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hungydory95 · 2 years ago

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Against the Day

So many things interweaving and folding into each other and layered like turbulent waves, narratives, dreams, alternate realities and shifting timelines that steer ever so gently away from the axes of orthodox American and world history and into something that resembles it but isn’t quite and so many concepts and so many of it amazing, and so many entertaining, lovable, repellant, hilarious, dramatic and vividly written characters, who skirt as their world does on a perfect balance between normalcy and surreality in the incredibly richly written world [or worlds on worlds and then some] that Pynchon has dreamed up here. And all of this is explored through political power plays, espionage plots, dense and complex mathematical and esoteric divulgences that explore the intersection between science and the arcane and otherworldly, de Sadean displays of sexual abandon, and earnest appreciation of comic strips and dime store adventure novels from the time period it’s set in, and time travel and the mechanics of the universe and especially light, light in everything it illuminates and everything it blinds, and “Gravity’s Rainbow” esque explorations into the colonial consciousness of Europe and the scramble for Africa inseparable from war and capitalism, its exploitation acting as the central unifying axis on which lie all these themes and motifs and setpieces, and so many more things, too many to possibly name in one review lest the review be longer than the book. Reading this novel is like watching a neverending parade in an alternate dimension, and the reader just has to trust that Pynchon take them to the most cerebral outer regions of one’s imagination possible. It’s a novel that is not only viscerally enjoyable to read in its total encapsulation of genre fiction, but also acts as a sort of thesis statement on the reclusive author’s thematic interests, obsessions and everything in between, in a DMT torpedo explosion of weird history that reads like a hallucinatory sci-fi western family saga set at the end of the Gold Rush era during the technological boom of that age, all under the vast shadow of the approaching First World War. His best? Maybe “Gravity’s Rainbow” is still too strong and too iconic to be beat, but “Against the Day” may very well be my personal favorite so far and one that’s just as rewarding.

This is my sixth read of a Pynchon novel, and though I’ve gotten much joy out of his earlier work already, I think in a lot of ways my experience of “Against the Day” left me with more concrete articulations of why Pynchon works for me, which til now I hadn’t been able to form thoughts as strongly on the specifics of. Pynchon has a vast interest in history, but throughout all his stories history is in some way distorted, bent at unrecognizable angles, with real history often weaving into Pynchon’s own wild creations, to the point where the line between real history and imagination, of storytelling is made dubious. But has it ever not been blurred? Is history not stories, folklore, words passed down to generations, cycles perpetuated in a mobius loop not only by those that hold the reigns of power, but also the ones they lord over who make the stories [and do the labor, though they are not rewarded their wages?] The freedom Thomas Pynchon has to cross reality and myth into one, and indeed make the case that both are integral to one another, just as he makes the case for Light and Time in this work, and indeed too many dualities to name, is the highest strength of his novels, especially all three of his centerpiece works.

I admit, for most of its page count I really did not know where the story was going. But this is why Pynchon, contrary to what some seem to think, doesn’t write as a statement of his own intellect, but that he trusts that readers will subsume themselves into the world he has created, the end of the horizon never in sight but still dotted end to end with intrigue, absurd and poignant plotlines alike just waiting to be flipped through and gradually uncovering the connections, motifs, rungs on this mobius loop that run together. To give in to this book is to give in to the logic of the impossible, yet in the impossibility and the fantasy and the enormity of this alternate world[s] feels so strictly real to me as a place that could exist on some branch of the Yggdrasil somewhere, and I think in general that’s why Pynchon’s work hits a chord with me so much [and I will return to this concept later in the review].

It’s easy to be intimidated - this book really is enormous. Every time the plot seems to have reached its limit of expansion, a new thread is unfurled, a new connection established, and the world expands even further, and it never gets tiring, and though there are some plots I don’t care for as much as others, there’s something at least extremely interesting both singularly and collectively about every narrative hall of mirrors that Pynchon takes you down, so the momentum may slow at times but it is never broken. There are so many intertwining subplots, characters and relationships, conceptual washes of extremely entertaining craziness and things so above my ability to understand that I started to just accept some of the Quaternion stuff etc. for what it was, because there’s so much verve, and so much enthusiasm and love for craft and genre yet also so much more mature in its town of voice than “Gravity’s Rainbow”, whose brilliance can maybe weave into its bleakness - but “Against the Day” transcends the pessimism of that book and approaches the gravity and possibility of change, of revolutionary action and a world where imperial powers are not unstoppably powerful, powerful as they are. This is a book in which Pynchon is his most ideological and unrelenting in his empathy for the underclasses as the “light” that shines into the future annals of history, our real world future’s but also all possible futures in worlds where oppression must be culled, by violent means, by the ones the oligarchs and their apparatuses have oppressed.

I love the narrative ethos of the novel, everything just kind of happening together in this torrential storm of plots on plots, prose running off into peaks and valleys and Borgesian mirror-mazes where Pynchon will land you somewhere with no recollection of how you got from one setpiece or turn of phrase to something completely different but just as tickling to the imaginative faculties, and often making you laugh your ass off in the process of navigating these slinking sentences - and really, how else could we view history when it is all happening so close together and explored via so many angles, avenues, refractions of light that bend it in so many rotating directions away [but also toward] the real world history of the time period that birthed modern capitalism and elucidated the selfishness of the white man’s consciousness? This book really is about Everything to do with the eras of men like Rockefeller [seen in the capitalist Scarsdale Vibe, whose ideology illuminates the blatant fascism of the frontier era’s worst progeny] and labor exploitation throughout the nineteenth century and how the Civil War too lead to the conditions enabling the Great Wars, exploring both the bourgeois conscience in its exaltation of warfare and profit but also of all those eccentric and endlessly varied proles living under the heel of this era, and so much of history, fact and fiction occupying this enormous mass. It could seem aimless, but the characters are experiencing time and history just at the same time the reader is. We experience time in the way they do, multiple angles and stories spiderwebbed [Traversed…?] over one another so we can experience the full weight and bustling momentum of an entire time period. It is an unbelievably ambitious novel in every respect.

