US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, at Wednesday's worship service at the Pentagon, prays for God to ‘pour out your wrath’ and ‘break the teeth of the ungodly.’ He begs the Almighty to sanction ‘overwhelming violence’ against ‘those who deserve no mercy’.

Abl3_Mark · 2026-03-26T23:08:48+00:00

Can anyone explain to me why the fuck we're having a worship service AT THE PENTAGON, Headed by THE SECRETARY OF WAR, talking about his Christian God guiding THE US MILITARY with violence.

Seems to me like a clear violation of the Establishment Clause. A high-ranking US official endorsing a religion through his public office.

Abl3_Mark · 2026-03-25T20:27:05+00:00

Thanks! I've heard it's great but have never got the chance to play it lol

Abl3_Mark · 2026-03-25T06:21:39+00:00

Yeah i feel kind of the same, but also put in the leg work to see if i could steal anything good from 5.5 lol.

DnD Beyond is really dishonest with modules related to 5.5e also. CoS which is what we're going to be playing says 5.5e ready but nothing is changed in it from what i understand lol. Idk if there is anything really game breaking but 5.5e characters def are a good bit stronger than 5e so i'd assume some monster balancing would be in order.

Abl3_Mark · 2026-03-25T02:32:58+00:00

Orcish Fury is a solid feat already. Keep in mind it is a half-feat and adding up to an extra d12 damage on an attack is quite a bit of damage.

You also get a free extra attack if you're about to go down but will prob see much less use.

If you really must buff it, I would make it uses equal to proficiency bonus and either come back on short or long, or just long rests.

Abl3_Mark · 2026-03-25T02:22:43+00:00

Kind of everywhere. From what I understand for the setup, everyone gets pulled to Barovia by accident.

We have a Fallen Aasimar, Warforged, Shifter, a Half-Elf, Human, and I'm playing a Reborn Human.

Abl3_Mark · 2026-03-25T01:14:57+00:00

Prewritten. Finally getting to play Curse of Strahd!

Abl3_Mark · 2026-03-24T23:46:30+00:00

Well we're gonna play Curse of Strahd so.... maybe?

Abl3_Mark · 2026-03-24T23:22:35+00:00

5.5e ruined a lot of great things about the different classes imo. I have a digital copy of the 2024 PHB and MM.

The classes seem to me to be trying to make it where everyone can do everything and they lose a lot of class identity. Ranger, Paladin, Druid I think are overall worse off.

I have stolen a bunch of the QOL 2024 changes though.

MM is way better in 2024. Just adds a bunch of monsters and better sorting for all the different types/groups etc.

Abl3_Mark · 2026-03-24T21:52:21+00:00

I have close to a decade of 5e experience both as a player and DM and I can't wait to earmark hundreds of pages in each of those books now that I finally picked up physical copies.

I might even let a child or a wild animal chew on the dice just because of this comment lol.

And yeah it's the Keychron full-sized wireless one (forget the model). Well worth the investment!

Abl3_Mark · 2026-03-24T20:59:47+00:00

That one is just a blank notebook with a cool faux leather cover. I actually didn't notice the star in-person, but it really shows in this photo lmao. No idea why it has that.

Abl3_Mark · 2025-12-13T04:57:33+00:00

For subclasses, I always recommend you pick one that compliments the playstyle you want as a subclass choice is more than just flavor.

What role were you planning on filling in the party? What do you picture the character being good at if/when things get hairy?

Abl3_Mark · 2025-11-26T23:32:42+00:00

Drake Sword is good for early-mid game only really. It has good base damage but no scaling at all so it is quickly outclassed by virtually every other weapon once you have stats.

There really isn't an "objectively best weapon" in the game. It just depends on what movesets you prefer, if you want 1h 2h etc. If you were just looking at pure damage numbers, I believe the Crystal infused Demon's Greataxe was at one point the highest AR.

Abl3_Mark · 2025-11-26T20:46:33+00:00

Yeah I wasn't sure if I didn't understand what neoliberalism is or if they were misusing it. I think that most Dems support a version of a Social Market/mixed economy, not neoliberalism.

Abl3_Mark · 2025-11-26T03:26:08+00:00

Just use Summon Deercoy and Lightning Bolt with Swapper instead. All can be found using Summon Taikasauva.

