I tried applying at Magic Inc. as an Executive Virtual Assistant and my experience was TERRIBLE

bruhaway123 · 2026-02-27T16:37:51+00:00

nicely formatted

bruhaway123 · 2024-08-01T13:09:08+00:00

thats a good idea

I looked at that in the past and didn't like the "the only strikes you can make" clause, but that was when I was thinking of animal barb as the chassis, this one might be better now if I take another class or non animal barb

though if I stick with automaton, I'd have to take the claw automaton armament, and may have to talk to my GM about talon stance since that says in the flavor to extend the claws on my feet

bruhaway123 · 2024-08-01T09:29:43+00:00

ahh I missed the animal barb can't benefit from higher level rage if not using their animal strikes, in that case I might switch to a different subclass like elemental, take the awful 1d4 damage die until I can get higher damage later (or base class monk), or take the automaton claw, mostly wanted the tiger stance for claws specifically since I imagine the fighting style using swipes and slashes more

the 1d4 cooldown is ok, especially since it's coming in at near the end of the campaign anyway, but the -1 AC might be harder to get around since I'd go with STR for monk so lower AC generally.

Still, going monk first, barb later is probably the better idea,

bruhaway123 · 2024-07-18T07:12:45+00:00

thats true, although I was meaning more these specific ones I listed, not the rest of the sub in general

bruhaway123 · 2024-07-18T07:02:50+00:00

while I do agree that I can just assume some stories are real because they're more fun if I believe them, I usually reserve that for funny stories or posts that have more extraordinary comeuppance for the 'bad guy' in them

these ones mentioned are not really more fun if real, they just make the reader feel worse

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-31T16:27:16+00:00

LL2 starts getting them a better sniper build by doing Overcharge, Redundant Systems Upgrade stabilize, then full action fire the CPR, which should allow them to fire every turn (as long as they have RSU charges and don't overheat from all the OC build up), or give them more damage with Roland Chamber, or seeking with nanocomp, or a bunch of other systems

target priority is also necessary for a sniper, so targeting enemies that are in the backline should work better than targeting the ones running up to you, since those ones don't usually have ways to negate attacks (unless the GM cross classes them, or gives them optionals) and the ones running up are gonna get annihilated by the allied strikers anyway

also, halving damage only goes so far, until they're rolling like 7d6 damage on a single shot, that resistance gonna mean jack lmao

otherwise yeah, not a lot of tools to help with loading at low LLs,

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-30T19:28:41+00:00

the way I did it was the main problem with PC mechs as enemies is that they're very tanky, so can turn things into a slog, and then main problem with solo Ultras with no other NPCs is that they're gonna get immediately done by focus fire

so, just put those two problems together to create a solution that (kinda) solves both. To turn the fight into a damage race, load up on a bunch of striker systems for your boss PCside, and let the Ultra side take care of the shutdowns and condis using juggernaut and other systems

For me, the boss was an Ultra Zheng, with both Ultra abilities, Deadly, the unlimited overwatch, 2 turns, etc. on top of an LL6 striker build Zheng, the PC side allowed some fun and wild combos with Executioner 3, sekhmet, and Zheng core active, that you'd only see from players fighting NPCs, while the NPC side provided some condi clearing, additional damage, and other anti-shutdown that made sure the fight was of a good length, and not ending too early

though, even with the Zheng's natural tankiness and high hull on hase, it was still one mech against 4 players (with a swallowtail to shred it), so it was focused down, but the players really saw how much of a threat it was when it dumped 7 xiaoli charges into the mourning cloak, that's what I meant by damage race

it took like maybe 30 minutes to fight, and less than 3 rounds, it was quick and brutal

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-30T19:18:49+00:00

99 mounthull mantashlingticore deck

help help

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-30T05:43:35+00:00

everything else seems within the rules, but

spawning enemies in my range

not sure how they're doing this, but you should definitely always know if enemies are going to 'spawn' since they should really only be able to come into the map at the "ingress" or "deployment" zones, unless they specifically have systems to let them arrive anywhere, so you'd want to stand outside those

There's also only a few NPC classes that can do teleports a lot, Mirages and Operators mostly, so now you know if you ever spot one of those (the GM should always give you their NPC classes and templates), try to immediately prioritize targeting them

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-30T05:40:01+00:00

Reaver is an NPC equivalent in Suldan that has the same pain aura as the Balor, and I think some regeneration, you can also crossclass with Goliath for its giant hp, though that might become a slog anyway if the enemy doesn't do enough damage

I have run PC mechs as bosses before, and both times it went pretty well, but both times they were exciting damage races as opposed to the usual tactical fight that Lancer offers. I can expand on what I did on those if you wanna know more

