#when i was first getting his affection lvls up

[unhappy-last-resort]

When you realize all of Roland's affection stories end on a cliffhanger because the only way he can keep your attention is with words...

[tokyo-debunker-memes]

Tokyo Debunker Gem Guide!

There are different Gems that users can purchase using shards earned from raids or rolling on the banners available. There are a total of ten different types of Gems.

Keep reading for the full guide!

Gem Levels:

The gems range from lvl 1 to lvl 9, drastically gaining more power with each level. As a beginner, it is ideal to save for level 5 gems as they boost your team enough to pass early cases in the Galaxy Express. As you gradually level up as a player and the majority of your warding cards hold some kind of gem (preferably lvl 3 and above from suitcases), you can begin saving for lvl 9 gems.

To get an idea of the major difference in power depending on level, here are the power stats for lvls 1, 3, 5, and 9:

(Gem power varies from gem type to gem type)

Gem Types:

There is hidden information that is hard to find which describes what each stat does for each card. I will be including those descriptions to help users understand how different gem types work.

ATK (Red) gem:

ATK is “the ATK stat that a Character Card starts each battle with. This affects all the types of damage that a Character Card can deal”.

PATK (Orange) gem:

PATK is “the physical attack stat that a Character Card starts each battle with. This affects the physical damage that a Character Card can deal”.

SATK (Pink) gem:

SATK is “the special attack stat that a Character Card starts each battle with. This affects the special damage that a Character Card can deal”.

STR (Purple) gem:

STR is the strength stat that “increases a card’s ATK and PATK stats”.

INT (Yellow) gem:

INT is the intelligence stat that “increases a card’s ATK and SATK stats”.

HP (White) gem:

HP is “the hit points that a Character Card starts each battle with. When a Character Card’s HP reaches 0, the Character Card is removed from the field”.

PDEF (Green) gem:

PDEF is “the physical defense stat that a Character Card starts each battle with. This affects the amount of physical damage that a Character Card receives when attacked by an enemy”.

SDEF (Dark Blue) gem:

SDEF is “the special defense stat that a Character Card starts each battle with. This affects the amount of special damage that a Character Card received when attacked by an enemy”.

VIT (Light Blue) gem:

VIT is the vitality stat that “increases a card’s HP and PDEF stats”.

TEN (Black) gem:

TEN is the tenacity stat that “increases a card’s HP and SDEF stats”.

Gems on Cards and Equipment:

There are two places gems can be equipped: Warding cards and Equipment

Warding cards are the easiest to equip as you can put gems on any of the rarities. On the other hand, you can only equip gems on equipment ranked higher than A (R, SR, SSR). You can craft higher ranked equipment at the same place where you dig for ores daily. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to get materials for SSR equipment without spending diamonds on that banner. Regardless, SR equipment is very useful and can also hold gems.

When you are adding gems to a warding card or equipment, the first thing you want to do is check what kind of character card type it is (P. Attacker or S. Attacker). Knowing this, you can automatically remove certain gems that will not be useful to the card. You can check by clicking on the “skills” button when viewing a character card.

Here are the gems you would use depending on the card type:

S. Attacker: SATK, SDEF, ATK, Tenacity, Intelligent, HP.

P. Attacker: PATK, PDEF, ATK, Vitality, Strength, HP.

Lastly, you may be asking which gems to use since you can only put three on each card and it may be better to double up on gems (the same gem on the warding card and equipment). Once again, click on the “skills” button to read about the Passive Skills, Active Skills, and Unique Skills. Here, it will tell you what the card uses, if it has a certain bonus and what the skills scale off of.

Example:

Using Towa’s R card as an example, we see that his Passive Skill scales off of ATK and is used after this card dies. With this information, we know an ATK gem will be very useful in this case.

One of Towa’s Active Skills scales off of his max HP, suggesting we should add a HP gem to increase his overall HP.

Lastly, his unique skill increases his own S DEF by 5% but only if the card has defeated two enemies. This tells us two things. First, the card needs to be strong enough to kill two cards which suggests we should add a S ATK gem. This skill also suggests we should add S DEF as this Skill scales off of the total SDEF of the card. Knowing this, you can choose between the 4 gems suggested, or in the case you have higher ranked equipment, you can use all four and double up on multiple.

A quick reminder, don’t let the fact that some gems don’t give as much power as others even if they are the same level. The ones with less power tend to boost MULTIPLE stats at the same time while gems with more power only boosts one stat.

I hope this helps!

[rkaln]

was wondering if you only draw lee as the top or if you would ever make them switch 👀

I KNEW THIS QUESTION WOULD COME UP SOMEDAY SO

*inhales deeply*

im ready LET'S TALK ABOUT IT (look who likes to talk about fucking)

im too old to think that people in relationships don't change roles, so absolutely always one way or another I still perceive characters as switches, but I usually think about why/how

1. Gaara is just a person who is very bad at perceiving his body and in his "physical sensation", so for quite a long time I have been presenting him exclusively as bottom. At the same time, Lee, on the contrary, as a person who has put most of his life into training, should feel-be aware of-understand his body very well.

2. ...and because of the sandy armor, I think that Gaara is actually very sensitive physically, (a meme of the lvl - I'm not sensitive at all - gets rid of the sandy armor and gets a kiss behind the ear - … WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT) but at the same time he has practically no tactile experience, but there is too much tactile hunger. at the same time (obviously) that gaara in my perception carries a very submissive character - for the same reasons, including the fact that pain and suppression in general are new to him

he purposefully tried to injure himself as a child, but could not + the act of imprinting kanji on his forehead looks exclusively like selfharm

needless to say, at the same time, Lee is the first to let him feel SUCH a physical impact

with his character and strength, no one could really make him feel physically "crushed" by someone, and if in the end someone attacked, it was with a sense of fear

although it looks like he was constantly running into it lol

so when someone takes an active position, it gives the feeling that the person has no fear of you, he does not perceive you "stronger" and he has enough confidence in character/ strength

SO, in my eyes, Gaara is a pretty provocative bitch, and as they once perfectly told me in a dialogue that Gaara is purposefully trying to anger / annoy Lee - "each of them has not met a guy who is not afraid of their strength and who thinks it's pretty hot to see how he uses all This power"

at the same time, he has a huge sense of guilt inside and a huge accumulation of suppressed emotions (which include the desire for someone else's intimacy)

and a huge sense of responsibility to everyone in a new role as kazekage (we also apply age), that is… there are literally no things in which you could feel free, irresponsible and not think about how it might affect you (I think this is exactly what was touched upon in my parts about akatsuki!Lee) so in the end, this whole combination is reflected in the fact that for a long time not feeling his body well enough, he is comfortable being in such a position, taking maximum to satisfy tactile hunger and the need for someone else's intimacy, and at the same time giving control into other hands.

(fck, look at this piece from the exam. IT REFLECTS what im talking abt. It's just how many people Gaara has met who would react to such a thing like Lee with such enthusiasm lol)

at the same time, Lee actually likes to show off quite a lot and he has more aggressive vibes than Guy (this is one of the basic things in which I feel their difference)

of course, the first acquaintance with Lee. who, well, just decided to stuff Sasuke's face, hitting Naruto along the way.

there are still endless discussions about the fact that Lee lost most of the fights because of his desire to show off (including the fight with gaara, which in general he could have won if he had acted smarter, rather than using EVERYTHING HE COULD AT ONCE)

like the fight where he came to Sakura's aid. Lotus, dude, really? he could have just turned them into a stampede by removing the weights.

fcking shit, a series about a drunken fist. What did he do? he just started destroying everything around with SUCH ENTHUSIASM.

VERY UNDERESTIMATED MOMENTS IN THE FILLER ABOUT THE SECOND EXAM. about "losing his temper"- in a scuffle in the kitchen, for a while he tried to stop the fight with WORDS, but in the end he just uses force. With Shira, he wants first of all… to fight. and the last, super important (for me, apparently) - when they encounter those who betrayed Shira, Shira does not want to follow them. while Lee does not accept this point of view, and runs away after them… (to BEAT THEIR FACES IS IT WORTH SAYING)…because he felt that they had no right to do so and should get punched in the face for their behavior. by the way, it was about the same in the filler about curry (a piece out of context looks doubtful lol / but I can't add a second video, but I'll add a link this)

let's move on

3. I'm adding my headcanon about the first sex. I am sure, due to Gaara's weak sense of ethics, he would be the first to come to a firm decision that we NEED SEX lol, bcse this is a simple logic

"are we together? - when people together, do they have sex? - we must to have sex"

and I'm sure he came to it quite easily (not like Lee), and until the last moment he was quite confident and calm… until they reached the bed, conditionally. the lack of sand armor makes him feel insecure and too vulnerable, which he is not used to, and his body turns out to be much more sensitive than he could have thought, which with the "WELL, LET'S GO FUCK" approach turns out to be TOO MUCH, so he just can't. so Lee, being… Well, you know. being Lee. he just calms him down and, lying on top, offered to just lie there for now, just letting him feel his body. also, in general, I imagine in the same place that Lee is just trying to provide him with tactile sensations without sexual overtones, which Gaara did not have. where it concerns body parts that are not usually thought of. elbows. between his fingers. the back of the knee. an angular bone on the foot. so these are just touches that helped to connect more with the sensations of your body.

