#paladin vs bard be like

[necromosss]

That's it it's over for Mira the paladin got her no more h0rknee posting for the lady drow

[theology101]

I had two pretty distinct friend groups in High School and like… the concept of me going to aguefort and having to CHOOSE which one i want to be in an Adventuring party with?

It gave me a stress ulcer and it will literally never happen lmao. I just gotta wonder how isolating it is for “this is your party and by consequence the people you will constantly be hanging out with”

give me your high school party comp in the tags

[artistictea]

I finally got all 100% trophies in BG3! It took me 541 hours of gameplay and 4 different playthroughs to do it. It's crazy to think I've been playing this game routinely since its release and I still kept finding new things on every playthrough, truly one of the most games of all time 😭

[empiriical]

(adds elmer) (immediately makes a fantasy/dnd verse for him)

[omenarchive]

Braius Doomseed Analysis

Sam Riegel is back, and he’s brought with him—forgive us—a real beefy boy!

How many levels does Braius have in Bard vs. Paladin? What are his subclasses? Exactly how big a punch does this minotaur pack?

While we wait to learn more, there's a lot we're able to infer from Episode 98.

Braius Doomseed is a minotaur Bard/Paladin multiclass, wielding a drippy black double flail. We have not yet been made aware explicitly how his 14 levels are distributed between the two classes. We can, however, extrapolate a fair bit of information about his build from the gameplay in his debut, Episode 98: The Nox Engine.

Let’s start with the easy stuff. We know that he is at least a 3rd level College of Tragedy Bard, as Braius used the Sorrowful Fate feature to change the save Dominox had to make against Dorian’s Otto’s Irresistible Dance spell to a Charisma save (03:09:43) (confirmed by Sam to be this feature at 03:11:57).

Sorrowful Fate does the following:

When you or an ally you can see forces a creature to make a saving throw, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to change the type of saving throw to a Charisma save instead.

Sam did, however, forget to use the secondary part of that feature, which would allow him to do psychic damage equal to the value of a Bardic Inspiration die roll when a creature fails the associated save. Also, if Dominox had reached 0 hit points within 1 minute of failing the save, he would have been magically compelled to “utter darkly poetic words before succumbing to their injuries.”

Level 3 in College of Tragedy also confers the following feature, called Poetry in Misery:

Whenever you or an ally within 30 feet of you rolls a 1 on the d20 for an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can use your reaction to soliloquize and regain one expended use of your Bardic Inspiration feature.

Information on this subclass can be found on page 167 of Tal’Dorei Reborn. This particular subclass does not confer any additional spells beyond the standard Bard fare, so cannot account for any spells Braius has that fall outside of the Bard or Paladin spell lists.

That brings us to the next thing we can suss out: Braius’ possible Paladin Oaths. We know that Braius has both the Misty Step (03:12:47) and Moonbeam (03:13:07) spells. There are only two known Paladin Oaths that give access to Moonbeam: Oath of the Ancients and Oath of the Watchers. Oath of the Ancients seems like a likely option, as it also gives access to Misty Step at paladin level 5; however, that on its own cannot act as definitive proof as to Braius’ Paladin subclass, as we don’t yet know what feats Braius may have on board and—as Imogen , Chetney, and Orym know well—Misty Step can also come from the Fey Touched feat. Another point in favor of Oath of the Ancients is the fact that Braius did not make use of the Aura of the Sentinel initiative bonus conferred by Oath of the Watchers at paladin level 7. However, since this is a new character with quite a lot of features to juggle, it is entirely possible that Sam simply forgot this feature. We know, however, that he must have whatever features are associated with level 7 in his Oath because of his use of Blinding Smite (02:37:12), a 3rd level Paladin spell. Paladins do not get access to 3rd level spells until they reach level 9 in the class.

All of this points to Braius having at least three levels in Bard and at least nine levels in Paladin, which leaves two levels unaccounted for (as Braius, unlike the rest of the party, is already at level 14). This is where things get a little tricky.

Unfortunately, Sam did not give out any Inspiration during Episode 98, so we can’t use his Bardic Inspiration die as an indicator. This moves from a d6 to a d8 at Bard level 5, so if in future episodes Braius’ inspiration die is revealed to be a d8, we’ll know he is a level 5 Bard. For now, though, we’ll instead take a look at his use of Lay on Hands to inform our speculation.

Braius used this Paladin class feature twice during Episode 98: once on himself, and once on Orym. A Paladin has points in their Lay on Hands pool equal to 5 times their Paladin level. Based on our previous analysis that he is at least Paladin level 9 and Bard level 3, that means Braius has a minimum of 45 and a maximum of 55 points in his pool. Orym’s healing was stated outright to be 30 points (03:40:10), leaving Braius between 15 and 25 points to have used on himself previously. In another bit of poor luck for our analysis, however, Sam did not state the exact amount of healing Braius did to himself. Since he said that Dorian’s 24 points of Cure Wounds healing got him “halfway” (01:05:07), it seems reasonable to assume that it was more than 15 points, since calling 24 and 15 approximately equivalent halves seems like a bit of a stretch. 20 and 25, indicating Paladin levels 10 and 11, are much closer. If we were to take Braius’ comment about Dorian getting him halfway completely literally, then we could definitively call him a level 11 Paladin. However, there’s one more wrinkle.

When Braius used his Blinding Smite spell on his melee weapon attack, he rolled 4d8 (02:38:11). The base damage for a flail is 1d8, and Blinding Smite adds 3d8 radiant damage. However, a level 11 Paladin has the feature Improved Divine Smite, which means that all melee weapon attacks gain an additional 1d8 radiant damage. That means that if Braius were a level 11 Paladin, he should have rolled 5d8 damage on the attack (02:37:46), as initially stated before Matt let Sam know that Dominox would be immune to the additional poison damage granted by Braius’ weapon (02:37:59).

This leaves us with two possible options: either Braius is a level 4 Bard/level 10 Paladin and Sam rounded up when saying 24 damage got him halfway there, with Braius healing himself for 20 points of Lay on Hands, or Braius is a level 3 Bard/level 11 Paladin and Sam either misunderstood Matt’s reminder not to add Poison Pen’s extra poison damage or forgot about the level 11 Improved Divine Smite. Either mistake would make quite a bit of sense with a new character in a high stakes situation! However, because of the uncertainty here, we cannot say definitively which it may be. We also do not yet know what Braius’s Paladin Fighting Style is. We’re looking forward to seeing more of him and finding out for sure.

