#putting that dex stat to use

[quinnsanestuff]

ok but realtalk how did star exsanguinate that boar because mister 8str did NOT wrestle it into submission

[theygender]

I just respecced my Tav to take advantage of the gloves of dexterity and I think I put Astarion out of a job. I have like +13 to sleight of hand now. Sorry bud. Good luck on the job market tho, I'll make sure to write you a good reference

[famewolf]

Hag Defeated, though I misunderstood her gift and thought she was giving her boon to just Lae'zel so ... I selected Strength. Didn't realize it was a consumable kfjghdf

[messmersflame]

'shart always misses her attacks or fails concentration saves she's so bad for anything but heals'

i am taking your and shadowheart's hands and guiding you to both withers. now talk to him as shart and hand over 100 gold to 'change class'.

good. now, you see where it says 'high elf cantrip'? go to that and change it to something that isn't an attack but a utility spell, like blade ward or mage hand. she always misses with her fire bolt because it scales off her INT, but she's a WIS caster.

now change her domain. sorry, but trickery is doody in this game. i reccomend light domain for if you want her to be Extra killing things, or life for healing and support. (and if youre on pc, i reccomend getting the 5e clerics mod and switching her to twilight domain. she gets an ability to fly)

now go to her cleric cantrips. you see sacred flame? yeah swap it for something else that you think is useful. it's based on a DEX saving throw which is annoyingly something the npcs often succeed on unless that specific stat is really bad. i like swapping it to light for act 2 utility.

okay now you see her abilities? she doesn't need all that charisma. lower that and put the extra points into her CON instead.

good, we're almost done. now, when you get to level 4, she will get a feat. pick War Caster.

she is complete. now go forth, have her cast spirit guardians on herself, and run around like a lethal beyblade.

[thisisnotthenerd]

as the fhjy premiere is upon us, i'm back with another edition of thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats. it's just the updates that are relevant, since relationship tracking is taking so long to do and i got sidetracked by polls for a few months. this will be sorted by the categories i have data for--you can look at the spreadsheet to find data for all d20 seasons. or you can read it on ao3. anyway:

player data:

runtime and episode data:

before the start of junior year, we have spent 88 hours, 40 minutes, and 14 seconds with the bad kids on-screen, including in oneshots. this is about 3 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes, and 14 seconds.

that's 41/221 d20 episodes, 22 of which were battle episodes.

we've spent 125 hours, 37 minutes, and 32 seconds in spyre as a whole, or 5 days, 5 hours, 37 minutes, and 32 seconds.

that's 57/221 d20 episodes, 32 of which were battle episodes.

cast appearances:

brennan at the top of the list, with 19 d20 appearances, 15 of those as a gm/dm.

next is lou, with 11 seasons as a player; 8 intrepid heroes seasons, 3 sidequests.

followed by ally, zac and siobhan, each with 2 different sidequests under their belts

second to last is emily, with 9, with acofaf

and in last is murph, with only 8. if aabria is in 2 of the 2024 d20 seasons, she's in the running to beat him.

seating preferences:

junior year tipped a lot of the intrepid heroes into a distinct preference, simply by setting them on one side of the table.

emily axford: strong left side preference (6/8), most commonly in L1 and L2. paired next to zac 5/8 seasons, and across from murph 5/8 seasons. fig sits in L1.

zac oyama: strong left side preference (6/8), most commonly in L2 and L1. paired next to emily 5/8 seasons, and across from ally 7/8 seasons. gorgug sits in L2.

siobhan thompson: weak left side preference (5/8), most commonly in L3 and R3. paired next to lou 7/8 seasons [doubled across 5/8], and across from emily 3/8 seasons. adaine sits in L3

lou wilson: even split preference, most commonly in R3 and L3. paired next to siobhan 7/8 seasons [doubled across 5/8], and across from murph 2/8 seasons. fabian sits in R3.

ally beardsley: strong right side preference, most commonly in R2 and R1. paired next to murph 6/8 seasons, and across from zac 7/8 seasons. kristen sits in R2.

brian ‘murph’ murphy: strong right side preference (7/8), the strongest of the intrepid heroes, most commonly in R1 and R2. paired next to ally 6/8 seasons, and across from emily 5/8 seasons. riz sits in R1.

character data:

given what the bts's have shown, there might be some changes to these that i'll update during the premiere, but as of now, this is a quick summary of the bad kids' data, including dnd race, class, level, highest stat, feats, and age. you can go through the thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats tag for my previous commentary on this data, or check out the spreadsheet.

i'm putting them at level 9 for now because that's what we left off with, but more than likely they're starting at level 10 or higher. we know about riz's respec, but there may be others that crop up during the season.

