#and also like the three houses faith stat. something you can build.

[moe-broey]

Transferrable Skills

Tbh I'm not sure how any of this works (being a healer) and god knows Moe doesn't either 😌🙏✨

[tigerkirby215]

5e Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness build (My Little Pony: FIM)

(Artwork by SophiesPlushies on DeviantArt.)

Like, it took me a solid 5 minutes to find the first image in this post and I had to sift through so much softcore porn to find it. I didn’t even find it by searching DeviantArt I had to go on fucking derpibooru oh my lord.

Anyways: here’s another shit brony build because people don’t hate me enough! Well that and I do genuinely love the characters from My Little Pony, and think that they’d be fun to make builds for. But feel free to call me a garbage brony at your leisure.

These are the words of a man who has been beaten down after being a brony for around 10 years.

GOALS

I'm just good with animals - Fluttershy talks to animals. That’s one of the main things she does really.

I'm doing this because you're my very best friend - As the element of kindness we of course need to share our heart and soul with our friends.

Nopony pushes new Fluttershy around! - MLP Wiki makes an express point of mentioning The Stare in Fluttershy’s powers, so of course we’ll do our best to include that.

RACE

Before you say anything no I’m not a pegasi stan just because I did both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Regardless Aaracokra still makes the most sense for Fluttershy unfortunately because there’s few bird races and fewer flying races.

As an Aaracokra you +2 to Dexterity and +1 to Wisdom which we’ll be keeping because I don’t know if your DM will allow Tasha’s rules. You also get 50 feet of Flight but you can’t be wearing Medium or Heavy Armor to do this, which means I don’t get to say “something something Medium Armor.” And finally you can buck someone to deal damage equal to a d4 plus your Strength; technically their Talons which deal slashing damage but feel free to view them however you want.

If I was to build Fluttershy I’d honestly use the Owlfolk UA race (which will hopefully be out in Wild Beyond the Witchlight and / or Strixhaven) for a multitude of reasons, the most notable of which being the fact that you can fly with Medium armor as an Owlfolk. But the Detect Magic Ritual ability is also nice as is the reaction to stop yourself from falling. Unfortunately Aaracokra technically made more sense since Fluttershy can’t detect magic.

Basically even I have to make choices which are suboptimal in order to ensure maximum roleplay, and even when I play my builds I change them to make them better to play.

ABILITY SCORES

15; WISDOM - You are compassionate and good with animals: both those things are Wisdom skills!

14; DEXTERITY - Since I can’t go “something something medium armor” for this build (yay Aaracokra) I guess getting a 16 in DEX thanks to your race is a good call. If playing an Owlfolk or something you can afford to having 14 total in DEX, as you can then wear medium armor.

13; CONSTITUTION - Look, roleplay stats are great and all but so is not dying.

12; CHARISMA - You are cute small pony... bird... Pony-bird...

10; INTELLIGENCE - Most of your time was spent taking care of animals and most of your knowledge comes from on-hand training as opposed to studying. Basically you’re not Twilight.

8; STRENGTH - As a young filly Rainbow Dash would do most of the heavy lifting for you. As a young mare Rainbow Dash still does most the heavy lifting for you. She is a Barbarian after all!

BACKGROUND

Most ponies know to come to you if their pets are in trouble, and if you’ve ever had pets you know the doctor that helps them is a true Folk Hero. As a Folk Hero you get proficiency in Animal Handling (yay) but I’d swap the Survival proficiency out for Stealth because well... you’re very good at hiding. You also get proficiency with Land Vehicles (most Land Vehicles in D&D are controlled by animals; usually horses! Wait... aren’t you a horse?) and an Artisan’s Tool of your choice: go for Carpenter’s Tools to make some bird houses and chicken coops!

After living in Ponyville for so long most ponies are willing to give you some Rustic Hospitality, giving you a warm place to rest and recover... as long as you can get over your crippling shyness! Eep!

(Artwork by probablyfakeblonde on DeviantArt.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - CLERIC 1

Starting off as a Cleric because I thought Wisdom and Charisma saves were more fitting for Fluttershy, and for the Insight and Medicine skill proficiencies.

As a Cleric you get to choose your subclass at level 1, and there’s nothing you love more than a little bit of Peace and quiet. As a Peace Cleric you get proficiency in Performance thanks to Implement of Peace, for those great MLP song numbers. But more importantly you can call on the power of friendship for an Emboldening Bond!

As an action, you choose a number of friends within 30 feet of you (this can include yourself) equal to your proficiency bonus. Your friendship bonds them together for 10 minutes or until you use this feature again. While any bonded creature is within 30 feet of another they get a d4 they can add to an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw once per turn. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

And finally we can talk about the Spellcasting! You get three cantrips from the Cleric list at level 1: Guidance is always welcome among friends, and Spare the Dying can be a literal life safer! Other than that you are still expected to fight in D&D so take Sacred Flame to defend yourself. You can also prepare a number of spells equal to your Cleric level plus your Wisdom modifier. As a Peace Domain Cleric you can inspire Heroism among your friends, or protect yourself (and hide!) with Sanctuary.

Other than that Healing Word is a staple healing spell (we aren’t taking Cure Wounds right now for reasons but feel free to prepare it), Shield of Faith will let you defend your allies, Protection from Evil and Good will help you invoke the Elements of Harmony against the big bad of the season, and Detect Evil and Good will help you find the Elements of Harmony!

You could also take Bless, but I’m not going to tell you to take Bless because optimizers would crucify me for telling you to double up on d4s.

LEVEL 2 - CLERIC 2

Second level Clerics get their Channel Divinity once per short rest and you have a variety of options to choose from:

Turn Undead will make skeletons and zombies not want to hurt the cute little ponies, which will force them to run away for awhile.

Balm of Peace (the main reason we took the second level in Cleric) will let you run around and heal all your friends for 2d6 plus your Wisdom modifier.

And Harness Divine Power (ty Tasha’s) will let you recover a spell slot, but can only be used a limited amount of times per Long Rest.

You can also prepare another spell and be a little less nice with Command. Telling your enemies to “LOVE” isn’t going to be that effective, but making them grovel or drop works just as fine.

LEVEL 3 - RANGER 1

When you spend enough time around animals you’re automatically either a Ranger or a Druid. Quinn? Never heard of ‘em. Regardless multiclassing into Ranger gives you proficiency in a skill from the Ranger list and it’s good to know about Nature so you can find plants to help your fluffy buddies! Deft Explorer also gives you two language proficiencies (again: pick your poison) and Expertise in a skill. You’ll never guess which skill we’ll be getting... it’s Animal Handling. You’re good with animals.

We actually aren’t going to be taking Favored Foe because we aren’t using weapons for one, but more importantly despite it’s name Favored Enemy is also good for tracking friends! You have advantage on Survival checks to track your favored “enemies”, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them. Go for Beasts to easily find a feathered or fluffy friend! Oh and you also get more languages because I don’t know why, so again pick your poison.

LEVEL 4 - RANGER 2

Second level Rangers get their Fighting Style, or as I like to call it your Helping Style because we’ll be going for Druidic Warrior! You can pick up two cantrips from the Druid list: I opted for Druidcraft (you can grow some flowers for your friends; yay!) and Mending to tend to your cottage.

And of course with cantrips we also get more Spellcasting! You can learn two spells from the Druid list: you’re never not going to want Cure Wounds (which is why we didn’t take it earlier btw) and Animal Friendship is an obvious must.

LEVEL 5 - RANGER 3

Third level Rangers get to choose their Ranger Archetype and we’ll be going for the Gloomsta- Ah you all know it’s going to be Beast Master. You get a Ranger’s Companion not from the PHB but from Tasha’s! The Beast of Land would make the most sense and while it’s probably expected that they be a wolf or something you can pretend that you’re playing Fighting is Magic and have Angel Bunny fight for you! Anyways here’s a crash course on your new fluffy friend:

Their AC is equal to 13 plus your proficiency bonus (currently 16.)

Their health is equal to 5 + five times your Ranger level (currently 20) and they have a number of d8 hit die equal to your Ranger level.

They have a 40 foot movement speed and a 40 foot climbing speed.

You can command it to attack with your bonus action; it has the same hit chance as your spell hit chance (WIS mod + Prof Bonus [currently 6]) and deals a d8 + 2 + prof bonus damage.

If they move at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hit with an attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 1d6 slashing damage and must make a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC (if they’re a creature.) If they fail they’re knocked prone.

You can command the beast to attack, dash, disengage, or hide with your bonus action.

If you don’t command it they take the dodge action.

You can revive them with a spell of first level or higher 1 hour after they die, and can change your beast after a long rest.

Man, who knew that taking care of a pet was so difficult? Well you also get Primeval Awareness (because Primal Awareness actually doesn’t work that well for this build.) You can use your action and one spell slot to sense the following types of creatures within 1 mile of you: aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. This lasts for one minute, and doesn’t reveal the creatures’ location or number.

And you learn another spell: Goodberry is good to feed yourself and all your friends! As long as they’re okay with eating berries, of course. C’mon... they’re good for you! Pleeeease?

(Artwork by AssasinMonkey on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 6 - RANGER 4

Finally an Ability Score Improvement... or Feat? We’ll be going for Eldritch Adept, which is admittedly weird but it’s the only way to get Beast Speech so you can Speak with Animals at will! Is total level 6 a little late to finally be able to speak with animals? Yeah, but this is unlimited so it fits better and doesn’t spend your spell slots.

LEVEL 7 - CLERIC 3

Finally back to Cleric land which means finally we can prepare some second level spells! As a Peace domain Cleric you automatically get Aid and Warding Bond prepared, both of which are very good for keeping your friends alive. You can also finally get Hold Person to finally have The Stare!

LEVEL 8 - CLERIC 4

Level 4 in Cleric means another Ability Score Improvement: Wisdom is still your core stat so increasing that by 2 would be your best choice.

You also get another cantrip at this level, and can prepare two more spells! For cantrips I’d recommend Light to see with your dumb bird eyes unless you’re an Owlfolk, and I’d recommend preparing Lesser Restoration and Enhance Ability to further boost your friends.

(Artwork by Koveliana on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 9 - CLERIC 5

5th level Clerics can now Destroy Undead of CR 1/2 or lower with their Channel Divinity. Don’t feel too bad about it; they were big dumb meanies anyways!

You can also prepare third level spells too! As a Peace Domain Cleric you get Beacon of Hope to help with healing, and Spike can send letters out for you with Sending. You can also prepare Dispel Magic in case Twilight needs help with more dangerous spells.

LEVEL 10 - CLERIC 6

6th level Peace Clerics get Protective Bond. When a creature affected by your Emboldening Bond is about to take damage, another bonded creature within 30 feet of the first can use its reaction to teleport to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the first creature. That creature then takes all the damage instead. It’s worth mentioning that since this specifies “creature” you can actually bond with your beast companion and have it use its reaction, or have others go in to defend angel.

You can also prepare another third level spell like Revivify, so you don’t lose any friends. And to top it off you can use your Channel Divinity twice per short rest! Woohoo!

LEVEL 11 - CLERIC 7

7th level Cleric, 4th level spells. As a Peace Domain Cleric you get Aura of Purity to protect your friends, and Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere to put your enemies in time out. You can also prepare another spell like Freedom of Movement, in case you need to run!

LEVEL 12 - CLERIC 8

8th level Clerics get a variety of features. To start off you get an Ability Score Improvement, which means we can finally cap off your Wisdom for maximum spellcasting! This also means you can prepare more spells, but we’re actually going to hold off on getting more spells for now.

You can also put a little more LOVE into your spells with Potent Spellcasting, adding your Wisdom modifier to the damage of your Cleric cantrips. And finally your Channel Divinity will now Destroy Undead or CR 1 or lower.

LEVEL 13 - CLERIC 9

The reason we held off on getting more Cleric spells last level is because now we get those big 5th level spells! As a Peace Domain Cleric you can help your friends out of any jam with Greater Restoration, and know what they really mean to say thanks to Rary’s Telepathic Bond.

You can also prepare some of those big hitter spells like Mass Cure Wounds to save your friends, and you can cast both Dawn and Summon Celestial to call on Celestia herself! Isn’t that Twilight’s job? Well, it’s still good to have contacts!

(Artwork by CigarsCigarettes on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 14 - RANGER 5

Now that we’ve got all the support we could need for our friends it’s time to return to our roots and focus on Angel! Feel free to focus more on Ranger instead of Cleric if you so desire when building this yourself; I simply opted for more healing instead of damage.

We’re finally 5th level with Ranger which finally means you’ll be getting an Extra Attack!... Which you probably won’t use because you can use cantrips instead. Well it’s still nice to have?

The good thing though is that you can learn more Ranger spells like Healing Spirit, which is a really strong healing spell that was kinda gutted by erratas. But it’s still nice and efficient regardless of what spell slot you casted it at, effectively being a 6d6 heal for a second level spell slot!

LEVEL 15 - RANGER 6

6th level Rangers can now add Roving to their list of skills from Deft Explorer. Your movement speed increases by 5 feet, and you get both a climbing and swimming speed equal to your walking speed. Is total level 15 a little late to get a 30 foot movement speed? Yeah probably, but every little bit helps!

Speaking of another little bit you get another Favored Enemy... I mean friend! ...I don’t know pick whatever you think will be relevant for the campaign. Also yes: you do get more languages, because Ranger.

LEVEL 16 - RANGER 7

7th level Beast Masters have Exceptional Training with their Animal Companion. You can use a bonus action to command the beast to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action on its turn... which you could already do anyways thanks to Tasha’s.

I’d say that after Tasha’s this feature would work even if you don’t command your beast, but as always discuss the rules with your DM.

Well at least Angel’s attacks count as magical to overcome resistances, which is good because you were probably dealing with nonmagical resistance for awhile now.

You can also prepare another spell like Pass Without Trace, so you and your friends can sneak around unseen. Pass Without Trace is one of those spells that is always useful regardless of what level you are, so picking it up now is still useful!

LEVEL 17 - RANGER 8

8th level Rangers get another Ability Score Improvement. You’ve probably noticed our uneven Constitution score by this point: yeah that was because we were going to grab Resilient Constitution at some point. Increasing your CON gives you a nice +17 to your health and makes your Constitution saves (and concentration saves!) a +8 total.

You’ve also spent so much time on the ground moving through nonmagical difficult terrain costs you no extra movement thanks to Land’s Stride. You can also pass through nonmagical plants without being slowed by them or taking damage from them. Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against plants that are magically created or manipulated to impede movement. You may be able to fly but that doesn’t mean being able to move on the ground isn’t useful!

(Artwork by AssasinMonkey on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 18 - RANGER 9

9th level Rangers can learn third level spells, and you’ve probably spent enough time training with Rainbow Dash by this point to make a Wind Wall to protect your friends! (Basically the Ranger spell list sucks and we’re only really going down Ranger still for more subclass features.)

LEVEL 19 - RANGER 10

You get a new feature from Deft Explorer at this level: you are now Tireless! As an action you can give yourself a number of temporary hit points equal to 1d8 plus your Wisdom modifier (so 5.) You can use this action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. Additionally whenever you finish a short rest your exhaustion level is decreased by 1.

You’re also a master of avoiding social interaction. Nature’s Veil lets you turn invisible as a Bonus Action until the start of your next turn. You can also use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

LEVEL 20 - RANGER 11

11th level Beast Masters can invoke Bestial Fury! With 11 level in Ranger and 20 total levels in this build your Animal Companion can now... attack twice! Look Beast Master is playable now, I never said it was good.

At least you can learn one last Ranger spell: in your ultimate stand against darkness Daylight will help you banish the dark! ...Or something. Look again: the Ranger spell list sucks.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

You do not hurt my friends! You got that? - Even with the multiclassing you still get spell slots up to 7th level, and have more than enough magic to shake a stick at. Not to mention that Angel will always be by your side to pump out a bit more damage with your Bonus Action!

You’re the cutest thing ever - Maxed out Wisdom was rather expected from a Cleric, but Expertise in Animal Handling combined with unlimited Beast Speech means that you can easily make friends with any beast you come across! Just make sure your DM is okay with you giving a hydra belly rubs.

Whatever you wanna do is fine... - You’ve got quite a good mix of features that will help you both in and out of combat, meaning that there’s plenty that your friends can rely on you to help with! In fact there’s a lot of things that only you can do as a Ranger which are quite helpful!

CONS

You’re such a loudmouth... - Most of your class resources only come back after a Long Rest, with only your Channel Divinity coming back after a Short Rest. You’re still plenty capable with just Angel by your side but don’t spend everything in one fight, or else you’ll be left with nothing but Sacred Flame and Animal Companion attacks.

Are you coughing because... - So let’s talk about Angel: even with 11 levels in Ranger they’re not great. AC of 19 is pretty good but they’ll probably max out around 60 HP. Your average Wizard will have more HP than this by level 20. Two maul attacks will do decent damage but you could get equal value out of Spiritual Weapon, and you only get the second attack with Angel at total build level 20. And yeah for most of this build Angel is going to be sitting around 25 max HP, meaning they’re likely to go down a lot. Aid can help keep your pets healthy and happy but don’t be upset when your level 4 Ranger companion keeps going down.

Awful, just awful! - We kinda miss the best of both worlds for the sake of a build that’s “in-character.” No 10th level of Cleric means no Divine Intervention (even if it’s only a 10% chance it’s still good to have), and no 12th level of Ranger means no ASIs. One good thing about this build is that it does peak around level 10 or so where the multiclassing doesn’t start to damage it, but if you really expect to run all the way to level 20 I’d sooner play either a straight Ranger or a straight Cleric.

But you’re coming along to share your kindness with everypony around you, and guide your friends to victory! Use your expertise to keep your friends alive while Angel kicks some major tail! Get down and be assertive, but remember not to push yourself too hard. Everypony already loves you for who you are, even if you’re in fact a little shy.

(Artwork by Rodrigues404 on DeviantArt.)

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms Far Side #5: Arcueid Brunestud

Wow, Magical-Biche is getting a lot faster with these, huh? Today we at Fate and Phantasms bring you another Tsukihime build, and this time it’s the titular Tsukihime herself, Arcueid Brunestud! 

Check out her build breakdown written by Magical-Biche below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

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Poster girl is finally here! And damn, she was a challenge to build. As the moon princess, and the strongest agent of Gaia, hunting the dead apostles wherever they may hide, we don’t need any weapon or armor, limiting our choices. However, we’re an immortal being able to grow back from mere pieces of our own body. Finally, we also have a bunch of supernatural abilities that we can’t just skip over. We won’t be able to fit our Marble Phantasm into the build, as it would require a seventh level we just can’t afford to have. 

Race and Background

We are the princess of the moon, a being far removed from anything human, even though we look alike. We are a somewhat divine being, and our mere presence can disturb people. That makes the Aasimar quite the obvious choice for us. As for the subrace, we fit the Scourge Aasimar description quite well. This race allows us to see through darkness, like any vampire. As a being tightly bound to the planet, we get resistance against radiant damage, and our vampiric status makes us resistant to necrotic damage. Furthermore, True ancestors like ourself have tremendous healing capabilities, which we also get from our race in the form of healing hands, which we’ll obviously only use on our own body. Being a light bearer allows us to cast the light cantrip, but it won’t be of much use to us. Finally, we get our last race feature at our third character level, in the form of radiant consumption, a quite powerful transformation that makes us radiate radiant damage and add such damage to one attack per turn. For the sake of this build, we’ll have to use Tasha’s optional rule to change our ability score increases to a +2 in constitution and a +1 in strength. 

As our nickname clearly says, we are a princess, thus, a noble. This background grants us a proficiency with the history skill, a great way to include the information Gaia sends us when we awake from our slumber, and persuasion, so we can convince people we’re a totally normal girl. We also hold a position of privilege, so people will usually let us crash at their houses, hoping they’ll get something from us. 

Ability Scores

For this build, we need a total of three classes: Paladin, Barbarian and Fighter. Thankfully, all 3 need strength, so that’s our highest ability. Next, as a melee fighter, we obviously need a good constitution. Our next statistic should be our charisma, because we have quite the aura surrounding us, actually, and we absolutely need it to be at least at 13 if we want to multiclass into a paladin. Next, as a powerful being, we are quite dextrous, but that’s clearly not our forte. We may not be the most cunning, but having a bit of wisdom can’t hurt to see things coming, honestly. Last, we’re dropping intelligence, which we don’t need: we’re here to hit, hard and swift. The planet gives us our information and that’s all we really need. Using the standard array, with our passive, we reach comfortable stats of 16, 12, 16, 8, 10 and 13, and since we won’t need to have a high charisma to cast our spells, those stats are alright. 

Class Levels

Fighter 1: We start as a fighter, so we can start with our weapon of choice, nothing. As a level 1 fighter, we get a fighting style, and we’re definitely an unarmed fighter, letting us replace the puny 1 damage from our bare fists into a glorious 1d8 + our strength modifier, and the ability to crush opponents when we grab them. We also get our second of many ways to regain HP in second wind, a timeless classic that can save us in a pinch. Starting as a fighter gives us a bunch of useless weapon and armor proficiencies that we’ll never use. We also get proficient with the intimidation skill, so we can get what we want more easily and frighten people, and the perception skill, to help locating our targets. We are also proficient with the constitution and strength saving throws, making us quite solid. However, since we’re stuck with a laughable 11 AC at level one, we should not get too cocky for now.

Barbarian 1: We’re taking a single barbarian level so we have actual armor class, thanks to unarmored defense. With that, our AC reaches the alright number of 14, enough to brush off a few hits when raging. Because, yes, we also get two rages from the barbarian's first level, giving us a one minute transformation twice a day that blocks us from casting spells, but makes us resistant to physical damage and improves our physical capabilities.

Paladin 1: Next, we’re becoming a paladin. Half a paladin actually, as smites won’t work with our bare hands, sadly. Anyway, our first paladin level awakens our divine sense, or as we should call it, our vampire radar, allowing us to instantly smell evil, including filthy undeads like the dead apostles. We also get our lay on hands ability which gives us a hefty pool of hit points to distribute among the party (but we’ll only use it on ourself, obviously.) We also get our racial feature giving us a new transformation, radiant consumption, giving us nice damage as we level up.

