![]() If you want to switch to a neat enchantment spell against the wizard, perhaps a suggestion or a charm or a dominate (which is your other 5th level slot), you certainly can, but the wizard is immediately free of telekinesis when you drop concentration, which means you've largely wasted a 5th level slot to begin with. It's a neat trick, but it's unsustainable and so really only useful in limited cases. The wizard now has an edge in available slots - they've spent less than you have, especially since you now will be bonus action converting more slots into sorcery points. Regardless, the wizard can see you now and can cast whatever they want (restrained doesn't prevent spellcasting) and counter your counters because you don't have the sorcery points to make them subtle as often. And the wizard can counter that casting unless you're converting and then casting psionically, which is a great way to burn your points and be stuck in the same loop. You'll have to cast normally next round to use your bonus action to convert a slot for points. You're going to have to start upcasting counterspells and it's likely that the wizard won't be restrained next round as you can't magical guidance yourself. You've done 4.5d8 damage to the wizard, which hasn't brought him below half. The wizard is down three countered spell slots, and you're tapped on sorcery points, down 3 3rd level slots and 1 5th. Now, when the wizard casts and you counterspell, you cannot use subtle, so you reveal yourself in casting. You're now tapped on sorcery points, having spent another 2 on that quickened mind thrust. They choose to keep an action for next turn. This mind thrust succeeds! The wizard fails their check, but they're okay because they still have hitpoints left. Next turn, you try mostly the same thing - concentrate on telekinesis and throw a spell. The mage goes, and casts a spell, which you subtly counter, for another 3rd level slot and a sorcery point. Still, it's half of 3d8, so marks on the board! You're now down 7 sorcery points. You've done some damage, finally! Unfortunately, it's likely the wizard has saved, as INT is his prime stat and he's proficient, so against your DC 15 he has +8 or +9 to save. You can do this because you just maintained Telekinesis instead of casting it. That's 2 sorcery points for Mind Thrust and 2 for quickened spell. You then cast a quickened psionic spell, let's say Mind Thrust, at 2nd level. Another 66% chance, which means you're likely to have used magical guidance at this point because you have about a 50/50 chance of having failed (slightly better). ![]() So, next turn, you maintain concentration on telekinesis and reup the restraint as an action. ![]() So, first round done, you're down a 5th slot and a 3rd slot, 2 sorcery points for subtle, and perhaps another for a use of magic guidance. ![]() If it is higher than 3rd, your +3 CHA will hurt a bit as you'll need an 11 minimum on the die (for a 4th level spell), which is only a 50% chance. Provided the spell isn't a higher level than 3rd, you succeed. The enemy may not try to cast a spell, which you can subtly counterspell with a 3rd level slot. You've cast a 5th level spell, so that's out. You're now done, because you can't case a quickened psionic spell because using a bonus action to cast limits you to only casting a cantrip otherwise. Let's say you do it, though, and the target is restrained. That's still only a 66% chance of success. So, you do, but you have a +3 to CHA and let's say the other guy has a -1 to STR, giving you a 4 point difference. This is because you cannot both use subtle and distant at the same time. Let's assume you've hidden - you cast a 5th level spell subtly and use telekinesis at a range of 60 feet. ![]()
0 Comments
![]() ![]() Last year, on my first trip back since the coronavirus pandemic began, I visited my Tío David, a Catholic priest. Soon, I can’t remember what life is like without roosters screaming in the early morning, the neighbor’s donkey braying, wild parrots flying overhead, the peacocks train-rattling down the hill. ![]() After a couple of weeks in the mountains, of days walking the cobblestone streets, feeding flea-bitten satos with wagging tails, mosquitoes leaving galaxies of red down my arms and legs, the coquis singing me to sleep at night, I start to feel more like myself, like the woman I’m supposed to be. Sometimes I spend whole summers there, sweating my ass off, driving up and down narrow mountain roads, splitting my time among San Lorenzo and San Juan and Humacao and Comerío. OscarĮvery year, no matter where I’m living, I visit family in Puerto Rico. This is why I believe that independence, not statehood, is the path we must pursue. Every day, more of them come to understand that Puerto Rico has always stood on its own. Every day, people see that there is only them, doing everything for themselves. There is no benevolent American savior coming to help Puerto Rico. Every day, it becomes more and more obvious that the current government structure-Puerto Rico as a de facto colony of the United States, despite the official language referring to it as a “commonwealth”-is a failure. Nine months after María, people still have no electricity. Photos of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Mari a The official count, announced in December, is 64, but a study the following year by The New England Journal of Medicine finds a fair estimate to be more than 5,000. María, the people learn, is the deadliest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico since 1899, but nobody can agree on the true death toll. The military arrives, the National Guard mobilizes, but the Trump administration blocks access to more than $20 billion in hurricane-relief aid and recovery funding. ![]() They endure obstacles created by the U.S. They wait for FEMA.