Salt and Sanctuary Guide: Boss Weaknesses and basic strategies

 This is as much for me as it is for my friend Shelby, who is brand new to Salt and Sanctuary. I'm centralizing the boss weaknesses in order of potential encounter, as well as some basic tactics.

So, the first boss is the Unspeakable Deep. If you're skilled enough with the game to take on this "one attempt only" boss, he's weaker to blunt damage, but also to the pitchfork. The spear heavy attack does a two hit attack when you're close, and since you're doing a two hit combo max before rolling through it, you can melt his health bar faster than the morningstar, the next highest damage weapon for the deep.

 The Sodden Knight is weak to blunt and fire damage. And if you choose the Iron Ones or the Three, you can buy firepots from the merchant, and those can rip through the Knight's health.

The Queen of Smiles is weak to slash, fire, lightning and holy, though holy is the only one it has no resistance to. Use the Blessed Pages you got on your way to the boss.

The Mad Alchemist is weak to slash, and also all elements. And I've found that firepots can rip through not only his health, but also the adds he occasionally summons.

The Kraekan Cyclops(yes, that is how this game spells "kraken") is weak to slash and all elements. And I mean 0 in those resistances. However, I've found poison to be extremely effective. Pessmuld drop randomly from mobs in the Watching Wood, and the Stone Roots merchant sells them, though you have to join them in order to place it. You can leave and join a different creed immediately after, and if you want to rejoin your former creed, the Candlelight lady is on the lower path from the Village of Smiles to the Watching wood, in the drop down after getting the Scythe.

The False Jester is Slash and Poison, with "all elements" being its weakness in Classic Mode.

The Kraekan Wyrm is weak to strike, holy and is allergic to lightning. 

The next bosses are dependent on which path you take. The path I take leads to a grinding spot and the best movement abilities. You can head into the Red Hall of Cages instead, but I'm going to describe the path I take.

So, the first boss of the Dome of the Forgotten is the Untouched Inquisitor, who is weak to slash, fire and arcane. Fire is the better one, since it creates a DOT effect.

Then comes the Third Lamb. This is a tough fight if you're not prepared, but it's weak against slash and fire. 

The next boss in this path is the Dried King, who is weak to blunt and holy damage. Fire and lightning are also low resistances.

At this point, I return to the Red Hall, and head down toward the Tree of Men. The Tree of Men is allergic to lightning. Blunt damage is the next closest weakness.

The Disemboweled Husk is weak to slash and holy, though I find fire more effective due to the DOT effect.

The Stench Most Foul is weak to slash, fire and holy, though again, fire's DOT is powerful.

At this point, you've gotten all the movement abilities, so you can access all the bosses. My path takes me to Ronin Cran, who is weak to strike, poison, holy and arcane, plus fire and lightning in classic.

This gives an easier path to the Bloodless Prince, since getting through the lower path of the Ziggurat of Dust is a pain. The Prince is weak to slash, fire, lightning, holy and arcane.

The Coveted is weak to strike and arcane, with all other elements being just as good.

I'd hit Carsejaw the Cruel next. Carsejaw is notoriously weak, with low HP and defenses.In Enhanced, strike is his only true weakness, with all others but arcane being being low resistance, with arcane being 500. In Classic, only Poison being the only stated resistance.

The Witch of the Lake is the next boss on my list, and all I can say is "good luck", due to how RNG heavy her fight is. She's weak to slash, fire and holy, though it's a small consolation while you die over and over as you learn her tells.

The Unskinned and the Architect is a duo boss, with two health bars. The Unskinned is weak to elements, with slash being the next lowest. The Architect is weak to slash and arcane, so your best bet for this duo fight is for you to use stained pages, as those are the arcane weapon buff.

Murdiella Mal is out of the way, and she's weak to slash and fire, lightning and poison. She's weak against holy and arcane in Classic Mode.

The next optional boss is the King, the Knight and the Judge. Three health bars, and the King and Knight are weak to fire, and the Judge to arcane. The Judge has no resistance to slash, and the King and Knight have low resistance to slash.

Kraekan Dragon Skourzh has no special weakness, but is strong to strike and lightning. 

And lastly, the Nameless God is weak to strike, with slash being his next lowest resistance. All others are a 500 in resistance, so any weapon buff would be fine.

 And that's the weaknesses for all the bosses! Hope this helps anyone who comes across this!

 Until next time, stay beautiful freaks! 

