#riz gukgak meta

[midnightfox450]

The fact that Riz Gukgak (the boy who doesn't know how to take a break, who is deeply afraid of drifting apart from his friends, who "has a hard time connecting to his dearest friends unless he can feel useful") was the one who manifested a creature that forced The Bad Kids to work together again and robbed them of having a proper summer break is so poetic.

[critgoblin]

i just finished my first watch-through of dimension 20 fantasy high, and man—all i want to talk about is riz gukgak and his bloody hands.

riz and his bloody hands. his white-knuckle grip on control. little freakazoid insomniac wound too tight. “i’m a harsh guy,” he says, but he’s got so much of a heart in him that he leaps into hell to save his father and charges blindly off into the nightmare king’s forest to save the world. he’s a harsh guy, but his greatest fear in the world is being left behind by his friends. 

i love watching brennan and murph. because brennan is truly an extraordinary dm, and murph is THE plot-hound player. his characters move forward, ever forward, only ever onward. riz cannot sit still, he cannot lay fallow. the three days they’re aboard a ship in the open ocean, he wigs out and spends it spiraling below deck. he cannot relax. not even for a second, not even to sleep. because if he does--what? what will happen to him? what will happen to the teenage goblin kid with no father? 

riz and his bloody hands. 

and brennan knows murph well enough that he knows how to turn that into a character beat. he pits riz’s drive for knowledge against him. you love the truth. you seek it so much that you cut your hands upon the insides of crystals. what a metal and underrated line. because riz would destroy himself for the truth. he can’t handle anything less. he’s like one of those dogs that chews its own paws to shreds if it doesn’t have a job to do. it’s always the next mission and the next job and the next adventure. no time for slowing down because the world is perpetually ending and there’s only so much one little goblin can do on his own--even if he never sleeps. there’s no time for slowing down because if he has a moment - even a moment! - to breathe, to rest, what would he do with it? what does riz have, if it isn’t the mission? what does he offer the world, if it isn’t his brain and his bullets and his bloody hands? 

at the end of the day, riz gukgak is just an empty little kid in a room full of empty mirrors. he’s just the kid who sleeps clutching his sword. that’s why kalina preys on him the way that she does. she’s the queen of masks and reflections. she sees right through to the fear inside of riz--that he isn’t good enough, that he is nothing more than some kid playing detective who gets his friends hurt. she toys with him, but i imagine she also sees some of herself inside of him. they are both in their own ways, empty shells. 

and of course, the ironic truth is that riz is far from empty. truth-seeker, paranoid, whip-smart and frantic, riz tries so hard. he tries so hard that he dies for it. he’s the reason for their little team you know, he’s the instigator. he went after penny, and he went after the nightmare king, and he will keep going and going and going, tearing his hands open again and again and again until he gives out. the ironic truth is that riz has one hell of a heart on him, and it beats him bloody. it drives him forward, ever and onward. it will not let him rest, and so he will never feel how big it is. how much space it takes up inside him. how un-empty he truly is. 

all he has are his hands, and they do not stop bleeding.

[thisisnotthenerd]

ok but all the bad kids were so strategic and effective in the last stand. i know gorgug's crits and fig's spells were huge but everyone really played to the best of their class. look here for the questions and killing blows.

adaine's spell usage was super effective--the mephits granting advantage and blinding opponents. the scatter to get the melee fighters where they're the most effective. using mirror image and her bonus action divination cantrips to not get hit. the use of the portents was excellent--keeping gorgug from taking huge damage from the purple worm and allowing fig to crit on the wyvern enhanced both of their strategy immensely. she split the difference between damage and utility very well.

kristen's bless let the melee attacks hit when they would have missed and she held that concentration the entire time, while intermittently healing and reducing the number of enemies they had to face (skeletons & manticore) and getting out of the way where she wouldn't be targeted. if she hadn't been moved to the side by buddy no one would have caught kipperlilly. absolutely critical support casting. ally really took a lot from playing margaret and applied it here.

