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So... I didn't read about this much - or at least I don't remember reading it: If you are a confused Berserker and are wielding Amra with Riven Gore - you will instakill your party-members if you accidentially hit them with the Amra-Carnage while they have 50 or less health. And I don't mean that they get knocked out. No... they will be really dead, destroyed, gone for good, tschüssikovski. So... if you are like me and have a Berserker (without removing confusion because it's so good with skellies) with Amra and Riven Gore: stay away from that dude like your life depends on it. Because it does. It's one melee and 4 ranged characters now...

Australia's (and Canada and the US) contribution to the fight against climate change...

Hi everyone, I've been trying a playthrough with a Solo SC Fury that (contrary to all my other Solo playthroughs) gets to rest a lot and uses the Empower feature to its full extent. I'm having a huge, huge amount of fun with it. I have to take a little break with this toon because I'm going on a trip that is not laptop-friendly. But before I may potentially report on a build if it's good 'til the end, I'd like to share a few things with the community already: 1) This may have been already noted somewhere, but the +20% range of the Fury on Element spells coupled with the inherently huge range of many Druid spells, plus the +20% range of Far Casting, plus all the AoE size bonuses you can get... mean that you can very consistently harm enemies while staying out of their aggro range (even with non-Elements spells). Simply put, I could cheese a fair amount of the early game and nearly every single high-level bounty by staying on the other edge of the map, pummeling the enemy with high range spells and repeating ad mortem. If you wear the Assassin Slippers or use Invisibility Potions, you can get even more cheesy-cheesy enemy KIAs. 2) Even without so much stinky cheese, you can use the above initial strike from afar to soften enemies with something impactful, let them come while you cast Relentless Storm and/or Call of the Primordials, then go Maelstrom crazy. (see below). 3) Early on, strategic use of Shifting Storm (to deaggro and reset fights) and Storm's Rage with Touch of Rot, Insect Swarm, Hold Beast and Returning Storm can own the absolute crap out of Maje - except Gorecci Street. 4) Later on, I went full PL-stacking, Empower-bonanza and Deltro Helm self-harm rampage. Took all the Empower abilities, all the Elements +PEN, wear Deltro Cage, Deltro Helm, Lord Darryn's Voulge, Ring of Focused Flames... then proceed to 1) hit myself with Great Maelstrom to get a 120%+ lash then 2) Empower (if needed) a Great Maelstrom. So far I've been able to one shot many foes I've never one-shotted before with a non-Strand of Favor build. This is routinely doing 500 DMG per pulse and so, so many pulses. It feels like playing an AC-130 Spectre with an away team on the ground, but High Fantasy RPG style. [Fury - Fire for effect. Good effect on target. Be advised, now danger close. Fire for effect. Good effect, no more tangos.]. 5) When I get back, I plan to complete the build with Stage 3 of Wit of Death Herald (Brilliant), Least Unstable Coil (another Brilliant possibility), and the Vithrak Silk Slippers for a 1-in-20 chance to double cast Great Maelstrom when I need the super cheese.

Hi! So... why not summon Llengrath's Warding Staff as a Warlock, right? Just because nobody else does. And also because every hit with it pushes the enemy into their own Carnage area. That means you are not only doing the normal weapon damage to the initial target but also the Carnage dmg (which ususally only hits enemy bystanders and not the initial target). I think that's not overly powerful but a pretty good use for that staff - and most of all: it's fun.

Just an amusing (to me) observation. For the first time ever (literally!) I rolled a new game and chose Eder as a rogue. Not a fighter, not a swashbuckler. A rogue. (I have the sneaking suspicion that nearly all people also always roll Eder as at least part-fighter.) I don't play many tanky characters, mostly casters. At least in the starting area, the game really seems to assume (esp on PotD) that you have a tank of some sort. Many knockouts and reloads later before even hitting level 2... Was actually surprised by how thoroughly I smashed into a difficulty wall, not even yet at Gorecci St. Not having constant recovery => eder gets knocked out very quickly and my squishy is swarmed. What's particularly rough is that skeletons do a lot of damage if you're not a priest who can Holy Radiance them all away in one go. Learned my lesson, and I'm re-rolling Eder as at least part-fighter. Just a warning in case you're also feeling "adventurous."

