I just had a nasty thought.... * potential spoiler *

[Corwin Weber]

Ok, O-Chul is back on his feet and apparently 'pissed off and ready for round two.' He's also at least potentially strong enough to kill Xykon. He's also apparently unlikely to have any way to destroy the phylactery. (Any of these may be modified by future comics, but this is how things seem to stand right now.) So, O-Chul can very likely save V from being killed by Xykon and can at least temporarily kill him.

Now the question.... which leads to the nasty/chilling thought....



I haven't read version 3 or 3.5.... so someone's going to have to answer....

Liches can still regenerate a body from their phylactery if they have to, Xykon has already done this once in the strip. But...

...can they still possess a living body from it as well?

[T-O-E]

He's also apparently unlikely to have any way to destroy the phylactery.

He could throw it into the Snarl rift.

[Haven]

No.

Though that would be pretty funny, deciding to steal his body because it's so indestructible.

Xykon might be capable of casting Magic Jar or something, but O-Chul's mind is almost certainly as secure a fortress as his body.

ARRRR HAIIIIURRRR O-CHURRRR!!!

[Corwin Weber]

No.

Though that would be pretty funny, deciding to steal his body because it's so indestructible.

Xykon might be capable of casting Magic Jar or something, but O-Chul's mind is almost certainly as secure a fortress as his body.

ARRRR HAIIIIURRRR O-CHURRRR!!!

O-Chul isn't the only possibility.....

[Starbuck_II]

I haven't read version 3 or 3.5.... so someone's going to have to answer....

Liches can still regenerate a body from their phylactery if they have to, Xykon has already done this once in the strip. But...

...can they still possess a living body from it as well?




Nope, only in 2nd. Phylacteraries only regenerate bodies in 3.5.

[Corwin Weber]

Nope, only in 2nd. Phylacteraries only regenerate bodies in 3.5.

Ok, so unless Xykon has a lot in common with Haley's father, (he being a second edition thief) this line of thought really can't go anywhere. I don't remember all of the details about magic jar, but I think if you die in a possessed body, you die.... which would explain its limited use. :)

** edit **

....and about five seconds after I clicked 'submit reply,' I remembered that there's no such thing as a second edition sorceror.....

[Gamerlord]

Ok, O-Chul is back on his feet and apparently 'pissed off and ready for round two.' He's also at least potentially strong enough to kill Xykon. He's also apparently unlikely to have any way to destroy the phylactery. (Any of these may be modified by future comics, but this is how things seem to stand right now.) So, O-Chul can very likely save V from being killed by Xykon and can at least temporarily kill him.

Now the question.... which leads to the nasty/chilling thought....



I haven't read version 3 or 3.5.... so someone's going to have to answer....

Liches can still regenerate a body from their phylactery if they have to, Xykon has already done this once in the strip. But...

...can they still possess a living body from it as well?



No, BUT not that this is important, DRACOLICHS after being destroyed may posses a dead corpse temporarily and then a few days latter said dead corpse transforms into a full-fledged dracolich, powers and all.
(In case you are wondering, I got this from the Draconian)

[Rebarth]

Nope, only in 2nd. Phylacteraries only regenerate bodies in 3.5.

What if Xykon created the phylactery when it was 2nd edition in the story?

[Eric O'Really]

if o-chul would destroy xykon now, the story would be over. o-chul knows about the phylactery and with xykon and all of his minions out of the way, they would likely have more than one day to destroy the phylactery and kill the lich once and for all. shouldnt be that much of a problem, if v has some good spells left/takes 4 hours to trance and regenerate all of his spell slots. so if it doesnt work the first time, v could trance up to 5 times in the 24 hours, that would take xykon at least to regenerate (1d10 days for a lich to regenerate from his phylactery) and restore every spell slot every time. they would even have 4 hours left to flee from the tower and do the actual casting on that thing. and remember that he didnt cast many spells from his own spell pool that day. he probably is still fully loaded. only problem is, that it didnt do him much good as long as he had nearly no hitpoints to survive long enough, to cast any of his own spells.

or he could power up o-chul enough, that he could destroy it by force. so no, dont think xykon will bite the dust. the more likely scenario is that o-chul can occupy the lich long enough for v to destroy the phylactery outright or to snatch and escape with it.

[Mc. Lovin']

What if Xykon created the phylactery when it was 2nd edition in the story?

