#with no melee classes built at all

[each-uisge]

I thought shadowbringers would never be knocked off its pedestal but the end of endwalker got me all misty eyed

i wasn't ready for the next quest to suddenly be Endwalker, i reached the top of the hill and it caught me off guard even though it really shouldnt have

[mollysunder]

There is a theory that the way children play serves as a means to simulate and prepare them for the tasks they'll take on as adults. So for all the narrative weight both Jinx and the story give the boxing machine at the arcade it would never have prepared her or the kids to take on Piltover.

What are the two things that Piltovans excel at over their Zaunite counterparts to keep the hierarchy? Weapons and technological development.

When you look at the way Piltovans invest in their children, they don't prioritize hand to hand/melee combat training. Piltovans focus on giving their children experiences in handling firearms, a pursuit that is both leisure sport for the wealthy and a key offense against dissenting Zaunites.

And from the show notes even Jayce, whose family occupies the upper middle class, was sent on educational excursions across Runeterra to explore the world and learn what it had to offer. Without Jayce's education abroad he would never have been inspired to pursue the concept hextech.

It's no wonder that the two figures that are set to be Piltover's biggest threats from Zaun are Jinx and Viktor, becasue they engaged in the same kinds of games and activities as their Piltovan counterparts.

Jinx didn't have an entire forest preserved to help her practice her sharpshooting like the high houses of Piltover, but she did excel in the few games at The Rift (the arcade) that built on her talents. She's the only Zaunite thus far who's long distance offensive is a strong counter to Piltover's forces.

Viktor couldn't travel the world like Jayce did, but for better or worse he managed to stumble into an opportunity to get real opportunity in research not offered to his peers through Singed. It was through that experience that Viktor knew to turn to Singed when he was at the end of his rope, and the consequences of that will be fully realized in season 2.

Ironically, the kind of skill the boxing game champions is only good for keeping other Zaunites in line. Vander's days of fighting Piltover were way behind him when we first met him, and Vi spends season 1 primarily fighting other Zaunites. It's no surprise the Zaunites who embody the old ideal of strength in Zaun that the game portrays, Vi and Vander, are largely at the mercy of Piltover and end up collaborating with them to avoid further harm.

Zaun's future as an independent city-state couldn't happen if they stuck to their old ideals. The people who stand a chance against Piltover are the ones that not only succeed but excel at playing Piltover's games against them.

[vexwerewolf]

God I wish IPS-N had an Artillery Mech.

I have mixed opinions on this. I think it's thematic and interesting that - in the core book, at least - each of the three commercial manufacturers had a missing role. IPS-N had no Artillery, SSC had no Defender and Harrison Armory had no Support. These absences felt like they kind of spoke to the values of each corporation.

Then in The Long Rim, we got the Sunzi, a Harrison Armory Support, and it was interesting to see what sort of thing the Armory considered to be Support - it's a fundamentally more selfish kind of Support, in that instead of repairing or removing conditions from an ally (like the Lancaster) or providing targetting assistance (like the Swallowtail), you're simply deciding where on the battlefield they are.

In Field Guide to the KTB, we got the White Witch, and again, we see what SSC feels like a Defender should be: one that reveres and pushes the boundaries of the human form by simply adapting to damage, becoming inured to it over time.

The problem with an IPS-N Artillery frame is twofold:

Core Bonus Lineup

Firstly, while they initially lacked a class of mech, there was nothing about SSC or HA that innately hampered the idea of one. There was nothing innate about the way SSC frames operate that prevented them from having Defenders, nor HA from having Supports.

IPS-N has one very serious issue when it comes to Artillery frames: its Core Bonus lineup. Two of its Core Bonuses (Gyges Frame, Titanomachy Mesh) are focused exclusively on melee combat, three (Briareos Frame, Reinforced Frame, Sloped Plating) are based around survivability, and the last (Fomorian Frame) is a niche option designed for certain builds. There's nothing in its CB lineup that an Artillery frame wants as a first priority.

Contrast this with SSC, which gets Neurolink Targeting (+3 range to all ranged weapons), and HA, which gets Heatfall Coolant System (Overcharge capped at 1d6), which are both great for Artillery frames.

Now, it's true that HORUS doesn't get any Core Bonuses directly useful for an Artillery frame either, but the one core Artillery frame that HORUS has is the Pegasus, which is extremely abnormal both by Artillery standards and by frame standards in general. (Also, it could be argued that Lesson of the Held Image is good as a way of applying free Lock Ons for yourself).

Not having any useful Core Bonuses is a problem for IPS-N that is compounded by the other major issue:

Combat Ethos

Each of the four core manufacturers is tied to a mech skill - Agility for SSC, Systems for HORUS, Engineering for HA and Hull for IPS-N. IPS-N hulls tend to be biased significantly towards high HP, Armor and Repair Cap, often at the expense of Sensor Range, Heat Cap and SP - the former grouping being stats that Artillery cares less about (since they tend not to want to be in the front lines), and the latter being stats they care more about (since Artillery frames tend to focus around one powerful gun backed up by a large number of support systems).

IPS-N frames are built to get up close and personal with the enemy, usually engaging at a maximum distance of 5 spaces. No ranged weapon that IPS-N makes shoots beyond Range 8.

I'm not saying that IPS-N couldn't have an Artillery, by any means, but there are more mechanical issues with it than any other class-manufacturer combination.

[fleshwerks]

there's also the issue of how for three games tevinter has been this absolute monster of an empire that is entirely built on magocracy and slavery, active conflict with the qunari, and its conflict with the south based not on just its previous occupation of the now sovereign nations of the Marches, Ferelden and Orlais, but also a schism in Andrastianism.

Even in Inquisition when the Venatori war bands came at you, their melee units were dressed in gladiatorial garb and wearing padlocked collars around their necks, indicating slavery.

Don't tell me that Dorian Pavus and friends not just managed to abolish slavery in scant 10 years, but somehow turned the place around to a point where an elfie can freely traipse around with nary a jab at their big ears, and a qunari skulking about doesn't get as much as a lazily raised eyebrow.

Here on earth at least in America, slavery's been abolished for more than a century, yet racial tensions and grievances still run near the boiling point.

On one hand it is relaxing for I guess new players but also old elven enthusiasts for finally getting to play as an elfie and not having to defend your very existence as an elf at all times. On the other hand, it also entirely robs dedicated elf players and the in-game elves of the catharsis of emerging as an independent faction and set of traditions and beliefs and feeling like the millennium long bloodied and bruised fight for it bore fruit.

A part of introducing such great injustices into the narrative is fighting against it and succeeding. The catharsis lies in being able to courageously look into your oppressor's eye and see them impotently gnashing their teeth, or seeing contriteness and acknowledgment of this past fight against injustice. And for players specifically, especially those who are discriminated against in real life on the basis of their race or class status, a part of what makes elves and freedom fighters as a PC appealing is the shared struggle, and the joy of being able to spit your oppressor in the eyeball.

Having now watched full playthroughs, none of it is there anymore in any significant capacity. The joy and pain of being the ferocious underdog fighting for justice for the oppressed is gone.

There's an argument to be made that this new threat has unified people against it and all old squabbles are put on hold until the threat's been dealt with, but in real life, again and again, times like these would sow even greater chaos and discord among people, because they want to take their fear out on someone, they want to maintain a sense of control and power in the face of the untouchable, insurmountable beast of total war and gods coming to delete the earth, and they reach for the targets they actually can touch: their fellow people, the outgroups.

I get that Veilguard wanted to strictly focus on a smaller scale and chose 'power of personal friendship' as their focus, but it comes at a cost of lore. And it comes at a cost of the catharsis of actually addressing this chaos and fear among different groups of people, and telling convincing them that if for nothing else, then we need mutual respect and equality and united overarching goals right now to show this talking toilet seat, the human centipede and their pet dragons what's what so that we'd even have an earth to oppress each other on.

Intergroup issues don't cease to exist in the face of a greater threat, they actually tend to increase. Where are the massive slave armies of Tevinter? And where is the protagonist's chance to tell the oppressors that 'you know, you'd have a much better chance at fighting this threat effectively if you allowed your slave army to fight for their future, not just yours?

I remember when we were still all speculating about Tevinter, I'd expressed unhappiness about ditching Southern Thedas, but I had ceded that politically, Tevinter is a setting that is absolutely rife with political and social intrigue, given that Tevinter is responsible for so much of what we as players dealt with in Southern Thedas, from the Blight to the anti-mage sentiment, to even the faith schism, and of course Tevinter sourcing slaves from Orlais and Ferelden. Not to mention its occupation of Southern regions. Kirkwall alone was a pitch black crowning jewel and a hotspot of Tevinter's terror and scars coupled with the fact that the location most likely sits on top of a possibly corrupted titan, and something besides human error and greed is driving Kirkwall insane. But now Kirkwall's been destroyed and all the plot hooks and intrigue along with it.

And Tevinter? Tevinter is a kitten compared to the rotten, roaring dragon it was made out to be in the past lore.