fig, despite feeling insecure about her melee attacks, did a ton with her melee cantrip/smite combos (insane) and ambient spirit guardians. by moving around the battlefield strategically and drawing attention as the fake proctor she dealt with the smaller enemies (jellies, stirges, rust monsters, mimic) and actively took down the shrimp dragon, wyvern, and pentacorn.

riz went the other direction; hiding and using the extra action from haste to get sneak attack multiple times in the round. his sneak attacks really served to whittle away at high hp counts when the bad kids had to split focus. plus the clutch defeat of the roper and umber hulk was excellent.

fabian wasn't critting as often as gorgug, but he followed a similar strategy to fig; where she drew attention and killed enemies with AOE and melee, fabian drew attention from single combatants and dealt with them effectively: he practically soloed the hydra and roper with assistance from riz and kept the umber hulk and crab man off of his allies as the final wave converged.

gorgug thistlespring. the crit king. initially he was doing big damage in a similar strategy to riz; he got huge hits on the gorgon and shrimp dragon before taking on by far the most challenging enemy, the purple worm, with assistance from adaine's attack spells. two full turns as the only combatant taking damage from the worm, while knocking it prone every single turn.

this was the battle of the brands for the bad kids, scaled for level 13 combatants. they put everything into this fight.

[bloodyshadow1]

I know the bad kids are weeping, especially gorgug, about how Arthur's hologram/illusion told them all their studying and hard work was pointless, but that doesn't mean it was. Look, the purpose of an education is to gain knowledge and grow. Sure modern education as a whole has corrupted the idea of school and education, but that doesn't mean it's pointless.

Despite how hard it is, the bad kids have flourished this year, it's terrible that they were put through that, but it doesn't mean their hard work was in vain. This isn't a post about how pain or adversity makes you strong, because fuck that. But life isn't easy, there are challenges that you have to endure to get what you want.

Sure, they could have taken the last stand early in the year and if they succeeded, they would have had an easy year, especially compared to the year they had. But if they had taken it, whose to say they would have succeeded. After the night yorb fight, they were level 8 or 9, they are currently 13 but I assume 14 after that last combat. that's 4 to 5 levels they gained since the start of junior year. And that's what levels are supposed to represent, experience. Exp is supposed to show what your character has been through as they go through life learning and growing, it's not a notch on your belt of all the things you've killed to gain power.

If the bad kids tried the last stand at the start of the year, they would have been creamed. Yes, they weren't as stressed, but they also hadn't grown as much and would have been slaughtered. Fig didn't have her paladin levels that did massive damage this fight, Adaine and Kristen wouldn't have access to 6th and 7th level spells, Fabian would only have 3 as opposed to his 7 levels in bard or the confidence to be maximum legend, Gorgug wouldn't have had his homebrewed subclass and pioneered at Aguefort, Riz wouldn't have his higher level spells and abilities that would have meant no haste which meant no double sneak attacks that helped them so much this fight.

This is what sets them apart from people like the Ratgrinders. Because as much as the Ratgrinders seem to hate them for being 'favored' by the school, the Bad kids have earned every scar and bruise, every stress token, every spell slot and point of HP to get to where they were today. They beat the deadly challenge in a way that no one has done before and they got a 100% on the questions, not a single one of them went down, the proctor was barely hurt. There will always be people who take the easy way out that doesn't mean the path you forded was wrong

[mothswitheyes]

I think Riz can actually use magic and the magical gear is all bells and whistles. In a party of so many casters, literally ALL of them have magic now, I think he feels a lot more disconnected from the 'magic' then the rest of them, where it feels very connected to things like faith and art and being the oracle.

Magic is just something he does, he uses, like he uses his sword and his gun and his hands, it's a tool, it's a method to getting a job done, but thinking "I can spellcast" while everyone has this Big Reason for being able to do it is difficult, illogical, so it's easier to conceptualize it as ACTUALLY a tool, a bracer and a necktie and glasses and beaded bracelets, and not just verbal, somatic, material.

