#for a paladin-adjacent class
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Which X-Men (or X-Men-adjacent characters) do you think are the best fits for each of the core D&D classes - in a sort of "using this character to illustrate what the class is" way? Leaving out artificer, if only because that's so obviously Forge.
This is hard, because I would describe a lot of X-Men characters as Sorcerors both in terms of how and where they get their powers, but also a lot of the subclasses work very well with the various mutant gifts. Most psychics (Charles Xavier, Jean Grey, Emma Frost) would probably work best as Aberrant Mind Sorcerors, for example (although Kwannon probably works better as a Soulknife).
For Rogues, there's no question that it Gambit, cher.
For (Berserker) Barbarians, it's absolutely Logan.
For Fighters, I'd go with Cyclops (a ranged Battlemaster who took all the Warlord manuevers).
For Warlocks, I'd go with Nightcrawler as a Fae Pact Bladelock.
For Druids, you absolutely go with Storm - although most likely, you'd build Storm as a Druid/Tempest Domain Cleric multiclass - although Rictor is not a bad pick either after he hooked up with [A] and got into mutant magic and druidism.
For Bards, I'd go with Doug Ramsey as a College of Lore guy. (And in keeping with the Bard stereotype, Doug's a transhuman bi-poly twink who's secretly a schemer and political operator behind the innocently slutty facade...)
For Paladins, I'd go with Betsy Braddock, since choosing between the Amulet of Right and the Sword of Might to embody the mystical bond between the land and Otherworld is very very much an Oath of the Ancients moment.
If we're going with Rangers, I would definitely go with Dani Moonstar as combining archery powers with animal companions - although I'm not sure whether she'd be a Fey Wanderer (heh) or a Gloomstalker.
For Monk, I would actually go with Kitty Pryde as a spin on a Shadow Warrior build, considering her time training as a ninja under the demonic Ogun and her current incarnation as the vengeful Shadowkat.
And for Wizards...that one is hard. Probably Amanda Sefton.
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SOFT SWAPPING DAMAGE
I've brought up the concept of soft swapping damage types at least a couple of times and I keep meaning to actually explain what I mean by that because I don't know if I've actually done it. Anyways I'm borrowing the name I've seen used in the Souls community for swapping to a secondary ability briefly in the middle of combat as part of your strategy. So let me explain:
What is it?
Soft swapping damage in D&D is being able to semi-spontaneously change the type of damage an ability should do with another ie. switching fire to cold damage. There are also a few ways in D&D to have damage versatility adjacent to soft swapping that I'll talk about too but aren't really the same thing because it's being able to choose your damage type, not a specific replacement.
Why?
Soft swapping damage is great for flavor, to synergize with another ability your character has, or to overcome resistance/immunity or capitalize on damage vulnerability.
How do I do it?
The ways you can specifically do what I would call 'soft swapping' are a Sorcerer's Metamagic option Transmuted Spell, Horizon Walker Ranger's Planar Warrior, Undead Warlock's Grave Touched, or Scribes Wizard's Awakened Spellbook.
Transmuted Spell lets you switch between six damage types: acid, fire, cold, lightning, poison, & thunder, exchanging damage types within those listed.
Horizon Walker lets you turn "all damage dealt" into force damage, letting you stack it with spells like searing smite or even hypothetically divine smite in the case of a Paladin multiclass.
Grave Touched lets you do something similar but states "you can replace the damage type" not all, however I would interpret them the same way in the hypothetical of there being multiple damage types, like with Hex or Eldritch Smite or any other multiclass shenanigans.
Awakened Spellbook lets you swap the damage type of a leveled spell with the damage type dealt by another spell in your spellbook of the same level. So theoretically, any damage type is up for grabs depending on what you do.
Any of these abilities lets you specifically control the type of damage you're dealing in a case by case instance which is specifically useful for certain gimmicks in combat or general damage coverage. One of my favorites is picking up either the Tempest Domain or Zeal Domain channel divinity and getting to either change the damage type (Transmuted Spell & Awakened Spellbook) then incur max damage or incur max damage and transform the damage type when the hit lands (Planar Warrior & Grave Touched), either of these can create huge bursts of damage in unexpected ways.
Other than that It's just a generally useful function to have in a build.
There are also spells and abilities that specifically let you pick a different damage type every type you do damage. For example (and this is not an exhaustive list as far as I know): Ascendant Dragon Monks can change their unarmed strikes between: acid, bludgeoning, cold, fire, lightning or poison damage. Drakewarden's can use their Drake Companion's infusion to deal additional damage of their choice, as well as later gain resistance to that damage type on a case by case basis. The same applies to spells like Summon Draconic Spirit, Chromatic Orb, or Elemental Weapon, and feats like Gift of the Chromatic Dragon.
I don't think I would consider any of these soft swapping in the same way I consider the above (sub)class abilities to be, but it's interesting to note when discussing options in damage versatility and ease of gaining alternate damage types.
Anyways, that's all, send post.
#d&d mechanical information#d&d commentary#d&d advice#SURE#i guess that works#yeah that's all#soft swapping fun#it's how i made a triple-stat caster build#liza.txt#d&d#my d&d posts
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very excited for the acoc prequel. matt & brennan have a thing for intense tragedy prequels when swapping seats.
also that table composition is just *chef’s kiss*. lou, aabria, & brennan for the oops all dms factor. anjali bringing a gorgeous pc with no doubt a lot of drama on the rp side(i saw that uvano reference. the noble of the party). zac playing a stinky little asshole and hopefully getting to keep him for the entire time. i want to see him really get into the meat of the intrigue.
i do think the choice to shift the focus from candia is a good one. while we obviously didn’t get to see everything there, i think the tonal shift will be good for matt’s first time dming in the dome. his style works better with a little less chaos than brennan or even aabria usually contends with. plus this feels like a party that’s not quite as heavy on the nobility. acoc definitely had a focus on the royal house of candia--this just gives a different perspective on calorum and a way to get into lore we probably have had little insight into as of yet.
this gives us the option to really get into the bulbian church lore, a way to get a good look at the meatlands that we didn’t have in acoc, the underside of comida, and maybe a look at the fructeran nobility beyond the uvanos & of course, thad.
