#i love the ranger games so much

[cheswirls]

sa pkmn au

takes place in olden almia (oshima-kuni) during hisui's time but also right around the time period hisui would be rebranded to sinnoh

before rangers are established in the region - runs until the ranger union is formed

sabo lives in a settlement in hia valley, riolu partner pkmn, descendant of the third prince from the old legend about almia castle; he carries around a shard of the blue gem and is known as a mediator able to quell the disputes of both people and pkmn

ace lives in the chroma highlands, luxio partner pkmn, distantly related to the first prince in an old almia folk legend; he's the de facto leader of the people settled in the highlands and knows the terrain like the back of his hand; ace keeps his territory under wraps and solves all his problems with brute force

the two groups in northern almia are separated by three mountain ranges that keep them out of contact; each range hosts a hidden pathway traversing the length that was traveled by a prince of almia when they were all sent away from the castle; only the youngest, who returned to the castle, knew of another path back - a mountain range that curled around the east side of the region, snaking behind the chroma highlands to lead to the top of the snow basin where hia valley sits

the region is separated from the rest of hisui (ezo) by a wide bay to the northeast (unsailable due to mesprit's influence) and some sort of difficult terrain due north (mt. kariba?)

hia valley ref is assabu, chroma highlands is futamata-dake

an invasion of the valley by an enemy force has sabo making an impossible choice, escaping out one of the mountain passages to go and get help; he exits close into the start of the highlands and catches unwanted attention, and then is taken to camp

sabo leaves knowing the castle will be safe bc of the guardian pkmn protecting the treasures it contains

sabo and ace butt heads with their conflicting ideals yet end up working together surprisingly well; not seeing the hope of defeating sabo's foe with ace's people, the two set off with a small team to the settlement of puel in central almia, hoping to gather allies there

along the way, they travel to boyle and venture deep into the volcanic cavern in order to solve some conflict on the island; they do the same in the forest south of puel, and through these actions, begin to make names for themselves among the people of almia

the two end up shipwrecking north of the haruba desert and separated from their crew, and then have to survive on their own while hiking the cliffs back to a port

sabo finds purpose in the good he and ace do and aspires to push it further, seeing a future where almia has a task force of sorts dedicated to bringing peace to the region when conflict should arise; ace doesn't get it, but his mind is one-track focused on retaking hia valley from the invaders

when the time comes, sabo leads ace and co around the hidden fourth path from chroma to the basin

smth abt ace's people hiding out in the chroma ruins (but before they become the ruins)

altru marks the halfway point between sabo's and ace's homes as a symbol to their unity and shared goals for the region; it's not altru park like in present, but it's something like a monument

the ranger union construction begins on top of a lookout point that later gets re-worked to be an observatory, a surveillance area being established in order to grant easy access to anywhere in the region; the construction is the shared project of ace and sabo, and after many trials and tribulations, sabo surprises ace by his plan to rethink and they end up making the roof the great tree they build the structure around

at some point near the end, sabo and ace end up in charge of a manaphy egg; when the egg hatches, the manaphy imprints on them both, driving the pair reluctantly closer as manaphy refuses to part with either of them for long; they end up staying at the ranger union more and more as a way to make sure everything goes smoothly and stay close enough that there are no issues with manaphy

epilogue where the two retire to modern-day veintown, others also settling there over time and forming a small village; the founding of the town becomes another shared legacy of theirs, along with establishing the first remote "ranger base" as they discover the response time to southern almia is lacking compared to the rest of the region; having an independent team that can answer to the union while also responding to incidents in their surrounding becomes the basis for area rangers, and it's a practice that spreads across almia long after the two are dead (change bases to depots maybe so veintown is the only base but the idea of having places solely for rangers throughout almia is what sabo and ace inspire)

creative means of solving conflicts without the aid of capture stylers: sabo is observant and knowledgeable on the wild pokemon in his area, and these traits carry with him so when he runs into new pkmn, it doesn't take him long to discover what would make them tick and what would get them to behave - also what the problem could be, if the issue is a human error, so being a "human pokedex" is his main mediator/diplomat skill; ace knows better how to match a pkmn's emotion and tends to quell a pkmn's anger through brute force - he corners them in place and demands they calm down, which goes hand-in-hand with sabo's tactics, only their order switching depending on the situation; information networks are everything in this time period so the early establishment of "operators" to gather any know-how that could come in handy ends up being extremely clutch; handy items assist in diffusing odd situations (berries!! the various shards of the tears of princes, kinda weird to have as an item but ahem 'various pokemon befriended to perform specific tasks benefiting of each unique situation' aka a water type being able to douse a fire, partner pkmn assistance to start if all else should fail)

