#stat Wars meta
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guess who's back! that's right, it's another edition of thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats. this time we're talking level progression.
a few disclaimers: this is only inclusive of initial and final levels. i may go through each season to find the exact points of change and the full progression at some point, but not right now. i don't have the time for that. this is already incredibly long with just initial and final levels. anyways:
level progressions
these are sorted into a couple of categories: major level progressions, minor level progressions, nonprogression seasons, and nonleveled seasons (which basically just means they are non dnd seasons).
to start we have:
major level progression seasons
this includes most of the intrepid heroes' seasons, plus a couple of sidequests that had or are in the process of having major level changes. major level changes means the party levels up two or more levels during the season. without further ado:
fantasy high freshman year: this season had a fairly standard progression; everyone starting from level one, milestone leveling with each battle until they hit level 8 for the finale.
fig faeth:
initial level: bard 1
final level: whispers bard 8
gorgug thistlespring:
initial level: barbarian 1
final level: berserker barbarian 1
adaine abernant:
initial level: wizard 1
final level: divination wizard 8
fabian seacaster:
initial level: fighter 1
final level: champion fighter 8
kristen applebees:
initial level: life cleric 1
final level: life cleric 8
riz gukgak:
initial level: rogue 1
final level: inquisitive rogue 8
the unsleeping city: this season follows a similar progression to fantasy high--the characters just start at level 3 instead of level 1. this let them start with subclasses and a more features that let them swing harder in battle earlier.
ricky matsui:
initial level: devotion paladin 3
final level: devotion paladin 10
sofia lee:
initial level: drunken master monk 3
final level: drunken master monk 8 | hexblade warlock 2
kingston brown:
initial level: city cleric 3
final level: city cleric 10
misty moore/rowan berry:
initial level: lore bard 3
final level: lore bard 10
kugrash:
initial level: shepherd druid 3
final level: shepherd druid 10
pete conlan:
initial level: wild magic sorcerer 3
final level: wild magic sorcerer 10
a crown of candy: this season was a little different because of the initial party composition--the adults started at level 3, while liam and the twins started at levels 2 and 1 respectively. the entry points of cumulous and saccharina obviously affected their starting levels, since they had to match the party at the point of entry. there was also more multiclassing and subclass switches for story reasons this season. just a bit more complexity as d20 itself got more complex.
liam wilhelmina: the most effective subclass switch i think ever. he became a war guy.
initial level: ranger 2 (took beastmaster after 1st battle)
final level: gloomstalker ranger 6 | assassin rogue 4
theobald gumbar:
initial level: eldritch knight 3
final level: eldritch knight 10
jet rocks: she started in rogue with martial adept to match ruby, multiclassed into fighter and dropped her rogue level before she died.
initial level: rogue 1
final level: battlemaster fighter 7
ruby rocks:
initial level: rogue 1
final level: arcane trickster rogue 9 | shadow sorcerer 1
amethar rocks:
initial level: storm herald barbarian 3
final level: storm herald barbarian 5 | battlemaster fighter 5
lapin cadbury:
initial level: celestial warlock 3
final level: celestial warlock 5
cumulous rocks: came in as a cloud, cried over magic, killed chickens for temp hp
initial level: long death monk 6
final level: long death monk 10
saccharina frostwhip: a powerful queen
initial level: storm sorcerer 6 | tempest cleric 2
final level: storm sorcerer 8 | tempest cleric 2
the unsleeping city chapter 2: only a couple of subclass switches this season, but more new characters that played in the multiclass space.
ricky matsui:
initial level: redemption paladin 12
final level: redemption paladin 10
sofia lee:
initial level: shadow monk 8 | hexblade warlock 2
final level: shadow monk 10 | hexblade warlock 2
kingston brown:
initial level: city cleric 10
final level: city cleric 12
iga lisowski: she comes in statted with the party, but it tracks because she's been the steward of a magic Polish dragon box for decades.
initial level: genie warlock 10
final level: genie warlock 10 | draconic sorcerer 2
rowan berry: she comes in late and so only really has the opportunity to start at level 12
initial level: lore bard 12
final level: lore bard 12
cody walsh: can you imagine your intro to magic being selling your soul to a lesser devil and instantly jumping to level 10. he's so bad at everything that it balances. the athletics checks? insane. absolute loser of a mall goth sword guy. a time capsule of the year 2003.
initial level: oathbreaker paladin 10
final level: oathbreaker paladin 12
pete conlan:
initial level: wild magic sorcerer 10
final level: wild magic sorcerer 12
a starstruck odyssey: this season isn't precisely DND and so works a little differently. the party started with level differences: all nonhumans started at level 3, the humans started at level 2, and gunnie was level 1. i think this was indicative of the fact that a) takamori leveled up by getting brain slugged, b) margaret leveled up by undergoing a quarter-life crisis, and c) gunnie probably joined the ship more recently. they also have ship deployments that they take levels in to be able to competently run a ship. deployments are indicated in [brackets] like so.
gunnie miggles-rashbax:
initial level: engineer 1 [mechanic 1]
final level: engineer 6 [mechanic 3]
riva:
initial level: suggestion consular 3 [coordinator 1]
final level: suggestion consular 6 [coordinator 3]
norman 'skip' takamori
initial level: operative 2 [pilot 1]
final level: lethality operative 6 [pilot 3]
margaret encino:
initial level: scholar 2 [operator 1]
final level: politician pursuit scholar 6 [operator 3]
sundry sidney:
initial level: corsair sentinel 3 [gunner 1]
final level: corsair sentinel 6 [gunner 3]
big barry syx:
initial level: ballistic berserker 3 [gunner 1]
final level: ballistic berserker 6 [gunner 3]
neverafter: this season marks the first level 1 party since fantasy high, and also follows a similar level progression pattern. however, they got episode 3'd, and so skipped levels 2 & 3. they woke up with subclasses. the baba yaga also helped them skip from level 6 to level 8 iirc.
rosamund du prix
initial level: ranger 1
final level: swarmkeeper ranger 5 | stars druid 2 | fighter 1
mother timothy goose:
initial level: bard 1
final level: lore bard 8
pinocchio:
initial level: archfey warlock 1
final level: destiny (homebrew) warlock 8
puss in boots (pib):
initial level: rogue 1
final level: mastermind rogue 8
gerard of greenleigh:
initial level: fighter 1
final level: battlemaster fighter 8
ylfa snorgelsson:
initial level: barbarian 1
final level: bear totem barbarian 6 | moon druid 2
the ravening war: here's where the distinction between 'leveled up two or more times' and leveled up two or more levels' has to be made. technically there's really only one major change during the season, but they go from level 4-5 to level 9, so it's counted as a significant jump.
delissandro katzon: this is the second time lou wilson has played a fighter barbarian in calorum. truly i would have two nickels. also the second time he's played a champion fighter that switched to battlemaster and multiclassed. really starting to collect nickels here.
initial level: champion fighter 5
final level: battlemaster fighter 8 | barbarian 1
raphaniel charlock: i don't feel like tracking his titles. also he has so many feats. dear god.
initial level: eloquence bard 4 | rogue 1
final level: eloquence bard 6 | rogue 3
karna solara: the third triple multiclass in d20 history. the only characters that i can think of that are of equivalent assassin vibes are liam, gangie, and skip.
initial level: whispers bard 3 | great old one warlock 2
final level: phantom rogue 4 | whispers bard 3 | great old one warlock 2
colin provolone: oh what a guy. a traditional mercenary if you ever saw one
initial level: battlemaster fighter 3 | rogue 2
final level: battlemaster fighter 6 | swashbuckler rogue 3
lady amangeaux epiceé du peche: she starts lower level than the rest of the party because she's more naive and less prepared for the intrigue and assassination plots. she's the only to not multiclass in this season. the only one.
initial level: arcane trickster rogue 4
final level: arcane trickster rogue 9
burrow's end: i know that it's the ongoing season, but evidenced by the fact that they double leveled up in episode 2, i have a feeling this is going to be a major leveling season. i'm anticipating level 10 as a stopping point, but who knows where they go from here.
