I was having a great time. I'm in NG+ 2, trying out a a Maliketh's Black Blade build and really having fun. This is the first time I've played without a shield, but I have enough vigor and am good enough at rolling that's not a problem. I can take a hit from the best of them and be fine if it really comes down to it. But as I'm clearing Fort Faroth to get the other half of the medallion, I come up on the fucking winged dames.
I easily took down lion guardians, golems, omen hunters, invaders, whatever. But no, this thing managed to grab me in the middle of Destined Death (I don't even know how it wasn't getting sliced to ribbons!). All I could do was stand there as an almost-full health bar drained away. I think these are genuinely my least favorite enemies when doing melee builds.
Bleh. Rant over.

Thanks for checking out my post! I am selling a good part of my collection and backup products. I am a reliable and trustedseller on reddit with lot of history. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE POOR FORMATTING - REDDIT IS BEING CHALLENGING
Some rules:

• Free Items with purchase only.
• Minimum of $30 spend before shipping. Bundles take preference.
• Discounting:- Take $5 off every $80 spent ; $10 per $140 (before shipment fees)
• Shipping is $6 for USPS First Class Mail, anything that is over 12 oz will need to be mailed USPS Priority Mail. The cost of that is $8 + and varies based on your location. Please be understanding about shipping costs for heavy packages. This is not under my control.
• I will only wait 2 hours for a payment before moving to NIL- Paypal Goods and Services only- I live in a pet free/ smoke-free /covid free home- if no condition is listed the item is new. Feel free to ask any ?
• Happy Shopping :)

​

• BLUSH / BRONZERS: https://imgur.com/a/wpgYiPt
• CHARLOTTE TILBURY Beautiful Skin Sun-Kissed Glow Cream Bronzer , Medium BNIB $32
• CHARLOTTE TILBURY Blush Sex on Fire BN $25 now $22
• CHANEL Blush Comete, Coral Etoile BNIB $48
• CLINIQUE Cheek Pop Trio, Warm Up. Swatched. $30
• DANESSA MYRIKS Colorfix Mattes, Latte, Swatched $8
• GLOSSIER Cloud Paint, Storm, probably 70% left. $5.
• GXVE Bronzer Contour Duo, Heat Wave. Swatched. 8.
• ILIA Liquid Blush, Before Today. 80% Left. $5
• LILAH B Bronzed Beauty, Used Twice. $20
• KOSAS Blush Duo, Velvet Melon. Used 3x $8
• KOSAS Blush Duo, 8th Muse. BNIB $10
• KULFI BEAUTY Mehndi Moment Blush, Blessed Berry BN $15
• MARC JACOBS lush and Libido used 3x. $10
• MILK Baked Bronzer, Dazed $12 BN
• PAT MCGRATH Skin Fetish Divine Blush, Nude Venus. Used Twice. $20
• PIXI Honey QUartet Quad BN $7
• PIXI On the Glow Bronze Rich Glow, New. $8.
• PIXI On the Glow Bronze Warm Glow. Swatched. $8
• SURRATT Blush La Vie En Rose $24 $20 New
• WESTMAN ATELIER Peu de Soleil. Swatched. $45

​
BLUSH / BRONZERS / HIGHLIGHT 2: https://imgur.com/a/lighqGI

• BITE Daycation Blush, Coconut Rum. Swatched. $10
• CHANTECAILLE Radiance Cheek Duo, Rose. New. LE. $85
• NUDESTIX Matte, Sunset Strip. Used 3x $8
• ROSE INC Solar Radiance Refill, Brilliance. New. $10
• PAT MCGRATH LABS Nude Venus Divine Blush and Glow Cheek Palette, Highlighter Swatched $30
• SURRATT Blush Tu Mai Face Rouger Used Once $20
• SURRATT Blush, Parfait, BN $25
• TATA HARPER Blush, Charmed. Used 2x. $10
• TAN LUXE The Face Illuminating Drops Light - Med $25
• LYS Blush - Kindness. Used 3x. $8

EYE MAKEUP: https://imgur.com/a/cxlVmdW

• BOBBI Brown Long Wear Eye Stick - Bone - used 2x $10
• BOBBI BROWN Dual Ended Cream Shadow Stick - Golden Pink / Taupe BN $20
• CHARLOTTE TILBURY Legendary Lashes Mini Mascara. $8
• COLOURPOP Zodiac Shadow, Libra, Swatched. $10
• KULFI Shadow - Bronze Brocade BN $15
• HOURGLASS Curator Invidividual Shadow: LUX. New. $20 $10
• HOURGLASS Custom Curator Palette 5 pan with 3 swatched shadows as shown $30
• KULFI Zari Eyes Eye Shadow Bronze Brocade BN $12
• NUDESTIX Rustic Grotto Mini New. $5
• PERSEPHONE Shadows - FREE JUST PAY SHIPPING
• PAT MCGRATH Eye Dolls - Rose Venus - $20
• RARE BEAUTY Discovery Palette BN $16
• URBAN DECAY Primer Potion, Eden, Swatched $10

EYE MAKEUP ALBUM 2 https://imgur.com/a/a08o8cC

• BOBBI BROWN Long Wear Gel Eyeliner Chocolate Shimmer Swatched $15
• BOBBI BROWN Dual Ended Long Wear Shadow Stick Bronze Pink / Espresso BN $15
• CHANEL Les Beiges Warm Glow. BNIB $50
• CHANEL Les 4 Ombres Spices BNIB $45
• FENTY Mascara BNIB $10
• NUDESTIX Rustic Grotto. Used Twice. $5
• GLOSSIER Play Eyeliner, Disaster Class, BNIB $25
• Lilah B, B Stunning Quad. Used 3x. $25
• NATASHA DENONA Yucca Palette. BNIB. $48
• OLAPLEX LashBond Serum. BN $35
• RMS Eyelight, Sunlight, BN $15

EYE MAKEUP ALBUM 3: https://imgur.com/a/vPqDB9Y

• FENTY True Neutrals Palette, missing light shade, other shades used 3x $5
• HOURGLASS Curator Invidividual Shadow: ACT. New. $20 $10
• RARE BEAUTY Brow Harmony Duo. Taupe. $10
• GLOSSIER Boy Brow. Blonde. Used 5x. $5
• GLOSSIER Lid Star, Cub. Used 3x. $8-----------------------------------------------------------------------

COMPLEXION PRODUCTS- Foundation/PowdeHighlightePrimer: https://imgur.com/a/miukwg3

• CHARLOTTE TILBURY Nudegasm, Swatched $95
• DIOR Face and Body Foundation, 1W, 90%+ Left. $20
• FENTY Pro Filter Soft Matte Foundation Shade 175 BNIB $2
• HUDA Concealer , Vanilla Swirl BN $15
• LAWLESS Perfecting Setting Powder, Light, BN but a scratch (came like this) $25
• KOSAS Cloud Set Powder, Comfy (has box, not shown), swatched. $20
• MILK Cheek Stick, Werk, Swatched $8
• OLE HENRIKSEN Banana Bright Stick, Banana $10
• PAT MCGRATH Concealer Shade 5. Used 5x. $10
• PAT MCGRATH Concealer Shade 6 BNIB $17
• RARE Beauty Always an Optimist Powder, Deep, New. $5
• RITUAL DE FILLE Highlighter, Solar Flare, Used Twice $12
• SURRATT Perfectioniste Corrector Palette Shade 6. New. $3
• PURLISSE BB Concealer, Fair BNIB $10
• SEPHORA Best Skin Ever concealer Swatched 17.5N $5
• TOWER 28 SOS Spray Used 3x $10
• YENSA Super Serum Silk Foundation Fair 3 BNIB 15
• YSL NEU Bare Tint Mini. Shade 5. $5

​
COMPLEXION ALBUM 2 https://imgur.com/a/d9Yb852

• BOBBI BROWN Skin Full Cover Concealer, Warm Ivory. Swatched. $10
• BY TERRY Brightening CC Serum Apricot, New. $35
• BITE Changemaker Foundation. L15. Swatched. $7
• COVERFX Concealer, Shade G1. Maybe 50% left? FREE
• CHARLOTTE TILBURY Flawless Filter Shade 2 Swatched $25
• ESTEE LAUDER Double Wear 1N1 ivory nude BNIB $25
• FENTY Matchstix Mini. Sinamon. Used 3x. $5
• GLOWISH Bright Light Concealer Fair Light Swatched $10
• IT COSMETICS Bye Bye Undereye. Light Golden. Light Use. $8
• KULFI Concealer, Rose Rush. New. $15
• MAKEUP FOREVER Mist and Fix BN $20
• MILK Future Fluid Concealer 3N. Swatched. $15 $10
• OLE HENRIKSEN Banana Bright Stick Pumpkin BN $15
• PATMCGRATH Skin Fetish Concealer L6 BNIB $17
• PAT MCGRATH Skin Fetish Under Eye Powder Light $15
• PIXI mind your own glow palette. $5
• REM BEAUTY Sweetner Concealer. Fair 6n. Swatched. $10
• 0REM BEAUTY Sweetner Concealer Light 2n. Swatched. $10
• SURRATT Concealer Shade 3 Swatched. $28
• SURRATT Surreal Skin Foundation Wand Shade 4. Used Once. $35

COMPLEXION ALBUM 3 https://imgur.com/a/8eSagXH

• ANASTASIA Pro Pencil Shade 1. Used 3x. $10
• BOBBI BROWN Skin Long-Wear W-026 Warm Ivory. BNIB. $20
• ESTEE LAUDER Futurist Hydra Rescue 1W1 Bone. Swatched. $15
• PETER THOMAS ROTH Instant Firm Primer 30ml New $25
• RARE BEAUTY Positive Light Tinted Moisturizer 20W swatched $18 $15
• GIVENCHY Prism Libre Matte W245 Used 4x, pump is finicky but works fine $20
• GUCCI Luminous Matte 5ml Mini. Shade 220W. $8
• GUCCI Luminous Matte Foundation 160N BNIB $45
• HOURGLASS Veil Powder FS BN. $30
• ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint Shade 4. Exp 5/24. $30
• ROSE INC Softlight Concealer LX030 Swatched $15 $10
• ROSE INC Softlight Concealer LX040 Swatched $15 $10
• ROSE INC Skin Luminious Tinted Serum 040 used 3x $25
• ROSE INC Sunscreen Mini. 5.
• SHISEIDO Synchro Skin Radiant Lifting Foundation 160 Lace. Swatched. $22
• SUPERGOOP Glow Setting Powder. BNIB $20
• ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LIPS; https://imgur.com/a/Ir0bAoy

