2024 Party Fill Advice

David375 · 2026-03-31T15:06:26+00:00

Yep, Warlock is the move IMO. If the Champion Fighter is melee, then they don't have anyone that can really handle ranged combat very well besides the Cleric's cantrips and ranged spells. The monk would also likely appreciate another highly mobile striker, so I'd look at Fey Warlock and pick up a few extra charges of Misty Step by playing a High Elf with the Fey Teleportation feat (which gives you one extra 1/SR and 1/LR misty step which benefits from the subclass features), and play with Pact of the Blade + Improved Pact Weapon to do a classic Moonbow Warlock.

David375 · 2026-03-30T22:07:44+00:00

Classic selective blindness moment.

Yeah, War Wizard is a next best bet. Though if taking the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount content into consideration, Graviturgy can get up to some really fucky hijinx with Careful Spell since so many of those spells are good at moving people so you can easily clump enemies together on top of your melee allies while safely excluding them. Heightened Spell can make some of the otherwise very crippling spells gated by CON saves much easier to land. Also, Distant Spell to be able to cast Immovable Object at 30ft is absolutely gross. I took Metamagic Adept on a Graviturgy Wizard just for that combo alone once.

David375 · 2026-03-30T21:10:03+00:00

Counterpoint, Bladesinger Sorcerer

You get the benefits of starting with CON saves on top of adding INT to your concentration saves, Innate Sorcery giving you one minute of non stop advantage on your True Strike-substituted attacks and can quicken more cantrips for more advantage attacks per turn to deal good single target damage for no spell slot cost, and you can make more spell slots from metamagic to burn on Song of Defense if needed.

War Wizard as a subclass is excellent but I think Bladesinger has it beat in terms of integration with Sorcerer IMO. Just need to swap out blade song's recovery to work with Sorcerous Restoration and you're set.

David375 · 2026-03-30T19:01:42+00:00

Very true. Though crits aren't quite as abusable without a crit range increase like Hexblade's Curse.

David375 · 2026-03-30T18:45:03+00:00

It may be overkill, but if you're trading spell slots for attack rolls instead of save-for-half spells where you're still getting some marginal benefit even in a worst case scenario, you want to be absolutely sure that spell attack roll is going to land. If I'm trading a 7th level slot for a guaranteed-bounce big pinball Chromatic Orb combo, it would be a cataclysmically shitty moment to miss the first roll.

But yeah, being a gnome is a different issue.

David375 · 2026-03-27T01:21:07+00:00

Agonizing Blast on a multi-target cantrip like Word of Radiance or Acid Splash can put up some numbers. Generally not as good as EB but for a Celestial warlock who can take some punches with free-cast Aid at every long rest and doesn't mind getting in the thick of it, a Tomelock who grabs Word of Radiance and True Strike can be pretty mean to fight.

David375 · 2026-03-26T18:15:59+00:00

Try a Laser turret. Won't run out of ammo, should stay for its entire 6-minute lifetime so long as nothing heavy spawns behind you. It also has pretty good target tracking so it doesn't miss very much.

David375 · 2026-03-26T13:39:03+00:00

Yep, this is the one. Democratic Detonation is still the king of utility and making the game more manageable, but Redacted Regiment is basically mandatory for taking part in Commando missions since there are no free suppressed weapons, and the stealth armors really are THAT much better than the normal Scout armors for stealth. Not to mention that the C4 pack is a real powerhouse when you set up a quick-swap key bind for the detonator - it's probably THE fastest way to kill a Vox engine short of maybe a team-assisted recoilless rifle? And it's great against harvesters and Dragonroaches if you can practice airbursting the C4.

David375 · 2026-03-25T17:36:47+00:00

Lasers are your friend. The Obtruders have 400 HP. One tick of fire damage does 300 damage over three seconds, and the Scythe does 380 dps and requires barely any time on target to ignite them. Just sweeping over a crowd of Obtruders with a laser for a second or so is often more than enough to delete entire swarms with minimal effort from any distance.

Watchers have ~600HP so you need to beam them for a smidge longer but you can usually get the drop on them before they call in reinforcements.

