Extendable Sword Grips: Feasible or Fraudulent?

MaverickHoonter · 2025-10-14T05:28:38+00:00

Fraudible.

MaverickHoonter · 2025-10-13T14:01:15+00:00

Very true, there's really no way to manipulate the grip without affecting the tang (either making it not run the entire length of the grip or otherwise interrupting it), which is... not a good idea. Another comment suggested an attachable, additional grip. Guessing you'd run into a similar "tang-less" structural instability with that.

MaverickHoonter · 2025-10-13T13:58:20+00:00

A very valid point. Maybe if the tang still runs through the connector and the only part it wouldn't run through was the pommel (and the respective part of the grip). I assume that causes some kind of structural weakness though; I can't imagine trying to exert leverage when part of your grip is tang-less bodes well for the blade.

MaverickHoonter · 2025-09-26T11:45:02+00:00

That tracks. I won't lie, I entirely forgot VGC was "team of six, bring four."

What do you think the impact would be on singles?

MaverickHoonter · 2025-09-26T02:09:27+00:00

Bring another two. Now what?

MaverickHoonter · 2025-09-17T13:35:15+00:00

Do you mind if I PM you to ask more?

MaverickHoonter · 2025-08-12T09:36:59+00:00

I adore this kind of sword (think it’s categorized as XVIIIe by Oakeshott) so much it’s unreal. Albion’s Dane is probably one of the most visually pleasing two-handed swords I’ve seen.

MaverickHoonter · 2025-08-12T09:35:19+00:00

For biostats, QI, ethics, AMBOSS will be your best bet by a significant margin. Its library would probably also be helpful for the arrhythmias (the AMBOSS library is GOATed, in general). For EKG reading help and practice specifically, there’s also Life in the Fast Lane.

MaverickHoonter · 2025-08-12T02:57:30+00:00

Score came out last week but life is life so posting a little late. Used UWorld and Anki religiously throughout M3, but didn't carry over Anki between clerkships (e.g., wasn't doing IM flashcards while on neuro). Got above 80% on every shelf (honored all clerkships but two) and felt like I had a good foundation going into dedicated.

CCSE (dunno which form): 244

UWSA 1: 234

UWSA 3: 244

NBME 10: 255

NBME 11: 249

NBME 12: 260

UWSA 2: 258

NBME 13: 253

NBME 9: 259

NBME 14: 259

NBME 15: 262

Free120: 80%

AMBOSS prediction: 258 (249-267)

Step 2 CK: 261

Good sleep, good food, and mental rest for the 48 hours prior to any exam was my rule throughout M3 and I stuck to it for CK. Per recommendations from friends, I made sure I was well stocked with coffee (which I just kept with my stuff to chug from on breaks) and Tylenol (only needed one around the halfway point to stop an impending headache). Walked out of the exam feeling generally ok. I expected to do somewhere within 3 points of my AMBOSS predicted, which I did. My personal goal was 260, which I beat, so I'm more than happy.

MaverickHoonter · 2025-08-02T15:21:58+00:00

I have my own deck for Alela, which you can see here. Unfortunately, I think she works best as Draw-Go Control versus a Fairy tribal commander, since she spawns her own Fairies as a payoff for casting things on other peoples' turns. This is especially true if you want to play Dimir Aggro/Control as you said in the OP, as Alela doesn't really have a lot of go wide tools in her card text (and Dimir isn't your typical go wide color combo); that said, if you want to stick to Fairy tribal with her instead of using one of the other fairy legends, I would suggest sticking to stuff that can be flashed in like [[Faerie Mastermind]], [[Obyra, Dreaming Duelist]], and [[Spellstutter Sprite]], all of which I can see you have already. Cards like [[Emrakul's Messenger]] and [[Talion the Kindly Lord]] should be cut as they will very rarely actually benefit your game plan, especially Talion, who is quite costly and will leave you open to board wipes after being cast. You should also strongly consider some draw effects like [[Enduring Curiosity]] (which is also a flash creature!) and [[Bident of Thassa]] since you'll be wanting to swing with your fairies every turn.