tula: stoat mom as a feat is all i'm going to say
initial level: redemption paladin 4
final level: ?
jaysohn: adhd karate boy, or all stoats in a nutshell
initial level: astral self monk 4
final level: ?
viola: the embryonic diapause storyline is going to kill me, i can feel it.
initial level: devotion paladin 4
final level: ?
thorn vale: anxious wife guy cult leader is something i didn't know i needed until now, but i'm so glad that that's where jasper went with him.
initial level: fey wanderer ranger 4
final level: ?
ava: if generational trauma was a stoat. the commitment to the werther's? phenomenal.
initial level: ancestral guardians barbarian 3 | fighter
final level: ?
lila: i'm living for izzy as a stoat that can sneak attack people and read???
initial level: inquisitive rogue 4
final level: ?
and that's all of the major progression seasons. with that concluded, we move into:
minor level progression seasons
as stated earlier, these seasons really only have one major level change as opposed to the progressive milestones of the major leveling seasons. i think that comes down to a couple of things: 1) they all start as midlevel characters who are reasonably powerful 2) two of these are 10 episode seasons that had less time to do progressive leveling than most of the intrepid heroes' seasons, and 3) the timeline of the level ups really only makes sense for one level change, especially since they start out of the low levels that shift easily. fhfy is like a week and a half in universe, t7 and acofaf are each like a week. anyways, here it is:
fantasy high sophomore year: mostly carried over from fhfy to start, with one major level but we really got into multiclassing and subclass switches for story here, i think in part because running live sessions is inherently a little more spontaneous than a pre-recorded season.
fig faeth:
initial level: whispers bard 6 | hexblade warlock 2
final level: lore bard 6 | hexblade warlock 3
gorgug thistlespring:
initial level: berserker barbarian 8
final level: berserker barbarian 8 | artificer 1
adaine abernant:
initial level: divination wizard 8
final level: divination wizard 9
fabian seacaster:
initial level: champion fighter 8
final level: battlemaster fighter 6 | swords bard 3
kristen applebees:
initial level: life cleric 8
final level: twilight cleric 9
riz gukgak:
initial level: inquisitive rogue 8
final level: inquisitive rogue 9
the seven: the ladies are here! they start at the level 9 baseline set by the end of fhsy and hit level 10 in like a week. granted the second half of the season is almost all encounters--three double episode battles total, with two in the back half.
antiope jones: the reluctant leader, not that kind of ranger. a choice aabria character. sometimes i think about the fact that both of aabria's spyre characters could conceivably meet, and it's not even that contrived. myrtle is sam's cousin.
initial level: arcane archer fighter 6 | monster slayer ranger 3
final level: arcane archer fighter 6 | monster slayer ranger 4
katja cleaver: half horse girl, half childhood neglect and abandonment, half rekha shankar's brand of ttrpg decisions.
initial level: battlemaster fighter 9
final level: battlemaster fighter 9 | barbarian 1
penny luckstone: eldest daughter syndrome to the max. deeply funny. an incredible rogue, even if she feeds old men horse meat candy hearts.
initial level: arcane trickster rogue 9
final level: arcane trickster rogue 10
danielle barkstock: actually erika ishii's second shepherd druid. they really like summoning geese, spiders, pixies, and various creatures that can absolutely ruin brennan's day. with a side of no self-care.
initial level: shepherd druid 9
final level: shepherd druid 10
ostentatia wallace: she lives up to the name. the forge cleric i want to be when i grow up.
initial level: forge cleric 9
final level: forge cleric 10
sam nightingale: a masterwork in character building, from a mechanical and story standpoint. i love the use of eldritch adept to maintain the build and keep with the story during their level up.
initial level: storm sorcerer 6 | glamour bard 3
final level: storm sorcerer 6 | glamour bard 4
zelda donovan: my girl! the other fighter barb of the group, but built in the opposite direction. also 55 movement speed? by god she can hustle.
initial level: eagle totem barbarian 8 | fighter 1
final level: eagle totem barbarian 8 | fighter 2
a court of fey and flowers: this season starts in a similar place to the seven with midlevel characters and levels up mostly for story reasons. it's a little more important to track reputation by episode, but i don't have the time for that at the moment.
andhera: hot, but built mid according to omar. an ace he/they king. never actually levels up, probably because they avoid conflict by beign a slippery pillar boy in wet cotton pants.
initial level: devotion paladin 8
final level: devotion paladin 8
k.p. hob: triple multiclass, builds on brennan's theme of self-sacrificial characters who don't think love can find them.
initial level: battlemaster fighter 6 | rogue 1 | barbarian 1
final level: battlemaster fighter 6 | rogue 2 | barbarian 1
lady chirp featherfowl: an assassin wizard with bird puns, a wife and daughter, and no regard for her reputation.
initial level: bladesinger wizard 8
final level: bladesinger wizard 9
lord squak airavis: the sluttiest bird you'll ever meet. the author of the green hunter. they got renner.
initial level: lore bard 8
final level: lore bard 9
delloso de la rue: made me cry when i watched them come out. the outfits. the pizzazz. the 'i love him'. the miscommunications. an icon. doesn't use subclass features, so we'll never know.
initial level: bard 8
final level: bard 9
binx choppley: another fantastic reveal. a single mom who works two jobs, but she's a warlock patron and trying to revive her dead court while masquerading as her friend while said friend dates her warlock on the material plane. truly who is doing it like them.
initial level: arcane trickster rogue 8
final level: arcane trickster rogue 9
now that we're through with the minor progression seasons, let's look at the single-level seasons.
nonprogression seasons
there's variance in these--there's not really a consistent start level. they go low level when they need to and high level when they need to. the lack of progression here also indicates timeline and season length: most of these are 4-6 episodes, and all of these seasons happen over the span of about a day or two in-game.
escape from the bloodkeep: d20's highest level season to date. unbelievable shenanigans, deeply funny. it's also fun for me to note that d20 and cr both have their morally dubious seasons that start and end at level 14 (eftbk and exu calamity) but they end up in literal opposite ends of the comedy/tragedy scale.
maggie (magfelda):
level: berserker barbarian 14
leiland (kraz-thun):
level: hexblade warlock 14
efink murderdeath:
level: grave cleric 14
sokhbarr:
level: beastmaster ranger 14
lilith:
level: shepherd druid 14
markus st. vincent
level: swashbuckler rogue 14
tiny heist:
rick diggins: the most charisma rogue i think you can get. negative dex and strength? grifter
level: mastermind rogue 4
boomer coleoptera: his subclass is unknown--it's never really mentioned during the season. it's theorized that he may be a battlemaster. the muscle
level: fighter 4
agnes: she also doesn't use any subclass specific features during the season. the other grifter
level: bard 4
ti-83: what a little fount of violence. the techie/explosive specialist
level: artillerist artificer 4
bean: the grease with a bone to pick
level: shadow monk 4
car-go jones: the mastermind, even though he's not a mastermind rogue. the danny ocean.
level: inquisitive rogue 4
pirates of leviathan: this entire season happens pretty much in the course of 24 hours. a good chunk of that time is just spent having a spa night at the gold gardens. who is doing it like them. everyone in this party can do magic.
sunny biscotto:
level: devotion paladin 5
bob (barbarella sarsaparilla gainglynn):
level: lore bard 3 | city cleric 2
cheese:
level: necromancy wizard 5
myrtle (the bitch):
level: tempest cleric 5
jack brakkow:
level: ancestral guardians barbarian 5
marcid the typhoon:
level: gloomstalker ranger 5
mice & murder: the oops all rogues season. for a low level season there are some astronomical dcs here. it really does a lot to show off the range of subclasses. all of them have dramatically different abilities, when they're not competing.
gangie green:
level: thief rogue 3
buckster $ boyd:
level: mastermind rogue 3
daisy d'umpstaire:
level: assassin rogue 3
vicar ian prescott:
level: eloquence bard 3
lars vandenchomp:
level: battlemaster fighter 3
sylvester cross:
level: inquisitive rogue 3
coffin run: this season is actually another one with mixed leveling--maybe to indicate time spent with dracula, maybe to level out powers on from a spellcasting level
aleksandr astrovsky:
level: alchemist artificer 7
squing:
level: undead warlock 8
wetzel:
level: mastermind rogue 7
may wong:
level: shadow sorcerer 6
dungeons and drag queens: i'm fairly sure they filmed this season in one shot. a great intro to dnd and the mechanics of level 5 characters.
troyánn:
level: arcane archer fighter 5
princess foehammer:
level: berserker barbarian 5
gertrude:
level: shadow sorcerer 5
twyla:
level: gloomstalker ranger 5
fantasy high oneshots: this is just the one-off characters from the fh oneshots. both of these characters show up in between freshman and sophomore year and so land at level 8.
hargis:
level: brute fighter 8
ficus:
level: dreams druid 8
and last but not least, we have the non-DnD seasons that have no level progressions:
misfits and magic
shriek week
mentopolis
and that's all folks! this one got so long. as always the spreadsheet is open to perusal. i hope you like it!
