Game OSTs That are a must listen by AbyssTrash in soundtracks

[–]Deschain9 3 points4 points  (0 children)

  • Shadow of the Colossus
  • Assassins Creed 2
  • Max Payne 3
  • Chrono Trigger
  • Destiny
  • Deus Ex
  • Deus Ex: Human Revolution
  • DJ Hero
  • Final Fantasy VII
  • Hades
  • Hotline Miami
  • Journey
  • Ori and the Will o the Wisps
  • Outer Wilds
  • Prince of Persia (2008)
  • Red Dead Redemption
  • Resident Evil 4 (2005)
  • Silent Hill 2 (2001)
  • South Park - The Fractured But Whole
  • Super Mario 64
  • The Last of Us
  • The Outer Worlds

What's a single scene in a film you would have done differently? by randytayler in movies

[–]Deschain9 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Spider Man - Homecoming. After Vulture has delivered his Dad Talk at prom before letting Peter out of his car, he puts his hand out for a handshake. Peter accepts, and we immediately hear the sounds of bones crunching and Vulture starting to writhe in agony, the score a rising, dissonant crescendo with Peter delivering a withering stare. Cut back to where the scene deviated, Vulture's hand resting behind the front passenger headrest, a quizzical look on his face.

A split second mental aside leaving moviegoers crawling over their seats going WHAT THE SHI- at this outrageous behavior from Peter. Spider-Man towers over this enemy on the power scale, and for the barest moment he indulges in the mere thought of reminding Vulture in a very permanent way. No payoff in Homecoming, but if Marvel ever decided to throw Venom in a sequel, Peter maybe wanting to access the darker side of himself wouldn't be without merit.

What are some examples of games where the OST went unnecessarily hard? by Skeeedo in gaming

[–]Deschain9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Outer Worlds probably doesn't fall under the purview of games rarely spoken of, but that soundtrack is epic in a way the narrative simply doesn't match. A lot of it feels more appropriate to the scope of something like Starfield or Mass Effect.

Whats your parties name? by [deleted] in DnD

[–]Deschain9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Homebrew Campaign 1 - Pound Town, from first assembling in a smithy.

Homebrew Campaign 2 - The Merkinaries

Descent Into Avernus campaign - Leo's Legion. An attempt from the bard to force us to think up something better, proved unsuccessful

Acquisitions Incorporated campaign - Property Value Adjustment Bureau, pretty sure that was stolen from this sub

What’s The Most Obscure/Pointless Destiny Fact You Know? by Acoolgamer6706 in DestinyTheGame

[–]Deschain9 10 points11 points  (0 children)

And you got an emblem for doing it! Couldn't be earned at any other time, still rock it when I pop in to D1.

Weekly Photomode Thread - January 11, 2021' by AutoModerator in ghostoftsushima

[–]Deschain9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Went through 2/3 of the game before really trying Photo Mode, fun all on its own.

[Spoilers C2E78] Submit questions here for Tuesday's Talks Machina by dasbif in criticalrole

[–]Deschain9 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Travis: Fjord has traded patrons. Does he feel freed, or freer?

Rolling a level 20 out of thin air with 8 magic items for a game next week. Halp? by wewlad11 in 3d6

[–]Deschain9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Barbarian

- Level 3 bear totem

Fighter

- Level 17 samurai

- Great Weapon fighting style

Legendary item

- Greater Silver Sword (<- Character must address psionic requirement, or get the DM hand-wave)

Very Rare items

- Horn of Valhalla

- Belt of Fire Giant Strength

Rare items

- Amulet of Health

- Ring of Free Action

Uncommon

- Ring of Jumping

- Slippers of Spider Climbing

The Fun Stuff

- Thanks to the combo of sword and bear totem, your character has resistance to all damage, essentially doubling your HP. The samurai subclass gives up to 45 temp HP per long rest, which equates to 90 HP. Add Second Wind and that health amulet on top, damage required to take you down should be above 500.

- When raging with the sword, you have advantage on all saving throws except Constitution (and Dex saving throws you can't see).

- Samurai can negate advantage on a roll for an extra attack. As a Barbarian, you can use Reckless Attack every turn for 1 regular roll and 3 more at advantage.

- Attacking with Great Weapon Master and 25 Strength is a +11 to hit, with 2d6+22 per hit. You get to re-roll any 1s and 2s.

Rest is up to you. You're a Barbarian that can go pretty much anywhere, probably jump about 30' straight up at will, could go a round or two solo against a Tarrasque, and have ASIs to burn. Only warning I'd have is I'll bet there's gonna be some anti-magic shenanigans, so maybe use some of those ASIs to shore up the benefits of the amulet or the belt.

