#super pro gish

[fogsrollingin]

This is so lovely. Last day to sign up for GISH - or if you can't participate but you got your wallet, you can give to their scholarship fund to help people who want to but can't spare the $$ 😃🥰️

[whengeorgiawentblue]

any stance Genevieve Padalecki takes about being "pro choice" or "environmentally conscious" is nonsense. she's given money to anti-abortion right wing politicians in the past. and the Padalecki's have their own private jet and multiple gas-guzzling cars. her "environmental organization" towwn with Charlie Capen is a BUSINESS. she's capitalizing on environmentalism (while "green-washing" her public image). that's all. Don't buy it.

I know she's a hypocrite in her environmental stances, playing the role of super-eco mom while non-stop shilling products in her insta account. What is even towwn about? I had a look at their webpage and I got literally zero information. I know Charlie Capen works with Misha in organizing Gish events, how did Gen and Charlie get involved with that?

"she's given money to anti-abortion right wing politicians in the past". Wow, anon, these are big words. How do you know that?

[winchester-reload]

pah! I WISH i were Misha's PR manager. Bet that job is SUPER FUN and relaxing. LOL (PS- Yes, I copypasta'd that TIFF info to numerous Tumblrs i thought might be interested in Misha's only onscreen acting job since Castiel's death (and apparently the only one we have to look forward to in the foreseeable future.) Alas, it seems folks are A LOT more interested in speculating about his private life. But hey, I can only plant the seeds. I can't make em grow.)

It's easy to work pro bono for a guy like Misha, isn't it? Plus you're crushing it. He should definitely hire you. And I appreciate the info -- as I'm sure many other people did too.

This onscreen job is hopefully one of many to come, but I'm definitely happy he's out stretching his legs after spn. With a poetry book, a podcast, Gish, and this, he's definitely been keeping busy. I can't wait to consume all his media, invasive personal spec aside.

[spnasylum]

Sarah Z Silenced Me!

I’m a black queer SPN fan as I’ve said before. I just watched a nearly 2 hour long video Sarah Z made about the Supernatural finale. She makes it so obvious that’s she’s a Heller and Minion. She spends most of the video making references to Misha while barely mentions Jared and the only talk of Jensen is her talking at length about his alleged homophobia. She claims Castiel is “the most important character” on the show. She seems to want to convince that Supernatural queerbaited, but uses the same old problematic stereotypes and congratulates Misha on being so pro Destiel while it makes everyone else uncomfortable (yeah because he wants your money, girl!) She also seems to think that seasons 14 and 15 where leading up to canon Destiel (girl, where????) with no real evidence of it. I left this comment…yeah I know it’s long!

“I’ve been a hardcore SPN fan for a long ass time, I grew up on it, been to cons, done foolish things in the name of Gish etc etc. I thought the finale was beautiful, I’m not really a crier and I was sobbing. I loved the more laid back cover of "Carry On…”. I have never seen the appeal in Destiel and as a queer fan I actually find it to be incredibly problematic and not at all representative of anything other than bad stereotypes and toxicity (every other LGBTQIA+ fan I speak to feels the same way). The shippers have gone way too far, its become cult like and has turned SPN into a mockery, they are a small but very loud part of the fandom who manage to make all of us look bad to the cast and crew and even people outside of fandom culture. Many The Boys fans are not looking forward to Jensen joining the show for no other reason than the possibility that some of them may follow him and they don’t want that kinda energy over there. The show didn’t queerbait us because everyone involved with the exception of Misha Collins have been very clear its not real and would never be canon. Anyone who managed to convince themselves otherwise despite repeatedly being told it wouldn’t happen played themselves and have no one to be upset with other than themselves (and maybe Misha because he kinda encouraged them to sell merch which he shouldn’t have done knowing their reputation.)

PS the accusations that the CW, with so much rep on its network, would go to great lengths to somehow edit the American airing of the show to “silence” Dean from declaring his undying gay love for Castiel (who’s I love you I still see as platonic. You can look up to someone, have them be a good influence in your life and love them dearly without wanting to screw their brains out) Why then with so much homophobic rage for just this one specific show and only two very specific characters they decide they must stop Dean saying “me too” or whatever at any cost would they let the “super secret REAL script” play out on screen in another country for a show with a dedicated global fanbase. Why would a network with so much rep, that makes sure to have diversity on their network, want to conspire to stop Dean Winchester specifically. Like I’m seeing conspiracy theories and hashtags that would make flat earth truthers embarrassed for destiel shippers detachment from reality. “

Within minutes, literally MINUTES, it had been removed. No discussion, just straight up censorship. So I’m leaving my comment here instead along with the link to the video so you can hear the same nonsense I just did.

https://youtu.be/M0QhgQ-g4C0

I think this is her tumblr https://dingdongyouarewrong.tumblr.com/  I see a post defending the bullying and harassment the Destiel shippers are doing online being waved off as just “over zealous women” or something... insane.

