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I1E1 - Working on Baldur's Gate 3
37 Plays1 year ago
In today's Interlude Episode, I interview Nick Chong, a close friend of mine who worked on Baldur's Gate 3 as a playtester and quality control manager.
Here's where you can find Nick:
Twitter: https://x.com/NicksNat1
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nicksnat1469
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/nicksnat1
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Transcript
Introduction and VJ Talks Interlude
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello, welcome to VJ Talks Interlude. While VJ Talks season three is on the horizon, it's not quite ready yet. So in the meantime, I've got a few episodes I'll be putting out between now and the return of season three in Q1 of 2025. So enjoy.
Baldur's Gate 3 and Special Guest Introduction
00:00:41
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to VJ Talks. We are talking about Baldur's Gate today. This is one of many Baldur's Gate episodes probably. Who's surprised at that? um But today on this episode, I have an amazing guest with me, somebody.
00:00:58
Speaker
that was a playtester. Paid playtester, mind you, for this game. Nick, if you would like to introduce yourselves and tell our listeners what you do, who you are, where they can find you, anything and everything, go. Hello there, I'm Nick and I am here now with Vic for a talk. You can find me, well I'm basically a freelance writer that just do random stuff that I stumbled upon from here and there and that was how I stumbled upon the playtest job. You can find me on all social media as mixnat1 with the number 1 and also on Twitch under the same name where I occasionally stream the games that I run for a Malaysian-based D and&D community server called Nightshade Tavern.
00:01:41
Speaker
where we sort of like run games for new players and make it as accessible for them as possible. And I sometimes stream those games up on my channel, so feel free to watch whenever, if you're ever in the correct time zones, I guess.
Role and Limitations of a Playtester
00:01:57
Speaker
time zones, they're a rotten bastard. Actually, right now it's 10.06 p.m. where I am and it's 10.06 a.m. where you are, isn't it? Yep. Yep. We are 12 hour time difference at this point. But thank you so much for introducing yourself. Now, Nick, to really get into it. Yeah. What are you not allowed to tell us on the stream on this on this talk? like I am. What are you not? I am basically sorry. So I'm basically not allowed to say anything that is not in the game currently. So anything like behind the scenes like quest stuff that have changed from its current form I'm not allowed to mention those kind of stuff so anything that is already in the game I can say okay but so is that you saying there are things that have changed then mmm wink wink wink yeah I'm sorry i i yeah
00:02:49
Speaker
I mean I think this I can just say like I mean every game out there probably will have stuff that changed from its original form at some point or another so yeah there's there's quite a lot that has that are different from its original Okay, okay. I won't press anymore. I don't i don't know how much how like close Larian Studios is towards the coast or how similar they are to business practices. I don't want them to send like the international version of the Pinkertons to your door because you're telling me
Path to Becoming a Playtester
00:03:18
Speaker
secrets. So will that yeah let's hope not we'll let that go and we'll we'll move away from that for the time being. But okay, so Nick.
00:03:27
Speaker
okay what How What exactly happened with you getting the play testing job? Like you just stumpled you just stumbled on a job posting somewhere like on an on in it? Like what is that like?
00:03:39
Speaker
ah it was It was actually from a friend of mine. So I studied at this ah college called The One Academy back in Malaysia. back in malayia I am in Malaysia. In Malaysia, there is an art college called The One Academy. And I studied there for three years before I went to the UK. And one of the lecturers from The One Academy reached out to one of my friends, my course mate, who then reached out to me about it.
00:04:04
Speaker
And then so she asked me to apply the job. And then I did. I was asked to conduct an interview. After the interview, they sent me a list an email saying that I got the job. And eventually, that was this was back in March. And yeah, so that's how I ended up as a play tester back in March.
00:04:22
Speaker
And then after that, they one of the supervisors asked me if I wanted to stay on to become the playtest coordinator. Basically, I'm the one who oversee the playtesters. And so I did that for two months. And then after that, they asked me to become the temp QA coordinator for the next three months, which is I'm doing it this month as well.
Responsibilities in Playtesting
00:04:41
Speaker
So I oversee the temp QAs as well or for the duration of this gig.
00:04:47
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Okay. So much to dive into. Okay. So first, first off, what, um, so you went from regular or regular play tester to in charge of all the play testers to whatever the hell you're doing in this current position, which I'm going to ask you to elaborate on when we get to that point. Um, so we'll talk to me about like the difference between the three. Like what, what is the like job responsibilities, the vibes, like what's going on with that?
00:05:10
Speaker
Oh, so as a playtester, I'm just over there. My job is to play the game as a player and then write down what I think about the game. You know, things like quest flow, game mechanics, basically the the front-facing experience of what a customer would get when they play the game. So they want to know about that. So like, are the tutorials clear enough? Are the quests understandable? Did anything break? Is anything confusing? Are the puzzles easy enough to understand? and Those kinds of stuff.
00:05:45
Speaker
so So were you were you just were you just play testing the beta at that point or did you have like full-fledged access to the entire gameplay testing because I've never yeah go the whole thing yeah it's the whole game you've just been you've just been sitting on this knowledge this whole time haven't you not being able to tell anybody about it um yeah ginger listeners Nick wouldn't Nick and I have been playing TTRBGs together for three years? Four years? Around there now. Somewhere around there. And when I tell you that I couldn't wasn't even getting any insider scoops about NDA stuff, I'm just sitting over here like, god damn, Nick. You you you didn't you couldn't tell me anything? I'm just kidding. And OK, so then next you went over to like the playtest coordinator. so like
00:06:37
Speaker
Do playtest coordinators still playtest? Is it just you overseeing people? Like, like, tell me what was going on with that. So, uh, back when I was playtesting in March, usually there will be one or two members of the QA team sitting in with us and he will, they they will be watching us on their screens as we play and recording down anything, like maybe like bugs or things that we don't understand. Basically our reaction to the game, like let's say if one of us got frustrated with a puzzle, they will write it down into their notes.
00:07:02
Speaker
and stuff like that and any comments or like things that we say they will also write down and to compile into a list so during April time they didn't want I was put into those role into that role of just overseeing the playtester so that the QA members can go do their own thing and okay okay so what why so you aren't plate you aren't like playtesting this at your home you have to go to a physical location for people to watch you as you're doing stuff okay because I was I don't know I don't i guess at most i was thinking like i don't know i don't know if the uk does or maybe like like i was thinking it was like like like a like at at the very least you're at home playing it and then you're just kind of like writing down answers and sending them in and at the most like you have some software on your computer where they can watch you play so that you're still at home but oh you're you're just like
00:07:51
Speaker
You were just in a whole ass fucking like office actually doing the damn thing. um Yeah. OK, so then you as the play test
Gaming vs. Playtesting Experiences
00:08:02
Speaker
coordinator, you took over what the QA's were doing at that point. um Any like.
00:08:09
Speaker
Actually, before we get into that, OK, so what does the QA do, which is what you are also doing now, right? Yeah. temp QA coordinates. So ah what QA do, they are basically the ones who read all of the bugs that people send in. And then they are the ones who then send it out to the various other departments. They're basically the ones like, let's say they receive, so the flow for me as a temp QA coordinator is that there are the other temp QAs. They were, they are basically again like me just sort of like hired on on a temp basis. And so I, so they, the temp QAs will be the ones to play the game.
