u/Navek15

So I'm actually playing through DOS2 for the first time after many false starts, and I've been enjoying the hell out of the systems so far in Act 1. But as always, I love figuring out how all the mechanics come together to create some awesome characters. And I'm open to any advice on how to make my current party better with the build ideas I got in mind.

My player character is a dwarf that I'm using as sort of a geo-gish (Warfare & Geomancy) build, with a shield in one hand and powerful axe in the other (though I'd be down to find an awesome mace because I love maces) that supplements his melee prowess with geomancer magic like Fortify and throwing big rocks.

Lohse is my second frontliner, going full Two-Handed Weapons like greatswords and Warfare. Though I have heard that mixing this combat style with Polymorph is apparently really good.

Fane is my archer using Huntsman skills, but I recently found a ring that gives him some summoning skill points and gave him a spell that lets him summon turrets out of elemental surfaces. So in longer fights, he's not only sniping enemies with his crossbow, but also conjuring the high-fantasy equivalent of auto-turrets, which I think is pretty cool.

And finally, I have Sebille as a sort of cleric, but I don't feel like I'm getting a lot of out the healing mechanics. Though I'll admit, that's probably due to me being a noob at this game. I did give her some pyromancy points and holy crap, these fire spells are fun as hell...if slightly dangerous to the rest of my party. But hey, who can say no to a spell that's basically the love child of Magic Missile and Scroching Ray?

(Suddenly I understand all those pyromaniac wizard D&D jokes.)

So yeah, that's my current party. Any advice for what I can do to expand upon the ideas I've been making for these four? I know I'm playing on the easiest difficulty, but I'd love to get as good with this game as I think I am at BG3.

So a few weeks ago, I made a post about my planned Honour Mode run to get my Golden Dice on Xbox. And after thinking it over, I think I've decided to give multiclassing a shot with this run. So here's my planned team.

The Bone-Shaking Bard (Level 2 Tempest Cleric/Level 10 Lore Bard)

Wise Sentinel (Level 11 Life Cleric/Level 1 Wizard)

Lightline Tiger (Level 8 Wildheart Barbarian/Level 4 Thief Rogue)

Arctic Archer (Level 7 Arcane Archer Fighter/Level 5 Thief Rogue)

The BSB is my Wood Half-Elf Tav, acting as a controller and a blaster. It can take advantage of Spell Save gear (Hood of the Weave, Cloak of the Weave, Amulet of the Devout, etc), using the Thunder Version of the Markoheshkir to boost Shatter, give the Bard access to Destructive Wave, and Magical Secrets giving it Chromatic Orb, Counterspell, Lightning Bolt, and Conjure Elemental. Ne'er Misser gives it a once-per-short rest Magic Missile attack that synergizes with the Thunder Infusion from the staff, the Corufiscation Ring, and the Boots of Stormy Clamour. The Level 2 Tempest Cleric dip gives the BSB access to Destructive Wrath for Max Damage on Shatter and Lightning Bolt and Command.

The Wise Sentinel uses a combination of gear and feats I've mentioned before (HAM + Adamantine Splint Armour + + Defender Flail + Warding Bond). It keeps the party alive with Warding Bond, can boost it's survivability with Shield and the Regen Ring trigging the Blade Ward of the Reviving Hands. The Headband of Warped Intellect gives you four Wizard spells, which I recommend being Shield, Globe of Invulnerability, Artistry of War, and either Conjure Minor Elemental, Fireball, Slow or Sleet Storm. I recommend using Create Undead to create the Zombie trio to bolster your party until you get Dance Macabre in Act 3. Create Water also provides synergy for some other party members.

The Lightline Tiger is a Tiger Barbarian using Rad Orb gear and the Gloves of Belligerent Skies to inflict enemies with status effects, and uses the Thief's two bonus actions to build up Wrath stacks with the Linebreaker boots for a +7 to all your attacks. For weapons, I going to go for the Phalar Aluve (Shriek works with the Reverb Gloves on Honour Mode), the Doom Hammer for Mykrul, and Nyrulna for Act 3.

The Arctic Archer uses Harald as its main weapon to inflict Bane and trigger the Coldbrim Hat once it's empowered by the Drakethroat Glaive. It also creates Ice Surfaces with the Snowburst Ring and with enough attacks, it can probably freeze a target. It uses the Thief's extra bonus action to take advantage of the Cloak of the Cunning Brune and the Eversight Ring for cover and advantage attacks.

