#Caster Upgrade

[equalonline]

How to Replace Office Chair Casters | How to install caster wheels

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[1414st]

[plenary-indulgence]

misc tohka stormblood shots

[darkloveangel]

oh idk if i ever posted here but my NA fate:grand order ID is 211,442,783 with my support set-up listed here

and my obey me! ID is : 3760620098

if anyone who follows me plays those?

[cerastes]

can i get other examples of gamepress being wrong about arknights? i've been using them as my main source since i started and now i'm worried i'm missing out on some operators i haven't bothered to upgrade 🙃

We could be here literally all day because it's not like they have one or two outliers, Gamepress is just mainly edited by people that live in an echo chamber and that have authority in their own circle so it's just off-the-hip, all too often wrong biased takes based on their own really reductive metrics. Chiefly, Gamepress ranks characters 1) as if they were the sole unit in the battlefield almost exclusively, and 2) using the single most broken units currently live as the barrier of entry. The unit you are looking up can't clear a chunk of map in one tap? Worthless and sub-optimal, according to Gamepress. Their only metric is Mlynar, Ch'ung the Hung, Surtr, that kind of Press To Win philosophy, and if a unit can't do that, Then It's Bad And Not Worth It.

Now, you may be thinking, "goodness me, Dreamer, you are being awfully harsh to call them complete dogshit at every angle of the game in this manner!", well, see, it's not just their Operator "reviews", they have articles sometimes. And they are god awful dogshit as well, such as "What Happened To Blaze?"

You can't see the comments anymore, but the author was getting reamed. I have one screenie at least:

Comments were mainly of this nature. Because, well, the article is straight up awful, especially since it reduces Blaze to "laneholder" and compares her to "competition" like Thorns, Mudrock, and Mountain, who, yes, they all can hold a lane, but Blaze has her own space of "infinite duration, high statline, healable 3-block with 2 tile range" that has historically allowed for Funny Tricks like clearing enemies through "walls" on tiles that could shred Thorns even with a healer, or, you know, in conjunction with any of Mudrock or Mountain, given you have 12 whole slots for you team. Again, Gamepress editors rate characters as if they were your main in a fighting game and not one of 12+1 characters you can throw in at any time. They also tend to shit on non-specialist characters (generalists; more versatile units that can do a bunch of things without really breaking the game in any regard), which is very interesting because those usually will make up a strong backbone of any competent Integrated Strategies team, so the specialists in role can do their thing while the other needs of the map are being met.

"Ebenholz is nothing special." "Goldenglow is nothing special." These are takes they genuinely held until, you know, it turned out that Eben and GG are the most relevant Casters, up there with Eyja. To be fair, it wasn't just them being wrong on Eben, but how do you look at the global blasting of GG with her numbers and don't immediately realize that's an ICBM button? All it takes is having the game installed.

The biased nature of Gamepress is also blatant:

Imagine rating April as "Really Good" while relegating Dorothy as only "Really Fun". Even before her Module3, Dorothy was absolutely devastating, bringing huge damage multipliers, crowd control, one of the single best class autoattacks in the whole game at 6* stat weight, and a Talent that gives her even more Attack for basically using her as intended. I'm not saying April isn't good, mind you, I'm just trying to highlight how biased the hands behind Gamepress are: They can't figure out Trapmasters? Then surely they are merely "really fun". Can't drop and forget them like April or Surtr, after all.

About the only thing Gamepress is good for is objective, in-game info: Dates, mat requirements, what skills do, that kind of stuff. It's got a good interface and is a good place to just quickly look up what you need to know that can otherwise be found in the game. The moment their personal opinions come into play, though? The most absolute dogshit takes. Unless you are a "unga bunga drop Surtr and Mlynar and win instan-- WAIT WHY IS INTEGRATED STRATEGIES AND RISK 23+ KICKING MY DAY 1 PLAYER ASS...!?" kinda player, then you don't really want to follow Gamepress advice.

Because they simply do not give good advice as a whole.

[theoutcastrogue]

This is petty but that's never stopped me.

In the Vox Machina campaign, Scanlan Shorthalt's resounding success in matters of tactics [this post isn't about roleplaying] was partly due to Sam Riegel's skill, and mostly due to the fact that 5e Bards are just that good. However! The "gnome bard" combo was famously chosen by Liam, after Sam, who'd never played d&d before, asked what's the silliest, least powerful and least badass thing he could play. That was his character concept. And at the time, Liam was not wrong to answer "bard". In 3rd Edition/Pathfinder, Bards DID suck, at least out of the box. You could build a strong Bard in Pathfinder, but you had to optimise to high heavens with carefully selected feats and spells and items from various sources. It didn't just happen spontaneously, and it was still nowhere near the raw power and versatility of a Wizard or Druid. Bards played support.

So at lvl 9, they started streaming and switched from Pathfinder to D&D 5e. Scanlan got an ENORMOUS power boost at that point, but Sam was still harbouring under the impression that his chosen class is not powerful or badass at all. And as they kept playing and he kept killing it (he was brilliant at it, no doubt about that!), he presumed that he was killing it with one hand tied behind his back, because he was just a silly little gnome bard. And, he emphatically wasn't silly. He was a whole-ass full caster, top tier class right there.

Pathfinder Bards are half-casters. If they hadn't switched to 5e, Scanlan wouldn't have access to 7th and higher level spells: no Mordenkeinen's Magnificent Mansion (a signature spell), no Dominate Monster (this is how he made the goristro fight Vorugal), no Reverse Gravity (big moment in the first Ripley fight), and no Wish (kind of a big deal!). Other spells aren't in the Bard list, and there's no Magical Secrets in Pathfinder: he wouldn't have access to Bigby's Hand (another signature spell), Otiluke's Resilient Sphere (how he got rid of the efrit, and Ripley), Lightning Bolt and Stinking Cloud (his standard damage spells), Polymorph (that's several giant eagles including the "now smarter" Grog (this will never stop being funny), and of course the legendary triceratops), or Counterspell (kind of an enormous deal). And all the other spells would have come later: no Seeming at lvl 11 = no cows. (What a loss! No cows!)

