#idk it’s really not necessary to read

[sunnykeysmash]

Man of words

[intotheelliwoods]

I have one more thing I want to work on before I get back into updating 2AL regularly, but until then......

[beeheevs]

sometimes, I'll be reading an atsv fic and come across one word or way of phrasing or encounter, and all of a sudden just know the author is black. on the flipside, sometimes writers will write in a certain way that makes it obvious they're decidedly not 💀

[sonknuxadow]

LESBIANISM WIN !!!!!!!!!!!

[piepiepiemag]

hehehhehe hehehehhehe wip for the montague fic i’m writing (and by wip i do mean this is the only part i have written lol)

inspired by the fact that no matter where i entered grand glaciers from he would always spawn kill me!!! ass!!

you’re a silly spy on an silly mission, getting caught by some silly french dude

MDNFNNFJFNN THE MONTY FIC!!!!

“Give your boss a call for me, will you?” - His voice sounded threatening, obviously not willing to take no for an answer. You didn’t even want to try. With your earpiece having been disassembled and laid out on his desk he had no choice but to grab your phone from the nearby table.

He leisurely walked up to it then brought it to where you were sitting. He reached behind you in an attempt to activate the fingerprint lock but you stopped him.

“Won’t work. My fingers are fried” - you sighed upon recalling the pain of having your fingerprints permanently removed. The scars were ugly too but it is what it is. You were a spy after all. Things like that were necessary. Just a part of the job.

He thought about it only for a second before holding the phone in front of your face, activating the face id system. It unlocked without a hitch and he started scrolling through the contacts.

“Under M. He’s the only one.” - you said as he followed your instructions. He swiped his finger on the screen a few times before finally settling on the one he needed.

“Midass?” - He raised an eyebrow and you would have laughed if it wasn’t for your current predicament. You just nodded.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

“Agent?” - on the fourth beep he finally picked up, his voice echoing through the room.

“Midas-” - you gasped out instinctively, almost falling over as you struggled to get closer to the phone, like reaching it would have saved you. You never thought you would be so happy just to hear his voice. You quickly stopped in your tracks as you felt the cold barrel of his gun press against the back of your head, as if to signal “stay in your lane”.

“I have something dear to you. If you want it back, i’d suggest getting it yourself. Come alone and unarmed.” - and with these simple instructions he hung up.

Shit. You should have know Montague didn’t want a ransom or anything superficial like that. Not only did you cause trouble for yourself but the agency and your boss too. You could only imagine the talk he would give you afterwards. Of course, you would have to return alive for that. And the chances of that were dropping lower and lower by the minute.

Would he even risk it to come and get you? Right now, you were as good as dead.

[coquelicoq]

dammit. loved the end of the traitor baru cormorant. which means i'm gonna read the sequel. save me from myself. AUGH.

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread    

Godkiller

High fantasy world where gods are outlawed after a devastating war

A god killing mercenary, a knight turned Baker, a 12yo girl and the little animal god-of-white-lies bonded to her, end up traveling together to the destroyed city at the centre of the conflict

queer & disabled characters

[zhuhongs]

just found out the lead singer of taiwans biggest death metal band is also an active parliament member since like 2015.... and is still active as a death metal singer. he's a pretty standard taiwanese center left anti communist from what i could gather. which like as a leftist i dont really agree with but i also dont know enough abt taiwanese politics to like make a full judgement. though he seems to be a standard liberal nothing remarkable, radical, or new, not overtly horrible but just bland. but that was something i definitely did Not expect. apparently he's very pro indigenous rights and self determination for indigenous people but being in a centre left mega party like the DPP does not seem like the best way to achieve that. But yea, just thought I'd share

[mythicaldemonart]

So, I've been frustrated with Monk in DnD for a long time and I finally decided to write out my own ideas on how to rework it to allow it to finally be a viable pick over the other martial classes. Just a quick disclaimer, this has not been playtested yet, and I'm posting it here cause I don't really know what else to do with it. This is also just the base Monk abilities, any subclasses will most likely need to be altered/reworked to fit a lot of the reworks.

Okay, I also want to start off by explaining my reasoning here for such a drastic overhaul.

