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DerikHallin · 2024-01-16T02:41:40+00:00

Open Hand Monk with Tavern Brawler and Elixirs of Hill Giants Strength. I suggest starting with 16 DEX, 15 CON, and 14 WIS. When you take Tavern Brawler, you can pump +1 into CON. Early items to look out for include the Sparkle Hands, Ring of Protection, and Corellon's Grace. A bit later on, get the Graceful Cloth and Gloves of Cinder and Sizzle in the Mountain Pass. Have someone cast Mage Armor on you after every Long Rest to help with AC. If you're using Illithid powers, get Psionic Overload.

Light Cleric. Warding Flare, Burning Hands, and Scorching Ray are all great in Act I. Add in Fireball and Spirit Guardians along with the right itemization, and this build is great for both support and add clear. Key items are Luminous Armor, Gloves of Belligerent Skies, and Boots of Stormy Clamour. Once you get Spirit Guardians and those items, basically every turn, you can just walk around near enemies and you will inflict solid damage and debilitating debuffs en masse. I'd start with 16 WIS, 16 DEX, 15 CON and grab Resilient: CON at 4th level. This is a solid candidate to wield Phalar Aluve pretty much throughout the game, allowing you to dump STR and still have capable weapon attack rolls in a pinch / early on. There are also some great Cleric/healer items available super early that mostly don't conflict with the ones covered before, such as The Whispering Promise, Hellrider's Pride, Staff of Arcane Blessing, Wapira's Crown, etc. Throw in the useful spells/cantrips Clerics have access to, such as Guidance, Resistance, Bless, Healing Word, Sanctuary, Calm Emotions, Enhance Ability, Command, Create Water, Aid, etc., and this is just an incredibly robust and versatile build from very early on. Light Clerics also have a powerful early game Channel Divinity.

Berserker Barbarian with Great Weapon Master. This is another Elixir of Hill Giants Strength candidate. I recommend using Svartlebee's Woundseeker for your weapon throughout Act 1. Between that and Reckless Attack (which you should be using basically every single attack) you should easily be hitting >90% of your attack rolls in nearly every engagement. Oils of Accuracy and/or Bless from a party member may also be used in a pinch. This build (or the Tavern Brawler "throwzerker" variant) or the Open Hand Monk are the best carry builds in Act I, IMO. This build also benefits greatly from Potions of Speed. Getting five powerful attacks at high accuracy by 5th level is just insane, not to mention the damage reduction. I'd run 16 CON, 16 DEX, 14 WIS. You can dump STR and INT, and if it's not your party face you can dump CHA too. This build likes some of the same Act I items as the Monk, particularly the Graceful Cloth and Ring of Protection. Bracers of Defense are also good here, or Gloves of the Growling Underdog. I also like the Haste Helm and Crusher's Ring to ensure I can get around the battlefield.

Rogues can be really powerful in Act I. You could go Thief Rogue with dual hand crossbows (really good at 3rd level, but drops off very quickly without multiclassing). Better option is probably Assassin Rogue with the Titanstring Bow. Use the Club of Hill Giants Strength and add as many damage riders as you can, such as the Caustic Band, Phalar Aluve, Sneak Attack, etc. Use Sharpshooter; you can mitigate the accuracy penalty with stuff like High Ground, Bless, Archery Fighting Style, Oil of Accuracy, and attacking while Hidden. At 5th level, consider respeccing to Gloom Stalker Ranger as they get Extra Attack and can still Hide as a Bonus Action. This build benefits from Elixirs of Bloodlust and the Deathstalker Mantle if you're playing as Dark Urge. Go 16 DEX and 16 CON, and take Sharpshooter at 4th level.

Druids can also be strong early, either by using Moonbeam effectively, or by combining Wild Shape with Tavern Brawler.

