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Today I spend 3 hours cutting out letters and gluing them together to form my first blackmail letter. I live next to the national theater, and they rehearse for a special showing of the Oresteia. So I send them a letter saying: Orestes, I know you plan to kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. If you don't want police and the Erinyes to know, leave tickets to the show by the gate to the theatre's yard. A neighbor I'll keep an eye out for any tickets. Maybe they have a sense of humour to match mine The actual letter is in Greek, but I'll provide a photo anyway

I came back to visit the Obsidz board for a change... I’ll try to come back a bit more, maybe. Haven’t done much gaming in the past couple of years. Started working out seriously and painting miniatures (mostly Necromunda). I find it’s a lotmore efficient as stress relief. Really busy in real life these days. Can’t pretty much say what I do in any detail I could accidentally dox myself for the Finns. Litigation with a lot of high profile cases, probably at the top of my career.

A game with no endowment slider:

This.

Same here. If it's possible to choose between RTwP and TB, I'll choose TB every time. I really only started enjoying combat in IE games after fiddling with the auto-pause configuration and finding a good party scripts pack. But even then, I'd have to manually pause the game fairly often. Generally flow is just better in TB, I've found. I hated the way they handled initiative in D:OS2, though. In fact, I think I hated just about everything about combat in D:OS2, except for the fact that the majority of encounters were distinct with their own flavor and there were very few generic "trash pulls" thrown in just to pad dungeons.

Did I mention I am escaping from Alcatraz on Sunday?

Enjoy the game, but feedback is a gift: HIT: Graphical and sound upgrades, definitely added to the combat experience. HIT: Multi-classing choices definitely pushed me to play a few more runs. HIT: Large selection of spells and abilities. MISS: I miss the endurance and health system from POE1 - it was truly a brilliant idea. While we are at it, I'm not a fan of PEN and Armor system. MISS: Main storyline was rubbish... as were the companions... too many sidekicks and not enough depth. MISS: Consumables that replicate signature abilities... cheapens certain classes/spells. MISS: Large number of useless (situational) spells and abilities.

Not transforming into giant anthropomorphic animals is never the awesomer option, sorry.

There's more details than in BG2, but less than in NWN. Most classes gain more abilities than in BG2 (the PnP game is geared toward one character per player, afterall), but I'd say it's a lot less fiddly than 3E (NWN), since you don't have to plan Feats before hand, or spread points around skills and stuff like that. I'm only familiar with the core books though, so I don't know how much stuff there is in all the other published stuff, or how likely they're going to put that in BG3.

Is there crunch mode?

Found it: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/06/06/baldurs-gate-3-announced-from-the-creators-of-divinity-original-sin/

Got bored with my sage lately so I've tested how to get brilliant from talks with gods. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBLFPDNzRSA

Wait until the Council of Vienne...

I just noticed I spent the better part of two hours typing up posts. I seriously need to re-evaluate my priorities here. I think I'm out for now. Especially since this is the third time since TLJ came out that we're having the exact same debate, and I'm pretty sure it will have the exact same outcome as the last two times. Seems pretty close doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. Erm...

It's too hard to classify what a Star Wars fan is and what in the universe is important to them because it's such a huge and varied fanbase. For my part, I loved the original trilogy, hated all but the last prequel, and in the Disney era, I've enjoyed the side stories overall more than the main saga movies. I'm not looking forward to either the Weiss and Benioff or Johnson trilogies but I'll still most likely give them a go and I am looking forward to the Mandalorian and the KOTOR movie if that ever does really happen. 🤓

I wonder if Swen might be pursuing some new type of combat system for this game, something that is a cross between RTwP and TB. Something like that I might very grudgingly be willing to accept. But if it is a typical TB system, especially something like the utterly crappy combat system of the D:OS games, I'll be - very angrily and very bitterly - passing on this game.

When I was a kid if you got in trouble you had a choice between after school detention or three licks with the paddle. Buddy, THAT is a no brainer. Three licks is over on ten seconds and you do not need to explain to your parents why you were late. I figured out early on corporal punishment is a joke. They cannot hit you hard enough to actually hurt you. My dad used to say "boy go cut me a switch" OK, coming right up. 10 seconds later all is forgiven and you don't have to spend an hour in your room or have your Atari (yes I'm old) taken away. If a punishment is not a deterrent how can it be effective?

I much prefer the term "administrative punishment".

