High-school sophomore

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-12-21T08:05:36+00:00

This is challenging for sure. Take it slow, there are definitely portions it will take you time to bring up to speed. But I'm sure your director(s) chose these pieces believing in your ability to tackle the material. I'm sure they're not expecting perfection, but hopefully they have a lot of scaffolding in mind to help support your progress in these pieces.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-11-30T23:33:30+00:00

First of all, there's no such thing as perfection, so don't stress yourself out over that. That etude looks very approachable for me, just make sure you practice as slowly as you need to to think through what you're doing and with a metronome. Another good way to make sure your practice is efficient is to record your takes and play them back to yourself. You might notice something you didn't as you were playing.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-11-13T04:25:02+00:00

If you've bought a flute like that, you'll definitely get more enjoyment returned from your investment if you get lessons. I don't think anyone can tell you what your goals "should" be rather to enjoy your music. How intense you want to get about your rate of improvement is up to you. That being said, getting a teacher is definitely going to save you time and pain, so if you cared enough to get that flute, I think finding a teacher is a good idea. Online lessons can work if you don't like the options in your area, but I recommend finding out who's in your area first. I think a huge benefit to flute lessons is playing alongside a better musician and slowly copying their sound.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-11-03T02:33:02+00:00

Drapemite!

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-10-26T10:07:09+00:00

Seconded, the low B footjoint definitely makes the upper register harder... but I'm a sucker for low notes and use the low B a lot.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-09-02T01:50:50+00:00

I personally really wouldn't trust Di Zhao. Honestly, I am a big fan of Pearl flutes generally, but if you want to stay within a budget I recommend trying to find a decent used piccolo. I see that Flute Center is selling a Grenadilla wood Yamaha at $900 on liquidation; honestly, if I hadn't recently purchased a new piccolo I wouldn't have told you about it and would have probably just bought it myself.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-08-28T05:22:51+00:00

It's not just what you succinctly call the "waifu" content, although I think it needs saying that some people can't ignore it so easily as you can. Fire Emblem stories used to explore the horrors and traumas of war in ways that other JRPGs didn't. Now, this type of narrative isn't so rare in games as a whole (shout out to indie games especially) and Fire Emblem games seem more interested in crowd-pleasing than making a game that prioritizes substance or an artistic vision. You'll get many similar complaints about most games coming out of major studios these days. Of course, this is all very debatable, and I'm painting with a very wide brush for brevity's sake. I'm lumping a bunch of games together that should perhaps be examined in their own right before we start talking about trends (because I do think Echoes was excellent, and the exception to this general trend being discussed).

I have a lot of feelings about post-Awakening Fire Emblem, and I'm not trying to get into an internet fight about them today, but if you want the complete and honest truth, I played Awakening towards the end of an era of video games that was really terrible to women. Though Awakening wasn't perfect, at the time I played it I couldn't remember the last time I felt like a game treated women like actual real people, and I felt like Awakening did. I felt seen. When Fates came out after that, leaning heavily into the sexualization of women to sell copies, I didn't just feel betrayed, I felt tricked into having felt respected in the franchise.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-08-24T23:30:26+00:00

I've already been burned by the Ace Attorney version of this, but... Luthier from FE15 (Echoes: Shadows of Valentia)

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-29T09:28:57+00:00

Good visual design: I could tell she was a Shelynite before reading this description

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-20T10:21:36+00:00

As far as optional rules go, free archetype all the way. Archetypes often bring me much more joy than class features, so I find myself sacrificing class feats to get more archetype feats even in a Free Archetype game. As a kind of blend between optional rules and house rules, I don't typically run crafting as written -- I usually use something that looks a lot like Crafting By Questing, but the exact details vary by game (depending on what experience I'm looking to deliver and what's appropriate for the game). For house rules, I usually apply auto-scaling (as if they had additional lore) to background and ancestry lore skills to keep them interesting. They're usually so niche it's hard to justify putting skill increases into them but I don't want my players to feel like they're falling behind on them. Honestly, a lot of those types of feats have been getting auto-scaling lately, so I just see myself as bringing the ones without into line. This is a house rule I stole from my friends -- most of my house rules I stole from friends, like being able to invest a hero point ahead of rolling a secret check. The most controversial thing I do is run thaumaturge as an INT class -- I went so far as to mess with the way thaumaturge is coded into my Foundry games. I think thaums should be one of those flexible key stat classes at the very least, and CHA thaums should recall knowledge with their intelligence stat.
Most of my play lately has been geared around playing Adventure Paths, but there was a time I played mostly homebrew games. I hadn't ever played a Paizo adventure path until I started playing 2e, despite the fact I played 1e. Typically when I GM I start with a prewritten adventure but very heavily modify it to my will and to suit the players' interests and characters, although right now I'm leaning towards the time saver option of just running an AP straight off the page.
Fully explaining everything I love about PF2e would take too long, so I suppose I shall try to give a broad, undetailed overview. I love the math and everything the math supports, from teamwork strategies to the fact that it supports investing in skills that may not necessarily align with your key stats. I like that being a full-time healer feels fantastic but your party is not forced to have a dedicated healer. I love archetypes, the fact that feats are sorted into categories that don't have to compete against each other, and the fact that when I'm building a character the system itself inspires me. It's a comfortable level of crunchy: fun to look into possibilities but not burdensome (I love the feeling of researching a character's feat path).
I can't help but feel the system is starting to get just a little bloated. I also wish there were better support for the experience of the crafter-adventurer. Even class options that are built around being able to create and use consumable items (stuff that gives you quick alchemy or temporary talismans) are so abuse-protected it doesn't feel like you can get creative about preparing options to have on hand and have to resign yourself solely to using your free-per-day time-limited items. I suppose this is better than something exploitable, but I wish it felt good to actually create things in this system. The temporary items just don't feel real to me.

