#his attack and special attack stats are out of this world

[weeb-polls-with-pip]

Autistic Anime Boys Round 3 Match 12

Propaganda:

Edgeworth -

"ok i'm in theater so i can't say much and also i haven't consumed AA in a while so… I'll bullet point what I remember:

he's such a blunt dickhead (affectionate)

steel samurai fan (idk if I'd consider it a special interest but I know some people who do)

dawg was interested in majoring in law since like 1st grade. and now hes a prosecutor. classic legal/law special interest (it came free with being an AA character but shut up)

he's pretty ptsd coded too. who doesn't love a guy with cormorbidities and panic attacks

uhhh he's named miles that's a sick name isn't it

I'm pretty sure he's canonically not attracted to women. which might sound off topic but i'm sure someone can pull out that stat of autistic people being more likely to be queer. thanksss smoothies fairwell."

Masayoshi -

"Has a special interest in superheroes and has a huge collection of superhero merchandise and can recite his favorite superhero movie word for word along with all of the fight choreography. Became incredibly apathetic throughout high school after finding out superheroes aren't real. His dream to be a superhero is so strong that it literally alters the world and causes aliens to invade earth so he can be a superhero."

[mythaura-blog]

Development Update - July 2024

Hi everyone, hope you're having a great summer!

The July 2024 update showcases some extended gameplay footage! In our April 2024 update we showed a clip of a building in 3D space and a player character speaking briefly to Pollis. In just a few short months, Koa and Sark have totally crushed it on the backend development and UI/UX. Plese read on for more info!

We also cover the winners for the Summer Quarter rewards on Ko-fi and Mythauran astrology for the month of August.

Don't forget, we've got a Custom Color Contest! More details below.

Gameplay Demo

We're very excited to share a 3-minute video demo of some gameplay and UI!!

Hopefully you enjoy this brief demonstration of lots of features we've been working on. We'll go into more detail on each feature below!

Please note that these are WIP and not necessarily representative of final gameplay.

New Game Screen

Whether you're starting your first, second, or third playthrough of Mythaura's storyline, you will always begin at the starter screen, where you will be able to customize your starter Beast. Each run you will pick:

Base, Top, Bottom, and Eye colors

Up to 3 Special markings ( up to 1 in first playthrough, 2 in second, 3 in third)

Species (Tier 1 in first playthrough, Tier 2 in second, Tier 3 in third)

Class

Birth element

A Beast's Element and Class will impact its stat distribution, with each one modifying one of a Beast's stats--improving Speed, Hit Points, Attack, Defense, Barrier, or Focus. Additionally, players will have a certain amount of skill points to allocate as they would like to their Beasts' stats. Whether you're opting for more of a roleplay focus or trying to build a more "optimized" build, the character creation system allows players to create the exact Beast that they would like.

New Game +3 and onward will not feature the character creation screen. Instead, players choosing to play through additional times will gain access to a different reward pool. Please stay tuned for that in a future update!

Party Screen/Codex

The party screen will functionally act as the player's home screen. From here, you can check out the Beasts in both your party and Abode, your inventory, the Codex, and more. Your Beast's stats will also show up on the right-hand side of the screen.

The Codex houses pretty much all a player's in-game information. Active and completed (and maybe failed...) quests, player achievements, lore gathered from around the world, and info on all the characters, places, and enemies you encounter in Mythaura are all documented in the Codex.

The base Codex will be a simple, elegant book. Different Codex themes can be earned through various quests, achievements, seasonal rewards, both in-game and premium currency purchase, and other opportunities.

NPC Dialogue

There will be many, many NPCs in Mythaura. Some may not have much to say--a stranger you cross paths with at an open-air market, a merchant's busy apprentice, a parent at a park with their children--but some NPCs have full, fleshed-out storylines of their own. Maybe your character would prefer to keep mostly to themselves, but you will find that engaging with NPCs will uncover information about the world, rumors about other characters, quests, gifts, and more.

Skill Tree Screen

Skill Trees will determine the abilities and moves that a Beast can utilize in battle. Each Beast will have either two or three different Skill Trees that they can invest in, dependent upon their Elements and their Class. Beasts who have the same Element twice--when its species Element matches up with its birth Element--a Beast will have access to a Mastery Tree, which will feature a branch that borrows from other thematically relevant Elements, demonstrating the Beast's complete mastery of their Element.

If a Beast with a Mastery Tree changes to a Species that would give it two separate Elements, all Elements-related Skill Points will be reset in order for the player to reallocate them between the two new trees. The same applies for Beasts that change their Class.

Mythauran Astrology: August

The month of August is referred to as Ghostlight's Pall, representing a pale, ghostly green aurora that stretches across the Northern sky at this time each year--supposedly attributed to the souls stranded by a war that came to a decisive, bloody, and treacherous end during an August many, many lifetimes ago. This month is also associated with the constellation of the Widow and the lepidolite stone.

Those born under the sign of the Widow are resilient, compassionate, enigmatic individuals. There may not be a sign more dedicated to self-discovery and growth. They radiate a quiet strength and boundless compassion that uplifts those fortunate enough to share their journey.

At their best, Widows are soothing, magnanimous, and generous. At their worst, they can be withdrawn, excessively melancholy, and reproachful.

Ko-fi Summer Quarter 2024 Winners

Thank you to all the Ko-fi sponsors who voted for the Summer Quarter 2024 rewards. Next month we will show the finalized artwork for the Venomous Stalker Companion and the Corona Dragon Glamour. Stay tuned!

Custom Color Contest Reminder

In honor of the new color change that we made to a Beast's tongue/mouth, we're opening another Custom Color Contest. We want to offer the opportunity for you to make a permanent impact on Mythaura's color wheel!

This contest is free to enter, and only has the following parameters:

Only one entry allowed

Fill out Google Form by Friday, August 23, 2024 at 11:59pm PST

The dev team will reach out to the winner on September 1 to begin the color design process. Winner will have until September 23, 2024 to complete their color design. Please feel free to use our PSD file, if you'd like!

Winner will also receive 3x copies of the Empemeral Ink that matches their color's base hue (Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Green, or Violet).

We're so excited to see what you come up with!

Mythaura v0.30

Over ten new query conditions were added to support dialog and quest complexity.

An interact endpoint was added, allowing players to interact with NPCs using the query builder to power dialog selection.

The game state was refactored to be global, allowing things like "current health" to be maintained outside wild areas.

Query actions have been added, which allow things like dialog to trigger actions in-game.

Various bug fixes made to beast party, beast creation, and beast stats.

Voice types were added to NPCs and beasts.

Beast expression generation was implemented.

NPC tools were added to allow the generation of NPCs from beast codes.

Beast backgrounds have been added.

Thank You!

Thanks for sticking through to the end of the post, we always look forward to sharing our month's work with all of you--thank you for taking the time to read. We'll see you around the Discord!

[the-golden-comet]

✨🥊OC Fight Tag 🥊✨

Thank you for the tags, @willtheweaver here @tragedycoded here, @illarian-rambling here, and @sableglass here!! Let’s dive right into it with the main pair from Peter Hart 💛💫✨

Peter Hart

Health: 10

Strength: 9

Speed: 6

Armor: 8

Cunning: 10

Special Attack: “Hey, what’s that?”— distracts the target to swipe money and drain a portion of opponent SP meter. Fully depletes own meter to use. Each gold swiped adds +0.5 to all stats until the end of the round. Caps at 13.

Weakness: Shoulder/face shots

Idle animation: one hand on hip, other loosely at side. Occasionally takes out flintlock and twirls with embellishments, before putting it back in the holster. Secondary animation, grins as a sun sparkle glints off his teeth.

Benjamin

Health: 5

Strength: 6

Speed: 10

Armor: 4

Cunning: 6

Special Attack: “Lucky Shot”— Upon firing his gun, has a 25% chance to crit with damage equaling 200% of his current strength. Uses half SP meter to use. Strength gradually increases by intervals of 0.5 for every 15 seconds in the current round. Resets at the end of each round.

Weakness: Legs/Leg sweeps

Idle animation: Arms crossed, uses one hand to occasionally flip loose strand of hair away from face. Resting bitch face, perpetually looks pissed off. Taps foot impatiently if no input after 10 seconds.