Paladin 2: We start getting good stuff when we reach our second paladin level. First, we get the popular, but completely useless for us, divine smite. We also get a new fighting style, and since the paladin’s list is quite short, we’ll go with the only one that is absent from the fighter’s list: Blessed warrior. This fighting style gives us two cantrips from the cleric spell list, and we’re taking Toll the dead, as we damage the very willpower of any foe we decide to fight, and Resistance, so we can sometime get better saving throws when we need them. This helps with our survivability, so it’s great to have it nonetheless. Next, we get our spellcasting ability. We can’t ritual cast as a paladin, but since we can’t use our smites, we won’t really have much use of our spell slots anyway. We can prepare a number of spells we can cast with our spell slots equal to half our paladin level + our charisma modifier, so for now, 2. We don’t really need more, as we can’t really cast any spell that requires dice rolls thanks to our awful charisma stat. We should take the ever-powerful protection from evil and good, and shield of faith for encounters that are not against creatures covered by our first spell. We can also take the various detection spells, which can be a lot of help when tracking a creature. Finally, Command is the only spell requiring a saving throw that we should prepare from time to time, as it represents our mystic eyes of enchantment to some degree.

Paladin 3: As third level paladins, we become immune to disease thanks to our divine health, which makes sense, since we’re an immortal being. We also reach our first subclass, the Oath of vengeance. We’re a paladin of vengeance, dedicated to destroying all dead apostles. This subclass gives us new spells that are not too useful, as hunter’s mark only works with weapon attacks, and bane relies on a saving throw and doesn’t fit our playstyle. We also get the ability to channel divinity with our holy symbol, or  Harness divine power to regain a spell slot, if our DM allows us. Our subclass also grants us two more uses for channel divinity. We can abjure enemies, which frightens our target and works especially well on undeads, or we can use our vow of enmity, which gives us advantage on all attacks we make on a single enemy for one minute, another one minute transformation to add to the list.

Paladin 4: We get our very first ability score increase at level 6, finally: as we don’t rely on feats and need stats, we’re taking a +2 to our strength stat. We also can change our fighting style, thanks to martial versatility, if our DM allows it. But we won’t change it, obviously.

Paladin 5: We can catch up to everyone else’s damage, at last. We get our first extra attack, dramatically improving our damage per round. We can now also prepare second level spells, among which only lesser restoration is really noteworthy. Protection from poison might also help in some situations.

Paladin 6: Our sixth paladin level gives us and our allies a huge +1 to all their saving throws, thanks to our aura of protection and our bad charisma stat. It’s better than nothing, and we’ll at least pump this number to +2 soon.

Paladin 7: As we get our seventh paladin level, we become a relentless avenger, allowing us to stick to any target we set our sight on by moving from up to half our movement when we hit it with an opportunity attack. No one gets out of our reach.

Paladin 8: Our tenth level is our last in the paladin class, and it gives us an ability score increase. We’re investing 2 points into strength, and we reach the nice score of 20 in a stat for the first time. Our fists now hit quite hard.

Fighter 2: From now on, our levels aren’t too exciting, but they just make us better at doing everything. Our second fighter level gives us an action surge, essentially giving us another round of attacks. When we get mad, we can rage, consume our own life and use our action surge (it takes a couple of turns to set up, though), and dish out respectable amounts of damage.

Fighter 3: We get our second subclass: we become a champion, the classic but very powerful choice for a melee fighter. Being a champion, for now, only means that our critical hits are improved, and happen literally twice as often. It’s a shame that we didn’t have the space to fit a few more barbarian levels to get the brutal criticals…

Fighter 4: Our fourth fighter level grants us our third ability score increase, letting us improve our constitution and our charisma by one point each, which helps us cast spells, for now, as we reach an odd number on our constitution modifier.

Fighter 5: Eh. (Extra attacks from different classes don’t stack. Useless level, literally. We grab our HP and bide our time.)

Fighter 6: We reach level 6 and another ability score increase! This time, we take our first and only feat, crusher, giving us pretty deadly strikes with our already powerful fists, as well as improving our constitution score.

Fighter 7: We gain a new subclass feature this time, and we become a remarkable athlete, which quite simply improves our athletic skill.

Fighter 8: The eight level in the fighter grants us our ability score increase, and we’re now working on our constitution, adding it a +2. We are now quite sturdy with a 20 in that stat.

Fighter 9: This fighter level gives us a use of indomitable, allowing us to reroll a saving throw. A great survivability tool for our immortal body.

Fighter 10: Our tenth level in the fighter class grants us a new ability from our subclass, letting us choose a new fighting style. We don’t have much choice, since we already have two fighting styles and don’t use any weapon or armor, but blind fighting is a great option anyway, so we will gladly take it. We can now fight without our senses, a good way to show our natural abilities at combat.

Fighter 11: Since it would be a bit anticlimactic to end on an ability score increase, we chose to take one more paladin level instead of getting this feature early. The eleventh fighter level gives us a second extra attack, which this time isn’t useless because of a previous dip! We quite simply add one attack per turn, one more chance to score a critical hit to hit harder and have advantage thanks to crusher, to deal big damage while raging, while under radiant consumption. 

Pros: We’re quite sturdy, thanks to a great constitution stat, rage and access to some spells to mitigate our poor AC. We need a grand total of zero equipment, making us quite free to use any magic item we stumble upon, be it tattoos, enchanted jewelry or clothes. We also have quite consistent damage bursts, thanks to two rages and our racial feature. We’re also not too bad at fighting flying targets thanks to toll the dead. What’s more, our fists are quite deadly, dealing a decent amount of damage on their own, and thanks to our feat, we can shove people for free whenever we deal damage to them. The champion subclass makes us a really strong and overall useful fighter. 

Cons: We may have a few features that add up, but it will never be enough to replace the glorious paladin SMITES. Sadly, as per RAW, we need to hit with a melee weapon to trigger a smite, and our fists are not considered one. We could always talk about it to our DM, as 3d6 radiant damage with bonus to undead targets would fit our build perfectly, but that wouldn’t work in a more official context. What’s more, we can’t use concentration spells such as protection from evil and good and shield of fate while raging, which means we can’t become a real monster in terms of survivability. That still gives us many options to stay on our feet, they just don’t merge together. We also suffer from a very bad charisma stat, which means we won’t really be able to hit anything with our spells, including Toll the dead. We might hit things that have low AC or bad saving throws, so it’s not like our spells are a deadweight in any case. Finally, as we split into two martial classes, we face the big problem of having a 95% dead level. Our fourteenth level gives us an extra attack which we already have from the paladin levels, and our proficiency bonus doesn’t even raise at that level, so it’s literally just a level for the HP.

[hopehunted]

“ 𝐈𝐅 𝐖𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋, 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋. ” is that logan lerman? oh no, that’s ALEXANDER GREENE, born on the 8th of NOVEMBER, 2016. i heard HE (cis male) is a SERAPH/VIRTUE of THE PURGED. apparently, they can be GOOD-NATURED and INQUISITIVE but also known to be UNTRUSTWORTHY and WARY. spends most of their free time STUDYING OLD TEXTBOOKS, probably smells like PETRICHOR. is that a bite mark i see? no, must have been a trick of the light.

character inspirations: chidi anagonye (the good place), oliver hampton (how to get away with murder), otis milburn (sex education), tantor (tarzan), adrian monk (monk), beth march (little women).

you can find alexander’s stats right here, where i’ve also put all his links. there’s a good bit of info there, so i’ll just be fluffing him out a bit more here!

— 𝐉𝐔𝐃𝐆𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐀 𝐂𝐔𝐏 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐄.

alexander is a golden boy. he’s devoted, obedient, proper. he’s everything everyone wants him to be, and doesn’t dare step outside of his preordained box. conforming offers him a safety and benefit of the doubt like no other ; two of the very most important things in this world. 

his mother is a fanatic, drawing hope and purpose from the purged’s way of life. she ushers her family into the light without hesitation, giving up her own son as an offering. it’s the only way she can see to protect them in this new world: they have to get in the oracle’s good graces, they have to be pivotal, they have to be spotless. 

immediately, she decides that alexander has to be a virtue. he’s no fighter — she’s seen the way he carries himself, the way he’s never quite liked anything too rough or too dirty. alexander has no choice, no voice to raise above hers. hers, the hot wire that wraps itself around his brain, squeezing and squeezing until he’s sure its embedded into his every thought. his mother’s convincing that way, applying pressure and pressure and pressure until he grows strong enough to carry it well. he has to succeed. people are depending on him; there’s simply no other choice to be made or entertained.

alexander tries to be good. he studies until his sight blurs. he spends his time helping others and performing house calls, even if they already have enough virtues on duty. he watches for any signs of doubt in the masses, ready to swoop in on that vulnerability at a moment’s notice. he’s one of the oracle’s many ears, a faithful follower intent on keeping their numbers high. he’s like a vulture that way, but that’s not how he sees it.

see, alexander learned the hard way early on that knowledge is power. he gets too close to another boy, too handsy, too intimate. he’s felt it before with others, but never quite like.. this. it’s new, and as such they fumble, make risky decisions. alexander’s mother catches on, only she isn’t like alexander: johanna doesn’t hesitate. in an effort to protect her son, she slanders the other boy ; drags his and his family’s name through the mud and accuses them of heretical acts. alexander, afraid and wracked with guilt — guilt over having been so stupid and naive, makes a vow that he won’t let that happen again. he sees now that his mother has never been all bark — if he steps out of line again, he’ll face her bite again, and again, and again. he can’t be selfish; not when it has such a high price to pay.

he has a kind face and an even softer voice. it’s easy to trust him, to feel like he could understand whatever it is one’s going through. maybe in another world he would, but that isn’t the world they live in. alexander is a rat. he passes on what others confide in him, pushes them back into the light before they can stray further.  he thinks he’s actually doing something good — as if saving them from a worse kind of punishment. the community comes first and they’re only as strong as their weakest members. if preserving that — preserving everything that they’ve worked so hard to build — involves a level of sacrifice then so be it. everyone has to pitch in somehow. he’s doing his part, are you?

— 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐎𝐃 𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐈𝐓.

ironically enough, alexander doesn’t like to be aggressive. he doesn’t like hurting people. could never stomach the concept of fighting. he knows that it’s necessary sometimes, but.. he can’t help but think: what right does he have to take another living being’s life? none. none at all. [ rip to this bitch if anyone ever runs up on him tho lmaooo ]

you can’t bring him anywhere. he’s so incredibly anal about cleanliness and.. everything else in the world. oh, you wanna go jump in a lake? you mean where there are all these bacteria and amoebas that could kill you? what, you wanna start rebelling? you mean do the thing that could get us all in serious trouble? i think not!! he’s prissy and he knows it. you can’t complain if you invited him, susan! 

alex: i’m Fine. i’ve literally never been better in my entire life, thank you. :) also alex: [can’t sleep / sleeps three-four hours a night, has shaky hands, overthinks everything at all times]

alex is very non-threatening and conscientious of others. he’d be a really good homemaker. he can be a bit of a bitch sometimes, but that’s only if you really just used up all of his patience. he, also, can come off a bit.. intense, when talking about the purged and their beliefs. he just cares a lot and really believes in what he’s saying, which can kind of come off a bit sanctimonious, too. 

he keeps dodging the whole getting married thing, but the closer he gets to thirty the more pressure those above him have been applying. he kind of toes the line between being resigned to the fact that he can’t have the life he wants, and looking on the bright side of it, which for him would be having kids. trying to imagine another reality is painful, however, and he’d rather just keep avoiding it entirely. wishing things were different doesn’t make them so, and he already spends his time worrying about so many other things. 

wanted connection ideas, 

friends! there has to be at least one person in the world that can put up with him, hehe.

enemies / frenemies. maybe alexander used something they told him against them and they don’t buy the whole “i did it to help you” argument of his. maybe something else happened, or maybe they’ve just heard of his rattery and they don’t want anything to do with it. alexander will still be courteous, even if just the tiniest bit passive aggressive. 

older / more experienced virtues that he could’ve trained under / with could be cool. 

give me allll of the relationships with other seraphim, too! he’s an active seraph; really cares about the purged and is devoting his life thus far to making sure they stay strong and prosper. 

if anyone .. wants to pick up that first real relationship connection, then that would definitely be interesting to explore! alexander would’ve totally iced him out after what happened, because of guilt and wanting to make sure that it didn’t happen again. whether they kept trying and still talk or if they just pretend the other doesn’t exist, etc, is all good with me! 

after that first relationship, alexander never really dabbled with anything serious again. he’s more of the fuck and forget about it kind of guy. and tbh.. someone catching feelings for him or being too tender / intimate would scare him off a little lol, because he doesn’t want them to get hurt, too, so that could be interesting to explore. 

someone that his parents are trying to push him on for marriage could be quite spicie. alexander would be mannerly as always, but [ in the same vein as above ] he isn’t really .. available, except this time it’s emotionally and physically. he’d be seen with them enough to get people off his back and then he goes back to being a pal, if that makes sense? whether she knows about him, has a secret of her own, or is completely oblivious is up to you! 

[hellyeahheroes]

Building Natasha Irons in D&D 5e

Hello everyone. As I am seeking more job opportunities, including writing ones, I may have to not do these D&D Builds (which I have a number of at this point) as frequently but it may lead to me being able to go back to reviewing comics more. So in the meantime I want to use one last opportunity and give you late Holiday gift and make one more, for a very underappreciated heroine

Goals: Let’s list what we need for this build. We need to be good at making machines and gadgets. Second, we need to be a powerhouse in the strongest armor we can find. Third, we need to swing a hammer with great power.

Ability Scores: Just like the youtuber who inspired these builds, Tulok the Barbarian, I will be using standard points array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8). If you or your DM would rather roll or use different point buy, use those as guidelines, but remember we need high Intelligence, Wisdom and Strength.

Strength: 14, you go to combat in a full suit of armor and swing a big hammer around, that takes strength. No seriously, heavy armor has minimum Strength requirements in this game

Dexterity: 8, armor doesn’t make you exactly agile.

Constitution: 13, wish it was higher, but we need other stats for this.

Intelligence: 15, you’re an inventor and an engineer after all

Wisdom: 12, you are sensible enough to wear full body armor to what most men and women choose skintight spandex.

Charisma: 10. If you find your Traci 13 you will have to rely on roleplaying to hook up with her but then again I believe this is how romancing NPCs should be handled anyway.

Race, which in D&D mean species and I’m too tired of it: Last time I checked Natasha is a human. Sometimes a metahuman but still a human. But we won’t go with Variant Human. I will spoil a bit and reveal we are picking up a class from Eberron and also the one that this build is most likely to end up being used in Eberron as a setting. So we’ll pick something else from Eberron - a Dragonmarked Human. How it works is that you’re tied with one of the Dragonmarked houses and manifest a symbol related to their bloodline. Seeing how Natasha is a niece of another engineer, John Henry, it would be not that far of a stretch to assume on Eberron they’d be from  House Cannith and have Mark of Making. This mark grants you +2 to Intelligence and +1 to one Ability Score, pick up Wisdom. You gain proficiency with one type of artisan tools of your choice and gain Artisan’s Intuition, allowing you to roll a d4 and add it to any roll you make for Arcana check or one involving artisan’s tools. Dragonmark will also add extra spells to your spell list as you progress in levels and for the starters gives you following spells at the start:

Mending is an instantaneous cantrip allowing you to fix a single break or tear in an object as long as it’s no longer than 1 foot in any dimension and it cannot restore magical properties of damaged magic items.

You can also cast Magic Weapon once per long rest, granting any single weapon you touch a +1 magic bonus to attack and damage rolls for an hour. Usually, this spell requires concentration but not for this single instance.

ALTERNATIVES: If you do not play in Eberron then I guess Variant Human will do, pick up a feat boosting your Intelligence. If you do not want to be a non-human then Hill Dwarf or Deep Gnome can work as well.

Background: being a member of House Cannith or, as we will call it, continuing family business grants you access to normally dwarf-only background, Clan Crafter. You get proficiency in one more type of artisan tools, one language of your choice and History and Insight skills as well as Respect of the Makers, which means other members of the House Cannith respect you and will always provide you with a free room in any place where you can find them.

Now for the Class progression. 

Level 1: We kick-off as a new official class from Eberron, Artificer. The first level of Artificer gives us proficiency in Simple weapons, light, and medium armor, shields, thieve’s tools, artisan tools of your choice, and two skills. Choose Arcana and History. If the campaign setting has firearms, Artificer is also proficient with them.

Artificer gains spellcasting, which works in that you simply know spells and each day can prepare a number of them equal your Intelligence modifier + half your artificer level, minimum of 1, and you spend spell slots available to you to cast these, meaning you cannot cast spells higher than the highest level of spell slots you have. If a spell requires you to make spell attack you roll with a bonus equal to your Intelligence modifier + your proficiency bonus. If a spell asks to make a saving throw the difficulty for that save is those two bonuses +8. Finally, Artificer uses their tools to cast these spells and you’re expected to roleplay how you do it, basically asking you to use gadgets or your inventions to create effects of the spell.

Speaking of spells, we start with two Cantrips known, two 1st level spell slots and 3 spells prepared per day. They will be serving as our gadgets so we will try to go for utility that can showcase Natasha’s creativity as an inventor.

Shocking grasp makes you make a melee spell attack against the target, with an advantage if it's wearing a metal armor - on a hit it takes 1d8 lightning damage (increasing by 1d8 on 5th, 11th and 17th levels) and cannot take reactions until the start of its next turn.

Fire Bolts makes you make a ranged spell attack against the target, on a hit it takes 1d10 fire damage (scales with levels like the above spell).

Feather Fall is cast as a reaction on up to five falling creatures, you included, in 60 feet radius, slowing their fall to 60 feet for one minute. If they reach the ground in that time, they take no damage.

Absorb Elements is cast as a reaction when you take damage of  acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder type and gives you resistance to that type until the next turn and first time you hit with a melee attack on your turn you deal extra 1d6 damage of that type.

Cure Wounds lets you heal you or another creature you touch for 1d8+ your Intelligence modifier.

Artificer also learns Magical Thinking, which lets you imbue limited magical properties on a number of mundane objects equal your intelligence modifier that lasts until you exceed that number (then the oldest one ends) or dismiss any. You can make an object shine a bright light in a 5-foot radius and dim light in next 5 foot, emit a recorded message in length of 6 seconds when touched, constantly emit a smell or nonverbal sound you choose noticeable from 10 feet away or cover one of its surfaces with a visual effect of your choice or up to 25 words of text.

Level 2: As good as Artificer is, it lacks heavy armor proficiency. We will fix that with first level of Cleric, or more specific, Forge Cleric. It gives you proficiency with heavy armor and smith tools and a Blessing of the Forge, allowing you to once per long rest and until another give a single suit of armor magical enchantment granting +1 to AC or a weapon +1 to attack and damage rolls. Combined with your once per day magical weapon spell it lets you either have both effects at once or use this on your friend’s weapon while having a spell for your own in need.

Cleric learns to cast spells as well. basically, repeat here what I’ve said about Artificer except you use a holy symbol instead of tools and a Wisdom in place of Intelligence. You get three cantrips and two spells and two bonus spells are added from Forge Domain - you always know and have them prepared in addition to your usual number of prepared spells. Since we’re mixing casters, remember to consult the table on the SRD to see how many spell slots you have available per day. You add your Cleric levels and half of your Artificer levels, rounded up (an important distinction since other half-casters round them down)

Light is a cantrip that allows you to make one object not larger than 10 feet in any dimension shine with bright light in 20-feet radius and dim light in next 20 feet, and if it was held by a hostile creature when you activated it, they need to make a Dexterity saving throw to not drop that item.

Guidance and Resistance grant you or another target a bonus 1d4 on respectively an ability check or a saving throw.

Shield of Faith is a concentration spell lasting up to 10 minutes that grants you or another creature you choose within 60 feet +2 to AC

Protection from Evil and Good also has a concentration requirement and lasts up to 10 minutes, giving  aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead.disadvantage on attack rolls against the target and making then unable to frighten, charm or possess that target. If the target already is under one of those conditions caused by a creature of this type, it gains an advantage on future saving throws to break free.

Identify lets you learn properties of magic or magic-imbued object, what spell created it, how to use and attune to it.

Searing Smite is a concentration spell up to 1 minute, when you hit next opponent, they’re dealt 1d6 fire damage and catch fire, getting more 1d6 damage at the start of each of their turn until they make a Constitution saving throw or another creature helps them put off the fire.

Level 3: Back to Artificer, on the second level you get to learn Infusions, which allow you to at the end of a long rest touch a nonmagical item and give it one of the properties from your known Infusions, that will last until you dismiss it, unlearn an Infusion used on it for another (which you can do whenever you get an Artificer level) or sometime after you die. You start being able to infuse two items and get to know 4 Infusions.

Enhanced Defense grants a suit of armor +1 bonus to AC

Returning Weapon makes a weapon with a thrown property return to your hand and adds +1 to its attack and damage rolls - light hammer can be thrown so it can serve you for this, while warhammer can be your primary melee weapon.

Replicate magic item can let you make a copy of a magic item either listed on a list in Eberron Rising from the Last War handbook or any common item from Xanathat’s Guide to Everything, but remember if its an item that requires attunement you need to be of race, class and level this item is designed for. Take it twice and make yourself Bag of Holding and Goggles of Night

You also gain Steel Defender - an automaton companion whose form you can choose and describe (but it has no effect on game statistics). It moves right after your turn in combat and you can use a bonus action to command him to help, search, hide, dash, disengage, attack or repair itself (2d8-2 hit points) or another mechanism. If not all it does is dodge. If it dies you can rebuild it by expending a 1st level spell slot, if you are within 5 feet and no less than an hour has passed. When bending is cast on it mending cantrip heals it for 2d6 hit points.

