#*looks at malaya octopath 2*

[smilepebble]

characters who are so devoted to another character that their acts of love feel almost like betrayals

[ophiliaclement]

quick sketch

[wayward-rosalind]

In pursuit of those memories that you once held dear...

[kelbunny]

3 different sets of PMDxOT2 doodles (including the one from yesterday+Trousseau)

[taoofshigeru]

Octopath Traveler 2 Gender HC

Been playing around with Castti Florenz headcanons, particularly the hc that Castti is trans:

-Why did Malaya believe that Castti of all people could mix up a cure for purple rain? Because she'd been working on synthetic estrogen for 2 years and Castti came along and solved it in 3 weeks. This is how their rivalry started. -Malaya later cracked synthetic testosterone and smugly shoved her results in Castti's face, only to be warmly and sincerely congratulated. It was at this point she realized she was in love. After this, Castti invited her to join her new team, Eir's Apothecaries, and Malaya said yes after roughly 0.22 seconds of pause. -Castti compounds her own hormones from ingredients she finds/buys along her journey. It usually works, but there's a mad science element to the way she tests new combinations on herself sometimes. She figures she knows her body pretty well and if it survived all manner of deadly poisons in the past, it's probably fine. Osvald has to convince her to start trying more rigorous scientific trials with control/experimental groups. He finally convinces her that it'd be nice to know everything's safe before sharing formulae with the public. -She never forgets how to make the hormones, and somehow knows she needs to take them regularly even when she has amnesia. But she doesn't remember why she needs it until the end of chapter 3. This was understandably not as much of a surprise for her as other things she recalled in that chapter. -Being called "Mother hen" or "Mama", even when it's said in a teasing way, is actually extremely validating for her and gives her gender euphoria for like a week every time she hears it. She is very unlikely to admit this.

I have no idea what to do with this information. Anyways,

[selfdiagnosedeyemotif]

little thing i've been thinking about as of late:

How could one make the Octopath Travelers II in Dungeons and Dragons?

the rules i've set for myself are as follows:

no variant human. that is boring.

we're going for flavour over optimization but my stupid optimizer brain will nonetheless be the architect behind this all so Watch Out

Unearthed Arcana and things of that sort ARE allowed. UA is my dear wife and to leave her out of my house would be a crime most unforgivable

stats will be calculated using the point buy method, simply because that is much easier than working with the other methods

in a similar vein to the previous, pre-Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse stat increases and abilities for races will be used (my best friend the Air Genasi gets burnt by this but sacrifices must be made)

characters will range from level 10 (agnea) to level 14 (osvald)

this is what the characters would look like at the END of their journeys, so abilities like the One True Magic would be taken into account

i'll link pages describing all of the things i use, all of which will be from my dnd site of choice, the DND 5th Edition Wikidot Site

that being said...

Ochette, the Hunter

Race:

Tabaxi (+2 DEX, +1 CHA)

Class(es):

Revised Ranger - Beastmaster Conclave - Level 8 Paladin - Oath of the Ancients - Level 3

Feats (if any):

N/A

Stats:

STR - 14 (+2) DEX - 19 (+4) CON - 15 (+2) INT - 10 (0) WIS - 8 (-1) CHA - 13 (+1)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Tabaxi - Race: Ochette, while more of a fox than a cat, notably has many animal features similar to cats (namely her claws and ears), so the cat race fits her quite well

Cat's Claws - Tabaxi: ability most akin to Ochette's latent power ability Beastly Claws

Animal Companion - Beastmaster Conclave: this is the space for Akala or Mahina, since the BM is the only class/subclass that lets you have an animal companion in any way, not counting the wizard spell Find Familiar (which just doesn't fit Ochette. she aint a wizard)

Oath of the Ancients Paladin - Class/Subclass: at the end of Ochette's story she is touched by the Flame itself, bestowing upon her the power necessary to continue her immediate mission of Stop That Shadow Beast and ongoing mission of protecting the wilds of Solistia. serving something greater than oneself for a specific purpose (divine or not) is how 5e paladins have been flavoured, and the OotA subclass is explicitly based around being the light for the world, and has a general nature theme (see: green knights)

Castti, the Apothecary

Race:

Water Genasi (+2 CON, +1 WIS)

Class(es):

Artificer - Alchemist Speciality - Level 9 Paladin - Oath of Redemption - Level 4

Feats (if any):

Resilient (Wisdom)

Stats:

STR - 12 (+1) DEX - 9 (-1) CON - 14 (+2) INT - 13 (+1) WIS - 20 (+5) CHA - 12 (+1)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Water Genasi - Race: first off, Castti obviously has a water motif. that's a guarantee. however, i also think that Water Genasi has some good flavour to it because before MMotM, it gave resistance to Acid damage. you know, like trosseau's poison rain. Castti was INSANELY resilient against that shit, and i think it could be fun if that was like. just a thing she did.

