Gromnir

this particular devil is a bit more elusive than suggested. am gonna opine label as pacing severe understates the reality o' the issue. as a developer, one need ask the following: what is the necessary levels & powha to complete the game? obvious the player needs be provided enough xp and gear rewards so they may reasonably overcome game challenges, yes? with a game offering considerable optional content, the developer challenge is to try and make so a critical path player is able to finish but a completionist don't hit the level cap too soon. not as ez as a few might surmise. 'course you may always add infinite or functional limitless levels, but then you got the problem o' the completionist becoming so disproportionate powerful the late and end game challenges become underwhelming, which results in different but equal predictable complaints. remove xp awards for optional content is a reasonable and rational solution, but not a practical one as fans dislike not being properly rewarded for their in-game efforts and level scaling foes is problematic at best. ok, now add dlc such as treasure o' the midnight isles... is the same/similar problem as is excess gold/money for the completionist. the critical path player needs have enough money to buy useful gear from stores, but a player who does everything in the game is gonna predictable have more money than the critical path player, correct? if gear impacts player powha, then a player with more money is necessarily gonna have more powha. the game, balanced so a critical path player may successful overcome challenges, becomes a snoozefest for the player who is overlevel'd and overgeared. predictable the completionist player grouses 'bout how they got millions o' gold/rubbles/whatever and nothing 'pon which to spend. so, what is the level cap solution? dunno. before they released pillars of eternity, the obsidian developers insisted they had a solution to disparate xp rewards for critical path players v. completionists. absent per-kill xp grants and the like, there were obvious a bit more flexibility available to the obsidian developers than is the case for owlcat, but obsidian failed to achieve meaningful results in spite o' the fact it were a stated goal to minimize the gulf 'tween casual and hardcore player experiences. aside, is the advent and popularity o' computer games which created this problem. sure, the old d&d 1e monster manual had xp values for critters, but it were never intended that each critter kill and lock picked were resulting in individual xp gains. in point o' fact, d&d xp rewards were s'posed to happen only after the completion o' an adventure and were the result o' a kinda kinda gestalt analysis. following the adventure, the dm would come up with party and player xp rewards custom tailored to how those players overcame obstacles, then the player would "train" and potential level-up 'tween adventures. years o' regular weekly pnp d&d gameplay would possibly get you to double-digit levels in 1e. mega dungeons and computer games in particular changed the xp equation and not necessarily for the worse. unquestionable different. the thing is, every solution we has seen so far either didn't work or were hated by players. bg2 is a good example o' fail as thac0, saves and spells learned/known don't improve past a certain point in d&d, so all you got at level-up were a hit point or two. people complained. d&d solution were to stop providing additional power with subsequent gained levels.as a fix, tob added sooper powers to bg2, which had people complaining. etc. HA! Good Fun! ps, the biggest problem with wotr alignment is alignment. pathfinder using d&d legacy alignment and owlcat making it a crpg mechanic is a mistake. make good, evil, law and chaos objective quantifiable and then integrate the resulting morality axis as a game mechanic were stoopid from the inception. is only possible to mitigate the stoopid, which is hardly an ideal outcome. pathfinder needs an alignment exorcism as 'posed to a fix.

@kanisatha a word of warning re: oracle-angel, 'cause am not sure if it is mentioned at neoseeker-- spontaneous casters no longer benefit from the accelerated spell book advancement for spells known/learned. for an oracle-angel your caster level for spells known is not mythic level + oracle level; is oracle only. from a practical standpoint, this is likely o' minimal concern and as a first-time player you may not even realize there is a newish "handicap," but it is worth observing how prepared caster angels now have a noteworthy advantage compared to spontaneous casters. HA! Good Fun!

