#but the d6 one is really cool too and i like it a lot

[grimmshood]

remembering college when i got to show the class i was in my day6 album bc it was like The Moment for me at the time i love showing ppl my albums and talking about the designs its so fun... i miss it

[sprintingowl]

Magical Kitties And Other Cat RPGs

Magical Kitties Save The Day is a deluxe, all-ages ttrpg about cat adventures.

It comes in a big box, which is half empty space and half dice, character sheets, core rules, and multiple supplements. The art is absolutely gorgeous, and that quality you see on the cover is consistent throughout the core book and supplements.

Design-wise, Magical Kitties is pretty simple. You have a few skills, a talent, and a magical power, and together they give you a d6 pool. Outcomes on checks tend towards success-with-a-complication, and I'd broadly describe the game as being oriented towards mischief and hijinks.

Of note to me, the system is *really* similar to Joel Sparks' Cats Of Cthulhu, but absent some of the interesting lore about dreaming, without the more defined character classes, and a lot softer in tone.

Kitties in Magical Kitties can, at worst, get knocked out for a scene. And that's if you let your Owies build up enough that you start getting into actual dice pool penalties. Damage goes away fast, so if you get absolutely scrapped it's more of a signal from the game to cool it for a bit than a serious consequence for your character.

The overall design in Magical Kitties is trying to split the difference between being a game for kids and a game for adults, and I think mostly it works. There's enough meaningful choice during character creation that a typical DnD group could have a great time playing a mini-campaign of Magical Kitties. And the tone is soft enough and the consequences low enough that a younger kid isn't going to get too dispirited if the dice don't go their way.

My guess would be this system works best for ages 7+. For much younger audiences, you might want to check out something like Starport.

Overall, I'd describe this is a really, *really* big budget indie game that'll appeal the most to folks who:

-love cats -are at least a little interested in rpgs

It's impossible to overstate how lovely, fun, and creative the art is, and I kind of think the game is worth it for that alone.

That said, it's far from the only cat-based ttrpg! There's lots of good ones.

I've had the most fun with Cats Of Cthulhu, and strongly recommend it to anyone with an interest in rpg design, and I've also really enjoyed GMing Secrets Of Cats.

If you have a favorite cat-centric ttrpg, or if you've played Magical Kitties and have your own feelings on it, please feel free to continue the discussion.

[coffeeandjournaling]

Project Ecco

A solo roleplaying game by Elliot Davis

Materials

game manual

a planner, new or used

a coin/d2 and d6

materials to destroy your planner

further into play: additional coin and die, standard deck of cards, tarot deck

Premise

A mysterious agency, an even more mysterious entity feeding on time itself and smack-dab in the middle: You. As an extension of the Agency, you are tasked with uncovering the truth about “ECCO”, the Entity of Chronological Consumption and Obfuscation. Navigating the chaos of days flying by with the aid of a simple coin, will you complete your mission to the Agency’s satisfaction straightforwardly or will you travel down a road not yet taken, peeking behind a curtain of lies? Who is really on your side? Or, perhaps more importantly, on whose side are you?

Mechanics

In Project Ecco, you progress through time and the game using a regular planner and a variety of different time travel tools. While you might be tempted to use a brand new, untouched planner for this, a used one will do just fine and might even make the game more personal and varied, since existing notes or special dates can be incorporated into play. Keep in mind that your planner will end up at least partially destroyed by the Entity, then again the level of destruction is completely up to you. Scissors are certainly an option, but a good opaque paint marker achieves the same effect with less confetti.

Your tools of choice are in essence a set of game oracles: prompts decided by dice, playing and tarot cards determine how far back or ahead in your planner you travel and which challenges you encounter along the way. Time travel can be quite random, so don’t be scared when you land on the same day more than once. At least as long as you have your trusty coin, the only thing that will keep you from slipping in-between time and experiencing some truly harrowing events. How you respond to these prompts is up to you. Write, draw, use planner stickers; the only limit is the space your planner gives you for the date you are currently on.

During your travels, you tally up the times you either make it back to the Agency or get uncomfortably close to the Entity. Entity encounters in particular are interesting because they prompt you to destroy random dates in your calendar, possibly forcing you into a timeline divergence later on. Completing six encounters either way triggers the endgame – but not necessarily the end of the journey…

Thoughts and Examples from my Playthrough

I had a lot of trouble trying to summarize the game in the above paragraphs. Project Ecco is a very meaty, complex (but not necessarily complicated) game and is more of a five-course meal than an afternoon snack. Consequently, reading the setup instructions can be a little intimidating for someone who has only started dabbling in solo play. Everything is explained thoroughly without being exhausting, however, and on top of that I found myself really interested to read about the different tools and mechanics. In fact, I had to stop myself from snooping too much so as not to spoil my first playthrough.

Your game can last you several sessions over a couple of days. Don’t worry, though, all the cool time travel tools make for a fresh and exciting experience. Special dates, timeline divergences, personal notes and Agency/Entity encounters also serve to keep you on your toes. Whenever you feel like you have seen it all, a new prompt throws you a curveball, altering your perspective on the world and its inhabitants. It’s also great for replayability purposes, as your first playthrough can influence how you go about the challenges on your second round. I usually don’t care much for replay value (my time is limited and there’s a lot of games to try out), in this case, however, it’s so on theme that it’s almost a crime not to play again.

When you have the general cycle down, the game is a breeze. Have I mentioned that I love the time travel devices? Each and every one is unique in the way it lets you progress. As soon as you pick them up during the game, you can switch freely between them. Either you are very strategic about it to avoid repeat visits to certain dates or you embrace chaos for some interesting results. In the beginning, I dreaded losing my coin and experiencing timeline divergences. The closer I got to the endgame, the more I revelled in the wild and unpredictable element they brought to the game and the story that unfolded.

At this point, it shouldn’t amaze me that much how game designers manage to achieve this impeccable level of worldbuilding with just a bit of flavour text and a handful of prompts. From the agents’ designations being real world dates to the time travel tools with clear retro vibes, Project Ecco lets you dive into an 80s sci-fi flick with you as the protagonist torn between your fragile loyalty to the Agency and the conflicting discoveries you make about the Entity. I suppose if there was one thing you wanted to knock, it could be that this is not a very character-driven game. A lot of journaling games focus on the character you create, often as a stand-in for yourself, dealing with their emotions and feelings as they react to the events thrown at them. This is more of mystery thriller focused on plot than a character exploration game. Character creation is as simple as picking your agent designation and, if you’re using a personal planner and are very meticulous in adding dates specific to your character, weaving in details during the game. That being said, I did manage to spin this into a tragic queer romance…such is the nature of solo roleplaying. Hence, others might disagree on this with me, and that’s totally fine.

My attention span has been wavering lately, so I honestly didn’t expect to stick with this. But everything about Project Ecco drew me in. I love the manual that looks like a genuine little agent handbook and the details of the understated illustrations. A solid white-black-and-red colour scheme is always a classy choice. The prompts are descriptive enough to give you guidance and bits of lore without limiting you to a specific path. It’s simply an overall round and well-thought-out experience through and through. I’m a little peeved I didn’t get the Temporal Spread – Samantha Leigh was a guest writer for this specific time travel tool and I’ve been dying to get into their other games (especially Outliers, which seems to deal with adjacent themes), so I was looking forward to get a peek at their writing here. Alas, my agent just wasn’t destined to have it…perhaps the next one will.

I wonder how well this would hold up with a digital planner. Mostly, I am an analogue player when it comes to journaling games. I like how tactile it is and that you're creating an artifact of play to keep on your shelf, something very unique and often verging on if not being outright artistry. But the analogue format does (perhaps intentionally) limit your word count and thus keeps journaling rather short and to the point. I suppose a digital format would allow for more character development, if that is your goal. It would also extend your playtime – which is already significant as is. Still, certainly an interesting option, especially when you plan on playing more than twice.

This might be your cup of coffee if...

you revel in a good time travel mystery.

you prefer to play longer games with more complex mechanics than the average journaling game.

you enjoy some solid worldbuilding and lore to add onto over time, possibly in multiple playthroughs.

you are not afraid to mess up some prime stationary. Seriously. If you love your planner? Do not use it for this. Bullet journaling queens and kings, beware!

You can get Elliot Davis’ Project Ecco HERE on itch.io or as a physical copy available at the online sources linked in the description of the game. Make sure to check out Cassi Mothwin’s flip through of the game and take in the incredible actual play episode by the My First Dungeon podcast crew that I enjoyed immensely and proves that this game supports a more light-hearted tone, as well. In case you are the creative type, Davis is currently still running a game jam for supplements for and games inspired by Project Ecco on itch.io that lasts until March 1st. Plenty of time left to get your head in the game. :)

[aqours]

What do you think is Curse of Strahd's biggest weakness as a module?

oh there's so many potential answers for this. the racism that they tried to fix later by trying to erase the concept of minorities? the fact the layout of the book is a disaster? that's one of them but i've already talked about that. i think Curse of Strahd's biggest issue, by a very huge margin is:

D&D 5E is inherently a really bad system to use for a horror game and especially the horror that CoS wants to be

i think Ravenloft and it's many spinoffs worked better in 2E because things were different back then. you started off as a somewhat above-average person and became stronger over time. 5E, however, is a power fantasy to it's core. even at level 1 you are an extraordinary person much more powerful than any regular commoner could ever be. and CoS doesn't handle this well. you are extremely resource deprived, you can go from levels 1-10 with that same +0 longsword you have from character creation. it's about becoming more skilled with what little you have over time.

