Gorth

I just gave her another fighter level, so she's now the original ranger branch (something with espionage?) level 10 (favoured enemies being demons of might and magic). 4 levels of mutagen warrior. Mostly for the dex mutagen (at fighter level 3) and the bonus feats. It may not "win" any min/maxing prizes, but it works. For now at least Seelah still gives me a headache. She can cast some spells and she has good mobility on her horse. But she's yet to hit anything other than the proverbial training rats in a dungeon and she tends to get her horse killed underneath her (despite sharing towershield ac bonuses with her mount). She buffs and blesses while it lasts, but she ends up inevitably slugging along on foot. Maybe I should just keep the horse and dismiss Seelah? I think in my next outing, I'll replace her with Greybor and see how that works for a while. I know he's slow, but at least it won't surprise me if he's the last to arrive at a fight. He does seem to dish out pain as well as he receives it. So many things to try out and test... but then, it took me years before I had had my fill of trying out all things BG2 (which was probably the last time I spent this kind of time on a single player game)

Welcome to The Twisted Rune Playing Pathfinder: Wrath of The Righteous. Clocking in at 150+ hours and it only feels like a week or two since I started (I know it was more than that, but it feels like)

I could do worse... like quoting my own posts with amendments Forgot to mention Arueshalaes rangers bond is a very nice addition, adding a bit of bonus to some fights too. I forgot to check first of these particular demons were demons of magic (her favoured enemy), so I have no idea if it contributed to anything or not.

@Gromnir yeah, I forgot to turn off power attack on Seelah for sure. Did remember to disable rapid shot though. Seelah (or rather her poor horse) and Camellia in particular had the task of being part damage sponges and part dealing with the two succubuses (is that succumbi in plural?). Also to help keep up the coordinated manoeuvres I suppose (and Seelah had a banner giving bonus to attack rolls) and Camellia tried to help a bit with the spell casting while she lasted. Alas call lightning storm had no chance of overcoming reflex saves (did cause a bit of damage, but generally underwhelming). My barbarian, Aru and Ember doing most of the damage dealing (gave Ember a few metamagic feats, elemental affinity (to overcome resistance) for fire and electricity, normal and mythic spell penetrations and focus on evocation and enchantment (based on memory, may have gotten the odd detail wrong from what I intended to what I did). Also a few scrolls of sirocco in her belt. I still keep forgetting things like disabling power attack after a rest though The screenshot is just my victorious barbarian gloating over the corpses of dead enemies I had already used cackling glee by this point though Edit: Generally trying to wean myself off making generalists and focus on if possible, one thing that each character should be good at (without sacrificing their entire background). I.e main character doing melee damage, Ember doing fire (and temporarily electricity based) spells, Aru I'm trying to make as deadly as possible with a longbow etc. and pick the feats consistently for that. Spare feats going into the teamwork feats (as opposed to my army of jacks of all trades that I started out with). Edit2: I also cheesed dimension door a bit, because enemies always seems to focus on Ember (to the point of suicidal idiocy) once Camellia and Seelah's horse are down... leading them on a merry chase for a while so Sosiel can heal and buff the team a bit. It's nice she can bring friends too when teleporting around Edit3: Women! Sometimes I really don't understand them... Arueshalae has unilaterally decided she belongs in jail and refuses to leave her cell?!?

Huff... puff... So far so good... 3 annoying demons and their 2 succubus handmaidens down (as were 2 of my own party members). Since this is the middle of the map, I have a suspicion of more fights and more camp sites for resting are needed before I get out

Split off from old thread. Dammit... I missed the Brisbane Riverfire this year! I had been looking forward to it and completely sweat it out. It was a few weeks ago ...and the less martial fireworks display once the Airforce is done (some years, the Airforce was part of the fireworks too using chaffs and flares to create "glitter" in the night sky) Edit: From ages back when F-111's were still a thing

More military stuff this way...

But... but... the multiplayer NetHack I played at Uni worked just fine! I still remember when my '@' took on two 'h's and a 'g' at the same time. No lag whatsoever!

Because it's tradition? A communist state can not be allowed to succeed at any cost, as it sets a bad precedent. No matter how well (or not) run it is, it has to fail and if necessary pushed out the fourth floor window, to ensure it doesn't succeed. Otherwise the axiom "communist states always fail" doesn't apply anymore. Remember how you felt when you realized Santa wasn't real?

