#there may be a chance we’ll get one for the bat bonus short??? on the dvd???

[akkivee]

Next time we see Hitoya he has to be the biggest loser imaginable. We need the gag of Jakurai just retelling stories from when they were in school together. We need loser boy Hitoya—

i think it is a huge missed opportunity to like, not have at least one (☝️) middle school hitoya joke lmao. bat’s being taken pretty seriously tho and their comedic value seems to be falling on kuukou lol so i wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t get any school stories between them 🤔

[crusherthedoctor]

As someone who plays games and enjoys stories that aren't terrible, I always love it when the setting of a tale is allowed to truly manifest. That is to say, when there's just as much attention put into it as there is for the characters, to the point where the setting might as well be its own character. It doesn't always have to be completely in-your-face mind you, but generally speaking, if you can feel the amount of personality given to the location, there's a nine out of ten chance that I'm going to appreciate it. Bonus points if it's really pretty.

Naturally, this extends to the world of Sonic. Though the level of backstory varies when not taking Japanese manuals into account, the many islands/planets/theme parks in space/parallel dimensions Sonic has visited over the years nonetheless tend to hold a lot of charm with the way their zones and stages are presented. And when it comes to Sonic in particular - when they're at their best - his style of environments have the perfect aesthetic for my personal tastes: full of whimiscal, cartoony character, yet beautiful and sincere at the same time (or ominous and sincere, in the case of Eggman's moodier fortresses and the like).

So it goes without saying that this has been one major focus of mine while writing for Sonic & Tails: Beyond the Stars, my own little fanfic adventure for the blue hedgehog. From the moment I started putting my story into words, I wanted to make an effort to give the land of Viridonia the same love and focus that was given to the likes of Angel Island and the Little Planet in the official installments. Granted, it helps that the nature of my story already relies on a considerable amount of presence for my setting, but that alone would be insufficient. We have to go deeper. We have to go... advanced.

Long story short, I spend far too much time imagining locations in my head for my oh-so-epic fanfic where a 90's caricature confronts his breakfast mascot arch-nemesis for the nth time. Seriously, do not underestimate me on this. I think about the colour schemes. I think about the architecture. I think about not only what type of music would fit each location, but also the specific mood to go along with it. “No guys, it would have THIS kind of icy music, not THAT kind of icy music.”

Hell, I even make crappy MSPaint flags that represent each of the zones, Unleashed-style, which are “proudly” displayed in the appropriate chapters. I'm on a drug, and that drug is making Sonic settings come to life despite existing purely in written form. Please help me.

So I figured I might as well expand a bit on some details that may interest those of you who read my fic, that couldn't be acknowledged too much in the fic itself without severely ruining the pacing of the story in the process. Note that you will NOT miss anything important in the fic proper if you skip on these posts. It's just a fun bit of behind-the-scene elaboration on the thought and inspiration involved, if you're into that sort of thing. Nothing more, nothing less.

Oh, and by the way? I hope you like Spyro the Dragon comparisons, because there's gonna be a lot of them as this series goes on, and I won’t be sorry for any of it. :] Yes, it's hardly surprising that my equal love for Spyro's environments (specifically Classic/Reignited Spyro, as I was never a Legend or Skylanders fan) plays a recurring influence in the way I visualize my Sonic zones, mainly with the way colour contrast is often used. That's not to say that the Sonicy aspects are lost or forgotten, though. After all, their universes are already pretty similar in terms of general aesthetic, so it's not too much of a stretch anyway IMO.

Anyhow, this intro has gone on long enough, so let's begin with the central hub of Viridonia, shall we? (I was originally gonna lump in Trudy’s castle and Gleaming Meadows in the one part, but each of them ended up being even longer than I expected, so uh, guess they’ll have to be separate.)

Creating the Hub: Lime Shores

Right off the bat, my goal with Lime Shores was very simple: to make it different from Station Square. No disrespect to Station Square, I love it as much as the next SA1 fan (especially its music!), but considering that a recurring motif of Beyond the Stars is to mirror certain aspects of SA1's story WITHOUT completely copying the whole routine, it was doubly important for the central town of Viridonia to have its own identity to help further that point. And since Lutrudis - and the rest of the folk on the island - are all inexplicably English to varying degrees and varying stereotypes, I knew what had to be done.

I’d make it look like Solihull, of course.

What? You thought it'd be based on London? HA. That comes later, in more Eggmanian territory. No, for Lime Shores, I wanted something a bit more gentle, something more quiet, something that looks rustic yet refined in equal measures... and something that contrasts greatly with the unique oddity that's been placed upon it.

Because let's not forget, as an everlasting side-effect of the Ethereal Zone's lingering power, much of the stony architecture has been given a nice gleam that causes it to change colour depending on the time of the day. Whereas in the daytime it looks suitably turquoise, the tones change to purple and pink by nighttime.

This might also explain why some occasional buildings look a bit... SEGA World-y...

It was important to make the town down-to-earth (for Sonic standards), because that way the Ethereal effects would be more striking. If it was a big proud metropolis like Station Square or Empire City, it wouldn't have the same impact. You'd still probably notice it, sure, but the contrast between the quaint vibe of the town with the increasing wonder if it was touched by aliens or some shit would be lost. (But don’t worry, a big proud metropolis is indeed featured in this story. You’ll get your Speed Highway fix in due time, though as expected, that too has an identity of its own...)

And of course, no area with Shore in the title is complete without, well, a shore. And sure enough, the waters near the shore are a slightly deeper sea green than average, even without the help of its nearby shiny rocks...

But what sort of music, pray tell, would accompany this unique town that kicks off Sonic's latest adventure? Well it may have a gentle disposition in spite of the Ethereal alterations, but it's still a Sonic adventure we're talking about, and Sonic is obviously going to be excited as hell to explore this new land with or without Eggman shenanigans in the mix. So to reflect his particular brand of upbeat passion, I think something along these lines will do nicely. (NOTE: I’ve decided to include two tracks for each location - some of them not even being Sonic-related - for the sake of more comparison and for driving the intended tone home all the more.)

But then, that's for the daytime. When it's night, however, we'll need something a little more relaxing and calm, yet still capturing a similarly mysterious atmosphere...

Also, there's a (completely optional) training simulator set up by Tails in Lime Shores. Should you ever try it out to brush up your skills in beating all those Eggman robots, the simulation would appear very reminiscent of the Colosseum from Sonic Battle, if it decided to trade in its green for blue. This is apparently the only noteworthy visual change in this piece of Miles Prower technology since 2004. Go figure.

And finally, yes, the town comes with such charmingly English luxuries like a post office, a tavern, a museum, a spa, and... a Chao Garden.

Yes, they would all have different music tracks of their own.

No, I'm not going to list what I have in mind for each one. That would make this post longer - and sadder - than it already is.

[popculturebuffet]

DWD Reviews: A Brush with Oblivion Or Is Everyone Blind and Stupid? (Commission by WeirdKev27)

Well this was a mixed bag if I ever saw one. Taking a break from the Ride, since Kev commissioned this during my still going black friday sale, seriously 3 bucks for episode commissions get after it, I thought this would be pretty good.. good villain with a good gimmick. Could be intresting. I didn’t count on EVERYONE but Honker, Gosalyn and Splatter Phoenix themselves daring to be stupid. I mean my god in god we trust, this one was frustrating. I WANTED to like it for it’s brilliant qualities but the main plot is so frustrating, Let’s discuss shall we? First off WHY Kev commissioned this one. He was waiting till I did Quackerjack and Bushroot but he decided to do it early because sale prices. See this is a BONUS chapter in “March to Justice Ducks”. It’s very thinly associated with it, but honestly had I had the idea myself I would’ve gladly done this and I thank Kev for it. See Tad Stones regretted putting Negaduck in the fearsome five. It’s not that Negs is a bad character.. it’s the opposite. Being such a dynamic and interesting one.. meant he overshadowed the other four to the point they didn’t get as much of a chance to shine. So in hindsight, had he had the chance to do it all over again he would’ve put Splatter Phoenix here in there instead. And I’m incllined to agree: as the comics show, Quackerjack could’ve been the leader easy and if not him Megavolt, but neither would’ve overpowered the others. That being said the five we did get are great, and the dynamic is fine, but I can’t fault him for wanting them to be equals instead of minons. 

