bcovertigo

If you’re seeing this follow all this idiot’s posts and mass report.

I can’t sleep :(

Typosquat domain for sure! In a sandbox I’m seeing that all the download links point to the same HTML page on a .ink domain that cloudflare is now refusing to serve.

But our buddy joe already got a copy for us so we can at least view that report for fun: https://www.joesandbox.com/analysis/1763244/1/html

Edit: It pulls down an MSI installer or something it runs with msiexec but disguised with a PDF file extension. It seems to want a copy of cmd.exe to exist in an AutoIT installation (SearchPathW vs “C:\Program Files (x86)\AutoIt3\cmd.exe”) as well as pointing toward the multilanguage (.exe.mui) and other cmd variants. I suspect we’re one step away from a real payload with this report and that’s what we’d see the “Invoke-Obfuscation” powershell the sandbox spotted used for (if that wasn’t a false positive due to the base64 offset string).

…If we fall off the rope bridge because you did a backflip I’m haunting you though.

I should have read more carefully, thanks for catching! I’ll edit and add something on topic.

Original comment:

I agree with all of this under the caveat that your DM interpretation of the “what constitutes interaction” in 5e can also have more influence on your success than clever or clumsy play. DMs I’ve played with have varied from very loose discussions about their concerns for balance to self crippling houserules that wind up with illusionist NPCs failing to do anything because of a broomstick and blanket being flailed at them by a fighter. Specifically speak with the DM running the game and come to a common understanding before you start. Find out how interactions and passive checks will work against your illusions ahead of time in that game!

Edit because I’m turning into a lich and forgetting which editions we’re talking about:

Major Illusion, Hallucinatory Terrain, and Greater invisibility are amazing staples of illusion and you can look to Shadow Evocation and Shadow Conjuration as patches for any missing features a wizard should have in your party. Other than that I think… take standard wizard spells and ban schools based on your party if you have the chance to plan with them. Also consider the synergy that lies (enchantment) can have with misdirection and see if you can fill that role or support your local lying bard/rogue/beguiler.

Illusion for gnomes in 3.5 invariably leads to talking about their shadow magic prestige class from Races of Stone and the ability to change what disbelief entails as well as cast evocation and conjurations as shadowy illusion that become more and more real as you progress. This is amazing for high powered campaigns but personally I recommend house ruling metamagic level out of the %realism formula. This prestige class is in no way necessary though as illusion rocks and gets license to make memorable scenes in ways other spell schools don’t!

In some settings bulettes hate the taste of elves, and maybe that could allow militaristic elves to domesticate them for use as raiding mounts. I’m imagining an elven archer atop a saddle with a bulette-hide shield along the dorsal fin. The shield is sturdy enough that it allows the rider to duck down and be protected while the mount tunnels, as well as providing cover when shooting their bows. I think this could work well for a single scout ambush encounter at level 5+, and as a special siege unit that the party has to defeat later on.

Maybe they learn about it from a group of wounded soldiers recounting a recent battle where a castle wall collapsed without warning, and in the chaos three mounted land sharks tore through their ranks until they were ordered to retreat.

The campaigns my players consistently voice as their favorites are ones where I created an overarching plot, and then incorporated their backstories as significant and impactful portions of that plot. Being the sole input for character motivations for a story (as with a book) makes it easier to end up with a coherent vision and story, but more difficult because of the amount of content you’re responsible for. Conversely a good DM can offload work to players and end up with a result that everyone is personally invested in.

I will say though that some DMs end up writing thousands of pages over the course of years spent in an ongoing campaign and might cry at your characterization.

It’s definitely POSSIBLE to run a campaign without ever writing a page, but good luck when your characters get attached to an NPC you forgot about if improvisation isn’t your forte.