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unit-zero-two · 3 years ago

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The Jews of Fate Grand Order

So, as a Jew I’ve got a lot of thoughts on the Jewish Heroic Spirits featured in FGO. The first level is unconditional love for seeing actual Jewish representation and characters in a series I love. King David, King Solomon, the Queen of Sheba and Solomon ibn Gabirol, more commonly known as Avicebron (and not counting Moses despite him having art because he’s just a cameo in Fate/Prototype, although I’d love to see more with him in Fate proper). I love each and everyone of these characters, each for their own unique reasons. My second level of response is annoyance that 50% of the Jewish servants in FGO have an *obsession* with money. Both David and Sheba are dedicated to making and collecting money, with a lot of their appearances and voices lines having to do with this. It should be obvious to anyone who knows anything about anti-Semitism to know why this is an issue. In addition King Solomon is the main antagonist for Arc 1 and Avicebron betrays his master and murders a child in Apocrypha.

But then we get to the third level of thoughts, and things get a lot more complicated and personal. Starting with the easiest first, we have King Solomon. He’s got my favorite Takeuchi design, and every bit of it is fantastic. And of course, he’s not *really* the antagonist of Arc 1, it’s his demons wearing his skin like a suit and having stolen nine of his rings. And the real Solomon has reincarnated as one of, if not the, best characters in Fate Grand Order, Dr. Romani Archaman. A character with so much hidden depth that we get to see slowly revealed and unraveled not just through Arc 1, but through Epic of Remnant and into Arc 2 and the Lostbelts. Discussion on Solomon’s lack of “humanity” as a King and him gaining it as Romani is central to FGO. I’d also say it’s Nasu finally perfecting the story of what it means to be a King that he’s told over and over again starting with Saber back in Fate Stay Night. There is everything to love about FGO’s King Solomon.

Next, we get to Avicebron. A famous philosopher, poet, and teacher of the Kabbalistic arts. A man whose work resonates into the modern era. Whose death has been told in a hauntingly beautiful tale of a fig tree growing from where his body was buried after he was murdered. A story built into the name of his 3rd skill in the game. In Fate he’s rendered as a masked Golem maker who wants to create Adam and bring Eden back to the Earth. And he despises humanity for what it’s done to the planet and each other. To achieve this goal he betrays his Master Roche, a child who trusted and revered him, and uses him as the core of Adam. Misanthropic and a betrayer, it’s not hard to dislike Apocrypha's Avicebron. Although, for those traits I’ve always liked how interesting of an antagonist it made him. How while he was an “evil Jew” it wasn’t in any stereotypically anti-Semitic way. He could care less about money or power. He just wanted Eden on Earth. And then we get him in FGO in Lostbelt 1 and it was hard not to fall in love with him all over again. A soft-spoken man who was the first to answer our call for help when we could summon a servant. He just wants to build golems and help us. He’s a simple man, with simple wants and needs. But later, when offered the chance to betray us and do to us what he did to Roche in Apocrypha, he refuses. He apologizes for his vague memories of what he did to Roche and sacrifices himself to create Adam and give us a fighting chance against Ivan. Even in death, he created something beautiful and powerful.

And now we get to King David of Israel. A big early flaw of King David’s writing in FGO was them playing up his “interest” in Abishag. In the tales of him, she’s a young girl who laid *next* to him to warm up and reenergize the elderly King David. They did not have sex. FGO decided that he’d call any young woman he met Abishag and attempt to flirt with them. This is not a great trait, and understandably made a lot of fans dislike him. And it should. It’s not really a surprise that later appearances have toned back and even removed this trait of his. Which is good. It was a disgusting thing to do, even if it was meant as a joke. We don’t need David flirting with Atalante (who hates him doing so) or with Mash (a minor) and referring to them fondly as a child he knew. To me, this was always this biggest flaw in his characterization, one with no excuse. A flirty David I can see, but this? No thank you. The other complaint about David would be that he is *obsessed* with making and collecting money. He’s got a silver tongue and is always working on some money-making venture. He shares this with many other Servants like Caesar, bit with the added baggage of the anti-Semitic connotations behind it. It’s not a great look. But it works personally for me because of something that is mentioned and implied in all of his appearances but is explicit in his Interlude. He’s not collecting riches and treasures because he loves them, but to build another Temple. David’s dream when he was alive was to build a Grand Temple to the glory of God. He never did this and the deed was done by his son. And as a Servant, he is still as religiously faithful and pious, and that is what motivates his every movement. And by dedicating a glorious temple to God he would be proving himself as a king and cementing his nation as a powerful, rich nation. Because he does this for himself, his god *and* his people. All three are connected and they prosper together.