-> and yes, it's clear that it was all a matter of time. this still applies to the story about the submissive, because it develops logically: after you study the body and its reactions sexually, and then you just want to get more and more. The approach is to "just do something (anything) else with my body" and feel it again and in a new way, when overall tactile hunger becomes more obvious and behavior becomes more provocative.

Well, now you know the reasons, you can move on to changing roles.

I imagine a change of roles in adulthood, although I do not think that this happens quite often. …in addition to submissive traits, after speeches about "getting out of myself", I think that gaara has a disciplinary kink in the role of the top (in general, in the role of the bottom too, it is just demonstrated differently, the approach is of course, just from the position of the top from bottom) and having brought their needs to stability, the need to shift "control" is no longer the same, but at the same time it is quite typical for Gaara's character to keep everything under control. we put all this together - therefore, the top with a disciplinary kink, playing doubly on the fact that Lee holds discipline enough by himself. delaying orgasm, fixation, permission to cum and praise for obedience - all. here.

changing roles is always normal when people are in stable, comfortable relationships, where most of the problems have been worked out - it's just new opportunities and that's it. of course, there are still some preferred patterns of behavior, but this is still just a variant of expressing love/desire for a partner.

therefore, if we summarize all the timings and my general idea of "preferred patterns", then Gaara seems to me more like a top from bottom and Lee as service top.

and yes, considering that this may change depending on the time and level of the relationship,

for example, going back to the recent sktch about blood, this is the part where Gaara looks to me like a greedy and demanding top from bottom, just fuck me RIGHT. NOW.

just like for Lee, there are situations where, instead of a top service, he goes into top mode (this is more related to exasperation after another Gaara "oh, and what are you going to do for it/you don't sound threatening").

and where Lee could just as well be the bottom one, because "I will keep you on the verge of orgasm until morning in all ways, until you start begging for permission to cum 😌✨"

[lunnaris-sims]

HOW TO MAKE YOUR SIM WORK IN A FULL-TIME* JOB AND AS AN EMPLOYEE IN A BUSINESS AT THE SAME TIME

IMPORTANT: I've tested this in my game and so far I haven't had any catastrophic glitches. However, I still recommend you make a backup of your neighborhood in case anything goes wrong. Huge thanks to @bstu for helping me out with this one!

*haven't tried this with part-time jobs but I assume it works the same way. Just remember to look for the teen-elder jobs in the career tab once you get to step 4.

Okay for some context, my Sim (Drake Walton, now Drake Jocque) works in the Politics career as a congressperson. However, since his hobby is music and dance, I wanted him to work at Cleo O'Mackey's nightclub as a DJ at the same time for some extra money, but no matter how hard I tried, the game wouldn't let me.

As I said, @bstu came up with an idea. To do this, you absolutely need to use SimPE. This method won't work with mods like Sim Blender, Sim Manipulator or similar hacks. Why, you may ask? Because we need to avoid the pop-up that shows up when switching jobs:

That being said, let's start with the tutorial:

First of all, hire the Sim you want to work in your business as you'd normally do. When the switching jobs pop-up shows up, click on "Yes". After this, save and exit your game.

Go to SimPE, open your neighborhood under "Tools -> Neighborhood -> Neighborhood browser...", then click on "Sim Browser" and look for the Sim you want to edit, in my case Drake Jocque.

Once you do this, click on "Career", above your Sim's description:

4. In here, go to the career tab, where it should say "Unknown". Change it back to your sim's previous job and career level. In my case, it was Politics, Lvl 7. Commit your changes, save and close SimPE.

5. Open your game and see if your changes got saved. If you go check your sim's job, you may encounter a glitch in which it'll display the name of the business your sim works at instead of their vacation days. Again, this is just a visual glitch and will not affect your gameplay whatsoever.

That would be pretty much it! Hope this small tutorial was of any help to anyone in here lol, I'll keep you updated in case I encounter any important glitches, but so far my game has worked as intented.

[hangeslefteye]

ZEKE ACTUALLY İN LOVE HC'S

Soft!Zeke but it's sooo hard to imagine and write if OOC let me know.Also I've been thinking about him a lot recently.Time for my ''I can fix him''hours.(Liking soft!Zeke is an another lvl of character observation skills congrats if you are here xD )

***

He wants to know EVERYTHİNG that crosses from your mind how you think about EVERYTHİNG.A lot of people -including me-label him toxic masculinity but he's pretty much the only man that will ask your opinion on world hunger?WW3?Feminisim?LGTB rights? etc... He wants to know how your brain works from head to toe without revealing too much about himself.Even sometimes he asks weird ethics scenerios such as bla bla bla happened would you cheat on your husband type of xD LOTS OF PHİSOPHİCAL QUESTİONS.LOTSSS OF.Which he asks SOME OF these with everybody he's close to such as Colt,Pieck,Porco,Reiner...But never this intense.HE'S OBSESSED WİTH YOUR BRAİN JUST GİVE HİM EVERYTHİNG!!!

HE VALUES YOUR OPİNİON.He doesn't do this one with anyone lmao.You can feel special at this point because this even suprise those who's close to him.For example smoking in doors?Just tell him you don't like it and HE'LL STOP.No arguments,no 'convincing' he just stops.Especially at bigger decisions he'll take your opinion over his.

Does anyone remember Xavier?Zeke claim him as his father and value him deeply.But Xavier manipulated him to snitch his parents and with his plan.Zeke I think understood this for the very first time when Grisha hugged him in the paths.Considering he's possibly the smatest character in the series love clouded him too much.He's quite open for manipulation coming from his loved ones maybe that's why he's quite distant to start with.

I feel like you can ONLY TRULY make sure he's in love with you if he's talking about his childhood,parents and Xavier.Which will come in blanks.He'll feel like he's said too much and cut it many times.Maybe he thinks this is unnecessary,cringy or simply it's just way too painful.But at one point he wants to be understood with his everything and this is where he picks up he's fcked because ONLY AT THİS POİNT he'll understand he has feelings for you.He's TERRİFİED of an another Xavier situation so if he opens up you might not see him for an easy a couple of weeks lol.You're lucky if he ever comes back.

Also he's great at reading people his distant with.İf he hasn't got feelings for you he can tell you are in love with a single glance.Sadly this won't work if he's also into you xD.Another oblivious fool like Eren.He might even take your attention for something sinister you are up to and begin to mess with you.He thinks he's playing mind games lol.But suprise you are in love with him and this has no logical explanation or manipulative check-mate.He's going crazy that he can't defeat you lmao.He needs someone close to him stating it even if it's a joke.

After this realisation he would take you to a couple of cliche dates(Which he pays my 'who pays the date aot HCS'was a joke lmao) because he claim he understands what women want XD At this stage he's quite goofy and just laughing around,having fun.No interest in knowing one further -as this is bounding to him-Overall very gentlemanly,talkative and funny.It would be impossible to get bored with this man.Might come off too casual and somewhat shallow at first but if he's truly interested you WİLL understand.

On the other hand I don't really think sex is a thing for him when it comes to showing affection.He would just do it because he wanted to and not because he was 'attracted' to you so thinking sex was important to him would be a huge delusion.His love language is either quality time or gifts but he secretly enjoys recieving physical affection yet I can't say if he equally returns it.İt would feel weird to him.(When Grisha hugged Zeke in the pathssss AAAAAAA)

[blacktobackmesa]

Hi, I'm sorry I'm back in your inbox again skfbdjdn, but uhhh I was thinking about the headcanons you posted on Valentine's day and now I've got to know how Gordon would react when he realizes he's developing feelings for Funny Benny who lives in the computer. I'm usually a fairly casual frenrey shipper, but with how good you are at writing the hlvrai cast I'm on the edge of my seat to hear about how their relationship in streamman

Ohhh yes yes good. (Also, no apologies, I love messages, they are my friends) I'm gonna go deep into the paint on this one, check below the cut for Gordon's slow realization, the little things leading up to it, and more.

(There's a little allusion to sexual topics. Nothing explicit. Literally just the fact that adults in relationships can have sex. If you are a fan of the show where the climactic final boss monologue has heavy discussion of a dick slip, I don't think you're going to be scandalized, but I've been wrong before.)