[wearesorcerer]

Dragon Disciple Tips

This is going to be a longer (and less specific) post than what @i-am-the-incendiary-anarchist requested, as there’s a lot you can do with this prestige class (it’s really good as is and you can get rid of all of its drawbacks).

If people still want (see the Spells section), I could answer IA’s question more directly, but it would end up being at least as long as this post on its own.

Why Dragon Disciple?

I have to say, I was surprised when I saw how much better the Dragon Disciple prestige class was in 3.P compared to the 3.5 one (which gave you seven bonus spell slots “as if from having a high ability score” that “can be added to to any level of spells the disciple already has the ability to cast,” but no other casting advancement). The one main drawback between the two (no more Dragon Apotheosis) is either peanuts (probably) or a major nerf (unlikely), depending on your interpretation of that ability’s wording.¹

What You Get:

d12 Hit Die

3/4 BAB

Good Fort and Will saves

New class skills: Diplomacy (!!!), Escape Artist, and all Knowledges (!!!).

+4 Str, +2 Con, +2 Int, +3 Nat Armor

Continued advancement of your Bloodline (full)

Improvements to your Breath Weapon and Fly speed, plus gaining each a level earlier than otherwise.

An additional natural attack (Bite)

Form of the Dragon I 1/day, upgrading to form of the dragon II 2/day

What You Lose:

Three casting levels

The favored class bonus you’d get from Sorcerer.

If you take Favored Prestige Class once and Prestigious Spellcaster (Paths of the Righteous), you ignore those drawbacks (except any specific favored class bonus your race might provide). Yes: at the cost of four feats, not only does the class have (basically) no drawbacks, but it is in every way better than staying in your main class.

Had Paizo (or anyone else) made similar prestige classes for the other bloodlines, I would tell people never to stay in Sorcerer for 20 levels unless there’s some super special awesome specific reason. These boil down to an archetype that’s important (I doubt there is one) or a build that requires too many of your feats for the expenditure.

That last is a fair concern: without taking Prestigious Spellcaster once, you lose 9th-level spells. Spell levels offer exponential growth in power, whereas this class mainly provides padding for the drawbacks of playing a Sorcerer if you intend on getting into melee or using a lot of spells that require non-touch attack rolls. Further, you have to spend all four feats to make up for losing half of your 9th-level spell slots (the second feat only gives you a single extra slot).

If you’re not going straight Sorcerer beforehand...

Unless you’re making a gish and don’t have a better idea of how you want to advance your character, the above also doesn’t apply to multiclass Sorcerers. Bards, Bloodragers, Skalds, and Summoners (normal or Unchained) can also enter the class, as can members of classes with archetypes that provide spontaneous arcane casting (I know there are some for Spiritualist, Vigilante, and Witch). Of these, I think Bloodragers get the most benefit, but otherwise it’s kinda like multiclassing into Bloodrager, but without bloodrage (pro and con).

What Spells Should I Take?

This was Incendiary Anarchist’s question. There are really four answers to this question:

Recommended general use spells. As a Sorcerer, you’re essentially a wad of wands (rather than a stash of scrolls, which is the Wizard or Witch). Thus, you’re going to want to have spells which will come in handy in a lot of situations (fireball, dimension door/teleport, various illusions, telekinesis, divinations, dispel magic, etc.), plus ones which fit your theme. The other points are about theme, so don’t forget to get general use spells.

Spells that complement your energy type. The general consensus on casters is that if you specialize in a given energy type, you are going to run into problems once the DM decides they’ve had enough of your shenanigans and/or wants to run an Outsider. (It used to be that the consensus was on Fire being a weak energy type due to how common resistances and immunities to it are, but I wrote an analysis on my main blog a while back about that. I should probably update that.)

Get attack spells which rely on other energy types, but focus primarily on yours. After all, your Bloodline Arcana boosts the power of the elemental energies you inherited from Dragons (after all, mechanically-speaking Dragons are basically reptilian elementals [but much more badass]).

