#has anyone seen that anime?

[honourablejester]

Heart: The City Beneath – Major Abilities

It’s much harder to talk about a favourite major ability for each class in Heart, because the major abilities are more … they’re bigger, they’re what you want your playstyle to be. They’re almost like a subclass? Each class has about five or six options, and you start with one, and getting more requires some big story beats, so they’re fairly defining for you. So when I’m talking about favourites here, I’m talking about how I personally would want to focus a character of that class.

Each major ability also lets you pick a couple of extra minor ones that buff it once you have it, so you can improve your major abilities with minor ones once you get it going.

Cleaver:

BLOODBOUND BEAST. You are accompanied by a ragged cryptid that follows your commands – an ancient stone-browed stag, a razortoothed heartsblood hound or something stranger. You feed it your blood, and it fights for you. You gain the Bloodbound tag on all weapons as you and your companion work in concert.

The Cleaver has five major abilities to choose from, a support option that gives the party skills, a combat option that gives you a great big weapon, a hungry option that leans on the classes core ability to gain skills/domains by eating things, and a transformation option that lets you pay in stress to do more damage. And then there’s this option, which gives you a ragged companion, a strange, rough animal to follow you. If you want a pet, this is the ability for you, and it’s a Heart pet, so it’s weird and offputting and wonderful. One of the minor abilities you can get for this is FAITHFUL UNTIL THE END, which does exactly what it sounds like it does and allows your faithful pet to die in your stead, at which point you’re required to pick a different major ability and you can never take this one again. Which. If you want to smash your character’s heart to pieces? Could be a good narrative shout.

Deadwalker:

ECHOES. You can glimpse the remnants of what has come before. Roll Discern + Domain to witness ghostly recreations of the past in your current location. This will generally show the most interesting or dramatic thing that occurred within recent memory.

Deadwalkers again get five options to choose from, one that lets you hurl yourself into the shadow world faster, one that lets you push through the shadow world to the afterlives beyond, one that turns your death into a poltergeist that helps you out, and one that lets you sacrifice your protection to hit enemies harder. And then there’s this one, which gives you psychometry. And we all know from other games that I just really like psychometry? I like knowing things, I like sensing things, I like weird tools that let me see things I shouldn’t. Although, to be fair, the heaven-exploring option is also extremely tempting.

Deep Apiarist:

UNCHAOS. The Heart is a chaotic place, and you seek to undo that with ancient magic. Roll Mend+Occult to cast this spell. On a success, for the remainder of the situation, you or one nearby ally treats Risky actions as Standard actions (keep the highest rolled dice) as probability coalesces around you and crystallizes at your feet.

Deep Apiarists are about resetting reality. Their five options are one that makes their body inimical to the Heart, doing extra damage to Heart creatures, one that turns their body into a mind healing item for your party, one that takes any mind stress you have and inflicts it on your opponents via your core bee swarm, and one that gives you bonus dice if you roll 6s. And then there’s this. Which is you casting a spell to just make life a fuck tonne easier for you or a party member. You can also buff it to make it a small AOE, though people have to stay right beside you for it to work. But it’s … The reality-bending bees are out here doing the work with this one.

Heretic:

OATH OF SAGACITY. You have learned one of the secret names of Three-Fold Damnou, and when you speak it aloud your enemies are struck senseless by its power. The name of the Goddess functions as the following weapon: (Kill D6, Spread, Debilitating, Maddening, One-Shot).

The Heretics get five major abilities, linking to five of the six Damnic virtues of their faith, which I enjoy. The virtue they’re missing is Grace, and it’s an in-universe doctrinal question as to why that is. Your options are one that gives you and sometimes someone near you physical protection, one that turns you into a divine terminator that takes mind damage if they haven’t killed a worthy foe by the end of the session, one that lets you do more damage/get further if you take and succeed on riskier actions, and one that lets you mystically sense creatures in your vicinity. And you’d think, given the Deadwalker above, that I’d pick that last one. But I just enjoy the ‘knowledge man was not meant to know’ that’s inherent in knowing one of the secret names of a god and speaking it as a weapon.