which is fine. but CoS's resource deprivement is atypical for 5E module design. it's about depriving players of the typical power fantasy that D&D usually is for the sake of atmosphere and tone... which is fine, but the game doesn't offer much in compromise. let me use Warlocks as an example. one of (imho) the best spells Warlocks can have is Shadow of Moil. it is an amazing spell. once i am getting near that level one of my priorities in playing a Warlock is finding an undead eyeball encased in a gem worth at least 150 gp so i can cast it. it's amazing.

good luck finding that in Barovia! your DM will really have to work with you if they want to run the game RAW which is also not a bad thing no matter what anyone says so you can use that spell. this is an issue with spells in 5E that require expensive spell components... it's not available.

if i can use something else from D&D as an example, i want to tlak about Masque of the Red Death. Masque of the Red Death was an official 2E gothic horror thing made by people who wanted a more "realistic" gothic horror by making the setting basically a grimdark earth. you can ONLY play humans and are told you use specific classes. it was kinda killed in 2E before the internet made looking up these things easier. it received a fan revival on 5e you can purchase in the link (or i can give it to you), but part of it is you are expected to use it's character classes instead of the standard 5E ones. that's because they fit the setting more thematically, and thus are scaled to the dangers and expectations better. 5E Curse of Strahd tries to achieve this by throwing extremely difficult combat encounters combined with resource deprival, but doesn't give a lot to compensate back for this. the sunword and holy symbol are cool, but that does not compensate for not being able to do a lot of 5E usual power fantasy stuff?

i think there are better systems for what CoS wants to do. if you want extremely deadly combat, some PBTA d6 game probably suits you better. someone on r/curseofstrahd mentioned Hunter: The Reckoning might be good, and HONESTLY one day when i'm more familiar with playing WoD games i'd fucking LOVE to try to a full conversion for Hunter at some point. a lot of people really love making CoS western themed, to which I say if you also want to play as vampires consider checking out Bloodbeam Badlands actually! personally, i think you could even pull off CoS's story using Call of Cthulhu or Pulp Cthulhu for extra power: the SAN mechanic might make for something really great in this game too! one of my issues with Masque is that while i like it i just can't help but think Call of Cthulhu/Pulp Cthulhu is still better for what that setting wants

i'll play CoS using D&D bc it is made for that, but i think rather than trying to stay super true to the horror themes all the time, a DM should consider adjusting it's tone or item distribution to meet the group's fun. i love CoS, a LOT, and I love Ravenloft, but i think there's definitely better systems for what it wants to be, and CoS as it is (especially for when it was written somewhat early in 5E's life) has never been quite the story right for a 5E story

[ritunn]

5 TTRPGs to Try in 2024

In 2023, I wrote up a short post pitching 5 TTRPGs I think folks should give a look at over the year in light of WotC's controversy. WotC has yet to do something on the scale of what happened last year again, but I think it's fun to tell people about the cool Indie TTRPGs I've been reading since then. So, here are 5 MORE TTRPGs you should read in 2024.

1. Lancer

Do you like mecha? Well, Indie darling, Lancer, has you covered! A highly tactical TTRPG that makes use of a hex-grid for combat and even has its own online character builder, Lancer has you play as well... lancers! Professional mech pilots who are called in when the going gets tough. There is an insane level of customization in Lancer for your mech, being able to use parts from 4 different manufacturers each with their own pros and cons, and then mix and match them together to create your ideal fighting style based on your choice of frame, weapons, and systems! The RP doesn't fall behind either, with the trigger system allowing one choose a variety of phrases that give you a bonus on skill checks when it applies, while outside of mech combat. The dice system itself is also quite simple, with a majority of checks being a d20 against a difficulty level of 10 with some modifications based on the situation. If none of this convinces you however, just check out the vibrant community for the game here on Tumblr and the terrifying ransom note style memes.

2. Ryuutama

Last year, I highlighted Fabula Ultima, but a lot of that game was influenced by other games, primarily D&D 4e and Ryuutama. The latter of which it gets some of its mechanics from! Coming straight from Japan, in Ryuutama you take on the role of a traveler venturing out into a vibrant medieval world straight out of a Ghibli film, your adventure helping the growth of the seasonal dragons who made the world. It's a game that emphasizes travel, exploration, and preparation with a simple class system. One could really call it the Oregon Trail of TTRPGs! Except with less dysentery and more dragons and Dragon Quest influence. The dice system is identical to Fabula Ultima, your stats being assigned a die and rolling those for checks. However, something that stands out is the Ryujin system, which has the GM make a character as well! The GM's Ryujin can be carried over multiple games and grows as the parties they challenge and protect accomplish more. Honestly, a great game of choice for a forever GM! Just like Fabula Ultima as well, the whole group helps build the world, so everyone gets to add a little something.

3. Mausritter

Mausritter is an OSR style game that has you play a mice on an adventure in our own wide world! There they contend with other animal threats and dungeons composed of buildings in the countryside. Doing away with classes, inventory management takes center stage in Mausritter, your items expanding what you're capable of in the absence of class specific abilities. Spells themselves are even items, each with their own set of charges that make them a valuable but limited resource. Other than this however, the system emphasizes hexploration and provides plenty of tools for GMs to make an adventure just as grand for the mice as any other. The dice system is also d20 based, but focuses on a roll under your stat style instead of meeting difficulty classes, with d6s and d8s used for other rolls like damage and stat generation. Though, you'll mostly be rolling those d20s for saves as your attacks always hit! Attacks first taking away from your HP, then your Strength stat when you're hit by the enemy. If the latter gets too low, that's game over for you, but getting your Dexterity and Willpower reduced can be just as detrimental for more than just saves.

4. Corvid Court

In the city of the Nest, you're members of a cult of assassins called the Corvid Court. Are you actual birds or just bird-themed cultists? That's up to you. Either way, Corvid Court is a very short TTRPG that has you carrying out assassination missions for the cult against others who are often just as terrible of people as you are. With 5 corvid themed classes to pick from, each with their own unique capabilities to benefit the party for taking out targets, like the murderous Crow and the talkative Jay, you'll need to be clever or incredibly violent if you want to take down your targets. However, don't expect to be around for a long time. The system is a d6 dice pool system where the best result you roll determines the outcome, most of them coming with the consequence of stress for one of your stats. Accumulate too much and you'll quickly fall into a downward spiral and have to deal with the fallout... or perhaps just die. No one ever said this was an easy life.

5. Quest

Quest's goal is to be approachable and inclusive, the best option for someone's first foray into TTRPGs, and in that it very much succeeds. A high fantasy TTRPG, Quest simplifies the formula while still keeping it interesting and deep by cutting out modifiers and grid based combat and simply having you roll 1d20 with the outcome depending on the roll. 11 - 20 being a success, 1 - 10 being failure, each with their own degrees of such however. Combat itself being based on distances. Damage is also just a simple number, no need for another die to roll after that. Other than this, there is a wide selection of classes to choose from that pull from your typical themes with the Ranger, Fighter, and Wizard with newer ideas too like the reality bending Magician! Each class has different subclass tracks of which you can invest into each as little or much as you want. Characters then get a pool of ability points they can spend to activate their most powerful abilities, with standard features being free. Overall, however, Quest shines in being a casual TTRPG that doesn't require tons of rules expertise and rewards creative thinking and use of abilities. It's free too! So, if you got someone you want to introduce to the hobby, don't bother with D&D 5e, grab Quest instead.

Conclusions

Got a TTRPG you love? Talk about it in the tags or a reblog! I'm always looking for new systems to check out and others are too, so do share. I hope you get to check these systems out though, each is loads of fun, that I can promise. Feel free to check out last year's suggestions here.

[non-neutoniangender]

Well the train is started and so I guess I'm watching episode 35.

McAdverbot .... Sam this one is good, but you can't rap lol

Top table has a new member..... :/ I'm not sure putting Fearne next to Chetney was a good idea...

Oh I hadn't realized that they lost their note-taker

10k gold 👀 Thats a lot.

I gotta say, I love portable holes as a extraplanar storage option, because they require organizing, like you can just chuck shit into a bag of holding with very little care but with a hole, its just a easy to carry, very large box.

(Also its really funny how the starting storage options are worse in each subsequent campaign, bag of holding -> haversack -> portable hole)

Treshi got involved in stuff he didn't quite fully understand huh... Interesting that he is in some ways happy to be pulled out of it.

MOLD STORAGE!!!!

I love the question of "Is Laudna undead"

"I'm tired of leaving people behind" ....I should've finished EXU

Its really interesting that they players have to ask "is this above board or does your character know this" with regards to Delilah. The whole situation is very interesting

The whole "take notes about the briarwoods" is a really funny bit. I really like how big this world has gotten that character knowledge is much bigger than player knowledge in ways that doesn't happen in a typical campaign.

Sam....... the flask...... its way too on point, but its also such an odd callback to c2.

"at this point we're friends" found family my beloved!

I need to be normal about Matt playing his wife's character.....

I'm not being normal about Matt playing The voice of the Tempest

aaaaaaaaaaaaa voice actors are good at their jobs

"That is the best use of wood I've ever heard of" Chetney 🤣 I love how much everyone is essentially fangirling over keyleth, to be fair, she is a very cool level 20 character....

Oh this was back in the ✨Enhance✨ era of the internet

"Wow that was a big waste" "Ok Jester" What a great comeback. (you poopin?)

"Sweet little metal boy" good LORDY

Poor Ashton with character development. They're going soft. He's not happy about it

SAM MADE A SPELL!??!?!?!?!?! Share Dream?!? thats so fucking cool

Also I love the casts reactions to that.

Chetney just accidentally yelling

Since Travis loves a good d6, he should play a wizard!

Finally googled the meaning of Pyrrhic.... a good title choice.

