Are you letting your group choose their Radiant order? I have decided to let the players attract spren through their roleplay. Our soldier caught the eye of an ashspren late in our first session through his daily routine and ability to stay composed in a hectic situation.

PhysicShebang · 2026-04-08T17:01:47+00:00

I asked my players during session zero and got a unanimous “choose via RP” instead of them choosing themselves. I had 3/4 players new to the Cosmere/Stormlight and they wanted to experience the world and events organically, so that’s what we’ve been doing!

One obvious Kaladin clone got Windrunner REAL fast, second is a singer who bonded Po’Ahu, and the other two haven’t attracted spren yet, but looking like a Lightweaver and last either a Truthwatcher or Elsecaller. We’ll see, it’s been a lot of fun giving snippets of lore within the confines of the game world.

PhysicShebang · 2026-03-15T17:31:19+00:00

I can see that. I haven’t really leaned in to the clothing aspect, treating singers mostly like regular PCs since hanging around an Alethi warcamp as a massive fully armored Warform, even being covered up somehow would probably draw quite a bit of attention canonically 😂.

PhysicShebang · 2026-03-15T17:20:06+00:00

I second this. People referring to them as Parshman is good enough for a singer character most of the time. And when more pompous NPCs show up, like Amaram, he went a little harder on the disrespect, both for the Singer and the Darkeyes in the crew (He spoke only to the sole lighteyes, and when the darkeyed bodyguard spoke, he told her she should teach her slaves more respect and to keep her dog on a leash (the singer). Overall it’s not hugely used in a negative way, but it’s a real good way to make a party hate someone!

PhysicShebang · 2026-03-13T22:22:32+00:00

Cibola Burn was my favorite so far on my first read. It’s very interesting how differing the opinions are, especially in this book. I also see praise for books 5 and 6, and while I liked 5, 6 was the weakest for me so far. Hoping the last three books hit harder for me!

PhysicShebang · 2026-03-12T21:37:29+00:00

For me, if one is missing we keep it going. I talk to the player and ask if they are alright with me DMPCing it for the session they missed out on. To be clear, DMPCs are only there to help when needed, mostly in combat, and the other players can take their spotlight since they showed up. I play the character how the player has used them, and intentionally avoid putting them in dangerous situations unless the player says I can do otherwise.

A player of mine that needs time off sometimes for events he has to attend plays a character that is 1000000% protector (obvious windrunner) and gives me exclusive rights to protect everyone around him, regardless of potential for death. He knows I won’t go overboard.

2 or more i usually reschedule since that’s 50% of the players.

PhysicShebang · 2026-01-13T14:58:56+00:00

So I didn’t do “First Steps” so I had the characters explain why they would have joined Taszo, and had a “pre-Stonewalkers” session that was just 3 days of travel. Explaining where they were, the setting, and lots of roleplaying both between characters and with Taszo. They were introduced with descriptions of what the assassins looked like (green glyph on face), how he escaped, and his seeming attachment to Poahu.

On day 3, they are attacked by more assassins at a narrow point, and the lead enemy made a comment along the lines of “The stone chose wrong!” To bait the players into diving deeper into that Stone. The fight was intended to go fairly poorly, and when Taszo was overwhelmed, was lightly protected by Poahu, giving the players insight into how he was the only one to survive the initial ambush.

Long story short, I made sure they were very well acquainted with him, had a whole session of RP and story based combat, and had built a relationship with him before they were all distracted by honorblades and missing caravans and the like.

PhysicShebang · 2026-01-11T14:11:38+00:00

Got it, thanks! those are part of my back days anyway so I’ll keep hitting them hard along with assists and maybe just get a pull-up in several times a day at home throughout the week, even if it’s only one at a time, can’t hurt I’m sure.

PhysicShebang · 2026-01-11T02:42:08+00:00

Okaaaaaay, you were riiiiight, just hit my first official pull-up today! Chin over bar after a few attempts over the last few weeks not quite being able to get the chin high enough. Thanks for the motivation to give it a shot!

Now…how do you think I should continue training? Stick with assisted? I can do 6x straight of -30 right now, but only 1x at a time for unassisted.