Not to mention that Tevinter isn't the destroyer of the Elvhen empire, it's its inheritor, it scavenged all its evils from the ruins of an Elvhen empire that collapsed on itself thanks to Chin Gigachad with shiny new veneers, and his equally deranged buddies. You'd think that this would cause insane strife among elves and the rest of the races, and that the dwarves especially would have some words to say. And you'd think that elves in Thedas could retaliate with 'and you humans especially learned fucking nothing from it so you're no better than our ancestors, and also, I, an elf, wasn't even alive and neither were 99.8% of my fellow elves back then so your issue is not with us, get the hell off our backs, you humans just continued what the worst of our own kind did to us, shut your flat tooth mouths, you wanted Elvhenan's power for yourselves, well, now it's come knocking, it looks ugly, and it looks a lot like YOU'.

But no. All of that depth, the terror, and the player's chance to stand up to that terror, all but gone.

I reiterate, I see the merit in allowing elves and qunari to finally be unapologetically themselves, it must be relaxing. But that's not why people by and large play elves and qunari. They play them because the two races in Thedas struggle against something that they can unfairly and sadly have to struggle with in real life. Except in real life, winning against oppression is damned difficult, but in a video game, like I said, you have the ability to actually do something against the oppression you face, and do it effectively.

And the Venatori don't count. Because they're a cult, but in real life there aren't many convenient cults to rail against, in real life, it's a problem that infests the society as a whole. And it's infinitely more cathartic to be able to take your suffering and address the entire society on your own terms than just delete a few cults and it's all peaches and cream after that.

Fantasy worlds hinge on suspension of disbelief: You can have fantastic elements, but it needs to be relatable. And Tevinter especially being sanitised of its historically absolutely rotten elements for... what? Ain't it.

Contrast the entirety of Veilguard to waltzing into Halamshiral's Winter Palace, being treated with derision and suspicion for who you are, and acing it so well the masked morons can't help but bow in deference because you the player took their prejudice and completely unmasked it (heh), and rubbed their noses in it. That was nice, right? Halamshiral is, after all, one of the best-regarded parts of the Inquisition BECAUSE of the intrigue, the prejudice, and for the underdog to not just confront it, but force feed their own prejudice to them while remaining if not magnanimous and better than them, then at least being given the joyous opportunity to be just as petty and reclaim equality based on shared traits like pettiness, gossip and prejudice. To show them, they can throw what they like at you, but you'll match them step for step, and they can just deal with it.

Where is all of that in stinkin' Tevinter?? The mother of all of Thedas' societal ills. I say 'mother' because the daughters in the south inherited a lot from mother, but went on to be awful in their own independent ways, too.

Disclaimer: I have seen one playthrough, so of course I have missed details and nuances, but that's the problem, you know? Most players only play it once. You need to get out as much info and lore as possible on the first time, because most people will not be returning for seconds. It's on par with the other thing BioWare does, hiding a metric ton of lore in supplementary material, books and comics. No. That shit needs to be in the game, and it needs to be visible.

And Tevinter... You could sell Fenris back to slavery. You could rescure an elven slave and take her in. You had an entire alienage being sold to Tevinter magisters. You had Calpernia. What even happened to Calpernia? Did she ever even matter? You had the rebel mages stumble into Tevinter indentured servitude in Redcliffe. Why is Tevinter suddenly done a 180 in just ten years due to a few upstart magisters' impassioned speeches? We know what happens to real life freedom fighting activists in real life. They get shot. On government's orders. They get shot even more when times are tough and a government is trying to maintain the status quo in the face of an even greater threat.

And if it was all some kind of commentary on Donald Trump and his crazies... and what's going on right now with hybrid warfare waged by Russia against all of the Western world, you would assume that all of the Northern nations of Thedas would be hotspots of even greater oppression, internal strife and division, suspicion and distrust, hostility between various civilian groups and so on.

How satisfying would it have been to be able to witness that, confront it, and had the opportunity to address it all with extreme prejudice instead of bickering at the dinner table about bringing too many books on an expedition with a companion whose race is currently in active, extremely oppressive conflict with damn near all of Northern Thedas, like who Taash or possibly Rook is beyond their gender identity wouldn't get absolutely brutalised by being, you know, not just Qunari by philosophy, but an actual member of the race driving an active war in all of Northern Thedas. We got an one-two punch in reputation for daring to be a secular Qunari mage in Halamshiral ball, but the North's response to a Qunari is 'oh look, a Qunari.'

Where is the established lore and established struggles? What happened to all those hooks?

[felassan]

Cliff notes from the latest blogpost:

BW now want to shift their marketing focus to showcasing higher level combat

"Stalwart Warrior, deft Rogue, spell-slinging Mage"

Warrior "deftly combines devastating melee with style and flair - all to inflict maximum pain on your enemies" [source]. It revolves around close range combat + defense

Skills, Traits, Runes, and Abilities are customizable to best suit different playstyles

Loadout has slots for Abilities, accessed from the Ability Wheel. Abilities are unique to each class. Customize them by spending Skill Points. The entire Skill Tree is refundable, Skill Points can be redistributed

Loadout selection before each battle is meant to be strategic

Loadout can be swapped anytime except during combat

Rook also has 3 equippable runes. These have a variety of functions e.g. control, utility, additional damage

The 3 Runes can be cycles through & activated in combat

Warrior has some Abilities that deal fire damage

Rook eventually gains access to Specializations. these grant powerful unique Abilities and a unique Ultimate Ability. Ultimates are the most powerful attack and follow the theme of that spec e.g. Champions (Grey Warden-themed spec) have Warden's Fire, which launches a devastating incendiary flurry of searing strikes that ignite enemies

Build the Ultimate Meter by doing damage to enemies. It won't fill fully during small fights as Ultimates are designed to take out lots of enemies or be used on tough bosses

Champion is the best "Specialization Area" for killing darkspawn

Info on the 9 specs

All 3 classes can jump, dodge (at any time, even mid-attack), light attack & heavy attack. These can be chained together. Attacks can be triggered while sprinting and/or jumping

Light attacks do quick damage and build small amounts of stagger. Heavy attacks are slower and build more stagger to the enemy. They also remove Armor Barrier faster. Both can be charged to deliver a stronger blow by holding down a button e.g. heavy attacks can be charged while using a staff to unleash a magical wave of energy

When enough stagger is built, the enemy is more vulnerable to all incoming damage, bonus damage and Rook can perform a special Takedown. Build stagger by landing hits on an enemy

Each class has ranged attacks, blocks, and parries (if timed properly with the right weapon). Ranged attacks remove Shield Barrier faster

Each class has 2 distinct weapon sets. You can swap seamlessly between these during battle

Yellow bar: Armor Barrier. Blue bar: Shield Barrier. Lavender bar: Stagger meter

Ability Wheel functions: pause fights, control companion Abilities, tell companions to attack specific enemies individually or together, target enemies to view enemy vulnerabilities & resistances, set up Ability Combos

Darkspawn are weak to fire

Abilities can also be bound to shortcut keys

Some Abilities apply buffs or debuffs; Area of Effect abilities help defeat large groups; there are crowd control abilities; some Abilities have coordinating effects to serve as a Primer or Detonator for strong combo attacks executed with companions

Controlling the field of battle is important

Davrin has Heroic Strike (ability) which applies the Overwhelmed debuff to enemies, increasing their stagger and making it easier for Rook to do a Takedown

Davrin has Death from Above (ability) which sends Assan to attack enemies. this is good against distant enemies

Abilities require class Resources (Mana, Momentum, Rage) to be used. The Resource is primarily built up by dealing damage with basic attacks, and secondarily in a class-specific way: mages regain mana passively over time, rogues build momentum by dodging & parrying, warriors build rage by taking & dealing damage

Sword-and-shield build warriors can do Shield Throw Volley. if you land a heavy attack on a Shield Throw return, the shield ricochets, taking out multiple enemies. this sequence can repeat up to 3 times, causing a ring of damage around Rook. this tactic is good for swarms and distant enemies

Warriors have Grappling Spear (ability), which pulls distant enemies closer

That blogpost focused on Warrior. More to come on the other classes before launch

A separate spotlight on progression will also come before launch

[source]

[huggingtentacles]

Alright you just beat Elden Ring. Congratulations! You're now one of the cool folks who can actually beat the game, and you're not ready to put it down yet.

Maybe PvP intimidates you and you just wanna explore the world again. You may try a new build sure, but now that you know more about the game, you might wanna try something different, like a challenge run.

"huggingtentacles I am trash at the game there is no way I could do any of the cool runs, I died to Radagon a bazillion times"

Most people are good enough to beat a challange run. You can define what a challange is for yourself! There is no need to jump into something insane like a rune level 1 run or a torch only run. You can set any restriction you want, and completing the game with an additional challange is immensely more satisfying (and gives you bragging rights)

There are many different challange runs all varying in difficulty. Here are the runs that I've done personally.

Easy:

Region Lock Run — the premise is simple, you can't leave the region you are in unless you best the major boss(es) of that region. You can't go to Liurnia untill you beat Margit, you can't go to Altus untill you beat Rennala, etc. This run is fun because you can't skip over progression (like killing the Caelid dragon early with bleed to be overlevelled for Limgrave) which makes every fight feel appropriately difficult.