And honestly , and getting to one of the episodes strengths, Splatter Phoenix IS a thoroughly awesome villain with a unique and interesting power. In short she’s an experimental artist who through her experimenting, created a paint brush that can bring paintings to life and control them as well as allow her to travel in and out of them. She’s voiced here by  Dani Staahl, who i’ve never heard of but is terrific. And shockingly, she’s voiced by a rather sizeable voice next time with Andrea Martin of SCTV fame. And if your wondering if i’m going to cover her other appearance you are extremely correct, just probably further down the line or for another commission.  But her powers are used REALLY creatively by the episode, having her and Darkwing and Co run through various abstract art I can’t really name outside of the salvador dahli piece at the end because I don’t know art. That being said, it still looks utterly gorgeous and while I can’t name most of the pieces or the artists behind them, the wiki does say most are pastiches. They are recognizable though and it does look utterly stunning from a cubist piece to the dahli finale to Gosalyn’s dinosaur picture seen above. Each style is unique, crisp and beautifully animated and they and splatter are the saving grace of the episode. These sequences are some of the best i’ve seen from the show and, especially for a low budget 90′s kids show even a disney one, are REALLY impressive and would be even today. And her attidue helps. While her gimmick is simple, she talks in intellectual art speak most of the time, it’s funny enough to enjoy. Plus, it weirdly does things for me and I don’t know how to respond to that so let’s move on. 

My shame aside, you may be wondering two things then: Why I don’t like this episode, and why i’m not covering it my usual style. Well the answer to both is otherwise.. this episode is REALLY damn obnoxious. Splatter takes up enough to make it watchable.. but the main spine of the episode not only pisses me off in a very specific way, as it follows a story trope I CANNOT stand, but in a general way it’s just frustrating and REALLY dumb.  The basic premise is it’s children’s art night at the musem, with the kids various paintings being displayed, so naturally The Mallards and the Muddlefoots are both there, with Honker having painted a painting within a painting and Gosalyn having painted a horrifing but neat dinosaur piece. It’s then.. the plot starts and my patience evaporates. Honker spots Splatter in a painting and spots her comit a theft but no one belivies him. They belivie it wasn’t him, because he dosen’t have the target on him, but his parents think he’s making stuff up and so does Drake. Or in other words...

I mean.. nothing about this works. I’d get skepticism in a normal setting, and this was produced earlier in the series though as for where your guess is as good as mine, but.. this is a world where appliances were brought to life, a water dog publicly ransomed the cities water suply, and and an evil toymaker raised hell, not to mention the bat based pizza theft. A woman running in and out of a painting SHOULD NOT be that farfetched but no everyone just assumes the kid is lying and dosen’t bother asking why. Including Drake.. everyone else.. fine, Herb’s a moron and we’ll get to him in a second. But Drake has fought so much weird shit at this point, you’d THINK he’d think it was a supervillian and not just honker lying.  You’d think but no. Thankfully he finds out pretty quick, so he’s more tolerable but it still hurts my head that he’s this stubborn. 

But as I just hinted at.. Herb and Binkie are worse as they repeadtly think their son is a liar and ground him over it... even though they KNOW Honker dosen’t lie, Gosalyn admits he can’t and admits she’s failed to teach him, and then instead of you know believing their kid, blame Gos for it, which amount's to absolutley nothing so why have this plot point! All it did was make me hate herb as much as Drake does.. I mean if he’s this terrible a parent and this dense that rather than believe his own kid didn’t do the impossible or wasn’t covering for a thief that his friend taught him how to lie, no wonder Drake can’t stand him. The voice dosen’t help, as normally it’s tolerable but it’s extra loud and extra insufferable this episode. It just makes already insufferable scnees worse. 

But the crowner for moron of this episode is the curator, who repadtly, when seeing Honker there, blames him for the thefts, and at one point when he tries to enter a painting HAS A CHILD ARRESTED. He has a small child, who couldn’t of possibly taken any of this.. arrested. Now granted one of the paintings is destroyed.. but the can wasn’t left behind by splatter phoenix. So he had a 10 year old arrested... on charges of propety destrictuion? What.. why would he do this? WHy would his parents belivie this/ WHY. it’s agonizingly dumb. It hurts.. it hurts and I understandably didn’t want to go on loop with this asshole. But that’s what the episode feels like and it only gets broken because Splatter outright tells the curator so she can ransom mona lisa’s mouth! GAH. 

But yeah that’s our big setpiece,  as Splatter carriers mona’s annoying mouth around through some cool set pieces. We also get a neat bit earlier of Gosalyn stuck in a piccaso, which looks really damn neat and also really painful. And apparently she can leave because drake enters? I dunno, it’s not the dumbest thing about this episode. We do get the curator catching Darkwing tryign to take the painting.. which not only has him actually blamed with a crime resonably for the first time since the pilot, but is clever and gets a good line out of the deal.  And that brings me to another reason the episode is so frustrating: so much of the plot is just dropped threads. The Waddlemeyers don’t want honker around gosalyn. Goes nowhere. Gosalyn is trapped in a painting,. Resolved pretty easily. Darkwing might take the fall for this GOES NOWHERE. MY SANITY. GOES AWAY. 

Finally.. I just don’t like this stock plot. The “Character is telling the truth but no one belivies them”. it CAN be done well. Amphibia did this plot well in season 1 and Gravity Falls used it well as it was revealed Stan DOES know, he just was playing dumb. It can be done right.. it’s just more often than not a kid is put through hell for something they have on control over by some asshole adult or some other kid. or an adult is put through it. I’ve never enjoyed this sort of Michigan J Frog bullshit, and never will. And here it’s an innocent, honest, good kid being sent to JAIL breifly for .. telling the truth. With no reward. Just nope episode over. fuck this episode. 

So before we wrap, the finale, which again is pretty good. Honker finds one of Splatter’s brushes, uses it to restore Darking and Co and it’s pretty cleve.r. then it gets dumb again with Darkwing escorting pheonix away and the muddlefoots finally beliving their son after mona lisa’s smile tells them he isn’t a liar.. okay whatever we’re done. 

FINAL. THOUGHTS. 

This episode is split down the middle :It’s half a good episode, wtih great sequences, great jokes and great use of classic art.. and half GOD MAKE IT STOP AGGRIVATION. It’s easily the worst darkwing i’ve seen so far, and yet SITLL has stuff worth watching it for. The painting sequences are still some of the shows best.. it’s jsut saddled with a plot I hate and that aggrivates me. This was not good, and i’ve seen much better and hopefully Splatter’s other appearance is less aggravating. we will see eventually. Till then, there’s always another rainbow. 

[tigerkirby215]

5e Ekko, the Boy who Shattered Time build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Riot Games)

Ekko is a character who’s way better in the lore than in-game. An orphan with a heart of gold doesn’t translate well into this immortal bastard who bursts your entire team before pressing one button to instantly get all his health back. Regardless Ekko has a simple kit that makes him easy to adapt into the meta and very fun to play! And who doesn’t want to time travel?

GOALS

Don't blink! - Shattering time means that you can zip around in the blink of an eye.

I'll help you this time: duck - Batter up! Time stuns coming your way!

If you can’t make the most out of any given moment... - Then you don’t deserve a single extra second. Thankfully we’ll have a lot of chances to make the most out of every single second.

