#vax access

[gumjrop]

The US Food and Drug Administration is changing the way it approves Covid-19 vaccines for Americans — a move that will limit future vaccines to older Americans and people at higher risk of serious Covid-19 infection.

The agency is changing the standard of evidence required for Covid-19 vaccine approval in the US, Dr. Vinay Prasad, the new director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, and FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary, said in an editorial published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine

The change means that Covid-19 shots will likely be available in the fall for adults ages 65 and older and those with underlying conditions that may put them at higher risk of a Covid-19 infection, but not for everyone who was previously eligible for an updated shot. Nearly three-quarters of Americans age 6 months and older have an underlying medical condition that puts them at higher risk, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The change, which was already being studied by experts that advise the CDC on its vaccine recommendations, will more closely align the United States with Covid-19 vaccine recommendations in the UK, Canada and Australia.

Millions of healthy adults and kids will likely lose access to updated vaccines under the new criteria. Prasad and Makary say there’s not enough evidence that healthy kids and adults get clinically meaningful benefit from regular Covid-19 shots. They want to see placebo-controlled trials, particularly in adults ages 50 to 64, before recommending the shots for other groups.

Dr. Noel Brewer, a professor of public health and health behavior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said he supports the change.

“The proposed policy moves the US in line with other countries. This global view of public health is a welcome development,” said Brewer, who sits on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and was part of the working group mulling the change to Covid vaccine recommendations

But he and other experts say they’re still worried about the youngest children, those under age 2, who have high rates of hospitalization from Covid-19.

Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of FDA’s independent advisory group on vaccines, says he disagrees with the underlying premise of the new framework, which is that our Covid-19 vaccine recommendations haven’t been based on good evidence.

“We have been using an evidence-based approach to Covid-19 vaccination, but they kind of swoop in and believe that for the first time, we’re going to get, as they say, ‘gold standard’ data, robust data, for the first time, because according to them, we don’t have that, but we do have that,” Offit said.

“That’s why we’ve made good decisions about the vaccine. That’s why that vaccine is remarkably safe. I mean, the mRNA vaccines are remarkably safe.”

The editorial says that going forward, Covid-19 vaccines for people ages 65 and older and those 6 months of age and older with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk from Covid-19 infections will be approved after pharmaceutical companies can demonstrate that they create protective antibody concentrations in people.

These types of studies are called immunobridging studies. They’re typically done in a smaller number of people, and importantly, they can be done quickly so vaccine manufacturing can ramp up in time to have large numbers of shots ready for an expected wave of illness, usually over the fall and winter.

This is largely how seasonal flu vaccinations are approved each year in the US, and it’s the way FDA has been approving Covid-19 vaccines for the past few years.

For everyone else, the FDA will only approve vaccines after studies that prove the shots can prevent symptomatic Covid-19 better than a placebo. The FDA will also consider several secondary outcomes, including severe illness, hospitalization and death.

The new plan doesn’t consider other impacts of Covid-19 infections, such as long Covid. Studies have shown that vaccination may cut the risk of developing long Covid by somewhere between 25 %to 60%.

Prasad and Makary say the new policy balances the need to swiftly approve vaccines to have them ready by the fall for the most vulnerable adults and children, with the need for more evidence before offering them to others.

What’s more, they say millions of Americans under the age of 65 will still qualify to get a Covid-19 vaccine if they want one if they have any of a broad range of health conditions identified by the CDC as putting a person at high risk of severe disease from Covid-19.

“Estimates suggest that 100 million to 200 million Americans will have access to vaccines in this manner,” the FDA officials wrote.

Prasad and Makary say their goal in requiring more evidence for other groups is to restore public trust in vaccines.

They point out that for the past two seasons, less than 25% of Americans have received a Covid-19 shot, including less than 10% of kids and less than 50% of adults over the age of 75.

They say broad Covid-19 vaccine recommendations and mandates during the pandemic eroded public trust and caused falling rates for other types of vaccines, too, such as the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

Goodman, Brenda. “FDA to Limit Future Covid-19 Shots to Older People and Those at Risk of Serious Infection.” CNN, Cable News Network, 20 May 2025, www.cnn.com/2025/05/20/health/covid-vaccine-fda-changes.

The proposal is open for comment for three more days:

[glugglugs]

Oh!!! One Hundred Pounds for a COVID vaccine, you say? One hundred of my finest Brexit bucks to sort that out, now? Oh no worries no worries for 75 I can get one from a few variants back nice nice nice nice nice

[crimeronan]

be a good little leftist for mommy and actually go to the pharmacy to ask for a booster early next time so you understand why ickle bitty CDC appwoval was sooooo important before you jack off in mommy's replies about her being a big bad cuck liberal who sucks the government's peepee and waits for unkie sam to tell her what to do, okay honey sweetiepie uguu babuu?? i wuvvvvv uuuuuu 😇😇😇😇😇😇

[duerede]

Vaccines georg?????

vaccines Georg

[curiositypolling]

pls reblog for sample size etc

[kibbles-bits]

Heaven's Best Masterpost

As with all AU's I do that have a number of posts, here's a masterpost for easy access and to keep everything in order since I make a lot of things up as I go and draw whatever I feel like. If what you're looking for isn't here (such as an ask), it might be in the Heaven's Best AU tag.

Keep in mind I change things on a whim and this is done for my entertainment ^_^

Click HERE for the latest version of this post.