I’ve been trying to articulate what exactly I love about Pynchon’s characters for the longest time, and this book is no exception, because of everything about his writing they’ve always been subjected to the most criticism and it’s no exception here - that they’re “flat”, one-dimensional, do not follow arcs etc. But after completing “Against the Day” I think that couldn’t be further from the case, and that these are not only his richest and most captivating characters ever, but there’s something about them that I genuinely feel works the way my brain works, and I have to thank this novel especially, because it finally helped me to understand some things about what draws me towards certain modes of character writing that many seem to unanimously consider flat or unsatisfactory [as this is a common criticism I see of books I love where I specifically am drawn to the characters, not least of all this one].

Something about how my mind works [probably due to neurodivergence but I’m far past the tedium of mapping out the specific causes of my own personal Brain Quirks™ because that would be as labyrinthine as this novel] is that I see things in moments, I’m able to see the big picture but the big picture, like this book, is often existentially terrifying, so my mind tends to default to seeing things in fragments, specific memories disconnected from one another that sort of act as waypoints between each other rather than one congealed whole. So while reading this book, despite the abundance of divergent plotlines that rarely ever converge [or, if they do, they converge in the most surprising of ways, kinda like how my memories do], I never once felt it was directionless or “going nowhere” as the layman might say. This also is not to say AtD doesn’t have a bigger picture - because it most certainly does, it just doesn’t happen on a primarily reflexively narrative level [and I’ll expand on that later].

But what carries all of it is the characters. There are so many of them that you’re simply not going to remember every one, but that’s actually a strength rather than a flaw. Like, some of these people will show up, disappear for hundreds of pages, and I’ll either dimly remember them or be like “hey, it’s so-and-so from when Kit was at Gottingen” etc. etc. And like my brain is weird, I concede that I’m never going to be on the same wavelength as many people in that regard, but like this is how most people have relationships with other people right? Sometimes you will see your friend for a while, lose contact for a long time, and then have a coffee however long down the line, and add an entire lifetime of people you meet on top of that and that’s sort of how it works, right? Even my best friend and I can go for literal months without talking and then spend however much time catching up, before we won’t speak for a long time again, just because life sort of gets in the way. That’s sort of how I felt reading “Against the Day”, these characters felt like people because just like real people, nobody has an arc, a predetermined trajectory in which their life unfolds because nobody’s life has an author, and I don’t think the metatextual touches here would be as prominent if Pynchon hadn’t known what he was doing in this sense.

Someone would, I imagine, counter this by saying that Pynchon’s characters aren’t realistic, that they don’t act like “real” people so therefore any of his attempts at realism don’t ring true. But even if “pure realism” weren’t generally the least interesting axis on which to view art imo [and also steeped in deep unexamined ableism because of its implication that there is some sort of “baseline reality” to how people must act, but that’s a tangent that would take me far elsewhere so I won’t go into it here], I still wouldn’t agree - Pynchon’s characters work because they make perfect sense within the world he establishes. This is a world where wild things happen and people take it in stride, where the supernatural of some nebulously yet still richly defined sort exists, where there are sentient dogs, people getting high off dynamite compounds, where funky sex seemingly happens at the drop of a hat and where flyboys from adventure stories clash with Agarthan gnomes, etcetera, you get the point. If the world is wacky, why can’t the characters be on the same wavelength? And why would that lead someone to care about them any less? Even if they don’t make rational sense, they make intuitive sense, and this is the basis from which I have always viewed characters. Logic does not need to take precedence over our emotional brain when judging characters, because people overall think a lot less rationally and far more emotionally than they think they do in reality. Pynchon’s characters are completely sincere and emotionally rich despite their limited page times, even if they don’t act “normal”, whatever the fuck that means. And with the exception of maybe one-off gag characters, he enriches every character here with something raw, and human, and true, even if it’s only a small thing, something that flits into our memory, because every human you exchange even one sentence with on the street is a complex actor beyond any reckoning, and I think that’s what Pynchon is really going for here.

And like, even with all that in mind, so many of the players here are emotionally and narratively textured in general, to the point where even by "traditional" narrative standards I would be entirely invested in them. Throughout every page my heart ached for the Traverse family, of the ruthless transgressions upon justice dealt to them by the Vibe corporation and their capitalist ilk, and the pain of Lake's fall into victimhood of patriarchy that is capitalized upon by men like Vibe. I gasped, laughed and stayed glued to my page, as though I was right there with the Chums of Chance on their aerial adventures, feeling right at home with these charming and wonderfully affectionate parodies of dime store genre fiction, worried for what was to become of them when they begin to realize the vastness of the apparatuses surrounding them. I burned to see Cyprian free himself, of all notions of gender and sexuality and time, to go beyond what was expected for him as a gay [possibly trans?] man in a time where his desires were not acceptable due to the material conditions put in place by the cisheteronormativity of the capitalist system. These characters pulled me in and they never let go, and like another reviewer said, there is so much to their lives that it cannot possibly be contained by the book, even with this page count - they will just keep going and going, free of trajectories, free of "arcs", and all we're seeing is chunks of these peoples' journeys in a world too big to be anything other than bursting past its limits. Do we really expect to be able to see everything, to know every step on every path these characters take, that we all take?