in terms of how related it is to the main campaign i’m going to guess it’s something like pirates of leviathan as opposed to the seven. none of these characters were npcs in acoc, but we could have the potential to run into the younger versions of some characters, the way we encountered garthy, ayda, and jamina in pol.
definitely feeling pretty stealth focused/lower magic as a party. looking at what’s under the surface at the start of the ravening war. as they are the scrumptious scoundrels, i think for classes we’re looking at 2 or more rogues, a fighter, a cleric, and a maybe bard based on the art. my guesses:
lou’s being the party tank again--some kind of melee class, leaning fighter more than barb but maybe a combination. maybe a touch of paladin
aabria’s got something going on with mixed melee & magic--arcane trickster rogue, hexblade warlock, maybe a little bit of hungry one monk energy, something to that end.
brennan said i’m bringing a cleric to keep all y’all alive, and he’s really going in on the old man. he said i came to be goofy as fuck. granted his name is raphaniel charlock. maybe brennan’s pulling a lapin and really leaning into the name. maybe he’s throwing us all off with the title and playing a wizard. idk
really feeling rogue from zac. he’s settled into it a lot in his last few seasons from skip to pib. with his warlocks he tends to go sneaky/darker as well. colin provolone just seems like a con man. there’s also a lot of bottles in his background--maybe an alchemist? washed up alchemist artificer seems to fit the vibe as well.
anjali’s character looks hot and seems noble, so i’m guessing charisma caster with lots of bonuses to persuasion/deception. she’s a lady--eloquence or lore bard feels likely, maybe whispers for the politicking. granted she could do a lot of that with a rogue as well--we might specifically have an oops all rogues/rogue-adjacent party.
anyway. i’m very excited about this. based on the number of aabria outfits i think we’re looking at a 6 ep season to cool off from neverafter. granted these scenes are all likely from the first 3 or so episodes, so it might be longer, might not.
edit: i wrote this before i read the faq and it is definitively a 6 episode season. i think they’re getting into a pattern of alternation between ih seasons and sidequests: intrepid heroes run for a 17-20 episode season from late fall-spring, then a 4-6-ep sidequest for a buffer going into the summer, then a 10 ep sidequest going summer to fall, and start back up with the intrepid heroes again. i think this is likely to be a pattern going forward as they straighten out from the disruption of covid and fully shift to battleset/dome seasons.
#dimension 20#the ravening war#trw#a crown of candy#acoc#matt mercer#brennan lee mulligan#aabria iyengar#lou wilson#zac oyama#anjali bhimani
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linked universe links as JRPG classes!!!
disclaimer: the only jrpgs I’ve actually played are final fantasy! I’ve played plenty of other jrpg-adjacent games but they dont have such well-defined classes lol
also i am only doing the ones that i have good ideas for, but feel free to add your own input!
sky: warrior, aka the Cool Sword™️ protagonist class. he and the master sword go through so much growth (in personality and strength lol), just like a lot of jrpg protags. the iconic sword is key! example: squall leonhart, cloud strife
time: finding just one class for time is as confusing as the man himself is. I will list all my ideas and reasons:
- summoner: the transformation masks are kind of summoner-y? plus, the mysteriousness and magical weirdness surrounding him definitely fit the bill of summoner. example: yuna from ffx
- blue mage: again, this is because of the masks :’) blue mages learn enemy’s attacks and use them in battle. example: kimari, quistis trepe
- time mage: self explanatory :) example: tidus from ffx
- paladin (tank): he has the huge biggoron sword and sturdy armor, and probably keeps an eye on everyone. example: auron from ffx. TIME SECTION CONCLUDED🙏
legend: the theif/ninja!! he looks unassuming, but take your eye off him for one second and he uses sone crazy gadget in you and the battle is over. example: rikku from ffx, yuffie kisaragi
hyrule: red mage (can use both white and black magic). he has his famous healing spell, and also uses supportive magic, but he has some craaazy attack spells.
twilight: monk (hand-to-hand combat, usually require button combos to execute cool moves)! mr. sumo wrestler and goat wrangler would be a monk in my mind :) also, the combo-based hidden skills remind me of monk combat🙏 examples: tifa lockhart, sabin ff6, zell ff8
warriors: onion knight :) he has a ton of different playstyles in hyrule warriors, kind of like an onion knight
wild: i’m thinking either archer or time mage. wild seems to be the designated ranged combat guy, and he has his cool time slowing abilities.
if you read this far, thank you! and please add on if you can think of anything for wind or four🙏
#linked universe#tloz#im tagging this tloz bc its about gameplay#jrpg#final fantasy#this has been cooking in my drafts for a few days#gogo rambles
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1, 5 and 12?
!!!
Which is your favorite game? How about least favorite?
Favorite! From what I've played, by far Blazing Blade and Genealogy! Blazing Blade has such a lively cast of characters, I love the animations and colors!!! Colors are really important for me! It was also my introduction to the series!
Genealogy - it's just. the sheer. The story is big and there are so many details and I love finding these and picking them apart and well. I've always loved myself a good tragedy. I do wish the characters got more, but honestly it was an snes game.
I'm afraid my least favorite though would have to be fe11, shadow dragon. it's not a bad game really, i just dislike the graphics from what I'd played (though, I was starting to warm up to them), and the reclassing system being so open was... interesting as someone whos only modern fire emblem is engage (and even that was scary.)
Overall not a bad game though.
As for other games though. Three Houses. I've not played it, but the sheer exposure exhausted me and a lot of the fandom is scary. It's also a very big game and personally we don't have the most time.
5. Which titles have you played?
Ah. I'm afraid I've only fully completed a few, and tested the waters on a couple others.
Completed -
Blazing Blade, Sacred Stones Ephraim Route, Engage.
In the middle of -
Genealogy (start of ch5 - yes i know the Happenings.), Binding Blade (ch 7), Mystery of the Emblem (fe3)
Tested the waters of -
Path of Radiance, Shadow Dragon
12. What's your favorite class?
That's a tie between mage/sage and cavalier/paladin (and adjacent for both). I love the mages for the sheer power and color they bring, and I love the cavs and adjacent for their movement and weapon triangle coverage. If they don't have the latter, then they usually make an impression on me another way! (Finn. Alva. Cain fe5.)
