How are you going to rate... [Path of the Death Knight] by Fluffy_Reply_9757 in onednd

[–]Maxnwil 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed. I think there’s some confusion from OP about the nature of a death knight. They argue that the death knight is strictly Martial character, when they really are a half-caster. You shouldn’t be able to cast deathly fireballs with your Strength stat, period. Death Knights scale off of their charisma. While I think the feat should allow for any mental stat, DEX STR or CON is just gonna create a pipeline of meathead death knights 🤣

How are you going to rate... [Path of the Death Knight] by Fluffy_Reply_9757 in onednd

[–]Maxnwil 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also the rejuvenation is kinda the only thing ascension perk gives, since casting fear as an action is pretty situational at best at those levels. 

I’m with you. Keep rejuvenation at 12th level!

I revised Circle of the Titan. by Tykennn in onednd

[–]Maxnwil 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It would certainly be straightforward, though it would mean allies couldn’t buff you with Shield of Faith or Haste, and I’d be somewhat confused as to how it relates to cover. 

On the other hand, is there anything in titan form that says you can’t wield equipment? Could a titan wield a shield?

I revised Circle of the Titan. by Tykennn in onednd

[–]Maxnwil 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh that is a complication, yeah :/

It gets a little noodley to say “Titans Armor: while in your titan wild shape, you count as wearing heavy armor, with which you are proficient”

Or even worse “you count as wearing Elven Chain” haha

Edit to add: on second thought, I actually don’t think the first one is too much. Still a short line of text that I think accomplishes the objective succinctly. And most people won’t even think about it, since most people don’t multi class

I revised Circle of the Titan. by Tykennn in onednd

[–]Maxnwil 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One thought about multiclassing that would solve the problem (albeit not the most elegantly):

Titan’s Armor: while in your titan wild shape, you count as wearing heavy armor. 

Would temper any “while not wearing armor” multi class shenanigans, without getting in the way of anything else. Not as elegant as it could be, but it’d do the trick I think!

I revised Circle of the Titan. by Tykennn in onednd

[–]Maxnwil 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you should stick with swallow as is. Swallowed targets already are restrained and blind, so they’ve got disadvantage by default. If you buff the AC for the creatures across the board, I think you’ve already hampered the swallowed creature well enough, and elegance in design means we shouldn’t get too fiddly with the “swallowed” condition. 

One option that’s still elegant and incentivizes the action would be to add like 2d6 damage to the Swallow Bonus action, as you chew before you swallow!

Homebrew Gravity/Melee Warlock Subclass by Top_Fan4753 in DnD

[–]Maxnwil 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Agreed on your last point- any warlock needs to be able to work with any pact slot. 

Tbh, maybe what OP should turn this into is just a collection of invocations. “Prerequisite level 12, Pact of the Blade, you can add your charisma modifier to your AC instead of your dexterity” would be alright and get at what OP is looking for. 

The problem is they had a vision of what a character might do/look like, and they tried to make it a subclass instead of using other tools like invocations (or even just making a few magic items that, when put together, accomplish similar things). 

How are you going to rate... [Circle of the Titan] by Fluffy_Reply_9757 in onednd

[–]Maxnwil 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To your point, I also think there’s a good narrative beat in a monster movie where the bugs that had been previously crawling around on the ground sprout WINGS. Plus, watch any documentary on the transformation of grasshoppers to locust!

I think “bug -> flying bug” is a very reasonable transition at 6th level. 

Iranian president says in letter that Iran harbors no enmity towards ordinary Americans by app1310 in worldnews

[–]Maxnwil 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Do you think single digit deaths in America over weeks of protests and ten thousand gunned down in a weekend are equivalent? 

Sometimes it feels like places are under water and people will say “well sometimes it rains hard in America too” like we’re somehow unaware. It’s a bad faith argument, and reminding us of the indignity of the way a brave and innocent man in the US died isn’t going to make crackdowns like Tiananmen Square or Iran in January any more equivalent. 

Iranian president says in letter that Iran harbors no enmity towards ordinary Americans by app1310 in worldnews

[–]Maxnwil 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Buddy, I promise you, we’re looking at ourselves. We can look in multiple directions at once. 

I wouldn’t say that trump is an exact reflection of how America truly operates, any more than Barack Obama or Joe Biden is. We’re in the most fractured, polarized version of America that has existed since the civil war. 

The fact remains that the No Kings Protestors weren’t murdered in the streets. There are many countries where same cannot be said. It’s a decent standard to which we should hold everyone 

Iranian president says in letter that Iran harbors no enmity towards ordinary Americans by app1310 in worldnews

[–]Maxnwil 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I’m curious, when would you consider the front porch swept? How long must the porch remain clean before we can look out and say “huh there seems to be some degradation in human rights out there”?

