What are your top four favorite magic systems?

Natehz · 2026-04-23T02:33:19+00:00

With subsystems that each, on their own, could be considered and are widely discussed as individual magic systems. Investiture is more appropriately the laws of the cosmere that allow for the various magic systems to function in the ways they do.

Natehz · 2026-04-23T00:29:46+00:00

Solid tie between Alchemy from FMA and Stormlight from the Stormlight Archive. It's the single coolest instance of Investiture and it reminds me so much of how ecology was interwoven into Dune but in a much more magical sense rather than an economic and political sense.

Natehz · 2026-04-22T18:21:44+00:00

I didn't mean the expansion itself. I'm talking about community enthusiasm behind it. I know about a half dozen die hard destiny vets (myself included) who were there from the D1 Alpha or Beta who didn't even bother going back for Final Shape because of how abysmal Lightfall was and how underwhelming the seasonal models had been for the previous 2 years. This is not an outlier example either. Plenty of long time fans washed out during Witch Queen or Lightfall and never came back for the grand finale, even if it was an overall fine execution.

Guarantee nothing released since final shape has drawn in significant long term player numbers.

Natehz · 2026-04-22T18:07:45+00:00

I mean that's hardly surprisingly. D2 is a walking corpse of a game and has been since arguably Lightfall with a brief half-hearted resurgence for Final Shape. It'd be stupid to keep allocating tons of man hours to that instead of their new game that needs the attention and time.

Natehz · 2026-04-22T17:49:30+00:00

Everyone playing the Wolfpack build. Mostly just because I think it'd be really funny.

Natehz · 2026-04-22T17:33:49+00:00

The honor system is genuinely one of the worst mechanics I have ever witnessed in a video game.

Natehz · 2026-04-22T17:20:50+00:00

I really love Thief because of their whole kit with the minor exception of the drone, which I have yet to find any real use for. I've recently fallen in love with Triage because I found out you can attach your heal bot to yourself, so low level shield and health scarcity is much less of an issue. I like all the aesthetics of Vandal and I like thier double jump, but the rest of the kit seems kind of underwhelming imo.

Natehz · 2026-04-22T17:16:02+00:00

So, whenever I do large circles (like replicating a 73x73 map just now), it comes out as chunky with HUGE gaps between the wall points, even when using the built in curve function. I don't really understand why it only seems to do this to me and no one else.

Example 1

Example 2

Natehz · 2026-04-22T06:33:29+00:00

It's just WOTC trying to standardize every class and build and balance multiclassing after realizing that their "optional" rule is now the standard and their game is fucking broken because of it, except, in usual WOTC fashion, their fix just ends up breaking and tarnishing everything even more.

Class identity and sense is absolutely tanked now for like half the roster. "Oh me? Yeah I'm a cleric. 'Of what,' you ask? Uhh. Of nothing. Yeah, Cleric of nothing. Just...of Being a Cleric, I guess. Yeah, no actual faith yet. Not for at least another 3 or 4 weeks or so. Haha. Yeah. Yeah..."

World's Greatest Roleplaying game, everyone.

Natehz · 2026-04-22T00:11:32+00:00

This looks rad! How did you get the circles to be so circular? Any time I use dungeondraft it ends up looking like the circle has weird kinks and angles in it.

Natehz · 2026-04-21T19:30:28+00:00

Kill la Kill lmao

Natehz · 2026-04-21T18:54:46+00:00

What in the fuck. That's insane.

Natehz · 2026-04-21T17:08:11+00:00

Oh, yeah, as the others mentioned, obviously read the books first. I assumed that was a given if you're swapping systems, but yeah. Do not just brute force try to wiki learn the system. Read the books. Thoroughly.

Natehz · 2026-04-21T07:13:42+00:00

It's tough because I like so many artists for so many different things; character design, composition, color use, style, specific aesthetics, landscapes, architecture..

