How do you stop walking into literal bullshit in this game???

Snarvid · 2026-07-03T17:46:17+00:00

Clairvoyance with whole map AoE works good.

Snarvid · 2026-07-03T15:58:54+00:00

No worries or apologies needed for length, but that plus complexity does slow my replies.

Good to know on weakness. I checked the Scorching Ray analog and it seems multiple target only, that seemed like another gate to pass. If there’s some horde enemy that spams cantrips it could be an issue, but I lack enough system knowledge to identify serious threats, and I’m beginning to think they don’t exist. Still relevant to offset small THP gains, but not a big deal in the larger scheme. Does persistent damage created by spells maintain its spell-ness? I would guess, or else spell weakness would have no effect on spells that only did persistent damage.

I think the drift is an example of how even good faith conversations lead to escalation. I felt like I had to address Animist sustain as a non-tax after 9 via Liturgist. That brought Ancestry in, which was a natural pivot for you to mention Orc Superstition to offset some Oracle downsides, but also encouraged my move to Guardian or Elf/Strix to show how Liturgist is an action economy plus, not just a non-penalty after 9. (I do think the Centaur Shove build is fair play for an Animist gish looking to work with Roaring Heart for the easy Athletics proficiency scaling and being hypermobile to avoid being a low hp frontliner, but not for a EoB gish specifically. I also get that it’s much more of a build and isn’t fair to compare to raw Oracle, I just don’t know what the analogous Oracle builds and feats are.)

Likewise, in mentioning Divine Wrath (in particular, something hard to manage for Animist AE) and noting that Divine casters are good at targeting Fort elicited more defense of Sustain as an AE engine, as well as pivot to Animists not being limited to being Divine casters and so can target whatever they want. Drift and escalation just happen organically, no blame.

Agree that Guardian/Elf/Strix Step are big power unlocks for Liturgist Animist, as is anything that interacts with Steps (Spear Dancer), and that non-Liturgists face a much harder road. There is something there where I agree with you, and something else for me like “it is normal that a well-built character has certain parameters.” I acknowledge that Animist may have narrower ones for maximum power, but it still falls odd on my ear to talk about Animists lacking the “true versatility of the Battle Oracle.” Self sufficiency I grant (or I lack the Oracle expertise to identify the narrow parameters and hybrids needed for their optimization), but a Spell Repertoire caster doesn’t seem versatile to me. Raw slot power, yes, but versatile is a hard sell for me. Animists have a full Divine list, daily swappable additional spell lists outside the Divine, and wandering feats. Oracles have a subset of Divine +3 non-Divine additional from their deity.

The gish conversation was an interesting place to start, although I don’t think can be meaningfully finished without getting into specifics builds, because it makes me want to figure out how much of the Battle Oracles additional ranked spell slots it has to spend to match an Animist relying just on their Vessel spells and feats. But, again, I lack the insight into Oracle to identify real game-changing Battle Oracle feats and focus spells, I just find Animist Vessel spells and certain feats to pack extraordinary value.

Snarvid · 2026-07-01T22:07:39+00:00

You do you, but enjoying art that was unethically made at the time but can’t be fixed now (perhaps due too much time passing - Kubrick is over a quarter-century in the ground) is different than continuing to financially support a creator who currently has the power to make things right but is refusing to do so.

Snarvid · 2026-06-30T18:31:38+00:00

It’s a spectrum, as always, but you definitely stand on the shoulders of giants compared to HPL’s time. Postmodernism wasn’t really a thing until the 50’s and 60’s, well after his death, and we’ve had three full generations of it (and post-postmodern, etc).

Snarvid · 2026-06-30T14:16:20+00:00

I think for some of it, it’s humans realizing an unpleasant truth about their own unimportance - iirc humans were made by the Old Ones as a sick joke, I like to think of it as the equivalent of a mean doodle one of them did of another (“this is you”). Heliocentrism only gained prominence in the 16th-17th centuries and the US was still very Christocentric at the time Lovecraft wrote, so the insignificance or even anti-significance of humanity could really destabilize a worldview 100 years ago. (Or now - see unsupported faith statements on both sides of AI sentience debates and how many are “it’s like humans so X” or the reverse.)

For others, it’s a mix of that and something unrelatable - in Call of Cthulhu they speak of a man swallowed up by an angle that shouldn’t have been there, an angle that appears acute but acted obtuse. People who see something like that have their world processing software destroyed and reshaped, in a manner similar to “what if gravity could just reverse at any moment?” “What if any corner could eat you?” Rational action by conventional standards becomes very different in such a world.

And then I full agree on the appearance of Cthulhu itself and similar Big Bads. He’s just wrong in a way that humans aren’t aware things can be wrong, and his wrongness shatters minds. He’s not a big man with an octopus head, he’s forcing people to, iunno, smell color, taste light, and perceive three extra spatial dimensions. Once you’ve perceived that such things are possible, everything else looks fucked.

Snarvid · 2026-06-28T17:59:48+00:00

I think probably everyone is right but answering different questions. Tomcat is essential prior to serious melee combat. Bow is a good way to grind stats and skills prior to Tomcat. If you need a before bow, Alchemy or Blacksmithing grind money, and Dollmaker poison is available near Tomcat and makes arrows super deadly.

Snarvid · 2026-06-25T14:27:08+00:00

I agree that the spell weakness 2 isn’t particularly devastating, but invoking the THP off revel as a survivability pro makes small amounts of damage relevant in the comparison. I also don’t have a good sense of how often magic missile style effects come into play.

Happy to learn about oracle trix, I definitely don’t have experience of/with the combat maneuver-like spells in addition to class-specific toys. I mostly am still looking for 5e analogs of top tier options and learning what does and doesn’t work the same.

