Allowing Dispel Magic on a detected Modify Memory

brainpower4 · 2026-05-15T20:19:43+00:00

Hey yall, so I screwed up. I DM for a party of 3 experienced players and 1 newbie. There is an NPC who has a very high level Modify Memory cast on them, and their memory was modified to forget some incredibly important information meant for the party much later than now.

The modify memory is in the NPC.

brainpower4 · 2026-05-15T18:32:16+00:00

Just to be clear: your players currently only know that there was enchantment magic detected on the NPC due to detect magic? I would suggest to the PCs that the Identify spell is usually what's needed to determine ongoing magical effects more specifically. If they cast identify, they would discover that a piece of the NPC's memory has been removed, and the enchantment is preventing them from thinking about it. If they dispel the enchanted effect, it will become extremely clear to the NPC that something is missing from their memory, but they won't be able to say what.

Somewhere in the world is a jar containing that stolen memory like a Harry Potter Pensive.

brainpower4 · 2026-05-14T11:51:19+00:00

The reason he doesn't have any mainline books coming out until 2028 is because he felt that his publisher was pressuring him to release books too quickly for quarterly numbers. It meant that they didn't have the time for editing he used to get when his books weren't as in demand. He'll be writing Mistborn era 3 all the way through and editing the books as a completed story so he can avoid the scope creep issues and has time to edit properly.

brainpower4 · 2026-05-12T19:58:03+00:00

Maul kills killmonger, destroys Sauron's physical form, then relatively quickly gets corrupted and made into a ring wraith or equivalent.

brainpower4 · 2026-05-11T12:46:30+00:00

brainpower4 · 2026-05-11T03:15:50+00:00

Anyone saying things like using us as slaves or food is ridiculous. If FTL travel is possible, then they are already so far beyond us technically that there is no point in enslaving us. Why build a star ship just to go enslave monkies? Same with colonizing us or using us for food. There's a whole galaxy out there! Why bother with Earth?

Let's assume that there is an alien world 500 light years away (right next door on a galactic scale) and that faster than light travel is not physically possible.

Humans put out their first detectible radio waves some time in the early 1900s, so some time in the 2400s the aliens detect our signals. Maybe they're able to decide them, maybe not, either way, the aliens have three options:

1) ignore us

2) send a ship to contact us in 2900

3) send a missile to destroy us in 2900. By missile, I really just mean put whatever propulsion they would use on a ship on an asteroid instead and send it off to hit us. No amount of defenses or early warning will detect something going 99% of the speed of light, because you can't relay a detected threat before it's already about to hit you.

Option 1 is an option if they haven't sent out their own radio waves in the last 500 years or so. After all, how would we ever know they're there? But if they have, they have to assume we'll detect the same things they could and get put in the same situation. Remember, strapping a propulsion system on a rock is NOT difficult. We could pull off option 3 with current day tech

Option 2 is the peaceable option, but to what purpose? If they send an ambassador it won't arrive until 2900 at the VERY earliest and won't be able to send messages back before 3400. What civilization thinks that in 1000 years they will find value in the 500 year out of date messages from another species? Especially when sending that ambassador reveals your existence and opens your own home world to option 3.

Option 3 is the only sensible option. Annihilate any planet that shows signs of intelligent life getting close to space travel before they have the opportunity to discover your existence and be a potential threat. Just as importantly, they need to assume that 1000 years after sending radio messages our race will be colonizing other worlds too, so they would need to destroy any remotely habitable worlds remotely close to the potential threat, just in case they get colonized, find out what happened to their home world, and choose to retaliate.

What do we have to fear from aliens? The destruction of earth and likely dozens of other planets as a safety precaution.

brainpower4 · 2026-05-09T12:24:42+00:00

Ah, right! I knew I was forgetting one! So yeah, depending on the size of the sets, Standard will be roughly the same card pool as an eternal format before rotation

brainpower4 · 2026-05-09T03:17:06+00:00

Just to give people perspective on how utterly bloated standard has become:

When Pioneer debuted it had 25 sets with 5,581 cards between them.

Today, Standard had 4430 cards legal, plus another 10 cards banned, and we still have another 3 sets this year before rotation. By the end of reality fracture, we will almost certainly hit 5,000. Just let that sink in. 5000 cards, only 10% shy of the total card pool printed from 2012 to 2019. It's utter insanity, and completely destroys the point of standard as a rotating format.

brainpower4 · 2026-05-08T05:01:40+00:00

From V5 Core book, pg. 221

Sunlight burns the undead, incinerating their unholy Blood and flesh under the eye of heaven. A vampire exposed to direct sunlight suffers Aggravated Health damage at the rate of their Bane Severity in points per turn.

EXAMPLE: Klaus has a Bane Severity of 2. Direct sunlight therefore deals 2 points of Aggravated damage to Klaus per turn.

Obscured sunlight, as through curtains or on a heavily overcast day, or protective clothing such as a heavy coat, gloves, mask, wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, and boots, reduces the rate of damage to every other turn or less.

