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Donald Trump now has the opportunity to do the funniest thing: deport Musk back to South Africa.

(This was posted on another forum for Deadfire but thought I would share it here as well) Alvesa was born to minor Vailian nobility who've spent generations wandering Eora in hopes of restoring the prestige and wealth lost in the fall of Grand Vailia. A genteel disdain for any labor or trade seen as beneath their former station, however, has made it difficult for the family to improve their lot in life. While other expatriates from Old Vailia found success in profitable business ventures with the Republics or blighting the trade lanes with the Príncipi sen Patrena, Alvesa's family continued to drift from port to port, clinging to their faded pedigree and dwindling family fortune. Young Alvesa did not inherit her family's delusions for a bygone past and instead took this lesson to heart: “Accept no truth but your own.” Eschewing materialistic concerns, Alvesa turned towards the spiritual and became initiated in the mysteries of Wael whose domain of revelation appealed to a poor, itinerant child unmoored by the earthly attachments of her family. Not content to scour only libraries or temples for knowledge, Alvesa would also explore the back alleys and slum of the cities where her quick wit granted her access to the kind of illicit and disreputable dealings that her family never would've deigned to dirty their hands with. Undeterred by even the revelation of her patron god's true origins, Alvesa continues to seek out truth by uncovering the many mysteries of Eora. As someone who loves making a lot of crit-focused builds, I really appreciate Priests as an invaluable source of accuracy with their party-wide buffing spells. Because of that particular emphasis, I also tend to not want to multiclass them too often as I don't want to delay their access to these crucial spells. By a similar token, I also find action economy an issue with Priest multiclasses as they need to devote a lot of their time getting out their buffing spells before they can perform any other function. One of my personal white whales for a Priest multiclass has been finding a combination that not only justifies their slower ability progression from multiclassing but also overcomes the possible dilution of effectiveness by tacking on an ill-suited role to the Priest's kit. I believe this rather unorthodox Priest of Wael/Trickster build solves these issues by using several techniques and pieces of gear that allows them to not only get out their buffing spells in a timely manner but also lets them serve as a capable frontline fighter, profiting directly from their own buffs, and a disabler par excellence who can become a veritable gorgon able to turn their enemies to stone and keep them locked down for much of the encounter. Character Creation Class: Zealot (Priest of Wael + Rogue Trickster) Race: Ocean Folk | Culture: Old Vailia | Background: Dissident Other than the multiclass selection, these elements can change depending on your roleplaying preferences. Besides the thematic considerations, the Intellect and Stealth bonuses from my character creation choices also happen to suit the build mechanically. Attributes 10 Might | 3 Constitution | 18 Dexterity | 18 Perception | 19 Intellect | 10 Resolve This attribute distribution is fairly unusual and will probably seem controversial for a build that will also function as a frontline melee striker. The low Might is slightly counteracted by spells and supplementary damage buffs, though it should be accepted that this build won't be much of a healer unfortunately. The low Resolve score is similarly mitigated by the plethora of defensive spells available to this build. However, there is simply no getting around the liability of the low Constitution score, and some care and compromises must be taken with this build due to their low health. (If you play with the Berath's Blessings attributes bonus, I would definitely sink the extra points into repairing the Constitution score and slightly raising Might or Resolve for an overall smoother experience). The high Dexterity, Perception, and Intellect is in service of efficiently getting out spells and maximizing action economy and the efficacy of their crowd control ability. Skills Active: Stealth Passive: Bluff Stealth should be pumped exclusively because it will help action economy, which I will get into later, and also increase melee damage. You have more leeway with the passive skill choice. Keep in mind that Priests of Wael have Shady as one of their favored dispositions, and Bluff often acts as a corresponding skillcheck for a lot of Shady dialogue options in the game. However, you don't necessarily need a high Bluff in order to max out the Shady disposition, and disposition bonuses for Priests in Deadfire only affects the healing potency of Holy Radiance spell (and this build won't be doing a lot of healing) and the damage potency of your summoned spirit weapon, which this build won't be using at all. In short, feel free to let roleplay dictate your passive skill choice – I actually chose a mix of Streetwise and Bluff for this playthrough because it matched my character's background. Weapon Sets 1. Stalker's Patience + The Eye of Wael 2. Variable Equipment Devil of Caroc Breastplate, Whitewitch Mask, Charm of Bones, Cloak of the Theocrat, Gauntlets of Accuracy, Ring of Overseeing, Ring of Prosperity's Fortune, Girdle of Eoten Constitution, Footprints of Ahu Taka Abilities – (bolded are auto-learned abilities) 1: Arcane Veil, Arkemyr's Dazzling Lights | Suppress Affliction, Interdiction, Escape, Defensive Roll, Fast Runner 2: Ionic Projection, Mirrored Image | Two Weapon Style, Weapon and Shield Style, Dirty Fighting 3: Mirrored Image, Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage | Dire Blessing, Combat Focus, Riposte, Bear's Fortitude, Snake's Reflex, Bull's Will 4: Llengrath's Displaced Image | Devotions for the Faithful, Adept Evasion, Persistent Distraction 5: Confusion | Champion's Boon, Tough, Farcasting, Rapid Casting, Uncanny Luck, Deep Wounds 6: Arkemyr's Wonderous Torment | Salvation of Time, Improved Critical, Spell Resistance 7: Gaze of the Adragan | Deathblows Strategy You may be wondering why this multiclass chooses Priest of Wael and Trickster as their subclasses, given that they offer seemingly redundant access to automatically learned Illusion-keyworded abilities at every ability tier. This is a deliberate choice as it enables the build to A) not have to invest in active abilities as much and instead put those ability points into passives that amplify their strengths and fortify their weaknesses and B) have two resource pools to draw from to use these powerful, cross-class abilities. The endgame, centerpiece ability is Gaze of the Adragan which this build will be able to cast multiple times as both a spell and as a Rogue ability that costs 2 Guile per use. With bonuses that give additional points to the Rogue resource pool such as The Devil of Caroc Breastplate and the Adratic Glow bonus you get from paying for a dip into the Luminous Bathhouse's pool, this build is able to cast Gaze of the Adragan a whopping total of SEVEN times every encounter when using up all its Guile and AT7 Priest spellcast. This build also maximizes the duration of every cast of Gaze of the Adragan by every means possible, including A) power level bonus from the Illusion-keyworded gear Whitewitch Mask and the The Eye of Wael, B) high accuracy enabling crits which gives a bonus to duration on debuff spells, and C) high native Intellect further boosted by items such as the Charm of Bones and Cloak of the Theocrat. Furthermore, Gaze of the Adragan when used as a Rogue ability is technically an AT6 ability (though Tricksters still only get access to it at AT7) which means that it gets additional, native PL scaling for a slightly longer duration compared to the Priest version – this is actually very beneficial as the bulk of this build's Gaze of the Adragan usage will be from its Rogue side (though this does mean that they don't benefit from Rapid Casting, which is a small downside). Before going any further, I should explain why Gaze of the Adragan is such a good ability/spell that's worth specializing a build around. It's most noteworthy feature is that it applies Petrified, a Dexterity Affliction that is functionally identical to Paralyzed but technically counts as a tier higher than Paralyzed which is already at the highest Tier 3. This means that even enemies who have Dexterity Resistance (such as the common Wood Elf among kith enemies) will only be able to downgrade Petrified to Paralyzed, thereby still suffering the identical effects of being completely locked down. This doesn't make Gaze of the Adragan's Petrified effect the be-all and end-all of all crowd control abilities because there are