#high charisma....decent intelligence...but low wisdom

[monstershearts]

(That moment when you run a multimuse blog with a fuckton of threads, but you only have muse for one specific thread because your muse simply HAS to do something incredibly dumb.

🥲

Rafael, my beloved…)

[thunderboltfire]

The dove and the blackbird, by the words of the bard. Aerie and Viconia have always been one of the most iconic characters of BG2 to me, and so I had to take a chance to draw them in my style. More thoughts on the design choices under the cut!

The underlying thought behind this drawing was the realisation that the drow are canonically the shortest of elves. For some reason, the vision of honestly intimidating and snappy, but not very physically strong* Viconia also being quite short made for a coherent vision.

If the drow are the shortest of elves, that would mean Aerie would probably be taller than Viconia. We know avariels’ distinguishing feature are their wings, but I thought it would be really cool if they had other features specific to them, so I made Aerie’s frame taller and slender, reminescent of a long-legged bird, like a heron or a stork.

I also decided that as a priestess she should carry Baerwan’s holy symbol. The coolest part of the wizard clothing in BG is that it’s layered, so I made up a multilayered robe which would also have a side slit™ characteristic for many in-game robes.

Actually, I was on the fence about whether or not I should give Viconia a visible symbol of her deity - but in the end I’ve decided against it. While she isn’t exactly secretive about being a priestess of Shar, openly carrying a symbol of an evil deity could draw even more hostile attention than she already does.

I’ve changed a color of her cloak too, because it’s really easy to be picked out of the crowd while being dressed like a construction worker I didn’t really like that part of her original design. I dressed her in a scale armor. While it doesn’t exist in-game, it’s a similar grade of armor to the chainmail she usually starts with in my party.

* They actually have very similar stat distribution, with low strenght, very low constitution, relatively high dex (actually, Viconia has insanely high dexterity of 19), wisdom and intelligence and decent charisma.

[slyme-writes-stuff]

Because shes my favorite character so far I decided to do a shitty drawing of Athena. I think she turned out pretty decent. What do you guys think?

Name: Athena

Species: Orphidaean (basically a Lamia if they were a bunch of bloodthirsty warriors. She was the next heir to the throne but defected to explore the world alongside Maple)

Standing height: 7 ft

Total height: 16 ft

Strength: extremely high

Dexterity: decent

Constitution: high

Intelligence: decent

Wisdom: very low

Charisma: very high

Weapon of choice: longsword and shield

Likes: fighting, weapons, smithing, hugs, messing with Erika, Maple, definitely Maple,

Dislikes: puzzles, being told not to do things, crustaceans, anything that tries to hurt Erika Charlie or especially Maple,

Greatest fear: not being able to protect her loved ones.

Favorite food: steak

[kanohirren]

How to Make Etho in DnD

I’ll go level by level and explain the reasoning behind my decisions and how I think it fits them in character. This build assumes starting at level 8 but includes notes on differences if you start at level 1 and progress to 8. This isn't intended as a guide on how to play dnd, just how to build this character.

Class: Artificer (Battle Smith) 5, Rogue (Inquisitive) 3

Race: Human (Variant) or regular Human if you don’t use feats.

Base Ability Scores:

Str 8 (-1)

Dex 14, (+2)

Con 10 (+0)

Int 15 (+2) +1 from race = 16 (+3)

Wis 13 (+1) +1 from race = 14 (+2)

Cha 12 (+1)

Background: Mercenary Veteran

Etho was an especially interesting character to build. I wanted to make sure to incorporate his redstone prowess (hence the artificer) but also acknowledge that he is very good at the social aspect of games and very good at sneaking around (hence the rogue). I opted to give him high intelligence as that is the main stat of the Artificer, but also gave him decent Dexterity. I also gave him decent Wisdom and Charisma due to him being so good in social situations, but unfortunately he’s a bit washed up at melee combat, so he has low strength and constitution.

Before getting into the classes, let’s start with the variant human race features:

Feat: Fighting Initiate, choose the Archery fighting style for a +2 bonus to your ranged attack rolls (leading to more consistent damage) (Etho bow skills baybee)

Skill proficiency: choose History (because Etho’s been around a long time, his knowledge of Minecraft or whatever world this takes place in is unmatched)

And the Mercenary Veteran background features:

Skill proficiencies: Athletics and Persuasion

Mercenary Life: You can identify other mercenary factions and find mercenary work. (I considered the Hermit background but ended up going with this one instead.)

At 1st level, we take a level in Rogue. This grants us:

Proficiency in light armour

Proficiency in simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords

Proficiency in thieves’ tools

Proficiency in Dexterity and Intelligence saving throws.

Skill proficiencies: Insight, Perception, Stealth and Investigation (chosen with Etho’s skills at reading people and assessing situations in mind)

Expertise in two proficient skills: Insight and Stealth

Sneak attack: an extra 1d6 damage on enemies if you have advantage on the attack or if an enemy of your target is within 5 ft. of them (doesn’t activate if you have disadvantage).

Thieves’ Cant: Some sort of secret code. Maybe only understood by other Canadians (What’s the deal with bathroom p-)

Starting as a rogue instead of artificer gives you access to better saving throws and more skill proficiencies. The tradeoff is delaying your power spike at level 5. If you’re starting below level 6, you could start artificer instead and only multiclass into rogue after at least five levels in artificer, but this leads to a slightly different build.

At 2nd level, we take our first level in Artificer. This grants us:

Proficiency in medium armour and shields

Proficiency in tinkers tools and one other artisan tool of your choice (suggested alchemist’s supplies, you’ll get smith’s tools later)

Magical Tinkering: A fun little device you can make that lets you either make a little bit of light, record a message, play a sound or make a small image. You could use this to play intimidating boogeyman music or secretly pass information.

Two Cantrips: Mending (useful for repairing tools and also really helpful for later class features, Create Bonfire (flint and steel)

1st level spells (reflavoured to be technology): Artificers are prepared casters, meaning they can swap out their spells after a long rest. At level 1 with 16 Intelligence, you can have 3 prepared spells. My suggested spells are: Alarm (redstone trap with a tripwire), Feather Fall (he’s gotten pretty good at mlg water buckets) and Absorb Elements (just a solid defensive spell)

Artificers are pretty loaded at lvl 1 in terms of utility but aren’t super strong in the damage department yet. Without any damaging spells, your main source of damage would be using a shortbow and getting sneak attack damage off. Tinkering and technological side of the class feel perfect for Etho and most of the other Redstoners on the list.

At 3rd level, we take a second level in Artificer. This grants us:

Four Infusions known: useful feature that lets you enchant items. Though you can choose four options, only two of them can be active at a time. Choose Repeating Shot, Replicate Magic Item, Enhanced Weapon and Enhanced Defense

Two Infused Items: Take Repeating Shot and infuse a shortbow to give it +1 to your attack and damage rolls. Also take Replicate Magic Item, one of the most versatile infusions that lets you create a magic item from a list that can be useful in almost every situation. Go-to is Rope of Climbing because it’s the closest to ladders (ayy, he goes up he goes down).

One more prepared spell: Suggested Identify (always a useful spell)

The infused items are how I imagine Etho upgrading his weapons using redstone. Adding some sort of aim assist to his bow or making night vision goggles using redstone, that sort of thing just feels Etho to me. With a +1 bonus to attack rolls and damage from Repeating Shot infusion, your lower stat in dexterity is somewhat made up for and should suffice until level 3.

At 4th level, we take a third level in Artificer. This grants us:

The Right Tool for the Right Job: handy feature that lets you create any type of tools you might need.

Artificer Subclass: Battle Smith

Battle Smith grants you some very useful things.

Proficiency in smith’s tools

Extra prepared spells: Heroism and Shield

Battle Ready: Proficiency in Martial Weapons and when you attack with a magic weapon, you can use Intelligence instead of strength or dexterity. Super important because now we can upgrade to a longbow instead of a shortbow and use our higher intelligence stat instead of dexterity to deal more damage with our longbow.