00:08:45
Speaker
and note down all of the bugs that they stumbled upon, they will then send it to me. I will then attempt to troubleshoot, and not really troubleshoot, I am the one who will then open the game on my end and test these bugs to see if they are reproducible or not, and get as much detail as possible to make sure all the info is on it, and then I send it to my supervisor. So I'm basically the filter for the 10QA's bugs, bug nodes that they stumbled upon.
00:09:14
Speaker
Okay and so okay so then what happens if you can't reproduce a bug that they've just talked about? Oh if I can't then that will that will just depend whether on this non-reproducible bug is it actually a bug or if it is just like one of those super hard to reproduce then I mean I will still send it to my supervisor regardless but it's it's usually my job is just basically is this actually a bug a valid bug or not gotcha gotcha gotcha how often do you get like ah not valid bugs and it's just like a I don't know
00:09:53
Speaker
um yeah I would say like 10% of the time because a lot of there are quite a number of bugs that you can stumble upon in games like this where it is just not reproducible at all and only one person doing this particular set of things at this specific location interacting with this specific NPC that causes it and sometimes even though they give you that detailed steps to reproduce that you do it and then you don't get it and you're just like what the hell is going on here? Yep, there's a lot of that.
00:10:23
Speaker
How long were you like ah just a regular play tester? Like how many hours of the game did you play test while just a play tester? Oh, I play tested. So it's a basically is think of it as a nine to five job that is attempt work. So Monday to Friday, I go into the office, I play the game, I go home.
00:10:40
Speaker
Outside of play testing, you were also just a giant fucking nerd like me as well. And I know that you have spent like more than a nine to five playing video games before in a day. Like I've i've seen you up at all hours of the night and day.
00:10:56
Speaker
and so like this like this was a you're you're you're essentially doing the same behavior here but you're getting paid and it's kind of like yeah you have to go into work so what like what what do you feel like the difference was between the two of those between just like nick you nick casually like doing a nine to five with video games if not more and then doing this as well like uh i'm assuming you like enjoyed your time playing it and all that good stuff but but like Did the vibes feel different? Did like it change like you like how you usually go about like your 9-5 or more gaming time? like what What was going on with that? as
Exploring the Dark Urge Storyline
00:11:31
Speaker
I think it is honest mostly the same, I think. because
00:11:35
Speaker
You know me, I like to immerse myself in video games whenever I play, especially an RPG like Baldur's Gate 3. You know, like I think I mentioned before, you know, where we were just cat chatting casually about the game, I mentioned that it is basically Dragon Age Origins, but with Inquisition graphics. And it has that choice, you know, so I was like, I was playing, really so the difficult part for me is that sometimes when I get a bit too into the game, I forgot to make my notes.
00:12:02
Speaker
You're just video cue writing it down. I was like, ah shit, I'm behind now. And then so yeah, that is probably the only different things that, the things that I think to myself while I play the game, I actually have to write it down, especially if there are things that affect like, maybe I'm at a point like, huh, why did this quest line ended up this way? So then I can just make a note and then it's up to the QA team to sort of like decide whether, is it just the normal, this is what,
00:12:29
Speaker
how the player's supposed to feel at this quest at this point in the game or something, there the flow is sort of not understandable during this part of the game.
00:12:40
Speaker
Wait, so there are a number of you all playtesting. And did you like play the game like 100% to completion, like start to finish and everything as much as you could? Like the straight storyline, like all the side quests? Like like what what rate of completion you did you do? Do you know that you're the playtesters? How much of it do you have to get you to be like, yeah, this is good to go? Were you assigned specific things like, hey, go all the way through this, go all the way through the main story, right? And then, of course, do this side do this side thing or like what was going on with that?
00:13:11
Speaker
ah So for me, I'm not sure about the other batches that did it, but for me specifically, basically all the playdancers batches were supposed to play it the game from beginning to end as a normal player would. And some of them are allowed to just play through the game in whatever way they want. But for me personally, personally when I joined that batch, I was tasked with playing through Dark Urge and see how that story flowed.
00:13:39
Speaker
um I keep hearing dark urge, but I don't know what the storyline is. in in Actually, go ahead. o I'm playing right now. So on the one hand, I'm like, go ahead and spoil it. And I'll just put like, hey, there's spoilers for the game in here. But on the other hand, I, you know what? Go ahead and spoil it. Hey, y'all. Spoilers. We're talking about the game. so go like or Or can you give me a, what is Dark Arts? If you're going to tell me what it is without like going into too much like super spoiler details, what is that storyline exactly?
00:14:13
Speaker
All right, I will... Well, there are two layers to it. First, I will talk about what Dark Urge is meant to encapsulate outside of game, and they are basically the Murderhobo character. That is basically what they're meant to represent. They are the ones who, you go talk to an NPC, you instantly hover to the attack option. That is basically... They are the ones who will enable you in that murderous run.
00:14:43
Speaker
Within the story, they are a character who, at the start of the game, you know you come up in a pod, right? you lose your memories. The only thing your character remembers is their name and this urge they have in inside them, this urge to kill, to draw blood. And so the urge is unlike. So in the game, there's the customs, which is basically you create your own character, your race, your classes, all those stuff. And then there are the origins, which are the companions, you know, like Asterion, Shadowheart, Lazell, those kinds of stuff. They have their own thing going on. Dark Urge is something like the origin characters, but they are the only origin where you can customize them. You can choose your gender, race, classes, and all those kind of stuff. But with the understanding that you are played, you're basically a custom character choosing a predetermined narrative arc for your playthrough. And that playthrough is your urge, trying to figure out what it is and whether you choose to resist it or give into it.
00:15:42
Speaker
Mmm, And so this is something, this is obviously something you have to opt into. So me, who just went into the game and was like, okay, half-work, cool. Here's my die decor. If I didn't realize I was playing a Dark Urge, I probably didn't like get myself into a Dark Urge game, correct? Yeah, yeah so like for the Origins and for Dark Urge, and during character creation, you get like this play introduction button at the bottom. You can just press it and your character will give a monologue about what you're signing up for when you pick that character.
00:16:08
Speaker
So you had to play the game from start to finish. um Does that include all of the side quests as well? Or it's just like main storyline? They didn't really specify it for for us. They basic said, if you stumble upon the side quests and you would do it as a player at home, then just do it. If not, then you can just proceed. But for me, you know being the completionist I am, I try to do every single thing that I stumble upon. So yeah. Did you do every single thing that you stumbled upon? Did you get through it like that?
00:16:38
Speaker
I think I did, but there were ah at that time back in March, there were a couple of quests that weren't completed yet.
Impact of Side Quests in Baldur's Gate 3
00:16:44
Speaker
so Like some of them, like the quest is implemented, but the sort of like either the second half is not there or stuff like that, so which was which was is a bit sad but understandable. This was still back in March, and there were a couple of big side quests in the later portion of the game in Act 3 where I had to skip because We were running out of time. It was the end of the month and they want us to at least finish the playthrough. So near the end, I had to skip a couple of them in order to jump straight to the end game.