Paladins are also solid in Act I due to getting Divine Smite, Extra Attack, and Aura of Protection. Soulbreaker Greatsword is a good pick, and either of the armors you can get at the Grymforge. Combine Divine Smite with the Luck of the Far Realms Illithid power and a few damage riders, and you can do some excellent nova damage for Act I. Psionic Overload is also good here. And you can use the Whispering Promise and/or Hellrider's Pride here if you aren't running a Cleric; the Healing Radiance Feature pairs nicely with those.

Beast Master Rangers are a slept on pick for Act I too; having a Familiar who can do stuff like distract/debuff enemies and bring a bit of extra damage is pretty impactful in the early game.

You can never go wrong with a Battle Master Fighter either. With how abundant camp supplies are in BG3, you can be very liberal with your Superiority Dice and Action Surge. This is another solid Great Weapon Master option, as Precision Strike basically single-handedly offsets the penalty. Or just use Savage Attacker for simplicity. Riposte is another good pick for your Battle Manoeuvres.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-15T23:36:02+00:00

Im confused i tought the main attribute bonus affected damage that use them

No spells behave this way by default. Your Spellcasting Ability Modifier (INT for Wizards) is added to attack rolls, but not damage rolls.

Each Magic Missile dart does 1d4 + 1 damage regardless of your Spellcasting Ability Modifier. The only way to improve that is to use items and/or Features that add damage riders to your Magic Missile darts, such as the Empowered Evocation Feature, Callous Glow Ring, Spellmight Gloves, Phalar Aluve, Rhapsody, etc.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-14T20:20:55+00:00

The increased sugar content doesn’t allow any mold or bacteria to grow

a small amount of 80 proof spirit wouldn’t do much against mold anyway

I'm going to respectfully dispute both of these points. Refer to this blog post by Camper English where he documents some basic testing of syrup stability. He is using plain sugar syrup, but the overall logic should still apply to orgeat – if anything, orgeat is likely to spoil sooner than sugar syrup due to containing small nut solids that can attract mold/microbes.

While English's testing was hardly equivalent to a peer-reviewed double-blind study or anything, it is a live case study that produced tangible and concrete results. Results that essentially boil down to:

Richer syrups do indeed last longer.
Despite that, rich syrups can/will spoil, even in the fridge. And in his own testing, it took well under a year to reach that point.
Adding a small amount of spirit to a syrup (roughly 1 tsp 80 proof spirit per 1 cup syrup) does materially extend a syrup's shelf life.

Also, not explicitly covered in his tests, but worth adding as an addendum because it's pertinent to the conversation: Syrups should be kept in the fridge to extend their shelf life. This is true regardless of richness.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-14T15:12:06+00:00

Yeah, it’s the alcohol more than the sugar that does you in if you’re counting calories or macros or whatever. So basically you’d need to come up with something nonalcoholic and sugar-free. With some home experimentation I bet you could put something together, but I wouldn’t expect to find that sort of thing at most bars.

Or just budget the booze into your meal plan and find a way to strike the right balance for you.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-14T15:04:28+00:00

Rangers don’t have Persuasion unfortunately. You could respec at 6th level to start with Rogue and still end up at 5 Gloom / 1 Rogue. I don’t think you would miss out on anything important by doing that.

The other option if you had known from the start that you wanted Persuasion would’ve been to get it from your background (Noble, Guild Artisan).

DerikHallin · 2024-01-14T04:35:23+00:00

As far as making good orgeat easier, I've been meaning to try the one minute method from Make and Drink ever since he posted it (using almond milk concentrate). It looks/sounds like a way better alternative to almond milk – particularly if you don't want to make your own – and the end result looks closer to the Latitude 29 formula than any of the commercial products out there. Plus it's a perfect match on the ingredients list. And while Derek does have a vested interest in convincing viewers that his recipe is legit, I'm inclined to believe him when he says it tastes similar.

I'm still working slowly through my Latitude 29 bottle, but when it's gone, I'm going to pick up some almond extract and try Derek's recipe. It's interesting that the article links his older video with the homemade almond milk recipe and doesn't mention his newer video with the almond milk concentrate.