• JONES ROAD Golden Shimmer Cool Gloss $10
• KAJA Balmy Bento 01. $10
• RMS BEAUTY Flirtation of Color Lip Palette New $20

LIPS ALBUM 2: https://imgur.com/a/5MdNdDY

• CHARLOTTE TILBURY Collagen Lip Bath BNIB Refresh Rose. $20
• GXVE Mini Lipstick, Original. $5
• GXVE Lightweight Longwear Matte Lipstick, Tomboy. BN $10
• MILK Lipstick, CREAM. Light use. FREE
• RARE Beauty Lip Liner, Fun, Used once. $9

​
VARIOUS: Brushes / Hair / Body Care https://imgur.com/a/Ti3AHAP

• CHARLOTTE TILBURY Eye Blender Brush $10
• NECESSAIRE The Body Cream BN $20 (heavy)
• PAT MCGRATH Concealer Brush. New. $15
• SEPHORA PRO #45 brush $10
• SURRATT Sculpting Brush, new. $65 now $55
• SURRATT Artistique Foundation Brush, New. $60 now $50
• SURRATT Artistique Concealer Brush Grande New $35 now $30
• ST TROPEZ Luxe Tan Tonic Drops $25
• ST TROPEZ Luxe Body Serum $20 (heavy)

HAIR ALBUM 2: https://imgur.com/a/XOUqehv

• AMIKA Water Sign Hydrating Hair Oil $17 $15
• DAE Monsoon Moisture Shampoo $10 heavy
• GISOU Honey Infused Hair Mask 75ml BN $15
• VEGAMOUR Hydr-8 Deep Moisture Repair Mask BN $30 heavy
• VEGAMOUR GRO Serum BN $35

FRAGRANCE ETC https://imgur.com/a/PqiIhwF

• DIPTYQUE Dancing Ovals LE Roses Candle. NEW $100
• DIPTYQUE Kyoto EDT - Sprayed 3x. LE. $250
• DIPTYQUE Do Son Eau de Parfum 100ml - 95% left $150
• DIPTYQUE Do Son EDT 3.4 oz LE blue Bottle. $110
• HENRY ROSE Queens and Monsters. BN. $75
• NEST Grapefruit Mini Candle $5

​
-SKINCARE ALBUM 1 https://imgur.com/a/UT4JTZE*AVENE

• Cleanance SPF 50 (bought in France) New exp 2025 $20
• CAUDALIE Premier Cru Serum BN $60
• CLARINS Total Eye Lift New. $40
• DRUNK ELEPHANT Protini Cream BN $40
• DR ZENOVIA Benzoyl Peroxide 5%. New. $5
• FARMACY Waterless Vitamin C used 2x $10
• FRESH Black Tea Advanced Age Renewal Cream BN $40
• HYLAMIDE Pore Flush 95%+ Left $10
• OLE HENRIKSEN Strength Trainer Cream BN $20
• PIXI Nutri Eye BN $10
• PEACE OUT Repairing Moisturizer BN $15
• PETER THOMAS ROTH Max Vitamin D Fense SPF 50 BN $20
• SUPERGOOP Glow Setting Powder BN $20
• WISHFUL Yo Glow BN $15
• YENSA pink Lotus peptide cream. New. $10

SKINCARE ALBUM 2 https://imgur.com/a/doHPaep

• DRUNK ELEPHANT Baby Facial Used once $30
• DRUNK ELEPHANT Protini Powerpeptide Serum 5ml $8
• FRESH Kombucha Facial Essence BN full sz $50 (heavy)
• ISLE OF PARADISE Mini Self Tanning Drops FREE (1 each)
• LANEIGE Retinol Firming Cream BN $25 $20
• NEOGEN Cranberry Foam Cleanser $10
• DR ZENOVIA Advanced Retinol Night Repair $20 $15
• REN Limited Edition AHA Tonic. Used Once. $10
• THE OUTSET Caffeine Micro Polish BN $20
• SUNDAY RILEY CEO BN $45
• ​

SKINCARE ALBUM 3: https://imgur.com/a/ATUTAKv

• KATE SOMMERVILLE Hydrat Kate Recharging Serum BN $35
• KIEHLS Ultra Facial Cream SPF 30 BN $10
• KLAIRS Freshly Juiced Vitamin Drop BN $10 exp 1/2025
• KOPARI Face shield spf 30 BN $15
• PEACE OUT Dark Spots Serum BN $15
• THE INKEY LIST Succinic Acid Treatment BN $5
• STRIVECTIN Multi Action Super C Retinol, 75% left $15
• SUNDAY RILEY B Nice $40
• TATA HARPER Regenerating Cleanser Mini 15ml $8
• YOUTH TO THE PEOPLE Superberry Dream mask BN $30 $25 (heavy)
• ​

SKINCARE ALBUM 5 https://imgur.com/a/T1Xt9AT

• CHANTECAILLE Eau de Rose 90% left. $30
• DR DENNIS GROSS Vitamin C BN $55
• FRESH Black Tea Overnight Mask 30ml. New. $20
• FRESH Rose Mask 1 oz. New. $12
• FRESH Black Tea Instant Perfecting Mask. 1 oz. new. $20
• INNIS FREE Green Tea Seed Cream BN. $15 (heavy)
• KORA ORGANICS Plant Stem Cell Serum $35
• MARIO BADESCU Facial Spray - $5
• MARIO BADESCU Brightening Eye Serum. $10
• PIXI Rose essence oil - FREE
• - PAULA CHOICE C5 Super Boost Cream. $20
• PAULAS CHOICE Hyaluronic Acid Booster BN $20
• PAULAS CHOICE 1% BHA Sensitive SKin. $25
• PAULAS CHOICE Healthy Glow Invisible Sunscreen Oil. 20.
• THE ORDINARY HA 60ml bottle used once. $5
• ​

SKINCARE ALBUM 6 https://imgur.com/a/viZEcDb
ALPHA H Balancing Cleanser, NEW. $20 $10

• PAULAS CHOICE C5 Super Boost Eye Cream. $22
• BANILA Clean it Zero BN $10
• JOSIE MARAN Pineapple Enzyme Cleanser BN $15 heavy
• THE ORDINARY Salicylic Acid 60ml BN $6
• THE ORDINARY Multi Peptide HA Serum BN $15
• SUMMER FRIDAYS Midnight Ritual Retinol BN $35
• NECESSAIRE The Body Retinol BN $25 heavy
• SUPERGOOP Unseen Body Sunscreen BN $25

SKINCARE ALBUM 7 https://imgur.com/a/ZmLaI8N

• ALGENIST Liquid Collagen Gift Set - 10 day results kit $88 at sephora - BN $30 (heavy)
• BELIF Aqua Bomb 25ml LE design. $15
• CLARINS Beauty Flash Peel $20
• DR DENNIS GROSS Fill and Repair Serum $45
• DERMALOGICA Circular Hydration Serum MIni FREE $10
• PIXI Volume Infusion Sheet Mask BN FREE
• PIXI Collagen Tonic FREE (heavy)
• ST TROPEZ Self Tan Whipped Mousse and mitt, new $20
• JLO Booty Balm BN $20 heavy
• MURAD Correct and Protect SPF 45 exp 5/24 BN $28
• ​

It’s hot.
Looking to get central AC put in my 1100 square foot house. Who is the best for a reasonable price in town to call?