Heaven's Best AU is a simple AU where Vox is a Winner instead of a Sinner and, following slightly altered events of season 1, is sent with Emily to Hell to help improve and promote the Hotel.

Story Posts:

Heaven's Best

Vox

Cry Baby

He's Helping

Labor

Best Friend

Second Choice

Buddy

Vark

Introducing Vox

Valentino and Velvette

Lucifer and Alastor

A Redeemable Quality

Cameras

Friends

Niffty

Alastor and Vox

No Wi-Fi

Disappointment

Oopsie

Angel Dust Sucks

Bluff

Oopsie (part 1)

Oopsie (part 2)

Oopsie (part 3)

Accident

Self Defense

[Shoots Accompanying Whore]

Halo

Walk of Shame

Incubus

Firm Hand

Pissbaby

Censored

Top

Hear Him Out

Vox and Velvette

A Special Friend

You'll Thank Me One Day

Lunch

Pretty

"Good" ideas

Depravity

Helping Hand

Guardian Angel

Different

Rejection

Vent

Praise

Error

Bully

Thank You, Vox

Partner

Fallen

Lunch Date

The Fall

You

Risk

Upset

Sexy

Dirty talk

Apology #1

High-Roaded

Apology #2

Vox and Vaggie (WIP)

Cut

Break

Apology #3

Pobrecito

Too Hot

Harem

Vox and Velvette 2

Protection

You 2

Paradise

"Non-Canon" and Doodles:

Winner!Vox Colors

Vox and Emily

Oopsie Concept

Wait

Calm Down

Poke

Preen

Vax

Emily Meets Vax

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

Highlight

Makary and Prasad said uptake of the annual fall COVID-19 booster dose since 2023 has been low among healthy adults and children, at less than 25% and 10%, respectively. “The benefit of repeat dosing—particularly among low-risk persons who may have previously received multiple doses of Covid-19 vaccines, had multiple Covid-19 infections, or both—is uncertain,” Makary and Prasad wrote. “The American people, along with many health care providers, remain unconvinced.” The low uptake contributes to vaccine hesitancy, they said, “resulting in a reluctance to vaccinate that is affecting even vital immunization programs such as that for measles–mumps–rubella (MMR) vaccination, which has been clearly established as safe and highly effective.”

All those "pro-vax" non-maskers aren't putting their money where their mouths are.... I have a goddamn phobia and I'm as up-to-date as I can be! What's your excuse?

We're headed into a vax and relax strategy with most people having no access to vaccination. Mask up.

[burr-ell]

Sometimes Things That Shake Up the Status Quo are Worse

I keep seeing people insisting that Exandria "can't return to the status quo, which was bad", but rarely do they say anything in support of that argument beyond "the Primes pick and choose favorites!". And while I'm not confident the show itself won't try to make that claim, the reality is that it just isn't borne out mechanically or narratively. Laying aside that non-Divine Soul sorcerers exist (like, and I'm just spitballing here, Aberrant Mind Ruidusborn), the gods work primarily through the on-the-ground efforts of clerics and paladins—people who have actively and consistently put in the work to devote themselves to the divine. This is a setting where resurrection magic, which relies on divine power, has been intentionally made more difficult than it is in DnD rules-as-written. Even clerics only get access to Divine Intervention at level 10 (when they've already spent a long time devoting themselves to their deity) and up until level 20 the chances of it actually working are vanishingly small—and level 20 clerics are both hard to come by and ultimately still limited.

In the rare event that the Prime Deities choose to bless someone who isn't a cleric or paladin, it's someone who has a good reason to have gotten their attention. Vax offered his life during a divine ritual in the burial site of the Raven Queen's most devoted champion and then actively committed himself to her cause. Yasha was an aasimar being mind-controlled by a devil who wound up at a divine altar and chose to worship Kord after he freed her. Orym is the devoted widower of someone who is in Melora's realm and was present at a ritual in a temple associated with Melora, and one of his companions prayed at a shrine to Melora on his behalf. Vex was directly in front of Pelor, had taken a leadership position in one of his sacred cities, and had received a vision from him directly—and even then, she had to earn it. Scanlan also had to earn the right to Ioun's favor and complete a trial, and had previously shown qualities and values that she believed were fitting of her champion. Fjord was a companion of a devoted cleric of Melora who had sought her help in keeping Uk'otoa sealed and made requests of her on Fjord's behalf, and Fjord also chose to meditate and then became a paladin devoted to her.

And in Exandria, if you don't want to follow a god, you don't have to. Percy, Keyleth, Grog, Beau, Veth, Caleb, Essek, most of Bell's Hells, the average commoner in the various cities the parties have traveled to—whether they outright dislike the gods as a whole or just don't have an interest either way, they're all capable of thriving with or without them, and indeed their problems are almost entirely caused by mortals. It's especially egregious when you consider that cities like Avalir were around during the Age of Arcanum, when the Prime Deities physically walked Exandria, and people like Laerryn, Patia, Zerxus, and Lacrytia Hollow—openly disdainful of the gods or even trying to create feats of magic to get on their level—were continuing business as usual. The previous god of death not only willingly abdicated in favor of a mortal during this time, but outright helped her do the job!