I really appreciate that Matt is continually correcting people on Xandis' pronouns, I don't appreciate the cast continually forgetting.

.....oh my god. Will is gone because the resurrection didn't work....

Thats so much worse, I hadn't thought about that....

God I had almost forgot there was a city on the moon. Moon's haunted

I really love the idea of ashton, I love how dunamancy is now a central part of the world

Anyway, these mind sequences are very cool, I love them.

How does Matt even come up with, or plan these things?!?? I can't even imagine

"There is strength, but there is pain. There is pain but there is strength" good God!! Matt, that is so cool.

Oh my god Ashton..... poor kid.

I... I love this story though. Ashton. And the chronic pain is..... wow

It's really interesting to watch them try to figure out dunamancy from zero knowledge and just random stuff.

Perhaps not definitely, but I bet Matt's description of the inside of Ashton's head with stars and possibilities would've been different if the person had seen inside a beacon before.

"Do any of us know who we are?" asking the right questions

Delilah is dying with Laudna........ good God.

Man these players created some fucked up characters.

The moment of realization that the wisdom save was against Keyleth's scry lmao.

Keyleth!!!!!! I love her!!!

I love how she's like, buckle up fuckers, you're coming with me on a trip to whitestone.

Anyway, that episode was amazing and the ending was perfect, I cannot wait to find time to watch the next one!!!!!

[cyberkevvideo]

The Dragon Ball Z TTRPG -- Yes, an Official One Does Exist

Before I go into the game itself, I want to talk about the creator of the franchise.

Yesterday, the world learned of the loss of the great Akira Toriyama. He was so incredibly influential to so many of us, and like many others, I was absolutely gutted by the tragic news. He was far too young.

Dragon Ball was a big part of my life growing up, and it's what helped me create bonds with so many people who became good friends. Other people online have written poetically about how much each of his series and creations have touched their hearts, and I don't know that I can do the same justice. I'm not wordy like that.

I grew up during the start of the NES era so I knew about Dragon Quest, but at the time I had no idea that the iconic character and monster designs were thanks to him. When the SNES came out and Chrono Trigger was released, I immediately recognized the style of art. Dragon Quest VIII is still my favourite, if only because it's cool to see the characters go pseudo-super saiyan. In 1995, the original dub of Dragon Ball hit airways here, and a few months later Dragon Ball Z was released. It was surreal to watch kid Goku and adult Goku every week, simultaneously. Seeing the flying nimbus, but not seeing the Power Pole, and not knowing who Piccolo or Krillin were, but recognizing Master Roshi and Bulma, and finding out Goku was an alien the whole time. It was jarring at times, but seeing references to each series like the Kamehameha Wave and capsules, helped. Then there were all the Budokai games for PS2. I practically broke my dual-shock controllers trying to win those beam battles.

This is going to get long, so I'll put a separation bar here.

When the internet finally came out publicly and schools had access, I looked up Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, discovered what anime was, learned of Akira Toriyama and how he had a comedy series called Dr. Slump, that the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z anime were considered separate stories, but the manga kept it as Dragon Ball, etc.

Heck, when the cards came out, I was one of the first people to buy Ani-Mayhem's DBZ set.

What's really great to see is people discovering the Dragon Ball manga for the first time, hearing their thoughts on YouTube videos (namely Merphy and TotallyNotMark), and how original and groundbreaking the fight choreography is compared to others series, and how much his style has influenced current day shounen manga. And that doesn't even include how Team Four Star and DBZA has influenced people.

But, let's get into the rest of this post.

When the TTRPG came out in 1999, DBZ was such a phenomenon that our local bookstore was having trouble keeping it in stock. My gaming group ended up having to pre-pay for a copy of the TTPRG. DBZ: The Anime Adventure Game from R. Talsorian Games was a little rough around the edges when it came to balance, and how powering up worked compared to the series, especially when that system was revised in the Frieza saga book. Still, it was nothing any of us had experienced before. Up until that point, we had done AD&D, Rifts, Toon, Shadowrun, and Marvel Super Heroes.

The person who usually ran the games, ended up being the GM and we did two campaigns. I had an absolute blast. Unfortunately, I was kind of alone in that. The TTRPG doesn't leave a lot for social interaction, which a number of our players preferred doing. This is closer to a war game. As such, we never played the game system again after the two campaigns. In fact, we never even finished the second one. I still picked up all three books as they came out though, and the GM from that group still has his original Saiyan Saga book.

The first thing that made me happy, as I didn't have nearly the dice collection I do now, was all you needed were 6-sided dice. That made my life so much easier, and for the Shadowrun players, they had tubs of d6 ready to use.

When it came to the contents of the book, what I really enjoyed was seeing all the power levels, and the character art.

These power levels updated with each book, and the lore and special abilities would also update.

If you kept the game to Dragon Ball levels, you felt that you could keep the campaign going for a very long time. The character sheet was extremely simple, and there were tips on what you could build a campaign around, as well as basic suggestions on trying to keep the "main character" complex to a minimum. The Star Wars RPG systems have a similar concept where the GM is told that either everyone's a Jedi, or no one's a Jedi. Same thing for ewoks since they were so limited for weapon proficiencies (they literally could never learn how to use tech, ever, which I find ridiculous). Basically, for Dragon Ball, namekians should look at fushions to power up, or everyone should be a saiyan or half-saiyan, especially if you're bringing in the super saiyan transformation. Otherwise, no saiyans in the game at all. This way everyone stays about the same level and can't be a spotlight hog while everyone else is forced to sit back and watch the game instead of participate.

If you'd like to read a full review of it, you can check one out here. Barnabas did a great write-up.

Personally, I find it kind of wild that there's literally zero stats for dinosaurs or other prehistoric animals. Where's the T-Rex and sabertooth tiger? This feels like a massive oversight given that people live alongside dinosaurs and other extinct-in-our-world beasts.

Overall, it was original in what it tried to accomplish, and I appreciate that. We've since seen other game systems that can replicate this fairly well. I prefer BESM (Big Eyes, Small Mouth), and any edition works, but I know others really enjoy doing DBZ using FATE, which I can see working. I've seen people try to pull off DBZ characters using 3.5e, Pathfinder 1e and 2e, and 5e, but you'd need to homebrew your own class from the ground up, and it likely wouldn't be balanced. At best, you could maybe get something close with a 20th level character.

If you find a copy somewhere, I definitely recommend it for a one-shot, if nothing else. Maybe you can run it at a convention. I'm considering doing that. It'd be a nice send off. And this year's convention is dinosaur themed, so maybe I'll have the mission be to teach a dinosaur how to ride a ball.

In closing, I'm so grateful to Akira Toriyama for giving us the stories and designs that he did. I can not convey in words just how important the Dragon Ball franchise was for my friends and I to even have met one another, and then Chrono Trigger brought us even closer and we'd go to one friend's house every lunch (he lived across the street from school) and we'd watch him play because we were so immersed in the story and with the characters...

So much respect and admiration for him. Akira Toriyama, thank you for everything. In Eiichiro Oda (One Piece mangaka)'s words: "I wish that heaven is as jolly of a world as the one you imagined and drew."

[hypermoyashi]

AHOY! READER ASK MEME TIME. A2, B4, B7, C9, D6, D10 :]

Hello!!! Thank you so much!!!

A2. How did you find your first fic?

I think I was between the ages of 10 and 12 and I was googling about Inuyasha and a fic popped up. I think I wanted to see what happened after the anime cut off and discovered fanfiction to fill that whole through google of all things. That was how I found ff.net.

B4. Who is your current favourite author? What is their best story?

HO BOY this is a hard one. I've generally really enjoyed a lot of writers, so I'm gonna cheat here and name multiple (fair warning that it is All Trigun at the moment because that is what I currently have brain worms for):

The Celestial Evening Series by tragic_unpaired_electron

kinder, gentler by skittidyne

before tomorrow ends by chuuyasoup

in the woods somewhere by halfdemonvash

In the Next Life by orcelito

come and see by avoidingavoidance

There are, of course, lots of other fics I love in other fandoms, but these are ones that have stuck out to me and currently make my brain go brr. There are probably lots of really good one-shots I'm missing because I tend to get brain worms more over longer fics, too. This list also probably has a bias towards fics I've followed a long time, because the longfics and one-shots I binged over a few days are ones I have a harder time remembering, though I do tend to go back and reread them.

B7. Which character is your favourite to read about? Why?

Right now? It's 100% Vash. Not only does the fact that the fandom largely writes him as trans or at least Not Cis make my enby, doesn't identify with my gender assigned at birth self very happy, but he's honestly such a complex and interesting character. There are so many different interesting things you can do with him, and there are a lot of subtle aspects of his character you can really dig into in fanfiction. I'm also just... a sucker for characters with a lot of struggles getting support systems, hurt/comfort tropes, and found family tropes, all of which Vash is great for.

C9. What show did you really try to watch, but you just couldn’t?

Hmmmmm there are a lot? I've completed 300~400 anime in my lifetime, not even counting Other Kinds of Shows, but I've dropped more than I've finished. Naruto comes to mind because I think I watched maybe 500 episodes of that for a friend, and like, I liked parts of it, but it was such an inconsistent watching experience that I ended up never really liking or really finishing it. I didn't have nostalgia to get me through it lol.

D6. How many bookmarks do you have?

612 right now! Granted, I've had my AO3 account for about ten years now, so it's not too impressive when you factor in how long it's taken me to get there.

D10. What is one story idea you really want to read but no one has written yet?