Starting Class Run — Only use the gear you start the game with. You can level up and upgrade your weapons and flask, but you can't use any other consumables and talismans you didn't start the game with. This run is quite flexible in difficulty because whether you choose to, say, use ashes of war or different spells or even golden seeds is ultimately up to you. All of them count.

No spirit summons — for some this is just the normal Elden Ring run, but for most it's a challange. While it can be somewhat difficult, not having spirit summons still leaves you with enough options to steamroll through the game if you need to. The challenge comes from actually learning the bosses and their patterns and engaging with combat more.

No status effects — As simple as it sounds. Perhaps you used to crutch on bleed, frost, rot or poison, now you can't. There are plenty of other very powerful damage options in the game, so the run is definitely not very hard, it only limits your arsenal somewhat.

Spells only/melee only — depending on what your previous run was. If you're used to standing behind and throwing pebbles, picking up a weapon might be a fun new challenge. And if you are used to your Big Sword, it's gonna be kinda hard to adjust to managing your FP and putting together a build.

Medium:

Spirit Summons Only — moderately difficult because it requires rather extensive knowledge of the game's mechanics. The basic premise is that you can only deal damage using spirit summons. You can restrict it to bosses only or to the whole run in general. It's an absolutely hilarious run. The AI built into the game can beat the entire game for you. Including the hardest endgame bosses like Malenia. Also playing as a support, healing and buffing your summons is really fun :)

No Crimson Flask — LISTEN. I swear it's not that hard. Yes it sucks a bit in the early game, but there are so many tools and options available to completely replace your flask with regen and heal spells. Just level up your vigor. This run is incredibly fun and it's good if you are aiming for harder runs in the future but aren't sure if you have it in you. I know you do ;)

Taunter's Tongue Run — Definitely my FAVOURITE of all of them. Its incredibly simple: you get Taunter's Tongue as soon as you get access to Roundtable Hold and you turn it on forever. Fight invaders alone or with a friend in 2v2s. If you don't have any PvP experience, this is one of the ways to learn. By the end of it, you won't be half bad at PvP, trust me (unless you just run away all the time which is also an option)

Hard:

Rune Level 1 is such a difficult run to do, but the cultural legacy of Fromsoft "no leveling up" runs makes the completion of it so desirable. Completing this run basically makes you part of the small section of people who actually know how to fight every single boss without relying on cheap tactics and cheese. You learn how to counter every move most enemies make because of how unforgiving it is.

But what's more fun is the sheer variety. Stat boosting gear is so common in this game you can literally use almost anything you want as a weapon.

Permadeath — If you die, you restart. Use any tools at your disposal to survive, play it safe, level up your vigor. But most importantly, brace for setbacks. Restarting because of a dumb mistake sucks, but that's why it's such an impressive run to complete. If you can take a loss on Elden Beast and make it to the inside of the Erdtree again, you will achieve one of the hardest challanges ER has to offer.

An easier variation of Permadeath would be "no rune loss" run. There are tools the game gives you to avoid losing runes, but it's still a very difficult run.

Torch Only Run — You pick up a standard torch from Church of Elleh and you use it to Kill God.

An easier variation would be Torches Only run which allows you to use the entire arsenal of torches. Still a very difficult run that requires a lot of skill to beat.

Impossible:

No Thinking About Kissing Malenia run — still working on this one. Can't figure it out. If you have advice please DM me

Feel free to add more challange run ideas!

[frozenartscapes]

What I like about Spy x Family that I hope was an intentional choice by the creator but would also be hilarious if it just worked out this way is the character design of the Forger family. In that this family of three highly secretive people who can only exist in society so long as no one recognizes them from their dark secrets are all literally Main Characters.

Loid is every lead male character in a piece of media ever. He’s handsome, blond, blue eyes, well-built but not too muscular… He is literally Ken in a world full of Allens.

Yor is every teenager’s first Edgy OC. Black hair, red eyes, black or red clothes, a badass alter ego, tragic backstory and extreme proficiency in weapons/melee. She is the only person aside from her brother to have such an unnatural eye colour and no one questions it.

Anya is literally the meme about anime main characters. In a class of brown, black, and blond hair she sticks out like a pink thumb. Even without the suspicious hair cones she’d be easily spotted in any crowd.

Hell, even Bond stands out just due to his size and being a unique blend of different dog breeds, making him unique amongst the other dogs we’ve seen so far.

I get it: it’d be pretty boring if all of our leads were plain and generic-looking. It’s just funny to think about in-universe. But it also weirdly works as to why no one has figured them out. Loid gets a pass because he’s often in disguise. Anya’s just a kid so the hair colour could be written off as dye or a wig. Yor leaves no witnesses. And Bond’s just a mixed-breed dog - nothing suspicious about that, right?

[livmightlive]

Soul Eater AU: Legend and Hyrule

I would like to ask that everybody please ignore my poor drawing skills 😭 I’m very rusty right now so these are basically caveman drawings of what I’m trying to convey. 

As aforementioned Hyrule is the weapon out of the duo and he’s a magic rod inspired greatly by the one he used in Zelda 1. He’s about 4 feet tall in that form and can perform a couple of spells from Zelda 2: Jump, Shield, Reflect, Thunder, and Life. I think they could perform other spells or even rituals.

Hyrule has a lot of magic potential while Legend only has a bit but it works well with Legend only needing a little bit to cast while Hyrule basically pushes the spell out in a much bigger form. If they complete bigger spells there runs the risk of both of them exhausting themselves. 

They discovered in a bad fight that in a pinch, Hyrule can be used as a melee weapon as he has some weight 😭 They use this sparingly because it sets Legend up to be more likely hurt and Hyrule really isn’t meant to be used that way.

Hyrule is the son of a very infamous witch that was slain when he was very young. We’ll say maybe 5 years old? The royal family “took him in” as means to watch him closely and keep him away from the public. He wasn’t horribly bullied but was largely ignored or feared growing up. He was allowed to study very little magic in fear that he would develop into a witch. He had a very lonely childhood :(

Legend is the spare prince of Hyrule (the country) and was sent to live with his uncle to learn magic and combat. His father also wasn’t too sure what to do with an extra child. He grew up happy and out of the public eye until he was 12 when an assassin tried to end him. His uncle intervened and died protecting him. 

He was sent back to the castle to live, and there he met Hyrule, another lonely child. They became fast friends and realized that they were compatible as weapon and meister. Legend’s father sent them to school, idk if it would be death academy, where they became top of their class despite having a very shaky reputation built around the narrative of being the spare prince and son of a witch. 

At 16, Rule, and 17, Legend, they’re selected to go on a holy quest with 7 other people to stop an ancient evil from resurrection.

And that’s their story!! 

This has also somewhat become my emo/goth dress up game AS well as which demonias I think each would wear 😽 I forgot that in Soul Eater all of the characters wear big goth/emo shoes. I gave Hyrule the Boxer-13s and Legend… he gets bestowed the classic Swing-815s. 

I’d love to hear anybody’s thoughts, I love talking about this, whether it’s personal headcanons or fashion

[wizardshark]

For the DnD nerds who care about the rules a lot:

This is a 1 on 1 fight that contains 3 rounds. You win one fight, you go to the next round. At the start of the tournament everyone has taken a long rest, and between each round they get only a short rest.

Propaganda both for AND against in the readmore.

Adaine Abernant

For: Wizards have been the strongest class since 1st edition and it ain't changing now baby. One portent roll for each fight is enough to guarantee a turn to cast a wizard save-or-suck spell.

Against: This girl killed one person ONE time and had a break down about it, has frequent panic attacks, and her AC is 15. She has no real defensive options and will die as all wizards die: with an axe in their nervous system.

Fabian Aramais Seacaster

For: Short rests? Sounds like a fighter's adventuring day! Three attacks + superiority dice + spell slot smiting + Action surge to do it again is killing everyone but Gorgug before they can even get a turn.

Against: Melee fighters, famously, can't do shit all if you stand over there ->, and a single reroll for a save-or-suck isn't going to be very much against any spellcaster who, dare I say, casts more than 1 (that is, one) spell in the fight. Insult his dad and bait him into doing something stupid, GG EZ

Figueroth Faeth

For: Literal archdemon resists the biggest energy damage types, tons of spell slots and warlock shenanigans to play you like a fiddle, then smite you to death when you're finally just trying to get anything done.

Against: "I have no single target DAMAGE" - quote from Emily. This bitch got no single target damage and these are 1 v 1 fights. Yeah Paladins can nova but they have no spell slot regeneration, after the first fight, which you KNOW she will spam her whole arsenal, girl will be all out of resources. More likely to disguise self to be the referee and skateboard away.

Gorgug Thistlespring

For: Did you see him solo a purple worm in the last stand?? Able to concentrate on artificer spells while in a rage too. THE classic 1v1 class, resists your damage and crits you every turn.

Against: Single minded to the extreme. Spellcasting is the classic counter to an angy barbarian. Yeah he has mindless rage, poor Fig, but anyone with any CC that isn't a charm effect won't even give him a target to try to charge down. Mention his parent's lawnmower and defeat him while he is distracted.

