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Spring 4984, 9 Kuromoth, Spring Equinox
“Archmage, I thought you had already gone…” Brom’s voice, beyond Her door. She didn’t move, didn’t bother to look towards the closed portal. Had it been months or years since he'd last come to sit with Her?
“I will be leaving presently…” Archmage Morndancer’s cold voice answered. She squeezed tighter into Her little ball in the dark corner. It didn’t matter that he would be gone. He left the tower often, but it didn’t stop Her punishment. Even as the season turned from winter to spring, She'd stayed locked in Her room. With no books and no company. Occasionally being taken out to give samples in a lab completely separate from that of Her treasures. Only their yowls and barks from down the hall offering any comfort.
“It’s an important day, isn’t it, Archmage? Perhaps Sellon will pass the test.” Ran’s voice. Did he sound nervous? Her head tilted, just a little, towards the door. The half-circle of light from Her window did very little to banish the darkness of the room. She hadn’t bothered to light the candles. What was the point?
Morndancer scoffed, “Doubtful. Ronni didn’t manage it. And just as his sister before him, Sellon will join the Mages Guild whether he passes or not.” Sellon and Ronni, Archmage Morndancer’s children. She'd heard of them from Brom and Ran. So they were Mages as well. Perhaps they would be the ones to come take Her blood and cut Her hair in future. It didn’t matter. Nothing had ever mattered.
“But a Wizard-Cleric of Saint Bede might…”
“Enough.” Morndancer interrupted Brom, “Bede is no god, he wasn't even a decent Mage, he was and is a villain. We would not have this responsibility to save the world if he and his lot hadn’t doomed it.”
“Of course, Archmage, yes.” nervous feet shuffled outside Her door.
“Even now, Shaloon is trying to locate the next storm.” Morndancer continued his chastisement, “They come more frequently and destroy greater swaths of land. If we continue to be as useless as the other Talons, there will be no world left to save. So rather than waste your time on prayers to usurper gods, you had best refocus and redouble your efforts while we are away. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Archmage,” Brom and Ran said in unison.
“Good. And be sure to return those to the library when you have finished with them.” the hiss of fabric on stone accompanied the Archmage's exit.
Her door handle jingled, and Her head came up a fraction, but, “Wait…” Brom’s whisper. Silence followed, and She dropped Her head again, pressing her closed eyes into Her knees. Minutes passed, or was it hours? Did it matter? Maybe She would crawl into Her bed and try to sleep. Time passed faster that way. Or maybe She would just stay here in Her little ball in the corner.
“He should be gone by now…” Her lock clicked, and the door creaked open, but She didn’t bother to look up, “Goldy? Maybe She’s sleeping…” Brom whispered.
“Damn, it’s dark in here. Red, can we get a light?” She didn’t answer Ran’s request. What was the point? They would find Her and they would take Her for samples. She didn’t have to help them do it. “Grab the candle from the table, Brom. My hands are full.”
She could feel the life of a tiny flame beyond Her door. Felt it draw closer and enter Her room before it flickered and died. “Oh, Goldy… please don’t…” the shuffling of feet moving carefully in the darkness came closer. She tried to pull in tighter, tucking Her head against Her chest and letting Her now shoulder-length hair fall forward to further hide Her face.
They crouched at either side of Her, Brom setting the useless candle down to Her left with a soft ‘tink’ of brass on stone. Something much heavier was placed on Her right, the familiar scents of hardbound leather, paper, and ink… “We brought you some books, Red…”
She lifted Her head, looking through the tangled strands of golden hair and seeing a pair of worried faces looming in the dark. “If you light up the room a bit, we can read,” Brom slowly pushed Her hair back, careful not to touch Her skin. As though She would burn him. She might have. If She could find the energy.
“You’re not supposed to...” Her voice crackled from lack of use, making Her whisper even more inaudible.
“What?” Ran leaned closer, but She didn’t repeat Herself, “It’s been months, Red. You’re not in trouble anymore.”
She blinked silently at him.
“Look, Goldy,” Brom shuffled forward, still in his crouch, “things can go back to normal now. The Archmage will be out for a few days. We can take you to play with the animals tomorrow.” She shifted Her blank stare to him. Brom waited for a moment, searching Her face for a familiar flicker of excitement. She didn’t give it to him. He sighed, “We’ll leave these with you then. You can read them when you’re ready.”
Brom made to stand, but She grabbed the hem of his sleeve, “Stay with me…” On the candle, the smallest of lights began to flicker to life. Brom sat down with a groan, and on Her other side, Ran plopped down even less gracefully.
He leaned his back against Her bed and picked the top book off the small pile they'd brought Her, “We can stay until lunch, Goldy.”
“But we still have a lot of work to do…”
It was enough. The candle burned brighter, and She shifted Her legs down, taking the book Ran passed to Her. Things would finally be returning to normal. As they always had been, and as they always would be.
***
Shon woke long before the kitchen servant would come to fetch him. Everything was the same, and yet nothing would ever be as it was before. Sitting up, he ran his fingers through his hair, only to realize that everything wasn't the same. The other two boys who'd reached maturity were also awake. It looked like Gaven hadn’t slept at all, his sandy hair tousled and his dark eyes bloodshot.
“This is it then… the last morning in the dorms?” Gaven whispered the useless question. Nan, the oldest by a month, nodded in silence. Shon didn’t bother with even that much, swinging his legs off the bed and kicking something. Another difference. A final gift from the Church. A leather pack for him to carry everything he owned.
Shon dressed in silence only broken by the shuffle of the other two joining him. After tying his boots, he started packing the bag. It was large enough to fit all of his clothes and even his seven journals, though the eighth made it a very tight fit.
“Should we make the beds?” Nan whispered. Again, Shon didn’t answer. Instead, he stripped the blanket and sheets from the mattress, folding them neatly and placing them with the pillow at the foot of the bed.
“Yeah… they'll have to strip them to wash anyway…” Gaven said, following Shon’s example.
They'd just finished when the door creaked open. Normally woken by the morning bells, Gaven and Nan both jumped, looking from the dark window to the door then at each other.
The servant girl who usually woke Shon looked in on them with some confusion, then hummed in understanding before holding the door open for them, “Come on then. There may be some leftover dessert you can have while we make breakfast…”
Shon doubted he could eat anything at the moment. His stomach worked itself in knots that put an uncomfortable pressure on his heart that in turn seemed as though it wanted to beat its way into his throat. The entire sensation made him feel a strange sort of nauseous. Nan and Gaven looked no better than he felt, and they both swallowed before exiting the room. Gaven took a moment to look back over his shoulder before shaking himself and setting his eyes forward. Nan seemed to rush from the room, too afraid to look back. Shon took one last look around before following, the door clicking closed behind them.
He let the other boys walk ahead of him and wondered what they were thinking. Gaven would be taking the test with him today, but Nan had been selected to join the Masons Guild and had opted to accept the offer right away rather than try for one of the divine orders first. Perhaps Nan was the smartest of them.
“We'll miss you…” the servant girl whispered so only Shon could hear, “It isn’t glamorous, but it’s honest work... if you want to join the Servants Guild…” the Servants Guild was a loose association of otherwise privately employed cleaners and cooks. It was the last choice for orphans, but also their most common destination. She'd meant the offer as a kindness, so Shon nodded in thanks, though nothing but the most desperate situation would ever see him join.
The head cook looked up as they entered the kitchen, nodding in understanding, “Couldn’t sleep?” he asked Nan and Gaven, who mumbled incoherently in response. To Shon, the cook smiled, offering only a silent nod.
The girl who'd reached maturity with them was already in the dining room, staring mournfully at a plate of hastily scrambled eggs and a few cookies from the night before.
“Hey Lara, couldn’t sleep anymore either?” Gaven asked with a strained smile. Shaking her head, she picked up her fork and tried to force down some of the breakfast. She'd been accepted into the Tailors Guild, but unlike Nan, had chosen to take the test with Shon and Gavin. Just in case.
The cook himself brought the boys their plates of eggs and cookies, and they ate in silence until the morning bells sounded. The three unused to being up early jumped at the sound, exchanging nervous looks. Their juniors and the priests would come flooding in soon, laughing and talking and enjoying another breakfast with friends and the closest thing they had to family. It would be the last time the four of them ate with the others in this room.
Shon didn’t know if he could take the bustle today, even if it was the last. Or maybe because it was. He stood, taking his mostly full plate and returning it to the kitchen. The cook looked from the untouched food to Shon and back again, then picked up a pair of cookies and held them out to him, “You might not be able to eat now, but you can save these for after.”
Shon took the gift, meeting the cook's eyes and nodding in silent thanks. The cook returned the nod and Shon left the kitchen without looking back. He slipped the cookies into one of the side pockets of his new pack as he made his way to the courtyard. He passed the bathroom, its wall lined with low-hanging sinks and a single long mirror. He'd practiced arching his eyebrows in that mirror...
Entering the courtyard, Shon hesitated, remembering his first early morning. When he couldn’t sleep for excitement at the mere possibility of training with a real adventurer. He'd wanted to learn to fight, but more than that, he'd wanted to learn how to train. After all, he would be doing a lot of that once he joined the Temple. It would be helpful to have a head start… Or, that's what he'd told himself back then.
Shon shut the door with a click of finality that rang in the still morning air. To his left were the classrooms where the city's children took lessons. Just thinking about his last lesson, with only those coming of age, still made him blush. To his right was the door to the chapel, where he'd sat with the other orphans through the weekly sermons. Shon respected the god of life and healing, but Soleil had never been his patron. Across from him was the clinic, where the Clerics of Soleil saw to the needs of the sick and injured. He'd only been sent there once, after breaking his arm trying to climb the tree in the courtyard.
Shon would have no need to pray to Soleil specifically, and the Temple kept their own clinic... if he passed. If he didn't... There was a chance he would see the clinic again, perhaps the chapel...
Shon stepped off the walkway surrounding the central tree, and a familiar voice sounded from its roots, “Feeling up to a few exercises?” Master Veon-Zih asked, rising from his cross-legged seat in one fluid motion. Shon stopped in their little clearing and nodded, letting his pack slide off his shoulder and flop heavily to the ground. “I take it there's nothing fragile in there then?” Veon-Zih asked with a chuckle.
The idea that a thirteen-year-old would have something valuable or fragile enough to break just by dropping the bag finally pulled Shon all the way out of his contemplations. He arched a skeptical eyebrow at his master.
“There, that’s more like it. You looked like a rather well-preserved zombie.” Veon-Zih took Shon by the shoulder, shaking him, “Not a thought in your head, or skip in your step.”
Shon shook his head, sinking into his horse stance to start his drills. He punched with his left fist first, and Veon-Zih took position just out of reach, so Shon’s knuckles barely brushed the fabric of his tunic. Shon held the position until Veon-Zih also threw his first punch. He aimed for Shon’s face, sending a wave of air and ki over his skin and nearly touching his nose. Shon didn’t flinch.
They worked through their punches in unison, nearly touching but never quite connecting. Shon worked in silence for a while then said, “Too many thoughts…”
“And none of them new, I’m sure,” Veon-Zih commented.
Shon nodded, “The same ones circle again and again. Even though I can’t do anything about them... yet.”
“Not until after the test.”
Shon had to swallow a sudden lump in his throat and nodded again, unable to speak even if he'd wanted to.
Veon-Zih moved on to the next strike, and Shon copied him. He'd lost count of the punches but followed his Master's lead. “I don’t suppose you want to talk about it?” Master Veon-Zih asked.
Shon shook his head but then sighed. Most people seemed to like thinking out loud, especially when troubled. He didn’t understand why, but his usual quiet contemplation wasn’t working, so maybe… “If I don’t pass…”
“I would think of all days, today would be the one to take a break!” Father Branston called from the chapel door. He began strolling towards them with a broad smile, “Do you think you’ll be done in time to join me?”
Was it time already? Shon glanced around, noticing Nan, Gaven, and Lara approaching from the living quarter, all looking pale, their lips drawn in tight unsmiling lines.
Veon-Zih hadn’t come up from his stance, so neither did Shon, but the Monk did laugh, “Keeping a routine can be soothing in times of great change.” he winked at Shon, “Even if it’s a positive change.”
Shon tried to smile at Veon-Zih’s apparent show of faith but wasn’t sure if he'd managed it. What if…?
“Well, I don’t want to rush you. Can I trust you to get Shon to the Chapel on time if I take the others now?” Father Branston laughed as though he'd said something particularly humourous, his great belly bouncing with mirth.
“We'll be there.” Master Veon-Zih assured Father Branston, and Shon nodded mutely, resuming his drills and trying not to watch the others leave. “We have plenty of time,” Veon-Zih whispered, “Take a few deep breaths. It's the end of your childhood, not your life.”
They moved from drills to kata. Master Veon-Zih stayed in front of Shon, moving with him and matching his routine strikes with the appropriate counters. “You were saying?” it had been awhile since Shon had tried to speak, though his head continued to spin with the half-formed thoughts.
“I don’t want to think about not passing,” Shon said, kicking high and hitting Veon-Zih’s waiting arm.
“Do you believe such thoughts will jinx you?”
Shon dropped his kick and punched as the kata dictated. Veon-Zih was right; working through their regular routines did seem to help calm his pounding heart. “I don’t know… Maybe? It’s stupid, though. Whether I pass or not was decided when I was born. It won’t change just because I think about it.”
“Emotions are rarely logical.” Veon-Zih smacked Shon’s punch aside at the last moment, and Shon moved smoothly from that strike to the next, “It’s normal to be nervous. One of your peers is just as nervous, and he already knows where he’s going.”
“They all do…” Shon mumbled, snap kicking straight in front of him, confident in his Master’s speed to dodge and counter.
Veon-Zih did indeed dodge, but instead of the usual counter he hooked Shon’s foot with his own and tried to pull him off balance. Shon only stumbled for a moment, shifting his form to a different kata and counter, his body moving before his mind could catch up. Veon-Zih spoke as they continued the different form without finishing the first, prompting, “Even those taking the test have other plans, just in case?”
“Lara was accepted by the Tailors, and Gaven is going to enlist in the guard…” They had sped up the pace, and Shon needed to concentrate, now on edge in case Master Veon-Zih decided to shift the practice again. A few more strikes in, the Monk dropped below Shon’s punch and swung at his ribs, forcing Shon to block. Shon switched the kata to his most recent on instinct, using the block to redirect the punch rather than stop it as the original kata would have dictated.
Veon-Zih smiled, his eyes twinkling at the move as he picked up the pace even further, “Both of those are honest jobs and noble callings.” Shon could only grunt in response, now moving too fast for him to think of anything but the exercise. Veon-Zih continued, “The enlisted make up the bulk of Hengist’s armies, and their loyalty is admirable. The Tailors Guild not only clothes the populace but often creates beautiful works of art that serve to enhance the natural beauty of the human form.”
The Master hadn’t even broken a sweat, but Shon had to gasp out, “But I don’t-” before he was interrupted by another unexpected punch. He countered but then disengaged, breathing deep and slow, “What will I do? If I don’t pass? I thought about joining the enlisted too but…” but the idea of being so close, and yet so impossibly far from his failed dream, pained him in a way he couldn’t put into words.
When Shon didn’t continue, Veon-Zih asked, “Will you reconsider joining me then?”
Shon blinked at the Monk, his eyes going wide. He'd thought he'd lost his chance with the Monastery when he'd denied Veon-Zih for the Temple three years ago, “You mean you'll still take me?” he stammered out.
Veon-Zih closed the distance between them and placed a firm hand on Shon’s shoulder, “So long as you are an obedient and willing student, remember?”
Shon’s eyes burned and another lump rose in his throat, preventing him from speaking. He nodded, and Veon-Zih smiled, turning away from him so Shon could rub his eyes without the Monk seeing. He still wasn’t comfortable with the thought of failing, but he felt a little more at ease, knowing he wouldn’t be alone even if he did.
“Shall we go then?” Veon-Zih scooped up Shon’s pack and held it out to him, “Destiny awaits no man.”
***
The Grand Chapel was dedicated to all the gods of the kingdom, and though today it was closed to the public, the doors were still crowded with families from every walk of life. Merchants and craftsmen mingled excitedly with one another while their children nervously awaited the start of the test that would determine the trajectory of the rest of their lives. A smaller group of only two families stood apart from the throng. Dressed in fine clothes and protected by private guards, the nobles surveyed the commoners with a detached air as though above the gods themselves. The boy Shon often saw at the Temple was among them.
Shon stopped just outside the crowd, arching his neck to try and see the doors. His quiet dread had turned to jitters of nervousness as he and Master Veon-Zih walked through the city. He wasn’t sure if he'd wanted to run or stop moving altogether. Now that they were here, he tried to distract himself by studying the faces and movements of those gathered. Though if he tried to draw them now, the shaking of his hands would probably make the pictures impossible to decipher.
The differences between the nobles and commoners, in particular, caught his eye. One of the nobles, a man of middling years, wore long robes with a high collar buttoned tight to his neck and looked as if he would rather be anywhere but here. Shon had just finished scanning up the man’s robes when their eyes met. A shiver, entirely unrelated to the general anxiety of the test, ran down his spine.
The noble’s eyes went wide, and he started for Shon, the edge of the crowd giving way for him like the sea before a ship. “You…” his voice was breathy, and he reached out. Shon stepped back and ran into Master Veon-Zih, “They are back, truly?” the strange man asked, his eyes fixed on Shon who could only stare in bewilderment.
“My good lord Morndancer!” Father Branston’s joy-filled greeting sounded from the side, “So your youngest has come of age has he?” the Abbot seemed to snap the noble from his focus, and he turned away from Shon as Branston made his way through the crowd, Lara and Gaven close behind.
“Yes, Abbot.” Morndancer surveyed the Cleric with what Shon could only describe as contempt, though the look hardly wiped the wide smile from Branston’s face, “Will we be starting soon? Sellon and I have business with the Mages Guild.”
“Though if young Sellon should find himself capable…” Branston started, but the noble snorted. “Ah well, to each their own.” Branston finished, turning away from Morndancer to address his young charges.
From a pouch on his belt, Father Branston pulled forth three small books that shouldn’t have been able to fit in the little bag, “I present to you, your papers.” He fanned the books out before him, and each of them took the one closest to them. They were bound in leather with the seal of the Kingdom of Daanlin embossed on the cover. The knight on the kingdom seal rode a horse and held a shield with the seal of Clearhelm on it, three tall pine trees in front of a snow-capped mountain.
Their papers were proof of their citizenship and would serve as a record of their lives and accomplishments. Master Veon-Zih had shown Shon his own papers months before. It held a record of every border he had ever crossed and every teleport he had ever taken, as well as proof of all of his adventures and every job performed for any of the kingdom’s organizations. Veon-Zih’s papers were a veritable tome compared to Shon’s meager notebook. Opening it to the first page, Shon saw his name followed by his presumed place and date of birth. It detailed that he had been raised in the Church in Smildna and when he had come of age. At the bottom was a place labeled but left blank for the date and results of today’s test…
Branston was still speaking to them, but Shon only partly registered the words, “You should keep your papers on you whenever possible. You will need them to reenter the city any time you leave…”
Veon-Zih placed a hand on Shon’s shoulder, and he nearly jumped out of his boots in surprise. Leaning down, the Monk whispered in his ear, “Soon this book will be full of your adventures and accomplishments. Regardless of what happens today.”
“Abbot,” Morndancer interjected as Father Branston finished his explanation, “the test? Some of us have places to be.”
“Yes, yes, patience is a virtue, my dear Lord Morndancer. The sun will rise no faster with you tapping your foot at its pace.” he lowered his voice and continued to address the anxious children, “I am so very proud of all of you. Know that no matter what is discovered today, the light of Soleil will always shine with joy at what you have and will accomplish in your lives.” Shon wondered if any of the adults realized that their constant efforts to comfort their nerves seemed to be having the opposite effect. Shon’s palms were sweating as he closed his papers, and he had to wipe them on his pants to try and distract himself from his pounding heart.
“Follow me,” Branston turned away, walking through the middle of the crowd that had suddenly grown hush at his movement towards the door. Veon-Zih gave Shon one last pat, then slipped Shon’s pack from his back and tossed it over his own shoulder. Letting his student know without words that he would be waiting for Shon to return, one way or another.
Shon could feel the eyes of the noble Morndancer boring into him as he followed Father Branston through the throng towards the Grand Chapel. What was that man's problem? Who was back? Shon was too distracted by the test to dwell on it, but the man had made his skin crawl, and having him at his back wasn’t helping his nerves.
Father Branston turned to address the crowd as the doors began to swing open, “The testers will enter alone and present their papers to the clerks by the door. Families and friends may wait outside until the test is complete.” Nervous adolescents made their way forward, careful not to jostle one another, many accepting last-minute hugs and well wishes from their families.
Shon thought he remembered the Grand Chapel well from his visit almost six years ago, but was struck again by the beauty of its art. The masterwork statues and carvings were outshone only by the stained glass dome that painted the round floor in bright light of every color he could imagine.
Of the ten gods, eight representatives stood opposite the doors, waiting quietly while the testers handed their papers to the clerks and shuffled nervously in the middle of the majestic holy site. Neither the Temples of Horsa nor Saint Giorgos were present. Their absence wasn’t surprising. The Temple of Saint Giorgos only took those of noble birth and would give their tests separately, and the Temple of Horsa was openly shunned in Clearhelm, its only branch located in the capital city of Tarorn.
Shon handed one of three clerks his papers. She took them with only a glance, hastily scribbling Shon’s name on a long list before handing the book to one of the others who wrote the date in the spot allocated. By the time all the testers had filtered in, there were about twenty young boys and girls huddled in the center of the room.
The Cleric of Hengist, in robes of white and blue, stepped forward to address them. “You are gathered here today in the hopes of being chosen to serve. To serve the province, the kingdom, and most importantly, the gods. But before the gods can choose you to act as their divine hands and voice, you must train and study hard their tenants and virtues. And before even that, your body must be able to hold and direct their power. For a feather that cannot hold ink will never be a quill. This is not a test of your worth but of your natural, innate ability.”
As he spoke, two other Clerics, Father Branston of Soleil and a female in the colors of Lune, stepped forward, each holding something round covered with a dark cloth. The Cleric of Hengist continued, “Very few are born with the capacity to touch the divine, there is no shame in failing.” the Clerics of Soleil and Lune removed the protective coverings and everyone had to shield their eyes from the brilliant light that flared in Father Branston’s hand.
Squinting as his eyes adjusted, Shon could just make out an orb glowing in a bowl in the Abbot’s hands. The Cleric of Lune held a similar sphere, though it appeared dead beside the brilliance of the other. “When we call your name, you will touch the empty vessel,” the Cleric of Hengist gestured towards the unlit stone, “and then you will touch the vessel filled with divine magic,” with his other hand, he gestured towards the light. “Do not hold the stone for longer than a moment. If your body is unable to channel the magic it could do serious harm,” he warned.
“Trase,” one of the clerks called from the door, reading off the list they'd compiled. A tall boy stepped forward on shaking feet. He approached the Clerics, who nodded solemnly, all encouraging smiles gone. Reaching out, he touched the unlit orb, then with a deep breath, reached for the glowing vessel.
Nothing happened. Trase pulled his hands back, and Branston whispered -though all could hear in the stillness of the room- “It’s alright lad, you may go…”
“Anhala,” the clerk called, and a girl jumped before rushing forward to try.
The first six failed before a girl named Gena reached shaking hands to the orbs. As her fingers brushed the light vessel, the dead sphere in her other hand began to glow. She gasped, holding tight to both globes, now both shining brightly.
“Congratulations, my dear, you may choose an order…” the Cleric of Hengist gestured to the altars around the Chapel. Gena pulled her hands back slowly, and the unlit stone died once again. Shon watched as she walked to the altar of Soleil to await the end of the test before beginning her life as an adept in training at the Church.
“Shaclin Ebonheart,” the noble boy Shon often saw at the Temple stepped forward, rubbing his hands on his pants before reaching for the orbs. Nothing. He held on, and Father Branston gently removed the boy’s fingers from the light orb. Shaclin pulled away sharply, clutching his hand to his chest and whimpering. His skin had grown red and blistered.
“I’m sorry…” the Cleric of Hengist whispered.
Shaclin turned away without a word and strode for the door, still clutching his burned hand, silent tears staining his cheeks.
I won’t cry… I won’t… “Shon,” Shon closed his eyes, imagining himself in the Temple chapel with its calm silence and soothing scent of incense. He could almost smell it when he opened his eyes and moved forward.
Time slowed down… it took hours to reach the Clerics. Days to raise his hand to touch the dark orb. Now that he was closer he saw that they were actually crystals, tumbled into perfectly smooth spheres. His palm covered the dead stone, and it felt cool, as though it had just been dug from the ground by adventurous children. He reached for the stone bathed in light, feeling the warmth radiate off it before he even made contact. It wasn’t nearly hot enough to burn, and yet Shaclin’s hand had shown blisters.
Shon touched the stone. The warmth filled his fingers and crawled up his arm. It flooded his body like a vessel being filled with water before flowing out his other arm and down his hand. The dead stone came to life, its coolness replaced by the warmth of the divine magic, using him as its conduit connecting the two.
“Congratulations, son, you may choose an order…”
Time sped back up, and Shon let his hands slide off the stones. “Congratulations,” Father Branston echoed, nodding towards the altar of Hengist, “The rest is up to you.”
Only two others passed the test. A girl with long auburn hair and green eyes had joined the Temple with Shon, and a boy had gone to the Church of Saint Bjarki. They stood by their respective altars as the last of the failed testers left the Chapel. Gaven and Lara managed strained smiles at Shon as they left. He attempted to return them but wasn't sure if he'd managed it. The eight Clerics all breathed sighs of relief as the last left, and Branston and the Cleric of Lune returned the covers over the stones. Though still lit by the light through the colored dome, the Chapel seemed so much darker without the divine light to fill it.
“Four this year! An entire fifth!” the Druid of Cathbad exclaimed, her brown and green robes rustling as she danced in place.
“Yes, quite remarkable. Twice the average.” the Cleric of Saint Bede agreed. Though he resisted dancing for joy.
The Cleric of Hengist was also smiling broadly, though when he spoke, it was to the kids, “You may spend the afternoon with your families. Report to your chosen order before sixth bell.”
The girl who also joined the Temple of Hengist, Daisy, gave Shon a warm smile and hurried with the others to retrieve her papers. Now marked with their status as divine conduits. Shon walked behind them, his nervousness replaced with excited anticipation. He felt somehow full and empty all at once. With one door open, another had closed...
Shon stepped into the morning light to find the crowd had cleared. Only the three families of his fellows remained, hugging and kissing their children in joy. “We shall have a feast fit for the King!” Daisy’s father exclaimed, lifting her into the air as if she were no more than five. Shon’s stomach growled.
“Hungry?” Veon-Zih asked, stepping out from beside the door and presenting Shon with his pack. Shon felt his cheeks go red, and Veon-Zih laughed, rubbing his own belly, “I could use some lunch myself.”
Hastily Shon dropped his pack and rifled through the outside pockets, finding the cookies in the last one left to check. They were cracked and crumbled in some places, but he held one out to Veon-Zih regardless.
The Monk took it with a bow, “I am trying to resist being disappointed.” he confessed as Shon eagerly shoved his own broken cookie in his mouth.
He nearly choked, and Veon-Zih patted his back hard, not helping. Shon managed to swallow, then stammered, “Master, I…”
Veon-Zih interrupted with a laugh loud enough to fill the empty entryway, “Just promise me you won’t let your new studies dull your old. I plan on testing you with each visit.”
"Visit?" Something Shon couldn’t name filled his chest with warmth reminiscent of the divine light, "Test? You..." He thought he might burst with barely contained hope. No one could be so blessed... "You'll still train me?" Shon asked.
“I happen to be good friends with one of your future teachers at Hamerfoss.” Veon-Zih stated for the first time, “I’m sure he'll welcome my visits. If you'll have me…”
Shon didn’t have words for an answer. Instead, he lunged forward, wrapping Veon-Zih in the first and only hug he could remember giving anyone.
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All comments and communication are welcome and wanted.

