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noodle-puppy · 3 years

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Critical Role Campaign 3 Race and Class Hopes and Predictions

So here I am, going to throw my hat in the ring guessing what I think the cast of Critical Role are playing, giving that Campaign 3 is just around the corner. I’ll probably be wrong but I think I’ll have fun with this! Guesses are under the cut, as this post might get long...

TRAVIS: Centaur Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter

Travis seems to prefer melee combatants who just hit things and get the job done; supposedly he’s said somewhere about not wanting to play a full-caster, yet I’ve seen a lot of predictions for Wizard (though I can see why). Blood Hunter seems like an obvious choice, but perhaps too obvious - but I can’t deny that I would love to see Travis go full werewolf! Besides, with what happened to Mollymauk and all, this class needs more time to shine: so Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter it is! Honourable mentions to Bard, Monk and Rogue; as they’re also classes I’d like to see Travis play.

For the species pick, I’d kill to see Travis play a Centaur. The idea of a centaur werwolf is hilarious to me, and has evocative imagery! I know that as fey creatures centaurs can’t normally get lycanthropy, but I can see Matt making an exception for the reasons I just said. Realistically though, I think he’ll pick a Human, so if he does you can’t say I was wrong! >:)

LAURA: Tabaxi Echo Knight Fighter

My first thought was Bard, but after Jester I don’t think Laura will want to be a support class any time soon. I think she’ll be a melee combatant, probably one without magic since both Vex and Jester had magic at their disposal. Barbarian is a popular pick for her, and while I can see the appeal, I’m going with Fighter. Perhaps she’ll go Echo Knight as a fun callback to Jester’s Invoke Duplicity? It’d be a pretty cool subclass to see in action!

As for species, I think we all want to see a Tabaxi. I'm getting early 2000′s 3D platformer vibes from this character, akin to Ratchet and Clank and Sly Cooper.

LIAM: Drow College of Tragedy Bard

Liam has gone on record to say that he’s playing through the four traditional RPG classes: Fighter (Orym), Thief (Vax), Mage (Caleb) and Healer. Cleric seems to be the obvious pick here (and hey, it’s probably right), but honestly? I’d love to see Liam as a Bard. I think he’d have a lot of fun taking a class associated with cheerfulness and revelry and injecting it with his trademark angst and sorrow. Could be a fun subversion! Apparently Matt has a Shakespearian homebrew College of Tragedy subclass in the works, and I think I’d be perfect to debut here!

Species-wise my first thought was Warforged, since they exist in Exandria now and the idea of a robot with instruments integrated into its body is very cool (write that down!), I’d love to see an Elf in the main cast, and I can see Liam paying tribute to Essek by making a Dark Elf his choice.

SAM: Kenku Circle of Dreams Druid

I know that Liam picks Sam’s combo, but from what I’ve seen Sam is the opposite of Travis: he loves magic-based characters, cleverly manipulating the games with his usual chaotic glee. A Wild Magic Sorcerer is probably going to be the winner (I like the theory of him and Laura making Wild Magic siblings!), but if a man can dream I’d like to see him as a Druid. I’d like to see a high Wisdom character from him, but yet the idea of messing around with Wild Shape is too good to pass up. I have no preference on subclass, so I’ll just pick Circle of Dreams because it sounds cool.

As you can tell I’d like to see more monstrous characters this time around, and you know what would be perfect for Sam? A Kenku. I’d trust no one else to pull it off. Also a kenku usually has black wings, so they’re totally going to be the love interest of Marisha’s character. Nailed the most important question!

MARISHA: Fairy Oath of the Crown Paladin

Speaking of, Marisha has summoned the wrath of nature as Keyleth and the might of martial arts as Beau; so this time it’d be interesting to see her step back and make a support character instead. We’ve already got Liam as our healer, but I think it’s time we had someone start out as a Paladin! Marisha looks like she has the gusto to pull off any of the subclasses, but of the lot the Oath of the Crown is catching my eye.

Something I’d like to see from this campaign is some of the new races, and one of my new favourites was released just recently - the Fairy! Only problem is they can’t fly in medium or heavy armour, so maybe we’ll see an unconventional Paladin build here?

ASHLEY: Dhampir Way of the Long Death Monk/Phantom Rogue

I’m going to be predictable here and say Ashley’s playing a Monk, a class that she expressed interest in during the Vox Machine vs Mighty Nein oneshot. I’m picking Way of the Long Death as the subclass to pair well with my species choice. On a similar note, the Phantom subclass of the Rogue will also work, and after her miserable dice luck I’d want Ashley to play a character with a consistent set of skills: she’ll finally get a good Slealth check!

Ashley’s seems to like playing characters at extreme ends of the spectrum - Pike and Fearne look innocent, yet hold terrifying power; Yasha looks gothic and intimidating, but is gentle and introverted outside of battle. I’d like to see a character from her who looks like they could kill you and will, and the Dhampir is a fairly new playable species which not only fits the bill, but could lend itself to some great roleplay.

TALESIN: Fire Genasi Alchemist Artificer/Genie Warlock

Talesin seems almost inscrutable to guess for, so it was a hard pick for me here. I’ve got to be honest and say that 99% of what you see here is wish fulfilment, so if I’m just pulling everything out of thin air I think Talesin has what it takes to be a great Artificer, considering he knows a lot about the game. And the Alchemist subclass means that he could have a lot of fun with a mad scientist character. But this party is skewing towards support, and I would like to see a proper caster here beside the Druid. It ultimately came between Sorcerer and Warlock, but I think Warlock wins in the end. The Genie subclass is maybe cliche considering the race I went with but again, I can do what I want :P

Genasi is one of my favourite playable species, and while I know we just had Fy’ra Rai, a Fire Genasi is going to be my pick here. A hotheaded scientist with his efreeti parent watching on is what I’m going for with these choices.

So that’s all I’ve got in me (my arm is so sore from typing this guys); I might reblog this with further thoughts once we figure out who the characters are once and for all!

#my post #critical role #cr campaign 3 #dungeons and dragons #travis willingham #laura bailey #liam o'brien #sam riegel #marisha ray #ashley johnson #talesin jaffe #long post

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tf2workbench · 3 years

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Dr. Frankenstein

Those of you who play Mann vs. Machine might know that, in that mode, the Medic can resurrect dead players. As with most things from MvM, there’s a good chance I’m going to try to port it to player-versus-player gameplay. And guess what: I’m doing that right now!

Are you concerned about how I might handle this extremely powerful attribute? Well, so am I! Let’s figure it out together, shall we?

Reanimator Iteration 1 Medigun (+) If your healing target dies, they drop a reanimator, which allows you to resurrect them by refilling their health gauge (+) +400% reanimation rate when Ubercharged (-) -25% maximum overheal (-) -15% heal rate on recently-wounded targets or when reanimating (reanimating cannot benefit from critical heals)

Note that targets with gauges (e.g. Ubercharge) are reset. You can, however, still gain Ubercharge while reanimating.

You’ll notice that I made the heal rate relatively low (20 health per second) on targets who are being reanimated, with the exception of the Ubercharge. This means that reviving a target is a significant investment - fifteen seconds for a Heavy, for example. Actually, that’s longer than some respawn timers, meaning that you might end up wasting your healing if you pick the wrong target.

It also begs the question: why are you reviving a single target instead of 1) healing your nearby, living teammates or 2) running away from the people who killed your healing target? Are they that important? If they’re another Medic or possibly Engineer, maybe they are. But if they’re your average power class, probably not.

Death is also an emotionally charged kind of thing (in real life, but also in TF2). I wonder if this would lead to situations like “oh, the medic ignored me so I didn’t get a chance at reanimation” or “the medic ran away instead of reanimating me.” It’s not the primary problem with the weapon, but these kinds of things should be considered.

With that in mind, I’m shifting focus, instead working on a passive secondary for a common Medic buddy: the Heavy.

Reanimator Iteration 2 Heavy secondary (passive) (+) On death: Drop a reanimator, allowing friendly Medics to revive you (normal healing rates apply) (+) Charged by dealing damage. At 300 damage, the reanimator is available; you reanimate 25% faster for every 100 damage you deal after that (max of +100%). (-) -40% healing from health packs (-) No active weapon

Loosely based on an old Advanced Weaponiser design, actually. The glaring flaw with this weapon is that it only works when you have a nearby Medic; otherwise it’s just useless.

It may also be violently disruptive to the flow of the game. Once you deal enough damage (which is pretty doable for a Heavy) you have the equivalent of a faster, Medic-activated teleporter just for yourself. And, as with the medigun above, there’s the question: are you important enough to justify the Medic standing around reviving you?

Let’s (regretfully) cut the Medic out of this equation entirely.

Reanimator Iteration 3 Heavy secondary (passive) (+) Charged by dealing damage (activates at 200, caps out at 1000) (+) For each 100 damage after 200: respawn one second faster (+) For each 100 damage after 200: gain one second of speed boost on respawning (-) No active weapon

My main beef with this weapon is that it’s only useful if you actually die, which is not a guarantee. Dying usually means you’ve failed, and there’s very little you can do to make it less painful; the only real thing would be a teleporter line, which is well-balanced-for already. This would require extensive playtesting and might end up feeling like a bit cheesy to the opposing team, in the vein of “I just killed that guy, why is he back already.” Cheating death is like that; it can make your opponents feel helpless.

Remember, too, that respawn differs based on your team; defending teams on Payload or Attack/Defense maps tend to have longer respawn times than the attackers. A small thing to take into account.

Let’s go back to the Medic for one last look at this deeply questionable, but interesting, idea.

Reanimator Iteration 4 Medic melee (+) If you die with 75% or higher Ubercharge: reanimate after two seconds (+) Gain speed boost upon reanimation (duration corresponding to Ubercharge you had) (-) Lose all Ubercharge upon reanimating (-) -40% damage

I like this idea, especially because it can really benefit your team. On the other hand, it’s a passive melee, meaning you get this benefit no matter what - and since it’s such valuable insurance, it’s automatically an option on the table when you select a melee. On the other hand, keeping it at 75% Uber and above means you actually have to stay alive for a while to reap the benefits.

