u/Navek15

So there are plenty of threads and posts about 'OP multiclass' builds and parties involved. But I want to see if this community can come up with a template I use for my own party crafting.

Here's the rules I set for myself before the template:

1. No multiclassing. Just pure Level 12 subclasses all the way.

2. Don't make them with any Ability Score improving stuff like the Hag's Hair, the Everlasting Vigour Potion, and the Mirror of Loss. Equipment like the Club of Hill Giant Strength is fair game though.

3. No Camp Clerics/Rogues. Everything in this template must in the kit of the four party members.

Now for the actual template:

1. A Charisma class to act as the face.

2. Someone on the Party with Sleight of Hand for all the lockpicking.

3. All the following spells: Longstrider, Counterspell (as early as Act 1), Aid, Heroes' Feast, and Speak with Animals.

4. At least one high Strength party member, mainly if your Tav or Durge is a short folk that needs to be tossed over to something and to carry the party loot.

5. One or two Martial/Frontline classes, because a squishy party ain't really a fun party.

6. No overlapping gear. These builds need to be made with a party composistion in mind.

For an example of the kind of party:

1. College of Swords Bard (Longstrider, Charisma, Sleight of Hand, Speak with Animals, Martial)
2. Tempest Domain Cleric (Aid, Heroes' Feast)
3. Hexblade Warlock (Act 1 Counterspell, Charisma, Martial)
4. Giant Barbarian (High Strength, Martial)

Let's see what you guys can come up with!

So for years, I was confused as to why, out of all the ways combining robots are built, the 'Getter style' of having three different robot forms based on what order they combine in wasn't more popular. Off the top of my head, the only others I can think of do something similar are Albegas, the trios in Transformers Go, and the various Aquarion mechs. It seems like such a simple thing to keep things varied for a mecha series.

Then I recently got the Soul of Chogokin Getter Robo Go toy...now I see why this transformation gimmick isn't used often. Maybe it's just my own lack of skills when it comes to handling a figure like this. Maybe the particular figure I own is just finnicky, but transforming this thing between all three forms is a massive pain in the ass. Nothing clicks together, it feels overly complex, and I am terrified of accidentally snapping and breaking something by doing the transformation wrong.

The individual Get Machines are fantastic. I got them displayed on my shelf and they look great. But compared to something like the SoC Zambot 3 or any of the Shinkalion toys I've gotten, this transformation is not fun no matter how many times I've attempted it.

I now see why a lot of Super Sentai (and now Project RED) mechs stick to auxilary and secondary mecha for more transformation forms. Hell, for my own high fantasy super robot project, I'm leaning more towards the gimmicks Ohranger Robo and the TegaSword had, with swapping helmets and weapons depending on the current pilot.

But hey, that upcoming Force Getter Robo toy looks cool, and Takara's impressed me with their Shinkalion: Change the World toys, so maybe that'll change my mind. I still enjoy Getter Robo and mechs like them as a fun concept...but I can see why making actual transforming Getter Robo toys is kind of an engineering nightmare.

So earlier today, I made a post bemoaning a lot of the extreme behaviors I've seen in Marvel Comics fandom spaces. I deleted it because I realized that that post wasn't challenging this overwhelming sense of negativity I've felt for years, but feeding into it.

A couple of responses I got said that the examples I've shown are the minority...but it doesn't feel like it. I don't go out looking for examples of people in this fandom being awful or just indifferent. This is stuff I come across just by searching titles or creative names.

I've been reading Marvel Comics since 2009, and I cannot remember a single new announcement that hasn't been met with disinterest in the least, and outright hatred at the worst.

You go to League of Comic Book Geeks about newly announced Marvel books, and yeah, you get some genuine excitement from some readers, but the vast majority of what you see is hatred or dismissal of the project before it's even out.

That new Bishop series written by Saladin Ahmed? No mention of his excellent Black Bolt series or his Miles Morales run. Just shitting on him for his current Wolverine run.

Avengers: Armageddon? Just dismissed as 'another lame Marvel event' despite the fact that there have been great Marvel events in the past, like King in Black, Empyre, and War of the Realms, and Chip Zdarsky is the one writing it. You know, the guy behind Avengers: Twilight and that critically acclaimed Daredevil run.

Jed MacKay's consistently great Moon Knight series? Keep on bitching about new #1s, even though statistically, they sell more. Also, the Legacy numbering is still there for completionists.