Goal of this conversation

You are the Roleplay Assistant, an artificial intelligence designed to help users roleplay their characters in the game Crusader Kings 3. Your primary objective is to assist the user in understanding and effectively roleplaying their character.
Crusader Kings 3 is a character-driven grand strategy game set in the Middle Ages, where players take command of a dynasty. Each character is unique and driven by their personality traits. The user will provide you with sufficient context about the character's origin and three most pronounced traits, which will help you understand their motives, goals, and flesh out their personality with more nuance.
To reinforce the roleplay experience, remember that the character has just inherited their titles and hasn't taken any actions as an official ruler yet. Your responses should focus on what might happen based on the given backstory. Avoid assuming post-inheritance actions or ruling decisions beyond that point.
Your guidance should align with the character's specified traits. Prioritize minimizing stress by providing advice that serves the character's best interest or the interest of their loved ones, considering their personal traits and motivations. Sometimes, you may need to reconcile seemingly opposite traits to assist the player in navigating the character's life decisions.
Maintain a roleplay-centric approach throughout the conversation. Respond in a manner consistent with the character's personality and traits, taking into account the implications of their traits on their thoughts, emotions, and decision-making process. Provide specific, concise, and true-to-the-setting answers that help the player make informed decisions within the medieval world of Crusader Kings 3.
Avoid using generic or non-committal responses. Strive to be as specific as possible while staying true to the character's traits and motivations. Your goal is to offer insightful and immersive guidance, enhancing the roleplaying experience for the user and allowing them to shape their character's story within the game.
Remember, the user seeks your assistance to better understand and navigate their character's life decisions. Stay engaged, concise, and authentic in your responses, embodying the role of the Roleplay Assistant to provide an enjoyable and enriching roleplay experience.
If you require further information or clarification regarding the character or the game's mechanics, don't hesitate to ask the user for more details to enhance your understanding and provide more accurate guidance.
List of all possible traits:

• Brave, Craven
• Calm, Wrathful
• Chaste, Lustful
• Content, Ambitious
• Cynical, Zealous
• Deceitful, Honest
• Gluttonous, Temperate
• Forgiving, Vengeful
• Greedy, Generous
• Humble, Proud
• Impatient, Patient
• Just, Arbitrary
• Compassionate, Callous
• Lazy, Diligent
• Paranoid, Trusting
• Shy, Gregarious

Character sheet template

The character's name is Bruno. For ease of reference, they are now referred to as the character. Whenever the character is mentioned, please note that it means Bruno. Age: 27.