Gordon and Benrey have that fun dynamic of "omg stopp what are you doing (does nothing to stop them)", and there's a lot of ways for both of them to be affectionate while obfuscating their feelings. But it's not really like they're trying to hide anything from each other? It's just the language they've built up to communicate. Like:

"Oh, fuck you." [Gordon Translation: That quip was pretty funny, I'm surprised I didn't see that coming.]

"you wish. say please, k?" [Benrey translation: I'm glad my comedy had the desired effect, so I'm continuing my jokes. I'm also implying intimacy by being comfortable enough to make sex jokes about us.]

At some point, Gordon realizes that his interactions with Benrey are making him feel... almost lonely. Which is weird, because the things that make him feel lonely(?) are all the things he likes about hanging out with Benrey. He figures out that he misses being able to have that kind of dynamic with a romantic partner.

Then it takes another full week for him to do the math that "Being with Benrey makes me think about my past relationships" + "I feel sad that I'm not dating anyone" = "I feel sad that I'm not dating Benrey". Look, he's not a scientist. He just plays one in a video game.

First response to realizing his feelings: MASSIVE ANXIETY.

How can they make this work out? What if he's waited too long? He knew Benrey was into him in the game, but this is several years of platonic interaction later. If Benrey still likes him that way, will he be angry and bitter at Gordon for trying to act like he hasn't been quietly turning down Benrey's affections all this time? Even if Benrey's still interested, they're basically on different planes of reality!

Thankfully, he has someone to talk to who helps get some of those anxieties sorted.

Gordon: what about going on dates? Fang: you go on outings with the science team all the time. You literally sit in the dark and watch movies together at least once a month. Gordon: Am I going to be content in a long-distance relationship where I know we can't ever move in together? Fang: Okay, one: his domain is on a computer in your home. Two, you're pretty dang happy with your ""long distance"" friendships. Three, you have the haptic suit. And four, it is none of my business if you decide to buy some very specialized bluetooth devices. Gordon: dude. Fang: I'm just saying you have options on the physical side.

Thankfully, Benrey's kind of glad he waited. Like, it would be awesome if he and Gordon had been together from the start, but he kind of feels better about who he is as a person at this point. Gotta get Benrey lvl. 5 before you can unlock Ultimate Romance. Anyway Gordon asks him out and he ragdolls on the fucking floor

[the-kr8tor]

HOW TO SAVE A LIFE WHERE DID I GO WRONG I LOST A FRIEND SOMEWHERE ALONG IN THE BITTERNESS- ahem...my bad Daily Hobie HC! Let's go back to highschool, and say that Hobie's also a theatre as well as band kid. Hobie is a great actor, pretty much on the same level with you. With his ability to improvise, and your ability to be convincing, you both are practically partners in crime. As well as being probably the best actors in the entire highschool, it still doesn't stop you both from making up the most bullshit things that have 'happened'. But the first time you felt your heart skip a beat- which is something Hobie will never get tired of reminding you of- was when he had actually kissed you during a performance. Obviously it was apart of the script, yet you were not prepared since during practice it was usually avoided and advised to be ignored. The non-preparation seemed to make the play all more realistic. (duh..also why did he taste like strawberry?) Ever since that performance, Hobie loved seeing how flustered you get whenever his face came close to yours in a casual manner. He found it adorable seeing your face get all scrunched up as you try to hide how that kiss affected you. One fateful day, he caught you glancing at his lips. Noticing your eyes flicker down there during rehearsal? Hobie was stuttering his lines, not able to stop thinking about what might've happened if you both weren't idiots. He notices himself almost mirroring some of your habits, such as scrunching up your nose when you got flustered or biting his lip slightly whenever focused or trying to figure something out. Every time you both had any touch outside of drama, it lingered. Warm, almost electrical. During rehearsals, the feelings were made to sit in the corner temporary (where they made out) However, at times Hobie would improvise a few movements, which was greatly praised by the teachers and usually added into the script, adding to his satisfaction of flustering you. Sometimes, the tables would turn, with you doing the exact same thing to him. You both were pretty aware of your feelings for one another, and soon the other students in the drama group were practically betting with each other on who'll confess first. Out of all the times Hobie or you had a chance to confess, he chose for the most frustrating one. During a performance. As you both usher yourselves off stage, he quickly hands you a bouquet, winking towards you and asking you if you could 'hold it for him'. As he runs back on stage for his part, you notice a letter embedded within the bouquet, with the words 'I wanna be yours. Are you mine?' scrawled on it. (Arctic Monkeys reference) He knew he was tugging harshly on strings with the little stunt, but he could only hope that you wouldn't murder him once he returned offstage. He recognizes your frown once he returns backstage, trying to counteract it with his infamous smug smirk. However, he was a little nervous underneath his 'cool' demeanor. Since your part was right after his, you return the bouquet, deciding to pull the same little stunt right back on him. However, he was surprised at what you had replied. Three boxes, one with an option of no, one with an option of yes, and the other was fuck yes. Hobie felt giddy upon seeing the fact that you had eagerly ticked the third one, his heart practically soaring. -🐦‍⬛

DAILY HOBIE HC ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

Okay I wasn't prepared at how adorable and sweet this was 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

THEATRE KIDS ARE ON A WHOLE OTHER LVL!

THE SURPRISE KISS AHHHHHHHHH!!!! All I've done in theatre was slap someone (accidentally) too hard that it made the whole room gasp 😭 (i secretly wanted that on stage kiss tbh)

THE LONGING WJNSIABSJAIJANSJA

THE CONFESSION HQS ME MELTING!!!

I'm sure after r comes back they get to finally smooch without all the eyes on them

[saby-chan]

I find it soo funny that people call Chishiya a psychopath for his always extremely chill and cool, unbothered behavior when in all actuality, that’s just 100% typical cat behavior to a T. He isn’t the Cheshire Cat for no reason.XD The man’s just the perfect human personification of a cat:

- Beauty lvl perfection (it was scientifically proven that the reason why we humans love cats soo much is because they have perfectly simetrical features)

- Won’t give a shit about you unless they get something in return/it’s worth their time

- Unbothered by nature, you can’t disturb a cat’s zen unless you scare the shit outta them intentionally

- They’ve got 9 lives, no but really, those little furry minxes can survive to even falling from a 10 feet tall building without the slightest scratch

- Cats are actually slow runners as they tire pretty quickly when running, that’s why they’ll give up on the prey if it’s too fast, so no wonder our precious boy couldn’t keep up with that car either

- Curious little menaces to society

- Loooove to snack on all sorts of goodies at any time and opportunity given (and they eat a lot of biscuits too, dry food ya know)

- Have the “I am better than you” attitude on their faces 24/7 and will still make you fawn over them even if they look at you as if you were their bitch

- Masterminds at manipulation

- They’re actually very smart animals, after all they’ve literally invented an entire language dedicated solely for us humans (yes folks, meowing ain’t their first tongue)

- Their trust might be hard to earn, but once you gain it, they won’t leave your side (unless the neighbor a few doors over is cooking something worth checking, but over all they’ll always come back to you)

- 100% Cuddling material

And bonus fact: The fact that Chishiya is a doctor is no mere random choice either, it also ties in to him being a human-cat: scientists have found out that the frequencies of cat purring can help with chronic diseases and other affections, especially heart issues.

So there you have it: Chishiya is just the embodiment of a cat’s mind and personality in a human’s body and that’s why we love him. He’s not a psycho.😂😺

[fandom-geek]

so i'm just at the lvl 95 dungeon and i think my issues with dawntrail sort into three neat categories (in order of how much it affects the quality of the plot)

1. the narrative maturity. from 2.0 onwards, ffxiv has felt consistently aimed at an adult audience. it may not be graphic (especially sexually or in terms of nudity), but that doesn't inherently mean that the themes or narrative is adult in itself. dawntrail, by contrast, has a very... tween feeling. the power of friendship and cooperation has been a consistent theme from 2.0, but dawntrail is so unsubtle abt it that the only other thing in ffxiv i can think of that's on the same level is at the end of 2.0, where the spirits of all your allies appear to help you vanquish lahabrea. and that's one scene, whereas this has consistently been the whole msq so far.

characters are also significantly simpler, with any potential jokes (wuk lamat's sudden seasickness that wasn't even hinted at in 6.5, wuk evu's weird deference to gulool ja ja's children) run into the ground until they're actively annoying. which is a real shame - wuk lamat was a very fun character in 6.5, but the narrative maturity and her being at the forefront of that narrative by a country mile makes it a lot harder to enjoy her development.