Capital walks into the cargo hold with his new avian friend perched on his shoulder.
Human Dave is lying down on the floor, covered in sleeping Aflarrians.
Alien Captain: "Human Dave, are you awake?"
Human Dave: "Yes, Captain. Just catching my breath after playing with the little guys."
AC: "I had some questions regarding this creature on my shoulder."
HD: "The Viscer-Tel? Captain, you probably know more about it than I do."
AC: "Human Dave, how did you manage to control the Aflarrians in the way that you do? The Viscer-Tel is not as accommodating with me as the Aflarrians are with you."
HD: "Well, Captain, you have to understand that they're both very different species'. The Aflarrians are more like cats, while the Viscer-Tel is more bird-like. Yes, both apex predators in their respective environments, but that is where the similarities end."
The Viscer-Tel flies down onto Human Dave's chest, and begins to settle amongst the sleeping Aflarrians.
AC: "See? The creature did that completely unprompted. It does not listen to me when I ask it for space, but the moment it sees you, it simply accepts you."
HD: "... Captain, you can plainly tell I didn't ask it to do anything. It came here of its own accord. Most likely because it sees some other creatures calm enough to sleep on me, and assumes I'm safe enough to be around.
AC: "..."
HD: "Besides, you trust me, so the Viscer-Tel probably senses that trust, and acts like this with me."
AC: "... I see."
Minnie opens an eye, and spies the Viscer-Tel beside her.
The Viscer-Tel eyes her somewhat warily.
Minnie scoots a little closer, and begins to sniff at the Viscer-Tel.
The Viscer-Tel stands up and grips Human Dave's shirt with its talons.
Minnie bats a paw at the Viscer-Tel's talons warningly.
The Viscer-Tel immediately releases its talons from Human Dave's shirt, and Minnie lays back down.
The Viscer-Tel slowly lowers itself back down onto Human Dave's chest, and Minnie closes her eyes.
Both Human Dave and Captain observed the little play-by-play between them.
AC: "Human Dave, what just happened?"
HD: "... I think Minnie just warned the Viscer-Tel not to hurt me."
AC: "Human Dave, how could you possibly know that?"
HD: "I did say that I think that's what happened, Captain. I mean, Minnie started acting up when there was a perceived threat to me, and only did enough to stop my getting hurt. She laid back down once the danger to me was over."
AC: "Human Dave, I believe you are ascribing characteristics to a creature that does not possess them."
HD: "Captain. You know full well how smart the Aflarrians are. Is it so difficult to think they might be protective of me?"
AC: "Perhaps more that they don't wish to lose their source of heat and attention."
HD: "... Captain, I think I figured out your problem with the Viscer-Tel."
AC: "Oh?"
HD: "You're treating it like it's an animal. Not as a creature that won't harm you, but as something that won't harm you now."
AC: "... I do not understand."
HD: "Pack-bonding is something that all humans go through. It's an instinctive thing for us. We treat those we pack-bond with as family. It's why we go to the lengths we go to in order to keep them safe, even to the detriment of our own health and safety."
AC: "... this is all very fascinating, but I fail to see what it has to do with the current predicament."
HD: "You see, Captain, he... she? ... it's not treating you like an equal, because you're not treating it like one. It's not listening to you because you're still treating it like an animal; a pet, not a family member."
AC: "Human Dave, it is an animal. Just like the Aflarrians!"
The Aflarrians all perked up, and stared at Captain after hearing that.
HD: "Oh, they absolutely know what you said, Captain."
The Aflarrians slowly get off Human Dave, and start making their way towards Captain.
AC: "Human Dave, why are they advancing on me in such a menacing manner?"
HD: "Captain, you insulted them. Naturally, they won't take too kindly to such words."
It takes a moment to register, but Captain slowly freezes up; the beginnings of Apex Fear overtaking his instincts.
AC: "Human Dave, please call them off."
HD: "You forgot that were apex predators, didn't you? Spending so much time with them has changed your opinion of them. To the point that they stopped registering as a threat, yes?"
AC: "HUMAN DAVE, PLEASE!"
The Viscer-Tel hears the panic in Captain's voice, immediately flies onto his shoulder, and squawks at the approaching Aflarrians warningly.
HD: "Alright, alright. Guys, it's alright. He's still learning."
The Aflarrians stop, and turn to look at Human Dave.
Human Dave smiles at them, stretches out his arms in a hugging gesture, and they come back to him, settling down either in his lap, or in front of him.
HD, smiling: "Aw, you guys are just so cute!"
Human Dave starts stroking them, and purring sounds begin filling up the cargo hold.
Captain stands there, stunned that the Aflarrians had done such a thing.
AC: "Human Dave, how did you do that?"
HD: "Do what?"
AC: "Stop them with mere words."
HD: "Well, Captain, there's a lot more than just mere words happening."
AC: "..."
HD: "First, there is a foundation of trust between us. They know that I won't hurt them, and they, in turn, won't hurt me. I give them attention, food; basically, lives where they don't have to do too much, other than play with the human, and occasionally hunt down some rats or pirate scum."
AC: "..."
HD: "But they are very smart. They know how to follow simple instructions, and even have some limited understanding of my language. They even understood that you didn't mean what you said, after a little placating on my part. And the little interaction taught you a valuable lesson."
AC: "... what is that, Human Dave?"
HD: "That even if you don't pack-bond easily, or for very long, that doesn't mean that others are the same way."
AC: "... exactly how was that lesson taught to me, Human Dave?"
HD: "When the Aflarrians started moving towards you, what else happened?"
AC: "... the Viscer-Tel came to my shoulder."
HD: "Exactly. You might not see it as family, but it already considers you as such. It didn't even hesitate to stand up for you, and try to protect you from what it perceived as a threat to you. Just like the Aflarrians did when they thought the Viscer-Tel was threatening me."
An expression of shock appears on Captain's face, and the Viscer-Tel puts a wing over his head.
Human Dave laughs aloud, which startles the Aflarrians in front of him.
HD: "Oh, sorry, guys. I think it's about time to feed you now."
The Aflarrians perk up again, and start moving out of the cargo hold.
HD: "They already know where to go. Are you coming, Captain?"
AC: "?"
HD: "I'll assume you haven't fed the Viscer-Tel yet. It needs to eat as well."
AC: "... ah. Yes, Human Dave."
HD: "Might be best if you're the one to feed the little guy. If you're going to keep him, it'll be good to get both of you used to the routine."
First
Previous

So I just finished the main story line of the game and I wanted to give my hindsite advice for those who may start it after I. Firstly I want to mention I looked at builds before but blew it off a little and in the end many gave advice I likely should have heeded but all the same building any way you like won't hurt you to much. That being said im going to get into my opinions on builds. My biases are I don't like to use consumables and I love stealth and since there is zero downside in the game for using dark magic I totally use it. First the combat spells:
The game has various mechanics that encourage you to have one of each of the thre types of spells (control, force, attack) when fighting. Most notably in enemies that put up shields whose color indicates the type of spell that will break it and alos in bosses who have mechanics where you have to hit a color ball with the spell type whose color is the same (for ref control - yellow, force - blue, attack - red). So I will go into each type in turn.
Control Spells - I find the control spells in combat to be of limited value. The take an enemy out of combat for a bit which on the surface seems great but it runs into a basic resource of the game which is it takes time to cast all spells and you can't cast them concurrently. So two attack spells can take out a typical enemy if one of them is a high damage one. Not always but I find that its pretty common. One attack spell will almost never take an enemy out. So you can hit an enemy with control and then hit them with two attack spells and permanently take them out. Or you can hit them wil two attack spells and permanently take them out. The control just caused it to take 3 actions instead of two. Spells have cooldown so that is when I tend to start using the control spells but it does depend on combat and they do have their uses. Anyway since I feel control spells are of limited use then one particular one stands out and that is glacius. Even unupgraded it increase the damage enemies take so its basically a buff to your attacks. None of the others do that and when the talent upgrade is taken it will damage enemies a bit in an area effect which is just way better than anything else control spells have to offer. That being said in second place I put levioso in second as its upgraded form will levitate 3 foes which mitigates the whol action economy issue with control spells in the game. Next is transformation just because of the cool factor, its upgraded form can do damage but it sorta adds to the action economy issue to and is not always going to be conistently used. Maybe if I was better at it I would rank it harder but I found using the exploding barrels to difficult to get off. Last on my list is arresto momentum. It does not really have much going for it and its upgraded form is it will apply a curse and what I found is that the actual dark magic curses apply curses much more than any of the normal spells and having all 3 apply curse (which yes I did do) does not really help spreading curses around. You really only need it on one and there is one that stands out with that which I will discuss in...
Force spells - Force spells are a bit like control spells but they are more of interupts and they do not last as long as control spells but in return in some cases may do damage. Im going to talk about these a bit differently in that im going to compare their stock forms and then their upgraded forms seperately. So my personal favorite is the first one you get which is accio. It has no chance of causing damage so you would think I would put it lower but I like stealth and it allows you to do the scorpion from mortal combat get over here to enemies pulling them away from the group and beating them up while their fellows do nothing about it. In addition your first combat spell, incendio, is short range and it has handy synergy with it. Next I would list depulso as it can smack opponents or objects into each other and do some damage but more importantly it can knock enemies off drops that will cause instant death which makes it one of the few and earliest obtained instant death spells in the game (this would be higher due to this except later you can get the same effect from bombarda). After that I put descendo as it can cause damage on a consistant basis but works best when paired with levioso. Lastly I put flipendo which really just acts as a worse version of levioso but with a very short cooldown which is sorta nice. Ok so the reason I am doing this twice with the upgraded version is because when these spells are upgraded their order literally reverses for me. Flipendo when upgraded applies the curse effect and since it has I think the shortest cooldown in the game for spells it makes it the best normal spell to apply the curse effect. A cursed enemy takes more damage so it basically makes it the force version of glacious. Next descendo will knock enemies around it back which basically means it can do the insta kill just like repulso as it does this effect at the point of attack. Repulso moves under descendo because it has the same effect but originating from you. So while descendo can do it far away with far away enemies and close with close enemies, repulso will only do it around you. Lastly upgraded accio is actually worse than unupgraded. Because much like levioso it now effects 3 opponents which ruins its ability to peel off a foe one at a time. If the game gave you enough talent points to get all talents I would never spend one on accio and end with one unused point.
attack spells - so the thing about combat spells is they are very situational. Unlike the control and force spells which I largely keep the same and only move around for a better spell I just picked up or do to non combat reasons. For combat though I bar and large keep my control/force spells the same and change out my attack spells. That being said I will give them an order. First I will give confingo. The reason is because its the workhorse attack spell of the game. If you only could have one attack spell you would want it to be confringo because it is a fire spell and some enemies straight out have to be damaged by fire to defeat while others take additional damage from it but also because it is long range and its upgrade causes the most consistant multitarget damage in the game being two enemy seeking missiles. Lastly fire spells are the only attack spells with non combat function. Number two is bombarda as it is the largest area effect damage spell in the game and can knock enemies for insta kill effect and does the second highest damage (sorry I upgraded this as I got it so I only have experience with the upgraded form). Three is diffindo becuase its the highest damage single target spell in the game. Its upgraded form may allow for multi hits but is of limited usefulness since they have to be in a line. Next is EXPELLIARMUS as it debuffs enemies that wield a weapon so acts a bit like a control/force spell and damage at the same time. It has a low cooldown but its damage is low and its upgrade is overshadowed by its just better to put it on flipendo. You do get it early so its not a total waste to upgrade. Lastly I put incendio mainly because of its short range which is really to bad because it does good damge with not to bad a cooldown and is minorly multitarget in its vanilla form and majorly multitarget when upgraded. Accio helps bring enemies into its range so when paired with it, it gets much better but a good amount of enemies can't be acciod so even that usage is limited compared to others. All the same I recommend upgrading it as it is the king spell for dealing with inferi.
Ok having done with spells im going to speak about talents and building. So firstly having more spell sets is huge in the game so I recommend using your first two talent points for spell knowledge 1 and 2. Next I would take basic spell mastery because reducing cooldowns is the next most useful thing to me. Next I would do swift so your roll becomes a teleport. I did it early as I thought it looked cool but dodging and protecto are huge in combat and while you can't protecto an attack that requires dodge you can often dodge attacks that protecto can stop. Next I would do the two stealth ones although this does get into if you want to use stealth a lot or not. I would then take stunning curse to add more offense to protecto. Next I would do Incendio Mastery because even though I put it last in attack spell ranking it is massive for dealing with inferi. Next I would do Confringo Mastery partly because of inferi but now just because of its workhorse top spell aspect. Then Knockback Curse followed by Blood Curse. Finally Protego Absorption and if I have done my math right that would be level 16 and I would then go Revelio Mastery as revelio is just massive in the game followed by Spell Knowledge because spell sets are so important. Then Protego Expertise and Stupefy Mastery as they are basically free hits/effects and great for action economy. then Sense of Secrecy 2 and lastly Enduring Curse. Again if my map is right this should be level 22 and I would grab Curse Sapper followed by Imperio Mastery and Crucio Mastery. I would do Avada Kedavra Mastery but I delayed playing the main quest as much as I could while not going crazy to get 100% on side stuff. I basically did as many side quests as possible. As such Avada Kedavra Mastery I think did not come for me until after level 30. So instead I would grab Stupefy Expertise then Glacius Mastery. I would get Bombarda Mastery and Avada Kedavra Mastery as soon as I got the spells but would otherwise pick up ancient magic things. At this point it does not matter much and Im not even sure how I would finish it off. Im at level 35 having ended the game and I tried to do as much as I could before the end without trying to 100% all the things like merlin trials and such. So it will take a lot of effort to be much higher level before the end. Anyway I hope this helps someone.