#dimension 20#dimension 20 meta#thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats#fantasy high#escape from the bloodkeep#the unsleeping city#tiny heist#a crown of candy#pirates of leviathan#mice & murder#d20 the seven#a starstruck odyssey#coffin run#a court of fey and flowers#neverafter#the ravening war#dungeons and drag queens#burrow's end#long post#dimension 20 spoilers#dimension 20 statistics
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AO3 Year in Review (that's the ship stats one) is out and you guys got Alhaitham/Kaveh to position 5 on the ship's debut year! That is incredibly impressive, congratulations to everyone involved!
I mean you literally out-wrote the biggest fandoms out there, those that have only one or two big ships. It is impressive, is what I'm saying.
Knowing that centreoftheselights focus her stats on ship growth I was stunned to find out Tartaglia/Zhongli lost 20 positions and both of my beloved ships that were ranking last year are just gone.
So of course I spent the whole afternoon collecting data to see what happened. Who do you think I am? A person without a completely unrelated essay to write?
Proceed beyond the cut if you want to see some Genshin Impact ship data.
So I had a question: what happened with our ships' growth this year? Time to do some data collecting!
Method
So here's what I did. Knowing that several writers have opted to archive-lock their fics in order to stave off the bots, I chose to collect the data manually, with my logged-on profile, and using the search operator created_at:["2023-01-01" TO "2023-12-31"] to restrict the search to works created in that time period.
This means backdated works don't make it in, but it may also mean that works which were fully written in the drafts before being posted at a later date count as being created in 2023 even if you posted it in January 10th 2024.
I'm not citing names here but I see you there and all I can say is please don't write directly in your drafts. There's no guarantee your fic will survive there. Have backups. Please. If you can't download an app/software, then at least use Amplenote. It's free, online and supports formatting of all kinds.
Method (really now)
Using the archive's filters set to all languages and the period up to December 31st 2023, I pulled the list of the top ten tagged relationships. Then, setting the period from January 1st to December 31st 2023, I did the same. With that data I graphed the growth pattern.
The data
As of my cut-off date, December 31st 2023, there were 163,902 works under the 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game) tag in AO3. The top ten relationships tagged were:
Tartaglia | Childe/Zhongli: 14571 works
Alhaitham/Kaveh: 9645 works
Diluc/Kaeya: 7295 works
Diluc & Kaeya: 6077 works
Venti/Xiao | Alatus: 4870 works
Albedo/Kaeya: 4442 works
Aether/Xiao: 4127 works
Tartaglia | Childe/Lumine: 4046 works
Chongyun/Xingqiu: 3524 works
Kaedehara Kazuha/Scaramouche: 3432 works
59,092 of those works were posted between January 1st and December 31st 2023. During the year, the top relationships were:
Alhaitham/Kaveh: 8591 works
Tartaglia | Childe/Zhongli: 3513 works
Alhaitham & Kaveh: 2446 works
Cyno/Tighnari: 2342 works
Neuvillette/Wriothesley: 1950 works
Kaedehara Kazuha/Scaramouche: 1810 works
Diluc & Kaeya: 1721 works
Diluc/Kaeya: 1551 works
Venti/Xiao: 1106 works
Aether/Xiao: 1101 works
Now, that's impressive growth, isn't it? Here's how that tracks over the historical number:
Just look at that bar. That was a single year! And Tartaglia/Zhongli had a nice amount of growth, more than any other ship besides Alhaitham/Kaveh.
So there it is, what happened. You guys are just absolutely amazing :)
Side notes:
1. Hm, what about Neuvillette/Wriothesley?
A fairly new ship that showed up on AO3 Stats ranked 68, with 1938 works. On my counts (with the locked works) the number goes up to 1950. So, not a small ship at all but also not close enough to enter our top ten.
At least not this year.
2. Is it all about smut? I bet it's all about smut!
It is not. When you exclude the Explicit tag there are still 46,001 works created in 2023. And, honestly, the Explicit tag can be used for gore and violence as well, so even that isn't a solid way to exclude smut from the count.
But if you're wondering how the ranking goes without the Explicit fics, here is the data for the works up to December 31st 2023:
Tartaglia | Childe/Zhongli: 10406 works
Alhaitham/Kaveh: 7330 works
Diluc & Kaeya: 5761 works
Diluc/Kaeya: 4651 works
Venti/Xiao: 4253 works
Albedo/Kaeya: 3759 works
Aether/Xiao: 3441 works
Tartaglia | Childe/Lumine: 3216 works
Chongyun/Xingqiu: 3165 works
Kaedehara Kazuha/Scaramouche: 2785 works
And this is the data for just 2023:
Alhaitham/Kaveh: 6545 works
Tartaglia | Childe/Zhongli: 2534 works
Alhaitham & Kaveh: 2115 works
Cyno/Tighnari: 1885 works
Diluc & Kaeya: 1645 works
Neuvillette/Wriothesley: 1467 works
Kaedehara Kazuha/Scaramouche: 1397 works
Diluc/Kaeya: 1057 works
Venti/Xiao | Alatus: 937 works
Aether/Xiao: 911 works
If this tells you anything, make it that people will tag a ship and either fade to black or just not put any sex at all in the story.
3. So, no love for gen fics?
No, no, no, lots of love for gen fics! Immense love for gen fics!
I'll talk about that in another post, though, because I have more graphs to make before I can post it.
#genshin impact#meta#fandom stats#not tagging the ships-- it would feel too much like trying to start a war#this data collection was done mostly out of curiosity#if you use it to harass other people no fluffy animal shall ever let you pet it ever again#(yes yes I'm cursing the data)
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i am once again thinking about viserra getting eaten by cannibal
she was so desperate to prove she was a true targaryen by claiming a dragon that she had to claim the most dangerous one and it ended up being her downfall
like do i think a sixteen year old getting eaten by a dragon stopped the war between her family? not at all, do i think there was a pause, a calm while the blacks mourned? hopefully.
#also why did no one tell me viserra's bio is filled with mistakes what the fuck yall im gonna go fix it stat#something something if there wasnt a war viserra would have been better supervised and maybe she wouldn't have died#*[ TARGARYEN V : META & COMMENTARY ]#character : viserra targaryen
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Chiastic Structure of S1
Here it is!
Yes, I deliberately made it detailed. You NEED to see the detail, it is, quite frankly, eye-opening in parts.
If the image I have posted is not clear, let me know, and I'll post a broken-down version in sections so you can read it. I'm just not sure how this is going to work.
I've got five footnotes for various sections where I want to make extra comments, so see them below.
If you don't know why some of us are looking into this - a chiastic structure or pattern a literary device where a sequence of events is presented then repeated in reverse order. For a complicated story like Good Omens this can and does gives us some interesting insights into the hidden stories we meta writers like to speculate on and discuss.
I have to admit it got a bit messy in places, so there still might be some tweaking to do in the middle parts.
