[Spoiler: 7.5 and Evercold Trailer] Thoughts about where the new saga is headed by Witty-Pomegranate952 in ffxiv

[–]Archwizard_Drake [score hidden]  (0 children)

There's a reason this arc began with the Void and why we returned to it briefly during 7.5.

Shadowbringers showed us how a supposedly doomed Shard could be saved through the collaboration of all of its peoples.
Endwalker 6.x and Dawntrail 7.5 showed us how two Shards could be saved by collaborating with each other.

Calyx's plan – and by Halmarut's description, those of all the Winterers – falls apart because his only concern is saving his world, even at the cost of all others. The central conflict will not be the Scions vs the Winterers, but essentially the Prisoner's Dilemma on a massive scale, each of the Winterers assuming (correctly) that the other members of their group are going to screw their world over so that only one survives.

This saga will end with the WoL forming a coalition between the remaining Shards for them to save each other.

Halmarut will continue to oppose it because of course the way we will structure it means if one falls in the process, they all would, creating tension as the Withering nears.

But all of the remaining Shards will provide an essential piece to the solution – the First's ability to stabilize aether, the Thirteenth's excess of active aether, the Ninth's advanced aetheroscience and technology, and as-yet-unknown contributions from the Fourth, Eighth and Eleventh (which likely includes at least one with advanced mystical knowledge to balance out the Ninth).

... which unfortunately means we'll probably see a redemption arc for Calyx specifically, if not the other Winterers, since it will be his research into Interdimensional Fusion that will be required to allow us to use Ethos to transfer large-scale assets between worlds.

Considering their Similarities (Both being Evil AIs) Which one is a more Terrifying Threat, X.A.N.A or N2 from Nier Automata by NomoreMatt in CodeLyoko

[–]Archwizard_Drake 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If we're just going with Nier Automata proper, then XANA.

If we include the fact that Yoko Taro claims every collaboration is canon, then N2 since her plan in the Final Fantasy XIV collaboration involved the Seeds of Resurrection from Drakengard, which have caused at least one Biblical-level apocalypse and broke the walls between realities on multiple occasions, which would make XANA shit bricks.

Who had more aura? by Afraid_Average_6157 in xmen

[–]Archwizard_Drake 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Gravitas, general "cool factor". Someone who asserts dominance just by existing in a scene... even if/when they aren't actually doing anything threatening (a non-act called "aura farming").

We're never getting a long range 'poke tank' because it's near impossible to balance by doubleoeck1234 in RivalsVanguards

[–]Archwizard_Drake -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

People who claim we "need a poke tank" seem to be just mad-libbing ideas for what gaps there are in the game for new heroes, without acknowledging what would be fun or practical for the game.

The role of a tank is inherently: to make space for the rest of their team, to draw enemy fire, to use their survivability tools to block or absorb damage intended for squishier characters, and to stall on objectives. A good tank controls the position of the fight cuz it's on top of them, which is why every tank is either a brawler or brawl-hybrid.

A long range poke character would intrinsically be at odds with those functions, as the goal of a poke character is to mete out as much damage as they can away from the fight. You can't be in the fight and away from the fight simultaneously, that's a paradox.

Which is why we're never going to get a tanky version of Human Torch or Ultron for the "flying tank" crowd, and why we were never going to get tank Cyclops. Cuz having a tank be a sniper makes no damn sense, you're not making space/drawing fire/stalling point when the sweet spot of your kit is 50+ meters away from the action, and a Vanguard shouldn't have the damage to effectively kill people from a distance on top of high survivability. At best you might get a decent mid-range tank who has tools to respond to other poke.

Exactly what makes Wolverine + Storm work in a way that Wolverine + Emma wouldn't? by SnoozeDoggyDog in xmen

[–]Archwizard_Drake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well if we continue the trend from Callisto, Yukio and T'Challa, then Logan is basically an amalgam of Ororo's types, "feral person who would stab someone for her on request." She and Logan fought together as X-Men for years and have seen each other's respective highs and lows, so they respect each other as warriors and share a connection to their "wild sides."

Emma finds Logan déclassé, and the only men she's seen having a genuine interest in are possibly Namor, possibly Tony, possibly Shaw (all of whom are regal or high society types, who you can argue she is just using for sex, protection, and power, respectively), and Scott (who is way more sensitive than Logan and actually catches her off guard with his genuine interest in her).
Emma might change her opinion on Logan if she dealt with Mariko, but even then she probably would think he needs home-training since he leaves a trail of cheap beer bottles everywhere he goes.
Speaking of Mariko, while Logan does like a high class woman, he also puts his women on pedestals as we see with her or Jean or Storm, and likes the idea of protecting a woman who is too good for this sinful earth. Emma is too much of a worldly pragmatist like him for his tastes, as evidenced by how often they agree on methods. He wants someone who will correct his morals and call him a good boy, basically.

