Mayday Plays - Heroes You Should Know: Junko Tabei

Episode Date: April 17, 2021

Allegra and Amands discuss and stat Japanese mountain climber Junko Tabei.

Hello, friends. Welcome back to Heroes You Should Know. I'm Allegra, and joining me this week, you may know her as Agent Boomer, Agent Frost, or more recently, as Snooval. It's Amanda! It's Snoovy, y'all! Hi, buddy! Good. Thank you. I'm so late to the party. I'm so happy to be here. I'm just happy you're here. Yeah, so Heroes You Should Know, this is what we are. I like to call it the Double Nerd Show, where I find interesting folks from history, be they warriors,

scientists, entertainers, what have you, and I do a lot of research on them, and then I turn them into D&D characters, because of course I do. It's a great time. It's a lot of fun nerd times, and I'm just so happy you're here. I'm really excited about who we're about to say we're announcing. It was so much fun. She's fantastic. I will let you do the introductions. Yes. So it's really hot in LA now, but we're going to talk about a cool lady. Oh, nice.

Not at all. Oh! Really terrible. Yeah! Truly awful. We're going to talk about Junko Tabe, who is a Japanese author, mountaineer, and teacher. So, here we go. Fuck you.

Sorry. Terrible. Absolutely. I'm mad at myself for that one. You're welcome. But I thought of it earlier, and I couldn't get out of my head, so I had to say it out loud at least once so that it wasn't there anymore, and now I regret all my life choices. Anyway, Junko Tabe, incredible woman. She was born Junko Ishibashi, September 22nd, 1939, in Miharu Fukushima, Japan, and she is the fifth of seven children.

Growing up, she was called frail, but began mountain climbing at age 10 after a class trip to Mount Nasu. Now mountain climbing is a very expensive hobby, especially for a small human, and her family didn't have a lot of money, and so she only got to do a few climbs by the time she was in high school. I was going to say, what school program allowed this? Yeah. Then again, it's like, I'm thinking like 2020, I'm like, hold on, rock climbing, children?

No. Liabilities everywhere. It's awesome. Yeah, like back in the 40s? Totally. Sure. Throw those kids on a mountain. It's fine.

I love it. I love, I haven't gone out to a rock climbing, but I've done indoor. It is so much fun in the best leg workout you'll ever receive, so I'm, yes. Tell me more. Tell me more places. Let's go together. Don't say that. Don't say that.

Don't pretend like this isn't what I'm going to hope happens. Oh my God. I'm dead serious. Yes. Okay. Well, now that we've made our plans, we'll continue. Yes. So she goes through high school.

She's done a few climbs. And then 1958 to 1962, she studies English and American literature at the Shoah American, or not an American, Shoah women's university with the intent of becoming a teacher. Yeah. Teachers. Hell yes. And so she starts to get back into climbing then because she's got a little bit more freedom and, you know, can do as she pleases.

And after graduating, she joins several men's climbing clubs in the, in the area. And within a couple of years, she has climbed all the major mountains in Japan, including Mount Fuji. Can we talk about how like, I know you're going to say this, but like it was a thing where they were just like, look down on women joining these clubs because they were looking for husbands. I'm like, I'm sorry, you didn't want a bad bitch. You don't want a bad bitch.

Okay. Whatever. Yeah. No, it's that's, that was a huge thing. It was a big, a big thing that she had to deal with was a lot of the dudes. Like some of them are really accepting and like, yeah, another climber. Great. But a lot of them.

Yeah, exactly. Like her husband. He was so cool. But a lot of them were very much like, why is there a woman climbing with us? I don't want to climb with a woman. And they would straight up just not, not do it with her, which is so annoying. First of all, so boring. So boring.

Mix it up. Let's go. Let's get some new patriarchal bullshit in here. Please. And thank you. This is the 1960s and men were full of themselves back then even more. Um, but age 27, she marries Masanobu Tabe, who was a fellow climber who she met on an expedition to Mount Tenagawa.

And eventually they got married, had a daughter and a son, Noriko and Shinya. And anytime she went and climbed mountains, he would just stay at home with the kids. Like, you know, a good partner. Ah. Ah. That's awesome. Like it's, yeah, love him. Bare minimum.

But 1960s, that's a lot. You're not wrong. Yeah, that's true. No, I'm not like detracting from it because like in the 1960s, that was a huge deal. And like fucking good for him for being like, oh yeah, my wife's a badass rock climber. She's, she's going. We got kids. So like someone's got to take care of them.

She's still facing all that stuff while trying to get her climb on, man. Yeah. So in 1969, after dealing with all that bullshit, she establishes the Joshi Tohan Club, which is the first women's exclusive mountaineering club. Uh, and the, the slogan of the club is very sweet. And I love it. It says, let's go on an overseas expedition by ourselves. And I love that so much.

It's, it's just, it's such like a break from the mentality of like, we have to do things for our husbands and like being housewives and all the, you know, like all the typical 50s and 60s bullshit. And it's just so, it's just so lovely to, to have that mentality that they got to have together. Like this great group of women just, we're going to go climb. And I'm like, yes. Yeah.

So like she establishes it because, you know, other men won't climb with her because the, or they thought she was just there to find a husband and I can feel my eyes rolling for her. There was an interview where she talked about the irony of her finding a husband while climbing a mountain. She's like, it's not lost on me. I'm very aware. Cause she found the one, the diamond, the rock, the perfect one.

