Gromnir

from our second favorite tv christmas special, which am embarrassed to admit we only discovered recent having never read the discworld books and discouraged by the typical sky1 craptacular production values, am offering the following yuletide message: the reality o' christmas is its least important quality and complete beside the point. whether is santa or baby jesus don't matter neither. krampus? fine. if you believe there is meaning in christmas, then there is. oh, and our #1 tv christmas special is not the star wars wookie thing. am waiting for the day when the little match girl is done such that am satisfied, although one suspects the hans christian andersen tale is gonna have too much o' a religious taint for @Gorthto appreciate even with the danish pedigree. HA! Good Fun!

am gonna ignore the questionable legal analysis by @majestic. happy? however, and perhaps you and others may think o' as a quibble, but pardons is not part o' the legal system in any meaningful sense. justice is blind. in the US it were recognized just how potential exploitive were the pardon power in the hands o' a monarch. however, seeing as how the US President were not a popular elected office or a hereditary title, the founders believed the capacity for exploitation were minimal. suckers. individual state governors with pardon power were a more tricky conundrum, and as such pardon power were hardly universal in the original states. is an unfortunate reality that the fair application o' man-made laws will, from time-to-time, result in unconscionable wrongs. the pardon power exists 'cause o' the recognition o' the imperfection o' the legal system, or at least such is the reasoning in the US. pardon is not law, is not part o' the legal system. is political, extra-legal and supersedes application o' law even where the law were applied fair and appropriate. is opposite o' what we think o' as law 'cause one person is given the power to override the application o' democratic created laws and the entire system o' justice which makes those laws meaningful. the fact pardon is so potential exploitive and extra-legal in nature is precise why the south african constitution placed considerable limits on their national pardon power. point to pardon use as a flaw in the legal system is a mistake, 'cause is one person, a governor or President, acting unilateral to overturn law... ideally to correct a miscarriage o' justice, but as often as not for personal political gain. HA! Good Fun! ps the fact that a person could languish in prison in spite o' clear evidence they is innocent is indeed a flaw in the legal system and such a result is worthy o' ridicule. however, misuse o' pardon itself is not a valid criticism o' the legal system seeing as the power by decree invalidates the application o' law.

the blightmaw loot drop, btw, is one o' the near required bits o' gear if you wanna play a non-blaster caster in wotr. caster level is swell and all, but dc's and sr is the real hurdles for any caster who uses spells which require saves... although there is so many sr defeating items in the game, as well as the mythic spell penetration feat, which together make mid/late game sr a negligible obstacle. regardless, obscure gear available in optional encounters is the difference 'tween being potent and useless? an odd design choice, eh? is an amulet which may be purchased in drezen in act iii which boosts mind affecting spell dc's by +2. is bracers which you find in nexus which boost enchantment by 2. IF you kill the succubus priestess of nocticula in the midnight fane (no ez task), you receive mittens/gloves which boost enchantment spell dc by 2. the puzzle reward staff from the ivory sanctum which increases all spell dc by two is also functional necessary... oh, and is a rando book which boosts enchantment dc by 1. so, play a half elf azata, 'cause the azata got two dc boosting spells (one for the dc o' any spell cast and one for spells with will saves) and half elves benefit from the highest possible starting charisma, and find all the obscure 100t drops we mentioned, then maybe you are able to generate spell dc necessary to be useful in boss battles on core and perhaps even hard difficulty... if you are extreme lucky and choose all the right feat selections. oh, and make certain you are a fair blaster as well 'cause 1/2 foes are immune to mind affecting spells, so... btw, another not so obvious choice is to make seelah a court poet if you wanna play enchanter or illusionist, 'cause skalds have the capacity to boost intelligence and charisma of party members by up to 6. admitted, the sweet spot for seelah in our most recent run were 11/8/1 paladin/court poet/demonslayer, but we were rolling a blaster and the dc boosting were less essential. the +4 to int and charisma were a nice boost even so... +2 to dc, mark of justice, smite, etc. with the brobdingnagian stat bloat for foes, utilizing obscure builds and finding hidden loot is practically required, and such is not essential for unfair difficulty alone. anything 'bove (and perhaps including) normal difficulty encourages player cheese, which offends our crpg aesthetic, but it is what it is. wotc is weird and not just 'cause o' ember and camellia. HA! Good Fun! ps (edit) the reason for suggesting half-elf is also tied to the sorc bloodline which is boosting dcs, so makes more sense to go sorc route than other arcane casters, although a one-level dip in sorc would be enough. however, is a couple azata spells and abilities, such as life bonding friendship, which are specific tied to charisma, so... *groan* so much metagamery nonsense.