When he casts compelled duel on Kalina, he explicitly uses Nothing to do it, he says he calls upon his connection to Kalina since his birth but that still inherently is magic, he casts a magic spell with nothing but pure will, and it works! There is never a question about it working! Both because the items are inherently flavoring, they don't, on paper, actually exist, and because Riz has magic.

I don't think this is something that'd ever really come up or be canonized, as it just seems to be an off-topic thing for Riz's arc right now, but I think the idea adds to Riz's personality, and it the natural, funny conclusion to "I HAVE to wear it, it's just so practical."

[aceofsages]

SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH SOPHOMORE YEAR!!!

one of the best things in fantasy high is the bad kids multiclassing. it makes sense. of course they'll multiclass, or change their college, or get their stats changed. of course they'll give up being something.

because that's what teenagers do! they change, they evolve, they want to choose something different now that they know better than when they were fourteen. some don't, and that's alright too!

fabian growing and becoming a bard and his own man is good!

gorgug becoming an artificer is awesome and makes sense!!

fig becoming a literal archdevil and changing her college is amazing!! because she grew up! all of them did!!

idk if this has been talked about before, but that's what makes fantasy high soo god tier in terms of ppl playing teenagers and urban fantasy. all of the cast saw the assignment and fucking aced it.

[its-to-the-death]

Fictional Weapon War Round 1

Now that our preliminaries are over, we're ready to fight!

Here is our bracket:

It is kind of ugly and I used the names instead of pictures because I did not want to figure out the logistics of fitting all those pictures (that are probably a bunch of different weird sizes) on here together.

I still need to get all the pictures together for the matchups but I am planning for round 1 to start on Tuesday, July 25. All polls last a week.

Propaganda is always welcome as long as you are being nice. Have fun!

Matchups below the cut. I'll link them to the polls once they start.

Bridget's yo-yo (Guilty Gear) vs Sasha (Team Fortress 2)

Myrtenaster (RWBY) vs Funkfreed (One Piece)

The Wabbajack (The Elder Scrolls) vs Frostmourne (World of Warcraft)

Portal gun (Portal) vs Buster Sword (Final Fantasy VII)

The Punisher (Trigun) vs Orb (Pondering My Orb meme)

The Spear of the Non-Believer (SCP Wiki) vs R.Y.N.O. (Ratchet and Clank 2002)

Bat'leth (Star Trek) vs Nightblood (Warbreaker/The Starlight Archive)

Ness' bat (Earthbound) vs Kendal (Aurora webcomic)

The Throngler (Twitter) vs Shardblades (The Stormlight Archive)

Kurapika's chains (Hunter x Hunter) vs Kenji Kon's butter knife (Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous)

Jack/Sumarbrander (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard) vs Xena's chakram (Xena Warrior Princess)

Soul Evan's scythe form (Soul Eater) vs Lightsaber (Star Wars)

The Master Sword (The Legend of Zelda) vs Ryuko's scissor blade (Kill la Kill)

Riptide (Percy Jackson) vs Rapunzel's frying pan (Tangled)

Riz Gukgak's Arquebus (Dimension 20 Fantasy High) vs Ichaival (Symphogear)

Meta Knight's Galaxia (Kirby) vs Aang's staff (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Piecemaker (Discworld) vs The List (Critical Role/The Legend of Vox Machina)

Sailor Moon's tiara (Sailor Moon) vs Batarangs (Batman)

Bit Stave (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury) vs Oathkeeper (Kingdom Hearts)

Meowmere (Terraria) vs The Sword of the Creator (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

Splattershot (Splatoon) vs Amy's Piko Piko Hammer (Sonic)

Pit's Sacred Bow of Palutena (Kid Icarus) vs Sokka's space sword (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

King Dedede's Hammer (Kirby) vs Shingou-Ax (Kamen Rider Drive)

