#even one level in barbarian would be more likely

[errantgoat]

I'm always amused whenever your OC is developed enough to have a mind of their own. I'm writing this in the context of me wanting to shove Harvey into a paladin class for whenever I redo his BG3 playthrough... He outright refuses and shuts down my humble daydreams with a big red 'this wouldn't work because' button. I guess this is just one of the classes (like most of the spellcasters) he just wouldn't get saddled with.

[emiko-matsui]

I can't really let go of the hallway scene with Porter because it felt like so many got the wrong takeaway. I believe that Porter genuinely likes Fig, he's liked her since day one of freshman year way before he ever wanted/needed her as a champion. I do not think he likes Kipperlilly. He noticed that Kipperlilly was spying on him and was fucking pissed off about it. He played it off and helped Fig to her feet and brushed her off, but he fucking pinned down Kipperlilly (who should be well-versed with Porter's fighting abilities after all that time in Farhaven). I think he's gonna discard the Rat Grinders as soon as he can, but I do genuinely believe we're gonna get a scene in the final battle of Porter offering Fig a place in his empire. He trained her and I think she's his magnum opus outside of the manipulation. I think he would be delighted to work with her and has not pushed anything with her because he's so astutely aware of her competency level and past with the bad kids and I think this makes Porter, maybe subconsciously, like her even more. Fig is a multiclass Bard/Warlock/Paladin, but spiritually she's always been a barbarian in the same way Gorgug has. I genuinely think Porter's been right about that. I believe he would've gotten her an MCAT without needing her signature. He's working with Kipperlilly and pinned her down spiting them both, he's actively working against Fig and he helped her up and told her we gotta work on your technique a bit more

[stupidphototricks]

Dwarf tradition, in The Truth. Long quote but there is so much to unpack here.

"A dwarf needs gold to get married." "What… like a dowry? But I thought dwarfs didn't differentiate between--" "No, no, the two dwarfs getting married each buy the other dwarf off their parents." "Buy?" said William. "How can you buy people?" "See? Cultural misunderstanding once again, lad. It costs a lot of money to raise a young dwarf to marriageable age. Food, clothes, chain mail… it all adds up over the years. It needs repaying. After all, the other dwarf is getting a valuable commodity. And it has to be paid for in gold. That's traditional. Or gems. They're fine, too. You must've heard our saying 'worth his weight in gold'? Of course, if a dwarf's been working for his parents, that gets taken into account on the other side of the ledger. Why, a dwarf who's left off marrying till late in life is probably owed quite a tidy sum in wages—You're still looking at me in that funny way…" "It's just that we don't do it like that…" mumbled William. Goodmountain gave him a sharp look. "Don't you, now?" he said. "Really? What do you use instead, then?" "Er… gratitude, I suppose," said William. He wanted this conversation to stop, right now. It was heading out over thin ice. "And how's that calculated?" "Well… it isn't, as such…" "Doesn't that cause problems?" "Sometimes." "Ah. Well, we know about gratitude, too. But our way means the couple start their new lives in a state of… g'daraka… er, free, unencumbered, new dwarfs. Then their parents might well give them a huge wedding present, much bigger than the dowry. But it is between dwarf and dwarf, out of love and respect, not between debtor and creditor… though I have to say these human words are not really the best was of describing it. It works for us. It has worked for a thousand years." "I suppose to a human it sounds a bit… chilly," said William. Goodmountain gave him another studied look. "You mean by comparison to the warm and wonderful ways humans conduct their affairs?" he said. "You don't have to answer that one. Anyway, me and Boddony want to open up a mine together, and we're expensive dwarfs. We know how to work lead, so we thought a year or two of this would see us right." "You're getting married?" "We want to," said Goodmountain. "Oh… well, congratulations," said William. He knew enough not to comment on the fact that both dwarfs looked like small barbarian warriors with long beards. All traditional dwarfs looked like that.* *Most dwarfs were still referred to as "he" as well, even when they were getting married. It was generally assumed that somewhere under all that chain mail one of them was female and that both of them knew which one this was. But the whole subject of sex was one that traditionally minded dwarfs did not discuss, perhaps out of modesty, possibly because it didn't interest them very much, and certainly because they took the view that what two dwarfs decided to do together was entirely their own business. — Terry Pratchett, The Truth

I super love the footnote, of course, but unexpectedly now I kind of want this version of a dowry to be a thing. I mean, the dowries of the bad old days where the man basically bought the woman from her parents, that's not okay. But this.

I'm a parent, and in no way do I feel like my kid owes me for their upbringing, education, or even (I'm anticipating) a few years of post-college living at home. Not at all. I can't imagine not taking care of them or attaching any strings to that care.

But that's not what this is. Really, ideally, it's a way for parents and children to give each other the gift of the child's independence, their autonomy, their adulthood. To officially and tangibly say that their relationship from this point on is no longer parent/child, but something more on an equal level.

For that matter, I imagine the child is free not to have a relationship with their parents any more at all, if they want. No obligation, no guilt. If parents want to be in their kids' lives when they're adults, they'll need to make sure their kids actually like them as people.

Well. I know that our world of humans doesn't work like this. Even if we put a monetary value on what we owed our parents and paid it, we'd still feel obligated to them, at least a little. Even if our kids paid us back, we'd still feel like we had the right to control them, at least a little.

But man. That g'daraka thing sounds wonderful.

[wheneverfeasible]

Cheerleader!Eddie AU pt. 1

POV: Eddie

When Eddie found a sobbing Chrissy in the restrooms after school, where he had been about to tag some stupid shit about one of the football players who had left him with a bruised face a previous week, he hadn’t expected it to lead to them becoming friends, her breaking up with her shithead boyfriend, or him joining the cheer squad.

Yet here he is, wearing the stupid school colors and his long hair tied up in a ponytail to match Chrissy’s, even down to the identical green scrunchie. Chrissy was lucky he loved her. Platonically, of course. They’d kissed after everything, figuring that’s that the thing between them was, but it ended up being like kissing a sibling (or so Eddie guessed, not ever having had one before), but quickly discovered that whatever middle school crush might have existed was well and truly gone.

Everything else was just right, however, and if such a thing as platonic soulmates existed, then Chrissy was well and truly his. She had to be, to get him to agree to this stupid shit.

He wasn’t an official member of the cheer squad at first, nothing more than a glorified backup, but he helped her in all the practices and learned all the moves and somehow, without realizing when, he started performing at games and pep rallies. Which didn’t help the queer rumors from spreading, even when Chrissy acted like his beard at first. Because the rumors would have been galling if they hadn’t been true.

Don’t get him wrong; he liked chicks too. But there was something to be said about seeing a pretty boy on his knees.

He played it up, taunting the other team and his own with blown kisses and suggestive hand motions with his tongue in his cheek, but he had cheerleader privilege, and Chrissy’s best friend privileges, so he actually managed to avoid anything more than pointed words and threats, which he then always turned into a kink thing to make the jocks uncomfortable.

“Oh, you’re right, Princess, I look amazing on my knees,” he cooed with a wink when King Steve himself deigned to be one of the insulting masses. Of course, all Harrington had said was that he should stop messing around and get back under the pyramid during cheer practice instead of poking fun at the basketball players on the other side of the gym.

Harrington always flushed whenever Eddie got too weird, too freaky, too queer, and it was quickly becoming one of his favorite things. Chrissy teased him about it when he’d go out of his way to harass Harrington, telling him to stop pulling the king’s pigtails, which he vehemently denied doing.

No way. Nuh uh. Not King Steve. Gag him with a spoon, or whatever they said in the movies Chrissy always made him watch.

Soon Harrington started snapping back, however, but with an amused smile on his face. More than that, he’d snapped at Hagan to leave Gareth alone when he’d come to playfully jeer at Eddie until they could head to Hellfire together. (Chrissy had actually taken DnD up too eventually, much to everyone’s surprise, though it was less surprising than her Level 7 Chaotic Neutral homebrew half-Orc male Barbarian whose tragic backstory was only known to Eddie so far, seeing as he had helped her craft Uragoth the Undaunted.)

To say that Eddie was surprised when Harrington of all people protected a freak was an understatement. And then it kept happening. Harrington always stepped in if he saw any freak or nerd being bullied, he even used logic, pointing out that Eddie was both freak and cheerleader, so going after the freaks was going after him and the cheer squad, and did any jock really want to piss off the cheerleaders?

A jock using logic? Unheard of!

Eddie was a little flattered though to think that his freaks had best friend privileges as well because of him, that he could be the shield offering them protection simply by straddling the line between the two sects at school.

Harrington never stopped snarking with Eddie, however, always calling him a freak but always with that smile that almost spoke of something…fond.

And then it was the day of the big game, the championship, and Chrissy was giggling as she tried to pretend like she was having second thoughts, even as her hands never faltered getting him ready. They, and the rest of the squad who had slowly warmed up to Eddie, had scoured the rule book to make certain he could do it, smirking amongst themselves at the surprise they had in stock.

Eddie waited at the end of the line, waited for their introduction, and then he was running in with the rest of the cheer squad, his pale and hairy legs flashing beneath the short green skirt. Gareth and the rest of the freaks screamed, sending out wolf whistles and making enough noise to draw the attention of anyone who might not have noticed yet.

Eddie only had eyes for one person though.

Harrington’s gaze was fixed solely on him as he jogged out wearing the female cheerleading uniform, a bright pink high on cheekbones and his mouth agape, and Eddie thought he had even seen the guy swallow as his eyes took in Eddie in a skirt.

The game went exactly as the cheer squad had hoped, their secret routine putting Eddie front and center, and he took great enjoyment in rolling his hips suggestively and blowing his kisses and winks as he taunted the opposing team, resulting in more than one fumble when he distracted them. The fact that Harrington seemed equally distracted seemed something else entirely.

As well as the fact that Harrington roughly fouled the player from the other team that Eddie had pointedly flirted with during their halftime routine.

Hawkins Tigers won in the end, easily, with Harrington scoring the final winning points like the king he was, pointing at Eddie right before he took the shot with a wink. Eddie rolled his eyes, almost hoping Harrington would miss in retaliation for the tease. Instead, Harrington ended the game as the buzzer sounded with his last three-pointer and the crowd went wild.

Typical.