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After watching the trailer way too many times, here are my PC predictions for D20 Neverafter:
Emily – Bloodhunter, Order of Lycan. I'm pretty sure about this one, it'd fit very well with the Red Riding Hood story + the wolf ears in the trailer!! Also, with all the possibilities provided by Blood curses/rites Emily will have lots of chances to screw Brennan's plans and we know she loves that.
Zac – either a Swashbuckler Rouge or an Assassin. I could see him playing a Fighter too but Rouge just fits Puss in the Boots better imo. Not to mention Zac seemed to have lots of fun playing Skip who also was Rouge-adjacent.
Lou – I'm already hyped by the Pinocchio (probably played with mechanics of warforged) and I'm thinking about a not so common subclass for him: a Treachery Paladin. I saw people theorise he's going to be a Rouge because he mentions stealing money etc. but it'd be so interesting to have another Paladin!!
Ally - at first I had a crazy idea they've home-brewed a ghost class that's capable of possessing people (celebro-slug style in a way) but it makes more sense for them to play a pact of tome Warlock with an Archfey patron.
Siobhan – realistically: a caster since that's what she usually goes for, perhaps a wizard this time. My personal wish: if not full on then a couple of levels in ranger, monster slayer conclave (the flavouring of Hail of Thorns or Entanglement could be so delicious with this character!!)
Murph – the biggest question mark for me. Can be a Bard, can be a Barbarian or Fighter... Truly no idea.
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New campaign time!
This time, we are embarking to Dragonance. So...restricted to human-passing, or human-adjacent races (which was hard because I like non-human passing races like a lot lol). But that's ok, it's the perfect opportunity to break out my phoenix-valkyrie concept. Thus, introducing Carmina Scarlotta, aka Carmen the Red.
Carmen was a farmgirl, not looking forward to taking over the family farm after marrying her best friend in a year or two, but then her town was attacked, the farm burned, and her family all dead, including herself. That was until she rose from the ashes, her celestial blood activated. Like a phoenix she rose a new, and she had a fiery new purpose.
So Aasimar Barbarian (with potential to dual-class into Paladin); seemed the easiest way to get the valkyrie theming I want. She's not pink sadly (I mean, red is man-pink, lol) thus why her "human" hair coloring was more strawberry-blonde instead of flame-red, so I still get a pink starting character lol.
I've actually had this concept and name for a long time (though have switched from deScarra to Scarlotta over the years, and flipflopped over C or K spelling of Carmen), so I'm excited to get to try to use her finally. And you know, Phoenix vs Dragon will be fun too.
Playlist time!
Shot in the Dark by Within Temptation
Venom of Venus by Powerwolf
Angel by Theory of a Deadman
The Phoenix by Fall Out Boy
Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin
The Hammers Coming Down by Nickelback
Through the Night by CueStack feat David Hasselhoff
It's Magical by Ruslana Lyzhychko
Woman Woman Theme from BvS OST
#my art#digital art#my ocs#dnd stuff#pathfinderstuff#if i had a nickel for every time#i played a divine phoenix-fire user wielding a scimitar with dual colored eyes and hair post rising from the ashes of death for vengeance
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i wound up making a new post lol but uh here’s hatchetfield characters as dnd classes
linda- warlock with wiggly as her patron. you could probably use the great old one as her subclass and just flavor it as wiggly
hannah- wild magic sorcerer. no question. i know warlock with webby as her patron also makes sense but like come on.
miss holloway- idk which one but she is a super high level magic user. i feel like you could make her a warlock with a pact of the tome or like a school of enchantment wizard.
emma- for some reason i get huge rogue vibes from emma
lex- school of abjuration wizard
ethan- i’ll be honest i have no clue. i definitely can’t see him as a magic user but i also don’t really like any of the nonmagic or limited magic classes for him.
paul- for some reason my brain is screaming artificer but that’s probably just cause he’s a tech support guy. i’m not really sure for paul either
tom- this might be controversial but i feel like tom’s a ranger. idk i feel like tom is definitely more of a nature person than a tech person and that he’d be cool to just chill in the woods and fight monsters.
becky- my first instinct is cleric but she honestly doesn’t really have cleric vibes to me. maybe like a sorcerer of the divine soul so she still has a lot of primary healer options while still retaining the ability to absolutely fuck up some monsters.
ziggs- either a druid or a bard. i’m kinda leaning towards druid.
hidgens- bard. 100% bard. i don’t know which college and i don’t care he’s just a bard.
bill- probably a cleric. bill’s definitely much more of a healer than a fighter.
charlotte- oh lord i have no clue. this isn’t based off of canon at all but she has divination wizard vibes.
ted- either a bard or a barbarian. he’s either gonna seduce something or hit it really really hard. the barbarian thing is fully based on him hitting sam with a garbage can lid.
zoey- bard <3
lucy- ranger <333 is it disrespectful towards chumby to say she would be in the beast master concave
grace- paladin. i know it’s easy to say cleric but i feel like she’s more of a paladin.
pete- artificer. if you give him a chemistry set then you’ll see some seriously nerdy shit.
steph- something fighter/monk/barbarian adjacent. i feel like deep down steph just wants to punch something
rose- bard but in a fig faeth way :)
frank- i was trying to think of like salesman type stuff and i feel like bard of eloquence fits him??? idk but he has like expertise in persuasion
john- paladin but in the opposite direction of grace
boy jerry and girl jeri- paladins but i think they used to be something else. don’t know what though.
alice- she could be a bard or she could be a fighter i think
deb- probably a druid. i think all druids are stoners.
duke- probably some sort of fighter but like one of the cool ones, you know?
i’m definitely missing a bunch of people there’s so many characters
#hatchetfield#starkid#nightmare time#nmt#nmt 2#the last version of this was a reblog so like#dnd#if you have any ideas please help#black friday#the guy who didn’t like musicals
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because i'm bored and thinking about it, some things i've been thinking of in regards to what i personally would pick for some potential bells hells backup characters:
liam: liam has mentioned going for the main 4 old school rpg classes in the past so i think, in theory, the most likely would be a cleric. he's played a few in one shots but the same can be said about fighters before orym so i think its not an unlikely pick. like i mentioned before, arcana domain would be my personal pick for a cleric or knowledge domain since lore is a big thing this campaign, and he did just play a wizard so knowledge might be a little more likely of the two? also, super not sure if they'd go for another 2 cleric party. a lot of people have also brought up college of tragedy bard which would be an extremely funny pick as a backup character in my opinion.