That was fun! I’m going to (gently, no pressure) tag: @autism-purgatory , @words-after-midnight , @wyked-ao3 , @gioiaalbanoart , @alinacapellabooks , @quillswriting , @paeliae-occasionally , @kaylinalexanderbooks , @drchenquill , @honeybewrites , @somethingclevermahogony , @oliolioxenfreewrites , @lychhiker-writes , @mysticstarlightduck , @houseplantblank , @thecomfywriter , @finickyfelix , @thatuselesshuman , @lavender-gloom , @smellyrottentrees , @worlds-tallest-fairy , @rhikasa , @aintgonnatakethis , @topazadine , @ath3alin , @avaseofpeonies , @theverumproject , @cowboybrunch , @jev-urisk , @amielbjacobs , @mundanemoongirl , @minamaybe , @leahnardo-da-veggie , @inadequatecowboy , @rotting-moon-writes , @saturnine-saturneight , +open tag! ✨

[dailycharacteroption]

Roleplaying Races 16: Rougarou

(art by koutanagamori on DeviantArt)

Well, it’s finally time. Time to do one last week special on the 1st edition ancestries. After this, we’ll have finally covered them all. The end an era on the blog…

…all of which is to say that I’ll probably be doubling up on the Starfinder 1E counterpart to this special for a bit before doing Pathfinder 2E ancestries, probably at a somewhat slower pace, or not. Depends on how I feel.

But we’re not done yet, so let’s talk about these last few entries, starting with the Rougarou!

So, the Rougarou. Humanoid wolves, able to shapeshift into a mundane wolf form, get a bit testy when compared to lycanthropes…

…and yeah, that’s about where the lore dries up with them, as they are yet another case of an ancestry that was introduced in a later bestiary but wasn’t lucky enough to get their lore expanded on later on.

They do, however, have a folkloric origin in the real world, however, being associated with French folklore and the French diaspora in the USA. The name Rougarou is an alternate pronunciation/spelling of loup garou… which is essentially the French word for werewolf. Go figure.

But the Rougarou does branch out a little, being used somewhat as a boogeyman to keep young Catholic cajuns in line and following the practice of Lent, as well as a variant where they drink blood or transfer their curse by bite, the original becoming a normal human while the bit-ee becomes a monster.

And what does that have anything to do with the Pathfinder version? Very little indeed, but it is interesting, and elements of it do exist here and there, such as them being native to wetlands in Arcadia, a reference to their Louisiana origins.

Additionally, they also have elements of the Werewolf of Livonia, which was a case in the 1600’s where a man named Thiess claimed under oath that he transformed into a wolf three nights a year, where he and other werewolves would venture into Hell itself and do battle with the Devil and his servants. This is reflected in the rougarou’s tendency as monster hunters, particularly of evil lycanthropes.

No information about Rougarou origins is given, though I’d imagine it might be similar to catfolk and ratfolk being divine creations made to protect and guard young world in it’s early days. But that’s just speculation on my part.

Unsurprisingly, Rougarou resemble humanoid bipedal wolves, though unlike werewolves, they are naturally in this state and do not feature any elements of a true ancestry being twisted into lycanthropic form. Naturally, their wolf form resembles their humanoid form, making them easy to recognize between the two.

Not much is known of their society either, but we do no they are not very widespread on Golarion, and live in close-nit, orderly and civilized societies, and are very protective of their friends and family. If they are anything like real wolf packs, they are probably led by the elders of a settlement, with possibly the parents of individual families having some say in things under these wizened members.

Rougarou are strong and wise, but their rigid society doesn’t promote innovation.

True to their wolf kin, they sport enhanced night vision and a strong sense of smell.

They also sport the ability to take the form of a true wolf, though usually only once a day before reverting to their true form.

Even in humanoid form, however, they maintain strong jaws which they can put to deadly use in combat.

With their strength and wisdom, Rougarou can fill a lot of roles and classes, everything from rangers and hunters making use of both of those stat boosts, to other combat classes such as fighter and paladin while having a slightly higher than average wisdom score. Combat focused clerics or druids are also a fun option. Being able to transform into a wolf does mean you get a little buff as well, bolstering natural attack builds quite nicely… but it is hampered by the fact that their shapeshifting replicates the effect of beast shape I, meaning that they don’t get the free trip attempts with their bite through this method, which honestly makes the wolf form better as a disguise with some builds, albeit a limited one with the general reaction to wolves in many civilizations being what is was historically. However, their only true weakness is that intelligence penalty, which makes skill builds and certain mages slightly harder, but not impossible to overcome.

[soylent-crocodile]

Storm Soldier (Monster)

(Art by Anonynmous)

(I considered playing coy with my inspiration here, but let's be clear with it- this a fantasy 40k Space Marine, played not as protagonists but as tragic yet terrifying monsters for the more humanist playgroups most of my RPG experience belongs to. Statting them up as monsters, in my mind, helps distance players from the power fantasy of it; if you ever wanted a ragtag pack of underdogs to bring those marty stu marines down a peg, well, here's a monster to kill! And you if you want a sad little war machine your players can adopt and deprogram, it's the same deal.

By the way, I have them statted up as scattered force that can be dropped into any setting, but I'd love to use them as the terrifying enforcers of one of the more powerful political players in a world, like they are in 40k.)

CR8 LE Large Monstrous Humanoid

Also called storm marines, storm dragoons, and thunder warriors, storm soldiers are the result of painful fleshwarping techniques being used on young human soldiers, turning them into massive and obedient soldiers. Unlike with the creations of the drow, it is generally humans of a storm soldier's own culture who turn them into such monsters- leaders who value them more as weapons than as people. The process is traumatic and violent, and involves not only reshaping the flesh, but conditioning the mind to be loyal soldiers before all else. This leaves the storm soldier with a distant sense of her past life and a lot of buried trauma. They are functionally immortal, and often outlive the regime which created them. Storm soldiers are difficult to create, and those who do tend to spread their soldiers thin, with one or two storm soldiers assigned to a squad of mundane soldiers as linebreakers, guardians, and support.

This is not always the case, however. Centuries ago, a powerful shaman amassed a legion of these soldiers in a harebrained attempt to take over the world and unite it under his idea of order. His forces, however, became fractured- although sources differ on how, with some claiming the influence of a specific breed of fiend, and others believing it was a mundane power struggle. The result of this fracture was the death of the shaman, along with most of his generals, and the small remains of his forces scattered to the corners of the world. To this day they live in deadly xenophobic warbands; in particular, they have a hatred for elves, orks, and skeletons, although most still clash with each other in echoes of the original split. 

Storm giants notably have a strong emotional reaction to storm soldiers; evil groups of giants typically do what they can to scourge them of the earth, but good-aligned storm giants tend to feel extreme pity and often attempt rehabilitation of storm soldiers. Younger storm soldiers (that is, less than a couple hundred years old) are often a success in this endeavor, but those as ancient as the shaman’s army are almost universally too far gone.

Some rulers believe that storm soldiers can only be created out of men, although this is generally considered to be a laughable falsehood.

This hulking woman wields a massive shield and weighty warhammer. She towers over her companions, and her eyes are leaking a glowing fluid. Misc- CR8 LE Large Monstrous Humanoid HD10 Init:+0 Senses: Perception:+8 Stats- Str:20(+5) Dex:11(+0) Con:24(+7) Int:14(+2) Wis:10(+0) Cha:6(-2) BAB:+10/+5 Space:10ft Reach:10ft Defense- HP:125(10d5+70) AC:18 (-1 Size, +7 Armor, +2 Shield) Fort:+10 Ref:+7 Will:+7 CMD:36 Resist: Immunity: Fear, Fatigued, Exhausted, Electricity Offense- +1 Shocking Warhammer +15/+10(2d6+6+1d6/x3), or Slam +14(1d8+5 plus grab) CMB:+16 Speed:40ft Special Attacks: Clarion Shock +14(8d6 electricity, target is illuminated as with Faerie Fire) Feats- Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Weapon Focus (Warhammer), Vital Strike, Intimidating Prowess Skills- Climb +13, Escape Artist +5, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (Local) +7, Knowledge (Nobility) +7, Perception +8, Ride +13, Survival +13, Swim +13 Special Qualities- Illuminating Gaze Ecology- Environment- Cities Languages- Common Organization- Squad (1 Storm Soldier, 4 Human Warrior 6) or Thunderhead (4 Storm Soldier, 6 Human Warrior 6) Treasure- Standard (Large +1 Shocking Warhammer, Large Field Plate, Large Steel Shield) Special Abilities- Clarion Shock (Su)- As a standard action a storm soldier may pump a blast of glowing lightning into a target as a melee touch attack. Additionally, creatures hit by this attack are illuminated in golden light as with the spell faerie fire for 10 rounds. Illuminating Gaze (Su)- A storm soldier’s eyes glow in brilliant pale yellow, illuminating a 60ft cone in front of the storm soldier two light levels.