fig faeth: tiefling. lore bard 8, hexblade warlock 1. CHA. actor, lucky. 17-18

gorgug thistlespring: half-orc. berserker barbarian 8, artificer 1. STR. orcish aggression/fury. 18

adaine abernant: high elf. divination wizard 9. INT. spell sniper, war caster. 16-17

fabian seacaster: half-elf. battlemaster fighter 6, swords bard 3. DEX. sentinel. 18-19

kristen applebees: variant human. twilight cleric 9. WIS. human determination, inspiring leader. 17-18

riz gukgak: goblin. arcane trickster rogue 9. DEX. healer. 17

all of the bad kids have some magic now--the ladies are all full casters, while fabian is a split multiclass, gorgug is a 1/2 caster multiclass, and riz re-subclassed into a 1/3rd casting progression. still an even split of multiclasses and pure classes, though that may change. riz's re-spec has bumped arcane trickster up to the most common rogue subclass, with 6 arcane trickster characters, 4 of whom sit in R1.

and that's it! all of the intrepid heroes/bad kids data that i have updates for! see you all at the premiere of fantasy high: junior year tomorrow!

[soylent-crocodile]

Faller (Monster)

(ISOPOD by Anastasia Berseneva)

CR9 TN Medium Monstrous Humanoid HD12

(As the name may suggest, these were built from the ground up as an terrestrial whalefall specialists, with the various giant beasties of pathfinder substituting for whales. I actually used fallers as a placeholder name but got attached to it, so here they are! They're up there in CR so that a caravan of five of them puts up a genuine threat for someone who might fight an Adult Red Dragon.

Also I don't love this art for fallers, but it was the most buggy of the bipedal isopods i could find.)

Fallers are wandering nomads who specialize in feeding on the carcasses of great beasts, such as giants, dragons, and large dinosaurs. They live in family groups of up to a dozen individuals and have no leader, employing an anarchic decision making process that may see these groups splitting and reforming as different individuals take different paths. A faller caravan’s lifestyle consists of divining the location to various monster falls and then traveling, possibly hundreds of miles, to such a banquet. Upon reaching such a corpse, they will claim it, defend it, and slowly harvest and feed off it until such a time as it grows thin and they must move on to fresher falls. It’s noteworthy that, due to their powerful innate divination magic, a group of fallers may set camp for a death before it occurs. Generally, these divinations hold true, and fallers find a warm corpse at their destination, but twists of fate are not unheard of, and fallers are generally prepared for battle if need be. Fallers are frequently seen ushering giant flies, which serve as a combination of pet and mount, enabling them to engage flying enemies and scout high-up or hard to reach places. These flys are surprisingly docile and loyal in a faller’s hands. 

Fallers are known to come into conflict with adventuring parties over the spoils of the latter’s conflicts; adventurers regularly stake claim to the loot and parts of a particularly dangerous foe, but fallers consider themselves owed the rewards of such a struggle, and practically speaking, are often unable to relocate to a new corpse before the threat of starvation looms. Unfortunately for many adventurers, fallers are trained combatants, and a particularly undiplomatic group of them may spell doom for an adventuring party soon after a proud triumph. Finally, fallers have been known to come into conflict with the cultures dragons and similar great beings surround themselves with; claiming the corpse of a lone dinosaur is one thing, but disassembling and eating a corpse may be less welcome when it’s the corpse of an important leader or respected member of a community. For this reason, cultures led by dragons frequently adopt a kill-on-sight principle for fallers, and kobolds in particular are known to litter a faller’s anticipated path with the most lethal and cruel traps they can manage. 

Despite this, faller’s oracular abilities are also known to a few peoples, and some cultures seek out such beings to ask questions, sometimes deliberately luring them by killing a large animal. Fallers are a practical and isolationist type, however, and must be provided some benefit to expend their divining abilities; especially since such abilities are necessary for their way of life.

Fallers' endonym is a series of rasps and hisses unpronounceable to the average mammal or reptile.

This hunched over biped has a hard, segmented shell on its back, a number of segmented limbs, and large black eyes.

Misc- CR9 TN Medium Monstrous Humanoid HD12 Init:+4 Senses: Perception:+22 Scent, Darkvision 60ft Stats- Str:22(+6) Dex:19(+4) Con:23(+6) Int:15(+2) Wis:24(+7) Cha:16(+3) BAB:+12/+7/+2 Space:5ft Reach:5ft Defense- HP:138(12d10+54) AC:24(+4 Dex, +2 Armor, +8 Natural) Fort:+12 Ref:+12 Will:+15 CMD:38 Resist: Acid 10, Cold 10 Immunity: Disease Special Defenses: DR2/Bludgeoning Offense- mwk Glaive +19/+14/+9(1d10+9/x3) or Net +18(Entangle, 10ft) or 2 Claw +16(1d6+6 plus trip) CMB:+18 (+2 Racial bonus to trip) Speed:30ft Special Attacks: Studied Target +3 (Attack, Damage, Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, Survival; Move or Swift Action) Feats- Great Fortitude, Endurance, Point-Blank Shot, Vital Strike, Power Attack (-4/+8), Quick Draw Skills- Climb +15, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +14, Knowledge (Geography) +14, Knowledge (Nature) +14, Perception +22, Ride +13, Survival +22 Spell-like Abilities- (Caster Level 11, Concentration +14) Augury, Invisibility Purge, Sanctify Corpse 3/day Dispel Magic, Find the Path 1/day Divination 1/week Special Qualities- Ferocity Ecology- Environment- Any Languages- Faller Organization- Pair (2), Caravan (4-6 Fallers, 0-3 Giant Horseflies) Treasure- Standard Special Abilities- Studied Target (Ex)- A faller may use the Studied Target ability as a 10th level Slayer.

