#in pathfinder if you go down like 3 times then you just flat out die

[randoimago]

Looking through the equipment for Pathfinder 2e and I can’t believe the prices

A 2d8+5 Health Potion in Pathfinder is only 12gp

A freaking 2d4+2 potion in D&D is 50gp

[monstersdownthepath]

Spiritual Spotlight: Irez, Lady of Inscribed Wonder

Neutral Good Agathion Empyreal Lord of Cards, Scribes, and Spells

Domains: Good, Luck, Magic, Rune Subdomains: Agathion, Fate, Language, Wards

Chronicles of the Righteous, pg. 15

Obedience: Neatly inscribe six identical pairs of runes on 12 separate cards or squares of paper. Shuffle the cards facedown and draw two. Alternatively, carefully shuffle a Harrow deck for the majority of an hour, then draw two cards. Benefit: If the drawn cards match (or the Harrow cards have matching suits), gain a +4 sacred bonus on saves against spells cast from two schools of magic of your choice. On a mismatch, gain a +4 sacred bonus on saves against spells cast from scrolls.

A single sheet of paper cut to twelve pieces and a bit of ink a day is basically nothing for an adventurer, making this one of the simplest, cheapest, and easiest Obediences to commit to among all of Pathfinder’s myriad deities. If anyone raises an eyebrow (such as if you’re the only Good character among Evil, or if you’re somewhere Evil), you can claim to be practicing your calligraphy. Or, you know, just your memorization skills. A game of chance. Testing your luck. Any number of things!

Having a good old Harrow deck makes this Obedience so easy to do that it’s effectively a non-issue, though it does require the one-time investment of at least 100gp (or a small sidequest) to obtain a full Harrow deck. This Obedience is adorable through and through! And that BENEFIT, though! Having a +4 to resist two entire schools of magic is HUGE, and the ability to pick and choose which ones you gain is INCREDIBLY powerful when compared to benefits which usually give you resistance to a single school you cannot choose. If you have methods of gauging what sorts of spells your enemies will use, all the better! You can also safely call Necromancy, Enchantment, or Transmutation as your schools and have additional protection from most common Save-or-Sucks.

Mmmbut it does have one rather significant downside: There’s a very large chance it will be useless throughout the day. Only your first attempt at a match determines what your benefit is during the day, and mucking that up essentially lands you with a blank feat. Yes, yes, there IS a small chance that your enemy will lash out at you with a scroll, but I’ve personally never experienced an enemy who used scrolls offensively rather than simply gearing all their spell slots for combat and using scrolls to shore up their defense or escape. It’s rare you’ll ever have to make a save against a scroll, making the benefit essentially nonexistent. Hell of a coin flip, if you ask me.

Boons are gained slowly, typically achieved once you reach 12, 16, and 20 Hit Dice. Followers of the Empyreal Lords, however, can enter the Mystery Cultist Prestige Class at level 8, which grants them their Boons much quicker! Entered as early as possible, you gain the Boons at levels 10, 13, and 16 instead. Mystery Cultists MUST take the Celestial Obedience feat, NOT Deific Obedience.

Empyreal Lords do not grant the typical Evangelist/Exalted/Sentinel spread (and cannot enter those classes), instead having only one set of Boons granted to their followers regardless of their class.

Boon 1: Calligrapher's Talent. Gain Divine Favor 3/day, Augury 2/day, or Glyph of Warding 1/day.

If you’re a martial type character, Divine Favor is a spell that’s always nice to have. It lasts only a minute but grants a +3 luck bonus to attack and damage rolls, with luck bonuses being valuable due to their rarity and the fact they stack with everything. Due to their rarity, it’s unlikely enemies will be able to cancel them out, too! The biggest problem, however, is that it still only lasts for 1 minute and takes a standard action to apply, so you’ve got a very small window in which to use it before combat begins.

Which makes Augury and Glyph of Warding good for their own reasons. Augury is... not a very good spell, possessing a 1/5 chance of failing outright and giving only vague answers about events occurring within 30 minutes. However, if you have a minute to spare and you’re in a situation where you need the universe’s (the DM) guidance, it’s a decent way to get an answer to guide you down a path you can take Right Now Immediately, long-term consequences be damned. If you’re stuck and unsure where to go, it’ll point in A direction.

Glyph of Warding as a non-caster is more or less just a quick blast of damage, but without the need for its material components, you can scrawl Glyphs on every surface in your home base to your hearts content... provided you have a home base. While many campaigns nowadays have locations a party can return to, most adventurers are nomadic by nature, and a Glyph is less useful in those cases. Despite this, the Glyph’s ability to sort through creatures by alignment or creature type and even maintain the ability to detect the invisible, means that using it as an especially deadly alarm or ward against infiltrating fiends is but one of its functions.

Boon 2: Divine Inscription. 3/day when using a scroll to cast a spell that deals hit point damage, you can change half the spell’s damage to holy damage. If you lack the ability to cast a particular spell from a scroll, you may attempt a Use Magic Device check with a bonus equal to your HD plus your Charisma modifier (or your regular Use Magic Device bonus, whichever is better).

Unless you find yourself up against misguided Good creatures, this ability allows you to bypass all forms of Resistance and Immunity a creature may have to whatever form of energy you’re blasting them with. Holy damage is not an officially recognized damage type, but unholy damage IS described several times as “dealing no damage to Evil creatures or creatures with the Evil subtype, but dealing double damage to Good creatures or creatures with the Good subtype.” If your DM agrees that holy and unholy damage work in the same way, that means your scroll spells deal 150% damage to Evil creatures, which makes this ability crushing if used on high-damage spells that are already difficult to resist or dodge, such as Fireball, Disintegrate, or Heal/Harm.

Even if your DM rejects the double-damage interpretation, it still means half of the spell becomes impossible to resist, which is still decent and lets you pry just a bit more use out of your scroll-based offense... Which, as I mentioned before, is not what most casters will be doing with their scrolls. Most casters I know (myself included) spend their time on emergency defensive or healing scrolls, with offensive magic left to their spell slots. This ability gears you towards using offensive scrolls, which cost time and money to produce or procure, and thus this power wanes in use if you don’t actively keep creating scrolls (or ask the DM nicely to include more of them in the loot piles), draining party resources.

I do appreciate that because Use Magic Device isn’t a class skill for Mystery Cultist (or Cleric, or most Divine casters for that matter), Irez gives you a way to use scrolls that aren’t in your spell list. The way the ability is written implies that the UMD cheat only applies to the 3/day times you use the ability, which in my opinion is a needless restriction that only makes this ability weaker; I’d say you’re allowed to use the bolstered UMD at any time you use a scroll you’d otherwise be unable to.

Boon 3: Lucky Cards. 1/day as a standard action, you can summon 2d6 shimmering cards that trail in your wake. The cards dart around you during combat, intercepting deadly attacks. At your discretion, each card can absorb a single damage die from either a sneak attack or a critical hit that would normally hit you. For example, if you would be hit by a sneak attack dealing an extra 3d6 points of damage and you had two cards remaining, you could reduce the sneak attack damage to 1d6 (these dice are removed before being rolled). Once a card absorbs a damage die, it disappears. Unused cards disappear at the end of each day.

Having a card cape is cool, but what they do is not. Blocking the damage dice of a critical hit is usually less useful than blocking the flat damage they get from enchantments and modifiers, which is where the real beef is more often than not. It CAN also help against natural attacks--which usually rely on larger dice, rather than larger modifiers--but being critically hit in the first place means you’re in for a world of hurt... And you can’t even block all of it. 2d6 averages out to 6~7, and while blocking 7 dice worth of damage SOUNDS nice, there’s no way to know if the incoming 7d6 Sneak Attack would have done 7 damage or 42 and thus you’ll likely end up blowing all of them on the first critical hit or Sneak Attack you would have taken and leaving you with an empty Boon.

And then there’s the utter disappointment with the possibility you’ll roll 2. Perhaps once in a blue moon you’ll get the lucky 12, but you’re just as likely to roll snake-eyes. The ability may as well read “you gain 10 temporary hitpoints” at that point, below par for the 1st level False Life, let alone a final divine Boon.

Yes, it can potentially block a good portion of an otherwise fatal attack, but it only works once and isn’t even guaranteed to stop all of it. At least the aesthetic is cool!

You can read more about Irez here.

[tabletoptrinketsbyjj]

Running the Numbers: On Balancing Homebrew Masterwork Weapon Bonuses

Hey folks,

My name is JJ and since March 2017 I’ve been working on this blog of D&D related homebrew content for your looting needs. I’ve gotten lots of positive feedback from people and I’m very appreciative of everyone who has written to me or shared the tables on their own blogs or with friends and gaming groups. I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has taken the time and energy to read through my tables, I know people lead busy lives and homebrew content is everywhere online. What I would like to talk about right now is balance for this blog’s homebrew material and how I decide what to include or not include in the tables and how that might help a DM justify using homebrew my homebrew material in their campaign without breaking the game or providing a wild power imbalance between their players.

To start off, I’d like to say that I have a decent background in RPG games in a variety of different systems with most of my time playing, Pathfinder, D&D 3.5 and 5th Edition. For balance purposes for this blog I have tried to be system neutral, talking about skills, benefits and mechanics in general terms so that the trinkets (Especially magic objects) can be easily worked into D&D, Exalted or Numenera alike. For general bonuses and negatives I have taken language from 5th edition D&D, namely the Advantage/Disadvantage system because I find it simple and straightforward. Since I primarily play D&D 5e now I gear a lot of the wording of objects towards it and d20 systems in general. Although this article can be used to talk about balance in a number of different systems, any specifics are usually aimed at D&D 5e.

While I'd like to talk about all of the different types of trinkets I have on my blog, this post will focus exclusively on Masterwork Weapons. While this concept was standard in D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder (And similar ideas can be found in other systems), it does not exist in 5e, which I find disappointing because I like the idea of an exceptionally crafted weapon that is mechanically better than average but weaker than a +1 weapon. To talk about masterwork weapons we should also talk about magic weapons so we have a clear comparison. Magical “+1 weapons” are a staple in D&D and are an easily benchmark for what a “standard” magic weapon looks like. A +1 weapon has four different bonuses that set it above a typical weapon, It grants a +1 on accuracy rolls to hit, a +1 on damage rolls, it counts as magical for bypassing the resistances of enemies and it is much harder to break or damage. When the concept was used in 3.5 and Pathfinder, a masterwork weapon gave a +1 on accuracy rolls to hit. In my interpretation, this means that the value of a masterwork weapon was about ¼ of a +1 weapon and I have tried to keep that in mind while writing. It is no accident that the first four masterwork bonuses are each different aspect of a +1 weapon. While researching what other people have done for their version of a homebrew masterwork weapon in 5e, the common theme I've found seems to be a +1 on damage rolls. Due to the bonded accuracy in 5e, a +1 on accuracy would be to strong and we’ll talk more about this later. A +1 to damage rolls for a price of 100gp (Which is the same price as getting a weapon silver plated) seems like a fair enough trade, especially if masterwork weapons are rare and can only be purchased in large cities or commissioned from master weapon crafters, requiring a side quest or roleplay scene. In short, I found a general consensus that a masterwork quality that grants a +1 on damage rolls is balance and therefore it will serve as the benchmark against which all the other masterwork bonuses are compared against.

Keeping “+1 to damage rolls” in mind as a benchmark for how strong I wanted a masterwork bonus to be, I created and cannibalized more than a dozen options for DM’s to use for introducing masterworks into their own campaigns. I will be going point by point crunching numbers to show how each bonus lines up with one another. For those that want to do your own math, feel free to use https://anydice.com/ or http://rumkin.com/reference/dnd/diestats.php to double check the work. I will be using 1d8 as an example for most damage rolls to make it a little more standard. For context going forward, a d8 has a minimum damage of 1, a maximum damage of 8 and an average damage of 4.5. Please note that with one or two exceptions these benefits only affect the default weapon damage dice themselves, not additional dice such as sneak attack, divine smite or spell effects.

I will be going through one at a time through each Masterwork Bonus I currently have written up and talking about them and showing you how their specific benefit effects damage rolls so you as a DM have a better idea on how strong it actually is. To save space I have cut out the fluff descriptions of the Masterwork Bonuses but they can be read here if you’re interested.

Keep reading for a point by point analysis of the Masterwork Bonuses.

This paragraph outlines the Advantage / Disadvantage system from D&D 5e, because some of the bonuses use it. If you're already familiar go ahead and skip this. When a character is given help from a tool, other character, magic effect, etc. they gain Advantage on the dice roll made to accomplish the task. This means that they roll 2d20’s and pick the higher result to determine the outcome, thereby increasing the overall dice roll, slashing the chances of critical failing and boosting the opportunity to critically succeed. Disadvantage is the opposite, the player rolls twice and has to use the lower result increasing the odds of failing. The real great parts about this system is if a character has advantage and disadvantage, they cancel out and only one roll is made so you cannot get “super advantage”. If the character is gaining advantage or disadvantage from multiple sources he still only rolls twice and picks the higher result. This makes circumstantial bonuses very simple to apply on the spot and prevents players from having to calculate a +1 or +2 from half a dozen different sources at a time. Personally I like it because it’s quick and simple allowing everyone to roll fast and move on, in a game where play time is often hard to schedule. Plus, bonuses and deficits just cause the player to roll more dice in a game where players typically love any excuse to roll dice.

1, Precise: Grants a +1 on attack rolls to hit targets

In many systems a bonus to accuracy rolls can deal more damage than a boost to the actual damage rolls. Logically, more accurate attacks hit more often and all damage resulting from a hit that was only successful because of the +1 accuracy bonus can be considered extra damage. In D&D 5e this would bonus would probably be considered the most powerful due to bonded accuracy (Which you can read more about here) and would probably end up doing more damage than the +1 benchmark, especially if the wielder had class features such as sneak attack that further increased damage on hit.

2, Balanced: Grants a +1 to all damage rolls.

The simplest and most reliable damage dealing bonus. A flat +1 damage increases the minimum, maximum and average amount of damage that can be dealt by the attack by 1, making it a nice choice to quietly provide a small benefit for the player that can be added to the damage roll’s math and otherwise forgotten about. For damage bonuses, an average damage increase of +1 is what we are looking for in terms of power and serves as our benchmark.

3, Spellbound: The weapon is considered magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances, damage reduction and other defenses.

This provides a nice compromise to DM’s who want their players to go up against more varied enemies that might have resistances or immunities to non-magic weapons but who don’t want the players to have a full +1 weapon yet. The weapon’s bonus will only provide a benefit when dealing with a small number of enemies (Like elementals, ghosts or fiends) that have that resistance. On the resistant enemies it effectively doubles damage (Compared to a non-Spellbound weapon whose damage would be halved by the resistant monster) granting the wielder and player the time to shine in combat. Against the majority of low and mid-level enemies such as humanoids and beasts who aren’t resistant to non-magic weapons, the weapon provides no benefit at all and is just as useful as a regular weapon.

4, Impervious: The weapon is five times more durable than normal, never breaks, chips or dulls as a result of casual use and is all but impossible to break or damage as a result of combat, even when targeted by enemies who attempt sundering or weapon breaking techniques.

This allows a player to feel comfortable in the knowledge that their sword isn’t going to explode on a natural 1, leaving them unarmed and useless in combat. Furthermore it encourages players to use the sturdy weapon outside of combat for roleplaying or problem solving reasons. Perhaps a war pick is used to dig a foxhole in rocky terrain, a warhammer is used to break down a door, a quarterstaff is wedged against a door to brace it, or a sword is used in place of a crowbar to pry open a stuck chest. Other than resisting being broken in combat, this bonuses has no real offensive capacity making it a great thing to give to your players with almost zero risk that it will upset the team’s power balance or make them too strong in combat.

5, Relentless: Instead of a single damage die when the wielder successfully hits a target, the player instead rolls two dice that equal the value of the original damage die and add the results together.

This grants the player the ability to roll two dice when they would normally roll one, which will probably increase their level of happiness right there. This is a good benefit for raising the minimum damage the wielder does, and in the event of a critical allows the player to roll a multitude of small dice, further raising the minimum damage dealt. If our 1d8 example die is turned into 2d4 with this, the weapon now has a minimum damage of 2, a maximum damage of 8 and an average damage of 5. This increases the minimum by 1 which is nice but only provides an average damage bonus of +0.5 which is not much, but can allow players to feel like they are getting more from the weapon than they normally would. Since this average damage increase is less than our benchmark +1 damage this makes it a balanced addition to the masterwork bonus list.

6, Superior: The weapon’s damage dice increases by one step to the next largest die.

This is a nice and simple benefit with a clear but small increase in damage potential. If our 1d8 example die is turned into 1d10 with this, the weapon has a minimum damage of 1, a maximum damage of 10 and an average damage of 5.50. This increases the maximum by 2 which allows for slightly bigger hits and provides an average damage bonus of +1. This has a slightly higher than normal damage cap but with the drawback of no increase to the minimum damage. Overall the average damage is increased by +1, the same as our benchmark and thus of comparable balance.

7, Cruel: Whenever the player roll a 1 on a die to calculate the weapon’s damage, they can reroll the die until they receive a result that is not a 1.

Like the flat +1 damage, this bonus was also very common on homebrew sites discussing how to implement a masterwork mechanic. Raising the minimum damage the player can deal on hit is a good things for them, since nobody wants to roll a 1. Applying this to our 1d8 example gives it a minimum damage of 2, a maximum damage of 8 and an average damage of 5. This increases the minimum by 1 which is nice but only provides an average damage bonus of +0.5 which is not much, but can provide the player a great sense of relief and excitement when they do roll a 1 and can reroll it into a much higher number. Since the average damage increase of +0.5 (Which is the same regardless of the size of the die) is less than our benchmark +1 damage this makes it a balanced addition to the masterwork bonus list.

8, Defensive: The weapon grants +1 to the wielder’s armor class / defense value / dodge rating or other system mechanic that decreases the chances of being hit with an attack.

Similar to Precise, making homebrew changes to the accuracy and armor class system can be risky for the mechanical balance of the game. In D&D 5e, a +1 to armor class is a big deal and hard to come by and the potential damage prevented by virtue of being harder to hit can add up. This kind of bonus is meant to evoke the idea or a parrying dagger, sword breaker or boar spear, deflecting attacks and keeping enemies at bay by nature of their design.  Although it doesn’t directly compare to our benchmark +1 damage, a Defensive weapon can be a Godsend to a squishy melee striker like a rogue or bard who would definitely appreciate the increased armor class.  

9, Vicious: Whenever the player roll a 1 or a 2 on a die to calculate the weapon’s damage, they can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2.

D&D 5e players should be familiar with this bonus because it is taken straight from the Great Weapon Fighting style. Due to this, lots of other people have done the math in detail and you can follow this link for nice graphs about the statistics. In short, this bonus on our 1d8 example keeps the minimum damage at 1, a maximum damage of 8 and an average damage of 5.25. That is only an average damage increase of +0.75 which is lower than our benchmark value of +1. It is important to note that the damage changes based size and number of dice and that if the weapon dealt 2d6 damage (Which has an average of 7) was affected by this, the average damage would be 8.33. An improvement of +1.33, which is slightly higher than our +1 benchmark.

10, Brutal: Whenever the player rolls the maximum result on a weapon damage die (I.e. a 6 on a six-sided die.), they can roll that die an additional time and add both results to the total damage dealt. This ability can trigger multiple times per turn but only once per attack.

This is one of the swingy bonuses that either provides either a lot of extra damage or none at all. Based on the concept of “exploding dice” from Shadowrun and some White Wolf systems, if you roll the maximum result, you’ll be rewarded with another die to add to the damage total. I like the idea of having a slim chance to do extra damage since it’s like a mini critical hit. On our example d8 there is a 12.5% chance (One in eight) to trigger the Brutal effect, which adds an average of +4.5 damage (Another d8) to the damage roll. This means that a triggering hit deals a minimum of 2 damage, a maximum of 16 and an average of 9 damage. Although this seems like a lot, remember that the effect only happens on 1 in 8 attacks, so if we take the 4.5 extra damage and average that across of 8 attacks it’s only an average of +0.56 damage per hit. This trend holds steady for different die sizes as larger dice deal more damage but less often and vice versa for smaller dice. A d12 grants an average of +0.54 damage per hit while a d4 grants +0.63. It is important to note that this math is conducted in a vacuum and wielders with the power to reroll damage dice (Especially 1’s and 2’s) can make this bonus more lethal. Though even if on a d8, if the wielder was capable of rerolled all 1’s and 2’s, it would still be 4.5 extra damage once every 6 attacks which is an average increase of +0.75. Since the average increased damage bonus will always be less than our +1 benchmark, I feel like this is a reasonably balanced effect. This can be more fun than a flat +1 to damage because it trades the dependable and boring damage would be represented by a 1d8+1, into an unreliable and therefore exciting 1d8+?, with the possibility on every damage roll of getting an 8 and having your damage explode into high numbers.

11, Mighty: Whenever the wielder scores a critical hit with the weapon, the player can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add the result to the damage dealt by the critical hit. This is in addition to the standard bonus damage of a critical hit.

Drawing on weapons mechanics from D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder this is essentially the idea of an “increased critical multiplier”, which allowed weapons to deal more damage on a critical hit. In terms of damage output on hit, this is similar to Brutal but provides even less average damage per hit because critical hits are rare. In a d20 system where you only critically hit on a 20, you have a 1 in 20 (5%) chance to critical hit on every attack. If you use the example die, you turn the regular critical hit from 2d8 damage (Minimum 2, maximum 16, average 9) into 3d8, (Minimum 3, maximum 24, average 13.5) which does increase the average damage by 4.5 on a critical, but across 20 attacks it averages to +0.225 damage per hit. Comparing that to the benchmark’s +1 damage per hit, this masterwork bonus is very weak but makes up for it with spikes of high damage on critical hits.

X, Inexorable: Whenever the player rolls to determine the weapon’s damage, he may roll the weapon’s damage die twice and choose either result to use.

This bonus allows the player to effectively roll damage twice and choose the higher amount, essentially granting advantage on damage rolls. On our example d8, this bonus keeps the minimum and maximum at 1 and 8 respectively and changes the average to 5.81 damage. Although the minimum and maximum don’t change, the increased average damage by 1.31 per hit, which is slightly higher than our goal of +1. The improvement to damage is magnified by the size and number of dice. On a d12 it grans an increased 1.99 damage per hit and on 2d6 it’s a 2.34 increase. This bonus would also affect the additional damage dice from critical hits making this benefit very powerful.

Inexorable by our +1 damage benchmark is actually too strong to be a Masterwork bonus. To be honest, I added it in here originally to pad the original Masterwork list out to 12 entries so it could be rolled on a d12. Since it doesn’t belong here I have moved it over to the Minor Weapon Enchantments Table (Which was nowhere near ready at the time the Masterwork table was introduced), where it’s magical theme and stronger bonus better fits in.

