Recently bought the AvatarTTRPG. I was excited to play but didn't really like the rules and the way the game played. I have been Dming D&D for over a decade, and was much more comfortable with the rules and gameplay, so I decided to homebrew some bender classes. Right off the bat, I'm concerned about balance with these, so I thought I'd post them here, to get some thoughts on what works and what should be changed.
Kind of a long post, so I don't mind if you only check out just one.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fire Bender
A smartly dressed man with pointed sideburns, aggressively walks forward as he relentlessly flings roaring hot bursts of fire from his fists.
As she is being surrounded, a woman with long jet black hairs sends out a great pulsing ring of flames from the palms of her hands, charring her enemies to ash.
A stoic disheveled man sits upon a mountaintop, mediating on the sounds of life around him. As each breath of air fills his lungs, a brilliant energetic cyclone of flame dances around his body.
Purveyors of passion and rage. Firebenders are excellent warriors, who can create beautiful works of art with their flames, or reap havoc and destruction across the world.
As a Fire Bender, you gain the following class features.
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d8 per Bender level Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per bender level after 1st
Proficiencies
Armor: Light armor and medium armor Weapons: Simple weapons and martial weapons. Tools: Choose one type of artisan’s tools or one musical instrument Saving Throws: Constitution, Charisma Skills: Choose two from insight, intimidation, Persuasion, Acrobatics, Athletics, perception, deception, stealth.
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) two short swords (b) any simple weapon
• (a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack
• A Pai Sho set

Fire Bending
BURST OF FLAME
Beginning at 1st level you can send small bursts of flame from your fingertips. This is a melee attack that does 1d6 damage + your charisma modifier and increases as you level up. It has a reach of +10 and you are proficient with it.
Chi Points
You also gain Chi points, which can be used to cast higher level fire bending techniques. You Start off with 2 points and gain more as you level up. You regain chi points when you finish a long rest.
Firebending Ability
Charisma is your Firebending ability for your firebending techniques. You use your charisma whenever you use your Chi to cast advanced firebending.
Spell save DC + 8+ Proficiency bonus + charisma Modifier
Spell Attack Bonus Proficiency bonus + Charisma Modifier
Beginner Fire Bending Techniques
You start off knowing a handful of basic firebending techniques. You can spend one chi point to cast any of the following spells.
Control flames
Faerie fire
Produce flame
Create bonfire
Reckless Attack
Starting at 2nd level, you can throw aside all concern for defense to attack with fierce desperation. When you make your first attack on your turn, you can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives you advantage on rolls using charisma during this turn, but attack rolls against you have advantage until your next turn.
Source of Bending
At 3rd level, you decide on which emotion you get your firebending abilities from. Choose the Path of Rage or the Path of Life. This grants you features at 3rd, 5th, and 10th level.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead
Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Intermediate Fire Bending Techniques
Starting at 5th level, you have gained experience with various firebending forms. You can now cast these spells using 2 Chi Points.
Flameblade
Heatmetal
Scorching ray
Fast Armored Movement
Starting at 5th level, your speed increased by 10 feet, while wearing light or medium armor.
Concise Bending
Starting at 7th level, you have gained concise control over your bending. You now have advantage on stealth checks that involve your bending. Additionally, you can change the temperature of liquids to any number you desire, without anyone noticing.
Brutal Critical
Beginning at 9th level, you can roll one additional damage die when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with an attack. This increases to two additional dice at 13th level and three additional dice at 17th level.
Expert Firebending Techniques
Starting at 11th level, you have honed your abilities to now be able to cast expert level Fire bending techniques. These new techniques cost 3 chi points each.
Chain lightning
Flame strike
Wall of fire
Master Firebending Techniques
Starting at 15th level, you have honed your abilities to peak performance and are now able to cast master level Fire bending techniques. These new techniques cost 4 chi points each.
Firestorm
Delayed fireball
Fire Prodigy
Starting on 18th level, you can cast Meteor Storm once per long rest, it doesn't cost any chi points.
Jet Propulsion
Starting at 20th level, you can use your fire bending to fly. You gain a flying speed of 40 and your AC increases by 2 while you are moving in this way.
Fire Bending Source
Fire benders have long been fueling their bending with emotion. Passion, rage, envy, all have the capabilities of imbuing a firebenders chi with incredible power. Rage has been the dominant source of power for the last 200 years, but earlier records show that this wasn't always the case. Fire is life and energy, and the long forgotten ways of the Sun Warriors, relies on this as their own source.
Source of Rage
Rage
When you pick this Path at 3rd level, you can go into a RAGE.
In battle, you fight with primal ferocity. On your turn, you can enter a rage as a bonus action.
While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren't wearing heavy armor:
• You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
• When you make a melee weapon attack using your FIRE BURST, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll. This bonus increases as you level.
• You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
If you are able to cast spells, this includes spells using your chi points, you can't cast them or concentrate on them while raging.
Your rage lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious or if your turn ends and you haven't attacked a hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage since then. You can also end your rage on your turn as a bonus action.
Once you have raged the maximum number of times for your barbarian level, you must finish a long rest before you can rage again. You may rage 2 times at 1st level, 3 at 3rd, 4 at 6th, 5 at 12th, and 6 at 17th.
Frenzy
Starting when you choose this path at 6th level, you can go into a frenzy when you rage. If you do so, for the duration of your rage you can make an additional attack as a bonus action on each of your turns after this one. When your rage ends, you suffer one level of exhaustion (as described in Conditions).
Mindless Rage
Beginning at 10th level, you can’t be charmed or frightened while raging. If you are charmed or frightened when you enter your rage, the effect is suspended for the duration of the rage.
SOURCE OF LIFE
This source of fire bending is the original form of fire bending. The polar opposite of the bending of today, this form of bending relies on energy, life, and the power of the sun. These fire benders are passionate and mindful.
Power of the Sun
At 3rd level when you adopt this source, you can choose to deal radiant damage instead of fire damage, at will. Additionally, your fire blast has a range of 30/60 feet.
Sun Chi
Starting at 6th level, you gain additional spells to use with your Chi points, these cost 2 points.
Investiture of flame
Sunbeam
Power of the Dragons
Starting at 10th level, you can change the color of your flame. This imbues your Fire Burst with additional properties. Choose one. And instead of doing an additional attack you add the property to your single attack. You can change the color of your flame everytime you take a long rest.
Yellow- the target must pass the charisma saving throw equal to your spell save DC or become confused.
Green-. You can heal, instead of doing damage.
White- the target must pass the constitution saving throw equal to your spell save DC or become blind.
Blue- the target must pass a constitution saving throw equal to your spell save DC or every attack against the target has advantage.
Black- The target must pass the constitution saving throw equal to your spell save DC or your flame can do necrotic damage. And prevent healing for 1 hour.
​
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
​
Water Bender
A wrinkled woman with braided hair dressed in thick furs creates a giant wall of ice to block an incoming barrage of arrows.
A bearded man with shaved hair at the sides, rushes towards his enemies sending shards of ice to impale their bodies.
A long haired hooded figure twists his wrists, as his arm extends towards another person. They cry out in horror as they lose control of their bodies and start following his every command.
Wise, adaptable, and determined, water benders can harness their powers to heal their allies, or perform devastating attacks against their enemies.
​
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d8 per Bender level Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per bender level after 1st
Proficiencies
Armor: Light armor Weapons: Simple weapons Tools: Choose one type of artisan’s tools or one musical instrument Saving Throws: Wisdom, Intelligence Skills: Choose two from Insight, Persuasion, Stealth, Arcana, Survival, Perception, Nature.
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• any simple weapon
• (a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack

WATER BENDING
WATER WHIP
Beginning at 1st level you can snap a long whip of water at your foes.
This is a melee attack that does 1d4 damage + your wisdom modifier. It has a reach of +5
Chi Points
You also gain Chi points, which can be used to cast higher level Water bending techniques. You Start off with 2 points and gain more as you level up. You regain chi points when you finish a long rest.
Natural Healer
Starting at 2nd level, waterbenders gain the unique ability of healing. You can heal yourself or an ally you can touch 1d4+wisdom modifier healing for every chi point you use.
Waterbending Ability
Wisdom is your Waterbending ability for your waterbending techniques. You use your Wisdom whenever you use your Chi to cast advanced waterbending.
Spell save DC + 8+ Proficiency bonus + wisdom Modifier
Spell Attack Bonus Proficiency bonus + Wisdom Modifier
Beginner Waterbending Techniques
You start off knowing a handful of basic waterbending techniques. You can spend one chi point to cast any of the following spells.
Frostbite
Ray of frost
Ice knife
Lesser restoration
Water Bending Style
Starting at 3rd level, you decide which style of water bending you want to learn. You must choose either Northern Style, Southern Style, or Swamp Style.
Intermediate Waterbending Techniques
Starting at 5th level, you have gained experience with various Waterbending forms.
You are now able to cast the following spells using your chi. You must spend 2 Chi points to cast these spells.
Snowball storm
Mass healing word
Tidal wave
Water Walking
Starting at 7th level you gain the ability to walk on water. Additionally, you gain a swimming speed of 50 ft. and can breathe underwater.
Blood Bending
Starting at 9th level you gain the ability to control the blood inside people's bodies.
You can use 4 chi points to use any of these techniques, you can only use blood bending twice a long rest. You can completely control any beast with a challenge level ½ without using chi.
Geas
Dominate person
Expert Waterbending Techniques
Starting at 11th level, you have honed your abilities to now be able to cast expert level Waterbending techniques. These new techniques cost 3 chi points each.
Wall of water
Control water
Watery sphere
Octopus Form
Starting at 13th level You can spend 8 chi points to sprout 8 limbs of water from your body. While in this form attacks have disadvantage against you. Additionally, you can attack twice with your water whip.
Master Waterbending Techniques
Starting at 15th level, you have honed your abilities to now be able to cast master level Waterbending techniques. These new techniques cost 4 chi points each.
Mass cure wounds
Wall of ice
Tsunami
Advanced Blood Bending
Beginning at 17th level, You no longer can use blood bending only twice a day, additionally you can now cast power word kill using 10 chi points.
Armless Bending
Beginning at 18th level, you can now perform all bending techniques without the use of your limbs.
Cryogenic Ice Prison
Starting at 20th level, you can now use 20 chi points to incase an enemy in a sphere of cryogenic ice. The target must pass a strength saving throw against your spell save dc, on a fail they are imprisoned in the ice until released. They do not age or die while imprisoned.
BENDING STYLE
The Water tribes, while on opposite ends of the world, share similarities. However, being so far away from each other has caused their bending styles to dramatically differ. While the north focuses on defense and creative uses for buildings and art, the south must focus on the harsh nature of their environment, and offensive abilities.Then there are the swamp benders, who have found unique ways to bend the nature around them.
NORTHERN STYLE
Defensive Water
Starting at 3rd level you learn to naturally adapt to using waterbending as a defense, your ac increased by 1. Additionally you have resistance to fire damage.
Protector of the North
Starting at 6th level, You get access to additional waterbending techniques costing 3 chi points each.
Investiture of ice
Revivify
Ice Architect
Starting at 10th level, If you have access to snow or water, you can make houses out of snow. Anyone who takes a long rest in the house gains 15 temporary hit points, this increase to 20 at level 15 and 25 at level 20
SOUTHERN STYLE
Advanced Water Whip
When you choose this style at 3rd level, Your water whip becomes a ranged attack of 30/60 and now does 1d6+ wisdom modifier in damage.
Crushing Grip of Seas
When you choose this style, starting at 6th level, Your water whip becomes like an extension of your arm, you can pick up objects with it, and you can grapple enemies with it. The grapple done using the water whip uses wisdom instead of strength. When grappling in this way, you can spend a Chi point to make your enemy prone.
Aquatic Aggressor
Starting at 10th level, you gain additional Waterbending techniques, these cost 4 chi points to use. Additionally You can use Chi to perform a waterbender technique as a bonus action when you attack with your water whip.
Maelstrom
Ice storm
SWAMP STYLE
Plant Manipulator
Starting when you choose this style at 3rd level, you can manipulate the water that exists within plants. You can extend 3 Chi points to cast the following spells.
Plant growth
Grasping vine
Entangle
Tree stride
Land’s Stride
Starting at 6th level, moving through nonmagical difficult terrain costs you no extra movement. You can also pass through nonmagical plants without being slowed by them and without taking damage from them if they have thorns, spines, or a similar hazard.
In addition, you have advantage on saving throws against plants that are magically created or manipulated to impede movement, such those created by the entangle spell.
Nature’s Sanctuary
When you reach 11th level, creatures of the natural world sense your connection to nature and become hesitant to attack you. When a beast or plant creature attacks you, that creature must make a Wisdom saving throw against your Bender spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature must choose a different target, or the attack automatically misses. On a successful save, the creature is immune to this effect for 24 hours.
The creature is aware of this effect before it makes its attack against you.
​
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
​
Air Bender
A bald monk in orange robes and glowing tattoos stands on a cliff, he sends a great spiraling tunnel of wind forward, hurtling his enemies against the hard rocks below.
A renegade mercenary with a rough beard and worn fatigues, twirls his wrist as his hand tightens into a fist. The person across from him grasps at his throat as he attempts to breathe, with no success.
A young energetic boy rides his glider across the sun. He laughs as he lets go and falls to the earth, sending out a great wave of wind as he lands.
Patient and understanding, Airbenders spend most of their lives in isolated meditation. They have strong bonds with the people they meet as they travel the world in order to understand the 4 nations. However, some break away from this lifestyle, and use their bending for evil, not good.
​
As an Air Bender, you gain the following class features.
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d6 per bender level Hit Points at 1st Level: 6 + your Constitution modifier Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d6 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per monk level after 1st
Proficiencies
Armor: None Weapons: Simple weapons, shortswords Tools: Choose one type of artisan’s tools or one musical instrument Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity Skills: Choose two from Acrobatics, Athletics, History, Insight, Religion, and Stealth
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a shortsword or (b) any simple weapon
• (a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack
• An airbending glider