Less typical, however, was how Harrington strode through the crowd right after, bypassing the celebrating teammates and cheerleaders and fans that had streamed onto the court, to head straight for Eddie. Eddie was given just the barest moment to wonder if he was about to be hate crimed when Harrington’s hand landed on his back, the other cupping the back of his head, and he was spun into a dip as Harrington leaned in for a kiss.

Except Harrington didn’t immediately kiss him, he hovered above his lips, his eyes looking into Eddie’s asking for permission, and really…what more could Eddie do except wrap his arms around Harrington’s neck and close the distance?

If later that night Eddie was still wearing that skirt as he and Harrington came to an understanding, well, no one needed to know.

And if the next night it was Steve wearing the cheerleading skirt…that was between him and his king.

Part 2

[omenarchive]

Bell's Hells Level 15 Analysis

Our Level 15 analysis is now live! As the Hells head towards their confrontation with Ludinus, there’s a lot left to learn… including what feat Braius took for his 12th Paladin level, what 8th level spells Dorian and Imogen learned, and what Blood Curse Chet unlocked.

There are lots of great options, including a few favorites that would have great team synergy. Check out our picks on our site or below.

We've also unpacked the already-known quantities in this level up, including some relatively simple-seeming buffs that could make all the difference in combat. Fearne’s choice to take a 5th level in Rogue, which grants her Uncanny Dodge, is a highlight.

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Ashton

Barbarian 15 HP: +11, total: 148 ASI: None

At level 15, Ashton gains Persistent Rage. This means his rage will now continue even if he doesn’t attack or take damage during a round, which gives them more freedom to avoid attacks or strategically use their excellent movement to help their teammates without risking his rage dropping. Before, if Ashton wanted to spend a turn making his way* across the field to, say, deliver a potion, they might have had to sacrifice their rage to do it. No such trouble now! Their rage only drops early now if they go unconscious or choose to drop it willingly.

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Braius

Bard 3/Paladin 12 HP: +4, total: 118 ASI: None

Braius took his twelfth level in Paladin, and since there was no change to any of his Ability Scores, we know that he opted for a feat. All of the feats we favor for Braius have been mentioned before in previous level ups for other characters—War Caster, Sentinel, Mage Slayer—but out of the bunch, we specifically would love to see him take Mage Slayer. Imposing disadvantage on concentration checks to maintain spells isn’t quite as good as Scream Needle’s ability to double the DC, but it still is a huge boon when dealing with high level casters, of which the Hells are sure to fight many very soon. In Ludinus’ case, we know that he has War Caster or the equivalent, so hitting him with Mage Slayer would effectively negate his advantage. In Episode 109, Liam said about Scream Needle that “[it’s] almost like it was made specifically for our needs,” and those needs haven’t changed; the more the Hells can mess with the effectiveness of high-level casters, the better. Likewise, the more hits the team can get on those casters, the better, and in addition to imposing disadvantage on spell-maintaining CON saves, this feat would allow Braius to use his reaction to attack any caster tossing off a spell within his melee range. It would also grant him advantage on saves against those nearby casters, which certainly can never hurt.

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Chetney

Blood Hunter 14/Rogue 1 HP: +8, total: 128 ASI: None

First among Chetney’s updates from his 14th Blood Hunter level is Hardened Soul. This feature comes just in time, because Hardened Soul gives Chet advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened—a very useful ability to have when going up against mind-bending enemies that might try to turn Chetney on his friends. He also gets a Crimson Rite improvement, which specifically allows him to add another damage type option to his choices. Currently, he has Rite of Flame and Rite of the Frozen for fire and cold damage respectively. (As a reminder, these rites add extra damage of the chosen type to his weapon attacks.) Level 14 adds necrotic, psychic, and thunder damage to the menu. We expect him to choose either necrotic or thunder, since the Reilora tend to have psychic resistance.

Lastly, Chet gets a fourth Blood Curse. Of those available, we like a few but love one. Blood Curse of the Anxious is useful in its Amplified form, which imposes disadvantage on the targeted creature’s next Wisdom Save. Blood Curse of the Eyeless would allow Chetney to subtract a hemocraft die from his target’s attack rolls—also nice. But what we like best is Blood Curse of Exposure, which would allow Chetney to, in reaction to a creature within 30 feet of him getting hit with damage from a spell, use his Blood Curse to remove that creature’s resistance to all of the damage types associated with the triggering spell. That could be huge against Ludinus, who we know is resistant to spell damage. A couple lightning bolts to his chest from Imogen and Dorian in conjunction with this Curse would be very, very nice.

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Dorian

Bard 15 HP: +10, total: 138 ASI: None

This level up, Dorian’s Inspiration die goes up to a d12. He also gains an 8th level spell slot, which gives us a few things to chew on!

One thing that is interesting to consider here is the introduction of the new 2024 D&D Rules. We don’t know to what extent Matt is allowing use of the new rules, but we do know that Braius has used Shining Smite, the replacement for Branding Smite, and Lieve’tel has used the new Power Word Fortify. Presumably the Hells will be keeping their classes and progression firmly in the 2014 rules territory, since the 2024 updates are generally extensive enough to otherwise necessitate rebuilding their characters from scratch, and since Chetney’s Blood Hunter class didn’t get a revamp. However, the use of some 2024 spells does make us wonder if the rest of the new spells are officially on the table for the Hells.

If they are, we would consider the new Befuddlement spell for Dorian. This spell replaces 2014’s Feeblemind. We prefer the newer version, and not just because “Befuddlement” sounds much more affable, like Dorian himself. The primary difference between the two is that Befuddlement does significantly more short-term damage than Feeblemind at the expense of its longer-term massive debuff. Befuddlement does 10d12 damage vs. Feeblemind’s 4d6, and unlike Feeblemind, it still does half damage on a successful save. Befuddlement does not reduce the target’s Intelligence and Charisma scores to 1 like its predecessor, which means it’s not a particularly long-term solution to a dangerous demagogue like Ludinus, but it does still prevent the victim from casting spells, using magic items, or activating magic features. That would still make Ludinus a much easier kill if it managed to succeed. Of course, that’s a big if, since it requires an Intelligence save, which is sure to be his best skill, so despite the devastating effects of Befuddlement, Dorian has some other strong options to consider.

Mind Blank is an incredibly useful buffing spell that is more or less the same both in its 2014 and 2024 iterations, and would be particularly strong against the abilities of the Reilora. This is, of course, why Caleb cast it on Yasha and himself; immunity to psychic damage and complete safety from the charmed condition and any other attempts to mess with the protected creature’s mind will be an incredible boon when facing off against the Weave Mind, and the Hells are likely to also encounter strong psychic attacks on the Moon of Ill Omen.

Power Word Stun is of course incredibly powerful (no pun intended), and the 2024 rules version is if anything a bit better. The 2014 version of the spell does nothing if the target has more than 150 hit points, but the new version reduces an over-150-HP creature’s speed to 0 until the start of the caster’s next turn. For the sake of diversifying the party’s abilities, we would favor this slightly less for Dorian, because we’re expecting it to be Imogen’s 8th level choice, something we will talk about a little later in this analysis.

Ultimately, we think we favor Mind Blank, because it is a sure thing and lasts a full 24 hours. It could make for some fun roleplay, too—perhaps Dorian learned it from watching Caleb, and perhaps his choice as to recipient might be less strategic and more emotional, which is always fun.

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Fearne

Druid 10/Rogue 5 HP: +5, total: 97 ASI: None

If the Hells were still doing a lot of cross-Exandria travel, we would be more surprised that Fearne took another level in Rogue instead of going Druid 11, which would have unlocked the Transport via Plants spell that Fearne has audibly longed for many times throughout the campaign. However, with the Hells heading into a battle on Ruidus with Ludinus, taking a fifth level in Rogue is a good strategic choice by Ashley, since it gives her Uncanny Dodge. The ability to halve incoming damage using her reaction is very, very big for Fearne, who is still sitting under 100 HP with a 17 AC, making her one of the most vulnerable party members. Imogen may have fewer HP, but her AC has shot up to 19 and her enhanced mobility via flight lets her get out of harm’s way much more easily, and while Laudna may have a lower AC, her HP is higher than half the party’s martial fighters and her Mirror Image means that hitting her is harder than her AC implies. Since Fearne is a key part of the party’s healing and buffing strategies, with Aura of Life and Mass Cure Wounds in particular—as well as the hopefully unnecessary but definitely reassuring Revivify—keeping herself up keeps everyone up.

Fearne’s sneak attack damage also goes up to 3d6, but since she doesn’t rely on weapon attacks, and her Moon Sickle is neither a finesse nor a ranged weapon, she doesn’t have the means to make use of it, so this level up choice is all about that Dodge.

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Imogen

Sorcerer 15 HP: +5, total: 92 ASI: None Sorcery Points: +1, total: 15

Like Dorian, Imogen has also gained an 8th level spell and slot. We think her spell choice is a bit more straightforward, though: Power Word Stun.

Her other choices are Horrid Wilting, Demiplane (newly accessible to Sorcerers in the 2024 rules), Dominate Monster, Earthquake, Incendiary Cloud, and Sunburst. Dominate Monster fits with Imogen’s mental control theme, and seems the most likely alternative to Power Word Stun, but we find the wisdom check rerolls on taking damage a bit too much of a liability in a showdown with Ludinus. Sunburst is useful for hitting a lot of targets and inflicts the blinded condition, but with such a large area of effect, it is quite likely to catch allies in the crossfire. Plus, undead creatures get disadvantage on the save, and we just can’t see Imogen putting Laudna in particular danger that way. The rest of Imogen’s options don’t really vibe with her themes as much, and she tends to be very on theme in terms of her spell choices. That’s part of why we think Power Word Stun suits her so well. Imogen’s emergence as a leader has gone hand in hand with her increasing skill with words, initially with deception and then with persuasion; giving her a Power Word at the end of the campaign feels thematically relevant, on top of the fact that the spell is just very, very good. It’s also the spell that the Matron’s facsimile of Liliana used on Imogen in her test, something that shook Imogen greatly, which increases the narrative weight of Imogen choosing to add it to her own arsenal.