Level 4: Third level Artificer gains a Right Tool for the Job, which allows you to in an hour conjure up any set of artisan tools you need that will exist until you use this feature again. And what’s more important, you get to choose a specialization. Battle Smith gives you proficiency with smith’s tools or, if you already are proficient with them, which we are, any other set of artisan tools, as well as martial weapons. You also can use your Intelligence modifier in place of your Strength or Dexterity modifier whenever you attack with a magic weapon. And you gain bonus spells that you always have prepared and do not count to your total number of spells prepared. Also on this level, you get one more spell.

Grease covers an area of a 10-foot square centered on any point in 60 feet in radius in slick grease for one minute, forcing all creatures who enter it, end its turn standing on it or was standing in the area when it appeared must succeed a Dexterity saving throw or fall prone.

Shield lets you as a reaction to being hit by an attack or a Magic Missile spell add +5 to your AC until the start of your next turn and negate damage from said Magic Missile

Heroism lasts 1 minute on Concentration and makes you or another creature you choose immune to being frightened and at the start of each of its turns gains temporary hit points equal your Intelligence modifier.

Level 5: 4th Level Artificer gets you an ability score improvement but how about we instead take a feat. Heavy Armor Master increases your Strength by one, allowing you to wear heaviest armors and when you do wear a heavy armor you all bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage dealt to you from nonmagical sources is reduced by 3. You can now wear full-plate armor, which gives you AC of 18, likely boosted with one of your abilities.

Level 6: 5th Level Battle Smit gets an extra attack, allowing you to attack twice as a part of the same attack action. Artificer also gains 1 more 1st level spell slot and two 2nd level ones

Faerie Fire lets you choose an area within 60 feet and form a 20-foot cube around it in which everything is outlined in dim light for the duration of 1 minute on concentration, including creatures if they fail Dexterity saving throw. Affected creatures cannot benefit from being invisible and all attacks against them are made with an advantage.

See invisibility lets you see invisible creatures for up to 1 hour

Enhance Ability allows you 1 hour on concentration to gain an advantage on checks for one of your Abilities. If you take Strength your carrying capacity doubles for the duration, if you take Dexterity you do not suffer damage from a 20-foot fall and Constitution gives you extra 2d6 temporary hit points.

Level 7: 6th Level Artificer gets to add one more item to have infused, learn two more infusions and gain access to a set of new ones previously unavailable:

Boots of the Winding Path allows you to teleport to an unoccupied space you can see within 15 feet as a bonus action.

Resistant Armor grants you resistance to one of the following types of damage: acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant or thunder. 

Level 8: Back to Cleric. 2nd Level Cleric learns to Channel Divinity It has 3 applications:

Harness Divine Power lets you regain a 1st level Spell-Slot once per day.

Turn Undead forces all undead within 30 feet to make a Wisdom saving throw and if they fail then for one minute or until they take damage they cannot take reactions and all their actions must be a dash action to get as far away from you as possible, except for actions done to prevent whatever is blocking their path. This is Natasha's new plan if Necron ever comes back, I guess.

Forge Cleric’s Artisan’s Blessing lets you create any nonmagical item worth no more than 100 gp that includes some metal in it. This includes perfect copies of items you have like keys. You need to provide the metal for this.

You also get one more spell - Wrathful Smite was added to Cleric’s spell list in Unearthed Arcana and it works like Soaring Smite except it deals psychic damage on a hit and instead of setting the target on fire makes it frightened of you until it succeeds a Wisdom saving throw.

Level 9: 3rd level Cleric learns  two 2nd level spells and gains two more from Forge domain

Warding Bond lets you select one target, like for example your fragile sorcerous girlfriend, and ensure that for 1 hour she gets +1 to AC and saving throws and resistance to all types of damage as long as you two stay within 60 feet of one another or you drop to 0 hit points. But if she takes damage, so do you.

Find Traps reveals the presence and general nature, but not the location, of any trap within line of sight in 120 feet radius.

Magic Weapon you know already, now you have always prepared a version that works on Concentration

Heat Metal is....oh just watch this and see how wicked this baby is, I cannot explain it better than this video anyway.

Level 10: 4th Level Cleric gets an Ability Score Improvement, use two +1 to round up your Constitution and Intelligence. Remember that you gain extra hit points from Constitution increase retroactively as well, meaning 10 extra hit points.

You also get one more spell and one more Cantrip

Sacred Flame forces a saving throw or deals 1d8 radiant damage and scales like all cantrips, so its now 2d8 and next level it will be 3d8.

 Silence is a concentration spell lasting for up to 10 minutes and in that time erases all sound within any 20-foot radius from any point within 120 feet you select. Creatures within it are immune to thunder damage and completely deafened and casting a spell with a verbal component within it is impossible.

Level 11: 5th level Cleric gains Destroy Undead, meaning that from now on all undead of Challenge Rating 1/2 or less who fail their saving throw against your Turn Undead ability will be destroyed.

You also get two 3rd level spells and two from Forge Domain

Spirit Guardians lets you summon spirits to guard you for the duration of up to 10 minutes on Concentration, when you cast it you choose which creatures are unaffected and all others in 15-foot radius area from you have their speed halved and if they enter it for the first time or start a turn in it they take 3d8 radiant or necrotic damage, depending on your alignment, or half on a succesful Wisdom saving throw.

Remove Curse lets you remove a curse from a creature or break its attunement to a cursed object.

Elemental Weapon lets you turn one nonmagical weapon into a magical weapon with +1 to attack rolls and dealing +1d4 of  acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage on a hit, for up to 1 hour on concentration.

Protection from Energy meanwhile grants you or one creature you touched resistance to one of those 4 types for the same duration.

On next level you will get one more spell, so let’s get it out of the way now - Glyph of Warding. This lets you inscribe a nearly invisible Glyph that needs creatures to pass Investigation check against your save DC to detect it. You decide what triggers its activation and you can either make it activate a spell you stored inside it beforehand, of the level of the spell slot you used to cast Glyph, or you can make it explode in a 20-foot radius, dealing to creatures within 5d8  acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage, half on a successful Dexterity saving throw. 

12th level: Our final level of Cleric. 6th level Cleric can use their Channel Divinity feature and Forge Domain grants you Soul of the Forge, granting you permanent resistance to fire damage and +1 to AC when you wear heavy armor.

13th Level: 7th Level Artificer gains Flash of Genius - a number per long rest equal to your Intelligence modifier you can use your reaction to add said intelligence modifier to a skill check or a saving throw.

You also get one more spell of 2nd level. Enlarge/Reduce is another concentration up to 1 minute spell, it lets you either decrease or increase something in size, respectively granting advantage or disadvantage on Strength saving throws and respectively add or subtract 1d4 from damage dealt by the target. This is Natasha’s version of getting into her mecha form

14th Level: 8th Level Artificer gets an Ability Score Improvement, round up your Intelligence for a better attack, damage, spell attack and spell saving throw difficulty.

15th Level: 9th Level Battle Smith gets Arcane Jolt, which lets you a number of time equal to your Intelligence modifier per long rest either add 2d6 force damage to a hit you or your Steel Defender score with a melee weapon attack or chose one creature within 30 feet you can see and heal it for 2d6 hit points.

You also get access to 3rd level spells and two bonus spells from Battle Smith

Fly lasts up to 10 minutes on Concentration and grants a target flying speed of 60 feet

Dispel magic lets you negate an effect of any spell of 3rd level or lower and of higher-level spells if you succeed an Intelligence check equal 10+ Spell’s level

Aura of Vitality is a concentration spell up for 1 minute that makes you radiate healing energy, allowing you to use your bonus action to heal yourself or an ally within the area for 2d6 hit points.

Conjure Barrage lets you make it rain a type of ammunition in a 60-foot cone, dealing 3d8 damage of a type dealt by that ammunition, half on successful Dexterity saving throw.

16th Level: 10th Level Artificer learns to attune 1 more magic item, can know two more infusions and when you craft a magic item of common or uncommon type, it costs you half the normal time and money.

You also learn two more Infusions and I also say it’s a good idea to replace Enchanted Defense with something else since it doesn’t stack with Soul of the Forge (DISCLAIMER: This is apparently debatable, if I’m wrong here keep this and have them stack and pick only two first of options below). Unless you, of course, use it on someone else’s armor instead. Let us pick 3 new Replicated Magic Items then:

Winged Boots allow you to fly for 4 hours per long rest with a speed of 30 feet.

Ring of Mind Shielding makes it impossible for your mind to be read, determine if you’re lying, know your alignment or your creature type.

Lantern fo Revealing works like a regular lantern but reveals all invisible creatures in 30 feet from it.

You also get a Cantrip - Poison Spray forces a Constitution saving throw or a creature will take 1d12 poison damage. It scales like other cantrips so on this level it deals 3d12 and on the next one it will deal 4d12.

17th Level: 11th Level Artificer can, after the end of a long rest, turn one spellcasting focus tool or a simple or martial weapon into a Spell-Storing Item, make it store one of 1st or 2-nd level Artificer spells you know and able to be activated and used a number of times equal your Intelligence modifier, using said modifier for Spell Save Difficulty or Spell Attack but forces whoever uses it, which doesn’t need to be you, to concentrate if it requires concentration. A lot of your spells do require it, come to think about it, o maybe it’s a good idea to give this to fighter or barbarian of the group.

You also get a new 3rd level spell - Haste has an on concentration duration up to 1 minute, during which you or another target has their speed doubled, gets +2 to AC, has an advantage on Dexterity saving throws and can take an extra action  spent on  Dash, Disengage, Hide, Use an Object or making a single attack. However, when it end target cannot take any actions or move for the next turn so try to not drop that Concentration.

18th Level: Speaking of which, time to boost up that Constitution with 12th level Artificer’s Ability Score Improvement.

19th Level: 13th Level Artificer gets to lear a 4th level spell. Freedom of Movement lasts for an hour with no concentration and in that time target cannot have their movement impeded or reduced by difficult terrain, spells or other magical effects, and can spend 5 feet of its movement to escape nonmagical effects trying to immobilize or slow it down.

20th Level: Our Capstone is 14th level of Artificer, which akes us Magic Item Savant, granting us two more Infusions and an ability to infuse a total of five items at once and ignore all class, race or level requirements for using or attuning magic items.

Speaking of which, let us pick our last Infusions:

Amulet of Health just sets up your Constitution at 19 and it is the last item we can pick that requires attunement.

Horn of Blasting allow you to blow it to make a blast that deals 5d6 thunder damage to all creatures  in a 30-foot cone and deafens them, DC 15 Constitution saving throw halves the damage and saves from deafening. Glass and crystal creatures roll with disadvantage and if the damage they take is 10d6.

Overview: Natasha Irons is a Battle Smith Artificer 14/Forge Domain Cleric 6, let us see how good this build is

Pros: For one, you are heavily armored with AC in 19-20 (and if you picked a shield instead of a warhammer it may even exceed that) and a ton of ways to reduce your damage. Second, you use Intelligence to attack and have multiple ways to deal various kinds of damage, meaning you can find a workaround many types of damage reduction. Third, you are a strong utility caster with gadgets to be useful in various situations, not only in combat and your Cleric levels actually grant you access to higher level spell slots than pure Artificer. Fourth, you have a strong amount of hit points, around 160 without any magic item bonuses. Finally, your infusions and spells are ways to enhance not just yourself, but the party, making you a great support.

Cons: We had to invest in Strength and we don’t really use it. As a result, your Wisdom is not as good as it could be, which is why I was trying to suggest mostly spells not requiring save or attack for your Cleric spells. Your constitution also suffered, as a result, meaning your concentration won’t be the best and we won’t be able to do much about it for quite a long time. And yet a lot of your spells do require concentration meaning you will not only worry about breaking it but be limited in what you can cast at any given time. Finally, your Cleric and Artificer and even Dragonmark spells overlap strongly, meaning you didn’t get as much versatility as other multiclassing combinations and you didn’t get higher level spells either, meaning your power is pretty limited.

Ironically what is a curse for Natasha in comics, being stuck in a supporting role, can be your blessing in a game. You are a tank/support character, get in the front line, soak hits, hit back and keep your friends alive and strengthened. The strongest hammer you can drop is the hammer of teamwork

Tbh this team kinda looks like it walked out of a D&D game.

ALTERNATIVES:

1. Play as Variant human with 13 in Strength, 14 in Constitution and 15 in Intelligence, spend two +1s on Intelligence and Constitution, pick up Heavy Armor Proficiency feat and go with pure Artificer - you will lose on spells and versatility but will get higher level artificer features and still be able to wear the heaviest armor.

2. Drop two levels of Cleric for School of Lore Mastery or School of War Magic Wizard - you will lose some defense in exchange for Intelligence to your Initiative and either a way to vary up types of damage you do or a situational defensive ability.

3. Drop said two levels of Cleric for Fighter to gain action surge, second wind and a fighting style.

4. Drop as many levels of Cleric you feel like but keep at least 1 for heavy armor and still focus on being an artificer

5. Other way around - sacrifice your best infusions to get two more levels of Cleric, 8th level Forge Cleric can add 1d8 fire damage once per turn to attack.

- Admin

[straykidsramblings]

jamais vu. [han jisung]

han jisung x fem!reader | college!au | best-friends-to-lovers

word count: 6.9K

genre: angsty fluff

warnings: light violence (because of soccer)

summary: Jisung had a bigger problem than college gnawing at his heart; he had to watch his best friend fall in love with someone that wasn’t him. // “jamais vu: the phenomenon of experiencing a situation that one recognizes in some fashion, but nonetheless seems unfamiliar”

i.

Finally finished with his last class of the day (and, really, of the week), Jisung pushed open the double doors of the music building before strutting out. He slowly reached for the headphones around his neck, preparing himself for the long walk to the Math and Science Complex. With a feel-good song pacing his walk, he practically skipped to the red brick building where his best friend, [name] [last name], would be getting out of class.

She was well worth the extra walk.

The campus of SKU wasn’t the most beautiful on the planet, but it felt like it even at three in the afternoon. His surroundings always seemed brighter whenever [name] was involved. Jisung felt his heart swell as he looked around at the trees and the sky. At times, he forgot he was walking. It truly felt like he walking on air.

By the time he had reached the Math and Science Complex, [name] was exiting the building, looking around for who Jisung assumed was him. Jisung was just across the road, grinning to himself. Pulling his headphones down, he was about to call out to her when a guy Jisung could not recognize waved goodbye.

The action was simple and innocent but stopped Jisung in his tracks. He couldn’t stop the look of annoyance that dawned on his countenance as he watched [name] smile softly, her [eye color] eyes lingering on the stranger’s figure as he walked away. 

Was she biting her lip?

“[name] [last name]!” Jisung yelled. It sounded more angry than he thought he was, shocking the poor girl and poor by-standers.


[name]’s eyes widened as she ran across the road with every intention to hit him. Jisung knew that, all previous irritation disappearing as [name] devoted her attention to him once more.

“What on earth were you thinking?” [name] hissed, nearly hitting him with her Statistics textbook. That would’ve hurt. “You are so embarrassing.”


“You love me,” Jisung argued, wiggling his eyebrows at her. He found his usual spot on her left side.


She scoffed with a shake of her head, but she couldn’t stop the smile that spread on her cheeks. “Yeah, and you hate me.”

“I do not!” Jisung faked a dramatic gasp, placing his hand over his heart.


The two of them settled into their own pace, ignoring the other college students that passed them by. The walk to their frequent study area, also known as Chan’s apartment. It was on the opposite side of campus, closer to the music building, but Jisung never mentioned the extra walk he took to pick her up. After all, walking with a friend was better than walking alone. 

“So, you gonna introduce me to your boyfriend?” Jisung asked. He tried to make his tone light-hearted, but he was genuinely curious--and possibly concerned.


[name] rolled her eyes, but Jisung caught the small smile that she tried to bite back. “Jeno’s not my boyfriend. He’s just someone I sit next to in Stats.”

Jisung hummed in return, clearly unamused. They had come to a road crossing where Jisung paused for less than a second just to make sure [name] wouldn’t get hit. [name] couldn’t care less, crossing the road, daring the cars the to hit her.

“But you’re interested,” Jisung teased with a wiggle of his eyebrows. He really did have a bad habit of digging these kinds of holes for himself. 


[name] shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess? I mean, yeah, he’s attractive, but he’s also super popular. He just feels out of my league.”

Jisung scoffed. “With an attitude like that, yeah!” 

His outburst at least got a laugh out of her although she probably didn’t believe him. Meanwhile, he tried to ignore the weird constriction around his heart.

It must’ve been allergies or something.

Dozens of conversations passed them by as they walked through the popular pedestrian walk on their way to Chan’s. [name] hugged her Stats book closer to her chest as the next wave of students crashed into the street. She inched closer to Jisung. 

Physical touch was something that was fairly normal in their friendship, but, for whatever reason, Jisung found himself paying more attention to how close [name] was. He could actually smell the coconut shampoo she used. He could trace her face like a map, from her [eye color] eyes that reflected the sun to the bridge of her nose and lastly to the shape of her lips that he found himself going back to.

He blamed it on allergies.

Reaching out to grab her free left hand, Jisung playfully started swinging their arms. 

“It’s such a beautiful day out today!” he exclaimed. “Let’s study outside today.”

[name] smiled at Jisung’s random actions and at the thought of actually enjoying the weather. She wouldn’t mind being outside after being in buildings all day. 

“I’m fine with that, but we should probably tell Chan we’re not coming over,” [name] advised with a slow nod as she formulated her thoughts properly. “Wanna go to Felix’s coffee shop?”


“Oh yeah, he’s working today, so we can get a discount!” Jisung cheered. Sensing the look of disappointment on [name]’s countenance, Jisung sheepishly smiled. “I mean, we can give him tips...?”


“You know how I feel about exploiting discounts from friends,” [name] laughed at Jisung’s reaction.


Jisung groaned. Man, he loved her, but she was frustrating sometimes. They were college kids! They should exploit any resources they had! Still, he gave in.

“You’re just saying that because you work in a five-star restaurant,” Jisung grumbled. 

The two walked past a clearing, taking a right for Felix’s rather than a left for Chan’s.

“It’s not five-star, but I do know better than a guy who works at a records shop,” [name] chided.


Jisung pouted, but he was still enjoying himself. He supposed that just proved that they were best friends. Everything was fun.

The colorless sidewalk revealed steps up to Felix’s blue cafe. While it did not belong to Felix Lee, it still held the same name of “Coffee and Dessert Felix”. Felix thought it was his destiny. The small outdoor patio had one last empty table, so the two of them put their backpacks down as placeholders while they ordered inside. The inside of the cafe was styled like a house, complete with a stone fire pit, black and white pictures that Jisung could only assume was old New York, and strings of lights lighting up the inside like the starry sky.

Felix greeted the two with a smile as bright as the lights. “Welcome! Usual, or do you two want to try something adventurous today?”

“I’ll have my usual, iced Americano,” Jisung informed Felix. He leaned over the counter, smirking as if he had said something fancy. He could feel [name] roll her eyes.


“Bro, mind the space,” Felix chuckled, taking a step back. He looked at [name]. “For you, [name]?”


“Surprise me,” [name] requested.


Felix shot her a wink before accepting Jisung’s credit card for payment. With a quick hand swipe, their order had been paid for, and Felix went to work on the drinks themselves.

Jisung and [name] waited by the counter, quietly conversing about how their days were, how classes were. Since they largely had different classes, it wasn’t common that the two would see each other except for planned occasions such as their study sessions. Jisung missed his best friend, he understood that they were still close. While he had made new friends as well, he still considered [name] his best friend, and he had faith that she did the same.

Felix placed two cups down on the counter in front of the two. Pushing the blue one closer to Jisung, he explained [name]’s drink to her. 

“Okay, so I made an iced mocha with half chocolate and half caramel. If you don’t like it, let me know, and I’ll make you something else.”

[name] giggled, taking the cup from the counter as she and Jisung started walking to the porch. “I’m sure I’ll love it. Thanks, Lix!”

Jisung and [name] walked back to their table, drinks in hand. When they were finally able to sit down, Jisung stretched. He was fully prepared for a nap. So, laying his head down on his one of his notebooks, he was about to until [name] interrupted him.

“We’re still going on our trip, right?” [name] asked, laughing at her friend while she pulled out her own notebooks.


“Of course!” Jisung agreed, perking right up. “It’s the weekend, and that means no responsibilities!”


“More like less responsibilities, but I get what you mean,” [name] countered. “Are Chan and Changbin still coming?”


Jisung shrugged. “As far as I know. What about Lia?”

“She’s all packed up and ready,” [name] answered, tapping her pencil on the table.


Jisung’s face paled as a forced smile naturally came over his face.

“Let me guess,” [name] deadpanned. “You haven’t packed yet.”


Jisung tried to “cute” his way out of the situation, offering her his biggest smile. She wasn’t buying it, and he knew that; they’d been friends for too long for that to work anymore.

“Ji, we leave at six!” [name] scolded him.


“I know! I just... forgot,” Jisung mumbled, a pout coming over as he couldn’t look her in the eyes.


[name] tried to stifle her giggles but to no avail. “I’ll help you pack after I finish rewriting my notes for my Stats class.”

Jisung huffed. “The only woman who’s allowed to touch my drawers is my mother.”

[name] pulled a disgusted face before retorting, “Who said I was going to? Never mind then, you can pack by yourself, but, if you’re not packed by six, we’re leaving you.”

“I apologize for my impertinence, my queen.” Jisung quickly begged, “Please help my unworthy self pack my necessities.”


[name] shook her head, the smile tugging at her lips. “You’re so dramatic. Just let me finish first.”

Jisung was pleased with himself. One of the favorite parts of his day was being able to make her laugh. Laying his head as comfortably as he could back on his notebook, he tried to fall asleep to the soft jazz music that Felix always played. He couldn’t fall asleep though. Jisung blamed it on the caffeine now in his system, but he kept staring at the way that [name] was so focused on her notes, her skin glowing like glow under the bright sun.

ii.

Jisung knew he was pushing Chan’s buttons when he kept asking how much further the older boy had to drive, but he never anticipated that his punishment would be gathering all of the wood for their bonfire by himself. With a huff, he walked back to their campsite for the fifth time with his newest bundle of sticks.

“Is this enough?” Jisung growled, throwing the sticks down in front of Chan.