This brings us to the concept of masks. All of the Jewish Heroic Spirits wear masks. It’s common for many other servants as well, but each one of the four I’ve listed, are masters of wearing masks and concealing their true selves. For Avicebron, this is literal. For King Solomon this was keeping the face of the King, and later the “guise” of Romani. For David, his affect of a flirty, easy-going King is very much a mask. David brushes off his relationship with Solomon when asked because he has nothing he thinks is worth saying at the moment. Nothing that can help the fate that awaits. David flirts with Sanzang during their journey together, gathering all the treasure from the creatures she defeats, but in the end he reveals that he’s stored all of it in a fund for her to use in the future. And he acknowledges in his Valentine’s event the need to understand and adapt with other cultures in globalization to allow his nation and people to survive and flourish. David’s “Jewish greed” is a motivated front. He is quick witted and always planning for the future. In truth he is a King who sees far and is as inhuman in certain ways as his son Solomon is presented. FGO doesn’t always get this right in the moment as they use him to make a joke, but when they do, it’s so good.

The final mask wearer on our list is the fantastic Queen of Sheba. A woman portrayed as many things to many cultures and groups depending on what the political needs of the time were. She’s a mirror that reflects many things. A mystery woman, who matched wits with Solomon and in some tales earned his true love. A nice aspect of her FGO design is that they incorporated some beast designs, ears, and a tail, in a nod to certain depictions of her in myth but in a much more flattering way. Much better than the goat legs, horned head, etc. that have been attributed to her in myth. She’s also a dark-skinned Heroic Spirit, which is great because we need more of those, and I love to see Jews who aren’t just white. As it should be. The problem with her design is everything else. It’s skimpy and needlessly busy in places where it probably shouldn’t be. There was definitely a better design there that didn’t sexualize yet another dark-skinned woman.

The other big complaint about her is how much she loves money and get rich quick schemes. Which is a lot. She appears in several interludes and events trying to make it, arguably by scamming the other servants. She’s even formed an entrepreneur’s club in Chaldea (no Davids allowed). But much like King David, there’s more than on the surface. She wants to buy hundreds of camels with her riches. Because camels are a sign of wealth and a practical animal that can be used for the good of a nation. Because the Queen is also a Ruler, and her thoughts are shaped by that. She came to King Solomon to prove her Kingdom’s wealth and power. This is what drives her, a motivation for wealth because that’s how you show the dominance of your nation. How you prove your worth as a Ruler. And even now, she yearns to meet King Solomon once again, and stand tall before him as an equal as before. Many of Sheba’s voice lines and appearances are super goofy, but there are moments where we get glimpses that that is a mask and there is more beyond. In Salem we see it in how she deals with the crisis around her. In Abigail’s interlude she’s one of the Servants to approach the PC and advise on an incoming disaster they would need to prevent. And in her Bond 5 voice line, her VA’s voice drops the cuteness for a moment, and we get this, “Here’s a riddle: What can’t be bought with money? …The time we have spent together. Even looking into the future, what I see there will only be knowledge. The connection we have is something no one can steal from us… It is our true treasure.” I think about this line a lot. Because as much as she acts about liking the other things, the time and connection she spends with those important to her, that is the treasure she values most.

She also has another line, her 4th Ascension, that I want to bring up, “I am an illusion. I disappear like a mirage in a sea of sand. Even so, I hope that stories of me will be passed down along with your great deeds.” She does not tell you her true name, only titles. First, Caster of Midrash, then the Queen of Sheba. But neither are her name, and none know what her true name is. She is not a being stuck to a name, but one who belongs in glorious tales none the less. She stood beside King Solomon, and she will stand behind the Last Master of Chaldea as we save Humanity. Everything she tells us is tinged with riddles and secrets. But there is no doubt that in the end she stands with us, that we can trust her as we did in Salem. She is an enigma wrapped in a Riddle, and who has yet to truly reveal what is in her heart…

