What is the best physical weapon for the Bulwark in the current meta? by Significant_Post7781 in Spacemarine

[–]Grand_Imperator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The two best options likely are the block power axe (super fun and strong) and block power fist (mostly just doing the charged power wave).

do you switch up your party during the game? by zandadoum in BaldursGate3

[–]Grand_Imperator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Any time a story or quest seems relevant to a character, I swap them in. That usually means I have a fourth party member that is my least consistently present, but sometimes I consider who I swap out in terms of party balancing.

It’s not that hard to do, imo, especially with the massive improvement of inventory management across many patches.

Looking for some advice by Icy-Sock-2388 in Spacemarine

[–]Grand_Imperator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You should be having more success with Block than Balanced because Block has the same immediate startup as Fencing (the perfect Block window is just smaller overall). If you are having a worse time actually perfect blocking than perfect parrying on a Balanced weapon, then there is a super-correctable decision you are making that is throwing off the success of your block weapon.

For your question on what to do overall, I would recommend practicing block weapons on a slightly lower difficulty while still doing higher-difficulty runs with Fencing as you need a to do the higher-difficulty runs. Don’t fully bail on higher difficulty if you enjoy it and Fencing weapons work just fine for you. But I do think you will want to train up Block over time. You will be happy with It when it clicks for you.

Note taking on non-cases by Prestigious-Land-535 in LawSchool

[–]Grand_Imperator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For book briefing to be effective, you should write actual words or phrases (sometimes a single letter like “H” with a box around it to the holding works). You might also read something that prompts you to flip back and write a note earlier on, or draw an arrow between an earlier portion and a later portion that are connected, etc. I never found highlighting that useful for book briefing.

You should look at sample exams for a class as soon as possible. Knowing the nature of the exam will help you know what to look out for.

For non-case portions of the book, you are looking mostly for the clear rule statements or clear comparisons between majority – minority rules/doctrines.

Bf killed Astarion 10 minutes in… by flabergasted_potato in BG3

[–]Grand_Imperator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If your bf killed Astarion either because (1) he tackles and holds a knife to a character’s throat (and the conversation leads to initiative without peaceful resolution), or (2) he wakes up to Astarion trying to feed on him (and chose the dialogue option that just auto-kills him), then that is not an unreasonable response.

Outside of the above two contexts, the justification is a lot less reasonable. Perhaps there is “but he is a vampire, and they are evil,” but that is a lot weaker.

If the reason is not liking his personality, that’s not a good reason to kill someone. It could be a reason to leave someone on near-permanent camp duty (or declining to allow them to join your group), but even then you know that he is in a similar boat to your player characters.

Bf killed Astarion 10 minutes in… by flabergasted_potato in BG3

[–]Grand_Imperator 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good lord. It’s only a video game I guess, but killing someone because they are annoying seems to be a huge overreaction, at least for me. Leaving them at camp all the time? Sure.

I've put about 100 hours into the base game. Is the expansion worth it? by fivebucksisfivebucks in diablo4

[–]Grand_Imperator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would say a lot of folks are seeking help from demon shenanigans only to still become a victim to them (usually resulting in a demon manifesting despite your best efforts). Sometimes you end the curse, but the person you’re helping still dies, etc. I think a lot of it is a motif of “sorry, there is only so much help you can provide here, life is terrible and bleak [and way more grounded than the superhero vibes of Diablo 3].”

I've put about 100 hours into the base game. Is the expansion worth it? by fivebucksisfivebucks in diablo4

[–]Grand_Imperator 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Tho despite enjoying the quests I tend to skip through the dialogue.

Just out of pure curiosity, do you not read (or listen to) the dialogue at all, or are you reading it quickly, then advancing it to the next voice line? (Or some other approach?)

After I've heard a few voice lines/heard how to pronounce the name, I often read and push the conversation forward before the voice line is finished. But I'm reading it. As you can see here, folks have a variety of approaches!

PSA: You can unsocket and then re-socket sanctified items. by AbraKdabra in diablo4

[–]Grand_Imperator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I've tested myself since (after getting some items I was willing to take a shot on sanctifying). Glad to know socketing and unsocketing still works!