One thing that we did not mention when discussing Imogen’s 7th level spell choice in our level 13 analysis—something we still don’t know, but the Archivists hope is Power Word Pain—is the fact that as a Sorcerer with the Twinned Spell metamagic option, Imogen would be able to spend sorcery points to use any of the Power Word spells available to her class on two targets instead of one. It would be very pricey—8 sorcery points to twin a Power Word Stun—but if she has the points to spare, it could very well be worth it, effectively giving her two devastatingly powerful spells in one turn.

Either way, this is a spell we want in the Hells’ arsenal. Stunned enemies are incapacitated (meaning no actions or reactions) and all attacks have advantage against them. If Imogen could get this off on Ludinus after his HP is winnowed down (we know his simulacrum in the Feywild took 172 damage, so doubling per typical simulacrum rules puts actual Ludinus’ HP in the realm of 344 HP), it would open the door to a brutal beatdown from her martial friends. Power Word Stun also a particularly good choice against Ludinus because its initial effect does not rely on a spell save, which we know that he has advantage on thanks to episode 98.

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Laudna

Sorcerer 12/Warlock 3 HP: +6, total: 132 ASI: +2 Dex Sorcery Points: +1, total: 12

This is a relatively simple level up for Laudna! Taking another level in sorcerer gets Laudna another sorcery point for her pool, but no additional spells or slots. The level also offers an Ability Score Improvement or Feat. Marisha has opted for an ASI, placing 2 more points in Dexterity. This brings her AC up to 15, a solid choice given that AC is Laudna’s one weak point in an otherwise tanky build for a caster. Marisha mentioned during the potion swapping in episode 110 that it’s been a long time since Laudna last went down—if you exclude the Delaudna fight, it was way back in episode 48, in fact—and this bump should help keep that streak going.

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Orym

Fighter 15 HP: +6, total: 161 ASI: +2 Dex

Orym rounds us out with another level in Fighter. This grants him Relentless, which lets him regain one superiority die if he doesn’t have any left when initiative is rolled. His total number of superiority dice also goes up by one, giving him a total of 5d10 and 1d6 (the latter from his Superior Technique fighting style). Given how few and far between rests have been for the Hells, any ability refills like this one go a long way. One more Bait and Switch might be the difference between a caster going down and not, and Orym’s strategic use of that particular Battle Master maneuver is one of the many reasons that Bell’s Hells have seen significantly fewer KOs** at this point in their story than either of the previous two parties.

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Footnotes *Making my way **By episode 114 of Campaign 1, according to CritRoleStats’ data, Vox Machina had gone unconscious 84 times. By episode 114 of Campaign 2, the Mighty Nein had gone unconscious 67 times. Bell’s Hells thus far have only gone down a total of 55 times. These numbers exclude familiars, as they can be resummoned without incident, but includes other animal companions as well as guest stars.

[bloodyshadow1]

I hate the people who say the final battle in Ragenarok was too easy. It wasn't easy, it was a hard battle, but the Bad Kids/Intrepid Heroes did everything right.

There were 8 combatants on the field at the start. 6 of the rat grinders, who had low health but the high level abilities of their classes, and 1 high level full PC, and 1 high level paladin/barbarian multiclass with resistance to everything, legendary actions and resistances, who could deal force damage.

On the Bad Kids side, they were level 14 who had just gone through a battle that exhausted a lot of resources, Fig and Fabian used a couple of spells and bardics and their limited amount of spells, Gorgug used a couple of his rages, Adaine used all of her portents and a bunch of spells, and between ice feast, healing, and removing levels of exhaustion, Kristen and K2 were love on spells. Riz was the only one who was looking pretty decent because he can use sneak attack all day, and even he used one of his 2 3rd level spells.

They were smart though, they Ice Feast was a broken ability for the final battle that Brennan didn't think through when he home brewed it for Ally. Not only did it block Porter's stun which would have been devastating, it made them immune to fire damage on a map with a lot of lava. He didn't think it through and the Intrepid Heroes used it to full effect. Still, it was good for them, but Ice Feast is still just a reskin of Heroes feast with better options but more detrimental effects.

As for the battle itself, the Bad Kids played it smart, it was only due to good initiative rolls that they managed to stomp the rat grinders so hard in the first round. If Oisin got a chance to go, if Mary Ann was outside the range of slow, things would have been different since they had low stats, but level 20 abilities and spells could have wreaked the Bad Kids. It wasn't an easy fight, but it was a fight with an intentional purpose, the Bad Kids are good at being adventurers while the Rat Grinders took the easy way out and showed the different between being powerful and being strong. They took out the primary caster first as you should do in big pc vs pc battles like this, they made sure to target groupings of enemies with AOEs and crowd control, they made sure to support each other and disrupt their enemies support. It wasn't easy, but they are good at dnd so they made it look easy.

I've seen people say, 'Brennan should have x' and no he shouldn't have. He created a hard combat encounter, but his players did everything right this season, a DM shouldn't punish or railroad their players just because their players are good at the game. No, the players stop the big bad from being released so they don't have to fight them, the DM shouldn't just make the Ancient God break through the bindings just because they planned for that encounter. The players won before it started and they should be rewarded for that.

'the rat grinders should have had a back up plan.' The Rat Grinders did have a backup plan. The initial plan to get Kipperlily fairly elected failed, and the back up plan, when that didn't work, the backup plan was to get Kristen expelled so she couldn't run. When that didn't work they sent the Bad Kids, their allies, and anyone who would vote for Kristen into the sky, flew them miles away, and sicced a horde of dragons and a goddess on them to kill them or at the very least get them out of their hair for 1 night so their plan could work. The Bad Kids beat their plans every time so no, there was no reason to have a 4th backup plan in the final battle. Brennan is a good DM, he didn't make the Rat Grinders and Porter's plan work because it was stopped before it started with the fake goddess name. He didn't punish his players for being good at the game and their strategy is great.

Things could have gone so differently with a slight change or a big change. If Fig didnt' decide to try and be a paladin on a whim, things would have been completely different, they wouldn't have had a connection with Ankarna. If Adaine didn't take Legend Lore they wouldn't have found out about Porter, maybe they would have still gotten the background on Ankarna, but not about his family revealing the Big Bad early on. If they chose to do something else with the power they got from the pride armor, they wouldnt' have the gem to free Bakur or save Lydia meaning no back up in the final fight. What if Gorgug rolled lower on one of his artificer tracks, they might not have passed the last stand. What if Fabian choose to keep pursing Ivy instead of Mazey, would have have been killed by the Rat Grinders or would Mazey have been compelled to their side if he didn't try and romance her. If Riz ran for president instead of Kristen would he have been less stressed or more inclined to focus on that instead of mystery his true love. What if Kristen didn't eat the eye of the Vulture king at the right time and catch Kipperlily about to murder Gavin forcing her to change her target to Buddy.

And it worked against them too. What If Fig didn't inspire Cassandra and knock her out leading her to become the Nightmare King again? What if Adaine didn't counterspell Grix's disintegrate on Ruben, he might have been a pile of dust that would have been hard to impossible to bring back to life disrupting the Rat Grinder's plan. What if Kristen decided to not get upset at Cassandra forcing the Goddess to recreate Kalina. What if Adaine didn't say Ankarna's name outloud the first time she saw it? What if Fig didn't make the deal to have a second chance sealing the Night Yorb? What if Riz and Gorgug did relationship tracks with their families making it harder to do their other tracks. What if Fabian cleaned his house even once and got rid of the pingpong balls that Oisin enchanted to screw them over. What if Riz had time to focus on mystery from the start instead of running Kristen's campaign for her and taking more stress.

There were so many times that things could have gone so much better or so much worse, but that's what the game is. There is no script that says the good guys have to keep losing until they win. It's decisions and dice, luck and wits that make the game. It was a very hard season, the battles were very hard, just because they made the right decisions to make things easier on themselves doesn't change that. It doesn't make the season bad. You're welcome to not like it, but nothing about it was easy and people shouldn't pretend like it was because they don't like it

[thydungeongal]

Someone in that super long thread brought up the 2e class-specific XP idea (fighters get experience for dealing the killing blow, thieves get experience for finding treasure, etc.), and I'm curious your thoughts on it. I started playing in 3e, and that probably affects my opinion, but the idea of the character levels drifting because individuals are getting "bonus xp" just sounds like it would make life so much harder. Of course, I've also heard that in 2e different classes had different xp requirements to level up, which is also mind-blowing to me.

I haven't played AD&D 2e specifically so individual class-based XP awards are not something I've experienced, but I've got some context I can give to the other questions :)

Pre-WotC D&D was kind of a hodgepodge held together by duct tape but there were some good ideas underneath all the jank! The different XP tables for all the classes are one such example, because it meant not all classes had to be balanced against each other because theoretically the balance could be enforced through differing XP goals. I won't say it was ever perfect, but there was something to it: Clerics and Thieves which started with relatively little would hit their second level first, with Fighters soon to follow, and Magic-Users... Well okay, since playing a 1st-level Magic-User kinda sucked already it was kinda bad that they had to wait the longest to get through the early levels. It was by no means perfect.

So levels were very much not expected not to be uniform across a whole party. Even characters of the same classes across the same party could have different either because of individualized rewards like the ones in AD&D 2e, bonus XP from high ability scores (a questionable design choice imo), and actually participating in games! The idea very much was that you had to be there for a game for your character to level up. It wasn't there just to reward attendance or punish missing sessions, but as far as I've understood there also was something of a tradition of not tying your character down to a specific campaign or narrative. Gonad the Barbarian could appear in Steve's campaign, The Chronicles of Steve, one week, only to guest star in Liz's campaign, The Legend of Elizabethia.

I know this may sound downright bizarre to many modern RPGers, but it's actually a really fun playstyle, and idk I think we should bring back the idea of just taking Your Guy across multiple different tables across the universe.

Also, one more cool thing about the old class experience point tables: they served to balance multiclass characters! Of course in those days multiclass characters worked completely differently: you picked your character's (at most three) classes at character creation and were married to them, and every time your character gained experience you would divide them up between all their classes. And each of their classes advanced individually.

So assuming had a party consisting of Beef the Thief and Eric the Cleric and Blighter-Dave the Fighter/Mage: Beef needs 1,250 to get to second level. Eric needs 1,500. Blighter-Dave needs 2,000 for Fighter, 2,500 for Mage.

