Weekly Update - 80 (Patreon)

I'm a little behind this week because I slacked off all weekend, but don't worry, I should be able to finish this page today and tomorrow.  If I can stay focused, the flats and shading go relatively quickly, all things considered.

Also!  In case you missed it, I streamed for the first time ever on our Discord server last Friday.  I want to start doing this more regularly when I can... maybe if I can figure out how to put on some music and just draw and chat with you guys for a couple of hours.  Probably on Fridays, maybe around... 17-18, UTC.  Dunno how long I'd stream, tbh... probably depends on how long it takes to finish the art I wanna get done... and whether or not anyone is hanging out to chat.

Comic this week:  Yes.

Max Poster:  I might just decide to use this Friday to finish it.  I'm ready to be done with it.  I'm ready to stop putting it off.

Drawing:  Rimworld

Playing: Page 116

Rambling:

This is going to be an off-topic ramble.  As my current 5e D&D campaign seems to be wrapping itself up in probably the next month or two, I'm beginning to turn my thoughts to the next campaign.  Kinda hoping the next campaign will be run much the same way.  It's had its hitches, it's had its drama, and there were times where it seemed like the campaign might end as a result, but this might be the first time I've actually seen a campaign hold together long enough that we have reached double digit levels and it looks as if it might actually reach a satisfying conclusion.  Few obstacles remain before we're able to set the world right again, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the GM does to us before we "win."

I'll admit though, while conceptually, I love my character for this campaign, (who was supposed to be a sort of dark, eldritch themed illusionist warlock,) mechanically, he's really fallen out of favor with me.  I levelled him up poorly, I think, but also, when I imagined him on paper, I pictured him employing his illusions in all sorts of brilliant, creative ways.  In practice, they really haven't done me much good at all.  Most of the time, my spells go unused and we end up in combat, and I'm relying on Hex+Eldritch Blast+Agonizing Blast for most of my damage (which, to be fair, isn't unsubstantial, it's just kind of dull).  Most things I could potentially do with illusions, most other players in our party can do to better, actual effect.

And it often makes me wonder if maybe there's other ways I should have thought about using my illusions, opportunities that I simply missed.  It makes me wonder if maybe I'm just not smart enough to play the character I wanted to play, or if my lack of experience with the 5e system in general is what's blinding me to the possibilities of playing an illusionist properly.  I'm certainly not a min-maxer, nor am I the type of player to try and get around game mechanics by coming up with bizarre interpretations of the written rules.  I try to play my characters around a certain theme, but... often, when I imagine a clever way to play into that theme, it feels bad when the rules tell me I cannot do what I was hoping to do.  It really kills my drive to keep trying.

Now, that all said, it is easy for my brain to get hung up on the negative moments, and there were some fun times I can recall where things went amazingly.  Like the time I conjured dense shrubbery to help hide our low level party from the dragon that was hunting us in the forest, or the time me and our kobold rogue snuck into a prison and I conjured a disgustingly huge spider on the ceiling to help distract the guards.

D&D is interesting because it appeals to both the writer and the game-designer in me, but the unfortunate side-effect of having gameplay rules does kind of hamper my creativity at times.  Recently, I conjured a rockslide illusion to block off an escaping bad-guy, and while he failed to see through the illusion, a lair action allowed him to immediately dispel it before his next turn, rendering it useless.  My familiar has existed for perhaps... two or three rounds of combat at most before being completely obliterated by an AoE effect, and time and time again I've tried to be clever about using my illusions to distract or make enemies think they are restrained or blocked off, but mechanically, illusions simply don't work that way in D&D, since in most cases you cannot interact with them physically, no matter how real they seem to you, so it really limits what you can do with them.

In any case, I think I'm done with Warlocks and illusions for the long-term.  I've played enough of them to know that while I find them conceptually fascinating, and to 5e's credit I do think they are mechanically sound, but there are a lot of other class options I need to explore before I can really excel with one.

I think my next character might be a monk and I might double down on weapons by going Way of the Kensei.  I usually play spellcasters, it has been a long, long time since I jumped into the fray.

So... yeah!  Whoever said that the weekly ramble had to be on topic?  :P

Edit:  So it was actually only moments after I posted this that I was informed I would NOT be joining my DM's next campaign, because he felt that six players was two too many and I did not make the cut.  That'll teach me to get excited about something I guess.