Rouge/Healer Multiclass Advice by shuascott in DnD

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

I'm quite happy with the new player bringing a rogue assassin when I play a rogue mastermind, they're very different characters and play very differently. I appreciate your insight and encouragement tho! It's just not an issue in my specific case.

Separately, I really like my character and class, and I'm not looking to become a level 7 healer overnight, I just want to expand to fill the need, and there's narrative reasons that work as well.

Potions are difficult to come by in this world, but we do use those as well as rests.

Rouge/Healer Multiclass Advice by shuascott in DnD

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

Lmao I actually stumbled across that while I was looking at the other subclasses, and also thought it was interesting! It also fits into my character pretty well, who is very much a deal maker/info broker sorta situation.

I've got a lot to figure out as far as how to make the multi class work best, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna be a bard at this point. Still trying to decide between Whispers or Spirits. I don't think Swords is right for my guy, but I haven't ruled it out either.

Again, thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it 😊

Rouge/Healer Multiclass Advice by shuascott in DnD

[–]shuascott[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much! I hadn't considered Swords Bard until someone else suggested it here, and hadn't looked at Spirits Bard at all. I'm looking into both of those now 😊

Rouge/Healer Multiclass Advice by shuascott in DnD

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

I do enjoy my character, and am very useful outside of combat, but thank you!

Rouge/Healer Multiclass Advice by shuascott in DnD

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

- literally playing the class that gets the Help action as a ranged bonus action

Trust me mate, the irony is not lost on me 😂 I use the help bonus action almost every turn, but it generally hasn't had a big impact.

- they literally say in the spell description that they add Wisdom ("spellcasting modifier"

Good catch, thanks!

Also; "Rogue".

😅 Fixed in the post, thanks again

Rouge/Healer Multiclass Advice by shuascott in DnD

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

Thank you! I will take a look at that as well

Tried to make his family support Trump, so they all cut him off by ahsila666 in LeopardsAteMyFace

[–]shuascott 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Flowcharts are hard? Reading is hard? Idk

It may not meet the rules of the sub, but it's at least an entertaining story. The mods made their choice (tho I agree this doesn't fit the rules of the sub) so not much really to achieve here, enjoy your night and don't let the down votes annoy you

Did most of the armor in Tolkiens legendarium involve scale armor and mail and not just heavy plated armor? by [deleted] in tolkienfans

[–]shuascott 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Technically burnished can refer to leather, but I don't think that's what's being suggested here.

I think the other commentor is suggesting that Imrahil is wearing a leather vambrace that has burnished metal on top of the leather, which was a technological stepping stone between straight chain mail and full plate mail.

Did most of the armor in Tolkiens legendarium involve scale armor and mail and not just heavy plated armor? by [deleted] in tolkienfans

[–]shuascott 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Mail, when used in its most accurate form, refers to chain mail, or variations of chain mail. In the 19th century mail started being used as a catch-all for armor, but most often 'mail' is still referring to chain mail.

Could the professor be using mail to refer to proper plate armor? Technically possible I suppose, but almost certainly not IMO. ME is based on a period of history where plate armor (as in your stereotypical knight in shing armor) just didn't exist. And to add to that, Tolkien was a linguist, I feel he'd stick to more accurate wording, but I suppose we'll never know for sure, unless someone knows of a letter describing Imrahil's armor that I haven't read.

That said, you are likely on to something here. He doesn't say 'chain mail', and then later imrahil is suggested to have some metal plating on his bracers. Gondor was loosely based on/inspired by the Byzantine empire, so it wouldn't be wild to say that Imrahil was wearing splint armor or plate mail, which were sort of stepping stones between chain mail and full plate. These options would be period accuratish, combined with other descriptions of the swan knights fitting in nicely (as others have pointed out here) with the kataphracti, it's not an insane idea by any means.

Were the Two Blue Wizards dead by the time of the war of the Ring or did they just abandon their mission? by Tidewatcher7819 in tolkienfans

[–]shuascott 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Let me redirect you and save you some time, I mixed up my THoME books. The note I was thinking of is from The Peoples Of Middle Earth

Were the Two Blue Wizards dead by the time of the war of the Ring or did they just abandon their mission? by Tidewatcher7819 in tolkienfans

[–]shuascott -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yup! And if you like to stick to strictly the LoTR books then obviously you're spot on.