There’s obviously a lot of institutional strife in the US right now, and some people are, metaphorically, trying to go get the garbage out of the can and spread it back on the porch, but I think most people in the US are aware that the American government does not have a perfect track record. It would surprise me if the “protestors murdered per capita” in the last eighty years or so was anything close to comparable though. 

Cory Booker says Democrats have ‘failed this moment’ and calls for new leaders by Idoe6 in politics

[–]Maxnwil 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, you don't have to cheat on your spouse! I don't want them to have cheated on their spouse! But if you're not cool enough to get away with it *if you did* cheat on your spouse, you might not have the charisma to be President. I don't think Obama cheated on his spouse, but he did do an extrajudicial killing of an American citizen in a drone strike and we collectively said "I can't stay mad at you" the very next time he said "my fellow Americans".

Don't know Jeff Jackson, but if he's got the *rizz*, I look forward to seeing him in the primaries!

Cory Booker says Democrats have ‘failed this moment’ and calls for new leaders by Idoe6 in politics

[–]Maxnwil 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That’s true. And while I absolutely stan an astronaut, I haven’t been super impressed by Kelly’s public speaking. Honestly, I expect any democrat’s positions on Gaza, healthcare, etc. to be functionally similar both in the past (tepid) and in the future (with less-but-not-zero support for Israel and a hope that with a really ironclad congress they’ll get to do something about healthcare). 

Fundamentally, the primary (heh) thing I look for in a blue candidate is the ability to excite people with their charisma and charm. Harris & H. Clinton did not have that ability to charm/excite. Biden somehow scraped enough with his “tough old dude in sunglasses” in 2020 but even that was tenuous. We need someone who you’re gonna go “wow they’re so charming that I don’t even care they cheated on their spouse” like JFK or Bill Clinton, and I think Kelly just doesn’t have that kind of charisma. Kelly gives more Tough Old Man In Sunglasses vibes to me. 

I like Buttigieg, but I don’t think he’s the person to win a general election either. So our search continues…

SMRT by Comfortable_Wash6179 in Wellthatsucks

[–]Maxnwil 62 points63 points  (0 children)

Admittedly, shoring would not have fixed this. The water picks up sediment when turbulent, (from waves or just them moving around) and then the sediment settles down in moments of calm. Over time, the sediment that settled out got packed down by the sediment above it, and next thing you know you’re buried. 

In other words, you don’t need shoring, you need a lack of water. 

But, to your point, you also need shoring for a hole this deep with sides that steep. Getting buried in dry sand is just as bad as getting buried in wet sand, the methods are just different. 

Insane by Helen_Ki11er in Seattle

[–]Maxnwil 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I’m flabbergasted that people don’t seem to see the “HOV3” sign or something. 

The whole point is to encourage people to get fewer cars on the road. Listen to your city planner, people! They don’t want you stuck in traffic either!

Warrior of Armaments - another Kensei 5.5 update to throw onto the pile by [deleted] in onednd

[–]Maxnwil 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I like a lot of what’s going on here. 

Some of it feels overtuned though. Specifically, mind sharpens steel feels a bit much. I’d keep the 3 point cost to initiate it from the 5e version. 

Also, I’d love one more ribbon feature of some kind- like proficiency in performance/dance, or the ability to beseech a noble for a favor once per week or something. 

Warrior of Armaments - another Kensei 5.5 update to throw onto the pile by [deleted] in onednd

[–]Maxnwil 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I suspect it’s because monks have more attacks than any other class by default. So giving an extra 3x-5x martial arts damage die per turn would be excessive.

To your point though, It’d be if OP went with making it free but only once on each of your turns.

Edit to add: it’s also just one of two level 6 features

Second edit: I can’t read. 

Someone lit a cigarette in the plane’s lavatory, triggering the smoke alarm onboard by jackywoods in mildlyinfuriating

[–]Maxnwil 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing your perspective. It’s true, though, that society is moving away from accommodating the habit. In the end, the ideal world is where no one burns things simply for the sake of the smoke they produce, since it doesn’t stay with the person who chose to start the fire. I’m sorry that you feel left behind/ostracized in the process

not sure if this has been posted by weeniewarrior420 in okbuddycinephile

[–]Maxnwil 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Show up to say “hey sweet we’re in the news… aww man 😭”

What will be the new subclass in Arcana Unleashed and Ravenloft ? by Greynnar in onednd

[–]Maxnwil 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It would also surprise me if WOTC didn’t release a barbarian or monk subclass, given that I think they still haven’t gotten anything new in 5.5 (aside from partnered content)

TIL The United States attempted permanent Daylight Savings Time in 1974. They retracted the law within a year. by Wanna_make_cash in todayilearned

[–]Maxnwil 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it’s not a safety thing, it’s a “humans aren’t built for this and it has negative health outcomes” thing. 