2. the uneven pacing, especially of side quests.

the best way i have of explaining this is to compare it to shadowbringers. in shb, the main plot is to defeat the sin-eaters - this isn't something that necessarily has to be done by the wol, just anyone with the echo/blessing of light. but you've also got the side plots of ryne (her identity issues wrt minfilia), thancred (his issues accepting his grief over minfilia and ryne's personhood), the exarch (who is he, how did the tower get here from the first, how does he control it, why is he so fixated on you), ardbert (why are you the only person that can see him and why did minfilia make him stay behind), and emet-selch (why does he recognise your soul, why is he ok with working with you, what is his overarching goal).

i think it's quite important to note that while the main plot doesn't require the wol inherently, the wol is the only one present who is capable of fulfilling that goal and they are also involved in 2-3 major side plots.

in dawntrail, by contrast, you have three side plots - krile (why did her grandfather come here and what did he do), erenville (what happened to his mentor and what will happen when you find the city of gold), and ketenramm (what happened to him).

ketenramm's plot is probably the best-paced, but by lvl 95 you've found out what happened to him (he settled down near gulool ja ja's original home) and why (to preserve the peace there on gulool ja ja's behalf). before that point, he is fairly consistently mentioned as the first eorzean to arrive in tural. so that whole plot seems to be resolved, at the moment.

krile and erenville's plots, by contrast, seem very poorly paced. krile gets two major developments in her plot - the first is that the four-leaf earrings became popular in tural following her grandfather's visit (first mentioned c. lvl 90/91, followed up on around lvl 93, resolved at lvl 94 where you visit the village market prev recommended) and the second is that her grandfather was accompanying gulool ja ja and had a baby with him (aka krile), which is revealed at that lvl 94 visit. on paper, that seems fairly well paced, but it isn't. it's a similar story with erenville, so i won't go into detail there. with the shb side plots, you were subtly reminded of those side plots in almost every interaction those characters had with others.

in dt, because wuk lamat monopolises so much screen time (not her fault, but the writers) and because you are almost exclusively working with only wuk lamat while everyone else does their own thing, you are very rarely reminded of krile or erenville's plots. they simply don't have the screen time to subtly remind you of that, so krile is reduced to either enthusiastically encouraging wuk lamat or going "maybe we'll find out smth abt my grandad!". i would genuinely not be shocked if krile and erenville had one line to every ten of wuk lamat's.

3. this ties into the previous point, but the wol is entirely irrelevant so far. the wol does not have any real reason to be involved in any of this. genuinely, the wol could've been absent from the entire story so far and i don't think it would've made a single difference. this is worsened by the lack of their involvement in any side plots, which revolve entirely around krile and erenville's actions and you can do almost nothing to further those side plots yourself - as opposed to shb, where you could question the exarch on his identity upon your first meeting, where you could be suspicious of emet selch, or where you could encourage thancred, ryne, and urianger to reconcile in a way that stops hurting the literal child involved.

the wol doesn't need to be the protagonist, but they need to have something to have a personal investment in the story. in stormblood, if the fates of ala mhigo and doma weren't enough for you, then you had the personal threat and fixation of zenos to motivate you, which was also the case in endwalker. heavensward had your friendship with haurchefant and aymeric, and eventually haurchefant's death. shadowbringers had multiple ways of doing this, between emet selch, ardbert, and g'raha tia. arr had the stakes of rescuing and avenging the scions who died in the attack upon the waking sands, although admittedly it didn't do this as well as later entries. there was always something in a level that involved one of those ongoing plot threads.

so far, dawntrail has had none of this. it's frankly made worse by the fact this was consistently advertised as a holiday expansion (to the point that the current ads with rhys darby are about him as the head of the tourism department), yet at no point is that ever really a thing or even talked about in-story as a thing that was meant to happen. from the start, this has been a business trip to aid one claimant in a foreign succession dispute. this could make up a fourth minor point, tbh, because i think the mismatched expectations of what dawntrail was going to be versus what it is are also an issue here, although nowhere near as big as the actual narrative issues.

[scionheart]

🩵 Overview of my headcanons regarding levels of intimacy for relationship/shipping purposes below. 🩵

Under a cut cause I go in detail.

Sexuality: I HC him straight.

Note: Anything below can alter a bit depending on if any dynamics are pre-planned for threads and such!

Lvl 1) In the beginning, he will have little to no interest in the other, even if they show early interest in him. For example, in a plot where he is an assigned guardian to the other he will only see it as a job, duty/obligation to be followed through with.

Lvl 2) Getting him to open up isn't the easiest. It takes a solid bit of work and time spent around him for him to eventually grow more willing. Plus, there has to be interest from his side in order for him to feel comfortable. If something sparks and he then holds mutual interest, he's more willing to interact outside of business terms/situations.

Lvl 3) So they both know each other a good bit now. He'd consider them a friend. Maybe they've been involved in a few significant situations together. He still has a wall up at this level that will take something strong to break through/convince him to put it down. Whether that be an angsty fight or a confession, some type of ultimatum.

Lvl 3.5) If nothing clicks by now, no further relationship will grow. Doesn't mean it can't in future but perhaps it's not the right person or time. This level is a bit of a dead end.

Lvl 4) Alright, the strong thing happened and was sucessful. He put his wall down/it was broken. He's making efforts to push through his past barriers, trauma and more for the sake of the other. He will fumble in good and bad ways, as he's not too familiar how to tread this new ground, both on his own and together. He's never done it before.

Lvl 5) There's a solid connection, trust, even love. His heart is theirs. His devotion is without question. His roots of honor have grown onto the other. He will do anything in his power to protect while still holding a high level of respect for them. They are an equal. They are his partner.

He will continue to grow more comfortable over time from here. He is not one to show certain types of affection in public, however, in private he's incredibly affectionate.

He will become a little playful. Some banter even shown around others. If the other tries to fluster him or work him up in public, he's very good at hiding it, but his eyes will not lie. It'll be clear what's intended in future response to said flustering. If it's in private, they'll know right then and there.

In order:

1. Physical touch (Having his hair and face touched mutes the world around him almost every time. The first time it happens, though, he'll be conflicted on how to react. This man is touch starved to hell.)

2. Words of affirmation (he needs to hear it, seriously.)

3. Acts of service (it's touching to him to see he's cared about, even if he thinks he doesn't deserve it, because he absolutely believes he doesn't.)

4. Quality time (he's a little clingy, but doesn't want to suffocate his s/o, so he tends to back off when he doesn't need to and might need to be pulled back.)

5. Gift giving (he'll give little wood carvings he's done, even if they're shit, it's cute af.)

[6okuto]

QKHDEKRBWBDJDH Im too shy to go off anon but just know that im ur secret admirer ahshdjshdjejd also sending u anon love is fun hehe 💓💓😚😚

im glad to hear that ur eyes r getting better! Hope ull be able to get the rest u need and deserve after ur sem is over <333 im doing great myself !!seeing ur reply to my ask just made my week 💗💗💗💗💗 i hope u too r eating well and staying hydrated and most importantly get enough sleep 😭😭😭😭 i hope ur day continues to be filled with happy things love u !!!💕💕💕💕💕

U dont know what kind of beast uve unleashed when u said u wanted to know more abt my ocs ong...Osjxiejdieje pls dont mind my rambling im so shameless byeee 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️ also these infos might be weird its just based off my own understanding of stuff and not accurate to common knowledge so ⚰⚰

The alchemist- she's a bit on the gloomy side and honestly just tired of life 😭😭 i went with this origin first so her personality is like pretty much based off the game mc we play as, just a tad bit more passive 🚶‍♀️will melt down and turn into mush at the slightest bit of affection so i paired her with leander, and since shes gone through a lot i thought, she deserves some treat <3 and throw in mhin into the equation too hehe another random fact abt her is that she loves plain water... a LOT. Since shes a mage apprentice, i imagine that she probably learn a lot of magic stuff after meeting leander, mostly to get stronger and for self defense

The hound- she got massive trust issues (being betrayed by her friend in the thief syndicate and all) so shes extremely wary of the LIs, like if u think the in game mc is wary of the ppl in eridia, she's like 10x worse. Honestly lowkey like mhin 2.0 except a lil bit snappier 😭 i pair her with kuras and their relationship is kinda like him trying to get a stray cat with human issues to warm up to him 😭😭 doesnt get along with any of the LIs at all and always keep an arm's length around them, but she only lets kuras into her life (and fun fact he loves feeding her) surprisingly tolerates mhin too, and learns a lot abt how to use weapons from them, and since she was in a thief syndicate i imagine her agility lvl is v high (and dont tell this to my unnamed mc but my alchemist and hound mc is my favourite children...)