That's right. Oh my gosh. So she started leading expeditions all over the place. Um, in 1970, they go on their first expedition climbing Mount Annapurna three in Nepal. Um, so they, they summit it by creating an entirely new route up the south side of the mountain. Uh, they were the first female group and the first Japanese group to ascend the mountain. And so, so usually with like big groups in mountain climbing, I found out they don't all

get to go to the summit because just because like oxygen supplies and like carrying that much oxygen for that many people to get up that high is just illogical and just can't happen because the tanks are fucking heavy. So they usually pick like two or three people. And so on that, on that expedition, Junko, another climber, Hiroko, Hirokawa were chosen to reach the summit with their two guides. Thank God. I won't, I won't like that kind of would annoy me a little bit.

You literally go 99.8% of it done. And it's like, but it totally makes sense for obviously safety, but I'm very glad that our heroine got to be the one to be like tap finish. Boop. Yeah. Uh, so she funded her, all these climbing activities by working as an editor for a, for the Journal of Physical Society of Japan, which is like a kind of a scientific journal that took into account like all the nature of stuff.

Um, so that says that that's the first expedition, all these women go on together and they, I think multiple of them have talked about, um, how being on that, that climb really kind of made them reconcile the, the traditional Japanese values of like quiet strength and not asking for help. Um, and just like you deal with it on your own and you don't let anyone know it's hard and you like it's a quiet circle. And then to be on a mountain and climbing and, you know, pushing yourself mentally and physically, having to having to reconcile that like need of like connection that can need

of like support was like a big thing for them and that kind of drew them closer together, which I think is so cool. You better shout help if you're starting to, I mean, there's really only two outcomes. You continue or you don't. Yeah, exactly. No, I love that that they are just like, yeah, no, we figured it out together. I love that. Yeah.

Instead of like climbing and silence, they were like acknowledging personal limits and accepting help from each other and asking for help from each other, which I. Friendships. Yes. Love that. We're all about that here. Yes. Oh, yeah, we are.

Uh, so after that, they're, they're in Nepal and then, uh, after and a print of three, they decided to take on Everest. Ah, which like, which is such a crazy jump for me, which like and a print of three is a big ass mountain. But then they're like, okay, we've done this mountain everest time done like immediately. They're not like not K2, not anything else everest. Let's go. Go back or go home.

Like, respect the trap. So, uh, after, after this, they make like a sub team in the, in the Joshi Tohan club. That's the Japanese women's ever sex position, the JWE with 15 members and they're, they're all from like a variety of professions. There are like computer scientists and there's, I think there was like an engineer and, and, uh, Junco was a teacher and there was another teacher, like they were from all kinds of walks of life. Two of them, including her were women or not women, God, they're all women.

Two of them, including her were mothers. Oh, nice. Oh, so yeah. And so a lot of the, a lot of issues that they got had a lot of issues that they had with getting like sponsorship and like funds was the fact that a lot of companies were like, you should be home taking care of your children and not climbing mountains. I tried really hard not to roll my eyes or say the first thing that's coming out of my mouth.

I know. And I don't want to cause I know we can get a little mean. So my face will say it all. We know. Uh, but eventually they do get funding from a newspaper, the, uh, the Yamiuri Shimbun and the Nippon television network. Okay. Um, so they, so they, they finally do get that.

Uh, but in the end they all did have to play 1.5 million yen, which sounds like a lot to Americans, but actually they're, yeah, it's just around $5,000 in America, which is still a lot, but it's not, you know, 1.5 million. Um, so to kind of offset those costs, a lot of them, you know, would, would take odd jobs, drink or herself would teach piano. Um, and she actually made some of her own equipment from scratch, including like waterproof gloves from the cover of her car, pants from old curtains. And just kind of like just recycling and doing good stuff.

She made it work. Yeah. She made it work. She's like, we're doing this on a budget. I don't care. We will go and duct tape will be great. Let's go. We'll make this work.

Okay. Wow. Uh, so they submitted this application for a climbing permit in 1971, but it took four years to receive a formal spot in the climbing schedule. I think that's because so many people were starting to climb because remember 1953 was when, uh, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing, um, Norge first like climbed the mountain. And that was, you know, it was less than 20 years ago for them when they were first putting in the application.

So I'm sure there were a ton of people that were like, they did it. I can do it better. I can do it differently. That makes it. Okay. That makes sense. So I think that's why it took them that long to get a, like a spot in the climbing schedule. Um, but May 20, nothing, blip, blip, blip, blip.

Take their words back. Words, words work again. May 1975. Uh, they start going up the mountain with six Sherpa guides using the same route that Tenzing Norge and Sir Edmund Hillary took 22 years earlier. Um, and they, it was a pretty big deal because they were, you know, an all women group in 1970s. And for, for a short time on their climb, they were accompanied by journalists and a

television camera. They got a lot of attention when they flew over. It was a big deal. Uh, so May 4th, they're camping at around 9,000 feet. Okay. And an avalanche hits their camp. Of course it does. Right.

Naturally. And it buries five of the climbers, including Junko and she is unconscious and she's buried under the snow. Horror story. Yeah. Okay. It was, it was like a big thing. And then luckily the guide stuck her out and no one died.

There was no like lasting, you know, fatal and injury or anything like that. She was hurt. Uh, she could barely walk and had to spend two, like two or three days recovering. And literally she gets buried by an avalanche. And then two or three days later, she's like, all right, time to keep climbing the tallest mountain in the world. Who casted it? What is it?

Like luck or some things? Yeah. She has. A lot of clerics that prayed to their DD is just like, Hey, undo, undo. Please. They got a party big enough for it. They should have multiple clerics. Okay.

