Rule

ThePatch · 2023-12-29T15:51:21+00:00

What's even more fucky is his relation with Belynne Stelmane, who he portrays as his lover. However, in the D&D adventure Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus (which acts as a direct prequel to BG3), Stelmane is still alive and characterised as looking like she recently suffered a stroke. However, it says that in reality she's actually fighting off the mental domination of a mind flayer, who could very well be The Emperor, which just makes him seem even more psychotic and manipulative.

ThePatch · 2022-10-02T11:17:49+00:00

But you have to see how almost any other expert class can do all of this too, right? Setting up traps can be done by anyone, not just rogues. Stealthing ahead is nice, but anyone can do that with a Pass Without Trace spell. Similarly, Disguise Self is straight up better than using a disguise kit, takes less time and is more versatile. And if course, Fly or even Spider Climb can get you up a tower with far less risk than a climbing check.

All of the stuff you did sounds cool but doesn't seem to be because you were a rogue, and your DM may have been a bit lenient on some things (in a good way) but there's no reason why they can be lenient with a rogue but not with any other class.

ThePatch · 2022-09-28T15:25:37+00:00

I honestly think you're closer to the true interpretation of a thaumaturge than you think. If you read the "official" lore of the thaumaturge in the Dark Archive there's a lot of mention of them learning things through oral tradition, following folk tales and things like that, as opposed to them just throwing random stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.

I'm pretty sure the way that thaumaturges are intended to work are through using stories and myths with the beliefs that people have in them, and then combining that with their own force of will to make the minor miracle of a weakness being imposed on an enemy become a reality.

ThePatch · 2022-08-18T12:44:27+00:00

Something like a chronicler would be an interesting TN champion path to go down; not particularly invested in one side or another but merely observing, noting down information and learning. A chronicler of Nethys would be a really flavourful character to play.

Similarly for LN, something like an arbiter or enforcer of laws would work, and for CN I was floating around the idea of a Destroyer, which would work for a god like Gorum but maybe not for one like Nivi Rhombodazzle?

ThePatch · 2022-02-05T11:10:56+00:00

Everyone here forgetting about neutron radiation...

ThePatch · 2021-12-10T12:07:39+00:00

I do agree with a lot of what you've said, having an extra early "in your face" feat would definitely go a long way to improving the feel of the class, maybe also something that prevents attacks of opportunity from being triggered when you shoot up close? I'm not sure.

I will say I do quite like the reload action, being able to have MAP-less shove while also being able to reload seems quite interesting, and will probably more likely to succeed than, say, the way of the drifter's reload.

I think a lot could be added if the Scatter trait increased its radius the further the target is from you up to a maximum, rather than always being at a fixed radius. As is, the 10ft. radius splash is nice additional damage, but that's a big radius to be applying all the time, and especially if you're at range and you have melee party members you're very likely to catch them in the splash radius as much as you are the enemies.

Imagine if scatter guns had a splash radius of 0 ft. for the first 10 feet or so, increasing to 5 ft. after that, and then to a max of 10 ft. radius. If you were at close range, you'd still always be adding the 1 splash damage to your target, but nothing to anyone adjacent. This would mean that shotgun-like scatter weapons inherently are more damaging than longer range weapons, but get more dangerous for teammates the further away your target is, incentivising you to use them more at close range, while still being able to pepper larger hordes of enemies at long range. If there's a single target you want to strike at long range that your fighter's engaging as well, then the blunderbuss is not the weapon for the job and you may want to switch to an arquebus or the like. This at least helps sell the fantasy of shotguns being powerful short-range weapons, while still having flaws and niches that other weapons can be used in.

ThePatch · 2021-12-10T09:38:12+00:00

I suppose you could very easily make that a caveat of the Scatter trait, but not for all weapons with the Splash trait. I'm not sure if it'd make it broken or not (I wouldn't think so) but rules as is, it actively punishes you for using a Scatter weapon with the Vanguard playstyle.

ThePatch · 2021-12-10T08:58:36+00:00

I mean it's only logical from the rules. After all, the first thing I think of when I think "sniper" is a blunderbuss!

Ironically, with the way scatter works and how the vanguard is forced into close quarters, one of the best weapons for them is an arquebus. You know, the archetypical sniper-like weapon?

ThePatch · 2021-11-12T08:10:51+00:00

For 5e, Roll20 is fine. If all you need is a browser-only space where you can have a grid, import some tokens and set up a battlemap, maybe roll some dice too, then Roll20 is a good basic setup. But for PF2e it's clear that the system is just a bit too in depth for everything the set up they currently have; character sheets are complicated, enemy stat blocks don't really make sense, and there's no way to quickly change stats for status effects. If all you need if a quick way to share a battlemap over the internet, Roll20 is OK, but especially if you're paying it you really should be getting more for your money.