Kristen Applebees

For: Clerics are strong! We can pretend all we like that healers are boring but she can hit you hard and keep herself topped out on HP, AC, Save bonuses, and do you in with spirit guardians and spiritual weapon with no problem. You see the muscles on that girl? The gay one, I mean, not the straight british one.

Against: 4 dexterity

Riz "The Ball" Gukgak

For: These bitches are BLIND blind. Reliable talent stealth checks puts him above 20 every time. Sneak attack damage won't explode anyone but the most squishy, but is extremely reliable with a bonus action hide. He will eat your bones.

Against: Actual skill monkey. He has a cool gun but he's an arcane trickster built for non-combat. Investigate an arm around his neck and pickpocket a knife into his belly and you've got the win easy. Man couldn't even get onto the owl bears until there was no one left to swap in except him. Will probably be too exhausted to put up a good fight.

[wyllzel]

🔗 Link to Google Doc.

This is how I built Wyll in my Origin Wyll playthrough. This keeps Wyll in his canon Warlock class, while also ensuring he’s handy with his trusty rapier.

The vibe of this Warlock is a spellcaster (Eldritch Blast, AOE, and Enchantment spells) with good melee action. (Very gishy! 👽) The goal is to build up both Arcane Synergy and Arcane Acuity.

Leveling up is fairly flexible, so the focus for this guide is on gear interaction. Key pieces of gear include the Ring of Arcane Synergy (Act 1), Helmet of Arcane Acuity (Act 2), and Band of the Mystic Scoundrel (Act 3).

Overall, this is a fairly standard Fiend Bladelock build, and is not so much an “end all, be all” as it is a basic (but strategic!) approach.

(Fair warning: Possible spoilers ahead!)

Leveling

Please note that this guide is really just my personal preference! I recommend fully reading through the Wiki page on BG3’s Warlock so you get a good idea of what this class can do. In this guide, I’ve added a star (⭐) next to each of the class features or spells that I especially like.

To start with, this is my Wyll’s base stats:

Since Pact of the Blade Warlock’s “Bind Pact Weapon” feature scales weapon Attack Rolls and Damage Rolls off your spellcasting modifier, I recommend heavily prioritizing Charisma. The Warlock class becomes very SAD (Single Ability Dependent) with Charisma which is very convenient.

I prioritized Dexterity after Charisma because your Dexterity modifier affects your Initiative – and the higher your Initiative, the easier it is to get a leg up in combat. Additionally, your Dexterity modifier is added to your AC (when wearing Robes or Light Armor, which this build will be utilizing).

The next prioritized stat is Constitution, which is good for maintaining Concentration spells as well as boosting your total HP.

Level 1

One Level 1 Warlock Spell slot

Select:

Subclass: The Fiend

Two Cantrips: ELDRITCH BLAST 💥, Minor Illusion ⭐

Two Warlock spells (Level 1): Hellish Rebuke, Command

The Fiend subclass gives you:

Dark One’s Blessing (Temporary bonus HP when you kill a hostile creature)

Access to the Spells: Burning Hands, Command

Eldritch Blast genuinely solves any and all problems. (Force Damage is especially good in BG3, where 99% of your enemies do not have Force Resistance.) And Minor Illusion is a really good utility spell – especially if you’re into barrelmancy and need a safe and reliable method to cluster enemies.

The added HP from Dark One’s Blessing is really good, especially in earlier levels (Act 1) when your party is extremely squishy.

Level 2

Two Level 1 Warlock Spell slots

Select:

Eldritch Invocations: Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast ⭐

One Warlock Spell (Level 1): Armour of Agathys

Replace a Spell: N/A

Level 3

Improved Warlock Spell Slots: Warlock Spells are now Level 2

Select:

Pact Boon: Pact of the Blade

One Warlock Spell (Level 2): Cloud of Daggers

Replace a Spell: Armour of Agathys → Hold Person

Level 4

Select:

Feat: Ability Improvement (ASI) = +1 CHA, +1 DEX ⭐

One Cantrip: Mage Hand

One Warlock Spell (Level 2): Shatter

Replace a Spell: N/A

Level 5

Deepened Pact: Pact of the Blade → Gain an Extra Attack with your weapon ⭐

Scaling Cantrips (ie., Eldritch Blast fires an additional beam) ⭐

Improved Warlock Spell Slots: Warlock Spells are now Level 3

Select:

One Eldritch Invocation: Devil’s Sight ⭐

One Warlock Spell (Level 3): Hunger of Hadar ⭐

Replace a Spell: Hellish Rebuke → Counterspell

The Fiend subclass gives you:

Access to the Spells: Fireball, Stinking Cloud

Level 6

Select:

One Warlock Spell (Level 3): Fireball

Replace a Spell: N/A

The Fiend subclass gives you:

Dark One’s Own Luck: Add +1d10 to an Ability Check once per Short Rest

Level 7

Improved Warlock Spell Slots: Warlock Spells are now Level 4

Select:

One Warlock Spell (Level 4): Banishment

Replace a Spell: Cloud of Daggers → Wall of Fire

Eldritch Invocation: Armour of Shadows ⭐

Armor of Shadows is excellent if you’re wearing robes. Because you’ll probably be wearing the Potent Robe at this point (early Act 2), this Invocation is particularly useful.

Level 8

Select:

Feat: ASI +2 to Charisma

One Warlock Spell (Level 4): Fear

Replace a Spell: N/A

Alternative Feats:

You may want to consider Alert to get the jump on enemies, especially when playing in Honor Mode. 

War Caster is a good idea if you plan to lean heavily on Concentration Spells such as Hunger of Hadar or Wall of Fire. 

Another good Feat for Concentration Spells is Resilient, which you’d take for Constitution. However, your initial Ability Score numbers would probably look different than how I have mine set up!

Spell Sniper is fun if you plan to lean heavily on Attack Roll spells – like Eldritch Blasts!

Level 9

Improved Warlock Spell Slots: Warlock Spells are now Level 5

Select:

One Warlock Spell (Level 5): Hold Monster ⭐

Replace a Spell: N/A

Eldritch Invocation: Life Drinker ⭐

Hold Monster is extremely useful in Act 3, where a lot of the major bosses you face (Orin in her Slayer form, Raphael, etc.) are Monsters.

Level 10

Scaling Cantrips (ie., Eldritch Blast fires an additional beam) ⭐

Select:

One Warlock Spell (Level 5): Flame Strike

Replace a Spell: N/A

The Fiend subclass gives you:

Fiendish Resilience: Once per Short Rest, choose a Damage Type to become Resistant to

Level 11

Gain an additional Warlock Spell slot (for a total of 3 Warlock Spell slots)

Select:

One Warlock Spell (Level 5): Cone of Cold

Mystic Arcanum: Eyebite

Any of the Mystic Arcanum spells are good, though! I just find that Arcane Gate, Circle of Death, and Flesh to Stone are only useful situationally. Create Undead is good for summons-focused teams.

Level 12

Select:

Feat: ASI +2 to Dexterity, or see Level 8.

One Warlock Spell (Level 5): Blight

Replace a Spell: N/A

Eldritch Invocation: One With Shadows

Final Composition

By Level 12, Wyll can have the following notable qualities:

Three Level 5 Warlock Spell slots 

One Level 6 Warlock Spell that can be used once per Long Rest

Three Damage die on Damaging Warlock cantrips – AKA three bolts of Eldritch Blast for 3d10+5 Damage (the +5 applies to each Blast bolt)

An Extra Attack (Weapon) from Pact of the Blade

Spells List and Invocations

Note: Scaling Cantrips (Level 5, Level 10) is based on your overall caster level rather than your Warlock level. As such, if you multiclass Wyll with a class like Bard or Paladin, he’ll still get the fully scaled three bolts per Eldritch Blast at Level 10.

Gear

The goal of this gear selection is to maximize the effectiveness of Wyll’s spells – particularly Enchantment spells. With the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel, Enchantment spells can be cast as a Bonus Action. Without this Band, Wyll generally won't be doing much with his Bonus Action as a Warlock – so let's fix that!

To align with his backstory, Wyll should be a formidable swordsman as well as spellcaster. As such, the weaponry in this build enhances his spellcasting, and ensures that his spellcasting enhances his sword fighting as well. (Synergizing!!!)

Headwear: Helmet of Arcane Acuity

Battle Acuity: Whenever you deal damage with a weapon attack, you gain Arcane Acuity (+1 to Spell Attack Rolls and Spell Save DC) for 2 turns.

+1 to Dexterity Saving Throws

Armor: Elegant Studded Leather

14 AC + Dexterity Modifier (18 AC)

+2 to Initiative Rolls

Can cast Shield once per Short Rest

Alternatively, you can use the Potent Robe and cast Armour of Shadows to bump your AC. However, you cannot wear the Helmet of Arcane Acuity if you do so (the helmet qualifies as Light Armor, meaning it cannot be used simultaneously with Armour of Shadows). If you’d like to use the Potent Robe instead, an alternative headwear is the Diadem of Arcane Synergy.

However, I wouldn't recommend the Potent Robe for a Fiend Warlock once you get the Elegant Studded Leather or an equivalent Light Armor. This is because the Potent Robe's added temporary HP (equal to your Warlock's Charisma Modifier) overrides the Dark One's Blessing, which will grant your Warlock temporary HP equal to your Warlock's Charisma Modifier plus your Warlock's Level.

Cloak: Cloak of the Weave

Arcane Enchantment: Gain a +1 bonus to Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls.

Absorb Elements: Absorb elemental damage once per Short Rest. Take half damage from the next elemental attack targeting you, and deal an additional 1d6 of that element type on your next attack.

Alternatively, if you expect Wyll to regularly be in melee range, I’d recommend the Cloak of Protection (defensive, +1 to AC) or Thunderskin Cloak (offensive, pairs well with the Spineshudder Amulet). 

The Nymph Cloak pairs well with the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel.

Handwear: Daredevil Gloves

+1 to Spell Attack Rolls

Daredevil Proximity: Can make Ranged Spell Attack Rolls as Melee Spell Attack Rolls

For boosting the effectiveness of Eldritch Blasting! Alternatively, the Gloves of Battlemage’s Power would be perfect for this build, but apparently they’re currently bugged (as of Feb. 20, 2024, Hotfix #18).

The Spellmight Gloves, Quickspell Gloves, Gemini Gloves, and Helldusk Gloves are also interesting options.

Footwear: Helldusk Boots

Ignores Difficult Terrain

Cannot be forcibly moved by spells or actions

Use a reaction to succeed on a Saving Throw

Hellcrawler: Teleport to an area and deal 2d8 Fire Damage upon landing in a 3m/10ft zone

Utilizing infernal gear is very synergetic with Wyll’s story. However, these boots are good for characters who want to move into melee range. Alternative teleportation boots include the Disintegrating Night Walkers or the Spaceshunt Boots.

Additionally, the Boots of Stormy Clamour pair well with the Spineshudder Amulet.

Amulet: Spineshudder Amulet

Inflict Reverberation when you deal Damage with a Ranged Spell Attack

Eldritch Blasts are Ranged Spell Attacks. :)

Ring A: Ring of Arcane Synergy

Synergetic Cantrip: When you deal damage with a Cantrip, you gain Arcane Synergy for 2 turns

When you have Arcane Synergy, your Weapon Attacks deal additional damage equal to your Spell Casting Ability Modifier. This makes a lot of sense since Wyll’s highest stat should be Charisma (aka his Spell Casting Ability Modifier), and because Wyll will probably be Eldritch Blasting (Cantrip) a lot.

Ring B: Band of the Mystic Scoundrel

Illusion Quickening: After hitting a creature with a Weapon Attack, you can cast Illusion or Enchantment spells as a Bonus Action

This item is why this build prioritizes Enchantment spells! Otherwise, the only thing Wyll can really do with his Bonus Action in combat is chug a potion (or teleport), haha.

Melee Main Hand: Infernal Rapier

High Spellcasting: +1 to Spell Save DC

Planar Ally: Cambion (Summon a Cambion as an ally)

However, being able to Bind Pact Weapon via Pact of the Blade means Wyll can wield any weapon in the game! So this slot is very flexible depending on the encounter. I favor the Infernal Rapier for the +1 to Spell Save DC and the RP value.

Melee Off Hand: Viconia’s Walking Fortress

Rebuke of the Mighty: When a foe hits you with a melee attack, you can use a Reaction to deal 2-8 Force damage and possibly knock them Prone

Spellguard: You have Advantage on Saving Throws against spells; Spell Attack Rolls against you have Disadvantage 

Swires’ Sledboard is also interesting for potential Force damage. Ketheric’s Shield is good for casters in general (+1 Spell Save DC and +1 to Spell Attack Rolls), although I usually have this shield on my party’s Wizard (Gale).

Ranged Main Hand: Darkfire Shortbow

Grants Resistance to both Fire and Cold Damage

Can cast Haste as a Level 3 spell once per Long Rest

This weapon slot is less important since Wyll will be Eldritch Blasting if he needs to make a single-target Ranged Attack. The only reason he might be using a Ranged Weapon is if he’s Silenced.

As such, it’s nice to just benefit from this bow’s passives. With Fiendish Resilience, Wyll can potentially have four Resistances at once in (very late) Act 2 – Fire and Cold from the Darkfire Shortbow, Necrotic from Selûne’s Blessing, and another from Fiendish Resilience.

Additionally, an emergency Haste is great to have on the backburner.

The Bow of Awareness is another such bow that grants a useful passive (+1 to Initiative).

Ranged Off Hand: N/A

Number Crunching

If you’ve followed the above gearing, you should have 20 AC on Wyll. Hooray!

The following table should give you an idea of how Wyll performs on the battlefield as a result of his gear synergy.

Because this Warlock build has a lot of flexibility in what it can do (#gishy 👽), it’s hard to say how much damage Wyll can regularly dole out. However, in an ideal world, Wyll can take the following actions to get the most out of his gear:

Combat Round #1

Cast Eldritch Blast on three separate enemies, inflicting Reverberation on each and gaining Arcane Synergy.

Combat Round #2

Land a Weapon Attack (which uses Arcane Synergy) on an enemy, gaining Arcane Acuity.

Use Bonus Action to cast Hold Person or Hold Monster.

Land a Weapon Attack (which uses Arcane Synergy) on the held enemy; this Attack is automatically a Critical Hit.

Conclusion

Of course, this is just one way to class Wyll (or a general Warlock)! I prioritized thematic gearing over pure Damage output, so there are definitely ways to get this build even more powerful. For example, Wyll would probably be ethically opposed to using the Bhaalist Armor even though it would greatly enhance his rapier attacks. 

As an aside, there’s a funny bug with Warlock’s Pact of the Blade Extra Attack – in Explorer, Balanced, and Tactician, this Extra Attack adds to (instead of overlaps with) any Extra Attack you get from another class. 

So instead of having an Attack and Extra Attack like most other martial classes, the Lockadin gets an Attack, an Extra Attack, and an extra Extra Attack, for three Attacks total, LOL. (This bug is unfortunately resolved in Honor Mode.) Subsequently, the Pact of the Blade is a great multiclass with martial classes, but especially a Paladin (5 Warlock / 7 Paladin). 😁

Additionally, a lot of this gear is also excellent on a College of Swords Bard (another Charisma-based gish type). To that end, it may not be a good idea to have both a Bard and Warlock on the same team, as they’ll be fighting for the gear listed here.

Thanks for reading, and hope this gave you some ideas for your Warlock builds! :)

[utilitycaster]

Hi there,

You said in the answer you just gave that, "the Nein mechanically played really well to the casts strength." Could you talk more about that? I'm someone who hasn't actually played D&D before, and everything I've learned has been through osmosis with CR, and your more crunchy posts have been really interesting to read, too.

Hi anon,

Thank you! I can answer but this is definitely pretty subjective in terms of how I see the classes they played and my view of the cast's mechanical strengths so know that you're getting one very specific perspective here. You will notice as a theme that I am not one for indecision.

Anyway: I think Liam and Travis are both notable within the cast for being decisive, in and out of combat, and both played characters with a huge array of options, as arcane utility spellcasters (plus Fjord's melee and, later, paladin abilities) and so having people who can make a quick, confident decision and stick to it with their spellcasting was crucial. Travis also has, as I once put it, court sense, and so having a character with options at basically any range in combat (from melee to eldritch blast range) was extremely good for him. I also just think they like utility casting, which, as my url indicates, I obviously think is awesome; but not all people like it and that's okay! I also just think they like it - both have mentioned on 4SD that Orym and Chetney are much more limited in what they can do.

I think Sam can get really hung up on the optimal and ideal thing to do at times. Really, the best way to put it - and FCG's death is a great example actually - is that Sam is not precious at all with his own characters but is worried about letting other people down. So I think the fact that Veth had a limited but interesting number of choices was actually quite good for him - he could make creative decisions (and even think outside the box, as with fluffernutter) but didn't have an endless list. It also still provided spellcasting, which is important to him.

I think Marisha is one of the strongest players on adding flavor to combat which is purely non-mechanical but is important in actual play if you are playing a character who does mostly the same thing. For what it's worth a lot of the things Beau played to her strengths were on the RP side (give the notetaker a character who has a reason to know a lot of lore) and also, I like monks but they are very straightforward characters to play in battle for the most part so there's not a ton to say, but I think she had a good sense of melee combat and would love to see her play more melee characters; Keyleth was obviously incredibly versatile, but this meant she did spend a lot of time in melee! Marisha also has decent instincts for tanking (Keyleth as regular tank thanks to wildshape and Beau as a dodge tank) so Beau allowed her to exercise that.

Taliesin is also a generally strong player in terms of mechanics and I think, honestly, his strength is that he doesn't seem to have a strong preference on what sort of class he plays and therefore was able to lean into a character who was almost purely support without any resentment over not getting the kill. In general I think Taliesin is very good at just...doing what his character is built to do, which seems damning with faint praise but honestly I think people who get really obsessive about Subverting Their D&D Class are annoying so this is praise and respect.

