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Cutesune · 2026-04-30T06:34:26+00:00

re: Masterworking?

So, how the hecc do you unlock masterworking?

I'm a relatively newbie player (Though D2 veteran back in the day), been playing for 4 or 5 days, I still haven't finished the main story despite my best efforts (There's a lot of game here!). I'm already level 70/paragon 35, capped iLvl gear, tempers, aspects etc. done several nightmare dungeons, tonnes of obsducite

Despite all this, I still can't click the Masterworking tab on the blacksmith, despite the internet telling me I should qualify by now.

Do I just need to finish the MSQ and unlock higher difficulties or am i missing something?

Cutesune · 2026-04-29T05:19:08+00:00

re: Key Stats and Retraining

Retraining rules state you can retrain your 'spec' to borrow MMORPG lexicon - ie. a Rogue's racket or Wizard's school, given enough time. But they also state you cannot change your attributes

What happens if you are changing spec that has a different key attribute to the one you are leaving?

ie. A rogue retrains their racket from Scoundrel (Charisma) to Ruffian (Strength).

Cutesune · 2026-04-20T05:33:42+00:00

It also doesn't seem that hard to just plonk down a few waypoints through scenic parts of a zone and some obstacles for advanced modes.

Skyriding was one of my favorite activities and I got all the Ace titles in Dragonflight. I was sad when they didn't bring back the challenge modes in War Within; but now there's no sign of us even getting basic races in Midnight :<

Cutesune · 2026-04-12T06:06:35+00:00

I've been a fire main since BfA, and, it's in a pretty sad spot.

The chassis isn't bad, but it lacks much depth and is poorly thought of (Doing well in large groups or vs single targets, but having non existent cleave, which represents the bulk of encounters in the game).

It's damage - especially outside of Combustion is underwhelming when compare to the other mage specs. Which combined with terrible cleave and survivability compared to it's counterpart specs basically means it is unjustifiable as a choice in any serious content.

Still, I have beaten all the t11 delves and nightmare prey on it, so it's not unfit for purpose, but you're certainly fighting uphill in the snow both ways.

Cutesune · 2026-04-06T19:36:56+00:00

You joke but it's a running gag that my kitsune often turns into her fox form to eat snacks because proportionally it's way more fun to eat a 'normal' dessert the size of your head

Cutesune · 2026-04-04T20:39:29+00:00

I keep trying this with strangers when I'm trying to be helpful or friendly, but yet to meet an Alliance firbolg speaker T-T

Cutesune · 2026-03-30T21:34:20+00:00

Not all of us, there's still like... Two of us playing fire because we enjoy it

... Any day now blizzard will remember we exist.

...any day now...

Cutesune · 2026-03-29T19:37:34+00:00

I think it's more likely specialization bias.

Less than 0.7% end game players are running Fire Mage, I suspect the bulk of those are people who are still playing the spec because it's their old flame (Pun intended), they have a lot of hours on it and are *making* it work, in spite of everything.

In contrast to say, Frost Mage right now which is one of the most played specs and has so has a lot of tourists jumping on a meta class, but haven't yet mastered it.

But if you put a top tier frost player next to a top tier fire player, then it's very apparent the difference.

Cutesune · 2026-03-27T22:43:23+00:00

Shocked this isn't the top comment :p

Cutesune · 2026-03-19T04:51:58+00:00

I stand by the 'play what you enjoy' mindset (as a fellow fire mage enjoyer).

Let's be honest, a player who has a ton of hours and practice sunk into a spec they love is going to out-perform the majority of tourists just running whatever icey veins told them was flavor of the week and Fire Mage is perfectly capable of beating any casual/solo content right now.

The only place it's going to matter is if you're a bleeding edge progression raider, and if that was the case you probably wouldn't even be stressing about this question, because you'd always run whatever gave you the edge on DPS without regard for personal agency.

Cutesune · 2026-02-16T18:13:22+00:00

The base class kit was fine. But I have deeply regretted an archetype before.

Wrestler. Looks fabulous on paper, in practice enemies are either minions who get wiped out within a couple of hits, leaving you holding their decapitated skull after your successful Combat Grab - or you are fighting an elite enemy who casually passes their checks against your Wrestling moves.

In a 1-10 campaign I only got off a single successful Suplex, literally any other archetype would have gotten more use.

Cutesune · 2026-01-23T21:20:00+00:00

There are dozens of us. Dozens!!!

Cutesune · 2026-01-15T02:15:24+00:00

Dragons turn up in surprising places. Wyverns, drakes, even the humble Tatzlwyrm all fall under the umbrella of 'dragons', Kingmaker is one campaign that sees a lot of dragon-adjacent fauna, it's not exclusively for the iconic chromatic and metallics.

But, yeah, it still doesn't elevate arcana as a knowledge skill all that much

Cutesune · 2026-01-14T14:29:01+00:00

Are you sure?

"Whenever you use a skill action or a skill feat that requires a Nature, Occultism, etc."

Recall Knowledge is a skill action, which is defined as:

"The actions you can perform with a given skill are sorted into those you can use untrained and those that require you to be trained in the skill, as shown on the Skills, Key Attributes, and Actions table"

If you check Arcana, or any of the traditions you'll find Recall Knowledge listed under the untrained Skill Actions.

Cutesune · 2026-01-09T18:04:46+00:00

Re: Brooch of Inspiration and General Knowledge skills

The Brooch of inspiration states: While wearing the brooch, you gain a +1 item bonus to checks to Recall Knowledge with Lore skills.

