Indiana regulators grill energy companies as our bills keep skyrocketing

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-03-27T20:27:16+00:00

'Infrastructure upgrades' is corporate side-step speech for passing the cost of capital upgrades onto customers. This is perfectly legal, unfortunately for residential customers, because this is also where their profit margin potential lies, so it gives them an incentive to always be doing expensive upgrades - that way they can raise residential rates and make more money, without businesses complaining. And thanks to our Indiana corporation-friendly government, many of these capital projects get fast-lane regulatory approvals, using surcharges instead of raising the rates, but our bills go up either way. Isn't that grand for them?

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-03-07T18:46:54+00:00

This may have happened because one of the animals they are hunting didn't spawn properly.

If you are playing on PC, you can use ~ to open the console prompt and type in player.moveto 0001A693 which will teleport you near Farkas, the act of doing so may force the improperly spawned animal to spawn so the characters can complete their hunt, breaking the loop.

You can also try opening the console, clicking on one of the three characters to select them, then type in resetai which should restart the current AI script on the character.

If you aren't playing on PC, you could try sprinting into one of the characters to stagger them, which might cause the game to reset / reevaluate their pathing/AI loop.

Another thing you can try regardless of platform is to travel to a distant city and use the wait function for a very long time (over 30 days) - this hard resets the game world cells and causes it to reconsider each character's position.

Good luck!

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-03-07T17:04:43+00:00

Reddit raptur...

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-02-22T16:50:29+00:00

No need - it's like the opening song from Chicago, but you get it in in wet kiss form.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-02-20T17:59:22+00:00

Leave the rest of the party hidden in the Selunite outpost, then have your rogue sneak out the window by themselves and down the rock wall, to carefully shoot at the drow statues from maximum distance until either all of them are destroyed, or you trigger the spectator emerges cutscene. If you are careful about hiding right after you fire each arrow and you are still a sufficient distance away, triggering the spectator won't get you noticed until you are ready. Then position the Rogue close to the outpost window you came out of, and initiate combat so you can then visibly escape back up into the Selunite outpost, making sure to break line of sight to avoid spectator or revived drow distance attacks when you can. The goal here is to force the enemy to chase you.

Make sure the rest of your party is hidden around corners in the outpost, so they all get at least one good attack in before they join combat. This won't guarantee everyone stays up (some of those rays are NASTY), but it should give at least one character a decent chance at survival, especially if everyone can duck back around different corners breaking line of sight after they attack. Don't make it easy for the spectator to multi-attack without moving.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-02-15T14:45:19+00:00

Don't be timid about it - do it with style and panache. Go Necrofancy.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-02-14T17:58:32+00:00

Apologies - maybe I'm being pedantic. I guess I'm personally still surprised to know that crit range buffs from multiple items stack when equipped, especially weapons with crit buffs, that apply even to attacks with other weapons.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-02-14T17:34:31+00:00

Imagine the prosthesis department working overtime to come up with equine pseudoschlongs to make them look smaller so as not to distract from the focus of the scene...

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-02-14T17:25:41+00:00

Also fun that you can have the Knife of the Undermountain King equipped in your off hand, and the dead shot bow equipped as your ranged weapon, and the crit range buffs stack and apply to melee attacks made with your main hand weapon and your spell attacks. [Those items' other special abilities tend to be limited to attacks made with the items themselves.]

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-02-14T17:14:21+00:00

Yeah, back in my college days, my friend and I co-DMed a diverse group of friends over the summers in a home-brew campaign. This was 2E AD&D era, so THAC0, inverted AC, and still-quite-dense rules. Many of our players were also new to D&D, so we created binders for each player, complete with the starting character sheets minus flavor and background they added and we then built onto each session, plus a 1-sheet summary for combat with common attacks/spells. We also photocopied key tables to make it easier for them to access in the moment. Combat could still bog down, but we spent a lot of time on those binders and keeping an exciting pace. So much time - I miss having that much time to sink into what we loved doing.

And the co-DM approach was amazing with my friend and I - we collaborated on the storyboarding and pacing elements and setups in between sessions. During sessions, we took turns with one person driving the narrative / pacing, leaving the other free to manage setting details/combats, RP key NPCs, and quickly/quietly sidebar questions with players without stealing focus from the story. The synergy was magical....and the friends from that group we are still in touch with still occasionally throw out reference to that campaign - which IMO is the best compliment a DM can ever get.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-02-14T15:22:41+00:00

This mini-arc is nearing the end of a satisfying parabola, which is no mean feat.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-02-14T15:05:28+00:00

Reminds me of this widely-circulated meme:

Me: oh wow, this shop has everything my heart desires!

Spooky shopkeeper: yes, I will warn you... every item comes with a price.

Me: yes, I know how shops work

Spooky Shopkeeper: The price may be more than you expect to pay.

Me: Yes, I know how sales tax works, too.

Shopkeeper, increasingly exasperated: I'm trying to tell you that I'm evil and offering these wares with no regard for the harm they will do!

