#big margaret encino energy

[danceydancejk]

It's so funny how Ally can't help but be dedicated to creating an solid emotional through line for their character, while everyone else has fully lost their minds to cum jokes and exploding forever

[thisisnotthenerd]

following up on my previous posts about d20 seating: 1 & 2

seat archetypes (all seasons)

as you can imagine, finding a throughline that exactly fits every d20 character that sits in a seat is never fully going to work. i'm not jamming them into an archetype that doesn't fit. these are big general thoughts, just like they were for the intrepid heroes seasons. anyway:

L1: pretty even mix of martial and magic--lots of partial casters. 3/4 d20 paladins. i checked. in game, there's a penchant for big swings and wild decisions. sometimes the payoff of that is insane: ricky's sacrifice in the final battle, fig making arianwen lose her magic, liam's wish, sunny & the bell, maggie giving birth, rick diggins' everything, antiope killing charity in one round, gunnie going ftl with gnosis, conrad's appeal to madam loathing, i could go on. many who sit in this chair have a penchant for party guidance/leadership. they may or may not be an official leader, but many of them are the heart of the party morally and just generally.

Characters:

Fig Faeth, Maggie, Ricky Matsui, Rick Diggins, Liam Wilhelmina, Sunny Biscotto, Gangie Green, Whitney Jammer, Antiope Jones, Terry Talbo, Gunnie Miggles-Rashbax, Dr. Aleksandr Astrovsky, Andhera, Rosamund du Prix, Thane Delissandro Katzon, Troyánn (Karkyn?), Conrad Schintz/Conscience

L2: Martial lean--only a couple of full casters. in game, these characters kick ass in high stakes scenarios (sometimes), or hit rock bottom. there is no in between. sometimes their entire arc is getting knocked down and the getting up from rock bottom in order to kick ass: leiland's whole deal, sofia's chapter 2 arc, timothy . a bunch of tanks. also, a tendency towards older men.

Characters:

Gorgug Thistlespring, Leiland, Sofia Lee, Boomer, Theobald Gumbar, Barbarella Sarsaparilla Gainglynn, Buckster $ Boyd, Katja Cleaver, Riva, Captain K.P Hob, Mother Timothy Goose, A. Tension/Attention

L3: the magic chair. lots of full casters. all 3 d20 wizards sit here. the lowkey chosen one energy persists. think about it. strong narrative investment. several characters who make the hit that takes down the BBEG. either some kind of chaotic gremlin or a parent. oftentimes both simultaneously. actually the split more reflects parent or parent issues. isolated characters who feel ignored in some way taking control of their narratives.

Characters:

Adaine Abernant, Efink Murderdeath, Kingston Brown, Agnes, Jet Rocks, Saccharina Frostwhip, Cheese, Daisy D'umpstaire, K | Dream, Penny Luckstone, Megan Mirror, Norman "Skip" Takamori, Squing, Lady Chirp Featherfowl, Pinocchio, Bishop Raphaniel Charlock, Princess Foehammer, Hunch Curio/Curiosity

R3: slight magic lean. it's the bard chair. 5 of them, to be exact. a lot of charismatic characters sit in this seat. if they're not charm-based, they go the complete opposite direction. not friendly, surprisingly violent, quite abrasive at times. learning to really understand other people and move past your perception of your own needs by contrast. this can go either direction: you can have a fully self-interested character like margaret or you can have danielle barkstock's insane selflessness.

Characters:

Fabian Seacaster, Sokhbarr, Misty Moore, TI-83, Ruby Rocks, Myrtle (the Bitch), Iga Lisowski, Rowan Berry, Vicar Ian Prescott, Sam Black, Danielle Barkstock, Tuti IV, Margaret Encino, Wetzel, Lord Squak Airavis, Puss in Boots | PIB, Karna Solara, Gertrude, Imelda Pulse/Impulse

R2: Split of martial & magic. it's high WIS or no WIS, people. trying to do better than you did before in various ways: kristen's religious crisis, kugrash's atonement, cody's whole deal, gerard's whole deal, dan fucks' revolution, rue coming out, jack's whole deal. there's a very funny split that i've found here; the ladies who sit here have a lot of power and use it to devastating effect. examples: kristen making a god and naming an old god, ostentatia's commune & divine intervention, lilith's everything, sidney taking a vercadian out in one shot. the men? they either hit rock bottom during the season or start there and work upward. the only exception i can think of is bean. and the nbs, rue and lars, are just fabulous.

