Rosita the Riveter's page

It strikes me that my mother didn't say anything about the drunk driver who killed my uncle, even whether they're alive. And I think maybe I want it to stay like that? Like, yea I think drunk drivers and drivers who kill need to face serious consequences, but I also think all our justice system does is inflict pain for pain's sake without ever solving the underlying problem, and this happened in Texas, where the justice is particularly harsh if you do get convicted, but where this sort of crime is taken less seriously. So either the culprit gets off without meaningful punishment, or the punishment is meaningless cruelty that accomplishes nothing. Assuming they even survived the crash.

Do I really want to know which of the three options it ends up being? What good does that do me? And there's that inborn "I want revenge" instinct, and maybe the best way to manage that is to say I don't want to know who did this, or what gets done to them, because it's pretty hard to maintain that rage at a hypothetical person I know nothing about?

Well, I got a call from my mother at an ungodly hour of the morning, which is never good news. It's catastrophic news. My maternal uncle got hit by a drunk driver on his way to work and died.

I swear every time somebody dies, I get woken up horrifically early in the morning. When grandma died, my dad woke me up. When my dad died, my sister woke me up. Now this. Is this just gonna be a thing?

This sounds like something my boss would do for fun.

My light at the end of the tunnel is the promise of vacation. I'm going to South Korea in late November, and have to plan out my trip.

howdy, Rosita!

been a long while! how ya been?

Busy. I'm a boss, now. I have employees, I even hired them. I finished graduate school in December and then somehow got yeeted up to manager of the university department I'd been a student assistant in, hired a new batch of student assistants, and now have to pretend to be a functional adult who knows how to give people orders. It's the start of the new semester, so I'm providing services to an influx of new students and doing orientations and talking constantly.

we had Warpriest's funeral/wake this evening. and it still hasn't hit yet. maybe i'm just still watching for everyone or anyone around me to break, so that i can be solid when the rest of the world isn't. or maybe i'm just a cold-hearted, monstrous sumb##&* that can't be vulnerable about it. idunno.

but Magus? that kid is all heart, and in the best way. if Warpriest is out there in whatever beyond there is, and can see what Magus is doing, he's laughing his ass off in pure joy at just how strong a son he's raised.

eighteen years old, and he's herding his family -- siblings, aunt, parent, all of 'em. eighteen years old, and he held it together long enough to speak clearly to a gathered crowd about his father (i know i couldn't for my own Dad). eighteen years old, and he would have toted his father's ashes to the graveside and then buried him all by himself, but he didn't -- he brought in everyone he could as part of that rite, but then finished the job alone.

ah.

there it is. *now* it's hitting.

rest easy, Warpriest. you did a good job.

18? I lost my father at 28, and that was far too young. I couldn't imagine it at 18.

Sure enough, Chase maintains a list of "current subscribers" that get forwarded to the new card. Even the rep had to laugh at the stupidity of that.

So all subscribers are removed and I'm getting another new card.

Let's see whether that fixes the issue, or whether I'm doing this again next month.

Honestly, she was pretty awesome. "Can I list the subscribers you currently have so you can choose which ones to keep?"
"Nope. Cancel ALL of them and let me deal with it."
"OK. I've canceled all of them, even Chase. You'll have to fix that when the card comes up for renewal, but at least now we both know your account is clean."

I want to do this on my Chase credit card.

I'm sorry, everyone. I reached out last week, then immediately got busy, and I just haven't had time to sit down and talk to everyone. I do plan to respond to people, but I have a work presentation in 6 minutes, then I have to rush home and crash so I can get up early for an important civil service exam in the morning. Hopefully I can chat with everyone tomorrow afternoon?

What up, nerds?

Your company, at this very moment, has dozens of Bill Webb's products for sale on the Paizo storefront. Bill Webb, the man who has assaulted and harassed several women at Paizocon events, and who physically injured a Paizo employee for intervening in his creep behavior. Bill Webb also jumped into the ORC lisense movement withoout even a response from Paizo. M You have, almost six years after this man hurt your own emoloyee and chased someone else out of the industry, not even seen fit to even cut off business ties with this individual? Is that how little regard for the safety of your own employees and of your convention goers you have? Can I trust your company to be a safe and inclusive environment right now? Because I'm not sure I can.

