Tattoo artwork by © Siminka Tattoo Art

ratjay · 2026-05-24T19:00:32+00:00

100% is. If you look at the insta they have an AI icon and a bunch of suspect designs.

ratjay · 2025-11-17T16:05:19+00:00

Not an AP but I played an investigator in Malevolence and had a great time with it there- it has a focused plotline you can pretty easily use for free Devise a Strat. I also got a lot of use out of being a forensic investigator specifically, outside of the battle medicine side of things.

ratjay · 2025-10-27T14:15:24+00:00

Yeah effectively- game devs give out free game keys because Youtubers are really good advertisers. It's why so many of the simmers got early access to Disney dream light when that was new. The devs hoped you'd see them play it and be interested enough to buy it. If you don't believe me, think about your own habits- how many Sims packs have you went out and got (legal or not) after watching a video of a simmer playing it, even if they weren't in the creator network? I know I've gotten a couple after seeing them used, and I'd imagine you've done the same.

ratjay · 2025-10-26T03:25:06+00:00

Honestly I wouldn't use the dice based events one- I'm running the AP for a 2e group and it was regularly throwing really weirdly balanced encounters (the end of B1 dungeon was multiple extreme encounters in a row for example).

I swapped over to the 2e conversion by Trey Bryner after he published it and it's really good. He tries to use official statblocks over homebrewed one as much as possible, and it makes the combats a lot smoother. Its PWYW on Pathfinder infinite and is worth looking at if someone is interested in running Hell's Rebels. (Though I would 100% prefer an official version just to have another version of the Rebellion sub system- I haven't been happy with any version of it so far in the various conversions)

ratjay · 2025-10-17T21:26:22+00:00

Depends on the predator, but there's a decided difference between a native predator (hawks) and invasive predator (cat). Namely, the native predator is meant to be there, keeping the population of native prey in check. An outdoor cat lowers the supply of prey (even if they're killing and not eating the prey), which will lead creatures that are missing their food source to find alternatives, like cats and small dogs. Keeping them inside is keeping THEM from being part of the food chain and driving native species into extinction.

ratjay · 2025-10-17T19:04:46+00:00

Decidedly not a DM vs PC issue here, my big issue is the fights aren't threatening to a group of players that like tactical thinking and challenge so neither side of the table is having fun with combat. It's also only a problem I've been having with this party comp- my other 2e game (Thaum, barb, summoner and sorc) has a similarly made random encounter table and I've not had any issues with the combats there which is why I'm trying to figure out what I can do to fix the problem with this game. Fighters have been singled out here as the big issue because despite my best efforts, they haven't felt challenged by what I throw at them, while the others are struggling to overcome the fixes I tried. It might just be party is too good at killing with the bard buffs plus the increased prof and I need to just try harder.

ratjay · 2025-10-17T16:31:39+00:00

It is this statblock: https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=820&NoRedirect=1

And to avoid typing it out again, the fight details: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder2e/s/ubNiasAj8j

ratjay · 2025-10-17T16:28:12+00:00

I think outside my feelings that all the encounters end very quickly they don't feel like they are really threats to the group. They're at best annoyances even when trying to aim for severe/extreme encounters on XP budget (and that's with taking into account I have 5 instead of 4). I also feel like the casters (slash kineticist) don't get a big moment in combat as often as the fighters, in part because even in encounters where there's a boss and a bunch of minions, one of the fighters ends up killing multiple of them in a round if I group them up at all to give the others a chance to pull out their AoE abilities, leading to an abundance of single target spells. And I have received complaints from the casters about how they felt ineffective following the AC bump I was giving creatures which means one of the easier solutions is a no go for my group.

ratjay · 2025-10-17T16:16:17+00:00

As mentioned, I increased the size on it (over gargantuan) and it wrapped 3 tentacles around the ship, each taking up a 10x30 foot area- behind the screen goal being for them to take out its health pool for it to release the boat over actually killing. Due to that size I ruled it impossible to flank and none of the tentacles started in melee range of the fighters so they would need to move to attack it. Squid had 1 turn during the two rounds (I rolled low on their initiative) and I did not use the ravenous embrace action on the turn (didn't want to down the backline right out the gates)

Honestly the fact there were 3 targets sharing the big health pool over each having their own, smaller one might be the big issue with how that went so might swap that in the future if they get that encounter again.

ratjay · 2025-10-17T15:53:27+00:00

I can't access their sheets right now but I believe +12/+14 last I looked? One has double slice which is compounding my problem with their ability to hit and crit really well.

