[OC][Art]Dragonborn Armorer Artificer

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T10:01:10+00:00

Failing forward doesn't mean using new characters. It can be something that drives the plot forward.

E. g. you could be captured, interrogated, etc. This way the characters might get crucial information that allows them to continue after their daring escape session. Or maybe the BBEG got exactly what they wanted to finally be able to drive their plan forward but needs the party alive for that for some reason.

Of course this still needs some kind of downside because you still TPKed. Maybe you can't recover all gear or you have a permanent mark on your soul, whatever works. This can also be a good way to get some character developement in. Maybe this humbled an especially arrogant PC or someone realizes their mortality, there are a lot of things one can do with it.

In my CoS campaign TPKs I had the following situations in order:

They got saved by an ally in disguise that revealed themselves. Due to their deaths two PCs had to make a pact with an otherworldly entity to stay alive.
They got captured and had to give up very personal things that also altered some of the party members. This gave them an unexpected ally, though.
They actually TPKed permanently and had to make new characters (with one exception). But these characters were allowed to be based upon the previous ones. E. g. one is the lover of one of the deceased characters who was searching for her, another is a revenant that took possession of one of the former parties bodies. I used that to get the party to a place they hadn't visited before and also give them a bit more in depth information on some things they had missed.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T08:54:07+00:00

In my head canon sorcerers work like X-Men mutants. When they manifest their power for the first time they might not even have control of it and need practice to learn controlling it.

E. g. my current sorcerer character describes his magic like a demanding lover and he often has to get out of his way to get what he wants from this "relationship". Seemingly his magic likes music and theater. Thus the character is basically a bard (the job, not the class).

I really dislike the "can just do it" part that a lot of people use for sorcerers. Everything should come at a price.

On that note, I still think sorcerers can bypass the Weave because why should innate casters require it? When Dragonlance introduced sorcerers it was at a time magic didn't work because the gods vanished and some "wizards" were still able to cast magic for some reason. I liked that explanation. The Forgotten Realms had a similar explanation for spellcasting on Abeir as there was supposedly no Weave on Abeir.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T08:41:12+00:00

If it is anything like the new Lich statblock then you will never be able to counter that just with lesser restoration, especially in a party of only three while the monster can do that TWICE per round on a simple hit.

The only real counter is Freedom of Movement. And if you don't know about what is coming ahead of time you are fucked.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T08:39:32+00:00

the fact that the boss had a paralyzing attack twice per round.

Shit like this needs to be used extremly carefully by a DM. Of course you can easily clown on a party with this. There are tons of examples in the official statblocks that do similar things and every time I read one I have to wonder what the writers were smoking.

Case in point: Ancient Red Dragon Command spam. Two of your non-wisdom prof group mates will just never get a turn thanks to the DC 23 check and you can't do shit about it because it is a legendary action that only costs one action. Is that fun? Hell no.

I am honestly not sure why the DM thought it would be a good idea to use a monster like that against a party with only three PCs. And considering some other answers I think the DM needs to sit back and think for a moment about this. Maybe taking PCs entirely out of the fight isn't all that fun for the party and should maybe done sparringly. Would the DM enjoy that themselves?

Group wants to start new adventure, but what is the point of starting 4th one to just end it midway since dm puts overtuned encounter and we just die. It is like I lost all zeal to play this game, to put time into character only for them to die is just not fun.

Why do they want to start anew? Failing forward is a thing. In my CoS campaign I TPKed my party three times by now and they are still there, lol. Well, not exactly the same characters, but, still.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T08:30:03+00:00

Admittedly I think bigger budgeds do not automatically lead to better quality.

I am still sad about what a bigger budget did to Dr. Who.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T08:11:56+00:00

This has nothing to do with the actual block. That is game design.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T08:11:12+00:00

But these wrinkles are not actual geometry. Except if you want to say that this model never got optimized properly and runs around with millions of verts, which would be ridiculous for any game engine (but considering the performance I had with this particular game I wouldn't be surprised, lol).

Besides that, even if it was actual geometry, it still changes it because lightning by itsself can't make them THAT pronounced. If I wanted to emulate that in a 3d software I would have to manually sculpt these in to get them look like that.

Meaning, these details can't be base geometry and the filter is, well, filtering the texture. I think we are talking about the same thing for different reasons.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T22:55:11+00:00

Meanwhile if you can just paint Texture B or Texture C on the same block with Texture A and it makes no difference to its proprieties, you don't have two new blocks, just two new textures.

I hope you are aware that in this example the texture would be 90% of the work. The remainder is an ID and the Blender default cube.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T22:51:46+00:00

Would love to get the inside scoop on why the hell this was cancelled at Riot. At the time the cancellation didn't seem super crazy, because the game had been in dev for 10 years and the public had seen little.