Drejk wrote:

Word on the street is that California is suffering an unspeakable incomprehensible cataclysm happening right now...

Don't tell Freehold.

...or you never get rid of him

It's called "rain"... and no, we're not used to it.

I thought it was that wind. Light rail service in San Jose and Campbell got knocked out for a while. Bunch of trees got uprooted.

Anyway reason I left and am back are basically the same, and pretty simple. I left because I stopped playing Pathfinder, so I stopped frequenting on the Paizo forums. I'd switched over to D&d 5e (though I never did begin using WOTCs forums). Now I'm switching from 5e to PF2e, so now it makes sense to be on the Paizo forums again. And I' not jumping to Pathfinder because I'm mad at WOTC over the OGL thing. What it's about is, back in the PF1e days, I really liked the Alchemist and Witch and wrapped those into my worldbuilding. I never really stopped using them, but 5e just cannot provide a suitable replacement, and it's been a frustration for years. And my favorite monster type has long been undead, which 2e has released a whole supplement for in Book of the Dead, and Dark Archive also looks interesting. I am pro-muzzleloading firearms in D&D, there's Guns and Gears. The Kineticist is coming to 2e soon for all my Avatar needs. In general I love archetypes as a concept. I prefer the higher level of character options of PF over modern D&D. It just sorta feels like PF2e better fits what I actually want to do in my fantasy.

Rosita the Riveter wrote:

Okay, what have I missed in the past several years?

Hey there.

Hey. Been a long time. I looked up my old posts, I last posted when I was getting ready to move to Japan. Which fell through, sucks. Travel-wise I have been on vacation to Japan, though. Also I did get to go on a school study trip to Mexico City before the pandemic, and then last month I went to Yucatan, and last year I got to explore Egypt all the way from Aswan to Alexandria. And I've been to Iceland and found an actual viking grave. So travel wise I've had some fun times even if Japan fell through.

Sadly when I was here talking about motorcyclws a couple years ago, I didn't talk about what was actually going on my life. My father was in a coma at the time, died in April 2020. Which has been a huge adjustment in my life.

Rosita the Riveter wrote:

Okay, what have I missed in the past several years?

This and that. You should really go back and read all the posts you missed just to be safe.

Aw, Nobodyshome left?

Losonti wrote:

I didn't check in here quick enough before both invites expired, would it be possible to have them sent to me?

** spoiler omitted **

Now I'm the one who didn't check fast enough. Could I get them, please?

Okay, what have I missed in the past several years?

I'm back, what did I miss in the last, like, what, year? Something like that. I've been gone because I got converted over to D&D 5E, but I've got a Starfinder project brewing now. Also I'm moving to Japan in (checks notes) three months, so that's a thing.

*Stumbles in hung over*

What's been going on here? Anything big? Anything scandalous?

There are two types of motorcyclist in this world. Those who have crashed, and those who are going to crash. And there's very, very few of the second.

My number already came up. Like anyone with their first motorcycle, I misjudged something. Had to go over a trench to get onto the incline up my driveway, then go over two steel railings. Gave it too much throttle, came in at an angle instead of head on, got intimately familiar with a stone and iron fence. Luckily, I came in shoulder first, right onto my jacket, which is a pretty good motorcycle jacket, and as such actually absorbed most of the blow. My helmet absorbed some, too, the bike just got some scratches because I hit first and ended up between the bike and the fence, and all I ended up with was some bruises and a sprained finger.

So, yea. Good motorcycle gear. Pricey, but it just paid for itself by virtue of the fact that I'm enbarassed instead of hospitalized right how.

Also, should have walked that bike. Throttling up a driveway is bad news, crossing those two metal rails is bad news, and that trench is just unsafe. Ideally, I'd have just pulled the bike up with the clutch, but the trench prevents that, so in the future, I need to walk it.

Well, this lockdown is fun. I just got a motorcycle, and I can't go play.