įor months, they live in survival mode, dealing with an archipelago-wide mental-health crisis, a shortage of drinking water, delayed or unavailable medical services. They clean and clean, but the job never stops. People clear fallen trees, bamboo, garbage. All over the sloped back garden: children’s clothing, toys, shingles from a nearby roof. In a bedroom is someone else’s desk lamp, a neighbor’s charcoal grill. The storm carried so much away, dropped other people’s things inside their homes. They try to salvage family pictures, wedding albums, birth certificates. They shovel mud out of their living rooms, their kitchens, their bedrooms, their bathrooms. When people stand on a terrace watching the town below, they see an ocean of blue-covered houses. Every day, more tarps go up, house after house. The people work with their neighbors to secure blue tarps onto roofs. They watch that same president deny that many people have died, even as thousands never come home. Eventually he will propose trading Puerto Rico for Greenland.Īs the days become weeks, there is more rain there are more floods. They endure President Donald Trump, who spends the weekend after the storm at a golf tournament, tweeting that his critics in Puerto Rico are “politically motivated ingrates.” They watch him toss paper towels at hurricane survivors when he finally does visit, in early October-a performance before the world, meant as a humiliation. They desperately hunt for drinking water, collecting it from wells and natural springs and any other source they can find. The days following María bring only more misery, and there is a general understanding that everyone is up against something bigger than a storm. Read: Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands brace for Hurricane Irma It passes through Yabucoa and Humacao and Comerío, and the water levels in Río de la Plata begin to rise. On September 20, the storm makes landfall, knocking out the electrical grid and leaving the entire population in the dark. And then, two weeks later, Hurricane María approaches the archipelago. When Irma moves north of Puerto Rico and across the Caribbean, it brings heavy rains, flooding, power outages. They refill their prescriptions and then fill the gas tank after waiting in an hours-long line at the Puma station. They get what they can: some food, a few gallons of water, a portable gas-powered hot plate in case they lose power. They try to stock up, but by the time they arrive, the lines are long and most of the shops are running low. I n 2017, as summer ends, when news anchors first mention the oncoming Hurricane Irma, the people go to the big-box store or the Econo supermarket just a few minutes from home. ![]() ![]() Icelandic sagas - not that I've read lots - have quite a plain style in translation and can be faster to read than some assume not dissimilar to the style of mystery and thrillers, because they both concentrate on action. Other light stuff on a par with 100YOM: A Man Called Ove, The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules, The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend.Ī few classic authors who are reasonably easy to find: Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter Knut Hamsun, esp Hunger Tarjei Vesaas Halldor Laxness The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson if you like adventure stories. Some contemporary ones that are both literary and approachable: Per Petterson adults' books by Tove Jansson Sjon My Recommended Play/Read Order: Myst Riven: The Sequel to Myst The Book of Atrus The Book of Ti'ana Myst III: Exile Myst IV: Revelation Myst V: End of Ages The Book of D'ni Myst Online: Uru Live 2. Myst V: End of Ages Myst Online: Uru Live 2. If you keep up with press reviews, you will have heard more than enough about Knausgard and The Hundred Year Old Man already. The Book of Marrim (Unreleased) Myst IV: Revelation Uru: Complete Chronicles 1, 2. ![]() If you mean Scandinavian / Nordic authors of stuff other than crime & thrillers, there are plenty here:Īlso, searching for lists by individual country names should find more stuff. (I quite like Anne Holt's Hanne Wilhelmsen regardless) - though Kerstin Ekman's Blackwater is a standalone crime novel by a literary writer. There are plenty of series with strong female leads but unfortunately the writing in those I know isn't quite as good. One of my GR friends who likes a change from the stereotypical moody, drunken sort of detective likes Camilla Lackberg's books. Also depends what kind of characters you are looking for. If you place a lot of importance on writing style in mysteries, among the best contemporary Nordic ones are Arnaldur Indridason and Johan Theorin. If you want modern-classic procedurals like Mankell, the obvious choice is Sjowall & Wahloo's Martin Beck series. ![]() Although that's not to say there are no errors. Wikipedia is considerably better than it used to be and there are many articles that show signs of academic input if you know the topic. All the info there on the meanings of Scandinavia / the Nordic countries / Fennoscandia / the Scandinavian peninsula concurs with what I've read elsewhere, books, articles etc. ![]() |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |