#whereas i played Only campaigns with druids

[theinsanecrayonbox]

new character who dis?

great question! i do not recommend having to roll up a new char high leveled midsession unless you have a clear idea mostly solidified (yes 6th is high when i've only played 2 other classes). for me at least, it was very stressful ^^; i got overwhelmed trying to do a different character for a more confusing class, but then i noped out of that and did this lady instead because i had at least 75% of her thought up whereas the other was like 12%...despite us already having a cleric ^^;

anywhos, Lupe Lunas, but everyone calls her Lulu, the moon bunny cleric. i'd actually had the idea of her a few weeks back, and thought she'd be my primary backup, but then S'tara kept surviving, and like said we have a party cleric so i didn't wanna double up...but again this is my second 5e campaign, i only know how Warlock and Druid work. but i know Clerics (far better than the Artificer ^^; ) so here we are. her history...idk man, she just got dumped in the middle of an ongoing narrative; she was in a debris field from a battle with Vampirates...why would a very-against-undead cleric be with vampirates? (though as i was putting together her art pack i chuckled realized i'd made my DM a liar when he said according to the book there was no cleric with the vampirates when when trying to see if maybe they could resurrect S'tara).

i guess after working on her art pack, and mulling it over for a week though...her family was part of a moon colony, and either their moon or the planet the mon went with was also attacked by the Evil Empire, so she and her family members went out to help refugees and/or find a way to help stop the Evil Empire, so she happened to be on a ship that hooked up with the vampirates' grouping, and then that got blown up in a dog fight, and thus she was flung onto the party's ship as they were coming to seek out to join up with the vampirates. yeah, that makes sense, i can work with that.

so she's kind of a bit nervous, a little skittish, and small. and fluffy.

just cause i like height charts, lookit how small she is compared to Theta, Nyxie, and S'tara. so not *that* small, but still. small moon bunny girl.

i don't fully vibe with her playlist (it's mostly got songs to get me into a voice than her story mood) but hey, at least she got a sticker-charm. i do admit, i really do like her design, and drawing her is fun.

[evokersapprentice]

Pros and CON

As a relatively new player who is just about figuring out how the game works, I was wondering if I had any tips for my past self, any wisdom to offer for those just starting out. Funnily enough, my insight may be mostly to do with my lack of Wisdom, given that it just stopped me from multiclassing as a cleric.

It's not necessarily a lack of knowledge. I recently did a deep dive into some of the detail of the game, and I would heartily recommend that, but I wouldn't say it's required. A great thing about D&D is that it can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be. You get out what you put in, but you can still have a lot of fun as a complete novice.

Some of the older heads you hear from get snobbish about people who don't want to do the reading, or are only interested in certain areas of the game, but I'm not keen on all that gatekeeping. Even within my party there are various levels of enthusiasm for various things, and we just complement each other. If they don't care about optimisation and just want to play dress up, that works fine for me.

I got through a good few levels without knowing what a rogue was (although spelling it seems to put me in the top few percentiles of forum users) and it hasn't hurt me at all. The one thing I would say with hindsight, as a wizard, is to think early on about your build if you think there's any chance you'll want to later. You have limited decision points, and they lock you in forever, so when you later know what you're doing you might regret it. Your future self could be grateful for a little forward planning now.

It starts at day one, with your character sheet ability scores. Mine was pre-made, and I've worn those limits ever since. For example, others in the party are now looking to multiclass, and I can't take a level in cleric (or druid, or bard or sorcerer), because I don't have the Wisdom (or Charisma) you need. You may want to think about that.

You then have precious few chances to build on that starting point. At levels four, eight, twelve, sixteen and nineteen, you can either add two points to these scores or take a feat (if you're playing that way). I made my choices at level four without thinking about my overall plan, and that's limited my options now as well. I'm not saying that you need to optimise your character, but there are ways to make them better at whatever you want them to do.

Some of these points are conditional on how long you expect your campaign to last, given that some builds work better in the short term, medium term, long term, or you may just want to get the things you need now rather than planning for the future.

As wizards, I think we're both better and worse off than other classes. We have more decision points, as we get to choose new spells at every level, and unlike most casters we're limited to those spells and can't choose from the whole list each day. Those decisions are locked in, so the random spells you picked early on are two better spells that you now don't know.

But compared to martial characters, our ability scores and even feats don't feel as crucial. Magic can cover over most of our deficiencies, whereas they need to hone themselves into a specialised fighting machine to keep up. If you're a wizard going all the way to the endgame, you probably don't need to worry about power, because you're destined for omnipotence at level 17. You just probably don't want to delay that much with multiclassing.

In my campaign so far, I've been more concerned about the other side. Young wizards are extremely fragile, and with no worries about doing damage I've been mostly looking for ways to wrap my character in cotton wool. You may want to plan around that as well. Investment in AC, HP, saving throws, that kind of thing. Not feeling afraid every time a bad guy looks your way, pleading for the tank to save you. You don't need to be a tank yourself, but you need a little bit of weight so you're not knocked down by a breeze.

For all of their strengths, wizards also contend with a lot of different limiting factors. They can only learn those two spells per level, whereas others get access to a full list, and have to make sure they choose the right ones at the time and for the future. They can also only prepare a certain number of spells per day: at the moment that's 13 for me, which feels like a lot, but there are easily over 13 spells I'd like access to in case they came up, and that list is only going to grow as I keep learning stronger spells at high levels.

Wizards can do so many different things, but you're restricted and made to choose which of them you want to do with your build, and then again on any given day. Then you only have a handful of spell slots, and even fewer at each level. Then there's action economy: everybody is limited to one action per turn, except that some of the other classes get multiple attacks or bonus actions, and wizards are further limited by only being able to cast one levelled spell per turn.

Finally, we have to think about concentration, which seriously limits the number of our more powerful spells we can use to one per combat. Everything has a massive opportunity cost. If I use a fifth level concentration spell, that means a) I use up my action for that turn, b) I can't use a spell as a bonus action, c) I lose a fifth level spell slot, which seriously dents my capabilities for the rest of the day, d) I can't cast any of my other concentration spells whilst it lasts. Any wizard-building may want to look at loosening those restrictions as much as possible.

I would say take all other guidance with a pinch of salt. There's an awful lot of unqualified and unhelpful guidance out there, probably including a lot of what I've had to say. A lot of it's down to subjective opinion: so much depends on your DM, your party, your role, and what you actually enjoy. You'll see discussions of a spell where they haven't actually read the T&Cs properly, or without mentioning that their campaign plays a certain house rule that makes it work.

Even two of the more comprehensive guides to wizardry, from Treatmonk (spells here) and RPGBOT (spells here), can offer massively different conclusions. The former ranks Hold Monster as a mid-tier spell, the latter holds it up as one of the best. I find such guides to be useful as a reference, but I often come away with a difference in opinion. Every game is unique and you can find a niche for whatever build you like. It's just about making sure your choices complement each other, and ideally the rest of your party.

As a personal example, both of those guides are fairly in agreement that the purpose of a wizard is battlefield control, to cast save-or-suck spells to debuff the bad guys and leave them vulnerable for your teammates to finish off. I don't really do that, for three reasons. One, my druid really enjoys that role, and I find myself best deployed doing something else. Second, I was set up as an evocation blaster, and feel that there's an incentive to lean into that. Third, I don't really want to.

In my adventures thus far, I've found that our enemies are either weak enough for us to deal with the old fashioned way (hit them with a load of damage as quickly as possible), in which case save-or-suck is an unnecessary delay compared to blasting, or so strong that they can probably resist me (for example, some monsters have +6 to saving throws against my 16 DC), in which case they're of limited use, especially if they also hog my concentration.

There's a half chance that I'll get them to stick for one round, but then there's another saving throw, and an equal chance that I've achieved nothing at all. I've seen suggestions that aggressive use of Silvery Barbs can make those spells more of a certainty, but a) I'm the only one in my party who knows it, so it's only one re-roll per round b) I'm not made of spell-slots, and c) I don't want to push it and annoy my DM too much.

Then there's dragons to consider. We're in a fairly dragon-heavy campaign, where the big foes who can't be simply blasted aside are often draconic in flavour. All of the adults have Legendary Resistance, allowing them the ability to turn a failed saving throw into a success, three times a day. If they're succeeding at least half of the time anyway, you've got to waste an average of seven or eight save-or-suck spells before one actually hits. At that stage, the fight is over and you could have done 200+ damage instead.

My biggest frustration in combat is wasting a turn, and wasting a spell slot, given all of the limitations above. Wizards don't have enough of these things to throw away, and I want to make them count: perhaps via other forms of battlefield control, perhaps by buffing my friends, perhaps just by dealing damage, but all things which are guaranteed to have some sort of impact.

Given all of the above, my priorities to cover over wizard limitations are as follows:

Gain more spell slots, if possible, or find a way to reduce avoidable spell usage (e.g. Mage Armour each morning).

Raise the cap on the number of different spells I can prepare.

Protect myself from damage. As well as my health, my concentration spells are expensive, and I don't want to lose it.

I sometimes wish I was a Bladesinger (with flowers in my hair), but discovered that subclass long after I'd been assigned Evocation as a novice who didn't know what it meant. I live Evocation, but sometimes I do think longingly about what a cool ability Bladesong is. Adding your INT modifier to both AC and concentration saving throws is tasty, especially as you were going to maximise it anyway (so it's between +3 and +5).

I think you can rebuild it in the aggregate, maybe even better, but at the cost of some of your upgrades. A dip into Artificer would seem to be the ideal alternative. If you start there, you get both proficiency in medium armour and shields and in CON saving throws. It costs you a level's delay in terms of learning spells, but you get to the same place in the end.

The Bladesinger can only wear light armour, so their best bet is probably Mage Armour for a 13 + DEX + INT total. For me that would be an AC of 19 at the moment. The ArtWiz would get the same total with medium armour, a shield, and the same +2 to DEX. They would then save a first level spell slot per day, which as another use of Silvery Barbs (or any better alternative in the moment) is not to be sneezed at.

The Bladesinger has a higher ceiling (they can add another +1 to INT, and keep increasing their DEX if they like), but I think at that stage you're already maxing out AC's usefulness. With the Shield spell up your sleeve, very few attacks are going to be hitting on a 24, and of those there are very few which would then miss on a 25, 26, 27. The marginal benefit decreases the higher that you go.

In addition, as a general point, I think it's worth noting that AC is not as important for wizards as it may seem at first, when you get your character sheet with that big number in the middle. Unless you come across a lot of archers, it's mainly for character who are going to be in melee range, in which case the more obvious solution is just to get out of there.

Wizards will usually lurk at the back of the party, and most of the ranged attacks they face will be of the saving throw variety, like a dragon's breath, which makes AC useless. It's worth having at a decent level for those odd moments, including surprise attacks (like when I got myself surrounded by kobolds and had to self-immolate with a fireball on myself), but pushing it higher and higher will never make you invulnerable.

Whilst we're talking about the Bladesinger's cons, it's important to note that they don't have a bonus to CON saving throws in general, only concentration ones. That's nice, but concentration is sort of a second-order defence: if you're making a concentration save, you've already been hit, so you have other problems. It would be better to stop the damage in the first place. For many ranged attacks, CON or DEX function like AC, so it's worth pumping one or both up in their own right. It might even save your life.

For illustration, a white dragon's breath attack needs a CON saving throw against a 19 DC, or face an average of 54 damage. If it hits, you've got to run a concentration save to beat 27, which is impossible even with a +5 INT modifier. Given a wizard's low HP, you may also be dead. It would be much better to have a +4 to CON in the first place, potentially saving you from full damage in the initial check, and then still get that +4 to concentration if it did come down to that.

I've come across CON saving throws out of combat too, and it would be annoying to lose concentration on my fifth-level summon because the fighter trod on a poisonous mushroom, or have all your preparation taken out by the same dragon's lair effects before they even turn to attack you. Being able to add your proficiency bonus, which scales at least as quickly as your INT modifier will, could be every bit as handy as the AC boost.

You could grab Bladesinger as well as your first level in Artificer, to really supercharge your concentration, but then it would prevent you from enjoying your newfound armour proficiency. Many multiclass builds like to match subclasses which have 'synergy', but there's often a lot of wastage in the overlap because that subclass is supposed to compensate for NOT being a fighter or whatever. You may get just as much by letting Artificer solve these particular problems and going with a different school for another flavour of benefit.

Annoyingly, I can't do either of the options above, and have to settle with third choice: starting at Wizard and dipping into Artificer at a later stage. This still gives me the benefit of armour, but I don't get any sort of CON protection. My only route to that is picking up a feat later on, which I may well end up doing (Resilient and investing in CON anyway for HP and saving throws), but that's still a big opportunity cost.

But ideal timing or not, I still think a one level dip into Artificer is worthwhile. You don't miss out on spell slots at all, you're still INT based, and you get the chance to pick up a decent number of Artificer spells (two cantrips and five first level spells for me). They're all at low levels, so it's sort of a choice between seven weak spells or two strong ones. That already feels like a fair trade-off if you're looking for more flexibility, but there are also three benefits to choosing the seven.

First, it's flexibility on top of flexibility. Artificers don't learn spells like wizards do; they prepare them each day from a much wider list. This means that you aren't actually limited to seven spells, just seven spells on any given day. You can see what you use or not and switch it up. Second, it's much more choice on each of those days. Because you can prepare these spells as an Artificer, they don't count against your ~13 prepared spells as a wizard. You can even re-take wizarding favourites, like Feather Fall or Absorb Elements, to free up space for a higher level wizard spell. This massively loosens one of your main restrictions to future growth.

Finally, the Artificer has access to spells you would otherwise never have access to, such as Guidance, Sanctuary or Cure Wounds from the Cleric playbook. You can always find a way to learn more wizard spells, if you find a library or wizard to teach you, but other class's abilities are usually off-limits. These options let you be a lot more versatile, and allow you to find a use for lower level slots which might have otherwise been wasted.

In summary, armour serves to both protect you from damage (saving both HP and concentration) and spare you your Mage Armour both as a daily spell slot and as a prepared spell. The starting CON proficiency, if you can get it, likewise helps protect you from damage (saving HP once and concentration twice). Artificer spellcasting massively increases your number of prepared spells and widens your options in every way. It's not a bad haul.

Another detail of my planned build is that I took Fae Transportation as a feat. It's only a 'half feat', allowing me to increase my INT by one, which already lessens the cost, and I think that overall it's been worth sacrificing another INT increase. Not only because I got to learn two useful spells which I didn't previously know (Misty Step and Silvery Barbs), but because I effectively gained two spell slots (at first and second level) and two prepared spells (as they don't count against my thirteen). As those limitations start to bite, I feel like that sort of benefit is overlooked.

But concentration is still the thing that holds my attention. I don't want to waste my spells: most people recommend maximising your save DC for that reason, but I want to max my CON too. If I was building a new character, I might start with Artificer, then go Bladesinger, then take War Caster instead of Resilient (due to already having proficiency).

Investing a little more in CON over some of my wasted stats could then give a +11 (+3 CON +4 INT + proficiency) bonus on CON saving throws at this stage, which is enough to guarantee 24 damage doesn't shake your concentration, plus advantage on those rolls to make you pretty safe beyond that. It's just the breath attacks you need to dodge, and there are other ways around those. Blink, Sanctuary, Mirror Image are all non-concentration spells you can cast before a big combat. A Draconic Spirit can lend you a resistance of your choice. A wizard can actually be pretty hard to hurt, which is just the way I want them.

[whatisurspaghettipolicy]

I rolled both of my long term DND characters in BG3 with the assumption that they'd already gone through some of their campaign shit in the game before being tadpole'd.

So from Out of the Abyss there's Rhea "I'm secretly a princess, my father is a king, a lich, and a Bane follower. He's a human who captured my Shadar-Kai mother and holds her hostage. My siblings and I were brutally abused and often played against each other. I trust only my twin brother, but I do not truly trust him because his fear of our father eclipses his love for me and he will sell me out if I tell him my secrets. I was raised to be evil and my first instinct is to be evil, and my nature is to be evil, but I am trying very hard to be worthy of my neutral goddess, The Raven Queen, who I am so aware is insane and probably isn't aware enough to hear the specifics of my prayers. There is nothing more important to me than memory; my father killed my girlfriend in front of me and I lean on her memory constantly as a phantom class rogue. I know I am doomed and will die when I finally face my father again in combat, but I want to bring as much Righteousness to the world as possible to balance that out, so I multiclassed to become a paladin, but my reasons for being a paladin relate entirely to vengeance so perhaps I am not worthy of that either, so I will overcompensate through devotion to my goddess. I am trying to be good and nice but it is alien to me and I often lash out with violence. I extend hands of peace and comfort to the wrong people, because I want them to be redeemable, because if they are redeemable perhaps I am. I cannot hope for Elysium, but one day perhaps when I die the Mother of Ravens will claim my soul and memories, embrace me in the Shadowfell and I can stay by her side, despite my many failings" Dancer Vs Curse of Strahd's Justin "I was raised by dragons in a monastery to Bahamut so I don't have a functioning understanding of what it is to be human, but I do have moral guilt and a sexual obsession with Bahamut's human form" Time.

They both come from different points too. Rhea comes from being stuck in the Underdark, newly knighted (Vengeance Paladin 3, Phantom Rogue 5), with a red dragon buddy she's teaching to be good as she learns how to be good. She's finally understanding that she can't bring her girlfriend or her friends back, but she can rely on their souls thanks to the glory of the Raven Queen. She might cry herself to sleep every night, but every day is a new... well, there's no dawn in the Underdark, but she's stopped giving herself raven themed tattoos with some ink and a needle when she's going insane at night.

Whereas Justin is from a game of Curse of Strahd where he has been driven fully fucking unhinged by his party, Barovia, and to an extent, his own god. In CoS, he has lost the ability to use a sword due to repeatedly breaking the tenets of the Oath of Devotion, so he gave his shield to his only friend (the druid) to protect her and rushes into battle punching and grappling people.

And roleplaying them with these stories in mind unlocks the most incredible stories like --

Rhea's entire position in the crew is trying to push them to be their better selves, trying to support them, sometimes being a massive dickhead and immediately trying to right the ship. After finding out about Orin's father, her initial response is to reach out to her because they aren't so different, in her mind. She romanced Shadowheart almost by accident, because she wanted to find her memories, and spent the rest of her quest increasingly furious at Shar for religious/personal reasons while hiding it.

Whereas Justin bumbles along threatening anyone mean as though he's not a 5'6 lil guy who was trapped in Strahd's domain of dread getting into bitch fights with a dhampir until super recently.

And like, how they respond to different origin companions hitting on them too - Shadowheart going "perhaps we can take a walk somewhere... :)))))" has Rhea immediately going "and I shall take a potion of water breathing along so I can eat it until I evolve gills" whereas Justin is totally put off by all this mammalian activity.

He's too busy trying to lick his own eyeballs to lick anyone else. Gale asks him to a secondary location and he assumes it's because Gale wants to eat more shoes, Karlach says she likes him, he figures they're buddies. Astarion makes comments about celebrating with sex and he's like "????? Did you lay an egg????" Lae'zel asks to taste him and he gives her a vial of blood. Wyll talks about dancing and he goes "seems physically inefficient. Good night." Shadowheart asks him to go somewhere quiet and he's like "hm, she must be impressed by the warding bond I cast earlier today and want to compare cleric spells."

(he will still hold all of their hands because heat is important even if none of them are cold blooded. And because the Bahamut Bible says nothing about not being allowed to hug the homies.)

Anyway I just like this game a lot that's it thanks everyone

[ablogofsapphicpanic]

Okay I am only going to do the ones listed here bc I do have more but I'll keep it semi short (not really) and I will be discussing multiclasses. I am drawing from A LOT of sourcebooks.

Elain - I also like divination wizard for her because I'm actually playing with one in a current campaign and it works really well for how vague and unclear her visions are. I feel like you could apply a level or two of druid but there's nothing extraordinarily magical about her interest in plants so I think the divination ultimately works better.

Lucien - I like clockwork soul sorcerer / college of eloqeunce bard for him. A clockwork soul sorcerer is fun for him to me because I typically class Eris/Beron as a draconic sorcerer and it allows Lucien to fall under the line with the inheritance of magic, but the magic of the clockwork soul lends itself well to the spell-cleaving aspect that he would get from Helion. As for the multiclass into bard, I think the silver tongue/unsettling words are something he does very well as an emissary and we've seen he's sassy as fuck.

Cassian - I think eldritch knight fighter works really well for the Illyrians in general because their main weapon is still a sword but they pull magic into melee fighting which is good for the flavor of Illyrians. The war magic is really cool bc when you cast it lets you make a bonus weapon attack which is pretty self-explanatory

Nesta - I actually go back and forth on her a lot between a necromancy wizard and a death cleric. Both have their bonuses but I think ultimately a death cleric fits because it is a power drawn from a god/otherworldly being and it has more in depth stuff like ignoring resistance to necrotic damage and it does also give proficiency with martial weapons which lends itself to the Valkyries and the warrior training she has

Azriel - I do like assassin rogue that MB mentioned but there is the way of the shadow monk which feels more spy to me. Part of the reason I prefer it over the assassin rogue is the assassin rogue is more focused on actual killing and disguising yourself to hide whereas the way of the shadow literally has hiding and traveling in shadows which is his whole shtick.

Feyre - Another multiclass coming in. Ranger with no specialty bc it was out of necessity but if you want to argue she was skilled enough to have hit a level require specialty, I'd go with simple hunter because there's no magic involved with what she does. When she becomes fae, it's tempest domain cleric all the way. It gives fun flavoring that could apply to the magic she inherits from the high lords and doesn't restrict her to one type of element or anything. Only thing it doesn't really give is the shapeshifting

Rhys - Sorcerer fits really well if you go with aberrant mind. It's basically a daemati. It's got all the cool spells and obviously outside of the class specific spells you can equip him with ones for all of his less specific spells, and even the shadow manipulation. There is also the shadow magic sorcerer but ultimately if I had to choose I'd pick aberrant mind and have him with darkness and stuff like that.

If you want any others, feel free to ask! I love to blab about DND

What dnd classes would the acotar characters be?

Elain - divination wizard/some kind of druid?

Lucien - paladin/fire sorcerer mix to get the radiant damage?

Cassian - fighter with maybe a little barbarian

Nesta - could be some kind of warlock related to the cauldron

Azriel - rogue

Feyre - I have no idea as she can literally do anything

Rhys - sorcerer? Idk like feyre he's difficult to categorise

Any ideas?

This really is a question for @ablogofsapphicpanic who has a well written dissertation on the subject. I will defer to her wisdom though I personally think Feyre is a ranger.

And that everyone is gonna be so excited for me and @velidewrites next acotarss gate installment

[chilltouch]

thinking about them... (old and retired characters)

[clericofsune]

Dimensions & Demigods: Building Raven at Level 40

For those not in the know, I’m currently playing in a campaign that’s basically Descent into Avernus stretched out to include all Nine Circles of the Nine Hells, followed by a detour through Into the Abyss, and then running out to Barovia for some milk, pack of smokes, and bullying the local goth shut-in. This campaign is designed with the players intended to fight Archdevils, Archdemons, entire armies, and a hyper roided-out Strahd. As such, the DM has told us ahead of time that our level cap will be level 40. I have dubbed playing at this level “Dimensions & Demigods” because by level 40, a mere dragon in a dungeon is child’s play. And as part of a little treat, I’ll be building the ENTIRE Teen Titans for a Dimensions & Demigods level playstyle. But, I am starting with Raven because in case you’re new to my page, she isn’t just my favorite character in the show, she’s my favorite superhero PERIOD. DC, Marvel, or otherwise. So, it would be an insult to my queen to not give her the honor of being first.

PARTY BALANCE

Before we get into actually building Raven herself, I need to talk about how the Teen Titans fares as a party. Broadly speaking, there are 5 major roles that need filling in a party: DPS, Tank, Healer, Blaster, and Stealth. For the Teen Titans, Raven is not the “Blaster”. That role belongs to Starfire. Starfire is the damage-heavy “black mage” of the party, while also being somewhat of a secondary Tank alongside Cyborg/Blue Beetle and Beast Boy. Raven, by contrast, is what’s called a Utility Caster. A Utility Caster is someone who can use their spells to get the party around tricky situations, such as using magic to open a locked door, scout ahead, disarm traps, help the party get past obstructions in their path, and more. However, there’s a major role that the party lacks: Healer. Whenever one of the Titans gets hurt, it’s usually Cyborg who looks over the team member in the sick bay, but Raven has displayed the rare occasional ability to heal wounds, but only ever by touch. This means that the role of Healer is split between Cyborg and Raven. Neither is a dedicated healbot. However, Cyborg is an Artificer, which is a half-caster, whereas Raven is a full caster. As such, more of the responsibility would fall on her. Furthermore, if you’re going by the DC Animated Universe team composition, Cyborg is technically in the Justice League and not even in the party. While he’s with the team in the first movie, he’s completely absent in the Judas Contract. Thus leaving the entire burden of Team Healer on Raven. Yes, Beast Boy is a Druid, but he has no magical powers. While someone could build a fantasy counterpart Beast Boy that is a dedicated team healer, we can’t rely on a Beast Boy player to want take up the mantle of healer because Beast Boy does not canonically have magical powers beyond his wild-shaping. As such, someone wanting to play as Beast Boy may not want to take any spells, and might even dump his Wisdom stat just high enough to qualify for the Druid class. So, we need Raven to fulfil the Healer and Utility Caster roles for the party.

Raven Roth is the half-fiend daughter of Trigon the Terrible and the mortal woman, Arella Roth. Arella was lured into a demonic cult where she was chosen to lay with their demon lord to conceive his heir. Afterwards, Arella and the unborn child were spirited away by Azar and the Monks to the plane of Azarath, where Raven was born and raised. From a young age, Raven was taught to conceal and control her emotions, focusing her mind to accomplish great psionic abilities.

On paper, Raven sounds like a perfect Tiefling. She’s a humanoid with fiendish ancestry, and it’s not a bad choice. However, I feel there’s a stronger choice for Raven’s race: Fallen Aasimar. Tieflings get Fire resistance which, near as I can tell, Raven is not particularly fireproof in the slightest. Whereas Fallen Aasimar lets Raven unleash her Dark Side. Starting at 3rd Level, Fallen Aasimars get Necrotic Shroud. As an action, they can take on a dark and frightening form so horrifying that all nearby creatures have to pass a saving throw to avoid being scared of her. For the next minute, she adds her level in Necrotic damage to one attack damage roll per turn over the course of 10 rounds. I don’t know about you, but to me, that reads like she’s tapping into Dark Raven, or even Red Raven. Plus, Aasimars get Healing Hands, a feature we can see that Raven obviously possesses. They still get Dark Vision just like Tieflings, and get two resistances instead of one: Radiant and Necrotic, which in DnD, are often used to signify Holy and Unholy magic, tying Raven closer to her brand of demonic magic.

Raven is an extraplanar visitor from Azaroth, which I would most likely call the Astral Plane, though the Upper Planes would also make sense. A DnD counterpart to Raven could have also been raised by her father in the Nine Hells or the Abyss. Regardless, Raven is a newcomer to the Material Plane having come from another plane of existence. I would label her a Far Traveler, giving her proficiency in Insight and Perception. Two skills which are very important for an empath like Raven.

For Alignment, I believe that Raven is Lawful Good, though she can veer into Neutral Good when necessary. Raven has a strict moral code and enforces mental discipline on not only herself, but those around her. When her teammates react emotionally, Raven reminds them to apply logic, even to the point of suppressing and denying her own feelings on the matter. When Robin appears to have become a full-fledged supervillain, Raven is the first Titan to say that they have to stop him, no matter how they might feel about it. Their duty as superheroes comes before their feelings about it being Robin. Occasionally, Raven will stoop to less Lawful actions like convincing Gizmo to help the Titans fix Cyborg by scaring him with something horrible under her hood and being thrilled to tease Beast Boy about his real name being Garfield, stating that she’ll ‘get a lot of mileage out of this one’. However, by-and-large, Raven puts her beliefs, duty, and discipline before anyone and anything else, so long as it serves to benefit the greater good.

WARLOCK FIEND PATRON (PACT OF THE CHAIN)

While I am aware that Concentration is one of the best saving throws in the game, I’m also aware that a common weakness of Raven is that it’s very easy to break her concentration on spells. She’s often interrupted, loses focus, or even becomes weak and enfeebled after using a lot of power, especially in the DC animted films where she faints often after using a lot of magic. So, for accuracy’s sake, we’re starting Raven as a Fiend Warlock because they get proficiency in Wisdom and Charisma saving throws. As a Warlock, we’ll Give Raven proficiency in Arcana and Intimidation skill checks. If you’re trying to Power Build, by all means, grab Sorcerer at level 1, but I’m trying to also stay true to Raven as a character. We want anywhere from 2 - 20 levels in Warlock. This is really a build-your-own-Raven because between the three subclasses I’m showing you, there’s not really any wrong way to go. Having Raven Hurl Through Hell her enemies is just as in-character as being a heal-bot. So cater to what the party needs. For her familiar, go with a spectral raven.

WIZARD

No matter what kind of Wizard we choose to build, we’re going to want at least 14 - 20 levels in Wizard. It will be our primary class for building Raven. There’s a lot of good choices for Wizard subclass, but the main thing we’re here for is that massive spell list. Raven’s psionic powers translate well to a wide variety of spells, and Wizard really lets Raven do a lot of the more interesting things with her spells. The 18th level feature also lets Raven cast any 1st and 2nd level spell indefinitely. Throw Shield and Blur on her, and she has a permanent +5 to her AC and enemies have disadvantage on hitting her. Choose Detect Magic and Detect Thoughts, and she’ll be able to really flex her extrasensory perception.

SCHOOL OF ABJURATION

As an Abjuration Wizard, Raven becomes a shield maiden for her team, able to protect herself and others with her forcefields. While her forcefields are by no means her main method of combat, she uses them often enough that the School of Abjuration feels like a good fit for Raven. Plus, in the early levels, having a little extra Temporary HP on a Wizard is extremely valuable. At higher levels, she can protect her friends with her Arcane Ward which you could flavor as her sending out her astral raven to guard them, projecting her soul as a shield. And by late game, she becomes resistant to all magic damage, showing her to be a true master of magic.

SCHOOL OF ENCHANTMENT

For anyone familiar with Raven from the comics, the School of Enchantment is very fitting for Raven. Dealing with the manipulation of emotions, senses, and mind control, the School of Enchantment would let Raven summon two demons and be able to cast Dominate Monster on both of them. Twin casting enchantment spells is extremely good, and on brand for the types of things we see Raven do in the comics. She doesn’t do this sort of thing as much in the show or movies, but emotional manipulation is a part of her empathic abilities.

SCHOOL OF PSIONICS (UA)

To this day, I am salty that this subclass was never formally published, but Psi Knight and Soul Knife were, because it basically screams ‘Raven’ at the top of its lungs. If I were to pick the perfect wizard subclass for Raven, this would be my first choice. However, because it never made it past the Unearthed Arcana phase, some DMs might not allow it. Granted, this is a build for a level 40 character, so your DM is probably going to allow UA. I’ve never had a DM that didn’t allow UA. But, those DMs do exist, so I have to put a little asterisk next to this subclass, even though it’s the best choice for Raven. As a Psionics Wizard, Raven can cast Friends without enemies turning hostile, turn into her astral raven form, add her INT mod to Force and Psychic spell damage rolls, can cast Telekinesis, Scrying, or Dominate Person once without using a spell slot, and at later levels, her Astral Form can move through solid objects, letting her fly through walls. Also worth pointing out, Eldritch Blast is a Force damage spell. So a Fiend Warlock with Agonizing Blast, Empowered Psionics, and has maxed out both INT and CHA is rolling 4d10+40. At least, so long as all four beams are aimed at one enemy. Empowered Psionics only works on one enemy per turn. Still, dealing 44 force damage at bare minimum is going to really help elevate Raven from out of the Utility Caster role to let her do a bit of Blasting, helping her to feel more useful and powerful in combat encounters. I’ve never gotten to really use a Raven build for a full campaign, but the few times I’ve tried to build her in a campaign, she lagged a bit behind in the combat department due to her squishy hit points and abundance of utility and support spells. So, this combo really turns Raven into a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. And you can get both features as early as level 12, so it comes on relatively early as well, at least for a level 40 build.

SCHOOL OF THEURGY (UA)

The only reason you should grab this subclass is because you need a healer, but you also want all of the Warlock levels. If you want to build a pure Wizlock, but also be a healer, then this subclass will be a good fit. Similar to Psionics, this subclass never made it past Unearthed Arcana, so you will need your DMs approval to use this subclass. You also get to pick features from a Cleric Domain. Life, Grave, and Knowledge are great choices for Raven, though even Peace can fit her. If you choose Knowledge, Raven gains Expertise in Arcana and either Religion or History. Since Arcana was a skill we chose as a Warlock, if you’re planning on taking the Knowledge Theurgy route, take Intimidation and either Investigation, History, or Religion as your second Warlock skill.

SORCERER DIVINE SOUL ORIGIN (EVIL)

There are two reasons we want these Sorcerer levels. Firstly, it’s a way to give Raven healing spells without being a Cleric and splitting her casting stat focus between three stats. The second is that it gives Raven access to Sorcery Points and Metamagic Options. Lorewise, this is the most accurate way to build Raven. Her powers stem from her demonic heritage, though they are also a gift from Trigon. Her powers are also tied to her emotions, so connecting her powers to the emotion stat is very appropriate. I count Trigon as working for the Divine Soul Origin because he maps very easily onto Asmodeus, the King of the Nine Hells, who is also a Greater Deity. You don’t need to take any Sorcerer levels if you only want to build a Wizlock, but if you only want 2-4 levels in Warlock, you can take 18-20 levels in Wizard and 18-20 levels in Sorcerer. This is why I haven’t really given any hard numbers for this build. If all you want is 8 levels of Sorcerer, 14 levels of Warlock and 18 levels of Wizard, by all means. Again, the main reason we’re here is metamagic and healing spells. If your party is set on healers and you don’t care about metamagic, you don’t need it.