Which is of course why it’s tragic that *so many of her voice lines* are about money. So many of her appearances in events about goofy scams. All of what I said is true, but who has time to look past the layers of disgusting filth even if riches lay below? This also goes back to David as well, and to a degree how some fans who witnessed Avicebron in Apocrypha will always feel. Their first impressions set. And who can blame them? They wear these masks and that makes them fascinating as you learn more, but also obscures them. And it’s not a great look that Sheba and David are both so into money. That’s a fact, and no secret motivations will change that. The presentation was rough, and the lead buried too deep. I love them, but they could have been presented better than they were. These characters are deep, complex and messy. With revulsion and love, I invite them into my Chaldea and my heart.

#solomon (fgo)#caster of midrash #Queen of Sheba #king david #david (fgo)#romani archaman #caster of black #avicebron #fgo #Fate Grand Order

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lunarpleasure · 2 years ago

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Wanna play with my tail? Maybe something else...

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megashadowdragon · 2 years ago

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#fgo #fate grand order #fate/grand order #fgo comic #fgo fancomic #fate grand order comic #fgo queen of sheba #queen of sheba #fgo sheba #caster of midrash

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300iqprower · 3 years ago

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I'm actually surprised at how underutilized religious interactions are—to clarify we've got Greek Gods, Jewish people, Christians, Indian Gods not to mention the bullshit Britain pulled as well as Roma i just think it'd be interesting considering what Lakshmibai had to say about the shit Britain did to the east—I just really wanna see some beef without the people who were victims of atrocities being pushed to the side and made out to be jokes like I know Fgo has that thing where they suck the dick of any European passing character considering how big King Author is (which was originally created as an affront to Britain funnily enough) so I really don't expect much but damn.

Yeah that's basically a self answering question. Why dont they build on any of that? Oh it's because they dont care and see it all as a way to just hype up their favorites. Which is why Lostbelt 6 has the greatest of the Norse Gods as an offscreen npc plot device for the most famous of Ireland's heroes to use to suck off the British. That kind of logic, but throughout the entire series. This is also why depsite Solomon's everything, his own fucking father David is such an afterthought of a character. They don't give a shit about representing Jewish religion, same way they have the hassans drinking alcohol all the time, it's all a matter of "oh hey this looks cool, how can I make it fit my exact personal wordlview?"

Like the solomon story is amazing I don't need to even state that, but it has absolutely nothing to do with portraying jewish myth which is why you have David and Sheba basically just...there. In fact the only jewish servant who actually feels representative of Jewish culture is Avicebro (something this amazing speech proves). Like I haven't done salem so I don't know if Sheba is as wasted as David was but you'd certainly fcking think as the last story before part 2 and how important to Chaldea Romani was, she'd carry over. The fact she doesn't just becomes even more baffling when they decide to bring Goetia back for probably no good reason whatsoever. But she isn't, and the move towards things like "all gods are actually aliens from my Evangelion Fanfiction" pretty much drops whatever veil there was of this being a story about collective humanity and not this one very specific thread of logic based on an individual's personal ideas.

That's the issue with Fate Grand Order at it's core (and specifically just Grand Order) and it always has been - it's a story about the collective potential of humanity and the culmination of world history...as written by people who are narrow minded and rewrite history with incredibly broad strokes to fit a fantasy narrative. There's an argument over whether that means it an issue of simply presenting/marketing itself poorly or if the content itself is the issue, but that's undeniably THE key issue.

#fgo #fuck fgo #never thought i'd get an ask #fgo spoilers #avicebron #fgo solomon #fgo david #caster of midrash

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averaillisa · 4 years ago

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‘I Wish I Could Have Known You’

Pairings: Queen of Sheba/Romani Archaman

Summary: The Queen of Sheba tries to piece together the man she once knew, and the man she once could have known, from the pieces of him that remain.

It was a difficult thing, to know that she missed him.

They told her it had been a year - just a year since the Restoration of Humanity, since the Resolution of the Grand Order. The journey wasn't quite over and the battles not quite complete, but it had been a year from the Final Singularity to her recent summoning in Chaldea. Just a year for her to appear, only to know that she'd lost him.

She doesn't grieve, at least not outwardly. After all, it is difficult for a servant to not be unfazed by death. But it is difficult not the buckle a bit at the echoes of him that remain - strewn around Chaldea like pieces of a puzzle, a pattern, a riddle to be solved.