At 2,500 XP Beef is actually at 3rd level (the amount of XP needed for a Thief to get to level 3), Eric is at level 2 and 500 short of level 3, and Blighter-Dave is still at level 1/1, because he's had to divide his XP between two classes. But because the XP needed to advance doesn't grow linearly, while Blighter-Dave will never quite catch up to his friends, once their levels start plateauing he will only be one or two levels behind his pals in his highest class level.

And I think that's pretty neat!

[s10127470]

My Ideal Revival of the Disney Heroes Franchise

What you’re looking at is the official logo for a now defunct franchise known as Disney Heroes.

Disney Heroes was basically meant to serve as the sister…..or more appropriately, the brother franchise of the Disney Princesses, with the focus being placed on the male heroes of the Disney pantheon.

The franchise initially started back in 1999, but under the name of Disney Adventurers. Not only that, but the line-up was rather small, consisting of the titular protagonists of Hercules, Aladdin, Peter Pan, and their most recent film at the time, Tarzan.

The franchise mainly existed through toys, with some notable merchandising besides that here and there.

The franchise remained this way until about 2003, when it got a notable revamp.

The franchise would get its current name and it would expand the roster quite a bit. The new members included Merlin and Arthur from The Sword in the Stone, Robin Hood, Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty, and Li Shang from Mulan.

I also think Simba from The Lion King was a part of the roster as well, I think I remember seeing him on a backpack done for the franchise.

But in 2005, the Disney Heroes franchise had a another revamp…this one notably different from the previous ones.

Although the franchise mainly existed through toys and play-sets that more or less stayed faithful to their respective films, these however…..

Your eyes are not deceiving you….these were actual action figures created and designed by Disney for the Disney Heroes franchise…..and I couldn’t be anymore happier.

Hercules looks like an ancient Greek warrior with the golden armor, plus he’s carrying a big xiphos and a golden shield with the face of a lion.

Peter Pan is now sporting some tan gloves, boots, and ever a mask, carrying a bow and quiver of arrows alongside his trusty dagger.

And Captain Hook has a more swashbuckling look, and his rapier has been replaced with a big ass cutlass!

Prince Phillip and Maleficent were also apart of this line-up of action figures as well.

Phillip had a more knight-like appearance, even having a helmet with a golden falcon on top.

And Maleficent…well, she was in her dragon form.

Sadly, only five action figures were made in this style….

And it’s a shame, given that there were plans to revamp the franchise with a more action-oriented style.

These designs by Disney animator Ruben Procopio for planned future figures for the franchise really highlight this…

Aladdin was gonna look like an Arabian Knight, complete with a dagger and a huge ass scimitar that would make Cloud Strife impressed.

Tarzan was gonna go for a Conan the Barbarian-esque look, complete with a headband, a vest, a tooth necklace, boots, and even a quiver filled with spears, knives, and arrows.

And as you could see, they were even gonna introduce The Beast from Beauty and the Beast as a new member of a roster, with the appearance of a warrior prince and a mace as his weapon.

Unfortunately, these figures never came to be....

Although Disney Heroes franchise was doing decently fine, it was nowhere near the level of success of the Disney Princesses.

As a result of that, Disney slowly but surely phased out the franchise over the next three years.

By 2008, the Disney Heroes franchise silently ended, only merchandising through coloring books and their only new addition since 2003 being....of all characters....Milo Thatch from Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

So yeah....that's pretty much the story of the Disney Heroes franchise.

It's honestly a shame because I could totally see this franchise being pretty successful today.

And given the rise of nostalgia and crossovers in media over the last decade, I could see this being an absolute goldmine for all parties involved.

And today, I'm gonna share on how I think a revival of the Disney Heroes franchise should play out.

.It would aim more towards a older audience, mostly teenagers, similar to the Disney Villains franchise. It wouldn't really focus all that much on toys like the Disney Princesses, though there would be some figurines here and there, instead focusing on media that's more accessible with a older crowd like novels, comic books, video games, and even animation.

.Unlike it's previous iteration, and to that extension the Disney Princesses, it would be more gender-neutral, featuring male and female representatives of most of the represented films as members of the roster.

.Also unlike the Princesses, this franchise has its own backstory. Various Disney villains have joined forces in other to further their respective goals. In retaliation, a group of various Disney heroes, led by Merlin, have united to fight against the villainous alliance and protect their respective realms. I know it's a pretty simple premise, but I think it's the perfect that way.

.The franchise will have a major focus on action and adventure....which for a franchise like this, should be expected.

.Many of the characters will be receiving redesigns in the veins of the ones done for the franchise back in 2005, which give off a fantasy warrior, almost Dungeons n' Dragons vibe. While these wouldn't be to the extent as say, Disney Mirrorverse, they would clearly by different from the characters' usual attire and makes them come off as more like warriors ready for adventure and battle.

.The series will essentially expand on the worlds of the films and bring in elements from their original source materials, official continuations like the TV shows, and even the cultures they represent.

Okay, now that we got the major elements out of the way, I'm gonna briefly share who would be apart of the roster for this new franchise, and list them in chronological order of movie release.

.Alice

.Peter Pan

.Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip

.Merlin and Arthur

.Mowgli

.Robin Hood

.Ariel and Eric

.Belle and Beast

.Aladdin and Jasmine

.Simba

.Pocahontas and John Smith

.Quasimodo

.Hercules and Megara

.Fa Mulan and Li Shang

.Tarzan and Jane Porter

.Milo Thatch and Kida Nedakh

.Jim Hawkins

.Tiana and Naveen

.Rapunzel and Eugene Fitzherbert

.Merida

.Anna and Elsa

.Moana and Maui

Just imagine.....seeing this iconic heroes going on various adventures, from the hottest deserts to the deepest jungles. Fighting against mythical monsters, thieves, wild beasts, villainous knights, deadly invaders, mysterious spirits and swashbuckling pirates!

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm planning to go more in-depth on this idea, fleshing out the characters and their worlds.

If you have any ideas for this franchise, let me know.

[remembrancer-of-heresy]

You know, I love power imbalances. It’s always interesting to write about serfs. But since I value art (Serve the 3rd Legion), I prefer the remembrancers. And I decided to think about which particular remembrancers would be most interesting to write about relationships with the primarchs. Here is the list:

Documentarist (Journalist): Horus Lupercal, Roboute Guilliman.

For the first, it is important to feel his importance and self-centeredness. Write down his story as vividly as possible so that everyone understands how wonderful he is and how hard he tries. How much people should appreciate him and respect the title of Warmaster. Well, over time, you will truly become a personal documentarist when he decides to reveal to you the personal aspects of his life. So this time you have appreciate how wonderful he is.

The second needs a documentarist to record the history of the Imperium. He respects your order. And your personality. Because you are not a sycophant and write everything as it is. In 40k he needs a documentarist so that everyone will start seeing him again as a man and not a god. Alas, you will have to write down even the strangest things, such as “In such year, Guilliman could not lift a piece of paper because his armor was in the way. He joked. Cato didn’t laugh.”

Imagist: Alpharius/Omegon, Corvus Corax, Lion El'Jonson.

Simple and functional. You stay out of the way and photograph important events that can be studied later. And considering your profession, you have quite a high level of insight. And this attracts such hidden and suspicious individuals as these primarchs.

Historiographer (Historian): Magnus the Red, Jaghatai Khan, Leman Russ

The thirst for knowledge and the desire to understand the past will definitely bring you and Magnus together. You will literally be on the same page, discussing many events from different angles.

Well, given the fact that you are a historian, everything is interesting to you. Including a foreign culture that you respect and try to understand. At this moment, Jaghatai Khan is already taking you away on a bike.

And since you know that history can write one-sided personalities, you understand that something deep may be hiding behind the barbarian. You know it's a façade. At this moment, Leman is already throwing you over his shoulder.

Musician: Angron, Mortarion, Konrad Curze.

The way your fingers gently touch the instrument, the compositions you create. But the most important thing is your voice. Reminiscent of the rustling of leaves or the murmur of a river. Feels like fog. The best reassurance for unstable primarchs like these trio.

Painter: Fulgrim, Sanguinius.

These art lovers will love all the remembrancers. But I am sure that they will give preference to painters. Because they paint the real world as they see it. Because they would like to see the world like that and so on. A real space for imagination that knocks primarchs off their feet. And if, in addition to your talent, you also have your own different opinion about art (+ perfection), then at that very second you will have a very artistic admirers.

Sculptor: Perturabo, Dorn, Ferrus Manus.

Well, there’s no need to rant too much here. The first two primarchs regularly play with large-sized Lego. So it will be much easier for them to communicate with a sculptor who will understand them at least a little. But yes, praise from them is also like a stone. Ferrus Manus loves art, but not to the same extent as Fulgrim. A sculptor would be much more suited to Manus's aesthetic views than a painter or musician.

Wordsmith (author): Lorgar Aurelian.

Lorgar is a preacher, so he will be fascinated by a remembrancer with oratory skills. Or more precisely, someone who can turn words into something beautiful. What thousands of people will re-read or listen to.

Vulkan…no idea really. But let's say Wordsmith, because the word has “smith” :)

[andypantsx3]

quick interlude from the bakugou barbarian-verse.

for @procrastination-artist bc your last drawing of feral bakugou made me go berserk 🙃

"He's a prince?" you ask incredulously, gaping at Izuku. "Bakugou?"

Izuku nods that head of wild green curls, blinking guilelessly back at you. "The closest thing his people have to it, anyway. Their custom isn't quite like Yuuei's," he answers.

You glance over your shoulder to where Bakugou is wrestling Kirishima into the dirt, apparently trying his level best to gouge the dragon's eyes out while he's at it. It's only your knowledge that Kirishima is basically impenetrable that stops you from rising in concern.

"That? That is a prince?" you repeat, hopelessly lost, as you watch Bakugou shove a literal fistful of dirt into Kiri's face.

"His mother is their leader," Izuku tells you, a smile in his voice. "It's mostly a hereditary position, with some fighting necessary to succeed. Kacchan's next in line."

"And stay down you spiky-haired shit!" Bakugou's crow reaches you as you turn back to Izuku, mystified. Izuku's mouth is twisted up fondly in the firelight.