am not gonna speak to romance, but as much as am disliking camellia as a character, is also our opinion she is one o' the three most effective companions with the additional advantage she is highly versatile as well. at earliest levels, whether ranged or melee, camellia is unimpressive from a damage output pov. dex focused characters who don't have sneak attack lack the damage potential o' high strength 2-handed weapon havers. 'course camellia has hexes, so from an action economy pov, her value to the party may nevertheless be significant even if she isn't killing stuff as quick as other companions. protective luck, chant, fortune and evil eye is all hexes available early and they represent serious difference making potential even if you do not resort to exploiting chant to extend the duration o' those hexes outside of combat. later in the game the metal curse is worth your consideration. you need take an additional spirit to acquire the metal curse, but particular on higher difficulties when every point o' ab or dc is essential, the metal curse hex is a major boon. tanky, dual wield or ranged? is also skald potential. if you are playing core or lower, crazycakes makes for a decent tank. taking fencing grace as early as possible, as well as outflank and improved critical feat(s) will result in significant damage output increase for even a tanky camellia and camellia is the best tank companion... sorta. animal companions should not be viewed insular and discreet from the humanoid companions which is responsible for adding 'em to a party, but such is what inevitably happens. from a practical pov, a few o' the animal companions is gonna be your best tank options for most o' the game. 'course as an angel oracle, depending on the build, you may be your party's tank by taking advantage o' stacking charisma bonus cheese. assuming you don't need camellia to tank, then is best to consider other uses. dual wield or ranged... or skald. hexes is fantastic, but perhaps you got ember in party? skald is a viable option. with a 13 charisma, camellia only needs three more charisma points to cast all her skald spells; is plenty o' headgear which will get you those points. reckless stance and inspire ferocity stack and are untyped. what that means is that your camellia skald will be boosting party-wide ab by +10 with sixteen levels o' skald and that +10 will stack with morale, sacred, competence or any other source o' ab boost. if your party includes numerous animal companions, then the beast totem and animal fury rage powers is also essential as you will be adding a considerable number o' natural attacks to all party members, but is likely animal companions will make the best use o' those additional opportunities. additionally, the bard spell list provides nice personal and party buffs, including early offerings such as unbreakable heart (do not sleep on this spell as it is a life saver when facing a few swarms,) mirror image, sense vitals, haste, displacement and good hope. with one level o' spirit hunter and at least 16 o' skald, you do have three additional levels with which to customize. all skald levels from 2-20 is fine, but consider the level dip into demonslayer and possibly loremaster. after considerable hours invested in wotr, am thinking a camellia spirit hunter is best designed as a dual wield melee fighter. is admitted a glass cannon build. camellia starts with a high crit-range weapon, so if you go with party-wide outflank and you have a bunch o' melee combatants, then you should always be considering how best to exploit critical hits. with the outflank teamwork feat, when camellia or a fellow companion crits, all adjacent comps with the outflank feat receive an attack o' opportunity. at early levels you won't see the advantages o' outflank, the ever ready mythic ability and the improved critical feats, but as your party receives more attacks, the crit opportunities also rise. camellia cannot out tank an angel oracle and most o' the animal companions make for a better tank option, so am not seeing the point o' trying to be a middling secondary tank. going with a full dual wield camellia generates additional attacks of opportunity for your party, and each such opportunity represents considerable damage. even so, is a situation where camellia won't appear to be pulling her weight until the mid point o' the game. neoseeker, which you already mention, has a decent ranged build for camellia, but is not a sooper high damage build, particular early. regardless, is ez to see camellia as underwhelming earlyish, and by the time she becomes useful, Gromnir has ordinarily sent her to join luca brasi. HA! Good Fun!

boys suck at school isn't the actual title... and is admitted kinda misleading, but... counter-intuitive, at all levels save the apex, women and girls is doing better than men and boys in education and jobs, at least in modern western economies. am suspecting asian nations is not accounted in the analysis, but am having no basis for such save anecdotal which is now admitted a decade past current. solutions is likely to trigger folks on both ends o' the political spectrum, so am not optimistic such trends is addressed or even studied further in any meaningful way. HA! Good Fun!