Steel Defender: A little robot friend that can aid you in combat. As sneak attack doesn’t require a creature, just an enemy, your Steel Defender can in fact provide sneak attack. The downside is that it takes its turn after yours, not before, so some planning might be required. If you don’t need your bonus action for anything else, it can also attack people so that can alleviate the lack of an extra attack at level 5 if you’re starting below level 6. Unfortunately, Rogues make use of their bonus actions very often so it might just be a sneak attack provider. On the bright side, you can restore its health using the Mending cantrip.

Now here’s where things get interesting. Now Etho gets to use his Intelligence for his bow attacks, which optimizes the build a little in terms of stats. With a 16 in intelligence, you have a +3 modifier. Your ranged attacks will start being very consistent. +3 from intelligence, +2 from archery fighting style, +2 from proficiency bonus, that’s a +7 to hit, which is really good at this early of a level.

I also think it’s just very Etho to use intelligence-based attacks.

At 5th level, we take a fourth level in Artificer. This grants us:

Ability Score Improvement OR Feat: Etho doesn’t really need another feat at this point, so we take a +2 to our Intelligence, bumping it up to 18 (+4), which not only affects our number of artificer spells we can have prepared but also makes the longbow even better!

More prepared spells: Now that we have 4 levels in artificer and a +4 intelligence modifier, we can have 6 total prepared spells. If we count the previous suggested ones, we can have two more. Suggested: Disguise Self (he’s a cheeky boy) and Sanctuary (when he doesn’t want trouble).

The increase to intelligence is very helpful here, and if you’ve started below level 6 the extra consistency should slightly make up for the lack of extra attack until you get it next level. With your proficiency bonus now being +3, your attack rolls will be 4 (int) + 3 (prof. b) + 2 (archery) +1 (infusion) for a total of +10 to hit. You won’t miss very often.

At 6th level, we take a fifth level in Artificer. This grants us:

Subclass feature: Extra Attack

2nd level spells: Suggested: replace a 1st level spell with Invisibility (Etho likes to snoop around) flavour this as like camouflage technology or something.

This is where the build starts to really pick up. Intelligence based attacks means that you’re not suffering from lack of building dexterity because sneak attack only requires ranged or finesse weapons. The stat used doesn’t matter. With two attacks, you both double your damage output on your longbow itself (with EXTREMELY consistent attack rolls at a +10 to hit) and give yourself two chances to land that sneak attack damage (which is still only a d6 for now but that will soon change).

At 7th level, we take a second level in Rogue. This grants us:

Cunning Action: you can dash, disengage or hide as a bonus action.

Not much to say here other than that cunning action is extremely useful. With the ability to hide as a bonus action, you can grant yourself advantage consistently, meaning you no longer need to rely on your Steel Defender or party members to provide sneak attack. This also means you will pretty much never miss your first shot, because with advantage, you will on average be rolling at about +15 to hit (advantage statistically provides roughly a +5 bonus on average on top of your already high +10).

At 8th level, we take a third level in Rogue. This grants us:

Subclass: Inquisitive

Inquisitive grants:

Ear for Deceit: This is why we chose Expertise in Insight. With this feature, you can never roll below an 8 for Insight. With Expertise and a +2 wisdom modifier, that gives you a +8 bonus to your insight rolls, meaning your minimum insight roll is 16 every time. Sure, a high deception character could probably roll higher than that, but the important part is the consistency as well as the synergy with one of the other Inquisitive features.

Eye for Detail: You can use a bonus action to try to spot a hidden creature or search for clues. Not terribly useful outside of combat, but also very situational in combat.

Insightful Fighting: You can use a bonus action to use Insight vs the target’s Deception. If you roll higher, you can use sneak attack on them for 1 minute without needing advantage. Again, the high consistent Insight rolls will be extremely useful here.

I was facing a dilemma between Swashbuckler and Inquisitive for Etho. Swashbuckler is a bit better in combat with the ability to avoid opportunity attacks and the ability to get sneak attacks without spending a bonus action (all you need is for your target to be isolated) but the Inquisitive abilities just said “Etho” way more to me. The ability to just never roll low on Insight and the whole “figuring out a weakness” and investigative nature of the subclass just felt far more fitting to me, even if it is less optimal.

Summary:

Final Stats:

Str 8 (-1)

Dex 14, (+2)

Con 10 (+0)

Int 18 (+4)

Wis 14 (+2)

Cha 12 (+1)

Feat: Fighting Initiate (Archery)

Sneak Attack (2d6)

Minimum Insight roll of 16.

Two Attacks

Longbow attack: +4 (int) +3 (prof. bonus) +2 (archery) +1 (infusion) = +10 to hit, 1d8 + 5 piercing dmg.

Artificer Infusions: Enhanced Defense, Repeating Shot, Enhanced Weapon, Replicate Magic Item (Rope of Climbing)

Cantrips: Mending, Create Bonfire

1st and 2nd lvl spells: prepare up to 6.

And that’s it for Etho! This one was super interesting to make, because there are so many aspects of Etho that make him who he is, and it was really making him a multiclass combo that’s less common but also works well. If anyone has any suggestions or feedback, I’d love to read them! ^^

[thegreatyin]

caeru and arcturus are very similar in the sense that they're both high intelligence/decent wisdom/low charisma sort of characters and also they'd both likely be artificers if we kept with the dnd metaphor. but also one of them has a full on no gods no masters attitude about life and the other is like. the fantasy equivalent of catholic.

[burning-bubble-tea]

I just spent so long looking through feats for my character only to wind up right back at lucky.

I mean I might do sentinel, mobile, tough or magic initiate but there’s things that don’t exactly fit with my character.

Sentinel, tough and mobile are good but there are long portions in our sessions where we aren’t in combat and I don’t really want to take a feat that’s only useful in combat. We play like a decent mix of social and combat so I like to have skills that are flexible/if it is a combat oriented thing, have like a role play aspect that makes it entertaining and fitting for the character.

Like currently my character has the telekinetic feat and as an artificer, it helps a bunch having an extra cantrips and being about to shove people with telekinesis. It also fits into the character role play as they move their prosthetic with telekinesis.

I kinda wanted to take fey touched, shadow touched or Eldritch adept because they fit the setting as the character had been mucking about and poking their nose in arcane mysteries but my intelligence is already 20 and the character’s wisdom and charisma are really low so the plus one would do nothing for him. But it would’ve been nice to get misty step and bless or invisibility and hex. Especially since as I’ve learned, you can cast those spells with your own spell slots where for some reason magic initiate doesn’t let you. I am happy that in this dnd researching I’ve discovered eldritch adept which can net a future character at will silent images which is the best info I’ve found for this character as I really didn’t want to multi class super far into warlock just to get at will silent image.

Like my character is an artificer, wizard doesn’t seem so far off but nooooo I can’t cast the spell more than once a day because of stupid rules as written. Like I wanted to give my guy more cantrips for utility and then an extra first level spell that they could use that came with a free spell slot. Maybe I’ll ask the dm if they’d still let me use the spell with my spell slots as an artificer but it was frustrating to find out rules as written, my character can only innately cast the spell.

But apparently fey touched you can innately cast two spells once and also know it to cast with other spells slots which it specifically states basically confirming that magic initiate can’t do the same.

Like I know if I picked the same class for magic initiate you could cast the spell. Eg a wizard picking magic initiate would just always have that spell prepared, but artificer magic initiate doesn’t exist as they get artificer initiate which is fine or whatever but in the campaign I’m currently playing, downtime isn’t a thing since we’re on the run/in the middle of the woods so I can’t really have my artificer craft anything since rules as written, it takes forever and so many materials to craft in dnd.

My character has really high AC but I wanted to give them shield cause it’d be funny to have their AC jump even high sometimes but I can only do that once every long rest with rules as written magic initiate which suuuuuucks.