[yeliuxi]

A silly little stylized mastermind rogue Jing Beiyuan sketch for @mscutellatus! Thanks for your prompt for @danmei-action <3 (Whoops there is a typo but I am ignoring it)

Full text transcription below the cut

Jing Qi. Given a second chance at his first lifetime of fated love, Jing Qi possesses invaluable foreknowledge and insight. He's clever and scheming, but can't afford to let anyone know this secret. Instead, the Prince Nanning is content to laze about when he can, and has earned an indulgent and carefree reputation.

With the obsessions of his previous six lives put behind him, Jing Qi is eager to secure the throne for the Crown Prince. The imperial court of Great Qing is dangerous, but Jing Qi works diligently behind the scenes (when he's not napping), and is determined to succeed.

Stat block.

Armor class: 13 (leather armor) / Hit points: 53 (10d8+10) / Speed: 30 ft.

STR 8 (-1). DEX 14 (-2). CON 10 (+0). INT 17 (+3). WIS 14 (+2). CHA 18 (+4).

Evasion. Oh, you want Jing Qi to make a DEX saving throw for half damage? He'll pass. If he succeeds he takes 0 damage, and half if he fails. Yeah. Serves you right for trying.

Insightful Manipulator. Interact with Jing Qi for 1 minute outside of combat at your own risk. He can learn whether you're his equal, superior, or inferior in any two of your INT, WIS, CHA scores, or class levels (if any).

Sneak Attack. When Jing Qi has advantage, or when Wuxi is within 5 feet of his target, he deals an extra 17 (5d6) damage. How battle couple of them.

Actions. Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, 80/320 range, one target. Hit: 7 (1d6+2) piercing damage. (Sorry, he meant to hit you, not the other guy…)

Bonus Actions. Cunning Action. On each turn, Jing Qi can take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action as a bonus action. Hey, he can be efficient when he wants to be…

Master of Tactics. Jing Qi can use the Help action as a bonus action. When using the Help action to aid Wuxi in an attack, the target of the attack can be within 30 feet, instead of 5.

Reactions. Uncanny Dodge. When an attacker Jing Qi can see hits him with an attack, Jing Qi can use his reaction to halve the attack's damage. Don't get the jump on him easily. Once/rest.

[sexhaver]

everyone i see making talisman tier lists keeps dumping on Beloved Stardust (the new DLC talisman that caps your virtual dex for cast speed in exchange for +25% damage taken) but like... cast speed really really REALLY matters in this game and having to get your dexterity to 70 to cap it basically forces casters to use katanas and whatnot to actually use that stat for something. what if i want to cast spells fast but also bonk shit with colossal weapons without sinking 60+ levels into an otherwise useless stat? everyone sees the +25% damage taken and balks while forgetting that it's simulataneously freeing up, again, 60+ levels worth of stats to more than offset that by putting them into vigor and endurance instead. and that's to say nothing of the PVP applications where those 60+ levels are also fucking with your matchmaking range on top of forcing you to spend hours genociding Albinaurics at Palace Approach Ledge-Road

[dungeonmalcontent]

Low key obsessed with monk/druid multiclass shenanigans right now.

It doesn't take much on the druid side. Two levels of druid to get wild shape and circle of the moon.

And then a couple levels of monk.

... Read below for silly examples.

2 moon druid / 6 shadow monk: you transform into an elk. Next turn you walk behind a tree and appear in the shadow behind your opponent and deliver a thunderous hooved karate chop. You bray in triumph but it makes no noise. The town tells ghoa stories of the night elk for decades.

2 moon druid / 3 open hand monk: you transform into a brown bear. You bite once, shove once with your claws. Flurry of blows, shove once and claw once. You potentially deal a max of 12 piercing damage + 16 slashing damage and you push your opponent up to 25 feet backwards as you harass them with blows. You look like this:

And, no matter what, you don't really have to dip into a dex heavy build. You take the dex from the wild shape. You can put all your stat effort into wis. And when you wild shape, you still benefit from unarmored defense. So you take your wis mod + 10 + your animal shape's dex mod to make your AC. So if you max your wis to +5 and transform into a deer you get an 18 ac deer that can move 50 feet normally in a round (not counting dashes or unarmored movement).

At 9 levels of monk and 2 druid, you can be a deer that can run 180 feet up a vertical surface in 6 seconds (or a warhorse that can sprint 210 feet up a vertical surface, including a waterfall, in 6 seconds) using full movement dash action and bonus action step of the wind. Weirdly, that translate to being able to dead sprint up Niagra falls in like... 30 seconds? If someone casts haste on you you can double that speed. On top of haste, if you cast longstrider on yourself (because you're a druid, you can do that), you can go 540 feet in 1 round--that's roughly 61 mph (for 1 minute)--which you can do not up a vertical surface by total level 4. Try going limp after 1 round of that speed and knocking into a humanoid creature. See what happens.