Unarmored Defense
Beginning at 1st level, while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.
Air Bending
AIR BLAST
Beginning at 1st level, you can send out a blast of air at your foes.
This is a ranged attack that does 1d4 damage + your dexterity modifier. It has a range of 30/60
Chi Points
You also gain Chi points, which can be used to cast higher level Air Bending techniques. You Start off with 2 points and gain more as you level up. You regain chi points when you finish a long rest.
BEGINNER AIR BENDING TECHNIQUES
You start off knowing a handful of basic Airbending techniques. You can spend one chi point to cast any of the following abilities.
Patient Defense
You can spend 1 Chi point to take the Dodge action as a bonus action on your turn.
Step of the Wind You can spend 1 Chi point to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn, and your jump distance is doubled for the turn.
Gust
You can spend 1 Chi point to cast the spell Gust.
Unarmored Movement
Starting at 2nd level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield. This bonus increases when you reach certain bender levels, as shown in the Air Bender table.
At 9th level, you gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids on your turn without falling during the move.
Deflect Missiles
Starting at 3rd level, you can use your reaction to bend a shield of air around you. You can deflect the missile when you are hit by a ranged weapon attack. When you do so, the damage you take from the attack is reduced by 1d10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Airbender level.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.
Intermediate Air Bending Techniques
Starting at 5th level, you have gained experience with various Airbending forms, you can use your chi to cast the following spells. These spells cost 3 chi to cast.
Catapult Feather Fall Gust of wind
Glider Flight
Starting at 7th level, you can use your glider to fly. You have a flying speed of 60, and cost 1 chi point per hour to stay in the air.
Stillness of Mind
Starting at 9th level, you can use your action to end one effect on yourself that is
causing you to be charmed or frightened.
Expert Air Bending Techniques
You have gained the knowledge of most airbending forms. Starting at 11th level you can spend 4 chi points to cast the following spells.
Storm sphere
Control winds
Investiture of wind
Diamond Soul
Beginning at 14th level, your mastery of Chi grants you proficiency in all saving throws.
Additionally, whenever you make a saving throw and fail, you can spend 1 Chi point to reroll it and take the second result.
Master Air Bending Techniques
You have become a master airbender. Starting at 15th level, you can expend 5 chi points to cast the following spells.
Whirlwind Power word stun
Air Suffocation
Starting at 18th level, you can expend 10 chi points to create a sphere of air around your enemies head. If the target has fewer than 100 hp, you suffocate them, killing them instantly. If they have higher hp, they must make a constitution saving throw against your spell dc, on a fail they take 2d20 damage. You can choose to knock them out instead of kill.
Gliderless Flight
Starting at level 20, You no longer need a glider to fly. Your flying speed is double your movement speed, and you can attack while flying without penalty.
AIRBENDING STYLES
SKY WARRIOR
Slow Fall
When you choose this style at 3rd level, you can use your reaction when you fall to reduce any falling damage you would normally take, to 0.
Twinkle Toes
Starting at 6th level, when you use Step of the Wind, you can use your airbending to propel yourself around an area. When this ability is activated you have a flying speed of 30ft. This ends at the end of your turn.
Expert Flyer
Starting at 10th level, You can fly without using Chi points. You get a flying speed equal to double your movement speed, as long as you have your glider. Additionally, your ac increases by 1 while flying. You can attack from your glider at disadvantage.
PATIENT DEFENDER
Offensive Defender
Starting at 3rd level, you gain the ability to use another Air blast as a bonus action.
Evasion
Starting at 6th level, your instinctive agility lets you dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a blue dragon’s lightning breath or a fireball spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.
Wind Hand
at 10th level you can use your air bending to grab objects and move them, additionally you can use 4 chi points to use a Telekinesis spell. (The telekinesis is not true telekinesis, it is airbending. But the spell works mechanically the same.)
​
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
​
​
Earth Bender
A tall wide shouldered woman, smirks as she levitates a rock, sends it downward, and crushes her opponent under its unrelenting weight.
A muscular man with a grayed beard rushes across a barren landscape, the earth below his feet molding to his movements and propelling him forward.
Earthbenders are strong, unrelenting, and stubborn. Their sheer power and tenacious will, make them fierce warriors.
​
As an Earth Bender, you gain the following class features.
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d10 per Bender level Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per bender level after 1st
Proficiencies
Armor: All Armor, Shields Weapons: Simple weapons and martial weapons. Tools: none
Saving Throws: Constitution,Strength Skills: Choose two from Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, and Survival
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) chain mail or (b) leather armor,
• (a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons
• (a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack

Earth Bending
Stone Punch
Beginning at 1st level you can hurl chunks of rock at your enemies. This is a ranged 30/60 attack that does 1d8 damage + your Strength modifier and increases as you level up.
Chi Points
You also gain Chi points, which can be used to cast higher level Earth bending techniques. You Start off with 2 points and gain more as you level up. You regain chi points when you finish a long rest.
Earthbending Ability
Strength is your Earthbending ability for your earthbending techniques. You use your Strength whenever you use your Chi to cast advanced Earthbending.
Spell save DC + 8+ Proficiency bonus + Strength Modifier
Spell Attack Bonus Proficiency bonus + Strength Modifier
Beginner Earth Bending Techniques
You start off knowing a handful of basic earthbending techniques. You can spend one chi point to cast any of the following spells.
Mold Earth
Earth Tremor
Shield
Action Surge
Starting at 2nd level, you can push yourself beyond your normal limits for a moment. On your turn, you can take one additional action.
Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. Starting at 17th level, you can use it twice before a rest, but only once on the same turn.
Earthbending Style
Starting at 3rd level, you decide which style of Earth bending you want to learn. Choose either Sightless or Aggressor.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.
Intermediate Earthbending Techniques
Starting at 5th level, you have gained experience with various Earthbending forms.
You are now able to cast these spells using your chi. You must spend 3 points to cast these spells.
Spider Climb
Erupting Earth
Stone Shape
Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Stone Sculptor
Starting at 7th level, you gain the ability to mold stone to your liking. You can create stone weapons, furniture, and tools.
Stone weapons- You can make any simple weapon using this ability. These weapons count as magical.
Stone tools- Artisan or thieves, crowbar.
Stone Furniture- Beds, chairs, tables, and containers*
Land Boost
Starting at 9th level, you can spend 2 Chi point to mold the land beneath your feet, and surf along it as if it is water. Your speed is doubled for the duration and attacks have disadvantage against you. Additionally, you can use earth bending to boost you to points you would not normally be able to reach. If using this ability to travel, you must spend 1 chi point an hour to stay in this state.
Expert Earthbending Techniques
Starting at 11th level, you have honed your abilities to now be able to cast expert level Earthbending techniques.
Meld into stone
Investiture of stone
Move earth
Metal Bending
Starting at 13th level you gain the ability to mold metal along with earth, all of your techniques can also be applied to metal. Additionally, your Stone Punch now does double damage when used with metal instead of stone.
Master Level EarthBending
Starting at 15th level, you have become a master of earth bending. You can now spend 4 chi points to use the following spell.
Earthquake
Advanced Action Surge
Starting at 18th level you can use action surge twice.
Rock Bullet Rain
Starting at 20th level you can disintegrate a compressed rock, and shoot its shrapnel-like fragments with great speed. Roll 4d20 you can divy out that damage to any enemies you can see.
BENDING STYLE
Sightless
Keen Perception- Beginning when you choose this style at 3rd level, you can feel people approach when they are on the ground. You have advantage for any perception check dealing with the ground. You can’t be surprised.
Keen Insight- Starting at 6th level, you have a wonderful ability to tell when someone is lying. You have advantage on insight checks if the person is standing on the ground. You can always determine someone's heart rate.
Total Awareness- Starting at 10th level, your attacks ignore total cover, additionally, you do not have disadvantage when attacking invisible foes.
Aggressor
Improved Critical
Beginning when you choose this archetype at 3rd level, your Stone Punch scores a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.
Protection
When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 10 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll.
Stone Archer
You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with your Stone Punch and its range increases to 60/120.