The Prime Deities can't win. If they didn't give anyone any power at all, they'd be viewed as selfish. If they'd stayed on Exandria after the Calamity, they'd be foolish and reckless. They're simply not capable of intervening and helping everyone, so they're labeled capricious. If they leave Exandria, they're abandoning not only their refuge and home, but also the people who need and rely on them. You can argue that "no one should have that much power" all you want, but I think it's exceptionally silly to take an argument meant to criticize the wealthy and powerful of our world (whose only unique quality is ultimately that they got lucky) and apply it to fictional deities (beings who are powerful by their very nature) who, while flawed, also think they're too powerful. They tried to protect Exandria from themselves and the Betrayers while still using their power to do right by the people there, and for the most part it was working just fine.

The "status quo" from before all this was and still is the best compromise available. No one has managed to sell a better one that doesn't amount to "cater to my blorbos and my self-indulgent idea of revolutionary politics, which may or may not also ultimately circle back to my blorbos". I think that's pretty telling.

[nellasbookplanet]

In the wake of FCG' fate I've been thinking about death in ttrpgs, and how it kind of exists on three levels:

There’s the gameplay level, where it only makes sense for a combat-heavy, pc-based game to have a tool for resurrection because the characters are going to die a lot and players get attached to them and their plotlines.

Then there’s the narrative level, where you sort of need permanent death on occasion so as not to lose all tension and realism. On this level, sometimes the player will let their character remain dead because they find it more interesting despite there being options of resurrection, or maybe the dice simply won’t allow the resurrection to succeed.

Then, of course, there’s the in-universe level, which is the one that really twists my mind. This is a world where actual resurrection of the actual dead is entirely obtainable, often without any ill effects (I mean, they'll be traumatized, but unless you ask a necromancer to do the resurrection they won’t come back as a zombie or vampire or otherwise wrong). It’s so normal that many adventurers will have gone through it multiple times. Like, imagine actually living in a world where all that keeps you from getting a missing loved one back is the funds to buy a diamond and hire a cleric. As viewers we felt that of course Pike should bring Laudna, a complete stranger, back when asked, but how often does she get this question? How many parents have come and begged her to return their child to them? How many lovers lost but still within reach? When and how does she decide who she saves and who she doesn’t?

From this perspective, I feel like every other adventurer should have the motive/backstory of 'I lost a loved one and am working to obtain the level of power/wealth to get them back'. But of course this is a game, and resurrection is just a game mechanic meant to be practically useful.

Anyway. A story-based actual play kind of has to find a way to balance these three levels. From a narrative perspective letting FCG remain dead makes sense, respects their sacrifice, and ends their arc on a highlight. From a gameplay level it is possible to bring them back but a lot more complicated than a simple revivify. But on an in-universe level, when do you decide if you should let someone remain dead or not? Is the party selfish if they don’t choose to pursue his resurrection the way they did for Laudna? Do they even know, as characters, that it’s technically possible to save someone who's been blown to smithereens? Back in campaign 2, the moment the m9 gained access to higher level resurrection they went to get Molly back (and only failed because his body had been taken back by Lucien). At the end of c1, half the party were in denial about Vax and still looking for ways to save him, because they had always been able to before (and had the game continued longer it wouldn’t have surprised me had they found a way). Deanna was brought back decades after her death (and was kind of fucked up because of it). Bringing someone back could be saving them, showing them just how loved and appreciated they are. Or it could be saving you, forcing someone back from rest and peace into a world that's kept moving without them because you can’t handle the guilt of knowing you let them stay gone when you didn’t have to. How do you know? How would you ever know?

[utilitycaster]

The Long Mechanics Post

First things first: as most D&D players will know, there is not a perfectly objective metric of Best Build. Even “most optimized” doesn’t mean anything until you define what the character is optimized for; Caduceus and Percy are both “optimized” builds with very different skillsets. Unsurprisingly, given my URL, I have a penchant for versatility and spellcasting, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate an effective barbarian or fighter. For a bit more on what I tend to judge build by, see here; I’ll also elaborate further down. Note that relevance to the character is important to me. This is not simply a metric of combat ability (which, again, could mean anything from tanking to healing to damage output); it is also a measure of out-of-combat skills that enhance the RP and the ability of characters to progress the story on their own power (eg: recon/infiltration abilities; mobility both in and out of combat and both physical through wildshape/polymorph and teleportation, research capability, etc.)

Second: when you start talking about parties and not individuals, this becomes even more complex. To give an example, Percival de Rolo is an incredibly strong build of a massive damage output ranged fighter; he also has respectable HP, very high dex making him useful in stealth missions; is capable of melee combat if necessary; and is highly intelligent and educated. Percy works well in Vox Machina. However, imagine if he were in a party of a wizard, a rogue, and a (ranged) ranger. This would in fact be a bad party build, no matter how good the individual builds were. Only the ranger has healing capacity and would likely be far from the others. The rogue would likely have to burn their bonus actions to hide most of the time as no one would be in melee, depriving them of sneak attack (though the wizard could perhaps try to grant advantage in other ways). Percy’s intelligence would not be a detriment but it would overlap with the wizard’s skillset in a comparatively small party, and if no one had high charisma the party might struggle in social encounters. A run-of-the-mill paladin who made sure to take Cure Wounds would do far more for this party than Percy despite not having the same sheer DPS, just on the basis of filling in needed gaps.

This is quite long, so there's a readmore!

