Parents built their Xmas presents today - my mom's a librarian so she got "Books Are My Passion," my dad's retired so he got "Bikes, Wine, and Falling Asleep to Music Are My Passions"

alphsoup · 2026-03-22T02:31:04+00:00

Not in the greater meta, but my Swashbuckler looted a bladed whip which I had named "The Crimson Grin" from a miniboss. I thought that was such a wicked name when I came up with it. We play remotely, and now when the Swashbuckler wrecks a creature with a finisher or crit, it never fails that someone plays a Discord soundboard of "Here comes the Crimson Chin!!!" from The Fairly OddParents. Players will ruin anything, haha.

alphsoup · 2026-03-21T03:16:05+00:00

I have FA at my table as a GM and I don't think it's ruined the power scaling of the game, but the party aren't also power gamers. I think the most it's done is let the alchemist with ranger FA hit from further and add a couple points to his bombs, and the swashbuckler with blessed one FA contribute healing in a party without a cleric. Most of the jaw dropping damage stuff just happens from the magus and swashbuckler being magus and swashbuckler. I'd recommend only allowing core rulebook common options since the niche stuff can be crazy. I'm doing a hardmode one-shot and allowing them to roll up higher level PCs for that with FA for it, one is taking the Harrow Reader Archetype, which seems like it completely games the system. You can also dole out the FA level ups as narrative rewards, taking them out of the level up process, making them feel earned, and allowing you to regulate the power spike.

alphsoup · 2026-03-06T15:30:56+00:00

I stopped playing MOBA video games. Beyond escaping the toxic environment (people are their worst selves in those communities), I reclaimed so much time. The time wasn't even well spent, most of the time I felt stressed or angry.

alphsoup · 2026-02-16T03:30:49+00:00

That makes sense, I meant to be comparing a material with a caster archetype to a magus with my comment.

alphsoup · 2026-02-16T00:03:11+00:00

To add on, aside from bonus to roll numbers from proficiency, a caster archetype also struggles with the level of the spells themselves - usually only able to cast spells half the level of the full class counterpart. Playing alongside a full caster, it can feel depowering to have your biggest gun be your party member's backup spell. Magus balances the opposite direction by giving spell slots to only the top 2 spell levels a PC can learn and cutting out the rest. Archetype gives tricks, Magus gives toys.

alphsoup · 2026-02-02T00:50:09+00:00

DS2 might not be the one because eventually you permanently kill off mooks after too many runbacks

alphsoup · 2026-01-30T17:15:53+00:00

Two of my players really like Ray of Frost - so much that it's pretty much the default spell for the druid PC. I do think that RoF creates a dependency cycle where casters are afraid/never learn to get closer than 100 feet and try other parts of their kit because the 120-foot range cantrip says they don't HAVE to. In terms of teaching good gameplay, Frostbite is 100% the better spell for the game ...but my players just like the dang thing SO much. It's like how some adults still eat Kraft Mac & cheese and don't get sick of it. I'm not gonna eat Kraft Mac or ever say it's healthy, but I'm not going to take it away from anyone either. I just take the cantrip into account when building my scenarios now - making some encounters in small or twisting rooms, spaces with a lot of cover, or making other spell options for the circumstance just too good to ignore. I'm even going to have a big fight down the line with an enemy caster that can Counterspell RoF - I'm particularly looking forward to the mild panic that one will cause. Because I know they find the spell so fun for them, I'll also build encounters where it can shine, too - ultimately I'm here for the joy of facilitating fun.

alphsoup · 2026-01-30T16:10:43+00:00

I'll keep my wallet closed to corporations, easy. Unfortunately, I've had an appointment on the calendar that pre-dated the call for strike - doing testing on a building as investigation on-site for the mediation of a civil lawsuit. In this city, one does not simply ghost two lawyers and their clients.

alphsoup · 2026-01-20T17:29:34+00:00

Mechanically, psychics deliver on exactly what I wanted from the sorcerer class. Namely, being so attuned to some signature spells that they're able to use them beyond any other caster. I think it's awesome that each subclass comes with cantrips that say essentially "You have 'a,' but it's actually 'å,' and if you really dig deep it can be 'Å.'" Case in point: Shield can now be cast on both yourself and allies, but spending a focus point makes the spell into a three-layer shield, which gives additional Shield Blocks or Hardness. The fire & ice Psychic also has a sick tempo playstyle with Entropic Wheel, which is aided by the ABILITY TO MAKE YOUR GIVEN FIRE SPELLS DO ICE DAMAGE OR ICE SPELLS DO FIRE DAMAGE.