that was an extremely australian review, and we don't mean such as an insult. am gonna admit to not being much o' an ember fan, but we do enjoy regill and am thinking the hat you gave him should be made part o' his standard kit. haven't quite finished our azata run but am only having to do the final battle... kinda dragging our feet on the finish. will likely wait for a few dlc and maybe a patch or two (or maybe six) before we go with an aeon. HA! Good Fun! ps ember does make for a fine late game blaster, and her hexes is useful from act i through vi. we got no complaints regarding her party utility. am realizing she is meant to be over-the-top, so is tough to complain 'bout the excessive nature o' her character.

late 80s animation tells us all dogs go to heaven and that burt reynolds was not a great choice for a musical... which is so weird 'cause it weren't even the first musical in which he sang. regardless is perhaps appropriate that in the afterlife kennels should be for those who go to a different destination than heaven. @Guard Dog find where we said you is a trump supporter. will wait. ... still waiting. of course the they are all bad silliness precludes you from acknowledging any kinda support trump or any other holder o' national office. duh. however, and perhaps curiously, you are a functional trump apologist, working kinda hard at times to minimize the magnitude o' his failings, 'cause they are all bad doesn't work if you got an example far worse than the other options, eh? subvert rule of law, and indulge in transparent graft while seeking to overturn the results o' free and fair elections? tough to find a balance for such unless you first convince self that trump offenses weren't as bad as described or visible to any paying attention. HA! Good Fun!

am not seeing: When Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died following a raid by American special forces in his Syrian bolthole, Donald Trump was delighted to report, in October, that the Islamic State leader had “died like a dog”. You mean enfolded by love and grief, Mr President? You mean surrounded by human beings who feel like they have just had their hearts ripped out? Not quite. If anyone was in any doubt about how a dog dies, Trump was happy to elaborate: al-Baghdadi had “whimpered, cried and screamed like a coward”, he chortled. “[He] spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread!” also indian-giver which is hardly a solitary example o' current or past idioms which folks has or should abandon. however, using the defense o' idiom is the kinda predictable generalizing misdirection we see all too frequent to excuse gaslighting efforts and trump. is a dog-eat-dog world but is no reason to doggedly hound a man for innocent use o' inoffensive turn o' phrase. after all, have personal admitted to being dog tired by one poster's dog with a bone fixation. IF trump infrequent used dog idioms to express appreciation for an under-dog by noting every dog has its day, then is unlikely we woulda' added dogs to list o' those insulted by trump. duh. "This also is not the first, second, or even tenth time the President of the United States has referred to one of his opponents as a dog; a scroll through his extensive and toxic list of dog tweets shows that Trump clearly means “dog” as a vicious insult, one that he deploys against enemies he particularly wants to malign." you people is so weird. HA! Good Fun! ps expounding on the prospect o' insanity from another thread, coupled with our infrequent repeated observation that all obsidian posts are arguable star trek posts, we shoulda' included the following: a missed opportunity corrected, though is perhaps time to call off the dogs.

and speaking o' those willing to embrace gaslighting Peng Shuai denies making sexual assault allegation against retired Communist Party leader, but WTA concerns persist for those who may not recall those who is suspicious o' ccp will congratulate selves for seeing through the gaslighting. those who sympathize with ccp will deflect and claim fake news; perhaps ask why so many qq over a nothingburger. perhaps indulge in transparent whataboutism? *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

you suggested hyperbole as you had no recollection o' trump making disparaging comments 'bout dogs. if trump claimed that individuals he disliked had died or begged like a woman, you would no doubt agree such were insulting to women. call a simile or figure o' speech does not make any less insulting. is only ok 'cause is dogs and not women or asians or whatever. and the "inability to say with certainty defense" is getting tired. trump doesn't have a dog. his ex claims trump doesn't like dogs. trump routine compares the worst aspects o' humanity to qualities absent in canines. pretty strong prima facia case for trump dislike o' dogs... which again is irrelevant to question o' whether trump had ever said anything insulting 'bout dogs. ... is partial on us for bothering to respond. mea culpa. HA! Good Fun!