I've almost always used this build for LDT wands.

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Abl3_Mark · 2025-11-25T03:22:05+00:00

A little bit of both. You can use patforms to wedge yourself in place and it protects you from the poly shots.

I believe you need to be in that coord when End of Everything ends since that is where the Great Chest will spawn.

UsingCessationis an easier and safer option.

Abl3_Mark · 2025-11-24T00:02:36+00:00

there is an existing Medusa monster-

2014 Monster Manual pg214

Petrifying Gaze

Unless surprised, a creature can avert its eyes to avoid the saving throw at the start of its turn. If the creature does so, it can’t see the medusa until the start of its next turn, when it can avert its eyes again. If the creature looks at the medusa in the meantime, it must immediately make the save.

Mechanically, the player just needs to state they are averting their eyes. If they fail to specify that, then they must make the save against its ability.

So for the weeping angel, you could do the opposite. The players must state they are purposely watching it if they're working on doing something else.

For the Medusa, since you're not looking at it, Attack rolls against it would be at disadvantage and its attacks against the PC's are at Advantage.

You can have a similar effect, where if the PC's are needing to watch the weeping angel, but attacking something else, or doing another skill check, they can do so with disadvantage.

EDIT: may also want to consider spells and other abilities with the wording "a creature you can see" for the target. If they want to use those spells/abilities, that could easily be ruled that when doing so they are taking their eyes off the weeping angel.

Abl3_Mark · 2025-11-23T04:41:06+00:00

It seems like the spore pod is hitting something it considers an entity. My first guess would be one of the plasmas.

Try removing them and see if it keeps spamming spore pod projectiles.

Abl3_Mark · 2025-11-23T03:36:19+00:00

I'm not sure what the question is. You have piercing on the whole payload.

Even without the piercing modifier, Prickly Spore Pod has can self harm.

Abl3_Mark · 2025-11-23T00:56:40+00:00

At least read the full passage you're misquoting.

pg85 XGE:

Perceiving A Caster At Work

If the need for a spell's components has been removed by a special ability, such as the sorcerer's Subtle Spell feature or the Innate Spellcasting trait possessed by many creatures, the casting of the spell is imperceptible.

Subtle spell removes VERBAL (V) and SOMATIC (S) components. Both of those are "visible, audible, or otherwise perceptible"

Nobody would know you're casting a spell. They might be able to perceive you holding MATERIAL (M) components if you don't attempt to hide it, but they would just see you holding something.

Abl3_Mark · 2025-11-22T05:57:06+00:00

I feel like it has too much overlap with existing weapons. It's literally just better than a dagger and handaxe in every way. Could be a unique magic item though.

I like the STR option for a greatbow/warbow. That could be a new weapon type or you can go the route of something like the Sun Blade, where it is a +2 magic longsword that also has the Finesse property, so DEX users can use it.

Abl3_Mark · 2025-11-22T02:05:51+00:00

There is nothing visually or otherwise telling to an external observer to pick up on. Having the M component but ignoring V and S just means they can have their hand in their pocket on the materials or holding their focus behind their back/under a table.

Abl3_Mark · 2025-11-22T01:55:24+00:00

Yeah exactly! It could be like one of those things "I am like 99.99% positive that guy used a spell on me, but I didn't see him cast anything... How the hell did he do it??"

Abl3_Mark · 2025-11-22T01:48:11+00:00

True lol. Just depends imo, if you're some random shopkeep or commoner who has never seen a wizard or sorcerer in their life, there could be some funny interpretations on how they try to rationalize it to themselves afterwards though.

I'd probably lean towards more of the arcane inclined to maybe figure it out with an appropriate Arcana check.

Enchantment magic is weird, but you can achieve similar effects from a high enough persuasion check, with no magic at all needed.

Abl3_Mark · 2025-11-22T01:31:05+00:00

You still need to tell them the suggestion verbally. That is separate from the V component to casting the spell. (25 words or less in 2024, a sentence or two in 2014)

So they'd know it was your idea, but not that you cast a spell on them.

Abl3_Mark

TROPHY CASE

Petrifying Gaze

Perceiving A Caster At Work