A theory on Xylon's next siege

[trouvel]

My theory on Xylon's next siege (on a gate or a city) is based on the commercial for the Sony Bravia LCD HDTV. For those of you who do not know what the commercial is, it is thousands of colored bouncy balls bouncing. The theory is that if Xylon inscribes a Symbol of Insanity onto each ball, everyone defending will be affected and kill each other. To put this into perspective, one bouncy ball killed the entire (living) Sapphire Guard; Imagine what it would be like if thousands of those balls were unleashed.

[the_tick_rules]

I'm going to bet that wouldn't work as a long term plan. People would get mind-control immunity spells or buff their will saves or whatever else needed to be done if he did this alot.

[blazingshadow]

that trick with the bouncing ball was awesome but we shouldn't expect to see it again in the future. i'm pretty sure Xykon will find some other awesome way to completely obliterate his enemies with some creative use of his powers and/or zombie army. something like zombie rats that explode near the enemy seems like a good idea IMO

[Conuly]

Xykon is bored. Bored out of his skull. That's why he came up with the bouncing ball in the first place, because it was interesting and fun and NEW.

He's not gonna repeat himself. Where's the style in doing the same thing twice?

[Darakonis]

The bouncing ball worked so well because it was inside a confined space with hard surfaces. It could bounce off the walls, ceiling, and floor and remain within the room filled with guards.

A bouncing ball outside? It won't bounce (well) on grass, it can get stuck in mud, ponds, and is just generally much less effective. Thousands of balls would help solve this, and I doubt most cities have the resources to magically protect all of their soldiers, but I think it would be more cost and time effective for Xykon to find alternative means to conquer/destroy a city.

Peace,
-Darakonis

[mr man]

What i see is a big flare over the city every one looks up
and there in the sky is a giant symbol of insanity

[Leecros]

a giant symbol of insanity Inscribed on the moon(s)?

[Lateral]

Nah, Xykon's got style. He's not gonna repeat himself.

@V: Wouldn't be any more effective than a normal Symbol of Death, 'cuz SoD is capped at 150 HP.

[Leecros]

Nah, Xykon's got style. He's not gonna repeat himself.

Symbol of Death on a bouncy ball then?:smalltongue:

[mr man]

a giant symbol of insanity Inscribed on the moon(s)?

1) floating in the sky

2) projected on to the clouds

3) the clouds taking the shape of the symbol

[G-Man Graves]

I will admit, my first though upon seeing this thread was "Who's Xylon?"

After I got what you were saying, I immediately thought "Why on earth would Xykon have to besiege a gate defended mainly by illusions (that he knows the exact location of) in the middle of an uninhabited desert?"

[veti]

The trick with the bouncing ball should never have worked in the first place.

Symbol of Insanity allows for a saving throw, and even if you fail that (and I'd think you'd be due a few pluses, for the symbol being on a fast-moving object, to say nothing of the buffs you'd expect to find on a troop of well-prepared mid-level paladins and other spellcasters) - even then, there's only a 30% chance of the victim responding by attacking indiscriminately. What happened to the Sapphire Guard could only have worked because the DM thought it was a cool idea that deserved to succeed.

So there's no way it should succeed twice. The DM isn't going to reward the same trick again.

[Lateral]

The trick with the bouncing ball should never have worked in the first place.

Symbol of Insanity allows for a saving throw, and even if you fail that (and I'd think you'd be due a few pluses, for the symbol being on a fast-moving object, to say nothing of the buffs you'd expect to find on a troop of well-prepared mid-level paladins and other spellcasters) - even then, there's only a 30% chance of the victim responding by attacking indiscriminately. What happened to the Sapphire Guard could only have worked because the DM thought it was a cool idea that deserved to succeed.

So there's no way it should succeed twice. The DM isn't going to reward the same trick again.

No. Xykon is an epic caster, it's safe to say that his save DCs are virtually unbeatable by low- to mid-level paladins. All of the paladins would have been insane, and what they do changes every round. It is permanent, so there's about a 107% chance of them slaughtering each other in a minute.