Well, I've had a fun couple of weeks. I failed my driver's test last week, and I passed the motorcycle safety course today. Since I already have my M1 learner's permit, that means I get my M1 license as soon as I get the certificate of completion from the school and give it to the DMV. So I kinda sorta got my driver's license today! I mean, what California is going to issue me says driver's license on it, though it is only a class M1, not a class C, and in no way authorizes me to operate a car, only a motorcycle or scooter.

I can't retake the driver's test until mid-June at the earliest because of how horrifically booked out they are, but suddenly it doesn't matter so much. I earned a motorcycle license, I have access to motorized transportation.

Now I need to find the right bike. I've been riding a crappy ADV (street legal dirt bike basically), and I know I NEED a motorcycle now that I've ridden a motorcycle, but I think I want a cheap, light cruiser to start. Like a Honda Rebel, except I'm kinda big, so maybe something a bit taller. But that kind of bike.

Or I could buy some sort of crotch rocket I can in no way handle, and that doesn't even fit what I want to use a motorcycle for, and then proceed to ride around like a squid. That's also a valid option.

Rosita the Riveter wrote:

And punching police horses.

Wait, what?

Yea, it's a thing at Eagles games. Or at least was.

And punching police horses.

I think you misspelled Chicago, there.

I'm in Seattle now ^.^

I got some stuff done today. I bought my way overpriced gourmet popcorn at Pikes Place, went to Metsker's Maps, ate fish, shopped at two different art stores (one was called Monster and in Ballard, one was a branch of Monster under a different name at Pikes Place), went to a few bookstores, visited the Pioneer Square National Historic Park and toured the little museum.

Tomorrow I'm riding the monorail to MoPOP. Then I have the regular Seattle Underground Tour booked for 6, and the Adults Only booked for 8. If I get done with MoPOP early, the National Nordic Museum is 40 minutes away by transit.

There's a Utilikilt retail outlet a block away from the Underground Tour that closes at 6. I turned in my official paperwork to change my legal gender to nonbinary on Wednesday, and I'm a kilt owner who considers them THE nonbinary garment, so I am totally paying them a visit.

On Sunday, I've booked a factory tour of Boeing. I've been to the Seattle Museum of Flight, but not the factory tour. After the four ends at 2, I'll probably stay at the museum until it closes at 5.

Rosita the Riveter wrote:

Scintillae wrote:

...hell, it's ranging from the teens to the 30s here, and I refuse to set my thermostat above 65.

I turn it off if she's not around. The house will be whatever temperature it will be. I don't care if the living room is 45 degrees, we live in coastal California, not the Great Lakes, the temperature doesn't get dangerous here, and Americans overcontrol our building climates, anyway (seriously, I've traveled pretty extensively, and nobody else heats and air conditions indoors to the obsessive extent that we Americans do).

Granted, I also strutted around in the Canadian winter at 6AM in a kilt without stockings or anything else to warm my legs, because I had to walk from the hostel to the train station and an 11 yard kilt was not going to fit in my luggage on the airplane. So what do I know?

There's "not dangerous", and then there's, "Warm enough to function."

I find anything below 58 to be too cold to effectively sit at a computer working all day, so that's where I set my thermostat.

I've done a bunch of those DNA tests that tell you where your ancestors are from, and the final verdict is that literally all of them are from places that are chilly, wet, and grey all the time at best, and straight up freezing at worst. Plus I used to live in the Rocky Mountains and rural Montana. And I grew up in unheated houses.

I was not made for 70+ indoor temperatures.

This is why I keep threatening to move to Seattle after I get my Masters.

Paizo's located in Seattle, so I bet this is a decent enough place to ask. I've been to Seattle a few times at this point. Done a lot of stuff, like the Museum of Flight, checking out Bremerton with the ferry, Mt Rainier, Pikes Place, the Museum of Industry and History, and so forth. Never been to the Museum of Pop Culture, though,

Well, there's both a tattooing exhibit and a Minecraft exhibit at MOPOP right now, and flights from San Jose to Seattle can be had cheap even pretty close to departure, so I'm flying up on the 21st and returning on the 24th. Booked a hostel in Chinatown. I've stayed there before, it's pretty decent for the price.

On the 21st, I get there early in the afternoon, and I'm gonna go Pikes Place. I go to Metsker Maps every time I'm in Seattle (I have a degree in Geography, so this is a Thing), and I want to get some crumpets at the crumpet place and pop into the two gourmet popcorn stores.