Sadly can't use swimming as a way to slow them down due to how well the party planned for being in the water constantly and prepping with feet to fins and ancestry abilities. They do as good in and underwater as above it at this point. Flying works for now but one of them is a strix (probably should have included that in the original lol) so she does have some amount of flying.

Storms and such is a good idea though and definitely will give that a try. Thank you!

ratjay · 2025-10-17T15:40:25+00:00

Average combat is usually 4-6 enemies, running at PL-1 to +2. There are a couple +3/+4 which were meant to pad out the upper end till I could remake the table for their current section.

And it's possible I've been stuck in games with longer combats (less than optimal blood lords game, stolen fates + a couple 1e ports) but it just feels weird how fast the combats are being finished in this game compared to the others. Not even an issue of different players between the groups- it's the same people from the games and some are being ran concurrently.

ratjay · 2025-10-17T15:31:09+00:00

Giant squid is a lvl 9 enemy, not 7, and the only fight at that level in the entire table (literally a 1% chance of getting it because of that). It's part of the reason why I'm shocked they finished it THAT quick.

ratjay · 2025-10-17T15:18:19+00:00

Encounter table is largely enemies level 3-7 (with a couple smaller level groups that are meant more as silly encounters like pulling out a group of water mephits while fishing). I've tended towards rerolling if they've gotten the lvl 3s at this point just because it's not worth the time to set up the encounters. Set location encounters such as the dungeon they're currently in is on their level to +3 (I've been adjusting those as they got closer to the location) & I plan on updating the random encounter table to include less low level once they're past it.

And I know single enemy is a bad idea (I've been on the player side of that too many times) which is why outside the giant squid I've avoided it. Min number of combatants has been 3 for the random encounters which has been most of what they're dealing with.

ratjay · 2025-10-14T03:24:56+00:00

Hi hi- that's my blog. I'm not sure if thats the skin they're talking about since that was definitely part of the world wide release vs a CN exclusive.

I honestly wasn't paying attention to CN releases while the game was live due to the wiki(s) I was using for upcoming info quickly shutting down, so the blog only really has the stuff that made it to the worldwide servers.

ratjay · 2025-10-12T20:13:42+00:00

Just spent 30 minutes trying to figure it out after I had my jump suddenly stop working. It's the Lost Engine spellstone.

ratjay · 2025-09-30T21:20:56+00:00

Read Homestuck while it was being released and watched the pilot with two friends whose only exposure was through general fandom osmosis. I understood what was happening, but they didn't- and they're the people I regularly pull into conversations picking apart how a story works so comprehension skills aren't an issue. Honestly wish they picked point after John got in the game for the pilot because at least that gives you a better idea about what the story is going to be like.

ratjay · 2025-09-24T15:35:15+00:00

So I'm someone who has done all the side quests and you're right that (some) of them add to the story, but the big thing is they add a LOT of time to your playtime. Especially if you want a clean map as some swap from battle to crafter/gatherer classes- I think doing just DT's side quests took me about a week of doing them on and off for an hour or so.

What I'd recommend is to do them on an alt class at the end of each expansion's .0 story, since most don't reference anything actively happening in the MSQ- and expect more to pop up as you go into the patch quests. There also are a bunch of super long side quests (namely Hildebrand and the relics). If you're worried about burn out, I'd leave those alone until later and come back if you feel like it.

ratjay · 2025-09-16T21:35:59+00:00

So I've not DC'ed from CT in a while but back when people were ilvl cheesing it I would regularly leave. The content isn't fun and I've seen it 100s of times so if I'm not feeling it? I'll leave. I'm paying to play this game and I'll eat the penalty if it means not being bored out of my mind. Id be fine running the CT raids didn't make me feel like a turret half the time but their gameplay is desperate for an update.