my personal pick for him though would be a ranger because it's been So long and also i want one lmao. a ranger would also cover some of the bases orym did with high dex and high wisdom while also getting a little bit of healing potentially depending on spell choices.
ashley: i honestly have no idea if i could even pretend to predict what ashley would do lmao. bard was my top pick for her pre-exu trio in campaign 3 reveal so i think that would still work pretty well? i think college of creation would be extremely funny after the issues bells hells had with furniture super early in the campaign tbh. if she wants to continute to lean in to more rogue-adjacent things theres also college of whispers that has that vibe but i don't know if any colleges really stand out to me in terms of being fitting overall, it's mostly about skills and ability scores tbh.
also literally never gonna give up the chance to say i want a paladin because it's literally always true so like. that would also be a very sexy and cool option for her to choose.
marisha: at the moment she's the least likely of the three to need it so i haven't thought as much about hers. she's both not dead yet and has so much going on around her that could happen with external things as well as delilah so. y'know. but otherwise i think seeing marisha play an artificer or a wizard would be Very fun. we got a little bit of wizard with patia but i'd love to see her get more of a chance to do some fun fucked up wizard shit. i don't super have a preferred subclass for either, but i do think order of scribes wizard would be very fun.
#cr spoilers#higher knowledge skills is really whats important rn LMAO#anything works with a decent int score/good proficencies for where theyve seen the campaign going#but i cannot stress enough how much ranger and paladin go for all of them. any one of them could play one and id be happy.#i love my half casters.#not putting this in the main tag but do whatever with it djfjndks its literally just random thoughts#i just think an opportunity for new characters when the players know what the party has what it lacks and where its going is fun yknow
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A few asks for my favorite purple plamt : 🛏️, 🎲 and 📚 ? :) And bonus round 🤝, 🕐& 🎲 for whoever you want!
So many asks!! :D Thanks so much, let's go!
Kerra:
🛏️ What does your OC’s bed look like? What would they like their bed to look like?
At her home? Definitely around king size minimum, maybe a tiny bit bigger; whatever size of bed would fit three people pretty comfortably! A few blankets, probably not too many unless it's the dead of winter. They have way too many different comforters in different patters but only use, like, three of them on a regular basis. An average amount of pillows--not too many, not zero. It's cozy and is never really fully made like a hotel bed, more just like...halfway there, mostly in order but not trying to be perfect. (And this arrangement is more than fine with Kerra, so :) )
🎲 If your OC played a pen and paper RPG, what class would they pick? Warrior, mage, thief, ranger, cleric, paladin, druid, necromancer, bard (or other, if that’s not enough).
Oooh, good one, hmm...I don't think she'd pick ranger, if only because that's basically what she is anyways, and I think she'd want to try something different. I could see her trying druid, which is along similar lines to her GW2 class but different enough in some ways that she might enjoy playing that. (Also, interestingly enough, my gut reaction was to say that she'd play a paladin, which I think is also a good option--and maybe the one that's most likely.)
📚 Your OC has to improvise a 10 minute lecture about a topic of their choosing. What do they chose?
Travel, if it's in a venue where she can easily and freely make jokes. It'd be good advice tempered with occasional terrible puns, and let everyone know which waypoints are the most practical, and which routes are the best to take. Kerra's been over enough of the world that she'd be very well-versed in all of this, and she'd also love to share. Also, my brain just generated a potential terrible slide title of "The Ups and Downs of Airship Travel", and I don't actually think Kerra would use that one, but there you go xD. And she would not speak favorably of the Consortium.
Bonus questions! I'll give you some GW1 facts for Cal, since they're on my brain at the moment:
🤝 Does your OC have someone they want at their side when they are scared? Who?
Their wife Daisy, hands down. Being in love with someone and also living through an apocalyptic scenario with them (in Cal and Daisy's case, that'd be the Searing--at least, that was the first apocalyptic-adjacent scenario they dealt with) tends to forge that kinda bond.
🕐 Was there ever a time your OC would have given everything to turn back the clock 5 minutes? What happened?
Given everything? Ooh boy. I don't know about everything, but they would have given a whole lot to turn the clock back five minutes when the Searing started. Nothing like entering Ascalon City like you usually do, waving to the kid who hangs out by the gate and thinks you're one of the coolest adults on the planet, and then the world being set on fire immediately after, and the kid nowhere to be found. That's a pretty big one. They carried a lot of guilt about Gwen's disappearance/probable death for years, even though there really wasn't anything they could have done in that moment to change things.
🎲 If your OC played a pen and paper RPG, what class would they pick? Warrior, mage, thief, ranger, cleric, paladin, druid, necromancer, bard (or other, if that’s not enough).
Sorcerer specifically, I think. Cal's a ranger/elementalist (as can be done in GW1's dual class system), and they'd enjoy playing a class with that brand of magic. I could also see them try out playing as a wizard specializing in necromancy, if they felt like trying something new.
#gw2#gw1#kerralind#cal vereo#archesa#thanks a bunch for the ask! :D#these were really fun to think about#and ye now you have officially met cal via an ask game#love them a lot
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ALL MY CHARACTERS: THERE ARE SEVERAL
this is mostly complete but i might add little tidbits. this post exists for my own personal organization and peace of mind
Marlowe
AGE: Mid-late 30s (unsure due to amnesia)
RACE: Zariel Tiefling
GENDER: Genderless (they/them)
SEXUALITY: Bisexual/unspecified
BACKGROUND: Outlander
CLASS: Barbarian
SUBCLASS: Berserker
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic neutral/chaotic good
LOVE INTEREST: Astarion
BEST FRIEND: Shadowheart and Karlach
BACKSTORY: One day in the not-so-distant past, a pair of adventurers tracking a band of raiders through the wilds of Faerûn came across a destroyed riverside village. Searching the wreckage for survivors, they found only one: a small, injured, mute tiefling child with no memory of what had happened to their home or family. The adventurers- a dwarf paladin and an elf ranger named Gregor and Sylvya- took them in and raised them as their own. From their adoptive parents, Marlowe learned the art of combat, and took to it like breathing. Their relative clumsiness and tendency to fly into a blind rage made them well-suited to a more barbaric fighting style, and they spent their childhood and teen years adventuring with their parents. When they were old enough to be on their own, they set off to Baldur’s Gate where they quickly fell into debt to a kingpin of the Guild and were forced to work as a bodyguard-slash-general-purpose-muscle. They hated the city and wanted nothing more to return to the wilds, so they decided one day to simply pack up and leave, Guild be damned. Their plans were immediately cut short by a certain mind flayer plot. Wrong place, wrong time, and here they are with a tadpole behind their eye.
