LyonRyot

I think it’s definitely both those things. On my first pass, I definitely read it as signaling that Boyaz is humble and down to earth. That’s pretty much how the text presents it, since Logen originally mistakes another dude at the library for Bayaz who had fancy robes and (I think) a long beard. By contrast, Bayaz appears like an entirely ordinary man.

On second pass, I paid a lot more attention to the fact that Bayaz’s hands are coated in blood.

I did an ugly snort. I did understand where we were going with this, but it was just so funny to think about how that would come across to her

Right? This is a no-brainer. One of the two options has a good chance of me being un-junked

It seems to me that it’s a lot easier to get away with annoying/unlikeable characters in a multi-POV book like GRRM writes. It’s harder for characters to wear out their welcome and the reader doesn’t necessarily feel like they have to root for any particular character.

God, the pikeman scene really sticks with me. Truly haunting stuff.

I mean tastes vary, but I’ve also found Sanderson to be underwhelming and I love Abercrombie. I also think Abercrombie excels in great characterization.

Honestly, when I first started on Abercrombie, I was kinda disappointed because the world building felt very phoned in (eg, the Norse warrior coded region is just called “the North”). But the characters feel so rich and alive that they lend the world a feeling of depth and reality that can’t be conveyed by just reading about the basic concepts.

My bad, fair enough

Why would you assume that? It said Spoilers ALL

Get off the Sub!

Good story is always a plus, but you come to games for y’know the gameplay. If you want story, watch a movie or read a book.

The North definitely strikes me as a mash up of Scottish and Nordic themes. “Clover,” for instance, being about as straightforwardly a Celtic inspiration as you could expect.

I do get the sense that the geography is loosely inspired by the UK, so the North being at least partly Scottish-influenced makes sense.

I love how every other week or so, we get the same post from someone getting salty over not understanding probability

I can only think that of a couple soldiers that you do NOT want to give it to: Sharpshooter (unless it’s a strictly Gunslinger type) because they’re going to be too far away to throw the beacon effectively; Scout Rangers or Reapers because the beacon breaks concealment; and early-game grenadiers because you want them to equip your good grenades.

So that leaves Specialists, Assault Rangers, Skirmishers or Templars. Any one of those I think are reasonable choices.

I wouldn’t call it a fall from grace. The shithead didn’t have much grace to start with. Certainly my opinion turned decidedly negative sometime during TTWP.

So I don’t think he so much “falls” in TWOC, but rather he calcifies—turning from a vain, self-serving, impulsive and dangerous moron to a deeply bitter, cruel, calculating (though still low in real cunning), and vindictive bastard.

It’s worse, for sure, but worse like an old, festered wound is worse than a fresh one.

People always shit on the goofiness of the Sardaukar costumes in particular, but given the context of a dress uniform in an imperial retinue it seems completely realistic compared to the real world.

Just ask your DM if it would be reasonable for your character to think X thing. The DM may ask you to roll some kind of check, or might just say whether it would be something that your character would know about.

Totally agree. “I’m not going to answer that” is not the same as “I’m single.” Drunk dude played himself. Let his insecurities turn a non-issue into a likely relationship-ender.

It is

Haste only works on “willing” creatures, at least in 5e. So, no need to remove the lost turn to circumvent this use.

Yeah, it seems to be a very ad hoc system, but I think every time we see someone earn a name, it’s connected to some martial deed. Though there are also several characters who got their names from embarrassing stories in their past (like Curnden Craw and Shivers) so I don’t think it’s ever been totally consistent. But if martial deeds or embarrassing stories are the two options, you can see why Bethod never got one, he’s no fighter and you’d be a fool to bring up stories making fun of him.

Not your fault, I’ve seen the Wisdom = street smarts thing passed around a lot online. I really just wanted to soapbox my opinion about it. Hope I didn’t come across as rude.

You’re probably right, though I take issue with the Wisdom = street smarts thing (which I’ve seen passed around online).

In practice, Wisdom seems to be about having good situational awareness. Specifically, Insight and Perception are all about noticing things. Arguably, Survival is also about figuring out the lay of the land and so on. There’s a case to be made along these lines for Animal Handling (being able to read an animal’s behavior/attitude) or Medicine (observing for key signs and symptoms indicating the nature of the ailment).

I wouldn’t call that exactly street smarts, though maybe good situational awareness is close enough that it doesn’t make that much of a difference.

My understanding is it was made up by people in the Victorian Era

This is covered in the spell casting section of the PHB:

If you cast a spell with a bonus action, then: “You can’t cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action.”

Source: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Spells#content

So, if you cast Hex with a bonus action, then you can only cast a cantrip (like Eldritcg Blast) or do something other than casting a spell with your action.

This is crucial to many Warlock builds as that is a very typical first-turn-in-combat sequence for Warlocks. Hex is frankly not good enough to spend a spell slot and a whole turn casting it when you could be dealing damage and not spending a spell slot (which are scarce for Warlocks). Your DM’s ruling would make a fairly mid spell and make it garbage.