Utena 21-23 So the entire black rose arc never actually happened? ....come on now this show is some real bull****.

Speaking of range: there are some spells that work with the Monk's Instruments of Pain. I remember Sunlance did - giving it a ridiculous range of over 70 meters or so... Too bad you can't cast Instruments of Pain out of combat.

Hah, you have a point I just told Maia, to her face, when she asked what happened to Kana. That "I sacrificed him to a blood pool in a skaen temple". The following conversation and what happened was... interesting to say the least. Maybe this honesty thing isn't for me... taking it to the extreme that is.

How about some hopping bugs like, crickets, grass hoppers, mantis. You could craft awesome stuff from them like a grasshopper armor that noticeably imprives your abillity to jump higher and farther.

Yeah, anyway, I don't say that you should use it in priority, just that I think picking both is interesting. In the case of a subclass without Evocation spells, picking Death Ring mitigates the loss of Piercing Burst (esp for Conjurer). (and well, I added Acid KW with BPM, with is good for Chromoprimatic. Really a pity that it wasn't in base game) I think I developped a fear of pierce immune foes during my first run. Now I'm a little paranoid about that. Or maybe also because there is a lot of Pierce resistant too, but it is rarely a pb with MPPB 15 PEN indeed. As a rule of thumb, I like having spells with different damages type or different utility on each tier.

despite the prices, i decided to get a new GPU. Because people tend to snob AMD, the 6600XT dropped from its initial 700 euro price to 550 euro (still 180 over msrp) but i decided its as good as the price will get and i got one. the first thing i noticed over my old RX470 is the power saving that will, over time, pay off for the card. to use freesync i had the the fps limit set to 75 and the old card needed to run at 100W at nearly 80C and the fans at 100% to get me that number and more often than not it didn't get much over 60fps. this one is giving me stable 75fps in all games with 20-40W consumption and the fans off.

My favorite hottie is back, I have decided whatever she says its true Dont you love her imitation of Canadian and American accents

you don't actually have to make the resistance go away/switch between chants. for some reason, the game checks again and re "applies" the resistance chant effect even if it's just refreshing. i definitely have resistance songs that are a single resistance chant on loop, and it works like a charm. it means troubadour can wipe out even tier 3 afflictions really quickly. it's only applied at the start of the chant. which means it is super powerful for a troubadour, who can refresh it every 3s. it is still good for other chanters to start a song wtih, so that when you switch to a song (or after an invocation) everyone gets an immediate 10-pt shield, which has a more immediate lift on your survivability than ancient memory (which is still very good, especially as a follow up to the 10-pt shield). it's also just a general great party utility. plenty of boss fights where it would be nice for aloth to squeeze in a slicken or thrust of tattered veils and actually have it do something. (btw i've seen belranga get up to like 66 concentration, real great to have stumbling words when that happens)

Teacher Arrested At Pearson Airport A high school teacher was arrested today at Toronto's Pearson Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a compass, a slide-rule and a calculator. At a press conference, Premier Kathleen Wynne said she believes the man is a member of the notorious extremist Al-Gebra movement. She did not identify the man, who has been charged by the OPP with carrying weapons of maths instruction. 'Al-Gebra is a problem for us', the Premier said. 'They derive solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search of absolute values.' They use secret code names like "X" and "Y" and refer to themselves as "unknowns"; but we have determined that they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philosopher Isosceles used to say, "There are three sides to every triangle." When asked to comment on the arrest, Prime Minister Trudeau said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of maths instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes." Fellow Liberal colleagues told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by any Prime Minister