MAGICAL OPTIONS

ELDRITCH INVOCATIONS

Agonizing Blast

Armor of Shadows

Ascendant Step

Chains of Carceri

Devil Sight

Eldritch Mind

Eldritch Sight

Gaze of Two Minds

Gift of the Ever-Living Ones

Grasp of Hadar

Maddening Hex

Repelling Blast

Visions of Distant Realms

METAMAGIC OPTIONS

Careful Spell

Empowered Spell

Heightened Spell

Twinned Spell

Quickened Spell

FEATS

I want to point out that these are merely suggestions, and you do not have to grab all of these feats to build Raven properly. This is merely a masterlist of all the feats I feel are appropriate for Raven.

Alert: Raven uses her extrasensory empathy to sense incoming lifeforms.

Eldritch Adept: For when you want more warlock in your warlock

Fey Touched: Just call it Devil Touched for flavor.

Linguist: Raven is a polyglot, speaking multiple languages

Magic Initiate: For when your Wizard wants to learn Cleric spells

Metamagic Adept: For when you want more sorcerer in your sorcerer

Observant: Your an empath that can sense the locations of people. High passive perception is never not good.

Prodigy: Expertise in Perception or Insight goes a long way to turn Raven into a living lie detector or the ultimate Hide-n-Seek champion.

Resilient: Give Raven proficiency in a necessary saving throw like CON, WIS, or DEX.

Shadow Touched: For the goth palette swap of Fey Touched

Skill Expert: Same as Prodigy, Expertise in Insight or Perception is very good on Raven.

Telekinetic: Raven has Psychic powers.

Telepathic: What did I just say?

Toughness: How to stop your Wizard from crying after being hit once in an encounter.

War Caster: Opportunity attacks with magic and advantage on concentration saves is always useful.

MAGIC ITEMS

Arcane Grimoire (+1, +2, +3): Higher wizard spell DC and attack roll bonus.

Bloodwell Vial (+1, +2, +3): Higher sorcerer spell DC and attack roll bonus.

Rod of the Pact Keeper (+1, +2, +3): Higher warlock spell DC and attack roll bonus.

Cloak of Protection: The cloak’s not just a fashion statement

Astral Shard: Raven teleports after every use of metamagic

Far Realm Crystal: Raven creates dark tendrils that attack, deals extra Psychic damage, and enemies might become frightened of her.

Heart Weaver’s Primer: Wizard Spellbook for the School of Enchantment.

Mantle of Spell Resistance: Raven’s cloak repels enemy magic.

Outer Essence Shard (Evil): Enemies take extra necrotic damage when Raven uses her metamagic. Perfect for Raven’s forehead gem.

Shadowfell Shard: Enemies have disadvantage on a saving throw of your choice until the end of your next turn.

Wings of Flying: A magic cloak that lets Raven fly. Useful for limitless flight/levitation.

Ring of Telekinesis: Permanent Telekinesis is very on-brand for Raven.

Grimoire Infinitus: The ultimate wizard spellbook

Robe of Stars: A black or dark blue robe that lets Raven teleport to the Astral Plane.

Robe of the Archmagi: White robes on Raven usually signifies that she’s older, wiser, and more powerful. So these legendary white robes that boost her AC so high are a very fitting high level item for her.

Book of Vile Darkness: Trigon’s unholy doctrine is fitting for Raven.

Demonomicon of Iggwilv: A Pokedex for Demons.

PIETY & PATRONS

While Raven is not strictly-speaking a Cleric of Trigon, her mother was in his cult, and she does owe some of her power to Trigon granting it to her, though he does not seem to be able to take her powers away from her. Piety was a system introduced in Mythic Odysseys of Theros. However, while it is not a “core” mechanic, I still enjoy it enough that I thought I’d take a crack at giving Raven her own Piety for serving Trigon.

TRIGON

EARNING PIETY -Destroy your enemy ruthlessly, especially if you land the killing blow. -Learn knowledge you were not meant to know -Outsmart Devils and intimidate demons into obedience -Give in to anger, hatred, jealousy, and vengeance -Gain and maintain power through domination, fear, and control

LOSING PIETY -Show mercy to those who have wronged you -Failing to seek out knowledge and expand your mind -Falling for the tricks of devils, or dominated by demons -Refusing to give in to hostile emotions -Allowing yourself to be subjugated through domination, fear, and control

3+   You learn Hellish Rebuke 10+ You learn Summon Lesser Demons 25+ Fiends summoned by you that are CR 1 or lower are friendly towards you. Furthermore, when a Fiend type creature summoned by you makes a saving throw to stop obeying you and turn hostile, the saving throw amount rolled by the fiend is reduced by half your level rounded down. 50+ Increase your Charisma or Intelligence by +2 to a maximum of 22

WARLOCK SPELLS

Due to the fact that the Warlock and Wizard spell list overlap quite a bit, I aimed primarily for spells Raven can only grab as a Warlock. However, since Wizard is the primary class for this build, 

C Eldritch Blast, Friends, Mage Hand, Mind Sliver, Prestidigitation 1 Arms of Hadar, Hellish Rebuke, Hex 2 Darkness, Flock of Familiars, Shadow Blade 3 Enemies Abound, Fear, Hunger of Hadar 4 Blight, Shadow of Moil, Summon Greater Demon 5 Dream, Enervation, Far Step 6 Circle of Death 7 Etherealness 8 Maddening Darkness 9 Psychic Scream

DIVINE SOUL SPELLS

C Guidance, Resistance, Sacred Flame, Spare the Dying, Thaumaturgy, Toll the Dead 1 Cure Wounds, Inflict Wounds 2 Lesser Restoration, Warding Bond 3 Spirit Guardians, Spirit Shroud, Speak with Dead 4 Control Water 5 Commune, Mass Cure Wounds 6 Heal, Planar Ally 7 Regenerate 8 Divine Word 9 Mass Heal

RAVEN’S WIZARD SPELLBOOK

Wizards can learn 44 spells by level-up, but they can also learn any spell on the wizard spell book by purchasing a spell and recording it in their spellbook. So, I’m going to put more than 44 spells in Raven’s wizard spellbook, because these are more-or-less every spell on the Wizard Spell List that can work for her, and I’ll leave it up to the player to shape her spell list how they want to. Obviously, there’s going to be some overlap with the Warlock spell list, though that’s fine if you prioritized Divine Soul over Fiendlock.

CANTRIPS Blade Ward, Chill Touch, Friends, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Mind Sliver, Mold Earth, Prestidigitation, Shape Water 1ST LEVEL Catapult, Cause Fear, Charm Person, Detect Magic, Feather Fall, Find Familiar, Identify, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield, Tenser’s Floating Disk 2ND LEVEL Arcane Lock, Augury, Blur, Borrowed Knowledge, Crown of Madness, Darkness, Flock of Familiars, Gift of Gab, Hold Person, Knock, Levitate, Mind Spike, Misty Step, Nystul’s Magic Aura, Phantasmal Force, Shadow Blade, Suggestion, Tasha’s Mind Whip,  3RD LEVEL Bestow Curse, Blink, Clairvoyance, Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Enemies Abound, Fear, Fly, Gaseous Form, Magic Circle, Protection from Energy, Spirit Shroud, Summon Lesser Demons, Summon Shadowspawn, Tidal Wave 4TH LEVEL Arcane Eye, Banishment, Charm Monster, Confusion, Control Water, Dimension Door, Divination, Edvard’s Black Tentacles, Locate Creature, Otto’s Resilient Sphere, Phantasmal Killer, Polymorph, Raulothim’s Psychic Lance, Summon Greater Demon 5TH LEVEL Bigby’s Hand, Contact Other Plane, Dominate Person, Dream, Enervation, Far Step, Geas, Hold Monster, Infernal Calling, Legend Lore, Modify Memory, Negative Energy Flood, Planar Binding, Rary’s Telepathic Bond, Synaptic Static, Telekinesis, Teleportation Circle, Wall of Force 6TH LEVEL Arcane Gate, Eyebite, Fizban’s Platinum Shield, Globe of Invulnerability, Mass Suggestion, Mental Prison, Move Earth, Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise, Summon Fiend 7TH LEVEL Etherealness, Forecage, Plane Shift, Symbol, Teleport 8TH LEVEL Demiplane, Dominate Monster, Feeblemind, Maddening Darkness, Telepathy 9TH LEVEL Astral Projection, Gate, Imprisonment, Psychic Scream, Time Stop

LEVELING GUIDE

As stated before, I feel the most accurate way to start Raven at level 1 is to start as a Warlock, proficient in saving throws to control her willpower and her emotions. Raven should spend the first 4 levels as a Fiend Pact Warlock, picking up the Pact of the Chain for a shadowy raven familiar. From here, what you choose to focus on first is entirely dependent on what you think is more important to pick up around the level 20-ish midpoint of the campaign. If you focus on getting Wizard to level 18 first, Raven will be able to cast a single 1st and 2nd level spell at their lowest levels at will, which can be extremely useful for a lot of utility spells like Cure Wounds, Detect Magic, Hellish Rebuke, Hex, Find Familiar, Mage Armor, Shield, Blur, Hold Person, or Suggestion. However, by taking Sorcerer early, you could have limitless flight and Unearthly Recovery for most the campaign, which is very useful on a squishy caster, but trades off having a wide array of powerful spells by the midgame for being a powerful healer for most of the game.

Ultimately, I believe the best use of Raven is to give her 4 Levels of Fiend Warlock, 18 Levels of Wizard, and 18 Levels of Divine Soul Sorcerer. However, if you’re not interested in all those high level Cleric spells, Raven could also work with 14 Levels of Fiend Warlock, 18 levels Wizard, and 8 levels of Divine Soul Sorcerer. Depends on how badly she needs to be the healer, and how fast she needs to get good at providing that service to the party.

Again, this build is for the ultimate Raven. The Raven who can fight Trigon. The Raven who can fight off a demon invasion and stop apocalyptic-level threats. Obviously, not every DM is going to want to run a Level 40 campaign, the Dimensions and Demigods play style is not a common thing. But, if you get lucky and your DM wants to challenge themselves and the party, this can be a great example of what Raven can do when she’s fully realized. And like I said, I’ll be building the whole Teen Titans team so that Raven doesn’t have to face the armies of Trigon alone. Together, they might just be strong enough to bring down a god-tier foe.

[hopeshoodie]

Hey Andy! I saw your post about ideal d&d party/nightmare blunt rotation, so I was wondering if you had any HCs about how the ideal d&d party of Chelsea, Noah, Carl, and Ibrahim play d&d?

I'm obsessed with this question because you're basically asking me to create OCs that fictional characters would create lmfao. Even if that's not what you're asking that's what I'm going to do-

So I feel like the vibe would HEAVILY depend on who's dming. If Rahim is dming, he's very rule-oriented and forces them to create characters only with the basic races, I think he follows specific pre-made plotlines so they're definitely playing curse of strahd, candlekeep, maybe the lost mine of phandelver. I think Rahim's emphasis is on creating cool/balanced combat challenges.

Whereas if MC or Noah dm'd there'd be a lot more improvisation and character-based roleplay, with less of an emphasis on combat. That'd probably irritate Carl and Rahim a little bit, because they feel the story is a bit more aimless without clear combat goals, but once they get into it they're IN.

I say that they'd be the ideal d&d party because all of them would be super open to getting deep into roleplaying and not be embarrassed or judgmental about it. Chelsea would be just. So delighted at every new location and character. Carl would very much enjoy worldbuilding and exploring/mystery solving. Rahim's going to min/max his character but will develop a backstory for them when Noah prompts him to.

I feel like Chelsea would play as a gnome ranger or druid, and she'd really emphasize being cute and small and friendly in her character design and interactions. Noah (if he wasn't dming which I want him to be) would play a tiefling fighter and he'd irritate Rahim by deciding his character is purple and blue and constantly talking about charming and attractive his character is. Rahim plays as a deep elf warlock, and Carl would pick a lady orc paladin.