I did the top 10 worst Veto uses and the top 10 best Veto uses. Now I’m gonna do the worst Veto holds, meaning times someone won the Veto and chose to keep the nominations the same when they should have saved one of the nominees. I’ll be judging these by a combination of how much the Veto holder hurt their own game and how unreasonable I think the move was, so an entry will get a lower spot the more I have to rely on hindsight to say they were wrong.
10. Paulie (BB18 F10)
Paulie, Paul, and Victor were a trio that was running the house. Victor won HoH and wanted Zakiyah out, but Paulie was in a showmance with Zakiyah and wanted to keep her. Victor put Zakiyah up against Michele despite Paulie’s objections. Paulie continued to campaign for keeping Zakiyah, straining his relationship with Victor and Paul.
Paulie went on to win the Veto and, despite how invested he was in protecting Zakiyah, he kept nominations the same, believing he had the votes to keep her. He also spent the week making Natalie very uncomfortable, which motivated her and Bridgette to help Paul and Victor take out Zakiyah, isolating Paulie from the house and evicting him two rounds later.
I actually don’t think it was a bad move to not use the Veto, but that’s just because I don’t think Paulie should have fought so hard to keep her in the first place. If he is going to campaign so hard for her and jeopardize his alliance with Paul and Victor over it, he should at least commit and save her himself when he has the chance. This move is on the list because of the bad gameplay during the week surrounding the Veto hold more than the Veto hold itself. That’s why I have it at the bottom, as I feel like it kind of goes against the spirit of the list
9. Nicole (BB22 F5)
Nicole won HoH, her first competition win for the season. She nominated Memphis and Christmas as they were the two players she was the least close with. She continued her streak by also winning the Veto. Christmas pitched for Nicole to save her, pointing out that they’re the last two girls left and should look out for each other. Nicole didn’t use the Veto and Memphis was evicted, followed by Christmas, followed by Nicole who was evicted by Cody.
If Nicole used the Veto on Christmas, she could have put up Cody and would have the votes to evict him. This would’ve significantly increased her chances of winning the final HoH, and she’d still have a decent chance of making it to three, as she’d not only have Christmas fighting for her, but could possibly leverage at least a one week alliance with Memphis if she told him he was Cody’s target and she was saving him. She’d also massively increase her win equity by not only removing her biggest jury threat, but also getting the credit for making the move.
I have this near the bottom because it’s the move I’m relying most on hindsight to criticize. Christmas tried to take her out during the triple eviction and Memphis would have taken her out this week, so I understand her hesitancy to work with either of them.
More generally, based on the comp win distribution so far, she probably wasn’t too confident she could take herself to the end. Since she’s a former winner, she also probably wasn’t too confident someone else would take herself to the end. This makes it totally understandable why she’d feel the need to keep Cody in the game, as they had a pregame relationship and him evicting her is the most iconic moment of the season specifically because it was so unexpected.
With that being said, Cody had one of the most dominant wins in Big Brother, so it’s hard to overlook when someone had such a clean shot to take him out. Evicting him would’ve increased the chance of Nicole getting 4th, but it also would’ve increased her chance of winning. Keeping him increased her chance of getting 3rd or even 2nd place, but ultimately narrows her path to victory.
8. Cliff (BB21 F6)
Nicole won HoH, her first competition win for the season (Deja Vu). She had to choose between two duos, Tommy and Christie or Jackson and Holly. She nominated the former. Her closest ally, Cliff, won the Veto, making this the first time Jackson didn’t have some sort of hard safety since Jessica’s HoH. They passed on this opportunity, kept nominations the same, and evicted Christie. Jackson resumed his winning streak, and took out Cliff at four and Nicole at three.
It’s often talked about how Nicole and Cliff didn’t weaken Jackson’s game by evicting Holly at five, yet a week before this, they had a chance to take out Jackson directly. If they did, there’s a decent chance that they control the rest of the game. Cliff could feasibly win the F5 HoH with Jackson gone, Nicole did win the F5 Veto and probably still does, and she also probably wins the F4 Veto without Jackson.
I have this low on the list because I am relying on knowledge of how the challenges played out after this point. Before this point, Nicole and Cliff have struggled with competitions and relied on Jackson to protect them. Taking him out would’ve made them have to rely on themselves, which was very risky at this point.
This was a risk worth taking though, as even without hindsight, it was clear this would be the last chance to take Jackson out.
7. Judd (BB15 F6)
Judd had a F2 deal with Elissa and was recently included in the “Exterminators” alliance which was now in control of the game. The Exterminators had just evicted Amanda, leaving McCray and Elissa on the bottom. Julie announced today would be a double eviction. McCray won HoH, putting the Exterminators in trouble until he put Elissa up. Judd won the Veto, putting him at a crossroads. He could save Elissa and guarantee an Exterminator is evicted, or he could leave her there and let the Exterminators vote her out. He opted for the latter, Elissa was evicted, and Judd went out next week when McCray’s Veto win forced the Exterminators to turn on each other.
If Judd saved Elissa, he would have kept someone who’d have protected him if she won HoH, and who would act as a shield for him if she didn’t. This means he at least makes F4 and probably makes it further than that.
This is kind of the inverse of the last two entries. Elissa is a physical threat that has a good shot of winning the jury vote, and I just criticized Nicole F and Cliff for not taking out that kind of player. However, Elissa isn’t a comp threat to the point that Cody or Jackson are, so I don’t think this would necessarily be the last chance to take her out. Also, Judd was already evicted for being one of the most well liked players of the season, so he can afford the risk of keeping around another jury threat.
There’s also the risk that Elissa and McCray find out about the Exterminators and become closer with each other than with Judd. Although it’s much better to be the odd man out in a group of three than a group of four. Plus Judd would have the option of ping ponging between the two sides of the house, something he couldn’t do when he let Elissa leave.
6. Zach (BB8 F5)
Dick and Daniele had just evicted Jessica, making them the last duo in the game. It was a double eviction and Dick won HoH, putting up Eric and Jameka with Eric as the target. Zach won the Veto. If he used it, Daniele would be the only eligible replacement. He opted to instead let Eric leave and target Dick and Daniele later, but it was too late. Daniele won the final Veto and Dick won the final HoH, securing control for the rest of the season.
Zach did this because Eric was the biggest jury threat while Dick and Daniele were the smallest, so by evicting Eric first, Zach maximizes his odds of winning if he makes it to the end. However, he also minimizes his chances of making it to the end in the first place. Eric was recognized as the biggest jury threat and only won one challenge at that point, so there’s a high chance he’d be vulnerable again for at least one of the next two evictions.
Daniele on the other hand, was the biggest physical threat of the season and wouldn’t take anyone but Dick to the end. Zach was backing himself into a corner by keeping her. If he evicted her, he clears the way for himself to win the remaining challenges, and he’d still have Dick in the game to take as a goat.
Now, it was Dick that won the final HoH, so with hindsight, you could say it didn’t matter what Zach did at five. Either the final HoH is still won by Dick, who evicts Zach for revenge, or it’s won by whoever took Daniele’s place in the final three, who evicts Zach so they can win against Dick.
Even with this hindsight, I still think Zach’s odds were better if he took out Daniele. He could still reconcile with Dick at four, saying “the jurors love Eric and Jameka. Hate me if you want, but I’m the only person here you might beat at the end”. I don’t think Dick’s very likely to keep Zach after he evicted his daughter, but it’s certainly more likely than Dick keeping Zach over his daughter. Also, Jameka is an emotional player, so if she makes F3 and wins HoH, she may take Zach to the end because he deserves it more than Dick. Even if Zach can’t beat her, he at least gets 2nd place now.
There’s also the final 7, where Eric won the Veto and had the chance to backdoor Dick or Daniele. I chose not to include it, as him being “America’s Player” resulted in production telling him he couldn’t use the Veto, so it’s not fair to criticize him for a choice that wasn’t his.
5. Frankie (BB16 F6)
Derrick. Cody and Caleb have just passed on an opportunity to backdoor Frankie. Caleb let the cat out of the bag by telling Frankie they were considering it. Julie announced today would be a double eviction. Derrick won HoH and put up Christine and Victoria. Frankie won the Veto, not only squashing any further backdoor attempts, but also giving him a chance to retaliate, as Derrick would be forced to put up Cody or Caleb if the Veto were used. Frankie passed, Christine was evicted and Frankie was next.
Frankie was going to F5 as the best physical player, the biggest jury threat (besides maybe Derrick), and the house target. His best approach is to take out the next best physical threats to ensure his own chances of winning his way to the end. I don’t even need hindsight to say this, as he knew he was almost backdoored last round. Derrick would’ve probably put up Caleb, but it doesn’t even matter. Both Caleb and Cody were needed to make Frankie vulnerable, so taking out either of them would suffice.
The biggest argument against making this move is that, even though the guys considered backdooring him, they ultimately chose to keep him. This gives Frankie some reason to think they’d still keep him if he’s vulnerable again. If he tries to make a move and it fails, he makes himself even more of a target and eliminates any safety net he may have had if he loses a challenge.
If he attempts this move, Caleb and Cody would each vote to keep the other, and Victoria is basically just an extra vote for Derrick. This means he’d need to rope in Christine. She’s had an uneasy relationship with Frankie, but I think he could repair that by saving her from eviction. She also must know she’s on the bottom, so I think she would work with him this round to disrupt the power structure, which is all that Frankie needs from her.
There’s also F5 where Frankie again could’ve backdoored Caleb or Cody and didn’t. If he made the move, it would’ve backfired due to the reset button. Even though Frankie didn’t know specifically about the reset, he did know there’d be some sort of twist, so playing cautiously was a good call.
While I’m on the topic of the reset button… It did screw Frankie over, but it didn’t kill his game. It just made it more difficult by adding one more week where he needed to win safety. Everything I said about the double eviction is equally true with or without the reset button.
4. Michael (BB24 F7)
The “Leftovers” are pretty much dissolved. Michael was the biggest physical threat, and had just become a bigger target due to his and Brittany’s handling of the Kyle situation. He kept himself safe by winning HoH. He put up Terrence and Alyssa, as they were the picks that would create the least waves. He gunned for the Veto, stating that he was well past throwing comps to manage his threat level, and won it for an unprecedented sixth time.
Brittany, the only player looking out for Michael, pushed for him to backdoor Turner or Monte. Michael ignored these pleas, kept noms the same, and Terrence was evicted. Michael left minutes later when Monte and Turner backdoored him at the double eviction.
Michael’s reasoning was that he wanted to take out the smaller threats and keep the bigger targets as shields, but nobody comes even close to being a shield for Michael. Like Frankie, he was at a point where winning his way to the end was not only feasible, but necessary, so his best course of action is to take out the other physical threats to make that easier. I don’t think I’m relying on hindsight, as Michael said himself that he’s well past threat management.
He didn’t want to evict Turner because he didn’t want to punish him for putting his game aside for a bigger issue during the Kyle situation. Fair enough, but he still could’ve taken out Monte. You could say I’m relying on hindsight here, as Monte only won one challenge so far and went on his winning streak after this week. Again though, I don’t think I am, as Michael said during his first HoH that he sees Monte as the type of player who starts sweeping competitions during the endgame.
3. Jessica (BB19 F13)
Jessica was on the bottom, but her luck turned around when Cody re-entered the game and she won HoH. She wanted Josh out, but she also wanted to cause as few waves as possible, so she put up Ramses as a pawn. This was a mistake as Paul already wanted Ramses out and so had no motivation to let Josh go. Jessica earned a chance to correct her mistake when she won the Veto. Ramses suspected the vote would be flipped on him and shared these concerns with Jessica, but she chose to keep nominations the same. Ramses was evicted 7-3 and Jessica was the next out.
This is a clear case of overcorrection. Jessica was put on the bottom due to Cody attempting a big move and failing, so she tried to compensate by making nominations that would keep everyone happy. The problem is, when you put up a pawn without any connections, you need to have a lot of connections yourself if you want the house to keep them. Jessica didn’t and she knew it.
If she saved Ramses and replaced him with Alex, she would have ensured Josh goes home or at the very least put Paul in a position where they’d need to make sacrifices to keep him. She’d also secure Ramses as a number, which in addition to Mark and Elena, means she’d enter the F12 with a five person alliance and her Halting Hex. This is a much more solid position than where Jessica actually ended up, especially when you consider that Josh won the next “proper” HoH, and without him, it’d have gone to a tiebreaker between Cody and Christmas. I’m not going to hold the last part against her, as I’m relying on knowledge of future challenges, but everything else I said still stands.
2. Jason (BB19 F8)
Paul’s minions had just wiped out all the outsiders and now just had to sit patiently and wait for Paul to tell them in what order to evict themselves. Jason should have been the next out, but unknowingly stopped Paul’s plans by winning HoH.
Matt was the new target. The plan was to nominate him and Raven, tell them Kevin was the target, use the Veto on Raven, and put up Kevin to keep the week going smoothly. Jason won the Veto, but he got paranoid that Kevin really was the target. He kept nominations the same, guaranteeing that either Matt or Raven would go home. Matt was still the target, but he and Raven spent the rest of the week putting as much negative attention on Jason as they could.
This move didn’t ultimately matter, as Jason would’ve been the next out regardless, but Jason didn’t know that. He thought he, Alex, and Paul were the core three running the house, in which case, Jason is burning through a lot of social capital to protect someone who doesn’t really have much to offer him. If he’s really adamant about keeping Kevin off the block, he could have still used the Veto on Raven and put up Josh or Christmas, claiming they’re the new target. It still would have annoyed everyone, but to a lesser extent.
Even with the knowledge that he was on the bottom, this was still the worst move he could have made. If he went along with the plan, he’d preserve some good will, which might take the target off of him next week. If he was already willing to go against the house, he might as well have gone all the way and tried to backdoor Paul. That move is highly unlikely to work, but would shift momentum in his favor on the off chance it did.
Even though Paul wanted the Veto to be used, they ironically benefited from it not being used. It increased Jason’s target size, which made it that much easier for Paul to form a house consensus against him. It also gave Paul deniability. If Matt were sitting next to Kevin, Paul would have to justify and/or hide their part in evicting Matt to keep Raven on their side. Now, Matt was actively trying to get evicted so Raven would be safe, meaning Paul could just vote how they wanted and basically take the rest of the week off.
1. Marcellus (BB3 F5)
Jason was HoH and put up Marcellus and Amy. It was announced that this week’s Veto would be the first ever Golden Veto, meaning that now nominees could save themselves instead of relying on someone else to save them. Marcellus won the Veto, Danielle convinced him he would be safe no matter what, so he decided not to use it, only to be evicted by Jason in a tiebreaker vote, as he said “You should’ve used the Veto”
With every other entry, I’ve had to rely on some level of speculation and/or hindsight to explain why the Veto should’ve been used. This time, I don’t have to. If you don’t use the Veto, you might make final four. If you use the Veto, you’re guaranteed final four. End of discussion.
The only defense I can make is that it was extremely early in the show’s history and he was tricked by one of the show’s greatest players. Neither of these defenses hold much weight to me though, as Marcellus acknowledged that using the Veto is the obvious move while he was announcing he wouldn’t use it.
Marcellus said that he would’ve felt selfish if he used the Veto and that he didn’t want Danielle or Lisa to go through what he went through. If you want to make a suboptimal move for the sake of altruism, fine, but you should realize that doing so could result in you losing the game (that’s kind of the part that makes it selfless). Marcellus didn’t, as he didn’t even pack in preparation of being evicted.

