#she is so easy to make into dnd character actually

[stonehenge-asexual]

hello i had the realization that i could very easily build my babygirl in baldurs gate 3 and had to Right Then

behold, the babygirl

[image id: a screenshot of the baldurs gate 3 character creator, with a full body shot of the character, eliot. it is a masculine figure, wearing brown armor, with shoulder length brown hair.]

[image id: two screenshots, side by side, of eliot. both are from the chest up. the first is a front shot, and the second is a three-quarters shot. eliot has shoulder length brown hair that is swept back from her face and grey-blue eyes. in the second photo, she has blood splattered across her face.]

and of course, there is no eliot w/out the person holding her leash :)

[image id: a screenshot of a character creator. the character, nate ford from leverage, is a older man, with short black hair and blue eyes. he is wearing heavy armor, with gold embellishments on the chest and around the neck.]

[autistichalsin]

Analysis of each character's final words in the new Dark Urge evil ending

If you are romanced to a character, you have the option, when taking the new version of the Sins of the Father ending, to kill your partner in front of the others in your party, killing them with one last kiss. They then give their last words and pass away. I love each and every one and feel they are incredible characterization moments.

So let's break these down!

Lae'zel:

I... I am glad it was you. No other blade would have sufficed.

This is something that hammers home that, Vlaakith or no, Lae'zel deeply believes in all the ideals of a Githyanki. Life is a privilege for the strong, and death is the price of weakness. Further, if romanced, Lae'zel will affectionately call you "the source of my bruises" many times. If she has to die, if she has finally found the one person stronger than herself, then she is "satisfied" that it is you- who she both loved and admired. The only one she would ever consider worthy of besting her.

Karlach:

Fuck you.

Short, simple, and to the point, just the way Karlach does everything else. She's already gone through all her stages of grief with her engine- well, almost all of them. Anger still remains. She burns hot until the end.

Wyll:

I... I forgive you.

This isn't just Wyll being a good guy. This is heartbreak, and guilt. Guilt for not saving you from Bhaal's influence when he was so sure he had. Heartbreak that after he gave his literal soul to save as many people as he could, he couldn't save you- and couldn't save others from you, either. All he sacrificed, negated in an instant by the person he loved and trusted most. Of all the characters here, Wyll (tied with Halsin) sounds the most obviously broken, and it's easy to see why, given that he is self-sacrificing to a fault.

There was a set of scenes datamined from the game, where at the Morphic Pool, the Netherbrain would have taunted the players, causing them to hallucinate things related to their fears and insecurities. Wyll's would have been a vision of himself talking about how he was never a hero, how the Blade of Frontiers was a farce all along. One can't help but think about that scene here, wondering just how much blame, bordering on self-loathing, he might feel here.

Dark Justiciar Shadowheart:

I... I'm coming to you, Lady Shar.

Another short and simple one. By becoming a Dark Justiciar, Shadowheart has fully embraced the nihilism of Shar's teachings. Why be saddened or angry at her own death when this is just what she's embraced with all her sacrifices?

(Sidenote: this does also answer a question I had, namely, what was going to happen to everyone Durge kills. Thankfully it seems they aren't actually going to be sacrificed to him as such, and will indeed end up in the realm of their deities. This makes Bhaal's plan even DUMBER, because deities in DND lore need worshippers to have enough power to exist. Killing everyone at once just guarantees that soon after Durge dies as the last person alive, so too will Bhaal fade from existence.)

Selunite Shadowheart:

I... I thought we were going to save each other...

This Shadowheart rejected everything she knew. She was scared to defy her goddess, but worked up the courage- thanks to you. She thought you would have a new life together. She believed in you. She thought she would get to return the favor, and help you turn the page on Bhaal, too.

She's not just heartbroken for herself; she's heartbroken for you, too. Heartbroken at the life you denied both her and yourself.

Gale:

You made me want to live...

From the moment the orb entered Gale's chest, he knew he was at risk of dying. Then Mystra all but marked him as a dead man walking. But despite that, he finds love with you- and for the first time thinks maybe there is a purpose for him beyond Mystra. That he isn't more useful to the world dead. More than that, he wants to live to be with you, to enjoy your company and companionship. And then you kill him, and do the one thing WORSE than what would have happened if he'd never been pulled from that rock.

It almost would have been kinder to just hack his hand off the first time you met him, though Gale may or may not agree.

Spawn Astarion:

I should have killed you when I had the chance...

The angriest, most bitter response out of all the romanced companions, a step beyond Karlach's "fuck you." This is beyond "fuck you" and even beyond "I hate you." It's "I regret every moment I spent with you." You made him believe he could have better. That he could recover from what Cazador did. You even convinced him to spare the 7,000 spawn and that he could be something better than Cazador.

And now you reveal it was all a lie. Astarion is probably thinking that you talked him out of completing the ritual solely so he'd be easier to kill right here and now. How many regrets are flashing through his mind, how many moments where he wonders if things could have been different if only he'd done this or that, even aside from killing you?

All he wanted was to live as a free person. And then the first time he thinks he has that at last, he loses it as the world ends.

Ascended Astarion:

No... no, this can't be... I can't- you can't- no...

In contrast to spawn Astarion, ascended isn't angry, because he doesn't have the clarity, the ability to process what's happening. Spawn Astarion could tell he'd been betrayed.

But Ascended? Ascended, who went through so much to become one of the most powerful beings in the world, only to STILL lose without fanfare? And by you, his own spawn who he thought he had under his control? It isn't betrayal, because he is bluescreening; he can't comprehend what happened or how or why. How could he have been killed, and by you of all people? Was all he went through killing Cazador really for nothing? How could it be when he was supposed to be the most powerful? Was power actually meaningless all along?

He doesn't say anything of substance because he can't understand what's happening here.

Halsin:

Thaniel... goodbye...

Halsin is the oldest of all the companions. He's experienced the most loss of anyone; his birth family, his fellow Druids, and, for a time, Thaniel. He has had more than enough time to contemplate his own mortality, because he's already lived multiple lifetimes.

So here, two things are happening. One, he isn't expressing anger or betrayal at his murder- because he is more than wise enough, and humble enough, to understand that there are worse things than what has been done to himself. Instead of himself, he is thinking of the world he's leaving behind that is about to fall- and most of all, of his most important person, the one who gave him a purpose, who was there when no one else was, who he failed once and only just got back. The closest thing to a child he'll ever have. In his last moments, instead of himself, Halsin is thinking of those he loves.

And second, it's an almost deliberate snubbing of Durge. He willingly walked into that kiss, knowing full well it would be the last thing he ever did. He gave you his death, he pleaded with his own god to forgive you and him both. He gave you everything he felt he owed you, and no more- no begging or sobbing. Instead, he comes as close as he ever gets to selfishness, and spends his last moments thinking about the thing that makes him the happiest- which could have been you, in another life, if you hadn't done this.

Minthara:

No... we were meant to do this together...

Heartbreak, disbelief, and betrayal. You spent so many nights planning this out. She had been cast aside by her people, her goddess, and she was going to get the last laugh. She was going to crush them personally under her heel and prove she was the best (or second best, behind you) of all of them. She's devastated she won't get to help you torture all those souls and take what she feels was owed to her. But interestingly enough... no anger. Probably because it was overshadowed by the sheer heartbreak, but also a sign that even in those moments, she still admires you for your ruthlessness.