And holy shit even if the narrative itself doesn't congeal to some huge, grand final statement that Wraps Everything Together in a Neat Package [life doesn't do that, amirite?], the absolute depth of thematic substance here certainly does with flying colors. If there's one main thing this book got me thinking about throughout every chapter, it's political leftism's place in modern history and a realization of how prominent anti-establishment sentiment has been throughout world history, in times we would think to be antiquated and rigid by our hypermodern standards. But for as long as oppressive hierarchy has existed, so have those who wish to shatter the chains that bind them unnaturally. What "Against the Day" explores is the rich's eternal war against the proletariat, for they understand the threat the underclasses present to their status and power, and how the bourgeoise's extermination of labor movements throughout the nineteenth century lead to the rise of counter-establishment modes of thinking; for better [anarchism, Marxism] or worse [fascism, the ultimate evil progeny of the Great Wars]. The values of the Enlightenment that we see in "Mason and Dixon" remain unfulfilled, distorted by the "criminal actions of the rich" who have taken the reigns by the very fundamentals on which our system of greed and exploitation is foundationally structured. One of the grand lies of capitalism is that it is the "natural" system, that any opposition to it will fail as there is no system that supposedly integrates "natural" human behavior as our current apparatus does. But if, as we have seen throughout the entire history of this hegemony, there are constantly those under its heels who are fighting to dismantle it, those suffering materially and both clearly and invisibly at once and demoralized from the wages they earn but are not given, then does that not suggest the power structures we live and suffer under are not nearly as natural as those who must enforce it, for their own power, claim?

The wide-eyed ideals of the frontier era, much like that of the Enlightenment before it, sounded nice on paper [to turn an anti-socialist argument back in the direction it came, if I can be so crass]; and it may have been a freedom of new ideas [some, as said before, for the better], but the fact still remained that it was not a material freedom for the overwhelming majority of those still existing under the artificial sovereignty beset upon workers by the capitalist class, and the institutions they uphold [patriarchy, neoliberalism, etc]. Under the inseparably self-serving materialist framework of capitalism, these bright-eyed gestures toward "freedom" are rationalized by the elite classes into the "fuck you, I got mine" attitude that informs our national culture, reinforcing a sense of selfishness that is almost spiritual in how deeply ingrained it is into the philosophy of America and the west as a whole. I think what Pynchon is getting at a lot here, especially with millionaire antagonist Scarsdale Vibe's hypocritical Christian faith, is the integration of capitalism as religion in our national language; that we cannot oppose it because its word is law, as much religion depends on subservience to a "natural" authority in the form of deities. Unlike faith, which is more incorporeal, modern society repeats these motifs in a fashion that is material, where if the underprivileged even so much as question the system we live under it is comparable to questioning what is written in stone, or the laws of the universe - there's that whole "human nature" thing again. This "freedom" then means the freedom to lord over those who the class capable of reaping the benefits of "freedom" deems arbitrarily beneath them, as a result of systemized hierarchy in the forms of monetary power - the idea that, like in Calvinist Christianity for instance, there are those "naturally chosen" and those who are not. These value sets lead to the enabling of those like Scarsdale Vibe, the "chosen" privileged, who are encouraged to take this internalized "right" to the power they hold to its inevitable end state - fascism.

The book's exploration of the approaching darkness of World War I and II is the main axis on which all these themes lay, and it's in this aspect that the novel feels highly of apiece with "Gravity's Rainbow" especially, as it directly explores the conditions that made the world in that book possible. The bourgeoise, in times where their status is threatened [as it is by the emerging ideas in the pre-war period this book is set], have proven that there is not one moral reservation they will have when it pertains to upholding the hegemony. And what better way to keep the population at bay with War, of the capital W sort? War has always been, at its core, the ultimate tool of power and dominance, blazing its trail of manifest destiny throughout all corners of history ever since post-communal civilizations emerged. War is the perfect practicality for those at the highest rung of the societal ladder, not only in its direct enabling of hierarchy itself [for one example, patriarchy emerging due to women being commodified as political leverage by male-dominated governments in wartime], but its usefulness in being a means of controlling and culling the population. And what better way to do that than the dark horizon of the Greatest War in History [well, until the one we see in "Gravity's Rainbow", of course]? Are we not seeing the same thing now with the pandemic, in which the elite can diddle about while people die because mass death is the perfect distraction from the rich's glorified crime syndicate circus? And war is ALWAYS going on, because the elect cast eternal war on the preterite for as long as their power is under attack, as we see here in this book, when World War I has not yet begun but the pieces are all in place, when workers and minorities and the underprivileged are still dying and suffering left and right because of a handful of white Christian bastards want to have their cake and eat it too. This ties into a quote from GR I've always loved, one that I think "Against the Day" narratively illuminates in its focus on the pre-war period - "The real War is always there. The dying tapers off now and then, but the War is still killing lots and lots of people. Only right now it is killing them in more subtle ways".

All this ties into possibly the thing I love most about Pynchon's writing - his total willingness to tackle political subjects and anti-capitalist sentiment without neutering his intent in a way which would make his work palatable to liberals in any fashion. Toni Morrison, in her introduction to "Sula", talks at length of the apprehension writers [especially those of marginalized backgrounds] are conditioned to approach political subtext in their works with, and with the vast derision many still have today towards the "politicization" of storytelling [mostly, I've noticed, when tackling issues of the oppressed that conservatives find uncomfortable], this unfair attitude still abides in common, flimsy literary criticism. Pynchon, like Morrison and basically every writer worth their salt, doesn't care one whit about kowtowing to the demands of pro-capitalist cisheteronormative standards; art is inherently political, because all art is created under an apparatus which influences the creator in both conscious and subconscious ways, and the boldest writers will take this a step further and explore every angle of sociopolitics. This may be the reason why I don't find Pynchon as confusing as his reputation suggests; because in the middle of the sometimes incomprehensible dreams he cooks up, Pynchon is never afraid to tackle the Big Ideas in ways that illuminate the surrounding chaos and interweaving absurd plotlines in ways that I've always found immensely enriching.