issues that arise include: lost children and/or pkmn, poachers, rampaging pkmn, unintentional destruction of habitat and/or property, pkmn kidnapping people/children, people being unable to travel past a certain point because of terrain and/or pkmn, pollution issues, the long river running thru almia being blocked somewhere upstream and causing drought further down, boyle volcano erupting and causing ash to lay thick on surrounding areas, territorial squabbles over the great tree that will later become the foundation for the ranger union - the symbol of peace and prosperity between pkmn and people, rockslide, forest fire, flooding (bad storm, puel reconstruction), the siege of almia castle (and subsequent reclaiming in a duo suicide infiltration mission by ace and sabo, possibly with help from the guardian lucario), either an avalanche in hia valley or collapse or smth in chroma highlands (underground that becomes "ruins" possibly) > each of these leads to the "collapsed" structure both areas have in present almia

maybe possibly?? ace and sabo touring the western half of recently-established sinnoh territory and promoting the idea of pokemon rangers in the foreign land (eterna, west of canalave, snowpoint)

sabo and ace basically use their interpersonal relationship skills to become the first "rangers" of almia, but this ends up becoming the foundation of standard ranger operating procedures even down the line when capture stylers get invented and the act of befriending pkmn becomes a task anyone can do with enough training; they teach what they know to their various companions throughout their journey who each form their own quirks to establish good relations with wild pkmn, so that by the end when the ranger union is operative, there's a small batch of "pokemon rangers" ready to serve almia capably in various ways that work for each of them individually (assisted in their tasks also by a smaller group of aides that will later be known as "operators")

if going with the western sinnoh roadtrip, manaphy gets released to migrate home along the way :( big sad they both cry over it bc that's their child

[heartkeys]

wow i cant believe they put antivaxxers in pokemon ranger shadows of almia

[tumblmon]

Inbetween trips to my sides of the family this week so I don't have much energy to work on the card game but I've been wondering! What do you guys think are the Iconic Beasts? The Pikachus and Charizards of Cassette Beasts.

Magicrab, pombomb, and the starters are mostly obvious answers but other ones I've noticed that get a lot of fan attention are Domminoth and Dandylion.

I want to know people's answers to help me focus in on the first beasts to drill down into concrete cards. I have a list of ones that I want to work on but I want to know what beasts you guys want to see sooner rather than later.

[collgeruledzebra]

thinking about the possibility of jesse's power boost during the final fight sequence coming at least partially from her status as a living legend among random bureau staff

[xysidhequeen]

I hope you got a decent sleep but I wonder, how big is Jason in your AU?

Is it as big as Gotham Knights (Game)?

I did sleep! I'm not sure exactly how long as I'm not sure when I fell asleep, time got weird for me at the end there. But probably upwards of 10 hours so I'm feeling betterish.

He is as big as GK Jason, yes. He's a tank of a man, ghost puberty, and actual puberty, hit him like a truck. I was playing GK while writing RK originally, so I did base his physique off of that. But also because I love tank Jason.

I did not base his face off of GK Jason, though. That stayed more comic book accurate.

I can't give you like hard stats, because I avoid gyms like they'll give me the plague. I couldn't give you his weight and full measurements if I wanted to. But he's big and beefy and unapologetically takes up as much space as he needs to.

No new snippet today, I haven't written yet today so I have nothing that won't be too spoilery. 💚

[skyward-floored]

📚

Twilight princess, Link is a disaster after Midna leaves, but he can't feel anything. It's been months, but he hasn't cried, he's barely emoted at all, he just... feels numb. He keeps busy helping the Resistance, but he's still just numb about everything, and going through the motions. But when they find some weird ruins, he perks up a little, because they seem like they could be influenced by Twili, and despite hesitancy from Shad, Link goes right in.

And next thing he knows he's waking up as a wolf and staring at a kid in raggedy clothes who looks just as confused as he feels.

He's been time-traveled to botw.