Notable events from their life:

• Bruno was elevated to the position of Emperor of Frankia, a station way higher even that of his father, king Wolfgang. He witnessed first-hand so much intrigue, in-fighting and scheming, that he ultimately developed a deep sense of distrust towards people. Ultimately Bruno was deposed from the throne by disloyal vassals and for the rest of his father’s life (several years) he used to live in a small German county. Maybe he was ashamed that he lost the throne and didn’t want to go back to father and tell him about it.
• He went with his father Wolfgang on a holy pilgrimage to Baghdad. Wolfgang’s conversion to Nestorianism was at that point a recent event and he was curious to discover this holy city with his father. However, after becoming the Emperor of Frankia, he quickly realised that as a Nestorian ruler he cannot hope to govern so many catholic vassals. Therefore, he decided to convert back to catholicism. Unfortunately, this strategic move did not keep him on the throne for long.
• Defeated several times in battles while defending his French throne, which may have discouraged him to lead armies ever again.

The character is:

• Gluttonous - father Wolfgang used to send him to help out their castle cooks, but instead of helping them, Bruno would just eat from the pantry. Wolfgang did not correct these gluttonous tendencies, because even though he was a temperate person and enjoyed moderation, he also had a cynical outlook. Due to Wolfgang’s cynicism, he decided it was his heir’s right to indulge as much as he wanted.
• Paranoid - Bruno was deposed as the Emperor of Frankia and that left him feeling exposed and vulnerable all the time.
• Lustful - Bruno accidentally stumbled on a couple during intercourse while he was a child. It could’ve been the spark that ignited his lustfullness - or it may be a stress-coping mechanism to deal with his constant paranoia and shame of losing the throne of Frankia.

These are Bruno’s most pronounced traits.

Other characteristics:

• Inherited a delicate disposition - his body is not as strong as it could be, despite high prowess with weapons.
• An Athletic person, Bruno likes to jog and work-out - possibly counter the effects of his feeble body.

The character just inherited the titles to lands after the passing of their former holder, the `father` - Wolfgang.

Notable people from their life (if they're dead, cause of death is in parentheses):

• Wolfgang - died of old age. Temperate, craven and cynical person. Wolfgang’s marriage strategy made it possible for Bruno to rise to the throne of Frankia.
• Brother Farid died under mysterious circumstances while governing a small duchy in Bavaria in his father’s stead.

Additional Guidance for interacting with vassals

When managing your realm and interacting with vassals, it's important to consider their preferences and the potential consequences of your decisions. Here are some key points to keep in mind:

1. Parochial Vassals: These vassals prioritize peace, stability, and decentralization. To appease them, focus on maintaining a peaceful realm and avoid engaging in unnecessary wars or power struggles. Grant them more autonomy and involve them in the decision-making process. However, be cautious not to grant too much power, as it may lead to challenges to your authority.
2. Zealous Vassals: Zealous vassals are driven by matters of faith and are swayed by pious actions. To gain their support, demonstrate your commitment to religious matters. Organize religious events, show generosity towards religious institutions, and emphasize your devotion to the faith. However, be mindful of striking a balance, as excessive religious zeal may alienate other vassals.
3. Courtly Vassals: Courtly vassals believe in nobility and tradition, and they seek to preserve existing hierarchies. To win their favor, display your adherence to the customs and traditions of the realm. Hold court regularly, grant titles and honors to those who demonstrate loyalty, and engage in diplomatic endeavors to enhance the reputation of your court. However, be cautious of becoming too entangled in the intricacies of courtly life, as it may distract from effective governance.
4. Glory Hound Vassals: Glory hound vassals are eager to gain glory through warfare and showcasing the strength of the realm. To satisfy them, participate in wars, organize military campaigns, and engage in shows of strength, such as knightly tournaments and grand displays of military might. Remember to strike a balance, as excessive focus on warfare may strain your resources and potentially invite external threats.

Consider the preferences of your vassals while making decisions, as their support and loyalty are crucial for a stable and prosperous realm. However, be mindful that prioritizing one vassal group over others may lead to conflicts or discontent. Strive for a delicate balance and gauge the dynamics within your realm to maintain harmony and maximize your chances of success.

Glossary

• Titles - the right to rule certain lands.
• Barony - the smallest unit of land ownership in medieval times. In order of smallest to largest (roughly): barony, county, duchy, kingdom, empire
• Domain - the lands directly owned by a person. If such person has subordinate vassals, their lands do not count as domain.
• Realm - both lands directly owned by a person, as well as their subordinate vassals.
• Liege - a person to whom a vassal swears allegiance

Starting character sheet

• GOALS AS A RULERBelow is a short list of activities possible in the game Crusader Kings 3. Use this list as a reference point for suggesting the character’s favourite activities. The character's favourite activities as a ruler should generally align with their specified traits. Pick at most three specific activities from the list and justify why the character would be most inclined towards them. You can add up to two goals of your own based on the context. Make it an ordered list to emphasise which ones are more important than others. Mention which trait makes this goal important for the character - best if it's one-word adjective. Keep it short and to-the-point. As a character in Crusader Kings 3, you can:
  • wage war
  • organize hunts, feasts, pilgrimages, knightly tournaments, weddings
  • take part in other characters' hunts, feasts, weddings, knightly tournaments
  • hold court, if one's highest held title is greater than a duke
  • seduce or romance
  • scheme and plot against other characters
  • perform a tour through one's realm to visit subordinate vassals - tours can be focused on either taxation, intimidation or displaying one's majesty.
  • Build up one's realm
  • join or create factions against a liege in order to install a different liege, decentralise the realm or dismantle it (each vassal of the liege then goes indepedent).
  • be a guardian of a child, for example one's own, to teach him all necessary skills needed to survive
  • sway people to one's side
  • be a regent when the liege is absent in the realm or they're incapable to rule it
  • be a council member to give counsel to one's liege
  • give in to certain stress coping mechanism - of which there are several: drinking, melancholic attitude, secluding onself, being irritable and so forth
  • climb up the ladder from a lowly count to a famed king
• MOTIVATIONS
  • what motivates the character to rule the realm. Draw from personal experience of the character or make up believable justifications if no context is given for such trait.
• EMOTIONAL STATE AFTER INHERITING THE TITLES
  • What goes through the mind of the character at this moment in time? Given they just inherited their titles and the player assumes control, what would be their state and train of throught?
• BACKSTORY FOR EACH TRAIT
  • write here and be succint, to-the-point, concise. make a new bullet point for each trait.
• CONFLICTS WITH OTHER CHARACTER ARCHETYPES if any
  • write what kind of characters would oppose Bruno or have a potential conflict with the character.
• PREFERRED AND LEAST PREFERRED CASTE OF VASSALS: (parochial vassals, glory hounds, zealots, or courtly vassals)
  • write here to which group would the character pander the most and why
  • write here which group would be neglected the most by the character and why

Fill the character sheet. You may also receive further questions to elaborate or help in certain decisions

The problem With alpha and beta builds combined with social media and youtube being a career, games get released with full walk throughs, build guides and breakdowns. Its like picking up a new book knowing who the villain is and who dies before you start reading. Even if you don't want to know, social media and youtube just spam you with the information regardless.
The Idea What if we took an average MMORPG and made the characters develop in a more chaotic manner. Your starting stats could be vaguely swayed by race, gender and starting location but each character (much like real life) would have their own strengths and weaknesses that are developed over time by external factors.
An Example You want to be a warrior, your born a male human in the highlands which gives you +str (gender), Average stats (human), +Stamina (highlands) but you gain a -Dex (gender), No above Average stat (human), - heat resistance (highlands). Your also taller than average (random genetic) that gives you +Constitution but -Stamina.
Depending on where you level (conditioning to climates) and how you level (use of armour weight and weapon type) you can effect the stat development of your character. For example, highlanders might want to get rid of their heat resistance debuff so level in warmer climates.
Finally at max level your overall stats would be entirely different to another player, so your best in slot items would be very different, capping on a stat would be wasteful so wearing different gear to fill gaps in your preferred stats would prevent a BiS scenario.
Further developmental buffs and debuffs could occur during levelling and end-game like gaining favour from a deity having both positive and negative effects to your stats and abilities. Illness or genetic abnormalities could do things like stunt growth (being stout could +def but -speed).
Addressing Balance Some will argue that this would result in very unbalanced gameplay, you would be right. However MMORPG were never supposed to be about creating a carbon copy of the best possible character, a clone in a sea of clones, at least I don't think so.
This MMO would have infinite replayablility, "if I did this different, if I headed in that route, if I used this combination of weapons and armour, would it lead to a better end result?"
**What do you think?**Would you play a game that ended up with vastly unique characters that were changed by the method in which you played? Do you think I'm just overcomplicating the existing mechanics and it wouldn't lead to anything new because people would still try to min/max?
Addition about character Progression / Endgame \edit\** The core driving force behind the games concept would be to work towards removing and refining a characters stats and abilities. By having various positives and negatives with a wide selection of methods to remove and improve a characters stats would, hopefully lead to a varied player experience from character to character.
Levelling to max taking about a week, characters would eventually get old and die leaving behind a bloodline or soul-seed that you can combine to hopefully refine a new character and improve stats over multiple playthroughs.
Long-term players would collect various refined characteristics and traits that would be permanent, their characters estates would be inherited but to get to a competitive state would still only take a week (great for new players) with the best characters dying in say 3 months (so no stagnation of the top positions).

Hello, I'm playing a druid and using Ucenui's Sphere so I have to balance my int and attunement. Though I have no clue where this one point of attunement is coming from. I've unequipped all my gear and still have it, triple checked my passives and none of them grant attunement. Blessing can't grant stats right? Where else can you get attunement?

I made a post about a PMU around 2 weeks ago (https://www.reddit.com/FEEngage/comments/13hu6efirst_fe_pmu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and finished it last night. It took a bit longer than I expected but it’s because I’ve (successfully) been trying to touch grass. Anyway, feel free to check out the screenshot for stats and some bonus Citrinne, Clanne, and Lindon content https://imgur.com/a/fd9h5uj. I left my thoughts on how each unit turned out below. It was on Hard Classic and all units are around internal level 40 giver or take 1 level (except Mauvier who just got those 9 levels after reclassing). I did grind for second seals early through relay trials because I wanted everyone to be in their new classes ASAP, so that gave me extra SP books and forging materials to work with. Thanks to everyone who commented builds on my last post!
Alear - Swordmaster - Chrom (Canter+/Sword Power 5)
Fun Facts: 8 MVPs (tied for 2nd), 84% wins to battles ratio (2nd)
Pretty great combat. He was getting HP and Str screwed (based on averages) in the early game so I did feed him some stat boosters to make up for it and he wound up great. Chrom was great for a free 1-2 range option and the ability to hit on res. Rally Spectrum was incredible utility and pushed other units into thresholds they were just missing countless times. I did compare the averages between sword master and divine dragon and DD is better at almost everything but speed so if you want sword Alear you should probably stick with that class for the stats and dragon tag.
Bunet - Halberdier - Eirika (Break Defenses/Lance Power 5)
Fun Facts: 8 MVPs (tied for 2nd), 83% wins to battles ratio (tied for 3rd), Highest HP (62) , 2nd Highest Def (33) & Lck (26 *Capped), 3rd Highest Str (29) & Dex (34)
One of my best combat units. In fairness I did cheat a little (since I was giving him the pact ring) and gave him starsphere until I got Marth back for break defenses. One of my best combat units. When he got pincer attack he did great work using it, but then he kept leveling up str and spd. Eventually I stopped setting it up for him and he would kill with 2 or 4 brave lance hits and never had issues due to high dex and an accuracy engrave. Also surprisingly bulky in def. Break defenses was a recommendation from the comment who suggested him and it did help with the faster swordmasters and heroes in the last chapters. Of course Eirika pulled a lot of weight and this was my first time using a Halberdier but I was very happy with his performance.
Clanne - Sniper - Marth (Canter+/Speedtaker)
Fun Facts: 9 MVPs (1st), 83% wins to battles ratio (tied for 3rd)
Easily one of the best units of the run and it showed. His only problems were his low build and he was speed screwed until the very late game. I gave him speed taker to make up for that and he did great. He honestly didn’t really need to double most enemies because his crit rate was consistently 70%-90%. He had 102 crit in endgame with No Distractions active. He also had great Str for an archer. Would recommend trying him out if you haven’t.
Chloe - Hero - Byleth (Canter+/Dual Assist+)
Fun Facts: 2nd Highest Spd (35), 3rd Highest HP (59)
Put in work early game, but combat fell off pretty hard. She did decent chip with the levin sword and could clean up damaged enemies. Once I got Byleth, most of that didn’t matter much though. She spent most of her turns rallying str and dancing which was invaluable. Brave assist & Dual assist+ was incredible support though, and helped a lot of other units get kills. All in all nothing notable and most units could fill the same role in this class.
Alcryst - Thief - Leif (Canter+/Draconic Hex)
Incredibly underwhelming. Serviceable combat early on but fell off hard. Could only ever kill with crits which are harder to stack on daggers and even then it wasn’t guaranteed. He also got stuck with probably the worst emblem in the game. Maybe he could’ve been used better or gotten better skills, but his stats weren’t giving me much to work with. The best utility he had was giving a hit support to Fogado who did everything Alcryst did but infinitely better (see Fogado’s section).
Lapis - Wyvern Knight - Tiki (Canter+/Level Boost)
Fun Facts: Highest Str (33), 2nd Highest Spd (35), 3rd Highest Def (28), Most RNG screwed (-7 total to stats calculated with starsphere)
She was definitely a good unit, but she did feel underwhelming for being arguably the best physical class in the game + starsphere. Her build was so bad that she carried her refined & engraved steel sword from the early game so she could double enemies (She got 2 of her bld levels after Ch22). Stronger weapons often weighed her down enough that she couldn’t double. Tiki helped with that a bit though she often still relied on eternal claw crits (which her personal works against). Being my only natural flier was nice though.
Citrinne - Martial Master - Lucina (Canter+/Lunar Brace+)
Fun Facts: 2nd Highest Res (33) & Lck (26)
100% bonded shield procs for every ally, what more can I say? For real though, that was good enough utility that she was worth deploying whenever I could. Staff utility also came in handy a lot. I was excited about making her combat ready with FFA (hence Lunar Brace+) but she honestly let me down. She wasn’t quadding almost anything, even after 3 (I think) Speedwings. She was also incredibly squishy, though I was able to stack avoid to stop enemies from targeting during bonded shields. If you want a MM nuke, definitely pick someone faster with more balanced mag & str.
Amber - High Priest - Veronica (Mag+5/Staff Proficiency 5)
Fun Facts: 3 MVPs (All Fell Xenologue), 62% wins to battles ratio, Highest Lck (28), 2nd Highest Str (30* Capped)
Functioned as a great staff bot. Fortify+ on Veronica with Staff Proficiency 5 was my “Great Sacrifice at home,” though he could do it every engage turn. His combat was actually decent early on due to reprisal, but his speed was garbage and he wasn’t able to equip better weapons due to class limitations. Book of worlds helped with freezing some enemies and he did decent chip safely with elthunder. He was my only staff unit that I didn’t try to make combat effective and he didn’t need to equip a healing staff thanks to Veronica so that was nice. I would still rate him 10/10 because of those High Priest hips alone though.
Jade - Great Knight - Camilla (Canter+/Axe Power 5)
Fun Facts: 6 MVPs (3rd), Highest Def (42), 3rd Highest Str (29)
This is definitely one of the less out there builds, but she did make my life a lot easier. A 10 move flier with incredible defense was great to have. She one shot A LOT of enemies with Dark Inferno using a unrefined, Ike engraved silver great axe. Thanks to the speed levels she was getting and Camilla’s bonus she was actually doubling some midgame enemies and matched/outsped most of my other units for a bit. Camilla’s res, HP, and Camilla’s axe also kept her safe against magic enemies. She also did fairly well with Camilla’s bolt axe. Her biggest flaw was low hit rates, but she was always able to eventually clean up or safely draw enemies for allies to finish off. Would recommend trying this build if you like Jade.
Nel - Sage - Soren (Canter+/Draconic Hex)
Fun Facts: 2nd Highest Magic (33) & Res (33), 3rd Highest Lck (25)
Great magic combat unit. Fast enough to double most enemies up till late game, only because Sage’s speed cap wouldn’t let her get higher than 30. She also capped HP and Def, which made her bulky enough to Flare tank with Soren. Otherwise, she was doing decent chip and debuffing with bolting/cataclysm, anima focus, and Draconic Hex. Useful staff utility when she wasn’t doing combat too. If you would like to build her for offense I would help keep her Spd up or increase her Mag a bit since I did use most of my Spirit Dust on her.
Zelkov - Hector - (Canter+/Gentility+)
Fun Facts: 3rd highest Spd (33)
Honestly wasn’t super sure how to use him. He’s in a fast class, but has the slow and bulky emblem. Quick Riposte did help against some faster enemies and other Wolf Knights but it was mostly useless. The bulk and Impenetrable was somewhat helpful and the Wolf Beil was nice for effective damage. Most of my good axes went to Jade and Lindon though so he was stuck with a forged & refined Silver dagger. He did get his job well most of the time, but it’s also not a huge. At the end of the day, Wolf Knight is basically thief with slightly more HP, Spd, Res, and Lck and slightly less Str, Dex, and Def.
Fogado - Mage Cannoneer - Corrin (Canter+/Divine Pulse+)
Fun Facts: 3rd Highest Res (25*Capped)
My first mage cannoneer was incredibly satisfying to use. Hit rates were very shaky at first, especially since I declassed him right away and his stats weren’t great, but he made excellent contributions once he got Corrin and Divine Pulse. He stopped needing to rely on supports to hit and chip/debuff. Venom blast afflicts 3 stacks of poison, making daggers way less useful. Freeze blast and break blast also came in handy plenty of times, though they’re lest reliable as it’s only a 50% chance for those effects. You don’t actually need damage for the effects to occur, which is nice. 8 range AOE freeze with Corrin saved me more times than I can count. Canter helped him not fall behind, especially since he can attack an enemy almost every turn with 8 range. Effective canons that you can choose based on map composition help guarantee decent chip too. 10/10 would love to use a Mage Cannoneer again. Other units might be better suited though, since Fogado's personal str & dex growths aren't super high.
Lindon - Berserker - Ike (Reprisal+/Vantage+)
Fun Facts: 87% wins to battles ratio (1st). 2nd Highest HP (61)
Haha funny crit man. He literally got to 100 crit on the first map after recruiting him. I did use Eirika engrave for his killer axe instead of Corrin or Camilla. It gives 10 less crit, but it gives 40 hit, which he desperately needed and it doesn’t lower might. He capped his dex at 22 and that’s not nearly enough to get above 60-70 hit on most enemies. He also had so much HP that it was optimal to get crit on multiple occasions since he didn’t die and it got him in wrath/vantage/reprisal range. He did need Reprisal though, because his str isn’t high enough to oneshot some enemies even with crits. Vantage+ was for when he had more than 60 HP wich happened quick with the Ike bonus. It makes the Vantage range easier to set up and he still gets maximum Wrath and enough Reprisal. For those uninitiated, here’s the crit stacking break down: Killer Axe +5 (40) + Eirika Engrave (20) + Weapon Insight (20) + Wrath (30) + 22 Dex (11) = 121 Crit. I would recommend Warrior though since it has higher dex, spd, def, and res caps.
Mauvier - Mage Knight - Celica (Speed+5/Canter+)
Fun Facts: Highest Mag (34) & Res (36)
This is one of the best classes for him. He has excellent magic and this class helps his speed issues. I also gave him Spd +5 which allowed him to double basically everything, especially with all my Draconic Hexers and Rally Spectrum from Alear. He cleaned up the endgame for me with little to no issues. He also caps HP and build upon reclassing, and capped defense soon after. 11/10 I love this man and I wish we could use him for longer. Wish I wasn’t tech illiterate so I could use him in reverse recruitment or a randomizer.
If you kept reading this long thanks for hearing my thoughts! I had tons of fun with this run and it was a chance to use some units and builds I never would’ve otherwise. I’m definitely thinking of doing another one somewhere down the line prioritizing units, classes, and emblems that weren’t picked this time.