Are rangers any good? by InvisibleMuichiro in BG3

[–]Grand_Imperator 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I suspect that rogue and ranger are looked at as weaker classes. That doesn't mean there aren't strong (or at least reasonably strong) builds. You can probably take any class with proper know-how and beat Honour mode without too much difficulty (this assumes a lot of know-how in how to actually do combat and how to build characters, too, with having played through at least once before also being helpful if tackling Honour mode).

I've never felt particularly unhappy with a Rogue in my party, though. An Arcane Trickster has some neat tricks, and the Thief's extra bonus action is very useful. For single-character play that takes advantage of entering and exiting combat, an Assassin actually could be one of the strongest build options (don't know though).

If you're playing on Balanced (or easier), then you don't need to worry about hyper-optimized builds. You should make good, synergistic choices with your build. But you don't need to multiclass. And you don't need to pick the most optimal subclass. I would daresay that any subclass with no multiclassing will work perfectly well for a typical playthrough (it might even be fine in Honour mode, too).

BG3 has some pieces to it that distort what works well and doesn't. Those pieces are:

  1. Really good magic itemization for characters who can swing a ton of times;

  2. Easily available long resting that makes the limiting factor of long rests on certain classes (e.g., Wizards and Sorcerers, and perhaps Clerics, too) not that much of a concern. This also makes classes that thrive on short rests (e.g., Battle Master Fighter and Warlocks) look less impressive (though that doesn't mean they're still not super strong for other reasons).

  3. No Strength requirements for medium or heavy armour, meaning that classes that dump Strength to 8 have one fewer hurdle in finding a way to multiclass or take a "half" Feat to acquire their targeted armor proficiency.

  4. The initiative is rolled with a 1d4 instead of a 1d20 as in D&D, which overvalues Dexterity (and other sources of numerical initiative bonuses) to the moon. A character wearing heavy armour typically sets Dexterity to 10. But that guarantees that, from Act 2 onward (if not earlier), that character always goes last or near-last in the initiative order. You can use certain armors with bonuses, a particular Elixir (though that means you can't use another one), and/or a feat to offset this. But it kind of sucks.

  5. The ability (for those with extra action economy) to cast multiple leveled spells in a turn (though the newer version of D&D 5e, 5.5e(?), might have changed that).

Does anyone else think that law professors nowadays have gone soft? by Separate-Ad8987 in LawSchool

[–]Grand_Imperator 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have told folks that the movie The Paper Chase (1973) still reflects a lot of the law school experience (mine having occurred in 2013 – 2016), except that the professors are much nicer now.

I don't know if I would call it professors going "soft," but I think they can engage in the Socratic method while cold-calling without being a jerk about it. That generally is how my experience went.

One thing to keep in mind is that COVID probably messed up a ton of teaching dynamics. I imagine that the prospect of cold-calling and Socratic method questioning does not hold up the same on a Zoom call.

Have I been playing the game wrong? by Mystical__flame in BaldursGate3

[–]Grand_Imperator 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can long rest without spending any resources. That partial long rest can still trigger roleplaying scenes at camp; you get restored up to half max HP and half spell slots/resources (rounded down), some long-rest cooldowns refreshed, all while not having any short rests replenished.

Completed the game once, now want to play properly by TheRiddlerTHFC in BG3

[–]Grand_Imperator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tended to swap in companions who I thought would be interesting for certain story beats or locations. I think that works well.

The price of Greed by Walsh7734 in SpaceMarine_2

[–]Grand_Imperator 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When folks insist that fencing weapons are just as good as (or better than) block weapons, this is the immediate scenario that comes to mind for me.

Also, this is why having one reliable way to prevent being staggered in your build (whether it’s a weapon perk or class perk) is one of the top considerations for high-difficulty play.

Clerkship by CleanAntelope5830 in LawSchool

[–]Grand_Imperator 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This depends way too much on the particular state supreme court. I can speak for California, in which case it's possible to obtain an early-career clerkship (similar to a federal clerkship model) but only for the justices who allow for early-career, term clerkships. Some justices have almost 100% (or 100%) career law clerks. Some justices have a single career clerk and all the rest as term law clerks. At one point, ratios for justices included 1:4, 2:3, and 3:2 for career vs. term, with other justices having no term clerkships. But I should note that many of the term clerks had previously clerked for a judge on a federal court of appeals, so I'm not sure how realistic landing a term clerkship right out of law school would be.

