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thistlehalo · 3 days

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I hate the people who say the final battle in Ragenarok was too easy. It wasn't easy, it was a hard battle, but the Bad Kids/Intrepid Heroes did everything right.

There were 8 combatants on the field at the start. 6 of the rat grinders, who had low health but the high level abilities of their classes, and 1 high level full PC, and 1 high level paladin/barbarian multiclass with resistance to everything, legendary actions and resistances, who could deal force damage.

On the Bad Kids side, they were level 14 who had just gone through a battle that exhausted a lot of resources, Fig and Fabian used a couple of spells and bardics and their limited amount of spells, Gorgug used a couple of his rages, Adaine used all of her portents and a bunch of spells, and between ice feast, healing, and removing levels of exhaustion, Kristen and K2 were love on spells. Riz was the only one who was looking pretty decent because he can use sneak attack all day, and even he used one of his 2 3rd level spells.

They were smart though, they Ice Feast was a broken ability for the final battle that Brennan didn't think through when he home brewed it for Ally. Not only did it block Porter's stun which would have been devastating, it made them immune to fire damage on a map with a lot of lava. He didn't think it through and the Intrepid Heroes used it to full effect. Still, it was good for them, but Ice Feast is still just a reskin of Heroes feast with better options but more detrimental effects.

As for the battle itself, the Bad Kids played it smart, it was only due to good initiative rolls that they managed to stomp the rat grinders so hard in the first round. If Oisin got a chance to go, if Mary Ann was outside the range of slow, things would have been different since they had low stats, but level 20 abilities and spells could have wreaked the Bad Kids. It wasn't an easy fight, but it was a fight with an intentional purpose, the Bad Kids are good at being adventurers while the Rat Grinders took the easy way out and showed the different between being powerful and being strong. They took out the primary caster first as you should do in big pc vs pc battles like this, they made sure to target groupings of enemies with AOEs and crowd control, they made sure to support each other and disrupt their enemies support. It wasn't easy, but they are good at dnd so they made it look easy.

I've seen people say, 'Brennan should have x' and no he shouldn't have. He created a hard combat encounter, but his players did everything right this season, a DM shouldn't punish or railroad their players just because their players are good at the game. No, the players stop the big bad from being released so they don't have to fight them, the DM shouldn't just make the Ancient God break through the bindings just because they planned for that encounter. The players won before it started and they should be rewarded for that.

'the rat grinders should have had a back up plan.' The Rat Grinders did have a backup plan. The initial plan to get Kipperlily fairly elected failed, and the back up plan, when that didn't work, the backup plan was to get Kristen expelled so she couldn't run. When that didn't work they sent the Bad Kids, their allies, and anyone who would vote for Kristen into the sky, flew them miles away, and sicced a horde of dragons and a goddess on them to kill them or at the very least get them out of their hair for 1 night so their plan could work. The Bad Kids beat their plans every time so no, there was no reason to have a 4th backup plan in the final battle. Brennan is a good DM, he didn't make the Rat Grinders and Porter's plan work because it was stopped before it started with the fake goddess name. He didn't punish his players for being good at the game and their strategy is great.

Things could have gone so differently with a slight change or a big change. If Fig didnt' decide to try and be a paladin on a whim, things would have been completely different, they wouldn't have had a connection with Ankarna. If Adaine didn't take Legend Lore they wouldn't have found out about Porter, maybe they would have still gotten the background on Ankarna, but not about his family revealing the Big Bad early on. If they chose to do something else with the power they got from the pride armor, they wouldnt' have the gem to free Bakur or save Lydia meaning no back up in the final fight. What if Gorgug rolled lower on one of his artificer tracks, they might not have passed the last stand. What if Fabian choose to keep pursing Ivy instead of Mazey, would have have been killed by the Rat Grinders or would Mazey have been compelled to their side if he didn't try and romance her. If Riz ran for president instead of Kristen would he have been less stressed or more inclined to focus on that instead of mystery his true love. What if Kristen didn't eat the eye of the Vulture king at the right time and catch Kipperlily about to murder Gavin forcing her to change her target to Buddy.

