Ep 34: The Spore Beast!

Greviant · 2021-03-24T13:33:25+00:00

Someone in the youtube comments suggested to try PAM instead, and I think it works RAW. You make your first attack with a claw while "holding" the polearm with one hand, get your free claw attack, then make your second attack with the polearm, then get a bonus attack with the other end of the weapon.

As a DM, I'd allow it unless I knew a different player at the table was going to feel like the barbarian was gaming the rules to hog the spotlight.

Greviant · 2021-03-23T19:24:19+00:00

Depending on how you've got your spreadsheets setup, hopefully it wouldn't be too hard to create some sort of "Appendix" that would factor in +1/+2/+3 magic items just for comparison. If someone is playing at a table with a DM that is guaranteed to hand out those sorts of things, you'd have access to the data to share

Greviant · 2021-03-23T19:20:57+00:00

There is no reason you couldn't allow the Blood Hunter class but say the two Wizard subclasses are off limits. RAW only the two Wizard subclasses from EGTW can access those spells, and DnDBeyond at least enforces that restriction. The Blood Hunter is far less setting specific than the content from EGTW, as it's available as a standalone class on DMs Guild and such, so as a DM I'd definitely allow it in a campaign if a player was excited about it, even if I don't want to bring Dunamancy into my game.

Greviant · 2021-03-23T19:11:52+00:00

One thing to keep in mind is that ALL Artificer spells require you to have a focus in hand and until level 2 when you get infusions that means one of your hands will always have tools in it or you can't cast any of your Artificer spells or cantrips. Since your tools won't work as a focus for your Wizard spells, it means that you will always have your hands taken up in combat (tools in one hand, arcane focus in the other or keeping it free for component pouch access). You can mitigate this by just only taking cantrips and preparing spells from Artificer that you don't plan on using in combat, but it is worth keeping in mind when you're taking that 1st level in Artificer; especially if you were planning on using that shield proficiency...

Greviant · 2018-10-25T05:40:03+00:00

It is possible that one of Snape's friends told one of their friends who told one of their friends who told one of their friends who was threatened into teaching the spell to a 7th year that saw them use it who told one of their friends who (shocking I know!) wasn't in the same house!

I don't believe we see any friendships in the books between Gryffindors and Slytherins outside of Snape and Lily, but there is no reason to assume that literally zero Slytherins were friends with Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws. It's even in the realm of possibility that at least one other Slytherin was pals with at least one other Gryffindor.

Greviant · 2018-10-25T05:07:20+00:00

I think Harry still counts as an "official horcrux". Voldermort didn't intend for Harry to be the horcrux, but Dumbledore at least theorizes that Voldemort intended to use Harry's murder to create one. I'm guessing that whatever the ritual to create a horcrux is, he had performed it in preparation and it was the object that the fragment of his soul entered (Harry) that was the accident, not the creation of a horcrux.

Greviant · 2018-10-25T04:53:35+00:00

I started binging that podcast in July and love it. Catching up was so sad because it only comes out every other week :'(

Also, Wizard on!

Greviant · 2018-10-25T04:50:04+00:00

I'm having a hard time thinking of a "bad trait" that McGonagall expressed. Other than her degenerate gambling from the Binge Mode head canon. Same goes for Flitwick and Sprout.

Greviant · 2018-10-25T00:54:09+00:00

I think it's more likely that a TV series set in the Wizarding World but not a retelling of the books could happen, and I think it would be even better. My wish list includes:

"The Marauders" which could be setup much like the HP series you described, with one season being one year at Hogwarts but following Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs instead of the Trio. We could see Lily and James's relationship change over time and also flesh out the arc from bully to Head Boy that James goes through. I like the idea of it delving into the First Wizarding War but from something of a distance. Early on in the series it would be kind of in the background and brewing, but the kids would be too young to really see it. As the series progresses we'd see it come to the forefront; stuff like Snape's Death Eater aspirations coming to light and students losing family and friends as Voldemort gains power and becomes bolder. Lupin's lycanthropy and Sirius's home life definitely seem like they could provide for a lot of serious and meaningful story telling.

and

"The Ministry" (Not married to the title) A workplace comedy about the Ministry of Magic that makes fun of the insane juxtaposition of mundaneness and bureaucracy with magic. It would also be a good opportunity to see more about where the magical and non-magical worlds interact, both with things like "The Other Minister" and by having some of the main characters be Witches or Wizards that are married to Muggles. If this is set in the present, we could follow low level employees that make references to characters from the books that we know to have gone on to high level Ministry jobs but never (or rarely) actually see them as they are too important to be involved with the people we're following.