[swingingthehatchetnow]

My take on a Pokémon AU for SAF

Buckle up, cause this is going to be a long one

Also I have not looked at anyone else's ideas for this AU because I want to have my own

Some of my mutuals were discussing this and I cant just not put my own 2 cents in. When I make Pokémon AUs, I tend to take a slightly modified approach to the Pokémon universe, because a lot of the lore of Pokémon stems from game mechanics and anime that isnt always consistent

For Curt and Owen, I tried to contain their Pokémon to ones that can be found in Unova and Galar respectively. Unova is modeled after New York, and so is sort of the 'America' of the Pokémon world, while Galar is supposed to be British. Logically, I think they'd have some Pokémon from other regions, but it really makes it hard to choose with that many options. Plus, they could always have other Pokémon that aren't part of those specific regions, they just don't incorporate them into their main team.

PRE-FALL

Curt's team is as follows:

Krokorok: A Ground/Dark type Pokémon. Krokorok has exceptional night vision, and is known for being a little headstrong, traveling in small, close-knit groups.

I think Curt has had Krokorok as his partner for a while. He hatched it as a Sandile from an egg, and has been training it for years. They're perfectly in sync with each other, because they have almost identical personalities.

Possibile abilities include

Intimidate: A Pokémon with the ability Intimidate will lower opposing Pokémon's attack stats by one stage

Moxie: When a Pokémon with the ability Moxie causes another Pokémon to be knocked out, its attack stat will increase by one stage

Anger Point: When a Pokémon with the hidden ability Anger Point is hurt by an opposing critical hit, the Pokémon's attack stat will max out

I think Curt's Krokorok would have the Moxie ability, as well as a naive nature, which gives the Pokémon increased speed, but a decreased special defense.

Braviary: A Normal/Flying type Pokémon. Braviary are noble and proud, but can become fiercely aggressive in order to protect its friends and family. Braviary will keep fighting, even if injured.

I like to believe that everyone who works for the U.S. government or affiliated groups would receive a Braviary, or at least its pre-evolved form Rufflet. Curt got his Braviary when he jpined the American Secret Service, and they now wok like a well-oiled machine.

Possible abilities include:

Keen Eye: A Pokémon with the ability Keen Eye will not have its accuracy stat lowered by opposing Pokémon

Sheer Force: The ability Sheer Force raises the base power by approximately 30% of all damaging moves that have additional effects, but their additional effects are ignored

Defiant: Pokémon with the hidden ability Defiant will increase its own attack stat by two stages when any stat is lowered by an opponent

I think Curt's Braviary would have the Keen Eye ability, as well as the naughty nature, which gives it increased attack, but decreased special defense.

Herdier: A Normal type Pokémon, Herdier is a loyal Pokémon that will help its trainer with anything, but will not take orders from anyone who disrespects it. It takes a lot of grooming to keep Herdier in good condition

Curt's Herdier was a gift from his mom when he joined the agency. Ms. Mega wanted Curt to have a Pokémon that could look after him. Herdier loves Curt more than physically possible, but just like any pet, Herdier seems to love Curt's mom just a bit more.

Possible abilities include:

Intimidate: A Pokémon with the ability Intimidate will lower opposing Pokémon's attack stats by one stage

Sand Rush: A Pokémon with the ability Sand Rush will have its speed stat doubled during a sandstorm, and will take no damage from a sandstorm

Scrappy: A Pokémon with the hidden ability Scrappy enables the Pokémon to hit Ghost type Pokémon with Normal and Fighting type moves

Curt's Herdier has the Scrappy ability, as well as the bold nature, giving increased defense but decreased attack

Umbreon: A Dark type Pokémon, Umbreon a defensive Pokémon that evolves from high friendship. Umbreon is nocturnal, and uses poisonous sweat to deter atackers.

Curt's Umbreon is a Pokémon he helped raise with Owen. They each caught an Eevee on the same day, and would train and raise the two Pokémon together. The Eevee evolved on the same day, only Curt's evolved second, right after the sun had set.

Possible abilities include:

Synchronize: When a Pokémon with the Synchronize ability becomes burned, paralyzed or poisoned, the opponent with be inflicted with the same status conditions.

Inner Focus: A Pokémon with the hidden ability Inner Focus will be resistant to flinching.

Curt's Umbreon would have the hidden ability Inner Focus, and would have an impish nature, resulting in increased defense but decreased special attack

Owen's team is as follows:

Inteleon: A Water type Pokémon. Inteleon has pinpoint aim, and a high intelligence, and can camouflage and see infrared signatures. Inteleon is chivalrous, but is known for having a lazy streak.

Owen's first Pokémon was Sobble, the first evolutionary stage of Inteleon. Owen knew from a young age that he wanted to be a spy, and so he chose his first Pokémon for that specific aspiration. Inteleon has been with Owen through almost every major point in his life.

Possibile abilities include

Torrent: A Pokémon with the ability Torrent will get a 50% increase on a Water type move, provided the Pokémon has less than a third of its HP left

Sniper: A Pokémon with the hidden ability Sniper has a 50% increase in critical hit damage

I think Owen's Inteleon would have the Torrent ability, as well as a serious nature, which gives the Pokémon increased speed, but decreased speed. This cancels out and has no stat changes.

Corvisquire: A Flying type Pokémon, Corvisquire is known for very high intelligence, and its ability to correctly gauge the strength of an opponent

Owen didn't want a Corvisquire. He never really cared for bird Pokémon. But he made friends with one on a mission once, that ended up saving his life after he made a dumb mistake in his early days, and they've been together ever since.

Possible abilities include:

Keen Eye: A Pokémon with the ability Keen Eye will not have its accuracy stat lowered by opposing Pokémon

Unnerve: A Pokémon with the ability Unnerve is present, opposing Pokémon become too nervous to eat berries

Big Pecks: A Pokémon with the hidden ability Big Pecks prevents other Pokémon from lowering the user's defense stat

Owen's Corvisquire has the Keen Eye ability, as well as the Adamant nature, giving increased attack but decreased special attack

Yamper: An Electric type Pokémon, Yamper is drawn to fast moving objects, and gives off excess electricity when running. Keep treats on hand, because Yamper is very food-motivated

Yamper is a newer addition to Owen's team. He's raising a young Yamper with the intent of having a Boltund, the evolved form of Yamper. Yamper only mostly obeys Owen, and Owen jokes that it's like having two Curts to take care of

Possible abilities include:

Ball Fetch: A Pokémon with the ability Ball Fetch will retrieve Pokéballs for its trainer that failed to catch a wild Pokémon, so long as they aren't holding another item

Rattled: When a Pokémon with the hidden ability Rattled is hurt by a Bug, Dark or Ghost type move, its speed gets increased one stage

Owen's Yamper has the Rattled ability, as well as the hasty nature, giving increased speed but decreased defense

Espeon: A Psychic type Pokémon, Espeon can sense miniscule shifts in the air, allowing it to predict movement. Espeon is extremely loyal to trainers, and will activate psychic abilities in order to keep them safe.

Owen's Espeon is a Pokémon he helped raise with Curt. They each caught an Eevee on the same day, and would train and raise the two Pokémon together. The Eevee evolved on the same day, only Owen's evolved first, right before the sun had set.

Possible abilities include:

Synchronize: When a Pokémon with the Synchronize ability becomes burned, paralyzed or poisoned, the opponent with be inflicted with the same status conditions.

Magic Bounce: A Pokémon with the hidden ability Magic Bounce will be able to reflect certain status moves back at the attacker.

Owen's Espeon would have the ability Synchronize, and would have a sassy nature, resulting in increased special defense but decreased speed.

POST-FALL

4 years later, Curt's team is:

New/evolved Pokémon info

Krookodile: A Ground/Dark type Pokémon. Krookodile is a very violent Pok��mon by nature. It will ruthlessly tear apart prey, and will spend all day hunting.

Curt's Krokorok evolves right before the events of One Step Ahead. Krookodile was also attatched to Owen, and seeing its trainer in distress was enough to trigger an evolution. Because Krookodile is a far more aggressive Pokémon by nature, there becomes a rift between Curt and Krookodile, because they used to be so alike, and now Curt has grieved and moved on, while Krookodile retains the agression. With time, they'll fall back into sync, but the reveal that Owen was alive affected everyone

Abilities and nature stay the same.

Magnemite: A Steel/Electric type Pokémon, Magnemite is a pokemon drawn to technology, and most other things that emmit electric fields.

After Owen's supposed death, Curt gives Umbreon to his mother to look after. Umbreon has a nice relationship with Ms. Mega, and Curt does stop by often to check up on Umbreon, but training Umbreon was just another painful reminder of what he lost. He did not abandon Umbreon, he just couldn't keep Umbreon on his team. Instead, when setting out as a spy after four years, Barb has Curt take one of the lab's Magnemite, to fill out his team, and to help with cool spy gadgets. Also for Barb's peace of mind. Curt cares for Magnemite, but not the way he cares for his other Pokémon.

