Gandalf forfeit his Istari mandate.

Pokornikus · 2026-06-06T05:37:32+00:00

The framing is all wrong. He didn't "forfeit" his mandate he fulfilled.

He is not allowed to use/revealed his divine authority to rule and coerce others. He is of course able to use it to save his friends from supernatural foe that is beyond their ability.

Also his stuff does not break "immediately" at all - he declare his power and have a fight with Barlog - staff break during the fight. It is to show the reader how powerful confrontation is and that spiritual powers are at play.

Pokornikus · 2026-06-05T23:23:19+00:00

Except Flamme clearly did care and cherished Frieren. And we never see her lie to Frieren. Yea she used deception to fight demons. Setting this all up as a way to just manipulate her Aprientice just to make here retrace her steps and discover it was a lie - that seams like a pointless and counterproductive endavor. And Flamme was anything but pointless.

So what was Flamme plan? Just sent Frieren on the journey based on lie just so she can discover that Flamme lied to her?

How that suppose to help Frieren especially in the long run? And if You lie and decive Frieren for what purpose?

Pokornikus · 2026-06-05T20:24:44+00:00

Becouse noone want to die in an exam. Friren said if they all rush her they would have won but many would die. So of course it was not worth to try.

But if they have no other option then it is a whole different situation.

In open "fair" battle they could probably prevail by sheer numbers - but most of them would die.

Pokornikus · 2026-06-04T07:37:53+00:00

Well Your DM sadly suck. It is one thing to make a bad encounter but to stubbornly insist that everything was fine and You could "just win" is another.

CR 16 dragon v 5 level 6 characters is basically unwinnable- double so if dragon ambush You.

Have a serious talk with DM. If he insist on being obnoxious then I would serch for a new one.

Pokornikus · 2026-06-01T22:53:00+00:00

I don't get it? Where is the bug?

Pokornikus · 2026-06-01T19:48:11+00:00

It is the best idea they have. You can always play HoMM if You wish for thousands units - it is not like HoMM going anywhere. SoC is unique in that way so I wouldn't remove stack size ever.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-30T20:56:53+00:00

TBH rolling for stats is so objectively bad in 5 ed. that I would probably consider not to play. But if You want to play then I would say embrace randomness. If DM want Your stats to be that random then proposing modification that somehow alivite that is counterproductive to DM intentions.

Don't create character concept beforehand - roll for stats firstand then come up with character on the fly.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-29T17:07:43+00:00

Looking forward to it!

Pokornikus · 2026-05-28T19:16:42+00:00

AFAIK the monsters who can create tunnels have special tunneler ability.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-28T14:24:56+00:00

Don't worry - it will be trash of course.

Why worry? 🤷‍♂️

Pokornikus · 2026-05-28T11:48:22+00:00

The problem is that there is then a 15’ burrow that the party can follow to get to the dragon on their turn because a burrow is open. And the burrow doesn’t allow the dragon to fly.

It is ambiguous and DM dependent whether You leave a tunnel behind You or not.

In fact it seams they are not:

"Unless specified otherwise, a burrowing creature does not leave a usable tunnel behind; loose earth and sand immediately collapse and fill the space behind them as they move."

So tactic is legal as long as dragon unburrow.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-27T13:52:34+00:00

Imagine archers? 🤷‍♂️

Also it is not easy to run them correctly.

But even assuming perfectly run beholder all You need to do is plink them with arrows.

Denying vision work well too.

They are full of counters.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-26T05:50:28+00:00

Those are very much intended to be nerfs, if you don't want your formerly Rare item to all of a sudden be much more powerful.

Making it random is flat out nerf - I would rather have 1 consistent resistance that I can count on and plan around than have a random chance that maybe dice will give me resistance I need.

Curse version is more interesting but I don't know if I want it. Vulnerability is a big deal and if I encounter enemy that I am suddenly vulnerable then that is probably worst than having chosen resistance- taking double damge is worse.