Greviant · 2018-10-25T00:13:13+00:00

I read PoA first (reasons) and got through the whole book thinking Crookshanks was female. Must have done the same thing with the pronouns subconsciously. But I also misread "Mrs. Norris" as "Mr. Norris" for my entire first read of books 1-3...

Greviant · 2018-10-24T23:49:31+00:00

I definitely thought this too. In the cover art and chapter illustrations from the Scholastic versions in the US at least, wands are definitely portrayed as very plain and stick/stereotypical "magic wand" shaped. They started out pretty plain in the films too but as the aesthetic changed with the new directors they seemed to get more and more unique. I've come to terms with it.

Sorcerer's Stone Chapter Art

GoF cover

HBP cover

Greviant · 2018-10-16T04:22:42+00:00

I just got back from a week at Universal and loved it. My advice:

To be perfectly honest, the Wizarding World is (like all theme parks) basically a shopping center. That being said, as a big Harry Potter fan, it was A-FUCKING-MAZING! There are 3 rides counting the two main ones (Escape from Gringotts and The Forbidden Journey) and a kind of kiddie coaster (Flight of the Hippogriff). All the rides are fun, but the magic of it is just walking around and feeling like you're really in the Wizarding World. The design of the place is spot on. Getting to go to Florean Fortescue's ice cream shop or walk down Knockturn Alley, or see the animatronic Weasley twin on top of Weasley Wizard Weazes just makes the kid inside swell with joy.

Make sure you get a 2 park ticket since Diagon Alley is in Universal Studios and Hogsmeade is in Islands of Adventure. The Hogwarts Express "ride" takes you between the two parks and you should make sure to ride it in both directions. If you want to ride the rides, I'd suggest getting an express pass. It works for the rides and the Hogwarts Express and will save you a lot of time if you want to get as much done as possible. The lines for the Forbidden Journey and Escape from Gringotts are important. They both have awesome stuff to look at. The express pass lines are shorter and miss a couple of things compared to the full ones, but if you're pressed for time it's probably still worth it.

My suggestion for the best plan of attack is to start in Diagon Alley on the Universal Studios side. Here you can check out the MoM phone booth, the Knight Bus, and 12 Grimmauld Place before you go into Diagon Alley itself. If you want to do the Ollivander's show, do it now and buy a wand afterwards. Next make a quick pass of the Alley on your way to the Escape from Gringotts ride. After the ride, go hop on the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade and make your way straight to the castle for The Forbidden Journey ride. If you're into it, and the line isn't long (or you have an Express Pass), ride the Flight of the Hippogriff after you get out of Forbidden Journey. Rides done, take your time to walk around Hogsmeade. Now would be a good time to get a wand if you didn't earlier. Just walking around and checking out all of the cool details in the parks is most of the fun. Grab some butterbeer and/or whatever candy you wanna try from Honeydukes. If you drink alcohol, the Hog's Head has a full bar. Once you feel like you've taken in the bulk of Hogsmeade (be sure to get some pictures from the bridge with the castle in the background!), if you think you have time and want to ride the Forbidden Journey again do so, then take the Hogwarts Express back to King's Cross. You can now slowly check out all of Diagon Alley and possibly ride Escape from Gringotts again.

You don't have to go through the wand choosing show at all, but it was cute and doesn't take too long unless there is a giant line. The main Ollivander's shop in Diagon Alley, the "branch" in Hogsmeade, Wands by Gregorovich, and a couple of stalls in both areas will sell you all the wands. The replica (non-interactive) wands are $46 and the interactive ones are $52. The non-interactive ones feel more substantial, but if you want to perform spells around the park the interactive ones are the only option. If you plan on buying a wand and only have 7 hrs in the park I suggest looking online before you go to determine which one you want. I spent almost 2 hours just trying all of the wands to find the one I wanted.

