[-] Oldmandan@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 year ago

"...you know what the problem is with the CBC? Too much ethics and journalistic integrity."

Who... who is this for? Who wants this? Who hears this and goes "ah yes, this is, A: a real problem, and B: a useful solution to said problem."

[-] Oldmandan@lemmy.ca 43 points 1 year ago

The VA for Laezel (Devora Wilde) has actually seen this meme and read it in-character. :P You can find it on YouTube.

[-] Oldmandan@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 year ago

Worth noting, if you're dual-wielding, you can sneak attack with a bonus action. (Go into your reactions and make sure Sneak Attack is set to always.)

AT is mostly about adding control and utility abilities to the Rogue; options to take enemies out of the fight, and aid/supplement your sneaking. Sleep, Colour Spray, Hold Person, Invisibility, etc, are your mainstays. Your unrestricted spells (ie, ones that don't have to be enchantment or Illusion) should probably be geared towards defence and mobility. (Shield, Misty Step, etc.)

[-] Oldmandan@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 year ago

The rarities do somewhat correlate with power in a vacuum, but synergy>raw stats, generally.

[-] Oldmandan@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Eh. I haven't seen his dialogue since they apparently tweaked it, but I didn't find it that bad to begin with. There was a bit of a vibe in act 2 like "sorry you're hurt, didn't mean to lead you on, was just being nice" but thats life sometimes. /shurg

The RPGHorrorstory element... eh. I somewhat agree, mostly just in exactly how far along/established in his journey of magic he was. A young prodigy attracting Mystra's attention, and then ruining himself (and endangering others) in pursuit of more, is an interesting twist on the traditional exploration of a Wizard's hubris, the issue comes more from like "yeah, I didn't just attract Mystra's attention, I was a peer of Elminster and one of Mystra's Chosen" (conspicuous failure to mention the magical institutions of his home, EG, the Blackstaff, Vajra, Larael, etc., aside). TBH, just changing his interactions with Elminster to either double down on the implicit arrogance of assuming himself Elminster's peer, or have him be more of a fanboy, a la Karlach to Minsc and Jaheira, would've gone a long way.

78

Some insight to coming updates, the future of cut content, etc.

[-] Oldmandan@lemmy.ca 31 points 1 year ago

They're all over Youtube. Especially the shorts. I've given up on trying to report them, at this point, it doesn't seem to make a difference. Started noticing them a month or two ago.

[-] Oldmandan@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 year ago

Well... it is a Baldur's Gate game (as much as I've seen claimed otherwise), so the story is centered around the usurper gods of death, their legacy and their attempts to gain power and influence in the world.

The first act is reasonably light (with exception of mindflayers and some light occular body horror :P), just normal dnd stuff, goblins, druids, etc.

The second... well, to avoid spoiling too much, let's just say it goes dark. :P Haven't seen the third yet, personally.

[-] Oldmandan@lemmy.ca 31 points 1 year ago

/shurg Can't say I've found it this way, but I'm pretty used both to DnD mechanics generally, and Larian's approach to encounter design in specific. (I've so far had exactly one combat game over, because I was dumb and let Ragzlin get into the rafters and chuck javelins at me for like 20 damage a pop.)

Positioning matters, your environment is something to be used to your advantage, abilities that boost your accuracy are very powerful, and different enemies have different strengths and weaknesses. /shurg Hard to give much specific advice, because different encounters and party compositions demand different tactics and threat assessment.

[-] Oldmandan@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 year ago

Some specific quests have time limits (long rest based ones) but those that do are pretty explicit about it and make a point of warning you before you can unintentionally progress them.

[-] Oldmandan@lemmy.ca 28 points 1 year ago

Always a little annoyed at articles like this; "strength" doesn't tell me anything. If this is 5x more resistant than steel to deformation, but then shatters catastrophically, that limits its use cases substantially. Likewise, compressive, tensile and shear strength are all different properties, only one of which is referenced at all. Still very cool, and I look forward to seeing how it develops and learning more details about its capabilities (when I have more time I'll read the paper), but vague terminology like this has a bad habit of making stuff sound way more revolutionary than it actually is. /shurg

[-] Oldmandan@lemmy.ca 27 points 1 year ago

Eh... it tracks well enough I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand. Right wing talking heads push so hard at young men, it's fucking exhausting. And the slightest attempt to engage with or learn about current events and politics tends to lead to social media algorithms jamming alt-right nonsense down your throat, because that reactionary, provocative/offensive content generates more engagement. And so much of it is trying to frame the normal struggles of growing up (sex and sexuality, responsibility and expectation, growing independence (fiscal and otherwise) etc, etc) as things being inflicted on them by others, things thay can be simply solved by stripping power from these groups. (Immigrants, women, people of colour, LGBTQIA+, etc.)

[-] Oldmandan@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 year ago

TBH, alignments are, at best, a shorthand for a character's morals, how they'll likely act in a philosophical vacuum as it were; with no context, will they default to upholding the law, or defying it? Helping others, or prioritizing themselves?

For a cosmological force/extraplanar entity, these things can be absolute and binding; upholding a law they believe unjust because it is law, withholding aid even when offering it might be in your best interest, because kindness is weakness. But for everyday people? Who, why, when, where; all the possible little nuances matter. Our "alignment" might change day by day with our mood.

Much more useful, IMO, for to just be ignored during character creation, and the characters judged by how they behave. You don't decide ahead of time whether or not you're playing a good character, you show me during the session. That way, it's not words on paper, it's the actual nature of the character you want to play. /shurg

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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Oldmandan@lemmy.ca to c/onguardforthee@lemmy.ca

Copying over from u/HowMyDictates post on reddit, because I'm petty and will continue to refuse to engage with that site. :P

The whole three-part series is worth a read. It's fascinating (in a horrifying sort of way :P) how all this lobbying and third-party marketing works, even the stuff not directly connected to the PBCC. The more I learn, the more obviously corrupt the whole system becomes.

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Oldmandan

joined 1 year ago