So the problem with Monk in my eyes is that it's caught in a "worst of both worlds" where the class feels like its trying to be a pseudo-caster class and a martial class at the same time, both your martial and caster abilities cost ki, and the ki system itself is practically interchangeable with the spell slot system. And you can't really buff either side in a meaningful way because they are both right on the cusp of being really strong, and that could make a Monk overpowered. And simply giving them more ki, or more ki regen options is a stopgap solution that can fix some of the problems, but doesn't really address the core of the issue. As a martial class, Monk cannot deal as much damage with physical attacks as the other martial classes, whilst also generally being less tanky than those same classes. And as a caster, Monk is far less versatile and capable than other caster classes. And like even some of their abilities that allow them to more easily get out of dangerous situations are a little less useful when the Rogue can do it too and without needing ki points to boot. So a lot of the advantages of being a Dex based martial character are kinda negated when you can just play a Rogue instead and have all the same benefits with almost none of the caveats. So yeah, like I said, it's the worst of both worlds.

But more than that, the whole class lacks a certain amount of its own unique identity, mechanics-wise. Basically anything that you like about Monk in its current form exists in a more powerful, more polished form on a different class. Want to be fast and Dex based for stealth and sleight of hand shenanigans? Play a Rogue. Want to be a martial character with lots of versatility? Battlemaster fighter. Do you want to just hit things with your fist and facetank all the damage? Literally just play a Barbarian. Do you want focus almost solely on casting, with a spell-casting resource that comes back from a short rest, whilst also still having the option to run up and hit things? Well do I have a class for you, its called being a Warlock. So yeah, I came to the conclusion that the first thing that needed changing is the ki system, which is long-overdue a complete overhaul in how it works. It's just a really uninspired design now; it may have worked back when it was first created, but it doesn't anymore, and it's holding the rest of the class back at this point. Monk being one of the weakest classes in 5e is a widely known issue in the DnD community and you can't always just iterate your way out of such fundamental issues with a class. Sometimes big problems require big redesigns. Monks are a class that is all about speed; you move fast and you hit fast. So with a lot of aspects about Monks being designed around the theme of speed, I wanted to tie their kit together with a theme of Momentum. My idea is that Monks are also persistent fighters, who can get stronger as they fight and can also draw a seemingly endless amount of strength from within. And even when they should be at their physical limit and be unable to move, much less fight, through channelling their spirit into all of their movements and also sheer force of will, they still refuse to slow down. And I wanted to reflect that mechanically in their ki system, in a way that could allow their physical attacks to be useful to their kit, and allow their spells and abilities to be more powerful, without pushing them completely into "unbalanced" territory. Oh, I also made them start with ki at level 1, because it's really dumb to me that they don't. It's like a level 1 Wizard not having spell slots, or a level 1 Barbarian not having Rage; it's just such an important part of their kit and they should have access to it from the get go. So here's a rough framework of the levels and abilities:

Unarmoured Defense

Beginning at 1st level, while you are wearing no armour and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.

Martial Arts

Your practice of martial arts gives you mastery of combat styles that use unarmed strikes and monk weapons, which are shortswords and any simple melee weapons that don't have the two-handed or heavy property.

You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed or wielding only monk weapons and you aren't wearing armour or wielding a shield.

You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons.

You can roll a d4 in place of the normal damage of your unarmed strike or monk weapon. This die changes as you gain monk levels: At 5th level it changes to a d6, at 11th level it becomes a d8, and at 17th level it becomes a d10.

When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. For example, if you take the Attack action and attack with a quarterstaff, you can also make an unarmed strike as a bonus action, assuming you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn.

Certain monasteries use specialized forms of the monk weapons. For example, you might use a club that is two lengths of wood connected by a short chain (called a nunchaku) or a sickle with a shorter, straighter blade (called a kama).

Ki

Starting at level 1, your training allows you to harness the mystic energy of ki. Your access to this energy is represented by a number of ki points. The number of ki points you start with is equal to your Wisdom modifier. You regain ki points upto a number equal to your Wisdom modifier whenever you have a short or long rest. You can spend these points to fuel various ki features. You start knowing three such features: Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind. You learn more ki features as you gain levels in this class.

Wearing armour of any kind, or equipping a shield weighs you down considerably and prevents you from opening your ki pathways. You cannot spend ki points whilst you are wearing armour, or using a shield. Some of your ki features require your target to make a saving throw to resist the feature's effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

Ki save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier

Flurry of Blows. Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.

Patient Defense. You can spend 1 ki points to take the Dodge action as a bonus action on your turn.

Step of the Wind. You can spend 1 ki points to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn, and your jump distance is doubled for the turn.