So that's the overall idea for the team. If anyone wants to offer any advice or if you want to know more specifics about these builds, let me know.

I launched a new comic review channel this year, and I want to up my presentation a bit as I'm going to be hitting my 50th episode in the next few months. So I'm looking to upgrade to a digital camera instead of filming on my Iphone.

What I'm looking for a camera with the following things:

• I can plug my mic into it with a USB-C cable.
• I can upload videos I record to my chromebook via a physical cable.
• Is convient for constant travel since I'm on the road for work most of the year.

I've never bought a camera before, and those can be pretty pricey, so I want to make sure I'm picking the right option before I just blow $80-$150 bucks on Amazon.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

For context, this comes from his big video talking about Alex Meyers (yes, the Obsession guy) and honestly, I feel for Mark during his response to Meyers' Challengers 'review.'

Meyers: That's something about this movie though: everyone just kind of sucks. Like, I'm not rooting for anyone here. I have to assume they were trying to make all the characters seem nuanced and layered and flawed or whatever, but like, this movie's two hours of just the most unlikable people being unlikable. The whole time I was watching this movie I was just hoping that the ending would be 'they all get struck by lightning.'"

Mark: "I hate this fucking take so much. I hate this criticism that a movie is bad because the characters are not likable or they don't always make the right call. Like seriously, you didn't care about anybody? You didn't care about Art having his heart broken over being duped into a loveless marriage? You didn't care about Patrick being poor and alone after so much betrayal? You didn't care whether or not Art and Patrick would realize they love each other and that Tashi never really loved them beyond tennis? If you don't feel anything for characters like this...I don't know what to tell ya, dude. Maybe go back to easy-to-read cartoons instead of tackling harder movies like this."

And yeah, Mark's words to Meyers really summarizes how I feel whenever I see someone dismiss a book or any kind of story because 'DA CHARACTERS IZ NAWT LIKABLE!' That's not a valid critique. It doesn't tell me whether or not the characters were well-written or if their unlikability damaged the story.

Maybe it's my own perspective as a writer and a reader, but my enjoyment of a character relies more on if I find them fascinating, entertaining, or compelling to follow rather than if I would grab a drink with them if they were a real person. Some of my favorite characters in media like Hayato Jin, the cast of Vegas Heist, or pretty much everyone in Hereditary, are people I would never want to be in the same room with, but I will endlessly enjoy watching/reading. If I relate to a character or find them charming on a personal level, that's more of a bonus than a needed feature.

Now, if this criticism is applied to a character being just written and/or coming off as an asshole and the narrative never seems to acknowledge they're an asshole, then I can kind of understand it. But if say, your example is saying something like 'Obsession is a terrible movie because Bear sucks as a person', you should look next to you to see if the director isn't nodding in agreement with you that Bear does suck as a person.

My point being, the quality of a character's writing should be whether or not you found the writing itself enjoyable instead of basing it on whether or not you'd want to give the MC a high five. And even then, it's probably on a case by case basis as some characters are meant to be likable and role models while others are just meant to be cautionary tales and just entertaining scumbags.

The solicitations always leave it ambiguous.

So I've coming up with a Radianting Orb Tiger Barbarian based on some builds I've seen online. And that got me thinking that maybe multiclassing it with 2-4 levels of Star Druid would be good since it gives the Barbarian a bonus action attack with Dazzling Breath.

The main thing I'm thinking would be a roadblock is whether or not Dazzling Breath counts as a spell, since Barbarians can't do that while they rage.

So is that the case? Is this multiclass idea not worth it? Should I do a Paladin multiclass instead or does Divine Smite also count as a spell?

I'm leaving on a trip soon, and since I'm not gonna be able to play BG3, I need to get my tactical combat fix somehow. And since I love the systems and game design of Draw Steel, I want to try and find a game on the Switch that can match that feel.

So, what games on the Switch do you guys think give a Draw Steel-like experience? I heard DS compared to Final Fantasy Tactics once, so is that a good match or no?

