Gromnir

is more than a few films on our list o' overrated, but the big lebowski is near the top. am thinking a message board such as this is more likely gonna include fans o' lebowski than the other such films on our list. crash, how the west was won, brokeback mountain, out of africa, titanic, forrest gump, birdman (aka: self indulgent actor-pr0n masquerading as a movie) and the majority o' woody allen films is overrated in our opinion. 'course given the traditional obsidian crpg demographic, is unsurprising we see less fans o' meryl streep than the dude. HA! Good Fun!

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Well... I'm glad THAT has been cleared up! one reason it is so difficult to take trump serious when he complains 'bout fake news http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/donald-trump-and-the-amazing-alex-jones "Even after Trump (and Sean Hannity, of Fox News) fell victim to a joke—a parody news story “reporting” that two hundred and fifty thousand Syrian refugees would be settled on U.S. Indian reservations—he continued to repeat the bogus figure for months. (He knew better than to touch, from the same Web site, “Trump: I Would Have Prevented the Asteroid from Killing the Dinosaurs.”) His appetite for facts appears to be tiny." *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/pittsburgh-church-greatest-collection-relics-outside-vatican-180963680/ pretty much has hellboy locale/setting written all over it. HA! Good Fun!

the mechanical drawbacks for a ska chanter would seem to be self-evident and straightforward: 1) phrases take longer to complete 2) no more than 2 phrases per chant ... am admitted having a much harder time coming up with a benefit which would seem to embody ska. for every 10 seconds o' uninterrupted chanting, listeners face a cumulative 1% chance o' becoming confused for 5 seconds? name the subclass the cantor and let the ska origin be an inside joke. HA! Good Fun!

am a bob fosse fan. hard to imagine michael jackson or david bowie sans the fosse influence, eh? anywho, two favorite numbers from sweet charity HA! Good Fun!

third chanter subclass: ska the chanter's phrases is lengthened and must need be soul-numbing repetitive. no helmets for the ska chanter as the head-slot must be reserved for some kinda silly hat. however, the ska chanter enjoys improved defenses to replicate ska's inexplicable and preternatural resilience. HA! Good Fun! ps no doubt some kinda magical suspenders will be included in the game.

the genre labels vex us. *shrug* sci-fi is covering such disparate novels as to be an almost meaningless descriptor. however, unlike the ordinary fantasy author, a real sci-fi writer will do his/her best horatio cocles impersonation in defense o' a meaningless label. am not doubting isaac asimov would, if still living, break a nearby beer bottle and go for your throat with the shattered remains if you suggested "sci-fi" were a pointless genre. we could list quality sci-fi, but then we would feel compelled to distinguish the hard science from science fantasy. dystopian is frequent sci-fi, but while fahrenheit 451 might qualify as sci-fi, it can't happen here likely does not... but what 'bout the man in the high castle? a canticle for leibowitz is post-apocalyptic, so is kinda sci-fi, though am pretty sure it would fail mr. asimov's test regarding what sorta novel qualifies as teh rehul sci-fi. *shrug* more important, am realizing we neglected a bradbury novel when posting our must read fantasy list: something wicked this way comes. apologies. not a great film, but ok. HA! Good Fun!

as an aside, our list purposeful avoided a few novels typical classified as magical realism. am not certain why metamorphosis, one hundred years of solitude and beloved has been deemed to be magical realism 'stead o' fantasy, but such is the silly academic's world in which we live. we chose to avoid confusion by withholding a half dozen or so novels o' magical realism 'cause such works were unlikely to be found in the fantasy section o' the local or internet bookstore. ... utilizing Gromnir's definitions o' the fantastic, we woulda also included moby **** as a work o' fantasy. HA! Good Fun!

will limit to fantasy and will avoid the argument as to whether stuff such as the bible, gilgamesh and beowulf count as fantasy. am also avoiding collections of short stories, so no fritz leiber or rudyard kipling as much as they deserve a place on the list for their short tales. am also ignoring graphic novels, a few o' which deserve a place on such a list. the hour of the dragon- robert e. howard little, big- john crowley the wizard of earthsea- ursula k. leguin peace & the wizard knight- gene wolfe the chronicles of amber- roger zelazny grendel- john gardner the phantom tollbooth- norton juster a swiftly tilting planet- madeleine l'engle the graveyard book and neverwhere- neil gaiman the stealer of souls & stormbringer- michael moor**** the dragon waiting- john m. ford the hobbit- j.r.r. tolkien his dark materials- philip pullman outside the dog museum- jonathan carroll alice in wonderland- lewis carroll westmark- lloyd alexander the forgotten beasts of eld- patricia a. mckillip the once and future king- t.h. white ... and the aforementioned covenant books (first three) by donaldson. guilty pleasure addition: legend- david gemmell is a few particular notables missing from our list which tend to be on every other such list, but am having no patience for bad prose and reflexive additions. c.s. lewis' narnia books also deserve recognition, but am finding it difficult to include 'em on our must-read list as is almost brutal christian allegory which many readers is gonna justifiably find to be punishing rather than entertaining. HA! Good Fun!