And it's not just access to spells, it's also "likelihood of spells to work", which depends on the DC, which in Pathfinder depended on spell level. Lower level spells had a lower chance of doing anything, by virtue of being easier to resist. And half-casters got a slower spell progression, and ended up with significantly less power overall. Whereas in 5e spell level is irrelevant, spell DCs depend on your character level, and that's that. Even (Bardic) Inspiration got a boost from the switch. All in all, we're talking about a spectacular upgrade.

So a tragic misconception happened: Sam got it into his head that he's so good at d&d that he can gimp himself and still kick ass. Well, he can't.

When he played a Rogue (no big spells, huh? no cheat sheet!) he sucked at it and he hated it. And now that he plays a Cleric and actually, actively gimps himself (he said in a 4-Sided Dive that he deliberately avoids cleric spells that others have used before in CR, which by now is most of them, and certainly the best of them), he very predictably sucks at it too (I mean relatively speaking; it's still a full caster), and he doesn't love it. The one time he was BRILLIANT was when he had a top tier class to work with, and used it to its full potential. But he thought he was gimping himself, because he was thinking of a different game/edition than the one he was playing!

I wanna grab him by the shoulders and shake him up and say my good man, you gotta stop this "I gimp myself" -> "I fail to kick ass" -> *surprised pikachu face*. CHOOSE. Either gimp yourself and accept you won't be kicking any ass, but it's okay because you enjoy roleplaying someone like that more than you enjoy kicking ass, OR stop gimping yourself and kick ass, because you do enjoy kicking ass, don't you?

Both are great! I approve either way! But choose.

I also wanna grab Liam by the shoulders and tell him "Wizard or Sorcerer! For the love of all that's green and good in this world, next time Sam asks you what class to play in D&D, tell 'im Wizard or Sorcerer!". But then I remember that next time they'll probably play Daggerheart and not D&D unless WotC makes them an offer they can't refuse, so the whole thing is moot.

[shuttershocky]

It was kind of surprising that in the same batch, Gladiia didn't get a cracked 2nd module but Ifrit did. Ray basically got treated like Reed the FS did when she got her module.

I would say Gladiia's second module is strong actually, it just follows the format of both Skadi and Specter the Unchained where they get one ridiculous Abyssal Hunter team upgrade module, and a second module that makes them far more effective when alone.

Gladiia getting +1 shift force on distant (by distant it means 2.5 tiles away) is very good when you consider that unlike Pushers, no Pullers have a shift force on a skill higher than 2. Gladiia now does, which means even enemies with 3 weight can be pulled (and 4 Weight if you have Weightlessness to help out). This boosts the number of possible enemies Gladiia can move, and 2.5 tile distance is a lot easier to achieve than Pusher's +1 shift force on blocked enemies.

In fact I'd say it's better than Ifrit's (currently).

Ifrit getting Burn elemental damage is pretty exciting and don't get me wrong it's a good direction to take her in, but the problem is that unlike Ebenholz and Logos with similar elemental modules, we don't have a Burn Ritualist, only a Burn Primal Caster in Warmy.

This is important because Ritualists build up the elemental status effect according to their ATK stat, while Primals and casters with a Delta modules build up elemental status according to their final damage dealt.

This means that to proc Burn, Ifrit needs to deal 12,500 Arts damage completely unmitigated by RES in order to proc burn just once. Most enemies with low enough RES for her to reach that will already be dead soon or maybe even before reaching that point (because she's Ifrit), while enemies with a high enough RES or HP to be worth inflicting Burn on will either take multiple procs of S2 over a long period of time, or you will need to spend the majority of her S3's duration building the Burn status and by the time the Burn actually procs half of the S3 is done and you've already missed out on a lot of free elemental damage the module upgrades give Ifrit.

Now do remember that this is only a temporary setback. Once a Burn Ritualist appears that can do the job of actually proccing Burn, Ifrit delta WILL shoot up in value. Ifrit dealing 50% of her ATK as bonus elemental damage on an enemy with the burn status is a ton of free damage when Ifrit's ATK Stat is huge and Elemental damage ignores Arts RES.

All of these issues here also apply to Warmy, the Burn Primal Caster, except poor Warmy is also not Ifrit and doesn't have the range, damage, RES shred, etc so she has it even worse. She's begging for a Ritualist to help here.

[tohwitchesduels]

FIRST ROUND OF WITCHES DUELS - Battle 1: Amity Blight vs Emira Blight

Disclaimer: This is not a popularity contest or which character do you prefer, in this tournament you decide who is stronger/better/smarter/etc. opponent.

Information for both opponents under the cut to those who don't know what they can do in their battle:

Emira Blight:

Emira naturally specializes in Healing and Illusion magic, hardly showing spells that go beyond those.

In this battle, Emira does not use a Palisman.

Telekinesis - Emira can move objects with ease using it, granted the objects usually were small and not the size and weight of the person so she can use them directly on her opponent, but she can pick up random stuff from the arena to use them as projectiles and be decently quick with them (the only instance I recall of Emira using telekinesis is her swapping the books constantly in her debut)

Snow Magic - Emira showed capacity in snow magic, creating a snow hand to attack Amity. I can also imagine her creating simple blasts of snow during combat or as a distraction

Healing Magic - Emira knows a healing spell that allows her to heal wounds. For this tournament, I will enable Emira to be able to heal her own wounds even though she never demonstrated to be capable of using said magic on herself in the show. Emira's healing spells however take a lot of time and concentration for the time being so while she can heal herself, she would need a minute or two for that with no interruptions when it comes to serious injuries. However, she can quickly heal minor ones.