The plain parallels still exist - I have a couple to mention in the footnotes. I'm also very excited about taking this challenge on because I've basically found proof that backs up my theory about the scene at Tadfield Manor telling part of the story of the Great War in Heaven, and also proof that the Flood may have been the time of their first "vavoom."
[1] M-pair: When Newt turns up to his new job there is an office meeting called and the upcoming "training initiative" is discussed. This then leads on to the paintball fight at Tadfield Manor. I discussed how the two scenes give us an insight into the past and the Great War in two metas, The Great War of Tadfield Manor, and The Newton/Crowley Mirror-Parallel in S1. The mirror-pair here is Dagon is rousing the troops with reminders of the "Glorious Revolution," providing us with a direct connection to the events of Tadfield Manor.
[2] Q-pair: This is a really interesting pair, as as it is still tied in with Tadfield Manor. Does it give us any insights into Crowley's role in the Great War and his Fall? I'll be looking more closely at this in the future!
[3] There is an interesting set of parallels around this area that didn't quite fit into the chiastic structure proper that I though was worth mentioning and I have already flagged for a meta before I had finished plotting this out. It's to do with Newt and Anathema and the prophecies in the book - oh, and the Velvet underground reference. Actually, I really need more space for that...you'll have to wait for the meta, sorry.
[4] Ohhh yeah. This one. The Vavoom moment. I wondered if the sex under the bed between Newt and Anathema would reveal anything. It certainly did! If you haven't read @vidavalor's meta about the first time they probably kissed, then you should. Stat! This pair backs it up - and maybe more.
[5] There is a parallel noted here that doesn't fit in the structure, that Crowley signs to start everything rolling, and Aziraphale signs to end it.
On to S2. Then I'll see if I can work a three-series structure together for some predictions.
Link to S2 Chiastic Structure Post.
@aprilodite @kayleefansposts @ineffable-endearments @sendarya
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How the Drow Became Problematic Faves - a Badly Written Meta History of D&D
Oh, hey. It feels like newcomers to D&D via BG3 fandom have discovered the Problematic Nature of Drow via Halsin vs Minthara conflict.
Cut because of talk of racism and it being fucking long.
Let's talk about meta, first. So, the very first usage of 'drow' came from a dialetc of Scots as a term for troll, which was used to talk about all sorts of evil spirits. When Gary Gygax had to make a war game, he decided he'd make evil elves. They were based on 'black elves' in the Prose Edda and saw the word 'Drow' in a dictionary that claimed it was a term for underground elves who were skilled workers in metal. Being a white guy in the late 70s, he saw no issues in making evil elves actually black. For the next decade or so, they were canon fodder for modules and novels and always evil and repugnant.
In the late 80s and early 90s, R. A. Salavotre and Ed Greenwood slapped on the concept of drow society being an evil dystopian society run by dominatrixes who emasculate men, in the Forgotten Realms setting. There were a few token dark elves, namely the super popular Drizzt Do'Urden, who were good but the majority were not. Like Gary, RA and Ed were white guys who did not see the problem of black elves and putting their kink into deep lore. Not all settings went by this, Dragonlance for example had drow just be ‘evil assholes elves who got kicked out of their society’ and look like just any other elves.
(Quick note on Drizzt, he became iconic not because of his race but so much as being an outsider to two cultures while being a badass. I might not be a fan personally, but I know the appeal of the character.)
The 90s came along and by the end of the decade, TSR was bought by Wizards of he Coast who proceeded to make the Drow even Grim Darker during 3rd edition to go along with the times. Yet, too, didn’t stop to think about the problematic issues that were being brought up by more thoughtful fans - WotC hired another module company who wrote about drow women being so fucking evil, they an orgasm like reaction when embryo killed each other in the womb.
4th Edition came and went. No one talks about those times. Drow existed as evil.
2014, 5e comes along and drow are so fucking popular, they’re included in the Player’s Handbook, rather in errata based books, as ‘humanoid’. In fact other evil races were introduced under the label of ‘humanoid’, indicating orcs and goblinkin. About a year later, Matt Mercer switched up his TTRPG to 5e because it was an easier system for his friends to understand, and they began to show their games online under Critical Role while a year after that Stranger Things came out and became a smash hit.
Between these two, D&D explodes in popularity with an entirely new demographic group that began to outnumber the old guard. This larger and more diverse popular saw drow and other ‘evil races’ and went ‘wtf’. They didn’t exactly like the concept of ‘an always evil race’ and discovered the problematic issues that collected over the last several decades not with just drow, but with ‘monstrous’ races.
WotC wanting money began to listen - just really slowly, and not so much in Forgotten Realms.They dropped the ‘always evil’ from the stat block but refused to change anything else to their older settings.
(Incidentally, the company that made Grim Dark Drow really disliked 4e. They decided to make their own take of 3.5e with Hookers and Blackjack and made Pathfinder, which was supposed to be Edgier Game than D&D. However, a lot of people they hired were quick to notice the nature of the game and say, ‘nah, this shit is stupid’. As of now, Pazio is retconning drow from their lore. - That my friends, is called a character arc.)
During this 46 year span, drow have been fucking evil because their goddess made them do it as justification of their evilness - and not because they were black or born into it. In fact, Lloth, Gruumsh and Maglubiyet are the reasons why the Drow, Orc, and Goblinkin society is so evil and they’re also why they can function as a society when in truth, they all should have fallen apart. And no one has bothered to change this lore. In fact they avoid mentioning this lore rather than changing it to avoid conflict with older fans and newer fans.
Then BG3 hits and hits harder than anyone expected. A lot of new fans come on aboard and really begin to like Drow, who are super sexy evil elves, not knowing the lore and kicking the problematic issues down the road. Larian was a bit quicker than TSR/WotC to realize ‘wow, this is fucking yikes’ and decided to make Seldarine drow. I’ve been playing since I was young teen, in the last years of 3.xe. I saw a lot of wanna-be Drizzt and Good Aligned Drow that were played variably, but there were a lot of people who loved the concept. While Seldarine aren’t a concept in TTRPG canon proper, the idea of Seldarine drow has existed for decades at tables, and Larian acknowledging that is something I love.
But they made Llothsworn Drow as the ‘lore compliant drow’ because WotC hasn’t changed drow in decades.
The thing is, Drow being Problematic Faves isn’t because WotC is wildly racist on purpose, it’s just that during the majority of Drow being A Thing in D&D, they have been Sexy and Evil Villains and play the role of Misunderstood Outsider (though this recently has been taken over by tieflings).
In fact, I’m seeing a lot of new fans getting kicked in the teeth when characters react to a Llothsworn drow as flat out evil and not being judged by their actions, because they don’t know it’s been a thing in D&D for years with narrative excuses to justify in-universe racism. And then there are some players who make an evil Llothsworn drow and still get upset despite playing into in-universe reasons for the excuses of racism.
We’re seeing it as a reaction to datamined information with little context other than an abused white guy feels uncomfortable with an abused black woman - and it’s super hard to justify in-universe reasons for this because in the real world, a white guy is going to be listened to and believed regardless of it being true or not.
Essentially, the drow are a fucking mess due to D&D ignoring the racial implications of drow in the real world for nearly 50 years. The only way to fix it is making major lore changes, which is something they’re reluctant to do because they’re making their errata books so damn light on lore as to avoid conflict and the model sells.
Will this change with BG3? I don’t know. But I kinda hope so.
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Got myself a copy of the 1st Ed 40k Rulebook! Spent an evening going through the thing, and you know, it's goofy as hell but it really is a cool book. I really appreciate how much work they put into this thing, not only selling the concept of 40k as a setting for the very first time, but making the entire game standalone and very playable. Seriously, there are few things in the 1st ed core book that doesn't have some kind of stats.
For instance, it mentions Custodes and within a few pages it has Custodes stated out. Most of everything has at least one block of stats and some kind of rules to field them, maybe not as a competitive army as we understand today, but as something playable for the sake of narrative. You can explore so much in one book, and honestly I wish modern 40k books gave that much love to their universe.