00:17:09
Speaker
Getting into like the actual like content here as a playtester, what was your favorite part about um about playing it? Okay, honestly, the very first thing is the fact is the side quests, honestly. The side quests is what I like the most about the game. See, you know a lot of like the RPG games that have been released like in the past few years, you know they do exist. you know Some side quests are cool, but most of them ended up being like...
00:17:33
Speaker
superficial and like just go to this area, collect 10 objects, and then you come in. You know in Dragon each Inquisition, how many of those cycles is just you going around collecting random stuff that has no bearings on the plot? No, you don't get you don't interact with like interesting NPCs, get like interesting story stuff.
00:17:52
Speaker
Yeah, but in Baldur's Gate 3, a lot of the side quests are like the ones from Dragon Age Origins, where they have their own cast of characters, their own little story, and some of them actually eventually influence what happens later on in the game as well, in like very small, minute ways, but is there so it feels like your actions matter. The people that you encounter in Act 1, depending on what you do, might even show up in Act 2 or 3. And what capacity they show up depends on what you do with them, yeah.
00:18:22
Speaker
That is my favorite part of the game, the side quests, I will say. Okay, but what is your what is your favorite side quest of the side quests?
00:18:32
Speaker
Hmm... Side quests. I gotta think about this because there are quite a number of them that I like. Okay. Give me your top three. It doesn't have to be like, it doesn't have to be the like, um, one, two, three, just the three that you like the best. I will say one of my favorites quest to do would be the, aren't the Ethel quest. I don't know if you've stumbled off on her. You played the game, right? I have Nick. Listen to me. I have played the game.
00:18:56
Speaker
I am still kind of I'm still around like the starting area like the things that I have done so far. I fought some intellect of ours when we got off the ship. um I looted all the corpses and and junk around me. um I went into that like ancient door that had that fuck off track that fuck my shit up.
00:19:16
Speaker
um I went into the bandits quarters at this point. um i I fought some goblins over by the druid door, I do believe, and I found Lazell. That's like the full extent of what I've done so far. Alright, so Auntie Ethel is someone that you can stumble upon later on in the game, in the same area and act one. And she's basically a hag in disguise.
00:19:40
Speaker
Yes, but don't let don't let me influence when you meet her. so i' not' put on her mac here's Here's the thing, Auntie Ethel, that is a hag name if you ever had one. So first of all, because I'm planning on streaming like my whole playthrough of this because I'm i'm playing it like to talk about the racism in it, which I'm going to ask you questions about, which feel free to say, i you don't want to answer it because ah I know that could be a bit controversial and you are currently working for them. So feel free to not like weigh in on that if you don't want to.
00:20:10
Speaker
I'm going to be like, hey, this got spoiled for me. But also, Auntie Ethel is the biggest mind, not mind player, fuck me, is the biggest hag name you could fucking come up with. Are you kidding me? If I saw that name, if I was a player and am my in a DM was like, hey, this is Auntie Ethel, my spidey senses would be tingling. Please continue.
00:20:28
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. So I'm the Ethel in Akwan. She basically, uh, there is this, uh, girl named, uh, Marina who she's pregnant and her husband is dead. And so she, in her desperation and despair, she went to Ethel in order to try to make a deal in order to bring her husband back to life. And so that deal eventually, so she basically- Wait a second. Before, before you tell me what the deal is, can I want to guess real quick?
00:20:55
Speaker
Is this like a um steal your baby situation or a like, you know, Game of Thrones, Kyle Drogo and Danny situation where it's like, oh, you trade your life, your your baby's life or your partner's life and it still goes horribly fucking wrong? I would say a bit of both. So what in Act One, we won't know yet, but what Auntie Ethel wants in Act One that we as a player knows is that she wants Mayrina's baby.
00:21:20
Speaker
And so, when she made the deal, Auntie Ethel just basically trapped Meereen in the house and sort of like, you know, keep force feeding her food to make sure your baby needs to be healthy when it is born, that kind of deal. And so during this quest, you can choose to, you know, obviously kill Ethel and free Meereen, or you can be a dick and just say, aha, you can have Meereen that gives me powers, that kind of deal. That is like the super evil run.
00:21:41
Speaker
And so, after that, you deal with that. Eventually, in Act 3, you will encounter Ethel and Meirina again. Of course, Meirina won't be there if you, you know, give her to the Hag, obviously, but if Meirina survives, she would be the leader of a Hag survivor support group. and So basically, anyone who's been tricked by Hags, yeah.
00:22:06
Speaker
That is so fucking funny. I mean, but that that is but that is so good. That would totally I mean, OK, I really got to say that outside of the racism bits. I am enjoying the parts of the game. just like It's making my little like DM bring a woo, especially like when we're like talking to Leizel and we're learning all of these like new words that the Gith use, or at least the Gith Yankee. Who knows if Gith's or I also use it? um And it's just like, oh, yeah, brain worms. D and&D ideas, it's great. But a support group for people that were like victims of how? Oh, god, yep. OK, please continue. Okay.
Integration with Forgotten Realms Lore
00:22:41
Speaker
Yeah. So, eventually, once you go through that quest from Mayra and I, she will tell you of a way she will eventually... No. Okay. You know what? Let me say that from...
00:22:50
Speaker
in chronological order. So in act three, that is when you learn what Ethel wanted to do. She basically want the baby in order to eat the baby and then gestate the baby inside her stomach in order to give birth to a new hag. That was what she wanted to do with Mirina's baby. But if you prevented her from doing that, she will kidnap a new kid in act three.
00:23:11
Speaker
in order to do this, but that's the point where if you kill, so Ethel would be like, ah, if you kill me, the baby dies with me too, so you gotta let me live, that kind of deal. And so, but if you still brute force it, like I ended up doing, you and you kill Ethel, and you figure out how to get rid of her immortality, because she comes back, that is Ethel's thing, she always comes back when you kill her. And you don't know why until in act three, basically you gotta- Hey, don't tell me that, don't don't tell me what how, that I will i will figure out. but Okay.
00:23:41
Speaker
Yes, but if you kill Ethel just like that, you figure out how to kill her permanently, she will... did ...disgorge the baby, the judge the child that she ate as a pile of organs and I was traumatized.
00:23:54
Speaker
but you can't figure out a way. So, Meirina is part of that. If you go to her, as she there are a few ways you can learn about this. You figure it out, you can figure out a way to make her vomit out the child without, intact, without her being a pile of organs. Yes. Okay, here's a question. Here's a question. Like, like, graphically a pile of organs? Yeah, like, you don' you just see, like, you just see, like, a pile of mounds on the ground.