(Tenser’s) Transformation and other spells for melee. The Draconic bloodline and the Dragon Disciple are focused on giving you perks which will only work in melee. There’s very little need for a Strength buff to a caster (unless you’re going Arcane Archer, which is about adding the bow’s range [somehow unaffected by pull] to your spells) and so it is above all other stats my recommended dump stat for any spellcaster regardless of class unless they intend on being a gish (Eldritch Knight type). @we-are-eldritch-knight no doubt has a loooooong list of good spells to take if you are planning on going that route, which is what you’re doing by taking this class.

Off-hand, bear’s endurance/bull’s strength/cat’s grace, enlarge person, magic fang (if you can find a way of getting it), expeditious retreat, haste, and anything that boosts your AC are all good starters. Temporary HP is also handy.

Since you’re going to be in melee anyway, ranged touch spells aren’t as important for you. Melee touch spells suddenly become quite handy (see Other Suggestions, though.)

Spells your dragon ancestor gets as spell-like abilities or which replicate their other magical abilities. Incendiary Anarchist was looking for a list like this (and I could do a Part 2 if people want), but this entry is already quite long (it would at least double in length) and there are (to my knowledge) 30 types of True Dragons in the Bestiaries alone (5 for each kind x 6 kinds [Chromatic, Esoteric, Metallic, Outer, Primal, and 5 of the 9 Planar]) plus the four remaining PF Planar Dragons (Apocalypse [NE] and Bliss [NG] are in Pathfinder Adventure Path #137: Return of the Runelords, part 5 - “The City Outside Time;” Tumult [CN] are in #138 [”Rise of New Thassilon”], but aren’t listed on d20pfsrd.com at all [they are on Archives of Nethys, though]; Edict [LN] are in #131 [War for the Crown, part 5 “The Reaper’s Right Hand”]; no idea where the CN one is), the Gem dragons (3.x, MMII and Psionics Handbook [Web Enhancement] with updates for 3.5), the Lung Dragons (Oriental Adventures), and then the ones that don’t scale with age (e.g, Vishaps; IIRC, the 3.5 planar dragons don’t).

That’s not getting into drakes or dragonets. You have a lot of options when it comes to dragons. Most of the true dragons and the drakes are tied to a particular element, so that at least narrows your focus a bit, but some (e.g., faerie dragons) mix being a dragon with being something else. Dragons, Outsiders, and Humans tend to breed with just about anything, so of course there’s variety. (Don’t forget Couatls or Hydras, neither of which are Dragons by type but should be.)

Other Suggestions

Before I get sidetracked on ways to make a gish, d20pfsrd.com has a list of 3rd Party feats by Louis Porter Jr. made specifically for the Dragon Disciple (printed in Undefeatable: The Collected Feats Sourcebook, which probably means it came out first in one of the other books in that series). These cover some of the True Dragons’ magical abilities, which should free up many of your spell slots. Do note that they don’t count as part of your Bloodline’s bonus feats but do require a minimum Dragon Disciple level, so if you intend on taking them, you should take Favored Prestige Class and Prestigious Spellcaster early on (you can take Favored Prestige Class before getting into one; Prestigious Spellcaster seems to work that way - or is at least implied to [CHECK WITH YOUR DM ABOUT THAT]).

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve come across two Metamagic feats which replicate the Duskblade’s Arcane Channeling and the Magus’s Spellstrike abilities. The first is Smiting Spell, which takes extra actions to accomplish than you might want (it doesn’t spell out what those actions are, it’s just worded very similarly to spell storing, meaning you have to cast the spell in question into your weapon before hitting someone with it). The other I have sadly lost track of; I’ll update this later once I find it. Bear in mind that if you go this route, you’ll need a feat, trait, or alternate class feature/archetype to speed up your metamagic, otherwise you won’t be effective.

If you are going to alter your energy types, take either Energy Affinity or Energy Substitution (both 3.5) instead of Elemental Spell (PF): all of them let you swap out a spell’s damage type for the single energy type you selected, but the 3.5 ones are +0 spell level adjustment metamagics while Elemental Spell is +1. Elemental Spell doesn’t specify that it can only apply to spells with an energy descriptor, but that’s not much of a benefit. It’s +1 because it also lets you split your damage evenly between two types, but there’s no reason to do that except for thematics. (You’d use that for Trolls and that’s about it.) Energy Admixture (also 3.5) works similarly, but instead of halving your damage instead doubles it (one set per energy type); it’s +4 spell level. Again, there’s little reason to take either of those.

There is a Sudden Energy Affinity (requires Energy Affinity), but you could do better by finding a feat to ignore the increased casting time on Metamagic.