Laura is an interesting one in that I think she really likes to do Big Damage but she actually is quite skilled at utility casting. Having Caduceus definitely allowed Jester to shine in that she didn't have to serve as dedicated healer, but she also was a strong healer. Laura can be somewhat precious about her characters and I think being a healer is a good antidote for that in that you have the power to heal yourself if you get worried (honestly, this is why I started off as someone who played healers until I allowed myself to accept that dying on graph paper, as Taliesin once said, is fine). Being a prepared caster is also good for someone who, like Laura, can be competitive - it's interesting because she and Sam have a lot of similarities but I think respond in different ways, and Laura having a lot of options and knowing she can change them works well for her approach.

Ashley is also quite strong at flavor descriptors but I also think she likes doing damage, and I think Yasha was very much a "right character at the right time" for her in that barbarians are complicated in the sense of maneuvering, but not in the sense of options - it's a much easier character to jump back into after being away because she is, for the most part, going to be hitting things with a sword. I think she's doing a great job with Fearne too, but wildfire druid is MUCH harder to put down and pick up.

Really, in short, I think the cast members who thrive on having a ton of decisions had them; the cast members who at times have trouble picking what to do had a much more limited list which helped them; and those who don't really have a strong preference had other stylistic elements that were a good fit.

(I also happen to think, as I alluded to especially for Marisha's portrayal of Beau, that the Nein played to the cast's RP strengths as well and/or were given the time and space for the cast to grow into things they were less confident doing, eg: Travis and romance; and I think that does bleed into combat in that it helps you take actions that feel right for the character which in turn helps the other people around you predict what you'll do. It's the drift compatibility.)

[graveunderfloor]

Soooo...ummm...yeah I finally finished my TFP Nightbird design and a little bit exhausted because drawing is like a drugs – it makes me worse but I will never stop

And yes there are somethings about MECH team:

– Nightbird and the rest of the team were built by the MECH to confront the Cybertronians and gather information about them.

–While building, MECH used body parts of dead Cybertronians that were found on Earth (but this does not mean that there are no man-made parts in Nightbird and others)

– None of the bots built by MECH have a spark, but they do have a personality thanks to the Cybertronian brain modules.

– Also, not all members of the MECH team originally had T-cogs, like, for example, Nightbird.

–Each bot has its own human partner

–Bots need energon to survive, as most of their bodies are Cybertronians remains.

About Nightbird:

Nightbird is that quiet girl in the class from whom you don't know what to expect, unlike the original she can talk, here the question is different - does she want to. She is very fast and deadly, and has truly amazing melee and ranged combat skills.

However, the fact remains that she never developed her skills on her own, she only produces commands and movements recorded on the brain module, performed by a person specifically for her training. And she really doesn't like it.

Also, before joining the Decepticons, she had a human partner named Bagheera. They were quite close and it was with Bagheera that she talked the most and sometimes even made fun of her.

Nightbird is a very good performer, if she was given some task she is very unlikely to disappoint you, but unfortunately she is not suitable for leadership. Nightbird is very cold and sometimes even bitchy, she can demonstratively ignore you if she doesn't like you (Starscream is already tearing apart the walls of nemesis).

When Nightbird joined the Decepticons, she was reformed and given a T-cog, increasing her size.

I'll bring you something else about this AU soon, don't get bored

[level2janitor]

The Tactiquest Tank

Play tactiquest here!

one of the big things i wanted to do when laying out my design goals for tactiquest was have more nonmagic classes than magic ones, and because this is a combat game, that mostly meant a whole bunch of classes that are good at fighting in a way that doesn't involve magic.

which is kinda trickier than it sounds. there's a lot more ways to do magic than to whack people with swords, and every combat class has to serve a distinct purpose, otherwise you just wonder why it's there when we have the regular fighter already. they need to fill totally different gameplay and thematic roles.

one of the more obvious ones is the tank! almost every D&D-type game that has a Fighter class in it has this expectation that if you're the big heavy-armor guy, your job is to take hits for your more fragile allies. but there's a lot of variance in whether your class actually gives you built-in tools to tank - drawing attacks towards yourself, punishing enemies for attacking anyone but you, and stopping enemies from just running past you to attack your friends.

for Tactiquest, the regular fighter class does have a couple options for tanking, but they're not specialized in it - because there's a whole different class that fills that role instead, to such an extent it feels completely different to play.

the end result was the Vanguard:

tanking abilities: two big ones: allies next to you benefit from your armor if you're wearing any, and any time an ally near you is attacked you can run over and get hit instead (with a small action cost). other perks you can take help you impede ranged attacks, make it hard for enemies to get past you, help you get into melee, and make you more durable so you can better withstand all the hits you're tanking.

low damage: instead of specific weapon/armor proficiencies, you have "equip slots", which weapons and armor take up. the vanguard has many equip slots and could in theory wear very little armor to instead wield a huge weapon, but the class mechanics very much incentivize wearing armor because of your Protection ability spreading your armor benefits out to adjacent allies, which is wasted if you have no armor. that and the fact you'll be getting hit so often you really want some kind of armor.

i didn't want vanguards to go around dealing a ton of damage because that'd be stepping on the other weapon-users' toes too much. they're defensive first and foremost. so they get fewer damage abilities than those classes, and the damaging abilities they do have (like Violent Impact, Shield Smash and Punishing Strike) mostly reinforce their tank role.

no taunts: a common thread in certain tank classes is the "taunt", where you impose a condition on an enemy that forces them to run up and melee-attack you. they're usually criticized for being very "video-gamey" (as in they feel artificial and forced), because they usually are. i don't tend to like them and i think there's better ways to make tanks fun to play.

overall i'm really happy with how the class turned out and it's been really well received in testing. they feel very active even though their abilities are mostly passive or reactions, which is a good sign.

[justicegundam82]

Hackmaster to PF1 Conversion: Boarfolk

Hello! Here is my latest conversion... a rather simple one, all things considered, this one coming from the Hackmaster tabletop games.

I should add that I got some ideas from the work of the Creature Codex blog, who converted the Pigfolk some time ago.

I hope you will enjoy my conversion, and as always, tell me if there is something I should improve.

BOARFOLK

Image (c) GreyRat48 on DeviantArt

This humanoid creature is tall and well-built, with the head of a wild boar and covered in hirsute, coarse fur.

BOARFOLK                       CR 2

XP 600

CG Medium Humanoid

Init +0; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +3

DEFENSE

AC 15, touch 10, flat-footed 15 (+4 natural, +1 shield)

hp 19 (3d8+6)

Fort +5, Ref +1, Will +1

Defensive Abilities ferocity

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft.

Melee obsidian machete +5 (1d6+2 / 19-20; fragile) and bite -1 (1d4+1); or bite +4 (1d4+2)

Ranged sling +2 (1d4+2)

Special Attacks hatred (orcs)

STATISTICS

Str 15, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 15, Wis 11, Cha 8

Base Atk +2; CMB +4; CMD 14

Feats Power Attack, Weapon Focus (machete)

Skills Climb +6, Craft (weapons) +6, Knowledge (any one) +8, Perception +3, Profession (any one) +8, Survival +4

Languages Common, Orc

Special Qualities erudite

ECOLOGY

Environment temperate and cold forests

Organization solitary, pair, gang (3-10 plus 1 leader of level 2-4) or village (10-60 plus 1 lieutenant of level 2-4 every 20 individuals, 1 druid/shaman of level 4-6 and 1 chief of level 5-7)

Treasure standard (obsidian machete, sling with 20 bullets, buckler, other treasure)

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Erudite (Ex): A boarfolk can choose a single Knowledge skill to always be considered a class skill for him. Boarfolk usually choose Knowledge (engineering) or Knowledge (nature) for this ability.

Hatred (Ex): Boarfolk gain a +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against humanoid creatures of the orc subtype because of their special training against these hated foes.

Boarfolk are a surprisingly ancient race, rumored to be the original ancestry that orcs and pigfolk originated from. Unlike their brutish cousins, however, boarfolk have a rather sophisticated culture with intricate religious practices, and their cities are known for their remarkable innovations and efficiency. Most of them have a natural predilection for mathematics and physics. Boarfolk communities tend to be relatively small, living in simple but well-constructed villages hidden in deep forests, where they use trees for their shade and natural beauty.

Not ones to neglect their physical prowess either, boarfolk are trained in fighting from an early age, and are known for their skill in using their specially-forged obsidian weapons. They tend to be peaceful and avoid unnecessary violence, but their closeness to crueler and more belligerent orc subraces is a sore point for boarfolk - they regard orcs as degenerates, and pigfolk as abominations who offended their deities in ages past with some horrific sacrilege, and the hatred is very much mutual. The pigfolk's tendency for worshipping Great Old Ones lends credence to these rumors, but nothing definite is known. In any case, comparing boarfolk to pigfolk is a safe way to earn the boarfolk's scorn and irritation.

Boarfolk tend to revere gods of nature or Primal Spirits, and many of their rites revolve around trees. Most of their divine spellcasters are druids, but shamans are quite common as well. Arcane spellcasters are rather common as well, as a boarfolk's sharp mind is surprisingly apt for the study of such magic.

