grrm put there not for bitches to ignore them completely! and i will never get tired of reminding that dismissing prophecies is UNWISE for targaryens of all people. the house whose story is built on the dream of young daenys and her father aenar that listened to her despite common sense (or what local "anti magic"/"anti prophecies" clowns consider to be common sense). targs would be as dead as the rest of dragonlords if not for daenys the dreamer. who else in the world has as many reasons to take prophecies seriously as them?

yet antis out there act as if rhaegar is one dimensional weirdo whose every character trait is abt mf ~prophecy obsession~. like how can they miss one of the main points so badly?? the game of thrones distracts ppl from the real danger beyond the wall, yk, the one rhaegar was aware of and meant to deal with. there wouldn't be such a problem if he became king and had as many years of head start before ice zombies apocalypse as ignorant bobby b did. rhaegar had to die just for westeros to sink in shit and our main heroes to save everyone to make this story more epic LMAO

so yeah, too many ppl portray rhaegar as this one dimensional robotic creature without any knowledge of what feelings are idk even for what reason. it seems these ppl can't read for real bc rhaegar was not only intelligent af as well as dutiful ("it seems i must be a warrior" but "he loved his harp more than his lance") but also. ugh emotional?? my boy had constant emo sessions w brooding at ruins of summerhall, sleeping out there beneath the stars all alone and writing songs that made all women cry. does it sound as someone who "isn't capable of love" lol? folks act as if he was completely heartless from the day he was born (bc he didnt play w other kids ig??) but in reality their emotional range is less than the one of a spoon in comparison to rhaegar's lol. i'm not even gonna address the horrible attitude of demonizing him for his implied depression, vile clowns never listen to themselves when they talk abt targaryens and their "madness".

tldr; these fics are mostly lame af and suck at characterization if they're making rhaegar like that lol. anyway his character isn't abt being a good or a bad king, it's abt being a would-be-king for characters in books and readers in reality to sigh over his tragic aura and pretty aesthetic abt how it could've been. however, grrm clearly doesn't write rhaegar as evil or incapable as some parts of the fandom would want to try to persuade others. realistically speaking in the scenario where he wins there couldn't be any perfect decisions but it's a territory of speculations on thin air and lit nothing more since canon doesn't provide us with enough information to rlly theorize anything instead of building biased headcanons some ppl call "analysis".

but remember what barristan said about rhaegar while practically watching him all his life, from a literal baby to the man grown:

“I know little of Rhaegar. Only the tales Viserys told, and he was a little boy when our brother died. What was he truly like?”

The old man considered a moment. “Able. That above all. Determined, deliberate, dutiful, single-minded.” (ASOS, Daenerys I)

“Prince Rhaegar’s prowess was unquestioned, but he seldom entered the lists. He never loved the song of swords the way that Robert did, or Jaime Lannister. It was something he had to do, a task the world had set him. He did it well, for he did everything well. That was his nature. But he took no joy in it. Men said that he loved his harp much better than his lance.” (ASOS, Daenerys IV)

#thank you for the ask!!!#hope it didnt get too long and rambly afshsjsjs #once started talking its hard to shut up 😂#and im sorry for any possible mistakes #.txt #rhaegar targaryen #targnation #mypost #fandom wank #anti antis #majorton #*answered #asks

42 notes · View notes

grailfinders · 3 years

Text

Fate and Phantasms #250

Today on Fate and Phantasms we're making the scourge of gods and men, Demon King Nobunaga! Buy one Nobu, get two free, what a great deal!

One Nobu is a Battle Master Fighter to master unconventional tactics, another is a Swords Bard to light up the battlefield both with gunfire and literal fire, and the last is an Ascendant Dragon Monk to rock that tight leather look while still spitting flames.

Check out their build breakdown here, or their character sheet over here!

Next up: You know what they say: a head a day keeps literally everyone away. Except for Nobu.

Race and Background

So, starting off with the awkward stuff again. Yes, each individual Nobu is a human, but we're a weird amalgamation of a bunch of them, so if you want to be able to go from 5'5" to 5'11" and back again we've got to go with Changeling. (Wait, Big Nobu is only 5'11"?? The doesn't sound right. at all. There's like a foot difference between the two!) Like with Asclepius, we're trying out the new Mordenkainen version, though there aren't that many differences between this one and the old one.

Like all lineages, Changelings can now get their stat boosts in any stat they choose, so +1 Dexterity and +2 Wisdom are valid choices, with or without Tasha helping. You're also Fey instead of humanoid, so some spells like Hold Person just don't work on you. Your Changeling Instincts have also been expanded somewhat, so you can get proficiency in Insight and Performance for some "sick" atsumori. You're still a Shapechanger though, with the added bonus that you can change between Medium and Small sizes at will, though it doesn't change your clothing.

Although it is a gross simplification of Japanese history to call Oda Nobunaga a general, we're doing that here because it means we can use the Soldier background, which is useful. It gives you proficiency in Intimidation and Investigation. People aren't usually called a "Demon King" if no one is afraid of them.

Ability Scores

On that note, put your highest score into Charisma. You certainly have a gravitas that can't be matched. After that is your Wisdom. People call you the fool of Owari, but that's simply because you operate on a level they can't even notice. Third is your Dexterity. Shortswords, flintlock rifles, and crossbows all need that. Your Constitution is slightly above average. I wish we could have gotten it higher, but multiclassing comes first. This also means your Strength is pretty low, but we're dumping Intelligence. Like a lot of anime characters, Maou Nobu should be good at everything. But we need intelligence the least, and we'll get options to fix what little we do need it for later.

Class Levels

Monk 1: Ok give me a second here I promise this'll make sense. Starting off as a monk gives you proficiency with shortswords, so your first ascension can fight well enough. You also get proficiency with Strength and Dexterity saves, as well as History and Athletics. We can't focus on strength that much, but you can kick people's heads in, so this might help. You also get Unarmored Defense, adding your wisdom modifier to your AC while you're not wearing any armor. The first and second Nobus definitely aren't wearing armor. You could argue either way for the third ascension, though personally I'd say it's not up to code for D&D. Way too many gaps in the leg parts, y'know? Anyway, enough nitpicking about clothes, back to the good stuff. Your Martial Arts training lets you use your bonus action to make an unarmed attack if you attack with a monk weapon on your main action, use your dexterity in place of strength for all attacks, and your monk weapons, including your hands, always deal a minimum of 1d4 damage. Not super useful for crossbow wielders, but I think Big Nobu will get a... "kick" out of it. 🥁

Monk 2: Second level monks can use their Ki to dash, dodge, disengage, or attack twice as a bonus action. You also get Unarmored Movement, so your speed gets better if you're not in platemail. Finally, you can choose a Dedicated Weapon over a short rest, so your longsword or crossbow can count as a monk weapon now! Once you're proficient in them. One sec!

Fighter 1: Okay, now you're proficient in all weapons. You also get a Fighting Style, and Archery will make your crossbow shots a little more accurate. You also get a Second Wind to heal yourself as a bonus action. You don't really "chill out", but I'm sure you'll figure out how to make it work.

Fighter 2: Second level fighters can use an Action Surge once per short rest to take two actions in a turn. If you want a gatling flintlock, this is a must. We still can't attack twice with a crossbow though, another thing for the todo list.

Fighter 3: At third level you become a Battle Master, meaning you're smarter than the average fighter. As a Student of War you gain proficiency in one set of artisan's tools, and you learn some Combat Superiority tricks. Four times per short rest you can use superiority dice to add extra effects to your attacks or skill checks, and usually a d8 of damage too. Your Commanding Presence lets you add the die roll to an Intimidation, Performance, or Persuasion check. Yes you read that right, a single skill improves your terrifying reputation on the battlefield and your Atsumori skills at the same time. You can also make a Distracting Strike to give another creature advantage to hit your target, or a Goading Attack to give your target disadvantage to hit anyone but you. Both of these also add the d8 to your attack damage. Run them ragged chasing you around, then give your army an opening to destroy them.