^Amen brother. Sometimes I float the idea to my wife to sell all of our possessions and cash out our retirement plans and go live on some inexpensive island somewhere. Then she always calls my bluff and says "okay, lets go" and Im all like "what about medical / dental insurance" and then I go to work.

That's my bad - I understand the options better. If it's simply a passive that comes with the trinket, that's great. I don't like the idea of having a passive added to the trees that you have to spend a point on. I'm with you on the power aspect, and I'm on board for one trinket that really juices up radiance or Interdiction. I think option D is pretty good and I wouldn't be upset if that's how we do it. Needing to use a spell cast from another spell level feels a little off to me, though I'm with you in it being a simple implementation. I understand the experience and power level of getting all the upgrades in 1 cast at higher levels, but if it uses a spell cast, we then have to design these to compete with other spells at that level. If it isn't compelling, then it won't be used, if it's too compelling, then it causes a similar problem as the current "too good" priest spells. Designing "new" abilities feels out of scope for this mod vs. updating existing ones. Something I like about Radiance is that it's per encounter and can be used every encounter without costing the use of something else. It's balanced around that, but with some investment in talents in PoE1, it could become really strong. In this case, with some investment in a trinket, it can become stronger, but doesn't cause the extra problems of competing with other casts. If we can turn interdiction into a similar ability, I think that's worth it's own trinket. What about something more like the Undying Burden, in terms of granting another cast of the same per encounter, but also juicing up all casts? Would that be too powerful? Choose two of these to keep? Glowing Sermon Page (St. Rumbalt flavor text) Brilliant Radiance: your Holy Radiance now deals a small amount of fire DMG to all enemies (Vessels hit are knocked down) Gain ability: Aggrandizing Radiance - once per encounter, duplicates almost all the effects of Holy Radiance (including burn DMG, disposition check, etc.), but grants +4 to each attribute to the priest for 10 seconds and does not heal allies. Gain ability: Inspiring Radiance - once per encounter, duplicates almost all the effects of Holy Radiance (including burn DMG, disposition check, etc.), but gives allies +10 Acc for 8 seconds For Interdiction, I think a separate trinket is better. It's always been a talent choice, and it fits with a different style of priest than Holy Radiance. We can combine the PoE1 traits along with some "style" boosts to similar abilities via PL buff. Singed Scrap of Cloth (flavor text around Durance) Searing Words: +5 PL with Condemnation spells, your critical hits with Condemnation spells lower target Burn AR by 4. Gain ability: Painful Interdiction - once per encounter, as interdiction, but also Weakens targets, +5 Accuracy (10 total with PL boost) Rough around the edges: -5 PL with Inspiration and Restoration spells and abilities

my internal conflict between my desire for money and my hate for work has intensified to the point that it makes me feel depressed. if only i could win the lottery so i can maintain my current lifestyle without spending most of my day doing something i hate but i'm not lucky enough for this... after all, if i were lucky i'd have been born in a rich family to begin with.

You're right. By Star Wars fans I meant more the breed of angry internet ranter we hear a lot these days.

I would say the vast majority of Star Wars fans do not deify everything and make a stink about all the new ones. I consider myself a Star Wars fan. Most people I know in the real world are Star Wars fans. It's a huge IP that spans the breadth of multiple generations. I am sure the new Star Wars area at Disneyland will be packed for years and the next movie to come out will still get lines around the block at many theaters. But yeah, Ackbar is a fun bit part whose race is named after a popular fried food. He should chill and enjoy the paycheck.

Seems to me looking into the full quote of what Mr. Rose was discussing, he was already somewhat disappointed that he was asked to reprise the role only for Ackbar's scenes to get whittled down to him being blown out of the ship and nothing else. That they then asked him to come up front and be - to his feelings - the butt of a joke was just adding fuel to the fire.

I know Star Wars fans like to deify everything in the old movies and make a big stink about the new ones, but claiming Ackbar is a special part of the franchise is a joke.

One thing has been confirmed, though. Brian Fargo didn't lie. He knew that BG3 was in production when he wrote his little message last autumn.

Looks sweet!

Do you mean ”Murder at Baldur’s Gate”? That was the turd of an introductory adventure where they canonized Abdel, who then went out like a punk on the first page. I have 15 feet of d&d books on my bookshelves, that one was the last one added to the list. This: https://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/baldursgate_descent is the new, yet-unreleased one.