Boarfolk are rather large for Medium creatures, and they average about 7 feet in height, while weighing 300 pounds.

[onlyancunin]

Baldur's Gate 3 for dummies

I just read the reaction to my post about ascended/non-ascended Astarion, which goes as follows:

this makes me 1. want the game even more 2. want to write about this… manipulative vile man canonically being manipulative and vile and slowly transforming into this monster (i don’t know any lore of his, his back story, nor anything about the game. only what this tag shows me. but one thing for sure is that people are arguing about his ‘ascended form’) (i lost my train of thought el oh el) — @tiyoin

And I thought of maybe compiling something of a BG3 for dummies sort of post. Because believe me, it is not an easy game to just jump in and hope for the best.

Starting from my own perspective, as a person who currently has 600+ h of gameplay - this is my story:

I bought the game for Astarion after spoiling to myself most of his storyline. I was pretty hesitant as I don't really consider myself to be smart enough to play these kinds of game, but decided to give it a shot nonetheless. By "these games" I mean turn-based strategic combat set in DnD rules - it's just not my forte, as people with 8 out of 20 Intelligence points tend to say.

So it was a struggle in the beginning. My friend advised me to look into general DnD combat rules and this is what I learned:

High ground is always good, unless you're a melee (barbarian/fighter/melee-focused paladin), then just throw whatever you can or get down to their level and hit them repeatedly with your best weapon

Good classes for starting are fighter, barbarian, rogue (I came to BG from Dragon Age, where I usually played as rogue). Monk is the most karate-ish bananas one.

My personal fav class to play as as a Certified Dumbassᵀᴹ is warlock (Eldritch Blast can get you through the game all the way, don't ask me how I know ).

Race matters only sometimes, so pick the one you like (as a nocturnal creature myself, I usually go for drow). Tiefling and drows get the more racist treatment, with drow getting some perks here and there.

You can always respec later, so don't panic.

You can play the way you want, bu the game is built to give you unique and/or funny experience even when your dice rolls are low. Do what you're comfortable with, but don't strive for "winning". I'd argue that while there are some morally good or bad choices, there's no winning or losing the game.

And all in all remember who you're doing this for:

If anyone has any insight, tips, tricks, advice, feel free to add!

P.S. The game has no right to be this funny in the most unexpected of ways, just FYI.

[felassan]

Some more possible scraps of interest from possible DA:D leaks on Reddit, from another Reddit user, under a cut due to DA:D spoilers:

first, the usual set of disclaimers that should be kept in mind with all leaks: might not be real, unable to verify at present, sometimes leakers think they’re right about things but are unintentionally incorrect or got some wires crossed, games change a fair bit between development phases and final release, the opinion-based stuff is completely subjective, take with grain of salt etc.

I tried to gather comments together in bundles where it would make sense (if on the same or related topics).

-

They commented on the timepoint of development that their information is from, saying "It's up to date." and that they played much more recently than last October. Someone asked "Alright so this is like alpha or pre-alpha video right? Which means what we see is subject to drastic change." (basically asking if they played the same build as the Reddit leaker who shared screenshots/gif) and they said "Ehh, that would be based on how soon it’s released. Because I’ve playtested it recently, and if that video is old, then they’ve changed essentially nothing about it and probably don’t intend to lol." "Between when your comment was first written and now, I’ve learned enough to be convinced that it was indeed from at least a year ago, so you were right. I’ve just played a much more recent version." "Nope, completely different. But I read through it thoroughly just now, and that person is right. Based on the write-up [Insider Gaming report], it is pretty old. They’re talking about missing textures and placeholders. In my playthrough, they could’ve told me the game was done and I would’ve believed them. Definitely wasn’t from the same test." So it sounds like folks leaking played different builts/different playtests at different times.

Someone asked a bit more detail about what playtesting involves and they replied "Certain part of the game. I played specific missions, story missions, so I wouldn't know anything about the sidequest fluff." "I played in the middle because that’s how most controlled tests for games work. You almost never just hit “new game” and start from the beginning."

Reddit user: "Rook is the name of the protagonist. Like “Inquisitor” was in DA:I." Someone speculated that Rook would be a fridged prologue companion like Jenkins Masseffect (F) and they replied "As someone who has played the game, don’t try your hand at the lottery for a while lol."

Reddit user: "Grey Warden isn't the class" [of the character seen in some of the screenshots] "I’m not confirming or denying the existence of different origins, but “Grey Warden” was not the class."

Reddit user: "I've played it. You can't directly control party members. A more apt comparison (and it's extremely weird that they didn't reference this [referring to the first Insider Gaming report] considering it's another bioware franchise) is Mass Effect. It's exactly like ME's wheel where you hold RB or whatever it was, and choose what ability they use." "They can always change it, but I've played it and unfortunately, I can confirm. I personally don't care as I never switch to companions in games where you can anyway, but it's exactly like ME in that aspect."

Reddit user: "Given the timing, I'm 99% sure his source is someone I played with." "Nothing in the leak that was stated definitively is incorrect." [referring to the first Insider Gaming report]

Reddit user [re: combat]: "I've played it, and tbf, it was closer to XV than to say, DA:I" "Combat felt like Andromeda with melee weapons. Take that for what you will lol." "XV was in reference t the combat wheel. It wasn't over the top at all though, it played like a typical action game (ie not teleporting everywhere)." "I've beaten all 3 [existing DA games] and have played Dreadwolf. It's nothing like the other games. It's action combat. Grounded though, not in a fantastical way like DMC." "I don't remember a wheel in XV, but then again I havent played it in a long time. What it is exactly like though (and them not using this descriptor makes me feel like they don't play bioware games) is Mass Effect. I've played it. The wheel is exactly like the ME games."

Reddit user [re: combat, when someone was asking about hack 'n' slash]: "It's more like Inquisition, although I wouldn't describe it as either. Plays like an action game." "What they meant [in the Insider Gaming article] is that it plays like an action game. So not like any of the DA games" "I described my playtime to friends as "Andromeda but melee"." "I thought it was fun. Funner than the DAs of the past. However I never really took advantage of all the tactical options in Bioware games, so if there's someone who is looing forward to that, they'll probably have significantly less fun than I did." They also confirmed the existence of skill trees, a map, choosing the PC's class, companions who used classes and jumping & a jump button. They said that there are 4 ability slots ("I was only ever able to use 4."). There's blocking but not parrying. Stats are levelled up automatically like they are in DA:I, so no skill points to allocate manually. "I’ve played it with 3 companions and 4 skills."

They confirm the following infos from the first Insider Gaming article:

- "The game still lacks features;" The game is missing voice lines and has a lot of placeholder text. - "Dreadwolf has a lot of similarities with previous games in the franchise;" AND "You can recruit members to your team"; The article basically just describes a Dragon Age game. ***POSSIBLE SPOILER*** "It’s understood that you’ll be able to move from your hub to missions by passing through a mirrored portal." - "You cannot control your team members, but you can issue commands to cast abilities;" Key word here is currently perhaps - "Combat will be hack n' slash-like and will be like Final Fantasy XV;" The article did not say it's hack n' slash like FF15, but the combat wheel itself is more like FF15 (I never played FF15 so I don't know if it's a time-slow type ability wheel or what).

and added on this topic, "I can confirm 75% of what that person has said, and the other 25% I just never experienced. Don't know why they would lie about it." "Unless they change it in the future, you can't directly control companions." "I've played it and can confirm everything in that article except for the release date and multiplayer stuff. You cannot directly control your companions, and its full hack and slash" "Other than what I didn't experience (multiplayer/hub) it's all true. Down to the part about a 1/10th of the lines not being recorded yet." "I can confirm almost everything in that leak." "Multiplayer I didn't experience, nor did I experience the hub world that was described, although the portal thing is true." "The hub thing he described, I never played, but I did use the portals he was talking about." They also commented on the missing voice lines, "It's implemented, they're just not all there yet. During my playthrough Id say maybe a 10th of the lines were missing, and a good amount of the monster sounds." "Oh for sure, it’s definitely not a mess at this stage. On the contrary, the environments are pretty beautiful. Only things that were missing were a few audio clips."

Reddit user [re: mirrored portrals and an open world]: "I can't confirm the existence of one, I could've just never experienced it from my time with the game, but I myself never played anything that could be considered open world. Funny enough, I never thought about that until your question just now. But it would make sense from what I played."

Reddit user: "Combat's are great, cutscenes' are decent. Best ever as far as Bioware is concerned (which should be a given). What's not great are the facial animations. Granted the game isn't done yet (and might be far from done, who knows), but as of rn, it's Andromeda 2.0"

Reddit user [re: not controlling party members]: "It's true." "Unless they change it sometime before release, which I doubt, I can confirm that you cannot." "I can confirm. You can't directly control them." They also commented that companion control felt like Mass Effect.

When someone said "i hope they don't mean a real "action" combat, and it would still have those Dragon Age" they replied "That's exactly what they mean." Someone mentioned no party member control and hack n slash, FF combat and they replied "Can confirm, both are true. I wouldn't say "will be like XV", and technically that's not what he said either. What he meant was that it's more of an action combat, not that you'll be teleporting around." Someone asked if it compares to Elder Scrolls and they said "Uhhh, yeah I guess. I usually play Elder Scrolls in first person, so that comparison would be kinda weird to me, but third person elder scrolls I guess would be more accurate than any of the past DA games. ES combat has no weight to it though, and this has weight. For real, it plays like Dark Souls games if you took out the invincibility frames and all the things that make them "hard"."