Fighter 4: As a fourth level fighter you finally get your first Ability Score Improvement. As a Crossbow Expert you can ignore the loading property on crossbows, and attack with them in melee range without issue. You can also dual-wield with a hand crossbow now, effectively giving you that fancy monk bonus attack with range. Nice.

Fighter 5: Fifth level fighters get an Extra Attack each action, so it's a good thing we picked up that feat last level.

Fighter 6: We're already back for another ASI though- use this one to bump up your Dexterity for stronger and more accurate attacks, a higher AC, and tougher saves for your maneuvers. Turns out you like dexterity more than normal monks. Oh right, speaking of:

Monk 3: Bouncing back to monk finally nets you your subclass. As an Ascendant Dragon, you start off as a Draconic Disciple, which in true monk subclass fashion is secretly a ton of features in a trenchcoat. Your Draconic Presence lets you re-roll a failed intimidation or persuasion check. You can use this as often as you like until it actually works, then you have to wait until tomorrow. Meanwhile, your Draconic Strikes give you your first taste of fire damage, since you can swap your unarmed attacks to acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison instead of bludgeoning. You also learn Draconic. It's a language. But wait, there's more! With the Breath of the Dragon, you can swap out any attack you make in your action with a breath weapon, dealing elemental damage in a cone or line, forcing a dexterity save on creatures in the area. You deal 2 martial arts dice in damage, and can use this attack once per action, up to Proficiency times per long rest. Alternatively, you can spend 2 ki points per use. And we're not done yet! All monks can Deflect Missiles, using your reaction to weaken incoming ranged attacks, possibly launching them back if you reduce the damage to 0.

Monk 4: That was a lot last level! And this one's pretty packed too. You can your usual ASI, so your Dexterity is as good as it's going to get here. You can also Slow Fall as a reaction, so you take less fall damage. And if that second wind isn't enough, you can spend ki points on Quickened Healing, healing yourself as an action.

Fighter 7: Seventh level battle masters can Know Your Enemy, spending a minute to learn how you compare to your foe in two of the following categories: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, AC, current HP, class levels, or fighter levels. Know yourself and your enemy, and you need not fear a thousand battles. Some guy said that, idk. You also get two more Maneuvers, and one more superiority die. Your Tactical Assessment lets you add the die to an Investigation, History, or Insight check, while a Menacing Attack deals extra damage and forces a wisdom save on the target, frightening them if they fail. Again, they don't call you a demon king because you befriended your enemies.

Bard 1: It's a little late for another multiclass, but here we are. You can use a Bardic Inspiration to give an ally a d6 to improve a check, save, or attack roll they make in the near future, or you can cast Spells using your Charisma. You get a number of inspiration dice per day equal to your Charisma modifier. Your cantrips are pretty typical. Vicious Mockery denigrates your foes so hard they actually get hurt by it, and Friends improves your odds with all charisma checks. Given how quite a few people have reacted to your valentines events, I don't think you had many issues with Persuasion or Intimidation. For first level spells, Bane befuddles your enemies further, while Command exerts your intimidating presence over them. Heroism will empower your army with temporary HP and protection from being frightened, and Faerie Fire will add the [burning] status to the battlefield, giving creatures advantage on their attacks against creatures who were in the area when you cast the spell. You also get proficiency in Perception. It's hard to shoot someone when you can't find them.

Bard 2: Second level bards are a Jack of All Trades, adding half their proficiency bonus to ability checks they aren't proficient in. That means all your intelligence skills go from a -1 to a +1! See? Told ya we'd fix that. You can also perform a Song of Rest, and while an extra d6 of healing at 13th level might not seem like a lot... it isn't. But hey, any excuse to break out the atsumori's a good one. (Also your inspiration is Magical Inspiration now, so your allies can add it to magical damage or healing.) And I know we went changeling specifically to avoid using magic to change ascensions, but... Sometimes you don't have time to change outfits, so Disguise Self will help with quick changes.

Bard 3: At third level you get Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency bonus in Intimidation and Insight. You also graduate from the college of Swords, giving you a second Fighting Style. Dueling will help out whenever you've got a shortsword out, adding 2 to its damage rolls. For even more damage, you can add a Blade Flourish to your attacks by spending an inspiration die. A Defensive Flourish adds the roll to your damage and AC, a Slashing Flourish deals the extra damage to another creature within 5' of you, and a Mobile Flourish pushes the creature around and lets you spend a reaction to follow it. You can use these once per attack action, and each attack action also increases your speed by 10'. For your first second level spell, grab Pyrotechnics to use the burning battlefield to your advantage, blinding everyone in an area around the flames that fails a constitution save. I hear it's also pretty good at putting out fires too...

Monk 5: Okay, we've been putting it off for a while since your Extra Attack from this level doesn't stack, but it's about time we go back to monk, if only for the martial arts die increase. You can also turn any melee attack into a Stunning Strike, stunning the target until the end of your next turn if they fail a constitution save. You can also now spend ki points on Fou-cused Aim, spending 1-3 points for a +2 bonus to your attack roll per point spent. Kinda pricey, but sometimes you can't afford to miss.

Monk 6: Sixth level monks have Ki-Empowered Strikes, so your kicks are now magical against resistances. In case you weren't just using fire for everything already. I know we're kind of being down on the monk right now, but there is a benefit to coming back here. You also get Wings Unfurled this level, so when you dash as a bonus action you can gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed proficiency times per day. Speaking of your walking speed, right now that's 45' a turn, or 55' with an attack action, at most 65' if you action surge for two in a turn. That is a lot of mobility. tl;dr it's a cool anime jump for when you need to get 130' in the air right now.

Monk 7: The good times keep rolling for monk, because at seventh level you get Evasion, boosting your dexterity saves to new extremes. If you fail a save it's like you passed it, and if you pass it it's like there was never any danger to begin with. You also gain a Stillness of Mind that lets you end effects charming or frightening you as an action. Your dreamlike existence has some downsides, but getting to ignore a lot of magic isn't one of them.

Bard 4: Bouncing back to bard gives you another ASI, bumping up your Charisma for stronger spells and more inspiration dice per long rest. Speaking of spells, Prestidigitation will give you any minor magical effects you want. If you want your sword to have cool particle effects while you're fighting, this can probably help. Also, pick up Aid for a bit more bulk, since monks and bards aren't known for their stellar hit dice.

Bard 5: Fifth level bards are Fonts of Inspiration, so you regain inspiration dice on short rests instead of long ones. Those dice also grow to d8s now. For your final spell, pick up Bestow Curse to do any number of terrible things to your enemies if they fail a Wisdom save. You can do just about anything your DM signs off on, but one of the out-the-box options is dealing an extra d8 of damage each attack. The type they give you is necrotic, but changing that to fire doesn't seem like too far a stretch.

Monk 8: We head back to monk for our final level, another ASI. The Resilient feat is simple, but effective. It rounds out our Charisma for another boost in strength and inspiration while also giving you proficiency in Charisma saves. The Counter Force is constantly trying to banish you after all, it's best to be resistant to that sort of thing.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

As expected from three people sharing one build, Maou Nobunaga is very versatile in combat, with spells like Prestidigitation, Command, and Bestow Curse basically only being limited by your imagination, plus the effects added to your attacks by Flourishes and Maneuvers, and being able to change up the elements of your attacks as an Ascendant Dragon. You come packing a metric ton of abilities, letting you change up your fighting style for every battle and leave your DM guessing.

You're also really good against magic, with proficiency in two of the big three saves, immunity to several troublesome spells thanks to not being humanoid, and the ability to shake off charms and frightening effects thanks to Stillness of Mind. Hitting you in a way that hurts is hard.