I'm in a new lvl 1 campaign of Princes of the Apocalypse based in the Eberron setting if it helps and I am making a character, and please no spoilers. I am well aware this is a known build I am not the originator of this just thought it was neat and thought I'd try it :) I am going for Armourer Artificer 3, Abjuration Wizard X Here's the build:

• Rolled stats: Str 12, Dex 14, Con 20, Int 18, Wis 15, Cha 9
• Mark of Warding Dwarf; ASI in Con+2 and Int+1
• Artificer lvl1; Arcana Perception, Thieves Tools, Tinkers Tools, Forgery Kit
• Auditor Background from Morgraves; Insight Stealth, Disguise Kit, Language? (Marked if it differs from Published material)
• Spells; Guidance, Booming Blade or Green Flame Blade. Armour of Agathys, Cure Wounds, Disguise Self, Feather Fall, LongstrideAbsorb Elements.

The Idea of the character is based on being a tanky boy, using Booming Blade and Thunder Gauntlets to lock enemies into facing me instead of my team, where they then have to combat my AC which when I level I can augment with; artificer infusions, better armour and shield when I have wizard levels. Then they have to take damage from Armour of Agathys which with wizard levels should last twice as long with my arcane ward up.
The plan is to get Eldritch Adept as my first ASI to use my arcane ward as much as possible. My question is, should I go to Artificer 3, then hit Wizard X or stay Artificer 1 until I hit Wizard X before I head back to Artificer for the Armourer features? Or some other combination? I am somewhat worried that delaying my progression in either class may have undesirable effects on my effectiveness for my build. Right now I'm thinking Artificer 1 - Wizard - 2 going back to Artificer until I hit level 5, then heading back to Wizard for the remainder of the game. Please let me know your thoughts on any aspect of the build I'll put my reasoning in the first comment.
Tldr - I want help with my levelling progression on my Mark of Warding Dwarf Artificer 3, Wizard X

I’m a little over a month from turning 30 and it’s pretty daunting going into that alone. With the final stage of grief is acceptance so at this point I have to accept that my social skills are straight up trash. So here I am! Looking for my best friend on Reddit.
Before we get started, here’s a picture of me if you wanna see the bag of bones you’re talking to: https://imgur.com/gallery/7Z75WAV
I think my biggest issue is that most of the things I like to do aren’t traditional “guy” things to do. I’m not into sports, fishing, golf, cars or anything like that. I enjoy books and libraries, I spend a ton of time at book stores. I also listen to way too many audiobooks while I’m driving, working or just too mentally exhausted to exist. It’s to the pint where I’m at almost 8 months of listening time on audible. So if you’re into that and doing reading challenges on goodreads, you should definitely shoot me a message! Outside of my unhealthy coping mechanism of hiding in books, I also love food, games of all kinds, cold weather, lazy days binge rewatching my favorite shows and hoarding hoodies. I’m an elder emo kid and I pretty much dress the exact same way I did in high school. Now that I mention it, I listen to the same bands as I did in high school outside of the cool songs I find on TikTok. I love going to anime conventions, the renaissance festival, musicals, movies and concerts.
Some boring stuff about me: I work as a devops engineer remotely so I do t get outside of the house much. I hate the heat and humidity, so Kansas City during the summer has me stick to anywhere with AC.
What I’m looking for: Pretty much anyone as long as you are also an adult, you aren’t racist and you’re LGBTQ+ friendly. I’d love for us to have some shared hobbies and some different hobbies so we can introduce each other to new stuff. It would also be awesome if you lived in/near Kansas City but not definitely required, especially if you’d be cool with eventually meeting in the future!
What I can offer you: - Bad jokes - Recommendation of books and manga/anime - Companionship - Someone to tag along to things you’d rather not do alone