ABOUT: They’ve never known a life without violence. It’s all they know how to do and they’re very, very good at it. They’re a protector and their worst nightmare is allowing harm to come to their friends and loved ones- they blame themself whenever a party member gets hurt and feel it’s their responsibility to ensure everyone is safe. This gets annoying when they start literally throwing themself in front of attacks and getting severely injured in almost every battle. They’re quiet, reserved, and deeply insecure. They’ve been taught that fighting is the only thing they’re good for and they believe it. They’re also a big silly idiot with a soft heart, a weakness for praise, and far too much love to give.
Tyrra
AGE: 29
RACE: Half-orc
GENDER: Woman but like, only incidentally (she/her)
SEXUALITY: Lesbian
BACKGROUND: Soldier
CLASS: Ranger
SUBCLASS: Beast master (might change if/when I play as her again)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral good
LOVE INTEREST: Karlach
BEST FRIEND: Lae’zel, Wyll and Gale (although she really gets along with everyone)
BACKSTORY: Tyrra grew up in a mixed human-orc settlement out in the wilds of Faerun. She joined their militia early in life, learning from her human father how to defend against raiders and survive in nature. She had a pretty simple life before the nautiloid, patrolling the settlement’s perimeters and skirmishing with raiders and bandits along its outskirts.
ABOUT: She’s like a camp counselor-slash-drill sergeant. Very passionate about nature, highly organized, even-tempered and intolerant of bullshit. She’s highly skilled in combat but her true passion is surviving in the wilds by foraging, hunting and navigating. She tends not to get along with most people as a result of her rather isolated and combat-centric upbringing but she is truly gentle and kindhearted. She has a soft spot for creepy and maligned animals and has a giant spider companion familiar that follows her around. Her trusty crossbow is named Florence and she treats it like a baby.
Lior
AGE: ??? (He could be anywhere from like 30 to 130. He has no idea and frankly neither do I).
RACE: High half-elf
GENDER: Man-adjacent, trans (he/they)
SEXUALITY: Bisexual
BACKGROUND: Haunted One
CLASS: Sorcerer
SUBCLASS: Draconic Bloodline
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic neutral
LOVE INTEREST: Gale (they are each other’s emotional support unstable mage)
BEST FRIEND: Mostly Gale but also Shadowheart
BACKSTORY: The Dark Urge
ABOUT: He’s very twitchy and unstable and afraid of himself. He hates feeling like he’s not in control of himself and wants very badly to get rid of the Urge. He composes poetry about murder and death to cope with his thoughts, his favorite spells are Fireball and Magic Missile, and he enjoys teasing Gale about his wizardry despite not actually having any beef with wizards.
Iulia
AGE: 25
RACE: Mephistopheles Tiefling
GENDER: Female (she/her)
SEXUALITY: Bisexual
BACKGROUND: Urchin
CLASS: Rogue
SUBCLASS: Arcane Trickster
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic neutral/chaotic good
LOVE INTEREST: Shadowheart
BEST FRIEND: Wyll and Karlach (honorable mention to Astarion who completely hates her in a dubiously friendly way. It’s reciprocal.)
BACKSTORY: Iulia grew up as an orphan on the streets of Elturel, picking pockets and stealing from market stands to survive. She and a couple other orphans ran a scam where she’d perform a magic show on a street corner to draw a crowd, and her comrades would pick as many pockets as they could. Later, in her teens and early adulthood, she was part of a loosely-organized thieves’ guild in the city, which she promptly abandoned when Elturel fell to Get The Fuck Out Of There. After a few months of hitchhiking on the road she ended up in Baldur’s Gate where she stayed for just a couple weeks before being picked up by the nautiloid. Bad luck all around.
ABOUT: She’s scrappy and cunning, she says what’s on her mind and isn’t afraid to take risks. She’s used to bailing on a situation the second it goes bad so having to make allies and get along with a bunch of weirdos is uncomfortable for her. She’s highly capable and skilled but also very overconfident in her own abilities and often ends up in stupid situations due to her own hubris. She has a natural gift for arcana which she uses for cheap parlor tricks and mischief.
Vivienne
AGE: 50s
RACE: Wood half-elf
GENDER: Woman (she/her)
SEXUALITY: Bisexual
BACKGROUND: Acolyte
CLASS: Paladin
SUBCLASS: Oath of the Ancients
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Good
LOVE INTEREST: Wyll
BEST FRIEND: Has minor beef with nearly everybody for one reason or another, is most chill with Karlach and becomes close with Shadowheart in act 3
BACKSTORY: When she came of age, Vivienne left her commune-dwelling Lathanderite wood elf family to join the Order of the Aster in Waterdeep, and dedicate herself to the protection of all those within the Morninglord’s embrace. She spent her early adulthood fighting monsters, defending temples, and being utterly miserable about herself with no idea why. When she gets picked up by the nautiloid and set on a crusade against the Absolute she comes to realize two things: 1) she is a woman and 2) she is utterly convinced she’s been chosen for this divine mission by Lathander Himself.
ABOUT: She’s a faithful and courageous warrior of the light, sworn to protect nature and act with mercy and kindness. Her faith is deeply important to her and her driving motivation. Her oath bids her to stand against wickedness in all forms so she often goes out of her way to help those in need. She butts heads with a lot of the party members rather frequently as a result of her faith, and has to be held back from instigating hand-to-hand combat on more than one occasion. She has a passion for history, culture, nature and religion and will infodump about the pantheon of Faerun to anyone who will listen.