The story goes along, Link gets to trusting this kid, and the kid him. Link figures out what's going on, he realizes this kid is a hero like him, he helps him hunt for food and fight monsters, he nuzzles him when he gets a memory and comes out shaking, curls around him when he cries because he can't remember, feels less and less numb as this adventure goes on. He realizes at some point he could turn into a hylian if he wanted, but at this point it's... easier, to stay as a wolf. For both of them. This kid is like his brother now, and he doesn't want to break his trust.

Until one day when the Other Link does something stupid, fights something he shouldn't have, gets hit by a guardian, I don't exactly know. But the point is he's hurt, and badly, and by the time Link deals with the danger and gets to him he's actively dying. Link freaks out (he's come close before like this yes, but he's out of healing items, they were about to stock up--), he's about to lose somebody close to him, he's about to leave him, and he can't do anything about it again, and he turns from a wolf to a hylian because he can't do anything else.

Other Link is understandably shocked by this, but then he smiles and his last words are literally something like "somehow I knew you weren't just a wolf".

Other Link stops breathing, and Link just stares at him,not willing to process this, not willing to even entertain what this means. But then he starts glowing, and Link stares at him because he doesn't realize what Mipha's Grace does. Other Link hasn't had to use it yet.

It activates, and Link is staring in shock, and then Other Link opens his eyes and sits up, and probably says something stupid like "why are you looking at me like that"

And the dam finally bursts, and Link is crying, all of the stupid emotions he'd been plugging up and unable to acknowledge all come out right then and Other Link sort of just pats him on the back with not much clue what's going on, but the hugging is nice since dying is kind of traumatic actually.

... and that's all I had XD

[dragonfruitghosts]

so I guess this is a funny little update about Vivian being a new f/o for me

Playing paper mario on my switch I’ve fallen more in love with her so I finally decided to make my s/i to ship with her

Siri Starshell, he’s a funny fella with blue fire, silly magic wings, and is t4t with Vivian (because I am too)

Also I made him a dragon koopa (is that the word for them? I mean looking up online I couldn’t find any concrete answers so I’m just gonna go with this cuz it’s neat) just because I felt like it. I need to be a reptile.

[zellkabellk]

Picked up BG3 on my main run after a long while not playing it (I stopped during the beginning of act 3 bc I was overwhelmed by the sheer quantity omfg) and I just finished a BIG step in Shadowheart's quest and I'm.... so emotional ;;;;;;;;; I cradle her in my arms and give her the biggest hug ever

[misskamelie]

Did I just bawl my eyes out while watching Pokemon concierge? Maybe. Possibly. But what matters is that I came out on the other side with renewed joy and love for life

[claitea]

orz i did all that writing about n while listening to remixes of relic song and i feel really goddamn sick about Pokémon Black and Pokémon White (2010) again. this game is literally everything to me i cannot express this enough like i genuinely can't

[thirddoctor]

I thought Cernd was going to be boring like Halsin and I wasn't planning to take him with me after I'd finished his quest but the dude's a riot. there's so much wrong with him

[cccotard]

as the ranger expert what do you think/what would you like to see with ranger in 3-2? maybe a surprise return?

abbsolutelly not

Listen..cmere...I love Ranger. I love him a lot. I love him so much. I could kill for more Ranger content. Not in the yttd main story though. His story is such an excellent tragedy with Such an amazingly satisfying ending that I hope all my remaining meow meows will give me an ending with the same amount of gratification.

And now being given Sei, and context to all those lines like "[Rio Ranger] ..is not your real name" and that tear-threatening "hu...man?" from his death scene MANNNN

Ranger's in a tough spot because no one cares enough about the little shit to ever see past the Ranger doll and see a broken Sei. Rio Ranger is irredeemable, and his very.. morally dubious end is just what he needed.

Although....I said this in my last post, but I think Ranger is a reflection of Asunaro and Gashu, but also, very importantly, Safalin.. who happens to be the only one still up that could possibly know about Sei, and care at all ! Safalin is by far the most 'human' of the floormasters and its either her or meister seeing over the last main game. And sorry all meister fans (all 2 of you laughing emoji) but I am a Safalin truther !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's dropped too many bomb lines not to possibly have a role in any 'escape endings'.