On the 22nd, I'm gonna go to MOPOP. Already bought my ticket. I actually haven't ridden the monorail yet, so I'm gonna take a bus or walk from Chinatown to the monorail station and ride that to MOPOP. I may or may not go up in the Space Needle or visit the Science Center (is it for adults?). Haven't decided.

That leaves potentially Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday open to do stuff. And I dunno what to do. Is the National Historic Park at Pioneer Square any good? That's really close to my hostel. Is the Underground Tour worth it? Should I check out the Navy Museum in Bremerton? Is Fisherman's Terminal worth it if I'm going to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco all the time? Is the Seattle Aquarium any good (can anyone compare it to the Monterey Bay Aquarium)?

...hell, it's ranging from the teens to the 30s here, and I refuse to set my thermostat above 65.

I turn it off if she's not around. The house will be whatever temperature it will be. I don't care if the living room is 45 degrees, we live in coastal California, not the Great Lakes, the temperature doesn't get dangerous here, and Americans overcontrol our building climates, anyway (seriously, I've traveled pretty extensively, and nobody else heats and air conditions indoors to the obsessive extent that we Americans do).

Granted, I also strutted around in the Canadian winter at 6AM in a kilt without stockings or anything else to warm my legs, because I had to walk from the hostel to the train station and an 11 yard kilt was not going to fit in my luggage on the airplane. So what do I know?

And the incompetence continues:

AT&T just put signs up and down our block that they're closing the street all next week. This is presumably to move all their lines underground, which means tearing up the street... again.

That's two major "public" works within 8 months of the city paying to repave the street.

Somehow, the planning department isn't succeeding at this whole "planning" thing...

I don't know to what degree it's the planning department's fault, though. AT&T aren't great about actually cooperating with the planning department or communicating their future plans, and the planning department can't really tell them to go pound sand when they decide it's time for major infrastructure upgrades. PG&E is actively worse.

Also, I have AT&T internet, and my download speeds never hit 1 MB/s, and service interruptions are daily. In the middle of a city in Silicon Valley. I had AT&T Mobile, and I finally ditched them because it's slow, unreliable, and everywhere I frequent seems to be a dead zone. Plus there was the whole Disneyland clustertruck with Rise of the Resistance, where you needed a cell phone right at 8AM to get a boarding group in order to ride at all during the day, and AT&T slowed to a halt like clockwork right at 8AM every morning, and T-Mobile and Verizon customers got all the boarding group slots.

What I'm saying is, as a planning student, I blame AT&T. For all the things.

Tacticslion wrote:

Huh. Actual severe weather warning - enough to suspend various schools’ activities. Go figure.

We're settling into a rather disturbingly warm February, which indicates we're in for yet another drought year. February's the big "swing month", where some years you don't see the sun at all for the entire month, and other years (like this one) there's not a cloud in the sky for the entire month.

The really strange thing is that we're around 10 degrees warmer than typical; nights are in the low 40s (which is still cold in an uninsulated house), days are in the mid-60s.

So yeah, my house is all opened up and it's very pleasant outside, but it bodes poorly for summer and fire season.

This, and yet my roommate still insists on having the house's furnace cranked into the 70s at all times.

Rabble.

Oracles must have interesting childhoods in my campaign setting. One skill that is common, though not universal, among divine spellcasters is the ability to read the stars. Something no non-divine spellcaster could do. The stars are echoes left behind by particularly bright burning lives that ended in their prime. All people powerful in body, mind, or spirit, and all died young. A divine spellcaster can read these stars, to an extent. It's like a particularly long and detailed tombstone epitaph. And brighter stars are easier to read, with some being dim, worn out, and difficult. Not to mention language barriers. Practically, reading these stars is a great aid in navigation. There is no rotation to the world, so stars are static within the sky, and if you can identify stars by reading them, they make a perfect navigation landmark.