And what's crazy about it, too, crazier than any of the hallucinatory shenanigans Pynchon adorns his narratives with, is that even with all the bloodshed, all the working class suffering, the tears and sweat and grime covering its underclass characters as they struggle to make it in this ever-darkening world, this is genuinely one of Pynchon's least pessimistic novels, in every sense. “Gravity’s Rainbow”, for all its immense brilliance, clearly felt like the work of a younger and angrier mind, not any less genius but one far less hopeful about where the world was heading. “Against the Day” is the yang to “Gravity’s Rainbow”’s Yin, QUITE LITERALLY the light to its dark. The underclass is not powerless - we are not doomed to suffer and have our bones ground to dust in the slaughterhouse of late capitalism - in fact Pynchon makes the case that it may well be just the opposite, that WE are the inevitable, that WE are the ones who make the future, whose light beams into all of history and drowns the bourgeoise's darkness.

There will always be suffering. But where there is suffering there is the chance of redemption, of restructuring the world in the way we want, a way in which suffering does not have to be writ into the laws and mechanics of the systems in which we live. That, to me, is the core of “Against the Day”, even with its phantasmagoria of themes and moving pieces - that there is hope in the struggle, that there’s something better than this, and it’s one we have to work at hand in hand, reaching out across all of us marginalized by the apparatus that dictates the vast majority of our pain. Capitalism is not everything, it is not fallible, it is only as strong as us - and we, together, with all the right tools in place, can become stronger than it. Emotionally, spiritually, we already are. And now we must make it materially so. Together, we fly toward grace.

"He couldn't say when exactly, but at some point Frank came to understand that this bearer of light was his soul, and that all the fireflies in the tree were the souls of everyone who had ever passed through his life, even at a distance, even for a heartbeat and a half, that there existed such a tree for each person in Chiapas, and though this suggested that the same soul must live on a number of trees, they all went to make up a single soul, really, in the same way that light was indivisible. "In the same way," amplified Gunther, "that our Savior could inform his disciples with a straight face that bread and wine were indistinguishable from his body and blood. Light, in any case, among these Indians of Chiapas, occupies an analogous position to flesh among Christian peoples. It is living tissue. As the brain is the outward and visible expression of the mind."

#thomas pynchon #against the day #book review

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hellyeahheroes · 5 years ago

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Building Virgil Hawkins in D&D

I need to distract myself from this X-Men melodrama shit so I’m doing another D&D build. This time how about we try to build one of Dwayne’s McDuffie’s greatest creation, electric nerd from Dakota, who may be known to you as Static or

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First, let us consider the goals of this build. We need to accurately reflect Virgil’s wide array of powers, including electric and magnetic abilities, some sort of healing and resistance to mind control and telepaths and few of Static’s iconic moves. And second, we need to get him his floating disc.

For Abilities, we will be using standard point array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8). As always I follow some of the guidelines from Tulok the Barbarian who inspired the creation of these builds. If you want or your DM tells you to roll or use point buy, go ahead and use this is a guideline. Remember that even numbers are better. We will prioritize Intelligence, Virgil is a textbook superhero with a textbook in each hand. Constitution will follow as de facto one of the most important stats in the game, then Dexterity and Wisdom, our lowest stats being Charisma and Strength. The base should look like this STR: 8 CON: 14 DEX: 13 INT: 15 WIS: 12 CHA: 10

Now for D&D outdated term for species, Race. As a Boom Baby Virgil is a Human of the Variant kind. Variant Human gets +1 to two Ability scores, I suggest rounding up numbers for Intelligence and Dexterity. You also get a bonus skill, choose Acrobatics

Variant Humans also get a feat. We will pick Magic Initiate, letting us grab two Cantrips and one 1st level spell from Cleric spell list - we can cast Cantrips as much as we want but we can cast 1st level spell only once per long lest and only on the lowest level.

Sacred Flame forces a single target to make a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d8 radiant damage - this scales with your total level to 2d8 at 5th, 3d8 at 11th and 4d8 at 17th level - you can easily say it is one of Static’s bolts of electricity since radiant damage is basically light and light is s form of energy.

Speaking of which, our second Cantrip will be Light. Upon touching an object, not larger than 10 feet in any dimension, you make it emanate bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light in the next 20 feet. It lasts for one hour, until you cast it again or take an action to dismiss it.

For 1st level spell, we will pick Cure Wounds, which allows us to regain 1d8+ your wisdom modifier of hit points. This is one way to give Static his, admittingly minor, healing powers.

For the Background, we will customize one. Pick up two skills - Perception and Athletics. The former is one of the most important skills in the game and the latter is only skill tied to Strength - meaning that if your DM asks to have you roll a Strength save or check you can likely argue it should be Athletics check instead. Take proficiency with Herbalism Kit to make yourself healing potions and a free language of your choice, pick something campaign relevant. And Watcher’s Eye feature from City Watch’s background, which allows you to recognize easier secret hideouts of local law enforcement and criminal organizations.

Now for the Class. While he received his powers through a freak accident, Virgil is known from his creative and intelligent approach to his abilities, he clearly studied them and related physics to do what he can do. As such, we will make him a Wizard. Besides, this is an RPG nerd, I bet you he played enough D&D to know Wizard is Tier 1 class across the editions.

We get proficiencies with daggers, darts, slings, light crossbows and quarterstaffs (which is close to a weapon Static used in one of the incarnations but useless for the build), Intelligence and Wisdom saving throws and two skills, pick Investigation and Arcana, which is closest D&D fantasy setting has to science.

Wizard’s main powers are spells. You get a spellbook to which you copy spells, each new spell copied takes 2 hours and costs 50 gp. Each day during long rest you choose which spells to prepare for next day, equal in number and level to the numbers show in Spell Slots Per Day part of Wizard table plus your Intelligence modifier. They cannot be of a higher level than that of which you have available spell slots. I see it as Virgil having a notebook to which he writes down his new ideas how to use his powers and keeping notes on how they work.

