#and fia is technically a cleric

[nullifi-blr]

there’s something interesting about death in eldermourne. there’s something haunting the third mates, like a cold hand waiting to lead them to death.

zirk gave up his life in an effort to save irena. he made a deal with a winter fairy of death for one last chance, and failed. he died, right then and there. throughout the journey, zirk was always the first to drop unconscious. the first to die, but somehow still managing to live. even when he fully died, he was able to revivify.

fia nearly died as a child, but was saved by batilda. she is a woman stuck in her past, chasing the one person she cared for as a kid long into adulthood. irena became her one mission in life. fia is a nostalgic at heart, her powers are time based. stop the clock, rewind, and try it again.

i wonder if fia’s “time devil” and zirk’s winter fairy are one in the same. in a world of reincarnation, death can really just be the stopping of a clock, rewinding it, and setting it to go again. why would one random winter fairy reach out to zirk in that moment of desperation? why does this fairy care about this mission?

there is a haunting of death in eldermourne. monsters and fairies lurk around every corner. but no fiends. no devils. but i suppose any fairy with darker motives would seem more like a devil than a god. there is no trickier devil of time than death itself.

[katyspersonal]

Velka and Fia are the same picture philosophically. Change my mind.

WhaaaAAAA you challenge me in a philosophical debate??

I WILL change your mind, your birdbrain! :p

As for "wishing to protect those oppressed or discarded by current system", Fia has a focus on Those Who Live in Death! And TWLiD are technically Hollows - they are bodies without souls, likely still with some sentense yet because just zombies would not gather so much sympathy, but existing in pain and often hostile!

Had Velka been equivalent of Fia philosophically, her focus would be to protect/legalize? Hollows/Undeads! That doesn't happen until Dark Souls 3, and it doesn't look like it is linked to her beyond Sable Church appropriating like, one (1) of Velka's miracles? Otherwise there are Hexes / black flame, which are initially result of humans discovering magics corrupted by Dark of Manus! They also appropriated specifically Velka's miracle that negated magic effects of Gods miracles when they are hostile to Way of White, so sounds like a rational decision rather than connection! We also know Kaathe was the one to "pass the torch", not Velka!

Velka's primal motivation is also to punish the sinners and possibly give atonement to those who truly regret and seek it! Her other miracle, at least one of her clerics and her crow-like followers are found in Painted World of Ariamis, but we don't know whether she chose to go there herself or was banished! Or only her worshippers were? We don't know why exactly Gwyndolin is now doing her job - because she abandoned it and passed the torch, or because she got yeeted from the Gods as heretic but they still needed the assassination as a concept!

Again, Painted World welcomes everyone who didn't find place in outside world: not just Undead (we literally already have Londor ffhgkcg) but also some skeletons that lost the group in Catacoms, Izalith people like Jeremiah and Undead Dragon (second halves of Undead Dragons are in Izalith and Daughters of Chaos invaded Catacombs once) and Priscilla!

Fia also not only wanted to just protect TWLiD, but also searched Godwyn and second half of death mark to create a Rune that would insert Death, once removed from Elden Ring, back in it and even normalize Living in Death! I remind you that living in death kinda sucks, too! You can still sympathize with Fia here, of course; in a strange way, it is something that would equate everyone! Golden Order was created on removing Death from it, so everyone who dies gets buried in Erdtree roots and reincarnated, unless they have Omen Curse and left as cursed spirits (Revenaunts and their followers I assume, since horns do vanish upon death and both these and Omens are connected with Wraiths)! Only Marika (rather, Maliketh) can give true death, and Tarnished were created to multiply population through centuries of survival in harsher world as their number was not limited to each soul and could multiply forever!