I’m leery of it, really. Killing a Medic is supposed to represent a window of opportunity for your team, which is somewhat irrelevant if he pops back up again and runs back to his allies. There’s also not much you can do to keep him from reaching 75% charge during setup time, especially with a faster-charging gun like the Vaccinator.

Oh well. It’s still a cool idea, even if people who play on instant-respawn servers won’t be using it.

#tf2workbench #tf2 #team fortress 2 #medic #heavy #secondary #melee

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superfluouskeys · 3 years

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Hello there :) I just created an FFXIV account and wondered what class I should play. Any recommendations?! Luv, Tiny ♥

*a very normal amount of foaming at the mouth* omg!!! welcome and I hope you enjoy!!! it is a wild time -- my entire data center just got locked down as "congested" for the foreseeable future, but I also have a character on Crystal and am happy to help with stuff!

You can play every class in the game eventually, so you're definitely not locked into what you choose! There are also three different starting cities--Ul'dah, Gridania, and Limsa Lominsa--with slightly different intros to the main story. I personally think that the Ul'dah starting story does the best job of introducing characters that are important for the base game's main story, but all are fine! The Limsa Lominsa starting story is my least favourite overall, but that's definitely just personal preference, and it comes with the undeniable bonus that is a tall scary pirate lady.

TANKS

As a tank, you are expected to lead the charge and set the pace for dungeons. You keep enemies focused on you and take the brunt of the damage. You'll have a pretty simple rotation of damage abilities and your focus will be on managing cooldowns to minimize the damage you take. Your starting options are Marauder, which turns into Warrior at level 30, and Gladiator, which turns into Paladin. Both job quest stories are kinda dull, but Gladiator/Paladin gives you Mylla Swordsong who is a gift. Both are a solid option for a starting class, and will make most of your early-game content pretty easy on you. Gladiator/Paladin starts in Ul'dah, while Marauder/Warrior starts in Limsa Lominsa.

HEALERS

As a healer, you are expected to balance keeping the party alive with contributing to damage and crowd control. Your main focus will be keeping yourself alive, as you have the power to resurrect, and keeping the tank alive, as they take the brunt of the damage. Your only option for a starting healer is a Conjurer, which turns into White Mage at level 30, and starts in Gridania. If you like the idea of healing and also want a pretty easy leveling experience with fast dungeon queues, this is a great option--I started as a conjurer on both of my alts that I actually play because White Mage is just easy and fun to play and level. The job quest story is kind of boring though.

DPS/DAMAGE DEALERS

There are three kinds of DPS classes: melee, ranged physical, and ranged magical/casters. Your job is to hit boss until die.

Pugilist starts in Ul'dah and turns into Monk at 30. You hit stuff w your fists. Monks have positional requirements for every single one of their abilities, meaning you have to hit the enemy from a specific position (side or back) in order to do maximum damage. It's kind of complicated to get the hang of, and probably not a great starting class unless you're just really into the idea of it and ready to learn how tf it works.

Rogue starts in Limsa Lominsa and turns into Ninja at 30. You get dual knives and stealth. You get buttons to press where if you mess up you get a lil bunny over your head and you can't do anything for a lil bit. This is one of the few jobs I don't have leveled very high, so I don't really know how it plays at higher levels, but the job quests at low levels are insanely boring imo. Probably a fine starting class if you like the idea/aesthetic of it.

Lancer starts in Gridania and turns into Dragoon at 30. You get a pokey stick and lots of jumps. Very flashy and fun, at high levels it's a nice balance of complicated enough to be interesting to play without being too hard to play well. Job quests are AMAZING and really help you understand where a major character in the first expansion Heavensward is coming from. Very good starting job, highly recommend if you like the idea of jumping and stabbing.

Your only option for a starting ranged physical DPS is Archer, which starts in Gridania and turns into Bard at 30. You get a bow and arrow and songs. Ranged physical DPS are nice bc they don't have to get close to the boss or stand still to do damage. Once you hit 30 you can unlock the Performance action and play music on in-game instruments. Bard is a support DPS that focuses more on giving buffs to the party and does low personal damage. Job quests are nice. Great starting class, easy to play and plenty of good bow and arrow aesthetics if you're into that.

TIME FOR MY FAVES ranged magical DPS require you to stand still to cast most of your abilities, which can be exciting when game mechanics require you to move.

Arcanist starts in Limsa Lominsa and is unique in that it can turn into both Summoner, which is a ranged magical DPS, and Scholar, which is a healer. Any EXP you earn on one, you also earn on the other, though there are separate job quests for each, which I recommend doing lest you find yourself in a level 75 dungeon without half of your scholar abilities because you are DPS trash. :)

Both Scholar and Summoner are pet classes--Scholar has fairies, while Summoner has carbuncles which are these lil babies

Both classes notoriously have a bit of a learning curve. If you want to play a healer, I would definitely recommend learning White Mage before you tackle Scholar. Scholar uses shields rather than regen, meaning you want to anticipate damage rather than react to it, and requires a LOT more resource management, so it's just a good idea to understand how healing works in the game generally before tackling all that extra stuff.

Summoner can be a fine starting class, but you'll probably have to do a bit of outside research to understand what you're supposed to be doing. It can also be a bit clunky to level--I didn't find it really fun to play until level 70. Job quests for both are okay; nothing I'd go out of my way to recommend.

Thaumaturge starts in Ul'dah and turn into Black Mage at 30, and it was my starting class and is still my main, so I'm biased! You get a staff and lots of fiery explosions. As a Black Mage, you have a fire phase where you expend all of your mana casting your explodey boys, then go into an ice phase where you regenerate your mana to do it again. Easy to learn, but difficult to master, as Black Mage requires you to stand still as much as possible, and it only has one defensive ability.

You may have some trouble with solo duties and job quests early on -- I remember feeling really embarrassed that the friends I was playing with finished stuff a lot faster than I did sometimes, but then when I played paladin and white mage respectively I was like oh I get it now lol this is easy af. Job quests are fun--I have a sentimental attachment to the evil lalafells. A solid starting class if you like witchy aesthetics or explosions and don't mind the unique playstyle.

tl;dr: Personally I usually hate whatever people say is an easy starting thing to play in a game and will be much happier working a little harder to learn to play something I like. If you don't like whatever class you pick, you can choose a new one pretty early on, so no stress, and there are also a lot of great jobs that you can't unlock until later! I hope some of this was mildly helpful, and thank you for giving me an excuse to ramble lol!

#ffxiv #amber plays ffxiv #personal #exciting tag for answered asks

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elizabethrobertajones · 3 years

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Saw you've been sucked into the MMO life in the form of FFXIV and I was wondering if you had any input into the debate I've been having about what class archetypes tfw would play. I think Sam would be most likely to tank because it requires a reasonable amount of leadership and is also more of a quiet, backbone type role compared to dps. Dean seems more the type to be singularly focused on the big damage hits tbh. He also tends to take more of the charging in and fighting role in their normal life with Sam being the one reading up on everything more carefully and being his backup. Which leaves Cas as healer which may just be me projecting because I play healer/support at every opportunity but literal angel healing aside I think that sorta fits too, he cares a lot for them and tries to keep them safe and shield them as best he can in their adventures? Idk half formed thoughts please completely contradict me if you want I'm genuinely curious about other people's opinions here

Heyooo :D It is less sucked into and more like I’ve returned to the warm cushiony nest of MMOs lol

If you’d asked me back when I was a WoW player I’d have fully agreed because you could only have one class per character and these are definitely the snap decisions that the fam would make when on the character screen. Dean would grab the sexiest DPS, Sam the stoutest tank especially as he’s the one who has read into the classes and strats beforehand, and Cas would ask what to do and be given the healer role because the other two in this scenario would know better about the game and sort of lump it onto him like, oh, we need a healer and you can do this.

(In my own gaming journey, this is what my friends and brother did to me, as they needed a healer to round out their party... I took druid because it was spoopy, and discovered in WoW that while you can’t change classes you can pay gold to respec your character’s role within that class... Promptly re-specced to a melee dps/tank feral druid instead of the healer one, and had a lot more fun :D)

In FFXIV you can take all the classes on your character (which I have done, natch) and it’s a much more interesting levelling approach, especially seeing how my friends playing the game have gone when it comes to taking classes as they level and why they claim to have tried and then rejected others. It’s an enormous personality test, even for peeps like me and my brother who have all the classes up at max level, which ones we prioritised and which ones we sort of struggled with or found a bit meh.

Hm so in the scenario that Charlie comes bursting into the Bunker demanding that she needs some friends for dungeons and raids and they’re all sitting on their asses scrolling the internet between a case, they can bloody well play final fantasy with her for a bit, let’s go for some headcanons :D Long because FFXIV has become my current obsession and I have the same in-depth feels about it as I do about SPN but I just never get to write about them with anyone...

First off, Sam of course has deep nerdery about it and will ask Charlie a ton of questions about what the right class to play is and do the same thing as we’ve already discussed and go for Paladin (which starts as gladiator), and also take all the crafting and gathering side classes because he’s a nerd and you learn nonsense lore while doing it. He’s also in the same starting zone as Thaumaturge which transitions to Black Mage and I BET he’d be tempted to have a little safe witch!Sam emotional release on the most un-Sam class. It’s the big unwieldy spell caster whose literal class quests and stuff make fun of how you’re small and squishy and will be standing in a very bad spot debating whether to finish a long-cast spell and get hit or stop DPS and run for safety. I think he could do with the perspective and learning to be selfish either way to blow off steam from tanking and also learn to prioritise himself IRL :’D Also the paladin quest is WEIRDLY pro-cop from 30 onwards for some reason until the writers saw sense and just. stopped. doing paladin stuff and went back to the Gladiator storyline for the class quests, so idk if he’d enjoy that or start to question other things. Whatever it is he’s getting challenged XD

At 60 he grabs Gunbreaker because it sounds more cool and is thankfully way less emotionally stressful tanking as it’s entirely about being a badass bodyguard and sick flips. This is far more aspirational for Sam, especially as he could just tie a knife to a sawn off shotgun and do these moves for real in his day job. He won’t, but like with black mage, the thought that he COULD is very emotionally satisfying to him.