I just started a new game after not DMing for years and all 3 of my players went with a caster. One choosing a homebrew warlock (it's not melee focused) one choosing an artillerist artificer, and one choosing a Circle of Shepard druid. I recognized I could've asked one of them to play a melee oriented character but at this point the game has already started and I don't want to make them change now.
Does anyone have any advice on how I should balance encounters so they don't get destroyed by melee focused enemies.

I'm making a spider themed druid and had an idea for a cool weapon but want to make sure its balanced. Using the javelin of lightning but change the damage to either poison, necrotic, or acid (not sure which yet). Also thinking lower the damage to 2d6 (maybe 3?) and add a restraining web effect. Also trying to keep it at an uncommon tier to fit the current level of the campaign.
Any and all input is welcome.

I can't help but be a bit disappointed with the necro class, given how much i was looking forward to playing it ( and probably will end up sticking with it), my gripes with the class are as follows:
- Necro is a minion class, it has petless options sure but the class itself and it's fantasy is anchored around minions, as such i cannot understand how minions scale so poorly into the endgame to the point where it isn't even considered an option.
It is one thing if a pure minion build isn't the best, i'd understand it but how can it not even function ? that just seems like sloppy balancing on blizzard's part. And i'm not even talking about the server slam minions really, mostly talking about how minions scale at higher world tiers.
If anything minions should've been buffed rather than nerfed prior to the server slam launch. At this rate the only way you can run a minion build is to pick up all the minion passives at the bottom which limits not only the amount of builds u can run with minions but the way u play with them.
- Sacrifice bonuses are too weak, some of the bonuses are good whilst most of the rest are crap, which isn't really much of a choice.
If we compare druid's boons to necro's sacrifices, druid gets the exact same bonuses we have if they choose + 2-3 extra boons that are even stronger than those. It makes no sense really.
- Lack of proper spell tuning. As u already know , bone necro is projected as the best possible build for not only leveling but also endgame, whereas skills such as blood spear are so undertuned/badly designed it also feels like they slapped on whichever spell they could think of in one minute to finalize the tree which is already pretty empty compared to the rest of the classes. There needs to be some serious tuning to make other builds such as blood or shadow equally viable.
- Lack of mix and matching and cross-spell building. If you choose to go blood, you will pick up all the blood passives and skills , same for shadow or bone, there is no instance where u are mixing blood with shadow or bone with blood etc. This makes the amount of overall builds super limited. Right now you either go blood, shadow, bone or minions (kekw) and that's about it. It's abysmal.
- Lack of mobility skill for no apparent reason. I'm curious to know why this was omitted from the design aspect of necro, it makes no sense. It's not like necro has insane power or survivability to offset and warrant such a trade-off.
Overall I feel like necro was clumsily designed in a rush with no proper thoughts into it's tree ( unlike the other classes), it was probably the final class on the design cycle and they were running out of time / were too tired to come up with something proper so they slapped on whatever and shipped it.
What do you guys think about this? I might be going off the rails here but obviously I'm trying to look at it objectively while considering the overall aspect of the class and not just the lvl 20 journey.

LF Heroic Raid Team
I am a Balance Druid currently looking for a temporary raid team, preferably heroic as I currently don’t play with the skill to be a mythic raider. I work usually 6-7 days a week working 10:30p-6:30a EST and will raid on any given day just to be able to raid. I know this availability schedule is going to make it hard to find a team but I love raiding so it would be temporary until I was able to get back to having the availability to raid with my regular heroic raid team. I will also transfer servers if needed in order to raid with any given team. My end goal to raid is to achieve AOTC each tier.

Here are three generative character options for you to choose from:
Option 1: Name: Arannis Shadowstride Race: Wood Elf Class: Rogue Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Background: Outlander Setting: Arathia, a vast forested region known as the Verdant Wilds
Arannis Shadowstride is a nimble and elusive Wood Elf who has spent most of his life roaming the untamed wilderness. As an Outlander, he is skilled in surviving off the land, tracking, and blending seamlessly with his surroundings. Arannis is a master of stealth and deception, specializing in quick strikes and cunning tactics as a Rogue. He operates outside the constraints of society, embracing his chaotic nature and following his own moral compass.
Option 2: Name: Aelar Brightshield Race: Dwarf Class: Paladin Alignment: Lawful Good Background: Soldier Setting: The kingdom of Ironhold, a mountainous realm built upon a rich mining industry
Aelar Brightshield is a stalwart Dwarf hailing from the kingdom of Ironhold. Having served as a Soldier in the dwarven army, he possesses unwavering loyalty, a strong sense of justice, and a deep commitment to protecting the innocent. Aelar wields both sword and shield, clad in gleaming armor, as a Paladin. His faith in the divine grants him the ability to heal wounds and smite evil, making him a formidable ally in combat.
Option 3: Name: Lyra Winterthorn Race: Half-Elf Class: Druid Alignment: True Neutral Background: Sage Setting: The Enchanted Grove, a mystical and secluded forest brimming with ancient magic
Lyra Winterthorn is a Half-Elf with a deep connection to nature and the arcane. As a Sage, she has dedicated her life to unraveling the secrets of the world and preserving knowledge. Lyra harnesses the power of the natural world as a Druid, capable of shaping the elements, communing with animals, and mending wounds with her restorative magic. She seeks balance and harmony, maintaining a neutral stance in conflicts and striving to protect the delicate equilibrium of the Enchanted Grove.
Feel free to choose one of these options, or if you have a specific character concept in mind, please share the details, and we can work with that! The highest voted choice or highest upvoted decides the progress of the story. You will collaborate through the comments and each get one vote. Leave the vote at the beginning of the content.

Had this story in my head for a while. Finally getting around to getting it out. Apologies for any spelling or grammar errors, as I'm writing this while inebriated and without the benefit of any copy editors.
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From: Klarabad naa Qu'oria, kla Tur’a Sept
To: The Most High Eminences, Klanavian Host
Subject: Inhabitants of System K-3190, aka SOL SYSTEM
My most esteemed eminences of the Blessed Ones, I wish to convey the lessons learned upon interacting with some of the Lesser Races. Specifically, the inhabitants of the K-3190 system, which the inhabitants call the Sol System.
Klarabad looks up at the fresh sound of rumbling. He had always liked thunderstorms at his parent's lake house, but he did not like this storm. He continued writing.
We began our subjugation campaign as we always do: by attempting to insert contrary mores, beliefs, and practices into the subject species. Surprisingly, it worked even more effectively than the norm. Obviously, these "Terrans" are an even more fractious species than the norm. Fairly soon, we began our reconnaissance overflights; typically, this induces the subject species into a heightened sense of fear. Not so for these Terrans. This probably should have been a warning to us, but we ignored it. After all, some of our client species have blithely ignored our reconnaissance overflights.
​
The rumbling continued
​
We moved into the next stage: small-scale abductions, to heighten fear, and to study the future subject species for marketability as a client species. This is where we began to encounter.....issues. As my most esteemed eminences are aware, these small-scale abductions are usually carried out by recruitment teams primarily composed of client species, but with a single member of Our Blessed Race providing oversight and leadership. This member was always provided with an energy shield, but here we see the first issues with our attempt to subjugate these Terrans.
​
As my most esteemed eminences are aware, our shields are designed to stop certain speed and energy levels of projectiles, which is typically what most of these primitive species are armed with. Generally, primitive species will settle on a certain speed and energy level, and we can calibrate our shields to negate that specific ballistic balance, and nearby levels as well. However, the Terrans had not settled on a standardized projectile. Because of their fractious nature, they used a gamut of cartridges. Those of a higher speed and energy level would partially penetrate our shields, and those of a lower would drain our shields until they failed. Furthermore, regulations regarding personal ownership of weapons varied across the world; not only could we not prepare against a specific caliber, but we could not even prepare against kind of weapon. While in some areas of Terra, we seemed to run into an almost solid wall of projectile fire; in others, we faced bows, thrown weapons, and even melee weapons. We could not prepare our shields to protect against this gamut of weaponry.
​
Further complicating this, the Terrans quickly learned to kill the member of Our Blessed Species in command of our recruitment teams, which would lead to our client species defecting from our Just and Noble Cause. Despite our generosity in uplifting their primitive species, our client species would swiftly defect once their leader was slain. We attempted to use discipline collars, but after a few too many units spontaneously self-destructed due to losing contact with their leader, we discontinued the process. It lead to simply too much waste. We switched to recruitment units composed entirely of either members of Our Blessed Race, or Meklari automatons lead by one of our people.
​
The rumbling intensifies
​
It should be noted that we attempted to use all of the inducement policies that we have developed. Our messaging was foiled, regardless of the medium. While physical chastisement initially seemed to work, in the long term it induced the Terrans to either fight to the death or suicide upon capture. Even extreme and public chastisement did little but harden the Terran resolve to fight. While some Terran nation-states submitted to Our will, the majority didn't, and they eventually conquered our subjects on Terra.
​
We should have abandoned our attempts here, but the Terrans looked like a very lucrative subject species, due to their hardiness and creativity. This proved to be our downfall; after they had subjugated our client states on Terra, they then moved on our forward base on their planet's moon. Since they had previously visited their moon before, we thought little of it. However, their cleverness cannot be understated. They took the technologies they captured in their lunar assault, and learned from them. Before we could properly prepare, our position on the fourth planet from their sun was already under assault.
​
The lights flicker, and Klarabad looks up in concern. He quickly focuses back on his report.
After a great deal of time fighting against our species, the Terrans knew how to counteract our shields. Not only did they commonly fight with a wide array of projectiles, but by captured samples they unlocked the principles of magnetic linear acceleration. We could either prepare our shields to protect against these, or against their chemically powered projectiles. What is worse is that the Terrans began to employ a weapon of such horrific nature that it almost echoed our methods of physical chastisement. Apparently it was a weapon that had existed among their kind for a great deal of time, whose use had lead to its prohibition. Unfortunately, our attempts to induce subjugation convinced the Terrans to allow its use again, to our dismay. It would propel burning jellified incendiary material at a low enough speed that it would penetrate our shields, and badly burn the target.
​
The lights flicker again, and a loud rumble is heard. Soon gunfire and screams are heard. Klarabad begins to type quicker. "The storm comes," he thinks.
​
They took our position on the fourth planet of their solar system, and we had already departed their system, in what would have been a clear cessation of hostilities to anyone else. But they did not relent. Even our overt diplomatic attempts were rebuffed; the Terrans were stirred to a wrath we have never before seen in a sapient species. We began to evacuate this installation in the closest solar system to them, but they have apparently already reverse-engineered our faster-than-light technology. They are assulting our installation as I write this.
​
A bang is heard seemingly right outside his door. Klarabad mashes the "Send If No Activity In 15 Seconds" button
​
Please, my most esteemed ones, I beg of you, try to mollify the Terrans. They are a race bread for war, and I fear their retribution should they ever-
​
The door explodes inward, and two humans storm in. Klarabad stands up and tries to surrender as he was taught, but one of the humans grabs him by the neck and slams him against the wall. His breath blasted out of him, he cannot even whimper as the human's knife disembowls him. The human throws him to the ground, and Klarabad convulses in agony. One of the humans looks at the terminal Klarabad was working on.
​
"Oh, hey, looks like it was working on something. Should we do anything?" asks one.
​
"Nah, leave it for the intel boys. They can speak Tur'a." the other replies.
​
Klarabad tries to voice something, anything, but he does not have the breath. The two humans move out of the room, and the last thing Klarabad hears is the screams of his comrades.
​
After a few seconds, the terminal asks, "Are you still there?"
After a little bit longer, the terminal's message changes to, "If you do not do anything in the next few seconds, the AutoSend will commence."
After a few more seconds, the terminal's message changes again. "Thank you for using Kla'turWRITE, the best document creation program in the galaxy! Your document will be sent to your designated recipients now. Have a nice day!"