Better yet. Do the high speed warhorse, but with 6 levels of druid and 2 levels of monk so you can be a giant elk instead. Same speed. Basically double the mass. You are a massive bro truck traveling at interstate speeds and you want to kill a man.

Another fun combo. 2 levels moon druid. 2 levels monk. Cast jump. Wild shape lion. Bonus action step of the wind. You jump (if your GM isn't a coward) 150 feet with a 10-foot run up. (It would be very silly if this could be a vertical jump, but sadly it is only a long jump.)

Last one, last one. 2 levels moon druid. 3 levels ascendant dragon monk. Setup jump spell and/or longstrider. Wildshape space hamster (non-giant). Bonus action step of the wind, long jump around the room at crazy speeds. Action, breath of the dragon, 20 foot cone of fire. Make Boo proud of the havoc you cause.

[ohtobealizard]

Okay, I've been cooking up something, and it's not done yet but it's getting pretty close! I have been doing a sorta homebrew type situation putting minecraft into d&d terms. And I know that this has been done before, and by way more talented people than I but I'm pretty proud of what I, and a friend of mine have made so far.

We've got the classes done, except for you know buffs debunks all the stuff anyone needs to actually know, but let me explain our thought process with them a bit. There are three main classes they are: Explorer, Enchanter, and Builder. And don't worry there's more to it than that. The idea is you pick a main clas and for the first like 2 levels you get general proficiencys in different things. Like strength for builder, dex for explorer, and wisdom for enchanter. Stuff like that.

Than at level three you pick a subclass, and side note with how I'm doing this I don't think it'd be possible to multiclass. There are three subclasses for each main class. And to add a little twist to it, y'all know d&d alignments? When you pick a subclass your also picking 1/2 of your alignment. That's right, each subclass is designated as either chaotic, neutral, and lawful while you, the player pick the second part of good, neutral, or evil!

Explorer: Speedrunner (chaotic), Fighter (neutral), and PvPer (lawful)

Enchanter: Prankster (chaotic), Witch (neutral), and Redstoner (lawful)

Builder: Miner (chaotic), Farmer (neutral), and Gatherer (lawful)

Some of the builder alignments might be changed but as of right now this is how it's going to be. I'm pretty proud of the work and thought my friend and I put into this. I also have some stuff done for what potions, Armour, stats, and other things will look like but I need to go over them again. But to give you some kind of perspective of what the classes are like let's get some real world example based on vibes.

I'm going to use some minecrafters as examples. So Grian for example would be of the Prankster subclass, while Mumbo would be of the Redstoner subclass. GoodTimesWithScar as I'm thinking about him would fit well with the Prankster or Witch subclasses.

Tommyinnit would be a fighter subclass, possibly a pvper the same with Philza Minecrafter. I feel like Martyn InTheLittleWood would be more of a speed runner, but he could easily be a fighter subclass as well.

I'll admit I don't have many examples of any builder subclass minecrafters off the top of my head, but their out there!

That's about it, hope y'all enjoyed reading my little ramble. I liked making it! Also come over to my twitch tomorrow and come watch me play Gotham Knights! I been obsessed with it lately!

[justicegundam82]

PF1: GRAVE HAG

Hello! Here's another of my attempts at retro-converting a 2E critter to 1E stats. After the Rust Hag, I surely couldn't pass up the Grave Hag, especially since I think Hags are kinda underrated and can be just as terrifying and versatile as vampires and liches when it comes to being evil masterminds.

Again I've tried to be as close as possible to the original version, though I had to drop a few special abilities in the process, since I was afraid they would have made the conversion overpowered. I'm still wondering if my conversion here might be a bit much... but I'll let you guys be the judges of that.

Hope you enjoy it!

GRAVE HAG

Image © Paizo Publishing. Accessed at Archives of Nethys here

This woman has a cadaverous appearence, with greying flesh, filthy black hair and bloody sores all over her body. Her nails are long, ragged claws, and her clothes are soiled with grave dirt.

GRAVE HAG CR 9

XP 6’400

CE Medium Monstrous Humanoid

Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +18

DEFENSE

AC 23 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +9 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 19

hp 104 (11d10+44)

Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +11; +4 vs. disease, fear and paralysis

Defensive Abilities negative healing

Damage Reduction 5 / cold iron; Immune energy drain, poison; Spell Resistance 20

ATTACK

Speed 30 ft.