More spiritually, though, imagine being an Oracle child who suddenly realizes they can read the stars. Most people grow up knowing the stories of the big stars, the bright ones that even non spellcasters can read and navigate by. But you can read all of the local stars. Hundreds of stars. Stories nobody has ever told you. But all short, and tantalizingly sparse in detail. Every night you look up at the sky, and it opens up to you like a book. And then you travel, and all the stars you grew up with are no longer visible, because you entered a different pantheon's realm. So know a whole new set of stories is before you, if you can understand their language.

Rosita the Riveter wrote:

I wonder if I'm going to get harassed by Italian immigration officials at some point. I am legally allowed a total of 90 days in the European Union in any 180 day period. I though I'd have to work over Spring Break this year, so I booked a 10 day trip to Germany over my birthday in late April (except now I'm spending a third of it in France, because ending up in France is apparently just what I do, now). Then I got Spring Break off, and I can't reschedule the Germany trip, so whatever. So I'll go to Italy over Spring Break. 6 full days of All Ancient Ruins, All The Time between Rome, Paestum, and Naples. But then I got into that super interesting Summer study abroad that starts in Italy but is mostly in Greece, so that's another three weeks.

All told, if travel time counts against visa, I'm looking at about 45 days within 3 months, and I don't have any other trips to Europe in a 180 day period before or after, so I'm within the rules as written. I will, however, only have 3 weeks between each trip. I'm wondering if, by the third time, immigration will be like "What is this?"

Oh, and on the way back from Greece, I'm gonna chill in Scotland for a while. Decompress from study abroad and cool off from the Mediterranean head. See some castles, do various Scottish things, pop down to York for the British National Railroad Museum, which is supposed to even be better than the two amazing ones I went to in Japan. Who knows what Brexit is gonna do with that immigration procedure? I made sure my layover in Heathrow on the way in is, like, 4 hours in case it's all sorts of jacked up.

My sister goes to the railway museum all the time & it's pretty good - I hear. I can recommend a few pubs around, mostly for drink rather than food & would probably advise against going into the Minster (based on price) but the surrounds are free.

Good pubs for whiskey? I stopped drinking beer for health reasons.

I wonder if I'm going to get harassed by Italian immigration officials at some point. I am legally allowed a total of 90 days in the European Union in any 180 day period. I though I'd have to work over Spring Break this year, so I booked a 10 day trip to Germany over my birthday in late April (except now I'm spending a third of it in France, because ending up in France is apparently just what I do, now). Then I got Spring Break off, and I can't reschedule the Germany trip, so whatever. So I'll go to Italy over Spring Break. 6 full days of All Ancient Ruins, All The Time between Rome, Paestum, and Naples. But then I got into that super interesting Summer study abroad that starts in Italy but is mostly in Greece, so that's another three weeks.

All told, if travel time counts against visa, I'm looking at about 45 days within 3 months, and I don't have any other trips to Europe in a 180 day period before or after, so I'm within the rules as written. I will, however, only have 3 weeks between each trip. I'm wondering if, by the third time, immigration will be like "What is this?"

Oh, and on the way back from Greece, I'm gonna chill in Scotland for a while. Decompress from study abroad and cool off from the Mediterranean head. See some castles, do various Scottish things, pop down to York for the British National Railroad Museum, which is supposed to even be better than the two amazing ones I went to in Japan. Who knows what Brexit is gonna do with that immigration procedure? I made sure my layover in Heathrow on the way in is, like, 4 hours in case it's all sorts of jacked up.

Rosita the Riveter wrote:

I'm going up to San Francisco so I can buy Scottish shoes, buy several hundred Euros, and do some fieldwork for grad school.

I really want to move back to San Francisco.

Geez, I'd tell you to come up the east side and I'd sell you the Euros for a better price... except with the whole fireplace thing they're buried deep, deep somewhere I can't find them.

Plus I don't think I have any Scottish shoes lying around the house...

I'd still have to do my fieldwork, though.

You have that many Euros lying around? I think all I've got at home is a couple dollars worth of small Canadian coins, maybe 6 or 7 bucks in Mexican coins, a similar amount in Japanese coins, and a 1000 Yen note.

Also I have big feet.

I'm going up to San Francisco so I can buy Scottish shoes, buy several hundred Euros, and do some fieldwork for grad school.

I really want to move back to San Francisco.

I love the Mandolorian.

"I have Spoken."