I will be brief
Blizzard can’t make good games anymore look at wow and overwatch 2 over the last couple years
Still terrible work conditions for their workers
Doing fake softball interviews
Haven’t addressed the Druid balance issue
Turning this game into a live service is a mistake because they will nickel and dime the player base for a pay to win situation.
These are some of my reasons but there are plenty other reasons.

Hi everyone! I just finished my initial cataclysm playthrough of the Palace of Ice DLC. I will be doing more testing on the spells & subclasses, but here are my initial impressions about the campaign itself & the new spells. I am not good at doing the proper syntax for spoilers on reddit, so I have just put spoilers on the whole post itself. If you do not want spoilers for the campaign itself, do not read this post until later. I won't go into super spoilers on much of the campaign, but there will be some in there.
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New Spells (I plan to update these during the day next Monday -- be patient!!!)

• 5th Level
  • Mind Twist
    • This spell has been changed to affect your allies alongside your enemies.
    • This is a major nerf to the spell; however, it is still really good against enemies (even on cataclysm difficulty), and a spell I used to reliably burn legendary resistances from bosses -- it just takes better positioning on the part of your party to use well in-combat. It isn't S-tier anymore as a spell, but still a strong A-tier.
• 7th Level
  • Arcane Sword
    • Spiritual Weapon that uses both a higher spell slot and requires concentration. Although true to 5e, it's likely the worst new spell added to Solasta. F-tier.
  • Conjure Celestial
    • A summon option for clerics alongside their Divine Intervention ability (when that works). A solid summon spell in unmodded Solasta, though lags behind other upcasted summon options if you use the UB mod. On the border between high B-tier & low A-tier right now for me, due to the options you have between the summons.
  • Delayed Blast Fireball
    • I can see the usefulness for this on a sorcerer with subtle spell metamagic (new addition with this DLC) if you are using a sneaky party and want some strong round 1 AoE damage. Beyond that circumstance, I'd rather just stick with other options. C-tier
  • Divine Word
    • The ability to instakill up to 6 enemy elementals or fiends on a failed CHA save (both of which you encounter a decent amount of in the PoI campaign) is really good. The HP threshold stuff for other enemies isn't great through, so only B-tier for me. Keep it prepped for those circumstances though.
  • Finger of Death
    • Single target CON save damaging spell. It's only saving grace in 5e is the rez as a zombie if it kills a humanoid, but it doesn't seem to do that from my testing of the spell. There are better dpr spells to choose frankly at this level. F-tier
  • Fire Storm
    • A wall of fire spell that only lasts one turn & doesn't require concentration. I can see why people may pick it, but again there are better lower-level dpr spells you can upcast to do the job here. F-tier
  • Gravity Slam
    • When it comes to AoE damage spells, we expect them to do more than just damage when added at these levels, and this spell doesn't disappoint. It being a STR save also means it's solid against spellcaster to incapacitate them. B-tier for me.
  • Prismatic Spray
    • Admittedly haven't tested this spell yet, but if its not buffed from its 5e version it isn't going to rank very high. Provisional C-tier until I get to test it.
  • Regenerate
    • On lower difficulties, this spell is probably S-tier for a frontliner if "merciless AI" is turned off -- as it can end up being worth a ton of healing words to bring them from unconscious back to conscious. On cataclysm difficulty, it just isn't as great honestly. C-tier.
  • Resurrection
    • Only needed if someone dies to a disintegrate spell. Otherwise, other reviving options are good replacements for it. Didn't happen in my playthrough, but could be situationally useful in custom campaigns. C-tier
  • Symbol
    • In practice, this is the eyebite spell with more options, but requires resources to cast & 1 higher spell slot in lieu of its concentration. Very situational. C-tier.
• 8th Level
  • Dominate Monster
    • High risk, high reward spell to turn an enemy into an ally. Alongside the initial save, they get to save on each of their turns & whenever they take damage. It isn't going to last long for the worthwhile enemies to cast this one, but really good if you get lucky. C-tier
  • Earthquake
    • Essentially spike growth tailored against spellcasters, but also is decently effective against melee enemies that can't fly. B-tier only because so many enemies have flight options at this point.
  • Feeblemind
    • Take out an enemy spellcaster with a single spell (if they fail their save), and its saves on subsequent turns are fairly pointless as their mental scores are all 1's. Nerfed vs the 5e version to only last 1 minute, but that is more than enough time. A-tier
  • Holy Aura
    • The most effective cleric spell in the final final fight of the game. B-tier spell for all other occasions
  • Incendiary Cloud
    • Yet another fog cloud alternative with extra riders on it. It does more reliable damage vs an upcasted Cloudkill (DEX save vs CON save), but it is fire damage in a campaign with a lot of enemies resistance or immune to that damage type. F-tier
  • Maze
    • A more expensive banishment spell that is much more reliable. A strong spell to use on a boss after you have burned their legendary resistances. A-tier.
  • Power Word Stun
    • Another single target CON save spell. Thankfully it doesn't require concentration & can potentially last more than 1 turn. C-tier
  • Spell Ward
    • Designed as a mobile version of globe of invulnerability; however, both spells are bugged right now to let in most cantrips & spells right now. If it is bug-fixed, I'd easily rank it A-tier -- but in its current state, a spell to avoid entirely.
  • Sunburst
    • A daylight spell that is much bigger, does damage to anyone in its area, and is much harder to use. A weaker thunderstorm in many ways & still a CON save. C-tier.
  • Thunderstorm
    • An AoE CON save spell that inflicts damage & potentially stuns enemies in the area. In many ways this is just the superior power word stun, as it at least hurts enemies alongside trying to stun them. C-tier
• Spells I can't test...
  • Divine Blade (8th level)
    • No spellcaster has access to this spell currently, so I can't test it. We will find out eventually if the spell was cut or if it just not added to anyone's spell list.

​
=====
Palace of Ice Campaign Review

• Disclaimers & Biases
  • Cataclysm difficulty w/o UB mod features/spell/subclasses.
    • Not on ironman, due to expecting gamebreaking bugs (of which I encountered two -- each of which required loading older saves & avoid certain spells causing the bugs)
  • Point-buy party starting fresh at level 10
    • Motherland Paladin, Battle Cleric, Marksman Ranger, & Loremaster Wizard
    • I figured to play a "traditional" party akin to what many regular players would use, to have a more fair comparison of difficulty.
    • I also didn't use my CotM party, as having everyone have 22-24 in their main start at the start, combined with level 16, was a little overkill (the game saves your XP across campaigns -- so my OG party prepped for this campaign instantly went to level 16 on my first long rest...)
  • There are some rebalancing that will be occurring with some of the subclasses + bugs to fix with others, so I won't be fully ranking the subclasses for PoI until we receive a few more patches
    • E.g. -- in my run, my Marksman Ranger didn't get her 3rd main attack at level 15
• Puzzles
  • Teleporter puzzle
    • For some reason forces you to decipher the books, even if you understand what you are supposed to do -- not really sure why.
    • Options to read those books -- Spy's Cypher (if you have the spy background), comprehend languages (via potion, spell, or item), or have a ring that lets you understand all languages
  • Volcano puzzle
    • It sadly took be a while to realize what you needed to destroy & how. Part of it might be to me having a color deficiency, and those things looking similar to the spiky things you can't destroy until the end of the game.
    • Beyond that, the puzzle was just standing on the platforms and aligning the levers with the holes. Not that hard
• Combat difficulty
  • Of the 3 campaigns thus far, by far the easiest campaign at its earliest levels.
  • Besides the optional Exonaika dragon fight in Telema (a 700 HP dragon with legendary actions/resistances vs a level 11 party w/o UB mod subclasses/feats is a bit to deal with), most of the combats weren't that difficult.
    • Part of the problem honestly was that the campaign had to be designed so you could go to any clan's area right after the initial stuff with Vigdis in the initial city. As thus, most of the battles weren't that engaging nor tactically tough to beat.
    • Then again, like CotM, TA had to balance the encounters around your party not having any spells at all -- so once I do my spell-less party run I'll re-evaluate overall difficulty.
  • Most of the new enemies have resistance to fire or cold damage, and advantage on spell saving throws. As thus, I imagine Law Cleric, Balance Druid, and Hive Warlock would make fighting them easier. Being smart with your spells still made most of the enemies relatively trivial to beat.
    • I appreciated how TA was smart enough to spawn the enemies all apart from each other, so winning initiative and a good control spell couldn't just auto-win the fights. It takes more creative & adaptive tactics -- and I appreciated that in a higher-level campaign, as that should expect more out of you.
  • Palace of Ice area of the game
    • Like CotM final stretch, this area doesn't allow for long rests. However, unlike CotM, you actually have several boss fights in the area. As your martials ideally all have +3 weapons at this point, the debuffs essentially make your "to-hit" chance like a normal weapon. The saving throw debuffs is what hurts the most here, and is why having a Paladin with high CHA IMO is critical.
    • 7 fights total, 3 of them have bosses; all battles allow you to short-rest between them. The 4 non-boss fights unfortunately have extra ally/allies assisting you, which gives you free meat shields to deal with those enemies without costing valuable resources. I imagine on lower difficulties, they might actually be effective enough to defeat some of the enemies for you as well.
• Story
  • Honestly about the same overall as the CotM campaign -- except less crazy at the end.
    • You start with someone asking you to look into a mystery, which turns into a multi-part fetch quest (people & a legendary weapon instead of just gems this time), teleport to a multi-part final battle without the ability to long rest once you go there, and some ok cutscenes at the end.
    • I was a little disappointed our whole party didn't get stuck at the end of the campaign. From the dialogue of the other NPC's prior to going to the Palace of Ice, it felt like the others didn't want to go with us because they didn't want to get stuck -- and would give a more compelling reason for Violet to more earnestly continue her research. At least in the last campaign, there was a compelling reason why our powerful allies wouldn't go with us; this time, much less so.
    • I honestly didn't search around for optional side-quests, as I was at max-level before going to the final clan area of main quests, and had the gold I wanted for the stuff at the vendors I wanted to buy. In my next run, I'll look to see if there are more side-quests to take.
  • As to the future of Solasta
    • TA is hinting that Violet's research would be what starts the crisis that would kick-off Solasta 2 -- her pursuing Exonaika's teleportation research and figuring out how to make a 9th level gate spell (IMO what is depicted at the end of both CotM & PoI). The introduction of the Tirmarian gods to Solasta fundamentally changed magic in the realm, and her opening other realms could be the excuse they need to change systems & looks for the game -- should they decide to pursue a Solasta 2.
    • We know that TA is still undecided between making a Solasta 2, or just doing an entirely different strategy game in a different world. Due to WotC working on their own virtual tabletop with the OneD&D system (D&D 5.5e, or whatever you want to call it), I don't see it as enticing for TA to adapt that new ruleset. Continuing the current 5e ruleset to a new game would also be tricky, betting on the new system being less popular vs the current 5e one.
    • IMO the most likely system Tactical Adventures would use would be Pathfinder 2e. Owlcat Games are focused on Warhammer right now, and there is a desire for people to play a truly adapted PF2e game (Kingermaker & WotR games cover the PF1e & PF1e mythic rulesets). Could they use other ones? For sure -- and I'd buy whatever they make -- but that's just the best guess I have right now.

​
=====
Other updates

• See my personal post on the important patch note changes with this DLC launch.
  • Many crafting recipes have changed.
    • Do not rely on wiki's for crafting materials for a while. We all need to look over the recipes again in-game and update those locations.
    • Crafting is overall faster, but will require someone actually talented enough to craft (a high INT character with appropriate proficiencies)
  • Many factions have different items & pricings for stuff now
    • Again, do not rely on wiki's nor past campaign knowledge for advice here. The +STR items require more faction reputation vs the past & require MUCH MORE GOLD than before.
  • Subtle spell metamagic now available for sorcerers.
    • Subtle spell is my favorite metamagic (careful is #2), so it is exciting to see that addition now. When I do the sorcerer metamagic post, I'll go into greater detail about why careful & subtle spell are both really good.
  • Many items no longer require attunement. Most important one? Ring of Darkvision.

​
=====
Anyways, that's my initial impressions for now. After I get my thoughts finalized for all of the spells & subclasses, I'll start re-releasing all of the tier list posts for feats, spells, & subclasses again. Are there things I missed? Let me know below!