Really, I just need to rant. I know most of this is old news now. But no one I know IRL reads these comics, so I gotta let it out somewhere...
I tend to binge comics every so often instead of reading month-to-month, as I find it easier to keep up that way (and single issues are no longer substantial enough to feel worth it honestly). So I last left off after Spencer's run. Read Beyond in two days, and then Wells' run (including most Dark Web tie-ins) in another two days.
So, first off...
BEYOND
I didn't hate this actually. There are times when it's a bit dull. I wanted more of a focus on Ben and Janine's daily life, but the story was primarily interested in plot plot plot. Even then, Ben's personality shines through and I really liked him for most of it.
The villains were pretty lousy. Doc Ock and Aunt May teaming up did not work at all, I'm sorry. I just don't buy that Aunt May would do that (and also I keep forgetting that she no longer knows Peter is Spider-Man, like I could've sworn she found out again at some point).
Queen Goblin is okay though, and I like that they play up the therapy angle here. The whole "Norman's Sins" thing is weird magic mumbo-jumbo, but if you just swap it around and use some basic science experimentation / brainwashing instead, it would work pretty well.
Benching Peter was ballsy and done in a pretty lame way. It doesn't really make sense he'd be in a regular hospital to be honest, like they should've figured out he was Spider-Man from every blood test. But at least they didn't pretend to kill him off or whatever.
Ben ultimately losing his memories... was an interesting idea for an issue or two.
Anyway, Janine is my favorite character for some reason. I've never heard of her before this (I thought she was an MJ clone for a minute). I understand she had a few appearances back in the 90s, probably in the Clone Saga. (I've read most of Spider-Man history, but the 90s Clone Saga is my biggest blind spot. Too many crossovers which I didn't have access to when I read all of ASM as a kid, so I just skipped it rather than stopping. Then as an adult when I did get access to those other books and read them up to the Clone Saga... I just didn't have the patience haha. I'll get back to it one of these days.) But yeah, Janine kicks ass here. I love the internal conflict, the genuine devotion to Ben, the willingness to throw down when shit hits the fan... She's great.
The best though was the single one-shot when Peter fights some weird demon thing in the hospital. It made no sense and came out of nowhere and I'm still not sure why it happened. But it was cool and the art was good and I like horror stuff, so that was neat.
Okay, main event...
ZEB WELLS AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
THE GOOD
I'm not above being able to compliment some things.
I like how he wrote Tombstone. Tombstone's plan to make Spider-Man beat up Rose for him is surprisingly solid and a well-done twist.
I also like Vulture's brief appearance, and how vicious he is. I'm a Vulture stan, and hate it when people treat him like a joke. So it's nice to see someone recognize just how terrifying and ruthless Vulture can actually be.
Hobgoblins... are okay. He kinda neutered Kingsley, but it's fun seeing Ned get brainwashed again.
Um, let's see, there's some other positive...
Black Cat shines throughout. I did not need Peter and Felicia to get back together, but at least I buy it when it happens. Even aside from that though, she does feel like an actual character in both this and Beyond, and not just Peter's ex who writers don't know what to do with.
Uh, the Celestial Gwen bit was interesting... I don't know how the main event is, but for a tie-in this was an interesting idea. The execution was kinda lackluster though. Like Peter sees Gwen and just acts like a good guy, and she approves, and that's it. It's not really surprising and doesn't say anything interesting about the character that isn't obvious. And then "bringing her back" for five seconds... I don't know how I feel about that, kinda weird... I wish Peter had stood up for humanity in general, instead of just showing how he's a good guy. Like, he should've told the Celestial to bugger off, and let it know that it is the villain here. It's weird that he doesn't defend humanity at all. Even his own good actions feel weirdly filtered through the need to impress a Celestial, which is just weird.
Hmm, that wound up being more of a bad than a good...
Oh yeah, there was that Living Brain story for the 60th anniversary. I like the idea of that story. Again, it kinda flopped in execution, coming off more as a parody than anything. Peter's friends definitely should've realized he's Spider-Man. And all the villains are so... odd. It's a parody that isn't funny, even though the idea is decent. Ock doesn't even reference that the Living Brain was once his minion! (Does he remember that?)
Okay, that was more negative as well... Okay.....
THE BAD
I'll start small. In that Tombstone story, there's a scene where Tombstone kidnaps Peter (not Spider-Man), and Peter jokes and makes fun of him, and then Tombstone goes, "You're weird." Tombstone should've figured out he's Spider-Man. I swear, I thought that was about to happen. Peter is not acting like a regular person, and Tombstone's not a goddamn idiot. I was waiting for him to be like, "Oh, it's you. You're Spider-Man. Good to know." That could've been a great moment, Peter's own loud mouth outing his identity, but naa...
Also, though Wells gets Tomby and writes him okay, Wells also dunks on my boy Richard Fisk. Why has no one taken Rose seriously since the 80s? He was such a great character back then. Now he's just another mobster. Has Wells even read those stories? He must have, since he uses Hobgoblin a bunch, and all those things were happening at the same time. Sigh...
Nothing with Norman works at all. I mean, look, I get it, this was a thing Spencer did. And it didn't work then either. And I do respect that they're actually exploring the concept and trying to make something out of it. But it just fundamentally doesn't work. When Ock became Superior, it worked because he still read like Otto. But this Norman... this isn't Norman. This is a new character who so happens to look like Norman and technically has his past. But it's just... not Norman.
While I'm at it... since I did read that Gold Goblin series as well.... Queen Goblin immediately loses all the intrigue she had in Beyond when she goes up against Norman. This just emphasizes the "Sins" thing, which is too woo-woo magical to make any sense or feel real or tangible at all. The stakes are unclear. It just doesn't work.
(On the other hand, the Mary Jane & Black Cat series is the most fun I had during all of this. Like, the plot is nonsense and it's a bit tied into the Paul stuff to really be recommend-able... but the writers there made the most of the shitty stuff they'd been handed and wrote a fun five issues. Good art too. S'ym is great.)
Oh yeah, the art is terrible. I'm not a JRJR hater -- he's hit-or-miss, for the most part. His work on Daredevil in the 80s is brilliant, and his Mephisto redesign is excellent, the only Mephisto that really feels like some otherworldly Eldritch horror. But this run... this is JRJR at his absolute worst. It's not good art.
THE DARK WEB
Okay, so... Like Beyond, I didn't hate this. I didn't like it much either, but it had its moments.
Rek-Rap is great. Just... just everything about Rek-Rap.
I like all the X-Men tie-ins too. In Dark Web, I mean. That one-shot issue shortly before Dark Web where fights Moira or... or whatever that was... That was dog poop nonsense boring shrug. But Dark Web has fun ideas that organically incorporate the X-Men.
I mean, it's really weird that you have a story where Goblin Queen and Queen Goblin are running around at the same time... They, uh, probably should have found a different name for Queen Goblin....... Can she just be the new Red Goblin, since the old one isn't coming back anytime soon? Or a new Menace? This is such a weird naming thing, and letting Peter (or was it Ben?) make a joke about it did not assuage that confusion...
But yeah, teaming up the two most iconic Marvel clones is such a natural move that built for some good drama, even if that drama is built on, um, completely character assassinating Ben...
Okay, here's a positive: the Chasm suit is cool. It's a good suit. I like the suit.
But holy hell Ben (literally?), this is waaaaaay off the deep end. Remember that time in the 60s when Peter lost his memories and teamed up with Doc Ock, but at the end he came to his senses before getting his memories back, because he's inherently a good person and knew this wasn't right? Why can't Ben get that treatment? I mean, okay, I guess he didn't just lose his Uncle Ben memories, but also kept a bunch of traumatic ones... except, apparently, he still forgot about getting killed and resurrected twenty-something times. I thiiiiiink that one's gone too... So he lost his most traumatic memories as well... So he really just has the, uh... mid-memories?
I like when Jean helps Madelyne. That was a good moment. Just gives her memories back, and then Madelyne helps them. Well done. Love it.
So, um, she can totally do that for Ben too right? Like, she's an omega-level mutant and just showed that she has this ability? Why didn't they just do that again? It's not like Peter would've been against it. Really doesn't make sense.... Heck, they could still do this. Ben is right there. Just... just ask Jean to give him his memories back. It's that easy.
Janine still rocks. I love the bit when she almost runs away, but gets recognized, and then comes back more committed to Ben than ever. Janine is an awesome character.
It's funny that there are like five redheaded women in this story, and they're all drawn exactly the same.
THE PAUL...
So...
That was stupid.
This most recent arc literally opens with a note from Nick Lowe, promising that they all really do care about these characters. See that, guys! They do care! Don't mind everything you're about to read, they promised us that they care! Not sus at all...
Making this whole thing a flashback was stupid. Like, there's this whole mystery box storyline... Then when you get to the reveal, it's just 90% an extended flashback, because there isn't really a good way to tie it into present day. It's almost like they should've just done this chronologically to begin with. None of their teases actually made me care. It's all just shallow "hype." (I mean they wanted it to be hype, but I wasn't hyped, so... Like I said, shallow.)
Who the hell is this villain? From the editor's notes, I've definitely read the story arc where he first appeared. I do not remember it. I do not remember him. He is so beyond forgettable that my brain hasn't even stored him as a footnote.
And he isn't fleshed out here either... Most of the time, I was just confused by who he is and what he wants. I'm not even sure how many of these villains there were. Are Rabin and the God the same? Wait, is Rabin the bearded guy? I think they said Rabin was someone else, Paul's dad or whatever... I don't know, I couldn't really follow it. It feels like remembering that forgettable story from Brand New Day era is essential to understanding this one, and I just... I don't. Bring back Freak. Bring back Paper Doll. Those guys I remember, not well but they were fun enough and had cool powers. But this guy? Who the hell is this guy? (And is it racist? It feels racist.)
At least set up the Mayan stuff earlier in the run... Like, with all the mystery box teasing, they didn't actually tease anything. Spider-Man vs Mayan Gods? That's your big story? That feels like something the 60s cartoon would've tackled in its weaker seasons...
Oh, and they Amy Ponded MJ. That was just dumb. This is the kind of random scifi poop that has nothing to do with reality. Good scifi challenges characters and forces them to reveal character in a way that relates back to the real world. Like Into the Spider-Verse uses Peter B Parker to mentor Miles and has both characters grow. The glitching rule is added in so that Miles will have to be the one to stay, so that it can remain fundamentally his story without snapping away the problems by having the more experienced Spider-Men do all the work. Or that Amy Pond story I referenced -- that's an amazing episode of Doctor Who (Season 5, "The Girl Who Waited," strongly recommend), because it challenges the Doctor's readiness to play with the timestream and bring along a string of companions, and it also challenges Amy's readiness to trust the Doctor and assume he always has everything under control. It feels organic to the larger scifi rules in play, and reveals a ton about both characters, with this tragic underpinning that is earned and emotional.
But this? This is just more pettiness. This is just the Spider-Man team not caring about the character (no matter what Nick Lowe says) and wanting to mess things up with MJ... because reasons. It doesn't tell us anything about Peter or MJ that we didn't already know. Heck, they don't even feel in character half the time. Or rather, MJ doesn't really feel like a character at all.
There's this one part where The MJ Who Didn't Wait and Paul get super bulk and Terminator-y during the flashbacks... and then like a page later they're normal sized again. What was that about?
The whole thing is also rushed, not that I wanted them to stretch this out any longer. None of the beats in the MJ flashbacks are fleshed out at all. We're watching a snippets montage of some story we'll never read. We don't get connected to any of the events.
I felt nothing when the kids vanished. I felt nothing when freaking Mary Jane Watson was stabbed to death. And I felt nothing when it was revealed to not be MJ but Kamala. Like, these are characters I traditionally care a lot about... and I just feel nothing and don't care what happens to them in these stories.
That Kamala Khan bait-and-switch? Damn, that was trash writing. I'm not up to date on Kamala's books either (I haven't been since Wilson left -- couldn't get into the following run). But to kill her off in someone else's book??? With none of her supporting cast, none of her villains, heck not even a real Spider-Man villain for that matter... (Again, who the hell is this stupid boring Mayan God guy? What is actually at stake right now? Does he have a personality? Motivation? Is he a racist concept? I'm still not clear on these things.) Kamala "dies" in the dumbest way possible. Well done, Mr. Wells. You aimed to write an incredibly stupid book, and you succeeded.
Heck, Kamala wasn't even a character in this arc. The last time I recall seeing her was during Dark Web. She isn't in ASM 21-25. She just shows up in #26... to die. That's so stupid. This character deserves more than that.
Also, MJ deserves more than this.
Peter deserves more than this.
Heck, even that Mayan guy deserves more than this. At least give him a personality.
IN CONCLUSION...
If any of you actually read all this... uh, I'm sorry? I just needed to vent and mark down some thoughts. Curious on other people's thoughts. I mean, I think I know most of them (I don't live under a rock and did have some spoilers going into all this).
Can we please just retcon all this already? Just do some time travel shenanigans and pull in MJ from before all of this. It worked for Doctor Who.

