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theoestofocs · 2 years

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very battrope at one WIP? 👀👀👀

@pathos-logical also wanted to know about this one! here is another fic i currently have no intent to publish, unless i manage to separate it out into a few different cohesive story-threads, but i keep trying to do that and it just Does Not work as well without all the clashing vibes of storylines i like

in this fic, thus far, damian has gone full murder-child in order to avenge the well-proven death of Nightwing (i still struggle to wrap my head around the "time travelling batman" plotline & fully believe tim got shafted by the batfam in it so i've opted to disregard it entirely for the purposes of this fic. however damian arrived vaguely early in the sequence of batfam canon, and bruce freaked out over the Literal Child Assassin he now had on his hands on top of Everything until dick just like, stealth-kidnapped him off to bludhaven, where he was pretty much living until the whole "disappearance and death" thing went down)

jason is building his crime empire, still unknown to the rest of the family except as an ominously-named minor threat, and has also rescued sasha grimm of the scarred face and sellout father. this is a character in canon that is almost entirely forgotten because the comics dropped her pretty fast (my theory is that DC didn't know what to do with a complex female character who wasn't Pretty. but that's just me) and i care about her. so much. she doesn't even have a canonical last name i made up "grimm" due to the etymology & vibes of it. she is however canonically jason's sidekick who goes by "Scarlet" and sees the red hood as family (because he rescued her when batman & robin promised to do so, and left her behind; because he rescued her when she had a horrific mask glued to her face and enough trauma to kill her own father, and didn't care if she was a monster, because she was also a kid. god i just care so much about sasha)

meanwhile tim is spiralling bc batman is once again self-destructing over a dead child, & this time tim isn't enough to fix it, so he's directed all his focus to solving the mystery of dick's death because maybe that'll help something, somehow. unfortunately he gets in over his head with one of black mask's henchman. fortunately, a begrudgingly moral crime lord is also staking out black mask at the time. robin is summarily kidnapped by the red hood, much to everyone's dismay, including jason's.

over in the increasingly dysfunctional manor, cass is near-constantly accompanied by steph & helena kyle - who was never given up for adoption in a misogynistic storyline that relied on catwoman becoming too much of a woman to be a good criminal when she had a kid. adoption is an extremely valid and loving choice for a birth parent to make but the rationale for these writers to make catwoman choose it was literally "unlike bruce wayne, who has a literal parade's worth of kids in his basement, catwoman can't juggle being a parent & having a (night) job without letting her Emotions and Womanly Irrationality get in the way of good crime work" so. helena kyle sticks around in my canon. daughter of batman & heir to the Cat, u guys, this character is SO underplayed

and duke - duke is just chillin in gotham, livin his life, for the time being. for the time being. the joker's about to break out of arkham again, though, and - well. let's just say i've opted to fix the meter of a certain chilling rhyme...

#now whisper not a word of them / or talon take your head #yknow. yknow the one #also - and this is segueing into the wip that's just a list of why i love the canonical talon characters #but like. like.#jonas no-last-name lost his family to the spanish flu; he loved animals more than anything and worked as a ''lion tamer'' before the court #he carves a feather into his flesh for every person he kills & this is apparently proof that he's Mentally Unstable #the boy whose mother killed every one of his beloved chickens in the heat of her fever before she died too #the boy who is a killer with blood on his hands not of his own will - just like his mother - just like her but he cannot die like her #cannot even trust himself to remember #benjamin orchard was turned into a talon by his own father as punishment for running away #he tried to join haly's circus to escape and if that's not tragic irony what is?#calvin rose was literally locked in a dog crate by his dad for 3 days at the age of 8. broke himself out & ran #became an escape artist in the damned circus. the only half-talon who successfully got out of the labyrinth #got recaptured & on his first mission rescued both of his targets (a mother & child) and fled #the only female talon on record is mary turner who grew up with scars from a bomb attack in wwii that left her sans tongue #she's also the only one (besides calvin) who gets a ''redemption'' arc. saves batgirl & catwoman & ends up joining the birds of prey squad #codenamed ''Strix''#even some of the sketchier ones - Uriah Boone the eldest Talon is an eldritch creacher from pre-industrial gotham #just kinda lurking in the tunnels #the only ones i don't love are henry ballard felix harmon & of course old billy cobb #but like. justice for the talons that are always treated like monsters batman can just kill & not care. these are people #and they're part of the people i mean when i say gotham saves itself #anyway. thank u for this ask 💜💚💜💚 i Love batman infodumping hhhh #batman #batfam #linden writes #ask linden