If a spell asks you to make an attack roll it is with your proficiency modifier + your Intelligence modifier. If it asks for a saving throw, the difficulty of the save is those two modifiers plus eight.

First, we learn Cantrips, small spells that Static can cas as many times as he wants. We start with 3 of them and my suggestions are:

Lightning Lure - the target must make a Strength saving throw of be pulled 10 feet towards you and take lightning damage - which scales up with your total level just like Sacred Flame above - if it ends 5 feet or less away from you.

Prestidigitation - just a number of minor utility effects that are fun to have and can easily be portrayed as you using your electric powers to make them happen.

Shocking Grasp - you make a melee attack, with an advantage if the target is wearing metal armor, on a hit you deal 18d lightning damage (see the mentions of scaling above, same deal here) and cannot take reactions until the start of its next turn. Virgil has a different name for it, obviously

We also start having six 1st-level spells in the Spellbook. I’ll list my suggestions and then will list spells for higher levels whenever you get new spell slots for it but remember, you can add any number of spells you come across as long as you have the money for it so if you see something that feels especially Static-like or just good to have, go ahead and get it.

Shield is cast as a reaction to upcoming attack or an enemy casting Magic Missle, it lasts one round and gives you +5 to Armor Class and protects from Magic Missle

Absorb Elements is also a reaction spell letting you gain resistance to upcoming damage of any elemental type, and then deliver 1d6 damage of that type to the first person who hits you. I see it as some of Static’s resistance to other electric powers.

Witch Bolt deals the target 1d12 lightning damage AND you can then stay and concentrate for up to one minute, to make it take another 1d12 damage on each turn as long as you won’t do anything else, target doesn’t move from the area or won’t hide behind a cover, making you lose the sight of it. And it scales if you cast it from a higher spell slot, adding extra d12 for a level.

Feather Fall lets you slow the fall of up to five targets for one minute, if they land in this time they take no damage and land on their feet. Explain it as Virgil using some of his magnetic powers.

Chromatic Orb is another offensive spell, it allows you to make a ranged spell attack for 3d8 (+1d8 for each additonal level of a slot from which you cast it) damage of chosen type. Since this is Static you’ll be likely choosing lightning or thunder or maybe fire (as with any spell dealing fire damage I’ll bring up, just say the target got burned by lightning) as lighting ball, but acid, cold and poison are also available in a pinch.

Mage Armor increases your armor class to 13 + your Dexterity modifier, which may go a long way since you do not wear armor. Write it off as Static wrapping his body in a protective magnetic forcefield. Also, it stacks with Shield since it changes how your AC functions and Shield is a bonus to your AC, just saying for incoming conflict with the DM.

EXTRA: Tenser's Floating Disk lets you create a disc that can follow you and carry up to 500 pounds of weight but you cannot ride it as it has no power to move on its own. It is a poor substitute for Static’s disc but if you have a generous DM you might talk about it and work something out, maybe agree to combine it with your flying spells. If not, ignore this bullet point

Finally, you get Arcane Recovery, allowing you to regain some of your expended spell slots every short rest. These spell slots cannot be of level higher than 6th and their combined level cannot be higher than half of your wizard level rounded up.

On 2nd level Wizard gets to choose Arcane Tradition and we’ll pick School of Theurgy. it allows us to choose one of the Cleric domains and gain a limited number of benefits from it. We will explain it as Virgil trying to study nature of his powers from all angles, both Arcane and the Divine since we’re treating magic as replacement science for this build. We will choose Tempest Domain. From now on you whenever you can advance in levels you can replace one of the spells in your spellbook with Cleric Domain spell of a level you have spell slots for. If one of the spells I suggested isn’t working out for you or you picked a spare spell to replace (or just stumbled across it because it is also a Wizard spell), grab Thunderwave - it forces every creature in 15-feet radius from you to make a Constitution saving throw or take 2d8 thunder damage and be pushed 10 feet away from you.

You also get Channel Arcana, allowing you to copy effects of Cleric Channel Divinity feature, you can do it once per short or long rest (twice from 6th level and three times from 18th) and choose one of two options. Destructive Wrath lets you not roll damage on a spell dealing lightning or thunder damage - you just declare it deals maximum damage. Divine Arcana lets you add +2 to an attack roll or saving throw difficulty of a next spell you cast if it requires one.

The third option is Turn Undead, which basically frightens undead creatures that see you - everyone must make a Wisdom saving throw at your spell save difficulty or be turned for 1 minute or until it takes damage. It forces them to spend its turn moving away from you, makes them unable to willingly move closer than 30 feet towards you and is prevented all actions or reactions other than dash to get out of what doesn’t let it move or dodge if it cannot move. I guess we all know now why Static wasn’t in Blackest Night as he would make Nekron and all Black Lanterns run back where they came from.

And 3rd level you get 2 2nd level spell slots so I think it’s time we get you your Static Cling. We will need two spells for it. Spider Climb is a concentration spell that allows you to walk on walls up for one hour. Hold Person forces a Wisdom Saving throw to a forced target, making it paralyzed as long as you maintain concentration, up to one minute, with additional saving throws at the end of each of its turns. If cast from a higher-level spell slot it can affect an extra target for each level.

On 4th level, you get an ability score improvement, boost your Intelligence. For your next 3rd level spell pick Levitate, it lets you make yourself or another target float in the air and control on what height it is. Living creatures can move with speed as if they were climbing. If your DM is generous, convince them to let you combine it into one spell with Tenser’s Floating Disc. If not, cas it at a metal disc tied to your feet and move with your other leg like a skateboard or just try other tricks to get that effect, something may get past the DM.