Things that make character builds good:

Versatility. This is, again, my personal favorite, but it’s also a longstanding fandom favorite. Keyleth is not a high damage character much of the time, but the sheer versatility of Circle of the Moon Druid as a base subclass makes her incredibly powerful with little customization needed. Druid subclasses provide wildshape, which can be used for spying in the form of a small animal, and at higher levels permits flight. While there are few direct damage spells, Keyleth served as secondary tank and a formidable melee damager also through wildshape. Druids can heal and cast Greater Restoration; they can deal area of effect (AOE) damage; between Wind Walk, Transport Via Plants, Polymorph, and Wildshape she was also Vox Machina’s primary source of transportation. Speak with Plants, Commune with Nature, and Scry served as key means of gathering information. While Scanlan largely covered buffs and debuffs (making his party members stronger/weakening the enemy), Keyleth had a few major ones, notably Feeblemind. There is very little Keyleth could not, in some way, manage to do, and most of that which she couldn’t do was handled by other party members (Percy, Vex, Vax, and Grog all being strong dealers of individual weapon damage). Fjord is a similarly all-around versatile character with tanking, ranged (magical) and melee damage abilities, and even a decent amount of healing once he multiclassed; unlike Keyleth, he is a formidable physical attacker, able to navigate the party’s social encounters with ease, and has access to Counterspell, but he lacks her transportation abilities (which aren’t necessary, as Caleb, Jester, and Caduceus, all quite versatile in their own rights, have these abilities). 

Optimized specialization: If you cannot do everything, do one thing incredibly well and reliably so. This is where your min-maxers go; often the realm of fighters and barbarians especially. I think two of the greatest examples are Percy and Grog: Percy has, as mentioned, a number of skills including a very high intelligence, but at his core he is able to do a positively ridiculous amount of damage, at range, very quickly. Similarly, Grog has nearly 300 hit points and high mobility, making him the ultimate meat shield; the amount of damage he can also deal while engaging with a foe is similarly nothing to sneeze at.

Regardless of build, another consideration, particularly in combat, is action economy and resource allocation. If you’re an arcane trickster rogue or a bard, for example, you have core class features that use a bonus action (cunning action, inspiration). That doesn’t mean you can’t have bonus action spells, but it does mean you may find yourself wanting to both cast Healing Word and grant Inspiration, but be unable to do so. A paladin who gets two attacks might not want to cast a spell to deal damage, since saving that for smites and getting in two chances to hit is probably better than one. How the character is played matters just as much if not more than their build; a suboptimal build played thoughtfully is better, mechanically, than the greatest wizard build of all time who exclusively casts magic missile.

Note that many characters aren’t exceptionally versatile nor super specialized. Indeed, a lot of characters aren’t quite as good at a bit of everything as Keyleth or Fjord, nor as singularly honed as Percy or Grog, but are still quite respectable. And for PCs, that’s a good thing, because you’re not working alone, which brings us to…

Things that make party comp good:

This is a list of “things I think nearly every D&D party in a longform campaign should be able to do.” I would also add that the more characters you have, the more non-negotiable this becomes. If the three-person parties of (for example) The Adventure Zone, NADDPod, or Worlds Beyond Number are missing some abilities that’s understandable, but if Critical Role’s 7 or 8 person party lacks some, that’s a poor allocation of abilities. Also, as mentioned, this is for longform campaigns where the characters are likely to run into a wide variety of situations; a shorter-form more specific game doesn’t.

Combat focused

At least one primary healer (or two half-healers); preferably some backup.

At least one primary tank; preferably some backup; this pretty much always doubles as a melee damager

Characters with ranged damage (magic or weapon)

Magic damage generally, ie, damage with types other than slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing

Buffers (giving bonuses/advantage/benefits to their own party)/debuffers (granting disadvantage or detriments to the enemy)

Characters with area of effect (AOE) damage

If you have a primary rogue in the party you should have at least one melee damage to grant them sneak attack; more than one is better since then the rogue has options.

The ability for the entire party to get the fuck out quickly. This can be via druids, polymorph, teleport, everyone being very fast, but part of combat is, at times, running.

Story focused

Ability to Find Things Out Through Magic: easy access to spells like Identify, Detect Magic, Scry, Commune/Commune with Nature, and Speak with Animals/Speak with Plants (those slashes are “or’s”, not “ands” in this case, ie, just commune with nature is fine). Obviously only relevant at levels where the party can take these spells.

Ability to Find Things Out Otherwise (possibly through magic): you should have a decent language spread, if relevant, or someone who can cast Comprehend Languages; people with good insight, perception, Int-based skills (all of them). Survival and Medicine can be useful as well.

Ability to Sneak Around Physically: stealthy people, people with invisibility, people who can become tiny creatures, or people with unobtrusive familiars.

Ability to Sneak Around Socially: disguises or Disguise Self/Alter Self + decent charisma; here again is a place where language proficiency or Tongues is useful

Ability to Get Places - mid level and up only as these start at level 9, but: teleportation circle/teleport/transport via plants/word of recall/plane shift.

Mechanical Cohesion

Ability to build upon each other’s combat moves, ie, Keyleth casting Faerie Fire means that even if no one is in melee, Vax (and later Vex) now have advantage and get sneak attack; Scanlan throwing or carrying people with Bigby’s Hand; Jester using Dimension Door to bring people to the right place in combat.

Some overlap is fine (indeed, you ideally want more than one person with some healing capacity, and most parties have a range of weapon damage) but you do as a rule want to avoid having two characters who are very similar in skillset; it’s better to have character who is good at A and B; character who is good at B and C; and character who is good at C and D, rather than two characters good at A and B and one good at C and D.