The older boy was sitting on a log, drinking a water bottle, as Changbin, Lia, and [name] finished setting up the second tent. Chan clicked his tongue. “You know, Jisung, I think you need like five more.”

Jisung glared at Chan which only caused him to laugh.

“Relax, Jisung, this is great,” Chan promised. “In fact, we might have too many.”


Jisung flipped a switch somewhere inside of him. Taking a seat next to Chan, he gloated, “Yeah, well, never underestimate us Han’s stick gathering skills.”

“Wow, you’re really scrapping the bottom of the barrel,” Changbin snorted, walking over with the two girls of their group. “With that kind of ego, I’ms surprised he hasn’t suffocated us all.”


“Don’t be mean,” Lia warned although she was laughing. “He’s just serving his punishment.”


“You guys are cruel!” Jisung cried out. “Can we just make s’mores now?”


“Do you know how to make a fire, Ji?” [name] taunted, crossing her arms over her chest. 


Jisung pouted. “It can’t be that hard.”

Chan sighed, rising from his seat on the wooden log. “You guys can go explore. I’ll start the fire and start dinner too.”

Jisung immediately cheered, jumping up to grab [name] by her hand and running into the woods. He didn’t care about the fact that they had left Lia and Woojin; he didn’t care about the fact that he had to dodge the branches that blocked his route. He had one goal, and that was to go back to the same river that they visited on their annual camping trip. 

Coming to a stop at the clearing, the two arrived side-by-side, fingers locked in a bond that could never be broken. The rock that they stood upon stood feet above a deep crevice in the river. The deep blue of the waters called out to them, the same rope they used to jump in hanging from a tree.

“We’re back!” Jisung shouted into the open air, earning a laugh from the girl beside him.

“Well, let’s go,” [name] urged. With a jump, she latched onto the rope and released herself into the river like a cannonball. 

Jisung released a low whistle. With a shake of his head, he smirked before following her example. The old rope groaned under the weight but faithfully stayed intact while Jisung threw himself. He could hear [name]’s cheering as he plunged into the waters. The shock of the cold hit him, and he desperately swam upwards. When he resurfaced, [name] was laughing. He shook his hair out, splashing droplets of water everywhere around him.

[name] was swimming around in the water, checking over her shoulder to see where Jisung was. The boy let out a hearty yell.

“Could’ve told me it was cold,” Jisung laughed. 

He could hear [name]’s giggles as she reached the shore closest to her. Jisung followed shortly after. When Jisung arrived at the small plateau [name] was sitting on, she took the opportunity to splash his face with water. Jisung retaliated with a shake of his head, earning a squeal from the girl. Hoisting himself up, he positioned himself on [name]’s left. He could feel almost feel her shivering. Their feet and knees dangled in the cold water.

The girl let out a soft scoff. “You think Changbin and Lia are going to be bitter that we left them?”

Jisung pondered for a moment before ultimately shaking his head. “Nah, they’ll be fine.” He nudged her left shoulder with his right, his countenance donning a playful smirk. “Besides, we’re best friends. We do stuff like this all the time.”

[name] returned the smile and the nudge. “You’re right. Which is rare.”

“Hey!”


While their laughter died out in the spacious woods, they sat comfortably in the silence that followed. Jisung kicked his legs under the water lightly until [name] gently rested her head on his available shoulder.

The action wasn’t anything new; they’d fallen asleep in that position multiple times. It was comfortable. It was home. Still, Jisung couldn’t help but acknowledge that it felt different this time. He was scared by the sudden thump in his chest, one so hard that he thought he was having a heart attack, but he was more scared that she had heard it.

It didn’t seem like she did.

“Jisung,” she started softly, her voice barely above a whisper.


He hummed in response, resting his head against hers. 

“You know I want to tell you everything, right?” She left the question hanging in the air.


He didn’t like where this was going. “Yeah, of course. I want to tell you everything too... but I also understand that there are some things even best friends can’t talk about.”

He could picture her smile as she adjusted her head ever so slightly. “I’m glad you understand.” She let out a laugh, burying her face further into Jisung’s neck. Her hair tickled him. “We really just jumped into the lake with all of our clothes on.” 

Jisung could feel his body shake with laughter (or was that the hypothermia setting in?). “Yeah, we did. We should probably go back and warm up before we die.”

[name] hummed. “In just a minute. We just got here. We might as well enjoy the view for a little while longer.”

Jisung made no movement to get up. If he was being honest, he was freezing, but the slight sun that peaked through the trees and [name]’s faint body heat were enough for him. As long as he was able to stay in that time in that place with her, he’d suffer anything. 

When the drowsiness started settling in, Jisung knew it was time to go. Gently stirring a half-asleep [name] awake, Jisung rose to his feet. As [name] was still adjusting to being awake once more, Jisung slowly led her back to the campsite. She took slow steps behind him, loosely holding onto the back of his shirt while Jisung led the way.

By the time they had returned from the woods to the campsite, Chan, Changbin, and Lia had already made dinner. Jisung was excited to say the least. [name] even perked up at the smell of food.

As they all sat down around around their campfire together, Jisung felt the warmth and comfort that he could only feel with his friends. Seeing all of their smiles together made the stars above them look insignificant. He wished the nights like these would continue.

“He did?!” Lia’s shrill shriek of delight cut into Jisung’s nostalgic episode. His attention was now completely captured by Lia’s joyful giggles and [name]’s failed attempts to quiet her.


“Lia!” [name] whispered harshly. She offered the three boys a sheepish smile before turning her attention back to her friend.


“Oh my gosh, this is amazing,” Lia gushed, clapping her hands together excitedly. “So, did you say yes?”


“Lia, we’ll talk about this later,” [name] answered, eyeing the boys one last time.


“I’m guessing we’re not allowed to know about this?” Chan chuckled, motioning to Changbin and Jisung.


Lia clicked her tongue, wagging her index finger at them. “This is top secret girl talk!” The smirk never left her face as she turned back to face [name] next to her. “I’m getting every single detail.”

“Alright, alright,” [name] sighed. She glanced around, anywhere other than the boys’ faces. Her eyes lit up; she must’ve thought of an idea that would change the subject. “S’mores?”


It worked for Chan and Changbin who immediately erupted in cheers. Lia was still giggling to herself as the four started unpacking the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers.

“Oh, the roasting sticks are still in the car,” Chan recalled. “Rock, paper, scissors?”


“I’ll just get them,” Jisung volunteered.


He wasn’t planning on taking no for an answer, having already risen from his seat to grab Chan’s keys and walk over. He could feel his feet and his heart dragging with every step that he took further away from his friends.

For the second time that day, he felt disconnected from [name]. The thought alone pulled at his heart. He felt a lump in his throat, thinking about Lia’s comments. If his suspicions were correct...

This would be the first time in Jisung’s life where he wouldn’t be a part of [name]’s.

iii.

“Guys, did you hear? Someone’s dating Jeno!”

“Who managed to get Jeno’s attention?”

“Is Jeno the soccer player? He’s cute.”


No matter where he went on campus, Jisung could hear that stupid name. Over and over again, girls gushed over him like a broken record. It was possibly the most irritating thing he had ever encountered.

Especially because of the girl dating Jeno.

Jisung was making his Friday walk to the Math and Science Complex to pick [name] up when he heard the campus’s gossip even through his headphones. In fact, he had been listening to it for the past week. It was the most excruciating week of his college career.

When he reached the Math and Science Complex, he didn’t see [name] at first. Genuinely taken aback, his mind immediately went to the worst case scenario. What if she had gotten kidnapped? She would be so scared--

Nope, apparently, that was the second worst scenario. The first one was happening in front of him.

[name] walked out of the doors of the Math and Science Complex hand-in-hand with Jeno, star soccer player and one of the most wanted men on campus. She was smiling at some joke Jeno had probably said, not even paying attention to the stares the two of them earned. What hurt the most was the look that Jeno was giving her because it was the most conflicting thing Jisung had ever seen. Jeno looked at [name] as if she was the most precious person in his world, like he really cared about her. 

As [name]’s best friend, Jisung was supposed to be happy that someone loved his best friend almost as much as he did. Yet his heart was a mix of pain, rage, and misery.

Was this jealousy?

“Han Jisung!”


[name]’s voice was the only thing capable of snapping him out of his thoughts that quickly. Immediately finding her, Jisung felt his heart swell. He could feel his lips naturally curl into a smile as she waved at him from across the road, but it slowly left as she started walking to him with Jeno.

They ran across the road, [name] tugging a laughing Jeno along. She came to a stop in front of Jisung, giggling with Jeno. It stung even worse when Jeno put his arm around [name]’s shoulder.

“Jisung, this is Jeno,” [name] introduced. “Jeno, Jisung is my best friend.”


“Hey, man! Nice to meet you.” Dammit, he had good manners, but Jisung would rather die than admit that he thought Jeno had a pretty smile.


“Nice to meet you too,” Jisung forced out through his grinding teeth. He turned his attention to [name]. “You ready?”


Jeno looked at [name]. “Are you guys heading out somewhere?”

[name] laughed. “Oh, Jisung and I always study together on Fridays.”

“Sounds like fun,” Jeno chuckled, turning his gaze from [name] to Jisung. 

Jisung couldn’t detect sort of malignant intentions which only irritated him more. He felt his heart drop to the bottom of his stomach and his skin crawled.


Jeno placed a soft kiss on [name]’s forehead. “I’ll see you after practice.”

[name] agreed, watching Jeno run off after the people whom Jisung assumed were his teammates. With a content sigh, she turned back in Jisung’s direction and started walking. She didn’t even check to see if Jisung was following her, what a terrible friend.

Jisung was most definitely pouting as much as he tried to deny it.

“Going on a date?” Jisung pondered, unable to look in her direction.


“Yep,” [name] informed him, “we’re going to get dinner and go bowling. Doesn’t it sound fun?”


Jisung scoffed, “Not if he’s sweaty and gross. You sure you want to go out with that?”

[name] lightly smacked his right arm. “He’s gonna take a shower, dumb-dumb.”

Jisung puffed his lips forward. Unfortunately, he was still walking loyally at her left side as there wasn’t a knife in his heart.

“Speaking of which...” [name] trailed off, holding her arms behind her back. She slowly looked into Jisung’s eyes. “Could you help me get ready?”


He was torn between pride and disappointment, but he wasn’t about to show the latter (more than he already had). 

“You value my opinion that much? I’m honored,” Jisung returned with a grand bow.


At the very least, she laughed. “Lia’s busy. But, yes, I do value your opinion too.” She playfully bumped his side with her own. “They say the second date is just as important as the first, if not more.”

Jisung watched as her smile slowly disappeared from her face. He could only sigh as he realized his status. “Nervous?”

“More than I’d like to admit,” [name] confessed.


Jisung swallowed his jealousy only because she needed him. He wanted nothing more than to wipe that sad expression off of her face and replace with a smile.

“My little baby’s all grown up,” Jisung cried dramatically, wiping away fake tears with the sleeve of his shirt. His actions earned a smack from the girl, but it also rewarded him with a smile. “Don’t worry about it. He definitely likes you.”


“How can you tell? You met him five minutes ago,” [name] argued, kicking her feet against the gravel they were walking on.


“Guys can tell,” Jisung replied with a cheeky grin. “We can tell because of the way we look at someone we love. And I saw the way he looked at you. I’m not saying he loves you, but he definitely likes you. So, don’t worry, and just be your usual sunflower self.”


She thanked him quietly, and, for a while, they walked in silence. This time, they walked back to [name]’s dorm in order for her to get ready for her date. But during the time that they were walking, Jisung realized that he was actually the sunflower and that his sun was slowly leaving him. 

In the two hours that passed, he found himself helping her pick her outfit, fix up her hair, and even doll herself up in makeup. When she told him to wait outside for her, he listened with only a single, drawn-out complaint. Then, she came outside, and everything made sense.

He waited outside her dorm, his back leaning against the wall. He heard the door before anything, and, as she stepped outside, Jisung felt his whole world fall into place. She looked beautiful, the way her shy smile only got bigger as he was at a loss for words. She went to bite her bottom lip, averting her gaze to the ground.

“Does it look okay?” she asked softly.


Jisung couldn’t even speak at first. He wanted to memorize the way she looked and tattoo it on him somewhere. Maybe that was an exaggeration, maybe it wasn’t.

“Pretty...” He hadn’t even used his vocal cords, so, when [name] clearly didn’t hear him, he cleared his throat. “I said--”


“You���re beautiful.”


The unwanted voice destroyed Jisung’s fantasy as he turned to see Jeno walking up to them.

“You think?” [name] asked with a small giggle.

He revealed a bouquet of [favorite flowers] from behind his back, earning a small gasp from [name] and an eye roll from Jisung. If he really liked [name], he would’ve known to get her a stuffed [favorite animal]. Flowers just end up dying anyway; what a way to be dramatic.

“They’re beautiful,” [name] murmured, accepting the flowers into her hands. Looking at Jeno, she smiled. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you,” Jeno replied. He turned to Jisung this time. “I’ll have her back before midnight.”

Jisung merely nodded with a short “see you” to [name] before the two left him behind. He watched as they walked away, their back turned to him, Jeno on [name]’s left side where Jisung used to be. He felt his heart crack when Jeno laced their fingers together and [name] smiled at him.

That should’ve been him.

The thought lingered in his mind until it slowly made its way into his heart. It thumped--one beat, two beat--and he realized the truth, the reason his heart ached.

A lump formed in his throat as he kicked the concrete below his feet, dragging himself all the way back to his dorm. He tried to deny the tears that threatened to spill, but the thought of [name] laughing because of someone that wasn’t him caused a singular tear to drop.

He loved her.

He always had.

He just didn’t know.

And now, she was falling in love with someone else, someone that wasn’t him.

iv.

In the month that followed, Jisung slowly drifted away from [name]. He knew what he was doing, but he needed the time to heal even if that meant hurting the person he cared about the most. Their Friday study sessions were overrun with dates with Jeno, and Jisung had found excuses not to pick her up after her classes. His role was slowly being filled by Jeno anyway.

Chan and Changbin had tried to talk to Jisung about it multiple times, telling Jisung that [name] had asked why he wasn’t responding to her texts. He merely brushed the topic off, returning to the book he had been pretending to read. Lia would walk by with [name], calling his name, but Jisung pretended he couldn’t hear the two with his headphones on.

It was childish if he was being honest, but he needed it. It was time for him to move on.

That was how he ended up going to a mixer with Minho on a Thursday night. If he was being honest, he wasn’t paying attention to what the two girls in front of him were gushing about. His mind was too preoccupied with [name].

She was at one of Jeno’s soccer games, probably wearing his number and cheering him on. He imagined her laughing, shouting, and having fun... without him. She probably looked cute, jumping around excited whenever Jeno had the ball. She probably sat right in the front to get the best kind of view but ended up regretting it because of the die-hard soccer fans sitting behind her.

“Ji.”

The familiar nickname interrupted his train of thought as he looked up with interest for the first time that night. It was the girl in front him. She was definitely pretty, but, to Jisung, not as pretty as [name]--and he didn’t like her saying that nickname.

“I’d prefer if you called me Jisung,” he tried to say as politely as possible. 

His expression must have been a little too serious as the girls in front of him slowly leaned back. Minho elbowed Jisung’s left side lightly, causing Jisung to take of a sip of drink.

He had been spacing out all night. He really shouldn’t have been there, but this was the only way for him to move on. The restaurant’s white noise was his only relief.

“Jisung, let’s talk outside for a bit.” Minho wasn’t asking.

Jisung complied, following the older male to the darkening outside. The sun had already set. The game must have almost been over. He wondered if they were winning and she was happy.

“Dude, just go tell her,” Minho told him, leaning against the stone of the restaurant.

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb,” Minho scoffed. “You know I’m talking about [name].”

Jisung swallowed whatever was in his throat. He couldn’t tell if it was anger or fear or both. Whatever the case, the look on Minho’s face was enough for him to tell the truth. There was no point in lying to Minho--he’d pick it out in a second.

“She has a boyfriend,” Jisung answered in a low voice.

“Not that I’m supporting home-wrecking, but, if you like her, you need to tell her. [name] will do what she wants with that information, but it’s literally killing you, man. At the very least, this is for yourself to move on.”

In some sort of twisted way, Jisung could see Minho’s logic. He didn’t want to disturb the happiness [name] had found, but there would be no other way for him to move on. Nothing else was working

“But we’re here right now,” Jisung argued, trying to find some sort of desperate way out of the situation he was finding himself in.

Minho laughed. “Trust me, they won’t miss you.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“I just need to grab my car, and we can head over to the soccer field.”

When they walked back inside, Jisung followed Minho silently. He gave a quick nod to the party they were leaving before climbing into Minho’s car. They weren’t too far from the soccer field, but Jisung felt like time couldn’t move slower.

Was he actually about to confess to his best friend at her boyfriend’s soccer game?

It sounded ridiculous in his thoughts, but it was happening in his reality. He could hear the cheers from the stands as Minho pulled into the parking lot beside the field. He could hear his heart beating out of his chest as he walked up to the stands. He could hear it drop when he saw the middle of the field.

The score was only 1-0 for SKU, but the field had gotten too heated. The other team’s players had started a fight in the middle of the field. Benched teammates started running towards the center where Jeno was being held back by four of his teammates. The other team’s number 11 was also being restrained but not quite as well. 

There, in between Jeno and number 11, for whatever bizarre reason she would explain to him later, was [name]. She looked so small among the giant soccer players, desperately trying to calm her boyfriend down.

And that’s when Jisung started running towards her.

Multiple smaller fights had broken out in the circle that had formed, and [name] was at the heart of everything.

Oh, he was definitely going to yell at her for that later, but his priority was to get her safe first before--

“You’re 32′s girl?”

Jisung was just close enough to hear the question but not close enough yet to reach her. Jeno’s number that she had worn so proudly now became a target. The next thing he heard was her scream, and that was all he needed.

He broke through the middle of the crowd where he saw [name] on the ground, terrified with a giant soccer player towering over her. She was flinching as he yelled horrible insults at her, her boyfriend, and her school.

Where was Jeno?

Jisung didn’t really care about the whereabouts of Jeno, but he did care about [name]’s safety. He ran to her, pushing past the guy who was scaring her to help her stand. He was fully prepared to fight the man who had touched his best friend, but the moment she grabbed his shirt, he knew whom he needed to prioritize.

“Ji...!” Her voice was hoarse, and it broke his heart.

He hushed her gently, reassuring her that he was here, helping her rise to her feet. Jisung sent the man one last glare before pushing past him once more. He didn’t pay attention to the shouts of anger as campus security ended up stepping in and calming the situation. The only person he cared about was the girl who was sobbing into his side as he held her close.

He managed to walk her to a quiet, secluded park before she collapsed on a bench. Her quiet sobs turned into wails as she gripped onto his shirt like a lifeline.

Rebuking her would have to come later as angry as he was.

“You’re okay, [name],” Jisung whispered softly. He pulled her closer to him, holding her like the porcelain he knew she was. “I’m here. Everything’s going to be okay.”

He repeated like a mantra until she quieted down. He traced shapes with his fingers along her back as she let out choked hiccups.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, slightly pulling himself away to properly look at her face.

Even under an old lamppost, even with puffy cheeks from crying, even though he couldn’t tell what was snot and what was tears, she was still the most beautiful girl in the world to him. The last one made him chuckle.

“No,” she answered. Her voice was hoarse from crying. “...but I want a tissue.”

Jisung laughed softly. “Here, just use my shirt.”

[name] shook her head. “No, I’m gross.”

“Just let me.”

He gently took his long sleeve (he was so glad he had decided to wear a button down shirt and look somewhat nice for the mixer) and wiped away the combination of liquids on her face. She shut her eyes naturally, reminding Jisung that she really did trust him completely. It also reminded him of how much he had probably hurt her.

“I needed to wash this shirt anyway,” Jisung explained with a shrug.

[name] sniffled, opening her eyes slowly. She turned to face forward, her arms still shaking from the experience she had just had. Jisung didn’t mention the lack of Jeno in that moment. The pained expression on her face indicated that she had probably already thought about it. In the silence, they sat under the stars. For a while, neither of the two moved until [name] gently laid her head Jisung’s shoulder.

The action, despite its old frequency, surprised Jisung, but he didn’t move. They sat in the comfortable silence, in the other’s company. It felt different than normal, but it felt right.

v.

Despite the new level of intimacy they had experienced the night before, Jisung and [name] still treated each other like strangers the next day. They had only passed by each other once, but they refused to look at the other. Jisung only glanced back at her as she walked between Lia and Jeno to a place where he wasn’t.

At the end of his last class, Jisung turned to go to Chan’s apartment instead of the Math and Science Complex. He walked slower than usual, enjoying the sun on his face. The music from his headphones drummed into his ears as he came to an intersection in the road. He couldn’t quite explain it--he blamed it on his lack of sleep from the night before--but he chose to take the right to Felix’s.

Upon arrival, he was greeted by a confused Felix.

“Where’s [name] at?” the bartista wondered aloud, checking behind Jisung to see if she was just running late.

“She’s got plans with Lia or something,” Jisung lied. “I’ll just take an iced americano.”

“Actually, Lia cancelled on me. I’ll have the Lix specialty.”

He recognized her voice, but he didn’t believe it was her. Jisung turned around to see a smiling but clearly winded [name]. Walking up to the counter, she handed Felix her credit card.

“On me today,” she said to Felix while looking at Jisung.

“You got it,” Felix said before he turned to make their drinks.

[name] cleared her throat, avoiding direct eye contact with Jisung now that her dramatic entrance had lost its effect. “Can we talk?”

Jisung didn’t want to say yes. He could’ve walked out even without his coffee, but he knew he wouldn’t. He really was wrapped around her finger.

“Yeah,” was his reply as Felix place their drinks on the counter in front of them.

The two walked to the table they had sat at weeks earlier, the table still empty and waiting for their return. They sat at the same spots, but instead of [name] working and Jisung sleeping, they faced each other, too scared to say anything.

“Thank you for what you did yesterday,” [name] began. “I don’t think I ever properly thanked you.”

“No problem,” Jisung answered before he brought the straw of his drink to his mouth. Was the taste more bitter than usual?

