#I exist to inflict maximum damage

[moth-boi-lycan]

Made a thing just in case I decide to go through with that idea that one anon had that I branched off of... hehehe @leo-kinnie

(I keep fuckin editing this omg why-)

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Mngwa

CR 7

Chaotic Evil Large Magical Beast

Bestiary 5, pg. 173

These terrifying man-eaters are a far cry from their original form found in folklore and fairytale, existing only to kill, torment, and punish a particular person, group, or community which has despoiled or disrespected the spirits of the primeval jungles of Golarion. They are hatred embodied, but it's not an indiscriminate hate. No, each Mngwa is born with a Focus of Hate, a creature or group of creatures (up to and including whole cities in some cases) marked for death by the spirits which crafted the shadowy cat, and its these creatures that the Mngwa focuses its wrath upon, ignoring all else unless its murderous spree is interrupted. The Mngwa always knows the exact distance and direction of the closest Focus of Hate, unerringly tracking them so long as they're not shielded by any effect which could block scrying... but a Mngwa is not a stupid, mindless beast. If its focus is shielded magically, then it will track them mundanely, following their scent and the trails they leave behind, stalking them from the shadows when they believe themselves protected, with even the prepared and paranoid often ill-equipped to spot the prowling beasts until its fangs are tearing through their throats.

When I say that Mngwa are nearly impossible to detect in the darkness, I say it completely without exaggeration. Their darkened pelts give them a +23 to Stealth checks when in forest or jungle terrain, and their Jungle Stealth allows them to utilize their full 40ft speed without compromising that intimidating number. They have a constant Feather Step effect allowing them to ignore difficult terrain entirely, and can use both Chameleon Stride and Pass Without Trace at will, the former bringing their Stealth to +27 and making them nearly invisible unless you're standing right next to them, the latter allowing them to evade any attempt to track them without magic. Not that tracking them would do much good, because these beasts are Creatures of the Night and literally stop existing when the sun rises (and are rendered temporarily powerless by Daylight and similar), reappearing near the site of their creation the next night with the benefits of a 15th-level Heal spell nursing whatever wounds they sustained and allowing them to continue their reign of terror.

But doling those wounds out in the first place is difficult, as one must survive the surprise round. As one may expect from a big cat, a Mngwa that has spotted its prey prefers to get the jump on them, which it almost always will, sometimes even allowing its prey to fall asleep first just so it drag away and dispatch the weaker and more vulnerable first like the horror movie monster it is. Once the redshirts are gone and people start staying awake every night, Mngwa charge in with Pounce, allowing them to make their Full-Attack which, predictably, is a Claw-Claw-Bite. The bite deals 2d6+7 damage, while each claw deals 1d6+7 and inflicts 1d6 bleed damage... and all three attacks can Grab onto whatever they hit, and any creature that remains grappled during the Mngwa's next turn can be freely Raked by two additional 1d6+7 + 1d6 bleed claw attacks, letting the beasts swiftly shred anything they get their mouths on. Most creatures targeted by the Pounce rarely survive failing their first Escape Artist check to break its grapple, because that's 6d6+42 damage PLUS 1d6+4 bleed, typically enough to dispatch any creature hovering around 5 Hit Dice even without critical hits.

"1d6+4?" Correct! The Murderous Claws of the Mngwa adds a flat +1 bleed damage to a bleeding target every time they hit, to a maximum of 1d6+7, so even escaping their grapple won't stop the pain, AND it allows the shadow cats to track victims much more easily if they can't staunch the flow. The only mercy offered by the Mngwa's melee is the fact it's got only 5ft of reach, rather than the 10 of a typical Large monster (it still has 10ft of space, though!), so it can only Full-Attack creatures it's standing right next to. Disengaging it repeatedly to force it to step back into melee makes its damage more manageable... provided, of course, you avoided its three grapple attempts when it first Pounced.

Unlike most big cats. Mngwa aren't glass cannons. They have 20 AC and are shielded behind DR 10/Magic, which may as well make them invincible if they're stalking a bunch of level 4 or 5 idiots who have no idea what they've done. Even managing to bypass their DR and cut them down to size does nothing but delay the horror, because so long as the Focus of Hate exists the Mngwa cannot permanently die, returning to life 1d4+1 days later once the sun sets. There are only two ways to prevent the creature's nightly hunts: every single Focus of Hate must die, or the spirits which created the creature in the first place must be appeased somehow.

In the case of the former, depending on what the crime was and how many creatures the Mngwa is focused on, the players may just help the jungle cats in their quest. Of course, ANYONE can be stuck with the jungle's curse, from a dickish thieving invader, to a group of otherwise innocent locals who made a terrible mistake, to the player characters themselves, so this is often not an option. Appeasing the spirits is usually the way to go, so a big part of the Mngwa Mystery is figuring out why it's here, which typically involves finding out precisely who among a crowd it's targeting and getting some answers out of them. Even in a higher-level campaign when the Mngwa isn't a direct threat to the PCs, its relentless inevitability make them a danger to NPCs the party may be tasked with trying to protect.

One way or another, the players have to figure out who it's trying to kill, why, and how to undo whatever they did to enrage the jungle. Mngwa cannot communicate their desires, so some intense detective work is needed! ... Just be careful not to make it TOO intense, or else you may end up with a situation like the most chilling one in it's lore: some unfortunate bloodlines have been haunted by these creatures for generations, the cats passed down from parent to child like a living curse as memories of why the thing is hunting them are gradually lost to time, leaving entire families without the knowledge of why the night itself grows claw and fang to hunt them.

You can read more about them here.

[artbyfinnbrown]

Screenshots of my favourite moments from Re:Zero Arc 7 (Part 1):

Todd, it’s chapter 7. You don’t even hate Subaru yet. Why are you already talking about things that could potentially act as parallels to Return by Death?

This death (and the subsequent loops that follow) is probably my favourite sequence of Subaru deaths. I had to do a double take reading this when I realized that the words had started repeating. It starts so suddenly.

I love the O’Connell siblings. Nothing bad better happen to these to or I will be very upset.

“No trust me, I have to keep using the girl voice, it’s about staying in character” Sure buddy, whatever you need to say to feel better about yourself.

So I know this is meant to be screenshots of my favourite arc 7 moments, I guess this is also screenshots arc 7 moments that just make be feel sad and go “Aw, Man”

Wow, Subaru, you’re weirdly into making sure your boobs seem real. I wonder if that means anything.

Priscilla is weirdly one of the characters that seems to be most okay with Subaru’s crossdressing. She’s still mocking him, but she’s not mocking him for crossdressing, she’ll mocking him for being Subaru. She basically says “Yeah you’re a pretty hot woman. Unfortunately, I know your true cringe nature, so your good looks have no effect on me”.

Al. How many times did you die Al.

HA.

“I’ll fill you in on the correct information about Natsumi next time”. This implies that Subaru has Natsumi Schwarz lore that he actively maintains, which is incredibly funny (and also shows just how much dedicated he is to the Natsumi Schwartz persona)

Abel: Good that you’re here Priscilla. I assume you brought troopS with you to help support my cause? Priscilla: Nope! Just me and these 3 useless men I got to follow me around. Abel: Abel: Girl I am trying to retake a nation here-

I really like what arc 7 does with Priscilla’s character. Because arc 3 really just sets her up as an arrogant asshole. And arc 7 never disproves that, she’s still an arrogant asshole. But she’s an arrogant asshole who cares some very specific people.

On my first readthrough, this just seems like another instance of Subaru and Abel’s banter. However knowing everything there is to know now about Vincent and China’s relationship… yeah, it makes sense why Abel might not want people to talk about Chisa betraying him.

“Either is fine” She says. Okay sure thing buddy (Googles “What is Bigender” on a separate tab)

Damn Rem, I’m pretty sure killing him would have inflicted less psychological damage at this point. I do think it is interesting that despite being unfriendly towards Subaru for most of the arc so far, Rem does try to help him by trying to make him feel less guilty about not being able to save everyone. Unfortunately, she had no way of knowing that Subaru was basing a large amount if his self-worth off the belief that Rem thinks of him as a hero, leading this to backfire.

Those are some great questions about Al being brought up. Does he know about Return by Death? Does he have an ability like it? If He does, why wasn’t he able to prevent the loss of his arm? NOW IF ONLY HE WOULD GIVE US SOME ACTUAL ANSWERS-

I don’t know how to feel about the fact that horses exist in the Re:Zero world. I always assumed that Land Dragons just filled the role that horses did in this world. So that fact that there are actual horses feels kind of weird. I don’t like it . Unless horses have always been a thing in Re:Zero and I just somehow never noticed. Does anyone else think that horses existing in Re:Zero is weird? maybe it’s just me.