So I recently beat Honour Mode for the first time on the PS5. I learned a lot about this game playing it, but I still got to beat HM on Xbox. So taking some of the lessons I learned from that first play through, I'm planning some builds for what I think will be a cool and powerful pure party (nothing against multiclassing, I just personally prefer going full in on a classes mechanics and identity) to get my golden dice on my favorite console. Especially because this is a play through I plan on posting on my YouTube channel.

So here's the party I'm planning on using, plus some variations if you guys think would be more interesting.

The first party template consists of the Bone-Shaking Bard (A Lore Bard that acts as a Controller & Blaster), the Flashy Fencer (a Battle Master equipped with Rad Orb gear), the Ice Catapult (a Giant Barbarian with Ice Gear), and the Godly Guardian (a Life Cleric that serves as the lynchpin of the team).

I say with no exaggeration that the Godly Guardian is probably the main reason I was able to beat Honour Mode, and now I have a hard time making parties without it. Warding Bond + Adamantine Splint Armour + Defender Flail + Heavy Armour Master + Swires' Sledboard makes for a party that's not only resistant to all damage types, but makes the WB caster really tanky. And being a Life Cleric, as long as you got enough potions to heal and Perserve Life, the party should outlast any opponents they come across (just don't bunch them up if the opponents have AOE attacks). As the GG levels up, it gets access to Spirit Guardians for great offense & defense, Animate Dead for extra bodies to throw at your opponents (with the Zombies making more zombies), Aid & Heroes' Feast to massively boost the party, Planar Ally for a pretty cool summon, and so much more. I also gave them the Hellrider Longbow for initiative and the Amulet of Greater Health makes them even tankier.

For this go around, I plan on giving the GG both the Reviving Hands and Ring of Regeneration for a permanent Blade Ward (reducing damage even more), the Helmet of Grit for situations where they take a lot of damage, and the Tough feat for more HP. This build isn't really a blaster, so 18 Wisdom feels like more than enough for what this build is meant to do.

The Bone-Shaking Bard is, well, a bard. Bards can be customized to fill the holes in any party comp. In this case, this guy serves as a great face, can do all the lockpicking with Sleight of Hand, increase everyone's movement speed with Longstrider, and with four Magical Secrets, this character can gain access to all manner of spells. This guy is also meant to be both a controller and a blaster depending on the situation, using spells like Shatter, Glyph of Warding, Hold Person, Hold Monster, Command, Magic Missile, and later Destructive Wave from the Thunder variation of the Markoheshier. Being either a human or a half-elf gives them access to Shields, so Sentinel Shield, Elegant Studder Leather Armour, and the Wonderous Gloves give him plenty of AC and Initiative. They got plenty of reactions to choose from with Cutting Words, Counterspell, and Shield, depending on the situation. Conjure Elemental at Level 10 gives you the awesome Air Myrmidon, which can stun and silence foes on top of being pretty tanky. All the Spell Save gear (Hood of the Weave, Cloak of the Weave, Marko, Devout Amulet) combined with Cutting Words means your control and offensive spells will almost always go off. And Corufiscation Ring and the Stormy Clamour boots can make any enemy hit with Magic Missile prone.

For this go around, I was thinking of sacrificing some Spell Save by replacing the Devout Amulet with the Spineshudder for more reverb, and replace the Level 8 feat, War Caster for Spell Sniper so I can get Eldritch Blast. Yes, I'm aware that Eldritch Blast is weaker on a non-Warlock, but it's more for knocking an enemy prone without Magic Missile.

The Flashy Fencer is our frontliner that combines the Defense fighting style, Cloak of Protection, and Rad Orb gear, misty stepping into the middle of an enemy hoard, using all its attacks with the Callous Glow Ring to cause multiple Radiant Shockwaves and it's maneuvers to control foes. With the Rad Orbs and it's 20 AC (and maybe some Cutting Words from the Bard), this guy will evade a lot of attacks, and any hits it does take will be made more manageable thanks to Warding Bond. And when he gets the Gontr Mael in Act 3 for Celestial Haste, that's six attacks per round, each causing four stacks of Radiating Orb. And when the opponents miss, the Holy Lance Helm causes Radiant Damage, making more Rad Orbs, and Riposte to do some awesome retaliation damage.