[sunkillerlovechild]

ive been thinking about this today and just feel the need to sing praises to it

the last stand fight is literally one of my favourites if not the favourite from D20

and, you know, its probably not the hardest or the most story important one, but god its just so good

like the fact that non of them dropped??? that they didnt even get that injured and yeah on some part it obviously was the dice as it often tends to be in dnd but it was also them showing how well they work together

i feel like they all play into their strengths very well it this fight and they even talk about it in the adventuring party like if it werent for spell casters with area of effect spell the fighters would stand no chance, but also noone else could probably tank all that shit from the purple worm like gorgug

and like the decision from emily axford to disguise herself as the proctor was so good and yeah again luck also played into that but if she didnt do it, there would be no chance at even having that luck

and also her spirit guardians (love that spell) delt so much damage, and adaine coming in with the scatter to move the proctor away, which leads to kristin coming closer to there, which allows her to see kipper whats her face and stop whatever she was about to do

and then theres the exams part which they fully blow out of the park, like im pretty sure there was at least one question from like freshman year like prompts to you for remembering, also them actually attempting the math and essay and the essay actually kind of making sense and being about something that the characters genuinely care about

even if we go back to the dice, fig is struggling it that fight (and honestly the whole season) but because of so many good strategical decisions that emily makes, the impact of the dice is not as big as it could have been, if she had done things differently

also everyones vibe is so good the entire fight, like this fight was not made to be easy, they were probably met to at least drop maybe even multiple times, but they are having fun with it, joking around about the rats and the jellies and honestly its a very on brand fight for the bad kids

i also just remember the amount of nat 20 zac rolled in that fight, like that was insane

[queenimmadolla]

eddie using wayne as a dnd prop

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTR3topDo/

consider me inspired.

𝐃𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

(dad!eddie munson x mom!reader)

dad!eddie masterlist

Summary: When his newborn baby keeps distracting the Hellfire Club during a session, Eddie gets a little creative with keeping them on track.

warnings: this body of work may give you baby fever. viewers are reminded that eddie munson cannot be your baby daddy. discretion advised. which just means this is fluff.

“. . . You approach the shopkeeper, wary of the many skeletal remains hanging from the ceiling. You’re not welcome, it’s apparent from the menacing look on his face, not helped by the flicker of the burning candles. Sir Soren notices the shopkeeper’s arm reaching slowly under the table—’’ 

  “AWWWWWWWW!” 

  Eddie snapped out of his revery, stuttering as the rest of Hellfire cooed and Dustin even squealed. He followed their gazes, to the newborn in his lap, weighing no more than six pounds and smaller than most of his big sister’s stuffed animals after his early arrival into the world, and he could see why they reacted like they did.

  His son was mid yawn, plump little lips stretched into a wide ‘O’, eyes squeezed shut.

  Once he was done yawning, the baby blinked owlishly, staring at nothing in particular with heavy lidded eyes.

  “Oh my god, he’s so cute.”

  “He’s so little! Look at those teeny tiny feet!” Dustin was making weird faces at baby Wayne, trying to get some sort of positive reaction out of him. 

  “Forget the feet, look at his hands!” Eddie glanced down to see what Erica was talking about, the newborn had somehow managed to link his  squishy fingers together. “He’s so distinguished! What a proper little gentleman!”

  “FOCUS!” Eddie snapped, sighing when his bellow spooked the baby in his hands. Not enough to make him cry, but Eddie had felt his little body go stiff. He placed one hand over his baby’s front and used the other to rub his back. Sure enough, Wayne relaxed into his hold, leaning forward onto Eddie’s forearm.

  “You can’t tell us to focus on what you’ve been bragging about is the most terrifying part of our campaign when you’ve got cutie patootie front and center.” Dustin argued.

  Eddie rolled his eyes, “I can put him down for his nap—’’

  “NO!”

  “What? Why?”

  “Don’t do it!”

  “That’s illegal!”

  “That’s what I thought,” Eddie was smug, leaning back into the recliner. 

  Since his graduation, Hellfire continued both as a school club and out of school with most of the members perfecting their characters and strategizing during their school meetups. Sessions took place on fridays at the Munson trailer.

  Normally, you’d use the Hellfire sessions for some mommy and daughter bonding time with Penny or on occasion, Penny would sometimes stay with him and cheer on the group.

  Bad daddy! Very bad daddy! She’d scolded him after a session a couple of months ago for a different campaign in which Will’s character was killed.

  You’d been low on groceries so you’d planned on running out for more while Hellfire took place but neither you or Eddie had taken the kids out solo yet.  

  It was easy when both of you went, but a routine trip to the grocery store seemed intimidating if you’d be trying to juggle a newborn and mischievous toddler. 

  Eddie convinced you to leave Wayne with him. It’d be easy, he was used to Penny’s crazy antics during those times she stayed with him during Hellfire, so a newborn who was barely active if he wasn’t sleeping would be a walk in the park. He was much more confident as a father this time around, actually knew what he was doing.

  There was only one problem: his baby was just too damn adorable.

  You’d found Penny’s old Hellfire onesie and while it was too big to button, you’d put a pair of baby sweats over Wayne’s little legs, tucking the onesie in. 

  Every single member had promptly lost their shit after seeing Wayne in his arms when they walked in.

  In fact, the session had started late as Wayne made his rounds through their arms. Amy—a new member, a freshman and a cheerleader (she was a little annoying with how often she brought it up)—hadn’t wanted to give him back but none of the party could focus with the baby in such close proximity so Eddie had reclaimed him. 

  If Wayne did anything remotely baby like, they’d go off course. Half an hour had passed and they’d barely made it from the town entrance to a single shop. An astounding amount of progress.

  “Get those big heads of yours back in the game,” Eddie cleared his throat, Dungeon Master persona taking over again. 

  “You enter the shop─”

  Wayne hiccuped against the skin of his arm where he was drooling, it was low and probably would have gone unnoticed had the party not already been paying an intense amount of attention to him. 

  Did you hear that?!

  Oh. My. GOD!

  Eddie, let me hold him.

  “That’s it, the shop is rigged with homemade explosives, Sir Soren triggered them, the shop blows up. You’re all dead. Session over.”

  They all groaned and protested.

  “Okay—okay! We’ll pay attention.”

  Hiccup.

  “OH MY GOD, HE DID IT AGAIN!”

  They all went into baby talk mode, each of them trying to grab his son’s attention, who managed to somehow avoid looking at any of them while staring off into their general direction.

  Eddie sighed, shoulders caving under defeat as he readjusted his hold on his baby, hands grasping his sides and supporting Wayne’s head as he lifted him to eye level.

  Wayne’s big, brown eyes focused on him immediately, making almost silent baby noises. Eddie softened, corners of his lips twitching out of endearment. 

  “You gotta help me out here, kid.”

  Hiccup.

  Eddie lowered him, pressing a kiss to his soft little nose.

  The baby let out a sharp squeak, thrusting his head forward. Eddie raised his chin to avoid the collision as his son’s head nuzzled and bumped against his collar, almost as if he was physically trying to seek more affection, encourage Eddie to give him more kisses.

  Baby neck control, man. So bobble-head like.  

  “What am I gonna do with you?” Eddie mumbled, bending to smother the lower half of his face into the fuzz on his baby’s head.

  It was then he noticed how silent the party was, attention finally focused on him. Amy practically had hearts in her eyes (though she had a crush on Will, who was too kind to burst her bubble), “Can I hold him again? Please?”

  “No way! That’s not fair, you already got to hold him!” Lucas argued.

  “Yeah, well so did you!”

  “I meant during Hellfire! You were holding him when we first came into town!”

  “That doesn’t count, Eddie took him away!”

  And so came another argument. Eddie wasn’t even slightly amused as he watched them go back and forth. Until, he had an idea. 

  Maybe they could focus with Wayne in close proximity after all.

  He shielded the back of his baby’s head with his hand, palm covering one ear and his fingers covering the other.

