#and a set of melee attacks that do a lot of damage but require her to grapple you so if you don't get grabbed you're alright

[bitegore]

if your ocs were bosses in a video game, what do you think their boss fight would be like?

[dailycharacteroption]

Class Feature Friday: Combat Evolutionary Focus (Evolutionist Evolutionary Focus)

(art by Zire9 on DeviantArt)

And it’s time for the second of three evolutionary foci for evolutionists!

Last time, we talked about evolutionists that specialize in getting as many augments as possible in order to diversify their abilities, but now, we’ll be focusing on a path that enhances their combat prowess, particularly with their innate attack!

An integrated laser cannon, bio-electric nodules, draconic acid glands, a freezing-cold deathly touch… every evolutionist has a special innate attack connected to the self-perfection they seek. Some even have multiple. Either way, it is often their primary method of attack supplemented by their equipment, other augmentations, and their own constantly-shifting body.

With such an exceptional innate attack, it only makes sense that there would be some evolutionists that focus their transformation into improving their use of said adaptive attack no matter what form it takes.

Such evolutionists might have deliberately taken on this focus as part of their career path, but others might have done so reflexively to survive, such as growing up in a war zone or a harsh and dangerous environment. No matter the reason, there is no denying their lethal effectiveness.

At it’s basic stage, this focus makes the evolutionist more accurate when making multiple attacks.

This is followed up with them being able to choose to do three attacks in a full attack.

Finally, especially-skilled individuals are able to set up deadly chain reactions when hitting multiple times with their adaptive strike. Whether it be rending claws, a chemical reaction between two corrosive fluids, continuous streams of heat or electricity, or something else entirely, they can deal powerful extra damage to a foe they hit repeatedly with a single string of attacks.

Of the three foci available to the class, this one is the most simple, merely granting extra attacks, reduced penalties, and the ability to do rending damage with them no matter what form they take. However, simplicity does not mean ineffective, as it can prove quite devastating to your foes. Naturally, however, this option is meant to be paired with a heavy combat build, either focusing melee or ranged, or perhaps a mix of both. Naturally, adaptations that grant additional adaptive strike types and the ability to change damage types are almost required, but beyond that you can go super tanky or a more mobile combat build, just whatever suits you the most. Consider other adaptations as well as augmentations that suit your style as well.

The focus on the adaptive strikes today reminds me how ripe for creativity the evolutionist class truly is. Consider that any of the available damage types can be either ranged or melee, and consider how they would work for each of the niches, and that’s already a recipe for lots of evocative images. Add in your species on top of that and the sky truly is the limit.

All of her life, Izalda has dreamed of the warm sun, unusual but not unheard of for one born as a winterborn ryphorian. However, she found she was not content to just undergo gene therapy to become a summerborn, she needed to become a star, and so she began funding her transformation into an elemental being, primarily with her career as a martial artist competing in tournaments. However, a fight-fixing conspiracy threatens to snuff out her light long before she achieves her blazing apotheosis.

After a strange accident while exploring four-dimensional ruins, Brada Voss was merged partially with adaptive cybernetics by the recombinator robots maintaining the site. Since then, the pirate has been learning to control the strange machines that seem to appear from nowhere to armor and arm him, but they’ve made enough process to become a true terror in a fight.

Several EternaLife scientists and bureaucrats have been found dead, their throats crushed with signs of frostbite. Rather than go to the authorities, the company reaches out to mercenaries to solve the problem, and it becomes readily apparent why: One of their experiments into necromantic longevity survived the lab’s destruction, and seeks a vengeance of death and terror.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #162

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re making the woman who brought down the sun, Chacha! Chacha’s a Zeal Cleric to bring out the skeletons of the Toyotomi, as well as a Pyromancer Sorcerer to set the proper mood lighting with the hellfire that constantly burns within her.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Alter ego? I barely even know ‘er ego!

Race and Background

Chacha’s Human. Not really much to say to justify that, but it gives you +1 to all abilities.

Your experience in the court of one of the most powerful men in Japan gives you the Courtier background, giving you proficiency with Insight and Persuasion. You’re kind of a kid right now, so shoot people the puppy dog eyes and they’ll be butter in your hands faster than you can flutter your lashes.

Ability Scores

Continuing from that last sentence, max out your Charisma. God knows you’ll need it if you want to get that bread. Second is your Dexterity- you’re a rambunctious little rugrat. Third highest is your Constitution, you’re tough enough to deal with constantly being on fire, but we won’t be getting much of that from two spellcasting classes. Your Wisdom isn’t great, but it’s a lot better than most berserkers- your madness enhancement is only E rank. Also we need it for multiclassing. Your Strength isn’t great, you did get summoned as a child, after all. That leaves your Intelligence to dump. Again, Chacha’s a child here, and she definitely strikes me as a “leap before you look” kinda person.

Class Levels

1. Sorcerer 1: The skeletons are what you do, but being on fire is what you are, so we’re starting with Pyromancy. (It also doesn’t hurt that starting with sorcerer gives you proficiency with Constitution and Charisma saves, plus Religion and Deception. She snuck into being the big bad of a whole event, I’m counting it.)

Being a sorcerer gives you Spells you can cast using your Charisma, as well as a Heart of Fire. When you cast a fire-dealing spell that isn’t a cantrip, you shoot fire out of your body in a 10′ radius around you, dealing damage to creatures you choose equal to half your sorcerer level (minimum 1, so it isn’t useless this level).

Speaking of spells, you get some! Prestidigitation lets you fit whatever fits into your hand for six seconds. There’s also other uses, but this is one of the closest things you’ll get to Golden Rule, so we’re using it for free stuff. You also get Sword Burst to shove swords in people, Green-Flame Blade for when you want to do it yourself, and Fire Bolt because we kind of got a theme going.

For first level spells, Burning Hands will activate your Heart of fire, and Mage Armor will help you not die. You die last, make sure it stays that way.

2. Cleric 1: Multiclassing into a Zeal cleric gives you proficiency with all sorts of armors and weapons, so if you want to slap on a mask and get in up close and personal with your foes, now you can. You also get another set of Spells, which you cast and prepare with your Wisdom. You also become a Priest of Zeal, so you can attack as a bonus action after attacking with your main action Wisdom Modifier times per long rest.

You’ll get plenty of use out of your specialty spells Searing and Thunderous Smite, but you can also use Bane to weaken your enemies. You also get more cantrips! Thaumaturgy is a great distraction when you have to get out of a punishment, or you could use Sacred Flame in a fight! Otherwise, you can use Light to see in the dark with your dumb human eyes.

3. Cleric 2: Second level clerics can use their Channel Divinity options once per short rest, either Turning Undead like normal or engaging their Consuming Fervor when they deal Fire or Thunder damage to deal the max amount possible instead of rolling. You can probably sense a theme in this build by now.

4. Cleric 3: Third level zeal clerics can make Magic Weapons or Shatter their enemies with second level spell slots. Magic Weapon’s much more in-character for you, but I’d certainly not turn down free explosives.

5. Cleric 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to grab the Magic initiate feat. This lets us pick up Bane once per long rest without having to become a bard, and you also get Friends and Vicious Mockery to add a bit of magic to your social cantrips.

On top of that, you still get one more cleric cantrip. Toll the dead is certainly appropriate thematically.

6. Cleric 5: Fifth level clerics can now Destroy Undead of CR 1/2 or lower when they turn undead, but more importantly they get third level spells. Haste and Fireball are both great picks, but we’re here especially for Animate Dead to make some skeletons. What a lovely family reunion!

7. Sorcerer 2: Now that we’ve got the rest of the Toyotomi clan backing you up, we can refocus on that hellfire. Second level sorcerers are Fonts of Magic, giving you sorcery points equal to your sorcerer level each long rest that you can spend on spell slots. There’s other stuff later, but for now you get slightly more spell slots.

You can also use those big-ol’ puppy dog eyes to Charm Person, forcing a wisdom save to charm someone for up to an hour.

8. Sorcerer 3: Your metamagic lets you enhnace your spells by using sorcery points. Your Heightened spells impose disadvantage on one target’s saves, and your Extended spells have a doubled duration.

Flame Blade technically isn’t a sorcerer spell unless you like Unearthed Arcana, but it’s fitting enough that we might as well chance it. It makes a flaming sword that uses your casting modifier to attack and lasts 10 minutes or until your concentration runs out.

9. Sorcerer 4: Use this ASI to bump up your Dexterity for a higher AC and your Wisdom for more attacks and better cleric spells.

You also get Create Bonfire and Aganazzar’s Scorcher for more fire. Again, kind of a theme here.

10. Sorcerer 5: Fifth level sorcerers can spend sorcery points on Magical Guidance to re-roll failed skill checks. You’re kind of a big deal, you don’t have time to do things badly.

You also get another UA spell, Flame Stride. Speed yourself up by 20 feet, avoid opportunity attacks, and deal fire damage to nearby creatures. Perfect for when you’re tearing a path through Chaldea.

11. Sorcerer 6: Sixth level pyromancers come packed with Fire in the Veins, giving you resistance to fire damage and now your fire spells ignore resistance.

You also get the spell Incite Greed. You might not be able to conjure gold like the other Golden Rule users, but it looks like you’re really rich, and that’s the important part here. This spell forces a wisdom save on any number of creatures within range, and if they fail all they can do until they break free is follow you around and stare at the gem you’re holding.

12. Sorcerer 7: Your brand new fourth level slots help you induce Confusion on your enemies. Probably your enemies. Seriously, avoid hitting your friends with it.

13. Sorcerer 8: Use this ASI to bump up your Charisma for stronger spells. You also learn Wall of Fire for more fire. Again, we’ve got a theme to work with here.

14. Sorcerer 9: Immolation is more fire, but it’s also more your speed than a wall. Set someone on fire to deal 7d6 fire damage or half on a successful dex save. On a failed save they also stay on fire for up to a minute, until you lose concentration, or they pass another dex save. Also, if this spell kills someone, they turn to ash.

15. Sorcerer 10: For your third metamagic option, go for Empowered spell to deal more damage when you’re out of divinity to channel. Since we’re not going barbarian, grab Blade Ward for a bit of that berserker toughness, as well as Creation to buy up whatever you might need at a moment’s notice.

16. Sorcerer 11: Investiture of Flame gives you yet another way to set yourself on fire, making you immune to fire damage, resist cold damage, deal fire damage to nearby creatures, and you can spend an action to shoot fire for up to 10 minutes.

17. Sorcerer 12: Use your last ASI to max out your Charisma for the hottest flames possible.

18. Sorcerer 13: Your seventh level spell is Fire Storm, creating flames that cover 10 10 foot cubes within range, dealing fire damage and setting objects on fire. More fire! Never enough fire.

19. Sorcerer 14: Fourteenth level pyromancers get Pyromancer’s Fury, letting you spend your reaction to deal fire damage to a creature when they hit you with a melee attack, ignoring resistances. More fire! Always more fire.

20. Sorcerer 15: To commemorate that time you destroyed your entire family and brought them to ruin, grab Sunburst as your eighth level spell to burst that sun and deal radiant damage to creatures in a 60′ radius and possibly even blind them.

Pros:

You’re really good with Fire, and thanks to your pyromancer features the fact that fire is a common resistance isn’t quite as big a deal for you as it could be. Being able to max out your fire damage also means you can deal big hits once per short rest.

Aside from raw damage, you’re also good at weakening enemies thanks to your high charisma and heightened metamagic.

Since you’re shouldering the dps burden, that leaves your skeleton army available to basically be a shield between you and whatever it is you’re killing, making it much harder for barbarians and the like to flatten you like a pancake.

Cons:

Oh yeah, barbarians can flatten you like a pancake. You have barely over 100 HP and an AC of 16, you’re not hard to take down if someone can survive your opening barrage.

Most of your spells aren’t very selective. Your party might give you a hard time for friendly fire, and you’re probably going to end up killing your skeleton family. Again. Sorry.

Quite a few of your spells require concentration, meaning you’ll have to pick and choose what you’re doing at any one time. It also means you might waste a spell slot if someone slaps you too hard after you immolate someone else. It’s an occupational hazard.

[tigerkirby215]

5e Katarina, the Sinister Blade build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Riot Games. In b4 Tumblr gives me ToS for this picture.)

In my defense I had this build planned since pre-Tasha’s. With Katarina being absolutely nuts in preseason right now along with her just generally being one of League’s most popular champs I’d have to get around to making a build for her eventually.

Look it was either her or Zac. The only other build I really want to do right now is Miss Fortune and truthfully I’m kinda stumped on her. This build isn’t a build it’s a cry for help.

GOALS

Preparation - We’ll need to always be ready for a fight, with a weapon in hand and ways to rush in.

Shunpo - We’ll also need a way to jump on our foes, or jump away.

Death Lotus - When push comes to shove we’ll need to shred through everyone close by spinning and throwing daggers at a rapid pace!

RACE

Katarina is a human but with some special, magical talents. I’m sure by now people know my aversion to Variant Humans and my love of Eberron Dragonmarks so the Mark of Finding is perfect for finding marks and ending them.

With the Mark of Finding you get some Ability Score Improvements but thanks to Tasha’s we can get a +2 to our Intelligence and a +1 to our Dexterity. You also have Darkvision up to 60 feet, and Hunter’s Intuition, letting you add a d4 to Perception and Survival checks. Finally Finder’s Magic giving you some innate spells.

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - You’re an assassin who hops, skips, and jumps around the battlefield.

14; INTELLIGENCE - For whatever reason Katerina does AP damage? I mean she did. Now she builds Kraken Slayer because lol Rito balance.

13; CHARISMA - People don’t only main you because you’re strong.

12; WISDOM - Kata in lore is a bit of a hot-head but Wisdom is attached to many skills that an assassin needs.

10; CONSTITUTION - You’re a squishy midlaner.

8; STRENGTH - We simply don’t need Strength and with your build I doubt you have much. Even if jumping around like that requires a lot of muscles in the legs and chest.

BACKGROUND

So apparently Katerina is part of a Noxian Noble family? Regardless as a Noble you gain proficiency in History but I’d suggest swapping your Persuasion proficiency with Intimidation instead. You also get proficiency with a gaming set and a language of your choice.

Thanks to your noble birth you have a Position of Privilege, meaning that other nobles will welcome you within their circles and common folk will do their best to please you in order to avoid getting a dagger in their throat. You can even secure an audience with a noble if you need to! Perhaps you need to put a knife in their throat? An assassin doesn’t ask questions.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

Starting off as a Rogue for skill proficiencies also because yeah duh. As a Rogue you get proficiency in four skills from the Rogue list: Acrobatics is an obvious choice, Athletics will help your poor Strength score, Perception will help you spot incoming hooded assassins, and Stealth will let you do Rogue things. Rogue things like Sneak Attack if an ally is near an enemy or you have advantage, granting you an extra d6 on the attack roll.

You also get Expertise in two of your skills: both Stealth and Acrobatics make sense for an assassin. Speaking of assassin Thieves’ Cant will let you communicate with them in a way that your enemies can’t understand. And to top it off Finder’s Magic you can cast Hunter’s Mark once per Long Rest. Smite and Ignite to get First Blood.

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

Second level Rogues get Cunning Action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a Bonus Action. "Never play fair."

LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3

Third level Rogues get to choose their Roguish Archetype and there’s two important things about your knives:

They do magic damage (for some reason.)

You throw them a lot.

With that in mind we shall be going for the Soulknife from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. As a Soulknife you get Psionic Power for a pool of d6 Psionic Energy die that can be used for a variety of features. Psi-Bolstered Knack will let you boost your ability checks as long as you’re proficient, and Psychic Whispers will let you keep assassination plans to team chat.

Of course what we’re really here for is Psychic Blades, a magic d6 psychic damage knife that you can make when you attack which can be dual-wielded and thrown up to 60 feet. You can also attack again with your Bonus Action if you already stabbed with your main action, but the extra attack will only do a d4 instead of a d6.

Speaking of magic: you also get Locate Object from Finder’s Magic. Perhaps not as useful as Find Person, but thievery isn’t beneath you. Your Sneak Attack also increases to 2d6.

LEVEL 4 - ROGUE 4

4th level Rogues get an Ability Score Improvement: turns out Dexterity is pretty important for a Rogue so increase that by 2.

(Artwork by Jennifer Wuestling. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 5 - WIZARD 1

Time for an AP boost. First level Wizards get Spellcasting because what else did you think they got? You learn three cantrips and six leveled spells when starting out as a Wizard, even if you can only prepare a number of spells equal to your Wizard level plus your Intelligence modifier:

CANTRIPS

Instead of making a dinky d4 knife empower it with Booming Blade for some Thunder damage, and even more damage if the enemy moves.

To twirl around with Voracity Sword Burst will strike everyone near one of your daggers with your knives.

For a long ranged damage tool that inflicts Grievous Wounds Chill Touch will let you make sure your lane opponent doesn’t run away and heal up.

SPELLS

Mage Armor will help you avoid a few more hits.

For a Bouncing Blade (sorta) take Ice Knife to hit your target and anyone close to them.

For a shield thanks to Gunblade (like it’s TFT) take False Life to bolster yourself somewhat.

Disguise Self will be helpful for any infiltration missions.

Detect Magic likewise is useful to locate any magical traps.

Every good Rogue has a backup plan: Feather Fall is always useful in a pinch.

You also get Arcane Recovery, allowing you to recover spell slots with a combined total level of half your Wizard level.

LEVEL 6 - WIZARD 2

Second level Wizards get to choose their Arcane Tradition. There is actually a school for magic knives and that school is the art of Bladesinging! As a Bladesinger you get Training in War and Song for proficiency in Performance along with a one-handed melee weapon of your choice: for whatever reason Rogues don’t get proficiency in Scimitars so grab that I guess?

But much more importantly you can invoke a Bladesong as a Bonus Action, which lasts for 1 minute but ends early if you are incapacitated. (Or if you don medium or heavy armor or a shield, or if you use two hands to make an attack with a weapon. I guess.) You can also dismiss the Bladesong at any time with no action required.

While your Bladesong is active you gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Intelligence modifier, your walking speed increases by 10 feet, you have advantage on Acrobatics checks, and you gain a bonus to Concentration checks equal to your Intelligence modifier. You can activate Bladesong a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.

You can also learn more spells like Color Spray for a getaway option, or Cause Fear of incoming ganks.

LEVEL 7 - WIZARD 3

Third level Wizards can learn second level spells like Mirror Image to be everywhere at once, and Misty Step for legally not Flash.

LEVEL 8 - WIZARD 4

4th level Wizards get an Ability Score Improvement: more Dexterity means more AC and deadlier stabs with your knife.

You can also learn more spells like Invisibility for some Duskblade resets, and Enhance Ability (ty Tasha’s) to make sure you’re the best around. And you can learn another cantrip like Prestidigitation for some generic utility sorcery.

LEVEL 9 - WIZARD 5

5th level Wizards can learn third level spells like Haste to up your APM, and Spirit Shroud to make all your stabs all the deadlier.

LEVEL 10 - WIZARD 6

At 6th level you get an Extra Attack as a Bladesinger, but unlike most Extra Attacks you can also cast a cantrip along with attacking! The interesting thing about this is that (rules as written) you can attack twice after casting Booming Blade with this! And depending on your DM you might even still have your Cunning Action!

And on the subject of spells you can learn two more such as Clairvoyance for some Farsight Alterations, and Nondetection to... not be detected...

(Artwork by Atey Ghailan. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 11 - ROGUE 5

5th level Rogues get Uncanny Dodge. When you’re hit with an attack you can use your reaction to halve the damage. Additionally your Psionic Energy die increases to a d8, and your Sneak Attack increases to 3d6.

LEVEL 12 - ROGUE 6

6th level Rogues get Expertise in two more skills: Perception will help you avoid ganks and Intimidation will help you extract information.

LEVEL 13 - ROGUE 7

7th level Rogues get Evasion. If you’re forced to make a Dexterity save you can make some pro plays to dodge, taking no damage on a successful save and half damage on a failed save.

Your Sneak Attack also increases to 4d6, so you can jump onto them after dodging their skill shot.

LEVEL 14 - ROGUE 8

8th level Rogues get another Ability Score Improvement: since your Dexterity is maxed let’s invest in that Intelligence... sorta. The Observant feat will let you increase your Intelligence by 1 along with granting a +5 bonus to passive Perception and Investigation so you can watch those wards, and the ability to read lips! Definitely helpful for an assassin.

(Artwork by Katie “TeaTime” De Sousa. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 15 - ROGUE 9

Hey how about we get your actual abilities at total level 15? Finally with level 9 in Soul KInife you get Soul Blades for two new abilities that use your Psionic Energy die. Homing Strikes will let you add your Psionic Energy die to an attack roll if you miss, and Psychic Teleportation will let you throw out a knife and teleport to it!