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thisisnotthenerd · 13 hours

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the gunner channel's xp leveling

i'm skipping over the taste buds for now because i have to come up with stats for most of their opponents and calculate CRs for all of the little guys they have to fight. also figuring out starstruck was pretty interesting. anyway:

a starstruck odyssey:

this analysis is split between standard combat and ship combat--it considers ship combat as leveling in deployment rather than in individual class. realistically they used milestone leveling for both. also, the scale of the finale would have thrown off leveling significantly.

standard tactical combat

most of these involve the gunner channel running for their lives, unless they're specifically going into an encounter to pop off.

all in the hot exit: this combat has a lot of enemies, so i scaled it based on what brennan said during the encounter about the relative danger of each group. i considered a modifier because they didn't actually kill most of the enemies in this encounter, but i would have added a modifier for them having to get the jibjobbers and the number of enemies anyway, so it balances out.

rec pol: basically nine paul blarts. CR 1/4, for a total of 450 XP

amercadian soldiers: CR 1/2. i split the group because the lieutenants have separate abilities. total of 500 XP

amercadian lieutenants: CR 1, separate because of their differieng abilities. total of 1000 XP

uftp agents: CR 2. my assumption is that they're level >5 rogues. total of 2250 XP

repo reapers: technically they have different abilities, but i've grouped them here because it didn't make a huge difference in actual combat. CR 3, total of 2100 XP

needles & jan de la vega: CR 3 and 4 respectively--total of 1800 XP

warfare whitneys: CR 5. they're terrifying, especially for a low level party that just ran the gauntlet of all of the other groups

total XP count: 13500 XP, or 2250 each

wallops at swallop's: the gunner channel's mastery of tactics are really at play here--for the most part, they get their squishy people out of the way and get their objective (kublacaine) while doing a lot of damage (skip, sid, gunnie, barry) and letting their tank concentrate fire (barry).

sheriff warner codge: i'd say he's a level >10 spellcaster based on his attacks and teleportation, thus the CR 7, for a total of 2900 XP

lieutenants: two of them at a CR 3, for a total of 1400 XP

deputies: six of them at CR 1 for a total 1200 XP

total XP count: 5500 XP, or 917 each

baustin skiffy limits: this fight is split between standard and ship combat--the individual combatants were not difficult for the gunner channel to deal with. still, a lot of good tactical work--improvised cover, clutch spellcasting, and interesting mechanics on the skiffs.

soldiers/brigaders: total of 13, at a CR 1/2, for 1300 XP

amercadian lieutenants: 2 of them at CR 1, for 400 XP

total XP count: 1700 XP, or 283 each

flee from fantanimalland: this one is a little tricky--the party is split across locations and dealing with different threats. most of the threats are circumvented--riva deals with barry nyne by luring him to the escape pod, gunnie buys a maple cake, sid and skip go on a sidequest, and the gunner channel crashes a ship into the guernican art squad headquarters.