occurred to us 'bout a month ago our short ribs recipe and pot roast is near identical save we use more red wine for the ribs and no prunes. am gonna add prunes next time we make the short ribs, 'cause why not? good luck with dinner. for us, dinner is ordinarily the ez part and is family which makes the day difficult. HA! Good Fun!

another surprise, but this time positive. animal control retrieved the corpse, and on thanksgiving day no less. 'course we had just moved her, 'cause we assumed it were unlikely anybody would retrieve her before monday after the holiday weekend. given the bruising we saw, the poor thing had clear been hit by a car before she managed to limp her way next to our doorway to die. well, is back to playing nurse to our little and a-bit-less-likely-to-die-immediate dog. as odd as it sounds, am genuine thankful, and not just 'cause his 24/7 care got us out o' family thanksgiving. is hard to see much improvement from the dog, but he don't look as if he is suffering as were the case a month past. is current an unseasonably nice 66 degrees, and is only noonish, so am gonna take the pooch outside to absorb a bit o' sunlight and fresh air in just a bit. happy thanksgiving day. HA! Good Fun!

nature v. nurture. almost every right terrible bastard curses his/her children with genetic predispositions and the exact wrong kinda environment to escape the predictable cycle o' anger and self loathing which is the gift of bad parents everywhere to their horrible children. doubt any o' us would be shocked if the father in the video suffered loathsome parents, yes? the genuine surprise is when you got a child who manages to break the cycle and becomes a warm and nurturing parent in spite o' the double-whammy o' genetics and environment. is a whole lotta f'd up people in the world and a good starting assumption is that the parents o' each f-up is at least partial responsible for the resulting damaged human adult. 'course in most cases, busted people focus their chaos 'pon their children and the harm they may heap 'pon rando strangers is limited. the ez access to firearms in the US means the ordinary and ubiquitous villainy o' the mob has potential consequences much worse than the typical brief and unpleasant encounters we all need suffer daily. HA! Good Fun!

the most likely explanation is it were alive when it found its way to our door. haven't inspected the corpse as am planning on moving it in the morning, but am assuming injury or disease resulted in the critter's death after she managed to reach our home under her own power. we suffer frequent cervid visitations, but this is the most grim and morbid hooved guest we has had to endure. overnight temps will be chilly, but it will reach almost 70F tomorrow-- can't leave a bloated corpse rotting so near our door during the holidays, eh? is just kinda weird. a dying critter typical don't seek out the lair o' a carnivore as the spot it leaves the mortal coil. then again, depending on the nature of the injury or the disease, is possible she were more than a little disoriented in the hour(s) immediate preceding her expiration. am hardly an expert. is unfortunate, but is possible we will know more tomorrow when we need drag the considerable dead meat some distance away from our doorway. not looking forward to that chore. HA! Good Fun!

well, fudge. there is a dead deer in our planter box. is not a small deer. the corpse literal is w/i a metre o' our front door. HA! Good Fun!

it's not a big reward, but IF you did the diplomacy thing with indrah in act 1, then with a successful completion o' the quest you are able to initiate a crusade project which results in all your generals acquiring a level o' master of maneuver. as such, this is a quest which is best done as early as possible in act v. also, while has possible been fixed, if you looted enemy corpses before the end of combat, it were possible to generate a fair amount o' gold from this quest-- potential infinite amounts. if you wait to loot after combat, then bodies disappear and so do their gear, but this is one o' the few instances o' respawning enemies in the game and it is/were possible to manipulate the rewards by stacking bodies improbable high and taking their gear before they evaporated. 'course in act v is unlikely you are strapped for cash, so... functional, nothing is lost by skipping, but if you really want the extra master o' maneuver, and if you are funding your crusade projects by buying material points and the like, then in the unlikely event you are able to trigger this quest early in act v, then there are a few potential (and possible exploitive) rewards. HA! Good Fun!