Something something read how the ability works yourself because these are guides on how to make a character and I won’t tell you what every class in Tasha’s does. Oh your Sneak Attack also increases to 5d6 now.

LEVEL 16 - WIZARD 7

7th level Wizards get 4th level spells like Phantasmal Killer to make your own jungler (one who’ll actually gank!), and Dimension Door to Teleport into lane. Or out!

LEVEL 17 - WIZARD 8

Level 8? How about an ASI? You may notice that we have two uneven ability scores: increase both your Intelligence and Charisma by 1.

You can also learn more spells but there honestly isn’t much I want from fourth level so hop back to level 3 for Sending. But you can also take Greater Invisibility for some Duskblade resets. Look I just really need a 5th level spell but it’s hard to justify magic on a champion who throws knives and nothing else.

LEVEL 18 - WIZARD 9

Time to finally get the last ability we’re missing: Death Lotus. Or more precisely Steel Wind Strike to hit everyone with your daggers and then maybe Shunpo to them after the fact. Speaking of Shunpo for seemingly unlimited jumps take Far Step, allowing you to be everywhere at once. Just know that you’ll only have one 5th level slot.

(Artwork by Esben Lash Rasmussen. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 19 - ROGUE 10

Picking up our last two levels in Rogue: level 10 means another ASI. Capped off Intelligence woo!

LEVEL 20 - ROGUE 11

11th level Rogues get Reliable Talent, meaning that you can’t roll below a 10 on any skill you’re proficient in. As a capstone skill let’s check what the minimum roll you can get on your skills is:

27 on Acrobatics and Stealth

24 on Intimidation

23 on Perception

21 on History

18 on Performance (Bladesinger lul)

15 on Athletics

And to top it off your Psionic Energy die increases to a d10, along with your Sneak Attack capping off at 6d6!

FINAL BUILD

PROS

They fear my weapons? I am the weapon - Regardless of your choice of tools you are extremely deadly. On one hand 6d6 sneak attack daggers you can apply 3d8 Booming Blade damage to, and on the other hand plenty of potent spells like Haste and Spirit Shroud.

If you run, you won't see me stab you! - You are also incredibly mobile with Misty Step, Far Step, Psychic Teleportation, Bladesong, and just general Cunning Actions. Not to mention that Bladesong gives a big boost to AC which combines well with Uncanny Dodge and Evasion.

A victory is sweetest when it leads to another - Rogues are meant to be skilled professionals and you are certainly that. The skills you are proficient in can be boosted by psionics. Oh and 28 Passive Perception thanks to Observant is just a little bit nutty.

CONS

Ready for trouble? - While you have many a skill you have many more that are lacking. You can put on a mean face sure, but for an important check like Arcana your psionic potential won’t save you.

Better dead than dull - Your spell slots are limited, and quite notably you only have one 5th level slot for Death Lotus IE Steel Wind Strike. While magic can supplement you nicely remember to ration yourself appropriately.

Come on, live a little... while you can! - You know what class doesn’t have a lot of health? Wizards, and half your levels are in Wizard. With a 10 in CON and most of your hit die being d6s your enemies won’t even need to hit you to Power Word Kill you.

But as an assassin you prove why your house is the best in the business. Talk is cheap and you’re always prepared: go in with knives at the ready, take out your target and anyone in their way before slipping out unscathed. You can always reset after a rest; just be sure to remember your cooldowns.

(Artwork by West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

[47-shades-of-hitman]

In Your Likeness | Chapter 6 - Bruised ego and painful memories

Agent 47 sat idly on a chair in Mr Howard’s office, facing Diana, who had taken place behind it per Howard’s earlier insistence. She had a pile of papers in front of her, her fingers steepled together under her chin, auburn hair tucked neatly into her trademark bun. The navy of her dress was nearly black in the dim light of the lamp standing a little away, which was emitting an odd, orange light.

“So, what have you learned so far? Any ideas on how you plan on bringing this mission to a successful end? Thoughts on your partner?”

He cleared his throat. “Miss (L/n) is… Kind. We’ve been training together for a few days now.”

“How does she fight? Capable enough?” Diana quizzed, jotting something down onto a file with a fountain pen the same shade as her nails.

“I believe so. It’s surprising how fast and agile she is.”

“Very good.” Diana gestured towards 47. “Elaborate, if you will.”

Agent 47 shifted in his seat.

“She’s cunning and quick and uses techniques I would never have thought of. Did you know that the best Assassins can perform something named a Leap of Faith? They throw themselves off somewhere high and then land safely in shrubbery or something soft, as if they’re diving. It’s fast and efficient – where I lack quick climbing skill, never really needing it, she can be on top of a large building in a matter of seconds and leap back off before I can even reach halfway up.”

“Higher grounds.” Diana commented. “Efficient in the art of scaling, then. Anything else?”

“Their wrist-blades. I believe she calls it a hidden blade. When she flicks her wrist, it expands and can easily stab someone a few inches deep. Convenient for quick attacks.”

Diana nodded, seemingly impressed by the findings. “That’s it?”

“No. She uses her enemies’ bodies to get herself where she needs to be, that way she can successfully throw people off, stagger and kill with just one move. It’s interesting to analyse.”

“Do you feel like you’re able to go on your first mission together, then? Did you read the files I handed you earlier?”

“I can do it on my own, too,” 47 said, “since the contract consists of just two targets.”

“Nothing of that, 47. This first mission is meant to see how you’re working together in the field. Should things not work out or get out of hand, the damage isn’t too severe and we know that we should find another way of solving Caelum. For now, this is what – and whom – you have to work with.”

 A little away, you sat in Miranda’s office, flicking through the documents regarding the mission at hand – Karl Wasserman and his new wife Georgina Johnson, owners of a high-end perfume line, found themselves in fraudulent affairs with an Egyptian whitewashing company and thus, a client wanted to see them out of business.

It wasn’t too bad, but to you it was quite new; The Brotherhood of Assassins never really worked with contracts requested by individuals – your mission laid with maintaining peace for the public and protecting it at all costs. A killer for hire was not something you saw yourself as.

“(Y/n), the Eldest requires your presence.” Miranda informed you, typing away at her computer. “He says to meet him in his office in a few minutes.”

“Okay.” you said, standing up and putting away the folder.

You set for the Eldest’s office and found yourself standing at the door, waiting for Mr Howard.

Hearing muffled voices, you recognized one to belong to 47 and the other to Diana. It was difficult to make out, but you caught a few lines nevertheless.

“…But coming back to the subject of agility. Scaling buildings and parkour, is it something you can see yourself doing?”

“I’m not too sure. Miss (L/n) seems eager to teach me, but our way has proven to be perfect for decades. Why change it now?”

“You need to know each other’s methods to prevent miscommunication and confusion.”

You raised an eyebrow, not too amused with hearing of his doubts, but then, you thought it wasn’t too great of a plan either. Sure, Agent 47 was a skilled killer, you had to give him that, and he hadn’t done anything unkind to you other than aiming a gun at you during your first meeting.

In the end, you were both lone wolves. What good would it do to actually go on missions together which didn’t directly affect Caelum, like the contract you had just studied? You’d only weigh each other down.

“This is a situation none of us had foreseen.” Diana said, “We just need to deal with it in this way now. It’s too dangerous to send you both in individually. You know Providence, but you don’t know the Templars. Miss (L/n) knows the Templars, but not Providence. Both of our institutions do not fully trust each other blindly, so we agreed upon sending both sides into the battlefield. Plus, this is too large to tackle on your own. We need an extra pair of eyes.”

“Couldn’t you have asked Lucas?” 47 quizzed.

“No,” Diana said, “We need him for other things in this project. And as I said, both compan—”

“Are you eavesdropping?”

You nearly jumped out of your skin at a sudden, unknown voice behind you. Instincts kicking in, you moved within a second, slamming the stranger against the wall, hidden blade at their throat. It was a man in his early-to-mid fifties – wholly unfamiliar to you – with salt-and-pepper-coloured hair and stormy eyes.

“Who are you? You don’t work here.”

You angled your blade a little, allowing him to move his head a bit upwards, away from it.

“My name is Lucas Grey. I arrived here this morning. I’m part of operation Shalom.”

You huffed, releasing him immediately as you recognized the name, embarrassment creeping up your cheeks and neck. “Right... I ah… I apologise.”

“No harm done. You must be Miss (L/n), then.”

You nodded and crossed your arms, stepping away from him.

“They’re in there, in case you were wondering.”

“You haven’t answered my question yet.” Lucas stated.

“Beg your pardon?”

“Were you eavesdropping on them?”

“No.” you lied, “I was waiting for them to be done discussing whatever they’re talking about. Mr Howard told me to meet him here in a bit.”

As if on cue, the doors of the office swung open and revealed both Diana and 47.

“Ah, I see you met Mr Grey.” Diana said.

“Yeah.” you replied, mentally adding ‘and he met my blade’, feeling ashamed regarding your childish response to his sudden appearance, even though he had said that there was no harm done.

Mr Howard approached and gestured towards the room so that you would enter.

Your gaze briefly crossed 47’s and you gave him an awkward smile, passing him and sitting down in the chair where he had been sitting previously. It was still warm-

-Wait, why would you even notice that? You shifted a little.

Diana and Mr Howard exchanged some quick words.

Meanwhile, 47 and Lucas stood a little behind them, muttering amongst themselves, and then briefly looked at you. You threw one leg over the other to shield your discomfort while you wondered if they were talking about you. Activating your eagle eye to focus on their conversation didn’t help at all, either.

Mr Howard soon entered the office and closed the doors, breaking your line of vision.

“So, (Y/n). We have a lot to go over.”

You hummed in agreement, folding your hands in your lap. “What do you want to know, sir?”

“How are you experiencing this alliance so far?”

“Well, Agent 47 is certainly a man who knows what he’s doing. He’s capable albeit a bit stiff, but there is potential to work together, sir.”

Mr Howard sat down and put on his reading glasses, running a hand through his beard.

“What’s his way of operating?”

“Silent, unseen, avoiding collateral damage as much as possible. The ICA holds a whole arsenal of resources he can use, varying from explosives to poisons and melee weapons. It’s interesting. Sir.”

Mr Howard nodded, scribbling something down. He looked up at you expectantly, waiting for you to continue.

“He told me he uses disguises as well. Knocks people out and takes their clothes in order to blend in, sir.”

You rubbed your arm and leaned back a little. “He hides in plain sight, sir.”

“Does he use higher or lower grounds?”

“Lower, sir.” Mr Howard wrote something down.

“Do you see yourself working on a contract with him?”

“Sir, I am not sure if this is what we stand for as the Brotherhood of Assassins. The people involved are all elite, they don’t intervene with the peace of the common people and—”

“That is none of your concern, (Y/n). A contract is a contract and you are going to fulfil it together.”

You swallowed thickly and nodded.

“You need to show us how you collaborate on the work field, hence why we have given you such a simple contract to carry out. We need to see if this goes well before trying to tackle anything greater. Behind the scenes, we’re preparing a lot. Your opinions on the matter are in this case to be disregarded of. Do you understand me?”

You bowed your head. “Naturally, sir. I apologise for doubting your choices, sir.”

Mr Howard put down his pen and folded his hands in front of him.

“(Y/n), I need to ask you something.”

“Of course.”

You straightened your back, shifting to the edge of your chair.

“You know that I am growing older. Next spring, I’ll be seventy-five years of age. In five years, I am retiring from my work as the Eldest of Council. We need new members on the Council, and I wanted to ask you if you were open to that. You’ll start in the lowest rank, of course, but you’ll be able to climb over time. That way, our people can shift one rank up and you’ll be added.”

Your eyes widened at the suggestion. “Oh, you’re catching me off-guard, sir. That is quite the request you’re making.”

He kindly smiled at you. “We want you to become a teacher and mentor as soon as you turn forty.” Your stomach churned – it would mean that you’d be given less action and mainly teaching, but your body would eventually not allow that much action anymore, anyway – “And also take up a position in the Council. You’re one of the best Assassins we’ve ever had, and given that there are no descendants to the (L/n) line, we need you to teach the younger ones.”

Biting back a sarcastic remark on both you and your brother being childless, you once again bowed your head. “I’m honoured, sir. Do you allow me to think it over?”

“Of course,” he replied, “But know this. In order for you to be promoted, we need you to work along with Operation Shalom. Give us your all.”

“Always, sir.” you said, “Is there anything else you need to know, sir?”

“For now, you’re dismissed.” he said, “If I require your presence, you’ll know.”

You stood and straightened your back, bidding the Eldest of Council a good day before leaving the office.

 You didn’t feel like seeking out 47, opting for the training hall on your own.

Hearing him talk about not really needing you during his mission had struck a raw nerve –

 “- I don’t need you, (Y/n). Trust me, I’ve got this.”

 You closed your eyes, slamming down onto the punching bag with immense force.

Your mind was there again; Half a decade ago, the evening before your brother headed on the mission that would turn out to be his last. Anger and sorrow tugged at your heartstrings with every blow you punched into the bag, crying out behind the force of your protected fists.

 “Joseph, I don’t mind coming along. An extra pair of blades will only make it easier.”

“You have plenty of other things to do. And it will be good for me to slash up some Templars to take my mind off… You know.”

 Sweat travelled down your brow as you kicked your leg up at liver-height, the chains holding the bag up rattling at the disturbance.

 “Okay. Be careful, Joey.”

“Of course, (Y/n)-ey. I know what I’m doing.”

 Your flushed, sweaty cheeks masked the single tear escaping your eye perfectly.

You felt your wrist jolt in pain, but no matter – it was nothing compared to the pain of grief tugging tearing at your heart.

With a groan, you concluded your onslaught on the training bag, panting heavily, wiping your brow with the towel that hung around your neck.

“Are you alright?”

Sebastian approached with in his hand a bottle of cold water, handing it to you.

Quickly taking off the wrappings around your hands, you smiled and took it, gulping it down greedily.

“I’m fine. Just a bit… Frustrated with some annoying Templars who pushed my buttons this morning.” you lied. It felt bad to not tell him the truth, but secrecy was important.

“Did they provoke you?”

“They eventually regretted trying to do so.”

Seb chuckled a little. “That’s the (Y/n) I know!”

A smirk tugged at your lips and you buried your face into the towel, patting away the sweat.

“So, what’s new today?”

“Ah, nothing really.” Sebastian responded. “Laura cut a wrong wire which caused his internet to be fucked up for the rest of the morning.”

“Typically Laura.” you sighed, rolling your eyes.

“Women, am I right?” Seb jokingly added, earning a lethal glare from you.

“I’m only kidding, women are perfectly capable of—”

“I know, Seb!” you laughed, hitting his chest playfully.

He grabbed your wrist and pushed you back a little.

“Wanna fight, huh?” you taunted with a grin, causing him to hop into a fighting stance, and you were about to lightly jab at his stomach when you heard someone clearing their throat behind you.

“Am I interrupting something?” 47 asked.

“Most certainly not.” you dryly replied, your playful demeanour replaced by severity.

“Ah, Tobias, this is Sebastian, he works in IT. Seb, this is Tobias, the exchange Assassin I told you about.”

They shook each other's hand a bit awkwardly, and Sebastian backed away slightly.

“I’ll eh… I’ll leave you two be.”

“Thank you for the water.” you told him upon his departure, but he rushed away with sudden urgency, seemingly uncomfortable.

“That’s your friend, then?”

You nodded. “He’s a bit of a dork, but I love him like family.”

47 hummed. “I supposed that we would meet up to discuss our mission.”

“Of course,” you said, “But I feel like I should shower first. Meet me upstairs in twenty.”

Agent 47 agreed on that idea to be best.

You withdrew to your bathroom, stripping down, running a quick shower.

After refreshing, you went to see 47, finding him where you had told him to meet you.

“Come with me.” you said, leading him to a more secluded area where you could talk over your files in peace, without Council members scurrying around, which would only cause distraction by typing away at documents and making phone calls.

 “Sit.” you gestured to an empty seat, putting the folder on the large table in the middle of the room, stepping over to the wall to reveal the expanse of a skylight in the ceiling, water floating on top of it, appearing to the outside world as a pond. It allowed light to stream into the room and you sighed. “That’s better.”

You sat down next to 47, unfolding the papers in front of you, laying them out on the surface of the table.

“Karl Wasserman and Georgina Johnson. Newly wed, hopelessly in love, inseparable.” you said, turning to the hitman next of you.

“What can you tell me about how this works? Contracts, I mean. I rarely prepare this thoroughly for missions. Schedules always change, anyway. All I need are my eagle vision and my hidden blades. Never have any trouble.” Well, that was a lie, “Usually.” you added.

“Well, as you may have noticed, the ICA has received a contract from a client. Diana has collected all intel for me and then leaves me to prepare. I pick a few items to bring and let her know what I need. Then, I’m sent out to the target’s location and either slip in or go undercover.”

“A lot of work, then.” you mused. “How do you handle emergencies? Collateral damage and all?”

Agent 47 let out a sound. “Differently than you. The first time I ran into you, you had killed a whole bunch of politicians.”

“They were all Templars. My target happened to be among them.”

“So you don’t kill just your target?”

“It’s collateral damage we’re talking about, 47. Not actual enemies. Those Templars were my enemies.”

“How can you be sure that they were connected to them?”

You scoffed, rolling your eyes, “No, the large Templar cross stitched on their sleeves isn’t a dead giveaway.”

47 was unaffected by your scowl.

“Right. I suppose that’s where we differ. I only kill my target and you kill your target plus all the Templars you encounter.”

“One Templar less is one step closer to protecting the Pieces of Eden. Are you telling me that you’ve never had to kill someone else while on a mission?”

“Of course I did.”

“Well, then. What’s the problem?” you snapped, prickly.

“There is no problem. It will be if you make it one.” he calmly stated.

You crossed your arms, raising an eyebrow. “Fine. Let’s just go over this contract and get it over with. It’s not like you need me, anyway.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” he quizzed.

“I overheard you talking to Diana.”

“You were eavesdropping.”

“No—Actually, yeah, but that’s not the point, I’m just…”

You deeply inhaled, not wanting to let your chagrin take the better of you. You were an adult, for fuck’s sake, and the last thing you wanted to be petty to an assassin you tried building a friendship with. Ageing did not cause it to be easier to make friends.

And so you sighed, folding your hands in front of you. “I’m sorry.” you said. “I let my emotions become the better of me, it’s just… I don’t like feeling unnecessary.”

“Why do you think you’re unnecessary?”

“You said you’d rather do this contract alone.  That I’d only weigh you back.”

“Well, don’t you think of it the same way, then? That you’d rather go on your own as well?”

You were overreacting – you knew it, but it had triggered some locked away memories about your brother. It was too soon to pour out your heart, let alone to a man who you barely knew and who didn’t know how emotion worked, and thus, you bit your lip, swallowing it away.

“We both aren’t too happy with those circumstances. Let’s just make the best of it. The sooner it’s done with, the better, right?”

47 agreed with a nod.

You reached for your papers, seeking intel on the first target, but you flinched as your hand hit the side of the table in your movement. You had forgotten about punching the bag the wrong way earlier.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” you said, holding your wrist. “Just a little accident during my earlier training. It’ll be gone by tomorrow.”

Agent 47 looked at your hand. “Let me see.” he stated, not even a question. He gently took your wrist in his hand, his skin surprisingly warm to the touch. His fingers were soft safe from his trigger finger, which now traced along the purpling hue on your wrist. “That seems like quite the bruise.” he muttered. “Maybe try some ice-”

“I said that it will be fine. Stuff like this happens all the time. I’m sure that one of my toes has been broken before, too, but I’ve never gotten it checked out. It’s still a little crooked, but it barely hurts anymore. This is not even half as bad and will be gone soon.”

“If you say so.” 47 said, releasing your hand, turning back to the table. “Let’s talk about Karl Wasserman. Have you thought of any method you’d prefer to use?”

You soon joined in, discussing your findings, yet your hand laid limply in your lap, utterly relaxed despite the slight pain you felt. Your skin was turning blue and angry, but for some reason, 47’s touch lingered.

Shaking it off, you focused on the matter at hand, deciding upon the way Wasserman should die.

[rainofaugustsith]

Rain Plays SWTOR: Veteran Star Fortresses, Revisited

I thought it would be fun to take a more in-depth look at how to solo the Veteran Star Fortresses. As you know, these give you six different companions, some titles, cartel coins, armor and decos.