00:24:18
Speaker
yeah please continue okay yeah so eventually yeah so you can either there's another way to find out out but if you help marina and the support group she will give you everything she learned about hag because she wants to defeat the hag but she doesn't have the power to do so and will ask you to help her so basically long story short you will eventually craft a elixir that you can then use on etho in order to make her Discourged the kid full Though I have read online of some people just non-lethally attacking Ethel to knock her out and then cut the child out like red riding hood style Bypassing the need for the potion. So yeah, so larry studios has taken that into consideration I don't know if that's something that people just said on reddit as a joke, but that's something that you can try
00:25:07
Speaker
Okay. Do you think that I, code so do you think if I have shadow heart and I have shadow heart do command, I don't know how command works yet. I haven't like used it, but if I like do command and I say vomit, or if that's an option can just vomit the baby up.
00:25:23
Speaker
Yeah, I think this is something that you can do probably as in the DM run. But for this game, command works as... busy Obviously, it would be hard to take into consideration all the different kind of commands that you can do. So for this spell, all you all you have are the ones that are already listed in the spell description. You know, like gravel, drop weapons, that kind of stuff.
00:25:45
Speaker
You know, I kind of wish that vomit was one of the options just for... just for Okay, okay, fair for fair. Okay, so that that's one. What are the other two? Okay, the other two, this one, I will be a bit more mummabuck because I kind of want you to find out for yourself as well. But in Act 3, there is a quest involving beneath the fort that you will imagine. Yeah, i' I'm sure you've seen the map of Baldur's Gate before, right? You know Wormsrock Fort?
00:26:13
Speaker
I have seen the map of Baldur's Gate before, but um my brain is a sponge, so not really, but I've seen the map, so probably. Yeah, you know the bridge that leads from Rivington to the rest of Baldur's Gate? So there's Rivington, there's a bridge, and then there's like a whole bunch of city that hugs the mountains, and then you have Lower City, Outer City, and Upper City on the other side. So Wormsrock Fort is that fort built on that bridge.
00:26:40
Speaker
i mean yep okay yeah i know what you're talking about okay okay so ah So this quest is this i quest is sort of tied to Ravenguard, so Will, one of the companions that you can recruit, and his father, which of course, you know, is older Ravenguard from The Descent Into Avernus book. and So if they will eventually reveal, or rather, older Ravenguard will reveal to you about so something beneath Wormsrock Fort.
00:27:05
Speaker
And you can do that quest and this quest is more of a, I will say it's more of a reveal for something in the game, which I, I really, this is the one that I don't want to spoil, but yes, you will get a lot of like lore detail. It has implications for Forgotten Realms, but I found out I was like, yeah.
00:27:26
Speaker
Okay, oh, okay. Well speaking of that, so what what is is is is this game set in like like is this canonical is this now canonical to like Forgotten Realms lore everything that's happening here Is this is it set in the current timeline of Forgotten Realms?
Favorite Encounters and Strategies
00:27:42
Speaker
Like what is the vibe happening here? Do you know?
00:27:45
Speaker
As far as I can tell, it is for Forgotten Realms because they do reference things, you know, like figures that we know in like Mordenkainen, that kind of people. They do reference like things that have happened, you know, Second Sundering, there's the Blood War as well, you know, in the beginning when you're drifting through all the different realms. yeah So it is very much Forgotten Realms.
00:28:04
Speaker
I don't know if it's like the exact timeline like the main timeline of it but at the very least I can say that this is definitely part of the Baldur's Gate story you know from the first two games this is very much the events of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 did happen in the past and now Baldur's Gate 3 so I will say yes to a certain level because you know different people's tables will be different but yeah yeah but I will say like in the main main line I will say probably yes Okay, and what is your third Topside Quest? Oh, this one will be a... I gotta choose now. I will...
00:28:50
Speaker
Okay, ah this is not really a cop-out answer, but in Act 3, because they're not really quests, they're encounters that you can stumble upon. In Act 3, there is a certain town, and within that certain town, there are certain individuals in that town that are basic that serves as many bosses of this area that you can optional many bosses and of course they are tied to the main story as well if you you know read the notes and sort of like gather from context but those three bosses are some of my favorite uh combat encounters in the game because they're just so different and there are ways that you can you can basically defeat all three of these bosses without even going into combat
00:29:35
Speaker
if you do it correctly. And when you do it, oh really yeah it is really good. like That is part yeah is my favorite combat encounter. I have one friend who has succeeded in defeating all of them without even lifting a weapon. And I was like, damn, I failed all those roles. so it's it's Yeah, it's both a combat. and Combat encounter is the last resort, but it is also a series of skill checks as well to sort of like,
00:30:03
Speaker
I pray on these bosses, their fatal flaw, I would say, because they become who they are because of their flaw. And if you exploit that flaw in the form of like several skill checks and you succeed on all of them, you will get them to destroy themselves. so
00:30:19
Speaker
Okay, okay, but on the form of several skill checks, that sounds like it's a a lot of luck in that though, right? Because like... Yeah, but so you gotta... There's only so much you can do. Yes, so it's one of those where like, if you don't get it, oh, I guess I fight, but if you do get it, you're like, oh yeah, that kind of deal.
00:30:38
Speaker
Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. I mean, I'm in, I'm in. Hey, question. When, okay. Thank you for those three. So I've got two, I've got three questions for you. All right. um First, when you're going to this play through, did you play with Karmic Dice on or off? Oh, at the time I did not know that whether Karmic, if Karmic Dice was a thing. So I don't know if it was on or off. Okay. Okay. Super fair. Second, did you romance any of your companions? And if so, who? Okay. So.
00:31:07
Speaker
you knowing me, I tried to wrong two flirt with every single person in my party. When I flirted with Asterion, he went, it's not you, it's me. I have standards. So now that was strike one against me. Wait a minute. When did you do that? Oh my God. it' it's Wait a minute. Wait, wait. When you flirted, did you did you have to do a check? Was there a check about it? no i of Companion romance stuff is dependent on your approval with them.
00:31:36
Speaker
okay okay so it's not like okay because i'll be like listen listen i've heard good things about fucking that man and i want to so okay okay i have i'm gonna have to i have seen what happens when you're romancing because you know i oversee everything at the time that the play does to do so i've seen this and you're spicy but yes back on topic uh so i talked a little down and she's like i like your i like your musk and the in It what inflames me and it will and I want to like taste your sweat and stuff. And then it goes, it is a pity that you have stand against me too much because I keep choosing the good option and Lazer keeps disapproving. So she's like, know what you have missed out on for not siding with me in all of this encounter. I shall go seek my pleasure elsewhere. And yeah, so was a strike two against me. Damn, damn. OK, well, wait a minute. OK, so, man.
00:32:33
Speaker
Yeah, because I found Lae'zel at this point and instead of killing the Tieflings, I was just like, I was like, hey, I'll deal with this. I'm a paladin. Okay, so I'm going to have to start doing a little bit of. shouldnt Okay, here's the thing. I because Gail and Shadowheart approved of what I did.
00:32:49
Speaker
um I don't care. I don't wanna romance either one of those two. Shadowheart's racism at the start of finding her has completely turned me off. And Gail, um ah my understanding is you can't you maybe have some issues with polyamory style stuff. And I'm like, I want to be polyamorous with everybody. um Or at least the ones that I want, obviously.