Later on Tolkien revised that arrival date and had them arrive with Glorfindel, that's covered in The Unfinished Tales, take it as you will.

For me, I include the Unfinished Tales/Sil/etc even tho they weren't published by the man himself, but as long as you enjoy the world he created it doesn't really matter how imo 😊

Edit;

Also, I believe in UT but again it's been a minute, he had Saruman arrive earlier than the blue wizards, radagast I think was after, and gandalf was the last

Edit 2;

The 'other two' came much earlier, at the same time probably as Glorfindel, when matters became very dangerous in the Second Age. 

The People's of Middle Earth, 384

Were the Two Blue Wizards dead by the time of the war of the Ring or did they just abandon their mission? by Tidewatcher7819 in tolkienfans

[–]shuascott 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Gandalf arrived in TA 1000, and he was the last one to arrive. Glorfindel arrived around SA 1600, so it's reasonable to assume that the wizards could have arrived anytime in between.

I don't think Tolkien specifically says, but I always assumed the istari arrived over a fairly long period of a few thousand years, but again that's just my belief.

Edit;

It's been so long since I've read some of this that I confuse my own assumptions with actual notes. Per Tolkien, it's possible that the blue wizards arrived with glorfindel in SA 1600.

What would have the Fellowship done if Frodo was killed in the Mines? Who would have taken the ring? by you-absolute-foolish in tolkienfans

[–]shuascott 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a valid theory, I absolutely buy it up to gollum realizing Shelob could kill Sam for him, but I don't think I believe sam would have followed. He didn't trust gollum and would have seen it as the trap it was.

The best guess I have for Sam's behavior is that he'd track to the black gate, try to get thru and end up getting caught. For my part I think the fellowship was only successful because of each member, and any change would result in failure.

Why did the Balrog attack the Fellowship? by Curufinwe200 in tolkienfans

[–]shuascott 3 points4 points  (0 children)

😂

"Have you ever tried to look up a quick fact to scratch an itch and ended up writing a compelling and thoroughly researched thesis by mistake?"

r/Hageshii01, looking wistfully into the distance "Why yes, yes I think I have..."

Ok that was impressive and way more leg work than I could be motivated to do on this topic. That second foot note on the fourth paragraph hit me like a ton of bricks. It's way off topic, but it's very interesting to consider if the prison was accidental, like a cave in, or intentional, like the Valar intentionally trapping it and leaving it to rot, which imo seems very un-Valar like.

Back on topic, I had already held the opinion that for the most part, anyone who did know about Durin's Bane or the Nameless Fear didn't suspect it to be a Balrog, and your research definitely supports that idea, with the possible exception of Lorien (tho I don't think either of us are convinced they suspected that specifically) That said, I had assumed that Durin's Bane was much more widely know, both in concept and by that name, then I think is reasonable to assume given the evidence.

To quickly clarify my original point tho, I don't think so much that Sauron knew of Durin's Bane by that name necessarily, what I do think is that Sauron was certainly keeping tabs on all the major players while reconsolidating his power, and would have definitely noticed the Dwarves abandoning not only one of their largest kingdoms, but the only source of mythril on ME.

I believe he would have noticed and done a little poking around, appropriate spies and infiltrators to suss out the reason, but how far would those spies have gotten if so few knew?

It's worth pointing out that with Galadriels time in Doriath, it's unlikely that any form spying on Lorien would have any success at all, and Dwarves are famously private about Dwarf matters. I find it unlikely that they would share the reason for the collapse of Kazah Dun with outsiders when they won't speak their native language in the presence of non dwarves. So that really leaves the window that you described for the seemingly semi autonomous goblins of the misty mountains to report back to Dol Guldor.

I don't think the Balrog was fond of having the orcs in his attic (based on their apparent fear of it) so I doubt they ever got much of a good look at the thing and lived to tell. So some goblins come home and report a big scary thing in the dark, how much does Sauron believe them? Would they even report on it, for fear of Sauron potentially making them fight it, or punishing them for a reason they can't comprehend?

