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supportivecircle · 1 year

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Sonic Wisps Warlock Patron Homebrew Part 3: Invocations

Part 3 of the Wisp Warlock (Part 1 Part 2 if you want insights and commentary) from my Sonic DnD Campaign is here. I was going to upload the full document alongside this today but I am distracted by my friends playing Hunt Showdown and myself playing Pathfinder War of the Righteous for the first time so I’ll get that all together tomorrow. The full document will be a Google Docs link so people can make copies if they want to edit it for their own usage. This post is detailing the four invocations, and the Pact of the Chain familiar, so it shouldn’t be too long. Excuse a lot of the math though, a lot of my explanation of why some things were done break down to average comparisons and trying to make the alternative options stand up somewhat to the Eldritch Blast+Agonizing Blast meta that a lot of people feel compelled to fall into to stay consistent and relevant through combat as the game ups the stakes and difficulty levels.

So first off, the wisp. Familiars kind of suck for combat by default. The options you can pick from a regular Find Familiar are almost entirely for supporting you in non-combat means, with the closest to active combat benefits being creatures like the Owl statblock who can do Flyby Help actions. Pact of the Chain Warlocks get a few additional options to pick from with more combat utility, but not by much, and they don’t have a lot of long term viability for combat. Most of the games I’ve played in have had a Warlock in them, or someone who has a Familiar and wants the gameplay and aesthetic of having an actually useful addition to combat in their familiar/animal companion. We’ve always turned to homebrew for aid in getting better options that make Chain familiars not complete trash mechanically compared to just eldritch blasting. It’s a delicate tightrope to walk, so we look to our objectively superiors. I have owned the Compendium of Forgotten Secrets since maybe 2019, and it is so ripe with flavorful options for cool Warlock patron content. So I pretty much aped off the Emberborn familiar from that book, but tweaked it to be more wispy. Instead of three damage immunities I dropped it to damage resistance against non-magical physical damage, lowered the max HP by a damage die, and dropped the damage die down to a 1d4+1d6 rather than 1d6+1d6. The logic behind the damage is that the average damage on a hit from FRENZY! ends up being 9 damage, one of the types is necrotic so more rarely resisted, and a basic Eldritch Blast with 16 CHA at level 1 is 8.5 damage with the Agonizing Blast invocation. At Level 5, the Eldritch Blast gets another die so the Wisp becomes a less appealing use of your action. The Investment of the Chain Master overcomes it and lets you use your bonus action to get your Familiar to attack. FRENZY! also has Pack Tactics like the Emberborn because as far as I can remember, there’s no way of increasing your familiar’s attack bonus outside of some magic items. We originally had Blindsight on the FRENZY! but in hindsight its probably too much even though it fits thematically. Our Warlock never used FRENZY! to scout ahead, but if they did they would probably have found out how good Blindsight can be for a scouting familiar. This is meant to be a primarily combat focused familiar, its perks and benefits will shine in that area. Also the Color Power for FRENZY! is rad as hell.

Okay so the Invocations. Starting with Advanced Color Theory (oh my god I’m brilliant), there is one Invocation for each Pact as well as a general one for any Wisp Warlock. Advanced Color Theory never got used in our game because our Warlock was a Chain warlock and it is exclusive for Tomelocks, so I can’t say how powerful it is outside of theory. It should be okay. I don’t think the potential is off the walls, but its a reliable means of ensuring better damage on some of your spells. Warlocks only get so many spells per short rest, and if two of their uses happen to be damage dealers, then they have a means of ensuring a better damage roll. If they don’t plan on, or have an opportunity where its appropriate, to use a proper spell slot on a damage attack, they can always use the charge on an Eldritch Blast. It’s not WOW! (the hidden wisp no one talks about) worthy, but it’s probably not bad. Feeding Frenzy is the Chainlock option. There are three Chain-exclusive invocations in the available official content: one lets you heal way more when your familiar is nearby, one has several benefits that increase its ability DC and attack on a bonus action, and the last increases your familiar telepathy range to same-plane and talk through them. So for combat, Investment of the Chain Master normally makes your familiar stay relevant damage wise as they now don’t compete with your Eldritch Blast. This invocation won’t top that in value probably. It does up their damage as you gain levels, but at lower levels it will mostly make your FRENZY! beefier. The two invocations are meant to synergize together to keep it damage relevant and more survivable as the game goes on. The only error is that Investment sets Familiar DCs to your spell level, so if you already have it the DC13 strength doesn’t matter and the latter benefit at level 16 is already provided. Aside from that, they are meant to synergize together. The level 11 damage increase pushes the average damage to 17 and level 16 will be 24,while an EB+AB will probably be dealing a total of 31.5 and 42 at the same levels. Nothing outside of way more in depth changes will keep a familiar at pace with EB in terms of damage (and our game wasn’t going that long anyway). Investment gets around this by removing the action competition, while this Invocation will slowly up the damage while also provide the added capabilities of pulling an enemy prone and keeping FRENZY! in the fight longer. Hyper-go-on-and-on (dude I’m so funny) is the Invocation mentioned in the prior post that allows players to access the fun color power mechanic early, while also still providing a good benefit once the powers are naturally unlocked. Two extra uses per day without exhausting the Wisp lets the player use their favorite abilities more often, while still not being enough to make use of the same power for every combat in the adventuring day (if you have more than 3 fights in a day).