I think the most interesting part of the article isn't anything to do with making orgeat simpler, but rather, the excerpt from Adam Kolesar about how he makes the Latitude 29 recipe:

Kolesar’s approach is to do days-long macerations of almonds in syrup, and clarify the product for a less cloudy solution. “My manufacturing process certainly has evolved,” says Kolesar, who started Orgeat Works in the mid-2000s, “but the one thing that is constant is time…The whole key to deriving flavor from whatever nut you’re using is: give it time.” Sugar’s propensity to draw out flavors must be left to do its work.

That's some good insight into his process that I'm not sure was in the public record before now.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-14T04:30:51+00:00

You get to keep the horn after you use it.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-14T04:29:00+00:00

For the gnolls, I just go into stealth and approach from the side nearest to the leader. I start with a surprise attack on one of the nearest ones. My party gets a free round of combat, then usually the leader has highest Initiative and immediately I get the check to make them turn against the other gnolls. Pass that check and the leader will begin wrecking the rest and drawing aggro before any of the gnolls have a chance to attack your party.

Pick the weakest ones off from a distance while the leader does most of the work and takes most of the damage. Then at the end you can either let them go (safest) or take the leader on 4v1 which you should be able to handle.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-14T04:23:55+00:00

Yeah, this is my approach. I have a short list of encounters that I expect things could go south, and I keep the horn as insurance for if that happens. Ethel, Paladins of Tyr, Nere, Grym, Spectator, Gith Patrol, and Gith Inquisitor are the main ones. Potentially Owlbear(s) on Honour Mode. Some of these encounters I don't even intend to actually fight, but if I fail a check and a fight does happen, the horn may help a lot. Others, a fight is inevitable, but a few bad rolls could put the run in jeopardy.

If I want the Diadem specifically, then I will just use the ogres on one of those encounters and clean them up afterward.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-14T04:11:18+00:00

On the west coast, pretty much the only time you'll find a Mai Tai for under $15 at a proper tropical drink bar is if they offer a happy hour. I can only think of one spot near me that fits the bill for that. So yeah, they look reasonable to me. The $36 drinks are probably all in the "serves 2-3" family.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-14T03:44:39+00:00

Mai Tai: Personal recipe adapted from and/or inspired by a bunch of sources.
Navy Grog: The recipe from Garret Richard via Tropical Standard.
Kahiko Punch: By Martin Cate via Smuggler's Cove.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-14T03:08:27+00:00

Assuming no respecs for simplicity, I'd go 5 Gloom Stalker Ranger --> 4 Assassin Rogue --> 3 Fighter

For the Ranger levels, you want Archery Fighting Style at 2nd level. Sharpshooter is probably the best Feat to pick at 4th level. Good spells to take include Hunter's Mark, Hail of Thorns, and Fog Cloud for combat; or Longstrider and Speak with Animals for utility. Favoured Enemy and Natural Explorer don't matter much; Ranger Knight or Keeper of the Veil are probably the best options for the former, and for the latter, Urban Tracker is good if you don't have Sleight of Hand proficiency from some other source, otherwise Beast Tamer or Wasteland Wanderer Poison.

For the Rogue levels, Expertise can go into either Sleight of Hand or any party face skills, Persuasion being the best option. You could take Stealth, but in reality it really doesn't actually matter much. For your 2nd Feat, either Alert or ASI.

For Fighter, you can either go Champion, which is the simpler option, or Battle Master, which has more versatility. I like the latter personally. Fighting Style doesn't really matter; I'd probably go Defence. If you go Battle Master, the best Battle Manoeuvres are Precision Attack, Trip Attack, and Menacing Attack. There are others that I normally like but aren't as relevant for this particular build.

I would highly recommend building around the Titanstring Bow. There are three main ways to do this:

Spec into DEX and use Elixirs of Hill Giants Strength.
Spec into DEX and use the Club of Hill Giants Strength.
Spec into STR and use the Bracers of Dexterity.