Gideon Nav's two handed sword (The Locked Tomb) vs Needle Whip (Fear and Hunger 2)

Crescent Rose (RWBY) vs Sting (Lord of the Rings)

Kingdom Key (Kingdom Hearts) vs Ghirahim (The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)

E.G.O. Weapon Mimicry (Project Moon) vs Dangeresque's Nunchuck Gun (Homestar Runner)

Tissue Compression Eliminator (Doctor Who) vs Spider-ham's mallet (Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse)

Sokka's boomerang (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs Knife (knife crow)

Gungnir (Symphogear) vs Baby 5 (One Piece)

Oblivion (Kingdom Hearts) vs Brisingr (The Inheritance Cycle)

Martin the Warrior's sword (Redwall) vs Morgoth's mace, Grand (Lord of the Rings)

[stardivingsea]

tags I’m making for The Bad Kids fantasy high art/gifs/meta (mostly for shits and giggles while I watch jr year):

adaine o’shaughnessy

fabian “I dance now” seacaster

fig faeth wizard paramour

gorgudge my beloved

kristen chilis applebees

riz gukgak (a tag long before I created the others)

current/updating friendship tags:

ayda’s girls (adaine and fig)

the gadget guys (gorgug and riz)

team owlbears (fabian and gorgug)

old money new money no money (adaine and fabian)

chaos agents (kristen and riz)

the most powerful girls in the world (obvs)

[sweetsmalldog]

*thinks about how Riz got his father’s bravery and drive*

*thinks about how Riz got his mother’s caution*

*thinks about Riz being described as the perfect combination of his parents*

[billys-pilgrimage]

Today I am thinking about how Brennan probably had an entire subplot surrounding Alistair Ash that was probably chucked once Bill’s warlocks were massacred BECAUSE:

Alistair Ash told the Bad Kids that he had blood from Dispater himself which was kind of glossed over since none of them knew who that was, but in the general Forgotten Realms lore he is the LORD of the second circle of hell and the Duke of the Iron City of Dis, which as we all know is where Riz’s dad was being held.

In conclusion, if The Bad Kids kept Alistair alive and showed up in hell with him he probably would’ve been a fast-pass to get passage with Bill into the Iron City of Dis and free Pok Gukgak without like, a war being started

[infaethable]

i legitimately think about the scene we never got of riz and fabian and the hangman sharing a room after pirate brawl every single fucking day. i'm lying, usually, when i say that, but honest to g-d, it's every day. i brush my teeth while half asleep and i stare into the mirror and think, "he fell asleep in the armchair and woke up in the bed..." and then i literally just have to go on with my day as if this doesn't plague my existence.

[c-kaster-blog]

LOTS OF THOUGHTS about sklonda and riz and calina (kalina? what’s a spelling), spoilers up to s2e6 under the cut 

basically if you go back to the first few episodes there’s a few things that really stuck out to me in terms of like. how sklonda treats a case and how that really obviously translated to how riz treats a case. 

when riz is talking to her about getting clues and stuff sklonda tries to push the idea that friends are for more than just clues--ie, like, people are important, riz, please acknowledge that, and then much later when riz turns up at the scene of the corn cuties battle she tells him that it was way risky to stick around if the faculty really was all that dangerous, that she’d rather have him stay safe than crack a case

and like. riz very obviously Got It, and especially demonstrated that in his convo w/ ckalina, but even before then his clue-searching for the case was motivated by Save Penny Luckstone, Save Everyone If You Can, except the assholes, the assholes are fine dead, but mostly Save Everyone. like, riz’s plot/character arc is inexorably tied with revenge for pok, but like, it’s also about Saving People and Keeping Them Safe, especially people close to him. (cause he wasn’t able to do it for his dad, lol.) 

but what made the whole situation w/ ckalina and fabian complicated was the whole value judgement thing. is it better to risk ckalina knowing what we know about her and ragh’s mom or is fabian more important? and ultimately riz made a decision that scans as selfish, which it very well may be. Save The People Important To You. You Couldn’t Save Dad But You Could Save Penny Luckstone And Fabian Too. 