Your examples are not correct. Damage reduction (and other percentage based mali) in Deadfire works mostly multiplicative in contrast to damage bonuses that are most often additive. Check out this link to know why: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599/inversions Still not a great chant because of the slash/pierce restriction. Would be a great chant if it was a universal 10% dmg reduction. It removes Concentration from enemies and does a hit roll vs. Will for that. It can be very useful against enemies that you want to interrupt (casters, bosses) but who have Concentration which would normally require you to remove the layers of Concentration (some enemies have more than 10 layers!) with a lot of interrupts. It is very good in combination with "Their Champion Braved the Horde Alone". Because also chants with hit rolls will interrupt enemies if they crit. This one does a hit roll, too - so you are removing Concentration and doing a hit roll with this at the same time. A Troubadour chanting with Brisk Recitation has a chance to interrupt every enemy in chanting range every 3 secs... The hidden awesomeness of this phrase is that it will apply both the 20% recovery bonus AND the 20% reload bonus to all reloading weapons which leads to a pretty phenomenal speedup for all who use an arbalest, crossbow or firearm. That's why Streetfighter/Troubadour (with Sure Handed Ila + Mith Fyr with blunderbusses or with the help of upgraded Wisps that distract you) may reach the highest DPS with reloading weapons. Red Hand + Heating Up + Sure Handed Ila... ouf). Besides that it works for your whole party... --- All resistance phrases are very good because they can make the party nearly immune to all addressed afflictions: - got paralyzed -> chant resistance reduces it to immobilized -> other chant -> again resistance chant, reduces immob. to hobbled -> next time chant hits it reduces it to nothing... But in order to do that the resistance has to go away in between - so it's best to alternate between those chants every 3 secs. That way you can make your whole party quasi-immune to all afflictions that are covered by those chants. Instead of chaining different resistance chants you can also remove the resistance shortly by simply using an invocation (invocations stop chanting briefly). --- Thick as Steel is very good for slow tanky chars who only suffer very little damage normaly and woukd only die from a thousand little cuts. Combined with Ancient Memory it can make you immortal because the little damage that comes through from underpenetrating grazes will get further reduced by this and what comes through can be healed by Ancient Memory. For other chars it's not that useful. --- Many Lived Pass By is extremely good with Brisk Recitation. Every 3 secs there will be a weak skeleton that automatically stops enemies, dies quickly (good with some class abilities and items) and doesn't count towards the summoning limit). If you have a SC Paladin in the party it's kind of mandatory because it provides unlimited Zeal for that Paladin via Divine Retribution. Also a confused Berserker in the party loves those weak skeletons (Blood Storm, Blood Thirst, healing on kills via pet or weapon etc.). In general I consider this phrase to me the most potent one. It has the most universal impact on the battlefield in all situations imo. Never useless. --- Old Siec works with spells. But the draining is limited to the first hit roll of an action iirc. So you will not gain massive amounts of health from the AoE of a fireball. Better used with high dmg single target stuff. Still good though. If you want an ability that drains life from ALL damage that is done (except Wall spells) you need to use the Furyshaper's Blood Ward. It is Old Siec on massive steroid overdose. --- The Long Night's Drink is excellent. It's my go-to chant for Howlers because of Brute Force (Spirit Frenzy + this phrase applies both weakened and staggered with one hit roll - add a Morning Star with Body Blows and you'll attack a very low fortitude defense most of times). -14 fortitude debuff on the fly from CON and MIG loss besides the weakening effects themselves (-health, reduced healing). There are some shady things going on if you apply weakened, deal damage, lift weakened, deal damage, apply weakened and on. Basically it causes more health loss than you actually did deal damage. I did a quick test & analysis two years ago or so but can't find it now. Anyway it's a great phrase. --- Dragon Thrashed is just a shadow of its PoE1 glory. It's pretty bad unless you have a highly defensive and slow playstyle. If you then combine it with Soft Winds of Death and Blackened Plate it becomes quite useful. Best if somebody gives you bonus PEN though and/or lowers enemies' DR because it doesn't have that much PEN (e.g. a Cipher casts Driving Echoes on you). --- My most used phrases are: Mith Fyr, Sure Handed Ila, The Long Night's Drink, Many Lives Pass By

Probably one of the less obscure observations, but Unbending and upgrades only work with hit-based damage and not DoTs, nor does it work with self damage I think (does not work with Blood Mage's sacrifice). If you're looking for a way to mitigate a Paladin's Sacred Immolation damage, just bring a priest or another paladin and use them to suppress the DoT until the fight is over. Conveniently, Paladins also get a soulbound weapon that suspends hostile effects on kill. Speaking of suspending hostile effects, you can have a lot of fun with Forbidden Fist in a similar way. You can use the Fist to your heart's content while your debuffs are suppressed, though you can quickly build up DoT ticks of several hundred damage that will kill you instantly afterwards, so you need Barring Death's Door to survive that. Still, if you can end the fight fast enough, you can deal insane amounts of damage. For me I was playing a Death Godlike Streetfighter/Forbidden Fist which dealt extreme damage by first building up the debuff stacks with Xoti's help in suppressing them, and then murdering everyone while I was at 1 hp.

