[itlivesproject]

Hello, everyone!

Like many of you, I woke up to the AI slop It Lives Within "TV show" on the Choices app. Having spent thousands (no joke) of loving hours on the fan-made It Lives Within, I admit it felt like a bit of a kick to the gut, especially since I'd stayed up until 2 AM the night before, meticulously working on improving the programming of textbox animations for the updated version of the game.

But at the end of the day, the people are what own stories. It doesn't matter what PB puts out, especially when it so blatantly disrespects a series we all hold close to our hearts. We can choose what to support, what to value, and what to be our true version of these stories.

As such, I wanted to provide an update for "It Lives Within: The Obsidian Cut." We are working extremely hard to finish rewrites, and I apologize it's taking so long - but real work takes time. We take so long because we don't use AI to do our work for us. Our testers have found hundreds of bugs, which have been corrected. I'm currently working on some rewrites for chapters 21-22, and once that's finished, I'm going to play from start to finish with different MCs to include more complete personality variants for your MC.

While our game was highly beloved (which I am still so wholly grateful for three years after the final episode aired), I know some of you tried the original version and decided it wasn't for you. Others maybe never heard of it. But, with the news of AI It Lives Within dropping today, I just wanted to invite everyone to give our fan version a chance. If you tried it before and gave up, or haven't played it yet, I recommend waiting until Obsidian airs to experience that version for the first time. And if you did play the original, stick around! You'll love Obsidian when it airs. All of our testers are highly enjoying it and say that it improves on the story with every change, while still be the story they knew and love.

AI It Lives Within is frustrating and offensive, but ultimately, we never needed their blessing, and neither do you. Our story started small, with a team that never made any money. Everything was done out of passion and love for this series and these characters, and we were and still are, devoted to creating truly player-drive stories where your choices matter. A LOT. That passion is something that can never be generated in any machine. Stories from the heart speak to the heart, "canon" or not, and what really matters is how theses stories impact and inspire us.

[bigscooby]

[distractedboyfriend]

[queermarzipan]

WHAT THE FUCK

[normaniscariot]

Daily motivation

[angiemaniac]

The Durge Companion AU - Meeting Gale

TW: Lotsa Blood

Sorry for the long wait!! Here's the next chapter out. Did you guys think I was gonna kill him lol

First: Begin Here!

Previously: Chapter 3

Next: Chapter 5

More exclusives and early access on Patreon~

More interactions and stuff on here: Discord

[guro-rusame]

Baldur's Gate 3 | Sin_node

[cherrydj-l]

he was /srs

[rosymourning]

The Beating Heart - a Shadowheart Build

"My faith will guide me."

Shadowheart is a Life Domain Cleric, curing her friends and allies of whatever ails them. This build is a pure support build, with an emphasis on healing and on-heal effects.

[check out my other builds!]

Gameplay Notes

Pretty much a utility healer through and through. This build can have insane survivability if you keep Sanctuary up during fights, which is doable as a pure support. Even when your party is at full health, so many items have helpful on-heal effects (Bless and Blade Ward, essentially) that it may be helpful to throw out a Mass Healing Word regardless. This is a great build to cast Warding Bond with as well.

The build feels like it comes online really early in the game (like before the Tiefling/Goblin party...), and it stays relevant throughout. Stronger items and taking feats help, but the primary benefit comes from good Channel Divinity scaling. It's simple, but effective, and probably a large part of the reason Shadowheart is such a popular companion.