All told, here is what we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, barring any homebrew changes:

Braius’s race is Minotaur, which (assuming the class is drawn from its most recent iteration in Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse) conveys the following racial traits and bonuses:

His walking speed is 30 feet

Using his horns to make an unarmed strike does 1d6 + 5 piercing damage

Goring Rush: After taking the Dash action and moving at least 20 feet, he can make an unarmed strike with his horns as a bonus action

Hammering Horns: After hitting a creature with an attack, he can use his bonus action to attempt to push the target 10 feet; the target must make a DC 18 strength check

Labyrinthine Recall: He always knows what direction is north, and has advantage on any Survival check he makes to navigate or track

It’s hard to imagine Sam won’t use this internal compass to poke fun at Liam for Caleb’s Keen Mind feat at least once

He is a paladin of Asmodeus, Lord of the Nine Hells

He is at least a level 3 College of Tragedy Bard, which grants him at least the following:

Two Bard cantrips and six Bard spells, with four level 1 slots and two level 2 slots

Bardic Inspiration using 1d6, with a total of 4 uses per long rest

Jack of All Trades, which adds half his proficiency bonus, rounded down, to any ability check he makes that doesn’t already include his proficiency bonus

Song of Rest, conferring an additional 1d6 of healing to the party on a short rest

Expertise in two skill proficiencies

The Sorrowful Fate feature, which can be used once per short/long rest

The Poetry in Misery Feature, which can be used any number of times as a reaction

He is at least a level 9 Paladin, of either the Oath of the Ancients, Oath of the Watchers, or a homebrew Oath subclass, which grants him:

Divine Sense, which allows him to sense any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet of him that is not behind total cover, a total of 5 times per long rest

At least 45 points in his Lay on Hands healing pool

Divine Smite, allowing him to expend a spell slot to pump up to an additional 4d8 damage (circumstantially 5d8) into a melee attack—that is, 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st, to a maximum of 4d8 given that his highest spell slots are 3rd level. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is an undead or a fiend.

An unknown Fighting Style

Immunity to disease due to Divine Health

Two attacks per round

Aura of Protection, granting any ally within 10 feet of him a +4 bonus on saving throws

Sacred Oath features from levels 3 and 7 in either the Oath of the Ancients, Oath of the Watchers, or a custom Oath subclass

He has a Battering Shield, which confers a +3 bonus to AC (an additional +1 over the base shield bonus of +2), and has 3 charges that can be expended when a target is pushed 5 feet to push that creature an additional 10 feet, knock it prone, or both. It regains 1d3 charges at dawn (03:16:16, with details from page 266 in Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount)

His signature weapon, the dual flail “Poison Pen,” confers additional poison damage when it strikes a target (02:37:59)

He really, really wants to date somebody and he’s not real choosy about who

[utilitycaster]

So you're playing a D&D class

(had these thoughts while thinking about CR character builds, but relevant to D&D in general).

Here's just a brief list of three questions per class that are intended to be helpful if you're playing that class and are working on fleshing out that aspect of your character. Note that I'm only covering officially published classes for 5e. If you're a blood hunter I am just going to assume you know what you're about, and if you're a mystic then you are beyond help or hope. Also, obviously, there's way more to a character than their class! But understanding why the character is that class is pretty crucial to overall character build.

Artificer:

Did the magic come first or did the tinkering come first?

Did you apprentice or were you self-taught?

What do you dream of creating - or if you don't, what outside goal drives your creations?

Barbarian:

Is rage a cultural or family trait, or is this unique to you?

What do you feel like when you rage?

What do you feel your purpose is, outside of combat? Do you have one or are you not sure? (note - feel free to ask this about other martially focused classes, but barbarians skew especially hard towards combat skills above all others)

Bard:

What led you to be able to tap into the echoes of creation (not guaranteed for all artists!)

What is your medium, and how did you come to it/learn it?

You have a ton of skills - how did you acquire them?

Cleric:

What is your relationship with the deity/entity/concept that grants you your powers?

Since many sources have multiple domains, why this domain specifically?

What does your worship look like?

Druid:

Is your relationship to nature cultural, or personal?

What drew you to your circle?

How do you feel about wildshape? Is it a tool available to you, or an enjoyable experience?

Fighter:

Who trained you or how did you pick up your skills?

What led you to focus on fighting? Is there something you wished to attack or to protect?

Fighter is REALLY modular/subclass dependent, so dig into your subclass; if you're a champion, the 'what is your purpose outside combat' from Barbarian may apply, but if you're say, an eldritch knight or rune knight, you may have had two teachers and should dig into that.

Monk:

Who trained you?

What does Ki feel like for you?

Not a question, but: with the caveat that I know very little about martial arts, I do think that having a concept of the martial art style your monk uses is a huge help in bringing the character to life.

Paladin:

What drew you to this oath?

What continues to motivate you?

You're in a very versatile role; which part speaks to you the most- do you see yourself more as a protector? a healer? is the versatility itself what matters?

Ranger:

How did you learn your nature skills?

What is your relationship to your magic?

Why are your favored terrain and enemy what they are?

Rogue:

How did you learn to pick locks?

Did your thievery/stealth come as a necessity for survival, or was it a choice?

As with bard - what specifically led you to develop the skills you have?

Sorcerer:

When did your powers first manifest? If it was not when you were very young, what were you doing beforehand?

Are you interested in where your powers came from? How far would you go to learn about them? Or do you already know?

What would you do if your powers disappeared?

Warlock:

What led you to make the pact - even if it was accidental or a trick?

How do you feel about your patron generally?

Because warlock is truly very modular - that is, extremely reliant on the boon and evocations for flavor, analyze the choice of evocations and boon. If you picked agonizing blast, why specifically did your warlock want to make eldritch blast stronger? What drew your character to the blade vs. chain vs. tome?

Wizard:

What role do wizards play in your society?

How were you trained?

What do you most desire to learn or achieve?

