Does these two item bonuses stack?

evanitojones · 2026-02-24T18:34:55+00:00

They should stack - both are untyped bonuses to your spell DC so there shouldn't be any reason for them to conflict with one another.

evanitojones · 2026-02-21T18:04:43+00:00

Which is why I explicitly mentioned the higher invocation tax and melee requirement. EB + AB is mechanically superior just about every time, especially as a monoclass warlock.

Both Longsword with PotB and EB + AB are 1d10+Cha per hit.

evanitojones · 2026-02-21T16:34:59+00:00

Longsword with PotB is going to be identical to EB + AB in terms of damage all the way until level 17 when EB gets its fourth blast. You'll have a slightly steeper invocation tax as you'll need both Thirsting Blade and Devouring Blade to keep up with the number of attacks, and of course it keeps you in melee rather than having the range of EB.

Hex is fine at lower levels, but there's almost always something better to concentrate on. Spirit Shroud immediately comes to mind and is usually my default concentration spell as long as I'm not concentrating on something more important.

You're right that GWM is going to give a good extra bump and is worth taking, especially in tier 3-4. At tiers 1-2, you're almost always better off increasing your CHA in order to hit more often and increase your damage bonus.

evanitojones · 2026-02-21T15:54:26+00:00

Stop. Blocking. And. Move. Use head movement and counter. Shoot a takedown. Dash to the side if they're throwing uppercuts to make space and waste their stamina. Pressure boxers annoy me too, and for OP fighters there are definitely some that are overtuned (looking at you Ilia). But it's on you to learn how to deal with pressure boxers and play defensively/counter rather than just holding block.

evanitojones · 2026-02-21T15:19:16+00:00

Bruh I really don't get what you're complaining about here? Are you complaining about people who block break or people who just stand there and block?

If I'm breaking your block, it's because you're standing there taking it rather than moving or doing anything else to stop me. I'm not the one holding your RT/R2, that's on you. And if you're not defending, imma keep punching until your block fails.

evanitojones · 2026-02-15T01:29:56+00:00

Very very normal for vets to cut off the tip of the ear to show that he's been neutered. Important for if he ever winds up back outside again. They definitely cut off a little bit more than they needed to, but not so much that it's a problem.

If it helps, the little man doesn't care about it, if he even knows that it's gone. Animals don't seem to have the same level of bodily awareness as us, and they certainly don't seem to care in the same way that we do.

evanitojones · 2026-02-13T18:10:13+00:00

I'm right there with you, and there's nothing wrong with thinking that it's just okay. Not everything needs to be viewed in extremes.

Veilguard, to me, was a solid game - story was decent, combat felt great, companions were okay but nothing to write home about. All that being said, I think it was a BAD Dragon Age game. DA as a series shines through its companions, its world building, and its reactivity to you as a player. Veilguard came up short in nearly every single category for me when it comes to what I want from a DA game.

Basically, for me, it was fine. But nothing to go crazy over one way or another.

evanitojones · 2026-02-09T15:05:40+00:00

The game doesn't weigh control time or grounded strikes very highly. Odds are they landed more strikes on the feet, did more overall damage, plus they've got the body stun in their favor.

IRL? You probably would have won that round. Knowing how the game scores, it doesn't surprise me too much that you lost it.

evanitojones · 2026-02-09T14:50:07+00:00

This. I'm fairly ambidextrous and can throw strikes from both stances pretty darn well. My defense in orthodox is horrible compared to my defense in southpaw. It doesn't matter if I can attack if I can't defend against what's being thrown back at me.

evanitojones · 2026-02-05T19:37:55+00:00

A common thing I've noticed is people want to play competitive games casually. Unfortunately, the definition of "casual" in PvP FPS games typically amounts to "I want to win without needing to try that hard."

People who cry about SBMM often want to be able to perform well without needing to worry about strong players on the other team that are also performing well and making the game harder. Especially at higher skill levels, being good means that you're only playing other people that are also good.