Customization to the story

If you’re in a Curse of Strahd game, you might want to be extra strong on things like healing/detection of evil. You might want to focus on a lot of radiant damage, survival skills, and stealth to be able to get through Barovia and kill vampires and ghouls; but it might not be as important to speak a wide variety of languages or be able to hit history checks, since your characters wouldn’t be familiar with Barovian history anyway. An Oops All Rogues party is good for a heist and an Oops All Paladins party probably wouldn’t be, but the reverse is true for dealing with a cursed temple full of ancient undead. Mechanics are highly situational.

I’d categorize characters as follows. This is not a perfect match, but I think this might help understand party comp better.

Versatile: Marisha described Circle of the Moon as a swiss army knife of a subclass and she’s right. As mentioned, Keyleth and Fjord can do a little of almost everything in battle, and quite a lot out of it as well. This is an exceptional case and not the rule; druids and martially focused support/utility classes or very good multiclassing and good stats are kind of the only way to get this kind of character.

Support caster: Casters who focus heavily on healing, buffs, debuffs, and crowd control, and less so on damage. Caduceus and Scanlan are both skewed in this way.

Utility caster: Caleb, Jester, Pike, Dorian, FCG, and Fearne all have access to a decent number of support spells, but also focus extensively on damage in combat. Not quite as versatile as Fjord or Keyleth, but not a pure blaster either. Tary is also arguably in here.

Damage caster: The famous glass cannon; a spellcaster who has some out-of-combat-skills but primarily focuses on damage. Tiberius, Imogen, and Laudna are all here - as you can infer, this is where most sorcerers fit, and I’ll talk a bit more about the classes below.

Tank/melee damage: Good at taking a hit and staying up, or being a target but being very hard to hit, drawing fire from weaker characters. I’ve combined this with melee damage because, to be honest, you have to work hard at building a character who is a tank and doesn’t deal considerable melee damage.  Barbarians are tanks by design; many paladins and melee fighters serve as tanks as well. Grog, Yasha, Beau (dodge tank) Ashton, Chetney, Braius, and Orym all serve in a tank role, but also see below.

Support martial: Not the best name for it, but: martial classes that are good at dealing status effects and controlling the space of combat - often highly mobile and often able to either shield others or cause status effects to their party’s advantage. Monks and many fighter classes cover this; blood hunters are also this. Stunning strike, battle maneuvers, and blood curses. Beau, Chetney, and Orym do double duty here. Molly is here; he probably would have grown into more of a tank over time had he lived longer, and I’d put Kingsley here as well. Veth also is here thanks to her arcane trickster subclass; Vax is here after he took paladin levels. Braius can be put here thanks to his bard levels; Yasha had a few tricks like her battle cry. I think Ashton’s class was intended to be this; however, its unpredictability makes it hard to put here as it sometimes was and sometimes was to the party’s disadvantage.

Ranged damage: Rangers, ranged weapon fighters. These are also often your stealth crew in addition to rogues; rogues are sort of in this space, but they tend to lack the same degree of range as a longbow (or gun). Vex and Percy are the core ranged damage folks. As you can see, ranged damage can be covered by utility/blaster casters. Veth and Vax both manage slightly less far-ranged damage.

Out of combat:

Skill monkey and/or linguist: the classic classes for this are rogue and bard - Expertise abound. Rangers are often also decent, especially if they take rogue levels (or, from what I understand, in 2024 rules) - even in 2014 rules, they usually have access to a ton of languages and some specialized knowledge. Vax, Vex, Scanlan, Veth, and Dorian. Beau and Caleb manage to hit a lot of this as well thanks to expertise and skill proficiency feats; it’s very easy to manage this through a smart race/subclass combo and feats alone.

Stealth/Infiltrator: Rogues! Vax and Vex, though much of Vox Machina could manage (honestly they were so good at stealth and at a high enough level that Keyleth turning into tiny creatures wasn’t super important). Veth, Beau, and Caleb (via Frumpkin) did this for the Nein. Fearne and Chetney covered this for Bells Hells, who often used invisibility. As for the disguise form - Vox Machina had the cap of disguise plus Scanlan had Seeming to cover everyone, and Keyleth had Alter Self (and Vax’s subclass explicitly makes him able to disguise himself). The Mighty Nein’s casters all had disguise self from a very early point; Beau and Yasha (and earlier on, Molly) were less able to do this. Bells Hells struggled here - they could stealth, and Imogen and Chetney could go invisible and Fearne could become a creature, but there’s a reason why getting through enemy lines never really got easier for them when it would have likely been a snap for the other parties.

Arcanist/Diviner: people who are good at getting information via magic, as discussed. Keyleth is the only real option for Vox Machina, hence the frequent check-ins with Allura, Gilmore, and Zahra. Caleb is obviously heavily focused on the arcane side of this, but Jester ends up being the point person for Scry. Both she and Caduceus use Commune regularly to gather information, and Caduceus notably casts Legend Lore. FCG does use Commune, but not frequently, and has one use of Identify per day; later, Fearne has Identify. Interestingly, Chetney ends up doing quite a lot of work via Grim Psychometry.