He might also have decided to check out scholar to see how healing is but idk if he would be able to handle Dean teasing him for having a fairy follow him around so he’d only dabble with the nerd class on the side :P

Now, Dean can’t take ninja until level 10 or machinist (gun shooty DPS class) until 50, so his start point as DPS would either be pugilist (eeeey brass knuckle class!) or the other DPS classes to start with are Thaumaturge/Black Mage, Arcanist/Summoner, Archer or Lancer. Now. He’d probably think the first two are sissy because magic is for girls/arcanists literally only have a book as a weapon. Archer becomes bard and I think is ultimately a place he’d be very happy as it is a very supportive class to the whole party and basically the mom friend class. But I would love if he went lancer/dragoon because the level 50 class weapon is (folklore inspired name) “Gae Bolg” and every time I equip it I can’t help giggling at the name even though I know it’s a real thing and I shouldn’t. But. Like. It’s the class about waving enormous lances around. It’s got Implications, and Dean is drawn to those.

He’d probably, however, take rogue/ninja as soon as he could because stabbing things with knives, and the class trainer is the kinda guy who’d have wild gay tension with him while they both try to boast about women to each other, were they to meet irl. Ironically, the rogue trainer (a womanising charmer) and the ninja trainer (an intense, honourable guy bad at social cues even among his own people who ends up falling from grace and choosing to stay in the vicinity of said rogue trainer) are an interesting pair of NPCs to teach Dean about where to stick knives. :)

He’d go back and power-level dragoon once he starts Heavensward though, because Aymeric is also super intense with messy dark hair and big blue eyes that see right through you. :D He’s getting that gae bolg for him, you know?

If they’re going to bully Cas to be their healer, he’d probably get really dedicated to the discipline especially as he can stay up all night to play and doesn’t need to take breaks to pee so he’d probably level conjurer/white mage (nature healing) and scholar (ancient book lore with a class quest which mixes ancient curses on a whole people, family drama and a bit of interspeciesish love) and then also pick up astrologian, which is good because it’s spooky star and making your own fate magic. The storyline for that is garbage in the sense that it’s really weakly written, but my favourite character randomly picks up AST in the latest expansion, and has an absolutely fucking wild subtextual romance with another character, including SPN level adopting of a random child who matches Jack in many respects, with said character. And in many respects emotionally they’re Cas and Dean but without any of the personal baggage between them specifically so they really are just chill and married, whatever else they’re stressed about (I say, dreading the next patch is going to finally bring up some questions about what is going on with them as it’s getting weirdly conspicuous while still utterly unsaid). So I would hope if Cas started projecting onto an astrologian character it would be him :P

Cas also would get into summoner as the other branch of scholar because honestly those two classes are about as close to the random sigil drawing and reading things from books etc analogy to his own occult magic, except you can summon cool dragons and elementals to fight for you.

they’d buy Jack a boost to 60 and he’d pick up dark knight and white mage probably just to subtly fuck with Dean

(I am still not over Dean trying to test him to see if he was evil or not by whether he chose devil or angel cake)

#Asks #ffxiv #pfft #I'm sorry #I'm like #in the rabbit hole #I'm so in deep in the rabbit hole I've memorised all the lore #I did every quest #I am as forensic about it as I am about SPN but it's all just in my head!!#AAAH why is the fandom for this game small and uninterested in talking about subtext!#[edit to add: if you know where the fandom I'm seeking is and it's on reddit #I'm not going there and you can't pay me to for all the thancred headcanons in eorzea]

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grailfinders · 4 years

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Fate and Phantasms #101: Rama

Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re making the number 1 member of the Arcade hatedom, Rama! If you’ve seen my previous Indian heroes you know this build is also going to get a bit funky, but by the end of it you’ll have a cool sword you can throw around, the ability to fight off demons, and a monkey army.

Check out Rama’s build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Next up: One Strike Man

Race and Background

We know we had a thing going with Arjuna and Karna being Genasi, but Vishnu’s more of a general god than a themed one, so we have to be basic and go Aasimar on this one. Specifically Scourge Aasimar, because you’re not edgy and can’t fly. We’re also using the new Tasha’s rules about races to swap some bonuses around, so you’re going to get +1 Constitution and +2 Intelligence instead of charisma. You also get some Darkvision, Celestial Resistance to necrotic and radiant damage, the Light cantrip, and Healing Hands to heal a creature as an action once per long rest. Trust me, you’ll need it for the early levels.

Like a lot of servants, you’re a Noble, gaining History and Persuasion proficiencies.

Ability Scores

This build pretty much uses every score, so we had to make some tough cuts. Make your Strength the highest score, you’re a saber, you should be good at sabing. Second is Wisdom, you were born wise, which is a pretty amazing feat. I’m not sure how the figured that out before you could talk, but it’s still cool. Third is your Charisma, your star-crossed love transcends the bonds of the universe and has literally saved your life on occasion. Your Dexterity isn’t as high as I’d like it-we need it for multiclassing, but we’ll get it bumped up in time. Also, I’m willing to be generous here and say you’re wearing medium armor, that’s kind of a breastplate. Your Intelligence is also lower than I’d like, but that’s also getting a boost from your racial bonuses, so I guess it’s fine. Unfortunately, that means we’re dumping Constitution. It’s not fun, but it’s also the only score we aren’t actively using. Don’t worry, we’ll get it up into at least neutral territory as soon as possible.

Class Levels

1. Fighter 1: Fighters are pretty cool, and starting out as one gives you proficiency in Strength and Constitution saves, as well as the Animal Handling and Perception skills. A monkey may be your mortal enemy, but you also command an army of them.

You get a fighting style, and Dueling will make your one handed attacks a bit stronger so you can keep a hand open for spells. You also get a Second Wind for another way to heal yourself as a bonus action.

2. Fighter 2: Second level fighters get an Action Surge, tacking an extra action onto one of your turns once per short rest. This level is pretty light, so I’ll also take a second to say that we’re using a Trident as your weapon in this build, for reasons that will become apparent in a couple levels. It’s unorthodox, but you’re used to making swords out of other weapons, so it shouldn’t be that big a deal.

3. Fighter 3: I’m not going to beat around the bush here, you’re an Eldritch Knight. That means you’re learning some Spells, most of which will be abjuration or evocation and all of which will use your Intelligence to cast. You also gain a Weapon Bond, preventing you from being disarmed while conscious, and you can summon your weapon as a bonus action from anywhere in the plane. You also get your Radiant Consumption, which deals radiant damage to all creatures in a radius around you, including you. You can also add radiant damage to one attack per turn. The transformation lasts up to a minute, and you can use it once per long rest.

But you’re probably interested in those spells, right? Message is just useful, Sword Burst and Shield will protect you until we can get that constitution mess sorted, Find Familiar will help you get your first monkey friend, and Burning Hands is also there.

4. Fighter 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to round up your Constitution and bring your Dexterity into multiclassing range. Also, now that we’ve got a way to get your weapon back, we’ll switch out our old fighting style for Thrown Weapon Fighting as a part of your Martial Versatility. This allows you to draw a throwing weapon as part of an attack, and you deal more damage when throwing them. Who needs artificers and their returning weapons when you’ve got this?

You also learn the Snare spell to get some less magical monkey friends.

5. Fighter 5: Your Extra Attack lets you make two attacks per action. We’ll be seeing this feature a lot, but it doesn’t stack from multiple classes.

6. Paladin 1: You’re kind of literally a god, so this is something of an inevitability. You get a Divine Sense to help you track down Ravana, and can Lay on Hands for yet another way to heal yourself or other party members.

7. Paladin 2: Paladins also get a fighting style, so grab Dueling again, for the same reasons we got it in the first place. You can also cast and prepare another set of Spells, using your Charisma to cast. If you’re sick of casting spells though, you can also use your spell slots for Divine Smites, adding extra radiant damage to a melee attack, and even more to fiends and the undead.

Some first level spells to look out for are Command for some of the same reason as Arjuna and Karna- if someone of sufficient power says something’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. You can also use Heroism to help your party even more and Divine Favor to give you a bit of a smite even on thrown attacks.

8. Paladin 3: Your defining trait is your endless search for your wife, so the Devotion oath is a pretty solid pick. You get some Oath Spells about beating up demons that are always prepared for you, as well as two ways to Channel Divinity. Sacred Weapon adds your charisma modifier to attack rolls with a weapon, and turns the weapon magical for the duration. This also ends if you stop holding the weapon, so again, it doesn’t fit with throwing it around. You can also Turn the Unholy, forcing Fiends and Undead that fail a wisdom saving throw to run away until it takes damage.

We’re already eight levels in, but we have like one monkey! That’s not an army! That’s unacceptable, someone should do something about that.

9. Ranger 1: If we want animal sidekicks, Ranger’s the best option. At first level you get a skill proficiency, so grab Stealth so you can sneak up on your arch-monkey-enemies. You also have a Favored Foe, marking a creature upon attacking it for up to a minute with concentration. Then, once per turn you deal an extra 1d4 damage to that enemy. You can mark enemies this way a number of times per long rest equal to your proficiency bonus. You’re also a Deft Explorer, doubling your proficiency in Animal Handling. You can literally talk to the little bastards, that’ll give you quite the edge.

10. Ranger 2: Being a second level ranger nets you a third fighting style; the Archery style gives your ranged attacks (including thrown weapons) a +2 to hit. You also get a third Spell list, which uses Wisdom to cast. Grab Longstrider and Zephyr Strike for ways to stay mobile and still deal damage.