Dark Souls 1 Character Build: Neolithic Rogue

  It's time for another "Neolithic Character Build" for Dark Souls 1. To remind everyone reading this, I keep seeing "caveman builds" in Dark Souls Remastered challenge run builds, so I decided to create a "more realistic" based on real world neolithic societies.

Today I started with the thief class, as they started with our weapon of choice, the Bandit's Knife. And this is my SL125 Neolithic Rogue

Vitality 50

Attunement 11

Endurance 40

Strength 22(I actually had to use this as a dump stat to get up to SL125)

Dexterity 50

Resistance 10 

Intelligence 12

Faith 11

Power Within

Wander Set +9

Pyromancy Flame(Upgrading does not affect Power Within) 

Longbow +10 with poison arrows 

Heater Shield/Target Shield +10, depending on how easy you find parrying

 Bandit's Knife +15 (this is the only knife available that doesn't require true steel working. It could feasibly be bone, iron or obsidian)

Hornet Ring

Wolf Ring 

This is definitely a PVP focused build, as most bosses can't be parried, though they can be bled. And if I wasn't restricting myself to Neolithic standards, I could easily take some of the strength points for intelligence and another in attunement so I'd have access to the Magic Weapon spells.

 But that's it for this Neolithic build, and until next time, Stay Beautiful Freaks! 

 

Salt and Sanctuary Beginner's Guide

 Since my friend Shelby has professed interest in Salt and Sanctuary, I figured I'd create a beginner's guide. It'll be very bare bones, focusing on the very beginning of the game.

First off, the 3 beginning creeds. Without upgrading anything, The Three, Devara's Light and the Iron Ones determine which items you can purchase at the beginning vendors. At level 1, both The Three and The Iron Ones stone merchant sell Pitchfire, a fire buff, Fire Pots, a potent firebomb that can carry throughout the game, and Red Shards, a consumable heal that doesn't replenish at sanctuaries and candles. Also, the Iron Ones are the only creed that sell Shock stones, a lightning buff that's potent throughout several bosses.

Devara's Light, however, sells Light Vessels in lieu of Fire Pots, and they do holy damage instead of fire. All three have equitable heals, though the Water of Blessing grants the protection buff, which is 2x your current defense rating. 

 Devara's Light's blacksmith sells the Flintlock Pistol at level 1, the other 2 sell at at level 3.

And finally, the Iron Ones have two changes at the Cleric and Mage; the mage sells lightning storm(a tier 3 incantation, so you can't use it right away if you're a mage) instead of wildfire(which is tier 1, and can be used as a mage right away), and the cleric is the only creed that sells War Horns, which increase stamina regeneration during combat, which is a great buff during boss fights. This is why I say to choose the Iron Ones as your starting creed, place down the stone merchant, cleric and guide so you can warp back to this sanctuary to replenish supplies, as you can still buy from abandoned creed's merchants.

Second, I've seen that new players can have trouble finding certain weapons if they don't know where to look. The Kureimoa(aka Claymore) can be found in the Village of Smiles, in a hidden room that you may not see due to level geometry hiding the light that tells you about a hidden room.

The Infantry Poleaxe can be found early if you're willing to brave the Bandit's Pass to the right of the Devara's Light sanctuary, and later on if you return there through proper progression.

The Haymaker(A Grim Reaper style scythe) is found after defeating the Queen of Smiles, following the lower path and opening the gate.

The Warhammer is found by entering the Sunken Keep from the upper path out of the Watching Woods. The lower path leads to an elevator that leads to a boss.

And finally, the Outlaw Greataxe is found in the locked door in the Bandit's Pass outside Castle of Storms. the key is found on your approach from the Sunken Keep.

The game does not teach you how to parry. Looking at the controls does not tell you how to parry, but by holding block and pressing attack, it allows you to parry with nearly every weapon. The only weapons that do not parry that way are the bow, crossbow, pistol and wand. The crossbow and pistol take a cue from Bloodborne and utilize that timing, and the wand allows you to use one equipped spell. 

 And lastly, the game doesn't accurately tell you how certain abilities affect how you handle weapons. Daggers, shields, wands, staves, bows, and whips are all their own skill to use. But other weapon skills count for multiple weapons. 

1 handed swords and greatswords both use the Swordfighter skill. All 1 handed hammers and axes fall under the Berzerker Skill. Greathammers and Greataxes, however, fall under the Heavy Macefighter skill. And finally, all Spears, Reapers(Scythes) and Poleaxes all fall under the Pikeman skill.