Transporter: Keyleth is Vox Machina’s; Caleb is the Mighty Nein’s though Jester and Caduceus have Word of Recall (used to great effect during the Vergesson Heist and mentioned during the Uk’otoa two-shot). Bells Hells have the Staff of Dark Odyssey.

The summary post put this all together, but to do it again - as you can see, Bells Hells was sorely missing key out of combat skills; combined with the lack of time to develop relationships with new NPCs, it mean that former PCs or NPCs ended up ferrying them around half the time. The Grim Verity, I would argue, could have been a compelling way to do this, but Ryn’s petrification meant it was always Keyleth, Allura, and Essek doing the same work they’d already done for past parties, mostly because Bells Hells were Assigned Main Character (and unlike how Caleb took on transport once he hit the right level, Bells Hells did not take the spells to do this). They also had a very weirdly balanced group in combat - three tanks, with FCG doing tanking and damage rather than playing pure support, and complicated by the fact that Ashton’s abilities were unpredictable by design; and three casters mostly focusing entirely on damage or their own protection. Otohan was a formidable opponent, and I can’t fault the party too much in the first battle, but I truly believe that either other party could have destroyed her in the battle in 91 at a comparable level with little difficulty (and, notably, I think either other party would have been able to do their earlier missions more efficiently, leaving them less drained at that point). Vox Machina’s gaps in ability were usually either within a single battle because Keyleth couldn’t do everything all the time; or were, as discussed, specific arcane skills that were organically outsourced to their allies. The Mighty Nein meanwhile had a spread across pretty much every skill imaginable and were exceptionally focused on high utility and support.

I think another really worthwhile consideration is that Bells Hells’ builds and especially subclasses almost all were either more focused on the self than others; actively working against versatility/flexibility, or in some way a liability, though again, as with all criticism of Bells Hells, a big part of this is that the campaign was really never customized to them as a party the way Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein’s campaigns were.

Most of Bells Hells' subclasses or builds in some way either actively worked against more support/team-focused efforts in combat, which led to them being able to do a very large amount of damage, but not having much ability to work together and build on each other in combat. Orym is of course the exception here - Battlemaster is a class that allows a fighter to specifically assist or protect others or debuff the enemy, and the maneuvers he took, particularly bait and switch, made him honestly one of the stronger support characters in the party, which is a wild statement to say in a party with a druid, a cleric (much of the time), a bard, and two sorcerers.

Going around the table, Chetney had the risk of attacking other people at low health. This actually was kind of a non-issue because it was rarely enforced later in the game, so really, he mostly played as a straight tank, and actually, through a combination of magic items (Shatter as cast through Turmoil) and the blood curses, he managed a decent amount of support.

Laudna's build was heavily dedicated towards keeping herself up or helping herself (form of dread, hound of ill omen, strength of the grave, blur, mirror image, gift of the everliving ones). Spell Sniper would have made extremely long distance combat a good option; but she also took the (helpful to others!) Silvery Barbs and Counterspell which only work when in much closer range; plus as a two-caster multiclass for the start she was already cantrips Georg, so taking more via a feat was a weird choice with no underlying story reason to justify it. She also had a massive number of reaction spells, which is generally unwise from an action economy perspective. Most of her other spells were damage focused, and she rarely used the AOE spells she had despite a tank-heavy party. And, as discussed, she and Imogen cover almost the exact same area in a party with massive ability gaps. The versatility warlock invocations would have offered could have been of immeasurable benefit; I also may make a post that simply covers how uniquely poorly her build and backstory fit together.

I was an early critic of FCG's subclass, and frankly, still am: transfer suffering is a tanking/damage ability in a party that was desperately in need of pure support. The rest of it is honestly fine, but as a first level core feature, it set a standard that was hard to overcome. I also would have gone with Potent Spellcasting or a different build of stats with Divine Strike; FCG was really not much of a weapon damager. Braius was honestly fine; I don’t have much to say here.

Wildfire Druid is an incredibly good class and Fearne did quite a lot of support especially outside of combat (notably, she is a big part of why Ashton didn't die permanently when they took the shard), but in combat, she did focus heavily on targeted damage when again, this party desperately needed crowd control/AOE, which her subclass even offered. And, as mentioned, rogue really was a good individual character touch [and I’ve been pretty vocal about thinking that Fearne especially got a raw narrative deal] but the party as a result lacked some serious utility.

Imogen’s build was for the most part standard sorcerer, and it’s again a party comp problem, but there are choices that could have been made. I think Careful Spell would have been a far better metamagic option that would have opened up the possibility of AOE without damaging her party; I also don’t know if Laura swapped out spells, but, for example, Synaptic Static is great and on-brand…but highly limited in when it can be used. Because sorcerers are extremely limited in the number of spells they can take and do not have prepped spells, every spell counts, and teleportation circle (or, again, Careful Spell that made Synaptic Static more useable around her party) would have done quite a lot of work. I also think that her dedication to psychic and lightning was good as a character choice, but as the party were often fighting creatures like her, a shift towards other damage types would have been wise.

As discussed, Orym was great.

Ashton’s build has similar issues as others above: it was unreliable. When it worked out well, it really worked; when it didn’t, it didn’t. As a tank they were often running around rather than controlling the center of the combat as a tank frequently should, in part because of these abilities, and I think as with many of my criticisms, it’s “this character would have been fine in a party that had more support focus and versatility, but in a party that was almost all tanking and damage with a lot of confounding factors that made them unreliable, everyone kept leaning further into tanking and damage and unreliability, rather than trying to address these gaps.”