[name] sipped her own drink. They were both trying to decide what to say until [name] finally just snapped.

“I broke up with Jeno today.”

Jisung nearly choked on his drink. “What?”

“I broke up with Jeno today,” [name] repeated slowly, a nod with every pause.

“Okay, smartypants, why?”

[name] pursed her lips, taking another sip of her drink as an escape. After a moment, she softly mumbled, “Because... he helped me realize something.”

Jisung didn’t need to ask what; he knew she’d get there eventually. Instead, he let the soft cafe music encourage her to continue.

“He’d always had some sort of jealousy because of you, but, today, I realized that he wasn’t jealous because of how close we are,” [name] continued. She wouldn’t look him in the eye; her fingers fiddled with the plastic cup on the table in front of her. “He was jealous because he could tell that I, um... well, I like you.”

In the moment she had said that, Jisung felt like he was going to throw up--but in a good way. All the nerves in his body switched between relaxed and tense, but mostly tense. He could feel heat not only rise to his cheeks but also to every limb in his body. He was sure that, if he hadn’t been sitting, he might’ve fallen to the ground.

Yet everything finally felt right.

“That might be really weird coming from your best friend because I know we have this unspoken rule not to fall in love, but I didn’t realize it either until today when Jeno and I got into a fight,” [name] hurriedly explained, waving her hands around uselessly as some sort of explanation.

The smile on Jisung’s face spread as he leaned over the table to kiss her. It was soft and tasted like the bitter coffee he had just drunk, but it was worth everything that they had been through so far.

He pulled away for a second, revealing a cute [name] with her eyes still closed from the kiss, and he placed another one on her forehead.

“I like you too.”

It was [name]’s turn to be shocked as she slowly parted her lips in some attempt to say something back. She couldn’t think of anything, but the smile that tugged at her cheeks said that all that she needed to.

[fodlandy-guides]

How to use Byleth~

A Fire Emblem Three Houses Guide

The Facts

Skills

Affinities: Sword, Brawl, [Faith], Authority

Aversions: None

Budding Talent: Faith [Faith Avoid +20]

Bases & Growths

HP: 27, 45%

STR: 13, 45% [Good Base]

MAG: 6, 35% [Poor Base & Growth]

DEX: 9, 45% [Great Base]

SPD: 8, 45%

LCK: 8, 45%

DEF: 6, 35%

RES: 6, 30%

CHA: 7, 45%

Crests & Relics

Crest: Major Crest of Flames

[Occasionally restores HP equal to 30% of damage dealt - 20% Chance to Activate]

[Rarely also raises Mt and prevents counterattacks - ~5% Chance (~25% of Activations)]

Relic: Sword of the Creator/Sublime Creator Sword

[7/15 Mt, 90 Hit, 1~2 Range]

Relic Art: Ruptured Heaven/Sublime Heaven

[1~2 Range, Mt+7/10, Mt increases based on Mag]

[-3 Weapon Durability]

My Impression

Byleth is, unsurprisingly, an amazing unit. Where their strengths lie, though, is their ability to succeed in any class. With all around good to average bases and stats, Byleth is prepared to be any type of unit. The only thing to watch out for is their poor base Mag, which with their low growth rate, could end up being a problem. Considering that their Relic Art benefits greatly from a high Mag stat and their proficiency in Faith magic, this could become a problem with enough bad luck. Speaking of Relics and Crests, Byleth has some of the best in the game. The Crest of Flames, while having the lowest activation rate possible of a major crest, has three distinct, useful attributes (Looking at you, Blaiddyd). This means that Byleth’s crest will prove beneficial in a wide array of circumstances. And the Creator Sword! A one-to-two range sword that grows in strength during the story and retains one of the highest base Mt of all swords? All that is holding it back is its low durability and lack of base crit. And both of these can easily be fixed with specific sets and intelligent rationing (see Set #4). All together? Byleth definitely goes above and beyond the typical overpowered My Unit.

My Sets

#1 Enlightened One

This set benefits from Byleth’s well-rounded bases and growths, and is the most customizable of my builds. This set is built around Sacred Power and Byleth’s personal skill, and is meant to be a support based build. Using these skills, as well as Byleth’s Budding Talent, this build is great for someone who would prefer Byleth to take a more secondary role on the battlefield. But don’t be fooled, Byleth will still be plenty capable of dealing with enemies on their own. As a mixed attacker, The Creator Sword will be more powerful than ever, and Byleth will be able to effectively use the Levin Sword+, which has 1~3 range. I would suggest equipping Byleth with a Healing Staff (see below), and one of the many great supportive battalions, preferably ones with a bonus to Mag, to patch Byleth’s poor base and growth. As for abilities, my suggestions are: Mag+2, Faith Avo + 20, Fiendish Blow, Sword Crit + 10, Faith Range + 1, Reason Range +1, Rally Movement or any skills that you prefer.

This set works best as a supportive healer, although it may suffer from low mag. This build has good synergy with Powerhouses, Critical Builds, and Physical Tanks.

Healing Staff Found: Chapter 9 (Chest), Rumored Nupitals (Ingrid & Dorothea Paralogue, Chest), Possibly Others (Please comment if you know!)

#2 Nosferatu & Dodge Tank (Female Best)

Potentially my favorite of the five! Thanks to Byleth’s Budding Talent and Crest, they make for a terrifying Nosferatu Tank. And with the addition of Faith Avo + 20, a near unkillable one too. Your choice of equipment is either an Evasion Ring, Magic Staff, or Either of the Healing Rings (see below). As for other Abilities I would recommend: Faith Lv 5, Faith Range + 1, White Tomefaire, Alert Stance+, Fiendish Blow, Mag + 2, Spd + 2, or any others that you may prefer. Just equip Byleth with Nosferatu, and watch them dodge most attacks coming their way, and heal those that they don’t. As for the class I would recommend Gremory but, since it is Female-Locked, any others with White Magic x2 will work as well. Additionally, feel free to train Byleth in Brawling to make use of the Healing Focus combat art, which works like an unlimited self-heal.

This set is meant as a self-healing tank, although it may suffer from low Mag and a low hit rate. This set has great synergy with Powerhouse sets.

Magic Staff Found: Chapter 10 (Enemy), The Forgotten (Sylvain Paralogue, Enemy), Tournament (AM Chapter 17)

Evasion Ring Found: Church Routes Chapter 13 (AM, VW, SS, Enemy), Chapter 18 (Enemy), Chapter 7 (Steal, Dimitri|Claude), Church Routes Chapter 16 (Enemy)

Goddess Rings Found: No Idea (Please Comment if you know!)

Prayer Ring Found: Chapter 12 (Steal, Hubert), CF Chapter 18 (Chest)

#3 Falcon Knight (Female Only)

This build is very similar to the previous, but relies entirely on dodging, and therefore can be unreliable. This build benefits from the low weight of swords, evasion skills, and Falcon Knight’s built-in +10 avoid. Any sword works with this build, but I would suggest both the Creator Sword and a brave sword. As for abilities, I suggest: Sword Prowess Lv 5, Darting Blow, Alert Stance+, Spd + 2, Dex + 4, as well as any others you prefer. Recommended equipment is the Evasion Ring, although the Speed Ring may work as well (see below). This build is relatively simple, and can be set up very early in the game.

This build it meant as a frontline tank, but it may suffer from low Def, and bad RNG. This build has the best synergy with: Rally Sets, Dancers (For Alert Stance+), and Healers.

Evasion Ring Found Above!

Speed Ring Found: No Idea (Please Comment of you know!)

#4 Swordmaster (Hard for Crimson Flower)

As you can gather from what I have said about Byleth’s skills and stats, Byleth is absolutely stellar in the role of Swordmaster. The trick with this build, then, is to bring out their innate talents to absurd level. What does this mean for Byleth? A Critical Build! While the Creator Sword has no innate critical we can buff it with a Critical Ring as well as the ability Sword Crit + 10, which is easy for Byleth to unlock at S Swords. As for it’s limited durability, all me to introduce: The Wao Dao! It has a base 30 Crit, but with the +5 of the Critical Ring (see below), +20 from the stacking Sword Crit Abilities (The second from the class itself), and another +10 from its improvement, Wao Dao+, it will have a total of 65 Crit! As for the rest of Byleth’s abilities, I would suggest any combination of: Swordfaire, Dex + 4, Darting Blow, Alert Stance+, Sword Prowess Lv 5, Str + 2, Spd +2, or any other that you prefer. Keep in mind that some of these skills are easier to attain than others. Finally, for another boost to Crit, use Jeralt’s Mercenaries, a great battalion you get at the start of the game!

This set works best as a front liner, but may suffer from low Def and Res. This set also has great synergy with: Rally Sets, Dancers, and Warp & Rescue Sets.

Critical Ring Found: End of Falling Short of Heaven (Catherine & Ashe Paralogue), Church routes (AM, VW, SS) Chapter 16 (Chest), and bought from Anna’s Shop.

#5 Assassin (Harder on Crimson Flower)

Another Dodge Tank? Say it isn’t so! Good news, it is only slightly a dodge set. This set is a mix of the Falcon Knight and Swordmaster, a Glass Cannon Build! This set is built to capitalize on Byleth’s great Speed, Dexterity, and Strength, and throw everything else to the wayside. Want a high-cost high-reward build? Well here it is! This build will benefit from the Wao Dao and your choice of either the Critical Ring or Evasion Ring. Additionally, like the Falcon Knight set, Assassin Byleth will also use bows: The great Longbow as well as a Killer Bow. Now Byleth can create chaos from close or long range! Suggested Abilities are: Close Counter, Sword Crit + 10, Bow Crit + 10, Darting Blow, Deathblow, Str + 2, Spd + 2 or any others you prefer. In the mood for something even higher risk? Try out Lethality and Assassinate, which you will unlock after mastering assassin. Now every round of combat is exciting! Additionally, you could try out my absolute favorite skill: Steal. (Be sure to keep an eye out for my guide on all stealable items in Three Houses). No matter what, this build is guaranteed to keep you on your toes.

This set works best as a front liner, but may suffer from a lack of Def and Res. This build has the best synergy with: Rally Sets, Dancers, Warp & Rescue Sets, and Physical Tanks.

Critical Ring & Evasion Ring Found Above!

Please keep in mind that Fire Emblem is a game of chance, and therefore these builds are not guaranteed to work every playthrough! Sometimes RNG just says no.

Keep an eye out for my next post! It will either be a guide for one of the lords (Yuri included!) or a guide on which house best fits your play style. If you have a preference, please feel free to make it known!

Would you like for me to make a specific guide? Any comments, additions, or request? Feel free to comment them!

- Fódlandy

[words-writ-in-starlight]

Hey do you have any advice for DM's or players? My friends and I are fairly new to this and I would appreciate any advice! Sorry for the bother

IN FACT I DO.  Now, again, my DM style could generously be called “freewheeling” and “unprepared” so like...go elsewhere if you want to learn The Numbers.  (Can someone explain how to use challenge rating usefully to design my encounters please I’m begging.)  However.

IN GENERAL

DnD is a collaborative effort.  I’m gonna harp on this one a little, but seriously.  DnD, or any other RPG, is a group effort.  That means everyone should be having fun, no single person should be controlling everything, no one should be wildly out of tone with the others, and no one should be playing with the intent to fuck over the group.  

Host provides the snacks.  Traditionally this is the DM, and it’s still sort of generally agreed that, in lieu of a host, the DM is still Snack Bearer, but no matter who you are, if you’re hosting DnD then give your party something to eat.  This is partly because there’s a long history of enjoying a salty snack while killin’ dragons, and partly because your average DnD session runs three or four hours and if you don’t eat a meal immediately beforehand or provide snacks, people will get pretty cranky at some point.  Everyone needs to be thinking clearly while they fight Y’gathon the Ravenous or whatever.

Loosen up a little.  Playing pretend feels awkward at first, and there’s an inclination to make the whole thing a joke as a defense against feeling like you’re being a dumbass.  And you’re totally free to make your campaign as goofy and joke-filled as you want!  But also try to embrace your character, try to embrace the fantasy world, try to just generally set aside the need to be a “grown up” and just play pretend.  Especially if you’re looking to hit some emotional beats, or hit a more serious note than “dick jokes, the DnD party”, it’ll take a little doing to get people to stop feeling shy and awkward about it.  This is going to come up again in the DM section.

PLAYERS

Party balance does matter--yeah, seriously.  That’s not to say you shouldn’t play exactly the character you want to play!  Make that dark elf prince DeviantArt OC you swore would never see the light of day!  Indulge your lifelong desire to Animorph--Druids do that!  Give your character the angstiest backstory and the most overdramatic appearance you’ve ever discarded for Real Writing!  The world is your oyster!  But if you party doesn’t have at least a healer and maybe at least one person with more than fifteen hit points (looking at you, All Spellcaster Parties), you may find yourself in a bit of a pinch and your DM may not be sympathetic.  If your group is big enough, I’d suggest trying to hit the classic four-person RPG starter party at bare minimum: Healer, Tank, Rogue, Damage-dealer (probably a caster).  That’ll cover most situations, both in and out of combat.  Get creative from there.  If you don’t have enough people (party of three), see if your DM will give you an NPC to fill out that roster--if they won’t, maybe drop the healer and blow 100% of your cash on healing potions.  IDK, that’s not my problem.  Which brings me to...

There’s no such thing as a boring class.  I know, I know, some dude’s about to show up and give me a bunch of crap about paladins.  I know.  But honestly there are so many options to mod the fuck out of DnD classes that everyone needs to calm down.  Homebrew your shit and stop whining.  Specifically, this is regarding two categories: Tank and Healer.  Nobody wants to be the guy casting Punch when everyone else can cast Wall of Fire, or making sure that your delicate little thief doesn’t get one-shotted before they can net those sweet sweet Sneak Attacks, but honestly the builds are still pretty fun.  If your cleric build is boring you, look for a cleric build that’s more interesting!  If you don’t like the classic Fighter or Barbarian, rummage around in the alternative paths!  Especially the 5e builds have a lot of really cool options right there in the Player’s Handbook, and if those aren’t doing it for you, the Internet has your back.  Finally, if what you really want is to be able to just fucking 1v1 the boss or to be Deeply Beloved by your party, Tank and (useful) Healer are your respective tickets to those outcomes.  And if you really, really still want to be an arcane spellcaster, try a Warlock for your kinda delicate tank and a Bard for your healer.

Don’t play to sabotage.  This sounds obvious, but this is “it’s a collaborative effort” for players, and it’s extremely important.  You shouldn’t be playing to sabotage the group and you shouldn’t be playing to sabotage the DM.  It’s not going to endear you to them, it’s not going to be funny, and it’s probably going to make your party turn on you in-game at some point, at which point it won’t even be fun for you.  If you’re not going into DnD with the honest desire to have a good time and do your best to work with everyone so you all have a collective good time, then let me ask for the sake of your future party that you maybe...don’t.  As far as the DM goes, your DM puts a lot of work into your sessions!  Probably more than you’re aware of!  That doesn’t mean you have to let them put your campaign on rails, but it does mean you shouldn’t go out actively looking for ways to upend their work.  That’s just rude.

Share the spotlight.  You’re not always going to be the center of attention.  Learn to love the other characters in your party and get invested in their arcs!  Build emotional connections between your character and the others, so that when they get plot advancement, you get plot advancement!  Above all, don’t try to hurry things along so that the narrative gets back to you, if someone else is getting a moment in the sun.  A good DM will get to everyone.  Just go with it.

You’re gonna have a dump stat--make it narratively interesting.  A “dump stat” is that one stat you put your lowest ability score into and subsequently become known for being Absolutely Shit with.  Mine is almost always Charisma.  My mother is playing a Barbarian: her character is as dumb as a sack of hammers, with the Intelligence score to match.  Play into that dump stat!  In fact, play into all your stats!  Why is your character so uncharismatic--are they brusque or just shy?  What part of their backstory informs that?  Why are they buff (Strength) and tough (Constitution)?  How did they decide to get that way?  Why do they have the skills you chose for them?  Stats aren’t just numbers on a page, they’re the core of the character you’re building, so make them part of the story.  And on a related note, my final bit of player advice...

Give! Your! Character! A! Backstory!  Your character DID NOT spring fully formed from the ether (I mean, unless, of course, they did, which is a pretty interesting backstory to be going on with), and the more you buff out your character’s backstory and tell your DM about it, the more they’ll be able to work you into the story they’re telling.  I would personally suggest having, like, a couple people who might still be alive out of that backstory, so that your DM has some easy stuff to work with, but bare bones you need to answer the question “why are you [CLASS] and what event brought you to that?”

DM (Under the cut because, like, trade secrets and also this is pretty long already)

You are all-powerful.  Not even the rules can tell you what to do.  If you want elevators, include elevators.  If you want to include house rules, distribute those motherfuckers and use them.  If you want a nat 20 to always, always succeed, regardless of circumstances, then it always succeeds, no questions.  If you like the Dawn War pantheon but not the Dawn War universe, stuff some deities in your pockets and make a hasty escape to your homebrew setting.  You are the DM and at the end of the day, nobody can stop you from changing the rules to suit you.  This means that, if you don’t know the rules as well as you would like to, a confident tone of voice and some degree of consistency is just as good!  It also means that, until you say it aloud, absolutely everything is in flux--if your characters just are not making progress on the mystery you set up and are continuously interrogating the wrong people, you’re totally free to just give one of those people some relevant information!  It’s easy to feel beholden to whatever you previously decided on, but seriously, you’re a god, you can just change stuff to make it work.  On the other hand...

You are ultimately responsible for the narrative--and therefore everyone’s good time.  That might sound like a lot of pressure, but it’s the truth.  With great power comes great responsibility.  This means not abusing your power as DM to target someone, to manipulate events to match your preferred outcome, or to dramatically alter the narrative your players are constructing.  Ultimately, you are there to give them a sandbox, they’re not here to play out your story.  Sometimes in order to let your players do what the party really wants to do, you need to give up some narrative threads that you spent time and effort plotting out.  That’s not to say it’s never worth it to put things on rails--especially in shorter campaigns, a party might really benefit from the DM keeping them on track--but a narrative will always be more fun if you build it together, rather than trying to sabotage their attempts to keep them to your planned path.  Moreover, as DM, you are the authority figure, so if you see something in-universe or out-of-character you’re not comfortable with or seems in bad faith, say something.  I know the rule of improv is “say yes” and DnD is, at its heart, an improv-based story, but you have the responsibility as the DM to ensure that everyone is having fun and sometimes that means saying “fuck no.”

Be a fan of your party.  I boosted this one from the Powered By The Apocalypse games, because I think it’s a great rule.  Basically, you, as the person running the game, should be a fan of the characters!  That means giving them lots of chances for badass moments, emotional connections, and interesting personal plots.  The more you as the DM spread around the narrative love and the exciting beats between your party members, the more your players will enjoy seeing each other in the spotlight.

Get in touch with your inner sadist.  Remember those backstories I encouraged players to create?  Make them tell you every detail.  And then make them bleed.  Your character has a long-lost brother?  Sounds like you just got a convenient villain!  Your character’s village was burned down and they’re the sole survivor?  Mmm, what tasty opportunities for necromancy.  Your character spent their whole life loyal to their king and lost everything defending the throne?  Guess who just became the Big Bad?  Every person your character includes in their backstory is a leverage point, every place they’ve ever cried is now a destination on the party map, every tragedy they’ve ever suffered is a gift that they’ve given to you personally.  The more angst they include in their backstory, the less work you have to do coming up with personal plot arcs.  They’ll hand you that shit, all you have to do is take merciless advantage.  Have fun.

Make NPCs, and then make your players love them.  A helpful tavern keeper!  A beautiful guardswoman!  A stablehand with a secret!  An ornately detailed world is all well and good, but good NPCs are what will make your players get into the game.  Are you low on ideas?  Spend an hour thinking about supporting characters you love, and then insert them wholesale if your players are unfamiliar with the source media.  If you can’t get away with that, rename them, give them a new face, and now you have an NPC.  Example: I just met Gilmore in Critical Role!  I love him!  Now my players have a flirty shopkeep friend named Renwick who’s a tiefling but is otherwise indistinguishable from Gilmore.  No one has caught on yet.  I’m looking forward to putting his life in danger again to make them Upset.  (Did I not mention?  The full text of this rule in my mind is “make NPCs, make your characters love them, and then brutally kill them off” but then I’m told I’m a very angsty DM, so YMMV.)

Make failure narratively interesting.  This one is pretty straightforward--if your players fail at a task that’s plot-relevant, the failure should be as interesting as success would have been.  It may mean your characters spend a lot of time breaking out of prisons, but it’ll also mean that your players will be less likely to fudge dice rolls in order to “win” DnD.

The dice are your friends.  Someday your characters will try to fight something they really shouldn’t fight.  They will try to enchant something you didn’t give stats to.  They will try to do some dumb shit.  When all else fails, just roll a fistful of dice, assign purposes to each at random as needed, and wing it.  You didn’t give that character a Dex stat and now your cleric is casting Sacred Flame?  Roll a d6, that’s their brand new Dex stat, add it to a d20 and confidently report the outcome.  Which brings me to my last point...

Confidence is better than actual knowledge.  Not even Matt Mercer is right all the time about DnD rules.  There is literally too much information and too many myriad ways to tweak it in order to know everything about even a single edition of DnD, let alone the many other RPGs in the world.  Keep a computer near at hand for quick rule checks when needed, admit when you’re wrong when applicable, but if you can’t find something quickly and don’t know the answer, make a command decision and then stick to it.  As long as you’re consistent, confident, and fair, I guarantee you your players will not complain.

[7r0773r]

A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib

There were no Black people who clowned me or any of my pals for listening to so-called "alternative" music, because the people who introduced us to that music were Black people. Of course, there were the hip-hop stalwarts, just like there were the overly devoted punk kids or metalheads who didn't really have much interest in crossing genres up. But these were not a malicious bunch—one simply respected the territory as needed. Keep a wide range of cassettes in a bag, so that if the fate of school bus seating shook you out next to the devoted rap heads, you'd have something to pass around and collectively nod to. And if you found yourself with a committed Black goth, you could pull the dubbed tape of Cure songs out of your back pocket. I first learned to code-switch through the musical movements of my people, and done among my people in this way, it didn't feel like a shameful burden. It felt like a generosity—a celebration of the many modes we could all fit into.

