#not about shapeshifters but about dnd druids

[kitty--white]

Melkor: Is it possible to eat a part of shapeshifter in animal form to keep him without injures in human form? Like, what part of human is his animal tail?

Gothmog: Can he lay an egg, while being a hen? They do it everyday. That would be really conveniently - you're an omlet for yourself!

Sauron: Go have a dinner, you two!

[totally-not-an-awkward-okapi]

Wanted to do a random character design so I brought back the classic Spotify adventurer generator which happened to give me something that worked really well with this text post. Her name’s Melonon “Melon” Thinae, she’d best be described as somewhere between a small quivering dog and a leaf barely holding onto a branch in a light wind, and I love her so much.

[manesthia]

Thoughts on Halsin as an "atypical druid"

I've seen a number of excellent metas lately about Halsin's atypical druidism (the fact that he does not abhor the undead, does not have complete control over his wildshape, etc.). While I agree completely with those points, I've also noticed a tendency to sometimes frame this as Halsin being a "bad" druid or never really belonging with the druids in the first place. And I strongly disagree with that. I feel that Halsin's druidism is a core aspect of his character and implying that he is somehow "bad at it" robs him of something essential. The fact that he is a unique, complex character with far more depth than just "typical DnD druid" doesn't mean that he is not still a druid at heart - and a pretty formidable one, at that.

I see him as a character who has something in common with the nature deities and magician-priests of ancient myth and legend: Merlin (a mentor whose teachings are rooted in the natural world; who guides kings rather than wishing to rule himself; who mediates between the kingdom of men and animals; and who changes into an animal) and Dionysus (who celebrates multiplicity, fluidity, nature-based wisdom, carnal pleasure, the subversion of unnatural restraints - and who also shapeshifts, by the way). Druidism informs Halsin's entire belief system, ranging from his view on relationships (Halsin never uses the word 'polyamory'; instead, he speaks of "doing as nature does" and explains all of his preferences with nature metaphors - "the bear partners as its instinct dictates", etc.) to the importance he places on community. Halsin is unhappy as Archdruid not because he is just an incompetent leader or can't get along with other druids, but because he is so in tune with nature that he only thrives in communities with a structure more like the branching network of roots or mycelia - like our group of "weirdos" or his rebuilt community in Reithwin. He does know how to guide, counsel, and mediate - all of which are essential leadership abilities. But he needs to be part of an interconnected organism that grows and learns together, not the sole leader of it. To me, this is connected to his shapeshifting abilities and druidism: Halsin is connected to all other beings by literally becoming them (even if he is most attuned to his bear-shape).

Halsin speaks very highly of the grove as a place of worship (let's not forget how deeply religious Halsin is, too), but he also says that life in the grove made him feel cut off from nature. It's ironic that a druid grove runs on politics and power hierarchies (aspects of civilisation that most druids should despise), but it does. This is also a theme in a sidequest in BG2, if anyone recalls. In my opinion, the fact that Halsin feels out of place in a grove that has grown corrupted with politics and power plays actually makes him more true to core druidic beliefs, not less so.

I think the idea that Halsin doesn't get along with other druids gets taken a little too far at times, too. Members of his grove have issues with him primarily because they have been radicalised by Shadow Druids, not because Halsin is just too good-aligned for other druids in general. Note that every single druid in the grove who expresses strong anti-refugee sentiment also supports Kagha and the Rite of Thorns. Halsin welcomes outcasts into the grove because he is compassionate and empathetic as a person, yes, but also because it is part of his druidic belief in harmony, unity, and the value of life. Compare with Olodan's line:

This is not to say that I think Halsin's would never clash with other druids at all, or that I think his relationship with the grove is without friction. Obviously, part of the blame for the infiltration of the Shadow Druids falls on him. Obviously, there would be more neutral-aligned druids who would disagree with him on principle. But the fact that the previous Archdruid chose Halsin as his successor (we must assume that he did, since Halsin obviously didn't sign up for it) strongly indicates to me that the deceased, much wiser elders of the grove valued him greatly. Jaheira also repeatedly refers to him with the deepest respect.

I think it's also worth noting that there is room for nuance in druidic beliefs in the BG series. Faldorn in BG1, Cernd in BG2 and Jaheira in all three games are all very different. In many ways, Jaheira is more Harper than druid, which I think was indicated by her being a multiclassed fighter/druid in the earlier games. It also comes out in her conversation with Halsin about the Shadow Curse:

And if you tell her (speaking as Halsin) that she doesn't have to explain herself to him:

Of course, Halsin has a personal investment in lifting the Shadow Curse that Jaheira doesn't share, namely Thaniel. Only Halsin has a special connection with the very spirit of the land. This is also why he is completely unable to heal and move on until the Shadow Curse is lifted, unlike Jaheira. If the spirit of the land is wounded, then so is his own spirit. Jaheira, as a Fighter-Druid-Harper, is very much a protector of the realms as a whole (nature and civilisation), while Halsin is referred to over and over again by various NPCs as Nature's Steward, Keeper of Groves, Guardian of the Land, etc.

My argument here is not that Halsin is a more "typical" druid than Jaheira or that one is a "better" druid than the other (I love them both deeply). I'm just saying that all of this demonstrates to me how deeply intertwined Halsin's druidism is with the rest of his character. And I really, really appreciate him as a druid along with everything else he is.

I'm not really sure that I understand Tumblr etiquette regarding discussion (what is the polite way to interact with each other here? Commenting? Reblogs with hashtags? I'm too old for this site lol), but I would love to talk about this more. Please don't hesitate to comment, even if you disagree.

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

Shapeshifter Anatomy

shapeshifter is a broad category, covering any fictional creature or peoples that can alter the shape of their body. some can shift into pretty much any animal, like animorphs or DnD druids. some are shapeshifters against their will, like werewolves. I'll be covering the anatomical possibilities for shapeshifters with a limited ability to change their shape, more like werewolves.

the anatomy required to change one's form mostly involves keeping a lot of body parts "hidden" until they're brought out to use. there are a lot of animals that can do this! cats have retractable claws, eels have a secondary jaw in their throats, many snakes have large fangs that fold back in the mouth. etc.

hair and feathers are also capable of changing the shape of a creature by the way they move, like the quills of a porcupine or the display feathers of many birds of paradise. this is a much less flexible sort of shapeshifting, but it's a good option for intimidation and courting displays or temporary disguise.

to keep this post simple, I'm just going to focus on a humanoid with a singular monstrous form, but these concepts could be used for a lot of different creatures! though I haven't fully determined how to make someone go from mostly hairless to suddenly very furry. Maybe becoming a werewolf just gives you a lot more body hair growth and it puffs up during the transformation.

(image description: compiled sketches of different animal anatomy. in the top left corner, there are colored diagrams showing the different parts of a human skull and a wolf skull. in the top left, a diagram showing how cat claws retract and bend forward. on the bottom, sketches of moray eel and viper skulls, showing the eel's secondary jaw and the viper's folding fangs. end description.)

It took a while but i managed to find an ask i answered a while back about giving humanoids retractable claws like cats have. so that's at least one part of possible shapeshifter anatomy covered! the tldr is this: retractable claws actually require the first joint of the finger or toe to be folded backwards, and then the claw comes out when that joint flexes forward. it does make the fingers and toes shorter and more bulky at the front, but that's fine.

here's a look at just the skull and upper torso of a potential were-creature or monstrous humanoid.

(image description: colored sketches of a humanoid skeleton with a retractable fang on both the upper and lower jaws, as well as an extra joint on the lower jaw, and neck vertebrae that sit more curved in the first sketch and straighten out to a longer neck in the second sketch. end description.)

this could use more polish before it's really ready to add the fleshy parts on top, and they wouldn't quite look fully human on the outside. If you want to take something like this even further, you can alter the entire skull to be full of small moving joints, like how so many fish are able to fold up their jaws and then shoot them forward like a tube. or the sarcastic fringehead, a fish that can unfold its jaw as a method of intimidation.

(video description: a 3d model of a carp's jaw, showing how it's made of multiple parts that can all move and extend the mouth. end description.)

(image description: two photos of a sarcastic fringehead. the top photo shows this fish at rest, with its jaw frame folded backward along its face. the bottom image shows this fish with its jaw fully extended, revealing a very wide panel of brightly colored flesh on either side of the mouth. end description.)

facial changes like this are probably the most difficult part of making the anatomy for a shapeshifter. but the more moving parts their face has, the more variety of face shape you get! moving to the rest of the body though, let's consider how an upright human figure could shift into a quadrupedal form with digitigrade legs, since werewolves are probably among the more common creatures all this advice is useful for.

(image description: a simplified human skeleton and wolf skeleton next to each other, with an arrow pointing from the human to the wolf. end description)

pretty much all vertebrates have things in common when it comes to the form of their skeletons. the general location of each limb and the ribs and pelvis are always similar. but their exact size and shape varies from animal to animal. so you can't really make a normal human skeleton turn into a normal wolf skeleton. but you can make a weird human skeleton that doubles as a weird wolf skeleton.