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/politics/article/donald-trump-dogs serious, where have you been? one of trump's favorite insults is to compare ____________ to dogs. HA! Good Fun!

so not true. trump has been venting against "american jews" since (before) he started running for office, and there has been a constant effort to reimagine his predictable fits o' spleen. clearly such efforts have worked for folks like bruce. the thing is, trump support from the jewish population in this country has never been strong and 45 can't help but bemoan the lack o' votes from those he believes owe him fealty. what is maybe/kinda new is complaining 'bout israel and netanyahu, 'cause curious enough, israel and benji enjoy significant approval from the trump base... at least from those who are not active affiliated with the proud boys and similar groups. the gop is just so weird these days. regardless, trump has a considerable history o' saying the wrong thing 'bout those with disabilities, women, minorities, veterans, military commanders, individuals who are not christian, christians and dogs. unless you are putin, is a good chance trump will eventual say something offensive 'bout you if he has not done so already. where have you and gd been the last +5 years? HA! Good Fun!

... "unusual"? what is usual is following an all too common trump verbal self-sabotage, gaslighting ensues which convinces some that what they heard were not what trump said. following such common trump blunders is also predictable efforts to deflect, where "fake news" is the curious rejoinder in spite o' media accurate reporting actual quotes, but emphasis is made that the libs is once again so focused on bringing down trump they cannot report on hunter biden's laptop or just how dangerous to liberty is vaccine mandates. worst o' all is the too significant % o' the trump base which parrots the fake news and gaslighting efforts, but truth is they agree with the disgraced former President's bigotry. nothing unusual. is gop these past few years. HA! Good Fun!

if am ever with family and more than thirty minutes elapses w/o somebody being insulting or crude, we know we has gone insane, or they is plotting our demise... or both. ... that said, am s'posing if our eighty-something aunts started speaking in klingon, we might question our sanity regardless o' insults or vulgarity. HA! Good Fun!

not that it matters, but our less than optimized azata sorcerer who has primarily been used as a blaster has played anything but underpowered. yeah, many o' the most useful azata spells has not worked as described and remain broken even in the latest patches. am not 100% sure favourable magic is working correct either as the save for 75% damage aspect remains wrong as often as not. the thing is, sorcerers in wotr is, much as were the case in kingmaker, kinda powerful unless you purposeful handicap self. add zippy magic alone to our sorcerer build and is already kinda overkill on hard difficulty level. an angel oracle is just silly powerful in wotr and am suspecting at some point we may play such just for laughs, but am honest not certain we would want merged spellbooks for azata. with caster levels o' 40 possible, such would necessitate moving the difficulty slider up to unfair to pose any kinda challenge, and am personal finding that kinda gameplay not the least bit fun as is all 'bout finding and using some kinda exploitive strategy and tactics. HA! Good Fun!

another argument for not going to theatres to watch movies, 'cause am suspecting a large % o' people going to see this flick is gonna be baked to some degree and that is the kinda thing one should be doing in the privacy o' their own home. HA! Good Fun!

as 'posed to playful darkness, the secret of secrets encounter were initially the most troublesome act 3 fight for us, but is unlikely you stumble on that one by accident. HA! Good Fun!

law ain't the problem, 'least not they way some people appear to believe. is US and KY laws which s'posed prevent the kinda thing described in the linked article, which is precise why management is insisting it didn't happen the way employees claim it did. however, if your employees is poor, uneducated, have suspect proof o' citizenship, etc., then chances are as a practical matter is ok to treat your employees like sh!t even if doing so is illegal. assume for a moment no tornado actual hit the building-- just another false alarm tornado warning which happens frequent in various parts o' the US. week elapses, maybe ten days, and imagine more than a few o' the folks who left work w/o supervisor approval are fired, ostensible for reasons not related to leaving work. now what? the fired employees is gonna hire lawyers to try and get management to give 'em back their sh!tty jobs? is less a law problem than a culture issue. try and make people care 'bout workers at mayfield consumer products, or any one o' hundreds o' poultry processing facilities or thousands o' business which require low skill labour and subject employees to grueling conditions. is also simplistic to think US management is always populated by evil capitalists who care nothing 'bout workers, but they is in the unenviable position o' trying to keep businesses running when efforts to automate production is villainized as antiworker while simultaneous needing compete 'gainst foreign manufacturers where labor costs is a fraction o' what is bare minimums in the US. low skill manufacture and production is not like service industries, and is hardly an ez way to make a buck. if management is evil is in part 'cause the current system makes evil far more likely to produce positive quarter reports. laws ain't gonna fix core problems. we already got the laws to prevent what happened at mayfield. HA! Good Fun!