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oh boy it's stats time again. i'm sure someone has done this before, but this is for my personal record and if anybody else wants to think about it.
this time we're looking at pc class breakdowns for d20. some commentary/caveats at the end* with regard to how i sorted these, what is and isn't included, fun facts and/or patterns that i noticed, etc. under the cut because they got very out of hand.
i wrote this physically on paper with a casio ms-80b calculator and not in a spreadsheet. why did i do that. all of these are sort from highest to lowest commonality/occurrence rate. anyway:
total class numbers:
rogue: 21
fighter: 15
bard: 12
barbarian: 11
tie between sorcerer and warlock: 8
cleric: 7
ranger: 6
druid: 5**
tie between artificer and paladin: 4
tie between monk and wizard: 3
the numbers look pretty weighted towards rogues at the moment--keep in mind that we've had several seasons that were mystery and intrigue heavy, and thus many rogues to go along with that, e.g. tiny heist (2), a crown of candy (3), mice & murder (4), a court of fey and flowers (2), and the ravening war (4). otherwise the distribution of rogues is fairly normal. as for fighters, barbarians and bards, i'll get to that in a minute.
most common multiclassed classes:
fighter: 10 (66.6%, 10/15)
barbarian (63.6%, 7/11), bard (58.3%, 7/12) rogue (33.3%, 7/21): 7
sorcerer (50%, 4/8) and warlock (50%, 4/8): 4
ranger (50%, 3/6): 3
druid (40%, 2/5***) and cleric (28.5%, 2/7): 2
artificer (25%, 1/4) and monk (33.3%, 1/3): 1
wizard and paladin: 0
total number of multiclassed PCs:
22/78 PCs that were evaluated.
5 of those were just emily axford. 22.7% of all d20 multiclassed PCs are just emily. it's 71.4% of all of her d20 PCs. the only two that are not are sundry sidney and lady chirp featherfowl, both of whom have classes that are mixed martial/magic anyway.
3 of those were triple multiclasses: brennan as k.p. hob, fighter rogue barbarian, siobhan as princess rosamund, ranger druid fighter, and aabria as karna solara: warlock bard rogue.****
number of multiclassed PCs by campaign:
a crown of candy: 5 (62.5%, 5/8 PCs).
tie between the ravening war (80%, 4/5 PCs) and the seven (57.1%, 4/7 PCs): 4
fantasy high: 3 (50%, 3/6 PCs)
tie between the unsleeping city (25%, 2/8 PCs) and neverafter (33.3%, 2/6): 2
tie between pirates of leviathan (16.6%, 1/6 PCs) and a court of fey and flowers (16.6%, 1/6): 1
no multiclass seasons:
escape from the bloodkeep
tiny heist
mice & murder
a starstruck odyssey
coffin run
dungeons and drag queens.
most common multiclass combinations (each with portmanteau name because it's funny):
fighter barbarian (barbed fighter/barbighter): 5***** (this does include hob, who is also included in the ranks of rogue fighters)
rogue fighter (fighterogue******): 3
tie between bard warlock (bardlock), rogue bard (barogue), ranger fighter (fighteranger): 2
the rest haven't been repeated on d20 yet. full list includes the triples, but most have already been mentioned in some respect above. as follows in chronological(ish) order:
artificer barbarian (barbtificer/barbificer?*******)
fighter bard (barfighter/bardighter)
monk warlock (monklock/warmonk)
sorcerer warlock (sorlock)
ranger rogue (rangerogue)
sorcerer cleric (sorcleric)
rogue sorcerer (sorcerogue)
bard cleric (barderic/bardic/cleribard/clard/clebird)
sorcerer bard (bardcerer/sorcerbard)
fighter rogue bard (barbed fighterogue/barbighterogue)
ranger druid fighter (fightedranger/drighteranger)
barbarian druid (barbaruid/drarb)
bard warlock rogue (baroguelock)
there's more that i could get into later but here it is: thisisnotthenerd's d20 class breakdown.
*some caveats and commentary:
this breakdown only includes dnd or dnd adjacent systems like sw 5e, so unfortunately this does not include mismag, shriek week, or mentopolis.
when i tallied these up, i sorted by season. sequel seasons were sorted in with their initial season; this is relevant for counting multiclasses, since most of the intrepid heroes from fantasy high did not multiclass until sophomore year and there are characters in tucii that are multiclassed (it's iga). this also prevents any accidental doubling that could affect the total count.
i chose not to include the specialty classes that have no dnd equivalent from starstruck e.g. scholar for margaret and sentinel for sidney. however, the classes that are similar mechanically e.g. operative/rogue or berserker/barbarian, are included in the full class listing. starstruck has no multiclassed PCs.
the numbers for each class include all multiclasses including 1 level dips.
jet rocks changed her rogue level out and was a full fighter when she died, but she is counted as a multiclass and her rogue level is counted. otherwise these are all final counts from the end of each pc's season.
the seven includes zelda even though she's a dmpc, because i couldn't remove her from the party.
disclaimer: i'm a human and make mistakes. there may be inaccuracies.
**two of these are just erika ishii. they are 2/5 of the total d20 druid count, and 2/3 of the pure druids.
***both of these are from neverafter.
****the order of these is what i can recall as their base class, then chronological order of what they picked up since then. rosamund and karna both picked up multiclasses during their seasons while hob is just a guess based on how it's listed on his character sheet.
*****two of these are lou wilson's calorum PCs. two of them are brennan lee mulligan (zelda & hob). the last is rekha shankar as katja cleaver.
******this looks like a bad misspelling of figueroth. i promise it isn't.
*******(not to be confused with a bardificer, which has not been done on d20 to my knowledge. gunnie from starstruck could be considered an example because of the function of the engineer class in sw 5e, but he's already counted as an artificer in my full list, and i'm not adding him to the bards.)
