Raithe

It was basically designed for all those folks that wanted to go into the Duelist prestige class but preferred using scimitars or the like to pointy-stabby rapiers.

Dex adds to AC, Initiative, ranged attack roles and melee attack roles if you have Weapon Finesse - Note, all Rogues automatically get Weapon Finesse at 1st level. There are several feats / class abilities that allow you to apply Dex bonus to melee weapons. Notablly the Rogue's Finesse training, and off the top of my head there is the Slashing Grace feat (which allows you to select any one slashing weapon of suitable size). Also, not as reliable and requires you to find them, there are weapons with the Agile enchantment which does the same.

Stock up on the Alchemist's Fire. Give every pc 3 of them and you might make it through.... But I do have to say, that its interesting that the quests and errands don't exactly hold your hands on where you have to go or what you have to do to achieve results. And don't always update the journal when you've met a task in the process...

I just made it into the 2nd Chapter and you get the Kingdom management aspects going. On the one hand, it seems nicely set up for the majority of it... For the other, I have just found myself incredibly frustrated because I set my companions to do some basic kingdom project / event stuff.. then a week later I get emergency projects jump up that have to be handled RIGHT NOW!.... But I have no companions to do them, because they're busy and you can't cancel projects... So unless I reload a save from way earlier and lose a couple of hours of gameplay, I get automatic failure and/or massive penalties from not handling those emergencies.

He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy.

How many of you have tried reading the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander? Disney based on animated film on The Black Cauldron back in the 80's... Sure, it followed a few of the tropes of the high fantasy genre, but it based itself more on Welsh mythology rather than pure Tolkien. I always felt it was a very good look at that one persons growth and journey from childhood to adult responsibility as told in a fantasy series.

I first tried getting to grips with reading Dracula when I was about 8. The entries about Harker's descent into madness freaked me right out and I couldn't get past that. Took a couple more years before I was able to read the whole thing.

Amazon is still proceeding with the tv adaption. The main screenwriter they have working on it keeps tweeting pictures of the scripts as he's making progress. The other week one of the things that came up was commentary on the difficulty on casting the various elements of WoT with specific ethnic groups so it's not all some blended mass, that the Sheinarans will be different from the Domani who will be different from the Andorans who will be different from the.... I guess we'll have to see how it all turns out in the end...

Eh, to be fair, I've known a few folks in the States who have developed long-term illnesses, and then get caught around the FMLA bureaucracy, loss of work, loss of medical insurance, increasing debts due to that, and the spiral it can induce. I just don't have the knack for eloquently writing it up and quoting the exact issues. So when something can catch the spirit of what they've gone through without me needing to struggle to describe it.. eh, I'll use it.

Well, this could have gone in politics but.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4sA_EwNPmY

Responses are pretty much exactly as expected We watched Ocean's 8 last night and it was better than I expected but my expectations were so low that it would have been hard not to meet them. That's not to say it was a good movie or anything either as it's probably the worst of the Ocean's movies. I can't believe it could be worse than Ocean's 12.

Okay, this one amused me...

This might be a rather common occurence for readers...

To jump away from that subject... Star Wars as 80's anime... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib_4A2CG2Ag

Oh sure, there's a level of "rule of cool", break from reality, it's just a movie thing going., suspension of disbelief.... But you'd like just a little effort and thought put in when it's a subject you know about and/or are interested in. Sure, it's a niche thing in many ways, but it can be like if you're really into x subject and it's in a film but totally wrong or done in a really stupid way after the characters involved are described as "experts" in the field. It's that "they keep telling me they're the pros from Dover and I want to believe it.. but they can't even name the game, let alone play it." Not serious, just irritating enough to zap that suspension of disbelief you so much want to engage.

It would be nice to see at least some passing nod to the concept of tactics and strategy in films these days. Not just "Hey, we're highly technologically advanced, we'll horde mob rush the enemy with no thought to cover, combined arms, or air support..."

Wasn't that the originator of the Crazy/Hot scale in pop culture?