Today, the comic goes ACTION

[elliott20]

That last frame where the dragon grabs and slams V into the ground? Man, it's just pure action adventure material! All we need are some speed lines, maybe some explosions, Michael Bay, and bam, "OOTS: The Action Movie".

[Optimystik]

I assume you weren't around for Cliffport? Or Azure City? Angry Orc Island? Greysky? :smalltongue:

[magic9mushroom]

The OP is at least partially right. This is now real edge-of-your-seat battle, as opposed to plot, plot, plot. We're now all frantically overrefreshing and crashing the server all the time.

In other words, the comic got an injection of EPIC WIN.

Not that it was bad before, of course.

[TheSummoner]

My question is how is V suppose to survive that... I mean... for plot reasons its likely hes still alive, though probably on the brink of death... but damn... thats a big dragon and V's just a puny wizard with no magical backup...

[pnewman]

V is supposed to survive by explaining to the Black Dragon that she's trying to save the world and, if the black dragon likes the world, would she please wait to kill V until after they stop the bad guys and do so. An Ancient Black Dragon (assuming the Imp was right about her age) is normally CR 19 (this one may be a higher CR because a typical Ancient Black can cast spells as a L10 Sorcerer and thus would not be capable of casting Anti-Magic). Therefore the Dragon doesn't have much of a chance of defeating an Epic Lich and his massive army on her own, and will need help (even lower level help) to defeat him, thus saving the world she lives in, and likes living in.

[Optimystik]

V is supposed to survive by explaining to the Black Dragon that she's trying to save the world and, if the black dragon likes the world, would she please wait to kill V until after they stop the bad guys and do so. An Ancient Black Dragon (assuming the Imp was right about her age) is normally CR 19 (this one may be a higher CR because a typical Ancient Black can cast spells as a L10 Sorcerer and thus would not be capable of casting Anti-Magic). Therefore the Dragon doesn't have much of a chance of defeating an Epic Lich and his massive army on her own, and will need help (even lower level help) to defeat him, thus saving the world she lives in, and likes living in.

I support this if only to watch Xykon and Redcloak 2-shot the damn lizard.

Dragons irritate me to no end.

[factotum]

My question is how is V suppose to survive that...

D&D characters of V's level are pretty much superhuman. I mean, V is a puny wizard wearing no armour, but even so, at 13th level he'll have an average of 33hp even assuming no CON bonus. That would allow him to survive a 90-foot fall at least half the time, or take 2 or 3 direct hits from a greatsword without too much difficulty...

[TheSummoner]

Please excuse my D&D ignorance... I've never played. That said, I realize V is quite powerful, but atleast from my point of view, the Dragon has the all around advantage... V's used up his best magic, the Dragon is quite skilled in magic as well. In melee, V is pathetic, whereas the Dragon is... well you get where this is going...

I suppose my question is... Yeah, V is powerful, can he survive being stomped on by the dragon?

[Golden-Esque]

Please excuse my D&D ignorance... I've never played. That said, I realize V is quite powerful, but atleast from my point of view, the Dragon has the all around advantage... V's used up his best magic, the Dragon is quite skilled in magic as well. In melee, V is pathetic, whereas the Dragon is... well you get where this is going...

I suppose my question is... Yeah, V is powerful, can he survive being stomped on by the dragon?

Two words.

Plot Device.

[Optimystik]

D&D characters of V's level are pretty much superhuman. I mean, V is a puny wizard wearing no armour, but even so, at 13th level he'll have an average of 33hp even assuming no CON bonus. That would allow him to survive a 90-foot fall at least half the time, or take 2 or 3 direct hits from a greatsword without too much difficulty...

To expand further on factotum's point, the spell Legend Lore defines level 11 characters and their exploits as being "legendary." So, you can imagine how much more this applies to the Order.

[Decoy Lockbox]

I think this whole scene is one giant Vietnam-esque flashback for V. He/she is being haunted by those he/she has murdered.

[Kobold-Bard]

For the sake of the story i would say s/he will survive. Or will get some Belkar-esque dream sequence where s/he learns some important lesson before Disjunctioning the Dragon's Anti-Magic Shell.

Edit: It appears that The Giant has changed Shell to Field. There goes my theory of it learning the spell back in 2Ed.

From the purely metagaming viewpoint not a chance in hell.