I think it would be amazing if modern GW published a core rulebook that could be played without anything else for 40k. Human stats, aeldari stats, Necron stats, chaos, kroot, random xenos and warp entities, charts to make your own, and standard weapons profiles for everything. So you have a game, a solid game that is playable by itself with a skew towards narrative play and making one's own characters- then releasing Codices and supplements for army building, special military units and rules pertaining to what a specific xenos race looks like as a military force rather than just a random band of them.
I do think modern 40k is very fun, but man, reading through this it does make me beg for a time where fun was the focus. I hate shit like meta play, tournaments, and balancing. It just isn't my jam. The way 1st ed is set up? I want a modern take on that. Even include the concept of having a GM for a campaign of it! I loooove that shit, I love the idea of having a GM for a 1v1 tabletop war game. Oh yeah, your list rocks, but did you expect the GM to have a renegade titan wander onto the map? My goodness.
I really dig it. When Dorothy and I move in two months, I'll try and trick some of my pals into playing 1st ed. I'll let you folks know how it goes! Who knows, maybe it'll be my favorite edition of 40k yet. I've played most of them at this point. Got in at the start of 5th, went back and played 3 and 4, and have been playing every edition up till now as they come out. Haven't touched 1 and 2, but I am very excited to do so!
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[Book 6 Spoilers]
Night Raven Quest but make that TTRPG, baby (ft. The Overblots)
Riddle doesn't really understand the whole roleplaying thing at first but surprisingly enjoys the whole dungeon exploring and puzzle solving. He'd be a Human, pretty basic, I know. And a boy scout like him would be a Paladin with very strict moral code and is very stubborn about it. His stubbornness and temper sometimes causes conflict on the table but he'll work on that. Most of the time it's not even him starting the conflict, but rather some people (Azul) getting on his nerves and causing his anger to explode. This boy seriously needs to learn to cut himself and others some slack and have fun like a normal goddamn teenager.
Leona is the type of mf who makes a hard-boiled character with serious fucked up backstory but gave them a goofy ahh name no one can keep a straight face calling him that. His character would be a war veteran Dwarf Cleric named Angus Schmungus or something. And you know what? That's probably not even his real name. His character name, background, affiliation, etc. is between him and god (the DM). And if anyone asks him about his background and/or motivations he'd just give different outlandish story every time like that one ex-convict dude from Ratatouille, neither confirming or denying the credibility of the story.
Azul would try to cheat, so they'd need a dice tower. They'd also need to check his dice before every campaign (can't be too careful with this slimy mf). During his character creation process, he prioritize stats like Charisma, Intelligence, etc. He plays a Bard and a Tiefling for that extra +2 Charisma and +1 Intelligence. Though when I said a bard, he's more like a...conman of some sorts (though he wouldn't call himself that). He'd Mansplain, Manipulate and sometimes Manwhore (should the situation call for it) his way into and out of situations.
I genuinely feel like Jamil would be a Yuan-Ti Warlock. I know how obvious and on-the-nose this is but idk it just feels right. He'd make very calculated decisions even if Lady Luck isn't on his side all the time. He'd also be the one who always take one for the team whenever one of them need to make a skill check, even if his stats doesn't seem to be the highest. He doesn't seem to be fazed by any trials that come his way and generally keeps his cool, unlike some people in this table. That is, until the DM puts down a giant enemy spider mini figure on the table and Jamil falls off his goddamn chair.
Vil surprisingly takes roleplaying pretty seriously? Idk I just can't see Vil half-assing acting even if it's only for a table top roleplaying game. And who knows? Maybe he'll finally get to be the hero he always wanted to be. His only obstacle? Leona's goofy ahh character name. Anyways, his character is an High Elf who comes from a long line of powerful noble Wizards.
Idia wanted to go fully on a "stealth DPS" (whatever that means) build, so his character creation focused primarily on what stats benefits his class more, which in this case is a Rogue Artificer. He'd invest most of his stats in Dexterity and Intelligence. For the race, he'd probably be an Elf for that +2 Dexterity; or maybe a Lightfoot Halfling for the nimbleness trait, no darkvision tho; or he could be a gnome for darkvision, +2 Intelligence and +1 Dexterity. All depends on what kind of Rogue Artificer he wants to be, he'd either be a Arcane Trickster or a Phantom (oof too close to home?). Whatever he is, he's all about that "Meta".
Malleus is very unfamiliar with the whole rules, character creation, etc but he's just happy to be invited here :). His whole thought process while creating his character is probably like 'hm..a Dragonborn? Well, I am a dragon fae..". So yeah, his character is a Dragonborn Sorcerer. Kinda predictable tbh, but very... Malleus, also his solution for every problem is to cast Fireball. Yea, his character is pretty much just him but a dragon. But hey, my golden rule in DnD is that it's all about having fun, regardless of the characters.
Almost all of them would try to be the team leader, so there's gonna be a lot of fighting and arguing on the table.
This party is dysfunctional as hell idk what to tell you
Did I mention that this is also a group therapy?
Nothing says group therapy more than a whimsical adventure with your not-friends am I right?
Yea that's all I got for them, not much but yeah idk man
#disney twisted wonderland#disney twst#twisted wonderland#twst#twst fanfic#twst riddle#twst leona#twst azul#twst jamil#twst vil#twst idia#twst malleus#twst headcanons#twst hcs#twisted wonderland headcanons#twisted wonderland hcs#riddle rosehearts#leona kingscholar#azul ashengrotto#jamil viper#vil shoenheit#idia shroud#malleus draconia#twst ttrpg AU
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ive never played the games so i dont know what to picture when im reading your fics, how tall do you think soren and ike are?
I said recently that they have a Mulder and Scully level height difference and I stand by that statement. This one is a little hard to answer, because I don't think there is a definitive answer -- it's not like comics where there's an official handbook with heights and weights listed, although there is like, a vague equivalent. I'll get to that. I know recently some people deduced heights by, I think, converting the measurements of their respective models in Fire Emblem Engage, the anniversary game for the series that featured both characters, but I'll be honest, that's too much math for me, and I'd rather rip into the text of the original games until I come up with my own answer. So I'm gonna give you my thoughts, and the canon evidence that backs them up, but it's just my opinion.
Anyway I'm going into this with the same amount of thought that I go into with all my comics meta. I'm sorry about that in advance.
So two things about Fire Emblem 9 and 10. The first is that the games aren't new -- FE9 came out in 2005, and FE10 in 2007. Graphically, they hold up well, but it's because they're not very complicated. The majority of conversations take place involving still portraits with text underneath -- there's only a few fully animated cutscenes. (Soren is in exactly one FE10 cutscene, and they're not standing next to each other.) The second is that the games take place over a period of a few years (each game takes place over about a year, with a three year gap in between FE9 and FE10). Ike starts FE9 at 17, and he's about 20 at the start of FE10. And he evolves like a Pokemon.
This is not meant to be to height scale; I just wanted these three pieces of official art next to each other for comparison. Graphic design is not my passion.
Also, this has nothing to do with height, but I'm going to point it out anyway: Ike's FE10 artbook page literally ends by talking about how he's in love with Soren.
(credit to Kantopia for the translation.) (did I mention that, by FE rules, the ship is canon. because it's canon.)
The character designer, Kita Senri, also drew this picture of FE9 and FE10 Ike standing back to back, which. Yeah. Okay!
By FE10, at least, so by age 20, Ike is tall. (His parents come from the Tall People Country, Daein.) His size is remarked upon a couple of times in the script, too, by people who hadn't seen him for a few years:
Ike: Tormod, it's been a while.
Tormod: Holy moly! You are absolutely huge! I feel puny next to you…
Ike: That's because you are puny. Magic clearly doesn't give you much muscle tone.
(...)
Tormod: Nah, you just can't see me properly because all of your blood gets pumped to your muscles, away from your brain! [leaves]
Ike: A little touchy, Tormod?
