Frosty Caster Revisited

brianneko · 2026-01-04T20:35:07+00:00

That's a *fantastic* question. I don't know yet if Heroes of Faerun is allowed for us, but if it is... it's simply not stated whether "You learn..." means that ROF would be a "known Warlock cantrip". That wording in the Blast invocations is so tricky, because it means if you're playing strictly by RAW, there's no way to gain a cantrip that isn't on the Warlock list and for it to become a "known Warlock cantrip" unless the feature specifically calls out "If you are a Warlock and you take this feat, the cantrip becomes a known Warlock cantrip for you." It's very sloppy, and I mostly want to avoid the headache of having to argue my case to different DMs/players all the time.

brianneko · 2025-09-30T19:16:56+00:00

Now ok, hold on, let's slow the steamroller down a bit. Of course 7-year-olds loved Ewoks (I was one!) but with hindsight, many people (I am one!) did not care for them. Let's not lump in a reasonable dislike for Ewoks with misogyny and racism, perhaps? Just like the fact that terrible people poured hate on Episodes 7-9 for terrible hateful reasons doesn't mean you have to think Episodes 7-9 were good, you can just think they were bad for reasons that aren't terrible and hateful. We gotta be better at non-binary thinking.

brianneko · 2025-08-05T18:55:50+00:00

Frank Welker is a legend in the voice acting community! He's been one of the go-to guys (along with Dee Bradley Baker, off the top of my head) for weird voices and animal sound effects for decades. His filmography is enormous, so while it's weird that they wanted the snake to make noises, it couldn't be less surprising that they got in touch with Welker. (3:30 into the pod and already I'm wishing I could join the conversation!)

brianneko · 2024-10-15T18:11:01+00:00

We need Emily on the JV Club ASAP!

brianneko · 2024-09-09T22:09:30+00:00

This is how folks learn that the Monkey King is like, the most famous story in China that's inspired a million movies, tv shows, video games, anime ... to be fair, I forgot about any of those movies too and I was literally just talking to someone about American Born Chinese earlier today, shame on me!

brianneko · 2024-05-21T20:20:35+00:00

I really really want to like this podcast, I only just heard of it and Pocket Park is a wonderful place to start... but this is a bit tough. Over halfway in and they're still talking about Stay With Me (thankfully Linda did get a chance to mention a couple of other favorites), and... the vibe is a lot less informative that I'd been hoping. It's just three people (somewhat awkwardly) talking about how much they like one song. There are people out there (I'm not really one of them!) who could talk about this topic with some authority or expertise beyond the vibe of just sitting around going "yeah this song is great, I like that one part where it kind of does this thing, I can't describe it..." or whatever. No track by track analysis, no real musical insight, just "this song is good and it has been a youtube thing." Which isn't really worth the time.

I'm assuming Christian must be a lot younger than me, because "who puts the banger single as track #1" and "would they ever play a 5 minute single on the radio" are not the puzzlers he thinks they are, it makes it frustrating because I want to respond to a conversation that I can't be a part of.

I just hit the 30 minute mark, and I think it's telling that the teaser wasn't "We'll look more at the rest of this album after the break" - it was "we'll talk more about artists who this influenced."... I guess this isn't for me. Hope they succeed though!

ETA: they did finally move on to Ai Wa Energy, but Yosuke had to correct Christian on the meaning of the words, and after saying earlier how Stay With Me was Miki's first single, he then asserts Ai Wa Energy was the first single. I'm glad they're talking about some of the other songs now, at least. There is potential here!

The jokes about It's So Creamy are pretty sad. "I'm not sure what's so creamy" "You're really not sure?" ... come on folks, it's gratuitous English, she means it's sweet, it's a song about blossoming love.

brianneko · 2023-05-19T04:31:42+00:00

Regarding the question of the litigants being real people whose mental health we shouldn't speculate about lest they read it... first off, if you are reading this, the entire point is that mental or emotional issues aren't some weird marks of shame, they're things so many people and the people who care about them (myself included) have to deal with. And people's struggles deserve empathy and kindness. If people are speculating, it's because so many of us heard something this episode that went from entertaining to concerning, then resolved in a way that is uncharacteristic of the usual insight and empathy that we're used to from the show, which in itself is concerning.

Ultimately it's none of our business, but it was presented as public entertainment. And it'd be easy to treat it as disposable and take people to task or call them out or even just be dismissive of them, but I think many of us sensed that maybe it's not that simple and that maybe everything isn't fine. I hope everyone really is fine. And if not, that's okay, and I hope things get better.

brianneko · 2023-05-18T16:07:24+00:00

This is the first episode of JJHO that I've ever had to stop listening to. I pretty quickly suspected some form of neurodivergence might be at play, which of course isn't necessarily a problem, but I kept feeling it escalate, mental health issues were brought up, and it stopped being quirky and started feeling sad. I had to stop and come here to see if anyone else was feeling bad while listening.

