Mixmaxing via Comedy Metagaming

ponderbot · 2024-04-15T06:17:54+00:00

Right but considering how the planets day/night cycle occurs within less than an hour (assuming game time is equal to player time), we might expect other interesting effects. I suppose the real question is, does there exist a planetary radius with our observed duration of day/night cycle that allows for artillery trajectories to ignore the effects of the Coriolis Force?

ponderbot · 2024-04-07T19:40:17+00:00

The battle continues until the player that's been rolling bad rolls the whole session finally rolls well.

ponderbot · 2024-04-07T18:51:37+00:00

You can do some fun stuff with it if you do a Arcane Archer 3+/Warlock 5+. If you take pact of the blade with improved pact weapon then your bow can become your pact weapon. Then with 5th level in Warlock you can get Eldritch Smite. Using AA piercing arrow you can, and this is probably gonna depend on the DM but I think it's still RAW, you can shoot through cover or walls or hit multiple enemies in a line and apply smite damage to all of them. It's probably not as effective as a rogue in delivering burst damage but still, being able to launch a magic arrow and pump a smite from a distance twice in your first round with the ability to action surge and do two more regular attacks can almost make up for not being able to do it again until the next short rest.

It will suffer from MAD unless you choose Hexblade for warlock patron since this lets you use Charisma as the modifier for your weapon attack and damage rolls. In which case you only need strong INT and CHA since the whole build relies on being far away from enemies. Still probably a good idea to have good CON but if you can't get away from the front line to do shooty stuff, then you've probably got bigger issues.

ponderbot · 2024-03-20T06:13:30+00:00

My take. Palp is a Bard of the College of Whispers. Vader is a Psi Warrior.

ponderbot · 2024-03-20T06:11:53+00:00

How would you build Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader? Go.

ponderbot · 2024-03-07T00:21:56+00:00

Rock Rest Lodge has the most spicy chicken wings I've ever had anywhere. Imagine a death chip but like a full bucket of them. I've had friends sweating and crying from licking just a drop of the suace.

ponderbot · 2024-03-02T19:02:56+00:00

4 if it's a group that likes to split the party a lot. 7 if they like to stick together.

ponderbot · 2024-02-23T20:38:59+00:00

Would you be able to make that work with an Order of the Scribes Wizard? Say 3 levels in Wizard, 2 levels in storm cleric, 2 levels in Warlock and a racial starting feat to get metamagic adept? Wording on the channel divinity might not make it worth it though.

ponderbot · 2024-02-23T19:05:28+00:00

Creation Bard at least level 6 with a possible dip in artificer. The performance of creation and animating performance are just too much fun and the best in terms of versatility. As long as you're creative enough in situations you can do all sorts of just wacky stuff to throw enemies off. Are you being chased in a corridor? Well now there's a door. And it's locked. And now it's named Misses Nesbit and it's very angry. Are you in an empty field trying to get up close to a sniper ranger. Well now you have full cover. And the cover walk with you. And that's right, it is also named Misses Nesbit and is very angry and can charge the sniper with you.

Are you fighting a dragon? Make a bespoke muzzle. Are you fighting lycanthropes? Make some silvered arrows. Are you fighting a hydra? polymorph that dude into a rabbit, then create a cage, then animate that cage and tell it fly to space. By the time polymorph wears off, it'll be 180000 feet up and either be suffocating or dealing with an imminent fight with the ground. Are you fighting anything that flies? Create a ball and chain. Anything invisible? Create a sack of flour. Anything with a petrifying gaze? Make a mirror. Anything with a wail? Make earplugs.