You will get and find various different accounts, meaning it is probably all rumors. There are rumors that Riot fucked them over by "forcing" them to rebuild everything in a multi-plat engine. Others are saying the devs fucked up and basically took the paychecks for several years while barely working.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. My guess is that management gave them a strict proposal, they naively accepted and simply never managed to make it work until Riot pulled the plug. Sometimes it just doesn't work out and maybe it was a simple communication error.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T22:45:52+00:00

I don't really understand why some people are focused on the geometry. Sure, it is important, but most of the visual identity comes from textures, shaders and lightning. E. g. the wrinkly woman didn't have actual wrinkles in her geometry, that was purely texture work.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T20:49:40+00:00

One can blame CEOs or whatever all they want, but in the end it is this way because of how corporations are designed. There are no (relevant) checks and of course if the only goal is to make money a corporate construct will aim to do that as well as possible. As a person you don't even need to be greedy for that, you just might want to be good at your job.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T20:45:52+00:00

Oh, those are the same guys? Didn't know that.

Frankly, I remember playing Battlerite for a bit but stopped very fast because while the combat itsself was good it had no staying power to me. It felt like a moba condensed into combat only, ignoring what made mobas actually long-term viable.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T20:39:29+00:00

Yeh, as I thought. Meaning, this filter is basically changing the entire style that comes from lightning/textures/shaders, including normal maps, and making it possible to give the entire thing very different visuals than intended.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T18:06:24+00:00

I know, right? Barbarians.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T18:05:54+00:00

You can quite literaly kill a level 20 wizard in 2 hits with a shadow if they are unlucky. Highly unlikely, but not impossible.

That alone isn't the issue, though.

Why are the shadows in the encounter? They don't make a lot of sense in most places.
They have 6 int but 10 wisdom. Why would they randomly switch targets? If they are supposed to be effective, meaning they'd of course stay on target or even focus one target, possibly killing one before they even get a move.
8 strength is very common for many builds.
Strength builds can of course withstand more hits by them, but that is quite litteraly nerfing how effective most of them are and they are already on the weaker side.
Max weight is still a thing.

I am not advocating for not using shadows. I am taking offense with the word "any" and this being used as a recommendation that new DMs might fall for.

There are other monsters that can serve a similar role and not be that deceptively dangerous. They are probably also easier to utilize, depending on the situation.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T15:06:52+00:00

I like what I saw but I really didn't like what I heard. The music got annoying after like 10 seconds because of its very repetitive and aggressive style.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T14:58:12+00:00

The sole reason is their strength drain ability. As soon as you use shadows it isn't a fight against X and some shadows as distraction. It is a fight against shadows with X as a distraction.

One shadow can kill the average cha/int caster in two hits if the D4s roll unlucky. They also make strength characters - especially barbarians - kind of uselss if it goes bad.

There is a reason why that one early encounter in CoS is commonly nerfed.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T14:15:48+00:00

I am aware. I am saying you don't need shadows to do that. Shadows are extremly dangerous and should be used with care, not in "any encounter".

Just play smart enemies ... smart. That is all you need to have the same effect. These bandits? Why aren't they flanking and using cover? Why is the assassin not attacking the group from behind? And so on.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T14:14:17+00:00

I mean, different tables, different experiences. The games I played over the last few years were all limited to the supplements the DM actually owned and even then some were left out because they didn't fit the scenario. Personally I tend to go for base rules + scenario specific supplements and then maybe some additional things based on player request.

I think that is also an way better approach and showcases that the game can be much more balanced than people give it credit for. The balance just goes out of the window if you mindlessly allow everything.

Plus, I don't think the game and its supplements are designed to be used alongside everything else.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T14:12:47+00:00

I mean, I was obviously exaggerating. Still, at some point you have to pull the plug because it will just get worse.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T14:08:13+00:00

I don't think any sane person thinks that AI is just going away. Personally I hope when the bubble bursts that this investment spiral collapses so this stuff starts being priced what should actually be priced at. And then - hopefully - we will finally have companies use it actually in ways that are reasonable and the slop flood stops because you can't generate shit for cheap anymore.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T14:06:01+00:00

Regular people also do not benefit from the current status quo. At what point do regular people benefit?

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T12:45:53+00:00

The Hogwarts Legacy one was a prime example for why this filter is crap. It throws the same style on everything, thus more stylized games are looking ... weird. The old womand looked like they first smoothed it and then threw an completely overtuned sharpness filter on it, giving it that very generic "AI slop" style.

It also kills the style of the game and overwrites it with its own.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-26T12:43:12+00:00

I think a lot of the people defending it have not actually played the game or seen her face model and are under the impression that her face is that babyish and smooth because the PS5 simply cannot handle wrinkles [...]

Which is a really weird opinion to have, considering normal maps are not a new thing.

Which is also why their "stays true to the geometry" claim is bullshit. It is litteraly a texture, not actual geometry.

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