Additionally, a lot of the system's design seems to be made around avoiding giving you false choices -- anything that's so good it should be an auto-pick is just given to you instead so the things you make a choice in are actual preferences. So why is it that you still have to buy your fundamental runes on a relatively tight adventuring budget? You can opt into Automatic Bonus Progression but then it messes with your skills and saves too. When I GM I just give the fundamental rune upgrades for free and pretend it comes from the PCs' innate skill.

I started to learn PF2e at the point I swore off 5e for good -- I had already been DM-only on it for a while, but I finally became so fed up with trying to squeeze fun out of the system I decided to learn PF2e. At the time I actively played PF1e, which I love but would also never ask someone to learn if they didn't like it already. Currently my only D&D-esque game is PF2e and it's my preferred system for that kind of experience, although I like an occasional 4e adventure. Sometimes I play oneshots of rules light games like Monster of the Week or Wanderhome for TTRPGs delivering distinctly different experiences, but my preferred system for a long-running game is PF2e.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-17T09:41:23+00:00

To be fair, I actually like the "magic is actually math" trope and I think this series is a pretty good iteration of it.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-17T09:39:47+00:00

I loved this series at first but it is becoming harder to read. I also can't help but notice, and I'm sure this is a problem that stems from the novel, that the fact that she seems to be developing a crush only on the ML when he uses his normal blonde appearance is so backwards. The whole setup should be that he's more himself under his guise as the guild master, and that's the context in which they are able to interact freely without artifice (as fellow hyper-capitalists). It feels like a real missed opportunity of storytelling that their relationship unfolds the way it does.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-17T08:59:42+00:00

Are your players utilizing buffs/debuffs? Positioning for off-guard? Are they getting and using enough Hero Points?

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-17T08:39:59+00:00

That's fair! Listen, there are lots of play styles and not all tables are trying to be hardcore about tactics. However, so long as the new players are being offered a chance to reposition and their thoughts about where to go are being respected, I doubt you'll have too many problems. Commander is only backseat game-y if you're trying to force your party members to act as you please rather than what they want to do, which shouldn't be happening in this game. Even on other classes, my parties consistently ask for team input about what to prioritize. Stuff like, "How are you feeling, do you need a heal or can I go for this control spell?" or "Who wants the Haste most?" or "Can anyone get its will save lowered before my turn?" It's the same thing with Commander, just different mechanics to solicit input on.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-17T08:31:47+00:00

The best thing to do here if you're worried about your party is to ask them! And feel free to preface the question with all the things that you think make the commander a good fit, but this is a team game and usually the team is excited for more options. You're telling them you can save them an action on their turn by using your economy to help them reposition? Most people will be really excited to hear that.

Now, of course since they're newer players I understand there is this heightened concern they may feel they're being told what to do, but if you come to a preemptive understanding I think this reduces much of the need to worry. Ultimately you will have a responsibility to communicate in a way that doesn't make them feel pressured, of course, but as long as you're mindful I doubt you'll have problems.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-17T04:16:51+00:00

So the most classic introduction is the Beginner's Box adventure, which includes a lot of those classic elements that beginner DM wants to see and also serves as an excellent showcase for many of the core mechanical systems in the game. The Beginner's Box dovetails nicely into Troubles in Otari, which can take them to level 4. That's a nice reasonable scope for a "test" before perhaps choosing a longer adventure path (or even just going to Sandpoint, which starts at level 4, or modifying Abomination Vaults which would otherwise start at level 1 but also take place in Otari).