anyways riz being bonkers protective of his close circle of friends gives me all the warm fuzzies especially when you go back to the beginning and this kid barely understood friendship, but i think he Got What Sklonda Was Trying To Say, and like. this is what separates him from ckalina. this rabid protectionism is Why Riz Works, it is his Motive for Investigating, you gotta Save the People, and without that crucial part, without that love and care for the people around him, riz could very easily become someone like ckalina: uncaring, shallow, devoted to whatever power happens to be sponsoring her rather than to the people calls friends and family. 

[swarmkeepers]

top five dnd classes/top five wizard subclasses (since you've done some brilliant meta abt them today!)

oh that’s so kind of you <3 thank you beth i’m glad you liked my ramblings!

idk if i’ve said this but i have not actually played dnd (i’m looking for a campaign! but no luck so far) so the only classes and subclasses i know extensively are a) the ones that d20 characters play, esp the ones i write or write meta for b) the ones that naddpod/other actual play characters play and c) the one (1) my brother plays, bc we talk abt his campaign a lot and he loves playing planeswalker ranger and he makes it sound very fun. deoptimized, but very fun.

that being said i’ll try to take a stab at both if that’s okay!

dnd classes--

5. rogue - the rogue subclass features are so very very cool and diverse and just. punching up, being skilled and dexterous and such a classic classic class? riz gukgak this one’s for you but also it’s for calroy and penny and sklonda and ruby and liam. 

4. paladin - the naddpod tumblr meta got to me, okay? the inherent conflict of paladin-ing. yES. this is a class i don’t know if i’d want to play but the meta is absolutely chefs kiss and the current tuc2 season is really turning that up to 11. 

3. barbarian - anger as power is very very cool to me and like the mechanics of rage are just straight-up good! i think this is probably the class i most immediately want to play. i don’t find any particular subclass super flavorful but the class features and the just. overall philosophy of the class. anger but weaponized. yeah that’s the good stuff. 

2. warlock - it’s about the inherent conflict of a patron warlock relationship. trying to puzzle out the warlock spellcasting mechanics and the cantrip/invocation focus is really interesting to me! ket s-aint-elmo said once that warlocks are debaters, negotiating for a good deal with their patron, and as a former competitive debater i simply have no choice but to love warlocks. 

1. sorcerer - i love metamagic as a mechanic. but (ironically) i find it really hard to write meta or fic about? i really want to play it someday; i think there’s something really fun about inherent magical ability, magic that comes from heritage, magic that can be very controlled or very chaotic! these top 2 are cha caster classes because i love the mechanics and the flavor but i think i’d find them very hard classes to play (just because they’re kind of complicated classes in general but also i don’t think i’m high cha irl. do not make me your party face under any circumstances). they’re both aspirational “someday” classes.

wizard subclasses--

5. war magic - entirely bc of a one ms. esther sinclair. to protect yourself like an abjurer, to wield the raw power of an evoker, but also to be fast and to be tactical and to know what you’re fighting for! 

4. chronurgy - fully because of naddpod HBS. rule of cool, straight up. 

3. divination - portent is just so so good as a mechanic and this subclass more than any other wizard subclass (in a whole int based class! ) is about the power in knowing. yes please. 

2. abjuration - flavor wise, so so delicious. it’s about using knowledge (a thing that is individual) to protect (a thing that is communal)! abjuration also has the most spells that are reaction-cast which is very cool to me there’s something there about urgency and instinct and an innate desire to protect. also, the same way that warlocks and paladins have a kind of inherent conflict to their class, i think abjurers have something similar (is it selfish/is it dark/is it about denial or is it protective/is it asserting yourself for others/is it about banishing the evil to make room for the good). 

