bgainor

The part about the officers' ethical decision should have been the A-plot, but the episode basically forced the documentary angle on us as the A-plot. I think that's the fundamental problem; if this had just been an episode about them wrestling with the ethical ramifications of using a sentient creature as a weapon, it would have been top-tier Star Trek.

I feel like there was a kernel of a good episode in there, or maybe kernels of several episodes. I'm not opposed to the documentary angle per se, and it fits in with SNW's general willingness to experiment, but I have a difficult time imagining that a documentarian would actually edit the finished product that way, on top of the other stuff. There's definitely room to critique Starfleet and the Federation, but this episode really feels like it was missing some important chunks.

To me it feels like a callback (call forward?) to Wrath of Khan, where he has to come to terms with having never faced defeat before.

Writers' Room: "We need a name for a mineral these scavengers could be looking for."

"Uh… (glances at Italian takeout) aldentium!"

Me watching S5: "Ok, this episode is going to have Detmer and Owo, right?" End of episode: "Dammit!"

I would not have released Patel into Pike's custody after how she lost control when confronted with "Gamble". Like, clearly the being inhabiting his body was malevolent, but "the enemy of my enemy" doesn't make it ok that she basically got taken over by a consciousness besides her own. Leaving her alone with the captain of the ship feels especially dangerous (and letting her captain her own ship again, for that matter).

Finally! I feel like this has been "about to come out" for years

Having just finished a sniper game where I had a single +3 shuriken and a single +2 kunai, being able to upgrade a stack would certainly have been a nice change.

If you're the battlemage, your staff gets an additional melee characteristic based on what wand is imbued in it. For some wands (fireblast, lightning, frost) this is basically identical to an enchantment. But you're also allowed to use a stone or scroll of enchantment to enchant your staff just like any other melee weapon. So you could in theory have a staff that's essentially both shocking and blazing, for instance.

I've often thought it would be cool if you could harvest darts from dart/poison dart traps, but maybe that would make the crossbow too powerful

How will this interact with the sniper's Shared Enchantments ability? Will it be like how the battlemage's staff can essentially have two enchantments?

Had a run a little while ago where I got a projecting whip and a ring of arcana, but +14 is sheer madness. Incredible.