RACE

Ekko is a human but he’s very different from all the other kids in Zaun, making him a Variant Human. As a Variant Human you get a +1 increase to two skills of your choice: choose Dexterity and Wisdom to keep on your feet with your wits about you. You also learn a language and a skill of your choice: your language doesn’t matter much but for skills pick Perception to notice exactly how you can defeat your foe without too many rewinds.

But of course the main appeal of Variant Humans is the ability to get a Feat at level 1, and when it’s time to rewind look no further than the Lucky feat. You have 3 Luck points (or as I like to call them Rewind Die) that you can spend to roll an extra d20 on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. You can choose which d20 result you want to use after rolling your Rewind Die.

The best part about Lucky? You can use it against enemies too! If an enemy attacks you you can also roll to potentially make them miss! Remember that you only have 3 rewinds which only come back on a Long Rest, so use them wisely!

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - Shattering time means you can zip around at the blink of an eye.

14; INTELLIGENCE - Ekko created a time travel machine, as well as many other inventions that would put the Pilties to shame.

13; WISDOM - Ekko stays in Zaun because he cares about the people.

12; CHARISMA - Ekko’s a good kid, as evidenced by how many skins he has.

10; CONSTITUTION - You can take a hit but you’re still primarily an assassin.

8; STRENGTH - You’re a kid who fights with nothing more than a bat. A magic clock bat, but not a heavy bat.

Feel free to swap Charisma and Constitution if you want more health but weaker RP.

BACKGROUND

Ekko is an Urchin but he doesn’t really fit the typical description (he has parents, for one), so I’m going to suggest changing it up some. Swap your proficiencies out for Acrobatics and Investigation to puzzle your way though defeating your foes, and your tools for Tinkerer’s Tools and Smith’s Tools to make your gadgets.

But your feature City Secrets still fits you perfectly, allowing you to easily make your way around the streets of Zaun without getting lost. I mean, you probably do get lost sometimes but your party doesn’t need to know that.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - WIZARD 1

Oh boy my favorite class that I have to spend way too long explaining! Regardless Wizard is the perfectly class for smart kids who use magical time-warping devices. You get proficiency in two skills from the Wizard list and I’d opt for Arcana for knowledge of your Z-Drive and History for knowledge of what happened. Because you were there!

As a Wizard you also get access to Spellcasting. You learn 3 cantrips from the Wizard list: Ray of Frost lets you toss out a Timewinder to slow and damage your foes, Mending will let you reverse any small damage an object may have received, and Message will let you coordinate in team chat. You also learn 6 spells at level 1 with Wizard, but you can prepare a number of spells equal to your Intelligence modifier plus your Wizard level:

Absorb Elements will let you resist some incoming magic before returning it with Z-Drive Resonance.

Alarm will let you know that someone’s coming, or rather reverse time when they do arrive to give you time to prepare.

Detect Magic will help you figure out what any Hextech might do.

False Life can give you a Parallel Convergence shield.

Both Mage Armor and Shield will help you defend yourself and dodge attacks you wouldn’t otherwise be able to avoid.

Need a break from all that time warping? Arcane Recovery lets you recover spell slots equal to half your Wizard level, rounded up. Confused how it works? Read it yourself because I’m bad at explaining it.

LEVEL 2 - WIZARD 2

At level 2 you can choose your Arcane Tradition. Oh man if only there was a tradition dedicated specifically to time manipulation... oh wait Chronurgy Magic, which is automatically one of the better ones because it isn’t a school! Regardless Chronurgy Wizards get Temporal Awareness, letting them add their Intelligence modifier to Initiative rolls.

They can also turn back time with Chronal Shift! As a reaction you can force yourself or another creature to reroll an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. The target must use the result of the second roll, and you can choose to use the ability after knowing the original result. You can rewind twice per Long Rest but that should be more than enough to find the perfect way around a problem! (Especially with Lucky helping you as well!)

You can also add two more spells to your spell list: Gift of Alacrity is a Chronurgy-specific spell that lets you prepare to add a d8 to a creature’s initiative check, so you can make sure your initiator is the first in the fight! If you want to slow everyone down however Earth Tremor will force enemies in an area to make a Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone, and regardless of if they succeed or fail they’ll still be slowed by difficult terrain!

LEVEL 3 - RANGER 1

What? You didn’t think this was just a pure book nerd build, did you? Nah Ekko’s a special kid who knows Zaun like the back of his hand: sounds like a proper city Ranger! You get proficiency in one skill from the Ranger list when you multiclass, so grab Insight to know what people are going to do after they did it... before they did it!

Class Feature Variants is an Unearthed Arcana that’s soon going to be made official so I’m going to use Ranger features from that PDF instead. Deft Explorer lets you choose from one of three benefits: Roving lets you speed yourself up by 5 feet and also gives you a climbing speed to climb clock towers and a swimming speed to... swim. Favored Foe meanwhile lets you cast Hunter’s Mark a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier without using Concentration, for some more Z-Drive Resonance!

LEVEL 4 - RANGER 2

Second level Rangers get a Fighting Style and I figure now would be a good time to talk about Ekko’s weapon: he uses the clock needle of his as a bat most of the time but a club is a simple weapon that uses Strength and does very little damage. As a Ranger you have proficiency in martial weapons so I’m pretty sure that needle could be passed off as a short sword. Fight the short sword in your main hand and nothing in the other, or grab a shield just for the sake of the AC: regardless Dueling will make your sword do +2 damage.

You also get access to Spellcasting! Again! Check chapter 6 of the Player’s Handbook for information on how multiclassing between full casters and half casters works, but you get two first level Ranger spells: to dash in and strike an important target Zephyr Strike will let you avoid opportunity attacks and do an extra d8 damage on hit, letting you ride Z-Drive Resonance out with 30 more movement speed. If you want to stun a target for a beat down Ensnaring Strike will restrain them with vines. Time vines! Yeah...

LEVEL 5 - RANGER 3

Third level Rangers can choose their Ranger Conclave (or subclass as its otherwise known.) Time to up the Z-Drive with Horizon Walker! Horizon Walkers can Detect Portals within 1 mile of them but that’s not important. What’s important is that they have Planar Warrior, letting them use their Bonus Action to make their weapon do magic (Force) damage and deliver an extra d8 damage thanks to Z-Drive Resonance! (I’ve been mentioning that a lot, haven’t I?)

You also get Primal Awareness from the Class Feature Variants UA for the ability to cast Detect Magic and Speak with Animals once per Long Rest without using a spell slot. Think you’ve got enough magic? Well Horizon Walker Spells give you Protection from Evil and Good as a Ranger spell, and you can add one more spell to your list like Jump to Phase Dive across leaps and bounds... look level 1 Ranger spells suck give me a break! Take Cure Wounds if you want something more useful!

(Artwork by Riot Games)

LEVEL 6 - RANGER 4

4th level Rangers get their first Ability Score Improvement: to keep elusive and hit hard with your bat shortsword get more Dexterity.

LEVEL 7 - RANGER 5

5th level Rangers get an Extra Attack, letting them attack twice when they use the Attack action. It should be mentioned that Planar Warrior will only make your first attack forceful while your second attack will do regular damage.

You can also learn second level Ranger spells like Pass Without a Trace. You’ve got all the time in the world to sneak around, and you’ve also got all the time in the world to figure out why the Ranger spell list sucks so much where you refuse to take Healing spells. At least you get access to Beast Sense and Locate Animals or Plants thanks to Primal Awareness, and Flash (I mean Misty Step) from your Horizon Walker Spells!

LEVEL 8 - RANGER 6

At 6th level you get another ability from Deft Explorer: Canny lets you learn one skill of your choice from a given list, and get Expertise in any of those skills that you know. (That isn’t quite how it works but that’s how I make it work for convenience's sake.) Expertise in Perception will let you spot any valuable junk in the Zaun trash heaps, and Stealth proficiency will help you get away with your loot! You also learn two languages which uhhh... just pick whatever really. You’ve got plenty of time to talk to people.