(a/n: yeah, his hand is bigger than Wayne’s head, go ahead and swoon)

  “SHUT UP!” The voices of the party died down immediately. “New rule…”

  ─

  You parked alongside the trailer, right next to Eddie’s van and unloaded your groceries. It wasn’t too much, three bags. 

  “I help, mama! I can cawwy!” Penny had insisted, leaning her body against your legs with her arms stretched up and you relented, taking out most of the items save for a few rolls of toilet paper from one bag to hand her. 

  “Such a good helper, thank you so much!”

  “Yes.” She hummed, a satisfied smile stretching her face. 

  The two of you climbed up the steps—you’d had to shift both the grocery bags in one arm to help her hop up the steps and unlock the door—and entered your home, immediately noting the tense atmosphere. 

  Lucas stopped his dialogue and the entire table turned to you with Eddie grinning from his place, lounged back in the recliner, “Hey, baby. Welcome home.”

  On impulse, your eyes scanned the room for your actual baby, spotting him in Lucas’ arms as the rest of Hellfire greeted both you and Penny.

  Penny put her bag on the ground near the counter and ran over to Eddie who helped her into his lap before his arms wrapped around her little frame to hold her in place while he smothered her face in kisses.

  She squealed and wiggled until he released her and she immediately slid out of his lap in favor of Will’s.

  “Sorry to interrupt, you won’t even notice I’m here.”

  “I always notice, why don’t you join us for this last bit?” Eddie asked, beckoning you over with his forefinger in a come hither gesture. 

  “I will as soon as I’m done putting this stuff away��don’t you dare,” You nearly glared at him as he began to rise in order to assist you, “I’ll be right there, it’ll take me like two minutes and you always put stuff in the wrong place.”

  Eddie smirked, “You say this, yet you find it every time.”

  Your glare was a playful one and you shook your head, gaze flickering back over as Lucas handed your baby over to Mike.

  “No, dude, it’s Gareth’s turn.”

  “Oh my bad.”

  Then the oddest thing happened. Mike handed your baby over to Lucas, who passed him to Amy, who then placed him in Gareth’s waiting arms.

  “Is there a reason everyone is playing hot potato with our child?”

  “He’s my potato…” You heard Penny mumble.

  “Outside of Hellfire he might be our son, but inside the Realm of Asmodeus, he is the Ioun Stone of Language Knowledge, a gift bestowed upon the party by King Wolfgang,” Eddie informed you, casting the teens before him an amused look.

  “Because no one could pay attention, the shopkeeper was able to curse them with different languages to create a communication barrier. Whoever holds the stone is understood by the members in their new respective languages. In other words, everyone gets to hold the baby, and move beyond just several feet. Everyone’s happy.”

  Dustin huffed, “Not me, you all left me for dead in the tunnels!”

  Eddie shrugged and checked the time on his watch, “Well, don’t spend your turn with the stone talking about how you want to eat its fingers and toes and maybe you’ll see the trap next time. It’s late anyways, pack it up. We’ll pick up here next week.”

  Without standing, Eddie made grabby hands in Wayne and Gareth’s directions, with the latter handing him over.

  You quickly put your groceries away while everyone stored all the props and joined Eddie, seating yourself on his lap, mindful of the baby resting on his chest.

  Penny was running around after them, trying her hardest to be Lucas and Will’s helper and the two of you watched her until Dustin piped in.

  “You’re not really gonna let them leave me in a ditch though, right?” 

  Eddie smirked and remained silent, one hand moving to slip behind you and rest against your hip while the other played with his son’s wrinkly fingers. 

  “Right, Eddie?”

  “Can’t understand you, you’re not holding the stone.”

[ohwolfling]

Gale, Mystra, and Abuse as Mentorship

(author’s note: this is part of what I hope to be an eventual video essay on godhood/coercion/consent in BG3 - you can see my other work and help fuel this efforts via my ko-fi :) if you're so inclined - and I will of course highly consider suggested deep dives from supporters, as you help me stay alive. I still have not actually finished this game so please go easy on me in regard to spoilers and note that some of what I’m discussing is from lore & knowledge I have as a little DnD gremlin for a decade before Baldur’s Gate 3, thank u, ily)

It’s really something to go through Act I and II of Baldur’s Gate 3 and hear Gale speak about being Mysta’s chosen. The way that Gale speaks of it, of his relationship with the Weave, the way the Weave feels to YOU if you have that moment of magic with Gale… 

You feel that Mystra’s Chosen, however perilous, however imbalanced, is a term of endearment.

And then you see Gale meet with Mystra… and the context of everything Gale has shared with you shifts.

Religious trauma holds obvious weight with most characters in BG3, in subtle and unsubtle ways, but what resonates with me beyond even the queer experience with every flavor of Christianity and Evangelicalism is the way “mentors” use it to mask their own abuse. And yes, some of those mentors are gods. 

Mystra is cold and formal with Gale in a way that reminds me of the abuse typical in art spaces specifically. A mentor who crosses lines of intimacy at their convenience, but is cold to you if they’re in any way displeased. The focus always comes down to YOUR GIFT and how YOU FAILED YOUR GIFT.  This is an easier parallel for me to make because ultimately Gale reads as much as an artist as he does an academic. He’s not just interested in magical academia, he loves the ROMANCE of it. Even the way he speaks of his connection to the Weave smacks of inspiration and artistry, not rigid study and observation, “[...] could not only control the Weave, but compose it, like a musician or a poet.”

I suppose there is validity in interpreting Mystra as a reliable source, maybe she is just like this all the time and Gale was clouded by his service to her, maybe she means everything she says to and offers Gale. But that is not my interpretation (and I think that even in that interpretation there is no redeeming Mystra because she is still wholly uncaring of the serious power imbalance and just… TIME and EXPERIENCE imbalance between herself and a mortal man). 

She tells Gale that what he lacked was patience… What exactly was patience meant to get Gale? Enough magical prowess that he would no longer want to be intimate with her or please her in a human way? Enough knowledge that he would stop requiring a sense of partnership from his god, who first connected to him as a child, who returned from her presumed death (assuming a rough DnD timeline here this is the best case scenario) to take either the initial special interest in him or an increased special interest in him, to teach him with special instruction, to feed off of his own skill or potential, to take him as a lover? Gale did not wish to prove himself to the public at large. Gale wanted to be enough for her. Gale wanted to give to Mystra as Mystra (per her claims and his interpretation) gave to him so that she would take Gale further into her world and be a real partner to him. There is not a level of patience that makes a man seeking an equal partnership with a GOD able to like… be chill about what that must require of him if a lifetime of devotion and proven skill doesn’t? 

This is not to paint Gale as a man without mistakes. Of course he is flawed. Of course his choices are reckless and dumb. But he doesn’t intend to raise himself ABOVE Mystra until the Crown presents itself as an option and Gale sees that he could both save the world- particularly this new found family he cares about in a context outside of the pursuit of Weave academia, I imagine very new for him- and in his mind finally feel a sense of agency outside of his abuser, even if he still can’t really identify her as that*. Gale’s craving for validation and power is not- in my reading of this as a survivor of various DV/CA situations, salt and personal perspective to taste- inherently selfish. It exists BECAUSE of Mystra. Even some of Gale’s stories about chaotic childhood stories, depending on what he means by being connected to it at a young age, could still be from that influence. To modernize this, theater kids dramatically backstabbing theater kids via tattle-tells or sabotage is very often about the atmosphere and choices the drama teacher has on offer. They’re kids adapting to the space that was given to them. 