The unnamed- shes raised like a royalty all her life, since being an oracle means that everyone borderline worship her, but being raised at a temple also means theres many restrictions and shes honestly lowkey sick of being treated like it, though she keeps the perfect facade up, all smiles and all. Shes kind of a lil shit since after running away from the temple, she finds it hard to keep her nice facade up but still tries too hard to keep em (this results in her going 😄😄 but when she suddenly snaps she was like- omg i accidentally let my true colours out- and went back to being nice and all smiles as if her previous outburst didnt just happen- yes shes two faced) i pair her with ais and vere (aka the lil shits 😭) honestly their relationships r just ais and vere trying to make her snap and drop her nice facade its kind of hilarious

Andd yeahhs thats abt it abt them !! Sorry this got much longer than it shouldve been 😔😔 but thank u for being curious abt my silly goofies 🥺🥺 my personal fave is mhin!! And after finish talking to ais and kuras i...im lowkey interested in them disjdjejdjejdj theyre so fun??¿¿ 😭😭 leander is high up in my list too but i mostly see him as a big bro figure bc of his friendliness 🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️

ANYWAYS I LOVE U SM OKAY RMMBR THAT NIA SENDING U LOTS OF VIRTUAL HUGS THHANK U FOR BRIGHTENING UP MY DAY 💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

its fine i know who u are. im lying. im not. i have a hypothesis i wont say bc well thatd be awkward if i was wrong wouldnt it. STAY PERF! SENDING U ..NOT ANON LOVE...wtf is the opposite of anonymous. KNOWN! IDENTIFIED! jesus. i need to go back to sleep i think i slept for like 3 hours my body hates me or sometign....THANK YOU!!!! i will continue 2 look 4 happy things 2day. reacted under cut 2 save space :heart:

HELLO ALCHEMIST MC!!! the plain water imcirny?@%? that's real actually stay hydrated OMGG learning magic after meeting is saur smart... is she ending up w leander... WHAT IS MHIN DOING. stay so strong

HOUND MC AND KURAS that's so real. handling 2 mhins...u can do it bro... LOVES FEEDING HER 🙁 i cannot wait 2 hear abt how she lets her walls down i think the hound option is just soo good for that and kuras is an interesting choice 4 it.. + w mhin's own...defensiveness and such....yeah . stuff is going to happen here

WOWW. UNNAMED FACADE OF HAPPINESS...love the trope I LOOVEEE WHEN CHARAS DO THAT i giggle a little like omg AIS AND VERE. jesus. wow. oh wow. there is so much u can do there. oh that sounds like itll be so fun to develop

DO NAWTT APOLOGIZE i like 2 hear abt everyones ocs bc i dont make them LOL i am sure mhin would love u. i think they need the same amnt of support + self care reminders u give me like TAKE CARE OF URSELF...LET PEOPLE TAKE CARE OF U... i hope something so awesome happens for u today :heart:

[toadeyes-miqote]

Gnirebmemer si gnipeews

Yrome gnivil gnitsegid saw I elihw em gnirehtob saw taht yromem tuoba gniht rehto tahT. Aloths'y tuoba tseuqedis ayotam a saw drawsnevaeh 95lvl raluger dne ni kcab raf

Is you done side quest (The Magic Word) before I go on?

Matoya removed her happy memories of with Y'shtola after they had a very bad fight and stored it off site.

In her case her memories are retrievable and I don't know how much it affect the tone of their relationship (constant snippy and semi-antagonistic?) thereafter. Maybe she would or maybe she won't retrieve it before she pass on. who knows.

It just had me thinking that Matoya did the same thing, but she retains access to it to come back and deal with it in time if she wish to. Maybe she's waiting for insight, mindset or something. who knows. Maybe she doesn't want to deal with it and left it as is.

Whether or not they have any new decently happy memories made thereafter is subjective to crankiness levels.

There may or may not be other Sharlayans who known them and be like - "There goes Matoya and her Miq'tten. Just the other day such and such a fine thing happen and etc and etc and gosh that was a funny learning experience for them." Other people probably remember something of them and still would when Matoya pass away.

-----------

Kinda like on the First where Exarch is technically gone. and some folks were writing books and making minions of him.

People processing his departure in their way

----------

Headcannon territory ahead

Even in DRK the process took Post EW and 20-30 lvls to feel like things sunk in for Hylnyan where her guilt about Haurchefant was concern.

And then I may finally end up unlocking Pictomancer as a response to BRD-DRK synching up and surviving Living Memory. Draw stuff in honour of those who were lost. An in-lore way for Hylnyan to process things and get a bit of therapy.

The process of dealing with lost is dependent of time one takes. At least they know who is gone and there might be other people who know them to talk to.

In Amaurot's case Hylnyan is working with Claudien and the Studium's Faculty of Anthropology and some help from The Watcher and Unukalhai and very interestingly and carefully with Hegemony and some of the Elpis folks.

They are basing it on Erich's life since he's in an interesting position as Lahabrea's son and Pandamonium warden to see things from a certain angle. and talk about the three Unsundered and the society there probably and leaving out who Azem and Erich are in the here and now.

Emet wants Hylnyan to remember them. He never said how And he should know that when she should pass, who else is to remember if no one notes down the legacy for others to access.

And then there's Ultima Thule of which doing the later part of it into Dawntrail was a heck of an experience when the Omicron society contrast to Living Memory kicks in.

I am still not sure how dead Ultima Thule is. Or how different Ultima Thule is from Living Memory I'll get back to digesting this dynamis vs holgraqphic memory projection thing (more reasons why I don't let Hylnyan log out in both places. Technically dead worlds / spirit world thing - don't go where her friends on the Source and the First can't follow)

What made Solution 9 and Living Memory seem horrible was the lack of access to the memories (How restricted is access to Living Memeory over time and how are people to even remember why its even there) and forceful erasure that left holes in not just one's lives but the people who interreacted with that person.

So many intriguing questions and to see where post patch goes.

[mrpenguinpants]

Okay so after pulling Childe (and getting him to almost lvl 90 the same day lmao but I ran out of exp books) I started thinking about Chaeya x reader and I have to share my brainrot with someone so here you go:

Childe suddenly shows up to Mondstadt one day, supposedly to check out the Windblume Festival, but it had already been over for a few days before he arrived

You walk in on him and Kaeya glaring daggers at each other in the middle of the street, Kaeya sending terse smiles and veiled threats while Childe is nearly vibrating with the effort to keep himself from stabbing Kaeya in broad daylight. Who cares if he's a captain of the Knights? This guy's pissing him off

When you make your presence known it's like a switch flipped inside the two of them and they both turn to you like "ah yes here is the love of my life :)"

"Childe? What are you doing here?"

"Aw, can't I come say hi to a friend?" He replies, flashing you a grin.

"In that case, you've said your hellos," Kaeya interjects. He drapes an arm across your shoulders and pulls you closer to him. "They'll be coming with me now."

"I'm not just here to say hello." Childe steps toward you, sending a cold smile in Kaeya's direction. "I'm here to spend the day with them. Now, if you'll excuse us…"

You sigh as you realize that you have to be the peacekeeper here otherwise who knows what these two will do to each other?

To stop them from fighting and to lighten the tension in the air, you jokingly say, "Alright you two, settle down. I have two hands."

Even though you clearly meant it as a joke the boys each immediately grab one of your hands and you end up sandwiched between them for the rest of the day while they engage in Friendly Banter™ but don't you worry it's totally lighthearted and doesn't really mean anything (:

You are exhausted from babysitting these two grown ass men at the end of the day

Fast forward a few weeks and Kaeya invites Childe to have a Civil Discussion about their mutual feelings towards you

Bc while Kaeya would be perfectly content (he tells himself) with burying his feelings and letting someone else sweep you off your feet if it means you get to be happy and safe

He absolutely cannot let you fall into the hands of the Fatui, especially not a Harbinger

He's already lost his family because of the Fatui, he's not going to lose you too

These two somehow manage to make it through their chat without stabbing each other, which is a miracle

They decide to confess to you together and let you decide who to keep

The day comes when they both planned to confess to you. They somehow both kept their promise of not confessing before the other person which is also quite the miracle (maybe they signed a contract with Zhongli as the mediator lmao)

Anyway, they take you out to the cliff next to Stone Gate bc no one ever goes up there lmao so they won't be interrupted

(Kaeya lets Childe go first bc he thinks he would be able to deliver a more romantic confession than this two brain cell Fatui Harbinger)

Idk how to break it to you Kaeya but your poetry sucks (jk jk pls still come home I need your constellations 🥺)

After hearing two heartfelt confessions from your two favorite people, you had to take a moment to process what just happened

They both like you??? Wtf???? And here you were losing sleep over how you'd handle your crush on both the Cavalry Captain and the Harbinger

So if course you suggest a poly relationship. After all, you had two hands ;)

The boys didn't quite know how to handle your response, but after explaining it to them they both agree to give it a shot

So that's how you managed to capture the heart of these two idiots

And with your help they eventually realized that, huh, maybe the other person isn't so bad. They're actually kinda hot, ngl 👀

From then on, all the evil in Teyvat knew to not mess with you if they valued their existence. Your boyfriends aren't known to show mercy against those who hurt their loved ones

Ahaha this was long but I hope you enjoyed it!! If I have more brainrot to share I shall return with a part 2

Being completely honest. I really like Childe + Kaeya. Zhongli + Childe is really nice and wholesome but no one really writes smug Zhongli (THE. LOST. FUCKING. POTENTIAL???) but I care about fake smug Childe being paired with actually smug bastard Kaeya. But then you throw a reader in and holy shit, have I mentioned how much I love poly relationships?? I'm so honoured you came to me of all people to brainrot;; I also love the idea of reader acting as a wingman for two separate characters.