That variety also bleeds into what you can do out of combat as well, with a high Charisma and Wisdom scores plus plenty of ways to strengthen a ton of your intelligence skills, you can fit just about any part of the party's social dynamic. Be a loveable goofball, be a terrifying tactician, switch wildly between the two at a moments notice! Heck, become someone else entirely! You're a changeling after all.

Cons:

While the variety is great, this build also shows exactly why multiclassing can be difficult. Since you hop into bard so late a lot of the features won't be that useful at high level play, and it also makes your ASIs show up super irregularly. On top of that, it makes you super multi-ability dependent, using your dexterity, wisdom, and charisma in tandem.

Multiclassing also makes you super complicated with three different resources you have to manage on top of all your "X times per short rest" abilities. You also don't have that many of any one resource, so if you don't hold anything back you'll tire out quickly.

Being so many things also means this build lacks focus. If you dropped bard you'd deal a lot more damage by spending those charisma ASIs on Sharpshooter instead and getting a third attack. If you dropped monk you'd have more inspiration, stronger spells, and could wear some armor for better defense. If you dropped fighter your Martial Arts die would be bigger and you'd have a ton of more creative options with spells and ki abilities.

But hey, being Nobunaga is cool, and you're every Nobunaga at once, so get out there and show the world why that's a terrifying concept. Be whoever you want, do whatever you want, and make the world know your name however you want.

#FGO #Fate Grand Order #D&D #DND 5e #Oda Nobunaga #Maou nobunaga #Fighter #Monk #Bard

63 notes · View notes

theoreticslut · 4 years

Text

George x short fem reader

Requested by @pastanest

warnings: fluff

A/N: this request is so freaking cute! It made me so happy to read and then try to figure out how to write. I, myself, am a pretty short person at around 5′4 so george would still tower over me which i would honestly love to experience but we don’t need to get into that right now. anyways, this is just fluffy with a bit of a protective reader and its cute. I hope you like it!! also, pls don’t judge some of my curses; I’m well aware some of them are questionable...

Dating a giant is fun; you always have someone to completely smother you when cuddling, when you steal their shirts you know they’ll always be long enough, and you’re favourite part of it - you always feel safe because you have a bloody giant as a boyfriend to protect you.

The only downfall you’ve come to find is how many people like to criticize your relationship solely due to the height difference.

You and George have been dating for nearly a year and you’ve lost count of how many comments have been made that you’re too short to be with him. At first it was fine, people just pointing out the obvious, right? After a year of it though, you’re tired of hearing it. You and George love each other and you’ve never given anyone a reason to think you weren’t good together, yet people continue to joke about how you won’t work out due to just how short you are compared to him.

You were honestly starting to wonder if maybe everyone else was right. Maybe you and George really weren’t going to work out.

“Princess, what are you thinking about?” George asks, noticing how distant you’ve become over the last half hour or so while hanging out.

“Hmm? Oh, nothing important.” You give him a small smile, your cheeks tinting a light pink.

“So I’m nothing important?” He playfully pouts, giving you those puppy dog eyes you can’t ever refuse or ignore.

You chuckle and smack his bicep causing him to laugh and pull you closer.

“You know I’m only joking, sweetie. But in all seriousness, what’s got you so down?”

“It’s dumb.” You chuckle, blushing and looking away.

“I love dumb.” George smiles, pushing a strand of your hair behind your ear.

“It’s just, I don’t know, does it ever drive you crazy how many people say we won’t work out?” You ask, frowning and not wanting to meet his gaze.

It’s a dumb question; you knew it didn’t bother him. Hell you’d be surprised if he even paid any attention to it. You were just feeling insecure.

“What are you talking about, love? Who’s been saying we won’t work out?” George asks, frowning at how obviously upset you are over this.

“Well, no one in particular really...” you trail off, glancing up at him frowning as you fidget with your hands.

“It’s just, well, ever since we’ve been together people keep saying I’m just too short for you, and because of that we won’t last.”

George watches as you explain all of this, watching as you fidget with your hands and how you will barely look at him. He notices how flushed you’ve become just by bringing this up. He smiles, loving how adorable you are. He couldn’t care less how short you are compared to him because there’s so much more to you than your mere 5’ height. True he was over a foot taller than you, but it came with so many benefits that he couldn’t understand how anyone would talk down on the height difference.

“Princess, will you please look at me?” He urges, gently trying to lift your chin with his finger.

You sigh, feeling shaky as you do, immediately finding yourself lost in his eyes as he smiles at you.

“Princess, I don’t care how many people tell us we won’t work out. You know why?” He asks, looking into your eyes, trying to read the emotions that swirl within them.

“Why?” You mumble, not sure if he could even hear you.

“Because what they say doesn’t matter. Not one bit. They say we won’t work out because of our heights? That’s pure hippogriff shit.” He says, causing you to chuckle at his wording. If there’s one thing George weasley is good at, it’s making you laugh.

“They’re jealous, princess. That or they don’t know the joy of dating such a short person. Do you know what I love most about you?”

“What do you love the most?” You ask, trying to hold back a smile as your boyfriend keeps his gaze locked on you.

“I love how small you are. I love that when we cuddle I can literally wrap my body around the entirety of yours. I love having to crouch down to be eye level with you. It’s so much fun! Why else do you think I do so all the time?”

You let out a small chuckle as he pulls you up into his lap, making you straddle him so you can look at him.

“I love how when I pick you up you wrap your legs around me so you know you’re at least holding onto something because you can’t reach anything else. I love when I give you piggyback rides and you’re so amazed at how different everything looks from my height. It’s the cutest thing to watch how excited you get.”

“But I think my absolute favourite thing is when you wear one of my shirts and it looks like a dress on you. Or when you steal one of my jumpers and it looks like it’s swallowing you whole. I love that.” He chuckles, remember the first time he saw you in one of his jumpers.

He was honestly worried how you’d be able to handle anything because not only was the top itself long on you, but the arms were so much longer that’s yours and you refused to roll it up. You barely had any functionality to your hands because every time you went to reach for something, it was just sleeves.

“And even though you are shorter than me, there’s so much more to who you are and why I love you that being short becomes so insignificant in the big picture I’m not sure why anyone would judge this on the mere height difference.” George states, smiling at you and admiring how happy you look now compared to a few minutes ago.

“I love you so much, George.” You smile, kissing him as he wraps his arms around your waist.

~.~

Since your talk with George about the whole height difference between the two of you, you’ve been more than happy and it’s been easier than ever to brush aside the comments.

However, you’ve been having a bit of a rough week. You haven’t gotten much sleep since you’d been studying for a few different tests your professors decided to give at the same time.

You haven’t been able to spend much time with George lately as he’s had quidditch practice nearly every night to prep for the big game between gryffindor and slytherin.

Then on top of it, this ravenclaw boy, Alec Newton, has been trying to get under your skin for the last few weeks by either taunting you or criticizing your work or even trying to make fun of your appearance.

“Hey y/l/n! Wait up.” You hear him call.

“What do you want Alec?” You sigh.

“How is everything going with weasley? I haven’t seen you two together a lot lately. Has he finally realized you’re too good for him?”

“What’s it matter to you?” You ask, not having the energy to care about this conversation.

From down the hall, George is watching this play out, annoyed himself at how much it seems this Alec guy is annoying you.

“Well, if you’re single I’d like to take you out? I mean, don’t you think you deserve someone you don’t have to look up to. Someone who you can meet eye to eye with.” He asks a bit too smugly for your liking.

George gawks at this dudes bravery. Just because you and him haven’t been seen together much this week he suddenly thinks he can make a move on you? He’s nearly ready to storm over and save you from this asshole when he notices you start to get angry.

He stops solely to see how this will continue to play out. George has rarely seen you get angry and he’s curious to see what you’re like.