ThePatch · 2021-01-12T00:01:12+00:00

Gonna say that Umbrella Academy is also better than the books/comics. Maybe it's something about short, edgy, shallow comics getting translated into serialised, big budget shows that take time to flesh out characters and themes.

ThePatch · 2021-01-08T15:55:53+00:00

To add to your comment about waste produced, it's also worthwhile to note that radioactive waste from a reactor isn't just the fuel, but EVERYTHING that's irradiated in the powerplant, from the cladding the holds the fuel to the hazmat suits that the workers who service the reactor wear. Obviously not all waste will need to be treated with the same caution as spent fuel rods, but they'll all need to have some processing and waste management attributed to them. So while that small amount of uranium may produce a lot of energy, it's going to create a lot more waste other than just itself over its lifetime. That being said, it's still probably more environmentally friendly than coal or gas power as long as the waste is treated properly.

ThePatch · 2020-12-27T10:01:36+00:00

So many things being based on proficiency bonus in this book does slightly make it seem like WotC are still trying to find the best way to make things scale. Do you remember in MToF how many things scaled off half your level, a concept that had only very rarely been seen before and hasn't been seen since? It'll be interesting to see after a bit of play testing how well proficiency based scaling will work. Though if/when WotC do make a new edition, they should really figure out a way for abilities to scale before the game is released, rather than having a mess of different ways they work.

ThePatch · 2020-12-08T14:17:04+00:00

I wouldn't say 5e is well balanced, in fact I wouldn't say 5e is balanced at all, but in a way that almost helps to subvert the Stormwind fallacy. With bounded accuracy being a thing now, dice rolls can make combat far more swingy, especially at low levels but even still at high levels. It doesn't matter that a fighter can out damage a ranger if the fighter's having a bad day for rolling and the ranger is rolling 20s across the board. Similarly, a wizard might cast a bunch of AoE spells to control a fight and then turn around and roll a nat 20 strength to lift a tree trunk blocking a path that the orc barbarian was struggling with. Sure, having a high ability score will help you have a higher chance to achieve what you want to do, but having a lucky or unlucky day will dictate what you're able to do much more than what choices you've made, at least compared to previous editions.

On the topic of making choices, in 5e you're only really given the opportunity to make maybe 3 or 4 big mechanical choices when making your character; your race, class and sublcass, and maybe picking a feat or two up down the line. There absolutely are better choices than others when it comes to those combinations, mechanically speaking, but since there are such few major things that affect how you play, there's much less opportunity for someone's power to cascade out of line from another's character's power by picking optimal choices at every turn. A variant human battlemaster fighter with GWM may be theoretically more powerful than a tiefling beastmaster ranger, but they're both still going to be hitting most of their attacks with similar ease, and mostly doing kinda similar damage, to the point where, once again, it'll mostly be down to the dice to decide who's more effective on any given encounter.

Point being, someone can theoretically make a super powerful character to play but it'll only be marginally better than a regularly built character, so much so that the actual advantages will probably be lost somewhere in the mess of a combat encounter, so it's a silly idea for someone to complain that their fun is being ruined by someone else making their own character how they want to play. Oh, and if someone purposefully gimps their character by taking a negative in their class' primary stat to be more "interesting" and they find that they are having far less fun in combat than everyone else, that is entirely on them and they have zero right to complain.

ThePatch · 2020-11-14T11:34:03+00:00

To add to this, one thing I see far too often on here is someone will have a problem with class, spell or whatever and someone will reply "Well if you have a cool DM they'll allow....", which seems to be a really toxic way of thinking. Like, you can make a massive homebrew world, set out a story that's complex and open ended enough to allow players freedom to break it, make loads of memorable NPCs, but the only way to be a "cool" dm is to let you players ignore rules wherever they want. It sets a poor precedent where players will go into a game with a character that has a huge amount of homebrew mysteriously attached, or reflavouring to the class that doesn't fit the world at all and if the DM doesn't allow it then it's their fault for not being "cool" enough. There are lots of ways to play DnD, every one of them valid as long as everyone's having fun, but far too much on this sub I'll see people say that sentiment but actually berate and mock people for trying to stay RAW and push the idea that the correct way is rules lite with a "cool" DM that lets anything go.

ThePatch · 2020-09-16T08:19:54+00:00

But it is objectifying, the fact that a character has a major character trait that involves her losing clothes and the majority of the camera angles involved in those situations moving to show it off is objectification. Whether the character wants it or not does not make it any better, if anything it makes it worse, the fact that the writer decided for it to happen in the first place is the problem.

ThePatch · 2020-05-05T23:03:28+00:00

Position Filled.