“But such is Mystra’s Will” - Elminster the Enabler

Elminster provides such a specific frame for this dynamic, too. He is the kinder, more reasonable, more accessible mentor theoretically… but it’s like the “nice” parent in a narcissistic household as far as I’m concerned. Any kindness, leniency, or leveling with Gale is ultimately not about showing Gale kindness or teaching Gale. It is about enabling and supporting Mystra. “Just blow yourself up, you know how she gets.” “Well, you did remind her of Karsus and that hurt her feelings.” That kinda thing. 

If your Tav pushes back the second time Elminster crashes your camp, he says something along the lines of, “yes, her actions seem cold and tyrannical but that’s because you’re a mortal. She’s a god, you can’t judge her actions.” If you made the narrative choices to get that response from Elminster, you and your Tav know that that is, for lack of a more graceful term, complete horse shit. Even the way Elminster approaches Gale and delivers the news is in service of Mystra’s coldness. Elminster appears as more of an equal to Gale, but he twists the knife in ways that Mystra can’t be bothered to. I do not interpret ambushing Gale, demanding comfort and catering, and then delivering the news that Mystra wants Gale to die with half-truths, guilt trips, and tsk-tsks as general wizard eccentricity. That is dickhead behavior. Elminster is not pained to deliver this news. He is honored to be the one chosen to do it. 

Gale’s motivation in pursuing the crown and wielding it himself, as he expresses in the Act III boat scene- and again, I can’t believe people read Gale as blindly ambition or egotistical- is that gods shouldn’t have the power that they do, shouldn’t be able to make us live for them and die for them. He speaks of gods using Ao as a shield or an excuse and in DnD lore I believe Ao is truly the only god that would outrank Mystra. 

If Gale’s orb is truly a fragment created from Karsus’ attempt at godhood, I think we have to question Mystra’s relationship to Karsus. Early on both Gale himself and the game paint parallels between Gale and Karsus. Perhaps being chosen and the power imbalance and grief that entails is implied. For me, the narrative weight is better if it is. She speaks of allowing the orb to feed on the Weave as some sort of temporary measure, some gift to Gale, some great thing she is giving up… but if it is born of the Weave, ultimately, it is enabled by Mystra. 

I don’t mean to imply that Mystra is walking around as a figure of deliberate cruelty. I’m sure in Mystra’s mind she thinks she is fair, measured, and even doting of her “chosens”. But that is not unlike any abuser- particularly in religious contexts, particularly in mentorship contexts- who grooms and crosses lines because they see “potential” in their victims. For Mystra, the potential of her Chosen does not offer them protection. It simply justifies (to her) that she can harness, wield, consume, and control them. Why else would they be so magically inclined, so skilled, so bright, if not for her to do with them as she will? In her mind, as both a goddess and arguably the Weave itself, Mystra may not even think of what she does as harming those below her for her own gain. She may see it as reasonable and necessary sacrifices to preserve magic. I won’t try to summarize 3e to present DnD here, but Mystra has died and been reborn several times, in questionable ways. She is a fractured entity, whatever you consider her, and could very well have indoctrinated HERSELF into the religion of herself, essentially. Mystra is arguably her own cult and cult leader (though almost always aided by Elminster).

Karsus and Coercion

Mystra knows anything and everything that touches the Weave. Gale tells you point blank that Mystra would know he accessed the Karsus text, that just freeing it and reading it would be like shooting up a beacon. How does this interpretation stand if Mystra saw no signs of what she was doing to Gale, did not see him researching her prior death and fracturing? Could the same be true for Karsus?

The Karsus fragments devour the Weave, but why? Do they intend to harm her? Are they desperate for her? Does it feel like agency? Is there an additional parallel between Karsus and Gale here - meaning, as Karsus sought to make himself god-like, to stand above Mystra, perhaps in some way Gale thought bringing Mystra lost fragments of her former self would at the very least mean that Mystra needed him, controlled him, fed off of him in whatever way less? 

By Mystra’s own admission (I have not found this in game, I’m going from some Candlekeep lore and deity guides in 2e to now), those who use the Weave are to love the Weave, to do magic for the love of magic, to constantly explore and create new magic, anything to preserve and empower magic. So assuming that somehow Mystra legitimately has no idea when a Karsus or a Gale is setting out on a precarious path of potential godhood or at least hubris and hamartia, how then is Gale’s pursuit of the lost fragments of Mystra herself a violation? How even is Karsus' invention of his relics doing so? Mystra has the ability to cut the Weave off entirely for people, just as she had the ability the entire time to give the orb within Gale access to the Weave directly. This has me theorizing that perhaps, just as she condemned Gale to die when him EXACTLY FOLLOWING THE PHILOSOPHY SHE HANDED DOWN upset her for whatever reason, perhaps Mystra is why Karsus was pursuing higher magics in the first place, seeking to make up for some access he may have been denied after being suddenly cut off from her? Mystra does not set boundaries or make things clear. To be her Chosen does not seem to be a process of understanding and consent. It is thrust upon mortal men, in Gale’s case a mortal man she pursues a deeper emotional and sexual connection to, and then they are meant to “be patient” and anticipate what is or isn’t acceptable to her. 

And ultimately, I want to end with this, in regards to some middling discourse I keep seeing around Mystra that I think is well-intentioned but disastrous if we apply it to the reality of imbalance power dynamics, abuse, and trauma with any sense of realism** -

Grooming is not just sexual - Mystra being the provider of the magic Gale is naturally inclined to is enough of a power imbalance from the jump. The man repeatedly responsible for enabling new forms of Mystra being a close mentor to Gale and possibly responsible for his education is in itself a gateway of grooming. Institutions and systems use grooming as a tool as well. 

There is not an age at which you become immune to abuse or at which abuse is less abusive. Grooming and harming a teenager is neurologically different from doing so to an adult, but both are still incredibly common, and again, see number one. 

Abuses within any system- be it a church, an outright cult, an educational system, a dojo, a theatre, a volunteer organization- are significantly harder to escape because the isolation and indoctrination are built in. Group-think, the affects of trauma on the brain, etc, legitimately stunt a person’s cognitive development in relationship to the subject. A god waiting until a wizard is of age to fuck him when said wizard has been attuned to and charmed by the magic that is a part of herself since childhood would certainly fall under this category. 

There is not a way that Gale- or any real world person harmed on a scale of toxic relationship to outright abuse- can respond to abuse that legitimizes the introduction of abuse and coercion in the first place.

*note - depending on your Tav’s relationship to Gale, I DO THINK this is something Gale is beginning to identify… His comment when in a romantic partnership with Tav are that essentially everything he thought Mystra was is fading away because she condemned him to die when giving up the crown to her was always on the table, done after a year plus of shutting him out for his “folly,” and he speaks of "tenderness" and "feeling" from Tav, the subtext there being he knows now he never received that from Mystra but I want to leave room in this conversation for folks who didn’t romance Gale or didn’t romance him in service of the Gale the Man is Enough narrative to explore this topic

**Pretend is pretend and a valid way to explore so many things but as a survivor of various kinds of abuse who lives with C-PTSD every day, I think it’s important we apply some level of weight and realism to portrayals of these dynamics, even when the metaphor is literal magic, because 1- how we speak about abusers and the abused in fiction historically reflects our real world feelings on them, often to the point of LEGISLATION and 2- trauma should not be a sandbox for the unscathed to play in more than it should be a space for exploration, catharsis, and perhaps even healing for the many of us who have survived or are trying to survive those dynamics. If you don’t agree with that, that is technically legal but my interpretations will annoy you until the end of time always. 

[chronicoverthinker]

Bro why is the bar for twitter people in the st fandom literally in hell , like they make me feel smart fr.