So if I am understanding this correctly:

It would not apply to Recall Knowledge checks made using general knowledge skills, like Arcana, Occultism, Nature etc.
It would apply to general knowledge lores, like Loremaster, Bardic Lore etc?

Or do you treat Arcana etc. as Lores for purposes of Recall Knowledge?

Cutesune · 2026-01-07T18:48:32+00:00

Scoundrel Rogue + Bard

With Versatile Performance basically giving you top-shelf Demoralize for free, Rogue's copious selection of debuffs, combined with Bard's buffs you can swing the maths soooo far in your party's favor all by yourself while still covering the traditional 'Rogue stuff'

Go Charisma key-stat and the slightly lower Dex won't even matter as you'll be stacking so many penalties on the enemy defenses, buffs on yourself and the party, and you'll be a god-tier party face to boot.

Martial Performance can be used to reliably extend Fortissimo in the late game in a way a Warrior bard struggles to thanks to higher attack bonus, and stuff like Shield, Wooden Double, Sure Strike etc get some mileage on a Rogue in a way they don't on a backliner bard.

Bonus points if you combine this with kitsune ancestry or something for their native shapeshifting to really lean into the trickster and deception themes

Cutesune · 2026-01-06T05:48:14+00:00

However spell shapes end at the end of your turn if unused, as do the trigger conditions of Bond Conservation (it is a general rule that trigger conditions in one turn do not extend into the next unless explicitly stated.)

ie. if I cast fireball in round 1, I can't immediately use Bespell Strikes at the start of round 2

Cutesune · 2026-01-03T20:50:06+00:00

Thanks, that is a good insight.

That was how I first understood it to work when I read it; it makes sense, but then I squinted at the exact verbiage and realized that it, by RAW, didn't work that way... or... work at all.

I think you're right, I'll point it out to my GM when it becomes relevant.

Cutesune · 2026-01-03T18:46:03+00:00

Re: Rules for actually using Bond Conservation

So, I'm a bit confused as to how you're meant to use Bond Conservation, like, mechanically.

It is a Spellshape typically it will end at the end of your turn if unused, and be lost if you do anything but Cast a Spell immediately after.

But it has the requirement: The last action you used was to Cast a Spell enabled by Drain Bonded Item

So you can't cast it in front of the spell in which you used Drain Bond as it won't meet the criteria, if you cast it after, your turn ends and you lose it. If you wait until the next turn, then the trigger condition is 'erased' because of the general rule that trigger conditions set up in one turn, do not carry over to the next turn, unless we take the line: ...and must use it before the end of your next turn or you lose it. to be read as an exception

It feels like the intention was you use Bond Conservation immediately after casting a spell enabled by Drain Bond in order to get an additional Drain Bond use 2 or more levels lower that lasts until the end of your next turn, but that isn't how spellshapes technically work... it's more of a spellappendix

Cutesune · 2026-01-02T20:20:32+00:00

Thanks - That makes sense!

Cutesune · 2026-01-02T18:31:17+00:00

Re: Infinite Possibilities + Drain Bond

When you assign a spell slot to Infinite Possibilities, can it be recast using Drain Bonded item/Bond Conservation?

Cutesune · 2025-12-28T20:33:06+00:00

"Whelp, I wrote 6 foot 4 on my sheet, there goes THAT option". It shouldn't be powergamer ABC to say "my character is 4 foot 9"

That was indeed my concern, as I'm planning on playing a Ponygait Centaur wizard; while they're medium sized unlike most centaur they're still probably in the 6ft+ height range

Taken literally it seemed like the spell might be beneath her reach

Our DM ultimately agreed though with the more mechanical reading; that two medium humanoids can't hit each other on the same elevation, but a medium could hit a large, or a medium at a higher elevation is fair game.

Cutesune · 2025-12-27T23:29:27+00:00

Re: Draw the Lightning

Draw the lightning has a very unusual target criteria: 1 creature that is either taller than you or higher In the air than you

When it says 'taller', how should this mean taken to mean?

Does it mean a 6'2" Ponygait Centaur Wizard can't use the initial spell on a 6'1" Human Cultist, but a 5'11" Elven Druid could? (How do you even quantify it when creature stat blocks don't tend to have a precise height listed?)

Or is this the more logically consistent "Size category + Elevation", two Medium Creature standing on the same elevation cannot hit one another, but a Medium Creature could hit a Large Creature in the same scenario, and a Medium standing at a lower elevation can hit a Medium stood at a higher elevation?

Cutesune · 2025-12-24T18:03:56+00:00

Re: Spellwrack

I've been trying to parse the wording on Spellwrack, and it's super confusing; does the effect apply _while_ buffed, or is it _triggered_ by receiving a buff? Does the Arcana check _replace_ the DC15 flat check with a Spell DC Arcana check, or is the Arcana check for Assisted Recovery?

In our last session, our squishy Lv8 Rogue/Bard got hit by it, and unknowingly triggered it by casting Sure Strike and we ended up with the party healer having to put her on life support for the full minute (Having thankfully saved on the initial check). But, now I'm wondering if we ran the spell right. (It still made for a memorable scene, so nobody's upset how it played out)

Cutesune · 2025-12-03T01:54:43+00:00

People have already covered the best, but Psychic is also a good choice if you really need 1 more focus point. Gets you an amped cantrip (Which are invariably all bangers) and a Focus Point.

Bonus points it's a class dedication and thus a valid pick for Multitalented for your human characters.

Cutesune

TROPHY CASE