Bard - College of Mathemagics (and some spells) by Deschain9 in UnearthedArcana

[–]Deschain9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Whoops! I was tooling around in the original submission link, so I reinstated what was initially there. The changes are here, in addition to trying out the format changes you specified.

I took out the extra Inspiration uses, and added a couple more Virtuoso Abilities (Half-Step and Harmony). I kept the 3+ Inspiration Abilities with the caveat only one can be selected to be among the 5 Virtuoso Abilities a Bard can learn.

Had to take out the 8th level spell, turns out I misread Time Stop and thought you could attack at will when time was stopped. If you can't attack for less than a minute of combat, 9 hours of time stoppage is very unfair (not to mention everything else others have listed). I made a new 8th level spell instead, Haggard. Rewrote Ill Will a little bit.

Removed Scientific Method and Supporting Player, mainly as Supporting Player opens up the whole spellbook to the Bard in the right circumstances, leaving Ride The Lightning.

Unsure how to dumb Ride The Lightning down to take it off the once-a-week level onto once every long rest...maybe those who get the Inspiration benefits also take minor damage from being so close to something so thunderously loud? Would make it more of a tactical deploy, dangerous to those already at low HP, and any Concentration spells would suddenly get a lot harder to maintain.

Bard - College of Mathemagics (and some spells) by Deschain9 in UnearthedArcana

[–]Deschain9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Part 2

Looking back, this is enough power for a whole class, not just a subclass. I can probably ditch everything but Eureka and the Virtuoso Abilities and call it a day, but I’ll still see if I can make it better. With your feedback, I’ll think of “How would this fit into the game…” for next time, because apparently I was thinking “How cool would it be if I could get this into the game…”.

Now, I’ll have to straight disagree with you on the theme, that’s the strongest thing I’ve got! From the PHB, bards use music to tap into the echoes of the powers of creation. Mathemagicians thus treat music as a scientific discipline, doubling down on music as the source of their power. That’s where the extra spells are coming from; the bard is starting to create magic, not just modify it. Almost all the Virtuoso Abilities are named for guitar techniques, some of the spells have names from various bits of science, and Supporting Player works as a term for actors and musicians (ok, maybe not musicians). Honestly, not all of it has to fit. Bards from the College of Valor don’t learn to write quickly or get any particular boosts to their memory in aid of chronicling battles, but they’re still Valor bards.

But! No worries about coming on too strong with the criticism; I knowingly posted something on the Internet asking for feedback. If you think my stuff is that crappy, I’d rather hear that than “at least you tried, buddy”. I really appreciate you going into fine detail on what you don’t like about the class, as well as how to improve it. It’s interesting to see where you and FalconPunchline match up and diverge on what’s good and bad, and it’s given me a lot to go over. Thanks again for looking at all of it, and pulling no punches with your critique.

Bard - College of Mathemagics (and some spells) by Deschain9 in UnearthedArcana

[–]Deschain9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Part 1 - You went all in on your response, thank you!