Restraining Magic - Emira is capable of creating a lasso made out of light that can be used to restrain her enemies. She attempted it with Slitherbeast granted at the time she also had Edric's help and Slitherbeast proved to be too strong for her, so it's hard to tell whether or not Emira's restraining spell is overall very effective, as it certainly isn't if her opponent is particularly large and strong.

Glamour - Emira is capable of altering her appearance with her illusion magic. She usually uses concealment stones for passive altering of her appearance which is usually used to enhance Emira's looks (like braiding her hair or removing zits) but Emira showcased in illusion class to be able to alter her appearance by herself, extending her legs ridiculously. Thus this power is upgraded for Emira to be capable of somewhat shape-shifting into extending her limbs however she likes.

Illusion Cancel - Emira is capable of temporarily canceling out illusions of other spell-casters. She demonstrated it in LR, granted she had the help of Edric and the Illusion teacher to properly do it, though justified since it was Gus's illusion. This means that while Emira can cast out illusions of other users, the better illusionists that outclass her may be resistant to this (like Gus for example who is a prodigy)

Illusion Casting - Emira naturally knows illusion magic and creates whatever illusion she likes. Her illusions can interact and affect the real world and be touched and she can create multiple at a time. Usually, it will extend to an object or imaginary living being. However, her illusions can be fragile and enough force can cast them out.

Camouflage - Now I'm not sure whether or not Emira can cast it on her own or if it requires a team effort, but in LR once Bump made a stand against the EC, all the other students would appear after the illusion of camouflage was dispelled, so I'll allow all illusion casters that were part of this to be capable to at least hide out of sight temporarily, so Emira now can use this ability to stay hidden for short time during the battle.

One must remember that Emira can be smart, clever, and mischievous but also level-headed. She prefers to outsmart and outwit her opponents during the battle can be pretty sneaky and has good reflexes.

In this battle, Emira is rather cocky as Amity has never really bested her before. However she does recognise how far Amity has come and is not willing to let Amity win easily, but she could be prone to underestimating her.

Link to more of Emira's capabilities here

Amity Blight:

Amity Blight naturally specializes in Abomination Magic the most, but she does so capacity in knowing spells of other tracks like Plants and Illusion, but it's very limited.

Amity is a very skilled, talented, cool-headed, and pragmatic fighter. Hardly does she lose composure when battling even strong opponents, displaying plenty of agility and athleticism (as shown in her battle with Hunter and Grom, which is also given considering she was a former captain of the grudgby team at Hexside), and can be both a powerhouse using plenty of strength or a mastermind coming up with tricks on the fly while outsmarting her opponents with her skillset. Very dangerous, and even more so once she puts more passion into her battle. Hardly there are any weak spots or flaws in her battling style, but she can still be overpowered. Abomination Magic in particular feels to be weaker than Construction Magic for example, and it can be rendered useless when dealing in an environment with no mud. Granted Amity holds abomination goo with her so at most, she's going to be weakened. Amity is capable of controlling any slime or mud she comes in contact with.

Amity is very determined in this battle to best out Emira and meet Luz in the finals. Nothing shall stand in her way, hopefully, she won't trip over her own legs because of this.

During this battle Amity is not allowed to wield Ghost, so she has no Palismen here.

Light Spell - as proven in season 3, Amity does know a light spell, as even according to herself "even a child can do it", so light spell doesn't come hard for her, granted she never utilised it offensively. Now, glyphs are not allowed during this tournament, but since Amity's light spell is pretty useless otherwise, I allowed Amity to use it the same she used light glyph in WaD (as even at the time she didn't know that glyph magic is counter to the Collector's magic, so I assume Amity thought that light spells, in general, can undo mental effects), so Amity now can use a light spell to cancel out psychological effects (like mind-control, beastly transformation, or even illusions of even great merit)

Projection Spell - Amity is capable of creating projections of images or historical events similar to how Eda did it in the first episode, as proven in Enchanting Grom Fright when explaining Grom to Luz. The spell however has very little use in the battlefield and at most can be used as a brief distraction.

Oath Spell - Amity can make oaths between her opponents as demonstrated in Covention. It all however depends on Amity's manipulation and bargaining skills on what she could force her opponent to oath to.

Thorn Bolt - Amity's only known successful plant spell, but a very potent one. Amity by striking a magic circle to the ground can create a giant pillar made out of thorns that can be either used to knock out people all around her while getting away or be used as an offensive strike at the specific target. It is proven to be quite destructive. She demonstrated it in the flashback during WILW

Shield Spell - Amity is shown to create a tiny shield out of energy to block attacks, as demonstrated in her training with the twins at the knee. She did this with the wand at the time, but I believe that now that Amity has grown stronger, she can do it fine by herself as of now. The shield isn't particularly big, but it can be very effective against very direct and simple attacks

Barrier Spell - Amity is capable of creating a cage made out of energy around her opponents. The cage is very resistant to physical damage and can also deal damage upon being touched, effectively immobilising its opponents. It can also last pretty long. However the barrier has a flaw in its top being left wide open, so if the caster can use their capabilities to jump above it, the barrier becomes effectively useless.

Fire Ball - Amity is shown to be able to create and shoot fireballs of various sizes (from very small, to medium, to even large ones) at her opponents. Her fire magic can naturally melt away ice and mud/goo (as proven to be effective against SlitherBeast's goo) however her spell could still be blocked. It is Amity's second trademark spell aside from her proficiency in Abomination Magic.

Abomination Golem - Amity naturally can create golems out of abomination goo. She'll usually limit herself to one at a time when using her own golem. Her golems can come in various sizes from very little, to medium-sized, to even giant-sized. Her golems also showed to be quite obedient and intelligent for a typical abomination, being able to mimic Amity's movements and being capable of throwing projectiles, throwing themselves at the opponent, blocking attacks, tying their opponents or their attacks, and knocking them out with brute strength. They are however fragile as they can be easily destroyed with just enough force, but Amity can easily fix them up again. Her abominations can be also pretty quick and due to their ability to mimic Amity, can showcase a mannerism closer to actual combatant rather than slow, zombie-like mannerism. Amity also never lost control over her abominations.