chamberlain drablian: CR 3 for 700 XP

hogg cobb: CR 3 for 700 XP

barry nyne: CR 6, but with a 0.5 modifier because riva doesn't actually do damage; they just get him off the ship. 1150 XP

guernican art squad: 4 of them at CR 1/2 for 400 XP

arcadia prime: CR 1/2 for 100 XP. separate because she's annoying

total XP count: 3050 XP or 508 each

battle of the brands: this is the big tactical combat of the season. no running, no ship shenanigans, just pure combat. it's also the fight with the hardest individual opponents by far. extremely deadly--everyone except for gunnie goes down at least once. the gunner channel is lower-level than all of their opponents, so they have gear and secret plans to make up the difference.

smaggy squirrel & brobbin bunny: based on their abilities and my guesses about their damage output, i'd say they're level 10 operatives, at CR 5. total of 3600 XP for them both

plinth: given the abilities, i based its stats on the elder brain. CR 14, for 11500 XP

brutus: vercadians use dragon stats--brutus is a reskinned adult green dragon. CR 15 for a total of 13000 XP

total XP count: 28100 XP, or 4683 each

jailbreak: another split encounter--mostly stealth with a sprinkling of ship combat towards the end.

myrmidon station guards: 10 defeated in standard combat; CR 1 for a total of 2000 XP

total XP count: 2000 XP, or 333 each

the luckless, the abandoned, and the forsaked: another split encounter, with an emphasis on ship combat. everyone except for riva and gunnie engages in standard combat.

uftp agents: 10 of them, at CR 2, for a total of 4500 XP

barry nyne: a repeat--CR 6, for a total of 2300 XP. technically defeated by the barry speech, but they did direct combat.

king prilbus: technically based on an intellect devourer, but i upped the CR because he starts off in the body of zortch. CR 3 for a total of 700 XP

total XP count: 7500 XP, or 1250 each

standard combat total: 61350, or 10225 each. assuming the same xp leveling pattern from dnd, this would put the gunner channel at level 5, instead of the level 6 they actually achieved.

ship combat

this analysis functions a little differently than standard--xp gains go to their ship deployment levels and the estimations are different. i scaled it as follows:

the reason this chart doesn't start at zero is because ship deployments always start at rank 0 in SW5e. by technicality, advancement in ship deployment is by milestone, because it's up to the discretion of the dm. i just used simple doubling to estimate how much they would get out of each ship combat. the gunner channel all started at level one, so prospective leveling doesn't exactly match how much they progressed.

furthermore, this analysis has to consider the rankings of ships and their relative scale. the wurst is a tier 2 medium-sized mess freighter; its ASIs went to constitution and strength. this is a ship that could take a hit but not do much else.

welcome to the spacin' life, buddy!: the only pure ship combat of the entire season. it's a solid introduction to how the mechanics work and a good illustration of the capabilities of the gunner channel to start.

armstrong roid removers: 20 tiny ships, at CR 2, for a total of 9000 XP

the lady pike: based on its stats as a medium ship, i evaluated the lady pike at CR 5, for 1800 XP

total XP count: 10800 XP, or 1800 each

baustin skiffy limits: as stated before, this was a split combat chase encounter. once they get to the ship the gunner channel purely uses deployment skills.

amercadian flagship: this generally serves as a threat preventing the wurst from entering atmo; thus i applied a 0.25 modifier to it. CR 18, total of 5000 XP

brigade tigers: total of 10, they took down 5 before jumping to ftl. CR 2, for a total of 2250 XP

total XP count: 7250 XP, or 1208 each

jailbreak!: another split combat, though most of what they did from the ship was cover fire for stealth approaches from the prison.

myrmidon station guards: i set the general damage at 10, between riva's suicide charge and sidney's cover fire. CR 1, total of 2000 XP

vercadian protector droid: same stats as brutus, CR 15. dealt with in one shot from sundry sidney with a crit from the ship's weapon. 13000 XP. technically would have a downgrade to ~CR 5 by ship standards, but i'm letting them keep the initial one because the hit that took it out was insane.