I posted this before with videos of the solo battles with the Exarchs, and the post was hidden for some reason. So I’ll try again. Let's talk about some basics and then focus on the Reactor Core, the last set of rooms.

Voss and Nar Shaddaa are notorious for being the most challenging VSF to clear solo. If you can beat these Exarchs, the others might feel simple to you. That is my experience anyway!

How to choose which Veteran Star Fortresses to do? If you want…

The companion who influences main story: Voss. Rokkuss is a good all around companion, so from a gameplay standpoint you’ve chosen a good one. However, he’s also the only SF companion to figure at all into the main story. If you’ve completed his SF missions and earned him as a companion, he’s mentioned briefly in chapter one of KOTET and a bonus mission will auto complete for you.

The companion who subjectively is the best in combat/healing: Nar Shaddaa. Veeroa Denz is a dual saber wielder and she’s very, very good, especially if you get her to influence level 50. Even if you have her on heals she can destroy mobs.

The chest piece for the Star Fortress armor: Alderaan. Choza Raabat is IMHO the least effective SF companion. He swats things with his lightsaber once and then stands there with that incredibly annoying Jedi hand signal. But - Alderaan is the SF to complete if you want the Exarch armor chest piece.

Another caveat: some of the random armor drops on Ossus look a lot like the Exarch armor - but it's no guarantee at all that you will come across one. A good all around companion: Belsavis. K’khrol holds his own and has some cool healing skills, and the Belsavis Exarch isn’t nearly as challenging as the ones for Voss or Nar Shaddaa.

The achievement for doing the VSF without specialists’ help: Belsavis.

The achievement for defeating all the different Paladins: Don’t even go into VSF. You can clear the Paladin achievement in the SOLO/STORY Star Fortresses, which are far easier. If you defeat every single Paladin on every single SF you get a very cool title (Fallen Knight) and some decos, so this one is worth it, but again, you really don’t have to put yourself through a VSF for that.

Decorations: If you want the ones that are given out by the specialists/completion of all the VSF, you’ll have to do all six, with specialists’ influence over 10. However if you are talking about the other decos that drop from Paladins and bosses, like the Zakuulan floor lamps, shiny gold panels and computers, those drop in STORY/SOLO too. Again, you don’t need to do the VSF fir that.

SF companions:

These companions are really good: Veeroa Denz, followed by Rokuss, K’khrol.

These companions are so-so: Hemdil Tre

These companions are honestly not going to help you much in battle in my experience: Leyta, Choza Raabat

General advice:

1. 306 level gear, or as close to it as possible. Some people like various set bonus armors, like The Victor. I prefer to put armor on my characters that gives them three small set bonuses for Mastery, Endurance and Alacrity.

2. Level 50 influence companion, or as close to it as possible. People have varied preferences for ranged vs. melee, but I typically go in with either Lana, Kira or Veeroa, all of whom are melee.

3. Life Warden tactical. This will heal you in a pinch. Since there are no kolto stations in the SF take all the help you can get.

4. Raise your Alliance specialists’ influence to at least 10 and interact with the blue clickable console in the first room to receive buffs to Mastery, Endurance, Presence, etc. that are substantial. Each of the Specialists will also leave you a special ability in a ‘cache’ in the bonus rooms (two on each level. Two have Paladins. One just has a mob. One has a bonus mission that will raise influence with the SF companions).

If you only raise one specialists’ influence: Oggurobb (Medical cache). Oggurobb gives you a kolto probe. There are no kolto stations in the Star Fortresses so you will need this.

Two: Oggurobb and Bey'wan Aygo (Military cache). Aygo gives you a small turret that can be set up in a room to fire on the enemy. It can be a game changer with mobs or gold level NPCs and it can also distract the enemy NPCs. On several occasions I’ve seen Exarchs completely ignore my character and just wail on the turret.

Three: Oggurobb, Aygo and Sana-Rae (Zakuulan Knight cache). Sana-Rae gives you a groundquake ability. This can come in really handy during the mobs in the sun rooms, but I’d get the other two first.

I don’t find the cache from Hylo Visz to be useful and will bypass obtaining it if I have the other three. By all means, raise her influence to 10 to get the buff, but I wouldn’t waste time fighting a Paladin to get her cache.

There’s an achievement for getting through the VSF without the specialists’ assistance. I honestly feel if you’re just going through this once to get the companion and finish the mission, you should make it as easy as you can for yourself, and forget about this achievement. If you decide you want it, you can always repeat the VSF.

I’m going to assume that you already have the basics of how to get through the Star Fortress itself and will concentrate on the final set of rooms. After defeating the mobs in the EMPHERMIS room, you get on an elevator and rise to a circular structure, the Reactor Core.

The goal in these rooms is to end the fights as quickly as you possibly can.

Room 1: Several skytrooper mobs. They should hopefully drop some dampening shields to protect you as you venture forth. Note: The medical droid at the beginning of this section also sells the shields for 1000 credits each. After a run where I literally got two in total from the mobs, I started buying a few from the droid as insurance.

Use your dampening shield by clicking on it. Look for the grapple hook on the top of the next platform, click it and grapple across. Do NOT try to grapple across without the shield, you will probably get zapped, fall and die. Also: be careful when you land on the platform. In a few cases Viri has landed facing the wrong direction, started running and tumbled right over the edge. Don’t be like Viri at that moment.

Room 2: The Exarch (who you will not be able to kill) and two gold NPCs. Run DIRECTLY to the blue, clickable console and click it as fast as you can. That ends the battle and sends the Exarch fleeing.

Another grapple, and there will be some mobs on the platforms to defeat.

Rooms 3 and 4: The Exarch, two gold NPCs and a lot of mobs. The Exarch will periodically wake up one of the two photoconduction droids in the corners. As soon as the droid wakes up and the nameplate turns red, beat them down as fast as you possibly can. They will drop a yellow power cell. It will show up on your ability bar or in your mission inventory tab. Target the Exarch and click that yellow cell to drain their power. You may have to do this twice. The large console will light up and turn blue and clickable. Get your butt there ASAP and click it. Keep clicking it even if you are interrupted. That’s the only way to end the fight.

If you are unsuccessful the cycle begins again - kill the droid, get the cell, drain the Exarch, click the console.

While you’re doing this, the mobs of skytroopers and the two gold NPCs will be attacking you and your companion. This is the time to pull out any and all stops you have that can stop a lot of enemies in their tracks. Put up Bey'wan’s turret. Use Sana-Rae’s groundquake. Orbital Strike. Vengeful Smash. Whatever you possibly have that will kill or stun the mobs.

My order of attack in this room is:

1. Set up Bey’wan Aygo’s turret in a corner of the room.

2. Go after gold NPCs

3. Go after the photocondution droids, even if the golds aren’t dead yet, while throwing AOEs or Sana-Rae’s groundquake at the mob

4. Drain the Exarch’s power

5. Click the console

After this, you’re going to grapple up to the Exarch!

When you grapple up to the edge of the platform, the Exarch will not see you. You do not have to start the fight right away. I personally prefer to call the repair droid and wait until every single skill, heroic moment, unity and the specialists’ abilities have cooled down. Take a minute or two to get ready.

Overall:

1. Start with a turret right by the entrance to the platform. It may distract the Exarch long enough for you to do some significant damage.

2.You’re going to do best with the Exarchs if you keep moving. The only exception to this is if the Exarch is completely distracted. In the Alderaan and Belsavis videos you can see the Exarch isn’t even looking at Viri and Lana, and isn’t reacting much when Viri and Lana keep attacking.

3. Any skill that requires you to stand still to channel is not the one you want to throw here.

4. Use ranged and AOE skills instead of getting up close and personal.

5. Try to keep your back to the doorway and away from the edges of the platform so you don’t get flung over the edge of the platform by a knockback.

All the Exarchs have a few skills in common:

1. A very wicked knockback. Remember your character is technically on a platform, and you can get flung over the edge, so be mindful about where you stand. I try to keep my characters in the middle or closer to the back of the platform by the door, so when they get thrown they are not going over the edge.

2. Orange exploding circles that deal substantial damage.

3. The ability to disappear during the fight and reappear with a very damaging attack.

4. The windows. As the fight goes along, the Exarch can shatter the windows on the platform. If you stand in the radiation pools, they will deplete your HP. There’s an achievement for killing the Exarch with this radiation, but again, if you’re just going through once for the companion, you might not want to get fancy and try this on your first attempt.

Beyond that, each of the Exarchs is a slightly different flavor of poison.

Voss: Andur Melor

Melor is subjectively the most difficult Exarch to defeat. They have self-heals and attacks that can take your HP down to about 60% in one blow.

Nar Shaddaa: Lesin Tyn

Tyn also has a self-heal, Aviela’s Avarice, but you can interrupt it. They can also be distracted. In Viri’s runthrough, she put down a turret and the Exarch spent half the fight attacking it.

Alderaan: Zar Draya

Once again, the turret was an effective shiny to completely distract the Exarch. Draya calls these “Mental Apparition” ghosts to help, but from what I’ve experienced, they mostly hover around and don’t really do very much. You can one shot them if you’re nearby or completely ignore them. You can see this is a far easier fight than the Voss or Nar Shaddaa battles.

Belsavis: Forta Gair

Again, able to be completely distracted by the shiny turret and Viri and Lana were able to get them down to about 50% HP before they even turned around.

Tatooine: Tarso Gren

Not as much of a pushover as Belsavis, and a great fan of the knockback, but still easier than Voss or Nar Shaddaa.

Hoth: Jom Vanten

More or less on par with Tatooine.

[gold-eyes-vengeful-heart]

Biomech Lore Post

Because I may as well go about it already! (Though do note that these are referred to as “Weapons” in FFXIV-related universes; a coincidence of a project name, having little to nothing to do with the VIIth Legion’s Weapon program, given that it’s run by the IXth Legion instead.)

More under the cut!

I generally consider these guys to be fandomless, with various details tweaked to fit whatever universe or RP thread or etc they’re being used in. Of which there are a few...but one thing that’s consistent through all of that is that these guys are all, to varying degrees, part biological and part mechanical war-weapons, though their external appearances imply the latter over the former. They’re also all quite self-aware and sapient, even if for some of them, the way their telepathic “voice” speaks implies a more alien intelligence that has to actively bend itself to be understood by human pilots at all.

This telepathy is key to controlling a biomech; physical controls do exist, but a pilot (or pilots, plural, depending on the universe) must have a strong and consistent mental link with the biomech in question in order to truly utilize it beyond simple, slow movements such as those needed to move a biomech into storage. As for who exactly has this mental link of a quality high enough to pilot, this again depends on the universe: in some, the biomechs are built/grown “to order” for a specific pilot, and in others, the pilot (or pilots) have to be found in the ranks of the existing military. In the latter situation, it’s deemed far less than ideal to have this problem—there’s no guarantee that the military even has an appropriate pilot that can connect to it—but the benefits are considered to vastly outweigh the risks. Or, sometimes, the wider world situation (IE: ongoing apocalypses and/or specific enemies normal military hardware can’t touch) dictates that they have no other options.

This link, however, does not come without some risks. It’s particularly intense on single pilots, and in some universes actually causes a great deal of brain damage or mental deterioration from the neural overload if not spread out over multiple minds (whether this takes the form of a Drift-style multi-pilot setup or something more akin to a pilot hive mind). This has led to more than one rumor amongst rank and file personnel that biomechs steal their pilots’ souls...which in a couple cases in particular may not be unsubstantiated.

As for what a biomech is grown out of, that is kept a tightly-guarded secret. But it’s always (with only the FFXIV ‘verse being exempt) some variety of elder dragon or dragon-monster, hence their draconian appearances. (For the FFXIV ‘verse: they’re either grown out of or cloned from a concept-creature of the Ancients’ world, which took the form of a giant squid-like being.) They‘re essentially lab-grown into their mechanical shells and systems, and once fully integrated with them, then awoken. This process varies, again depending on ‘verse, and can be as simple as a Frankenstein-esque shock of immense power, or as complex as ritual magic. Their brains are not considered to be in their heads but in their “cores”, which are grown and built first to be buried in the biomech’s chest—meaning that, even though a headshot or decapitation would be traumatic for all involved (including the pilot) and remove a significant amount of sensory input, a biomech can indeed continue to “live” without a head and can, even, have one regrown. These cores are also part mechanical and part biological, taking the form of a mechanical shell over a biological inside, but very few have ever actually seen one outside of lab technicians.

Their personalities are considered set in stone, however. Even on the rare occasions that a biomech has been re-grown—as in cases with known pilot refusals—their general temperament and thought processes remain the same, though the regrowth process is supposed to obliterate their actual memories. (Supposed to. It’s known to have mixed results.) Pronouns and monikers used to refer to biomechs are generally the biomech’s call and are projected as a wordless overlay on the weapon’s thoughts (so the people hearing it or staying close to it “just know” what a given biomech wants to be called), save in the cases where the biomech itself genuinely does not care—in which case the pilot picks something.

While the military would like to consider biomechs as just tools, of course, there are in fact entire sheaves of ethics and legal arguments surrounding them, given their self-awareness and their status as ultimately manmade creations. This can sometimes cause fairly intense political struggles in certain ‘verses.

Though individual biomechs vary in their combat abilities, a few are fairly standard: they’re resistant to mental and physical corruption, have some self-repair ability (though severe damage requires human repair), and have some variety of energy-based shielding that can be deployed on command. They also all have a mouth-based cannon, though the strength of said cannon varies between individuals: in some cases (such as Hemlock’s) it’s basically intended as a last-resort self-defense weapon that’s fairly weak in power, and in others (such as Blue’s) it’s actually intended to be the primary offensive weapon. Biomechs are also intended to all have some degree of flight capability.

As for some lore on individual biomechs, in order of ascending age:

BLUE. The “youngest“ biomech of the lot. Is considered to be a “he”. Personality is best called “chirpy”, and either somewhat dog-like or child-like depending on who’s asked to describe it; he isn’t particularly eager to get into a fight unless he has to. Thought patterns mostly described in terms of feeling like water—splashing, flooding, “like raindrops on their mind”, and so on. Has two main armaments outside of those intended for melee combat:

Mouth cannon. This fires either a laser-like stream of raw energy (or aether in FFXIV), or can also fire a high-pressure stream of water capable of slicing steel. Can be used without any bracing or foot-locks, and pilots are well-advised to learn how to aim it straight mid-flight.

ARIL cannons. These are positioned on the back of the biomech, taking the form of two loosely-attached “spears” on either side of the biomech’s midline, with an unusually biological growth on the fronts of the spears. These cannons are capable of unleashing concussive blasts capable of throwing foes of a biomech’s size considerable distances, but Blue must be standing braced to use them in order to not get thrown in the opposite direction. It is also highly inadvisable to use these on biological constructs; see below section on the ARIL.

The growths in question are collectively called the ARIL, and their substance was also extruded into Blue’s wings and are directly responsible, through unclear mechanisms, for his ability to fly despite his wings’ ragged appearance. What the ARIL is, unfortunately, is also not clear, but it’s considered to be an ancient biological artifact that interacts strangely both with gravity and with biological matter.

Overall, Blue is considered to be a “jack of all trades”-style fighter, capable of long-range attacks while being well able to function in mid or close-range combat as well. In that same vein, his armor is considered middling in strength; enough to protect him from most things but certainly not enough to block rapidly-repeated or severe strikes. His preferred mode of combat is to stay in flight and strike at a distance until an enemy is weakened, then to finish off the foe at close range.

MORRIGAN. The next youngest biomech. Goes by “she”. Very reserved and almost slothful in personality, to the point of serving as a mental “damper” to more violent or energetic minds. Does, however, quite enjoy using her guns and will actively prod pilots to do so, which leads to some only half-jokingly noting that she might be a bit addicted to shooting things. Thought patterns usually described as a slow-moving smoke. Has a great many armaments:

Main cannons. These are positioned on her back, either side of her mid-line. These are exceptionally powerful and capable of punching through all but the thickest armor and the strongest of shields. These do, however, utilize physical shells, and so can and do run out of ammunition. Contains a dozen shots at typical maximum capacity, but this can be expanded by extra equipment. Does require bracing or footlocks to fire with any accuracy.

Mouth cannon. In Morrigan, this takes the form of a powerful, thin, and concentrated energy/aether beam. It is not, however, intended for continuous fire like, for example, Blue’s; it functions in a manner vaguely akin to a sniper’s rifle, its shots short in duration but huge on power. Due to this, however, it’s highly advised to fire from a stable platform of some kind to avoid mis-aiming.

Missile pods. Scattered all over Morrigan’s body. These function as, of course, pods for firing ordinary missiles. Can be fired in sets based on location on the biomech’s frame (head only, arms only, etc), or all fired at once for a devastating barrage. These are locked onto target via either Morrigan’s built-in Radar suite (preferred) or by visual targeting (less preferred, since it requires intense concentration on the target in question by biomech and pilot alike). The number of pods and number of missiles in each pod makes out-of-ammo situations unlikely but possible.

Small tail cannons. Shoot fairly low-intensity defensive energy/aetherial beams, and can swivel approximately 120 degrees to the left and right of biomech midline. Intended solely for deterrence of foes from rear or side attacks.

Tail gun. Composes the entirety of the end of Morrigan’s tail. Can be used for deterrence of rear or side ambushes, but can also be swung around to provide offensive fire at, effectively, any angle. Can shoot either shells or energy/aether shots, depending on pilot selection.

Wing guns. Positioned on Morrigan’s wings, one on each. Fires energy/aether shots of average strength, and can be used in continuous more laser-like fire. These also contain Morrigan’s extra thrusters, required in order to maintain level flight.

Morrigan is intended to be a “turret” of a biomech, planting herself in one spot and firing at long-range on foes. The slowness from her weight and heavy armor makes close combat difficult; in such situations, it’s best advised to get away and back into effective gun or missile range. Flight is mainly intended as a mode of transportation over a means of fighting, but her wings are also intended as a way to stabilize pilot aim.

RED. Goes by “he”. Very nervous and high-strung personality; this is considered to be a fault in a war weapon on multiple levels, including by anyone maintaining the jumpy biomech’s hangar bay, but he’s also considered too large an investment to simply discard (amongst other concerns about the ethics of bluntly destroying a thinking being). Notable for being one of the only biomechs without wings composed of either physical materials or energy/aether, due to a persistent glitch in growth patterns despite multiple attempts to reset it—therefore, is very much of the school of (design) thought of “anything can technically fly if you put enough active thrust behind it”. Thought patterns described as flame-like and flickering. Has only a few weapons:

Mouth cannon. Functions as Red’s main gun, and acts similarly to Blue’s, though with the secondary option of napalm streams instead of a water cannon.

Arm blades. Positioned on Red’s forearms. Has a dual purpose of both providing extra armor and providing an extendable and devastating cutting weapon, whose blades can be superheated to slash through armor layers like butter.

Tail blades. Composes the entirety of Red’s tail. Can also be superheated in the same manner as the arm blades, but are much thicker and stronger, lending themselves to large and violent swiping attacks. (This does, however, mean that any given pilot or pilots should be heavily resistant to motion sickness, given that this requires a large amount of whole-body spinning.) These are quite flexible, allowing a significant section of them to be whipped around to the front like a spear or a thrusting sword.

Armor spikes. All biomechs have some degree of spikes on their armor, but Red’s is particularly prominent. It serves as not only extra protection but can be wielded in a melee situation for extra damage.

Of course, Red is mostly intended as a close-range physical fighter capable of moving at incredibly high speeds, courtesy of the large amount of high-output thrusters attached to his frame. He also has fairly heavy armor because of this intended use. His sensitivity to change, however, also makes him decent at sentry functions.

HEMLOCK. Varies between going by “he” or “she” or sometimes “they”. Thought patterns generally described as serpentine and sinuous. Considered to be the biomech with the most developed sense of humor, though biomech standards for “humor” are very low indeed. Definitely the most prone to trickery. Weaponry includes:

Mouth cannon. Mostly intended as a short-fire backup weapon.

Acid spray. Located in the two “spikes” pointing forward on either side of Hemlock’s jaw. As the name might imply, they’re capable of firing compressed streams of acid of sufficient strength and composition to melt armor. Has what is described as a “startling” amount of range by most pilots.

Back cannons. Located on Hemlock’s back, either side of midline. Also contains Hemlock’s main thrusters. Fires either physical shells or energy/aether depending on pilot selection. Used as Hemlock’s main guns, and are considered fairly powerful (though they pale in comparison to, say, Morrigan’s).

Overall, Hemlock is intended as a more stealth-oriented biomech, capable of speedy but short bursts of movement in order to greatest facilitate ambushes--usually of a physical sort. Hemlock also has an optical cloaking ability that, while incapable of making such a large machine invisible, does disrupt the biomech’s outline so much as to make visual firing on it rather difficult. It also heavily disrupts non-visually-based methods of targeting.