Go for it. So she's hurt. She rests. She keeps going. Uh, the original plan was like before to send two of the women to the peak, uh, accompanied by one of the guides. But altitude sickness takes several of them and they're not able to carry enough oxygen bottles for two climbers.

So they have to basically choose one person to go. That'd be my girl. And it is. It is. Yeah. They have, they have a big, like, they have a big, like, conference among themselves basically. And one of them puts her forward as a nomination and everyone's like, yep, it's gotta be her.

It better be like the organizer. I'm just saying she put all this shit together. She planned all this shit. She's the one who's created this group and that like created this, you know, this community for them. It makes sense. I love that. Um, so she, so she's going up the mountain and she's nearing the peak and then she gets

to this thin ridge of ice that no one mentioned in any of the other, like accounts of climbing it, the accounts of climbing this route. No one said anything about this like tiny ledge of ice that's super precarious and dangerous. So she has to shimmy along it sideways, makes it obviously, but she described it as the most tense experience she's ever had. Just think about that. Like, no, I don't want to do it, Amanda, I would shit a brick. I'm sorry to curse.

Are you kidding me? No. Hell no. I know. I freak out on roller coasters or like the Ferris wheel. No. Yeah. I love mountain climbing, but like I've done indoor, but I haven't done outdoor with elements

and wind. Exactly. The wind is, the wind is whistling. Like the air is so thin, it hurts to breathe. It's colder than a witch's tit and you're having to cross a thin ice bridge to get to the peak of the tallest mountain in the world. Like, I won't lie, that is incredible. Like a part of me really wants to climb the other part of me is like scared shitless.

And I like, you know what, hell yeah. It's like the, the fortitude, the mental, emotional, physical fortitude you have to do to see this thing that no one's mentioned before. Focused. Focused. Anyway, I got, I got real emotional about that part when I read it. But eventually, May 16th, 1975, 12 days after being buried under an avalanche, she makes it to the top with the assistance of her guide on serums and becomes the first woman to summit

Mount Everest. Fuck yes. Amazing. So cool. Fuck yes. Yes. Oh, I love this. And of course, it's a huge deal.

Like, they get back to, right, they get back down to Kathmandu and there's a parade held in her honor. They go back to Japan and there are thousands of cheering fans there to greet her at the airport in Tokyo. She gets messages from like royalty in Nepal, the Japanese government. She gets a television mini series about the climb and she's like asked to make appearances all around Japan. But she hates the attention.

She's super uncomfortable with all the notoriety. She talks about like her kid is terrified that like all the cameras are around all the time and it takes her a long time to get settled back home. And she talks about how she would rather be remembered as the 36th person to summit Mount Everest rather than the first woman. Because in her words, I did not intend to be the first one went on Everest, which is she just saw that top and she goes bet. Yeah, exactly.

She's like, that one. I want that one. This is the one for me. Yes. So she's, you know, she's got all this notoriety and she's doing all this incredible work and she just wants to keep climbing. So she continues on her love of climbing and eventually she is the first woman to complete the seven summits challenge, which is climbing the seven, the tallest mountains on every

continent. Wow. Which is Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, which she climbed in 1980. There's Mount Conagua, Concagua in Argentina. I believe yet that sounds right to me. Concagua looks like looks right in 1987. I should have learned to pronounce all of these words before, but I am bad at remembering to do things. It's an all in Alaska year later in 1988.

OK, followed the year after that. 1989 by Mount Elbrus, Elbrus, Elbrus, something in Russia. And then Mount Vincen in Antarctica in 1991. And finally to complete her, her climbs in 1992. She went on. That's the last one. That's the last one. Puncagaya in New Guinea.

Hell yes. Yeah. So she's, she's summoning all these and she's doing her thing. So in the year 2000, she goes to complete some post grad work at the Kyushu University focusing on the environmental impact of climbing, specifically the impact of trash left behind by climbing groups on Everest. Yes. I've heard about like, that's a big thing.

Yeah. So during this time, she's actually the director of the Himalayan Adventure Trust of Japan, which is a group that's focused on the global preservation of mountainous environments, but specifically the Himalayas. And one of the big projects for her was to build an incinerator to build climber trash on the mountain and making it kind of accessible and easy to find or like easy to easy to deposit trash in. And she led a bunch of cleanup climbs in Japan and in the Himalayas with her husband and her

kids. And once her kids got old enough, she and her husband would take them with them, which I think is very cute. So by 2005, she had taken part in or led 44 all female mountaineering expeditions. Oh nice. Yeah. Which is a ton. And then her, and so her biggest goal was to climb the highest mountain in every country.

And by the end of her life, she had hit more than 70 of those. I think the highest is 70, the highest count was like 78 and the lowest was straight on at 70. But that's amazing. And this is, you know, she's, how old was she, math? She was like 64 in 2005. And that's like, she was still climbing like a, like with the best of them. So to sort of have that much of a, well, I, words hold on.

Climbing high school in 2005. I'm like, I was in fifth grade in 2005. Oh, that just aged me big time. Oh, shouldn't have said that. It's so daunting. Like a lot of things that we've talked about is like, like before our time, I was like, I was in high school when like she was doing, oh man, that doesn't kill her. I love thinking about like, like a person that you think of from the past knows what

X specific thing like, like, like she knew what the internet was, which I know, like logically, I know that she should know what the internet is because I knew people that were born in the 1930s. And of course they know what the internet is. They use the internet, but sometimes like that disconnect is so wild to me. Like she probably had a smartphone near the end of her life. Anyway. Yeah.