I also wanted to give my character healing word but then remembered only one healing word a day which also sucks. (Also my character has no wisdom so it would just be a 1d4 + 0 of healing haha) I just really wanted my artificer armourer to be able to get people up quickly.

The other thing that annoyed me is that my character’s intelligence is already 20 so even though I could take fey touched for bless, and then also just be able to cast bless whenever and get misty step along with it to cast whenever with spell slots and once without, I’d be wasting the ability score improvement it also provided cause my character’s intelligence is already 20.

Like I didn’t want to wait for my character to have 20 intelligence and they had it by level 4 which has been a huge help but the downside of my impatience is that I could’ve taken two different feats that increased intelligence at level 4 and 8 and gotten 20 intelligence at level 8 but at the table I play we don’t particularly level up that fast so I wanted to be playing at max intelligence as soon as possible.

And it sucks because if I could get the technical most out of magic initiate and take bless from that but then I’d only be able to cast it once as it can’t use my spell slots rules as written. I would be able to get two cantrips with it which is great as an artificer but the cantrips I want are only really for flavour and I’ve honestly been fine with the three cantrips I currently have. Like I want mending cause I’m an artificer and it makes sense but I’ve never had a need for it in the campaign. Also my character has smith tools, he can fix his armour with that.

(I could get rid of guidance as another character has it but it’s proven useful for my character to have it as he’s more often in range of touch with other characters and I’m more annoying at dnd and remember that I have guidance more often than my friend but maybe I could talk to them about how they need to pester people gahahah but also I like being able to give myself guidance and it is one of my favourite cantrips)

So then it all boils back down to lucky. It’s just such a good feat, free reroll of dice three times a long rest. It can be used selfishly or supportively, in combat or out, it’s perfect. It’s a great hybrid ability which fits the artificer I am which is a hybrid support tank.

The only downside is it’s not the most roleplay conducive as the other ones can be explained with in universe reasons as to why he can suddenly cast new spells or do new things where with lucky? He just suddenly becomes lucky.

I think I’ll roleplay it as my artificer figured out a way to enchant his armour so it’s “lucky” cause it makes it more thematic and fun. Which then mends the fact that it’s not roleplay conducive and now all these other fun feats that I’ve never used before gets shoved aside for lucky, the boring always good feat.

Like I love taking feats for representing how characters have gained experience within the story, I gave a sorcerer meta magic adept because they got good at using meta magic, the aforementioned telekinesis to move this character’s prosthetic.

But a lot of the feats are just kinda meh.

Like we’re not just playing a war game, taking sentinel or mobile isn’t useful until in combat. And they aren’t fitting the character so well that it provides things to do outside of combat.

Magic initiate rules as written is written in a very understandable way but also half feats gives you a limited number of spells you choose from but they found as spells known. And the fact that artificer adept just gives you tool proficiency and I’ve never really used tools other than thief’s tools.

So lucky it is then. But who knows, maybe I’ll decide that getting a useless ability score increase is fine and I’ll take my misty step and bless.

Or maybe I’ll just take like shield, good berry or bless from magic initiate and take the two cantrips as a consolation prize and just not get the full power of the feat.

If we started the campaign at level 8 I wouldn’t have this issue cause I would’ve picked feats that boosted their main stat and used custom lineage to boost it to 20. But alas, forgoing the feat to get a sooner 20 intelligence worth it.

[stormbabylore]

WoL Questions/Answers - DND Stats!

Ooooh, I love this question!

If I were to roll her stats at the beginning of ARR (as someone gifted with Hydaelyn's blessing of light, but also someone with amnesia in a place she is wholly unfamiliar with), the stat order would fall thus:

WIS > STR > CON > DEX > CHA > INT

I am... going to ramble about this incessantly, now:

Wisdom (15)

Aeryn is naturally observant, and her quiet nature likewise helps her pick up on the more minute details in the people and circumstances around her that others might miss. She would be perceptive to subtle changes in her environment or in the mood of those present. I think a high wisdom modifier is essential to her ability to adapt so quickly to her unique situation and learn (by absorption) what she needs to know to function successfully in her unfamiliar surroundings.

Strength (14)

Though her appearance would suggest otherwise, she demonstrates (often to her OWN surprise) a level of strength that certainly surpasses the average person - even those with significant training. She's not breaking any doors off their hinges or accidentally shattering dishware, of course. But she does seem to wield weaponry or perform other more strenuous tasks with far more ease than her meager stature would suggest her capable of. (The blessing of light would further bolster this stat in certain combat situations, of course.)

Constitution (12)

Again, I feel the blessing of light would bolster Aeryn's constitution in battle; but early ARR Aeryn is also under quite a bit of mental and emotional stress given the circumstances of her arrival, and though she demonstrates a surprising level of strength for her size, I like to think she has about as much stamina as the average person. She bounces back from injuries more quickly than most would expect, and she seems resistant to sickness (almost unnaturally so), but she does grow weary and need breaks at a more-or-less average rate.

Dexterity (10)

This girl's not tripping over her own feet, and she has decent, basic reflexes. But she's not winning any awards with her archery right away and really does practice, nigh relentlessly, to become even minimally competent at wielding the bow. She has a bit more of a natural affinity with the lance, but she still spends many, many evenings in the lancers' guild sparring in Ywain to practicing her footwork and get better at dodging blows.

Charisma (8)

Early ARR Aeryn comes across as reticent, dull, and (dependent on the viewer's perception) perhaps even rude. She doesn't smile often, and she spends more time silently observing than speaking. When she does try to speak, her words shudder out, quiet and nervous - sometimes she even croaks or loses her voice. On top of that, she's an outsider and has been assigned the role of adventurer in Gridania, a place renowned for its inhospitable nature toward both. She has very little ability to speak up and defend herself and comes to rely on those who naturally see beyond the veil of this low stat to understand more of the person that might someday grow through it.

Intelligence (8)

Aeryn is not stupid. But anyone who interacts with her in ARR beyond a chance encounter would notice right off the bat that she isn't well-versed in what most would consider very basic concepts. She often seems to lacks information that would be common knowledge for even Eorzean children. When the Scions lapse into game exposition to explain things like aspected aether and how retainers work, that is 100% canon-necessary in Aeryn's case, because she doesn't know any of those things. Though this stat will grow over time as she becomes more comfortable with the knowledge base of the Source - and becomes more of a critical thinker - it will always remain her lowest stat.

All that now being said, let me give what I believe the breakdown would be as of where I currently am in the game (right after Shadowbringers MSQ):

DEX (18) > WIS (18) > CON (16) > STR (15) > CHA (14) > INT (12)

It was fun reversing some of these stats based on my canon for her in-game! Aeryn would have put so very much effort into becoming more dexterous as a result of practicing with the bow and lance. She will also have gotten just a tiny bit stronger, naturally, though of course Hydaelyn's gift still accounts for the majority of her strength by bolstering it in key moments. For wisdom, her natural instinct and ability to clearly read situations remains (and has grown minimally stronger). As a now long-time adventurer, she does not tire out as quickly with physical exertion, growing her constitution. She's better able to communicate these days, particularly with those she deems close - and she has a reputation to speak for her in most situations where she is less comfortable speaking up, still granting her a boost to charisma. Intelligence-wise, she knows what she needs to get by. She's not winning any awards, of course - but she has surrounded herself with experts on various subject matters who can help guide her with their intellect when needed.

(I didn't want any of her stats to be full 20s, yet. She still has some growing to do, after all, and a lot more story to get through.)

I think I'm done being a complete dork about this, now. But it was a fun little exercise! Highly recommended to other DND/FFXIV fans! \o/

[rangerofpelor]

francis...might be easily manipulated but i also feel like that as he gets more involved in being a warlock he starts to develop his own manipulative tactics in order to get others to aid him in his goals serving nyarlathotep....

[akallabeth-joie]

Tired musings: what are Marius’s character stats?