I mean, I could do an analysis on Natsumi Schwartz, but at this point I feel like Re:Zero tumblr has analyzed Natsumi to hell and back, so I don’t know if there’s really anything meaningful I could add at this point. I’ll leave it at this: At minimum he’s a Drag Queen, and at maximum she’s a trans woman, with the truth probably being somewhere in between those two extremes.

On its own this is nothing. The fact that Subaru says this right after the story refers to Natsumi Schwartz as Subaru’s “ideal self” is what really gives me the sad “Aw, man” feeling.

No Abel was right I don’t think that deserved a response.

AL GODDAMMIT HOW MANY TIMES DID YOU DIE THIS TIME YOU CRYPTIC MOTHER-

Anyway, expect part 2 of this post soon.

[pathfinderunlocked]

Young Girl in the Red Dress - CR6 Undead

Painful memories, you see…they’re the funniest of them all…

Artwork by Fennuo0V0 on Pixiv.

This is a lower-level version of the Girl in the Red Dress, a CR 9 monster I released in March.

Many undead live out an existence of unending misery as their tragic deaths replay over and over. Not so for the young girl in the red dress, who despite being a victim of murder by an overly excited culprit, seems to be extremely pleased spending her eternity inflicting the suffering on others that she felt herself. She turns her ballet of death and gore into a bright red party, and everyone is invited.

This creature was inspired by Sachiko Shinozaki, the main villain of Corpse Party.

Young Girl in the Red Dress - CR 6

Dancing barefoot on blood-slicked floors, the young girl in the tattered red dress laughs hauntingly.

XP 2,400 CE Small undead Init +5 Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +8 Aura stench (DC 18, 4 rounds)

DEFENSE

AC 17, touch 17, flat-footed 11 (+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 size); +2 vs. good hp 68 (8d8+32) Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +7; +2 vs. good Defensive Abilities bloodspattered dress, channel resistance +4 Immune undead traits

OFFENSE

Speed 25 ft., slide (see text) Melee scissors +12/+7 (1d2-1 plus 3d6 bleed plus blood skate) Special Attacks blood skate, terrifying laughter (40 ft.; DC 18)

Spell-like Abilities (CL 12th; concentration +17)     Constant—protection from good

STATISTICS

Str 8, Dex 20, Con —, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 19 Base Atk +6; CMB +4; CMD 20 Feats Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Weapon Finesse Skills Acrobatics +13, Knowledge (religion) +6, Perception +8, Spellcraft +6, Stealth +16 Languages Common, Necril

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Blood Skate (Ex) When the young girl in the red dress damages an enemy with her scissors attack, the target immediately takes the listed bleed damage (typically 3d6), and the blood begins to swirl around the young girl in the red dress’s feet. Until the end of the young girl in the red dress’s next turn, any 5-ft. spaces she steps on and any adjacent spaces become slick with blood, acting as the grease spell (DC 18), except that girls in the red dresses are immune to this effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Bloodspattered Dress (Su) Once per round, whenever a creature within 10 ft. of the young girl in the red dress takes bleed damage, the young girl in the red dress restores an equal amount of hit points and gains a +1 enhancement bonus to her armor bonus to AC, treating her dress as armor that grants no AC bonus and enhancing it with the blood. This bonus lasts for 10 minutes and stacks with itself, but not with other enhancement bonuses, to a maximum of +5.

Slide (Ex) The young girl in the red dress can move without penalty across areas of grease, ice, and similar effects, and her movement speed is doubled on such areas. As her Blood Skate ability creates such areas adjacent to any space she steps, including in front of her, this typically doubles her movement speed when using Blood Skate.

Terrifying Laughter (Su) Once per minute, the young girl in the red dress can unleash a terrifying laugh as a move action. The laughter lasts until the beginning of the young girl in the red dress’s next turn. All creatures within 40 feet of the young girl in the red dress when she begins to laugh, as well as all creatures that end their turn within that radius, must succeed at a DC 18 Will save or be terrified for 1 minute.

Terrified creatures drop their held items, are shaken, cannot willingly approach the young girl in the red dress, and must use their move actions to flee from it. They can only use their voice to scream in terror, and thus cannot perform any action that has a verbal component. Effects that prevent or removed the panicked condition also prevent or remove the terrified condition.

The save is required only once per laugh. Those who succeed at their saving throws need not save against the same young girl in the red dress’s terrifying laughter for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting sonic fear emotion effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

[ajentmm]

Journey Begins Theorycraft

I’m back! Why? Flame Emperor was the last GHB unit I theorycrafted for, and this month, she got her refine. Iago is next, so let’s get to it.

Journey Begins is a weirdly named banner that’s themed around Fire Emblem Fates Revelation, the beginning of the game. Lilith, Rinkah, and Iago are in the beginning of the game, but Midori and Forrest? Naw. Would they be in the FEH now if they weren’t this banner. IDK. Ask Mitama or Percy.

Lilith: Astral Daughter

Lvl. 40 5 ☆ 39/36/41/27/30          Max Invest: 49/46/51/36/40

Astral Breath: Grants Spd+3. Unit can move to a space adjacent to support partner. If unit is within 3 spaces of support partner, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+5 to unit during combat. If foe's Range = 2, calculates damage using the lower of foe's Def or Res.

Reposition – Atk/Spd Bond 3 – Def/Res Link 3 – Joint Drive Atk

Lilith is the dragon fish girl that runs the My Castle feature in Fates, even in the after life. With Astral projection powers and a micro dimension at her disposal, you would think she would be the Mythic classification with Askr or Sothis. Nope. But Veyle can be a mythic, why not? …. Actually, if she did get a Mythic that’s her ghost form like Sigurd and Deirdre, that be fine. They could make her a lighting / healing tower; she would deal damage to foes and restore health to allies out of combat, either at the start of turn, when attacking, or when an ally attacks. But this isn’t for a Lilith alt, this is for her refine.

Astral Breath: Grants Spd+3. Unit can move to a space within 2 spaces of support partner. At start of turn, if unit is within 3 tile radius of support partner, grants Atk/Spd+6 and the following status to unit and allies within 2 spaces for 1 turn: "Grants Special cooldown charge +1 per attack during combat (only highest value applied; does not stack)." If unit is within 3 spaces of an ally, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+5 to unit during combat. If foe's Range = 2, calculates damage using the lower of foe's Def or Res.

So, for the refine to Lilith’s Astral Breath, we look to Fallen Lilith. She got a greater ranged warp range and grants the ally “Special Charge +1” rather than [NFU]. This should help with Galeforce teams, not that Lilith can get Galeforce. Combined this with Guidance 4 (or Soaring Guidance) for more wrapping maneuvers.  

If unit's HP >25%, grant Atk/Spd/Def/Res+X to unit, deals damage = 15% of unit’s Spd, neutralize effects that guarantee foe's follow-up attacks and prevent unit’s follow-up attacks. (X = 4 + highest bonus on each stat between unit and allies within 2 spaces of unit; calculates each stat bonus independently).

And this next part is per combat, something to make her surprise attack hit with a little more “omf”. She got Bonus Doubler 4, NFU, and 15% Spd damage boost. The DR tanks will still have her beat, but any conventional Res tanks that prevent follow-up, use guarantee follow-up, or Guard (cuz we got Breath), won’t be countered. Plus, she still has adaptive damage to ranged foes, so she can clean those guys up.

Midori: Reliable Chemist

Lvl. 40 5 ☆ 41/41/30/34/21          Max Invest: 51/51/39/44/31

Spendthrift Bow+: Effective against flying foes. Grants Atk+7 to unit and inflicts Atk-7 on foe during combat. After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts Special cooldown count+2 on unit. (Cannot exceed the unit's maximum Special cooldown.)

Rally Atk/Def+ - Close Foil – Chill Atk 3

Hey, remember Spendthrift Bow? Yeah, it’s really good for archers who’s Atk, Def, and Res were too low, and needed to invest in stat raising skills or wanted to use Close Foil. The downside was that their Special cooldown was almost reset after combat. Meaning you needed a Moonbow with guaranteed follow-up and special charge, or you can not use the Special at all. Look, 2020 was different. We now have a couple of bows that grant Atk/Def+5 and Peppy Bow that inflicts Atk/Def-5 while preventing follow-ups, while not effecting your Special at all. Also, Arcane bows exist.