00:33:09
Speaker
But yes, please. ah But please continue. Who else was that? Yeah, so then I tried to romance Karla. Oh, this one is funny because I decided to pick the funny option. So there is a sweet confession scene where you get like, you know, I'm attracted to you. that guy Or you have the fuckboy option. And the fuckboy option, the text over there says, you me bet now. So that was the one that I chose. And then Karla was like, you me friends got it. And then that was the end of that.
00:33:37
Speaker
now doesn't like a fuck boy
00:33:43
Speaker
Yup. So that strikes three against me. and then Did you get to fuck any of your companions? Then eventually I talked to Gail and I did get a very sweet romance scene with him but at the time in Act 3 it wasn't completed yet so I got the isometric DOS 2 top up screen from the top and I got a skip and then I was like oh. So then they mentioned basically his romance line hasn't been implemented yet and Gail was a bit broken at the time like Chances of your game crashing when you click on them was quite high back in the day So I was like, you know what? I'm gonna reload and then I'll go up go try the final option with your shadow heart at the time and Shadow hearts one quest was a bit more implemented So yeah, I got that one, but then it requests wasn't implemented in act two yet So by the time I reach actually she broke up with me, so I went through the whole thing like alone Wow, okay third question did you fuck a mind flare? Okay, so in
00:34:37
Speaker
In March, we get to interact with a mind flayer. And there were a couple of scenes that were a bit, shall we say, fruity when I was playing through. And then so, we eventually, you know, obviously, as PlayStation, we got to talk about our opinions. So we were given like a dot to fill in everything that we feel about the game. And in one of the sections, it's like, is there anything else you would like to mention? And in that part, I put, let us fuck mind flayers. Oh, wait, that's right. You told me this. You told me this. Yeah.
00:35:07
Speaker
Are you the reason why we get to fuck Mind Flayers? Look, I said that in March. Are you responsible? And then in April, one of the playtesters got the scene.
Character Dynamics and Relationships
00:35:15
Speaker
Now, obviously, it's probably part of their pipeline, but I like to say that I am responsible because I mentioned it in March and then in April, they got it. I'm gonna fuck a Mind Flayer. I'm gonna fuck a Mind Flayer and I'm gonna think about you, Nick. You're welcome.
00:35:33
Speaker
Okay. What are some other things ah that you like maybe noticed that you sent over that might have gotten implemented regardless of if it was in the pipeline or if or you think it was just you? I don't know, I would say because ah i will be like I said I was meant to play through Dark Urge and so by the end they basically asked us what do you feel about playing Dark Urge like like what do you like about it what do you feel could be improved and I wrote like a fucking essay like just a fool because i really enjoyed dark earth but there were some stuff at the time in march that i didn't really like and
00:36:04
Speaker
felt like could more could be done with it and some of those stuff did eventually show up in the april and may play through for some of those that were playing dark or i don't know whether my comment affected it but i'd like to think i did but yeah They can't prove that it wasn't you, so I would hold onto to that. Do you want to talk about the racism?
00:36:22
Speaker
Yeah, I don't mind. Why not? It's inherited a game for better or for worse. So it's got to be addressed at some point. I mean, you and I have like, I've mentioned it in the chat and we've talked about it, like, you know, personally, but also like, this is a public and that's your job. So and at any point you're like, okay, I think I'm going to step away from that. Totally fine. Let me know. Um, okay. So yeah. Okay. So here's my thing. You play tested this, you play this, this a lot.
00:36:47
Speaker
Um, and wait, who were, what, what, what race did you pick when you played, when you were playing? Uh, at the time of March, uh, I was, we were stuck with the default. dot So dot earth is default as a white dragon board. So that was what I played.
00:37:02
Speaker
Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. OK, so then I guess first question, because right now I'm playing a half work, right? And I know half works. OK, I know Tieflings get shit. I know Drow gets shit. I'm pretty sure Gith will get shit. And I know there's some like weird half forky stuff that I haven't like actually like I haven't encountered as in like NPCs are saying shit to me, but I have encountered as in like my gaming options, which I was like, what what the fuck is this? um Do art do Dragonborns get the like like have to deal with like racial tension and issues and stuff or is that not the case in this game as far as you're aware. i did so most Most of the things that I so got with NPCs when I talked to them as a Dragonmore is just like huh Dragonmore we don't get many of you around these parts that kind of deal. It's not like outright like the bad stuff that you know tieflings get.
00:37:56
Speaker
Okay, so okay, okay, so you're playing Dark Urge, but how familiar are you with the rest of the stuff? Like... um Like with Forgotten Realms stuff? I mean like like the the the specific yeah I mean yeah I know you're familiar with Forgotten Realm stuff and why not but like specifically the rest of the stuff in this game so like things the half works might go through the tieflings the gith the drow etc certainly not as much because I never got a chance to play through those others and when I started like doing the coordinator stuff I never got to play the game again I just watch people play okay
00:38:30
Speaker
Okay, super fair. then i Okay, so then I guess a question I have for you. So, obviously, even though you're going through the Dark Urge bit, you still have the mind flayer in your head. You got to do through that. You go through the whole thing. You you released Shadowheart, obviously, here. Hey, could I have not released Shadowheart? Yes, you can. What happened? Actually, irrelevant to the question I'm asking right now. I will i will i will i will ask about it later.
00:38:56
Speaker
um So when we first get to Shadowheart, and obviously we have Laezel with us at that point, like right off the bat, she's already like, you can't trust a fucking get like already.
00:39:06
Speaker
Like, did that, like, because for me, as soon as she did that, right, I was like, oh, yeah, no, this is a huge turn off. I don't give a fuck about it. Like, like I appreciate her spells and stuff. And I'm and I'm like, because I'm i'm partially playing the game to talk about the racism and I'm like, OK, I'm going to keep Shadowheart with me and I'm going to add Laezel for one of these fuckers that I have um so that we can see like what exactly is going on with that. But um Like when she did that, did did that turn you off on the character? Because right now I'm like, I, I have her here strictly for like commentary purposes. And, and when I was, when I was talking about not liking her because of that people in my, like people some people in my discord community that were in the Twitch stream were like, Oh, Hey, she's got a really tragic backstory. And I was like, okay, see, and I was like, I will try and keep an open mind about her, but I am already,
00:40:01
Speaker
my disposition towards her is already like, eh, no. And if they're trying and if, and like, I feel like that's going to negatively affect any sympathy they want me to have towards her in her backstory. So like, what, what, like, what were you feeling when, when she hopped out that fucking thing and immediately was like, I'm going to be a racist. and for Okay. So I don't know if I ever mentioned this to you, but gift is my favorite race in DND. Like I love them.
00:40:29
Speaker
cut i don't think you have mentioned that to me but please continue actually tell me why i like but because i i again i think this is a conversation we had before but i felt that one of the I would say mistake, not really mistake, like oversight that Wizard of the Coast did when they made for Forgotten Realms is that they made the fantasy races too much like people, like another peer like humans, like they're basically humans with horns, humans with tusks, humans with pointy ears, humans by short, but gifts were the ones that to me when I found out about them.
00:41:01
Speaker
or ones that are like completely alien to us, like their society, their culture is so inherently different from humans or fantasy humans or what have you, that just looking at them and seeing the way they talk, the way they behave, they are just, you know that they are completely and utterly devoid of what we consider human, like they are just so different from us and I really like that.