I'm keeping these things as vague as possible anyway. I have to admit, I don't really know where this is going, but so far the first season (the first 13 episodes) was a good deal better. This one took a page out of Sailor Moon to come up with something five episodes before the end of the season (and show, in Tutu's case). It's not entirely out of the blue, there were hints and bits and pieces that Fakir is... Good job, scriptwriters. If the only function a new character serves it a late-season plot point reveal, then maybe you need to put some revisions in. The setup was there, but the way the reveal went was pretty unsatisfying. Who knows, maybe there's some secret energy being behind the Raven. Like CHAOS or PHARAO 90! Just as long as it isn't DEATH PHANTOM. But... but... I like fun random trash. Heh.

That's why I'm watching and trying to through (or at least a better handle on whether I'd like) all this weird or random stuff I've bookmarked instead of watching Sakura. My OCD for cleaning stuff goes crazy when I have too much, and I have too much by far right now...have to get through some of it. So yeah, don't feel compelled to add even more to your plate by any means, especially given that something like Black Magic M-66 was just fun random trash at best, . I've only seen one episode of Princess Tutu and though I've read everything you've written about it, that was not enough in order for literally anything you say about the show to stick or make sense in my brain. What you wrote here might as well be total gibberish for me, .

Vince McMahon has been a case study in "no, it's the kids that are wrong!" for at least the last decade. The most telling factor is how much happier literally everyone seems when they're, uh, performing elsewhere in the sports entertainment universe shall we say. Despite being over managed you can hardly say that it's well run either and not just because they insist on a load of stupid branding catchphrases. Be interesting to see if WWE is really up for sale. At some point the balance between keeping a very vanilla product line to not offend potential buyers and losing market share will shift.

Okay, so Princess Tutu just introduced Jawas: They're not really interested in capturing R2-D2, salvage or junk trading, but seem to be some sort of clandestine organisation doing something that's been vexing Fakir for a while. Not sure how I feel about introducing a new plot element in episode 21 of 26, even if some of what happened throughout the second season can be traced back to them. Seems to be related to Drosselmeyer's part in the story. Not sure how that ties into the prince and raven story, if at all. Not going to lie, not really thrilled about this devlopment. The episode is also seemingly - so far, at least - a break in a streak of stronger ones. It's weird, random, weird and overall not as good as the ones before. edit: The character in the picture is most likely a one-off, and his only function is to explain something to Fakir, who then proceeds to set out on the path of his "destiny" or whatever it is. Good grief, that took a page out of the Sailor Moon manga book, Ms. Itō, that wasn't the best of ideas, really. Looks like it could be fun, but I'm already pressed for time and drowning in stuff to watch. Yikes...

you really could just play like a normal chanter. you only have to worry about chant synergies with the brisk modal on, because then things can get a little funky (in your favor). for self-buffing chants, i think this is impossible. you would need to get an additional +9s out of your linger, and every +50% duration increase (+10 intellect or troubadour benefit) only gives you 1.5s. Last time I checked, unlike a bunch of other stuff, you don't benefit from many duration-extending effects due to how linger is implemented as something that "overrides" normal spell duration effects (though you can use Wall of Draining or Salvation of Time after a chant has been applied). You also don't get power level bonuses to chants, at least in terms of duration (probably for similar reasons as above, "linger" overrides how most normal spell effects work). So given all that, after including troubadour bonus, you still need 4.5s worth of duration, which is +30 intellect, and since stats are capped out at 35, that seems impossible (e.g. you'd need 40 intellect). So you can get partial uptime on 3 chants, but I don't see a way to get 100% uptime on 3 chants persistently. there is one chant where you could effectively get 3 or more chants uptime. the skeleton summoning chant is kinda broken in terms of duration, so with modest intellect you could already get 3+ skeletons. (the skellies have a duration of 10s adjusted by your intellect; the linger mechanic is broken with them).