Abomination Bullet - as demonstrated with her own abomination minions, Amity can throw abomination goo as projectiles that can be pretty destructive as demonstrated during Covention.

Abomination Block - Amity can use abomination goo to directly block attacks from her opponents as demonstrated in her battle with Hunter during Eclipse Lake. She can also use it to trap attacks inside a ball made out of abomination as demonstrated in EL.

Abomination Shield - Amity can create a fortified shield made out of Abomination Goo that is supposedly stronger than typical Abomination Block as demonstrated in Reaching Out.

Abomination Slide- as demonstrated in Reaching Out, Amity is capable of using abomination goo to ride on it for transportation. It could be used to get away from her opponents, get into a specific location for Amity to proceed with her strategy, or just charge head-on towards her opponents as shown in WaD.

Abomination Root Attack - as demonstrated in Reaching Out, Amity can slide her abomination goo through the ground unnoticed, for it to pop up wherever she wants to create a hand that can be either used to block people's movements, or sneak attacks to throw them away, it can also take shape of a hand.

Abomination Arms - as demonstrated in both King's Tide and Reaching Out, Amity can create arms using her abomination goo. It could be used to either block the attacks even as strong as falling debris, hold their opponent still as Amity attempted with Belos, or she can cover her own arms with goo to form bigger arms to match the strength of stronger opponents while also being capable to extend them however she likes.

Giant Abomination Arm - Amity as demonstrated in WILW, was capable of creating a giant arm made out of abomination that could be used to block attacks as strong as a giant axe for example. It can also be used for uppercuts as demonstrated in both WILW and ASIAS when Amity killed Tibbles.

Abomination Lasso - as demonstrated during her battle with Belos, Amity is capable of creating a lasso made out of abomination goo that can be used to tie her opponents down.

Abomination Bind - as demonstrated in EL, Amity can bind her opponents with abomination goo as she did with Hunter during the entire episode. The bind is quick enough to catch her opponents no matter what and it would require top speed to break from them.

Abomination Bubble - Amity can create a restraining bubble around her opponents to trap them as demonstrated in Eclipse Lake, being quick enough to trap them no matter what. However, it is not invulnerable as Hunter broke out from it with enough force. The bubble can be used to either trap her enemies or use for herself for protection and transportation.

Abomination Blade - as demonstrated during her battle with Hunter, Amity is capable of creating a simple blade made out of abomination goo.

Abomination Gauntlet - Amity is capable of creating a fortified gauntlet made out of abomination goo. She can create only one at a time though (not counting Abomination Arms which aren't as fortified as the gauntlet which has spikes). However, she can use it to enhance her own physical strength with it (though barely as she didn't break Hunter's nose with it and only came "close" to breaking a barrier according to Alador). She can use her abomination gauntlet to shoot projectiles at her opponents as demonstrated during her tag-team battle with Luz against Kikimora.

Abomination Wave - Amity is capable of creating a giant wave of abomination goo. The wave could be used to knock back her opponents, glue them to the floor as demonstrated in Clouds on the Horizon, or to the walls as demonstrated in Labirynth Runners.

Abomination Construct - Amity has demonstrated to be capable of creating precise tools and objects with her abomination goo as seen in Follies when she created a skateboard or balloon in Reaching Out. Amity showcased to be quite creative with it.

Abomination Multiple Hands - as demonstrated in WaD when attacking Luz, Amity is capable of creating multiple abomination giant hands to use to attack her opponents.

Abomination Tendrils - Amity is capable of creating multiple tendrils made out of abomination that can be used to hold up structures (like Luz's ice bridge in TtT) and attack her opponents during her battle with Luz in WaD.

Link to more of Amity's capabilities here

Link to return to the Masterpost

[beesmygod]

Elden ring tips!

- have fun and be yourself :)

- the number of spell slots you get is determined by how many memory stones you get. The mind stat only affects fp amount.

-stats soft cap at 25 and 50. 60 vigor is a good amount for the dlc areas.

- horse :)

- horse good at cheesing things because you can just hit and run/circle strafe. It doesnt matter if you're over your equip weight when on horse, and lots of spells and incantations can be cast on horseback. Glintstone pebble can carry a caster the whole game if they want.

- you can buy smithing materials once you get specific bell-bearings, a key item (they also drop when you kill a merchant so you don't lose out on their inventory at time of killing said merchant) however there is a limited number of final tier upgrade materials in the game. There are also red marks on the map denoting caves/mines, and those tend to have a lot of smithing materials.

- upgrading shields usually just increases their damage if you hit someone with them and their guard boost (i.e. the amount of stamina blocking a hit takes).

- get 12 faith (or just find and get the faith boosting talisman) so you can use some of the really handy utility spells like flame cleanse me and bestial constitution. Most healing and utility spells don't scale depending on your stats or upgrade level, and flame cleanse me is fantastic when you get to the poison swamp areas. Also there's holy seals that don't have any weight so it's easy to include them in a build.

- expected progression seems to be limgrave, liurnia, then caelid.

- in classic fromsoft fashion, all the side quests are super easy to mess up. At least the wiki is pretty good

Have fun!

-hold on are you supposed to level vigor. i usually push it to 15-20 and leave it there

-i keep forgetting about pony....ive just been running everywhere like a schlub

-ty for the help with bells and shit bc it IS a little obtuse

[dailycharacteroption]

Leshy Caller (Summoner Archetype)

(art by AlectorFencer on DeviantArt)

I’ve said this before on the blog, but despite some lamenting them not being very mythos-accurate, I do love the leshies of Pathfinder, just cute little guys created by nature spirits inhabiting cultivated plant bodies. What they lack in overall power they make up in their unique abilities and impeccable designs. (and hey, if you prefer a more traditional “green nature man”, the Green Men monsters are also called Leshy Kings, being connected to them lore-wise. It’s a win-win!)