12, Silvered: The weapon’s business end is covered in a durable layer of alchemically treated silver of incredible quality. Although unnaturally processed, the metal is pure and effective at dealing with undead, lycanthropes and fey creatures. The weapon’s grip also sports discrete bands of intricately worked silver which prevents the wielder’s supernatural enemies from handling the weapon and using it against him.

Silvering weapons is a staple in most RPG games that have monsters that are vulnerable to the metal. This benefit is similar to Spellbound as it really only has any benefit when used against a certain set of enemies and otherwise has no effect on a typical attack. The only change that this blog provides are the silver bands on the grip, preventing monsters from wielding it properly. If your system already has rules for silvered weapons you can just use those instead. See Spellbound for how it compares to the +1 damage benchmark.

13, Tactical: Using an action equivalent to making an attack or casting a spell, the wielder can attempt to perform one of the previously mentioned combat maneuvers. Whenever the wielder could make an attack with the weapon, he can instead perform one of the previously mentioned combat maneuvers... Furthermore, the wielder is able to take advantage of lucky blows and turn them into skillful maneuvers rather than simply powerful attacks. Whenever the wielder lands a critical hit, he can choose to cause it to be considered a normal hit instead and immediately perform one of the previously mentioned maneuvers (With advantage because of the weapon’s design) on the target.

I really like the idea of combat maneuvers, tactics and strategies in RPG’s that contain more than just mindlessly attacking the enemy. A frontliner who effective at tripping, disarming or grappling the enemy can be just as, if not more effective than a wizard specializing in battlefield control, because the fighter can do it more often. Unfortunately it can sometimes be hard to justify attempting maneuvers, as it’s often far more efficient to just focus on dealing damage, especially when both take the same type of action. This bonuses grants players an incentive to attempt maneuvers because they automatically gain advantage and gain access to a larger range of said maneuvers. Furthermore they can trade the extra damage from a critical for the chance to disarm / grapple / trip / etc. the target, which can let a player think strategically and provides some new combat options. As a roleplaying experience it can allow for better teamwork, granting a supporting bard a better chance of tripping an enemy, allowing the two handed fighter to attack the prone target at advantage as well as reducing their chance of escaping. This bonus doesn’t deal damage directly so it doesn’t compare to our benchmark +1 damage, but it does grant the wielder a few benefits and options at the cost of making a regular attack or additional critical hit damage.

14, Poisoner’s: Even a bludgeoning weapon that is normally difficult to poison effectively can benefit from the grooves, allowing it to deliver the offending material with ease. The channels are always positioned in such a way that a creature can apply a solid or liquid material (Such as but not limited to: poison, holy water, flammable oil or animal venom) in them without any risk of accidentally poisoning themselves (Even if they are not proficient with poisons) and taking no more time than usual to coat an object with poison. Furthermore, the recessed pathways protect the material from the elements, keeping it from drying or spoiling and after it’s applied, the material remains potent for an additional hour longer than normal before becoming inert. Lastly and most importantly, the virulent trenches are divided and spread out, allowing a single dose of poison to be delivered normally and effectively while still having some leftover in a separate groove. The number of strikes the weapon may make before the poison is rubbed off is increased by one. Alternatively to being spread out, the blighting substance can be confined to a single groove which will deliver its payload in a single concentrated strike which causes the victim to suffer disadvantage on the save against the material, or the PC can roll the poison’s damage twice and choose the higher result. The bearer who applies the poison chooses whether the material will be spread out over multiple strikes or if it will be concentrated into a more lethal hit (And if it applies disadvantage or increased damage) when the material is applied.  

This bonus provides a few benefits in order to allow a lower level PC better make use of expendable items like flammable oil, holy water or poison before magical weapons and stronger spells render them too inefficient to use in combat. The DM should feel free to adjust any parts of this bonus to better fit with the specific poison mechanics of their game. Personally I love the idea of poisons, oils and alchemical coatings appealing as concepts but at low levels they are often too expensive to buy and once you have the money you’re usually better off buying magic items since a large number of enemies are either resistant or immune to poison.

In D&D 5e for example, a vial of “basic poison” can coat up to three slashing or piercing weapon or up to three pieces of ammunition. Applying the poison takes and action and on hit the target must make a fairly easy save (A Con DC of 10, about a 50% chance of failure on average) or suffer as much poison damage as a dagger deals. Once applied, the poison retains its potency for 1 minute before drying. Overall pretty weak but could definitely be useful in many situations, especially ambushes rewarding players who prepare and think ahead. However this vial of three-use poison costs an exorbitant 100 gold pieces, the same value as a suit of scale mail and a greatsword combined. A PC with 100 gold at low levels might get a silvered weapon (Which is also 100 gold), get better quality armor, buy healing potions or adventuring equipment or weak magic items. The 5e Player’s Handbook list’s the cost of a hired mercenary at 2 gold pieces per day, so you could hire a bodyguard to fight for you for 50 days (Or an army of 50 for one day) for the same price as one vial of basic poison. At mid-levels, enemies will pass the save more than not, taking no damage and even if they roll poorly and fail, a dagger’s worth of damage is not a substantial drain on their hit point pool.

If we apply this masterwork quality to a warhammer (Since it uses our d8 example die) in conjunction with 5e’s basic poison we can look at the benefits. Normally you wouldn’t be able to poison the warhammer at all (It deals bludgeoning damage) but now you can and without risk of accidentally harming yourself. Rather than drying out in one minute, the poison will remain potent for 61 minutes, a fantastic improvement, allowing the player to apply it with a greatly reduced chance of it being wasted due to drying out before the next fight begins. The wielder can also choose to spread the material out among multiple grooves, turning a three use-vial into a six-use vial of poison, making it much more cost effective. Alternatively the player could choose to force the victim to suffer disadvantage on the saves to resist the poison or roll the poison damage twice and pick the more lethal result, making the poison more viable at higher levels.  

In short this masterwork bonus provides a number of small benefits and options to allow a PC to make poisons and alchemical weapon applications more fun and a viable strategy that offers the player a range of options, rather than an ineffective money sink. As this weapon does not deal damage directly it is hard to compare against the benchmark. The goal of this masterwork is to increase the damage deal by poisons and similar materials but it is weighed against the fact that the player has to expend gold or resources buying and using the poisons to actually make use of the benefits (As opposed to the benchmark “free” +1 damage on every hit) so it seems balanced to me.

15, Bypassing: A wielder who makes an attack with a weapon with this bonus ignores any and all defensive benefits that an opponent’s shield would normally provide.

This bonus attempts to reflect the real world weapons such as the flail, sica, shotel, and war pick, all designed to get around armor and shields in order to reach the tender flesh of the enemy. Although this benefit does affect accuracy rolls rather than damage, I would compare this more to the Spellbound or Silvered bonus rather than Precise. In my experience as a player, I rarely run into to humanoid enemies wielding shields and typical bestiaries and monster manuals don’t have a lot of shield using enemies. If your PC’s are mostly fighting undead, elementals, beasts and aberrations this bonuses will probably not help them. In the rare instance when they do come across a heavily armored fighter or blackguard paladin or other hard to hit foe, this bonuses will let the wielder bypass some of those defenses and let that wielder shine. Handing out this kind of weapon in a military or war campaign where it would be used regularly, would be comparable to handing out a Silvered weapon in a werewolf heavy campaign. Since it doesn’t deal damage directly I doesn’t compare to the benchmark and you can refer to the Spellbound and Silvered for how this bonus works in play.

16, Resounding: Whenever the player rolls a damage die he must roll a second confirming die of the same sort. If the second die is the same result as the first, the player is considered to have instead rolled the maximum possible result for that type of die instead of the current result.

As the fluff description mentions, getting a resounding blow that triggers the maximum damage is rare. The value of this bonuses is odd to calculate because as the maximum damage output of the die increases, the odds of actually rolling two of the same number to trigger it goes down proportionally. Over the course of 64 successful attacks with our example d8 (every variation of the damage die and confirmation roll), the effect only triggers 8 times (A 12.5% chance) and only 7 of those times actually benefit the wielder since rolling two 8’s is already the maximum amount of damage possible. Over the 64 hits, the total increase in damage resulting from the bonus is 28, an average increase of 0.44 per hit with most of the damage coming from when the player rolled low and would have done very little damage.

This table is a chart of each result of the 64 hits possible with a d8 Resounding weapon. The leftmost column is the damage roll while the top row is the confirming roll with the middle being the actual damage dealt. The bottom roll is the sum of the total damage from that column which is compared to 36, which is the sum damage total on a non-masterwork d8 over the eight possible hits.

To demonstrate on a smaller die over the course of 16 successful hits on a d4, the effect triggers 4 times (A 25% chance) and the total increase in damage resulting from the bonus is 6, an average increase of 0.38 per hit. The sum of the total damage on a non-masterwork d4 is 10 over the 4 possible hits.

On a larger die over the course of 144 successful on a d12, the effect triggers 12 times (A 12% chance) and the total increase in damage resulting from the bonus is 66, an average increase of 0.45 per hit. The sum of the total damage on a non-masterwork d12 is 78 over the 144 possible hits.

In summation, this bonus gives the occasional burst of damage at the cost of providing no benefit most of the time. It grants an average damage increase of 0.45 per hit (on a d8), which is well below our +1 benchmark in terms of balance.

17, Chargebreaker: If the wielder has not moved yet on his turn he can take up a defensive position, which causes his speed to drop to 0 until the end of his turn. While in this stance, the wielder is able to make an attack of opportunity with the readied weapon against an enemy that enters his reach. The bracing stance ends if the wielder moves, attacks or at the start of the wielder’s next turn.

Much like Tactical, this benefit rewards players who think strategically and offers them options in combat, like the ability to plant themselves and defend a key position rather than just rushing the enemy and attacking. This does potentially allow the wielder to make an additional attack per round, possibly doubling the number of attacks they can make. However these extra attacks come at the cost of all of the wielder’s movement during that turn, which can trap him in an inconvenient corner of the battlefield, not be able to move to reach allies, render him unable to retreat or not be able to place himself between the enemy and the more fragile party members. The wielder gains no additional benefit against creatures already within his reach and is potentially worse off against ranged attackers and mobile enemies, since bracing himself means that he is not closing that distance.  

18, Parrying: Using an action equivalent to an attack of opportunity (See Note) the wielder may attempt to parry an incoming melee attack, increasing his armor class or physical defensiveness as if he was properly wielding a shield. The wielder may benefit from the armor class bonus (Typically a +2) even if he is already wielding a shield. —Note: If your system doesn’t use attacks of opportunity use the following rule: Once the wielder parries an attack he is no longer able to do so until the start of his next turn.

Similar to Precise and Defensive, this is a bonus that deals with armor class and attack rolls. Unlike defensive however, this bonus consumes the wielder’s resources in the form of costing an attack of opportunity to use. A player could use this ability every time he is able to but doing so forcing him to give up on attacking fleeing enemies or striking when they are vulnerable. Furthermore, the benefit only applies to one melee attack per round so the wielder is still just as vulnerable to multiple attacks and ranged attacks. This bonus doesn’t deal damage so it doesn’t compare against the benchmark, but I feel that it provides a benefit to player’s without being overpowered due to its cost and limited use.

19, Strategic: These modifications greatly improve the wielder’s ability to resist trips, feints, grapples, pins, being disarmed, pushed, shoved and other combat maneuvers... Whenever the wielder is targeted by one of the previously mentioned combat maneuvers, he can use an action equivalent to an attack of opportunity (See Note) to grant himself advantage on the roll made to resist the maneuver. —Note: If your system doesn’t use attacks of opportunity use the following rule: Once the wielder uses the weapon to grant himself advantage on the roll made to resist a combat maneuver, he is no longer able to do so until the start of his next turn.

Much like Defensive and Parrying, this bonus deals with making the wielder more resilient when facing combat maneuvers like grappling, tripping and disarming. These tactics can be brutally effective when used against PC’s and can make enemies orders of magnitude more threatening. A monster that can attempt a grapple or trip check with every successful attack can be far more deadly than one that deals an extra 1d6 damage on each hit. Like Parrying, this bonus consumes the wielder’s resources in the form of costing an attack of opportunity to activate which helps to balance out its use. A player could use this ability every time he is able to, but doing so forces him to give up on attacking fleeing enemies or striking when they are vulnerable. This bonus doesn’t deal damage so it doesn’t compare against the benchmark, but I feel that it provides a benefit to player’s without being overpowered due to its cost of an attack of opportunity.

20, Adaptable: When the wielder attacks, he may choose to have the weapon deal either bludgeoning, slashing, piercing or nonlethal / stun damage (See Note). Otherwise the weapon keeps its usual statistics and this does not change anything about the way the weapon operates other than its damage type.

This is probably one of the weakest bonuses on this list and provides more fluff and equipment management ease than anything else similar to Impervious. A PC now only needs to haul around their masterwork weapon and be capable of dealing several type of damage rather than a golf bag of different weapons for different resistant monsters. Like Silvered or Spellbound this would only be beneficial in a small number of situations. Even then, it’s not hard or even that expensive for a fighter to carry a mundane warhammer, longspear and longsword, (Plus one or two ranged weapons) it’s just annoying to have to for purposes of overcoming resistances.

21, Twinned: Whenever the player rolls a damage die he must roll a second confirming die of the same sort. If the second die is the same result as the first, the player adds both dice to the total damage rolled.

This bonus is very similar to Resounding in the form of the confirmation roll for extra damage. Similarly to Resounding, getting a twinned strike that deals the extra damage is rare and the value of this bonuses is odd to calculate because as the maximum damage output of the die increases, the odds of actually rolling two of the same number to trigger it goes down proportionally.

Over the course of 64 successful attacks with our example d8, the effect only triggers 8 times, a 12.5% chance. Over the 64 hits, the total increase in damage resulting from the bonus is 36, an average increase of 0.56 per hit with most of the damage coming from when the player is doubling their high roll.

This table is a chart of each result of the 64 hits possible with a d8 Twinned weapon. The leftmost column is the damage roll while the top row is the confirming roll with the middle being the actual damage dealt. The bottom roll is the sum of the total damage from that column, which is compared to 36, the sum damage total on a non-masterwork d8 over the eight possible hits.  

To demonstrate on a smaller die, over the course of 16 successful, the effect triggers 4 times (A 25% chance) and the total increase in damage resulting from the bonus is 10, an average increase of 0.63 per hit. The sum of the total damage on a non-masterwork d4 is 10 over the 4 possible hits.

On a larger die, over the course of 144 successful, the effect only triggers 12 times (A 12% chance) and the total increase in damage resulting from the bonus is 78, an average increase of 0.54 per hit. The sum of the total damage on a non-masterwork d12 is 78 over the 4 possible hits. Although DM’s may have some reservations on seeing the higher scale of this chart, remember that rolling two 12’s to deal 24 damage is 1 in 144 or a 0.69% chance.  

In summation, this bonus gives the occasion burst of damage at the cost of providing no benefit most of the time, with an average damage increase of 0.56 per hit (on a d8), which is well below our +1 benchmark.

22, Quickdraw: The bearer is able to draw the weapon as a free action whenever he rolls initiative as long as he physically capable of doing so… In the first round of combat if a hostile creature comes within the wielder’s reach (Or 20 feet for a ranged weapon) he is able to make an attack of opportunity against that creature but suffers disadvantage on the attack roll. Lastly, drawing and stowing the weapon is considered a free action.

This bonuses is supposed to allow PC’s to be able to evoke the incredible training and reflexes that come from a lifetime of having to react quickly to violent ambushes. For an easy comparison of what I imagine this looking like, take a look at Star Wars or Firefly. Characters like Han Solo or Malcolm Reynolds carry their pistols in a low slung gunslinger’s holsters along their hips and are able to draw and fire within a second. This allows them to even out or even win fights before they have a chance to properly start. For a real life example look at videos of Bob Munden, a real life exhibition shooter has the title "Fastest Man with a Gun Who Ever Lived" bestowed on him by Guinness World Records. This Masterwork bonus enhances the PC’s ability draw the weapon as a natural reflex and instinctively (If not skillfully, hence the disadvantage) lash out at an enemy within reach.  If as a DM you are fond of ambushing your party, they will appreciate a weapon with this kind of bonus.

Damage wise, this bonus grants up to one additional attack at disadvantage per combat which may hit for some extra damage. Depending on the length of the fight, this may exceed the +1 benchmark or add nothing at all.

23, Unforgiving: When the player scores a critical hit with the weapon, he rolls all the dice associated with the damage as normal. After rolling but before damage is dealt to the target, the player may select any single rolled damage die of his choosing and that die will be considered to have rolled the maximum possible result for that type of die instead of the current result. —Note: This affects the weapon’s damage itself AND other sources of additional damage such as sneak attack, divine smite or spell effects.

I have seen this kind of this effect proposed as a variant critical rule for D&D, wherein anytime any PC or creature critically hits, the extra weapon damage dice are simply added in at their maximum result instead of being rolled. As it stands in D&D 5e, a player can score a critical hit and roll low on the dice resulting in a “critical hit” that deals less damage than an average hit. This makes the rare critical hits more potent by guaranteeing a high minimum damage. This bonus is all about raising the minimum damage on a critical hit, so that the wielder never rolls low and experiences a disappointing critical.

In a d20 system where you land a critical hit on a roll of a natural 20, you have a 1 in 20 (5%) chance to critical hit on every attack. If you use the d8 example die, Unforgiving turns the regular critical hit from 2d8 damage (Minimum 2, maximum 16, average 9) into 2d8[Dropping the lowest]+8, (Minimum 9, maximum 16, average 13.81) which does increase the average damage by 4.81 on a critical, but across 20 attacks it averages to +0.24 damage per hit.  Comparing that to the benchmark’s +1 damage per hit, this masterwork bonus is very weak but makes up for it with guaranteed high minimum damage on criticals, making each one a truly powerful blow.

24, Reach: Melee weapons with this bonus add 5 feet to the wielder’s reach when he attacks with it, as well as when determining his reach for opportunity attacks with it. Ammunition, ranged and thrown weapons all add 20 feet to their normal and long distance attack ranges. Melee Reach weapons are cumbersome in close quarters and the wielder suffers disadvantage on attack rolls against targets within 5 feet of himself. Ranged weapons and projectiles...cause the wielder to suffer disadvantage on attack rolls against targets within 10 feet of himself.

Again drawing from D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder here is a weapon quality with a trade off in terms of benefit and drawback. Melee players who play a more mobile, kiting style with an emphasis of never being too close to the enemy will love this bonus. When surrounded by enemies however it forces them to attack at disadvantage or to drop the Reach weapon and fight with an inferior backup weapon. PC’s specializing in ranged combat will be able to hit targets father away but when in tight quarters such as dungeons, caverns or buildings, there may not be the option of being 15 feet away from the target in order not to suffer disadvantage on the attack roll because they’re too close. Even if that is possible, it forces that ranged PC to become more separated from the melee, leaving them open to ambushes, being surrounded or cut off from the rest of the party.

[led123123]

https://youtu.be/WEwbyCW7yrk

my video.. would be uploading.. 46 minutes..

it’s 2.5 GB

lol okay.. so.. you know.. this dude.. was 1v1 ing this dude.. so.. like.. I though that he did some damage to him.. but he didn’t do any damage.. he was shooting him with a pistol and he was in caustic gas.. so he didn’t hit him at all. so that’s why he had full hp.. 

https://youtu.be/EBaa1lJwUNg?t=387

jumpu!! jumpu!! xD

https://youtu.be/ounAOxMBLzA?t=632

good upload

https://youtu.be/r7KiXlkReVw

https://youtu.be/e6Tfnv5Jf7Y

https://youtu.be/WVmnPMS7Z_0

fuck.. придётся покупать суб за 5 доляра... god..

the wingman game lol.. I am a f*cking god in this game with this gun

I found.. it on the start.. with lvl 3 heavy mag and best sight for this gun I mean though.. it’s better than the default sight.. with default sight I probably wouldn’t hit as many shots

and lvl 3 mag on the start

today I peeled potatoes.. I got a little bit faster.. at peeling potatoes

I wish I was really fast at doing that

it takes time.. but they taste very good

https://youtu.be/WVmnPMS7Z_0?t=11

https://youtu.be/HWXPy_9gUD4

https://youtu.be/HWXPy_9gUD4?t=160

https://youtu.be/HWXPy_9gUD4?t=176

https://youtu.be/HWXPy_9gUD4?t=207

I wonder if I’m gonna sleep after eating

the rain happens when cold air meets warm and wet air I think

https://youtu.be/pr5_6U2Mh2w?t=82

https://youtu.be/fypnwxKfpNw

https://youtu.be/EBaa1lJwUNg?t=12

jumpu

leave console gamers alone. they already have difficult lives already 

https://youtu.be/3FWrpzgZhoI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FWrpzgZhoI&lc=UgxmqE3I6xV0gOBC3gN4AaABAg

“Япония: -10 конец света 

Россия: -43 пиздуй в школу “

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FWrpzgZhoI&lc=UgzvjqS8ZueHMFNGcQB4AaABAg

“ -30 мы не выживем 

Якуты: В - 45 дети едят мороженое🖖🏻 

Сама якутка “

https://youtu.be/1E1No6rkR4Y

https://youtu.be/aHGd6LqAVzw?t=149

https://youtu.be/2OHtZMbBxi0?t=373

omg. I feel so sorry xD

that’s so sad

https://youtu.be/aHGd6LqAVzw?t=233

impostor?? he called elon musk impostor??

https://youtu.be/7UORSe9y5f8?t=132

that’s so heartbreaking that he won’t go to mars

send elon musk to mars right now

https://youtu.be/7UORSe9y5f8?t=290

I bet she would want to eat potatoes.. but she doesn’t have time to make them

https://youtu.be/7UORSe9y5f8?t=349

she could just eat good meal in a bar or any cheap restaurant 

I went once to canteen.. near school.. 

https://youtu.be/7UORSe9y5f8?t=392

“the weather was warm and the sky was very clear”

https://youtu.be/7UORSe9y5f8?t=400

“autumn seems to be just passing by”

same thoughs

https://youtu.be/4P-OdjnbdvA

fUck I hate this game!!!!

so hard to get points

what do people have in their heads.. to go 1v2.. guys.. what the f*ck do people like that have in their head..

they go 1v2 and die.. and they leave me 2v3

he literally scanned people with bloodhund.. so he saw them.. and goes 1v2

1 person dies solo.. 2nd person goes 1v3 dies solo. 

2nd game same teammates that die solo 1v3

no.. that’s actually 3rd game.. god.. jesus.. 

“go fight” xD

they die solo and tell me to fight 2 squads.. xD

he shoulesn’t even go in knowing that our teammates is dead

trash teammates.. 3rd time in a row.. 

omg.. I don’t even know what is go0ing on in this game..