well, in the us, local and state government has been interfering with business since... forever. can't sell booze on sundays and no firearms for indians? @Guard Dogwas enraged by the anti-liberty aspect o' no smoking ordinances while convenient ignoring the whole democracy bit which had voters decide there should be laws 'bout smoking in restaurants. has always been laws and rules limiting biz. thank goodness. we posted this previous... mostly 'cause o' the james earl jones narration. all that clean air and water legislation passed during the nixon administration no less, placed limits on business and even GD were ok with such... 'cause. most o' us is ok with some kinda government limits on private business... 'cause. am not sure what is your personal "because," but most o' us got one, eh? however, speech is different... at least has been in the US since 1787... but less so in the past decade. congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. ... now keep in mind this is something we frequent have difficulty explaining to europeans, but until recent in the US there were a kinda near ubiquitous understanding amongst the citizenry, even if most people couldn't explain the what or why behind the special exception for speech, that the kinda speech which required protection were speech which offended people... particular the majority. is the majority which, through democratic process, would make laws which might burden the naacp or woke teachers in arkansas. so yeah, we got nazis in skokie, illinois able to wear their brownshirts and march through a mostly jewish community w/o the government able to prevent 'em from doing so. a florida preacher burning copies o' the quran shocked europeans, but there were literal nothing The Government, by of and for the people, could do to stop him from doing so. if a company such as obsidian has a message board they use as part o' their advertising and goodwill efforts, then the notion The Government could force them to change content regulations woulda' been unthinkable to most americans in 2002... but is far less clear in 2022. ‘This Is Positively Dystopian’: Judge Skewers DeSantis’ ‘Stop W.O.K.E.’ Act, Blocks Law Turning Higher Ed Workers into ‘State’s Mouthpieces’ in 2002 the comical farce o' an anti-woke law being passed and surviving Constituional scrutiny woulda' made us sneer with derision. 2022? dunno. clarence thomas suggests, via dicta, that free speech only applies to political speech, which would have antonin scalia and louis brandeis rolling in their graves. the ridiculous anti-woke laws ain't just rando local laws neither but appear as some kinda concerted effort by republicans o' all people, the folks who until recent claimed they were the party dedicated to keeping government limited and remote from the liberties o' ordinary gun-toting americans, is creating laws which is "dystopian," and heretofore unthinkable. we woulda' laughed at the florida anti-woke campaign in 2002. am not laughing no more. unfortunate is no longer fringy folks (and bruce) who embrace a fundamentally unamerican effort to have The Government interfere with speech 'tween private citizens. is no longer just a bad joke circa 1980 or 90 when some "patriotic" group tried to get a flag burning amendment passed... 'cause even those loons knew they needed a Constitutional amendment to get around american first amendment free speech protections. wtf am feeling old(er). HA! Good Fun!

am finding an instapot makes simple and we may make a batch o' steel cut oats large enough to last us a week if we so desire. however, real milk is problematic in the instapot. the thing is, as horrible as is almond milk or soy milk in literal everything else we has ever "cooked," it is our choice when making milk + oats in the pressure cooker... and somehow those milk alternatives is not vile. weird. regardless, instapot is extreme simple and while it takes a bit more time than instant, is kinda a labor= zero situation as you throw everything in the pot, give a stir, close lid and then start the pressure cooking. HA! Good Fun!

ken starr and john durham may have eliminated the point o' the special prosecutor. in both cases, the prosecutor appears to have indulged partisan theatrics. why is The People gonna think a special prosecutor is less corrupt than ___________? yeah, the special prosecutor is gonna be insulated a bit from a republican house demanding an end to investigations, so is not a complete waste. however, the notion somebody special is needed 'cause trump is now a Presidential candidate and *add some nonsense 'bout trust or transparency here 'cause we cannot bring our self to conjure up a real explanation* but given the stoopid o' starr and durham in particular, am unsure if the public sees special prosecutors as... special. so, point not found. HA! Good Fun!