LEVEL 9 - RANGER 7

7th level Horizon Walkers can phase out of time with Ethereal Step, letting them cast Eternalness for a turn once per short or long rest. Not something that Ekko can normally do but you can accomplish a lot while messing with time.

Speaking of accomplishing a lot you get another spell: Darkvision will help your regular human eyes see why kids love the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch! Wait...

LEVEL 10 - RANGER 8

8th level Rangers get another Ability Score Improvement: max out your Dexterity to be as quick as you can when striking down your foes. You also get Land’s Stride to move through difficult terrain without using extra movement, avoid taking damage from nonmagical plants, and have advantage against magical plants. How does a kid from Zaun know his way around dangerous plants? Well you had plenty of time to read up on botany.

(Artwork by Jason Chan, Senior Concept Artist at Riot Games)

LEVEL 11 - RANGER 9

9th level Rangers get access to third level spells. With Primal Awareness you learn Speak with Plants (look, I can’t justify everything in this build. D&D isn’t Runeterra), and as a Horizon Walker you get access to Haste! You can also find your ways around the dark streets of Zaun more easily thanks to the spell Daylight.

LEVEL 12 - RANGER 10

10th level Rangers can get the last feature from Deft Explorer: Tireless lets you spend an action to give yourself temporary hit points equal to 1d10 + your Wisdom modifier. You can do this a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. Additionally your Exhaustion goes down by 1 every time you finish a Short or Long rest.

And while Hide in Plain Sight may make more sense for Ekko, Fade Away is just so much better. You can use your Bonus Action to turn invisible for a turn! Maybe you turned back time to the DOTA days when Shadow Blade was an item you build buy? Yeah I know DOTA.

LEVEL 13 - RANGER 11

11th level Horizon Walkers can finally Phase Dive with Distant Strike! When you take the Attack action, you can teleport up to 10 feet before each attack to an unoccupied space you can see. Additionally, if you attack at least two different creatures with the action, you can make a three hit combo against a third creature!

You can also learn another spell at this level, and while there are a lot of options to choose from I’d personally suggest some magic resistance. Protection from Energy will let you put on an Adaptive Helm to resist a certain type of elemental damage.

LEVEL 14 - RANGER 12

12th level Rangers get an Ability Score Improvement and since your Dexterity is maxed out now would be a good time to hit the books and increase your Intelligence!

(Artwork by Riot Games)

LEVEL 15 - WIZARD 3

Hey remember when we took levels in Wizard way back at levels 1 and 2? Well third level Wizards can learn 2nd level Wizard spells! Blur will make it harder for an enemy to hit you unless they can sense where you really are, and if you want even more chances to turn back time Fortune’s Favor is a spell reserved to Chronurgy Wizards (and Graviturgy Wizards) that lets them give themselves or an ally some more time with an extra d20 to roll in case they’re in danger!

LEVEL 16 - WIZARD 4

4th level Wizards get another Ability Score Improvement: more Intelligence will help with all the time manipulation.

You can also add another 2 spells to your spellbook, and you learn another cantrip! Sapping Sting is a Dunamancy-specific cantrip and it can make your opponent trip! If you want to be even harder to hit Mirror Image will let your time doubles do some distracting for you, and if you want to shake off the time police Nystul’s Magic Aura will make it easy to fool the Pilties.

LEVEL 17 - WIZARD 5

5th level Wizards can learn third level spells: you can already speed up time with Haste but Slow will let you do the opposite to your foes! But if you want to Phase Dive around the battle field some more at risk of glitching out time Blink is the spell for you! "The timeline was already this broken when I found it. I swear."

LEVEL 18 - WIZARD 6

Isn’t it funny how it took this long to get Parallel Convergence’s stun? Momentary Stasis takes an action to force a large or smaller creature to make a Constitution save or be unable to move. The effect ends if they take damage or at the end of your next turn, but that should be plenty of time to either set up or run. You can do this a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier and regain all uses at the end of a Long Rest.

Speaking of stuns: Hold Person from second level will let you stun an enemy for quite awhile, and you can still hit them! But if you want to turn back your opponent’s spells? Good ol’ Counterspell.

LEVEL 19 - WIZARD 7

7th level Wizards can learn 4th level spells: to travel far and get out of danger Dimension Door will let you warp out of the way. If you want some protection from time warping around you Intellect Fortress is an Unearthed Arcana spell that gives resistance to psychic damage, as well as advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws.

LEVEL 20 - WIZARD 8

Our capstone is the 8th level of Wizard for your last Ability Score Improvement: if you want to maximize the effectiveness of your time manipulation increase your Intelligence, but if you want more combat features from Ranger Wisdom will give you more charges for those abilities.

And you can grab your last two free Wizard spells. After this you’ll have to (gasp!) read! For some retributive damage Fire Shield will make you foes think twice about hitting you. But if you want to bring your foes back to the future look no further than Polymorph, to turn people into dinosaurs!

WHAT I DIDN’T USE

Just a quick mention of some of the options I didn’t use for this build, since I think that a lot of questions will be asked about them:

Echo Knight - Sort of the first thing you think of because... you know... Ekko Knight? But truth is that while Ekko gets a time clone for some of his abilities he doesn’t really use the clone to fight? If you want a time fighter that uses clones however I would suggest my Isaac build (Skullgirls)

Divination Wizard - Some people (especially those without Wildemount) might ask why I picked Chronurgy Wizard over Divination. I mean other than the fact that Chronurgy is literally the time Wizard? Well other than that it’s because while you can reverse time you don’t know the outcome of all fights. Adding intelligence to your Initiative also works to simulate Ekko’s speed.

Artificer - Ekko builds his own stuff but put bluntly none of the Artificers really fit his abilities. He doesn’t make potions, doesn’t have a robot dog, definitely doesn’t have a gun, and certainly doesn’t have an Iron Man suit. (That’s on Viktor!)

FINAL BUILD

PROS

This is how we say “hello” in Zaun - You aren’t exactly the most damaging combatant, but you have tons of tricks to up your DPS, all while keeping safe yourself.

Show me something new! - Investing in both mental stats means you’ve got some really good skills. 24 passive perception, anyone?

One more time! - Who would’ve guessed the ability to rewind time would be a lifesaver? Five rerolls per day, three of which you can pick the result from means that you should never be rolling bad. And you aren’t even a Halfling!

CONS

Good a time as any to act reckless - Double the spellcasters means that you can’t get the best of both stats. While it isn’t a big deal since most of your spells are buffs your low Wisdom score means that you won’t be able to use your Ranger features very often.

That worked in another timeline - Wizard levels and a neutral Constitution score means that your health is subpar to say the least. Rewinding won’t save you from Power Word Kill.

I need to rethink a couple things - In order to get Momentary Stasis we had to skip over Spectral Defense from Horizon Walker level 15. Truthfully while Momentary Stasis is nice for a stun you would’ve been far better off further honing your combat skills: the extra Rewinds from Chronurgy 2 was already more than enough of a boost.

But Zaunites know how to work with what they’ve got. Make the best out of a bad situation and use your wit to outsmart any foe! And maybe chat with the Rogues and the Fighters to see if they’d like some time to be Bards? If you move too fast it’ll be like moving in slow-mo.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

[cloudchaserandflitterexplain]

Cloudchaser and Flitter Explain: Songs

Continentals. I just don't know what to play…

Oh don't be silly. We all know what your favourite deck is.

Well, sure. And it's a lot of fun. But the current meta is so control heavy, I’m not sure it'll do too well.

So do I play it and just try and do my best regardless? Or do I try to play a control deck instead to capitalize on the meta? Or maybe something else?

Time's running out! I should have made a decision by now! Augh!

Aww, Cici… You'll do fine. You always do.

Yeah, but I want to win.

Well, I know what'll cheer you up! I'll sing a song!

Cici, Cici, she's our mare! She'll win all the Ultra Rares!

Heh. Not much of a song.

But you're smiling!

