Can Elan lose more san?

[krossbow]

As the topic says, the past few arcs have been nothing but Elan getting his worldview slammed repeatedly and being forced to accept being powerless in the face of the problems he's faced.

With the azurites, he was forced to watch Therkla die in his arms before having Kubota gloat to him about how he was going to get off scott free. Being chaotic good and unwilling to accept having to kill/murder a defenseless prisoner, kubota has a good time flaunting his untouchability in Elan's face. Moreover, he then was challenged even more in his worldview when V cleaned things up with a simple disintegrate spell, demonstrating just how easy things can be with less morals.

Now, we have Elan's entire idea about stories and villian's being challenged. Not only has he been forced to come to grips with his father being an unspeakable monster, but he's realized that defeating him will just play into his hands even more, as well as being told that, rather than Good triumphing over evil, Evil triumphs over good in the big picture.


Overall, it just seems like Elan's been through psychological conga line of horror lately. Wonder what else could go wrong in his life in the future.

[Felixc-91]

E could end up in this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0590.html) scenario, except with him in the half ork's position and Haley in his (the whole taken hostage bit). not saying i see it happeneing soon, but i think that might top his expiriences so far, espesially if there is nothing he can do about it.

[Mordokai]

I don't think Elan had much sanity to begin with :smalltongue: But you really should know better than to ask that. It's never so bad it can't get worse.

We'll see where Rich takes us. Personally, I think Elan has been tormented just about enough by now, but he still has to find out what happened to Roy...

[TreesOfDeath]

Eh hes tougher than you think.

He reacts badly to things at first, but then he picks himself up and becomes the person he needs to be to handle the situation

[Callista]

Yeah, Elan tends to bounce back. He sees horrible evil; it blindsides him because he just doesn't have a concept of evil; but he's too innocent for it to stick. Even if he lost all of his sanity, he'd probably just lose himself in a fantasy world instead of truly breaking.

[JoeSkull]

but he still has to find out what happened to Roy...

they already know what happened to Roy, V and durkon can cast sending

[Mordokai]

Did they informed Elan about it?

[JoeSkull]

Did they informed Elan about it?

here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0741.html)

[Firemeier]

they already know what happened to Roy

Not really. They know that Roy and Belkar got arrested for not having proper paperwork and decided to sit it out till Tarquin spills whatever information he might have. What they don't know is that Roy and Belkar have been sentenced for life in the gladitorial arena, that there are mid-week games being held and they managed to get themselves on the roster.

[snikrept]

Watching Elan snap and become Evil would be pretty awesome, were it told right. The Giant certainly has the finesse for it.

Perhaps the panel with him in the black cloak atop the gargoyle in the storm is just foreshadowing and not a throwaway joke! :smallbiggrin:

[faustin]

Instead of another villaiN-ale, it would be a better twist an Elan antihero ""Killing the Dog With Style :smallcool:"", like V (of Vendetta, not Vaarsuvius).

[Heksefatter]

Hmmmm, isn't Elan actually gaining SAN? He's a manchild being forced to confront some pretty harsh facts and must grow in maturity to cope.

I know that according to the good old SAN rules (from the CoC rules I read), you can't get SAN like that, but it is a pretty good description of the situation so far, I feel.

Of course - hard to tell what the future brings. But I don't think that Elan is going to break down. Far from it.

[Keinnicht]

I don't think so. Elan is one of those people who seems laughable on the face, but if you think more about his character, he's terrifying.

Elan has 18 charisma, possibly more with level increases and whatnot. Charisma is not a mere measure of social skills or attractiveness. Elan appears to be rather attractive, based on other characters' reactions, but his social skills are decidedly lacking. So one wonders where all that charisma went. Charisma, of course, is also a measure of sheer force of personality.

Think about that: One must assume, given his relatively bad social skills, that most of his charisma represents force of personality. And he has a borderline superhuman level of charisma.

It makes sense, if you think about it. His personality has barely changed despite all the horrors he's witnessed, being almost murdered by his twin brother, etc. He also went from being basically useless in combat, to a student of an ancient style of swordfighting. A student, who, I might add, put up a decent amount of fight against a frickin' conquering warlord who probably had three to four times his combat experience (Not experience points. Experience.)

Elan seems to be able to do anything he bothers to put his mind to.

[Lateral]

You know, that makes a lot of sense. He just doesn't have the intelligence or wherewithal to take advantage of it.

[Felixc-91]

You know, that makes a lot of sense. He just doesn't have the intelligence or wherewithal to take advantage of it.

ah yes, you have touched upon the reason for Tarquin being absolutely terrifying, if you think about it. he has Elan's charisma level, or more, and he is intelligent, maybe not quite on the level of V (a measurable 18 Int score) but still, up there... that's why he has a decent shot of running most of a continent for some time before he dies... any way, and now back to your regularly scheduled television!

[Mordokai]

Elan has 18 charisma, possibly more with level increases and whatnot. Charisma is not a mere measure of social skills or attractiveness. Elan appears to be rather attractive, based on other characters' reactions, but his social skills are decidedly lacking. So one wonders where all that charisma went. Charisma, of course, is also a measure of sheer force of personality.

Think about that: One must assume, given his relatively bad social skills, that most of his charisma represents force of personality. And he has a borderline superhuman level of charisma.

Except that we know from the preface strips from Dungeon Crawling Fools that he put ton of points in charisma skills, or something along those lines. Elan himself said so.

I'm not saying you're not right and I do agree with you, Elan force of personality is probably very strong. I just felt it needed to be pointed out.

[faustin]

If you remember Braveheart Elan´s speech in Azure City to the troops and how he sucessfully raised his moral against a very more powerful enemy and got their admiration (before messing up with the "zombie" possibility), you can appreciate Elan charisma in action.

[Lateral]

Yeah, but that part with zombies?

That's WIS ≤8, right there.

@V: Yeah, no kiddin'.

[KillItWithFire]

I think we can all agree that Elans Wis is... not good.

[King of Nowhere]

I agree with faustin, if elan is ever gonna change, he will become some sort of vigilante.
Some may argue that that's a path to evilness, but elan is too goodnatured for that.

[Squiggly-Thing]

Elan could potentialy snap like a twig. If Haley trys to get her father out of prison...by any means neccesary!:smalleek: As in killing inocents!

[Swordpriest]

Elan could potentialy snap like a twig. If Haley trys to get her father out of prison...by any means neccesary!:smalleek: As in killing inocents!

Methinks she'll be hard put to it to find any of those among the employees of General Tarquin. :smallbiggrin: