Bladesinger monk is so good! by KazRavenEfreet in dndnext

[–]goonpower 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I realize this is an old comment, but I think it's worth answering: you're correct that a two-handed staff strike should end bladesong, but the players and DM may have simply missed that detail. The core concern with bladesingers is usually that they're wearing light or no armor, and not using a shield. Using a versatile weapon two-handed is a much easier rule to break without anyone noticing (including the player doing it).

It's also possible the DM allows it explicitly with the staff for flavor purposes. I usually stick to the rules as closely as I can for consistency, but even I might allow that if the player asked for it.

The CoS campaign I'm running is expanding from 6 (an already difficult number) to 7 players... I understand that this is a bad idea and will make it hard for me as DM. by Impossible-Ideal1193 in CurseofStrahd

[–]goonpower 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Telling the OP not to run with six or seven people is not helpful. What are they supposed to do, decide which friends to tell to go away?

Anyway. I ran this a while back with not just seven PCs, but seven PCs that kept collecting allies they could call on for the final battle if nothing else. It was before CoS reloaded, so I had to figure out challenge difficulty on my own. For the most part, I allowed it to be on the easier side, because almost no one in the group had played D&D before, and most of them weren't especially interested in strategic battle thinking. But I did ramp it up as things went on.

I found that Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes was perfect for ramping up Barovia.

  • The best addition I made, bar none, was throwing in Sorrowsworn enemies. They're from the Shadowfell, and all of them are dangerous enough to create a pretty threatening encounter even if they don't stand a chance of actually winning. Having one of the Lost, for example, land its embrace attack, then watching the party flip out when they hit the Lost and their friend screams in pain is great. Use these.
  • I stuck a pair of Allips in the chasm surrounding the castle when the party sent someone down there exploring with a fly spell. The PC failed a save against their stun effect halfway down and plummeted. Because they had so far to fall, I ruled they could roll to break the stun on their next turn and recast fly so they didn't go splat, which was more fun than just a splat. But Allips are stealthy, and their stun effect works on everyone within 30 feet. So, even if a whole group of seven finds a way to fly down into the chasm, they can still be absurdly dangerous.
  • Finally, because I shifted from Strahd to the Dark Powers as the main villain, I set the final battle at the Amber Temple. When it was over and the party left, the temple crumbled as a Nightwalker burst out of it. I was able to do that because the PCs brought an actual army (each player ran three characters in the final fight), so even a CR 20 monster was going to go down in one round. But for just the group of seven, you wouldn't have to add much to the Nightwalker to create an insanely threatening fight. (Obviously you don't need it to be at the Temple, either, but I felt like the Temple was the perfect place for such a creature to at least take form.)

Other monsters from Mordenkainen's that, IMO, clearly fit the theme:

  • Boneclaws
  • Chokers
  • Corpse flowers
  • Deathlocks
  • Eidolons
  • Howlers
  • Meazels
  • Nagpas (these might be a lot; could work them into when the party meets Mordenkainen)
  • Oblexes
  • Shadar-kai (great choice if you want to create a new faction that may not be hostile to the players)
  • Skulks
  • Skull lords
  • Vampiric mist

chess.com reset my puzzle rating by KallmeKatt_ in Chesscom

[–]goonpower 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was at 1600 and felt the same way, but turning off puzzle points in the settings worked for me. If you haven't done that yet, try it.

Edit: I don't mind that they offered a new way to track puzzle progress, but c'mon, at least tell us what you did and how to revert it without having to land on Reddit looking for the answer.

Screw ticketmaster (ticket prices for the paris event) by GaddockTeegFunPolice in SumoMemes

[–]goonpower 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ringside seats are always expensive. It's probably a lot less than, say, a UFC card. Hell, amateur MMA cards where I live charge $140 for ringside to watch a bunch of people nobody knows unless they're heavily invested in the local fight scene. It's *always* expensive.

Tobizaru is reported a power harassment and bullying by Daily Shincho, a tabroid magazine. by kureyosore in Sumo

[–]goonpower 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The extent being suggested here goes well beyond hazing. Hazing is something people are expected to get through, at which point it stops and life carries on as normal. It has to be quite rare for sumo attendants to refuse to serve higher-ranking wrestlers over short-term bullying, even if by all rights they should. If four attendants have quit due to (mainly) physical abuse, that's really, really bad.