Hey, remember Close Foil? It’s also a good skill for Def focused archers and dagger units that only fight physical foes. I talked about them before in my defensive tier 4 skill theorycraft, but this was the best one just because those units needed the stats and dragons were going to one-shot you anyway.

Hey, remember who introduced both those skills? Midori! There was nothing else interesting about her, aside from higher-than-average Def on an archer at the time. But hey, she’s an apothecary and her Spendthrift bow was named after the Spendthrift skill from Fates, which she could promote and obtain. How can we integrate that?

Apothecary Bow: Effective against flying foes. At the start of turn, if unit is within 2 spaces of unit, restore 7 HP to unit and allies within 2 spaces, and also, if unit's HP > 25%, grant [Golden Bar] to unit and allies within 2 spaces for 1 turn. At the start of combat, if unit's HP > 25%, grant Atk +7 to unit and inflict Atk-7 on foe during combat. [Golden Bar] Unit deals damage +10 and takes damage -10, but after combat, this bonus is removed.

THAT’S RIGHT! WE ARE MAKING BANK! GOLDEN BAR META COMENCE! THIS IS REAL SPENDTHRIFT! It’s just not a luck chance of getting a golden bar item that then gets consumed at the start of combat to give +10 damage and -10 damage taken, it’s a guaranteed chance to get a bonus effect that gives you a one-time use of +10 damage and -10 damage taken. Not only that, she shares this ability with everybody, share the wealth!

At the start of combat, if unit's HP > 50% or if [Bonus] is active on unit, grant Def/Res+5 to unit and inflict Def/Res-5 on foe during combat, grant unit guaranteed follow-up attack, prevent foe’s follow-up attack, and inflict Special cooldown charge-1 on foe per attack.

AND WE KEEP GOING! If she has her bonus or is above 50% HP, she gets more in combat stats, omni breaker, and Guard. Is this overkill? Maybe. Don’t care.

Rinkah: Scion of Flame

Lvl. 40 5 ☆ 40/34/39/41/18          Max Invest: 50/43/49/51/28

Rinkah's Club: Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1). If foe initiates combat or if unit's HP < 100% at start of combat, grants Atk/Def+5 and Special cooldown charge +1 per foe's attack during combat. (Only highest value applied. Does not stack. Special cooldown charge granted even if foe's attack deals 0 damage.)

Bonfire – Distant Foil – Wrath 3 – Even Def Wave 3

*Insert picture of Spongebob licking Rinkah’s abs*

As in Fate’s, Rinkah is an underpowered axe unit with mix matched stats for an axe unit. She’s designed for the beginning, and falls off after getting her in Birthright and is immediately bad when obtained in Revelations. Her utility came from her personal, which gave more damage with 1 point of damage, wielding Clubs, which have higher Hit/Crit than axes, using her good Skill/Spd, and getting Spells + Death Blow when promoted. She like a sword master in a way. What she has in FEH is high Spd/Def and Low Atk/Res, a Special spamming Club, and Distant Foil to win match-ups with Physical attacking units. Her biggest weakness in Feh is magic foes, obviously. My goal for this refine is make her the best she can be again Physical attacking foe’s on mixed phase, while leaving her magic weakness, not adding to it.

Rinkah's Club: Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1). At start of combat, if foe initiates combat, if unit's HP ≤ 99%, or if foe's HP = 100%, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+5, reduces damage from foe's attacks by 20% of unit's Def (excluding area-of-effect Specials), Special cooldown charge +1 per attack during combat.

So, let’s start with this. Thanks to Brash Assault 4 and Desperation 4, we have easy way to give her in combat boosts and Special charge she needs, before she takes damage, during player phase. I then just gave her the True Damage Reduction by 20% Def. You can use that high she has to shrug of physical attacks or lessen the power of magic attacks. But where is the True Damage?

If foe initiates combat or foe's HP ≥ 75%, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+5 to unit during combat, and also, if unit's max Special cooldown count value ≥ 2 and unit's attack can trigger unit's Special, when unit's Special triggers (excluding area-of-effect Specials), neutralizes "reduces damage by X%" effects from non-Special skills and calculates that attack's damage using the lower of foe's Def or Res.

And this is where all the power comes form. With Bonfire or Ignis, like Brave Robin, Coincidentally, Rinkah damage is hindered by the Def and DR of physical attacking units, which Close Foil only works on, and those foe’s tend to have lower Res. Rinkah promotion gets her Magic (if you go Oni Chieftain) so this is just her channeling that. Also, if you just get distant counter, cool, mages already have low def, and unless you are fighting certain mages and dragons, you aren’t dealing to DR. I should note, I can see them giving her an effect like her Flame Tribe alt, “inflicts penalty on foe's Atk/Def during combat = 20% of unit's Def at start of combat” instead of TDR.

Iago: Nohr's Tactician

Lvl. 40 5 ☆ 42/38/27/23/32          Max Invest: 52/48/36/32/43

Iago's Tome: Grants Res+3. At start of odd-numbered turns, if any foe's HP ≤ unit's HP-3 and that foe is not adjacent to another foe, inflicts Atk/Spd-4 and 【Guard】 on that foe. At start of even-numbered turns, if any foe's HP ≤ unit's HP-3 and that foe is adjacent to another foe, inflicts Def/Res-4 and 【Panic】 on that foe.

Blazing Wind – HP/Atk 2 – Atk Opening 3

And here we have Iago, the … wait. We forget Forrest. …

And here we have Iago, the most gremlin-y of the dark advisors of the ancient dark dragon architype. His whole gimmick was flip flopping between nerfing the offensive power of foe’s with less HP then him on odd-numbered turns, and naffing the defensive power of foe’s with less HP then him on even-numbered turns. There was no escape, but the burden was set on you to attack offensively on even turn and act defensively on odd turns. Now a days, we got mages that debuff the whole team with better/more effects without an HP check or them needing to be near an ally, and they still put up a fight.

Iago's Tome: Grants Res+3. At start of odd-numbered turns, if any foe's HP ≤ unit's HP-1 and that foe is adjacent to another foe, inflicts Atk/Spd-6 and 【Guard】 on that foe. At start of even-numbered turns, if any foe's HP ≤ unit's HP-1 and that foe is adjacent to another foe, inflicts Def/Res-6 and 【Panic】 on that foe. At start of combat, if unit's HP ≥ 25%, grant Atk/Spd/Def/Res+4 to unit during combat.

So, the changes are as followed; decrease the required HP to be 1 higher rather than 3, make both effects work when that foe is adjacent to another foe (I get you are trying counter measures but no), increase the penalties inflicted to 6, and the basic +4 to all stats when healthy.

At start of combat, if 【Penalty】 is active on foe, foe's HP ≤ 99%, or unit's HP ≥ 50%, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+4 to unit, inflicts Atk/Spd/Def/Res-X on foe (X = highest penalty on each stat between target and foes within 2 spaces of target; calculates each stat penalty independently), unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack during combat, and also, if this unit's HP ≥ foe's HP+5 at the start of combat and foe’s attack can trigger foe’s Special, inflicts Special cooldown count+1 on foe before foe’s first attack during combat (cannot exceed foe's maximum Special cooldown).

Now for the nutty stuff that makes him a tough nut to crack. When the foe has any penalty, is hurt slightly, or Iago is healthier, it’s +4 to all stats, the Sabbotage effect in combat, a guaranteed follow-up, and an HP check Snare, like with B!Tiki or Veyle’s C skill. The other examples uses Res, which Iago does have enough to benefit against some god swords, but if you want the other part of his tome to work, you are investing in HP. This maybe to strong of an effect for a Grail unit, but it’s harder to get that HP check then a RES check. You may need Savage Blow or other out of combat damaging skills to get those checks. It’s better than needing a support partner at least.

And with that, another banner is done. See you guys … whenever.

[emeraldcatears]

The basics of Skills.

A long time ago in a post far, far away I took a look at items. Why mention this here?

Well, Skills and Items have a lot in common.

Their menus are nearly identical. Scope still determines whether the item or skill is used on allies or enemies, and how many it targets at once. Occasion still determines whether it's something you can use in battle, from the menu, both, or neither.

Instead of picking from Item types you choose a Skill type.

While Items had a set dropdown list, Skills have a list of your making. Pop into the Types tab and you'll notice Magic and Special are listed under Skills. You can increase the maximum to include custom options, change the names of existing ones, or even remove ones you don't want.

Just make sure you add a Trait to make it usable on an actor or class or the like if you want someone to be able to use it!

Cost here is pretty intuitive. Skills can cost MP or TP (or even both) and an actor cannot cast the skill if the skill costs more than they currently have available. Since they're skills instead of items you pay these instead of worrying about whether they're consumable.