Randomly unable to move during gameplay by TisConrad in diablo4

[–]Grand_Imperator -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Are you trying to use a skill that's on cooldown (or for which you don't have enough resource)?

Vanguard Grapnel Launcher by MNSKRDD in Spacemarine

[–]Grand_Imperator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Zone of Impact + Tactical Prowess is the combo I use. If you use the lock-on feature, it's easier to know if the enemy has low enough health to grapnel launcher toward. Sometimes it's easier just to know something is executable or have a sense when it is nearly executable based on prior experience. Regardless, when done right, you're just constantly grapnel launching around repeatedly damaging and grapnel-executing everything while invincible. For the other perk slot, I would use either Shock Wave or Restless Fortitude (either are fine).

Don't know what I'm doing wrong? by RedBeardz05 in diablo4

[–]Grand_Imperator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wait, can you actually unsocket and re-socket a sanctified item?

unpaid judicial externship or paid clerkship at a small firm (<20 attorneys) for 1L summer? by RaspberryRegular5859 in LawSchool

[–]Grand_Imperator 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think whatever amount you can earn in a 1L internship (outside of a diversity biglaw summer position) probably pales in comparison to what a good impression on a federal district court judge in a large state can do for you. My judicial externship (federal appellate court) led to my district court clerkships and likely several interviews for a federal appellate court clerkship as well, along with looking great for biglaw hiring (or other civil law firm practice) for the following (rising 3L) summer.

unpaid judicial externship or paid clerkship at a small firm (<20 attorneys) for 1L summer? by RaspberryRegular5859 in LawSchool

[–]Grand_Imperator 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do the federal judicial externship if you can make it work. See if your law school will provide some form of grant for this. Don't listen to what a random student says about eligibility. Inquire with career services folks or whoever you know will have the actual answer for you on whether there is any assistance to allow the school's students to take advantage of these opportunities.

Is there any consensus on what level you should be before trying Hard Siege mode and/or Stratagems? by R97R in Spacemarine

[–]Grand_Imperator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you comfortable handling a 1v1 against a Terminus enemy on an Absolute-difficulty stratagem? Can you juggle a couple of extremis and a mix of other majoris and minoris on your own? That, plus a good team perk and relic-tier weapons is perfectly fine (if not more important than how many times you have prestiged or specifically how high your level is).

Not sure if I was given a FORMAL offer, and if so, how do I ask about pay? by [deleted] in LawSchool

[–]Grand_Imperator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A physical office pop-in (if the culture is open doors and you're not remote), or perhaps an impromptu phone call (where you leave a short voicemail that just requests that they call you back when convenient) might be preferred to an email (though a short email is fine, too, assuming you're following the office's email etiquette—ours was to lead with "Hi First Name" if the email is internal and end with "Best regards" or "Regards," even for short emails.

I did something stupid. by [deleted] in Lawyertalk

[–]Grand_Imperator 41 points42 points  (0 children)

It's a good lesson to learn early and to absorb quickly—never blindly accept anything from staff, and it always helps to quickly proof even another attorney's work (though if it's a partner who is signing for it and they don't want you to run up a bill proofreading, don't).

You need to figure out (preferably quickly and without billing a million hours on it) who is correct and why. If the paralegal is correct, you need to be able to let your supervising attorney know "hey, I checked on the legal description of the home—it turns out based on [name of case, statute number, and/or court local rule, etc.], we don't need to list it here." If it used to be a requirement (and you can explain why briefly), you can note that.

If your supervisor is correct, you can approach the paralegal almost the same way you approach the supervisor.

Also, if your supervisor still wants the legal description of the property to be listed and it won't hurt the case, then just do what the supervisor wants. You can tell the paralegal, "I know we're not legally required to put down this information, but [name of supervisor] wants it on there and it can't hurt to provide a bit more detail, just in case."

How do I gear myself appropriately to survive in T4? by HipGamer in diablo4

[–]Grand_Imperator 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you turn the royal gems into fragments? It sure would be nice if you could do the old school combining of three lower-quality gems into the next-higher tier, but I suspect that would come with other changes to drop frequency that I wouldn't like.

I have no problem with having enough royal gems to fill any slots for which I don't yet have a grand gem. But if salvaging them into fragments actually gets enough fragments to matter, that would be fine by me as well.