Melee improvised weapon +17 / +12 / +7 (1d8+7) or 2 claws +17 (1d6+5 plus grab)

Ranged grave ray +15 touch (4d6)

Special Attacks curse of the grave, grave ray

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th, concentration +15)

1/day – cloudkill (DC 18)

3/day – animate dead, contagion (DC 18), enervation (DC 18), vampiric touch

At will – bleed (DC 14), cause fear (DC 15), command undead (DC 16), death knell (DC 15), speak with dead (DC 17)

STATISTICS

Str 20, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 19, Wis 18, Cha 17

Base Atk +12; CMB +17 (+21 grapple); CMD 30

Feats Catch Off-Guard (B), Dodge, Great Fortitude, Power Attack, Spell Focus (necromancy), Toughness, Undead Master

Skills Bluff +14, Climb +10, Craft (any one) +10, Heal +11, Intimidate +15, Knowledge (arcana) +14, Knowledge (religion) +16, Perception +18, Sense Motive +12, Spellcraft +12, Stealth +14, Survival +10

Languages Aklo, Common, Giant, Necril

Special Qualities undead mien

ECOLOGY

Environment any

Organization solitary or coven (3 hags of any type)

Treasure standard

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Curse of the Grave (Sup): Three times per day, a grave hag can put a curse on a creature, rendering it more enticing to the ravenous undead. A target can avoid this effect by making a successful Will save (DC 18). If the save is failed, the target starts drawing the undead’s attention, granting them a +4 bonus on Perception checks to notice the affected creature and on saving throws to resist spells that hide or disguise the affected creature from undead (such as hide from undead). Once an undead notices the affected creature, it feels compelled to kill and devour the affected creature, and gains a +2 profane bonus on attack rolls made against the affected creature and a +2 profane bonus on saving throws against the affected creature’s spells and special abilities. The undead also ignores any concealment less than total concealment that an affected creature has. A curse of the grave lasts for 24 hours or until removed with a successful remove curse, dispel magic, break enchantment or similar magic (against a casting level of 12). The save DC is Charisma-based.

Grave Ray (Sup): Once every 1d4+1 rounds, a grave hag can fire a black beam of bone-chilling negative energy to a maximum range of 60 feet. If the grave hag succeeds at a ranged touch attack, the beam inflicts 4d6 point of negative energy damage, which can be halved on a successful Fortitude save (DC 18). A grave ray can be used to heal undead creatures, or the grave hag herself, in this way. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Negative Healing (Sup): A grave hag is healed by negative energy and harmed by positive energy as if she were an undead creature.

Undead Mien (Ex): A grave hag counts as an undead creature for the purpose of spells, spell-like abilities or special abilities that detect undead. She also gains a +4 racial bonus on saving throws vs. disease, fear and paralysis effects.

Grave hags are a particularly powerful breed of hags with an affinity for undead and negative energy, who make their liars in cemetaries, mausoleums or other burial sites, where they surround themselves with undead servitors and form a kind of twisted mockery of a court. Unlike most hags, grave hags do not have the ability to alter their appearence into a more reassuring shape, and are forced to hide where few people would want to seek them out. However, grave hags are grieviously arrogant and self-centered, and believe that this kind of life is beneath them, so they spend most of their time concocting plans to expand their territory and set themselves up as petty rulers of undead-infested regions.

Even for the standards of hags, grave hags are extremely smug and self-important, seeing themselves as the most powerful, cunning and strongest of all hags, and demanding respect and unconditional obedience from any “lesser” kind of hag. They tend to mock other hags’ abilities that they don’t possess (such as the ability to alter self) as pointless parlor tricks who have no inherent use to them. The exception to this are night hags, whom are seen by grave hags as role models, and to whom a grave hag will gladly submit.

In combat, grave hags tend to hold back and harass opponents with spells and withering blasts of negative energy while their undead minions tear their victims apart. They often open up combat by casting cloudkill and then letting their minions, unaffected by the poison, have their way with the opposition. Grave hags can put a curse on their victims, making them more enticing for the undead to attack. However, if forced to hand-to-hand combat, a grave hag can give as good as she gets, often using digging tools like shovels or mattocks as improvised weapons with surprising skill.

A grave hag usually stands between 5 and 6 feet tall and weighs between 120 and 180 pounds. The bloody sores she naturally sports on her body can make her look crippled and weak, but are merely cosmetical and do not hinder the grave hag in any way other than giving her an unsightly appearence. When a grave hag joins a coven, the coven adds harm to its spell-like abilities and shares the grave hag’s negative healing ability, but a grave hag will rarely join a coven that doesn’t have either herself or a night hag as leader.

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

In regards to the unit identity conversation going around in FE spaces right now i wanted to throw in my general thoughts...

When people say "unit identity" in regards to gameplay, i feel like most people mean how the character in the story matches how the unit plays.

Fates has the best reclassing system imo, because units have to build support with other units to get their class via the friendship and partner seals. Building support levels has another function in that sense, and it's another incentive to experiencing them.

This creates another way supports effect the ways you can play. As for an example, when Takumi teaches Corrin how to shoot a bow in their support chain, Corrin literally gains access bows via the Archer class.

Fates also has heart seals which change the units class based on stats, skills available, personality, or personal background (They also function as partner seals iirc, but that's more of a waste, i feel).

Three Houses, due to its lack of a weapon lock, essentially created a system where "just put everyone in x, y, or z class to make them good" has become some of the most common advice to new players. This problem existed before, but essentially making classes little more than "this one has good stats, this one has bad stats put them in the one with good numbers."