I feel like the van’s scene is so easy to understand but some people still fail to grasp the nuances of it , like hello ????? 😭😭

No Emily , what Will said does not apply to El as well. El doesn’t need Mike like that , and that’s okay. Does it mean she loves Mike any less or that she doesn’t want him in her life ? Of course not. But s4 was literally her journey to independence , finally growing out of her insecurities of being needed and wanted by Mike only because of her powers.

And that is literally why Will lying about his feelings , disguising them as El’s for the greater good , and Mike finding out about the painting are going to be MAJOR plot lines in s5.

Like ain’t no way I got told that I’m making shit up and I’m trying to say that Will needs Mike while El doesn’t.

El definitely wants Mike in her life , but the point is that Will NEEDS Mike in the way Mike wants to be needed. And I don’t even say this with shipping in mind , but that is just a matter of fact and why the painting plot line is still so important. Will is the one seeing Mike as his protector , as a though and throughout paladin. Like the cast said many times , it’s Will who wishes to play dnd and Nintendo in Mike’s basement with him for the rest of his life. And that’s okay , that doesn’t take away anything from El’s feelings like some people make it want to seem like.

Two things can coexist at once because El and Will love Mike in two different ways , and what Mike needed to hear steams from his own depression and self worth issues.

That is why the van scene and Will’s lies are so important. Because Mike IS DEFINITELY, without any kind of doubt , going to discover that the painting is Will’s. How things will unfold after that can only be known by the duffer brothers as of now , but it is a fact that the kind of love Mike wants is the one that Will can provide him.

Does it mean that I’m trying to say that El doesn’t love Mike and Will is some damn of damsel in distress that always needs saving ??? No, and I know for a fact Will can stand his own as well and actually appreciates when he doesn’t get treated as something delicate going to fall apart any time soon.

Does this also mean that Melvin is bones ? Girl I don’t fucking know and I don’t fucking care. Does this also mean that byler is endgame and El’s feelings don’t matter ? No and I don’t fucking know how Mike will react to the truth.

But some people are watching the show without even getting the meaning of the characters’ actions and it baffles me I’m so serious rn

[serialadoptersbracket]

Round 5, Match 7: Jawbone O’Shaughnessey vs. Abigail Pent and Magnus Quinn

Art for Abigail and Magnus here (done by @ancientannoyance)

Submitted kids:

Jawbone O’Shaughnessey: Tracker O'Shaughnessey, Adaine Abernant, Fig Faeth, Kristen Applebees

Abigail Pent and Magnus Quinn: Jeannemary Chatur, Isaac Tettares, They also end up as parental figures for Harrowhark Nonagesimus and Gideon Nav

Propaganda under the cut!

Jawbone O’Shaughnessey:

1. “A lot of the main characters of this story have shit parents, and Jawbone, formerly a drug dealer and bouncer turned high school counselor happily opened his home to all of them.”

2. “He's a former druggie that the intrepid heroes met at a club during an investigation. Instead of fighting him, they offered him a job as guidance counselor at their school. He took the job and, after a bit, began dating fig's mom. Kristen was dating his niece, who lived with him at the time. During the final battle with Kalvaxus, he helped Adaine work through a panic attack and gave her anxiety meds. Those meds have a mechanical advantage too, as she would roll for panic attacks. As mentioned in the notes for this post, he makes a pretty incredible speech. Anyways, Adaine's parents abandon her soon after and jawbone offers her a place to stay, along with Kristen (who moved in with tracker), Fig (who moved in with her mom), and the Barkrocks (who they're sharing the house with). Zayn Darkshadow also lives in the cemetery at Mordred Manor, and they took in Aelwyn before she got herself an apartment. So he does a lot.”

3. “Jawbone O'Shaunessy is the single best parental figure in those kids lives.

They rescued him from a bad spot, and time and time again he proved that he was willing to be the stable figure when nobody else was there for them.

Adaine, his officially adopted daughter, has panic attacks throughout the whole first season. During the big final battle, when she's inflicted with the dnd "fear" condition, causing a panic attack, he arrives just in time to help save her from running away fully. When Adaine's parents abandoned her and never gave her treatment for her condition, he's the one who really sees her. He says his famous line "You are not a coward- you have a goddamn medical condition, okay?" He's the first person to give her meds to help, and she's able to get back in the fight because of him. (If somebody else has the whole clip please reblog with it, it definately needs to be part of the propoganda).

He also says "You're easy to love, and anybody who couldn't figure it out is a real bozo." to Adaine in a different conversation”

Abigail Pent and Magnus Quinn:

1. “Okay so that may not look like many kids but the thing is that they arrive at this cursed ass house with their too adopted-ish kids, Isaac and Jeannemary. then Magnus meets Gideon, and is like the only person actually trying to talk to her and show her (it might not look like much mut it's the biggest anyone's ever done for Gideon). Sadly she and Gideon actually never gwt to talk because Gideon has a vow of silence. Anyways then they have a wedding anniversary (nice) which unfortunately ends with both of them being pushed down a fuckass long ladder and dying.

BUT they come back in the next book! AS GHOSTS INSIDE HARROW'S MIND and then they adopt her in there before dying again (also they solve a mystery and are good at it)

YEAH AND ABIGAIL CAN SUMMON GHOSTS

manifesting for them to come back again in the fourth book so they can adopt more kids and die again”

2. “Abigail seeing harrow, gideon, and the terrible teens: "I choose you!"”

[bat-connoisseur]

I turned your Baldurs Gate 3 characters into furries. Sorry. Actually no I'm not I won't pretend anymore.

General notes and specific species under the cut.

Astarion: He is a Ghost Bat! I like to think him being a vampire and being a bat are entirely unrelated, it's just a coincidence and he's honestly pretty mad about it. Ever since I first started playing bg3 I had him assigned as a Ghost Bat or a Spectral Bat in my brain, just arbitrarily, and I went for the former just because the colours work.

Gale: He's a Eurasian Lynx! I had to make him a cat. I just had to. And I trawled through the wikipedia pages for pretty much every type of cat and Lynx was about the only one that fit in my brain. The fluff kinda evokes his beard and hair I think, and I almost didn't have him have proper hair, just the fur, but in the end I wanted to be consistent about it so he got it. Peep the greying muzzle because mans is stressed and dying.

Karlach: She's a Bongo Antelope! I knew I wanted her to be some kind of large hooved mammal, because of the horns but also because their builds and general sturdiness really suit her I think. It was a tough pick, there's so many cool ones, and when sketching I was actually going to have her be a Mountain Nyala, but I changed my mind last minute just because the colours of the Bongo fit SO well. They're also my favourite antelope. Let me have this. She's so cool and she gets to be one of my favourite animals.

Lae'zel: She is a Pterosaur! My specific reference was Dorygnathus, but I was fairly loose on the details and so she doesn't super resemble them beyond the teeth and tail. I wanted her to be something prehistoric since the Gith are aliens or something (i dont know dnd lore that well), and so I wanted her to be in her own sort of category apart from the rest so, prehistoric! I considered making her a dinosaur but the idea of a Pterosaur just really appealed for whatever reason. Kind of parallels their dragon riding if they can fly, I suppose? And their Enhanced 10 Foot Vertical Leap.

Shadowheart: She's a Hare! Very specifically a Hare rather than a rabbit. Hopefully that comes across. I wasn't super sure what to do for her honestly, but in several scenes she has these big scared eyes, and she's generally just kind of having an awful time and being harmed by the gods for the whole game and I was like 'hey I know an animal that looks like it's been personally slighted by the gods' and so Shadowhare was born. There is a part of me that wishes I'd made her a cat for the warrior cats joke though.