Unlike Scope and Occasion, which I covered in my intro to items, I never did properly explore the other parts of these menus before. Let's fix that by making a Skill.

Damage

Damage types are determined the same way for Skills and Items. You can chose to inflict damage to a target's HP (or MP) - useful for attack skills or items like bombs. You can recover the HP/MP of a target for healing items and spells. Finally you can drain HP or MP by removing it from the target of the item or spell and giving it to the user.

I could make a HP Drain Skill for my vampire here but...

the skill Blood Suck already exists in the database as one of the example abilities. I can just give it to Briar as is.

Instead I'm making a poison arrow for my hunter, so I'll pick HP Damage. Exploring existing skills that RMXP provides as examples is a useful way to learn to make your own, though, so be sure to look at Blood Suck and the rest.

You can give Skills (and Items) an element if you want. These don't even have to be strictly "elemental." You can go into the Types tab again and add "Piercing" and "Slashing" and the like to further customize your battle system. By default you can only add one element through this dropdown so I'm leaving it Physical but I may add "Piercing" as an element to a bow through adding a Trait.

On their own, elements do nothing. As explored in the discussion of Traits you can add weaknesses and resistances to elements in the traits section of an actor (or enemy).

Now how do you determine damage?

However you want. Here I'm just copying the damage formula of the example "Attack" that comes with RMXP, but the formulas you can enter are limited only by how well you know how to make them.

So let's break that down a bit.

"a" refers to the user of the skill. "a.atk" means a's attack power. "b" is the target so "b.def" is the target's defense. Therefore the formula a.atk * 4 - b.def * 2 means that the damage will equal four times the user's attack stat minus twice the target's defense stat.

You can even include variables in damage formulas, as discussed in this guide on the RPG Maker blog, if you want to get fancy with it.

Remember just because it's called a "damage" formula doesn't mean it always does damage. If you change Damage Type to HP Recover whatever you enter here will determine how much a skill heals the target instead.

Variance, listed below the damage formula, refers to the range the attack can hit for. If after all all is said and calculated the damage for an attack is 100, then a variance of 20% means that the attack can hit for between 80 and 120 damage. I've decided to adjust the variance to 15% for this attack. You can also decide whether the attack has a chance of becoming a critical hit or not.

Effects

Effects are much like Traits. You can add one or more through a menu in much the same way. Like Traits, the terms associated with Effects can be found in the same handy reference.

In this case I'm adding a State and I want that State to be Poison. I also want it applied at a 30% chance so it inflicts the poison state about 3 out of 10 times.

Invocation

Invocation refers to how the skill (or, again, item) behaves when it's used. Speed can be changed to make the action more likely to happen earlier or later in the turn order.

For example, one of the sample skills Falcon Thrust is designed to "attack an enemy faster than anyone else" and has it's Invocation set to 2000. A high, positive number like that is added to the speed calculations when deciding who moves when during a turn. Likewise a negative number will make the move take longer to invoke so it happens later in combat.

Success is a sort of individualized accuracy stat for the move (or item) itself. If you want to make something powerful that doesn't always hit, like Thunder in Pokemon, you can lower the success rate.

Repeat tells the game how many times the move hits. While it's called "repeat" here a "1" means the move hits once, as opposed to repeating once for two hits. This can be a little unintuitive because "Attack Times +" under Traits uses 1 to mean 1 additional attack.

(I do plan on taking a look at the Attack tab in the Traits menu on it's own sometime in the future - you can use it to individualize the way the basic "attack" command works!)

TP Gain refers to how much TP is added to the user's TP bar when they use the Skill (or item).

Hit Type (Physical Attack, Magic Attack, or Certain Hit) actually refers to which accuracy/evasion traits will be referenced when using the skill - it's not an elemental thing.

You can also pick out an animation that plays when the skill is used!

Message and Required Weapon

Finally, message and required weapon sections exist in the Skills tab but not the item one. The Message is simply a message that appears when the Skill is used. "%1" refers to the actor using the skill and "%2" is the Skill's name.

You can also choose to make a Skill only usable if a certain type of weapon is equipped to the user. If you leave these empty the move can be used regardless of equipment.

All I need to do now is learn it and see how it plays!

Perhaps the easiest way to add a skill is to add it to a Class's level-up set. In the Classes tab you can go to the learnable skills section and chose the skill you want as well as a level at which to learn it.

There are other ways to learn Skills as well but this post is already getting a bit long so I'll save that for another time. For now, though, I think that provides enough background into Skills and Parameters to resume exploring the battle system next time.

[dragoninabackpack]

Manual existence

Yeah, "you are now breathing" manually is pretty evil, but what about "you are now blinking manually"? I feel like that would be just as if not a bit more annoying. However, you could also curse someone with "you are now swallowing manually" which is just a whole other level of uncomfortable/annoying.

HOWEVER, you could also use all three at once to inflict maximum damage! For example: You are now breathing, blinking, and swallowing manually. Have fun!

[burdenedreverence]

If I became the monster, and threw that guilt away Would that make us stronger? Would it keep our foes at bay? If I became the monster to everyone but us And made sure we got home again Who would care if we're unjust

The lengths he was willing to go, in order to preserve the world, had a limit. But he has not reached that limit yet.

He tells himself, that if an order is given than he cannot follow- he will not follow it. But every time he has been given his assignment, he has followed those instructions. He has never raised objections to the cruelties he must inflict. It is because he knows they must be performed, there is no other way.

Those who have struck the Gotei, have struck him. And he cannot allow an insult to go unanswered. It does not matter the person, the place, or the time. Honor did not exist to sate one's conscious, it was meant to be a burden. It was something that once lost could never be regained. It was not meant to be easy.

"Jewel."

He crosses his arms, his face a stoic mask of neutrality. It isn't right that he would sic her on them, but it is the nature of war. It will be a painful death; it will be unpleasant. But it will be quick.

"Their entire right flank. Engage it. Inflict maximum damage. It buckles, they cannot hold."

The narrow corridors of the Seireitei make Jewel's power devasting to the suspecting, narrow streets which can be entirely consumed by waves of ice. Unable to be stopped, unable to be avoided. It will force the Quincy to abandon their enterprises in those areas, or halt them completely.

With no place to run, no place to hide, it will be a slaughter. An execution.

It was a rare thing to see, from Hayden. The way in which his mind can accept the suffering of men, to order the deaths of hundreds. To do so with so little feeling in his heart, as if they are nothing more than pieces upon a board.

He has not the place for guilt in his heart, in this moment. If it requires a monstrous man to secure the future of his people, if it takes brutality to protect the world, if it requires blood on an unimaginable to protect those he love...

Then he will be a monster.

He could deal with the consequences later.

@icybreaths

[bzupaunjab]

Tips for Using Pepper Spray Correctly

Self-protection is one of the maximum vital matters that we need to all cognizance on those days, with a purpose to ensure that not anything unlucky takes place to us or our families, on the arms of a predator. After all, there`s simply no telling whilst terrible matters may want to manifest and we'd need to preserve ourselves organized in any respect times. What may be the standard stroll on your automobile from the restaurant, the theater or the mall, may want to thoroughly turn out to be being a warfare for one's very very own existence or that of a cherished one, if a predator makes a decision to make you, their goal! Now, please concentrate to me once I say, if they are attempting to thieve your pockets and/or purse, allow them to have it, you are not wearing whatever that cannot be replaced.

But, if the offender attempts to damage you or a cherished one, then with the aid of using all manner, defend your self, which brings me to the primary topic, Pepper Spray. Personally for myself, I opt for a Stun Gun, however I do apprehend this can be a chunk an excessive amount of for a number of you. Don't get me wrong, I additionally convey Pepper Spray and this may be a completely green manner of shielding your self or your cherished ones, I similar to doubling up on my alternatives. Of course, I additionally, have no troubles with firearms, I do have them, however in case you do not have the manner or the important time, to end up 100% green withinside the use of a firearm, then please, recollect those different alternatives for self-protection. Pepper Spray is the maximum not unusualplace of all self-protection weapons; it's miles non-deadly and if nicely used, can assure a person's safety. It is as a substitute low priced and may be bought without problems online or in brick and mortar shops that deal in protection products.

Below are some recommendations and strategies to help you withinside the right use of Pepper Spray, examine them, exercise them and desire that you may in no way truly ought to use them, however continually don't forget, in case you do, then you'll be organized due to the fact the detail of marvel is the predator's primary advantage! If you're taking that detail out of the equation, then you definitely degree the gambling field, so that you could speak.