11. Ranger 3: Be honest, you thought we were going beastmaster, didn’t you? Like we said earlier, one monkey does not an army make, and Swarmkeeper fairs much better with multiclassing anyway. You have a Primal Awareness letting you Speak with Animals either as a normal spell or once per long rest you can cast it for free. Swarmkeepers also get Swarmkeeper Magic, which is just an extended spell list. We’ll get into those with the regular spell you’re learning this level. Last but not least is the feature swarmkeepers are named for, the Gathered Swarm. You now have countless pygmy marmosets swarming over your body at all times. That’s a class feature, I am so sorry. It’s not all bad news though, because after hitting a creature with any attack, your swarm can deal extra damage, push the target 15′ in any direction if they fail a strength save, or move you 5′ in any direction. Save yourself a bonus action by throwing a weapon at an enemy, closing the gap with your swarm, then getting it back the old fashioned way!

You get Mage Hand as part of being a swarmkeeper, and it’s flavored as Literally Just a Monkey. You also learn Faerie Fire this way, and your normal spell this level is Animal Friendship. If they’re going to be crawling all over you, it’s best to stay on their good side.

12. Paladin 4: Now that we finally have your base kit set up, we can revisit some of your classes. Use this ASI to round up your Strength for stronger hits, and Charisma for more and better paladin spells. This is also a secret tool that will help us out in a little bit.

13. Paladin 5: The extra attack you get this level is a lie; it doesn’t stack with your fighter extra attack. The good news is you get second level spells this level as well, so it’s not a complete waste. You get Lesser Restoration and Zone of Truth as oath spells.

14. Paladin 6: Our last stop in the paladin class gives you an Aura of Protection, increasing all your saving throws (as well as any ally within 10 feet of you) by your charisma modifier.

15. Ranger 4: Since we don’t have to worry about your concentration saves anymore, we can just go for more health. Use this ASI to get the Tough feat, for an extra 2 HP per level.

16. Ranger 5: Once again, you get another useless extra attack, and once again you also get second level spells. You can Summon Beast to make a monkey that will be pretty scary when you get a fourth level spell slot at 17th level. You can also make Webs, or use Beast Sense once a day for free. Don’t ask what the webs are made out of.

17. Ranger 6: Your Favored Foe damage ramps up to 1d6, and you’re now Roving, meaning your movement speed increases, and you gain a climbing and swimming speed. Monkeys are pretty agile, you need to be able to keep up with them.

18. Fighter 6: We’re ending this build where we began, with the fighter class. Use this ASI for even more Charisma for better saves, more spells, and a more winning smile.

19. Fighter 7: Seventh level eldritch knights know War Magic, meaning that if you use a cantrip as your main action, you can still attack as a bonus action. I’m not sure why you’d message someone in the middle of battle, but here you go.

You also get second level spells, for the third time. Any evocation or abjuration spell is good here, but I chose Gust of Wind because it’s hard to throw weapons around if enemies are getting close to you.

20. Your capstone feature is another ASI, so grab the Piercer feat to round up your Dexterity and make your sword just a little more deadly. Once per turn, you can reroll a piercing damage die, and your critical hits deal a little more piercing damage.

Pros:

Despite your patchwork class levels, one thing that really shines through is your support abilities. Your Aura of Protection offers a solid +3 to all saves within 10′ of you, and you have multiple ways to heal other party members in a pinch.

You can also deal pretty dependable damage, thanks to your multitude of fighting styles mixing together to overcome your low ability scores. Despite having a strength of 16, you can aim your throws like you have a 20, and deal damage like you have a 24. You also have plenty of ways to incrementally add damage to each attack. Adding Favored Foe, smites, and your swarm damage to your attack racks up damage quickly.

You’ve got solid movement options, both for yourself and enemies. Being able to shove enemies around and into hazards with your swarm is a huge game changer.

Cons:

Eldritch Knights use their bonus action to resummon their weapon. Rangers use it to apply Favored Foe. Paladins use it for smites. Basically what I’m saying is your bonus action is super crowded, and it’s nearly impossible for you to go a round in combat without either holding back or making a tough decision about what to use it on.

If you couldn’t tell from the introduction, you depend on a ton of ability scores, to the point that constitution was the safest thing to dump early on. Even now, most of your spells aren’t particularly strong.

A lot of this build was about making a throwing weapon powerful, and thrown weapons don’t gel with paladins at all. It breaks your Channel Divinity and can’t be used with smites, limiting your power.

#D&D 5e #Fate Grand Order #FGO #Rama #Fate and Phantasms

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thecreaturecodex · 4 years

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Quori, Kalaraq

“Nightmare Creature 3″ © Wizards of the Coast, by Christopher Stevens and Christine Choi. Accessed at the artist’s deviantArt here

[Commissioned by @coldbloodassassin. The kalaraq is one of three quori to appear in the 5e book Eberron: Rising From the Last War. I’m not as unimpressed by its appearance there as I am for the hashalaq, but it looks too normal, for lack of a better word. I did take the 5e version’s ability to create a deadly halo of eyes, as opposed to actually turning into a swarm of eyes, which the original did. It’s already a complicated creature; I wanted to make it a little simpler where I could.]

Quori, Kalaraq CR 20 LE Outsider (extraplanar) This creature appears as a vaguely humanoid outline of shadow, haloed with a nimbus of light. Its form warps and contorts as you view it. Surrounding the creature’s body are rings of spectral eyes, which pop in and out of reality like soap bubbles.

Kalaraq quori are the most powerful members of the Dreaming Dark, excluding sinister rumors of quori autocrats. Appropriately, they represent ambition and the desire to rule over others. The eyes that encircle their bodies are taken from their subjects and slaves. Whenever a creature does as a kalaraq desires, the monster gains another eye, although these often come and go rapidly. Eyes are permanently formed as the kalaraq eats the minds of other creatures. Its very touch wipes brains clean—those that succumb to a kalaraq’s blows find their memories and resolve draining away and adding to the creature’s formidable intellect. They enjoy using these memories as weapons, taunting their enemies by conjuring the faces or voices of loved ones or by revealing embarrassing or harmful secrets.

Kalaraqs seek to own creatures one way or another—to either enslave their bodies and minds as thralls, or to consume them and add their memories to its own. A kalaraq has a wide array of mind-influencing magic to weaken its prey and ready them for the harvest, and can empower their many eyes with magical force in order to turn them into a weapon. A kalaraq may begin combat with a few relatively weaker attacks, such as undercast psychic spells, in order to test the strength of their enemies. Those that the kalaraq is unimpressed by have their minds devoured. Those that it finds interesting may become permanent slaves. A kalaraq is rarely found without at least one of its thralls, and often chooses creatures to master that compensate for its weaknesses. Like many quori, a kalaraq finds little dishonor in a necessary retreat, but will endeavor all the more violently to destroy anything that gets the upper hand against it.

Each kalaraq commands a territory of the Dimension of Dreams, and lesser quori serve it as mortal vassals serve dukes and earls. Kalaraqs meet together in council, but each is suspicious and paranoid of the others, and as such rarely leave their territories unless under the direst of straits. They may use some of their mind seeded thralls as intermediaries or representatives, especially on other planes or as spies in the territories of other kalaraqs. A kalaraq sends its eyes around it in all directions, and so keeps tabs on all of its subjects constantly.

Kalaraq CR 20 XP 307,200 LE Medium outsider (evil, extraplanar, incorporeal, lawful, quori) Init +16; Senses all-around vision, darkvision 60 ft., Perception +28, see in darkness, true seeing Defense AC 34, touch 30, flat-footed 34 (+11 Dex, +1 dodge, +9 deflection, +4 armor) hp 310 (20d10+200); regeneration 5 (good and silver) Fort +16, Ref +23, Will +20 DR 15/good and silver; Immune charm, fear and sleep effects, incorporeal; Resist acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10; SR 31 Defensive Abilities uncanny dodge Offense Speed fly 60 ft. (perfect) Melee 2 touches +31 (5d6+10 force plus mind drain) Psychic Magic CL 20th, concentration +29 35 PE—ego whip V (7 PE, DC 26), greater synaptic pulse (5 PE, DC 24), insanity (7 PE, DC 26), mind thrust VI (6 PE, DC 25), mindlink (1 PE, DC 19), primal regression (6 PE, DC 25), psychic crush III (7 PE, DC 26) Special Attacks invade dreams, mind seed, possession, swarm of eyes Spell-like Abilities CL 20th, concentration +29 Constant—mage armor, true seeing At will—charm monster (DC 23), confusion (DC 23), greater dispel magic, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. objects only), persistent image (DC 24), telekinesis (DC 24) 3/day— empowered chain lightning (DC 25), dream, quickened improved invisibility, nightmare (DC 24), veil (DC 25, self only) 1/day—gate, greater restoration, mind blank (self only) Statistics Str -, Dex 32, Con 30, Int 25, Wis 27, Cha 28 Base Atk +20; CMB -; CMD 51 Feats Combat Expertise, Dodge, Empower SLA (chain lightning), Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Mobility, Quicken Spell-like Ability (improved invisibility), Spring Attack, Weapon Finesse, Whirlwind Attack Skills Bluff +29, Diplomacy +29, Disguise +29, Fly +36. Intimidate +29, Knowledge (arcana, dungeoneering, nobility, planes, religion) +28, Perception +28, Sense Motive +28, Spellcraft +27, Stealth +31 Languages Common, Infernal, Quori, telepathy 100 ft. SQ endless expertise, eye spies, improved ghost touch, no breath, sound mimicry (voices) Ecology Environment any land or underground (Dimension of Dreams) Organization solitary or court (1 plus 1-9 dominated thralls) Treasure standard Special Abilities Endless Expertise (Ex) A kalaraq treats all Knowledge skills as class skills, and can make Knowledge checks untrained without penalty. Eye Spies (Su) A kalaraq can send out 20 eyes, as per a greater prying eyes spell, once per day. These eyes are permanent until they are destroyed or return to the kalaraq. Improved Ghost Touch (Su) A kalaraq can manipulate solid objects of up to 50 pounds of weight as if they had the ghost touch special quality. Invade Dreams (Su) A creature that fails its save against a kalaraq’s nightmare spell-like ability must succeed a DC 29 Will save or take 1d6 points of Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma damage. The save DC is Charisma based. Mind Drain (Su) A creature touched by a kalaraq quori must succeed a DC 29 Will save or take 2d4 points of Wisdom drain. A kalaraq heals 5 hit points every time it deals Wisdom drain, and can instantaneously sift through its victim’s memories, as per a mind probe (CL 20th) spell, with no additional Will save. A creature reduced to 0 Wisdom is slain and absorbed into the quori. It gains the effects of a heal spell (CL 20th), and the creature cannot be brought back to life by any means unless the quori is slain. This is a mind-influencing effect, and the save DC is Charisma based. Mind Seed (Su) As a standard action three times per day, a kalaraq can attempt to completely take over another creature’s mind with a touch. If the creature fails a DC 29 Will save, it is under the effects of a dominate monster with a permanent duration. The creature does not gain additional saves against out-of-character actions, and can make a saving throw against the same DC to resist a self-destructive action. If it succeeds this save, the effect is not broken, but it refuses to carry out that order. This control is subtle—to detect it with a Sense Motive check, a creature must oppose the kalaraq’s Bluff. A kalaraq may communicate telepathically with any of its mind seeded creatures over any distance, and even across planar boundaries. A kalaraq may have a number of creatures under its control equal to its Charisma modifier. If it implants its mind seed in another creature beyond this limit, it must choose one creature to release from its control. That creature has no memory of any actions taken while under this effect. This is a mind-influencing compulsion effect, and the save DC is Charisma based. Swarm of Eyes (Su) Once every 1d4 rounds, a kalaraq quori can cause the eyes of its body to swirl violently in a 30 foot radius around it. All creatures in this radius take 15d6 points of force damage and are blinded for 1 minute. A successful DC 30 Fortitude save halves the damage and negates the blinded condition. The save DC is Constitution based.