Wyll: He's a Pine Marten! I just kind of got it in my head he should be a Mustelid of some kind, I'm not sure why, he just has that kind of vibe to me? Maybe it's the way he moves, maybe it's his skill at killing, maybe I'm just biassed because I love him and I love mustelids, who knows. I looked through em all and I didn't want one of the bigger sturdier ones like a Wolverine because. Strength stat of 8. So I went for one of my smaller favourites, the Pine Marten. The reason he's not an animal with horns naturally like Karlach is because I still wanted them to look out of place on him! I toyed with giving him wings (because they're cool) but ultimately didn't wanna stray toooo far from Pine Marten.

And that's all! Perhaps I'll get around to anthropomorphising the non origin characters, but who even knows. Halsin would almost be too easy. I could make Jaheria a cool ass fox or something though. Much to consider. If I do them then I'm gonna be doing my Tav Deimos and my Durge Lethe though. That's da law.

[utilitycaster]

Who has your favorite build in each campaign? I love seeing you talk about those kinds of reasonings bc personally i have a really hard time with leveraging dnd mechanics when I play and I wonder who did it best

Hi anon!

Some thoughts at the end re: build philosophies here, but to answer the question:

Campaign 1 is tough because I usually like to give this to a build that's something thoughtful, mechanically optimized [note: does not need to be optimized for combat], with clear choices made that are informed by and themselves inform the narrative. I respect the hell out of Vax's multiclass into paladin. Narratively, it shakes out great. The mechanics, however, are less than stellar. So my choice here is Percy. It's true that his subclass is broken as hell but that's not what I like. I think Taliesin makes good use of how fighters have a zillion ASIs and not only maxes out Percy's intelligence when that becomes important, but also takes Magic Initiate to hint at Orthax's influence, with thoughtful choices of spells to go with it. Fighter is a strong class and it's worth taking it the whole way through, and he does.

Campaign 2 is, on the other hand, easy, and I've talked about Fjord's build at length before so I don't want to go into it in detail, but suffice it to say: his paladin multiclass was exceptionally well-earned in the narrative while also being, famously, one of the best multiclass builds in D&D (the hexadin). But before that, his invocations (mask of many faces, gift of the depths, sculptor of flesh) tell a story of the kind of person he is: a sailor who almost drowned and won't let it happen again. A person trying to find his true identity amid a sea (pun intended) of expectations and potential models and bullying. Even his racial traits like relentless endurance, and the fact that he came in with more CON than CHA explain how he survived a brutal childhood. I think all of the Mighty Nein's casters did a particularly strong job of choosing the spells they used and flavoring them to their personality and Fjord was no exception, and as someone who remembers the speculation of paladin class, a homebrew one really was the only way to go.

Campaign 3 surprised me, because I have had my frustrations with it, but the more I think about it, it's Fearne. Her base subclass is one of the best out there, it's true, and she leans into the fire motifs adeptly, but I actually, after being somewhat critical of it, have really come around on the choice to multiclass into an arcane trickster. Why wouldn't she be a rogue if she likes to steal? Why wouldn't she, while trying to figure out what her relationship with her parents should be, try on her mother's subclass? Ashley picked some extremely good spells as well; Disguise Self, Identify, and Shield either protect her (she's not terribly squishy, but as someone who doesn't usually wildshape for combat, not a tank either) or fit niches that the party really doesn't have otherwise. And again, why wouldn't someone who loves to collect things perhaps try to learn what those things are? Yes, at times I'm impatient for Transport via Plants (though at this point...two party members could just have Teleport) but Fearne's build is one that surprised me, which is hard to do. Druids are usually so strong it's not worth multiclassing, and I'm a longstanding Rogue Disliker, but the choice makes sense. (I also happen to like that this means Fearne isn't going to live thousands of years - or rather, she might, because fey, but not in the way Keyleth will. I don't think that's her thing!)

So I think these choices reflect different approaches of what I'd put into 2 buckets of Valid Options.

Percy is the "stick with one class and do it very well; customize through feats and existing options." For more examples of this, see pretty much any character who never multiclassed. I think Liam is exceptional at this and to that point, Caleb and Orym are particularly good examples. I'd also like to shout out Keyleth, Jester, and Caduceus; as prepped casters this group didn't have the same degree of customization options other than their spells for the day, but I think they all had really good visions for what their character would likely prepare.

Fjord and Fearne are both narratively and mechanically strong, though in very different ways (and in Fearne's case, with an eye more to party balance than specifically being stronger herself). See also: Vex and Grog, who are mechanically good multiclasses and narratively make sense, even if it's not a huge moment; Veth; Kingsley and Luc are both good builds that allude to a narrative even if we don't see the full narrative; Chetney. Vax is, admittedly, a bit like Fearne; bit messy on an individual level but narratively without issue, good for party comp, and there's some unexpected interplay (vow of enmity + rogue abilities).

It's hard to say who did things best because, for example, building a character like Ayden requires an impressive breadth of knowledge, a strong vision, and to be honest the freedom starting at L20 with 20 stats across the board grants. Some subclasses are particularly good (Fearne, Orym, and Dorian could all just coast on having some of the best subclasses for their respective classes, though they all have made great build choices too). Some classes are particularly good (hard to go wrong with fighter, wizard, paladin, or cleric though. my complaints of the empathy domain remain intact; on the other hand rogues live or die, literally, by what subclass they pick). Some characters have stories that are enhanced by multiclassing and some don't (Imogen, for example, has had a strong and interesting character arc, but there just aren't great build choices to reflect it.) My favorite doesn't necessarily mean mechanically the best (a thing that is difficult to qualify, let alone quantify, in a vacuum), and when it comes to d&d mechanics, a simple thing executed well (eg: Keyleth is a pretty straightforward example of what happens to be a very good subclass) can be better than a complicated build, even one backed by the story.

[evenmyhivemindisempty]

Oooooh, pick me, pick me!

Ahem! What would the various Boyd characters play in a D&D game, and what would their play styles be like?

Steve Murphy: Steve doesn’t know anything about DnD, but he immediately studies up on the rules and after a thorough review and cross-analysis of the classes and species, he decides the most tactical pick is a rock-gnome artificer. He’s lazy about the name though and just calls him “Todd”. His gnome is lawful good, and Steve sticks to that religiously. He’s a very studious player who’s very into the gameplay mechanics, and really likes problem-solving in the game. He’s… often sort of obnoxious to play with, and can sometimes steamroll over other players.

Donald Pierce: Pierce plays a half-elf, true neutral warlock woman with a tragic backstory he spent three sleepless nights meticulously plotting out. He’s the type of player that’s sort of dragged into it semi-unwillingly by someone else (Gabby), but once they’re in, they’re *in*. He gets so into the game, and specifically the roleplaying/story elements. (He also LOVES being a warlock, having a patron looking out for him is Very Sexy.)

Cap Hatfield: Cap plays a Dragonborn ranger of indeterminate gender! Their alignment is lawful neutral, and although Cap is overall a casual player, he’s very serious about sticking to his alignment. He does have a fairly intricate backstory for his character, but it doesn’t come up super often. Cap’s a pretty quiet player, and tends to go with the flow in most sessions! He’d actually make an excellent DM one of these days.

Clement Mansell: Clement thinks DnD is GREAT. He has a blast with his bard; he’s a chaotic neutral tiefling man (Clement likes the idea of an “outlaw devil musician”), and he absolutely poured so many stats into charisma. He mostly just acts like himself when he’s playing. He’s sometimes kind of annoying, but he can also be super fun to have around.

The Corinthian: Corinthian plays as a male human, of course! He goes for a chaotic neutral rogue, and mostly just tries to have fun. He doesn’t really concern himself too closely with the rules or the gameplay mechanics, he just likes the story, and building on scenarios with other players. It’s sort of an exotic delight to get to participate in this type of story creation, even just as a player!