I’m a little over a month from turning 30 and it’s pretty daunting going into that alone. With the final stage of grief is acceptance so at this point I have to accept that my social skills are straight up trash. So here I am! Looking for my best friend on Reddit.
Before we get started, here’s a picture of me if you wanna see the bag of bones you’re talking to: https://imgur.com/gallery/7Z75WAV
I think my biggest issue is that most of the things I like to do aren’t traditional “guy” things to do. I’m not into sports, fishing, golf, cars or anything like that. I enjoy books and libraries, I spend a ton of time at book stores. I also listen to way too many audiobooks while I’m driving, working or just too mentally exhausted to exist. It’s to the pint where I’m at almost 8 months of listening time on audible. So if you’re into that and doing reading challenges on goodreads, you should definitely shoot me a message! Outside of my unhealthy coping mechanism of hiding in books, I also love food, games of all kinds, cold weather, lazy days binge rewatching my favorite shows and hoarding hoodies. I’m an elder emo kid and I pretty much dress the exact same way I did in high school. Now that I mention it, I listen to the same bands as I did in high school outside of the cool songs I find on TikTok. I love going to anime conventions, the renaissance festival, musicals, movies and concerts.
Some boring stuff about me: I work as a devops engineer remotely so I do t get outside of the house much. I hate the heat and humidity, so Kansas City during the summer has me stick to anywhere with AC.
What I’m looking for: Pretty much anyone as long as you are also an adult, you aren’t racist and you’re LGBTQ+ friendly. I’d love for us to have some shared hobbies and some different hobbies so we can introduce each other to new stuff. It would also be awesome if you lived in/near Kansas City but not definitely required, especially if you’d be cool with eventually meeting in the future!
What I can offer you: - Bad jokes - Recommendation of books and manga/anime - Companionship - Someone to tag along to things you’d rather not do alone

Look, I'm not someone who has hated Marvel's Disney Plus output. In fact, I think a lot of it has been really good. However, I really wish they hadn't folded Marvel Television under Marvel Studios. I understand why Iger thought it was a good idea but, as a fan, I feel like we ended up losing a lot more than we gained.
I know the Netflix Marvel output wasn't always great. Some of it was embarrasingly terrible. It's hard to deny though that, when they got it right, they really got it right. Their best stuff is miles better than Marvel Studios' best stuff.
Imagine a 'Moon Knight' show by the same team that made 'Daredevil'.
Imagine 'The Falcon and The Winter Soldier' but with less limitations and more episodes. That John Walker sequence would have hit so much harder if we had seen more than a tiny bit of dry blood on the shield.
Imagine 'Hawkeye' with more episodes and an even more grounded approach.
I guess what I'm saying is that I wish they had kept Marvel Television around but strengthened the relationship between them and Marvel Studios. That way we could have had crossovers between both sides of the MCU while keeping the quality of some of the previous shows. Now I'm really concerned about how Feige is going to handle characters like Daredevil, Kingpin, and Punisher going forward.
Thoughts?

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In a mobile shipyard:

Lord Justiciar Brexdron was more than willing to accept the demotion to captain. His responsibilities as an enforcement officer notwithstanding, this took precedence. Like all Star Sailors, he raged. He raged at the cowardly attack on a peaceful diplomatic ship, he raged at the murder of an almost holy ship, but most of all, he raged at the murder of kin. His mother had grown up on that ship. His grandmother had grown up on that ship. While the Dron patrilineal line had its honors and venerable deeds, he instead had the most pride in the name his sisters carried. His grandmother Trandi "Lucy" Drilldi had pioneered the Mental Health ships for Republican veterans, as a way to ease servicemen into post-service life if they couldn't stand being stationary, Negotiated the RNI Justiciar compliments, and started a minor "best girl" cult by accident. His mother also had an impressive list of honors, as she was the first Star Sailor combat corpsman in the Republican Navy, and while she was a part of a generation of Star Sailors following the example of Linus the Rescuer, they had earned the Star Sailors a high regard within the Republic, giving them a special place unlike that they enjoyed among the stars of any other nation. Any Star Sailor ship, in any nation, was considered Republican space for the purposes of triggering mutual defense treaties, effectively making every Star Sailor under Republican protection, wherever they were, a privilege not extended by any other nation.
All of this made the Murder of the Among the Star Tides We Sing particularly painful to him, and the loss of his kin aboard certainly was no balm. In just a few hours, he would be Captain Brexdron again, unless other captains wished to form a flotilla or even a fleet with him. It was likely he would be at the very least Sir Commandant Brexdron before the day was out, if not Lord Admiral. Not one on the council, not unless his fleet wished him to have a seat, but he wasn't much one for political office. He surveyed the latest war vessel his people had built from keel up, the Among the Star Tides We Rage, and again doubted his decision to volunteer for her captaincy. Was he truly competent to captain a dreadnaught? Could he lead other captains and their ships into the fires of war? These questions and more tugged at his mind as he watched Star Sailors work together with the various races of Terrans in the shipyard.
He knew better than most how the adorable Humans could become more than a little frightful under the right circumstances, and this was one. In the Republic, shipbuilding and modification is a highly competitive field, and firms would rise or fall in the span of mere decades, and the forward sight was ever pressed on by high winds. In this case, the most prestigious shipbuilding firm had sent their top engineers and technicians to assist in the construction of the Among the Star Tides We Rage, and asked for not a single credit, ounce of gold, rare earth deposit, or other medium of exchange in return. They wanted only to sign their names on the keel, a purely ceremonial location of the structure.
As a Lord Justiciar, he'd had a contingent of Terrans in his Landers, and he personally knew that the Humans were the most terrifying. Even though the "uplifts" as they were called had certain unique physical attributes that they had adapted to shipboard fighting admirably, especially the Chimpmandos, but the ingenuity and sheer stubbornness of Humans made them a terror to any criminal vessel they boarded. That, and their ability to survive a ride in a boarding torpedo. This was why he'd requested the Republican Navy send some RNI Shipboard Troopers to fill out her infantry complement. However, unlike the We Sing, the We Rage would have a mixed formation of Star Sailors Landers aboard to provide fire support to the RNI troopers. The Chief Admiral of Republican forces herself had created a formation, plucked the top preforming troopers out of the top preforming formations, except the Lost Boys, and created the Vengeful Vanguard. "Here is the tip of your spear, strike true," she had written.
Additionally, he was reuniting with an old friend. "She's as big as one of our battleships," said that friend over the speakers.
"Aye Marv. Plenty of room for you and your squad."
"Did I ever thank you for saving our ship?" M4rv1n asked.
"Many times, Sergeant? It is sergeant now?"
"Active rank Sergeant, permanent rank Captain, yes."
"A demotion for you as well?"
"Nominally, I still keep my paygrade and clearance."
"My paygrade has increased due to captaining a dreadnaught."
"Your escorts will be ships-of-the line rather than sloops, huh?"
"Aye."
"I'm glad it's you, sir."
"I requested you when I saw your name on the volunteer list. You can still back out, you know. You've already proven your courage."
"They have slaves," M4rvin said over the speakers.
"Aye."

In the harsh conditions of the creatively named Republican Services Hazardous Environment Training Facility 14:

Emily Sullivan ignored the sweat dripping from the tip of her nose as she struggled to suture the simulated wound on a simulated victim. She ignored the splatters of sweat on the inside of her faceplate. She even ignored the ache in her muscles as she forced her armor to move through low power mode. She had a harder time ignoring Instructor Tech Harambe screaming at her, "MOVE IT TT! YOUR PATIENT IS BLEADING OUT TT! YOUR ARMOR IS RUNNING LOW ON POWER TT! ARE YOU TRYING TO STITCH A PRETTY PATTERN SULLIVAN? HOW ARE YOU GOING TO EVAC YOUR PATIENT IF YOUR ARMOR SHUTS DOWN TT?"
"If my armor shuts down I'll get out and walk, IT!"
"WHAT? I THINK I HERAD A LITTLE MOUSE SQUEAK TT, OR WAS THAT YOUR PUNY LITTLE CIVVY VOICE, TT?"
"IF MY ARMOR SHUTS DOWN I'LL GET OUT AND WALK, IT!" She shouted into her helmet mic, all the while she diligently tied off the suture.
"IS THAT SO YOU LITTLE TWIG? YOU THINK YOU CAN CARRY A FULLY GROWN STAR SAILOR FIVE CLICKS UNAIDED? SAY THAT AGAIN AND I'LL SUT YOUR ARMOR DOWN SO YOU CAN SHOW ME!"
"IF MY ARMOR SHUTS DOWN, WE GET OUT, IF THE FLOOR FALLS THROUGH, WE GO DEEPER, IF THE PATIENT HAS GIVEN UP, WE DON'T LET THEM. I AM SAR CORPS! I DO NOT STOP, I DO NOT GIVE UP! IF MY TOOLS BREAK I WILL IMPROVISE, IF I BREAK THE PATIENT DIES, THERFORE I MUST BE UNBREAKABLE!" Trainee Tech Sullivan screamed as she shouldered the simulated patient and began to exfiltrate from the simulated burning building. Simulated only in the sense that the building that was on fire could be set alight over, and over, and over again. "NO POWER" flashed across her faceplate display, and she forced her grip to loosen and exited her armor to face the sweltering heat. Then, she did exactly like she said, and shouldered the simulated patient and struggled under the weight to ensure that she did not cause further injuries to the extraction point.
"Good work Trainee Tech," Instructor Tech Harambe said as he dumped cooling water over his trainee. "Good work."
"Thank you IT," she panted.
"We'll go over your performance for this exercise in half an hour, get some water, get some rest, and try to be tough. You get to know how many simulated patients didn't make it."
"Yes, IT."