(image description: same as above, but now the human shaped skeleton and the wolf shaped skeleton match each other, and the human shaped one is hiding its longer neck, spine, and tail by holding them with a far more curved shape while the wolf shaped skeleton holds them more straight. end description.)

okay they're not an exact match, but I tried. any humanoid being with a skeleton like this is not going to be able to fool anyone into thinking they're a normal human when they're naked. but with the right styling of clothes, a lot of the weird curves, hunched shoulders, and awkward feet problems can be hidden from view.

anything that gets more complicated than this will require extra bones and joints and muscles depending on what exactly you need your shapeshifter to do! a change in posture is a lot different than, say, being able to extend the length of their limbs or alter the shape of their ribcage by making it more narrow and protruding vs more flat and open.

I can't personally cover every single possibility! so you all will have to just use this post as a springboard and go explore more ideas yourself! I started with the idea of taking a human skeleton and altering it, but imagine what this would look like if the base form was entirely non-human! or if they were more of an invertebrate! extra arms can be folded to resemble the shape of a torso, for example. there are so many more options I'm sure I didn't even think of.

go put your mind to work and have fun!

[ablogofsapphicpanic]

humbly asking you to do the rest of the characters’ dnd classes because all of those were so spot on!

Gladly!!!! I have way too much free time lmao

I'll do the ones I can think of and if I miss any that you want, just let me know!

Amren - order of the scribes wizard. I partially chose this one because of the awakened book and her interactions with the book of breathings ngl. Am I hilarious? Yes. But I could also lean into cleric given that SJM has been like she's an old testament angel so I'd do war domain for that but imo that would be like a life she's left behind type thing to favor the wizardry

Mor - Okay Mor is kind of hard for me because I like the eloquence bard a little bit but not as much as I did for Lucien but we don't know her powers exactly so I am just kind of swinging in the dark for some aspects but ultimately I think I'd do that.

And then for the High Lords, I already mentioned that Helion and Beron (and Eris) would be the different subclasses of sorcerer and for the record I think Beron would specifically have gold dragon ancestry

Tarquin - fathomless warlock. It's got a whole bunch of water/sea based powers and also certain weather stuff. The water elemental summoning is giving the water wolves that Feyre makes in Velaris and she definitely stole that from his spell list imo. Also I know you horny bitches would love that the bigby's hand shows up as a tentacle

Tamlin - Path of the Beast barbarian. There's specifically a backstory option about descending from an archdruid and inheriting the ability to change shape which I feel like fits his backstory and how he chose being a warrior over any sort of diplomacy/prepping for being High Lord. I would say generally the High Lord of Spring would be a druid of some sort but Tamlin (and potentially his father bc we know he's not the nicest guy) kind of broke the line on that.

Kallias - Circle of land druid but specifically the arctic one. My man is out here commanding polar bears in his army, no way that's not some type of druid. And the arctic circle is perfect for him because it's summoning ice and snow storms and all that jazz

Thesan - Life domain cleric. That one is pretty simple, that domain focuses on healing and keeping people alive. But I could also see the alchemist artificer considering the Dawn Court is full of tinkerers and not just focus on magic for healing and protection but also actual physical solutions to things.

Gwyn - so I also generally put the priestesses into clerics but I feel like the domain can vary and Gwyn would probably go into knowledge domain but I like @separatist-apologist's paladin path for her. I waffle between vengeance and redemption because Gwyn's path as a Valkyrie seems to be more focused on protection and prevention which the redemption oath fits well. I feel like I'd need to see more of her as a valkyrie to fully settle.

Emerie - also a paladin but oath of glory. I don't say glory in that I think she's self obsessed, but more in the fact that I think she feels like she and her friends are destined for greatness and refuses to settle for less. She doesn't let circumstances hold her back even before joining the Valkyries and this oath fits that well.

Jurian - Battle master fighter. There's something to be said specifically for the interacting with a creature outside of combat and learning something about them for this one because Jurian does his watch and wait pretty much the entirety of ACOWAR and Prythian winds up better off in the fight for it.

Vassa - You know I gotta do the fiend warlock. Gifted magic from a pact with an ancient semi-demonic being? It's right there. Obviously it doesn't include her shapeshifting but so many of her abilities are based around fire that I can't not go with this one. Imagine a giant firebird casting scorching ray at you.

[rui-drawsbox]

Okay obligatory DnD person as per the Dungon Meshi post(dnd/fantasy au + our life is amazing and I love it) but also I just wanted to say that there is a subclass of elves in dnd called aquatic elves that are kind of a happy mix between a mermaid and a, well, normal elf. I stick more towards spooky rather than nautical campaigns myself, so I’m not too familiar, but if I remember correctly they’re amphibious but with two legs rather than full mermaid.

Also obviously please ignore if you have different ideas but based off of what people have written about battle roles I could absolutely see some subclasses for the four!

Derek I could absolutely see as a Paladin(subclass possibly being oath of devotion or glory) basically the more defensive tank guys bound by an oath they make to themselves or someone important to them, which gives them a little spellcasting as well as actual auras that buff their allies later on.

Baxter I could see being a Bard (College of Swords), or what I kind of think of as a sort of battledancer. It would be a little less of a full spellcaster, but you can do special flourishes when fighting with a rapier which I always imagine as pseudo-dancing, plus he’d still get all the flashy bard spells. And to top it off, Bards actually use their charm(charisma stat) to cast spells which just screams Baxter to me.

Cove is a little harder but if you were going with him having a fish/animal companion while still being a melee fighter a Ranger(Beastmaster or Swarmkeeper) would be a good fit IMO, obviously with the Cove Creater he’s harder to pin than Baxter or Derek, but Ranger is pretty flexible. You basically get to choose a companion that’s from the land, air, or sea; and they can help you out in battle and follow you around, or as Swarmkeeper he could have his swarm be a school of fish.

Ruri is obviously a bit harder because you know your OC best, but if you really wanted to lean into more into the familiar/animal buddy route. Druid(circle of the shepherd) is always a fun choice! It’s kind of like the more spellcaster version of rangers’ Swarmkeeper where you can summon a lot of critters while still having some super strong elemental spells.

But anyway! I hope this wasn’t too long, I saw some (kinda) DnD our life content and I couldn’t resist! But thank you again for the adorable art of the main boys(and your lovely OC!) in a fantasy setting!

Second ask from dnd anon:

Oh! DnD anon part two!

But basically the theoretical party composition would look like:

Derek = Tank/Damage

Cove = Weapon Damage/Companion(s)

Baxter = Spells/Weapon Damage

and Ruri = Healing/Spells.

Also one last note about Druid is while druids have a lot of elemental spells (create water, spike growth, etc.), they also have the ability to do something called wildshape, where they can shapeshift into an animal for either out of battle(wildshape into a mouse to get under the crack in a door, then returning to normal and unlocking it) or battle (at later levels imagine fighting a spellcasting bear or even dragon) but also has more silly implications like wild shaping into a songbird to sing with Baxter, or a cat or sloth to ride on Cove’s shoulder.

got these asks a few days ago but i let them marinate in my brain hope you dont mind anon KJDSAUH

anyways AQUATIC ELF THATS PERFECT i tried to stick to what i knew about dumenshi rules in that post but for my first fantasy AU ideas i was going to do Cove a half mermaid (Cliff human x mermaid Kyra or elf Kyra [shes just so pretty its insane] x mermaid Cliff) that lived in a house right on the beach lmao, im happy that actually makes sense somewhere in dnd

i tried to look at the aquatic elves wiki from the forgotten realms fandom and omg so much text in the main page

also paladin Derek canon‼‼ imagine he does his oath to his brothers right after something dangerous happens to them when they were kids (im not saying his parents should die but im not saying they shouldnt--)

and bam!! tragic backstory 10x worse than his canon that is already bad enough :DD (try to make him feel less responsable now i wanna see that)

baxter turn rn. DO YOU THINK HE WOULD PLAY VIOLIN? I WANNA SEE THAT (<-this person didnt thought about drawing him with an instrument until it was time to write her thoughts) anyway it would def be a fancy instrument, daddy and mommy wanted to keep appearances i bet

one his spells makes his sword and moves shine and when hes under the sun his enemies become fucking blind

everything about him screams I HAVE MONEY but everytime people try to rob him he just rolls a nat20 in persuasion and they end up giving him money

and omg just imagine Cove's school of fish are all his pet fishes from the game JGASDFJK

im also. not discussing roles when the most i know about dnd is bg3 and i just finished 2 playthroughs. if you say ruri is a druid she's a druid, she makes super artsy flower fields and decorates every tree she sees with organical paint or smth jkfhds