I’m thinking he has really high intelligence (all those extra languages! or maybe we’re playing 3rd ed and he just dumps all his skill points one level into ‘learn language”), not the best wisdom, but pretty decent charisma (which he is unaware of). Physical stats could be all over--maybe high con for the swimming and all the walking he does, but Iow strength from the really poor diet? He could have either high dex (crack-shooting at the barricades, getting there unseen in the first place, avoiding serious injury until pretty late) or low (’hiding’ from JVJ in the park in that really effective manner).

[anghraine]

Now I’m thinking about D&D + P&P. My strongest opinion is that Elizabeth has neutral good energy but is lawful good, while Darcy has lawful energy but is actually neutral good. Both have high intelligence and otherwise pretty decent stats (though I suspect wisdom is Elizabeth’s weakest and charisma is Darcy’s).

I do waver on LG vs NG for Jane. Bingley might be a very polite sort of chaotic good? And I’m kind of amused by the idea of Mr and Mrs Bennet actually having the same alignment in very different forms (and with very different stats, obviously). Lydia is chaotic neutral while Wickham is chaotic evil (high CHA, low INT and esp WIS). I don’t think there are any lawful evil characters in P&P (no, Lady Catherine isn’t evil and might not even be lawful), and very few in Austen altogether.

(Mrs Norris might be, to dip into other novels, and possibly General Tilney.)

[dragonmuse]

No one asked this, but I'm putting off my morning run because it's unseasonably chilly so here's some random alignment and stats for the Leda House and the Kraken verse folks. (just as a point of clarity, I see the intelligence stat as meaning 'book smart' or like 'learned', not as an evaluation of how smart anyone is. Wisdom is more practical or life knowledge and again not an over arching statement on anyone's brain power. Everyone in the verse is brilliant in their own ways. They are by nature a group of geniuses with large gaping areas in their knowledge base.)

Stede: High intelligence, low wisdom. Strength is low, but his dexterity is on the rise. Charisma is objectively low, except as Leda when it's off the charts and to Eddy, who's presence gives him a large stat bonus. He thinks he's lawful good, but he's really more of a chaotic neutral.

Eddy: 10s, 10s, 10s across the board! Eddy is overpowered in every category, but suffers from a heavy debuff whenever They Don't Give a Fuck which is very often. Chaotic neutral, through and through.

Oluwande: High wisdom and intelligence. Medium strength and has leveled up dexterity over time. Charisma is high, but he forgets to use it all the time. Lawful good, but not the law of the land. Strong internal moral compass.

Jim: Dexterity is off the charts, supported by strength. Decent intelligence, but ignores wisdom, will never roll for it, that's what Oluwande is for: outsourced wisdom. Lawful neutral.

Pete: Also has high dexterity and good strength. Decent wisdom, medium intelligence. He is actually lawful good as well, but he gravitates to chaotic personalities, who make him look more chaotic in turn.

Lucius: Stat dumped into wisdom and intelligence, then very diligently collected items to heighten his charisma. Just enough dexterity to get done what he likes to get done. Zero strength. Chaotic good. He will help you, but you will be extremely confused by it and possibly owe him money after.

Izzy: Dexterity and strength are high, wisdom has recently gotten some buffs and intelligence is average. Charisma continues to be very low. Lawful evil to start with, gravitating to lawful neutral now.

John: Strength is high, dexterity a little lower, but hanging in there. Charisma is solid, along with wisdom. Intelligence is medium. Neutral neutral. He makes logical decisions based on what's going on at the time, but his morality is more whatever makes sense in the moment rather than guided by principal.

Frenchie: High charisma, like off the charts, followed by dexterity, then intelligence, then wisdom. Strength he leaves to John. Chaotic neutral. He will do whatever is the most interesting thing to him in the moment.

Roach: Very high dexterity and intelligence. Everything else sacrificed to those. Embodiment of chaotic good though his actions are so wildly unexpected that others may perceive him as neutral, leaning evil. He's just out here trying to adhere to his morals and just also has a chainsaw, okay?

Buttons: Unknowable. Hides his character sheet. Possibly ate it.

The Swede: Level 1 character, has just a few points to allocate, but he's trying his best. He's lawful good, sweet angel man.

Alma: High intelligence, low wisdom (for now), ok dexterity, very low strength. Charisma is a work in progress too. She is lawful good and indignant about it.

Charlie: Also high intelligence, low wisdom. A little more dexterity than his sister, but strength is low too. Lawful good and not even really aware yet that there are other options.

[pepperful-qt]

Hi there! Can I request hcs of kuroo, kita and semi with a big brain s/o? It doesn't just apply to s/o academically, but more so about life in general (like having ~streetsmarts~) thank you!

you said street smarts my mind went to jj bittenbinder. ngl i kinda used the wisdom proficiencies from d&d as reference for this hahaha nerd i hope it’s what you want! also i just want to thank you for requesting my not-so-secret fav semi semi

Kuroo, Kita, & Semi with a big brain s/o

* * * * *

Kuroo Tetsuro

oh this man appreciates it. he’s so entertained

you know that drinking game that Tyrion does with Shae where he guesses something about your past and if he’s right you have to drink, if not he does? that’s what you do minus the drinking part obv,, unless

as a person with high charisma himself, you make it a game to see who can bluff out and/or fool the other (you almost always win)

any time there’s a game night and you’re playing a social deception game you always win. no one can get a lie past you

if it’s a teamwork one, you and Kuroo crush everyone else

you find ways to skimp on your hw but still come out fine. he has no idea how, and it both annoys and impresses him

“i thought you stayed up watching buzzfeed unsolved instead of studying last night??”

“yeah so what?”

“but you got a 96%”

he knows that intelligence isn’t just defined by what you’re able to memorize out of a book, and you’re a perfect example of that. he respects you a lot

you’re the type of person that reads random articles and therefore has the most random bits of trivia that you throw in conversation

he can have an intellectual conversation with you, since you always come up with unique perspectives. he loves asking your opinion on things, bc who tf knows what’ll come out of your mouth

you don’t know what a derivative is to save your life but you know the location of every 7/11 in a ten mile radius, and if they carry a specific type of onigiri or cup noodle flavor

but fr you give the best advice and are always there to lend an ear

you watch murder mystery movies together and try to figure out the culprit, sometimes actually arguing over it

other times you’ll watch a drama and make bets on who’s gonna do what or end up with who

rip Kenma in the corner just trying to live his life

it’s hilarious seeing you interact with someone who is not “big brain” or street smart

let’s just use Lev as an example for no particular reason, just bc

you quickly learned that Lev would believe almost anything you said, he was that fascinated by your apparent wisdom

so you and Kuroo will sometimes join forces and see what you can get him to believe. you once convinced him that if you kill an insect you’d become that insect in your next life and die the same way, and for a solid month he would start crying if he ever stepped on an ant

chaos couple™

you have this whole atmosphere about you that is just “do not fuck with me” bamf if i do say so myself

which tbh is one of the things he finds most attractive about you. you knew exactly what he was up to the first time he started flirting with you, but you weren’t intimidated one bit. you became a challenge~

10/10 best looking couple of the three

* * * 

Kita Shinsuke

the two voices of reason, bless you both. you’re very similar, but also very different

he’s the definition of high intelligence & high wisdom with low charisma cleric kita omg, while you have both high wisdom and high charisma with an intelligence stat you barely use (high or low lol)

he’s the kind of guy who always thinks things through with logic, and he’s always sure of his decisions

you on the other hand, have an intuition based logic

freaks him out when you rely on your gut instinct but somehow it always pays off

“why?” 

“just because” 

“but why??”

you’re adaptable in almost every situation, always know what to say, and have an uncanny ability to read people

which actually comes in handy in your relationship

he’s not the best at expressing himself but you always seem to know his emotional state and thought process, something no one else except his granny has really cracked yet and you do it so easily. sometimes he wonders if you’re a mind reader

you knew he liked you before he did & you asked him out first ~

“Shin-kun, you look happy today!” 