And now that you're happy, it's time to discuss our topic for the day, Songs!

Well, and Epiphanies, since they're close enough we may as well batch them in. But we'll mostly just be talking about Songs.

Songs are one of the more interesting and fun kind of card in the game since they’re pretty different from just about every other event in the game.

While most events are straightforward and do one thing and only one thing...

...Songs do one of three different things, allowing you to pick the best of the three for the situation you're in.

And Epiphanies are even better as they let you pick two of the three things for even more versatility!

Songs have become a staple in many decks for awhile now because of that versatility. Most songs do at least one good thing, if not more, so it's pretty easy to justify running them over similar cards.

Of course, there's usually a tradeoff. The multi-colour songs require you to be using specific colour combinations, while the one colour songs frequently cost more than similar cards would. It's not always right to use a song over something similar, depending on what your deck needs.

As a simple example, Special Beam Cannon banishes a resource for 1 AT, while Luna's Future does that for 2.

Now if you never intended to use any of the other verses on Luna's Future, it's probably better to go for the cheaper one. But if the temporary banishment or buffing of a Troublemaker helps your strategy, it can be worth spending the extra AT for the versatility.

Likewise, Glass of Water and Splash Attack both let you turn a Troublemaker face-down for 1 AT. But, Glass of Water requires you to be in both Yellow and Purple, so isn't always better despite having more options!

You have to consider all of the benefits and downsides of the song first. Running Yellow/Orange? Bats! is probably a good inclusion! Running Yellow/Blue with just a tiny bit of Orange? Maybe Bats! isn't for you and you should stick with Bewitched Beavers.

Or maybe Bewitched Beavers is even right over Bats! simply because you'd rather have your resource removal at Immediate speed! There's a lot to things to consider!

So as you can probably guess, simply running songs over similar cards isn't always right.

But it usually is.

Just like Cici!

Cici, Cici, she’s so right! Her words of wisdom light up the night!

...What does that even mean?

That’s an exercise left open to the listener.

Oooookay then. Moving on.

So sometimes it's not always clear which is better for your deck, a song or a similar not-song. So how do you know which to use?

Easy. Practice!

Try the deck with the song and try it with the other card and see which worked better for you. Then use that one.

Though I guess technically that's advice for just about any card.

Still doesn't hurt to bring up now!

True.

So that covers when to add them to your deck, but what about when they’re already in your deck. How do you choose which verse to use?

That's… harder.

Sometimes it's pretty obvious. Opponent has a nasty resource in play you need to dismiss, so playing Friends Are Always There to dismiss it is probably more important than making 3 Critters.

Or maybe you're 3 power short from DFOing and only have 2 AT and have never seen the opponent play a resource, so using it to make Friends is the right call after all.

Silly Cici.

Making friends is always the right call! Just ask Pinkie!

Er, uh… I meant in game.

Sure, making friends through games is great.

But you can also make friends through parties or interpretive dance or snowboarding or learning the Vuvuzela, or traveling to Yakyakistan or—

I get the picture.

Point is, sometimes it's pretty obvious. But sometimes, well…

Sometimes it's not.

Maybe you want to DFO and are 3 power short and Friends Are Always There is your only way to get that three power… but you know your opponent has lots of annoying resources and annoying non-epic troublemakers, even if they're not in play now.

You could play it now and DFO and get some points…

But if they play a Staff of Sacanas the next turn, you might find yourself in a rough spot and wish you still had that resource removal.

Quite the predicament. So what do you do, Cici?

Well, in my professional card playing experience, I can tell you with utmost confidence that…

I don't know.

Whaaaaaat? But you're supposed to be the expert, Cici!

Cici, Cici, she knows it all. Her knowledge of the game’s not small!

Heh, thanks.

Mine neither.

But, seriously. There's no inherently correct answer.

It's possible you'll get punished for making the risky aggressive play, but it's also possible you'll get punished for making the safe defensive play. Unless you have perfect knowledge of the opponent's hand and deck, there's no way to know for sure.

It comes down to a judgement call. Make your best guess as to which is right and hope. That's part of the downside of having choices. Sometimes you make the wrong one and have no way of knowing until it's too late.

But hey. It was a choice you had the opportunity to make that you wouldn’t have if it was a similar non-song card, at least. And once you've been in a similar situation enough times, you'll be able to draw on your experiences to help weigh in the decision next time it shows up.

It’s…. tricky.

But honestly I find it a pretty rewarding skill to grow. And it can feel great when you get to the point where you feel you're making that kind of decision right most of the time.

But, like most skills in this game, it's something you can only really refine with practice. And you will occasionally make mistakes.

Yeah, even Cici still makes mistakes every now and again. Nopony's perfect.

Well, except for Princess Celestia.

Uhhh, I'm pretty sure even she's not—

It was a joke, Cici.

Oh. Right.

Anyway, that's just about it… but there's still 3 cards we need to bring up with regards to songs!

Dance Fever: Dancing Machine, Spike: Master of Ceremonies, and…

It's just those two, right?

Nope!

We also need to go over how Songs and Epiphanies work with Wake Up Call!

Well, and I guess Octavia: Harmony and Dissonance, but that interaction's basically the same.

Huh, yeah. That is worth mentioning.

So our little card game works a bit weird when it comes to canceling events. Specifically, you don't decide what the output of an event will be until it's resolved.

Normally, this doesn't matter. You just play your I'll Fly, say you're moving your Mane to your problem, and that's it!

But when a Wake Up call is in play, the opponent has the chance to stop your event from doing anything. So it's best not to say what you're doing when you play your song.

Just say “I'll play I'll fly. Are you canceling it?” and wait for them to answer. If they do, then put it in the discard pile without saying anything else. But if they don't, then you say what you're doing with it.

Technically there's nothing wrong with saying what you're intending to do with it, but it might affect your opponent's decision on whether or not to cancel it!

You're just giving up a tactical advantage. So keep it in mind, but don't sweat too much if you mess it up now and again. Especially since those cards are pretty rare.

Now let's get to the more fun cards, Dance Fever and Spike!

Dance Fever is fun and cares about the songs you play by giving another character +2 power until end of turn, which is a pretty nice bonus!

That being said, there can occasionally be some odd interactions with him, despite how straightforward he is.

Take for example Find the Music In You. One of its verses is to put a friend into play from your discard pile. But you can't choose that friend for Dance Fever's ability, right?

Bzzt, wrong! Since you process Dance Fever's ability after fully completing the Song, you totally can! Great way to sneak in some extra power!

Spike can get similarly complicated, only even crazier. A lot of songs have verses that can have non-intuitive results when processing all three verses. But there's two simple rules to follow that should clear up most of the issues.

One: Process all three verses in order. And by extension, don't process any verses until the previous ones are all done.

So if you play Music in the Treetops, you get to manipulate a problem deck, then put 2 critters into play, then have each player retire a friend. Which can be one of those criters you just put into play!

On the other hoof, if you play Make This Castle a Home, you can't use the first verse to draw the resource you put on top of your deck with the third verse since the third verse always happens afterwards.

And singing songs out of order is just silly!

Incidentally, this is true for Epiphanies too. Whichever modes you choose, you have to do in the order listed on the card.

Two: Even if one of the verses starts a faceoff, you finish the rest of the verses before moving into the rest of the faceoff.

So if you play It's Time To Be Awesome, you'll still boost all your characters for the turn before finishing beating up that Troublemaker.

That Troublemaker will never know what hit it!

Other than that, it should be pretty easy processing songs even with Spike out.

Which about wraps up our thing on songs! Feel better now, Cici?

Yeah, a bit. Still not 100% sure what to do with continentals, but we’ll see.

Oh stop worrying! You’re too awesome to worry about stuff like this!

Cici, Cici, she's so awesome! She's the best cause she's so awesome!

Okay, you're not even trying anymore.

Cici, Cici, she loves my songs! We're besties cause we get along.