For it's weapons, I was thinking the Duelist Prerogative for extra reactions (thus more uses of Riposte) and flavour, but I could also replace the Ring of Free Action for the Shadow Blade ring for Resonance Stone and Savage Attacker nonsense, and have the Cold Snap in their off hand for more AC and inflicting Chilled whenever any enemy misses. The GG is already casting Create Water to synergize with the Ice Catapult, so that's another way to disable an enemy. And aside from the two Dex ASIs and Savage Attacker, I think I'm planning on making the final feat either Tough for more frontline HP or Alert for more Initiative.

The final build is the Ice Catapult. And it's also the simplest. It's a Giant Barbarian thrower build using Lightning Jabber, Snowburst Ring, Winter's Clutches, and Coldbrim Hat for Encrusted with Frost, ice surfaces, and raw throwing damage with Tavern Brawler and the Ring of Flinging, further boosted by the Undermountain King in the off hand (with the Dual Wielder feat) and Dead Shot for an 18 and up crit range. Create Water from the GG synergizes with the Ice and Lightning Damage this build is going to be doing, and also with the FF if I give 'em the Cold Snap in it's off hand for Chilled. Plus, Vaprak's Greed gives the party more carrying capacity, and the Boot of the Giant is just fun to use. Sure, this build doesn't get any from the three short rests this party has, but stuff like the Pike and all the throwable bombs in this game can make this build good even in fights without raging.

Ironically, for a Barbarian, this character will have the highest AC with 16 Dex and the Armour of Agility.

So yeah, that's the party, so here's some of the alternate setups.

• Sacrifice some Spell Save DC and give the Lord Bard the Frost Gear, Snowburst Ring, and the Ice Version of Markoheshier and replace Command, Magic Missile and Eldritch Blast with Ray of Frost, Ice Knife, and Ice Storm. The Giant Barbarian instead focuses on raw damage with the Kushigo Gloves and Saverok's Helmet. The FF and GG stay the same.

• Make my Tav a Great Old One Warlock, focusing on Eldritch Blast and all the crazy modifiers and still have the reverb gear. With this, I replace the Flashy Fencer with a melee Swords Bard with AA Helmet and the Mystic Scoundrel. The Ice Catapult and Godly Guardian stay the same.

• Make my Tav either a Fire or Ice Draconic Sorcerer with either the Cold Gear or the Hat of Fire Acuity for blasting and controlling. The Flashy Fencer is now a Hunter or Beast Master Ranger for Longstrider access and the Silence spell. Depending on the sorcerer dragon type, the Giant Barbarian will either have the Cold Gear or focus on the raw damage. Since the Sorcerer will probably need the Hellrider Longbow, the Godly Guardian's final feat will have to be Alert.

• Make my Tav an Archer Swords Bard, making them a full elf for Longbow Proficieny. Since this guy will probably have the Undermountain Knife, Hill Giant Club, and Titanstring Bow Combo, the Giant Barbarian will probably now be a Berserker Barbarian unless the Archer instead has DP for two reactions and Hill Giant Gauntlets. Then it's just the Ice Catapult. The Flashy Fencer will now be a Hexblade Warlock for Booming Blade and Act 1 Counterspell to carry the party until the Swords Bard learns Counterspell at Level 10. The GG is now a Tempest Cleric using the Lightning Version of Markoheshier and acting as the party blaster with the Hood and Cloak of the Weave, Devout Amulet, and the Corfiscation Ring replacing the Whispering Promise for some widespread Rad Orbs. They also take a second ASI instead of Alert or Tough.

• Make my Tav a Dex Oath of the Crown Paladin, taking on elements of the Godly Guardian since this Paladin has access to Warding Bond. The Flashy Fencer is replaced by a melee swords bard, the Ice Catapult remains the same (or just focus on raw damage so as not to poorly mesh with the Light Cleric's fire damage), and I use a Light Cleric with all the Rad Orb/Reverb gear and maybe the Hat of Fire Acuity.

• Dex-based Flashy Fencer Tav as either an Ancients or Vengeance Paladin (also armed with Sentinel Shield as the Bladesinger has Cold Snap), Tempest GG, and Ice Catapult, but this time, we got a Bladesinger Wizard for Longstrider, Conjure Elemental, Counterspell, Elegant Studder Leather Armor, and the Melee Swords Bard gear and Resonance Stone for ridiculous Shadow Blade + Booming nonsense and bonus action Enchantment & Illusion spells.