still enemies with outright Dexterity Immunity or Body Immunity who can nullify it, but it does make it just a little more effective among the other hard crowd control Afflictions. Petrified/Paralyzed also grants a hefty hit-to-crit conversion against afflicted enemies, a feature that this build will also exploit to maximum effect. The way this build manages action economy issues as a spellcaster hybrid that needs to get out several lengthy buffs before moving onto any other action is mainly through Stealth. While in Stealth mode, actions get a -85% recovery reduction bonus which allows for a speedy follow up action. What might be unclear is that non-hostile abilities do not break stealth mode, meaning classes such as Priests with multiple non-hostile, party buffing spells can cast several in a row while benefiting from the drastically reduced recovery time. By investing heavily into Stealth and placing them further back into the formation so that enemies don't inadvertently bump into them, this build will be able to cast the requisite Devotions for the Faithful and Dire Blessing spells at the start of combat to boost their overall accuracy without being slowed down too much (do note that Devotions for the Faithful has a hostile, enemy debuffing component to it so you should be careful not to also hit any enemies with it lest it break you out of Stealth mode). After casting these spells, this build still has an AT3 and AT4 spellcast to use on Mirrored Image or Llengrath's Displaced Image, which should be used separately as the other wears off since their deflection bonus won't stack concurrently; this is both an action and resource economy save as it uses Priest spellcasts to activate defenses, saving Guile to be used for Gaze of the Adragan, and they are instant cast spells. The build also has double castings of Salvation of Time to further extend any of its buffs as needed. While it's not an Illusion-keyworded spell, the PL1 Arcane Veil eventually gets up to a decent duration with power level scaling, giving the build yet another fallback defensive spell to have in a pinch. Once accuracy has been pumped up, defenses boosted, and enemies locked down, this build is able to join the fray to great effect thanks to their dual-wielded Stalker's Patience and The Eye of Wael loadout. While a dual-wielded ranged and melee configuration may be suboptimal on a class like Rogue with Full Attack abilities in normal circumstances, this is less of a concern on this build where all Guile is being spent on Gaze of the Adragan anyway. In fact, the split weapon types is actually ideal in this situation as it means only the spear will attack when in melee distance and the scepter will only attack while at range. Dual-wielding a melee and ranged weapon at the same time like this is a useful technique when you want to profit from the Two Weapon Style passive and have a weapon with an effect that you want to maximize the chance of proccing, and this is true with both weapons. In the case of Stalker's Patience, it has an incredible enchantment that gives it a chance to instantly recover on crits, which means this build's high accuracy and crit conversion turns into a high volume of potentially chainable, instant-recovered attacks. With Rogue bonus damage modifiers like Sneak Attack, Deep Wounds, Deathblows, and the spear's enchantment that grants a damage bonus that scales to the build's synergistically high Stealth score, this weapon is optimized to dish out a lot punishment in a small window of time, delivering devastating coup de graces against their helpless foes before Gaze of the Adragan wears off, whereupon they will cast it again and continue preying on their enemies. The same principle applies to The Eye of Wael, which isn't just an inert statstick that amplifies spells for this build but a decent ranged weapon in its own right. If the Priest of Wael/Trickster is out of spells, or their defensive and accuracy buffs wear off, or they're facing pierce-immune enemies, or it's just too dangerous to go toe-to-toe with a boss, they can fade back to range and blast things with their scepter. The Eye of Wael delivers slash/blunt damage to diversify the spear's pierce damage and will benefit from the increased action speed of Two Weapon Style while attacking solely with the scepter at range. Like Stalker's Patience, The Eye of Wael has a chance to proc effects including debuffing Illusion spells and random Afflictions, making it so that build can still profit from Deathblows/Sneak Attack and debuff enemies even after they've run out of spells. It even has a chance to make you semi-invisible – though it's not a true invisibility that works with effects like Assassinate or Backstab, it does prevent enemies from attacking you and serves as a nice defensive effect. In tandem, I think this weapon set is a neat package that fits the craftiness and ingenuity of a Priest of Wael/Trickster character. This build so far has focused mainly on the endgame with a setup that doesn't come online until AT7/Level 19 for a multiclass, which may seem shortsighted. The cool thing about this build though is that its access to free spells and abilities at different ability tiers and via different resource pools allows it to continually take on different iterations and change up its configuration as it levels up. So for the early game at AT1, you will notice that I place a lot of stock in abilities that apply Dazed or allows you to break free of engagement; this build was played on POTD difficulty with all upscaling, and I developed a healthy respect for being able to displace and get out of danger in the early game when this build is at its weakest. However, as soon as AT2 is reached, this build can start to more comfortably stand on the frontlines as it will be able to use its Guile to cast Mirrored Image for a hefty, repeatable deflection bonus. I also take Weapon and Shield Style and opt to wear a small shield like the Outworn Buckler which doesn't come with an accuracy penalty. You can wear a medium or large shield if you find you need even more deflection, however I wouldn't take any bashing shield as it will take away attacks from Stalker's Patience and be an overall reduction in DPS (and you can of course respec out of Weapon and Shield Style later in the final form of this build). AT3 is where it gets interesting because you then get access to Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage, an aura that Terrifies foes. This gives you a short-range hard CC effect where your high accuracy now becomes part of your defense, disabling enemies all around you and making it a very decent stand-in Rogue ability to spend your Guile on until you unlock Gaze of the Adragan later. The spear's modal ability and shield setup actually remains a relevant loadout with Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage as it provides additional engagement to help you farm disengagement attacks when enemies try to flee from your aura. You can supplement this later on with Persistent Distraction and Champion's Boon (though do note that the later's Might Inspiration doesn't stack with the Might coming from Devotions for the Faithful) for even more engagement slots. Another school of thought is to equip a morning star for its modal effect that drops enemies Fortitude by -25 since the Terrify aura targets Fortitude. This is more if you want to go all-in on with using Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage as your main form of defense, but I think it makes your more vulnerable against ranged/backline enemies since the Terrify aura will only reach immediately surrounding enemies and I actually think Stalker's Patience and its instant-recover will end up out DPSing even the two-handed morning star, especially when it has its negative damage modal active. Another setup that you can use before the endgame is going ranged with a rod weapon; I really like Rod of the Deep Hunter on a Rogue multiclass, especially one with high Intellect, because the AoE effect added by the Blast modal and its stacking deflection debuff can lead to some juicy hits. With a more dedicated ranged setup, you can wear lighter armor, respec into Two-Handed Style, and use your Guile more for active Rogue attack abilities rather than frontline defenses. Yet another option available to this build is going with the previous suggestion but using the Spiritual Weapon spell to summon Priests of Wael's unique scaling Rod weapon, which also has Blast and a scaling Shock lash – if you've maxed out your Shady and Clever dispositions at that point, it could be a very effective delivery system for AoE damage. As you can see, you have a lot of interesting ways of transforming yourself to tackle challenges at different stages of the game, sort of mimicking the shifting visage of this build's patron god, which I think is very thematically fitting for a Priest of Wael/Trickster.

