The OotS Thread III

[PainRack]

I just had a thought. I'm assuming that the OotS has not had this thought, but I'm going to voice it anyway.

They're trying to get to Girard's gate before Xykon. Fine.

Exactly what are they planning to do with it once they get there? We've seen in Azure City that destroying it is not a good thing (leaving aside the problem of how the gates are containing the Snarl, and three of them have already been destroyed).

What is the point of getting to the gate first? When they thought they were going to warn Girard, it made a certain amount of sense, but they now know that's a moot point.

Roy already mentioned it. One villain at a time.......

[Alkaloid]

10 to 1 Belkar has a new steed.

[Lord of the Abyss]

868 is up!

It looks like the next one will be interesting...

[Irbis]

10 to 1 Belkar has a new steed.

Sadly, you lose

Corner A - Belkster.
Corner B - Malack.

Any bets?

[Ahriman238]

The title was a nice callback to Belkar's getting a riding dog (a dachshund.)

10 to 1 Belkar has a new steed.

Sadly, you lose

Corner A - Belkster.
Corner B - Malack.

Any bets?

They'll be in close quarters, and Belkar is least likely to trip or otherwise lose initiative. On the overhand, Malack is presumably ridiculously high level, along with Tarquin. Tarquin easily manhandled the whole party just a short while ago, and fighter/warrior level progression is nothing compared to caster growth. Malack's also down just a couple of spells, so far he's used what, control weather and a couple raise dead?

[Irbis]

They'll be in close quarters, and Belkar is least likely to trip or otherwise lose initiative. On the overhand, Malack is presumably ridiculously high level, along with Tarquin. Tarquin easily manhandled the whole party just a short while ago, and fighter/warrior level progression is nothing compared to caster growth. Malack's also down just a couple of spells, so far he's used what, control weather and a couple raise dead?

Well, if Miko/Redcloak fight shown us anything, Clerics in OotS are explicitly not your 'heavy armour clad, melee maxed' kind of characters your typical minmax PC writes, rather the opposite. Malack was shown being rather frail, and Belkar has both multiple attacks and probably favoured enemy on reptile humanoids. Plus, anti-spellcaster cat. Malack is down all the spells he used to bomb OotS in roof fight, and probably not expecting Belkar; this could go either way, might not even be fight if Belkar inquires first due to surprise (and his fake character growth), with Malack likewise refraining from fight.

Or heck, something no one foreseen, like Malack bowing to Belkar as avatar of his god of death

[Lord of the Abyss]

Or heck, something no one foreseen, like Malack bowing to Belkar as avatar of his god of death

Probably not that, but still....this isn't something Malack wanted to do in the first place. I could see Malack casually stomping Belkar with his magic, then just saying "Bah, this is meaningless" and wandering off while Belkar complains about how he'll get Malack next time.

Or maybe Belkar will recall that prophecy about him "breathing his last" soon, and quiz Malack-Priest-of-a-Death-God on the undead killing machine options available for the soon to be deceased.

[Crazedwraith]

Only Roy knows about the prophecy about Belkar. Since he heard in while a spirit. Any of the times the others heard it, it got wiped out by the memory charm. Though I think he told Haley though. I think Belkar would be whinging about it a lot more if he knew.

As to Belkar well. Evenone's so looking for the clever way out of the prophecy. I'm thinking Rich will just play it very straight instead. I tend to hope it will be in some very preventable way that Roy will angst about; did he accidently let belkar die when it was easily stoppable becaise of the prophecy/he just doesn't like the guy? How does that fit with lawful goodness? etc.

[Lord of the Abyss]

869 up!
Spoiler

A little one sided there.

[FaxModem1]

Well, I wonder if we'll see some Sexy Shoeless God of War action or if this will finally be Belkar's end, as Malack is making the decision to kill the little dude, and yet, didn't do a lethal strike yet.

[Ahriman238]

Some days, it's just not enough to fake character growth.

[PainRack]

Has anyone ordered their books before? What are the bonus content? My financial status is a bit loose these days and I'm looking to add to my book collection.