Trying that place once more tonight. Bringing a few different party members (and the Warmage staff for a spell caster with chain lightning). Alternatively, I think I have like 3 wands of lightning bolt. Arueshalae has a shocking bow (but she can't hit the side of a barn). But if I can knock the augmented menaces prone for a moment, she (together with spellcasters with empowered spells, I think I also have a rod of empowerment in my stash somewhere) as well as better use of shocking grasp (touch spell). If nobody has heard from my party by tomorrow, send out a rescue party . I'll have a look at Arueshalaes class. I may or may not change it, but I'll at least check what mutagen warrior has to offer.

Hey, the North Korean people seems happy and content. Kim says so. They also always smile on photos So, when are we going to overturn the one party state of the Vatican, so they can have real democracy? On a serious note, regime change is exactly what Washington is going for at the moment. Biden authorised a sudden lifting on internet restrictions to encourage more domestic uprisings and coordination in Iran

Aaah, didn't know about the AC penalty (if I can knock them down that is) Yes, my main barbarian with Finnean was unfortunately the only one dealing any consistent damage. Neither Ember nor Camellia was in the party that entered Blackwater (as mentioned, going to pick an autosave from before entereing, swap out some party members and try again). Iirc, I used a rod of empowering or similar with Nenio's chainlightning. The party is currently level 13. Is their ability to stay alive despite being in the negative of 150+ HP a "feature" or is that "works as designed". Ember is nice as she can spam Sirocco. Sosiel is part of the team. As long as he keeps his hands of my body, he's always welcome in my party (spells like confusion etc. seemed nice enough to at least buy me time, as their will saves are close to non existing, but I missed Ember's hexes). I wonder if hold monster would have worked on them (even if just the two succubi) Yikes, that linked to post is making my reply-to window constantly bounce up and down, it drives me crazy! Edit: I did try to have Seelah's horse do a coup de grace too, but it just added to the negative hp of one of the demons Edit2: Going to substitute Ember for Nenio and Camellia for Woljif (because anything alive is better than dragging an already cold, stiff corpse to a fight)

Yeah. I'm sure they would prefer that, but FIFA doesn't care. It's profitable. And the national FA's are bound to obey FIFA's directives or get excluded from international football in the future.

Thanks for the warning. I am mostly happy with my party. Not a cheesy or min-maxed party, but it generally seems to get the job done (it's only Normal difficulty after all). I did visit a place where I decided to throw the towel in the ring and need to rethink strategy. I can't remember the name from top of my head, but far NW on the map. A place full of cyborgs. They are manageable with things that ignores spell resistance and requires will saves (they have little to no will save). But their AC?... Could use some tip for best BAB boosting buffs (there the first buffs haven't worn off before the last buff has been cast). I don't know if the enemies have True Seeing, but they beeline for Nenio and Arueshnae (sp?) despite both have blur, displacement, improved invisibility etc. and whack them 3 rounds or less of combat). Confusion, various auras, laughter etc. buys me some time, but apart from my main character (with his rage and vivisectionist str. buff), bless, prayer, luck, etc. the other party members all need to roll 20 to hit. In my best attempt in a large circular room with 3 larger demons and 2 succubi, I killed the latter two and got one of the demons down to -115hp and the other to -40 (no kidding) with repeated coup-de-graces, yet they refuse to die (hit them with lightning bolts and arrows too, as that is listed as what removes their regen). Grrrr..... It wasn't made any easier by having a vanilla Woljif in the party, who was dead before even entering the room (and all out of diamonds for raise dead spells). I'll reload an auto save from before entering again and trying with a few different team members. As said, just curious if there is any "usual" or popular ways to boost those attack bonuses (Arueshnae also has a level of vivisectionist, which I use to boost her dex for ranged attacks)

I suppose it's part of Danish tradition to tell The Emperor, that his fashion (or lack of) sense sucks. Cf. Mohammad cartoons, falling out with China over human rights abuse in the 1990's (a fallout that never really recovered https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-16-mn-49192-story.html) and now mixing sport and politics https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/63066393 Denmark will wear "toned down" shirts for the World Cup to protest against host Qatar's human rights record and its treatment of migrant workers. Kit provider Hummel has also designed a third, all-black kit, to represent the "colour of mourning". Hummel said it "does not wish to be visible" in a tournament it claims "has cost thousands of lives". ... Denmark's training kit sponsors will also withdraw their logos to give room for messages critical of Qatar. ... In short, nobody wants to be affiliated with the tournament in Qatar Official death toll of foreign workers is in the 30's. Unofficial (from the embassies of the countries of the migrant workers) adds up to 6500 deaths. A rather costly football project.