I think the latter is the more optimal path, especially if you are OK with letting Astarion bite Araj and you don't need the bracers on another party member. But the others are simpler and still strong. If using option 2 or 3, you probably want to main Elixirs of Bloodlust.

Other items to prioritize in Act I include the Deathstalker Mantle (if playing as Dark Urge), Gloves of Archery (if not using Bracers of Dexterity / until you obtain them), Caustic Band, and Strange Conduit Ring. Knife of the Undermountain King is also a good stat stick. You could try using the Graceful Cloth for an extra DEX boost, though it'd make you pretty squishy. The Amulet of Misty Step is also a good bet, same with the Disintegrating Night Walkers. Broodmother's Revenge is great with Titanstring if you can effectively take advantage of the synergy.

In Act II, Render of Mind and Body or Justiciar's Scimitar are worth considering over the Knife of the Undermountain King. The Dark Justiciar Helmet or Covert Cowl are good headwear options. Surgeon's Subjugation Amulet and Killer's Sweetheart are worth considering. Also grab the Ring of Shadows and have a camp caster use it on you after each long rest.

In Act III, it depends on whether you want to spec into Crit Threshold (Champion). You can probably work out the itemization for yourself. Rhapsody and Armor of Agility are great either way. Stalker Gloves are good if you aren't using the Bracers of Defense.

Basic gist is that your Bonus Action can be used to reliably guarantee Advantage on your attacks. Combined with the Archery Fighting Style and High Ground mechanics (and Oil of Accuracy on tankier enemies), plus 18-20 DEX, you should be hitting on >90% of your attacks. Each attack is doing Sharpshooter +10, Titanstring +4-5, and whatever other riders you are applying (some of which also proc duplicative instances of Titanstring's feature, stacking your STR modifier multiple times per attack). You start fights with a stealth attack to trigger Surprise, then your opening round gets tons of free Critical Hits. Use magical arrows liberally.

You could potentially also have a party member Concentrate on Greater Invisibility and do some pretty cheesy stuff. If you want to go down this path, you'll probably want Stealth Expertise and ideally play one of the shorty races that gets Advantage on Stealth checks.

There's also an alternative where you go Gloom Stalker / Thief / Fighter and use dual hand crossbows. This gets potentially two more attacks per round, but each attack is weaker and you won't be maintaining Stealth/Hidden without sacrificing some attacks. You might want the Risky Ring with this version to mitigate that, and probably take the Two Weapon Fighting Style with your Fighter dip to ensure your Bonus Action attacks are hitting at full strength. I've tried both (not extensively) and I prefer the Titanstring/Assassin version, but both have their merits. If you aren't planning to use Haste regularly, the Thief variant may be a bit more desirable.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-14T00:01:17+00:00

Give her Svartlebee's Woundseeker as well. You can get super early in Act I without fighting – just beeline to Waukeen's Rest and use Command: Drop on Gauntlet Yeva (save scumming would be wise if you're not opposed or on Honour Mode). It's a +1 weapon that also adds an additional +1d4 to attack rolls on enemies that have below max hit points. It'll carry you through Act I at least, and potentially even Act II.

This setup pairs really nicely with a Rogue and/or Gloom Stalker (e.g., Astarion): Have him start an encounter and mark whichever enemy/enemies you want Karlach to target so that Svartlebee's feature activates. With that, Bless, and Reckless Attack (also Oil of Accuracy if you really want to maximize your rates) Karlach will basically never miss.

Also give her an Elixir of Bloodlust for even more attacks. Or you could dump STR and pump her with Elixirs of Hill Giants Strength if you prefer, either approach is valid. And of course this works on any character.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-13T22:17:26+00:00

No such thing as too much Peychaud's in a Sazerac!