Someone asked about the party size, and they replied "Yeah, 2 party members and then a third based on what mission you're playing. Weapon wheel to control 3 abilities each for the two companion's you've brought and then 4 of your own abilities." "Now I will say, Idk how far I was into the game, so it's possible that it'll eventually open up to 3 of your choosing, but I played multiple missions and the third person was whoever you were helping at the time." "It’s still 4 [party members in total, so PC+3]."

Someone asked about what's happening to Solas and they replied "I have no idea lol. He was mentioned in passing seeing as he's the big bad now, but I never saw him or anything." "in Mass Effect for instance right? WHat Sovereign was up to wasn't described in every main mission. It wasn't even described in most of them."

Reddit user: "The look of the hair was pretty damn good I will say, the physics of it though, I didn't really pay attention to. Everything about the graphics looked sufficiently next gen, except for the facial animations. They're still Andromeda level, maybe a step up." "Everyone else's hair is great. Your character's hair is...decent." "Graphics are sufficiently next gen except for facial animations. They were the one stand out." "Movements are less stiff feeling, even when people are still. Animations and movement are better as well. They were satisfying to me, but of course, that’s subjective." "visuals and performance were pretty solid from my experience. That could obviously change though."

On facial animations someone asked them "You said that facial animations were only a bit better than those in Andromeda, but how do they compare to Inquisition? Because I think in Inquisition they were somehow better or at least didn't stand out that much like in Andromeda, despite the latter being newer game. I think I'll be okay with them being just a bit better than in Inquisition" and they replied "I’m looking at clips of Inquisition now and I think you hit the nail on the head when you said “at least didn’t stand out as much” because tbh, Inquisition and Andromeda weren’t that far apart in that aspect, they were definitely made using the same process, but Inquisitions somehow don’t stand out as much. Idk whether it’s because a lot of the people talking aren’t human or what. But it looks more like that than Andromeda. But because technology has gotten better, it looks better than both. I guess the conclusion is it still has that stiffness that both of them have, where it looks a couple steps removed from a robot that gets told to move pieces of their face X way at X time, but then at the end come back to Z position. So I guess I’d say the faces look and move like an HD Inquisition. I would’ve compared it to that instead of Andromeda, but I never realized they were so similar until you pointed it out lol."

Reddit user: "Yup, a KO for you is game over." [a KO for the PC]

Reddit user: "The maps feel like they could've came from DA:I design wise."

Reddit user: "It feels the same but different. I know that's an incredibly bs non-answer but it's true. It feels like a 2023 Bioware Dragon Age. For better or for worse. Anybody expecting DA:I 2 will be disappointed." "It'll probably be worth it [the wait] in the sense that DA fans will find it passable. But at this point (keep in mind the game still isn't done) it's not something that feels like it took 10 years to make or anything. Which is probably due to them reportedly restarting development multiple times." "I'd say most things about the game definitely feel more like Andromeda then DA:I" "If they keep it pretty much the same as my playtest, average players will be happy, but people who play Dragon Age games specifically for the Dragon Age gameplay probably won’t be. It’s completely different."

Someone asked about whether it answers DA lore questions, and what the storytelling/spread of storytelling is like and they said "I was dropped in and out of missions, so idk, but I will say it has A LOT of story elements from DA:O" and then "Same answer"

On characters they said "I didn't spend a significant enough amount of time to make that call [whether they're as interesting as the chars in DA:I. they're quirky though" "I think the character designs are sick, but that's completely subjective." "I wouldn't say I had enough time with the characters to get emotionally invested." Also someone asked if the characters are 3D, realistic and complex and they replied "Stereotypes unfortunately". Someone asked how the dialogue compares to ME:A, expressing the opinion that their "biggest issue with MEA was the MCU-esque style of writing that made the dialogue sound like it was ripped from bad tumblr fanfics. I couldn't take most of the cast seriously because they sounded more like caricatures than real characters." They replied "😬 bad news my man. What you just described is exactly how I would describe it.

Reddit user [re: armors]: "Im not sure how to answer that. Nothing really stood out, if that helps. But then again, idk what parts of the game I played. Could've been closer to the beginning where you just get the plain stuff."

Someone asked them "was the camera a tight over-the-shoulder cam like Andromeda, or was it more zoomed out / character centered like DAI / other 3rd person games?" and they replied "Zoomed out, but then tight when you use the weapon wheel (which youll be using a lot)" The other user asked if it was like Mad Max, and they said "Actually that's not a bad comparison. Picture the camera a bit further out though." On tac cam, they said "I was part of the leakers playtest. As of now, there is literally no tactical camera, but like you said, who knows if they’ll add it sometime before release. Just don’t get your hopes up."

Someone asked them "Does it feel like a medieval fantasy game still? It looks so sci fi to me, like the eluvians are shitty Rick and morty style portal guns all of the sudden. Does the neon purple take away from that feeling at all?" and they replied "It didn’t feel sci-fi to me but it sounds like you’re referring to a deeper level than just baseline aesthetics, and for that I think it’d be subjective. If you’re not though, no it still felt distinctly fantasy. Some parts more medieval than others." Someone also asked about warriors breaking stuff in the world, mages restoring terrain and rogues picking locks and they replied "Let’s just say…the game doesn’t play in a way that requires those anymore."

Reddit user: "Map design was one of the best parts, and boy were they gorgeous. The greenery specifically was the only thing in the game where I was like "This is exclusively next gen, like they couldn't have done this on last gen"."

Reddit user: "I thought it was fun, but I mean fun is subjective. Things were changed about the series that some long time fans will hate and some people who never liked Dragon Age will now love, such as the lack of tactical options." "I thought the combat was fun, but fun is subjective ya know? For instance, you guys already know that all the tactical stuff is gone, and for someone looking for that, they wouldn’t find it fun. I guess the takeaway could be that it’s by no means bad. Footage and screenshots are real. That’s 100% the game."

Reddit user: "I’ve played it. Recently. And all of the things people are giving the “year old” line in reference to are still the case. So the likelihood of them being changed are very slim."

Someone asked them "Hello! Could you share (or hint in some way) if some of the characters from previous games will make an appearance? (Beside Varric and Solas, obv). Some old leaks implied Bioware considered dual protagonist at some point, so I'm wondering if it turned into something. Or, at least, any mentions about Inquisition?" and they replied "[besides Varric and Solas] Literally the only people I saw/heard about lmao, sorry. I also never experienced anything regarding dual protagonists."

Someone asked them "Did it look to be anywhere near close to done??? I mean it's kinda a dumb question because on one hand I think you may have only played a certain area... On the other though I don't know anything about why you playtested, nor do I want to but, I am interested in knowing more about the overall size, comparison of detail to say like anything new gen, and whether or not they incorporated newer tech such as haptics, adaptive triggering, graphic upgrade and is the story intriguing or pushed... You know.". They replied:

"No no, that’s not a dumb question at all. Tbh, they could’ve said it was releasing at the end of the year and I’d believe them. The only thing I could see that wasn’t finished were the voice lines, and not even that many weren’t recorded. Maybe 1/10th. Graphics were superb except for the facial animations (and given Andromeda, that might just be how they’re going to stay). Controls were solid, enemies were solid, abilities were solid, UI and menu all looked unique and finished. General gameplay was in a finished state. Had a couple glitches here and there but nothing that couldn’t easily be ironed out.

[re: about the overall size, comparison of detail to say like anything new gen] From what I played, it seems more instanced than open world like DA:I, so I can’t really compare it in size, and obviously the previous 2 games have been outclassed in terms of technology.

[re: whether or not they incorporated newer tech such as haptics, adaptive triggering] Not that I saw, but idk if that’s the type of thing they’d incorporate anywhere before near the end of development. You sound like you’d have a better idea of that than I would though.

[re: graphcis upgrade] Graphics are for sure upgraded. The flora in particular I would say wouldn’t have been able to be created before the PS5 gen. It’s that good. Environments, clothing, faces were up there as well (clothing and faces could’ve been better with your character, but everyone else’s were next gen).

[re: is the story intriguing or pushed] The thing about judging a story is that even the most interesting ones fall flat if you experience it out of order (unless that’s the author’s intention), which I did. Even with putting bits and pieces together from what the characters were saying, I really felt nothing because I was coming in mid storyline."

[source] <- read the comments in context for them to make the most sense ofc :)

Edit - Update:

New comment of interest from the user (thanku @ladymacbethsimp for letting me know!). Someone asked them "can you attribute a single emoji to every companion you saw? like an out of context spoiler kind of thing". They replied "Hmmm I can try…" and posted these three emojis/series of emojis:

The screenshots I have included here are screenshots of the same comment from 2 different devices side by side, as emojis/emoji groupings can change appearance depending on OS etc.

so.. an elven Black man, red hair woman and woman mage?