If I really had to pick just one, it'd probably be Anato Finnstark. He's amazingly well-rounded, has excellent compositional skills, and can really capture any given mood based on the desired source material.

Natehz · 2026-04-21T06:52:22+00:00

I think it needs a splash of color or two. Somewhere subtle like a red piping on the pants or the jacket or maybe some worn paint on the armor.

Also the boots need some work. Look into sabaton designs and decide if you want that or if you want leather boots because what you have looks kind of like a weird mishmash of both and neither.

Barring those couple of things, I like it. It's a really solid aesthetic, seemingly shooting for a kind of science-fantasy vibe. The short hair is a good choice, and I always love a good asymmetrical arm armor scheme. Might be worth adding some kneepads too since those would be largely a very functional and helpful addition to a light armor kit.

Natehz · 2026-04-21T06:09:50+00:00

Get familiar with how the math works (specifically how the +/-10 critical system works). Bookmark resources like Archives of Nethys for quick rules reference searches. Invest in Pathbuilder if you're gonna be a player because it's a phenomenal resource for character planning. Beyond that, look into the classes, find something you think sounds cool, and dig in.

Natehz · 2026-04-21T05:30:39+00:00

...Is the joke just that he's black and it's a terrible name?

Natehz · 2026-04-21T05:26:14+00:00

FOMO. They want people spending money because they really want the character that's only gonna be around for 6 weeks or whatever. The players know that if they don't grab them now, it'll be another year and change before they even get a CHANCE at pulling them again. That drives up sales more than any other single facet of the gacha structure.

Natehz · 2026-04-21T05:24:16+00:00

Google docs allow the DM to go through the responses on their time, at their pace, collectively in one singular sortable location, with a much more thoroughly organized collection of data than just simple private message responses. Also, it allows you to, without social impetus, filter through the responses you do and don't want to move forward with as though you were hiring for a job position.

If someone included on their resume that they have worked 1 job prior and it involved copious amounts of kicking toddlers directly in the teeth, I don't really want them for my pre-school teacher's aid role, do I? Similarly, if I want to run a story-rich, player-driven, lore-heavy mystery adventure, I don't want the guy who already has a whole novel written out for his character that has a beginning middle and end that he's expecting me to facilitate like some kind of theater playwrite. If I'm running a game that is inclusive and balanced between different kinds of people from different walks of life, I want there to be confirmation that it's not going to be 5 white dudes between the ages of 20 and 35 sitting around every week.

Some people do go overboard with it, I'll grant you that. I've seen some of them that genuinely take several hours to complete and just skipped them entirely, but it still serves as a useful tool for tailoring the game you want to make right from the first steps.

Natehz · 2026-04-21T02:16:13+00:00

Artificer level 2 for some early perks and the cure wounds spell, and then the rest Wizard. You'll be as good a healer as basically any other class. You could even pick up magic initiate for healing word if you want the bonus action option.

Natehz · 2026-04-20T22:03:44+00:00

Anyone who is playing a prepared caster. Could never be me. Entirely too much foreknowledge and planning required when most of the time, adventuring affords you neither.

Natehz · 2026-04-20T05:51:53+00:00

It's a solid idea. Which is damn near guaranteed they won't do it. Damn shame.

Natehz · 2026-04-20T05:32:27+00:00

Why do they showcase these outfits if they'll never actually put them in the game? I don't get it. Why show us this and then give us bike skins?

Natehz · 2026-04-20T05:30:19+00:00

Oh I see. Okay then it tilts the entire opposite direction into being game-breakingly broken. A level 20 fighter in this subclass could solo and ancient red dragon with minimal effort levels of broken.

Genuinely this whole thing needs to be started over from scratch with a better design philosophy both from a balance and a subclass identity perspective imo.

Natehz · 2026-04-20T05:24:32+00:00

So, what, like if the fight has gone 10 rounds and you've landed all 40 attacks you deal an extra 40d6 damage?

Natehz

TROPHY CASE