compared to most feedback we has seen, am having a slight different pov on combined spellbook angels and lich as well as trickster-- am not a fan. we got issues with story for lich and trickster, and angel is kinda too predictable to be enjoyable, but we got a serious issue with the mechanics o' the aforementioned mythics. from our pov, busted strong is no better than busted weak. choosing merged angel or lich, as well as trickster, is functional shifting the difficulty slider one or more places leftwards. and yeah, all the mythics may be designed to be overwhelming stongk, but angel, lich and trickster gameplay becomes kinda mindless mid-late game, which robs the game o' enjoyment for us. the problem is you cannot move the difficulty slider further to the right and make the game more fun for the angel, lich or trickster. on unfair, regardless o' your mythic path, there is a handful o' exploits and loopholes which you need indulge to progress. is a dreadful sameness to party composition and battles on unfair which we find soul numbing. that said, lich were also tough for us 'cause it were a bit too cackling and cartoony evhul and we were hoping for a pragmatic evhul option. however, is no question a merged spellbook lich is mighty powerful, so if you are looking for a build to roll-stomp all comers with little need to consider exploits or tactics when playing anything less than hard difficulty, then lich is gonna feel appropriately mythic indeed. HA! Good Fun! ps in the spirit o' full disclosure, we wanted to get through the inevitable excess dlc asap, so we did a merged spellbook angel run. we saw that particular dlc as a chore and the merged angel were an appropriate tool to complete the task.

no beer is sold at byu home games, and caffeinated beverages were verboten until recent. given new rules, is tougher to claim college football don't qualify as a professional sport, and regardless, ticket costs average more than $60. admitted, jim mcmahon were frequent seen not going to class on campus, spitting chew and drinking moosehead beer, so the rules were not exact applied equal, but regardless, there were no beer concessions at the time and such prohibitions remain in place. byu games frequent sell out. HA! Good Fun! ps seating capacity for the stadium in provo, utah is 65K.

? warnock's advert is not subtle. is saying a vote for walker is a vote for trump and is obvious warnock believes invoking trump harms walker's chances. *shrug* your name didn't come up once in our uncharacteristically brief post. HA! Good Fun!

well, that's not subtle at all, is it? HA! Good Fun!

am a smidge confused. are the four octogenarians (am thinking sally ain't quite eighty, but am not curious enough to check) playing themselves or are they four other women 'cause they do not appear to be treated as movie icons in the trailer, but their announced education and other comments seem to suggest they is play themselves? can't imagine seeing this in a theatre, but we will watch at least three o' the four leads in just 'bout anything, so chances are we break down and check this out at some point in spite o' fact is ez to predict all the jokes ahead o' time. HA! Good Fun!

nowadays is ez to see them (democrats, libertarians, republican, progressives, etc.) as not just people with whom you disagree, but as monsters. the kinda dehumanization you expect but likely condemn during wars is happening based on political divisions, which is not normal in US politics. if republicans are evil, then it is a mistake to resolve differences with them as 'posed to eliminating the threat they represent. 'course the problem we personal see is that all too many people is willing to fight to get at them. speech and religion, which were kinda reflexive deemed off-limits by americans until recent, is not protected by libs nor conservatives same way as when we were younger. we need safe places from bad speech? converse, 'cause wokeism is so bad we need do something legislative 'bout those companies which make movies or champion causes which might turn our children into gays or some other nonsense. and yeah, too many "republicans" appear to be willing to literal and figurative burn down american institutions if their guys don't get elected, so is not a both sides situation and is why am effective a one issue voter for the nonce. *sigh* also 'cause it should need not be said but still is, vandalizing an empty court house in portland as a form o' protest, while excessive and deserving legal prosecution o' offenders, is so not same as attempting to prevent the peaceful transfer of power 'tween a republican Presidential administration and one which is led by a democrat, attacking the Capitol while Congressmen is still present and huddling for safety in locked rooms and hiding under desks. the fact we still feel the need to repeat what should be axiomatic is kinda horrific. the thing is, if you are genuine convinced nancy pelosi or climate change deniers is indeed evil, then what actions is unwarranted to remove the threat they pose? sit around and take no action is the real injustice if you is convinced they is evil, right? brave new world. HA! Good Fun!