In a recently conquered system within the Clans of Eldra:

Captain Lina Chen had been fighting over this planet for days. It was amazing how much fighting someone could do when a bunch of insane LLARP cultists pop out of nowhere and just take out one of the battleships with a single shot, and then proceed to engage the enemies. Their arrival had given the Warp Speed Battle Wagon precious opportunities to pull back and rest, both her stressed reactor and shield generators, and her officers, since the Roma Nova weirdos had this strategy of rotating two main groups to the forward and rear while a third, smaller group was held in reserve and provided support. Plus, that big, stupid temple ship had ammo depots in it somewhere, so she'd been able to restock twice to stay in the fight. Marcus and Mei both told her that their side was probably winning, and she agreed, but none of them really knew much about fighting anything other than pirates.
Even though they'd made a pretty spectacular arrival, and gotten the first kill of the battle before the weirdos ever showed up, the enemy had wised up and kept their shields up at all times and didn't hold back on their weapons. Alexei told her that the Romans were super confident, but they were crazy people, so their confidence wasn't exactly reliable, but the chatter he'd picked up from the enemy was more encouraging. It turned out that the Romans had sniped the bridge of the command and control ship of the enemy with their opening shot. Nobody said that crazy people weren't smart, and she wasn't complaining about fighting alongside them. Not that she'd go drinking with that weird Ponteflex guy, or whatever he was called.
Captain Chen had been keeping an eye on the crew, more than the ship, since her helmsman, weapons officer, and chief engineer had kept the ship from taking any damage. She didn't really get half of what Mei told her from the engine room about the reactor and shield generators, but she said that they were both running hot, but safe, and Jameson hadn't caused any structural stress with his crazy flying, so she kept an eye on the crew. They were starting to show signs of forcing their eyes open, of the exhaustion the added stress of fighting causes, and the slipping of their normal judgement and performance that might get someone hurt or killed. "Heave to," she ordered, "We're going to the back lines for a nap and a snack."
"You got it," Jameson said wearily.
"You too," Marcus said.
"I'm the captain on this tub."
"You want me to make you?" her XO rejoined half-jokingly.
"Two cruisers is a good kill count for this rotation," Maria said as she pulled her hands back from the weapons command station and stretched her arms into the air.
"Marcus," Captain Chen began, "you're not allowed to be that sexy in front of other girls. It's fine, I'll get my snack and my nap too. We'll split the bridge into watches in case something goes sideways."
"Got it cap," came the discordant reply from her bridge crew.
"Why couldn't these xenos have just kept charging at the Romans?" asked Alexei.
"How dare the enemy not be idiots and try to not get killed?" asked Maria.
"Exactly!"
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I feel I've done hours of due diligence, but only just realized I've yet to research the best inverters and whatever else I dunno that I don't know haha
I'm trying to install 13-16 panels to make 8-10k kWs a year in shadeless Houston. So I can increase my home usage (79F AC down to 75 here I come!) and have sort of black out backup.
1) Is the Enphase Sunlight Backup (ESB) expensive? If installed wall batteries are costing me $15k in quotes, I'd be willing to pay up to $3k for the ESB and hopefully run HVAC during sunniest hours. I've asked 2 salesman and they haven't responded, it is the weekend after all.
2) Are Enphase micro inverters worth the higher cost per watt $2.77 vs 2.59? Unfortunately it's not apples to apples since the installers are Infinity Energy (BBB A+) with Q cell BLK ML G10 400 vs Freedom Forever (BBB B+) with REC Alpha Pure 410. I think the REC is a better panel with less % loss to temp and time, but I'm pretty sure I'd rather the Made in USA Q cells. My main concern is if micro inverters blow power optimizers on the REC out of the water...
3) I've signed with Freedom Forever to even get a designer to come out with a real blueprint. But I can cancel with no issues till Wednesday I believe. Should I just wait till I know which inverter is good or bad and which ones are planned by the 2 installers before finalizing?
Extra: a friend has told me they regret not installing a Powerwall because no one wants to come out and install it now. Is there really no money to be made on batteries? I hear Powerwall 3 and Tesla V2H function along with Enphase bidrectional charger are all coming soon!
Edit: crossing out Q#1 thanks to y'all inputs~

Hello Everyone,
I’m looking to get some advice on a lingering shoulder injury, I have been dealing with for roughly 6 years now. I am a 26 year old male, 6’2”, 205lbs. I started lifting weights my senior year of highschool. Sometime in my sophomore year of college, I started dealing with some light left shoulder pain near the back of the armpit that would sometimes radiate into the shoulder blade. Back then I was able to work through it, but now it is getting to the point where i cant really do much of anything with that shoulder. Heres a brief chronology of my experience. Started feeling left shoulder pain, worked through it. Suffered an AC joint separation in the same shoulder (grade 1). Happened while curling, was in a sling for a while. Recovered well and kept working out. Shoulder really started to hurt while benching, went to the doctor and was sent to 12 weeks physical therapy. It helped out but I was never able to workout my chest at the same level as the rest of my body. Was able to lift for a few years relatively pain free, but it went bad again, and ended up back in PT, and it didn’t go well this time. Even the lightest exercises in PT hurt. I went back to my doctor who suggested I may have a torn Labrum then ordered an MRI with contrast and referred me to a specialist. I had the MRI, but the hospital did not do it with contrast, so the specialist could not tell if it was torn or not. They then said the best thing they could do was a cortisone shot. This helped for about 2 weeks then the pain returned. I never got another one.
At this point, after 2-3 years of doctors and PT, and thousands of dollars, I was frustrated and a broke college kid, so I stopped seeing doctors. I was able to continue to workout lightly, with manageable pain, for the past few years. That is no longer the case. Now any type of weight held in my left arm too long, will trigger it. Its evolved into pain at the far left side of the armpit, radiating to the shoulder blade like a strain, and when really bad there will be nerve pain radiating down my arm to my elbow. It can be triggered by just walking, leaving the shoulder unsupported for 30 mins to an hour.
Could this be a torn labrum? Any other thoughts on what it could be? Im skeptical about going back to doctors and getting no answers again. Should I go back anyway?
TLDR: left shoulder pain radiates to shoulder blade with nerve pain down the arm, triggered by lifting weights, stretching, and leaving shoulder unsupported for too long. Doctors and PT have historically been little help. Potential torn labrum??

Race - Tabaxi
Group Rolled Stats Strength-11 Dexterity-18 (16+2 from racial) Constitution-16 (15+1 from Resilient Con) Intelligence-13 Wisdom-13 Charisma-13 (12+1 from racial)
Starting FEAT from 1DnD - Alert
-Start Rogue - 1 lvl for Proficiency Bonuses Will take more lvls later
-Then Gloomstalker Ranger - 5 lvls for multi attack, Gloomstalker bonuses and Dueling FEAT taken Mage Slayer Will take more lvls later
-Then Battlemaster Fighter - 4 lvls for Action Surge, Manuvers (Ambush, Riposte, and Parry) and Defense FEAT taken Warcaster
-Then Shadow Sorcerer - 1 lvl for Blade Cantrips Will take more lvls later
-Then Phantom Rogue - 2 more lvls for increased sneak attack and Phantom bonuses Will take more lvls later
-Then Shadow Sorcerer - 3 lvl for Metamagic (Quicken and Extended) and Spells FEAT taken Resilient Con
-Then Phantom Rogue - 2 more lvls for increased sneak attack FEAT taken Metamagic Adept (Twinned and Subtle)
-Finish Gloomstalker Ranger - 2 more lvls for Silence spell and prof in Wisdom Saves
Ambush, Alert, and Gloomstalker for initiative bonus. Built to use Stealth, Invisibility, and Gloomstalker abilities to get first round advantage. After combat begins, Zephyr Strike for free mobility and added damage. Mage Slayer, Riposte and Parry for opportunity attacks and added sneak attacks. With Studded Leather and a Shield you would have 19 AC and the ability to cast Shield to boost to 24 and Absorb Elements for damage reduction and added damage. Proficiency on Dexterity, constitution, intelligence and wisdom saves.
ROUND 1 at Lvl 20 with a Rapier +10 to hit Bonus Action-Quicken Booming Blade 1d8+6 (+2 from Dueling) 3d8 thunder and another 4d8 if it moves after 5d6 sneak
Attack action 3d8+18 1d8 (Gloomstalker DMG)
Action Surge (attack action) 3d8+18 1d8 (Gloomstalker DMG)

I recently completed a RTW award on ANA and wanted to share my experience to help others with this amazing award. I spent a long time researching before going through with booking --Hope this can help the next person! I did make a few mistakes/learnings along the way hope some can take into consideration. Overall, I spent 125,000 points transferred from Amex MR & ~$950 for 8 segments going East from the US in Business.

Routing

DEN-YYZ-LHR, VIE-BKK-SIN-DPS-SIN-HND-SFO - can paste into GCMap which results in a total of 21,526 mi; within the 22,000 Business Category.
​

Routing	CarrieClass
DEN (Denver) - YYZ (Toronto)	AC (Air Canada) / Economy
YYZ (Toronto) - LHR (London)	AC (Air Canada) / Business
VIE (Vienna) - BKK (Bangkok)	BR (Eva Airways) / Business
BKK (Bangkok) - SIN (Singapore)	SQ (Singapore) / Business
SIN (Singapore) - DPS (Bali)	SQ (Singapore) / Business
DPS (Bali) - SIN (Singapore)	SQ (Singapore) / Business
SIN (Singapore) - HND (Tokyo)	NH (ANA) / Business
HND (Tokyo) - SFO (San Francisco)	NH (ANA) / Business

The total portion of my time is about a month, with a majority of my time spent in Europe between LHR and VIE, a small portion of time in Bali to break up flights, and about a week in Japan before flying home.

Research Process

I had been targeting Spring/Early Summer 2024 for this award for awhile but hadn't nailed down a particular date. I wanted to travel during shoulder season to maximize value, crowds, and decent weather across these regions. I was just waiting for the award calendar to open up for most of the carriers. I started looking about a month out (April) and doing some random searches/looks to see what flights were coming available and possible routings. In my research I found that most flights leaving from the US to Asia booked up fastest right after being released at the edge of the booking window (ex: ANA opens up bookings on its metal 355 days out; and within say 3-4 days of release most of these flights are snatched up and go into Waitlist status in Business). I had originally been planning on flying West from the US and starting in Asia, however, after doing a few mock bookings this soon became apparent it would be near impossible (Especially since Japan in spring is peak season with the Cherry Blossoms, festivals, etc). I would occasionally find a random flight departing from the US to Asia within a month of the edge of the booking window; and try to plan flights around that going westward, but it would disappear extremly quickly and my plans would be spoiled. As a result I found for this time of year it would be easiest to go east from the US through Europe first, and then ending in Asia and snatching my return flights at the edge of the booking window when ANA's flights opened/other carriers.
I would definitely recommend being flexible and don't have your heart set on going one direction originally due to concerns about time in the Air vs. Jetlag etc. I had been reading a few articles/discussions about the best direction to take and really had my heart set on going westward originally; but would say after going through this process to ignore choosing a direction initially and try to do a few samples in either direction to see what is easiest. I think I wasted a-lot of time/frustration originally trying to go westward rather than just seeing what was easiest with the most connection opportunities.
Another research point is that domestic US Business availability/North America is extremly hard to come by. United basically was only offering Economy segments domestically; I didn't see any J fares. AC Departures from US up to Canada was nearly the same thing. I did randomly see consistent J availability from SMF - YVR on a CRJ AC was offering nearly every day, and from ORD on a few dates but didn't think going out of my way was worth it. It was at a bad time and on a relatively undesirable (IMO) CRJ so I could see why that route had wide open availability. The problem was once you made it to YVR; you usually had to connect to YYZ or YYC internationally and I had the same issue finding J space domestically in Canada; so it was a dead end. I ended up just booking my first segment in Economy on AC up to Canada - didn't want to waste valuable hunting time looking for a short segment in J domestically when the biggest fish looking for space was internationally. Don't obsess over having every segment in J especially your first flight. If space opens later you can always switch into a higher class on the same flight.
For research and booking I used FlightConnections to get routing ideas based on Star Alliance carriers. I then used United's monthly award calendar (without being logged in) to see Saver availability, and then confirmed this on ANA's website. I was going to use some other tools but didn't find them useful. I paid for a day trial of point . me but found it slow and cumbersome without the filtering I needed. I didn't find Aeroplan that useful either. If I was to do this again I would explore paying for ExpertFlyer Pro and using that to search more easily.. would have probably been faster. The trial wasn't long enough to be that useful for when I was researching/booking, but it did give me some ideas - and looking back I would have easily paid for a month or two of Pro Membership to speed up my searching. Overall though, I just stuck to FlightConnections + United + ANA confirmation.