Class/Subclass - Alchemist Speciality Artificer: this is the place to go when it comes to apothecaries. i really wanted to make her a warlock of Malaya as well but the best fitting subclasses (Fathomless, Celestial, and Undead) didn't have abilities that fit her very well. regardless, you've gotta be an Alchemist if you wanna be an apothecary

Class/Subclass - Oath of Redemption Paladin: PLEASE go read the tenets of the Oath of Redemption. like yeah its about redeeming yourself but more importantly its about pacifism (that's castti), patience (that's castti), and protecting the weak (that's castti). shes SO Oath of Redemption that it isn't even funny

Experimental Elixir/Restorative Reagent - Alchemist: this is Concoct, to a T. Experimental Elixir allows you to bestow a variety of different effects onto an ally, ranging from healing to haste to defense. just. like. Concoct. also the Restorative Reagent feature that castti would get at level 9 just adds to the healing aspect of EE so like. yeap that tracks.

Lay On Hands - Paladin: Sounds an awful lot like a mix between castti's Healing Hands and Rehabilitate abilities, with a mix of healing damage and disease specifically via touch.

Resilient - Feat: you'll notice that i made Castti's highest stat her Wisdom, which a keen-eyed D&D player might mark as strange, since Artificers are an Intelligence-based class, and Paladins are Charisma-based. well, this in conjunction with Resilient giving her proficiency in Wisdom Saving Throws (basically making her very good at holding on against fear, mind control, and things that affect sanity), are all because of one of my personal favourite Castti moments: she has canonically read the Book of Night and it couldn't do jack SHIT to her. her mind is made of IRON.

Throné, the Thief

Race:

Shadar-Kai (+2 DEX, +1 CON)

Class(es):

Rogue - Assassin Archetype - Level 11 Fighter - No Subclass - Level 2

Feats (if any):

Shadow Touched (spells gained: Invisibility, Silent Image)

Stats:

STR - 11 (0) DEX - 20 (+5) CON - 10 (0) INT - 14 (+2) WIS - 12 (+1) CHA - 14 (+2)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Shadar-Kai - Race: grabbed simply because i think that being a Dark Elf™ fits Throné really well. technically it also gives her teleportation which would be a cool in-universe explanation for Aeber's Reckoning but honestly this one's for the funsies

Inflitration Expert - Assassin Archetype: she straight-up does this in the first chapter. like full stop. that is the thing that this ability does. also i know it's very much not one-to-one but i also think this is how she would use Disguise but that ventures into headcanon territory

Action Surge - Fighter: the SPECIFIC reason that i gave Throné fighter levels. Action Surge allows the user to, once per short rest, USE TWO ACTIONS IN ONE TURN. THAT IS LEAVE NO TRACE. EXACTLY.

Shadow Touched - Feat: flavour for infiltration stuff but also sort of works as an expy for Veil of Darkness. Silent Image can be used to create a fairly large illusion, including but not limited to a quick and easy way to throw enemies off their game in terms of their attacks. Disguise Self was also considered as an option for the spell to take (Invisibility is always given) but i passed on it because she was already getting Infiltration Expert from her subclass.

Osvald, the Scholar

Race:

Goliath (+2 STR, +1 CON)

Class(es):

Wizard - School of Evocation - Level 14

Feats (if any):

N/A

Stats:

STR - 12 (+1) DEX - 10 (0) CON - 16 (+3) INT - 20 (+5) WIS - 14 (+2) CHA - 8 (-1)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Goliath - Race: Professor Osvald V. Vanstein is, amoungst other descriptors, fucking MASSIVE. that man is canonically like 6'7" or something. goliaths, the Biggest race in D&D 5e, are absolutely the best fit for him. as a bonus, they give him resistance to Cold damage, a fun reference to that teeny little stay on Frigit Isle

School of Evocation - Subclass: Osvald is canonically very much an offensive caster. that's clear. the School of Evocation, in D&D, is the one with the easiest access to Spells like Fireball, Lightning Bolt, and Cone of Cold, meaning that Osvald "Fire-Ice-Lightning" V. Vanstein simply MUST be one