that's the point. chances are many players would replay *add whatever unspecified span of time you deem appropriate* worth o' the game to fix their "mistake" with sosiel. is not a practical solution. choice and consequences has little value if gamers think they got treated unfair by the developers and resort to a mod to fix the perceived problem. yeah, more than a few players will reflexive mod out any bad selection, but for crpgs am suspecting many players is gonna try and attempt to adhere to whatever is their personal notion o' fair, as meaningless as is such a concept in a single-player game. HA! Good Fun!

spoiler: dunno. the quest didn't make much difference to us as am admitted only slight more invested in the wotr companions than we were regarding bg1 companions. am admitting there is for Gromnir a kinda knee-jerk displeasure in achieving an avoidable bad ending which were in no way foreseeable as potential wrong, but as long as sosiel stayed in the party and served his purpose, then we cared little for his pain. truth is we treat the wotr companions as if they is the galley slaves in ben-hur even if we pretend to be friends with them. row well and live, 41... or ember or sosiel or... HA! Good Fun!

yeah, but keep in mind that all happened in 1890. scoff if you will, but isn't the pizzagate and seth rich folks dedicated to the notion powerful democrats, with the help o' george soros, is draining the blood o' children to achieve immortality and become the kwisatz haderach... or something like that? have never quite been able to figure out all that q and seth rich silliness, but those beliefs is a decent litmus test for stoopid and/or those easily manipulated. regardless, if you is a part o' the not insignificant % o' critical thinking challenged persons who has been voting republican o' late, then chances are you believe nancy pelosi is an american elizabeth báthory, so don't pretend as if our 1890 quip is beyond the pale. however, am gonna concede 2022 nancy does look a bit like ida lowry. is nothing wrong with being or looking old, though women do suffer from an unfortunate cultural double-standard. am not a woman, so... HA! Good Fun!

update HA! Good Fun!

hobbs now projected to win in the arizona govenor race. so, cheney channeling a bit o' nelson muntz? HA! Good Fun! ps once again am linking the relevant fox news article: Arizona gov election: Katie Hobbs defeats GOP challenger Kari Lake, race may now go to recount under state law read the comments and recognize how even though lake lost, a significant % of americans are true believers in the lies trump, lake and others is continuing to sell 'em. real don't matter. facts don't matter. truth don't matter. given the degree o' polarization we see as normal nowadays, any narrative which benefits or originates from the libs is part o' a scheme by them to keep real americans down... or whatever. lake' losing is a win for reality, but not a big win 'cause look how close a thing it were and those near 50% who supported lake yesterday is not waking up tomorrow to the realization they has been willful buying snake oil. is a real win when folks such as lake is once again a momentary punchline embraced serious only by the lunatic fringe.

the final tragedy o' the nixon ouster is rare taught in schools, but am suspecting mitch mcconnell and others were much aware o' how the story ended for Congressional republicans who did the right thing. to this day, on this board, you will see people suggesting january 6 were unfortunate but nowhere close to an insurrection... and whatabout the 2020 summer protests? trump were not particular popular when he won the Presidency in 2016, but somehow a cultlike following developed during four years o' ignominy and incompetence? what? am thinking republican leadership is gonna be hesitant to move on from trump, regardless o' circumstances. history o' "heroic" nixonian republicans and the january 6 backlash 'gainst folks such as lindsey has taught the gop there ain't no practical benefits in doing the right thing. is in part 'cause o' the history o' nixon we are stuck with trump for the near future. @Pidesco (edit) there were no smoking gun moment for republican voters in regards to nixon. the narrative taught today is embracing more than a little romanticized fiction. what happened were, after a substantial elapse o' time following the release o' the watergate tapes, a collection o' republican Congressmen let the President know they would no longer support him through impeachment and a subsequent trial, at which point nixon resigned. the thing is, republican voters did not forgive those Congressmen who were disloyal to their clear guilty President; most o' those republican politicians were primary'd or voted out o' office in the subsequent election 'cause they had such diminished support from republican voters. HA! Good Fun!