This one is haaaard because if no one is writing an idea I want to read, then I tend to write it myself. I guess a Vashwood SWAP AU is one? I technically haven't posted the Vashwood part of my SWAP AU, so I would say it counts lol. But on a serious note, I think there are a lot of cool AUs that would work really well for Trigun, but I don't see too many that try to take new and fun takes on the characters. I've seen a couple here and there, but a lot of people tend to stick pretty closely to canon. Which is great! Lots of really great fics like that out there! But it's also fun to just get wild with it sometimes, so I'd like to see more AU fics that just go ham and have fun with some outlandish and creative ideas.

Thank you again for the all the questions!!! It was really fun answering all of these!!

[ Fic Reader Ask Meme ]

[1-50thofabuck]

Dice containers and organizers

Speaking of dice, everyone knows the classic dice bag. I suspect that more gamers have used Crown Royal bags to store dice than have actually tasted Crown Royal.

I like to use other things than bags for dice storage, especially if I have a bunch I really want to organize. One handy solution is a fishing tackle box. You can find all different sizes and styles, and often at discount places like Ollie's or even thrift stores. There are all kinds of storage devices that can be utilized not only for dice organization but for your other favorite little items, like your good luck charms and miniature tape measure and what have you.

Art storage boxes and pencil cases can be pretty cool too. I got a new set of dice and organized them in this, an "ArtBin Quickflip," which I purchased at either a discount outlet or a thrift store, as above.

There is a center piece separating the two sides, and one has more room than the other.

I like to have at least 5 sets of dice because I hate re-rolling them! This container keeps them well-organized. So, I have my main dice set - whatever I'm using at the moment. These are my new ones, so obviously I'm favoring them, though usually this time of year I'm using orange and black sets!

Other side is thinner and less... manueverable, but works well nonetheless. If you get confused about how you're opening the case, you can make all the dice on one side fall out! It's difficult to do, but I'm a ditz...

Some games ask for "wild dice." Other times, I want a distinguishing die - say I'm rolling an attack cycle such as claw/claw/bite, and I want one of the attack dice to be a different color to account for the bite. So I put one extra set of dice here, again whatever I feel like. The blood-spattered ones are fun, but unbalanced! Lots of games use d6s exclusively, or call for sometimes, if not often, rolling handfuls of them. So I put some extras here, choosing these old Warhammer Winds of Magic dice because they're cool, and two Illuminati! dice from the Steve Jackson card game for the same reason!

I also include a scatter and misfire die, as they can be used for lots of things. Check out the website for some rules for them! I also keep a d30, which can be used to roll days of the month, as well as supplements like the d30 Sandbox Companion and the d30 DM's Companion, both of which, incidentally, I cannot recommend enough. A d24, good for, among other things, rolling an hour of the day, such as to determine when a random encounter takes place. A d16, which can be used to give characters wildly varying ability scores by rolling a d16+2 and avoiding the bell curve. A d7, which can generate days of the week, and a d3, which I just like because I enjoy having a die with 1-3 printed instead of dividing a d6 by 2. It's not because it's difficult, I just like using it.

Any cool or fun methods you use for dice storage? Recommendations or tips? Let me know!

[open-hearth-rpg]

#HorrorRPGs2016 Bloodshadows Third Edition

There’s a phrase I often go back to, drawn from the Save the Cat screenwriter’s book: Double Mumbo-Jumbo. The idea of a cool, wild concept which then has a ton of additional unrelated concepts jammed on top of it which muddy the waters. This can come off well with some games: when there’s a synergy which emerges from the elements. That’s often the case with collaborative world-building, where the process of creation and ownership invests the players. 

Then there’s something like Bloodshadows. This is the third edition of a game originally part of West End Games’ Masterbook d6 series (1994). Unlike many others, this one didn’t rely on a license. That meant WEG could more easily build the line which they did with eight supplements in a little over a year. A reconstituted WEG would release an Open d6 version in 2004, though they did little to support it. This one comes from genreDiversion and uses their house system (also used with Coyote Trail, HardNova, and more). The core book includes conversion notes for a variety of systems. 

But back to double-mumbo jumbo. The idea of fantasy noir is a great one: fantastical creatures, people, and magic is an alternate take on the world. The Edge of Midnight and Deadlands Noir are examples. Note that, despite many changes, they’re both still in another version of our world. Streets of New Capenna, the recent Magic the Gathering card set is also fantasy noir with an art deco element. It’s not on our Earth, but the set up for it comes out of the cosmology of MTG itself. 

Bloodshadows has all the look and trappings of classic noir: guns, fedoras, foggy streets. And there’s magic, non-human folk, and dark cults, that gives us the horror trappings which land it on this list. But then it adds a massive high fantasy backstory about a Godswar, a fantasy world, the last cities each with distinct magic and tech, and a massive wilderness separating them, etc. It invites many more questions than it answers. (How is the economy supported? where do they get cigarettes? what about communications?). Its wild and imaginative, but also stops me every time I have a hard think about it. The mix of gritty noir with hand-wavy fantasy world-building throws me.

YRMV I know a ton of people who love the setting: for them the contradictions and nonsense of it fuse together or they just simply ignore it. 

genreDiversion’s third edition is interesting. It’s a text dense release and the pages have a newspaper background that I don’t dig. The art’s a mixed bag, some really solid and others either raw or too dark. In play I didn’t grok the system over several sessions. But there’s a lot of material in this book and it clocks in at about 260+ pages. If you dig the setting, it probably wouldn’t be that hard to port over to another system. 

[theabominableblogger]

All right, this is gonna be a long one... 1, 5, 10, 14, 15, 20, 25, 30, 32, and 37 for the CR questions.

Legit the first words out of my mouth were "oh Jesus!"

Here we go! CR time bay-beee! I've only been in the fandom for about a year and a half but I'm raring to go!

1- Character you don’t particularly like, but will defend vehemently when people dislike them for the wrong reasons.

Starting things off with a bang (hehe), I'm gonna go with Scanlan. A lot of people overlook him as the archetypal horny bard, which is the point of the character. His growth is subtle and doesn't really become extremely noticeable until he leaves in "A Bard's Lament." He's saved Vox Machina's butt on countless occasions and yet the team still kinda pushes him aside. They touched on this a little bit too in the first season of TLOVM with this little teases of foreshadowing and shots of him looking disappointed and I thought that was really cool. Also the clutch counterspell at 8th Lvl against Vecna is just *chef's kiss*

5- Meta you would write if you did not fear people would be SUPER weird about it. This is also an invitation to write that meta and block the haters.

I feel like a bunch of meta I've thought about has already been talked about. I've seen a bunch of phenomenal posts by many Critters on this site, including @captainofthetidesbreath and it's very intriguing and sometimes refreshing to get different perspectives on things that happen. One of my favorites I've read was a breakdown on the infamous Trent dinner scene in C2 which IMO is VERY reminiscent of the dinner sequence in Curse of Strahd. Matt defintely takes elements from well known DnD campaigns and salt bae sprinkles them into Exandria.

10- Favorite and least favorite Matt Mercer Original Subclass.

Super easy. Favorite is the Blighted Druid from Taldorei Reborn mainly because of its AoE in higher levels and addition to AC. Least favorite is the Blood Magic Wizard because as a piddly widdle wizard, your hit die is A D6. And you want your wizard to WILLINGLY cause damage to themselves?!? Hard pass.

14- Describe the art you would most like to create or commission if talent/money were no object.

God, there's so many things I wanna create. Right now I'm working on the Callowmoore supercut (which sits right now at about 35 min) and a few attempts at animatics here and there. The main two animatics I wanna try my hand at are Fearne and Ashton's fireside chat in C3 and Capeleb in C2.

Cosplay is also a thing I wanna get more into. I did a few CR casual cosplays this year (Imogen and Vax) for a ren faire and GenCon and I was so surprised by everyone's compliments on them.

15- Favorite one-on-one conversation (can be between two PCs, or a PC and NPC).

Oh God. So far Fjord and Essek's conversation after Molly's failed return made me bawl like a baby and so did Orym telling Will he couldn't stay in C3. Also for the Mighty Nein Reunited, Essek stopping by. 10/10 will die happily.

20. What non-D&D TTRPG would you most like to see Critical Role run a one shot in?

Arkham Horror would be pretty cool, I'm not gonna lie. Or Dresden Files. Or Balikbayan: Returning Home

25. What class do you most want to see Matt play if he is in a future EXU campaign as a new (not Dariax) PC?

Matt sure does love his spellcasters so let's mix it up. I wanna see him as an absolute madman of a paladin.

30. What is your favorite theory or headcanon that has absolutely no bearing on the plot and isn’t important at all, but which is completely compliant with canon?

I still think Caleb and Essek would have tried to go back for that freaking necrotic gem that Caleb almost got nuked trying to get. That whole scenario is freaking hilarious.

32. If the CR main cast were to play the original 7 tombtakers per The Nine Eyes of Lucien (Brevyn, Cree, Jurrell, Lucien, Otis, Tyffial, and Zoren) in a one shot, who should play whom? Assume Matt DMs, but you do not need to have Taliesin play Lucien.

Oh absolutely Matt plays Lucien. I would have Ashley be Brevyn (because it only makes sense given the connection), Zoren be Liam, Sam be Otis (because karma is a god), Cree be Laura actually, Travis be Jurrell, and Marisha be Tyffial. Have Taliesin switch out with Matt sometimes when Matt comes in as Vess DeRogna. Double DM!

37. You have to take a 16 hour road trip with one NPC from each campaign (all at once, ie, three other people). The NPCs cannot shorten the road trip in any way and the road trip must be via driving but you can do it in two 8 hour days and share a motel room if you’d like. Who do you pick?

Oh geez. Probably Gilmore and Essek and Weva and I'll explain. Essek would be the person I would talk to for small talk and get along with (and talk about how exhausting it is to just be) and Gilmore to absolutely come in and be like "I got the music!" and slams on the soundtrack from Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Weva would also be the one who tells really extravagant stories because she has to be some sort of death cleric who has stories from being a magical mortician.