#dimension 20#dimension 20 meta#thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats#this is mostly for personal record#thinking of starting a series of these#i physically crunched the numbers for both of these so far#no spreadsheets to be seen#why did i do that#long post#probably too long post#d20 meta
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Runs I want to do in the future but idk in which order: Dragonborn Draconic Sorcerer (for the double dragon flavour), that buff paladin-adjacent lady that I played in my first ttrpg and before realising I'm a guy, beefy tiefling idk what class, spore druid, Durge As Set By Game, someone who will become a mind flayer bc I want to try that out, rogue but thief bc I want to pickpocket the shit out of people. And either wild magic gnome sorcerer or alcoholic drunken master monk gnome (<- 2 npc i made for a campaign I never wrote). Oh and some kind of bard but idk race and whatnot (I'd love a bard-barian but idk how should I multiclass him)
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I've been working on a personal ttrpg project for well over two years now, but it's only been since around summer of this year that I've really honed in on what I want out of a ttrpg that I haven't been able to find in existing games.
My goal for this game has been to make a system, primarily for my personal group, molded to how I like to run ttrpgs & how I like to play them. This has come with several realizations; like how group tactical combat / combat as sport and purely associative decisions/mechanics don't play well together, at least in what I can design at the moment.
And I'm basically running my ideal game and playing a character who's coming out ideally between my two games.
For the latter: thanks to a fantastic DM, Brigid, the fighter I play on Sundays in the Order of the Fallen Acorn, has developed a reputation as a hero. Some of that has been purely chance - like a crit success on a death save and a critical hit to win a duel- but a good part has just been playing her to the world rather than a character sheet, and taking heroic opportunities when they present themselves. Brigid's reputation in the party didn't start with crits; it started with her jumping off a small cliff to impale a zombie bugbear with her greatsword. Even with the aforementioned duel, she started it to give the wizard space to escape.
Brigid also has been 98% produced by the results of playing at the table. Her backstory gave her trajectory with the party, but I hadn't even realized she was depressed & trying to die in battle until five sessions into playing her. Her shift from "already gave up her soul, here to take on sin so the party won't have to, especially murder" to "we are all equal and I will fight to save any life I can" came about from two campaign moments that made her change perspective. I could never have imagined Brigid being where she is now when I first came up with her - and it's only made me more skeptical of any game asking me to define my character's arc before we even start.
For the former: when I started a new 5e campaign at the beginning of the year, I expected it to end up combat-centric just as a consequence of being in 5e. But many sessions later - and having stumbled into some good campaign design half by accident - the party has nailed the approach I love to run for. They are heroic and want to help/save people, but are also wary of their foes and prefer to rely on avoiding any danger they can with their wits. It's the perfect blend of valorous and crafty that fits the genre of play I've been craving in ttrpgs.
The party also hit the perfect composition - EK fighter, ranger, rogue, paladin, and divine warlock - for magic to have the right feel. Nearly everyone has a little bit of magic and can interact with it, but the world's magic still feels strange and, well, magical.
I am sorta wrestling with the system in both cases (with Brigid because combat is a necessary, dull evil, as ironic as that is for a "fighter;" and with my campaign because a good part of mechanics we're using are homebrewed to fit the dungeon-crawly game we're running). And that's why I've been working on my own game.
Believe me, I've scoured ttrpg spaces for an existing game that fits what I want from it.
4e is too disassociated.
3.5 is a mess of math, having played Pathfinder: Kingmaker + Temple of Elemental Evil (the crpg) and run a several-month Starfinder campaign.
I despise thief skills & similar in pre-3rd edition D&D. Any mildly extensive homebrew I try to make of a D&D edition will inevitably result in filing all the classes down to "fighter" and "magic-user," then deciding everyone should have access to magic and losing even that.
Every PBtA ttrpg close to medieval fantasy I've found has some mix of playbook nonsense (character arc-based playbooks, disassociated / plot-control mechanics)
Classless OSR that hits some of the vibe tends to be non-heroic
My second draft is sort of PBTA-adjacent, using the general 2d6+Stat resolution method with 6/7-9/10+ result bands and five attributes (Strength, Agility, Finesse, Wisdom, and Charisma).
Each character has a small set of talents, which are basically traits that let you roll one additional d6 (max) in a roll and take the highest two if they apply.
Weapons & other significant items get a set number of beneficial traits based on their bulk. So a bulk 2 spear might have "greater reach" and "usable like a quarterstaff" as its traits. All weapons also deal the same damage (1d6 base), and armor is trait-oriented, rather than bearing any straight mechanical benefit.
Magic uses a pool of spirit dice for GLOG-style spellcasting (available to all characters). There's a luck point system to modify rolls or call for a small benefit in a scene, inspired by some moments in my recent reread of the old Deltora Quest books I loved so much as a kid.
I'll probably post more on the system as I work out quirks and get its procedures properly written up.
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Paladins Aren't Cops
Or at least they aren't supposed to be played like them.
One of the most common problems with Paladins is when their player decides they must police fellow players. Which makes everyone else hate them or worse, divides the group between those who put up with the policing and those who rebel. But there’s nothing in the paladin’s features that support this playstyle in any edition.
Warning, long post ahead. I have thought way too much about this…
Paladin features across most d&d and adjacent games tend to have the following features: resistances to evil, healing touch, a smattering of cleric abilities and a holy steed. I was surprised to learn Smite was a later addition the first paladins didn’t seem to have, but the most popular ones do and it tends to work best against demons and undead.
They also all abide by a code of conduct. Lets start with that, which generally shows what a Paladin is obliged to do and not to do: “A paladin must be of lawful good alignment and loses all class abilities if she ever willingly commits an evil act. Additionally, a paladin's code requires that she respect legitimate authority, act with honor (not lying, not cheating, not using poison, and so forth), help those in need (provided they do not use the help for evil or chaotic ends), and punish those who harm or threaten innocents. While she may adventure with characters of any good or neutral alignment, a paladin will never knowingly associate with evil characters, nor will she continue an association with someone who consistently offends her moral code. A paladin may accept only henchmen, followers, or cohorts who are lawful good.” Copied from 3.5e SRD but PF 1e is similar and other editions like 5e’s Devotion tenets and 2e’s paladin champion draw heavily from it.
Lawful Good Alignment – this alignment involves being respectful of authority, making personal sacrifices for others. At worst judge those who slack off THEIR duties, nothing about policing others.