“Ah, I was able to clean all the volleyballs after practice and still had time to fold and organize the scrimmige vests by color.”

meanwhile Atsumu: “hE litERALLY?? looks the sAME??!”

speaking of the twins, you’re great at handling them

Atsumu tried to scare you away the first time you showed up at practice before you and Kita announced your relationship, but you were calm and polite

which tbh put him off more than if you’d clammed up or gotten angry. he almost felt bad for being rude. almost.

imagine how bad he felt when Kita found out

the both of you are both feared and respected by the team 

you’ll help Kita out with his self-assigned chores sometimes, figuring out new ways to be efficient and not lose quality

he also loves how he can trust you to take care of yourself, whether it’s walking home alone or losing you in a crowd or just looking after your health. he still worries and dotes on you but it’s out of love, not because he’s concerned you’ll hurt yourself unintentionally 

he loves a person with common sense @ inarizaki

you’re both really good at getting gifts for each other, since you’re both very perceptive

one time you guessed his favorite flavor of ice cream and it made the butterflies a’flutter

there’s this silent competition between you two of who can give the better gifts

wishes you would study more though ngl. he knows you’re smart you just don’t always dedicate that intelligence to your schoolwork

he finds it charming how you’re always looking at things from different angles rather than the straightforward path. he thinks it’s a very good quality

that “yeah but what if...” kind of mentality

we already know he appreciates that attitude if he doesn’t really take it on himself

you’re both able to appreciate the nuances of life and enjoy the moment together

your relationship is one of the most balanced and strong out there tbh,,

* * *

Semi Eita

you’ve got this charm that makes people respect you. a certain type of confidence, if you will, that made him first notice you

lots of students were intimidated by the members of the volleyball team, for their height and reputation etc, but you never showed any reservation, not even with Ushijima

as well as your conviction, you have take no shit attitude that comes in great handy with certain members of the team it’s also hot af

you can banter with Tendou and you provoke Goshiki all day long but never Shirabu bc you know what’s up

you do however irritate him with mind games, bc you know he’s a little shit who stole your bf’s spot and needs to be taken down a peg sometimes

you: *describing the quantum wave trolley problem”

Shirabu: *screams*

all the while Semi is trying and failing to hide the smug little smirk on his face

with Semi though, you’re able to just talk

he enjoys conversation with you bc he’s never bored. you make him think and you make him laugh, both good things

sometimes you’ll point something out that just makes him go “oh” bc it seems so obvious when you point it out

other times it’s something so outlandish that he can’t help but crack a smile or let out a laugh 

sometimes it’s the connect the dots meme “you didn’t connect shit” lmao

again, solid advice giver with no holds barred. anyone who needs to be straight up told what they need to hear comes to you, bc you're usually right

and Semi himself can get lost in his own head so it's nice to have you to ground him

you’re decent in your classes sure, but where you really impress is your strategy in game. any game

once you were invited to play laser tag with the team and you whipped out a battle plan that annihilated the other team

alternatively, you show no mercy in monopoly or uno, damn your relationships

it’s actually very annoying how quickly you pick up the rules and nuances to games and use them to your advantage

if you’re both very competitive, it’s usually better for everyone if you’re both on the same team

but he likes a challenge heh

okay, we know he’s bad at dressing himself when it comes to casual outfits. no common sense. you notice this too

“Eita, sweetie, if you go out like that you will get mugged,, even in Miyagi.”

you’ll walk down the street hand in hand and you make random guesses or stories about the people you see 

“that guy is totally a scammer” or “bet that lady looking at the papaya is trying to start a diet for the third time, look at her face” and he’ll chuckle

he knows there’s always something going on inside your mind and he wants to know

when you’re lost in thought he’ll tap your forehead

“hey what’s going on in there?”

he enjoys listening to your musings and thoughts and opinions. you either have a crazy gut instinct or have some unique thought you’ve internally debated over for months

gets inspiration from you actually, even if he doesn’t realize it

likewise, you realize he has a lot on his mind he doesn’t say, but you have a way of making him say it, even if he is hesitant and abrasive at first

you’ll call him at 3am with a random thought and he’ll grumble a bit but actually will listen to you with the smallest smile on his face

* * * * * 

i hope??? this was good??? also lmk if this is too long without a read more i’m not sure :P

[theworldbrewery]

what does it mean to play with a high (or low) stat?

fun fact: “commoners” (i.e., your average unskilled random) have a 10 in every ability score.

they are the average of the average. the most middle-of-the-road we can achieve. and they will never reflect your Player Character’s reality.

but they are a great baseline for determining where your characters are outstanding, and where they will struggle.

An average person can lift 50 lbs comfortably, has enough hand-eye coordination to play a decent game of ping-pong against an equally-matched opponent, can fight off most communicable diseases, knows how to read, can tell when they need more information to be able to act, and is able to handle basic social contact when there is no reason for conflict.

***note--I’m using these “averages” to talk about what a non-disabled and neurotypical person will be generally capable of without training or honing a particular skill. Being within 2-3 ability score points of the average doesn’t necessarily require justification, but it might still be fun to explore***

so your barbarian with an 18 in strength isn’t just an outlier, it’s a major difference from what Jane Ordinary can manage on a typical day, and the sweet-talking powers of your 20-charisma sorcerer are going to feel supernatural compared with what the traveling horse salesman is used to. When you’re creating a character, whether that’s an NPC with class levels or a player character, consider why a character’s stats are the way they are.

If they were naturally gifted, is that why they felt called to the class they chose? Did they work hard to be where they are today, and let other abilities fall by the wayside? Did a higher power imbue them with strength, charisma, or wisdom to make a perfect vessel for their plans? Reimagining the reasons behind your statistics can help develop your backstory and even factor into your character arc down the line.

***Another note: be especially self-aware if you’re going to play a neuroatypical, mentally ill, or disabled character and you aren’t yourself a member of the group you’re representing. I love representation but don’t be insensitive---and if anything I mention here comes off as insensitive, let me know and I’ll adjust accordingly!***

STRENGTH: 

At first level, a higher-than-average STR score is going to reflect a lot of training, whether intentional or not. The character may have grown up chopping wood and hauling logs around a woodland village, spent their young adulthood in a mine, or studied with bodybuilders in a remote bodybuilder monastery.

In contrast, a lower-than-average STR score might correspond to a pampered lifestyle, one where the character never needed physical labor to get by; or perhaps they have a disability, such as a bad back, or a chronic illness that leaves their muscles weaker than usual.

DEXTERITY:

A character with a high DEX is flexible and fast. They might have been an acrobat in a circus, flipping around on the trapeze. An urchin whose two options are move fast or get arrested is also likely to be dextrous, as much as a noble who, as a child, often crept around and hid in their family estate to avoid lessons or spy on the adults. They might be from a tree-dwelling community where leaping across platforms is commonplace, or use their dexterity on the rigging of the ship they made their home. A very dextrous person might even have EDS or another condition that makes them hyper-flexible.

A low DEX might, like low STR, match with a disability like arthritis or an old leg injury that never healed properly, or it could align with pressure to behave properly in polite company--never running, climbing, or skulking around. Low DEX could also translate to clumsiness, a fear of taking physical risks, or a tremor that makes Sleight of Hand difficult.

CONSTITUTION:

High CON is a matter of resistance to illness, poison/drugs/alcohol, and general hardiness or stamina. A high CON character might take vitamins and supplements to keep their peak physical condition, do exercises to increase lung capacity or practice running to build endurance. They may take small doses of poison to build up immunity, or maybe they’ve been a low-grade alcoholic for so long their liver is adept at filtering out toxins. They might have done charity marathons to raise money for good causes back home.

Low CON might therefore translate to an arrhythmia or other chronic illnesses such as asthma, POTS, or even severe allergies. The low CON character could have been trapped in a sheltered upbringing that never exposed them to disease or required them to stand and move for hours. Maybe they have never been exposed to drink or drugs and are an incurable lightweight.

