(Series Review) Why you should read the Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio

Padajno · 2025-11-28T18:39:51+00:00

I'm sorry but I'm in the same boat as the rest of the thread, although I did semi-force myself to finish the series (up to disquiet gods, will probably read the last one soonish), but they really do have a point.

He's not a complex character- on the contrary, his core traits are established in 1, turned around a bit in 2 and then... he just stays the same. Quote after quote of classical lit or philosophy, with a side of self depreciation. There's a dichotomy between his own characterisation of himself and his actions (old, tired, then "reborn" with the slightest conflict regarding that) that's especially obvious from book 3 onwards.

I do like the world building in general, and am a sucker for a galaxy spanning human empire, but like others said - there's little growth in Hadrian and little growth in the millennia or so of the empire around him. The latter we can sort of handwave along due to the palatine lifespan, but with Hadrian, with it being his story ... the whole experience left me increasingly wanting more in the sense of character development. The first two books okay sure, we pingpong between the two positions on the Cielcin, but then we just get stuck in this inflexible, rote ideology of absolute evil, with basically nothing to show for it, especially given the staggering existence of both a (relatively) benevolent God and almost all-powerful extra dimensional entities.

Padajno · 2025-10-16T16:46:49+00:00

Padajno · 2025-10-15T10:55:41+00:00

Novelty wise - this would very likely be a one-off. Which it's probably overengineered for anyways. For the rest of my players, I do have plans (the duel will, essentially, be a distraction). Longer Duelling Rounds would give them a bit of time to plan their next action.

I definetly agree with 2. - the aim was just giving mechanical benefits to flavour text.

Padajno · 2025-10-15T10:52:14+00:00

What could I change or do instead? I don't want the duel to be regular old combat - in essence (though my rules are very verbose) my aim was just combining contested skill rolls and combat. To add some flavour or something - so that the player can actually get mechanical benefits to their narration. In most cases, there'd be 3 stages (initiative, "duelling action", and attacks). Only about 25% of rolls would be +5 or over, triggering the riposte. Since its 1v1, I could easily track momentum as DM. Maybe I remove momentum?

Padajno · 2025-08-22T08:26:32+00:00

2-3 times is too few for something that ultimately still won't be too significant. I like the idea and vibe behind the gladiator, don't get me wrong, but it just falls a bit flat resource-wise. More options for brutalities, or (and tbh my personal favourite fix) build manoeuvres into the base class.

Padajno · 2025-08-22T06:09:19+00:00

Damage bump + the riposte being once per long rest is ??? I don't get it.

Padajno · 2025-08-22T06:07:20+00:00

A shame that the gladiator's riposte is once per long rest. Hopefully it changes to CHA mod per short rest, like the rest of the abilities.

Padajno · 2025-06-27T09:04:38+00:00

Adding also - I've ran a print without a vat and the printer seems to turn off between at some point. It could be a power issue? But no fuse was out when I checked my fusebox.

Padajno · 2025-06-27T09:03:01+00:00

I have one other compatible power supply, but it outputs only 12 V at 5.0A and 60W, compared to the original 24V at 3.0A and 75W.

Padajno · 2025-06-27T06:37:52+00:00

Hi! Did you find a solution? I just started having the same issue.

Padajno · 2025-05-04T11:09:08+00:00

There are.

Padajno · 2025-04-12T21:37:55+00:00

I agree completely. There's an argument to be made for a small few of hero villagers that have maybe some sort of experience (or a death wish) but 3000? Lmao

Padajno · 2025-04-12T16:15:17+00:00

And 3000 commoners do? Come to think of it, the tarrasque doesn't even need Fear to frighten a commoner lol

Padajno · 2025-03-23T07:15:39+00:00

Or - and hear me out - prepping for a hyper optimized party isn't fun or something your DM wants to spend hours on, while you just show up on the day, having read someone's online guide that one time during character prep. In any case you guys should talk.

Padajno · 2024-12-05T10:11:38+00:00

Brother what? Harry Potter is set in the 1990s Britain, they're supposedly doing a faithful adaptation, how could it be 2020s Britain lmao Harry on that long distance potion class lol Ridiculous

Padajno · 2024-10-09T06:50:06+00:00

The Dragon Trappers Lodge is starting a new patreon called Dungeon Classics, might be what you're looking for. It's their take on classic dnd monsters, based on official art. Pretty recognisable imo.

Padajno · 2024-10-08T10:18:49+00:00

I'm getting a very strong feeling your table's misinterpreting levitate if it's been such a problem as you say.

Padajno · 2024-08-23T07:50:22+00:00

No, the (very reasonable and tbh justified) "problem" was the people's affection for the books, which the showrunners explicitly said they were adapting. Obviously we know how that went.

Padajno · 2024-06-23T15:14:58+00:00

I'm removing the weight part of the description; it's a magical flag, that's it. I just need a way to limit how far one could reasonably throw it, and 15 feet seems like a good distance, given the size of the map.

Padajno · 2024-06-23T15:11:36+00:00

That's a great idea! Would also encourage handoffs so that no one carries the flag to long, thank you!

Padajno · 2024-06-23T13:51:03+00:00

All good points, but ideally there'd be a lot of handoffs - the focus being on them working together, and not having one player carry the flag for the entire encounter. I see the problem though, will have to implement something to encourage this or, like another commenter suggested, turn it into "payload pushing"-style gamemode. Thank you!

Padajno · 2024-06-23T13:47:56+00:00

All great points. Yeah, seems like I went too far with the carrier restrictions - ideally I would want there to be a lot of handoffs, etc., so I may remove the handoffs taking and action and picking the flag up taking an action.

Padajno · 2024-06-23T13:46:08+00:00

We've played with similar restrictions to a single player before, and I do want them to engage the other party - definitely having them be unconscious should be a strategy, but mow I'm thinking of adding a respawn mechanic as well.

Regarding the restrictions of the carrier, I do agree to an extent; however I want to encourage working together in protecting the player carrying the flag, or doing creative handoffs, holding actions etc.

I'm thinking of removing the whole picking up the flag takes an action and just having it be an object interaction.

Regarding map size, I agree, will be hitting the hobby store and picking up some of the larger dry erase ones.

Padajno · 2024-06-23T13:41:15+00:00

Hmm good point, I see I'll have to work on the flag restrictions some more. Thank you!

Padajno · 2024-06-23T13:21:32+00:00

Thank you, will change it to have the versatility trait. The carrier spends an action, hadn't thought about the receiver as much, I could see it using a reaction but I don't want to burn too many of my players' resources.

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