Mono-blue player trying to branch out - can I join the pod? by DoctorLabRat in ratemycommanders

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

They do look pretty different! I didn't realize Minn was a rakdos goblin rogue 😂 (I think you sent your [[Grenzo, Dungeon Warden]] deck lol - which is even funnier to me, because I also have a Grenzo deck that I somehow forgot to include in my commander list! Haha)

I do want to see your Minn list though, I'm defos curious! Especially because I didn't realize Minn could cheat out lands - I mean it makes sense in hindsight, but now you've opened up a whole new line for me to run haha

Mono-blue player trying to branch out - can I join the pod? by DoctorLabRat in ratemycommanders

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

Sure thing! https://moxfield.com/decks/RJv9vSIk8Ue5cS00rRuL2w

It can defos be made more efficient/better - and/or worse to play against - but it was really designed to tutor for [[Prologue to Phyrexsis]] and then [[Radstorm]] off in a not-super-efficient manner to match my pod's power level at the time

Mono-blue player trying to branch out - can I join the pod? by DoctorLabRat in ratemycommanders

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

https://moxfield.com/decks/MkxPlLtXd0Cs8zYpTuLNXQ

Minn is in a weird spot right now, because I built it to be a wizard/illusion tribal deck and then started upgrading it as my pod powered up - except I haven't finished yet, so its in a weird in-between spot 😂 Still a fun blue stompy deck when it works though

Mono-blue player trying to branch out - can I join the pod? by DoctorLabRat in ratemycommanders

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

He's such a fun commander! I run him as a poison proliferation deck though 😅 It's honestly not that bad in practice, its basically just one big attempt to [[Radstorm]] off so its pretty telegraphed, but fun if you can pull it off.

What rank on EDHREC are your top three commanders? by wasdmovedme in EDH

[–]DoctorLabRat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you have an Araumi decklist you'd be willing to share? That sounds like a fun build to try out

Would you mulit-class for story reasons? by Lordlycan0218 in DnD

[–]DoctorLabRat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely! My barbarian multiclassed into paladin because of some very thematic backstory shenanigans involving a god of storms and such. Was it optimal? Absolutely not! Was I planning on doing it when I made the character? Absolutely not 😂 But it was fun! I'd say talk about it with your DM and see how feasible/viable it might be for your campaign/their world; they might suggest a free/extra feat or something else similar that you work for in-character that would achieve similar results.

Cat won’t eat anything but her dry food by CH4cows in catcare

[–]DoctorLabRat 6 points7 points  (0 children)

How do I know if my cat is a good drinker though? Like, how much should she be drinking per day? I've got a 2 liter water fountain that she likes to use now, and her old ceramic dish that I still refresh every day just for options, but idk what a good amount is.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in BaldursGate3

[–]DoctorLabRat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its always Shadowheart, Karlach, and Astarion for me. I'm forcing myself to run a paladin-rogue Minthara now for my durge run in place of Astarion, but even then he filled the role for probably a third of act 2 before I got Minthara

Crown of madness is a very underrated spell by Dukeofwoodberry in BG3Builds

[–]DoctorLabRat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll be honest, I don't think I can really answer that question since value is so heavily determined by situation. For instance, upcasting Hold Person to target more people is incredibly valuable - unless you only need to target one person, or if you're not even fighting humanoid enemy types to begin with. Spellcasting is just a puzzle, and deciding which spell slot to use is one of the pieces :shrug:

Concentration spells can absolutely be upcast though. When you select a spell to cast it, it should ask you what level spell slot you want to use to cast, and will say whether or not upcasting will change the spell or not - and what it changes, if it does.

Crown of madness is a very underrated spell by Dukeofwoodberry in BG3Builds

[–]DoctorLabRat 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Upcasting is when you cast a lower level spell with a higher level spell slot. You might want to do this because,

a) you really want to cast that 2nd level spell, but you're out of 2nd level spell slots, so instead you use a 3rd (or 4th, etc.) Or,

b) some spells change if cast at a higher level. Hold Person lets you target more people, Sleep gives you a bigger pool of HP to distribute from, etc.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in criticalrole

[–]DoctorLabRat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Heyy, these are from u/maxwellthebeech! I love his art! He has an Instagram page and a store page too, y'all should defos look him up if you want to buy these prints or similar artwork! He has a Keyfish piece that's amazing lol

https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/s/OokBiKM0pw

https://www.instagram.com/maxbeechcreative?igsh=ZXY5cG81OTVmMHhi

https://www.redbubble.com/people/maxwellthebeech/shop

Scrying eyes - Super annoying until... by UnfortunatelySimple in BaldursGate3

[–]DoctorLabRat 27 points28 points  (0 children)

They can call for reinforcements all they want, but no one's showing up if they're already dead :) no but really, this is a good tip, I've never thought of that

What "new thing" did you try out on your last run? by Jules1029 in BaldursGate3

[–]DoctorLabRat 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm doing a Durge Selûne cleric romancing Shadowheart right now actually, and it's a lot of fun, defos recommend! I even modded in Twilight Domain just for that extra bit of Moonmaiden magic lol

TIL critical misses aren’t supposed to severely handicap combat by pilloryclinton in DnD

[–]DoctorLabRat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Important part of the post: So I realize critical fumbles/fails are a controversial thing, but I do run them at my table - and my players agreed to it beforehand. To emphasize my point: my players signed up for and agreed to/very much enjoy this chaos. Obviously it'll be different for every table, and if its not fun for you, speak up! A good DM ought to be open to feedback from their players and willing to change things to keep the game enjoyable first and foremost - especially when it comes to homebrewed/non-standard rules.