The final invocation was already posted, and it is the Wispon Warrior invocation for Bladelocks. In the same way that Chainlocks just can’t compete damage wise with using their action to EB+AB, Bladelocks also notoriously suffer in trying to fulfill their main role if they want to DPS. You can get extra attack and add bonus Charisma to damage with invocations, but outside of the Hexblade who can use their Charisma for attack+damage, the reliance on Strength or Dexterity still puts Bladelocks in an awkward spot of having to further divide up their stats and their damage modifier will not top 4xEB+5 at 20 Charisma late game. Rolling the Hexblade Charisma bonus into this Invocation helps ease up the pressure on the situation. You can take this and Thirsting Blade and settle for 4d6+10 total (average 24 per turn with CUBE!), and stick with two Invocations dedicated to it, or still take Lifedrinker and bump it up another 10 points. With all three invocations, you can sit around 34 average which surpasses 3 EB+AB at level 11 and is about 8 points behind 4 EB+AB at level 16. Now, unlike Hexblade, the Bladelock Wisp Warlock doesn’t have medium armor and a shield to shore up survivability, so alternative weapon options are included to give reach or ranged options, and certain Wisp Powers (QUAKE!, LIGHTNING!) can give you an opportunity to get in the enemy face and not get bodied too quickly every now and then. My Warlock player did not get to use this, but I did get to experiment with it via Whisper, who was a Bladelock in my campaign. She was still primarily focused on EB+AB (because as stated in the previous posts, I give Warlocks AB, and if they go Bladelock they can swap it out at 5 when they can get Thirsting Blade) but also did not have access to QUAKE! or LIGHTNING! or any of the Wisps outside of her canon ones. By the way, to compensate for Whisper only having 1/3 of the available Wisps of her subclass, she got 3 uses of each Wisp compared to the normal 1. None of her Wisps are absurdly broken for that, outside of LASER! which lets her get a few solid shots in reliably throughout the time she might spend with the party. Anyway, this invocation should check out to be okay. None of the weapon options are stronger than any regular weapon, although the crit effect on the CUBE! form has always felt a little underwhelming to me. I never saw it in practice, but I also didn’t want to make it too strong of a bonus effect cause it’s already got a maul’s stats. I kind of tacked it on there so it have a little bit extra like how the SPIKES! having reach and being able to remain for Opportunity Attacks (the other weapons explicitly don’t have that stated for a reason, they are meant to last in that form until the end of the attack then return to Quarterstaff stats) or DRILL! having medium range. If you wanted you could do something for CUBE! where instead of having a shove on a crit, the Wispon can stay in that state until the start of the player’s next turn like the SPIKES! sawblade and provide something like a +1AC bonus or something cause of the CUBE! energy bolstering your defences. Just a thought I had while writing.

This isn’t a part of the Warlock document, but it was an item I made available for purchase from the campaign’s Wizard merchant for the Warlock which was really cool. I figured it’d be a peace offering for not having the full document ready to share. The cost by the way is just nonsense, I did away with Copper/Silver/Gold for Sonic and just made a general currency of Zennys/Jennys/Gennys (Z/J/G) to be even more confusing to say. Functionally it was worth 10,000 Gold in regular DnD currency. Anyway throughout the campaign, the biggest frustration the Warlock faced was the turn difference between their character and FRENZY! and how much can change between those turns if the initiative count is big enough. We also might have misunderstood some elements of the turn logics and commanding. Unlike other companion classes like Beast Master Ranger, Drakewarden Ranger, or the Artificer Battle Smith, the Familiar of the Pactlock does not get any kind of means of moving it’s initiative up to follow the player. So I decided to make a magic item to give that, but also realized it had to have a lot more going for it to be appealing for an attunement slot. So it ended up giving a bonus to initiative, a means of getting the Familiar right into the action when a big spell is used, and a synergetic back and forth between the Warlock and their Familiar. FRENZY! becomes less likely to hit as the game goes on and enemies get tougher unless they are given a means of increasing their attack bonus, so the +Prof to attack/damage on an attack might not proc as often as the speed bonus for FRENZY! which is intentional considering how much of a bonus it becomes. It only applies to one attack though, and Warlocks don’t get a ton of spell slots for this to be used on every turn in a combat. In any case, as with all of this stuff, it was made for a specific campaign so don’t go expecting a perfect balance with this item. Also I gave it some Archie flavoring cause my world was an amalgam. Pretty cool, HUH? Anyway thanks for reading and enjoying this content. I had a blast with this campaign and was very happy with how this subclass turned out in regards to all the flavor it added for the player character. I will have the full Google Docs file ready tomorrow for people to get copies of if they want to edit it on their own or save it in its entirety. If you do edit it and post it somewhere, or share it with your friends, please link back to the original. I would love to hear people’s experiences with it if it ever gets used in any niche Sonic themed campaigns, as well as any ideas people might have for similar content! I love reading cool homebrew and brainstorming ideas. If I get any inspiration to share other content from this campaign I’ll be posting it on this account. For instance: This artwork of a boss in the campaign consisting of Rough and Tumble in a traced+modified mech suit from either Metal Gear or some other mech series.

It actually came in three images: solid pieced together, and then split apart:

And yes, that’s a chaos emerald. They stole one at one point and got their bandit group’s engineer to make a “Totally awesome robot suit.” The fight started with them powering up in the suit and saying “You'll yelp in pain, you'll groan and grumble! You're about to brawl with ROUGH AND TUMBLE!” and then at the ~60% health point they said “This fight is getting jank, but we can't just stroll out! It's time for… Tumble to Tank and Rough to Roll Out!” and split apart to reveal the chaos emerald energy source. Before the fight one of the players hacked into the personal laptop of the duo and read their diary entries to figure out what their plans were, then found a document containing all their rhyming ideas and dragged it to the trash folder immediately.

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the-woman-upstairs · 10 days

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It’s just…so painful to watch Armand readily submit in order to obtain the love he so desperately craves. And while it’s most assuredly a manipulative tactic, it’s still one borne out of fear and desperation. He cannot lose this person he’s come to love and so will become whatever they want, do whatever they want just so they’ll stay with him. But it won’t be enough. No matter how much he acquiesces or seeks to control (himself, others, the environment), he won’t be able to make Louis stay with him in the perfect life, perfect self he built in the hopes of finally being loved. It will all crumble with Armand left alone in the rubble of what he created, the author of his own abandonment.

#this unfortunately hits way too close to home for me #let’s not even get into Claudia’s anger at never being enough #iwtv spoilers #interview with the vampire #armand #this is just me speaking from personal experience…but there is definite manipulation at play here from Armand #and I don’t necessarily mean that pejoratively- when you’re desperate for people to like/love you you’ll become whatever they want #or whatever you think they’d want and you give it to them so they’ll want to keep you around #I’ve done it so often with the people in my life- and make no mistake it’s also a survival tactic #you give someone what they want they won’t hurt you #and when that’s how you survive for years and years it becomes the default method of interacting with others #even with normal people who genuinely mean you no harm you revert to that people pleasing mode #as a means of control both external and internal #this is what i see armand doing- his way of surviving that he’s never truly broken out of #armand ceding coven control to Louis and curating the Dubai penthouse for Louis are part of the same pattern of behavior #and even tho it’s ultimately harmful and will only end badly for armand and Louis’ relationship #idk if armand knows how to not exist that way with someone he loves/desires #all of this also ties into louis and daniel #because of course Armand will lose it over Louis finding connection and interest with someone else aside from him #someone HUMAN no less #and I can see Armand taking out his anger on Daniel as a way of expressing his own frustration at still not being enough for Louis #breaking daniel’s mind in a desperate attempt to understand why this human could reach Louis in ways he couldn’t #not saying any of this to excuse Armand and his behavior obviously (I’m very upset and worried over the trial looming on the horizon)#but I do understand this impulse and how you’ll throw ANYONE under the bus in order to preserve your place with loved ones #it’s all horrifying but unfortunately I empathize #like even if Louis is right to walk out on him when he learns/remembers the truth of what happened to Claudia #I’ll probably still find myself saddened by Armand’s fate because I’ve absolutely been there myself #it’s a tragedy of his own making- his fear and desperation birthing manipulative and controlling behaviors #that ultimately result in your own abandonment #god this fucking show

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lecliss · 2 months

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I'll never be able to take the theory that Vincent is Sephiroth's real father seriously cuz I cannot stress enough how important I think it is to the plot that Vincent wanted to fuck Lucrecia and did not get to.

