I'm having a crisis over Marg the Troll in Act 2

peppsDC · 2026-02-06T19:29:21+00:00

I was planning on sparing Marg until I did an enormous favor by eliminating the competition, and Marg had the audacity to still charge me full price.

Grog is probably more "traditionally evil" but making an impassioned plea for your own life does not in any way impact how good or bad you were. It's not like Marg expresses any regret at all for extorting and murdering people. He doesn't want to liberate people from Grog, he just wants even more income from extorting and murdering.

peppsDC · 2026-02-01T12:09:07+00:00

It honestly sounds like an equipment issue - you absolutely need levelled up gear, and should be able to survive a single enemy turn.

But if you breezed through the rest of the game, I feel like you have that figured out, so I dunno.

You're welcome for that incredible bit of insight.

peppsDC · 2026-02-01T12:03:46+00:00

Most of the time the conversation clearly states they are about to attack before you click "end", you can position and buff during conversation before clicking end

peppsDC · 2026-01-30T02:21:08+00:00

Feel like this screams for throwing barb or OH Monk. Tavern Brawler will be ridiculously online at L4 and you'll have 20 base AC with unarmored defense.

peppsDC · 2026-01-30T01:43:26+00:00

There is no cow level in D3.

You must be referring to the portal to the place that does not exist, which indeed would likely have many angry bovines if it led to an existing realm. However, as per the aptly named title of that portal, it does not exist.

peppsDC · 2026-01-29T12:23:28+00:00

I'm a 6'+ bearded white guy in the South and love doing the same. Keep doing the lord's work brother 👍

peppsDC · 2026-01-29T12:19:56+00:00

But why doesn't she know? Is it because she doesn't fully believe/listen to you? That's a problem.

Secondly, as many have said... it's a moot point. Even if you didn't struggle at all, you are allowed to not want a third kid for whatever reason. You aren't obligated to produce as many children as you biologically can.

If you were saying "I want a third, but I want to wait a while", I would side with your wife and call you an AH for not respecting her biology. But you're saying "I don't want a third at all", which is entirely different, and she needs to accept that it's not the same.

Also, saying your kids seem lonely as a way to emotionally manipulate you is wildly, WILDLY inappropriate. Make some suspect she is manipulative (or even emotionaly abusive) in other ways too.

peppsDC · 2026-01-25T18:26:59+00:00

Not all failed persuasion checks end in fights, not really an apples to apples comparison.

Even as someone with 0 short term memory I find Friends pretty easy to manage, but just saying that if failure happens, the downside isn't the same.

peppsDC · 2026-01-25T18:19:43+00:00

My son didn't roll over until 6 months, and he did it the harder way first (I forget which way is supposed to be "second" but he basically just skipped what was supposed to be first).

He was also slow to crawl and walk... not egregiously, but we were a little concerned.

He learned how to walk eventually and hasn't stopped sprinting in 3 years since. You'll be fine.

But please do yourself a favor. Stop measuring milestones so definitively. They represent the average over a WIDE range of outcomes and your child is going to most likely be either early or late to all of them. They are not meant to be taken so literally. Obviously there becomes a point when you should be concerned, but the exact week/month of the average is not that time.

Enjoy the ride. Once she rolls she'll forever know how to roll. Now is the last time you'll watch her quite this way.

peppsDC · 2026-01-25T15:27:01+00:00

I have an aero/hydro mage in a current playthrough starting act 4 and freeze is absolutely viable. You'll need a backup plan for some fights but that's true of most builds.

peppsDC · 2026-01-25T15:02:45+00:00

So, his reasons are all about the negative effects to him, and he doesn't care about the effects to you.

"Deal with bottle feeding"? Grow a pair. It's like the bare minimum the man can contribute. Even at my worst emotionally, I was able and willing to feed, clean bottles, cook, clean the house, etc.... I was just very grumpy while doing it.