No, sorry. I just thought of it. It's like, you know, sometimes they purposely do black and white photos when really color was around at that time. Yeah. And then when they colorize them, it makes it like, oh, this was a real, like a real thing because it's a disconnected like, I know it's like, it doesn't seem real or it seems like it was a long time ago, but like, no, that was, you know, 60 years ago, which

is not that long ago. No, it's not. Now that we've gone on that wild tangent, that's the danger of putting you and me in a room together and just letting us go. It's like tangent. I was like, are you sure you want me on the show? Cause we're just going to, you know me, I just, no, I want it. You and I tangent together wildly and it's my favorite.

Oh my gosh. So anyway, she never accepts corporate sponsorship. She saves money for the expeditions by making public appearances, guiding mountain climbing tours and tutoring local kids in music and English. Oh, that's a durp. I know. She even like, like even back when she was preparing for Everest, she would tutor kids in piano and I just think that's very cute.

That is freaking adorable. That's just like a nice way, like wanting to keep that autonomy of like, no, this is, I'm doing this. How I want to do this. Like then I wouldn't climb Mount Everest. Yeah. That's nice. And it's, it's a good way to like keep her, keep her own like soul in it, I guess.

Yeah. But her friends and supporters would like donate food and equipment so that she had, I think she had a lot of support in that direction too, which is also very lovely and makes my heart very warm. So she, she wrote seven books between 1996 and 2008. Okay. Most of them about mountain climbing, environmental, environmentalism, she was a huge environmental advocate as you would guess from being a mountain climber and creating, creating the

incinerator to keep. Which influenced my picks and when I get into it, I will explain in extreme detail. Go ahead. I'm sorry. So there was the, the, the great East Japan earthquake in 2011 that we all remember. And after that she organized guided trips up Mount Fuji for the school children who were affected by the disaster, which I think is very nice. So 2012, she gets diagnosed with stomach cancer, which is super sad, but she keeps climbing

mountains. Like she's going through treatment and just like, no, I'm going to go climb a mountain. Cancer was not telling her what to do. No. Uh, as, uh, so she, so she passed away in October of 2016, October 20th, a month after her, uh, 77th birthday. But in July of that year, she led a youth trek up Mount Fuji, literally what three months before she passed away.

She was like, I'm going to take these kids up Mount Fuji. Oh, I love this. Amazing. Like, like, oh, like I said, she told life what she was going to do. You know what I mean? And I got this. And the thing is she was not a large woman, uh, everywhere I've seen talks about her being somewhere between four nine and four 11 and just being like, fuck everything.

I'm doing what I want. That's why that's power. But like avalanche and this, I'm like, this is adorable. Yes. Yeah. Power. Like, like, what is it like, uh, big personality and a tiny package. You know, like, I am one of the smallest of Mayday.

Just apply. You are the smallest of Mayday. Yeah. I am the, I thank you. I'm just trying to be cool. I know. I was like, no, you're the, you're the, I'm calling you out because I'm because you're the only one I'm telling.

I can't wait to, we all have a photo and everyone's like tall as a tree, like sequoias. And then you have this little bush. Like, hello. Yes. Um, tangents. God. So, okay. Yes.

Anyway, she, so in, uh, an asteroid was named after her. It's, uh, yeah, six, eight, nine, seven to Bay. And then in 2019, a mountain range on Pluto was named after her. So a lot of the, a lot of the like celestial beings have like naming conventions for the, um, for the topography. And the naming convention for Pluto is historic pioneers who crossed new horizons in the exploration of earth, sea and sky. Oh, that's it right there.

She deserves it. Yeah. That's, yes. At least that's incredible. Yeah. Oh, that's such a, like an inspiring kind of like, I'm going to live it this way. And I'm like, yes. Like she lives on in Pluto.

So cool. And like our memories and our knowledge of her and her and all the incredible things that she did and the fact that she's been trying to keep Mount or Mount Everest, you know, clean and safe and preserved. She's so cool. And her, her, her big slogan was do not give up, keep on your quest, which I think is lovely. Oh, oh my God. Yes.

I am loving. Oh, it's incredible story. Yeah. She's truly an incredible woman. I, as usual, this is just the bare minimum of, of research. You can find so much more information about her on the internet. Please do listen to her talk about climbing mountains. I watched a couple, a couple like short interviews of her just talking about climbing mountains

and the joy and like the, the love she has is so, so evident. It's incredible. And she's, she's just seems like. She's just a lovely human who just kept on following the thing that was the most important to her. And we can all only hope that we do something that cool. Going on to the next climb, man. Yeah.

Oh, I love that. So yes. You're billed. Hit me with it. Hit me with it. I'm so excited. Okay. So I don't know if you can see it.

I think I gave you. You did. Let me, let me pull it up really fast because I like, I like seeing it. Come on. Come on. Here we go. Okay. Yeah.

I'm good. Hit me with it. I was going to, I was like, did you want to like how like we actually build it or like actually describe, you know, why don't you, why don't you start off with, with your class and your subclass? I picked Ranger. Yes. I know like maybe possibly drew it on the, the reason why I went with Ranger is because

I felt like Rangers would like take my opinion of my limited knowledge, D and D. I would say, uh, would, you know, would guide people and the fact that she guided, uh, groups of groups of women, children and other people. She led these climbs. That's where I was just like, she'd be a Ranger and that kind of aspect for sure. And I, in the subclass, if I remember, let me see if I'm back because I'm blanking out. The subclass I chose for her because I was just like, no, we're doing this. We're going to do this.

What did I pick? Fighting style. Uh, that's two. I know this. I know this. Architect. There we go. I did, uh, the horizon walker.