What I mean by this is that past chapter two, Ranger doesn't have anything to give us really, except Safalin motivation to rebel rise up safalin fans it will be our time

this turned into a Safalin rant very quickly hahaha my bad

tldr Ranger's completed arc is simply too perfectly tragic to be continued in any way. Would I screenshot a mention and stare at it for a very long time because it would probably mean something deeper because Ranger is a reflection of Asunaro's corruption ? Yes. Yes I would. But that's the most I'll take: a mention. I don't wanna see his face again in the main story because I don't need to.. his guest star appearance in 3b was amazing though didn't expect it 10/10

[spamtoon]

(Out of nowhere, you are approached by a familiar lightbulb-headed Cog.)

Ah, it's you, cat. Thinking you're oh-so-slick. Muttering and whispering under those raggedy whiskers of yours... Thinking I am unable to hear it all...

Well, you've simply underestimated my fantastic hearing. You probably want to know the reason why I'm here, taking a 'break' from my incredibly important scientific breakthroughs? It's quite simple, really!

(She gets close, and squints her eyes.)

I know what you are.

Farewell, now!

(She then leaves the way she came from.)

(Spam giggles immensely, covering her face... it always seems like she's giggling, isn't she? This lasts... at least thirty seconds. Longer than usual.)

And I know what I am too, Sparky! You broke through something, that's for sure. Really, broke through...

(She looks down, continuing to laugh nervously.)

You know, I find it odd you Havent tried to bulb blast me into the stratosphere by now. I mean knowing how you acted with Frostbite. Is there something peculiar about me that you perhaps can't quite track? Something about me that you... don't know what I am?

I know, I know, I'm talking to nobody again. But you were there when I had a moment today with the one the only Frostbite The Bravecog. You may be remaining. Lurking in the shadows. Knowing about these thoughts that I'm thinking.

(The giggling resumes, lasting far shorter this time.)

Your brother's a piece of fucking barp, by the way

(She braces for impact for a few seconds, wincing while smiling, before comically looking around to realize nobody's there. She sighs.)

Wow, okay maybe toony superhero show logic doesn't apply in this situation. Cool.

WAIT I JUST FUCKING REALIZED WHAT SHE MEANT but like. Dude if she meant that then what's the point I mean the whole ahh sellbot department barping knows unless you're Really low on the ladder. Heheh... maybe she did mean what I thought she meant.

Oh i'm so fucking screwed. What kind of bitch gets filament fever

[easypeasylindyvesey]

BESTIES WIN!!!🥹🫶🏻

[yourfavsinbg3]

YOUR FAVS IN BG3: Link and Zelda from ToTK!

Link, the half-elf folk hero Ranger, and Zelda, the half-elf noble Wizard.

Reasoning and builds under the cut!

These are specifically from Tears of the Kingdom/Breath of the Wild because there is so much variety in the Links and Zeldas of the series as a whole! I've also only played BotW and ToTK so I'm most familiar with these incarnations. I do plan to attempt making other incarnations, but I'd want to get more familiar with those games first before jumping in. (I do know that OoT Zelda would be a monk, for obvious reasons, but beyond that I don't know much.)

Both Link and Zelda are half elves here because I feel that fits the Hylian aesthetic the best.

LINK

First up: why is Link a ranger and not a fighter? I decided on ranger because of their focus on wilderness survival. Plus, they've got the "ranger knight" subclass which implies service to a noble house; in my mind, that fits Link being the Champion of Hyrule and Zelda's chosen protector. Ranger's limited spellcasting ability is also a nice nod to the runes and abilities he's able to use in both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

His background being "folk hero" feels kind of self explanatory; he's one of the most famous warriors in all of Hyrule, even if no one recognizes him when they first meet him.

Link is a wood half elf, for that movement speed buff. Boy's gotta zip around all day, he's gotta be quick about it.

Build

Despite him being a ranger from the start, the best class to describe Link would be the Eldritch Knight fighter subclass. However, having played that subclass, it can feel kind of underwhelming. I believe a Ranger/Fighter multiclass allows for a similar vibe while being more effective in combat.

For level one stats, he has 16 strength, 16 dexterity, 14 constitution, 8 intelligence, 10 wisdom, and 10 charisma (all pictured below).

I've chosen for wisdom to be kind of a dump stat because he's the Hero of Courage, not the Hero of Wisdom. Man's is a little bit stupid and that's okay. Also, in my experience, the most useful ranger spells are either passive buffs (like Hunter's Mark), or damaging spells that rely on your attack roll to hit (like Ensnaring Strike).