#kalaraq #quori #eberron #pathfinder 1e #commissions

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chemicalmagecraft · 4 years

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Foresight is 20/20 Chapter 14

Hinata's palm struck me in the jaw, making me grunt. "Kick his ass, Hina-chan!" Kurama cheered from the sidelines. It was nice seeing how well those two were getting along, even if it meant him encouraging her to beat me up. The two of them actually helped each other a lot. Hinata warmed Kurama up to humankind and got him to be slightly less angry, while Kurama made sure to rub some of his "I'm better than you lousy humans" pride off on her, causing her to be a bit more confident. Plus he liked imparting little bits of arcane knowledge upon his favorite human, meaning...

I just barely noticed with my chakra sense that Hinata was leaking a small amount of chakra out of her fingertips, so I jumped back. Unfortunately, I'd determined with my eyes that expressing too much interest in obtaining the Byakugan with my chakra assimilation would only cause most of the clan to grow wary of me, so I didn't have the ability to actually see her jutsu, but at least I knew to stay away.

I made a few seals, but had to stop when the barely-there chakra rushed me. Even though I moved my arms the chakra swerved faster than I thought it would, causing my left arm to go completely numb. "Ow," I said despite the fact that the problem was that I couldn't feel any pain in my arm. "You're getting faster with that, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Hina-chan said. "Kurama-chan helped me figure it out."

I tried to move my arm, but couldn't. Eight Trigrams Heavenly Will as it was called by most of the family, or much less pretentiously Tenketsu Puppetry Jutsu by Hinata, was a jutsu Hinata invented by combining the basics of Juken that she was learning with the chakra threads I'd showed her how to make and then some sort of advice from Kurama. In addition to acting like a ranged, though technically much less potent, version of Juken, the threads stayed inside the tenketsu of the victim meaning that not only was any recovery from the attack blocked until they were removed but she could also, as her name for it suggested, puppeteer my arm.

"Impressive, sis, but you know that that doesn't exactly work on me." I raised my right pointer finger, causing a single link of yellow chain to form on it. With a bit of concentration, I changed the yellow Adamantine Sealing Chain to a shadowy purple permutation, Adamantine Destruction Chain. I swiped at roughly where I felt the chakra threads with it, managing to snap all of them and suck the foreign chakra from my body.

I'd figured out that my assimilation could also adapt powers that were compatible enough together. I was already working under the assumption that I couldn't just make new elements by combining people's affinities because that would be broken, but I did alchemize Ai's Adamantine Sealing Chain together with the Kikaichu's Parasitic Destruction to make chains that could drain chakra as well as disrupt it for some extra chakra cost. Plus, the disruption and absorption effects synergized, enhancing each other's performance. And there was also the || combination, Parasitic Sealing, which allowed me to cover my body in an aura that disrupts and absorbs chakra. Though it was harder to do than Adamantine Destruction and wasn't perfect...

But I digress. I pointed the chain link at Hinata, shooting an entire chain at her. The general consensus of just about anyone who I used my special chains on was that if I got a grab in the fight was over. Sure, I could still only have more than a few links out for a few seconds without any boost before I got super tired, but between the draining and the throw I could easily pull off with the chains I only needed one good grab to wear down even adults. At least enough to jump in with a few cheap hits to finish them off. Hinata obviously knew this by now, so she ducked under my chain, then rolled out of the way when I tried to pin her to the ground.

I was expecting her to do that, though, and had already prepped my next jutsu. Metal marbles, designed so I could hurt but not kill with my magnet release, scored hits on her side. I charged, and she blocked my foot with her hand. I winced, realizing my mistake when my leg turned numb from the near-instantaneous point-blank Heavenly Will. I used my demon gem-based flight to try to kick her with my other foot, but she got it before I could.

"Full body takeover, eh?" I asked as the rest of my body below my neck was wrested from my control. Really, having a relatively non-draining jutsu that might as well be an automatic win to anyone in melee distance is even more broken than I am...

"Sorry, but can I practice this for a bit?"

I tried to shrug, but remembered the futility. "Go ahead. I still have control over my demon gems, so I can catch myself if you slip up." Hinata spent the rest of the sparring session finding stupid dances to make me do, egged on by Kurama. I did get her to work on her proxy chakra control a bit, though. She could almost make me do Juken by the end. And I could almost do Juken by the end.

kukukuku~

Tenten said something, probably about how much it stank that we had to go to school, as we walked ourselves to school. Well, they walked and I floated because I actually may or may not have a bit of trouble matching other people's walking paces, especially if I'm not paying too much attention... I didn't know what she was saying, though. I was thinking. I mumbled something in response and pulled out my sealing notebook and note-taking pencil, which I used to write down the formula I thought of. I tuned out their conversation even more as I sketched the complex seal down as best I could.

"You messed up a little there," Tenten said as I was finishing off the last strokes.

"Hm?" I asked.

She pointed to one of the runes and oh my that was very wrong. "I'm not sure, but I think it'll just tear a hole in the fabric of space if you don't fix that stabilizing rune." I thanked her and hurriedly fixed it.

"I feel like maybe you should not write down a seal that could potentially tear a hole in the fabric of space itself until you're absolutely sure it won't do that?" Neji said with more than a little concern.

To be honest, I didn't blame him, but... "Graphite's pretty much the worst for making seals," I explained, "which means that it's really good for practicing making the more dangerous seals because it's almost impossible to activate it accidentally. Unless you're a jinchuriki, maybe, but even then you'd probably have to be pretty distracted."

"Well why didn't you have me use a pencil when you were trying to teach me seals, then?"

Finished, I stowed the notebook. "Okay in my defense I wasn't expecting you to screw up the easiest seal in the book when given detailed instructions, much less screw it up enough to accidentally make an incredibly simplified explosive seal. And with the last seal I had you do, I think we both know that you should always assume that there will be an explosion when making a paper bomb."

I tried to teach Neji fuinjutsu once. Turns out he's literally the worst at it. He somehow managed to turn a basic light seal into a thankfully tiny bomb with only a big enough blast radius to burn itself off of whatever it's written on with a noise like a firecracker, which apparently was a theme with him. No matter what, he would always make bombs out of whatever seal I gave him. And then, when I tried to have him purposefully make a bomb, hoping that maybe he was just some sort of bomb savant, he somehow managed to make a seal tag that teleported itself and whatever it was touching to a random place within a fifty meter radius. Which, okay, free spacetime ninjutsu, but how? "I'm still scratching my head on how you managed to make a short-range teleport out of a bomb. Speaking of, what's your mom make of it, Tenten?"

She snorted. "She's still on that high from the wedding, so she's been more concentrated with being all lovey-dovey with Mommy than looking over the seal, but she did say to never let Neji near a seal again when I told her it was supposed to be a paper bomb."

"It wasn't really that bad, was it?" Neji asked.

Tenten laughed and shook her head. "Not at all, Neji..."

"...It's much worse," I finished her sentence with a slight grin. We high-fived. "When I looked at the seal you were making with my eyes, I saw a lot of different possibilities. Random teleportation was one of the better ones. You don't want to know what the worse ones were."

"Right." He didn't believe me. To be fair, I did tend to mess with him... And was messing with him. "So what's the seal you were working on supposed to do? I'm assuming it's somehow related to spacetime."

"Yeah, normally when people screw up seals that have nothing to do with spacetime, the result doesn't do anything to the fabric of reality," Tenten said, elbowing Neji.

"Shut it."

I shrugged. "You're right, though. It was most certainly a spacetime seal."

"Yeah, it looked a bit like an object summoning seal, but a little different," Tenten said. "Was it meant to swap objects between two paired seals?"