:)

(OR as it is also known, THE BABY YODA SHOW!)

This is the way.

NobodyHome's Opinion on Dubbing, Summarized in an IM to GothBard:

Gods, I hate dubbing, even in anime theme songs! :P

The theme for The Ancient Magus' Bride is magical specifically because the singer has this sharp, pained voice that reflects the lead character's internal pain. It sounds desperate, and hopeless, and hopeful, all at the same time, because of the sharp raspiness of her voice.

The English version has a woman with a beautiful, velvety voice who smooths out all the sharps.
And it sounds AWFUL.

If we didn't have dubbing, we wouldn't have all the Disney songs in French. I refuse to live in such a world.

I don't really care for any chocolate.

I understand I'm in an extreme minority here.

Chocolate's too rich. I can stand pieces as an ingredient, or a thin chocolate coating, but eating straight up chocolate? No, I can't. Nor do I like solid chocolate cake, or cookies, or ice cream.

Well, my issue with 3 is, swords are a very, very diverse and ill defined topic. I mean, try defining the word rapier in any historically reasonable fashion. It's actually very hard, as there isn't really consistency with the word. And a longsword in the Medieval sense isn't really what a longsword is in a D&D sense. That's not even getting into Middle Eastern, Chinese, Indian, or Japanese swords, among other things. And all of this is present in my setting. If I try to stat out all these swords, it turns into a mechanically complex, bloated rules monster that I don't actually want. And Pathfinder combat is already so inherently unrealistic that how would I differentiate all these blades? It's easier to me to introduce a long knife to replace the shortsword mechanically, then split swords into one handed cutting, one handed thrusting (these two being the finesse weapons), one handed cut and thrust (basic sword), two handed sword (long sword/bastard sword/katana), and greatsword (advanced weapon, has reach). Since PF 2e already allows bastard swords to deal 1d12 damage, they fit well as the average two handed sword, with a doppelhander like a greatsword being something altogether more specialized. I don't even really see why one would want a greatsword over a bastard sword with the rules as written, since both are martial. I don't know that reach is the best way to show them as special pike breaking swords, but it at least emphasizes that swords that big aren't really for use outside open warfare.

Also, a reason to make katanas bastard swords is that it allows this feat to apply to non-Japanese characters. If a katana is a bastard sword, then this feat applies to any Monks with a basic tso-handed sword rules-wise, and that's how I want it. I don't like the Oriental Adventures style of having a seperate mechanical thing for each Japanese concept, and that does give me pause with 1e's Samurai and Ninja. Especially since the Ninja was flat better than a Rogue, and could have just itself been the core Rogue class. The task at hand right now is to bring Samurai Champloo style fighting into Pathfinder, and my gut really says that a Monk who can weild a two handed sword as a Monk weapon with all that entails would accomplish exactly that task pretty well, but I don't want to restrict the future applications of this feat.

What if they just don't get finesse at all? Abandon this whole idea of a seperate feat. I already eliminated the temple sword (in keeping with my desire to only have a few categories of sword), and just made all three categories of one handed sword Monk weapons to replace the temple sword (Which does create the suggestion that a super skilled Italian duelist who runs schools and writes treateses could be a Monk by character class. I can support Syrio type characters being Monks, as one among multiple class options for building the character.) So why not just make basic two handed swords Monk weapons as part of Martial Tradition? While we're at that, also make glaives and spears Monk weapons. That guy is totally a glaive Monk, and that should be super easy to create.

1) It allows the use of a katana with any ability that a Monk with Monastic Weaponry could use a Monk weapon for.

2) The feat does not require Monastic Weaponry. It functions the same way as Monastic Weaponry, but only for the katana. I should clarify that in writing the feat. The katana becomes a Monk weapon with this feat, and you gain the benefits of Monastic Weaponry, but only for the katana. Katanas also become finessable (I do wonder about balance for this. Flavorwise, it works. A lot of anime katana use could be argued to be the epitome of finesse based fighting. Balancewise, though?). You can count this feat as Monastic Weaponry for the purposes of meeting prerequisites, unless meeting said prerequisite with a katana wouldn't make sense (Like, something revolving specifically around quarterstaff Monks?).