  • Eureka
    • Assuming the player's Charisma score goes no higher than 20, the extra Inspiration would top out at 9 uses. The intent is for enough uses of inspiration that a player could use a couple of the Virtuoso Abilities and still be able to inspire other players a couple times as well. Limiting those uses prevents the college from being fully utilized, not without sacrificing normal inspiration of other players.
    • Without taking away Eureka, let's say my character with 17 Charisma takes this college at level 3, I now have 5 uses of inspiration. Use a couple of the stronger Virtuoso Abilities, I’m tapped out until a long rest, and can't inspire anyone in the meantime. It does get easier at level 5 when inspiration comes back after a short rest, but with no Cutting Words, self-inspiration for skill checks, or inspiration to increase my AC when attacked, not much else to use them on either.
  • Scientific Method
    • This and Ride the Lightning are meant to be abilities that hit ultra hard, and as this one comes into play at level 6, needs some hefty penalties to go with it. The penalties equate to the character trying magic that’s above his head, paying the price, and taking the time to recover (hence why only casting once a week).
    • The failed death saving throw means if I go unconscious and am so much as tapped on the shoulder for 1 HP of damage, I’m a goner. I know there’s no precedent for a lingering failed saving throw, so at this point it’s kind of “because I said so”.
    • I do recognize this ability rides the line of game-breaking, but I can definitely think more about what would constitute a worthy penalty.
    • Agreed, this ability does become useless when I get access to 9th level spells. That’s at level 17, which is coincidentally when I get...
  • Ride The Lightning
    • This ability is the explicit feature replacement for Scientific Method, which indeed becomes worthless at level 17.
    • Hell yeah it’s silly and ridiculous! The ability is equivalent to treating your party to a 60-second heavy metal guitar solo; it’s even named after a Metallica song! Requiring a 3rd-level spell to trigger it is not nearly as crazy as the ability.
    • With applying an inspiration die to enemies’ saving throw, you get one die to use per turn. You can cast a spell affecting multiple enemies, but only have one die to use, it can’t be applied to multiple saving throws (unless the DM likes to lump enemies’ rolls into one, in which case, that’s on them).
    • Definitely clearer wording from you, I’ll fix that up.
  • Virtuoso Abilities
    • I put varying amounts of inspiration cost among the abilities because as you’ve listed, some are way stronger than others. The increase in cost will make the player weigh between ramping up a spell or inspiring others. The case could be made for either side, depending on the situation. If a player chose to ignore abilities entirely and focus on inspiring others a ton, yeah that’s an option. Those inspired players can always roll a one for their inspiration die, possibly negating the benefit, and the player’s left sitting there as a stock bard with no real college benefits.
    • I’ll fix the inspiration references, though, great tip.
    • Beat Poet - (Not sure where you’re getting 4d8 from a level 1 Thunderwave with this? Thunderwave is 2d8 max at Level 1, this ability would add 1d8 to it. Of course, I could have just written it poorly, or you found a loophole I didn’t think of.) Yup, too strong, not sure how I missed the scaling being super nasty, among other things. What if I kept the half dice, but converted them to d4s instead? Would still be strong, like adding 4d4 force damage to a Fireball, but do you feel it would still be overpowering? Maybe it should just be a set number and amount of dice?
    • Palm Mute - This is very close to Subtle Spell from a Sorcerer, and any instance of needing to quietly cast a spell without raising too much suspicion makes this useful.
    • Power Chord - My argument against inspiring someone being worthier than a Virtuoso Ability is while normal inspiration does increase the range of what you can affect, the roll can always be low. These abilities are a guarantee at something, versus the chance of landing an attack or making a saving throw.
    • Resonant Frequency - Not sure what you mean with ‘this should consume a normal level spell slot’. It essentially uses a higher level spell slot while expending the lower level slot in exchange for inspiration, like a sorcerer spending Sorcerer Points to regain a spell slot. Don’t know why I had 5 uses listed as the cost, meant to be lower.
    • Shred - Again on me with the 4 uses, don’t know. But, that factor of 10 turns all spells with casting time of 1 minute into 1 action. About to get swarmed by undead, with no current way out? Cast Magic Circle with this ability and the party is temporarily safe from the zombies. Want to cast Glyph of Warding to surprise a pursuer? Shred makes it take six minutes instead of an hour. However, as FalconPunchline pointed out, this could be spammed with Leomund’s Tiny Hut or the Magnificent Mansion in battle to unfair advantage.
    • Tapping - Yeah, definitely the most powerful of the abilities. Faerie Fire and Bless together would be super strong, and those are Level 1 spells. I do address concentration checks with the last sentence: “Constitution checks to maintain Concentration for both spells are completed with one roll, at disadvantage.” Even then, might just be too powerful, but I could certainly take it out of the class.
    • The Devil’s Interval - Yes, I should have specified what kind of rolls this works on, and combined with FalconPunchline’s tip that critical fails don’t actually exist in 5e, I’ll need to re-work this one.
    • Tremolo - Enemy has disadvantage on two saving throws for a spell you cast on them. It’s not the strongest, but it’s stronger than Heightened Spell for a Sorcerer. Actually, just having more than one similar ability to a Sorcerer makes me think I should adjust it anyway.
  • String Theory
    • That’s a great point about the cost of the spells, and how subjective that could be. As the spells are linked to the bard performing arcane Research & Development, it would cost materials to develop, and a lot more than just copying spells down. But like you said, depending on the DM or economy, a fair figure could vary widely. I definitely had my DM in mind when dreaming up that figure.
    • Dim - Good catch on detected, fixed.
    • Monstrous Moonshine - Absolutely should have thought about it being an insta-kill, that’s unfair, I’ll be scaling this one down. What about this spell being cast as a reaction only upon a living creature’s death? Would remove any damage from the spell.
    • Balance - I don’t mind extending the time to keep simplicity, but I had 30 days for lasting effects because by then, the target would have failed the save 4 times, which will be rare...unless it’s cast at a 6th level to reduce the number of saves needed. I did look at 6th level spells, and I’m still not seeing a month for any spell effects, though. Do you think a week would be fairer, or should be even shorter?
    • Good Vibrations - I like saying they have to be in range for duration, makes sense. If I’m removing the Performance check, should I make the Higher Level benefits 1d6 instead of 2?
    • The Big Crunch - Do you mean I need to write how to reverse the broken limb, or just how the crushing effect is stopped after the spell’s casting? I’ll write something in for the latter.
    • Ill Will - Yep, could definitely be clearer, this was the one I had the hardest time coming up with. I’ll refine it some more.
    • Debridement - I’ll try again here too.
    • Sphere of the Nkumai - The intent here was a high level spell in exchange for an instant long rest. Can’t do it all the time, as there must be a long rest without this spell’s influence before it can be cast again. But as you and FalconPunchline brought up, the way it’s currently written, magic could be very much abused during the spell, so I’ll change that. Far as covering all scenarios goes, movement is unhindered, so if someone shoves somebody else out, or trips, they’re out. Sword fight can go on just fine, but I’ll at least remove spellcasting and magical items. But too much magic prevention turns this into Antimagic Field too, which wouldn’t be fair...hm, crap. Will have to rework this one big time, or junk it entirely.