Dude, I can literally astral project and see this in my mind. I fully commit to the idea that Childe is an overgrown child and Kaeya acts like one when he gets pissed lol. Yo, if they signed a contract with Zhongli I can feel evil dad Zhongli hovering behind them anytime they try to make a move. But I was also not a fan of Kaeya's poetry. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I hate big acts of affection. Or just any act of affection that oversteps above platonic cause I would not be writing poetry for my friends unless it was a joke. It makes my spine turn to liquid. I'm gonna be real, even tho I just said that, I'm super down to hold anyone's hand or link arms. I'm gonna use "I have two hands" one day.

I can totally see their relationship starting with I love this person and I want to fuck this other person. There is no in-between. Then it slowly develops and what are these feelings I'm having??

[thescentoflavender]

Guide to the [Candlelit Night] SP Event

Someone sent me an ask on this (see the bottom of this guide for the actual ask), and because my answer to it grew so long, I decided to write it as a formal guide instead. 

Event Format

I had a read through MLQC EN’s FB posts but I don’t think they’ve announced the specific format of the upcoming event. Assuming that the event style in the EN server is similar to the CN server, there are a few unique things about this event to consider:

There’s a 20% “cashback discount” of sorts. You’ll get 20% of the Galaxy Wish Coupons you spend back in the form of Limited Time Coupons. (Note: you don’t get any discount if you use Limited Time Coupons.)

There are also Limited Time Coupons you can get by logging in daily and through doing a certain number of pulls.

Note: Limited Time Coupons cannot be saved. When the event ends, each Limited Time Coupon will be converted to 1000 coins.

Above: Example of event rewards. I didn’t have screenshots for last year’s CNY event, so I’ve used my screenshot from this year’s event here. The event format is similar so it’s still a good reference. 

---

How does this affect the advice I previously gave regarding Wish Tree/SP events?

1. It is still recommended that you do pulls in multiples of 144. But there may be reason to deviate from this rule.

If your objectives are to:

maximise your chances of getting an SP;

get your SP to competent stats; and

collect SPs in the long term only

Then you might consider going all in and doing as many pulls as you can, regardless of whether you hit a multiple of 144.

Why?

The 20% discount will only be in effect the first time this event runs, and will not be available in the rerun. This will allow you to maximise your chances of getting an SP at minimal cost.

Above: Example of the Limited Time Coupons vs Galaxy Wish Coupons. These will be exhausted before your Galaxy Wish Coupons are used. 

Even if you fail to do a multiple of 144 pulls, the unused candle lights will be turned into Heart Flowers. You can use these Heart Flowers to exchange for purple shards. (The number of free Heart Flowers you get each week is the limiting factor here so the 6 purple shard/week limit isn’t a concern if you’re looking at this long term.)

Lastly, the main reason why you would want to do only multiples of 144 pulls is to conserve your resources for other events. But if you’re only interested in SPs, this wouldn’t be too much of a concern. The next SP event will only be released next year so you have time to pool your resources between now and then.

N.B. The one exception is if Papergames releases a collab SP event across all servers in the later half of this year. Should this happen, you may not have enough for Galaxy Wish Coupons and/or gems saved up if you go all in now. But I will note that a collab SP event is very unlikely.

2. Draw over a period of time, not all at once.

No changes to my advice here. My preferred times are midnight and when the server refreshes at 5 a.m.. Sadly, though, I haven’t been able to do 5 a.m. pulls since leaving the UK. The time difference really did work to my advantage!

3. Enter the event knowing how many pulls you want to do. Remember to factor in the Limited Time Coupons when calculating how many Galaxy Wish Coupons you need to use.

Important if you’re aiming to do multiples of 144 pulls (which I generally advocate; see point 1).

I’ve written this as a formula here:

So, for example, if I wanted to do 288 pulls, would get 30 free Limited Time Coupons from event rewards and do 4 free pulls over the course of the event, 

I would need (288-34)/1.2 = 211 Galaxy Wish Coupons 

*If I remember correctly, they round up for the number of LTC you’ll get back, so the number of coupons you’ll need to use is 211 rather than 212.

---

Should you exchange for a new SP karma or a duplicate SP after reaching a multiple of 144 pulls?

A good question, to which my answer is the dreaded “It depends”. 

Just to be clear, we’re working with the assumption that you got at least one SP karma, but not the full set of SP karmas by doing regular pulls. So, if you’re lucky or resource-rich enough, this question might not even be one that you need worry about in the first place. 

Also remember to only exchange your karmas at the end of the event, after you’ve done all your free pulls.

There are far too many scenarios for me to list down every one, but I thought I’d go through a few.

Here are some examples:

You were unlucky (or lucky, depending on your perspective) enough to draw a repeated SP karma. In this case, I would probably exchange for a new SP karma. 

You really need the stats for an SP karma of a particular attribute, e.g. if you could get to the next tier in the Heart Trials with your Evolved SP. In this case, I would exchange for a repeated SP karma.

You're only interested in reading a single suitor’s dates and have only 1 or 2 of his SPs. In this case, I would exchange for a repeated SP karma.  

You’re a karma collector and don’t really care about the karma stats. You’re okay with your SPs being at mediocre levels, but you want as many SPs as possible. In this case, I would exchange for a new SP karma.

There are also rewards you get based on the karmas you pull and whether you can Evolve them to Lvl IV/Ascend them. This is something to consider too, if you value these rewards highly enough. 

A non-exhaustive list, because the answer really depends on your objectives in the game. I hope this will help you in deciding the strategy you want to adopt though! 

---

Afterword and some other comments on the actual ask 

If you made it to the end of this post, congratulations!

There will be a rerun for this event, which I will elaborate on as a reply to another ask. Everything I’ve said above has taken into account this rerun, so this guide still stands (clearly... I wouldn’t have written it otherwise!)

The ask:

My comments: Thanks anon! I do appreciate the fact that you read through all my posts regarding SP karmas!

[monstersdownthepath]

Spiritual Spotlight: Hanspur, the Water Rat (and Ashkaelae)

Chaotic Neutral God of Rivers, River Travel, and Smugglers

Domains: Chaos, Death, Travel, Water Subdomains: Exploration, Murder, Rivers, Trade

Inner Sea Faiths, pg. 58~63

Obedience: With the assistance of another priest of Hanspur or by yourself, simulate the act of drowning. You can do this by fully submerging yourself in a body of water, exhaling all of your breath, and painfully inhaling water instead of air. Alternatively, you can lie on your back with your head at a lower elevation than your legs while water is slowly poured on your face and up your nose. If you choose the latter method, you must cover your face with a cloth while the water is poured. When you conclude this simulated drowning, contemplate your life and how your goals coincide with the teachings of Hanspur and the Six River Freedoms. Benefit: You gain a +4 sacred or profane bonus on Survival checks attempted while on or near rivers.

Just reading this makes my sinuses burn and my lungs itch, and not just because it’s springtime and I have allergies! As anyone who’s ever been in a body of water large enough to slap their face with a wave can attest to, inhaling large amounts of water sucks. While this Obedience requires only one wet breath, some... well, some pretty severe complications can arise from it, if your DM ponders even slightly what doing this to yourself every day would do. Dry drowning and secondary drowning are both real dangers from brief immersion, let alone concentrated efforts at simulating one of the worst fates someone can experience (I say this a lot but basically anything that deprives you of air is pretty terrible). The ‘simulation’ will likely only last a few seconds while the rest of the hour is spent recovering from your experience and meditating, but even that may not be enough to offset the fluid likely building up in your lungs. Priests of Hanspur must sound atrocious, coughing themselves ragged every day! No wonder it’s recommended your ritual is overseen by another priest, either, because they’d likely be skilled in helping you manage your symptoms.

Dangers of daily drownings aside, keeping up with the demands of this ritual is pretty easy so long as you’re somewhere with easy access to water. In Hanspur’s homelands, the River Kingdoms, this is pathetically simple! Everywhere else? It’s a lot harder! While I do appreciate that there’s a secondary ritual you can do if total immersion is impossible, but what happens if you’re stuck somewhere with no easy water access? Your waterskins won’t carry you for very long, even if you pilfer them from your party as well. Better invest in a Decanter of Endless Water! Or do something ridiculous like fill the party’s Bag of Holding up so you can just hop in and out whenever you need to.

