tweetyhead

[tweetyhead]

I think I would most appreciate a note from DMs on how much control I have in the world as a player. do you have everything planned out to the letter or can I make suggestions on the fly for flavor? can I pluck an imaginary flower & tuck it behind my fellow PC's ear or will I be stopped bc you never narrated any flowers growing on the side of the road so I just smeared dirt on her cheek & now she's looking at me like I'm crazy? are we allowed to painfully croak out our dramatic last words, damning the enemy for crawling their way out of hell and promising to finish this battle when we meet again down there, or must I be silent & accept my fate as an unconscious lump on the bloodsoaked ground?

I guess I just need to know how dramatic I can be

[tweetyhead]

To clarify, one of the things I’m loving about the Whitestone arc so much at this point (one noble house down, one name scratched off Percy’s gun, two points of corruption deep and so much more to go) is the feeling of, oh wait, I know this story! I’ve seen this story before!  Only it’s on this show, with this players, in the D&D medium–and that makes such a difference.

Because this is the king in return.  This is the secret heir creeping back to the land of his birth, hidden and disguised, to depose the usurpers that stole his birthright, and this story is classic and it is familiar.  It’s everything from Ivanhoe to The Lion King.  We know this story, we’ve read these fantasy novels, and it doesn’t matter that Whitestone is a city rather than a monarchy–it is an autonomous city-state in every practice, with its own nobles and its own army, and the Briarwoods rule absolutely.

It’s a really good story!  If this were just that story, it’d have a good chance of being pretty cool.  But the thing I’m enjoying so much is watching the characters go through all the motions of that story, with a core of something else at the center altogether.

Percy drops his illusion in front of his father’s old arch-chancellor, and the man’s reaction is pure awe, shock, devotion, and joy.  It’s ‘this child I once knew has become a man, and now he’s here to save us all’.  It’s a great moment, full of emotion, and we’ve seen enough of the horror that Whitestone has become to begin to appreciate the desperate hope that must be welling up inside the man even now, with the true heir revealed.  And then you twist your perspective just a few degrees askew and realize that yes, these men are living that familiar fairytale story of hope and their returning king, and so are the people whispering in the streets, and in the taverns, and maybe even the Briarwoods themselves tucked up to their stolen castle–and right there in the epicenter of it?  Percy is not.

Percy does not give more than a passing fuck about the people of Whitestone.  He isn’t here to make himself king.  He can barely pull his attention away from his rage and vengeance and sorrow and trauma and fear for his own soul long enough to be vaguely glad that, in general, the people who live here will probably be better off with the Briarwoods dead.  The story he’s living has nothing to do with kings and countries, it’s a psychological revenge thriller about demons and the price a man pays to destroy those that hurt him.  Percy would be walking this exact same path if his parents had been shopkeepers or farmers or scholars or heroes.  Whitestone is collateral damage to the wrongs done to him and his family, meaningful because it was theirs and it was stolen, not because of the horrors being visited on its people today.

(Thirty years later on another continent of Exandria altogether, Beau sits in a hotel room and tells Caleb that if he wants to kill Trent Ikithon to stop whatever horrors and cruelty he’s surely inflicting on others, she’s with him all the way, but to destroy the man for the sake of protecting others and the future, not for revenge.  There are themes to these stories, even as the names change and the players shift roles.)

Percy’s living a completely different story than everyone else around him, while literally acting as the epicenter to both, and it’s so cool to watch.  Percy has laserlike tunnel vision on his story (and of course he is, because the genre he’s living is so tight-focused it’s claustrophobic, the thriller where every detail is sharpened and the most important battle is the one inside his own heart and head), sowing sparks of revolution to clear his own path.  The epic, wide-scope story of populist uprising and rediscovered hope is spiralling out around him, and he’s not even paying attention to the way that story is meant to go at all.

What’s great about playing out this story in D&D, what really makes it all hang together, is the fact that it is D&D and Percy is not actually the protagonist of this novel.  There are five other characters with exactly as much agency as he has, playing intermediaries between the psychodrama in Percy’s head and the swelling tides of revolt around them.  Vox Machina get to be the people who see both sides of this story, and help pull Percy back from his inevitable brink, and also help do the actual groundwork of this revolution business talking to people in taverns and interrogating prisoners while Percy is half-catatonic, desperately scraping names off the barrel of his gun.  They’re playing a third story entirely, where the distant heroes from nowhere sweep into town, save everybody, and presumably disappear back into the sunset at the end.  Vax gets to ask, “What happens when this is over, Percival?”, and have it mean both things, at once–are you going to replace the Briarwoods with a monster as bad as they are?  Are you going to be a king?  Are you going to be a monster?  One, or the other, or both, or neither at all?  And Percy doesn’t even hear one of those questions, I don’t think the idea of ruling Whitestone has more than crossed his mind at a fleeting glance at all, and he doesn’t know the answer to the other–but I’m wondering how long it takes before somebody on the team wants to know what Percy intends to do with all Whitestone once it’s his all of the sudden.