[Crazedwraith]

Has anyone ordered their books before? What are the bonus content? My financial status is a bit loose these days and I'm looking to add to my book collection.

I have the two prequel books, the dragon magazine collection book and the first three anthologies on online stuff.

Bonus content's ok. Considers mainly of say a dozenish bonus strips a book. Which are decent enough, not the most amazing stuff he's ever written but still good. But mainly, its the amusing foreword by a character and the author's commentary. So it depends how interesting you find Rich's intermental processes I guess.


But really if you want to buy a book, I'd go for the two prequel comics, since they're best bang for your buck of material you haven't seen.

[LadyTevar]

Ah yes, the ever useful "Hold" spells

[Rogue 9]

Has anyone ordered their books before? What are the bonus content? My financial status is a bit loose these days and I'm looking to add to my book collection.

I have the two prequel books, the dragon magazine collection book and the first three anthologies on online stuff.

Bonus content's ok. Considers mainly of say a dozenish bonus strips a book. Which are decent enough, not the most amazing stuff he's ever written but still good. But mainly, its the amusing foreword by a character and the author's commentary. So it depends how interesting you find Rich's intermental processes I guess.


But really if you want to buy a book, I'd go for the two prequel comics, since they're best bang for your buck of material you haven't seen.

Don't Split the Party has somewhere in the realm of thirty bonus comics, since it contains the part where Haley, Belkar, and the Thieves' Guild retrieve Roy's golem-body, which was cut from the online comic for pacing reasons. It does quite a bit to put Haley's later actions toward Crystal and double-crossing the Guild in context.

[Bedlam]

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0870.html

VAMPIRE!!!!!!

I did not see that coming.

Looks like Balkar has now breathed his last but most defently will still be wandering around for a good long time, I wonder if he'll sparkle in Sunlight?

[Lord of the Abyss]

Yes, that was sure a surprise.
Spoiler

And it puts Malack's comments about his children in a whole new perspective. And ha, as far as the latter goes I just noticed the title; "Death in the Family".

It'll be interesting to see how Belkar reacts...and how the Order does.

[AniThyng]

The composition of the comic was just a thing of beauty. Especially when he drops all pretense of disguising his voice.

[Spekio]

At least belkar will be happy.

[Napoleon the Clown]

No, the Belkster will have at least one reason to be pissed off about this turn of events. Check the rules and you'll see why, unless Malek is really nice about the whole thing.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Ha, I like this from the OOTS forum: Spoiler

What's the difference between Belkar's past and future?

One is a bloodthirsty little monster, and the other is a vampire.

...you're just jealous that I got to say it first.

[Terralthra]

Well, according to the SRD, Vampires have exactly 1 round to escape sunlight, but Malack has been out in sunlight many times over the course of the comic, so clearly that's not a limitation of this particular vampire type. Belkar will hate having to avoid garlic, though, if that carries over.

He may also be enslaved to Malack unless Malack releases him from it or dies.

[Solauren]

Odds are, Malack is a vampire Lord. The template is from the Wizards of the Coast Website, in the article series "Monster Mayhem."

In short, stronger then normal vampire, that is not damaged by sunlight, and only takes a minor (-4) penalty to attacks, skills and saves when in direct sunlight.

It's also possible he has a magic item, feat, or prestige class that offsets sunlight vulnerability (or even a spell).
I remember reading something like that in the D20 Ravenloft books by White Wolf Press's one imprint, but can't remember where off hand, and haven't put those into my database program yet.

[AniThyng]

So, are vampire lords able to glide? Because everyone's been wondering about why he doesn't really seem to use his feet like other lizardfolk.

[Ralin]

So, people are really surprised over this? I've been hearing speculation that Belkar would go undead for years now, and it's a pretty obvious interpretation of the whole "Will breath his last" prophecy.

No, the Belkster will have at least one reason to be pissed off about this turn of events. Check the rules and you'll see why, unless Malek is really nice about the whole thing.

Do you mean him being controlled by the master vampire, him losing his Con bonus from raging, level drain or what? I'm drawing a blank on what else you could mean.