Possible abilities include:

Magnet Pull: A Pokémon with the Magnet Pull ability prevents adjacent steel type Pokémon from switching out or fleeing

Sturdy: A Pokémon with the ability Sturdy is able to withstand one-hit knockout moves

Analytic: If a Pokémon with the hidden ability Analytic makes its move after all other Pokémon make their move, the power of its move is increased by 30%

Curt's Magnemite would have the ability Sturdy, and would have an Hardy nature, resulting in increased attack but also decreased attack. There would be no stat change.

4 years later, Owen's team is:

New/evolved Pokémon info

Corviknight: A Flying/Steel type Pokémon. Corviknight is among the strongest bird Pokémon, known for having territorial disputes. Corviknight is a Pokémon that is often feared by other Pokémon.

Owen didn't have his Pokémon with him when he fell. His disguise wouldn't work if he did. But he rarely keeps his Pokémon in their Pokéballs, so when Owen didn't come back in a timely manner, Corvisquire flew out on its own to locate Owen. Corvisquire found him under rubble and in the desperation and struggle to get Owen free, Corvisquire evolved into Corviknight, gaining the strength needed to save Owen.

Upon evolving, the ability Keen Eye becomes the ability Pressure. When another Pokémon uses a move targeting the Pokémon with this ability, it uses more energy for the opposing Pokémon.

Noivern: A Flying/Dragon type Pokémon, Noivern is known for its violent nature and its cruel tormenting of its prey. Noivern is capable of crushing stone with ultrasonic waves

Owen saw too much of Curt in Yamper, so he took Yamper off of his team, never getting to the point where Yamper evolves into Boltund. He still cares deeply for Yamper. In fact, he pampers Yamper when he's not on missions. But he can't be out in the field with anything reminding him of Curt. Noibat is not a Pokémon he caught himself. Chimera issues out Pokémon to all its agents who need one. Owen is on Noivern's good side, because he feeds and cares for Noivern (he's evil, not an asshole), but at the end of the day, Noivern and Owen don't belong to each other the way he and Yamper and other Pokémon do

Possible abilities include:

Frisk: A Pokémon with the ability Frisk is sent out, the Pokémon will detect any held items an opponent might be holding

Infiltrator: When a Pokémon with the ability Infiltrator attacks an opponent that has barriers or substitutes active, the move will affect them regardless

Telepathy: A Pokémon with the hidden ability Telepathy is undamaged by moves used by its allies

Owen's Noivern has the Infiltrator ability, as well as a naughty nature, giving increased attack but decreased special defense

Thievul: A Dark type Pokémon, Thievul is a skilled hunter, and will mark targets with an identifying scent to be able to track them

Thievul is another Pokémon given to Owen by Chimera. He gets along okay with Thievul, but has to be careful when not on missions, because Thievul is natural enemies with Boltund, so Yamper has a distrust of Thievul, and they will fight if provoked

Possible abilities include:

Run Away: A Pokémon with the ability Run Away will always be able to successfully flee a battle, no matter what trapping moves or abilities may be in effect

Unburden: A Pokémon with the ability Unburden will double its speed stat when a held item is used or lost in battle

Stakeout: When a Pokémon with the hidden ability Stakeout attacks an opposing pokemon that has been switched out, the attack power is doubled

Owen's Thievul has the Run Away ability, as well as the rash nature, giving increased special attack but decreased special defense

This is just the start of what I have swimming around in my head for an AU. I'd love to expand on it if there is interest because I am SO NORMAL about both Pokemon and SAF

[sonicasura]

My half asleep ass right now: Transformers Prime but Miko is an Ogerpon.

Like seriously that's just it. No depressing story about her used to being human. Miko is just a funky little tree ogre who accidentally ends up in the wrong universe and vibes there.

She is mistaken for a ghost constantly as Miko likes to roam the school grounds since there's all the drawing supplies, free(to her) food, and spook others with all her masks. She can Terastalize too because you can't have the full 'Cute but can kill you' niche without it. I'm talking use all four masks in succession just like the battle in the Scarlet/Violet DLC. Here's the video.

(Further info for anyone who doesn't have much knowledge on Pokemon or this particular fight. Ogerpon is LV 70 Grass Type so being able to KO LV 91 mon's game wise and three Legendaries with type advantages lore wise is no joke.

Her normal ability is Defiant which boosts her Attack stats if one stat is lowered. When teralstallized, Ogerpon's ability changes to Embody Aspect which boosts a stat depending on the mask. These masks also affect her type but also signature move Ivy Cudgel upon being equipped.

Cornerstone grants the Rock Type alongside boosted Defense. Wellspring gives Water and a Special Defense boost. Hearthflame boasts Fire alongside an Attack boost. Finally Teal Mask which has the power of Grass and gives a Speed boost.)

Back to the plot section: Miko does become friends with Raf and Jack before canon. She just felt lonely so figured these two random kids could be great playmates. They did get scared first as it's Miko. She has no tact at times but did convince them of her friendly nature. Plus it makes the fateful encounter with the Autobots so much funnier.

No one knows what the hell Miko even is, again Pokemon don't exist here, thus they are unaware that she's a powerful Legendary who will decimate Megatron if given the chance than a helpless organic. Ratchet definitely had a conniption fit once the Ogerpon takes up residence at base. Like the Autobots can't just leave some strange plant entity running around amongst the clueless human population.

Bulkhead obviously becomes her guardian although no one can stop him from signing adoption papers this time. Plus the bots would so try to teach Miko how to speak as only Raf and Jack had bond with her enough to understand Ogerpon. (You know he'll cry if her first words is his name.) Miko gets to be his little Wrecker as a treat. He also gets front row seats to her Terastallizing first.

Once the danger is gone, Bulkhead absolutely took Miko back to the base. The poor guy was freaking out so badly that he had a Blurr moment until Optimus calm him down enough to speak normally. Meanwhile Miko just vibes in his servos oblivious to the world.

Well until Bulkhead asks for her to Terastallize again. If Miko giggled when Ratchet nearly jump out of his frame from a giant crystal mask jumpscare then it was expected. She's a little shit, your honor. Especially to Ratty.

What do you guys think?

[thelastdiamondpiratealchemist]

☆☆☆☆Ruffled Feathers☆☆☆☆☆

Star wanted to surprise Asha with a special breakfast, but things don't go as planned as he wished.

Sunlight streamed through the window, dappling Star's face in a warm glow. He stretched luxuriously, his golden eyes blinking open.

Today was the day!

He'd surprise Asha with breakfast in bed, a perfect way to start their weekend. Pancakes with berries, just the way she liked them.

He didn't jump—no, he flew out of his bed so his feet wouldn't make any noise as he walked across the creepy floor. He opened the door to his messy room, winching slightly as it made a slight squeaky sound from the doorway hinges.

He flew down the stairs and towards the front door. He opened the door, and the warm sun bathed him in gentle light. Star sighed softly to himself; the rays felt comforting and good.

He landed outside the front of the house and placed his hands on his hips. Now, the real challenge awaited—the eggs. Monster, the rooster, wasn't known for his hospitality. Star took a deep breath.

Time to put Operation: Surprise Pancakes into action!

He grabs a basket and runs down the path to the chicken coop nestled between two large weeping willow trees. He shivers to himself as his confidence slowly turns into fear as he approaches the well-kept coop.

He was terrified of chickens, a silly fear he was embarrassed to admit. Star shuffled his feet, the basket feeling heavier with each hesitant step.

He peeked through a crack in the coop, hoping to catch Monster napping. Instead, the fiery red rooster stood tall in the center, surveying his domain with a beady, yellow eye.

Star gulped. Direct confrontation was not an option to admit.

“Cock-a-doodle-dooo!!!” Monster caws, spreading his large red wings outwards before charging at the closed door at full speed, his body slamming against the wooden surface.

The sudden squawk and crash from the coop sent Star leaping a foot in the air. His basket tumbled from his grasp, spilling across the grassy path. Monster's enraged caws echoed through the morning air, punctuated by the frantic thumps of his wings against the coop door. Star knew then that a head-on assault was definitely not on the menu.

He took a deep breath and had to get those eggs to make breakfast! Stat took his hand and unlocked the door to the chicken coop.

"Hey, Monster…" he smiled nervously, watching the rooster from the center of his sight. Star stepped into the coop, "I just want…. Aaahhhh!!!"