Okay, okay. I get it.

Though I thing those qualify more as cheers than songs.

Nonsense. My songs are works of art that will be treasured for years to come!

Cici Cici, she's so—

Yeah, okay, you'll do this for hours if I don't stop you, so I think this is time to say goodbye to everyone.

Bye everypony!

[hanbeihood]

A fun little Halloween 5e build

With Halloween right around the corner, I figured I’d post a 5e character build that I made a little bit ago. Some might call them creepy or unsettling, but they won’t say anything in response, if they’re a pro. Get your Player’s Handbooks ready, and let’s build a fucking mime.

Okay, first things first. We need the physical ability to hold positions like sitting in a chair for at least a brief period of time. Secondly, we need to be able to make those invisible walls, effects, etc. Finally, we need to be silent.

Let’s use the standard point array for our base stats (15, 14,  13, 12, 10, 8). You don’t have to use this method if you prefer others, but be mindful of multiclassing prerequisites (DEX & WIS). At the end of the day, stat distributions are just another type of flavor that add to the role-playing aspect of D&D.

15 is going into Dexterity. You’re a physical actor, so you need to be limber. Next is 14 for Charisma; you don’t have to be liked to have your smile leave an impact. 13 is for Constitution. Sometimes you’ll decide to sit in an invisible chair and have to stick it out for a little bit. Also, you’re HP will thank you. 12 is going into our Wisdom. One of the perks of staying quiet is the opportunity to notice things every now and again. We’re also going to get our zen on a little bit; you kind of need to when you can’t always communicate effectively with your party members. Strength is going to be our 10. I’d dump it if it wasn’t for how physically taxing some miming can be. That just leaves the 8 for Intelligence. Yeah, it sucks, but it’s the least important stat for this build. Like I said, you only need to /really/ pay attention to the multiclass prereqs. A higher INT won’t break the character.

For the race, our mime will be a Gith, specifically a Githzerai, from Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. That’s a +1INT & +2WIS, bumping them up to 9 & 14 respectively. Githzerai also get a 30ft speed, speak Common & Gith, and have Mental Discipline which grants advantage on saving throws against the Charmed & Frightened conditions. But the real reason we’re choosing this race is for their Githzerai Psionics. This’ll give us Mage Hand, Shield at 3rd lvl once per long rest, and Detect Magic at 5th lvl once per long rest. These spells use your Wisdom score. The best part is that they don’t require any components at all, and Mage Hand cast this way is invisible. So that last feature gives a way to manipulate the environment with reasonable deniability, a once-a-day invisible wall to defend yourself, and Detect Magic because I guess mimes can sense when you’re bs-ing them. Don’t try to cheat a mime.

We’re going to take the Charlatan background gaining proficiencies in Deception, Sleight of Hand, Disguise kits, & Forgery kits. What’s more unsettling than a mime? A mime you know you can’t trust. We also get the False Identity feature to have a secondary persona to slip into when need be; you could flavor this to be the difference between makeup on and off.

For our 1st level, we’re taking Rogue. Gotta love the image of a mime with a dagger or shortsword, huh? Now, most of the Rogues proficiency options are good, and we get 4. Performance is a must, and I strongly recommend Acrobatics. The other 2 are up to you. I’m going to choose Stealth & Perception. As a Rogue, we get Sneak Attack (duh), Thieves’ Cant (a way to communicate via miming?), and Expertise (x2 proficiency bonus for Performance & Stealth? yes please).

Time to immediately multiclass into Monk for our 2nd lvl. Unarmored Defense & Martial Arts are great features which can be flavored easily. The WIS bonus to your AC can be interpreted as quickly summoned invisible walls to protect you from attacks. It may seem low for the moment, but a 14 AC is better than the 13 you’d have from Leather Armor. The 1d4 unarmed strikes from your Martial Arts can be flavored to be invisible bludgeoning weapons. (I’m partial to baseball bats) I’d recommend talking with your DM about enchanting your blades to be inivisible since you can’t use Sneak Attack with your unarmed strikes despite using your DEX. (Finesse or ranged weapons /means/ finesse or ranged weapons.) You could then eventually have the party Wizard imbue those blades via Nystul’s Magic Aura to essentially make them undetectable. Just don’t lose them.

Going back to Rogue (2) for Cunning Action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a bonus action. Nothing scary about a sneaky mime.

Staying in Rogue (3) to bump Sneak Attack damage to 2d6 and to take the Thief Roguish Archetype. This gives you Fast Hands to add more options to your Cunning Action. You can now use your CA to make a DEX (Sleight of Hand) check, use thieves’ tools to disarm a trap or open a lock, or take the “Use an Object” action. You also get Second-Story Work meaning you can climbing no longer costs extra movement, and when you make a running jump, the distance you cover increases by an amount of feet equal to your DEX modifier.

We’ll stay in Rogue (4) some more to take that Ability Score Increase, bumping up our DEX & COn by 1. Odd numbers on important stats are the enemy. Our stats now look like this: STR 10 || DEX 16 || CON 14 || INT 9 || WIS 14 || CHA 14

Back into Monk (2) for our 6th level in total, we get Unarmored Movement (+10ft) and Ki! Ki is powered by your WIS stat. For future features that use Ki, your Ki DC is 8+your proficiency modifier+your WIS modifier. You get 2 Ki points per long or short rest. You can currently spend 1 to activate Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, or Step of the Wind. Patient Defense is the one we’re after the most because it let’s the mime take the Dodge action as a bonus action on your turn, i.e. another way to have mimed walls up.

Our next Monk level (3) is big. We get 1 more Ki point (and will gain 1 with each Monk level), Deflect Missiles (more walls! [if you don’t just straight up catch the projectile]), and our Monastic Tradition: Way of the Open Hand. WotOH makes the already useful Flurry of Blows even more useful. Knocking enemies prone, pushing them up to 15ft away, or keeping them from taking reactions until the end of your next turn are some great options you can impose on foes.

Let’s get another ASI, this time from Monk (4). We’ll boost our DEX by 2. STR 10 || DEX 18 || CON 14 || INT 9 || WIS 14 || CHA 14 Also, we get Slow Fall to umbrella our way down and reduce damage.

Let’s speed things along. We take 2 more levels of Rogue (5, 6). Sneak Attack is now 3d6. We gain Uncanny Dodge to halve an attack’s damage via your reaction, and we get to apply Expertise to 2 more skills or 1 skill and the thieves’ tools. I’m going to place Expertise on Sleight of Hand and Perception. (You do you, though.)

The rest of our levels will be going into Monk for this build for a total of 14 Monk levels and 6 Rogue levels. The Martial Arts die will be 1d8, and we’ll have +25ft to our movement. At the 8th and 12th level of Monk, we’ll have the option for 2 more ASI’s. If you’re happy with your current ability scores and your DM allows it, you can consider taking the Lucky and/or Observant feats. If you want an extra boost to those numbers, bump up WIS and/or CHA to 16 for more reliable skills, saving throws, and Ki DC. For my build, I’m going to take the Observant feat, adding +1 to my INT and then use the other ASI to bring my WIS to 16. STR 10 || DEX 18 || CON 14 || INT 10 || WIS 16 || CHA 14

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let’s take a look at what we’ve got.

--Mobility (Chances are that you’re faster than people afraid of mimes) --Consistent damage (which is magical damage thanks to Monk’s 6th lvl) --Skills (6 levels of Rogue is so nice to make sure you do what you need to do) --Damage avoidance (1 Shield spell, AC 17, Evasion from Monk’s 7th lvl, and proficiency in all saving throws from Monk’s 14th lvl) --Loyal (Being a Githzerai and a Monk means it’s really hard to make you turn on your allies) --Miming (As long as you have Ki and can move around a bit, you can mess with your foes.) --Close range (If you’re using daggers, you can only throw them so far. Otherwise, you gotta get up in the enemy’s face.) --Limited damage types (You kind of only have bludgeoning and piercing damage to work with) --Mime (You aren’t proficient in Intimidation, but there are people who find you scary anyway. At 20th lvl, you’ve got a +8 without even trying. You could either be the best or worst face of the party depending on who you’re trying to work with.)