Ruri's forest has a tree that connects with the ocean and they both just hangout sometimes (as if theyre not together 60% of the time already)

DRUID RURI THAT LIKES TO BRAID COVE'S HAIR WITH LITTLE POPPIES‼‼‼

MERMAID COVE THAT LETS RURI (otter form!!) RIDE HIS BACK WHILE HE SWIMS‼‼‼‼

mermaid cove humming a song and ruri falling to the river in trance/j

anyways anon i agree with everything tbh, there's so many ways to do a fantasy AU and i adore the dnd version (id kill for a dnd group or smth in my city)

i also have another fantasy au more vanilla but not-really. basically isekai baxter LMAO mostly an excuse to make ruri and baxter being domestic but before baxter developed any real domestic skill JHASFD

[artharakka]

im very interested in your dnd oc Rhiam, i think its really cool and rarely done to have a trans character actually transition during the course of the game, was it always your intention for her to be trans or did this evolve naturally in the campaign? also i love her design especially the colour pallete with the earthy tones and rich blue accent colours <3

Hi! And thank you because ough I also love Rhiam so much even if (and because) she's my own character 🧡

Rhiam is one of those characters that just starts to live a life of its own, you know? I can plan things for her but some things just feel right or wrong. Because at the beginning I was thinking that "now for a change I'll make a dude character, just a regular humble lad". I think I even said something like that out loud to our DM haha, so it was not planned from the start.

What I did plan quite from the beginning was that Rhiam, coming from the huble countryside, was determined to start a new and less dull life in the city. She wanted to become a proper mage and actually do something with her magic. I think her original plan was to try to become a performer (though she noticed that performing magic tricks to strangers rather than your own siblings is slightly more daunting). So while I didn't know everything about her, I did know that she desired to be something else than a farmer boy. And I knew that she desired to have earrings and jewelry and beautiful outfits. Then at some point we thought with our DM that hmm maybe there's something else besides just not wanting to be a farmer, maybe she desires not to be a boy as well. But yeah, we have also tought that it's funky that it happened gradually and during game like this. I think we got to have conversations and themes we wouldn't have had if I had just made her trans from the start (not that there wouldn't have been anything wrong with that but yeah, this was interesting!) Especially since our group really likes to take time to dwell in little moments and details (for real, our average game session spans over a weekend and lasts mmm around 18-24h in total? with pauses of course) Her final transformation (heh) also happened in a neat transitioning phase as they are currently in a mountain pass between two countries.

Oh and speaking of transformation, I also gave Rhiam alter self spell that she used to try what it would be like to be a girl/woman. And since I have actually made short poems for her every verbal component spell, I used lines that referred to our D&D world's shapeshifting god of the forests Iija Iki-Mettä and asked aid from her. And eventually Iija invited Rhiam to her sacred pond and transed her gender more permanently than what Rhiam alone could do. So I'm now multiclassing her as druid. Another thing I said I wouldn't do since I wanted to try some other class than druid for a change. "This time I will do a man guy boy who is not a druid" I said. "Congrats lil buddy that's the worst anyone's ever done it" I say to myself now (and wouldn't have it any other way <3).

[jester-creates]

Full list of most of my ocs

ill just list important stuff about them (and maybe some bits on au versions of them.) Under read more cause this is going to be long. maybe a two parter. Feel free to ask about any of them

Oliver (known as Shifting Baker in the oc title ask game

I Have a few consistent traits for him. He is always on the range of Hard of Hearing to Deaf. He is always a shapeshifter(cause of which changes depending on the version). He is almost always transmasc, Biromantic and ace. He also always has naturally white hair. He loves baking

some versions of him (plus nicknames):

Playdo (Tma version of oliver)

he's almost fully a Stranger avatar after he got erased from memory after a very dumb wish. uses a hearing aid. has a boyfriend. Gets regular scam calls from the circus. (There's another au version of him where he got taken by the Circus)

Expo (Experiment au Oliver)

ditto hybrid after experimentation stuff. (au is partly inspired by Chained Wings by Vampirebadger) Fully Deaf, uses notepad or phone to mainly communicate, eventually learns sign. (i ended up shipping him with Nemona). Also loves to battle.

Change-o (pla pirate au version)

He's a Changeling here. with one level in rogue. shows up for at least one arc.

---

Juliana (she was originally the sv female mc but i changed enough about her that she is an oc now. i never got a better name)(aka Chaotic One in the title ask game)

consistent traits for her:

Oliver's sister (whether biological or self appointed). also typically has white hair. She's a lesbian.

some versions of her(no nicknames yet):

Tma version

biological twin to Oliver. randomly noticed a person in old family photos that she swore was never there before and goes down a rabbit hole of finding more and more evidence of an entire sibling she forgot about

Experiment au version

Miraidon hybrid after unethical science in area zero. twin to Oliver as well but they don't find that out for a while. (ended up shipping her with penny)

pla pirate au version

She's a Goblin here and runs a scam with Oliver. Shows up in at least one arc in this au.

---

Cassandra Achroma (aka the Victorian Biologist)

She is a Colress ancestor oc that I solely use in Experiment au. She does a lot in that au though. She's also Aroace (but very invested in her coworkers love life. It's free entertainment). She's also technically the cause of her own time loop.

---

Brittle (aka The Ghost)

And then there's Brittle... She's dead.

She is also transfem and French. Her full name is Peanut Brittle. She named herself.

Experiment au version

She's a rotom after she dies due to science gone wrong. ends up haunting two of the scientists after that. ends up being caught by Juliana somehow

Pirate au version

Reborn (undead) human. lives with Scarlet. (may also be part of the scam Oliver and juliana are doing)

---

Scarlet (Aka Feral Flower)

Became an oc after i made a joke character who is a floette that knows Bite and got attached to her. No matter what amount of class or refinery it eventually puts on, she is always itching for a fight and it's clear that it wants one. She's always heavily related to plants.

Experiment au version

Just a flabebe/floette/Florges that knows Bite. She gets better at not biting things as it gets older. It was caught by Juliana in a dark tera raid.

Pirate au version

A summer Eladrin (Feywild elf). She has levels in Barbarian and Druid. Always ready to fight. Lives with Brittle.

---

Tees (aka The Singing Soldier)(originally my dnd pc)

It's a robot with sentience forced upon it. As well as a moustache. It likes the moustache though. It was not built for war or fighting, even though it ended up doing a lot of that, but instead to be a performance (like one of those guys who advertise war) and for moral support (its preprogrammed stuff was not that good at it, very superficial.) It speaks with a British accent. It is compulsed to follow any order given to it.

Tma version

This version of Tees was one of the automatons at that one version of the Unknowing in the 1700's. It gained sentience after the ritual collapsed, likely due to a bit of Slaughter shrapnel finding it's way into it. It starts wandering trying to fill the void of its purpose. All the while the Slaughter shrapnel begins to corrupt its alignment to the Stranger until so little of it is left that Tees begins to have an identity. It ends up fighting in a couple wars before being kidnapped by the Circus (cause it was part of that older Stranger ritual). Makes friends with an au version of Playdo who also got kidnapped for being a Stranger avatar in the wrong place and wrong time.

Original dnd character

Definitely not haunted and given sentience and magic due from its dead friends (who are definitely not an off-brand version of the Mechanisms). Made for moral support forced to babysit the rest of the party. Once scared off a Death God.

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Marcus Quillia (aka the Burned Detective)

One of my oldest ocs. A Private detective who was in a fire directly related to the death of his cousin/best friend. He then wants revenge against what took his cousin from him. He also got fire powers from that fire. He has black and white peppered hair after it.

Marked (ocverse) version

A private detective who tends to be hired by the police. He has a personal vendetta against the international thief known as Jester after an insane Rube Goldberg series of coincidences made it look like they were the ones who killed his cousin. (Actually due to a different oc I'm still formulating so not on this list yet) way too complicated to get into here. He gets a therapy dog after the fire.

he has the Mark of The Burned

Tma version

he was marked and attacked by a Desolation creature which sparked a hatred of Monsters (Fear creatures and avatars specifically). 1 step away from becoming full Hunt/desolation avatar, 1 or two especially cruel kills to throw away his humanity.

he is really good at his job though (thanks to that hunt alignment). he manages to find a person erased from memory years ago even after they changed their gender. (Juliana hired him to find Oliver). (he also later tries to kill oliver because he accidentally did a Stranger avatar thing in front of him.) (in the version where Oliver gets kidnapped, he does manage to help (by getting his killing monsters fix from other circus members)

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Jester (aka masked Jesters)(not my sona)

surprisingly i only use these guys in my ocverse.