Leshies got pretty popular though, with not just archetypes related to them, but even expanding the concept of vine leshies into a much more robust and diverse ancestry in Second Edition. (and First if you use my homebrew alternate heritages).

But on the subject of leshy-themed archetypes, we’ve covered a few here and there, but now it’s time to tap into leshies through the lens of the summoner class!

Indeed, these so-called Leshy Callers bond with an eidolon that takes a leshy-like form. This eidolon might be part of an extremely powerful nature spirit, a smaller, more individual spirit, or something else. Either way, they sport-a plantlike form and a generally leshy-like personality.

Such a bond can happen many different ways, just like other eidolons, but the goals of such beings, and presumably that of their summoners, differ a bit, even from wild caller summoners that conjure their own plant-like eidolons.

On a side note, it’s worth mentioning how one can justify how 2e summoners can vary in casting traditions with archetypes like these, though admittedly mechanically they still are arcane casters.

In any case, this archetype offers plenty of planty fun with a leshy twist!

As mentioned above, the eidolons of these summoners are composed of extraplanar plant matter and a natural animating spirit, making them very similar to plants, particularly for unchained summoners.

Their base forms, however, are based on various form of leshy, ranging from cactus,conifer, fungus, leaf, and seaweed, having mostly the core set of forms from the original introduction with the exception of gourd leshy.

Don’t think that leaves the summoner left out, however. Instead of extraplanar monster, they learn to summon natural ones instead, and add several leshies to their list of summons!

While the archetype itself is rather simple, the leshy eidolons can be quite fun and useful, especially when upgraded with evolutions! Aside from having a less utility-driven set of summons, however, there’s not much mechanically that sets them apart from other summoners, so build them as you see fit!

Two important things to remember about these summoners and their eidolons is that while they may not have the exact same powers as their counterparts, these are still the same sort of nature spirits as normal leshies, albeit with extraplanar bodies and a bond with their summoner. With that in mind, try looking up info on leshies of that type and see what resonates when coming up with their persona. The other thing is that while they are leshies, their bodies are much larger and stronger, built for more direct combat over the typically debilitations, stealth, and trickery of their kin, which also might affect their characterization.

Finally, the base forms for the leshy eidolons are actually super simple, so feel free to use them as a template for homebrewing your own to get the other leshy types available, as well as potentially completely unique ones.

Ten years ago, Vana of Woodstone held the guardian of her village, a leshy named Quickening Seed, in her arms as they succumbed to their wounds. Since that day, she has trained to become such a guardian herself, the human developing the magic to summon forth leshies to aid her. Sometimes, she thinks she even feels Quickening’s presence in her eidolon as well.

They say that the Garden of the Ancients is a hidden valley, one where strange creatures such as wolpertingers and other curious beings both benign and dangerous can be found. It is said that nature spirits are born there, and the locals learn to summon them forth when their need is great, and they do, especially when strangers come looking for plunder and lost secrets.

Splitriver the Leshy Gardener bears his title with pride, the brambly-old leshy having watched over and cultivated the creation of more of his kind for generations. Though he doesn’t often take fleshy students, those that do can learn a lot about bridging the gap between the arcane and the primal, as well as how to summon his kind to fight.

[xenodile]

I can definitely feel FFXIV reaching the limits of what its jobs can actually do now that we're level 100 in Dawntrail. I think every job got some variation on "Your big damage cooldown button turns into an AoE attack at level 100" because there's just not enough hotbar space for new moves and some of the upgrades we got this time around were like...passive upgrades to role actions. Rampart is better for tanks, swiftcast has a shorter cooldown, Feint, Addle, Reprisal last longer.

The one that stands out to me the most is Dancer, where the first upgrade Dancer gets at level 92 is a new button that is effectively identical to one of their existing buttons, but it can only be used after Standard Step. And another upgrade at level 96 makes Flourish give a buff that makes their next Standard Step instant, removing the little dance mini-game. Which feels like it kinda defeats the point of being a Dancer, that's part of the job's identity.

I've heard from my friends that Black Mage similarly gets a pretty lame upgrade in the form of Flare Star, a middling spell meant to be the new capstone of their combo that throws off the entire rhythm of the rotation, which is all the more frustrating when this is the same expansion that introduced Pictomancer, probably the strongest caster in the game to date.

I dunno, it's just a bit of a let down to not see anything really new or cool from the jobs at level 100.

[homestuckreplay]

Shrinking Wormholes; Transferring Syllogism Twine

(page 134-137)

Homestuck is my worst enemy. These past couple days without updates left me time to transcribe the video on page 137, which took long enough that I never want to look at it again. Which is a shame, because it's a cool video, the shifting colors and the twisting spirograph are good to look at and I like the irregularity of the movement. And I do respect the attention to detail - the fact that Hussie took the time to write out 231 meaningless phrases about DIY and spread them unevenly throughout the video shows a real dedication to recreating the video game experience. It feels very real, I can sense the anticipation when the video gets stuck on a particular phrase for a full second, that feeling of just wanting to play the game but having to wait.

Below the cut at the end I've listed all the phrases in the video, but it's LONG, so be warned. I'm also not sure this was a good use of time, there's not loads here that seems relevant. We get a broad overall sense of the game, which seems to be a building/DIY simulator, maybe something like digital Lego, maybe something more like having to maintain a house day to day, perform repairs and give it 'upgrades' like new lighting or a new garage, as most of the nouns are tools you could buy in a Home Depot.

