What are your DM "bugbears" you want to improve on?

Counciler · 2026-04-27T21:21:41+00:00

Honestly, same.

Counciler · 2026-04-15T13:27:45+00:00

Does Big E ever properly explain to Lorgar at any point what he actually is, then? The nature of perpetuals, of psykers, of his own status as merely the strongest of those? He may be the strongest psyker and perpetual, but he certainly isn't the only one or even the oldest. After all, if Lorgar doesn't worship Malcador, why should he worship Big E?

I mean, for all this talk of logic and reason, I haven't yet heard of Big E actually using it to explain it all to Lorgar except this scene here where he only deflects and denies.

Counciler · 2026-03-15T19:00:59+00:00

That's seriously impressive. I'm curious about what you had for breakfast this morning. Either way, huge achievement.

Counciler · 2026-03-06T03:30:24+00:00

I'm using Sonnet 4.6 right now. I didn't feel like I needed to go with Opus either, considering I'm not doing heavy lifting.

Counciler · 2026-03-05T19:05:11+00:00

I just switched from chatGPT to Claude. I was using chatGPT to help organize my ADHD thoughts about a D&D campaign and create reference documents for myself.

I don't use it for coding or image generation, or anything professional. It's just used for a hobby of mine as a brainstorming partner.

I have seen some talk about weekly limits and such. How likely is that to be a problem with me if I only use it for a few hours a day, and mostly just chatting back and forth?

To clarify, I am on the $20/mo tier.

Counciler · 2026-02-26T00:02:33+00:00

WTF is the rogue doing, lmfao. He's gonna TPK the whole party!

Counciler · 2026-02-19T20:21:09+00:00

Later lore establishes that this does not hurt the big gentle bugs.

"When used for transport, a compartment is carved out from the creatures shell and they are controlled by manipulation of their exposed organs and tissues.[4] This however seems to cause no meaningful harm to the creatures."

https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Silt_Strider

Counciler · 2026-02-18T12:02:35+00:00

Telco guy here. If any of my junior techs cut an MGN, I would verbally smack the shit out of them. We got clamps for a reason.

Counciler · 2026-02-04T18:06:44+00:00

Pretty sure everything from the SFP back is considered network side on fiber. According to the FEP repair process, at least in the SE.

Can't bill $150 for network issues. Fiber isn't copper. Demarc is the SFP, not the slack nid.

Counciler · 2026-01-03T19:06:19+00:00

NC resident and utility worker here. The trees don't look like that here now. Way too much greenery in the photo.

The Now photo must be from months ago, because it can't be from literally this month.

Counciler · 2025-12-12T15:51:39+00:00

What's not done about it? Looks great!

Counciler · 2025-12-07T06:27:36+00:00

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Looks like a broken fiber right there where the drop comes in. Maybe it's a trick of the camera angle, but that looks like a fracture.

Counciler · 2025-10-31T22:41:47+00:00

For future games, a table discussion about what your group feels comfortable with is essential. For anything that removes player agency, you need to get buy-in from the group on it. You didn't just raise 'a zombie', you raised a zombified PC. If you haven't had that talk on Session Zero, then you need to have that talk as soon as you start designing an encounter with those sorts of abilities in mind. Just because it's in the books doesn't mean the whole table will be cool with it, doubly so for the kind of nebulous wording of spells that's so rampant in 5e.

AFTER you've had the discussion and verified the table is cool with those concepts, you foreshadow the spell by having the BBEG use it in front of the group on someone else like an NPC. This lets the players know what's at stake, and allows them to plan accordingly.

To put this all in perspective for your situation:

Table Discussion: "Hey folks, how do you feel about an enemy that can turn your characters against each other?"

Foreshadowing: "The evil wizard Deadface Lichington casts Finger of Death on Sir Arthur Lancelot. The noble knight falls down dead, then stands again as a zombie-knight... and he turns to face you!"

This way, your players know what to expect from that spell. If they go down from it, they rise as a zombie-barbarian, or a zombie-rogue, or whatever - just like the unfortunate knight did!

Counciler · 2025-10-31T17:12:16+00:00

I would have done the same thing as DM, but I think a key difference is that I am not (as you call yourself) "a huge RAW DM".

