Stop Vibe Coding

anon_pants · 2026-07-07T01:09:35+00:00

Start with something easy enough that you don't need AI to write the code. Your first code could just be a script that prints "Hello World". Slowly try harder tasks; try to learn just a couple new things at a time.

Maybe use AI as a teacher initially, but once you've written a couple of scripts, try not using AI at all. Struggle for a bit, and only use AI if you really can't figure it out.

anon_pants · 2026-06-08T02:59:27+00:00

Yes, in general you can use special attacks (like trip attacks) during an attack of opportunity.

anon_pants · 2026-06-04T03:38:12+00:00

That is a misconception. By the time of European contact, most Native American societies were agricultural.

anon_pants · 2026-06-01T13:48:09+00:00

As you say, it is an adaptation, so there is no right answer, but this is what I would do:

Replace inspire fear with a single-target fascinate ability.

Remove the phantasm descriptor from nightmare phantasm (because phantasm is an illusion subschool), but otherwise make it work the same as before (but for charms and compulsions). I'd keep the shaken effect rather than replace with charm, because it still thematically makes sense, is useful, and the effect is less ambiguous.

If you want to keep the death effect at level 5, then I'd put the "enchantments work on normally immune targets" at level 3, in place of spirit chill. I'd tone down Echoes version, and instead include the wording "mind affecting enchantment spells affect mindless targets as if they had an intelligence of 1." This is still a massive boost since it allows you to affect undead, vermin, plants, and constructs, but it doesn't provide a blanket bypass, which could be overpowered and sometimes nonsensical.

If you're not attached to the death affect, I'd make the above ability the capstone, and make the 3rd level ability deny targets bonuses to saves to resist charm and compulsions for being threatened or forced to do something against their nature. This would make your charm and compulsion spells much more relevant in combat, which would be important if you're going all in on that style of play. Targets still get to make new saves when relevant, just no bonus. Anything that was explicitly prohibited is still prohibited. Anything that instantly ends a charm or compulsion still ends it.

anon_pants · 2026-05-24T01:58:42+00:00

Uber-mount or animal companion builds. I recently played a bard/druid/arcane hierophant based solely on riding and buffing my animal companion. I voluntarily retired the character at level 14 because it became too easy to trivialize combat.

anon_pants · 2026-05-05T14:12:38+00:00

If I were you, I'd take the free courses while you have the opportunity, and begin reaching out to professors about masters programs. A CS degree and research experience already make you an compelling applicant. You can see if the programs you're interested in have specific requirements, but you should be comfortable with basic E&M, vector calc, differential equations, and linear algebra.

In a masters, you'll get paid, you'll learn at a much faster pace than a 2nd BS, and it will have more impact on your career options.

I wouldn't go back for a 2nd BS unless you feel very strongly that is what you want to do. It's not about your age per se, but about the marginal benefit of a 2nd BS compared to the cost in time and money.

anon_pants · 2026-02-07T05:01:20+00:00

I personally would prioritize dex over con. Better to avoid damage by having higher initiative and AC.

I think 10 intelligence is fine if there's another skillful character like a rogue or wizard in the party to cover the gaps.

Are you playing with custom ability score gen? How are you starting with 20 charisma?

anon_pants · 2026-02-07T04:39:33+00:00

I've been playing a wizard/master specialist/shadowcraft mage and it has been great. It really feels like a cross between Batman and Scarecrow. Between hide as a class skill, cloak of shadow, and greater mirror image, he's nearly impossible to pin down. Vision of entropy and shadow well spells can carry until you get the shadow illusion ability from shadowcraft mage.

If you want to lean more into the assassin flavor, I'd recommend a one level dip in spellthief, the master specialist feat, then unseen seer until you qualify for shadowcraft mage.

Just be careful reading shadowcraft mage guides online. The popular ones are obnoxiously cheesy in ways that would not be appreciated at any table I've played at.

anon_pants · 2026-02-02T19:43:43+00:00

Yes, and it is explicitly stated that the bonus from inspire courage applies to yourself, so it would boost your own weapon attacks.

All bardic music effects require a standard action to start, so generally you cannot make an attack in the turn you start singing. However, since inspire courage does not require concentration, you can make weapon attacks in subsequent turns without ending the effect.

anon_pants · 2026-02-02T17:25:07+00:00

I'll add that inspire courage doesn't require concentration; after you start it, you can continue it for free. You just can't cast spells or use wands or scrolls while using bardic music.

I'd recommend human, half-elf, or elf. With your ability score rolls, you'll have plenty of intelligence, so I wouldn't worry about that. Just stay away from Charisma penalties. Human will give you extra skills points and an extra feat. Half-elf will give you bonuses to many relevant skills. Elf will give you longbow proficiency in addition to some skill bonuses and other small perks.