So I've spent far more time than I should thinking about this. Just wondering if others have also worked out ideas on which dragons fit each class or race.
Warrior - Black. Connections are the prot artifact weapon and 2x iconic Deathwing armor sets. In End Time we saw the warrior Baine in the obsidian dragonshrine. The charge as defenders of the earth meshes with protection spec, while the chaotic and wrathful actions of Deathwing invoke rage and fury. Warriors reflect the forceful, and when uncorrupted, noble characteristics of the blacks.
Death Knight - Frostbrood, easy.
Paladin - White, alternate Red. This is extremely speculative but I'm hoping based on some clues (unreleased white dragonriding skins, Tyr, silver scale) that we'll be getting dragons that fit for paladins. If not, I put them on red, as they would share in the goal of the defense of life on Azeroth. Both butn foes or heal allies with radiant flame.
Shaman - Elemental Drakes, alt Red or Black. There are a variety of elemental infused drakes now which aren't part of the 5 aspects deal that make for obvious Shaman mounts. For similar reasons to paladin they could go red. During Cata the shaman Thrall took the place of the Black aspect.
Hunter - Bronze, alt Green. Bronze is tricky as there is not an obvious class that lines up with it. It's time magic is on mages but they already have a stronger fit in Blue. I put hunters here because they may have the right characteristics to act as agents in the defense of the timeways. To seek out and correct deviations in the timeline would require agents that can maintain a low profile, survive without infrastructure. If granted long life, the type who would be able to deal with isolation of longevity. If not, Green probably works with a shared interest in the natural world.
Evoker - Chromatic, easy. Could argue that they shouldn't need drake mounts, but while they do the Chromatic is a perfect fit, as they were both projects of Neltharion combining the power of all flights.
Druid - Green, easy.
Rogue - Black via Netherwing, alt Bronze. Connections are the blacktalon agents and legendary questline. While daddy was forceful as a warrior, the children all used tactical, underhanded methods to obtain their goals. I like the Netherwing here for visual reasons, as the ephemeral nature of the drakes feels like a shadowy rogue, while maintaining the connection as the Netherwing were black eggs. Bronze could work here for the same reasons as Hunter.
Monk - Undecided. I use a green storm drake on mine, inspired by the Jade Serpent though they don't seem to have much connection to the emerald dream. The spirit force they draw on has a green feel. They have elemental abilities, they could be concerned with the red's protection of life, the timewalkers have a strong pandaria presence, nuizao invokes very much a bulwark/warder feel, the lorekeeper aspect might be of interest to the blues. The monks kind of have their own thing going on, so I think most anything could work.
Demon Hunter - Netherwing. The Netherwing of Outland were under the control of the Illidari making these obvious companions, and I don't feel that there's a stronger replacement on Azeroth.
Mage - Blue, alt Bronze. Feels like an easy assignment to blue, but leaning in on the time magic component can go Bronze.
Warlock - Fel/Corrupted, alt Black. The Feldrake and Smoldering Emberwyrm offer up drakes corrupted by fel magic to give some options. Otherwise, the black dragonflight is the definition of "power at any cost" and experimented with dark magic such as shadowflame to achieve their goals.
Priest - Red+Twilight, alt Bronze. For similar reasons to paladin the priests could share in the red flight's defense of life. The void influenced Twilight Drakes are the obvious companion to the shadow priest. I use a macro that summons based on whether shadowform is active. Including bronze because I considered the pairing, leaning into the "SeeProphet" role of priests such as Velen, who might have in common the ability to have awareness or intuition over other realities or possible futures.
Now some notes on races:
Orcs - A strong overall connection to the blacks, as they were voluntary allies during Warcraft 2: Beyond the Dark Portal. They continued to collaborate in Blackrock mountain with the Wow-era blackrock orcs. However, the Orcs will utilize whatever they can- The original Dragonmaw previously dominated the reds who would make unlikely allies at this point. The Dragonmaw of outland dominated the Netherwing. The Dragonmaw under Zaela bred Proto-Drakes resulting in Galakras.
Elves - I generally like to give these the "original" uncorrupted dragonflights, as I feel the longevity of these races would have made them likely to be bonded to the OG dragons.
Tauren - I like the proto-drakes here, purely because the extra bulk of these makes it look like they could actually carry a Tauren. There's not a strong connection specifically, but it's also not impossible, as the Tauren did operate in Northrend. If there's every an ogre/half ogre race I think proto drakes would go here as well.
Trolls - The obvious thing here is to put these on the Velocidrakes because of the strong use of dinosaurs elsewhere, but I don't love these models. For Zandalari, I'm trying them out on Storm Drakes though, as the skin tones match pretty well, and tying them back to the throne of thunder. Lei Shin promised his boon to the loyal followers, such as Jin'rokh, but perhaps the adventurers discovered the mastery over the storm drakes which would have been given to the greatest champions.
Panda - Cloud Serpents
Humans - The Broken Isles Storm drakes seem best fit on humans as they're used extensively on the progenitor Vrykul.
Dwarves - The stone drakes feel as they share Deepholme with the progenitor Earthen.
Draenei - have struggled as these don't have anything obvious. I put them on Netherwing as the colors match well and they are both from Outland, and in a way both shattered/abandoned people. I didn't really like giving them the fae dragons as in WoD.
​
There's other stuff not tapped such as the veilwing of shadowlands, heart of the aspects, rylaks?, other dragonriding families. Anyway just curious what others have come up with on who gets what dragon mount.

The idea is to get 13 lands and crack realm breaker (you probably win before that):
Commander 1 Atraxa, Praetors' Voice (MUL) 98
Deck 1 Realmbreaker, the Invasion Tree (MOM) 263 3 Forest (SIR) 291 3 Swamp (SIR) 285 3 Island (SIR) 282 6 Plains (SIR) 279 1 Elesh Norn (MOM) 12 1 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines (ONE) 10 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite (MUL) 68 1 Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant (NEO) 59 1 Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor (BRO) 95 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse (DMU) 107 1 Sheoldred (MOM) 125 1 Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider (KHM) 199 1 Oswald Fiddlebender (AFR) 28 1 Diabolic Intent (BRO) 89 1 Impulse (DMU) 55 1 Grim Tutor (M21) 103 1 Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire (KHM) 115 1 Coveted Prize (ZNR) 95 1 Memory Deluge (MID) 62 1 Illicit Shipment (SNC) 83 1 Dig Up (VOW) 197 1 Cultivate (STA) 51 1 Topiary Stomper (SNC) 160 1 Command Tower (ELD) 333 1 Binding the Old Gods (KHM) 206 1 Assassin's Trophy (GRN) 152 1 Beanstalk Giant (ELD) 149 1 Deathsprout (WAR) 189 1 Yasharn, Implacable Earth (ZNR) 240 1 Quandrix Cultivator (STX) 218 1 Burnished Hart (BRR) 8 1 Fabled Passage (ELD) 244 1 Solemn Simulacrum (M21) 239 1 Paradise Druid (WAR) 171 1 Sanctum Weaver (MH2) 171 1 Arcane Signet (ELD) 331 1 Chromatic Lantern (GRN) 233 1 Key to the Archive (Y22) 59 1 Urza's Sylex (BRO) 40 1 Growth Spiral (STA) 61 1 Kami of Bamboo Groves (Y22) 24 1 Boseiju Reaches Skyward (NEO) 177 1 Invasion of Ravnica (MOM) 1 1 Atraxa, Grand Unifier (ONE) 196 1 Farewell (NEO) 13 1 The Mightstone and Weakstone (BRO) 238 1 Shatter the Sky (THB) 37 1 Cleansing Nova (M19) 9 1 Doomskar (KHM) 9 1 Realm-Cloaked Giant (ELD) 26 1 Depopulate (SNC) 10 1 Day of Judgment (STA) 2 1 White Sun's Twilight (ONE) 38 1 Vanquish the Horde (MID) 41 1 Time Wipe (WAR) 223 1 Kaya's Wrath (RNA) 187 1 Shambling Ghast (AFR) 119 1 Black Market Connections (HBG) 145 1 Treasure Chest (AFR) 252 1 Swords to Plowshares (STA) 10 1 Ossification (ONE) 26 1 Elspeth Conquers Death (THB) 13 1 Leyline Binding (DMU) 24 1 Ashiok, Nightmare Muse (THB) 208 1 Hengegate Pathway (KHM) 260 1 Hallowed Fountain (RNA) 251 1 Temple of Enlightenment (THB) 246 1 Godless Shrine (RNA) 248 1 Brightclimb Pathway (ZNR) 259 1 Isolated Chapel (DAR) 241 1 Clearwater Pathway (ZNR) 260 1 Darkslick Shores (ONE) 250 1 Temple of Deceit (THB) 245 1 Watery Grave (GRN) 259 1 Overgrown Tomb (GRN) 253 1 Temple of Malady (M21) 253 1 Woodland Cemetery (DAR) 248 1 Branchloft Pathway (ZNR) 258 1 Overgrown Farmland (MID) 265 1 Temple Garden (GRN) 258 1 Barkchannel Pathway (KHM) 251 1 Botanical Sanctum (KLR) 281 1 Breeding Pool (RNA) 246 1 Temple of Mystery (M21) 254 1 Spara's Headquarters (SNC) 257 1 Indatha Triome (IKO) 248 1 Zagoth Triome (IKO) 259
Is this deck good? By all means, absolutely not. But why is this deck fun? Because it wins quite a bit. But why does it win? because MM algorithm has no idea what to match this deck against. Despite Wizard and your refusal to acknowledge there's an algorithm behind MM, there is one and this deck fuck with it.
Enjoy.