"Close. My hope is that it'll form a portal between two locations when chakra's input on both ends, and that it's compatible with demon sage chakra. It's still a little rough around the edges, though."

"Let me guess, secret base," Tenten said.

I brushed my hand through my hair. I was combing it less now, so it was a bit curlier and fluffier. And it was getting so long that my bangs started falling over my left eye more. I loved the way it looked, though. "Obviously. In fact, I have an agent working on finding the location right now. Haven't found anything good yet, though."

"How do you have an agent?" Neji asked me.

"Magic." I noticed a certain building and pointed at it. "Hey, isn't that the school? That looks like a school."

"Yup, that's the school," Tenten said. "Mommy took me here a lot. Mama's job is a little less kid-friendly, plus the teachers looked after me when I didn't want to sit through Mommy's classes."

"Oh right," I said. "Your mom's a teacher."

"Yeah, I said that earlier, weren't you paying attention?"

Something about that sentence felt a little doomy, though I couldn't tell why. "No, I was thinking about how to breach through spacetime to reach another location without accidentally summoning Mega Neo Beqthulhuzillaon, Destroyer of Souls and Eater of Worlds."

"Is that an actual concern?" Neji asked. "Are you messing with us or could you have actually summoned some sort of eldritch horror monster?"

I smirked. "You should know the answer to that question by now. I'm assuming you know the way, Tenten?"

"Duh."

kukukuku~

I tried very hard not to groan. "My name is Uzumaki Tenko," our teacher for the next few years said, writing it on the chalkboard. God I hate chalkboards. If I were Hokage I'd make chalkboards illegal. Which is probably one of the reasons I should not be Hokage, actually... "I look forward to teaching you." I slumped in my seat. It's not that I didn't like her. Tenko was really nice. No, the problem was that she knew I was a literal genius relative to my age level, and with that comes... expectations...

Before, my plan was to just rest on my near-complete high school-level education to put the bare minimum amount of work into the actual academic parts of ninja school, which considering what grades I got with how little effort I put into school before would've made me best in class or thereabouts already. But Tenko already saw me put actual effort into something, meaning she might have been able to tell when I didn't put in the work. So if I didn't want to hear about it from her and Tenten both I'd have to at least half-ass it. Ugh...

I sound like Shikamaru, don't I?

"Didn't I tell you she was going to be our teacher earlier?" Tenten muttered to me. I guess that was what I missed... "And why are you so annoyed Mommy's your teacher?"

"Because she'll actually care if I don't put any effort into my work," I whispered back.

"How terrible," Neji snarked. I flicked him with natural energy. Using natural energy without sage mode may have been a lot weaker, but I could at least flick someone sitting right next to me hard enough to feel. He flicked me back, though. My Neji may have been completely seal-illiterate, but he was just as much of a ninjutsu genius as in canon, and figured out how to feel and manipulate natural energy just by watching me do it, though he hadn't quite managed sage mode yet. We proceeded to engage in invisible and incredibly petty warfare that Tenko would probably have stopped if she were a sensor. Luckily, Tenten was too amused to turn us in. She almost gave us away with her giggling, though.

"Now, why don't you introduce yourselves?" I'm not saying that I completely tuned everyone's introductions out, but I am saying that the only names that I retained aside from Hyuga Neji, Uzumaki Tenten, and Rock Lee was someone from the Yamanaka family whose given name was Kaede. Kaede is a pretty awesome name. Why couldn't I have been a Kaede?

"Hello. My name is Hyuga Kouki," I said when it was my turn. "The reason why I don't look like Neji despite us having the same family name is because he's adopted."

"What!?" Neji spluttered. "No! You're the adopted one!"

"It's nice to meet you," I halfheartedly finished, pretending Neji said nothing. He flicked me for my troubles when I sat down. I flicked back, and as if someone assassinated a duke or something, Flick War II began.

kukukuku~

"Just remember that these are friendly matches," Tenko said when we were all sitting on the ground by the sparring ring. "If I feel like someone is being hurt too badly, I'll stop it there. And once more, it's taijutsu only."

"Why'd you look at me when you said that?" I asked. Her glare turned a little more accusatory. I pouted. "I wasn't gonna do it anyway..."

"Right," she said, turning away from me. "You may now look at the slips of paper I gave you. Who has one?" Tenten and a boy I should probably have known the name of raised their hands. "You two are first. And Tenten, try not to rough him up too badly, okay, sweetie?"

The unnamed kid grinned maliciously. "I hope teach doesn't get too angry after I beat up her precious daughter." Neji and I exchanged a look and snickered. Right, like that kid stood a chance. When they were told to start, the kid jumped in for a punch. Tenten dodged easily and shoved him to the side. He stumbled and fell.

"Get him with your Uzumaki strength, Tenten," I cheered dully.

She scowled at me. "For the last time!" Tenten shouted, then picked up the nearest object. Namely the unnamed kid. "I'm not!" She hoisted her hapless victim above her head. "Freakishly strong!" She threw Hapless Victim at me. Without even blinking, I deployed the demon gems hanging from my earlobes. One formed a springy barrier in front of me that safely absorbed the impact of the collision without too much damage to Hapless, while the other formed a barrier under him to cushion his fall.

"I have no idea why I would think that," I said as I recalled my gems. "Truly, your ability to lift over your body weight in small child despite being yourself a small child is totally unremarkable." She blushed and growled at me.

"Kouki, please stop antagonizing Tenten," Tenko said. "The match is over, Tenten wins."

"How did you do that?" another small child I probably should've known the name of asked me.

"Magic."

Hapless (I was now trying to commit his face and chakra signature to memory so I could keep calling him that) groaned and sat up. "I thought we weren't allowed to use jutsu!" he complained.

"You weren't," I said. "The Uzumaki bloodline manifests itself passively in the form of enhanced vitality and strength, something that Tenten definitely has even if she doesn't quite have the traditional looks."

"HEY!"

"So really, you didn't stand a chance."

Hapless stomped off to his seat and the rounds began again. After a few, it was my turn, as well as, "coincidentally" enough, a young Rock Lee.

"Remember, no jutsu," Tenko reminded me.

"Yeah, yeah," I said, then got into my fighting stan- "Ah, crud," I muttered, realizing that I had not been doing regular old sparring enough. I couldn't even remember the last time I'd actually practiced fighting someone without ninjutsu or genjutsu.

"Start."

I dodged a really shoddy punch. To be honest, it was pretty weird seeing Lee suck at taijutsu. Very lucky for me, but weird. I leaned away from another punch, then caught his arm. "Stop," I commanded. I uncurled his fist, removed his thumb from his palm, and then forced his hand into a proper fist. "It's a common mistake," I assured him. "If you punch someone with your fingers around your thumb, you'll probably break it. Oh, and hit me with those two big knuckles, not the entire fist." When I released him, he cautiously punched me. "Good," I said after catching his hand with mine. "However, I'm afraid that now I have to..." I twisted around and slung his arm over my shoulder in an attempt to suplex him or something. "Finish you!" Key word being attempt... I may or may not have only lifted him onto my back...

"I don't think you did what you were attempting to do..." he said.

"Stupid physics. I always hated that subject..." I shrugged and just dropped backwards in what I hoped looked like a planned move. I really needed to work on my taijutsu...

"Okay, that was not at all what I was expecting..." Tenko sighed. "Kouki wins, I guess..."

"You okay?" I asked as I got off Lee.

He sighed. "I am fine..."

The third noteworthy match was Neji versus Yamanaka Kaede, a hotblooded girl with orange hair like that one Fu guy and red eyes. While Neji was technically a pseudo jinchuriki by now from my experiments, his powers were weird and technically even his "passive" strength would be considered an active jutsu, especially because he could turn it off. The Yamanaka, on the other hand, was surprisingly strong for a Yamanaka. Maybe she was part Uzumaki? She did have red hair. At any rate, while Neji was almost overpowered at one point, he beat her. He was a genius after all.

kukukuku~

"Hey," I said, then sat down on the floor next to Lee. Okay, I actually floated just a bit off the ground, but the sentiment was there... "Sorry about beating you so bad."

He sighed. "No, it's okay... I already knew I would not do well here. I cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu, and you saw how my taijutsu is..."

"Can you channel chakra into things?" I asked. I really wanted to know what would happen if I started him off early.

"I can, but no matter how hard I try, I will not be able to use a jutsu. The doctor said that there is a problem with my chakra coils, so I am incapable of molding my chakra into jutsu..."

I shrugged. "Not exactly a dealbreaker, if you're willing to work extra hard."

"What do you mean?"

I summoned my crystal ball. Yeah, I know it's kind of a stereotype, but I'd made the jutsu from that crystal ball jutsu Sarutobi used to see Naruto in the first episode, plus it did kinda look cool. "Watch this." I waved my hands over the floating crystal ball, casting the jutsu. Despite not activating my Shoraigan, the crystal ball changed to show another location. By using a physical medium, I could show my vision to others and didn't have the same backlash, though with the downside that it wasn't private and I didn't get nearly as much information.

"See that man?" I said, pointing to Gai training. "He used to be about where you are, but now he's one of the most dangerous shinobi in Konoha through taijutsu alone. Do you want to know how?" I put away the ball and looked at Lee. His eyes said yes. "An insane amount of practice, training, and diligence, combined with challenging himself to do something even more difficult whenever he fails a training exercise. You should probably take time to rest every once in a while, especially at first to keep from permanently damaging your body, but I see a fire in you. There's no reason why you couldn't become as good as or perhaps even better than him one day."

There were stars in his eyes, and he was almost crying. "Do you think so?"

I gave him a small grin. "I know so. Also..." I pulled out the other thing I had for him. "This is a bit of a beginner's fuinjutsu kit, at least my version of it. Try and see if you have some aptitude for it. You may not be able to inscribe seals with chakra alone, but if you pick up enough you might be able to work wonders with seals." Imagine Rock Lee with the ability to make and use seals. To be honest I have no clue what would happen but I do know it would be amazing.