He is, in fact, playing one of the most beloved characters in the franchise, and while Ackbar memes are all good fun reducing the character and the actor(s) behind them to nothing but a meme - on set in front of everyone else - when you're the people in charge of Star Wars is completely tone deaf, and the argument that the guy should thoughen up and just because he played a ridiculous alien he's not allowed to be offended (or have any pride in his work for a job well done) is a bit strange coming from you of all people. I'm not saying that "It's a wrap!" wasn't hilarious. It was. The way it was handled was not (much like Ackbar's death in the film was handled terribly) and I understand Tim Rose being offended. Oh, and Mon Calamari are not squids. The squids are called Quarren (both races are native to Mon Cala). Racist.

If memory serves, Abduh died a pretty gruesome death to make way for the return of the father...

Ceremorphosis. The physical transformation takes about a week, apparently. Of course by the time the metamorphosis starts, the tadpole has completely consumed the hosts brain, and the body is just a shell controlled by it.

After playing around with this build in the early levels I can safely dub this the Port Maje destroyer. Seriously, this was the easiest PotD Port Maje intro I had on any class so far. I didn't even need mercs and cleared the whole arena too without any problems whatsoever. Granted I did take Charm beasts for lvl 1 since I will eventually get enough damage spells anyways but now I'm not sure if that was a mistake in the end. The regen of the boar form though is amazing and helped a ton too. I should've tried playing a shifter earlier.

speaking of, all too briefly, Professor Moriarty from two TNG episodes with a guest appearance on Elementary tonight, while Watson's wardrobe winning me over as always

I have a lot of dislike in DivOS2's combat- though I did like 1's a fair bit. And yeah, the encounter design itself was generally good and occasionally excellent, when it didn't also rely on cheap gotcha triggers like starting enemies with excess AP. I ended up enjoying DivOS2 combat mostly by treating it like a puzzle game instead of actual RPG combat. Find the solution, and it's trivial; up until that point it's impossible. Very glad they can't use the same system for BG3, the dual armour and initiative systems were plain bad ideas fixing something that could have been worked around successfully, and worse than the initial problem. Then again, one of the most common 'solutions' to combat in DOS2 was spamming summons, a solution that has a very strong pedigree in the Baldur's Gate games as well.

I think you should consult Jeff Goldblum on this...

Well, we will have to wait for more details to be revealed. I am a bit worried how much Baldur's Gate will be in Baldur's Gate III. I am interested to see what Larian can do with DnD, but will it be Baldur's Gate III? I don't mind if it is turn based, but it would be a change. I like that it is not a direct continuation. I wish coop wouldn't be a big focus, but I doubt that will be the case. So unless they really double down on narrative and characters this time around... does it have anything to do with Baldur's Gates aside from the setting? If it is not story continuation, nor gameplay continuation, or even type of RPG continuation, why is it using the IP? Time will tell I suppse.

Some random thoughts on the trailer: Body horror-themed main story with a full ceromorphosis sequence and hive mind menaces and Lovecraftian interdimensional threats? Sign me up, that does seem very interesting, if not necessarily Baldur's Gate-esque. I wonder how much this new invasion will lean on the illithid content in Baldur's Gate II and so on. Will we see a connection to the Hidden? That sort of thing. On the topic of classic "chosen one" narratives and so on that these games tend to love (the Bhaalspawn being one of them far as I see it), I wonder if we'll see the protagonist in this story assume a sort of Adversary role and the likes. I would expect to see as much from an NPC at least. The game's set a hundred years after the events of Baldur's Gate II which then more than likely means NO MINSC AND BOO. A travesty, this is! Minsc will live, these temporal bonds will not hold his wrath! Boo is outraged! See his fury! It's small, so look close. Trust me, it's there. We will slay those that need slaying! Butts will be liberally kicked in good measure! And if they are indeed dead, then we won't cry for the dead! We won't! Well, maybe a little... but we will staunch the tears with righteous fury!