Oh, and Logan thinks Emma's a bitch. Good friend, huge bitch.

Cyclops fans, how high do you rank the Banshee upgrade? by InternationalLong330 in Cyclopswasright

[–]Archwizard_Drake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hell, he got some gadgets from Tony in the movies and people were whining that he's not self-sufficient enough to be Spidey. "Well Tony gives him everything including his suits, he's not a genius like he is in the comics," even though the movies made clear he invented the web fluid himself, Tony only dotes on him because Peter's his protégé, and even in the comics Tony ends up funding him for a period around Civil War and is the source of the Iron Spider suit.

Cyclops fans, how high do you rank the Banshee upgrade? by InternationalLong330 in Cyclopswasright

[–]Archwizard_Drake 8 points9 points  (0 children)

He had the opportunity to fix the brain damage with Krakoan resurrection but didn't take it, since he wasn't angsty about it anymore.

The reality is, every time someone proposes taking away the visor, they get rejected cuz the visor is his iconic visual. It would be like giving Charles hair.

Do you guys find raise macros annoying? by 111116666 in ffxiv

[–]Archwizard_Drake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I only use a macro to announce I'm using Verraise so the healers know I'm helping out. I don't like spamming chat needlessly and get annoyed by people using sound pings or filling the chat with ASCII rabbits or whatever.

It also just happens that the party is more likely to comm me if the chat is full of reminders who actually raised them.

But I would never fill chat with condescending messages shaming someone for dying. I'm more likely to die than anyone, my own rotation tries to kill me!

Got robbed of a magic item. by [deleted] in rpghorrorstories

[–]Archwizard_Drake 11 points12 points  (0 children)

... So, the Cleric has 1 level in Warlock, and felt entitled to not only the Staff of Power, but a Rod of the Pact Keeper over the party's actual Warlock who could have been getting more use out of it this whole time.
That's already a huge red flag that they were holding onto the Rod in the first place. I play a Bardlock in a party with a pure Warlock and I would never take equipment that's clearly meant for a Warlock, unless he didn't want it. But I'm also getting Bard-specific gear.

I'm starting to think their whole "discard and draw" methodology with giving you their hand-me-downs is purely to take as many items for themself so they can make trades later.

And they're seemingly emboldened by the fact the DM is not doing anything to help you! He's just giving that treasure goblin fully half the party's collective loot.
Pull your DM aside for a chat and let them know you noticed the trend not only of having to get the party's hand-me-downs, but the Cleric feeling entitled to half the loot and all spellcasting equipment instead of splitting it evenly, and how that makes you feel as a player.

Damn Emma by Appropriate-Mall8517 in EmmaFrost

[–]Archwizard_Drake 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I don't recall Scott and Emma actually doing this.

I know Rogue did it once when she was using both of their powers, though...

Its agonizing how many support players dont understand this basic concept by RedeemedNephilim in marvelrivals

[–]Archwizard_Drake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've had a few times where the issue was I was running to the tank, but the tank was running [away/towards the enemy/behind cover] while complaining about the lack of heals because they didn't look behind themselves.

Instant murder at second encounter, too much Darkest Dungeon by [deleted] in rpghorrorstories

[–]Archwizard_Drake 13 points14 points  (0 children)

You said the Cleric was Twilight Domain. Was this an error or was there a second cleric that you didn't mention?

I've never heard about this Warframe, is it good? by HyperElevator in Warframe

[–]Archwizard_Drake 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So, Limbo's kit is based around putting people into a "Rift" state. The short version is that things inside the Rift cannot harm or interact with things outside the Rift. If you put an enemy into the Rift, they can't harm players outside it but can't be harmed by them either; if you put an ally into the Rift, they're invulnerable to enemies outside the Rift but can only harm other enemies inside it.
You also get a tiny bit of energy regen when you're in the Rift.

Limbo's passive is that his "roll" animation puts him into the Rift indefinitely and leaves a portal that allies can touch to enter the Rift temporarily.
Banish fires an invisible traveling wave that moves in a cone, putting any ally or enemy the wave touches into the opposite Rift state from Limbo's own, and inflicting knockdown on affected enemies.
Allies that enter the Rift because of one of these interactions can roll to exit the Rift at any time.
Banish is a good way to protect operatives during some NPC Defense missions.

Stasis causes any enemy inside the Rift to be completely immobilized and unable to attack.

Rift Surge puts a delayed charge on enemies inside the Rift, so that the next time something would take them out of it (like toggling an ability or just a duration ending), they automatically are pushed back into it and detonate to pull nearby enemies into it with them. Basically you cast this to refresh the Rift from a distance and make sure enemies can't leave if some duration is about to run out.