I got burned with 2 termite nades.. how could I be so unlucky.. god.. 

2 kills.. 2 assists.. top 4.. only 64 points.. what more do you need.. so little points.. god.. I lose 36 points 3 times in a row.. because my teammates die on start.. what am I supposed to play 1v fucking 3??

this time I was only lucky that I didn’t play with platinum 4s.. I was lucky I got platinum 3 players in team.. 

fucking platinum 4 players..

the hell with this hoe

I don’t even wanna play honestly..

wow.. diamond and plat 1 ez

ez.. I got fried with hemlok.. 

so pointless.. time time.. platinum 4s.. but.. top 5. they wasn’t as bad as other teams.. 

1 kill top 5.. +9..

but it’s platinum 4s.. 

but.. tbh.. diamond 4s.. is the same.. 

if I play too much then my fingertips are gonna.. not have bloodflow.. and they gonna get hard and bleed..

and my teeth would also start to hurt.. because I would not move and become numb.. if I play 

it seems super pointless to me.. but.. I’m alone and bored.. you know.. nothing else to do..

fuck.. I was supposed to own people with wingman.. god.. not running with hemlock all the time.. god..

dude 2 burst shot me.. with hemlock last game.. 

disco bania wraca dzisiaj

każdy czeka

https://youtu.be/7Wd9A32T0TU

w wielkim stylu

omfg these comments..

“ xBosokx  ​trzymaj mnie bania wraca wale salto “

“ Młody FeRoX  ​bania wraca ołł jea “

“ Sebx20032 days agoLegenda powraca “

“dawać mi tu krula banie!!!!”

“ pvdzian1 day agoPieniadze sie skonczyly to baniak powraca xd “

“ Dawaj mi ten film już “

“ On wrucił król polski nareszcie “

“ Powrót następcy Masnego Bena “

disco bania. ostatnia nadzieja polskiego disco polo powraca

https://youtu.be/lzB2DblN6BY?t=30

https://youtu.be/H-18Xiligoc

what else am I supposed to do..

watch videos all the time??

I have 2 options.. to watch videos.. and to play game.. but I could go outside today honestly.. I’ve been thinking about going outside.. doing something.. like.. doing whatever 

https://youtu.be/lzB2DblN6BY

impossible.. it’s like.. impossible.. she really outsmarted all geeks in cambridge??

to be honest.. that’s just another university tbh.. just like any other university.. I though it’s like.. impossible.. but turns out that that’s just another university.. and.. to be honest.. like.. all the university knowledge is bullshit anyway...

wow.. that is so revolutionary

this was the content I asked before.. when I mean.. “revolutionary”

they can’t teach anything else.. than anyone.. like.. knowledge is.. subjective.. I mean.. like.. everyone is a human.. and people are subjective.. like.. like animals.. they are driven by emotions.. 

so all the teachers.. they’re not robots.. they are no better than any other person that lives on a countryside.. they’re not smarter.. than a person who lives on a farm.. they’re not smart

they’re not any better than a farmer..

they both eat.. 

https://youtu.be/wcFLyPb9m3I?t=62

https://youtu.be/wcFLyPb9m3I?t=103

bedside table. this is what I miss

how is she able to be top 1.. if I spent so much time learning.. then I would be super negative.. 

https://youtu.be/wcFLyPb9m3I?t=226

stretching in the morning.. that’s a good start. I think it’s important to do that. I mean.. for me it’s true too

https://youtu.be/wcFLyPb9m3I?t=242

she has flat stomach what the heck

wow she looks as fit as like.. some really fit fitness instructor

top 1 cambridge university. that’s revolutionary 

https://youtu.be/wcFLyPb9m3I?t=430

yes.. I mean.. plain paper makes it look clearer

I liked plain paper.. 

https://youtu.be/wcFLyPb9m3I?t=464

nobody needs this.. university knowledge..

nobody needs to study this.. I mean

if you want to learn you can learn anything you want or anything that you need on the internet.. or by yourself.. university is shit.. useless..

https://youtu.be/wcFLyPb9m3I?t=507

https://youtu.be/1s64AR_-8SY?t=536

chill out. xD

these dudes don’t miss..

dude who downed me with hemlok

now I eat my cake.. it’s sweet.. and I like sweet right now.

https://youtu.be/wcFLyPb9m3I?t=604

puffed rice

it looks like worm’s cacoons

I didn’t even see wingman at all in all these last 10 games that I played right now..

I didn’t even see one wingman.. god..

maybe I saw it once.. ye.. I saw it once.. I didn’t hit as many shots as I wanted..

I had it once.. it was pretty good. I didn’t hit as many shots as I wanted.. because I haven’t played like.. idk how much.. and.. that was my first game.. 

so I didn’t hit as much 

damn.. I don’t feel.. I mean.. I feel.. like.. I need to feel something.. and if I play game.. then.. 

I need to feel another 

I’m gonna play music.. 

https://youtu.be/Jyi-b8lalTU

https://youtu.be/HFiV5yVZaiA

https://youtu.be/26u657MfFJM

https://youtu.be/U0rorLEzxsQ?t=113

https://youtu.be/z88_26M2xQk

this played on random shuffle. xD

https://youtu.be/oBFbR2B5yU4

https://youtu.be/RSQqVDmNaj0

https://youtu.be/QUnuG6iOxZk

https://youtu.be/QUnuG6iOxZk?t=76

https://youtu.be/qoKKx4OIk5M

https://youtu.be/IbKmIpTfKeo

https://youtu.be/IbKmIpTfKeo?t=214

top 1 lol

lol we just.. didn’t fight.. and they fought.. and we just rotated to the ring first.. and they fought each other. xD

we just rotated to ring early.. lol.. this dude.. of course.. he hit all wingman shots on me.. and hit a headshot.. of course..

ok.. that wasn’t a headshot.. what the fuck.. he hit all hit shots.. what the fuck..

he hits all wingman shots on wraith.. of course.. 

4 shots 

on full speed.. 1, 2, 3, 4 and I’m dead..

on full speed.. he hit all. what kind of superhuman does it have to be.. to be able to do that..

we just rotated first.. lol..

https://youtu.be/j1v0xUeZSMQ?t=836

I hate rice with eggs..

but it’s just one egg.. 

https://youtu.be/j1v0xUeZSMQ?t=892

and yes.. next time I’m gonna make rizotto I’m gonna cook rice in pot.. 

because I don’t have a cover for a pan.. and.. it also.. gets burned a lot.. on pan

I forgot that wraith.. takes.. +5% more damage.. 47 damage.. so it wasn’t a headshot.. he hit 4 wingman shots in a row.. shooting at full speed..

how are these cheaters so good..

finally a win.. lol.. we did an early rotation.. and they kept sitting.. outside the ring.. and they started fighting each other..

noob team keeps fighting when ring is closing..

fuck disco bania is starting..

idiot pathfinder

wingman on zipline is not accurate.. g7 scout too

https://youtu.be/fFlDoutuooI?t=96

“cały ten internet śmiga” xD

https://youtu.be/aQWZY-j9Lqw

https://youtu.be/fFlDoutuooI?t=461

shit.. my brother did that..

https://youtu.be/fFlDoutuooI?t=507

instead of playing i can meet these new people damn

2 interesting people in a row

https://youtu.be/n11Xp6gKkos

my last game was not my proudest moment..

https://youtu.be/n11Xp6gKkos?t=82

omg she looks so chinese f*ck

she looks like geisha here

fuck..

I know this hairstyle.. that’s japanese/chinese hairstyle.. 

she looks like from a “hero” movie

https://youtu.be/Cpxv-wrMz0s

https://youtu.be/watzMSbA0Cw

https://youtu.be/watzMSbA0Cw?t=34

jumpu

https://youtu.be/watzMSbA0Cw?t=45

wow she looks like.. hm.. japanese ammo with misa

no.. more like.. jinna.. kim.. even the last name fits.. wow.actually.. but.. jinna kim.. said she’s.. like.. korean.. is kim.. is kim.. I think kim is like.. chinese.. name.. chinese or korean.. there’s probably not much difference

wow she looks like jinna kim.. kim like kim-chi.. lol and kimchi is like korean or something..

https://youtu.be/watzMSbA0Cw?t=123

so much like jinna kim

I mean.. she’s probably her age.. 

in this movie.

wow I have such a heartburn today.. shit.. all day.. since like.. 6 hours.. ago.. when I ate cake.. 

and for some reason my legs feel like a spent all day at the gym doing leg day..

I can barely get up.. ffs..

https://youtu.be/watzMSbA0Cw?t=188

jinna kim

https://youtu.be/watzMSbA0Cw?t=200

that looks like strawberry syrup

omg. I have such a f*cking heartburn.. all day..

I know.. I actually know why.. last time I had it.. was when I was wearing a belt.. and this time.. I know what I did.. I pulled my pants high so it was pressing my stomach.. and that’s why it pushed.. stuff from my stomach to my throat.. 

I need looser pants.. my sister gave me some tight pair.. 

look in waist.. or more adjustable..

I need looser pants..

https://youtu.be/watzMSbA0Cw?t=67

hero is chinese

I told you

jinna must also be chinese maybe

https://youtu.be/watzMSbA0Cw?t=85

wow all the asians have shiny black hair

https://youtu.be/watzMSbA0Cw?t=90

they’re always shining the same way

https://youtu.be/4ZDh180hAl8?t=74

shitty mic

crappy mic guy

https://youtu.be/hkcxvD1VsDk

“we all have that one friend”

with a shitty mic

https://youtu.be/4ZDh180hAl8?t=83

oh f*ck.. I can’t heard this bullshit

shitty mic friend

“tech deals uploaded:  Ryzen 9 5950X @ 5GHz — Radeon RX 6000 Details — 1000 HP Hummer EV Revealed — Rogue One News 10-23-20 “

wow I need to get interested in the.. pc parts market.. after recent.. updates.. sh*t.. my shit is gonna get obsolete

thank god I never buy expensive stuff. 

but ddr4 at least won’t get obsolete at least.. I checked it 

https://www.youtube.com/c/TechNewsNetwork/videos

what the f*ck they have 2nd channel what the f*ck..

well.. probably nothing changed.. the 2080 got cheaper.. and that’s it probably..

because 2080 competes with 3080 etc 3070 3090 etc.. but if they release.. 3060.. god.. that may be an issue

3070 is not even out yet.. but it’s gonna get released together with 3060.. f*ck..

f*ck.. I should have actually sold my old card

I need looser pants..

f*ck.. but I know how to send stuff.. I know how the delivery company works.. what wrapping they accept (there are many companies some accept only normal boxes)

so I can sent it already.. now I know how to do that

https://youtu.be/WVmnPMS7Z_0?t=33

I learned that one company would accept everything

https://youtu.be/WVmnPMS7Z_0?t=168

and I have a printer now.. but.. like.. I don’t have wifi.. on my computer.. so.. only in laptop.. ok.. I’ll use laptop maybe

and I also wonder how to send packages without printing the sticker.. also.. because there’s also something like that possible in this company

thank god that only 3080 release is most popular.. nobody is gonna wait for 3060 and 3070.. lol.. I just can’t wait to see that I was wrong..

https://youtu.be/WVmnPMS7Z_0?t=181

each bag has registrar.. which registers if the bag landed in the correct bag.. after being pushed to the bin..

if it doesn’t register then it would light red

if it ended in the wrong bag

and they have to check.. if there aren’t any red lights

https://youtu.be/n11Xp6gKkos?t=81

she looks like geisha

https://youtu.be/n11Xp6gKkos?t=183

wow I mean.. I didn’t realize.. that anna akana also has normal dark asian shiny hair

f*ck I didn’t even realize that before

https://youtu.be/n11Xp6gKkos?t=194

they are very dark

https://youtu.be/uSjS_l3wGu8

https://youtu.be/499Aiwh_If0

https://youtu.be/jTCJiWT8avo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTCJiWT8avo&lc=UgiPB_q4Q_QrIHgCoAEC

“ 240p - the metalest of resolutions. “

goulish language.. that's really old obsolete language that nobody is using any more

https://youtu.be/jTCJiWT8avo?t=211

her instrument is really cool.

https://youtu.be/pr5_6U2Mh2w?t=82

I didn’t have internet for 2 hours.. or 1 hour.. 

https://youtu.be/fypnwxKfpNw?t=125

https://youtu.be/rjy_bgrHZDI?t=41

https://youtu.be/n11Xp6gKkos?t=31

anna’s songs

https://youtu.be/xJkFZmVfSaI?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N

she’s a good singer

https://youtu.be/xJkFZmVfSaI?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N&t=150

wow. her songs are insane

her songs are on the same level as avril lavigne and britney spears

wow. 

https://youtu.be/xJkFZmVfSaI?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N&t=83

interesting music writing. she had very good writer

the person who wrote the music.. 

https://youtu.be/7Wd9A32T0TU

https://youtu.be/GiOYo-OSANw?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N

she had a good music writer

and producer post producer and everything

https://youtu.be/n11Xp6gKkos?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N

all her songs are just 3 minutes :/ that’s  a bit disappointing

https://youtu.be/fnVQHuqrqsA?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N

oh. I was listening to this one.. this one was the first one I heard

I really liked the U sound

https://youtu.be/fnVQHuqrqsA?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N&t=35

that’s how I started liking her singing

but the other ones that I heard right now are also really good. 

https://youtu.be/xJkFZmVfSaI?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N&t=86

this one is her biggest release right now

but I saw the thumnail long time ago already and the song is really good

but it’s short. shooting footage.. is.. like.. it’s difficult to get enough footage so she makes short songs

https://youtu.be/xJkFZmVfSaI?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N&t=70

they should do long version just for listening without video

https://youtu.be/xJkFZmVfSaI?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N&t=117

this is not the best cut scene in example

https://youtu.be/xJkFZmVfSaI?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N&t=131

https://youtu.be/xJkFZmVfSaI?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N&t=158

jesus christ she’s amazing

who wrote these songs. that must have been some really good musician

https://youtu.be/xJkFZmVfSaI?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N&t=126

this is a really good take

https://youtu.be/xJkFZmVfSaI?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N&t=126

her hair look like one kpop artist here

https://youtu.be/xKMT44GBaUI

https://youtu.be/xJkFZmVfSaI?list=PLyVaF6bvPQ-R84s8_qr69WM-PyjB2qs3N&t=131

she’s so good

I watched a video today from a person who does modeling.. about modeling for clips like these

https://youtu.be/4ZDh180hAl8?t=108

https://youtu.be/mClOxgyWLs8?t=25

is that the same girl??

https://youtu.be/watzMSbA0Cw?t=170

wow she played in both movies.

https://youtu.be/Bl4_BbYMZEo?t=51

she looks like jinna kim 4 real

https://youtu.be/Bl4_BbYMZEo?t=162

plastic rubber swords.. lol..

https://youtu.be/Bl4_BbYMZEo?t=169

lol.. steel doesn’t bend like that..

they assumed that viewers don’t know that they’re using rubber swords??

[gwyvian]

Heart of the Forge

Chapter 3: Thin Air

“It’s beautiful,” Ryder lifted a hand to catch one of the sparks like a snowflake and marveled at its pulsing glow.

Akksul stepped closer and bent to examine it also, eyes reflecting its light as if it was mesmerizing him; or he it, judging by the determined way his eyes studied it. Ryder caught herself studying him more than the spark, intrigued by how different he looked when he wasn’t glaring hate or derision; he was admiring and analyzing, much in the same way that she did when discovering something. Abruptly he seemed to realize the fact and he straightened, forcing a sneer onto his face as he leveled a disdainful stare at her. It was forced, though.

“Aren’t you going to go on about how dangerous it could be?” he asked with a hint of mockery in his voice. She was sure that was an honest reflection of his attitude, reckless as he was.

Ryder didn’t respond, however; she realized the spark in her palm was pulsing more energetically now and as she examined it more closely, she noticed that it was slowly growing in front of her eyes, building into what she assumed was a very small bot. Hastily she brushed it off, backing away uneasily and making sure none were still on her or in her hair. Akksul gave her a puzzled frown, but he also studied the sparks dancing in the air, looking for an indication of what had alarmed her.

As if in reaction, the sparks began to swirl intensely as if kicked up by a wind, sticking to the sides of the chamber and thereby cutting them off from the exit. She exchanged a concerned look with Akksul and this time neither one minded the fact; clearly whatever this was, it was reacting to their presence and considering the snake bots, it was likely these would be just as dangerous. Faster than she believed was possible abruptly a hum and striated ripples of energy seemed to join a group of the lights together into a net that dropped around her before she could even think to move out of the way.

“What…” she began, looking at Akksul again. Her shields buckled without warning and icy fingers seemed to grip her mind as if to rip it out, blurring her vision and blanking her thoughts – the world began to fade as the vibrating hum intensified.

“Skkut!” she heard Akksul’s voice, felt a hand suddenly grip her arm and she was falling heavily into someone’s arms, drifting on an icy tide of darkness that was parting beneath her to swallow her soul.

Pathfinder, SAM’s voice was so faint and overlaid with static that even in a semiconscious state she despaired, but for once the pain was warming, it felt real.

Just before consciousness slipped away entirely, Ryder opened her eyes one last time and glimpsed lightning coruscating from Akksul’s fingers, disrupting the field, while he dragged her back as best he could with his other arm around her waist. Her head rolled to the side and the last thing she saw was the pain and anger on his face.

 Ryder’s eyes opened and slowly, uncomprehendingly focused on a myriad of glowing veins climbing up the walls into darkness. Memories and voices that had filled her mind with their din faded into the background, leaving only a lingering sense of nostalgia that grew more intangible with each flicker of awareness that lit up in her mind. Struggling to sit up, she was surprised and pleased to discover that the agony was completely gone; her body felt weak and cold, but far more comfortable than she had felt in what seemed like an eternity. Her eyes focused on her surroundings and after a moment’s study, she realized she was back at the gravity well.

“Akksul?” she called out, looking around. After receiving no response, she stood and walked around the containers, reorienting herself as she did; she finally found him leaning against one of the smaller crates, facing the way that headed deeper into the building. Clearly he was guarding their makeshift ‘camp’ at the foot of the well, which was a painful reminder of their encounters with the bots down here so far; more concerning, however, was that Akksul’s breath was labored and when he scrambled to his feet at her approach, he moved gingerly.

“I wasn’t sure you would live,” he said, then seemed to realize his tone was a mix of concern and relief and he grimaced, glaring at her. “Instead you live another day to burden me,” he added, turning away from her firmly.

Ryder’s lips thinned. “If that’s how you feel, why didn’t you just leave me to die?”

“Because I’m not a monster,” Akksul said, his tone bordering on condescension. His eyes, however, studied her in a way that they hadn’t before, as though seeing her clearly for the first time.

“So now you feel compassion for me,” Ryder said skeptically, crossing her arms. Absently she wondered where SAM was; if he had reestablished their connection, as she suspected based on her physical condition, he should have said something by now.

“You’re just another alien to me, human,” he replied with a sneer, averting his eyes.

“An alien that saved your life,” she pointed out.

Akksul snorted. “Only because it serves your cause somehow.”

“Yes, my evil plan was to trap you down here so I could get you almost killed only to heroically save you to win you over,” Ryder rolled her eyes. “I would maybe give it an ounce of merit if your role with the Roekaar still mattered,” she added bitingly.

Predictably, her words angered him. “I still matter,” he growled. “You wouldn’t even be alive if I didn’t! But I probably should have let you die anyway.”

“Then you would also die,” she frowned, surprised at how taken aback she felt.

It wasn’t as if Akksul’s feelings about her living or dying really mattered; but Ryder couldn’t help but suddenly remember flashes of how he had leapt to save her without thinking. She had been delirious, maybe she had imagined the whole thing; but then, he definitely had laid her down behind the crates as far from the entrance as possible while he guarded it. The contradiction of his actions and his words frustrated her more than she would have cared to admit. It was silly, really; she knew what he was like, it should have come as no surprise that he had no regard for her as a living being and being angry over it wouldn’t change it, he had definite reasons for wanting to keep her alive that had nothing to do with concern for her well-being and that was that.

“Maybe that’s not too high a price to pay,” Akksul shot back and for a split second Ryder saw again in his eyes the same determination, the same willingness to die she had seen at the Forge; some part of him was still convinced that martyring himself was a good choice, perhaps even the only way to redeem what he had done. The idea filled her with a sudden panic; especially considering that if he had a death wish, there was only so much she could do to stop him, particularly while they were down here.

“What about the Moshae?” she asked. Surely the threat on her life would keep him alive, at least long enough to make sure she was safe. Why do I even care? she wondered suddenly. Any harm that befell him would surely make the Roekaar stronger, even if he no longer lead them she was sure Zivrel would capitalize on it, but she was beginning to realize that a part of what made her anxious about the prospect was that she was becoming used to him; maybe SAM’s absence affected her much more deeply than she realized. And where is SAM…

Akksul was silent for a moment. “I won’t let anything happen to her,” he said firmly, then took a breath and with obvious reluctance he met her eyes again. “Do you have anything useful to suggest?”

Ryder tried hard not to smile in relief; she didn’t want to ruin her chances now that he finally seemed willing to listen to reason. “I think we should explore,” she said a little cautiously, “but first we should go over what we know.”

“You know nothing. You’ve barely just arrived in Andromeda, I studied Remnant ruins for years and not even I recognize those bots or the architecture – I said useful, not examples of your ignorance.”

“There must be some correlation,” Ryder frowned, carefully controlling her tone of voice. She would not let him provoke her this time. “These are Remnant ruins after all, I can’t believe that they just suddenly decided to change how they do things.”

Akksul gave her a flat stare. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. There are many variations of Remnant structures.”

“That may be so, but does it seem logical to you that we haven’t seen a single similarity to ruins we’ve seen elsewhere? Where are the Observers or Assemblers, or any of the bots that turn up at practically every site?”

“The basic construct is still the same, pillars and ferrofluid conduits, even if the architectural design is different,” he said.

“That only indicates that the same base technology was used… what if these aren’t Remnant ruins at all?” Ryder mused.

Akksul scoffed. “Is that what passes for theorizing among your people? Wild guesses?”

“Give me a better explanation,” Ryder demanded, gritting her teeth. She was growing truly tired of his constant need to make supercilious remarks.

“This cannot be anything but a Remnant site,” he replied flatly. “The technology is the same, even if the bots do not match.”

“But these bots are a clear indication that, at the very least, this place was constructed by a different group of their kind.”

“Because you haven’t discovered these particular bots before?” he frowned, clearly dismissing her suggestion. “All that indicates is that you don’t know enough.”