Hound:

STARE DOWN. You have a reputation as a terrifying enforcer; just looking at some folk is enough to get them to throw down their weapons. Your gaze functions as a weapon (Kill D6, ranged). It only works when your target can see you and if they have the capacity to be scared of you – so criminals are fair game, but heartsblood predators aren’t. You can use this “weapon” in a haven or other landmark without causing a huge ruckus. Your gaze won’t kill people – it’s disheartening, and if you reduce an opponent’s resistance to 0 with it they surrender, try to bargain their way out or trip and incapacitate themselves whilst fleeing.

Hounds are so practical. I actually really, really like them? And they have a bit of a wild west vigilante vibe as well. Of their five options, one lets them mark people as criminals which gives them advantages against them, one kind of possesses them with the spirit of trench warfare which gives them better unarmed and bonuses to close quarters, one gives them a Pumpkin Scissors-style berserker state where the more damaged they are the more damage they’re doing back, one gives them the ability to prep for a situation granting themselves and the party a choice of several benefits (and can be buffed), which was extremely tempting. But then there was this. Which is the ability to Clint Eastwood stare somebody into submission. Your stare does actual damage to people. And yes, you can buff it with a minor ability so that it works just fine on heartsblood predators. And, like. I mean you’ve got to pick that, right?

Incarnadine:

KARMIC LEDGER. Once you know what’s keeping someone awake at night, it’s much easier to take advantage of them. Roll Discern+Haven to cast this spell on a target you can see and hear. On a success, you determine their deepest karmic debt: the greatest thing that they’ve taken from someone else (money, valuables, freedom, a son, etc). When you act on this information, roll with mastery.

Incarnadines are about debts and deals and backstabbing, and their abilities reflect that. Sometimes quite literally. They get six potential options. One that lets you literally backstab people for bonuses, one support option that lets you pray to the god of debt to help someone else out, one that helps with NPC interactions that compels them to want something, one that lets you add a haven to your god’s network and get bonuses for it, one tempting one that lets you channel an incarnation of your god to do continuous minor damage to any enemy that can see you, and this one. Which is … I feel like if you’re going to worship a god of debt, it should let you see the biggest debt someone owes? And not in the sense of something they borrowed, but in the sense of something they’ve stolen. Their biggest karmic debt. If you worship a god of ledgers, you should be able to read the books.

Junk Mage:

KISS OF THE DROWNED QUEEN. You have glimpsed the sunken Court of the Drowned Queen, where she slumbers and awaits the resurgence of her line. With a touch, you can conjure salt water in the lungs of those who oppose you. This spell functions as the following weapon: (Kill D6, Piercing.) If the target is at least shin-deep in water, it inflicts D8 damage.

Right. So. The Junk Mage’s major abilities are spells they’ve gotten that call on major powers. There’s four big powers that they draw on: The Red King, The Sky Court, The Drowned Queen, and the Stone Chorus. They have six options, two each for the Red King and the Sky Court, one each for the other two. The Sky Court lets you either induce an orgy and/or the purge, or it gives you hyper adhd for a while. The Red King lets you either smell money and desire, or set things (and people) on fire. The Stone Chorus gives you and your party access to a temple mid-travel to be safe in, which is tempting. But I just like the Drowned Queen. Of the two damage spells, I want the one that drowns people on land. You know?

Vermissian Knight:

AETHERIC FIELD. Your armour buzzes with static that makes your hair stand on end; this discharge can keep you safe from the body-warping effects of the Vermissian. Once per session, activate this power. You gain +3 Echo protection until the end of the current situation.