LEVIATHAN/”NIGOKI”. Name varies slightly depending on ‘verse. Second of two prototype-level biomechs. Has no preference for how to be referred to. Significantly more “alien” in thought pattern than the later production-type units, who were deliberately built to be less intensely intrusive; tends to project single-word thoughts at most, preferring to project whole concepts instead. Most infamous for supposed “soul-stealing” of its pilots (and in one ‘verse is actively fueled by half of a long-departed soul, forcibly attached to the biomech through foul magic). Personality is best described as varying degrees of rage and anger, and rarely deviates from this. Weapons include:

Mouth cannon. Main weapon. Can be adjusted to fire wide sprays of energy/aether or single more powerful beams. Curiously, both prototype biomechs’ energy/aetherial usage takes a brilliant orange color.

Hind leg claw. One on each rear leg, behind the foot. The physical claw can, of course, be used for gouging and slashing, but can also channel energy/aether into a vicious blade-like protrusion to better hack through shields and armor.

Energy/aether manipulation. Unlike most biomechs, both prototypes are capable of utilizing energy/aether to create various offensive constructs, though they’re typically only intended for use in close quarters combat (and take the form of blades, claws, fangs, etc). While in use, however, the otherwise incredibly powerful shields cannot be utilized (with the sole exception of when this energy/aether is used to create wings).

Telepathic offense. Also unlike most biomechs, the prototypes are capable of using their telepathic abilities as a weapon, instead of just as a means of communication with their pilots. Most dangerous to those already sensitive to such things, but even the telepathically insensitive can sustain damage from a concentrated enough assault, barring intervention from another source (such as another biomech, magic, specially-designed tooling, etc).

Leviathan/Nigoki serves mostly as a proof of concept for the biomech design, and most ‘verses attempt to avoid using either prototype whenever possible due to the biomech’s propensity for flying into berserk rages.

SILVARRE/“SHOGOKI”. Name varies slightly depending on ‘verse. First of two prototype-level biomechs. Has no preference for how to be referred to. Significantly more “alien” in thought pattern than the later production-type units, who were deliberately built to be less intensely intrusive; tends to project single-word thoughts at most, preferring to project whole concepts instead. Unlike its brother, however, Silvarre/“Shogoki” almost never shows any extremes of emotion, only reacting strongly to any perceived danger to its pilot—even when said pilot is outside of the cockpit, which makes Silvarre/“Shogoki” rather dangerous as a war weapon even to its own side, given its idea of “danger” to a person can be significantly less qualified than an ordinary human’s. Weapons are identical to Leviathan/“Nigoki”s, and include:

Mouth cannon. Main weapon. Can be adjusted to fire wide sprays of energy/aether or single more powerful beams. Curiously, both prototype biomechs’ energy/aetherial usage takes a brilliant orange color.

Hind leg claw. One on each rear leg, behind the foot. The physical claw can, of course, be used for gouging and slashing, but can also channel energy/aether into a vicious blade-like protrusion to better hack through shields and armor.

Energy/aether manipulation. Unlike most biomechs, both prototypes are capable of utilizing energy/aether to create various offensive constructs, though they’re typically only intended for use in close quarters combat (and take the form of blades, claws, fangs, etc). While in use, however, the otherwise incredibly powerful shields cannot be utilized (with the sole exception of when this energy/aether is used to create wings).

Telepathic offense. Also unlike most biomechs, the prototypes are capable of using their telepathic abilities as a weapon, instead of just as a means of communication with their pilots. Most dangerous to those already sensitive to such things, but even the telepathically insensitive can sustain damage from a concentrated enough assault, barring intervention from another source (such as another biomech, magic, specially-designed tooling, etc).

Back spikes. Located either side of midline, three to a side. Can be superheated to cause immense slashing damage.

Nose spike. Located on Shogoki’s snout. Can also be superheated, but is intended for stabbing over slashing.

Silvarre/“Shogoki” is mostly meant as a proof of concept for the biomech design, and its usage is also avoided wherever possible in most ‘verses due to its unpredictability.

===

All art here by the lovely @saintgale​! Thank you again, for finally bringing these guys to life in visual art. <3

[masterweaverx]

Nora Valkyrie is one of the most engaging characters in RWBY, because she’s always engaging with other characters. And as much fun as she has doing so, especially with her hammer, you’d be forgiven for thinking she’s just another boisterous bruiser genki girl hybrid. But when it comes to Dungeoneering, Nora ain’t nobody’s fool.

When coming up with this build, I found out that I had a lot of goals I wanted to kit. Obviously Nora wouldn’t be complete without her Legendary Boomhammer, so I needed a way to let her blow things up and smash things to bits. I also needed to figure out how to represent her skills at scavenging, I don’t think she lost that from her early days. And of course, she needs to be fun but able to lecture people about their emotional constipation at a moment’s notice.

This all led me to an interesting realization: Nora’s highest stat would have to be Wisdom. It’s the ‘notice things’ stat for a reason, so 15 points go into it. And next, after some very careful consideration, I figured 14 points of Dexterity would be good to handle some multiclassing requirements. 13 points in Constitution fits her prodigious appetite quite well, and 12 points in Strength gives her hammer a little extra oomph. Admittedly, 10 points in Charisma doesn’t quite fit with how bold a personality she has, but for all her boldness she’s only pressed her opinion when it absolutely needed to be pressed. And that leaves 8 points for Intelligence, which is booksmarts, which... Nora’s not dumb, but she didn’t really have a formal edumacation.

Variant humans are a bundle of nice little goodies, like two Ability points to even out Wisdom and Constitution, a free skill training so Nora can learn Survival, and a feat of choice--the Fell Handed feat is perfect for a hammer-wielder, giving a +1 to all attack rolls with the hammer, a chance to knock an enemy prone if the attack has advantage, an equal chance to deal Strength damage on a miss if the attack has disadvantage, and the ability to knock away an enemy’s shield if Nora is helping somebody else attack them. I mean not many people use shields on Remnant, but the option is there.

As for background... sigh. The background’s name is Urchin. Sorry, that’s just how it is sometimes. Nora gets proficiency in Stealth, Slight of Hand, Thieves’ Tools, and Disguise Kit. She also gets the City Secrets feature, which means she just knows how cities work and can find shortcuts anywhere. Is it the most useful skillset? No. Is it in character? Mmmyah.

Now, I looked at Barbarian for Nora. I really, really looked at it. At the Rage feature. At all the subclasses. And in the end... I decided we could get what we wanted without having to give up casting, just through careful application of other classes. So no, Nora isn’t a Barbarian. She’s four levels Hunter Ranger, eight levels Zeal Cleric... and first and foremost, 8 levels of Kensei Monk.

Yes. Monk. You heard me. Nora is a Monk. This will make sense shortly.

Monks get proficiency in simple weapons, and also shortswords (but we’ll be multiclassing into Ranger so we get proficiency in all martial weapons anyway). They can also choose one set of Artisan’s Tools or one Instrument to be proficient in; Chibi Nora was apparently good with drums, buuuut realistically I kinda think maybe Nora would be better served with Leatherworker’s Tools. They get Strength and Dexterity saving throws and, oh yeah, two skills--Athletics and Insight would fit pretty well.

At eight levels of Monk, Nora gets a lot of special traits--Unarmored Defense means that if she’s not wearing armor her AC is 10+her Wisdom Mod+her Dexterity Mod, Unarmored Movement means she gets +15 feet of movement on top of that, Slow Fall lets her reduce falling damage by 40 points as a reaction (great landing strategy!), and Evasion means if she has to roll a saving throw to take half damage, she takes half if she fails and none if she succeeds. Also she gets Stillness of Mind, letting her shake off one condition making her Charmed or Frightened; admittedly that’s not a good name for a Nora skill, so maybe she comes at it the other way, having a mind so chaotic that she can just bulldoze through mental effects.

Of course Monk also gives Nora Martial Arts, letting her use Dexterity in place of Strength on attack and damage rolls with unarmed strikes or her monk weapon (Remember that! Remember that!). Unarmed attacks deal 1d6+Dexterity Mod damage, count as magical for purposes of determining resistance, and she can use a bonus action to make an unarmed attack after she takes the Attack action. Nora also gets Ki points to spend, eight in total which recharge on a rest, and she can use them for a Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, Step of the Wind, Deflecting Missles, or a Stunning Strike, all great in combat. Also she gets an Extra Attack, letting her make two attacks per Attack action.

This all comes together with the Kensei Way, which lets us choose two weapons--one ranged, one melee--that aren’t heavy or special, and make them into Monk weapons. And Warhammers are versatile, not heavy, so they’re a valid option. As are Light Crossbows, which are about the closest thing in the book to a grenade launcher? At eight levels Kensei weapons are considered magical and can be used to make an Agile Parry, giving +2 AC after every turn Nora makes an unarmed attack as part of an attack action, give the ability to give her ranged attack +1d4 damage, and the ability to spend a ki point to do an extra 1d6 damage to attacks with those weapons. Also, Nora gets proficiency with Painter’s Supplies. I’m sure that will be very important.

Multiclassing into Ranger gives us proficiency in Light Armor, Medium Armor, and Shields, but really why would we use any of that with Unarmored Defense? Also we get proficiency with Martial Weapons, but Nora’s already got a really, really good hammer. But we do get an extra skill proficiency, and picking up Perception couldn’t hurt. We’re mostly here for the four levels of ‘I know how to survive in the wild’ this gives us.

Favored Enemy lets a Ranger pick a certain kind of enemy, making them easier to track, and boy howdy are there a lot of Grimm on Remnant! We’re actually going to swap out Natural Explorer for Deft Explorer, a variant feature which lets us pick up the Tireless trait; Nora can regenerate 1d10+her Wisdom mod HP, a number of times equal to her wisdom mod per long rest, and also reduces her exhaustion level by one every short rest. Of the Fighting Styles, I chose Druidic Warrior, giving Nora two Druid cantrips on top of the spells she’s going to get from Cleric and Ranger--there’s a reason for that, but I’ll wait till we get to the spellcasting to explain. The Hunter archetype gives us one of three traits, and Horde Breaker lets us make an extra attack on a creature next to another creature after we hit the first creature with a weapon. And of course Primeval Awareness gives Nora the ability to melt a spell slot so she can sense Grimm in the area. Or jerks. Actually, make her favored enemy “Jerks” if the GM will let you get away with it, she’s partners with Ren and he can spot all the Grimm for her.

Eight Levels in a Cleric of Zeal is mostly good for spells, but there are some side perks. Proficiency in Heavy Armor is one of them, and Priest of Zeal is another, letting Nora make a bonus attack when she hits something with a weapon attack a number of times equal to her wisdom modifier per long rest. Resounding Strike lets her shove something back ten feet every time she does Thunder damage, and Divine Strike gives her an extra 1d8 damage to one weapon attack per turn. And then there’s Channel Divinity, which she can use twice per rest; either to Turn Undead, making them scared of her and any less than CR 1 just flat out die, or engaging in Consuming Fervor, letting her max out any Fire or Thnder damage she does on an attack.

Now that all has stunning implications for Nora’s spells, but before we can figure out what spells she has I think we should talk about the 5 Ability Improvements this build gives us. That’s ten points to spend on abilities, which is just enough to max out Wisdom and Dexterity at 20 each. If you’ve been paying attention, that really adds extra oomph across the board for the girl.

And now, the spells. The Zeal Domain means Nora automatically knows a few spells, and Fireball works great for her grenades, but for the rest I aimed mostly on either mimicking her semblance or giving her new and creative ways to smash with her hammer. There’s a lot of thunder spells. A lot. So in total Nora has four cleric cantrips and two druid cantrips, and she knows three ranger spells up to level one and all the level 1-4 Domain of Zeal spells, and... huh, I miscalculated, I thought it was half her cleric level plus her wisdom mod, but it’s her total cleric level plus her wisdom mod cleric spells she can prepare. Oh well, it’s almost midnight, just add four more cleric spells up to level 4 that you like. And here’s the list:

Cantrips:

Gust (Druidic Warrior)

Mending (Cleric)

Sacred Flame (Cleric)

Thaumaturgy (Cleric)

Thunderclap (Druidic Warrior)

Toll the Dead (Cleric)

L1 (four slots):

Absorb Elements (Ranger)

Guiding Bolt (Cleric) (Concentration)

Hunter's Mark (Ranger) (Concentration)

Inflict Wounds (Cleric)

Sanctuary (Cleric)

Searing Smite (Zeal Domain) (Concentration)

Thunderous Smite (Zeal Domain) (Concentration)

Wild Cunning (Ranger)

L2 (three slots):

Deafness (Cleric)

Locate Object (Cleric)

Magic Weapon (Zeal Domain) (Concentration)

Shatter (Zeal Domain)

Silence (Cleric)

L3 (three slots):

Haste (Zeal Domain) (Concentration)

Fireball (Zeal Domain)

Remove Curse (Cleric)

L4 (three slots):

Banishment (Cleric) (Concentration)

Fire Shield (Zeal Domain) (Warm Only)

Freedom of Movement (Zeal Domain)

Stone Shape (Cleric)

L5 (two slots):

Two slots, no spells

Lots of fun and interesting variations on ‘hit it with your hammer’ here. Mostly based on causing a lot of noise, moving things around, or pulling out a grenade and using a touch of flamey booms when she needs it. Plus a few utility spells to make life on the road easier.

So yeah, that’s Nora.

[rainplaysswtor]

Rain Plays SWTOR: Vaylin Fight

I have seen a number of posts here and there from people who have trouble with the climactic fight in KOTET where you face Vaylin. I’m not going there with serious criticisms I have of the story - this post will strictly be about addressing Vaylin as a boss you have to defeat within the game. First thing to remember: You have two practice rounds. The game actually gives you two dress rehearsals to hone your skills for KOTET chapter 9. You do also face Vaylin in KOTFE, but her skills there are vastly different from what you find in KOTET so we won’t address that. Round One: In KOTET chapter 3, your character faces Vaylin on the Gravestone. This is nowhere near as tough a fight as you will face later - in line with the story, Vaylin has not yet unlocked her true power and potential - but you will notice the purple circle on the floor around her.

This is a really, really good time to practice staying in that circle, especially if your character is ranged. You will take damage if your attack is made outside the circle. So now, while the stakes aren’t as high, concentrate on keeping a constant awareness of the circle.

  Round Two: In KOTET chapter 8, you fight Vaylin outside the Alliance base. She will have her full complement of skills, which we'll talk about in a moment. However, this fight is still easier because you will have two companions you may have been able to raise to a high level of influence (Lana and Theron OR Senya and Arcaan), whatever extra abilities you have picked up from the Alliance bonus mission and the luxury of being able to pull Vaylin into a corner so you aren't yeeted off the edge of the platform.   This is a good time to continue practicing to stay in the purple circle, as well as become familiar with Vaylin's new skills. You'll be seeing them again soon.

Second point: Vaylin’s most damaging skills are very easy to spot. The one you need to be most concerned about is Force Overload. Vaylin curls up into a ball and channels for nine seconds. There's a large red circle around her. If you are within that red circle, you will face a hell of a knockback when she’s done channeling.

Strategy: Get against a wall. Stay there. In KOTET 9, you can plant yourself against the side or back of the staircase.

Get your back against that wall. Vaylin will follow you. You can micromanage your companions by putting them on passive so they join you and then letting them fight as soon as Vaylin is close. That way, even if you're thrown and take some damage, you won't fall to your death. You’ll just crash into the wall. Plan B: If you are not against a wall, you have nine seconds to get yourself and your companion (who may continue to attack Vaylin) out of the red circle. Go. Run. Put your companion on passive to get them to follow if needed. Another tactic, quoted from @verbose-vespertine​ (thank you!): “If you are *extremely* careful/lucky, you can position yourself with your back against one of the pillars at the arena entrance in the ch9 fight and Vaylin will not be able to yeet you into the abyss *and* the memory of healing will regularly come around and heal you/wreck her day. But if you are even a hair off the right spot, you’re gonna fall to your death, so take with a grain of salt.” Third point: the anatomy of the final fight depends on you. KOTET Chapter 9. Here we go.

There are four distinct possibilities for the final fight with Vaylin. They depend on the choices you have made in KOTET chapters 1, 6, and 7. Specifically, if you killed Senya and Arcann, Arcann will appear as an enemy in this fight. If you chose to keep Dramath, he will appear as a healing companion to assist you. The alignments of these choices are below:   Vaylin & Arcann vs. Player (Kill Arcann; free Dramath) (DS; LS) Vaylin & Arcann vs. Player & Dramath (Kill Arcann; keep Dramath) (DS; DS) Vaylin vs. Player (Save Arcann; free Dramath) (LS; LS) Vaylin vs. Player & Dramath (Save Arcann; keep Dramath) (LS; DS)   Obviously, #1 is the worst scenario for your character, since they have to face two enemies with no healer. #2 and #3 are balanced, and #4 might give you a slight edge over Vaylin.   A lot of specific tips have been passed around for this fight, and they're all good.

If you have to face Vaylin and Arcann: 1. Arcann is far weaker than Vaylin. Kill him first. 2. Dramath will automatically follow Arcann and fight him. You need to stick close so he can heal you and you can help with the fight. After Arcann is dead, he will follow you to fight Vaylin, and he's melee so he will stay in the  purple circle with you.   More, if you have Dramath: 1. Remember you have access to Heroic Moment and Unity, since you have a companion. Now's the time to pull out all the stops. 2. Keep close to Dramath. He tends to die otherwise. 3. Really consider keeping Dramath. Yeah, yeah, DS choice, but he makes this fight much easier.   How do I heal? 1. If you have Dramath, he will be set to heals. He's only a level one companion so help him out by sticking close. 2. See above about Heroic Moment and Unity, if you have those available. If you do not have Unity, you can either earn it by getting one character to Light V, or buying it as a Legacy perk. It cuts damage to yourself and your companion significantly for a short period of time, which can buy you a few seconds for your HP to tick back up. 3. There are green "Memory of Healing" circles floating about. Standing in one will heal you. You can also use these to damage Vaylin if you can get her to follow you into the circle, but you will need to be careful because it will require you to leave the wall. 4. Invest in some Kyprax Supplied Med Units from the medical droid. They restore health to you and your companion, which can be helpful if Dramath is getting trashed. 5. Make sure you have bought the field repair droid perk from your Legacy screen. If you die during the fight you will take a lot of damage and will need to repair before going again. And there are no medical droids in your subconscious so if you don’t bring your own, you’re out of luck during this chapter. 

[firstblesssed]

- Combat Mode -

–Overview–

Not really needing to fight until becoming an adventurer, Elletha started out pretty weak when it came to combat. Staying mostly on the back lines and focusing on healing, she could barely hold her own in a fight. Not planning to branch out into other areas, she stayed mostly in healing for most of her journey. In doing so, her skills as a White Mage are exceptionally high above any other profession she took up and developed her own unique take on the job that allows her to maintain her high healing capabilities and also do high amounts of damage.

She began experimenting with other jobs at the recommendation of her peers. While being a healer is useful, being able to hold her own in a fight is the most important thing. Wanting to protect her friends and those she cares about most above all, she trained with the rogues’ guild in Limsa, and discovered the path of the dark knight in Ishgard. While not a master at either job, it gave her the necessary skills to protect.

While not particularly strong, her magic and quick thinking is what keeps her alive in battle. When healing she focuses primarily on keeping her teammates alive, doing damage where she can and immobilising targets. In any other situation, with a blade she is ruthless. Her normally calm and collected demeanour replaced with an apathetic attitude. Threatening anyone she cares about while she has a sword in her hand is a death sentence. Her attacks are fast and messy, while the armour protects her, she is more vulnerable in this state than in her usual mage attire. 

While not opposed to battle, Elletha came to enjoy the thrill of the fight. She enjoys a battle the most when it’s not easy to win, a challenge makes her job interesting. Despite this, if her opponent is human and not some monster terrorising innocents, she’ll have a lot more hesitation about charging in. She doesn’t enjoy ending the lives of others, but will do what is necessary to protect those in need.

–Any lasting combat injuries?–

Despite being well versed in healing, she prioritises others’ well being above her own and as such, is left with many scars and lasting injuries from her many battles, she usually hides these scars away with glamours when her outfit requires her to show skin.

Covered in various battle scars, 4 sets stand out particularly. A large slash across her torso from Zenos’ attack on Rhalgr’s, ragged claw marks and puncture wounds on her side from battling Nidhogg. A large gash in her arm looks the oldest, gained from a sword fight with her brother that was just meant to be training but ended in a lot of crying.