My daughter graduated from High School and is heading of to SFSU in the fall. It has gone by way too fast!

My nephew has badgered me into playing Satisfactory. At least he's the one having fun building the factory while I'm mostly off killing stuff, doing research and crafting equipment. The factory's a jumbled mess of conveyor belts and pipelines and storage containers. Pretty much what you'd expect from a 12 year old.

Unconventional Wildrhymer based on summons and ranged damage Hi all! Eventually, my second long-awaited build for PoeII Deadfire is finally here. I don't remember exactly how this build was born in my head, but I thought about a young little woman pale elf with a lovely pet as a friend and a cute family in the White that Wends. I don't know why, who, when and how, at some time her nice pet and her beatiful family were massacred by only gods know. She became eager to help all the weak people in difficulty, she began to not tolerate the abuses of the strong and her spirit of revenge, together with the bond she had with her loved ones, became so strong that she learned to evoke the souls of her deceased loved ones and of her pet bear (Oëdenläff) to help her in her battles. (Now follows a series of reasons for my choices) Pale Elf Wildrhymer (Beckoner / Ghost Heart) - The "Summoner with Warm Heart and Cold Gaze" "Be careful: I'm not as alone as I seem..." - Laerne's warning to ill-intentioned people Name: Laerne PoTD/SOLO/ULTIMATE: YES - You can beat all contents, also all Mega Bosses ( and without too much cheese ) Game Version: ver. 5.0.0.0040 with all FREE DLCs and all DLCs ("Beast of Winter", "Seeker, Slayer, Survivor" and "The Forgotten Sanctum" plus "Mega Boss Battles") Race: Elf (+1 DEX, +1 PER) Subrace: Pale Elf (Elemental Endurance: +4 Burn Armor Rating, +4 Freeze Armor Rating). Almost any other choice would have been better, made only for RPG purposes Classes: Wildrhymer - Beckoner (+1 Bluff, History, Arcana, Sleight of Hand and Diplomacy) / Ghost Heart (+1 Diplomacy, Survival, Alchemy, Stealth and Bluff) Culture: The White that Wends (+1 PER). It's my RPG culture and besides, +1 PER is perfect. Background: Mystic (+1 Arcana, Metaphysics and Religion). A summoner of ancient spirits seems good as a mystic, and bonus to Arcana and Metaphysics is good for us Pose: Pious (To connect more with the spirits and pray for them to manifest ;P) Berath's Blessing: NONE --- Attributes: base (with permanent effects collected through the run) Mig: 10 (10) Con: 6 (6) Dex: 18 (20, +1 as Elf, +1 Cauldron Brew) Per: 18 (20, +1 as Elf, +1 The White that Wends) Int: 18 (18) Res: 5 I like to MAX INT, DEX and PER attributes often for my characters, but in this case there are also valid reasons to do that. INT is essential for the range of phrases, for the duration and range of skills and especially summons; PER is always important in SOLO (to discover hidden objects) but as a Ranger it can be lowered a little; DEX as a Chanter is not important if it is maxed out but as a Ranger it increases DPS a lot and is still good for speeding up spells and summons. MIG is less important for DPS (I use PER and DEX for that and summons do a lot of damage) but I don't want to dump it, also because it is needed for STR and healing (even if this can be increased quite easily). I don't want to dump CON and RES either, with low scores as you play easily, wanting to bring the skills to 7 or 8 you can take away some points from PER and DEX if you want. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Skills score There are no particular reasons to use one or the other of the skills, during the game I MAXED Arcana a few times because with high PER certain scrolls are devastating - see for instance these "Storm of Holy Fire" damages against Hauani O Whe: Alchemy to be able to increase the effect of drugs and potions to a great extent and Metaphysics for the effects of certain objects (Essence Interrupter ); the latter, in addition to being very useful, is also perfectly relevant to the character For hard battles (i.e. Megabosses) you need often specific skills: see the videos below. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abilities I respeced and experimented many times through the run, so I'll do a resume of how I'd do the build now, after my run: which skills have I used most often and which have been the most useful. For hard battles (i.e. Megabosses) you need specific build: see the videos below. Level 1 Beckoner (free) Invocations summon twice the number of creatures. The chanter's summons are smaller and have half their normal health. Summon Invocations cost +1 Phrases. Nothing special here, half health is not a great problem with healing, +1 Phrases is a heavy drawback but we can use more times early level summons but DOUBLE creatures is insane sometimes Ghost Heart (free) Immune to Bonded Grief. Animal Companion is immune to Engagement. Must actively summon Animal Companion during battle (costs Bond and has a duration of 30.0 sec). Companion is considered a Spirit and is affected by Spirit-targeting powers. Animal Companion cannot be healed (Unable to learn both Heal Pet and Revive Pet abilities). As I said, I pick GH above all for charcater history and because I like playing LITERALLY SOLO, but for the sake of analysis my considerations follow. No Bonded Grief is pleasant, nothing disatrous but nice to have. Immune to Engagement: also said before, it is good having the AC run to one foe and keep him busy with no time wasted - underrated ability. You must summon your AC: bad thing because you waste bonds for it, but this build doesn't need many bonds, summon is very fast and with high INT it lasts a very long time. Companion is a Spirit: I never noticed it, not actually a drawback. AC cannot be healed: ROTFL, we heal as a Chanter: not a drawback. Bear Companion: picked above all for RPG purpose (I like the idea of a little Pale Elf Woman friend of a White Bear) but Bear is tanky with +2 AR and is larger than other AC, thus he can block better the foes in some situations. If their Bones Still Slept Under that Hill, None Can Say I picked up "The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas" to keep foes away, but if I started again I'd choose "If their Bones Still Slept Under that Hill, None Can Say" because 6 skeletons help a lot and its upgrade is useful late game, too. Come, Come Soft Winds of Death Not so much to choose here, but you need a Phrase and "Come, Come Soft Winds of Death" at least is a healing source early levels, but it is not so effective and it losts value late game. Marked Prey No brain. +10 ACC versus a foe is huge late, mid and end game. Weapon Proficiencies Dagger (Parrying Blade some defense when we are forced in melee. Hunting Bow (Rapid Shot we have high ACC so we can increase DPS a lot with more speed. Level 2 Arms Bearer More choices, more chances of damage, more fun! Level 3 The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas Ok, eventually I pick this one. Not much else better and a source of Stunned in AoE with few bonds is always appreciated and it can save your back also late game. Alternative: Fast Runner, but you can increase stride also with equip. Level 4 Two-Handed Style I used ah huge amount of tow-handed ranged weapons, so this is obvious. Marksman +5 ACC almost always. Nothing else to say. WP: Pistol (Rushed Reload) Same speech made with the hunting bow AND it is important for Eccea's Arcane Blaster Level 5 Shot on the Run Gunner can be better, but we are often using also bows, so Shot on the Run seems a better choice. Level 6 Gernisc Slew the Beast, but Soon Faced Its Kin Six ranged wurms with fire attack can do the difference in many situations. Level 7 Ancient Brittle Bones Six skeletons who died and splits in twelve, and the latter don't count as summon total? Oh yeah - tanky funky And if they don't make huge damage, 12 or more little skeletons who hit a foe, count for "on hit" effects Evasive Roll Cheap cost, great panic button and on the top, a source of Quick… believe me, you'll always miss it if you've tried it at least once. Alternative: Marked for the Hunt, but not always you face many foes at once and you can choose the following target… Level 8 Sure-Handed Ila Nocked Her Arrows with Speed Less reload and revovery time, more speed, more DPS. And it is good with your ranged summons. Do you remember the wurm from before? WP: Crossbow (Interrupting Shot) A never ending source of interrupts. Why not? Level 9 Ancient Memory Wonderful infinite source of AoE (for summons and companion) healing. Also with mid MIG we can exploit it. Level 10 ...and Their Screams Reached The Heavens Why have wurms if we don't use their Screaming Breath? Alternative: The Lover Cried out to the Beloved, "I am Yours!" - An AoE Charme, if you are satisfied with "regular" wurms. Hunter's Claw Not for itself but rather for its upgrade Alternative: a passive like Gunner or Two Weapons Style or Weapons and Shield Style. Level 11 The Brideman Slew Thirty 'Fore They Crossed Half the Hall Strong and Steadfast for you and yours summons/companion. Not bad. Alternative: ...Its Crash Could Not Be Denied, if you enjoy stunning people, +15 ACC is always welcomed Level 12 At the Sound of His Voice, the Killers Froze Stiff It is a no brain choice, more with high ACC and INT. And it is an alternative to Stunned and/or enemies with high Reflex. Companion, Skeletons and Wurms are enough for us and alternatives chanter summons are not so good or important to pick up. Alternative: The Long Night's Drink Birthed the Revenge of Morning - a source of Weakened and a -14 debuff to Fortitude, I didn't think so but it is an underrated Phrase. WP: Medium Shield (Block) 30% complete resistance to attacks is huge when we are in trouble somentimes. Alternative: you can experiment with Magical implements modals, such as Scepters (Destructive Channeling) or Rods (Blast). Level 13 Rapid Casting Speed can make the difference between life and death. Always picked up in my runs. Practiced Healer Wait! Why not Driving Flight?!?! Well, like Marked for the Hunt not always we are facing more foes at once and we need to compensate mid MIG for healing capability, besides it synergies with chanter healing abilities and everyone benefits from it (summons and AC). And if we stack Healing buffs, we can heal like no one. Level 14 The Bride Caught their Ruse and Set to Make them Pay AoE lasting Quick and Insightful - no brain. Alternative: Gernisc's Beast Lit the Night with his Breath - ok, you can have fun with it, but Dragons are not as good as you can hope Level 15 Tough We have not a large reserve of health and we often need it - trust me. Alternative: Together They Slew Forth a River of Red or ...And Their Fear Followed Them into the Foothills - improve previous Invocations with nasty effects. Level 16 Quick Summoning Mandatory for a summon-based build. Hunter's Fang Balnce out for our mid MIG. It does wonder with Boss and megaboss (se the videos below). WP: Large Shield (The Wall) Useful when you search refuge versus projectiles and/or need more REF. And I have used two unique large shields extensively during my run, and of ot them has a enchantment that works with this WP. Level 17 Survival of the Fittest More ACC is Always welcomed, even if we have already high ACC. With high defense values of some foes it is envaluable. Level 18 Improved Critical Plenty of choices here. I'd prefer this one because with our ACC we score many Crits thus we are improving our DPS, and a passive ability is more advisable than active one usually. But you can go for an alternative with no worries. Alternative: pick an upgrade of a previuos Invocation, i.e. ...Each Kill Fed His Fury because +5 CON helps us a lot; or have fun with So Singt thy Biting Winds o' Eld Nary but Tornado is quite clumsy in my opinion. Their Champion Braved The Horde Alone is good for PEN buff, but you have already The Brideman Slew Thirty 'Fore They Crossed Half the Hall who give more MIG. With our excellent DPS Old Siec Would Not Rest 'til His Hunger Was Sated works very weel, instead. Level 19 Called to His Bidding, the Ancient Instruments of Death And finally, our SIX animated weapons full of self healing and their own abilities! Superior Camouflage +8 DEF against ranged attacks when we are almost always far from the fight, is our bread. Alternative: ok, you can pick Driving Flight because is a great DPS enhancer all in all Level 20 Many Lives Pass By, Each Leaving Footprints Sometimes, without it, you wouldn't be able to win certain battles. A free skeleton invocation. Alternative: Mercy and Kindness Followed Where'er She Walked if you want a more healing-oriented build; Set to Their Purpose, They All Knew Their Part because more INT more the summons last. Or have fun with Boil Their Flesh From Skin to Bone seeing enemies explode when they are almost dead WP: War Bow (Overdraw) Most because to be considered a ranged weapon specialist. Or follow advices of level 12. Watcher's Abilities Wit of Death's Herald Taking always sassy responses to Gods, you have a source of "Brilliant". And Laerne has a bold personality No Time for the Lost More duration to Beneficial Effects, Less duration of hostile effects - it's the best choice, but it doesn't make so much difference,RPG-wise you can also go for Mercy for the Lost. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Equipments Weapons There are three weapons I've used in my run more than the others: Frostseeker, Essence Interrupter and Eccea's Arcane Blaster. Frostseeker comes relatively early and it has three properies that make it vry good for us: it is multi-shot, it has 2 different damages and it has an AoE effects. The best choice early/mid game versus groups of foe. And it is perfect from RPG point of view! Essence Interrupter can be bought almost immediately, it has 2 (or three) different damages, DPS can be improves by skill maxing and as a hunting bow it is very fast. Extensively used through all my run. Eccea's Arcane Blaster is maybe the best ranged weapon for us when pierce, frost and shock damage are failing or we need corrode/crush damage. Imbued Ammunition deal a lot of damage and we are so fast that 35% more recovery doens't worry. On top of that Fractured Bullet furthermore enhance DPS and helps delivering one of the other enchantments. And it is a lot of fun to use it! Other weapons used frequently Scourge of Bezzello: useful for canceling enemies concentration with multi-shot and its modal. Kitchen Stove: needed for stacking Hunter's Fang buffs with multishot and Wild Barrage. Blightheart: a soulbound arquebuse we can wield early game as a healing source and to build phrases faster. A dagger for parry when I were using a defensive slot with a shield. There are some other weapons used but just for fun or occasionally. Shields Somentimes I've used The Best Defense when I needed a weapon slot for defensive purpose as well as Nerian's Ward, Lethandria's Devotion (the latter benefits also of our healing buffs) or Wintertide Bulwark. Armor Miscreant's Leathers: my favourite dress early game. -10% Recovery, +8 REF, -10% Crit Damage taken and +5% Misses converted to Grazes. What else do we need? Fleshmender: +5 Health Restored per 12.0 sec which become superhigh with our healing buff, +3 AR bonus at combat start, on top of that +1 Quick Item Slots and 5% of incoming Hits converted to Grazes. It is like a god mode with this character I has ended up wearing it all mid/late game. RPG-wise you can use also Sharpshooter's Garb, but it is less effective than Fleshmender, I warn you Clothing Head: Acina's Tricorn (more DPS) Neck: Baubles of the Fin (more DPS for summons) / Bone Setter's Torc (healing buff and more self DPS) - Charm of Bones against vessels, with also its +2 INT Hands: Aegor's Swift Touch (more DPS) / Finger 1: Ring of the Marksman (+1 PEN is fundamental) / Ring of Prosperity's Fortune (increase DPS) Finger 2: Ring of Greater Regeneration (with our healing buffs is a huge boost in healing) / Kuaru's Prize (+1 INT is always more summons time and it increase also our scrolls DPS) Waist: Physicker's Belt (healing buff) / Sash of Judgment (improve DPS) / The Undying Burden (defensive choice and +2 CON) Feet: Footprints of Ahu Taka (DEX and healing buff) / Boots of Stone (DEX and resistance to stunned, moreover looks better than sandals ;P) / Fenan's Finery (the best fitting RPG shoes) Cape: The Giftbearer's Cloth (one more quick item, one more weapon and more defence that we lack) / Cloak of the Theocrat (more INT more summons time) Pet: Harley (+10% ranged damage is better than all the rest) / Animancy Cat (improves summons a lot and Arcana and Metaphysics is just our skill!) Trinket: Muātu's Head or Crucible Token Quick slot items With high Alchemy I've found these potions very useful in my run: - Potion of Spatial Alacrity, Potion of Deftness and Potion of Perfect Aim to increase DPS; - Potion of Impediment for interrupts; - All healing potion cause of our high healing buff. Any drug is good for us, especially Mouth Char, Deadeye (in this case Potion of Impediment and Potion of Deftness are unnecessary), Taru Turu Chew for our low/mid MIG and CON and occasionally Whiteleaf for its healing effect upgraded by our healing buffs. With high Arcana Scroll of Avenging Storm is awesome when we shot with a multi-projectile weapons (i.e. Frostseeker); Scroll of Moonwell is wonderful for us and our summons because of healing; Scroll of Withdraw lasts a lot and can save us many times; all powerful scrolls deal much damage with our high PER (i.e. Scroll of Storm of Holy Fire, Scroll of Great Maelstrom and so on...) Unfortunately, the Scroll of Kalakoth's Minor Blights could have been a beautiful and appropriate weapon for Laerne, but they are less effective than other "normal weapons" because the damage type changes randomly with each hit (this is not suitable for almost any creature) and it would be better if it were a rod or a scepter; the wand is a bit "meh", but you can use it just for fun every now and then. Food and Drink Laerne is especially fond of Mohorā Wraps: it gives us a lot of strength (which we lack) and speed, which increases our DPS. Apart from that, Glazed Chops are also great for strength and the healing buff as well as Honey Wine Hen for even more defensive fights. ===================================================================================================================================================== How to play the build The way to play the build is not very difficult to understand: summon allies with the chanter's invocations, make them tank and shoot as much as you can with the throwing weapons that are most suitable for the enemy you are facing. Use as many buffs as you can with the Phrases and/or the ranger's abilities, in case of danger use "Evasive Roll" and/or "The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas" and if you can't use the chanter's summons, spend a bond on your beautiful badass bear VIDEOS Laerne in action: all megabosses, Nemnok - a very difficult fight! - and Changeling's Dance as bonus track Nemnok Changeling's Dance Sigilmaster Auranic Belranga Dorudugan Hauani O Whe Guardian of Ukaizo