Overchannel/Sculpt Spells - School of Evocation: neither of these two abilities, on their own, would equate to anything Osvald-y. Overchannel allows the user to make one damaging spell do max damage (and do it more at an HP cost), and Scupt Spells allows them to exempt certain targets from AoE spells. together, however, they form a decent expy for Concentrate Spells, Osvald's latent power

Prismatic Spray - Spell: this spell is a seventh level evocation spell. level 14 is the first time wizards have access to seventh level spells, and Osvald is an evoker. this spell is also a MASSIVE FUCK-YOU RAINBOW BLAST. i won't go through its actual abilities because they dont line up to the One True Magic very well, but aesthetically they're damn-near identical

Partitio, the Merchant

Race:

Human (+1 to all stats)

Class(es):

Paladin - Oath of Devotion - Level 6 Bard - College of Eloquence - Level 5

Feats (if any):

Inspiring Leader

Stats:

STR - 15 (+2) DEX - 11 (0) CON - 14 (+2) INT - 12 (+1) WIS - 10 (0) CHA - 18 (+4)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Oath of Devotion Paladin - Class/Subclass: mostly based around how Partitio is just. endlessly all about that helping people. you dont need to worship a god to be a paladin, folks, you just need to have a cause that you stand insanely firmly by. that's why they're Charisma-based. anyways Devotion fits Parti best so he gets it

Silver Tongue - College of Eloquence: half of this ability (bonus to Deception) is positively worthless to Partitio because he really doesnt lie much, but the other half (bonus to Persuasion) is DEATHLY important to this build. Partitio is a man built on being extremely good at talking to people, and it really shows in this. also, SILVER Tongue. Oresrush silver. get it? huh? huh?

Inspiring Leader - Feat: genuinely the most Partitio feat ever. it literally has the user make an inspiring speech for a mechanical benefit and if that ain't Partitio i dont know what is

Agnea, the Dancer

Race:

Spring Eladrin (+2 DEX, +1 CHA)

Class(es):

Bard - College of Glamour - Level 10

Feats (if any):

Mobile

Stats:

STR - 8 (-1) DEX - 16 (+3) CON - 12 (+1) INT - 11 (0) WIS - 12 (+1) CHA - 18 (+4)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Eladrin - Race: this is the most whimsical and fun race ever and i love it. spring Eladrin are the joyous and celebratory version of this race, so it fits Agnie pretty damn well. it also offers a teleportation option in the form of Fey Step (the season-themed version of Throné's teleport), which i feel like she would incorporate into her shows

College of Glamour Bard - Class/Subclass: this is the main performer bard for performers that dont use musical instruments, so it simply had to be Agnea

Enthralling Performance - College of Eloquence: this ability is effectively a make-your-performances-better card, which is exactly the kind of thing that Agnea would pull out if she needed to really bedazzle a crowd (see: Agnea chapter five)

Magical Secrets - Bard: this allows the user to gain two spells from any spell list. Agnea's would be Control Winds (Windy Refrain) and Beacon of Hope (Song of Hope). the latter is a much rougher expy than the former, but it's got hope in the name and i am nothing if not predictable. see the links below for what those spells do

Mobile - Feat: this is meant as an expy of the Dancer ability Ever Evasive, and to a degree Agnea's high base Speed and Evasion, since the Mobile feat both makes it more difficult for enemies to land hits on you, and improves your movement speed

Temenos, the Cleric

Race:

Changeling (+2 CHA, +1 WIS), pretends to be Half-Elf

Class(es):

Rogue - Inquisitive Archetype - Level 4 Cleric - Knowledge Domain - Level 9

Feats (if any):

Keen Mind (+1 INT)

Stats:

STR - 8 (-1) DEX - 10 (0) CON - 8 (-1) INT - 18 (+4) WIS - 18 (+4) CHA - 16 (+3)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Changeling - Race: i think it would be really cool because Temenos is such a goddamn liar. im so normal about it. sososo normal about it. i just feel that he would lie persistently about his identity lie that because just. i am hopelessly in love with the aspect of Temenos that he does not let anyone know anything ever

Inquisitive Archetype Rogue - Class/Subclass: one will note that this is the first class listed rather than his actual in-game class of Cleric. this is because i think that before he was a cleric, before he was found by the church, Rogue was a deeply fitting class for him. i think it was his base class, and grew into the Inquisitive subclass AFTER taking Cleric levels

Channel Divinity: Read Thoughts - Knowledge Domain: this is the equivalent of Temenos's Coerce path action; both are obviously magical in nature and involve to a certain (albeit different) degree looking into the target's mind. not a lot to say it's just a very good stand-in for Coerce