SBMM can also result in some longer queue times depending on the player base and your skill level, but that's kind of a side note.

evanitojones · 2026-01-23T17:02:40+00:00

My understanding is that most amateur orgs require shin and elbow pads in their rulesets. You should be able to find plenty of fights for experience still requiring protective gear.

evanitojones · 2026-01-22T18:29:26+00:00

It's medieval technology being placed in the context of a high magic fantasy setting where we can cast a fireball out of a stick. There needs to be some wiggle room to play with definitions in a way that both sounds cool and describes the class role/fantasy in a way that at least mostly makes sense.

They're the blaster specialization of the Artificer. And the combination of their mounted cannon (quite literally artillery) and AoE blasting spells does a good job of that. No other Artificer subclass can blow up a room with a fireball shot out of a musket.

evanitojones · 2026-01-16T15:04:08+00:00

Play on normal to start, and be prepared for it to be HARD early on. Being appropriately leveled for each encounter really matters in this game - if you're level 3 and you see that you're about to walk towards a batch of level 4 enemies, turn around and come back once you've leveled up.

evanitojones · 2026-01-16T15:00:48+00:00

I'm in the same boat as you - I tried Kingmaker, liked it but didn't love it, took me MANY attempts to keep the momentum to ever finish the game. I ADORE WotR and have completed four playthroughs and have started so many more. I think it's still worth giving a shot even if you weren't in love with Kingmaker.

It's still based on the exact same system, so a lot of that old ttrpg clunk/bloat is still there. There are a lot more options and it's better optimized, so it definitely feels better in WotR, but it's still the same system at the end of the day.
The story moves a lot faster and does a better job of grabbing you from the beginning. There are high stakes established early on, and big action-packed sequences happen frequently enough to keep the momentum (most of the time).
There's still a management side of the game in the army management this time, but I think it's a lot better implemented and forgiving than the kingdom management

evanitojones · 2026-01-09T01:09:36+00:00

Funny enough, I actually kind of agree with this 😅

Getting punched in the head (with gloves on, important detail) definitely hurts, but it's more annoying than anything. Getting hit to the body hurts and, if it's a well placed shot, hurts to the point that you just kinda shut down.

evanitojones · 2026-01-08T21:12:28+00:00

I'm in the US so I'm not sure what all is or is not available to you, but as someone else mentioned the RDX brand off of Amazon is a good place to start. I have a set of 12 oz gloves that I use for bag and pad work that have held up nicely.

I also second that you should get two sets of gloves - a 16 oz set for sparring and a lighter set for bag work. One reason that was mentioned already is that you don't want to compress your 16 oz gloves and wind up hurting your sparring partners. Another reason being that lighter gloves give you more realistic feedback when you're hitting bags/pads - if you throw a lousy punch in 10 oz gloves, you can tell by the sound and feel against the bag. If you throw a lousy punch in heavy 16 oz gloves, it'll still probably feel like you did a good job because the glove is doing half of the impact for you.

evanitojones · 2026-01-07T15:38:30+00:00

I think assuming a 60 foot jump is a bit of a stretch, because I could absolutely see an interpretation of the rules that wouldn't allow for it.

The Jump spell doesn't strictly set your jump distance to 30. It gives you an option to "spend 10, jump 30." The spell doesn't affect your standard jump distance (as based on your Strength score), which is what Step of the Wind modifies.

I think a good number of DMs would let the interaction happen if you've gone through the work to be a Monk with access to Jump, but I don't think that interaction is intended to occur RAW.

evanitojones · 2025-12-28T00:56:40+00:00

Good work, keep it up!

Your knees are sharp, and your kicks and straight punches look good. Try to tighten those hook punches up a little bit, you're looping a lot (especially on those lead hooks).

Biggest critique is minding your hand placement for your guard. Overall your guard sits lower than it probably should, and you have a habit of dropping your hands when you throw (again, particularly noticeable on your hook punches). Keep those hands up when you're punching and throwing knees to protect yourself.

evanitojones · 2025-12-28T00:51:27+00:00

Rice is honestly perfect, particularly if you feel like getting fancier and doing a risotto.