“Excuse me? Are you saying that George doesn’t deserve me? And because of my height?” He can hear you ask, clearly disgusted with how this dude could possibly think that was an acceptable conclusion. He notices how you start to position yourself in a fighting stance, your hand tightening around your wand handle.

“Well, yeah. Wouldn’t you like someone you could-“

“What I would like, Newton,” you say, pointing your wand at him to emphasize your point, “is for people to stop pointing out the height difference between George and I.”

You buzz with the rush of adrenaline fighting gives you, not caring that you cut him off nor realizing who you have as an audience. All you care about in the moment is how annoyed you are at Alec and everyone else who has ever said you and George aren’t going to work out because of the height difference.

“There is more to our relationship than just our heights. In fact there’s more to us as people than just our heights. If you can’t see past that then I feel really sorry for how much of a ignorant worm you truly are.”

“But-“

“And truthfully, our relationship is of no bloody concern to you now is it? We’re not dating you, you mangy dragon, we’re dating each other.” You point out, waving your wand around animatedly to make your point.

“And furthermore, what makes you think I would go out with you of all people?” You hiss, pointing your wand directly at his throat as if threatening to cut off his head.

“You’re annoying and rude. You go around telling people that their boyfriend doesn’t deserve them when you know absolutely nothing about the relationship to begin with.”

“You pretend you’re some big hotshot that all the girls want, but in all reality you’re a sorry excuse of a wizard. You barely pay attention to classes, you can’t tell the difference between dittany and gillyweed, and your spell casting is so weak I’m surprised you can even cast lumos.” You continue, not giving him a chance to speak as you continue waving your wand around as you talk.

“I-I’m sorry.” He states, a bit scared at how harsh you’ve become as well as how you’re carelessly waving your wand around. He’s well aware of how intelligent you are and knows that you could jinx him without really thinking about it.

“Oh you’re sorry? Well that’s just great for you, isn’t it? You wouldn’t have to be if you hadn’t opened your bloody mouth to begin with now would you?”

“You’re lucky I don’t hex you right here on the spot for being such an annoying rotten mandrake. If I ever hear you saying George doesn’t deserve me again, I will not hesitate to vanish you from existence. You understand me, Newton?” You threaten, your wand at his throat.

“Understood, y/l/n. Again, I’m really sorry.” He says, visibly shaking at the threat of being hexed.

“Now get out of my sight before I change my mind and hex you anyway. I don’t want to hear from you again, and I better not hear anything about George from you either or I will personally hunt you down and kill you myself.”

“Y-yes. You won’t hear anything, I promise.” He stutters, hurrying away the second you lift your wand from his throat.

Once he’s run off you sigh, trying to calm yourself down. You relax your shoulders and run your hand through your hair.

“You’d really hex that ‘ignorant worm’ for me?” You hear George chuckle from beside you, jumping as you didn’t realize he had been there.

“Y-you heard all of that?” You ask, blushing as you’ve never let George see you get angry. You didn’t like when you did. You’d much rather try to keep the peace and fight only when absolutely necessary.

“Heard and watched it, princess.” He smiled, pulling you into his side, ruffling your hair a bit.

“Oh Merlin. I’m sorry, George. He just- he was being so annoying. Has been for weeks.” You sigh, trying to justify you threatening him.

“No need to apologize, princess. I thought it was pretty hot myself.” He smiles, watching as you look up and blush at his words, your eyes wide at the statement.

“I never realized just how feisty my girlfriend is, and I have to admit I quite like it.”

“Seriously George?” You groan, feeling like he was just teasing you now. You start to pull away from him to walk back towards the common room.

“Seriously!” He chuckles, grabbing a hold of your hand and pulling you back to face him.

“I’m glad you think I deserve you, if you didn’t I’d start questing how good of a boyfriend I really am.” He jokes, causing you to roll your eyes at him.

“But in all seriousness, princess, that was really hot and I’m glad your mine. It’s nice to know someone loves me enough to threaten to hunt a fellow classmate to his death for me. I love you.” He smiles, pulling you in for a kiss.

“I love you too, George. More than you know,” you smile letting him kiss you again.

#george weasley #george wealsey imagine #harry potter fluff #harry potter #harry potter imagine #hogwarts #hogwarts era #fluff #george weasley x reader #imagines #oneshots #request

398 notes · View notes

ascalonianpicnic · 3 years

Text

so the twisted marionette is back and it seems like a good time for this~ @mystery-salad requested I do an essay on Scarlet and discrimination in STEM so~

Warning: discussions of sexism, racism, and ableism. If I got anything wrong (in terms of real world issues) or was disrespectful in any way about certain subjects please let me know

Hey, let's talk about Scarlet Briar.

More specifically, I wanna talk about Ceara, and how she became Scarlet Briar. Because I'm a gay mathematician and former computer science major, and I think Scarlet is cool.

So let's start here. STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) is a heavily male dominated set of fields and career paths. A few decades back in the real world, there was this deep set societal belief, at least in western society, that cis women were just "worse" at STEM related things like math and chemistry. It's not as visible of an issue now, but, like I said, STEM fields are still really male dominated, and that's because STEM fields still have a massive issue with sexism. Women have full on left the field due to the sexism they faced in workplaces in just the last decade. Trans women in STEM share really interesting and important personal accounts about how before transitioning, they were treated with respect, offered high level jobs, and entrusted with loads of responsibility, and how post transition, despite having even more experience, are offered significantly lower level jobs, worse pay, and are all around treated like they know less. STEM has a sexism problem.

So, why is this important to Scarlet? Well, her backstory and her life before Omadd's Machine actually tie in to this real world issue in a really fascinating way. It's about Respect. And Scarlet's story is about how she was denied respect over and over, because she was a sylvari, because she was a woman, and because she was neurodivergent. Let's talk about Ceara.

Ceara was a sylvari secondborn, and an engineer from the start. She emerged from the Pale Tree when her race was still brand new to the world and largely unknown. She spent 8 years of her life studying all the Grove had to offer her about mechanics and nature and the universe. She was born curious and as such, was determined to learn everything and anything she could get her hands on. After her time in the Grove, Ceara left, off to find new teachers and extend her knowledge further. After the Grove cane Beigarth, a famed norn smith. He gladly took Ceara under his wing, seeing her genius and potential. For a year, she trained under him, his best student. Then, much to his dismay, she left, feeling she had learned all he could offer about what she wanted to know. She moved south, going to study under iron legion gladium and demolitionist Asagai. Asagai was an old charr, and it took some convincing on Ceara's end, but she eventually took the sylvari in and taught her about gunsmithing and artillery. And after two years, Ceara moved on again, this time heading for Rata Sum and its colleges.

The asura of Rata Sum did Not like Ceara. She had to fight to be allowed to study at the colleges. She won in the end, being admitted into the college of Dynamics. Within a year, she finished the course work, and, feeling like she was finally getting somewhere, she applied again, this time getting admitted to Statics. Two years and two colleges down, at the top of her class both times, Scarlet still wanted more. The Arcane council was curious now if she could keep this streak up, so they let her enter Synergetics. This was what she had been looking for, and she got deep into her studies, taking her time. The Arcane council was unimpressed with her work at best. While not driven from the colleges, she found herself being walked off and looked down on more and more, so she sought other sources. These other sources, both of knowledge and support, came from the inquest, and it wasn't long before she fell in deep. It didn't last, however. When the krewe she was working with ran into trouble, she was abandoned as a scapegoat, and thrown out of the asuran colleges. She wandered on her own for a while, taking the time to study alchemy with the michotl hylek, but mostly keeping to herself. Until Omadd found her, pulled her back into his personal research, and, with her help, built Omadd's machine. Once it was finished, Ceara walked in, and Scarlet walked out.