It was created in SOD, and if I recall correctly, that was 3.5, or at least 3.

[Corwin Weber]

What if Xykon created the phylactery when it was 2nd edition in the story?

He couldn't have. Sorcerers didn't exist in 2nd edition. He had to have started out in 3rd at least.

...that having been said, V being possessed by Xykon would make for some interesting moral dilemmas for the party.

[snoopy13a]

It was created in SOD, and if I recall correctly, that was 3.5, or at least 3.

It must have been 3. The first comic was the 3 --> 3.5 upgrade.

[Corwin Weber]

It must have been 3. The first comic was the 3 --> 3.5 upgrade.

Nice catch. :)

[Mando Knight]

ARRRR HAIIIIURRRR O-CHURRRR!!!
*Raises arm, bends it at an angle, holding fist above head*
AWL HAIL O-CHUURR! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5brR14OGWUU)
AWL HAIL O-CHUL! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOP0ykpYjA4)

[jokey665]

Thanks to this topic I now imagine O-Chul as having Norio Wakamoto's voice :smallbiggrin:

[factotum]

No matter what happens, O-Chul is not going to both destroy Xykon and his phylactery, because we know Xykon is going to be within 1000 feet of Girard's Gate at some point. He might manage one or the other, but I'm inclined to doubt it; rescue V is probably the best that we can hope for at this point.

[Faceist]

It must have been 3. The first comic was the 3 --> 3.5 upgrade.That's true, and also highlights an interesting discrepancy. Haley describes her father (in one of the early strips) as a 1st edition thief, but he had to have been born after Xykon (since as a young boy in SoD, Xykon's first appearance is headed by "105 years ago"), who is a 3rd editon sorceror. Though I guess we can file this one under "pointless nitpicking". :smallbiggrin:

[Poppy Appletree]

if o-chul would destroy xykon now, the story would be over. o-chul knows about the phylactery and with xykon and all of his minions out of the way, they would likely have more than one day to destroy the phylactery and kill the lich once and for all. shouldnt be that much of a problem, if v has some good spells left/takes 4 hours to trance and regenerate all of his spell slots. so if it doesnt work the first time, v could trance up to 5 times in the 24 hours, that would take xykon at least to regenerate (1d10 days for a lich to regenerate from his phylactery) and restore every spell slot every time. they would even have 4 hours left to flee from the tower and do the actual casting on that thing. and remember that he didnt cast many spells from his own spell pool that day. he probably is still fully loaded. only problem is, that it didnt do him much good as long as he had nearly no hitpoints to survive long enough, to cast any of his own spells.

Arcane spellcasters must rest for eight hours before they can replenish their spell slots, and within normal rules they may only replenish their spell slots once per day. Even though trance gives the benefit of eight hours of sleep after four hours, eight hours of actual rest is still required, which does not necessarily need to be spent sleeping or using a sleep analogue such as trance.

[The Dark Fiddler]

That's true, and also highlights an interesting discrepancy. Haley describes her father (in one of the early strips) as a 1st edition thief, but he had to have been born after Xykon (since as a young boy in SoD, Xykon's first appearance is headed by "105 years ago"), who is a 3rd editon sorceror. Though I guess we can file this one under "pointless nitpicking". :smallbiggrin:


Could have refused to update. Heck, maybe that's why Haley went all emo, her parents wouldn't let her update from 1st edition.

[Mando Knight]

Thanks to this topic I now imagine O-Chul as having Norio Wakamoto's voice :smallbiggrin:

All is as it should be. :smalltongue:

[Nerdanel]

I think the time discrepancy is evidence for Haley not being a full human. I think something along the lines of Aasimar or quarter-elf could be the truth.

[Tempeststurm]

Arcane spellcasters must rest for eight hours before they can replenish their spell slots, and within normal rules they may only replenish their spell slots once per day. Even though trance gives the benefit of eight hours of sleep after four hours, eight hours of actual rest is still required, which does not necessarily need to be spent sleeping or using a sleep analogue such as trance.

Worse, Vaarsuvius needs access to hir spellbooks, which are probably left on a small island in the middle of the sea, hundreds of miles from Azure City.

