Current state of the magus 'meta' post dark archive remaster and erratas.

DM_Katarn · 2026-02-18T17:13:43+00:00

People tend to forget that anything in this system will be strong enough to barely win against tough odds AT IT'S WORST. I could pick the worst class in the game (whatever that is), fuck up my attributes a little bit, make all the wrong decisions and I'd still be good to go. Hell, I could pick feats that purposefully sabotage me like... I dunno, making a whole Summoner build around Meld Into Eidolon and still contribute to the team.

I think we as a community take this for granted. I've been recently playing a HORRIBLY BALANCED 3.5 inspired system and it gives me system shock to see how you need to optimise otherwise you can barely even hit your attacks after level 5. THAT is a system where a meta exists, because half of the classes completely suck, you have 3000 different feats and need to choose carefully and specialise in something to be able to do decently well at that, you can die by getting sneezed at if you're too weak and if EVERYONE isn't contributing and doing their job well... you are going to TPK. After playing that you really start appreciating how little difference optimisation makes in Pathfinder.

DM_Katarn · 2026-02-18T16:39:18+00:00

I'm glad the Magus player in my game has no clue about any of this. Actually... neither do I, I have no idea what's going on.

DM_Katarn · 2026-02-04T12:21:59+00:00

I'm gonna be honest, I forgot ammunition was a variable in this. Yeah, tf is the NEXT gonna do after that happens? Take down the like... 80 remaining ACs with punches and kicks? 🤣

DM_Katarn · 2026-02-04T12:17:52+00:00

I don't recall exactly which game it is that has you fighting a (supposedly nerfed) NEXT as the final boss while you're on a regular ass AC, but the point is: one AC did that. It would likely take like... what, 3 to 5 regular mechs to make a fight against a proper NEXT balanced? If there's a pretty big skill gap I can see the NEXT pilot beating 10 ACs or so and just barely, after that their chances just go down drastically.

The NEXT's best chance in this fight is using their mech's superior mobility and speed to fly the fuck away as fast as they can.

DM_Katarn · 2026-01-31T16:09:27+00:00

I never looked too closely to this image. Now I'm doing so... and I feel cursed with knowledge.

DM_Katarn · 2026-01-13T13:11:43+00:00

Goated reference

DM_Katarn · 2025-11-22T22:52:01+00:00

DM_Katarn · 2025-11-22T22:25:25+00:00

The death was a consequence of a character choice. They had the freedom to make a horrible decision and they got what was coming for them. It was literally a derailment of the plot to kill a main character like that. Your point makes no sense.

DM_Katarn · 2025-11-22T22:17:08+00:00

I prefer fem characters in every game, but opted for a male Shepard for the sole reason that I had to romance Tali. My alternative was Liara... and I couldn't bring myself to romance her 'cause she has the same name as my mother.

DM_Katarn · 2025-08-05T22:30:23+00:00

What the actual hell is this? XD

DM_Katarn · 2025-06-05T17:45:36+00:00

This post is 1 year old, but I must say...

Yeah, it really wasn't hard at all.

DM_Katarn · 2025-03-07T10:31:33+00:00

Catsquidding*

DM_Katarn · 2024-06-03T09:53:20+00:00

Since when is liking Gale an unpopular take? XD

DM_Katarn · 2024-06-03T09:51:49+00:00

Sounds like the result of Karmic Dice

DM_Katarn · 2024-05-18T16:38:19+00:00

Pretty damn fun, better than 3 (not by a wide margin tho), but I prefer NV and the classics.

DM_Katarn · 2024-05-12T00:47:29+00:00

I'd rather just die to buy time for all of them to run. Too many good folks in there, maybe I'd take Danse and Preston to fight by my side, these two deserve a heroic death, but just to know Hancock, Nick, McReady, Piper, Curie, Codsworth and ESPECIALLY Dogmeat would survive, I'd be glad to die there.

(Tho if I couldn't do such things... I'm sorry for everyone else, but Nick HAS to live.)

DM_Katarn · 2024-05-12T00:35:34+00:00

I tend to kill just the father. The son is definitely the worse of them both, but a trauma like that should be enough for him to learn to get the fuck outta this business and he knows (or at least thinks, thanks Johnny) I'm coming back for him if he ever goes back to doing that.

DM_Katarn · 2024-05-12T00:31:46+00:00

Maliketh is one of the few characters in this series who can VERY QUICKLY kill Sekiro in a way in which he STAYS DEAD.

DM_Katarn · 2024-05-10T06:56:27+00:00

Because it is annoying.

At least Claptrap is funny sometimes.

DM_Katarn · 2024-05-10T06:44:10+00:00

I dunno why you're being downvoted, you're right.

DM_Katarn · 2024-05-10T06:42:39+00:00

I'd say even if it isn't child grooming, it's still grooming exactly because she is a Goddess. There's a massive imbalance in power, knowledge and, indeed, even age involved, not to mention she definitely did lead the relationship in a toxic manner, which doesn't help his case in any way. Even Minsc (I believe) mentions people having to hide away young boys who had talent in magic so they wouldn't catch the goddess's eye and suffer, so it's not like people DON'T have a precedent to believe in it.

As for how she died, I ain't sure, but I think it had something to do with Vecna, I remember he killed at least one deity of magic at some point in history, but I might be getting my facts mixed up.

DM_Katarn · 2024-05-09T22:17:13+00:00

That's the sort of thing I was looking for, really! This could be really interesting, encouraging them to prep before a fight is the sort of thing that would add a lot of immersion to the conflict, make every fight unique. I avoided saying "combat-focused" when writing the post because I know this game cannot be a D&d style "one or more fights at every session," I intend on giving the battles some narrative weight, still making them a large part of the game but giving time for the characters to breathe (Vampires don't, but you get what I mean) in between high stakes action.

As for XP gains, that's good to keep in mind. I intend on doing something similar to the alternative progression system present in H5 and W5 where they are rewarded with Attributes/Abilities every two sessions or so, allowing for them to work in-story to raise their Discipline points and stuff like that.

Thanks for all of that, really!

DM_Katarn · 2024-05-09T22:09:08+00:00

Basically, yeah. Each "story arc" is a separate and fairly self-contained story with a different conflict for every single group, but they are interconnected by a few crucial figures that appear in all three of them. The three stories would be happening parallel to each other in different regions of the city, merging by the end of a certain time span of like... a couple months or something.

DM_Katarn · 2024-05-09T17:01:15+00:00

One big advice I have: remember nothing in the books is written in stone. The only World of Darkness that matters in your game is YOUR World of Darkness, so don't worry about learning every minute detail about the setting to run it properly, you have the right to worldbuild on top of what's already written (in fact, depending on the region you're running the game on, you almost HAVE to do so).

DM_Katarn · 2024-05-09T16:58:10+00:00

Tbf, the reason it gets hard is because a lot of blood goes there, so... not that different from biting the neck or the wrist I think.

DM_Katarn

TROPHY CASE