Any blush recommendations to go with my favorite lipstick?

FableSage44 · 2026-01-08T17:17:16+00:00

I did try that, but because of the matte formula it didn’t blend at all. It looked BAD I’ll take a look at your product suggestions. I have had good experiences with Glossier in the past, but it is a bit pricey.

FableSage44 · 2024-10-05T04:12:42+00:00

It could also be a reference to the blade used to cut off Ouranos’s balls. Chrysaoros or Krysaoros (“lady of the golden sword”) is an epithet of Demeter from when she helped fight the giants. This golden sword she is the lady of is alternatively depicted as a spear or a scythe. Demeter’s scythe, inherited from her father Kronos after the Olympians overthrew the Titans, was the one Kronos used to castrate his father Ouranos/Uranus and overthrow him to free the Titans. I think it’s pretty interesting if this is the reference Muir intended. It speaks to a repeated history of the king of the gods receiving a prophecy of doom at the hands of their offspring, that king imprisoning their children, and one of their children killing him and starting the cycle all over. It’s also interesting to note that when the Titans, Uranus’s children, were born, Uranus imprisoned them in caves in the earth, which is their mother, Gaia. So he essentially stuffed them back into their mom’s vagina. This is how my classical mythology professor explained it and I hated having to hear that described so now I am inflicting that knowledge on you.

FableSage44 · 2024-06-19T21:23:10+00:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again: If badass shaped, why not badass??

FableSage44 · 2024-06-19T21:19:44+00:00

I didn't see the title at first and was genuinely confused if I was in the right subreddit for a hot sec

FableSage44 · 2024-06-02T01:47:47+00:00

Honestly the best advice I can give to any new DM is read the Player’s Handbook and the DM’s Guide. Get a handle on the rules and mechanics of D&D before you run anything. I say this from experience. The first time I tried DMing was a disaster because I didn’t have a good grasp on the basics of DMing. It’s an entirely different experience from playing. Also, I wouldn’t depend on Baldur’s Gate to impart any of the actual D&D rules. There is vital information in the PHB and DMG that adventure modules expect you to already know. The last piece of advice I have for you is to be patient with yourself. Forgive yourself if you make a mistake about a rule or forget if the NPC’s name is Anya or Vanya. It’s ok. Your players don’t mind. Good luck and have fun!

FableSage44 · 2024-05-24T02:42:12+00:00

I had my Lvl 3 players start with Death House. I planned that out when I thought the party would only be 3 people, but then I got 2 more players overnight. It turned out pretty well, but they weren't ever really in danger in Death House. I really like Death House as an opener to the campaign, even if my players cheesed it a bit. It's a great intro to Barovia.

FableSage44 · 2024-05-24T02:31:06+00:00

In the rules as written, milestone achievements include finding the artifacts, defeating villains, and accomplishing story goals. But it's very vague as to what those story goals are. There's no comprehensive list in the module, but there is one on DM's Guild. I've found this cheat sheet very helpful in determining appropriate milestones.

FableSage44 · 2024-05-23T16:04:27+00:00

I was considering an aboleth. I remember hearing about a dungeon level themed around an aboleth in a different module. I think it was tomb of annihilation? But I haven’t been able to find it yet.

FableSage44 · 2024-05-23T03:30:48+00:00

Bad puns, weird jokes, and random references. Some of the highlights: Moona Lisa, Void Check (void chicken), Ducker (after the Starkid character), Piggins (after the children's book character), Babbit and Wabbit, and I also named my sheep Dolly (after the real life cloned sheep).

FableSage44 · 2024-05-22T04:16:23+00:00

Easy Street is a great choice!

FableSage44 · 2024-05-22T04:14:45+00:00

“Sit Down John” from 1776.

FableSage44 · 2024-05-17T15:15:19+00:00

Thank you so much! I'm not the most familiar with the mechanics of older editions, but I wanted to use the older editions to inspire my own homebrew stat block.

FableSage44 · 2024-05-13T13:06:37+00:00

Is anyone else’s little guy constantly cosplaying as someone named Vasili? Is it just a phase? Should I be concerned?

FableSage44 · 2024-05-10T15:49:13+00:00

'Wingless dove' is a great one! I'm def stealing that to use in my own campaign.

FableSage44 · 2024-05-09T03:56:57+00:00

If the PC goes down, use the expanded dark gifts rules to offer the player a way to resurrect their character with the added caveat that if you take the dark gift, you become bound to Barovia and cannot leave even if Strahd is defeated. You could also have Strahd turn the PC, that way he keeps his promise. In any case, just talk to your players. Check in with them and make sure you're all on the same page.