Sexism in STEM means that people perceived as female are often perceived as knowing or understanding less than they actually do. It's because of this that you'll find young cis male students in STEM classes trying to correct or speak over their female presenting professors. It's why you'll find men at science conferences telling the women presenting for certain topics that they don't seem to understand the topic they're covering or grasp the basics that well, and then recommending or referencing books and research papers written by these women. It means that women will often be overlooked for internships, research positions, and grants. And that is the sort of thing Scarlet faced as a young woman trying to learn everything she could. She had to work for the apprenticeships she could get, and with Beigarth, despite how highly he thought of her, she had to work harder to prove she was ready for more each step of the way. Finding anyone to teach her at all among the charr was a struggle, until an older woman took her in. And no one in Rata Sum took her seriously.

There was more than just the fact that Scarlet was a woman at play with Rata Sum though. As stated, STEM has a bad sexism problem. But that's not all. STEM isn't just mostly men, but also mostly white men, and as such, the fields have a bit of a racism problem as well. Personally, I can only speak so much to this as I myself am white, have never faced racism, and never will face racism. I do know that the intelligence, skill, and effort of people of color goes largely unacknowledged. They will be denied the same opportunities and respect that their white peers receive, and their work and contributions will be ignored, exploited, and stolen.

Racism in Tyria isn't the same as it is in the real world, though it is still present there, and prevalent. And it is something Scarlet has to face and struggle with repeatedly as a sylvari. The sylvari are young and new to Tyria. Because of this, the other prominent groups all tend to think of sylvari as innocent, ignorant, and overly naive. The asura are especially bad about this. They already think of themselves as the smartest of Tyria's inhabitants, above everyone else. And when they first encounter the sylvari, the asura refuse to believe this new group could even be sentient. So, when 11 year old Ceara shows up at the colleges, the Arcane Council and the asura in general doubt she could possibly understand asuran studies. She's a sylvari, after all, and just a girl on top of that. There's surely no way she could keep up.

So when this young sylvari girl finishes at the top of her class in just a year, not once but twice, the Arcane council is intrigued. They don't respect her. They don't hold her work in high esteem. But they do want to know if this is some sort of fluke or if she can do it again. So she's admitted into the third and final college, and when she gets caught up in her studies, genuinely interested and invested in what she's learning and wanting to take her time to take it all in, the Council is disappointed. Never mind that Scarlet has already done what no other non-asura has. She took too long doing what she loved, learning, so the Council dismisses her, and dismisses her hard work. Her theories are looked down upon and ignored, and she is left with only support from Omadd, who can use her and her theories for his own gain, and the inquest. Omadd and the inquest make her feel valued and respected. The inquest let's her try anything she wants, it lets her really explore the fields of study she's most drawn to. The inquest makes sure to profit off her hard work and, when it comes down to it, the inquest leaves her to take the fall for everything. It's easy, after all, to pin the blame on someone already so looked down on by the society she's in. Scarlet is kicked out of the colleges and the city. She loses her access to information, her belongings, and even her own research and findings. All her hard work, taken from her because the inquest was more than glad to use a sylvari.

And then of course, there's Omadd. He was glad to have Scarlet as a lab assistant, and endlessly fascinated by and supportive of her work. So once she's gone from Rata Sum, he leaves too, taking her research and starting on his own personal project. He gets stuck, he seeks Scarlet out, and he convinces her to help him again. Once Scarlet is back on board, the project goes smoothly and the two construct Omadd's Machine. Omadd's. Despite being built off Scarlet's theories and research, despite her being integral to the construction of this machine, it's Omadd's and it carries his name. Funny how that happens, isn't it? And once the machine is up and running, he thinks Scarlet should test it first. Who knows what could happen in there, better to leave it up to the assistant to try it out, and frame it as her getting the honor of the first try. As we all know, it goes poorly. Scarlet learns so much more, all the knowledge she had been seeking for over a decade, but in return, the seeds of Mordremoth are planted in her mind and slowly take over, destroying her.

Now Scarlet, who has been used and devalued and disrespected and infantilized every step of the way, her whole life, is going to start tearing down the things that held her back for so long. She just needs a plan, and with the help of a certain sleeping dragon, one begins to form.

There's something I glossed over earlier that is so important to note, and that's how Scarlet was treated in the Grove. Now, it's been stated explicitly by Scott McGough, a narrative designer for the fame, that Scarlet emerged with lacking empathy. Low empathy doesn't make Scarlet, or anyone, a bad person. It's sometimes a symptom of autism, as well as some personality disorders, and it does affect how Scarlet is treated. As an autistic person myself, Scarlet very much reads as autistic to me, between low empathy, a one track mind, and an intense special interest in the universe and its mechanics. She has a hard time connecting with others, is easily bored by subjects that don't relate back to her special interest, can focus intently on and get caught up in her work, and doesn't really get social graces or expectations. Regardless of any diagnosis she would have if she existed in our world, Scarlet is treated differently due to her low empathy, a trait she cannot help about herself.

From the moment she emerges in the Grove, she is treated differently. She is talked down to. Her desire to take in her first sights and how it overwhelms her is dismissed as overconfidence and rudeness. Her own brother, barely older than her, talks like he knows so much more than her. Scarlet is an outsider among her own people. How does it feel to have low empathy among a race connected to each other deeply through empathy? Probably not great. Her studies in the Grove are limited, she is treated as rude and prideful for wanting to be independent and needing space. Rather than being accommodated, rather than being understood, Scarlet is infantilized, dismissed, and disregarded. She isn't neurotypical. She was born different. She's punished for it.

When she emerges from Omadd's Machine, made from her own hard work and creativity, Scarlet Briar is a young woman who has frequently been overlooked and rarely understood. All these thoughts and ideas, all this passion, and the only people who have ever even seemed to understand her have used and betrayed her so thoroughly. Scarlet Briar has always had to look out for and take care of herself, as a woman, as a sylvari, as someone who is neurodivergent and is in a field that doesn't respect a single aspect of her identity. The world won't accommodate her and the world won't take her seriously. So why shouldn't she show the world what she can do? Why not force everyone to recognize her for who she is? Why not give in just a little to that voice that has been calling to her in her nightmares since she left the machine? After all, it promises power and recognition and a sense of belonging.

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #scarlet briar #my essays #anyway uvu

39 notes · View notes

marimo-o · 3 years

Text

ok so im making a long ass post about Abzu (the game) within the context of mesopotamian mythology because I'm insane. It's gonna be a doozy and likely incomprehensible so <3 below the cut it goes! There's gonna be TONS of spoilers for the game, and, like, I guess for the mesopotamian creation epic, so. Play Abzu if you haven't and if you wanna read the Enuma Elish that's also cool. Good for u

(a note from afterwards: it's long. like, REALLY fucking long, holy shit. if you actually want to read the whole thing, be. prepared or something idk take breaks! the last two paragraphs (i know they're walls of text pls bear with me) contain most of the important information. like, the final hurrah of my brain after working on this for multiple hours! So if u wanna save time and avoid some of the redundancy, just skip to those last two <3)

So "Abzu" referred to two things; the fresh water people got from underground aquifers (also as the void-sea which was underneath the Sumerian underworld, Kur), and the deity; he only appeared in the creation story, Enuma Elish, because a big part of that whole thing was that oh no! He dies! And that's also a thing I'm gonna touch on (sorry about the lack of accent marks in advance, it's not available on my current keyboard^ ^;)

I'm gonna start off with a brief tale of what happened with Abzu the deity, and then move onto how both the deity and the concept relate to the game!

So like I mentioned, Abzu the deity only really appears in the creation myth. The story goes that the Primordial Soup divided into two beings, with Abzu representing the freshwater and Tiamat being the saltwater. They were married, and together birthed some of the first formative gods! Some of these gods, jealous of Abzu's power convinced Tiamat to kill him (or, I thought it was started by Tiamat growing resentful of the younger gods, one of those). Either way, Abzu was killed, and Tiamat ended up lashing out, creating the first "dragons", or perhaps becoming one herself; with "poison instead of blood". She is killed by Marduk, the god of storms and the child of Enki (one of the first gods created by Abzu and Tiamat), and from her body the heavens and the earth are formed. Imagine getting killed by ur grandson lol cringe /j

Now! The waters itself! This also brings Enki into the equation, who kinda took over as god of the waters in place of his dead father. He's also the god of creation, intelligence, crafts, mischief, and more! Very important guy.