“Because of what we learned about the Jardaan,” Ryder corrected, then hesitated. She wasn’t even sure if Akksul knew anything about the Jardaan; she had shared all the information they had gathered at Khi Tasira with the Resistance and the Moshae, but beyond that she wasn’t sure whether the rest of the angara were aware of the facts, although she was fairly sure the Moshae wouldn’t have kept that information from her colleagues at least.

“Ah, yes, your discovery,” Akksul said sardonically.

“You don’t believe me?” she asked incredulously. “Akksul, your own people have confirmed my findings there!”

“You mean the Resistance has confirmed your findings,” he retorted.

“The Resistance and your scientists.”

“And I should just trust that?” he asked, as if wondering how she could expect such a thing from him.

“What reason do you have not to trust that?”

“I have a long list,” he frowned. “You left the galaxy where you belong to who knows what fate and you come here and expect everyone to be your friend because you were willing to take one of us with you? That’s not a basis for trusting your every word, for all I know you could have left your galaxy in smoldering ruins.”

“I suppose you’re going to say that you know better,” Ryder said irritably.

“I never pretended to like or trust your people,” Akksul said. “And why should I even try to?”

“Because I’ve proven you wrong,” she snapped. “All you’ve done is turn your own people against each other while everything I’ve done has served both our people’s interests. You don’t get to take the moral high ground after that!”

“So you’re saying that blindly trusting you in my best interest? Don’t make me laugh,” he sneered.

“I could have let you die down here, but I didn’t,” she pointed out.

“Why didn’t you?” he demanded hotly. “Isn’t that what you really want, to finally take revenge for what I did to Jaal and kill me?”

“No,” Ryder replied, a little startled at the suggestion. “I don’t doubt or regret my choices, not then and not now. Why would you even think that?”

“I expected no better from you,” he replied dismissively. “You betray your arrogance with every word.”

“Are you angry because I saved you or because you saved me?” she asked, suddenly grasping something about his demeanor that had escaped her until now. He was far angrier whenever the subject of saving each other’s lives came up than was called for. The sudden expression of shock at the unexpected question was confirmation enough, though he immediately masked it with an approximation of contempt.

“Why would I be angry about that? Even if you are useless now, I may need that AI of yours,” he said, but Ryder wasn’t convinced.

“You may need it?” she asked. “Have you suddenly developed an ability to use RemTech, then?”

“This place hardly qualifies as a regular Remnant site, there is nothing to say it works the same way,” he said sourly, but his tone was far less abrasive than before. His eyes appraised her then, clearly making note of how she held herself differently. “Something changed,” he said finally. “You are no longer in pain?”

“No,” she replied cautiously, sure he would somehow turn the observation into yet another accusation. Not wanting to give him the chance, she looked him up and down in turn. “But you clearly are… did that field or whatever it was hurt you?”

Akksul grimaced. “It was as though it started draining my life force, I think that is what was happening to you as well. You paled and your heart slowed so much I was sure you were going to die. My electromagnetic ability seemed to disrupt it somehow though, so I was able to get you out.”

Ryder blushed, flustered at the sudden mental image she had of him pressing an ear to her chest to listen to hear heartbeat; though she knew that there were more ways than one to check for a pulse, that was the one that came to mind, despite not even knowing if Akksul even knew where the human heart was in the first place. Idiot, she chided herself, wondering what possessed her to even think of such a thing. Clearly the insufferable man was causing her brain fever, that or SAM’s absence did; or maybe it was both. SAM’s silence was increasingly making her uneasy.

She cleared her throat. “Why do you think it targeted me and not you?”

“Maybe it doesn’t like aliens,” Akksul said, completely seriously.

Ryder exhaled sharply, exasperated. “Then why did the giant snake thing go after you and not me?”

“The small ones reacted far more hostile to you,” Akksul pointed out.

“The big one went for you,” Ryder repeated flatly.

“There is something they must be attracted to in us,” Akksul mused, then gave her a wary look. “What do we have in common?” he asked.

Ryder blinked. “Well, we are both mammals,” she said.

Akksul shook his head. “Those stars went for you and ignored me until I interfered.”

“Technology!” Ryder gasped, eyes widening as puzzle pieces seemed to snap together in her mind in a rush. “Wait,” a sudden apprehension gripped her as yet another clue fell into place. “SAM?” she asked. “SAM, are you there?”

Silence.

“I thought you couldn’t communicate with your AI,” Akksul frowned.

“This can’t be happening,” she said, horrified, feeling ready to jump out of her skin and she pressed fingertips to her temples as if by some miracle she could reassure herself that the implant was still whole… or even there in the first place. There was no way for her to tell that, however. “I think I lost SAM,” she exclaimed, beginning to pace up and down. “I can’t lose SAM, I would die without the connection! Not to mention that we are trapped here forever if…”

“Perhaps it is temporary,” Akksul said.

“But it makes sense! Think about it: most of the damage we’ve received have been either to keep us out or to disable our technology. The first thing that went was our shields and then… maybe it was SAM’s presence, maybe that’s why it targeted me?”

Akksul frowned, studying her silently for a long moment. “If the Moshae dies because of you, human…”

“I gave her the best protection I could,” Ryder said angrily. “I know you don’t trust that, but…” she cut off, eyes fixed on the wall behind him. “Akksul, look… those weren’t blue before, were they?” she nodded her head at the pillars.

He turned. “No,” he replied, looking suddenly troubled. He approached the pillars and examined them, running fingers over their surface.

Ryder took a few steps backwards to take in the whole chamber, turning around as her eyes travelled across as much of the pillars as she could see. Not all of it was blue, but even as she watched the green glow paled and turned into an icy blue. It was like watching the spread of an infection, or some kind of rewriting process; she was sure it wasn’t immediately dangerous to them, otherwise they surely would have realized it by now, but something was definitely changing and she was very much afraid that they were the cause.

“We need to find out what’s happening,” she said. “Damn it, we need SAM…”

“So we fix your AI,” Akksul said, for all the world as if it were the most obvious thing.

“You don’t understand,” Ryder said. “I have an implant that enables me to communicate with him, but he is also linked to me physically… I feel fine, I shouldn’t feel fine if there’s even a chance… if that thing can disable technology, maybe it damaged it…”

“Our shields and weapons still work,” Akksul said.

“What if it’s because they’re a simpler technology? An AI is far from simple in that sense, neither is the method we use to communicate… I need to figure this out, maybe we can reverse the process! If we capture some of those sparks and study them…” she resisted the urge to keep calling for SAM. She was sure that SAM wouldn’t hold out on her, if he wasn’t speaking it meant that either he was incapable of communicating yet, or that their link had somehow been completely severed. But how am I alive if that is the case? Why do I feel fine?

“Prioritize, woman, we need to get out of here, nothing matters more than that!” Akksul said irritably.

“And I can’t do that without SAM, haven’t you been listening?” she demanded.

“You stopped that snake,” Akksul said, narrowing his eyes. “You didn’t have your AI then.”

Ryder hesitated, trembling from the stomach-churning mix of anger and anxiety. “I have a residual talent for using RemTech after using so much with SAM’s aid,” she admitted. “But with SAM completely gone…”

“If you use it again and it works, perhaps that may indicate whether your SAM is still part of you,” Akksul said patiently.

Ryder stared at him. “You’re right,” she said. “Let’s go! Did you see any consoles down here? Any at all?” A voice in the back of her head said that she was grasping at straws, that even if SAM were completely gone she may be able to use the technology anyway, but she shoved it aside firmly. For all she knew, it could be the trigger SAM needed and she was willing to try anything if it meant getting the connection back.

Akksul wordlessly gestured at the gravity well.

“Right, I’ll try again,” she said, approaching it, but as she reached forward she hesitated. There was more than a little risk in trying to use RemTech without SAM, but more than that, she was very much afraid that nothing would happen.

“Well?” Akksul said impatiently.

Ryder held her hand out firmly and concentrated, focusing on that same feeling, as she had before, straining to feel the well and bring it alive. Her fingers began to tremble and her heartbeat sounded loud in her ears, but she persisted, grasping for that feeling of connection when everything just clicked. After long seconds slipped by, she strained even more, feeling as though she was just at the cusp of breaking through, but she just kept sliding back. Her head was beginning to ache from the effort and just then she felt something stir in her fingers, a whisper…

Gasping, Ryder staggered back and let her hand drop. “I can’t,” she said, vision blurring from unshed tears. She felt wetness on her lip and when she wiped it with shaking fingers they came away red with blood. Her brain seemed to pulse with a washing pain, but worse was the despair closing in around her. I can’t lose SAM…

“That means we do things my way, then,” Akksul said firmly. “We’re going deeper in.”

Ryder shook her head, trying to clear her mind and collect herself. She closed her eyes and took deep, regular breaths. “Akksul, you are hurt.”

“Not hurt badly enough to stop trying,” he said grimly.

She met his eyes and she realized that he was offering her something to focus on to distract her from the gravity of their situation. He knew as well as she did that it was increasingly likely they would die down here, but there was still a sliver of a chance that they might find a different way. Considering him and his opinions on humans, her in particular, she doubted it was an intentional offer of comfort, but she felt grateful anyway; Akksul the Roekaar may be her mortal enemy, but Ryder decided that she was just fine with Akksul the determined scientist.

“We do it your way,” she sighed.

Akksul smiled in triumph and hoisted his weapon. “Keep up, Pathfinder.”

[starlightwrites]

You said you'd write prompts so how about "it’s okay to hurt & breakdown. you don’t have to be strong all the time” with Sara Ryder and your preferred LI? Please and a hundred times thank you!

Hi! Thank you for asking! I used my Sis!Ryder,Cressida, since I am more familiar with her and Liam’s relationship already(aaaaaand I’m a little rusty with Andromeda). I hope that’s alright! I’m sorryin advance if this isn’t quite what you were looking for, but I tried my bestand I hope you like it! Prompt under the cut.

Thank you!!!

–Star

The lastthing Cressida Ryder really remembered was hitting the ground. She barelyremembered shouting about kicking ass while Liam propped her up on his shoulderand Drak looked her over with his best impression of a Krogan raised-eyebrow. Shemobilized the Remnant ship with Cora gripping her arm. Vetra started to reachout to her, but stopped as she stomped past. Re-boarding the Tempest was hazy at best. Then, she wason the bridge, with Lexi looking her over under the too-bright lights. Poking here,prodding there. There was the sharp jab of a needle on hr inner arm as thedoctor slipped her a cocktail of drugs. The world flashed into violent color,burning around her. Cress blinked a few times until the corona around theoverhead light dimmed enough for her to look back at Lexi, who was haloed inrainbow light.

“Am I readyto go?”

“Are you?”Lexi’s scanner lit up orange and swept from Cressida’s feet up to her head. “You’vedied three times now. Three.”

“If I didn’tknow any better, I’d say you were worried about me.”

“Ryder.” Lexididn’t look up from the scanner on her wrist. “We all are.”

Lexi walkedaway and the door to the bridge slid shut before her brain could figure out whatto say. She wondered what SAM would say about it all.

She wrappedher arms around her rib cage as far as they would go and squeezed tight, like shewas trying to hold herself together.

SAM.

SAM wouldknow what to do. SAM was the key to her success as a Pathfinder. Cressida Ryderwithout SAM could barely get Liam and Jaal through the remnant doors and backto the Tempest. They had almost beentrapped down in the bowels of the Remnant City. Jaal’s family would never haveseen him again. Liam wouldn’t have been able to set up a home here. They wouldn’thave made it back to the ship and crew. Her head throbbed hard. Interfacing withthe Remnant consoles had sent bright hot shocks up through her hand, touchingevery nerve as they raced up into her heart. SAM had been the one doing thelegwork with the Remtech. And now, SAM was gone. It felt like she’d been zappedwith a defibrillator fifty times. In fairness, she decided that fifty timesmight be a bit of an exaggeration. But she still felt like she’d been kicked inthe chest by a Fiend.

And she’dalmost killed everyone.

She still could kill everyone. The odds were notin her favor. Cress slumped down into Suvi’s seat and looked around the emptybridge. It was almost never empty.Kallo and Suvi were fighting with reactors or cores or whatever the hell it wasthat ran the ship, and Peebee was helping the rest of the crew out on the deck.SAM wasn’t chimig about messages at her terminal every few seconds. It was justquiet, all around and inside her. It was just Cress and the starmap now. Theremnant city winked at her, massive and ominous in the faint glowing light ofthe screen. She could have gotten up and stood at her console to shut it down,but the energy drained out her fingertips and she curled up in the chair.

She had diedenough times where it should feel blasé, but all she could think was that dadwouldn’t’ve. Dad would have led the charge. Dad would have already been on hisway to Meridian, locked and loaded, while Cress and Scott helped the crew readythe ship for the fight. Dad wouldn’t have needed resuscitation three separate times.She cast a glance at the patched-up N-7 helmet sitting in the corner of the roomwith the other bits of armor she’d dropped so Lexi could look her over. Well. Shewasn’t dad. She was Cressida, and Cressida was scared of dying for good thistime. She thought about Dad handing her his helmet on Habitat 7, knowing fullwell that he would die where he stood right after finally landing boots onAndromeda. His dream. The helmet was laying on its side. At least it was herand not Scott. Scott was a bigger softy she was. Dad must have been so disappointed to have had not one but two pathetic children.

Stop that, she chided. Self-pity never helped anyone.

She buriedher head in her arms, but she was too tired to even properly cry.

Her commblinked and Liam’s voice spilled into her ear, warm and soft.

“You’ve goteveryone working, Pathfinder. Where are you?”

She took aminute to respond, but finally managed to mumble “bridge.”

It tookeverything she had to pull herself up out of Suvi’s chair so she was uprightwhen the doors to the bridge slithered open. She had tried in vain to suit upand was about halfway through fastening her armor over her flight suit. His silhouettefilled up the doorway before the doors closed behind him. Liam always lookedbroader-chested all suited-up. Bigger and stronger than cozytank-top-and-sweats Liam who sat with her and watched movies late into thenight cycle. He looked at her for a minute and she flashed as convincing of asmile as she could manage. He’d seen her cry before, but it didn’t feel rightto cry on his shoulder when she’d almost gotten him sealed inside the Remnantcity. He stopped just short of her and stared until she felt as transparent aspolished glass.

“Hey you.”

“Hey.”

“That was agood speech out there. You can really work it when you need to.”

She didn’tremember half of what she’d said, but at least it must have sounded prettygood. She nodded.

“Bradleysays they’ll throw in however they can.” She had never heard him call Bradleyanything other than “Auggie.” Somehow, that made everything all the more real. “It’slooking good, Cress. Real good.”

“Good,” sheechoed.

He was quietfor a little too long, but she didn’t know how to fill the awkward silence. Sheshot him a grin, but her face wouldn’t quite cooperate. He frowned. That bad?

“Are youokay?” He took her hands gently. “Because I get that this is our one shot andall, but it’s important to me that you’re okay.”

He was usingthat soft, low voice. The same one he’d used when Scott had first woken up andshe’d accidentally shocked him into a coma. Soothing-a-scared-animal-voice. Tearspricked at the corners of her eyes.

“Aww, Liam. You’recute when you worry.” She tried to laugh, but the sound she made didn’t soundmuch like a laugh. He hunched down and brushed a thumb under her eye.

“Hey.”

“Mmhm?” She pressedher lips in a hard line. The tears trapped in her eyelids spilled over. And thenshe was just so frustrated that her cheeks burnt up and she cried even harder. Cresssucked in a deep breath, but that didn’t help at all, and she made thismortifying stuttering sob sound. She could never lie to Liam.

“Come here.”Liam pulled her in against his chest and hugged her tight, hands flat againsther back. His armor was stiff and cold under her cheek, but that felt good withall the blood rushing to her head. Her brain throbbed like it was swollen insideher skull. Drowning in all those tears she was doing a bad job of not shedding.Who was she trying to fool anyways? She’d always been a bit of a crybaby. And nota pretty cry-er either. Scott had made fun of the way her face screwed up andcontorted since they were kids. If she had a scrap more shame, she’d be so embarrassed.Liam pat her back with his chin rested on the top of her head. They stood therelike that until the hiccupping sobs finally faded into slow, steady breathing.

“I’m sorry. Someday, huh? I almost get you killed, and now I cry all over you.” Her voice wassmall and hoarse. She didn’t want to look up at his face just yet. He wouldn’tjudge her. Or be mad at her. Even if she was being selfish, he’d kiss herforehead and say it would all be okay. That was just the kind of guy Liam was,and that was almost worse. He rubbed her arm like he was trying to warm her up.

“It’s okayto hurt and breakdown. You don’t have to be strong all the time.”

He’d managedto catch her off guard with that one. She hiccupped again and when he lookeddown at her face, the gentle laugh pulled an actual smile out of her.

“There yougo.” He kissed her cheek and the suddenness of it brought a sad, teary little giggleup out of the depths of her chest.

“You shouldn’tbe coddling me. I’m supposed to be the Pathfinder.”

“You are the Pathfinder.”  He brushed his fingers over her cheek beforehis hand came to rest against her neck, just under her jaw. The touch spread asoothing heat under her skin, like he was a human hot-shower. She wondered, notfor the first time and not for the last, how in the hell she’d gotten luckyenough to fall in love with a guy like Liam Kosta. “But you’re also Cress. And that’swhy we’ll win this.”

Damnit.

He pressedhis lips against hers gently before scooping up the shoulder segment for herarmor and fastening it on for her.

This wasn’tthe way Dad would have done things. She wasn’t sure how Dad would have done it,but this was how she was going to doit. Her. Cressida Ryder, Human Pathfinder. Liam latched the last seal on hergauntlet and she was ready to go.

[smartalker]

3% Margin of Error

ENTITLED: 3% Margin of Error FANDOM: Mass Effect Andromeda LENGTH: 3k.5 SETTING: Basically the Kadara arc. I didn't follow original dialogue because THAT'S BORING. NOTES: Guess who hasn't written fanfiction in over a year! Glad to know my coping mechanisms are still there for me.

He'd heard the new Pathfinder was young. But this seemed excessive, ridiculous. She had the same loping, lanky body found on a teenager. She couldn't have been older than her mid-twenties. He must have been a decade older. Why was he thinking that?

Reyes was good at reading people, and better at picking up on the things others wouldn't consider. People liked to talk about "the look of the killer" (had she killed before?) or a "battle-weary stare," which was bullshit. This was Kadara. Either you'd seen a fight or you never left your squat.

He was good at working out who was vulnerable, who needed to be complimented, who was a bully. He had to know these things. People were simple, they had their vanities and their secrets. The Angara were surprisingly harder—so open, so emotional. They didn't hide things. Keema, then, became essential.

But: the Pathfinder. Did her youth make her naïve? Incompetent? She had inherited the position from her father, a decision that couldn't have been made without sentiment. Alec Ryder was a legend, true, but legends were frequently failed by their children. It wouldn't have surprised Reyes to learn that the Nexus had appointed her as a figurehead, a distractor to cloak their scrambles. People were desperate for hope.

The Pathfinder liked whiskey. She drank it funny, held it in her cheek. He could almost hear her pushing the stuff through her teeth. She was eyeing the room's Angara, her expression tranquil. Too casual? He couldn't tell. She was direct. She moved a lot, shifting her weight like that—meaning what? Restless? Impatient? Driven.

Reyes held his breath. He was projecting. He wanted her to be something.

She hadn't noticed him yet. He felt old.

More people should have noticed her. She was pretty—but everyone was pretty in their early twenties, that wasn't anything special. Physical beauty began mattering less once humanity merged with aliens and lost a common point of comparison. The bar's patrons had looked at her when she came in—but she had a funny kind of emptiness, a shield of regularity. He could recognize this ability, because it was one he also possessed. Her fame made it more impressive.

She spoke, "So. You like bartending?" Even her goddamn voice was young, sort of flippy. Casual. Like someone who always sounded as though they were about to laugh, but never did. What the hell was wrong with him?

"I hate it. It pays," replied the Asari bartender, continuing her streak of bitter, half-haikus.

"I like it." The Pathfinder leaned more heavily against the counter. "You're like alcohol. So painful, so good. I can see why this place is popular."

"Ugh," said the bartender, but she poured the Pathfinder another drink. "Drink this and die."

"Well, don't get me too excited," said the Pathfinder. As the Asari moved away, and the girl looked down into her glass, something happened. Her body shrank, now slumping. Reyes watched her chest rise, and expel, so slowly. She rubbed one of her eyes, too hard. And she drank like an old soldier.

Now.

He approached her, spoke to her, revealed himself (sort of). He watched her eyes, how they flickered and widened. She could be coy, and was surprisingly good at it—past relationships? He could see why. He wondered if she flirted with everyone. He watched her smile, those perfect teeth the military had paid for, and wondered why he couldn't nail down anything for sure. Why was she so good at revealing nothing? Was it the rumored machine in her head, the AI that could scan him and code him and predict—with an accuracy containing a 3% margin of error—the likelihood of his next move?

No way. No way could she hear all that, and still be able to function. Maybe she could turn the bot off.

"You're awfully handsome for a convenient informant," the Pathfinder grinned. "Does anyone ever tell you to tone down the suspicious?"

"You're pretty young for a Pathfinder. Does anyone ever tell you to grow up?" he didn't say.

The Pathfinder was eyeing his glass. He'd ordered the second best whisky the bar had, hoping to learn something about her by doing so. Would she refuse to pay, or politely endure? "My dad used to drink that," she said, suddenly. "I used to steal it when I was a teenager. I don't think he really noticed for a while but when he did, he sat me down and blindfolded me. I half-thought I was going to be shot, but instead he had me do a taste test. Platinum brand versus bottom shelf. My brother got it right away, he was all 'I see what you mean about the barrels, you can really taste the way the wood interacts with the sugar.' But I didn't have a clue. Worse, I couldn't tell the difference between whiskey and bourbon." She paused. She stopped. She wanted to say more, he could see it on her, but she stopped. She shrugged. Her smile was painful, fake. "I guess the good things are wasted on me."

She felt inferior to her brother, sensing a bond between father and son she'd never been a part of. Her brother was in a coma, Reyes knew. The Pathfinder suspected that her father would have preferred Scott inherit his title. In spite of this, painfully, she loved them. She missed them.

Unexpectedly, she was vulnerable. Her genuine confidence had mislead him from the obvious. She was alone.

"Welcome to Kadara," Reyes said. "There are only bad things here."

But that wasn't true, because she was good. All he had to do was point her towards calamity, and off she ran—the most effective, most destructive hunting dog he could have asked for. That first time he'd sent her off into the wastelands, a large part of him had wondered if he'd killed her. A bigger part thought she'd make it.

But he wasn't a gambling man, and he didn't like believing in things.

"I thought you said this job was a hard one," Ryder said. Dead bodies, everywhere. He didn't think of her by her title anymore, not now that she was building the habit of doing him favors. Her cheek was bruised, because of him.

"I said that because I wanted you to bring back-up," Reyes replied, honestly.