[sonneillonv]

Hokay SO. This post is cut for lots of images and links. Many of the dice sets I could find failed on one axis or another, so I tried to show preference to the ones that would be acceptable or even GOOD if the numbers were recolored, since that’s the easiest customization to do. Plenty of these are pricey so I want to clarify I’m not saying “Buy these sets from these sellers specifically”, but I’m hoping they’ll give your friend some ideas about what to look for or ask for when they’re looking into a set for themselves.

This lemon-lime set from King’s Dice Shop is very cute, with non-busy inclusions and bright, stand-out numbers in an easy-to-read font. It is a dice set, so it does match, but it also has of the alternate shapes that could make it easier to tell the dice apart.

This liquid rainbow set, also from King’s Dice Shop, could easily be re-inked in white so the numbers would stand out better, and the different colors would make it easy to tell the dice apart. They use the same big, clear font.

The same is true of this dark rainbow set.

And this one is much more subtle, but still beautiful...

MMzakkahappysupplies is a drop-shipper but they have some good sets available. This one has subtle, unique shading on the dice to help tell them apart and a nice, legible font:

Titusdecor has this really cool LED set that lights up to make the numbers more obvious:

DracaenaDraco has several sets like this - unique pastel swirls with nice big numbers. Most of them would need to be re-inked, but they have some lovely colors:

This one from TerribleTrioCrafts might be a little too busy but I think it could be re-inked to be nice and clear, and as far as each die looking different goes, you can’t beat a box of chocolates. This is my #1 most coveted dice set. One day I may be convinced to actually buy it.

And I’m not reccing these dice specifically, just showing them as an example, but if you like standout criticals, CrystalMaggie has some of my favorites:

the ‘yeet’ and ‘fuck’ options are available on a number of their dice sets so the trick would just be finding one you liked and asking about it. One of the things I like about her shop is that she sells single d6′s and single d20′s separately, so you can build a set you like by getting different dice. And while their font isn’t the clearest I’ve seen, they do have several glass or gemstone sets that have very nice, clear inking, as well as roman numeral and other ‘symbolic’ options. Plus these:

MinMaxMouse has these delightful Pasta Dice which use the colors of the Italian flag to help differentiate numbers:

as well as this cute ‘cocktail bar’ set where each die is different, though the numbers are a little fancier than I assume you prefer:

URWizards has this cute pixelated set with standout criticals:

as well as this nice, simple fossil coral set:

but as you can see their font is very spindly. A lot of their designs are CRAZY busy, so I’m not even showing them, but they do have agate and labrodorite sets that have similar differences in color and pattern.

DoDragaoGaming is also a drop-shipper but they have some decent options like this pastel set:

I admit the chicken set is one of my favorites, but really only the d20 and d4 are different. Still, it’s cute and has nice clear numbers

FennekandFinch is one of my absolute favorite shops. Their font is a tiny bit embellished but they also have some very pretty, simple sets like this matte flourite:

this pastels set

and this beach party set, which has a clear ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ which might make it easier to tell the dice apart:

this jade set is just plain beautiful, though of course the dice all look the same:

and this Holy Nexus set has some adorable standout criticals

RedcatBoutiqueCo is dropshipping but they have some pretty options with good, clear font like this set:

Since they favor this nice big, clear font, a lot of the options are a little more accessible:

Anyway, I know a lot of this isn’t perfect but I hope that it gives you some examples of what’s out there and some options to look at. I specifically left out most of the bog-standard acrylics because you can find those literally anywhere and you specified that they wanted PRETTY dice which is an urge I absolutely understand.

Hey, asking for a friend, has anyone got links/recs for DND dice made in mind for dyslexic people?

We've found some character sheets but nothing for dice, and it's a real stone in the path.

[ostrichmonkey-games]

Design Thoughts 🤔

I have this in progress game thing (that will not be finished any time soon so) that tries to synthesize elements of Forged in the Dark, Belonging Outside Belonging/No Dice No Masters, and Apocalypse Keys into one thing.

So I love setting elements as a piece of tech from BoB stuff, but I always find it a little tricky to use them in play. In the sense that they're another level of layer to keep in mind while also keeping in mind everything else about the game! The upcoming game Brinkwood: Refuge handles this in a very cool way (but its also not out yet so I don't want to talk too much about it) and Wanderhome's Natures and Traits also are really good, and feel nice to use (so nice that they hugely inspired the world elements in Extracausal: Monolith). So Step One of this game-design-idea is how can I make something using setting elements that really clicks for me?

Forged in the Dark is one of my favorite "design engines" in general. I love position/effect, actions, rolling a bunch of d6s, consequences/resistance, factions, I could go on and on. There are a lot of very fun levers to pull once you dig into FitD design. I also wildly prefer the Action system compared to a Skill list system. It provides enough structure that players aren't floundering on what to do at a given moment, but not so restrictive or overwhelming that some skill list stuff can turn into. But one thing I always forget to do (both as a player and GM) is utilize Devil's Bargains to their full extent! So Step Two is working on a way to make Devil's Bargains more consistent.

Apocalypse Keys rules (full disclosure, I worked on system development and also contributed a mystery and in progress playbook). One of my favorite part (which is also present in the game Librete!) is how instead of stats, you have a shifting pool of tokens (similar to BoB styles) that you can spend to get bonuses to your 2d6 roll. There are specific triggers that naturally come up in play for each playbook that get you more tokens, and then you can't hoard them because if you get too many tokens at a time, there are Consequences. It creates a very satisfying loop for your characters! So Step Three is how can I emulate this token-loop?

What I've got so far;

To enact a Devil's Bargain you must play a Setting Element. Devil's Bargains are traditionally meant to inject complications into the scene, and often times, so can Setting Elements. Feels appropriate to link them here. This also gives a clear mechanical moment for when a setting element is brought into play (which for me, is really the tricky part in existing games).

You have no stats/attributes that numerically define how many dice you roll at a given time, instead you must spend tokens 1:1 to gain d6. By limiting how many dice you might have access to in a given moment, Devil's Bargains become even more appealing! Rolling dice is good, and so is injecting new complications.

Each playbook has a set of conditions that when met, net you more tokens. This is basically the same format as Apocalypse Keys.

What is still kind of nebulous;

What happens when you gain too many tokens?

Is the loop of "determine if tokens are gained -> spend tokens -> get dice -> roll dice" too clunky? Will probably need to do some actual playtesting to figure this bit out. On paper, its not too distant from the typical FitD "conversation" involving position/effect, but I also want to include position/effect on top of everything else.

Basically everything else about the game lmao.

We'll see how everything starts to shape up in the next few months. This is very much something I'm just poking at here and there, since I have some other projects that take precedence and I would like to get done first.

Anyways, thoughts? Recs for things you think I should look at? What's up?

[wereshrew-admirer]

checking transcripts on marrow creek and this line* is SO spooky. this is the course talking directly to chine!! is this the most explicit message that chine ever actually gets from the course? they fuck up so many rolls trying to understand what the course is telling them (rip) and here in this little tiny bit of dialogue is a person made up by the course directly speaking to chine about the nature of marrow creek? 

*”austin (as crowd person): It’s not about what I want. It’s about what you want...”

(transcript of the whole scene below cut)

Austin: There is a banjo playing, and then people are slowly picking up fruit, and one at a time throwing. The fruit are like, sort of like peaches. They’re stone— they're various stone fruit. They're fruit that have pits in them. Very ripe, overripe, I would say. Like, you can see someone reach to grab one of them in their hand. Their fingers depress into the flesh of the fruit very easily. 

Keith: Ew.

Austin: You know what I mean? Like, without much force. And you get the sense that the pit inside is bigger than it should be.

Sylvia: I think like when someone near me starts doing this, I'm just like:

Sylvia (as Hazard): [outraged] What are you doing? 

Austin (as crowd person): Shhhh. Shh. Can I help you? 

Sylvia (as Hazard): [quieter] Why are you throwing fruit at them?

Austin (as crowd person): Because they're doing a poor job. Are you okay?

Sylvia (as Hazard): [loud again] I'm fine. I'm apparently the only person here who has—

Austin (as crowd person): Shhh. 

Sylvia (as Hazard): [hushed] I am apparently the only person here who has a normal reaction to not really liking music that much!

Dre (as Chine): [hushed] Hey! Hey! Do you have a— do you have an extra fruit? 

Austin (as crowd person): Yeah, of course. 

Austin: And hands you the one in their hand. 

Dre: Okay.

Austin: I mean, there's a box— there's a crate filled with these things.

Dre: Cool.

Austin: Like, on top of a barrel not too far away.

Keith: They do this a lot.

Dre: Yeah, no, I'm gonna— I'm gonna throw it directly at the person. 

[0:50:00]

Sylvia (as Hazard): Chine!

Austin: Directly at the person. 

Dre (as Chine): [quietly] I'm blending in!

Dre: Yeah, I wanna hit…I wanna hit the banjo out of their hands. 

Austin: Ooh. Okay, give me a, um…that sounds like a Hunt to me. 

Dre: Sure. 

Austin: Give me a Hunt. 

Dre: What’s—

Austin: You don't have Haven, do you? 

Dre: No, is the domain—

Austin: Again you could use any domain you want. If it's not Haven, it's Risky, but— and that's a bad trade on the math, for what it's worth. So I would just use Hunt, if I were you. Without help, Risky— I mean, Risky’s always just very scary, but… 

Dre: Oh, so Hunt and then just leave the domain blank?

Austin: Yes, yeah. Yeah.

Dre: Okay. 