Here's a few exceptions that jumped out to me:

Observing Avenues, Analyzing Eyes - both of these relate to surveillance

Transferring Syllogism Twine, Auditing Nescience Passages - relate to knowledge/logic or the lack of it

Anticipating Gateways, Shrinking Wormholes, Referring Time Spools, Retrofitting Aesthetics Portals - these relate to time and space, perhaps to messing with the laws of physics

Transcribing Existence Rivets, Finalizing Atma Augers - relate to life and the soul

It's interesting to me how these phrases are hidden within a barrage of far more mundane ones. I think this game will seem on its surface to be very normal and simply a reflection of John's existing life, playing in a digital house not too different to his very real one, but that it has more and weirder stuff going on below the surface. The game will present opportunities to escape the trap of the suburbs in ways that John can't yet figure out in real life - but will be able to in the game, because he has experience with gaming and coding. It might take some mild hacking and exploiting loopholes in the mechanics, but these possibilities are clearly coded into the game, or they wouldn't be in the loading screen. It's a game that wants the players to push its limits and see what's possible, and rewards a player who tries to go beyond the mechanics as presented.

John's had a lot of practice messing with his sylladex for 130+ pages, and I think that's really going to pay off when he starts using a similar skillset in game. It's interesting, because most characters (or people) would have an arc of learning a skill in a game and then exporting it to real life, while I think John's going to have the opposite, with the supposed constraints of the game actually giving him freedom, and the supposed open world of real life just closing doors to him.

Anyway, no wonder TT is excited to play this game. I bet she's eating up all these long words.

Transcript of Flash animation, p.137. Spelling mistakes come from the original.

Transforming Soffits Reorganizing Keys Formalizing Immersion Joints Justifying Kick Extractors Advising Aggregates Managing Elbows Recasting Connectors Achieving Aluminum Trowels Officiating Disks Exhibiting Absolute Spigots Progressing Coil Hydrants Jerry-building Reflectors Informing Casters Inventing Rubber Hoists Performing Wrenches Judging Chalk Adapters Upgrading Ignition Paths Regrowing Flashing Recommending Ratchets Approving Barriers Sweeping Impact Fillers Sewing Mirrors Detailing Collectors Enforcing Measures Distributing Systems Presenting Plugs Interwinding Registers Piloting Ash Diffusers Gathering Cranks Supplying Eave Pockets Undertaking Scroll Stops Accelerating Straps Designing Fittings Protecting Diamond Boilers Logging Downspouts Correlating Shingles Uniting Mallets Qualifying Electrostatic Lifts Sharing Clamps Obtaining Circular Fluids Ranking Foundation Gauges Sensing Miter Brackets Originating Space Networks Translating Drills Regulating Guards Selecting Gable Padding Utilizing Pellet Dowels Reconciling Artifacts Altering Pulleys Shedding Space Filters Determining Vents Representing Mortar Remaking Flash Rakers Supporting Funnels Typecasting Rotary Chocks Expressing Junctures Resetting Auxiliary Vises Professing Strip Treads Inlaying Matter Trowels Questioning Drivers Forming Edge Fittings Sketching Blanks Overshooting Spark Breakers Rewriting Controls Playing Tunnels Inventorying Buttons Enduring Joist Handles Effecting Ratchet Bibbs Unwinding Couplings Forsaking Vapor Conduits Defining Sockets Calculating Heaters Raising Grids Administering Tiles Measuring Resources Installing Ignition Remotes Extracting Corners Manufacturing Ventilators Delegating Consoles Treating Mounting Stones Enacting Jig Deflectors Intensifying Alloys Improvising Cargo Pinpointing Bobs Prescribing Arc Masonry Structuring Metal Chocks Symbolizing Lathes Activating Plumb Kits Adapting Coatings Fixing Channels Expediting Cordage Planning Compressors Enlisting Hangers Restructuring Keyhole Augers Shearing Ridge Hardware Collecting Reciprocating Bolts Maintaining Corrugated Dimmers Whetting Hole Collars Conducting Mandrels Comparing Assets Compiling Sealants Completing Paths Composing Equivocation Wheels Computing Dampers Conceiving Electrostatic Treatment Ordering Cotter Grates Organizing Ties Orienting Ladders Exceeding Materials Targeting Thermocouples Demonstrating Emery Stock Expanding Latch Bases Training Wardrobe Adhesives Overcomming Fasteners Streamlining Storm Anchors Navigating Springs Perfecting Turnbuckles Verifying Gate Pegs Arbitrating Arithmetic Lifts Negotiating Outlets Normalizing Strips Building Surface Foggers Checking Key Torches Knitting Grinders Mowing Planers Offsetting Stencils Acquiring Bulbs Adopting Rivets Observing Avenues Ascertaining Coaxial Grommets Slinging Wing Winches Instituting Circuit Generators Instructing Wicks Integrating Pry Shutters Interpreting Immersion Lumber Clarifying Coils Classifying Wood Bits Closing Cogs Cataloging Matter Strips Charting Holders Conceptualizing Push Terminals Stimulating Supports Overthrowing Shaft Spacers Quick-freezing Connectors Unbinding Ground Hooks Analyzing Eyes Anticipating Gateways Controlling Proposition Rollers [blank bar momentarily]

