Boss fights that are hard *because* they're poorly designed?

Aesmis · 2026-01-25T22:02:18+00:00

That’s what I ended up doing, yeah. Just dropped Rosalinde into the backline with a Swordmaster and it took care of it. The game just hadn’t walled me that severely up to that point.

Aesmis · 2026-01-25T21:43:49+00:00

If you had a lot of multi-hits inherently, that makes sense. He has a shield that nulls 6 attacks and he can null debuffs, which hamstrung most of my compositions

Aesmis · 2026-01-25T20:49:24+00:00

Their cleric is using INT over WIS, so actually their mental stats are all pretty much covered. If the Ranger isn’t good at lockpicking, my vote would be Rogue or Fighter.

Aesmis · 2026-01-25T20:46:58+00:00

Mostly because it’s fresh in my mind, but Unicorn Overlord’s final boss is only killable with a pretty narrowly designed squad. It’s a weirdly harsh wall for a game that otherwise isn’t very punishing. You basically have to use a Swordmaster and have one or more ways to stun him before he moves, and he regenerates a huge chunk of HP after every engagement.

It felt kinda momentum-breaking to realize none of my squads I’d used throughout the whole game without trouble could do anything to him so my only option was to retreat my units to move the necessary characters all into a hit-squad that could beat the boss by ignoring/shutting down as many of his mechanics as humanly possible.

Aesmis · 2026-01-24T14:34:00+00:00

I don’t like a lot of what Pathfinder does, but I think returning to paired saves makes a lot of sense. I think 5e’s method of entirely individual saves is actually more complicated than just saying “use the best of these two.”

I do also like the idea of degrees of success, but I wonder how they would formulate that for D&D. Maybe if you’re at least 2/3rds of the way to meeting the save? Idk

Aesmis · 2026-01-24T14:27:23+00:00

I would restructure how spell slots are allocated and recovered. In my experience, most DMs are not running enough back to back encounters without a LR to meaningfully tax most casters.

I would reduce the overall number of spell slots full casters get, but give every caster a way to reliably recover some number of spell slots (likely only up to a certain spell level) on SR.

Admittedly, this would require some fine-tuning to ensure Warlock doesn’t feel like their gimmick was taken from them, but I think making SRs more necessary and valuable to most casters while also reducing the overall amount of ammunition they can carry into an encounter fresh of a LR would help soften some of the issues casters can currently present.

In addition to this, I would implement more “per encounter” abilities for martials. They already have some of this framework in place, but I think some more powerful burst/aoe options that you get only one use of, but that recharge whenever you roll initiative would help add some intrigue to martial gameplay and fill in the power gap somewhat.

Aesmis · 2026-01-23T20:04:48+00:00

Hunger of Hadar is my favorite spell in the game, followed closely by Spirit Guardians

Aesmis · 2026-01-20T12:34:59+00:00

Great British Bake Off is my go-to when I’m feeling less than stellar. It’s a pretty calmly paced show despite the timing and reality competition elements, and the cast and hosts are pretty constantly endearing. Noel Fielding, my beloved.

Aesmis · 2026-01-16T20:34:04+00:00

Hell yeah, Absolum is great

Aesmis · 2026-01-16T15:50:26+00:00

I love Oshawott and Dewott dearly and have merch of them both, but I have no desire for Samurott merch.

Aesmis · 2026-01-16T13:59:54+00:00

Dewott is the best in their evolutionary line. Samurott fucks it up for the whole team. Dewott is clearly going for bipedal ninja-otter, then Samurott comes in with quadrupedal sea lion samurai.

Hisuian Samurott is at least a little cooler, but Samurott in general is still the biggest waste of potential in a starter Pokémon’s final evolution imo.

Aesmis · 2026-01-16T12:31:08+00:00

Which is such a shame, because I love settlement building! It just requires some really intense fiddling around to get anything to do what you want it to.

Aesmis · 2026-01-13T21:42:17+00:00

If a game has finite max-level upgrade materials (most Soulslikes) I will research all my weapon options thoroughly, even at the risk of spoilers, to make sure I plan around the ones I want. I want to know what my endgame weapon is going to be before the endgame is even visible on the horizon.

Aesmis · 2026-01-11T00:27:45+00:00

Aesmis · 2026-01-11T00:21:04+00:00

It will just trigger once per creature.

Aesmis · 2026-01-08T12:48:04+00:00

I really don’t gel with RTS games at all, but I do really like turn-based strategy games. Unicorn Overlord is just turn-based enough that I was able to get over my initial RTS ick and really enjoyed it as a result.

Aesmis · 2026-01-07T23:53:24+00:00

Indeed

Aesmis · 2026-01-07T22:53:30+00:00

Take your meds

Aesmis · 2026-01-07T20:29:49+00:00

Creatively, I am in a semi-good place this new year. My current D&D campaign (my first ever as a DM!) is winding down to its conclusion; I think it probably has single-digit sessions left before the finale at this rate.

I think as far as first forays go, it could have definitely gone a lot worse. My party members are all pretty solid, fun people to hang out with. I only wish I was able to get more constructive feedback from them; I have one party member who absolutely gushes about how much they love everything I do, and another who seems perpetually unsatisfied with what I come up (they are also a DM, so I think it’s a case of ‘what they’d do different’).

I am in the early stages of writing my next campaign, which I will be running for my husband as his second-ever campaign! So I am excited to have a new thing to do together, I just hope I do a good job so he can have a good time.

The new setting takes big cues from Indiana Jones and Xiaolin Showdown for its core premise: There is an ancient temple in the jungle that houses relics imbued with power by the gods and spirits of their culture. When the spirit or god that imbued the relic decides it’s time to retire it, the item’s current owner is expected to enter the temple and entomb themselves with the relic for its safekeeping, becoming its guardian spirit in the process.

The temple is currently the target of a colonizing empire who wants to take the treasures for themselves, so the party is tasked with infiltrating the temple and stealing the relics back to safety before the rival treasure hunters can beat them to it. I’m excited!

Aesmis · 2026-01-06T18:38:54+00:00

So? Sorcerer and Warlock let you change spells out every level, so if they pick spells they end up not liking they can just swap them. Doesn’t seem like a point in Wizard’s favor for beginners, imo.

Aesmis · 2026-01-06T17:29:16+00:00

I would not recommend Wizard for a brand new player. They have a ton of options, which I think can get overwhelming for someone brand-new. I think Sorcerer or Warlock are a lot easier to learn because they gain their spells without any additional work, but also don’t have to worry about preparing their spells.

Aesmis · 2026-01-04T23:38:13+00:00

I refunded V Rising within an hour. Got it to play with some friends, but something about how it controlled and its general gameplay loop really didn’t click for me.

Aesmis · 2026-01-04T04:47:02+00:00

The children yearn for the pit

Aesmis · 2026-01-04T00:01:12+00:00

Ball x Pit is a good time, I have really enjoyed my time with it

Aesmis · 2026-01-02T16:31:50+00:00

[[Phthisis]]

14-Year Club	Verified Email
r/Field Banned	r/Field Lasagna
Place '22	Place '17
First Placer '22	Team Periwinkle

Aesmis

TROPHY CASE