#the game doesn't specify what some of these creatures are so I made best guesses

[keawi]

[violant-apologia]

with dual-stat challenges becoming more and more common, FBG have created a standard "exchange rate" between stats: BDR stats are with 10 main stat points each, while advanced stats and NII stats are worth 15.

this prompted the question:

Which equipment has the highest converted stat total?

(stick around, there's a cool spreadsheet for you!)

in other words, which is the most "valuable" based purely on its stats? maybe the ubergoat? perhaps the hellworm transport? (make a guess now! tell me if you were right!)

so i made a spreadsheet. with the item and its stats, it outputs the converted stat total of that item. and to make sure it was accurate when it determined the winner, i should really add

EVERY

SINGLE

ITEM

there are exactly 1000 non-boon equipments in the game, by the way. wild coincidence that this was when i made a list of them all

so i did that. i slogged through every item i owned, then every item in the bazaar, then every item on the wiki. i should – should – have them all. (except maybe ones that add no stats, because they don't show up on any of the automatic lists. but really that doesn't matter)

so, without further ado... the item with the highest converted stat total is...............

all the treasures. that was probably pretty guessable, huh

okay but AFTER them it's... the............

unquenchable firebird! pulled ahead of the other whitsun creatures by its random single point in neathproofed. after that is a similar case: the aurochs-fur coat, at 71. they both beat the ubergoat and hellworm by a slim margin; those two tie at 70, along with the efficient plenipotentiary.

but you may have noticed some other columns here. what's limited total?

well, since most multi-stat challenges are only two stats at once, i also decided to measure the point value of each item's highest two stats. the winner of THAT category is the hellworm, at 75, with its 6 dreaded and 1 KT/NP. half of the treasures fall in next – all the ones with a single BDR stat at 4, rather than two at 2 each.

you may have noticed some other things on the spreadsheet, too. what are all those tickboxes about?

since i already made a way for each item to care about its highest two stats, why not a way to care about a specific pair of stats? hell, what about any combination of stats?

if you check on the boxes beneath each stat, the sheet will find the specific value of each item considering ONLY those stats. then, by looking at the highest value for this specified total for each outfit slot, the sheet finds the overall specific total. (by default, specific total only checks an item if you have it ticked as "owned". if you tick the ownership override (OO) box, it disregards whether you own items or not.)

THEN the sheet finds the best-in-slot (BiS) items for that combination, and displays whether each item is BiS, not BiS (blank) or not owned. you can filter by the BiS column to find an outfit that maximises those stats!

so, for example, if i wanted to find my best outfit for a persuasive/apoc challenge, i'd simply select thost two stats and filter for BiS:

and it shows me my best combination, and its converted point gain (243)!

so, that's what i've been doing for the past few days. since the sheet has every item in the game in it, to personalise for your account, you just have to go through and tick all the items you have. here's the link! feel free to make a copy and play around with it yourself!

[archivist-the-knight]

hi. xiv analysis. i'm putting some stuff under the cut because that's all things relating to spoilers for the later half of the video jic.

firstly, xiv is a tiefling, but the exact tiefling subrace isn't specified in the video. i'd assume they're a Mephistopheles tiefling, given their appearance in game and the fact that meph tieflings are proficient in arcane magic. they're also known for being in more colder climates. i'll bring this up later.

they're a wild magic sorcerer, which is, in my opinion, super important to know to understand about their character. there's a multitude of ways I can describe it, but I think dnd 5e does a good job as it corresponds with Xiv's story. (link)

[Your innate magic comes from the wild forces of chaos that underlie the order of creation. You might have endured exposure to some form of raw magic, perhaps through a planar portal leading to Limbo, the Elemental Planes, or the mysterious Far Realm. Perhaps you were blessed by a powerful fey creature or marked by a demon. Or your magic could be a fluke of your birth, with no apparent cause or reason. However it came to be, this chaotic magic churns within you, waiting for any outlet.]

now. the spoilery content ^_^. also because this post is going to be like so long every kid with autism. [also very big warning for in-depth discussion of child abuse, particularly from a father, and the affects that has on said child. if you don't wanna read that part you don't have to]

xiv's father, even with the 13 other arcane batteries, is a very powerful man. he's a meph tiefling, giving him proficiency with arcane magic, and is probably a sorcerer like xiv. so, given that... the most logical explanation of xiv gaining the wild aspect of their magic is through enduring exposure to raw magic. Sure, it could potentially be "marked by a demon" given the fact they're a tiefling, but... Xiv's father isn't the best person.

bringing back the meph tieflings living in cold climates thing!! xiv mentioned they lived in a tower of sorts, far enough away where their father could keep them secluded. judging by the usage of negative space and scene layouts in their background animatic, we can retain the information that besides their father, they basically knew very little about the outside world growing up.