They are a pretty famous thief, loving to rob things and maybe return things if they feel like it. Accidentally managed to get framed for murder during one.

they are basically haunted by previous wielders of his mark. specifically the ones who's masks they have. (it's complicated

they have the Mark of The Masked. they have three masks that they can switch between for specific powers. this comes with a few drawbacks. each mask is only tied to one of the "ghosts" and only functions when they put it fully on and its assigned "ghost" is in control and the only remotely responsible one is basically powerless with the power they got

I'll probably explain more in a different post.

---

Arthur (Aka King Of Stories)

He's an amnesiac with a texan accent who woke up in a fantasy land (modded minecraft) and eventually finds a kid, whom he adopts(Sigyn <3). He ends up getting mainly involved with fire magic. he names most of the things he tames/adopts after the myths he remembers

he was a ex-soldier who later went into museum curation before he got isekai'd. he's wearing his uniform still but it's been through a lot and he's repaired it with magical thread.

He may or may not have committed necromancy and he may or may not be covering up the permanent scar with a mask he found while exploring. A father's love can bring them to some dark places.

he's also taken up sewing recently

Tma au version

He's still an ex-soldier turned museum curator here, but that changes when the Eyepocalyse comes around. He was one of those who didn't exactly feel Fear after an encounter so he can roam the domains, but of course the Eyepocalyse had to change that and gave him someone to Fear for. (Sigyn <3) She joins him as he roams the domains but now the creatures/domain people will notice them as they move. When they attack, they don't go for Arthur, they go for Sigyn instead.

He's a bit Desolation aligned so he can have fire powers. His main weapon he uses to attack is a axe/Labrys he stole from the museum he worked at when the eyepocalypse started.

He does end up fighting some avatars as he goes through domains

---

Sigyn (<3) (aka young Witch)

She's an adaptation of a modded minecraft npc I got attached to.

She's a young witch/wixie (not human though) approximately a 7 year old, but still very knowledgeable about potions.

Arthur found her after he got a request from a paranoid cleric to see if someone was breaking into their church thing while they slept. Sigyn was actually doing so, to try to teach herself to read and to use the potion stand in the church.

She can fly using her broom.

TMA au version

Arthur finds her in a domain dedicated to the Corruption. She was the avatar in charge of it, a child giving adults poisonous potions they cant refuse, too young to really understand what she's doing to them or what's happening with the apocalypse. She ends up going with Arthur as he roams, looking for any safe haven in this apocalypse.

---

Wilhelm von Wolfgang

He's a rich bastard (/affectionate). He is his country's greatest violator of labor laws but keeps getting out of it cause he's rich. I hate him. He's one of my favorite characters to write/play as. He cannot stand still without the aid of a cane. He's basically like if a werewolf was a capitalist in both forms. His view of people poorer than him oscillates between 'I can use them' and 'I never want to see them again'. He's neutral evil. He will skip any corner to make more money. I love him.

---

Acheron Atropos

he's a goth king literally. I made him for a friend's (@/shattered-hue) ocverse where we made characters based based off of bugs and plants and Acheron was made from the Death's Head Moth, whose scientific name is where i pulled his name from.

(still working a bit on him)

---

Sylvan (aka Traveling Librarian)

Sylvan becomes a Head Librarian of a Branch of an Infinite Library after they manage to survive to basically the end of his universe after one of the worst outcomes of 2020, which was all the Stars decided to poof due to multiverse reasons.

he occasionally visits other universes to just get Stories. As an Infinite Library always has room for more books.

---

Virginia Berry(aka the Captain)

From my ocverse: Marked. She has a tattoo of a ship on her back that she can turn into an actual ship that she can control. She has the Mark of the Captain.

I got her name by putting together two of the more famous female pirates.

---

[somehow unnamed as of yet](Aka Truth's artist)

from my ocverse. they have the ability to see a person's greatest secret drawn onto them. (as a general example, a person whose greatest secret is that they killed someone would would have blood drawn onto them). it can be very visually overstimulating for them at times. They ended up getting a (rather bad) job for the government, cause despite how old these "Marks" are they're still rather unknown.

[sageadvicednd]

Does a Druid retain his Barkskin spell after he shapeshifts?

@JeremyECrawford Does a Druid retain his Barkskin spell after he shapeshifts? — John Bard (@dmjohnbard) September 21, 2016 The text of barkskin doesn't say the targeted creature must be humanoid. Changing creature type doesn't end it. #DnD https://t.co/tonualoyBW — Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) September 21, 2016 @JeremyECrawford The issue comes about from the "replace your game…

[swordofsuns]

IM BACK BABY!!!!!

to be honest I was still on tumblr a lot of the time so it wasnt really gone. but. I now have time to present to you:

DND!

ARC 4!

CONTINUED!!!! (explosion sfx in the background) (guitar riff) (bald eagle screech) (in case you cant tell I have been waiting for this all week)

small recap for where we left off: Ira and Braxton left to get to Axum to try and kill the Flesh Baron and kidnap some of our NPC friends who got kidnapped. We all jumped into the feywild to follow them. not sure if I mentioned this but we met up with a half fey shapeshifting druid (Actaeon killed his parents on accident)(it was a whole thing), and he joined up with our party. Turns out Red's crazy ex girlfriend has gone on a slight murder spree. We met up with some old friends. we learned some lore about the immenent end of days. we accidentaly gave another one of our friends a magical mind connection with an evil appocalyptic eldritch god (oopsies). Red's magical protection amulet broke in her sleep.

(oh also for context everything that is about to go down happened in the course of a single, increadibly hectic session)

Red doesnt know her amulet is broken, only suddenly feels her conciousness pulled from the blissful dreamlessness shes had for only a month, back into the all to familiar almost-reality of dreams. this time, however, she does not find herself in a forest of black pines and snow, or in the blood and fire of her past, but instead in a very different corner of the feywild. and this time she isnt even in her own body, or even her own mind. Currently she has her mind mixed with that of Manti, as her vision doubles between her bed in the walking castle and of a slaughtered chapel, with its last resident begging for mercy. Manti, pauses, right before delivering the killing blow, as it seems the connection between the two of them goes both ways. suddenly, without a word, she turns, and gives chase.

Back in the castle, Max has realized what is happened and is quickly casting as many protections as he can around Red, eventualy managing to block out the power of a LITERAL GOD, though by then Manti has figured out where we are, and is on her way. We try to come up with a plan, and realize that despite practicaly everything Manti is interested in being in the material world, shes spent practicaly her entire time in the feywild, even though she has interdimentional portals at her fingertips. we come to the conclusion that because of her fey ancestry, she probably either straight up cant get into the material plane, or at least would be extremely weak after doing so. We also realize through a tracking spell that our other two party members have already made it through to Axum.

Our plan is pretty simple: step 1, leave the castle. step 2, remove protections on Red so Manti is able to follow us, and doesnt go after castle. step 3, make it to the portal to Axum before she does. step 4, meet up with Ira and Braxton, and if she can come through we fight her on home turf and if she cant then were all safe.

we hop out of the castle and make run as fast as we can for the portal to Axum (though it is several miles away so its more of a "hike quickly" than a run). We manage to make it to the portal in time, but right before we pass through, Manti appears out of nowhere and closes it, though in the process Ira and Braxton get swept through the portal and we all reunite.

At this point Manti barely resembles anything even vaguely human. she is approxamitely 15 feet tall, with a chitinous and segmented body, twisted features, and two twisted unnatural portaling sickles melded into her hands. She offers the party the option to give her Red, and in return they all live, but we say no and a fight breaks out. Absolute chaos breaks out as portals are opened everywhere, reality itself begining to crumble at all of the wholes in it, as well as having several extremely powerful adventurers, some of whom have literal gods as pets, effectively warping the fabric of reality like a black hole.

We manage to do some good damage, but Manti is also the vessel of a god so the fight is long and painful. Around halfway through the fight, with a single swipe from a sickle, Manti cuts Iras broom in two, sending her plummeting to her death.

Manti lets out a horrifying shriek, though whether from victory or from horror we cannot tell, and Red, uninjured, falls to the ground unconsious. Actaeon rushes to her aid, but he she is already somewhere else.