[exilesofembermark]

Game Dev Update | 4.28.17

“You ate the last Twinkie...” - Master Dwarf Thisguy ^

We’ve waited to show more than a glimpse of the dwarven race on Embermark until our own hammers were pounding out the mass of loot we’ve promised in Dev Updates past. Now that the promised loot train is rolling, it’s time to really take a look at our stout, grumpy friends. 

Last update, we covered the beginning of our game mode experimentation, world map navigation, a Legendary sword and the ability to view your Battle History. This time, its about content and gameplay. Read on to check out our new icon system, new battle environments, new loot, an upcoming AMA, your chance to help design an item that ends up in the game and what we’re learning about battle mechanics. 

Oh, and dwarves.

DWARVES

Whether they’re holed up in the caverns and carved-out tunnels of Siege or feverishly rebuilding the once-great Anglon, dwarves in Embermark are a force to be reckoned with. Here’s an Elite version of our angry fellow from above:  

We started the dwarf-creation process exploring what we wanted the basic proportions, faces and gear types to be, as well as where they reside in Embermark and what their background is. As you can see below, Beardbo Grumperson IV there on the far right is a look we’ve stuck with through the representation of our Elite fellow above. 

There are a few geographic locations where the dwarves in Embermark tend to be found (though they travel and team up a bit more than dwarves in many other settings), and as mentioned before, the region of Siege is one of them. They’ve gone underground for the past several hundred years as Embermark was overrun and a terrible place to live, but a few ancient entrances to their underground lairs are still visible on the world map:

3D design proceeded much as all the humanoid races we’re developing have-- from the base player model, with some changes that led into a distinctly dwarven look:

And unless the dwarf in question has been beaten in battle to a humiliating degree lately, he/she usually has some manner of facial style going on:

We couldn’t resist this one:

And this one, with a better look at some of the tattoo designs we’re playing with:

I’ve mentioned the history and background of the wolves in Embermark before (despite my bold-face lie about there being no rats, bats, wolves or skeletons in this game). They’re a mean and cunning lot, with far more organization to a “pack” than typical. 

Well, this gives you a clue about how dwarves on the continent feel about them:

Depending on the proportions of our humanoid NPCs, we’re making versions of all their gear to also fit the player, for extra tasty drops.

ICONS

When you have a lot of lootses in a RPG, someone has to make the icons. And usually, artists hate doing it cuz there’s so many and it takes so long and it’s not sexy.

WRONG.

With Exiles, it is sexy (and so are you).  We’ve had the same placeholder sword/boot/pants icons in just about every screenshot you’ve seen up till now (like here and here). No more!

Because we aren’t satisfied with that (and hate sleep), we created a new icon creation pipeline that takes EACH design for a piece of loot and creates an icon for it. So for every item you get, you’ll see a Tier 3 (that’s the highest) image of that item over a rarity color (either nothing, blue, purple, gold, or green) to give your loadout that extra oomph you’ve been looking for. 

GAME MODE EXPERIMENTS

As fast as the content train is moving, the mechanics train is hurtling along just as fast. Now that we have most of the Abilities, Stats and Talents working for the Warrior and Mage classes, we’re diving into what will make the moment-to-moment gameplay the most strategic, satisfying... and visceral! To that end, we have our 4-Ability loadout that we’ve talked a lot about, but last week, we got a second mode of combat going-- The Deck. 

With The Deck, the rules of the game are still the same:

 WEGO-style turn-based with initiative determining order of ability execution 

Abilities combine with Gear & Talents to create effects on either character

First character to die (there’s no fainting in Exiles) loses

However, instead of a 4-Ability Set, you now choose 8. 4 are chosen for you randomly at the beginning of a Battle and the others are in queue. As you use Abilities, they cycle back into the deck and the next Ability in the deck becomes available (see the smaller “coming” Ability represented below-- that is WIP as is everything in these Updates, and it will get a proper UI representation if it ends up being something we support).

Initial testing has proven fun and maddening-- my main Mage “MoarMagicks”still can’t consistently beat SingmeAsong’s main Warrior “Jackal,” despite my clearly superior strategies and build-- and we have some work to do on what the mode does to overall balance. But it’s promising, and we’re excited to show it to you if it ends up passing muster. 

AMA

We’re getting ready to do another AMA! If you’ve got burning questions about Exiles, from features to rules to lore to whatever, join the crew and the community for an evening of anything goes-- even making fun of the devs-- we can take it. Submit questions/discussions now on the Reddit thread, and we’ll have some answers ready. And you can win stuff! We’ll be doing some good old-fashioned rolling (of virtual dice) for in-game prizes (loot table is forthcoming, and will be published on the AMA thread in the forums).

So head over to the Discord channel on MAY 9 at 5:30 PM Central Time and get the inside scoop on all things Exiles.

WE HAVE AN ANDROID BUILD

“WHAT?!”

Yes. MANY of our early testing sign-ups have Android devices, and I have some good news for them-- we have an early Android build! Now, before any shenanigans break out, you should know that it’s rough, new and not as far along as the iOS build. But it lives, and you Android users will be kicking arses before too long right beside your iOS brethren.

VANISIR 

Along the southwest of Embermark is a region called Vanisir, a mostly arid-- but critical-- piece of land, given its major port, resources and the presence of a manageable Breach. We’re rolling out Battle environments for each of our starting world zones, and Vanisir’s first can be seen here, with an unfortunate player sizing up the enemy that I can’t stop showing to you-- the overly intelligent and vicious WOLF. 

“Hey, didn’t I just see you atop some dwarven shoulder armor?”

THE PLAYER CREATED GEAR CONTEST (PCGC)

Players have been guiding us every step of the way toward Embermark and it’s time for them to get a piece of loot or two (or more) in the game. All of the rules surrounding battle and loot haven’t been revealed, but those of you following the development of the game probably have an idea or two rolling around in your heads about a piece of equipment that would do X, Y, or Z.

So the 1st Exiles Player Created Gear Contest (PCGC) is on! Check this thread in the forums for all the details and how to submit your idea. One lucky (and clever, and creative) winner will get their piece of loot in the game (and get a copy of it themselves) and many will win prizes based on the criteria you see in the official thread!

LOOT UPDATE

The loot train continues, and our artists are feverishly designing, modeling texturing and lootzing armor weapons and even rings now (rings are just icons, so they won’t show up on your person, but whatevs). 

Armor for the Warrior is getting the color-tell treatment, as we showed for the Mage armor earlier. You’ll see it throughout the system as you start to play, and it’s turning out to be both useful and sometimes hilarious, depending on the how close your gear build preferences are to your color preferences (did someone say transmog? *whistles as he walks away). 

Behold the Axe of Cleaving (your head from your body)!

You will see this spear put to good use by our draconian friend below.

I’m not even sure what to say here other than I wouldn’t want it connecting with any part of me...

We continue to design various silhouettes for shields, for those sword-and-board enthusiasts out there...

And here’s one more! (this one’s a stock broadsword, but I still lurve it)

MILITARY

Last couple of Updates, we’ve been showing off a race of baddies that will hound and hinder you throughout your journey to be among the Marked. Their political and military machinations threaten to overrun the entirety of Embermark.

They also look like dragons, have wings and are awesome. Now we’ve got them animating in the engine and will be playable in short order. Like the dwarf above, we created their gear with an eye towards dropping it for you to use in your own loadouts.

(Alas, I had to fool with this one quite a bit to get it under Tumblr’s 2 MB GIF limit, so if you want a higher quality look at this attack, it’s here)

REMEMBER

We’ll keep sharing details as we head into testing (remember to PM TheWizard on the Exiles forums if you want in on closed testing & beta later), and you can count on early impressions from the testers throughout our various channels.