I think of this particular part of my upbringing when I hear other Black people reference what they grew up listenIng to or watching in an attempt to distance themselves from other Black people, or to make their experience exceptional or unique. A better and more interesting conversation to have, I think, is the one about how we are all outside the borders of someone else's idea of what Blackness is. To someone else Black, I am either too much of something or not enough of something else. The impulse when confronted with these facts, it seems, is to either attempt to assert whatever ness you claim and know well, or punish or deride those who might dare question your identity.

But if Blackness and the varied performance of it are to be embraced, then what also has to be embraced is the flawed fluidity of it. How the performance is sometimes regional, sometimes ancestral, often partially forged out of a need to survive some place, or some history, or some other people who didn't wish you or your kinfolk well. And yes, sometimes forged out of an ambition to appeal to the limited imagination of whiteness. The problem is that there is no way to prove oneself Black enough for every type of Black identity in the States, let alone the world. There is not always a way to prove (and possibly no way to trace) the how and why of your personal performance, until it becomes calculated. And in trying, high-profile figures often spiral further into being scrutinized by their doubters. I am thinking often on how crucial it is to love Black people even when feeling indicted by them. Even when that indictment is not out of love (which of course it sometimes is), but out of them clocking you for a standard you are not capable of rising to. I don't have any solution for this, but it has often seemed to me that even nodding and keeping it moving is an act of love when faced with the alternative of publicly debating the small or large nuances of specific modes of Blackness. And to not, in turn, make yourself a victim of Black people for the sympathy of a white audience. (On the Certain and Uncertain Movement of Limbs, pp. 103-04)

***

A country is something that happens to you. History is a series of thefts, or migrations, or escapes, and along the way, new bodies are added to a lineage. Someone finds a place where they think themselves meant to be, and they stop moving. Had the first job my father interviewed for come through at the start of the '80s, I would have been born in Providence, Rhode Island, instead of Columbus, Ohio, where work at the time was more plentiful. A city adorned with the name of a violent colonizer, his statue looming over the center of the downtown, his history a happening unto itself. I never asked to be in this country, or this city, of course. But what we end up with in the earliest moments of our lives can be beyond asking. I think now about the story of my two pals sitting down with their three-year-old only child and telling her that she was soon going to be the older sister to a new, younger child—the introduction of whom would require a halving of attention. The child took all of this information in, sat quietly for a moment, and then plainly replied, "No, thank you." (The Josephine Baker Monument Can Never Be Large Enough, p. 142)

***

Merry Clayton never gave birth to the baby she showed up to the studio pregnant with. Shortly after getting home from the session, she miscarried. There are those who say that the physical strain Clayton exerted in the studio contributed to the miscarriage, though she herself has never blamed the song or the Stones or the studio, which may be her way of keeping her grief her business and not aligning it with another piece of rock 'n' roll mythology. I don't know anything about what it is to carry or give life, but I know that when Merry Clayton's voice cracks in "Gimme Shelter," a part of me wants to jump as if it is the shot that begins the war itself. A part of me hears Mick shout and wants to know what he saw in that moment. A pregnant Black woman balancing on a stool, summoning all she had in order to leave behind something memorable. The backup singers, man. They get to be memorable for a few minutes at a time and forgotten in all of the minutes in between. I want to know if Mick saw every wretched tooth in the mouth of the world's most wretched beasts trembling and falling to the ground. There is some awful reckoning to be had in a song like that. Some awful things to be lived with. (I Would Like to Give Merry Clayton Her Roses, pp. 200-01)

***

I would like to give Merry Clayton her roses. I would like roses to burst forth from the walls of every room Merry Clayton is in. I would like to give roses to every singer who had a name tied up in liner notes and not on the tongues of people who sang along to their pristine vocals. I would like to bring roses to the doorstep of the house Merry Clayton walked out of at midnight in 1969 and I would like to lay roses on the stool where she sat, her pregnant belly hanging over the edge while she sang murder, murder, murder. I would like roses to come out of the ground somewhere any time a person's voice cracks under the weight of what it has been asked to carry, I would like to do this while the living are still the living, and I don't want to hear from any motherfucker who isn't with the program. I would like roses for Merry Clayton to fall from the sky whenever a gunshot echoes above and I would like roses for Merry Clayton in the hands of whoever could throw the first punch but doesn't. I want the small red fists to come from the earth and slowly open wherever Meredith Hunter's body is, or wherever his body had been. I want Merry Clayton to be as big as the Rolling Stones. I want teenagers to wear her face on T-shirts, and I mean her good face with her good afro and her fur coat and her father's eyes. I want record stores to stock the solo records of Merry Clayton in the front case and I want them to play all of the songs she sang alone, with no one else. I want enough roses to build headstones for everyone I love. I want the moment when the drums kick in on any version of "Gimme Shelter." I want that feeling in my chest to always remind me what I'd miss if it were taken from me. I want shelter, and I don't even know what that means anymore. I want nowhere, nothing sacred. (I Would Like to Give Merry Clayton Her Roses, pp. 203-04)

***

Late in 2016, after the election results had come back and the demographic voting breakdowns began to circulate, the most jarring of all the stats was that white women voted for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton at a 52 percent to 43 percent clip. Resting underneath that, however, was that Black women overwhelmingly voted Clinton, at 93 percent. A lot of the conversation centered on the intersection of gender and power, and how white women will vote in the interest of the latter if it means ignoring all else. But what also began was a groundswell of appreciation for Black women that read as disturbing to me, largely because it was rooted primarily in their ability to fix the country, or labor on behalf of a mess many of them didn't ask for. The discomfort was most visceral because a majority of people engaging in this narrative in its early stages were white, and potentially "well-meaning," but not considering what the building of those ideas might be doing. Or not considering the motives behind these actions. To shout "Black women are going to save us all!" might feel good to type out to send in a tweet, but it reads as less good when one stops to consider that Black people—specifically Black women in this case—are not here in this country as vessels to drag it closer to some moral competence. The American obsession with immorality and a willingness to push its hardest labor off on its most marginalized is integral to the Black American experience, and so it occurred to me that maybe Black women were simply attempting to save themselves. That many Black people in the country have to go to jobs they don't love, or deal with waves of microaggressions at work or at the coffee shop or at the gym, and still know that voting won't save or stop any of this but did it anyway because the bet was already bad but the dealer had the cards in his hand to make it worse, and so many of us knew it. (Beyoncé Performs at the Super Bowl and I Think About All of the Jobs I've Hated, pp. 215-16)

***

Friends, I come to you very plainly afraid that I am losing faith in the idea that grief can become anything but grief. The way old neighborhoods are torn to the ground and new ones sprout from that same ground, it feels, most days, like my grief is simply being rebuilt and restructured along my own interior landscape. There is not enough distance between tragedies for my sadness to mature into anything else but another new monument obscuring the last new monument. When the interviewers asked Buster Douglas what his plan was in 1990, days before the fight, he responded I'll just hit him, I guess. And trust, I have dragged myself back to the walls of my fears and thrown my fists into them, hoping a crack might open for the sunlight to gallop through. But it turns out I'm not the fighter I once was, and I was never much of a fighter in the first place. It turns out all of my fears have become immovable.

I am afraid not of death itself, but of the unknown that comes after. I am afraid not of leaving, but of being forgotten. I am in love today but am afraid that I might not be tomorrow. And that is to say nothing of the bullets, the bombs, the waters rising, and the potential for an apocalypse. People ask me to offer them hope, but I'd rather offer them honesty. Black people get asked to perform hope when white people are afraid, but it doesn't always serve reality. Hope is the small hole cut into the honest machinery. The milk crate is still a milk crate, but with the right opening, a basketball can make its way through. If I am going to be afraid, I might as well do it honest. Arm in arm with everyone I love, adorned in blood and bruises, singing jokes on our way to a grave. (Fear: A Crown, pp. 248-49)

***

August 2016

Young Thug is wearing a dress on the cover of his mixtape Jeffery and the Internet wants to argue about what it all means for the future of masculinity and I need a haircut tomorrow but I'm not going to the shop to hear them talk about this shit and I go because it's the only shop in town but I hate their politics but I gotta stay fly because I don't feel like myself without a fresh cut. Let me try this again. I don't feel like myself without something that makes me desirable to people I don't know, and to know this is to know that the future of masculinity is probably not in the shape people want it to be. But Young Thug is wearing an expensive dress on the cover of his mixtape, and on the Internet, there are people insisting that this will be the thing that pushes the conversation forward. Someone shares a video of Young Thug flashing guns and this is the juxtaposition: You can still be hard and wear a dress is the sentiment. I scroll through comments and see variations on this theme, but I don't see anyone mention the idea that perhaps one problem is the public's concept that the masculine antithesis to wearing a dress is showing that you are willing to enact violence. Within an hour of the cover art's release, outlets write about it, labeling the art as controversial. No one suggests that the very idea of gender norms themselves are controversial, or that any binary aggressively enforcing itself through rigid definitions is controversial. Young Thug wore a dress on the cover for a mixtape that had some good songs about that same shit Thug had been rapping about forever and no one I know really listened to it all that much because the talk about the dress eclipsed all else. About a month later, a man walked out of the train station near my apartment wearing a crop top, a full face of makeup, and tight jeans that flared wide at the bottom. The papers say he was chased by another group of men until they caught him on a corner two blocks from where I lived. He was beaten bloody by one man while the others stood over him, mocking the way he curled up in a ball while being kicked. This story made the last five minutes of the local news. I wonder what clothing masculinity could cloak itself in that might drive it further away from an obsession with dominance through violence. I don't get my hair cut for three weeks. (On the Performance of Softness, pp. 252-53)

[mountainashfae]

hey do rowan and mialee and nelle for all of them you coward (rowan i love you)

Theodore Howlandt I love you but I’ve been typing for almost 3 hours.

[ OC Ask Meme ]

Rowan Thornbrook

1:List five basic facts about your OC.

He’s half drow buthe looks like a sun elf

He’s actually alittle bit sensitive to sunlight but you’d never guess unless it was superbright

He was trained aFighter but born with the heart (but not stats) of a Druid

He has named all15 of his pet mice and can always tell them apart

His ultimate goalwhen it comes to the party is to try and keep them from dying

2:Post a line of dialogue from your OC.

“Wellhit me with a hailstone.”

3:Post a snippet from your writing that describes your OC.

“Rowanmade the plan to leave Pinegrove after he hit 29. His closest friends hadalready began to marry and settle down, both in and out of town, and he knewthat such a life wouldn’t happen for him. Not in the remnants of a humankingdom that continued to look at him strange even after two decades. He wasalso reaching that age where time wouldn’t affect him in the same way that itwould everyone else. They’d grow old, while he would remain youthful foranother century at least. So he packed his gear and set out, with no cleardestination or goal in mind other than to find a way to restore the throne thathad burned all those years ago. He just… had not even the slightest clue of howto do that.” – From the Riverin Lore doc

4:Post a snippet from your writing in which another OC describes your OC.

“Havesome faith in your little brother, huh?”“Ihave faith in you Nazh, but definitely not in myself.”

Closestthing I got right off. Dialogue between Nazha and Rowan

5:Describe your OC’s physical appearance.

Rowanis a half-elf of short stature, with warm brown skin, light blonde hair, andcool gray eyes. At first glance someone might mistake him for half sun elf,when he’s in fact half drow. He has a broken nose that never healed correctlyafter a fight a few years ago, a bit of a dad bod, and underneath his clothinghides a wyvern tattoo that covers his left shoulder. He tends to wear shades ofgreen, the color of his homeland, and wears chain mail and armored boots alongwith his clothing. He carries a shield and signet ring bearing the emblem of hiskingdom, and wears a scarf embroidered with the same wyvern pattern that he gotfrom a close friend.

6:Describe your OC’s love life.

Rowanhas canonically asked out 2 people. One turned him down because she was alreadydating their best friend (the two weren’t public about it yet), and the otherhad to turn him down because of the engagement he’s in. But Solomon didn’t givehim a no.

7:Describe your OC’s fashion sense.

He’snot the biggest fan of flashy clothes. He prefers to keep things somewhat simpleand practical, though he makes sure there is a reference to Riverin issomewhere in his outfit.

8:Describe one of your OC’s bad habits.

Hecan never seem to actually state the important things on his mind to people.Like the whole “oh yeah I’m a prince” thing

9:Your OC is having a nightmare. What is it?

Thesame one as every night. Altair carries him out of his bedroom and theydiscover that they’re too late to save his parents from the fire burning thecastle.

10:You are conducting a ritual. What 5 items would you need to summon your OC?

Wtfeven is this question.

Iguess it’d be: a peach, the leaves of a rowan tree, a wyvern scale, a woodencarving of a shield, and fur from a mouse.

11:What does your OC want for their birthday?

Cookingsupplies. Whether ingredients or tools doesn’t matter.

12:What does your OC give another OC for their birthday?

Freshbaked goods.

13:Describe your OC’s living situation.

Wellother than being on the road, he lives in a cozy house in a tiny village withhis adoptive aunt and uncle. There’s two bedrooms, one bathroom, and they’vegot a small garden out back. Altair has set up a bit of a smithy as well.

14:What is one of your OC’s secrets?

Honestly?The contents of his nightmare. He hasn’t shared that with anyone.

15:Your OC is given the chance to go back in time. Where do they go and what dothey do?

Hewould jump back to when he was 7 and the fire was burning his home. He wouldtry to warn someone about it, or maybe just make sure that his entire familymade it out alive.

16:If your OC could have any superpower, which would it be and why?

Forhim it’d be something along the lines of either talking to animals or turninginto one…… which is……. A Circle of the Shepherd Druid thing……….

17:How does your OC do during the zombie apocalypse?

Wellif he’s got his sword and shield and crossbow, he’s probably pretty set. He’dbe the one to sacrifice himself for one of his friends though.

18:What is your OC’s dream job?

Eitherworking with animals in some way or baking for a living.

19:Your OC’s life is a musical. What’s the title of their big show-stopping song?

Probablysomething like “Prince of Riverin”

Cuzlike, that’s a big part of his past

20:Post a picture or gif that describes your OC.

Rowan @ the party when all 3 do dumb stuff

Cauder Mel hy Toraviel, Mialee

1:List five basic facts about your OC.

They happilyflaunt their mule traits

They’vecanonically worshipped gods from 3 different religions in some way or another

They would fightgod. 100%. #LetMiaFightTheLamplighter

They seriouslyloved their father, Alits Cadwic, more than anything in the world

They are so veryemotionally immature

2:Post a line of dialogue from your OC.

“Knockknock it’s illusion time.”

3:Post a snippet from your writing that describes your OC.

“Ittook all of Mia’s self-control to not pull out the last of their cash and spendit all there. They couldn’t help but notice a good many people giving them oddlooks as they walked through the market. That was just what happened with amule in the Southern Districts. Their mixed blood was very plain—from theirfuzzy ears and noticeable tail to their elven facial features and build.” –from 77th Birthday in Sayinne

4:Post a snippet from your writing in which another OC describes your OC.

���Thetrouble with hoblings is that, as a rule, they do not like to go to bed. Thetrouble with little elves is that they are inexhaustibly energetic. AlitsCadwic, whose child was both a hobling and a little elf, had no shortage ofdifficulty. Miriel was almost always busy with her star-watching at night;nothing harried her nerves more than putting up with stubborn hobs when shecould be putting up a telescope. So it fell to Alits to meet the foe in battle:the implacable twenty-year-old mule, Cauder Mel hy Toraviel, Mialee.” – from TheThings We Don’t Have, written by Theo

5:Describe your OC’s physical appearance.

Mialeeis of short stature and chubbier build, with bright green eyes and golden hair thatquite literally glows. Their dark skin is marbled by vitiligo passed throughtheir father’s side of the family. They’ve facial features resembling those ofelves, but with the horizontal pupils, sharp canines, fuzzy ears, and goldentufted tail of a hob. Their outfit is loosely inspired by a dragonfly, thoughthe outfit itself is nothing like the fashion of the southern Greencoast.

6:Describe your OC’s love life.

Lovelife? In this 77 year old? I think not.

7:Describe your OC’s fashion sense.

Theydon’t dress like any self-respecting elf of the southern Greencoast. Nobodywears pants. They’re a fan of shortsand tank tops. And also anything that’s glittery. The crystal necklace aroundtheir neck is one of their most valuable possessions.

8:Describe one of your OC’s bad habits.

Fudgingthe truth so that they don’t have to reveal something personal that they don’tfeel comfortable sharing.

9:Your OC is having a nightmare. What is it?

It’sAlits Cadwic Penscolt. He’s there, and they can’t get to him. The Lamplighteris there and they’re keeping Alits from them.

10:You are conducting a ritual. What 5 items would you need to summon your OC?

Shinycrystals, some small ribbons, a holy symbol, some wine, and a dragonfly

11:What does your OC want for their birthday?

Givethem something sparkly and they’re happy

12:What does your OC give another OC for their birthday?

They’llgive whatever trinket or item they can find and afford that they think theperson might like

13:Describe your OC’s living situation.

Wellthey are currently running away from home, but back home, they lived with theirmother and father in a small, one-story cottage. A cozy place for the three ofthem. Stopped feeling like home after Alits passed though.

14:What is one of your OC’s secrets?

Thefact that they ran away from home is a big one. They also try to hide that theywere raised a hesnian (sorry Alits)

15:Your OC is given the chance to go back in time. Where do they go and what dothey do?

They’dgo back to when they were 30, when Alits died. They’d try to stop it fromhappening, but would get an explanation and understanding in the end. Andpeace.

16:If your OC could have any superpower, which would it be and why?

It’shard to want super powers when you’re a sorcerer with a bunch of cool magic.Like, really the only thing they wouldn’t be able to do is travel through time.Or can Wish accomplish that too..?

17:How does your OC do during the zombie apocalypse?

They’dbe the ones tricking the zombies with simple tricks and traps to avoid gettingeaten

18:What is your OC’s dream job?

TheyDon’t Know They’re Still Young

19:Your OC’s life is a musical. What’s the title of their big show-stopping song?

CanI call it “Can’t Come Home” and we all cry?

20:Post a picture or gif that describes your OC.

 Mialee @ the Lamplighter

Nellethiel Decidueye Caphrien

1:List five basic facts about your OC.

She outrightadores all animals

She’s a slut forfood

She names her petsafter food

Her favorite foodis Lemon Oreos

Horchaelf

2:Post a line of dialogue from your OC.

“Yeah,I can see why that would be. But I get it, it’s like that for me too.” (Paraphrased)

3:Post a snippet from your writing that describes your OC.

Wellthere’s no actual writing but,

“I’mgoing to shoot the arm of the guy holding the axe so that he doesn’t attack thetiefling.” – Paraphrase of Nelle shooting a guy to protect the brother of ourwizard who wasn’t officially in the party yet.

Also:“Nelle’s going to carry Cedrick every time he passes out.”

4:Post a snippet from your writing in which another OC describes your OC.

Shehas been referred to as “the horchaelf lady” and “a pretty girl” and also “whyare you green?” By various PCs and NPCs. I feel like “Shouldn’t you be in Nelle’sroom” being said by Koraina to Cedrick is a good one.

5:Describe your OC’s physical appearance.

Nelleis a very tall young half-orc-half-elf who is perfectly futch (though pan). Her skin is acool but light green, freckled all over her body, with dark red dreads. A fewdifferent scars mark her arms, legs, and ear, and another goes through her lefteyebrow. Underneath her eyes are pale green tattoos, given to her by her orcfather, and she has the tell-tale half-orc tusks.

6:Describe your OC’s love life.

Iswear the DM (if not the entire party) is lowkey pushing the romanticinitiative between Nelle and Cedrick (our human Fighter) and I am 100% okaywith that and so is Oreo.

7:Describe your OC’s fashion sense.

Nellepicks her clothes for practicality, both when wearing them and for stealthreasons. If she can move freely and use them to not be seen, they’re good.

8:Describe one of your OC’s bad habits.

Sheeats a bunch and has little impulse control with animals.

9:Your OC is having a nightmare. What is it?

Somethingis happening to someone she cares about. Whether it’s her brother Darion, heranimal companion Oreo, or one of her beloved party members (I guess the Oily broscount for that), something bad is going on and she can’t do anything to stopit. That, or she’s in some extremely crowded or closed in space and she can’tget out.

10:You are conducting a ritual. What 5 items would you need to summon your OC?

Uhhhhha hawk feather, a dragon scale, the fletching of an arrow, the water from a brook,and lemon oreos.

11:What does your OC want for their birthday?

Justget her food and you’re good. She doesn’t have many things that she wants.

12:What does your OC give another OC for their birthday?

She’dprobably take them out to get food if she couldn’t figure out something elsethey wanted. She’d pay of course.

13:Describe your OC’s living situation.

Shehas been on the road for 4 years just crashing where she can. I guess you can sayshe’s got a room of her own in the inn in Ironforge.

14:What is one of your OC’s secrets?

UhhhI guess that she has no ambition for her life other than to help with theGuardians. She’s got a job now, she doesn’t know what else to do with herselfother than do that job as well as she can.

15:Your OC is given the chance to go back in time. Where do they go and what dothey do?

She’dprobably jump back in time in order to try and stop Maezl from gettingkidnapped. There’s like,, nothing relating to her that she’d want to mess with.

16:If your OC could have any superpower, which would it be and why?

Shecan already talk to animals what other powers does she need

17:How does your OC do during the zombie apocalypse?

SnipingALL the zombies with her longbow

18:What is your OC’s dream job?

Iguess just working for the Guardians because she had zero standards for whatkinda job she wanted to get.

19:Your OC’s life is a musical. What’s the title of their big show-stopping song?

Uhhhhhhhhhhow about “101 Ways to Work with Animals”

Cuzthat’s her thing

20:Post a picture or gif that describes your OC.

