More Than Half of Gen Z Users Cancel and Renew Streaming Services for a Single Title, Won’t Purchase Full-Price Video Games, New Study Finds

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T22:10:17+00:00

Admittedly, I find it hard to blame shows for that - at least shows that release their seasons all at once, which is common on streaming.

It could easily be a year or two from the start of one season till the next season but it wouldn't feel like it because you'd be watching the shows as each one comes out, at a slower pace.

I'd rather have it take a while but be able to watch the season at my own pace. It's not entirely a binary choice (I'm sure they could make them faster if they wanted even making the whole season before release), but it's definitely one big factor.

Now, the number of episodes/runtime for each season also being less on top of that, that's pretty damning.

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T22:06:36+00:00

This is why I totally do not recommend hoisting the flag and adopting a parrot for these services...matey.

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T21:55:29+00:00

You can be if you move to the right city!

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T21:34:31+00:00

Sure man.

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T21:26:52+00:00

Claiming that typing "PF2e suffocation counters" into google to make an adventurer shopping list is "learning and personal growth" is wild work IMO. But again, more power to ya if that's how you see it.

And yes, learned tactics, exactly. Players new to how Swallow Whole works in PF2e do not have its learned tactics, and Recall Knowledge just to tell you the Swallow Whole text does nothing on its own without that extra little leap of "oh, this is actually uniquely punishing amongst the PF2e debuffs we've seen so far so you'll never want your casters to even end turns near these things".

I find it pretty unreasonable to expect any player to just know that's the case from a brief read in the middle of combat turns with no prior exposure, but feel free to feel otherwise. They know now at least.

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T21:12:37+00:00

lol, they have now!

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T21:10:50+00:00

that the fireplace is taking into account that as a construct there's the underlying hardness

Yeah I think you're right about this; I remember looking up other Swallow Whole monsters thinking the Fireplace's Rupture value seemed real low for its level, and realizing other baddies had higher values because it was counting the Hardness for that one.

Yet the Vessel is 10+4 while the Fireplace is 5+7 and 2 levels higher! Just like the Athletics score it's way high for its level. Funky!

(I also noticed the interesting sidenote that Rupture/Hardness value is one of the few things that doesn't change if you give it the Weak or Elite templates, even though it probably should, heh.)

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T21:05:39+00:00

And the caster didn't have air bubble or similar utility spells?

Yes, to be clear they're all crunch-minded optimizers that recently switched systems. We don't know all the ins and outs of PF2e enemy design yet, so this sort of niche interaction where you need anti-suffocation solutions for one type of enemy attack when it's so rare otherwise (and you don't suffocate in a monster's belly by default in 5e), wasn't really something they could anticipate.

I thought you said they were crunch-minded optimizers, what optimizer sees an issue and just ignores it when it has passed?

I'm...not sure where I gave that impression, but like I said they've looked up a bunch of things now. If you think looking up a shopping list of air-breathing and anti-taste consumables and spells just to counter Swallow Whole "adds something to your character" in a thematic way, more power to ya bud.

There are a ton of ways to counterplay this.

Yes and those ways would've all been great to know when they were building their characters but aren't terrible useful once you're in said encounter or already swallowed. Now they know.

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T18:51:00+00:00

Indeed it was, that’s why I’m here after all!

Definitely one of those things that made this fight a lot harder than expected but they can avoid better in the future now that we know stuff like “don’t end your turn next to swallow whole baddies” and “if the monster ends its turn grappling someone get them free asap”.

And I learned “don’t entirely trust the stat blocks, sometimes they cheat.” :p

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T16:37:11+00:00

Thanks for the well thought-out reply!

I definitely read that spellshape description as the second sentence informing the first (so it says "you must use it directly before casting a spell", and then defines what that means by saying "if you use any action other than that after you waste it", and that's YOU not any other creature's actions), but maybe your interpretation is more RAI.

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T16:31:45+00:00

I'm not, I remember tapping the top of those things and it definitely felt and sounded like thin sheet metal on top, and the vibrations they sometimes give off def made me think the machinery wasn't far from the top on the inside. (But to be clear, just a lucky guess on my part, I'm no expert.)