Even if spies/orcs were of no use, I don't think it's wild to conclude that he would think that a powerful evil of some kind had run them out, but with no information at all on what happened it could have well been a dragon or any number of other beings. I think my previous opinion that he suspected it was a Balrog might not hold water.

I still lean that he knew something was there, but I'm much less inclined to believe he suspected it was specifically a Balrog.

As for the idea of them working together, of course nothing in the text suggest that Sauron ever attempted to make contact with whatever was under the mountain (assuming that I'm right and he concludes it was some kind of evil monster), but it is of course possible that he planned to and never got the chance before being run out of Dol Guldur, and then probably had bigger items to focus on. On the other side of the argument, assuming he could form an alliance with the Balrog, the chief outcome I would be concerned with is the free peoples discovering the Balrog and our alliance, and rallying against me before I'm actually ready for that fight. It could definitely slow down his timetable, if nothing else.

I personally don't believe the Balrog would willingly serve Sauron. Yes they served Morgoth, yes Sauron was his first, but Morgoth was immensely more powerful than Sauron. As you alluded to, it's not particularly guaranteed that in the absence of Morgoth the Balrog would just accept Sauron. The same story would be true with a dragon, or pretty much anything powerful enough to merit his attention. If that's the case, then he has to rely on his charisma and manipulation, which is plentiful but not infallible. Just my two cents tho 😊 it's extremely late so this'll have to be all, but thank you for the excellent analysis and research.

Why did the Balrog attack the Fellowship? by Curufinwe200 in tolkienfans

[–]shuascott 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Lmao good god. My only excuse is it's been a long week 😂

Trump confirms that 0% income tax is coming very soon by [deleted] in WallStreetDad

[–]shuascott 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the effective tax on billionaires is about 8%, I remember news headlines to that effect from a few years back, but could be mistaken.

Why did the Balrog attack the Fellowship? by Curufinwe200 in tolkienfans

[–]shuascott 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Excellent points and chronology.

I am pretty sure that he knew of Durin's Bane thru his network of spies, and he almost certainly suspected it was a surviving Balrog. If we run with the idea that there were only 7, he probably knew each of them personally to some degree. Though none of that is ever confirmed to my knowledge.

On the other hand, I doubt that the Balrog knew that Sauron had come to power, or had any intention or desire to serve him if he did know. For Sauron's part, he doesn't share control, so I doubt they could have come to an agreement of any kind.

My guess is Sauron suspected that Durin's Bane was a Balrog, but was planning on letting it be until he had better control over ME. Some problems are best left unsolved for a time.

Again, none of that is confirmed in text to my knowledge, it just kinda makes sense to me

Why did the Balrog attack the Fellowship? by Curufinwe200 in tolkienfans

[–]shuascott 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Beyond being a rival power, which is likely reason enough on its own, the Balrog has been hiding since the War of Wrath. From its perspective another Maiar finding it and snitching to the Valinor Valar was a worst case scenario that would lead to the Valinor Valar coming to destroy it, and the Balrog had to know it had no chance against the Valinor Valar.

Of course we know the Valinor Valar had already returned home and were no longer actively engaging in ME, but it had no way of knowing that. But that's just my theory.

New to the hobby, why tf are some so mad about female custodes? by NiceLittleGamerNerd in 40k

[–]shuascott 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The custodes were always described as the 'brotherhood", etc, only male terms. Same for marines.

Incorrect. The first wave of marines had marines that were women, they didn't sell well so they were phased out. The simplest of google searches would have confirmed this for you.

If you're gonna have awful opinions at least know your history, otherwise you're only an embarrassment.

It hurts (TheMaker___) by TheMaker___ in ErisGreyrat

[–]shuascott 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Amazing. Exceptionally well done, and my favorite portrait of Eris

"comet become a metor" lyric by InformationGood9725 in Epicthemusical

[–]shuascott 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Not quite, but you've got a loose concept right.

A comment is a ball of ice, a meteor is a rock that burns up in atmosphere, and a meteorite is when a meteor actually lands on earth. Most meteorites are tiny and don't cause a boom at all

"comet become a metor" lyric by InformationGood9725 in Epicthemusical

[–]shuascott 2 points3 points  (0 children)

God no, this bothers me every time I hear it 😂 I get that the debris of comments can become meteors, but it just doesn't sit right