Characters:

Kristen Applebees, Lilith, Kugrash, Bean, Amethar Rocks, Jack Brakkow, Cody Walsh, Lars Vandenchomp, Ostentatia Wallace, Sundry Sidney, Delloso de la Rue, Gerard of Greenleigh, Colin Provolone, Dan Fucks/Desire

R1: the rogue chair. it's more than R3's bards, with six rogues. no multiclasses. it's the rogue chair. otherwise, a bunch of rangers and sorcerers. this chair is for the plothounds. they're searching it out and making connections, or they're making big magic swings and connecting themselves to gods. they tend to put the detectives here. everyone here is going to make the dm's job easier by idk, communing with a death god (2 nickels for this seat), or going off on their own to find clues to a greater mystery.

Characters:

Riz Gukgak, Markus St. Vincent, Pete Conlan, Car-Go Jones, Lapin Cadbury, Cumulous Rocks, Marcid the Typhoon, Sylvester Cross, Evan Kelmp, Sam Nightingale, Seven, Big Barry Syx, May Wong, BINX Choppley, Ylfa Snorgelsson, Lady Amangeaux Epiceé du Peche, Twyla, The Fix/Hyperfixation

and that's all for this installment of thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats. feel free to tell me what you think, whether you agree or disagree. as always, the spreadsheet can be found here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1g7skmX8WuPRsjvU1K0lAjVf4rNVnuuarW3Zb87A5hx0/edit?usp=sharing

@perksofbeingalittletwat you inspired this with your comment on the last seating chart, so thank you for that.

[thespoonisvictory]

top five d20 character duo GO

oh GOD this is hard

5. Fabian Seacaster + Riz Gukgak

Two characters I enjoyed by the end of fhfy and adored by the end of fhsy. for Fabian, the sheer scale of his S2 arc is something to behold, and he's just endlessly funny to me. for Riz, his interactions with Kalina are genuinely terrifying and so so well done, and his struggle with being ace is deeply real to me in a way that a lot of other media isn't. they're both just very well pulled off in terms of their growth while also just being delights to watch.

4. Margaret Encino

I love ASO and every PC in it, but Margaret's crazy energy takes the cake. a good portion of it is watching Ally play the closest thing the Gunner Channel has to a straight man, while channeling chaos in a different way than usual. Her interactions with Lucienne and her work are incredible, and I just have a big soft spot for characters that are deeply practical but not combat oriented.

3. Lapin Cadbury

Listen. We have him for six episodes and he is still one of the PCs of all time to me. I know that it's not very sensible, but I just think that him dying when he did created a perfectly preserved character that served the story excellently. he so exemplified the complexities of religion in Calorum, as well as the way the Rocks still had a lot to learn about the world. his dynamic with Theo is great as well, and it's worth pointing out just the sheer competence Zac plays him with. It's very satisfying to watch someone be very good at navigating the world Brennan created.

2. Colin Provolone

Side Quest characters often struggle with one of two problems: either the character arc they've intended is too much for the limited format and comes out incomplete or rushed, or the character they've created was created almost too aware of the limited format, and thus comes out a little flat or underdeveloped. Colin Provolone fits more depth and growth in him than some main campaign PCs, and imo sticks the landing perfectly. his growth feels natural and well established in the world, without the campaign ever feeling like it's slowing down or bending to try to accommodate it. As a Zac PC he's obviously hilarious, but he is the heart of the trw crew, and his ending is deeply satisfying. my only wish is that the campaign he was in spent more time with the Calorum politics he was so intertwined with and less time in mushroom land.

Adaine Abernant

What can I even say: the PC that first made me love wizards, and beautiful marriage of mechanics and character building, a deeply personal representation of anxiety, and attached to one of my favorite NPCs. A lot of what I love about her is pretty self-explanatory, so I'll say this one thing: I love the Adaine is able to have anxiety and be anxious, while also just, being mean and snippy and just like a teenage girl. the representation of her panic attacks mechanically is fantastic, but more than that it's everything that's not the panic attacks that matters to me. this is clearly a character near and dear to Siobhan's experiences, and I'm so glad she exists.

other contenders: Theobald Gumbar, Captain K P Hob, Detective Hunch, Squawk and Chirp, Sofia Lee, Gerard of Greenleigh

[tarzan737]

Hob going through and knocking out this long checkist of things to do is big Margaret Encino energy