She hasn’t told or shown anyone the cracks marring her chest. They started appearing when the light started causing her pain, at first they were small and unnoticeable, but the more light she absorbed, the more the cracks started spreading. Seemingly starting in her heart and spreading outwards, no amount of healing would make them go away.

–Fighting Style–

commander /  duellist / honourable / dishonourable / would have others do their fighting /  stealthy  / long-ranged / melee / technological / sorcery / superhuman abilities /  has fought in an illegal tourney / a lover of fighting / a hater of fighting  / cowardly / reckless / strategic / uses underhanded tricks  / renowned for their skill / trained (sword and shield) /  untrained / keeps skills secret / won a battle / lost a battle / ruthless / merciful

–Traits–

╳   flaws

moody | short-tempered | emotionally unstable | whiny | controlling | conceited | possessive | paranoid | liar | impatient | cowardly | bitter | selfish | power-hungry | greedy | lazy | judgemental | forgetful | impulsive | spiteful | stubborn | sadistic | petty | unlucky

♔   strengths

honest | trustworthy | thoughtful | caring | brave | patient | selfless | ambitious | tolerant | lucky | intelligent | confident | focused | humble | generous | merciful | observant | wise | clever | charming | cheerful | optimistic | decisive | adaptive | calm | loyal

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tagged by: @whitherliliesbloom​ <3

Tagging: anyone left who wants to do it!! 

[hellyeahheroes]

Building Riri Williams in D&D 5e

Heello everybody, how is your social distancing going? I have mine for at least a week, so I thought this is a good opportunity to make another D&D Build, since we have a few by now. And how about a character who does have problems with being social to begin with? We’re building Riri Williams

As always we start with the goals. First of all, we need to be able to wear heavy armor and yet fly and have a heavy offensive array of spells. Second, we need to do that while only having to invest in Intelligence, since Riri is otherwise a normal teen. Third, we need to get some more utilities - Riri’s armor is not just a fancy gun. Finally, some challenge to me to not repeat too much my Nathasha Irons build, since the two will end up similar - as with Tulok the Barbarian and his Iron Man and Cyborg builds, it seems Wizards is really trolling people who wanted to build an armored superhero in the game constantly releasing different options.

Let’s talk about Ability Scores. As always, I will stick to Standard Points Array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8). If you or your DM use different means, go for it, all you really need is Intelligence.

Strength: 8, we just don’t need it

Dexterity: 13, Riri is quick to act, sometimes too quick

Constitution: 14, always good to have it high

Intelligence: 15, you are a genius enough to impress Tony Stark after all

Wisdom: 12, on the one hand, you are smart enough to wear armor when most people stick to skintight spandex. On the other hand, you did try to go one on one with Thanos once.

Charisma: 10, you have trouble selling yourself to people like Tony and almost got kicked out of Wakanda forever after just five minutes with Shuri but on the other hand you got Viv to fall for you without consciously trying so I cannot give this a negative.

Now for Race (read: species): Riri is a Human and since I don’t want to make a blind copy of Natasha, we will go with Variant Human, instead of Dragonmarked one. It is a good alternative, of course. 

Variant Human gets +1 to two Ability scores, pick up Intelligence and Constitution. You get one free language, pick something campaign relevant and one free skill, I’d go with Athletics or Acrobatics due to their general usefulness. You also gain one Feat, War Caster is basically a staple for magic users, letting you gain an advantage on Concentration saving throws, allowing to cast spells even if you hold a weapon or shield in both hands and letting you cast a spell as an opportunity attack instead of punching someone.

Background: Cloistered Scholar grants you proficiency with History and Arcana and two more languages of your choice and Library Access, which allows you to find information if you don’t already have it via research. Riri isolates a lot but she does have access to her university’s campus and it’s vast resources.

I assume this is an alternate cover, if this is someone’s fanart please contact me and I will replace this with another picture.

Class Levels: surprise, surprise, our 1st Level will be with Artificer. You gain proficiency in light and medium armors, shields, simple weapons, Constitution and Intelligence saving throws, thieve’s and tinker’s tools and one type of artisan tools of your choice, firearms if your game uses them and two new skills, I’d pick Investigation and Perception, always good to have.

Artificer gains Magical Thinkering, which allows you to add a number of minor small utilities on mundane objects and you gain an ability to cast spells through the use of your tools. Per long rest you can prepare a number of spells equal half of your Artificer Level  rounded down (minimum of 1) + your Intelligence modifier and you cannot have spells of level higher than you can have spells slots that you spend to cast spells. Your Intelligence is your casting stat so if a spell makes an attack rolls your bonus is your Intelligence Modifier + Proficiency Modifier and Difficulty for your spell’s saving throws is those two modifiers +8. 

You start with two Cantrips and can prepare two 1st level spells and you can prepare up to 4 spells

Firebolt and Ray of Frost are cantrips that both make ranged spell attack and deal respectively 1d10 Fire and 1d8 Cold damage on a hit. When you reach 5th, 11th and 17th level you add one respective dice to each.

Feather Fall lets you slow down falling rate for you and creatures within 60 feet from you and if you reach the ground before the spell ends, you take no damage. You know that trick when Tony or other armored hero is falling from the sky and then turns up the thrusters to land safely? This is it, now you can do that too. 

Faerie Fire lets you outline creatures within 20-foot radius with shining light - any that fails Dexterity saving throw cannot benefit from Invisibility and attacks on it have an advantage for the spell’s duration.

Cure Wounds is always good to have, letting you heal 1d8+your Intelligence modifier points of damage.

Absorb Elements activates when you are hit by an attack, giving you resistance to its damage type until the start of your next turn and your next melee attack on that turn deals extra 1d6 damage of that type.

2nd Level Artificer gains access to Infusions you can use to enhance your items or use them to replicate a magic item. You get to know 4 but can infuse only two items and you cannot infuse and you can have only one infusion per body slot. If the replicated magic item requires attunement, so does the replica. And since we will be picking few in a moment, I will only describe two for now:

Repeating Shot grants one ranged weapon +1 to attack rolls and it self-replicates it’s own ammo, meaning you no longer need to reload it. Even if you are not using one, just enhance Rogue’s crossbow or Ranger’s bow.

Enhanced Defense increases armor class of armor you are wearing by 1, by 2 once you reach 10th level.

3rd Level: And speaking of Armor, time to get Heavy. Yeah, it’s time to get heavy alright. 3rd Level Artificer gets the Right Tool For the Job, which lets you produce exactly the tool you need for any task if you can spend an hour to do it. But we’re not here for that, but for Artificer Specialist, allowing us to choose one specialty. And of course, we’re going with Unearthed Arcana’s Armorer, whose whole thing was to be Tony Stark. You gain proficiency with heavy armor and smith tools, can turn one suit of armor into a Power Armor that doesn’t need Strength to be worn (since Heavy Armor needs 15), can be used as a spellcasting focus, covers your entire body and cannot be removed against your will.

So, you know, next time you meet Tomoe the Techno Golem THIS won’t happen.

That’s not all. Armorer can once per long rest choose one Armor model for their armor, which comes with a special weapon that uses your Intelligence for attacks and damage rolls instead of Strength or Dexterity. You can have one armor model be your bulky old armor and the other your sleek, new armor.

Guardian gives you Thunder Gauntlets that can hit for 1d8 thunder damage each and emit distracting noise that gives a hit creature disadvantage on attack rolls until your next turn. It also comes with Defensive Field that on each of your turns as a bonus action can get you temporary hit points equal to your Artificer level. 

Infiltrator meanwhile is so close to skin it can fit under clothes, increases your speed by 5 feet and comes with Lightning Launcher which deals 1d6 lightning damage to a target within range and once per turn you can have it deal an extra 1d6 lightning damage.

BUT WAIT, there is more! Armorer has bonus spells that are always prepared and not count against your total number of spells prepared.

Magic Missile creates three darts that each deals 1d4+1 Force damage to a target on a hit and can be directed towards one or multiple targets.

Shield lets you as a reaction to being hit by an attack grant yourself +5 to AC including for the triggering attack. It also works against Magic Missile.

BUT WAIT, there's even more! As I mentioned I did not list all 4 infusions because Armorer has access to extra ones and we will be picking from this list like mad

Armor of Tools lets you integrate one set of tools into the armor for 8 hours and allow you to add your Intelligence modifier to tests made using them.

Mind Sharpener is so broken I cannot believe it. When wearing the infused item you can just use your reaction to succeed a failed Concentration saving throw. You know, the Concentration check you have an advantage on.

4th Level Artificer Gets an Ability Score Improvement, increase your Intelligence for more spells.

5th Level Armorer can now attack twice in one attack action. You can also cast 2nd Level spells and you just can prepare two more spells and get two extra from Armorer, so let’s upgrade your helmet:

Darkvision grants you an ability to see in dark like in dim light for 60 feet.

See Invisibility allows you to see invisible creatures and objects as well as those in Ethereal Plane, ghosts included.

Shatter deals 3d8 thunder damage to every creature and nonmagical object in 10 feet area from you, half on successful Constitution save, which creatures made from inorganic materials roll with a disadvantage. 

Mirror Image creates 3 illusions of you that mimic your every move. Every time you are hit during the spell’s duration you roll a d20. If you roll above 6 the attack hits a duplicate instead and it disappears. The second roll must be above 8 and third above 11. Also, I’m pretty sure Dickie Meyer’s head will explode when he sees four Riris. 

6th Level will be when we take a detour. 1st Level Wizard gains a Spellbook in which they have six 1st-level spells of their choice and three new Cantrips and you can copy to it spells of any level you have slots for. Wizard’s Spell Attack and Save Difficulty are exactly the same as Artificer so the two synergize perfectly. You can prepare a number of Wizard spells from your Spellbook equal your Intelligence Modifier + your WIzard level. Regarding the Spell Slots you have, consult the official table. Your level as a spellcaster equals half of your Artificer level rounded down + your Wizard level. You regain spells on a long rest like Artificer, but Arcane Recovery lets you once per day regain on a short rest a number of spell slots of level 5 or lower and whose combined level cannot extend half of your wizard level rounded up.

Now the Spells. As I’ve said above, three cantrips and six 1st level spells.

Blade Ward grants you resistance for Bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage until the end of your next turn

Lightning Lure lets you force one target to make a Strength saving throw or be pulled 10 feet towards you and if they end 5 feet from you, deal them lighting damage.

Booming Blade upon casting lets you make a melee attack and if you hit then aside of regular damage the target will take extra lightning damage if they willingly move until your next turn.

Chromatic Orb lets you make a ranged spell attack that deals, of your choice acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder damage on a hit.

Color Spray makes you roll 6d10 and then every creature in a 15-foot cone from you (except blind or unconscious ones) gets affected in order of their hit points, starting from the lower until they reach total number equal to your roll. Each creature affected is blinded for 1 round. Also, it’s a rainbow so useful when you want to show Viv your support.

Burning Hands is a freaking flame-thrower that deals fire damage to every creature within 15-foot cone, half on a successful Dexterity saving throw.

Witch Bolt is another ranged spell attack that not only deals good lighting damage but if you maintain your concentration you can deal extra damage at the start of your turn to deal it extra damage. As long as you keep up your concentration, with a maximum duration of 1 minute, don’t use your action to do anything else, the target doesn’t hide from you behind cover or leave the spell range.

Comprehend Languages gives you a universal translator for one hour. Champions are a multi-national team, it is best to avoid issues with communication.

Protection From Evil and Good give aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead disadvantage on attacks against you or whoever you cast it on, these creatures cannot charm and frighten you and if they already did, you gain an advantage on saving throws to break free.

So that next time you run into Blackheart THIS won’t happen

7th Level: This will be our second and last level of Wizard to pick an Arcane School. School of War Magic (which I originally picked for Amadeus Cho before switching to Lore Mastery) lets you add your Intelligence to your Initiative rolls and allows you to as a reaction gain +2 bonus to your AC or +4 to a saving throw but you cannot cast more than Cantrips until end of your next turn. Seeing how many spells target saving throws you are not good at, this will be a life-saver

8th Level: Back to Artificer. 6th level doubles your proficiency bonus to any checks using tool proficiencies and lets you discover two more Infusions. Spell-Refuelling Ring lets you once per day as an action recover a spell slot of a level no higher than the number of magic items you are currently attuned to. Resistant Armor grants you resistance to one chosen type of damage: acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant or thunder. 

You also can prepare an extra 2nd level spell. Web lets you cover an area in a sticky web that forces creatures that enter it or start their turns on it to make a Dexterity saving throw or become restrained until they succeed a Strength saving throw. Try to not aim it at a place full of your allies, they’ll probably blame Miles.

9th Level: 7th Level Artificer gains Flash of Genius. A number of times equal your Intelligence modifier per long rst you can use your reaction to add your Intelligence modifier to an ability check or a saving throw you or anoter creature you see makes.

10th Level: 8th Level Artificer gains an Ability Score Improvement, round up your intelligence

11th Level: 9th Level Armorer gains Armor modifications, which allow you to treat your armor as multiple items for the purpose of Infusing items and increases the number of items you can be attuned to at the same time by two. You also get access to 3rd level spells and new bonus spells and it may surprise you but we will not grab fly. We’ll pick something better in a moment, meanwhile

Dispel Magic allows you to undo an effect of a spell of 3r level or lower automatically and higher one if you pass an Intelligence check of DC 10+ Spell level.

Haste doubles your speed, gives +2 to AC, an advantage on Dexterity saving throws, allows you a free action each turn to take  Dash, Disengage, Hide, or Use an Object action or make a single extra attack. The downside is if it ends you cannot do anything for your next round, so don’t push your armor too far.

Lightning Bolt deals 8d6 lightning damage to every creature in 100 feet long, 5 feet wide line, half on a successful Dexterity saving throw. Use it carefully and remember two of your teammates got killed by an electric guy so hard it required the devil to fix it.

Hypnotic Pattern forces creature in a 30-foot cube radius from where you project it to make a Wisdom saving throw or become charmed for the duration of the spell, becoming incapacitated and their speed turning to zero. I don’t know if this is a lot in character but I don’t think Riri couldn’t make a projector that does that. And hey, free stuff.

12th Level: 10 Level Artificer gains two more Infusions and becomes Magic Item Adept, increasing the number of magic items you can attune to by one, cutting time to craft common and uncommon magic items to a quater and price of it to a half.

Our first infusion will give us flying - Replicate Winged Boots magic item, gaining flying speed equal your walking speed.

Our second one is Armor of Magical Strength, which lets you substitute your Intelligence in place of Strength modifier for Ability Scores and saving throws and has 4 charges that can be expended to stop you from being knocked prone.

You can also prepare one more spell. Protection from Energy grants one creature of your choice resistance to acid, cold, lightning or thunder damage.

You get one more Cantrip too, Mending lets you perform quick repairs on objects.

13th Level: 11th level Artificer can store a 1st or 2nd Level spell in a Spell-Storing Item. On long rest, you can make any mundane item into one and you don’t even need to have this spell prepared. You can give it to another creature, and if they cast it, it will use your Intelligence modifier, but their concentration. You can give something like Enhance Ability to America Chavez or someone else who can take a hit or just use it as one extra spell.

14th Level: 12th level of Artificer is an Ability score improvement or a feat - Heavy Armor Master increases your strength by 1 and reduces all piercing, slashing or bludgeoning damage from nonmagical sources by 3. 

15th Level: 13th level Artificer gets access to 4th level spells

Otiluke's Resilient Sphere lets you trap a willing creature or unwilling one that failed Dexterity saving throw inside a sphere that is utterly immune to any form of damage and blocks magic and objects from coming through. Whenever you use it to 

Fabricate let’s you take raw materials and turn them into mundane objects, which will certainly come handy working on that engineering degree.

Fire Shield lets you surround yourself with an energy that either gives you resistance to cold damage and deals 2d8 fire damage to anyone that hits you with a melee attack or does the same except switching fire and cold.

Greater Invisibility makes you Invisible for a minute, which is a great stealth mode for your armor and also, it ends when you break concentration or time runs out only, unlike regular invisibility.

16th Level: 14th Level Artificer becomes a Magic Item Savant, meaning you can attune to one more magic item and ignore all class, race or level requirements for attuning to them. I don’t know if Riri can lift Mjolnij bu if yes, then she now certainly can use it.

For the infusions, Helm of Awareness grants you an advantage on initiative checks and ensures you cannot be surprised as long as you’re not incapacitated. You know, the same initiative you add your Intelligence to?

Amulet of Health sets up your Constitution at 19. Just a little and yet how much for you.

You also get a Cantrip, Message can serve as a way to communicate with your teammates like a sort of build-in radio in your helmet.

17th Level: 15th Level Armorer gets Perfected Armor. For Guardian armor, that means that you can use your reaction to try to pull closer to you any creature that ends their move within 30 feet of you. If they fail Strength saving throw and nothing is in their way, they can even end in front of you and you can make a single melee weapon attack as a part of this action. Infiltrator Armor makes every creature hit by your Lightning Launcher glimmer with light until the start of your next turn, giving the first other creature that tries to attack it advantage on an attack roll and even adding 1d6 extra lightning damage to a hit.

18th Level: 16th Level of Artificer comes with another Ability Score Improvement and honestly, I don’t know what to add. Dexterity grants you extra initiative and both it and Wisdom mean better saves, but if you fancy any feat, feel free to grab it. Since you do a lot of thunder and lightning damage, Elemental Adept would be my choice.

19th Level: On the 17th level Artificer gains access to 5th level spells

Greater Restoration allows you to reduce target’s exhaustion by one level or undo one effect that has charmed, petrified, cursed or reduced ability score or hit point maximum of a single target.

Passwall lets you create a temporary corridor in any wall. I don’t know if Earthbending is in character for Riri but you can easily refluff it as blasting and it’s a free bonus spell anyway.

Wall of Force creates a forcefield in the shape of a wall, that blocks any attacks and spells, including dispel magic. But Disintegrate will destroy it.

20th Level: We will finish on 18th level of Artificer for Magic Item Master, increasing the number of magic items you can attune to by one. You get two final Infusions

Horn of Blasting makes blow away every creature in a 30 foot cone with a sound blast that deafens them and deals 5d6 thunder damage, half and no deafening on a successful DC 15 Constitution saving throw, 10d6 for anything made of crystal. Let tony have his Uni-Beam, this is way cooler.

Ring of Free Action makes it that difficult terrain doesn’t slow you down and cannot by slowed down, paralyzed or restrained by magical effects. Because your armor is so good nothing can stop you.

Overview: Riri Williams is an Armorer Artificer 18/School of War Magic Wizard 2. Let’s now see how viable this build is:

Pros: You get your Intelligence to almost everything - attacks, damage, initiative, strength checks and even saves and with your additional improvements of Concentration and Amulet of Health we had an Ability Score Improvement we didn’t really need. All that while flying around in heavy armor and sitting on a ton of magic items. Finally, you have a number of varied ways to deal damage and ways to increase your defenses or control the battlefield. You can be a tank, a damage dealer and a battlefield controller easily.

Cons: You rely heavily on magic items, meaning that one anti-magic-field will end you pretty fast. Your saving throws themselves are not very strong, so your Flash of genius will run out pretty fast if enemies target dexterity or wisdom a lot. Your way of dealing damage is varied but limited and a lot of higher-level creatures will resist more than one type of damage you deal.

But it is good to have limits. You are incredibly powerful, but you need to remember cannot do everything alone. It is good to have allies that could watch your back and a party will be grateful for many ways you can turn the tides to their advantage. 

This picture is veeery fitting for this post.

- Admin

[gem-quest]

[ O P H E L I A ... ]

“There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there, you’ll be free, if you truly wish to be.” 
- Pure Imagination

Real Name: Catriona “Cat” Walsh Age: 20 FC: Saoirse Ronan Species & Class: Specter Bard Guild: Moonstone 
 Description of In-Game Powers: Specters are Gem Quest’s non-corporeal undead player race.  They’re notable for only having 9 stats instead of 10, with Strength being omitted from their stat lineup because they literally have no physical bodies.  Instead, their Willpower stat serves as their Strength equivalent.  This means they have a rechargeable meter of how much they can possibly interact with physical objects before taking a rest or recharging with a spell or potion.  Beyond that, Specters are distinguished by their inability to be damaged by non-magical weapons, increased susceptibility to light magic, and inability to be healed via healing potions or traditional physical healing spells (only a period of rest or spells/potions aimed at restoring mental wellness can heal them).  The non-magical weapon immunity is amazing lower levels, but it’s not long before everything thrown at you seems to be enchanted or blessed or cursed or whatever.  Weirdly enough, as far as the whole “incorporeal being” conceit is taken in other aspects, Specters can indeed take potions, as well as eat and drink.  They get decreased buffs from some potions and foods, though.  To balance this out, spells that provide small buffs and aren’t explicitly light-aligned are extra effective on them.