1. The person have to continually shout previous to casting off the self-protection spray, for the duration of an attack. This can truly create a few shape of diversion, inflicting the attacker to panic, even if, simply slightly. This is one approach which is likewise integrated in different sorts of self-protection strategies, together with martial arts. The person can surely boost his or her hand it truly is now no longer retaining directly to the spray as a manner of distracting their attacker.

2. It is likewise smart to keep away from spraying with the hand this is prolonged outwards. For example, thrusting the canister proper in the front of an attacker makes it very clean for them to smack it away or maybe snatch it out of the person's hand. This would go away you defenseless and might even permit the predator to apply the spray towards you. So, whilst the spray is used, you have to continually again farfar from the goal at the same time as aiming and shooting, however don't forget to live inside variety that's mentioned in Step 3.

3. Another powerful tip is for the person, is to truly preserve their eyes open at the same time as the use of the spray. You ought to ensure you are concentrated on the assailant on the proper angle. Closing one's eyes at the same time as performing in a protective way is surely a personification of panicking and you may locate it tough to spray withinside the route of the assailant. Therefore, you need to continually preserve your eyes locked at the goal and ensure you are truly making touch with the meant goal. It is likewise smart to ensure you're in variety of the meant goal, as numerous sprays regularly have more than a few everywhere among 6-eight feet.

Read More: Personal alarms and pepper spray are two essential tools to have with you when you leave the house.

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Daughter-in-law From Hell by Ramesh Thakur

"But what if the interview has damaged the prospects of this happening? Now that would be karma."

The cruel mother-in-law is a familiar and popular trope all over the world, not far behind the stepmother as a proxy for the evil witch. Curiously, there’s no alternative, counter-balancing trope of a cynical, calculating and manipulative daughter-in-law who rents asunder the existing close bonds in a family.

I was born in India after independence and grew up in a free republic. Even while absorbing many of the idioms and iconic stories from our British political-education legacy, we were also socialised into the anti-British strains of the independence struggle and viewed many familiar historical milestones through completely different lens. This came together in a popular explanation for why the sun never set on the British Empire: because even God would not trust an Englishman in the dark. In the second half of the last century, that ambivalence was transferred to the Americans and best captured in the placard being waved by the anti-Vietnam War protestor in the streets of Calcutta during my university days there: ‘Yankee! Go home – and take me with you’.

On the other hand, I left Calcutta (since renamed Kolkata) for Canada and in the course of my wanderings have lived and worked, among other places, in New Zealand and Australia and collected citizenships in all three. This means I have sworn the oath of loyalty to Her Majesty three times in her capacity as the Queen of Canada, New Zealand and Australia. I feel impelled accordingly to defend her and ‘the Firm’ against the attacks from Meghan Markle in the infamous interview with Oprah Winfrey. Full disclosure: I have not watched the interview, not even a minute of it, and have no intention of doing so. My comments are based on accounts of it in print.

To start with, the Queen’s life is a story of duty to country and the multiracial Commonwealth carried out with unfailing grace, dignity and decorum. Between the Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex, who does and does not fit in with this lifestyle? To ask the question is to answer it. Markle gives the impression she had a glamourised vision of what marrying into the royal family would be like. The measure of self-discipline and onerous restrictions on independence and personal freedoms proved too suffocating, which is easy enough to understand. The press can indeed behave with no sense of moral compass, violate peoples’ privacy – who can forget the phone-hacking scandals – and turn viciously on someone. But the search for privacy taking her to a tell-all interview with the Queen of TV that turned out to be a self-indulgent settling of scores? A couple that has complained loudly about press intrusions was happy to wash the family laundry in public for millions of viewers. Their remarks and ‘revelations’ were calculated to inflict the maximum damage on her husband’s family. No matter what the provocation, that is unforgiveable. She has a long history of manipulating the media to boost her celebrity status. She can make truly awful accusations against her in-laws. No proof required. The warmth with which she was welcomed by the family – remember the touching scene when Prince Charles walked her down the wedding aisle owing to the absence of her father? – as well as press and people, makes the charge of racism implausible.

Why say things without substantiation that will make the estrangement from his family irreparable? Because she names no names, provides no context and fails to specify exactly what was said, the entire royal family is smeared and that too on the flimsiest of reasoning. This is not courageous but cowardly. Someone wondered about the skin colour of the child while he was still in the womb. Well cry me a river in a $20 million mansion in Santa Barbara. As an inter-racial family that is increasingly common in the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US, we wondered the same about our children and speculated on it on multiple occasions. And repeated the experience with the next generation. As soon as this article is done, I’m off to enrol myself in cultural re-education class to exorcise this deep-seated unconscious racism. So, sorry, but until and unless we are provided with some context and specificity about who made the remark, that sounds like interested curiosity rather than malicious racism.

Along with racism, mental health and thoughts (ideation, in the current jargon) of suicide have been weaponised by wannabe victims in the proliferating grievance culture. I’m afraid for once my instincts are similar to those of Piers Morgan. President Joe Biden has praised Markle’s courage for talking openly about feeling suicidal. But the charge that the pleas for help of a five-month pregnant Duchess of Sussex expressing suicidal thoughts would be dismissed with the comment that it ‘wouldn’t be good for the institution’ is, on the face of it, implausible. Once again, we need more specificity and context. On its own, this simply doesn’t ring true. Who was that callous palace official? What stopped the couple from seeking treatment directly from the several mental health charities with which they are connected?

In the interview Markle claimed her son not being a prince ‘would be different from protocol’. Displaying the racial prism through which she views everything, Markle said Archie is ‘the first member of colour in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be’. This is factually wrong as well as incendiary. Someone so conscious of titles should know that her son cannot be called a prince at present. Under existing rules going back to 1917, the titles of prince and princess are limited to children of the monarch, children of the monarch’s sons and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. In other words, Archie cannot be prince with the Queen as monarch but will be due the title if and when Prince Charles becomes King.

"But what if the interview has damaged the prospects of this happening? Now that would be karma."

[300iqprower]

Hypothetical Rank Ups No. 55-56.5: Karna

[Special thanks to @hasarjunadoneanythingwrong for helping me get a foothold on Karna's connection to Surya and flames and some other Mahabharata stuff! Also the .5 is because...well you'll see.]

Knowledge of the Deprived A -> EX

Inflict NP Seal on a single enemy (1 turn). Decrease Debuff Resist for a single enemy (1 turn).^ Apply Stun Immune to all allies except self (3 turns). Apply immunity to Mental Debuffs to self (3 turns). Apply Special DEF [Low-Rarity] to self (3 turns). Apply Special ATK [High-Rarity] to self (3 turns). [Debuff Resist down now scales from 35% to 125% Rarity based effects scale from 10 to 20%]

If Bart gets to be a class traitor than so does Karna "I literally get everything I ever want and still identify as Poor." Mahabharata (That's basically the story right? Right. Definitely. ...Wait probably could have just pointed at the Charity thing- MOVING ON) So yeah he gets an attack buff against high rarity enemies. Aka. Basically every boss. I was originally gonna do "Golden Rule enemies" but then found out that SOMEHOW Arjuna's second skill isn't considered a derivation of Golden Rule and so just decided screw it, I'll just split up the buff and make it High Rarity across the board. So then, I'm keeping the cooldown at 6 as well as the debuff duration at 1, but in exchange more than doubling the debuff resist down to a massive 125% at max. I was considering making it a 150% to make it a sort of "True Debuff Resistance down", since passives can raise base resist as high as 50%, but decided against it on the grounds of all such servants are those with "Core of the Goddess" and the skill is specifically meant to apply to the "Poor", so I instead went with Jeanne "literal peasant girl" d'Arc and her Magic Resistance EX (25%) instead. As the selfless hero of the poor, Karna also protects his allies from immobilization, characteristically doing so at the cost of his own personal protection. What he does retain though is his insight into others, seeing through all sorts of psychological trickery such as charm or terror. Lastly is the aforementioned class-traitor bit. Hero of the poor, blah blah blah, classism in both the gacha rarity sense and FGO's 'devisive' interpretation of the Mahabharata, but most importantly REJOICE, Karna users! The character who supposedly has armor that reduces all damage he takes to almost nothing FINALLY has a form of survival! Soft survival. By a marginal amount. Against all -2 of the low rarity bosses to exist. ....Okay yeah there's a real survival tool in the next one.