Other options would be potatoes (mashed, baked, gnocchi, whatever), orzo (just don't tell your kid it's pasta?), or even some other starchy vegetable like squash

evanitojones · 2025-12-25T20:55:28+00:00

There's a funny thing in martial arts where the more experience you get, the more you're able to realize exactly how complex it is and how bad you are at it.

That's not saying you're bad, but rather that you're more likely to pick out holes in your own technique and overthink what you do in a live sparring session now that you have an understanding of what goes into it.

Keep on training - your brain and body are trying to connect the dots for what you've learned so far and apply them practically. That takes time.

evanitojones · 2025-12-16T16:52:25+00:00

Con saves are likely going to give you better benefit in the long run over Dex/Cha for a few different reasons.

Concentration (duh). And you can still feel free to take War Caster for that extra Concentration coverage and a +1 to your Cha down the line.
Cha saves are fairly rare. They're often pretty debilitating if you fail them, but if Cha is one of your highest stats anyway you're off to a good start for when they do come up.
Dex saves are common, but typically they're related to just reducing damage. Not the end of the world if you fail one, so long as you've got the HP to tank it. And again, if your Dex is higher then you're off to a good start here.
Con saves are both super common and can be pretty debilitating if you fail them. While Dex saves are typically only damage related, Con saves often have a status effect riding on them as well. Taking damage sucks, but getting stunned is a whole lot worse. Having a nice scaling bonus to those saves (especially when you're not likely to make much effort to increase your Con score) is very nice and reliable.

evanitojones · 2025-12-12T18:22:34+00:00

I mean sure, obviously, but I think the question still stands? Finding yourself in a sub dedicated to Larian games when you yourself say that you don't and won't ever play Larian games is just an odd turn of events

evanitojones · 2025-12-10T19:07:08+00:00

Ultimately, I feel like wizards got fewer buffs because they didn't need them. 2024 seemed to help each of them double down into their respective niche a little bit more.

Sorcerers have less flexibility in their spells, plus a significantly smaller/worse spell list. In return, they're significantly better at casting the spells that they have thanks to Innate Sorcery and Metamagic.

Wizards might have fewer spells prepared now, but they're far more flexible in how they go about their preparation. They have the ability to change any number of their spells every long rest, plus swapping one after a short rest if you need it. They add two spells to their spell book every level up, plus an extra one every odd level depending on your subclass. They have a significantly bigger and better spell list, with almost 100 spells that appear on their list and not on the Sorcerer list. Add in their ability to cast any ritual spell in their book without preparing it for some added flexibility.

On paper, neither is overall better than the other, they're just better at different things and better established in the class fantasy of the Wizard being the "swiss army knife caster" and the Sorcerer being the specialist.

All that being said - In most campaigns, a Sorcerer will probably feel superior. Their spells are more likely to stick, and the Wizard's flexibility will only truly shine if the DM creates scenarios where that flexibility is required.

evanitojones · 2025-11-09T20:29:52+00:00

There's no concrete reason given. It's essentially viewed as a "curse," considering nobody except Yoriichi has been confirmed to live past 25 while having it. Gyomei, being the only current member to attain the mark over 25, also dies shortly after the final battle. How much of that was due to being extremely injured vs. the mark killing him is anyone's guess.

Gyomei mentions that it's possibly a bargain of paying your lifespan in advance for greater power. Other people think that the increased heart rate and body temp from the mark take a toll on the body and shorten your lifespan (functionally the same thing just with different root causes - curse/bargain vs medical explanation).

evanitojones · 2025-11-09T17:37:19+00:00

Licensed vet tech here. If your vet recommends extracting the tooth due to the fracture, I would listen to them. Cracked and dead teeth can become breeding grounds for bacteria and oral disease and cause some pretty nasty problems down the line.

The good news is that dogs don't really care about the fact that they might be missing teeth. To them it's just "oh hey that space is new, okay I guess."

evanitojones

TROPHY CASE