00:41:27
Speaker
Like there is no way that you can just do say, get oh give they're just humans, but yellow skin and pointy ears and right dragons. you know like You can't say that about them. Everything about them is just unique to who they are.
00:41:39
Speaker
Thank you for telling me that. Now, but please continue with, like, Vibe's Shadow Harsh when she first hops out, being a racist. Yes, yes. So, like, when she just comes out and then she goes, that I was like, oh, excuse me? But then I was also like, like, OK, within the context of the Forgotten Realm, people don't know about Gith. And at the start of this game, they were attacked by Gith. So she does have some some of that distrust will be revealed down the line about why it involves my shenanigans. But At that point, I was like, hmm, but then she's a cleric and I need a cleric. So yeah, yeah, yeah i yeah. I will say I warmed up to her a bit more like in the later acts.
00:42:20
Speaker
But in Act 1, I'm like, okay, all right Yeah, right like mmm Okay, but did you did you keep them together? Like when you continue in your group was Shadowheart and Lazell want like in your companions together Yeah, my main group for most of Act 1 was Shadowheart, Lazell and Asterion
00:42:40
Speaker
No Gale? At the time, I did have Gale for a bit, but again, the risk of clicking on him accidentally and crashing my game was high. That's right. That's right. I forgot you said that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Like, listen, I'm having a hard, like, I am currently having a hard time trying to figure out who am I leaving behind. I i don't want it to be Gale because I, you know, I like having a wizard. You can't put them in your camp.
00:43:07
Speaker
No, no, no. I mean, I know I can keep recruit them to my camp, but I'm like, I'm like, why is it only three? Like, listen, why couldn't it be six in total? Because I run games with six up to six players. And I'm like, hey, and the way that I'm playing the game, I can't fucking mod it and get the mod that's like, hey,
00:43:24
Speaker
Let you add 18 players or 16 players, 16 companions, whatever. I would never get that high. That's so many. But I'm sitting over here like, why is it capped off at four? Like, I get that the standard thing is like, oh, for four, blah, blah, blah. But like, sick, give me six. But anyway, like having the hardest time just trying to figure out, OK, I want Shadowheart and Laezel to be here because I need to watch this interaction. But I need Astarion to be around because I want to romance him. But I need and need Gail to be around because wizard.
00:43:54
Speaker
Solution, play as Gale.
00:43:59
Speaker
Ew, no. Ew, listen. Listen, my orc is ah is a black-coated character, and I refuse to play that pasty white man. Fair enough. I refuse. um But okay, so you did have Lazell and Shadowheart together. What were their interactions like, if you recall, at all? Fairly antagonistic.
00:44:22
Speaker
begrudging mutual respect later on that kind of stuff was the okay so obviously there's some underlying racial tension in the antagonism but like were the words racially charged or was it just general antagonism after like uh i will say it's more general antagonism from that point on she doesn't really bring up the gif aspect of lazell's character all that much if i recall this is back in march so memory's a bit fuzzy but No, most of it is just, yeah, distrust, I would say. But I don't know, yeah, the gift stuff didn't come back. I think maybe once or twice, yes, but not as much. Okay, so what what what I'm hearing is, and tell me if I'm wrong.
00:45:14
Speaker
that they keep up their antagonistic relationship. And of course, there's the racial prejudice, the racism underneath it, because that's how it started. and But they they still have an antagonistic relationship that isn't as like overt like doesn't have like the racial words to it. um But they still managed to butt heads without like Shadowheart saying something actually raised from what I remember Like like yeah, they're their antagonist it does come to a hit later on an act one I'm sure you somewhere up upon it at some point and then safe before that and He just putting out there but safe before that and Yeah
00:45:57
Speaker
How am I gonna know when it's gonna, how do I know when it's coming to a head? How am I gonna know to save? and yeah It's gonna be when you're taking a long rest. You know when you take a long rest, you go to the nighttime camp, right? Yeah. Oh, okay. So
Diversity and Representation in the Game
00:46:08
Speaker
just, just quick save before at any time. Okay. Cool, cool, cool, cool.
00:46:14
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Um, Hey, what was I gonna, fuck me. Oh God. I had, I just had a question for you. Give me one second. Let me, let me, let me think. Oh, okay. Okay.
00:46:28
Speaker
Now, totally fine if the answer is no, he if like, no, this did not come up as part of like the things to mention in here. Totally fine. Like I get it. I get it. But do you know, did you or do you know if any of your fellow play testers at any point like mentioned like the hey, maybe the racism is not a great idea.
00:46:51
Speaker
I think who I want to reiterate, I'm not going to judge you if the answer is no. I understand it is a position to be in yeah for this kind of thing. So please, I don't believe so. Yeah, I did bring up like I would say I would like a bit of I mentioned in my notes that I would appreciate if there's like a bit more like good goblins and drow in my notes because I mean, and you do stumble upon some of them like in act three. But as I was playing through act one, and act two, most of them are antagonists. So
00:47:24
Speaker
Do you know if that was do you know if more were implemented past you like you saying that like obviously you okay, so Most of them up until act three are antagonistic now I was at act one because an act to an act three at that time, you know that early stage I don't know much yet. I was just that comment. I wrote back in act one While I was playing through act one. I mean Okay. So just so I understand the process here, you were playing through this stuff and then you gave your notes and, but there wasn't an expectation for your notes to be like to update in the stuff that you were playing, but it was expected to update like potentially the next set of people.
00:48:01
Speaker
Okay, okay, so you would, but in your playthrough, so act one, a lot of antagonists, and then act, like part of act two, most of act three, you meet some non-antagonistic Drowan goblins, yeah? Yes, I mean, as an act one, there is a friendly hobgoblin that can meet in the Underdark, one of my favorite characters in the game. Like, he was pretty interesting. Okay. But yeah, I didn't, but, but yeah, but otherwise, in act one- I'll keep my eye open
Insights as a Temp QA Coordinator
00:48:27
Speaker
for that. Oh yeah, beware the Underdark, dangerous place.
00:48:32
Speaker
Oh boy, oh boy, of course it's dangerous. Okay, okay. um ah So we've talked a lot about about your time as just a play tester, um but like what did you like about being like the the play testing coordinator? like ah What did you miss about it?
00:48:50
Speaker
like like what were where were the pros and cons like like in joys pains the whole i would say the cons is definitely that i can't play the game anymore but the pros i will say is just the fact that i can watch like a number of because i usually play test between like three to five people at at a time so i have obs open i can see all of their screens and just ah just watching the shenanigans that they get get up to is it's hilarious and something i'll just watch and then they'll be like okay no no no go sorry I was continue i was just gonna say like okay okay just hear one of the gold and then when I just look at the screen is just on fire I'm like ah what do you think was um if you can recall ah wildest funniest whatever shenanigans that you saw the other players do of
00:49:42
Speaker
oh ah Oh, that would be the Asterion scene. ah So, at some point... Okay, you know, I was... Do you mind Asterion spoilers since you said you want to romance him? How they have a spoiler, like... what does this work is this Is this about a potentially him or something else? You know what Asterion is, right?