I bought both Witch Queen Deluxe + 30th anniversary and Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. Why am I wasting money on games I'll likely not play for several months? Because there was a discount, of course. I am a weak man.

No hard feelings. And as proof, I will tell you that Road 96 was also in my discovery queue, which could be more to your liking.

Speaking of games that matter, Encased reviews are starting to pop up: https://techraptor.net/gaming/reviews/encased-review https://pledgetimes.com/encased-review/ https://thekoalition.com/2021/encased-review-under-the-dome-and-in-my-heart I'm probably picking it up tomorrow. I'll post some thoughts if I do.

I just tried a variant: Berserker/Devoted with Mob Stance and Amra. It's... really wild. Mob Stance gets triggered from every skeleton-kill as well it seems. Edit: ah - it's more that a direct kill of an enemy triggers Mob Stance which then targets a skeleton (bc confused) which gets instakilled which triggers another Mob Stance attack and so on... all those doing Carnage and Riven Gore (if they crit).

SPOILERS A principe captain was wondering where Remaro was. Well... as an honest paladin, I told her the truth. Serafen cursing my name and making a run for it. I find this kinda funny. How being honest can be so damaging to people. Can't wait to see the next time my honesty ruins someone But hey! If you are roleplaying a honest paladin, you gotta stick to it. What's a man without a code right.

I have failed you, Melky. Instead of making cynical posts about another soulless looter shooter I should have been posting about games that matter. /self-flagellates

That blood thirst skeleton combo looks crazy. I think I'll go for a Berserker/Fury Tempest and bring along a Chanter to summon the skeletons. Really excited to try it out, thanks for all the tips and advice!

Yeah well. Being honest doesn't mean you have to take every opportunity to tell people... everything - as if you're drunk and got injected with truth serum at the same time.

Steins;Gate 19-24: Not sure their strategy makes sense since I'm lost. The ending was very satisfying, after all that happened. Steins;Gate OVA: Very unusual "episode". Plenty of funny moments. Okarin's paranoia forces them to stay at a cheap motel and the plane tickets are paid by the others. How can he convince them to do that??? Even Christina put some cosplay on and worked as a waitress, even though she didn't need to travel by plane.

Guys, stop, you make me want to play the game. Or maybe order a Quattro Formaggi. Or both at the same time, what would be real bad for me old arteries.

Agreed about the bigger aoe, that can be useful. Although I generally prefer to kill fewer enemies faster then spread some damage over a larger group. The huge damage difference between MPPB and Death Ring PLUS the fact that Fortitude is often the highest enemy defense means that the use cases for Death Ring were really narrow in my case. It would be very rare that the MPPB would leave enemies Near Death but still alive. Even if it did - with Death Ring they would probably be only Bloodied then. And I don't rely ONLY on Pierce spells. Although you're exaggerating with many foes immune. There are what, like 3 areas with skellies who are immune (1 of them optional, depending on faction), and maybe something like 2 areas with Bog Lurkers. Its not much at all. Even if enemies are resistant, MPPB has 15 base Pen, I think. Add food or something and its 17. Assassin Bonus => 21. Crit: over 30 Pen. It Overpenetrates nearly all enemies you meet. I've still got Ninagauth's Freezing Pillar, Ninagauth's Death Ray, Ninagauth's Shadowflame and even the Ninagauth's Bitter Mooring. Of course can't effectively use Stealth once some of them tick, but its still worth it sometimes (in Turn Based mode Death Ray interacts amazingly well with Stealth - being my No. 1 killer of foes with high AR!).