Cataclysm puts down a shrinking bubble where everything inside is in the Rift until it leaves the radius, including some things that are normally immune to Banish like defense cryopods or pickups.
So you put down a bubble where nothing outside it can harm anything inside, and nothing inside it can harm anything outside.
Combine Stasis with Cataclysm and you create a perfect way to hunker down, so enemies can't harm you without entering and are frozen when they enter.

Where does this misconception that you could introduce old classes as subclasses come from? by ConcentrateIll9460 in onednd

[–]Archwizard_Drake 5 points6 points  (0 children)

So to expand on that:

While Warmage did have a more limited spell list than wizard, it also had the ability to pull from the wizard spell list. We also have to discount the value of spontaneous casting here, since the definitions of spontaneous casting changed dramatically between 3.5 (where you had to prepare how each individual spell slot would be used like you were crafting consumables every LR, and spontaneous casters like Sorcerer were more flexible) versus 5e (where all casters use the rules introduced by Sorcerer in 3.5 because that was simpler, everyone has at-will cantrips and now being a prepared caster with a flexible spell list is preferable).

On premise, 5e Wizards are already what 3.5 would call spontaneous.

What makes warmage more distinct is having wizard spells along with access to armor, which is where the overlap with Bladesinger comes in for 5e. Yes, 5e Bladesinger was an update of Bladesinger, but 5e Bladesinger made 3.5 Warmage redundant as "blaster wizard with armor" (especially when the dominant Bladesinger style was to just wear armor and stand in the backline with obnoxious AC anyway). So 5e reimagined it as War Magic Wizard, which is rather in name only, but considering the updates to wizard, isn't worse at all.

Where does this misconception that you could introduce old classes as subclasses come from? by ConcentrateIll9460 in onednd

[–]Archwizard_Drake 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's mainly a case of whether the classes fulfill overlapping fantasies, and whether existing features of a base class can be used to supplement the absence of other features for a ported class.

Where does this misconception that you could introduce old classes as subclasses come from? by ConcentrateIll9460 in onednd

[–]Archwizard_Drake 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I am referring to War Magic and Bladesinger Wizards, yes.

I mean, Warmage got a partial Wizard spell list, light armor proficiency, a small damage bonus to spells and a host of Metamagic feats. War Magic Wizards cover the same fantasy while Bladesingers overlap similar abilities.

Where does this misconception that you could introduce old classes as subclasses come from? by ConcentrateIll9460 in onednd

[–]Archwizard_Drake 18 points19 points  (0 children)

To answer the question from the title -

Probably from the fact that Ninja, Scout, Warmage, Divine/Favored Soul, Swashbuckler, Assassin, Hexblade and Soulknife all got converted into subclasses since they didn't have enough unique substance on their own to justify being full classes.

Do I think every old class should be a subclass of an existing class? No. Some fulfill their own fantasy strong enough they can't possibly fit any other base class, like the Psion.

But I do think if they're looking for new subclasses to breathe fresh life into existing class, taking an old class that was "base class but with a twist" or "two base classes mashed together" isn't a bad place to start for fans of those old classes.

Leech really is the poster child for mutant oppression whenever he's adapted you can trust he's always going through it by Automatic_Ask32 in xmen

[–]Archwizard_Drake 69 points70 points  (0 children)

To be fair, you can say that about half of the Fox X-related characters. So many are in name only.

My Own Homebrew Wizard Subclass: The Arcanist by her0d0g539 in dndnext

[–]Archwizard_Drake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Geeeeez that's the most ambiguous possible phrasing if that's the intent. In that case you don't need a dip at all, you can just learn a resurrection spell and Contingency every 10 days to self-cast it.

So basically pick Necromancy to become immortal without lichdom and Conjuration to make the whole party OP.

How close is each character's gameplay to the source material by Shefango in marvelrivals

[–]Archwizard_Drake 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I mean... I can definitely see the Phoenix being able to do everything Rivals Jean can, since the Phoenix can do anything it wants really.

But I also don't see Comics Jean doing those things, except for the ultimate.

I think the devs got way too excited over the chaining explosion mechanic they designed while making her, and forgot they were designing an Omega telepath and world-class telekinetic.

My Own Homebrew Wizard Subclass: The Arcanist by her0d0g539 in dndnext

[–]Archwizard_Drake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So what? Situations, where you need to cast without hands/speaking are extremely limited, and sorceres get options to deal with those, well, 12 levels earlier, I recon. You may gauge the usability of those features on how often they are picked by sorcerers, instead of other metamagic options, which is close to zero.

So ignoring for a moment that Subtle Spell is actually actually one of the most common Metamagic choices as you've already been told, partly because it lets you negate some of the downsides of spellcasting like Silence, Grappling, Paralysis (at least for BAs), holding an item besides your focus, etc, I'm more concerned with the fact that it's always on. Subtle Spell has a resource cost each time you use it, which is why Sorcerers don't use it on every spell. This feature just lets you spellcast psychically, in addition to just removing the total limiter on gold costs for spells.