Legend Lore - Spell: this is the expy for Temenos's doubt-is-what-i-do mystery solving sections (like when he's in the cathedral with Crick investigating the death of the pontiff). it's not exact since Legend Lore targets an object and Temenos's thing targets a location, but i think it's close enough to be good enough. also it's a free spell you get for being a Knowledge Cleric so i think it's a good fit

Expertise - Rogue: this ability allows you to take two skills and become SUPER good at them. this would be Deception and Insight for Temenos, and i think it was important that i bring it up

Hikari, the Warrior

Race:

High Elf (+2 DEX, +1 INT)

Class(es):

Fighter - Samurai Archetype - Level 11 Sorcerer - Shadow Origin - Level 1

Feats (if any):

N/A

Stats:

STR - 18 (+4) DEX - 16 (+3) CON - 16 (+3) INT - 10 (0) WIS - 10 (0) CHA - 10 (0)

Key Abilities/Explanations:

Shadow Origin Sorcerer - Class/Subclass: homeboy's got the blood of D'arqest in him, so he simply MUST have some kind of spooky class. the other class in the running was Hexblade Warlock, but Shadow Sorcerer ultimately won out mostly for mechanical reasons (SO's Strength of the Grave was considered more flavourful than HB's Hexblade's Curse)

Fighting Spirit/Tireless Spirit - Samurai Archetype: these abilities are about the user powering up by sheer force of will and that's literally the most Hikari thing i have ever heard in my life

Fighting Style: Superior Technique - Fighter: this fighting style allows the user to gain one Battlemaster Fighter maneuver. the one selected for Hikari is Riposte, which serves as an equivalent to Hikari's Vengeful Blade ability (both of them are counterattack options)

Extra Attack 2x - Fighter: fighters are the only class that gain access to more than two attacks per turn, similarly to Hikari's Aggressive Slash ability giving him access to the greatest number of hits out of any class in-game

Links:

Ochette, the Hunter

Tabaxi

Ranger, Revised

Beastmaster Conclave

Paladin

Oath of the Ancients

Castti, the Apothecary

Water Genasi

Artificer

Alchemist Speciality

Paladin

Oath of Redemption

Resilient

Throné, the Thief

Shadar-Kai

Rogue

Assassin Archetype

Fighter

Shadow Touched

Silent Image

Osvald, the Scholar

Goliath

Wizard

School of Evocation

Prismatic Spray

Partitio, the Merchant

Human (yeah im linking that)

Paladin

Oath of Devotion

Bard

College of Eloquence

Inspiring Leader

Agnea, the Dancer

Eladrin

Bard

College of Glamour

Mobile

Control Winds

Beacon of Hope

Temenos, the Cleric

Changeling

Rogue

Inquisitive Archetype

Cleric

Knowledge Domain

Keen Mind

Legend Lore

Hikari, the Warrior

High Elf

Fighter

Samurai Archetype

Sorcerer

Shadow Origin

Riposte Maneuver

[thesternest]

fun fact im starting an octopath traveller 2 liveblog so stuff that has happened yet i really like how this game looks its a kind of pixelated characters and objects in a 3d world closest thing to it i know is Anno mutatetionem so far i have played Castii's first episode and i thought it was gonna be focused a lot more on this town and raising her reputation but no she speedran the getting acknowledged by the town story which is good as i dont really like that type of plot and would rather focus on her missing memories (which it seems the game would prefer too) i wonder what her relationship to Malaya is so far I'm getting shipping alarms from them

[aptericia]

2, 3, 5, 9, 12, and 16 for Octopath 2 :D ?

hehehe you bet!!

2. a headcanon you weren't sure about at first but have come to like!

Hmm... I don't interact with the fandom all that much so it's hard to say... I'm kind of attached to beer belly Osvald because of all the drawing requests I got, although there wasn't ever really a time I disliked it. I've just come to like it more 😁

3. a character that fandom has helped you appreciate

I'll say Malaya! I never disliked her, but especially before Castti's Ch 3 I was mostly invested in her because the fandom loves her so much.

5. something you see in fics a lot and love

I'm so sorry, I don't read fanfic.... 😭 I am changing that slowly! If you have any recommendations I'd love to read them!!

9. a ship that isn't your OTP but that you enjoy

Both Pala/Mikka and Dolcinaea/Veronica are fun! I appreciate that each pair has interesting parallels and potentially very deep relationships, but that they mostly just goof around and enjoy each other's company.