(this right here is my favorite scene in the entire campain)

Red wakes up in an all too familiar forest. the pines are black and the snow is thick underfood. this time, she finds herself in a clearing in the trees, without a cloak, and with only a rusty iron sword as a weapon. the snow in sprinkled in drops of blood, and, all around the clearing, she can sense the Leech circling around her. she cant see him, aside from the occasional insectoid leg, a glint on one of his many, many teeth, and his seven gleaming red eyes. his true form is massive, easily 100 feet long, easily encircling her and bringing his circles slowly closer and closer. and then he begins to speak. (Now listen brief side not but I dont think that I have properly communicated to you just how much Red and The Leech absolutely fucking despise eachother. their first interaction had Red threaten to kill herself just to ruin his day, and it has only gone downhill from there. basicaly any time one of them mentions the other it is followed by a series of insults and curses. its made even funnier by the fact that everybody else is great freinds with their godly patrons, while Red is continously willing to do whatever she possibly can just to spite him. but I digress). The Leech just begins absolutely ripping red to shreads (metaphoricaly), pointing out how all of her acheivments and victories were because he was rigging it to give her a confidence boost. how she claims to fight to avenge the people she lost, and yet, cannot even remember her parents faces. how in the end, every adventure she has gone on has only lead to more death. after all, she released the Lost Brother, she made a deal with Benny for her own sake, she gave Manti everything she needed to free him, She shot Kraka, she led Manti to them, and in doing so got Ira killed. how even after everything, all her supposed growth and change, the reason that every time she finds herself in the forest she appears as a child is because a scared child was all she has ever been. In fact, he offers, why not embrace it. She has always wanted power, and now, he can offer it to her. She and Manti can be his two knives, breaking this world she has always hated in two, and creating her own world, a new world all of her own. (Red cant quite tell how far away he is still, but he has certainly grown closer) Red takes a breath. She calms herself, and prepares to deliver her elequant and informed rebuttal: "FUCK YOU YOU BLOODSUCKING COWARD! IM GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!". The Leech snarls in anger, and simply responds "you are free to die trying", before he closes in, fully encircling her. Only 10 feet away. then 5. Hes fully encircled her now, and she has nowhere to run. She swings her sword down at his side, but it simply brakes against his chitin. she tries to punch him but only gets a few broken fingers in return. He lowers his titanic almost-face down to hers, showing her his thousands of clistening, sharp teeth, and his 7 glowing red eyes level with hers. "do you have any last words". Red doesnt respond, but reaches out in anger and panic, grabbing hold of one of his eyes. with all of her strength (and a nat 20) she tears out his largest eyeball. The Leech SCREAMS IN AGONY, and back in the fight with Manti, she suddenly collapses on the floor in pain. With the last of The Leech's power, he lunges at her, attempts to devour her very essence for daring to defile him, but, (with another nat 20)(the dice were insane that day) she survives the assault of a god through shear stubbornness and spite.

Back in the real world, the fight with Manti has taken a bit of a chaotic turn, as, right in the middle of the battle, she collapsed onto the floor, and then, suddenly, all of the transformation on her body begins to dissolve into a black ichor. Red suddenly wakes up, and finds that Manti has returned to her origional form, though her hands are still portal sickles. she considers just killing her right there, but decides that even if she doesnt forgive her for what she did she still was being manipulated by the literal god of manipulation, and was later sorta fully mind controlled, so decides to let her live.

We also remember the fact that oh right Ira died, and decide to try to kill two birds with one stone (or I suppose save 2 birds with 1 castle) by taking both of them back to the castle to try and heal Manti (she is practicaly mortaly injured now that all of her magical protections are gone) as well as trying to see if they have the ability to revive Ira, who is now been dead for too long for us to revivify. We go back to the walking castle of Cisero and King, and beg them to pretty please help us again. they agree the heal up Manti and deliver her to our little village for Diana and Brandon to take care of her.

However, they tell us that they have no way of reviving Ira, as they just aren't powerful enough for that. Thing is though, Kings old teacher, The Duke of Thorns and Fruit (I mentioned him briefly in my recap of the second arc), does have the ability to do that and is located nearby, though King warns us that he will probably just kill us on sight. In the end she sends us off with a signed note from her telling him that we are freinds and to pretty please help us and not kill us. We make it to his corner of the feywild, which is a giant thornbush maze, though the thorns sometimes grow these juicy red fruits, that kit decides to snack on as we travel, though nobody else does. Finaly, we make it to the center of the maze, where we meet the Duke himself. hes this weird regal deer man, who does try to kill us on sight, until we prove were friends of King, to which he decides that hes not going to kill us instantly, but, because one of us stole one of his fruit, he will still kill us unless we do him a favor.

Each of us must tell him our greatest regret, or we will be killed. he also promises that he will revive Ira, but that will come with its own price. Braxton goes first, and admits that his greatest regret was finding The Bear for the first time, but, instead of the words leaving his mouth, the world around us shifts, as Braxton is forced to relive finding The Bear as a child, chained up in cold iron. how he took pity on the animal and chose to free it. how his body changed and was morfed into something unfamiliar. how his parents through him out after they saw what he had become.

second is Kit, who admits that their greatest regret is stepping through the portal he found when they were a child, and relives them and their best friend finding the portal, stepping inside, and seeing it close behind them as they became trapped in a dimmention of infinite everchanging light, blinding and maddening.

Red is next, revealing her greatest regret to be that she is still alive, though everything she survives always kills everyone around her. she sees herself surrounded by every person who has ever died from her actions, or who she has been unable to save, which at this point includes her entire extended family, 2 small towns, an adventuring caravan, Kraka, Ira, a major city and a good portion of the feywild. The worst part is, she cant even remember any of their faces. she simply curls up into a ball on the floor and cries.

Actaeon goes next, hesitentaly admiting that his greatest regret is that Red had him as a father, and how he was only able to fill her head with imposible dreams and fail her in the end. he also reveals that he is getting old and is probably going to die in about a year.

Acris (that one druid who was with us that I mentioned) says that his biggest regret was leaving home to travel the world, seeing as the second he left home Actaeon immediately showed up and accidentaly murdered his parents in cold blood (im not going to explain this its a whole thing)

Val admits that his biggest regret was running away from home, but leaving his sibling behind with his parent who was doing human/demon expirementation on them.

The Duke of Thorns and Fruit accepts this as payment for trespassing and stealing, but says that in payment for him reviving Ira, one of us must give up our Happy-Ever-After. whoever does this will permanantly lose the ability to have a happy ending to their story and their life will be endless heartbreak and tragedy.

Everybody goes dead silent and refuses to accept, until Red steps foward, claiming that at this point she has nothing to lose, and shakes the Dukes hand. The image of Red living a comfortable life, in peace, with no paranoia, no threat of violence or death around every corner appears, before crumbling and being consumed by the Duke.

with that he takes a fruit and squeezes some of the juice on Ira, instantly reviving her. he opens a portal for us to Axum, and cheerfuly bids us good luck. As we all step through the portal, however, he pull Val aside and reveals to them that he knows that they're part demon, and that if they meet again he can help Val "reach his true potential".

Actaeon also tells Red that with the eye that she gouged from The Leech, she could use it as a sacrifice to the Huntsman, who would almost certainly reward her by turning her into an Ent-Jaren, or that she could use it as a powersource for her Bloodhide Cloak, which would unlock its magical potential. at this point shes extremely depresed and has given up on all of her dreams, and uses it to complete the cloak, giving her a bunch of nifty power ups and blood magic.

wow this is long. this was probably the most insane and chaotic session of the campain, but also definitely my favorite. I cant properly convey it to you but Red and The Leech have a absolutely perfect dynamic so any session that allows them to bicker with each other is always great. plus we get to give Red turbo deppression. hooray. I love hurting my characters.

to be honest I am very tired and Im not sure any of this even makes sense to anybody who is not me. I wrote this in a state of pure manic energy (really not sure what came over me) and it is all gone now.

HOLY SHIT

Oh

Red no.

Red no

[bijoumikhawal]

Thoughts on ds9 main cast as DnD classes

Sisko: Is it possible to be a warlock without being the initiating party? Actually scratch that, depending on how you interpret the whole thing with his mother and the prophets, he could be a sorcerer. I don't think he's a paladin because to me the defining feature of a paladin is the oath; Sisko is initally reluctant to being the Emissary and even tries to hand off the responsibility to someone else, partially out of genuine belief they might be better suited to the job. The fact that sorcerers don't chose their power is a defining characteristic, and not all sorcerers are from a bloodline. Some have a somewhat random awakening, like Sisko’s entering the wormhole. They don't learn new magic from books; they discover new abilities through the course of life, which reminds me of the episode with his visions.

Kira: Paladin. She becomes the person she is by dedicating herself to a cause wholly and completely, she never strays from it, and she's still devoted to it to this day, to the point where she gets chosen as a vessel for the prophets during the show down that wasn't. Alternatively: you could argue monk, and say her cloister was her terrorist cell, but I don't know it's as strong as the argument for paladin. That said, I am biased.

Dax: I struggled with her, not gonna lie. I feel like her massive jock energy is a known quantity, but she's also the science officer and clearly does a lot of research. I feel like you could most safely argue warlock- like I said for Sisko, sorcerers don't choose their path, and while joining could be similar to the outside influences in sorcerers, the process itself is a choice and ultimately similar to the mutually beneficial pacts warlocks carry out.

O'Brien: his face is next to the entry for "artificer". But if we were sticking to the core classes, I think his vibe is pretty close to those posts about Wizards as IT support technicians. You don't have to be a special guy to be a wizard, you just learn your trade.