Lets face it. Iran needs a regime change. Currently as backwards and oppressive as the Saudis. A concern is if they end up with something like the Shah again... or a similar puppet dictator that is all about appeasing foreign investors at the cost of his own people, as that is what led to Khomeini in the first place.

I'm not a Bruce Springsteen fan (I don't dislike him, I just really don't know anything about him or his music), but the old man himself?... always worth a listen

Since @Katphood brought up the subject a few days ago... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63047363 The death tolls rising very fast in Tehran "The anti-government demonstrations have spread to more than 80 cities and towns across Iran since the funeral of Mahsa Amini on 17 September. The 22-year-old Kurdish woman from the north-western city of Saqez had been visiting the capital, Tehran, on 13 September when she was arrested by morality police officers for allegedly violating the strict law requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf. She collapsed after being taken to a detention centre to be "educated" and died in hospital following three days in a coma. The police said Ms Amini died after suffering sudden heart failure, but her family have dismissed that and alleged that she was beaten by officers." Official death toll according to state media 41, according to non state media 76

To be fair, it looks like it was something I brought upon myself. I had defeated him, then couldn't resist the temptation to mock and taunt him while he was down... I noticed that it earned me a "rare" achievement:

The Russian ministry of defense admits they made a rounding error somewhere... instead of mobilizing another 300000 men to send to the front, they accidentally rounded up 1000000 men to send to Ukraine soon. Hence the widespread dissatisfaction https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63036985 Edit: The Soviet army is calling from 1942 and wants its troops back!

Bulls eye! https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-63039191 "Dart's camera returned an image per second, right up to the moment of impact with the target - a 160m-wide object called Dimorphos."

A detailed map of the fallout in Sweden that year... ...and they looked so radiant that year I'm sure night clubs everywhere would've have loved "glowberries" to put in the ****tails in those dimly lit locales

More or less cleared out the Ivory Sanctum. Sided with Jeri...something. First enemy you encounter. The one that doesn't like the Lord of Flies/Grasshoppers (the one whose name starts with 'X' and not, it's not Xvim, sorry, I really suck at remembering names from top of my head). Cleared out the sanctum. Got my self killed several times checking for alternative loot from the puzzle/trap combos (the notes gave hints to open doors, but when just randomly clicking, one of them revealed a chest, so I went back and face tanked all the explosives) Got some nice rings and stuff. Killed the grasshopper boss in a most frustrating fight. You get him down on his knees and ready to be decapacitated and... he gets back up at full health with all his summons while my party, the 5 survivors (barely, between 5 and 50 percent health), has to scrape by low on spells, health and used all their items ready in their belts. Ember was polymorphed into a canine, cowering on the floor while getting nibbled to death by swarms (since half of them seemed to beeline towards her), my mounts were dead, X guy had cast mass haste on his team and mass slow on my team, Seelah was dead, Sosiel died next, Arueshalae was clinging on to 2hp when I remembered I had a few resurrection scrolls. I somehow managed to get my succubus disengaged for one round and could in the next few rounds add scrolls of resurrection to her belt. Got Sosiel back up (who had both raise dead and resurrection spells, as well as Heal). In a rather haphazard way, I managed to patch enough party members up to kill the boss, after which some of the summons disappeared (not the grasshopper swarms). Then it was a fight of attrition. Lots of sleeping and healing afterwards. I did go back in and use the key to open up the door to the exit, but I forgot two things. Outside there was a ledge with a mobility check which I forgot and I forgot to go back the first boss and claim my reward in the form of information Luckily I have a teleport site not too many hours walk away... if I can reenter the sanctum that is.

You can go a bit further back than that if you want... it has been a country since 127bc, was an empire since 627ad and a theocracy since Dalai Llama I came to power in 1391ad. Some fragmentation and provinces seceding (and re-incorporated) up until 1642. The Qing Empire invaded in 1722 to help defeat a third party invader in collaboration with the Tibetan army. Thing is just, the Qing troops stayed after the Khanate was defeated. And that is China's justification for claiming Tibet (that they had invaded and occupied it previously). Hmm... this really belongs in the military or the politics thread, doesn't it?

@xzar_monty which is why modern armies have things like tour of duty, rules of engagement and seems to be generally better at the team building part too, so men at the front can mutually support each other (and then it all falls apart when they leave the army and their support network of people who share their experiences and know how they feel) Edit: The Russian army issues one way tickets to the front. You only return if either victorious or in a body bag. No breaks. The only thing missing from the Soviet era are the NKVD Commissars.