The Monster attacked him again, and feathers flew in all directions. He used his orange beak as a battling ram against Star, and then the hens followed, jumping from their nests.

Beaks snapped, claws scratched, and the coop erupted into a cacophony of squawks and panicked flapping. Star felt like a ragdoll being tossed around by a feathery hurricane.

A particularly aggressive hen, Gertrude, by name, latched onto a lock of Star's hair, yanking with surprising strength. Another, a young pullet named Penelope, used his back as a launching pad, propelling herself towards a nest perched precariously on a ledge.

Star, overwhelmed and desperate, did the only thing he could think of. With a silent plea to the Wishing Realm, he channeled all his energy and morphed.

This time, however, the transformation wasn't planned. It was pure panic.

He turns into a fox.

Great…. He'd transformed into one of the greatest enemies of chickens….

"Oh, great galaxies…" he whispered, the dreaded birds surrounding him

Star bolted through the coop door, a flurry of fur and fear. The hens, momentarily stunned, squawked in outrage.

Overcoming his surprise, Monster launched himself after Star with a furious crow.

Outside, the world blurred as Star weaved through the tall grass, the frantic drumming of his paws the only sound in his ears.

Behind him, he could hear the enraged squawking of the hens and the powerful thrumming of Monster's wings as the rooster gave chase.

Asha from her room heard everything as she peered outside her windows; she felt her mouth drop open as she saw everything.

An army of chickens chased a golden glowing fox; for a moment, Asha questioned her sanity. Was she still dreaming? Had the stress of planning their weekend getaway finally pushed her over the edge?

But the frantic clucking and the unmistakable thump of feathered feet against the ground convinced her otherwise.

This was real.

Her boyfriend, Star, was a glowing fox chased by an army of angry chickens.

Curiosity warring with a sudden surge of protectiveness, Asha threw on a robe and bolted out the back door.

The chase had reached the base of the giant oak Star had targeted. The fox, panting heavily, scrambled up the rough bark, claws digging desperately for purchase.

Just as he reached a sturdy branch, Monster launched himself into the air, a crimson blur against the clear blue sky. Monster grabs Star by his tail with his sharp beak, making the poor shapeshifter yelp.

"Yeow!!" he cried, his eyes almost popping from his skull.

"Monster!" she called out, her voice surprisingly steady. "Let him go! Now!"

Momentarily startled, the rooster tilted his head, his beady eyes switching between Asha and his dangling prize.

The hens, sensing a shift in power, fell silent, their attention drawn to the unexpected human intervention. The rooster released his beak from Star's tail, pulling a few golden hairs free.

"Bok…." Monster growled; Asha put her hands on his.

"Nu-uh! Don't you 'bok' me!" She frowns.

Asha's firm command hung in the air, starkly contrasting with the frantic clucking that had filled the moments before. Monster, caught off guard by her sudden appearance and unwavering voice, blinked his beady eyes.

He turns his head upwards, giving a state-down at the trembling Star as he transforms back into his humanoid form and clutches onto the tree's base for dear life.

"Bok-bok!" Monster seemed to argue with AshaAsha's unflinching gaze and met Monster's beady stare in a silent battle of wills.

The rooster puffed out his chest, feathers bristling, and let out a defiant. "Bok!" That echoed across the farmyard. But the fire in his eyes had dimmed, replaced by a flicker of uncertainty.

Star, clinging precariously to the branch high above, watched the exchange with relief and amusement. Asha's sudden intervention had been nothing short of heroic, and the sight of her facing down the fearsome (well, mostly) rooster was both impressive and slightly terrifying.

As Monster continued his argumentative "bok-bok-boking," Asha folded her arms across her chest, her stance firm.

"Look," she said, calm but firm, "I understand you're protecting your flock. But Star here just wanted a few eggs for breakfast. There's no need for all this ruckus."

Monster tilted his head, considering her words. Sensing their leader's indecision, the hens shuffled their feet and murmured amongst themselves.

Perhaps Asha's unwavering presence and reasonable tone were starting to break through their feathered outrage.

Seeing an opening, Star called down from the branch, his voice sheepish but hopeful.

"Yeah, Monster! And hey, maybe we can work out a deal? Like, some fresh fruit for breakfast for trade for the eggs? Or maybe a nice dust bath for you and the ladies?" he suggested

A low murmur rippled through the hens at the mention of a dust bath. Dust baths were a luxurious treat, a chance to preen their feathers and eliminate pesky parasites. Monster, too, seemed to contemplate the offer.

After all, a complete dust bath was hard to resist.

"See, Star has some great ideas! Why don't we all calm down, and maybe I can even offer some help gathering delicious fruits for everyone?" Asha seized the moment.

A tense silence hung in the air for a beat, then Monster let out a single, hesitant "Bok." It wasn't quite a surrender, but it wasn't a declaration of war either.

The hens quieted down completely, their beady eyes fixed on Asha.

Taking a deep breath, Asha offered a small smile.

"Alright then," she said, extending a hand towards Monster in a gesture of peace. "Truce?"

Monster regarded her hand for a moment, then, with a slight dip of his head, nudged it with his beak. A triumphant grin spread across Asha's face. Despite its chaotic start, their farmyard breakfast mission might have a peaceful ending after all.

Monster and the hens return to the chicken coop. Star watches from the safety of the tree; he glances down at Asha with wide eyes.

"Can I come down now…?" he asks, a relieved laugh bubbling out of Asha's throat.

"Sure," she called back, amusement dancing in her eyes. "Just, maybe try the front door next time, huh?"

Star jumps down from the tree with a frown printed across his lips. He crosses his arms across his chest, feeling sad and disappointed.

"I'm sorry, Asha, I wanted to surprise you with breakfast this morning…" he apologized.

Asha's smile softened, understanding washing over her. She walked towards the tree's base, her eyes meeting Star's.

"It's okay, Star." She assured him, taking his hands into hers as she gently squeezed them. "You don't have to worry about eggs for breakfast; we can have bacon and maybe some fresh fruit and toast instead?"

Star, relieved and a little sheepish, smiles back.

"Yeah, I'd like that." nodded.

[sprintingowl]

Jackals

Jackals might be the weirdest normal rpg I've read in a minute. It is d100, osr, fate, indie, traditional, historical, and ahistorical. It is a feature length system with rules for everything from morale to wilderness exploration, a hefty bestiary, and multiple sample adventures, and it feels like sixteen different colors of playdoh all smooshed together.

I think this is honestly going to be a favorite system for some folks, because despite the clunk of a lot of what it's doing, the whole is cohesive. The game works.

The basic pitch for Jackals is that it takes place in a sort of Stargate Sumerian mythic past on another world where an empire of animal-headed people has recently stopped oppressing humanity due to its catastrophic collapse. The PCs are spear-and-sandals militarized vagabonds who wander through ancient ruins and fight against the remnants of the empire.

There's a fair bit of worldbuilding and culture, and the book dances back and forth across the line between stereotype and fresh. Ultimately what it evokes is a sort of hollywood style world, where it feels a little staged but a lot of effort went into that staging.

And speaking of effort, the layout of Jackals is excellent and the artwork is full color, highly detailed, and very evocative of the setting. You can get a perfect snapshot of what Jackals' world is like by glancing at a single piece. John McCambridge knocked it out of the park with his illustrations.

Probably the closest comparisons to what Jackals is are The Bloody Handed Name Of Bronze (which is much more loose and story-tell-y) and Agon (which is much more narratively structured.) Both are solid systems, and definitely worth a look, but for now I'm going to stay on topic.

Jackals plays like the sort of rpg that you think of when you think rpg. You pick your culture, you assign stats, you roll d100 for checks, you fight hyenamen and steal their gold and use it to barter for a better helmet. However, in alongside all the special ability picking and magic learning and skill percent assigning there's fate points, a meta-currency called Clash that you can spend during combat to take more actions during your turn, a HP system that differentiates between sweat and meat, and a lot of clever little flourishes.

What I'm saying is there's plenty of familiar landmarks. You can power attack and dual wield and whatnot. But Jackals might have the most aftermarket additions I've ever seen bolted onto a d100 system, and it's surprisingly stable as a result.

When I started my read I wasn't sure what to expect from Jackals, but the more I mull over it the more I like it. D100 engines are squirrely, but Jackals caught that squirrel and cooked it into a delicious stew.

[satoshi-mochida]

Tales of Graces f Remastered ‘Gameplay’ trailer, digital pre-orders now available - Gematsu

Publisher Bandai Namco and developer TOSE have released a new gameplay trailer for Tales of Graces f Remastered, as well as announced that digital pre-orders are now available for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 via PlayStation Store, Xbox Series and Xbox One via Microsoft Store, Switch via Nintendo eShop, and PC via Steam.