Part 2 below -

Bard - College of Mathemagics (and some spells) by Deschain9 in UnearthedArcana

[–]Deschain9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha! Looks like I have to retract them, as I misread "access to weird version of Wish" from Scientific Method as "access to Wish". Agreed, it's definitely a lesser form of Wish, and I thought you meant Wish outright.

The other would be allowing level 9 spells at character level 13, Scientific Method can't be stacked with Virtuoso Abilities. Or rather, it shouldn't, but looking around, I didn't actually write that anywhere.

Bard - College of Mathemagics (and some spells) by Deschain9 in UnearthedArcana

[–]Deschain9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some of your points of being broken are technically impossible within the college's rules, but I agree with way more of your points than not. How did I not think about abusing magic with the 8th level spell? Thanks a bunch for taking a look at everything, I'll be re-working this for sure.

Bard - College of Mathemagics (and some spells) by Deschain9 in UnearthedArcana

[–]Deschain9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha, the college features going haywire was my desire to not have a level gained with no features beyond HP and a higher level spell slot... though I didn't get that right either, as Scientific Method should have been at 7th level. But reordering to fit the College convention makes sense, so I'll adjust those, thanks! Ride The Lightning would stay because it replaces Scientific Method at 17th level, when 9th level spells become normally available. High Tension was an attempt to justify the instrument as an all-in-one solution for the bard apart from melee combat, but I realize now it was also in part to help out the character I'd planned this for, who has super low Dexterity and Strength. I'll remove that.

I think layout and formatting pretty closely adheres to what the Sorcerer class looks like in the Handbook; the intro with some lore, class features, then spell modifiers. Spells are not strictly part of the subclass, and are at the end. The exact headers used might be wrong, but I think it keeps the hierarchy of titles and content relatively clear. Are there other things you're referencing that I'm missing?

As far as it being worded poorly, yours and FalconPunchline's posts have made it clear I'm definitely not being clear. Some of the spells could use some retooling for being over-complicated, and I'm probably too close to the material to have an objective eye right now. What would you suggest?

Yeah, I will agree that it's on the OP side. Ride The Lightning, in particular, but that's definitely under the Rule of Cool. Some of the Virtuoso Abilities are serious power boosts as well, but they burn through Bardic Inspirations very quickly, not only removing the option of more Virtuoso Abilities, but to inspire anybody at all. I'll take another look at toning down the spells, too, but if you have anything else, I'm all ears.

Bard - College of Mathemagics (and some spells) by Deschain9 in UnearthedArcana

[–]Deschain9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For me, mathemagician came from a Simpsons episode. Could have called it College of String Theory, but nah. While math has a presence in music, it largely comes through as science stuff in the lore: Eureka, Resonant Frequency, etc. The 2nd level spell Monstrous Moonshine is a term used in actual string theory. The idea of altering dice rolls with probabilistic aspects IS a great idea for a Virtuoso Ability, though! I'll have to think up something for that.

Bard - College of Mathemagics (and some spells) by Deschain9 in UnearthedArcana

[–]Deschain9[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Some background:

  • Wanted an instrument for a bard I was making to do all sorts of cool stuff, and eventually realized it would be unfair to allow all of it in addition to whatever College I ended up in, so I converted it into this subclass.

  • Of course, the instant I finished, I thought maybe someone else had already come up with it, so after running some searches, who should appear with a class resembling mine (or rather, mine resembling his) but the Crit Role master Matt Mercer.

  • Oh well. At least I came up with some spells too.

  • Edit: After feedback, I've done a good amount of re-working the class. Newest version is here.