To paraphrase Will Smith, Vaarsuvius...

[JonahFalcon]

You are the stupidest smart person I've ever met.

No, really. There's never been a moment when V wasn't behaving monumentally stupid. If V didn't have any magic ability, you'd have to child proof everything.

http://www.filmsite.org/filmfotos/dirtyrottens.jpg

[Silverraptor]

Well I will agree. As I've said in a different thread. He must be the only person with 18 INT to do something this stupid.

[JonahFalcon]

Well I will agree. As I've said in a different thread. He must be the only person with 18 INT to do something this stupid.

It's not just not - go back to the beginning and read again. V has an 18 INT, and 3 WIS.

[Optimystik]

It's not just not - go back to the beginning and read again. V has an 18 INT, and 3 WIS.

Let's be fair now - he does have (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0161.html) SOME (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0172.html) insight. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0385.html)

[DoctorJest]

Well I will agree. As I've said in a different thread. He must be the only person with 18 INT to do something this stupid.

This wasn't about INT. It was about WIS.

[Ancalagon]

Even Wis 7 can make a good roll from time to time. ;)

[Ladorak]

:vaarsuvius:'s not stupid, s/he's obsessed, it's a pathology, maybe a homebrewed flaw or something:smalltongue:

[Kaytara]

The ironic thing is that I could see the exact same thread appearing if V had gone along with the alternative plan - a thread chiding V for taking such a ridiculously risky plan.

Let's be clear now. Why exactly do you think Vaarsuvius has made a stupid decision, given what he knew or believed at the time?

[magic9mushroom]

Intelligence ain't what counts here. Wisdom is. Vaarsuvius's Wisdom is only average.

However, that doesn't detract from the OP. The OP is mostly correct.

[DigoDragon]

Well those three demonic entities ARE good salesmen. I must admit they did pull a good argument for V to touch that blue sphere.

[Ladorak]

Well those three demonic entities ARE good salesmen. I must admit they did pull a good argument for V to touch that blue sphere.

Yeah, that's an excellent point! Screw V, I mean how dumb or those three? They're like the worst salesmen in the world.

... Unless of course they had some reason to offer V an alternative... Ohhhhh...

[Person_Man]

A story is not a puzzle meant to be solved. It's a story. And the characters in that story, just like people in real life, are usually driven by emotions and/or habit, not rational decision making. If a stranger punches you and laughs, the logical solution might be to take a picture of them with your phone, text it to your lawyer, and call the police. Or ask him why he punched you. Or laugh back, compliment him on his punch, and offer to buy the guy a beer. Or just walk away. But most people will punch the guy back. And that creates drama. And people keep watching to see what happens.

Logical robots generally aren't compelling characters unless paired with an emotional character and a mediating force (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PowerTrio) to show contrast. Even then, the logical character has to be "shown the value of being emotional" so that all of the emotional viewers can have something to empathize with and be validated by. V is by herself, so she has no one to talk her out of being unreasonable.

Also, she did something that was definitely in character, with a ton of buildup to this point to make the decision that she made totally believable. The tempters could have come up with ANY alternative, and the content of that alternative could be as reasonable or as fascicle as they liked. They just needed an alternative, so that V's choice would be a fully Evil one. DRAMA!!!

Nitpicking is fun and all. I indulge in it myself all the time. And sometimes the level of retarded decision making makes a story so unbelievable that it's ruined. But this isn't one of those cases.

[JonahFalcon]

Well those three demonic entities ARE good salesmen. I must admit they did pull a good argument for V to touch that blue sphere.

They gave V an alternative that was logical in the AD&D universe. However, they knew that V would never accept it because she didn't think of it first.

That's stupid on another level (and cowardly, to boot.)

[Berserk Monk]

First off, you're quoting Will Smith? Really? Really? Second, both decisions are about the same. Had V instead killed himself and allowed Durkon to warn his master, there's the matter of V getting all his spell books back from the island. The Azure fleet could have sailed to who know's where. V would have to randomly fly over the ocean looking it. He might never find it again. Not to mention the tide could have risen on the island and ruined all his books. A wizard without a spell book: you can't say "Mr. DM, let me reroll a new character," fast enough.

[Kaytara]

They gave V an alternative that was logical in the AD&D universe. However, they knew that V would never accept it because she didn't think of it first.

That's stupid on another level (and cowardly, to boot.)

Really? :smallconfused: You're oversimplifying the matter to a ridiculous extent. I won't go into the matter that the "alternative" is by now way as feasible as the fiends presented it, there's another thread for that. But even they admitted that it was still only likely to prevent the Soul Binding at best. V's family still will have suffered torturous, excruciating deaths the way the dragon intended, in a manner that may easily leave them unwilling to be Resurrected, especially the little children, as it happened with Roy's brother.

In short, it's not a viable alternative because it very likely would have failed to stop the dragon. Simple as that.
Just because the "plan" relies on spell loopholes does not make it a "logical choice in the AD&D universe".

[Kish]

Really? :smallconfused: You're oversimplifying the matter to a ridiculous extent. I won't go into the matter that the "alternative" is by now way as feasible as the fiends presented it, there's another thread for that. But even they admitted that it was still only likely to prevent the Soul Binding at best.
They did not. They said it would prevent the Soul Binding and might prevent the deaths.