 Lastly, starting gifts. They don't tell you what they do at character creation. Red Shards are a consumable healing item. Stone Sellsword allows you to summon a friend at your first sanctuary. You can find one after the 1st boss. The amber idol is a transmutation material, and it's only useful if you know what kind of weapon you want to transmute into. The Grasping ring grants you 10% more salt from every kill, so it's a staple for most builds. and lastly, the Crystal Sphere allows you to convert a sanctuary for your chosen creed. These aren't really useful until after you've started leveling up your creed and want its bonuses.  

Oh, and one more thing; desecrating a sanctuary. The game does not tell you how to do this, and if you're new, DO NOT DO THIS! It's only required if you want the Order of the Betrayer as your creed, and you don't get access to it until nearly the end. But in order to do this, you take the Stained Page, your arcane weapon buff, and place it on top of sanctuary icon you want to desecrate. You'll then be attacked by all merchants you placed/that are already there, and then be attacked by 2 waves of sanctuary guardians. Defeat all them to clear the sanctuary, and if you're Order of the Betrayer, you'll get creed level up items. 

And if you're intending to join the Betrayers, you need to either die at your first attempt to desecrate a sanctuary, or use the Bell of Return to avoid the fight. You'll get the bloody writ, which you'll need to join the Betrayers near the end of the game. 

 And finally, here's the fextralife wiki for Salt and Sanctuary. It covers both the Enhanced version(only available on PC) and the standard version. https://saltandsanctuary.wiki.fextralife.com/Salt+and+Sanctuary+Wiki 

Hopefully, this will help anyone coming to Salt and Sanctuary without overloading them. But until next time, Stay Beautiful Freaks! 

Dark Souls 1 Character Builds: Neolithic Shaman

 It's time for another "Neolithic Character Build" for Dark Souls 1. To remind everyone reading this, I keep seeing "caveman builds" in Dark Souls Remastered challenge run builds, so I decided to create a "more realistic" based on real world neolithic societies.

 Starting class was Cleric, and that helps push toward the Shaman build, where they're using the power of stories to heal, help when surrounded and to buff their weapon, since Miracles are stories of the gods. Here's the SL125 Neolithic Shaman

Vitality 40 

Attunement 14

Endurance 40

Strength 44

Dexterity 20

Resistance 11

Intelligence 8

Faith 30

Wrath of the Gods

Great Heal

Sunlight Blade

Pyromancer Set +9 (Neolithic people would wear cloth, with some stones for jewelry)

Great Club +15 (did a spear build last time)

Heater Shield +10 (Dark Souls has access to fire magic, so metal working is viable as long as they can find it)

Raw Shortbow +5 with Poison Arrows

Sunlight Talisman (Stronger than the basic Canvas Talisman, but still looking like a Neolithic person would use)

Havel's Ring and Wolf Ring, since jewelry has always been a thing humans do.

 This one's a little stronger in PVP than the Quality Spear Pyromancer build, only lacking in stamina regeneration buffs due to the weight of the weapons.

 This is the last of the magic capable builds in my Neolithic series, since Sorceries require schools and books.  Most I'd be willing to allow from this point on would be Power Within, since that's just pushing beyond the body's limits. 

 Until next time, stay beautiful freaks! 

Dark Souls 1 Character Builds: Neolithic Fighter

 So, I don't post to this blog very often anymore, mostly because I'm more active on Youtube lately. But after seeing a LOT of "caveman builds" in my feed from Dark Souls Challenge Runners, I came up with a more realistic build for person from a almost neolithic society. I have to make allowances for some level of metal working, but since this is a world with magic, a neolithic tribe would figure out how to use pyromancy to perform metal forging, because if I didn't, I'd be stuck with the "club, large club and great club" build those challenge runners use, and I want to utilize equipment that a neolithic society would use.

With that said, here's my SL125 Neolithic Fighter. Starts with a Pyromancer.

40 Vitality

28 Attunement

40 Endurance

35 Strength

35 Dexterity

12 Resistance

10 Intelligence

8 Faith

Great Fireball

Great Chaos Fireball

Power Within

Fire Tempest

Chaos Storm 

Pyromancer Set +9 (Neolithic people would have simple cloth clothes, but would also reasonably have simple jewelry with gems and polished stones.)