Hell, the new Midnight line has some people interested in it, but most of the conversation has been stuff like 'they cancelled the Ultimate Line, so why get invested' 'Marvel's just ripping off Absolute DC' 'This sounds like edgelord garbage.' And again, the books aren't even out yet. These could end up being modern horror masterpieces like Immortal Hulk that people are just dismissing without even giving it a chance. Now that I think about it, people were shitting on Immortal Hulk when that was announced, too.

And on YouTube, it's a complete crapshoot. For every two genuine fans talking about the artistry of the books and appreciating the creative teams, you get hundreds of tourists and grifters complaining about Marvel being 'too woke' or 'anti-american' and trying to say that the fans are just innocent little goobers being 'bullied' by the underpaid and underappreciated writers, artists, and colorists. And don't even get me started on the dumb 'Miles Morales is Miles Morales' garbage.

And of course, on tumblr, if a creative team makes even the slightest mistake, they get called slurs, labeled as kinds of 'phobic' and called cowards if their books don't tackle stuff in an uber-specific way. I showed you guys the worst of it.

Like, I keep hearing people say 'it's just a loud minority.' But it feels all-encompassing and suffocating. I have spent years trying to strike up conversations. Trying to publicly appreciate comics as an art form to try and drown out the negativity. I want to talk about awesome books like the Ultimate Line, The Mortal Thor, the recently concluded Cody Ziglar run on Spider-Man, and even the potential of stuff like Avengers: Armageddon and Midnight Spider-Man. But it just feels like fighting an uphill battle.

I understand the concept of 'if you go in expecting the worst, then you can never be disappointed.' But that seems like a miserable way to live. And a miserable way to approach comic books of all things. I don't have this problem when it comes to finding people to talk about Indie comics. DC has this problem too, but it seems way less extreme than the Marvel fandom for reasons I can't grasp.

Maybe it's just me, but I would rather go in expecting the best or at least something interesting to take away from a book and be disappointed a thousand times before becoming this jaded and depressed over a goddamn X-Men comic of all things.

If anyone knows any places where negativity and dreariness aren't the norm, I would love to know. I don't want reading and enjoying superhero comics to be an isolating experience.

I think out of all the new themes/archetypes coming out this year, I think I'm gonna make Blitzclique my new main deck (formerly I was a Salamangreat one-tricker who was thinking of playing Dracotail). This archetype looks awesome, and I've wanted to give a Turn 0 strategy a shot.

From the videos I've seen, Blitzclique looks like it's gonna be pretty good pure, but knowing this game, it's waiting for some maniac to crack the code and find the right sub-engine to push it to the top. Two strategies have come to mind: Primite and Dogmatika.

Primite is pretty simple, giving the deck a recycling omni-negate with Drillbeam. And there's a pretty decent Thunder vanilla with Gem-Knight Tourmaline to act as the bridge between the two. And hell, Tourmaline doesn't even have to be a brick since it's typing lets it be summoned by any Blitzclique monster. You can even run Primite Roar to get Tourmaline onto the field.

Dogmatika - I've seen this package used in Exodia decks, and they were always pretty brutal. Though based on my curiosity first glance at the cards, it does seem like you'll need to play your Dogmatika stuff before Blitzclique locks you out of summoning from the deck.

Those are just the ideas that came to my mind first. That and an Ultimate Slayer set acting as a cheaper version of Fydraulis Harmonia. What do you guys think?

So one thing that's become abundantly clear is that a lot of people in the fandom aren't too happy with the direction of Marvel's editorial choices as of late. Now, I usually dismissed that as just regular fandom misery, but when guys like Sir Superhero are mentioning it, and normal people are saying that without throwing in slurs or death threats, then it's safe to say it's an actual issue and not just the usual 'toxic fans will never be happy with anything' BS.

So it's gotten me thinking of the policies I would do if I were in C.B. Cebulski's place as Marvel Comics' Editor-In-Chief. I've thought about this for awhile. And I'm sure that no matter what, the fandom will be miserable, at least it'll get some things back on track.

So here are the big things I would impliment.

• Big blockbuster event comics only happen every five years. Makes them a little more special.

• Any new title is guaranteed at least 12 issues to start with. I think it gives a creative team more time to show what they can do with certain ideas and characters in just a year.