I really love the way D&D, the way it’s played on Critical Role, allows characters to toss responsibility back and forth for external fights and planning and moving the plot forward, trading off on who handles logistics and who has the massive internal conflict and interesting psychodrama.  Fjord can be as conflicted as he needs to be about Avantika and U’kotoa and Vandren, because Caleb’s got a wall of fire and Beau recently learned how to tell the truth and also punch it out of other people, and his team at large has got this.  Percy can battle some kind of gun-demon in a city full of vampires and torture memories, because Keyleth knows how to cast blazing radiant sunlight and Vax and Scanlon are having fun in taverns stirring up the locals.

I’m so looking forward to the rest of this.

[tweetyhead]

wlw tag yourself

are you a catra coded adora stan or an adora coded catra stan

[tweetyhead]

How to Play as Glimmer in DnD 5e

I may not like Glimmer, but someone asked me how to build the Cotton Candy Queen. So, we’re going to try to unpack everything Glimmer can do. Glimmer’s unimaginative name tells us the main thing we’re after: twinkle sparkles and teleportation. However, Glimmer also eventually starts to learn and practice real magic, which we’ll try to incorporate into her build.

For race, the obvious choice is Aasimar. We’ll make Glimmer a Protector Aasimar, giving her +2 CHA, +1 CON. Our mother had wings, though ours only seem to be tattoos on our back, and only ever seemed to appear when we got the full power of the runestone. You’d think we’d have developed those wings eventually, but Glimmer’s enough of a failure, it’s not hard to believe she’s somehow failed to grow and use her wings.

For our background, we’ll choose to be a Soldier for Athletics and Intimidation, after all she is addressed as Commander Glimmer, though she’s about as much of a military woman as Adora is a prom queen. Then again, considering the same four or five people show up to every Rebellion/Horde altercation, I’m starting to think neither side has any actual soldiers, which is why the royal families are always on the front lines instead of trained warriors. That’s why the war’s taken so long. No standing armies on either side.

As for alignment, Glimmer is the definition of Chaotic Good. Even when she IS the law, she still finds a way to flout it.

SORCERER

DIVINE SOUL

This is surprisingly easy. Glimmer says herself that she’s the daughter of an angelic being and a powerful sorcerer. Clerics give Glimmer access to a variety of radiant damage spells, and sorcerer provides a good selection of teleportation and other arcane spells. For her Sorcerer skills, we’ll give her Arcana and Deception because 9/10 times, her solution to dealing with authority is to just straight up lie to their faces. What a fantastic role model.

CHARACTER INFO

STATS STR 12 DEX 14 CON 20 INT 8 WIS 8 CHA 20

SAVING THROWS STR +1 DEX +2 CON +11 INT -1 WIS -1 CHA +11

GENERAL INFO HP: 182 AC: 14 Initiative: +2 Speed: 30 ft Darkvision: 60 ft Sorcery Points: 20

FEATS Lucky

SKILLS Athletics Arcana Deception Intimidation

METAMAGIC Extended Spell Heightened Spell Quickened Spell Twinned Spell

We’re taking Extended Spell mostly for the Far Step spell. Extended Spell means that a spell’s duration is doubled, ensuring that instead of 10 turns of teleporting as a bonus action, Glimmer can do it for 20 turns, as long as she retains concentration. However, if that doesn’t appeal to you, replace it with Empowered Spell to put more twinkle in your sparkle. Heightened Spell will ensure that we can teleport unwilling enemies without them putting up a fight.  Between Quickened Spell and Twinned spell, we can throw out Guiding Bolt as a bonus action, then twin cast Sacred Flame to rapid fire sparkles into people’s faces.

