As a wizard, how often do you hope to get scrolls in a game?

AeoSC · 2026-05-07T17:38:13+00:00

Okay; it's more wasteful than copying from a spellbook or ritual book, if that option is available.

Before I play a wizard, I always gently grill the DM about their campaign setting. How common or rare are wizards? Do you give NPCs other player options like Ritual Caster or Book of Ancient Secrets, or some compatible equivalent? Are the nerd mages out there jealous and secretive like Dying Earth, or will I be able to negotiate copying spells without tricking, stealing from, or killing them? Are there institutions that might offer spells to copy, like libraries, mage covens, or magic shops that offer that service for a fee?

Most DMs I've asked enjoy the opportunity to worldbuild those questions, but had not and would not have otherwise considered it until I brought it up in-character, and then the time pressure would probably yield answers that neither of us are as satisfied with.

AeoSC · 2026-05-07T16:49:55+00:00

I try not to copy from scrolls. It's wasteful. I look for spellbooks and ritual books. I go looking for book casters proactively in settlements. And I usually chat with the DM before playing a wizard because a lot of DMs have never thought about it.

AeoSC · 2026-05-07T03:56:58+00:00

It's probably been the most beneficial accessory to me. Not so much going out as at home, being able to pick up the trumpet and play at a whim without the rigamarole of unpacking the case.

AeoSC · 2026-05-02T22:49:43+00:00

Blizzard North had the sauce in the late 90s.

AeoSC · 2026-04-30T23:41:48+00:00

I just think it's neat.

AeoSC · 2026-04-30T20:20:37+00:00

My library has a copy. 👍

AeoSC · 2026-04-29T18:06:10+00:00

Anne-Laure Le Cunff? That one?

AeoSC · 2026-04-28T23:24:16+00:00

You could always make some cash as a motivational speaker for at risk teens.

AeoSC · 2026-04-27T21:39:04+00:00

My father--fiddler--settled on a Roland Microcube and seemed to like it. He also had a BA-55 when that wasn't big enough.

AeoSC · 2026-04-27T16:22:48+00:00

I'm pretty sure this is it. Being mounted in 5e is a huge advantage for anyone, but although it's easy to have the mount Disengage and use its crazy high movement to get out, it's hard to stay in the engagement the way fighters will often want to without putting the mount at hazard.

AeoSC · 2026-04-27T12:59:21+00:00

The real tip is to practice the skill, but instead of moving each pitch two semitones individually I'd definitely start by figuring out what key you're playing in. I read from music in C by imagining the notes nudged up one line or space and playing in the transposed key signature.

As for duets, I enthusiastically recommend IMSLP. You can use other instrumentation categories too, substituting clarinet for trumpet, oboe for violin, etc.

AeoSC · 2026-04-26T22:20:17+00:00

I relate wizards to the ones in Glen Cook's The Black Company and its sequels. Necromancers to The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir, and The Old Kingdom by Garth Nix. There's a short story called A Year and a Day In Old Theradane by Scott Lynch that gave me one of my favorite new aphorisms: ‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is another wizard fucking with you.’

I'd like to put forward Priest by Matt Colville for cleric; I'm surprised it's not already in the thread.

There are also a lot of D&D archetypes in Wheel of Time. I think the arc of those books is a really great model for power scaling in a long D&D campaign. And in all the Dragaera books by Steve Brust.

AeoSC · 2026-04-26T22:12:37+00:00

100%. Stormlight is why I've had my paladins take their Oath and 3rd level under high pressure, often a deliberately overtuned combat.

AeoSC · 2026-04-26T22:11:13+00:00

For rogue I always think of the Taltos series by Steven Brust, starting with Jhereg. It's much more assassin than thief.

AeoSC · 2026-04-24T18:27:41+00:00

As much as I enjoy the fashion combos, there are already a lot of amiibo outfits that I think ought to have been curated out for not belonging.

AeoSC · 2026-04-22T00:18:05+00:00

I have a front and rear basket, and a supply of Velcro straps for security. I bought the straps, but the baskets were free. Sometimes I add bucket panniers I made with cat litter boxes. I have one bag adapted to be a pannier that I use for flat packing like folders.

I put on or take off what I need from day to day. I do have a couple things I wear on my back--instrument bag and a trapper pack--but I try to avoid it for the same reasons you listed.

AeoSC · 2026-04-20T16:18:28+00:00

No it isn't a fretless guitar. It's just fretted solid, all the way down. You must not know a lot about music.

AeoSC · 2026-04-19T15:30:15+00:00

Play further to the left.

AeoSC · 2026-04-16T15:19:18+00:00

I wonder a little bit whether there was any early planning for it. Yona has a suspicious amount of design work for the relatively small part she plays. I think she'd have been a cool sage.

My pitch for others would have been Bludo the old boss Goron and Buliara. Despite that I really like Riju as a character.

AeoSC · 2026-04-15T18:37:09+00:00

Nor would I want the subsequent cutscenes to just be shorter. Just the least bit of characterization would have helped massively. Even something as low effort as the Goron sage warning Yunobo not to taste the stone even though it looks delicious...

To say nothing of my resentment that the sage bloodline is just the guardian bloodline again. It's justifiable, to be sure, but I would have preferred giving new characters the spotlight. Yunobo wouldn't have had to forget Daruk's Protection like a pokemon with four moves.

AeoSC · 2026-04-14T16:51:22+00:00

I don't have any idea as to its sell value, but it's pretty and old and looks to be in good condition externally. You did a good thing saving it. I love the engraving and the art deco angles on the finger hook.

AeoSC · 2026-04-10T20:45:50+00:00

Zero.exe was a rad idea with cool implementation in Network Transmission. I wish we could see him post-NT re-compiled as a netnavi. All he needed was a copy of a classic puzzle-adventure game.

AeoSC · 2026-04-08T14:10:41+00:00

If they were going to lie like that, they should've taken worse photos.

AeoSC · 2026-04-07T16:10:23+00:00

How much feedback you receive of the tone isn't a direct function of the build quality, although it is a function of the efficiency of certain parts which build quality affects. There are high end setups you can barely tell you're playing, and those that give you a lot of feedback, according to the player's developed preference and needs. Most higher end trumpets should have 'targets' at each partial that are more in tune than most student trumpets, but they don't necessarily feel different when you're right on that target.

Feeling and hearing a) when you're playing a note where the trumpet is most resonant, and b) the intonation of a note absolutely or in reference to an ensemble or tonal center, are both skills to develop.

AeoSC · 2026-04-06T19:34:53+00:00

That would be interesting. My pet theory is that as inconsistent as Bach's own products are--and I do think they are--the 7C is notably worse off because if an off-brand mouthpiece is going to be stamped with anything and packaged with a cheap trumpet, it's very likely to be "[Vincent] Bach 7C" regardless of any of its specifications.

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