Austin: Which means it— and it shouldn't be Risky if you aren't trying to call on something else. I mean, you can try to call on something else, and that will color what happens, is what I will say. I…Chine, you can use Cursed.

Dre: Hmm. That's probably fine. It’s probably fine.

Austin: Yeah, it's fine. Don't worry about it. 

Dre: Yeah, don't worry about it. [Sylvia and Dre laugh] 

Austin: Uh huh. You got a six, which is success at a cost.

Dre: Mm-hmm.

Austin: You, again, are gonna take D6…

Keith: That's lucky that you had that, by the way.

Austin: Oh my god. 

Dre: Whoo.

Austin: Take six to Echo, here. 

Sylvia: Boy.

Dre: What's the, uh…what's the tier that we're at?

Austin: Oh, we're on tier three, my friend.

Dre: Okay.

Keith: You have rollen— you have— “rollen,” Jesus Christ. You've rolled—

Austin: Uh huh?

Keith: —18 possible damage and hit 17 of them for stress.

Austin: That’s true. I'm killing it tonight. 

Keith: Us. You're killing us. 

Austin: I'm killing you. Go ahead and give me that Fallout test. [Sylvia laughs] No Fallout. And guess what, Chine?

Dre: Mm-hmm? Yeah? 

Austin: You knock the banjo out of his hands, and doing so fills your chest with a sort of warmth and confidence. Clear Vulnerable. 

Dre: Ah.

Austin: You've wandered onto one of the Haunts of this place. And I think the person who gave you that stone fruit…and again, if you picked it up, you could tell the pits in these, it's like they've been bred to be bigger than they should be. [Keith and Dre laugh] Like, it's big, heavy, like… [Sylvia laughs] The banjo clatters, and one of the strings breaks, and the person who handed it to you puts their hand on your back, like “well done,” you know? 

Dre (as Chine): It's called deescalation, Hazard. [Austin laughs softly] 

Sylvia (as Hazard): Wh— [frustrated but resigned] fine. 

Austin: I mean, people are continuing to throw at this point, and the person is just standing there.

Keith: You said that Chine stumbled upon a Haunt. Does that mean that the Haunt is having hit this person with a fruit?

Austin: Mm-hmm. This is a place you can heal. 

Keith: You can heal at hitting with a fruit. 

Austin: Yeah.

Keith: Okay.

Austin: Yeah. It’s a Mind Haunt. 

Dre: Feels good to break things. 

Austin: Mm-hmm. You feel yourself, as you throw it, Chine, connecting to something— and you used Cursed, right? 

Dre: Mm-hmm.

Austin: You feel yourself connected to something here in a deep way. Not just the people around you as you let go, but like, you feel rooted. You feel good. You feel like this is…this is a good town. [with unnerving conviction] This is a good town.

Keith: We are having very different times. 

Sylvia: Yeah.

Austin: What are y'all doing at that point? I mean, this person, I think, again, uh…they put their hand on your back, and they're like:

Austin (as crowd person): Ah, damn good throw. Here, you should throw another one.

Dre (as Chine): Yeah, yeah. 

Austin: And they pick one up and throw another one and, you know, hit the person. The person is just standing there, just taking these hits at this point. 

Dre (as Chine): Hey, uh, you haven't seen a tall demon with one horn anywhere, have you? 

Austin (as crowd person): Demon, mm… 

Austin: There's like a little bit of, um…they look arou— they like shake their head, but there's clearly something being hidden here, or there's currently being held back.

Sylvia (as Hazard): [quickly] Hey, hey, hey. Hey. You know something. What have you seen? 

Austin (as crowd person): [stammers]

Sylvia (as Hazard): You've seen the— hey, tell me. 

Austin (as crowd person): Hey.

Dre (as Chine): Listen.

Sylvia (as Hazard): Tell me, and I will throw as many fruit as you want at this guy.

Dre (as Chine): Listen, you tell us where that person is? I’ll— 

Austin (as crowd person): Shh.

Dre (as Chine): [hushed] Hey, hey. I'll nail this guy wherever you want me to. 

Austin (as crowd person): It's not about what I want. It's about what you want. [hesitates] Quiet. Come with— come— you stay here.

Austin: Pointing to you, Chine. And looking at you, Hazard, and saying like:

Austin (as crowd person): Come with me. 

[lea-andres]

Zavok anon here! What, you didn’t think I only like Vavokilla because of Vector and Vanilla, did you? ;D

Dont worry, i totally understand why people hate him lol. The game didnt do him justice 😔 (actually, it didnt really do any of them justice). The main reason I like them is because I filled them up with a shitload of headcannons, which I’ll explain down below.

This kinda turned into why I love the deadly six as a whole, so I hope you don’t mind too much! Also I think they’re all important to Zavok’s character in some way.

I first found out about the D6 through the sonic wiki. i was just getting back into sonic at the time, and wanted to check these dorks out. Their wiki pages made them sound so cool! I decided to watch the lost world cutscenes. I immediately fell in love with all of them.

They were very 2D, but i saw a lot of potential in them. How did they become a team? Why are they like the way they are? What are their dynamics with each other? Most of which… aren’t answered. So you know ya girl had to fix that-

Most peoples problem is that Zavok is a 2D knock off of Bowser and… yeah I can see why. But there’s so much more to consider when writing him! When I write Bowser, I make him a goofball single dad doing his best for his 8+ children while trying to rule a kingdom and kidnap his crush at the same time. When I write Zavok, I make him a stoic and cunning leader who’s Guarding the lost hex along with his team, willing to do some violent and scary things if it means keeping his team safe. (It also helps that I tend to write them more as siblings)

Not to mention the other D6 members! Yeah, they’re not what most people would call “fleshed out”, but those are what headcannons are for baby! Heres how i usually write them, if you’re interested:

I characterize Zazz as a feral puppy/cat. He will (and has) absolutely bite and chase after whatever creature captured his eye, but he’s fiercely loyal to the deadly six and considers them family. He’ll do that cat thing where he’ll bring a dead mouse to them and go “I hunted this for you! :D”. He also tends play fight with them  if they’re in the mood.

Zomom is written as a big brother for the team, making sure they’re well fed and not doing anything TOO stupid lol. His quotes from the game show some hidden depth, too! Some of his quotes can get really self deprecating, and his final quote when Sonic defeats him at his final battle is “Mom was right, I am a failure!” iirc. Because of this, I also write him as insecure and worried. It’s a part of why he acts like a big brother. He doesn’t want anyone to feel like how he does, so he’s there to help with what the other 6 needs.

I don’t really focus on Master Zik a lot, but he is very important to the rest of the D6. He is seen as a stern father figure among them, training their abilities and giving advice. He’s very close to Zavok, as he adopted him when Zavok was a kid. If Zavok isn’t there, Master Zik will resume leadership until he comes back. Very proud of his kids team!

When it comes to Zeena, I don’t make her as self centered like she is in the games. She still is, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a little more toned down. She doesn’t always show it, but she very much loves her team, and shows it in an older sister kinda way. She likes to tease them about whatever, but she’s the only one who can do it, no other zeti! Also willing to lend an ear if they need it.

Zor is an interesting fellow to me. He canonically uses dark magic that the others wouldn’t dare touch, which has a lot of potential. I headcannon he was an outcast due to the black magic, which gave him a shitty childhood. He was in a really dark place before meeting the D6, and to cope he kinda went extreme with the whole “life is meaningless why try” and that’s why he’s like that. Most of that is exaggerated tho, and he’s doing wayyy better with the team! He kinda has the attitude of “everything’s useless except these 5 idiots I live with”.

And then there’s Zavok! Trained under Master Zik, he devoted himself to being a warrior, and created a team of 5 other Zetis to guard the Hex. He is very professional in general, and is usually the straight man to all the madness, but he doesn’t mind getting involved with the chaos sometimes. He’s kind of the glue that holds them together. He is very proud of his team, and considers them his siblings.

This is why I like them so much! I used my headcannons to give them some substance, and went to town! There is so much you can do with them, I swear.

This ended up a lot longer than I was planning lol. I hope you enjoyed it! I can go on and on about them, I’ll gladly talk about them more if people want me to. Anything to stolkhome them into liking more characters against their will~!

Ah ha! We have a name to put to the anon!

AHHHHHH, yes! Tossing the bits you don't like and replacing with headcanon! I should've known. 😂😂😂 We're all guilty of that to some degree. :P

And honestly, I love your D6 from these summaries. They sound much more interesting! I especially appreciate the fixes you did to Zomom! Canon Zomom might be my least favorite of the D6, he's just one big fat joke and that always rubs me the wrong way whenever that happens in media, but yours is an actual character and I appreciate that immensely. 😭

Thank you for sharing! I'd be open to hearing more about them in the future if you're willing to share!

[tigerkirby215]

5e Sona, the Maven of the Strings build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Shilin Huang. Made for Riot Games.)

(Shit meme by yours truly.)

Revealing my Champion Mastery just to say that I play a lot of Sona. Don’t flame me for playing Seraphine and Yuumi I swear to god, and I have no idea why Teemo is in my top 10 highest mastery champs ngl.

Anyways you have no idea how happy I am as a Sona main that my girl is now top tier. I came to League of Legends from Overwatch (yes really) and I used to main Lucio in OW along with some of the more “techy” characters like Symmetra and Torbjorn. (Came to OW from TF2 where I mained Engineer and Medic.) Sona was a natural fit for me as a champion who was both easy to play and very similar to Lucio. It also helps that I joined the Rift during the single most engaging meta to ever grace this game. I was kinda too shit to play Janna but the Ardent Censer meta is also why I have such a high mastery on Lulu tbh.