[Night Monkey]

2nd edition Sorcerers existed in Baldur's Gate II. If we are subscribing to the theory that game editions correspond to objective time periods in the OOTS world (which, given that different players IRL upgrade at different times, and some don't upgrade at all, may be entirely false, rulesets being relative dependent upon individual perspective (no, this is not an excuse for quantum physics references)) we may postulate that Sorcerers came into existence near the end of the 2nd edition.

Alternatively, using Elan's logic when he decided to become a Wizard (of retroactively assuming that he had been reading V's spellbooks), the existence of Xykon as a very old sorcerer now allows us to retroactively assume that he had been a sorcerer in the past, even if that carries us backwards into 2nd edition when, if the Baldur's Gate 2 argument is unnacceptable given that the game setting for OOTS is not Forgotten Realms, sorcerers didn't exist. It doesn't matter that sorcery was impossible back then, Xykon was still a sorcerer as it is retroactively assumed that he existed, as he must have done for him to exist now.

I love backwards causation.

[Corwin Weber]

2nd edition Sorcerer's existed in Baldur's Gate II. If we are subscribing to the theory that game editions correspond to objective time periods in the OOTS world (which, given that different players IRL upgrade at different times, and some don't upgrade at all, may be entirely false, rulesets being relative dependent upon individual perspective (no, this is not an excuse for quantum physics references)) we may postulate that Sorcerers came into existence near the end of the 2nd edition.

Alternatively, using Elan's logic when he decided to become a Wizard (of retroactively assuming that he had been reading V's spellbooks), the existence of Xykon as a very old sorcerer now allows us to retroactively assume that he had been a sorcerer in the past, even if that carries us backwards into 2nd edition when, if the Baldur's Gate 2 argument is unnacceptable given that the game setting for OOTS is not Forgotten Realms, sorcerers didn't exist. It doesn't matter that sorcery was impossible back then, Xykon was still a sorcerer as it is retroactively assumed that he existed, as he must have done for him to exist now.

I love backwards causation.

That had to have been added in retroactively. Not too surprising, D&D3 and BG2 were both released in 2000. If I remember right, BG1 didn't have sorcerers.

[Kish]

2nd edition Sorcerer's existed in Baldur's Gate II.
No, Baldur's Gate 2 was perfectly clear that sorcerers, barbarians, and monks were 3ed bits they were adding.

[Corwin Weber]

No, Baldur's Gate 2 was perfectly clear that sorcerers, barbarians, and monks were 3ed bits they were adding.

I haven't actually played BG2... and didn't actually finish BG1....

....monks at least existed in second edition, did they just use the third edition version?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Another thought on the subject: Look at the last panel of 657. O-Chul's left arm- and whatever it may be holding- is off-panel. Maybe I'm reading too far into that, but...is it possible he has something other than this steel bar there? Something Rich doesn't want us to see yet?

[DamnedIrishman]

He could throw it into the Snarl rift.

Kill him twice in the same way (ish)? Naaah.

[holywhippet]

I haven't actually played BG2... and didn't actually finish BG1....

....monks at least existed in second edition, did they just use the third edition version?

I don't think so. There are similarities - stunning hits, enhanced movement speed, magic resistance and their ability to recover a certain amount of HP with an ability. However, the monks in BG 2 were given the stealth and detect traps abilities of thieves. This was kind of stupid though, they could detect traps, but they couldn't disarm them.

[Corwin Weber]

Another thought on the subject: Look at the last panel of 657. O-Chul's left arm- and whatever it may be holding- is off-panel. Maybe I'm reading too far into that, but...is it possible he has something other than this steel bar there? Something Rich doesn't want us to see yet?

I've been reading this comic for long enough that I'm thinkin' that's sort of a given.

:)

[Alex Warlorn]

He could throw it into the Snarl rift.


PERFECT SOLUTION!

[Optimystik]

This was kind of stupid though, they could detect traps, but they couldn't disarm them.

You mean like rangers? :smalltongue:

And a monk can disarm a trap... the hard way!

[Dagren]

I don't think so. There are similarities - stunning hits, enhanced movement speed, magic resistance and their ability to recover a certain amount of HP with an ability. However, the monks in BG 2 were given the stealth and detect traps abilities of thieves. This was kind of stupid though, they could detect traps, but they couldn't disarm them.You'd rather not detect them and end up dead? An extra pair of eyes keeping a lookout for traps isn't a bad thing, even if you need your rogue buddy to disarm them.