Mana Burst (Flame) A -> Mana Burst (Surya) A+++

Increase own Buster Card effectiveness (1 turn). Increase own NP Strength (1 turn).^ Remove own Debuffs. Apply Damage Cut by 500 to self (3 turns). Apply Invincible to self. Remove this buff at the end of the next turn unit is attacked. Tremendously increase own Critical Star Gather Rate when on a [Sunlight] or [Burning] field (2 turns). [Activates first] Apply [Sunlight] field status to self (10 turns). [Increase NP Strength by 10% each to a maximum of 30%.]

Of Karna's rankups this is definitely the 'main one.' It grants him some much needed defensive effects and tightens his focus all while throwing in quite a bit of flavor. (HOW DID MR "My armor nullifies 90% of all attacks" NOT HAVE A SINGLE DEFENSE SKILL?!?!) He gets a slight damage cut for 3 turns, something that Apocrypha shows is canonically an affect his flames (Literally stating they can nullify minor amounts of damage) and 'sheds' himself of debuffs as he quite literally burns impurities away, becoming a beacon of Surya that bathes the battlefield in sunlight, and should the battlefield ALREADY have a sunlight status he will draw that light into him, IE he gets an immense star gather buff, a maximum of 5000%. Because Surya is both the light and flames of the sun, this effect can activate on the much rarer Burning battlefield as well (Which is also some nice synergy with the Nobus given Karna has anti-divine)

The game changer though is of course the invincible. 500 Defense cut for 3 turns really isn't much of anything, more flavor than anything else (and also because Melusine's kit is insulting) with THIS being the real defensive tool. I couldn't get his armor itself to work so instead worked it into the same skill that buffs his NP, which is about as close as I could get to make the "He powers up his NP by sacrificing his armor" thing to work. Regardless, said famous armor has an equally powerful buff. The invincible is only one turn, but will never go to waste because that turn will only be used up whenever Karna next takes damage. Essentially it has both the benefits of a hard effect (a full turn duration) AND of soft effect (only being used on the next hit rather than possibly going to waste). The main drawback here is of course that while the invincible is potentially multi turn, the offensive effects are all still 1 turn, and the conditional gather is still only 2 turns. While the 20% high rarity bonus offsets it, Karna's main stim is still a 1 turn burst on a 5 turn at best cooldown, meaning one must be way about using the Invincible even if its use is lenient. On the opposite more beneficial side though, it means one doesn't have to worry about wasting the invincible by using the stim early for an NP. I mean that's the opposite of how his lore works but this was the only way I could make it remotely balanced and allows some interesting potential for target focus support ensuring, say, that invincible remains for an upcoming AOE attack.

Uncrowned Arms Mastery -> Crowned Master of Arms

Increase own NP Gauge by 40%.^ Increase own Critical Star Drop Rate (3 turns). Increase own Critical Strength (3 turns). Increase own NP Overcharge Level by 2 (1 turn). [Reduce cooldown from 8/7/6 to 7/6/5]

This is the ".5". Compared to most of what I do at this point it isn't even really a rank up, just pettiness. I mean that's part of all these, but it was JUST that with this one. They seriously took away Imaginary Element and gave us a crappy and vastly less f2p friendly replacement? Seriously? Screw off. Karna's 25% battery was perfect for it. Fine then, if that's how it's gonna be, he doesn't get a flat 30%, he gets a flat 40%. Even at rank 1 all it takes it 1 chen gong and an MLB Leyline and bam: Turn 1 NP Karna is even easier to get than before, AND at Overcharge to boot. So there. If I didn't know any better I dare say this is the first one in quite some time that could pass as an actual Rank Up we'd see officially. ...Honestly I was actually gonna bite my tongue and just leave it untouched, if only because I don't want every HRU to keep being "We're basically upgrading the entire kit", but a certain someone specifically requested I touch this skill if ONLY to fix the inaccuracy of its name, as Karna was a very much celebrated warrior champion - he was literally crowned for his arms mastery. So yeah, consider this one he doesn't really need, but also one that's not giving him something undeserved. It's the kind of thing that would make him, like, solidly A tier instead of B+.

There's also no less than 3 additional versions I had for an idea changing it to a skill called "Crowned Avatar of Divine Arms” and spent an entire day coming up with an absurd system to fit in a Kavacha and Kundala buff, but they're all way too much when the most balanced of the three was still an entire 4th skill's worth of effects. And not like a mid tier skill, like at least about as good as Ishtar's second skill and as complicated as one of Summer Kiara's. So yeah, I cut my losses and just made the NP gauge 40% instead of 30%, reduced the cooldown to 5 turns minimum, and gave the invincible to his second skill and turn it into one of the "Bread and Butter skills" I've mentioned before

SO TO RECAP: More extreme version of the same utility on his first skill, his second skill is now a very powerful survival tool at the cost of being attached to his main steroid, he basically ensures permanent Sunlight field while active, and his third skill gets tweaked to keep his status as a great turn 1 NP unit even without Imaginary Element.

[doberbutts]

Maybe if some breeds are so dangerous (Presa Canario, Doberman, pit bulls, Rottweilers, Brazillian mastiff, etc) they shouldn't be allowed to exist. If they were made for evil purposes like biting people then I don't think they can be trusted to not bite people even if its been bred out of them. How can they fight their instinct?

Pit bulls were not created for biting people, they were created for biting each other.

Biting is not evil. Aggression is not evil. Aggression and the use of violence as a means of survival and as a tool are things intrinsically linked with all predators, including the various canine species and even including the great apes. At some point, how aggressive is too aggressive, too evil, for you?

I carry a knife. It is for the sole purpose of stabbing or slashing someone in the face or chest should they attack me. I know what parts of the body to hit to inflict the maximum amount of damage in the shortest amount of time for my weight and height if I need to get an attacker off me and I'm unarmed. I'm not above gouging someone's eyes out, biting through a finger, ripping off an ear to escape if I have to.

I have yet to need to use this knowledge. I felt it was important to have. My knife is used as a tool for multiple things, mostly opening boxes and bags at work. Are these things still evil?

All dogs will bite. All dogs will viciously attack. This is a wolf behavior, a canine behavior, that all dogs are capable of. Should dogs, then, cease to exist? All dogs over 40lbs are fully capable of killing an adult man. Does that mean labs, border collies, and great danes are evil? A toddler in my neighborhood growing up was ripping to literal pieces by a pack of three labs that had a habit of escaping their electric fence. A toddler a few years ago had his arm ripped off and eaten by two huskies. A toddler a few years before that was mauled by a chow mix. Two frenchies participated in the dog attack led by two presas that killed an adult woman. An adult woman was killed by a pack of dauchsund mixes. A woman was hospitalized after being mauled by her jack russell. Are these breeds all evil, as well?

This is putting aside the good uses of dogs in combattive roles- a dog like this is akin to a knife or a gun. I support people obtaining and using them as needed when the situation arises. I do not personally own nor want to own a gun but a neighbor of mine as a kid stopped a series of home invasions that included my house WHILE I WAS IN IT when the idiot returned to the scene of the crime and tried getting into my neighbor's house. The dude was shot non-lethally and it took care of the problem. My chow mix is who stopped the home invasion in my house from proceeding further. My doberman chased off a seperate attempt years later.

If you do not understand the use of aggression and violence in defense of the lives and safety not just of yourself but of your family or those you're charged to protect, then you have a fairly sheltered view of the world and have only known peace and safety that's never been threatened by someone who does not care what the law says about their actions. I don't intend to end up as a statistic unless I go down fighting. I prefer having a dog to a gun. No home invader is going to be scared off by the chihuahuas barking at them.

[freelanceexorcist]

FFVIIR theory time

Just one or two or five this time, but this one has been on my mind a bit lately, especially with the new Crisis Core footage. This will probably still be long as hell, though, so consider yourselves warned.

As always:

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Seriously, kids, you know the drill

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OK, you've officially given up your right to bitch about any spoilers in this post.

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To start, some of these theories will be pretty canon-divergent. The key word here is theories. If your eye is twitching right now, think of this as an AU fic except it's just the opinion of someone who can't write fiction for shit. And like it or not, big parts of the canon story HAVE changed and these theories might even fit into canon in some way. And yes, I know the dev team has said that all of the major story beats will remain the same, but they said a lot of things back then, yet exercised their right to change their minds, which I think gives me a little wiggle room.

Anyway.

I've had the origin of Ore!Sephiroth on my mind lately, and I've tenuously concluded that he is the only real version of Sephiroth in the game. I even have my doubts about his real body chilling out in the Northern Crater and rebuilding in this iteration of the story.

So who's the person creating illusions in Cloud's mind and warging into the black-cloaked zombie men? I think it's Jenova herself trying to utterly break Cloud.