Title explains it. I used The Pink Stuff on my brown kitchen counters and I’ve noticed a white cast being left behind now. I’ve tried so much to get it to go away to no avail. Any help is appreciated! TIA

Hey, I've recently got into DnD since the start of December [M20]. So far I've had 6 DMs so I've learned to tell apart the good from the bad somewhat.
I don't know much Reddit stuff and I'm not exactly good at TLTRs so bear with me. I've also decided to tell this story on an alt to avoid harassment towards my end or the DM's.
So where do we begin? It all started when my last DM decided to drop the campaign after many people left it and even tho I've found the start of it pretty slow it got pretty fun when we crossed a certain point. So I wanted to get back into a new game to fill in a new slot.
I found a post in lfg where the OP(our soon-to-be new DM) welcomes everyone into his discord server). In hindsight, it was a red flag that anyone could join in with no questions asked. Desperate as I am to get into a running 5e campaign that fits in with my schedule, I joined in.
After a few days and some asking, we've come to find out that out of like 10 server members in here only 4 of us were going to play(later it would be bumped up to 5). We were playing Curse of Strahd and I could already tell the DM was a lot less experienced than most of the DMs I've played with. He didn't have much planned out and I had to ask him to make a r20 link before our first session. I did my best with my limited knowledge of r20 to teach him to assign me a character sheet and fortunately, I got my character done before the deadline.
Even tho he's obviously inexperienced as DM I can't really give him much credit with preparation when my first DM happened to be a first-timer at the time and did a much better job of handling stuff.
Anyways, it was the first session and about 4 of us party members were ready. DM told us to be level 3 and we eventually figured out why after a few combat encounters.
DM seems to be playing it by the books as I catch him accidentally reading out stuff that we aren't supposed to know lol. We were railroaded throughout the adventure as well.
My character, a former servant who recently began impersonating a missing nobleman, was a muit-class rogue-fighter and I've played him as a guy who will usually bullshit his way out of any situation with his words.
There was a wizard, another multi-class, and a pure rogue I'm the party. However, the rogue and I were the most talkative out of the party. The thing to note with the rogue is that his race happens to be changeling so he would use his shape-shifting whenever he needs it.
Back to the story, the DM openly reads out a couple of G slurs from the module. As someone who is very uncomfortable with anyone saying and also trying to give the DM the best chance in the first session, I've asked if this was just him reading the module and not something he added on his own. After explaining to him that it's a slur for the Romanian people he kinda brushes it off.
If my problems ended with that whole scene I honestly probably wouldn't have made this post.
Anyways, after the party introduction we were sold pastries from some old lady (this will be important later). I rolled my first insight check on her and rolled terribly(this is also going to be a trend going on). So I bought the pastry. Rogue still seems to be suspicious of her even tho he also bought it.
We went off to wherever we went. I won't tell you exactly everything just the highlights.
After being tricked by some ghost children. We enter this haunted house. This is where I realize that the DM is just telling us everything from the book as it was redundant to investigate or do insight on whatever.
After some spooky stuff happened we found a stairway down to the basement. We found what the DM tells us is a mannequin replica of Strahd so our Rogue went ahead and changed into him and thank God for that. He scared away any cultists around while we proceed to convince these awful parents to no-life themselves after we found out what they did to their own kids.
This was honestly the best part of the campaign as I felt like we actually had some agency and even managed to avoid combat by using the situation to our advantage.
Still, we had to fight one monster in that creepy basement.
There's nothing really important I can mention after this point but I do remember a lot of party members and NPCs vampire-checking each other with mirrors. We agreed to help this one woman with something and that's around when session 1 ended.
Session 2 I woke up a little late, so I rushed to my computer for this.
After a couple of rail roady moments and telling us everything about every single NPC, the DM had us fight some wolves. We killed all but the big wolf who was later revealed to be a werewolf.
This one random woman showed up and specifically charmed me before I could do an insight check. Apparently, my 19 failed the check. This didn't really affect anything other than RP where I start to notice that my character keeps failing his insight and wisdom checks that I had to play him like a naive dork.
We later found a child muttering something important so the rogue and I tag-team persuade him into spilling out the information.
Out of character, I knew the pastries had to be something fucked up but I had to check with the DM if I failed my insight on the old lady and I found out that my character trusted her words. So I just gave it to this kid and I guess it worked cause he told us everything.
In hindsight, I felt like the DM was working really hard to avoid us having dice rolls with these persuasion checks even tho we all roll horribly on insight anyways.
Anything that can be turned into dice rolls that are RP-like the DM will bullshit his way out of. He could be rolling in private but he certainly didn't want to try rolling cause he'll ignore us whenever we suggest anything that isn't combat.
Anyways we were given a bunch of things to look out for. We met a guy and his monkey with a doll that looked like the very woman we were helping. Somehow we got him to talk but we left to go look for wine.
At some point, we return to the guy with the monkey. He muttered "Curse of Strahd" and we all heard it. So we pressed him on and tried to do everything in our abilities to get him to talk. Rogue tries to charm the man. I stole his journal. Someone else I believe started threatening him. At one point I lied to the man and 'promised' that I would give him some treasures using my fake nobility.
Before the DM considers any of our ideas or does anything with them he just has the guy memory wipe everyone. I forgot what spell it was but we all failed our saving rolls. I still wonder what was the point of that whole thing only to have the NPC make our characters forget everything with no warning.
We left, unaware of why we were in this guy's room. We went off and found this old place. There we found the same old lady from the other day as well as her friends. Rogue sneaks up to find children kidnapped in this place.
One other party member was chatting with these old ladies and we both realize that they were cooking children. Out of character, I knew they were too high-level to fight so I figure it would be best to threaten these hags with my nobility.
I lied about having soldiers coming through as backup and that they should surrender. With no hesitation, the DM sandbags my attempt at intimidation and have one of them blast me to an unconscious state.
Meanwhile, the rogue convinced all the kids with a nat 20 to climb down a rope to safety and head towards the one adult waiting outside. He rushed in with his child disguise and got locked in place by one of the hags.
A God of whatever-his-name-is shows up in my dream to grant me power. I asked for the catch and he said there was none. So I took it and went back up to one HP.
The hags were stunned by the fact I just got back up and I proceeded to threaten them by stating that my nobility granted me special permissions to have access to greater powers. Again, no dice rolls or anything. The DM just has one of them cast sleep on me.
This all happened with no turn order or initiative. Now at this point, this should've been a TPK and I really wanted it to be so that I can be done with the session. But no the hags humiliated us and none of the children managed to escape.
They left us with more pastry and I was about done with this game. I lost all of my motivation to roleplay or even try anything new and I certainly know smacking shit with a weapon isn't going to be the best option in these scenarios.
I muted myself and left an hour after when we agreed on leaving after another fight.
I know this isn't exactly the worst story out there in this subreddit but this was pretty bad in my experience. I'll talk to my DM pretty soon about leaving as this session just happened today.
TLD/ DM welcomes everyone into the game only to end up with 4-5 party members. DM railroads the entire party and reads out everything in the book. Openly denies us trying any non-combat solutions with a few exceptions. Lasted 2 sessions before I started thinking about leaving.
Thank you for reading.

All games will require payment to the Game Master at a rate of $25 USD per week per player via Paypal. Roll20 is not responsible for any payment transactions and cannot enforce any private arrangements.

Hello ladies and gentlemen and any other nonbinary members!

My name is Peyton, and I am a full-time professional dungeon master. My focus is player-built worlds. This means session 0s are long sessions where a player can control the aspects of the world around their characters' origins. All way down to your families now - back up to the name, government, and style of the nation that they are from. It is a team collaboration from the ground up. For players joining in games that are already in progress, you will have the same options for the original players did as long as you don't overwrite what has already been written into the canon. I currently DM 7 games with 24 players combined with some even opting to play in several games. We have a tight nit community of players, many of which date back years.

About My Games

• Tuesday (Untitled Game)
• 8 PM EST
• 4 Player Slots Avalible
• This game is brand new. As a result we will go through a session zero where the players get heavy say over the setting of the game before we ever get into playing the game. The players can design as much as they want before I get started.

Contact Information

First, please note that direct message via reddit is the slowest form of contact for me. You can still do it if you like but it may result in over 24 hours before the response. Discord: pjm

Group Rules

1. Be kind to one another.
2. We will play as long as 75% or more of the group is present.
3. You don't play - you don't pay.
4. Respect each other's time - and don't be late.
5. Three strikes of any rules and you will be removed and blacklisted from all future games.

Services I Offer

1. I do this full time, so I am always home to answer questions.
2. I will be in the Discord server starting 1 hour before the game start time.
3. I am a trained graphic design artist so I will be designing both world and battle maps - as well as letters, emblems, and other handouts custom for each game.
4. I will run optional 1-on-1 sessions leading into the campaign for a standard fee. These can also be done for everyone during time skips during the campaign.
5. Sessions will be 4-5 hours.
6. 1-on-1 Sessions will be 2-3 hours (paid at $15 USD dollars a session.)
7. Server Boosted Discord Server for better audio/video quality.
8. Games are streamed and uploaded for future rewatching.

Character Creation Rules

1. No character can be more than 2 classes.
2. All rules may flex for the player's benefit. If you would like to bend or break a rule, please let me know.
3. Most games will start between levels one to three unless stated otherwise.
4. Stat generation will be one of several systems.
5. Extended Array - 20, 16, 13, 10, 8, 5
6. Roll for stats - 4d6 drop the lowest. (Lots of different tweaks to this system)
7. Standard Array - 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8
8. No custom subclasses.
9. No custom classes except the following. Blood hunter by Matt Mercer, Gunslinger by Matt Mercer, Lingering Soul by Matt Mercer, & Illrigger by MCDM.
10. Pugilist by Benjamin Huffman
11. Spell Casting Modifiers can be changed to any stat. This includes core die for certain martial classes. (i.e. Monk can change the base dice off Wisdom)
12. Everyone gets a free level one feat.
13. Variant Human is banned.
14. Feats must be either 5e or ONED&D official.
15. The following list of feats have been banned. Elven Accuracy & Gunner
16. Backgrounds can be anything and do not have to be logical for your backstory.
17. Everyone starts with 50 gold. No more. No less.
18. Starting Equipment. (No starting wealth)
19. We always roll for HP. The minimum roll is a 2, you will never get a 1.

How I Run the Game

• I tend to think very logically about everything.
• The difference between Perception and Investigation checks is the difference between how specific you are about looking for something. If you are looking for a person in a crowd for example - it's an investigation. If you are just looking for anything in the crowd - it's perception.
• I will use Insight checks to help your PC piece things together if needed.
• We use Discord for Voice (and video which is optional) while using roll20 for the game.
• By default, I don't track spell components unless they have gold value.
• By default, I don't track ammunition, food, or weight (within reason)
• I use Matt Mercer's resurrection rules.
• By default, I do not include homebrew rules other than what is listed above - but some games do have some.
• We are in the process of integrating and trying out the new ONED&D Rules

How Players Impact My Games.

Once a starting group is found we push forward into session 0. This is not your normal session 0. It will be the length of a normal game not just be about making characters. We will first state by asking questions about the settings, so the players control the overall theme of the setting. Then we start looking at characters and after that, we talk about any rule changes we want to make for our game. The players also get to make choices about the area they come from so they are more intertwined and natural. Then I finish the setting based on this feedback.
Below is a list of questions players should be prepared to answer for this session 0.

• What time period are we playing in?
• What level of magic is available in the setting?
• What level of science is available in the setting?
• What is the economy like?
• What is the government like?
• Do the other planes exist?

Many other questions will be asked that may only become relevant depending on what the answers before that are. This is what makes my games special, and I hope you would consider joining us.
Application Response:

1. Name
2. Age
3. Timezone
4. Experience with D&D
5. Experience with Roll20
6. Favorite Food
7. Add me on discord: pjm

I found an old Black and Decker drill from the 1960s and the quality seems to be way better than the junk they're putting out today. It still runs smoothly and feels just as precisely made as my Milwaukee cordless drill.
I was genuinely surprised, as my first power tools, a Black and Decker corded drill and reciprocating saw bought around 2019 were horrible. The saw died after ONE cut on 2" cast iron pipe and the drill's keyed chuck constantly came loose no matter how much I tightened it. That piece of junk was big and unwieldy but could barely drill a 1/2" hole through a 2 by 4.
A relative bought a B+D vacuum cleaner and the charging port broke after a few uses.
WTF happened to them? I know that they are owned by the same company as Dewalt now, and that company now makes a variety of tools at different quality levels, but I am surprised that a brand can go from producing quality products to making garbage that makes Walmart, no-name Amazon stuff and Harbor Freight look amazing in comparison.
It's no wonder that the only stores locally that sell Black and Crapper are this horrible hardware store that charges double what everyone else does, doesn't allow returns, and sells shit products in general.