There's also a certain degree of repetition in the Thomas Covenant books. I never completed them because after the umpteenth time Covenant ran the words "Leper! Outcast! Unclean!" through his mind while doubting himself (or similar; I read this years ago) I just couldn't take more of it. Not that it isn't true to life, I guess, but it just grated after awhile. YMMV, of course. the thomas covenant character is unique. contrary to the belief o' many, there is no inherent qualitative boon resulting from unique. *shrug* am admitted finding more appreciation o' the first three covenant novels as we get older. typical we rage at bloated multi volume works which include three or more +300 page books which cannot stand alone as meaningful and complete stories. yeah, each volume coulda' benefited from considerable additional editing, but am thinking all three novels were necessary. not gonna try and change anybody's mind 'bout donaldson's covenant books particular as we got loads o' complaints 'bout the novels. even so, we put 'em in our extreme limited catalog o' must-read fantasy works. HA! Good Fun!

interrupts is kinda a staple o' tanks and is almost by definition a defensive quality. am thinking folks is looking at the black jacket wrong. if the poe2 fighter is similar to the current 3.0 build poe fighter, there wouldn't be much need for a black jacket. the current poe fighter is already providing considerable offensive firepower. the need for a black jacket subclass thus would seem to suggest a return to an earlier fighter, a more defensive fighter. one can hope. as an aside, have mentioned this before, but am suspecting the subclasses is gonna disappoint many folks. josh has made clear how the poe2 subclasses ain't gonna overshadow the vanilla class, which is a significant departure from bg2 kinda kits. josh described iwd2 goals for kits much as he has spoken o' poe2 subclasses. the iwd2 kits were offering intriguing but minor changes to the base class. is quite easy to read the black jacket subclass as being appropriate to a tank. could possible be slight higher maintenance as there will be motivation to switch weapon loadouts more frequent, but am suspecting the black jacket benefits will be relative minor even so. HA! Good Fun!

Yeah I've not really enjoyed their movies since No Contry for Old Men, although I haven't seen Hail Caesar! yet. They're great directors though, but maybe they've run out of good stories to tell may seem like a quibble, but am gonna note true grit were released three years after no country for old men. true grit is not only excellent and vintage coen, but roger deakins were also clear at the top o' his game. fantastic storytelling. beautiful film. deserves to be on any top 10 modern western list. in the spirit o' full disclosure, Gromnir and cassidy is in full agreement regarding the big lebowski. HA! Good Fun!

for some reason the post reminds us o' the christoph waltz commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90dBYRO55XI HA! Good Fun!

iwd is our favorite game soundtrack, but iwd 2 is such a close second as to be functional equal. inon zur did a fantastic job on the icewind dale sequel. as such, while game music is rare a major concern for us, am looking forward to what mr. zur does for kingmaker. didn't read the zur link, but will look at it eventual. am still ambivalent 'bout this kickstarter but am hopeful the title is successful as am wanting to see future pathfinder crpg titles released. HA! Good Fun!

Well that statement was about the general state of "warriors/fighters" in RPGs, not PoE specifically, but yes you were technically correct about hit points had I been making that argument. Meanwhile, it still stands that as per design of PoE, Fighters are meant to be tanks and off-tanks, not high damage dealers. such were the case when poe were released. were far less clear following the wm expansions. a number o' classes, fighters 'mongst them, underwent significant changes 'tween the beta release and post 3.0. such changes were inevitable. such changes were, for the most part, resulting in improvement to the game. is poe2 fighters intended to be low-maintenance tanks? am uncertain what is the design goal for fighters in poe2. HA! Good Fun!

well, the guy who invented air conditioning/refrigeration were doing so as to prevent malaria. bad air. vapors. dr. gorrie had no idea mosquitoes were the cause o' the disease. thought all the decomposing plant and animal matter in the south were creating bad air... or somesuch. the doctor's science were bad, but his engineering helped change the world. complete incidental, but dr. gorrie also recommended widespread use o' mosquito netting, though again, he had no idea the insects were the actual carriers o' malaria. ... am not sure if the story is a win for engineers or not, but perhaps you too could change the world 'cause o' mosquitoes. HA! Good Fun!