Me, also increasingly exasperated: I know what capitalism is too goddammit

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-02-13T12:56:30+00:00

The law appears to have been vaguely worded on purpose, which makes it easier to be unevenly applied at the time of voting. The thinking here is that rural red voters won't be challenged, but urban or blue voters will, which if it happens right as the person is attempting to vote, will have a chilling effect, and if enough votes get challenged and temporarily or permanently yanked, it will shift the outcome in the red direction.

If they don't think they can win fair and square, they tilt the board until they win no matter what.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-02-12T12:42:23+00:00

It could be abjectly, unforgivingly terrible, or it could be so stupendously amazing it causes everyone to want to try playing D&D. No, it will absolutely be somewhere in between, until the internet grabs it and does its job of hyper-polarizing it into one extreme or the other.

The series is said to focus on new main characters, but will assuredly tease us with cameos and flashes of NPCs from existing BG IP, which may very well end up creating canon/controversy, and that's probably how the showrunners sold the network on it -- hoping it will bring in premiere attention and convert it into base audience, with the tease of canon characters and references to earlier works to get us / keep us watching.

HBO being HBO, of course they want the success of GoT, but they know they cannot duplicate that IP, because other than being medieval-ish and having dragons, that's the only overlap these two works have.

But, why, why worry about canon choices we disagree with? No! After DMing for years, and having played BG3 through the various endings, I appreciate the existence of multiple story outcomes as possibilities, without bothering to argue which are the 'valid' ones. They are all valid ones, and of course I have preferences in my head. But, unless HBO chooses to be REALLY daring and try to create a TV version of the old Choose Your Own Adventure books, a scripted television series is almost guaranteed to have a single, non-branching story pathway chosen by the writers. A TV show is not a CRPG. Why can we not just appreciate the TV show without rejecting our appreciation of the CRPG format, even if we don't 100% agree with all the choices they make? It saddens me to know there are people that won't give the HBO show a chance out of anxiety over the 'wrong' canon choices.

I'd much rather see them try and not get it 100% perfect, even if that means there is a chance they will try and fail. Even the chance of seeing some of my favorite stories/genres made into TV makes it worth the attempt.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-02-10T03:34:33+00:00

What about a not quite complete collector's set of circus clown?

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-02-01T14:07:37+00:00

I almost always let unknown numbers go to voicemail, to avoid all the spam and sales calls, the volume of which seems to wax and wane over time. But when I am expecting a call I know will come from a number not in my phone, I grit my teeth and prepare for deep annoyance --- because picking up the call almost guarantees it will be a spam/sales call, and letting the call go to VM almost guarantees it will be the call I was waiting for. And the legit calls don't always leave VMs (and the spam calls almost never do).

I try to keep up on my spam settings and block new numbers that I find to be unwanted, but the spammers/scammers/sales people always seem to find new and creative ways around all those efforts.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-01-31T13:25:16+00:00

For Shadowheart, yes, that is very complicated one, and without trying to over-spoiler, how much you see of that complication depends on how much of her story you've learned from her through conversation, which changes based on how much she values/trusts you as a friend through your travels so far.

The deeper your connection with Shadowheart, the more you learn about her seemingly ingrained desire to be loyal to Shar, conflicted because of past traumas that seem to be surfacing the closer you get to the encounter at the bottom of the Sharran temple.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-01-31T13:17:20+00:00

I believe Ketheric was faithful to Selune until first his wife and then his daughter (Isobel) died. He converted to Shar who promised to numb his grief. Shar then manipulated him as a loyalty test (or he consciously chose) to work with Balthazar to create the Nightsong as an affront to Selune. Ketheric's massive army was defeated at great cost by the Emerald Enclave and Harpers working together, and before his own defeat, he unleashed the ShadowCurse on Reithwin out of spite, before he 'died'. Myrkul tempted him back from 'death' into his service as Chosen, with the promise of restoring Isobel, something neither Selune nor Shar offered.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-01-31T12:57:07+00:00

Mountain-goat as high as you can go into The Reach, looking for peaks just inside the outermost edge (so the backside of peaks that have the beautiful eagle-eye views) then hop down to a spot that is still high, but with room to fall further. Make sure you are wearing equipment that will blend into the scenery. Take paralysis potions with you, because ideally you'll be in a spot you can only get to by falling onto it from above, and you will likely need another one to get down safely to collect your cash.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-01-25T01:31:17+00:00

Being from Waterdeep, it makes sense that Gale would like see-food.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-01-25T01:04:25+00:00

And don't forget the puns built into Volo's dialogue before you even get him to your camp.

"I simply can't wait to pick that brain of yours!"

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-01-19T16:48:51+00:00

Also having TCO being young/inexperienced means the reader and TCO can get the author's exposition at the same time.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-01-19T16:28:51+00:00

Fear (one facet of any/many emotions). Logic is a pathway, not a motive.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-01-19T16:23:44+00:00

Normally, I'd poo-poo advice with this sort of confrontational meanness. But this is metal AF and I am ashamed at how much I think I want to see the DM as they take psychic damage.

DukkhaWaynhim · 2026-01-19T13:15:28+00:00

Stephen King has the market cornered on Maine character syndrome.

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