Abzu refers to both the groundwater reservoirs that people depended on for both accessible clean water and for some agricultural work, and also to the void-sea beneath the underworld, where it is said that Enki rests. He had a temple at Eridu, a now-ruined city, and I remember hearing somewhere that he lived in a temple in an underground aquifer? But I can't find wherever I read that anymore so don't take my word for it. Anyway, the basics of Enki as a deity is: child of Tiamat and Abzu, widely worshipped in his time, god of the waters, generally a cool and important dude.

And now. Finally. We move onto the game. My head hurts.

So, for a quick (post-writing: lol it's not quick) overview of the game; you play as a funny little diver, who woke up in the middle of the ocean and, as the player, are given no clues as to who or what you are. You explore through the ocean levels peacefully at first, and with the guidance of a scarred shark (painted as a bit of an antagonist at first with the audio cues) you make your way to wells at the bottom-center of each level that revitalize the space around them; as they progress, many levels start out as barren, empty landscapes that give you a foreboding, nervous feeling going in, before using an energy from yourself to rekindle the life. Huge coral growths, seaweed, and a myriad of ocean animals spring to life. The player character can also ride on the sides of the bigger ones! The game also puts a big stress on unity between yourself and the environment; there's not a whole lot you can physically interact with, but you can play with the animals there and, like I said before, ride on some of the larger animals. There are also "meditation spots", statues where you can sit and explore the wildlife from more of their point of view, able to follow them seamlessly and see what the different kinds of fish and such are called. It's a calming experience, and really the most interaction you get with some of the more timid animals, letting you still see them up close even if you can't get there as the player character.

The story of the game is told via writings on the walls, which you can light up and access by solving small puzzles regarding connecting reservoirs of glowing waters, similar to that of the almost cosmic area you go to between levels; one thing I read described it as a kind of "rebirth area", which I can definitely see hehe!

At the end of the game, you've held the shark in its dying moments, you've discovered a strange factory that builds the weird triangular prisms that deliver anything that touches them a shock, the little flashlight dudes that you've found over the levels, and little divers that uncannily resemble yourself, and you've seen yourself disassembled to your funny little mechanical skeleton, weak and slow as you try to walk on land, before you are rebirthed from the void-cosmic-water area once again, fully yourself. There's a wonderful ending sequence where you swim through all these rivers, bringing life with you as you go, with the shark once again by your side. The whole game, you saw no land when you poked your head above water, just miles and miles of water, but you've travelled far enough to reach a reservoir. You cut the chains to a central triangular prism, and it grows over with moss. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it, really, it feels like such a... grand gesture as you play through it. It feels personal.

Okay. Theory time. Finally, we're getting into the meat of it. Fucking hell.

So, imagine that you are this being. You're wandering an oceanic wonderland, observing and caring for what you need to, doing as any good little diver should. After a bit of poking around, you discover the start of the engravings on the walls; they tell the story of the people that were here before you, who built these temples and halls and used, or at least stored, the strange blue glowing "water" that you connect and move. It's a water of life, of sorts, one that they truly valued. You come to an impasse between areas, and this massive, scarred-up shark cuts in front of you. You're gonna stay hidden, that thing is terrifying! You try not to move. It doesn't spot you, or at least doesn't move to attack you. However, once it's safely out of view, you do follow it, and it leads you to a dark, desolate, empty chamber. This is wrong, you think to yourself. This isn't how it should be. There's a well, towards the bottom, and you approach it, taking... a fragment of light, from your chest, and imbuing that spark of life into the well. And, lo and behold, that intuition proved helpful, because the world around you springs back to life. Congratulations! You did it! And you continue to, as you work past puzzles and challenges and the appearance of these strange triangular mechanisms, that shock you when you get too close. These people worshipped a shark, as well, likely the same as the one you saw; the guide, now old and scarred, that brings you to where that spark is needed. Even later in the game, you see depictions of the triangular mechanisms, at first heralded as a positive, before these things are found to be the reason for this society's collapse. As if that wasn't perplexing enough, you see a depiction of a being that appears suspiciously similar to yourself, once again treated with reverence from the past civilization. In their hand is a ball of light, similar to the one shown when you revitalize the oceanic chambers. Well, that's certainly odd, you think to yourself. Perhaps this was a being that postponed the death of the civilization, or first allowed for those small chambers of life to exist in captivity instead of the open, natural landscapes you explored at the start. Regardless, it's now a relic of something long gone; but it still gives you something to think about. Later on, that strange coincidence of your similarities to that person are explained; you find a manufacturing plant, full of the vicious triangular mechanisms in each tight hallway, and right at the center of it all... multiple iterations of yourself, running down an assembly line, a spark not unlike what you saw before imbued into each of them. My, look at that; you've been responsible for part of this destruction all along, haven't you? Borne from that same ill that has been forcibly removing that spark from each of the places you've gone to. A bit inconsiderate of you, no? And yet... look at all the good you've done. You've rebirthed, revitalized, purified these ocean fragments, is that not enough? You are the keeper of these waters, regardless of the evil you had come from, despite the terrifying empty things may have reverted to. You, who trusted and followed the shark that seemed so scary at first. You, who followed it as it tried to attack a source of the evil, of the thing that was draining the oceans of their life. You, who held and comforted that shark as it lay dying, despite any fear you may have had. You, who attempted to traverse a minefield of those triangular machines, shocked over and over again and at the final moment, unable to make it to the finish line. You, who was rebirthed in full regardless by the oceans you'd cared for, by the void-sea you always returned to, to rest. You, who traversed a now-ruined citadel, temple, all of which had been flooded and had been dedicated to you. You, who brought life with you.

I hope you see what I'm getting at here. You're serving as a figure not unlike Enki, god and guardian of the waters. In the wake of Abzu, the avatar of the fresh waters, now confined to irrigation canals so as not to kill the younger gods, Tiamat lashes out. Her husband is dead, as far as she is concerned, and she goes to those younger gods to seek her revenge. The dragon, that which sucked the life from the seas and poisoned the waters. That which Marduk killed, to carve new life from. I would say that the shark is Marduk, even; given how the shark is the only one who is openly on the offense to those mechanisms, and who comes in at the endgame to finish them off, bringing new life with it. Even in how it all shapes up with the civilization before, in connection to the constructs; Tiamat was the mother of all in existence at that time. She was surely loved; but she turned hostile and violent. She could no longer be safely loved. And Abzu, both the glowing water we use to open doors and the light that we hold and the deep void-sea we enter between levels and father to all in existence, he was confined to small canals and reservoirs and put in a deep sleep so that he would not kill his own children. And by you, no less. Enki put him there. That is why you can use that water from the start; you lived in the Abzu, you came from it, and each time, that is where you return. That temple, now submerged and decrepit, is Eridu; the place where Enki was most worshipped. The other diver clones are the other gods, or perhaps the "dragons", now, that Tiamat had mothered. The smaller prisms definitely count in that "dragon" category; purely harmful beings that seek to destroy life. And in the end, indeed, you restore life; you and your son, upon killing Tiamat, return life to the world from her body. Perhaps you could not save those who once worshipped you, perhaps those structures will forever be in ruin. But there is no more danger, now; there is space to build and replenish. There is space to grow.

Fuck ok that was long as hell. Hi if u made it this far i love u. god fucking damn im never writing anything again after this. it took about as long as a full playthrough of the game, coincidentally!!