Following giving up on DA:I, I decided I needed to return to a good, old, classic cRPG. So I've started a replay of Pillars of Eternity 1. After playing PoE2, I thought I wouldn't ever want to go back to PoE1. But after one day, things are looking great. Playing a talky wood elf paladin.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3710600/Warhammer_40000_Dark_Heresy/

It's not an epiphany, though. The clip is years old. So that's what he said years before the second election of Donald Trump. Which means it is just evidence that Rogan is a truly reprehensible human being.

One thing I know that should stir up Guard Dog's heart and finally break through his paradoxically pathetic yet practically impervious shell of "both sides are the same"...the assassin even shot and killed the dog, a darling golden retriever. Find me any evidence of anyone but right-wing scum, be it this creep or cops or ghoulish governors of South Dakota, deliberately going out of their way to kill dogs in this day and age. Even their king hates dogs: doesn't that tell you both sides are, in fact, not the same?

just a reminder, 'cause with all the new illegal and improbable, people convenient memory hole the old. cecot. the US government sent an unspecific number o' people to this place no trial. not even a hearing. we can't be certain o' how many american residents were sent to el salvador, nor has the fed confirmed the identities o' those sent to cecot 'cause o' some ambiguous amalgam o' "state secrets" and "terrorism." we only know for sure the details regarding one person sent to cecot: abrego garcia. the only reason we learned the circumstances o' the abrego garcia situation is because a government lawyer admitted that the fed made a mistake by sending mr. garcia to cecot. that lawyer were fired. the government public says that everybody sent to cecot is a gang member, but the fed has offered no proof in court o' such 'cause "state secrets" and "terrorism." sure, we has been told via caroline leavitt and fox news that everybody "deported" were a nasty and terrible nogoodnik, but that ain't the same as going before a judge and providing affidavits, is it? why would you take on faith that the government is being truthful 'bout this? the only way we have even a rough idea o' who was sent to cecot, other than abrego garcia, is 'cause news outlets such as the washington post and sixty minutes did research... pieced together info from lawyers and family members o' persons with immigration cases who sudden disappeared from ice facilities contemporaneous with the military jets going to el salvador. cbs managed to get ahold of an internal government document via a leak which provided identities of most/many sent to cecot, but the government has only voluntarily provided the number o' persons sent to el salvador via the alien enemies act and traditional deportation efforts. again, since there were no trial or hearing, plus something-something "state secrets" and "terrorism" means there is literal no proof that the people we sent to cecot is criminals, gang members or undocumented. regardless, even if the government had held the hearings SCOTUS says 9-0 (even thomas and alito agreed on this point) were a necessary prerequisite to deport people under the alien enemies act, that ain't what happened in reality. the more than a hundred people, some o' whom might be american citizens who never committed a crime for all we know, were not deported back to their country o' origin. those +100 people (something 'tween 137 and 250?) were sent to serve out an indefinite period o' incarceration in a facility which manages to make a few o' those siberian gulags look like resort spas. ... where is the outrage? serious, what is wrong with americans that this don't bother more people? particular from the i don't trust the government and you could be next crowds, where is the justified anger? why is this not an inflection point for more people? how is this so last week/month already? in case it isn't clear, am a bit disappointed. HA! Good Fun! ps @Malcador not that it matters. shame is no longer a thing.