LANGUAGES Common Celestial

Glimmer’s Spell List

C Blade Ward, Dancing Lights, Fire Bolt, Light, Sacred Flame, Shocking Grasp 1 Bless, Guiding Bolt, Shield 2 Hold Person, Misty Step, Zone of Truth 3 Blink 4 Banishment, Freedom of Movement 5 Far Step 6 Globe of Invulnerability, Scatter, Sunbeam 7 Teleport 8 Sunburst 9 Gate

FEATURES

Resistances Necrotic Radiant

Bonus Actions: Angelic Form: Grow spectral wings and flying speed of 30 ft. Flexible Casting: Turn Sorcery Points into spell slots and vice versa Unearthly Recovery: Recover half total HP when health is below half

Actions: Healing Hands: Touch restores HP equal to level once per long rest. Radiant Soul: For 1 minute, gain flying speed 30 ft, and spells deal bonus radiant damage equal to player level.

Features: Empowered Healing: Spend 1 Sorcery Point to reroll 1 healing spell die. Favored by the Gods: If you fail a saving throw or attack roll, add 2d4 to the roll made in an attempt to correct this mistake. Lucky: On a failed roll, roll a second d20 and add to the first roll. 3 charges. Magical Guidance: Reroll a failed ability check, using the new roll. Sorcerous Restoration: Recover 4 Sorcery Points on a short rest.

Now that we’ve finished building Toddlers in Tiaras, let’s see how we did. With the Far Step spell, we can teleport at the start of every turn as a bonus action, letting us ping around the battle field, which is the main thing we were after. As a Sorcerer, we have a high Constitution saving throw, ensuring we’ll maintain our concentration to keep Far Step going for as long as possible. Between Radiant Soul, Quickened Spell, and Twinned Spell, Glimmer can effectively dish out three attacks in a given turn, meaning she can add up to 60 radiant damage in a single round. Even if her Bonus Action is taken up by Far Step, Radiant Soul still ensures that Glimmer packs a major whallop with her sparkles. Glimmer’s biggest problem is that most of her damaging spells deal Radiant damage, and foes that resist or are immune to her sparkles will be very difficult for her to fight. Fortunately, Glimmer has a multitude of methods to stumble into success. Between Favor of the Gods, Magical Guidance, and dropping an ASI for the Lucky Feat, there’s a LOT of ways Glimmer can succeed where she should have failed. Here’s hoping your DM is as into contrived, undeserved victories as the She-Ra writing staff. Because in this pillow fight of a “war” story, the secret to success is Deus ex Friendship Power-Ups, sheer dumb luck, and trying harder. But this time with like… feeling.

[tweetyhead]

my 18 year old wizard getting into an argument with a random shopkeeper while also helping them clean up their booth after a mid-market fight: " - AND you have like 3 different color schemes going on in here, it's like you didn't even consider the aesthetic!!!"

later, to our barbarian: "is this what making an enemy feels like?"

barbarian: "you literally got kidnapped this morning and THIS is what you're worried about?"

[tweetyhead]

I only come on tumblr to drop takes that are too personal for twitter but

if I found someone that looked at me the way murph looks at emily axford, I would actually want to get married

even the way you can hear it JUST IN HIS VOICE on NADDPOD when he's DMing he is so proud of her ESPECIALLY when she is whomping his ass I adore everything about it & then on d20 playing with her, he's constantly doing everything he can to set her up (& everyone else tbh murph is a fucking fantastic player) for whatever chaos she has planned

[tweetyhead]

Commission for @tweetyhead 💙

[tweetyhead]

Commission for @tweetyhead 🖤

[tweetyhead]

ARTIST WANTED

y'all

in my dnd campaign, I made a dumb joke about finding a crop top at a mage shop & my dm let me have one. now I want it but I can't draw. is there anyone willing to draw a fallen aasimar shadow sorceress with a crop top that doesn't look too modern, more fantasy? I will venmo you all of my money I SWEAR this is all I can think about anymore

[tweetyhead]

i don’t think people understand that people can ‘love’ you and not actually love you

like my grandmother ‘loved’ me, but she also was always trying to change me.  she tried to take me away from my (catholic bisexual) mother.  she made me wear dresses when i was there.  she always tried to get me to go to church and was always asking me if i was dating a boy yet

i spent years feeling guilty that i wasn’t what she wanted me to be until my mom told me one day “she never bothered to know the real you”

and it’s true.  any time i tried to show her something about myself, even cook for her, it would be dismissed, and a replacement would be offered.  even northern food was somehow a sin.  

she loved me what she thought i should be, she never loved me.  

bc people who love you, they love you for all the stuff that makes you you.  they never consider that it makes you inconvenient.