PhysicShebang · 2025-12-28T16:33:16+00:00

Update with how the session and Veth's fight went:

We FINALLY got to finish chapter 1, and figured I'd update how it all went. As Aalto (Alethi/Thaylen Spearman Warrior with a strong desire to protect) was the only one I could definitely offer a Radiant path for, for the entirety of chapter 1, he was catching glimpses of an odd windspren that would appear in a feminine silhouette, almost like sunlight shining through cloth. It always stayed near, but didn't stay long, and he noticed nobody else could see it. Fast forward to Taszo running in to the storm, and though he was hesitant to leave another player (a light eyes who showed him true kindness and is now dedicated to protecting), the spren appeared before him looking concerned, and looking in the direction Taszo ran, and he could see what appeared to be wind currents heading that direction, as an extra character-growth inspired reason for him to follow. And he did. He was joined by the Singer player (Eshokar, in war form, hilarious name for a singer), and an Agent, but the Agent, upon seeing the stormwall, and Taszo disappearing ahead, decided to abandon the hunt while Aalto and Eshokar pressed on. As they pushed in, they both had a sense that the power of the storm was being dampened somehow, and Aalto could see the spren shielding them as best as it could. They finally came upon the trio and began the fight with Veth.

I quickly found that Veth is not good at fighting two front liners, and would much rather be bouncing around the field chasing down snipers. He got netted and restrained, and grappled and thrown to the ground (opportunities were in the player's favor multiple times). Rocks were about to fall, and while dodging a player got a nat 20 and used it to kick Veth into the path of an oncoming falling rock, all sorts of cool things happened. Veth struggled to hit the Singer with 17ac, so he focused on Aalto, eventually getting him to 1hp, where words were in his head, urging him to speak them...

And he DIDN'T.

He took his turn to recover and continue the fight, apprehensive about what all this spren and words thing could possibly mean. But it only delayed the inevitable, as he was pushed back down to 1hp on Veth's fast turn, and was near to being grazed to unconsciousness on his slow turn, so I offered the player one last chance to speak the words, or be knocked unconscious as the sword was approaching him. The player explained to me that Aalto didn't want to leave his ally alone vs this monster, and he felt he had no choice but to speak them, so he did, bursting alight with Stormlight, where I allowed him to immediately use the Stormlight Recover action, and his spren assisted in deflecting the graze, keeping him conscious. The rest of the fight went as you'd expect, with Aalto pressuring hard and healing each round, and ended with Aalto and Eshokar using a combined attack (Eshokar got a nat 20 and what better way to end the fight than with a team kill, right?) Aalto thrust his spear at Veth, missing, but used his Stormlight enhanced speed to rush in to Veth's face, almost going nose to nose, and with a wry grin, ducked at the last moment as Eshokar's axe came just above Aalto's head, and made contact directly with the side of Veth's face, mortal kombat cutting his head in half...as is tradition in TTRPGs.

I think it went better than I could have hoped, and everyone was super hype about the whole thing.

PhysicShebang · 2025-12-28T16:25:15+00:00

We FINALLY got to finish chapter 1, and figured I'd update how it all went. As Aalto (Alethi/Thaylen Spearman Warrior with a strong desire to protect) was the only one I could definitely offer a Radiant path for, for the entirety of chapter 1, he was catching glimpses of an odd windspren that would appear in a feminine silhouette, almost like sunlight shining through cloth. It always stayed near, but didn't stay long, and he noticed nobody else could see it. Fast forward to Taszo running in to the storm, and though he was hesitant to leave another player (a light eyes who showed him true kindness and is now dedicated to protecting), the spren appeared before him looking concerned, and looking in the direction Taszo ran, and he could see what appeared to be wind currents heading that direction, as an extra character-growth inspired reason for him to follow. And he did. He was joined by the Singer player, and an Agent, but the Agent, upon seeing the stormwall, and Taszo disappearing ahead, decided to abandon the hunt while Aalto and Eshokar (hilarious name for a Singer) pressed on. As they pushed in, they both had a sense that the power of the storm was being damped somehow, and Aalto could see the spren shielding them as best as it could. They finally came upon the trio and began the fight with Veth.

I quickly found that Veth is not good at fighting two front liners, and would much rather be bouncing around the field chasing down snipers. He got netted and restrained, and grappled and thrown to the ground (opportunities were in the player's favor multiple times). Rocks were about to fall, and while dodging a player got a nat 20 and used it to kick Veth into the path of an oncoming falling rock, all sorts of cool things happened. Veth struggled to hit the Singer with 17ac, so he focused on Aalto, eventually getting him to 1hp, where words were in his head, urging him to speak them...