You also learn a new Cantrip, Booming Blade lets you make a weapon melee attack. On a hit, the target is coated energy until your next turn and if it willingly moves, it will take 1d8 Thunder Damage, scaling to 2d8 once you reach 5th level, 3d8 on 11th and 4d8 on 17th, from 5th level the attack itself also deals extra 1d8 lightning damage and an additional 1d8 from levels 11th and 17th

5th level Wizard learns two 3rd level spells and you get a 3rd one on 6th level.

Protection from Energy grants you or someone else up to 1 hour of resistance to the chosen type of damage and lighting and thunder are both on the list of options

Lightning Bolt lets you deal to each creatures in 100 feet long and 5 feet wide line 8d6 lightning damage (+1d6 for each additional level from which you cast the spell) and a half on a Dexterity saving throw.

Fly lets you give a target a flying speed of 60 feet for the duration but it is a concentration spell so be careful. Also, unlike Levitate if you are still in the air when it ends you fall on your face.

On 6th level, you also get your Arcane Tradition Feature. Arcane Acolyte lets you grab Tempest Cleric’s Wrath of the Storm, which you can use as a reaction when hit by a melee attack from a creature you can see to deal 2d8 lightning or thunder damage to it or half on a successful Dexterity saving throw.

On 7th and 8th Level you gain 1 4th level spell each.

Elemental Bane lets you remove resistance from a target that fails its constitution save and take additional 2d6 damage each time it is dealt damage of chosen type. It is sadly concentration so you may need to cooperate with someone else on it. Consider it for a Black Lightning team-up.

Storm Sphere creates a 20-foot radius sphere of whirring air that forces creatures inside to make a Strength saving throw or take 2d6 bludgeoning damage, turns area inside into difficult terrain and allows you to, while maintaining concentration on it, on each turn take a bonus action to make a ranged spell attack with an advantage against a target inside for 4d6 lightning damage.

On 8th level, you get an ability score improvement, but we will take a feat. Elemental Adept lets you ignore resistance to lightning damage and whenever you roll damage for them, you treat any 1 on the dice as a 2.

9th Level Wizard gets 5th level spells

We will grab one from Tempest Domain - Call Lightning. It works only outside and creates storm clouds above you in 60-foot radius, then choose a spot and made it hit by lightning, dealing 3d10 lightning damage to all creatures within 5 feet from that point, half on a successful DEX save. You can maintain concentration up to 10 minutes to make this continue and make another lighting strike on each of your turns. It deals extra 1d10 damage when cast from a higher level and an extra 1d10 if there was already stormy weather when you cast it. I’m sure there is a scientific explanation on Virgil suddenly stepping on Storm’s territory but I sucked at physics.

We also get an extra 4th Level Spell. Fire Shield surrounds your body in thin flames for 10 minutes, no concentration, that provide you light and either a) resistance to cold damage and 2d8 fire damage to a creature that hit you or b) resistance to fire damage and 2d8 cold damage. Explain it as Virgil using electricity and it burning whoever touched him.

10th Level wizard gets a new Cantrip and a new 5th Level Spell

Our Cantrip will be Mage Hand, it creates an invisible hand that can do minor things for you up to 30 feet away. It cannot attack or activate magic items or carry more than 10 pounds but it is a good way to show Virgil’s magnetic powers performing minor tasks.

Our 5th Level Spell is gonna be Wall of Force, it summons a, maintained by concentration up to 10 minutes, invisible wall through which nothing can pass, be it enemies, projectiles, spells or even ghosts (no, seriously) and it cannot be dispelled by Dispel Magic. The only way to destroy it is a Disintegrate spell.

On 10th level we get a new Arcane Tradition feature and School of Theurgy grants us Thunderous Strike from a Tempest Domain. Thunderous strike lets you push a Large or smaller creature up to 10 feet away from you whenever you deal it thunder or lightning damage.

11th Level Wizard opens for us 6th Level Spells. Chain Lighting hits a single target and then up to 3 other targets (+1 extra if you cast it from higher levels) within 30 feet from it and deals them 10d8 Lightning Damage, half on a successful Dexterity saving throw.

12th level wizard gets an Ability Score Improvement, cap your Intelligence as your most important stat.

13th Level Wizard gets 7th Level Spells. Forcecage traps creatures within 20 feet radius inside an invisible force-field that they cannot leave through nonmagical means, can’t be dispelled by Dispel Magic and traps even ghosts. It lasts up to 1 hour. Attempts at teleporting out of it are successful on Charisma saving throw so it’s a good thing we just maxed out our Save Difficulty.

14th Level gives us our last School of Theurgy Arcane Feature, Tempest Cleric’s Stormborn. You now have a flying speed equal your walking speed as long as you’re outside. Honestly, at this point, you can forgo other flying means and grab a disc and just say you use it to surf in the air, DM should understand.

15th Level means 8th Level Spells. Mind Blank for 24 hours, no concentration needed, gives immunity to psychic damage, sensing emotions, reading thoughts, frightened and charmed conditions through magical means and divination spells, even up to including freaking Wish. Cast one on you each morning to never fear you may get kidnapped and exposed to Anti-Life Equation

16th Level Wizard gets Ability Score Improvement, I suggest adding +2 to Constitution - many of your spells are concentration so you don’t want to blow that check and extra hit points (and remember, upgrading your Constitution grants you extra his points retroactively as well).

17th Level allows us to pick a 9th level spell. We will reach our last gift from Tempest Cleric - Destructive Wave. This spell deals every creature within a 30-foot radius from you 5d6 thunder damage and 5d6 radiant or necrotic damage or half of it on successful Dexterity saving throw. Amusingly enough it is a paladin spell that Cleric only gets as a bonus from Tempest Domain and we got it on a Wizard due to School of Theurgy. No one can say Virgil hasn’t studied his powers thoughtfully.