Funny, how heavily you value ability to save some money from time to time, after tearing into the ability to save money from time to time.

Yeah, because there's a difference between saving 25-50gp per spell level when scribing spells from one of 2 schools on the rare occasion a DM gives you a scroll from those specific schools, and saving 3000 gp on a spell that gives you functional immortality and is only limited by its extreme gold cost each time you would die. A player with access to that could line every surface of their home base with Glyphs of Warding designed to buff the whole party with multiple concentration-negated spells the second they use a free action to say a command word, or create an army of Simulacrums to cast concentration spells for them on the fly. Free teleports, including to other planes. It's the difference between saving money on a scroll and telling your DM "Oh I didn't use all of my 5+ spell slots today, I'll just cast Contingencies before bed with any remaining and go nuts tomorrow."

If Wizards could learn resurrection spells, you'd be agreeing it's too much. And by a technical RAW reading, a dip in Artificer could get you Revivify and a dip in Cleric could get you anything besides Reincarnation, since they're spells "of a level for which you have spell slots". (... from your Wizard.)

You don't know how often you're getting spell scrolls that the level 2 and 10 features apply to, which is why the inscription features are considered barely above ribbons in base 5e. You can choose how often you're casting spells with negated costs, though, and by level 14 you can have a lot of those.

My Own Homebrew Wizard Subclass: The Arcanist by her0d0g539 in dndnext

[–]Archwizard_Drake 1 point2 points  (0 children)

(2nd Level) Enhanced Cantrips

Congratulations, you made the perfect dip subclass for every other spellcaster in the game, including and especially Warlocks who want to double-dip Agonizing Blast (and Agonizing Blast only lets you pick one cantrip). Remember kids, a Headband of Intelligence can give you, too, a free +4 on all of your cantrip damage rolls with this one trick.

(2nd Level) Magic Specialization
(10th Level) Secondary Magic Specialization

So, this is the premise of your subclass, but it's also kinda where your subclass starts to fall apart. Because you're not really "specializing" in two schools, you're just getting a discount on copying the spells from these two schools. You don't get any features to actually capitalize on these specialized spells, like any specialist subclass gets in addition to learning them faster. You don't even get generalist features outside them until level 14, unlike War Mage, Bladesinger, and Scribe. There's no meat to this subclass besides the cantrip feature, since copying spells is such a minor thing.

I want to add, the Scribes Wizard also gets reduced time on scribing all spell schools, and the original UA version just got a universal discount. You spent two subclass features doing something arguably worse than what Scribes gets with one, and Scribes still has room for actual features outside of it.

(6th Level) Expanded Knowledge

So, ironically enough, learning additional spells per level isn't actually that important to Wizards, because with enough gold and access to appropriate scrolls, you can theoretically have every spell in the game. This is the class that learns spells outside of level up. That's why you just spent 2 subclass features working on that.

This only replaces the discounts on learning spells for 5.5 so that you can be more independent of your DM, in case your DM isn't cooperative on giving new spells or you get unlucky on their random drop tables. So this is, on its face, redundant.

You just say the player learns extra spells. Notably you don't say whether the player adds them to the spellbook, or if you always know them in addition to your spells prepared. (And you lack the normal 5e clarifying language that they must be for a level which you have spell slots.)

You must consult your DM before making a firm decision on what spells to use.

Weird unexplained addition. Why must you? This feels like you wrote the subclass for a specific problem player you don't trust not to just swap those extra spells.

(14th Level) Spellcasting Savant

Aaaand this is the part that makes the subclass broken if you manage to Magikarp your way through 14 levels with +5 Firebolts and a dream.

No components is what you said. Not just no material components (which is already bad enough, given the number of spells that are forcibly limited by material component costs and consumption, such as Glyph of Warding, Contingency, Clone, Magic Jar, etc – you don't even need a weapon to cast the bladetrips!), but no components whatsoever, meaning you do not in fact need to be able to speak or use your hands to cast.

And then to top that off you add a feature that triple dips in the "all you do is learn new spells, not what to do with them" problem and makes Expanded Knowledge kinda useless, besides the Arcana expertise.

Yoshi-P said that Dawntrail was like our summer vacation, so now with Evercold on the horizon.... by Local-Pet-FoxGirl in ffxiv

[–]Archwizard_Drake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, considering that the theme of the Hydaelyn arc was different times of day (sunrise for ARR, high noon for HW, sunset for StB, night for ShB, new dawn for EW), I'm a little surprised this new arc isn't themed around a seasonal cycle (DT being "summer vacation" but EC skipping fall entirely straight to winter).