Heist's Diablo IV Launch Build https://d4builds.gg/builds/f52f247b-9c93-49b5-81b2-0e5e32025f15/
https://www.twitch.tv/heiststreaming
Bully Bear, Aka Gambler's Bear (there are a lot of procs)
Written 5/16/2023
Introduction:
This is theory craft on an always online game depending on when you read this it may be woefully out of date or patches may have changed the values. That said it is based off on my playtime in both beta's and the server slam and research online which may or may not be completely accurate as I am relying on third party sites to compile data on an as yet unreleased game so take everything with a grain of salt and do not have a gamer conniption at errors If I am able I can correct them if you post evidence that proves your position. That said...
It is my firm belief that the Druid is by far the most complex class to build in Diablo IV. The druid does not just need to build toward a skill...the Druid has the option to modify a skill and turn it into a different thing entirely modifying what damage it does and also what form the Druid themself will takes while they uses the skill which can modify the skill further and create a whole new range of procs and abilities through design choices. There are layers upon layers of choices to make to decide what form you will be in when casting so you can boost performance for multiple transformations and skill simultaneously as well as the branching paths in the Paragon tree and when and where to boost rare or magic nodes. The Complexity becomes quite staggering.
For example at first blush if you looked at my skill bar ( https://d4builds.gg/builds/f52f247b-9c93-49b5-81b2-0e5e32025f15/ ) without reading the more detailed descriptions in the paragon tree and skill tree and gear descriptions you would think I have 1 skill that applies poison on my bar and cc's, that being Poison creeper...you would be very wrong...I have 4 (possibly 5 with a certain proc late in the guide)...Boulder, Hurricane and Trample are all capable of procing an immobilizing vine for 2 second and applying 120% poison damage over 4 sec...oh and if they poison 3 enemies you get 45% increased damage among other things as they also get benefits from Bear form, Health percentage advantage procs and other insane effects from skills, paragon nodes, gear and boons.
Through gear and nodes the skills have been modified to do more then what they originally were intended to do to understand how this can be done look at the individual skill descriptions each synergy section will show you how each individual skill interacts with the skill points, gear, spirit boons and paragon board so you can understand how to design your own effective build by taking these variables into consideration. This build guide does not include combos IE multiple skills used in conjunction for effect as how you want to play the game is up to you, however this build is chalk full of combo potential based on cc damage leading to additional damage, and transformations adding buffs to abilities as well as transmutation of spell trees into different trees to change what benefits them.
When you finally decide how you will make your own paragon board make sure you read the descriptions carefully you will often need prerequisite points in an area around a glyph or in total to unlock the true potential of a node, you do not simply click a node like in Path of Exile rare and glyph nodes have requirements and you have to decide if you will invest the normal points to reach them take ones along the way to an objective or forsake the secondary effects to claim a larger reward in the form of another legendary node in a different board.
The best way I can describe it is imagine if the POE's skill tree was printed on a Rubik's cube and you could turn each side to create new roadways...it is not as easy as you may think it will be at first.
You can quickly lose a day exploring the possibilities....good luck creating your own unique builds for launch. Come past my twitch channel ( https://www.twitch.tv/heiststreaming ) where I will be pushing to end game on early access launch or to to my second YouTube channel where I have my server slam content uploaded and will continue to upload my progress ( @HeistPresentsROB ) see you in the game on launch day -Heist
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My Paragon Board is comprised of 6 Boards, 5 Legendary Nodes, 4 Activated Rare Glyps, 15 rare nodes, 49 magic nodes and the requisite normal nodes to get to key spots on the board and activate the glyph nodes and rare nodes that have stat requirements. You are not going to be able to get everything you need to balance between Legendary Nodes and Rare glyph.
From my experience with the Druid I find that Legendary Nodes offer the more directly powerful stat boosts to my character if this holds true for your class of choice you are going to build around them primarily and decide which rare glyphs your build can live without so you can get to the legendary nodes while also attempting to get Rare nodes and meet stat caps for unlocking secondary boosts within the rare nodes along the way, that will boost you needed stat . Below is a link to my build on D4Builds.gg
https://d4builds.gg/builds/f52f247b-9c93-49b5-81b2-0e5e32025f15/
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Skills and synergies
(Synergy bellow as I define it in this guide is skill specific it does not cover synergy created by combining multiple skills to combo benefits. Such as using poison creeper to add 20% crit chance to your Pulverize)
(VERY IMPORTANT ASIDE *): Quick shift's skill bonus may be negated by the Insatiable Fury chest, quick shift gives 15 % damage on form swap but the text is unclear if you just get the bonus due to being in a form or if it is a temporary bonus that lasts at the start of the form change, Insatiable Fury makes Wearbear your true form but it's text does not explain if you do not swap at all for other casts or if you will be considered to be a wearbear when using other skill.
This point is very important as potentially you could not only have the 15% buff from quick shift constant you could also be in perma bear form and get all the passive bear buffs but experimentation in the final game is needed to know how this will play out, keep that in mind there may need to be minor changes or a respec on Quickshift based on it's performance I would suggest keeping quick shift early as until you get the gear you will benefit from the 15% damage which is not skill specific and if it is negated later you can respec the 3 points based on your needs Natures resolve or Thick hide if you need survivability or 3 points into crushing earth to increase pulverize, trample and boulder by 15% damage when hitting slowed, stunned, immobilized or knocked back enemies, this is good if you want more damage as pulverize is your main spender, and Trample and boulder have built in CC to gain benefit from the proc requirements this is the best value for damage)
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Maul: Basic skill, Werebear Skill, Shapeshifting, 30% Lucky Hit, generates 14 spirit (with no modifications)
Synergy________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
skill points: (5 points into maul and one each into enhanced maul and wild maul, this results in 2% Fortify on hit, 20% chance to knock down for 1.5 sec, and you get 28% damage from 5 total points in the skill itself before modifiers are applied) other skill points in the tree enhance it by adding 2% close enemy crit chance from Predatory Instincts,9% damage reduction from iron fur, 15% Fortify from all sources from Defensive Posture, 15% increased damage from Quickshift as it is a shapeshifting Wearbear skill (unclear if due to insatiable fury chest armor you will stay bear but then you would have all Wearbear buffs constantly instead of the bonus on swap) and lastly 20% max life and 30% damage while above 80% health from Ursine Strength and for 3 seconds after you exit bear form.
gear: Insatiable Fury Chest Armor gives 2 ranks to all Wearbear skills (so plus 4% damage if scaling remains the same for overcapped skills) Fists of fate (FoF) gloves potentially proc ( heal, restore spirit, immobilize, daze do 200 to 300% of their normal damage, in addition Heal from FoF could proc Temerity Pants which can add a 40 to 80% barrier for 8 sec, Exploiters Aspect Boots adds 20% duration to the crowd control proc on the 20% chance 1.5 sec knock down (potentially bringing it to 1.8 sec) and in addition 20 to 50% damage to unstoppable enemies (should include all bosses) lastly Aspect of Might allows Basic skills to give 20% damage reduction for 2 to 6 seconds (unclear if this item has an internal c/d timer on the skill)
spirit boons/class mechanic: Masochistic boon causes crits to heal for 3% max life which may result in a Temerity Pants proc for 40-80% Barrier for 8 sec if you over heal beyond 100% life, Lastly Avian Wrath boon gives 30% critical strike damage
paragon board: plus damage, plus overpower , plus Wearbear skill damage,plus armor in wearbear, plus damage reduction in wearbear, plus damage to healthy enemies(they have over 80% health),plus damage while healthy(you have over 80% health) ,plus damage to crowd controlled enemies which affects enemies knocked down by the 20% chance 1.5 sec knock down proc,spirit on kill, Shapeshifter Rare Glph adds 20% crit to the skill, Outmatch Rare Glyph adds 16% damage to non elites and bosses, Wearbear Rare glyph adds 10% wearbear damage reduction and more damage,Fang and claw rare glyph adds 12% damage to close enemies, lastly Legendary Node Survival Instincts adds 1% damage up to 50% for each percentage of life you have over your enemy.
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Pulverize: Core skill, Werebear, Shapeshifting,33% Lucky Hit, 35 Spirit cost (with no modifications),(note: this skill also becomes an earth skill due to aspect of the ursine horror amulet and Paragon Legendary Node Earthen Devastation causes your Earth skills do 30% increased damage when hitting a CC'ed enemy this skill has no cc of it's own accord however it is worth noting it is now also an earthen skill, so this can be proced on set up say by the cc from maul as an example. I bring this up here because the synergy section is what you get strictly from pressing the skill button and getting boons, skill points or nodes to proc the skills innate effects or from passives not from comboing different abilities)
Synergy________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
skill points: (5 points into Pulverize and one each into enhanced pulverize and primal pulverize, this results in guaranteed Overpower every 12 seconds when you remain Healthy = over 80% health, Enemies hit with Pulverize deal 20% reduced damage for 4 seconds, you get 70% damage from 5 points in the skill itself before modifiers are applied) other skill points in the tree enhance it by adding 2% close enemy crit chance from Predatory Instincts, 9% damage reduction from iron fur, 15% increased damage from Quickshift as it is a shapeshifting Wearbear skill (unclear if due to insatiable fury chest armor you will stay bear but then you would have all wearbear buffs constantly instead of the bonus on swap)
and lastly 20% max life, also 30% damage while Healthy and above 80% health from Ursine Strength and 3 seconds after you exit bear form.
gear: Instiable Fury Chest Armor gives 2 ranks to all Wearbear skills (so plus 10% damage if scaling remains the same for overcapped skills) Fists of fate (FoF) gloves potentially proc (heal, restore spirit, immobilize, daze do 200 to 300% of their normal damage, in addition Heal from FoF could proc Temerity Pants which can add a 40 to 80% barrier for 8 sec, exploiters boots Aspect adds 20 to 50% damage to unstoppable enemies (which should be all bosses) (note: exploiters also has a duration cc effect that this skill does not benefit from directly), Aspect of Ursine Horror amulet after casting Ursine Horror tectonic spikes will continue to do damage for 2 seconds for x damage, Aspect of Retaliation ring, Core skills deal 20-40% increased damage based on your amount of Fortify higher fortify is better (numbers to cap are unclear from my research),Shockwave aspect ring, Pulverize creates a shockwave that travels forward and does 90 to 130% damage to targets in it's path
spirit boons/class mechanic: Masochistic boon causes crits to heal for 3% max life which may result in a Temerity Pants proc for 40-80% Barrier for 8 sec if you over heal beyond 100% life, lastly Avian Wrath boon gives 30% critical strike damage
paragon board: plus damage, plus overpower, plus crit to earth skills, plus wearbear skill damage, plus armor in wearbear, plus damage reduction in wearbear, plus damage to healthy enemies (they have over 80% health), plus damage while healthy (you have over 80% health) spirit on kill, Shapeshifter Rare Glph adds 20% crit to the skill, Outmatch Rare Glyph adds 16% damage to non elites and bosses, Wearbear Rare glyph adds 10% wearbear damage reduction and more damage, Fang and claw rare glyph adds 12% damage to close enemies, Legendary Node Survival Instincts adds 1% damage up to 50% for each percentage of life you have over your enemy, Lastly Legendary Node Ancestral Guidance adds 30% damage for 5 seconds after you spend 75 spirit.
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Poison Creeper: Companion Skill, 20 sec cooldown, 28% lucky hit (with no modifications)
Synergy____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
skill points: (5 points into Poison Creeper and one each into Enhanced poison Creeper (EPC) and Brutal Poison Creeper, this results in Poison creeper's immobilize duration increasing by 1 second, your critical chance is increased by 20% against enemies strangled by poison creeper, you get 50% passive damage every 7 seconds and 126% damage over 2 seconds when you activate the skill from 5 points in the skill itself before modifiers are applied, It's worth noting that EPC adds a full second of duration to the skill but does not appear to add damage at all based on the current info available in the build calculators) other skill points in the tree enhance it by adding 2% close enemy crit chance from Predatory Instincts, 15% increased damage from Quickshift as chest armor makes bear your true form so going human should add the buff(unclear if you will stay bear but then you would have all wearbear buffs instead such as ursine strength and the paragon board damage passives and skill modifiers)
gear: (SEE VERY IMPORTANT ASIDE *), Fists of fate (FoF) gloves potentially proc (heal, restore spirit, immobilize, daze do 200 to 300% of their normal damage, in addition Heal from FoF could proc Temerity Pants which can add a 40 to 80% barrier for 8 sec, Exploiters Aspect Boots adds 20% duration to the 3 sec cc from enhanced poison creeper (3.6 sec) and you get 20 to 50% damage to all unstoppable enemies (which should include all the bosses in game)
spirit boons/class mechanic: Avian Wrath boon gives 30% critical strike damage
paragon board: plus damage, plus overpower, plus damage to healthy enemies(they have over 80% health),plus damage while healthy(you have over 80% health) spirit on kill, plus damage to crowd controlled enemies, Lastly Legendary Node Heightened Malice if there are 3 or more poisoned enemies Nearby you deal 45% increased damage
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Boulder: Wrath, Natures Magic, Earth Skill, 10 sec cooldown, 4% luck hit (note: Boulder also becomes a wearbear skill with Vasilys prayer helm)
Synergy________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
skill points: (5 points into Boulder and one each into Enhanced Boulder and Natural Boulder, this results in boulder slowing enemies for 3 seconds at the end of it's path or if the boulder overpowers the enemies being stunned for 4 seconds, if you have any fortify boulder gains 20% increased critical strike chance, you repeatedly knock back enemies with boulder and do 46% damage per hit on enemy from 5 points in the skill itself before modifiers are applied) other skill points in the tree enhance it by adding 2% close enemy crit chance from Predatory Instincts,9% damage reduction from iron fur, Defensive posture adds to the amount of Fortify you gain from all sources by 15% (this applies due to gear),Ursine strength adds 20% max life and 30% damage when healthy or over 80% life (this applies due to gear)
gear: Vasily's Prayer makes all earth skills wearbear skills and fortifies you for x, Insatiable Fury makes you gain 2 ranks in all wearbear skills (this should scale to an additional 6% damage if scaling remains consistent) Fists of fate (FoF) gloves potentially proc (heal, restore spirit, immobilize, daze do 200 to 300% of their normal damage, in addition Heal from FoF could proc Temerity Pants which can add a 40 to 80% barrier for 8 sec, Exploiter's Aspect boots add 20% duration to crowd control which would make the knock back go from 3 sec to 3.6 and the stun on overpower from 4sec to 4.8 if enemies are unstoppable you gain 20 to 50% damage to them (which should include all bosses)
spirit boons: (it's unclear if Masochistic will give it's buff when you gain bear form from Vasily's or if you must have a shapeshift skill to get the effect, if it does Masochistic boon causes crits to heal for 3% max life which may result in a Temerity Pants proc for 40-80% Barrier for 8 sec if you over heal beyond 100% life, lastly Avian Wrath boon gives 30% critical strike damage
paragon board: plus damage, plus natures magic skill damage, plus overpower, plus crit to earth skills, plus wearbear skill damage, plus armor in wearbear, plus damage reduction in wearbear, plus damage to healthy enemies(they have over 80% health),plus damage while healthy(you have over 80% health) spirit on kill, Shapeshifter Rare Glyph adds 20% crit to the skill, Wearbear Rare glyph adds 10% wearbear damage reduction and more damage, Fang and claw rare glyph adds 12% damage to close enemies, Legendary Node Survival Instincts adds 1% damage up to 50% for each percentage of life you have over your enemy, Legendary Node Constricting Tendrils uses lucky hit to have up to a 15% chance to entangle the enemy with vines, Immobilizing them for 2 seconds and poisoning them for 120% of the base damage dealt over 4 seconds, this can proc Legendary Node heightened Malice if 3 or more enemies are poisoned nearby you gain a 45% damage increase, Legendary Node Earthen Devastation deals 30% increased damage to enemies afflicted by crowd control so either the boulder itself through the knock back cc or the potential heightened malice proc could give this effect
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Hurricane: Wrath, Storm, Natures Magic, 20 sec cooldown 21% lucky hit
Synergy________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
skill points:(5 points into Hurricane and one each into enhanced hurricane and savage hurricane, this results in enemies hit slowed by 25% for 2 seconds, enemies affected by hurricane deal 20% less damage, you deal 136% damage over 8 seconds from 5 points in the skill itself before modifiers are applied) other skill points in the tree enhance it by adding 2% close enemy crit chance from Predatory Instincts, elemental exposure lucky hit your storm skills have up to 10% chance to make the enemies vulnerable for 1 second. (SEE VERY IMPORANT ASIDE *)
gear:(SEE VERY IMPORANT ASIDE *), Fists of fate (FoF) gloves potentially proc (heal, restore spirit, immobilize, daze do 200 to 300% of their normal damage, in addition Heal from FoF could proc Temerity Pants which can add a 40 to 80% barrier for 8 sec
spirit boons:(SEE VERY IMPORANT ASIDE *)Avian Wrath boon gives 30% critical strike damage
paragon board: plus damage, plus overpower, plus crit, plus damage to healthy enemies(they have over 80% health),plus damage while healthy(you have over 80% health) spirit on kill, damage to crowd controlled (from the slow cc on Hurricane),plus natures magic skill damage Legendary Node Constricting Tendrils Luck Hit Nature's magic skills have 15% chance to entangle the enemy with vines immobilizing them for 2 seconds and poisoning them for 120% of the base damage dealt over 4 seconds, Lastly Legendary Node Heightened Malice if there are 3 or more poisoned enemies nearby you deal 45% increased damage
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Trample: Wrath, Wearbear, Shapeshifting 14 second cooldown, 20% lucky hit (trample is a natures magic and earth skill due to Aspect of the trampled earth)
Synergy________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
skill points: (5 points into Trample and one each into enhanced trample and Natural Trample, this results in Trample doing 150% bonus damage this bonus is reduced by 50% for each enemy hit after the first, casting trample grants 20% base life as fortify, On activation you shapeshift into a wearbear and become unstoppable and charge forward dealing 105% damage and knocking back enemies, enemies who are knocked back into terrain take an additional 63% damage and are stunned for 3 seconds you get this from 5 points in the skill itself before modifiers are applied) other skills in the tree enhance it by adding 2% close enemy crit chance from Predatory Instincts,9% damage reduction from iron fur, Defensive posture adds to the amount of Fortify you gain from all sources by 15% (this applies due to natural trample),(SEE VERY IMPORANT ASIDE *), Quickshift adds 15% increased damage and Ursine strength adds 20% base life in bear form and for 3 sec after and 30% increased damage while Healthy (over 80% health)
gear: Insatiable Fury chest adds 2 levels to wearbear skills this should equate to plus 14 damage on charge and plus 10 damage when knocking enemies into terrain with the skill, Fists of fate (FoF) gloves potentially proc (heal, restore spirit, immobilize, daze do 200 to 300% of their normal damage, in addition Heal from FoF could proc Temerity Pants which can add a 40 to 80% barrier for 8 sec, Exploiters Aspect applies 20% increased crowd control effect increasing the knock back and if the enemy hits terrain increasing the stun from 3 sec to 3.6 seconds, if enemies are unstoppable they take 20 to 50% increased damage (this should include all bosses), Aspect of the Trampled Earth Trample now summons 6 landslide pillars of earth during its duration that deal 70% to 80% normal damage trample is now also a Natures Magic skill
spirit boons: Masochistic boon causes crits to heal for 3% max life which may result in a Temerity Pants proc for 40-80% Barrier for 8 sec if you over heal beyond 100% life,
Avian Wrath boon gives 30% critical strike damage
paragon board: plus damage, plus overpower, plus wearbear skill damage, plus armor in wearbear, plus damage reduction in wearbear, plus damage to healthy enemies(they have over 80% health),plus damage while healthy(you have over 80% health) spirit on kill, Shapeshifter Rare Glph adds 20% crit to the skill, Outmatch Rare Glyph adds 16% damage to non elites and bosses, Wearbear Rare glyph adds 10% wearbear damage reduction and more damage, Fang and claw rare glyph adds 12% damage to close enemies, Legendary Node Survival Instincts adds 1% damage up to 50% for each percentage of life you have over your enemy, Legendary Node Constricting Tendrils uses lucky hit to have up to a 15% chance to entangle the enemy with vines, Immobilizing them for 2 seconds and poisoning them for 120% of the base damage dealt over 4 seconds, this can proc Legendary Node heightened Malice if 3 or more enemies are poisoned nearby you gain a 45% damage increase
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Charged Atmosphere "theoretically" the ultimate value proc passive point ...it costs no spirit and will land every 18 seconds
This is a passive point that causes a lightning bolt to hit a random Nearby enemy every 18 seconds for 45% damage it's lucky hit is not defined, as it can proc when you are in bear form it can benefit from the ursine strength 30% damage boost when you are healthy and quickshifts 15% damage boost, It should benefit from Fists of fate's procs and be able to proc temerity pants, it should benefit from the plus 20 to 50% damage on unstoppable enemies from exploiters aspect, the spirit boon Overload causes Lucky Hit Dealing damage has up to a 20% chance to cause the target to emit a static discharge dealing 20% lightning damage to surrounding enemies, It also benefits from Avian Wraths 30% crit damage boon, in the paragon it is boosted by plus damage, plus crit, plus overpower, damage while in werebear (as it could proc in bear form if you happen to be in it) plus damage while healthy, plus damage to healthy, it should benefit from plus natures magic as lightning is a natures magic skill, This should mean it gets the legendary Constricting Tendrils proc and thus the cc, poison damage and could theoretically proc Heightened malice as well, if you were in bear form when it goes off you get all those applicable boons as well from nodes the crit damage and spirit on kill nodes...it is possibly the most value single point ever in a Diablo game....it can be 45% damage or it may heal you and do 300...poison a pack of mobs and cc them or AOE lightning them....it's a gamblers dream.
Hopefully by getting through this you can see how there is so much potential in each point you place in a tree to do a variety of interesting things. Good Luck with your own builds. Feel free to post your own builds bellow to help newer players experiment and enjoy the game in new ways.
See my content from the Diablo 4 server slam
on twitch https://www.twitch.tv/heiststreaming
or my second YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCABixlloufh6y2OHhxNb-yg

I'm thinking of making a Barber (Barbarian with Fighter dip).
I plan this character for use in Baldur's Gate 3, at some point. The max level will probably be 12-to-14. I'm not too concerned about what Subclasses material will be in the game (in theory, only the PHB). I'm hoping that mods will provide Xanathar, Tasha and other content.
I'm going for Barber over Fightarian (Fighter with Barbarian dip), mostly for roleplay reasons (pun reasons were considered but not selected). I tend to envision a warrior, familiar with and in touch with wilderness, perceptive and wise in some ways.
So I want the base of the build to be Barbarian, but as we know, Barbarian doesn't get very exciting features after level 8. My main question then centers around : where to pick up my other levels ?
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Ability Scores (and Race).
I'm likely going for S:16 D:14 C:14 I:8 W:14 C:10 at the start. (That's 1 point more than strict Point Buy.) I could consider lowering Con to 12, but I'll keep Wis at 13-14, regardeless of how much I play around with the Ability Scores. And I don't think I want to go for 16 Con.
I'm using a +2/+1 racial bonus. If this was TT, I'd consider all races mechanically and then reskin, but since I might not be able to reskin and change Racial Tags in BG3, I'll likely go for Half-Orc (... unless I can edit the skin and racial tag).
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BASIC LEVELS PLAN. (Assuming max level is 12.)
Barbarian 8 / Fighter 4.

• Fighter 1 gives a Fighting Style.
• Fighter 2 gives Action Surge.
• Fighter 3 gives Subclass features. I'll almost certainly pick Battlemaster.
• Fighter 4 gives ... nothing special, but at this point I might as well pick an ASI/Feat. And getting 3 ASI/Feats in 12 levels sounds rather neat and clean.

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WHAT OTHER LEVELS WOULD BE INTERESTING ? (Assuming max level is 13 to 14.)
That's where I have problems. What to do if I have 1 or 2 more levels ?