#once again i jest but now i have to actually talk about it #like. okay we have no proof of any actual timeline for the dirge flashbacks other than. it was at least 30 years ago #so who knows how long they were at the manor. could have been weeks before The Incident. or months. or maybe a full year! who knows #but to me a timeline of like. they fucked and like a week later vincent found The Evidence and lucercia had her little breakdown #AND THEN EXTREMELY QUICKLY SHE AGREED TO THE EXPERIMENT AND IT COULD GO ONE OF TWO WAYS #1. she knew she was pregnant and thats why she agreed to the experiment cuz there was already a usable subject #and therefore she must have fucked hojo like a week after she fucked vincent AND THATS STUPID FAST FOR THESE EVENTS #or 2. she didnt know. agreed to the experiment. fucked hojo. and therefore thought seph was hojo's and NOT vincent's #AND BY THE WAY. i dont even actually believe hojo fucked either!!! cuz theyre both scientists so why wouldnt they think IVF was the best way #okay. well.... hojo is canonically a fucked up little freak. so. he might have taken the opportunity to... get in there.#also when did ivf even start being a thing? cuz that may play a factor into this if nomura even considered that #well either way lets just unfortunately assume hojo got in there #ITS STILL AN ODDLY FAST TIMELINE #also. fuck man doesnt lucrecia have a later line in dirge where she actually says shes in love with hojo? or something along those lines #IMPLYING ITS BEEN AWHILE SINCE SHE HAD THE FALLING OUT WITH VINCENT. YOU WOULDNT FUCK THE GUY AFTER ALL THAT SHIT #AND WHILE CLAIMING TO LOVE/CURRENTLY FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOJO!!!! LIKE CMON MAN!!!! SHE SUCKS BUT SHES NOT THAT KIND OF A MESS #i dont think vincent would fuck her until they sorted out their issues anyway and that CLEARLY didnt happen.#its VITAL that that did not happen!!!!#its just. if vincent and lucrecia fucked. everything would have had to happen EXTREMELY fast within like a 2 week timespan #and im just talking about up to when vincent learns shes partaking in the experiment. it was probably another week or two until vincent died #SO. logically it must have been like #fall in love->learn about the gimoire incident->refuse to speak to vincent->get obsessed with hojo->fall in love(?)#and then thats where i think its ambiguous on did the experiment become an idea before or after seph started to exist?#like chicken or the egg ya know. experiment idea or sephiroth zygote?#that feels fucked up to say. im so fucking sorry to seph to talk about this. yeah sorry i have to debate who fucked your mom bro #god imagine telling him that. like not even as a reveal thing cuz he knows who his father is. just like as a sick joke. your mom joke.#NO OH M Y GOD I HAVE A QUESTION NOW #in accordance to him having a photo of lucrecia in ever crisis. after he reads that jenova is an ancient (incorrect btw)#does he think that picture is still her? what about when he takes jenova's body from the lab????#oh my god 30 tag limit. FUCK. i need like a rant blog for all this vincent talk now. my brain is going a mile a minute

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puppyeared · 1 month

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who up seeing their disorder in a fictional character but feel like its not their place to put a name on it

#id have to be waterboarded before i can talk abt how i see a lot of my adhd and personality in mitsumi iwakura let alone post it #idk how to talk abt this without feeling like im talking over or invalidating ppls experiences relating with a character #someone was talking abt how ppl tie laios' autism to special interest and social difficulties but not much else which kinda flattens it #and then went into a respectful in depth analysis of other autistic behaviour that laios exhibits and it wasnt phrased meanly #its fascinating and important to me to hear someone explain a little bit abt traits that they recognized and often go overlooked #because it does help me learn more about it. but i think thats also where hesitancy kicks in when it comes to depicting it accurately #like i have adhd and some of my adhd symptoms overlap with autism (time blindness and pattern seeking behaviour) but that only means #it feels familiar to me even without having autism. on top of that traits arent always cleanly determined as being /caused/ by #a disorder. to understand my environment i compare it to something unrelated but similar to make it more familiar and for the longest time #i thought that was a personality thing and not an information processing thing since i loved playing pretend in my head as a kid #so if you make a character who experiences that hoping to reach people that also experience that and tell them its not weird or #smth youre making up like. thats the goal. ppl who dont get it arent expected to it just means it doesnt cater to them but it helps them #become familiar to it yk? since i dont have autism myself i dont feel confident i can depict it properly or explain it in my own words #but that doesnt mean im trying to dismiss it or try and cut it out completely.. ill just leave the floor open to someone who /can/#a lot of issues around fanon depictions are when smth is baselessly popularized or a characters personality and behavior is flattened #especially to fit them into a trending meme. its harmless and its supposed to be for fun but it gets tricky when you drag things that #need to be carefully explained beforehand or else it gets lost in translation. like that tweet abt 'hyperfixating' on cooking pasta #once it becomes popular language usually the original meaning is left out for the sake of simplifying it for everyone that when it #circles back theres a sort of hesitancy like. am i using it the way it was intended or am i unknowingly using the popularized version of it #actually thats probably why i felt wrongfooted during diagnosis bc it felt like i was misusing the words i heard to describe what i felt #i /know/ i see a lot of myself in mitsumi because our minds are always somewhere else and we tend to put good faith first and for me #that personal connection is enough. but idk it feels like its always gonna have to be 'palatable' first before i can talk abt it openly #mad respect to writers and creators who stick to their story even if theres the looming fear of ppl misinterpreting it and letting them #have it.. its been almost 2 weeks and i am so close to deleting that m3 dunmeshi drawing bc ppl keep saying chilchuck wouldnt have 200 HP #IT LITERALLY SAYS I MADE IT WHILE WATCHING EP 1. I USED EARTHBOUND LOGIC AND I WASNT EVEN TAKING IT SERIOUSLY CHILL #yapping

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the-yearning-astronaut · 10 months

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As if I need something else to dwell on right now, I'm having a hard time with my orientation again. Like I just.... Idk. I feel like I don't fit in with the queer community because I'm aroace spec but I also feel alienated from the aroace community because I'm demi aroace. And it makes me feel very lost and very isolated.