[tweetyhead]

idk if anyone will find this useful, but this is how i go about planning my stories. i mostly write fantasy, so that’s what this is most applicable to. but it could work with other genres too.

so there’s three major components to a story: the characters, the plot, and the world. creating them individually is the easy part, but they all connect and affect each other in different ways. (like you can’t have a character who loves peaches and eats them every day if they live a peasant in a region that doesn’t grow peaches, for example.)

so i created a cheat sheet to help connect all three components together.

1) the world creates the characters.

this is related to the peach example above. the characters should be a direct result of the environment they grew up in and the environment they currently live in.

2) the characters are limited by the world.

also related to the peaches. characters can’t do anything outside of what the rules of their surroundings and universe allow, such as eating peaches when they’re not available. this also applies for magic users. they can’t have unlimited magic, so keep in mind what you want out of both the characters and the world when creating magic systems.

3) the characters carry the plot.

we’ve all heard it before: “bad characters can’t carry a good plot. good characters can carry a bad plot.” but we all like a good plot anyway. try to make sure you’re not giving your characters too heavy or too light of a plot to carry.

4) the plot pushes the characters.

if nothing in the plot happens, your characters will remain static forever. if you struggle with plots, try starting with what character development you want to happen, then go from there.

5) the plot depends on the world.

you can’t overthrow the evil government if there isn’t one. think of what your world needs most and what your plot is centered around, and fit those two together.

6) the world is changed by the plot.

even if your plot is centered around something most of your world would call “insignificant”, the world will still experience some change from the plot. either the evil government will be gone, or maybe that one teacher is now way more careful about keeping an eye on the test key. either way, the world will be different from now on.

final note: usually people will be able to write one or two of the components with ease, but don’t know where to go from there. i personally can’t write plots, but thinking this way has really helped me actually make a story out of the world and characters because i looked at what i needed from what i had. i really hope this can help you too! happy writing!

tl;dr this is a cheat sheet to help anyone who struggles with writing one or two of what i consider the three major components to a story.

[tweetyhead]

I don’t really know what people generally call this method of sigil making, so I’m just calling it “Letter Shaping” because you’re using the basic shapes from certain letters. EDIT: It’s one of many variations of the ‘Spare Method’ created by Austin Oswald Spare in the early 1900s This is the most common form of sigil making, and it allows the most creative influence. As you see above the sigils are for nearly the same thing, yet the sigils came out completely different. Not because the purpose was different, but because I approached them both a different creative way, and that’s what I like so much about this method. There’s a lot of freedom and personalization involved.

(UPDATE: Here’s a link to a guide on how to deconstruct letters down to basic shapes)

[tweetyhead]

How To Create Your Own Spells

Dedicated to @a–special–one​ Thank you so much for asking! I felt like this needed a post all it’s own ^u^

-from my grimoire

I’d like to say before anything else, and as I always say, this is not the only way to do this. There are many different ways to create your own spells, and this is simply the method that I find easiest when teaching beginners. And always remember that when it comes to crafting a spell, your intentions are whats most important.

Gathering Your Thoughts

The first step to creating any spell, is thinking about what kind of spell you want to perform, how you want to perform it, and how you want it to manifest.

Ask yourself some questions. “What kind of spell do I want to make?” “Does this need to be a very specific spell or a vague one?” “What method am I going to use to cast/create the spell?” “How do I want this spell to affect me or the person it’s aimed at?” “What kind of ingredients am I going to need?” “What time of day or moon phase would I like to perform this spell?” Anything along those lines are important questions to ask before you start working on your spell. Write the questions and answers down on paper that way you can keep track of everything!

Types of Spells

The next place you’re going to end up is choosing what kind of spell you want to do. Picking what type of spell you want to do is important because this is what decides how effective it is, how long it’s going to last, and when it’s effect will activate. This is not a list of all the types of spells out there, but simply the types that I do on a regular basis. And as another note, you can totally combine methods as well! This can easily enhance the power of your spells and make your intentions more clear and direct.

Prayer - This is the most simple form of a spell, and best to do if you’re only looking for a little aid rather than something major. A spell like this puts you in the universes hands completely.

Spoken Word - Differing from prayer because this has actual intentions in mind. This is usually a word, phrase, rhyme/lyric, or short paragraph spoken with energy. A spell like this can be very effective depending on how much energy you put into it and how much you actually believe in yourself. If you’re low on supplies and need something solid, spoken word is the way to go.

Incense Spell - An incense spell is usually directed at yourself rather than at another person, though that doesn’t mean it can’t work on another. But these are very temporary spells and only last as long as the burning incense. Usually this kind of spell is used to enhance focus.

