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mozi.
It's been bugging me a while now that even in the eyes of most Druid players, Druidcraft really pales in comparison in RP utility compared to the equivalent cleric/bard/wizard cantrips (being Thaumaturgy, Minor Illusion, and Prestidigitation respectively). And I'd say that a huge part of Druidcraft's weakness comes from the fact that not only does it generate fewer and weaker (aka less useful) effects, the effects also don't last nearly as long. So, my proposed fix (with justifications explained):
( I definitely spent way too long thinking about a single cantrip, wtf self? )
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So. Somewhere along the line of me working on my project, I got sidetracked and went down the rabbit hole of AI game master projects. Like...wow, I sank way, way too many hours into playing AI Dungeon.
TL;DR summary before I get into the details: AI, even the most advanced versions, are not good enough to write fiction. I've tried both the dedicated DM AIs (aka, ones where a scripting platform is layered over the AI generated text) and free-form chatbot as a GM, and it all fell short. We are so not ready for AI-assisted creative writing yet, unless you're satisfied with a ton of repetitive nonsense.
( The not so TL;DR version... )
So...that's what I've been doing. Now back to playing as a helpless slime.
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Rangers are broken in a bad way in D&D. And plenty of people have tried their hand at fixing the Ranger, but I really don't think adding yet more complexity is really the way to go. The real complication is that no one can agree what a ranger archetype looks like: is it the Aragorn? US Army Ranger? National Park ranger? Beastmaster? The martial expy of the Druid? The explorer pioneer?
I propose that the one unifying fantasy of the Ranger archetype is "outdoors expert". That one person you want with you if you're stranded somewhere far from civilization. That set of skills to get you through the wilds alive without the amenities of technology or protection of supernatural patronage.
With that in mind, here are my proposed simple fixes for the Ranger. (Sub-class fixes are...a whole other kettle of fish.)
( Ranger hack )
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Druids get a bad rep in D&D space. A lot of that is because their mechanics can be a bit confusing and non-intuitive compared to the more straightforward Cleric and Wizard. Once players figure out that Druids are meant to be doing all they can to maintain powerful concentration spells during combat and provide control for the team, Druids perform significantly better.
However, the problem remains that Wild Shape, the core Druid mechanic, doesn't have synergy with spell casting. And while a Druid is not meant to do a lot of spell slinging, being able to drop concentration on one spell while switching to another spell is very important as part of the reaction to battlefield changes. With this in mind, I propose the following changes to make Druid more beginner friendly without stripping the Druid of their "nature mage" feeling.
( Druid hack )
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Writing this here because my therapist said writing things down solidifies commitment so...here's to committing?
I've attempted some original fiction before and have written some fanfic that were so AU they became practically original fiction. But now, I'm going to attempt writing some stuff set in a world I've made up from scratch (although it's probably better described as a world with cool stuff I like thrown together tailored to my taste). This is probably the most self-indulgent exercise ever, but I've not been doing creative writing for too long (world building isn't the same as writing creatively), so I'm gonna see if I can't get back into the swing of things.
Expect (even more) nonsense ramblings in the future. (Also yes, Nezha2 has made me want to pick up creative writing again. Just maybe not in Chinese bc literary Chinese is hard. And editing is difficult.)
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It was good.
TL;DR — FINALLY, IT'S A NEZHA MOVIE!
( OK, the review: )
The original 哪吒 (before he was even officially called 哪吒) was a monstrous form (妖) that slowly morphed into a godly form (神) around North-South dynasty (南北朝). It wasn't until well into the Song dynasty (宋) that 哪吒 got firmly established as a god and took on the recognizable characterization that we know today. The movie clearly tapped into this origin by making the monsters (妖) the good guys, playing with the philosophical conflict of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism, the three main philosophies that influenced Chinese cultural values. (If anyone wonders why Chinese culture seems so weird and mish-mashy, it's because three fundamentally conflicting philosophies are simultaneously dragging social values in disparate directions.)
However, I nonetheless insist that the classical 哪吒 story pitted 哪吒 against authority as its basic framework. And given 哪吒's origin is literally the result of people wrangling with the conflicting values of newly introduced Buddhist values against traditional Confucian teachings, 哪吒 at his heart has always been about challenging authority.
Since 敖丙 translates to "3rd Ao" and is nicknamed "龙三太子" (third son of the dragon)...does that mean his brothers are named 敖甲 and 敖乙? (lll￢ω￢)
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I can get replacement nibs for my Kaküno! Omfg! You have no idea how happy this makes me. This means I don't have to worry about breaking my Kaküno nibs by accident anymore! I can keep using my Kaküno until the pen body falls apart.
Kaküno is the GOAT of fountain pens!
I maintain the best fountain pen remains the Kaküno. So much love!
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So, I look away from NASA for a few years and boom, they've got an entire lunar economy going.
What happened to exploration for scientific reasons? What happened to preserving neutral territories? What happened to space being beyond national borders?
Fuck you.
One thing I have learned as I grew up is the lie of "science for knowledge's sake" has been a cover the West has been using for centuries to exploit natural resources. No wonder actual basic scientific research gets ignored while applied science and technology developments (aka engineering) gets all the fucking grant money.
Just fuck you. I'm so fucking tired of this shit.
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Am reminded it's once again the annual "let's shift everyone's clock one hour ahead of the natural sleep-wake cycle", aka Daylight Savings Time is kicking in.
And it's deeply stupid.
Credentials? I spent my graduate career studying this shit. It is terrible. Permanently shifting the social clock to de-synchronize with the light cycle leads to all sorts of health complications, such as metabolic diseases, obesity, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and decreased attention. (And we really don't need any more sources of attention attrition because smartphones have already eroded our ability to focus.) We have literal decades worth of data supporting these conclusions. I mean, I'd link papers, but just do a quick search on PubMed and it should give you plenty of review papers on this subject and they all point in basically the same direction: Get rid of Daylight Savings, it's terrible and bad for human health.
You know how China handles the different time zones? Everybody uses the same clock and starts the day during different hours depending on geographical location. More Western locations start the day later (such as 9:00am or 10:00am) while Eastern zones start earlier (such as 6:00am or 7:00am). And then you stick to the same time all the time. Unified clock and flexibility for local differences plus avoidance of having to deal with changing clocks twice a year.
Seriously, Americans, it should not be this fucking hard.
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Sorry, I've been putting my nose to the grind stone writing copious amounts of notes world building a setting for my TTRPG system and haven't been looking up to check Mump-administration's recent bout of crazy.
Then I looked up.
Wow.
Uh...is it too late to divest from U.S.? Because I'm seriously wondering about a) the reliability of FDIC and b) am I even going to be allowed to go into one of these bank branches to get my money in another 2-3 years? Because holy shit the U.S. is on fire.
I know it's not funny...but it's kinda funny in a black comedy way.
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