"Too slow. I need another homestead." She paused. "As you may know, people are counting on me. So many people! You'd think the other Pathfinders could help me pull some weight around here."

"And I am among the dependent," Reyes said. His gut twisted. "Maybe you shouldn't be so good at your job."

"You're right. I should get fired." She squatted down, digging a pebble out of her leg plate's grooves. He just stood there, frustrated, watching her. He should kiss her. She should want him.

Ryder sniffed. She winced when she rubbed away the dust on her face, skimming the bruise. "Why don't you?" he asked, "Why don't you just leave?"

"Who knows?" she laughed. "I guess I started thinking I had to save people. What happens if I leave? I mean—maybe everyone dies. Or maybe it's fine. What's worse?" She sniffed again, that low-level kind of sick you get from constant stress. He knew it well.

Moving on. "Have you tangled with Sloane yet? She can't be happy you're here fixing the things she couldn't." As though he hadn't heard, word for word, their nasty exchange. Was Ryder as soft as she looked? So tempting to damage?

Ryder glanced up at him. He hadn't thought she'd look so wary—no, wry?—no—?

"So I guess you're not big on Sloane?" she asked. He didn't reply. Poker face, poker face, half smile, toes pointing to her, interested, keep talking—

"Well," Ryder mumbled. "I mean. Hell, if she's still alive I'm guessing her reflexes are killer. To be honest with you, I don't think she knows her own people. Or her enemies. Or anyone."

"It's easier to seize power than to keep it," Reyes murmured. Ryder smiled.

"You sound experienced."

"That's another way of saying old." Reyes joked. He couldn't see her face. The sun backlit her, throwing her into shadow, hiding everything. She knew. She couldn't know. He'd gotten too close to her, exposed too much in the process of winding down her own defenses, he was wide open, she was—

"I don't think you're old," Ryder said, and suddenly, as though it were wrenched from her, she blushed. He stared. She was—

"Don't tease me," she growled, and stomped off.

—young. She was young.

"I've told the Pathfinder how much you like her," Keema drawled. Keema was more human than Angaran, a cultural chameleon, a born liar. Everybody liked Keema. Reyes glanced up at his partner, his face. They'd been discussing a forced siege of the north Krogan mine—one way to get prices down.

Keema was smiling, catty. She could be furious. Reyes looked back down at the papers he didn't need. "Such a gossip."

"You're an idiot," Keema said, voice tight. She wasn't teasing him. "Don't fuck this up."

Reyes surrendered his papers, his paper-thin nonchalance. "I'm not fucking up anything," he said evenly. "What's got you so rattled?"

"Because it isn't a lie," Keema said. She was staring at him, daring a contradiction. "You're smart, and you're selfish, but you aren't unfeeling. I've never minded that about you. The Angara don't have—what do you call them—sociopaths. Not like humans do. I wouldn't be able to work with you, if you were one. I've noticed that humans like to give labels to things, to separate themselves from it. Sociopath, murderer, monster. But that is ridiculous. There is an ugliness in each of you, just as there is beauty."

"Why are you telling me this?" Reyes asked, voice flat. He tried not to be threatening. Keema would never tolerate it, he would lose her respect almost immediately.

"Because the Pathfinder is a hero, and she is the daughter of a martyr. When she bleeds, her pain is not lonely. Right now she is the most important human in our universe. If things go badly because of you, we will be destroyed."

"They don't know us, Keema," Reyes pressed back. A small voice just behind him whispered concern: what was he doing? As though he actually wanted to hurt The Pathfinder—Ryder—that girl. That girl. "That's our power, the power of the Charlatan. We are anyone."

"We are Kadara," Keema retorted coldly. "Could the Nexus destroy their outcasts? Maybe, maybe not. But I don't want a war, Reyes. I'm actually very simple. I want money. I want power. I want to own this land, and I want a cut out of every deal that happens on this beautiful, vicious place. What is it you want?"

His fists were tight. He made them open. He stood from the table, stretching the muscles of his back. They snapped, popped. He and Keema always met publicly. They were only common citizens, out enjoying a drink. Kadara had more bars than cafés but the patios, if you could find them, were something special. Especially on the windy days, with the sulfur smells diluted.

Keema was right. She had the distance, the perspective. Reyes exhaled.

"No one wants to fight the Pathfinder," he agreed. "She's proven herself to be a considerable force. Behind the name, she has ability to make real progress with settling Kadara—not to mention the other outposts. More outposts means more trade, more customers, more exchange. And Kadara is at the heart of that. If the Pathfinder succeeds, we can only profit."

"Don't forget that she's all that stands between us and the Kett," Keema snorted. Reyes stared at her. Keema smirked, "You now, I think I might like her better than you."

"She doesn't have to get involved with the Charlatan," Reyes stressed. "Or Sloane. She doesn't need to know. She just needs a settlement."

"I agree to some extent," Keema rose to join him at the railing, now sipping her choice Angaran drink. "Most people seem to prefer you without the lies and murder. But be careful, Reyes. She's not stupid, and neither is the computer in her head. No matter how much she might want to believe you, it's in her nature to be honest. She won't lie to herself for long. Get close to her, but not too close."

"You don't need to tell me that."

"Don't I?" Keema glared at him. "You aren't seducing her. You're restrained. That's new."

Reyes looked away.

The hope of humanity kissed like her job was not establishing sustainable life for mankind and associates. She kissed as though her primary occupation was tricking scheming murderers into humanitarianism.

And she was convincing.

She broke away from him, to glance over her shoulder. "I think they left," she whispered, and then punched his shoulder. She could hit pretty hard. "I can't believe you're stealing in front of me."

"What I do, I do for you," Reyes protested, reeling. Ryder glanced back, narrowing her eyes.

"If that were true, you'd owe me less money."

"I thought we put these things behind us," Reyes brushed past her, just happening to find her waist, just happening to pull her along. The Pathfinder had a way of stealing his momentum. "Won't you join me?"

"I guess this is the real date," she almost purred. He smiled. Little cat.

He led her upwards, as high as the buildings in Kadara would go, which helped with the smog and the fumes. The sunset was spectacular—a poisoned atmosphere would do that. Ryder sat next to him, swinging her legs through the open air. She said, "I'm not sure I believe that you stole this for me, the way you're holding that bottle."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It's indecent." She made a show of averting her eyes. She liked him—but how much? When was it not enough, and when did she come too close? "Anyway, I told you. Anything in a bottle costing more than twenty credits is wasted on me."

"Nothing is wasted on you. Nothing is too good." Reyes said sharply, so intense that she flinched, and looked away. Lies could be honey, but kindness turned violent. Reyes pulled back. "Go ahead," he said, more gently. "Drink."

She drank, repeating the same funny gesture as before. Holding things in her cheeks, straining through teeth. She swallowed, and looked at him. For approval? The liquor had made her eyes burn, they shone in the twilight. So close to him. "What do you taste?" he whispered.

"The same as always. It's awful and it burns going down. It's hot in my mouth." She looked at the bottle, sniffing. "500 years old and I still can't get it."

"No," he reached for the bottle. His hand felt hers, but didn't hold it. He drank. "It's a full throated taste. The sugar has almost rotted, it clings to your teeth. I think someone added cloves, at some point."

"Well, well," she murmured. She pulled her knees up against her chest, now looking even younger. He wondered if she got cold easily, or if she was just running away from him. "I should have known you had a discerning palette."

"You have no idea." He handed back the bottle. Her fingers were frozen, now that he noticed. He kissed her. What he really wanted was for her to kiss him. Her skin was as hot as a baby's, an oven. Her life boiled inside her. He wanted all of her heat.

"Would you like to know what's special about you?" he told her. Seduce her, Keema had said. "For you, it only tastes like poison. But you keep drinking anyway."

500-year-old whiskey, aging slowly as Reyes and Ryder slept their way through space. Some lonely soul, alive only to keep things from going to shit—chose whether to brew with wheat, or corn, or rye. Like a gift from the past, set aside for someone else.

And now, his.

"I knew you liked me," the girl said, bright-eyed. She touched his face. Her hands weren't cold anymore.

"Did Keema tell you?"

"I knew before that."

"I was obvious."

"No, you wanted me to know." She looked straight at him, something serious and unknown lurking in her tone. Something analytical. Not human.

"Do you know what I like the most?"

"What?"

"You like me back."

His relief, when she smiled.

(His desire: pathetic and childish and hateful, to ask, "Would you still want me, if I wasn't the person you thought I was?" Infantile and embarrassing. He refused to ask. He deserved her hatred. He deserved it.)

His girl, watching Sloane die. Her expression had shutters. She could ruin him. "You lied to me," she accused, with resignation. She couldn't leave him now. "You're the Charlatan," she concluded. She knew. She knew. She had seen the things he did, or ordered. All the things he'd warned her of, coming true in an instant. Uglier than expected.

"Nothing has to change," he tried not to beg. He had never thought he'd beg. She watched him, hand on her gun. He stepped nearer. It didn't matter if she shot him. Without her, it was over. All cards on the table, all bets riding on the heart he couldn't read.

She looked young, and crumpled, and bruised. Because of him.

"I'm sorry," he said. His heart, slamming on his ribs, trying to escape.

"You lied to me," she said again, "About everything. I trusted you. Actually—you knew how I felt. You used me."

"I thought that if you knew, you would feel differently about me," Reyes begged. "I was afraid. You could have destroyed me. You still can."

"I won't destroy you, Reyes," she said quietly. He felt no relief. Sometimes, he had dreamed about hurting her—dreams that he woke from feeling sick, disturbed. He had hurt a lot of people. It could become satisfying.

"Nothing has to change," he said again. He took her hands—icy. "We'll remake Kadara, together. Your outpost will have my complete support—and you'll have a center for trade. You know I can manage that. You know I can help you."

"I know," she answered, after a brief pause. Had she run the statistics? Did she see the things they could achieve? She drew into herself, then faced him. "You're right. We could do a lot together."

"There are things you shouldn't have to do," Reyes said quietly, with meaning. "Not in your position. But I can. I can help you in ways that nobody else could. You know it's true. You can trust me. There's nothing left to hide."

She drew back still further. "I don't believe you."

"Then leave me, and do it now." Reyes said. "If something's over, you should end it. I'm not a good man, Ryder. I won't give up on you, and I won't change. You'll have to deal with me eventually."

She bit her lip, shaking her head, until eventually, she snorted. His grip on her hands tightened. He'd pushed too hard. "You're such a manipulative shit," she mumbled, then added in a clearer voice. "My AI wants you dead."

He'd won.

"Do you agree?"

"No," she faced him, her face blazing. "Even now, I want to believe. If not in you, then in your ability. Your desire to see things improve. I was doing great things before I met you, and I did those things myself. You should see that."

"I want you to believe in me too," Reyes said, meaning it.

"I do. But I also know better." She sighed, now staring at Sloane's corpse. The body was still bleeding. He waited for her to say something. She didn't. He had made her older.

"When you were young, did you think you'd be stuck with someone as terrible as me?" he asked, tone light. Her hands were warming, the longer he held them. Did he want to drag her down, or have her pull him up? He thought, suddenly, of a game he'd played when he was very small—when he and a friend had joined hands, and leaned as far backwards as their arms would stretch. Only the other person's support kept them from falling.

Ryder's lips twitched. She was still looking at Sloane. "I wanted someone handsome and kind and rich, but mostly, I hoped I'd meet someone exciting."

"I can be exciting."

"You're too exciting," she snorted. He had won, he had won.

"You have no idea." He pulled her to him. "Believe in me."

"Absolutely not." She'd forgotten Sloane. Her heart was young and alive. She had too many things to do.

"You will." He promised her mouth, her frozen hands. "You will."

[jadelwheel]

Pathfinder is Bullshit

Welcome back to the most irregularly updated blog known to man, as well as that one monkey blog. So I have noticed that this wonderful game of ours is completely full of fucking garbage.

The Problem #1: I’ve been competitively fencing for about 10 years. Considering you fight against literal monsters, that’s not an unreasonable expectation of a PC. But when I whip out my epee (think a nonlethal estoc), I can make a whole lot more than 4 attacks in 6 seconds, and I sure as fuck ain’t level 20. If I’m jerking myself off, I’d say I’m level 5. Pathfinder says that I can make 1 attack every 6 seconds, the length of a round. But using a stopwatch, I can make about 8-10 attacks in 6 seconds that’d have enough force to hurt someone if the blade was pointed. That’s because Pathfinder thinks a dagger attacks as fast as a greatsword.

The Solution: What I would do is grant bonus attacks, kinda like Two-Weapon Fighting, based on weapon size. When making a full attack, light weapons would get 2 extra attacks, and one-handed weapons get 1 extra attack. Finesse-able weapons, like the rapier and elven curve blade, are treated as one size category smaller for the purpose of bonus attacks if the wielder has the Weapon Finesse feat. In addition, the Two-Weapon Fighting feat acts kinda like Multiattack for animal companions, where you can use it, and any feat listening TWF as a prerequisite, with a single weapon, but these specific extra attacks are treated as offhand attacks, and take an additional -5 penalty on attack rolls.

The Problem #2A: Guns work nothing like this. Advanced firearms and on, sure fine fuck it, that’s pretty close. If anything, I’d bump up their damage dice by a level or two to be realistic. But let’s use the musket, an early two-handed firearm, as an example. In Pathfinder, all guns except the fire lance target touch AC, indicating that they can punch through even the toughest armor. Not true. Maybe with the culverin, it being a cannon, but early guns couldn’t pierce armor. In fact, not only could knights in full dress barely feel getting shot, with armor as low down on the pecking order as chain mail, gunshots would just leave welts. That’s right, bringing a musket on a Crusade would be as effective as bringing a paintball gun to a nudist beach. Early guns had nothing to do with armor being all but abandoned, their primary benefit being their ease of use (despite their wild inaccuracy), they scared horses and other animals, they probably scared the people that didn’t have guns, and depending on the nation they were cheaper to make than crossbows, which also didn’t require incredibly specialized training like bows did. Guns would fucking hurt, the bullets often becoming shrapnel if they could get through armor. Some asshole named Puckle hated Muslims so much, that the guns he made could fire spherical bullets to be used on Christians, but could also fire cube bullets, which hurt a lot more but are less predictable in flight path, to be used against ‘Saracens’. If anything, Pathfinder guns should do a tick more damage, even though they outclass everything already. Armor was phased out because swords became better. The mercy dagger was always a fairly common sidearm, being a knife that could go through the eye slits in a helmet. But rapiers and such developed as a means of getting through the small gaps in between plates. Since armor became less useful, it was just weighing knights down, and was still very expensive.

The Solution: Early firearms target AC, like everything else. All guns go up a damage die, or two in some cases, maybe even doing a point of bleed damage to represent the shrapnel effect. All handheld early firearms get a static -1 to hit rolls to represent their inaccuracy. Handheld firearms are martial weapons, but siege weapons stay as exotic. In a round that the wielder fires a gun, they can make an intimidate check as a swift action. If the attack lands and deals damage, the wielder gains a +5 bonus on this check. The wielder treats a shaken opponent as flat-footed for the purpose of AC, but not for any other effects and abilities. This all makes guns pretty powerful, even moreso, but they are counteracted by the second reason guns are bullshit

The Problem #2B: Early guns were fucking slow. How slow? Like as slow as Pathfinder thinks siege guns are. I’m not talking about the speed of the bullets (though some bullets were slow enough that supposedly you could see them travel). I’m talking about reload speed. Let’s bring back our friend the musket. In Pathfinder, it takes a full-round action to reload a two-handed firearm, in other words 6 seconds. With rapid reload, a standard action. With rapid reload and alchemical cartridges, it’s a move action. That means you can fire once every round with a musket if you have both, or 10 times a minute. If you’re a very specific type of gunslinger, you can get this down to a free action. With rapid shot and level 20, that’s 5 shots a round, 50 a minute, but you have to be at the absolute pinnacle skill level of a musket. So let’s look at the real world people who were at that pinnacle. You know how many shots they could make a minute? 3. Not 50, 3. With fucking baller hand speed and special training, reloading took just under 20 seconds. This could be increased artificially using the precursor to the spotter, sometimes called an armsman. A really good shot would be partnered with a really bad shot. The good shot would carry two muskets, fire them in quick succession, and the shooter and the armsman would each take a musket and reload together, and repeat, bumping up the shots per minute to 5 or 6. Certainly not fucking 50.

The Solution: Early firearms take 3 full-round actions to reload a barrel of a two-handed firearm, and two full-round actions for one-handed. Rapid reload and alchemical cartridges no longer stack, and turn these full-round actions into standard actions, so the reloader can still move, and gunslinger abilities make these move actions, so the wielder can shoot once every 2 rounds if they don’t move (the musketeer archetype lets you treat two-handed guns as one-handed for reloading). Being /very/ generous, but at least when it gets to the gunslinger’s turn, he won’t say ‘I’m still reloading, ignore me for two rounds’. It also rewards switch-hit builds, which have been good for RP, but not very worthwhile from a power perspective.

Now, none of this is balanced, this is for realism. And the reality is, not all weapons are created equal. Plenty of the weapons in this game of ours were straight-up replaced by others throughout history. But if you’re an over-analyzing assbomb like me, then it’s something to think about next time you run a game. There’s plenty more things I could do to call Pathfinder bullshit, but my phone battery has gone from full to 28% over the course of writing this.

Thanks for reading! Revel in your filth.

[fifa16mall]

New Post has been published on http://www.ufut16.com/probably-the-most-well-liked-poe-3-3-builds/

Probably the most Well-liked PoE 3.3 Builds

PoE 3.3: The Bestiary league and Hardcore Bestiary league are the upcoming challenge leagues. PoE 3.3 released on March 2, 2018. In this Post, PoeCurrencyBuy will share The most Well-liked PoE 3.3 Builds for you personally.

[PoE 3.3 Witch Build] Burning Spectres – Torch the Atlas – HC Shaper, Elder, Uber Atziri – 10k+ EHP, 70/70 block

Raise Spectre primarily based summoners to plow via nasty maps and bosses with minimal investment. Defense is easy to scale, and offense scales with all the amount of your Raise Spectres, the number of hyperlinks you are able to provide them, and to a lesser extent your gear. 10k EHP soaks up all, however, the most devastating one-shot mechanics, and in the end game you can max out both block and spell block. Need a low-priced 6-link? A Tabula Rasa can take you all of the ways to Shaper.

This build focuses on two kinds of Raise Spectres that benefit from all of the identical assistance gems:

Yokohama’s Vanguards cast a tanky Scorching Ray totem that deals massive damage if the burning gets to stack up. The Totems also reduced the fire resist their targets by -1% per burn application, down to -24%. This stacks using the -50% fire resist from Elemental Equilibrium. Although the resistance penalty in the Yokohama’s Vanguards’ totems is not going to exceed -24%, no matter the number of Totems, every Totem will contribute a Raise Spectre harm over time technique. So the more totems, the much more Damage.

Wicker Males are giant bears that use Righteous Fire to deal AoE damage to anything around them. They were balanced in 3.1, but are still somewhat relevant within this setup. Their RF auras don’t stack, however they give outstanding AoE coverage for evident speed. They are excellent for clearing out the trash mobs so the Vanguards can concentrate around the tanky stuff.

Also, we use Animate Guardian wielding 2 x Dyadus Axes, that will make enemies take 200% additional burning harm when chilled. Dyadus also has the impact of chilling enemies for 1 second or two.five seconds together with the Icetomb chest piece.

PoE 3.3 UpLoad: GAINS: 2% minion Life Regen, 20% minion Damage and Life, 50% decreased Convocation cooldown. Zombie’s slam can’t be evaded. Endgame bosses could be taunted! Phantasms for leveling! LOSSES: 17% block and spell block and ~300 life on the block. Repair BLOCK WITH Block passives, Advancing fortress, Shaper Amulet/Shield, Reckless Defense Jewels + Ahn’s Contempt + Belt of the Deceiver + Indomitable passive. Other choices: Tempest Shield, The Anvil, Rumi’s, The Red Nightmare, hybrid Dodge/Block.

Pros: + Cheap to acquire started + Outstanding league starter + Extremely HC viable + Quick going around the FPS + 10k+ Successful HP with MoM + Excels at carrying out hard high-level content material like Guardians, Shaper, Uber Atziri, and Elder + Can do any map mod + Reflect immune + Crit immune with Reckless Defense setup + Spectres are close to immortal as a consequence of their HP and boosted life regeneration + Max block and spell block, with 300+ life, gained on the block + Do Uber lab with ease

Cons: – Map evident speed just isn’t top rated tier. Can swiftly transform to a Solar Guard setup for clear speed – The animated guardian can die in the event you play sloppy or neglect to give it the suitable defenses – Chayula’s Domain is a bit tricky as a result of Raise Spectre mobility and pathfinding. However, the actual boss can be a joke.

Creator: Natt

PoB Hyperlink: https://pastebin.com/whALtFBA

Skill Tree: https://goo.gl/9PVdTC

Example Hyperlink: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1971585

  [PoE 3.3 Templar Build] Glacial Cascade Totems – Inquisitor and Hierophant

For those who do not run King Kaom roots, stibnite is the best factor to run it on, due to the fact it has the lowest cost (ten charges), the most utilize (3), and is tied for the most extended base duration (5s). Running out of applications on stibnite is hard. But obviously, if you are running King Kaom roots stibnite becomes useless. In the event you aren’t, it really is an excellent defense flask.

Pros: + Do it all. Any map mod. Any boss. Should you want to fill out your atlas and see each of the content in the game with 1 character, then this can be a great build play. + Safe. Totems by nature are secure as a result of distance and reflect going to Totems instead of the Templar. On top rated of that Glacial Cascade can be an enormous region of impact spell that freezes. + Thoughts more than Matter. Speaking of protected, MoM is amongst the very best defensive Keystones and is simple to gear for. + Beginner and League-Starter friendly. Leveling, mapping, and progressing the build feels smooth. + Large Single Target Damage. The mechanics of Glacial Cascade can hit exactly the same enemy greater than when using the identical cast. Swapping of skill gems can cause ?¡ãMore?¡À multipliers if required. Cons: – Totems are usually not for everyone. Players appear to enjoy or hate them. That getting stated, this version of Totems is usually a lot more ?¡ãactive?¡À than other Totem builds. I definitely appreciate Totems and maybe you’ll as well immediately after playing this build! – Have not personally tested Hardcore. A number of people on this thread have talked about a variation in the guide for Hardcore which involves dropping the Shadow crit location for the scion life wheel.