is kinda an example o' what am talking 'bout. a tank which is initial pretty darn mediocre in a tanking role, becomes genuine effective and superlative worthy 'round level 9. base game only took you to level 12. ... before level 9 you got a kinda frankenstein character who is adding value in support, but less so as a tank and you is waiting for last 1/4 of the base game to be worth the party slot. as you noted 'bove, the chanter has less health than other tanky classes, and this build in particular eschews resolve more than most tanks, which is less important later in the game, but more so in the early chapters. winds o' death is swell, but ain't gonna make up for your lack o' meaningful offensive contribution. is the ie game dual-class conundrum, yes? nothing wrong with building a character which ain't pulling its weight 'til level 9. is nifty to have a superpowered build after a couple dozen hours of gameplay, but poe has a relative harsh learning curve compared to many crpgs. for a new or returning player, we recommend avoiding the "comes into his own" kinda stuff. last we will say on the matter. HA! Good Fun!

I might've actually watched Civil War if it had the 70's cast. mighta recast ant man however. peter sellers would be too perfect as a hank pym ant man as 'posed to scott lang. gene wilder for scott lang? as an aside, we always kinda disliked faye dunaway as an actress, though she had a couple roles which left us pleasant surprised. anne margaret for black widow? and not to be nitpicky, 'cause james earl jones is a fantastic actor, but even in the great white hope (1970), when mr. jones played a boxer, he weren't exactly having a skin-tight footie pajamas kinda body. am gonna suggest the overly obvious jim brown for the role of black panther. and yes, am getting how is stoopid to imagine better choices for an imaginary 1970s film, but what the heck. HA! Good Fun!

a simple solution for the arguable early tank frailty of chanters is to make sure eder is in your party as the main tank during earliest portions of the game. problem solved. also, as chanters benefit so little from dex (one o' obsidian's two most glaring continuing poe class mechanics blunders) a paucity o' health can be balanced a bit by pumping constitution at the expense of dex. our problem with many o' the optimized (or niche) builds is that they don't work as advertised for many/most players. far too many suggested optimizations is having much in common with ie game dual-class characters. oh sure, such ideal builds is fantabulous for a player who has completed poe dozens of times, likely at potd difficulty, but many such builds is either relative weak at levels ___ through ____, or they depend on specific gear, or they presuppose rather comprehensive knowledge o' class synergies and/or fine-tuned experience with enemy ai/encounter design. attempting to optimize a character tends to build in shortcomings which need be countered in some way. such gameplay gymnastics has always struck us as unnecessary and often results in a ironic diminished overall efficacy. for somebody "starting from scratch," as is the genesis poster, am once again gonna recommend steering away from any kinda optimized build. you are doing self a double kinda disservice by attempting to find the right/best builds. not only will such builds frequent underperform when played by folks with low-to-moderate poe experience, but relying on such advice often results in a missed opportunity o' finding unique builds which has gone largely unnoticed by the optimizers. HA! Good Fun!

it is actual difficult to build a bad chanter tank. people overthink attributes. poe attributes are less important in poe than in many other crpgs. sure, attributes affect many aspects of your character, but you can build with a wide array o' attribute spreads and still be effective. nevertheless, am gonna note how for a chanter tank intelligence and resolve is most important attributes, with might being worth raising as well... but for dialogue reasons, we prefer to have a higher perception and will sacrifice a bit of might to boost perception. dex is a potential dump attribute. essential tank talents is as follows: weapon & shield and veteran's recovery. *shrug* for extra tankiness, take superior deflection, ancient memory, beloved spirits and bear's endurance. maybe cautious attack? wound binding? folks will give you all kinda advice 'bout best chants and invocations, but am gonna suggest ignoring such recommendations. is an urge to try and build the best ______ or a proper _______. such goals is a mistake. pillars' greatest strength as a game is the flexibility it offers players. go ahead and pick chants and invocations which sound like they are fun 'cause regardless o' what you pick, you will be effective. why limit yourself to perceived best builds? HA! Good Fun!

feels like it were only yesterday when marsalis and hornsby played at the cal ripken 2131 game. 1995. HA! Good Fun!

am wondering if season 2 can keep up the pace it has set so far. how to describe? if terry gilliam were directing a deadpool sequel, it would be like season 2 o' preacher. HA! Good Fun!

based on our trips to south korea, am suspecting lc would benefit more from practicing social drinking skills than trying to learn the language. as a teetotaler, our ability to interact professional and social with folks in south korea is significant hampered. HA! Good Fun!

universal tries to make mummies dull, but science is here to save the day. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ancient-mummies-finally-give-their-genetic-secrets-180963518/ is too early to start changing history books, but the early data is intriguing. HA! Good Fun!