^^ tldr abt that. the animatic noticably gets more detailed as xiv both gets older and starts to doubt their father, and has its most detail when they have the wild magic explosion, and when they're escaping only to be put on the mindflayer ship ^_^.

anyway. with all of this to say, xiv's father is not a good man at all. he's done this 13 other times before getting to xiv, and didn't even give them an actual name. just the roman designation of it. he gave xiv a false, hopeful promise about how if they "honed their power, they could leave the tower", but fully intended to keep them there. it is slightly implied that their father got more abusive, more impatient and violent towards Xiv the more they messed up the more their magic lashed out even though it was wild by nature.

this is not good fatherly behavior!! telling them something that would never come true, especially basing it on their skill, they must have the worst damned imposter syndrome known to man!! second guessing themselves, thinking they're never good enough or having to check with the man who made that rule to see if anything they do is good... that isn't healthy!! that isn't a good thing to teach to your child!!

now back to xiv. that one "sex book" throwaway thing is brief but it says. so much about how xiv's father raised them?? i do not care if im looking too much into it but it literally implies that xiv just. doesn't know a lot about things beyond what their father's told them or what were in the books he probably gave them as a kid. combine that with the fact that they immeadily "push out" the mournful thoughts about rai's death to deal with "more important matters"... oh my god... they call me mx head of the xiv emotional support group... the ceo if you will...

and now... another important stepping stone to understanding xiv... rai's death.

first off xiv shapeshifting in the middle of the fight and going "no, not now, goddamnit-" its said in such a tone thats just so... not only is it because it's during such an important moment while they're fighting someone they consider a friend. it's almost as if they've been conditioned to believe that aspect of them isn't good. even though its what helps distract Rai so Tal can attack him. it's like they view it as something that needs to stop instead of something they can't control. which is. probably what their father saw it as! something that xiv needed to stop doing instead of honing to their abilities!

secondly... xiv is a sorcerer. you might be asking "eden!! weren't we just over this?" yeah but. rai... is also a sorcerer. he has the power to harness the storm. the first thing xiv says to rai during the fight is "you see, this is exactly why sorcerers shouldn't learn how to read! you always acted like you're so much better than me; we never should have trusted you!"

and that line in general. it's so. it's the last thing xiv says before rai dies. how did rai act like he was better than xiv? did they tell him this beforehand? is it something they kept locked up, never expressing until this moment? was it on purpose, or was it accidental? was it xiv, seeing rai do things they never learned how to do, and feeling jealous, angry, that he had a chance and they didn't? that rai got the joy of not knowing his parents, while xiv knew their father all too well?

and the sorcerer part... it's not only a dig at rai but themselves. they should've never learned how to read. they shouldn'tve been forced to spend ages in that library, learning spells and incantations instead of just trying to be a little kid. its so subtle yet it speaks so much about how xiv views themselves.

okay. that is basically it for canon stuff. this next part is headcanons/theories that i think are important for the discussion but aren't canon but. i still wanna yap <3

I think the tower/castle xiv grew up in is like, in a snowy mountain close to baldur's gate. it's quite the hike to get there and back but you can kind of see it through certain higher areas of the city. the tower is either positioned behind or to the side of the mountain. the side would be so evil because xiv seeing only a glimpse of the city...

i have this theory that xiv's father was a general or colonel for a war that tal was involved in, with tal's mother being a general as well. thus, i think xiv's only contact with people is either the other generals of this war, or their potential children that were brought over during the occasional meeting or dinner party. very vauge but regardless. smirks.

finally i think xiv was allowed out only on very slim occasions, usually when they begged their father hands and knees or when they did good on training. they were allowed to go with their father into the town of baldur's gate, but if they strayed from him they would be punished. severely. xiv usually went to bed that night hungry, in pain, but happy^_^

ok thats it for real. love peace and joy have a wonderful day <333