Stats and Leveling

Final build: Level 12 Life Domain Cleric

Shadowheart’s (default) stats: STR 13 / DEX 13 / CON 14 / INT 10 / WIS 17 / CHA 8

Level 1 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 1

Cantrips: Guidance, Sacred Flame, Resistance

1st Level Spells [Command is useful throughout the entire game]

Level 2 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 2

Channel Divinity [the best one in the game, in my opinion]

Level 3 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 3

2nd Level Spells

Level 4 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 4

Feat: War Caster

Cantrips: add Thaumaturgy

Level 5 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 5

3rd Level Spells [Spirit Guardians is great even though the build isn’t optimized around it]

Level 6 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 6

Blessed Healer [a better version of the Ring of Salving]

Level 7 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 7

4th Level Spells [I don’t love any of the 4th Level Spells and mostly use this for upcasting]

Level 8 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 8

Feat ASI+ DEX>14, WIX>18

Level 9 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 9

5th Level Spells

Level 10 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 10

Divine Intervention [obviously SUPER powerful, I usually use mine in the House of Hope]

Cantrip: add Light

Level 11 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 11

6th Level Spells [Heroes’ Feast is awesome]

Level 12 - Cleric (Life Domain) Level 12

ASI+ WIS>20

Items

Armor - Adamantine Splint Armour (1 Grymforge)

Melee Weapon -

Selune's Spear of Night (2 Nightsong)

Viconia's Walking Fortress (3 House of Grief)

Ranged Weapon - n/a

Amulet - Amulet of Restoration (1 Myconid Colony)

Helmet - Wapira's Crown (1 Emerald Grove)

Ring 1 - The Whispering Promise (1 Emerald Grove)

Ring 2 - Ring of Salving (1 Myconid Colony)

Gloves -

Hellrider's Pride (1 Emerald Grove)

The Reviving Hands (3 Stormshore Tabernacle)

Boots - Boots of Aid and Comfort (1 Goblin Camp)

Cloak - Vivacious Cloak (2 Grand Mausoleum)

Lore and Flavor

Moreso than any other character, Shadowheart's narrative begets a major respec at the end of Act 2 (previously, I build her like The Dark Justiciar), and it's not just a new hairstyle: "The Shadowheart I thought I was would never have even dreamed of defying the Lady Shar. I'm a stranger to myself." This build technically works from the moment you can respec into it... but why would you rob yourself of the true power of her character growth? The items with on-heal effects still fit her character throughout Act 1 and 2 without the full respec, so you're only missing the (albeit very potent) Channel Divinity Heal that Life Domain Clerics get. Worth it, in my opinion.

Onto the lore itself. The strongest (if not only) piece of identity that Shadowheart maintains throughout the entire game, regardless of narrative choices, is her skill as a healer. Part of that is inherent to being a Cleric, of course, but we know Shadowheart is considered a skilled healer even compared to other Sharran Clerics thanks to this note in the House of Grief. My allegiance to Life Domain reflects this natural skill as a healer as well as the fact that Life Domain is actually a domain of Selune (Light Domain is not, unfortunately). If we had a Twilight Domain in game, I would be tempted to make use of that as well.

A note about The Blood of Lathander: This is a very powerful item in Shadowheart's hands. If you can get over the fact that it's another deity's relic, then it's a great main hand weapon. I personally go back and forth about it, and decided not to include it here, prioritizing Selune's Spear of Night instead.

[check out my build disclaimer for info about how and why I don't min/max or completely optimize builds, prioritizing lore and vibe instead]

[crystallakec]

[venomsno1fan]

“What will you have after 500 issues?”

Took me 1hr 30min to make‼️

You really have to be [Comic Title]

[technofeudalism]

here's a bunch of spongebob titlecards i hoarded

[moonbasetycho]

[pedanticat]

I need for this to be Debbie when she sees Nolan in S3 😂

[suonhirvio]

I decided to erase Thragg's mustache purely out of curiosity. God, he looks so young 😭😭

I really want to hug him. How old would he be by human standards of perception? with a mustache he looks 30 years old, but without them he is so young 😭😭😭😭

I love him very much...

In general, I am sincerely surprised by how such a small detail as a mustache can change a person's appearance SO MUCH. This is interesting.

[bigscooby]

[marvelsgirl616]

Nolan and Allen in the Viltrumite ship/prison:

[fulltimecatwitch]

"I want do what you do, I want to be just like you."

"You will be,son"