Epilogue

A brief, beautiful series of vignettes. We close the loop on some emotional beats, as well as receive promises/foreshadowings of further adventures.

Epigraph

The opening verses of Rumor Born, and possibly my favorite piece of poetry in the whole novel. It took me until this epigraph to realize that the title itself is referring to the city of Darujhistan and it's history. That said, given the fact that the work describes the events of the novel itself, and is written by the same guy who wrote Anomandris, then either Fisher was a Seer of incredible power or else has an immensely long lifespan. Possibly both, although the fact that Fisher's birth date is unknown implies the latter. Even at the end, answers only invite further questions.
The only other point of note is the reference to the "Gates of Nowhere" but I'm unsure what that might mean. The SCDAT?

The Epilogue Itself

The remaining Bridgeburners land back where they'd initially launched from at the beginning of Book 3, preparing to await their Moranth escort. Quick Ben and Whiskeyjack watch Moon's Spawn drift south, possibly to find another contest, this time against the Pannion Seer. Whiskeyjack's headaches have been lessening, possibly in response to his loosening heart, less guarded than the one he bore into Darujhistan. His cool reference to the loss of three members not being "that bad, considering" and Mallet's pained response shows the change has yet to take in full, but the Seargent has begun a slow road back to humanity. We leave the Bridgeburners with an ominous note, that Quick Ben has hatched another scheme, a big feint, one which might run over poorly with Whiskeyjack.
Captain Paran watches his men below on the beach, contemplating everything it cost him to get here. His... unique nature has granted new senses, and a growing awareness of Silverfox. Whether or not the romance between Paran and Tattersail was Oppon compelled or not, the two resolve to reunite in time. Mysteriously, they communicate over vast distances, although it seems to be an unreliable process. He has buried Lorn, now finally a soldier, holding in the position once held by the very man who warned him against this path, walking a path of ruin himself. Ganoes Paran, the gods have noticed you, and their gaze is unlikely to fall from someone who survived their use — what will you make of yourself?
Kalam, Fiddler, Apsalar, and Crokus sail west for Dhavran. The former claw is amused by the two youths and their naive innocence. Crokus asks after Unta, and they speak of leaving others behind, and moving forward. Kalam holds nothing against Apsalar, she's just a girl, after all. Crokus objects to this and discards the Coin, no longer in need of luck. Circle Breaker, even here barely noticed, decides to inform the Eel one last time that the Coin Berrer has freed himself, then looks forward, anticipating a new life. Also, the monkey's a demon, which probably means something that it decided to stick around.
And so, with beautiful prose and bittersweet optimism, so ends the first tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Gardens of the Moon

An excellent start all around! We've yet to see how fitting it may be for the rest of the series, but for now, I'm hooked! So much of this rode on Erikson's ability to pull off this massively ambitious departure from the commonplace, and he managed to pull it off far better than could be expected. While I recognize his inspirations in histories and anthropology, being able to port one form of literature to another, not only across genres but the fiction/non-fiction divide, is seriously impressive. While doing so without sacrificing much of the strengths of either format; even leveraging them to complement one another, is a staggering feat. I'll be breaking things down, although these categories are listed in no particular order, into Plot, Characters, Setting, Cosmology (encompassing the more fantastical elements from magic to races), and Prose/Format.

Plot

Favorite plots include the whole Jaghut Tyrant arc (for obvious reasons), Paran's Excellent adventure, and the whole Coll/Lady Simttal arc.
The deep lore cuts of all the Jaghut and T'lan Imass storylines are incredible, worldbuilding on a scope that allows for geological/evolutionary implications. The powers at play boggle the imagination and feel realized despite their incomprehensibility. Not necessarily "cosmic horror" although that plays a part, but a cosmic spectacle nonetheless. Ending, of course, with an apocalyptic battle feeling like the climax of a series of epics we barely get to glimpse. Looking forward to seeing so much more of this side of the Malazverse. I will say, the T'lan Imass gathering never really occurred, but I expect that's still coming.
Paran's whole plotline, beginning with quickly snuffed youthful aspirations, to political maneuverings, to being a pawn in the interplay between many gods and ascendants, to shaking free of the powers chaining him, if not necessarily free of what has happened to him, was great to watch unfold. It was the most straightforward "quest fantasy" of the book, touching on many cool places and meeting a wide variety of characters. Paran's brute "I'm already dead anyway so I may as well attack things head on" strategy was refreshing to watch, his relationships to Topper, Tattersail, and Toc were all great and helped to show his evolving character. Connecting with the Bridgeburners and helping them sort everything going on out was cathartic. And of course, the elephant in the room, the Dragnripur episode was fascinating and haunting and I need more.
Then there was the whole Oppon-infused plan regarding Lady Simtal and particularly its climax, was fantastic. I'm a sucker for plotlines that were technically successful yet have the characters involved come away regretting it happening in the first place. The solidarity between the Phoenix Inn regulars was great, as well as untangling their connections to one another. No there's no objective reason this one stood above the other Darujhistan plotlines, but I jive with it.
Other plots, such as all the Tiste Andii background intrigue, Crokus's whole ordeal, as well as Tattersail's plotline are great as well.
Most of the Tiste Andii stuff needs to be unpacked more fully down the road, as is we have only a brief glimpse into this massive, alien world on Moon's Spawn. Caladan Brood, Kallor, the unseen Prince K'azz, and Crone all seem to have their own intrigue going on, keeping someone reigned in. As for that someone, Anomander Rake's whole deal is a whole deal, I'm enthralled to see more of this obsolete great desperately try to get his people to care about anything again. The dragons are all tangled in this as well. Yea, I did just spend a lot of words just implying things without divulging much of what it meant, but so did Erikson and I'm hooked.
So Oppon's big plan seems to just keep nudging this one unwitting kid around via hormones and coincidence to drag the genuinely important players around. This is fascinating because it seems all Oppon wanted to do was mess with the Empire. For reasons that aren't quite clear yet, the gods seem terrified of this growing coalition of power on the part of the mortals and are doing what they can to slow this down. Even more interesting, they'd likely be able to curb-stomp the mortals pretty easily if they all weren't in their own cold war with one another. Oppon did seem to be multitasking a bit with messing with Shadow, but I'm less certain why they'd have beef outside of each operating in the "screw with stuff we shouldn't" domain.
Tattersall's (or now Silverfox's) arc is of course left wide open by the end of this, but is great. The Deck of Dragons is a fantastic narrative device, as we get assurance of the god's machinations in the background without having to pull the curtain back all the way. Also, one of the lingering questions I have is who the Ascendant that messed with the reading she did with Tayscheren was. I guess Shadowthrone? The whole soul-shifting arc and rebirth sequence are haunting and more than a but disturbing, but that speaks to the alternatives she could have undergone from her stunt in body-hopping. Her relationship with romance was a bit, odd, but there's a non-trivial element of divine meddling so it's cool ig.
The plotting is currently the strongest element of M:BotF thus far. That we had like 14 different plot threads splitting off and overlapping and drawing together over the course of the narrative is insane. That many of these plot threads managed to enliven and enlighten one another, narratively, thematically, and lore-wise, only makes the whole multiplicatively stronger than the sum of its parts. Everything felt pretty natural, with the threads that did overlap often doing so secondarily, as natural consequences rather than merging together into one mega-climax. I mean, we did get one mega-climax-sequence, but that was far more due to their proximity rather than each even being doomed to become defined by one another. Events that started separately for separate reasons stayed separate, but the shared pool of locations and characters helped to cause each of these to be deeply interconnected in the lives of those characters. Speaking of which...

Characters

My relationship with the characters of this novel is a bit interesting. They serve their plots wonderfully, and nearly every one of them has several standout moments in both word and deed. Yet, on the whole, they're, fine. I guess they're... exactly the sum of their parts? Don't get me wrong, these are extremely good parts they're made of. New character archetypes, old ones played extremely well, old ones given genuinely inventive twists. These are very good characters, but possibly the weakest pillar of the novel. The dialogue is weighty and meaningful, betraying a depth to the world and the people in it. Actions are (usually) thought out, exceptions to this rule are all true to a character or under extenuating circumstances. I want to see more of all of them. It's just, there isn't much of that "x factor" a lot of great character writers bring out.
I've already praised Paran, his attitude, and his motives. He's way over his head at the best of times and just has to bluff and namedrop long enough to survive to a point where he can effect genuine change. That effort changes him pretty drastically, and while he is somewhat better off for it, it is a sad thing to see the naive kid in him die off so soon.
Tattersail is interesting to me, I like her, but as a character she's on the weaker end of the cast. We do see her strong emotions and compassion explored a bit, but she takes a pretty hard left turn plot wise before that goes much of anywhere. We'll have to wait and see how Silverfox pans out.
Whiskeyjack fascinates me, we don't get too much of who he is, just all that's left of him of being ground into the dust. I can't wait to see Whiskeyjack the Old Guard thaw off more, as well as Whiskeyjack the man.
Quick Ben and Kalam probably stand as my current favorite Bridgeburners, their bromance being a highlight of the novel all while standing as fascinating characters on their own. Quick Ben has, all kinds of backstory running around, as well as secrets on top of that, but what we know of him so far is great. Kalam's just world-weary, yet he can't help but keep moving forward until he can bow out legitimately. The two of them are so much fun on top of being fascinating.
Dujek and Tayscheren, while not super present in the novel, are pretty great characters in their own right. Dujek, last of the Old Guard with any real power, just trying to do what he can for his men. And Tayscheren, not necessarily evil, but just a guy swallowed up in his own job.
Hairlock, while not making too much of a splash in the grand scheme of things, was an incredibly fun inclusion and a great initial antagonist. Just a power-mad goofy little guy who doubles as our first major look into this world's magic and cosmology.
Adjunct Lorn was one of the standout characters of the novel, a woman enslaved to her own self-justification. Torn between the scared girl trapped in the mines and the unfeeling super claw, unable to reconcile the two before the end. Her constant contradictions and tensions within her character were fascinating to watch.
And Toc, poor Toc man. A great guy who I'd loved to have seen more of, just being such an interesting character on top of being fun. I feel he's introduced some interesting concepts, from the "inner sight" superstition of Seven Cities to whomever his dad is, but the credits have rolled and my guy is still down for the count, so I'll be interested to see how these elements are brought back.
Crokus Younghand stands out in this novel as the one, lone dumbass. Stop being literally me Crokus, you're embarrassing us. His interactions with everyone are great, quickly vacillating between idealism and stubbornness, romanticism and a parody grimdark woe-is-me view of reality. Every interaction he has with a woman is golden, but not particularly a glowing performance on his end.
Magnanimous Kruppe the First is the indesputable highpoint of this esteemed tale, and I will not hear otherwise. He is of course, bestowed of many virtues, chief among so his delight in the many pleasures of this world, second among so his capacity to indulge in any virtue or pleasure at will. Cleverest of anyone we see here, able to run conversations by himself with faux humility (for what does Kruppe have a need to be humble about?) and keep the magnificent city of Darujhistan in his pocket. There is a power vacuum of sorts our dear Eel needs to fulfill, and there is plenty of the rotund mage to explore each new crevice.
Rallick Nom and Murillio are great as well, in many ways they act as foils of one another. Rallick does what he does because he sees this as his only path through life, holding onto the concept of his actions benefiting others to preserve his mortality. Murillio, on the other hand, has a moral code of sorts but will transgress it if he feels there is a way to benefit a friend sufficiently. In the end, they both wind up morally bankrupt.
Lady Simtal and Turban Orr were fun villains. Not particularly unique but pulled off extremely well.
High Alchemist Baruk seems to have a whole bunch of layers to him. We keep getting allusions to a whole bunch of relevant stories with this man, such as his ascendancy or close friendship to Rallick Nom, but we don't get to see much of it, which I feel is a shame.
Raest is an awsome force of nature villain, believably evil for the sake of it. Namely, his evil is specific which is what makes for great villains of this sort. Raest wanted control over the longterm development of his world, to fundamentally remake things after his own nature.
Anomander freaking Rake. Nuf said.