Ki Flows

Starting at 2nd level you gain the following:

Momentum strike. You gain a deeper understanding of ki and how it flows through your body, consecutively hitting enemies with your attacks allows you to open your ki pathways and channel more spiritual energy in the heat of battle. When you hit an enemy/enemies with two or more unarmed strikes or Monk weapon attacks, you may gain 1 ki point for each successful hit. Any ki points you gain from this ability lasts until either spent or until you have a short or long rest. Ki-Fatigue. You have the capability to gain frightening amounts of momentum on the battlefield, but you’re not a perpetual-motion machine, even birds that can fly non-stop for days need to rest at some point and you are no exception to this. You have a safe maximum number of ki points you can gain from Momentum Strike which is equal to your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier + your Monk level. This counts over multiple uses of the ability, and once the safe maximum number has been reached, you become Ki-Fatigued. While you are Ki-Fatigued, any ki gained using Momentum Strike is halved and rounded down. If you surpass half the safe maximum number (rounded down) again whilst you are Ki-Fatigued, you gain 1 point of exhaustion. Ki-Fatigue lasts until you have a short or long rest with meditation.

Unarmoured Movement

Starting at 2nd level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing armour or wielding a shield. This bonus increases when you reach certain monk levels: at 6th level your speed bonus increases to 15ft, at 10th level your speed bonus increases to 20ft, at 14th level your speed bonus increases to 25ft, and at 18th level your speed bonus increases to 30ft.

Deflect Missiles

Starting at 3rd level, you can use your reaction to deflect or catch the missile when you are hit by a ranged weapon attack. When you do so, the damage you take from the attack is reduced by 1d10 + your Dexterity modifier + your monk level.

If you reduce the damage to 0, you can catch the missile if it is small enough for you to hold in one hand and you have at least one hand free. If you catch a missile in this way, you can spend 1 ki point to make a ranged attack (range 20/60 feet) with the weapon or piece of ammunition you just caught, as part of the same reaction. You make this attack with proficiency, regardless of your weapon proficiencies, and the missile counts as a monk weapon for the attack.

Monastic Tradition

When you reach 3rd level, you commit yourself to a monastic tradition, chosen from the list of available traditions. Your tradition grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 11th, and 17th level.

Ki-Fueled Attack

Starting at 3rd level, if you spend 1 ki point or more as part of your action on your turn, you can make one attack with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon as a bonus action before the end of the turn.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

If your DM allows the use of feats, you may instead take a feat.

Slow Fall

Beginning at 4th level, you can use your reaction when you fall to reduce any falling damage you take by an amount equal to five times your monk level.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Stunning Strike

Starting at 5th level, you can interfere with the flow of ki in an opponent's body. When you hit another creature with a melee weapon attack, you can spend 1 ki point to attempt a stunning strike. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn.

Focused Aim

Starting at 5th level, when you miss with an attack roll, you can spend 1 to 3 ki points to increase your attack roll by 2 for each of these ki points you spend, potentially turning the miss into a hit.

Ki-Empowered Strikes

Starting at 6th level, your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage. 

Concussive-Ki

Your ki more freely flows through your body’s pathways, and can now be focused to the very tips of your extremities and then beyond into your aura; the outer-reaches of your ki can be hardened into vicious shockwaves that amplify your strikes into devastating blows. Starting at 6th level, you may spend 3 ki points a turn to gain the Concussive-Ki condition. Whilst you have the Concussive-Ki condition, your unarmed attacks also deal Force damage equal to your Martial Arts die.

Monastic Tradition feature

At 6th level, you gain one feature granted by your Monastic Tradition.

Evasion

At 7th level, your instinctive agility lets you dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a blue dragon's lightning breath or a fireball spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

Stillness of Mind

Starting at 7th level, you can use your action to end one effect on yourself that is causing you to be charmed or frightened.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 8th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

If your DM allows the use of feats, you may instead take a feat.

Unarmoured Movement improvement

At 9th level, you gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids on your turn without falling during the move.

Purity of Body

At 10th level, your mastery of the ki flowing through you makes you immune to disease and poison.

Monastic Tradition feature

At 11th level, you gain one feature granted by your Monastic Tradition.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 12th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

If your DM allows the use of feats, you may instead take a feat.

Tongue of the Sun and Moon

Starting at 13th level, you learn to touch the ki of other minds so that you understand all spoken languages. Moreover, any creature that can understand a language can understand what you say.

Diamond Soul

Beginning at 14th level, your mastery of ki grants you proficiency in all saving throws.

Additionally, whenever you make a saving throw and fail, you can spend 1 ki point to reroll it and take the second result.