[baldurs-writers-3]

This week, we have fics focusing on Tav! Check under the cut for eight fics that explore custom Tavs as they navigate the challenges of BG3. And as always, comment and kudos if you like them!

staeve multiverse by Deerna (30082,Not Rated) Warnings: Check individual fics for rating and content notes Pairings: Astarion/Halsin/Tav

This is a relatively large collection of fics surrounding Staeve, the drow rogue made by Velnna

Reccer says: Staeve is a super fun tav, and there are so many fun fics exploring his dynamic with his partners.

Be Worth Something by Masterangst12 (4445,Not Rated) Warnings: None Pairings: Astarion/Tav

Tav (named Axel) gives Astarion a present, a thoughtful gesture and Astarion sucks it up and returns the kindness by learning to comfort someone else for once.

Reccer says: I love how everyone picked up on the signs of Axel's self-worth issues, and I love Astarion's response to them even more

Under the Sussur Tree by spacesunderstairs (73724,Mature) Warnings: None Pairings: Astarion/Tav

Halinae (a reclusive drow bard) wakes up on a mindflayer ship and must find her way out.

Reccer says: I really like Halinae as a character, and enjoy seeing her interact with the various companions.

tomorrow (and tomorrow, and tomorrow) by maximumentropy (51352,Mature) Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Rape/Non-Con (though the non-con is not super explicit, if that helps), Self harm Pairings: Astarion/Halsin/Tav

Astarion is newly freed from Cazador, and Morrow is newly freed from their own abusive master. And Halsin? Halsin is the only one who knows the three of them are soulmates.

Reccer says: I really like Morrow as a character, and the way these three play off each other and grow together. Just very lovely all around

Fidelity by narla_hotep (102674,Mature) Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Body Horror Pairings: The Emperor/Tav

Fidelius was a thrall; a mind flayer's loyal servant who obeyed his master's every whim. But everything changed when the nautiloid descended. Now with his master missing and presumed dead, Del is free for the first time in decades... And he has absolutely no idea what to do with it.

Reccer says: The premise is executed so well, and the descriptions are wonderfully visceral.

Weight of The Crown by Nikolai_237 (2613,General) Warnings: None Pairings: Karlach/Tav

A young Archfey warlock attempts to become familiar with a mysterious power bestowed to him.

Reccer says: I really enjoy the feywild imagery, and Rivera is just a joy to read

And two fics each for:

Oathbreaker by Mellybaggins (186136,Explicit) Warnings: Dead dove content, major character death, rape, torture, religious trauma, gaslighting/emotional manipulation Pairings: Tav/Astarion, Tav/Halsin, Tav/OC

The fic follows Morwen, an oathbreaker paladin Tav through the events of the game, but also during her rich backstory as told through recovered suppressed memories.

Reccer #1 says: It seems to start as just another Tav fic but really takes off after Raphael messes with her and the suppressed traumatic memories start to resurface. Reccer #2 says: Morwen is such an interesting Tav, and I love fics that really dig into the divide between good vs evil, especially in such a dark way.

Until I Met You by onlymine139 (50846,Explicit) Warnings: None Pairings: Halsin/Tav

A slow burn that focuses on developing the relationship between Tav and Halsin during the events of BG3.

Reccer #1 says: It helps to fill in some of the gaps in the in game romance with Halsin as well as develop some cute friendships with the other companions. Heavy on Tav's (Tav'ahria) backstory as well, who was also present for the unleashing of the shadow curse. Reccer #2 says: I really enjoy the sweet back and forth between Tav and Halsin, and their companions' sometimes disastrous matchmaking attempts.

The above fanfic recommendations were pulled from our community for this weekly event. Have any questions about what this is? Check out the FAQ!

Next week, we’ll be back with Humorous Fics!

[bloodyshadow1]

so if the bad kids do the classic, switch to defeat your doppleganger move that happens a lot when facing the rat grinders, I think this is how it should go down. (note this was written last week before ep 18, where they used a lot of their resources) This is a purely hypothetical party vs party combat

Ruben-Fabian or Adaine. Fabian with his eyepatch is immune to fear which a lot of college of whispers does really well, as a half-elf he gets wisdom saving throws on charm which is also the bard's bread and butter. He's a fast fighter bard with spellslots to use basically as smites. so he could really blast down Ruben before things start. Adiane as an elf is another good choice like fabian she has advantage against charm affects and while she is not immune to fear like fabian she has a better wisdom save than he does since she is proficient. I would put Fabian over her though mechanically, and he is also a fan of Ruben's so it would be funny to watch them fight

Ivy- Gorgug. He's not the best option, but he's probably the bad kids best counter to her. as a ranger and fighter, she can do a lot of damage to the others with her range, having to deal with a barbarian who can keep hitting you from range. attacking recklessly would negate a lot of the benefit of Shadowy dodge and as a barbarian he would be able to shrug off most of her ranged attacks. He probably has some artificer item that would let him create a light thing like the solar lasso so she wouldn't always be able to hide in the darkness. For the lesser affects of her arcane arrows and ranger abilities, Gorgug has pretty decent saves, and for the dangerous ones like Banishing Arrow, he can at least use flash of genius on himself to bolster those saves. The Ranger part is kind of lost on me, the spells seems decent but nothing that can really stop Gorgug since he's a barbarian, but could mess up someone else in the party. Ranger spells are decent, but he has a pretty strong counter and I can't see Ivy being higher than level 9 in ranger since it seems like fighter was her base class and it has to split somehow.

Oisin- Fig. As a lore bard/paladin/warlock I think it would be best for her to get into Oisin's face and smite the hell out of him. You can't counterspell a smite. As a wizard he is probably the squishiest member of his party so taking him out would be very important. Additionally, she has counterspell which could leave him in trouble in close range. With Shield, Oisin can have a decent ac so there's that, but he's still a wizard who rolled a d6 each level.

Kipperlily-Kristen. While it surprisingly works president versus president, it also works as a cleric with heavy armor. It's not great as a defense against a high level rogue, but it's better than most of her friends have. Not to mention Kristen can do aoe none dex spells that are good against rogues as they won't get evasion from them. it's not great to have your healer dealing with the parties rogue, but sometimes you don't really have another choice. Lots of dangerous cleric spells don't have a dex saving throw so it could be useful once Kristen can see her

Buddy- Adaine. Not a particularly important match up story wise, it has potential but nothing juicy. still a wizard like adaine wouldn't be the worst match against buddy, spell caster vs spell caster, arcane vs divine. Not to mention I think that Buddy doesn't have a lot of HP and probably isn't expecting a melee wizard like Adaine. Adaine can counterspell Buddy's spells while he can impose disadvantage as a light domain cleric, but Wizards don't just make attack rolls, they have saves. Also I think it would be a good contrast in their thoughts, Buddy believing he doesn't cast spells, that Helio/unnamed rage god works through him to cast spells vs Adaine who as a wizard has learned all of her spells. It's also a good contrast between the Bad Kids and the Rat grinders about the theme of this season, hard work vs taking the easy way out.