Setting

While this is our first real look into Wu(?) as a whole, I'll mostly focus on modern-day Genebakis.
A great setting, with a bit of ecological and cultural diversity, although mostly hyperfocused on the city of Darujhistan. Perhaps a bit more could have been done in the set-dressing department. Genebaris received no real description, despite apparently existing in a different biome than the more southern cities. Similarly, he evidently passes through a forest, but of what kind? Touches like these could help further drive in the scope of the narrative physically in a similar manner to the temporal scope. It also is a bit disappointing because when Erikson did go the extra mile to do so, such as Kruppe's dreams or the like, two up-close descriptions of Darujhistan (besides just being big, blue, and copper from far off) were great. Actually, the lack of Darujhistan descriptions was possibly the biggest missed opportunity.
But what we do get in the City of Blue Fire is great and evocative. From the infrastructure to the politics to the culture and religion, it all stands out even among other great fantasy cities.
The Rhivi, Moranth, and Bhargast can all stand to be expanded on, but I get the sense that they'll be more than able to provide on that front once it becomes time. I'm curious to see how southern Genebakis contrasts to the northern reaches, but we'll get to that when we get to that.
Erikson's experience as an anthropologist really shines through, with the breadth, depth, and specificity of the world-building and cultures. I anticipate this element of the BotF rising to the top for me personally once we have more time to watch it unfold.

Cosmology and Magic

So my takes on these have been... rather well received, it seems. I love what tiny bit of the magic and cosmos of the world I've seen so far and look forward to understanding more!
In a lot of ways, it seems magic in this world is itself undergoing an evolutionary process, with all the Elder Warrens to Warrens ascendants and gods, and mortals evidently now being potent enough to overpower the gods themselves. If we expand on this analogy, then a lot of the confusion might be due to poor terminology. E.g. define a fish. Now define a Warren. There seem to be multiple related things all lumped under the same blanket term, despite their functional difference. The magic super highways and demi-planes and isolated pockets within objects (Dragnupir and the Finnest) are all roughly related (fish) while being intrinsically different and likely further classifiable as such (trout, squid, and sharks if you will).
But aside from that residual speculation and just generally saying its cool, I don't got much to say here.

Prose and Format

The prose of GotM was pretty good! Not the best, but serviceable, engaging, and evocative with a handful of really standout passages. I cannot wait to see this take a ten-year leap in Deadhouse Gates!
The formating was interesting. Many chapters were wonderfully interwoven PoV's all complimenting each other. Some could have conceivably been split into multiple quite comfortably, other blended. Makes me wonder why Erikson collected things as he did. Chapter 9 was basically 4 self-contained sequences each a chapter long, lol. ... It's because the Odessy has 24 chapters, isn't it? The book breakdown was terrifically effective, while Books 4, 5, and 6 largely blended together PoV-wise, they each still had their specific goals and arcs.
I'm a major fan of Epigraphs, and these were all great! (Despite my constant timeline and poetry scruples) A lot of my more out-there theorizing tended to be a bit more playful with the epigraphs than I think Erikson ever got, but that's more my own biases talking. I will say, if I ever get around to writing anything, I'd love to go ham on epigraph shenanigans.
All in all, this profoundly unique PoV structure (not so much unique in form as in just how broad and ambitious it is) works to elevate the whole experience. That Erikson so radically adheres to 3rd limited can get somewhat constraining at times, especially when we're not privy to info our PoV has, but overall, it works.

Final Thoughts

So, with all my nit-picking, critiques, and half-praise, did I even like this novel? No, I LOVE it. It is in many ways as advertised, a messy first step into a unique and wildly ambitious new direction, and I'm wholly invested in watching the rest of this unfold!
And now for one last pass through the ancillary goodies:
Dramatis Personae
Is actually quite funny in retrospect. But first:
Sorry is mentioned as a killer in the guise of a young girl. Obvious when you're in the know but it doesn't give the answer right away.
Dancer is mentioned as the advisor (right-hand, if you will) right out of the gate, D'oh.
Toc the Elder disappeared during Laseen's purges, interesting.
Kruppe: a man of false modesty, TRUE
Coll being merely listed as a drunk, technically true.
Chert: "an unlucky bully" lol
Mammot is listed as a High Preist of D'riss, D'oh.
The Eel is listed independently of Kruppe, good cover.
K'Rul is listed as the Maker of Paths, D'oh.
And that's more or less it. (I mean, I only skimmed it before, so its not like a missed anything)

Glossary

Not too much to say here, but a few notes:
Poliel, Missteres of Pestilence, and Soliel, Missteres of Healing have rather similar names, which is interesting.
The Warrens here are all listed as what their actual domains are, which is a nice aid. There don't seem to be any more than the ones named somewhere within the text, which is fine, but a couple odd notes:
Meanas is listed as the Path of Shadow and Illusion, Tattersail mentioned the two domains are connected, whereas Quick Ben (once a High Preist of Shadow) had seemed to regard the two as separate. There's a story there.
Also, Thyr, Tattersaill's Warren, is the Warren of Light, given the apparently... interesting relationship between Light and Dark, particularly Lights evident "corruption" I'd love to see the implications of all this.
The K'chain Che'maille's Elder Warren is not listed, either because it doesn't exist (once again proving them the worst Elder Race, nerds got soloed by some snow, lol) or it was simply never mentioned. Given we have seen at least one magic relic from them, likely the latter.
Also, the Azath is nowhere mentioned, which is interesting in itself.
Well, that's that! See y'all in a week or so, once I've gotten a test out of the way, with the beginning of Deadhouse Gates!

I'll try and keep it short...
Me and my partner have been together 7 and a half years. We got engaged 4 and a half years ago, but wanted to buy a house together first which took a long time to save for. I had asked my now 12 year old cousin to be a bridesmaid.
Fast forward 4 years, and we have since decided we would like to elope for our wedding and have no guests there. That includes both our parents etc. We both struggle with anxiety and depression, and could do without worrying about what everyone else is thinking or doing or if they are okay etc etc. We have decided instead to do a wonderful trip away with the money we had saved for the wedding, and elope.
My cousin's parents (also cousins) have made it clear they are not happy they will not be taking part in our wedding. I now have a lot of guilt, as I had asked a child to be my bridesmaid and have had to since take it back. I have tried to explain my mental health the best I can (I've been very honest and open about my struggles), and as my family can be confrontational (which makes me extremely anxious) I haven't explained it in too much detail to my young cousin, but have to her parents. I thought they would be best place to explain to her, but they feel it isn't their responsibility.
This is also casting a shadow on our wedding day and is making us feel very low about what should be the happiest day of our lives.

Last year, I got my first-ever round of chicks with the intent of training them to enjoy being petted and held. I ended up breaking both wrists shortly after they arrived so I ended up being unable to train them due to the fact that I was in casts (my parents helped me take care of them at that time- don't worry!).
​
So last week I got another couple chicks (four little ameraucanas) and they are now already two weeks of age. One has imprinted on my hand and follows my hand around as well as "preens" me. The others are a bit wary but I'm doing my best with getting them used to being touched (the one that has imprinted on me shows no fear lol).
​
At this point I know I'm a bit late when it comes to training them to accept handling, which has me worried I'll totally freak them out if I just randomly start picking them up. I'm also worried I'll ruin the "relationship" I have with the one that has imprinted on me.
​
So I'm just wondering if there's a way to pick them up and handle them without freaking them out and losing their trust? If not, do you still have any tips/tricks on how to start training without stressing them out too, too much?

I’m losing my faith. I’m losing my hope that I’ll find love one day and finally get to be happy. At the beginning on my sophomore year I fell in love (or at least I’ve never liked someone as much as I like her) with this beautiful, stunning, amazing, and utterly awe-striking girl in one of my classes. Then I learned she had a boyfriend and it crushed me but I was determined to be an amazing friend to her anyway. That was months ago, and over the time my feelings for her have only grown. But so has my sadness. Don’t get me wrong, seeing her happy makes me happy, even if it is with another guy. But, knowing that I’ll never be happy has just cast me into this pit of sadness and loneliness. I tried to get out, but now I’m so tired. Her and her boyfriend went on a date last Saturday when I was with me and her mutual friend group and it went poorly. She called me in tears (which, selfishly, made me feel important. She chose to call me!). I don’t know what in the fuck I’m even trying to say here. I’m losing hope that I’ll find love, and I’ve lost the fight to keep on going. And I’m worried for the woman I love. I don’t want her to lose her love. Because I know how impossible it can be to find it.

So this is it. I've handed in my notice as an apprentice sandwich engineer at Subway and have cast the die - I'm going pro.
Don't try to stop me, or talk me out of it. Believe me, when you have to give change from a $10 bill fifty times a day, you develop great mathematical skills. So I know what I'm doing.
Some things just can't be taught in a book, like did you know that 22o beats a royal flush if you don't say "I have a royal flush" before the cards are turned over. It cost me $500 to learn that in a local bar game.
I've now got everything sorted. Getting the bankroll together was the trickiest part. Luckily, I got staked. Big Frankie agreed to give me $10,000 as long as I give him $20,000 back in one month.
So my plan is to final-table two tournaments, pay off Big Frankie and then use the rest to hit up some nosebleeds. There's this thing called variance which means you lose one tournament for every tournament you win. So, if you play five tournaments you should win two or three.
When I get some cash I'll buy my girlfriend a car, and then maybe she can stop doing Onlyfans. Also, maybe we can finally meet.
Any advice?

Narrator: Good evening folks. Thank you for tuning into 111.1 the akahic records. The only radio station that can be accessed by MERE will power alone. Todays topic : the most occult (Blank silence ) in the world. Now presenting the Radio Daeemonnnnnn. (applause)
Radio Daemon: Salutations folks. Without further delay, as promised. The most occult (blank silence) in the world!
Radio Daemon: It is breathing! Yes folks, you heard it right. Everyday breathing. In and outs. Have you ever focused on your breathe and only on your breathe for excatly 1 minute before? Can you? Is it possible to not drift? To notice a thought come by and manually go back to breathing at hand? How fast can you do it? Lets test it! Yes right now! Yes you heard it right, For the first time ever on this very show we will be breathing together live on camera and audio! Lets begin! First close your eyes and dont look at me you scum.
Breathe in with me.... Breathe out.... focus only on the breathe, not even my voice. You will come to find, that you will just understand my voice without your "thoughts" surrounding it. Breathe in..... and out..... in.... and out.... If for any reason, you feel your thoughts drifting from the in and out, pull them back when you can and go back to the breathing. Alright... timing starts now.... breathe in and breathe out.. (acutally do meditation for 1 min)
Ok open your eyes. Welcome back folks. It should be a little easier to understand me Now that we should be sharing the same frequency.
Narrator: Thanks for tunning in to...
Radio Daemon : NO NOT YET. We arent finished! Dont end this broad cast! Were you able to focus the entire minute? Was it just about 30 seconds? Was it 10 seconds? 5 seconds? 1 second? This is simply at attempt at the measure of the focus you possess. Why is it, you werent able to focus the entire minute? Is it because you have the mind of a goldfish? How does one increase focus? In a world of a billion distractions. Where everything is accessible and automatic. Where manually focusing on something for longer than 1 minute makes our brain wonder. Like its lost in the world. Why cant we control it?
I dare say the answer as a gift to those whom have entertained me this long. YOu see, it is a pratice of manual mode vs automatic mode. The moment you focus on your breathe and stay with it, you are in manual mode. and its bloody hard folks. It requires alot of energy, that you probably dont have. Thats another worry for another day though.
But the longer you do something in manual mode. The more it becomes automatic. Breathing is the most automatic thing we can do. So it is the hardest thing to manually think about it, because if that automation is loss we would die. That automation takes number 1 Prority.
Did you know all things in this world and life are that way? Everything is manual when you focus on it, and then automatic when you dont. All things. All the time. Yes thats right, your automations are something you manually did over and over and over before. All at different priority levels. Never to change unless you had conflicting priorities which would cause you great suffering in life the longer you had and the longer you couldnt change priorities.
You are the result of your manual actions that repeated into automated ones. is it possible.... to change your automations? You can change the rhytum of your breathing permenatly. So why not other things.
Its like some people manually pretend to act a certian way so they fit in with certian people, then after enough time has passed. They forget they are acting. They are just acting with no memory of ever pretending (manually) doing it.
​