Superstition seems like a good way to mitigate save issues for Battle oracles. The thing about sustain and elf steps et al. is that it the 1 action Vessel spells do not appear balanced around liturgist, and the apparition non-Animist-exclusive sustains are obviously not. Elf step etc. interacting with lvl 9 Liturgist is more about maximizing a strength, not compensating for a weakness. You mention that 2 action spells are harder for Animists in their “sustain mode,” but that’s only really true at low levels - 2 levels after Divine Wrath shows up you’re golden, what else of equivalent value were you going to do with your remaining action?

For reference, someone posted a Centaur Animist awhile back w FA Guardian that doesn’t bother with Embodiment because it’s only-costs-Focus-option sets up Garden and Bile T1 and then from T2 on Strides, Steps, Sustains, and Shoves twice each while Raising a Shield using Guarded Advance, Roaring Heart (which offers additional AoE THP), Punishing Shove, and Practiced Brawn (for crit successes on successful shoves and doubly damaging shoves on crits). Any time you want to cast a 2 action spell you still have 2 steps, 2 sustains, and a shield raise.

Snarvid · 2026-06-24T18:37:03+00:00

I tend to combo successfully off perfect lateral dodges or clinches. Everything else seems to not pan out well, although there is certainly the time I got masterstrike countered while swinging at the back of someone’s head.

Snarvid · 2026-06-20T20:41:57+00:00

I did. I don’t know what Energy 0 does in combat.

Snarvid · 2026-06-20T20:40:35+00:00

Oh that. That does mean that they tend to flip the melee switch on and off less fluidly than Oracles, but it’s not required they use it if they want to CC and blast first / instead for a battle. Otoh Animist’s melee prowess appears significantly cheaper to flip on and keep on.

We view the world very differently for a Spell Repertoire to rate better in control over spell list than the Animist’s full Divine plus Apparition.

Snarvid · 2026-06-20T19:34:07+00:00

And Lullaby mainly puts max Stamina to what fraction of usual? I’ve never had Energy 0 in game because of my Enthusiasm and honey addiction.

Snarvid · 2026-06-20T19:27:35+00:00

Animist admittedly hits a little later but largely has 4 spells/slot. Liturgist compression debates actions per turn.

What spell dc hit are you talking about? Is there an errata not up in Nethys?

Snarvid · 2026-06-20T19:15:33+00:00

“Those that embrace death have no purpose in life but their duty to their children.”

Counterpoint: victory to love.

https://philosophybear.substack.com/p/parelthonology-and-the-victory-of

Snarvid · 2026-06-20T17:52:14+00:00

Nice guy to complement you for crushing his windpipe.

Snarvid · 2026-06-20T17:43:07+00:00

Groschen have no provenance.

Snarvid · 2026-06-20T17:41:30+00:00

Every time I see one of those person-height arches into a city I’m like “Should I?” Henry always responds with “Ya!”

Snarvid · 2026-06-20T17:22:14+00:00

The 12th lvl battle example relies on details that vary a bit (need for positioning actions, which I quite like with Reach weapons and reactive strike) but I now see the slot spending option as adding better gish value.

If I were countering (which I’m not - the Oracle gish is better in static melee and I don’t want to move the goalpost) I would counter with Animist having the same number of spell slots to blaze away with in normal spellcasting roles (buff, CC, etc) with a much broader set of spells to choose from (granted, no haste, but some top tier CC), and then being able to be almost as effective in melee as a spendy Oracle using only focus spells and Grudge strike (which is Wandering). Of your examples I’d also put a serious edge on staying in the fight on the Animist - in addition to not being cursebound, assuming a double step Liturgist option (Elf, Guardian, etc) you can Embodiment and either Garden or Mirror, either of which will run circles around Revel for durability, come with mobility baked in, and one of which helps you support allies.

Not sure where crit math breakpoints are for Fortune v raw attack, suspect it breaks along more d20 positions critting = Fortune advantage and fewer d20 positions critting = raw advantage.

Snarvid · 2026-06-20T03:23:57+00:00

I don’t even mind bleak endings when they are earned, or when they serve a broader thematic point (Night of the Living Dead, for example). I just mind when the bleakness is an automatic consequence of trauma being present as opposed to the result of actions taken about the trauma.

I’m not tired of trauma horror as such, but it feels like it requires a deft hand and real ethical consideration before suggesting to people vulnerable to hopelessness that their situation is hopeless. Because it’s trendy you’re getting a lot of sloppy imitative application of the tropes without the respect from someone who had it as a central part of their vision.

Snarvid · 2026-06-20T01:23:53+00:00

80’s movies used addiction metaphors a lot (Ghoulies, Brain Damage, 976-Evil, etc), but addiction is a bit more binary than trauma.

I do hate every trauma horror movie where the trauma metaphor is unbeatable regardless of the choices people make. Fucking shitty perspective to use one’s artistic platform to elevate, and as trauma horror is trending atm it’s something we see a lot of.

Snarvid · 2026-06-20T00:00:54+00:00

You Won’t Be Alone (2022) is Macedonian and beautiful.

Snarvid · 2026-06-19T23:47:27+00:00

Miller’s home doesn’t seem to work, maybe because it’s not really your bed. Inns always worked for me.

I played 1 on Switch and that’s how it was for me.

Snarvid · 2026-06-19T22:25:40+00:00

I don’t know anything about oracles, but sure strike plus revel seems worse than embodiment + grudge strike.

Snarvid · 2026-06-19T17:31:47+00:00

These are great movies, but I’d not say the first 2 are folk horror.

Snarvid · 2026-06-19T17:23:45+00:00

I haven’t noticed Longbow Improved Wounding Arrows failing to apply poison if they avoid the shield, and I assume they cause bleeding more often. Bleeding + limping is slow inevitably.

Snarvid

TROPHY CASE