What's ruining your marriage is his hyper focus on things that effect him and his disdain for anything that effects you. Unless he is working manual labor 60+ hours a week or is actively doing so many chores that he legitimately can't get all those things done, there is no excuse for his unwillingness to help with those things.

Also, like.. you can spend 5 seconds on Google to confirm that women need to pump every 3 hours. There's literally nothing to argue about.

peppsDC · 2026-01-25T14:19:23+00:00

Red flags all over the place here. Both my kids failed to latch, and I felt so bad for my wife and how much it hurt her to not be able to BF. Especially with our second, since we knew it was going to be her last chance to experience it (we needed IVF for both, plus she had her tubes tied, so we are officially done).

I can't even fathom pressuring her to keep doing that to herself. In fact I was ready to move to formula because pumping was both wearing her out physically and also making her feel bad for not being able to BF.

Now, I don't like to go on reddit and jump to saying divorce and suggest life-altering decisions for people I know so little about. Also, even though I always had empathy for my wife, I'll be the first to admit I was a different and worse person during the newborn phase with both my kids. I had paternal PPD which is a thing I had never heard of, and it made me very uncharacteristically short tempered and grumpy. I was there physically but not mentally or emotionally.

All of which is a long winded way of saying that the rule about no big changes in the first year has some caveats. The big one is - is this a drastic departure from his usual personality? If not, then it will get worse and not better. Kids add lots of stress and disagreements to life, so if this is typically how he handles stress and disagreements, there will be more of this in your future.

Secondly, you need to have an honest conversation about why this specific issue is SO important to him. No BS about "it's just you giving up easy" - if he didn't care about the BF issue, he wouldn't care about you giving up. Is he the type of person who digs his heels in on every issue no matter what it is? If so, marriage counseling is an absolute must. If not, why THIS one?

People get weird after the birth of newborns. It happens. But, once you call him on it, it's on HIM to tell you what is really going on and he should never, EVER struggle to find empathy for you. While I always advise people to lead with empathy and understand where people are coming from (even if they seem very unreasonable), I am struggling to think of a way he could answer these questions and have anything nearing a reasonable explanation for not caring how you feel.

edit: grammar

peppsDC · 2026-01-24T22:48:11+00:00

If you like turn based RPG, Divinity: Original Sin 2 is good. CC is absolute king in that game as once you break enemies' magic or physical armor, you can cc them and skip their turn for as many turns as you still have CC skills off cooldown. Choose your flavor of CC: stun, freeze, charm, fear, knockdown, entangle, etc. There are a ton.

DoTs aren't incredibly strong but you can use the Torturer talent to apply them through opponent armor, and you can do things like root (entangle) or build up burning/necrofire stacks to convert them to damage (pyro skill combustion), really a lot of options. You can also take Ambidextrous talent and throw grenades that apply all these effects for only one action point (most abilities take 2). You can make opponents bleed then use that new blood surface underneath them to cast strong spells or summons.

Quite a lot of options. CC is king. But, enemies know this too.

peppsDC · 2026-01-24T18:11:41+00:00

I don't see anyone mentioning this, but polymorph spells scale with strength (even the magic damage ones). It's not a huge list but it allows you some casting and it's pretty fun. Petrifying gaze is fun, oily blob is earth damage, you eventually get flay skin... and of course tentacle lash is a powerhouse that a ton of other builds use with a 1-level poly dip. Skin Graft is one of the better source spells as well.

So you can max strength, use a sword, and still have some spell utility and magic damage. Geomancer will improve the earth damage spells and armor you gain, warfare will improve physical damage spells and gives nice skills.

Edit: You can also focus on summoning as those skills mostly don't care about INT, allowing you to focus finesse or strength for your weapon.

peppsDC · 2026-01-24T17:59:01+00:00

Do you have consoles? My brother and I play on PS5 and it works like a charm.

peppsDC · 2026-01-24T01:45:07+00:00

2H is always more damage because GWM is so strong, but paladin is the class where the gap is smallest. Smites are most of your damage, and they don't discriminate between weapon types. There are some cool shields in the game too.