Eli Klaber: Klaber designs his character to be a drop-dead gorgeous elf woman, and has every freckle on her face mapped out. She’s a true neutral fighter: the mechanics for fighters are simple, and pretty easy to get into for a newbie. Honestly, Klaber mostly likes getting to roleplay as his character the best. He doesn’t really care too much about what his party does in general.

Ty Shaw: Ty rolls for a male, half-orc barbarian. Despite being a real bruiser Ty ends up actually just trying to talk his way out of problems. His character’s technically neutral evil, but Ty doesn’t actually do much that’s very evil at all.

Quinn McKenna: Quinn makes a character mostly as a concession to Nebraska, who’s running a game, but he ends up having a decent time with it, especially when he realizes how stat focused it can be. He is *such* an optimizer. He doesn’t get as granular during the character rolling process as Steve though - he mostly just fashions a character that’s… kind of just like him: a lawful neutral, human male paladin, who’s taken the oath of the watchers. He doesn’t like having to roleplay at all. When his ‘character’ talks, that’s just Quinn.

[otomation]

Since I love Fields of Mistria, I have decided to make a post for each NPC! Starting with my girl Celine!

Celine is one of the first characters we meet, as she visits our Farm immediately to introduce herself and gifts our hoe.

She recently moved out, but her parents and little sister live in the village as well.

Celine is kind, sweet, loves flowers and is also a joy to talk to every time. I REALLY LOVE HER!

Shes also easy to win over because one of the gifts she Loves is super easy to find during the summer. It's the Hydrangea btw!

In her 2 heart event she talks about a flower from her childhood and how she hasn't seen it since, so together we go and try to see if we can find some unknown seeds. We do find one and she says she'll plant it to find out if it's that flower.

In her 4 heart event she reveals that the seed isn't growing at all, so we help her figure it out. We succeeds and the little plant begins to grow wohoo!

It's actually really cute, I enjoyed both events a lot.

Overall I just love Celine. I'll be honest and admit that characters like her usually just bore me, but Celine just hits different yall, she's fun! I think the little get togethers at the Inn every Friday help with characterizing her.

The first few Fridays she plays dnd with the group and you can tell immediately what kind of player everyone is. Celine plays a druid of course, and shes the type that likes to role play and put a lot of work into her character and backstory. It's just nice to her in that environment.

I like that Celine isn't one note. She may seem like the typical "nice npc" but she doesn't feel flat.

Also her design is top tier! Check out my girls outfits! Spring is at the top.

ISN'T SHE ADORABLE?? I can't.

[dragonroar64]

thinking about the evbos as always. today's thought is about which of my current hobbies would they enjoy the most? and I have thoughts on this one okay

for pvpciv Evbo, I think he'd be into leatherworking. I think specifically he'd go for making belts and probably bags and storage. They're functional items and they're also fun to make, although they do of course take leather to make so it's not something he has access to in canon but honestly having a kickass sword would probably be real helpful for cutting pieces of leather like come on; it'd be so easy to cut things with a sword. And also he could definitely use other tools with his other hand(although he probably couldn't use a mallet for some of the hole punch tools so actually that puts a bit of a damper into the belt idea unless he could use his sword as a mallet. Then again this is headcanons on what they'd enjoy if they could do these things so likeeeeee). he'd give things he's made to people he cares about I think. the guard has like 4 handmade bags. Tabi still has a belt he made for her, even after she betrays him. she refuses to tell anyone about it. Evbo has like 12 belts on him at all times

meanwhile, I think parkciv Evbo would love dnd and honestly beyond that I think he'd love my dnd group's tradition of cosplaying our characters for the final session. He'd put together the most narratively compelling characters and then name them like. juice box or something stupid like that. he talked Seawatt into dming a game and they've been doing dnd ever since. emf puts together insane cosplays for their characters like they show up for every final session looking like a completely different person and the others are unsure if it's them or someone else until emf talks cause they can't voice act for shit. I just think it's silly y'know

anyways if y'all have any thoughts on this or any hobbies y'all think they'd like then lmk I'd love to hear

[thewebcomicsreview]

Hate to tell you this, but the HSBC update just got updated.

I get that they wanted to keep the Hell Arc confined to page 666, and it'll make the archival experience pretty cool, but hard refreshing the site didn't let me see the update to the page due to cache bullshit, I had to use a different browser. So let's liveblog now before it breaks again:

Looks like we're back to Tavros. I guess it makes sense that the first path to update would the one where they could reuse the talksprites.

So, as directly stated by Davepeta, Vriska is trapped in a time loop, where Tavros doesn't remember anything that happened the previous day, just like in the movie Groundhog Day. That Davepeta called out the movie explicitly in-universe as the reference makes me wonder if events will follow the rough plot of that movie. It's clearly what Davepeta wants to happen, but...Vriska....

Anyway, Vriska offers to let Tavros decide what to do today, for the first time. It took two whole years for her to try that, but she is the Thief of Light and not letting anyone else decide what to do is literally her cosmic role and stuff, so I guess that tracks. And what Tavros wants to do is....play a game.

Last update I said that Vriska saying she's done some things wrong while shrugging and laughing is the ultimate distillation of Vriska, but her having won everything and being miserable about it is also the ultimate distillation of Vriska. She's a woman of contrasts, that Vriskers.

The use of the phrase "session" here outs this line as having Deeper Meanings. Having SBURB sessions over and over so we can play forever is literally Dirk's plan, and most of the fandom is assuming a Candy session is coming.

So, even though they're talking about playing FLARP (the troll DnD game, which is apparently PvP), this is also an argument over whether or not Homestuck should continue. You can't really "win" if the game keeps going, but that doesn't mean you're stuck doing the same thing over and over.

I know Vriska is Problematique, but I'm still taken aback by her 2000s kid usage of "gay" as a general-purpose insult, and not just because trolls don't have a concept of "straight" or "gay". Apparently she doesn't even know what it means and learned the word from Da-

Oh, it was just to set up this line for people to screenshot. Alright. Fine.

brb, gotta go post this in the hard to use reaction images channel on the discord and have someone complain it's easy to use.

Tavros accuses Vriska of projecting her own fears onto him, and then gets into a tangent about being a "soft" female fairy and Vriska takes him up on playing this new "game for girls" and he panics and changes the subject. There's a...lot....going on there.

Vriska starts to have an actual breakthrough, when suddenly Aradiabot appears. Wait, is this where Aradia and Ult!Dave went?

We fade to black and I thought that was it, but apparently not. This being a visual novel makes it feel like a much bigger update than it is, and also kind of makes you read each line a bit more carefully. It's a good way of having multiple meaty (or, um, candy-y) updates in a short stretch of time, and that's kind of an important part of the "feel" of Homestuck that no one can really replicate.

Oh, I do not care for this talksprite.

The downside of this format is that it's harder to liveblog, I think, but basically Aradia is complaining about the Vriska Cycle of "Do bad thing, self-flagellate to be redeemed, repeat".

Vriska justifies it because she has to take action and set people straight and stuff, and if this conversation/game isn't leading to the return of "(Vriska)", the OG timeline Vriska who died and got a ton of character growth before post-retcon Vriska stole her girlfriend, then what is it building towards?

A lot of these lines make good single-panel memes. Yes, Vriska, you are the problem in nearly every situation, even (especially) when you're also the solution.

Aradia sa- oh for fuck's sake this is unreadable, guys. Anyway she says that getting into a routine leads to stagnation and slow death, which, mood, but also is about Homestuck itself as much as it is about Vriska.