Yes, it doesn't work too well if you aren't a bit sturdy yourself. Like - glasscannon caster + Edér as Rogue: Unless you start at lvl 4 with Breath Blessings and get him Smoke Veil. That trivializes most early encounters because you can just "solo" them with him (and stop combat by just vanishing after killing a single enemy). I had him as a SC Rogue some time ago and made him into a DoT-guy (Lover's Embrace + Pukestabber and then Gouging Strike + Ring the Bell + Arterial Strike - and Toxic Strike sometimes). He needed a lot of INT boosting equipment but it worked out well. I think most players underestimate how well a quickly applied pile of raw dmg DoTs works against otherwise extremely sturdy enemies (try to storm Arkemyr's Manor early without raw dmg DoTs... ;)). Edér: "Hey, they misunderestimated me!"

from these I played only an Assassin+Soul Blade Mindstalker. absolute beast damage and a fun class to play, I think my favourite character to play so far

Funnily enough, the Russian fleet in the Russo Japanese War actually did far better than it had any right to do given the atrocious political leadership and their strategy may well have worked if not for the incompetence in the army- and it had some of the worst luck possible. Best admiral blown up by a mine, winning a battle- that no one expected them to come close in- until their admiral and everyone on the bridge got killed by a one in a million shot that crippled the flagship and jammed its rudder. Obsolete, badly maintained ships sure, but also handled with almost ludicrous bravery, especially at Tsushima where they must have known they had no chance of winning.

Having intermissions would help, but I'd much rather watch something that's 5 or 6 hours long in the comfort of my home, where it's completely up to me when the intermissions are.

Having played those games back in the 1980s (starting from Ultima IV), I know the general consensus (or at least *a* general consensus, i.e. among those I knew) was that the best games by far were IV, V and VI, and then it went downhill from there. However, all of those three titles are probably too crude to be enjoyed today, but they sure were groundbreaking at the time. With Ultima VII, but somehow the magic was just... gone. However, since you are only coming to those games now and don't have the experience of playing IV, V and VI, who knows how much magic there may be for you. It was very interesting to read your story, by the way. Thanks!

Zack Snyder: "Watch this, I'm going to make a 4 hour version of Justice League." Denis Villeneuve: "Hold my beer..." #ReleaseTheVilleneuveCut

I just watched the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot and while it has some meh parts, it all in all was actually really nice. Very nostalgic and feels more like a family reunion or something like that.

Yesterday I tried creating a character and just checking how the game starts. I must say it does look impressive, in the technical/mechanical sense -- quite a lot of choices. But I also noticed straight away, in the very first dialogues the game starts with, that the writing and voice acting are extremely cheesy. I wonder why that is. Oh well, we'll just have to live with it. Obsidian did a very good job of grown-up writing and voice acting in PoE and Deadfire, whereas Owlcat's Pathfinder games are written and acted at the level of "Beware, heroes! Terrible monsters ahead! We must be brave and put them to the sword. Then, and only then, do we have any chance of making it to the next encounter where we can once again prove the world how incredibly heroic we are!" I mean, there's not even an attempt at good writing here. It's all cliche and cheese. (I thought it was funny, btw, that the game starts with a situation where the PC has been attacked by demons. Plural. And the PC is a first-level character. And (s)he survived. What?! Maybe there's an explanation to this later on, I really didn't go any further than the very first dialogues.)

Next up, Texas going to criminalise wanking, because you’re depriving all those poor little sperm cells of their god given right to become a person… Just kidding, not going to happen, as that would impact the male half of the population. Not misogynistic enough. You have to ask yourself, if the Taliban were running Texas, what would they do?

New fail for me: Plague of Insects is secretly keyworded as Poison, but it does not benefit from the +2PL to Poison effects from Spider Silk Robe....

As a Spellblade you can have 7 grimoires at the ready. The versatility is enormous compared to all other casters. Why use ability points for spells in the first place? By the way: the passive ability Aloth can get from his quest and which lowers the grimoire switching time by 1 second should have been a Wizard passive ability besides Rapid Casting, Spellshaping and so on. Too bad it's not...

It's probably a bit overkill to clarify, but damage received from attacks (enemies or self-targeting) causes interrupts with the Grimoire of Vaporous Wizardy, however the self-damaging component of Blood Sacrifice does not cause interrupts. Not to mention that an Arcane Knight for example can pick Hands of Light which gives immunity to interrupts, prolong it with WoD, and not even require the Fractured Casque.

I still have Monster Prom if anyone missed out on Pathfinder It's basically the same game

For the CP I drew unique icons for every passive in the game - which makes leveling up less confusing. Also it was a ****-ton of work. That alone should be reason enough for you to install it immediately.