1. That dragon probably got at least one hit in beforehand. If nothing else V was half in its breath weapons area (probaby a passed reflex save).

2. Having a huge creature of any type slam in to you is gonna cause some serious damage. And the dragon has claws.

3. The force of the crush broke the rock behind them. Normal falling damage + big rock breaking your back on the way down = bad.

4. Elven natural fragility (-2 Con).

[TheSummoner]

I understand full well that from a plot point of view, V pretty much has to survive, I was just wondering if that feeling that V really shouldnt be able to survive was right or wrong, and I thank you, Kobold-Bard for confirming my gut feeling :smallwink:

[Trixie]

1. That dragon probably got at least one hit in beforehand. If nothing else V was half in its breath weapons area (probaby a passed reflex save).

Nope, no chance for that. Wizards have crappy REF.


2. Having a huge creature of any type slam in to you is gonna cause some serious damage. And the dragon has claws.

Actually, the Dragon only dealt 2d8 crush damage and maybe, MAYBE 2d6 claw damage :smallamused:


3. The force of the crush broke the rock behind them. Normal falling damage + big rock breaking your back on the way down = bad.

No falling damage either.


4. Elven natural fragility (-2 Con).

We don't know what kind of elf V is, and even so, he could have his second highest stat in CON.

[GSFB]

How will V survive?

Easy:


V has a potential ally in the imp. The imp could teleport itself and V away, if only two things happened. First, the dragon would have to dismiss the anti-magic field. It might do this in order to cast some horrifying spell on V. Second, V would have to dismiss the dimensional anchor cast on the imp. I am not sure if this would apply here, but in many campaigns the DM has a house rule that when a caster dies, any limited-duration spells from the caster still in effect are effectively dismissed.

In other words, the dragon might kill V, and the imp might teleport away with V's body... leaving V suddenly in a lot of bad debt to a fiend...

[Zeful]

How will V survive?

Easy:


V has a potential ally in the imp. The imp could teleport itself and V away, if only two things happened. First, the dragon would have to dismiss the anti-magic field. It might do this in order to cast some horrifying spell on V. Second, V would have to dismiss the dimensional anchor cast on the imp. I am not sure if this would apply here, but in many campaigns the DM has a house rule that when a caster dies, any limited-duration spells from the caster still in effect are effectively dismissed.

In other words, the dragon might kill V, and the imp might teleport away with V's body... leaving V suddenly in a lot of bad debt to a fiend...


If the Dragon kills V it's either going to eat him, or Soul bind (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/soulBind.htm) him. Quarr isn't likey to survive if the Dragon turns on it. And the imp itself pretty much told V off once it learned the dragon was there.

[Optimystik]

We don't know what kind of elf V is, and even so, he could have his second highest stat in CON.

Judging from his speech here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0107.html), I'd say his CON is average at best and he likely has a penalty.

[Spoomeister]

V will survive because...

...this is all a dream due to sleep deprivation, and she's beating herself up over the dragon death just like her last dream was beating herself up over abandoning a bunch of folks to being overrun by hobgobs.

[Vizen]

V has a potential ally in the imp. The imp could teleport itself and V away, if only two things happened. First, the dragon would have to dismiss the anti-magic field. It might do this in order to cast some horrifying spell on V. Second, V would have to dismiss the dimensional anchor cast on the imp. I am not sure if this would apply here, but in many campaigns the DM has a house rule that when a caster dies, any limited-duration spells from the caster still in effect are effectively dismissed.

In other words, the dragon might kill V, and the imp might teleport away with V's body... leaving V suddenly in a lot of bad debt to a fiend...


Reading that made me wonder...If Qarr was to fly into the Anti-Magic Field, would it dispel the Dimensional Anchor on him? I don't think he would be able to teleport away if he was still in the area of the spell though. (But I haven't read the rules for those spells so correct me if im wrong).

[magic9mushroom]

If Qarr entered the AMF, then the Dimensional Anchor would be suppressed. He still couldn't teleport because of the AMF. If he then left it then the AMF would no longer inhibit teleportation, but it wouldn't inhibit the DA either. So he can't teleport no matter what.

[GSFB]

If the dragon is casting a soul bind, it is a hell of a lot more powerful than we have been speculating.

If it eats V, it only needs to leave a small portion intact. A finger or toe or something is all Qarr would need to snatch and teleport for Resurrection spell. And then V would OWE...