Mary-Ann - Riz. This is probably one of the worst match ups, no one wants to go up against a high level barbarian 1v1. This isnt' an anime where the fast sneaky person can just lure the big strong bad guy away and keep them distracted. It's dnd where Mary-Ann might just ignore any physical damage because she can at the start.

I think the key to dealing with Mary-Ann is to not fight her. The Bad girls can get around her barbarian resistances with their spells but will go down in a few hits. Fabian can't do enough damage even with all his attacks, Fandragor doesn't do anything about the damage type Fabian does I believe, it works like smites but just increases the Piercing Damage instead of dealing Radiant damage. Gorgug is another Barbarian, but as cool as his new subclass is, I wouldn't put it up against a full also high level barbarian 1v1. Which leaves Riz

However, I think he's the only one who could survive a few rounds with her, he can keep sneaking with his bonus action, disengage (unless she has sentinel), or misty stepping with the Sword of Shadows to get away from her and out of sight and while she will keep halving any damage he does from sneak attack, it's still a decent chuck that even a high level barbarian can't ignore forever. Leaving Riz who can do a decent amount of damage each turn with his sneak attack and not be close to her, he can also halve one of her three attacks. Riz can also do a lot of tricky stuff as an Arcane trickster, Mary-Ann might be immune to fear and charm affects, but she isn't immune to all illusions and enchantments. He could trick her and keep her busy with his spells, with magical ambush she would be rolling her saves with disadvantage. A smart player like Murph could do a lot with his spell list to a Barbarian.

Now obviously, like I said under Mary-Ann/Riz, dnd is not an anime/show/comic book/etc where you can just switch against your doppleganger and win. I think the Bad Kids would beat the Rat Grinders because they know their shit more and they are a party that genuinely cares for each other so their team work has to be better than the party of their dark mirrors who were literally handed xp to power level. That being said I do think the Bad Kids could take their counterpart in 1v1 (with the exception of Gorgug)

Also with the Preview of the next ep(19) the Bad Kids will have to deal with Jace, a high level Sorcerer, and Porter a legendary Barbarian/Paladin, who are definitely more dangerous than a bunch of high schoolers who never really had to fight another party.

Still this was just fun to think about. If you have any thoughts let me know. If you think of your own matchups that you want to discuss also let me know.

[razberrypuck]

miscellaneous things about gillion that I think are interesting: a compilation

the fact that he's religious, calls lunadeus his moon mom, and is believed to be the chosen one of his goddess, but prayer isn't something he regularly participates in

his clear love of the arts vs constantly saying he isn't any good at them. not doing anything related to art or music unless jay and chip are also doing it with him. the fact that he can play guitar and knows instruments well enough to create functioning ice versions of them. I'm convinced he would've become a bard if he hadn't had paladin pushed on him

nearly his entire life, he was taught that people from the oversea were evil, and that they were liars who wanted to get rid of the ocean. he was taught to kill on sight, because they're the bad guys. but he didn't try to harm jay or chip when they found him. he happily accepted their offer to help them

in the edison kingdom, when they were making their plan to get into the castle, right? chip asked what servants of the elders wore, and gillion motioned to his own outfit. I haven't seen anyone mention this ever and it's so weird to me. I understand they (the elders) would want gillion to be in uniform, but you'd think the chosen one and champion of the undersea would have his own uniform, right? or, at the very least, something to separate him from everyone that works in the palace

charlie saying in a rolled that if gillion was forced to relax and not do anything he'd break down

his connection to lighting

the fact that magic was particularly difficult for him to learn, and how apparently he would accidentally blow things up. personal headcanon that he used to have wild magic before he got it under control

his coral. I wanna know the fucking deal with that. it's growing out of his skull. he can feel when it's broken. it glows when he uses magic. it can be used to make water breathing potions that physically mutate the user's body to be better suited for swimming. it's apparently sacred. we have never seen anyone else with the same condition. nobody asks about it and I'm upset I want to KNOW

ik this is just a d&d thing but the fact that he can lift like?? ~500 lbs?? without having to roll strength?? beefy boy. jay and chip weigh nothing to him. it's like holding a couple of grapes

just the way he talks about the undersea. it's beautiful, it's dangerous, it's dark and cold and wet, i just want to go back, it's a nightmare, i miss it, i know the rules necessary but they're so strict sometimes it feels like they're strangling me, i want you to see it someday

feel free to add on/talk about any of these points :]

[thetallowman]

Alright. I need to ramble out a monologue about Hanno of Arwad, and how's he actually really interesting, thematically. (To finally cross him off the list of characters I have Thoughts about, if nothing else.)

When Hanno first shows up in Guide, it seems all but assured that he's going to end up an antagonist. He's in a band with the Bard (who has something bigger going on, even if the larger details aren't yet clear), he's got Chekhov's Training Montage as a backstory superpower (similar to the what William got in Arcadia), and his unique gimmick is flipping a coin (exclusively a villain move in other media). He seems set up to be be Cat's new heroic rival, and Black theorizes his Aspects were designed to counter her. Even their mottos clash: "I do not judge," vs. "Justifications only matter to the just."

Textually, Hanno seems like a threat because he's working for a Choir of angels, the same creatures that doomed William and tried to flip Cat. And this is a fair assumption - the Choir of Judgement (not Justice, notably) are a bunch of monsters that call tails on every coin flip in the series and are explicitly willing to kill the majority of the continent. It's easy to see Hanno in the role of headsman for a corrupt authority.