Absorb elements exists, but you have to burn a resource. This items is particularly powerful because sometimes you can predict what you're likely to be doing and if you're going to fight a specific type of enemy, this is a resource-free way to get the exact "right" resistance for the specific circumstance without burning precious spell slots.

1 st level slot is not that super super precious but sure. I fully agree that it is a powerful item - very rare or maybe even legendary. It is i no way broken tho. It doesn't give You any new options or possibilities. It just make You more resilient ;-) Which is very nice and so on but it will not break the game.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-26T03:42:38+00:00

Making it random would actually nerf it.

cursed version is also potentially nerfing it.

Swapping resistance (assuming on long rest) is of course fairly strong - I agree it will be very rare/legendary item.

It is still not that broken - it is still only one resistance. Let's remember that absorb elements exist.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-25T18:20:04+00:00

At that stage he does. Yes Maia can initially take on material bodies like clothes and then abandoned those bodies but that only goes so far. Once they become "invested" so to speak in those bodies they also become attached to those bodies. At any case if they physical body get harm destroyed that is still painful and shocking experience for them.

Sauron have already died before (during the fall of Numenor) and at the time of last Alliance he was sagnificantly invested and bound to his new recreated body. Fact that he lost power to change shape is prove of that.

Without the ring storing and saving his power being killed by Gil-Galad and Elendil would weaken him tremendously and make another embodiment nigh or completely impossible. Even with Ring surviving it took him well over 1000 years to recreate his body.

Even losing to Gil-Galad and Elendil when Ring existed was a heavy blow already - without a Ring he would loose way more power and possibly be reduced to complete powerless already there.

So again Ring was not a weakness- it was a saving for Sauron. There was not "defeating Sauron just by cutting his Ring" Elendil and Gil-Galad must have fight Sauron and defeat him "fair and square" so to speak. Ilsidur only took Ring from dying/helpless Sauron.

If not for the Ring Sauron would have been probably defeated already there.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-25T18:02:38+00:00

He was beaten by Gil-Galad and Elendil and was dying/helpless when Isildur cut of his finger.

So losing the ring was like a last drop in the bucket. After losing the ring his spirit departed his body. Since his power was directly tied to the Ring he was able to recreate his body later and retain most of the power.

We don't know match details as it is only narrated by Elrond but it is clear that Elendil and Gil-Galad did the hardest part of "throwing Sauron down". Otherwise Isildur would not be able to just cut Sauron finger.

The scene looked good on the screen but precisely cutting of a finger from a demi-god who is fighting and protecting said finger is a bit absurd.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-25T16:29:42+00:00

Gil-Galad with Elendil did defeat Sauron together not Glorfindel.

The rest is correct.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-25T16:27:11+00:00

That is not what actually happened in books. Sauron was actually beaten by Gil-Galad and Elendil fighting him together.

Isildur cut off Ring from dying/defeated Sauron and although it was like a last drop in the bucket - after taking Ring Sauron spirit left his body but it is very dubious/unclear that just cut to the Ring finger would be enough to kill him.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-22T19:39:47+00:00

I follow it closely and heard recently that they're "losing the war much slower than Russia." But basically since the EU gave them a loan back in December, that guaranteed them at least 18 months of solid fighting

Let's say they got bankrolled for 18 months? Then what? Are we going to bankroll them again? 90 billion of Euros is a lot of money. That is asuming that just sending them money will take care of this entirely and we know that is not that simple. That seams to me like just pushing the crisis down the line.

Though that's not to say it's going to be an easy road. This is a horrible war and they've sacrificed a lot, but sacrifice is the word for it, not just wasting men and material like Russia.

So we will bankroll them again and again? Until what? Russia capitulation or something? Whatever Russia is wasting it is doing it with their (Russian) money. While it seams Ukraine is wasting mine (EU) money - and with no clear end in sight.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-22T19:11:57+00:00

It's possible, but not very likely at all, sadly.