00:50:08
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So at some point at in one of the nights, yeah, right. At some point in the night scene, he, your character will wake up and you'll see him about to bite you. And then he'd be like, Oh shit. And he's like, is that what it looks like? That kind of deal. And then you can choose to either kick him out a party, uh, stake him to the heart. You can choose to kill him or you can just go, Oh, you can stay, but don't bite me. Or you can go, yeah, sure. Have, have at it. And.
00:50:34
Speaker
And then, yeah, I know that. but yeah So and when you choose to have that happen, he will bite into you and start drinking. And then you will get an opportunity to push him off or let him continue. If you choose to push him off, you got to succeed on this, on a saving throw. Otherwise he'll continue. And then you get a second one. And if you fail that one, he kills you. Like you straight up die.
00:50:58
Speaker
But we come back, yeah right? So this is what happened. This happened to me as well, and it hasn't happened to this person. So as I was watching it happen, I was like, just looking wide-eyed. So for me, after that scene, the narrator was talking, eventually your mind, your vision blacks out and you see nothing. And it it goes to the next day, and I'm just lying there on my bedroll in a puddle of blood.
00:51:21
Speaker
And then I just toggle to Shadowheart, walk towards my character's body, revivify, and then I come back to life, and then I go talk to Asteri, and it's like, oh, you're up! You were looking a bit ill last night, and then your option over there is like, ill, you killed me, and it's like, well, yes, but you're up now! ah Water under the bridge, let's let bygones be bygones, eh? That kind of thing.
00:51:46
Speaker
Okay, but here's a question. If I do allow him to kill me and I'm like, yeah, it's fine, whatever. Does that get get my approval rating up with him? Yeah, if you go, uh, you'd be like, Oh, if you want another shot, feel free to tell me. And he's like, Oh, okay. I'll keep that in mind.
00:52:03
Speaker
I'm sleeping with a vampire and an illithid and a fire person. I'm sleeping with them all. Although our real break car lock k car la carline carla heart if I If by the time I get to romance, I can't install a polyamorous mod that lets me sleep with her and the mind player later, I'm just going to be like, hey, we're breaking up, baby. I'm sorry. Wait, I can break up with them, right? I can just be like, hey, I'm um i'm done with this.
00:52:33
Speaker
OK, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. So I'm going to hear what's going to happen. I'm going to fuck a starion and then I'm going to fuck her. And then um if I have to, I will break up so that I can fuck a mind flayer, because I don't know if you've seen all of the mind flayer fucking on TikTok, but I'm a mind flayer girly and.
00:52:59
Speaker
I'm about to live out my biggest fantasy. And then finally, what's like the kind of pros and cons of what you're doing right now? What's the vibes? like Where are you liking them? This time around, now that I'm doing my 10QA coordinator stuff, at the in the early like the first two months, I just did not get to play the game at all. And also, I don't get to watch the others play as much, because i will just they'll be assigning a lot of tickets. If each one of them assigns me one ticket per hour, that's like seven I have to go through every hour.
00:53:28
Speaker
so I just, all I look at are words and codes now, and scripts, words, and then occasionally I do have to like reproduce them so I can open the game, but then I am like using like cheats to jump around all over the place to test stuff. So I don't, yeah, so yeah, it's it's still fun because in the course of doing that, I do eventually stumble, eventually stumble upon things that I had never seen before, or like permutations to some stuff I've seen before that I never took the path towards. And so I was like, oh damn,
00:53:58
Speaker
But yeah, but other than that, it was just that. But now I get to play the game a bit more.
00:54:04
Speaker
Oh, excellent. OK, we are we're coming to the end of our hour, right? Maybe be a little bit over it. Is there any other things you would like to talk about, about this game and your capacity in your capacity as a play tester, the play desk coordinator, the temp QA coordinator, like anything you would like to add before we get to closing remarks and you can replug any of your stuff. Honestly, I will say that.
00:54:31
Speaker
like regardless of what how the game turns out I mean it is quite popular now but I think that the thing that I like the most like like this is just for me now like me lighting aside this the Cyclist is me as a gamer but as a dungeon master you know someone who likes to run D and&D games ah my favorite part of it is the changes that they made to some of the combat mechanics that I really that I think I'm gonna implement in my own games and
00:54:58
Speaker
Which one is definitely not a weapon proficiency, you know If you're proficient in a weapon you will you get to like do the extra stuff, you know, like for great as you get the cleave or brace i yeah That is yeah probably my favorite game mechanic of the whole game I've actually been Memorizing it to myself and created a PDF doc of all of the different skills Hey, hey you wanna
00:55:26
Speaker
You want to let me see that and talk and so I can put it in the show. OK, sure. i'll Wait, let me see if I can. I wrote I wrote it all up because that was that's what I basically have the game for right now. I just opened the game and I find all of the weapons and then I will turn it into a home brewery PDF.
00:55:45
Speaker
excellent excellent okay okay so it is 1103 a.m. where you are right now I it's 11 3 p.m. where I am I'm about to be a little fucker and go play ball this gate for a few hours so I don't care um but I don't want to like Hold you if you have something pressing to go do do you have a little bit more time? So I can read these and we can talk about them a little bit um On on on the on the podcast or if not, I can just read them Like I can add it I can add it in later and we can like do that. I can I think I still have some time i love but It's over it's so first raffy but if all of the abilities there and the conditions should be correct
00:56:27
Speaker
I i did ah did some of them to make it more D and&D friendly, but some of them I kept kept the wording as is. But yeah, this is like when i found when I first saw this when I was in playtesting, I was like, this is amazing. Why doesn't 5e have this? You know why 5e doesn't have this. The name of the game is simplicity, but...
00:56:48
Speaker
Okay, so, weapon mastery. In base D&D, when you're proficient in a weapon, all you get is to have your proficiency bonus to your attack rolls. This homebrew rule is intended to add a little flavor to weapon proficiencies, and allow you to do more damage to weapons beyond, and allow you to do more with your weapons beyond just doing damage. Okay, so weapon featureless. Backbreaker.
00:57:08
Speaker
costs one melee weapon attack, Maul, War Hammer, the target takes 24 damage and must succeed on the strength saving throw, or be not prone. Brace, 20 feet of movement, weapon, dart, glaive, heavy crossbow, lance, longbow, pike. For the rest of your turn, you roll damage, die twice, and take the highest roll. Oh, that makes, okay. I was like wondering to myself, like that's a wide variety of weapons in there. How do they all have that in common? But that makes sense, um the bracing part.
00:57:34
Speaker
Cleave, one melee weapon, battle axe, great axe, great sword, halberd, up to three creatures within within five feet of each other and also but within melee range of you must make a dexterity saving throw on a failed roll. It takes the weapon's damage on a success, it takes half. Oh, I love that.