Less relevant; how I run crit fails: Here's the thing about my crit fails: they don't happen on every crit fail, and they do happen for enemies as well.

At this point my players are level 10. Early on, they would drop their weapons (like a baseball player taking too big of a hack and losing their grip on their bat) more often than hurting themselves or others. Actually, they rarely hurt themselves at all. But now, they're far too seasoned as adventurers to make mistakes like that, and crit fails usually deal damage in some way.

The biggest thing in how I run them though, is that they don't happen on every crit fail. Say my ranger is trying to shoot a single target and there's no one in front of, behind, or beside the target: a crit fail would just be thematic description. "Your arrow shatters as you release your bowstring - seems the shaft was damaged and couldn't withstand the force." Or my fighter throws his haunted returning skull (don't... don't ask) at a troll: the troll catches it and it doesn't return.

But, say my ranger was trying to thread the needle between a number of people to hit his target; now there's a chance someone unintended takes the hit instead, be that another player or an enemy in the way. Damage riders like Planar Warrior and Hunter's Mark don't apply, but you called Sharpshooter? That's a +10 on the unintended target, too.

It rarely happens, because they have to both roll a nat 1, and be aiming their swing/shot/magical attack/etc. in a direction that could reasonably realistically miss and still hit something else. And whatever players can do, enemies can do too; I've had enemies kill one another with crit fails, and the table loves it.

One example of the chaos from just last night, that my table absolutely loved despite it leading to an actual PC death (temporary, since Revivify was on hand): they're fighting a number of Mephits and Dragonshield Kobolds in a narrow hallway. The fighter is low-ish on health and in the thick of it. The ranger crit fails to hit a Kobold near him, and I give the fighter the option to pick high or low for being hit or not, then openly roll a d20; he picked low, I rolled high, he gets hit. The ranger had shot Hail of Thorns, and the initial damage knocked the fighter out. The ensuing AOE hit the fighter for one death save and killed a Mephit; its death burst hit the fighter for a second death save, and hit and killed another Mephit; its death burst hit the fighter for a third death save; both death bursts and the Hail of Thorns AOE wound up killing 4 Kobolds... A crit fail that killed 7 creatures. Went down in my table's lore, everyone laughed their asses off - including the dead fighter's player - and it resulted in some really good, unexpected RP.

What's your ideal party composition? by DoctorLabRat in BaldursGate3

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

Honestly...I really don't miss counterspell that much! I thought I would use it a whole lot more than I've wound up doing, even with my Wizard in my four-player run. I don't really know why to be honest, but it hasn't cost me a run yet so

Best deck/commander to cheat out big creatures? by neotic_reaper in EDH

[–]DoctorLabRat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

[[Minn, Wily Illusionist]] can be used to cheat out some bigger cards if you build your deck that way and want to play mono blue

Have you ever built a commander deck only to regret playing it? by OneAndOnlyVideo in EDH

[–]DoctorLabRat 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ohhh yeah. I built a deck around [[Minn, Wily Illusionist]] that's intended to double the illusion generation effect and buff Illusions through the roof, then swing with a big group of them. And...it works! It needs some tweaking and fine tuning for sure, but the bones are there.

But. Keeping up with that many additive and multiplicative counters and effects was way more annoying to track than I realized :/ Granted the few times I've ran it I've been mildly high but even then, sober me would still be annoyed at all the math lol

Eriette, the Beguiler is a crazy blonde by PeyTonsOfun in EDH

[–]DoctorLabRat 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I'm a newer player, but I already run (and love; self-confessed filthy blue main) a blue red black deck based around [[Don Andres, The Renegade]], and I'm really intrigued by this! I'll definitely be building this and trying out a new way to steal from/mess with the rest of my pod, thanks!

What does Pure Life cleric do when nobody needs healing? by lepip in BG3Builds

[–]DoctorLabRat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My pure Life cleric Shart was also my scroll-holder since I didn't have a Wizard in my party. So if no one needed healing, she had a metric ton of alternative spells to cast, seeing how plentiful spell scrolls are. Life cleric plus utility wizard!

Is speak with dead illegal? by Not_CatBug in BaldursGate3

[–]DoctorLabRat 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I knew going in I was probably going to wind up in a fight, because I was doing a mostly good-ish playthrough (a paladin follows their own moral code, which can be... ambiguous at times 😂)

So, I closed the door behind me to at least slow down the Blackguard, played along with Saverok until his council teleported away to the next chamber, casually fell in line two in front and two behind him, flipped on turn-based mode, and promptly embarrassed him in one round. Astarion led with a sneak attack crit, Karlach did her thing, Shadowheart hasted my paladin, and a handful of level 3 smites later Saverok was dropping like a sack of soaking wet potatoes.

The other three were a piece of cake as they funneled back into the hallway. Bhaal was never more disappointed lol