The OotS thread

[Lord of the Abyss]

703 up!

[FaxModem1]

Goblin from strip 433, panel 3. Hmm, nothing special about that guy.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Goblin from strip 433, panel 3. Hmm, nothing special about that guy.

Someone on another forum explained the joke; neither he nor his brother got actual names, so they aren't anything but cannon fodder. Well, sword fodder.

[Rogue 9]

Goblin from strip 433, panel 3. Hmm, nothing special about that guy.

Well, Prime Minister Hobgoblin Cleric #2 just doesn't have the same ring to it.

[SAMAS]

Shame he bit it in Panels 4 and five, though.

Oh come on, admit you checked for him, too!

[Crazedwraith]

I did; but first I accidentally went to strip 443 And was confused by the lack of hobgoblins and the lack of panels as well, instead there was a protagonist going 'splat'

[Lord of the Abyss]

704 up!


"Dead Men Give No Speeches"

[Anguirus]

^ You know, every time I think Burlew has just slightly tipped the balance too far towards "epic fantasy story," he comes back with something that makes me laugh out loud and proves he's still one of the funniest guys who's ever worked in webcomics.

[Crazedwraith]

And the great god spaketh and he said 'Don't screw this up' Crayon drawings are as always cool.

[Starglider]

Does the goblinoid god know something that the others don't? He knows about the snarl, and he must know about the risk of Xykon a) failing to control it and letting it loose or b) going mad(er) with power and making the world into a hellhole with it. It's not as if Xykon feels any loyalty to his minions, and he is treating the Dark One's one true prophet like crap. Yet the Dark One still thinks that Redcloak should helping Xykon as much as possible?

[Ford Prefect]

They're pretty clearly playing their own game. Xykon is their tool to some end. I think this has actually come up in discussion before.

[Crazedwraith]

The goblin's plan is made clear in the prequel book 'Start Of Darkness'
Spoiler

They don't want to control the snarl so much as move the gates into the Gods' realm and set it lose on them. In revenge for the Gods creating them as nothing as free XP for their clerics

[Starglider]

The goblin's plan is made clear in the prequel book 'Start Of Darkness'

Interesting.
Spoiler

Any idea how the Dark One is going to escape the consequences of that?

[Crazedwraith]

Rechecked SoD and-
Spoiler

I misremembered the plan. The idea appears to be they gain the ability to do this and then use it as leverage over the other gods to get Equal rights for goblinoids as the PC species. They don't elaborate on would would actually happen if they let the snarl out on the divine planes but they do emphasise that Xykon's got the wrong of the end of the stick. They can't control the snarl once released but the gate gives them some measure of control of where and when it happens.

edit: goddamn tags.

[Solauren]

Also remember, one the Goblionoids secure a gate, our favourite nut-job Lich is no longer needed.

And it would be very easy to say, planeshift him to the Dark One's realm.

The watch the Dark One deal with him.....

[NecronLord]

Also remember, one the Goblionoids secure a gate, our favourite nut-job Lich is no longer needed.

And it would be very easy to say, planeshift him to the Dark One's realm.

The watch the Dark One deal with him.....

The more I hear of this the more I like it.

Still got the fiends to worry about though.

[Revy]

Also remember, one the Goblionoids secure a gate, our favourite nut-job Lich is no longer needed.

And it would be very easy to say, planeshift him to the Dark One's realm.

The watch the Dark One deal with him.....

Yeah well a supercharged Vaarsuvius got his ass kicked by that lich, they better not make the mistake of underestimating him. Although Xykon goofs off a lot and comes off as being a bit of an idiot, we've seen a few instances of him proving to be quite a bit sharper than people give him credit. If their plan is to dispose of him once he's done what they need, I reckon they might find that a bit harder than they expect.

[Solauren]

Also remember, one the Goblionoids secure a gate, our favourite nut-job Lich is no longer needed.

And it would be very easy to say, planeshift him to the Dark One's realm.

The watch the Dark One deal with him.....

Yeah well a supercharged Vaarsuvius got his ass kicked by that lich, they better not make the mistake of underestimating him. Although Xykon goofs off a lot and comes off as being a bit of an idiot, we've seen a few instances of him proving to be quite a bit sharper than people give him credit. If their plan is to dispose of him once he's done what they need, I reckon they might find that a bit harder than they expect.

Let's be clear about something;

Vaarsuvius using 2 epic level wizards as magic items got it's ass kicked. No different then if V had been using a Staff that allowed access to every spell known and 400 charges.

There is a marked difference between that scenario, and Redcloak say, Planeshifting with Xykon to the Dark One's realm, or using a Gate spell to summon to massively powerful Avatar of the Dark One.
(I mean, come on, if Iggwilgv can summon an Avatar of Graz'zt for a quicky whenever she wants, I'm sure Red Cloak has a spell to summon an Avatar of his god to ensure Goblinoid Equality/Supremacy)

It's also entirely possible the Dark One doesn't know about the Fiends, or doesn't consider them a major issue.

[Sriad]

One very interesting thing no one has mentioned is Xykon's "mysterious disappearances" to get "new tricks".

Now, if I were an epic sorcerer-lich, I'd be disappearing off to some far realm with a 10:1 time differential anytime I wanted to research new epic spells or craft magic items. Planar travel hasn't come into play VERY heavily so far (though it obviously exists), but the PCs are reaching a level where it should be relevant to the campaign.

[Crazedwraith]

It seems likely that when he returns he will have new magic tricks that will totally fuck up either the order's plan or Redcloak's but he won't reveal them until its time to use them.

[Solauren]

One very interesting thing no one has mentioned is Xykon's "mysterious disappearances" to get "new tricks".

Now, if I were an epic sorcerer-lich, I'd be disappearing off to some far realm with a 10:1 time differential anytime I wanted to research new epic spells or craft magic items. Planar travel hasn't come into play VERY heavily so far (though it obviously exists), but the PCs are reaching a level where it should be relevant to the campaign.

An epic level sorcerer-lich with the Genesis spell can create his own sealed Demiplane with a 10:1 (or higher) ratio with it's own physical properties.

Quite frankly, that level of power, 'properly' used, makes you just about unstoppable.

[FaxModem1]

Doing a reread of the old comics, and at 440, with Belkar's little moment of awesome there, I'm wondering why all those kills don't count as XP. Can anyone explain?

[The Grim Squeaker]

Doing a reread of the old comics, and at 440, with Belkar's little moment of awesome there, I'm wondering why all those kills don't count as XP. Can anyone explain?

Enemies with a CR far below that of a player (8 or more) don't count for xp, even in great numbers. (each double count as increasing their effective CR by 2, so 4 enemies of CR 1 = CR5, but the difference there was too great)

[Joviwan]

Enemies with a CR far below that of a player (8 or more) don't count for xp, even in great numbers. (each double count as increasing their effective CR by 2, so 4 enemies of CR 1 = CR5, but the difference there was too great)

That's only half true. "CR n" means "A party of 4, n-th level characters would find this a reasonable challenge."

Four level 1's is NOT a reasonable challenge for four level 4's. Just saying.

That said, the principle is right: At some point, things are just so much weaker than you that no number of them would ever be a meaningful challenge.

[Vehrec]

A principle which breaks down in mass combat. Player characters against an army never ends well, and even a Kobold Warren if properly designed would be a nightmare of circumstance penalties, traps and sneak attacks from monsters with a CR of 1/4.

Also, new comic. #705