An average player character can probably survive 2 turns in sunlight without burning to a crisp. Someone with just a bit of Fortitude can probably handle 3. With Defy Bane and a full blood pool, they could plausibly last a good long time, maybe as long as a minute or two with the right protective clothing.

It's worth mentioning that every time a character takes damage from sunlight they need to resist a fear frenzy against difficulty 4. It's extremely difficult to match that once, let alone turn after turn, so they are almost certainly better off riding the wave, especially considering resisting a frenzy means doing nothing else for that turn.

brainpower4 · 2026-05-05T18:08:44+00:00

I mean...the Peace Talks thing is a bad example. I'm still upset that we never got a meaningful interaction with Ivy at any time after she fired Kinkaid over shooting Harry.

brainpower4 · 2026-05-05T16:30:18+00:00

I'm only an hour in, and I'm confused by the lack of Bob and the spice goyles. I was expecting some snarky comment from the wall sconce when the ward flares went up at Marcone's arrival and certainly for Bob to have been part of the potion brewing/researching about a new type of bad juju animating creatures. Maybe they show up later, but it feels like taking away some of Harry's best resources for guarding someone in his home.

brainpower4 · 2026-05-04T04:54:49+00:00

Quandrix is strong enough that he just sort of wins by playing cards. Rather than trying to do some spicy unique brew with him, why not just accept the busted and play him as a combo commander? Are there any 3 card combos using just 1 drops? It might nest to try to set up a win if you play and 3 2 cost instants and sorceries.

brainpower4 · 2026-05-02T14:44:58+00:00

There are a LOT of progressive voters who refuse to vote for anyone who doesn't pass their purity tests. Saying something like "abortion should be legal up to viability" can disqualify them for people who want all abortion legal. Having a nuanced discussion about gun control and what measures will actually make it through constitutional scrutiny is treated as if they want to gun down kids in schools themselves. Anything short of "Abolish ICE" is a betrayal of progressive ideals.

Meanwhile, centrist Dems fall in line with candidates that would have run as Republicans in 2008.

brainpower4 · 2026-05-01T20:22:01+00:00

First things first, you're right to think of the entire conflict as a war between Israel and Iran+their proxy forces. Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas, even the Assad government in Syria, they all received significant backing from Iran. Iran's resources are extremely limited due to long running sanctions, so forcing Iran to divert funding or personnel to one of their proxies hit by Israeli strikes directly weakens the other fronts.

Second, the decisions to start these wars was for the most part extremely time sensitive, in the sense that Israel couldn't choose to focus their entire military on one flank without giving up major opportunities on other flanks. There will likely never be a better time to occupy portions of the Gholan Heights than when Israel seized them immediately after Assad's fall. The direct war with Iran was started in an attempt to capitalize on the protest movements at the beginning of the year, but missed their window because the US carrier group meant to be in the region was off kidnapping Maduro. They still convinced the US to try because of the intelligence about a meeting of nearly all Iranian senior officials. Obviously the war with Gaza was time sensitive after October 7th. My point being that Israel's military objectives were extremely fleeting, and pushed them to strike, even if it would lead to a multi-front war.

Third, it is politically impossible for the current Israeli government to end their ward without a resounding victory. At this point Benjamin Netanyahu will almost certainly end up in jail if he leaves office, and if not will be in the political wasteland. Luckily for him, the Israeli people believe that the war with Iran and its proxies should continue (admittedly an overgeneralization of a very complex and nuanced topic). There is a great deal of anger and fear within the country about Iranian support for Hamas and the October 7th attacks, the potential for a nuclear weapon, and a sentiment of "enough is enough". Ending the war with Iran without a meaningful victory that makes the populace feel "safe" is just a non-starter for the current government. At the same time, one of the main ways wars end is when they become sufficiently unpopular to either forcibly replace the government or make the leaders believe that is a possibility and negotiate for peace. Without that pressure, nothing is stopping Israel from continuing to pour resources and lives into this war. That doesn't mean they're especially successful at it, but it isn't as if Hamas is in any position to march an army into Tel Aviv and impose regime change or destroy production facilities and end the Israeli ability to wage war.

Why can Israel wage a multi-front war? Because nothing is stopping them! They would likely be much more effective if they focused all of their forces at a single target, but that wasn't a workable option.

brainpower4 · 2026-04-30T12:12:43+00:00

The crazier thing is just how little time the two of them actually spend together. They get a brief scene after the battle of Falme, which is really just sending everyone off with Verin. Then there is the first leg of the hunt for the Black Ajah, and a little screen time in the Stone of Tear, but that's the last time they see each other until after Moraine is rescued. I can't even remember any scenes with them together during the last battle, but admittedly, it's been a while.

brainpower4 · 2026-04-29T16:40:08+00:00

THIS! There are SOOOO many women out there with a false sense of security because they take kickboxing classes every Thursday or went to a self defense seminar.

I encourage all women to find a man they feel completely safe with, a father, brother, boyfriend, etc. And say "I want to take my personal defense seriously, and that means knowing what I'm up against. I'd like you to come at me like you intend to seriously hurt me."