"Well he certainly won't have any trouble there," you say emphatically, moving to turn your sausage over the fire. Drippings of grease sizzle off the sides of it, hissing where they hit the flames.

"The fuck I won't," Bakugou growls from behind you, pointedly loud so you can hear it.

You feel your ears go hot, embarrassed that he's heard you discussing him. But it's only natural, considering you're now legally married, according to the customs of one deeply batshit village.

Not that either of you have acknowledged it, however, short of Bakugou snarling that you were his as he'd won the village marriage tournament. He'd hauled you into his arms, carrying you out of there, only to drop you the second you'd cleared the village sight lines.

And neither of you have spoken of it since. But you can't help but be more curious than ever, now, about the man who sort-of-is, sort-of-isn't your husband.

"I'll wipe the floor with anyone who tries for the seat," Bakugou says, stalking over, his booted stride heavy and sure. "Like those assholes in Dagoba."

You chance a look up at him as he drops onto the log next to you, running a hand through his ash blonde hair. He glows in the firelight, the hard planes of his chest glinting with sweat, and he swipes at a patch of dust high on his cheekbone with the back of his hand. The shadows pool in the divots of his arm muscles as he does so.

"So you really are some kind of prince," you echo disbelievingly, reaching back for your sausage skewer, just for something to focus on. "Who would have known."

Bakugou's smile is white and knife-sharp in the light of the flames as those scarlet eyes find you, hot and intent. Your cheeks heat despite yourself.

"Yeah," he says, sounding smug. "Guess that makes you a princess."

You startle. Your sausage goes flying into the fire, hissing and crackling, and your face flames even hotter than the campfire.

Bakugou's smile is far too self-satisfied in the dim.

[utilitycaster]

Hope I can phrase this in a way that makes sense but—

What well-known actual-play cast member is your favorite for each of the core D&D class? Not necessarily a specific characters, but I’m interested in which players you think brings the most to each class.

This is a very interesting question! It's a hard one to answer for some classes and very easy for others so bear with me; also there are a couple where I could not pick just one.

I'm sticking to the PHB 12 for, as you said, core classes:

Barbarian: While Travis did give us "I would like to rage," I think Ashley and Taliesin get to share this one for me. I think they both really explore what rage means to someone and while I love a good "I'm a tank because I can take the hits and that's what I do and what I'm good at" story, I also think Yasha's messy relationship with her feelings of guilt and grief, and Ashton's chronic pain, are both incredible ways to play with the barbarian archetype.

Bard: much easier. Sam Riegel and Krystina Arielle. I'm a sucker for someone who actually sings even as I don't think you have to (and have played bard without doing so). It's both clearly a class they each love dearly and it shows, and they're incredibly musically talented performers to boot.

Cleric: Lou Wilson. Especially since I didn't like Fantasy High season 1 Fabian until the end of the season Kingston blew me away. I would love to see him explore cleric again, though it's exciting to see him as a paladin on WBN.

Druid: Emily Axford as Moonshine. Emily as a rule understands D&D classes very well anyway, but I think the culture of the crick and the ways that Moonshine must grow as a character while being a druid take it to the next level. (Also I prefer a caster-heavy druid to a shapechanger-heavy one; that's just me).

Fighter: Back to NADDPod because literally who could I say other than Jake Hurwitz, the man who only plays fighters. People who are new to D&D when they start actual play can be hit or miss imo; some pick it up and some lean harder on being showy to make up for it and it doesn't play well for me personally, but Jake is the greatest hit.

Monk: Marisha Ray; Beau is just generally a great character, and I think Marisha's own experience with martial arts informs the way she plays her; monks can be kind of repetitive in combat even with strong players and she manages to avoid this through her description.

Paladin: This is actually super hard because people don't play straight paladin a lot. This is incorrect of them, but it is an intense class. I think Luis Carazo and Zac Oyama are like...the duality of paladin (and indeed, redemption paladin). The tragedy and the comedy.

Ranger: Laura Bailey, natch; it's funny because Vex is in many ways not the archetypal ranger due to having high charisma, but she is simply my favorite and that's that on that. Sorry the mechanics were so bad; I would love to see more rangers in D&D even though Vex will be hard to dethrone. I promise Tasha's fixed them!

Rogue: I think I'm actually going Murph on this one. I like when rogues are more of the detective/spy type than the assassin/criminal type [obligatory "of course that's what you'd say you stupid paladin stan"] and inquisitive and arcane trickster are probably my two top rogue classes so Riz it is.

Sorcerer: I do consider PF1e cheating here because it's technically a different system that also imo addresses a lot of the weaknesses of sorcerer/makes it way better, but Bryn Monroe of RQG did play a great sorcerer. In D&D? Giving Emily Axford a second spot here for Saccharina. I'm going to talk about this for warlock, but I think sorcerer is a class you don't have to justify but if you don't it's a little unsatisfying. Sorcerer really shines in the Crown of Candy setting, and metamagic often doesn't live up to its reputation but Emily makes it work for her.

Warlock: Travis Willingham. I think there are classes that are kind of self-explanatory, for lack of a better term; you can play a fighter or rogue or even a bard or druid without going super deep into why the character is this class and still be an incredible character (though a good backstory never hurts). But there are others where you really need to be engaging with the class at all times to make it work, and warlock is one of them, and Fjord explores the warlock pact and what it means like few others.

Wizard: Aabria Iyengar. NO ONE gets wizard hubris as a player like Aabria. Knowledge is power and boy do wizards love knowledge. I especially like that most people in 5e play wizards as genuine adventurers because it feels very easy to play them as old guy in robes swept up in events beyond them; Aabria plays wizards who are combat ready with the humanity and backstory to make the difficult decisions sympathetic and meaningful, and I think that's how you have to play it.

Note: I want to specifically call out Liam O'Brien and Siobhan Thompson as "people I trust in basically any class or system and just didn't happen to hit a favorite here due to sky-high competition/personal preferences". They are both very close seconds for wizard.

[least-evil-resident]

medieval resident evil au where Umbrella is a cabal of dark mages trying to unlock the secrets to lichdom and go mad learning secrets from the undead eldritch horror outside of space and time

Chris and Jill are Knights in service of the Order of Stars, Leon is a beginning town guard, Ada is still a spy, honestly not much is different

If you give them ttrpg character sheets then it's even more fun

Would guns be wands, badass Crossbows, or straight up magic, or different based on the game? They could also just be guns but that wouldn't be nearly as interesting.

Consider pistol=dagger, rifle=longsword, shotgun=axe? Grenades could be hand bombs or magic.

Or pistol=hand crossbow, rifle=light crossbow, shotgun is either special bolt or a spell

Beneath the cobblestone streets of raccoon city, where gaslamps and auto-carriages ramble, is the lair of an evil sect of mages developing spells in secret to transform humans into beasts

Could be very bloodborne-esque. Lots of fire and brimstone. Maybe STARS are more like paladins, and the bsaa is an order of Templar type organization.

If we go dnd 5e rules, Chris is a fighter for sure, Jill is like a rogue I guess? Leon could go either. It could be fun to make Claire like a sorcerer since she gets the grenade launcher

In later games I think Chris definitely fits either paladin or barbarian, where Leon goes for more rogue/maybe ranger vibes. Jill seems more rogue+fighter but magic rogue is cool, maybe artificer. Claire would be sorcerer multiclass I think. Keep any mages low powered that way.

Sherry in 6 is maybe warlock or aasimar instead of Cleric? Blood hunter would be cool. Rebecca starts as a Cleric in 0 for sure. For a low magic setting where research and Rituals are matched by quick, small combat spells, how high of a DC do you think enemies would go?

Of course, in a classless system like gurps or all flesh, this would be a lot less restrictive. What would be the best system for resident evil normally? What would be the best one for its fantasy au?

Wesker very much fits the low-fantasy vampire theme. He has a reflection and can step in he sunlight but wow it hurts his eyes. Chris rolls a 20 to punch a boulder to death.

Leon has the lucky feat or 20 in dex or something to pull off his stunts. Chris also gets Charisma as a leader for the bsaa, so paladin is up his alley. Leon's secret service requires more rogue skills, but his time in operation javier trains his skills as a Ranger under Krauser maybe?

Jill and Claire both get grenade launchers, but Jill is more Rogue with her lockpicking so it makes sense for them to switch level ups later on as claire learns more professional skills for rogue training.

Barry definitely hits fighter/barbarian with his heavy weapons. Jake is maybe more monk/barbarian but with something like a dhampir ancestry feature? Sheva is maybe rogue/fighter or paladin fighter since thats when chris starts taking paladin levels. Billy has to be rogue/fighter I think, or maybe fighter/rogue, if he even gets a second class. It would almost make sense for him to be pure rogue and rebecca be cure cleric, since she retires to become a researcher and hes never heard from again. Helena is I guess just plain rogue, hinting at her role in 6, while Leon has his ranger levels. Piers is more rogue/Ranger (or fighter archer). A lot of the one off teammates just don't get super interesting classes as a consequence of their limited appearance. Carlos... Fighter? Just fighter is fine.

Now, the problem here is that each game starts off with little to no equipment for various reasons. In the case of our spell casters like claire and jill, we can't just de-level them between adventures in the resident evil campaign. But we could give them more limited access to spell components to match the resource management of survival horror.

This is more complicated outside of dnd 5e, where a game like All Flesh Must Be Eaten has very different spellcasting rules, so you'd need to stray from a low-magic to a straight low-fantasy setting. Alchemist tools and one use spell scrolls replace your grenades and spell casting maybe? That's the issue you'd run into with treating the setting as one campaign instead of each game as an individual campaign though.

The easiest one to do is RE8. It's literally the same. Ethan starts 7 as a human Commoner, takes levels in artificer as the game goes on, since that one introduced crafting, and comes back very subtly as a human variant with a few new levels in fighter from chris' tutoring. Hey that means we can give Hiesenburg an artificer friend! Class buddies ♡ hiesenburg is probably artificer/sorcerer, giving him charisma and intelligence. Dimetrescu is maybe barbarian if she even gets class levels.