If you haven’t already, follow along with the Exiles development on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And if you haven’t, I’ll find you. And SMITE you.

GET IN ON THE CHATTER

If you want to hear about the game, ask questions or connect with others who are helping the development team think about features, design and narrative, hop into the Discord Channel for live chat and say hi– it’s a friendly lot with plenty of daily shenanigans (there’s even a Shenaniganizer).

THE BONUS

I leave this here without comment.

[junker-town]

The only correct 2017 MLB All-Star ballot for the American League

The All-Star Game isn’t just a reward for a good three months. It should be a reward for brilliant careers, too.

On Monday, I shared the only possible ballot for the National League All-Star starters. I might — might — accept a substitution at third base, but I’ll need you to put your request in writing and provide three references. As it turns out, the NL was pretty easy.

The American League is a mess. It’s going to get me yelled at.

Clean it up, American League.

Most of the historical logic behind my ballot was in Monday’s post, but I’ll give you the bullet points:

It was cool when Willie Mays and Hank Aaron made every All-Star team

I’m sure everyone was very proud of Felix Millan and Denis Menke, but when they were playing, everyone watching was saying, “Hey, where’s Willie Mays and Hank Aaron?”

I would rather give an all-time great an All-Star Game he didn’t deserve at the end of his career instead of miss a valid chance to include him because of two uncharacteristically poor months. This is a literary technique known as “foreshadowing.”

Rookies and young players can deserve a vote without the resume, but they’ll have to be historically impressive to make up for it.

Simple! And yet the AL is still a hot mess. We’ll start with ...

C - Gary Sanchez

Alex Avila is a great story. His career was once threatened by concussions, and he was an unwanted free agent who signed a modest one-year deal with the White Sox, even though his dad was the GM of his old team.

Son, I love you, but ... go over there.

He was okay with the White Sox, just fine, but after coming back to the Tigers this season, it’s clear that he fermented and chugged Joe Mauer’s MVP season.

Still, this season is an outlier. I’ll need more than a hot three months.

Salvador Perez is the steady veteran, the known quantity. He’s having his best season in years, if not ever, and he’s just seven home runs from setting a career high. His defense is stellar, and he was voted “Most Likely To Mistake a Dove for a Baseball and Randy Johnson the Hell Out of It” by his teammates. His free-swinging bat and Emanski-approved glove make for an eminently watchable player.

Gary Sanchez is the youngster, the upstart, but he’s also the best catcher in the AL now. He’s a dinger lord who’s somehow been overshadowed by Aaron Judge, but he’s still having a remarkable season, and even though he missed some time at the beginning of the season, he has a sound statistical case, too.

My main argument against Perez is that his success this season is at least partially driven by batting average. I don’t trust that. Sanchez is on pace to have 53 home runs in his first 600 major league at-bats. I trust that.

1B - Miguel Cabrera

Wait, put that ... look, I’ll need everybody to settle down ... please, one question at a ... ma’am, I’m not going to respond to you if you’re screaming obscenities, and ... please, let me explain ... just give me

Cabrera is having a rough year. His WAR is a cool 0.2, according to Baseball-Reference.com, and his current batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage would all be the worst of his career. His strikeout rate is up over 20 percent for the first time, and his defense is somewhere between “acceptable if he’s hitting” and “atrocious.” He’s even 0-for-1 on stolen base attempts.

At the same time, he’s still Miguel Cabrera, inner circle Hall of Famer. I would rather be wrong about him deserving an All-Star Game than be wrong about him not deserving one. When you go back to the days of Mays and Aaron, there were always a couple extra appearances for them in the sunset of their careers, something between a reward and an earnest desire to remember the good days.

And when I look at the options among AL first basemen, they’re all a bunch of weirdos. Logan Morrison was unremarkable for years, and now I’m supposed to believe he’s Joey Votto? Justin Smoak was unremarkable for years, and now I’m supposed to believe he’s a switch-hitting Paul Goldschmidt? Yonder Alonso was unremarkable for years, and now I’m supposed to believe he’s like the Logan Morrison of the West Coast?

No. Too soon. Come back next year. I don’t trust any of you, not for something as important as this. Give me the legend, even if he’s fading. It’s the conservative, boring choice, but I’m not ready to give up on Cabrera yet.

And if you’ll just put the coat rack down, sir, we can ... ma’am, please, I’m begging you to stop calling me that ...

2B - Jose Altuve

SS - Carlos Correa

After going long on the first two, I won’t bore you by over-explaining these obvious choices. Altuve has the track record of success, and he’s clearly the best second baseman in the AL this year. May he make this team for another 15 years.

Correa got some early competition from Francisco Lindor, and Andrelton Simmons’ offensive renaissance is tempting, but this wasn’t an especially difficult choice. I fully anticipate a brawl for this spot next year from Lindor, Xander Bogaerts, and Jean Segura, but no shortstop in the AL is currently mixing power, speed, and defense like Correa.

3B - Jose Ramirez

Miguel Sano was tempting, and he originally had the spot, but I realized that I was in the grips of Prospect Bias, in which a player’s Baseball America ranking is faintly visible above his head at all times, like a halo. Sano was the blue-chipper, and Ramirez had an unremarkable minor-league career and a slow start in the majors. So my natural inclination is to err toward Sano.

But we’re almost 1,000 plate appearances into the idea that Ramirez is special, and he’s clearly having the best statistical year. So I’ll buy into the idea that his ample tools and big numbers make him the most exciting third baseman in the league for now.

Just note that I’m keeping this spot warm for Adrian Beltre next year.

OF - Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts

These are the three leaders in WAR according to Baseball-Reference, and they’re the three outfielders I want to watch more than any other, so this works out. Please do not use midseason WAR to make any decisions yourself. I’m a trained professional.

Judge is the obvious one. My ballotology is unfairly and unreasonably prejudiced against young players. See the Miguel Cabrera paragraphs from up there, for example. It takes a monster season from a rookie to merit serious consideration. Judge’s season, well, it qualifies as a monster. It has eaten three villagers since noon. You will lose people you know to the cavernous maw of Aaron Judge’s season. Run, you idiot. Run.

The other two require some explanation. Trout needs justification because he’s hurt, but could be ready for the All-Star Game. If he can play, he should play. He might be the only outfielder in baseball who could miss 50 percent of the first half and still have a statistical case to be one of the three best in the AL. There’s no point about me continually bringing up the days of Mays and Aaron, only to leave the modern Mays off the ballot. Heck, if he misses every game until the All-Star Game, he’s my pick.

Because gimme all the Trout.

Betts’ offensive numbers aren’t as exciting as they could be, but he’s one of the most watchable players of the past decade, and I’ll hide behind the nerd numbers because they support my stance this time.

And, really, after Trout and Judge, it’s not like there’s anyone who’s super compelling. Here’s a list of all the AL outfielders who a) qualify for the batting title and b) have an OPS over 800:

Aaron Judge

Aaron Hicks

George Springer

Avisail Garcia

Justin Upton

Steven Souza

Josh Reddick

Jackie Bradley

Khris Davis

Mookie Betts

Lorenzo Cain

Brett Gardner

Of those, the only ones I’m debating putting on over Betts (or Trout) are Springer and Bradley. Everyone else either has a little too much April-May-June in them, or they have a longer career of being fine players, but are just short of getting legacy bonus points.

My final ballot:

C - Gary Sanchez 1B - Miguel Cabrera 2B - Jose Altuve SS - Carlos Correa 3B - Jose Ramirez OF - Aaron Judge OF - Mike Trout OF - Mookie Betts

I am fine with this ballot. For it is, uh, the only correct one. If you believe in the power of legacy superstars. Which I clearly do.

And, sir, please put down the rotary telephone, those are heavy and I don’t even know where you got it. This is just my opinion, and it’s not that important of a topic to act like ... please, put it d