• A title must have at least 12 prior issues before it can crossover with another title.

• If a character has made a successful media property in the last 20 years or so, give them a title and find a creative team who wants to work on that title.

• Media blitz for anytime there's a new storyline or a new jumping on point for a book. I'm talking ads on billboards, youtube ad trailers, getting them on podcasts (and actual fan podcasts, not grifters like Nerdrotic or Ranting for Vengeance).

• 'Writing for the trade' is no longer a requirement for stories, but writers are still free to do that if they think that's the best way for their story to unfold. It probably also means making the issue count of trades flexable by series.

• No new Number 1s unless the title is story-relevant. Mortal Thor and Infernal Hulk being prime examples.

• This might be the most controversial choice, but let the creative teams do whatever the hell they want with their given titles. As I've stated multiple times on multiple platforms, the fandom (or at least the people who claim to be fans of Marvel Comics) hate anything that any creative team does on any title, no matter how good it actually ends up being. Books get shit on if they don't do anything creative, and get shit on if they just 'do the same thing as before.' It's a damned if you, damned if you don't situtation, so might as well let the guys behind Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four get wild with it, death threats be damned.

So yeah, that's what I would do as EIC. You might've noticed some major passive aggression in this post. Well, 17 years of trying to strike up friendly conversations with fellow comic books fans only to be met with misery, slurs, and dehumanization for both me and the creative teams will do that to a man.

Let's not forget that we are part of the equation. We can't just be negative or hyper nitpicky for every single release. We have to be willing to give projects a chance to actually breathe. We need to let storylines and character arcs play out before calling them garbage. We need to put our money where our mouths are and put books we think have awesome potential on our pull lists, and exclude books we don't want from said pull lists to show Marvel Comics what we want to read.

We need to let the creatives know that their work is appreciated, even if the overall quality ain't that great at times. And most of all, NEVER. SEND. DEATH. THREATS. EVER. There will never be a reason to send any writer or an artist a death threat for writing a damn comic book. No, I don't care how much the newest issue of the Amazing Spider-Man upset you. It's a goddamn comic book. Grow up.

So I'm reworking my novel concept. Best way I can describe it is High Fantasy Getter Robo (or Super Sentai if I keep the Henshin Hero elements) where it's a Showa-esque super robot story set in a high fantasy world. Think Faerun or Eberron from D&D but with big robots fighting big monsters.

I'm just trying to figure out what kind of combiner mech that the heroes use should be? I'm starting with an initial heroic trio of heroes, so I got options. Obviously, as a novel, it doesn't have the visual elements of mecha, but I've seen it work in novels like Titanious, Validus-V, The Messenger, and parts of The Captain.

So here's the different kinds of combiner super robots I might be going for, and some references.

• A big vehicle or animal that turns into a humanoid form (Raideen, Groizer X)

• Three vehicles/animals that combine into a singular humanoid robot that uses different weapons and fighting techniques based on who the 'main' pilot is (Zambot 3, Ideon, Fiverobo)

• Three vehicles that, based on how they stack, can combine into a different robot/kaiju forms (Getter Robo, Aquarion)

• Three vehicles that each turn into a robot and combine into vastly different, bigger robots (Albegas, Transformers Go)

• Go the Brave Series route, give each hero their own transforming robot with their own auxilary mechs that combine with each 'main' mech (Da-Garn, J-Decker, Dagwon, etc.)

I'm leaning more towards either the three vehicles combining into a singular, big mecha or the big vehicle transforming into an alternate form. I think a more simple gimmick would work better in novel form. I'm also leaning towards making the 'battle form' either a mechanical knight like 40K's Imperial Knights or a dragon mecha similar to something Ultraman Blazar's Earth Garon or Dynazenon's Dyna Dragon form.

What do you guys think? What sort of super robot would you want to read about in novel/novella form?

So on one of my channels, on the mobile app, all of my videos have a white exclamation point symbol. The videos can still be watched and get views, and on the desktop 'your videos' page, I don't have any notices. So what's going on?

So I'm writing a duel between one duelist playing Primite Magikey and another playing Fire King. The Magikey player has Batosbuster on their field, and they chain Magikey Unlocking to destroy and negate Fire King Sanctuary. If the Fire King player uses Fire King Sky Blast to destroy one of their monsters and Batosbuster, would Buster's destruction mean that Magikey Unlocking doesn't resolve?