#like i needed to feel even more like a broken thing...#negativity #demisexual #demiromantic #demi aroace #and not to go all vague blogging in the tags but #its really... [insert big complicated emotion here] to find a character you relate to on such a deep level #and then stumble across some... very strongly worded posts about the Right Way to interpret the character #and that supposed Right Way happens to invalidate your own experiences #specifically the ones that draw you to the character in the first place #and i know everyone's interpretations are (mostly) valid and we all have a right to play in the sandbox #but i can't help but feel a bit of shame alongside that alienation now because i happen enjoy an interpretation of the character #that fans seem to like being very vocally against #and im gonna try to not let it get to me and im gonna put the thoughts aside #knowing ive been up for just shy of 24hrs now and little sleep messes with the brain #but its just... its all too much rn and i feel too broken in too many ways #fox thoughts #tbd

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paradife-loft · 4 months

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"I guess maybe some people just have a weird relationship with fear," says Gerard Keay.

......*delicate cough* :')

#but yeah on a more serious note it seems like a lot of the human-ish avatars do genuinely just channel their Power's mindset #causing & experiencing their particular fear isn't a desire you *explain*; it just Is Good and Nourishing on a visceral level #that experiential condition is fundamentally inseparable; baked into what they are #and so it seems to me that part of what becoming an avatar *is* is giving yourself over to let that experience of consciousness become your #you may be (probably are) trending in that mental direction when you start down a Power's path - but still human #actually being remade as an avatar pushes that up to 11 #(and much in the way that memory normally does - being immersed in that mindset makes you read it back into your earlier motivations too)#(one thing I particularly enjoy in this show is the role that cognitive blinders play in how the characters act and experience things)#........but yeah also some of us just have a weird relationship with fear XD #James liveblogs fiction #fearplay funtimes: the podcast #(who knows maybe some of this is contradicted later on but. that's my current theory anyway)#(mostly drawing on what we've seen & heard from Jude/Mike/Julia/Elias to an extent)

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ghost-of-someone · 1 year

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literally just saw some radfem bullshit on my dash, & then when I went to their blog to block them not only was it full of anti-trans half arguments & accusations of other people being childish, but one of the very first posts was about how a certain show would be better if one of the main characters was a young woman instead of an old man because they "don't like old people"

#there is no point to this other than i'm pissed and tired of having terf bullshit pass my dash #i feel like i'm gonna have to get that eye thing because i don't super vet the blogs i interact with casually #so as long as they're not immediately anti queer i usually don't notice #and then i've got fucking radfem shit in my 'based on your likes' feed #all because i interacted with feminism stuff that - without the anti-trans lens - seemed totally fine #& like terfs are already shitty people but i feel like the anti older person sentiment just further highlighted the fact that #terfs are just shitty hypocrytical people who play the 'poor me boo hoo you're all childish' card & act like they're so fucking superior #& that any trans folks are terrible #and then turn around and spout all kinds of bigotry #but it's okay i guess because they've got a vagina <3 (& experience the exact same kind of misogyny that tons of us do but they're special)#ALSO #I learned what 'moid' means and you guys are fucking assholes #men are not just mindless sex freaks you fucking cunts #& the fact that you think that just shows how warped your sense of the world is #you 'hate the patriarchy' but aren't interested in actually dismantling it #how could you when you don't even view half of the people involved as really human!#fuck off #terfs and radfems aren't welcome here and you can all kick rocks #i try my best for this to be a queer friendly space and i want that to be clear right fucking now #if anyone who follows me has bothered to read this please let me know if i've accidentally reblogged something from the 'drop the t' crowd #i am not the golden standard queer or whatever the fuck the term is #but i dont ever want someone to think that i'm part of that crowd

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welcometoteyvat · 1 year

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co-op is crazy bc in the same co op session you can immediately click with someone and then find out the other rando who joined might be a racist

#i let everyone into my place unless i didn't click fast enough so ...#the experiences have been a) met one (1) whale who like has c3 or above of multiple characters #limited characters** forgot to specify lol #b) met multiple kids who are Way Younger than i expected.... yikes pls go touch grass dont play the gacha #c) met people who i like really vibe with and talk to semi regularly #d) this fuckass dickwad #tfw you pretend you're a race you're not to two poc over co op #there are cool people over co op though. most of the time <3 #most people just come and get mats too so its like whatever. happy 2 help your farming sessions though #there are also people who just stand there and wait for me to do something like 😭 i dont got the time either you talk to me rn or you #start doing things instead of just standing there. if neither of these happen im kicking you srry #there was one person wayyyy back who led me all the way to chinju forest and then played ayaka's theme to me though it was soooo cute #shoutout to anyone who bothers to learn genshin songs on the lyre and then play them yall are real ones #also did not know that so many cis males played genshin until they came to my world lol (and i met them irl but thats another thing)#problem is that some of them are like 14 and say gan.yu is their waifu ???? 😭😭😭 like bro idk how to react to that 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭#ok this is getting a little too tmi but whatever #maybe ill delete it but conclusion coop is Wild

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zaddyazula · 8 months

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something i think some people don’t understand is that everyone has different things that happen to them in their life!!! just because something isn’t emotional to you doesn’t mean you should try and tell people who did find it emotional it’s not!!!! people have lived beyond who you know in person!!!!!

#i saw a barbie post and it reminded me of this #like this is so fucking simple and some people do not get it #i bawled my eyes out at the end of the barbie movie because it took me back when i was younger and i really connected with it #but my friends (who i went to see it with) didn’t cry at it or find it emotional and have since tried to convince me it wasn’t sad #you don’t know why i cried at it!! you don’t get it!#and when i try to tell them “you don’t get it because we’ve had different lives” they say there’s nothing to get because it’s not sad #they don’t get it because they haven’t had my particular experience - the same way i haven’t had theirs #i don’t know how difficult it is to not discredit someone’s emotions but it can’t be that hard #the barbie movie is really important and special to me as someone who struggles with identity #my friends don’t know this so i can’t blame them for that but the point still stands #the age old thing you are taught when you are literally a young child is that you don’t know what people are going through so be respectful #but they and other people don’t seem to understand that despite being well older than a young child #you have no idea why i find it sad. let me find it sad and move on with your life.#particularly two of them seem to try and cement this point that the film and the billie eilish song (which i literally cannot listen to)#aren’t sad #it really does irritate me because any possibility i get to say something’s sadness can be entirely subjective in some cases i am dismissed #these people are girls. they played with barbies. and still i can bet every one of us associates different things to when they played with #barbies. they do not get that.#i can’t really describe my relationship with the barbie movie properly and maybe it’s just me having a fit about it but it is so so persona #to me.#sorry for the rant.#barbie movie #barbie 2023 #zad talks