But I think they would all get SUPER into it and play regularly, send each other memes about the plot and their characters, maybe go to a renaissance fair all dressed as their characters (Carl buys a breastplate to do so then has *realizations*). Their main campaign goes on for like 2 years, and even after their lives start getting busier and they don't play often, they all fondly regard their dnd besties.

[utilitycaster]

Hey I’ve heard that naddpod just wrapped their second (?) season, and I know you listen and also have opinions I respect so! If I was gonna jump on to their stuff, do you thing I should start with season one or two? I’m unsure how much there’s the kind of campaign 2 leap in quality you see with something like critical role.

Hello anon! This is an excellent question and the answer is that it depends:

The quality jump in general is much less steep, and I do not have a strong preference between the two campaigns the way I do for Critical Role. However, the campaigns themselves are very different and that might help guide you to what you want.

The Bahumia Campaign does admittedly start out a little bit scattered but I also think it's good to let Murph settle into DM-ing and to let Jake, who'd never played D&D before, find his footing. It gets going around episodes 12-13 (and the early episodes are fun, just like...much heavier on the silliness and fucking around). The vibe is very much a comedic take on heroic fantasy and for lack of a better term, classic D&D lore? There's a lot of planar travel, they go the wood elf (crick elf, in their parlance) hometown and the high elf city and the dwarf city, they go up to L20, the gods are primarily the Dawn War Pantheon gods, they fight a lot of classic monsters, they are effectively heroes of the realm with tons of cool allies, etc.

The Eldermourne Campaign is shorter, clocking in at 41 episodes and that includes an arc with separate characters during Caldwell's paternity leave. I do think the world is somewhat more realized but Bahumia was actually also quite well realized - I think Murph is probably one of the strongest pure writers/planners as a DM and it shows. The vibe is definitely darker - I think Caldwell (who is an artist/animator) said he envisoned Bahumia as like, classic cel animation and Eldermourne as stop motion) and the plot is much tighter, with far fewer sidequests and with the character goals tied pretty tightly into the main quest, whereas Bahumia had an overarching goal from early on but had tons more wiggle room. I do think that while the Bahumia characters are fantastic and we got more time with them, the Eldermourne characters were absolutely 100% there from the start whereas Bahumia again took a little bit to settle in. I also think the lore, which is pretty much all homebrew, is much more elaborate. However: this does mean there are a few kind of heavy lore dumps in a way that I don't recall Bahumia having.

So: I think starting with either is valid and they truly are totally standalone, and I think they mostly avoid any spoilers in the main episodes (the patreon-only talkback show is another story).

Also in case this makes a difference, here's the party makeup:

Bahumia: a paladin, a druid, and a fighter (champion) (I'm noting champion, because...)

Eldermourne: an artificer, a cleric/wizard multiclass that is mostly wizard, and a fighter (echo knight) (Jake loves fighters and he's valid)

[shadowron]

Houngans, Part II. Plus New Orleans NPCs for Shadowrun (1st Edition)

Houngans

This issue updates the houngan archetype, the only change being the list of possible spells. 

And being converted to black and white.

But something I missed in the previous article which is important for what follows is ju-ju and boko.

Let’s get ready for some appropriation.

In Shadowrun, voodoo is what is practiced by houngans. The houngan, in real life, is a practitioner of Haitian Vodou as opposed to Louisiana Voodoo, though they have a common origin as a West African Diasporic syncretic religious practice.

If voodoo is the “good” kind of New Orleans magic, then ju-ju is the “bad” kind, as in “only NPCs really should be using this” since it invokes blood magic, the same practiced by druids in jolly old England. Ju-ju, however, is a different West African Diasporic syncretic religious practice from Voodoo and Vodou.

In Shadowrun, ju-ju is what is practiced by boko. Now when this article is published in 1993, the word “boko” was likely sufficiently foreign to readers that it didn’t merit another glance, whereas know it brings to mind (and the first thing that pops up on Google searches) is the African Islamist Terrorist Organization Boko Haram, who are responsible for the deaths of at least 300,000 children in a decade. They are assholes.

So what does “boko” mean? 

Rather, boko is an indigenous Hausa word originally connoting sham, fraud, deceit, or lack of authenticity. When the British colonial government imposed secular schools in northern Nigeria at the beginning of the 20th century, boko was applied in a pejorative sense to this new system.

Newman, Paul. 2013. The etymology of Hausa boko. Mega-Chad Miscellaneous Publications, pp. 1-13.

New Orleans NPCs

Wrapping up the article are a few NPCs that can be used in a New Orleans Shadowrun campaign (some of whom will reappear in the next and final issue of this series).

Tommy Dred -- A “street” houngan, akin to a Street Shaman, and, wait a nanosecond. Holy drek:

The Street Shaman archetype is Tommy Dred.

Rachel Obeah

Another houngan, who has a dragon for a buddy, we will meet again next issue. 

Note for those readers familiar with Vampire: the Masquerade will recognize Obeah as the clan discipline that gives the Salubri their third eye.

Nothing weird happening here.

Obeah, by the way, is yet another West African Diasporic syncretic religious practice, distinct from voodoo.

Samantha Ballard

A krewe-leader and secret boko.

Bolo

Another boko. Works solo. Eats Rolos. Shouts “Yolo”. Plays polo.

Monroe Darcier

Yet another boko. Except also a vampire. And also possessed by a powerful loa of Samedi. We’ll also see him next issue. Let’s get to that.

Did you know White Wolf published Vampire? I didn’t.

[vethbrenatto]

Personally I'm hoping for, class-wise, a fighter, a sorcerer, a ranger (but one of the really cool ones like Horizon Walker), another rogue, another barbarian, maybe a paladin, and also Ashley as a bard. Artificer now that it's official, or something like wildfire druid, would also be fun but honestly I just really want to see someone play a fighter (esp an echo knight or rune knight)

Fighter would be great! I play a fighter/barbarian in my main campaign and you know, sometimes it's just fun to hit things, but fighters can really be more than that depending on subclass.

I'd love to see artificer again because we only got Tary for so many episodes.

Ashley as a bard sounds awesome?? Especially since she'll be there from the beginning of the campaign, I think playing a bard could lead to her being a bit more of a vocal character than Pike or Yasha were. Granted, I think she'd have a really unique spin on bard if she played it, but regardless of how you're playing your bard, they tend to be the more vocal types.

I would LOVE to see Sam play sorcerer. I think he thrives not only as a spellcaster, but also as a high charisma character. Even with Veth's dreadful charisma, she really felt like a high-charisma low-charisma character, if you get what I mean? Her low charisma came from being kind of feral, a lot of it stemmed from her physical appearance as a goblin, but she mostly came off as endearing personality wise even from the very beginning. Whereas I think someone like Ashley really captured the essence of low charisma (or one way to play it) with Yasha's social awkwardness (*flashes back to Yasha's "HULLO" when Beau came in the room at night*). It was extremely endearing as well, but felt like it more genuinely read as how you could see the low charisma. I think cleric might be fun as well for Sam because I think he's a great support caster.

Overall, I just love how many subclasses there are so there can always be more facets of a class to explore that we can see the cast tackle.

[tanoraqui]

I have no idea what critical role is but you reblog it a lot. Is it just a bunch of people playing video games or something?

Critical Role is an ongoing RPG game (D&D 5e) played by a bunch of notable voice actors from video games, including Ashely Johnson (The Last of Us), Liam O’Brien (idk, he voiced some guy named Illidan somewhere? I know very little about video games), and Laura Bailey (she’s Laura goddamn Bailey). The Dungeon Master is Matthew Mercer (blanking - Overwatch cowboy) who’s REALLY GODDAMN GOOD at being a DM, and indeed does it as part of his full-time job now, because at some point they all went “fuck it” and incorporated as their own company. Because fuck yeah. Last spring (my god it was only last spring) they did a kickstarter to fund an animated series of some previous RPG adventures, and it broke several records and now - slowed by the global pandemic - there’s gonna be 2 seasons of an animated show, hosted by Amazon I think? (Every time I think about that I scream softly in excitement in my mind.)

It’s currently on its second big, multi-year campaign, with the adventuring party The Mighty Nein. Their previous campaign starred Vox Machina. Some highlights, arbitrarily mixed together, include:

that time Vox Machina had a cannonball contest, displaying their distinct personalities and powersets really well, actually

that time the Mighty Nein accidentally got into a fight with some smugglers and then the city guard, accidentally stole a ship, and thus, and I cannot emphasize this enough, accidentally became pirates

“Take me instead, you raven bitch.”  - Vax’ildan of Vox Machina, half-elven rogue, offering his own life to the goddess of death in exchange for his sister’s and (unbeknownst to him at the time) beginning of long character arc of multiclassing as a paladin

Vox Machina’s archnemeses: doors, and also the elderly

the Mighty Nein’s archnemeses: chairs

Veth Brenatto, sometimes Nott the Brave, of the Mighty Nein regaining - with the help of her friends - her halfling form after years as a goblin, and immediately dip-kissing her husband and kicking all aforementioned friends (and her son) out so they can have sex

Taliesin Jaffe had eerie luck with nat20s in the Vox Machina campaign, but I maintain that Laura Bailey [harp music] actually has the best record for narratively on-point nat20s, including but not limited to:

two consecutive nat20s as Vex’ahlia of Vox Machina, half-elven ranger, to shoot the Briarwoods (sexy wizard/vampire couple) when they were about to kill her brother

True Love’s Nat20, rolling as part of the resurrection ritual to bring back Percy (Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III, human gunslinger of VM)

in the culminating moment of an episode in which the M9 one by one spoke with ancient, evil hag about what they might trade her in order to lift the curse on Nott, tiefling Jester Lavorre rolling at nat20 deception check to trick the into hag eating a cupcake laced with magic dust that lowered her ability to resist the Modify Memory curse Jester immediately cast, convincing the hag that she’d already agreed to the deal without demanding anything in return

not a Vex roll but Vex-enabled: dropping Grog (goliath barbarian) out of basically a magical pokeball with perfect dramatic timing for him to roll a nat20 final blow on his evil abusive uncle, cleaving him in twain

“Call me child one more goddamn time--”  - Keyleth of the Air Ashari, half-elven druid of VM, snarling at the ancient green dragon who’d orchestrated the destruction of 1/4 of Keyleth’s people

“You were not born with poison in your veins....Welcome to the Mighty Nein.”  - Caleb Widogast, human wizard, consoling/forgiving/welcoming aa lawful evil NPC who they’d caught playing a major part in creating a war between two empires for The Greater Ultimate Good (and kinda his own personal gain)...but he was their friend already at that point and Caleb had his own history with doing terrible things that he thought were right at the time, and actually someone else might’ve said the “Welcome to the Mighty Nein” part but that’s intrinsically part of it, and it’s...something they say to a lot of people; to a range of NPCs and guest characters. Which is interesting because Vox Machina DIDN’T; they were a tighter family unit but...well, they were a tighter family unit. And kinda...better people, more Heroes(TM)? Disastrous and often very fucked up inside and sometimes out, but Heroes(TM), on the whole. 

whereas the M9 are more trying to sort out their own personal problems, and stumble into international politics almost by mistake. Even their relationships with NPCs are different - they don’t trust, none of the M9 trust in a way VM did, the party took much longer to gel just with each other. Partly, admittedly, because by the time Vox Machina came to the YouTube screen, the cast had been playing at home for about a year, whereas we’ve been watching the M9 from level 1...but even accounting for that, they’re all much less trusting people. Most of them had big secrets in their backstory

which is why it’s all the more wonderful every time they invite someone new it, either outside the group or just with each other. And it pays off - I don’t have a whole meta, but I’ve been thinking idly for a while about how kinda...the big (DM-created) plot twists in the VM campaign were generally...disruptions, dissolutions, or betrayals? The deception of Raishan (aforementioned ancient green dragon.) Hotis’s assassination attempt on Vax, while disguised as a trusted NPC. When Emperor Uriel stepped down and before he’d even finished his speech, there was a sudden invasion of 4 goddamn ancient dragons. Whereas the M9...not only have no NPCs unexpectedly turned on them (the grievous actions of aforementioned lawful evil NPC were mostly pre-story), but it feels almost like a plot twist every time an NPC in authority is benevolent? Like, they arranged peace negotiations between the warring empires and I think every single fan and player was waiting with bated breath for it to all go wrong...and it didn’t. There’s a truce, now. Will it last? Who knows. Jester’s god turned out to not be a god at all, just an archfey in over his head, but he’s not trying to hurt anyone - he came clean and asked for help.