18th level grants us Spell Mastery, allowing us to pick a single 1st level spell and a single 2nd level spell. From now on when Virgil has them prepared he can cast them as Cantrips, as many times as he wants without spending a spell slot, but only at their lowest level, higher ones still require a spent spell slot. Don’t worry about your picks, if they don’t work changing them costs you only 8 hours of study.

We also get a 5th level spell slot and my recommendation is Hold Monster - it basically works like Hold Person but is not limited in who can it be used against. See it as Virgil improving his Static Cling power.

19th Level Wizard gets the last Ability Score Improvement but we will once again take a feat. Even better we will take the same feat as before - Elemental Adept, now granting its bonuses to another type of damage we’re dealing, thunder.

We get a new spell slot for 6th level spells. Globe of Invulnerability surrounds you with a 10-foot radius force field that can be upheld with Concentration up to 1 minute. No 5th level spell cast outside the globe can affect the area within it and vice-versa and this effect blocks one additional level of spells for each level of spell slot above 6th that you cast it from.

20th Level Wizard allows us to choose 3 3rd-level spells as Signature Spells. It basically works like Spell Mastery described above plus these spells are always prepared and do not count against our limit of spells prepared. They don’t even have to be spells we were discussing here, as that level has some fan-favorite utility spells like Counterspell, Dispel Magic or Haste.

We also get a new 7th level spell slot. Reverse Gravity causes everyone in a 50-foot radius to fly upwards for 100 feet and if they hit something on their way they take damage as if they feel on the ground from above.

And so we have it, Static as a 20th level Wizard. How playable it is? I mean, it’s a 20th level wizard, so a very much. You have several means to fly, can dish out a lot of damage and overcome resistance and have enough means to protect yourself and control the battlefield. On the downside you’re squishy and if Power Word: Kill won’t get you instantly, one or two hits should likely bring you down within the range. We didn’t cap Constitution which is means concentration is not as good as it should be, lack of armor and low Dexterity means we’re easy to hit and forces us to rely on all these protective spells and stay away from the first line. Finally, even with Elemental Adept Lightning and Thunder are things a lot of enemies will be resistant or even immune to. But unlike his comic book, D&D is a team effort so join forces with someone more durable, who can take a hit. And in a pinch remember you can pick up more spells than the ones I listed. Say what you want about him, but Static has shown he can think on his feet.

You have any suggestions or criticism about the build? Be sure to share them, And check out my previous Cassandra Cain and Nico Minoru builds.

- Admin

#Static #Static Shock #Virgil Hawkins #Milestone Media #Dungeons & Dragons #DC

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rudylozanobelt · 3 years ago

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The 4 stylish & Luxuries Leather Belts That Will Keep Your Pants From Sagging

Hardly anything beats a high-end leather belt for impeccable styling, be it stingray belt, elephant leather belt, ostrich skin belt, alligator skin belt, and sharkskin belt.

Not a thing can beat a basic belt for making you seem and feel more put together. However, if you read any fashion blog or men's fashion magazine, you'd believe there was a holy art to picking the appropriate one and properly wearing it lest you breach some unspoken, arcane style code.

However, for all the completely arbitrary prohibitions that the fashion industry throws at us occasionally, you might be shocked to learn that there isn't much to it. It ought to be basic leather with just an incredibly easy buckle for a mature style, particularly for the workplace.

HOW TO SELECT THE RIGHT BELT FOR YOU?

Belts are made of a variety of materials, including leather, suede, woven, and canvas. These items have now been divided into categories. For leather, it has stingray belts, elephant leather belts, ostrich skin belts, alligator skin belts, and sharkskin belts. Not only that but belts are also classified according to their stylistic settings. For instance, various belts are required for formal and casual clothing.

Even if we can all comply that embellished belts and huge quirky buckles/fasteners belong in the early 2000s, if you really want to create a big remark, you can still get away with something a little shinier by highlighting one element over another – FYI, that's as near as a men's belts article will get to the smoky eye or statement lip' debate.

You may also spare some more leeway for informal ensembles, such as a canvas strap or a bolder color to complement your summery chinos.

It's merely an excellent style to coordinate your belt and your shoes. Wear it slightly above your hips to prevent the "just-wedgied" look, and don't wear it so snug that the hemlines of your pants hang high above your footwear.

Your pants ought to be able to stay up on their own (if they don't, you need new trousers, not a new belt), but think of it as a bit of help during the day to ensure you're not channeling your sixteen-year-old self and flashing your undies to the public at large. That's all there is to it! Isn't that too distressing?

Basically, there's something for everyone's budget, so sit back, buckle up, and read on for the top picks. Is that correct?

THE 4 BEST MEN'S BELTS:

1) TOM FORD FULL-GRAIN LEATHER BELT

|A creative option with a little difference|

This minimalist belt foregoes the typical all-around buckle in favor of a basic T bar pattern, which may seem strange at first, but provides a cleaner look and a slight variation to the overall appearance, keeping this otherwise classic belt from seeming boring. Mr. Porter claims that the replete leather of this sturdy belt will only become better with age (just like its bearer, correct? ), nearly justifying the rather astronomical price. A true luxury item, with a high standard and durability.

2) POLO RALPH LAUREN LEATHER BELT

| A conservative access belt that will go with the most stylish pants.|

The Ralph Lauren piece is indeed a wonderful deal for a luxury belt, costing about a tenth of the amount of several of our elevated options. Of course, by avoiding other designer alternatives' louder branding and fancier design aspects, there's not much to indicate that's what it is, but who cares? It's a premium leather belt, to be sure. A word of caution: some reviewers discovered their regular belt sizes to be unusually small, so we recommend eyeing up.

3) LACOSTE THICK BUCKLE BELT

|With this men's belt, you may go your own way.|

If you're going to aim for the prep look, why not start with your extras? What's more prep than Lacoste? This classic item is a perfect accessory in the making, made from caramel-colored leather and bearing the brand's iconic crocodile emblem.