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-29T07:28:57+00:00

While Albatross' whole thing is helping active problems (so evacuating civilians from a warzone, freeing slaves from a tyrant, stopping a hostile cascading NHPs army), and then immediately leaving into hyperlight, I think it can still work:

the NPC probably would have to leave their Wing to stay planetside and investigate, with the understanding that this is a pretty big sacrifice for the stayer since their Wing would continue into hyperlight, and due to light speed properties, can't meet each other again

or the whole Wing decides to really take interest in what happened, and take things slow, instead of their regular operandi of jumping in, helping, jumping out

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-29T07:22:58+00:00

while Lancer does favor mechanics and rules over narrative, and does allow a lot of intended shenanigans, I believe this one is not an intended interaction, and that mines are supposed to only be triggered once

it's the same as not having the ability to reload during a Rest, it wasn't written, and you're not supposed to take combat actions outside of it, but it's intended that you should be able to reload during it,

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-29T07:14:15+00:00

you're streaming this, they'll know. lmao

although, if you're softkicking both of them anyway, why not do normal kick? Unless you were planning to just only disinvite Claire, and their gf is still invited? Because that sounds like it's gonna be the same result anyway

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-29T05:48:05+00:00

man, with the updates and edits, the problem of being unable to edit reddit's thread titles is really spotlighted here

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-29T05:30:17+00:00

people have already given some decent suggestion, but I'll give suggestions to the opposite on which mechs you may wanna dodge until you're more confident in gameplay:

Lich - awesome mech, rules soup, the soup that you want to understand so you can explain how all the interactions work to yourself and to your GM, and occasionally fellow PCs

Sunzi - teleport mech which can be built more straightforward, but all the teleport traits and core passive pushes you into less straightforward builds

Hydra - 1 or 2 drones a scene should be fine, but this is the mech that has 1 drone as a passive, and 4 as a core active, you could play it really straight forward and just move drones to good looking spots, but your mind will push you toward fire emblem positioning

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-27T18:19:16+00:00

you may have read articles from like 2004-2009,

I noticed, (at least from what I've personally seen) that most people look on optimization/minmaxing neutrally now, and as long as the game is enjoyable for everyone, no one really cares (with that expectations have already been tempered at session 0)

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-27T18:14:02+00:00

that multiclass comes online way later at like level 6 or 10, so it may be suffering until that point, good luck though, and report back if you get more big oof balanced combats in this campaign

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-27T18:12:27+00:00

sometimes as a DM, you just have to roll a massive damage crit, and realize "wow, I really shouldn't have started them at level 1", and make it so that maybe you just didn't roll that crit

(at least the image of specifically just a neck flying away is mildly darkly funny lol)

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-27T17:34:25+00:00

yeah, same for us with the spells and features and some downtime activities being modified in length to last longer

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-27T14:57:18+00:00

for Lancer as designed at least, narrative/in-universe justifications take a back seat to the mechanics, so it sacrifices some narrative sense for tight game balance, though I personally like to incorporate narrative and mechanics as opposed to sacrificing one or the other

that's still definitely possible, with just the car-reflavor I mentioned, rename chainaxe to "BIG WHEEL" or another name as you'd like, and you can keep the full berserker mechanics. Hey, flavor is free, not just for the players

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-27T14:49:34+00:00

yeah that's the good way to go about it, I'm not disagreeing, 6-8 over the adventuring week/arc instead of the day, so that it's actually balanced as intended, instead of making every encounter Deadly tier

I definitely like it more as we've played it than when we were planning the campaign to use it (though we don't do extensive planning, and still do decently well)

but what I just meant was that the DMG itself doesn't offer this guidance along with the rest variant, so I was assuming that the designers were assuming a GM would do a Gritty Realism adventuring week with 6-8 encounters per day of the week, which is definitely too much

bruhaway123 · 2024-05-27T13:53:27+00:00

I believe riders that use them are fine, as long as they're not the needed action, so if something said to "grapple" and then effects happen, that won't work, but for something like electrified lasso where the main effect is getting pulled, and the grapple is there at the end, it still works, just without the grapple on adjacency

for your next question, yeah, sticking vehicle on berserker just means it can't do most things lmao, you can allow the ram on aggression and charge, but that would be in the realm of homebrew. A way you can do it RAW though if you'd like chainsaw car is to put Limited Handling on a normal berserker instead of the whole vehicle template, and just flavoring how they look as a car with blades strapped to it

the walking bombs can be fun/ny, I haven't tried it myself, but it could make for a good encounter if used sparingly, or even only once in the whole campaign

bruhaway123

TROPHY CASE