There’s a lot of frustration with the class because of its “fake” weapon resistance, since any old dagger with any mild enchantment or magical effect at all on it can hit them.  They can’t viably hit physical things in combat without specifically taking Knight, Rogue, Rider, or Mage-Knight as their class.  And even then, they’re arguably the weakest race choice in the game for non-magical melee combat.  Meanwhile, a lot of physical things and all magic can still hit them very hard very easily. 

All of this said, there ARE skills to really like here, too - namely, superb mobility.  Specters can pass through physical materials five feet thick or thinner as long as those materials aren’t specifically enchanted to prevent phasing.  They float slightly by default and have a rechargeable flight ability that allows them to lift much further off the ground in short bursts.  They also have a rechargeable ability (with more uses per charge than flight) that allows them to teleport from where they stand to any spot they can see within 20 feet without a spell as long as they haven’t been hit with an attack in the past 5 seconds.  This gives them excellent mobility even in the heat of battle and allows them to have a lot of control over their position and angle.  It also means that it’s often smarter for them to worry less about defense than about being hard to hit in the first place.

Place of Birth: Dublin, Ireland

Appearance: Ophelia has a Specter’s signature slightly translucent skin, under-saturated color palette, and skirt hem/legs that trail off into mist.  Her eyes are a stormy gray, and her wardrobe is almost exclusively black and white.  When it comes to fashion, she prefers some of the more dark Victorian-inspired looks in the game as opposed to the high fantasy, renaissance, or medieval looks that a lot of other characters favor.  That said, she’s got a pretty extensive and well-curated wardrobe behind her.  She considers it highly important that she have at least one appropriate black and white ensemble to wear in each and every level in order to fit in with the theme.  That said, she also has her own signature look that she uses as her “default” (the outfit she’s wearing in her pic at the top of her audition - full-body edit to be shared later!).  Oh, and she loves gloves and capes.  LOVES THEM.  And kind of hoards them, tbh.

Places Most Likely to be Found In-Game: Ophelia’s favorite haunt at the moment is the City of Magic in Level 11.  It’s the logical home base for a character who’s both a crafting/magical class AND a ghost. There’s a high enough concentration of both useful items and ingredients AND sufficiently gothic-flavored areas and NPCs to suit all her needs, both practical and aesthetic. She’s set up her own little shop in one of the many background spooky haunted house locations within the shadier-looking part of the city, and her Aesthetic demands she sometimes hangs out at the city’s main graveyard.  

Beyond that, she can sometimes be found in various libraries and shops across the levels she can access, looking for interesting bits of crafting knowledge, hints of new items she could try cobbling together, and items that she could modify or combine with something to make can even more useful item.  She’s also been known to turn up in random wilderness or roadway portions of levels in the first half of the game, foraging for crafting components that grow or randomly generate within those environments.

Current Inventory:

Screaming Lute (x1): Ophelia is very, exceedingly proud of her combat lute.  She crafted it herself out of her bardic starter instrument.  Specter Bards begin the game with an instrument they are capable of interacting with consistently.  Cat has decided that, within Ophelia’s story, this was Ophelia’s lute in life, and it was destroyed shortly before her death as a way of intimidating her.  Anyhow, Ophelia has heavily modified her starting weapon to the point that she thinks of it as an entirely new item.  It’s covered in strange etched carvings and shifts between glowing with an eerie red light from the inside and constantly trailing wisps of white smoke.  She uses it as her primary weapon in the game, as strumming specific notes and chords on the lute lights up some of the etchings and fires off various spells and magical effects and spells Ophelia has been able to learn.  The lute downright shrieks whenever she uses it to cast a spell.  How does it work, you might ask?  That is a very long story, and one I’m saving for another post XD  Most of the spells Ophelia has at her disposal are cast through her rune-covered lute and will be catalogued in her lute info.

Whispering Flute (x1): Ophelia likes rhymes and the aesthetics of symmetry.  A secondary combat and utility weapon of hers, this is a flute enchanted to fire off up to three charges of Ventium per day, and one charge of Murmurationium per day.  A good insurance weapon to sneak into a dangerous social situation, as it’s a perfectly normal and usable flute until she uses it to unleash the fury of the cold cruel winds of death upon you XD

Empty Unbreakable Bottle (x5): Ophelia favors magical items strongly because Specters can interact with non-martial ones automatically, without having to expend any extra effort or have at least X amount of Willpower to do so.  Unbreakable Bottles are the cheapest magical container commonly for sale in game that’s capable of reliably holding liquids, so Ophelia likes to store all liquids important to her in them.  And she likes to have at least a couple of empty ones on her at all times in case she wants to take a sample of something or otherwise just needs one.

Unbreakable Bottle of Rune Ink (x5): Rune Ink is an item that can be used as permanent and unfading ink that’s nigh impossible to remove or cover up.  More importantly, though, it allows a PC with knowledge of the game’s runes, basically a language of magic that appears in a level or two and on some items, to write runic symbols that absorb nearby magical energy and store it within the object with runes written on it.

Enchanted Carving Tools (x1): Basic carving tools, enchanted to be able to create magical items and inscriptions.  Ophelia uses them for crafting both magical and non-magical items, since any given item needs to be enchanted for her to be able to actively use it for long stretches of time anyway.

Enchanted Mending Kit (x1): Enchanted mending/tinker’s tools able to repair magical items without damaging their magical properties.  Ophelia uses these to repair any repairable item sent her way, for the same reason she also uses enchanted carving tools for everything.

Paxanimi Potion (x3): A potion that mitigates psychic damage or corruption and provides a temporary boost to a player’s Psyche stat.  For Ophelia, as a Specter, this is the closest thing she gets to a reliably available health potion.

Psychometry Scroll (x1): Allows caster to make one inquiry about the past of an object or place, then projects a scene or quote from the object’s or place’s history that provides a relevant answer to that question into the caster’s mind.  Without crafting very specific questions, the results can often be vague and unhelpful, as the game will take the path of least resistance in providing a vision that meets the requirements of the inquiry.

Ictuium Scroll (x1)

Second Sight Scroll (x1) (Learning)

Assorted Random Crafting Bits and Scraps

She actually has more inventory kept hidden away within her home base rather than coming with her everywhere.  Most of it is just more tools and materials and many, many changes of clothes.

“How much does it weigh?  Can I touch, smell, and taste it?  Can I put it in my inventory?  Is it magical?  Is it combustible?  How many knowledge checks can I roll on it?  Does it match my outfit?  Can I keep it?” - Catriona, literally every time she sees any new item in D&D

Strongest character trait: Imagination

Strengths: Ophelia is an immensely imaginative and resourceful person who comes to Gem Quest from a background of extensive fiction reading and making famously effective TTRPG characters.  It helps that she researched Gem Quest *extensively* before starting and continued to be active in forums and the GQ Wiki right up through getting stuck, along with getting early advice and support from a beta tester acquaintance.  Her ideas are typically wildly innovative and a bit risky, but to her credit, they pay off more often than not.  She’s slow to trust others with much critical personal information, but pretty open to giving others a chance and to judging people based on her own experience rather than on gossip.  Thinking on her feet is second nature to her, and she’s rarely at a loss for ideas.  Her devotion to her character and planned story arc have helped her to maintain a degree of focus and stability that’s thus far proven to be her most valuable coping mechanism. 

She’s generally friendly and pleasant despite her spooky aesthetic, story, and demeanor, and she will genuinely try to help anyone who asks her for it.  In business and in social encounters, Ophelia is considerate, well-mannered, and often downright chatty, though she usually knows to take a hint when people make it clear that they don’t want to talk.  She makes and offers a selection of odd but useful items at very fair prices because she’s not here to make a profit - she just needs enough resources to keep going.  She’s earned a bit of good will based on that.  Her skill in puzzle and strategy-based quests and willingness to dispense hints on the above, along with her crafting, has garnered her a good reputation as a support player and PC shopkeeper within her guild.

Weaknesses: Even knowing that the game is now a matter of life and death, Ophelia still seems to care more about her in-game narrative and goals than practicality, survivability, or winning.  A vibrant creative type who wishes no irl harm to anybody, she has a hard time conceiving that even the most blatantly destructive PCs would truly do harm to anyone outside the narrative.  She catches most of the references you make and then obnoxiously, steadfastly denies that she has caught them if you inquire, because Star Wars doesn’t exist in the world of Gem Quest and of Ophelia, dammit!  While her coping methods might be working for her internally for now, her devotion to staying in-character makes her a bit of an acquired taste.  She is very, very particular about sticking to character, even when it’d be more practical and less annoying for her to drop it. She’s been known to make important decisions that risk her safety (and sometimes, indirectly, that of others) in the name of “authenticity” to her character and story plans. 

Far, far too curious and adventurous for someone with a Defense stat of 2.  She has lots and lots of interesting ideas, all of which she gives equal chance to, plenty of which aren’t good.  Just because her creative ideas pay off more often than not doesn’t mean that there aren’t times when they don’t pay off.  And when they don’t pay off, they tend to not pay off SPECTACULARLY.  Reasonably likely to get herself killed enacting some inventive and exceedingly high-risk scheme to take out a dangerous boss before it can do damage. 

For some folks, the mix of creepy aesthetics and backstory and acting choices with effusive goodwill and pleasantness is more off-putting than inviting.  Arguably talks too much, especially when she’s nervous or upset.  Has a weakness for getting emotionally involved with NPCs, particularly minor NPCs with chains of side quests or that can serve as temporary companions, despite theoretically knowing that they’re just chunks of code.  Seems physically incapable of just sitting back and relaxing for a few without having to start some new project or come up with some new big subplot or plan. 

Plenty of folks are happy to buy her crafted items, but she has a bad reputation as an active combatant due to a few infamous Incidents.  At this point, only the truly uninformed, the truly desperate, the truly experimental, or the truly crazy in Moonstone would willingly party up with her XD

“Death has made me less than kind.  And very, very creative with a broken lute, who knew?” - Ophelia

Player Stats: Ophelia’s defensive strategy in combat is just to not be hit at all.  Her Defense stat is dangerously low, with any points that could buff it up as she’s gained levels and experience instead going to Agility and Luck.  She prefers to draw her “defense” from stats that she can get more versatile use out of.  She’s unusually low in Charisma for a Bard and has only enough Willpower to allow her to craft with physical items.  She can’t wield non-magical weapons at all.  However, she opted to invest a bit more in Psyche than a lot of other players did since a lot of a Specter’s durability lies in their emotional stability.  She also has uncommonly high Intelligence, which combines with her Psyche and Luck to equip her well for puzzle-based and strategy-based challenges.

STRENGTH: X

DEFENSE: 2

CHARISMA: 6

PSYCHE: 7

WILLPOWER: 7

CAUTIOUSNESS: 4

AGILITY: 8

ENDURANCE: 5

INTELLIGENCE: 9

LUCK: 8


Personality: (A lot of this is already in her strengths and weaknesses, so I’m putting a bit of a summary and some extra detail in here.)

She eats fictional media for breakfast, means well, talks a lot and talks often, has an overall spooky quirky nice one vibe (you know the type), fancies herself an actress regardless of the feedback she might receive, will (un)live and die in-character out of a fruity cocktail of artistic integrity and spite, is the Bard equivalent of a TV mad scientist who tends to cause the problem at the start of the episode with an experiment and then solve it in the last 2 minutes with a crazy genius plan that’s then shown to have not *totally* worked in a post-episode stinger, and is too smart for anyone’s good.  

Building a clear narrative here helps her bring some degree of organization and order to the wild creative whirlpool that is her brain.  She’d never considered herself much of an escapist until she discovered GQ, where she hasn’t escaped from responsibilities and work and struggle so much as she’s found an intoxicating degree of control over what her responsibilities and work and struggle are.  She can write a meaningful story here, be its central driving force, have the impact she increasingly feels like she’ll just never be able to have in real life, and stick her epic quest out to a glorious conclusion.  Ironically, she’s a weird mix of always needing an outline and a sense of narrative while ALSO constantly bursting with new ideas and clever but risky plans that she takes quite seriously.  Cat harbors perpetual mild guilt for feeling so restless and unhappy - after all, she’s lived comfortable life and has a family who loves, and it’s not like people have to like anything she makes or does or says in order for her to have a high quality of life.

“Think you're escaping and run into yourself. Longest way round is the shortest way home.” - James Joyce

Biography: Catriona Walsh was born in Dublin, Ireland to an Irish mother and an American father of Irish descent.  The family moved to New York City for her father’s job when she was just 5, but she and her mom remain close with her mom’s side of the family back in Ireland.  After 3 years in New York, the family moved to Columbus, Ohio, where Cat spent the rest of her young life, except for summers.  Most summers since she was 13, she’s stayed a couple months with an aunt and uncle who own a small tour company in Dublin.  From 16 on, she’s been helping with business while there.  Now she’s at college in Dublin and working at the company on the weekends, in exchange for staying with her relatives. She’s studying business for her parents and literature for herself.  

Cat has always had a great fondness for the tour company, though mostly for the actual tour guide end of it.  She’s a natural storyteller and explorer who delights in going off the beaten trail and sharing all she knows about xyz subject with anyone who seems interested.  Unfortunately, her improvisational bent has landed her in trouble with her aunt and uncle more than once.  There are schedules to keep and itineraries people pay to be taken through, after all.  This landed her behind the front desk of the office answering phone calls and administering group ticket sales, which she very nearly hates.

School is hard, especially with her true interest pushed to the side by necessity.  Feeling like none of her ideas ever get taken seriously is hard.  Making friends that last beyond one semester sharing a class is hard, and as she gets further into her college career, her future looks increasingly stifled and bleak to her.  Attempts to get some poetry and original music off the ground haven’t gone anywhere, ending in some spikes of faceless nastiness that prompted her to delete her one YouTube account and take a step back from social media about a year and a half ago.  Sure, she knows she’s supposed to have a thicker skin than that if she wants to go anywhere, and she *does* want to go somewhere.  But she can’t seem to make her skin much thicker.  She wants to argue with her uncle and aunt a bit more, as she increasingly disagrees with them on quite a few things, but they’re both extremely conflict averse, and she can be extremely lacking in tact about things she’s suitably worked up over.  

Through it all, she knows full well that so so many people have it worse, and that she has no reason to feel restless and dissatisfied and unhappy.  It’s just that she has a hard time connecting with people and feeling heard. She’s not alone, so why is she lonely?  Cat takes refuge in being the zany, intensely individualistic artist who’s sometimes worth inviting to a party for the interest value and who surely has friends somewhere - you just haven’t ever met them.  

For the past year or so, all the time Cat has for herself and an increasing amount of time that used to go into schoolwork has been split between her long-time refuge in tabletop roleplaying and her new favorite place: Gem Quest.  She’s part of two Dungeons & Dragons games currently being run on Roll20 (well, was a part of them, anyway), both of which she plays as a multiclassed build with some degree of casting put together for a mix of strong utility and intricate storytelling.  Gem Quest continues a years-long trend of being in love with exactly one fantasy video game at a time and playing it as much as possible, though it’s her first MMORPG.  

Catriona researched Gem Quest *extensively* before ever getting it or creating her character.  She heard about it from a fellow member of one of her online D&D groups, an avid gamer happened to be a beta tester.  Cat was drawn in by the idea of being able to entirely occupy the space of a created hero within a sprawling fantasy setting and be a version of herself designed as a protagonist in a world designed to be impacted by her.  She had a cousin who had a VR headset but decided it just wasn’t really his thing, so it wasn’t hard to convince him to let her use it for this.  After waiting to see more setting and story info during the early general release and researching everything there was to know about GQ thus far, including via discussion with her beta tester acquaintance, she entered into the game a short while after launch. She’s had time to level up, mostly in being an item crafter and utility character with a surprising capacity to serve as a highly mobile glass canon blaster (and inexhaustible source of very creative and very insane plans) in combat.

She also has a whole, novella-length backstory for her character - a summary of which I will post later! - that she treats as her character bible and guide for all in-game interactions.  It’s based on a single image of a skeleton in a black and white dress in some official art of one of the higher levels where there are a lot of scenic skeletons lying around.  This is the sort of brain Cat has XD



Ophelia, as a character, is the ghost of a minor noblewoman and court musician who was betrayed when she starting poking around into the disappearance of her older brother at court.  Her desires to find her brother and for vengeance brought her back as a Specter, but she came back a world away from the place she died and has to go on a quest to make it back and finish her story.  Cat built the character to be tied to a mid-to-late game puzzle-heavy level so she could have a big climatic Moment there.  Then, she’d continue to the end in search of her fictional brother.  Ophelia wields a spectral lute as a spellcasting focus and spends a lot of time pursuing leads about both her brother and her murderer (aka quests Cat finds thematically/aesthetically good for Ophelia).

Cat is VERY set on seeing this plot through and being the hero of her story, from start to finish, despite what’s happening with the game now.  She does her part to provide puzzle guides and crafting support for those working to beat the game, but she’s not going to rush through her story and suddenly snap back to being poor little ungrateful and inexplicably depressed Cat who has no place in anything and can’t do anyone much good with what she’s got.  While she’s in the game, she’s going to be Ophelia.  At least Ophelia has a *reason* to be unhappy and restless, a wildly creative and wildly striving brain tied to the world with a few wisps of smoke.  And at least Ophelia is good at what she does.

Never mind how much she adored aggressive exploration and creative combat at first.  She’s learned well enough that she’s just a liability there, she’s bad at being in a group, and, not so different from real life, she’s at her best when she’s just at the shop counter being support.  She’s already been booted from a couple of parties over her crazy plans, play style, and general personality. And there have been more than enough incidents with her pulling something crazy because it was in-character and genuinely seemed like a good solution with the resources given, usually with at least decent results but always with high risk, that no one in the know is willing to party up with her anymore. 

She’s kind of stuck either in her shop or going solo.  At least she makes good things, though, right?  And she’s just taking her plot slow because of she’s savoring and developing her story, not because people don’t really like conquering life beside her out here either, right?

Right?

Relationships: I’m very much open to some plotting and planning with anyone who’d like to try working something out!

In regards to side characters or such of my own, I have some ideas already for this.  I’ll fill these in as I finalize my ideas a bit more!

Char 1 -

Char 2 -

Char 3 -

Playlist: TBF Pinterest: TBF Extra: TBF

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #127: Leonardo Da Vinci

Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re making the one person with enough free time to be both a universal genius and the best ninja turtle, Leonardo Da Vinci! Like many casters you’re super power is Being Adaptable, so just imagine every level summary ends with “Adjust your spell list to fit what your party needs” a lot.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Tamamo... 3!

Race and Background

Like a couple other servants you’re technically a homunculus, but we need that feat bonus, so we’re making you a Variant Human. This nets you perception proficiency, +1 Intelligence and Dexterity, and the War Caster feat. This gives you advantage on concentration checks, the ability to use cantrips for your attacks of opportunity, and the ability to use somatic components with full hands. That glove’s cool, but it’s probably hard to flash gang signs in that thing.

You’re Chaldea’s resident Izzet Engineer, giving you proficiency with Arcana and Investigation. You also get the ability to look up public building’s schematics to look for secret entrances and the like (it definitely would make the opening to Descent into Avernus a lot easier...) You also get enough background-based spells to make your first level spell list look downright silly. We’ll get into those at the levels section though.

You should probably try and keep that “Izzet” part under wraps. Mixing servants and mizzium could only end in disaster.

Ability Score Improvements

As the poster child of the Renaissance Woman, your Intelligence and Wisdom should be pretty goddamn high. After that is Dexterity- you literally made your body, and your craftsmanship is impeccable. Your Charisma isn’t amazing, because despite your body being a literal work of art you get a demerit due to the writing team’s transphobia, and also the standard array’s inability to give you all 20s. Your Constitution isn’t great for the latter reason as well, but we’re dumping Strength. Once again, the caster class’s 90% damage modifier is not going to help you get buff.

Class Levels

1. Wizard 1: You’re smart and magic, that’s a wizard. You get proficiency with Intelligence and Wisdom saves, as well as two wizard skills. History and Insight would be my pick, but you’re good at everything, so pick your poison.

You also get an Arcane Recovery once per long rest, allowing you to regain a couple spell slots on a short rest as a freebie, but their total level has to be half your wizard level rounded up. Oh yeah, you get spells too. They use your Intelligence to cast.