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supportivecircle · 1 year

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Sonic Wisps Warlock Patron Homebrew Part 2: Wisp Powers

As promised to the void of this website, Part 2 of the Wisps Patron from my year long Sonic DnD campaign is here. Sequel to Part 1, which covers the Subclass Level Features, this post goes through all the wisps and what powers they provide to the player at Level 6 (or earlier if they take an invocation). The idea of these is to provide a wide variety of options to augment the user’s capabilities and synergize with different playstyles or needs throughout the adventuring day. In the prior post, it’s explained that at Level 6 the Warlock gets the ability to activate a number of wisps per day equal to their Charisma Modifier+Proficiency bonus. Each wisp by default can only be activated once per day individually, so without an invocation they aren’t meant to be focused on as reliable uses in every encounter throughout the day. One of the invocations that comes in the next part adds a limited number of extra uses without exhausting the wisp, mostly to give players a means of accessing these abilities earlier if the campaign is lower level. None of these powers are meant to be long lasting or on-par with spells or full features that might give similar effects, but the player will have access to a variety of options to play with and keep things interesting if they are someone who craves choice and flavor in their abilities.

These were organized and designed in alphabetical order. For full clarity if people don’t remember or haven’t absorbed the original post, the listed Element is the option having that Wisp prepared gives when deciding to swap elements of spells with the 1st level feature. I’ll go through the options and say how they ended up being used in our campaign by the Wisp Warlock. ASTEROID! (which by the way if you DM this, you are legally obligated to shout the wisp names when activated) is meant to be an area denial move to force slowdown, force repositioning, or ground flying creatures. It’s area size grows with your Charisma, as well as how many rounds it lasts. It’s slowdown effect is meant to be on par with Plant Growth but with a smaller area, a grounding effect, and a much shorter duration. The Warlock in our game used this a few times in the campaign, to varying effectiveness. It was useful for grounding a few tougher flying enemies, or for forcing the enemy to use their action to dash to get within range of attacking next turn if they don’t have a ranged option. Standard AoE crowd control stuff. BOMB! was one that took me a while to think about and worry about, but in practice it wasn’t anything immensely strong. We found that it was good for catching an additional enemy or two in a blast, or more powerfully imo, cast a spell in an area and be able to reach another enemy without hitting an ally nearby. For instance, casting Shatter (a reliable spell in a Sonic setting) on some badniks near an ally, then stretching spaces around the ally to hit another enemy on their flank. At highest Charisma, outside of any magic items, it adds up to 5 squares to the space an AoE occupies. BOOST! is the first Wisp to have no associated element. There are a few that don’t have any elements that felt appropriate, so you lose out on some versatility options for damage type by having it prepared. The effect is straightfoward: you get faster. It’s no Haste, but it gives you a solid speed boost for a few rounds. Very straightforward. BURST! was used a few times in the campaign when enemies were grouped up. I was worried at first, but it wasn’t too bad. At low levels, the damage can be very nice, and at level 6 when you get more uses of Wisps per day, it still can provide a little bit of extra damage to an attack for one of your more available resources.

CUBE! got used a few times to block off doorways, create an emergency source of cover, or shove some people. It creates a massive cube. It was effectively used in a dire situation at least once to plug up an entrance. It might be worth adjusting it to have scaling HP so it stays viable as cover in the later game. An option to consider: HP = 10 + Warlock Levelx5, which would keep the 15 base HP but increase the maximum to 110. It’ll probably stay up a lot longer later in the game against regular attacks, but AoE’s will still be able to chunk it down. I forgot to write it down in the document, but mechanically it should auto-fail any saving throws. Cause it’s just a cube. DRILL! was used maybe two times in the campaign? Burrowing speed can be very good in certain environments, or useless in others. When it works, it gives you a fantastic means of maneuvering around the environment and avoiding enemy line of sight. When it doesn’t work, you at least still get Tremorsense within 15ft. EAGLE! Flight speed is straightforward. Useful in combat to get an advantageous position, useful out of combat for brief bursts of maneuverability. It won’t last you long enough to fly to the top of a mountain, but with Dash you can clear some distance of verticality. Take that Knuckles, you gliding scrublord. GHOST! was one of the more awkward to write. The effect came in good use for scouting through an otherwise un-openable door and then popping back out. Dunno if everyone counts a door as an object but we said screw it, it was fun. In combat, it can be useful to get out of a very bad melee scenario.

This page was posted early as a teaser because I love the bottom artwork. HOVER! is straight up stated to be Jump and Feather Fall combined, but with a much shorter duration. Useful for getting around or avoiding a nasty fall. Whisper used it during her appearances in our campaign to get to advantageous sniping positions, as well as make good pursuit on enemies who could fly over obstacles. LASER! was a solid and frequently used wisp whenever it was prepared. It didn’t help that Radiant damage was further incentivized by a magical item I made available for purchase in a shop. In any case, the effect for LASER! is straight out of the games and comics. Throw out some gems and watch your spell bounce around to catch them off guard. Powerful if you’ve got any good spells that meet the requirements, but limited by the number of uses per day. Designed so that even if you took Spell Sniper like Whisper, you still get something out of the wisp power. LIGHTNING! was one I was really really happy with the flavor of. I think it’s rad. Our Warlock was a Chainlock and took the special familiar, so they only really had use of this a few times for creative plays like running into the middle of enemies, casting spells centered around the player, and then zapping back to their origin point. The first time they used this, they thought they had Thunderwave and neither of us knew they were wrong. It was an awesome moment. So awesome and fitting for a RHYTHM! wisp-themed spell that I wouldn’t even fault anyone for replacing Color Spray on the Expanded Spell List with Thunderwave if they wanted to. If you’re a Bladelock and are afraid to go in on a turn, LIGHTNING! gives you an option of getting in, causing some mayhem, then warping back out of the fray.