None of these really solve the problem D&D has of pigeonholed elementalists (pyromancers, etc.) having trouble against enemies you’d expect to encounter. For that, there are feats that allow you to penetrate energy resistance and immunity. That said, I’m not sure every DM will allow them. (I personally don’t think Fire Elementals, being made out of fire, should ever take fire damage.)

Bear in mind that Metallic dragons have two breath weapons naturally, but Metallic Half-Dragons, Draconic bloodline Sorcerers, and Dragon Disciples only get one. Most of these secondary breath weapons are all cones of crowd control gas (Brass: sleep; Bronze: repulsion; Copper: slow [as the spell]; Silver: paralysis) except for the Gold, which has a cone of gas that deals Strength damage (Fort vs. -1 per age category). The Dragonfire Adept (Dragon Magic, 3.5) gets some of these as options, but it’s a base class and the only way I know to combine invocation-users with spellcasters is through the Eldritch Theurge (which is specifically for Warlocks, as it requires eldritch blast). Your options are mainly that or spells.

Most of the advice I’d give on this boils down to making a gish or making a focused elementalist, which each deserve their own entries. Bear in mind that a Monk’s Flurry of Blows does not stack with natural attacks (there’s a feat out there for that, but it’s third party), so that’s not a great path to take in this case. If you want more prestige to such a build, you’re going to want five levels in another prestige class and then a way of advancing your Bloodline.

¹ Dragon Apotheosis is ambiguous; it reads: “At 10th level, a Dragon Disciple takes on the Half-Dragon template. His breath weapon reaches full strength (as noted above), and he gains +4 to Strength and +2 to Charisma. His natural armor bonus increases to +4, and he acquires low-light vision, 60-foot Darkvision, immunity to sleep and paralysis effects, and immunity to the energy type used by his breath weapon.” These happen to enumerate the benefits of the Half-Dragon template that the class doesn’t already provide (except for type change and doubling the flight speed the class does give). However, it doesn’t say that this is an enumeration of those benefits or in addition to them.

The reasonable interpretation is that it’s just enumeration.

Still, it could mean that you effectively get the template twice. For the most part, that’s redundant (most of the abilities wouldn’t stack), but it would nonetheless net you +16 Str, +4 Con, +4 Int, +4 Cha, and a +8 increase to Natural Armor (meaning you could have some from another source and this stack with it), which would make up for playing mono-Sorcerer before entering a gish class.

For my look at nerfing/changes, I’ll go with the reasonable interpretation:

Sorcerer Bloodlines in Pathfinder tend not to change your type, so the ability to ignore dominate person is a nerf. The Draconic bloodline doesn’t give you Darkvision or low-light vision, though those are fairly easy to get otherwise. The main losses (which I think, if they aren’t oversights, are ways of balancing the increased spellcasting) are +4 Str, +2 Cha, and +1 Nat Armor. The only one of these I’d be terribly upset about is the Charisma bump, given your casting: you can get the others through spells when you need them without much trouble.

[aka-cyp]

I am at work. Blerg. I have not updated this bad boy in a long time and I have one or two drafts hanging out waiting for me to get back to them and finish. But I have been busy! 2018 is The Year of Doing Stuff!!! I have been doing things! I have traveled! Gished! Made new friends! Traveled and then traveled some more and made more new friends! Fun times aren’t over but I fear they are going to be greatly reduced for the foreseeable future. I should use the time to get that mammogram I keep putting off.

But I have stories to tell! Pictures to post! I have shit to say!!! Here is a brief synopsis of all the fun I have had thus far.

So, travelling. I did some and this time it wasn’t a miserable time. The last few times I went anywhere it was to Oregon and I did NOT have a good time. There were dead people, weird memorial services (I think that one is maybe covered in a previous post), crazy family and active alcoholism. Plus, shitty beach weather. I need non-shitty beach weather and a good warm beach for a while. But that will have to wait.