As the Universal Genius, your entire schtick is about being adaptable, so I’m not going to list spells in the breakdown this time around. If you want them, my personal picks are in the character sheet. 

That being said, you do get some guaranteed spells from your background. Thanks to being an Engineer, you get Produce Flame and Shocking Grasp as cantrips, and Chaos Bolt, Create or Destroy Water, and Unseen Servant at first level.

2. Wizard 2: Another problem with being a renaissance woman is that there’s no “everything” specialty for you to grab. That being said, the Transmutation school will help make your body a bit stronger on a more permanent basis than bladesinging would. You become a Transmutation Savant, meaning it takes half the time and cost to transcribe transmutation spells into your spell book. You also learn some Minor Alchemy, spending ten minutes per cubic foot of your target object, turning a nonmagical item made of wood, stone, iron, copper, or silver into one of the other materials on that list. This lasts for an hour, or until you drop concentration. I’m sure you can come up with fun ways to abuse this.

3. Wizard 3: Third level wizards get second level spells, including your background spells Heat Metal and Rope Trick. Everyone needs a bit of alone time. And also to slowly set people on fire. Also, you should probably grab Enlarge/Reduce. It’s a secret tool that will help us later.

4. Wizard 4: Your Ability Score Improvements are all going to intelligence, but we can be smart about it. Your Keen Mind gives you a small boost to Intelligence, but it also helps you navigate, tell time, and be a jerk to your DM by forcing them to keep notes on literally everything. Use this power wisely.

5. Artificer 1: You’re not just a mage, you’re also an inventor. And an artist, but we’re sticking with int casters today. Maybe for rider. With your Magical Tinkering, you can add minor effects to tiny items, because it’s not like you’ve already got prestidigitation or anything. Speaking of, you get another Spell list, which also uses your Intelligence to cast and prepare. Again, you’re a caster-almost literally any spell is canon for you, aside from maybe the divination ones. Specifically the futury spells.

6. Artificer 2: Second level artificers can Infuse Items, allowing you to create magical items for your party. Again, you can make almost anything, so take some liberties. Or check the character sheet. Either or.

7. Artificer 3: As an inventor who’s specialty is “inventing”, you’d think picking a subclass here would be hard. Normally you’d be right, but I want to make the Bastenyan X, so we’re going Battle Smith. This gives you some specialty spells, like Heroism and Shield, as well as making you Battle Ready. This gives you proficiency with more weapons, and you can use your intelligence instead of strength when using magical weapons. You also get a Steel Defender, a construct to help you in battle. You have to use your bonus action to command it, but you weren’t using it for anything else, so that’s fine.

You can also make the Right Tool for the Job after rests, creating a set of artisan’s tools until you make another.

8. Artificer 4: Another ASI, and another half feat. The Observant feat rounds out your Intelligence, allows you to read lips, and gives you a +5 bonus to perception and investigation checks.

9. Artificer 5: Fifth level battle smiths get an Extra Attack with each attack action, for when you really want to slap someone with your giant hand. You also get second level spells, like Branding Smite and Warding Bond. 

10. Wizard 5: Third level spell time! You also get your background spells, Call Lighting, Elemental Weapon, and Glyph of Warding. And that’s not even counting your normal spells.

11. Wizard 6: Sixth level transmuters can make a Transmuter’s Stone over the course of eight hours, and a creature holding possessing the stone gets one of several benefits. These include darkvision, and extra 10 feet of speed, proficiency in constitution saves, and resistance to acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage. If you’re holding onto the stone, you can even switch up the effect every time you cast a leveled transmutation spell.

12. Artificer 6: Hopping back into artificer gives you Tool Expertise, giving you doubled proficiency with any tool. I’m not sure if I was explicit enough here, but you’re very smart.

13. Artificer 7: So smart, in fact, that you can use your Flash of Genius to add your intelligence modifier to a nearby ability check or save, a number of times per long rest equal to your intelligence modifier. You might not be great at athletics, but you do know a lot about the technique!

14. Artificer 8: Nope, we’re not maxing out intelligence yet. Use this ASI to become a bit Tougher. No real reason for it, but you’re kind of a melee fighter with less than 100 hp at the end, which isn’t good. This gives you +2 hp every time you level up, and a nice +28 hp immediately.

15. Artificer 9: You get third level spells again, including your specialty spells Aura of Vitality and Conjure Barrage. You also learn how to add an Arcane Jolt to your magical weapon attacks, either dealing extra damage or healing a nearby creature. You can use this once per turn, and a number of times per long rest equal to your intelligence modifier.

16. Artificer 10: Tenth level artificers see a lot of their infusions become a bit stronger, and they become a Magic Item Adept, which gives them an extra attunement slot and makes building magic items from scratch much easier.

17. Artificer 11: Eleventh level artificers can make Spell Storing Items at the end of long rests, allowing you to give your Bastenyan a Knife of Enlarging so you can ride in style by hasting and growing it at the same time. Despite the name, these items have to be weapons or focii, you can only have one item at once, and they only hold a number of charges equal to your intelligence modifier.

18. Artificer 12: With our final ASI, we can finally max out our Intelligence score for the best spells, the strongest hits, and the most effective magic items.

19. Artificer 13: With your fourth level spells, you get specialty and background spells at once, netting you Aura of Purity, Fire Shield, Conjure Minor Elementals, Divination, and Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere. And again, these are all spells that don’t count for your prep.

20. Artificer 14: Your capstone level makes you a Magic Item Savant, allowing you to attune to five items at once and ignore all requirements for using magic items. True genius knows no limits, after all.

Pros:

By mixing some wizard levels in with your artificer, you can learn a frankly silly number of spells by default, allowing for a lot of magical versatility. Multiclassing also lets you steal higher level spells from other spellbooks, negating some of the weaknesses you’d normally get from multiclassing. By the end, you can still copy over seventh level spells! Not bad for someone who just got fourth level spells on paper.

With pseudoproficiency and advantage in concentration saves, you’re pretty good at holding onto spells even with your lackluster Constitution score.

Your DM’s going to have a really hard time keeping secrets from you with a maxed out Investigation checks, plus good insight and perception, plus the ability to perfectly remember everything that happened in the last month. Proficiency is +6, intelligence is +5, Observant is another +5, Flash of Genius is another +5... That’s a base of 22, even if you roll a one. Rogues aren’t that good at investigation. Okay, maybe rogues are, but still. 

Cons:

Multiclassing still has downsides. You don’t get ninth level spells, which is a bummer, and you also don’t get the capstone ability of Artificer, which is downright broken. That being said, it’s not like most games get to level 17-20 anyway, so it’s probably not that big a deal.

I don’t like making builds that rely on DM fiat, and this build kinda does. In a low magic setting, or against a DM who just doesn’t like you, you’re stuck with, at max, fourth level spells. A situational weakness, but one you should be aware of.

Despite having tons of abilities to join in the melee with your other party members, you’re actually pretty bad at surviving there. You have an AC of 15 with mage armor (the in-character option), and your HP is probably somewhere in the 130s without a magic item we get at level 20. That’s not to say you can’t get in a fight, you just really don’t want to stand out.

[tigerkirby215]

5e Quinn, Demacia's Wings build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Katie "TeaTime" De Sousa. Made for Riot Games.)

lol who gives a shit about Quinn?

I do. I do Riot. :(

Honestly while I haven’t played Quinn in awhile I still think she’s an extremely fun champion, and not just because you get to bully the enemy top laner with discount Vayne. Quinn has a very unique playstyle that’s so different from every other champ in the game which makes her real refreshing to play after sticking to other champs for an extended period of time.

But let’s be real the main reason I’m making a Quinn build is so I can have a cheat day. I mean she’s obviously just a Beastmaster Ranger, right?

GOALS

Valor, to me! - Burd up! I really wish that Quinn was called “Quinn and Valor” in game.

Stick to the plan, Val - When the going gets tough it helps to be a swift scout, dashing around the enemy and vaulting off them if they get too close.

I'd keep my head down if I were you - While it’s perhaps not the first thing that comes to mind Quinn is known for letting down a volley of arrows when she first engages with Valor on her back.

RACE

League of humans, at least until I go back to Ionia to make more furries. Regardless we’ll be switching it up a bit with a Mark of Finding Dragonmark from Eberron! You get a +2 to Dexterity and +1 to an ability score of your choice: I went for Charisma because “League of Legends female body types.”

You get an early set of boots with the Mark of Finding, since Courier’s Speed increases your base movement speed to 35 feet. And to help with backflips Intuitive Motion will let you add a d4 to your Acrobatics checks (or your Land Vehicle checks, but I’d perhaps discuss with your DM to change that to Air Vehicles instead?) But most importantly you get Magical Passage for a one-time use of Misty Step, for Flash!

IF DRAGONMARKS AREN’T ALLOWED: A Variant Human works fine. Take a +1 to Dexterity and Charisma and the Crossbow Expert feat a little earlier than usual.

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - Dexterity is tied to shooting and back flips, both of which you’ll be doing a lot of.

14; WISDOM - You have a bird’s eye view; the best advantage.

13; CHARISMA - This is partially because “League of Legends female body types” but mostly for multiclassing.

12; CONSTITUTION - Demacians are no easy prey, and spending so much time behind enemy lines has made you sturdier than most.

10; INTELLIGENCE - Intelligence is tied to military tactics among other things.

8; STRENGTH - This is partially because “League of Legends female body types” but mostly for multiclassing because we don’t need it over the other stats.

Feel free to swap Wisdom and Constitution if you want worse skill checks but better durability.

BACKGROUND

We’ll be going for Faction Agent not because it fits best but because it has the abilities that make the most sense. I’m sure you could refer to the Demacian Scouts as a faction after all. Regardless you get proficiency in Insight along with one WIS, INT, or CHA skill of your choice: I opted for Perception for that bird’s eye view. You also get proficiency in two languages so once again pick your poison.

The main reason we opted for Faction Agent was for access to a Safe Haven behind enemy lines. You can always find insiders to give you a place to hide, or to give you information. Not that Val needs any help finding people. "Sometimes I swear that bird is just showing off."

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

Starting off as a Rogue for the skill proficiencies primarily. Acrobatics and Stealth are the two main ones we want but I’d also recommend Investigation and Intimidation. (Persuasion may be more useful in the average campaign but it doesn’t fit Quinn well feel free to build the character however you want but I focus on making the character as lore accurate and gameplay accurate as possible.) Anyways as a Rogue you also get Expertise in two skills: I’d recommend buffing your Perception right out the gate, as well as your Stealth because... it’ll be useful as a Rogue I assure you.

Rogues can chat with spies and infiltrators behind enemy lines thanks to Thieves’ Cant, a mixture of words and phrases that don’t actually mean what they sound like. But of course what we’re really here for as a Rogue is good ol’ Sneak Attack, for a d6 if you sneak attack an enemy (duh) or if Val (or another ally) is distracting them.

I’m going to briefly mention what weapons you’re probably going to want to start out with: a Hand Crossbow is an obvious must but until about level 6 or so you can honestly just stick to a Light Crossbow to do more damage at a better range early on.

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

Second level Rogues can further abuse their range thanks to Cunning Action, letting them Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a Bonus Action. Play around bushes to get the jump on your Harrier marks.

LEVEL 3 - BARD 1

Seeing as Bards are good at everything we’ll be taking some Bard levels. As a Bard you get proficiency in one skill as well as a musical instrument: pick whatever instrument you prefer and I’d of course take Animal Handling to take care of Valor.

You also get Bardic Inspiration to tell your allies of information you scouted ahead with your bonus action, letting them add an extra d6 to skill checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that they know are coming. You have a number of inspirations equal to your Charisma modifier, and regain all expended inspiration die at the end of a long rest.

But of course the main boon from being a Bard is access to Spellcasting! You get two cantrips from the Bard list: Light will let you see with your dumb human eyes, and Message will let you chat with your team behind enemy lines. You also get four first level spells from the Bard list: Animal Friendship is kinda an obvious one, as is Speak with Animals. Other than that Heroism will help you (or your allies) keep their cool behind enemy lines, and Color Spray (ty Tasha’s) will let Valor blind your foes so you can get away!

LEVEL 4 - BARD 2

Second level Bards get Jack of All Trades, letting you flex into whatever role your party may need. You also get Song of Rest to heal for an extra d6 of health during short rests to patch yourself up after getting into a scrap. And finally Tasha’s gave you Magical Inspiration, letting your allies with Bardic Inspiration add a roll on their inspiration die to the damage or healing of a spell.

You also learn another first level spell like Feather Fall, in case Valor needs to drop you.

LEVEL 5 - BARD 3

Third level Bards get Expertise in two skills: Acrobatics proficiency is a requirement for backflips, and Animal Handling would be good to handle Valor. (But more realistically expertise in Insight or Investigation would be more useful.)

But more importantly we can finally get some combat ability out of the Bard! The College of Swords gives you proficiency with medium armor and shields, neither of which we really need. It also gives you a Fighting Style you won’t use with a Hand Crossbow, but Dueling is probably better for your purposes.

What we’re mainly here for is Blade Flourish, which despite the name works on ranged attacks! When you take the attack action on your turn Harrier will increase your movement speed by 10 feet, and once per turn you can use one of the following Blade Flourishes:

Defensive Flourish increases the damage of the shot by a roll of your Bardic Inspiration and let you add the number to your AC as Valor makes it harder for the enemy to hit you.

Slashing Flourish will let you pick up a Runaan's Hurricane to deal extra damage to the target and everyone within 5 feet of them.

Mobile Flourish lets you vault off an enemy, dealing extra damage equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration and pushing them back a number of feet equal to 5 plus whatever you rolled on your Bardic Inspiration. If you want you can then use your reaction to run up to them, but I don’t know why you’d want to do that.

Basically no matter what your Blade Flourish does extra damage equal to your Bardic Inspiration, and you can choose to either make yourself harder to hit, do AoE damage, or push the enemy away. Oh and you can now learn second level spells like Animal Messenger so Val can get important information back to Demacia.

(Artwork by Michelle Hoefener. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 6 - BARD 4

4th level Bards get the first of many Ability Score Improvements but we’re actually going to take a Feat: the Crossbow Expert feat will let you ignore the Loading property of crossbows to attack more than once on your turn, attack in melee range without disadvantage, but most importantly if you attack with your hand crossbow you can make one more attack with your bonus action!

You also learn another spell, and another cantrip! For your cantrip Minor Illusion is great to make a distraction, and for your leveled spell Locate Object will help if you need to find an important artifact belonging to the enemy. Are there more useful spells? Yes, but I’m building what would make the most sense for Quinn as a character. Feel free to take Heat Metal or Lesser Restoration as you’re allowed to change my builds however you want.

LEVEL 7 - BARD 5

Grabbing the 5th level of Bard for Font of Inspiration, letting your Bardic Inspiration (and Blade Flourishes!) come back after a Short Rest. Which is good because your Bardic Inspiration increases to a d8!

You can also learn third level spells like Leomund’s Tiny Hut for a safe place to rest after a long combat.

LEVEL 8 - BARD 6

But of course the 6th level of Bard wouldn’t hurt, as you’d now get an Extra Attack from the College of Swords! You can also learn another third level spell like Sending to send information more directly. Again: feel free to take spells that you feel are more practical if you wish.

(Artwork by SixMoreVodka Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 9 - ROGUE 3

Going back to Rogue to get our Scouting badge, specifically with the Scout subclass! You get to officially be classified as a Skirmisher, and can move half your movement speed if an enemy ends their turn within 5 feet of you. This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks either, so I’d flavor it as you vaulting off the foe to safety.

You’re also a natural Survivalist, with Expertise in the Nature and Survival skills. That’s why we didn’t get Survival proficiency earlier! And to top it off your Sneak Attack increases to 2d6.

LEVEL 10 - ROGUE 4

4th level Rogues get another Ability Score Improvement, and we’ve been sitting on an uneven Dexterity score for awhile now. So the Piercer feat will let you increase your Dexterity by 1 while also augmenting your skills with a Light Crossbow, allowing you to reroll the damage die of one of your attacks and deal triple damage if you crit!

I’d discuss with your DM if your Blade Flourishes count as “weapon damage die” for the sake of Piercer, because if they do you’ll likely get a lot more value out of this feat. If not well... it’s still useful regardless!

(Artwork by bekkomi on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 11 - BARD 7

Quickly going back to Bard for some 4th level spell slots to cast spells like Dimension Door to quickly get out of danger.

LEVEL 12 - BARD 8

But of course the 8th level of Bard will get you some more Ability Score Improvements: more Dexterity will mean deadlier shots and more AC. And you can learn another 4th level spell like Freedom of Movement to get out of sticky situations.

LEVEL 13 - BARD 9

9th level Bards get to pretend that a d8 Song of Rest die by total level 14 is valuable. You do at least get 5th level spells like Rary's Telepathic Bond to keep communication up with your team.

LEVEL 14 - BARD 10

But what we’re mainly here for is the 10th level of Bard. To start off you get Expertise in two more skills: Insight and Investigation would both be the most practical choices. Your Bardic Inspiration also increases to a d10, which means that your Blade Flourishes increase to a d10 as well!

But far more importantly you get Magical Secrets, and hey look by total level 15 we finally got Valor! Summon Beast will let you summon a beast of land, sea, or (most realistically) air to fight alongside you! The flying beast has a 60 foot flying speed, Flyby (which lets it avoid attacks of opportunity), and can attack using your spell attack modifier to deal damage equal to a d8 + 4 + the level of the spell slot you used to cast this spell. It’s only a second level spell but it gets quite strong when upcast, so you can choose how strong you want Valor to be!

Alternatively if you want to fly Behind Enemy Lines, look no further than Fly! It gives you a 60 foot flying speed, plain and simple! And if you upcast it Valor can even bring a friend, or several friends!

You can also learn another cantrip like Mending, because it’s good to keep your armor in check as well as your falconer’s glove.

LEVEL 15 - BARD 11

Seeing as we got Valor we may as well grab a few more small things from Bard. 11th level Bards get 6th level spells like Find the Path, to find the path to the objective. Again: feel free to take more practical spells I am merely taking what makes sense for Quinn.

LEVEL 16 - BARD 12

12th level Bards don’t get new spells but they do get Ability Score Improvements. I’ll leave you with a choice: more Charisma will increase your Bard saving throw DCs (and Valor’s hit chance) as well as give you more Blade Floruishes, but the Sharpshooter feat will let you consistently add more damage to your shots while also ignoring range limitations and cover.

(Artwork by Ina Wong and West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 17 - BARD 13

Grabbing 7th level spells from the 13th level of Bard like Teleport, to recall back to base when needed. You also get to pretend that a d10 Song of Rest die by total level 18 is majorly impactful.

LEVEL 18 - BARD 14

14th level Swords Bards get the Master’s Flourish, letting you make a Blade Flourish every turn without spending a Bardic Inspiration, as long as you make your Blade Flourish a d6 instead.

But you also get two more Magical Secrets! To call down a Skystrike try Steel Wind Strike, which will damage up to 5 creates in the area and also let you teleport to one of them after using it. Your other spell doesn’t really matter much so... I dunno. Blindness / Deafness so Valor can make a Blinding Assault? Again feel free to make your own choices to customize the build.

LEVEL 19 - BARD 15

We’ll be stopping at the 15th level of Bard for a d12 Bardic Inspiration, as well as an 8th level spell like Feeblemind to weaken an enemy beyond any capability of fighting.

LEVEL 20 - BARD 16

But we may as well grab one more Bard level for one last Ability Score Improvement. Again up to you if you want to cap out that Charisma modifier or take Sharpshooter for some more damage.

Now that that’s done it’s time for some Ranger levels! Oh wait...

WHY NO RANGER LEVELS? - Put simply it would’ve been very hard to get Quinn’s unique skill set without some weird multiclassing shenanigans or a Bard investment. The three things I needed for Quinn were the following:

* Bird companion (Ranger or Druid)

* Flight (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard, Artificer, or some weird stretches of logic like “be a Druid and turn into a bird to fly lol.”)

* Skystrike (either Conjure Barrage [bad] on Ranger or Battle Smith Artificer, or Steel Wind Strike on [high level] Ranger or Wizard)

Put simply there was no combination of subclasses that wouldn’t result in weird mix of classes other than Bard. Add in the fact that I really wanted Scout Rogue levels as well as Crossbow Expert (both of which would conflict with Beast Master Ranger) and Bard seemed like the most logical course of action.