[dlamp-dictator]

Allen Rambles about Ashen Wolves

To my followers, sorry for posting this a second time, but I need to test something. If it helps, I edited out some of the grammar issues.

I finished up the Ashen Wolves DLC for Fire Emblem Three Houses about a week ago and man, do I have some feelings about it.

There was honestly more I disliked about it than liked, but at the same time I don’t think it was a complete waste of my time either. The fact that you can only get this DLC if you had the season pass is also something I don’t like, even if I got the pass months ago. I don’t think I could recommend this DLC save for the bonus features and extra classes in the pack, but… Well, let me break down my thoughts a bit here.

The New Classes

Let’s start with something easy like the classes. Overall I think the new classes have their utility, but are in general pretty niche. Mind you, I say this as a casual player just looking at basic utility unit and effort it takes to get them, so it’s possible the more hardcore players will say that War Monk Raphael is the new meta, but to break things down a little…

War Monk

I’m glad we finally have a female-brawling class, or at least class for females to get into, but it comes at a cost. You need a a decent rank in brawling and white magic to use this class, and very few characters have the stats for the that. This has that Mortal Savant problem of a physical or magical character grinding in stat they’re weak in to become a middling hybrid class. Granted, unlike Mortal Savant you can get these classes at level 20, but would anyone really power-level your healer in brawling just to punch things? Or spam characters like Petra or Ingrid in Faith just to have weak heals? I mean, there’s meme-ing and New Game +, but realistically this class feels pointless. Balthus’s heals were pathetic in the DLC and didn’t sell me on this being a hybrid class, or at least not a good one. You’d either get a healer with weak punches, or a fighter with weak heals. (Edit: I’ve just made Lysithea a War Cleric and it’s absolutely hilarious how busted she is with Aura Knuckles. However, that’s one New Game+ so my point still stands.) And while I’ll admit Holy Knight Ferdinand’s weak heals honestly saved me a few times on my Crimson Flower campaign, statistically it’s kind of pointless.

Trickster

Trickster is actually pretty good since it’s a mid-game class that most magic and physical classes can reach, as most magic users also have a decent to high ability in swords as well for some odd reason. Manuela finally has a class to naturally spec into around mid-game that works for her default weapon line, you could also sneak Marianne and Lysithea in there too if you wanted, but overall this class is pretty good. It’s not too niche, it can be worked into during the early and mid game, and while you do have at least unlock thief, that’s not a difficult class to spec into at all. The only real downside is wasting a intermediate certificate to unlock the thief class, and that’s not much of an issue save for time. Overall a good class.

Valkyrie and Dark Flier

Valkyrie and Dark Flyer are female-only classes in a game where I’ve already complained about gender-locked classes. That said, they’re okay. Nice to have a mid-game caster that has more than four movement, but this is still gender-locked, so I can’t have Lindhart flying around spamming warp, canto, and the like. Valkyrie also gives Lysithea something that compliments her dark magic use, but nothing else I can say aside from that. They’re glass canons. Powerful, but can’t take much of a hit. Their canto abilities make keeping them safe a lot easier than most casters.

The Ashen Wolves themselves, as units in the DLC, were a little underwhelming outside of their utility. Like I said, Bathus has weak heals, but his self-healing made him a tank… but that’s a skill most brawlers can get naturally. Yuri was the most useful thanks to his Canto Ring and Foul Play, but Constance and Hapi just felt like more mobile Lysethias, and while Lysethia is great, these maps didn’t really let them one-shot anything like their class functions want them to.

But moving on.

Story

So… a story about the secret fourth house in Fire Emblem Three Houses…

Okay, to make it short, the story is bad.

It’s not terrible, it’s not Fire Emblem Conquest levels of dumb plotholes, but it’s still bad. This game jumped some hoops make the Ashen Wolves work into the lore and story, only to stumble and fall. But before I tackle all that, let’s at least open with something nice, so…

The Good

I’m doing the good in list form because, frankly, there isn’t a lot of good to begin with, but I do want to acknowledge the good that’s in here.

Having a side story involving all 3 house leaders is a good idea. The lack of interaction between them in the main game made it hard to believe the three were friends.

The designs and personalities of the Ashen Wolves themselves are great. Everyone feels unique and don’t bleed into another character, an amazing feat given the size of the cast.

I surprisingly like Yuri quite a bit as a character, if a little annoyed by his blatant secret-keeping and obvious heel-turn later throughout the story.

Abyss in general is an idea I can get behind. Garreg Mach already had secret underground tombs and sanctuaries, so I can buy it having a secret society of undesirables underneath too, as well as protectors in the form of the Wolves.

The final boss was actually pretty fun, both in terms of challenge and mechanics… not a story detail, but it’s also something good.

The Bad

Okay… where to begin?

The actual plot stuff… dear lord. 

For context, Cindered Shadows revolves around three things: the Rite of Rising, a botched resurrection ritual during the early days of Garreg Mach. The Four Apostles, four mystics with special crests that conducted the Rite of Rising and were exiled after failing to resurrect Sothis. And Byleth’s mother Sitri, a nun of the church that died soon after having Byleth who also had a secret admirer in the form of Abyss’s benefactor. All three of these points feel tacked on for the sole purpose of having a fourth house exist. The descendants of the four apostles just happening to be in the same place? Byleth’s mom just happening to have a random admirer as the main villain? The fact that a second type of resurrection ritual existing that just happened to never to be mentioned? Now, I’ve only finished Crimson Flower, the route that did the least amount of world-building and setting explanation, but even I recognize that some hoops are being jumped here. It feels like there’s a lot of world-building either being ignored or retconned so that the Four Apostles make sense within the lore. Especially since all four Ashen Wolves just happen to be descendants of the them. That’s just poor writing to me.

Yuri pulling that double heel and face-turn at the end was also dumb. Yuri being a rouge and scoundrel with secret motives is fine, that’s basically his character at a glance. However, that makes the heel-turn obvious, especially when it happens within the last three chapters of the side story. Again, it just feels like bad writing to have the obvious rouge character turn on you at the last minute. Yes, there were some hints that he was playing both sides, but still. The shady guy being shady isn’t really much of a plot twist, and while that isn’t bad in itself the fact that the writers try to frame it as clever, or at least as an honest surprise just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Overall, it feels like what was going to be a simple story about Abyss and the people there turned into something more complicated for the sake of giving it more importance, and that irritates me.

And the gameplay? The maps themselves? Let’s talk about that next.

The Maps and Gameplay

There’s a video by a Bismix that summarizes my feelings perfectly:

“So how was Cindered Shadows?”

“Foul Play was cool.”

And you know what? Foul Play was cool. A special movement skill that swaps places with a unit at decent range. Combined with the Canto ring it was a damn handy tool to move around Edelgard and Lindhart. But aside from that, I have a question for the Old Guard of Fire Emblem. The folks that have been playing this since that old GBA title that featured Eliwood.

Do you like getting kicked in the dick? Repeatedly?

Because that’s what these levels felt like. A map full of Assassins with high Avoid, magic users with high damage, and every unit having Silver Weapons. Is there a reason for this aside from challenge? Is there a reason to be this disadvantaged after chapter 3? And the reinforcement, don’t even get me started on the reinforcements. Chapter 2, 3, and 4 were complete bullshit because of them. Three waves of reinforcements and the Death Knight? A 1-in-3 chance of summoning reinforcements with a stats debuff for pulling the wrong lever? An escape map that features an entire army of reinforcements at the very last section? There’s challenge, and then there’s this.

I’ll ask again Old Guard, do you like getting kicked in the dick repeatedly?

Because whenever I see nonsense like that I remember the complaints about current Fire Emblem games being too easy. And while I’ll admit to not being a hardcore fan of this series, I doubt that the game was meant to induce so many unfair advantages and rage-inducing moments toward the enemy for the sake of challenge. I had to set this game down at least five times while playing through this DLC. I don’t find it a challenge to face a mountain of enemies that only four characters on my team can realistically fight, and only 3 of them actual able to hit said enemies. I don’t see feeding half the map to Byleth, Dimitri, and Balthus because they’re the few units that can take the hits and get kills to be skillful. I don’t get how spamming reinforcements after a long and difficult map is adding challenge. 

The only map that had an interesting gimmick was the final boss. Their map-wide attack displaced your entire army and summoned two phantoms that would be sacrificed to heal the boss at the end of your next turn if you didn’t kill them in time. However, the phantoms could be killed by most of your party in one or two rounds, and they dropped heal potions for your party to share and use to prep for the next phase. That map was a matter of prioritizing which units to tank the phantoms damage, trade blows, heal with the potions obtained, and get into position to do major damage to the boss when it was on cooldown. It was fun once I learned the pattern and a challenge as you couldn’t just spam the same units to take out the phantoms due to the party displacement. It was fun, interesting, and required on-the-fly strategy, the only map to really do so.

This… is leading me down something off-topic, so I’ll simply say that adding challenge in a turn-based RPG should always be based on gimmicks and special rules to keep the gameplay interesting, rarely should raising numbers be the main way of adding challenge.

With that out the way I’ll get to my last point, which is…

Small Nitpicks that Only Bug Allen

I’d usually state this portion first, but this DLC had so many bigger issues that I feel it’d be best to use my nitpicks as a cooldown rather than a warm-up. Thankfully my nitpicks are more so my preferences than actual nitpicks, as most small issues I have with this DLC are issues that came from the original. That said:

I feel like Ashe and Hilda should had been switched out for Mercedes and Raphael. We really needed at least one more decent healer in that group, and as I said before, Bathus and Yuri’s heals are pathetically weak. Either that or Lindhart should have had the Warp spell. Raph would had another decent tank that wasn’t as much of a glass canon as Hilda. Yes, we had Edelgard, but I would had preferred Raph do the tanking.

Jeralt and Sothis should had been involved in this DLC. I don’t care that they were trying to keep the canon point ambiguous, it should had happened. If Byleth wasn’t going to react to their mother’s dead corpse then I sure as hell would had liked to see either Sothis or Jeralt do so. Again, I don’t like Byleth, but that lack of emotion on their part really kills moments like this.

I would had liked it if they didn’t lock skills. Chapter 3 and 4 wouldn’t had been so suffering if Lindhart could warp Edelgard a few times. Again, getting kicked in the dick isn’t my idea of fun or challenging.

So, with all that out of the way I think I can move on to my last point, which is:

In the Future

Like I usually say, I find it pointless to try and “fix” a story that’s already been told, but I see nothing wrong with make suggestions for the future.

That said I’d like to see the next story DLC focus more on the culture and world of Fodlan. We only know about these places by name and their students, not much else. A DLC that covers the five-year gap would be nice, something that doesn’t have Byleth in it would be nice too. Fire Emblem Fates had a few Corrin-less DLC maps, and Fire Emblem Echoes had some side stories without Alm and Celica. I think it could work. A story DLC on the church and specifically Sothis would be great too. A story map that showed how Dimitri lost his eye. A prologue map showing all the houses meeting up before Byleth came into the picture. A playable map of the Battle of Red Cliffs, things like that.

If we get more classes in future DLC then please no more gender-locked classes is all I have to say. Anyway, that’s all I got for now. Maybe now I’ll actually finish the Gacha Rambling…

Or maybe I’ll do a thesis on Granbelm, which ever comes first.

[gregorypguu108-blog]

15 Gifts for the design review Lover in Your Life

Excellent Internet site design is not only wanted by the web retailers and e-commerce Sites but one other brick-and-mortar and physical shops also need a good Internet presence. With smartphones acquiring ubiquitous, all over ninety four% with the business-to-organization customers are looking into corporations online in advance of approaching them. The exact same figure for shoppers is near to a whopping ninety seven%! Therefore regardless of what type of small business you have, you need a tailored, consumer-helpful, and business enterprise-oriented Site design and style in Singapore being shopper most loved.

™

Here are some of The key components of enterprise-oriented and powerful Site style and design. Go in the report and take a look at to incorporate Many of these features in the web presence and web design.

Cellular Responsiveness Customers and individuals are applying their mobile phones just about everywhere, even in the retail and brick-and-mortar shops for comparing the costs and for searching for reviews of the offerings. Surveys reveal that smartphones are the primary info resources for much more than ninety% of consumers while they store on the physical merchants, though 62% of them make their acquire on the net by way of smartphones. You can find close to 9 billion cell phone people now. Via the year 2021, approx. 3.8 billion individuals will likely be making use of smartphones around the globe. You don't need to overlook this chance by using a poor cell application or an unresponsive business Internet site. Stats also reveal that close to forty% of The shoppers migrate to other on the net retailers whenever they Have got a bad internet shopping encounter. As a result, strengthening to the mobile facets of your enterprise and Web site layout in Singapore will on your own carry to you personally remarkable returns and revenues. It is one of An important elements of web design that should be introduced to the most up-to-date criteria immediately.

Straightforward Navigation Though all organizations Use a motive to help make profits, they should also be helpful to The purchasers. Among the primary plans of a business may also be fixing the particular desires of consumers. Fantastic Internet site navigation and intuitive and person-helpful interfaces are some of the techniques by which it is possible to clearly show to the customer segment and shoppers that you simply are actually caring in your individuals. The navigation should really make browsing straightforward and delightful in your clients, and they must manage to get back again towards the homepage very easily from any part of the web site. Cluttering of the website will also be an obstacle in direction of improving consumer encounter and wouldn't make it possible for an enriching browsing experience. You may retain the services of a leading Web-site business in Singapore for any desirable and person-friendly Web site design and style.

Plainly, Show of Get in touch with Details Shoppers have faith in Web-sites and on-line suppliers that Evidently display the Speak to data from the business enterprise, together with Actual physical/Workplace addresses, cellphone numbers, and email Call addresses. Placement in the Get hold of info should also be acceptable so the consumers can designer reviews easily get to for the cell phone to help make any query. For example, the deal with and contact data might be put at the highest of the web site homepage. It goes without expressing that Web-site layout must also be backed by prompt and courteous customer support.

Rapidly Loading of Web Pages A new review reveals that the majority of users/buyers never keep on a Website and swap towards the competitor Web site if it doesn't load inside three seconds. Make sure your application and on line devices are up-to-date and pictures and video clips are optimized for speedy obtain. A highly trained website business in Singapore can optimize your site layout at An inexpensive Price. The website should really load speedy to offer for superior person engagement and conversion premiums.

Accuracy and simplicity are generally wished-for in Site structure. You can even include much more own touches towards your Website design to enhance your model's perceived price.

Exactly what is it?

Any keep, be it a cafe, a structure retailer, a grocery store, Regardless of the merchandise or companies you happen to be providing, the whole structure of your respective retail outlet matters. Tweaking the design of your retail outlet can bring you a major change in profits. In easy conditions, designers who plan your shop structure format use several aspects like the keep stream, buyer's ideas and way of thinking, etc to place products in the proper positions, together with creating the format to enhance the product sales.

Though the alterations inside the store inside style and design does not audio that efficient to the advance of business enterprise, let's assure you that it is one among The most crucial aspects. Let us consider the instance of a coffee shop. Precisely what is the first thing that you choose to see once you stop by a espresso store? It really is outlook! Of course, They might have a superb, or dreadful coffee, although the coffee store style appeals to you instantaneously. Transferring on, any time you enter in the doorway, the seating arrangement, the lights, the posture of the counter, all this issues. While individually these little cafe layout elements Will not seem like much, if you pair them alongside one another, it is exactly what can make the customer stay in the shop for a longer interval and make them come to feel comfortable.

The benefits

Clearly, the greatest benefit of shelling out huge focus to your cellular store design, garments shop style, or any store for that matter is the increase in gross sales and revenue. For instance, get the situation of the jewellery showroom style and design. Jewellery is principally worn for its aesthetics, and what much better way to point out The great thing about the material which makes them glow below yellow lights? This is the trick designers do even though generating a jewellery shop design and style.

In the situation of an inside style shop, most patterns are made these types of that The shopper incorporates a come to feel of an real house. The kitchen area modules, the bedrooms,and so forth compliment one another, therefore building them far more beautiful to The shopper

Coming up with the structure assists persuade prospects. By a simple general guideline, the lengthier a customer is with your store, the more the likelihood of them acquiring something. Consequently, the look layout revolves all-around ensuring The shoppers continue to be very long plenty of for being excited and desirous to purchase the solutions. The escalator positions, placement of the various departments, and so on are many of the ways in which This is certainly finished. In the situation of the coffee shop interior layout, inserting couches as an alternative to ordinary picket seats can make The purchasers want to stay extra and unwind, which subsequently will almost always be certain in them purchasing more solutions.

A further profit is the fact a perfectly-drawn out structure plan can generate supplemental product sales. By positioning items that is certainly commonly acquired collectively, clients would sense inclined for getting both equally the solutions. Such as, within the readymade garment store inside design, in the event you posture belts in the vicinity of pants, you might have the next sale than for those who location precisely the same belts near the shirt area.

A good style can decrease theft as well as provide up a positive emotion in The client. By positioning high priced items in glass scenarios or close to securities, shoplifting can be lessened. Also, by modifying the height on the fixtures, the ceiling style for shop, and so on, you can make a exclusive design and style and bring about an excellent response by The client.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #30: Martha

On today’s Fate and Phantasms, we’re building the matron saint of a lot of things that relate to hospitality and last of the original riders, Martha! In this build, Martha’s mostly a life cleric, but she does have a little monk sprinkled in for flavor. You’ll have your hands full keeping your party of likely murderhobos alive, but they’re your murderhobos, so you need to be able to teach anyone who hurts them a valuable lesson about exactly how much pressure you can put on their ulna before it snaps like a twig.

As always, a spreadsheet for this build can be found here, and a level-by-level breakdown is below the cut!

Race/Background

As you’d probably expect, Martha is a Human, meaning she has +1 in every stat. She’s also an Acolyte, giving her proficiency in Insight and Religion.

Abilities

Martha has a lot of Wisdom, both in the sense that she’s wise, and because she just gets along great with animals. Next is her Constitution; country living has made Martha pretty sturdy. Martha has to be pretty nimble to hop over a dragon-sized shotput, so after that is Dexterity. After that is Charisma: Martha is a nice person, but it’s not a huge part of the build, so it’s a little low. After that is Intelligence, for roughly the same reason, and finally dump Strength. Martha’s not a powerhouse; it’s all technique. It’s technique that flings a house-sized reptile at your enemies.

Class Levels

1. Cleric 1: I’m not sure what you’re expecting from someone with that much of a cross motif going on, but Martha is a Cleric, specifically of the Life domain. At first level, she gains proficiency with Heavy Armor, Medicine, Persuasion, Wisdom saves, Charisma saves, and become a Disciple of Life. When Martha heal someone with a spell better than a cantrip, add 2 + the spell’s level to the healing. 

You also gain Spellcasting, using wisdom as your casting ability. Clerics prepare spells, rather than learn them, so I’ll leave you to figure out the exact list you want for yourself. For cantrips though, grab Thaumaturgy and Light to strike the fear of Him into some people and Mending to keep everything in shape for guests. As a life cleric, Martha also gain Bless and Cure Wounds as domain spells, meaning they’re always prepared and don’t count against the number of spells you can prepare.

2. Cleric 2: Second level life clerics gain one use of Channel Divinity per short rest, in two flavors: Turn Undead and Preserve Life. The former forces undead away from Martha with a failed wisdom save and the latter can split 5 times her cleric level in healing among any number of creatures within 30′ of her, but it can’t heal a creature past being bloodied. The Lord helps those that help themselves, after all.

3. Cleric 3: Third level clerics get second level spells, and Martha gets two new domain spells, Lesser Restoration and Spiritual Weapon. The former heals a creature of one condition or disease, including, presumably, leprosy. The latter lets you magic another copy of your staff into existence, which can make attacks on your bonus action. In FGO you could heal yourself and attack on the same turn, but that obviously won’t fly in D&D, so this is a pretty good compromise.

4. Cleric 4: Use your first ASI to pick up a new UA feat, Crusher. This increases Martha’s Dexterity by one, and once per turn, whenever she deals bludgeoning damage she can more a creature by 5′ with no save, if they’re less than two sizes larger than you. Also, critical hits with bludgeoning damage cause attacks against the targeted creature to be made with advantage until the end of your next turn, because kicking someone really hard in the shins tends to be distracting.

Martha also gains a new cantrip, Guidance, letting Jesus take the wheel for one ability check.

5. Cleric 5: At fifth level, Martha’s Turn Undead becomes Destroy Undead, instantly destroying undead of CR 1/2 or less when they fail their save. She also gains third level spells, including her domain spells Beacon of Hope and Revivify. The former gives allies within 30′ of you advantage on wisdom and death saving throws, and they always gain the maximum possible amount of healing from a spell. It’s basically Dumping Ice Water on Bards: The Spell. The latter lets you bring someone who died in the last minute back to life. God would probably frown on muscling into Jesus’ territory, but it’s such an expensive spell that it’s probably a moot point.

6. Cleric 6: Sixth level clerics can use their Channel Divinity twice per rest now, and Martha becomes a Blessed Healer. Now whenever she casts a healing spell on another creature, she also gains the healing from Disciple of Life.

Now that Martha has a way to heal herself without neglecting her teammates, lets immediately abuse that and get on the front lines.

7. Monk 1: First level monks like Martha get Unarmored Defense, giving Martha an AC of 10 + her dex mod + her wis mod as long as she isn’t wearing armor. Surprisingly, Martha is one of the few servants who is clearly wearing armor in most of her ascensions, but her first stage is just clothing, so this can still work. Don’t worry, we won’t make a habit of this. She also learns Martha Arts, letting her use a d4 for unarmed strikes, use dexterity instead of strength when attacking with monk weapons, and make an unarmed strike as a bonus action after your normal attack action. 

8. Monk 2: As a second level monk, Martha learns to channel her Ki, letting her spend that ki to either A) make two attacks as a bonus action. B) Dodge as a bonus action. or C) Disengage or dash as a bonus action and double your jump distance. Unlike her Martial Arts, Martha can use these while wearing armor. She also gains Unarmored Movement, adding 10′ to her movement while not wearing armor.