INTELLIGENCE:

A high-INT character may have spent years under the tutelage of scholars, worked hard to get into an educational institution, or learned history and magic from the elders of their community with the intent to carry the knowledge into the next generation. They may have autism that helps with information recall, ADHD that leads to hyperfocus on a few specific topics, or another form of neurodiversity.

A low-INT character may have never had the chance to learn from their uneducated family, or be so without a community that no one bothered to teach them. They might have a learning disability, memory problems, or chronic fatigue that causes brain fog.

WISDOM:

A high-WIS character is generally observant, able to assess the intentions of others, clear-headed, and pragmatic--or at least practical. High Wisdom may come from being taught from a young age to pay attention to one’s surroundings, be a part of a community’s religious or ethical worldview, or be a necessary skill developed for survival in a world full of hazards or underhanded strangers. High WIS scores can also derive from anxiety or trauma that make characters more sensitive to information and more likely to observe patterns that otherwise go unnoticed.

Low WIS characters might have very little life experience, or be naive because of the way they’ve been taught to view the world. They might have issues with visual or auditory processing that affect their perception, have low empathy that makes insight a struggle, or experience depression, psychosis, or paranoia that leads to difficulty assessing what is real.

CHARISMA:

High CHA characters may spend months or years mastering the performing arts, honing their ability to lie or stretch the truth, or practicing their most intimidating posture. Or their Charisma may stem from being completely genuine and trustworthy, without any apparent artifice. Characters with sociopathy may know how to turn any social encounter to their advantage, and those with high empathy may be simply likeable. A high-CHA character could be funny, attractive, talented, or have a magnetic personality for any number of reasons, including trying to impress a particular social group or person, a career goal as a comedian or performer, or being raised with rustic hospitality.

A low-CHA character may have trouble with eye contact or even be compulsively unable to lie (or a compulsive liar that’s simply unconvincing); they might have sensory issues that make them sensitive to music or certain vocal timbres, or they might be brusque and businesslike. Low Charisma can stem from a roughshod upbringing, a cultural emphasis on stark honesty even when unsolicited, or a lack of awareness for someone else’s perspective. Even a speech impediment or a trauma that leads to skittishness can read as low-Charisma if you want to play it that way (though it doesn’t have to be).

Sometimes, a character is in the middle-of-the-road but you still want to include one of the options mentioned above. In that case, they could have multiple “conflicting” influences in their background. A character with ADHD might be very good with a specific subject but the ADHD also manifests as memory issues, reflecting a 12 Intelligence score and its ambiguity (and proficiency in specific skills will reflect the specificity of hyperfocus, for instance). 

None of these are hard-and-fast rules. If you want to play a character with chronic pain that doesn’t have a matching low score, that’s also amazing! But if you’re starting from the stats and want to figure out the “in-game justification” for why someone’s abilities are where they are, I hope this little outline helps.

If you like our posts, consider donating to our Ko-Fi @ theworldbrewery. We are saving up for Volo’s Guide to Monsters (and I’m kinda looking forward to trashing Volo’s opinions)

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms Far Sides #6: Ciel

Today on Fate and Phantasms, Magical_Biche and I bring you the final of Tsukihime’s heroines, Ciel! Her build breakdown is below the cut, and you can find her character sheet over here. I’ll let Biche do the talking now.

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Hello there! Today, we’re building the last of the main girls, Ciel. I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest Ciel fan, so I kinda delayed her until I had no other choice, and here we are! I had to finish the main heroines before moving on to the villains, after all. As usual, heavy spoilers beyond this point. 

At first glance, Ciel might seem quite straightforward, but she’s far from being simple to build. She shows plenty of abilities, many more than Arcueid or Kohaku, actually. I even learned a bunch of things in the Type-Moon wiki, like how she could use magic. However, I know how reliable that wiki is, and I’ve mostly built Ciel with my own experience of the games, and tried to stick to it. I will also have to do Powered Ciel, as she’s quite different from OG Ciel, and certainly simpler to build. While Shiki Nanaya/Tohno and the three different forms of Akiha aren’t too different from each other, Ciel offers a whole new dimension in her alternative form. 

As for what we need for this build, we need to be skilled at fighting with our staple weapon, the black keys. As they don’t exist in DnD, obviously, we’ll have to stick with daggers. We also need a bit of hypnosis, to blend in with normal people, and we need to be quite fast and agile, to fit our fighting style of swift strikes. We also need to be an absolute beast at tracking and slaying vampires, of course. Finally, while we can’t be immortal, there are ways to avoid death in DnD, and we’ll try to grab some. 

With all that said, let’s dive into the build!

Race and Background

Despite being an immortal vampire, the variant human is the race that fits our character the best. We look exactly like one, and we used to be one, despite our immortality curse. Being a v. human allows us to put a +1 to our dexterity and constitution scores, and to grab the Fey touched feat, giving us a free use of Misty step and Charm person per day, as well as increasing our wisdom score by 1. Those 2 spells are quite useful to us, as one allows us to literally teleport behind enemies, and the other allows us to charm people and have them accept us as a part of their daily life. Being a variant human also gives us a free skill proficiency, and we’ll be taking the proficiency in perception, as we can’t grab it otherwise. It fits our role perfectly, as we’ll often have to search for our foes. 

Next, we are quite obviously an acolyte. This gives us a proficiency in religion and insight, perfect for doing religious stuff (we’re still employed by the church, after all), and finding whether people are secretly vampires or not. We also always have a shelter for the faithful, allowing us to take shelter in religious buildings, always nice, but situational. The two language proficiencies are entirely dependent on the game, but abyssal and celestial fit a religious character quite well. 

Ability Scores

Sadly, we can’t exactly have 4 stats at 15 from the start, so we’ll have to be toned down a bit. We’ll have to use point buy for this build, as we need many ability scores to be quite high, and we don’t really need the other ones. First, our two highest stats should obviously be our wisdom and our dexterity. We are very agile, and we have an easy time to understand other people. We are also extremely determined. Next, our constitution should be pretty high. However, thanks to our classes, we will have a hefty pool of HP, so we don’t really need to have our constitution too high. 13, with our racial boost, puts us at a comfortable +2, enough to tank hits for a while with our good AC. Next, we have quite average intelligence and charisma. We’re not particularly bad at those, but we’re not really good either. Next, we dump our strength. We’re actually quite strong, but we need a dump stat, and strength isn’t of any use to us. With point buy and our racials, our stats would be an 8 in strength, 16 in dexterity, 14 in constitution, 10 in intelligence, 16 in wisdom and 10 in charisma. With that set, we’re on to the class levels. 

Class Levels

1. Monk 1: Naturally, with high wisdom and dexterity, a religious background and no visible armor, being a monk seems obvious. First level monks get proficiency in two skills, and we’re going to be proficient with athletics and acrobatics. This will add a lot to our mobility, be it for climbing or jumping over people. We also become proficient with strength and dexterity saving throws, great to avoid being pushed around the battlefield and avoid dangerous AOEs. Next, we become proficient with a bunch of weapons, but we’ll only ever use our bare fists and daggers, as we have ways to mitigate their low damage, as monks. Finally, we get proficient with the cook’s utensils. We’ll obviously only ever do curry, but we need to be good at making it. 

Our first monk level also gives us our martial arts-allowing us to be efficient at hitting stuff quickly-and unarmored defense, giving us a quite decent AC of 16 right off the bat. 

2. Cleric 1: Of course, as we were raised by religious people, we are tailor-made for the cleric class. Level one cleric gives us spellcasting, including the powerful tool that is ritual casting, and access to all of the level one cleric spells, as well as three cantrips from the spell list. We’re grabbing word of radiance, to add a bit of radiant damage to our sacred arsenal (preferably used right after hitting something with a thrown dagger), resistance, to help with survival, and thaumaturgy, a great dramatic tool to have a louder voice, or have our eyes radiate light. 