am a smidge conflicted 'bout this 'cause is indeed an example o' poor wotr balance. however, just as soon as we started destroying armies with our mage general, before enemy units even had a chance to attack, it occurred to us that at some point we could be the victim o' such tactics. furthermore, we couldn't help but wonder if, as with ordinary wotr encounters, enemies had no resource management limits with which to contend, allowing 'em to spam army decimating spells with impunity. am gonna admit we were more surprised by how few enemy generals delivered hurt in the way our generals did as a matter o' course. mage generals is horribly unbalanced, which is a problem. however, am thinking the existence o' such on the demon side as well as crusade is at least presenting a veneer o' fairness to the scheme-- not balanced, but arguable fair. that said, if you don't have a mage general of your own and you is unaware o' their disparate impact, then the shock o' a demon mage general lightning striking your units into oblivion is gonna be disheartening and unanticipated. Gromnir has played embarrassing hours o' wotr and is aware o' mage general power. is no reason the ordinary player should have such knowledge. bad balance is not good design... but am gonna refer you to the playful darkness thread at the official owlcat boards. the hardcore fans is animated in their defense o' poor balance and defend such as if it is a feature o' wotr. *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

just a reminder o' what trump is selling his base fear by way o' the most boldfaced lies imaginable. oh, and bruce, don't strawman so much. keep is mind is Gromnir who kept warning folks before and after 2016 that the trump base fears couldn't be dismissed 'cause even if you think they is foolish, they were genuine. call "policies" is hardly meaningful. working class rust belt mid westerners and red state southerners were afraid o' lost/losing manufacturing jobs, and trump promised he would return those jobs to americans, as if such were possible save on extreme small scale. evangelicals has been perpetual afraid o' the threat posed by liberals embrace o' the rainbow flag and abortion. the same white and working class americans who believe they has been disenfranchised the last +decade is afraid that their culture and future is being threatened or somesuch. just because trump is selling fear does not mean the fears is unreal. fear of minorities and progressives and fake news? doesn't do democrats much good if they point and laugh at republican voter stoopidity if those same stoopid people is voting. the fear and grievance is real even if is based on lies. trump success in selling fear and grievance is real even if he keeps telling lies to achieve success. HA! Good Fun! ps abortion, whether you like or not, is real. is one reason why it doesn't matter to a few evangelicals what trump does or says. if you believe unborn babies is being murdered and you recognize democrats and libs support a right to abortion, then almost any alternative is preferable. trump could do near anything, no matter how vile, and for many evangelicals it won't matter 'cause on the other side o' the balance is the murder o' innocent and unborn children. not gonna "fix" this with education or empathy or any other reasonable approach. as long as there is a candidate on the opposite side o' the pro choice position, many evangelicals will aggressive support such a person, even when those evangelicals is aware the anti-abortion candidate is a depraved fearmonger.

the only positive am gonna observe regarding the wotr crusade system is it is less punishing and opaque than kingmaker... less punishing by a longshot. kingdom building failure in kingmaker were extreme ez and often were a result o' event proximity to a calendar date. you may succeed many different ways with wotr army building, but we kept simple: add marksman (or other ranged) choose a mage general is nuances, but do these two things and chances are you win. we didn't ever "need" more than one army, but if you are not confident in army management, perhaps make certain you have a citadel at any fort not extreme close to drezen and the center o' the map. citadel provides you a bit more time to reach a besieged fort with your rescue army. eventual in act v we have so many resources and is so many rando small armies attacking we usual create a second general and a second army to mop up small gangs o' attacking foes, but is more a quality o' life thing than a need. once you have an army which is capable o' beating all comers (level 10 is likely more than enough) don't keep building army resources with merc hires and adding troops. instead consider long-term building strategies. am not gonna spoil save to observe there is no point in building a sooper army in act 3. however, building resources will carry over to later acts, so make sure you got loads of archery ranges and perhaps warehouses built adjacent to supply depots and sanctuaries. get as many marquee buildings erected by end o' act 3, even if you gotta recycle buildings to do so. but again, if you got a s-ton o' archers and a mage general, a single army will likely be enough and everything else just kinda gets ez. that said, we do like hedge knights as they is mobile, durable and do big damage. HA! Good Fun! ps in our most recent azata run, at the end o' act 3 we technical had seven armies, but the army strength for all save two armies were in the 1-3 range and were composed o' "free" troops we had no way o' functional using. pps both times we did crusade through act 5, we had a brief period o' time when we were kinda wishing we had more material points, and that were in spite o' having supply centers and warehouses near everywhere possible. in act 4 you should become extreme wealthy, and am admitting we used a considerable amount o' gold to pay for crusade supplies early in act 5, particular material points.