Good idea, actually, hm..... currently replaying Torment for the first time in years, so thereafter, who knows. Thing is, I actually like combat. So it's not strictly that. It's that Owlcat's copypaste encounter design makes Icewind Dale II look like grandmaster chess. And they're so proud of it that it's EVERYWHERE. It's literally like: "Ok, here's two gargoyles. Now move two feet. Here's the same two gargoyles. Keep moving! Oh, hello you two again." Then comes the super mobs, and they only ever differ in armor class and buffs, like: "Cool, they switched that super mob with AC 50 for one with an AC of 80, now I'm gonna need to really buff up or else..." Kingmaker at least had the advantage of switching threats every chapter or so. But WOTR is naturally a crusade against demons... so horned beasts is all you're gonna get, start to finish, hour 1 to hour 250 or so. It's Demon Burnout Incarnate. It's not like they're receiving no feedback on that.... people start BEGGING on their Reddit knees.

So, like, quick note for those who don't know since 'tis the season and all that: The Wikimedia Foundation is sitting on assets worth so much that their dividends and interest alone would pay for Wikipedia's independence and operating costs. Indefinitely. Meanwhile, the donations are used to grow these assets, lobbying work and for the way above average salaries of its employees. Don't get suckered into donating to the Wikimedia Foundation by their call to action language. I'm not saying they're completely bad guys, but these calls for donations are highly disingenuous.

Ukraine has performed massive drone attack against strategic bombers on 5 bases in Russia including Murmansk and Irkutsk (which is the first attack against targets in Siberia). It is said that more than 40 of such bombers have been "decommissioned". Most of them is Russia unable to replace, as they stopped the production long time ago. It is said, that FPV drones have been moved by trucks in wooden houses next to the airfields and then remotely unleashed to destroy the targets. With this single attack, Russia lost more than 30% of their strategic bombers...

I would say the unbalanced combat was the most fun thing about it.

I've hit level 35 in Dune. That seems like a lot, but I still feel like I suck a bit. I soloed a research station today and died about 5 times. But now I have a shield generator and I think that might help. Or it might make me worm food. Who knows? Anyways, my base is gorgeous and I have a nice little terrarium with Muad'ib in it.

Tainted Grail - after trying to "clean up side quests" for a bit, got impatient/bored (100-ish hrs) and just did the plot end thing. ---I found and got to have another convo with that chicken, in another Act. Game does stuff like this - find or go back and chat with npc's later, they may have something to say. Which is cool. ---I'm pretty sure there was a Hellraiser and Aliens reference/homage re: a couple mini-quests. ---I was level 75. I wiped the floor (bosses included) by level 50. I was not purposely grinding. The only way not to be 50+ by endgame is to not do a lot of sidequests or a lot of exploring. And there are TONS of sidequests, although many could easily be missed. This probably adds to replayability for many tho. ---Act3 is definitely the smallest. I still liked exploring it, but its main focus is to sorta barrel you to the Final Bit. That said, you could still spend a fair bit of time doing all the back and forth for factions. Or you could take the "bah humbug" way like I did and after exploring, ignore all that for another straightforward choice. Again, thanks, devs. ---Act3's multiple small faction areas were even worse in design than Act2's main town. I mean they make sense/are cool looking, but constantly going and returning to NPC's was a PITA chr. pathing/running wise. ---that first big patch added a "continue" option, so you could go back and try to grind the other 825,000 chr. levels if you wish. Why anyone would want to, I don't know. Act1 -- grade A Act2 - slower to get going but a solid grade B all told Act3 - grade C+, mostly for size and feeling a bit rushed/less dense/fullfilling A lot more RPG than Diablo, not as RPG as the best Baldur Gates (whichever one you think is that).

What about shooting at enemies from stealth first? Then it shouldn't be too bad if the first reload doesn't profit from Heating Up - because stealth has it's own -85% recovery/reload bonus. Completely different approach: the most painless way for me to make my Streetfighter Swashbuckler work very reliably was to turn him into a tank with a large shield (like I did Edér many times before) and "escape" into the middle of an enemy mob in order to get flanked - for real. And then I just let him hack away, always heated up until only a few enemies are left and there was no flanking anymore. But at that point the fight is usually won anyway. That way I could make good use of: Escape and Charge (mobility is useful in order to get the best position for tanking and getting flanked - especially useful since you can move while the large shield modal is up) Coordinated Positioning (never used this before - but in this case it can be great to place yourself between crowded enemies perfectly so you actually get flanked properly - sometimes there's no free space to Escape to... and then Escape doesn't work reliably and your character might get ramdomly placed in some stupid spot) Mob Stance (even faster attacks and cleaves on kill - with the help of some engagement slots, see Hold the Line, shield and some other gear) Armored Grace (obviously) heal-on-kill pet (the damage output is good, that leads to kills which leads to cleaves which lead to more damage and kills which leads to a lot of healing procs for you) Entonia Signet Ring (getting engaged by enemies raises your defenses, perfect) Riposte (lots of missed melee attacks against you due to high deflection even when flanked - can trigger cleaves, too) Deep Wounds (nice in combo with Riposte and Cleave imo) Persistent Distraction (unlocking Deathblows on every engaged enemy automatically, also reducing their accuracy) Adept Evasion (in combo with a large shield modal AoE spells don't bother me anymore) Refreshing Defense (of course this works very well with such a setup) Unbending (if he punishment is too much you can still keep going easily) Fighting Spirit + On the Edge (increase dmg output even more before eventually getting healed) Slippery Mind (won't remove real flanking but will take away all PER/INT/RES afflictions once you are On the Edge - it's super useful imo) Pernicious Cloud (it's friendly fire so normally I wouldn't ever use it - but since you're surrounded by foes anyway...) Into the Fray (nice to pull some enemies near so they can flank you instead of bothering your allies) and so on. It worked out really well - while the tankyness was good enough to be the main tank of the party, the damage output was still very impressive. No comparison to the Edér Swashbuckling tankyness I'm more used to - in terms of the offense I mean. The increased Sneak Attack damage (+50%) combined with the short recovery, Ripostes and Cleaves leads to great dps while occupying a lot of enemies - even though it's "only" weapon & large shield and no dual wielding or two handed stuff. There wasn't even the need for the Rogue's strikes abilities. All in all I think this was much easier to play and less fuss than what is usually done with Streetfighters to make them unlock their passive "easily". I find all that blunderbuss firing and switching in order to milk that Heating Up passive turns into tedium quickly. But maybe that's just me. I used a Streetfighter/Devoted with the Galdiator Sword + Bronlar's Phalanx by the way for some Roman Gladiator vibes (also I wanted to stack the +1 PEN of the sword with the +2 from the Devoted and never bother to switch weapon sets - Iazy ;)). But I think the Fighter subclass doesn't matter that much. With a Black Jacket you can be more versatile (and even switch from weapon & shield to a more offensive setup if the situation is right or directly turn off the large shield modal), with an Unbroken you get more AR (but worse Reflex - but that's already very high due to the large shield) and better disengagment attacks, the Devoted grants more dmg with your one chosen weapon because of the PEN and slightly incrased crit dmg... but that's all not really crucial for this direct "getting flanked" approach I think.