Candle Spell - One of the most common types of spell you’re going to see are ones with candles. You can perform this spell on yourself or another person easily, and they’re very fast acting depending on the type of candle you use. When doing this kind of spell, take things like color and size in account.

Crystal Grid - A type of spell work that is done by placing specific crystals in a manner where their energies intermingle and work together to perform a task. This is a spell type that I use on a daily basis to set the mood for the day and keep me energies.

Sigil - A type of drawn magick that puts your intentions of paper. Usually these need to be charged and activated, but once that’s done, they have quite nice effects!

Bottle/Bag Spell - My personal favorite type of spell! These work well if you need a constant effect, and depending on the size of bag or bottle you use can easily be carried with you everywhere. These are very long lasting, don’t need to be charged often, and produce the best effect.

Energy Spell - Probably a more advanced technique, but this is the use of pure energy to put your will into motion. Doing energy spells takes lots of practice and in the early stages can be very unstable in whether they work or not, or whether they’ll completely backfire. This takes patience so don’t give up!

Picking Your Ingredients

Unless you’ve decided on spoken word or prayer alone, you’ll be looking for ingredients next. You don’t need expensive or fancy ingredients, and if you need to you can totally add spices and such from your kitchen ^u^ Think about correspondences carefully, and if you associate something with a feeling or ideal specifically then use it! Things that have personal meanings to yourself can be the most powerful ingredient in any spell.

Here are some of the correspondences I’ve posted about. (If tumblr wasn’t fiddly I would post links, but they’re on my blog in the “My Grimoire” and “My Tips” pages) Herbs and Spices Incense and Oils Common Crystals Colors Flowers Feathers (be mindful of the feathers you pick up, some could get you in legal trouble!)

When To Cast

Once you’ve got all your ingredients together, next thing you’re gonna wanna sit down and figure out when you want to cast your spell. This isn’t always a necessary part, and most spells can be done whenever you feel like, but taking things like Time of Day or the Current Moon Phase into account can really add to (or even take away from) the power of your spell

Here are some simple correspondences for Moon Phase and Time of Day. (I’ll go more in depth in a separate post if enough people show interest)

Moon Phases

New Moon (when there is only the tiniest sliver) - Good for sowing the seeds of new ideas

Waxing Moon - Good for healing, and growing ideas

Full Moon - Best time to perform any sort of spell

Waning Moon - Good for cutting things out of your life

Dark Moon (when the moon is not visible) - Take this time to rest and focus on yourself

Time of Day

1am-3am - Good for communicating with spirits

4am-6am - Good for planting new ideas and fertility

7am-9am - Best time to make offerings to deities or local spirits

10am-12pm - Best time for positivity and growth

1pm-3pm - Good to focus on yourself and your studies

4pm-6pm - Time to harvest and be with family

7pm-9pm - Best time to cut things out of your life

10pm-12am - Good for any magickal workings

Like I said earlier, this stuff isn’t necessary unless you really want that extra ‘umph’ in your magick, so don’t feel like you have to plan it down to a T especially if you’re in a hurry. Only plan if you want to and have the time to.

Organizing and Casting

How are you going to cast the spell? That’s probably one of the hardest parts you’re going to come across if you’re new to spell crafting. You want to think about this part carefully so you get maximum results. I can give some tips ^u^

If you’re combining methods, think about what order you want to put them in. Organize them in a way that flows naturally.

Practice your spell! Set up a play scenario and rehearse your spell a few times to make sure you get it right, and the whole process goes smoothly.

Don’t be afraid to make a mistake though, mistakes are part of life and they always tend to happen when you want them to the least. If your spell doesn’t go perfectly the way you imagined, that’s okay. Intention is what matters.

Keep all your spells in a file or in a book. Keeping records of spells is important if you ever intend to use them again, write everything down from ingredients to how you cast

Dont be afraid to experiment! Especially with random things, that’s how you make your own associations. Making your own associations is how you make a spell even stronger!

Lastly, don’t feel obligated to get fancy or over the top. Spoken word spells can be just as effective as a bottle spell, especially if it’s said every day.

[tweetyhead]

[tweetyhead]

[tweetyhead]

writing sci-fi

“Hey, how is it that we’ve all managed faster-than-light interstellar travel and it’s relatively commonplace?”

“Don’t you know?”

“I never really paid attention in school.”

“Oh, well, it’s simple, really. All it takes is—”

[LOUD TRAIN NOISES]

“Wow! Really? That’s incredible! What an amazing technology. Thank you for telling me this.”

[tweetyhead]