Digital pre-orders are available in the following editions:

Standard Edition ($39.99 / £34.99 / €39.99)

Main game

Pre-order bonus: “Super Adventuring Assistance Set” early unlock, which includes Apple Gel (x10), Grape Gel (x10), Life Bottle (x10), and Panacea Bottle (x10).

Deluxe Edition ($59.99 / £49.99 / €59.99)

Main game

“Battle Background Music Pack”

Digital art book and soundtrack

“Super Growth Support Herb Set”

Pre-order bonus: “Super Adventuring Assistance Set” early unlock, which includes Apple Gel (x10), Grape Gel (x10), Life Bottle (x10), and Panacea Bottle (x10).

Here is an overview of the game, via its store pages:

About

Tales of Graces f is back with a beautiful and easier-to-play version! The game also includes Lineage and Legacies, an after-story to the main scenario! Tales of Graces f is an action RPG about adventure in fantasy worlds and overcoming obstacles through friendship and determination.

A Child’s Promise is the World’s Last Hope

On a lush green planet called Ephinea, three young children make a promise to each other that could save the future. Asbel, heir to a local lord, Richard, prince of the Windor kingdom, and Sophie, a strange girl with no known past, all swear a special friendship oath after helping each other survive a dangerous attempt on Richard’s life in the land of Lhant. Years later, the world has changed. Asbel and his friends must face grave danger when Lhant becomes the battleground for a power grab among the three great nations of Ephinea. It is at this moment when an even greater threat is revealed and the bonds between the young heroes are put to the test with everything at stake.

Exhilarating Continuous Action With Two Styles to Choose From!

The Style Shift Linear Motion Battle System allows players to switch between two very different battle styles, Artes and Burst. You can choose the strength and range of the party’s attacks, the size of the attack, and how close or far away you need to be to the enemy for maximum effectiveness.

Addition of Convenient Functions and Improved Graphics

Quality-of-life functions have been added, such as auto-save, various skip functions, the ability to turn off enemy encounters in fields and dungeons, and more.

Full Character Development and Item Elements

There are more than 100 different equipable titles that players can rank up through battles, allowing them to learn various skills and techniques that strengthen their stats.

Lineage and Legacies Depicts the World After the Ending

Six months have passed since the journey around the world. Sophie is troubled by uncomfortable thoughts about her eventual future and she is determined to find a way out. At the same time, strange changes spread throughout Ephinea once again. While Asbel is concerned about Sophie, she and her friends set out to investigate the cause of the anomaly…

Tales of Graces f Remastered is due out for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam on January 17, 2025.

Watch a new trailer below.

Gameplay Trailer

English

Japanese

[sparklecryptid]

what in-game details do you have for inna? 0: like constellation/weapon/gameplay kit etc

OH i have given this soooo much thought

okay lets start with the basics

constellation: Flora Vitae (which, you know how the archons have people in their constellations? since inna never fully finished ascending his constellation (which was orginally a group of flowers) seems as if it's unfinished. it's as if someone was supposed to be holding the flowers but isn't

weapon: Inna is a sword user. hes got a very fancy one

as for his kit! he specializes in aoe attacks and elemental reactions! his main stats that i would recommend beside crit are attack and elemental mastery. and he is very much a glass canon. you know how alhaitham needs a healer because he goes vroom? inna needs a healer because he also goes vroom and if you're not paying attention to his hp it will drop fast.

(in a perfect world he would also do crowd control bc people can't move with vines rooting them in place but alas)

okay lets move on to attacks:

basic attack: inna slashes someone with a sword

skill: inna imbues the sword with dendro energy and each attack deals dendro damage to the enemy and those that surround the enemy while at the same time dealing damage over time to each person his attack strikes.

ultimate (i actually named this 'shadow of humanity' because im that person): inna unleashes a blast of dendro energy that deals massive damage to those around him. afterwards a spectre of who he was Before appears and draws enemy attention toward it.

special dish: 'It's Soup' a soup made out of some sort of meat and vegetables, you kind of dont want to eat it but when you do its delicious. increases crit rate.

talent: knows where all specialty plants are in whatever region you are in.

other talent: when under 20% health there is a chance that inna will recover hp until it reaches 40% of max hp. while this is in affect inna cannot use his ultimate.

... i thought too much about this. my silly boy. my scrunkly.

[dykealloy]

As a character with pretty low baseline stats and who is playing the game mainly to max out the friendship meter of every NPC, monkey d. luffy's got a special silliness area of effect (AOE) attack that can affect multiple people at once (enemies and allies). The AOE is represented as a cone (the closer you are to him, the wider the spread, but if you're within his line of focus, e.g. as a friend or as an obstacle to his tunnel-vision trajectory, you could be targeted). This AOE power is pretty controversial due to how powerful it is (constantly active and doesn't take up any spell slots). This can be advantageous for luffy when making allies because his clueless rizz charm-effect is practically undodgeable and inescapable (notably has worked on boa hancock and law who usually require the highest charisma stats to ally with). It also friendly-fire enchants his crewmembers to the point that they're virtually unkillable when they're within the silliness AOE, meaning they can perform stupid strong attacks (by yelling out their moves). The silliness power actually had a massive buff in the most recent wano update, which has maxed-out virtually every one of d. monkey's stats and allowed him to make extra life saving throws (which, to be fair, really made luffy just… like. godly overpowered). It's been suggested that the game devs should nerf this for the sake of the rest of the players (but idk at this point the world and most of it's NPCs are already charmed by luffy's silliness AOE, removing it now will probably just result in a bunch of game-ending glitches).

[autisticsupervillain]

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Stats Equalized!

The show where we equalize strength, speed, and durability to decide who would win a battle of hax, skill, and versatility.

This Month's Fighters...

Sollux Captor vs Cole MacGrath!

Sollux Fanart by @rabble-dabble

Conditions:

InFAMOUS 2 Cole without the RFI is used.

Scenario:

Cole assists in fighting off an Alternian Invasion of New Marias, bringing down one their battleships with a thunderstorm. Sollux survives the crash, having been kept prisoner onboard as a backup battery. Cole mistakes him for one of the invaders and attacks him.

Analysis: Cole MacGrath

Many years in the future, human civilization would meet its grim end at the hands of a monster known only as The Beast. Humanity’s last survivor, a man calling himself Kessler, would use his fantastical powers to travel back in time and prevent the apocalypse. Taking over a secret society called the First Sons, Kessler would use their research to amplify the powers of Conduits, humans with special powers, with an explosive device called the Ray Sphere. Setting the Ray Sphere in the middle of Empire City, one man would survive it’s blast and go one to become the world’s savior. The name of that survivor, of the man who would slay The Beast, is Cole MacGrath.

Even before awakening his extraordinary powers, Cole MacGrath was an impressive young man. A parkour prodigy, Cole has the streets, rooftops, and sewer systems of both Empire City and New Marias memorized like the back of his hand, even capable of outrunning police with his skills. He was an incredibly intelligent man as well, smart enough that his parents can easily pass him off as a teacher. He was a straight-A student during his four years of college prep, only dropping out when one of his professors began tormenting his friend Zeke. But, after the blast, he became something more…

Now gifted with extraordinary electric abilities, Cole became a living battery, capable of absorbing and manipulating electricity to an extraordinary degree. With his newfound powers, he can create a wide variety of bolts, missiles, grenades, and blades out of his electric powers, ranging from homing missiles to sticky grenades. He can also create Arc Restraints, electric chains designed to pin his opponents down.

In regards to his defensive abilities, Cole has a huge moveset to draw from. He can create shields that convert bullets into energy for him to absorb, glide through the air and telekinetically throw heavy objects by manipulating magnetism, regenerate from being riddled with projectiles, can fully heal himself and restore his stamina by absorbing electricity, and even restart his heart to come back from the dead.

This wide variety of powers is only scratching the surface of what Cole can do, which comes as a result of how his powers work. See, Cole can develop new powers in a wide variety of ways, such as by absorbing large quantities of energy, or even just by using his powers in creative ways during a fight. Throw these methods, he has developed and mastered both the above powers as well as the following ones. He can:

Create thunderstorms.

Throw tornados.

Drain electricity from storms.

Absorb ions from killed opponents to enhance his powers.

Amplify his speed immensely via Precision, causing foes who were previously only a blur in his view to move in slow motion.

Give himself unlimited energy and stamina briefly via Karmic Overload.

Heal crippling wounds with his healing pulse, an electric zap that amplifies the body’s natural healing abilities.

Can see visions upon getting new powers, teaching him how to use them.