Trip #1 – Seattle

So my gal Lisa got married to Dom and I performed the ceremony. I got one of those minister certificates just for that. So, now I am qualified to take care of all your christening and marrying needs. Whoop! That was such a great trip and it really started out as a HUGE cluster fuck. A winter storm across the mid-west delayed and cancelled flights for soooo many people and I was a casualty. I had plans to stop in Portland and spend the night with my brother in Salem then take the train from Salem to Seattle the next day, but that was nixed – I didn’t get into Portland till after midnight. I tried really really hard to make it happen and so did the lady on the phone for SW but nope. Had to change my train and plane reservations. I left the day I intended, only a few hours later. Flew to Denver, changed planes, flew to Houston, sat on the tarmac FOREVER, flew to Las Vegas, changed planes, flew to Portland. Got an Uber to the least sketchy hotel by the train station I could find and think maybe I should have looked a little harder. I was convinced that the front desk guy was a psychotic killer so I moved the table with the microwave on it in front of the door and slept with my sewing scissors. The next day was a crash course in the light rail public transportation of Portland, Oregon. I FIGURED IT OUT. But had to cart my luggage all over and barely made it to the train station on time. THE TRAIN RIDE WAS AWESOME. But motion sickness was a real thing. Mind you, at this point I am operating on about 2.5 hours of sleep and only two apples and some peanut butter. Miracle here is I was not cranky and did not cry. I was pretty good till about three that afternoon (after making it to Seattle and then following Dom around the city while he navigated the light rail system there for me) I about passed out in a bookstore. He parked me in a nice little coffee shop with some nice strong coffee and came back for me later. THEN I RODE A FERRY. I had never ridden a train or ferry and I did both in one day!! I was vibrating I was so tired and caffeinated though. (Let’s make this story shorter, shall we?) So, the Airbnb was so super fab. I was SO SUPER FAB. I’ll put some pics of the view after this. We had a nice few days, some shopping, some dicking around Seattle and Vashon Island (where we were staying). We got the cute couple wed, ate great food and saw beautiful things. I was so fine despite all the people, noise and stuff and usually too much of that stresses me the fuck out. I finally had a mini breakdown in a Starbucks somewhere in Seattle on the way to the airport the day I left. I can’t live in Seattle. But here are some pics:

Oh wait, ha ha, I lied. I don’t have the Seattle trip pics where I can get to them here. I’ll do a pic post later.

Trip #2 – New Mexico

So I love NM. It was where Ric and I got married and I have a lot of good and bad memories there but I just love that state so bad. I could probably live there. We stayed in Taos in this great Airbnb that comfortably slept all eight of us. EIGHT WOMEN. IN ONE HOUSE. NO ONE CRIED. There were a couple tense moments but nothing ever exploded into Lady Madness. It was so beautiful everywhere. Nothing really crazy stood out though, we were all pretty chill. Four of us went on an epic hike though and I damn near peed my pants it was so fun. We got sunburned, dehydrated and slightly lost but it was worth it. Trip pics below:

  Gish

That was a whirlwind and it was awesome. I laughed so hard with my new friends and can’t wait for next year. Well, maybe I can because it’s hard. But still, I am looking forward to it. This year was different from last year. There is an app now and everyone on the team was from here. Had about the same number of people participate though. I think that it’s just a Gish thing that people will ghost your team unless you’re like a fucking pro team or something. ALSO, we had challenges up to the actual hunt and that was fun fun fun!!! Here are some pics with my new GFF’s:

Trip #3 – SPNDEN

Oh holy fucking Christ almighty on a mother fucking cracker with cheese. That was one hell of an experience and I am still riding that one. Good god. Ok, so it was fun, scary, overwhelming, weird, exhausting and mind blowing. I met the cast of Supernatural. I cried in front of Rachel Minor. No, I cried AT her. And she was so nice!!!! KIM RHODES HUGGED ME. JENSEN ACKLES SMELLED SO GOOD. HE HUGGED ME TOO. AND HELD MY HAND. TOLD ME HE LIKED MY HAIR. LAUGHED AT ME IN THE PHOTO OP. JARED PADALECKI  HUGGED ME AND SQUEEZED MY ARM. BRIANA BUCKMASTER ALSO SAID SHE LIKED MY HAIR. MISHA COLLINS MADE A POOP JOKE AT MY EXPENSE. Turns out I really am quite good at embarrassing myself in front of famous people. That’s pretty much what I did all weekend. I FINGER GUNNED MISHA COLLINS FOR FUCKS SAKE. #ilikeraisins So the pics for that will have to be posted in another entry since they, like the Seattle pics, are not where I can get to them right now. So, with old friends, old/new friends and new friends I will be going to NashCon in March. So I can make another fool of myself. There are so many things to tell. I may share some in the picture post I make later. Jesus fucking Christ I’ve never had a time like that in my life.

So, ending this scintillating blog adventure here. I shall return sooner than last time and with more pictures and maybe a good story about my awkward ass.

laters!

Unggh, or Life as I know it has changed. Again. I am at work. Blerg. I have not updated this bad boy in a long time and I have one or two drafts hanging out waiting for me to get back to them and finish.