I don't think we can justifiably say Rose is a variant human, I think she gets her own custom ancestry features for this. Sorcerer also feels better than Druid for her, but a couple levels in - you guessed it, rogue! Cover her gun and Stealth skills. You get a lot or rogues and fighters in low powered/low fantasy settings, who knew lol

[cryptids-and-muses]

Post canon homestuck crew play Dungeons and Dragons

Karkat and terezi

Co dms

Unstoppable when actually working together

Terezi will get sidetracked messing with karkat

Karkat trying to write a deep and well fleshed out campaign that’s thematically resonant vs terezi’s desire for chaos and traps and trying to “trick” her players FIGHT

Terezi believes in karma and will make the world bend to this

Karkat is trying to set up romance arcs and argues about how it adds to the theming

Dave draws them fanart of their characters. Terezi loves it while karkat argues about accuracy before admitting yes he also appreciates it

Calliope also does fanart and karkat praises her skill and accuracy unlike some people

John

Arcane trickster rogue

Forest gnome

Just a goofy little guy!

Mostly just playing to have fun, starts off with a fun but simple character who develops over time

Ends up SUPER invested and taking this so so seriously

Karkat worked a dramatic reveal into the, in his words, “bare ass bones two paragraphs that a fucking wiggler could have written backstory” and John did not see it coming and loved it

Goes head to head with terezi a lot on her various traps she designs for them. She is getting more and more absurd with it. Karkat had to talk to her about breaking the world building with things she’s introducing. He is the only rogue. Send help.

Rose

Drow warlock

Tries to justify picking drow as anything other than she just thought it was cool

Nearly went old ones for patron but settled on archfey for story reasons

Has a 10 page lore document detailing her tragic past and her toxic relationship with her patron

It became 15 pages after going back and forth with karkat for a bit and adding even more

Only her and one other person are taking the romance arcs seriously and they become karkat’s favorite players

Tries playing morally ambiguous but terezi can be annoying about that and claims it’s just “the consequences of her actions”

Her and karkat both get very very into the scenes between her and her patron, the drama! The acting! Dave is uncomfortable and karkat brushes it off, it’s not like him role playing as his sister’s abusive girlfriend is weird. It’s in fact very important to the plot Dave

Has written fanfic of the campaign

Jade

Dragonborn barbarian

Path of the beast

Don’t ask me I just know

Her GLEE when she says “I’m gonna rage :D”

ANIMAL COMPANION! She nearly went ranger just for that but knew she wouldn’t have as much fun. Found a way to get one anyway.

It was harder naming her animal companion than her character

Having fun and likes the problem solving side of things, but likes breaking things with her massive strength just as much

Terezi likes to throw stuff at her, both traps and encounters, and finds it funny if she can just wreck her way through

“See John that’s how you deal with a pressure plate trap”

Takes the rp side of things very seriously

Once argued with Karkat over if her favorite npc would do that and cursed him out

Has read roses fanfic of the campaign

Dave

Plays a teifling with grey skin and orange horns

“What are you talking about karkat this is just my dude, don’t you like him?”

Hellus Jeffus

He’s a valor bard, eventually multiclasses paladin

Starts out just trying to mess with people but like John starts getting into it, though he tries to down play it

Have hellus more of himself than he realized and it’s making him face things about himself

Eventually hellus self sacrifices to save the party in this deeply intense moment. There were tears, Dave was wrecked, they went on a whole quest to revive him. It was touching and karkat is smug

Dave might have worked through some things

Jane

Halfling cleric

Her and John are small buddies!!!

Started out life but wasn’t having a lot of fun with it so with terezi’s permission switched to war or tempest with later s few levels in fighter

Her John and Jade are the biggest front liners, John’s character ends up really close with both of them as it’s easier for the rogue to bond with the person giving them sneak attack

Jade and jane’s character have an in game arm wrestling match

Took a bit to get into the rp side of things but eventually got the hang of it

Roxy

Tabaxi, easily, it’s so obvious

After much deliberation settles on glamour bard (though wizard and rogue were tempting for the joke, she wanted to branch out)

So many horny bard jokes but very little actual follow through, karkat gets frustrated by this as she’s all this talk but isn’t pursuing any of the romance options he’s giving her

She has SECRETS! She is HIDING THINGS!! Her cheery persona is a FASADE!!!

Cue complaining to karkat about how hard it is to wait to tell the others about her secrets and him threatening violence if she tells anyone before the in game reveal

She tells jake

Lots of egging on Dave and helping him with his fucking around

The BOND between her and Dave!!! They are the duo to end all duos. Team rocket type shit. There is nothing stronger than the bond between the bards of the party. My theory is it has to do with trading bardic inspiration.

Dirk

Half elf Druid circle of spores

Wildfire seemed fun to him but wasn’t as good

Wasn’t originally planning on being a Druid but after going over all the classes he liked all the customization and decisions that go into Druid like prepared spells and such

Didn’t really think about his backstory much, just improved something. He keeps improving new additions and it’s getting more and more elaborate and complicated. He has multiple hidden and long lost siblings by this point. Still doesn’t write any of this down. If he messes a detail up he justified it with more improv.

Yes his character has spiked up red hair and sunglasses. Don’t question how the Druid got sunglasses karkat.

Really likes the tactics side of things, he’s even pitched a few things to terezi she updated and later worked in

Sometimes works on plans and strategies out of game or making a million back up characters that play off the others in interesting mechanical ways

Is considering becoming a dm some time

Jake

Needed some help making his character, he just didn’t know where to start

Eventually after much discussion settles on a teifling bladesong wizard

Wanting to get away from his usual adventurer style Roxy helped with the backstory and they came up with this evil scientist raised in a cult who’s good hearted but was never taught right and wrong

He gets very into playing him and his moral struggle but can lean a little too good for his backstory, karkat points this out and Jake swears to get better at it

Dave pitched a lot of names for them and it was eventually settled on “Bernard Gunn” even though he has a sword. Jake just likes how it sounds

“Why is he blue jake?” “…..uhhh” “why is he blue?”

Calliope

SHE LOVES THIS SO MUCH

Teifling Druid with a focus on healing

Circle of shepards

Not a troll color pallet like Dave though, honestly it might get a bit trickster

Beautiful backstory that she coordinated with one of the others to make joint. The most obvious choice is Roxy but I think it was actually jade, Jane or John.

She gets so into it you guys, like so into it

Gives at least one dramatic speech completely on the fly

The other character who takes karkat’s romance arcs seriously and his other favorite player

Has also argued with terezi about world building and consistency. This may put her above rose in karkat’s eyes

Was also allowed to read rose’s fanfiction and offered full on reviews

Also considering going into doing but for the opposite reasons to Dirk

Vriska

Fairy artillerist artificer with a dip in war magic wizard

Min maxxed to hell and back

(Technically there was a better race, but fairy has its own advantages and she couldn’t resist)

An elaborate backstory too with some secrets of her own, I’m thinking full on lost princess

Yes she is That Player, you know the one

Has nearly been kicked multiple times and now won’t leave on principle

Not the best at sticking with the party and not just doing whatever she wants, but suprisingly Dirk has been able to talk her into it with his talk of tactics and playing smart

Second most effective is John who just looks at her like “vriska you’re not making this very fun :(“

Kanaya

Fire genasi ranger

Really tried to get into it but this just isn’t her thing so eventually decided to leave the group

Karkat came up with a fun story reason for her to leave and eventually brought her character back as an Npc

Did help rose make a cosplay of her character, after which John, Calliope, and Roxy wanted to make ones too

Vriska eventually tried to “manipulate” into helping her make one for her character

[sorceresssundries]

REVIVIFY - CHAPTER 1

Gale/Tav - 2577 words

AO3 LINK

Summary:

“He was right in front of you!” Gale’s breathing is heavy. “You could have killed him easily, and yet you...” He grips your arms and stares you down. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to witness that?” You thought you could hear a slight crack in his voice. “You were reckless and foolish and not the level-headed leader I expected you to be.

You lurch upwards and gasp, choking on the air rushing into your lungs. There is an instant of crushing panic, and then just as quickly, peace. Normality. As your breathing steadies, you look around. Your companions are gathered around where you are now sitting up, but the face you're searching for is not among them. You see a flash of a purple robe disappearing behind a tent flap.

“Erm, he’ll be back, I'm sure!” Karlach is looking at you with relief, though there is still a slight worry in her eyes. “I know Withers is some ancient, crazy deity or something, but I still doubted he would be able to do it!” She looks at him a little sheepishly. “Good job, mate! She still looks a bit pale, though. Did you do it right?”

Withers responds with a stern look and then takes his leave.

“Charming,” she turns her golden eyes back to you. “Are you feeling okay?”

You are still trying to process, to remember what happened. Your head aches, and your lungs are sore from the sudden fullness of air. You settle your hand on your chest as things begin to clear up.

“Battle axe to the chest, darling. Unpleasant way to go.” Astarian is sitting on a tree trunk not far away, looking over a recently looted dagger and not seeming concerned in the slightest. “Such a waste of perfectly good blood. It was quite a spectacle, though. And despite your best intentions of getting us all killed, it didn’t take long after you snuffed it for us to finish the job.”

Shadowheart rolls her eyes at him. “Yes, Astarion, what a hero you are. Nothing to do with Gale going full wizard barbarian.”

Memories are starting to pool back into your recently revived mind. You were at the Goblin Camp. You had one more leader to take out, Dror Ragzlin. Weak and spent from your fight with Minthara, you remember having enough energy to conjure one more spell. The hulking Goblin was in front of you; one blast of flame hands and he would be down. But something caught your eye. Gale. He was battling two goblins, firing off magic missiles but not seeing the one rushing behind him. It wasn’t even a decision really; you don’t remember even thinking. You sacrificed the killing blow and fired protective energy at Gale. It was enough; he shimmered gold and had enough protection to withstand the approaching Goblin. You remember a brief hum of relief and then excruciating pain. Then nothing.

“It was quite hot, actually,” Astarion hops down off the tree stump. “I didn’t think our wizard had it in him, but seeing him lose his temper makes me reconsider my thoughts of him being a big old bore.” He looks pensive for a moment. “Do you think he’d let me bite him?”

“Astarion!” Shadowheart chides. “Now is not the time. I think Gale would probably have a stake at the ready if you went anywhere near him right now.” She draws her focus back to you. “After you fell, Gale pretty much finished off the Goblins single-handedly. He sent a bolt of lightning straight through Ragzlin’s skull.”