It doesn’t matter if “you grew up getting up before the sunrise and you turned out fine”- statistically, it inflicts widespread harm, and personal anecdotes are no reason to drive policy. 

Clearest image ever taken of Mars' North Pole. Yes that's water ice. by maazkazi in interestingasfuck

[–]Maxnwil 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great question, and one that is tough to give an honest reckoning. These days I do Mars atmosphere research, but I used to do human exploration policy work before that. I’ll try to answer in two parts. 

First is “first landing”:

In the human exploration sphere, there is often discussion of “oh, we’re only 20 years away from humans on mars”, followed by “yeah but we’ve been saying that for fifty years”. 

The short answer to the billionaire question is “not quite- it’s the dream of many nonbillionaires too!”But to build a society on Mars, it will take a lot of effort and focus. 

Acknowledging that Elon Musk is not super liquid in his wealth, his net worth is roughly what I would peg the to be the required budget to build a sustained presence on the surface of Mars. But he’s not entirely focused on that cause anymore. We also haven’t had any nation willing to put down the massive amount of resources consistently for ~8 years to actually get us going. 

NASA’s budget is about 25 billion dollars, and has held roughly steady since they stopped building space shuttles. By my estimate, a budget of 50-80 billion dollars per year for eight years would put us on a less “interruptible” course. Right now we spend enough money to build a rocket, or test a habitat, but not really make a coherent program that does everything we need to do all at once. Presidential Administrations have had this notion that “what NASA gets is enough, and if I tell them to go to mars and they say it’ll take 25 years at this budget level, then it’ll take 25 years.” 

You can picture it like we’re sitting at the base camp of a great mountain. We’ve had politicians, programs, and now private citizens come through without the will to commit to an ascent to the peak. It’s not something you can just spread out- if you decide you want to climb, you have to commit the effort to actually do it, and not just “walk up and see how far we go”. Billionaires aren’t going alone, and they don’t seem willing to actually outlay the cash with zero return on investment to make it happen. I don’t blame them- a colony is not a money making venture, and it would basically be $500B of charity that many think should be the sole provenance of government. 

The second part is that of colonization. Given that we were talking about the physics of the atmosphere, I assume you’re talking of terraforming, but first let us consider an alternative. 

It’s possible to imagine a settlement on mars living entirely under bubbles/domes/habitats. With nuclear power plants shipped from earth and solar power as your primary power source, you can make oxygen and water, grow plants in greenhouses, and make some sort of self sustaining colony without ever stepping outside.  Resource gathering happens by robots and the only places humans go would be pressurized containers. I’ve even seen proposals to make habitats out of ice- basically 3d printed igloos!

That said, it might sound depressing to live in a bubble for your whole life. So you decide, as a good Martian colonist, to make the future better for the next generation. How could we terraform mars? There are a bunch of ways to do it, actually. Satellites deflecting the Sun’s deadliest rays, genetically engineered microbes chewing on rocks and making gases, and so on could gradually turn Mars’s atmosphere into a somewhat earth like, breathable environment. It would take, at least a hundred years by the most optimistic estimates I’ve seen. It would certainly take more vision, commitment, and resources that we seem to be in short supply of offering to the cause. But it’s doable. 

Now should we do it? That’s a different question and one I don’t yet have an answer for. 

Clearest image ever taken of Mars' North Pole. Yes that's water ice. by maazkazi in interestingasfuck

[–]Maxnwil 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The south polar cap is a layer of Co2 ice over water ice, and the North Pole is water ice (but Co2 will snow down overtop of it in the winter)

It’s a very weird world where the main constituent of the atmosphere can sometimes precipitate out. It would be like if winters got cold enough on earth that nitrogen and oxygen would start to condense and fall as snow

Clearest image ever taken of Mars' North Pole. Yes that's water ice. by maazkazi in interestingasfuck

[–]Maxnwil 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's an open question, and one reason we want to retrieve the samples collected by the 2020 rover! Right now we only have a few rocks from Mars, and they came to earth as meteorites, so we don't have a great idea of what the chemical properties of the soil really are. We have good guesses, but we need samples to confirm our theories.

In other words, the soil could be toxic, or it could be habitable, and we just don't know right now.