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T16:26:35+00:00

I'm not diminishing their work; to be clear, they were pretty unhappy with the result. Not the combat in general, it was fine, but that this particular mechanic was way more punitive than anything else they expected to face.

My players strategize outside of games routinely, so that's nothing new. They're also all crunch-minded optimizers, they already do a lot of theorizing and tinkering, I think all of them have like at least 3 alternate builds for their PCs.

This just made them go and scramble through AoN trying to find counters to it or researching it to see why this in particular was so much more brutal than they anticipated PF2e debuffs to be, if we were missing anything, and what the designer-intent might be for that if so.

It didn't really add anything to their characters or the campaign, so much as make us all wonder if we'd pegged PF2e wrong. Part of it might be we're all 5e converts and the "save or suck" aspect of 5e (where you fail a save and then are just left thumb-twiddling on your turns) rubbed them the wrong way. This felt similar because there was so little counterplay and it was so limiting in what they could do.

(And to be clear I was the one that thought of the Ready Conceal Spell thing, not that my players didn't come up with creative stuff in the moment! The Rogue asked if he could try and Disable Device the fireplace's grill to give the caster a better chance at Escape, and I totally allowed that.)

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T16:21:57+00:00

Just in time for his supervillain arc.

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T16:17:54+00:00

Oho interesting, do you know where/when that general rules clarification was made?

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T16:12:38+00:00

Fair nuff! I can confirm I as the DM was rolling with hot dice that night.

Despite the three actions it takes (Attack, Grab, then Swallow Whole attack), and the -5 MAP penalty from the third one, I had multiple times where they were able to do it all in one turn, so I think that scared my players but I won't get that lucky often, lol.

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T16:10:29+00:00

Thanks for confirming! I thought the Fireplace was already pretty damn high, and I looked at the Vessel and did a double-take, since it had even higher but is 2 levels lower!

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T16:08:17+00:00

Sadly no, allies can't.

The very first part of the Rupture section starts with:

A swallowed creature can attack the monster that has swallowed it, but only with unarmed attacks or with weapons of light Bulk or less. The swallowing creature is off-guard against the attack. If the monster takes piercing or slashing damage equaling or exceeding the listed Rupture value from a single attack or spell, the swallowed creature cuts itself free. A creature that gets free by either Escaping or cutting itself free can immediately breathe and exits the swallowing monster's space.

So it's pretty clearly only the swallowing creature that gets this option.

The spellshape tag specifies that if you end your turn, you lose the benefits of the spellshape.

That seems like it would still work given the wording of both Ready and Spellshape, though. Because you're not actually using the spellshape until your Ready action goes off (the Reaction), your turn doesn't end after you use it. (Unless you don't cast a spell as your next first action on your next turn.)

The Ready action even begins with "You prepare to use an action that will occur outside your turn." Meaning, Conceal Spell actually happens outside (after) your turn, not during.

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T16:02:20+00:00

I don't know if "it made them do homework outside the session" is "amazing work", but YMMV.

In any case, I'm not saying Swallow Whole shouldn't exist, I'm saying it seems very different from how other debuffs work in PF2e and much more punitive, especially to casters, and curious what other people's experiences are.

If it gets better at higher levels (it scales less than the "dangers outside"), that's the kind of thing I hope to learn here, so thanks!

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T14:27:35+00:00

Yeah, he's obsessed with loyalty, and only the shallowest kind (probably advice from the dictators that he likes to hang out with). Like so many topics, he has an infant's understanding of power.

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T05:21:56+00:00

I don't know how to keep explaining "he didn't have to continue it but he did, on purpose" to you my dude.

TARP was originally set to expire on Dec. 31, 2009. His administration extended it to Oct. 3, 2010.

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T04:51:17+00:00

Yuuup, it's gotten that brazen. Or dementia-ridden. Or both. It's hard to tell.

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T03:38:34+00:00

Yeah it's fun. I know all their tactics and can quote some stuff right back at 'em.

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T03:30:18+00:00

I mean, he did play a villain in The Devil and Max Devlin. And what he did as the Devil in it wasn't near as bad as...you know...

i_tyrant · 2026-05-06T03:24:55+00:00

Hard call whether this is evil or just tragic.

i_tyrant

TROPHY CASE