9. Monk 3: Third level monks like Martha pick a tradition to learn from, and Martha’s pick is the Way of the Open Hand. At this level, Martha learns the Open Hand Technique. When she hits a creature with her flurry of blows, she can A) force a dex save, knocking them prone on a failure. B) force a strength save, pushing them 15′ away on a failure. or C) prevent it from taking reacitons until the end of her next turn.

Martha also learns to Deflect Missiles, reducing ranged attack damage with her reaction, and even send it back with a ki point. John 8:7 indeed.

10. Cleric 7: Seventh level clerics get fourth level spells, and Martha gets two new domain spells: Death Ward and Guardian of Faith. The first grants guts to one creature Martha touches, and the latter lets you summon a large, suspiciously dragonlike guardian that deals radiant damage to any hostiles that get within 10′ of it.

11. Cleric 8: With this next ASI, Martha becomes Resilient in Dexterity, adding one to her ability and becoming proficient in dex saves. her Destroy Undead is enhanced, destroying creatures of CR 1 or less now. Finally, she also gains a divine strike, adding 1d8 of radiant damage to her attack once per turn.

12. Cleric 9: Ninth level clerics get fifth level spells, and Martha also gets her last domain spells, Mass Cure Wounds and Raise Dead. The former, as its name implies, heals multiple creatures of their wounds, and the latter raises the dead within 10 days. A rich man can’t pass into heaven, but they can keep living on earth... something about that really doesn’t feel like it’s in the spirit of things.

13. Cleric 10: At 10th level, Martha can call upon Divine Intervention, asking the big man himself to sort out whatever’s causing a problem. She can do this once per day, but has to wait a week between successful interventions because again, he helps those who help themselves.

Martha also gets her last cantrip; grab Sacred Flame to keep a little fire power for yourself when Tarrasque goes on strike.

14. Cleric 11: Eleventh level clerics gain sixth level spells, and their Destroy Undead becomes even more powerful, destroying any undead at or under CR 2. You can expect these last few levels to become more streamlined, as they become more focused on having high level spells than any physical improvements.

15. Cleric 12: Martha’s next ASI is going into her Wisdom, which improves both her cleric and monk saves as well as her AC.

16. Cleric 13: Martha gets seventh level spells this level. This includes Resurrection, which finally gets around those time limits you’ve had to deal with up to this point. Well, you still have to get there within a century, but that probably isn’t an issue in most combat situations.

17. Cleric 14: At 14th level, Martha’s Destroy Undead powers up again, destroying undead of CR 3 or lower. Her Divine Strike also improves, adding 2d8 Radiant damage per turn.

18. Cleric 15: 15th level clerics get eighth level spells. There isn’t much at this point that fits Martha, aside from maybe Holy Aura.

19. Cleric 16: Martha’s last ASI will go towards improving her Dexterity. Now you’re almost at good at breaking bones as you are at mending them.

20. Cleric 17: For Martha’s capstone level, her Destroy Undead improves one last time, destroying undead of CR 4 or less. She also gains ninth level spells, and obtains Supreme Healing. Now healing spells always provide the maximum benefit, no rolling required.

Pros: Martha’s very good at keeping people alive thanks to her spells, and very hard to pin down thanks to crusher and her open hand technique effectively preventing three opportunity attacks if she gets surrounded.

Cons: Martha doesn’t deal that much damage, and almost all of it is either radiant or bludgeoning, so facing anything that resists either type is going to be a pain. Monk also isn’t a good class for splashing into; her Ki is very limited, so you’ll have to make tough decisions about when she’s going to use it.  Multiclassing also cuts you off from a cleric’s strongest feature, the guaranteed interventions at level 20.

[thisdaynews]

Behind Nate Silver’s war with The New York Times

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/behind-nate-silvers-war-with-the-new-york-times/

Behind Nate Silver’s war with The New York Times

POLITICO illustration/Getty Images photo

Media

The paper’s one-time data guru can’t stop kicking his ex-employer for its 2020 polling analysis and supposed capitulation to Trump.

Nate Silver made his name as The New York Times’ data guru, creating the methodology that predicted Barack Obama’s re-election.

Now, Silver’s method seems to be to stir up trouble for the Times.

Story Continued Below

The 41-year-old editor of the data-driven news site FiveThirtyEight recently called his former employer arrogant, engaged in an extended Twitter debate with his successor, who is also named Nate, and helped ignite outrage online over the paper’s front-page headline on the president’s response to two mass shootings, a wound that caused such pain it obliged Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger and executive editor Dean Baquet to hold an all-staff meeting this week to clear the air.

Silver’s persistent criticism of the Times, stretching back to the last presidential election, has long struck some inside the newsroom as less about methodology and more about personal grievances with the paper that was unable to meet his demands to expandFiveThirtyEight and now publishes The Upshot, which features Nate Cohn’s coverage of elections, polling and demographics.

In discussions with POLITICO, Times staffers questioned Silver’s motivation for repeatedly criticizing the paper, though declined to comment publicly, declining to pick a fight with Silver and his three-plus million Twitter followers. However, frustrations have spilled out publicly, at times, with reporters suggesting on Twitter that Silver’s assessments of the paper’s journalism veered beyond respectful disagreement.

White House reporter Maggie Haberman once derided his “gratuitous jabs at a former employer,” while political and investigative reporter Nick Confessore characterized a tweet criticizing the paper’s 2016 coverage as “a cheap shot masquerading as something else.”

Silver, however, has not been deterred. In recent weeks, he took issue with reporter Peter Baker’s analysis of Robert Mueller’s testimony as “not the blockbuster Democrats had sought,” by grousing, “Why not just report the news and not reach for a weird like 5th order conditional/counterfactual narrative.” He also poured some gasoline on the embers of the dispute over Times deputy Washington editor Jonathan Weisman’s allegedly racist tweet. And he “sparked a social media furor,” as the Columbia Journalism Review noted, by being the first to call attention to the Times’ now-infamous headline on President Donald Trump’s response to shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

“Not sure “TRUMP URGES UNITY VS. RACISM” is how I would have framed the story,” Silver wrote in a tweet that was seized on by 2020 Democratic candidates and others critical of the headline. Editors changed the headline, which Baquet told staffers Monday was “a fucking mess.”

“I do think a lot of NYTs problems (and to be clear, there are *many* things they do very well along with some *serious* problems) are born out of arrogance; thinking they’re the most important voice in the room,” Silver wrote after the headline blow-up. “Nothing engenders that sort of arrogance like a lack of competition.”

When it comes to data analysis, at least, Silver offers competition of his own via FiveThirtyEight, the former Times site that is now under the auspices of ABC. This summer, a Silver-generated dispute over how the Times analyzes polling data has morphed into the “Battle of the Nates,” as the wonky Twitter beef has been dubbed. In one recent skirmish, Silver told the younger Cohn that he hoped he’d “grow out of” a phase of calling things “simultaneously a prediction and not a prediction.”

Cohn and Silver declined requests for interviews. But in emails to POLITICO, Silver praised Cohn’s work, while dismissing suggestions his criticism of the Times is motivated by a rivalry or personal grudge.

“Media criticism is a core part of what I do,” Silver said. “I founded FiveThirtyEight 11 years ago because I had a lot of critiques of how the American press covers elections.”

“Given the extremely prominent and influential place that the Times holds in coverage of American politics, any media critiques are naturally going to invoke the Times frequently,” he continued. “I think they’d do well to take those criticisms to heart instead of constantly accusing their critics of having ulterior motives or acting in bad faith.”

Nonetheless, New York Times spokesperson told POLITICO: “We don’t always agree with Nate but he sometimes offers smart criticism of our work and we value that, it makes us better.”

The Times’ history with Silver dates from 2010, when it took over FiveThirtyEight under a three-year agreement. His posts were a traffic-driver for the Times’s site and — like Cohn — he used polling data to raise provocative questions about elections, such as his Nov. 2011 Times magazine cover story asking, “Is Obama Toast?” Obama wasn’t, and Silver went on to correctly call all 50 states ahead of the 2012 re-election.

As his star rose in the media world, Silver, who was based in New York, developed a strained relationship with the Times’s political reporters in Washington. Former Times public editor Margaret Sullivan noted in 2013 how Silver didn’t “really fit into the Times culture”and Silver has accused the paper’s political reporters of being “incredibly hostile and incredibly unhelpful.”

Silver had fans in Times management, but the paper couldn’t meet his demands to stay.

“When Nate Silver was negotiating a new, richer contract, his lawyer told me that his client was ‘the prettiest girl at the prom,’” former Times executive editor Jill Abramson wrote in her 2018 book, “Merchants of Truth.” “I told him, perhaps echoing the past, ‘The Times is always the prettiest girl.’”

Abramson told POLITICO that Silver sought funding for about 20 “stat mavens in different areas, including sports and weather,” which “would have required a huge investment,” from the paper. In July 2013, Silver decamped to ESPN, which bought the FiveThirtyEight site and provided Silver with resources to build a data-driven newsroom. ABC News — which, like ESPN, is owned by Disney — acquired FiveThirtyEight last year.

The Times rebounded after Silver’s departure by hiring Cohn, another young data wiz, in Nov. 2013 and launching The Upshot five months later.

Both Silver and Cohn came under scrutiny during the 2016 election for underestimating Donald Trump in the Republican primary. On Election Day, The Upshot put Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the electoral college at 85%, while FiveThirtyEight was less bullish than most election models at 71%.

Following the 2016 shocker, Silver published an 11-part opus: “The Real Story Of 2016: What reporters — and lots of data geeks, too — missed about the election, and what they’re still getting wrong.” And the Times, Silver wrote, “is a good place to look for where coverage went wrong.”

While the Times was Silver’s primary target, he suggested the paper’s political coverage was emblematic of broader problems in 2016, such as journalist groupthink, access-driven reporting, and a misplaced notion of Clinton’s inevitability. In the Trump era, Silver has accused the Times of normalizing neo-Nazism and being beholden to White House access.

On Tuesday, Silver suggested the Times is “too self-conscious about trying to prove” that it’s not part of the resistance to Trump that it will “likely worsen their journalism” and critics such as the president “will accuse them all of it all the same.”

And then there’s the running dispute with Cohn, who wrote on July 19 how Trump’s “Electoral College edge could grow in 2020.” Despite Trump’s low national polls, Cohn pointed to the importance of a potential “tipping-point state,” like Wisconsin, where the president’s favorability is higher than average.

Silver argued that Cohn’s analysis of Trump’s Electoral College path is premature based on the polling currently available. “I’m pretty skeptical that we can say much right now about whether it will be larger, smaller or nonexistent in 2020,” he tweeted.

Cohn acknowledged the map can change before the 2020 election, but responded: “The piece is plainly describing the president’s current standing, and goes to unusual lengths to explain that it can change.”

“I think it’s kind of BS to lean really heavily into a particular takeaway in top 80 percent of the article, not to mention the headline/lead/social promotion/etc., and then to introduce the caveats in (literally!!) the 42nd paragraph,” Silver responded. The spat resumed nearly a week later, with Silver accusing Cohn of cherry-picking data to support his hypothesis about an election 16 months away.

Dr. Rachel Bitecofer, assistant director of the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University, and who has analyzed the 2020 race using her own election model, told POLITICO that both Silver and Cohn had legitimate critiques.

But, she added, there seemed “to be a personal hostility that was coming through that was more than about methodology.” She said it looked like Silver was criticizing Cohn “for doing the same type of piece that Nate Silver has written many times.”

In an email to POLITICO, Silver praised Cohn for being “exceptionally good at what he does” and said that he doesn’t think “there are actually many philosophical differences” between them. He said “a lot of things that boil down to what you might call matters of taste,” such as “how certain things are described or when to apply a certain method to a certain problem.”

“Practitioners often feel passionately about matters like these,” he added, “but I don’t know that they’re terribly newsworthy or important in the grand scheme of things.”

Yet Silver didn’t let the dispute go. Days later, he offered a mocking subtweet in response to new polls: “bUt I WaS ToLd ThAt TrUmP LoOkEd StRoNg In ThE TiPPiNg PoInT StAtEs aNd HaS a BiGgEr eLeCtoRaL CoLLeGe AdVaNtAgE tHaN iN 2o16.”

New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait, one of the many journalists following the recurring Twitter spat, responded: “At this point, the best advice I can give you, as a fan of both, is to settle this with a straight-out fistfight.”

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[gamerszone2019-blog]

16 Essential Tips for Training, Battling, and More in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/16-essential-tips-for-training-battling-and-more-in-fire-emblem-three-houses/

16 Essential Tips for Training, Battling, and More in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Last Edited: July 26, 2019 at 8:48 AM

If you’re having troubles adjusting to life at Garreg Mach Monastery, or just looking to get the advantage over the rival houses, check out these tips to help you in your academics, exploring the monastery, battling, and more!

Classes and Personal Abilities[edit]

Every character has their own unique ability, and some of them work even better when paired with the right classes. For instance, Dedue‘s ability to raise his defense is made all the better when gaining defense bonuses from being an Armored Knight, and Ashe‘s Lockpick ability allows him to pursue other classes without anyone on the team having to be a Thief. Take a good look at all of your units abilities, and see where you can make teams work best together to play off each other’s strengths.

Invest in Budding Talents[edit]

Many students you teach – including Byleth – have Budding Talents that are unlock potentials of skills that can vastly alter what classes they can excel at. These talents are represented by three start slots that fill in as you give 1-on-1 training, or when Byleth gets faculty training at the Monastery.

By unlocking a Budding Talent, not only does the skill get a positive xp bonus, but you’ll also unlock a special ability that no other unit gets for learning that skill. Because of this, it’s worth investing in at least unlocking the budding talent to nab a free ability, and then looking at your goals to see if a class change will benefit the unit – and the whole team.

Stick With Your Strengths[edit]

The character Byleth starts with skill proficiencies in Sword, Authority, Brawl, and Faith (if the budding talent is unlocked). There’s a reason for this, as Byleth will eventually unlock a unique class to certify as over the course of the story, and it just happens to excel in swords and faith

Because of this, it’s worth playing to your main character’s strengths so that you don’t needlessly reclass, unless you really want to impress a student and recruit them, or fill a gap that your team is missing. Since they are already great with swords and faith, Byleth can also excel as a Holy Knight when you reach Master level certifications, as you’ll only need to refocus a bit for riding and lance skills.

Lords Should Stick to Their Strengths, Too[edit]

As you can imagine, the three house leaders are much the same as Byleth. By Part Two of the story, each of the leaders will automatically reclass into a more powerful lord unit, and each is unique to that character, and plays off their base strengths. Because of this, you should always have Edelgard focus on Axe and Heavy Armor, Dimitri on Lance and Authority, and Claude in Bows and Flying, and dabble a bit in their secondary skills or budding talents.

Like Byleth, they all have Budding Talents, but some of them may require them to change away from their upgraded Lord classes, so be ready to sacrifice that new look if you really want to experiment.

Rare Classes[edit]

Not all Classes you can certify are equal – some are gender-locked, unique to certain characters, or very rare to obtain.

Over the course of the story in Part One, you’ll be able to nominate one student to unlock the Dancer class certification – so make sure that student is the right fit for the job (and preferably already knows magic) to excel in that role.

There are also two Classes – the Dark Mage and Dark Bishop, that can only be unlocked by obtaining a Dark Seal. This item is only dropped from a rare an unique enemy you’ll run into four times in the story, giving you a chance to obtain up to four. If you don’t have two characters who need to benefit from using Dark Magic, you should only try getting two Dark Seals – just be careful against the foe who holds them.

Don’t Spread Your Goals[edit]

It’s fun to experiment with different skills and goals, while learning new abilities and arts along the way. However, the more you spread out training, the harder it will be for a unit to certify new classes, and the less powerful they’ll be as a result.

Once you get the feel for how each of your units works, take a good look at the List of Classes to see which each one requires to certify, and make a list of which characters you want to be which classes, and focus their goals in those areas whenever possible.

That said, having multiple classes available isn’t always a bad thing, so once your unit finally certifies a class, see if there’s another class they’re close to obtaining already, and shift your goals slightly before setting your sights on the next tier.

Find Out What You Need Each Month[edit]

You’ll get a few Free Days each month to do as you please, and while there’s no wrong answer, you can really excel by figuring out the areas you’re lacking in and making sure you take advantage of the options.

If Byleth’s own skills are lacking, be sure to spend a day getting in Faculty Training to boost up your skills, or look for a Seminar that hits all the skills you’re looking to build that can benefit your team too.

If your team is looking good in their skills but feeling weak or fragile, take the time to engage in some Auxiliary Battles to boost up your experience and levels – which means more stats – ahead of the next main mission. Battles are also the best way to earn a lot more gold, if you find yourself low on funds or in need of new weapons.

If your team is constantly struggling to get skill levels or looking unmotivated, consider resting for a day, or explore the monastery and stock up on gifts and return lost items, or other activities to raise up the motivations of your crew.

Recruit Who You Need, Not Who You Want[edit]

Yes, it can be tempting to try and entice as many students into your house as possible, but you need to realize that in order to recruit everyone, you’d need at least a C or B in each skill, not to mention a crazy amount of stats across the board to persuade everyone.

By trying to impress a large selection of other students, Byleth may become weaker for it – especially if you end up trying to train up Heavy Armor, Riding, and Flying at the same time. Stick to one or two auxiliary skills that can impress multiple students that you need who specialize in something you’re lacking, and then focus on Byleth’s main skills like Swords and Authority to pick up characters like Felix, Dorothea, or Ignatz as well.

(Of course, feel free to make an exception if you’re looking to steal away a character for romantic reasons – but be smart about it and see if other characters are looking for similar skills!)

Explore at Least Once a Month[edit]

Unless you really can’t stand the thought of making small talk with characters between missions, you should absolutely explore the Monastery at least once every month. The amount of things that change from month-to-month are too great to ignore, while most things don’t change until the next moon arises.

Taking part in Tournaments, checking the garden for harvesting flowers and stat boosts, fishing up rare fish that can sell for gold, and taking on simple quests to get extra supplies are very important. You’ll also find plenty of new items each month like Lost Items to raise support levels of your team, and even books to raise your Professor Level to increase points and funding.

Treat Hero’s Relics Like Glass[edit]

Weapons like Byleth’s Sword of the Creator and Catherine‘s Thunderbrand are incredible – but only while they have enough durability to wield. Because they can do incredible damage, especially when combined with Combat Arts, you may end up using them too frequently to the point that they break when you truly need them.

Since Hero’s Relics cost rare materials to upgrade, its best to use it only in emergencies against regular foes or bosses that threaten to kill you if you don’t act quick. Otherwise, try saving them for battles against giant beasts, as most Hero’s Relics do increased damage to them anyway, and can save you a lot of pain.

If you’re looking for an easy way to repair your relics, be sure to have a good team focus fire on each part of a monster’s shield, using powerful weapons or Gambits to break each square. If you can break all four (without killing it first), you’ll gain special stones needed to help repair your weapons.

Have Backup Weapons in the Convoy[edit]

It’s easy to forget that Byleth alone has the ability to access the Convoy at any point in a mission – as does anyone who is next to him. If you ever feel yourself going all in on Combat Arts and breaking your weapons frequently, consider having spares at the ready in your convoy, and keep Byleth near whichever unit seems to be low on durability – just in case the worst should happen, they’ll be able to quickly trade and keep on fighting.

A Battalion for Every Occasion[edit]

Battalions are more than just eye candy – they provide buffs to each character that equips them, and can even get random stats leveling up like any unit. More than that, there are many Battalions that provide specific gambits that can turn the tide when used correctly.

Having trouble corralling a giant monster and getting him to look away from the rest of your crew? Consider a Battalion with Lure to swap the enemy behind your character, or put him in reach of the rest of your team.

If you’re in a mission where speed is essential, give someone a Battalion with Stride to increase your movement in a turn to get everyone to their destination that much faster. Make sure to ascertain the battlefield before starting to make sure everyone has the battalion they need.

Try to Prioritize One Secondary Skill[edit]

The more advanced the class, the more likely it may require one skill like Riding, Flying, or Heavy Armor. Because these are the hardest to level up (you have to be classed as a unit who makes use of the skill to get experience in battle), you don’t want to spread yourself too thin by trying to master all three.

Most units are best swapping between being a regular unit that can reclass into cavalry or a flier when needed – but usually not both, unless they happen to gain bonus experience for both. Otherwise, you run the risk of them failing to certify for any of their classes if they can’t get enough experience in either.

Might or Magic[edit]

Any class you become will let you use almost any melee weapon (Mounted units cannot use Brawling Weapons), but not every class lets you cast spells. If you’re training up someone to become a master of the physical and magical – be careful. Leveling up as a melee class will mean you won’t be able to make any use of your magical talents until you finally certify into a casting class, and in the meantime, your level ups can be affected by poor magical growth.

On the flipside, trying to raise your strength as a Priest is probably asking for trouble – so consider swapping between magical and physical classes every so often if you’re going to one day class that unit into something like a Mortal Savant or Dark/Holy Knight. Otherwise just remember that whatever your unit was prioritizing while leveling up, they’ll likely suffer trading off against a unit with better stats in the other department.

Always Be Thieving[edit]

It’s worth your while to have at least one student in your class certify as a Thief, even if they reclass immediately. You never know when you’ll go into a mission with lots of chests and doors, and if you forget to stock up on keys, the Thief may be your only hope.

It’s also important to check all your enemies inventories before starting a battle – you’ll find in later battles that many enemies carry Seals that do not drop upon death – they can only be stolen from a Thief with higher speed than the target!

Don’t Always Reclass Right Away[edit]

It’s tempting the second a unit reaches level 15, 20, or 30 – to immediately certify and reclass into a cooler looking unit. Since you don’t go back to level 1, there’s no harm to your stats either, though your stat growth may be altered.

However, remember that each Class has its own pool of Class Experience, which raises slightly each time you go into a fight. By getting the max amount of experience and getting a “Class Mastery” You’ll unlock a special Ability that will stay with you even after reclassing. Some units, like the Thief, allow you to keep Steal even when you become something else, but others will grant impressive bonuses – like being able to reposition units out of danger, get increased stats when attacking, and so much more. The more Abilities you unlock the more you have to play around with equipping and trading off before each battle.

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Source : IGN