Bashir: Sorcerer, but in a hypothetical DnD AU, not the usual way where your grandmother was a dragon fucker. More of in a horrible experiment way. However, he either intentionally multiclasses or pretends to be something else, and I think that's a ranger. From DnD beyond's single sentence summary: "(A ranger is) a warrior who combats threats on the edges of civilization". Now, the stuff in the rulebook isn't necessarily the best or only conceptualization of what a class is, but Julian does have that infamous line from the pilot. From a character analysis standpoint (though not an game mechanics one) you could argue disease is a favored enemy.

Worf: He's definitely a martial heavy class, not a primarily casting class. He doesn't fit as a barbarian at all, I don't think he's got a particular devotion that makes an oath for a paladin, and I don't believe he has a spiritual element to his character found with monks (admitting of course, that I'm not familiar with TNG). He does have the solitary style rangers are associated with in ds9, but not the nature association. You could argue that by serving in Starfleet, he, like Julian, is protecting a civilization from the outskirts as someone politically involved in the Klingon Empire. And even draw in his decision to live on the Defiant into this. You could also say he's a straightforward fighter.

Odo: I think you could make an argument for Odo as a paladin- his commitment to his idea of justice and fairness is very oath like, but I also find the read of paladins as cops kind of boring and not getting at the meat of what a paladin is. You could argue druid because of the shapeshifting and the idea of balance found in the class vs his idea of justice, but I feel like overall changelings focus more on a mastery over nature than being an extension of it, and that's pretty antithetical to druids when played as standard.

Quark: I do not think he is a rogue. To be fair, we see his failed schemes because those are the interesting ones, but Quark stans to my understanding like his middle aged fail babygirl vibe. I'm not sure what else he would be though... he's a decent negotiator and a good people person, so a high charisma class. That leads me towards bard, though Quark isn't much of an artist or speech maker.

Garak: hot take! Hot take alert from the known clown! Rogue/Paladin multiclass. Rogue is obvious- its a favorite for spy type characters. However- the third episode Garak is in, we learn about his sheer devotion to Cardassia, and how he classifies it as love. Paladins aren't the way they are because of religion (though that's often a big element), it's because of devotion. And that devotion can be deeply destructive. Plus- tell me, upon thinking about it, that afterimage isn't an oathbreaker level breakdown.

[freyuhh]

Just saw a guy complain about a video game forcing him to have gay sex with a bear.

First off, the game, baldur’s gate three (basically like dnd but for computers) lets you romance like 7 people. One of them is a Druid, which means he can shapeshift into different animals, and famously you can persuade him into b*ning you as a bear.

all of this is optional, all of this you have to go out of your way for, and, the funniest thing I’ve ever read about a video game, he turns this into a “they’re putting chemicals in the water to make the frogs gay!” Thing by confessing he had gay sex, with a bear.

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders Viewers' Choice #18: Archetype: Earth

today on Grailfinders we’re building everyone’s favorite funny vampire, Arcueid Brunestud, a.k.a Archetype: Earth. so yeah, all we have to do is make the primal manifestation of the planet who is canonically the most powerful character in Tsukihime in dungeons and dragons.

so obviously she’s a Silverquill Bard to do whatever the hell she wants and to get a free cast of Silvery Barbs constantly, but we also dip into Circle of the Land Druid for even more free spells and some shapeshifting.

check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Race and Background

So, obviously the funny vampire has to be like, a dhampir or something right?

WRONG.

while Arc can suck people’s blood, she chooses not to, so I’d rather not pick a race that’s built around their bites. True Ancestors are naturally occurring beings that come out fully formed, and while they can suck blood, they can also choose not to with enough power. wildly enough, D&D already has a class that fits that description perfectly! hailing from the plane of Kaladesh, put your hands together for the Aetherborn!

most of their stat block is nothing we haven’t seen in other races- some Darkvision here, resistance to necrotic damage from being Born of Aether there, proficiency in Intimidation… the things that set them apart are the optional Gift of the Aetherborn, the previously mentioned bloodsucking which will start an addiction if you use it in-game, and the fact that they get three different stat boosts instead of most races’ two. you get +2 Charisma as well as two +1s in any stats you choose, like Dexterity and Constitution.

we’re also completely throwing out the rulebook on this build by picking up the  Mage of High Sorcery background, giving Arc proficiency in Arcana and History as well as the Initiate of High Sorcery feat she wouldn’t be able to get otherwise. hey look, you’re getting power from the moon! specifically we’re picking the moon Solinari to get Comprehend Languages and Shield. they technically use your Charisma to cast, and you can cast each of them once a day for free, or by using spell slots. you even get Fire Bolt for free too!

Ability Scores

Arc’s highest score is her Charisma. everyone loves Arc. you love Arc. more importantly, Nasu loves Arc. After that is Wisdom. as an embodiment of nature, it would be weird if you didn’t know much about it. Third highest is Constitution. I don’t think a +1 bonus is quite high enough to count for Arc’s nigh-invulnerability, but it’s a start. Your Dexterity is also okay, though I wish it could be higher to deal with fighting in a dress, but we’ll get something to help there later. That means our Strength isn’t great. Obviously it’s supposed to be higher, but DND characters need weaknesses, and this one can get covered by other options later. Finally, we’re dumping Intelligence. Two of your ascensions are completely unaware of the outside world, and we needed wisdom for nature stuff.

Class Levels

1. Bard 1: if you want to be the most powerful vampire, you have to learn the most powerful Spells, which you can cast using your Charisma. right now you can use Friends and Charm Person to make sure everyone loves the funny vampire, as well as Prestidigitation for various general uses, Earth Tremor to tremor some earth like the nature spirit you are, Heroism to boost the offensive power of your allies, and Longstrider to move a bit faster than the average person.

…what? we’re obviously not going to get the most powerful spells at level one. be patient.

you also get Bardic Inspiration, so you can give a d6 to your friends to improve one of their attacks, saves, or skill checks Charisma Modifier times per long rest. plus, starting as a bard you get proficiency in Dexterity and Charisma saves, plus three skills of your choice. Athletics and Acrobatics will help make up for the low scores in physical stats, and Nature just kind of makes sense.

2. Bard 2: second level bards can do whatever they want thanks to being a Jack of All Trades, adding half their proficiency bonus to any skill checks they make without proficiency. you can also sing a Song of Rest during short rests so your party heals 1d6 more if they use hit dice. like every other bard build, I have no excuse for this being here, but so few people heal on short rests anyways, it’s fine. your inspiration also becomes Magical Inspiration, so your allies can now add it to their healing and damage rolls from spells.

you can also Speak with Animals now. that’s a nature thing, probably. don’t worry, the funny vampire stuff will come.

3. Bard 3: At third level you join the college of Silverquill, becoming an Eloquent Apprentice. this gives you a free Sacred Flame, and you get proficiency in Insight and Persuasion. Soon, everyone will love the funny vampire. you can also cast Silvery Barbs. not the spell, but the feature! the only meaningful difference is that the feature doesn’t work on charm-immune creatures.

for anyone who doesn’t know how this works, you can react to any creature succeeding on an attack, check, or save within 60’ of you, and force them to roll another d20 and use the lower roll. if this causes the roll to fail, you can then empower another creature nearby, allowing them to roll another attack, check, or save they make within the next minute. as a feature, you can do this for free once per day, though the use isn’t actually expended until it causes a failure. that being said, the reason we’ll never pick up the spell in this build is because you can still use the feature again and again by spending spell slots. so yes, we now have essentially three extra spell slots, and we’re only at level three.

speaking of spell slots, you have second level slots now, and second level spells to use them with. Aid will add to your total HP as well as that of your allies’ for eight hours after casting.

finally, you get Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency bonus with Athletics and Acrobatics respectively. sure, you won’t be great at punching people, but with this and Jack of All Trades, you can more or less cover for having such a low strength score in the first place.

4. Bard 4: at fourth level you get your first Ability Score Improvement, so let’s round up those odd scores with a +1 to Dexterity and Charisma for stronger spells and a higher AC. if you’re really bent out of shape about your weak lil fists you can cast True Strike now to get advantage on your next melee attack. or you can spend your turn doing something actually useful like casting Enhance Ability to further enhance your skill rolls with free advantage for a minute for one kind of ability. intelligence, wisdom, and charisma don’t have anything special, but if you pick strength, you’ll also double your carrying capacity. constitution will give you some temporary HP, and dexterity prevents falling damage.

5. Bard 5: at level five bards get their biggest level yet. your inspiration die becomes a d8 now, and you become a Font of Inspiration, letting you recharge your dice every short rest instead of just long ones. you can grab third level spells now, but I’m going to hold off on that for a level to pick up Shatter. now you can punch really well, and you have a spell that can hit multiple enemies, which should start being useful around now.