Poe 3.3 Updates: New YouTube video! Deathless Shaper Kill! Added Support for Hierophant! The guide has gone via a little of a revamp because the Ascendancies have at the same time. Fast reference, Gems, and Links are all updated with considerations to Hiero. Inquisitor remained fairly untouched. The skills, gear, and jewels remain precisely the same although a handful of new items now seem as options for the build. Added Atziri’s Reflection to Shields Section Added a “League Start” in the bottom of Guidelines and Tricks. Hierophants try to find Hrimsorrow to let the use of sharp pen! Added notes about Hierophant vs. Inquisitor in the Questions section Changed all references to “Threshold Jewel” to “The Lengthy Winter Jewel” to prevent confusion. Added Notes for Cold Pen in light of Hiero inside the Gems Section as well as Vaal Clarity and mention of a 4-link Lightning Warp Setup! Added snapshot of my final Gear at the end of 3.1 Abyss League within the Gear Section.

Creator: thi3n

PoB Hyperlink:

Inquis – https://pastebin.com/PbrkFsjc Hiero – https://pastebin.com/36r2B0b3

Skill Tree: https://goo.gl/ZqMNHq

Instance Hyperlink: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1976479

  [PoE 3.3 Marauder Build] Ahn’s May possibly Juggernaut – Uber Lab Farmer – League Starter – Shaper + End Game

This build is often a much more balanced approach to uber lab farming that allows us to have a character which will effectively map. We utilize fortify, and endurance charges over common flat Armour are scaling to obtain our defenses for Izaro. The Juggernaut ascendancy offers us bonuses to endurance charges as well as has the option of supplying us rewards to fortify also. This implies that we will not be able to face roll by way of traps, but we still have lots of defense for Izaro without sacrificing as well really hard around the harm side with the build.

The strengths of Ahn’s May well with the Juggernaut ascendancy indicates that we’re able to have around the low attack speed base by permitting us to scale accuracy to assist with attack speed (which Ahn’s may possibly offer). Ahn’s May well also supplies the area to help out with Cleave‘s normally lousy location of impact to help with mapping and speed clearing. Lastly, we get around the low crit base of Ahn’s Could by utilizing all the bonuses to crit for dual wielding inside the Marauder and Duelist sides in the skill tree and later the sword nodes inside the Ranger section. Lastly, the higher flat physical harm the swords provide implies that our very best means of scaling harm is through % bonuses to damage and crit multi as well as utilizing sources of added physical damage as components.

The build makes use of cleave as our major skill. This is as a result of Cleave working with each hands-on attacks (as opposed to other abilities that alternate among the main hand and offhand) and possessing a higher base for damage. Cleave also offers us fortify on hit using the threshold jewel also an Area of effect to help with clearing.

Poe 3.3 Updated: This build is viable in 3.3 and, if something, got some nice buffs in the Juggernaut Ascendancy changes. Pending new uniques or any dominant passive tree adjustments the gearing, and passive tree from the build will probably be precisely the same. The Juggernaut buffs give us some nice boosts in damage, defense, and utility which must make the build a bit smoother to play overall.

The build isn’t as low cost as advertised, but this is very easily the top character I’ve ever had 3 days inside a league. Not that I hold the price against OP here, it seems like this build blew up given that it was written. All that mentioned, my character is ~200 chaos worth of gear give or take at this point, and he blows by means of yellow maps with no issue. I tried doing my uber lab earlier nowadays without the need of accomplishment; charges have been just also a lot for me to handle. Resists and life are on the low finish, with my life sitting around 4200, and an upgrade from here will likely be inside the dozens of chaos variety. Some fantastic, some poor for me so far, but the power is there when you finally get factors in location.

Creator: camera

PoB Hyperlink: https://pastebin.com/1evRJZuc

Skill Tree: https://goo.gl/rT5LMX

Instance Hyperlink: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2048886

  [PoE 3.3 Templar Build] Pizza Sticks: Flameblast Totem Hierophant! [Hugely buffed in 3.two! Guide completely updated!

Flameblast charges up while you channel it, growing in damage and AoE the longer you hold it before releasing. Classic Flameblast builds have struggled with all the awkwardness of standing nonetheless for such an extended period. This build does away with that by possessing totems do it for us, letting us run around at our leisure although our Totems blow up the whole screen. We are able to take advantage of Flameblast’s huge damage with no compromise, and add on a strong defensive foundation via Thoughts over Matter and good quality of life by means of Hierophant.

Pros: + Higher harm. 500k shaper DPS is achievable with reasonable gear. Each hit in a common clearing setup deals >100k damage even with average Gear, + one-shotting every little thing without having failed. + Big area of effect, adequate to single entire packs of monsters. + Can do all map mods. + Can do all content as much as and like Shaper promptly and safely (see videos section). + Totems are naturally protected – you reflect immune, never have to stand still to deal harm, and have extreme variety. This build supports security that with 8k EHP and vast amounts of regeneration. + No unique items essential. + Simple, hardcore viable, beginner friendly, self-found friendly build. If you’re new to Path of Exile and have any added queries or never comply with something within this guide, PM me and I will do my most effective to help! Cons: – Really, really dependent on cast speed as a consequence of needing to hit 10 Flameblast stacks just before the totem releases. Can feel quite clunky without sufficiently improved cast speed (quite a great deal anything beneath 100%). – Fairly a related playstyle, stats, etc. to Glacial Cascade totems, but GC doesn’t endure from the cast speed problems noted above. – Totem playstyle is offputting to many individuals. Hopefully, I can win some of you more than with this build!

3.two Update: New Hierophant can be a large boon for this build. It now bargains a lot more damage than Inquis, has improved survivability than Inquis, and has way greater high-quality life than Inquis. So that is pretty cool.

Playing mixed totems inside the campaign now and it really is extremely rapid and fun! Frostbolt totem for clearing and Flameblast totem for bosses and also other toughies. This way you get the most beneficial of both worlds: Frostbolt is superb for removing but bad against tough mobs, and Flameblast is great against bosses, etc. but lacks evident speed. It’s so superior that I encourage everybody who reads this to offer it a try. You may need 2x Frozen Trail jewels for Frostbolt but go for it as soon as you may afford them (and have two 4L items and two jewel sockets). Just after all, we’ve got plenty of free Sockets. I’m quite convinced that that is the way to go, at least for playing the campaign (can’t inform however how viable it truly is for maps and endgame). On a side note, this also makes it easier to capture beasties.

Creator: Viperesque

PoB Link: https://pastebin.com/jm9NBFJ4

Skill Tree: https://goo.gl/5ZRU6i

Instance Link: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1730745

  [PoE 3.3 Duelist Build] [Slayer/Reave/Blade Flurry] Embrace the Madness [Oni-Goroshi/Budget to End Game]

When Oni-Goroshi was added towards the game, I read lots of superior and evil items about it, so I decided to attempt it myself. I usually base my characters on current builds that I customize to my requires. This time I could not obtain a build that I wanted to play, so I decided to make one myself. I wanted it to be in a position to deal with all content material: maps/bosses / uber lab… That’s what this build can do (I know some hater is going to pass by and say it is a lie due to the fact this build cannot do HoGM but I never care).

The result is surprisingly sturdy! Even with low budget gear, this build has outstanding evident speed, awesome single target DPS, and high survivability. I was lucky to get two swords in about 6-7 hours of farming, and they had been strictly identical, so I decided to possess 1 for map clearing and one particular for single target and to swap in accordance with the circumstance. Pros: + great clear speed + incredible single target DPS melts bosses + invincible in uber lab + spending budget friendly simply because you get your 6L at no cost + Slayer ascendancy + Her Embrace makes you immune to practically anything + can do all content (99% of it) + incredibly higher leech will let you Facetank a lot of things Cons: – can’t do these map mods : – no leech – no regen – 60% less recovery – elemental reflect – physical reflect (unless you can equip Sibyl’s Lament)

PoE 3.3 updated: The only issue that may be viewed as-nerf is Bane of Legends being moved right after Headsman. This only means that we will not be able to level up with 20% life culling strike and cost-free onslaught any longer. This will make leveling a little slower, but it really is not that bad. Life Leech effects are not removed on complete life has been moved to Brutal Fervour so we will not be able to have it as quickly as prior to but it’s not a nerf given that we still have it.

The buffs are : Headstand -> can’t take reflected physical damage. Yay! Now we can cease rerolling indicated physical harm on maps 🙂 Brutal Fervour -> 30% increased expense whilst leeching. Good to have as you’ll normally be leeching, so it is like a Perma buff. Endless Hunger -> immune to bleeding although leeching. We won’t bother about bleeding through leveling! This slightly adjustments the order I recommend you spend your ascendancy points in : Endless Hunger -> Brutal Fervour -> Headsman -> Bane of Legends (much more details in the Ascendancy section)

Creator: these

Skill Tree: https://goo.gl/uYLVAe

Example Link: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2072492

  [PoE 3.3 Shadow Build] The Snowblind Cospri CoC Assassin – Projectile based CoC

This build is making use of each a Cospri’s Malice as well as a 6-link Cast on crit link each with Frostbolt and Freezing Pulse. As a result of not going with Discharge, we are not bound to work with Voll’s Devotion amulet, and may rather make use of the Pandemonius to blind everything we touch, adding the layer of defense towards the build, hence the Snowblind name.

Poe 3.3 updated: The build is much better than ever with the new Assassin buffs. We got some high survivability against bosses from the Opportunistic ascendancy node, also as a sweet 100% inc. Single target harm. The offensive stats section will not be updated with the new buffs yet, but it only went up. You will discover perhaps some new uniques that could be improved for the build that is going to become found as we progress additional into the league, but at the moment I will retain the exact same gear setup for the guide.

Creator: Crovaxx

PoB Hyperlink: https://pastebin.com/1EZX8XPq

Skill Tree: https://tinyurl.com/y8kejr96

Example Hyperlink: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1625254

  [PoE 3.3 Ranger Build] Sidefx Frost Blades – Fast t1-15 MAPPER, Awesome League Starter!

This build focuses on higher attack speed to unleash a series of chaining projectiles with 86% cold pen, high crit likelihood and superb attack speed in a practically 360 radius about you, killing anything that dares come close. The weapon variety increases with each degree of Frost Blades, so even when it is actually a melee skill, with correct positioning, you’ll be out of harm’s way the majority of the times you`re inside a fight. It is a full Elemental build at 100% raw conversion, dealing no physical harm, for that reason physical reflect mods will not have an effect on you. Evident speed sensible, while not competing with Vaal Spark (dead), it is more rapidly than most builds available and somewhat less expensive. Just a 4-Link setup can get you up to T10 maps if you`re cautious. This is a Softcore build. In case you need to play Hardcore, just ensure you choose additional Life nodes as opposed to Harm nodes. Poe 3.3 updated: The alterations in Poe 3.3 hardly impacted the build, all we lost was 12% move speed from ascendancy which honestly is not that huge of a deal as we still FLY by means of maps. ** Updated the Final skill tree, and each of the living trees before it’s just fine. Gear section might be updated more than the league as We see what new items/old items we are able to use on the build

Pros: + Perma freeze most mobs + Higher DPS + Awesome AoE + Super fast map clear + great Life Leech w/ out Old Vaal pact Cons: – Is usually high priced, esp to min max – glass cannon, You need to study to position 100% hit move hit move etc. – can run into troubles using a single target (bosses)

Creator: Sidefx06

PoB Hyperlink: https://pastebin.com/Qaz03Ttv

Skill Tree: http://poeurl.com/bIpU

Instance Link: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1848749

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[game-refraction]

Game Review: Mass Effect - Andromeda (PS4 Pro)

Right from the start, Mass Effect: Andromeda felt lazy. The shift to a whole new galaxy with the dream of exploring strange new worlds and interacting with elements never before seen in a Mass Effect game held such promise. This dream, however, never comes to fruition as Andromeda never attempts to carve new ground or offer us new gameplay experiences and plays it far too safe for its own good. While the game can certainly entertain, and the final few hours are nothing short of breathtaking, the journey there is filled with a mostly “been there done that” approach, not to mention the technical shortcomings that are apparent everywhere, no matter your platform.

Mass Effect: Andromeda sees you play as one sibling of the Ryder family, choosing either a male or female lead. This choice will mostly dictate your relationships in the game as I never felt that my choice as playing as a female Ryder had any weight to the core story or my interactions with characters throughout the journey. The character creation system is fairly bare bones and just attempting to craft anyone even remotely attractive was a chore that took me almost an hour from start to finish, mostly due to the fact you create both male and female siblings. Once I was fine with the customizing of the Ryder family I set forth to do my part in the Andromeda galaxy.

Andromeda begins on the Ark Hyperion, a ship containing thousands of individuals in cryostasis as they made their 600-year journey to the Andromeda galaxy, specifically the Helios cluster. Your Ryder character is brought out of cryostasis as you approach a golden world, a planet that is suitable for supporting a new way of life for those aboard the ship. Certain events occur early on when you find one of these supposed golden worlds and you suddenly become the Pathfinder, an individual charged with tracking down new locations that can play host to settling down new colonies. You are also gifted an AI called SAM that is crucial to the work the Pathfinder needs to do, and a relationship that offers new discoveries that will lead to the very survival of the Andromeda Initiative itself.

Eventually, you’ll gain control of your own ship and can traverse the Helios cluster to explore these strange new worlds and seek out new civilizations, but you’ll soon discover that this large open map is mostly a sham, giving you only a few select planet’s that you can actually explore and the vast majority is there just to scan for resources. When I found my first derelict ship I was heartbroken that I could only scan the vessel for resources instead of boarding the ship and seeing what dangers would await me. Sure, you’ll come across a few ships that you can actually board but those are mission specific and not part of any free-formed exploration. This large sprawling space map is made even worse by the excessive loading times of panning out from one planet to the next, and while a recent patch has made this a bit more bearable, the 60 hours I spent pre-patch would slow the game to a crawl when I would bounce from planet to planet to scan for resources. There are even a few side quests that involve tracking various things through space and they are the most tedious activities I’ve ever seen in a Mass Effect game.

As you explore the Helios cluster you’ll encounter the Nexus, a central hub that is designed as the port for other Ark’s containing various species like the Asari, Salarian, and more. It is here that you’ll discover that not everything about the Andromeda Initiative is going as planned and frankly, they are shocked when your Ark actually shows up. You’ll visit this location so often that it tends to lose its charm after a while and you begin to notice how lifeless this game can be. You’ll rarely see NPC’s walking about or doing anything constructive. Sure, you’ll see dozens of people standing around, but that’s it, they are just standing around. There is much talk in the game about how the people that are unthawed from cryostasis are specialists and are important to the Andromeda Initiative, but you’ll see the same guy sitting on the same couch for the entire game.

Once you are given the task to find new golden worlds to colonize, you’ll start to be able to set down outposts on planet’s that can support life. The first planet to allow you to do this is Eos, a planet covered in various levels of radiation. Eventually, you’ll discover the Nomad, a six-wheeled vehicle that can shield you from most of that radiation, but not all of it. The Nomad is a blast to drive around and a huge upgrade from the Mako from previous Mass Effect games. As you explore Eos you’ll discover the Remnant, a race of sentient robots that look to protect locations called vaults. These vaults are crucial in making planets viable for life and are unlocked by solving sudoku style puzzles that can become fairly tedious to solve after a while. The vaults are large sprawling locations that are very enjoyable dungeon-like experiences with a few puzzle mechanics thrown in here and there. When a vault has been completed you will start to see the planet’s environmental hazards lessen and this is true on every planet you’ll visit that contains a vault. This will then open up more of the planet to explore after a while and give you more to do. I did find it odd that you only ever set up one outpost per planet despite the sheer size of said planet. I would have loved the ability to scan the planet from space and set down outposts on sections of the surface that showed high concentrations of certain resources, even if I couldn’t visit them. I feel this would have made the Andromeda Initiative feel more productive than what the game currently offers.

It was going to be impossible for a new protagonist to rightfully follow in the footsteps of Commander Shepard, and they more or less did an ok job here with Ryder. With the removal of the paragon and renegade system to dictate the path of your Ryder, the changes here are small differences in dialogue, but this system tends to fall flat. Ryder just isn’t consistently interesting and the dialogue doesn’t always convey what is actually said when picking certain options. There is even a dialogue choice with Suvi later on where both responses mean the exact same thing. This fumble with the dialogue system makes Ryder feel less like your own creation and more like a scripted strict-canon character. There are some strong moments with Ryder that make me hopeful the character gets better treatment the next time around.

The original Mass Effect games contained some of the most memorable and compelling characters of any video game franchise. Characters like Garrus, Tali, Liara, Mordin, and Thane, were just amazing and I could easily spout out half a dozen more. Even side characters that you couldn’t equip to your squads were impressive and felt like real people, fleshed out with well-written dialogue and believable interactions. Andromeda just doesn’t compare with even some of the series more bland characters and easily has the worst cast of the entire franchise. There are Cora and Liam who are by the book generic human characters who rarely have anything worth saying and never made me care about them at all. The Turian, Vetra Nyx, started off really impressive but started to fade and become less interesting the further the game went on. Nakmor Drack is the typical grizzled old Krogan and echo’s much of what we’ve seen before with a Krogan companion. I will say that Nakmor paired with certain people on a mission can result in some fun and often hilarious conversations, especially about a certain someone’s parentage.

The last two members of the team are Jaal and Peebee and are the only two characters that really stood out for me. Jaal is an Angara, one of the new races of aliens you will encounter in your travels. While he can feel written like this game’s version of Javik from Mass Effect 3, he becomes our window into the Angara race and one of the more interesting parts of the game. Peebee, however, stole the show for me and joins the ranks of characters like Jack, Mordin, and Thane. I flat out loved Peebee and she was never removed from my party since I first gained access to her. I’ve loved the oddball female companions in the past few Bioware games like Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition as characters like Merrill and Sera brought a somewhat fresh personality to an often bland genre. Peebee was fun, often hilarious and I would literally hang on her every word. She’s interested in alien tech and this can lead to many great discoveries like a little alien robot that can be added to your attack skills and can act as a fourth member of your three man team.

You also have a few other companions on the ship that serve as the remainder of your crew. There’s Kallo, Suvi, Gil, and Dr. Lexi T’Perro. These few characters can have a lot to say and can be fairly entertaining from time to time. There are Gil and Kallo’s arguments over the repairs to the ship, or Lexi’s constant reminder for you to watch your health, not to mention she’s voiced by Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer, who is just amazing here. I would have romanced Suvi as her accent is just to die for, but the final romance scene with her is just beyond disappointing. While many characters are able to be romanced in the game, complete with some very revealing scenes, there are so few characters that get the attention they deserve and it becomes very apparent that Bioware had clear favorites and spent far more time on a few characters than spreading the love around.

The main threat this time around is the Kett, a race with an origin deeply tied to the core narrative of the game. While the Kett can be an imposing threat and attack in large numbers, the basic design of them is lacking and not as well conceived as prior series villains. The Archon, for example, has a face that is almost hilarious to look at and I couldn’t help but smirk when we are first introduced to the character. Thankfully, it’s only the basic unit Kett and the Archon that suffer from a mediocre design as the remaining Kett all look rather impressive and look and feel threatening. I thought the way that the Kett were used here with regards to the story to be a refreshing change from the previous trilogy and with how the game wraps up, I’m eager to see what is in store for them in the future.

I also found it rather odd that when you meet the Angara for the first time that it is this huge deal and a rather important moment in the history of their race, but it never delves much into the fact that they are meeting not only humans but Asari, Krogan, Salarian and more, all at once. The game just sorts of skims over it like we are not supposed to focus on that and just move on with the story being told.

Despite several bland characters and some recycled game mechanics from previous entries, the combat here is absolutely fantastic and the best the series has seen so far. Each encounter is thrilling and fast paced and with the added use of a jet pack, it offers some interesting ways to combat the likes of the Remnant, Kett and the odd group of Scavengers. The combat isn’t completely revolutionary as it does feel like a more finely tuned version of what we had in Mass Effect 2 and 3. You have various Biotic skills and abilities to hotkey for instant use in a crucial moment of survival, or simply to just pick up an enemy with pull and then slingshot them over the edge of a mountain with your push ability. You can swap shoulders quick enough and can equip various guns that you’ll either find, buy or craft with blueprints and resource items you track down, each with varying levels of rarity. The jet pack allows you to dodge left or right rather quickly, or take to the skies in a temporary moment of vulnerability. You can also equip various melee weapons like Asari swords or the large, but slow, Krogan hammers. I never tired of the combat and the Remnant and Kett always had a trick or two up their sleeve to make battles intense and action packed. The game also uses a dynamic cover system that works without a button press and it can be a bit hit and miss in its execution.

You are equipped with a scanner that you’ll frequently use to scan various pieces of tech, vegetation, and organic life. These scans, as well as a few other methods, are the way you’ll unlock points to buy blueprints for new armor and new weapons, as well as augments needed to make them more powerful. There are various categories of goods to craft that each visually look impressive and have stats that can work towards your playstyle. Once I had enough points in my Remnant research I crafted a whole Remnant set that looked incredible and the guns were as equally impressive, not to mention you get to rename your creations. You can also change the color of the armor anytime you want in Ryder’s quarters aboard your ship, something I didn’t know until a few dozen hours into the game. The materials needed for crafting are easy to come by as long as you are paying attention while you explore. It’s not a drastically deep system but it functions well enough to be useful. You’ll also unlock perks that give you more inventory space and the ability to earn research points faster and more efficiently. I did find that inventory space was way too small as a maximum 60 items was just downright pitiful, but thankfully the game’s latest patch improves that to 200 items and makes collecting a set of each armor more realistic.

I’ll point out as well that despite the cool looking armor and guns that you can equip to Ryder, none of it can be equipped to your teammates, making them box-art perfect for the entire experience. You don’t even get a new flashy look if you complete their Loyalty quests. During combat, you can give them targets, but you cannot instruct them to use their powers in ways that you deem fit. I found the AI to be lacking and they’d stick fairly close to you unless you pressed the left or right of the d-pad and gave them targets to focus on. Thankfully, you can upgrade their own skills should you want a certain character to have access to certain skills or particular stat increases.

Accepting side quests and completing missions is as it has always been in a Mass Effect game. You’ll talk with your crew between missions to unlock their loyalty quests, various NPC’s standing around on planet hub’s that need something done, and important markers on the map that show which quest is active. The main core missions are well designed and very entertaining, but the side quests are what vary in quality and can drag down the experience here. There’s a side quest early on where you track down the truth behind a murder that while fun in execution, has a complete blunder of a resolution and that seems to happen for a lot of the side quests here. Each time a quest would see me travel from planet to planet or scan the various planet’s in the cluster would see me roll my eyes and let out a few choice curse words. There are, however; several side quests that take place entirely on the planet that are extremely well designed and thoroughly fun that I wish there had been more like them and less of the fetch quests that artificially make the game longer.

Multiplayer is back here and feels very much akin to what was offered the last go-around. You join a team of a few players and battle wave after wave until the dropship comes in and picks you up. You’ll level up various classes that have a specific set of equipment and skills and use those characters to earn points to unlock reward chests in the hopes of unlocking new gear, items and cross your fingers, more characters. I’ve played a few rounds as I already knew what to expect and it can be a solid good time with a group of friends, but I do feel it lacks staying power in its current form.