The final page of the Wisp options starts with QUAKE! which is very much one of the ones that will be niche outside of some Bladelocks who want an emergency injection of AC and the capabilities to knock someone prone with your bonus action. I honestly can’t recall if our Warlock ever used this because they were a mid-long range caster with their familiar going into melee combat. I don’t think it’s too wacky in terms of balance. RHYTHM! is a temp HP ability. I think I either meant to put “another” creature or I meant for it to be creatures, but we ran with it as being one other creature. The wisp gives out about as much temp HP to a single target as a level 1 cast of False Life, so if you are fine with letting it be multiple creatures, the Warlock can basically get a False Life cast on each party member once per day if they have it prepared when someone gets hurt. At lower levels, its probably too generous if you rule it that way. If you’re at the levels where everyone already has at least 50HP, the temp HP it gives probably isn’t that bad. It’s also cute. ROCKET! I think got used once in our campaign? It’s a “GET ME OUT OF HERE” button to avoid needing to use your action to disengage to a safer distance. It is specifically worded that you do not get to control when it ends if you don’t want to go the full distance. If you commit, you’re going until you either hit the full distance or bump into an object. For mid-long range casters its probably perfect because they want to get far enough away from the melee that the enemy would have to dash or choose a new target. For people who just want a get out of jail card but still be able to move in, at higher Charisma it’s going to be more difficult unless you can find someone/thing to cut off your path. Theoretically you could use it to jump straight up in the air 50ft. I don’t know why, maybe to peer over an especially tall wall, or there’s a ledge to grab on to above the combat. Who knows! Multi-floor facilities exist. SPIKES! is just the spite wisp. You’re gonna get hit. Screw it. Take them down with you. Incentivize them to hit the other person after the first attack. Stack it with Armor of Agathys. It might be open to interpretation as written, but it is intended to hurt the attacker on the attack that triggered it. I believe it was used once by our mid-long range Warlock in a fight against a giant badnik, but they avoided melee for most of the game so it wasn’t relevant, which was expected. While this was written specifically for one player to use, when we started I wasn’t sure what kind of Pact they would make or what their playstyle would be so I wanted options for the different approaches they might take.

The next part will be a measly THREE pages (compared to these FOUR) of Invocations/Familiar option made for the subclass. One of which is shown above. There’s one for each of the main three pacts: Chain, Tome, Blade. If you’re using a homebrew pact, you’re on your own to make something up. That’ll be posted tomorrow and will finish up the Wisp Warlock content. I’ll get the full document prepared alongside it.

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professorupdog · 7 months

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got yelled at online for perpetuating the ableist expectation of autistic people to mask bc I said that you can learn how to politely receive a gift in public and convey appreciation for the intent and then privately tell the giver that you don’t like it instead of immediately saying that their present is shit in front of a bunch of people

#and yes it can be uncomfortable for you to find a way to be appreciative of something you don’t like and that sucks #is it more uncomfortable than what the giver is going to experience when everyone sees you disappointedly opening their present and saying #you don’t like it?#because that’s pretty uncomfortable #and maybe yes - maybe doing anything but publicly expressing exactly how you feel at that moment is too distressing #in which case you gotta do what you gotta do #but the idea that ND people shouldn’t be asked to do anything uncomfortable for the sake of NT people??? like nothing??? is dumb #everyone does things that make them uncomfortable for the sake of others because we live in a society #I don’t like wiping my patients asses but I do it because I have a responsibility to them and I care for their well-being #I let older people sit on public transportation because they likely are less comfortable standing than I would be #my gf’s friends don’t play stir the pot when we hang out because they know that game makes me anxious even though they really like it #by all means prioritize your needs over the comfort of others but dont forget #there is usually some middle ground to be found between caring for yourself and only caring about yourself

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moe-broey · 1 year

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Thank you transwomen (in general but also) for the term "boymode" bc using that terminology for myself as a transguy (so, "girlmode") has been the only way I've been able to aptly and succinctly describe whatever the hell was going on *vaguely gestering to my adolescence from ages 15 to 19* there.

#hope i'm not overstepping or saying some dumb shit LMFAO #but like. speaking v generally. esp in the beginning of unpacking 'oh fuck i. i don't think i'm a girl.'#i found i related a lot more to transfemme experiences of living one way for so long all your life playing A Role #and in some cases leaning heavily into masculinity to 'prove' you couldn't possibly be a woman #than like. so many transmasc experiences i'd see online of like 'oh i always knew.'#and the staples of the experience being like. tomboyish. baggy hoodies. ect.#and like i'm not saying any of that in a derogatory or dismissive way. it's just so much of what i saw as a teen #'researching' being trans so i can be a better 'ally' to my friends and classmates LMFAOO #also this is why the narrative of transmen being 'lost girls' and 'just tomboys' is SOOOO stupid it's funny to me like.#there was a very short stint in middle school where i was more 'tomboyish' in appearance #very quickly it was corrected out of me by the influence of loved ones and myself. that wasn't Really Me #let me tell you. the combination of people pleaser/autistic masking is INSANE esppp when you're in an Evil Setting for it LMFAO #<- evil setting being my specific brand of christianity i was brought up w #but case and point i don't think i was ever actually a tomboy. i was HIGHLY feminine actually.#and i found a lot of delights in feminity too! esppp a love of fashion and cute aesthetics #so like. describing my experience w gender/presentation has always been really difficult language-wise #saying 'when i was a girl' doesn't feel right cause i never was one. just played A Role. i didn't always know though.#i didn't even realize i WAS playing a role. also there were things i genuinely loved and enjoyed associated w feminity.#and saying 'post transition' is weird to me too bc. i'm not? there yet? i'm not done yet.#and any which way of trying to describe 'when i came out' is clunky bc i was always outed/forced out #like. multiple times. even before i had the time to explore it/make sense of it myself.#def rambling but. girlmode and autistic masking are synonyms to me now. it captures everything.#i swear to god the parallels between autism/being trans drive me INSANE to me they are always informing one another.#like i feel like i could write an entire fucking essay about it. if i was an academic i would fucking KILL it

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africanmorning · 1 year

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Me: *Venting about people who complain about ttrpg pc's having tragic backstories.* "I mean, tragic backstories are realistic. Just about every player in our group has a real life tragic backstory that I know of, except [so-and-so], who probably does have one and I just don't know them well enough to know it yet. Three of us grew up in abusive households, two of us have been assaulted, [so-and-so] has experienced racial discrimination their whole life, [so-and-so] was bullied by teachers and peers growing up—"

My not-yet-bf: "I don't know, I don't think I have a tragic backstory."

Me: " . . . "

Me: " . . . Your mother died from an infected cut when you were a child because your family couldn't afford to take her to the doctor."