• Use the Ice Version of the Blaster Bard, the Godly Guardian, but replace the Flashy Fencer with a Tavern Brawler Monk and the Ice Catapult with either a Two-Handed Strength Battle Master or an Oath of Vengeance Paladin.

• Draconic Ice Sorcerer Tav, Godly Guardian, Flashy Fencer as an Arcane Trickster for Longstrider, and Berserker Thrower Barbarian.

So that's my party idea and the various variations I got in mind to earn my Golden Dice on Xbox. What do you guys think? You got any other ideas in mind?

So I'm refining the Blaster Bard build that earned me my golden dice on PS5, and that includes giving it the Bone Chill cantrip against foes that can heal (mostly Myrkul), so I'm wondering if getting this cantrip from Magic Initiate: Warlock scales with Character Level.

This character is a College of Lore Bard, so the Magical Secrets I plan on getting at Level 6 are Counterspell and Magic Missile. At Level 8, I plan on using MI: Warlock as the feat to give it Bone Chill and Eldritch Blast, opening up the Level 10 Magical Secrets to be Conjure Elemental and Command. But if the cantrips from MI don't scale with Character level, then I'll have to use Spell Sniper to be Bone Chill and use 10 MS to get Eldritch Blast instead of Command.

So, do MI cantrips scale with character level?

So a few weeks ago, I went to a panel run by Frederick L. Jones, writer of Clock Striker and president of Saturday AM. He said a lot of really great and interesting things about writing, being an independent creator, and storytelling in general. And one thing that stuck out to me was that children's literature is a massive market that shouldn't be ignored.

And considering I hear stories all the time about children are failing reading classes, I do think there needs to be more Percy Jacksons and books that get kids into reading. Let's face it, schools in the US don't exactly make reading seem fun by just throwing stuff like Jane Austin or Lord of the Flies at kids and pre-teens and expecting them to just become good readers. There needs to be points of entry for kids to get into this amazing hobby.

And I think that's kind of where I'm going in terms of revising my stories. I'm secure enough to admit that a lot of my stuff will probably do better with younger audiences and older audiences that are into stuff like the Owl House or Tokusatsu.

I know my last post was kind of critical of general writing advice, but this time, I'm open to hearing from other writers who are also aiming to write for younger audiences. And I don't mean just common-sense advice like 'tone down the swearing and any kind of sexuality.' I mean stuff like, 'how subtle or complex can I make the themes of my story if I'm writing for young kids and teenagers?'

I'm feeling pretty passionate about this because stuff like Percy Jackson and Maximum Ride got me into reading and eventually writing. And say what you will about how awful the author turned out to be, but Harry Potter did get an entire generation of kids in reading. And I want to do the same thing for a new generation of kids.

Seriously, it seems like a lot of writing advice on main characters in fiction is trying to go against the concept of a main character in general. Because here's the harsh truth: no matter how down to earth, sucky, or non-special you try to make your main character, by their very nature as a main character, there's going to be something that sticks out of about them that makes them the focus on the narrative.

One piece of advice I hear is 'don't make the MC overpowered,' but that really depends on both the context and what an individual considers to be 'overpowered.' Case in point, the character of John Harper from Van Allen Plexico's Vegas Heist. You can make an argument that in the context of a heist story, Harper is 'overpowered' because he's one of the most physically capable people in the book, and he has the 'ability' to see through everyone's bullshit in that story. Yet I wouldn't call him a bad character because Vegas Heist is a legitimately great novel.

You got characters like Superman and most pilot trios from Getter Robo who all break the 'rules' that you see online for crafting a 'believable main character' or 'needing to earn powers/skills.' What did Superman do to earn his Heat Vision? What did Ryoma Nagare do to 'earn' being able to punch the crap out of a dinosaur man? And going back to Vegas Heist, what did John Harper do to 'earn' being the toughest guy in any room?

Another weird restriction I see is that a main character has to be 'relatable' or 'likable.' But as I'm sure anyone can figure out by thinking about that for a few seconds, but it is impossible to make a character that is universally relatable. Hell, most of my favorite fiction characters are people I can't relate to. Tahlia Vehdra is one of my favorite Warhammer characters, but I haven't lived in a place called the Pyromancer District, I haven't decapitated people for general incompetence, I haven't tamed a manticore, and I've never invented a new military formation. So by all accounts, I 'can't relate to her.'

