What spells will Varsuvius never learn/use?

[AxeD]

I know that he/she can't learn any conjuration or necromancy spells, but what spells do you think that he/she will never learn, as the use of them would be too overpowered and crush practically any encounter that they may come across*?

(*apart from maybe Xykon)

I was thinking along the lines of cheese-spells like polymorph/polymorph any object.

Are there any spells that Durkon could eventually cast that would be campaign wreckers? I can only think of gate (Summon Thor FTW).

[Kurald Galain]

Gate was used against Xykon in the Start of Darkness book. Needless to say it didn't help.

[AxeD]

Gate was used against Xykon in the Start of Darkness book. Needless to say it didn't help.

Yes, gate was used in SoD, but it wasn't badly broken. You can call upon any creature you want, including dieties. You just can't control them. If Durkon gated Thor in, Xykon would be smashed flat in under 5 rounds.

[Olorin Maia]

I imagine wish being a little overpowered, not to mention having an exp cost.

[Raging Gene Ray]

I was thinking along the lines of cheese-spells like polymorph/polymorph any object.


I don't see those on breaking the comic. If Rich wants V to succeed, he can. If not, he can just have V try polymorph only to be foiled because he didn't take something into account.

Or it could work in V's favor and resolve whatever problem they run across in a creative and hilarious manor.

[Nimrod's Son]

Or it could work in V's favor and resolve whatever problem they run across in a creative and hilarious manor.
I'm sure there's a "House of Fun" joke in there somewhere...

[The_Void]

Yes, gate was used in SoD, but it wasn't badly broken. You can call upon any creature you want, including dieties. You just can't control them. If Durkon gated Thor in, Xykon would be smashed flat in under 5 rounds.

Unless Xykon has control of the Snarl by then. Because then Thor would be dead in under 5 seconds.

[Darkroot]

Unless Xykon has control of the Snarl by then. Because then Thor would be dead in under 5 seconds.

SOD spoiler:

No he wouldn't - Xykon cannot gain control of the Snarl, thats not what Redcloak's spell does.

So we're unlikely to have a Thor throwdown even at the end :(

[ericgrau]

I was thinking along the lines of cheese-spells like polymorph/polymorph any object.

Are there any spells that Durkon could eventually cast that would be campaign wreckers? I can only think of gate (Summon Thor FTW).

V already cast shapechange. Deities aren't required to go through a gate, and Thor wouldn't because all the gods agreed not to get directly involved with mortals outside of their assigned spheres. In fact, that's what clerics are for.

The HD limit on shapechange means shapechanged V should have actually been much weaker than the ancient black dragon. The application in the comic required some liberal interpretation. In a mostly-core environment like OotS, the HD cap on polymorph and gate tends to make them not all that great. Nor would I expect Rich to allow cheesy tricks like gating in a being that can wish for another gate, even though he's been somewhat liberal on what spells can do.

Hmm, I doubt V will ever learn Irresistible Dance, since it's a no save melee touch spell. What a way to take down a major villian. Normally it's difficult for a caster b/c they could be dead by the time they get into melee with another target. But major OotS villains like to fight alone, and characters get into eachother's faces a lot, making this spell just too easy. OTOH OotS fights tend to last longer than normal, which means the villain might not be dead by the end of the duration.

[Tass]

V already cast shapechange. Deities aren't required to go through a gate, and Thor wouldn't because all the gods agreed not to get directly involved with mortals outside of their assigned spheres. In fact, that's what clerics are for.

If the snarl was about to get released they might consider bending the rules?

[NerfTW]

Not really. If that were true, they'd have just smited Xykon and Redcloak a long time ago, discreetly.

According to the Crayons of Time segment, which we now have much more reason to believe is misleading, the plan is to just sit tight and make a World 3.0 if the Snarl breaks free completely, implied by the comment that they can fix the holes simply by undoing the world and redoing it. They don't want to be anywhere near the Snarl when it breaks loose, that's what mortals are for.

This, of course, is now suspect, since something fishy is going on inside the rifts.


We've already seen that gate and summon spells can be as powerful as they want, but since this is, you know, a planned out story, there's always a way to overcome it. V scoring a critical hit on color spray against a giant demon, for instance, or Xykon having just the right magic item to be immune.

I think just about any core spell, no matter how over powered can show up, because Rich has shown a tendency to set up exactly the item/situation needed to block it multiple times. One of the bonuses of writing a story and not having to rely on actual dice rolls.

[Imgran]

Don't forget that unlike Christian tradition, the evil gods are gods too. Not every god will WANT to stop Xykon. We don't know what Gods can do to check other Gods actions -- except that a mass episode of every God trying to do so at once created the Snarl. Avoiding a repeat of that fiasco is why even the Chaotic Gods are holding to this one.

Unless you have a scenario that would make even the darkest of evil gods nervous Gods aren't going to go up against other Gods.

[NerfTW]

Uh, wrong, even the evil gods don't want to mess with the Snarl. As far as we know, only the Dark One is in on this plan, and he's not one of the originals. What possible benefit would the evil gods have for destroying the world they worked together to create?