When they first show her the pictures, she recognizes him as much as she doesn't. His face is different, his hair shorter, his eyes alight with more life than she remembers in the cold, blank gold of his previous gaze. But she sees her King in the shyness of his smiles, the crinkle in his eyes, the sheepish brush of a hand over his nape whenever something flustered him. She runs a thumb over the pictures; traces the new curves of his face. Registers the flickers of familiarity in this charming, red-headed man who smiles not quite like her husband used to. And she aches for him in a way that is both familiar and not.

"What was he like?" she asks the master sometimes, wanting to bridge the gap between them. To know who he was under his Kingly mantle, to know the life of the man she loved.

"Gentle," they'd say, always with a smile. One dampened by grief and mourning, but with a fondness that made her ache for them as much as herself. "Sweet. Kind. A bit of a dork."

She soaked in the words; let it color the gaps in her memories, the images in her brain. One time she tells them she never actually heard him laugh before - always weighed by his kingly duties, his link to God - and they'd spent the rest of the afternoon describing the soft timbre of his laugh, the sweet lilt of his giggles. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine it, to imagine him. To think of him sitting beside her with their hands intertwined, and his laugh stirring her hair.

"Who was he when they didn't see him?" she asks sometimes, to the servant behind the screen. The one who knew who he was when he didn't have to present that happy, smiling front; the one who'd worked closest to him, knew the human side of him more than anyone else.

The servant smiles warmly and answers.

"Tired," she says, with a coffee mug to her lips. "Overworked. Guilty, in some ways. He wanted to do what was best."

"Did you love him?" she asks, registering the way she looks when she talks about him; that sad, wistful gaze.

But the servant just smiles and sips her coffee, quietly amused.

"Maybe as a friend," she hums over her mug. "Not in a way a wife loves a husband, even in a new life."

She quiets, slightly embarrassed of how easy she was to read. As a clairvoyant, she was used to the opposite being true.

"Was he different from the person you knew?" she asks his father once, the first time she'd found him seated at the cafeteria with an easy grin. It had faltered a bit at the question, and that small tell was enough to let her know that whatever the relationship had been between them, this was still a man who had lost his son.

"Yes and no," he'd replied, voice soft in a way she hadn't expected. His face was inscrutable; his gaze cast far away. "He laughed more readily, smiled more easily. He showed his emotions far better as a doctor than as a King. But the most intimate, he'd keep close to his heart. He'd still shutter his face and smile his troubles away rather than let others in. That much, I suppose, did not change."

She didn't like to hear that. Wonders how much pain he was hiding, in the shadows where no one could see. How did he feel, how did he cope, knowing that the second life he'd chosen for himself would have to end to pay for the sins of his first?

Around her, Chaldea bustles with activity. The battles go on, the journey continues, and they weed out the few pillars fortunate enough to have escaped the Temple before it had fallen. But there's a strange quality to the staff, to the master, to the young purple-haired girl who manages the comms and was apparently once a servant. Its as though there was a wound in their configuration, a gap where something or someone else was, a scar from a grief not quite healed over. She knows she's not the only one whose dealing with his loss; not the only one who had loved him and grieved him and weathered his death. But now it's as if she feels his absence more acutely; in all the spaces they tell her he should've been, but no longer is.

She wonders about him, in the breaths between. In the sighs between battles, in the quiet of the war. She tries to picture him at the desks, at the cafeteria, bowed over a slice of cake or a cup of coffee or the work they'd told her had absorbed his waking hours. She thinks about how he might have interacted with the Chaldean master, or the Shielder, or the dark-haired Caster. She wonders how he would've felt if she'd been summoned just a year earlier. Would he have been surprised? Happy? Disappointed? Would the Doctor have loved her as much as the King?

She doesn't suppose she'll ever know. The future is a strange thing - amorphous, even to her eyes, distant and ever-changing. She wonders if he'll be in it again; if he'll find a way.

They let her keep some of the pictures. She takes them out sometimes - not to dwell on, but to think. To wonder. To dream.

And to run her fingers over the Doctor who smiles just a bit differently from her King, and whisper:

"I wish I could've known you, Romani Archaman."