Timeless Body

At 15th level, your ki sustains you so that you suffer none of the frailty of old age, and you can't be aged magically. You can still die of old age, however. In addition, you no longer need food or water.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 16th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

If your DM allows the use of feats, you may instead take a feat.

Monastic Tradition feature

At 17th level, you gain one feature granted by your Monastic Tradition.

Empty Body

Beginning at 18th level, you can use your action to spend 4 ki points to become invisible for 1 minute. During that time, you also have resistance to all damage but force damage.

Additionally, you can spend 5 ki points to cast the astral projection spell, without needing material components. When you do so, you can't take any other creatures with you.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

If your DM allows the use of feats, you may instead take a feat.

Perfect Self

At 20th level, when you roll for initiative and have no ki points remaining, you regain a number of ki points equal to your Wisdom modifier.

Like I said, this is just a rough concept. But by overhauling ki this way, it allows you to more freely give monks more powerful abilities and ways of buffing their melee strikes that cost ki, without it being too broken. But I would love to hear thoughts and critiques on it. Thank you for reading this, and I hope that at least someone likes this idea

[devilsskettle]

whenever i hear a song that i would like if it weren’t for the fact that it was too long, i think about this:

like you can afford to write tangentially if you/your music is already popular and you know that people are going to listen to you no matter what and in fact laud your longer pieces as being genius etc but can you really be releasing 5+ minute long songs without a built-in audience?

[talentforlying]

father grimaldi: forgive me, lord, for i have sinned. constantine: — understatement of the bloody century, that is. father grimaldi: the chapel is closed to the public! who are you? how did you get in here . . .? constantine: did you know vatican city has the highest per-capita crime rate of any nation state in the world? i'd have thought a touch of breaking and entering's pretty much par for the course around here.

so #1, an undeniable slay.

#2, how long do we think he was sitting in the confessional booth waiting for the guy to wake up from ellie's fake vision quest. like an hour? checking his light, practicing his Big Reveal Pose TM? he probably brought a book with him and just shoved it underneath the seat cushion when it was time to show off.

#3, knowing how intensely he studied & continues to study in order to teach himself magic at such an absurdly advanced level without any teachers to formally guide him? and how that level of dedication would absolutely carry over into researching a mark / making sure he had every corner of a confidence scheme nailed down pat? i like to imagine that the day before this meeting was spent with his severely under-caffeinated ass parked at a public library computer, squinting at articles for 'most important things to know about vatican city before you travel' or 'top 10 little-known facts about vatican city' and using the back of his boarding pass to take notes on what would be the best throwaway line to blow off all the usual questions with.

also, he probably woke up still in his travel clothes less than two hours before this scene and had to hustle to get suited up in time for his Dramatic Apparition. the demon blood was boiling so bad in that chapel that it was giving him a killer migraine. he didn't get breakfast so his stomach was growling the ENTIRE time. but all that meant was he had plenty of room to eat UP the runway and that's EXACTLY what the fuck he did.i'm

[britneyshakespeare]

i didn't like the roaring girl by middleton and dekker as much as i was expecting to. i have the feeling it's just one of those you-have-to-watch-it plays but as someone who has read a lot of elizabethan-to-restoration era comedy this year, there are other have-to-watch-it plays that still fare as better entertainment in a reading. basically the selling point to me moll cutpurse as the main character herself, and on that front she didn't disappoint, but every other character in the play had minimal interest to me, or if they did, they only had a little bit of time on the stage. having already known that the plot is that she saves other women from dishonor and remains a single woman by choice, yes, that's still cool—the gender fluidity inspired by the real moll cutpurse is cool. i enjoyed reading about that. but the whole action and plot around it. lackluster.

[exbeaut]

Wild and Wicked Things, Francesca May

[kithj]

i really really wish people that leave one star ratings would also leave like. any kind of feedback. did you encounter game breaking bugs and it frustrated you? were there a lot of grammar/spelling errors? did you just not like the story for xyz reason? didn't like the characters because this or that? is it something i can improve on or is it just personal taste? or are you just the average fragile transphobe/homophobe? i would genuinely love to know

[moe-broey]

WHAOFH

This is literally so fucking funny I was just laying down thinking about all the potential for stupid family/found family dynamics and was like. Man... I really haven't given Thrasir a lot of thought .... I wonder when she'll be summonable again..... Oh? Now? Hm. Okay. Freyja color sharing? Augh.... it May be useful to get her........ for studying purposes .......... maybe I'll give it a shot -- AH

[ace-with--a-mace]

i definitely think quarantine stunted everyone under the age of like 25's growth and its detrimental to society today