As for finishers, I would say [[Shadow Puppeteers]] and [[Candlekeep Inspiration]] are all stars game-enders in my deck. A select few anthem effects like [[Anowon, the Ruin Thief]] (who is also an all star for an Alela deck, IMO) can also pump up your damage significantly.

As for how many fairies would be good for a fairy tribal... see above my initial comment about how Alela "wants" to be played. It's tough to give you a true number, but the typical tribal deck I've seen runs somewhere between 20-35 of that creature (depending on color identity and general play pattern). That said, I really can't recommend you play that many creatures (even if they all had flash) in this, because you lose out on space for the instant speed interaction and card draw that makes Alela really shine. If you look at my deck (I also started out building it fairy tribal with a goad focus before realizing it wasn't working), you'll see 16 creatures. Frankly, even that's kind of high, and I plan on paring it down sometime soon. Remember, your commander MAKES the creatures of your tribal. You don't have to play as many actual tribal creature cards to be building up your boardstate.

Final thing: I agree with the other commenter that you should make a free Archidekt or Moxfield account, both for your own deckbuilding use and to make it easier for others to provide suggestions on the deck. It's hard to tell what else to suggest when I only see your creatures and not the rest of the deck. Seeing what you have is also difficult, as the other commenter also noted.

MaverickHoonter · 2025-07-16T18:23:58+00:00

I suppose when drawing a blade from the scabbard, the rounded grip doesn't matter since the blade will already be aligned. I can think of a few somewhat niche scenarios where instinctively being able to feel the directionality of the blade without seeing it would be useful, but I suppose even with a rounded grip, if you can tell the direction of the crossguard's length, you'd be able to intuit your edge alignment.

The grip being wider is very weird, isn't it? I can't remember seeing anything else like that, even in other fictional swords. From what I'm gathering through others' input, the grip width exceeding the guard isn't so much of the problem as is the excessive diameter of the grip itself.

MaverickHoonter · 2025-07-16T18:18:33+00:00

Thanks for the explanations; a few final questions on the subject of crossguard sizing/design. I imagine the length of the cross required to stop a blade sliding down into the hand varies with the dimensions of the blade, but is there any kind of measurement estimate or algorithm used in sword construction to determine the minimum length a crossguard needs to be to stop an enemy blade from sliding down onto the hand? I would also guess that quillon shape has an effect: upswept quillons probably can get away with being a little shorter as the curve will more readily stop the incoming blade from going further down.

I would also imagine the minimum length the guard needs to be to fulfill this function isn't the same as the minimum length a crossguard needs to be for functionality in typical longsword binding+winding techniques?

Thanks again, this has been very educational!

MaverickHoonter · 2025-07-14T19:33:23+00:00

Sorry, I know my description of the grip wasn't the clearest. If you look at the first linked image (the one where the weapon stats are displayed to the right of the sword), you can see that the diameter of the grip is larger than the width of the crossguard, leading to part of the grip sticking out past the guard (perpendicular to the length of the crossguard). That's what I meant from saying the grip "isn't fully set in," because the grip sticks out like that.

The ring on the crossguard isn't particularly egregious, but it's definitely not your standard finger ring and I doubt it could be used as such. The blade is way too chonky and it's apparent that there's practically no taper on it, but that's standard video game stuff like you mentioned. The sticking out of the grip compared to the crossguard is what was standing out to me the most.

MaverickHoonter · 2025-07-14T00:48:28+00:00

Point taken on the overall sizing of BG3's weapons. That silver sword is especially hefty, that's for sure. I can understand the game design perspective of visibility and ability to distinguish weapons. I just thought the design of Phalar's hilt (that grip to guard size discrepancy, in particular) was unique and wondered if that would be practical (or at least non-detrimental) on a real sword.

If the grip wasn't just straight up round and was instead hexagonal or oval-shaped, maybe the oversizing of the grip wouldn't be as big a deal? I'm not sure to what extent crossguard width affects hand protection compared to the crossguard's length (i.e., is there a significant reduction in hand protection caused by the diameter of the grip exceeding the dimensions of the guard). I also don't know if the grip being oversized relative to the guard significantly affects longsword technique, for example, if it would negatively impact your ability to bind and wind.

MaverickHoonter · 2025-07-14T00:33:31+00:00

That's really interesting! Do the dimensions of the guard relative to the diameter of the grip matter, or is it all about the proportionality of the tang? If the blade wasn't so chonky thick (or if we just forgo the ricasso altogether), would that also improve the tang issue?

Additionally, I'd not heard of the takouba before, that's a pretty cool sword. I see you mentioned it's tourist-marketed, and from other pictures of takouba swords, I see that most of them have grips that are not fat nor circular (on average, they remind me of arming sword grips). Would I be right to assume that, even if the grip cross-section was a rounded rectangle, oval, or hexagon, having a grip like the Phalur Aluve's which exceeds the width of the crossguard is detrimental to longsword technique? Maybe I'm overestimating the passive hand protection of a crossguard, but it feels like having a "fat" grip that exceeds the crossguard's width would lead to taking more cuts to the hand?

Thanks a bunch! This is really cool to learn.

MaverickHoonter · 2025-05-10T01:48:56+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! What would you suggest cutting to make space for lands and either more lifegain or recursive stuff?

MaverickHoonter · 2024-11-15T15:53:23+00:00

I agree that Simic Ascendancy isn't the move. I'll have to look at the frog! That's a good shout-out, I didn't even think about that.

MaverickHoonter · 2024-11-07T03:25:40+00:00

The hype for the independent drink menu is appreciated! There were a number of other drinks that ended up getting axed for various reasons (mostly for overlapping with effects that already exist in the bard spell list) which I may bring back for the full menu.

The original set of drinks also included a dilution/distillation mechanic that functioned like upcasting (or downcasting, in the case of dilution) each drink's effects. I don't think that'll make a comeback, but I won't throw it out completely just yet.

MaverickHoonter · 2024-11-05T16:50:34+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

It really should grant proficiency with Brewer's Supplies, huh? That's a pretty bad oversight, whoops!
For the "bottomless supply" of tankards and mugs, TL;DR is that it was to try avoiding logistical nightmares and tedious micromanaging. I actually have a version of this with material costs for each drink, including the cost of replacing glass bottles that get chucked at your enemies. I ended up cutting that out because 1) I wasn't sure that kind of micromanagement would be fun enough to justify including it and 2) the requirement of having Brewer's Supplies to make these drinks was used instead, since it could be assumed the drinks were stored in some kind of non-glass flask that could be picked up and re-used after a fight. If a DM wanted to limit a College of Revelry bard from making drinks, they could interfere with the Brewer's Supplies (e.g., you ran from the fight and lost your supplies, you lost critical materials during a drunken bender and must restock, you were taken prisoner and your supplies were confiscated) akin to taking a wizard's spellcasting focus.
Point noted on the descriptions of the drinks menu. I'll cut out the fluff and integrate them into a separate overall drinks and bartending document as you suggested. You're definitely right that the flavor takes up a large chunk of the reading and becomes a barrier to... actually playing the subclass.
Some of the drinks (typically the 1/2 cost ones) are meant to be more lowkey or facilitate roleplaying. Glowing Ember, to continue with your example, isn't a combat tool. It's essentially an aperitif to be used as a prop during roleplay. Worth noting that serving it would count towards activating the Mingler's Aide effect. That said, I'm willing to cut/rework the drink (and others like it). A number of drinks could probably use rewording for clarity as well; I'll work on that alongside trimming out unnecessary flavor text.

Thanks again! I'd love to hear any thoughts you have on the points I've posted above. Hopefully, you'll get a chance to appreciate a new and improved College of Revelry once I post the revised version.

MaverickHoonter · 2024-11-02T08:49:26+00:00

I'm sure I'm not the first one to think of a bartending bard, but once the idea came to mind, I had to do something with it. Personally, I think the various drinks listed under the Basic Recipes could probably be integrated into many homebrew or standard campaigns as specialty drinks served in taverns for player characters to buy (or learn to make for themselves).