There has been much talk about the visuals in Andromeda and I’ll get the good out of the way first as the game is a pretty mixed bag. Environments look solid and planets like the ice covered Voeld or the jungle filled Havarl are gorgeous to look at and explore. Each location is packed full of detail and even large open areas like the deserts of Elaaden are interesting to explore, even if some structures on the map feel generically placed here and there. The creatures and non-humanoid aliens are remarkable and species like the Krogan and Salarian look really impressive. I found that differences between the PS4 Pro and Xbox One versions were that the Pro delivered better visuals for the environment and small subtle things for characters and their clothes, but nothing really drastic that makes one clearly better over the other, but for graphical purists, stick with the Pro version for now.

The game, however; fails to impress when you are dealing with any humanoid characters like the Asari and well, humans themselves. Before the current patch, eyes looked awful and characters had awkward stares and looks of disinterest or shock. Facial animations are also lackluster and in some cases, painful to watch. I’ve had small moments that were meant to be touching and heartfelt ruined because the characters arms were flailing around or they had no eyelids because of some sort of glitch. I’ve had characters drop from the sky when I would exit the Nomad to my companions walking through walls or falling into the floor. There were several times that I would see textures failing to load (see picture) or kept loading during an entire conversation. There were several times that I would shoot a single enemy and multiple more enemies would just suddenly appear to phase out of him, it’s bizarre to see. I’ve seen videos on Youtube of characters curling into a pretzel or crab walking up stairs, essentially what I am saying is this is not a polished game in any regard and feels like a step back from even Mass Effect 3.

Voice acting is pretty decent but somewhat hit and miss in several areas. I only found a few characters to really stand out and come off as providing a strong effort. I was also disappointed in Ryder, as while my experience with the game was as a female Ryder, I felt she lacked an authoritative voice like that of female Shepard in the previous trilogy. The gender of the Ryder you don’t pick is somewhat present in the game and you get a good amount of dialogue from them as well, giving me an idea of what a male Ryder would have sounded like, and man does he ever sound like Nolan North, which he isn’t by the way. Characters like Peebee, Lexi, Suvi, and Sloane Kelly were easily my favorite and it was really interesting to hear so many female Krogan as well. Bioware usually is heads and shoulders above the industry when it comes to voice acting, but Andromeda felt like a step back with what we usually expect from the studio.

Despite my issues with the game, and my god there are issues, I still enjoyed the core gameplay elements of Mass Effect: Andromeda. The story is ok at times and it wasn’t until you-know-what hits the fan that the game really got interesting and I was thoroughly enjoying myself. The first half of the game has some awful dialogue and piss-poor writing but that tends to go somewhat away after a few hours until the fan fiction level of quality rears its ugly head again from time to time. Andromeda definitely has the weakest cast of the series with only a small handful of them really being a solid effort put forth by Bioware and that translates into the effort I feel was put towards much of the other elements in the game. Andromeda is beyond glitchy and made me question if this game had even been play-tested at all. While the studio is hard at work correcting and fixing most-if-not-all of these glitches, that first impression is a sour taste for sure. Exploration can be enjoyable but I can’t help shake the feeling of it being semi-scripted in many ways. Mass Effect: Andromeda is a fun, but vastly flawed game that provides the bare minimum effort needed for it to feel like a new entry in the Mass Effect series while not offering us much of anything new. I enjoyed my time exploring vaults with Peebee as she’d talk about her family and the fact that her dad is a.. well, I guess you’ll just have to find out yourself.

Mass Effect: Andromeda was reviewed with a retail copy of the PS4 Deluxe Edition and played on a Playstation 4 Pro and all screenshots were taken via the share function via twitter. Xbox One comparisons were based on observations of the game being played.

as for that Pretzel animation? Enjoy.. or cringe.. either way..

Game Review: Mass Effect – Andromeda (PS4 Pro) was originally published on Game-Refraction

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My Changes to “Way of the Wicked“, Extras 3: Extraplanar Hunters

I kind of had the first one in the back of my mind for a while, but always forgot to put it down on paper, but thanks to vlogger Dungeon Dad converting a bunch of old 3.5 and Pathfinder 1e monsters to 5e, I was reminded that these creatures were very different in 3.5 compared to Pathfinder, and why I had originally considering at least the inevitable for this adventure path.

As always, for space reasons, I’ll be cropping the encounter build.

I do not have a Patreon or a Kickstarter, but I do have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support my work. There is no pressure or obligation to do so, however, but a like and a share would definitely be appreciated. Of this and my older work.

Just before get to it, I hope everyone’s staying safe right now.

There are three sets of stats this time around, and two of them are actually one NPC; a hound archon and his dragon mount. More on that later, including a description regarding how the concept exists. This is what I was talking in the last entry regarding this being something that was skipped over in the Pathfinder bestiary from its 3.5 version.

I’ll say for starters, I didn’t give the NPCs any traits. Those are for PCs, more often than not, but admittedly that was a staple of Gary’s builds to try make the NPCs able to stand up to the villains more. It also felt like an in-joke that the NPCs were the heroic PCs all along. If you want to give them one trait, that’s fine, but for these ones, I didn’t feel it was overly necessary to do so. The only one I even considered was the hound archon, and only to give him armor expert to negate the final armor check penalty to skills.

For starters, inevitables are the very definition of law. Each one has a specific mandate for how things should or shouldn’t be, and how everything interacts with the multiverse.

For starters, we have a zelekhuts are defined as “ bounty hunters and executioners all rolled into one.” The PCs were supposed to die or at least be judged and sent to the salt mines. They escaped. That needs to be rectified. By all means, you can use the standard CR 9 version and have it appear during Book 2, but mine is slightly different. More so because in Book 2, unless you’re doing this incredibly early, the villains may have already amassed a literal army, if only undead. A CR 9 inevitable isn’t going to cut it. My version would appear much later, and it’s also a little different from your regular zelekhut.

I’ll say now, that the reason Judiceye is a variant is because most zelekhuts would just arrive and rain down lawful smiting on their chosen to die. But this one is more crafty. Mitra has seen what the villains can do, and how devious they are, not to mention how large their ever growing army has become. This particular zelekhut’s duty is to show up at the end of Book 3, during the winter months, free any and all prisoners as best as it can, and cause in-fighting among the bugbears and other riffraff that have joined the 9th Knot. If it can take out some unwanted undead, all the better. The PCs are supposed to lose a portion of their troops at the end of winter anyhow due to them running away and leaving their minions high and dry, so this just furthers that plot line all the while putting the PCs on edge. There’s either a traitor among them or maybe the villains just can’t control their people, showing just how unfit they are. And if they start executing their own men for not listening when it’s really just the zelekhut? All the better to use as kindling to create riots and arguments, and really give the villains a run for their money. It’d make for a long winter indeed. And right before the king shows up, or whenever the time is right in the GM’s mind, and the Knot is near their breaking point (possibly when there’s the most confusion), the zelekhut can start a major brawl and try its luck in taking out the PCs. Even better, with its greater hat of disguise, it can change itself to look like whomever it needs to. Just needs Intel first. It can be a PC, a bugbear, a vampire, the medusa half-fiend, or whoever. Doesn’t matter. Because it start a fight, then leave, and turn into someone else. Whatever needs to be done to take down the PCs.

I will not that the DD for the elemental combat style is from  the Pathfinder Disciple's Doctrine. Normally I would go OGL and Core, but this time I need some extra damage, and this was about the only way to pull it off. Also, the reason the hat’s trapped is because these things aren’t supposed to normally have treasure. This will destroy the treasure and maybe do some damage to the PCs at the same time.

JUDICEYE (CR 16; XP 76,800) Variant advanced zelekhut ranger (guildbreakerUI) 7 LN Large outsider (extraplanar, inevitable, lawful) Init +11; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, true seeing; Perception +25 DEFENSE AC 31, touch 17, flat-footed 23 (+1 armor, +7 Dex, +1 dodge, +13 natural, –1 size) hp 236 (21d10+121); regeneration 5 (chaotic) Fort +18, Ref +16, Will +15 Defensive Abilities constructed; DR 10/chaotic, DR 3/— (small ranged piercing weapons); SR 27 OFFENSE Speed 50 ft., fly 60 ft. (average) Melee 2 chains +31 (3d6+10/19–20 plus 1d6 electricity and trip) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks favored enemy (goblinoids +2), favored organization (Knots of Asmodeus +4) Spell-Like Abilities (CL 14th; concentration +18)   Constant—true seeing   At will—clairaudience/clairvoyance, dimensional anchor, dispel magic, fear (W-DC 18), hold person (W-DC 17), locate creature   3/day—hold monster (W-DC 19), mark of justice   1/week—lesser geas (W-DC 17) Ranger Spells Prepared (CL 4th; concentration +8)   2nd—chameleon stride   1st—lead blades, resist energy STATISTICS Str 30, Dex 24, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 18 Base Atk +21; CMB +32; CMD 50 (54 vs. trip) Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge, EnduranceB, Improved Critical (chains), Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack (chains), Improved Vital Strike, Inner FlameARG, Mobility, Power Attack, Scorching WeaponsARG, Step Up, Weapon Focus (chain), Vital Strike Skills Acrobatics +25 (+33 jump), Bluff +15, Disguise +15, Diplomacy +17, Fly +19, Knowledge (local) +10, Knowledge (planes) +13, Perception +25, Sense Motive +21, Spellcraft +11, Stealth +21, Survival +17; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception, +4 Sense Motive Languages truespeech SQ chains, combat style (elementalDD), crowd stride, deep cover, favored terrain (urban +2), read the cityUI, track +3 Gear quilted clothUE, greater hat of disguise (trapped: maximized fireball; 60 fire damage, R-DC 19) SPECIAL ABILITIES Chains (Ex) A zelekhut’s arms end in long lengths of barbed metal. These chains deal slashing damage and 1d6 points of electricity damage with each hit. Constructed (Ex) Although inevitables are living outsiders, their bodies are constructed of physical components, and in many ways they function as constructs. For the purposes of effects targeting creatures by type (such as a ranger’s favored enemy and bane weapons), inevitables count as both outsiders and constructs. They are immune to death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects, necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless). Inevitables are not subject to nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain. They are not at risk of death from massive damage. They have bonus hit points as constructs of their size.

Catching up on a few posts from GMs and players who are going through “Way of the Wicked”, most groups are having no issue whatsoever with the AP because they have a necromancer and a cleric who are creating epic armies of undead. That said, there have been one or two groups that have found themselves struggling, if only because they never rescued Grumblejack, or he died on them back during Branderscar because they all bailed and abandoned the ogre. As such, they’re finding that as the game is progressing, they’re having issues. I’ve got something to help potentially counteract that, if only for one part of the book.

It’s a Book 5 add-on that I thought of. Marut inevitables go after those who artificially extend their life. Namely, lichdom. Now, depending on the PCs, this could be yet another encounter for them too. If they’re using the feat tree that turns them into a vampire or lich, or they all became vampires in the alternate version of the story where Thorn’s a vampire, this thing’s coming after them. There’s just no way around that. However, my initial thought for this, so as to help parties that are having troubles, is the marut came to take down the now ex-Cardinal Thorn, but was dominated and sent after the party. This encounter would take place on the main floor, probably as soon as the PCs entered the cathedral. If the PCs have the means, they could break the control and have it join them in the final battle against Thorn. But you’re asking, “how can Thorn use that spell? It’s not a cleric spell and it’s 9th level.” It’s also a 6th level summoner spell, so miracle would work to cast it. This would reduce Thorn’s 9th level spells by 1, and hopefully that’s enough for the PCs who are struggling. After that though, the marut would leave, its mission completed.

Finally, my last inevitable add-on, and this would be for whenever someone in the party broke a contract (or someone attached to the party, etc). It can even be someone the party is dealing with, who broke a contract, and they summon one to go after that person/creature. The kolyarut is all about negotiating bargains, and they don’t like it when contracts and negotiations break down. They punish all oath-breakers. As stated: “They care little for the terms of the agreements in question, only that promises are fulfilled, debts are paid, and balance is maintained.“ They are definitely someone that the PCs want on their side. Pit fiends and contract devils are great, but they don’t necessarily like to get their hands dirty. They just want souls and payment. Kolyaruts, on the other hand, will always make the time.

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And now, the ultimate combo that’s just bonkers. I even did a small feat sink on this one despite it actually being something in the original edition that happens for free, and just adds to the CR.

As for where you would encounter this one, there’s any number of ways. 1) Could be a fight not long after they finish Book 3. Mitra might send the archon as an avenger for what happened. 2) Could right after Spring arrives and the villains are fleeing from the king and his army. This could either be an air battle or the very second they land, but before Tiadora arrives. 3) They could arrive with any other encounter, boosting the over all combat and aiding whomever else decides to attack the villains. You could even hold out until Book 6 with this one, if you really wanted to.

The monster info on this variant hound archon reads as thus:

Hound Archon Hero Mounts

In the course of their adventures, many hound archon heroes befriend bronze dragons, which may come to serve as their mounts. The relationship between these mounts and their celestial riders goes beyond even the special bond between paladin and mount. The dragon and the archon are naturally allies and friends, as can be expected of two powerful servants of cosmic justice. The juvenile bronze dragon mount gains 2 additional HD, 4 points of Strength, an additional 4 points of natural armor, improved evasion, and +10 feet to speed in all its movement forms. The dragon cannot, however, command other creatures of its type as other kinds of paladin mounts can.

Note: Under normal circumstances the Draconic Companion from the Dragon Companion Handbook would give you a dragon and have it go up as an animal companion, with the Dragon Companion Mastery feat giving you their full power. Hound Archon Heroes already get an equivalent ability for free so I’m revising the feat to instead give: frightful presence 1/day, +2 Dex instead of +2 Str (which is a swap option you can choose), SR 5 + paladin level, share spells, empathic link, and two of the four bonus dragon feats. However, I’m ignoring the other two bonus feats the dragon would normally gain, additional bonuses to Str/Con/natural armor, and standard ability score increases every 4 Hit Die. The trade off being that a standard bronze dragon has higher mental stats and spells, so it easily balances out.

Overall, this not all that different from the 3.5 Monster Manual version, and should be considered a difficult CR 16 encounter. Also, their wealth is for a CR 16 NPC. Bartel shares it with his dragon mount.

BARTEL, THE HOUND ARCHON HERO (CR 16; XP 76,800) Male Advanced variant hound archon paladin 11 LG Medium outsider (archon, extraplanar, good, lawful) Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect evil, low-light vision, scent; Perception +18 Aura courage (10 ft.), justice (10 ft.), menace (20 ft.; W-DC 21), magic circle against evil, resolve (10 ft.) DEFENSE AC 33, touch 12, flat-footed 31 (+9 armor, +2 Dex, +12 natural); +2 deflection vs. evil hp 229 (19 HD; 19d10+125) Fort +24, Ref +16, Will +21; +4 vs. poison, +2 resistance vs. evil DR 10/evil; Immune charm, disease, electricity, fear, petrification; SR 27 OFFENSE Speed 40 ft. Melee +2 cold iron greatsword +29/+24/+19/+14 (2d6+12/17–20), bite +22 (1d8+4) or   bite +27 (1d8+8), slam +27 (1d4+4) Special Attacks channel energy (W-DC 20, 6d6), smite evil 4/day (+5 atk & AC, +11 dmg) Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th; concentration +11)   Constant—detect evil, magic circle against evil   At will—aid, continual flame, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), message Paladin Spell-Like Abilities (CL 11th; concentration +16)   At will—detect evil Paladin Spells Prepared (CL 8th; concentration +13)   3rd—heal mount   2nd—bull’s strength, eagle’s splendor, resist energy   1st—divine favor, hero’s defianceAPG, protection from evil, shield of fortificationACG STATISTICS Str 24, Dex 14, Con 22, Int 12, Wis 20, Cha 20 Base Atk +19; CMB +26; CMD 38; +2 vs. evil Feats Blind-Fight, Draconic CompanionDCH, Improved Critical (greatsword), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Mounted Combat, Power Attack, Ride-by Attack, Weapon Focus (greatsword), Word of HealingUM Skills Acrobatics +14, Diplomacy +19, Knowledge (arcana) +12, Intimidate +15, Perception +18, Ride +18, Sense Motive +19, Spellcraft +10, Stealth +14, Survival +18; Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth, +4 Survival; ACP –1 Languages Celestial, Draconic, Infernal; truespeech SQ aura (overwhelming good), code of conduct, change shape (beast shape II), divine bond (dragon mount; Arlakaida), lay on hands (5d6, 7/day), mercies (cursed, dazed, fatigued) Combat Gear wand of cure light wounds (15 charges), holy water (2); Other Gear +3 mithral breastplate, +2 cold iron greatsword, amulet of mighty fists +1, belt of mighty constitution +2 SPECIAL ABILITIES Aura of Menace (Su) A righteous aura surrounds archons that fight or get angry. Any hostile creature within a 20-foot radius of an archon must succeed on a Will save to resist its effects. The save DC varies with the type of archon, is Charisma-based, and includes a +2 racial bonus. Those who fail take a –2 penalty on attacks, AC, and saves for 24 hours or until they successfully hit the archon that generated the aura. A creature that has resisted or broken the effect cannot be affected again by the same archon’s aura for 24 hours. Change Shape (Su) A hound archon can assume any canine form of Small to Large size, as if using beast shape II. While in canine form, the hound archon loses its bite, slam, and greatsword attacks, but gains the bite attack of the form it chooses. For the purposes of this ability, canines include any dog-like or wolf-like creature of the animal type.

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ARLAKAIDA THE BRONZE (CR —; XP —) Female juvenile bronze dragon LG Large dragon (water) Init +6; Senses dragon senses; Perception +25 Aura frightful presence 1/day (90 ft.; targets are shaken for 14 rounds; W-DC 21) DEFENSE AC 36, touch 13, flat-footed 33 (+5 armor, +2 Dex, +2 deflection, +18 natural, –1 size) hp 161 (14d12+70) Fort +16, Ref +13, Will +15 Defensive Abilities improved evasion; Immune electricity, paralysis, sleep; SR 16 OFFENSE Speed 50 ft., fly 130 ft. (poor), swim 60 ft. Melee bite +25 (2d6+15), 2 claws +24 (1d8+11), tail slap +22 (1d8+15), 2 wings +22 (1d6+6) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with bite) Special Attacks breath weapon (80-ft. line, R-DC 24, 12d6 electricity), repulsion breath Spell-Like Abilities (CL 14th; concentration +18)   At will—create food and water, speak with animals Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 4th; concentration +8)   2nd (4/day)—mirror image   1st (7/day)—alarm, obscuring mist, true strike   0 (at will)—detect magic, light, mage hand, message, prestidigitation, resistance STATISTICS Str 29, Dex 14, Con 21, Int 18, Wis 19, Cha 18 Base Atk +14; CMB +26; CMD 40 (44 vs. trip) Feats Ability Focus (breath weapon), Alertness, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Powerful BreathB, Quick Breath WeaponB, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (bite) Skills Diplomacy +19, Fly +12, Handle Animal +16, Heal +16, Intimidate +19, Knowledge (arcana) +19, Perception +25, Sense Motive +25, Spellcraft +20, Stealth +14, Swim +29; Racial Modifiers +8 Swim Languages Aquan, Common, Draconic, Elven, Gnome SQ empathic link, change shape (animal or humanoid, polymorph), share spells, water breathing, wave mastery (40 mins) Gear +2 studded leather barding, amulet of mighty fists +2, belt of physical perfection +2, cloak of resistance +2, ring of protection +2 SPECIAL ABILITIES Dragon Senses (Ex) Dragons have darkvision 120 ft. and blindsense 60 ft. They see four times as well as a human in dim light and twice as well in normal light. Frightful Presence (Ex) This special quality makes a dragon’s very presence unsettling to foes. Activating this ability is a free action that is usually part of an attack or charge. This ability affects only opponents with fewer Hit Dice than the dragon’s. An opponent that succeeds on its saving throw is immune to the dragon’s frightful presence for 24 hours. Multiple uses of a dragon’s presence don’t stack. This ability is a mind-affecting aura. Paladin Mount (Ex) Arlakaida cannot command other creatures of its type (bronze dragons) as other kinds of paladin mounts can. Quick Breath Weapon (Ex) Arlakaida is able to unleash her breath weapon and deliver an attack before her opponent is the wiser. On her turn, Arlakaida can choose to use her breath weapon in place of her bite or one of her claw attacks. Repulsion Breath (Su) Instead of a line of electricity, a bronze dragon can breathe a cone of repulsion gas. Targets must make a Will save or be compelled to do nothing but move away from the dragon for 1d6 rounds plus 1 round per age category. This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect. Water Breathing (Ex) A bronze dragon breathes water and can use its breath weapon, spells, and abilities underwater. Wave Mastery (Su) For up to 10 minutes per age category per day, a juvenile bronze dragon, along with creatures or vessels within 50 feet, can move at twice its normal speed in water. ------------------------------------------------------------

And that’s everything. I don’t know that I’ll ever have more to add to this particular adventure path, but maybe I will. Just depends on how inspired I get.

In the meantime, I hope everyone who is running or playing “Way of the Wicked” is having a fantastic time.

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My Changes to “Way of the Wicked“, Extras 2: Constructs

Part of me never thought I’d be writing another entry for this series, but here I am. It definitely helped that I’ve seen more people bring up that they’re playing the adventure path, but they’re doing it with different editions (3.5 and 5e D&D, PF 2e), and recently I’ve been seeing a lot of vloggers converting 3.5 monsters to 5e. All of this combined together and got the creative juices flowing.

As always, for space reasons, I’ll be cropping the encounter build.

I do not have a Patreon or a Kickstarter, but I do have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support my work. There is no pressure or obligation to do so, however, but a like and a share would definitely be appreciated. Of this and my older work.

Finally, before get to it, I hope everyone’s staying safe right now.

When I was reading a newer GM discussing how they were enjoying Book 1, but felt it needed something more during the jail break arc, I wondered what that could have been. And it’s not like there’s only the one jail break aspect of the AP either. The GM is able to add more throughout the game whenever they need to bring in new players, or characters are killed and they need to be replaced. During those times, you’re definitely going to need something more than a few guards here or there. That’s when I remembered that in 3.5, there was a chain golem in Monster Manual II. Unfortunately, there aren’t one of these Pathfinder (likely due to copyrights), but one of the jobs they had the potential of getting programmed for was as jail guards. There was even a variant version I’d read about where it was given one of the powers of the hangman golem and it could just look like a pile of chains. How terrifying would it be to be a prisoner and seeing an animated humanoid made of chains walking down the hallways through the day and night, only to watch it turn into a pile of chains in the corner after it was done with its patrol? And if the guards wanted to be really mean, they could put chain piles throughout the prison. You would never know. And it’s not like a standard prisoner can fight a golem.

https://www.deviantart.com/mauricioeiji/art/Chain-Golem-18973217

But the standard one from 3.X is only a CR 5. What about the later scenarios where the PCs are going to be exponentially more powerful? Well, thankfully someone was kind enough to convert and make such a creature. Well, sort of. It’s from 4e and reverted back to 3.5, but still. Easy enough to convert over to Pathfinder 1e. And of course, what better way to represent it than with a mini of incredible size?