Spear +15 (I know the tip is steal, but we don't have access to stone tools in this game)

Heater Shield +10 (I know its metal, but with pyromancy, they could perform metal working to a lesser degree)

Ascended Pyromancy Flame +5

Reinforced Club +15 (Humans have been shoving sharp objects into blunt objects as long as we've been aware we could do that)

Short bow +10 with poison arrows

Wolf Ring, Cloranthy Ring or Bellowing Dragon Crest Ring. Jewelry is a reasonable thing for humans to create, since we've been doing that for as long as we've been human

 

And there we go. SL125 so it's good for PVP, and since it's a quality build, it's robust enough to use all the weapons  on the list. It's also a good PVE build due to the Pyromancy spells. I'll figure out a miracle build too, since in Dark Souls, Miracles are stories passed down through the generations, and humans have been storytellers for as long as we've been human.

That's it for now, so stay beautiful freaks! 

Update to things

 So, it's been 2 years since I last posted to this blog. And it's not intentionally left barren. I'm just more active on Youtube these days. I vlog on subjects I used to blog about, like my DnD days, reviews of games, shows and other things. So, if you want to see what I'm up to, click this link. I'll probably use this blog as a secondary place to post my vlogs, and I'll post here when I intend to do more thought out things rather than the rambling I do on Youtube. 

 Until next time, stay beautiful freaks! 

Vampire the Masquerade: Antedeluvian Chronicles Rules

 Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!

So, it's time for me to post the ruleset the Antediluvian Chronicles.  First off, when I created the idea for this, I was running on Vampire the Masquerade: Revised Edition, but you can easily use 5th edition's Dark Ages rules in a pinch. 

With that in mind, even the Dark Ages rules require some changes. Going off the Dark Ages character sheet, you'll have access to all Talents. Among the Skills, Commerce would be restricted, since you'd have come from a closed society, and you became a "god" to the humans, so they provide everything you'd ever need.

As for Knowledges, that has the most restrictions; Linguistics, Seneschal, Occult, Theology, and Law wouldn't be available at character creation. As previously stated, you come from a Neolithic society, anything that's not required for survival wouldn't be available.

That doesn't mean that those abilities won't be available during the chronicle. Trade will begin, Languages will develop, Laws will need to be created, religions other than Caine's direct interactions with the One Above will form amongst outsiders, etc. 

Roads/Paths of Enlightenment are not available until partway through the chronicle, not even thought about until after the destruction of Namtaru. The default Paths will be the Dark Ages Roads, Road of Humanity, which is holding true to their former human morality in order to prevent the Wassail, and the Road of the Beast, which tries to sate it by holding survival as their top virtue. All other Roads and Paths are derived from these two, and may be developed over the chronicle.

Additionally, disciplines would be restricted as well. Characters have access to Animalism, Auspex, Celerity, Dominate, Fortitude, Obfuscate, Potence, Presence and Protean. Clan specific disciplines like Chimerstry, Obeah/Valeren, Obtenebration, Quietus and Mortis would be developed during the Second City. Viscissitude would be created AFTER the second city by Ashur, since, in my mind, I always looked at it was a "seed of the Antedeluvian", so he'd create Koldunic Sorcery, but that would be the only form of blood magic. 

As for characters, you'd be playing one of the 13 clan founders. Each of them has an origin tailored to them.

Veddhartha is was a Seneschal for the 1st city, and is the final child of Enoch, embraced as the last of the 16. He is extremely jealous of Lucien, setting up the rivalry of the Ventrue and Lasombra early.

Arikel was an artist and a dancer in life, creating simple art like cave paintings and carvings. Enoch was moved by her works, and made it so she could create her art forever.

Ashur was an early shaman, in tune with the earth, an early indication of his clan curse. He's the only one to to have access to the Occult skill at character creation.

Lucien is the first child of Enoch, and will be groomed for greatness. However, Enoch will see that the embrace awakened a darkness that had been there in life.

Ilyes was a warrior in life, who felt that something was missing after the embrace. He dove into scholarly pursuits, becoming the passionless vampire the True Brujan become. 

Absimilard considered himself perfect in life; a great hunter, perfect lover, beautiful man. However, when Zillah embraced him, she left a small, insignificant scar on his cheek. He's hated her and himself ever since, and had plotted her destruction ever since.

Ennoia was a werewolf kinfolk in life, which is why she starts with the Protean discipline, and would go on to become its master. However, because werewolves consider a threat to their kinfolk to be a threat to themselves, they begin the never ending war between them and the vampires.

Mekhet's embrace went wrong. Some of the early spirits found him when he was dead, and tore at his soul. He forgot his own name because of that, with "Mekhet" being the name that Irad gave him. He's forever seeking the pieces of his soul that were taken from him until he's finally destroyed.