Yes. Because I know it's, I know it dealt with like portals and all that, but it really does expand in my opinion that's kind of climbing of, and also like you can disappear really quick in portals. And I feel like they would go always to the next adventure to find the next big climb. So that's, that's how I kind of designed it. And I'm, yes, very, I, I was just like, no, that's what I'm going with. And then of course I was playing with like, oh, what kind of weapons did they like quit

spells? And I was just like frostbite and magic stone, by the way. Yes. What did you end up with her stats? Okay. So with my kind of playing, uh, her, her least, this is kind of funny, her charisma is at a negative one with nine, which I thought was very fitting since I would say all the resistance that she was getting from, especially her early years of climbing.

I feel like it was like, there was no way she could persuade that. So she was always at like at a disadvantage with that. Yeah. And then the next one up, and I don't want to sound insulting, uh, is her intelligence at an 11. The reason why I did that is because I felt like wisdom was, she was more like, not that she wasn't, she was very intelligent, especially since she would play the piano. Like she was teacher.

She knew her stuff, but I kind of figured like more of a wisdom of like, especially with her knowledge of going on these climbs. She used that to influence all of like her books and all that stuff going forward. And then, uh, for strength, uh, I was like, so wisdom was 14, intelligence is 11. Her strength is a 15. Nice. And then her decks and constitution, I gave it 16. Whoa.

I love that. So, cause I was just like, um, that will, that will, and apparently that luck of surviving in Avalanche. Yeah. Um, what are, what are the like the big skill proficiencies you gave her? So, uh, I definitely gave her a little bit more of the dexterity and acrobatics. So that's where I felt like, like, even though climbing does require a lot of strength, I felt like you have to be a little bit more nimble, especially when you, it's not always

like the will of the punch. It's the, just kind of climbing up there and keeping your mental sanity in that. Right. So I would say she definitely has proficiency in acrobatics, athletics, uh, what else we got and survival that when I purposely was just like, we need that, that one for sure. So those are her, uh, those are top three. Nice. Yeah.

Yeah. Uh, what, what, um, background did you give her? Ah, let's see. So I gave her the outlander wanderer. So we do. No way. Okay. So like it kind of says for itself where your memory with maps and geography lay up to rain

and all that. So I felt like that it just naturally worked with that instead of for the ranger I was creating. Nice. Did you have any, uh, feats for her? Did you just do like skill bumps or, uh, oh no, I did some feats. I did some feats. Um, uh, the first one I did was a stat bump. So I bumped up my actual strength and I bumped up the dexterity.

So that's why it was 15, 16, 60, uh, for the next one I actually was stuck between tough, but the one I ended up choosing was athlete because that I could add an increase to my strength, which is, that's what I picked. And when you're prone, standing up only uses five feet of your movement and climbing doesn't cause you extra movement and you can make running long jumps or running high jump after only moving five feet instead of 10. That's where I was just like brilliance that ties in. So good dude.

Oh, I love it. Um, did you have any spells? What you said frostbite and mosey alone? Yes. Oh, so for my cantrips frostbite, I was very inspired by Everest for that. Uh, I have magic stone. Do you know that one? Hemi remind me what magic stone is.

I always, I always look at it and then I completely forget what it is as soon as I finish reading it. No, no worries. So it is, you can touch one to three pebbles and then view them with magic. So you or someone else can take a range spell attack with one of the pebbles by throwing it or hurling it in a sling. If prone, it has a range of 60 feet. If someone else attacks with the pebble, that attacker adds your spell caster modifier,

the attackers and on a hit, the target takes a bludgeoning damage of one die, six plus your spell casting ability, hit or miss, the spell ends at the stone and as it goes on, I just felt like rock suit that that I, yeah, if it fits and then what do we got like a first level protect against evil and good. Nice. Uh, misty step is level two with again, protection, uh, level three, I add haste. And then at level seven, maybe I didn't pay attention. That's my fault.

Etherealness. That's a good one too. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That works. That's a good idea. So that those are the spells that I have. And of course, like quarterstaffs and I put hammers.

Yes. And I was like very adamant of like, no, I was thinking like climbing tools, like hammer handaxe, like hammer. Oh yeah. Yeah. Of course. Um, what are some of the, what are some of the, you said, that she gets portal, like portal work with her, with her subclass.

So she can detect portals. So once per short rest as an action, you can detect the distance and direction to the closest, uh, portal within one mile of you. And then you get from evil awareness. So that's really nice. We can, uh, and what is it as a, okay, bonus action is magic. So too. Oh, nice.

Perfect. Dude. Yeah. That is a killer bill. Thank you. I love it. I just want to play this character in an upcoming game. I, that's, that's the danger with like making all these characters is every

time I build one, I'm like, okay, but I want to play them now. Like I never wanted to play a bard and then I made who I made and had Juana and I also, and, um, Josephine Baker. And I was like, okay, but now I have to play a bar. I charisma be damned. Is that wrong? We're, I'm going to be like, I have a brain trick in the next game. They're going to be like, wait a minute.

I wait. I've seen this bill before. I've seen this billed. So dude, yeah. Fucking killer. Oh, I do have to say one thing that made me very happy was I got hide in plain sight, which is I can camouflage myself with the natural elements. And I just thought of like, I just thought I was like, yes, that, uh,

that one, I don't know why it's such a silly side one, but I was like, oh, that's exactly good flavor. I know. It's spice, spicy, amazing. Um, oh, what did her hit points end up? Just cause I'm always curious. Dude, that's where I was going to pick tough. I would have gotten up to 114, but level 12.