(FE10, Part 4 Chapter 4)
Volke: You’ve grown quite a bit since the last time I saw you.
Ike: Everyone loves telling me that.
Volke: You’re starting to look like Greil.
Ike: That might be true, too. He IS my dad.
(FE10, Part 4 Endgame-1) It should be noted that Ike's dad, Greil, was pretty huge.
Engage also has it remarked upon, with one character saying that Emblems (essentially FE main character force ghosts in-game) are big, and Ike remarking that that's not an Emblem thing, he's just huge. (He's the funniest Fire Emblem main character except for his co-star, Micaiah, Little Miss War Crimes, and I'm barely even biased at all.)
There are in-game stats for height and weight (build/constitution and weight, respectively), as they relate to mechanics -- if one character is significantly bigger and heavier than the other, the smaller character can't rescue them or shove them. Weight varies because, for example, if a character is on a horse, the horse factors into the weight, or if they're wearing heavy armor, etc. Build, for me, is the best indicator of general (not exact) height. In FE9, Ike's build and weight start off at 9, which is pretty average, and then 10/11 upon class promotion. In FE10, his build is 12 and weight is 13, which is on the bigger side -- I'd say compared to other human men in the game, but there are a lot of big guys in this game. Again, he's twenty, so he's probably still growing, and everyone is already remarking that he's huge. I'm almost always gonna go with what the text says, and the text in FE10 says he's huge, pretty unequivocally.
Soren... is not huge. Soren is, debatably, pretty tiny.
If we're going to use build/weight as a metric, and I think for these purposes we have to, then Soren is a 6 build and 6 weight to Ike's 12 build and 13 weight. So half Ike's size. Either way, 6 build and 6 weight is small -- the only people who are smaller than him are a handful of the female characters, including the one with literal bird bones. How much this reflects on his actual height is up for debate -- I think when that FE Engage height math was done, it was determined that, based on his model there, he was probably 5'10", which is obviously not that short, but if that's the case he's probably very thin to account for that weight stat. His father and his eldest uncle, if not also his mother, are very tall, so there is that to factor in. Soren is half-dragon and he ages slower than an average human, so there's potential for him to end up quite tall -- but it could take twenty, thirty years. (Soren is 19 in FE9 and 22 in FE10.) It's kind of a big shrug in his case. I don't think he's particularly tall, but I think it's more up for personal interpretation how tall he is, as opposed to Ike where the text is repeatedly shouting "HE'S HUGE!!!" at you. He is, pretty clearly, quite a bit smaller than Ike.
I'm going to wrap up this insane person analysis with this pretty art of Soren which does nothing to suggest anything height-wise. I just like to look at it.
(PS thank you for reading my fic even though you haven't played the games! It always makes me really happy to hear that people like my writing enough to do that. but also I have like, fully conspiracy theoried my way into believing they'll rerelease the games.)
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There's this specific genre of informational post that drives me up the wall and over. It's basically a collage which may or may not be connected together always with a caption that's either off kilter to what's presented or simply reductive. It would be a collage of a screenie of an article then, for some reason, a google search of article titles then a stat graph of some sort, then whatever social post. What am I suppose to do with an infodump in visual form? It almost feels like filler. You see it everywhere in whatever argument on the internet. It's especially jarring to see people bust it out during a ship war because that is exactly the tone we were arguing in with our long paragraphed metas.
--
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Introduction to Rinea from FE15 (Shadows of Valentia)!
Rinea is set post-canon events. Pre-war, she was engaged to the crown prince of Rigel, Berkut. During canon events, she dies as a sacrifice to the fell god Duma. She has been resurrected and ran away from Valentia for fear of being found alive.
She is currently 20 years old and enrolled in the Ashen Wolves house. Here, she lies low and has taken to learning sword should she ever need it in this new walk of life.
Note to Valentians, excluding Alm, Celica, Berkut, Fernand and anyone of noble birth, she probably will not know you. She has always stayed away from the battlefield until she was forced into it and even then, her soul was already gone by that point.
She is a bit... standoffish, quiet, and skittish, but she can be chatty once you do get her to open up.
Her URL is a portmanteau of gale and güvercin (meaning dove/pigeon), as well as being a wordplay of latter.
Looking forward to writing with you all!
Easy mobile links:
Biography
Stats
HCs
Meta
Mun
#ooc#(( the bio is a wip but should hopefully be finished and up within the week ))#(( simply cannot do any headers or sprites on this go round bois ))
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Your Boyfriend, Blue
I'm fleshing out what my YB is like since I'm rather fond of the idea everyone has a unique YB just for them. Feel free to keep reading!
Stats:
Nickname: Blue
Age: 29
Pronouns: He/Him
Skin Color: Blue
Eye Color: Blue
Hair: He has short hair!
In this universe, everyone is a 'blurbo,' which I am defining here to mean "blob-like character," where your hair/skin tend to match colors, people can be any color, and everyone is even more cartoonishly drawn than normal.
YB, himself, appears much more docile and soft, filling the role of a sub male yandere. YB in this universe is named Blue by his Y/N.
Myers-Briggs Type: ESFJ (extraverted, observant, feeling, judging)
Core Traits: Warm Affection, Energetic, Detail-Orientated
Flaws: Obsessive, Insecure, Hesitant
Quirks: Stalker, Pop Culture Nerd, Aspiring YouTuber
While most YB are antisocial, Blue is really great at fitting in and hiding his antipathy from people around him. He knows you need people to survive, and he makes due. (In a meta sense, he was born later than his counterparts in the other universes and has seen what being a vicious asshole gets you in the end - your Y/N's hatred!)
Blue knows he has a lot of natural charisma and puts it to work. He is very extraverted and people tend to like him. Given how much practice he has put into his façade, Blue is quite good at convincing others that he likes them and he can get along with practically anyone.
Random Factoids:
(As spoken in his voice.)
"I'd have to say my favorite color is purple. Why? No reason. I just like the color." (His Y/N has purple skin in this world.)
"Mmm, favorite food, now we're talking! It's so hard to pick just one thing, you know? If I want to sound sophisticated, I should say I like something fancy, maybe something French? But, if I'm being honest with you, the minute I smell movie theater popcorn, I go feral."
"Naturally, my favorite book changes all the time, but most recently I read This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, and it's blown me away. There's just something about the way those two characters love each other... It's beautiful, and I relate to it, though I don't think I can really explain why. I heard about the book from some guy on Twitter named Bigolas Dickolas."
"So, everyone has a favorite movie, right? Really, it's more like a comfort movie. It's a movie you watch that always cheers you up or just reminds you of the best things in life. There's this silly little movie called Densha Otoko, Train Man in English. It's this Japanese flick that's supposedly based on a true story of some guy who saved a girl from being harassed on a train. He falls in love with the girl, but he's too shy to ask her out. Random people on the internet on a more wholesome version of 4ch*n basically cheer lead him into asking the girl out. Really, the whole movie is sweet. It always lifts my spirits when I see it."
"There's only four seasons, but all of them are pretty good in my opinion. Just when you get fed up with one season, the next one is just around the corner. I guess, gun to my head, I'd pick winter, but I can't really explain why that is. Winter just seems... and pardon my pun... like the coolest time of year. Everything is dark, things are dying, and honestly the cold is used to represent a lot of villains in stories. But, on the flip side, winter is when most people have a lot of holidays and get togethers and the like. Not that I experienced it for myself yet... but, I think winter might be the best season because its easier to justify snuggling up with your partner. Just thinking about pulling someone close under the blankets while you watch a cliché holiday movie... doesn't that sound like fun?"
"Dogs! I love dogs for sure. They are so loyal, you know? Supposedly if you kick a dog, it will still love you, not that I'm advocating for that, but I just think its fascinating for a creature to love so unconditionally. Maybe its weird, but I relate to that a little bit."
Well, that's all I have for now. I really like Blue a lot, so I'll probably post some more random stuff. I might even make an attempt to draw random comic stuff with him in it.