You feel shame redden your face. Planning this attack had been your responsibility. You should have insisted everyone took time to rest properly before the final battle. You were impatient and reckless and wanted it over. The ghost of the axe wound rips at your chest. You know it isn’t real, but the pain has split you apart. It aches.

“Where is Lae’zel?” You look around for your Githyanki comrade, surprised she hasn’t chided you yet for your failure in battle.

“Hunting, I think. She helped us carry you back. Be warned, she’s said she’s going to go through intensive battle training with you to ‘improve your incompetence,’ her words not mine.” Shadowheart holds her hands up defensively.

Karlach shifts a little uncomfortably. “And, erm, Gale is just in his tent. Resting probably. I’d go check in on him if I were you.”

You stand shakily and look at your friends with gratitude. “I’m sorry. We’ll plan things out better next time.”

“Well, I'd hope so, darling.” Astarion chides. “All this heroic nonsense is bad enough as it is, without the shame of getting our arses kicked by a bunch of goblins.” He puts his hand on your shoulder as he walks past, and the others look at you sheepishly as they go back about their business. They busy themselves sorting out loot from the Goblin Camp and preparing things for dinner.

“Gale?” Your voice sounds small as you stand outside his tent. You hear the sound of a book being closed, but he does not respond. “Please, can I talk with you? I owe you an apology and some thanks.”

The flap opens, and he stands in front of you, grabbing your arm roughly and pulling you into his tent. The air is heated with fury. “I don’t want thanks or an apology.” His usual soft brown eyes appear darker than usual. “What I would like is a companion who isn’t going to get themselves cleaved in half with a battle axe due to pure stupidity.”

You never cope very well with being told off, and the shame and smallness you feel start to subside in reaction to being reprimanded by this arrogant wizard. “He was right in front of you!” Gale’s breathing is heavy. “You could have killed him easily, and yet you...” He grips your arms and stares you down. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to witness that?” You thought you could hear a slight crack in his voice. “You were reckless and foolish and not the level-headed leader I expected you to be”

You pull out of his grasp and glare at him. “I didn’t ask for leadership. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask for the responsibility and exhaustion and burden.” You feel yourself blazing to match his heat. “Maybe if you’d paid more attention to what was around you, I wouldn’t have had to spend the last of my energy protecting you.”

“Why were you protecting me?” His voice is raised now, and surely the whole camp can hear their arguing. “You were right next to him! Why were you focused on what I was doing? I thought after everything that’s happened so far, you’d have a little more faith in my preternatural abilities. You behaved like a reckless martyr.”

“And you’re behaving like an ARSE,” you snap before turning on your heels and storming out of the tent. It’s frustrating that you don’t have Gale’s cutting use of vocabulary, but you feel as though you made your point.

You stride straight past your campmates, all who look a bit awkward, apart from Astarion who seems positively gleeful. “What a lovely bit of drama we’re all witnessing. It really does get the blood racing, so to speak.”

You hear a thud and an “Ow!” as you leave them behind, and imagine Karlach has probably given him a well-deserved thump. Good.

You approach the edge of the water and sit down. Thoughts are racing and blood is pumping. How dare he! Talking to you like a child. As though you had wanted to get your chest split open. The memory makes you shudder again, and the imaginary wound burns, taking your breath away. You need to calm and ground yourself. You are back, you are alive, you are fine.

You draw a circle in the earth and rough sketches of sacred runes around the outside. You take off your armour and kneel in the centre of the circle in your undershirt, head bowed and palms placed upon the earth.

When Gale had taught you magic and pulled upon the weave, he had conjured it out of the air, as though some celestial force was moving around you and drawing you together. The magic was ethereal, divine. Your druidic magic was different. You drew the feeling of peace and harmony from the earth, grounding yourself and connecting with the cool soil beneath you. If you focused hard enough, you could hear the world breathe around you, as though it was a living soul with a heartbeat beneath your fingertips. You were connected to all living things. Your breaths flow with the wind sweeping across your face, and as you focus on your peace, small white flowers begin to bloom around the edge of your circle. You feel them caress your fingertips as you meditate.

You’re unsure of how long you stay there, drawing upon the earth for comfort and guidance, but when you open your eyes, dusk has set in and the air has grown cool around you, causing your skin to tingle. You give your thanks and pick up your armour, admiring the flowers which have bloomed around you. You decide to walk barefoot back to your tent in your shirt; druids do not care so much about ‘appropriate dress.’ You just want to enjoy the feeling of the soil beneath your feet as you make your journey to bed. Feeling much more relaxed and grounded than earlier. You have been brought back to the earth, and you will be much more careful in the future not to be pulled from it again.

As you slip into your tent, you think of Gale. His tent is not far from yours, which you are now beginning to regret. You remember the evening you spent with him as he summoned the weave and shared a moment of magic with you, how the thought of kissing him caused him to blush and stumble over his words. The contrast between his softness then, and his harshness earlier is dizzying. Your heart sinks at the thought of your connection fading. Slipping away into the night. It had been a shared moment of rapture, and the ghost wound in your chest blazes at the thought it may have been the only one you would ever share.

As you sleep, darkness creeps into your cluttered mind. The void you had been pulled into by the goblin leader swirls its way into your thoughts, inciting nightmarish visions while you sleep. The axe. The pain. The nothingness. The cold steel wrenched you apart, splitting your ribs and cascading your blood on the ground. Gale had watched it happen. Gale. You remember the relief and warmth as you saw him protected, and your dreams start to taunt you. What if you hadn’t seen him? What if your positions had been reversed? Next time you could be the one watching him, his body breaking in front of you, life slipping from his eyes. “No,” you plead to the darkness in your head. “No, I won’t let that happen. Not to Gale.” There is a mocking laugh, and an inevitability pressing against you. He’ll get hurt one day. From a spell, or an axe, or the devastating orb that resides within him. You feel sick, and then you’re awake.

“Tav” Once again, you are pulled out of darkness. This time from the horrors in your subconscious, and not the peaceful calm of death. You’re sweaty and breathless, and you can’t tell if the moisture on your face is from sweat or tears. You have an awful feeling it’s both. You feel a cooling touch on your forehead. Gale. He’s hovering over you, concern etched across his gentle face. You feel fresh tears spill. “It’s okay, you’re safe, I’m here.” He pulls you against him, wrapping his arms around you. You stay like this for a little while until your breathing slows to mimic his, his hand gently stroking your head. You feel him press a light kiss against your hair, and you pull back to look at him.

“I had a nightmare,” you say, as though it wasn’t the most obvious thing in the world.

“I know,” he sits back, taking you in. “You were so distressed.” You can hear the worry in his voice, the sentiment is echoed in the warm softness of his eyes.

“I’m okay now,” you say, not sure which one of you you’re trying to convince. Your hand goes to your chest, pressing the area where the axe struck you. Gale watches intently.

“I’m so sorry, Tav. I was angry. I watched you… I saw…” His breath hitches as he tries to speak. It’s not like him to struggle to string a sentence together.

You take one of his hands and place it on your chest, over your heartbeat. “I’m here. I’m okay. I’m alive and safe. I’m here with you.”

“You said my name, in your sleep. You were crying and you said my name. Was it because of the way I spoke to you, because of what I said?” His hand moved from your chest to cup your face. His thumb stroked your cheek, and you felt your heart race.

“No. I just...” You struggle with what to say next. How do you say it? How do you tell him that the thought of losing him is more terrifying than being struck down with an axe? “I was reliving what happened. You were there. I was scared, that’s all.” You don’t look him in the eyes as you keep the truth close to your chest. “I don’t think I have anything to worry about really; from the sounds of it, you can take on hordes of enemies by yourself from now on.” You flick your eyes up to meet his, and he blushes a little.

“Ah, yes, well, I must admit I did let my emotions get the better of me.” He moves his hand from your face and back into his lap, folding himself so he’s now sat cross-legged in front of you. “I don’t need to tell you how powerful and uncontrollable magic can be, and if I'm out of harmony with the weave, it can lead to disastrous torrents of magic. We were lucky, I think, that it was channelled into the destruction of those foul creatures. But care must be taken, even in the most… emotional… of circumstances. I could have put our little team in terrible danger.” His hand subconsciously moved to his own chest, touching the swirling orb branded into his beautiful skin.

“Well, on the plus side, I think it turned Astarion on,” you laugh lightly at the thought. “You may have found yourself a new admirer. Be careful though; he bites.”

Gale laughs, and the sound soothes you like a balm. “Not really my type, but I'll be aware of any effect I may have on him from now on.” He smirks at you, and you feel relief wash over you. Gale was easy, comforting company. You’re glad he came to help. The thought of him leaving you to the darkness again makes you uneasy.

“Gale,” you shift a little awkwardly, and he takes you in, tilting his head slightly. “Would you mind bunking with me tonight? I think I could use a bit of company.” You feel embarrassed at the request, but he grins at you.

“Of course, anything I can do for you, consider it most enthusiastically done. Let me just go and get my bedroll.”

You sleep soundly for the rest of the night; any worry of losing your connection with Gale drifts into the ether. Your hands are entwined together across the floor, and your dreams are much, much sweeter.

[slotumn]

One thing that personally bugs me about certain fan interpretations wrt Almyra and 3H world beyond Fódlan: I think some fall into the trap of making Fódlan way more important than it actually needs to be/is implied by the game to be.

Such as, by connecting a bunch of other things in the world, including negative things, all back to Fódlan. Or for more specific examples, claiming Almyra/Almyrans as a whole (not just Almyrans in Fódlan or Almyrans who live near the border) are oppressed or victimized by Fódlan, in an overcompensating inversion of the "Almyrans are barbarians victimizing Fódlan" thing Fódlanis espouse in-game.

But the thing is, Claude already alludes to stuff in Fódlan being kinda insignificant relative to rest of the world in his support with Leonie:

and Almyra appears to be based off of Persian Empire and/or various other West and Central Asian empires; those empires were, historically, pretty damn strong, and the superpowers of their time.

Meanwhile, not only is Fódlan based on Europe in an era before their global dominance, it appears to be very long ways from being able to even attempt that in-universe due to factors like the isolationism/technological stagnancy. So I'd argue that it really doesn't make sense for canon-era Fódlan to have caused the types of problems colonialist Europe does/did in real life, or for the power dynamics between Fódlan and Almyra(/other lands) to be anything like their approximate real-life equivalents in recent history. And yeah Fódlan does bully Brigid/Duscur/Sreng, but this is the kind of bullying and subjugation you can see anywhere in the world at any point in time, not just in a world during and after European colonialism.