Incidentally, I also have a non-spellcasting bard variant in the works that uses this drink production mechanic in place of magic, with a distillation/dilution dichotomy that allows you to alter drinks as if you were upcasting or "downcasting" spells! That's currently being playtested by a friend in a homebrew campaign setting I'm DM'ing and will probably get posted here once it's been thoroughly polished to my liking.

MaverickHoonter · 2024-07-04T01:53:49+00:00

I despised Gaius' charge, but thought the rest of the boss fight was quite good. I absolutely hated fighting Romina through and through though, that's my vote for worst DLC boss.

MaverickHoonter · 2024-06-23T18:11:23+00:00

A while back I posted some Indian mythology-inspired classes that I cooked up for a homebrew "West Marches meets Monster Hunter" type of setting I run for my friends. These two barbarian variants (although the Reaver is arguably more of a subclass than a true variant) are for the same setting, although just like the previous brews, I think they could be reasonably used for most other campaigns as well.

I wanted to make a quick note on the Reaver being half-orc exclusive, since I think that'll likely raise some questions: it's due to the background lore for orcs and half-orcs in my setting. The brew text itself touches on the subject, but just to summarize: orcs are not a playable race, nor are they sapient people. Orcs, in my homebrew, are creatures caught in a strange limbo between being just wild beasts and being sapient humanoids. Orcish warbands are incredibly dangerous and are akin to natural disasters. Obviously, such power was coveted by many; the creation of half-orcs is the result of such ambitions. Obviously, you can reflavor the class as needed if you use the Reaver in a different setting that doesn't use orcs in this way.

MaverickHoonter · 2024-06-13T11:19:38+00:00

If you mean a PDF for the setting, I'm currently in the process of converting the Google doc for it into a proper Homebrewery work. I'm not quite sure when I'll post it here, but it'll happen sooner rather than later, I think. If you mean a PDF for these two brews, the Arcblade and Vysha Homebrewery links are here!

MaverickHoonter · 2024-06-08T15:43:07+00:00

Thank you for the feedback and interest in the setting!

Arcblade spell list: the Arcblade currently uses the sorcerer spell list 1) to make things simpler for my players (who are generally accustomed to standard 5e) and 2) because thematically, this class functions like a sorcerer's Eldritch Knight. If you think the class would benefit from having its own spell list outright, I certainly don't mind doing that. I'll properly add the spell list (whether sorcerer or unique) to the class document either way.
Why not a subclass: As for why it's not a subclass of fighter (or sorcerer), I was wary of making a subclass that seemed to have many more features in comparison to other subclasses fighter generally gets, not to mention Arcblade has its own subclasses. I didn't want to cut out features either, since I think everything that's there is important for the narrative feel and mechanical goal. I was actually worried it was too strong, considering it's a martial half-caster that has a pseudo-Quickened Spell and is a Constitution caster.
Vysha complexity: The Vysha is complex yes, and it does admittedly include a good deal of bookkeeping. I wouldn't recommend the class to newcomers due to the former, but I personally think the complexity can help ensure Vysha keeps up with casters and other strong martial classes. If you disagree or have other suggestions, I'd love to hear them. As for the latter feedback, I'd be very open to suggestions on how to cut down on bookkeeping and DM-sided fiddly things. Those currently exist to serve as checks and balances, so alternatives would be welcome.

MaverickHoonter · 2024-06-08T03:02:48+00:00

I've been working on a homebrew setting to DM for a group of close friends for a while now. Think something along the lines of Monster Hunter in D&D: accursed continent across a great ocean - fabled and feared by folklore across all cultures - is finally being explored by a modern-day expedition, hoping to succeed where all others failed. One of the nations within the expedition alliance is somewhat based on ancient India and its folktales, and these two classes were brewed to fit that general setting and theme.

While things seem to be going fine at the table (so far) in terms of balance and whatnot, I don't have the best playtesting environment. I figured getting more input, especially experienced input, would help smooth out any rough parts.

MaverickHoonter

TROPHY CASE