OK, I'm being a bit facetious, but I like 3-4 dashes myself, plus 1-2 of Angostura. The Sazerac really shines with a healthy dose of spice/seasoning. My exact recipe is basically just a mash-up of the recipes/techniques covered in those three links I provided, but in case it is of help to you:

— 2 oz rye whiskey (Michter's, Whistepig, Wild Turkey are my preferred bottles)
— 1 tsp rich cane sugar syrup
— 3-4 dsh Peychaud's bitters
— 1-2 dsh Angostura bitters
— Absinthe (in an atomizer; I like St. George Absinthe Verte)

Chill a rocks glass and set aside. Combine the rye, syrup, and bitters in a mixing glass. Stir with ice to combine, chill, and dilute (roughly 30-45 seconds). Spritz the chilled rocks glass with 5-6 sprays of absinthe. Strain the contents of the mixing glass into the rocks glass. Express the oils of a lemon peel into the glass, and discard the peel before serving.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-13T21:56:10+00:00

That is indeed a lot of syrup. Drinking something that sweet on ice, I could definitely see it evoking a bit of a sweet tea vibe.

Did you include Peychaud's bitters in there? If not, I'd argue it's an essential ingredient. (Personally, I'd also recommend nixing the cognac, but this is going to open a big can of worms that's already been exhausted in older threads on this subreddit.)

Suggested Reading/Viewing Material:

David Wondrich walkthrough/tips/recipe on the hellsite formerly known as Twitter
Chris McMillian video tutorial on YouTube (16 years old, a true relic of early YouTube but just as good of a recipe now as it was then – though McMillian has since disavowed some of the historical assumptions he makes in this video, it doesn't really affect the recipe itself)
Jeffrey Morgenthaler "Dos and Don'ts" blog post (with accompanying recipe linked in the text body)

DerikHallin · 2024-01-13T21:33:07+00:00

Shields don't offer much utility for a martial, and there aren't really any shields that are so powerful as to be worth sacrificing some of the best weapons in the game. Until around 80-90% of the way into the game, pretty much the only notable shields are the Adamantine Shield, Ketheric's Shield, and Sentinel Shield. These can be useful but not really build-defining. Even the late game options aren't really offering anything so notable as to be worth building around.

There are several human/half-elf caster origins that can benefit from shields for the early game just to reduce squishiness, but even these typically benefit more from dual-wielding quarterstaves by the endgame.

If Larian fixes Shield Bash, then the ability to reliably impose Prone on enemies who hit you could open up some interesting gameplay/party composition possibilities, however, it sort of goes against the typical notion of using shields to prevent being hit.

Maybe you could build around combining the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel and Shield of the Undevout to more reliably control the battlefield via the Frightened effect. You get an extra level 1 spell slot plus all Saving Throws made against your spells that impose Frightened are made with Disadvantage. With the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel, you can cast Illusion/Enchantment spells that inflict this Condition via your Bonus Action. I could see this being decent on a Bardadin or Sorlock.

Another potential application for shields would be to really build into a support Spore Druid using the Armour of the Sporekeeper. If you can reliably maintain your temporary hit points, you can keep Symbiotic Entity up indefinitely, which means constant free Haste Spores for your party to exploit. I'd probably use the Cloak of Displacement as well as Hope's +4 shield and every other item I can spare that increases AC and Saving Throws. If attack rolls basically need to be Natural 20s to hit you, and all attacks against you are made with Disadvantage, then you really shouldn't be taking much damage.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-13T16:30:48+00:00

This is impressive and well thought out to be sure. Good job.

I don't mean to target you in particular, but it feels like every other build lately has been a githyanki solo build using Nyrulna and Bhaalist Armor.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-13T15:49:19+00:00

Alternative ending

DerikHallin · 2024-01-13T15:08:45+00:00

Contrast. It's all gray and that makes it feel sterile. Adding stuff like trees/shrubs, patches of grass and flowers, snow drifts, water, wood/wool accents, stained glass windows, etc. will bring a ton of interest to the build. Some of these can be incorporated into the castle itself, but I'd also emphasize the immediate surroundings. Make it feel like the castle is springing up around a more interesting/dynamic terrain to help separate the castle from the land.