Meta-textually, Hanno resembles a certain other type of character often found in other media - the asshole paladin. It's a common archetype in villain-oriented stories, serving as an easy reversal of the normal dynamic while still allowing the protagonists to be reactive, since paladins are known for going out and finding evil to stab, rather than waiting it to come to them. (Notably, in these stories the shiny exterior usually hides a core of hate or stupidity; a holier-than-thou enemy is significantly less satisfying to defeat if they actually are holier than thou.) William seems to fit into this role - and the Exiled Prince definitely does, with his pomp and sanctimony and enchanted armor - but Hanno doesn't, and I think that's why he ends up being such an interesting character. Partially it's a matter of humility - Hanno's whole origin story revolves around the fallibility of mortal judgement, particularly his own - but there's a smaller-scale thing as well.

Specifically, I think Hanno's Two Face imitation is in direct conversation with DnD's Detect Evil and similar abilities. It's basically the same thing - point to somebody and ask your god if you should kill them - and it has basically the same problems. It's simultaneously an arbitrary excuse for murder, the ultimate appeal to (divine, unaccountable) authority, and an easy metaphor for any number of injustices. There are significant problems with a system where you can chop someone's head off on the grounds of "Voices said so, just trust me." (Note that the two characters Hanno clashes most with, Anaxares and Cordelia, both uphold the sanctity of mortal law.)

What makes Hanno different isn't when or how he flips the coin - but when he doesn't. He never flips the coin for anyone he isn't already intending to kill. His bandmates, inconvenient rulers, even an ex-villain like the Repentant Magister - none of them are put to the test. He uses it not as a means of discovering and slaying the guilty, but as a safeguard against accidentally slaying the innocent. He's ultimately still choosing what actions need to be stopped, and who to refer on for Judgement. And it's this baseline, when the Choir goes silent and the finale draws near, that allows him to come full circle and choose to do his best, even if his best is imperfect.

And I think that's really cool.

[cryptids-and-muses]

Post canon homestuck crew play Dungeons and Dragons

Karkat and terezi

Co dms

Unstoppable when actually working together

Terezi will get sidetracked messing with karkat

Karkat trying to write a deep and well fleshed out campaign that’s thematically resonant vs terezi’s desire for chaos and traps and trying to “trick” her players FIGHT

Terezi believes in karma and will make the world bend to this

Karkat is trying to set up romance arcs and argues about how it adds to the theming

Dave draws them fanart of their characters. Terezi loves it while karkat argues about accuracy before admitting yes he also appreciates it

Calliope also does fanart and karkat praises her skill and accuracy unlike some people

John

Arcane trickster rogue

Forest gnome

Just a goofy little guy!

Mostly just playing to have fun, starts off with a fun but simple character who develops over time

Ends up SUPER invested and taking this so so seriously

Karkat worked a dramatic reveal into the, in his words, “bare ass bones two paragraphs that a fucking wiggler could have written backstory” and John did not see it coming and loved it

Goes head to head with terezi a lot on her various traps she designs for them. She is getting more and more absurd with it. Karkat had to talk to her about breaking the world building with things she’s introducing. He is the only rogue. Send help.

Rose

Drow warlock

Tries to justify picking drow as anything other than she just thought it was cool

Nearly went old ones for patron but settled on archfey for story reasons

Has a 10 page lore document detailing her tragic past and her toxic relationship with her patron

It became 15 pages after going back and forth with karkat for a bit and adding even more

Only her and one other person are taking the romance arcs seriously and they become karkat’s favorite players

Tries playing morally ambiguous but terezi can be annoying about that and claims it’s just “the consequences of her actions”

Her and karkat both get very very into the scenes between her and her patron, the drama! The acting! Dave is uncomfortable and karkat brushes it off, it’s not like him role playing as his sister’s abusive girlfriend is weird. It’s in fact very important to the plot Dave

Has written fanfic of the campaign

Jade

Dragonborn barbarian

Path of the beast

Don’t ask me I just know

Her GLEE when she says “I’m gonna rage :D”

ANIMAL COMPANION! She nearly went ranger just for that but knew she wouldn’t have as much fun. Found a way to get one anyway.

It was harder naming her animal companion than her character

Having fun and likes the problem solving side of things, but likes breaking things with her massive strength just as much

Terezi likes to throw stuff at her, both traps and encounters, and finds it funny if she can just wreck her way through

“See John that’s how you deal with a pressure plate trap”

Takes the rp side of things very seriously

Once argued with Karkat over if her favorite npc would do that and cursed him out

Has read roses fanfic of the campaign

Dave

Plays a teifling with grey skin and orange horns

“What are you talking about karkat this is just my dude, don’t you like him?”

Hellus Jeffus

He’s a valor bard, eventually multiclasses paladin

Starts out just trying to mess with people but like John starts getting into it, though he tries to down play it

Have hellus more of himself than he realized and it’s making him face things about himself

Eventually hellus self sacrifices to save the party in this deeply intense moment. There were tears, Dave was wrecked, they went on a whole quest to revive him. It was touching and karkat is smug

Dave might have worked through some things

Jane

Halfling cleric

Her and John are small buddies!!!

Started out life but wasn’t having a lot of fun with it so with terezi’s permission switched to war or tempest with later s few levels in fighter

Her John and Jade are the biggest front liners, John’s character ends up really close with both of them as it’s easier for the rogue to bond with the person giving them sneak attack

Jade and jane’s character have an in game arm wrestling match

Took a bit to get into the rp side of things but eventually got the hang of it

Roxy

Tabaxi, easily, it’s so obvious

After much deliberation settles on glamour bard (though wizard and rogue were tempting for the joke, she wanted to branch out)

So many horny bard jokes but very little actual follow through, karkat gets frustrated by this as she’s all this talk but isn’t pursuing any of the romance options he’s giving her

She has SECRETS! She is HIDING THINGS!! Her cheery persona is a FASADE!!!

Cue complaining to karkat about how hard it is to wait to tell the others about her secrets and him threatening violence if she tells anyone before the in game reveal

She tells jake

Lots of egging on Dave and helping him with his fucking around

The BOND between her and Dave!!! They are the duo to end all duos. Team rocket type shit. There is nothing stronger than the bond between the bards of the party. My theory is it has to do with trading bardic inspiration.

Dirk

Half elf Druid circle of spores

Wildfire seemed fun to him but wasn’t as good

Wasn’t originally planning on being a Druid but after going over all the classes he liked all the customization and decisions that go into Druid like prepared spells and such

Didn’t really think about his backstory much, just improved something. He keeps improving new additions and it’s getting more and more elaborate and complicated. He has multiple hidden and long lost siblings by this point. Still doesn’t write any of this down. If he messes a detail up he justified it with more improv.