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Greetings and salutations! Brief introduction post to Panette from FE17 (Fire Emblem Engage) below the cut.
Easy mobile links:
Biography | Stats | HCs | Meta | Mun (Please read!)
Pre-war and pre-academy, Panette was originally born to a "religious" family but ran away from home due to a rocky relationship with her parents. This is where she met her current liege. She became a retainer to Princess Timerra by request of the heiress herself after they bonded via wolf riding and pummeling bandits.
She is set a year post-game events making her 19. Currently she is enrolled as a student in the Golden Deer house looking to improve her combat skills to further aid Solm's future queen.
An extra note on her url, I like to mash words together and this one is no different. Her url is meant to be read backwards which is then morifeta; a portmanteau of morir (to die) and profeta (prophet).
I do have some personal goals for her, but those will be explored further down the road so right now I am just here to have a good time. She is a pretty fresh/out of the box muse for me, so I am still working through her voice, but excited to thread with you all!
#(( there's no link for the last two i know but over time.... ))#(( tfw no gba sprite so... poor man's header it is ))
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Feel free to say "no", but can I get an explanation of how diceless TTRPG systems actually work at the table.
I'm not exactly a diceless guy, cause the only diceless game I've played is Godsend (which is an amazing game by the way) but I can give you a brief rundown of how it worked in that game's case. It's actually quite an interesting example because I think it demonstrates a bunch of different things you can do with diceless RPGs:
It's a game about playing gods and their avatars. Each player plays a deity and then each player also controls another deity's avatar. So the game has two different levels at which the game takes place.
Gods don't have stats. Pretty much everything under a god's power level is expressed as an if-then statement. If a thing happens, you can do this. For an example, if you're playing a God of Death and you have the epithet Lord of the Great Dwelling, "When you favour a mortal and that mortal is killed, your Fate goes towards your goal." That's just a thing that happens because you're the God of Death and that's your epithet. Besides stuff like this gods also have a resource called Faith (used for powering miracles and creating followers) as well as Favour (effectively a meta resource that represents which gods in the pantheon you have leverage over. Can be used to invoke effects on other gods and their avatars).
But the gods don't take active part in the world, they can only operate through their avatars (and their main forms of interaction with their avatars are giving them orders and punishing them if they don't obey their orders). Avatars are expressed as more traditional characters with stats and everything. Four stats to be precise: Charisma, Wisdom, Will and Valour, each rated from between 0 to 3.
So here's the thing: characters in Godsend are basically demigodlike, so when they set out to do something, they do it. But the stats are used in those situations of conflict and uncertainty to choose extra benefits and to remove negative consequences. An example Godsend move looks like this:
Unleash the fury of war
When you engage in battle against a powerful opponent (an army, a
champion, another Avatar, etc) that you can harm, you achieve your objective.
Choose any number of additional benefits up to your Valour:
You fully defeat your enemy, preventing them from fleeing, recovering and regrouping; you won’t have to unleash the fury of war against them again.
People see the might of your Divinity and they begin to worship them; your Divinity’s Faith becomes stronger.
You learn something about your true enemy; the GM will tell you something about a Peril.
Finally, choose any number of calamities up to your Will that won’t happen:
You are fatally wounded in the process – you are harmed.
Something or someone important to you or your Divinity suffers unfortunate consequences; the GM will make a Move.
The field of battle is ruined for this Age and the Age to come.
Update the map with a large area (Detriment: devastated). If any terrain feature was located here beforehand, erase it.
Unchosen calamities happen; the GM fleshes out the details.
Some of the things in that Move can lead to other Moves! For an example, if you're harmed it forces you to choose one of your harm options which are potentially deadly. If that Move leads to your divinity's Faith going to +4 then it triggers the End of Days after this scene and you get to do a time skip and commence play in the next age!
So, basically, diceless RPGs can use a bunch of mechanics like expending resources, using resources to leverage other players, abilities expressed as simple if-then statements, and even traditional RPG moves but with the role of dice taken over by a light resource management and forcing players to make difficult choices based on their stats.
But as I said, I'm not a diceless guy exactly, so this is just based on my experience with one diceless RPG (which is very cool and I like it by the way)
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Could you tell more about fairy type? (I personally think that at least they must have made it weak to bug if they wanted it to be "lore")
Okay so Fairy as a type exists because Dragon was broken as shit in Gen 4-5 (neutral STAB coverage is king in competitive singles and the only thing that resisted Dragon at that point was Steel, which basically every Dragon had a coverage move for + the Physical/Special split meant most Dragons could hit off their higher base Attack stats with 120 BP STAB Outrage, and also Draco Meteor existed), but they went too far and created a monster. Fairy's purpose was to introduce more counterplay to Dragon, Dark, and Fighting, three of the best offensive typings in the game and also punish U-turn spam (U-turn is a top-tier move even today because it lets you pivot out of a matchup while chipping the opponent. Literally anything benefits from having it regardless of typing or Attack stat). That's fine as far as it goes, but Fairy also came with amazing neutral coverage (and super-effective damage on Dragon, Fighting, and Dark), which made it incredibly potent offensively because almost nothing resisted it (Poison, Steel, and Fire are all that resists Fairy, and literally all of those types are weak to Ground-type coverage). On top of that, the only types it's weak to on the defensive end are Steel and Poison, both of which are fantastic defensive typings but suck enormous ass offensively. Fairy is so good you can pair it with any other type and it will be an improvement.
Fairies tend to have good stats and half of them have some additional way of Being Bullshit on top of their typing (fuck you Clefable fuck you Togekiss fuck you Tapus fuck you fuck you fuck you), so they've ended up warping the meta around themselves in ways at least as obnoxious as Dragon-types ever did if I see another Clefabke Calm Mind war decide an endgame I'm going to shoot myself in the head
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The Blaze of Glory - a Karlach build
"GODS, it's HOT in here!"
Karlach is a Wildheart Barbarian and Champion Fighter, doing what she does best: charging into battle as a frontliner with a greataxe and setting herself and her enemies a little bit on fire.
[check out my other builds!]
Gameplay Notes
This build makes use of the Hellfire Greataxe, Karlach’s propensity to munch on Soul Coins, and the Heat condition to deal lots of physical and Fire damage. Early game, the build will itemize towards the Wrath condition as well.
Barbarians need high STR, DEX, and CON, which is difficult to manage in game, so I think Karlach is the best party member to put the Gloves of Dexterity on, to ease this burden. That way, you don’t have to put any resources into increasing DEX (+4 is plenty for Initiative rolls and AC). Also, the Amulet of Greater Health will help CON down the line as well.
Stats and Leveling
Final build: Level 8 Wildheart Barbarian, Level 4 Champion Fighter
Level 1 - Barbarian Level 1
Level 2 - Barbarian Level 2
Level 3 - Barbarian (Wildheart) Level 3
Bestial Heart: Bear Heart
Level 4 - Barbarian (Wildheart) Level 4
Feat: ASI+ STR>18, CON>16 [my campaign against odd stats continues]
Level 5 - Barbarian (Wildheart) Level 5
Extra Attack [talk about a power spike]
Level 6 - Fighter Level 1
Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting
Level 7 - Fighter Level 2
Action Surge [another power spike]
Level 8 - Fighter (Champion) Level 3
Level 9 - Fighter (Champion) Level 4
Feat: Great Weapon Master
Level 10 - Barbarian (Wildheart) Level 6
Animal Aspect: Bear [you can carry anything!]