No Willing Evil Acts – the definition of evil “implies hurting, oppressing, and killing others,” specifically “whenever its convenient” or “actively pursuing evil.” A Paladin policing the party is arguably engaging in willful oppression…
Respect Legitimate Authority – depending on what counts as respectful and/or legitimate, this at most obliges you to be friendly and/or helpful to police, not be one to the party.
Honorable – aka fair play. This specifically prohibits the paladin from poisoning, cheating and lying and generally being unfair or dishonorable. Nothing about policing so moving on…
Helping Those in Need – this has a caveat against aiding those who will use your aid for evil or chaotic ends (no helping the Rogue burgle or the wizard into lichdom) but nothing about policing.
Punishing Those Who Threaten or Harm Innocents – this could arguably be justification for policing one’s party except punishment isn’t actually a cop’s job and…
Never Knowingly Associate with Evil Characters – pretty simple, between an evil character and a paladin, there’s only enough room in the party for one.
Never Continually Associate with Consistent Offender of Moral Code – this covers paladins in more dubiously lawful or moral parties. And the clear instructions are to stop the association. Not police. Stop.
Only Lawful Good Henches/Followers/Cohorts – these are a paladin’s employees, not fellow party members and the paladin is their employer, not a cop. Moving on…
…To mechanical features. Like the above code (copied from 3.5e SRD) not all Paladins will have every feature listed. Even when they did, the features sometimes differed in exactly what they did so I’ll list broader categories:
Detect Evil: Presumably so the paladin doesn’t waste a smite on a neutral person or join an evil party, it’s not a great feature on a cop. Many crimes don’t fit the d&d definition of evil and many an evil person can harm, oppress and kill others without breaking the law.
Smite Evil: Or Divine Smite, etc. the paladin’s primary damage-dealing mechanic often doesn’t work at all on non-evil beings and usually works better on fiends and undead. Cops also technically aren’t supposed to punish so this feature makes a poor choice for a realistic ‘police build’.
Healing Touch: Lay on Hands, Mercies, Cleansing touch, etc. all fall under this ability. The only way to police the party with it is to withhold healing from those who’ve offended you but that’s arguably against your code.
Resistances to Evil: Divine Grace/Health and nearly all auras give the Paladin and usually those nearby more even footing against the BBEG’s power. Useless for policing one’s party unless they’re evil and rebel via attacks.
Cleric Abilities: Usually the lower-level spells and turn undead and/or channel whatever. The latter is generally useless for cops but geas spells from the former could help policing…if you’re willing to spend those valuable spell slots
Holy Steed/Bond/etc.: Basically there to evoke the Knight in Shining Armor thing the paladin is based on. As with spells, you can technically use a sentient, sapient medieval warhorse like a cop’s mount.
TL;DR the Paladin makes for a poor cop with no code basis, little thematic reason or mechanical support for a policing style of play. More importantly this usually means no one is having fun playing, even the paladin player.
#d&d#paladin#paladin class#class analysis#acab#paladins are poor police for players: the essay#long post#my two cents became twenty dollars
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[Image Description: the first image is the cover of the TTRPG Wyrd Street. A pale woman wearing a hooded robe is seated in the center of a candlelit room, looking with shock at her bloody hands. She’s sitting on a torn and bloody rug, a broken chair in front of her. Behind her is Ji Wensdottir, one of the Iconic Characters, casting a protective spell while she looks down at the seated woman. Surrounding them are glowing runes from the spell, a few floating, jellyfish-like critters made from possessed junk, and a large, menacing ghostly figure, floating in front of a broken window. At the top is the Wyrd Street text logo, and at the bottom is the text “Core Rulebook.”
The second image is an illustration of Blue Rose, a woman holding a sword wreathed in blue flames in her left hand, with a serious look on her face. She has pale skin, pointed elf-like ears, and is wearing close-fitting grey pants and vest, with a poet-style long sleeve shirt. There is a blue rose embroidered on her vest, thin blue streaks in her blonde hair, and she has blue lipstick and eyeshadow. Handwritten beside her is her name, and her RPG class, Vigilante.]
~~~
Blue Rose the Vigilante
Wyrd Street TTRPG IndieGoGo, funding now!
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wyrd-street-d20-ttrpg-system/x/9982631#/
Wyrd Street cover illustrated by Dana, whose portfolio you can find here: https://www.danabraga.com/
Blue Rose runs the Rose Garden, a bordello and local neutral meeting place for Wyrd Street’s community.
Zero tolerance for harm to her workers—she will break your arm before you can blink to defend them.
Her class is like a not-necessarily-religious paladin—at first level, pick between justice or vengeance paths for support- or damage-focused abilities as you level!
At level 6, you can become a Grappling Hook Expert! What if your paladin was a classic superhero or pirate? SWING YOUR BAD ASS INTO COMBAT plus a different bonus based on whether you picked justice or vengeance!
A deep dive post from Tyler, with more info on Blue Rose and her class design:
https://superior-realities.com/2022/01/10/wyrd-street-tease-blue-rose-the-vigilante/
Also, check out this podcast episode for a half-hour interview with Tyler! They went over Wyrd Street’s mechanics, the setting, and “how the heroes of Wyrd Street are more like Daredevil than the Avengers”—being on-the-streets vs larger-than-life.
https://pnc.st/s/the-bite-sized-gaming-podcast/977de8c1/s3e35-125-walkin-on-wyrd-street
And that’s all the Iconics revealed! Wyrd Street’s IndieGoGo ends on the 26th, so go give it a gander, and take a peek at the primer to check out the gameplay!
~~~
- Wyrd Street Masterpost
- Ji Wensdottir the Street Preacher
- Lo Karlsson the Drifter
- Blue Rose the Vigilante
- Five Snow Blossom the Dreamer
- Osiron the Fortune Teller
- Burning Grin the Scoundrel
- Bing Li the Heretic
- Na Wen the Brawler
- Dr. Zuberi Mbogo the Quack
#wyrd street#blue rose#vigilante#ttrpg#d20#d&d#indiegogo#my art#I am generally less fond of religion-based classes#so Vigilante drawing power from compassion for their community#is pretty damn rad#for a paladin-adjacent class
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