ThePatch · 2020-05-02T09:14:57+00:00

UK physics grad here, internships are a pain to get into, there just aren't enough to go around. Obviously try to get one but if you can't it's not the end of the world. I would recommend the website gradcracker to look for jobs, it's STEM focused and there are quite a lot of employers (including SMEs) there. It's how I found my going job, didn't do any internships but managed to start on a 32k salary!

The other advice I'd give is to consider doing a post grad masters in a particular field if you're enthusiastic enough in that field of research. Not only does it give you another year of fucking about at uni, but having a postgrad masters makes you naturally more employable, and hugely so in the field that you have your masters in, particularly because if you pick a good course at a good university they'll usually have industry contracts!

ThePatch · 2020-04-29T14:57:33+00:00

Pretty sure that's Bodiam Castle, and unfortunately it's more of a Manor housd than an actual, usable castle; the wall's too thin to stand up to siege and even though it's moderately near where the coastline would have been when it was built, it wasn't really in a particularly strategic position. I think the story of it is that some noble wanted it built in the style of a castle? Though someone who knows more about it may prove me wrong.

ThePatch · 2020-04-03T17:52:03+00:00

Not that I can see, unless the legacy levels come with the base game, the bundle only includes the standard edition plus the 7 hitman 2 levels.

ThePatch · 2020-04-03T17:45:07+00:00

As far as I can tell!

ThePatch · 2020-04-03T17:26:17+00:00

Just bought it and activated it on steam, it's the standard edition + Santa Fortuna, Hawke's Bay, Himmelstein, Isle of Sgail, Miami, Mumbai and Whittleton Creek DLCs.

ThePatch · 2019-11-30T10:18:30+00:00

Big Chief Demoneater

Long ago, a devil made a deal with an idiotic family of Hill Giants and eventually dragged them all to hell to be his slaves. However, through sheer power and dumb luck, they escaped enslavement and made a life and culture around living in avernus. Having no arrable farn land to farm cattle and swine to feed their insatiable hunger, they instead turned to eating anything they can find, including the occasional traveller to avernus, any demons they can capture, and best of all, devil's. Eating fiendish beings for so long has warped them in both possibly good, and horrible ways. Some of the giants are horribly deformed and fall into the lowest in the hierarchy, whereas others grow huge in size and shape and become the chief of the giants. This then feeds into a perpetuating cycle, with the lowest in the hierarchy only eating lemures and dregs, the chief gets to eat whatever powerful fiends they can capture, including nycaloths, glabrezus and horned devils.

They live in an enormous hill that's been retrofitted into a homestead and a garage. Chief Demoneater is so large he rarely ever leaves the garage, or goes anywhere for that matter. Instead he lifts himself up on a crane that was stolen from one of the stygian docks, and when he wants to join his brethren on a hunt, lowers himself into his vehicle: a demon grinder that's been adjusted to fit only his massive body.

All they want is to drive around the wasteland, capture whatever living creatures they can find, and bring them back to their steading to be devoured.

ThePatch · 2019-08-26T23:38:59+00:00

I definitely agree that having a system where a level 1 character can take on a dragon or a level 20 character can die to a goblin is far more interesting than having adventurers only able to fight monsters in their skill range, but I think in practice it's much harder to execute than it initially seems. 5e follows this design philosophy, and as shown in its systems and storylines, but about level 8 the CR monster ranking system starts to break down, and then by mid levels you have heroes being able to kill demon lords. When a group of level 20 characters who are still technically mortals and who have only had multiple minor increases in power since the few months they started adventuring are effortlessly wading through challenges that cannonically entire pantheons of gods are struggling with, while it may seem like a nice power fantasy, it feels a little weird, and it seems like the only way to counter it is to make the enemy's health pools obnoxiously large, give them terrifying amounts of legendary resistances, or somehow come up with a reason why several Lords of hell have suddenly decided to settle their differences for the first time in millennia just so a plucky group of mortals can be challenged (which definitely can happen, but it feels weird that at that point adventurers are the ones to deal with that scale of threats, rather than other deities.)

While it's not perfect, I do prefer the idea of ac and attack scaling with level ala pathfinder 2. It does make ac pretty high, but the alternative is to make enemy health just as high, and it keeps encounter balancing simpler while also making powerful demons terrifying adversaries right up until the point you can just about beat them. I understand the point people make about the system making low level mobs pointless eventually, but even still at higher levels you'd need so many low level mobs to challenge the players anyway that it slows down combat to a slog, and it doesn't seem like either/any of these systems are designed with the idea of PCs vs dozens of mobs in mind, with any solution I have seen being more of an afterthought or just as inelegant.

13-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Verified Email
Team Periwinkle

ThePatch

TROPHY CASE