12. compliment someone else in your fandom

@starkittnd93 makes the absolute best little drawings and they bring me so much joy!! She has also inspired me to love animation and work harder at it because I want to make adorable animations like she does. I feel like she's the closest mutual I have as far as Octopath goes so I really appreciate her for that! 🥰

I also really like @hanpaopaoo's work although I don't know much about them! They did an awesome commission for me that I scream about every day 😁

16. a tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate

Idk if people talk about this since, again, I'm not super active in the fandom, but [SPOILER ALERT, RAZZ AND MOSS DON'T LOOK!!] I think a lot about how Throné is related to D'arqest and yet is absolutely repulsed by blood and gore. The other Blacksnakes seem to have an obsession with it, kind of like Shadow!Hikari (in her Ch 1 the other Snakes cheer for Mother to whip her and Pirro; in a flashback Father tells a young Throné that she will come to love the smell of blood). It's presented mostly as a trigger for her, but I'm still curious about if the curse of her bloodline affects her aversion to blood in any way.

[redgemwink]

my games of the year!!

hey yall!! with the year coming to a close i wanted to list my top 5 favorite games that i played this year!

5. honkai star rail - i was really conflicted abt putting a gacha game on here, especially since i don't even play it much anymore but tbh the belobog arc was just too good not to put it here. maybe the next planet will bring me back in but i didn't really like the luofu at all. but the time i spent on the herta space center and belobog were so enjoyable that i rlly feel like it deserves this spot.

4. octopath traveler 2 - this came out this year?? jfc this has been a long year. but yeah this game is really good!! i would absolutely die for agnea. i feel like in just about every area this game was a huge step up from octopath 1, i found every character really enjoyable and i genuinely cried multiple times during castti's story (malaya.... she loved her) and in general just loved nearly every story, and the endgame and how the characters from each route tied in was so cool. i think there's still some qol needed in certain areas and that's why this is only fourth but overall very good game i recommend. also ochette is super fun to play, love beastmaster classes sm

3. fire emblem engage - sort of the opposite of octopath honestly, the story was pretty awful in this game and the characters were all very one note but the game is just so gorgeous to look at and so so much fun. what can i say, i like fire emblem dfkdfskdkdsf and while the characters and story are completely camp i found it charming in it's simplicity at times, lapis and citrinne especially were really endearing characters to me. this certainly isn't my favorite fe game bc i admittedly prefer story/character heavy ones like 3h but i still found it to be a really enjoyable experience with lots of fun customization! i hope they take a lot of what was in engage and put that into future games bc i rlly need more fe games where everyone has cute casual outfits like that and you can dress everyone up all silly. this game is just pure silly fun.

2. cassette beasts - so this one took me by surprise. this game is an absolute GEM and if you like pokemon at all you seriously owe yourself to play this!! it takes everything i love about pokemon and just brings it to a whole new level. the story, the characters, even the designs for the beasts are all so peak. the way types interact with each other is so fun and something i've never seen before in this genre. this is the type of game i absolutely see myself replaying every year just to try out new beasts and the randomizer mode and stuff!! ALSO THE WAY YOU CAN REMOVE THE MOVES AND PUT THEM ON OTHER BEASTS?? god. this game is everything i WISH pokemon was, and if it were any other year it probably would have been my goty. but..

baldur's gate 3 - yeah. i mean, do i even need to say anything on this one?? a strong demon lady held me in her strong arms and kissed me. we ate spaghetti together. we went to hell and fought demons together. this game is a lesbian love story and i- oh wait i probably shouldn't just talk about karlach for this whole section lol. really though, bg3 is just one of those games that hits different, there is SO much to do in this game and not a single moment of it isn't filled with fun. exploring the world was so fun, whenever i discovered secrets and stuff it felt amazing, there's just such a wonderful feeling of mystery in this world. there's so many ways every interaction can go, the story is amazing, the characters are amazing, the multiplayer is amazing. this whole game just fucks hard, and i think it's not only my game of the year but possibly my game of the decade. i think if this game's mod support gets better then we could be looking at a stardew valley situation where fans keep the game alive FOREVER by adding all sorts of cool stuff over the years. i can't wait to see what gets added as time goes on! anyways back to karlach so yeah i wanna cuddle with her and go on a pizza date and be pinned against the

[wayward-rosalind]

All I draw now is Malaya Octopath.  I have chosen to embrace that.

I haven’t really drawn her in this outfit.  Let’s change that.