Can see how a person was killed by touching their corpse, as well as see a path leading to their killer.

And suck the bio-electricity from a person’s body with bio-leech, a technique that requires he grip their face.

Can create electric grappling hooks.

And many, many more.

Of particular note is his Radar Sense, a sixth sense that operates independently of his other senses in an omnidirectional way, allowing him to see electrical sources, people included, as well as outline those with hostile intent towards him in red.

Keep in mind, these are all just his electricity powers. Upon reaching New Marias, Cole was able to use a device to transfer some of Lucy Kuo’s powers into himself, after which he gains additional ice based powers, allowing him to create ice missile, ice grenades, and ice spikes roughly the size of buildings, even using his ice powers to launch him skyward to create distance from his opponent.

Speaking of distance, he’s probably going to need it, as he isn’t a great melee fighter. He’s a skilled user of the Amp, yes, and he can hurt people as strong as he is, but he lacks any kind of martial arts training. Cole is a ranged fighter through and through. Thankfully, Cole has a wide variety of resistances to aide him against anyone who manages to get in close. Cole has repeatedly shrugged off ice and fire attacks, taking no damage when getting ragdolled by The Beast, who is a giant monster made of magma. He has successfully endured Sasha’s mind control, which was powerful enough to take control of all of Empire City even while weakened. He has survived being doused with acids and resisted being ripped apart by The Beast’s Black Holes, which break down and absorb matter on an atomic level. He, like all Conduits, are resistant to most forms of radiation and all forms of disease, including the Plague that would’ve wiped out the human race had it not been stopped. His powers can even ignore the resistances of others, such as where Cole killed Kessler and David Warner, two people who can absorb electricity on contact, with his electric attacks.

Even with all this though, he does have one major weakness: water. Large quantities of water will short circuit is body, killing him in a way he likely can't resurrect from. Even standing in neck deep water for 30 seconds will kill him, being able to withstand being drenched only for brief periods of time. Furthermore, cutting out the electricity in the areas around him will make him nauseous and give him a headache and he can’t touch most electronics or fire arms without making them explode.

Overall, Cole is a remarkably powerful master of electrokinesis and he’s remembered as one of the most powerful Conduits of all time for good reason. Respect the Patron Saint of Empire City.

Analysis: Sollux Captor

Doom. The Aspect of dispair. Those bound by Doom are fates chosen sufferers, predestined for a life of pain and misery. And there is no better example of that in all of Paradox Space than Sollux Captor.

Born on the alien hell world of Alternia, Sollux was born as a Gold Blood. The third lowest caste in Troll society. Thanks to his status, he was not only relentlessly persecuted, but he was predestined to serve as a living battery for the Empire's warships, guaranteeing a short life of pain and misery once he left the planet. Even on the planet, his life wasn't much better. Largely because a nearby highblood and local 8itch mind controlled him into killing his own girlfriend.

So yeah, as you can see, if you're bound to the Aspect of Doom, then life is just going to shit over you right from minute one. While all your friends are bound to primordial concepts that grant them cool superpowers, you're bound to a concept that forces you to hear the voices of those who are soon to die. Well, okay, I say that, but it's not all bad for poor Sollux. For one thing, being a SBURB Player does give him a few handy perks, like a video game style hammerspace inventory called a Specibus, or a leveling up system called an Echeladder, which goes up continuously as you do random things, ensuring that you're always getting stronger.

Not like Sollux needs much help with that. He's easily the most powerful psionic on the planet, arguably the strongest in history. As a direct descendant (or clone. Kinda. It's complicated.) of the Psiioniic, Sollux has inherited all his absurd abilities and psionic powers. This includes telekinesis powerful enough to lift buildings and eye lasers big enough to vaporize skyscrapers.

Sollux's telekinesis is so powerful, it can overpower and redirect meteors summoned by the Reckoning, including those the size of Australia. And that's on top of it's utterly ridiculous range, allowing Sollux to grab and throw meteors from the other side of the universe or blow up a laptop that was in a different timeline entirely.

But, as with all things Doom bound or SBURB related, it came at a price. Since Sollux was a SBURB Player, he was inevitably going to witness the end of his race, as it's the job of him and the rest of his friends to create the next universe while their old one dies. Furthermore, he didn't even get to live in our universe, because someone from the universe he and his friends just created traveled back in time to kill all of his friends. The pressure of having to hide from this god-like entity shattered his already fragile friend group, causing Sollux's rival, Eridan, to go on a killing spree. This resulted in Eridan vaporizing Sollux's eyes and killing his new girlfriend... right before Sollux gets dropped down a flight of stairs for unrelated reasons.

Man, Sollux is just the Spider-Man of the Homestuck universe. He certainly has about as many dead girlfriends. That isn't even counting the time he got forcibly fused with the person who killed his girlfriend (not Vriska, the other one). Yeah, needless to say, when your life sucks as much as Sollux's does, you become something of a grumpy dick. He's relentlessly cynical and pessimistic asshole, which is certainly not helped by his bipolar mood swings and short temper.

Despite this though, Sollux's luck did eventually begin to turn around. He's far and away the most competent hacker in Paradox Space, capable of hacking into a video game that alters the fabric of reality. Eventually, his first girlfriend came back to life as an immortal time goddess and they hooked up again, a little while after Sollux discovered he is now half-ghost. This means, not only does he not age anymore, but he's only half blind now, with only his living half being bound to his pre-existing injuries. So, not only is Sollux Spider-Man, he's also Danny Phantom.

So, no matter how badly life kicks him, Sollux is always going to rain down hell on whoever and whatever crosses his path.

Throwdown Theme:

Throwdown Breakdown:

This is an interesting matchup.

Sollux has an absolutely massive advantage in terms of range and scope. While Cole can cover entire cities in thunderstorms and tornadoes, Sollux can call down meteors from space all the way from the Outer Ring. Solluc can quite literally throw everything in the universe that he can lift at Cole. This is a fantastic way of separating Cole from his options, ripping entire buildings out of the ground to seperate him from sources of electricity and keep him from recharging. Given how similar Cole's powers are to those of a typical goldblood, I think it's safe to say Sollux would think to do this. Goldbloods are literally used as batteries to power spaceships, the idea of one drawing on power from technology isn't too far fetched.

On the other hand, Cole vastly outpaces in terms of versatility. Besides his telekinesis, Sollux's only other conbat applicable powers are eye beams and very specific procognition. And while said eye beams are fuck off huge, Cole is bringing a lot more to the table. Cole's shields, movement options, and healing powers give him a lot of ways to simply tank, dodge, or recover from a lot of the damage Sollux can deal. Frankly the image of Cole electric web slinging across the buildings being thrown at him is simply hardcore.

Most importantly, Cole does have a limited counter against his electricity sources being taken away. Precision Mode would let Cole move fast enough for Sollux to not track him, allowing him to get his hits in and reach sources of electricity before Sollux could react. The problem with that is that it chews through energy really fast, which won't work if Cole's already hurt for energy. Karmic Overload is basically a free instant refill, but in practical terms it's a one-off until Cole can farm more Good Karma for himself.

Meanwhile, Sollux's telekinesis counters a lot of things thanks to its scope. He can just disperse any storms Cole creates, send missiles and grenades right back, and throw sources of electricity into space where Cole can't reach.

However, Cole's similarity to other goldbloods could very well let Cole catch him off guard with some unique tricks. The ability to just revive from death at will because his body still had electricity in it would trip Sollux right up, Cole's weakness against water isn't something he'd ever even suspect (meaning throwing the whole ocean at him is right out), and stuff like Karmic Overload and Precision Mode would come right the hell out of nowhere.

But, ultimately, I think telekinesis on Sollux's scale is just too clean of a counter against Cole. It can get him out of Arc Restraints, throw Cole's projectiles back, get rid of his storm clouds, and even just... yeet all the city's electronics into space where Cole can't get them. Fight's over I guess.

There are certainly circumstances where Cole can win this. Namely by perfectly exploiting openings created by Precision Mode or resurrection. But they are much more circumstantial than Sollux's own powers.

This Throwdown's Winner is...

Sollux Captor!