#my writing #abzû #abzu #giant squid studios #ancient history #the moss mumbles #im not joking this is horrible. like it's all just word vomit about sumerian legend -> the game -> the game again (but in second person)#and THEN we get to The Point. god christ

50 notes · View notes

tigerkirby215 · 2 years

Text

5e Bard, the Wandering Caretaker build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Evan “Somnicidal” Monteiro. Made for Riot Games.)

From the studio that brought you “Warlock build with no Warlock levels” and “Rogue with no Rogue levels” comes “Bard build with no Bard levels!”

Bard’s a weird champ because he’s so iconic but he looks nothing like what’s standard in League. So do we praise Bard for his uniqueness or criticize him for being so unlike everything else? Well most people like him and so do I; he has a very unique charm to him that I haven’t seen any other game recreate.

Something something Studio Ghibli but I completely understand the desire to play a strange, wandering protector of the world.

GOALS

Traveler's Call - We need to be able to leave gifts for our friends, and have friends traveling with us!

Magical Journey - Walking through walls and disappearing from lane will make you much more unique than the other supports. Shame you can’t fly though.

Tempered Fate - If either your enemies or your allies are being disruptive you can put them in time out while you collect your chimes.

RACE

There aren’t many otherworldly races for our otherworldly caretaker assuming we don’t use the Astral Elf UA which doesn’t really fit anyways but not everyone can be a Variant Human or Custom Lineage, can they? The Kalashtar are a race I don’t use often and they fit Bard decently well. You get two points in Wisdom and while I’d like an extra point in Intelligence with Tasha’s rules more Charisma isn’t going to kill you.

The strange Dual Mind of a wandering caretaker gives you advantage on all Wisdom saves, and your Mental Discipline gives you resistance to Psychic damage too! Additionally you are Severed from Dreams, meaning that while you can be put to sleep you can’t be affected by spells like Dream which... require you to Dream. Yeah I’ll tell you right now this ability affects like 3 abilities in the entirety of Dungeons & Dragons, but it’s still cool!

What is more useful however is your Mind Link: You can speak telepathically to any creature you can see, provided they are within a number of feet equal to 10 times your level. You don’t need to share a language but the creature must be able to understand at least one language. When you use this ability to speak to a creature beyond Ｂａｒｄ　ｎｏｉｓｅｓ you can use your action to give them the ability to speak back telepathically for 1 hour or until you end the effect as an action. To use this ability, the creature must be able to see you and must be within this trait’s range, and you can only give this ability to only one creature at a time too.

In essence this was a very long and complicated way to say “you can type ‘brb grabbing chimes’ in team chat to explain what you’re doing beyond bleeps and bloops.” Oh and speaking of languages you do get one which you can speak beyond Common: I’d opt for Celestial since... well, you are one?

If you insist on making Bard Custom Lineage: Focus on Intelligence and probably give him Darkvision. Honestly there aren’t many feats I want but Gift of the Metallic Dragon actually fits Bard decently well, giving him some Intelligence-based healing capabilities along with some defense with the Guardian rune for your ADC (or yourself.) Alternatively just take Warcaster or Resilient CON idk.

ABILITY SCORES

15; INTELLIGENCE - Bard has some forbidden cosmic knowledge about the universe that allows him to know what to grab and where to go to grab it, clearly.

14; WISDOM - Is that knowledge Intelligence or Wisdom? Better to get both just to be safe.

13; DEXTERITY - Something something Medium... hey wait a minute this isn’t enough for Medium armor!

12; CONSTITUTION - Bard isn’t exactly a tanky support but you do generally build him with tank items.

10; CHARISMA - You’re cute enough but you don’t really talk...?

8; STRENGTH - Most of the magical trinkets you’re grabbing are small and probably stored somewhere safe.

BACKGROUND

The Hermit background exists almost exclusively for a mysterious wanderer who knows too much. Both Medicine and Religion proficiency make perfect sense for Bard, and hey: you can grab that Horn of yours to call your meeps. (And you can learn a language too I guess.)

Hermit is admittedly a bit of a bitch to play because of their Discovery background feature. Basically before the campaign starts all your Magical Journies gave you some insight towards upcoming events that may or may not be of importance. (But probably are.) The Hermit background is basically an elaborate way for the DM to give you plot spoilers and while it can be tough for a DM to manage you as a player get to enjoy the benefits of good warding and knowing where the next dangerous magical artifact will be!

(Artwork by Lucas Parolin and West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - DRUID 1

Starting off as a Druid (the caretakers of the world) for armor proficiencies, as well as proficiency with Arcana and Perception to see magical trinkets and know what they are. You can also read and write Druidic, beeps and boops only other Druids can understand. And finally of course you get Spellcasting!

You learn 2 cantrips from the Druid list like Guidance and Druidcraft, to help both the world and its people. You can also prepare four spells like Cure Wounds and Healing Word to help your ADC in the early game, Entangle to root your foes together, and Detect Magic to... detect magic...

LEVEL 2 - DRUID 2

Second level Druids get to choose their circle and Circle of Dreams Druids are good supports, with Balm of the Summer Court to heal a target within 120 feet as a bonus action. You have a number of d6s equal to your Druid level, and can use a number of these d6s up to half your Druid level when healing allies. And the best part is they also gain 1 temporary hitpoint for every die you use!

You also get Wild Shape to turn into animals. “But Bard doesn’t turn into animals!” Have you ever seen him not turn into animal? But honestly this makes a decent amount of sense for Bard and we need other abilities from Druid more, so just accept the flavor weirdness of being able to turn into a cat. But if you don’t want to turn into a cat you can get your meeps with Wild Companion, using one of your Wild Shape charges to cast Find Familiar without material components. The familiar has to be a Fey, but you can always have a little buddy with you to empower your attacks.

You can also prepare another spell but we’re going to wait for...

LEVEL 3 - DRUID 3

Third level Druids can prepare second level spells like Healing Spirit for your Caretaker’s Shrines, granted they can move around and heal more than once. (Even if they got nerfed since the release of Xanathar’s.) You can also grab Hold Person for a Cosmic Binding on a foe.

LEVEL 4 - DRUID 4

4th level Druids get the first Ability Score Improvement: seeing as we have an uneven DEX score take +1 to your Dexterity and +1 to your Constitution, to move that uneven DEX to CON.

You can also prepare another spell, and learn another cantrip! For your cantrip take Mending to keep the artifacts you find in prime condition, and for your leveled spell Pass Without Trace will help you move out of vision while ganking and collecting chimes.

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 5 - WIZARD 1

Swapping over to Wizard now you get more Spellcasting: 3 cantrips and 6 leveled spells to be precise.

CANTRIPS

Mage Hand can help you grab chimes in hard-to-reach areas.

Mind Sliver is a great cantrip for a support, dealing damage while also making foes weaker to your allies’ attacks.

Shocking Grasp will give you some melee defense, and your Find Familiar meeps can cast it for some devastating pseudo-ranged attacks!

SPELLS

Feather Fall can help if you or your allies slip when someplace high.

Grease is a great non-lethal way to slow down your foes while you grab important artifacts.

Identify will help you... identify artifacts.

Shield is always useful for some defense.

Tenser’s Floating Disk is useful to move things around.

Unseen Servant will give you some magical aid as a caretaker.

You also get Arcane Recovery equal to half your Wizard level. The ability is worded better than I ever could and I don’t want to copy-paste text so just read it from there please.

LEVEL 6 - WIZARD 2

Second level Wizards get to choose their Arcane Tradition and Chronurgy Magic actually fits Bard surprisingly well for a number of reasons down the line.

If your DM doesn’t allow Chronurgy then honestly any Wizard subclass works within reason. I’d personally opt for Order of Scribes as you can reflavor a lot of the abilities from that subclass as Bard-like abilities. (Bard-like being “Bard the character” not “Bard the class.”)

For now you have Temporal Awareness for a boost to initiative equal to your Intelligence modifier, and you can temper fate with Chronal Shift, forcing a reroll on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw within 30 feet as a reaction.