Yes. I looked ahead. I was going to go to tough. I already planned this bill. Current hit point max is 94. Hell yes. Amazing. All right.

A great, oh, oh, one more thing. A C what's your AC? I always like knowing that too. Oh, cause, uh, they also have leather armor right now at 14. Hey, same here. Yeah. Very cool. I, I gave myself a challenge.

I was like, you don't get Ranger cause Ranger, Ranger is like, Ranger was the one that I was immediately like Ranger, obviously. And sometimes I let myself steer into it. And there are some times that I'm like, no, you don't get to do that. Be like, do something different. So I did rogue seven wizard three. Okay. Let's hear me walk me through this.

Hear me out. So for rogue, she's a scout. Okay. Scouts are skilled in self and surviving far from the streets of the city. You scout ahead of your companions on an expedition, which she always ended up being the one who got to the top of the mountain. Bear. Um, and that's like, they're, they're very, they're very Ranger E rogues.

So I cheated a little bit by making the most Ranger rogue I could, but it's still a rogue. So, um, and then I chose for wizard, I chose the school of abjuration, which is like protective magic, which I think I, I, I moved towards that for her, for her later life of like environmentalism and conservative conservationists. And like that. Yeah. So she sat it out. Uh, I also gave her the lowest in charisma because she just wasn't, she was

uncomfortable with all the attention and like to have charisma. I think you have to be a little bit okay with attention, not like super about it, but like at least a little bit. And she was so upset by it that I was like, I don't think a little smooth, not a lot. Yeah. You got to at least slide into a DM. I think, I think she was probably like, like she spoke really well and like, like had a lot of like sentient opinions, but it was, I think it was just like, it

makes the most sense to me that she's like, she doesn't want the attention. She's literally in it for the rock climbing and just like doing what she loves. Um, wisdom's a 13, constitution's a 12 intelligence because I had to make her intelligence high because she's the wizard. So intelligence and dexterity are both 16 and strength is a 14. Oh, very, very different bills, but very like on it. Okay. Yes.

Walk me through this. So for skills. So because she's a, um, because she's a rogue, she gets, um, expertise, which means she doubles her proficiency, but proficiency bonus on some of her skill checks. Um, and then she also gets to add her proficiency, uh, double her proficiency bonus on nature and survival because she is a survivalist because of scout. Right. So in the end, she has one, two, she has six skills that she doubles her

proficiency bonus on, which is stupid. Oh my God. Okay. So you build this at level 10. Her arcana, her investigation and her nature are at plus 11. Damn. Her acrobatics or I'm sorry. Her athletics is at plus 10 and her perception and survival are at plus nine.

Oh my God. So dumb. So ridiculous. My, my two. And what is the survival? Yes. Perception two. What, what was, what was the first ones you said?

Uh, arcana and athletics. Four. It's all, it's all insane. It like rogues are busted and I love rogues. Um, so, and then she, her other proficiency was insight and that's at a plus six, which is not too shabby, but it's the only one that didn't get expertise. That's safe for real.

I think it's like, yeah, it doubles up out of the way. Yeah. That's weird. So super cool. Super, super good at skills, super skilled at a lot of things. Awesome. Um, I didn't give her any feats. I just, uh, just because so, so for this build, since she's a seven and a three,

she only gets one, one ASI and or its feet pump. So I gave, I just gave her an ASI and I think I did. I think I hit constitution and decks. Yeah, that's good. Constitutional intelligence. Those are the two I hit. God, yeah, that makes sense. Which yeah, it tracks and it makes sense for her, um, for spells.

She doesn't have a toll, a lot of spells because she is a level three. Um, but I gave her dancing lights for, you know, the dark nights on the mountain when you need a little bit of, of light, um, mending, which is. Oh, damn, that's good. You need, you need, you need mending on an expedition of, uh, I did not call my spells at all. Maybe I should add some more. Go ahead, continue.

And then I also gave her blade ward, which is another one of those spells that I read it and I know what it is. And then I forget it immediately. Uh, so blade ward, um, it basically gives her resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage dealt by weapon attacks, which is real great when you're caught in an avalanche. I'm not going to lie, I didn't realize I didn't really fill out my spell slots. So I'm making notes now for the build for later.

So what was that one again? One more time. Blade ward. Blade ward. Gosh. Yeah. Uh, and then I gave her shields, you know, for more protection, mage armor, pump the, pump the AC, feather fall for when you are terrible.

I, you know, I, I'm blatantly stealing that one from you. And then, uh, burning out was also first level for smart. Yeah, I went the other direction. You went like inspired by the, the weather and I went like fight the weather. Yeah, I like that. Uh, and then the last two, she has our spider climb and missy step. Classics, classics one and all, but they fit so well. They do.

I'm very, I'm very happy with them. Um, I guess I'm going to go ahead and do that. I gave her Primordial and Sylvan because those seem like the mountains. They're the, the languages you would need on a mountain to me at least. So, uh, how many languages do they speak? Uh, she gets, I think three and also fees can't, uh, so common Primordial, Sylvan were the ones I gave her. Oh, I got at least I got five.

We got five. Yeah. Common. Uh, and because of Ranger and like after a while, you can, uh, because I have like your favorite enemy and everything. I have like favorite terrain and all that favorite enemy. So for like my favorite enemies, I chose plants and Faye. Ooh, nice.

And then I totally added that on to give me Elvish and halfling language. I didn't know. I was just like trying to think of like people that they were interact with. So I'm right. Okay. Halflings, Elvish, Dwarves, Draconic and then, uh, common. Nice.