total XP count: 15000 XP, for 2500 each

the luckless, the abandoned, and the forsaked: everyone and their mother here with their guns trained on the wurst. despite that, i applied a 0.5 modifier to the majority of these enemies because of a few things: margaret encino's campaign office diverting enemies to face each other and/or flee the combat, allies from u4f and the vercadians, recent weapons & shield upgrades, and the presence + dispersal of gnosis as an artifact level enhancement to the ship. the encounter could have been a lot worse.

uftp flagship: CR 18, 0.5 modifier. total of 10000

uftp fighters: CR 2, 10 total, for 4500 XP

amercadian flagship: CR 18, 0.5 modifier. total of 10000

guernican art squad flagship: CR 18, 0.5 modifier. total of 10000

brigade tigers: CR 2, 20 total, for 9000 XP

grivarr command vessel: CR 18, 0.5 modifier. total of 10000

grivarr fighters: CR 2, 10 total, for 4500 XP

repo reapers mercenary vessels: CR 8, 4 total, 0.5 modifier, for 7800 XP

warfare whitneys: CR 5, 30 total, 0.5 modifier, for 27000 XP

total XP count: 98200 XP, or 15466 each

ship combat total: 125850 or 20975 each, which puts the gunner channel at level 4 deployment abilities. they ended the season at level 3, but i would assume that they'd level up from the final encounter alone.

final comments:

a starstruck odyssey has some of the best and most unique combats dimension 20 has ever done, and utilizes a different system to make the most of it. while sw5e does have bases in dnd 5e, the differences really shine in ship combat and certain character classes.

classes and party comp first:

while the operative and berserker abilities remain pretty close to dnd (rogue and fighter/barbarian respectively), sw5e branches out when it comes to the casters.

the consular takes on metamagic abilities from the sorcerer, with arcane recovery from the wizard, and a variety of subclasses that range into cleric abilities.

the sentinel runs on a partial casting progression that can go towards tech casting or force casting, leaving a lot of options for customization. the base abilities combine warlock mechanics with some bardic abilities, for a mixed casting progression (no higher than 7th level spells in exchange for ideals and kinetic dice).

the engineer takes influence from the artificer subclasses, but with potent aptitude (bardic inspiration) and the full casting progression of a bard. this class can also split the difference between tech and force casting, though it leans more toward the former than the latter. subclasses cover reskinned artificer abilities, sorcerer subclasses, and more

the scholar functions as a unique class, with a variety of support abilities that can bolster a party, as well as a large spectrum of individual abilities. this class takes superiority dice and maneuvers from the battlemaster fighter, but allows for optimization into particular skills depending on subclass choice and party balance.

the gunner channel leans harder on the casters than the martial classes, but everyone has unique abilities and specialties that work very well. brennan said everyone made busted characters and he meant it.

ship combat:

space travel opens up a lot of options for encounters and party movement that you wouldn't ordinarily get in a game.

most dimension 20 seasons involve travel in a limited scope, but starstruck has the gunner channel bouncing all over the galaxy. the ship functions as the home base, but leaves plenty of opportunity for exploration and encounters.

it also makes improvements to the ship a focus--the gunner channel consistently modifies their ship, from the stealth drive to the atomo-torch particle blasters to the kaleida-connect acme-ashmun telescoping targetting systems to barry's big win.

overall combat:

most of the time the gunner channel is running for their life, making hot exits like no tomorrow. they're not the heroes, they're the scoundrels trying to make a living, getting caught up in machinations and making the best of it. it makes for a very tactical season; the players are low-level and thus really optimize their combats when they can--concentrating fire on their tank, getting cover for the squishies, prioritizing movement-based items (jet pack, rocket boots), armor boosts, and varied weapons (rotary cannon, stun grenades, charge fragmentation, gun boots). they go all in on the crunch and get really technical when the galaxy is utterly chaotic.

#dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #dimension 20 meta #the perils of xp leveling #thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats #a starstruck odyssey #the gunner channel

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