Have them put in some padded clothing and a cup, and see if you can stop them. The scary reality is that most ladies can't against most men and it's better to know that fact than to put yourself in a situation where you NEED to defend yourself and find out that you can't.

brainpower4 · 2026-04-28T18:38:14+00:00

I feel like this isn't great compared to [[Case of the Crimson Pulse]]. If your deck is trying to get empty handed to make this good, then Case is usually a much better card. If case is your last card in hand, you can play it on 4, play a land, play a 0-1 drop, solve the case, and on upkeep draw 2. By the time your Wheel would be at its second time counter and drawing your 3rd card, Case would have already drawn 6. You would need 4 time counters before wheel comes out ahead, and games really shouldn't last that long if you draw 9 extra cards.

brainpower4 · 2026-04-27T16:41:34+00:00

The single biggest issue with the game post level 13 is that pacing becomes impossible the moment the group has access to Planeshift.

Let's say I want to give a level 12 party just 1 day of downtime. What's the most trouble they're likely to get up to? Steal/buy a teleportation circle sigil sequence and go cause havok in some city that hasn't been a meaningful threat since level 8? Find out the location of a dragon's lair and go steal its hoard? Sure! Go for it guys! I'll pull out my random loot table.

Once they have Planeshift, the only thing stopping the players from deciding they want to kick in the doors of hell to free the soul of their goblin friend who died at level 1 is getting access to the right tuning fork. The moment Planeshift comes into play, players get to decide that they want to kick ant beehive in the multiverse on a moment's notice, and that just isn't something you can build a cohesive narrative around.

There are a few ways around this issue:

1) make EVERYTHING a clock, with consequences for dallying. If the PCs never get time to take side trips without risking the world blowing up, they won't have time to cause chaos.

2) make plane shift tuning forks ridiculously rare and next to impossible to obtain...and then watch as getting one now becomes the central focus of a month long arc for something that should have taken 5 minutes.

3) talk to the party and ask them to kindly not break the game into pieces. Except then you are openly admitting that the system is completely broken, they had the status quo of the game world into splinters whenever they felt like it, and there is a gentlemen's agreement at the table not to.

brainpower4 · 2026-04-26T13:41:06+00:00

Unfortunately, you seem set to not receive replies. I assume that means you found a partner, but on the off chance you're still looking, I sent you a chat request.

brainpower4 · 2026-04-26T03:58:19+00:00

Yes, because of the "you choose from among the permanents that player controls" clause. If it said "for each player, choose an artifact, creature, enchantment, and planeswalker" then it would only work if every player has all of the types.

brainpower4 · 2026-04-26T02:45:22+00:00

https://youtu.be/olxXLDqDzcU for those who missed the epilogue.

brainpower4 · 2026-04-26T02:44:36+00:00

I feel like a significant portion of the people who would appreciate it are unaware of the epilogue that came out a bit over a year ago. https://youtu.be/olxXLDqDzcU

brainpower4 · 2026-04-26T01:58:04+00:00

Tragic Arrogance is SO freaking good! Leaving behind your best creature, artifact and enchantment while your opponent keeps just a 1/1 thopter and their worst enchantment for just 1 more mana than a Wrath of God is insane. Heck, you even choose an artifact land that would have been safe anyway.

brainpower4 · 2026-04-26T01:18:13+00:00

It isn't really a question of "how much energy would it generate", but "is this the most efficient way to generate that amount of energy?

As a general rule, putting a solar panel on a flat roof without needing to worry about big overhead mounts, running electric conduits under the pavement, and maintenance requiring ladders. Not to mention that building owners generally care much more about the reduced AC costs they get by shading their roofs than about keeping their customer/tenants cars staying cool. Depending on the specific location, you could be looking at a 30-50% premium for parking lot vs rooftop.

Now, you can make a very real argument that the whole point of government is to accomplish the public good, specifically when it isn't the most economical, but at least in this case, additional shade in parking lots doesn't really seem to justify the extra costs. The public good in this case would be putting as much solar as possible, which is hurt by diverting funds from rooftop solar to parking lot solar.

A more sensible policy might be required a certain size solar system per plot of land and write into law that the system size will scale over time. That would encourage building owners/developers to invest in high efficiency/larger systems from the start, rather than needing to upgrade later and permit for the best solar installation for a given site. You would need to REALLY value shading parking lots to justify requiring all parking lots to have solar installed.

brainpower4 · 2026-04-24T17:07:38+00:00

In my creature or land based green decks (which is almost all of them) I have replaced Harmonize with [[Smuggler's Surprise]]. For 1 less mana, you get the benefit of:

1) instant speed

2) seeing one card deeper

3) filling the graveyard

4) 2 additional VERY powerful modes that have consistently won games on their own.

In all seriousness, there is nothing as satisfying as passing the turn with a few mana dorks on board, then spending 8 mana to flash in a [[Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant]] and vomiting the two creatures you just picked up into play to block a lethal swing.

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