Cause I'm like, if you can't talk to a dragon, what's the point? Dragons live on mountains, man. Exactly. And you need to be polite even though the charisma sucks, but they can at least try to persuade the dragon to not be like, Oh, you look delicious. Exactly. But she, she's tiny. So she's like toothpick.

Uh, let's see. She gets Evasionette on candy dodge, which are great for avalanches. Um, cunning action, which gives her a little bit more movement. Right. Um, and then for Scout, she gets skirmisher. So skirmisher, you are difficult to pin down during a fight. You can move up to half your speed as a reaction when an enemy ends its turn within five feet of you.

And this movement does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Really? Okay. That's good. Scouts are need a shit. I love them. Um, and then for, uh, abduration, the usual arcane recovery, you can recover spell slots.

Right. Right. Um, abduration savant, it takes you half the time and half the gold to copy down abduration spells. Um, and then arcane ward, which is, um, sorry, I'm going to have to read it again because again, I forget things. Uh, when you cast an abduration spell, you can simultaneously use a strand of the spells magic to create a magical ward around yourself, uh, that lasts until

you finish a long West. So the ward has a hit point maximum equal to twice your wizard level plus your intelligence modifier. So for her, it would be nine hit points of, of ward. Um, and whenever you take damage, the ward takes the damage instead. Uh, zero, you, uh, take whatever. So like if you, the damage carries over. So if like you have like four hit points left of the ward and you take six

hit points, the ward takes four and you take two. Um, once the ward hits your hit points, it can't absorb the damage, but the magic remains. And so whenever you cast an abduration spell at level one or higher, the word regains the hit points equal to twice the level of the spell. So you can like keep giving yourself a little bit of extra shield, which is so good for squishy wizards. That's why I don't play wizards.

I tried one up in it and then you died. I died y'all and you'll never hear that game because it was, I was, I was trash. You were learning. It was your first game. You did, you did so well for playing a wizard, your first character, bro. I'm so proud of you, somebody with literally no knowledge of D&D and be like, okay, you're going to play a wizard. And I'm like, okay, everyone's like, you know what?

You might like barbarian or fighter. I remember telling you that afterwards. I was like, Hey, you did a great job as a wizard. You did a really good job. You seem like a person that would want to hit things. Oh, I'm so all for like less this, more this. For that. Hence why you're playing a monk right now.

Oh, yeah, simple things. Smash bash. That's all I want to do. It's our girl. Uh, the last few things, equipment I gave her, uh, I gave her an ice axe, which I just, it's just a reskin. It's just a reskin to sort sword. It's just a reason.

Sort sword. Like I gave it the same abilities as a sort sword, but I call them nice acts because I wanted to, um, I also gave her, she gets daggers because she's a rogue, but I called them pythons because those are little things you stick in. So you can rip your rope through them as you climb the mountain. So they're not daggers. They're pythons. And then she gets a short bow and I couldn't think of a good way to reskin that.

So it's just a short. Hold please. Let's have some fun with this. Okay. Short bow, short. Oh yeah. I know your screw. Yeah.

It's like, I kind of was like, it's like a daisy chain, like those things that you put your feet into climb, but it doesn't, it doesn't really work. So it's, it's just a short. Or let, oh, okay. Here we go. Instead of like typical arrows, what is it called? A grappling gun type scenario. So you're going full Batman here.

I'm going full Batman. We're not going to disrespect Bruce Wayne in this household. I do in this household. I will, but you in your household. Well, hold on. Yeah, that is true. White privilege where he is billionaire and that's why he's able to get away with I've got a lot of opinions on Bruce Wayne, but we're not going to get into it.

We're not going to get into it. Still has some of the best villains in superhero. I will like the villains are, but so bringing it back, right? Yes, that's instead of the arrows being normal, they'll be like grappling arrows and you have to do it. So they're fucking perfect. We made it work. Yeah, we did.

Um, her climbing gear, I reskinned it. They're just reskinned thieves tools. Fair. Um, she gets an explorer's pack because of course she does. She's an explorer and then leather armor. Oh, we did a dungeon one. Yeah, the only reason because you still get a little bit more. I think it was like a little bit more of like pins or something like no,

it was just like a little bit more climbing. Let me see. I make sense. It was like just the very slightest differences. But yeah, we went about it in different ways. I think we got to the same place. Um, and so I went through and tried to find some, some fun magical items that she might have as well, not all of these obviously, but some of them.

Oh, I totally missed that. Go ahead and tell me more. I just, I just, I do it every time just for the hell of it. Um, armor of cold resistance gives you resistance to cold damage. Uh, boots of the winterlands, which I think, uh, they don't, it doesn't slow you down in the snow. Uh, you don't like same with the resistance to cold damage. There are a couple of the really cool things that go with it.

I like it. Nice. Um, cloak of displacement and, uh, bracers of defense because who doesn't need. Yeah. Who doesn't need more like AC and also be harder to hit, especially as a rogue. How heavy is that stuff? I don't, I've genuinely actually never kept considered a track of the weight of my equipment in the game ever in my life.

Cause I think of like, okay, if they're going to be, I'm dead serious. Cause I'm so silly. Like, like, no, I love it. That's why Snoop all doesn't act. Well, obviously cause monks, you want to be an arm and all that stuff. But I was just like, okay, how is it? How are they going to move leather? Because it's lighter.

So I'm literally that a-hole. Oh my God. No, it's good that you're like that. Cause I'm like, what's the most dramatic character choice I can make about my character? That's it. Like, like, like Shodi, I was like, Shodi has all this like random like shit that she doesn't need.