As for the first level spells we should have prepared, shield of faith helps with AC, cure wounds allows us to heal quickly, protection from evil and good gives us a powerful defensive option against our not-yet-sworn enemy, and guiding bolt is a great way to start a battle and give advantage to our allies. 

Next, being a first level cleric also means that we can pick a domain, and we’re a cleric of the grave, because of our sacred task of tracking the undead and putting them back into their grave. The subclass gives us an improved version of spare the dying, adding to its range and allowing us to cast it as a bonus action. It also means we always have the false life spell prepared, which does a great job at making us less mortal, and bane, which doesn’t really fit in our build, as we’ll have more and more concentrations as we level up, and we’ll already want to spend ours to maintain shield of faith or protection from evil and good. We also get the circle of mortality feature, which helps us revive our fallen allies with cure wounds. Finally, our eyes of the grave allows us to detect any undead within 60 feet of our person, as long as they’re not magically hidden. This is a great tool to track vampires, who are obviously undead. 

3. Cleric 2: Being a second level cleric gives us our channel divinity feature, once per rest. As with all clerics, we can use it to turn undead, a great way to turn ghouls created by our sworn enemy. As a cleric of the grave, it also allows us to pave our foes a path to the grave, giving them vulnerability to the next attack it suffers from us or an ally. This is a great way to bypass some annoying immunities, but it sadly only lasts for one hit. If our DM allows it, we can also use our channel divinity to harness divine power, allowing us to recover some spell slots. As it is dependent on our proficiency bonus, we don’t need any more cleric levels to make this powerful, which is great. 

4. Monk 2: We’re diving back into the monk to reach our extra attack, this time. We get our first ki points, allowing us to do a bunch of stuff with our bonus action. We can use patient defense to boost our survivability, flurry of blows to deal a bit of extra damage with our fists, and step of the wind to move a bit during our bonus action. Our speed also increases a bit thanks to unarmored movement.

5. Monk 3: We enter the second tier of adventuring with that level, and the third level of monk gives us our monastic tradition, the way of the long death. This gives us a nice little ability to mimic the immortality we are supposed to have, the touch of death. This allows us to gain a bunch of temporary hit points when we kill a creature while in melee range. Pretty neat! We also gain the ability to deflect missiles, which does what it says, and if our DM allows it, we can also get the ki-fueled attacks, allowing us to still keep on the offensive while we spend ki points.

6. Monk 4: Reaching our fourth monk level gives us our first ability score improvement, and we’re pumping up our dexterity by two points. We also get slow fall, furthering our agility, and yet another optional feature we actually need, quickened healing, allowing us to heal ourselves with a martial art die by spending ki points. 

7. Monk 5: Fifth level monks gain an extra attack, which increases our damage output a lot. It’s a simple feature that fits our fighting style of throwing things, as we now do it faster and better. We also get the stunning strikes, which may be useful to stun creatures that have bad constitution saving throws. We also get our final optional feature with focused aim, another great feature to help hitting stuff, if our DM allows it. 

8. Fighter 1: Now that we are actually good at hitting stuff and not dying too quickly, it’s time to become better at throwing! We become a first level fighter, allowing us to take the thrown weapon fighting fighting style, at last. This allows us to draw our black keys (daggers) as part of our attacks, which means we can now use our bonus action for whatever else. Like throwing another black key. It also gives all our thrown weapon attacks a +2 bonus to their damage, which is very nice, as our martial arts die is still only a d6. Being a first level fighter also gives us a second wind, which allows us to regain some HP on a bonus action, nice for our gimmick of not dying. 

9. Fighter 2: Our second level in the OG martial class gives us an action surge, basically giving us a second action per turn once per long rest. With that, we can throw as much as 5 black keys in a single combat turn, which can down a boss pretty quickly. It only gives us a second action, though, so we can’t use a second bonus action on top of it. 

10. Fighter 3: We get a third level in the fighter class so we can reach exactly one feature from a particular subclass. It’s not that eldritch knight’s spellcasting is bad or out of character, but we’re mostly here for the other feature, weapon bond. Thanks to weapon bond, we can bond with up to two weapons and recall one of them in our hand as a bonus action. That basically means that we can have unlimited ammunition, which is totally awesome. However, we can only recall one weapon per turn, which limits us if the combat is too long. 

Also, this archetype gives us 2 wizard cantrips, and booming blade will really help with our melee damage. It sadly doesn’t work with thrown weapons. Also, even though we clearly don’t have the intelligence to use it correctly, sword burst can be used to materialize a bunch of black keys around us to hurt anyone at our contact. 

As for our first level spells, we’re getting absorb element, giving us resistance to elemental attacks and allowing us to increase our melee damage a bit, shield, which is always great for a character whose survival is a selling point, and find familiar, which lets us call our faithful Nanako to help us. Not that she will, but having her here can be useful to tank a hit or two. Also, we’re forced to make her a rat or a weasel, unless our DM is generous and feels like allowing her to be a horse, like she’s supposed to be. 

11. Ranger 1: Yes, we’re adding yet another class to this build. Multiclassing into a ranger gives us a new proficiency, and we’re now someone who’s good at survival, which makes sense, given that we can survive in harsh environments. We also get the favored enemy feature, and we’re picking undead as our favorite enemy, because… they are. Our favorite enemy, that is. We’re taking this feature over Tasha’s variant, favored foe, because of the flavor, and that’s about it. We lose in efficiency, and that’s about it. We’ll still get hunter’s mark later, so it doesn’t matter too much. However, it makes much more sense to take the optional feature for the other trademark ranger feature, deft explorer. That feature is quite simple and gives us an expertise in a skill of our choice, in our case, acrobatics. 

12. Ranger 2: Our second level in the ranger class grants us a new fighting style: two-weapon fighting. This can be used with thrown weapons, which means that now, all of our attacks with thrown weapons can add our dexterity modifier to them. It also works when we hit things in melee, by the way. We also get yet another round of spellcasting, with the ranger’s unique spell list this time. We have fewer options, and a lot of them require concentration, though. 

We’re taking hunter’s mark, to add a nice little d6 to pretty much every one of our hits, to increase our ability to kill undead (and other things), and zephyr strike, which works perfectly with our hit-and-run tactics. 

13. Ranger 3: With this level, we reach our fourth and last class archetype. We become a monster slayer, giving us access to a new spell we already had (but now it’s always prepared, so it allows us to prepare another cleric spell instead), protection from evil and good, which makes us extremely hard to hit by our favorite enemy, among other things. 

While we’re in spells, we learn a new spell, which is going to be jump, making us even more agile than we were. 

We also gain a hunter’s sense, allowing us to peek into our target’s defenses. We also get the slayer’s prey feature, which acts like a watered-down (as it’s limited to once per turn) hunter’s mark, that can’t be upcast, but since it’s not a concentration, it can be cast with hunter’s mark. Also, the time limit is until our next short or long rest, which is great if our target manages to escape, for example. 

14. Cleric 3: Back into the cleric class for the last time. Third level clerics only gain access to their second level spells. However, there is plenty of great options there, like enhance ability, which obviously helps us moving around with the cat’s grace, or tank hits with the bear’s endurance, lesser restoration, allowing us to recover from many status effect affecting us, and hold person, which could be seen as us pinning down things with our black keys. At that point, if we add all of our spellcasting features, we are considered a level five spellcaster, meaning that we have 4 first level spell slots, 3 second level spell slots and 2 third level spell slots to use. We don’t know any third level spells to use our biggest spell slots, but we can always upcast guiding bolt and absorb elements. 

15. Monk 6: Back into our main class for the rest of this build so we can get decent martial arts dice. The sixth monk level makes our unarmed strikes magical thanks to ki-empowered strikes. This is nice in a low magic campaign, but in a regular campaign, magic daggers should be pretty common. Plus, we already have booming blade and a bunch of spells to deal magical damage already. We also gain a new subclass feature, hour of reaping. With this feature, we can literally scare off creatures that fail a saving throw, which fits our build quite well, actually, as we do not want bystanders to be caught between us and our prey. This can also be used to scare some undead, too. 