I don't post about politics very often, but I will say I love my state of California. The Trump administration has been lashing out at my state for the better part of a decade. It doesn't bother me, because I'm very comfortable in what California is. It's the 4th largest economy in the world. We have amazing cities, national parks, beaches, and mountains. We have incredible diversity. I can find a good restaurant/food truck for every imaginable cuisine. We have all the schools. I mean, just incredible universities that cover every possible field of study. So watching a sitting President attempt to wage war against my state is sickening. This is the same President that had no problem pardoning the people who stormed the Capitol building. He is actively working against the Governor. I'm at a loss. On Saturday Trump is staging a birthday parade that is going to look like North Korea.

I m happy to see people posting with new builds in 2025!

Using a motorised vehicle on Arrakis... They call that natural selection.

It finally happened. I got eaten ny a sandworm. I was moving a bunch of stuff to a new base, and I was motorbiking across a big swath of desert. I had to swerve wide to avoid quicksand, and it put me on a bad path with a worm. He ate me whole. I woke up naked and back at my new base. Now I'm running around trying to rebuild me life. 10/10 - would become worm food again

Tried Fallout London mod. Londoners turned out to be excellent looters because the city was barren, or at least those very few places I could access were, because majority of everything seemed to be just for decor and whole city looked kinda like those photodrapes cities hang on historical buildings that are being renovated. Water gives you gazillion rads, I think this is game's equivalent of deathclaw conga line in Vegas, something to prevent you from going somewhere too early, but this + narrow walkways over said water everywhere + companion dog's propensity for pushing you from those walkways + looooong loading time = The last straw before scrubbing the mod from HD were invincible enemies who run at you and self-destruct very early on main quest, but that left me wanting to play Fallout 4. Turns out it's fun if you ignore main quest and just be a garbage collector who, along with his trusty dog, travels the place endlessly searching for more glue. I mean, it's easy to imagine my guy checks the logs of freeze-refreeze-unfreeze before leaving, sighs "RIP Shaun" and gives wide berth to Sanctuary because of bad memories. Concord too, because of proximity.

Neverwinter Nights 2 Remaster out on July 15 on Steam and GOG. Did we know it's happening? It's news to me. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-remaster-of-classic-d-and-d-rpg-neverwinter-nights-2-is-finally-real-and-releasing-next-month/

NCR in Oblivion? Elder Scrolls: New Vegas Remastered?

Tainted Grail - still in Act2 ----came across a goblin thing wearing a silly big red mage hat. I wanted that hat. But he wanted a dictionary. So I gave him one. We became friends. I taught him to read. He gifted me with a Summon goblin spell. Pffft, I have no interest in that. I thanked him, left. Then I snuck back in, killed him with a fireball, and took his hat. FASHION OVER FRIENDSHIP. ---I was wrong re: the night-boss guy being Act2 specific. It's attached to the MQ main thing - if you finish that, he starts appearing. So technically you could start seeing him in Act1 while still low clvl. I did manage to smite him after gaining some levels and adding new perks. ---so many crafting resources seem to have no use. All I make are heal/mana pots and one or two foods and I barely need those anymore. After Act1 you barely find/get any new recipe/blueprints of any kind. A few. I don't craft armor/weapons (you'll find better), I only upgrade armor. eg, crafting/cooking/blacksmithing had potential but is hugely undercooked and in the long run you only need a few key resource things. The zillions of other things in my stash seem extraneous. Maybe they'll add in more crafting options later. ---a "big patch" is supposed to come out Fri or so, so I'm avoiding progressing too much until then. Hoping for more bug fixes, and I think such isn't typically retroactive on saves. Maybe they'll tweak balance stuff. By mid-Act2 I'm back to being totally OP'd (for Normal). ---I might start over. Conclusion so far: Fun game for the price, engaging, great first impression, but starts to feel like it needed more time in the oven. I'd generally advise most to wait a few months for more "big patches" before buying. Although if you don't, it's still great fun for many hours. It just could be .... more fun, better QoL, better balance, quests that are less easily broken, stuff like that. EDIT: still better than Bethesda

The fact, that Russia and all of their propagandists are absolutely silent, should be proof enough, that it was definitely more than 12 airframes damaged and destroyed. Some of the airfields have not been assessed neither by Osint nor by any state services outside the Uk. We’ll now for sure soon. But as it was shown on the Boeing photos acquired by RFERL journalists, they counted only in Irkutsk 12 airframes down. As a bonus, a lot of damaged/destroyed airframes have been fully loaded by cruise missiles for more of civilian targeting, which makes the attack even more damaging to Russian air force despite some russian propaganda trying to bellitle this achievement.

Been putting some hours into Soulmask recently. It has very similar vibes to Conan Exiles, a game I sunk a fair few hours into (and that I still occasionally play, but more as a building game ), so I'll mostly be comparing against that. At a high level they are very similar, end up in some weird place due to weird reasons and have to build/craft your way out of things, you bonk natives on the head to add them to your tribe, etc. From where I stand there's two major differences: The first one being that your main character is weaker than everyone else (stats are hard-capped below those of other NPCs), and you are, in fact, not expected to use it most of the time. This is where the titular "soulmask" comes in, you can use it to "Control" other tribesmen that you recruit, taking over their skills, inventory, gear, etc. The one downside tribesmen have is that they can die permanently (at least initially), while your PC will just respawn. The second one is that Tribe management is much more involved than in Conan. Tribesmen are much more active, and in fact much more along the lines of what I wished Conan Exiles had when I started playing it: you can assign them various tasks and they'll go out and do them. If you assign them to logging they'll go out to the area you assigned them to chop wood, grabbing an axe from storage if they don't have one, for crafting they'll run around collecting materials from chests to then craft the things you queued up. The downside of this situation is that you have to rely on AI pathing, so being creative with base placement/interior may not be the best of ideas. I had the great idea to build up on a cliff, with the result that my tribesmen often get stuck at the base of said cliff instead of pathing around. There's still some limitations I wish there weren't, for example they won't repair their gear when it breaks, instead they'll toss it and grab new stuff from chests if they can, otherwise they'll just start idling. Overall having a good time and probably worth checking out if you enjoy(ed) Conan Exiles.