Dracien was a criminal in the 1st city, and was sired as a way to spy on his brethren. It will be his idea to destroy the 2nd generation shortly after the fall of the 1st city.

Malkav was a seer in life, and along with his sister and Saulot, was meant as to be part of a cabal to plot the course of the future. However, like his sister, his sight was cracked by the embrace, so nothing would ever be clear.

Saulot was both a seer and a doctor, meaning he's the only one who had access to the Medicine talent at character creation. He's the kindest of all vampires, though as the chronicle will show, even he will gain a darkness.

"Set" very similar to Ennoia, though he's a Nagah kinfolk. He came from a proto-Egyptian clan, and this colored his views. He wants to destroy the 2nd generation and return to his own culture. Players will come up with his name, but it should come from a proto-Egyptian name system.

Haqim was a warrior before the 1st city, and was instrumental in building up them as fighters. He became a mediator among the city as time went on.

As for the personalities of the others; Enoch is ambitious and wise, Zillah is quiet and direct, Irad is scholarly, yet quick to anger. Namitara is driven by her visions, fearful of the paths the future takes, yet wanting nothing more than to see her people safe.

Malakai is constantly depressed, having sought the sunrise more than once. Only after being tricked into a blood bond by her brother does she wish to survive. After the bond, she adores her brother, and gets jealous of anyone who interacts with him,  save for Saulot, who can help with her depression, and Namitara, who gives her a purpose.

Nimug is like Arikel in that she's an artist. However, she focuses on art through her unnamed discipline, which she will dedicate her time to perfecting. 

And Namtaru could never reconcile his new existence, alternating between depression and rage. He's slain by his sire after the Wassail, the "final frenzy" that sends him from Humanity 1 to Humanity 0.

Finally, all characters will be considered "Caitiff" so there'd be no clan curses, and disciplines would be neither in clan or out of clan; they'd follow the rules of Caitiff, with disciplines requiring 6 times the cost of the discipline to advance, instead of the 5 for in clan disciplines or 7 for out of clan. 

That said, some characters will have some disciplines at character creation. Ennoia, "Set" and Ashur will have Protean, Malkav and Saulot will have Auspex, Ilyes will have Celerity (this is required to build toward Temporis), and Veddhartha and Lucien would have Dominate.

Additionally, the way generation would work would be not as you'd expect. Functionally, you'd be 13th generation at the start; 5 point stat cap, 10 blood pool. As time goes on, your blood pool would creep up to the point where you'd have the 15 point blood pool of an 8th generation vampire. After the 2nd city part of the chronicle, you'd gain access to level 6 and 7 abilities, as well as the blood pool. The 2nd generation would always be stronger than you, however, having access to level 10 abilities by the end.

Caine, however, would be untouchable. The sevenfold curse is in full effect; any damage forced upon Caine would come back sevenfold on them. In effect, 1 point of damage on Caine would return 7 health levels of damage. This would kill a human or werewolf outright, and would force a vampire into torpor. In short, you attack Caine, you lose. And everyone in the story will know it.

Lastly, equipment. As previously stated, you'd be restricted to neolithic equipment, so clubs, knives, spears, bows, axes and furs. Crafting and Hearth Wisdom would be crucial in this chronicle, since there's no manufacturing or specialized abilities yet. You'd head toward the Bronze Age as you near slaughter of the 2nd generation, though no swords would be available at that point.

Oh, and here's a few story hooks for the Chronicle; first, vampire hunters. They'd be a minor nuisance in the 1st city, and a real threat after the flood. 

The war with the werewolves. They'd be a constant threat, and would require constant vigilance.

The Baali infiltrating the 2nd city, leading toward the eventual war against infernalism.

Troile's diablerie of Ilyes. This would cause the split between the True Brujah and the modern Brujah. 

Now, if you want to continue the story past the deaths of the 2nd generation and the curses placed upon them buy Caine and Namitara would be in full, you'll be able to raise your traits to 9 (since level 10 disciplines are considered a "plot device" by the Revised Edition rule set) by the fall of the 2nd city, and the new hooks would be the Baali war and eventual collapse of the 2nd city. 

Additionally, if you're Ilyes' player, you can swap to Troile if you wish to continue the chronicle at this point.

And that's it. Those would be the rules for the Antediluvian Chronicle. The White Wolf Wiki is a useful tool additional resources after getting the initial books. If you're interested in running it, by all means, take this as a springboard. I would love to see someone get something from my efforts.

 

 But for now, stay beautiful freaks!