#ttrpg #personal story #dnd #true story #love that i don't know how to clarify that this convo happened before my bf and i started dating wo it sounding like it's why we did haha #seriously though #if i couldn't make pc's with tragic backstories #i wouldn't be able to play characters that are like myself #and that really annoys me #i once had someone tell me that my pc had an 'edgy' backstory because . . . he was adopted by a poor (and loving) family #and grew up to be a criminal i guess?#like #pick any kind of marginalized identity and play it out like it would irl #congrats you now have a 'cringe edgy' pc according to the internet i guess #on an entirely separate note #let this be a reminder to any trauma survivor that your experiences probably don't seem as significant to you as they do to others #the fact that *you* are the one that survived your trauma doesn't mean it was 'not as big of a deal as what others go through'

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creepyscritches · 2 years

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Unsure how to describe the vibe of being italian-american and dating an a italian-american and slinging boohoo italian "" "" microaggressions""" at each other for fun but you've never experienced ridiculous conversation until you joke about breaking up over forgetting to taste the sauce before dressing spaghetti

#Creepy chatter #No italian-american slur/micro-aggression has any weight anymore and now they're just a comedy mine to blindside someone with #I'm only Italian when it's funny #Shout out to the twink that let me experience an honest to God attempt at #by telling me entirely unprompted that he clocked me as italian a mile away by my enormous nose #The FUNNIEST thing that has ever happened to me #The italian 'I'm not white boohoo wahhhh' annoying online vibe is so BORING do you have any idea how funny this stuff is #We could be playing drinking games about languages people spoke to us as kids that we didn't know #Russian and Spanish for me. Finish your drinks and figure that out.

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mcmansionhell · 4 months

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we've found it folks: mcmansion heaven

Hello everyone. It is my pleasure to bring you the greatest house I have ever seen. The house of a true visionary. A real ad-hocist. A genuine pioneer of fenestration. This house is in Alabama. It was built in 1980 and costs around $5 million. It is worth every penny. Perhaps more.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "Come on, Kate, that's a little kooky, but certainly it's not McMansion Heaven. This is very much a house in the earthly realm. Purgatory. McMansion Purgatory." Well, let me now play Beatrice to your Dante, young Pilgrim. Welcome. Welcome, welcome, welcome.

It is rare to find a house that has everything. A house that wills itself into Postmodernism yet remains unable to let go of the kookiest moments of the prior zeitgeist, the Bruce Goffs and Earthships, the commune houses built from car windshields, the seventies moments of psychedelic hippie fracture. It is everything. It has everything. It is theme park, it is High Tech. It is Renaissance (in the San Antonio Riverwalk sense of the word.) It is medieval. It is maybe the greatest pastiche to sucker itself to the side of a mountain, perilously overlooking a large body of water. Look at it. Just look.

The inside is white. This makes it dreamlike, almost benevolent. It is bright because this is McMansion Heaven and Gray is for McMansion Hell. There is an overbearing sheen of 80s optimism. In this house, the credit default swap has not yet been invented, but could be.

It takes a lot for me to drop the cocaine word because I think it's a cheap joke. But there's something about this example that makes it plausible, not in a derogatory way, but in a liberatory one, a sensuous one. Someone created this house to have a particular experience, a particular feeling. It possesses an element of true fantasy, the thematic. Its rooms are not meant to be one cohesive composition, but rather a series of scenes, of vastly different spatial moments, compressed, expanded, bright, close.

And then there's this kitchen for some reason. Or so you think. Everything the interior design tries to hide, namely how unceasingly peculiar the house is, it is not entirely able to because the choices made here remain decadent, indulgent, albeit in a more familiar way.

Rare is it to discover an interior wherein one truly must wear sunglasses. The environment created in service to transparency has to somewhat prevent the elements from penetrating too deep while retaining their desirable qualities. I don't think an architect designed this house. An architect would have had access to specifically engineered products for this purpose. Whoever built this house had certain access to architectural catalogues but not those used in the highest end or most structurally complex projects. The customization here lies in the assemblage of materials and in doing so stretches them to the height of their imaginative capacity. To borrow from Charles Jencks, ad-hoc is a perfect description. It is an architecture of availability and of adventure.

A small interlude. We are outside. There is no rear exterior view of this house because it would be impossible to get one from the scrawny lawn that lies at its depths. This space is intended to serve the same purpose, which is to look upon the house itself as much as gaze from the house to the world beyond.

Living in a city, I often think about exhibitionism. Living in a city is inherently exhibitionist. A house is a permeable visible surface; it is entirely possible that someone will catch a glimpse of me they're not supposed to when I rush to the living room in only a t-shirt to turn out the light before bed. But this is a space that is only exhibitionist in the sense that it is an architecture of exposure, and yet this exposure would not be possible without the protection of the site, of the distance from every other pair of eyes. In this respect, a double freedom is secured. The window intimates the potential of seeing. But no one sees.

At the heart of this house lies a strange mix of concepts. Postmodern classicist columns of the Disney World set. The unpolished edge of the vernacular. There is also an organicist bent to the whole thing, something more Goff than Gaudí, and here we see some of the house's most organic forms, the monolith- or shell-like vanity mixed with the luminous artifice of mirrors and white. A backlit cave, primitive and performative at the same time, which is, in essence, the dialectic of the luxury bathroom.

And yet our McMansion Heaven is still a McMansion. It is still an accumulation of deliberate signifiers of wealth, very much a construction with the secondary purpose of invoking envy, a palatial residence designed without much cohesion. The presence of golf, of wood, of masculine and patriarchal symbolism with an undercurrent of luxury drives that point home. The McMansion can aspire to an art form, but there are still many levels to ascend before one gets to where God's sitting.

If you like this post and want more like it, support McMansion Hell on Patreon for as little as $1/month for access to great bonus content including a discord server, extra posts, and livestreams.

Not into recurring payments? Try the tip jar! Student loans just started back up!

#architecture #design #mcmansion #mcmansions #ugly houses #interior design #bad architecture

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burntoutdaydreamer · 7 months

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Things That May Be Causing Your Writer's Block- and How to Beat Them

I don't like the term 'Writer's Block' - not because it isn't real, but because the term is so vague that it's useless. Hundreds of issues all get lumped together under this one umbrella, making writer's block seem like this all-powerful boogeyman that's impossible to beat. Worse yet, it leaves people giving and receiving advice that is completely ineffective because people often don't realize they're talking about entirely different issues.

In my experience, the key to beating writer's block is figuring out what the block even is, so I put together a list of Actual Reasons why you may be struggling to write:

(note that any case of writer's block is usually a mix of two or more)

Perfectionism (most common)

What it looks like:

You write one sentence and spend the next hour googling "synonyms for ___"

Write. Erase. Write. Rewrite. Erase.