You can also learn subclass-specific spells like Gift of Alacrity to aid your allies onto the battlefield. Alternatively when you need to enter the battlefield yourself Protection from Evil and Good will keep you safe from any supernatural powers while you gather chimes.

LEVEL 7 - WIZARD 3

3rd level Wizards get 2nd level spells like Suggestion and Vortex Warp, for both an indirect and direct way to keep people away (or move allies to safety) while you gather chimes.

LEVEL 8 - WIZARD 4

4th level Wizards get another Ability Score Improvement, and seeing as you’re focusing on Wizard levels now more Intelligence would be beneficial.

You can also learn two more spells and a new cantrip! For your cantrip Chill Touch is useful if you need some antiheal. As for leveled spells Ray of Enfeeblement is a good way to Exhaust a foe, and See Invisibility will help you search for wards or Evelynn.

(Artwork by lee989y on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 9 - WIZARD 5

5th level Wizards learn 3rd level spells like Blink for a somewhat inconsistent way to travel between planes. If you want something more reliable however Counterspell is always useful to keep your friends alive.

LEVEL 10 - WIZARD 6

6th level Chronurgy Wizards can put enemies into a Momentary Stasis, which is like forcing them to fat-finger their Zhonya's Hourglass. You can force a Constitution saving throw on a large or smaller creature within 60 feet of you to put them into stasis. They’re not immune to damage though, and in fact if they take any damage they’ll be snapped out of it. But stopping someone in place for a moment can help your team set up for a kill.

You can also learn 2 new spells like Glyph of Warding to defend relics even when you’re not there, and Tiny Servant for some help from the meeps... or your chimes!

LEVEL 11 - WIZARD 7

7th level Wizards learn 4th level spells like Banishment to properly Temper your foes Fate (stopping them from moving or being attacked), and Dimension Door for a 2-person for a Magical Journey.

LEVEL 12 - WIZARD 8

8th level Wizards get another Ability Score Improvement, which means you can finally max out your Intelligence modifier! That means the best Wizard DC you can get, and more spells prepared. Speaking of prepared spells we’re going to quickly hop back down to 2nd level for Locate Object, which will help you find artifacts. And you can take Arcane Eye. For Wards.

(Artwork by Kelly Aleshire. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 13 - WIZARD 9

9th level Wizards can learn 5th level spells which means you can finally grab Passwall to remove a wall so both enemies and allies can walk through it. If you don’t want people asking questions about your work then Modify Memory will simply allow them to forget who took their magical super-weapon.

LEVEL 14 - WIZARD 10

10th level Chronurgy Wizards can put their magical trinkets to good use with Arcane Abeyance. You can store a spell of 4th level or lower into a bead for one hour. During that hour an ally can activate it as an action to cast a spell as if you had casted it!

There’s plenty of good spells you can store into this bead: Banishment is never bad and neither is Dimension Door. Blink and an upcasted Hold Person are also great. And if you picked up any other spells on your travels consider them too!

Speaking of spells you can learn two more, along with a cantrip! For your cantrip Minor Illusion might not fool much at this level, but it will still allow you to distract people while you usher your meeps around. As for spells if you need some offensive power Animate Objects is in-character and quite powerful. Alternatively Rary's Telepathic Bond will let you keep your whole team in team chat.

LEVEL 15 - WIZARD 11

11th level Wizards can learn 6th level spells like Arcane Gate for probably the longest range and most one-to-one version of Bard’s Magical Journey, and Globe of Invulnerability will protect you and your allies from magical dangers.

LEVEL 16 - WIZARD 12

12th level Wizards get another Ability Score Improvement and honestly: we’ve been sitting on that uneven Constitution score forever by this point. It’s about time to take Resilient Constitution to stop losing Concentration. Could’ve taken this earlier but I felt like maxing out Intelligence was more important for the average player.

And more spells time! True Seeing will give you... true sight to see anything that’s hidden or otherwise disguised, and Guards and Wards will create... guards and wards as a more permanent solution to defend anything important.

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 17 - DRUID 5

I took all those levels in Wizard because I felt that getting Arcane Gate was more important for the build than abilities that are arguably better in the early game. That being said I do still want the 6th level of Dreams Druid so you can enjoy 3rd level Druid spells for now like Revivify (ty Tasha’s.) I mean someone probably already has this spell but this point, but it’s still useful to have as backup.

LEVEL 18 - DRUID 6

The reason I wanted the 6th level of Dreams Druid is because Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow fits Bard well. +5 to Stealth and Perception while at a campfire makes sense for the caretaker, and honestly if I was playing Bard in a lower level campaign I’d probably opt for Druid over Wizard if I couldn’t get Arcane Gate. That being said this build might be better with 16 levels of Wizard idk.

And finally you can learn another spell like Meld Into Stone, so you can go on your own journey hidden from the outside world.

LEVEL 19 - WIZARD 13

13th level Wizards can learn 7th level spells like Crown of Stars to get your meeps to surround you and fight for you. Alternatively Symbol requires a bit of setup but it’s probably the most accurate form of your ultimate we can get.

LEVEL 20 - WIZARD 14

14th level Chronurgy Wizards do what must be done, accessing a Convergent Future to ensure the safety of the world. When you or a creature you can see within 60 feet makes an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can use your reaction to ignore the die roll and decide to make the number rolled either the minimum needed to succeed, or one less than that number. When you do this you gain a level of Exhaustion, and that Exhaustion can only go away with a Long Rest. But sometimes a caretaker has to manipulate reality to save reality.

You can also learn your last 2 spells (assuming you don’t find more in the wild) and by this point I think you can take some utility spells: Teleport will let you take your party wherever you may be needed, and if that place is on another plane? Look no further than Plane Shift.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Rabadon's Deathcap - Your spells known may cap off at 7th level but your spell slots go all the way to 9th. No way to spin it: phenomenal cosmic power is useful no matter how you use it.

Zhonya's Hourglass - Unlike the average caster you can get back spell slots and bring out familiars after a Short Rest, making you far more versatile outside of using all-powerful magics.

Redemption - Sharing in the wealth of magic is always nice to have, and not only are you packed with supportive spells but you can also pass on a 4th level spell in a bead for a friend.

CONS

Vigilant Wardstone - You aren’t the best in head-on fights with a lot of utility spells as well as utility abilities. A support isn’t going to be dishing out DPS is all I’m saying.

Spellthief’s Edge - A Druid with only 16 Wisdom isn’t great. We can’t max out both spellcasting stats and even if you main focus is Wizard levels the 16 Wisdom still hurts your healing capabilities.

Anathema's Chains - Your health is subpar; likely a little over 100. Power Word Kill is deadly, which probably explains why you keep to the shadows as supports do.

But the universe only needs a little push from time to time to keep in shape. Edge your allies towards victory and your enemies towards defeat, all while making sounds only your allies understand to bring them comfort. Sure you may not sing songs or do dances but you’ll still be the best bard in your party’s mind. But... maybe you should tell them you aren’t actually a Bard.

(Artwork by Christian Fell. Made for Riot Games.)

Playing Bard at a lower level?

I will say right now that Dreams Druids get Hidden Paths at level 10 which is a fairly decent recreation of Bard’s E. I simply opted for Arcane Gate as a 6th level Wizard spell which mandated at least 11 levels in Wizard, meaning I wouldn’t have gotten Hidden Paths anyways.

If you want to play Bard in a low level campaign with more of a supportive focus I’d suggest straight Dreams Druid, with the main downside being that you can’t walk through as many walls. If you just want to focus on going wherever you want then go for full Wizard instead and enjoy spells like Passwall while also using the pseudo-supportive spells that Chronurgy provides.

#dnd #dnd 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #League of Legends #League of Legends Bard #not a dnd bard #dnd wizard #chimes #meeps #*o*

13 notes · View notes