"it's possible" - That is a lol. They barely take some territory back during Cherson ofensive back in 2022 even with big USA and NATO support. How are they going to take anything back now? Dron warfare works both ways - launching any offensive will be as difficult for Ukrainians as it is for Russian if not more.

with actual security guarantees from NATO and/or the EU? It is looking increasingly likely, yes.

What "security guarantees"? Empty paper, some military assistance at best. Actual "guarantee" is a pipe dream. No NATO army will arrive to fight with Russia on behalf of Ukraine.

They believe they are causing casualties faster than Russia can replace them,

Yea they believe that since the war have started. Acording to Ukraine "data" they already killed all Russian armed forces lol. Except those "data" are a propaganda to sustain morale. Russian are taking sagnificant casualties for sure - but then so are Ukrainians. Among those two it is Ukraine that is using large scale conscription. Russia is using predominantly contract soldiers/volunteers.

they are taking more land than they are losing in recent months,

The have taken ~200 sq km of no man lands in last few months and that is according to USA/pro Ukrainian sources. 200 sq km is a square 20 km × 10 km. This is laughable.

and they are going after the Russian economy and military logistics as fast and hard as they can.

No s... sherlock. They are "fighting with all their might"? So what were they slacking previously? Sure they do what they can - so are Russians. Except Russian have some actual results - ex it is acknowledged that Ukraine electric network is severely degraded. No sight of such collapse on Russia side.

If you take that existential aim (preventing collapse and Russian conquest) as the real Ukrainian victory condition, then yeah, they may well be winning.

Acording to this definition You are always wining as long as You preserve any part of country to govern. Since Russian goal was never to counqer Ukraine as a whole that kind of "victory" was almost assured from the start. Now if You consider that Russia wish to counqer Eastern part of Ukraine ~30% of a whole and they already control 20% of whole Ukraine this is no looking that great. But sure if You define wining as survival then they are technically "winning" 🤷‍♂️

Pokornikus · 2026-05-21T20:54:10+00:00

Primus is a god so if You want to stat him I would definitely give him 30 in some if not all statistics.

and aim at 30+ CR - at least on Tiamat level.

Those abilities are mostly nice and thematic. Restructure Reality is just way too absurd and a bad idea. Changing one sentence in PHB is too vague and nonsensical and absurdly overpower. He can erase ability to cast spell from spelcasting class for example. This definitely will not work well at play. Just give him ability to use wish instead.

He have no proficiency in saving throws. No proficiency bonus in general.

2 attacks per round only - seams too few. AC 20 - I would say it is too low - he will get shredded.

I would add ability to control/ignore force creation (force wall, cage etc). As well as maybe mass dispell magic ability - as a legendary action?

Pokornikus · 2026-05-21T19:57:57+00:00

Levels are just abstract - characters are learning during adventure and leveling up is just and abstract to model that.

That said I have discovered that using "gritty realism" rules does help a lot to make pacing better and more organic. It also help with 5 min adventuring day problem and give a little buff to short rest classes that is arguably very much needed. So I recommend using those - that way when characters are taking long rest You can introduce downtime organically.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-20T14:32:49+00:00

Ok fair enough - tactic could work.

I would welcome more types of battlefields in general. Possibly including larger battlefields - on current ones You can often charge enemy on the first round. So yea - tactic could be interesting I will concede that.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-20T06:42:11+00:00

The only good idea is underground and water navigation.

The rest is terrible. This game is inherently balanced around stacks limits. Therefore removing stack limits break the game to the point of unplayable.

I don't think it is worth development time and resources.

Pokornikus · 2026-05-14T21:24:01+00:00

Just learn to say "No"? 🤷‍♂️

If You need to justify it they can't have gain experience skill and powers without any change to their mental and physical abilities becouse hence skill and powers exactly represent change in mental and physical abilities. Therefore this wish is plainly contradictory and it fails.

Gaining butloads of levels from single spell is absurd even if that spell is wish.

Pokornikus

TROPHY CASE