Sure, it allows those "all mage" runs that are fun to mess around with a lot easier, but it also reduces classes down to just their stats. Want to use bow? Bow Knight's a good class, but can always go for Wyvern. Want to use axes? Try Wyvern. Swords? Swords aren't good, at least use lances or axes in Wyvern.

Engage has the same problem. In fact, despite having weapons locked to classes again, it's now even more of a problem (imo). This time the problem is that so many units are incredibly same-y. The difference between Etie and Alcryst is a couple of points in Str and Spd, same for Lapis and Diamant, for Zelkov and Yunaka it's Spd/Res/Str trade.

The characters feel same-y. Unsurprisingly if you watch build guides on these characters from multiple different people, you'll see the same couple of classes recommended repeatedly. Warrior, Wyvern, Griffin. Few Sages and Personal Classes, but besides that, most characters sit in those three.

Although i like the concept of passive skills unique to certain classes, i feel like they're often times incredibly weak. Or don't synergize well with the class itself. High Movement Bow Knight has a skill that increases hit rate when not moving (the one bow using class that can make good use of Momentum and having high movement and being a Cavalry type should sit still??? It's even more offensive because bows don't have particularly horrible hit rates, and bow units typically have decent Dex/Skill).

We can all agree Berserker getting a pretty weak skill for a weak weapon type that the okay at best defense class typically doesn't want to use... might not be a good balancing tool against the other infantry Axe class with Bow access and better caps in Warrior? Or the flying mobility and Lance or Sword access in Wyvern? Or hell, even the Defense from Great Knight? (although this class is another meme pick)

Don't get me started on S rank weapons also being mid, if not outright bad

I think if there were better skills for classes with lower stats (including movement), less weapon access, then that'd be cool. Or they could do a "Infantry classes have lower growths, but higher stat caps. Therefore they've about caught up midgame, and are better for combat late game, but have less utility due to not being able to ride a horse/flier"

If Personal skills were stronger, and units had more differing stats, Weapons/Proficiencies, or had access to more personal class and/or personal weapons, i think i wouldn't care about how easy it is to get into classes, because the units themselves would actually be unique in how you can play them, even if everyone is in the same class.

I mean, look no further than the bow users in Fates, since that weapon type and its weilders have been getting a lot of attention lately. Takumi has a personal bow with crazy might that gives him the ability to move without being impeded by terrain. Niles doesn't have a unique bow, and his class is already represented in Shura, and DLC Anna on the Adventurer route, and potentially Selena and Laslow for the Bow Knight route, but he has access to capturing generic units to fight for you and has stats that definitely differ from all of them.

Setsuna has a basic archer stats, a weak personal skill, and no personal weapon, and is naturally the perfect example of a bad archer. While Reina has good stats and a useful PS that essentially make her Birthright Camilla except with lances and bows instead of axes and tomes (and Kinshi isn't really seen as a good class!). Shura's whatever in CQ, but in RV he has maxed weapon ranks, giving him access to useful Stages ASAP and decent bow chip, especially with his debuffing PS. (Not much to say about Anna except why is she not in the Merchant class by default?? Magic Anna is not more important than Capitalism Anna 😤)

But i'm rambling, so i'll just say that with the unit/class design we have now, i'd rather have limited classes so that we can at least say:

"They may not be the best unit... But they are the best Swordmaster/Bow User/Magic Unit/etc."

(sorry for the length btw!)

.

[areas-of-fromsoft]

I got really into ds3 after I played it years ago, and then I tried ds1 and loved that too, but I rage quit ds2 after a few hours cuz I couldn't get used to how different it was.

I wanna try it again. Do you have any tips for making the first bit of the game less rage inducing?

OKAY sorry this took so long to get to, I had to think on it and decided @fun-mary was better equipped to answer (and o boy did they answer, I’ll put it under the cut).

My personal advice is of course not to go in expecting the same game as dark souls 1 or 3, but I’m sure you get that by now. It plays very differently and the experience as a whole I find very different to the other two games.

Also, if it - or any other game - is frustrating you that much, there’s never any shame in taking a break and playing something else and coming back to try again later ! I know smashing your head against a brick wall with these games is the least effective and enjoyable to go about it.

Anyway, @fun-mary ‘s advice below:

“1: ADP is the most important stat

2: Don't let your stamina run out because ds2 has a penalty for using the last of your stamina

3: The ring of binding from Heide's tower of flame is your friend

4: Running past enemies is no good because they can hit you while you open doors or traverse fog gates.

5: Take it slow. There are lots of enemies, and they stop respawning after you kill them enough times, so any kill is progress.

6: Chests are breakable, and the loot inside gets ruined if the chest breaks.

7: This ain't ds3. Spam rolling just drains your stamina, and r1 spam only drains it more. Roll with purpose and attack when you have more than enough stamina. Otherwise, your attack will be slower, do less damage, and leave you without stamina.

8: This still ain't ds3. If you're having trouble with an area, there's almost always at least 3 other areas you have access to so you can return when you are stronger.