Level 11 - Barbarian (Wildheart) Level 7
Level 12 - Barbarian (Wildheart) Level 8
Feat: ASI+ STR>20
Items
Armor -
Bloodguzzler Garb (1 Underdark)
Enraging Heart Garb (2 Moonrise Towers)
Bonespike Garb (3 Rivington)
Melee Weapon - Hellfire Greataxe (3 Ramazith’s Tower)
Ranged Weapon - [if you need handcrossbows for another party member, choose Giantbreaker (1 Zhentarim Hideout) instead]
Hellfire Hand Crossbow (2 Gauntlet of Shar)
Firestoker (1 Grymforge)
Amulet -
Fireheart (2 Reithwin)
Amulet of Greater Health (3 House of Hope)
Helmet -
Cap of Wrath (1 Grymforge)
Bonespike Helmet (3 Sewers)
Ring 1 - Crusher's Ring (1 Goblin Camp)
Ring 2 - Ring of Self Immolation (2 Ruined Battlefield)
Gloves -
Gloves of Dexterity (1 Creche)
Bonespike Gloves (3 Temple of Bhaal) [these gloves rock, but are VERY annoying to actually get… might be worth sticking with the Gloves of Dex]
Boots -
Linebreaker Boots (1 Goblin Camp)
Bonespike Boots (3 Rivington)
Cloak - Cindermoth Cloak (3 Sewers)
Lore and Flavor
One thing that always sticks out to me about Karlach’s good ending in Avernus (plus the coinciding epilogue) is how clearly and explicitly she returns to her “default” fighting style. Of course, Karlach is no longer a slave fighting in the Blood War, but she’s still running headfirst into battle with her greateaxe (regardless of how she was built in game, I’m nearly positive) - just like the Karlach that we find overheating in Act 1. Given this, I have a much stronger allegiance to keeping Karlach’s fighting style and general gameplay loop very close to her default than I do with other companions. (For example, Shadowheart could be nearly any class combination in game and moving to the countryside with her parents would still make sense. Wyll is going to become a Ranger after his pact with Mizora regardless, and losing his pacted magic feels like the type of thing that would realistically inspire a bit of a respec, so it doesn’t break immersion for me. Anyway, it’s the same with the rest of the companions - you get the point.)
So that’s why this build has Karlach with a greataxe and a commitment to using her overheating engine (aka the Heat condition/Fire damage) to her advantage, despite insanely strong meta builds like Throwserker. I think the Fighter multiclass still makes sense, considering she’s described as a bodyguard and soldier time and time again in the game, and adding one martial class to another doesn’t require too much imagination.
Switching gears to subclass and background, because Karlach’s Outlander background and default subclass of Wildheart always throw me for a loop. She was raised in the Lower City and seemingly spent all her time within the walls of the city - at least, we don’t hear of any extended time growing up in the wilderness like the Outlander background implies. So where does this implied connection with nature come from?
But then she gets sold to Zariel, and is suddenly thrown into the dangerous landscape of the Hells in the thick of the Blood War. Yes, she was a prized soldier of Zariel, but that doesn’t mean she was living in the lap of luxury. While I think it’s very likely Karlach used to have a slightly different backstory (potentially one that plays up her connection with nature more than what we currently have), there is still a lot we can read between the lines. If I found myself in the Hells suddenly, in addition to the loneliness we hear about during her dialogue/questline, I’d also be desperate to see trees and flowers and animals - the natural beauty of Faerûn - again. She cherishes her teddy bear named Clive, she loves the animals we see in the world and the animals that join the camp, and she just generally gives off Mama Bear energy. So I can buy a Wildheart subclass, even if it’s less explicitly obvious than other companions. She likely had to quickly develop a lot of survival skills when she was cut loose in the Hells, which matches with the Outlander background. (What I really want is a mod that remixes a Karlach-specific version of Wild Magic Barbarian with more fire effects that could be flavored as her infernal engine overheating. That would rock my socks off.)
All this to say, I’m sticking with Wildheart Barbarian for this build. There’s also a bit of a motivation on my end to not put Karlach into Berserker (unless doing a throwing build) because I always associate that subclass with Minsc, and this build was created with a No Party Limit run in mind, where I’d end up having both Minsc and Karlach in the party. The problem with this solution, however, is that Karlach’s Bear Heart Barbarian now overlaps (at least conceptually) with Halsin’s bear-focused Wild Shape as a Circle of the Moon Druid. For me personally, I think I’d rather have two characters with bear vibes than two characters in the same subclass, especially since the gameplay between the two will still be quite different. So.
As a final note, the above paragraph waxing poetic about why I don’t want to use Berserker also applies to why I don’t want to use the (incredibly strong) Battle Master subclass for Fighter: Lae’zel has that on lock.
[check out my build disclaimer for info about how and why I don't min/max or completely optimize builds, prioritizing lore and vibe instead]
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so i see you tweet sometimes about gw2 and im just curious about your thoughts on it like, plot wise.
i think the story of early guild wars is pretty par for the course mmo storytelling where im paying mostly superficial attention to the plot and mainly enjoying how fun the game is. but around the time you get to heart of thorns they start introducing enough interesting concepts that you decide its worth paying slightly more attention to.
there was a huge problem in the way guild wars 2's narrative flowed because of the way they handled the living world stuff. i love the living world in concept when it was unreplayable because its just neat to me to be able to take such large story beats in an mmo. where you literally nuke your entire main city and change its appearance. but i appreciate the fact they decided to retroactively let you play that stuff in the end! however making it, in the case of living world season 2, optional to buy, but then not also doing lws1 in the same way? it just meant that you got the story non completely and non sequentially. if you just go straight to core from HoT you have to do soooo much Inferring Shit About This Plot from it. It's like your character blacked out and lost several years of their life. 'hello? commander? its us. the guys who are totally already your best friends'
anyway once i got through HoT then i found myself going back to lws2 specifically to unlock the luminescent armor and the respective ascended trinkets since back pre-lws3 the only stat selectable ascended trinkets were from raids, i believe. and then once again it was really interesting to get the map meta-events recontexualized to me from going through the story. and then after that i was invested enough in these characters to go watch the howeverlong supercut lws1 movie someone had on youtube for anyone who hadnt been there to play through it.
all this to say i think there was a lot of interesting story stuff here that would have helped hook more people earlier on if it had been freely available to play in its intended order. anyway
hot: i feel like it benefitted a TON from playing through this on a sylvari pc the first time because the custom dialogue they give that taints it like all of the npcs are suspicious you are going to fucking turn evil. like the sort of 'youre the coolest strongest character in the world!' stuff never really does it for me. i'm way more into 'youre a very powerful person in an extremely fraught and complex political situation' and HoT really felt a lot more like that, with i think it doing a good job of setting the mood for being In An Active Warzone. i like dragons stand meta a lot in terms of things where gameplay really makes the story hit in a certain way. the challenging, large-scale metas make a better multiplayer use of a high fantasy war shining than a lot of them do. getting events that genuinely do take several dozen real human beings coordinating in real time to accomplish makes there be a sense of difficulty and scale that would be rather punishing and frustrating as instanced single player combat.
i know i kind of talked more a bout the combat than the story. oops. but to me the sort of positive feedback loop between getting more invested in playing the actual game and then getting more invested in learning about the characters to continue to future expansions.
I wish I could speak more about lws3 and PoF but i will be real with you right now. those years of my life are kind of a blur and i do not remember a lot of the story beats right now. lws4 felt pretty weak to me in a lot of ways, pretty disparate from itself. PoF though i had a hell of a fun time with. joko was a fun villain he was serving necromantic cunt.
lws4 was ok. definitely more cohesive overall and had some cool stuff. lws5 i think on the other hand really suffered from a bit of covid slump in its content which i will absolutely not blame them for. I would much rather they put out slightly subpar content during a massive health crisis than they overwork people.
CANTHA, ON THE OTHER HAND. WAS EXCELLENT. DEFINITELY THEIR BEST STORY WRITING YET. i had a blast of a time with it and i was specifically fond of what they did with mai trin, a character i was well acquainted with via getting my ass kicked in her fractal back when she was scale 100. they gave her some INSANE dyke drama. it was catnip to me. she fucked that asura they had toxic yuri i knowww they did. kelly hu did her voice for EoD, who i immediately clocked as stacy from phineas and ferb and was as such predisposed to be endeared to her. also who doesnt love an ex supervillain pirate captain. mai trin you will always be famous.
anyway. that is my extnesive opinion on the plot of guild wars 2. great game everyone play it i have over 3000 hours in guild wars 2.
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