Im about 80 hours into WoRT and Im still having lots of fun I am really enjoying the whole Crusader management, I am comfortable with the army combat mechanics and how you train and buy army units and then engage in combat with various demon armies And its great making all the Commander decisions, I should have done this P:K and not let AI manage my kingdom because it provides a nice break from the standard RPG progression And then Romance, I have some very interesting companion choices and Im not sure how things will progress, firstly Arueshalae has joined my party and its a fascinating take around an ascended Succubus. If you find fallen Angels then why not the opposite? I really want to Romance her but Im not sure how without dying because of the Succubus life drain. But she is an excellent ranged combat addition And then the truth about Camellia has just been revealed to me and thats become a greater conundrum, I have taken an entire stance in this game that my decisions will always be about the main objective which is stopping the Demons and closing the Worldwound. And that means certain grey choices and even some evil choices with the view "the end justifies the means " So Im keeping Camellia in my party, Im Romancing her but I told her to stop killing people ...maybe her insane spirit can help with the main objective but I have to some standards and blood sacrifices is not ideal

Yeah, I love the setting of Starfield. I like the ship designer. There is some good exploration moments. But no argument for me on the majority of the quests. Bethesda has always struggled with story and characterization. I thought the corp storyline was fun. It was the only one where you didnt end up just killing a bunch of people.

More info about it: https://www.kyivpost.com/post/53749 https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/06/01/breaking-russian-strategic-bombers-ablaze-en-mass-under-sbu-drone-attack-video/ Operation was in preparation for more than year and half!!!

once multiple medieval plague are sweeping across usa the attempt to declare emergency will be easier to justify the plague doesn't end after that of course

Would like to report, I've used it and tested it in Linux Native version of the game. I needed to create an Override folder and c/p the files into said folder. Now I can't wait to create drug addict build chug some poultice and chew some svef.

It took me a moment to realize you weren't talking about XCOM.

LoversLab adult alien mods is the only way to play games. No. I just like the aesthetics. It feels very NASA. Also I like that robot companion from the beginning of the game. A lot of the writing is really cringe and bad, but occasionally you find a little gem that is interesting and you'll start to actually like that character. Also I like those big town locations that I have seen so far. They look really nice and do feel somewhat alive. Not as alive as Cyberpunk 2077, but still.. a lot better than in older Bethsoft games. I've installed a bunch of mods already that fix issues and change things I don't like. There are bugs that Bethsoft still didn't fix yet.. and they are in the game since release a couple years ago. This is just so typical Bethsoft. They release something and then move on, not bothering about it anymore, because "the community will fix it" ... just terrible practice all around.

I haven't played this game so know nothing specific, but in general terms, I'd say since extra party members are not the intended party size the game encounters "expect" and were designed around, I would put it in the unbalanced modded category - whether you want to call it a "cheat" or not is up to you. And in SP, who cares. Do what is fun for you, imo. I mean, it's fun to alter rules sometimes, whether a little or a lot. Having all companions in FO:NV was pretty much a "win" thing for that game, but it was hilarious. Also, made for a better dance-mod line.

"Whooha look mom! That's also me!"

I remember ranting to a friend who had played through each game on Path of the Damned about how frustrating this bug was. Expecting him to know what I was talking about. His response "I never saw that". Turns out the mad man didn't use any AI behaviours and just micro manages every attack his party makes...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce9vxve994ro There was an image clearly visible as Trump spoke and said: "Look, here's burial sites all over the place. These are all white farmers that are being buried." Uh huh... But the image isn't from South Africa - it's actually from a report about women being killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Summed up Trumps latest act of embarrassing himself in public quite nicely for me 44 people were killed in the farming community last year. All colours added up. In a year when 26,232 people were murdered. Makes farming seem like a very safe occupation by comparison. Edit: The memorial from 2020 for the two farmers you mentioned were also mentioned in the BBC article at some point in addition to the old Reuters image from DR Congo that Trump used

Except of course they can’t, but maga cultists never seem to let facts get in the way of a good witch hunt. Anything else requires too much critical thinking. BBC put the claims through their fact checking process and you can almost hear the groans when fact is compared to Trumps fictional word

Hey look mom: that's me! That's me!

@thelee with the classic loss aversion.

i will blame/credit BG3 for making me think about shoving pushing mechanics a lot more in Deadfire and where to take advantage of it, so yeah I also enjoy coming back to this kind of build even now, even if it's not super cheese-tastic. for example, my current run has an SC ancient, but uses tanglefoot and wicked briars in conjunction with xoti as monk and konstanten as skald (for the knock back incantation) to knock enemies around and slow them down. it's especially satisfying with the Tikawara rest bonus that lets your abilities interrupt on empower - for tanglefoot and wicked briars (as with all other pulse spells) this means interruption everytime the abilities trigger. can make some fights stupidly easy if you knock back tough enemies (or knock in ranged enemies) and they're constantly getting interrupted just trying to slowly get back into position.

It is a misunderstanding: it is not a 5% slash lash, but a 5% buff to any melee slash damage

Greetings Envoys, The time has come! The Avowed Roadmap is revealed! Thank you all so much for your patience and understanding. There is a lot of cool things coming to Avowed and we can't wait for you to experience it all.

It's a great way to get a huge burst of focus right at the start of the encounter - if you can shoot at a "soft" target. Having a lot focus at you disposal very early in battle can be a big advantage. Blunderbusses (especially when lashes are involved) are not good against high DR foes, but in most battles there's a few weaklings. Leadspitter + Ryona's Vambraces + Penetrating Shot gives you a whole lot of DR bypass, which is good for the pierce damage, but DR bypass doesn't work for the lashes on the weapon (like a burning lash enchantment and/or Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr). And since those lashes are based on mutiple projectiles with individually low dmg numbers, they often do not get past enemies' DR in the first place. That's a shame for a Cipher because they would generate additional focus, too (if they can penetrate the enemies' DR). So it's best to target not too thick armor - even if you have a lot of DR bypass (if you can help it). Against high DR foes it's not a bad idea to bring a backup pistol (same weapon focus). Blunderbuss + Combusting Wounds is great by the way.