Introduction
As a big guy myself, standing at 6’4” with a size 13 shoe, I often wonder about what it would actually take for someone like me to disappear. I’m the type or person who friends use as a marker to find their way through a crowd, and I’m almost instantly recognizable walking down the street.
That being said, there is one place where I could almost certainly disappear without a trace: the wilderness. I think many underestimate just how easy it is to go missing in the wilderness, even a rather small wilderness. A single wrong turn or a mistaken landmark can spell doom for even seasoned woodland travelers.
Honestly, I attribute this underestimation to the popularity of “Missing 411” cases. Many assume that those who went missing in heavily wooded areas or national parks must have disappeared as a result of something supernatural or conspiratorial, simply because they can’t accept just how easily and remorselessly nature can gobble us up.
If I suddenly decided to go missing within society, I think I’d be found in no time. But if I went missing in the wilderness, it’s always possible that I would never be found, even if my body came to rest nearby well-traveled thoroughfares.
I bring all this up because I think much the same for former American professional basketball player Rico Harris, who is even more recognizable than myself. Harris is a Black male, who stands at 6’9” tall, weighs 300 lbs., and has distinctive tattoos, such as one that reads “BALLIN IV LIFE” across his left forearm. If he’s alive, he’s almost certainly worked very hard to keep his presence secret, both from his family and from law enforcement.
Police investigators have suggested that Harris simply walked away from the scene of his disappearance, got in a car, and headed somewhere to start a new life. While there are certainly factors that point to this being a logical possibility, at least in terms of where Harris was in his life mentally and emotionally, I think that the lack of sightings of an individual that matches his description in the almost nine years since he went missing makes it far more likely that Rico Harris’ body is lying somewhere in the wilderness near where he vanished and that it simply hasn’t been located by anyone.
I feel that police assertions that Harris may have simply left the scene to start a new life are wishful thinking, designed to provide the family with false hope and perhaps prevent law enforcement from having to conduct further searches to recover Harris’ remains. Regardless of your opinion on the case, let’s review what we do know so that we can make an educated guess on what we don’t.
Rico Harris’ Life and Struggles
Rico Harris’ life followed a tragic path tread by far too many young, talented athletes. He had the physical talent to play in the NBA but none of the mental or emotional intelligence and maturity to deal with such instant stardom.
Harris seemed to maintain a sort of love/hate relationship with the game of basketball and had actually taken a break from it before returning for his final two years at Temple City High School, where he quickly became a local star, with scouts comparing his play style to that of NBA player Lamar Odom.
Harris was soon recognized as one of the nation’s top 100 prospects and received scholarship offers from such blue-blood basketball programs as Connecticut, Kentucky, and UCLA. Ultimately, however, Harris would commit to Arizona State. He would never play a game there.
He wasn’t eligible to play during his freshman year but stayed on campus, away from family and other positive role models in his life. He struggled academically and socially before being accused of unlawful imprisonment and sexual assault by two young women on campus.
These women stated that Harris and two of his other teammates had prevented them from leaving and forced them to perform sex acts on them. However, after further investigation, police dismissed the charges against Harris and his teammates after noting discrepancies in the girls’ stories. Nonetheless, the Arizona State basketball team had seen and heard enough to sit Harris for his upcoming sophomore season.
Deciding that he needed to pursue his basketball career elsewhere, Harris transferred to Los Angeles Community College where, surrounded by inferior talent, he began to shine once again and again became a star, attracting NBA scouts to games who still saw potential in the young phenom.
After the season, Harris planned to transfer to Rhode Island. However, a failed class prevented his transfer from going through, and he chose to return to LACC for a second season. An offer from Rhode Island remained on the table next year, but Harris shocked everyone by instead transferring to Cal State Northridge, stating to one confidante that he believed that the LACC coach was merely trying to use him to help out his friend, who was the Rhode Island head coach.
Instead, he wanted to remain closer to home and work with a coach he trusted. Harris sadly had a long history of rejecting and mistrusting men who tried to play a fatherly role in his life, likely an issue stemming from his own broken relationship with his father, who could quickly turn from friendly to violent and who his mother eventually moved away from with the children to escape.
Eventually, Harris would also be suspended by Northridge as well, which officially brought about an end to his collegiate career. Harris spoke out about feeling pressured by everyone around him; this pressure led him to increasingly turn to drugs and alcohol, which likely further hampered his performance on the court.
In the 1999 NBA Draft, no team decided to take a risk on Harris, leaving him to go to the now defunct International Basketball League. In 2000, Harris joined the Harlem Globetrotters, and it felt like his big break. Their fun-loving antics seemed like a great fit for his skills and talents.
Unfortunately, only about a month after joining the Globetrotters, Harris was driving with his girlfriend in South Los Angeles, when he got into a dispute with several individuals. He got out of the car to confront them when someone cracked him in the back of the head with a baseball bat.
Though Harris recovered from the wound, his balance never fully returned, and he continued to suffer from frequent intense headaches. Harris’ basketball career was, sadly, over.
Harris Spirals, Then Seemingly Recovers
Harris felt completely rudderless. He did not know what to do with his life now that his basketball career was over. His alcohol addiction worsened, and he began to develop dependencies on heroin, methamphetamine, and crack.
Harris was arrested over one hundred times, most often for public intoxication, and he was clearly struggling. His lowest moment came in 2007, when he overdosed on prescription medication and nearly died.
After a lengthy rehabilitation period with the Salvation Army in downtown Los Angeles. Afterwards, he began working in security, a role that he seemed ideally suited for and seemed to enjoy well enough.
In 2012, he began dating Jennifer Song, an insurance broker from Seattle that he met while working a security detail. In September 2014, Harris abandoned his apartment in Los Angeles, intending to move in with Song full-time up in Seattle.
Though Song reported that they had a good relationship, many of Harris’ friends and relatives saw quite a bit of tension in their relationship leading up to Harris’ disappearance. Based on Harris’ history, it seems likely that some of this tension was connected to his living away from home, which had always caused problems in the past.
But despite this perceived tension, Harris seemed to have truly turned his life around, with his addictions in the rearview mirror, when he suddenly went missing on October 10, 2014.
Rico Harris Vanishes
On October 9, 2014, Harris visited his family home with the goal of completing his move in with Song. His visit was brief. He apparently purchased a new phone for his younger brother, which shows that his financial struggles likely were not at the forefront of his mind.
He also spoke with his mother. Song told police that she thought Harris was seeking closure related to some difficult childhood events. His mother later stated that she did not feel that he got what he was looking for.
Harris’ close friend David Lara had spoken to Harris on his trip down to Southern California and reported that Harris seemed optimistic and was looking forward to marrying and starting a family with Song. Little is known, however, about Harris’ mood after visiting with his family.
Harris began his drive back up to Seattle, heading north on Interstate 5, stopping for gas in Lodi before continuing up north of Sacramento. There, about 10:45 am on the morning of October 10, Harris decided to get some rest, convinced by Song’s urging since had now been awake for 36 straight hours. He left Song a voice message, telling her that he was going “up into the mountains to rest.”
I’ve always found this phrasing particularly odd. I’ve heard people say they’re figuratively going “into the mountains” to find a place to pull over or find a motel, but the full “up into the mountains” has always struck me as being very literal, and perhaps a sign that Harris was already suffering through a bit of a mental breakdown before officially stopping for the day.
Regardless of intention, at 11:15 am, Harris turned off his phone. He has not been officially seen, heard from, or positively identified since.
The Search for Rico Harris
Friends and family initially assumed that Harris would just turn up. It wasn’t unusual for him to disappear for a couple days at a time. However, by October 14th, after missing an interview he had been excited for in Seattle, Harris was finally reported missing.
Later that day, Yolo County police located Harris’ vehicle, seemingly abandoned in a county park parking lot near Cache Creek. The inside of the car was a mess. It was also out of fuel and had a dead battery.
A mile south of Harris’ car they found his backpack. Inside was his cell phone, which was dead but otherwise seemed fine.
There were also two plastic bottles, one filled with a solution that seemed to be hard liquor mixed with an energy drink. The other was empty but smelled strongly of liquor. Sources seem to disagree on whether the bottles were found in his car or his backpack. Regardless of where they were found, it is clear that Harris had either relapsed or had been successfully hiding his addiction as of late.
Police combed Cache Creek Canyon without success. They used infrared imaging from planes, perused the area on foot and on ATVs, and brought out tracking and cadaver dogs. There was no sign of Harris, and nobody could imagine how such a large man had simply vanished.
Several sightings were reported of a man who matched Harris’ description, and to be quite frank, I can’t imagine there were that many men who could be mistaken for Harris in the area at that time. He was spotted walking along the side of the road and sitting on a guardrail, looking at the creek. These sightings took place on October 10 and 11, shortly after Harris’ last known contact with family and friends.
Police found selfies on Harris’ phone showing him posing joyfully beside a sign welcoming him to Yolo County; perhaps he was amused by the name, with YOLO being common parlance (particularly at the time he went missing) for “You only live once.”
There was also an apparently accidental video that showed Harris rifling through his glove box, singing along to his music and seemingly in good spirits despite his somewhat erratic behavior.
Had Harris’ story ended here, it would have still been compelling, but it went further. On October 18, a truck driver reported seeing a man who matched Harris’ description walking near the parking lot where his Nissan had been left.
Imprints were later found in the parking lot that were not defined enough to have a cast made. However, they were apparently not consistent with animal prints and were large enough that they could very well have come from a size 18 shoe. As someone who wears a size 13, I can tell you that that’s a huge footprint and not something that could be left by just anyone. The shoeprints were allegedly leading away from the parking lot.
No legitimate sightings of Harris have been reported since.
Analysis of Harris’ Disappearance
Let’s begin by looking at the official police narrative of Rico Harris’ disappearance. Law enforcement has asserted that there is no evidence of foul play in Harris’ disappearance. I tend to agree with this assessment. By all accounts, Harris came to Yolo County alone, and there were no signs of a struggle surrounding his disappearance.
Furthermore, if you find the eyewitness testimony of those who allegedly saw him reliable, as I do given his unique stature, he was never spotted with anyone else.
Where I differ from law enforcement is in my belief about what happened to Rico Harris and his intent throughout the whole process. Police believe that Harris only arrived in Yolo County by accident, that he took a wrong turn and ended up out there.
I’m not sure he did. He told Song that he planned to go “up into the mountains.” Perhaps this is what he meant; perhaps something within him led him to stray from his established path, perhaps because he was having a mental breakdown or for spiritual reasons or simply because he felt like he needed a place off the beaten path to rest.
I think it’s possible that he took a wrong turn and got lost, but neither his selfies nor his communications with Song (where he mentioned nothing about being lost) nor his actions thereafter really suggest this.
Next up, police don’t seem to have any kind of theory, at least publicly, as to what happened in the days between Harris’ initial disappearance and his return to the parking lot on October 18th. I doubt he was in town anywhere nearby, since local law enforcement was actively working to ensure that locals knew they were looking for Harris. Despite this, there are no reports of him in town, despite his size which would have immediately set him apart.
I theorize that Harris was likely out in the woods during this time. If he had relapsed on alcohol, it is not beyond reason that he may have had access to other drugs as well. Perhaps Harris turned this incident into an unexpected retreat. Detectives say that Harris looked like “a free man” in the videos found of him. Perhaps this inspired him to go into nature, even with or without the influence of drugs and alcohol.
So why did Harris not return for eight full days? Maybe this is when he ran out of drugs. Maybe he had become lost and only found his way back by that point. Perhaps he had finally had a reality check and decided that it was time to return to his life.
Regardless, I do believe that Harris returned to the parking lot. The shoeprints along with the sighting are enough to make me feel that this was legitimate. After this, police suggest that Harris either went into the woods or into town. One detective goes so far as to suggest that, “We have no sightings, so he probably got a ride.”
This is where I strongly disagree with law enforcement. I don’t think that Rico Harris left to start another life. He seemed to struggle mightily with being far from home and family, and I can’t imagine he would run away, then spend almost nine years without so much as briefly contacting a family member or friend.
And to return to the subject at the beginning of this piece, I don’t mean to suggest that it would be completely impossible for Harris to vanish into a new life, but his physical circumstances would make that especially difficult. I think that it would take a whole lot of work for Harris to disappear into another life fully, and I just don’t think the evidence points to him either being at that point or being willing to commit himself to so difficult a project.
Personally, I find it far more likely that Harris wandered back into the woods, dejected to find his car missing, and either committed suicide or accidentally died, having seen his missing vehicle as the final proof that he wasn’t meant to return to ordinary life.
Looking at photographs of Cache Creek Canyon, I’m honestly surprised this is not brought up more often. Police often speak as if Harris went missing in a small city park and that they’d certainly find him if he was there.
I’m just not so sure. Cache Creek Canyon looks like it contains plenty of dense foliage. I feel like a body, even one the size of Rico Harris’s, could easily evade detection, particularly if located far from the main trails.
Conclusion
Unlike many cases I cover on here, where the victim has been missing for far too long to realistically still be alive, Rico Harris has been missing for less than a decade. If he did indeed run away, as the police seem ready to accept, he could very well be alive.
If you know a 6’9”, 300 lbs. Black man with a “BALLIN IV LIFE” tattoo and a mysterious past, please consider contacting Yolo County law enforcement. Heck, if you are Rico, consider contacting them yourself. I don’t know anything about the demons of your past, but I do know that there are people who love you and who deserve to know that you’re okay.
However, I find it far more likely that Rico is still out there somewhere near Cache Creek Canyon, his tale sadly having come to an end in a corner of the park that nobody’s checked yet. Maybe he’ll stay there forever, unfound and unburied.
This is truly a case where I just don’t know what to think. I don’t understand why law enforcement’s active theory, or at least publicly promoted theory, is that he hitched a ride and drove away. It just doesn’t add up to me, and I can’t help but wonder if they have additional reasons for thinking this that they haven’t shared with the public.
Nonetheless, I hope we can find Harris one way or another, so that his family have can closure if nothing else. These days, they sit around wondering what happened to him, and wondering if one word, one phrase, one answer could have changed things entirely.
Sources
https://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-missing-basketball-player-20190316-story.html
https://www.vizaca.com/rico-harris-missing/
https://allthatsinteresting.com/rico-harris
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rico\_Harris