3) This katana is martial. My thing is, I don't want to have a bunch of different swords, especially in a setting as diverse as mine. IMO, the katana is fine just being a bastard sword. In my option, the game only really needs 3 types of one handed sword and 2 types of two handed sword, bastard sword being one of the two handed types, and everything should fit into one of those categories. I don't even have light swords, because I do think shortswords should do d8 damage (Short sword vs long sword is about reach, not which one is going to hurt you worse. A leaf shaped gladius is absolutely devastating if used properly.). A long dagger with the same stats as a shortsword now exists, to represent something like a seax or pugio that is particularly long or wide, and fill that mechanical niche.

I'm still getting used to 2e over 1e. I just whipped up a quick and easy Monk feat, want to check it for balance. The basic idea is to enable the unarmored katana weilding expert swordspeople of anime, whom Monk abilities fit very well. Just need Monks to be able to use two-handed swords. So I want to have a feat called Kensai that is available from level 1, and makes the Monk proficient with the katana, which is then treated as a Monk weapon and finessable. However, I prefer to stat katanas the same as bastard swords, rather than as their own thing, so this would be 1d12 damage two handed or 1d8 one handed. Is that actually balanced, or is 1d12 kind of extreme for Monks to be dealing?

Americans are a terrible influence on Canada. Get a load of the sporting goods store advertising 6 days of "Black Frid'eh" sales.

Rosita the Riveter wrote:

I just got reminded I have to go fail my driver's license exam on Wednesday.

Fun.

If you do, schedule your next test for Friday in Eureka! We'll make a road trip of it!

Hope you like metal!

Eureka is very far away from me. Though, yes, I do like metal.

I just got reminded I have to go fail my driver's license exam on Wednesday.

Fun.

Do you have something against death metal, Denny's, or Canada?

They're playing death metal in a Canadian Denny's at 12:30 in the morning, it's actually a pretty decent band, the table next to me is not happy about it, and they're making this well known. So that's my night. How about you guys?

I'm in Canada right now, and it's very cold. This pleases me. I have escaped the California heat and my roommate's blasted insistence at running the furnace at 72.

Rosita the Riveter wrote:

captain yesterday wrote:

Now this is hilarious, they have Tillamook cheese at our local Target.

Hmm, get some flavorless stale hybridization of plastic and cardboard that vaguely tastes like cheese from the s$+! holes of Oregon.

Or you know, get some actual cheese handcrafted just down the road for the same price.

Are you talking s~$! about Tillamook? You better stay away from the West Coast, now.

I lived in Seattle for five years and had to suffer through what the West coast called "cheese".

I stand by what I said.

Tillamook might be considered cheese out west but it's barely better than Kraft here.

Good cheese comes from happy cows. Happy cows come from California. And that's that.

Now this is hilarious, they have Tillamook cheese at our local Target.

Hmm, get some flavorless stale hybridization of plastic and cardboard that vaguely tastes like cheese from the s$+! holes of Oregon.

Or you know, get some actual cheese handcrafted just down the road for the same price.

Are you talking shit about Tillamook? You better stay away from the West Coast, now.

I posit that overweight men should be encouraged to wear kilts instead of pants. As a transwoman, I have the male body shape, and I have quite the gut. So, as many overweight men do, I have some degree of trouble keeping my pants up. That body shape just is not conducive to suspending a garment about the hips, and the only things that really work are wearing a belt so tight it's actually painful, or wearing suspenders, which come with their own set of difficulties.

The kilt, however, which I, as a mostly closeted transwoman of Celtic extraction, naturally own multiple examples of, fixes this. A proper traditional kilt (so, not a Utilikilt) goes around your natural waist, which is just above the navel. For someone my size, that does mean a particularly large garment (52 to 54 inches in my case), but the advantage is that this part of the body actually is conducive to holding up a garment, even on overweight men. You fasten the kilt up there, and, wonder of wonders, it actually stays up there. Without having to be painfully tight.

It just works in the "not showing off parts of your rear anatomy" department. Kilts feel like they fit in a way pants never do. Wear underwear, though. As far as we know, most modern Scots do when they wear a kilt, and if you don't, it'll chafe. "Being proper traditional" that way isn't worth it.