Dorian is also, honestly, a build I have really liked elsewhere, both in EXU and in other shows (Fabian Seacaster from D20, and Jens Lyndelle from NADDPod) but the thing about Swords Bard is again, you’re using inspiration not to inspire others but to empower your swords. This works for Fabian, who is in a party with Adaine, Kristen, and Fig, all of whom have extensive support abilities (plus he is part battlemaster); it works for Jens because the premise of Trinyvale is that all three characters are kind of terrible people (and because he still does a great deal of healing). For Dorian, it works in EXU, but again, Bells Hells really could have used pure support as from a lore bard or similar.

It is, as with many things in Campaign 3, less a problem of any single character’s fault, and more a lack of session zero and cohesion among things that would have been fine in a context more suited for them, but this was, still, a constant problem.

[vax-official]

I completely understand you. Unfortunately I am very interested in software archival and most ancient software will never be released under a FLOSS license, so I have to ease up on my principles for my other principles.

However, if one day Windows XP gets released as FLOSS, we will all rejoice and then promptly return to our RISC-V/Linux/coreboot devices, or whichever your computing architecture of choice is :D

imo putting windows on your robotgirl is cruel and unusual punishment

[cpunkwitch]

Happy disability pride month to:

- quadriplegics and paraplegics

- ambulatory and non ambulatory mobility aid users

- folks with prosthetics, stents and replacements

- jaw pain and other mouth issue havers

- folks with spine issues

- folks with deformed limbs and/or facial features

- folks with chronic pain and or fatigue

- folks with comorbidities

- folks with animal support

- folks with human support

- the bedridden / bedbound

- disabled folk struggling to live on their own

- folks with living assistance

- disabled folk stuck living with others (be it family, roommates etc, toxic or otherwise)

- the blind (of any range)

- disabled poc and disabled bipoc

- disabled queers

- disabled folk with sensory issues

- employed and unemployed disabled folk

- self employed disabled folk

- cripples of all sorts

- those with fibromyalgia, any range of arthritis and autoimmunities

- disabled punks

- folks unable to get aids and assistance

- disabled folk in debt

- chronic migraine and headache havers

- disabled artists

- disabled gardeners

- disabled pet owners

- disabled witches

- disabled heathens and pagans alike

- disabled cis, trans, intersex, altersex and nonconforming folk

- disabled adults

- disabled youth

- disabled folk into sports

- the visibly and invisibly disabled

- the frequent hospital visitors

- disabled adoptees

- birth defect havers

- those disabled through birth, genetics or incidents/injuries

- amputees

- those with rare and incurable conditions

Unhappy month to:

- ableists

- able bodied folk using the term cripple and/or trying to be in the cpunk community

- fakeclaimers

- able bodied people who use rescources that aren't meant for them and/or complain about them

- people who claim glasses and other non mobile related disability aids are mobility aids.

- people who continue to use slurs they can't reclaim as well as general offensive/ableist language (cripple, psycho etc)

- people who talk over the disabled

- people who mock others for their conditions and trauma

- anti-recovery folk

- people refusing to give support that's needed/asked for (meds, aids, company etc)

- anti-vax bitches

- those who don't care about the autoimmune and don't take proper steps like wearing a mask when required and WASHING YOUR DAMN HANDS

- scammers and people who take advantage of those in need

- people who harass disabled people for "proof" or an explanation on their conditions

- people who touch mobility aids without asking

- people who use others addictions as a reason not to support them

- those who think disabled and deformed folk are unsightly

- the anti-homeless

- the "you're not disabled you shouldn't use that" karens

- people who use the disabled for inspiration porn (the "wow you're so strong despite your disability" bs)

- those who treat the disabled like fragile infants

- those who take things away from disabled folk for whatever reason

- those who think disabled people shouldn't have kids or pets

- people using the disabled and/or homeless for clout

- able bodied people using mobility aids just for cosplay

- claiming disabled folk can't cosplay a certain character either because "that mobility aid ruins the cosplay/the character is able bodied" or whatever other reason.

- people who insist disabled folk can't live on their own

- people who try to control or criticize how disabled folk spend their money

- people who think using disabilities, disorders and deformities as the butt of a joke is funny

- people who complain about accessibilities

[tomorrowusa]

^^^ The spread of COVID-19 in the US after the first infection was confirmed on 21 January 2020. (orange for first infection and red for first death)

Five years ago today, Trump belatedly proclaimed a state of emergency in the US due to the pandemic. It had already spread to 49 states and DC.

On January 22nd, the day after the earliest US infection was identified, Trump on CNBC made the first of his numerous fact-free comments about the administration's response to COVID-19.

Of course it wasn't just fine. Trump spent 51 days dawdling and pretending there was no problem. He was too busy tweeting rants about the Oscars and other typical Trump bullshit.

The stock markets crashed on March 12th. I took this screen picture that morning as the DJIA was beginning its plunge.

Stock market live Thursday: Dow tanks 2,300 in worst day since Black Monday, S&P 500 bear market

It took the worst day on Wall Street since 1987 for Trump to be nudged out of his indolence and self-delusion. It's only when the filthy rich began to lose money that he decided to take action.

Thanks to Trump's criminally incompetent response, the US had the worst death rate from COVID of any industrialized country. Hundreds of thousands of Americans needlessly died because of Trump.