And it worked against them too. What If Fig didn't inspire Cassandra and knock her out leading her to become the Nightmare King again? What if Adaine didn't counterspell Grix's disintegrate on Ruben, he might have been a pile of dust that would have been hard to impossible to bring back to life disrupting the Rat Grinder's plan. What if Kristen decided to not get upset at Cassandra forcing the Goddess to recreate Kalina. What if Adaine didn't say Ankarna's name outloud the first time she saw it? What if Fig didn't make the deal to have a second chance sealing the Night Yorb? What if Riz and Gorgug did relationship tracks with their families making it harder to do their other tracks. What if Fabian cleaned his house even once and got rid of the pingpong balls that Oisin enchanted to screw them over. What if Riz had time to focus on mystery from the start instead of running Kristen's campaign for her and taking more stress.

There were so many times that things could have gone so much better or so much worse, but that's what the game is. There is no script that says the good guys have to keep losing until they win. It's decisions and dice, luck and wits that make the game. It was a very hard season, the battles were very hard, just because they made the right decisions to make things easier on themselves doesn't change that. It doesn't make the season bad. You're welcome to not like it, but nothing about it was easy and people shouldn't pretend like it was because they don't like it

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thistlehalo · 3 days

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prayer of the day:

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thistlehalo · 3 days

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happy pride month

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thistlehalo · 6 days

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remember when we died? // you look so much better.

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thistlehalo · 6 days

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This is so silly

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thistlehalo · 6 days

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okay not to over analyze a lighthearted piece of dialogue from freshman year but when gorgug dies and wilma&digby are upset because they don't know how to connect with him in that feeling, it makes me think abt transracial adoptee gorgug and the experience of white parents who fundamentally do not understand their child of colour and cannot bridge the gap to sympathizing with things they do not relate to. i know wilma&digby love him and i think they're good parents, but the stance in fandom that they're perfect parents is very strange to me tbh. their house is too little for their son to exist.

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thistlehalo · 7 days

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So. How about this season so far

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thistlehalo · 8 days

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I have mentioned this before talking about Junior Year was Gorgug's year... But in all honesty....

Gorgug is one of my favourite d20 PCs because of his growth.

He is intelligent. He is smart. He is confident. He is protective. He is strong. He is one of the voices of reason in the Bad Kids (the other one is Riz and occasionally Adaine) . He is the heart of the group. He is also the quieter one of the group.

It's not seeing yourself as smart that just makes me so happy that he has that development throughout Sophomore and Junior Year. It's that lack of confidence that turns into the first Barbarian and Artificer multiclass and it works. It's him going, I need to figure this out in order to help understand and solve this part. He put a satellite into space to contract Elmville to get help. He fixed the Hangman, he created that Solar Lasso. Before deciding to become an Artificer.

Literally Leviathan was mostly Gorgug asking questions which got the others thinking. He is sometimes the catalyst for them to slot the puzzle into place (if that makes sense)

His friendships with the Bad Kids are amazing. He cares about all of them so much. He knows he can put himself in front of the weaker players (Adaine and Kristen) knowing that they have his back. That his team, his friends are going to be there to pick him back up and keep going.

The whole "It's Gorgug, Keep Going". . Yes that is important to the character and his relationship with the rest of the Bad Kids. But if your Barbarian says "I'm here. I'm right here. You can keep going. I've got you. I'll see you on the other side", then you know everything is going to be okay. Gorgug will keep going. You can get back up and keep going.

It's Fabian going straight to hug Gorgug when they reunite during the forest. It's Kristen using her low dex to keep Gorgug alive on a moving airborne ship during Junior Year. But it's also "remember when we died? It might happen again" conversation. It's Fig being in Barbarian class and gifting Gorgug those drum sticks. That helps him work out there is math to being in a rage. It's Riz and Adaine taking on his stress by helping him do 4 years of class in one year, but also there to give Gorgug the support that he needs.

It's Gorgug tanking the blows from the bigger creatures in the Last Stand-ard, especially from the Purple Worm. Since he knows and is comfortable that the others have his back and also dealing with the smaller creatures.

It's Gorgug taking hit after hit from Porter, surviving because of his friends and his will to Keep Going. Him dropping out of rage to help the final moment. It's Gorgug keeping Porter occupied throughout that fight. Even in his teacher's grasp.

It's Gorgug, Keep Going.

Just keep going and everything will be okay. You can get knocked down but get back up and keep going. Keep pushing. Just keep going.

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thistlehalo · 8 days

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