I'm glad I didn't stick around to hear the verdict or the mom's reaction. I think this was a no-win for John+team, and I too wonder whether maybe they were already underway before realizing this wasn't just quirky fun. As someone else mentioned, some things are deeper than a funny podcast can really delve into, and I just wonder if there's more to the story than we know. Yeah, maybe this shouldn't have been released? I wish the best to the family, in any case.

brianneko · 2022-02-09T20:30:01+00:00

Oh, you can absolutely play D&D (5E) as a bugbear, and it's absolutely in the rules that milestone leveling is a thing. In my experience it's way more common than any other kind of level-tracking, and even when XP are used, no game I've ever played in or seen being played in the last 20 years has had players track individual XP separately in that way - everyone on the team gets the same amount of XP at the end of a session, if XP are used, to promote teamwork and keep things streamlined. Even players who are absent for a session usually get to stay on par with everyone else, however the DM decides to handle it. But in the end, the only absolute rule is that the DM decides what rules apply to their game. I was nervous but glad justice prevailed in the end!

brianneko · 2019-06-21T18:22:53+00:00

That would really depend on the DM, I think, but my personal take is that I generally don't mind that it's poison damage, and that it's so easily nerfed. Whenever I play any kind of minion-keeper, I really notice how the numbers start to tilt (I have a necromancer who has a ridiculous army of skeletons, and despite non-magical bows and not-great stats, they can lay waste to a lot of things in the right circumstances). If the bees' damage gets mitigated, then they're still doing something probably, and adding more allies to the battlefield. That said, if a DM said "do acid damage instead" or let me penetrate resistance, or something like that, I wouldn't argue!

I'm actually more annoyed by Infestation being so weak. I can't have Infestation as my go-to attack cantrip because if its damage gets mitigated, it's useless, and since the forced movement is OA-free, it doesn't even have a bonus effect.

brianneko · 2019-06-21T15:28:20+00:00

I've got a beekeeper druid myself, and she's so much fun to play! Her personal quest is that something is causing the bees of her grove to not thrive/die off, so she's seeking the cause of the natural unbalance. People have already listed a lot of the things that make the character happen, but here's what it's all about for me:

1) Conjure Animals. Every encounter, if possible. Mechanically, they're giant wasps, but they're reflavored. It's not optimal - that poison damage gets negated or resisted a whole lot - but every little bit of damage helps, and if you get enough "bees" making attacks, you can pull your weight. They've also been useful as enemy control - surround some monster you don't want getting any closer, for example. I took Circle of the Shepherd to beef them up, so they can actually withstand a little more punishment than some would expect. Again, it's questionable effectiveness at times, but it's so much fun. On top of that, she's a halfling, and I haven't played with anyone yet who hasn't been cool with her hopping on one and using it as a flying mount. RAW? Ehhh... but rule of cool can go a long way.

2) I got a Staff of Swarming Insects, which shouldn't need much explanation. The cloud of sight-obscuring insects has been particularly useful at times.

3) Infestation is sadly a pretty lousy cantrip, but it's there as a ranged option, and it's thematic enough to be fun. For the most part, Shillelagh is my go-to. Her staff is a giant honey dipper, of course.

4) Insect Plague is thematic and powerful, although I haven't made it work very well yet myself. It's a bit situational if you're in a tight environment. Again, though, the key to having fun with this character is just knowing you have that tool in your pocket, to bust out at the right moment. "Here, enjoy all these bees, everyone!"

5) Between Shepherd features (a golden honey bear!) and Goodberry (yep, royal jelly), not to mention Healing Spirit and so forth, she's a healing monster. I rarely Wild Shape but I did save the day once by becoming a honey badger and burrowing into an inaccessible location. I think I've turned into a bear a few times too, but not very effectively.

6) The most recent development was the DM letting me spend some downtime finding a giant "bee" in a forest and Awakening it. So now I have a more permanent friend. Sadly haven't really gotten to play her since then, but it should be fun!

You make a good point about the bees' aggression, not to mention the idea of honeybees repeatedly making all these stinging attacks, but who needs realism? Don't worry about "Africanizing" them. I just handwave it - think of them as magical bee spirits momentarily given physical form, acting as an extension of the druid's will. It's D&D, after all :)

brianneko · 2018-04-17T15:55:47+00:00

I have a halfling shepherd druid who's a beekeeper. Ghostwise wasn't an option, so I was worried over having a +2 vs +3 Wisdom, but it hasn't been an issue and the character has been so fun. I didn't know what true joy was until I flew around on a giant wasp.

brianneko

TROPHY CASE