Yes his character has spiked up red hair and sunglasses. Don’t question how the Druid got sunglasses karkat.

Really likes the tactics side of things, he’s even pitched a few things to terezi she updated and later worked in

Sometimes works on plans and strategies out of game or making a million back up characters that play off the others in interesting mechanical ways

Is considering becoming a dm some time

Jake

Needed some help making his character, he just didn’t know where to start

Eventually after much discussion settles on a teifling bladesong wizard

Wanting to get away from his usual adventurer style Roxy helped with the backstory and they came up with this evil scientist raised in a cult who’s good hearted but was never taught right and wrong

He gets very into playing him and his moral struggle but can lean a little too good for his backstory, karkat points this out and Jake swears to get better at it

Dave pitched a lot of names for them and it was eventually settled on “Bernard Gunn” even though he has a sword. Jake just likes how it sounds

“Why is he blue jake?” “…..uhhh” “why is he blue?”

Calliope

SHE LOVES THIS SO MUCH

Teifling Druid with a focus on healing

Circle of shepards

Not a troll color pallet like Dave though, honestly it might get a bit trickster

Beautiful backstory that she coordinated with one of the others to make joint. The most obvious choice is Roxy but I think it was actually jade, Jane or John.

She gets so into it you guys, like so into it

Gives at least one dramatic speech completely on the fly

The other character who takes karkat’s romance arcs seriously and his other favorite player

Has also argued with terezi about world building and consistency. This may put her above rose in karkat’s eyes

Was also allowed to read rose’s fanfiction and offered full on reviews

Also considering going into doing but for the opposite reasons to Dirk

Vriska

Fairy artillerist artificer with a dip in war magic wizard

Min maxxed to hell and back

(Technically there was a better race, but fairy has its own advantages and she couldn’t resist)

An elaborate backstory too with some secrets of her own, I’m thinking full on lost princess

Yes she is That Player, you know the one

Has nearly been kicked multiple times and now won’t leave on principle

Not the best at sticking with the party and not just doing whatever she wants, but suprisingly Dirk has been able to talk her into it with his talk of tactics and playing smart

Second most effective is John who just looks at her like ��vriska you’re not making this very fun :(“

Kanaya

Fire genasi ranger

Really tried to get into it but this just isn’t her thing so eventually decided to leave the group

Karkat came up with a fun story reason for her to leave and eventually brought her character back as an Npc

Did help rose make a cosplay of her character, after which John, Calliope, and Roxy wanted to make ones too

Vriska eventually tried to “manipulate” into helping her make one for her character

[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

Voyager character dnd classes

see the other series here!

Janeway: paladin. literally no question she literally made an oath to get her crew home, she is a prototypical paladin. i started this series of posts because i realized how much of a paladin Janeway is.

Chakotay: paladin. i struggled a bit with Chakotay but he is obviously someone very dedicated to truth and justice and was willing to go off on his own path to fulfill that dream of justice when he joined the Maquis and that's very paladin of him.

Tuvok: monk. i think a lot of Vulcans have big monk energy due to their intense almost monastical studies and devotion to logic and Tuvok is a prime example who is highly trained in both physical and mental discipline and sought to help others (Kes, Suder) exercise that same discipline.

Torres: sorcerer. Torres very much lacks the formal training that a usual Starfleet engineer (or wizard) would have but (in my opinion) has even more natural talent for ambitious engineering and manages to be a miracle worker not through some pact or intelligence but just through sheer force of will.

Kim: wizard. look in the show, Torres and Kim were kind of presented as opposites (the Maquis vs Starfleet) with the personality differences to match despite having a vaguely similar set of skills and capabilities. so it really makes sense that if Torres is a sorcerer, Kim would be a wizard with all the traditional by the book learning that entails.

Paris: fighter. Tom Paris is a fighter and i don't have much of an argument other than ~vibes~ and the fact that only a fighter would think he could tank the damage from going warp 10 and then start turning into a salamander.

EMH: cleric/bard multiclass. look the EMH was literally designed to be a doctor. when he was first activated that was his entire purpose and nothing else so i don't think i can really argue that he isn't a cleric. but as he started to exist for longer, he consistently wanted to be something more (specifically a singer, see Virtuoso). i need to emphasize. he's not a good bard. he doesn't provide inspiration or support to anyone. but the fact is that he needs to prove he can be something more.

Neelix: bard. do i have to explain myself? Neelix is very much a jack of all trades master of none kind of character. he dabbles in pretty much everything and 90% of his scenes exist to give support and encouragement to other characters.

Seven: warlock. even in-universe, the Borg (when they're at they're best) are portrayed as this eerie eldritch entity so i think it would make sense that in dnd mechanics, even though Seven broke away from the Borg, she maintained that pact with them in order to keep performing sorts of magical acts (like her increased strength and like. bringing people back from the dead). but she also very much has that same darkness and melancholy that a warlock has from a pact with an ambiguously evil being.

Kes: druid. no question about this one. she has an affinity for plants and vague but powerful supernatural abilities drawn from the literal energy of the universe.

please feel free to reply with your own headcanons! i'd love to read them.

[carolinelikesdinner]

How the Fablehaven characters would play DND

Kendra

It's her first ever game, and she’d study the rules extensively before even trying to make a character. Takes several days for her to land on a backstory she likes. Would play a druid, either a half elf or a wood elf with a little animal companion. More into roleplay than combat and exploration, but surprisingly good at timing her actions when fighting. Takes extensive notes of each session.

Seth

Also his first ever dnd game, did NOT study the rules. Had to be told in session 0 that he couldn’t have a legendary item at level 1. Would play a rogue or a sorcerer tiefling (cause he thinks their design is the coolest). He’d min-max his stats to hell and back. His character starts out being super one dimensional with a vague backstory, but gets more fleshed out as he plays. Keeps forgetting how combat works.

Warren

Dnd veteran, has played almost every race and class but enjoys bard the most. Switches between being a player and DM constantly, but leans more towards DM. Dice goblin, will just give you dice if you ask nicely. Enjoys making lore about his campaigns, but is bad at incorporating the players' backstories into it. Super loose with the rules, if everyones having fun it’s fine. Also is weirdly good at character voices.

