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Joined 7 months ago
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Cake day: December 5th, 2023

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  • So ethnic cleansing and support thereof is now reduced to “a policy?” That’s a big oof.

    Biden mishandled COVID, has slowly re-enacted some of Trump’s worst policies on immigration, abandoned those who, at no small risk to themselves, supported us in Afghan, has presided over a massive increase in the cost of housing… and I guess, on the bright side, forgave a fraction of a percent of the student loans he said he’d forgive.

    Maybe it’s time to support someone who doesn’t have the blood of countless innocents on his hands.


  • Objectively, he has been a mediocre president whose most impressive victories have stemmed from the fact that the economy was already recovering from a worldwide pandemic. His handling of the withdrawl from Afghanistan was an appalling travesty that got countless innocents killed, his two-faced positions on Gaza (lamenting the human rights abuses while cutting aid and supplying weapons,) the fact that the interest rate for home loans has skyrocketed in an already difficult to afford housing market, and quite honestly, his racist and homophobic past make him difficult to swallow.



  • Probably the most relevant line in the entire article:

    a series of polls have suggested Biden will narrowly beat Trump in the November vote. But with eight months to go, and the polls so tight, this could change and a number of polls have also indicated that Trump will win the election.

    Whether Biden wins or loses is going to come down to how well he engages people in key states. Outside of the “blue no matter who” crowd, people have decidedly mixed feelings about voting for a candidate whose strongest argument is that he isn’t Trump. Everything from events in the weeks leading up to the election to the weather (which affects Dems more than Reps) will matter, so rather than leaning on polls that suggest a victory… it might be wise to end those behaviors and policies that have human rights advocates concerned.


  • Diotima@kbin.socialtoAsklemmy@lemmy.mlIs "female" offensive?
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    4 months ago

    Incels using a word offensively does not make the word inherently offensive, and by letting them reframe the word in their favor you’re giving them power they do not deserve.

    When using male/female to denote biological sex, the words should not be offensive. “Were you born malr or female” in a medical settting can be vital to treatments, for example.

    Generally, though, people ought to be using gender.



  • I’ve played and DMed all but 4E, and 5E is easily the most accessible version I’ve played. I agree, though; 5E with some tweaks works very well as a video game. 3.5E, as much as I love it, can get incredibly complex very quickly. AD&D is, putting it kindly, a shitshow. The system is needlessly complex and convoluted.











  • We don’t need flavor text. We know that the Realms have existed through multiple editions of the game; if spells were this consistent then they would operate consistently across the different rulesets. They do not, though.

    Using Locate Object as an example:

    2E Distance: 60 feet per level of spellcaster (so variable between 120 and 1200 feet for levels 2-20)
    3E Distance: 400 feet plus 40 feet per level.
    4E Distance: ???
    5E Distance: Up to 1000 feet.

    The spell itself is the same, but the gameplay limitations vary for the purposes of game balance. I sincerely doubt that a spell in-world changed; rather, we set limits to ensure balance in gameplay. We should be distinguishing between rules meant to balance play and in-world realities, here.


  • This, exactly. We can get a sense of this from the old novels too; magic is not nearly as restrictive as it is in-game; those rules exist to simplify gameplay, not to turn combat, magic, travel and healing into math problems.

    Heck, Long Resting is an excellent example of how things 100% do NOT work in “real” Faerun. We think someone who survives being tagged with dragon claws, burned in a breath weapon, and sent flying with a tail attack is healed and ready to go with a nice 8 hour nap? Nah…