Should I even start writing this scene when I haven't figured out this one specific detail yet?

I hate everything I write

Cringing while writing

My first draft must be perfect, or else I'm a terrible writer

Things that can help:

Give yourself permission to suck

Keep in mind that nothing you write is going to be perfect, especially your first draft

Think of writing your first/early drafts not as writing, but sketching out a loose foundation to build upon later

People write multiple drafts for a reason: write now, edit later

Stop googling synonyms and save that for editing

Write with a pen to reduce temptation to erase

Embrace leaving blank spaces in your writing when you can't think of the right word, name, or detail

It's okay if your writing sucks. We all suck at some point. Embrace the growth mindset, and focus on getting words on a page

Lack of inspiration (easiest to fix)

What it looks like:

Head empty, no ideas

What do I even write about???

I don't have a plot, I just have an image

Want to write but no story to write

Things that can help:

Google writing prompts

If writing prompts aren't your thing, instead try thinking about what kind of tropes/genres/story elements you would like to try out

Instead of thinking about the story you would like to write, think about the story you would like to read, and write that

It's okay if you don't have a fully fleshed out story idea. Even if it's just an image or a line of dialogue, it's okay to write that. A story may or may not come out of it, but at least you got the creative juices flowing

Stop writing. Step away from your desk and let yourself naturally get inspired. Go for a walk, read a book, travel, play video games, research history, etc. Don't force ideas, but do open up your mind to them

If you're like me, world-building may come more naturally than plotting. Design the world first and let the story come later

Boredom/Understimulation (lost the flow)

What it looks like:

I know I should be writing but uugggghhhh I just can'tttttt

Writing words feels like pulling teeth

I started writing, but then I got bored/distracted

I enjoy the idea of writing, but the actual process makes me want to throw my laptop out the window

Things that can help:

Introduce stimulation: snacks, beverages, gum, music such as lo-fi, blankets, decorate your writing space, get a clickity-clackity keyboard, etc.

Add variety: write in a new location, try a new idea/different story for a day or so, switch up how you write (pen and paper vs. computer) or try voice recording or speech-to-text

Gamify writing: create an arbitrary challenge, such as trying to see how many words you can write in a set time and try to beat your high score

Find a writing buddy or join a writer's group

Give yourself a reward for every writing milestone, even if it's just writing a paragraph

Ask yourself whether this project you're working on is something you really want to be doing, and be honest with your answer

Intimidation/Procrastination (often related to perfectionism, but not always)

What it looks like:

I was feeling really motivated to write, but then I opened my laptop

I don't even know where to start

I love writing, but I can never seem to get started

I'll write tomorrow. I mean next week. Next month? Next month, I swear (doesn't write next month)

Can't find the time or energy

Unreasonable expectations (I should be able to write 10,000 words a day, right????)

Feeling discouraged and wondering why I'm even trying

Things that can help:

Follow the 2 min rule (or the 1 paragraph rule, which works better for me): whenever you sit down to write, tell yourself that you are only going to write for 2 minutes. If you feel like continuing once the 2 mins are up, go for it! Otherwise, stop. Force yourself to start but DO NOT force yourself to continue unless you feel like it. The more often you do this, the easier it will be to get started

Make getting started as easy as possible (i.e. minimize barriers: if getting up to get a notebook is stopping you from getting started, then write in the notes app of your phone)

Commit to a routine that will work for you. Baby steps are important here. Go with something that feels reasonable: every day, every other day, once a week, twice a week, and use cues to help you remember to start. If you chose a set time to write, just make sure that it's a time that feels natural to you- i.e. don't force yourself to writing at 9am every morning if you're not a morning person

Find a friend or a writing buddy you can trust and talk it out or share a piece of work you're proud of. Sometimes we just get a bit bogged down by criticism- either internal or external- and need a few words of encouragement

The Problem's Not You, It's Your Story (or Outline (or Process))

What it looks like:

I have no problems writing other scenes, it's just this scene

I started writing, but now I have no idea where I'm going

I don't think I'm doing this right

What's an outline?

Drowning in documents

This. Doesn't. Make. Sense. How do I get from this plot point to this one?!?!?! (this ColeyDoesThings quote lives in my head rent free cause BOY have I been there)

Things That Can Help:

Go back to the drawing board. Really try to get at the root of why a scene or story isn't working

A part of growing as a writer is learning when to kill your darlings. Sometimes you're trying to force an idea or scene that just doesn't work and you need to let it go

If you don't have an outline, write one

If you have an outline and it isn't working, rewrite it, or look up different ways to structure it

You may be trying to write as a pantser when you're really a plotter or vice versa. Experiment with different writing processes and see what feels most natural

Study story structures, starting with the three act structure. Even if you don't use them, you should know them

Check out Ellen Brock on YouTube. She's a professional novel editor who has a lot of advice on writing strategies for different types of writers

Also check out Savage Books on YouTube (another professional story editor) for advice on story structure and dialogue. Seriously, I cannot recommend this guy enough

Executive Dysfunction, Usually From ADHD/Autism

What it looks like:

Everything in boredom/understimulation

Everything in intimidation/procrastination

You have been diagnosed with and/or have symptoms of ADHD/Autism

Things that can help:

If you haven't already, seek a diagnosis or professional treatment

Hire an ADHD coach or other specialist that can help you work with your brain (I use Shimmer; feel free to DM me for a referral)

Seek out neurodiverse communities for advice and support

Try body doubling! There's lot's of free online body doubling websites out there for you to try. If social anxiety is a barrier, start out with writing streams such as katecavanaughwrites on Twitch

Be aware of any sensory barriers that may be getting in the way of you writing (such as an uncomfortable desk chair, harsh lighting, bad sounds)

And Lastly, Burnout, Depression, or Other Mental Illness

What it looks like:

You have symptoms of burnout or depression

Struggling with all things, not just writing

It's more than a lack of inspiration- the spark is just dead

Things that can help:

Forget writing for now. Focus on healing first.

Seek professional help

If you feel like it, use writing as a way to explore your feelings. It can take the form of journaling, poetry, an abstract reflection of your thoughts, narrative essays, or exploring what you're feeling through your fictional characters. The last two helped me rediscover my love of writing after I thought years of depression had killed it for good. Just don't force yourself to do so, and stop if it takes you to a darker place instead of feeling cathartic

#writing #creative writing #writer problems #writing advice #writing community #writing a book #writing problems #novel writing #on writing #writing tips #writing help #writers on tumblr #writers block #female writers #writers of tumblr #writers blog #adhd writer

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