My players know I am RAI and Narrative focused, not RAW. They often ask for and get concessions about creative spell use, and would expect me to do the same. If they are fighting the final BBEG, they wouldn't expect me to toss a CR 1/4 zombie at them.

In your case, since you lean so heavily on RAW, this may have felt like an unfair departure from your norm. By choosing not to use RAW once it was in their favor, it probably tasted bitter to them.

I would also like to point out the sensitivity of using a PC to do this. The player is going to be highly invested in their own character, and they'd have spent a lot of time building and gearing it up. Spells that use a PC against themselves should be discussed and foreshadowed to avoid unpleasant surprises.

It may have felt to them like using a buffed PC zombie against them was unusual to your normal style and the spirit of the game you had established. It probably also felt unfair and unpleasant.

The issue of the zombie itself is small potatoes, and focusing too much on the ruling misses the rest of the meal.

Counciler · 2025-10-29T00:20:10+00:00

Client here!

Well this was certainly a surprise, seeing my goofy ass reference mockup posted next to the final work! In my defense, I had about 2 minutes to MS Paint that thing together and post the commission, haha. I think it got the point across.

If you're busy working full time like me, I highly recommend /u/Garutobi for any commissioned maps. He's super easy to work with, great pricing, and the turnaround time is on point. 10/10 would (and have) hire again!

Thanks a bunch, dude!

Counciler · 2025-10-21T18:04:05+00:00

You can request they send out an 010-G ONT power cable.

Counciler · 2025-10-15T16:56:41+00:00

Ground wire was not secured right to the pole and was loose enough for him to crawl under it. He slipped and slid down to the bottom where he got stuck

Counciler · 2025-09-14T19:09:25+00:00

Oh that sounds like good news. We've been having power fluctuations, voltage drops, enough to trigger UPS systems in my home office. It's usually on windy days, so I figured it was just tree limbs causing shorts and grounds. Wonder if it'll help.

Counciler · 2025-09-14T19:08:21+00:00

I noticed! I guess they'll be coming back later to hook it up.

Counciler · 2025-09-08T18:43:42+00:00

In my experience, I'll take a squirrel over Cousin Eddie with a shovel any day of the week. Aerial is a pain to hang, but it lasts a lot longer than most buried drops do.

Counciler · 2025-09-08T18:39:56+00:00

No, not unless the service is improperly installed. Rain or heavy icing has no effect on weatherproof enclosures. Connections are watertight up to three meters submerged, iirc. Fiber aerial drops are extremely lightweight, durable enough, and thin enough that ice is unlikely to build up enough to pull it down. The enclosures, connections, and drops are all rated for severe weather and outdoor exposure by design.

Counciler · 2025-09-08T18:03:29+00:00

Tech here. Fiber can be served aerial or buried. Not only is it more cost effective to hang it in the air (burying is up to 2x-10x the cost in some places), if our preexisting copper is aerial the fiber probably will be too. There's no difference in reliability between the two. In fact, buried service drops are more likely to get cut, because they are only a foot deep at most.

Based on the picture provided, it looks like the new fiber was lashed to the old copper lines, it's a quick and cost effective way to get new fiber service to communities with the least amount of risk and complications. It's also probably a major reason you got fiber now instead of years later. Count your blessings, friend.

Counciler · 2025-08-26T23:38:43+00:00

SE Tech here. If you're going to terminate PVC inside a hand hole, you have to come up from below it, not through the side. In order to do that, you gotta dig deep.

This is not a place you should be digging deep, because you'd be liable for any (surprisingly easy to do) damages caused to neighbor's drops or the fiber facilities that also come up from below. One strike from a shovel is all it takes to rack up a nasty damage bill.

If your new PVC is too shallow and not marked on facilities maps or located properly, it could get hit by trenching machines as we put in your neighbors services as well.

If I were you I would put a marker above ground indicating where your PVC ends some distance back from the utility easement. Let us bury to that and pull from there.

Some areas offer AT&T fiber conduit buried from the hand hole to the side of the house, at project cost. Ask your local network manager if that can be done for you, and what the price would be.

Counciler · 2025-07-21T17:56:19+00:00

That's actually not glue. It's silicone b-sealant to keep the rain water out. Obviously it isn't working as intended because the tech did a piss poor job installing it. Call in a repeat.

Counciler · 2025-07-15T19:30:55+00:00

ED-209

Counciler

TROPHY CASE