4) VERSACE CLASSIC MEDUSA BELT

|A little opulent, a whole lot lovely|

While this bold Versace belt may be a step too much for the more reserved sartorialists among you, it's unrivaled for injecting a dash of glitz into an otherwise subdued party ensemble. The high-shine circular gold buckle includes Versace's trademark Medusa emblem, giving this premium designer belt enough oomph to make you appear like you just won a boxing championship.

#ostrich skin belt #elephant leather belt #stingray belt #shark skin belt #alligator skin belt

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wazafam · 4 years ago

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The Exorcist's sequels and prequels have always struggled to live up to the classic original, but an upcoming reboot can hopefully right the ship. 1973's The Exorcist, directed by Hollywood icon William Friedkin, is almost inarguably one of the greatest and scariest movies of all time. While just about every movie has its vocal detractors, The Exorcist is a rare find in that even those not in love with it will acknowledge that it's a well-crafted, well-acted film.

The scare factor of The Exorcist is probably higher for those viewers holding a devout Christian faith, especially Catholic, but that's by no means required to enjoy the film. Many people who aren't religious still find The Exorcist's concepts upsetting and terrifying, even if they consider them to be purely a work of fiction, and not corresponding to things that might actually be possible. One of the highest-grossing horror movies ever, The Exorcist is, in the view of millions, a certified masterpiece.

Related: Recasting The Exorcist In 2020 (Every Main Character)

Unfortunately, that can't be said for any of its follow-ups, even the somewhat popular TV series. Now, after more than 15 years since the last Exorcist movie hit theaters, Halloween director David Gordon Green is set to helm a new sequel. This could represent a return to form for the franchise, but past mistakes should be avoided, lest Exorcist fans end up let down and disappointed yet again.

The Exorcist sequels and prequels are quite the odd lot of films, and the writers and directors involved with them just seemed incapable of cracking what made the classic original so special. 1977's Exorcist 2: The Heretic likely needs no introduction at this point, if only because it's widely regarded as one of the worst horror sequels ever. It's silly, convoluted, confusing, and when Father Lamont is almost seduced by a teenage Regan, creepy for all the wrong reasons. Gone is the polish and class inherent to the original, which seems highbrow even considering some of its shockingly graphic content.

The Exorcist 3 has become a bit of a cult classic, but it took decades, and while it's a fine horror movie, it's a poor Exorcist follow-up. It doesn't feel like an Exorcist sequel, and when it tries to force in an exorcism sequence, the scene feels entirely out of place. The dueling prequels, Exorcist: The Beginning and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist are both disappointments as well. The Beginning has terrible special effects, lame plot twists, and a cringe-worthy attempt to redo the ending exorcism of the original. Then there's Dominion, which is better than The Beginning, but instead of being laughably awful is just plain boring for most of its run time. The Exorcist sequels and prequels are a mixed bag of alternately straying too far from what fans loved about the original, and trying to awkwardly cram scenes reminiscent of Regan MacNeil's exorcism into a story where they don't fit.

While an Exorcist movie reboot - or even worse, a full-on remake of the original - has been threatened briefly over the years, it wasn't until August 2020 that the project finally seemed to get moving. However, while those initial reports dubbed the potential film a reboot, more recent updates in December 2020 have re-framed the project as a sequel to the first Exorcist. Plot details beyond that are unavailable, but a great first move has already been made in the hiring of David Gordon Green to direct. Green helmed the highly successful 2018 Halloween sequel/reboot, and also directs its upcoming follow-ups Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.

Related: Midsommar’s Secret The Exorcist Easter Egg Explained

With Halloween 2018, Green famously took the approach to retconning all prior sequels and crafting a continuation of only John Carpenter's classic. Green could try to go the same route with his Exorcist, bringing back Linda Blair as a now aging Regan MacNeil, and perhaps even Ellen Burstyn as her mother Chris. Sadly, Max von Sydow and Jason Miller obviously won't be able to return, as they've since passed away. At the same time, Regan's story was pretty definitively concluded, and despite her surprise appearance played by Geena Davis in the Exorcist TV series, bringing her back risks undercutting the original, something the horrible Exorcist 2 already did once.

Considering the potential issues outlined above concerning the return of Regan MacNeil, if she does come back, it should only be for a cameo, or perhaps a small supporting role. What The Exorcist needs to do is go back to basics, and focus on trying to replicate what worked in the original. That's not to say that the story should be a carbon copy, as that would be boring. However, it should indeed focus on a possessed child and their harried single parent, one who goes to the Catholic Church for help as a last resort. The climax of the film should also involve a harrowing, difficult exorcism.

Beyond that though, the specifics can be altered. The script could still give Exorcist fans what they want, but also leave some room for innovation. The increasingly secular societal lens of modern times could also play a role, as Father Karras and the church were already skeptical of performing an exorcism in 1973, and one assumes the view on it being an outdated, arcane practice would have increased exponentially by the 2020s. One mistake David Gordon Green's Exorcist sequel should definitely make a point to avoid though is getting lost in trying to create a convoluted mythology surrounding Pazuzu, Father Merrin, Regan, or anyone else. As shocking as its content was, The Exorcist's story was also rather simple. Possession happens, things get worse, priests are called in, exorcism takes place, day is saved, but not without casualties. There's no need to over-complicate things, as doing so is often a detriment to horror's effectiveness. Go back to basics and keep things simple, and fans might finally get a worthy Exorcist sequel.

More: Why The Exorcist Is Still One Of The Scariest Horror Movies Ever Made

Why The Exorcist Sequels Failed (& How The New Movie Can Succeed) from https://ift.tt/35CsyZ1

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rafi1228 · 5 years ago

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The post The WpFASTER WordPress Speed Optimization Master Course appeared first on Free Course Lab.

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