Converting Power Angles Coordinating Staples Correcting Benders Counseling Joist Gaskets Recording Gutter Pipes Recruiting Drains Rehabilitating Rafter Tubes Reinforcing Washers Reporting Guard Valves Naming Freize Sprues Nominating Rings Noting Straps Doubling Nailers Drafting Circuit Hoses Dramatizing Flanges Splitting Framing Compounds Refitting Stems Interweaving Patch Unions Placing Sillcocks Sorting Slot Threads Securing Mode Cutters Diverting Catharsis Plates Procuring Load Thresholds Transferring Syllogism Twine Directing Switch Nuts Referring Time Spools Diagnosing Knobs Discovering Locks Dispensing Hinges Displaying Hasps Resending Arc Binders Retreading Grooves Retrofitting Aesthetics Portals Seeking Stocks Shrinking Wormholes Assembling Blocks Assessing Divets Attaining Lug Boxes Auditing Nescience Passages Conserving Strikes Constructing Braces Contracting Saw Catches Serving Instantiation Irons Recognizing Fluxes Consolidating Fuse Calipers Mapping Shims Reviewing Chop Groovers Scheduling Lag Drives Simplifying Hoists Engineering Levels Enhancing Tack Hollows Establishing Finishing Blocks Estimating Adhesives Evaluating Mortar Examining Auto Turnbuckles Processing Foggers Servicing Avenues Transcribing Existence Rivets Revising Consoles Separating Absolute Stencils Budgeting Sheet Grommets Preparing Kits Realigning Cartesian Mandrels Painting Fasteners Filing Grout Hangers Finalizing Atma Augers Formulating Couplings Identifying Sillcocks Imagining Materials Inducing Shutters Influencing Wheels Licensing Chocks Lifting Extrinsic Mallets Overdrawing Ratchets Overlaying Ventilators Overriding Cardinal Soffits Specifying Element Aggregates Systemizing Divets Shaping Pockets Publicizing Aether Remotes Governing Archetype Dimmers Monitoring Assets Launching Manifestation Systems

[stevebattle]

MicroMouse Mappy kit (1984) by Namcot, the Japanese consumer game division of Namco. "Namco, which is famous for its popular video game called Pacman, has now released a hobby/educational computer-based robot called MicroMouse Mappy Kit." The kit contains all the components needed to construct the MicroMouse device, including the chassis with two drive wheels and ball casters. It's based on the Z80 CPU with 2K of RAM, upgradable to 8K. Sensors include an array of infrared reflectance sensors aimed downwards at the maze walls, and two microswitches mounted at the front to detect contact with the goal.

[masterqwertster]

So I made a list of possible tricks Ashton could pick up upon awakening the Shard of Ka'Mort.

This is my list of abilities I think Ashton should definitely get from Ka'Mort's Shard.

Increase to Ability Scores- Mainly into Strength. Though I don't think a little Constitution would be remiss, given Earth Elemental's have equally good STR and CON. Beef up my boi with titan strength!

Siege Monster- Given Grog barely used the siege function of the Titanstone Knuckles while owning them for a little over half of the aired campaign, I think it's safe to throw this in the pot without worrying about game balance. The worst this will do is give Ashton a really good chance of one-shotting Otohan's Echo Backpack. Which I'd give 50-50 chances he'd actually do, for "No more Echoes for her" vs "Loot her backpack!" reasons. After all, they just had an item attunement slot open up...

Earth Glide- I feel like this is what the Whitestone touching earth scene hinted at: solid ground, but also the feeling of water surface tension. Like maybe they can dive in and "swim" around in the earth.

Tremorsense- If Ashton gets Earth Glide, they're going to need Tremorsense to navigate being in the rock. I also think it's the better sensory upgrade vs Darkvision. Laudna and Chetney already have Darkvision covered, meanwhile, Tremorsense opens up some new Perception paths. Like trying to feel people through/on the other side of walls, around corners, or invisible observers, so long as they're moving on the ground.

Earth Tremor- Or more accurately, an ability to the spell's effect. Combat spells get tricky when barbarians aren't supposed to be able to cast or maintain concentration while raging. Anyways, I think an earth titan should be an earthshaker, so a small, localized quake makes sense as an ability for Ashton. Also, he might have already done this during the panic attack in Zephrah.

And a bonus few that I would like to see added to the pile:

Mold Earth- If Ashton gets a cantrip, I feel like this is the one that gets better use, because while Magic Stone is a useful bonus action, it's also a spell and concentration, neither of which Ashton can use while raging. So the utility spell of Mold Earth is more favorable for general use. And I think shaping earth (vs enchanting a pebble for a damage bonus) is more thematic for an earth titan

Conjure Minor Elementals- Give Ashton their own earth version of the Doompa Loompas!

Stone Shape/Wall of Stone- Just something strong enough that Ashton can carve out/create a little hidey-hole campsite since Bells Hells is lacking in camp making spells. It also has the bonus of potentially sparing Fearne and/or FCG from having to prepare or use such spells for travel and puzzle solving.

Guardian Pillars- I'm still really curious what extra protection this modified Bones of the Earth was supposed to offer. And my own wild fantasy version of this would channel Ashton's base rage effects into the pillars. Like a half-size radius from each pillar of the Temporal Morass, Orbital Decay, or Probability Matrix while Space maybe allows allies to walk in one pillar and out of another. But all that is overpowered, thus the wild fantasy label.

Earthquake- Of course I'd love to see the ultimate earth spell be added to Ashton's toolkit. Though if that ever happens, it'll probably be held back until they're at or much closer to Level 15, when the pure casters like Imogen and FCG get 8th Level spells.

[paragonrobits]

thinking about Dak'kon in Planescape Torment (initially because Lae'zel's popularity in Baldur's Gate 3 has me thinking about how the contrast between her and Dak'kon is a pretty good description of how thier respective peoples have diverged and also why they hate each other so much) and specifically his statline in how that nicely corrosponds to his own personal conflicts

Dak'kon is a zerth, a sort of warrior monk that practices martial skill and magical ability and serve as guardians of the githzerai cities, and due to a partially manufactured crisis of faith, he no longer truly has certainty in anything; not in the teachings of his faith, and not in himself. This is reflected in him being the only multi-class character in the game in a traditional sense; he is a fighter/mage, leveling up one after the other.

Dak'kon's stat layout is, after he is fully upgraded: Strength 18, Dexterity 18, Constituion 18, Intelligence 13, Wisdom 13, and Charisma 13. On the one hand he has high stats across the board; mechanically, he's both a capable spell-slinger that can act in support or as a combat caster, and he's a frontline tank. In what is most likely intended to be the canon-ish playthrough, he is the ONLY front-line damage dealer in a traditional sense. He can hit like a truck, once you add him to your party he is likely to be your main damage dealer, and he's just very strong across the board. This is an excellent stat line... for a fighter.