The Vermissian Knights are very tanky, and their options are quite similar to the Cleaver’s, now that I look at them. Again, five options. One that gives them a great big monster-killing weapon (and a buff that lets them summon the monster in question), one that lets them push their armour to the limits, paying in stress to do more, one that lets them protect their allies, one that lets them pay in stress to do more exploring, and this one. I don’t know if its just the techological vibe, but I enjoy using your armour to create a protective electrical field that wards off weird damage. You can also buff it to create an aoe, and make it rechargeable. I like wards, as a concept. I enjoy this.

Witch:

LAIR. You adopt or create a predatory building and claim it as your own; it still eats people, but it doesn’t eat you. The building in question is no larger than a small shop or study. Inside, the shadows crawl and scurry, the walls creak and whisper and a maddening heart‐beat thuds at the back of your consciousness – perfect for you, but unsettling for anyone else. Any non-witch who enters your lair must roll Resist+Occult and mark D6 stress to Echo on a failure or D4 stress to Echo on a partial success. When you are in a landmark, roll Mend+Occult to summon your lair. On a success, it’s always been here, as far as anyone knows. Your lair acts as a bond (p. 98) – if it suffers fallout, it’s either eaten someone who’ll be missed or been damaged by suspicious locals.

… Witches are weird magic werewolf people, which is a great standing start for fun abilities. They have six options, and they’re all pretty much delightfully weird. One that lets them make the area around them more occult, automatically letting them aid a domain dice to almost everything, one that lets them see omens of what’s to come in a mirror (which lets them warp reality more than see the future), one that lets them attack people using blood as a vector, one that gives them a weird pet that they can channel damage into rather than taking it themselves, one that improves their werewolf form, and then this one. Which just … gives them a cool sentient hungry shop that follows them around and can act as their base in locations? I just. I feel like if you have the option, you should always choose to have your own predatory tea shop following you around?

End Thoughts:

I love that all these classes are so weird and so interesting. And there’s a good selection of play styles that you can work with even within your class.

[chalkrub]

been doodling some bri'ish wildlife - love seeing these guys. because they are the classics aren't they?

[muisley]

my silly babygirl who could never do anything wrong

[front-facing-pokemon]

[creative-clawmarks]

since Tim enjoys chew toys...does he also enjoy the occasional,"good boy" ?? (This literally sounds freaky I don't mean it like that I promise 🙏)

As a general rule if you were to treat Tim like a dog it would upset him. Just because he can take on an animal form doesn't mean he isn't still a person, he's just wired a little differently.

Some things he can find exceptions to. Chew toys have a practical application in keeping The Wolf busy, games like fetch can be fun in the same way playing sports is, and even the most distant of people appreciate physical contact so getting pet now and then isnt a big deal.

But speaking to him like he's a dog, like he can't understand you or you need to patronize him, he hates that. It reminds him of the hospital when a lot of the staff would treat him like he was below human intelligence. So if you called him a good boy he would snap at you that he doesn't need your approval.

(The snag to all of this is that it's different if Brian is saying it.)

(And yes, it is for freaky reasons.)

[thereminzone]

"Oh yeah, Agent 4! Uh, who was that again?"// "That reminds me. that boys name... I've forgotten it now."

This wonderful art got me thinking about rgu side order parallels... I'm normal!!

[soosoosoup]

Do you have more headcanons about your critter trolls?

There's not much to it really, I just give them animal habits that I find cute lol.

Well first off they do make animal-like sounds. Purrs when content, in love, sometimes when a they're in pain. Growl when angry. Trollings make really high pitched squeaking sounds to voice a want/need.

They're more fluffy!!! Have a more condensed tuft on fur on their chests bc why not. When frightened, hair and fur puff out to appear bigger. Give baps on the head when upset (not serious) like a cat lol.

Scruffing I feel like is done more by older siblings or relatives that aren't the parents. Parents still predominatly use their hair. But they can scruff if their hands and hair are full. It's seen as a little childish (not in negative way), since it's big sibs that usually scruff (bc it's fun)!