Vanessa

Played like one oneshot in college and hasn't touched the game since. Gets into the swing of things pretty fast, enjoys the combat and puzzles. Her character is a monk but she’d play a more unconventional race, like Yuan-Ti or Harengon. Has exactly one set of dice and doesn't see any reason to get more.

Tanu

Is a little familiar with dnd. Would play a ranger tabaxi or dragonborn, enjoys exploration a lot. The main starter of roleplay between the players. Is also the designated snack bringer.

Bracken

Never even heard of dnd before. Attempts to read the rules and only understands about 30% of it. He’d play a paladin character, maybe elf. Really confused on which dice to use at any given time. Keeps pointing out the inconsistencies between the dnd lore vs. how magical creatures actually are.

Ronodin

Has been playing since it first came out in the 70s. He’s been in a couple long term campaigns but he's mostly played one shots. Isn’t really familiar with 5e but gets used to it after a while. Plays a dark elf rogue or warlock. His character's backstory is just similar enough to his own past to get a few eyebrow raises. Fakes a good roll if he’s had a bunch of bad ones in a row.

[choccy-zefirka]

We previously had a whole Discourse Session about x reader fic on this blog, but I just saw this in visual form on my dashboard (Blorbo hugging/kissing a greyed-out silhouette instead of the artist's OC), and I am back to thinking how being expected to insert my OC into the author-prepared slot is not my thing (and makes me a bit sad, actually) because... all my OCs fall for their love interest, even if it's the same person, for different reasons.

Isk and Wyll are childhood friends who keep being torn apart by circumstances but inevitably find each other. Mariposa and Wyll are gender-swapped Beauty and the Beast; he is the radiant guiding light that inspires her to rise above her Dark Urge. Wilhelm is a classic sad dad, so his partners Wyll and Karlach help him find joy and whimsy in life again. Or, for example, Alyrr stirs Halsin's heart because she is kind to him, while Cinder falls for Halsin because he is kind to *her*; same goes for Niamh and Zevlor vs Dee and Zevlor.

Likewise, in other fandoms, Azelma Cadash and Blackwall initially despise each other because she thinks he's a boring straight-laced fuddy duddy, and he thinks she's a spoiled princess luxuriating in her father's crime spoils and wearing a Stop Being Poor T-shirt, but as their friendship progresses, each discovers that the other is a more nuanced person than their first impressions might suggest. While Naali Adaar teams up with him as Protector of the Small, and Adiba Adaar turns his head with her incredible Nerd Powers (Nana Lavellan is somewhere at the intersection of that, because she is both a nerd and a professional babysitter in her clan). Thraer Aeducan bonds with Morrigan like a golden retriever excitedly following her around; and Revas Mahariel sits across the room from her like they are a cat and she is also a cat, slowly getting accustomed to each other. Nella Amell gets to Zevran with her sweetness and faith in people, and Zevran gets to Brianna Cousland with his roguish charms, even as she appears to have hidden herself behind a wall of ice and grief.

Alisa Shepard is a neurotic perfectionist, Natalie Shepard is an enthusiastic, confident space adventurer; Garrus loves each of them. And in my newest obsession, Cyberpunk, my current rough and tough but secretly artistic street kid V is going to employ different tactics when convincing Takemura to ditch Arasaka through the power of love (shhh, let me have my headcanon) compared to a hyper-stressed, disillusioned corpo V and a happy-go-lucky nomad V I also have planned. And so on and so on and so on.

Can all these different love stories truly be expressed through x reader fics? Even if x reader is mostly focused on smut, I am not sure how much maneuvering you can do while leaving it generic. Again, going back to my own OCs, Arryn Lavellan, a hot-headed 20-something Dalish First, is a virgin who pretends to be sexually experienced to win Respect Points, and then learns the lesson that he did not have to do that; while Elgara Lavellan, a Circle mage and ex-Tranquil, is also a virgin due to her life circumstances, and her lesson is that there's no shame in having a "first time" after 40. Cinder the Tav is a half-Orc, half-Tiefling, used to being fetishized by intimate partners because of her appearance, so she gets her mind blown when Halsin worships her body as a great gift of nature. Laulu the Tav is a half-Orc, half-Halfling, a humble farm girl with dreams of someone who will love her for her, not her glamorous elf bard persona (courtesy of Disguise Self), so she gets *her* mind blown when Gale takes her, the real her, on a journey through the stars. But Amaya, a full Halfling this time, is a vengeful paladin who used to be married to an evil wizard that entrapped her in illusions of love and bliss in order to manipulate her to do his bidding, so she opts for the humble tryst in the woods, blowing *Gale's* mind this time as he realizes that he can be wanted for more than his magic. So for all of them, even smut will flow differently.

Some anons I got argued that inserting your OC into a love story focused on a canon character is too self-centered; you have to give other people a chance to imagine *their* OCs in this blank spot! And I guess it works for some people (a lot of people, in fact), but I would rather write stories and make art about specific OCs and read stories and admire art with *your* specific OCs and all the endless ways they can kiss that Blorbo.

[rooolt]

okay fun little game I’m gonna play, who would win bad kids 1v1 their rat grinder counterpart, under the cut bc I ramble (also I fully understand within canon I’m aware that the rat grinders have far less experience and that may affect their strategies in battle, but I’m trying to think largely mechanically bc I’m a loser who likes rules)

Adaine vs Oisin: I do think this one would be close bc ultimately wizard v wizard is rough and I think comes down to initiative order bc that’s gonna determine a lot of counterspells. For example, if oisin goes first, adaine has to decide whether to waste a counterspell on something he’d predictably summon as a conjuration wizard, which he himself then would probably counterspell, which does use his reaction meaning he can’t counterspell later in the turn, however if Oisin is 10th level or higher he can’t lose concentration on conjugation spells which means the only way to get rid of stuff that was conjugation would be dispel magic, but then that becomes a matter of whether or not adaine “wastes” her turn on that. Neither of them have healing spells, and adaine has portent and also summons, but one could assume Oisin has more stocked and is more built upon that so I think in a 1v1 he may be at a slight advantage. This one I think would be very close