#fgo #fate grand order #fate/grand order #Romani Archaman #queen of sheba #fgo queen of sheba #caster of midrash #fate queen of sheba #ritsuka fujimaru #fujimaru ritsuka #fgo da vinci #fgo david #archer david #fgo spoilers #fgo part 1 spoilers #fgo solomon #my writing #this is a pretty sudden thing but I just have a lot of thoughts abt these two ;w;

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grailfinders · 3 years ago

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Fate and Phantasms #194

(Woops, day late, sorry)

Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re finally done with servants with hidden true names! 🎉 Well, after this one, anyway. Today we’re bringing you the Caster of Midrash, whose true name doesn’t even have anything to do with Salem anyway! Check out her build breakdown with true name spoilers below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: A completely different character, I swear.

We’re building the Queen of Sheba, who is- wait a second. That’s not a name, that’s just a title! And it’s one that’s been subject to so much memetic mutation I’m pretty sure dropping “midrash” in her fake name is more of a hint to her identity than her true name is! What the hell!?

You know what? It’s not worth getting angry. Moolah is an Order Cleric to lay down the law for fair negotiations, as well as a The Genie Warlock for the sake of getting her genie assistants. And also being a genie, I guess.

Race and Background

As I just said, Moolah is part genie, and going by our previous rulings with the Pandevas, that means she’s an Air Genasi. This gives her +2 Constitution and +1 Dexterity, as well as Unending Breath so you can hold your breath forever, and Mingle with the Wind to cast Levitate once per long rest for free, using your constitution. Wind Genasi are probably the weakest subrace (which is really saying a lot), but being able to float around it just fun. For background, she’s... a queen... Noble. History, take Deception instead of persuasion to act like a maid for the singularity. Don’t worry, we’ll get persuasion back later.

Ability Scores

Your highest score should be in Charisma. Moolah’s good at talking people into deals they shouldn’t take. Just because negotiations are fair, doesn’t mean she isn’t better than you. After that is Wisdom. Half of business is all about finding the right mark- I mean customer. Also, wisdom is literally one of her skills. Third is her Intelligence, it was good enough to impress Solomon, but we need the other soft stats more. Your Dexterity is still above average, since you definitely aren’t wearing heavy armor. That means we have to avoid dumping Constitution at the last second, leaving Strength as your lowest stat. Just wind up anything you need to carry, easy.

Class Levels

Cleric 1: Starting off as a cleric gets you a couple goodies, like proficiency with Wisdom and Charisma saves, plus Religion and Insight. Since you’re an Order cleric, you also get proficiency with Heavy Armor (which we won’t use here), and Persuasion. Told you we’d get that back. Order clerics are also a Voice of Authority, which lets your allies help you while you help them. If you target a friend with a leveled spell, they can use their reaction to make one weapon attack against a target you choose. Don’t try to be a rules lawyer though- only one ally can attack per spell, so you can’t hit your whole team with Aid and get a free round of combat. Speaking of Spells, you have those! You can cast and prepare spells with your Wisdom, and you get Command and Heroism for free, so they’re always prepared without taking up space. You can also use spells like Bless to make allies a bit better at everything, Detect Magic to make sure nobody (else) has enchanted your courtroom, and Protection from Evil and Good so you can be on equal terms with even the most outlandish opponents. You also get some cantrips, with Guidance delivering wisdom to your allies once per casting, Thaumaturgy for some courtroom theatrics, and Mending to patch up your robes. Something tells me you’re a bit of a spendthrift.

Cleric 2: The second level of cleric isn’t quite as crowded, but it’s still pretty useful. You can now Channel Divinity once per short rest, either Turning Undead and forcing them to flee if they fail a wisdom save or delivering Order’s Demand. As an action, you can force a wisdom save on all creatures within 30′ of you, charming them for a round or until they take damage if they fail. You can also force them to drop whatever they’re holding. Negotiations tend to go more smoothly when you get rid of the claymores.