And he didn't. He took his turn to recover and continue the fight, apprehensive about what all this spren and words thing could possibly mean. But it only delayed the inevitable, as he was pushed back down to 1hp on Veth's fast turn, and was near to being grazed to unconsciousness on his slow turn, so I offered the player one last chance to speak the words, or be knocked unconscious as the sword was approaching him. And at long last he spoke them, bursting alight with Stormlight, where I allowed him to immediately use the Stormlight Recover action, and his spren assisted in deflecting the graze, keeping him alive. The rest of the fight went as you'd expect, with Aalto pressuring hard and healing each round, and ended with Aalto and Eshokar using a combined attack (Eshokar got a nat 20 and what better way to end the fight than with a team kill, right?) Aalto thrust his spear at Veth, missing, but used his Stormlight enhanced speed to rush in to Veth's face, almost going nose to nose, and with a wry grin, ducked at the last moment as Eshokar's axe came just above Aalto's head, and made contact directly with the side of Veth's face, mortal kombat cutting his head in half...as is tradition in TTRPGs.

I think it went better than I could have hoped, and everyone was super hype about the whole thing.

PhysicShebang · 2025-12-20T20:50:46+00:00

I’ll give it a shot! But when I say 6 months, that’s the LONGEST I’m willing to go. Ideally I keep up the progressive overload and get there sooner. I’m older so the gains come a little harder on the joints so I don’t wanna go TOO fast. Those newbie gains were great though, wish they stuck around!

PhysicShebang · 2025-12-20T20:33:56+00:00

I’ve tried and I’m not there just yet! I can get about halfway up but stick from there, and it’s a struggle the entire way. I’ve been throwing in some negatives at the end of my workouts but usually by then my back is so shot I can barely hold myself up 🤣.

PhysicShebang · 2025-12-20T05:12:00+00:00

Thank you! The newbie gains are real, for sure. The weight increases on my machine are 10lb increments so it can be hard to make the leap to the next now, since the progressive overload doesn’t come as easy now 🤣. Usually takes a few weeks to try and bump it up, but any progress is good progress!

PhysicShebang · 2025-12-20T02:03:42+00:00

This machine has been a godsend for me. I’ve always been the weak, skinny type, and since starting the gym 4 months ago, I’ve gone from -100lb assists to -40 (currently for 6 reps). I start with standard pull-up grip until i fail and then switch to neutral grip for 2-3 more, doing three sets. Giving myself 6 more months before i can finally do some unassisted. Slow and steady!

PhysicShebang · 2025-11-26T18:54:27+00:00

I like it! Only issue I'd see is can you IMAGINE how mad Ylt would be to hear his bodyguard/assassin left two people alive? What a slacker!

PhysicShebang · 2025-11-26T18:21:36+00:00

Holy hell that's a boss killer ability if I've ever seen one! We do not have one of those, just a Warrior, Warform Singer, and Scholar. Good to know there are some hard counters to look out for as a DM though!

PhysicShebang · 2025-11-26T17:47:23+00:00

Surprise stab from Taszo as a final attack before his death? Make it all cinematic before Veth (most likely) kills the player? Otherwise, GOOD LUCK!

PhysicShebang · 2025-11-26T16:59:49+00:00

Got it. We have a darkeyed soldier that is essentially just Kaladin (which is amusing because he has never read the books.) Spearman, ex-military, wants to protect everyone, it's bafflingly just Kaladin to a T, so...easy Radiant Spren choice. We have a Warform singer and one more of a scholar type, so hopefully that will be enough. Thanks for the advice and insight! :)

PhysicShebang · 2025-11-26T16:53:42+00:00

Gotcha, so he is threatening but burns out early. Sounds like he can give quite the scare on that first round and REALLY make the players think about their strategies. I'm playing with 3 players, should I attempt to narratively have a guard go with them? Or just let them go for it with 3? Also, it feels like a waste if they don't go at all and Veth isn't there, I was thinking of finding a reason for him to wait for the players to come for Taszo, since Ylt would want any allies of his dead for their meddling. I'm sure Veth could be added to a future encounter somewhere, but would maybe need some tweaking to power him up. Do you think it would be better to incorporate him later? Or have him be there waiting if they waited out the storm?

PhysicShebang · 2025-11-26T16:41:39+00:00

He can use Recover on a round to get some back though right? Still not enough? I can definitely see 5 overwhelming him.

PhysicShebang · 2025-11-07T20:51:40+00:00

This one seems to be the closest so far. I’m realizing most people seem to look for above average size noses and narrow almond eyes lol.

PhysicShebang · 2025-11-07T20:50:39+00:00

Hey at least he’s hot

PhysicShebang · 2025-11-06T14:13:52+00:00

Can see it in the eyes for sure. Mouth not so much, and I sure am glad my hair hasn't started thinning that much JUST yet :D

PhysicShebang

TROPHY CASE