1. conjuration - it might be because i just wrote a ton of meta for it today alsdkfja but the transportation/communication aspects of this school are very cool to me? i like the cantrips and the lower level spells which are kind of evocation-y but like. c’mon, this is the school with wish and plane shift and thunderstep and mage hand the conjuration spells are the coolest ones imho. it just feels magical!

[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!

[queenieofaces]

Dimension 20's Riz Gukgak (played by Brian murphy) is confirmed as ace in game during an episode of the Extended Live shows of Fantasy High. (I think sophomore year)

I have to dig a bit more, but I am pretty sure the dm persephiroth confirmed Fast Times at Dnd High has at least one ace npc or pc? Ned or Cecil? It's pretty new, so I'll keep an eye out when I rewatch.

I’m impressed by A. how many of my followers are listening to AP podcasts and B. how many ace characters there are out there!  I was talking to a younger ace about this a couple of weeks ago, but one of the really huge shifts that’s happened in my time in the ace community is the proliferation of ace characters.  There was a time not too long ago where you could make a comprehensive list and talk about the five depictions of asexuality in mainstream media!  And now there’s just...so much more.  Not to sound like the oldest person on the planet, but I think that’s super neat!

(Now my big question is still “are they being confirmed in game or by meta” with a side of “do they use the word asexual?”  Because just in the podcasts I listen to, there’s only one that I can think of that actually uses the word “asexual” in canon, and it’s not one of the AP ones.)

[thisisnotthenerd]

ok it's time for some level updates from the latest episode:

fig faeth:

initial level: lore bard 8, hexblade warlock 2

current level: lore bard 9, hexblade warlock 2

gorgug thistlespring:

initial level: berserker barbarian 7, alchemist artificer 3

current level: berserker barbarian 6, alchemist artificer 5

adaine abernant:

initial level: divination wizard 10

current level: divination wizard 11

fabian seacaster:

initial level: battlemaster fighter 6, swords bard 4

current level: battlemaster fighter 6, swords bard 5

kristen applebees:

initial level: twilight cleric 11

current level: twilight cleric 11

riz gukgak:

initial level: arcane trickster rogue 11

current level: arcane trickster rogue 11

not too many big changes, except for gorgug, who's shifted focus to artificer classes, with an alchemy subclass. on the barbarian side, he loses feral instinct, which grants advantage on initiative, but doesn't lose his rages or any of his current subclass features. on the artificer side he gets 2nd level spells, alchemist's supplies proficiency, and buffs in the form of experimental elixirs.

most of these choices are indicative of what the party has been doing in their classes and the fact that they just had a big battle at the mall. we've seen some discussion of fig not wanting to be a bard, of kristen having to do the leg work of being a cleric, so there may be other major changes.

by my calculations, they got enough XP in the mall fight to be just at the cusp of leveling up. literally 5 XP away for each of them, so i'd say they probably get enough from regular class activities to push them over the edge.

other mechanics-wise; this season doesn't seem like it's going to be quite like freshman year in terms of how the bad kids leveled up; they have more to do in school, as well as specific social responsibilities that prevent them from just going around town and popping off. battles are likely to be much more complicated, instead of pure hit point sinks. not that they were in the first place, but they're dealing with a lot more. they also have a lot more downtime, much like in the unsleeping city chapter ii, but they are making a bunch more rolls for what they're doing with that downtime in order to simulate the stress of the scenario.

so, i think it's going to be a major progression season, but they're only going from level 10 to ~level 13-14. they may do something like tucii and go from 10-12. we've already seen the night yorb battle and synod battle; we have yet to see the thistlespring tree (folk festival), the ship (probably fabian's house, as referenced by the cloud engine thing), or the graveyard (cravencroft, just outside of mordred manor).

i have a feeling that the stress tokens are going to be like an elevated version of what brennan did with the red tokens from neverafter; the more stress they take on from letting things slip, the harder it is for them to be emotionally stable and contain the rage of existence in junior year. maybe something that can be used to inflict disadvantage on wisdom checks for the rage stars?

anyway, that's all for this update!