00:57:50
Speaker
Yeah, I will say this one is different from how the game so the game way the game implemented is that when you press the cleave and you hit it makes a Attack roll for each character ah for each enemy you hit and if you hit you deal half damage if you fail you did no damage if I change it to this because I didn't want there because in game obviously you can just use code just like that instantly it's read but then for an actual table game making just three rolls feels a bit too clunky So I just turn it into a saving throw No, that makes sense. Concussive smash, one melee weapon attack, club, great club, light hammer, mace, flail, warning star. The target takes the weapon's damage and must succeed on a con save. Con saving throw will be days until the end of your next turn. What is days in this context? yeah there's yeah If you scroll to the second page, there is a list of new conditions from the game that I also reword, someone that I reword a bit to be more D&D.
00:58:42
Speaker
days the target has disadvantage on wisdom saving throws can't take reactions and loses dexterity bonus to their ac oh my god Holy fuck!
00:58:56
Speaker
Rad? Damn! OK, to be fair, I was using um I did have a days mechanic. I do have a days mechanic that I'm working on right now. That was very much like, ah oh, your days or is this is this might actually be like something else. I might have grabbed this from somewhere else, but it was very much like and tweaked a little bit. Like, OK, you can only take. ah You can only do your movement or your action on your turn. So you couldn't take your bonus action. And the regular days that I can't remember, the days I might have grabbed this from is probably MCDM productions days. It was like you also can't take reactions to the start of your next time. It's like that feels a little pun. That feels like a little excessive for this. So I'm not going to do that. OK, let's see. Disarming strike, one melee weapon trident. The target takes 1d4 damage and must succeed on a strength saving throw or drop one item of your choice that it is holding. Oh, that's cool. Just oh, that is cool. Yeah, you know with the fort, just like that. I also like to note that ah disarm, I mean, I don't know if you've experienced it, but disarming is a lot more punishing in Baldur's Gate. So like if you disarm someone, you do you can still pick up that weapon without expending any action at all, but it will only go to your inventory, it won't go to your hand. In order to do that, it is an action. So it's a lot more punishing when you disarm someone in this game.
01:00:11
Speaker
Yeah, I found that out the hard way. swa I was like, Oh, fuck. Okay. Flourish. One bonus action. Rapier, Scamitar, short sword, whip. The target takes 20 for bludgeoning damage and must succeed on index theory saving throw or become off balance until the end of its next turn. And off balance means the target has disadvantage on strength and dexterity checks and attack rolls against that have advantage this condition is removed when the afflicted target takes damage or is helped by another creature Okay,
01:00:40
Speaker
alright. Let's see. ah ham
01:00:47
Speaker
Okay, let's see. Ham seems to strike shortbow, longbow, one ranged weapon attack. The target takes the weapon's damage and must succeed on a consave or its movement speed is half to the... Oh, okay. That's a good one. Headcrack. One ranged weapon. Sling. The target takes the weapon's damage and must succeed on a consave or become dazed until the end of its next turn. If its attack reduces creature to zero hit points, it is knocked unconscious instead.
01:01:12
Speaker
What's the fun? Oh, unconscious. So to wake up in 1d4 hours. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Forgot what that hard stopper. One melee attack morning start. The target takes 1d4 damage and might succeed on a constitution saving throw being inflicted with chest trauma until the end of its next turn. Chest trauma. The target has disadvantage on con saving throws and loses action. This condition can be removed to target if the if if the afflicted target receives healing. o Great against mages. Right.
01:01:41
Speaker
Lacerate, one melee weapon attack, Battle Axe, Glade, Great Axe, Great Sword, Halbrid, Hand Axe, Long Sword, Skimitar, Sickle. The target takes the melee weapon damage and must succeed on Khan, saving throw or start bleeding into the next turn. And bleeding, the target takes two slashing damage at the start of each of its turns and has disadvantage on Khan saving throws. Is removed, the afflicted target receives healing, undead and constructs are immune to this condition. Okay, but what if my undead and constructs have blood?
01:02:08
Speaker
I guess then they also suffered lacerate, I guess. Oh, man, there's so many. Oh, my God. What is your favorite out of all of these? Hmm. I think my favorite three. Top three, I will say flourish, because as a fan of the swashbuckler, flourish just lends itself to that playstyle that I like. And I will. Another one that I like is ah Okay, so top three of their weapon list features and top three of the new con... or how many new conditions? There's not a lot of new conditions, so favorite new condition are and then top three of the weapon list. These are just the ones inflicted by... what there are a lot more new conditions in the game. And you're gonna update this to have those in in in there at some point? Okay, let's see. If if like the abilities does inflict it, I think that might be a different list because it is a lot.
01:03:04
Speaker
And yeah, I will say flourish is one of them another one that I realize is cleave and Yeah, and I will say for my third one Maybe this is a bit simple, but I just like topple Just use a step to just knock someone off your feet, you know, I just like that so much.
01:03:28
Speaker
Okay, let's do this real quick. One melee weapon attack, quarter staff whip. The target takes 24 damage and makes a seed on a dexterity saving throw. It's not prone. Like, you would feel like that's something you can just do it with a quarter staff in the game, but you just don't have any rules for it. So like, yeah, I like this. And okay, the damage the damage that they're taking, it's in a it's it's it's the... So is it in addition to the weapon damage or is it that's the damage you're doing instead of your weapon? damage Yeah, if I write the damage in the actual ability itself, then that replaces the base damage of the weapon. OK, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. OK, and then favorite new condition, favorite new condition. I really like based. And.
01:04:12
Speaker
Because I just like the idea, I never thought about, you know, losing your dexterity bonus with your AC, and I was like, wait, that's actually kind of cool, you know, if you're like, days you won't because dexterity to your AC and basically relates to your ability to dodge, right? So if you're dazed, you can't dodge, so you lose that AC, but if you're wearing heavy armor, you wouldn't need to dodge, you know? So, as a daze, yeah. And then I also really like ah chest trauma, just because it is something that you can just use against mages.
01:04:42
Speaker
And I was literally about to say chest trauma is my favorite of this new one, and I can't wait to use this on my players. Yup. Oh, but okay. Nick? Yes? Thank you so much for being here. Please tell everybody where they can find you again, any upcoming projects you have that do you want people to know about, the whole nine yards.
01:05:00
Speaker
Alright, well, hello again everyone, I am Nick, and as I mentioned earlier, ah you can find me on all social media as nixnat1, and that is with a number 1, and you can also find me on Twitch under that same name where I will occasionally stream games by that I run for Nightshade Tavern, a Malaysian-based D and&D and TTRPG server of meant to make D and&D and TT RPGs in general as accessible to new players as possible. So occasionally I will stream the game up for people to watch. So if you're ever in the correct time zone and awake while I'm running the game, feel free to drop by. And as for projects, I don't really have much currently, but I am still playing in a Thirsty Sword lesbian game for Critical Missus that it it was running for a while. But then because of scheduling conflicts, we haven't been playing as much. But we actually
01:05:51
Speaker
usually play at around this same time, but on sunday on Saturday instead of Sunday for me. So, Gio, check out Critical Miss. We are basically doing a fantasy rendition of The Three Musketeers. Okay, yes, and everything that Nick has just said here, folks, will be in the show notes. Nick, thanks so much for being on here. This was a great talk, and I'll have to have you back on at some point. Yeah, and happy to be here. Alright, catch you later, loyal fans. We're out of here.