They don't need, but they have it because it's like sentimental to me. What do you have? What do you have? You're not gonna find out later. I already shared one of them with you. Towards the end. Yeah.

Towards the end. You will find, no, is it a spoiler? Cause we didn't see what it was. Yeah. It's not even really a spoiler. Just Amanda and I be excited about our D&D characters. Um, back on track. God.

Frostbrand, which is a weapon that deals cold damage and is a movable rod, which you put it in place and it can't be moved. And that's got to be useful for a fucking mountain climber. And the necklace of adaptation, which I have to look at again, because my brain doesn't like keeping track. I'm so upping up my, just so you know, my ranger is gonna like, I forgot hat, like the spells. I forgot to fill that out and I forgot to add a little bit more.

Cause I remember that you, you're like, spice it up. And I'm like, spicy. Um, so the necklace of adaptation while you're wearing this necklace, you can breathe normally in any environment. Super useful when you're on top of a mountain. Uh, and you have advantage on saving throws made against harmful gases and vapors, which I, you know, when you, when the air is like this thin, they are thin air, but also because I feel like the

character you've created slightly ballsy would climb a volcano. Oh hell yes. Maybe not an active volcano, but definitely a volcano. Oh yeah. If you, to me, clone, clone Mount Fuji. Exactly. So that's something that, that works out perfectly. Yeah.

Oh, nice. So that's, that's my, that's my belt for, for her. She was, oh, her AC was 14 and her current hit points were 68 because squishy wizard. Um, and now you remind me why I don't do wizard. Yeah. And I mean, like rogues, rogues aren't super hard either. They're just hard to fucking hit.

So. But yeah, that's my ranger can take a fall and at least survive. That's true. Feather fall. So maybe I can too. Damn it. You do have to the fall. I'm adding that.

That's, I don't know what level that is, but that's so it's like, it's like a low level. Good at it. Cause let's you climb in. Is it a ranger fall? I feel like rangers get feather fall, don't they? We don't need to look this up right now, but I'm going to. I'm like, I'm like looking through mine.

Like, I'm like, okay, I have lamb stride. Okay. So difficult terrain is no extra movement to me. You can't have feather fall. Sorry, ranger. What? Yeah. For some reason it's not on the, on the ranger spell list.

I don't believe you. Well, go look for yourself then. I'm looking. As a man as a thief, I'm going to close us out. You don't have to listen to us go on our tangents anymore. Fine. Thank you so much for joining me, my dear friend. This was so terribly fun and so terribly chaotic.

I think that's how the roots is we're like, maybe we should like, this is the danger of putting you and I in a room together. We've said this once, we'll say it again. We'll just go, we will. Amanda was the first person in Mayday that I spoke to, actually. Oh yeah. And the audition and we got to audition twice together. Yes.

And I was like, super intimidated. I'm like, oh, they're so like, like, no, like so good. I also had no idea you had never played before that. Like you, you exuded so much fucking confidence and like knowing what the fuck you were doing. I was like, oh yeah, she's been playing for ages. It has to be. And then you were like, I've never played before.

And I was like, the best thing about not knowing anything is you don't. You have no judgment. You're like, oh, you could do that. I think I remember, like, I'm just side really quick and I'll wrap it. I remember, like, I think in our first game, my character ended up licking something and got high. Yes, you did. You licked some goo.

You licked some goo and you got high. Memories. That's what goes in my brain, y'all. And I'm like, yeah, I think they're going to go ahead and lick it because they're kind of a dumbass and it smells interesting. You have low intelligence, so it makes sense. Yes. Oh, boy.

Oh, man. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. I love you, too. We should wrap this up before we keep going. Yes, we could. We could literally sidebar all night. But is there anything that you want to you want to plug or shout out before we before we wrap this chaos up?

I do. Yes. Hey, everybody. If you notice on Fridays, we're uploading a new thing called a Shoka. And there is an amazing character where you literally sing the song. Shody's got a melody. I hate you. I hate you. I take back saying I love you.

I hate you. I sing that so many times while we were recording. I feel kind of bad. I know Eli cuts them out, but I know for like a solid intro. I think like around like episode A, we just kept we just sang it. He was pissed. I love you all very much. And I didn't think through Shody's name

before I named him Shody and then you and Caleb did that. And I was like, but anyway, please listen to a Shoka. We've been having so much fun sharing it with you guys, you all. There is so much more to come. It I say this every time, but the chaos doesn't end. Mondays, join us for join Aaron as he plays the sheep farm. He's been playing Arkham lately. I don't know if he finished it tonight because we were it's Monday

when we're recording this. And he was he was still playing when I started recording. So I don't know if he finished it. He was fighting Harley. No, he wasn't fighting Harley Quinn. He was fighting poison ivy. Anyway, unimportant and very it's I mean, it's important, but it's not important to this explanation.

Anyway, that man's amazing. Tuesdays, join us when Sergio leads us through the iron lands for iron, storm Wednesdays. Ultimately, it's me and the friend and heroes you should know. So don't forget that in two weeks. And finally, on Fridays, as Amanda was saying, Ashoka Precious Cargo, my child and my heart and my face. This has been the biggest tangent of all.

This whole episode is the biggest tangent of all. I hope you are still with us. And if you're not, I understand. I had fun, though. And thank you for hanging with us. As always, if you think of a hero that you want us to cover, please drop it in chat. If you think of a system that you want me to try and build characters in,

please drop that in chat, too, because I love building stuff in D&D, but I am very aware that there are some other games that I'm woefully dreadfully unaware of and want to be want to know about. So hit us with those. Have a lovely week. Take care of yourselves. Goodbye. you