Warlock 1: Now that we can calm people down, we can get some other stuff going on the side. First level The Genie warlocks get a Genie’s Vessel, which lets you hide in it for a Bottled Respite, letting you hide out for up to 2x your proficiency hours, once per long rest. More frequently, you can unleash the Genie’s Wrath, adding your proficiency bonus in thunder damage to one attack made with an attack roll. You also get Pact Magic, which doesn’t blend with multiclassing like other spellcasters. You can either kind of slot for either kind of spell, but you don’t use the multiclassing table- just keep them separate, and use your class levels to determine the slots for each class. You also don’t prepare spells, so you’re stuck with what you get here. Grab Eldritch Blast for the prerequisite caster balls and Mage Hand for a helpful little genie to carry stuff for you. You also get Detect Good and Evil to sniff out elder gods, and Sanctuary to stop them from slapping you while you give them a verbal beatdown.

Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations for customization, like Armor of Shadows for free mage armor so you don’t die, and Mask of Many Faces for your shapeshifting. You can also cast Distort Value now, because let’s be real, you’re going to do that whether magic helps or not.

Cleric 3: Third level clerics get second level spells, like your freebies Hold Person and Zone of Truth. Most people assume that means you can’t lie, but all zone of truth does is make it so you can’t tell untruths. There is a difference, and if you want to be a true Moolah you’ll have to learn to embrace that. You can also Aid your allies with extra HP or Enhance Ability, or use Augury to get some of that Solomonic wisdom. If you’re dealing with some angry customers, just use Calm Emotions to make them settle down.

Cleric 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Wisdom for stronger spells and demands. You can also Spare the Dying, which will be helpful if you have to stabilize someone after, say, they get half-hanged.

Cleric 5: At fifth level, your turn undead turns into Destroy Undead, instantly killing all undead of CR 1/2 or lower when they fail a wisdom save. You also get third level spells, like Mass Healing Word and Slow! Those aren’t really what we’re here for though. You can also use Tongues to communicate with anyone, regardless of how far away they come from. If they’re from particularly far away, you can use Magic Circle to lock them in place during negotiations. You also get Clairvoyance for more solomon style wisdom.

Cleric 6: Sixth level clerics get a second Channel Divinity each short rest, and you become the Embodiment of the Law- now you can shorten the casting time of a leveled enchantment spell from 1 action to 1 bonus action. You can do this Wisdom Modifier times per long rest. This way you can throw up a zone of truth and keep multitasking at the same time.

Warlock 3: Bouncing back over to warlock at last, just in time for your Pact Boon! The Pact of the Chain gives you the Find Familiar spell, letting you pick special forms. None of those are genies, but an Imp is probably pretty close. You can cast touch-range spells through them, and attack using your own attack to do so. Oh hey, feign death is touch range. Just throw your familiar at Mata Hari & boom, one faked hanging. You can also make a Gust of Wind, creating a line of wind that extends 60′ away from you. Creatures that start their turn have to make a strength save or get pushed back 15 feet, and they spend double movement moving towards you in that area. You can change the direction of the wind as a bonus action.

Warlock 4: Use your next ASI to become Silver Tongued, rounding up your Charisma score and doubling your proficiency bonus with Deception. It’s a useful business tool, and also you managed to hide your identity while also starring in a play as your true identity. I know puritans are dumb, but that’s just cheeky. Also, you can use your attack action to make a contested deception check against a creature’s Insight. If you win, you don’t get opportunity attacks from them, and your own attacks have advantage. This lasts for a round, or until you use the ability again. If they win, they can’t be affected by this for an hour. You’re not really a fighter, so talking your way out of a sticky situation can be a lifesaver. Alternatively, talk your way into slapping them with tons of damage thanks to Eldritch Blast next turn, since this ability doesn’t specify weapon attacks. You can make this even easier for yourself by casting Friends for advantage on charisma checks, and you also learn Flock of Familiars to bring all your genies out to play. It’s Find Familiar, but three of them.

Warlock 5: Fifth level warlocks get third level spells, like Intellect Fortress, which will protect a creature from psychic damage, and give them advantage on soft stat saves. That’s all intelligence, wisdom, and charisma saving throws! Is some nerd tossing zones of truth left and right? No need to fear any more! You also get the invocation Voice of the Chain Master, letting you see, hear, and speak through your familiars. Genies can talk, and now so can your familiars, congrats.

Warlock 6: Sixth level genelocks get an Elemental Gift, giving you resistance to thunder damage, and you can fly for 10 minutes as a bonus action proficiency times per long rest. Finally, controlling wind can be fun! Speaking of controlling wind, your spell this level is Thunderstep, letting you escape from one spot in a burst of thunder damage and reappear in another.