I found out recently that my ex cheated on me, on top of me really coming to terms with just how toxic our relationship was. He did some (non-consensual) things which I didn’t even realize were non-consensual until much later. Looking back makes me panicky, and I am realizing how much what happened is still having an effect on me. I want to somehow channel this energy out of myself, and I was thinking of casting a spell where he will hopefully realize what he did and feel guilty. I have cut off all contact with him so honestly whether or not he does realize it, I will never know, and I am fine with that. Also, reading through some of the posts on here, I noticed that a lot of people don’t seem to believe that trying to outwardly affect someone won’t do much, if anything. While I understand that and agree with it to some degree, my main goal is to get this energy out of myself, and I was thinking of doing that by focusing on him, and then just believing the universe takes it from there. I want to stop thinking about him, and I want to give myself space to heal, but it’s hard right now when I feel so angry - I want something to take away that protective anger so that I can truly feel my feelings to process them. My question here is whether you think that this is a jinx/hex. I wanted to send that energy at night time so that he can bear it in his dreams rather than I since it was he who did the horrible things to me. I wrote an angry letter and my plan is to burn it along with a few pictures of him, and then to simply let go and trust that the universe will take care of the rest. Do you believe that this violates the Wicca Rede? I am open to any and all comments and suggestions. Thank you in advance ☺️

So I think everyone would know what I'm talking about. It's when you turn on Advanced Lighting, there appears to be diamond-like mesh castings on your avi and around you, making this annoying shade that would mess your pictures up.
And I've been browsing around. The common solution appears to be to dial your GPU drivers back to 512.95. I did this and same results. Then I tried the next best step which was 532.04 which mentioned something about beta Vulkan support. And I got no further than that for results.
So now I'm at a loss here and wondering if LL is being lazy to fix it or what. I'm using Singularity and I have an RTX 2060.
Edit: I've toned down the graphical settings to High, which seemed to be fixed. But I wished it wasn't a problem when it's on Ultra.

So from my recollection from when I was younger, I don't recall anything about this season (or show). In reading the wiki on it I can kind of see why. The ratings went down once Pa and Ma left the show along with other main characters of the family leaving Laura behind with Almonzo and a few of the towns folk in Walnut Grove. Just from the first episode (a two parter), I can see why the magic had left the show by then. It just wasn't the same and the dynamic changed more into Laura grown up taking the helm. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge MSG fan and was (and still partially am) in love with her growning up as a young kid (she's only a few years older). However, I don't see where those characters left behind could keep the show going. Like many shows now, you can see when a show is 'on the ropes' when they start bringing in more cast (in this case, kids) to have new storylines.
I think this may be my only viewing of season 9 as I'd like to remember Little House on the Prairie the way I did when I was watching it for the first time and not seeing what it became.
Any thoughts on Season 9 and the direction of how the show went? I seriously need a reason (other than MSG) to keep going at this point.

I did a lot of RP in the past, mostly in forums in the early 2000's and consider it a formative experience. Now I’m looking to get back into the new version of the community and so I’m open to trying different things.
I like detailed stories and world building whether its set in an original or pre-existing world. A suitable cast of side characters coming in and out and just generally making the world feel lived in while adding depth is key. When it comes to history I’m happiest with Medieval to Victorian era, the later does not get enough attention. I’m open to fantasy and science fiction contexts and prefer original worlds. Canon worlds are workable, Harry PotteHogwarts was where I started, but I don’t have the same level of fandom knowledge that some here clearly do when it comes to comics/anime. For those I expect you’ll find better partners elsewhere. Books and film series are likely good but I would rather talk about it than provide an exhaustive list.
Happy for romance orientated stories, including fairly cheese tropey ones. I can do more adult themes and tones with suitable discussion beforehand. Related to both points please be a suitable age, for clarity I’m 33.
I write longer replies in general but usually only 1-3 replies during weekdays that keep the story steadily moving. I would ideally like something longer term. UK based but happy to play with any time zone. OOC chats appreciated as I’d like to talk about ideas a little beforehand and during any story.
Discord or Reddit messages are my preferred options.

I'm relatively new to Strive and I've been playing consistently for about 2 months now. Over that time I've tried learning everyone in the cast besides some of the DLC characters (Asuka, Baiken, Jack-O, Goldlewis and Bedman). I've watched guides, learned setplays, bnbs, and anywhere from mid-level to in depth knowledge of their lore, but I can't seem to find someone that I love enough to main. There's always something that's missing or doesn't feel right, and I can't put my finger on what it is.
I see players in the community being completely in love with their chosen main, and want so badly to have that feeling too, but I just haven't clicked with anyone. I jump from character to character, not feeling like I fit in with any.
At the beginning it was fine because I was just dicking around, but as I start to take the game a little more seriously and want to improve, I struggle to pick someone I can put my time into.
I started calling it an identity crisis because I can't make up my mind on who I want to play. Has anyone else felt this way or does anyone have any tips?
​
EDIT: typo

I just saw The Flash in an early screening. Here is my quick opinion:
My head is still totally overwhelmed so I just wanna put out some things how I feel about it:

• It is clearly a Flash film and Ezra carries the whole movie with a very strong performance
• supporting cast Keaton and Calle are also awesome and I really hope Sasha will be DCU Supergirl because she has it all (acting and extremely charismatic. People will love her)
• It's a Love Letter to DC Fans
• The movie has A LOT of fanservice but it never felt too much because they incorporated it very well in the story
• the humor worked most of the time well just 2-3 times I thought it was misplaced
• CGI was good except the scenes in the speedforce. That looked really not great
• i really liked how they put flash's origin in the movie
• the ending was clearly reshot because based on photos during filming we know that originally supergirl and batkeaton appeared at the court. this scene is gone. someone else appears now ...

Overall an epic movie, very entertaining, and definitely one of the best comic book movies from the last years. but not perfect at all.
I'm also doing an AMA! Please use a spoiler tag if your question is not worded in a neutral way.

Lindsay: Nobody can even touch my tomatoes! I gotta look up that "adult/dirty jokes" compilation I found on YT once I've finish all the shows. This better be on it.
And then Ring Girl Chef...and everybody's horrified reactions. I love reaction shots like that, they always make me laugh so hard.
I was absolutely loving every second of "Million Dollar Babies" until Heather got voted off. Dammit, i wanted her to get a redemption arc. She looks like she might be on her way but she's gone from here and I have no idea when I'll see her again. :/ RIP one of the true queens of TD.
"Our first and foremost priority at Total Drama Action is your safety and well-being." The chuckle after he says it makes it even better.
First elimination with some real drama (haha) and who I didn't know would go. But they ditched Leshawan for Duncan... Just hurry up and get rid of him already. I love how vicious Courtney has become, and her crushing on him is cute, but he's just been a jerk all season.
How about this, some mild speculation on Chris. It was revealed a little while ago he had starred in a...Badminton movie. I feel like that says a lot. Chris is a failed actor who feels he deserves infinitely more than his talent actually deserves. He takes out his frustrations by torturing all these young teens who are very likely to acquire fame and fortune he never will. (Note: After the last episode, I guess I was wrong)
You know, Courtney has always been competitive and driven, it's why I initially fell in love with her. But she's approaching Heather levels in this season and I think tht's a smidge too far. Also Just in is gone and he really isn't THAT bad. He's no worse than Duncan and his constant tormenting of Herold. I'm glad he got to live up to his potentiAl in this season, though. The fairytale episode with "Uncle Chris" and the inevitably pirated Princess Courtney song was very good.
"Get A Clue" was one of the best episodes but...Jesus, Courtney really has become Heather, bossing everyone around, belittling and using Lindsay and Beth.... In the third Aftermath Heather seems to be making moral progress but now it's Courtney who needs redemption. What an amazing ending, though, Courtney and Chris both.
Okay I love Courtney again. And also "Duncan gets the rock back in his roll." What a great pun. But then Lindsay was eliminated...I did not see that coming.... I'm mega bummed.
Duncan: Horror movies don't scare me.
Chef: Now playing....The Miracle of Childbirth
Unfathomably brutal and unfathomably funny and witty.
"Total Drama Inc. waves all legal responsibility for the sudden and gruesome demise of our cast." What a fantastic episode to end on.
I thought Beth and Duncan tying was a lot more satisfying than the finale of Island, to be honest. Very sweet. But I guess some people really don't like Beth and brush her off as not a real main character. But Action made me like her a lot.
Courtney really did become Heather, especially by the ep where she got voted off with her 30-odd page contract of what she expected Duncan to do. I love the girl, she can be as crazy as she wants to be, but dial back the meanness.
Speaking of Heather, though, I am excited to see where her character goes in World Tour. Most everyone is just kinda zany but she, Courtney, Gwen, and Duncan feel like they have real potential for character development. And I got two brand new characters so that's cool as well.
Although Duncan should be kicked ASAP for apparently blowing 1 million dollars in...what, a few months?
I think Lindsay might be my favorite character until Courtney hopefully calms down a bit. I'll bee interested to see what Bridgette is up to in WT. She's a character who seems popular but she left no impression on me in Island.
​
Overall, I think I enjoyed Action more than island, to be honest. Chris is an amazing villain and he has so much more focus in Action than island. I love the Aftermath episodes. I really liked that Herold and Beth got so far. There's def some things Island did better but on the whole, I think I might re-watch Action sooner than Island.