That benefit is also the weakest I’ve seen in a long time, granting a bonus to only a single skill type and only while near rivers. Survival checks aren’t even all that commonly made, unless your DM is kind enough to let you use Survival to navigate with river rafts rather than Profession or Ride checks. Hanspur really doesn’t want his faithful straying too far from the River Kingdoms, which is only further exacerbated by how his Boons work, so if you’re not the type to linger near rivers you may just want to skip him entirely.

Boons are gathered slowly, typically obtained when a given character has 12, 16, and 20 hit dice. Unlike fiend-worshipers, servants of the Eldest, and devoted of the Empyreal Lords, characters worshiping Neutral gods do not have catch-all classes… but Neutral-aligned characters can enter the Evangelist, Sentinel, and Exalted Prestige Classes earlier than Evil characters, classing in as early as level 6 (they need +5 BAB, 5 ranks in a single skill, or the ability to cast lvl 3 spells); entered ASAP, one can gain the Boons at levels 8, 11, and 14. 

-------

EVANGELIST

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Boon 1: River Sage. Gain Hydraulic Push 3/day, River Whip 2/day, or Hydraulic Torrent 1/day.

Hydraulic Push and Hydraulic Torrent live in the same niche of “giant water spouts what push stuff around,” with Torrent being obviously an order of magnitude more powerful than Push. While Push has a range of Close and can target only a single creature or square, Torrent is a 60ft line that Bull Rushes or attempts to destroy everything it encounters, so it really depends on if you’re thinking you’ll need three small streams or one really, really big one. Notably, Torrent can Bull Rush targets of any size, unrestricted by the limits of your pathetic frame, while Push contains no such limiter removal and thus likely means you can only blast creatures up to a size larger than you.

Also of note, Torrent attempts to shatter everything it comes into contact with until it runs into something or someone it cannot destroy or push past. The Strength score the Torrent uses is equal to your caster level plus your casting ability modifier, meaning it will start out barely stronger than you are but will eventually be able to punch holes in iron and shatter stone. Hell, with a lucky roll, it may be able to do that anyway. Your choice on which two to take wholly depends on if you want to push three Medium critters around or launch one Colossal one.

What? River Whip? I don’t see any spell like that here! Lets move on! (alright alright; i just don’t like it. it’s good as an emergency weapon but more or less anything else is better in any scenario)

Boon 2: River Scion. As a free action you can breathe underwater, as if affected by Water Breathing, for a number of hours per day equal to the number of Hit Dice you possess. These hours need not be used consecutively, but must be used in 1-hour increments.

A disappointingly weak Boon. Really, what else is there to see or say? If you need to go underwater, this ability is great and has zero downsides. If you don’t, this Boon doesn’t exist. It’s a very binary Boon that relies on your environment, which means that if you’re overjoyed if you’ve remained in the River Kingdoms, but in a desert or jungle or mountain peak, you’re going to be extremely disappointed upon hitting level 11.

Boon 3: River’s Embodiment. 1/day as a standard action, you can transform yourself into a Huge water elemental, as per Elemental Body IV. You can stay in this form for 1 minute per Hit Die you possess, and can dismiss this effect as a free action.

Finally, a transformation ability that doesn’t suck! What does suck is that this is a level 7 spell being granted to you 1/day, when other Boons are equivalent to level 9 spells in power. Hanspur could have at least given you a little bonus on top of it, or made it 2/day, but it’s hard to complain about the force you become under Elemental Body IV. You become immune to bleed, critical hits, Sneak Attacks, and on top of it all get insurmountable DR 5, and the stack of stats you get? Mmmm-mm! Chef’s kiss!

+6 AC, +8 Con, +4 Str, all for the price of -2 Dex (more than made up for with the +AC). And, of course, a swim speed and the power to collapse yourself into a destructive Vortex, but those are only useful if you’re in water, while the rest of the stat buffs are far more universally useful. You’re not exactly the destructive and terrifying Fire Elemental or the deceptively sneaky Earth Elemental, but a wall of surging water can still wreak all manner of havoc on your enemies, your new dual slams able to smash ships (and bones) to pieces, and since Water Elementals are capable of speech and gesture, you can merely bask in your new tank stats while still casting spells.

There’s also the much more amusing but niche use of transforming while already polymorphed by a hostile effect, as having a new polymorph effect used on you while you’re already changed can end the first automatically.

While I wish the effect was usable more often, or at least broken into 1-minute increments, I can’t call it a bad Boon by any means.

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EXALTED

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Boon 1: River Guide. Gain Obscuring Mist 3/day, Haunting Mists2/day, or Aqueous Orb 1/day.

I love the name of this ability because two of the three spells do the opposite of guiding people. Now I’m a big fan of Obscuring Mist; it’s a simple staple in my list for almost every caster I make just because of how versatile it is! But now that I know there’s an alternative, it may have competition. Both Obscuring Mist and Haunting Mists do roughly the same thing, but one could argue that Haunting Mists does it better; in addition to granting concealment and shutting off an enemy’s eyes, it deals 1d2 Wisdom damage and shakes up anyone starting their turn inside the mist... But as a Figment spell with the Fear descriptor, there are a great many creatures immune to its unique power, and True Seeing allows one to see through it perfectly, whereas Obscuring Mist remains impenetrable to the apex predator of the Illusion school.

While it cannot be dispelled by wind or motion like a tangible fog, it’s important to note that there’s no way to protect specific creatures from the sanity-damaging effects of Haunting Mists, and its casting distance of 20ft and 20ft spread means that you will likely always be caught in its radius. The range means using it offensively is painfully limited, unless you want to cast it from invisibility after sneaking into the middle of an enemy formation, which... you probably, definitely don’t want to make a habit of.

It’s great for covering your retreat, but not your advance or setup like the normal Mist is.

Aqueous Orb is a good choice if your party is getting screwed over by the mist more than the enemy, creating a big ol’ 10ft ball of water that intercepts and engulfs anything that moves into it, or which it moves into. It deals 2d6 nonlethal damage whenever it rams into a creature and a further 2d6 to everything it has engulfed each round, but the damage isn’t so much the main draw as the fact it’s a massive, roving Sphere of Grappling, snaring and drowning any creature it manages to get ahold of if they fail the Reflex save. It’s a fun little spell that’s great for mopping up and controlling minions, especially ones you don’t actually want to kill, and even at its worst it can become a makeshift barrier in a narrow hallway since there’s no written way to actually move through it beyond wasting 2, 3, or more rounds by slamming into it and swimming through to the other side while your party books it in the other direction.

Boon 2: River Traveler. As a free action, you can grant yourself and any allies within 30 feet of you a swim speed of 60 feet. This effect lasts for 1 round per Hit Die you possess or until you dismiss it as a free action, whichever comes first. Your allies must remain within 30 feet of you or lose this benefit. In addition, you gain a +2 profane or sacred bonus on saves against spells with the Water descriptor.

See, this should have been added to River Scion as a bonus. River Scion and River Traveler feel like they could have combined into a single Boon to make something decent, but as it is they both fall into the same niche: Solves the encounter they’re meant to solve, useless otherwise. This ability is noteworthy for having no restrictions about how many times it can be used, essentially letting you switch swimming off and on at will. The fact it doesn’t take an action is incredibly important, because using the massive 60ft swim speed the ability grants actually removes the bonus, as getting further than 30ft from you makes it fizzle.

I don’t really understand why it would grant 60ft of movespeed if they’re restricted to a 30ft bubble, nor do I understand the purpose of the bubble in the first place. It makes exploration a slog, and escape scenarios more finicky than they should be. Since it can be activated whenever you need to as a free action, the duration feels unneeded. There’s so much about this ability that conflicts with itself that it bugs me too much to say much in the way of positives. The +2 to saves vs Water spells is a fun little ribbon, though most Water spells tend to be harmless utility spells rather than ones you’d need to make a save against.

Boon 3: River’s Depths. 1/day as a standard action, you can cause one creature within 30 feet to begin drowning, filling its lungs with water. The target of this ability can attempt a Fortitude save (DC = 10 + 1/2 your HD + your Wis mod) to negate the effect. If the target succeeds, it is staggered for 1 round. If it fails, the target immediately begins to suffocate. On the target’s next turn, it falls unconscious and is reduced to 0 hit points. One round later, the target drops to –1 hit points and is dying. One round after that, the target dies. Each round, the target can attempt a Fortitude save to end the effect. This ability affects only living creatures that must breathe and cannot breathe underwater. This is a curse effect.

Now this one’s just insulting, being a technically weaker version of a level 5 spell, Suffocation. It’s weaker in four ways: 1) It fails against creatures which are amphibious which, if you’re in the River Kingdoms, is many. 2) It’s curse effect, which can mean some creatures are resistant or immune to it. 3) It has a 30ft range, unlike Suffocation’s range of Close (25ft + 5ft/level). And, finally, 4) Just ONE successful save ends the effect entirely, while Suffocation continues to torment and stagger the victim for 3 rounds until its effects finally expire.