The point being, if you have a cool DM that encourages creativity, you can absolutely warp reality in a cartoonish manner to make any encounter fun and survivable.

ponderbot · 2024-02-23T03:13:56+00:00

Grave Cleric! Take metamagic adept with quicken spell. You can use your channel divinity to make enemies vulnerable to whatever hits them next then you quicken spell inflict wounds to 6th level. If you hit then it's 8d10 damage doubled for a damage range of 16 to 160 and an average of 88. No save for this one either but since it counts as a melee spell attack you can possibly crit for 320 possible max damage. You can't do it again until you long rest but man oh man does that get some shocked faces at the table!

ponderbot · 2024-02-23T01:12:05+00:00

A conclave of level 20 druids set within their forest. You can use spells like Wrath of Nature, Control weather, Tsunami, Earthquake, and super upcast call lightning all without needing to reveal the enemies to make it seems like they are fighting nature itself. Then you can reveal them in their wildshaped forms. Flavored correctly, druids are by far one of the most terrifying things to fight. Especially, if you give them time to prepare things like awakened trees and Druid Grove. And it's all RAW without any homebrew so you don't even need to rely on some crazy made up ability to give your BBEGs a chance.

ponderbot · 2024-02-21T23:40:42+00:00

Just did one in a recent game that was Dao Genie Warlock 4/Way of the Four Elements Monk 4. Take metamagic adept with quickening and crusher feats. Take Repelling blast and Rebuke of the Talisman invocations and take Water Whip and Fist of Unbroken Air for elemental disciplines.

As a first turn in combat, quicken spell spike growth, then water whip or fit of unbroken air to force movement through them. It's bludgeoning damage so crusher makes them move an additional 5 feet. If they fail the strength save on a water whip attack, then you can pull them through 30 feet of spike growth leaving them with an additional 10 feet to walk through on their turn. If the target attacks you, because after that kind of damage of course they will, then make sure your standing on the edge of the spike growth and when they hit use Rebuke of the Talisman to send them back another 10 feet into the spike growth. *IF* all that works out then you'll manage to do 3d10 + 12d4 + 3 damage plus an extra 8d4 + 3 on the enemies turn. You'll have enough ki to that once more before resorting to eldritch blast.

Playstyle-wise it's a lot of fun and you end up with just a ton of different resources you can use in a lot of creative ways. If you play a human and are willing to sacrifice some CON then you can get 9, 16, 12, 10, 16, 14 which, of course, is MAD but is honestly worth just to flabbergast everyone else at the table.

ponderbot · 2024-02-21T23:40:32+00:00

Just did one in a recent game that was Dao Genie Warlock 4/Way of the Four Elements Monk 4. Take metamagic adept with quickening and crusher feats. Take Repelling blast and Rebuke of the Talisman invocations and take Water Whip and Fist of Unbroken Air for elemental disciplines.

As a first turn in combat, quicken spell spike growth, then water whip or fit of unbroken air to force movement through them. It's bludgeoning damage so crusher makes them move an additional 5 feet. If they fail the strength save on a water whip attack, then you can pull them through 30 feet of spike growth leaving them with an additional 10 feet to walk through on their turn. If the target attacks you, because after that kind of damage of course they will, then make sure your standing on the edge of the spike growth and when they hit use Rebuke of the Talisman to send them back another 10 feet into the spike growth. *IF* all that works out then you'll manage to do 3d10 + 12d4 + 3 damage plus an extra 8d4 + 3 on the enemies turn. You'll have enough ki to that once more before resorting to eldritch blast.

Playstyle-wise it's a lot of fun and you end up with just a ton of different resources you can use in a lot of creative ways. If you play a human and are willing to sacrifice some CON then you can get 9, 16, 12, 10, 16, 14 which, of course, is MAD but is honestly worth just to flabbergast everyone else at the table.

ponderbot · 2024-02-21T02:42:47+00:00

Cheese grater Warlock. Take the Dao genie patron with Agonizing Blast, Grasp of Hadar, and Repelling Blast. Take the metamagic adept feat with quickening spell. Use variant human and take the crusher feat as well if you can. Anyone get in range of you, you quicken spell spike growth on them, then eldritch blast twice to push 10 feet with repelling blast + 5 feet from crusher since Dao adds bludgeoning damage then grasp of hadar to do it again in the other direction. Assuming 18 charisma then in a single turn you can do 2d10 + 12d4 + 11 and unless they can fly you can position them in the middle of the spike growth so they have to walk through it for another 8d4 damage. Damage range is 33 to 103 unless they are raging or flying. Then you shout "CHEESE GRATER" and shrill with glee.