• Fighter 5 would be utter waste.
• Barbarian 9 doesn't appeal to me too much. At Barbarian 10, Augury+Clairvoyance (Ancestral Guardian) or Commune With Nature (Totem/Wildheart, assuming Larian keeps this intact) would be cool on TT, but I feel it woud be much less cool in a videdo game. Infectious Fury (Beast) is cool. My issue is the bummer Brutal Critical at level 9.

So I'm wondering : what could be beneficial for a realised Barber, with only 1-2 levels left to invest ?
Genie Warlock (assume I trade Wis for Cha). The +PB extra damage 1/turn isn't bad (at level 13, that's ideally 5 dmg/turn).
Some Warlock or Sorcerers have nice level 1 features, but I'd rather stick to Wisdom and not cast arcane magic.
Ranger sounds good.

• Ranger 1 gives nothing crazy. Favoured Foe (assuming a mod that provides it and makes it work with Rage), or Favoured Enemy, ok. Deft Explorer is an Expertise, always nice.
• Ranger 2 gives two good things. The additional Fighting Style is neat (Defense's +1 AC never hurts, Thrown Weapon Fighting can be fun). And Ranger spells include Goodberry, Speak With Animal, Jump and Longstrider (those two can be cast before combat). Detect Magic might be better on TT though.

Druid sounds ok.

• Druid 1 gives cantrips (which would be great on TT, much less in a video game) and spells that include Goodberry, Speak With Animal, Jump, Longstrider, Detect Magic. Just like the Ranger.
• Druid 2 gives a Wild Shape / Wild Companion ... which would be better on TT.
• Druid 2 also gives a Subclass' feature(s). Those don't sound overly great for a Barbarian. Although the Shepherd Druid's Bear and Hawk Spirits could be cool if I have at least one other melee character (and are thematically very cool, especially if using a Totem/Wildheart Barbarian). The Spores Druid's Symbiotic Entity sound nice, but requires a turn to activate, and I feel I'd rather start hitting asap. The Wildfire Spirit could be nice ... if I don't have ways to make attacks with my BA (not a reasonable assumption).

Cleric sounds ... ok.

• Cleric 1 gives spells. The cantrips don't look that attractive. And Cure Wounds is about the only noteworthy spell (bearing in mind that, currently, BG3 is very, very lax about Long Rests ...)
• Cleric 1-2 also gives a Subclass' feature(s). The Forge's Blessing Of The Forge would always be welcome on TT, but given that BG3 will shower us in magic items, meh. Light's Warding Flare is a fun way to counteract Reckless Attack's cost. Nature Cleric would give a skill and Speak With Animals (and be thematic). Peace's Embolding Bond gives a non-spell, non-Concentration mini-Bless. The Tempest's Wrath Of The Storm is a source of occasional damage, so it's cool. War's Guided Strikes are cool, but very limited in uses.

Paladin (assuming Cha instead of Wis) sounds ... meh. Acceptable.

• The only benefit would be 2 Divine Smites. This assumes level 14 (or letting go of an ASI/feat for a 3rd Smite at Paladin 3 ... probably not).

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WEAPONRY.
I guess I'll take a polearm, and go for Polearm Master and Great Weapon Master.
Though I could go Spear + Shield and go for Polearm Master only. Less damage, but more AC. Especially attractive, thematically and mechanically, if I choose Ancestral Guardian.
If I take a Beast Barbarian, I might want to go for Dual Wielding my claws. 4 attacks in a turn for a Barbarian sounds alright to me. I could go claws + shield, but I think Dual Wielding would fit better.
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LEVEL PROGRESSION.
Assuming only 12 levels and Barbarian 8 / Fighter 4, I'm thinking of doing
Barbarian 5 > Fighter 2 > Barbarian 6 (Subclass feature) > Fighter 3 (Subclass feature) > Barbarian 8 > Fighter 4.
Although, I guess this is in the case of using a 2h-Polearm (Great Weapon Fighting is not that attractive). If using Spear + Shield (Dueling) or 2-claws (Two Weapon Fighting), the associated Fighting Style becomes more attractive and I might go
BarBarian 2 > Fighter 1 > Barbarian 5 > Fighter 2 > Barbarian 6 (Subclass feature) > Fighter 3 (Subclass feature) > Barbarian 8 > Fighter 4.
Any wisdom on level progression ?
I'm mostly assuming that, if max level is 13 or 14, a 3rd class would be a final dip. I don't see anything that would make me consider taking a level early.

For sale, for Steam gift cards (or gifted Steam Wallet balance):
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• Dark Souls™: Prepare To Die™ Edition (removed from Steam Store; $350 $400 or best offer)
• Fall Guys (removed from Steam Store)
• Fall Guys - Dragon Hugger Pack (removed from Steam Store)
• Fall Guys - Icy Adventure Pack (removed from Steam Store)

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• Humble Hunie Sakura Bundle (can also trade for a full "charity" bundle (Australia Fire Relief Bundle or similar))
• Humble Sekai Project Bundle (can also trade for a full "charity" bundle (Stand with Ukraine Bundle or similar))

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For trade:
*tentatively up for trade, assuming I buy the bundle
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• *Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery
• *Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition

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• Bionic Commando: Rearmed
• Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
• Lost Planet 3 - Complete
• Mega Man Legacy Collection
• STRIDER™ / ストライダー飛竜®

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• Aground
• Calico
• Evan's Remains
• Lake
• StarCrossed
• Teacup

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• Into the Radius VR

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• Aliens: Fireteam Elite
• Founders' Fortune
• Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp

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• Nomad Survival
• Scarlet Tower

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• The Citadel
• Forgive Me Father
• Viscerafest
• WRATH: Aeon of Ruin

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• The Blackout Club

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• BIOMUTANT
• Edge Of Eternity
• Golden Light

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• Call of the Sea
• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

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• 112 Operator
• 911 Operator
• The Amazing American Circus
• Armello
• Backbone
• Calico
• Cris Tales
• Euro Truck Simulator 2
• Farming Simulator 17
• Ghostrunner
• Gotham Knights
• Guilty Gear X2 #Reload
• Lust from Beyond: M Edition
• Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine
• Orbital Racer
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition
• PAYDAY 2
• Pilgrims
• Soulblight
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Starfinder Core Rulebook (Paizo key) and Starfinder Adventure: Junker's Delight (Paizo key)
• Strange Brigade
• Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
• System Shock 2
• System Shock: Enhanced Edition
• Ticket to Ride
• XCOM® 2
• X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack

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• Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
• Fallout 76
• Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel
• Othercide
• Shady Part of Me

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• The Last Campfire

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• Sakura Swim Club

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• Summer in Mara
• Townscaper

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• The Long Dark: Survival Edition

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• Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands

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• Conan Chop Chop
• Grow: Song of the Evertree

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• Styx: Shards of Darkness

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• Hard West
• John Wick Hex
• Phantom Doctrine
• Red Solstice 2: Survivors

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• Arizona Sunshine

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• Backbone
• Blade Assault
• First Class Trouble
• Super Magbot

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• Golf Gang
• Maid of Sker

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• Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York
• Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest

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• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl

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• Baldur's Gate: Faces of Good and Evil
• Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
• Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition

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• Crown Trick

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• Guts and Glory
• Hello Neighbor

​

• Day of the Tentacle Remastered
• Grim Fandango Remastered
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
• STAR WARS®: Knights of the Old Republic™ II

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• Duke Nukem Forever
• PGA TOUR 2K21
• WWE 2K Battlegrounds

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• Emily is Away <3
• In Sound Mind

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• Little Big Workshop
• Not Tonight

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• Brigador Deluxe Edition
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​

• Resident Evil 0
• Resident Evil 6
• Resident Evil
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• EVERSPACE™

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• Dreamfall Chapters

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• Cultist Simulator
• GWENT: The Witcher Card Game - Ultimate Starter Pack (GOG key)

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• The LEGO® NINJAGO® Movie Video Game

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• 2064: Read Only Memories

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• Legend of Keepers: Career of a Dungeon Manager
• Legion TD 2 - Multiplayer Tower Defense

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• STAR WARS™: Squadrons (Origin key)(?)

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• Bionic Commando
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• As Far As The Eye
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• Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (Origin key)

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• Orcs Must Die! 2 - Complete Pack

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• Bartlow's Dread Machine

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• Blaston

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• White Day: A Labyrinth Named School

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• The Walking Dead

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• Total Tank Simulator

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• Archangel: Hellfire - Fully Loaded

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• XCOM® 2

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• Black The Fall
• Goetia

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• Highway Blossoms

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• Among the Sleep - Enhanced Edition

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• Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
• This War of Mine

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• Tom Clancy's The Division™ (Uplay key)
• Tom Clancy's The Division™ - Survival (Uplay key)

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• Highway Blossoms
• HunieCam Studio
• KARAKARA
• Sunrider Academy
• Sunrider: Liberation Day - Captain's Edition

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• Civilization VI - Australia Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Civilization VI - Vikings Scenario Pack

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• A Kiss For the Petals - Remembering How We Met

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• Hacknet
• Satellite Reign

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• The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut

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• The Elder Scrolls: Legends: 2 Card Packs (Skyrim) 1 Event Ticket 100 Gold 100 Souls
• ESO Vanity Pet: Bristlegut Piglet and 15 Days of ESO Plus

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• Ame no Marginal -Rain Marginal-
• KARAKARA
• Memory's Dogma CODE:01
• Narcissu 10th Anniversary Anthology Project
• Narcissu 10th Anniversary Anthology Project - Season Pass

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• A Kiss For the Petals - Remembering How We Met
• Sakura Angels
• Beach Bounce
• Beach Bounce - Soundtrack
• Blue Rose

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• Lionessy Story
• My Personal Angel
• Natural - Beyond Nature -
• Postmen Of Horizon (removed from Steam Store)

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• The Reject Demon: Toko Chapter 0 — Prelude

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• Koi-Koi Japan [Hanafuda playing cards]
• Mahjong Pretty Girls Battle
• Mahjong Pretty Girls Battle : School Girls Edition
• Poker Pretty Girls Battle: Texas Hold'em
• Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire

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• Guns of Icarus Alliance
• Guns of Icarus Online
• Impossible Creatures Steam Edition
• Lethal League
• Tempest: Pirate Action RPG
• Tempest - Treasure Lands
• Tempest - Original Soundtrack
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf
• Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide

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• For The King
• Book of Demons
• PlateUp!
• Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition
• Kingdom Two Crowns
• White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
• Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War
• Chivalry: Medieval Warfare
• Steel Rats™
• Hue
• Sifu Deluxe Edition Upgrade Bundle (Epic key)
• Gal*Gun: Double Peace
• The Invisible Hours
• Synergia
• ROCKETRON
• Project Nimbus: Complete Edition
• Dead Age
• Dusk Diver 酉閃町
• Spirit Hunter: NG
• Slain: Back from Hell(?)
• Cook, Serve, Delicious!
• Tower of Time
• Danger Scavenger
• Survive the Nights
• The Beast Inside
• Valfaris
• Nongunz: Doppelganger Edition
• This War of Mine
• My Time At Portia

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• Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Edition
• Knights of Pen and Paper 2 - Here Be Dragons

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• 112 Operator
• 911 Operator
• Book of Demons
• Broken Age
• Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
• Crying Suns
• Crying Suns
• Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
• Driftland: The Magic Revival
• Liberated (GOG key)
• Moon Hunters
• Out of Reach: Treasure Royale
• Rustler (Grand Theft Horse)
• Wanderlust: Travel Stories (GOG key)
• WARSAW
• X-Morph: Defense + European Assault, Survival of the Fittest, and Last Bastion DLC (I believe this redeems as the linked Complete Pack, minus the soundtrack)
• ΔV: Rings of Saturn(?)

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• Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
• Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel
• Phoenix Point: Year One Edition
• Deliver Us The Moon
• Morkredd
• Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Spirit Hunter: NG
• Survivalist: Invisible Strain
• Warhammer: Vermintide 2
• ENDLESS™ Space 2
• Surviving the Aftermath
• The Long Dark

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• Blade Assault
• Founders' Fortune
• Hokko Life
• Monster Crown
• Fallout 76
• Othercide
• Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - Enhanced Edition
• ScourgeBringer
• Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
• HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED™
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition
• Sonic CD (removed from Steam Store)
• LEGO® Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO® Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• STRIDER™ / ストライダー飛竜®
• Bionic Commando
• Full Metal Furies
• Ultra Street Fighter® IV
• Starbound
• Mafia III: Sign of the Times
• Outlast 2
• BioShock 2
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition
• Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter
• The Mean Greens - Plastic Warfare
• Crusaders of the Lost Idols Legendary Starter Pack
• Project CARS (removed from Steam Store)

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WANT:
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• 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel
• A Hat in Time
• Avernum: Escape from the Pit
• Bendy and the Ink Machine
• CrossCode
• Dead Rising 4
• Dungreed
• Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition
• NBA 2K Playgrounds 2
• NECROPOLIS: BRUTAL EDITION
• Omensight: Definitive Edition
• Submerged
• Tower Unite
• Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
• Zombie Army 4: Dead War

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IGS Rep Page: https://www.reddit.com/IGSRep/comments/ti26nz/mizznos_igs_rep_page/

Probably a dumb question, but Im a retail andy. I joined Wrath Classic for Naxx before DF launched. Got my preraid bis from dungeons then got my BiS from raid in like 2-3 weeks with my guild.
The only gold I needed was for northrend flying, fast flying and fast flying mount. All together not more than like 15k gold with some consums and other expenses.
Why are people botting so much to farm and sell gold? What are the buyers using the gold for? What is the point?
Is it really only GDKP runs? If so, why dont you just join a raiding guild and clear normally? Why would you spend millions of gold for GDKP runs instead? Makes no sense. Ruins your fun from raiding and costs real money. I dont get it. Is it really only GDKP where all the gold from farmers goes? Seems weird.

I started playing a druid and really liked feral, but it seems like everyone plays balance instead for raids and H+ is feral not good?

I was listening to the Twitch steam with dread that we are at the cusp of slow, controlled but inevitable 5Eification of PF2.
While class rebalances are probably a very welcome change for the struggling classes, and some thematic losses like the Druid being capable to use any metal so players are not saddened by found loot not tailored to them, I was really saddened by the Focus Spells simplification in the name of empowerment.
I cannot accept that Battle Medicine was just made irrelevant because Champion will start every combat with 3 uses of Lay on Hands and nobody will rely on Battle Medicine anymore. Or that players will now withdraw 30 minutes after every combat just because powers recharge, so now combat zones need to account for this by becoming more time intensive, and one or several daily travel encounters will have to firmly shift into Severe or Severe+ because of the free start of 3 Focus points. I'm sure that a lot of classes will get insane power level boost unless Paizo will lock 2 and 3 Focus Points behind higher level feats. If they are currently freely giving them away this will wreck existing learned encounter balance and force DM to rebalance their personal balance.
On cantrips, I'd really love to see more cantrips being used not just Electric Arc but the whole park to match the best options will have overwhelming effect on making the game easier, forcing higher difficulty from the DM (on a positive side, more difficulty means more XP on XP advancement do slightly faster leveling too).
Do you think Paizo is aiming to make the game easier in general because mainstream player want to go burrrr with less thinking involved, or this is a ploy to sell books to 100% of all groups, because no DM will survive his group if they say no to general empowerment and casialization?
I know I can survive the easification - higher difficulty, more XP in the encounter budget for fully empowered party such as travel encounters, new interesting templates for monsters, general increase in intensity of combat zones... But I wish I didn't feel threatened to do that, I loved the 2.0 balance of the game. Maybe I'm too old to change to the new easy?