Normalizing living in death is "rebellious" in a sympathetic way, as it gives death back to people away from will of any God, as well as doesn't return it to the state where Deathbirds burnt it before age of Erdtree! It seems that what she wants is sort of borderline state that eventually would turn everyone into undead/zombies. People can't live forever, so eventually everyone would die.. and raise again, it seems, but as husks of former selves. Similarly to Age of Despair ending, where eventually everyone ends up as Omens! Dung Eater and Fia come from very different feelings in their goal, but destination of both is "if everyone is oppressed, then no one is oppressed"! Both endings turn the world, primarily humanity and equal species, into strange stasis that doesn't fall into life or death, but rather (ultimately) keeps everyone right amount of miserable for existence to be "bearable"! It IS a way to snatch existence out of control of anyone, as well as to reach some sort of "stability". I think Fia felt like the world deserved eternal rest from the shocks of changing eras and rulers, and that TWLiD was the best way to set everyone free from anyone's will.... (only, it is Fromsoft, so we all know Age of Despair would also end somehow!)

THE closest thing in Dark Souls to Fia's Age of Duskborn Ending is Lord of Hollows ending in Dark Souls 3 which, likewise, gives people back their "freedom" but at the cost of "misery" that yet doesn't make existence UNbearable, it just kind of sucks to be Undead and especially Hollow lol. They even have similar themes - eternal dusk and eternal twilight, as the way to not fall into either light or dark! And once more, Lord of Hollows ending can't be linked to Velka, only to Kaathe if anything, and Kaathe desires Dark rather than 'twilight'! Alteration of that idea into something "tamer" yet still not very happy all things considered was on Yuria and others!

Now, we don't know whether Velka had the plans to "fix" Way of White's order, but if she did, I'd say her way to change their injustices would not include normalizing living as Hollows! She is associated with Dark, right, but she is also a Goddess of Sin who defines punishment for the guilty as well as atonement for those who seek it! If anything, the "extremes" are in tune with her nature, and she might be not very thrilled with the vague, borderline state of living! I think she prefers to draw a clear line between light and dark, life and death, bliss and misery just as she prefers to draw a clear line between innocent and guilty! I think what drawn her to Dark was its flexibility in judgement that includes nuance and context rather than only law word of people in power, as well as feeling that Gods were no wiser or kinder than "eeeevil hoomans" they claimed to shepherd towards no longer being "inherently dangerous", but to "free" humans by subjecting them to eventual existence as Undead/Hollow, that kinda sucks, would not be her answer!

The way I see it, she'd struggle to answer what is the best era for everyone living and would prefer to roll with whichever it is now convenient with her role as one who delivers punishment or mercy! What is there to deliver or determine, when humans achieve their "true" form, that makes dark things she judges the norm of living? Gods or humans or any other lifeform, they all are capable of sin and should be eliminated OR become better! This is just how life is, everyone can do better without sacrificing what makes them living and thinking beings capable of choices to begin with! People who are responsible for Lord of Hollows ending didn't "do better" for sure, in fact, it is about sacrifice for the "greater good" that isn't even THAT good. 🤔

[utilitycaster]

Updated Class Choices in Actual Play: main PCs

Original post here, I’m just doing the whole thing again instead of reblogging or something like that. Since making this post I’ve fully caught up with NADDPod and RQG and there’s been several new D20 seasons, so LET’S GO

potential spoilers for anything that isn’t a one-shot in Critical Role, TAZ Balance or Graduation, NADDPod, RQG, Relics and Rarities, and all D20 seasons. Also for reference: I’m counting Trinyvale and The Mavrus Chronicles as main campaigns, as well as all the D20 sidequests.

If a player or a PC leaves/character dies mid-campaign the character still counts as a main PC, as does that player’s replacement if the player themselves didn’t leave (eg: both Scanlan and Taryon are considered main PCs for CR campaign 1).

In a couple cases I did have to guess regarding what the base class was, for characters who were multiclass builds from the start, and I’ll note that.

Rusty Quill Gaming is pathfinder rather than D&D, and subclasses don’t fully line up (as for classes, most do and I’m counting Cel’s class as Artificer/Alchemist subclass in D&D).

In the case of subclass or class changes, which has happened a few times in D20 in particular, I’ve noted the change

Keep reading if you want the actual information!