Nests, love to sleep in a pile of blankets and pillows. Naps are a great way to bond w/ loved ones. A pretty special step for a new couple to take. Grooming too is important, reserved for parent & child, or between partners.

That’s all I can think of :)

[theultracharmingladynoire]

appreciation post for Yuuri's eyes. [and his glasses]

(insp.)

[astralleywright]

the thing is, like, imogen is blunt, and indecisive, and impulsive. she's cynical, angry at the world, and seemingly much less interested in doing good than in holding on to her loved ones. she's hypocritical, incredibly violent one moment and horrified at the prospect the next. she's passive aggressive, on occasion. she's overly critical. she's scatterbrained.

and all of that stuff is very fucking fascinating, and so fun to watch, and core to what makes her her. but not only are those things not the totality of imogen as a character, they're very much inextricable from the things that make her sympathetic.

imogen has spent much of the last decade of her life in pain, and isolated because of it. when she wasn't alone she couldn't relax, having to keep tight control over her mind so as to not get overwhelmed or invade the privacy of others. because even through all that pain and loneliness, she still bore the responsibility not to impose on other people's minds. and when she fails or slips up or gives in, all of the distrust and suspicion she recieves regardless is suddenly viewed as justified.

which is not to say imogen is not responsible for her actions, or the harm she causes others. of course she is! no one is saying she isn't! but, just like literally every other person, her actions don't exist in a void but within the context of both her past and present.

analyzing that context and coming up with explanations of her behavior that consider it is not excusing her actions or refusing to acknowledge her flaws. it is not coddling imogen to sympathize with her even when she's fucking up. these are pretty standard ways to discuss a character you enjoy actually! it's weird that having a nuanced perspective on a character's actions is being treated as an issue!

[benetnvsch]

nasty dog kunikida wip #2 :> refined sketch. next few days will be clean lining coloring and tweening yipppeee

[skapediem]

fly me to the moon your poster might look fake but you will always be real TO ME!!!!

[aiai-cafe]

seeing discourse pass by on the periphery is so crazy like what do you mean a majority of the fandom hates kabru?????? that boy is the most character ever?? hello??

[sukugo]

i started watching jjk without knowing anything other than what i knew from your blog, and i never realized sukuna and gojo was a RAREPARE OF THE HIGHEST KIND. wym these dudes have only interacted like four time???

in conclusion: you conditioned me into shipping a rarepare i didn't know was rare.

GSJDGSJSGDJDHSJDHDJHD WE GOT ANOTHER ONE BOYS

and it's not even 4, they interact 1.5 times in literally the SECOND episode and then NEVER again. like literally never ever ever again GDJDHDKDHD im not even kidding

well. ok later they do have their promised Fight, but that's only happened in the manga, and for the anime.... it's a WHILE until we get there

(but also the fight and everything related to it was so fucking gay i don't even know what to tell u. just that it makes it all worth it)

but also, no worries my beloved claudia, u've come at a good time fandom wise hahah. u don't have to go through the drought i went through. sukugo has risen from the rarepair trenches and are doing pretty okay i feel (downside being obv with greater popularity comes more Shit) (and well, hella spoilers if u're watching the anime the fight is pretty much the only proper interaction they have fgsjdhfkf)

BUTTT GGSHRGRHE HELL YEAH LET'S GO SUKUGOOOOOOOOO THEY MAY NEVER INTERACT BUT THEY ARE VERY SEXY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

in conclusion: teehee :3 im sorry but also am i really? (no)

[emily-mooon]

For absolutely no reason at all, I turned Lisa and Stacey into magical girls

[newbiealliance]

dare i say its extremely fucking weird for people to shit on object shows for being "childish" when the majority of people who make/enjoy them are autistic

[intomybubble]

One of my hopes for the Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School anime is that it convinces Yen Press to finally translate and print the spin-off manga