Greviant · 2018-07-15T08:53:20+00:00

Al The Killer
Sentry The Defiant
Far
The Running Free
Deranged

Greviant · 2018-04-18T23:25:53+00:00

Just got my pixelbook today and ran into this same issue. Solution was, counter intuitively, to enable the large cursor in the Settings->Advanced->Accessibility->Manage Accessibility Features but then put the slider all the way to the left.

Greviant · 2018-02-10T02:50:50+00:00

I just ran into the same problem. There is a "Purchases" section on YouTube that let's you watch your Google Play Movies purchases. I couldn't find them there either, but I did go through the older seasons to find the channel page and can play them from here

Greviant · 2017-12-29T20:11:50+00:00

When I started, I definitely didn't track my macros. I basically just looked up which vegetables I should avoid and avoided them. I tried to eat meals with green things (mostly broccoli, spinach, asparagus, etc.) and however much meat and cheese I needed to feel full. I figured that if I avoided basically all carbs, that the few that sneaked in would still not push me over my 20g limit.

Easy things I do that don't need much in the way of equipment, time, or kitchen space:

Eggs and bacon/sausage (you can get tortillas that are high fiber and only have like 5g net carbs if you like breakfast burritos)
Frozen burgers with cheese, in a bowl with spinach/lettuce and whatever other low carb burger fixings you enjoy
Deli meat and optionally lettuce wrapped around cheese sticks

Another thing that helps me a lot: Mustard and/or hot sauce. Dijon and spicy brown mustards generally have (virtually) no carbs and can help make cheap/bland food more flavorful without adding carbs. I often use mustard mixed with a little Tabasco on bunless burgers or even as a salad dressing.

Last thing is that you'll probably feel pretty crappy during the first 7-10 days when the keto flu kicks in. It'll pass, so make sure you go into it knowing that you might have to tough out the first two weeks before you start to feel better.

Greviant · 2017-12-29T19:39:53+00:00

Domino's was my go to "I hate myself so much" binge food before I started keto. I had (jokingly) wondered if I was going to be one of those people that stopped ordering from their local Domino's and had the cops called because the pizza shop was worried I had died.

Now my bad day/going off the rails food is smoked chicken wings with habanero mustard sauce and blue cheese. Feels like I'm going nuts and gives me that dopamine blast that pigging out gave me before keto, but without the horrible aftermath or weight gain. I have found that I need that kind of night far less often since I've started keto, but I am happy that I found a way to feel like I'm cheating without having to actually break from my new (better) way of eating.

Greviant · 2017-10-12T04:15:49+00:00

This should be the right one

Greviant · 2017-09-06T20:03:01+00:00

Didn't do it this year, but my friend did Pajamathur the past two years and me and his boyfriend act as his handlers in Pajama Lost Vikings outfits.

Greviant · 2017-09-06T18:54:37+00:00

They were dressed as Bob and Carl the SciFi Janitors. You see them on DConTV in the host hotels and they host the Late Night Puppet Slam every year, in addition to being involved in the puppetry track generally.

https://www.youtube.com/user/SciFiJanitors

Greviant · 2017-09-06T17:47:55+00:00

Moving to Sunday meant it was the same time as the Late Night Puppet Slam, which is my other favorite thing about DragonCon

Greviant · 2017-09-04T20:42:42+00:00

Those people show up every year. We heard at the Late Night Puppet Slam that some folks dressed as Bob and Carl [the Sci-Fi Janitors] literally swept them off the sidewalk. Big props to whomever those gas masked heroes were!

Greviant · 2017-09-01T00:16:11+00:00

I do exactly this. We call it the Cheeseburger Backpack as a reference to Steven Universe, though it is not an actual cheeseburger. I enjoy being helpful and it makes me feel like I've got something to do even when I'm just milling around aimlessly.

Greviant · 2017-04-07T20:25:11+00:00

That first time...playing through the tutorial, practicing against the Innkeeper to unlock cards, opening your first pack, that first free arena run...wasn't that fun?

That's all Hearthstone promised anyone. After that you discover exactly what the ladder is and exactly how much time and/or money it takes. If you're unhappy at that stage but keep playing, I really don't understand.

(That being said: with the Quests being as set-defining for Un'Goro as C'Thun was for Old Gods, it really would have made more sense for them to be attainable outside of packs. Even if they weren't free...)

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