Xykon's attention span confuses me.

[Sewblon]

Xykon's short attention span seems to be his largest weakness. But you would think that an epic level arcanist would have many points in concentration. Does this bother anyone besides me? Or am I just misinterpreting the rules and/or Xykon's character? Edit: Now I think I get it. When he was alive, he was just as foolish as he acts. Now that he is a lich, he is keenly aware of everything around him because of his racial bonuses, but he can be vaporized and be back at full strength in one to ten days so he normally doesn't have a good reason to care about tactics, contingency planning or any of the things that Redcloak worries about and he still gets bored easily.

[The Dark Fiddler]

Xykon's short attention span seems to be his largest weakness. But you would think that an epic level arcanist would have many points in concentration. Does this bother anyone besides me? Or am I just misinterpreting the rules and/or Xykon's character?

Concentration doesn't really mean attention span in general, just being able to focus when it counts. And that's Xykon. He can be pretty absent-minded at times, but when it counts he gets the job done. At least, that's how I see it.

[jidasfire]

If my reading of Start of Darkness is correct, a lot of Xykon's personality is an act. He plays the part of the buffoonish cliche villain because it keeps people underestimating him. He pretends to be oblivious because he just doesn't care. Deep down he's watching everyone very closely, waiting for the exact moment to crush them, body and spirit. If it seems strange that he can be so smart and so dumb at the same time, it's because that's how he wants it to be.

[MReav]

If my reading of Start of Darkness is correct, a lot of Xykon's personality is an act. He plays the part of the buffoonish cliche villain because it keeps people underestimating him. He pretends to be oblivious because he just doesn't care. Deep down he's watching everyone very closely, waiting for the exact moment to crush them, body and spirit. If it seems strange that he can be so smart and so dumb at the same time, it's because that's how he wants it to be.

I thought he played the buffoonish cliche villain because he enjoys it (having people underestimate him is a bonus).

[Thanatosia]

From reading Start of Darkness, I'm pretty sure Xykon WAS a bafoon before he became a Lich, but after he became a Lich he got a lot smarter (the Lich template does have bonuses to INT and WIS). But most of the time he keeps up the bafoon appearances. But as an above poster indicated, despite appearances, he is very keenly observant of everything around him, he just pretends not to be.

[Bibliomancer]

From reading Start of Darkness, I'm pretty sure Xykon WAS a bafoon before he became a Lich, but after he became a Lich he got a lot smarter (the Lich template does have bonuses to INT and WIS). But most of the time he keeps up the bafoon appearances. But as an above poster indicated, despite appearances, he is very keenly observant of everything around him, he just pretends not to be.

That makes a lot of sense. The fool acts like himself. The smart man pays attention and is cautious. The wise man pays attention while acting like a fool so people underestimate him.

"All warfare is based on deception." -Sun Tzu

[Spiky]

I'd call it a self-fulfilling personal choice. SoD shows that, as a Lich, he is so powerful it generally doesn't matter. He's always got time to come back to reality. My kids have lost my copy for verification, but it was a conversation with Redcloak, I believe. Xykon stated his position directly, little need for interpretation.

[MReav]

:xykon: Oh Redcloak, don't confuse not knowing with not caring.

[FoE]

Oh no, Xykon does indeed have a short attention span. He doesn't really care about things like strategy or planning. It's not an act.

But he's not stupid. That's the mistake that everyone else continues to make about Xykon — they underestimate him. That carefree attitude and low attention span serves to fool Xykon's enemies into forgetting how insanely powerful he really is.

[factotum]

That carefree attitude and low attention span serves to fool Xykon's enemies into forgetting how insanely powerful he really is.

More to the point, it fools them into forgetting that he's actually extremely smart, in a viciously cunning sort of way. It took brains to come up with the Symbol of Insanity trick he used on the paladins in the throne room. Like Xykon said, he could have killed them all from above with fire and lightning, but he wanted to do something that little bit special...

[Ancalagon]

Xykon's short attention span seems to be his largest weakness. But you would think that an epic level arcanist would have many points in concentration. Does this bother anyone besides me? Or am I just misinterpreting the rules and/or Xykon's character? Edit: Now I think I get it. When he was alive, he was just as foolish as he acts. Now that he is a lich, he is keenly aware of everything around him because of his racial bonuses, but he can be vaporized and be back at full strength in one to ten days so he normally doesn't have a good reason to care about tactics, contingency planning or any of the things that Redcloak worries about and he still gets bored easily.

I think you confuse "he cannot" with "he does not care to do so".

Xykon is very, very well able to focus on things, even for a longer time. Usually, he just does not care to do so.

[NerfTW]

Xykon's short attention span seems to be his largest weakness. But you would think that an epic level arcanist would have many points in concentration. Does this bother anyone besides me? Or am I just misinterpreting the rules and/or Xykon's character? Edit: Now I think I get it. When he was alive, he was just as foolish as he acts. Now that he is a lich, he is keenly aware of everything around him because of his racial bonuses, but he can be vaporized and be back at full strength in one to ten days so he normally doesn't have a good reason to care about tactics, contingency planning or any of the things that Redcloak worries about and he still gets bored easily.

I noticed you did this twice now. You should probably make a new reply to the discussion, rather than editing your opening post, because it's very confusing to follow the flow of the conversation when your response to several posts is at the top of the page.