Idk, man. Critical Role streams on Twitch every Thursday at 7pm, or at least, it’ll keep doing so if public health concerns don’t make it take a break again, and it makes me unironically happy to watch, pretty much every time. The cast has great friend chemistry and, now that they’ve all warmed up to each other, so do the characters.

Episodes DO tend to be 3-4 hours long, shaving off maybe half an hour in the podcast versions, so be aware of that. But I just kind of set Thursday evenings aside and I love it. 

it’s funny bc I told my roommate I probably wasn’t going to go on a long emphatic ramble in response to this but Here We Are

[supereffectivemoonblast]

D&D Tomb of Annihilation

Dead Characters + Story So Far

Hey so I wanted to practise drawing people because I'm not super great at anatomy, and this led me to doing this little catch up series of sketches depicting all the characters who we've lost to the roll to the dice. I've grouped characters who were introduced at the same time.

The numbers indicate:

(session no. of their intro)-(session no. of their outro)

These were the OGs, my first D&D OC (Hawthorne) and his rowdy mates. But it would not take long for us to find out the Tomb of Annihilation is a cruel mistress. In the second session, we lost Shaum and Adrian, who were replaced by the next pair. Hawthorne and Aech were much more long-lived and both survived the majority of the campaign far. Only to die on the Tomb's doorstep.

Flangar replaced Adrian and Nazralac replaced Shaum. Both very different characters to their predecessors, and both left a lasting legacy on the party. Unfortunately, a few sessions later and we'd lose Nazralac to our self proclaimed minor villain Nanny Pu'Pu. But she was defeated in the same session we lost him.

You'll start to see a pattern where the player who started with Shaum is prone to dying a bunch. Almost half of all our deaths in this campaign so far have been from this guy alone. Otto replaced Nazralac as resident support, which this player chose themselves. But unfortunately for that player, Otto's kit was built basically for support only, which meant half the time, he hoped Otto could die so he'd replace him with a more interesting playstyle. Otto was his longest lived character however, and the rest of the party would have struggled a lot more without him. Otto died a hero's death fighting a medusa.

Naashrar, a Moon Circle Druid, replaced Otto, and although he was not as support heavy, he put in work. He used Wild Shape to its full potential, which is why I depict a Naashrar flavoured Constrictor Snake, Plesiosaurus, and Allosaurus here. Unfortunately, this players optimal approach to healing (only heal when a character is down) didnt work when our Naashrar, our healer, was downed first.

Naashrar fell to a combat trial against ancient stone warriors, and then Hawthorne and Flangar fell with him. Although Aech lived through the encounter, they decided to retire from adventuring, leaving our experiences and equipment to a whole new party.

We affectionately referred to this group as the AC Arms Race, which led to the session name for their introduction. This was because all party members, barring Nella, had really good AC, and Vezryn and Aven specifically had layers to how hard they could make themselves to hit.

Nella replaced Aech, Vezryn replaced Naashrar, Aventurine replaced Flangar and my new character Rav replaced Hawthorne.

Unfortunately for the AC Warriors, AC provides no protection against saving throws; Vezryn and Aventurine were both turned to stone by a trap. Rav survived a few sessions longer, but lost to a group of wizards alongside some of these later characters.

You'll start to see these newer characters have much shorter lifespans, and that's because we started to get closer to the Tomb itself. Since the death of Vezryn and Aventurine, their players wanted to play more modest characters, so Ordri replaced Vezryn and Cheddar replaced Aventurine. Ordri was still a Wizard, but whereas Vezryn made himself harder to hit, Ordri was much more a team player. Cheddar was helpful and hopeful, but died trying to save the unconcious bodies of Nella and Ordri during a particularly rough fight in the Yuan-ti HQ. The survivors made their escape from slavery with the next character's help.

Jelnus was an unfortunate soul who holds the speedrun record of quickest death in the campaign so far. Jelnus replaced Cheddar, and he was a prisoner of the Yuan-ti, and helped Nella, Rav, and Ordri escape. When they got out, they met the Red Wizards of Thay, who promised the party they'd help them enter the titular Tomb. But there was a betrayal, and unfortunately for us, these Wizards were super powerful. Jelnus was slain by the Wizards, while Rav and Ordri died alongside him. Nella fell unconscious, but made the death saves, and woke to a party of one.

Nella still lives currently in our campaign, and the three characters currently accompany her in the Tomb of Annihilation. Jelnus was replaced by Ubo, Ordri was replaced by Lira, and Rav was replaced by Krall.

So in summary, here's everyone's list of characters so far. (I'll just use letters to name my friends, so as to not dox them on Tumblr)

Me

Hawthorne Corvin (1-23)

Rav SuperArrow (24-29)

Krall Tombuster (30-??)

K

Aech (1-23) (Retired not dead)

Nella (24-??)

L

Adrian Crumblegay (1-2)

Flangar Sarban (3-23)

Aventurine (24-26)

Gillagain "Cheddar" Chalkhearth (27-28)

Jelnus Parith (29-29)

Ubo (30-??)

B

Shaum Wentley (1-2)

Nazralac (3-7)

Otto Anderson (8-17)

Naashrar (18-23)

Vezryn Valazaar (24-26)

Ordri "Mysticstone" Baergal (27-29)

Lira Wentley (30-??)

[bubblelliot]

Here's my second character! I will also present their teammates a bit since the crew is much more like a family this time! (Might also add pics of the others in following posts and MAYBE of his animals too)

Særos Sandiel and The zookeepers

(This art is a picrew which I do not have the rights on, here is the link to it: https://picrew.me/image_maker/62745)

The name of the team mostly comes from a joke saying that "Mama Lyræ is our zookeeper and that we are the Zookeepers to a ton of pets. Also, Yarina can shapeshift into beasts sooooooo yeah.

Technicalities:

Særos is my very first character played in D&D. We actually started playing on the other game I talked about last time, but we switched to D&D. His character sheet is actually available on DND beyond, but I'm still gonna give details here.

Those are his attributes. (He actually got an additional point of charisma after I wrote this and was too lazy to take another screenshot sorry x) )

He is recorded as a high Elf, but is actually of two different bloodlines. He is VERY young for an elf, but his exact age is unknown (well yes but know, you'll see). He has 5 wizard and 2 cleric levels, making him currently level 7.

Equipment:

I am NOT gonna go through everything Særos has, cause that would be VERY long. He has a heavy armor, he has a staff of healing and a shortsword, but he mostly uses his magic. He also has, in his spellbook, a collection of dried flowers.

Familiars:

Særos has a TON of pets he acquired through the different quests the party went on. The first one is a frog named Lepiota he found wounded and saved. He then bought an old black cat he named Persephone (even if the cat is a male 😂). Finally, he also bought two ferrets (fluffy noodles ❤️❤️) which he named Elton and Freddy (this one was as a reference to one of our former player who really loves Elton John and Freddy Mercury). He loves them with all his heart and will absolutely kill anyone who tries to hurt his babies.

Allies:

Særos' main ally is, obviously, his twin, Edran. They are very similar, but Særos is usually pretty well kept with his short hair always brushed and his braids made every morning, whereas Edran is a bit shorter, more immature, usually pretty dirty with blood all over their clothes (which are poofy dressed he hides poison in 😂) and messy hair. There is also Lyræ. She is a paladin coming from far away lands. She is a human with elf ancestors and dragon blood. She has a wife and children and thus, she is pretty much the mom of the group. (The DM literally gave her two custom attacks she can use in RP: the flick of anger that gives 1pt of bludgeoning + 1pt of psychic damage and the disapproving look that gives 2pts of psychic damage everytime she does it + makes the target intimidated). Then, there is Finian, a human assassin. Finian and Særos are pretty neutral about each other, but Edran is in absolute admiration of him, so Særos is grateful that Finian doesn't just shatter his sibling's trust. The last member, who was actually someone that was rescued by the party, is Yarina. She is a very shy aasimar and is pretty much the definition of being pure EXCEPT she is obsessed with daggers (no joke, she has 23 of them). They were recently joined by a rogue elf called Adressin who actually attacked them at first.

Appearance:

This picrew is already pretty accurate. Særos (as well as Edran actually) has blond almost white hair, but it's actually fluffier than on the picture. He has two braids, one in front of each ear, a few freckles and red-pink eyes. He is very pale, quite small and very frail. He looks pretty androgynous and rather young, though he usually passes as a bit older since he is an elf.

Backstory and campaign:

So the campaign isn't really a big story like in Rhodrag's case, so I'll tell the party's story, but not the quests.

The twins' first memory is waking up in a bed, only knowing their name. They meet with the lovely wood elf lady who save them, and learn they were found in the sand by a nearby river. For that reason, they are given the last name "Sandiel".

They live a relatively normal life with her, for around 10 years, until they are attacked by drows. Their adopted mother successfully hides them by using magic and they learn they are wanted because they are part drow and part high-elf, meaning pretty much every every elven races will want to kill them. The woman successfully protects the twins. She is taken out of the house and, to this day, the twins don't know what happened of her, whether she was killed or taken.

They left and reached a nearby city. There, they survived by stealing and being street entertainers (for example, even if he has no rogue level, Særos is proefficient in stealth, sleight of hands, deception, etc. He also is proefficient in performance. He learned to sing, the art of divination and a bit of magic.)

One night though, Særos came back to their hiding place to find his sibling dead. All he could understand was that they died of both malnutrition and hypothermia.

Out of desperation, he tried every spell he knew, but nothing happened. He tried reanimation, but it had been to long. Out of despair, he prayed any god possible to help him, saying he couldn't live in this unfair world without Edran.

A god did answer. He is actually a god from the other game we started the campaign in before switching to DND.

He is called Nuodai the Trickster.

He offered a deal to Særos: he would bring back Edran and even guarantee him power and success, and in exchange, when Særos would be powerful enough, the Trickster would take his elven traits which hold part of his powers, as well as 200 years of his life. Out of desperation, Særos accepted.

He woke up the next morning. His sibling was by his side, clearly not dead, but not entirely alive. They were now a revived.

Things went on, Edran not knowing, and Særos eventually stopped thinking about the deal, only happy to have his twin back. They moved from the city, trying to reach a bigger one, and were, once again, attacked by drows. He used a spell to put his twin in safety and attacked the drows, but was, if course, neutralized.

He was taken and they made him a slave while they tried to capture Edran to kill them together.

Fast forward, Edran is taken into an underdark prison. He meets again with his brother and both if them are beaten up. They successfully defend though and they are thrown in a cell as it is decided they're are to be executed the next day. This is where they meet Lyræ and Finian.