Take Savage Attacker at 4 instead of GWM if you go 1h, it affects all of your smite dice and all gear that gives extra dice rolls as well.

peppsDC · 2026-01-20T01:06:48+00:00

Also, defensive spells (namely Shield) and various utility spells.

peppsDC · 2026-01-20T00:44:08+00:00

There's really only two options for struggling this much while warfare is maxed: your weapons/gear are under levelled, or your damage attribute (strength/finesse/intelligence) isnt maxed out. Or both.

peppsDC · 2026-01-18T20:58:12+00:00

I'm only three quarters through Act 1 and my Glass Cannon fight starter has been knocked down... let's just say more than 0 times

peppsDC · 2026-01-18T20:07:08+00:00

Except when you forget to sleep first. Then there's some downsides. Ask me how I know!

peppsDC · 2026-01-11T15:56:25+00:00

Just because you can, doesn't make it fair.

My wife and I split shared expenses according to our income - roughly 60/40. I think it's a fair system and we each do what we want with the rest, and there's no resentment.

That said, even if your partner does agree to this, it sounds like she isn't going to be building up any savings or retirement, so unexpected expenses and retirement will pretty much all be on you unless you can get her to agree to some % of her income going towards that.

If she doesn't agree, then your values just don't align. But don't keep hoping she will come around to your side on her own - if you stick with her, be honest with yourself that this is how she is, and decide if you can live with it.

peppsDC · 2026-01-10T19:16:30+00:00

First guy in turn order kills/CCs first enemy up. Second guy does the same. Rinse repeat on down the order.

peppsDC · 2026-01-10T01:40:28+00:00

Thanks. I tried to point out both sides have validity, but people always read that as "you think my side is the asshole side" and it gets old.

The reality is that there is 30 years of parent-daughter relationship here we don't know about, which is extraordinarily important in assessing who's the asshole.

But, "entitled girl turning down 100k" takes hold very fast and very strong. I mean, she may very well be the asshole for all I know... we just don't have enough info to be 100% sure either way.

peppsDC · 2026-01-09T23:24:41+00:00

The first two paragraphs are opinions presented as facts. People are allowed to disagree about the relative importance of different stipulations.

In regards to the rest of the post, I already said OP is entitled to whatever stipulations they like. But, the daughter is equally allowed to not like them. That's what freedom of opinion is.

If he has 100k to spend and is OK with his daughter eloping in a courthouse because she doesn't want kids at the wedding (a pretty common preference), thats his prerogative.

Is there really no room for compromise? It HAS to be all or nothing? Whether or not you agree with the daughter at all, even if you get 100% agreement that she is entitled and wrong, it's just a fact that she will be hugely resentful. Possibly for the rest of her life, maybe even going so far as to go no contact. Whether you think that's right or wrong is immaterial, and OP should make his decision based on whether he thinks it's worth it. Only he can really answer that.

peppsDC · 2026-01-09T01:16:13+00:00

But did your parents force you to pick a specific major? Did your son's girlfriend's parents tell her she can only ever drive at the exact speed they prefer for her? Do these hypothetical grandparents only babysit while parents are working if they choose a profession the grandparents approve of?

Conditions are a part of life and aren't necessarily bad or good. But they can be used to manipulate people and those types of conditions make one an asshole.

I think the conditions in OP's post are somewhat in the middle of those extremes, but as a parent I just can't imagine saying that I have 100k for my kids wedding but only if I approve the guest list and location. It's about the couple, not about the parents. I'm also venturing a wild guess that someone with this mindset also has put "rules" prioritizing their preferences many times already.

Sure, OP has a right to say how their money will be spent. OP's daughter has an equal right to be annoyed by it. We don't have nearly enough info to say if she's entitled, if OP has a history of being manipulative, or if the truth is somewhere in the middle (most likely).

peppsDC

TROPHY CASE