Plus nothing says that the historical development of 3H world post-canon has to resemble ours in any way— and I'd argue that things have already diverged significantly in the 3H world. Dagda, which appears to be the approximate equivalent of Americas, apparently knew of Fódlan much earlier than the irl equivalent (probably due to Elites fleeing there, Brigid, etc) and even invaded them a few times. Fódlanis did try a counter invasion on Dagda in the 700s, but again, this pretty explicitly failed, and as far as we can tell, they haven't tried it again since. (They just settled for beating up the nearby Brigid because it's the easy target rip)

But anyway, back to Almyra. While the Almyran playable characters we see in the game are affected by the Fódlan-Almyra border issues, they're probably the exceptions, not the norm. Whole reason Cyril got caught up is because he was originally from a border village, aka the periphery/fringe. Claude is a mixed kid. That's why it affects them, but for the vast majority of Almyrans who probably aren't in such circumstances… why would they care? Even if they're aware of it, there's a good chance there are many other problems that have nothing to do with Fódlan that they consider to be of equal or higher priority.

As for Almyran NPCs: Nader probably only cares about Fódlan due to his relationship with the king and queen and Claude, and Shahid appears to see Fódlan as a cheap punching bag for fast military/political valor (plus some personal shit related to Claude) which is literally the opposite of considering them a significant player in any way. Granted Shahid is arrogant and dumb but still, if Fódlan was considered a serious concern/threat on a general nationwide level, I'd think others in Almyra would have stepped up before this stupid prince dragged an army over. Like man the Almyran government really does not care what goes on at the Fódlan-Almyra border lol. If they did Cyril wouldn't be in the situation he's in (as he points out himself).

We do read about the invasion at Fódlan's Throat in the 900s, but because we only get records from the Fódlani POV, there's no way to tell how serious the Almyrans were about it, how significant their losses were by their own standards, how the failure of that specific invasion affected their assessment of Fódlan, etc. But considering the Almyrans still go raiding at the border at the time of canon for shits and giggles... I'm guessing they still do not see Fódlan as a significant threat. (And I'd say they're right to, if you look at wtf is going on in Fódlan during canon)

Combine this with, again, their real-life motifs and other tidbits in-game (apparently Almyra has the budget to just send over fleets to Leicester at the drop of hat), I think it's pretty likely that: 1. Almyra far overpowers Fódlan in most measures of national/regional power and it's not even close 2. Almyra might be pretty important to Fódlan (as a threat) but Fódlan is not that important to Almyra, and 3. in Almyra Claude (+maybe his dad?) is probably the odd one out for caring that much about Fódlan-Almyra relations.

In conclusion: Fódlan is clearly rife with problems and assholes, the game itself makes that clear. But what I think is a massive stretch is canon-era Fódlan being the most important place in the 3H world, including in negative ways, where they're responsible for problems in places we canonically have no evidence of them having significant influence in. Imo that's both contrary to what the game wants to say and makes the 3H world/setting less compelling; I think the sense that other lands have their own problems and agendas independent of the place that's the main focus is part of what makes this world feel grounded and rife for exploration, and it's a disservice to discard all that in favor of making everything revolve around Fódlan.

[bloodyshadow1]

the Bad Kids really spit in the face of Porter's philosophy this fight and it was beautiful. they were outnumbered 8 (counting Mazey and the hangman) against at the start 8 higher level enemies, but that number quickly spiraled to 11 with Jace's clones, and 14 with the 3 extra ragestars. Sure the Bad Kids eventually got a lot of helpers near the end of the fight, but only Squeem managed to do something and got people up and Bakur was a meat shield that did some damage to Porter.

Honestly, if he was smarter, Porter probably could have tpk'd the Bad Kids on his own. He had legendary resistances, legendary actions and was resistant to all forms of damage, immunity to fire, and a Barbarian's speed. Not to mention his attacks did massive amounts of force damage that Gorgug's rage doesn't resist.

If they went against him and tried to match him power for power they would have lost. Maybe they would have widdled him down, but there's a good chance they would be dead 8 vs 1, especially how tired they were from fighting off a swarm of dragons.

But the Bad Kids are good at what they do, they know there's more to fights than just damage. Strategy, utility spells, teamwork, that's what the Bad Kids used to win the day not raw power. They were smart, they targeted the squishy dangerous casters first to keep them out of play, they used their environment to get 4 deaths from lava alone.

Riz in his first turn did serious damage to the Rat Grinders with a single level 3 spell. Slowing down Mary Ann and Ruben left them so vulnerable. Mary Ann despite being a barbarian couldn't get to anyone to attack and meant she was out of the fight for the first half. Even more it destroyed the Bad Guys action economy since it meant one of the Jaces and Buddy had to use their turns to dispel the magic off their teammates, one of which was counterspelled. And of course he killed Kipperlily on his own. Drawing her ire, negating her sneak attacks against him and of course, casting hold person while she's in the lava killing her while telling her how bad she is at being a rogue.

Fabian did his thing, he is a fighter and a swords bard, it's his job to use his mobility to deal a lot of damage and boy did he do a lot of damage. He downed Ivy in a single turn and did damage to Oisin so he could be finished off with Fig. Then using his turns to draw fire, protect Mazey, give out Bardics when he could. And of course the biggest moment was freeing Bakur. In that moment, and it took a bit to pay off, they got an ally in a pit fiend, something strong and big that Porter couldn't ignore, and got the chance to get allies on the field to help them. It brought Squeem back so that he could get people up saved the day.

Fig is like Fabian, she does a lot of damage so why not celebrate it. On her first turn, she used her incredible mobility to get Oisin, probably the most deadly of the Rat Grinders (not counting Jace and Porter) as a wizard with access to 9th level spells, and she was able to almost kill him. She was also able to do damage to Ivy with her green flame blade to get her health down so Fabian could down her in one turn. She used a fire ball to kill ruben, damage Buddy, some of the Jaces, and Mary Ann, that got concentration checks on at least one Jace and Buddy that they failed losing a bigbsy hand and the banishment that Buddy was holding. unintentionally, the fireball was a big move because it got Mary Ann to target her, it's not great to have a barbarian as strong as her after you, but it kept her from attacking anyone else. It also got Mary Ann to take a lot of damage from the lava because she was so angry with Fig. Without that they would have had to deal with a second barbarian who unlike her teammates actually had some hit points. When she was back up she kills one of the Jaces with a well placed shatter. All the while acting like both a bard and a paladin, giving out bardics and doing damage to the bad guys.

Kristen, what can I say, both Kristens were amazing. I'm not a fan of K2, but she was clutch this fight, they literally couldn't have done it without her. Their healing was of course a saving grace, their support spells helped so much, and their utility was incredible. I'm not sure if they did any damage at all this fight, but they were so important. You can't really get better support than two clerics and they showed why. Keeping their party up and alive is one of the most important parts of combat. But there was also the utility they had in the fight, banishing Buddy was huge, no heals or revifiys if that was his thing, and keeping him from hurting anyone because clerics do have a lot of damaging spells. the dispel on the devil's nectar and their connection with Cassandra was clutch of course, it was what set the stage for their victory and allowed them to get Bakur on their side. And of course Ice Feast, Brennan, if you're gonna homebrew a spell for your friends, don't make it so powerful. yes, it's basically a reskin of heroes feast, but immunity to fire damage is overpowered when your final battle map has lava in it. Lava is very dangerous to those not immune to it as it killed two rat grinders and 3 of the Jaces in the fight, all while helping the bad kids and their allies.

Gorgug was amazing this whole fight, utilizing both the barbarian and the artificer part of him. He got the kill on Oisin who would have been very annoying to deal with and with his final attack he grapples porter away from his friends. It's not great for him, Porter is still a huge barbarian who can get around Gorgug's damage resistances with Force damage, but he keeps the big bad busy for as much as he can. He kept getting knocked down the whole fight, but thanks to his friends he never stayed down. Tossing a Jace into the Lava and stealing the votes from Porter with one hp was inspired. And in the final round he completely proves Porter wrong, the guy who told him being an artifer multiclass was a waste of time, who mocked him and called his gadgets stupid. Gorgug uses one of those stupid gadgets to help Adaine put the final nail into the big bad and bad teacher's coffin by taking points away from his saving throw letting Adaine's spell take hold. To add insult to injury he drops his rage for that last part just to show Porter that his toxic way of thinking didn't do him any good.

Adaine, I could talk about Adaine's amazingness in this last fight for days, she's my favorite character. This whole fight, she wasn't the blaster wizard that you expect from a lot of high level wizards. She does some damage, but her real effectiveness shined through crowd control and using utility spells to keep her party in the fight. the synaptic static was so devastating to the clumped up rat grinders and it damaged Jace before he could summon his clones so they were damaged at the start, not to mention the -d6 to a lot of their shit. she was just amazing this entire fight, even after being targeted by spells and attacks, she's the only other person kipperlily attacked other than Riz and her only successful sneak attack in her life against an enemy apparently. She also tanked several spells from the Jaces, flesh to stone, lightning bolt, bigbys hand, despite it all, she stays up until Porter has to use an aoe to deal with her, even taking some attacks from him. She saved her friends with Scatter and kept one of the Jaces out of the fight for a while, three of her friends down and she stands there looking at Porter defiantly, talking down to him and Jace despite them being teachers. And of course the detect thoughts with Fabian's brain worm present, allowing Ankarna to see the truth for herself in Porter's lies.

That detect thoughts was clutch, because like I said in the beginning, damage isn't everything. In a straight up fight they might have lost against Porter, the guy did just too much damage and was too tanky. But with that one utility spells they didn't beat Porter, but they outsourced to someone who could. They told his god the truth, that he was trying to kill her with his own thoughts, and she showed him what a goddess could do.

The Bad Kids are very powerful, but it's important to win when you're fighting for the sake of the world. It's important to be powerful but the Bad Kids are smart and strong, able to think and put aside ego and rage, something the rat grinders didn't understand. Spells and abilities aren't the same thing as being strong and now they know that