Fighter is the most common, with 11, plus two multiclass dips into fighter. And, like D&D at large, human fighter is a very popular race/class combination. Champion is the most common subclass, with four characters (Magnus from TAZ, Hardwon from NADDPod, Fabian from Fantasy High, and Veros from Relics and Rarities). All but Fabian are humans, at least to start off, and Fabian and later Hardwon are half-elves. Bertie from RQG likely would have been the champion archetype in D&D as well. There are two battlemasters (Boomer and Jet, both from D20), and then it’s all over the place. The multiclassers are both barbarians multiclassed into battlemaster (Grog and Amethar). Of the fighters, one multiclassed into a rogue, one into a bard, and one (Jet) switched into fighter having originally been a rogue.

[edit on Nov 28 per an anon ask - Magnus is actually a Battlemaster despite Big Champion Energy! which means of the fighter-as-main-class, we have 3 each of champions and battlemasters, and Bertie from RQG which is pathfinder, and then one each of gunslinger (Percy), eldritch knight (Theo), arcane archer (Hungry Dave), and echo knight (Henry)]

Cleric is next up with 10, plus three characters who multiclassed into cleric. There’s no clear favorite for subclass - grave is the only domain with two characters (Caduceus and Efink) and the rest vary. Two characters, Kristen Applebees and Zolf Smith, have changed domains (and deities) over the courses of their respective campaigns. All but one of the dwarven main characters in actual play has been a cleric, and there have been a few humans, but otherwise it’s again pretty scattered. The multiclasses have also not shown a clear favorite (1 war, 1 city, 1 tempest). Note: I considered Fia and Saccharina both to be multiclasses into cleric, as well as Bob; no cleric base classes have multiclassed into another class. All the multiclasses into cleric are other spellcasting classes (wizard, sorcerer, and bard).

Barbarian and rogue are tied with 9 characters each, plus one multiclass into barbarian and three into rogue.

Barbarian: three berserkers, two each of ancestral guardian and zealot, and one each of wild soul and storm herald. There are two half-orcs and otherwise no race preference. As mentioned, two multiclassed into battlemaster fighters; there’s also a multiclass from barbarian into sorcerer (Fitzroy) and artificer (Gorgug). The lone multiclass into barbarian is Moonshine Cybin, a druid.

Rogue: there are two arcane tricksters, two inquisitives, and two swashbucklers, plus an assassin, a mastermind, and Sasha Racket who in D&D would probably be a thief. Thanks to D20 being like “toy is a race now” it’s hard to say what the overall race breakdown is, even counting all A Crown of Candy characters as human variants, but there are 1.5 goblins (Nott/Veth being the 0.5) and three confirmed humans (Ruby Rocks, Sasha Racket, and Marcus St. Vincent). Of the multiclasses into rogue, two are rangers who chose the assassin subclass (Vex and Liam Wilhemina) and one is a fighter (Magnus Burnsides, subclass not clear). The two rogues who multiclassed are Vax, who took levels in vengeance paladin and one in druid, and Ruby, who took levels in shadow sorcerer. (note: Jet Rocks is counted as a fighter as she gave up her rogue class entirely, but she was a rogue to start)

Bard is next with 8 characters, all but one of whom (swords) is a lore subclass, with one multiclass into bard. Fig Faeth was formerly a college of whispers bard, but switched into lore during Fantasy High Live. There are two tieflings and two fairies from D20, who I believe use elf stats, plus a high elf, a human, a gnome, and an aasimar. The multiclass into bard is Fabian Seacaster, a fighter; the multiclasses from a bard base class are Fig (into hexblade) and Bob (into city cleric).

Druid and Paladin are the next most common, with six characters; there is one multiclass into druid and two into paladin (and Vax is responsible for most of this)

Druid: The only repeat subclass is circle of the shepherd (Kugrash and Lillith) - the rest all again all over the place, and all six have different races. The multiclass into druid is the aforementioned Vax (rogue and paladin); the only druid to multiclass out is the aforementioned Moonshine (into barbarian).