As bad as things were in 2020, they are potentially much worse now. Instead of Dr. Fauci there is anti-vaxxing conspiracy nut RFK Jr.. Researchers and pandemic investigators have been fired and the NIH is being gutted by unelected foreign bureaucrat Elon Musk.

Make sure that you are up to date with all your vaccinations and have access to reliable science and medical information untainted by the Trump administration's war on reality.

[darkmaga-returns]

The jabs were forced on billions, but now the truth is clawing its way out—and it’s a nightmare. World leading experts like Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a billionaire cancer drug expert, are sounding the alarm.

He says the virus itself trashes your immune system, leaving it weak for years. Then the mRNA shots? They flip the switch off on your body’s ability to fight inflammation.

It’s a vicious loop—a perfect circle—teeing up aggressive cancers that are exploding worldwide, fast and feral, and behaving in aggressive and unpredictable ways the experts have never seen before.

With 5 billion doses in arms, the experts are losing sleep, and they’re spilling secrets Big Pharma wants buried. Stay with us—this is going to blow your mind.

Before we dive in, subscribe to the channel on Rumble, follow me on X, and join the People’s Voice Locals community to be part of our incredible community and gain access to exclusive and uncensored content.

Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a world-class oncologist and billionaire cancer drug researcher, sat down with Tucker Carlson and unleashed a string of bombshells that’s got Big Pharma sweating bullets.

He’s calling it the biggest health crisis humanity’s ever faced.

The vaccinated? They’re staring down a depopulation disaster, thanks to what Dr. Soon-Shiong calls a ‘perfect circle’—the virus shredding immune systems for years, then the mRNA jabs flipping off the body’s ability to fight inflammation.

The payoff? Cancer, aggressive and unstoppable.

Ever wonder why the elite forced people who had already had the virus to get vaccinated against it anyway? The answer is coming up, and it’s darker than any of us thought possible.

[brightlotusmoon]

'Booo!' Trump fans say they are 'disheartened' after he gives 'slap in the face to MAGA' - Raw Story

Donald Trump made an announcement about his upcoming administration, and his biggest fans are not happy about it.

Trump said on Friday that he had chosen Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a physician and Fox News medical contributor, as his surgeon general. She also "serves as a medical director at CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey," according to Politico's reporting.

“Dr. Nesheiwat is a fierce advocate and strong communicator for preventive medicine and public health,” Trump said on Friday in a statement on his Truth Social platform. “She is committed to ensuring that Americans have access to affordable, quality healthcare, and believes in empowering individuals to take charge of their health to live longer, healthier lives.”

The pick did not go over well with Trump's base.

@BlueArmy24, who frequently posts in favor of Trump on Truth Social, responded on the site with a letter from the "base."

"Dear President Trump, many of us…MANY of us are very disheartened and upset about this pick -this doctor has been a major advocate for pushing Covid vaccines upon people which are being proven cause much harm," @BlueArmy24 wrote. "She also was a big advocate of masking and other terrible Covid policies please don’t let this happen! Sincerely -your base."

A user with the ID "I STAND WITH TRUMP" also responded to the president-elect, saying, "Booo!! She advocates for the clot shot!!"

"Bring the Surgeon General from Florida into this position!!" the user added.

InkedKatLady, a self-identified conservative who comments favorably about Trump on Truth Social, characterized the pick as a "dealbreaker."

"She’s pro-masking — dealbreaker for me," the user wrote in response to Trump's announcement for the choice for surgeon general.

@SaltyPretzel, who shares pro-Trump content on Truth Social, also appeared outraged.

"Are you out of your mind? We lost everything for refusing covid vax and you pic this pro vaxxer? What a slap in the face this is to maga," they wrote.

Craig M. Wax, DO, a family physician who supports Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said Trump is "making a colossal mistake with Dr. Jeanette Neaheiwat has surgeon general."

"She was a genetic vaccine zealot," he wrote Friday.

[romeoandjulietyouwish]

ooo fun prompts! How about “You’re shaking” with Vaxleth?

Keyleth spit blood out of her mouth, the metallic taste clinging to her teeth and tongue. They were all worse for wear, clothes torn. There was a massive cut on Keyleth's leg from her ankle to knee. She leaned heavily on her staff and limped towards Pike.

Out of nowhere, Vax stepped in front of her. His dark eyes were wide with panic as he looked over her. He held her by the shoulders as he accessed her. "Kiki, you're shaking."

"I'm bleeding to," she snapped. She tried to jerk away from him, but she stumbled backwards and started to fall. It was Vax that caught her, arms around her waist. She almost growled, "Let go."

Vax's hands left her so suddenly you'd think she was on fire. He stepped back, hands lifted in the air. The concern in him shifted to shame and guilt. He opened his mouth to say something more, but he must have caught the anger in her eyes because he turned away and walked off.

Keyleth gripped her staff with white knuckles. The skin where he touch her still tingled. It made her want to rip her skin off. He loved her but it wasn't enough. She wasn't enough.

She was never fucking enough. Not for her people or her dad, not even for her own fucking party.

"Keyleth?" Pike stood in front of her and looked up at her with a kind smile. "Can I heal you?"

Keyleth swallowed, "No." She stepped back. Her blood was dripping into the grass. It hurt something awful, but not as bad as the chasm in her chest.

Pike tried to protest, but Keyleth just walked away. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vax watching her. She didn't give him the satisfaction of looking his way.