Gate question

[archon_huskie]

If all Redcloak and Xykon needed was a gate, why not rebuild the gate in Azure City after they took it over?

Is the knowledge for that beyond them and the Dark One?

Have not read the prequel books so maybe this is covered in those or a commentary??

[Rogar Demonblud]

The ritual to create a gate is only known to Dorukan and Lirian.

[Peelee]

The ritual to create a gate is only known to Dorukan and Lirian.

Source: last panel (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0276.html).

[Murk]

In a way, staying in the Redmountain Hills and spending their fortune and time into research to rebuild the gate before performing the ritual might have been faster and easier than conquest. They had no way of knowing this in advance, but some characters might prefer waiting and studying over killing and conquering.

Not Xykon, of course. You saw how agitated he became after the short stay in Azure City. Besides, he loves killing and conquering. I'm pretty sure Xykon would always choose taking something from another person over making the same thing himself.

[goodpeople25]

Source: last panel (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0276.html).
That strip does imply that the spell is possible to research though.
Also the order (well one or more of Roy Elan and Haley) seem to believe that they could make new gates as they imagine it in # 887. You also have dourkan's self destruct rune. Which seems to imply there is the spell findable somewhere as he might not have teleports left when activating it and would want the gaye repaired.
It might not be easy or viable for redcloak and Xykon to spend time looking for it though or that it does exist.

[dancrilis]

It is in SOD to memory.

They would both have to be epic to build gates - this was discussed around the time of Lirian's gate being destroyed I think.

[Porthos]

This topic was addressed, if only slightly, in SoD. Expanding a bit on what dancrilis said:

After the destruction of Lirian's Gate, Redcloak mentions that MAYBE they could learn to rebuild it, but they'd both need to be Epic and it would take years, possibly decades, to research.

Even in one presumes Xykon was Epic at the time, and I certainly don't, Reddie was far far from it at the time. Even now, decades later, he's "only" just got to 9th level spells.

So it was never an option for them at the time.

[factotum]

Yeah, it's quicker for them to track down the next gate than it is to try and rebuild the existing ones, and we all know how impatient Xykon is. If the last Gate gets destroyed (and the Snarl somehow isn't immediately released) then they'll probably have to sit down and figure out how to rebuild it, but Xykon would get bored halfway through and head off to kill people, leaving Redcloak with the task of finding another epic arcane caster to help him out.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Essentially, Lirian and Durokan were only able to build the Gates after lots of research and because they were both Epic. Xykon is definitely Epic, but Redcloak is still only 17, so it seems unlikely he'd be able to build Gates.

[137beth]

If they had had meta-knowledge of how xp worked in D&D, they might have been able to have Redcloak grind through random encounters until he was epic, minimizing the risk of being attacked by heroes.

But then again, xp in OOTS doesn't work like xp in D&D: Redcloak can't gain any more levels than the plot demands, and the plot demands he remain nonepic so he is forced to go after the other gates.

[Murk]

If they had had meta-knowledge of how xp worked in D&D, they might have been able to have Redcloak grind through random encounters until he was epic, minimizing the risk of being attacked by heroes.

But then again, xp in OOTS doesn't work like xp in D&D: Redcloak can't gain any more levels than the plot demands, and the plot demands he remain nonepic so he is forced to go after the other gates.

My image of The Giant might be wrong, but I have the feeling that OOTS xp works exactly as xp does in The Giants D&D games. I can't imagine The Giant doing "xp grinding through random encounters" either as a DM or as a player - it probably is not an option in his games, just as it isn't in his stories.

[archon_huskie]

Source: last panel (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0276.html).

Awesome thanks!

[NerdyKris]

If they had had meta-knowledge of how xp worked in D&D, they might have been able to have Redcloak grind through random encounters until he was epic, minimizing the risk of being attacked by heroes.

But then again, xp in OOTS doesn't work like xp in D&D: Redcloak can't gain any more levels than the plot demands, and the plot demands he remain nonepic so he is forced to go after the other gates.

That would have been risky, as Redcloak might be killed, and there would be nobody to raise him. Not to mention,

Redcloak only said that because Xykon was screwing with him. Xykon led him along that thought trail and had Redcloak admit the plan was ruined and he had failed, only for Xykon to then reveal that there were actually four more gates, a fact Redcloak did not know. Once they discovered there were other gates, presumably defended by heroes of equal power level to Lirian,

it made far more sense to go after them than to sit around for years and risk being tracked down by an army of epic heroes.