The sad truth is that in all honesty Quinn doesn’t even use Valor that much in her kit is kinda the main thing. I wanted to prioritize the crossbow shooting of Quinn more than anything. If you want a more traditional Quinn build that prioritizes the Bird then Scout Rogue 8 / Beastmaster 12 (using Tasha’s Beastmaster companions) will give you more bird and just about everything that this build did minus the flight. (If you build like this I’d also recommend dropping Crossbow Expert and simply opting for a Longbow, or seeing if you can get an Artificer teammate to make you a Repeating Heavy Crossbow.)

If you really want flight and are willing to stretch your imagination then Scout 4 / Drake Warden (UA) 16 gets Perfected Bond by Ranger level 15, allowing you to ride the flying mount. Yes you’ll have a Fireproof Valor but you can just call that Phoenix Quinn.

Of course all of this can be avoided if your DM either gives you a magic item that provides Flight or lets you put Fly on the Ranger spell list. The golden rule is to always discuss with your DM if you have a particular vision in mind, or else accept the sacrifices you’ll have to make for practicality.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Just like hunting thresher geese - 3 hand crossbow attacks per round with a 3d6 Sneak Attack and a d6 (or d12) Blade Flourish adds up to some pretty decent damage per round overall, and that isn’t even considering Sharpshooter.

I'll follow your lead, Valor - Most of your spellcasting is utility based, meaning that you don’t need to worry about your spellcasting modifier. And hey: we got Valor without having to go for Beastmaster Ranger!

Buy me some time - Mixing Bard and Rogue together means that you have proficiency in quite a lot of skills! Expertise in 8 total skills, proficiency in one more, and Jack of All Trades for the remaining skills. You can fill any role that the party may need!

CONS

Look Val; snacks - It takes us quite awhile to get Valor; some would argue too long. Put simply there’s very little way for us to get the very specific spell list required for Quinn (Summon Beast, Fly, Steel Wind Strike) without doing some weird multiclassing shenanigans. You could go Lore Bard if you want to get access to Summon Beast and Fly faster (Scout 3 / Lore 6 = basically everything to play Quinn by total level 9) but then you’d miss out on Extra Attack among other things.

Still heart, steady aim - Low Constitution along with a d8 hit die really doesn’t do you any favors. You’ll likely have a little over 100 health, which means that it won’t take much effort to put you in Power Word Kill range.

Who's there? Jarvan who? - Honestly our Charisma is low for a Bard, and while most of the spells we took are utility based it still sucks to only have two Blade Flourishes. Feel free to use Point Buy instead for some better starting stats and less in those fairly pointless stats like Intelligence. (8 / 15 / 12 / 8 / 13 / 15 would be my recommendation to have the best Charisma you can get while still having decent Wisdom to boot.)

But your job is to scout: any kills you pick up on the way are a nice bonus. Soften the enemies up with Valor by your side and do what needs to be done to win the war without the enemy knowing you’re there. Fight differently, fight dirty, and remember that no matter what at least you’re not playing Vayne top.

(Artwork by Xu “Crow God” Cheng. Made for Riot Games.)

[mezzopurrloin]

Chapter 1-3: Ravages of the Plague

Before we get to chapter three, there's a brief interlude.

In the magical city of Dalaran, the Prophet is speaking with the Grand Magus of the Kirin Tor.

He's not getting a very good reception.

He turns into raven form and flies away.

This prompts Antonidas' student to reveal herself and apologize for eavesdropping.

They both teleport to another vantage point.

If you recall, during the council scene at the start of this campaign one of the king's ambassadors mentioned this.

Jaina is sent to check it out. Also I love how one of the background sorceresses has randomly turned the other into a sheep.

Now it's time to get into the mission.

He's sure. She usually runs a little late.

Arthas tells them not to bother, as she can handle this herself. Indeed, in a few moments she's slain one of the ogres and the other has fled.

Jaina is known as the 'daughter of the sea', as her father is the admiral of the Kul Tiras Navy, and she's an expert in ice and water magic. In addition, she's the Mage class hero in Hearthstone.

She's also implied to have been in a romantic relationship with Arthas at some point.

Time to get to investigating.

Archmage: Mystical hero adept at using magic to dominate the battlefield.

Summon Water Elemental: Summons a water elemental to fight for you. The elemental's lifespan is 60 seconds and the cooldown on this spell is 20 seconds, so up to 3 can be summoned at once. Additional levels summon more powerful elementals.

In the original release of Warcraft III, Jaina's outfit was basically just a bra and some poofy pants under her cloak. Thankfully she's a little more sensibly dressed for the remake.

This is another mission where we have no base and can only use the units provided to us. Right now that's just Arthas, Jaina, two footmen, and the captain, who is a unique footman with a little more health and attack. It looks like the bridge is out, so they're taking the long way across.

They encounter a few bandits along the way. This is the first time we have to manage two heroes at once, and the extra micromanagement can be pretty mean, especially as Jaina learns more spells.

The villagers grant Arthas a potion of greater healing for dealing with the bandit problem.

They also leave a tip. We'll have to look out for this later.

Some footmen are dealing with skeleton archers. This unlocks a new ability for them.

Defend: The Footman places his shield forward, heavily reducing damage from piercing attacks. He moves more slowly while in this stance. This upgrade can be researched at the Barracks for future missions.

I haven't really talked that much about damage and armor types. Some attack types are more effective against certain armor types. Most melee attacks are Normal damage and do extra damage to Medium armor. Projectiles are Piercing and deal extra damage to Light (and are blocked by Defend, above). Spellcaster units have Magic damage, which deals extra damage to Heavy armor but can't hit units with magic immunity. Buildings have Fortified armor, which heavily reduces damage from everything except Siege, which is usually used by long range artillery such as Demolishers. Unarmored units just take full damage from everything, with a little extra from Piercing and Siege. Heroes have the unique Hero damage and armor types. Hero attacks are only resisted by Fortified, and Hero armor resists everything but Medium and other Heroes.

Anyway, enough rambling on about that. Jaina leveled up to 2 from fighting these things off, and learned a new spell.

Blizzard: It wouldn't be a Blizzard Entertainment game without this, huh? This is a channeling spell that calls down waves of ice shards from above to deal area damage. It's cheap and easily spammable, but you have to place it carefully as the shards can harm friendly units.

The footmen join Arthas' group, and together investigate the undead threat. Arthas' Holy Light spell can deal damage to undead units, but it's generally more efficient to use it for healing.

There's the fountain of health. Standing near it will regenerate lost health for all units.

This is blighted ground, a common element to Undead bases. I'll talk more about that when we get to the Undead campaign. Arthas wonders if the grain itself could be plagued.

Destroying the granary is probably a good idea.

Arthas is then joined by some High Elf priests.

Priest: Spellcaster unit that provides healing and support. Has two of three spells unlocked for this mission.

Heal: The good old classic. Heals a small amount of HP and can be rapidly cast to restore life quickly. Can be set to autocast.

Dispel Magic: Removes spell effects in an area and deals damage to summoned units. Can also be used to remove blight.

Priests are casters that don't really require much micromanagement, which is good. It's always handy to have one or two around.

A short distance away, we find a pair of dwarves opening fire on more skeletons.

Mortar Team: Long-range artillery, manned by a pair of Dwarves. Does not count as mechanical, unlike other siege units.

Arthas reasons that they'll be handy for destroying the grain warehouse and brings them along.

I also had Jaina join in on the bombardment by casting a Blizzard.

Jaina leveled up to 3 soon after, and I unlocked her third ability.

Brilliance Aura: This aura affects spellcasting units and heroes, increasing their rate of mana regeneration.

This is quite helpful for ensuring she can keep casting spells, and Arthas and the priests benefit from it too. Speaking of, Arthas also made it to level 4 and I put another level into Holy Light.

This mantle is a nice treasure. It gives +3 intelligence to the hero that wears it. I put it on Jaina, since she could always use more.

At the grain warehouse, we encounter some cultists doing something mysterious. They flee as soon as Arthas' group approaches.

The necromancer raises a few more skeletons, then leaves.

This unit type is called an Abomination, which is really all you need to know about it.

The Abomination has a lot of HP, but swiftly found itself outnumbered after the skeletons were dispatched.

It fell not long afterward.

Destroying the warehouse didn't take long, but I was ambushed by a few ghouls along the way.

This plague might be more dangerous than it seems. Arthas and Jaina will have to investigate further, and hopefully stop it at the source.

But that will happen next chapter.

[monstersdownthepath]

Spiritual Spotlight: Desna, the Song of the Spheres

Chaotic Good Goddess of Luck, Stars, and Travelers 

Domains Chaos, Good, Liberation, Luck, Travel Subdomains Azata, Curse, Exploration, Fate, Freedom, Revolution

Inner Sea Gods, pg. 44~51

Obedience: Dance in a random pattern beneath the light of the stars, trusting in the guidance of destiny. If no stars are currently visible, softly sing or chant all of the names of stars that you know as you perform your dance. Let your mind expand and turn your thoughts away from where your feet might land, allowing your steps to fall where chance wills. When the dance feels complete, cease dancing. Ponder the steps you took and the position in which you stopped, and consider what portents these subtle clues might hold for the future. Benefit: Gain a +1 luck bonus on Initiative checks and a +4 sacred bonus on Perception checks made to determine whether you are aware of opponents just before a surprise round.

What a peaceful-sounding boon! Just dance an hour away, losing yourself in the motion and meditating as you do so. It actually doesn’t have to be a full hour, either, as you just have to stop dancing when it feels complete, whether that takes one minute or sixty. It’s up to you! Personally, I’d roll 3d20 and just dance for that long.

It might get you some strange looks from your compatriots, but honestly who’s going to get offended by dancing? Even if you’re infiltrating some Evil organization, taking the time to dance at night can be easily brushed off as a hobby. There really isn’t much of a tripping point here; it’s an easy to do Obedience that requires no materials but your own body and your own knowledge of the stars above, and whether or not you’re the type of person to dance in the evening or the morning.

Comparatively, however, is the benefit is pretty small. +1 to Initiative is welcome--any increase to Initiative is welcome--and the +4 to notice an ambush is actually more useful than it seems at first glance (it may make the difference on you keeping most of your AC), but it’s also narrow enough that you may not use it more than once or twice an adventure. After all, it only takes ONE ambush for most parties to put on their hawk eyes for the rest of the session, which can quickly make the benefit redundant. Extra Initiative is still nice, though.

Boons are gathered slowly, typically gained at levels 12, 16, and 20. However, you can take the Diverse Obedience feat to gain them at levels 10, 14, and 18 instead, and worshipers of most Good and Neutral deities can enter the Evangelist, Exalted, or Sentinel Prestige Classes as early as level 6, which allows you to gain the Boons as early as levels 8, 11, and 14 if entered as soon as they’re available. Unless you take Diverse Obedience or enter the listed prestige classes, you may only take the Exalted Boons.

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EVANGELIST

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Boon 1: Traveler's Tricks. Gain Longstrider 3/day, Darkvision 2/day, or Phantom Steed 1/day.

What kind of loser doesn’t already have darkvision?

Anyway, Phantom Steed and Longstrider are both alright spells, though not as impressive or flashy as typical Boon-granted spells are. Longstrider is an hour-per-level-long 10ft boost to your walking speed, and Phantom Steed creates a horse fit for a single rider that can--as you level up--gain more fantastic means of moving through the world, concluding with the ability to fly at 14th level. It’s very, very useful for scouting, distraction missions, and of course simple travel, though the fact it only fits one person is a pretty big bummer.

Longstrider is... boring, but a +10 boost to your movespeed gives you just a bit more of an edge when it comes to maneuvering a battlefield, although its increasing duration means you’ll likely be sitting on extra uses of the spell that won’t get seen unless you enter an Antimagic Field. The most mundane way to view this Boon is just “Your walking speed increases by 10ft,” but I won’t dismiss the usefulness of Darkvision for those times where lighting torches or carrying lanterns can be a death sentence. All three of these spells are nice, even if two of them are narrow in their uses.

Boon 2: Starlit Caster. You add your Charisma bonus to concentration checks, as well as to caster level checks to overcome Spell Resistance. In addition, if you stand in starlight and cast a spell which deals hit point damage, it deals an extra 2d6 points of untyped damage.

Oh HERE we go! Already Desna rewards her spellcasting faithful--though the Evangelist class can be entered by anyone, so watch out if you’re martial--by giving them the power to hold their spells in place with greater ease. More importantly, though, is the ability to add Charisma to surpass an enemy’s Spell Resistance, an invaluable talent to have when facing down many mid-to-high level foes. It’s INSANELY potent if you’re already a Charisma-based caster, with Bards and Sorcerers in particular enjoying the power to bypass Spell Resistance with their Enchantment and Evocation spells.

Making your spells harder to break is also a potent boon, if not in combat when you’ve found yourself in an enemy’s melee range and can’t escape without casting first, then certainly during exploration when an environmental hazard threatens to burst your important concentration spell and get everyone killed. The final ability is kind of cute, really, and though untyped damage is GOOD, 2d6 damage likely isn’t going to make a huge difference. I’m VERY much enjoying that it makes your cantrips useful in combat, though the fact it’s limited to A) You being outdoors or in an open-ceiling area and B) it being night (or in outer space) means getting maximum use out of it is difficult.

Boon 3: Starry Eyes. You gain darkvision out to 60ft. If you already have darkvision, its distance increases by 10ft. This does not apply to temporary darkvision. In addition, while standing in starlight, all non-touch, non-personal spells have their range increased as if you were 1 level higher.

Are you a loser without darkvision? Not anymore! All it took was reaching level 14!!

Realtalk, this Boon is just... wholly and entirely terrible. If you don’t have darkvision, you’ve likely found a way around that impediment way before level 14 (such as by taking the Darkvision spell gained through this very Boon set), and a 10ft increase is pitiful. The range increase is a bit more interesting, until you realize that your spells get +5, +10, or +40ft to their range for Close, Medium, and Long spells, respective. Sound like a lot? It’s really not, especially in Long’s case since the base range for a spell is 400ft. The number of situations you’ll need an extra 40ft of range on a spell that can already be cast from a football field’s length away are incredibly rare, and the situations in which you’ll need them are even LESS likely to happen while you have access to starlight.

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EXALTED

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Boon 1: Slumberer. Gain Sleep 3/day, Silence 2/day, or Deep Slumber 1/day.

Now see ALL THREE of these are incredible! Or, well, Sleep would be incredible if you got it about 4 levels earlier, but it still has its niche uses at levels over 8. Deep Slumber is also pretty great, capable of knocking out up to 10 commoners or fodder enemies, two 5 HD threats, or one 10 HD threat, though it’s completely negated by a successful save. Its range and existence as a spell-like make it useful for causing a distraction, though, since you can cause people to just nod off without any obvious movements.

While both Sleep and Deep Slumber can be used for shenanigans, the king of utility here is Silence. Having Silence available as a spell-like 2 times a day can entirely squish a lot of encounters with spellcasting or otherwise vocal enemies, rendering a tough encounter trivial. Slapping Silence onto your frontline just before they charge into a caster’s comfort zone can give them an insurmountable edge, though I’d be careful about applying it to the party’s sneaky sneakster since its 20ft bubble range means people who draw close to them will quickly notice the lack of noise.

And don’t forget the ever-amusing utility that comes with enchanting an arrow with Silence and then firing it into an enemy, bypassing the foe’s saving throw while still achieving the same result of cursing them with the bubble.

Boon 2: Splendorous Ally. Once per day as a standard action, you may call a Lillend Azata to your side. You gain telepathy out to 100ft with the Azata. It follows your commands perfectly for 1 minute per Hit Dice you possess before vanishing back into Elysium. It will not follow any order that would cause it to perform an overly Evil or Lawful act, and may attack you if the order was especially egregious.

As covered on Monday, the Lillend Azata is a powerful Bard wrapped in the body of a flying naga woman (wouldn’t that make her a coatl?). As strong as she is on the front lines, a Lillend is infinitely more powerful supporting from the mid- or backlines, using her Bardic Performance to bolster the team and her spells to confound enemies. The basic Lillend model comes with spells like Hold Person and Hallucinatory Terrain to sculpt the battlefield and spells like Cure [X] Wounds, Invisibility, and Knock as utility, but talking with your DM may allow you to customize its spell list to be even more potent. The utility of the Bard spell list and Bardic Performance means that, even as your levels climbs to the point that the Lillend can no longer hold their own in combat, they’re still useful as a force multiplier rather than a force on their own.

So yeah! A solid Boon that stays useful even as you rise in levels. A nice DM may even allow for more powerful Lillends to join you...

Boon 3: Blast of Motes. Whenever you channel positive energy to heal living creatures, a shower of starry motes cascades over all creatures in the area of effect. These motes do not impede their targets, but bolster their luck; the motes reduce the creatures’ miss chance by 10% and turn all damage rolls of 1 into 2. These motes last for 1 round, +1 round for every 4 Hit Dice you possess (max 6). If you cannot channel positive energy, you gain the ability to do so once each day as a Cleric with a level equal to your total HD (max 20), and can only use this energy to heal living creatures.

:\

So far it seems like Desna has a bad habit of having decent first Boons, great second Boons, and lackluster third Boons. Reducing miss chance by 10% is really nothing to cheer for (it’s good, but weak when compared to other Boons), and increasing damage rolls from 1 to 2 really isn’t likely to make much of a difference except in extreme scenarios. I do like, though, that if you can’t channel energy at all, you gain the power to do so once a day. That’s kind of nice! Become an emergency healer, blasting your whole team for, what, 7d6 healing, and rising up to 10d6? There’s irony in the fact this power is much better if you aren’t a Cleric, because you gain a free healing burst. This ability reads much better when it says “Once per day, you can heal every living creature within 30 feet of you for 7d6+ health” and ALSO they get those minor bonus effects. It's still a weak Boon if taken as a class other than Cleric, but the normal bonus is basically nonexistent on regular Clerics.

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SENTINEL

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Boon 1: Fighting Chance. Gain Entropic Shield 3/day, Blur 2/day, or Displacement 1/day.

These spells basically do the same thing as one another Except Bigger. Entropic Shield grants you a 20% chance to block incoming ranged attack for 1 minute/level, Blur allows you to give a touched subject a 20% chance to dodge ANY incoming attacks for 1 minute/level, and Displacement gives a touched subject a 50% chance to dodge any incoming attack, but only for 1 round/level instead.

I would more or less always take Blur over the others, except in the case where I KNOW a big boss battle is coming up, at which point Displacement can render half of any incoming attacks against yourself or a squishy ally a non-issue. I’m aware of the irony in me just harping on how a 10% reduction in miss chance doesn’t matter, while this ability essentially does the same except in the opposite direction. I’m primarily annoyed that this is a first Boon that’s already better than a third Boon, something that shouldn’t happen!

Boon 2: See Through Dreams. You gain a +1 luck bonus on saving throws made against Illusion spells and effects and against dream-based magic (such as Nightmare). This bonus increases by 1 for every 4 Hit Dice you possess (max +6).

Speaking of pathetic..... Hey Desna, I know you’re a Big God and all, and I like you as a character (for those not in the know, Desna is actually a titanic space butterfly whose humanoid form is an illusion), but couldn’t you have spared your poor Sentinels something a bit bigger than a +1 bonus? Not even a +4, or even just a meager +2? Illusion spells can be painful for people without high Will saves, but a +1 is only good at lower levels, not at the 10+ you reach this Boon at. Can you spring for just a +1 bonus on all saves? or even just Will?

EDIT: It’s actually +3 at the time you get it. It’s still Not Good.

The bonus against dream-based magic is unique, though. So unique that it’s likely not ever going to see play! ... unless you’re going up against Great Old Ones, who universally possess Nightmare and have very nasty effects attached to them.

Despite that, this Boon is just bad. At least it breaks Desna’s trend of having a good second Boon and a bad third! I wonder if that means the third Sentinel Boon is good...

Boon 3: Shooting Star. Three times per day, you may make a single ranged attack with a starknife as a swift action. To throw it, you must already have it in hand, have enough actions to retrieve it, or have the Quick Draw feat or similar ability.

.... I mean, I guess? Yeah, it’s better than the others? It’s basically three free attacks a day. Starknives deal only 1d4 damage, but taking Strength and the Symbolic Weapon class feature of the Sentinel, that usually averages to 1d4+6. Still not especially impressive, but squeezing in that one extra attack will shorten a battle a bit.

It’s a little annoying that you actually have to have the knife prepared already to throw it, but it’s not much of an impediment. This ability is actually really boring, but I like the image of someone slinging a knife so fast that the attack can’t really be seen. Most enchanted starknives come with Returning, as well, making throwing them much less costly if you miss or if the enemy flees (starknives are exotic, so you’re unlikely to have many). This is a GOOD Boon, yes, but it’s just not very decorated and thus very hard to talk a lot about.

You can read more about Desna here.