[starryknight-dragonarts]

Araman "The Desired/The Destroyer" Gender: Male Background: Araman is one of the Experiments of the Alchemy Cult, but rather than seeing them as his "evil captors" like most of the other prisoners, he believes they are his saviors and in their goals of expanding Dragon Knowledge into the fields of Magic and the Unknown in order to learn how to control it and prevent horrible magical disasters. Before he was brought into the legion he came from a small Tannin village that accepted and protected Valkirtani, then somebody from his village betrayed them and they were raided by a larger kingdom. The village was ransacked and pillaged, friends and neighbors were killed, and other Hybrids were taken for enslavement. Members of the Legion rescued him from the attack and brought him back to the lab where he would be safe and gave him a purpose. During the mass breakout he stayed in the Legion and helped stop several of his fellow prisoners moving him up the Legion ranks as a loyal member. Personality: Araman was one of very few Hybrid Dragons in the Legion, he had known some others in his village before it was raided but back then he didn't realize how rare and powerful this made him. Being seen as  special and more valuable to the Legion made him believe that he is superior to other dragons and is eager to prove it. Having seen the evil and chaos in the world, Araman truly does want to create a world of peace and order, but he is willing to do anything to get it, and use power and manipulation to enforce it because he believes a little evil to justify peace is better than allowing the world to spiral into chaos and death. The End must justify the means. Araman is incredibly well composed most of the time and considers himself charming, rational, and a natural leader but he does not know how to deal with stupidity, heckling, and when other dragons don't take him seriously. Strengths: Intelligent, Devoted, Powerhouse   Weaknesses: Trauma, Hero Complex, Fear of being Alone Powers: Psionic, Fear, Light, Phantom, Sound, Valkirtani Magic Stats Elemental Energy: 8/10 He has an ample amount of energy but if he needs more he can store energy in his magic orb Elemental Control: 9/10 He is highly trained and has had experience with using each of his elements, figuring out how to use them and combine them with Magic to be a truly formidable Dragon.   Intelligence: 9/10 He has been well educated and has an expressed interest in obtaining more knowledge in order to have more power and control. Combat Ability: 7/10 Being born a Psionic dragon he lacking a lot of natural dragon weapons, for instance his claws are notably very short and give way to sensitive pads. Despite this he is a skilled combatant but prefers to stay at a range and use his powers rather than engage someone claw to claw.

[luimagines]

Dream Jester!Reader is quite the character as the Chain are gonna quickly find out. Now neither Legend or they go into full detail about Koholint but explain enough to the heroes on how the two met each other.

Legend: Apparently when I lost consciousness at sea, I had been over a Dream Point. Spots that are heavily connected to the Dream World and quite easy for someone to fall through.

Sky:...I guess I better be more careful on where I nap from now on.

Reader: I'm pretty sure I can still fish you out even in the Waking World. Legend, Tulip would've fit better, was a special case as ALL of him went through than his mind.

The dream jester likes to call the Vet various nicknames that usually revolve around his lovely pink hair. A personal favorite being Tulip as it's their favorite flower. Legend calls them nicknames like Joker, Dream but he uses Jest the most. A well earned name since the dream jester likes starting mischief.

They have no neck and wrists so Reader definitely used that to scare the shit outta some Links. Everyone learned to never leave their bags or pots unchecked as the dream jester will hide their head or hands inside. The Chain learned Hyrule shrieks like a girl once he saw a disembodied head scream back at him from his bag.

Reader does have some of their powers despite being in the real world. One such ability is flight as not even five seconds later after recovering did they decide to casually float.

It's a natural ability that doesn't need magic so Reader rarely interacts with the ground since they're more comfortable in the air. Catching them nap while floating is a common sight for the Chain and something Legend already used to.

Wild: I wonder if they're comfy like that.

Legend: Jest compares it to napping on a cloud.

Sky: *tries not to be jealous*

Combat wise, Reader's abilities are more...set up than offensive. They make it easier for the Chain to take out monsters that are either difficult to hit or are in a large group. Once such ability is Paraloop, where anything they circle around get clung together and strung along like a magnet.

Great against more vicious monsters such as Lynels as it's hard to attack when being squished between objects or other monsters like a sandwich. Another technique is Drill Dash where Reader spins and moves faster akin to a drill. Not only does this make them more difficult hit but it packs a nasty punch.

Their most unique ability is Dualize, where Reader can assimilate with someone. A technique they often perform with Legend during his adventure on Koholint. In an outsider's point of view, it looks like Legend vanished when in reality he's sharing Reader's body and power. Their voices sorta overlap in this state too.

Reader/Legend, dualized: It's Showtime folks! You better keep up! *pulls out a now flaming Fire Rod*

Wind: That's so cool! I want to dualize next!

Sky: Let me do it too! You don't know how much I missed flying.

Overall, Reader fit quite well with the Chain as a fellow oddball and gremlin. Although the guys wished Legend gave them some warning to their antics. Then again, he wouldn't as they get to experience the same insanity that Reader drags him into.

...The only thing I thought of while reading this, was that when Reader is napping in mid-air that one of the chain (mostly likely Legend, come on) takes their fishing rod and hooks it onto their belt. The Link in question then straps his fishing rod onto his back and stat walking, dragging Reader with him as they travel so they don't have to wake up.

Tempted to say that one of them attaches Reader to either Hyrule or Wild so they have a pin point if either one of them wanders off. (Like those videos where they put the balloons on people while in the store so they can spot them easily. XD)

I doubt either party would appreciate it though so it would have to be in secret and make it fast.

[whenwillderekhalebehappy]

so i just started playing fallout 4 ,,, here are my preliminary opinions

- lame storyline, i don't want to be married heterosexual. idc abt this fuckass baby either.

- fr tho, it feels like the devs just chose the most generic backstory they could think of so they could get that part out of the way. it's not interesting or good. moreover, if that actually happened to a person, they'd be traumatized and terrified, not running around looking for guns and stimpaks. like, it feels like my character doesn't even give that much of a shit that this happened. like ooh the world ended, my wife was murdered, my infant child was kidnapped, it is 200 years in the future, but yeah no i don't have any questions, ill just roll with it. LAZY WRITING!

- also: how does the survivor know that his baby is still alive. the story has him frozen, unfrozen to witness murder and kidnapping, frozen again and then unfrozen to start the game. how am i supposed to know when that kidnapping happened? like yeah it could've been recent but it could also have been 100 years ago.

- upon exiting the vault you immediately start like 11 quests. why?? for what reason?? i just got here??

- do not love that feral ghouls will just lay on the ground waiting for you to get close enough so they can attack you. 1. its annoying, you get ambushed every time. 2. why would they be doing that, are they sleeping? waiting? doesnt make sense for them to be doing either of those things. they're feral, they wander around attacking whatever comes near them, they don't lie down and wait for prey, thats just ,,, not how they work?

- i especially dont like that the ghouls also dont show up as hostile on the little navigation bar until they get up. the whole point of that is so i know if there's hostiles in the area. if all the hostiles just sneak up on you, there's no reason to look at it.

- the fact that you can just max out your SPECIAL stats kinda defeats the purpose of those stats. the point is that it allows you to pick strengths and weaknesses for your character, instead of it being skills you can learn. it adds difficulty and personalization.

- i genuinely don't like the "improved" graphics. maybe its because my pc is shitty and i have to run low quality, but i cant see shit. especially all the harsh shadows make it really hard to gauge depth and to see things on the ground (like feral ghouls waiting to attack you).

- why is VATS under Q. thats dumb

- follow up: why are we now using the enter key and arrow keys in addition to wasd. let me keep my hand on the mouse instead of constantly having to switch (update: after 10 hours in-game i found out you can also press E, still stupid)

- why cant i just go up to people and ask them shit. why do i have to wait until they want to talk to me.

- i do like the whole settlement building thing. ive been having more fun with that than anything else tbh

- it is nice that you can make radaway and you dont have to rely on scavenging or bartering for it

- they are harsh on the raiders. like i get that they're enemies but labelling them 'raider scum' is a bit much. like thats still a person.

- in the intro thing they say war never changes at least 3 times. i get it. dont overdo it.

- also in the intro, they just say the US ended ww2 by dropping the bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki which is a VERY BOLD statement about history.

- i've barely encountered anyone who's nice. ive met preston and his friends but beyond that its basically been nothing but raiders. where are the friendly npc's? it makes the whole world feel hostile and empty

- the variety of weapons and mods is ,, actually a little too much. i don't know the difference between a pistol and a revolver, let alone what a receiver is. the game kind of expects you to just , understand what all these things mean and how to best modify your weapons. I don't. i barely know what i'm supposed to be looking at. "um yeah i definitely prefer the hardened enhanced glowsighted tempered auto pipe revolver pistol over the hardboiled standardized incendiary double barreled shotgun rifle" <- statement dreamed up by the utterly deranged

- recently encountered super mutants, why do they yell at you that they are super mutants. i know that. i mean, the character technically doesn't since no one's bothered to explain all the new creatures to him, but still.

anywho, ive only been playing for a week or so, so there might be more redeeming qualities later on. but so far im not very impressed