You can find the stats for this sucker here. Personally, I’d lower than by 1 CR and make it Large size, as Huge is way more difficult to patrol through a dungeon or jail. Not only that, you’re pretty much done with jail breaks by the time you’re done Book 3. At least with regards to it being referenced, so unless you’re having one added to the king’s castle, a CR 15 is more than sufficient with all the other encounters in Book 3.

Lastly, bringing it back to two things I brought up early, how else would you spice things up in Book 1? Or maybe even Book 2? Well, I originally said that you should sent bounty hunters or other inquisitors after the escaped prisoners. There’s no way they’re just going to believe that the 4+ most heinous criminals in years, who managed to escape the inescapable Branderscar, would just die in the swamps. Even if a majority believes it, you’re going to have at least a few people who are going to investigate further until they’re completely satisfied.

So what do you do? You send out a terminator. No, seriously. Back in 3.0, you had a construct called the Hangman golem. Pathfinder calls it a rope golem because that’s exactly what it is. The difference is the original hangman was also an assassin. You found who or what you needed to, wrapped the noose around it (usually from above), and judgement was served right then and there. This time won’t be any different. The PCs left the prison in either their prison garb or guard uniforms. Their original clothes could still be around somewhere instead of being burned. I mean, Branderscar was going downhill. They could have gotten lazy with that too. Then it’s just a matter of sending the golem in their direction and wait it out. And it’s a golem. If it doesn’t ever return, they’re going to know something is up. This thing could show up any time during Book 1, or maybe it shows up during Book 2 when the PCs are performing the ritual for 666 days.

Now, while I have a link to the original and will be sharing it, I also did my own stats and changes to the original rope golem brought to us from the Tome of Horrors Complete. Anyone who wants to advance it further, I highly suggest using the original and taking elements from that, in addition to the standard advancement rules.

Like with previous entries, “--” are supposed to be bullet listings, but they don’t transfer very well from Word Document to Tumblr.

THE HANGMAN (CR 7; XP 3,200) Variant advanced rope golem LN Medium construct Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0 DEFENSE AC 20, touch 12, flat-footed 18 (+2 Dex, +8 natural) hp 76 (10d10+20) Fort +3; Ref +5; Will +3 DR 10/adamantine and slashing; Immune construct traits, magic Weaknesses vulnerability to fire OFFENSE Speed 30 ft. Melee 2 slams +15 (2d6+5 plus grab) Special Attacks constrict (2d6+5), squeeze the breath, strangulation (1d8+5) Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th)    At will—locate creature STATISTICS Str 21, Dex 14, Con —, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 1 Base Atk +10; CMB +15 (+19 grapple); CMD 27 Feats Ability Focus (squeeze the breath)B, Skill Focus (Stealth)B Skills Stealth +5 (+45 when unraveled); Racial Modifiers +40 when unraveled SQ unravel SPECIAL ABILITIES Immunity to Magic (Ex) The hangman is immune to any spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resistance. In addition, certain spells and effects function differently against the creature, as noted below.  --A disintegrate spell affects it normally.  --A rope trick or animate rope spell deals 1d6 points of damage to the golem per three levels of the spell caster (e.g., a 6th-level sorcerer deals 2d6 points of damage to the hangman if it casts rope trick or animate rope).  --A mending spell heals the rope golem of 2d6 points of damage.  --Fire-based effects and spells affect it as described in its fire vulnerability above. Squeeze the Breath (Ex) If the hangman constricts a grappled creature, it also attempts to squeeze the air from the creature’s lungs. If the creature fails a Fortitude save (DC 17) it is dazed for 1 round. Creatures that do not need to breathe are immune to this ability. Strangulation (Ex) The hangman deals 1d8+5 points of damage with a successful grapple check. Strangulation damage is in addition to constriction damage on subsequent rounds. Because the hangman seizes the opponent by the neck, a strangled foe cannot speak or cast spells with verbal components. The hangman is not considered grappled while it is strangling an opponent, and can move and attack normally, but it cannot move more than 10 feet away from an opponent while strangling it. Unravel (Ex) Once per day as a standard action, the hangman can unravel its form to become a heap of tangled ropes that fills a 10-foot-by-10-foot area. While in this form, the hangman cannot attack or move, but it gains fast healing 10. The hangman can reform into its humanoid appearance as a full-round action.

https://www.realmshelps.net/monsters/block/Golem,_Hangman

As I mentioned above, I also added the original hangman golem from 3.X for reference. You’ll notice it has similar and different weaknesses as well.

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Next time, we’ll do an entry all about outsiders who’ll come down from above who’d come after our PC villains. One in particular is a 3.5 conversion that I never expected, and had completely forgot about until I noticed there seemed to be something missing from the original iteration in the Pathfinder bestiary. Boy howdy I was correct in that assumption.

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My Changes to “Way of the Wicked”, Book 4, Part 3.5

Taking a bit of a break from the “Throne of Night” debacle, and going back to the, at the time, first evil campaign for Pathfinder 1e. Going over my own notes from 2015, I can tell I was quite green. Not that I disagree with what I had written for today’s entry, or even for the next one, but five years changes your perspective on builds when you know the whole story behind why things are what they are, and you finally realize that mistakes were made in those builds.

Today we’re going back to the copper dragon’s island, and revising a couple of mistakes that were made with one of the NPCs that the PCs meet up with.

As such, this partially revises what I said in my Book 4, Part 3 post.

As always, for space reasons, I’ll be cropping the encounter build.

I do not have a Patreon or a Kickstarter, but I do have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who are looking to support me monetarily. There is no pressure or obligation to do so.

Finally, before get to it, I hope everyone’s staying safe right now.

First off, I want to say I really wish there was art for this entry, but unfortunately SpiralMagus didn’t do much additional art back then for NPCs that weren’t going to be sticking around past one fight. So instead I’ll be using Paizo bestiary art, and that’s fine.

While doing all these builds for “Throne of Night”, I found myself going back through “Way of the Wicked” to try get a proper mindset for Gary’s story builds. What ended up happening was I saw errors in builds. Not too glaring, but it definitely shows that there wasn’t much “monster role” knowledge, or the official bestiaries weren’t referenced. And back in 2014, not everyone knew how to properly do that. I certainly didn’t. It’s not like the free sources online hammered that into your brain like the bestiary appendices did. Just a common rookie mistake. This time around. But as such, the encounter between the PCs and the xorn ambassador is less than sufficient.

In the original post, I said “give him a headband of alluring charisma +2 and a ring of protection +1.“ Now, I know that’s unnecessary. At the time, I thought he seemed under-powered with the few spells he had, and that the amulet it had was all but useless. Especially in a fight. That last part is true, but it turns out, it’s an amulet of the planes, but you don’t need the DC 15 Intelligence check to make it work as it’s attuned to a specific plane and acts as tuning fork to go there. So, it’s technically more powerful. I adjusted the naming of the item to benefit that, but it’s still apparently only worth the original 120k, which is fine. If it were up to me, I’d make it worth 30% less just because it’s so specific, but it’s honestly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. The headband of charisma isn’t necessary now because it turns out the xorn is under leveled. It should actually be sorcerer 10, not 7. With it now having stoneskin, as a bloodline spell, to protect itself from some physical damage and higher level pit spells, the need for the headband is less necessary. Especially when  you realize the xorn is missing feats. With the additional 3 HD for sorcerer and the missing feats added back in, the xorn now has the approximate ability DC it’s supposed to have for being a CR 14 encounter. If anything, its saves are a little low, even with the resistance spell on it, but there’s not a whole lot that can be done about that. I still stand behind the ring of protection +1 though.

Other than that, all it needed was a little cleaning up on the wording in the tactics section, as well as its name, and the numbers to add up correctly (I’m looking at you, initiative that doesn’t include Dexterity), and it’s good to go. The new spells might seem underwhelming overall, but I wanted to stay true to the NPC’s pits and stone spells theme. It’s also very annoying not to have spell DCs added to the spells. Ugh. Annoying. But also fixed.

XKR’XKZ’XKO (or “XEKAR”), XORN SORCERER AMBASSADOR    (CR 14; 38,400 XP) Advanced xorn sorcerer 10 N Medium outsider (earth, extraplanar) Init +6; Senses all-around vision, darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +22 DEFENSE AC 30, touch 13, flat-footed 28 (+4 armor, +1 deflection, +2 Dex, +13 natural) hp 185 (17 HD; 7d10+10d6+112) Fort +13, Ref +9, Will +14 DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune cold, fire, flanking; Resist electricity 10 OFFENSE Speed 20 ft., burrow 20 ft.; earth glide Melee bite +17 (4d6+5), 3 claws +17 (1d4+5) Special Attack crystal shard 1/day Bloodline Spell-like Ability (CL 10th; concentration +15)   8/day—tremor (CMB +15) Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 10th; Concentration +15)   5th (4/day)—hungry pit (R-DC 21)   4th (6/day)—acid pit (R-DC 20), calcific touch (F-DC 20), stoneskinB   3rd (7/day)—diamond spray (R-DC 18), shifting sandB (R-DC 19), spiked pit (R-DC 19), slow (W-DC 19)   2nd (7/day)—bear’s endurance, create pit (R-DC 18), darkvisionB, glitterdust (W-DC 18), stone call   1st (8/day)—comprehend languages, expeditious excavationB, grease, identify, mage armor, magic missile   0 (at will)—acid splash, arcane mark, detect magic, detect poison, mage hand, mending, prestidigitation, read magic, resistance Bloodline deep earth TACTICS Before Combat The xorn always has mage armor cast. It casts bear’s endurance and resistance if it senses trouble During Combat Xekar has not come here to fight but to negotiate. However, if forced, it defends itself by trapping enemies in pits where it can rain down diamond spray. Morale Xekar flees if reduced to 70 hp. It has not come here to die. STATISTICS Str 20, Dex 14, Con 20, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 20 Base Atk +12; CMB +17; CMD 30 (32 vs. trip) Feats Cleave, Combat Casting, Eschew MaterialsB, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Perception)B, Spell Focus (conjuration, transmutation), Toughness Skills Appraise +12, Diplomacy +15, Intimidate +15, Knowledge (arcane, dungeoneering, planes) +19, Perception +22, Spellcraft +14, Stealth +12, Survival +12, Use Magic Device +14; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception Languages Common, Draconic, Infernal, Terran SQ bloodline arcana (underground only; +1 spell DC), stonecunning Gear ring of protection +1, attuned amulet of the planes (pendant will return Xekar and the Jundarian Stone to the elemental plane of earth), granite and diamond dust (worth 250 gp), rubies (worth 25,000 gp) SPECIAL ABILITIES All-Around Vision (Ex) A xorn sees in all directions at the same time, giving it a +4 racial bonus on Perception checks. A xorn cannot be flanked. Crystal Shard (Sp) The xorn can touch a metal or stone weapon (or up to 50 pieces of ammunition) as a standard action, giving it the bane property against any creature with the earth subtype, oozes, or constructs made of stone or metal, for 1 minute. Earth Glide (Ex) A xorn can glide through any sort of natural earth or stone as easily as a fish swims through water. Its burrowing leaves no sign of its passage nor hint at its presence to creatures that don’t possess tremorsense. A move earth spell cast on an area containing a xorn moves the xorn back 30 feet, stunning the creature for 1 round unless it succeeds on a DC 15 Fortitude save.

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Next time we look at the absolutely necessary revision of the witchwyrd in Book 4. Boy howdy, it’s a mess.

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Throne of Night Theory Builds Part 24: The Deep Dragon Queen of Book 3

Tonight’s entry is definitely a different one. Namely, I was going to make this dead last. Literally as absolutely last as possible. Mostly because I don’t have a proper picture for this one. Just a stock photo, and a picture that technically goes along with it.

But, beggars can’t be choosers, and this entry is entirely based around opportunity knocking/circumstances being what they are. I’ll get into that though in the next half.

As always, for space reasons, I’ll be cropping the encounter build.

All images shared here were done by the forever fantastic and amazingly talented Michael D. Clarke, aka SpiralMagus

Because it got brought up, I do not have a Patreon or a Kickstarter, but I do have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who are looking to support me. No pressure though. The economy isn’t the greatest at the moment, so some belts are being tightened more than usual.

Finally, before get to it, I hope everyone’s staying safe right now.

So tonight I came across old, old notes that gave a synopsis of Book 3, and it’s actually different/more detailed than the last update I’d read that gave you the rundown of Books 3-6. This is information I absolutely needed to know back when I did the undead dwarf king. Needless to say that this update is actually completely different than what I had originally intended because I had wanted my readers to know that the Golem Wielder entry had been given a massive update. Had to completely remove a bunch of feats in exchange of others, and revise the magic items, land speed, AC, etc. At least it wasn’t a complete re-write, which was what I was originally afraid I was going to have to do.

But that’s really about it. A dwarf doesn’t want to die, it uses dark pacts and forbidden magic, and it meets up with a deep dragon that can help with all of that. On top of that, this same dragon has the ability to corrupt and help give people their grandest desires. There is a lot to unpack here.

I’m now going to explain how I came up with this specific build. 1) It had to be a dragon. Namely, a deep dragon. Thankfully there’s a template for that. 2) It specifically had to be dragon that could shape change. Okay. Less options, but maybe there’s a way around it. 3) It has to be able to corrupt and grant the desires of others. Hmm. Again, difficult, but not impossible. Thankfully there’s a template for that too. 4) This dragon may or not be the reason why the “dark fire/black fire” existed and wiped out so many of the dwarves, causing ghosts to come up their graves and curse the mountain to be inescapable. Hellfire likely works for this one. Again, a lot to unpack. I will say that my build is likely very wrong as Book 3 of Throne of Night was supposed to come out in 2015, and Pathfinder Bestiary 6 came out in 2017. That said, this works way better than I had hoped. And with only adding a single hit die, it’s most definitely a CR 15 encounter. So glad I didn’t have to make it Young and add 2 class levels. I was so afraid I’d have to.

Not gonna lie. After talking to a lot of different users on the Kickstarter comments and the Paizo forums, the conclusion a few of us came to was the black flame was a result of either the prestige class that’s absolutely not OGL or radiation. If that was the case, I was leaning towards a solar dragon, but that doesn’t get channel radiation until way, way later, and there’s no way something that powerful would be in Book 3. Even if you added the Young template numerous times, that wouldn’t help, and would just get stupid. So this is where we stand.

Of course the real question is “how does an undead have progeny?” Well, when wishes are involved, you make sure to word it in just the right way. There were spells and items back in D&D 3.5e that helped with such things. There’s no reason a work-around couldn’t be in here too. I mean, dhampirs exist and it’s not all because a pregnant woman was bitten.

Also, anyone wondering, the shape change ability would default to looking like a female dwarf. When things go down, she’ll revert to her true form. And it’s preferable to not have her fight alongside her undead partner and the cannon golem. That might end up being an epic encounter for a 13th level party. Adding it all up together, it’s not quite an EL 18 encounter, but it’s definitely more than EL 17. The graveknight’s tactics are for it being paired with the cannon golem, but there’s no reason it can’t fight them separately, and the graveknight fight alongside his dragon queen.

As for the progeny and them having dark fire access too, Gary already released aid regarding that. “Way of the Wicked” Book 6 has the hellfire spell. It’s available to the magus, sorcerer/wizard, summoner, and witch. That’s still enough for the half-dragon children who are likely eldritch scion draconic bloodline and sorcerer draconic bloodline. Depending on the campaign, access to certain feats, wishes, etc, there might be other ways to get that or other variants of the spell. There’s definitely a 3rd party hellfire weapon property. Lots of possible options available.

And just before we get to it, the pronunciation for her name is, sin-dra-xy-ohs. Also, the dragon art is directly from Paizo’s Bestiary 6. This is what it looks like normally, but picture it without wings. Deep dragons lose their ability to fly and have a burrow speed instead.

DRAGON QUEEN CIDRAXIOS    (CR 15; 51,200 XP) Female unique corruptor young infernal deep dragon LE Large dragon (evil, extraplanar, lawful) Init +6; Senses dragon senses; Perception +21 DEFENSE AC 32, touch 13, flat-footed 30 (+2 armor, +2 deflection, +2 Dex, +17 natural, –1 size) hp 217 (15d12+120) Fort +19, Ref +13, Will +16; +3 vs. divination Defensive Abilities false mind, fiery acid blood (R-DC 25, 3d6), inscrutable +3; DR 15/adamantine; Immune acid, fire, hellfire, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, sleep Weaknesses light blindness OFFENSE Speed 60 ft., burrow 30 ft., earth glide Melee bite +25 (2d6+14 plus 3d6 acid and fire/19–20), 2 claws +25 (2d6+10/19–20), tail slap +19 (1d8+14), 2 wings +19 (1d6+5) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (15 ft. with bite) Special Attacks breath weapon (80-ft. line, 7d10 hellfire damage, R-DC 25 half), deep gaze (W-DC 24), fiery acidic spittle, mark of vice (W-DC 24), oppressive heat, shredding stone Spell-like Abilities (CL 15th; concentration +22)   At will—atonement (temptation only)   3/day—detect good, geas, helping hand, lesser geas, make whole, major creation, minor creation   1/day—sympathy (W-DC 25), wish (granted to a nonevil aligned mortal only) Oracle Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +8)   1st (4/day)—bane (W-DC 18), command (W-DC 18)   0 (at will)—detect magic, guidance, read magic, spark (R-DC 17) STATISTICS Str 28, Dex 14, Con 27, Int 20, Wis 17, Cha 24 Base Atk +15; CMB +25; CMD 39 (43 vs. trip) Feats Blind-Fight, Combat Expertise, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (bite, claw) Skills Appraise +22, Bluff +27, Climb +20, Craft (all) +13, Diplomacy +35, Knowledge (arcana) +18, Knowledge (history, local, planes) +20, Linguistics +22, Perception +21, Sense Motive +28, Spellcraft +20, Use Magic Device +25; Racial Modifiers +8 Craft (all), +8 Diplomacy, +8 Sense Motive; +3 to all Charisma-based checks. Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Infernal, Skis’raal, Undercommon plus any 8 others SQ change shape 3/day (any animal or humanoid), compression, corruptor’s boon, imbue with ability, serpentine reach, what do you covet Gear amulet of mighty fists +1, bracers of armor +2, cloak of resistance +2, headband of alluring charisma +2, ring of protection +2, tome of leadership and influence +1 (read), Mithral Crown of Leadership (acts as a circlet of persuasion), treasure horde (gems, gold and silver pieces, mithral bars, and carved art objects made from various types of stone; total worth of 5,500 gp) SPECIAL ABILITIES Corruptor’s Boon (Su) Once per day, a corruptor can grant a touched creature a +4 profane bonus to one ability score for 24 hours. When the duration ends, the creature suffers a –4 profane penalty to the same ability score for the next 24 hours. Another application not only negates the penalty, but also restores the full bonus. Deep Gaze (Su) Buried suggestion (see below) 30 ft., Will negates (special). As suggestion, except the target need not understand the deep dragon creature and the effect is permanent until discharged. The dragon telepathically implants the suggestion into the subject. The suggestion planted must not take place immediately. When it occurs it must be based on an event or an amount of time going by. At least three days must pass before the suggestion compels the subject. During the period while the suggestion is buried, neither divination spells nor Sense Motive will reveal that the subject is under the effect of an enchantment. The subject does not attempt his saving throw until the triggering event occurs. The death of the dragon does not end this effect. Dragon Senses (Ex) Dragons have darkvision 120 ft. and blindsense 60 ft. They see four times as well as a human in dim light and twice as well in normal light. Earth Glide (Su) A young or older deep true dragon creature glides through stone, dirt, or any sort of earth except metal as easily as a fish swims through water. Its burrowing leaves behind no tunnel or hole, nor does it create any ripple or other signs of its presence. Move earth cast on an area containing an earth gliding deep dragon creature flings the dragon back 30 ft., stunning the creature for 1 round unless it succeeds on a DC 15 Fortitude save. False Mind (Su) This ability offers the corruptor the benefits of a mind blank spell. When an attempt is made to detect his alignment or read his thoughts, the corruptor can cause the magic to reveal any alignment or thoughts the corruptor creature chooses, even if he is not initially aware of the attempt. Fiery Acidic Blood (Su) Any creature that damages a deep dragon with a piercing or slashing melee weapon must make a Reflex save or be subject to the damage equal to Deep dragon’s spittle (see below) as it is sprayed with blood. Melee weapons with reach don’t endanger their users in this way. Fiery Acidic Spittle (Su) All deep dragon creatures have a thick, gooey spittle that is hot enough and acidic enough to sear and corrode both flesh and rock. Normally, as they tunnel through the earth they secret this fluid to soften stone. In battle, the deep dragon adds this additional amount of damage to their natural attacks. Half the damage is acid the other half fire. Hellfire (Su) Half of the damage from hellfire is fire damage, and half is unholy energy that bypasses fire resistance and immunity. Hellproof (Ex) The infernal dragon is immune to fire, hellfire, and mind-affecting effects. Imbue with Ability (Su) Once per day as a standard action the corruptor creature can grant a creature it touches one of its spells, spell-like abilities, extraordinary abilities or even one of its supernatural abilities in a manner similar to imbue with spell ability (no save). It loses access to that ability during this time; it can dismiss this benefit as a free action regaining the use of one or more of its abilities. Inscrutable (Ex) An infernal dragon gains a bonus on saves against divination spells and effects equal to its age category number. Mark of Vice (Su) This ability works like a mark of justice (Will save negates) but it is only triggered if the creature attempts to find a redemption to its corruption (subject to GM adjudication). The mark is also invisible and is always placed over the victim’s heart. Oppressive Heat (Su) A creature that fails its save against an infernal dragon’s breath weapon can’t benefit from morale bonuses for 1 minute. If the creature fails another save against the breath weapon during this time, it is staggered for 1 round. Shredding Stone (Su) A Deep dragon creature gains a +4 bonus to confirm critical hits with its claws. What Do You Covet (Su) Once per day as a standard action a corruptor can grant a wish to a nonevil aligned mortal (cannot be an elemental, fey, outsider, or nonliving creature).

------------------------------------ Sources: Corruptor creature - http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/corruptor-creature Deep dragon creature - http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/deep-dragon-creature