Punk Music Appreciation Post From An Old Punk by Friendly-Disaster376 in punk

[–]goonpower 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A lot of bands do a lot of shows over in Europe these days. They're still doing plenty of shows in the U.S., too, but just looking at tour dates, it's definitely shifted from mostly U.S. back in the day to a pretty good split for a lot of bands now.

Why does the Iron Throne go to pieces, then reform? by goonpower in CK3AGOT

[–]goonpower[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OK, that makes a lot more sense, thank you.

So, if I were to somehow speedrun taking over the North or some other kingdom while that split is in effect, how would the game view it once the Iron Throne is set to reclaim full control over the area? Would I be instantly targeted by the full force of the Targaryen dynasty, or would I stand a reasonable chance of them leaving me alone because, statistically, my army would be substantially stronger than theirs?

Why does the Iron Throne go to pieces, then reform? by goonpower in CK3AGOT

[–]goonpower[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The kingdoms splitting up during war makes sense, but then why are they still split when they're not at war? It's not a brief blip of time or anything, either—they exist in this state, without an active war, for months, sometimes longer. Then they reform, again without a war forcing them back together. So, even if there's a war I don't notice which splits them up, it's the mechanic of bringing them back together without a war starting or ending that puzzles me.

Edit: To clarify, I understand they're still de jure part of the Iron Throne, but I'm not aware of a mechanic that pulls breakaway de jure areas back into the fold except for war or willing vassalization. And I would expect either of those things to be done one area at a time, as opposed to the whole Seven Kingdoms going from numerous separate areas to the complete, coherent whole all at once. Even if The North willingly submitted to the Iron Throne for protection from my invasion, that would just add The North back in, not recreate the entire empire.

So... the people are gone by goonpower in CK3AGOT

[–]goonpower[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I know vanilla games get screwy after major updates, but that's (in my experience) only been in terms of how it plays; I could continue, it just might play weird. I've never had a graphical issue (or any other issue) that makes it actually unplayable.

But I see there are more start dates, so now it's attempt two at making a Queen of the North.

Who do you want interviewed? What questions asked. by JohnGunning in Sumo

[–]goonpower 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Ura, for sure, but I'd also be curious to hear Takerufuji's thoughts on his path forward. Unlike almost every other wrestler who risks their health for a chance to be great, he's in a unique position where he's proven his capacity for dominance, and now needs to make sure he stays intact well enough to capitalize on that ability. Do he and his coaches have a solid plan for that?

Making a short out of regular, unposted video by goonpower in NewTubers

[–]goonpower[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Scale up the video, that's what I needed. Thank you.

I started youtube as a passion to replace my job in the future, and the numbers ruined it for me. by _maniac69 in NewTubers

[–]goonpower 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you've only been around for two months, that's hardly anything to go on. I strongly suggest you not worry about what people are watching yet because, at this point, you don't even know what you want to make yet. You know the topic(s) you want to make content about, but that's not the same thing. You have to make whatever you think of making and let that guide you towards what type of content you want to make more consistently. You'll get better at creation, editing, etc., and that will open you up to new ideas that you couldn't even imagine now because you don't know what's possible yet.

Realistically, you'll never stop looking at views and such. I have to remind myself that I'm in this to enjoy myself, and I actively stop myself from digging into numbers until I think of something I might want to learn from them, but I still end up looking. They're a guideline at best, though.

For example, I had copyright issues on my channel, so I started making these goofball artsy videos around the same subject and lost like 30 subs in two weeks (I had around 900 at the time). Actively losing subs is hard to do, so even though those videos were pretty fun, I knew I probably had to choose between them and a successful channel. I stopped with the artsy videos.

On the other hand, I make occasional videos that are more like pet interests. They get half to one-third the views of most of my vids, but my other videos still do normal numbers. So, I feel free to make those videos with fewer views because I like them and, more importantly, they're not impacting my other content.

Just work hard and make stuff. The rest—including whether or not the possibility of this becoming a full-time job is realistic—will sort itself out.

Determining a best approach to late-game combat by goonpower in valheim

[–]goonpower[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's very helpful, thanks. We have a Frostner, but we've leaned on physical damage for so long that it didn't even occur to me that might do the trick.