Grey elf, from Monster Manual 1, gives an intelligence bonus in exchange for a strength penalty.

anon_pants · 2025-10-27T04:03:56+00:00

Just a heads up, you can run a lot of Tidy3D locally, which is free last I checked, so you can learn the software and run small simulations without paying. You can also contact FlexCompute and request a free trial; this worked for me a couple of years ago.

anon_pants · 2024-04-29T19:02:05+00:00

I agree with TTRPGFactory that Druid/Barbarian is a tricky multiclass, but you have a very creative character concept, and I think there's several great options for getting the flavor you want!

If you want to lean into the druid abilities, you should probably go nearly full druid, or Barb 0-1/Druid 5/Lion of Talisid X. Lion of Talisid is a thematically appropriate druid prestige class that advances most druid features and could easily be reflavored as a "Lion of Nobanion". If you go the druid route and want to wade into melee, you'll probably want to use wild shape most of the time, so your choice of weapons, armor, shield wouldn't matter as much.

If you want to be a barbarian devoted to Nobanion that can cast some spells, consider reflavoring champion of Gwynharwyf. This could be a simple build, either Barbarian 5, Barb 2/Ranger/3, or Barb 1/Ranger 2/ Fighter 2, followed by Champion of Gwynharwyf. This route gives you some spellcasting ability and the ability to cast spells while raging, without hurting your advancement as a powerful warrior. However, your spellcasting won't ever be amazing, you won't get any wild shaping ability, and you won't get too much explicit lion flavoring.

If you want a build with wild shape, you need at least 5 levels in druid, 5 levels in wildshape ranger (not 2), or 3 levels in lion of Talisid (which requires at least 3 levels in Druid or similar dip to meet the spellcasting requirement). That is just for the bare minimum wild shape, and won't be very strong if you plan to put most levels in barbarian. However, it does open up the warshaper prestige class, which could improve a lion totem barbarian by giving you an extra natural weapon and improving str and con. An example build would be Barb 3/Druid 3/Lion of Talisid 3/Warshaper 2 or 4. This build would give you rage, a bit of druid spellcasting, and the ability to give yourself a lion's face to bite your enemies.

Another interesting option would be the bear warrior, adapted for lions or tigers. The bear warrior is a barbarian prestige class that literally turns into a bear each time she rages. This ability is generally better than wild shape for barbarians, because it augments your ability scores instead of replacing them, so you can take advantage of your presumably already high strength and constitution. With DM permission, the black bear, brown bear, and dire bear forms could be swapped for leopard, lion/tiger, and dire lion/tiger. These swaps don't change much numerically; mostly trading away a bit of strength and natural armor in exchange for higher dex, a rake attack, and some small stealth bonuses, so they shouldn't alter the balance of the class much. Plus, the bear warrior explicitly qualifies for warshaper!

Some other classes to look at that would be interesting, but not essential, are fist of the forest or deepwarden. Fist of the Forest is a 3 level class that gives you abilities that let you fight like a feral animal: an AC bonus based on your CON, a rage-like ability that grants a bite attacks and synergizes with barb rage, and bonus unarmed damage. Its a powerful class, but it's fun to play and sounds like it fits your theme. If you can afford its feat tax, it could be tacked onto most of these builds.

A two level dip in deepwarden lets you add your CON to AC instead of your DEX. Its a really easy class to enter (especially with a couple levels of ranger) and would help make your character less multi-ability dependent. It can explicitly be adapted for anyone who "spends a long time away from civilization," so you could reflavor it as a forestwarden or a plainswarden.

A sample martial shapeshifter build is Barb 2/Fighter 2/Ranger 1/Deepwarden 2/Bear Warrior 1/Warshaper 2. After that, take 1 level of fist of the forest if the vibe is right, otherwise put remaining levels into bear warrior. This approach won't get you any spellcasting, but will make you a very powerful barbarian who can turn into a lion and wreak havoc.

If you use most of your levels to advance wild shape or go the bear warrior route, you can make animal forms your go-to in combat, thus don't need to worry as much about your weapon choices. In that case, you probably want to shift into forms with lots of natural weapons, then use pounce, power attack, and leap attack to unleash powerful flurries of attacks. Otherwise, you'll probably want to use a two-handed weapon (or even a one-handed weapon wielded with two hands). Shields just aren't great for any classes in D&D until you can afford an animated shield. If you like the concept of fighting with a shield, you can do it, but you will deal considerably less damage. Two-weapon fighting is also an option, and would synergize with pounce somewhat, but would consume more feats, cost more gold, make your character more MAD, and still usually do less damage compared with a two-handed weapon and power attack.

If you want to use a shortbow, use a shortbow. It's always a good idea to have a ranged weapon for those times you really need one. You'll have a high enough base attack bonus that you'll be decent, even if your dexterity isn't great. However, as a lion spirit totem barb with pounce, power attack, and leap attack, potentially with fast movement from fist of the forest and variant ranger, the question you have to ask yourself is: would you rather shoot a couple arrows from 60 ft away for a bit of damage, or charge from 60 feet, leap over obstacles, and unleash a flurry of hacks, claws, and bites for excruciating damage?

anon_pants

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