so now is claim that it doesn't matter for whom you vote but only in the limited situation when dealing with the electoral college and a non battle ground state? bit more limited than your oft professed generalization, no? hurl made a broad party affiliation observation, so your response now doesn't appear to be responsive. have you had a come to Jesus moment and realized it very much does matter for whom you vote, but in extreme narrow sense you are decrying the electoral college scheme? that would be swell. for the moment am gonna pretend that is what you actual mean 'cause then we wouldn't need mock your kookie mantra for the umpteenth time. am also gonna note how amusing is your tenacious 3rd party delusions. you thought 2016 3rd party numbers were significant, and clear still do. you hold on to this fantasy in spite o' 2020. am seeming to recall Gromnir pointing out to you post 2016 how there had been past cycles o' significant 3rd party voting in Presidential contests which likewise were insular and not sea change events. a single national election revelaing heightend 3p voting, particular when overall voting is depressed, is not significant to those alternate parties. you chuckleheads gotta learn to start placing more effort into local and state, but instead we see spike cohen as the vp choice for the libertarians. the thing is, those 3rd party votes in close contests which clear don't actual mean much to those 3rd parties (how many people recall even the name o' ross perot's party w/o google aid?) is actual more meaningful to the eventual winner o' the contested Presidential election. is the reason why trump kept insisting he won the popular vote in spite o' all evidence to the contrary. is tough to legitimize a mandate from the people w/o votes to backup such a claim, and genuine paradigm shifting legislation is unlikely to happen w/o such a mandate. regardless, am gonna happily embrace your newfound realization that it does indeed matter for whom one votes in national elections, and if you sudden claim otherwise we will perhaps take a page from your book and just pretend away the contrary information which does not support our conclusion. very refreshing. HA! Good Fun!

no. is exact your kinda silliness which explains why trump got elected the first time, 'cause in spite o' muslim ban promise, pu$$y grab recording, and verified stories o' trump ripping off charities and defrauding investors, not enough people were convinced it made a difference who were in the white house to actual vote. the very idea that after the last five years and post january 6 we still got more than a few souls claiming it makes no difference who gets votes is disturbing 'cause such a position requires willful ignorance. HA! Good Fun!

playful darkness, on the other hand, were requiring more cheese from us to win. intimidation were once again our ace in the hole. were not so difficult our second run as our first as with stacked pillars of light and goof levels o' intimidation, we did not have a single party member take any damage, though one animal companion and a summons were mauled a bit. first run were not so smooth. now that the vavakia vanguards has been patched, those battles is much easier. ... pathetic quasit were difficult the first time when we had no idea what to expect. regardless, for anybody having difficulty with boss battles, consider creating a merc who specializes in intimidation. is a few party members who can fill such a role (sosiel being perhaps the best option) but chances are if you are deep in the game you won't wanna respec to create an intimidator. intimidator basic requirements: high strength and either wisdom or charisma-- if high wisdom, then need acolyte background. intimidating presence feat-- adds your strength modifier to your intimidation checks. one level of thug-- results in a successful intimidation check becoming a fear condition. * not actual necessary, but am gonna highly recommend dazzling display feat-- applies shaken to observers who fail an intimidation check. if you are concerned with bosses, then you need only intimidate one foe, so dazzling display is superfluous, but is also extreme effective superfluous. the reason why sosiel is such a dominating intimidator if you build him that way is 'cause he has access to spells such as righteous might and frightful presence on top o' fact he has high wisdom and the acolyte background. is thus possible to achieve extreme high wisdom and strength modifiers with sosiel. not required, but beneficial, the best classes for building an intimidator are inquisitors (with the exception of tactical leader) and dirge bards (dirge bards is actual best) 'cause half class level is added to intimidation checks. the dirge bard intimidation modifier is stacks with everything, so it is win. inquisitor stern gaze results in a morale bonus, which may be replicated with a few spells. regardless o' mythic path, the following items and options is good choices for intimidation: moss soup (act 2) and mulled wine (act 3) is camp recipes offering +3/+4 skill check bonuses respective goggles of quick grasp (available act v through crusade) adds +15 competence to persuasion... which is nuts. goggles of piercing gaze provides +10 persuasion (act iv and act v... rando chest in alushinyrra and then dragon burial) signet of house vespertilio (sp?) +5 to a single skill for 1 hour (market square in act 1) oppressor's gloves offers +2 to intimidation (chilly creek act 2) scarlet allure boosts persuasion by 10 (act 4 alushinyrra brothel) goggles of dreadful judgement, for inquisitors or those with judgement ability, provides +5 intimidation. (act 3 midnight fane) *don't ignore low level spells such as bless, prayer and heroism as they provide skill check bonuses am suspecting few reading this will consider building a dedicated intimidator, but if you are having difficulty with boss battles in wotr, and become frustrated, intimidation levels the playing field and then some. by end game, if you use sosiel as your intimidator, buffed with optimal gear and spells, you will be seeing intimidation check modifiers in the mid eighties or better, which results in guaranteed successful intimidation check o' even demon lords. a merc may achieve mid/high nineties modifiers. HA! Good Fun!