Paladin: two oath of devotion (one of which, Ricky Matsui, switched to oath of redemption), one oath of the ancients and for a while, vengeance (Beverly), one oathbreaker (Cody “Night Angel” Walsh) and two are from pathfinder and difficult to determine from a D&D standpoint (Grizzop, of Artemis, and Azu, of Aphrodite). The races are completely all over the place again. None of the paladins have multiclassed, but there are two multiclasses into paladin (Vax and Fjord, a rogue and warlock respectively, into oath of vengeance and oath of the open sea, also respectively).

We have a four-way tie for next most common, with five each of ranger, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard.

Ranger: two beast master, two gloomstalker, and a hunter. There are two half-elves (Vex and Nyack) and no other real patterns. No one has multiclassed into ranger, but Vex and Liam W. both as mentioned multiclassed into assassin rogues.

Sorcerer: three draconic, one storm, and one wild magic. Two are human, and there are no other preferences for race. One (Saccharina) multiclassed into tempest cleric, and there are two multiclasses into sorcerer, both from battle classes (Fitzroy, a barbarian, into wild magic, and Ruby, a rogue, into shadow).

Warlock: three are hexblades, because let’s face it that class is extremely cool, one is a celestial warlock and one is a genie. No significant race overlap (technically, Lapin Cadbury uses the human stat block, and Iga is human) (I am assuming pactwraiths have revenant stats but like. who knows). The common ground for multiclassing into warlock is “Emily Axford likes to play hexblades”, with both Fig and Sofia taking levels in it; Fjord is the only warlock to multiclass out, into oath of the open sea paladin.

Wizard: two transmutation, one divination, one necromancer, and one chronurgist. Two are high elves, with no other preferences for race; Fia is the only one to have multiclassed (into war cleric) and no one has multiclassed into wizard.

And finally, tied for last but with four each, we have monk and artificer.

Monk: no subclass overlap until Sofia switched to Way of Shadow, but three are humans and one is probably a human equivalent (bittyfolk from Tiny Heist) - the subclasses represented are Cobalt Soul, Drunken Master, Shadow, and Long Death. No multiclasses into monk (like ranger, monk doesn’t offer too many benefits in a multiclass dip) but Sofia Bicicleta took a level in hexblade warlock.

Artificer: despite not being made official until relatively recently, this caught up, thanks to Zonk Verbena Zirk Vervain. Three are either alchemists or probably the equivalent thereof (Taryon is based on the UA version but is pretty clearly not a gunsmith, and Cel’s class is technically Alchemist, not Artificer, but Artificer with the alchemist subclass is probably the closest 5e equivalent), and one is an artillerist; no race preference. None have multiclassed, but Gorgug (barbarian) has taken a level in artificer.

And finally, there is one Bloodhunter, Mollymauk Tealeaf/Lucien is his name, murdering Cerberus Assembly members is his game.

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several other fun facts from the giant list I made to do this:

Number of characters who have switched races or bodies during their campaign: 3

Number of characters who have switched deities/patrons during their campaign: 7

Number of characters who have briefly not had a class while their party was mid-level, with said change representing a major turning point for their character, but then came back stronger than ever having addressed the negative behaviors they learned from a seafaring father figure and having acquired a new plot-relevant weapon, and immediately multiclassed into a class that uses charisma for spellcasting: only two but it’s weird it happened twice

Number of characters whose first name or nickname is a food or drink: 6

Number of characters whose first name or nickname is a food or drink from A Crown of Candy: 0

Number of characters who typically go by only one name (ie, actively do not use their last name or any titles): 18

Number of characters who go by a given name and title/descriptor (eg: Adjective Firstname, Firstname the Title, Firstname of the Place): 8

Number of characters with three-part names (first, middle, last): 2

Number of characters with four-part names (first, two middles/a two-word nickname, last): 3

Number of characters with no name: 1

Percival Friedrickstein Von Musel Klossowski De Rolo III: but you can call him Percy