The problem (for me at least) is that if you declare something as ethically dubious you don't restrict it to yourself. Not as long as you explicitly say so. You automatically project it onto everybody else who min-maxes (in Deadfire). Ethics is not a personal thing, it's a consensus in society as a whole. Ifyou had said that you don't like it, that it's not your cup of tea, that it makes you feel uncomfortable - totally fine. But instead if one reads "ethically dubious" one can't help to feel judged. Saying that you find it ethically dubious is strong stuff. Way too strong for my taste. So bear with me while I rub it in. Using this phrasing either means you a) weren't fully aware of the impression this phrase would make - or b) that you think that you have higher moral standards than people who min-max (in a single player RPG which they play for their own amusement). I hope it wasn't the latter, but the latest "I never min-max" statement, albeit totally fine on its own, reinforces the impression of b). Which I find is a problematic, high-brow mindset to have in general. To be fair you already said that you only mean "ethically dubious for yourself" - but then whenever stuff like min-maxing and cheese comes up in the forums you (maybe unknowingly) send signals for b). As said earlier: some players like to build efficient "min-maxed" characters even more than they like to play them. Like they would build with Lego. Indirectly labeling this as ethically dubious - even if it wasn't meant that way - is not right. Maybe some people find this petty. But this is an important matter to me. You could tell from my first reaction on that matter. Same like the signals that get send when people say something along the lines of "why can't you control yourself? It's so easy to not abuse." I also don't think that this helps anybody in any way. Solution number 1 (only can intimidate once) sounds totally reasonable by the way.

the other sandbox pathfinder adventure path were skull and shackles, which were kinda what we were hoping deadfire would be. obsidian coulda' taken much inspiration from pathfinder's pirates, not least of which were the free sails regatta and neil spicer's island. unfortunate for owlcat, obsidian just did pirates. carrion crown might be a good option, and one shady would find inherent intriguing. vampires. well, not just vampires, but all the traditional gothic horror stuff. the thing is, we believe carrion crown were paizo's best effort towards making non-combat gameplay central to an ap. could achieve many/most goals w/o combat. regardless, gots the werewolves and vampires and even frankenstein stuff which some people like and also has unique non-combat opportunities owlcat would no doubt screw every which way so as to make Gromnir regret ever suggesting carrion crown. win-win, no? HA! Good Fun!

Die Ventrue scum. Remember Carthage.

”Generally, the only way a vampire changes generation is through diablerie. When a Cainite diablerizes a vampire of lower generation their generation decreases by one or possibly more if the victim was particularly potent. There are other, much rarer, methods of changing generation, but they usually involve powerful sorcery and are closely guarded secrets.” Nephie, you're alive!!! ...Also the game will suck....pun not intended.

Welcome back

Like Casper said, you don't have to pick a side. However ... some thoughts. 1. The Principi: Yep, they're pirates. They're not nice people, and yet some of them are willing to help the downtrodden. However, others are slavers. They're basically a loose crime syndicate. They will thrive as long as there's chaos in the Deadfire. 2. The Rauatians (Royal Deadfire Company): They're expansionists, colonizers, and perhaps conquerors. But they don't really seem to be fascists looking to kill all the locals. They seem to believe that they can bring order to the Deadfire and make things better for people (at least "better" as they see it). Of course, to do that means that they have to conquer it from its current rulers. So it's far from bloodless. 3. The Valians: They seem like exploiters. They don't seem particularly interested in conquering the Deadfire so much as stripping it of whatever they can find that's valuable, and then moving on. There certainly seem to be honorable Valians (Pallegina being an example), but they're tied to a nation with less than honorable goals, or at least less than honorable means of achieving those goals. 4. The Huana: They're the locals who are traditionalists. Actually, that's about the extent of what I know about them. Oh, they don't want to be taken over or exploited or raided. But beyond that, I'm not really sure what they want yet. I probably haven't talked to enough Huana to get a firm grasp on what they want. I think that the message in the game is that none of the goals of these factions can be achieved without getting your hands dirty. Heck, it seems that even if you don't side with any faction, you're still getting your hands fairly dirty, given that one of the Watcher's main jobs is being a bounty hunter and that's far from a bloodless task. Of course, one assumes that all of these bounties are for people who probably do belong on a "needs killing" list. OTOH, I'd imagine that the Rauatians don't exactly see one of their captains as deserving of being on someone ELSE's list (for example), though I must admit that I often try to avoid having Maia in the active party when I accept and carry out a bounty on a Rauatian, or Pallegina and a bounty on a Valian. I guess that there is no path for a white knight. You are forced to decide which faction you (or your role-played Watcher) find least objectionable, and how much blood you want on your hands. I will say that perhaps it is a shame that there's no white knight path through the game, since how do you role play a Watcher who truly is meant to be a white knight in an environment where every faction has blood on their hands? I guess that picking no faction is the best option left for the white knights.