But he is also a mage, and for this, his intelligence isn't AWFUL (in fact, he's significantly more intelligent than an ordinary person would be, which is also reflected in interactions) but its not as high as would be ideal for a more specialized mage. His intelligence is significantly lower than it should be for anyone that is taking any kind of levels in wizard (and Torment's mage class is very much a wizard); his spell slots are notably less numerous, and he's most likely to be a fighter with some casting capability.

This reflects his in-game story. Dak'kon's crisis of faith was exacerbated by a holy writ of sorts that takes the form of a complex puzzle, and one of the accounts is of how Zerthimon, the prophet revered by Dak'kon's people, deceived his illithid masters by pretending to submit to them. Dak'kon has his doubts because another such teaching concerns a traitor, and then what he assumes to be the final teaching is of Zerthimon's conflict with Gith, founder-queen of the githyanki, when their peoples split. Dak'kon has come to fear that Zerthimon gave in and became a slave to their illithid captors, which was why he divided their people at the eve of victory, and if you ask him about this, he gives one of the VERY FEW impassioned and furious speeches he makes in the game, when normally he is very calm and detached.

If you have a high intelligence and wisdom scores (significantly higher than Dak'kon's, in fact) you can puzzle out more combinations to the teachings and unlock further ones Dak'kon had not found; these provide him an answer to his crisis of faith and ease his soul; Zerthimon did not give in to the illithids, but he recognized that should his people follow the path of war and conquer all that might threaten them, they would lose who they are. But the mechanical bit is that Dak'kons stats are too low to do so; he has no idea these teachings exist at all.

Furthermore, to recruit Dak'kon at all, you must speak to him on philosophy; its not difficult to have a fairly high Wisdom and Intelligent stat combination to pass this without much trouble, and this further indicates how his statline is a bit sub-par for someone in his line of work. He expresses some profound philosophical attitudes and says them well, but he's hard pressed to defend them when you poke holes in them, and he just gloomily concedes. Part of this is that, again, he IS having a crisis of faith and he has difficulty reconciling these problems to other people.

[cerastes]

As someone who hasn't touched it yet- how does IS4 stack up? How's first impressions been?

Ok, let me give my thoughts on IS4, now that it's been a week!

TL;DR -> This Rocks, I love it.

IS4 is far, far more polished than IS3. I feel a bit bad blasting and slamming IS3 so much, but the bottom line with it is that it's just very very flawed in ways that really make it hard to revisit it in the same way IS2 is always a fun romp.

If I had to point out flaws with IS4, it'd be that, on a personal level, I wish it had a few more Normal Arknights Maps. The vast majority of maps in IS4 are pranks and checks of some sort. This isn't necessarily a negative, but I do like playing some Tower Defense more frequently than what IS4 allows, since it's always got me worried about "oh god my team lacks X, Floor Y's Map Z checks X, if I get it, I'll D I E " so I try to go for my super tried and true team instead of daring to experiment all that much. This will eventually pass, but it's been a Thing for me.

Besides that, though? I just have a lot of good things to say about it. The systems feel like they were thought out this time: The Fordartals (sp?) system allows for a lot of player expression, agency, and just in general fun in a way the Light system of IS3 can simply never hope to compare to. About the only thing the Light system did right was the way it worked thematically: If you wish to confront The Corrupting Heart, you really, really gotta go in the dark, and for the best possible chance against, Izumik, Mizuki must find the Light again and be filled with hope. Yeah ok sure, thematically, these work, but the gameplay component sucks ass, because Light exists almost exclusively as a form of punishment and in basically no way as something you can use. It opens some roads, sure, but that Rogue Trader and Wish Fulfilled node are not worth having 9 out of you 11 Operators with Metastatic. Speaking of Metastatic, the single worst thing Arknights has done, even if you are maxed out on Collapse in IS4 and are packing four fully upgraded maluses, THAT STILL DOESN'T COMPARE to how bad Metastatic was. Let that sink in.

The endings are no longer RNG! Absolutely wonderful!

Eik is the first IS 2nd Boss I can say I think is good! Frozen Monstrosity was just annoying, Big Sad Lock is incredibly static, and The Last Knight, in my opinion, is the single worst and most boring boss in the entire game, not even just the game mode. Eik is like if The Last Knight didn't suck: Same principle, but done in a way that is actually not snooze-inducing. Mind you, the principle of the fight is still not something I enjoy, but unlike The Last Knight, that's wholly a me thing, as opposed to being an objectively awful and boring fight (like The Last Knight, the worst and most boring boss in Arknights).

Even though I said I'd like some more normal maps, the maps are good, to be honest! I can't think of any Fire and Water Unions or Out of Controls.

IS4 is the Smash of Arknights: (Almost) Everyone Is Here! Brush up on your gimmicks from various events, because they WILL appear.

The Midboss philosophy in IS4 is lovely, in my opinion: It's low HP bosses who can quickly fuck you up in their own way, be it stun, immense conditional damage, or simply supporting their team so well that you get overwhelmed. The Variant stages for the bosses are entire new maps, so that's also cool.

Collapsal enemies are congruent with the map design: Collapsals can be very quick, with a caveat: Normal Collapsal mobs speed up after they get hit, Casters speed up after not attacking for a bit, Aerials are fast but always have many loops and never directly go to the point until after a while. Shattered Champions are the exception, and they can either loop a while or just go straight for the jugular, making them apt Elite units for the faction.

There's much more I could say more concisely, but really, just try the game mode, get your ass kicked a bit, learn it, and then you'll see how coherent the design of IS4 is in terms of systems, maps, enemies, and features. Sorry, IS3, but you got your ass absolutely kicked like I did on my Waves 15 runs when you'd give my 2 main DPS units Metastatic on Floor 5.