They plan to escape as well as a few other NPCs. They are able to leave the cell and steal a bit of stuff while a vrock attacks the guards. They escape and reach a teleporter. There, Særos successfully brings everyone back to the surface. Newly free, they all start to look for a village. After properly introducing each others, they finally reach a tiny elf village. The twins stay as stealthy as possible but end up being noticed and attacked by guards. They then have a choice: they could be changed into simple would elves or they have to leave. Særos knows it's not gonna work on Edran, and bargains to be able to stay. At first, the headmaster threatens to kill him for that, but he ends up agreeing to let them in the city, guarded, until the night falls.

They then shop and leave the city.

They end up in a forrest Særos realizes is corrupted. There, they were attacked by a HUGE snake touched by the corruption. At first, everyone tries to kill it except Edran and quickly, Særos and Finian join them. Særos finally cuts the tip of it's tail where the corruption was and Edran and Finian calm it.

Lyræ is terrified of it and finally lets them all know that her best friend was killed by a giant snake who ate her alive. (This is freaking terrifying yo.)

In the end, a fight starts and Særos, enraged, leaves everyone and runs towards the center of the corruption. There he is attacked by corrupted elves and tree creatures we happily called Groots. Edran joins him and Særos basically rages (he used they most powerful spell he had and literally exploded them.

Edran, while attacking, starts gaining weird memories.

Fast forward to the end of the quest, Særos is happily searching for animals and flowers when he and Edran hear strange noises coming from a tree. Edran climbs it and a wood elf girl falls from the tree, before Edran jumps on her from the too of the tree.

The team introduced themselves to her and she happily talks to them. So yeah, that's how we met Nayhru.

The team reaches a weird village and after the whole snake incident, leaves the party for a while, promising to find them again soon and assuring she would always be closer than they think.

They reach the village which reveals to be a village of gnomes and there they meet with a gnome (who's player inspired the names of my furrets x) ) and a Goliath travelling together. They all find the village empty before being attacked by a troll and... Metal gnomes?

They kill them, uneager to die, and search the village. They find flowers in the middle of the village and Særos takes one for his collection. Særos and Edran are attacked by an ooze and at some point, the ooze attacks Edran just before being killed by Nayrhu. At that moment, Edran starts turning into a robot as well, with the corruption growing from their arm. Særos tries to cut off the arm, but us unable and the corruption takes Edran's whole body.

They leave the village and are able to find a Druid eager to help them make a cure for Edran and the gnomes, but he needs Elder sage. He describes it and Særos shows his flower to the Druid, who confirms it is Elder sage. They go back to the village to get flowers, cane back and turned Edran back into a flesh being.

And that's when they remembered dying and being brought back to life. Edran and Særos cried in each other's arms and then continued on.

They got in a cavern near the village from where the trolls always came. There, the found a girl, chained, with glowing wings. They freed her and she introduced herself as Yarina. (Fun fact: Yarina's player is my SO, and both Yarina and Særos have the spell suggestion, so when the crew found a the boss hiding something, we just made it run away. Nice. )

The team found a clockwork dragon and helped it. They then left again. Finian had to leave a couple times, and at some point, the team realized that, even if they are young, the twins were actually a lot older than they thought: They assumed Edran's death happened when they were around 13 and that it had been around 6 years, meaning Særos was actually around 19.

They were reunited with Lyræ and began other quests. In one of them, the team encountered a wishing fountain that filled any wish you had under certain conditions. Særos asked to know his whole story, from the lives of his parents up to now. The fountain gave him a magic book that tells his story and updates. It has no name so Særos just calls it The story book.

Some time passed and the team continued on. They were traveling to the capital until one night, Nayrhu and Edran caught a thief about to steal their stuff. They quickly stopped him and realized he was very young. Instead of kicking his butt, they woke up the whole team and decided together to bring him to the capital and help him make money to survive there. And that's how they met Adressin.

The zookeepers reached the capital where they are supposed to find Finian who joined outlaws he met in another quest.

Before finding Finian, they decided to do a few quests to earn money with Adressin.

Everyone through the day kept noticing Særos bring super bold, a lot bolder than he usually is, for example, telling Yarina who was wearing a magic dress that she looked "Incredibly beautiful" as if she was "made if pure light". No one really thought anything of it though and just shoved it away.

One night, they decided a drinking contest was a good idea and everyone joined except Adressin. The next morning, everyone was doing good, maybe a tad nauseous, except for Lyræ and Særos who were absolutely fucked up. They both used spells to heal their hangover, but Særos remained mildly unwell, choosing to go on their quest anyways.

Symptoms were the following:

-A headache that was mostly located to the top front of his head

-His low back itching and hurting a LOT

-His eyes feeling dry

No one really knew what was going on, some didn't even really notice.

As they went on with their first quest, they started noticing weird stuff about Særos' appearance: His hair looked more golden than white, as they used to, there were two bumps appearing on his forehead around the location of his headache, his eyes looked.... Weird...? But no one really saw anything peculiar, his skin, usually also white, now looked kinda pink.

He doesn't really notice the changes and doesn't understand what is happening which utterly FRIGHTENS him, but he hides it. Yarina started understanding what was happening and Edran out all the pieces together and now they know everything.

To be continued...

[verystupidrpgideas]

Why Warlock is the Objectively Best Class - A Critique on Every Class in Dungeons and Dragons

I will be listing the reasons why every class is bad, what strong points it has, and why it is inferior to the Warlock class. 

Barbarian - The barbarian is a relatively simple class, and basically “Hit it until it dies”. There’s definitely some room for creative choices, but the class itself is rather bland unless you find magic items or you spec in a weird way.

Bard - The bard, along with the warlock, is one of the two classes that will destroy campaigns singlehandely at least once in your life. While the bard typically goes for the route of “talk your way out of everything”, the Warlock’s route is “criminal your way out of everything” which has many more options. You can kill the guy, frame him, rob him, etc. when in a sticky situation, while the bard is limited by his ability to talk. 

Cleric - Clerics serve gods rather than making deals with gods. Tell me, who gets the better end of that deal? The god that gives a few of his powers in exchange for downright servitude, or the god that offers powers in exchange for a simple contract telling the user to carry out the god’s will? Plus, when you think cleric, you think healing, whereas when you think warlock, you think badass evil wizard. ‘Nuff said. 

Druid - Treehugging know-it-alls can’t even hold a torch to the awe-inspiring power of the warlock. If you go a natural route as a druid with vines and trees, you’re weak to fire, one of the most common things in the DnD universe (what with wizards, sorcerers, and warlocks running amok). If you choose to be a furry instead, you have versatility, but there’s a reason tigers and such aren’t commonly seen today. Anyone with moderate combat training (which is almost as common as fire) and a good set of armor / weapons (common among adventurers) can beat up nearly any animal that a druid of similar level shapeshifts into. 

Fighter - The fighter is probably the most versatile class, with archetypes ranging from the sellsword to the spellsword. You can have a nimble, speedy fighter, or you can have a goliath fighter donned in a huge set of armor that just yeets any foes. You know what other class is versatile? The warlock. Yeah, you can beat me up, but what if I just open this portal and summon M̸̀͝Y̷̨͠͝͡ ̸̸̕P̸̧̧̢͢Ą͘Ţ͟R͠͞O̷͟Ń͘ ҉̧̡̨͠Ǵ̶̛͜O̸̢̢͟D̀̀͢͜͠ ̷̛Y̢͞͡͞O̶̵͢͠G͟͡'̶̵̨S̢͠͏͜O̸̢̧T̨̧͡H̀͢ƠT̶̢̨̛͡H̷͏̨ and just vaporize you instantly? You might ask “what about a warlock that isn’t that powerful?” Well, in that case, they can just cast Eldritch Blast every three seconds while running away because fighters need close range. If you’re fighting a fighter that uses ranged weapons, or a speedier fighter, just use your highest level spell slots and they’ll fall like twigs. The dexterity required to run circles around an opponent or fire a bow comes with an inverse correlation with protection. 

Monk - As if a warlock could ever lose to a monk. Monk is the dumbest D&D class, hands down. Like, seriously. You hear of evil bards looking to seduce everything in sight, druids corrupted by the demonic taint of the land they’re in, fighters that simply wish to earn a quick buck with your death, clerics and paladins tainted and corrupted by evil magic, bloodthirsty barbarians, crazy wizards and sorcerers, evil thieving rogues, and warlocks that wish to take over the world. But when’s the last time you’ve heard of a monk villain? That’s right, never. Let’s look at other media franchises with monk classes. Diablo 3 has monks, but they’re painfully terrible, using their fists at first level (and later levels in some builds). Compare that to the necromancer, who summons bones from the ground at first level, or the wizard, who shoots missiles of arcane. Want another example? Warcraft. The three “specs” (for those who don’t play Warcraft, this is basically the three unique playstyles of the class) are Brewmaster, a tank that uses beer to take hits, Windwalker, a class that uses the air sometimes I guess but mainly uses their fists, and the Mistweaver, which uses soothing mists to heal their friends. Yeah, even in a game like Warcraft, that makes no sense. You’re telling me that by drinking beer, I can survive hits from raid bosses like Ragnaros, ruler of the Plane of Fire? Yeah, chug down a few beers and jump into a volcano, tell me how that goes. The other specs aren’t much better. Windwalker uses fists and legs, rarely using weapons at all. I highly doubt that even as trained as you are that you’ll be able to kill someone as fast as a guy with a gun (such as the Hunter). Mistweaver makes about as much sense as Brewmaster. Are you telling me that if I spray someone with Febreze it’ll cure their wounds? “Ah, yeah, found how to cure my patient’s bronchitis. Let me just spritz their lungs a few times”. The warlock may use magic and stuff, but at least it makes sense with the rules of the DnD universe. The monks are the laughingstocks of all the base DnD races, and that’s for good reason. Screw monk. 

Paladin - Paladins are like fighter clerics. They worship gods, but have the same problems as clerics (with weaker spells) and don’t have the versatility of fighters. Honestly, paladins are kinda dumb, almost as dumb as monks. Seriously, who even designed that dumb class? It was in the game since THIRD EDITION. Meanwhile, the Warlock got into the game in 4e. Are you kidding? Wizards of the Coast, this baffles me. You can’t seriously believe that some shirtless guy with fists and discount Jesus deserves inclusion over a class who gets their power through a demonic pact. Honestly, if Monk is still in 6e whenever that comes out, I’m going to be very upset. The class has no redeeming features, yet despite having two chances to cut the dumb idiot out, the monk continues to stay in the  game. 

Ranger - The ranger was one of the five core classes in AD&D 1e, along with the fighter, thief, magic-user and... oh fuck this.

Rogue - Turns out, the Monk was in the game since first edition and my 3e source was wrong. This is the dumbest thing ever. The sorcerer wasn’t in the game yet, the barbarian wasn’t in the game yet, Druid was still a subclass of Cleric, there were only around seven races, and there wasn’t a warlock yet. Hell, in Dragon Magazine 53 a D&D fan named Philip Meyers argued that the Monk was the weakest class;

“Of all the character classes in the AD&D™ game, the class of monks is the most difficult to qualify for. A monk must have exceptional strength, wisdom, and dexterity, and — if he or she wishes to survive for very long — constitution. The odds of rolling up such a character, even using the various “cheating methods” listed in the Dungeon Masters Guide, are not favorable. Given this, one would expect a monk to be a powerful character indeed. At first glance this would appear to be true. The Grand Master of Flowers can reasonably claim to be the most powerful fighter around, able to inflict 128 points of damage in a single round. This superiority, however, is more theoretical than real. In actual practice, the monk is the weakest of the character classes, not the strongest.“ - Dragon Magazine #53

This is downright insulting. They gave the monk overpowered abilties (128 damage in a round!!!!) and still the class was absolutely terrible, just like it is now. When’s the last time you heard of a monk that bards told tales about? Of the five DnD 1e classes, which of the five is not one of the four main archetypes in popular culture? 