6. Bard 6: if you’re going to be a powerful vampire, you need powerful feats, like Countercharm. hah, just kidding, that sucks. Inky Shroud is pretty cool though. you learn Darkness for free, and you can cast it once a day without spending a spell slot. on top of that, casting it for free lets you see through the darkness, and creatures starting their turn there take psychic damage with no save!

you can also manifest your naturey powers with some Plant Growth, which you can cast in two ways. the short-term growth creates difficult terrain in an area, while the long-term version will improve crop yields, if you ever feel like being nice to the NPCs.

7. Bard 7: at seventh level you get a lot more mobile thanks to Dimension Door allowing you to teleport up to 500’ away as an action, and you can even bring a willing friend along for the ride!

8. Bard 8: okay, I’m done with all this boring crap. grab that last Charisma boost from your ASI and learn Polymorph. admittedly this spell is stretching things a little, but you do get compared to Enkidu sometimes, and they can shapeshift out the wazoo. with Polymorph, you can turn yourself or a friend into any beast of a challenge rating equal to or lower than their level, fully replacing their stats and HP.

9. Bard 9: ninth level bards can play a better song of rest, but more importantly they get fifth level spells. with Hold Monster you can now use your rainbow mystic eyes to paralyze any one creature in place if they fail a wisdom save and aren’t undead. you can even use it on multiple targets by upcasting it, though I imagine you’ll have better uses for a ninth level spell slot. (aid, obviously.) this gives your allies advantage on all attacks against the paralyzed enemy, with instant critical damage for melee attacks. you can’t really take advantage of that yet, but give it a hot second.

10. Bard 10: now that a hot second has passed, let’s get down to business. real quick- your inspiration is a d10 now, and you have expertise in Persuasion and Nature (everyone will love that vampire).

you also learn some Magical Secrets, so you can pick up any two spells from any spell list in the game. for your regular cantrip pick up Blade Ward for some more unkillability. then for your secrets, Primal Savagery lets you turn your hands into claws and attack people, dealing acid damage when you hit. since it’s a spell attack, it’ll use your charisma (good) instead of your strength (bad). you can also craft a Wall of Stone. stone is natural, you make nature happen.

11. Druid 1: we’re only bouncing over to druid for a few things, but you do learn some Druidic while you’re there, and you learn even more cantrips. Shillelagh lets you make any staff magical, though it’ll still only use your wisdom to hit. still better than strength. you can also gain Resistance to magic thanks to an extra d4 on your next saving throw, and you can Mold Earth.

most importantly, you gain access to the druid Spell list, one of the most powerful in the game. and I don’t have to tell you exactly what to pick this time since anything that makes something natural is fair game.

your druid and bard spell slots kind of blur together, so check your handbook to see how many spell slots you have at a given time.

12. Druid 2: Second level druids can use a Wild Shape twice a short rest, turning into a beast of cr ¼ or lower as an action. Polymorph is much stronger at this stage, though being able to keep your intelligence and concentrate on another spell can have its uses. you can also use this to turn into Neco-Arc without wasting a fourth level spell slot.

alternatively, you can summon one as your Wild Companion, letting you cast Find Familiar for free instead.

as a druid of the land, you have access to another druid cantrip like gust. wind is natural, and we hadn’t picked it up yet. more importantly, your Natural Recovery lets you recharge spell slots over a short rest, with the total level recovered equal to half your druid level rounded up. yes, we’re taking multiple levels in another class just to get Breath of the Planet. you know I wouldn’t leave you hanging, fans of Breath of the Planet. can I call you breathheads? I’m not sure if that’s a fan nickname or a slur, it sounds a little like both.

13. Druid 3: third level druids get second level spells, and as a land druid you get some extras depending on the kind of nature you’re representing. while the moon may have a lot of seas, the forest circle has spells we actually want. Barkskin will supercharge your AC for a short period of time, while Spider Climb lets you do the classic “crawling up the walls” vampire thing.

14. Bard 11: now that our random detour is over, you get sixth level bard spells like Eyebite. It’s an even better and more literal Rainbow Mystic Eyes skill! each turn for a minute, you can use your action (including the casting action) to force one creature you can see to make a Wisdom save. if they fail, you can force them asleep, into a panic, or make them sickened.

15. Bard 12: using aid to bump up your health is getting less and less feasible at this point, so use this ASI to bump up your Constitution for an extra 15 HP this level.

16. Bard 13: blah blah better song of rest who cares it’s Mirage Arcane time baby! you can now make the millenium castle, as well as just about anything else you’d like, as long as it fits within a square mile of space. it takes ten minutes to cast, but it lasts ten days, and despite being an “illusion”, it even feels real. it also says it can’t change the general shape of the terrain, but then it immediately gives suggestions where it does exactly that, so it might just be poorly written.

17. Bard 14: fourteenth level strixhaven bards are a little weird. most classes get four subclass features, but bards don’t, so we have to pick between two different features this level. that said, Word of Power is obviously the stronger option. whenever your silvery barbs succeeds, the failed creature gets a vulnerability to one damage type for the rest of the round. you can’t capitalize on this, but if your paladin friend got a better initiative than you you can cause some serious damage.

alternatively, you can use your reaction to give a creature resistance to a type of damage they’re taking, with you taking the blocked damage as a psychic hit. boom, third skill done and dusted.

you also get another round of magical secrets, so pick up Haste for some actual super-speed and Wall of Thorns for some more plant growth. the former gives you doubled movement speed and an extra action for dashing, the latter makes a wall of thorny bushes that is 60’ long and 10’ high. creatures in the area upon its creation take piercing damage, and movement through the wall is quartered. moving into or ending a turn in the wall also deals slashing damage.

18. Bard 15: your inspiration grows one last time to a d12, and you can now cast eighth level spells like Glibness. for up to an hour after casting, all your charisma checks can automatically get a 15 on the die. there is no longer any point in resisting. you will like the funny vampire.

19. Bard 16: for our final ASI, we’re picking up a feat! no, we’re not grabbing Tough. instead, pick up Adept of the White Robes to get those fancy outfits you like wearing. thanks to this feat, you can now cast Fortune’s Favor once a day for free, and it’s added to your spell list as well. it takes a minute to cast, but for an hour afterwards the target can end the spell to roll another d20 when they make an attack, check or save, and use either option. this can also be used when someone attacks them. essentially, it’s a use of the lucky feat. things just kind of go Arc’s way. it’s mostly thanks to being the ultimate lifeform, but being the author’s favorite doesn’t hurt. 100 gold per casting is pretty costly, but when you upcast it you can give your whole party pseudo-Lucky, so it’s well worth the price.

you can also make a Protective Ward using your Charisma. when a creature takes damage nearby, you can use your reaction and a spell slot to reduce the damage they take. it’s kind of like Word of Power, but it’ll usually help less, though not having to bean yourself to make it work is nice. your roll the spell slot’s level in d6s, add your charisma modifier, and that’s how much damage it saves. you technically don’t have a use for your ninth level slot yet, but I still think there’s better uses than eating 9d6 damage, probably. but if it’s that or someone disintegrating go nuts.

20. Bard 17: our final level of bard gives you the most powerful bard feature ever made. mankind weeps at its coming… because the improved Song of Rest die is actually really bad. it scales terribly. the ninth level spell is cool though, especially if you pick Foresight. after a minute of cast time, you can spend the next eight hours with future sight, preventing you from ever being surprised. you also get advantage on all attacks, saves, and checks, plus anyone attacking you has disadvantage. it costs nothing, and it doesn’t use concentration. go nuts.

Archetype vs. Arc

normally, this is the part of the post where I post the strengths and weaknesses of the build. but this is a chance to simp for Magical-Biche’s Arcueid build, so instead I’m going to compare the two here and see if Earth can stand up to the original.

for anyone who doesn’t remember, the other Arc is a Vengeance Paladin and a Champion Fighter, as well as a Barbarian for flavor and unarmored defense. assuming they’re fighting one-on-one at level 20 it’s a pretty even match, with Arc showing up with way more HP and a more physical fighting style than Earth. however, Earth’s Foresight pulls a lot of weight to put her back in the lead, especially by giving Arc disadvantage on all attacks and using either shield or silvery barbs to beat back anything that still gets through.

Overall I think Earth would probably eke out a win here, but going up against Arc at any other level isn’t even a question. Arc’s simply way too aggressive for Earth to handle, even if she’s given setup time to cover for all of her bardic squishiness. it’s especially bad considering her most powerful attacking spell a) uses a save, which Arc’s paladin aura defangs handily, and b) deals physical damage, which Arc can resist.

I still think the Earth build is cool, it has a lot more utility than Arc does, but in a straight fight Arc stomps the competition.