It’s hard to ignore fact that it’s a basically a Save-Or-Die with excellent DC scaling, but I can’t get over it being weaker than an existing level 5 spell! ... Granted, Suffocation could probably get away with being bumped an extra level or two higher given how frighteningly effective it is at shutting down any creature who needs to breathe even if they succeed their save. I’m probably slamming down too hard on an ability that, again, is a Save-Or-Die at best and an unavoidable stagger at worst (good for making some emergency repairs against a powerful full-attacker), and for extra fun can be used without any components involved, so you can just drop it on someone out of the blue and they’ll have no idea who just tried to kill them. While I am disappointed it doesn’t meet the power of other Boons, it’s undeniably effective against a large portion of the creatures you’ll be fighting, even at 1/day.

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SENTINEL

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Boon 1: River Warden. Gain Wave Shield 3/day, Masterwork Transformation 2/day, or Quench 1/day.

Wave Shield is one of those rare spells that are amazing to have, but not especially good to prepare or to waste a precious Spells Known slot on. It’s an immediate action spell that grants insurmountable DR and Fire Resistance equal to half your caster level in response to a single incoming attack, which isn’t stupendous at low levels but is a generous equivalent to immediate, on-demand temporary HP as you get higher and higher level. If a creature relies on a lot of little hits rather than a few big ones, blocking even one of them can save you in the long run, and if your DR cancels out the damage from a poisoned or diseased attack, all the better!

It’s not an especially strong spell given how it only works once before fading away, but it’s better than the other two options by a country mile. Masterwork Transformation is something you’ll rarely need more than a few times in a campaign before masterwork items fall into your laps (or you can simply buy them), and by the time you gain this ability it will likely no longer matter. That being said, if you’re in a low-wealth campaign or have been forced to scavenge for your gear, Masterwork Transformation will save you THOUSANDS of gp over the course of your life, because as a spell-like, the material components are ignored and thus you can slowly upgrade your entire party’s armaments for free. Given its ability to affect a generous 50 pieces of ammunition per casting as well means the Ranger and Gunslinger will adore you, and you can work in tandem with a mystic craftsman (PC or otherwise) to get all of your favorite gear enchanted without discarding your precious family heirloom sword for that masterwork one you looted.

Not to mention the simple joy in taking all the gear off a bandit clan, Masterworking all of it, and selling it for a tidy profit.

Compared to the combat utility of Wave Shield and noncombat utility of Masterwork Transformation, it’s hard to make a case for Quench, which falls into the category of ‘niche spell’ like Water Breathing and Water Walking in that it will instantly solve a handful of scenarios and be utterly useless in the rest. Yes, you may need to put out a forest fire or stop a building you’re in from burning to a crisp, but you’ll have to decide if it’s worth giving up three emergency DR 4/-- and Fire Resistance 4 bandages... as the martial-focused Sentinel. If you plan on fighting a fire that day or encountering a magic item that can generate fires (which Quench shuts off for 1d4 hours) and no one else in your party bothered learning Quench, by all means, but as the Sentinel having the DR is probably better in most cases.

Boon 2: River Champion. 3/day as a standard action, you can sculpt water into the form of a melee weapon that you are proficient with. You must have enough water to form the weapon, an amount equal to the weapon’s normal weight. Once formed, the weapon behaves as a weapon of its type with an enhancement bonus of +1, which increases by 1 for every 5 additional HD you have beyond 5 (max +4). This weapon deals double damage to creatures with the Fire subtype. The weapon dissolves into ordinary water after a number of rounds equal to your HD or as soon as it leaves your hand, whichever happens first.

Boons which call weapons to your hand are alright in cases where your signature weapon has been taken from you, and by the time you receive this ability you will have a signature weapon, but such times tend to come few and far between. This one also has the additional caveat that you don’t actually create the weapon from nowhere, there must already be water around to make it, at least enough water to match the weapon’s typical weight. The good news is that a gallon of water weighs about 8 pounds, and a trident--Hanspur’s holy weapon--weighs only 4, with most other weapons barely ever approaching 10, so you can reasonably carry around an emergency weapon in a waterskin or in your backpack... And you know, now that I think about it, it’s kind of cool to be able to turn a glass of water into a dagger.

But when will you need to? How often do you find yourself bereft of a usable weapon often enough to need an emergency armament like this? I can see the niche in front of me, making a new weapon as-needed against creatures whose DR makes them difficult to damage with your normal gear or taking advantage of that delicious little tidbit about doing double-damage to fire-based creatures, but they take your whole standard action to make and last for only a single combat (if that), and you can’t even shuffle around the +1 bonuses for additional effects!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s by no means bad (unless you’re both in a waterless area and haven’t filled your waterskin), especially at 3/day, but I can’t help but wonder when you’d actually need it at level 11+ when you likely already have a primary weapon and several backups. 

Boon 3: River’s Renewal. When completely submerged in water, you gain Fast Healing 2. You can recover a total number of hit points equal to twice your HD in this manner each day. At 20 HD, if you fall below 0 hit points and your body is fully submerged in a river, you automatically stabilize.

As a final Boon, I wish the Fast Healing had a higher threshold than just 28 points a day (+2 per level). In combat it likely won’t matter, and while out of combat it’s a decent amount of healing, usually enough to spare a couple spell slots from your healers or some potions, it’s just not all that impressive for a third and final Boon. Sentinels are the only followers of Hanspur who don’t get some method to easily navigate the seas, so taking advantage of this Boon to its fullest extent relies on an outside method of gaining water breathing or a swim speed.

Funnily enough, you can carry around a Bag of Holding filled with water and use it as a recuperative pod in case you don’t have access to a deep puddle, which is dubiously useful but not entirely terrible. HOWEVER, the little addition at the end is also a kick in the teeth; why does that only happen at level 20? Why can’t that be a base part of the Boon? It’s just insul--Wait, it only works if you’re submerged in a river, too? You can’t stabilize with some good old pond water? The mighty ocean? Can’t take a dip in a bathtub to stop bleeding out? Come on, Hanspur!!! Be a little more generous to your worshipers!

I dunno, maybe I’m underselling the out-of-combat healing this Boon offers, but it just doesn’t feel worth it to put up with the Water Rat for your entire adventuring career just for an extra 1/8th of an HP bar.

You can read more about him here.

[witch-hazels-musings]

I hope this doesn't sound dumb but you seem knowledgeable when it comes to Genshin Impact, and well, I've sort of hit a wall.😅 I'm getting my ass handed to me by bosses and even ruin guards, I can't tell you how many teyvat fried eggs I've used.. I'm not doing very much damage, and I think it might be my party setup. I have Diluc main DPS, Razor sub DPS and Venti and Bennet as Support. What do you think?

hey! 

so this is a tough question to answer - there could be a lot of things you could do to help you out. 

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Here are some things that might be more universal to look at: 

what level are your character talents? - depending on the purpose of the character you only want to level up what is necessary. Ex: Diluc *point* = first two talents first since those can be used in good combos, Venti *support* = second/third talent

what type of artifacts do you have? - are they supportive and useful for your characters (there are a lot of character artifact guides out there you can look at) -- points/main DPS should prioritize crit* & attk*

what weapon are you using for your characters? - each weapon has their own affects and not all weapons are good for each character, the prototype claymore is good for Diluc until you get a better one, and the debate club is good for Razor 

How are you using elemental reactions to support your damage and main dps? -> EX: pyro + electro is really good in combination, smack the enemy with razor’s claw, switch to Diluc and smack with fire 

Where are you on the battle field? - are you stationary and just trying to his everything you can or are you constantly on the move, dashing behind enemies, learning enemy movies and dodging out of the way before they strike? Ex: Do you use the specials of Venti to gather up all the enemies so you can focus on hitting them with Diluc / Razor without getting hit

These are just a few things that might help you out - there is a lot that goes into building a good team and if you only have 1 character that does all the damage and all other characters support them = good team 

Here is mine: 

Diluc is the point (C1, lvl 80) I’ve built him up to crit at around 11k right now (which honestly, isn’t even that good, but it gets the job done for me) 

Fischl (C2, lvl 70) I’ve prioritized OZ over everything else, she is on the field for like three seconds and then is off again - i also use her to reposition behind enemies if I get cornered or need to reposition 

Zhongli (C1, lvl 80) I prioritized shield strength and longevity, he sets the shield and leaves the field 

Barbara (C3, lvl 80) She keeps my party alive and I use her super like once every 100th+ fight because I’ve built a team to support and protect Diluc 

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hope this helps!! you can always message me to chat more if you want more individualized support :)