9: Strength weapons are fantastic. The large club's R2 attack pancakes most enemies and has the potential to carry you through the whole game if used correctly.

10: Dex weapons are fantastic. They use less stamina than strength weapons and usually weigh much less so they can easily be dual wielded. Dual wielding does the full damage of both weapons but uses the full stamina as well, with careful stamina management. Dual wielding has the potential to carry you through the whole game.

11: This ain't Elden Ring. Bleed sucks in ds2, so don't bother.

12 The stone ring from Things betwixt is your best friend because it increases the poise damage you deal to enemies.

TLDR: level ADP, stamina management is essential in ds2, spam rolling will get you killed, take it slow, wear the stone ring, explore.

Also most enemies are weak to strike damage”

[codassential]

More Weird Stats Please

One of the things that I love about non-D&D/Pathfinder TTRPGs is the propensity too make very specific, highly evocative, and extremely funny stats. Grant Howitt's One pagers are great examples of this like honey heist only has two stats: "bear" and "crime" which

Is easy to understand and use, especially for new TTRPG players

Encourages the players to think within the constraints of acting as an inconsistently intelligent wild animal (something they may not be used to)

immediately communicates the tone of the system

Makes me laugh

This isn't just for systems designed for one shots, Golden Sky Stories is a system where you play as a shapeshifting animal called a henge solving problems for humans in a nearby town. GSS has four stats: "henge," "animal," "adult," and "child," the first two used for your animal form and the second two used in human form to imitate their behaviors. I don't think I've played another system with any of those four stats, but they do such a good job of putting a player in the right frame of reference to tell the kind of stories GSS is trying to tell.

There's a reason why every PBTA system makes slight tweaks to apocalypse world's "cool, hard, hot, sharp, wierd," there's real power to the specific name that you use to describe a character's qualities. A Monster of the Week character with +2 charm, +1 wierd, and -1 cool gives me a much more evocative picture of how a character acts then "18 charisma" ever could.

obv there are benefits to the dnd str/dex/con/int/wis/cha spread, but whenever I open an RPG and see a stat named "grink" or somethin my heart is set aflutter

[dicebound]

Barnaby 5e Build

Lineage - Owlin He's literally an owl, there isn't much to say here. You could alternatively go with the Reborn Lineage as well for more undead flavor but you'd lose flight and other useful things.

Class - Bard/Whispers So Barnaby is primarily observed in his level singing about death, slashing at you with a dagger, and conjuring objects out of nowhere to attack you. He also has little ghost buddies as back up singers. With that in mind, You have a few good options with Wizard, Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock or Rogue standing out to me. A quick breakdown of the subclass options I would consider: Wizard - Necromancy or Conjuration Warlock - Undead Sorcerer - Shadow Bard - Creation, Spirits, Whispers Rogue - Phantom, Arcane Trickster. Rogue is the most out there, with no innate casting. Arcane Trickster certainly fits his personality and gives him thematic spellcasting, but lacks the spooky flavor we're looking for. Phantom has the flavor, but loses the spellcasting. Could be a good multiclass option. While Wizard could fit especially Conjuration for the object summoning, I really feel Barnaby would make a better Charisma caster than an Intelligence caster given his demeanor and "Party Animal" descriptor. Undead Warlock gets you that strong undead flavor, charisma casting and access to the spookier spells in the game, but Barnaby doesn't seem bound up by the demands of a patron. Shadow Sorcerer obviously fits Barnaby aesthetically and even gives you a limited summoning ability. It's a strong contender and was the first thing I thought of when making this list. Finally, Bard captures the musical and social inclinations of the character and has a few good spooky options for subclass. Creation lets you animate objects to fight for you, very fitting but otherwise lacks the flavor we're looking for. Spirit gives you a strong spooky flavor, the ability to tell harrowing stories about the dead or dying, and communicate with the dead. Whispers however gives a little bit more, you have the strong spooky flavor, psychic attacks, a frighten ability, and the ability to tap into creature's fears and steal their shadows. This is the one to me.

3. Background - Entertainer We don't know much about Barnaby's backstory at present, making it difficult to pick something concrete. The standout choices to me are Entertainer, Sage and Haunted One. 4. Skills For his Bard skills, I picked Performance, Arcana and either Sleight of Hand or Persuasion. I avoided Intimidation as his class features will allow him to make people afraid on their own and Stealth is gotten naturally from Owlin. For his background, I chose Entertainer and had to take Acrobatics. I also picked up Perception. For his expertise I selected Performance and Arcana. 5.Stats For his stat spread I selected a +2 to Charisma and a +1 to Dexterity from his lineage and then used point buy to distribute them as follows: Str - 8 Dex - 14 Con - 14 Int - 14 Wis - 9 Cha - 16

I dumped Strength because he has no need of it, and dumped Wisdom because he very clearly can't read a room when interacting with Billie. Con is higher than you might otherwise put on a Bard to represent that resilience of being undead. Decent Dex and Cha are obvious choices for any bard, and heightened Int just felt appropriate. 7. Spells So Spell Choice will vary by level, but good options for 0th-2nd spell level are as follows: For Cantrips most of the options are solid and thematic. I'd likely pick Vicious Mockery* and either Minor Illusion, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation or Dancing Lights. Dissonant Whispers, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Nathair's Mischief and Phantasmal Force all fit the spooky vibes and grant either good crowd control or damage. Suggestion, Faerie Fire, Invisibility, Bane, Hold Person and Cloud of Daggers also stand out as good thematic options. * if you're using feats at first level, you can pick up more flavorful/utility cantrips from Bard and grab your damaging cantrips from say Magic Initiate instead.