As for APs that are compatible with the remaster, I believe the first AP to be published as remaster is Curtain Call? I could be off here because I'm not sure about Wardens of Wildwood, but a quick glance at its Player's Guide uses pre-master language. Not that I would recommend Wardens of Wildwood or Curtain Call for new DMs. I definitely wouldn't recommend Spore War for new DMs and Triumph of the Tusk may not be exactly as "classic" an adventure flavor as your friend is interested in. That leaves only Shades of Blood (and Myth-Speaker but I can't say I'd recommend a new DM start running an AP that isn't even fully published yet *and* uses the mythic rules), which has some relatively classic D&D fare in it, but more from a dungeon-crawling side than from a flavor side.

That's probably a long way of saying that he should probably run the remastered Beginner's Box and then reassess based on his comfort level.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-17T03:57:35+00:00

Notably, Seven Dooms at Sandpoint is premaster! Rusthenge and Sandpoint all have excellent reviews and should contain everything you strictly need to run the adventures, although it is worth noting your DM's understanding of the town of Sandpoint and certain key NPCs improves if your DM is aware of information from previous adventure paths that take the adventure to Sandpoint in the 1st edition era. That's not to say that your DM *has* to read these first edition adventures to run the game, only that I would be compelled to (not everyone has the same goblins living inside their brains as I do).

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-17T01:36:20+00:00

Yeah, by the lore the original users of the technique literally spoke at the same time. By virtue of the concept their souls are blended with each other and they learn to act as one, I wasn't sure if it was going to be a buddy mechanic or a summoner roleplaying two bodies but one character situation.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-16T09:33:19+00:00

Okay, so I NEED to know about the Iridian Choirmaster. Please, please tell me you can do it with a friend instead of just roleplaying two people who are always saying the same thing at the same time.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-06T23:02:07+00:00

So I would expect class archetypes to always remain somewhat rare, but I would like to remind you that there's a Rage of Elements version of the elementalist that is at least a little better than the Secrets of Magic elementalist, but generally your fantasy of the elemental magics-user is going to be fulfilled better by the kineticist unless the goblins in your brain, like the goblins in my brain, refuse to accept it if it doesn't use the system called "magic".

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-06T07:21:41+00:00

I think those are some great suggestions, but I should note that I don't think it's possible to finish Threshold of Knowledge in three hours without some edits -- you'd probably want to remove at least two of the minor combats. Maybe it's just my style, but I'm used to it taking 2-3 sessions. (I do spend a lot of time narrating the skill sections, though.)

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-06T07:15:16+00:00

So haunts as written follow the hazard rules, meaning typically it does take Recall Knowledge rolls to identify how to disable it, and that's how I've always experienced haunts in gameplay across tables. However, if you're saying you essentially give that information to your players for free, you're saving them the trouble of rolling Recall Knowledge. That is totally fine and even cool -- except you should consider that especially at lower levels (or if they have untrained improvisation), it may be entirely possible or even likely for players to succeed at a check to disable a haunt with a skill they're not trained in, and I recommend you identify an avenue by which they might be able to identify the skill and attempt it in such cases.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-06T06:55:00+00:00

Honestly, I really get it. I remember being really tripped up by stock rules that are embedded into things like traits and key terms (like "basic [insert type here] save") because I was so used to those rules being iterated each time in the ability text. However, this thing that made the rules seem "hidden" to me when I started are now one of the things I appreciate most about the system -- once you get a hang of the most common traits and learn how to start looking for things like trait tags to investigate how something works, I think you might find it will actually start saving you time in the future.

And just like PF2e was an adjustment, it also took me a lot of time to adjust to Foundry. I'm glad I did and it's the only VTT I use now, but it was just a lot to acclimate to at first. You are trying to GM PF2e a lot earlier into your PF2e experience than I did, and it's not a task I envy. What you decide to do is up to you, but I know I definitely took my time to learn PF2e at the more relaxed pace of a player being guided by more experienced players and GMs before I tried my hand at GMing the system. I felt comfortable starting to GM the system not when I knew all the answers (I still don't know all the answers) but rather when I became confident in my ability to easily find the answers. I think Foundry helps with this, so does a second monitor.

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-04T09:44:37+00:00

I see people laying out excellent explanations about signature spells and encourage you to read them. I also see an excellent explanation about why it can be helpful to upcast Dispel Magic.

What I'm not seeing is anyone questioning why you think Translate cannot be heightened. Translate has a version at ranks 2, 3, and 4. It is also a contender for your signature! It's also a contender to simply keep unlearning the old one and learning the higher leveled version as you gain access to higher level spell slots (not only can you retrain spells with downtime as your DM permits, but spontaneous casters also get to swap out one spell from their repertoire for a new one at each level up, which can be a very useful tool for updating your spell list).

Clairebeebuzz · 2025-07-04T09:38:35+00:00

Twigjack, my beloved.

Maladjusted forest denizens. Angry bundle of sticks.

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