Warlock 7: Seventh level warlocks get fourth level spells, and Charm Monster will help calm down even the strangest of adversaries. If you’re already fighting it’ll have advantage on its save, so you better hope Cthulhu has a bad wisdom score. You also learn how to pull yourself out of the toughest of scrapes with a Trickster’s Escape, letting you cast Freedom of Movement once per long rest for free.

Warlock 8: Odd numbers are bad, so use this ASI to round up your Dexterity and Intelligence for a higher AC and more gooder brain. You also learn how to cast Banishment to throw Cthulhu back into the void he came from once you’re done whupping him in a legal battle.

Warlock 9: Ninth level warlocks get fifth level spells, and Seeming gives you the ability to hide your physical appearance for up to 8 hours. You can alter the appearance of any number of creatures within 30 feet, but this is mostly for your benefit. Fluffy tails and ears tend to stick out in New England. You can also make more destructive genies by summoning Minions of Chaos. Once per long rest you can use a warlock slot to cast Conjure Elemental, creating a CR 5 or lower elemental of your choice for up to an hour. If you drop concentration, it sticks around for the rest of the hour, but now it’ll be hostile to you. Good thing you’re good with negotiations!

Warlock 10: At tenth level your vessel becomes a Sanctuary Vessel- you can pull up to 5 willing creatures into your Bottled Respite with you, and they can be forcibly ejected as a bonus action if you choose to do so. In addition, anyone who stays inside for at least 10 minutes gets the benefits of a short rest, and they get extra healing if they use hit dice. You can also cast Prestidigitation for little bits of casterliness, and you can Contact Other Planes for guidance. Summoning Elementals will probably go better if you give them a heads up, and contacting Mount Celestia is probably the only way you’ll be able to talk to your husband. Sorry about that, btw.

Warlock 11: Eleventh level warlocks get a Mystic Arcanum. Basically, it would be really busted if you could cast two sixth level spells per short rest, so you get one per long rest instead. Yours is Investiture of Wind, giving you yet another way to fly, defense against ranged weapons, and you can create cubes of swirling wind that deal bludgeoning damage and push large or smaller creatures around. We’ve been so focused on legal and business stuff we really haven’t had much focus on wind. To be fair though, it’s not like WotC did much better, but this spell should make up for that.

Warlock 12: Use this last ASI to bump up your Charisma for stronger spells and more convincing lies. You also get one last Invocation, and an Eldritch Mind will help you keep concentration on your spells. You don’t want to run out while flying, and you especially don’t when you’re keeping a living tornado in check.

Warlock 13: Your last spell for this build is the seventh level spell Forcecage. It’s not quite as elegant as a Magic Circle, but it’s way more likely that the giant monster you’re dealing with is coming from this dimension, so this will help trap anything that can’t teleport away.

Warlock 14: Your ultimate level grants you the ultimate power of the genelock- Limited Wish. As an action, you can use your genie’s vessel to cast any spell of 6th level or lower that can be cast in 1 action, without using any material components. You can only use this once every 1d4 long rests, but it’s very cost effective.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

You are very good at ending fights nonlethally, either restraining enemies of all kinds or negotiating their anger away from the party. Depending on how your DM does experience points, this might make you very unpopular.

On a related note, you’re really good at avoiding combat in general, using spells like Forcecage or Gust of Wind to keep enemies away, Flying out of their reach, or using spells like Seeming and Disguise Self to hide in plain sight

Mixed casting classes are usually a bad thing, and to be fair not getting wish does hurt, but it’s also really useful here. Mixing warlock with another casting class gets you extra spell slots, but you can still recharge your biggest slots on short rests. It’s the best of both worlds.

Cons:

Your Wisdom isn’t amazing. It’s fine for most builds, but it means your cleric spells are going to be pretty easy to escape from.

Grabbing Embodiment of the Law means we’re one level shy of the fifteenth level of warlock, which would have given you an invocation that lets you cast Alter Self at will. Without that, your shapeshifting powers are in name only, which is a downer.

Even with Eldritch Mind, your Concentration is still pretty bad, and you’ll have to choose between defenses, charming enemies to bring them out of combat, or your more powerful offensive spells. Nobody ever said being a lawyer was simple.

#fgo #fate grand order #D&D 5e #DND #Caster of Midrash #Cleric #Warlock

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