8. Feats (Optional) Some tables allow for Feats at First Level. Stand out choices to me are Shadow Touched, Eldritch Adept, Magic Initiate, Poisoner, Chef, Slasher and War Caster. Some of these are more flavorful than mechanical however. I find Bard's offensive magic to be too limited especially early on and so Magic Initiate (Warlock) or (Wizard) is very helpful. You want an attack roll cantrip for sure. For Warlock pick up Eldritch Blast and either Mind Sliver or Toll the Dead. For the 1st level spells, Arms of Hadar and Hex are great options. For Wizard, pick up Chill Touch and either Mind Sliver or Toll the Dead. For 1st level spells, Tasha's Caustic Brew is a thematic choice as well as Catapult and False Life. Mechanically motivated options could be Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield or Find Familiar.

[soylent-crocodile]

Vizzerdrix (Monster)

(Vizzerdrix by Dave Dorman)

(Behold, a late Easter AND an April Fool's Day special, all wrapped up in one not-so-fluffy bunny! I wanted to capture the idea of a puzzlingly high-value creature with no special effects and not as much combat capability as its peers, so I went with a mad genius. There's also just a couple of tropes here that I tend to avoid- or lean on- if you can spot them. Enjoy!)

CR16 CE Large Aberration HD25

Vizzerdrix are savage beings created by a mad wizard, ravenous beasts who tear apart any who meet their path. It is generally accepted that the vizzerdrix were the last creation of said wizard before being torn apart by vizzerdrix. Unfortunately for the world, her creations bred true, and now vizzerdrix can be found leaving swathes of blood and death in their path. 

A vizzerdrix is a hybrid between a rabbit, a giant, and a piranha, creating a being with incredible intelligence, sharp claws, a craving for destruction and flesh, and big floppy rabbit ears. Vizzerdrix are among the most brilliant beings to exist, and use this to their advantage- they’re expert at evaluating threats, manipulating others, and devising cunning traps. Fortunately for a vizzerdrix’s enemies, they lack any particular abilities to put this brilliance to use, and without external help or tools, must fall back on ripping and tearing. This isn’t to say that a vizzerdrix has distaste for such combat- indeed, tearing other beings apart with their claws and incisors is the deepest pleasure a vizzerdrix can experience, and all their goals and conniving generally works to the end of getting a vizzerdrix a never-ending source of innocent victims to destroy. 

Vizzerdrix are obligate carnivores, only able to digest animal flesh. Despite this, they have a deep craving for root vegetables, which give them incredible indigestion and, occasionally, food poisoning and intense gastric distress. It is suspected that this was a failsafe created by their master and the reason to include rabbit parts, as vizzerdrix will do anything for proper digestive aids that allow them to comfortably eat their favorite food. 

This hulking, clawed beast has powerful human musculature, furless skin, and the head of an angry rabbit. Misc- CR16 CE Large Aberration HD25 Init:+8 Senses: Perception +27 Darkvision 60ft Stats- Str:28(+9) Dex:18(+4) Con:18(+4) Int:32(+11) Wis:9(-1) Cha:20(+5) BAB:+18/+13/+8/+3 Space:10ft Reach:10ft Defense- HP: AC:30(+4 Dexterity, +17 Deflection, -1 Size) Fort:+14 Ref:+12 Will:+17 CMD:39 Resist: Acid 20, Cold 20, Electricity 20, Fire 20 Immunity: Fear Special Defenses: DR5/Adamantine Offense- Bite +24(2d6+9), 2 Claw +25(1d8+9) CMB:+25 Speed:40ft Special Attacks: Rend (2 Claw, 2d8+14) Feats- Improved Initiative, Power Attack (-5/+10), Weapon Focus (Claw), Iron Will, Great Fortitude, Vital Strike, Combat Expertise, Improved Dirty Trick, Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Greater Dirty Trick, Critical Focus Skills- Acrobatics +27, Climb +17, Escape Artist +32, Knowledge (Arcana, Dungeoneering, Engineering, Geography, Nature, Planes, Religion) +26, Knowledge (Local)* +29, Perception +27, Sense Motive +24, Spellcraft +39, Stealth +32, Survival +27, Swim +17, Use Magic Device +30 Spell-like Abilities- (Caster Level 20, Concentration +25) Dispel Magic /at-will Special Qualities- Ferocity Ecology- Environment- Forests, Swamps (Any) Languages- Common, Aklo, Abyssal, Draconic, Giant Organization- Solitary Treasure- None