But enough about my history with League: Sona! Honestly when I think of an archetypical support Sona pops into my head a lot sooner than Soraka: a champion based on empowering their teammates in as many ways as possible with heals, shields, movement speed, and CC to hold the enemy team down. I’ve always loved playing her because she feels like much more of a macro oriented character than other supports, with team-wide support as opposed to keeping one person alive like Soraka or Yuumi or focusing on CC like Morgana and Nami.

I’m going to build most if not all the champions eventually but man I am happy to tackle Sona now. She’s always been on my mind as my main but it was pretty difficult to think of how to make her. I think this build is good enough though!

Wow that was much longer of an intro than I’m used to. You can really tell which champions I’m excited for lol.

GOALS

Everything in harmony - Sona boosts everyone on her team with her songs as they fill the air.

Triple time! - Sona’s ability to boost her whole team into a good position is always beneficial.

Crescendo! - Fun fact: Sona’s ultimate is canonically extremely painful as she forces you to contort your limbs against your will. Why is Sona needlessly macabre? Well remember that Riot also wrote Volibear as an Eldritch old god.

RACE

Sona is Human but if you want to be cool you can make her a Kalashtar for resistance to Psychic damage and advantage on Wisdom saves. Regardless we’re going to be making what’s known as a dollar store Kalashtar with Variant Human. Increase your Charisma by 1 as well as your Constitution because we kinda don’t need much else. You also get proficiency in one skill of your choice which will of course be Performance, and a language which you can pick as you fancy: you won’t be speaking it anyways lmfao.

That’s because “Only you can hear me summoner; what masterpiece shall we play today?” Grab the Telepathic feat to complete this dollar store Kalashtar package. Increase your Charisma score by 1 and get a 60 foot telepathy to speak while being mute. You also learn the Detect Thoughts spell and can cast it once without using a spell slot. "Did he want... four autographs? I don't understand."

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - Charisma is tied to performance and all the other stuff a Demacian noblewoman is expected to be good at.

14; DEXTERITY - Something something medium armor; even if you wear a dress there’s no reason you can’t have some padding beneath it!

13; STRENGTH - Hey this isn’t something something medium armor!

12; CONSTITUTION - Sona may be squishy in League but I value not dying more than good skill checks honestly.

10; WISDOM - Speaking of not dying: Wisdom saves are more common, and Insight is more useful than most Intelligence skills.

8; INTELLIGENCE - We had to dump something so unfortunately Intelligence gets the short end of the stick. You may have studied under the illustrious Buvelle family but most of those lessons were music classes.

If you want a better stat array going 13 / 14 / 12 / 10 / 10 / 14 with Point Buy is perfectly viable, and if your DM is cool enough to let you multiclass without Strength then you’re more than welcome to dump it.

BACKGROUND

There’s two obvious backgrounds that fit Sona: the first is Entertainer for proficiency with Acrobatics and a skill of your choice (since we already took Performance lol.) You also get proficiency with Disguise Kits and your Etwahl! (That’s what Sona’s instrument is called btw.) Your background feature By Popular Demand allows you to play any stage once. "Some, just the once.” You can perform in exchange for a place to stay, and when you do so the local people will remember your wonderful performance!

But making an Entertainer Bard is kinda cliché, no? If you want to lean into Sona’s Demacian heritage go for the Noble background. This gives you proficiency with Persuasion and History as well as a gaming set of your choice: unfortunately Tellstones isn’t an option (unless your DM decides otherwise!) so a Dragonchess Set will do well enough. Oh and you get another language that you won’t speak: fun! Your Position of Privilege makes it easy for you to arrange meetings with other important people, and the commonfolk will be kind and cordial with you.

(Screenshot from the Tellstones: King’s Gambit trailer by Riot Games.)

I personally opted to go for Noble when making this build, but if you want to choose Entertainer go right ahead! Backgrounds don’t affect too much overall and it’s up to you (and your DM) to make your own Sona!

(Artwork from League of Legends Wild Rift. Made for Riot Games. RIOT PLEASE UPDATE MUSE SONA ON PC I’M BEGGING YOU!)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - BARD 1

I mean what else did you expect? Bards get proficiency in three musical instruments of their choice: a Lyre is the closest you’ll get to Sona’s Etwahl, though a Dulcimer is also pretty close. I’d also recommend grabbing a Lute since most magical instruments come in Lute variety.

You also get proficiency in 3 skills of your choice like Perception to watch wards, Insight to watch people, and Athletics for a bit of Tenacity to break out of grapples. (As well as potentially grab some people yourself! Although Acrobatics is also perfectly fine for escaping grapples.)

As a Bard you can boost your ADC with Bardic Inspiration, letting them add a d6 to attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. You have a number of these equal to your Charisma modifier and they come back after a Long Rest.

But of course the main reason to play a Bard is to do Demacian-banned Spellcasting! You learn two cantrips from the Bard list like Vicious Mockery for some diminuendo, making it harder for the enemy to hurt your allies while also cutting them down to size. (I don’t know if your DM will let you slap your Etwahl angrily and then point at them judgingly, but you may have to break your vow of silence every now and then.) You can also learn Prestidigitation for all sorts of general magic stuff that you really shouldn’t do in front of anyone important.

You of course also learn 4 Bard spells like Cure Wounds and Healing Word for the atypical healing spells, Dissonant Whispers for some Hymn of Valor damage, and Detect Magic which you’ll likely be expected to cast as the designated support. *Sigh* Always gotta buy wards.

LEVEL 2 - BARD 2

Second level Bards could be called a Jack of All Trades, as you get to add half your proficiency bonus to any skill you aren’t proficient in. This means even if your ability scores are bad the skills you don’t have proficiency in are still good enough! You also get Song of Rest, letting your allies recover an extra d6 of health during Short Rests. And if you have Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything  Magical Inspiration will let your allies add their Bardic Inspiration to the damage or healing of a spell they cast!

And finally you can learn another spell: against as the designated support you’re expected to take Identify.

LEVEL 3 - BARD 3

Third level Bards get Expertise in two skills: Performance is an obvious must and Persuasion would probably be good as well.

But more importantly you get to choose your Bardic College and if you want to both shield your allies and speed them up look no further than the College of Glamour! That’s because Mantle of Inspiration grants 5 temporary hitpoints to a number of creatures within 60 feet of you equal to your Charisma modifier (which can include yourself by the way!) Additionally those creatures can move up to their movement speed as a reaction without provoking opportunity attacks, making this a great tool to reposition an ally who’s caught in a dangerous position!

You’re also capable of creating an Enthralling Performance: if you perform for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to inspire wonder in your audience. At the end of the performance you can choose a number of humanoids within 60 feet of you who watched and listened to all of it, up to a maximum equal to your Charisma modifier. Each target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you.

While charmed in this way, the target idolizes you, and speaks glowingly of you to anyone who talks to them. They also hinder anyone who opposes you, although they avoid violence unless it was already inclined to fight for you. This effect ends on a target after 1 hour unless they take any damage, you attack it, or it witnesses you attacking or damaging any of its allies. If a target succeeds on its saving throw the target has no hint that you tried to charm it, and you can use this ability once per Short or Long Rest.

Finally you can learn second level spells like Hold Person, for a one-man version of your ultimate.

LEVEL 4 - BARD 4

Ah the first of many Ability Score Improvements. You may have noticed our deliberately uneven Charisma modifier: that’s because I’m going to be taking the Fey Touched feat for +1 to your Charisma, the Misty Step spell (for Flash, of course), and the Gift of Alacrity spell from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount for a Song of Celerity! Accelerated movement? I concur.

You can also learn another spell as well as another cantrip! For your cantrip take Mage Hand for help warding those hard-to-reach areas, and for your spell take Lesser Restoration, because yeah it’s also your job to buy Mikael’s. *Sigh.*

LEVEL 5 - BARD 5

5th level Bards get a Font of Inspiration that lets their Bardic Inspiration come back after a Short Rest as well as a Long Rest. That’s good because your Bardic Inspiration increases to a d8, which also boosts your Mantle of Inspiration to grant 8 temporary hitpoints!

You can also learn another spell like Hypnotic Pattern: while it won’t do any damage and your allies can’t hit the dancing enemies it’ll still be the best recreation of your ultimate for now.

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

LEVEL 6 - PALADIN 1

I hope you weren’t expecting this to be a pure Bard build, because then I’d just be building Seraphine again! Grab your something something Medium Armor as well as a shield (well technically you need both hands free to play a musical instrument) it’s Paladin time, master of auras! 

Paladins get a Lay on Hands pool equal to 5 times their Paladin level for some more healing. You can touch a creature to give them any amount of health from your Lay on Hands, or use 5 hitpoints from your Lay on Hands pool to neutralize a poison or disease affecting them. You also get Divine Sense to locate any Celestial, Fiend, or Undead as long as they’re within 60 feet of you and not behind total cover. Don’t worry it gets a lot more exciting later.

LEVEL 7 - PALADIN 2

Second level Paladins can choose their Fighting Style and you’re still more of a mage than a warrior, so Blessed Warrior will give you two cantrips from the Cleric list that use your Charisma! Guidance is an obvious must for a support and Toll the Dead is a great option if you want to go full AP.

Should you have options for attacks to target enemies who have high Wisdom? Yeah probably: Sacred Flame might be a good choice.

Of course cantrips also imply more Spellcasting! You can prepare a number of spells equal to your Charisma modifier plus half your Paladin level (rounded down) which is currently a freaking lot of spells. Let’s just go down the list, shall we?

Bless is great to buff your team and make them harder, better, faster, and stronger.

Command is a mostly harmless Enchantment spell that will force your foes to do as you, well, command. I’d argue “dance” is a reasonable Command.