16. Monk 7: Seventh level monks gain the evasion feature, making us extremely difficult to touch when it comes to most damaging AOE spells. Needless to say, this fits our agile and resilient build quite well. We get even more resilient thanks to our stillness of mind, letting us end a charm or fear effect as an action on our turn. 

17. Monk 8: We become level eight in the monk class, and reach our second ability score increase… at level 17. Since we can’t exactly fit feats into this very varied build (not that we need to, although tough would have been great), we’ll have to increase our wisdom by two points this time, so we kinda keep up with our other party members when it comes to casting. 

18. Monk 9: At level nine, monks can finally walk on walls and water! It’s nothing too fancy, but that means we can now jump on walls, walk on them and take our enemy by surprise, which is incredibly cool. 

19. Monk 10: At their tenth level, monks become immune to disease and poison, thanks to their pure body. It’s about time we had this in the build, since we’re supposed to be immortal. 

20. Monk 11: At last, we reach the eleventh monk level. We only get one feature, in theory, which is mastery of death, which lets us not die up to eleven times per short rest, which means we are essentially immortal for up to 11 attacks. Yes, it’s that good. It’d be even better if we’d taken more monk levels. But we also get a “passive” improvement at this level: our martial arts die becomes a d8, which means our puny daggers now deal 1d8+6 damage when they’re thrown, and we can throw them up to 3 times on regular turns. We’re not even bad at hitting stuff in melee too thanks to booming blade and sword burst. 

Pros: Thanks to monk levels and 2 fighting styles, our black keys are a deadly weapon we can pretty much spam everywhere, making us effective at both close and medium range. We’re also quite mobile thanks to jump, being a monk, our single use of misty step, zephyr strike, hold person and booming blade. We also get a pretty good AC thanks to being a monk, and we’re quite the cockroach thanks to our monk subclass, healing from second wind, healing from the cleric spell list, false life, resistance, shield, absorb elements… Next, we also have a ton of ways to rack up damage, with booming blade, hunter’s mark, Slayer’s prey and Zephyr strike. Finally, we have quite a lot of useful class resources, including 11 ki points, 4 hunter’s sense and the ever powerful action surge. 

Cons: However, we’re clearly not a perfect being. We had to limit our constitution because of how little ability score increases we could grab. Also, mixing the cleric and ranger spell lists means that we have a lot of concentration spells. We also have an almost useless spell with sword burst, which uses our bad intelligence stat, but fits our theme so well. Finally, our bonus action is quite crowded, and we’ll most likely rarely ever use our potential 3 attacks per turn, since we have to set up hunter’s mark and recall weapons from time to time.  

[sepublic]

How did lilith even become head? She's not that smart (or at the very least too naive for her own good), obviously has her first loyalty somewhere else, is pretty young, etc. Was it just that her magic was powerful? Cause her sister was eda and eda had the portal? What

           If we want to be technical…

           This gets me back to my point from that earlier post, about intelligence taking multiple forms and not just being a singular, linear thing. But regardless, while Lilith is clearly naïve and easily-duped, it’s worth noting that this comes from a place of insecurity and that the people she IS fooled by, consistently, are Eda (her own sister whom she understandably trusts) and Emperor Belos himself, who was able to gain the allegiance of the Boiling Isles not just by force, but by charisma as well.

           Like Lilith is actually capable of being intelligent, I think part of the issue is that she can also be… willfully ignorant, which is arguably dumber than just being naturally dumb without even meaning to, because at least THEN you have a valid reason for not realizing stuff! Not only that, but while Lilith is definitely not clever in the emotional sense…

           …She IS very clever in other ways! There’s a reason why intelligence and wisdom are categorized with a clear dichotomy; Lilith may not be wise, but she’s definitely VERY smart and skilled when it comes to magic, and a pretty decent teacher seeing as how she was trusted by the Blight Parents –who are clearly fickle about this sort of thing- to mentor Amity… And being the Head of the Emperor’s Coven? Belos didn’t want the portal until Luz showed up, I don’t think he even realized it was a thing up until then… Because I believe it’s implied that Belos didn’t actively offer to cure Eda until recently, as his orders for her capture are implied to have been rather young.

           Even if Lilith DID talk about having to ‘work smarter’ and whatnot, that doesn’t change the fact that Belos is likely a dude with VERY high standards when it comes to his Head Enforcer, that there’s a lot of trust that goes into that position… You don’t get there from being clever or by cheating, you earn it by being one of the most powerful witches in existence. And given what we see in Agony of a Witch, well…

           I think it’s safe to say that Lilith was about… the third most-powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, honestly! Somewhere around that number at least, and definitely nothing to scoff at! She may not have streetsmarts but she DOES have plenty of booksmarts! Lilith is definitely very talented and DOES work hard (when it comes to academia, definitely not with her relationships), it’s just that her competition is Eda.

           It’s worth noting that up until Belos straight-up threatened to execute Lilith by the end of the day, she was already procrastinating on capturing Eda and wanted her sister to join willingly… So it was clearly something Lilith never had her heart towards. Sure, she began to feel more and more pressure to capture Eda, but up until Belos’ final threat, Lilith was always respecting Eda’s autonomy, such as when she agreed to that Grudgby match; She just wanted to be with her sister and do dumb things with her again, and it shows!

           The way I see it, Lilith definitely has a LOT of intelligence… But her wisdom stats are almost zero; But not THAT low, because in the end she still makes the right choice to defy Belos and prioritize her sister, so I’d say Lilith is learning and improving and I’m proud of her for it! Initially she didn’t think smart because that meant acknowledging an uncomfortable truth, and Lilith simply wasn’t someone ready for that… In the end, the person who WAS fooling her wasn’t Belos, it was Lilith herself. It’s like the question of “Am I strong or weak if I get hurt by my own punch” except instead it’s; Is Lilith clever for fooling herself? Or is she dumb for getting fooled by herself?

           And just like the original, the answer is… She’s DUMB, because Lilith let this dilemma happen to begin with!

           So technically speaking Lilith isn’t dumb, but. A lot of her character is defined by her incompetence and frustration towards certain things, so from a spiritual/narrative standpoint she IS stupid! Honestly she’s just dumb when it comes to the stuff that REALLY matters in this show.

[trifoliate-undergrowth]

Newmann rpg stats

Hermann: maxed out intelligence and wisdom, high strength. Constitution is in the drain and he has a negative charisma score. Somehow still better at negotiating then Newton.

Newt: high charisma, high confidence, rolls a 1 on every charisma check, everyone they meet hates him immediately and half their battles are with people he's pissed off just by talking to, but his confidence is unflappable and he just keeps trying. Maxed out intelligence, low wisdom. Decent strength and pretty high con, which is good because he thinks he's a tougher fighter than he is.

Battle

Once every long rest Hermann can enter berserker mode and use his cane to just absolutely pulverize anything in front of him, this state can last from 1-5 turns based on how good the roll was/inspiration if he's been provoked, but afterwards his movement speed is reduced by anywhere from half to a tenth of normal (already slow) and he remains extremely vulnerable until after the next long rest.

Newt has a stiletto which he once dropped on his own foot and hurt himself with rolling a 1 on trying to flourish it intimidatingly before a fight. He practically never lands a hit (the dice hate him) but he TRIES, starts fights, and has to be rescued by Hermann.

Armor

Hermann's fluffy parka gives him a high armor class, also he has been known to allow an enemy to grab him by the jacket then slip out of it, step behind them and conk them on the back of the head with his cane while they're still looking through folds and folds of jacket trying to figure out where he went.

Newt's leather(?) jacket gives him some protection but less than you'd expect because it's very thin and form-fitting and mainly meant for fashion and also he never zips it shut no matter how cold it is or how many people are trying to kill him. Come on he got the shoulder torn open by falling down do you really think that jacket would turn a blade. Also one time he rolled a one when attempting a grapple and instead his enemy started to choke him with his own tie