"But Jenova is just a mindless, instinct-driven animal that Sephiroth uses as a meat suit throughout the game," you say.

Yes, that's basically what she was in the OG. So much so that a man whose mind was utterly broken could wrest control away and impose his will on her. But subsequent materials give her more and more agency and suggest that her influence on Sephiroth is stronger than originally thought. It follows that the Remake series, with all of it's changes, would make her sentient and malicious.

Having said this, if you have the ability to assume other forms based on someone's memories and you want to inflict maximum psychological damage on your prey, you don't appear as yourself. The only memory they have of you is your severed head. No, you appear as the man responsible for the worst day of their life, and you taunt the shit out of them about that. You throw their mother's dying words at them. You follow them around telling them how weak and worthless they are because you know that somewhere deep down, they believe that about themselves. You constantly remind them that anyone who looks to them for protection will end up dead and you show them glimpses of the future to prove it.

I don't get the sense that it's Sephiroth's thing-either in the Compilation or spin-offs-to do that. This is why it was kind of jarring to me to see Sephiroth behaving that way in the Remake. It seemed out of character. Sephiroth's usual attitude toward Cloud is one of indifference and control at worst and, at best, seeing him as a somewhat worthy opponent. Even in Advent Children, when he was basically a rage-fueled golem made of Jenova cells and spite whose white hot hatred of Cloud fueled his very existence he wasn't that verbally abusive toward him. That was, to me, a big clue that something was off.

So my lowly opinion is that OG Sephiroth's motives will be transferred to Jenova in future installments while she continues to look like him and we won't find out this is what's going on until the big reveal. That will be the mystery of Sephiroth this time around.

Jenova as the new Big Bad is even scarier than Sephiroth when you think about it, because her genetic material is the source of his superhuman strength. As strong as he is, that would make her even stronger. Imagine being at the mercy of a villain that is mentally breaking you down piece by piece and can then instantly squash you like a grape once she's gotten what she wants from you.

So from here on out, I'm assuming that each appearance of Sephiroth other than Edge of Creation or similar instances is actually Jenova assuming his form.

Then there's Ore!Sephiroth. During the boss fight at the end, it's heavily implied that he is at least partially controlled by The Whispers. That also implies that the final battle wasn't entirely his choice. By being defeated in that battle, he's able to break free from our friendly neighborhood Dementor wannabes. I also theorize that he wanted to see how strong the party had become.

Fast forward to the Edge of Creation sequence, and you know that this person is very different from the person we've encountered throughout the game. Jenova induces hallucinations, but Sephiroth helps snap Cloud out of them. In the Japanese version, he uses a first-person pronoun ("ore," hence the nickname) that is personal, casual and used amongst peers, while all others use "watashi," which is impersonal and very formal. This was important enough for the folks who put together the Ultimania for the Remake to point out about him.

What I'm getting at is that all sensors indicate that this guy is actually Sephiroth, and that he has managed to shake off Jenova's influence and regained full control over his own mind (something that-again, in theory-The Whispers were trying to prevent in order to keep events chugging along as they were meant to).

Now I've seen some really good theories in my travels that say this is either pre-Nibelheim Sephiroth or a version from the future, either of whom could have traveled through time. While I love the idea of the former, I tend to favor the latter. The reason for that is for drama's sake.

Pre-Nibelheim Sephiroth gaining knowledge of future events and enlisting Cloud's help to stop them is a good storyline, but not as powerful as the other scenario. In that one, Future Sephiroth has shaken off Jenova and his personality has been able to re-emerge, but now he's wracked with guilt and shame over the things he's done and knows exactly what will happen if Jenova wins. Sure, as of the end of Advent Children she had been beaten back once again, but as long as she persists in the Lifestream, she can try again and again.

Who is to say that Future Sephiroth doesn't come from a time when she finally succeeded? The landscape at the Edge of Creation looks a lot like a barren planet after all. This is the culmination of everything he helped her do for so many years, and he sees the chance to put an end to it. But he can't do it alone.

Also, personality-wise, the latter would be more entertaining. Pre-Nibelheim was dutiful, determined and a bundle of personal and emotional issues. Future Sephiroth would be all of those things and also a bit of a giant asshole, too. Any good he does won't erase or excuse the awful things he did in the past, he will have to come to terms with that, and one doesn't just find out they were born as the result of horrific human experimentation and come out the other side of that with a winning personality. Kinda like Negan after his heel-face turn on The Walking Dead.

Finally, this being pre-Nibelheim Sephiroth doesn't make sense when you figure that if he's here, that means the destruction of Nibelheim likely didn't happen, or at least didn't happen in the way we know. This would completely change the story from the ground up, and big changes aside, the major story beats seem to be chugging along as usual. There's always the issue of alternate timelines that the story wants to play with, but it'll take a lot more theorizing power than I have to figure out how pre-Nibelheim Sephiroth would figure into that.

That's about all I've got right now, so I'll wrap this up. If you're still reading, thank you for indulging me.

Until next time!

[mcpiejeff27]

Genshin Character Concept: Kunikuzushi

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnWNHX8DrAo

In other words, playable 3.3 Scaramouche except he retains his Electro Vision and also wields a sword. His kit focuses on looping his E and Q as well as dishing out good portions of damage.

Kunikuzushi

Rarity: 5 Stars | Weapon: Sword        | Element: Electro

Sex                  : Male

Birthday          : January 3rd

Constellation  : Peregrinus

Nation             : Inazuma

Talent

>Normal – Iaijutsu: Vertical

Normal Attack: Perform up to 5 rapid strikes

Charged Attack: Consume a certain amount of Stamina to unleash a flurry of sword ki.

Plunging Attack: Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.

>E. Skill – Black Storm Reverie

Kunikuzushi casts down a lightning strike onto his blade, dealing Electro DMG in a small AoE and entering the Violent Raikiri state for 15s. While in this state, Kunikuzushi’s resistance to interruption increases and his attacks are converted to Electro, which cannot be overridden by any other Elemental infusion. Additionally, his Elemental Skill’s CD will reset, and his Charged Attack and Elemental Skill are converted to Kuusho Yoru and Mugen Nisshoku respectively.

Kuusho Yoru:

Kuusho Yoru does not consume stamina. Instead, it consumes 5% of Kunikuzushi’s Max HP to launch a crescent moon-shaped sword slash forward, dealing Electro DMG to enemies along its path.

Mugen Nisshoku:

Kunikuzushi performs a singular circular slash, dealing AoE Electro DMG while also gaining 1 stack of Reconciliation, which will give 1 instance of immunity against DMG from incoming attacks. When an enemy hits Kunikuzushi while he possesses the Reconciliation stack, the stack will explode, dealing AoE Physical DMG and knocking the enemies back. A maximum of 1 stack of Reconciliation can be held at a time.

>E. Burst – Ankokuryuu: Shokei

Judgement is swift and merciless. Kunikuzushi strikes down a raging lightning that is akin to a descending dragon, dealing high AoE Electro DMG. If it hits an enemy while in the Violent Raikiri state, it will deal increased damage while also extending the duration of said state by 4s.

Passive

 >Passive I – Kushidagawa

Mugen Nisshoku will recover Kunikuzushi’s HP by 4% for every enemy hit (up to 6 enemies).

>Passive II – Burning Afterimage

When Kuusho Yoru triggers an Electro-related Elemental Reaction, Kunikuzushi will recover 6~10 Energy for himself while also increasing his Crit Rate by 5% for 6s. The maximum Crit Rate Bonus that can be obtained cannot exceed 20%.

> Expedition – Wanderer of Foreign Lands

When sent to an Expedition outside of Inazuma, has a 50% chance of retrieving 2x the result.

Constellation

I. Moon Dragon’s Epiphany

Decreases the CD for Ankokuryuu: Shokei by 20%.

II. Musou Kesagiri

While in the Violent Raikiri state, enemies who got hit by Kunikuzushi’s normal attacks will be marked with Omen. When Kuusho Yoru or Mugen Nisshoku hit enemies bearing the Omen, formless slashes will rain down on them and deal Electro DMG based on Kunikuzushi’s ATK. If these slashes trigger Electro-related Elemental Reaction, Kunikuzushi will recover 15 Energy for himself. Additionally, those slashes also have a 40% of inflicting Omen on hit. Only 1 Omen can exist on an enemy and its duration can only be refreshed by Kunikuzushi himself.

III. Terminal Eon

Increases the Level of Black Storm Reverie by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.

IV. Unquenched Atrophy

The maximum number of Reconciliation stacks that can be held at a time is increased to 2.

V. Kesshin Reformation

Increases the Level of Ankokuryuu: Shokei by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.