Fabian vs Ivy: This is another one that I think can depend on circumstances bc ivy is a ranged fighter and so if she surprises him from far away, he’s not as good in ranged combat, however, in melee, Fabian is so stacked with battle master + swords bard + fandrangor, but as a ranger (? I think, the wiki says she is but I don’t remember) ivy could have healing spells on top of second wind as well, and while Fabian can know healing spells, idk if we’ve ever seen him cast them

Fig vs Ruben: she stomps his ass easy. Paladin and warlock levels are so good. If fig hits once + spirit guardians she can do seriousssss damage. Bards are largely support anyways and so I think pure bard against a multiclass is at a disadvantage. Also I don’t know what Ruben’s subclass is, but fig has cutting words so

Gorgug vs Mary Ann: I think Gorgug wins. Because if Mary Ann is strictly barbarian, no matter how good of a barbarian she is, gorgug has spells and artificer stuff to buff and heal himself as well. He also has clobeca which in a 1v1 is definitely beneficial. We don’t know much about mary Ann other than a very good strength score but I think brute forcing it vs more strategy gorgug could bring I think gorgug wins

Kristen vs Lucy: they’re kissing on the mouth

Kristen vs Buddy: this one is rough purely bc they’re both obviously support classes, and specifically subclass wise not particularly offense oriented. However, if Kristen goes first in initiative and gets off a successful banishment the fight could be over very quickly. Buddy is presumably a life cleric and based on the rat grinders and his vibe in general I think he’s probably even more healing and support based than Kristen and thus would be at a disadvantage during a 1v1

Riz vs Kipperlily: FIGHT I WANT TO SEE SO BAD GIVE ME A ROGUES 1V1 GIVE IT TO ME BRENNAN PLEASE!!!!!!!! Anyways, we have confirmed subclasses for them both and I think based off of them riz wins???. Like, kipperlily is a mastermind and mastermind’s abilities are largely social and to do with helping their allies and commanding them like that. Riz on the other hand is an arcane trickster and thus has spells. Now, it seems that kipperlily can turn invisible, whether this be oisin’s doing or not, if it is a thing kipperlily can do herself, we know riz has see invisibility and there’s still one eye of the vulture king left, so ultimately I think he could get around it. Both of them seem to have ranged weapons (kipperlily’s crossbow from the last stand) and so I think they would both probably attempt to stay hidden in ranged fighting in order to get sneak attack. It is very possible that kipperlily has various bullshit fuckyou items she could use, but with our current understanding I think riz is at an advantage due to his ability to use his subclass features

[utilitycaster]

So far in campaign 3, 5 of the party have died and been resurrected and 2 have died permanently, with only Imogen, Dorian, and (presumably) Braius not dying ever. In campaign 2, again 5 of the party died and got resurrected over the whole thing with Beau, Yasha, and Kingsley surviving, and Molly permanently dying. BUT, in Vox Machina, everyone except Tary died at least once with the twins dying FOUR TIMES EACH and only Vax permanently dying. What do you think changed after the first campaign? Is it that Matt got “better” at scaling encounters, the players got better at staying alive, a group decision to take resurrection more seriously, or is it a total coincidence?

It’s just something I noticed all of a sudden tonight and I’m not sure if I’m just seeing something where there is nothing or if other people have noticed this too and have thoughts on why it is.

Hi anon,

I started to write up a massive and lengthy analysis this morning and realized it was not very good and that I had to leave for work in 20 minutes. Anyway I think it's mostly the players getting better at staying alive, mostly through party comp:

Vox Machina unexpectedly, for "Ashley got cast on a TV show that filmed in NYC" and "Tiberius's player sucks" reasons found themselves abruptly down not only a healer (most of the time) but an arcane caster, leaving Scanlan and Keyleth doing double and triple duty. Vex did a pretty impressive amount of healing for a ranger, actually, but only had touch heals and limited spell slots for them. Add the fact that Keyleth couldn't heal while in Wildshape until pretty much the endgame and Scanlan was absent for an arc, replaced by Tary, who could heal but was not a full caster, and that explains a lot.

Vox Machina also had two characters with relatively low HP/terrible con saves to go with it (the twins) and only one true, full-time tank (Grog). Vex and Percy were often out of healing range but could get hit by an AOE attack. Also, dragons are particularly lethal for AOE reasons and four of those deaths are Raishan, two from when they tried to get Raishan immediately after the Thordak fight.

Of Vox Machina's deaths, two of Vax's, one of Vex's, Keyleth's, and one of Grog's are all out of combat and primarily due to player choice. They got way better at not doing this (well, Vax's are kind of unavoidable, but we only had one in C2 of this nature with Veth and the Power Word Kill trap, and none in C3).

One VM death (two if you count the wedding one-shot) was a direct assassination vs. one in the Nein and none for Bells Hells.

Now consider:

The Mighty Nein and Bells Hells each have at least two tanks; Bells Hells has three. The Nein have two full clerics (*extremely tired voice* Jester actually is a very good healer, Caduceus is just exceptionally support-focused) even without Fjord and Yasha's healing. Bells Hells had one full time cleric, and now they have a full bard and a bard-paladin.

No one dumps CON anymore. If only I could get them to start dumping WIS again and stop dumping INT, but I digress.

People are getting better at checking for traps and not selling their souls to cursed items.

Otohan Thull's build is in fact, I must admit, pretty good and cool, her lack of any personality traits not withstanding, but her lethal nature is specifically because she exclusively faced a super tapped party in a situation where they couldn't get out of there. She is responsible for all 5 deaths that weren't a Bertrand Bell Clear Setup situation; I think if Bells Hells hadn't been trapped and tapped things might have gone differently, whereas Vox Machina often was like "rests are for SUCKERS" and got their asses beat in avoidable manners.

My other caveat is of course not to count your chickens before they're slaughtered, namely, while none of Vox Machina died in the final Vecna fight unless you count Vax, which I don't, Vecna did kill two of them earlier on, though; Vax permanently (the Raven Queen just let him hang out a bit longer). The Somnovem/Lucien hybrid killed two of the Mighty Nein in the final battle. Ludinus or Predathos could fucking level the party. Otohan could have gone much worse in episode 91 without many changes; that was the first time I've ever heard Matt talk like a TPK was potentially imminent. Some of this is also luck, and some of this with Bells Hells is that *Myst voice* the ending has not yet been written.