[smittyw]

that "i don't know d&d that well" tag is so real and valid honestly. im pretty new to d&d so my own knowledge is limited, but ngl something about Nautalist says druid goblin to me. idk it's like- goblind have weird little freak energy and giving Syntax the power to shapeshift into animals sounds like something they's love and everyone around them would hate. maybe a doubleclass with rogue for that extra bout of chaos and conartistry

me when the sewer rat that cornerd me in an alleyway in new york transforms into a little green dude, snaps a photo of me, turns into a pegion, and flies off- then i have to track them down to bribe them into deleting the photo before they commit some sorts of crime with it somehow

see thats!!. thats how i make them in various au's u get me. so if i were to translate them directly over to a dnd setting youd be right. but something in me is always saying What if when the oc themself is choosing what to be from scratch, it's someone completely different yk.. i remember an old convo w ovee my friend ovee where she said that razz seems like the type to try and game the system and obsessively use the dnd rules to their advantage (as a rules lawyer / minmaxer who argues w the dm LOL). smth about that attitude + creating a character that they think is OP and doesnt resemble them irl is so entertaining to me still, but these days its smth i associate more heavily with molly. maybe theyd both be doing it in their own ways, thatd be even more insufferable

[twixtandshout]

I spent way too long getting distracted by the sparkles that follow my cursor on your blog XD XD XD ANYWAY, you had talked about DnD character sheets for the LU boys and I'm here to ask about them! :D I don't know much about DnD but you were excited and I'm interested so feel free to tell me all about it!

Yes!!! Hi! :D There's a lot on them but I'm proud of them all. I guess I'll just pull out a couple things I think are neat from each of them? (And I'll try to keep things understandable for you, dw!!)

Sky: I don't remember what I already went through in comments, but I know he's your favorite so I'll try to pull out something new and interesting for you. Hm... I've got him with 14 levels of Paladin (swords and a bit of holy magic, sworn to a higher power), 3 levels in Warlock (magic granted as part of a pact with an outside entity), and 3 in Barbarian (hit stuff better when you're angry). Pretty sure I already talked about the storm stuff he gets from the Barbarian side of things – he gets some storm/lightning stuff and it's great – but I've made him a Pact of the Talisman warlock with Sun: his sailcloth is a symbol of his bond with her, and apart from acting as a parachute, it also lets him add a little extra to the roll a few times each day through her power when he fails a check. He's got a bunch of stuff that makes him really good at dueling, plus a couple extra feats that make it easier for him and Sun to talk 💞

Four: Four has. so many classes. I gave him 10 levels in Artificer, for making magic tools; then each Color plus Shadow got 2 levels in another class: Wizard for Vio (learn magic through study), Druid for Red (learn magic through becoming in tune with nature), Barbarian for Blue, Paladin for Green, and Sorcerer for Shadow (obtain magic through genetic accident/tragic backstory/general lottery). Generally Druids' main ability as a class is Wildshape, which is to say animal shapeshifting, but that wasn't the vibe for Red, so he's a Wildfire Druid, which gives him a living fire friend instead. Also, one of the magic things you're allowed to say your character knows how to make when you're making an Artificer is a living robot – I've quietly had him learn that, with the expectation that that's how he got Shadow back. :3 Other than that, he's just got a bunch of elemental spells basically!

Time: Time's got a couple levels in Bard (magic through music) and Ranger, but he's primarily a Sorcerer, with a slightly modified Clockwork Soul subclass – technically the flavor there's meant to be more "the underlying order of the universe" than "messing with time," but I just traded out a couple spells on the list and it works fine for him. :3c His background and his Bard and Ranger subclasses all involve the fey, though. He gets some fun stuff with glamours and charm effects, and, just for flavor, when he casts time stands still and you can hear/see gears ticking around him.

Legend: Lej's got a ridiculous number of classes too, and he doesn't have Four's excuse. (There's not even enough room on the sheet to abbreviate them all like I did Four's, so I just filled in the "class" blank "Yes.") So he's got a bit of everything! Pulling out a few interesting bits: he gets a whole bunch of sneaky stuff as a Rogue, as well as sizable bonuses to spotting lies and hidden objects. As a College of Creation Bard, he gets little visual symbol effects that float around him when he plays, and he can create a medium-sized object out of nothing, like that cane that lets him make boxes for some reason. As opposed to the more heroic Paladins of the Chain, Lej's Paladin subclass is the Oath of Vengeance, which among other things lets him channel divine power through utter a "vow of enmity" against an enemy, making his attacks more likely to hit until it's dead. I also gave him a few feats to really round out the knowledgeable veteran thing – he's really good at dungeon delving.

Hyrule: I gave Hyrule the Circle of Dreams Druid subclass, which is fey-themed and gives him a lot of healing abilities in addition to a little bit of teleporting. (He's got levels in Rogue and Sorcerer too, but apart from "he dodges real good, gets bonus damage for surprise attacks, and can modify spell effects," I don't have much to say on those for him.) Reflecting that he carries the Triforce, I borrowed the Radiant Consumption character feature from the Aasimar – as a bonus action, he can start burning, glowing brightly for 10' and doing radiant damage to everyone (including himself) every turn for a full minute. (A combat round in DnD lasts approx 6 in-game seconds!)

Wind: Wind! 2 levels in Rogue, 18 in Sorcerer. As a Halfling, he can reroll any 1 once. He can fly after casting spells (or grant flight to others), is immune to thunder and lightning damage, and he gets a feature to control storms! He can stop rain in a sphere, control the direction of wind, and hit things with lightning. He's also got Truesight and can make ghosts visible for an hour once per week, and I gave him the Quickfingered and Silvertongued feats, so he's great at pickpocketing and sweettalking people.

Twilight: Twi's largely a Ranger, with Exactly enough levels in Druid to give him Wildshape, because Wolfie. He's a Circle of the Shepherd Druid, which seemed fitting; he gets feyspeak as a language, can talk to animals, and can summon a hawk spirit to fight for him. As for the Ranger stuff, he's a Horizon Walker Ranger – the subclass description says they "guard the world against threats that originate from other planes or that seek to ravage the mortal world with otherworldly magic." He doesn't have a lot of spells – I don't think he'd use most of the ones I gave him, honestly, but the class says he gets some so I made the most of it – but he's really good at navigating, especially in forests, and he gets bonuses to track enemies. He's Also very good at vanishing in plain sight, seeing in darkness, and teleporting up to 10' before each attack.

Warriors: Seven levels of Fighter! Seven levels of Paladin! Six levels of Cleric! This boy is So Good at whacking things with swords, and he also channels magic/holy power as a representative of the god of War. As a Battlemaster Fighter, he's got a lot of tactical maneuvers he can use to set people up around the field or grant bonuses, and although his Paladin oath is baaasically the same mechanically as Sky's, he's an Oath of Glory Paladin where Sky's Oath of Heroism. He has a Peerless Athlete feature, he can Channel Divinity to vaporize low-level undead, and he's very mobile – he isn't slowed by difficult terrain, and he literally cannot be physically restrained.

Wild: He'd have a different level distribution if I kept what he had pre-nap, but I decided he keeps five levels in Fighter and then the rest is Ranger from post-nap. He's a Fey Wanderer Ranger (like Time!) so he gets some glamour abilities, and if something makes him save against charm/fear effects, he can redirect it and make that thing make the save against Him instead. He's great at navigating and disappearing in the wilderness, and he gets a couple teleporty things. He's also got a bunch of skills in cooking and making/finding healing food, and he regains more than the usual hp when he recovers, too.

[demonlordsatan]

Im gonna get So much backlash for this but...

Can we please call Nimona Genderfluid please, Please. I love Nimona for being a person/creature/potato who can shift to whatever gender they want.

The scene where Ballister Boldheart like "and now your a boy" and they say "I am today"

THATS IS SUCH A GENDERFLUID MOMENT.

I dont mind if you say NB for them, and I know Trans is a broad term, but god please just let me have this one character.

Cause everytime I think Trans, I picutre someone who has transition and staying a gender, not someone jumping between genders and never staying in one.

I just want to see their label, Genderfluid, so bad, and not the label Trans for them. Please Im begging everyone to please ;-: call them Genderfluid.

I play changeling druid in all my dnd games cause Im Genderfluid man. *sobs harder* I just wanna be happy.

I might also be projecting a bit on my own feelings about lebals cause I saw a post of someone calling her trans. cause I just hate being called anything but what I am, Genderfluid. I hate it when people call me anything other then that, Non-binary is iffy with me, some places on discord force me to take that tag, but I want to be able to express myself. I had to figure myself out for a while and even accept myself at times and I am Genderfluid, that is me. I hate it when people say other wise or try to say I'm Trans or Non Binary cause its an broad/umbrella term. No. I dont care if it is, I like my label, it doesn't confuse people, and it makes me feel like people dont see who I am.

And I dont want this character to be dragged threw that, I know they wont feel that, theyre an animated character but... I want them to be able to have their proper label. I understand headcanon and all that, but this character is a Shapeshifter, a changeling, their gender and body, is always changing depending on their mood. I want to see more fun genderfluid character so badly.

Im sorry Im ranting I just... I need to let it out.