Protection from Evil and Good is never bad to have in your back pocket in case you’re fighting either Kayle or Fiddlesticks.

And Shield of Faith will let you boost your ADC’s survivability with Ardent Censer!

I know you can prepare more spells but there isn’t much I want from first level of Paladin. I am contractually obligated to mention that you can also turn your spell slots into a Divine Smite if you hit an enemy with a melee weapon, but you aren’t really going to be using weapons in this build. That’s right boys hop aboard the caster Paladin train!

LEVEL 8 - PALADIN 3

Third level Paladins get to choose their Sacred Oath and Oath of the Watchers may seem weird but it’s really good at defending your allies. That’s because you get two different Channel Divinity options: Abjure the Extraplanar works similarly to the Cleric’s Turn Undead feature except it affects Aberrations, Celestials, Elementals, Fey, and Fiends.

Watcher’s Will meanwhile lets you choose a number of creatures you can see within 30 feet of you, up to your Charisma modifier. For 1 minute, you and the chosen creatures have advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws. This means that in a party of 6 this ability can give your whole party advantage on all mental saves, which is huge for keeping everyone alive against nasty casters! See? Demacia can use your magic!

Speaking of magic you get Alarm and Detect Magic as Oath spells. (Might want to swap Detect Magic from your Bard list with Mass Healing Word ty Tasha’s.) You can also use Harness Divine Power to regain a spell slot equal to half your proficiency bonus a number of times per Long Rest. And you get Divine Health, because you don’t take a sick day to stop complaining about Seraphine.

LEVEL 9 - PALADIN 4

4th level Paladins get another Ability Score Improvement: cap off that Charisma for maximum AP scaling!

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

LEVEL 10 - PALADIN 5

5th level Paladins can finally prepare second level spells! As a Watchers Paladin you get access to Moonbeam as well as See Invisibility, both of which are very good for dealing with incoming gankers.

You can also prepare spells like Aid to boost your allies’ HP, Prayer of Healing (ty Tasha’s) for some out-of-combat healing, and Warding Bond for a Knight’s Vow.

Oh and you get an Extra Attack, which sure would matter if you were actually using weapons.

LEVEL 11 - PALADIN 6

6th level reasons get the main reason Sona’s a Paladin: Aura of Protection! All your saving throws are increased by an amount equal to your Charisma modifier, which is a full +5 currently! But what’s special about this ability is that it also applies to your allies within 10 feet of you, letting you give out auras a plenty to keep your allies safe!

You can also prepare another spell but again: not much I really want. So we’re going to be waiting a little while longer once again.

LEVEL 12 - PALADIN 7

7th level Watchers Paladins get Aura of the Sentinel, or as I like to call it: Song of Celerity. When you or any creature of your choice within 10 feet of you roll for initiative, they gain a bonus to initiative equal to your proficiency bonus. While this may make positioning a little difficult (everyone’s going to have to huddle around you) this ability guarantees that you can speed up all your important allies to make sure they get their powerful abilities off!

LEVEL 13 - PALADIN 8

8th level Paladins get another Ability Score Improvement or a Feat. You may have noticed your uneven Constitution score: grab good ol’ Resilient Constitution for a boost to your health and even more insurance on your Concentration checks. With your Paladin aura and proficiency you’d have a +12 total to your Constitution checks currently, meaning that if you take 24 damage or less you won’t even have to roll for Concentration!

LEVEL 14 - PALADIN 9

You are probably the only Paladin who cares about spells, so it’s nice that you get 3rd level spells now! Watchers Paladins get two very strong third level spells: Nondetection will help you deward and keep your allies safe from enemies that may try to sneak a peak at you, but Counterspell is the true best choice to stop danger from befalling your allies. What’s very good about Counterspell is that as a Bard you get to add Jack of All Trades to the skill check, meaning it’s far easier for you to deny an incomming spell than any other spellcaster! “Mages have enough problems without you.”

Of course you can prepare some more spells like Aura of Vitality for Aria of Perseverance, and Revivify for an ADC’s Guardian Angel. But having access to spells like Remove Curse, Dispel Magic, Crusader’s Mantle, and even Daylight on the Paladin spell list are all extremely useful to be able to prepare. Remember that you are doing yourself a disservice by not taking time to think about what the best spells to prepare would be for your current quest. "Every note is important."

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

LEVEL 15 - BARD 6

Now that we’ve got all our auras it’s time to go back to Bard for Mantle of Majesty! As a bonus action, you cast Command without expending a spell slot as you take on an appearance of unearthly beauty for 1 minute. During that minute you can cast Command as a bonus action on each of your turns without expending a spell slot. Additionally any creature charmed by you automatically fails its saving throw against the command you cast with this feature. You do have to concentrate on this feature (like a spell), and once you use it you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

You can also learn another spell but there isn’t much I want from the third level of Bard, really. Oh and you get Countercharm which is awful and I hate it, but since you didn’t take a 10th level in Paladin I suppose you have to use it. Spend an action to give allies advantage on their saving throws against charms and fears, I guess.

LEVEL 16 - BARD 7

7th level Bard; 4th level spells. Freedom of Movement will let you help either yourself or an ally with Mikael’s Crucible, and Dimension Door is great to get into lane fast, or back to base fast!

LEVEL 17 - BARD 8

8th level Bards get another Ability Score Improvement, and if you don’t like the look of something something Medium Armor then the Eldritch Adept feat might be able to help. Take the Mask of Many Faces invocation to be able to cast Disguise Self at will to change your skins as you please.

Could you have taken this earlier? Absolutely. Are there better invocations? Yeah probably, but by level 17 you can make some of your own choices. Build your own Sona: this is merely a guide and you can make your own choices.

Speaking of own choices: take whichever spell you want at this level. There’s plenty of great ones for a 4th level Bard and I can’t recommend anything in particular to you. Every musician has their own style, and it’s up to you to find your own!

(Artwork by Yan Li. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 18 - BARD 9

9th level Bards get to pretend that increasing Song of Rest from a d6 to a d8 by total level 18 is helpful.

You do get access to 5th level spells like Mass Cure Wounds, which is like Mass Healing Word but better! "Harmoniously."

LEVEL 19 - BARD 10

10th level Bards get Expertise in two more skills: Perception is an obvious must to watch over your wards but beyond that? Honestly pick your poison with whatever skill you want since by level 19 you can make your own choices. (Though my personal choice would be Athletics to hopefully give some more safety against grapples.)

But of course the main boon of reaching level 10 in Bard is the Magical Secrets! ...I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you again: there honestly aren’t any spells in particular I want as Magical Secrets. Sure I could recommend spells like Haste or whatever but are they really going to be that great by total level 20? To be honest even the spells on the Bard list like Animate Objects, Greater Restoration, Hold Monster, Rary's Telepathic Bond, Scrying, and Synaptic Static are very good (although I’d sooner replace some of your old spells with them.)

Again I know this is supposed to be a “guide” but most people won’t hit level 19 anyways, so I don’t think it’s that bad for me to recommend you take your own steps to make your own Sona. Hell, build some AP if you want! I know I would!

LEVEL 20 - BARD 11

Our final level is the 11th level of Bard and I’ll be honest: it’s just to add Otto's Irresistible Dance to your spell list. It can only affect one person but it’s still your ultimate by total level 20.

Oh and you were supposed to get a cantrip last level. Uhhhhh I dunno take Mending lol.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

The rhythm connects us all - You have dozens of spells to keep your team alive and active during a fight, not to mention that all your Paladin auras and abilities really help them give 110%. It’s worth mentioning that Gift of Alacrity combined with Aura of the Sentinel is a d8 + 6 to an Initiative roll, which will almost always guarantee that whoever you want to go first will be going first!

A true masterpiece should celebrate living - Despite your somewhat weird level split you maxed out the only stat which matters for you: Charisma. And woah holy shit turns out Paladins are really good with maxed out Charisma! +5 to all saves means even your lowest save is a +4, and the saves your proficient in vary between +13 for Dexterity and Constitution (both very common!) and a whopping +16 save on Charisma!

Curtains up; I'm ready - Jack of All Trades also does quite nicely to help your middling skills. Even though I dumped most of your mental skills you’re still proficient enough that you won’t be completely helpless when caught off guard. And when you’re in the zone with Persuasion or Performance you are easily the best girl around!

CONS

Don't make me get off stage - It was my intention to recreate Sona’s positional gameplay with this build but it does present some gameplay issues when trying to maximize your effectiveness. Where do you position yourself as a character who’s still primarily a squishy caster despite your good saving throws and AC? Can you give everyone in your party support, or are they too spread out to get value out of your 10 foot range auras?

Quiet, please! - You have a damn good concentration check, but what do you concentrate on? Not only do you have a ton of spells but they all scale very good with levels and you have spell slots that go far higher than your maximum level spell. It can be hard to choose what to do with those 7th and 8th level slots.

The world is cruel... Until that changes, I'll never stop playing - One of many “meta” problems with this build was my choice to focus almost entirely on support. Sure Toll the Dead is a great damaging cantrip but your only two damaging spells are Moonbeam and Dissonant Whispers. Again: you don’t have to follow my build point-for-point and while you’ll be flamed in League for building Sona full AP I don’t think your friends will mind if you take some damaging spells.

But if you can’t tell it was really hard for me to come up with those downsides. With the exception of the positional requirements a Bardadin is a very strong build and Sona is a very strong support. Boost your teammates with your own amazing power and make sure everyone’s alive and jamming! Your power may have been forgotten over the years but no one’s ever upset to have a great support at their side. And remember: Seraphine may be in K/DA but you’re in Pentakill, and you have your own label! No one can replace DJ Sona!