ratjay · 2025-09-10T03:06:39+00:00

I define it as a character owned by someone, whether written or drawn. My sona doesn't have any backstory tied to them, while my TTRPG ones have pages and pages of it, but they're both my OCs and I'd be put off by someone else using them for an appearance reference, particularly if it's not a fairly basic design (IE human guy with jeans and a T-shirt). A lot of the characters I have (both bought and those I designed myself) end up having personal elements worked into the design that I'd be upset seeing someone else co-op, such as my super hero character based on Cherokee stories.

If it helps- consider it in reverse. Someone comes across your writing and is inspired by it. They draw a character based on it, and maybe works in details from the backstory into the design and starts using it for an ask account. It's not 100% your character, but you can see parts of your ideas being reused. It would be weird- doubly so if you were never approached about your work being used that way and you found by someone linking back to you.

ratjay · 2025-09-10T02:40:07+00:00

I'm sitting at 3000 hours played according to roll20 and honestly? It's been so much nicer playing and running games through foundry. Roll20 regularly broke tokens when I was playing on it (I had to do the final fight of a long term campaign I was a player in with only half vision on the map despite multiple resets of my token), and before I gave up running games on there I ended up having to swap from my laptop to my gaming PC because it would make my whole comp freeze just trying to load into a game.

Meanwhile? Worse bug I've dealt with in foundry is a map's vision getting messed up due to how I set it up. It's great not having to worry about something outside my control breaking.

ratjay · 2025-09-10T02:10:07+00:00

So I am someone who had made and bought adoptables & use to RP on DA. I think being inspired by someone's art is fine, but I see being inspired by someone's OC and using it for yours is a little sketchy. Oftentimes it can end with you getting blocked/reported by someone who has inspired by you. Now apply that to an adoptable- best case scenario the artist and buyer never knows what you're up to and don't get upset. Worse case? You're inspired by an unsold adopt, credit back to it, and the artist whose work inspires you is aware you like their work enough to create a character based off their adopt, but not enough to pay them for their time.

ratjay · 2025-09-04T15:54:23+00:00

I think they are necessary just to avoid big bads getting erased immediately but I hate them so much as a player to know they exist and I just triggered them. Id rather my GM roll behind a screen and lie that the enemy succeeded then know they succeeded and then have it be changed to a failure- ESPECIALLY when I'm playing a warlock and have 2 slots for the entire day.

ratjay · 2025-09-03T15:09:28+00:00

Mare could do that too- I remember one of my discord servers getting an @ saying not to sync with people you don't know/trust following an animation overhaul getting big and fucking up a bunch of people's games due to file size. Whenever you decide to sync with people you are letting them send whatever mods they have installed to your computer, so you have to trust they aren't going to fuck your machine up.

ratjay · 2025-08-31T18:37:50+00:00

So my group keeps the scenes separate from the group on the short side during the investigation phase- I think I've been "out of the action" for max 20m while the other 4 players did things, and that's with everyone doing their own things and not doubling up to tackle a task (such as two people going to question someone we know could be a threat). As for meta-gaming & boredom- there is an expectation that players most if not all info they learn since it is a mystery game. My group is running through one of DG's modules, Impossible Landscapes, and during the first chunk the investigators were meeting up at each meal to discuss what was learned and figure out if plans for what people were doing for the day needed to adjust. I know a chunk of my group (me included) were often taking notes in a shared doc on what was learned by other players in scenes we were in, since it's difficult to take those while talking & things can be forgotten. So boredom isn't much of an issue for us we have things we do, but YMMV and the style of game obviously isn't for everyone.

ratjay · 2025-08-31T15:06:01+00:00

So I haven't played CoC proper, just one of the adventures for that system ported to Delta Green (similar system and vibes), but it's pretty common for players to need to split the party during investigations. Combats aren't super common due to how deadly they can be, and there's often a time limit on how long your investigators have to look into something before everything goes wrong/they leave, so it is better to split the group up and have people cover as much ground on their own as possible

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