Jesus Christ, how long is this update? This page is a full on Pesterquest game when the other five routes are finished.

Oh, okay. That's it. Vriska levels and we get a bunch of fire-themed pun ranks for her, of which Skinner's Bane is the best

[stelladess]

So I said I was gonna write something about an aspect of Amiya as a character that really hooked me when I saw the anime and made me go play the game.... So, I really like paragons. Superman, Adora, paladins in DnD, etc. So naturally I was already liking Amiya as a fairly paragon hero from the get go. A hero fighting for her ideals and with a strong moral compass. (Also big jacket is just great design) So, the moment I knew Arknights had its hooks in me... Lets talk about episode 7 and 8 of the anime. Skullshatterer, someone who essentially represents the very people Amiya wishes to save, tries to murder the doctor to save his sister (I actually got some very cult like vibes from Reunion in the early chapters as a group preying on people with very real problems and directing them into blind loyalty towards the group and their doctrine and hatred of those not in the group, this is of course moved away from in later chapters. I think the more morally gray anti-hero portrayal Reunion moves into over time works better overall, but I did find the kinda cult vibe fascinating too). It is of course a classic scenario to have a situation where the easy out is for a paragon to compromise on their morals but they still will not.... Except Amiya does. She kills Skullshatterer out of desperation to protect the doctor. And this horrifies her. The realisation that she is willing to compromise on her own morals because of her own fears and hangups makes her feel like a huge failure. Amiya is essentially a person *trying* to be a paragon, but her own flaws and situation often gets in the way of that.

This had me really intrigued, and it helps that the anime version portrays how badly shaken up by this Amiya is *really well* and the fallout with what Misha ends up doing in chapter 8 and such is also handled pretty well in the anime. I do think that the anime making Amiya more easily rattled by horrifying things then she is in the game has the potential to maybe undermine that scene in chapter 8 where Amiya breaks down crying once the mission is done, but it really improves the Skullshatterer and Misha arc. Amiya of course grows a lot from here, and we learn a lot more about *why* she sees it as such a personal failure to not be able to be a savior but it was a very interesting starting point to me and the thing that made me decide to check the game out. I wanted to know where Amiya´s arc would go from there and know why she was the way she was, why does a teenager believe it is her duty to save everyone? What drives her to be so dedicated to her ideals and where will she go from here? Will she gradually have her idealism crushed out of her (like what we eventually learn happened to Talulah) or will she persevere and manage to actually grow into the hero she feels she should be? Something entirely different?

My taste in media tends to lean... dark but hopeful. I like seeing characters plunged into the pits of despair manage to climb their way out and grow and become better then before, they may never be what they wanted to become, but they can still grow to be better.

Amiya has grown to be one of my all time favorite characters in anything.

[kailoraurelius]

Seeing your notes I was curious to know how you choose which pov to write from? I know you said you have a reason for doing AIAOY from chloes pov, *and I also have two side questions about that specifically 🤣 but your other works. What factors help you decide?

*And so I don’t forget, you can answer a different time but: 1. are we eventually gonna read from becas pov? 2. which one for you is easier to write?

It depends on a lot of factors, actually. I actually haven't written my favorite type of POV switching yet. But I have written my second favorite, which is back and forth between Beca and Chloe. But that doesn't always serve the story I'm trying to tell.

So that's #1: What story am I trying to tell? For SG, I wanted the story to be about both of them navigating this extra closeness and realizing they've BEEN in love. So both POVs made sense. For Unendingly Yours, the story is about the horrors of time and the conflicting idea that it's all beautiful and worth it. So the POV is, of course, the vampire that's outlived everyone. For Occulta, the story is all about Chloe trying to find her footing and herself again now that she's broken away from her ex, so it being in her POV makes it easy to show her feelings on the world around her and within her.

But #2: What do I want the readers to know? For You and I, I wanted the reader to be just as surprised by the proposal as Chloe was, so obviously the final chapter, at least, had to be Chloe's POV. For Occulta, the whole magic system is something some readers may know some stuff about as it's based off DND, but a lot of it will have to be explained. So Chloe's POV best serves that, as she is clueless about it and the audience can learn right alongside her. For SG, where I was going back and forth, I would sometimes have to add or cut entire chapters or plot ideas so that things were being revealed to the readers in the POV I wanted them to be.

#3: What's the vibe I want readers to feel in the voice? This one weighs in pretty heavily. The core vibe of these characters is very engrained in me by now lol. This may not make total sense lol, but Chloe is warm, bold, far-reaching, open, infectious, outwardly yearning and loving, hopeful, bright, ridiculous. Beca is softer, cooler, darker, narrower, skittish, grey with brief bursts of color, secretly desperate, calculated, harder, witty, quietly devoted. The sunshine and the rain cloud. So when I write a story, I think about which of those vibes I want to convey. AIAOY is all fluff and comfort and brightness. Of course it's Chloe's POV. It's her voice the whole way through. Accidental (though I didn't really choose the POV cuz it was based on a thing I said on here) isn't as bright or warm or broad. It's a lot more calculated and focused. For this one, the POV determined the vibe instead of the other way around, but still. AND this allows me to do things like Occulta: where the vibes are ABSOLUTELY more Beca, so it's interesting to have Chloe as the POV.

And there's other, more specific things, like who do I want to say a specific line of dialogue and who do I want to hear it? Or I have this one line of prose I really want to include in a story, but who's voice would it fit best? Etc. So it's a lot lol.

As for your other questions: Are we eventually gonna read AIAOY from Beca's POV? I don't actually know! The story will take me where it takes me and, if it serves the story I wanna tell, then it's possible! For now, I don't see it going that way for many reasons, but who knows! And which POV is easier to write: Beca's. Always. I relate more to Beca's vibes so her voice comes more naturally to me. I adore writing Chloe's POV because she is more overtly observant and emotional, so I can really get into details of the whole scene. But Beca makes more sense to me overall, so definitely her.

[wizardyandcheesesammich]

QSMP COUPLES AS DND CHARACTERS (PT.2)

Once again, doing this by parts cause I'm lazy. Also! Feel free to disagree with me in the comments or tags, but friendly reminder that this is incredibly self-indulgent :3

(Part 1) - (Part 3)

LET'S GO LESBIANS LET'S GO BAGINA TIME

Tina: My poor conflicted demon girl gets assigned Tiefling right away, simply because it would be the easiest fiend race to pass as human, as long as you destroy hide the horns and tail (and if you don't get a funky skin color, which I think she doesn't for lore reasons and health reasons cause I wouldn't trust her not to do anything drastic to hide that too). Now CLASS was actually a bit harder. After much deliberation I actually ended up landing on Druid. Her relationship with farming makes her kind of a shoe-in but Circle of Stars allows her art skills to also come into play which is neat :D The ability to acquire animal traits would also help her with the hole "Demon? What demon? I'm just a regular catgirl" thing.

Bagi: Ok, listen. I tried, ok? I really tried, but I simply cannot deny my truth. The Mystery Twins get slapped upside the head with Tabaxi and nothing will change my mind. Are they literally full-on cats? Just humanoids with cat-like traits? That's up to you to decide, but after seeing Luffy's art of Bagi I have decided these two are canonical cats, no turning back now. Deciding a class was also kind of surprisingly easy, what with all the investigating and sneaking around looking for secrets. Rogue seems to fit both siblings but Bagi in particular gets the Inquisitive subclass, what with her love for rooting out secrets and figuring out what makes people tick. Please do envision with me the little adventuring party of "Why, yes, we are just two catgirls going around solving mysteries, nothing else to see here, ha ha :)" who have completely opposite sus vibes and are ready to murder for each other at any moment, but also blush if they so much as brush hands.