... thanks to texas and a complicit SCOTUS, gd may finally have his let it all burn moment. HA! Good fun!

HA! Good Fun!

am at threshold with our azata sorc and have learned a few new things along the way. there remains a number o' azata spells which continue to function wrong. example: believe in your self should provide a morale bonus to a single ability-- +1 for each 4 caster levels. unfortunate, is providing +1 for each four azata levels. also, the dc generated for azata spells is wonky and while the spells ignore sr, they frequent provide a save so those dcs are important. unfortunate, feats and abilities which ordinarily raise dc o' spells do not appear to work proper when generating azata dcs, but more on that in a minute. there is also azata spells which do not appear on most on-line guides for mythic spells. the aforementioned believe in your self shows up infrequent in lists which perhaps do little more than replicate the following: https://forum.owlcatgames.com/t/complete-mythic-spell-lists-beta/36196 if you have discovered ways to exploit skill checks and you didn't go the trickster route, then azata offers nice bonuses. is a rest bonus from sleeping at the azata "stronghold" which provides a +2 luck bonus for one hour, but is functional permanent. is also a spell, moral support, one o' the spells not showing on many guides for azata, which provides a significant skill and saving throw bonus which stacks with everything. at release moral support was lasting seconds per mythic level as 'posed to minutes, but it now works as described. waterfall sounds groovy, but in practice it is current a trap. when waterfall is cast, those who fail a fort save become vulnerable to cold damage for X minutes where X is the caster's mythic level. nice. waterfall is a conjuration spell and Gromnir took every mundane and mythic feat which impacted conjuration dcs, but those feats n' such do not impact azata spells as far as we can tell. nevertheless, we do not regret having sosiel taking one level of crossblood sorc for the cold spells. is a shield which provides +1 per die cold damage. is hide armour from wintersun which provides +1 per die elemental damage. take water and silver dragon for one level o' crossblood sorc and you benefit from conversion o' all energy spells to cold and another +1 cold damage per die. through mythic you may also add another bloodline, which should be another +1 per die cold damage. as such, sosiel's stormbolts is doing an additional +80 cold damage. sosiel doesn't have great dex, but is no reason you cannot boost his touch attacks so they hit even demon lords. hellfire rays, if such don't bother you too much from a rp pov, represent 45 hd o' damage, so that +4 per die mod becomes 180 bonus cold damage. no doubt the following is a "duh" kinda observation anybody who played azata deep into the game, but aivu becomes an incredible late game healer. is one reason am able to switch sosiel's focus to damage output. in the beta we had aivu through act iv and the dragon was great for dealing sonic damage, but the last few tiers o' spellcasting genuine transform aivu into a fantastic healer, which gives the dragon something useful to do while its breath weapon recharges. not an azata thing per se, but a divine hunter lann's velociraptor celestial animal companion is an absolute wrecker from midpoint o' the game onwards. the velociraptor is unique in that it gets a 14 charisma. why? *shrug* also, while the critter is 'posed to get one use of smite evil per day, the smite is actual usable once per encounter. with eagle splendor you are benefitting from a per encounter +4 smite ability, and is ways to raise further. the raptor gets a significant number o' attacks and on a charge attack is highly possible it functional renders a foe prone. we just completed the laughing caves encounter and lann's velociraptor dispatched the balor solo in one round, and only one attack were a successful critical. HA! Good Fun!