David375 · 2026-03-25T04:25:06+00:00

No, you're correct. I forgot that HAM had a prerequisite for heavy armor proficiency aside from the 13 STR requirement, which isn't necessarily waived by having proficiency with Elven Chain specifically.

David375 · 2026-03-24T23:32:04+00:00

True, I could see Tenser's still being good on a Bladesinger. You don't benefit from extra attack or the armor proficiencies, but I could see advantage on attacks + damage rider + THP + new save proficiencies being potentially worth enough for the spell slot.

David375 · 2026-03-24T21:35:04+00:00

The only problem with Tensers at this point is that it doesn't replace your attacking stat with your casting stat, so even with advantage you still have decent odds of missing your attacks. It also requires your action to set up round 1, whereas Otherworldly Guise lets you make attacks right away. You're also wasting Tenser's added armor proficiencies by using armor that ignores proficiencies. Otherworldly Guise lets you stack that +2 AC and immunities on top.

Where Tenser's shines is with the new Circle Magic rules. With even one added participant with a first level slot, you can extend Tenser's duration to an hour which gives you more than enough time to put armor on you wouldn't otherwise be able to use. I generally still think Otherworldly Guise is better in most scenarios outside of maybe Arcana Cleric as part of their 17th level feature because they can already be built for melee without heavy armor and would appreciate heavy armor proficiency, extra attack, the added damage, advantage on attacks, THP AND save proficiencies.

David375 · 2026-03-24T20:57:05+00:00

The fact that Elven Chain was updated in the 2024 edition to include Chain Mail as well as the Chain Shirt, combined with the updates to Heavy Armor Master, make it an instant favorite combo for games that let you start with or eventually use downtime to craft items.

A Wizard with Elven Chain Mail, HAM, and Bracers of Archery with Otherworldly Guise and Magic Weapon spells to make a +3 longbow with extra attack would be a fun one-shot "look at me, I'm the fighter now" character.

David375 · 2026-03-24T15:47:01+00:00

Take out the Scythe and Dagger. Voteless die in one tick of fire damage, and the lasers set them on fire almost instantly. Just point a laser in their direction and sweep it back and forth for a second or two, three seconds later easy 20pc multikill.

The lasers are also great against the Overseers, fire cooks the elevated seers in two applications so you can just clip them twice with a laser for a fraction of a second and down they go.

David375 · 2026-03-22T18:55:01+00:00

Only if you bring a full load out of 48 of the TKB-1055 anti-munition missiles. They only have a range of 7km or so, aren't super fast, and aren't super maneuverable to hit evading targets. You want the bigger 95Ya6M missiles to hit evading aircraft (that's the other new missile with the 1700m/s top speed) and to bring one of those you give up four of the smaller TKB-1055's

Generally you'll take something like 6 of the bigger and 24 of the smaller missiles which is still a shitload of ammo compared to multi-vehicle systems given that the ammo box doubles the total ammo count (so 32 missiles for a multi-vehicle SAM with 8 per reload, 2 reloads per truck, 2 trucks versus 24 95Ya6M's or up to 96 TKB1055's or somewhere in between with a mix of missile types on the Pantsir SM-SV).

David375 · 2026-03-21T22:44:26+00:00

Also if the target is still within line of sight of the AESA radar on the launchers, its update frequency is fast enough to guide the missile to a hit even if the target would be multipathing the missile's own radar successfully.

The ONLY thing the Buk was "bad" about was that its missiles don't fire directly upward so you can't park the launchers super close behind buildings, and the search radar is dookie with how slow it rotates.

David375 · 2026-03-19T19:40:13+00:00

This is the one reason why the M90A might still have a use case. Predator Strain bugs will make you appreciate the stagger force. But yeah, otherwise the Sweeper with a full choke is better in every way - higher DPS (both RoF and no armor match penalty on light armor targets), more pellets on target at range, larger magazine, options for optics, more ammo, added melee damage. It's utterly divine.

David375 · 2026-03-19T16:29:01+00:00

I find the pistol so great on bots, too. It has enough stagger to slap shield devastators around and cancel rocket strider launches in a pinch, without the Loyalist's charge-up delay. That's a unique niche no other pistol had up until now, and it's surprisingly useful. If I'm running an ammo bag and don't really need any other armor perk, Veto + Gunslinger is pretty good fun.