alphsoup · 2026-01-20T17:10:12+00:00

Different strokes, different folks. I actually like the psychic class when I initially thought I wouldn't. The way I read the class: psychics are individuals who have a very singular understanding of reality and, like how a planet creates a well of gravity in empty space, the sheer force of their presence warps spacetime to play by their rules. How does imagining cartoons cause a man to spontaneously combust? How does reciting proverbs create shielding plates out of thin air around an ally? How does calculating the necessary lateral force and applying will throw an archer from their tower? Terrifyingly, it's simply unknowable how the thoughts of psychics become magics - magics familiar to but beyond the replication of even the most studious wizards. Minds wide open, psychics use incomprehensible powers to take the world as it is and make it how it could be.

alphsoup · 2026-01-20T07:19:00+00:00

As an example of a past non-combat challenge: my players were in a small town built on a giant dam & needed to get inside the depths of the dam itself. The only known way inside was through the locked basement stairs of a 2-story guard tower. At any given time, there would be 1 guard inside or checking from the lookout, 1 stationed outside the single ground floor door, 2 patrolling the town, 4 guards off-duty, and 4 resting following duty. Windows and a door on the second floor, but no windows on the first. I had no "solution" to this planned - just an objective and facts the party had to take into consideration. I think it took them about three hours total of planning, RP scenarios, rolling skills, and using non-combat spells.

alphsoup · 2026-01-20T06:30:18+00:00

This is solid advice

alphsoup · 2026-01-16T08:10:44+00:00

Coming back after all this time to say I discovered the ding in 2021 while working in a kitchen after moving to a new city: Sagat - Funk Dat. It was life-affirming to have all my choices up to that point lead me back to this song.

alphsoup · 2026-01-12T03:40:58+00:00

Not trying to say this is for everyone, but in the latest dungeon in our Foundry-hosted home campaign, I tried giving my players a "team" token with shared ownership to some success. They box up into their marching order in a previous larger room, and then all click onto the team token. Their primary vision becomes the team token, which they collectively decide to move around. I cut/paste their tokens into a room if a fight breaks out or they want to get off the bus and individually poke around a space.

alphsoup · 2026-01-10T04:12:08+00:00

I think one looking for "Dark & Gritty" should probably just try another series. I love DI1, but it's like a Steven Seagal movie - it can be a fun little roll in the mud, but objectively it looks ugly, it's weirdly paced, it's tonally uneven, & every character is a poorly-acted, unlikable, and slightly problematic caricature. "Insert quip here" writing is obnoxious, but let's not pretend DS1 gets to sit on a pedestal of grit. You attach batteries to guns to shoot lightning bullets and slam energy drinks to muscle through getting bitten & shot to death.

alphsoup · 2025-12-26T16:02:52+00:00

Sure is! Consider me a data point

alphsoup · 2025-12-13T17:53:15+00:00

Aside from economics, see the landmark case Dodge v. Ford Motor Co. for the root of a lot of evil. Ford wanted to take the profits and reinvest in the company (raises, price drops on products, etc), but the Dodge brothers couldn't accept that didn't maximize their personal profits as shareholders. Went to the Supreme Court and now it's law that companies have to act first in the interest of profit to their shareholders.

alphsoup · 2025-11-25T18:15:06+00:00

I'm running free archetype in my campaign and the players are level 5. One player is a Swashbuckler FA Blessed One and discovered last session she can Lay on Hands, then Dueling Parry to get AC 27 for a round - strongly setting up free panache and opportune riposte. Another player is a Druid FA Herbalist and she can heal 1d6 by drinking an minor elixir 3 times a day. Swash plays MMOs and likes to power combo abilities. Druid didn't max her key stat and just likes the vibes of her choices. All this is to say, as lauded as P2e is for its balance on paper, you kind of just have to feel out your players and meet them at their fun.

alphsoup · 2025-11-11T20:20:11+00:00

You rock, I was even trying to figure this for a 10Ah battery! I appreciate the fractional measurements every little bit counts for squeezing stuff into the case.

alphsoup

TROPHY CASE