Now, I have had characters I relate to, but that's not a dealbreaker for me if I can't relate to a character's experience. I don't go into stories for stuff I would personally write. I go to stories to experience the stuff that other people have created.

And likability is also subjective, because what one person finds 'likable', another person can see that as awful or annoying. I like bastard characters like Field Marshall Tomas from Promise of Blood and find him to be incredibly fascinating to read about, but other people would look at his actions and see nothing but an arrogant monster who is making his own personal pain everyone else's problem.

I could go on about this, but overall, it feels like a lot of the writing advice you see online isn't to help writers, but try to give them super strict guidelines that if they don't follow, they'll be endlessly mocked by 'creative' writing spaces.

So I've been thinking of downloading and trying out Wrath of the Righteous (or maybe Kingmaker) as a bit of a way to get my D&D-like fix without just playing Baldur's Gate 3 again. Plus, I've been playing Owlcat's Rogue Trader game and I've been throughly impressed by it, so I figured I'd try it out.

Though I'm kind of curious what the differences are between the 5e-like system in BG3 and the 3.5 spinoff system that is Pathfinder 1e. Should I be good to go with my knowledge of BG3/5e's mechanics and go from there?

(PS, I'm probably going to be playing in turn-based mode the entire time).

So I've been curious about the Moderoid line, mainly because they have model kits of series I've wanted to have merchandise of. But I'm curious if they're as easy to build as HG model kits.

What I mean is that I don't want to have to glue or paint anything. And I know even some HG kits did require glue, like some Dragonar kits I got and have never built.

So a few days ago, I came across a YouTube channel named GamerzMedia, and some of his builds looked pretty cool. And since I was feeling a bit frustrated with my last few Honour Mode attempts (Swords Bard, Battle Master Fighter, Hexblade Warlock, Tempest Cleric), I decided to try something a bit different.

And good lord, I think I might've stumbled on one of my new favorite party composistions. I knew Arcane Archer was good based on previous experimentation, but this Tactician playthrough has been a lot less stressful and easier than usual. Part of that could be my experience, but I genuinely think these builds are also being a godsend.

For example, I've previously been a bit iffy to try Lore Bard as, unlike Swords or Valor Bard, it doesn't have Medium Armor or Shields. But playing as a human (or half-elf), you get access to Shields, which combined with Light Armor goes a long ways to making this caster less squishy. Or at least, that's one part of the equation.

The MVP of this run has been Shadowheart as a Life Cleric (with a Level 1 Sorcerer dip), the spell Warding Bond, and the Heavy Armor Master feat. All these have gone a long way to making sure our party outlasts any opponent. WB basically gives the other three party members Resistance to all forms of damage, akin to a Bear Barbarian. And combining HAM with the Defender Flail, Adamantine Splint Armor, and Blade Ward makes it so that Shadowheart barely takes any shared damage. Hell, during the W'wargaz fight, Karlach got hit with Psychic Rends and melee attacks, and Shadowheart took 0 damage multiple times! And with one cast of the Channel Divinity, our party just keeps going.

So with all that damage reduction, that leaves my Lore Bard free to use Cutting Words to make opponents fail their saves against control spells like Hold Person and damage spells like Shatter. There's even been two moments where my Bard got knocked off a high ledge, and instead of being downed or nearly killed, he still had half health and Shadowheart barely took any damage! Wyll as my Arcane Archer blinds, grasps, and even banishes enemies with Sharpshooter and his crossbow. And Karlach's Tiger Cleave means that group of enemies, even ones that can't bleed, still get cut. And Reckless Attack combined with Great Weapon Master just means we're hitting with big damage more often.

Hell, even missing attacks doesn't feel as bad since I know that Warding Bond is going keep the party from getting too hurt and keeping the 'failure cascade' AKA a spiral that starts happening when one of your party members die, from happening. Seriously, I usually need to be Level 7 to beat W'wargaz and his goons (and usually takes two or three attempts), but this time, just Level 6 on Tactician difficulty without even needing to take any exilirs like Bloodlust and whatnot.

The current playthrough I'm doing is me experimenting with the multiclass versions of these builds, but I think they'll still be awesome as monoclass builds to take into Honour Mode. If nothing else, I might just use that Warding Bond strategy with any Heavy Armor cleric I use from now on.

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.