Sorcerer - Hell, why would the monks even have the abilities they had? Clerics make sense, they have faith healings which originate in the real world. Bards are a stretch, but the idea of a song inspiring someone isn’t anything new. But fucking MONKS lived in monasteries in medieval England, and that’s what they’re most known for. What would a realistic monk have the ability to do in D&D? The ability to copy things from a book quickly? Oh, wait, the Printing Press kinda fixed the need to do that. Good party trick, I suppose. The ability to form a self sufficient house with multiple members? Alright, but you’ll need a lot of money, a lot of other people, and slaves. Did I mention monks were slaveowners? And they pretend to be a good force of light or whatever. 

Wizard - Wizards learn with books, warlocks don’t need to learn, they have patrons. Guess what other class reads a lot? Monks. Except they don’t get the cool benefits of Wizards, they just get “closer to god” or whatever. Unfortunately for you, MONKS, the D&D world isn’t your monotheistic fantasy world of Jesus. There’s multiple gods, and they’ll kick your god’s ass in a fight. 

(Sidenote about that last paragraph, I’m making fun of monks in the D&D world, not real Christians, and I don’t intend to be hating anyone for their religious views)

So I hope all of you liked my writeup! Sorry it took so long, it was hard trying to find objective reasons for a lot of these (and I had to rewrite the Druid class a lot of the time to avoid calling them “vegan pieces of shit” which is a lot harder than it sounds). Anyway, choose Warlock the next time you make a new character.

[dailycharacteroption]

Subsystems and You 5: Words of Power

Spellcasting is such a power trip in games, as you unleash mighty powers to protect yourself, defeat foes, or otherwise alter reality.

However, given how spellcasting in most rpgs works, it can often feel a bit limiting, like you’re just unleashing canned effects rather than rewriting reality to suit your whims.

Enter the Words of Power alternative spellcasting system from Ultimate Magic. With it, a spellcaster has no set spell list, but rather a list of powerful mystical words they can use to compose customizable spells.

In this way, the system seeks to emulate those fantasy settings where learning even one word of magic can make one powerful, even more so as their vocabulary expands. It makes me think back to the truenamer class from the late 3.5 D&D supplement Tome of Magic.

Though each class handles their words differently, there are essentially three types of words, namely effect words, meta words, and target words, the first determining an effect the spell has, the second altering those effects in some way, and the third determining how the spell determines its targets. The words are combined together to determine the required spell slot to cast the spell slot, though most target words have an effective level of zero unless boosted using the boost meta word.

By far the classes that gain the most benefit from this system are prepared divine casters, whom gain full access all of the words associated with their class, and can arrange them using their spell slots as normal, whereas prepared arcane casters must pick and choose how to prepare individual word spells, and spontaneous casters have a limited pool of known words to draw upon.

While the words can be used to replicate many spells that are in the core rule book, I can’t help but feel the system favors divine casters over their arcane counterparts, and prepared casters over spontaneous. Sure, you get the tools to create a variety of spells, but this mix and match approach really heavily favors blasting and combat spells, with certain words only really being useful when used by themselves, at which point they seem to just take up space if you’re playing on a limited word list.

Additionally, the system has no support for spellcasting classes that came out later, particularly not psychic casters, though I imagine it would be simple enough to convert them, such as mediums who take the archmage or hierophant spirit that day gaining actual normal system spells similar to how clerics and druids get ordinary domain spells for those spell slots.

 That being said, it’s a neat system that, despite needing some work, does change up the classic Vancian casting that has been a part of the system and its predecessors for so long. But how does one integrate it into your setting?

In some settings, words of power might completely replace normal spellcasting, while in others, it may be simply another one of the various magical techniques, limited by choice, class, region, philosophy, and any other reasons you might come up with. Perhaps in your setting only oracles use the subsystem, speaking their spells with the literal “words of the gods”. Or in another setting, the subsystem is limited to one lost continent where the study of magic evolved completely differently than the rest of the world.

 The end result is a new way of casting that you might find to experiment with in your campaigns, and certainly worthy of consideration.

[xxxdragonfucker69xxx]

dunking and danging: kings of all cosmos

ok my dnd game is pretty certifiably dead so im gonna post here the skeleton of the plot i had planned, if you were in my game and want to preserve your innocence then do not read further

PLAYERS

squamata, a reptilian mystic

glenjamin gogol, a elemental monk who is dwight from the office

tobi, a hobbit ranger with a giant toad friend named george

and clayface, a goblin who makes things out of clay

ACT 0: EXPOSITION

the four of them appear in the sky over throne, a weird city where the sun is chained to the ground and ultraviolence is everywhere. also, demon wasps are attacking them. they fall through the roof of a building and meet the wanderers guild: neptune, jupiter and venus. they explain that this world is ruled by an asshole named zosimos, and that he has fucked off but left four kings to rule in his absence, and that there is a prophecy about a rising star that will overthrew zosimos and rule the universe as the new king, and one of them is the rising star. they’re stuck here unless one of the kings opens a way back to their homeworlds so they agree that they might as well become kings themselves

ACT 1: THE BLEAK ACADEMY

(i originally called this the black academy and then started kicking myself halfway through when i realized i fucked up the color scheme) (this is the only arc we finished)

the first king is lord entropy, principal of the bleak academy and inventor of murder. he cannot be killed by murder, which is a problem cause thats basically how you take the title of king from someone. everyone takes a youth potion and goes undercover at the bleak academy. there were some fun classes and squamata vowed to fuck lord entropy (leading to the famous “it’s not breaking the windflower law if it’s just eating ass”). in the end they befriend his daughter desecration roseblack attaris ebrot appeka entropy (and she ends up briefly played by a guest pc) who tells them about a scroll containing entropy’s true name (i wrote kind of a cool backstory for this i may post eventually) that can compel him to do anything. so they break into the library, then break into the secret underlibrary, to get the name. then they go confront entropy in his office, have a bigass boss battle, and then one of them commands entropy to attack so he can be killed in self-defense. rejoicing! they solved the murder puzzle! a star flies from entropy’s head to rest on tobi’s brow but im sure that’s not important for now! as they’re celebrating some old drunkard comes up to tobi and asks what she thinks about death, and her response is basically “it’s not something to worry about”

ACT 2: KEEPER OF THE FLAME

They wake up with a hangover and get an invitation from lady enheduanna, who is coincidentally the next king they gotta tick off. she’s throwing a party for nemontemi, which is basically calibration/halloween/the purge, and wants them there. the wanderers suggest they go shopping to get ready, and they basically have a christmas episode shopping and having fun with each other. they get back, and as they’re falling asleep, tobi wishes that “every day could be like this” in a very imperial voice. oops! they wake up and find that they’re in a time loop. after discussing it for a while they decide to go break back into the bleak academy’s library and look for information about time shit, and find that the key to breaking a time loop is usually a person that has to change

(this is where we left off)

the plan was for them to go talk to enheduanna, who at this point has probably been through a couple loops of their time loop (only the players and the kings keep their memories through the loop) and is probably kind of pissed off. but she offers them their hearts desires if they will go and steal from hell for her: she wants the forbidden apple, the fruit of life, because her current method of immortality is fading. (i really wanted to deliver the mottom speech ok). so then its a fun montage where they have less than a day to break into the brass embassy, which is hell’s embassy in throne, and find the door that will let them into actual hell, kill the serpent guarding it, and get back. surprise! enheduanna double-crosses them and tries to kill them. presumably they kill her and one of them becomes imperator of hunger

INTERMISSION: WAY DOWN NADIR TOWN

(this is possibly where this goes but maybe not)

the wanderers get a contract from the crooked-crosses, a gang of dickensian orphan urchins. they had a special treasure: one of the sparks of divinity leftover from the dead gods. it was stolen by a thief named snuffer, who has fled to nadir, which is a mining town inside the skull of a long-dead god. its run by a mysterious guy known only as Bossman, and nobody ever comes back. so they traverse the spiral road down, pass through the stygian wall and the kerberoi, and get admitted as miners. bossman provides food, board and company scrip, so by the time you actually find anything worth selling you’re probably so deep in debt it doesnt matter. his enforcers are the vakes, vaguely batlike people who swoop overhead in darkness; and the longer you stay in nadir the more you forget, so that the oldest workers are zombies who have forgotten everything but work. theres a friendly old worker named bones who points them towards the Hole, a speakeasy run by a lady named lilac. at the hole you can buy back some memories: sunlight, fresh air, clean water, love. of course, lilac is secretly the bossman. anyways, they find snuffer, but hes forgotten who he is and where hes hidden the spark. he begs them not to kill him cause hes just a kid too, and promises to pay them off if they rescue him. hes in debt to bossman, but bossman can be tempted by a suitable wager. the spark is actually in bossman’s vault as well. im almost certain this intermission ends in a riot.

ACT 3: KASTLE KORPUSLES

(backstory: in our last campaign one of the players was herbst korpusles, a paladin who was also basically agnostic. he had a little homunculus he kept in his beard and was raising like a son, but he was kind of a bad parent, so the homunculus was growing evil and basically sucking all the evil out of him. as time went on he got smaller and the homunculus got bigger and at the end of it you could barely tell them apart. the homunculus was named squilliam but thats neither here nor there. at the end of the last campaign they slew a demon named the king in yellow who basically possessed the empress and then herbst got made king for it, cause he also had excalibur)

hadnt really hugely planned this part but basically throne is split into quarters, and one of the quarters would be like industrial england (as opposed to the rest of throne which is more like ksbd) and ruled by this multiversal warlord named king korpusles who is, surprise surprise, that old herbst. they go to confront him through his castle which is simultaneously in throne and in albion (the world of our last campaign). i was probably going to send them to go discuss with a couple of other old characters: the druid raven veaux and the warlock valentine bebe, who are probably living in a bog together. they go to confront korpusles who has turned all of albion into one big war machine but he throws the cape off his hunchback and its not a hunchback at all! its a tiny little man just sort of attached to him sucking on his blood. is he the homunculus or the original herbst? neither can remember! also the king in yellow was the previous imperator of war and thats how korpusles is zoss’ king now.  big fight, big murders. someone becomes imperator of war

ACT 4: THE APOCALYPSE SERPENT

the fourth king is kind of a problem, cause whereas the other kings were old and/or magically powerful this one is old, magically powerful and a mile-long dragon. its name is kormis, the apocalypse serpent, and it has been sleeping for ages but recently awoken due to all the hubbub. but they have a plan! throne is dotted with giant statues that are the corpses of gods and are sort of incorporated into architecture, but the wanderers have got word of one they can sort of reanimate. unfortunately its being occupied by their rivals, the most illustrious guild of judicious violence. they have to clear out the main room in the skull, then keep it clear while they perform the ritual to reanimate the god-corpse into basically a giant mecha. then they call out kormis, and have a proper mecha/kaiju battle. someone becomes the imperator of conquest. 

ACT 5: BIG ZOSS BATTLE

the sun is chained to the tower of the sun, zoss’ palace, which the angels previously refused to let them into aaaalll the way back in act 1. but now they’re kings so they can enter. they go in, and aside from angels just kinda hibernating in between missions, its... empty. no palace here! but there is some kind of teleporter pad or something. they pop up, and appear in a room looking out over a plain of fire which is otherwise very luxurious. zoss’ palace isn’t underneath the sun, it’s on the sun. also, zoss is there, lounging with some cocktails. it turns out hes been grooming them as kings to take over, cause the current batch kind of fucking suck and hes bored of doing it himself. then they fight the king of the universe on top of the sun