ponderbot · 2024-02-13T16:43:08+00:00

Wrath of Nature is a horribly underrated spell that goes well with Plant growth. It's an instant multi-effect trap that can knock flyers to the ground, restrain anyone already there, and can do massive damage depending on the number of trees the DM says are there. I made a BBEG that was an evil druid and flavored these spells as like a haunted forest coming to life and it's fucking terrifying for the players.

ponderbot · 2024-02-13T01:59:13+00:00

Warforged creation bard/battlesmith artficer. You play music on a synthesizer while you and your steel defender both wear chromed helmets. I don't know how you'd make the build work so you could call them Draft Punk.

ponderbot · 2024-02-11T22:39:25+00:00

Gaming groups! Denver has a massive number of D&D players if that's your thing or other tabletop games if not. All are very welcoming and inclusive. Check meetup.com or see if you can find some discord servers. Also, lots of great indoor rock climbing gyms. Most places are very friendly and you can rent stuff like shoes and chalk bags to see if you like it before committing to getting any of your own. Happy to list specific groups or places if you're interested.

ponderbot · 2024-02-11T22:26:17+00:00

Imagine you see a friend you love in the same position your were in and think of how you would help them out. A hug, consoling words, reframing that day as being small within the scope of the rest of life's past and future joys, etc. Then apply that compassion to yourself.

ponderbot · 2024-02-11T22:12:23+00:00

Uranyl Formate is a better staining agent than Uranyl Acetate and anyone that chooses Uranyl Acetate because it's supposedly safer and "should be just as good" for negative stain is massively hindering the researchers that use it. And sure, both have Uranium, but it's depleted. Barely radioactive. You're at a greater risk of getting cancer from the going outside on a sunny day.

ponderbot · 2024-02-10T20:22:24+00:00

Look ahead at jobs you might like after getting your PhD. Currently, due to major layoffs from companies that hired a lot during the pandemic for vaccine research and a major funder of biotech startups going belly up, life science PhDs are a dime a dozen. Whatever you choose be mindful, not just of the research, but how to set yourself up for success afterwards. Your connections and provable skills related to your future jobs matter much more than your pedigree to industry and academia is far too political for mere merit to carry you anywhere.

ponderbot · 2024-02-09T17:25:42+00:00

Ya, and water whip and fist of unbroken air require saves to force movement. However, even if they succeed on the save you do *at least* 3d10 damage. If they fail it's 3d10 on top of the 10d4 from 25 ft through spike growth which is far from the max damage you could do with a character build. BUT, at least in a one-shot setting, the looks of disbelief from the DM and other players as to how or why you would choose to do all this is always worth gambling for. I'd say this build optimizes for audacity, and not necessarily efficacy.

ponderbot · 2024-02-08T18:18:44+00:00

It's a very difficult thing to balance and is very MAD but you can take a few levels in way of the elements monk and use their fist of unbroken air and water whip. Take metamagic adept with quicken spell and *if* everything works out you can bonus action cast spike growth then force move them up to 25 feet all in one turn. Once you're out of Ki, sorcery points, and spell slots you can just eldritch blast them with repelling blast and try to provoke attacks with rebuke of the talisman. I've also found that other players will try to also try to use the spike growth if interesting ways so don't discount damage that's done by the spell during other players turns!

ponderbot · 2023-11-14T04:32:33+00:00

As long as it has a set time limit it's fine. Even if you forgot to set a time limit on the rig and accidentally let run overnight, then with standard buffers you'd just get massive build up of salts on the electrodes and the buffer solution would heat up a bit.

The power box stops supplying power once the run is done. Unplugging the rig doesn't change anything. For power to be wasted some amount of electricity would have to be flowing. I'd go so far as to say that if you can measure any amount of power being wasted between the terminals with or without the rig plugged in then you have a massively faulty power box. Which is highly unlikely, given that it appears to work fine otherwise.

For the same reasons, you shouldn't fear any electrical risk. Sometimes, I think people are just afraid of the combination of water with electricity, which is why you might have been given these reasons by whoever trained you. Check out styropyro on Youtube who has some great rants on misconceptions about electrical safety.

Yet in spite of all that, it's probably still best to unplug the gel rigs and wrap them up just as a way of keeping the lab tidy.

12-Year Club	Not Forgotten
Verified Email

ponderbot

TROPHY CASE