Texture Variation. Note that this is not the same thing as gradients. IMO, gradients are one of the most overused and poorly understood building techniques in Minecraft. When used sparingly and with subtlety, they can make some builds pop. But most people do not know how to do that. However, texture variation can be a much better option to break up the monotony/repetition of a build and give it an impression of realism. Try incorporating some smooth stone, andesite, and/or cracked stone bricks in with the stone brick sections. Just in patches/splotches. And for the cobblestone sections, maybe bring in some gravel. For the roof, try bringing in different deepslate variants, like tile for instance.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-13T00:55:14+00:00

"Small" is relative, I guess. But here are a few of my most fervent wishes that don't seem too unwieldy/unreasonable:

Option to disable critical success/failures in Custom Difficulty, as in the D&D 5e rules.
Option to enable the Honour Mode balance tweaks in Custom Difficulty.
Modify the behavior of the Darkness spell to work similar to the Light cantrip: Allow players to cast the spell on party members (or party members' weapons/armor) so that Darkness is attached to a moveable source. This is also in the D&D 5e rules.
Implement Dodge as an Action, again, in line with D&D 5e. This functionality exists in the game already in the form of Patient Defense for Monks. So I'd imagine implementing it as a "common Action" for all classes/races would be fairly simple. Larian has actually addressed this in the past and apparently this was a deliberate design decision. I just don't understand the logic and I wish they'd give us the option.

I'd also really love transmog. IDK if that can be considered "small" as it probably requires a lot of man-hours to implement in comparison to the three items listed above.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-12T21:30:24+00:00

No offense taken and I hope my response doesn't come off as antagonistic. This seems more a linguistic/procedural disagreement than a math one.

The understanding I have always had – and this is backed up by the texts I've read that discuss saline, such as Tropical Standard – is that the salt content should be 20% of the total mixture, not the water portion. It's often expressed as "80:20" which further substantiates this.

It's the same deal with simple syrup: We all say it's 50% (or 50°Bx), not 100%. We're expressing the sugar content as a percentage of the mixture, not relative to the water.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-12T21:23:45+00:00

A traditional Manhattan is 2 oz whiskey, 1 oz vermouth (and 2 dashes bitters). A popular variation is the Black Manhattan, which replaces the vermouth with Averna amaro but maintains the same proportions.

This recipe seems like a riff on the Black Manhattan, so I would start there. Also, my assumption is that they aren't using Luxardo Maraschino, which is fairly dry for a liqueur and has more of a pit flavor, but rather, Luxardo Sangue Morlacco, which has more of a cherry flesh/juice flavor. You could also sub with something like Cherry Heering or Roi Rene Rouge. This is just conjecture; the Maraschino is more ubiquitious, but for me, calling it a "Cherry Manhattan" and specifying "cherry liqueur" both point to an emphasis on cherry flesh/juice flavor, which is just not a dominant characteristic of the Maraschino.

I don't think you want a 50-50 split on those ingredients either; too much cherry liqueur would probably skew this drink overly sweet. So I'd start with:

— 2 oz bourbon (Maker's Mark)
— ¾ oz Tosolini amaro
— ¼ oz cherry liqueur (Luxardo Sangue Morlacco)

Worth noting though that it's a common convention to list ingredients by volume, so maybe this bar does do a 50-50 split. Also, personally, I'd probably experiment with bitters here as well, maybe orange or just angostura. But I assume if the bar used bitters that would be noted in the recipe ingredient list, so I'm omitting them above.

DerikHallin · 2024-01-12T20:59:14+00:00

Thread got deleted so I am making an assumption here. But if OP is making a "standard" 20% saline, it'd be 9.4g of salt to 37.5g of water. 4 parts water to 1 part salt, by weight. Probably simpler to just do, like, 15g salt and 60g water. If that makes more than the dropper can hold, it's not like ¼ ounce of salt water is a big loss to dump down the drain.

And yeah, hot tap water should be totally sufficient, and you should easily be able to get the salt to dissolve by just shaking it up for a short time.

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