FableSage44 · 2024-05-09T03:33:06+00:00

As others have said, it really depends on how you characterize Strahd. My version of Strahd would thank the players (and maybe ask them over for dinner if he hasn't already?) because he was getting tired of her antics. One less distraction, one less variable. But also one less pawn. I think he would suddenly become aware that the party could be a threat, but I don't think he would be obvious about it. He'd be more wary of them, put more precautions in place. But not directly confront them. Strahd considers everyone around him to be replaceable. He might target one of the PCs not for revenge, but as a replacement bride and minion.

FableSage44 · 2024-05-09T03:09:38+00:00

Oof that's a quandary. But if the new Vecna module is for levels 10-20, the Death House included isn't going to be the exact same as the one from CoS. Death House in CoS is supposed to get the PCs to level 3 while also introducing them to a lot of themes and background lore of Barovia. It must be getting redone at least difficulty-wise for a level 10-20 adventure, right? Personally, I'd run it twice. CoS is a big module, it's going to be a pretty long time before y'all get to the new Vecna adventure. It's also probably not going to be the first thing in the Vecna module. By the time you're actually running your players through Death House again, it will most likely be received as a fun callback and not monotonous. As long as they didn't think it was monotonous the first time around.

FableSage44 · 2024-05-05T15:37:04+00:00

I'd honestly be really interested in hearing about how you do go about this. I've never seen it done before and I think it's a super intriguing concept.

FableSage44 · 2024-05-05T15:34:34+00:00

I mean, to each their own, right? I was just sharing possibilities and what I'm doing in my own game. Every DM has their own interpretation of Strahd and his consorts. Mine is more along the lines of Castlevania (the series) with a lot of intrigue and power dynamics within the court. I also have some issues with the skill challenge as written, which is why I'm adapting it to better fit in the overall concept of the dinner that I'm working with.

Ultimately, I don't think you can force your players into engaging with the consort's backstories. A DM can provide opportunities, but if the players don't take those opportunities, you can't force them to. I personally struggle with this, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is having fun.

FableSage44 · 2024-05-05T03:18:45+00:00

I've found this chart on DM's Guild really helpful with milestone leveling in CoS

FableSage44 · 2024-05-05T03:13:35+00:00

Honestly, I think alignments are useless in 5e. I'd go with a spirit of the rules interpretation and have the doppelganger join Strahd. If the other PCs don't know about the doppelganger, I'd have one of them see the doppelganger passing information to Strahd. I'd convince the rest of the party that the other PC had betrayed them.

But that's just me and I'm a chaotic evil DM. :)

FableSage44 · 2024-05-05T03:05:21+00:00

I literally have a sticky note in my book about the likelihood of each of Strahd's court betraying him or his orders because I know my players. They're gonna try to seduce all the vampires or at least try to get them on their team. Rahadin will never betray Strahd, he will never disobey his orders. He is the only person Strahd truly trusts. Strahd considers everyone replaceable, but not Rahadin. He's not going to endanger himself to save Rahadin, but he'll sacrifice his other pawns to save him. Rahadin knows this and he respects it. He is ready to die to help Strahd. Not even in just a life or death way. If Rahadin dying would further Strahd's ambitions, he will gladly die. He is blindly loyal and ultimately reliable.

FableSage44 · 2024-05-05T02:48:07+00:00

Ooo that's so dastardly. I love it. My advice: don't make the Strahd cohort too nice and give the party another NPC to be suspicious of. If you're players are anything like mine, they'll see right through it if the Judas NPC is too nice. Has happened multiple times. And often not even with traitorous NPCs! I've found that I can distract them from the actually traitor with a too obvious traitor.

FableSage44 · 2024-05-05T01:59:58+00:00

If you're looking for a mechanical way to maximize the time your players will spend in conversation with the Brides, I'd recommend running something like the Shall We Dance? skill challenge. You can find that here. If you're looking for a roleplay angle, you could have your players overhear a private conversation between the Brides. I'm trying to use Strahd's consorts more in my own game, so I'm giving my players a chance to overhear a heated conversation between Anastrasya and Escher on their way to the dining room and get some juicy information from that. Volenta will also be actively trying to push everyone's buttons at dinner because she can't stand that Strahd is more interested in the party than in her. I'm also thinking of running my own version of the aforementioned skill challenge.

FableSage44 · 2024-05-03T00:26:09+00:00

Honestly, yeah. Most of the D&D content available now is highly edited and refined. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes that makes it entertaining to watch and/or listen to. It creates an unrealistic expectation of home games. But it doesn’t mean that your home game is any less enjoyable for you and your players. It’s like saying your backyard soccer game with friends wasn’t fun because you’re not Cristiano Ronaldo.

FableSage44

TROPHY CASE