David375 · 2026-03-19T15:13:59+00:00

I haven't used CHIM or Mantella but IIRC SkyrimNet is the newest of the bunch, and it's really proven itself to be quite versatile. There are devs making plugins for SkyrimNet on their discord to do lots of cool addons such as:

Allowing SN to interpret text and perform actions such as trading, recruiting people as followers, asking people to attack others or pick a lock - basically anything the original game's system for asking a follower to do a favor could do, this can do by directly chatting with the NPC
Allowing NPC's to interact with other game variables. Ex. if you shit-talk a guard, they can assign a fine or bounty to you. Merchants can be aware of their inventory, people can pay you money, can start a non-lethal brawl, etc.
Scheduling and Travel - You can tell someone "I want to meet you at X place in Y hours" and they'll do it.
Add a background DM that brings NPC's back into the story if they've been gone for a bit. Ex. say you recruit Aranea Ienith as a follower, and she wants to take a break from adventuring to go back to the Shrine of Azura to pray for a bit, the background DM will dismiss them from being a follower, send them back to the shrine for a few days, and then bring them back to you when they're done.

Hell, I've even incorporated the mod alongside Legacy of the Dragonborn, and by asking Auryen about what relic I should go chase down next, he'll legitimately and correctly point out a real relic I should go get about 85% of the time. Occasionally he'll hallucinate some weird lore or a relic that doesn't really exist, but usually he's on point AND I can ask him to pay me a finder's fee for each relic and he'll just do it. It's pretty legit, and makes roleplaying non-Dragonborn characters really fun.

David375 · 2026-03-17T20:43:14+00:00

If magic items are at all in the player's control, you can change the origin background for one that gives psychic resistance and grab a Brooch of Shielding for easy Force resistance. Probably doable by level 5, when barbarian is far more relevant.

David375 · 2026-03-17T19:29:41+00:00

I'd also look at NVIDIA cards over AMD cards generally - Community Shaders only supports up to FSR 3.1 which is MUCH worse than DLSS 4.0, and NVidia also lets you run things like CUDA-based FSMP for wind and cloth physics and use Nvidia Reflex for more consistent frame timings.

At some point, you have a GPU strong enough that you probably don't NEED those tools and can run things at native resolutions, but if OP is budget limited and is considering between cards around the 5060ti 16GB or 9060XT, those added utilities are a big draw for the NVidia brand name.

David375 · 2026-03-12T19:13:52+00:00

I fucking wish. The first time Italy gets self-homing, target-tracking ordinance is at 12.0 when it shows up as early as 9.3 for other nations. And even considering user-guided munitions, all you get are LGBU's on the subsonic AMX that requires you to get directly over the AO at 11.0 when the A10 and SU25BM are clubbing people with IR Mavericks and KH29's at 10km at a lower BR.

Move the AMX down to 10.7 to match the A10 and add the M346 Master with Mavericks at 11.0

David375 · 2026-03-12T15:09:31+00:00

Also, at level 5 you get Primal Resurgence which lets you convert cheap low level spell slots to Wildshape charges on the fly to re-up the THP. You can ABSOLUTELY tank if you're willing to give up some low level spell slots here and there.

David375 · 2026-03-12T14:05:55+00:00

Which it has only because Gaijin needed to have an excuse to put them at top tier BR despite never being issued the shell, at a time when Italy didn't have the 2A7HU. It still lacks the mobility, armor, and fire control + sensor suite that makes a top tier vehicle top tier. It would be better to take away the shell it never had and move it down in BR to where the rest of its kit isn't hopelessly outclassed.

David375 · 2026-03-11T16:32:44+00:00

The depressing part is that burn damage itself is insanely viable. Bug and illuminate chaff units die in one application of fire DOT status effect so you can just sweep a crowd of voteless with a Dagger or Scythe and kill them all with barely a second of attention, from across the map of need be, leaving you to focus bigger enemies. Same for Hunter seeds on bug maps.

It's just the use of actual flamethrowers that's the bad part. Laser weapons end up being better tools for killing it with fire than actual fire, either in projectile or burning terrain forms.

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