Belkar and Undead

[StickMan]

Belkar can still fight the Undead right, the if I remember correctly the mark only prevents him from hurting living beings.

[Hinton]

According to the MoJ (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0295.html), he cannot deal lethal damage to any living creature within the bounds of of any city, town or village.

Undead aren't living, so yeah, he can go to town on them.

[BobTheDog]

The question that remains is: what good are his two daggers against undead? He can't even critical hit them...

[KurenaiYami]

The question that remains is: what good are his two daggers against undead? He can't even critical hit them...

Pile on the fact that he has a racial penalty to strength and problems really start to arise.

Maybe he'll rage!

[the_tick_rules]

yeah, too bad they'll be mixed in with living soliders stabbing at him.

[BisectedBrioche]

yeah, too bad they'll be mixed in with living soliders stabbing at him.

Maybe he happens to have the ability to smite lawful or something (with most undead being lawful evil)....

[BobTheDog]

A Ranger/Barbarian should NOT have smiting abilities...

(Edit: Oh, and most "simple" undead are either NE (Skeletons, Zombies) or CE (Ghouls/Ghasts, Shadows), so it' would have to be Smite Evil...).

And about attacking the hobgoblins, he has a few options:

- Nonlethal damage: It IS a -4 to attack rolls, but it's possible. Also, I don't think the hobgob's AC is high enough to make this a problem.
- Improved Sunder: If he really does have the feat, he might go around beating the hobgob's weapons and leaving them unarmed for the other soldiers.
- Leaping down: Of course, the most "Belkar" way of overcoming this would be just jumping down from the walls (out of the city bounds) and start wreaking havoc into the enemy lines.

[reorith]

"within the bounds of any city..."

if he hops down of that wall, can't he eviscerate hobgoblins to his sadistic heart's delight? what are the bounds of ac?

[Innis Cabal]

i would assume no buildings means outside of the city

[Schlammmeister]

Now if only Belker could get his evil little paws on two new daggers with greater truedeath augment crystals in them...hehehe. He could sneak and crit the entire army....:belkar:

[holywhippet]

As a ranger, he gets a racial enemy doesn't he? I don't recall if the strip has said what it is. If it's something like cadaverous undead he's got a bonus against the undead hobgoblins. If it's skeletal undead he can target those fake liches.

[brian c]

As a ranger, he gets a racial enemy doesn't he? I don't recall if the strip has said what it is. If it's something like cadaverous undead he's got a bonus against the undead hobgoblins. If it's skeletal undead he can target those fake liches.

I think he's mentioned that one of his favored enemies is humans, and another is probably goblin (or goblinoid). The description of the zombie template in the MM says that creatures who acquire the template do not keep their type or subtypes that indicate alignment or type, with goblinoid as an example. Belkar might have undead as his third favored enemy (he has 10 ranger levels), so that would help him.

[BobTheDog]

I'd say Humanoid (Human), Humanoid (Reptilian) and perhaps Undead, though I'm not too sure about the last one. He might have something more "delightful" for him, like Humanoid (Elf).

[Kreistor]

The question that remains is: what good are his two daggers against undead? He can't even critical hit them...

Not all undead have DR. Ghouls (Redcloak mentions the ghoul force gains 315 members in one comic) have no DR, so daggers are just as good as anything else.

[daggaz]

He'll manage to find some way to do massive lethal damage to creatures (good and bad) outside of the city walls at range. Belkar manning the ballistas, or purposefully pulling out a loose rock so half of V's improved wall comes crashing down on people... etc..

[Studoku]

According to the MoJ (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0295.html), he cannot deal lethal damage to any living creature within the bounds of of any city, town or village.

Does the last bit mean Belkar can't kill things while he is in a city or that he can't kill things that are in the city? It could be interpreted either way.

[Threeshades]

Does the last bit mean Belkar can't kill things while he is in a city or that he can't kill things that are in the city? It could be interpreted either way.

i think what is meant is when HE is in a city. the mark is on him and not on the living creatures.
Either way outside the walls is outside the city as far as i know, and there he can kill zombies and hobgoblins equally and as long as he only stabs those that havent crossed the walls yet you dont have to worry about that question either.

[Wardog]

i think what is meant is when HE is in a city. the mark is on him and not on the living creatures.
Either way outside the walls is outside the city as far as i know, and there he can kill zombies and hobgoblins equally and as long as he only stabs those that havent crossed the walls yet you dont have to worry about that question either.

I'm sure that's what they intended when they put the MoJ on him.

And I'm sure - if he thinks of it - Belkar will argue his way to the other interpretation.

Sure, it would probably be considered outrageous metagaming and/or rules-lawyering.

But no worse than when he retroactively concealed his Ring of Jumping from the guard.

[Narross]

I think that for the sake of the war, the mark was suppressed.

[Who_Da_Halfling]

Given the strip #433 (the new one, as of this moment), I'd say Belkar still has the mark going on (hence him waiting for an Undead to come up the ladder to attack).

Also, I'd put a pretty serious wager on Kobolds being one of Belkar's Favored Enemies (although Human seems likely too).

-JM

[Kreistor]

I think that for the sake of the war, the mark was suppressed.

Duck, duck, duck, Goose!

He can't attack the ducks because of the Mark, but the Goose is a ghoul, ie. not alive, so it's fair game.

[the_tick_rules]

well with redcloak's plan they may be enough zombies to keep him happy.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Given the strip #433 (the new one, as of this moment), I'd say Belkar still has the mark going on (hence him waiting for an Undead to come up the ladder to attack).

Also, I'd put a pretty serious wager on Kobolds being one of Belkar's Favored Enemies (although Human seems likely too).

-JM

Yep. Question answered. Li'l Belkar's playing duck duck goose...awww...how sweet...

*chop*

[StickMan]

As a ranger, he gets a racial enemy doesn't he? I don't recall if the strip has said what it is. If it's something like cadaverous undead he's got a bonus against the undead hobgoblins. If it's skeletal undead he can target those fake liches.

Um wouldn't his favored enemy just be Undead or am I miss somthing in the favored enemy rules.

[Kreistor]

Yes, Favored Enemy(UNdead) covers all undead and is not limited by shape or size.

[holywhippet]

Yes, Favored Enemy(UNdead) covers all undead and is not limited by shape or size.

I'm not sure how it is in 3.5 rules, but I'm going on the racial enemies in Icewind Dale (which was version 2 rules IIRC). I think the racial enemies for rangers in that game included cadaverous undead, skeletal undead and spectral undead. Either of the first two were good picks as there were plenty of undead to fight.

[jindra34]

Hehehehe belkar is going to go crazy with stabity stab stab when th clerics reach the sothern wall...

[Purple_cloack]

oooh, Now I understand. thats why.

[Goofy]

I'm not sure how it is in 3.5 rules, but I'm going on the racial enemies in Icewind Dale (which was version 2 rules IIRC). I think the racial enemies for rangers in that game included cadaverous undead, skeletal undead and spectral undead. Either of the first two were good picks as there were plenty of undead to fight.

Probably because Favored Enemy (Undead) is so weak (unless you take a Favored Enemy or Favored Enemy (Undead)-related prestige class) in 3/3.5 there is a single Favored Enemy (Undead) racial choice. Since it would be so powerful against Humanoids, Favored Enemy racial choices for humanoids is very varied.