Booking Process

The time had come to where the edge of the booking window was approaching the dates I wanted. I had a few routings in mind and had saved multiple variations targeting the 22,000 mileage cap. I had a few options but nothing nailed down; so I started the process to transfer 125,000 points from Amex to ANA. Even though as a "best practice" most say to not transfer until you have the flights chosen or held, I had read some conflicting points online stating ANA does not do holds, so didn't want to risk this. I was confident based on my research I would be able to piece something together as I had a-lot of backup options chosen. I attempted to transfer late on a Friday afternoon online but got the message the transfer was unsuccessful and had to call Amex; did that early Saturday morning and they completed the transfer for me manually. Turns out I didn't have a "Call Center Pin" setup; so make sure you go into your account and set one before trying and the transfer online should go through, according to the agent. This ordeal added to my stress during the process -- if you are going to be transferring MR please make note!
I was on edge waiting for the points to deposit the entire weekend, and kept tabs on my various options. US - Europe had a-lot of options on AC; and I also had a few backup options on TAP. The "riskiest" flight for me was VIE-BKK as I really needed to get out of Europe to Asia; and there weren't many options since I was booking really close to the edge of the booking window. I couldn't see any long haul availability on Turkish/Ethiopian/other European Star Alliance carriers; so I was pretty much banking on EVA with my backup as Egyptaiothers. I noticed that Singapore seemingly doesn't publish any saver J availability to partners on long haul flights; but it does have pretty decent availability in J on short haul interasia flights. It seems like the cutoff is around 4.5 hr; but found good availability from some cities in India and even Dhaka in Bangladesh to SIN I could have used to connect to with a mix of EgyptAir / Air India / Singapore if EVA didn't work out but honestly this was a last resort and I didn't want to; but at least I had a plan. During the weekend my original VIE-BKK flight selection disappeared; but luckily they had another flight the next day I was able to book into instead. They also had other options within Europe I could have fallen back on like LHR and AMS. I didn't want to depart from LHR unless absolutely necessary as the UK Departure tax would have been ~200 pounds; something that can be avoided if possible. Definitely look into 5th freedom routes for "hidden gems"; I know Ethiopian offers some too. Apart from this; within Asia there were alot of options, and I wasn't concerned about getting back to the US from Japan because I was purposefully booking on the edge of the booking window for ANA to ensure I had availability.
Points were finally deposited early Monday morning sometime between 1am - 9am EST. I saw them in my account when I woke up early which was perfect as I was targeting calling the ANA Call Center around then, some posters online had said calling around this time resulted in the shortest wait. I waited about 1.5 hours and got a nice agent who helped me. Of note; when I called the very first thing she confirmed was my point balance. It seems like they won't even entertain booking something for you (or at least this agent in particular) if you have 0 points; so I am glad I transferred my points before. She was very helpful in quickly researching and confirming the flights -- at the same time I was on the ANA website with the multi city booking tool confirming the space was there too alongside her. She questioned at first about me backtracking by going from SIN - DPS - SIN but realized I had to do this to connect with SIN - HND as there weren't any direct flights from DPS and was fine with it. At the end of feeding her the flights she said the routing I desired was greater than 22,000 miles (~23,5000 miles) and would trigger the next bucket to be 135,000 points -- my heart sank.
This is where my mistake came in... Originally I had 2 inter-european segments, and also wanted to fly from HND - IAH instead of HND - SFO. The entire time I had been researching with gcmapper to get the distances; I had been using nautical miles (nm) in the calculations rather than statute miles (mi)! The nautical mile calculation had been below 22,000 so I thought I was in the clear the entire time. The agent was super helpful and understood my mistake and I did some research in the background for a few minutes. I ended up dropping the inter-european segments and switching from HND-IAD to HND-SFO which made my routing 21,526mi which was below the 22,000 threshold according to gcmapper. She came back to me and quoted 21,523mi, so we were pretty close in our distances after this... 3 mile difference hah. Disaster averted.
After she confirmed all the segments had availability she put me on hold and calculated the taxes and fees ~($950). The majority of the taxes and fees were from the 2 ANA segments at the end of my trip; with fuel charges. I got sent to an automated phone system to input my card info, and returned back to her (don't hang up!). She told me that she had to have the fare desk ticket the itinerary and I should be getting an email or callback. Sure enough ~2 hours later she called me back and said I had to re-enter my card info as they had some issue with their system; the flight hadn't yet been ticketed. I took the opportunity to change one of the segments during this callback to a better time I had found and she helped me change it since It hadn't yet been ticketed -- I was flustered on the first call when she said the milage was too high.
Something interesting I noted is during the time between calls I was able to see the reservation on the ANA App; and an alert said "Complete Payment by *date*" which was 3 days from the present. So it looks like technically they will "hold" a reservation for up to 3 days while waiting for card payment. It sounded like the Agent was willing to work with me as well when I needed 135,000 points instead of 125,000 points; but I didn't want to spend more or risk the timing with transfers. I wouldn't bank on this at all. Just FYI though. After this second call I got an email about a half an hour later with my receipt and ticket/itinerary and PNR. I was able to select seats and finally relax after the ordeal.
After all of this, I probably spent about 12 hours spaced out during 3 days of the booking process plus my previous research over about a month. Definitely set aside some time for yourself during booking and research.

Change Process

Something I hadn't seen much of online was the process for making a change to an existing RTW booking - I ended up doing this as well, so hopefully this can help some.
About a week after booking I noticed one of the flights opened availability from SIN-HND on ANA at a better time. I was originally flying overnight but wanted to fly during the day to help minimize jetlag, and jumped at the chance. Also I wanted to spend more time in Singapore so this helped. Note you can only change the date + time of a flight; it must be the same routing and carrier and class (except you can move up a class if one becomes available and your original ticket allows for that class). I called around 2PM EST and it only took about an hour to get through this time. The agent simply told me I would owe the difference in taxes/fees for the change. There wasn't any penalty or call center charge assessed for this. I had read somewhere that apparently you'd be charged a 1,000 point fee for the change but this wasn't the case for me. The difference amounted to some small amount around a dollar or so which I happily paid. The agent shared something helpful to me -- she asked I save a card on the ANA website to my account rather than doing it on the phone. This would help the Fare Desk charge faster without needing to call me back like last time, I guess they have issues with their credit card system on the phone with some credit cards. I ended up doing this with her on the phone guiding me and she confirmed she could now see my card. The change ended up going through an hour later with a new ticket/itinerary and recipient emailed to me; no second call necessary.
According to the fare rules denoted on my PNR; you can do a similar change with date/time only up to 4 days (96 hours) before departure - also during the trip itself I believe as well. (full endorsements/restrictions on the ticket: NO MILEAGE CREDIT/NH FFP/NON END/RRT/DT CHNG UPTO 4DYS B4 NEW FLT)

TLDNeed to know Tips

• Successfully booked ANA RTW in Business at 125,000 points transferred from MR ~950 in taxes/fees. ANA was the culprit for majority of costs with fuel surcharges on 2 segments I flew.
• Don't have your heart set on going a particular direction upfront - go with what is easiest to book, and be flexible!
• Make sure you have Call Center Pin set in Amex if using MR before transferring to ANA to avoid issues.
• ANA seems to not hold for RTW for point transfer time if you have no points; I was asked upfront if I had the points before the agent would assist me. I had to transfer before.
• You can store a card online in ANA's system before calling which can help the Fare Desk/agent speed up processing to avoid callbacks/payment issues. You can store up to two cards. They were willing to hold itinerary up to 3 days awaiting card payment, and possibly for more points (but not with 0 points in my account) - did not test this. Use this info at your own risk. I wouldn't bank on it with points -- risky.
• Used United's award calendar without being logged in + FlightConnections; consider paying for ExpertFlyer too, also be savvy about the booking window(s) of carriers and book against the edge for the best availability especially with ANA.
• When calculating distance with gcmapper use statute miles (mi) not nautical miles (nm)!
• You can change flight(s) after booking as long as its simply a date+time change - no change in routing/carrier. Class change upwards is allowed if your original ticket allows for it. I was not assessed a penalty/fee for the change like some claimed online - could depend though. You are responsible for paying the difference in the calculated taxes/carrier imposed surcharges if any before the trip departs, but not once it has commenced if you make a change.
• Thanks to u/the_fit_hit_the_shan for letting me know you can change flights based on co-terminal airports, ex: HND/NRT. I'd imagine DCA/IAD or NY area airports are similar in this regard. I was able to utilize this after being made aware by switching from HND-SFO to NRT-SFO a day later at a better time.

I hope this was helpful - pardon the length - just wanted to be as detailed as possible and give back to the community after all the help I received. Since this is all fresh in my mind please feel free to ask questions and I'll try to answer. I sincerely feel all the effort was worth it for the value I received - best of luck booking!