He stood up, energized, and gave me a deep bow. "Thank you very much! I will make sure to become a splendid ninja!"

My grin was genuine. "I'm sure you will."

kukukuku~

Usagi

I lurched along the dirt path. My new body of stone and earth was not suitable for travel in the slightest, but I had no other alternatives. It seemed that compatibility with myself was not quite as common outside of Konoha as I assumed it was at first, and the rabbit was either a stroke of luck on my part or perhaps somehow related to how Kurama was present in End Valley at one point. Perhaps his chakra acted as a primer. Still, I did sense a few scattered people in small villages who had compatibility, though I couldn't in good conscience simply abduct and kill an innocent person. I needed to find a bandit with compatibility.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" a source of malicious intent jeered as two men appeared from behind trees. Speak of the devil... The two bandits, however, were nowhere near compatible.

"There's a toll to use this road," the other bandit said, brandishing his sickle. They had yet to realize my anomalous existence on account of the cloak, gloves, and mask I had fashioned for myself.

"Oh," I said. "I do apologize. I was not made aware of the toll. You really should put up a sign."

"You gettin' smart with us?" the first bandit asked. "We'll rough you up!" I probably didn't look like much of a threat either. The body I'd formed for myself was rather on the short side, to save energy. It was still definitely in the adult range, but not by much.

"You two are bandits, aren't you?" I asked. I already knew the answer, of course.

"Of course we're bandits, now give us all your loot!" The sickle-wielding bandit rushed me. That was a mistake. My body became fluid, the eyeholes of my mask gained two red lights where my eyes should have been, and I dodged effortlessly. I removed one of my gloves and placed my hand on his face, my hand like a lunging viper.

"Do you take chakra instead?" I asked, then infused his body with demon sage chakra. He dropped his weapon as his brain itself was altered in such a way that, while he didn't technically die, he certainly couldn't have been said to have been truly alive anymore. I removed my hand, revealing red markings across his face.

"What the hell!?" the other bandit shrieked. Without turning to him, I sent a signal to my new thrall. The bandit that I had just "killed" snarled like a beast and rushed at him. The... I suppose the best word for it would have been "zombie" bit the man on his arm with partially crystallized teeth. The man shrieked, throwing the zombie away and running in terror. I nodded to myself and split my attention in two, one half of my mind focusing on breaking the zombie down into more demon gems and the other tending to the bandit.

When my zombie bit him it infected him with my chakra, causing the cells in his arm to start to transform into the demon gem-like material that I'd used to zombify his partner. I altered the rate at which the infection spread, causing it to slow near the surface while speeding up within his blood and bones. My hope was that he'd notice the infection, cut his arm off and assume he got it all, then hurry back to his leader while carrying the infection. That would be fun. When I was done with the carrier, I turned my full attention to the zombie, which was almost prepared. With a final command, the corpse disintegrated into red powder. Some of it scattered to the wind, where it would be carried elsewhere. The rest came to me. About half of it went behind my mask, where it bolstered my existing gem. The other half I formed into another gem that I hid within my cloak.

With that done, I placed all of his belongings into a bag I had tied to my makeshift body under the cloak. I wasn't to know fuinjutsu, after all. I continued down the lonely road, ever-so-slightly quicker than I had before.

#naruto #naruto fanfiction #fanfiction #Foresight is 20/20 #F20 CH14

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outsidercocktail · 4 years

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Repost don’t Reblog!

You get sent to the Arknights Universe Isekai style! So how well do you think things would go for you in this Post-Apocalyptic Quirky Fun World?

01. Basics

What Race are you? Ghost Spirit Existential echo created by a cluster of emotions and memories contained within an Originium spike Undisclosed

Where do start from? Ursus

Do you have Oripathy? does it really count as Oripathy if you ARE the Originium? Yes

What Abilities, Skills, Powers, etc do you have?

weapon: none type of arts: intangibility, passive luck manipulation debuffing aura S1L1: auto. boosts attack and defense of nearby operators within range by 10-15%. S2L1: manual. 15-30% chance increased phys dodge. extends range by 1, lowers def and atk of all enemies within that range by 15-30%. trait: 50% chance to dodge physical attacks and is less likely to be targeted by enemies. class: reunion boss specialist tags: melee, debuff phys strength: normal mobility: normal phys resistance: normal tactical acumen: excellent combat skill: normal arts assimilation: yes decent

How do you survive?

dodge shenanigans, but it’s less effective against arts-using enemies. would need to be paired with melee units, snipers, or healers to stay alive if caster enemies are expected or on the field.

Do you seek out a Faction, or try to join Reunion or Rhodes Island?

first come, first serve. it’s either be reunion or rhodes, whichever of the two finds the originium cluster that spawned me first.

02. Interpersonal

Who you do (HOPEFULLY) run into first?

honestly, anyone who doesn’t shoot first and ask questions later... reunion would be worst-case scenario in those terms, save for like... maybe Frostnova or Patriot. rhodes is a lot better as long as it’s not say... someone completely terrifying like lappland.

Who do you think you’d be best friends with?

friends? virtually anyone. best friends? ehh... good question. hmm... i’m more like Exu, who while very friendly tends to keep people at arm’s length. so that’s a very situational answer.

Who would you most likely get into conflict with?

not many, i can typically roll with just about any personality that comes my way. may get unsettled by characters with very high strung or unpleasant personalities. People who cause a lot of stress.

Who would be a (HOPEFUL) love -interest for you?

i am very gay but also ace as heck, and also extremely paranoid and cautious about things like love and romance, so i’d have no preferences or expectations in that regard.

Who would you be rivals with?

friendly rival or hostile rivalry? friendly rivalry, shamare probably. possibly gitano. hostile, literally anyone who goes out of their way to be an unpleasant personality.

What is your dream (un)wanted harem?

i’d feel pretty weird about it, honestly, so dream (un)wanted harem is no harem at all. just give me someone who is comfortable with me, and would love me for me.

03. Direction

What do you do?

just exist. new place, new sights, new experiences. i’d just want to learn. and hoard useless trivia. once i find out about the various conspiracies i’d probably latch onto those and never let go.

If you found a way to return to your world, would you want to?

possibly, no idea. would depend on how my experiences form in that setting, and what could let me go back, how it would happen, and when in time i would reappear. There’s no point in going back if there’s nothing left to go back to, after all.

Tagged By: @ripharm Tagging: steal!

#≺☉≻ || ᵗʰᶦˢ ᵖˡᵃᶜᵉ ᶦˢ ᵐᵒʳᵉ ᵛᵃᵍᵘᵉ ᵗʰᵃⁿ ᵃⁿʸ ᵒᵗʰᵉʳ :: ooc #≺☉≻ || ˢᵘʳᵉ ʷʰʸ ⁿᵒᵗ :: meme #me: mfw 'ghost' is not an option #also me: how do i MAKE this an option

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gwydionae · 4 years

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1, 3, 5, 12, 17 and 20? :3

(Wooo, thanks! :D)

1. most memorable crit fail?

Ok, so, in this scenario, between my friend and I, we had, like, 4 crit fails. XD

My friend’s character - D - had just been killed, brought back as an undead, and was on her own stuck at the top of a burning tower completely naked. She fails her check to climb down and winds up stuck in a tree, also managing to fail another check that causes her to drop her clothes and hang suspended by one leg upside down. Meanwhile, my character - Gwy - is trying to find her (much to D’s dismay considering her current situation lol), and would have... if she also hadn’t failed her check and wound up face down in the dirt after climbing over the outer wall. D manages to get herself down, but she fails again on the landing, and this normally very dexterous halfling is lying in mud completely naked. After this massively intense stuff with D, it was just a super silly comedy of errors (and kind of sums up our campaign tbh LOL).

3. what race and class are you itching to play but haven’t yet?

Oooh, I really wanna play both Bard and Sorcerer!! I love how much the Jack of All Trades and Expertise Bard class features boost skill checks, and how they can be both melee fighter and magic user. And I really love spells, and prefer Charisma to Int and Wis as well as sorcery points to the Warlock system, so Sorcerer seems like fun. As for race, anything non-human. XD

5. a fun fact about your character?

...I don’t know that it’s “fun” necessarily, but it did make for interesting character development, lol. To come clean, I don’t actually play “DnD” - we play Pathfinder, though the DM has a tendency to ignore some PF rules and use some DnD, so it’s kind of a mix. Anyway, I point this out because while it’s near impossible to create a useless character in DnD, that is not the case in Pathfinder, and I - not knowing what I was doing - created a druid that would only be allowed to use cantrips and 1 level spells for a long time because her Wis was so low. XD We started at level 3. I did not notice until level 5. LOL

So here is my poor gnome druid who can’t hit the broad side of a barn, is clumsy as all heck, AND can’t even cast spells. I created her pretty peppy and upbeat, but, well, when anyone fails at literally everything they try to do... Thankfully my DM was nice and when I pointed out what I’d done, he worked with me to have Gwy take off for a bit to train while I played another character (and fixed her ability scores to be druid friendly XD). She is now an extremely not confident and somewhat depressed but capable gnome druid. XD

12. how long have you been playing dnd for?

My friends and I started almost 3 years ago now! It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but I’m very glad to have gotten the opportunity - it’s super fun!

17. describe a near-death experience.

HOO BOY. Gwy has had many, but her first is the most memorable. See, I was not super familiar with DnD when I started - I’d been keeping up with, like, one or two streamed shows, and neither of them played with injuries. I honestly didn’t even know that was a thing. So when we’re facing down the first big boss and they land a crit on me and bite Gwy’s legs off, uh, I was stunned to say the least. XD I thought I was going to have to make a new character despite Gwy not being dead as it would take a long time for her to get the money to pay for prosthetics (as she was super poor) and then she’d have to go through physical therapy (being a newer DM himself, he avoided magic, so I didn’t think that an option). But in the end he was nice, and for her help defeating the big boss she was gifted magical prosthetics, and it’s become a key feature to her character (and my DM has lightened up on the injuries XD). I actually even asked to keep them when at the end of a session a few weeks ago he tried to have a powerful NPC give her new legs - I really came to like them!

20. most memorable crit success?

I am going to be sadly honest here - I don’t actually have one. XD Like, my friends and I have gotten them before, but they never seem to come when we need them to. LOL

#thanks for the ask!#this was fun XD #i don't normally talk about gwy but i love her #she's been through so much poor thing lol #but she's about to get a long well deserved break so good for her!

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wearesorcerer · 4 years

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Crossblooded: Abyssal/Shadow

This one is by request of @i-am-the-incendiary-anarchist. If anyone else has a combo they would like me to analyze, just send me an ask.

The short version of this one (flavor aside): Abyssal is primarily focused on Strength-based melee attacks, while Shadow is entirely about Stealth. Focusing on both as-is would be a detriment unless you’re planning to be an Eldritch Knight (or some other gish build). However, if you pick one over the other (in IA’s case, Shadow) and use the other more as a supplement, then you’ll end up with a couple of interesting benefits.

General

There’s basically no overlap between these two bloodlines, which makes this a tricky wicket. It’s not precisely a candidate for the Eldritch Heritage feat chain, however, as you can use one bloodline to shore up issues with the other.

The closest to an overlap is in summoning. The Shadow bloodline provides shadow conjuration as a 9th-level bonus spell and its 20th level ability adds the benefits of Augmented Summoning to that spell. Abyssal’s arcana applies to spells of the summoning subschool, which shadow conjuration is not, but its 15th-level ability (summon an additional creature of the same kind whenever you summon a creature with the Demon subtype or the fiendish template) would because “summon” isn’t quite the same thing as “summoning subschool.” Yes, you’re going to be at an extremely high level before you see any benefit of this overlap.

If there were a feat (probably metamagic) that would allow you to treat Illusion (Shadow) effects as Conjuration (Summoning) ones, you’d gain the benefits of the Abyssal bloodline’s arcana as soon as you learned shadow conjuration, which would be amazing. I am not aware of such a feat, but I have barely started to peruse third-party material and am finding all sorts of tasty trinkets, so it’s possible that there’s something that would do this out there.

Bloodline Features

Bonus Class Skills: Stealth and Knowledge (Planes), natch. Stealth is useful in most campaigns anyway, so it’s good, and Knowledge (Planes) will become mildly relevant when using summoning and shadow conjuration.

Bonus Feats:

Abyssal - Augment Summoning, Cleave, Empower Spell, Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Sunder, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Knowledge [Planes])

Shadow - Acrobatic, Blind-Fight, Dodge, Quick Draw, Silent Spell, Skill Focus (Stealth), Stealthy, Weapon Finesse.

As I said, Abyssal is heavily Strength-focused and Shadow is heavily Dex-focused. IA’s build is mostly Shadow, from what she has said, so feat-wise you’re probably not going to want much from Abyssal besides Augment Summoning (which won’t apply to Shadow spells) and Skill Focus (Knowledge [Planes]).

Bonus Spells: 3rd - cause fear/ray of enfeeblement, 5th - bull’s strength/darkvision, 7th - rage/deeper darkness, 9th - stoneskin/shadow conjuration, 11th - dismissal/shadow evocation, 13th - transformation/shadow walk, 15th - greater teleport/power word blind, 17th - unholy aura/greater shadow evocation, 19th - summon monster ix/shades

The only spell on these lists that isn’t a Sorcerer spell is unholy aura, which in this case I wouldn’t take because you’ll want greater shadow evocation. It’s a little odd that greater shadow conjuration isn’t a bonus spell, but that leaves you open for greater teleport, which is always useful (not that power word blind isn’t). Since this is more Shadow supplemented with Abyssal than the other way around, the only bonus spells I’d take from Abyssal are cause fear (because ray of enfeeblement doesn’t stack with itself) and maybe bull’s strength (because chances are you’ll already have darkvision as a racial trait and will be wanting See in Darkness anyway). Dismissal is fun, but you’ll want shadow evocation first anyway.

Arcana: creatures you summon via a spell of the summoning subschool gain DR (1/2 sorcerer level, minimum 1)/good, but it doesn’t stack with any DR they might already have; gain a circumstance bonus on Stealth = [darkness] spell’s level for 1d4 rounds.

The Abyssal bloodline’s arcana is one of the few things that points that bloodline towards summoning: it combos with the class skill (eh), Augmented Summoning bonus feat (which you need Spell Focus [Conjuration] for anyway), and 15th-level ability. The rest of the bloodline is about Strength.

While the Shadow bloodline’s bonus spells are primarily from the Shadow subschool and do not have the [Darkness] descriptor, that’s not a difficult issue to work around. The arcana synergizes with the bloodline’s 9th-level ability, could with the 1st-level ability (if it weren’t crap), and would with the 3rd-level ability if you could find a way of turning darkvision into See in Darkness.

Bloodline Powers:

1st: Two claws for 3 + Cha mod rounds (1d4 slashing; 5th - magic weapons; 7th - 1d6; 11th - +1d6 fire) or shadowstrike (melee touch attack that deals 1d4 + 1/2 Sor level nonlethal; targets without low-light vision or darkvision are dazzled for 1 minute). Take the claws: unless you find a way to upgrade dazzled to blinded, shadowstrike is worthless. You can deal nonlethal damage with weapon attacks (not sure about spells or energy attacks), so this is a restriction, and dazzled is the least effective condition in the game.

3rd: Electricity resistance 5 and +2 on saves vs. poison (+5 and +2 at 9th level) or Darkvision +30 ft. (+60 at 9th). Unless you’ve managed to gain the See in Darkness ability without a range limitation, the Darkvision is much less situational. Further, if you opt for the Abyssal’s 20th-level ability, the 3rd-level one becomes a dud.

9th: +2 inherent bonus to Str (+4 at 13th, +6 at 17th) or Shadow Well (hide in plain sight as long as you’re within 10 feet of a shadow besides your own, 1/day [+1 use at 17th and 20th] use a standard action to transpose yourself and a willing ally within 60 ft. [or at 13th swap two allies each within 60 ft. of you] as dimension door if all targets are in dim or lower light). Both of these are useful. An inherent bonus is the sort of bonus you get from wishes or tomes, but they usually cap at +5. Hide in Plain Sight is a lot of fun, but is fairly easy to get through prestiging, and the rest works like benign transposition (a 1st-level spell), but with slightly better range (but the lighting restriction).

15th: As mentioned, the Abyssal one adds a single duplicate summoned creature whenever you summon a demon or a creature with the fiendish subtype and works with the Shadow bloodline’s 20th-level ability. The Shadow bloodline’s 15th-level power is enveloping darkness (1/day deeper darkness that also entangles; you are immune to it, freedom of movement works as normal), which is crap for this level. (At a lower level it would be awesome.)

20th: Immunity to electricity and poison; Acid, Cold, and Fire resistance 10; and telepathy 60 ft. or +20% more real shadow conjurations and evocations and any creatures so created gain the benefits of the Augmented Summoning feat. Immunity is no laughing matter and this capstone gives you immunity or resistance to most of the major damage types and then gives you telepathy, but all of these are more easily gained through items. The Shadow bloodline’s power is better, especially since you don’t need to take either Augmented Summoning or Spell Focus (Conjuration) to benefit from it.

I’d go Abyssal (claws)/Shadow (Darkvision)/Shadow (shadow well)/Abyssal (added summonings)/Shadow (shadow master).

Since shadow evocation is on the table, I’d also recommend the Bloodline Mutation “Blood Havoc,” which adds one point of damage per die rolled for damaging spells from your bloodline or from schools in which you have Spell Focus. If you can convince your DM to let Crossblooded and Wildblooded stack, get the arcana from the Brutal (Abyssal) wildbloodline (one target takes +2 damage from spells that deal hit point damage).

Miscellany

From what I’ve gathered from this and IA’s description, the character should be a Tiefling, but could easily work as a Fetchling, Wayang, or similar. I’d go with Tiefling because it has the most support and you can take Improved Fiendish Sorcery to gain an additional +2 bump on class abilities (the wording allows it to stack with Fiendish Sorcery, so you’re talking Cha +4 for any class ability; that might include spell save DCs).

If you’re not taking the See in Darkness alternate racial instead of darkness 1/day, you can get it via the Fiend Sight feat (if you take that twice). Personally, I’d take the alternate racial, since I’m not sure your bloodline arcana will apply to your spell-like ability under PF rules (it would under 3.5 rules, but I think PF went out of its way to quash Warlock-enabling builds), though there are racial feats that make use of that SLA. Either way, See in Darkness negates the 3rd-level ability from the Shadow bloodline and would be more useful (it’d work with the bloodline arcana, for instance). If the Abyssal bloodline’s resistances don’t appeal (for a Tiefling, you get the bonus against Poison and your Electricity resistance would improve at 9th level), the Blood Intensity mutation works well with Blood Havoc.

The Shadow bloodline practically demands something like Arcane Trickster (Shadowdancer, Unseen Seer, etc.), but that would cost you your late level bloodline powers. If you do decide to go that route, I’d find ways of getting needed class features (e.g., Sneak Attack) without multiclassing and then finding feats to boost your effective Sorcerer level for determining what bloodline powers you have (like Magical Enigma). The UndeFEATable series has several feats for Arcane Tricksters; you’d absolutely want Devious Bloodline (bonus spells) and Greater Devious Bloodline (power of bloodline powers), but you’d need more than just that. (It almost begs to have another feat in the series -- Supreme Devious Bloodline: add your Arcane Trickster level to your Sorcerer level for determining what Bloodline powers you have.)

There are undoubtedly other options out there for such a character. Check around; you might find something interesting.

#Crossblooded #Abyssal #Abyssal Bloodline #Shadow #Shadow Bloodline #Shadow Sorcerer

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