VI. Zenchi Zenbou

While in the Violent Raikiri state, Kunikuzushi will gain +8% Energy Recharge for every second elapsed since he entered the state. A maximum of +50% bonus can be obtained this way. Once he reaches the maximum bonus cap, the duration of Violent Raikiri will be increased by 4s and the CD for Ankokuryuu: Shokei is reduced by 6s. The second effect can only occur once per session of Violent Raikiri. Once he exits the state, the Energy Recharge Bonus will disappear and Kunikuzushi will recover 42 Energy for himself.

[satoshi-mochida]

Publisher Square Enix and developer Team Ninja have released new information and screenshots for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin introducing new characters Neon and Princess Sarah, battle actions, difficulty settings, multiplayer, and locations.

■ What is Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin?

With the memory of their struggle buried deep in their hearts…

In this hardcore action RPG, Jack must hazard numerous gauntlets to bring the light of the crystals back to a kingdom conquered by darkness.

Fight your way through excruciating battles with a variety of means to pulverize your enemies. With multiple difficulty options and a wide selection of jobs and weapons available to customize your party, you can choose exactly how you want to play.

Will restoring the crystals’ light usher in peace or a new form of darkness?

…or perhaps something else entirely?

■ Characters

Jack (voiced by Mocean Melvin in English, Kenjiro Tsuda in Japanese)

“All I care about is seeing Chaos dead. I need to. It’s not a hope or a dream. It’s like a hunger. A thirst.”

Feels a strong sense of duty to defeat Chaos. With no hesitation to kill monsters that stand in his way, he pulverizes them with no mercy.

Ash (voiced by Mark Neely in English, Atsushi Miyauchi in Japanese)

“Better than good. Only Jack can fight like that.”

The rock of the team, supporting the members with his calm and collected nature. He recognizes Jack’s high combat abilities and puts his trust in him.

Jed (voiced by Alejandro Saab in English, Yusuke Suda in Japanese)

“It’s a mercy to forget. Those were your words, Jack.”

Has a kind and happy-go-lucky personality but is just as capable as Ash. Looks up to Jack and admires his powers.

Neon (voiced by Alejandra Reynoso in English, Kana Okazaki in Japanese)

“And I count four of us.”

Though the youngest, she has the same level of ability as her comrades to fight through severe battles. Insisting that Chaos doesn’t exist, there are times when she and Jack clash.

Princess Sarah (voiced by Cherami Leigh in English, Yume Miyamoto in Japanese)

“May the crystal’s blessing be with you always.”

The crown princess of Cornelia. An amicable figure who is popular among the citizens of Cornelia, she also interacts with them incognito, such as when playing her lute.

■ Event Scenes

A girl named Neon joins Jack’s party. Are these four the warriors of light who will save Cornelia as the prophecy foretold..?

Neon’s crystal resonates with the ones Jack and the team hold. However, the crystals they possess are of a black color.

Princess Sarah asks for Jack’s last name, to which he introduces himself as Jack Garland.

Almost like a thirst, they only think about defeating Chaos as they continue to slay one monster after another.

■ Battle Scenes

Experience the Final Fantasy Series’ Most Challenging and Strategic Battles

A story painted by layers of challenging action gameplay. Use various abilities to crush your enemies!

Each boss has its own unique movements. Identifying the enemy’s swift moves and effectively utilizing soul shield and various abilities will carry you through deadly battles.

Various weapons such as greatswords, daggers, and spears determine a character’s job when equipped. Acquire new abilities and jobs through a character enhancement system called the Job Tree.

Choose among a variety of jobs to select two which you can switch between during battle. Using magic spells is also another effective strategy.

Prepare for battle by acquiring and equipping more powerful gear. Collect various weapons from treasure chests or by defeating enemies.

■ General Control

Normal Attacks

Lock on to an enemy and deliver a normal attack. A Break gauge is displayed above the enemy, which will decrease as damage is inflicted.

Action Abilities

Lock on to an enemy and deliver a normal attack. A Break gauge is displayed above the enemy, which will decrease as damage is inflicted.

Soul Burst

Once the enemy’s Break gauge reaches zero, the enemy enters a “Break” state. Approach the enemy in the Break state and activate a soul burst to deliver a finishing blow. By defeating enemies using soul bursts, your maximum MP increases, and MP is restored.

Guard

Guard against your enemies’ attacks with your weapon.

Dodge

Use the dodge command while guarding to evade attacks.

Soul Shield

Consume Break to set up a soul shield. When you take an attack while your soul shield is up, your maximum MP increases, and MP is restored. Activating a normal attack right when taking an enemy attack delivers a deep-dive counter.

Lightbringer

When your max MP is two bars or more, consume two bars’ worth of MP and max MP to activate Lightbringer. Activating Lightbringer makes it easier to finish off enemies with a soul burst and also serves as an effective method to fight back when surrounded by enemies.

■ Game Systems

Difficulty Options

Players can choose a difficulty mode that matches their playstyle.

Hard – A difficulty for players who are skilled at action games, providing thrilling battles.

Action – A difficulty for players who are accustomed to action games, providing moderately challenging battles.

Story – A difficulty for players who don’t usually play action games, allowing them to enjoy battles and the story. Make it even easier to play by turning on Casual mode.

Multiplayer Mode

Play in a group with a maximum of three players through online multiplayer mode! Play through the main story and side missions with your friends. In this mode, equipment and other items will drop for each player to loot individually.

■ Locations

In this game, players will explore various locales that exist in the world surrounding Cornelia. However, all of these locations seem foreign, with strange scenery and cultural atmospheres that don’t seem to fit into this world.

Chaos Shrine‘

It is said that a shrine did not originally exist at this location. Perhaps, at a certain point in time, in a distant future in which no one could intervene, an incident happened which triggered the creation of this shrine…

Refrin Wetlands

It is said that in this land exists a material which can cause distortion in the world. By artificially controlling the weather and adding distortion that originally didn’t exist through natural causes, it is said that darkness is created.

■ Product Overview

Standard Physical Edition

Includes:

Stanger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin game (disc version)

Standard Digital Edition

Includes:

Stanger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin game (digital download)

Digital version in-game bonuses

Digital Deluxe Edition

Includes:

-Stanger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin game (digital download)

-Season Pass: Additional Missions

“Trials of the Dragon King”

“Wanderer of the Rift”

“Different Future”

-Digital art book

-Digital mini soundtrack

-Digital version in-game bonuses

Bonuses for All Digital Versions

-Pre-Order Bonuses

Early Access (72 hours) – Game accessible from midnight on March 15, 2022 local time.

“Braveheart” weapon and “Lustrous Shield”

Original PlayStation 4 theme (for customers who pre-order on PlayStation Store)

-Early Purchase Bonus

“Rebellion” Weapon – Available to users who purchase the game before 11:59 pm on April 18, 2022 local time.

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is due out for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Epic Games Store on March 18, 2022.

View the screenshots at the gallery.

[cardinalfang]

13 and Sasha? (loving all the content your ask posts generated btw; made all my breaks over the past few weeks very entertaining, so ty!)

Thank you for making this game! The prompts are all so creative, and I've been thriving on everyone's answers, too!

13 - The party actually get to play Pathfinder without Alex inflicting psychic damage! What is [Sasha]’s character like?

I think Sasha, for all that I love and admire her, would have trouble understanding the point of a ttrpg. You'd hand her a character sheet to fill out, and she'd come back with all the numbers filled in, her arithmetic perfect.

"Wow, Sasha," you'd say. "Your character sure is... sneaky."

She would nod, and say that she optimized for maximum sneakiness.

You'd turn the sheet over. She's playing a goblin rogue, which explains the unholy-high dexterity stat. "You haven't filled in a name," you'd say.

She'd ask if that's really necessary.

You suppose it's not technically necessary, "but we do need some way to refer to your character. Have you thought about what pronouns they might use?"

She would start looking around for the exit. You're asking a suspicious amount of questions about a person who doesn't actually exist. What are you, a cop?

After talking her down a bit and reassuring her that the finer details might come out over the course of play, you talk with her about starting inventory. You tell her that you'll give her character a 10gp allowance to spend as she chooses, then offer her a cheat-sheet of items you recommend.

She throws the cheat-sheet away and buys five daggers instead.

You're starting to think that Sasha isn't taking this very seriously, but then she rolls up to the first session very excited, bearing scribbly doodles of each of her fictional daggers.

I don't think Sasha would like roleplay very much, but she'd love combat, and I think she'd end up really enjoying the excuse to spend time with her friends.