Once Link levels up, he'll be taking an immediate level in fighter. It's important to get second wind and action surge as soon as possible, just because of how useful they are in combat. Also, it's a good analog for flurry rushes and going absolutely ham with the apples to heal during combat.

Beyond level 2, there are a couple different paths that make a ranger/fighter build good. These are just what I've personally experimented with, so if you wanna do something else, go nuts!

One is to go three levels ranger and nine levels fighter. This lets you pick up the "Hunter" subclass and the Horde Breaker ability, which is very good. (Honestly all the Hunter's Prey options are great, it really depends on personal preference.) Fighter subclasses are between Battle Master and Champion; either are fantastic, but I've found Battle Master to be a little overwhelming. If you just want to whack stuff, go with Champion. If you're okay with strategy, Battle Master fits with the "lore" of BotW/ToTK Link better.

Another option is to just do one or two levels of ranger, and slam the rest into fighter. If you do a 1 Ranger/11 Fighter split, you get access to 3 attacks per turn, which is very very nice. A 2 Ranger/10 Fighter split is pretty much the same, but this time you get two spells. Whoopie! These builds definitely offer more raw damage, but I personally don't see the point in having this small of a split. It kind of makes Ranger redundant, so I personally wouldn't go this route. If you're hungering for extra attacks, Hyena ears let you make haste potions, but Wizards can cast it as soon as they get access to level 3 spell slots. (The Darkfire Shortbow also lets you cast it on yourself once per long rest. You got options if you wanna get extra attacks and actions!)

The inverse of this (10 Ranger/2 Fighter) gives you access to action surge, second wind, and you get access to much more spells and more interesting class abilities. This is my personal favorite combination, because I'm a filthy ranger defender. Even so, I can recognize it needs the little extra oomph fighter can offer.

ZELDA

Zelda was actually a lot harder to decide on a starting class for. She's definitely a spellcaster, and an argument can be made that she's a divine spellcaster and therefore should be a Knowledge domain cleric. (Also, her holding the Triforce of Wisdom? That's cleric shit if I've ever heard it.) I can also see an argument for her being a sorcerer, as her powers come from being a reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia.

If there was a divine soul sorcerer class in BG3, it'd be that, hands down. However, there's not, so I personally discount sorcerer as an option here. (Would love to see a Zelda build using this in pen and paper, though.)

(ToTK Spoilers in this paragraph) There's also a very convincing argument that it'd be most fitting to make her a dragon soul sorcerer, because gestures at ToTK. However, I don't think it fits beyond that, though the comparison makes me laugh. Figured I'd mention it for that reason alone.

I ended up with Wizard because most of her work, in both ToTk and BoTW, is scholarly in nature. Zelda is most driven by knowledge and her desire to do better by her people, as opposed to devotion to a god.

Build

Zelda's level one stats are 8 strength, 8 dexterity, 12 constitution, 16 intelligence, 16 wisdom, and 14 charisma (as pictured below). Her starting spells are Mage Armor, Shield, Protection from Good and Evil, Sleep, Magic Missile, and Feather Fall. Her cantrips are Mage Hand, Blade Ward, and Friends. As a high half elf, I gave her the Light cantrip as another nod to her divine power manifesting. (All in the picture below, but it might be hard to see.)

In terms of leveling up, I think an argument can be made that a cleric multiclass might not be a bad idea. However, builds like that are Multi Attribute Dependent (MAD), so they can be a bit difficult to level properly to feel effective. I've never personally experimented with it, and have been advised by friends who are better at this game to avoid MAD builds. I just think it'd be neat, which is why I mention it as an option.

Overall, Zelda has a pretty simple level up scheme: level up into Divination Wizard, get her hands on as many scrolls as possible, and keep learning spells till she drops. Wizards are a versatile and powerful class already, so while multiclassing is tempting, I personally avoid it here.

There is, however, a very very compelling argument for getting three levels in sorcerer, subclass of your choice. Using sorcerery points to get more spell slots, quickened spell and twinned spell... All extremely fun things to play around with. Plus, I love Wild Magic dearly. I don't think this multiclass fits Zelda very well, but it's such a good combo that I had to mention it.

[lenacopperleaf]

Georgie I love you!! good saves buddy.