Why wait to use the antilife shell until now?

[gellerche]

So Durkula has sometimes had Roy on the ropes, and has sometimes been overpowered by Roy. But he's waited until now to cast antilife shell. But why wait until he was on the losing end? The shell lasts for 10 minutes/level, so it would last for around 2 hours. The indications were that the demigods were right outside and would render a judgment in way under two hours.

So from a tactical perspective, Durkula could've cast it immediately on Roy's first attack and waited until the world ended while being impervious to attack. I can see either of these responses:

"Watching two people talk to each other would be about as exciting as watching paint dry, and the Giant has a story to tell."

"Durkula hates Roy and doesn't want to just defeat him, but rub his nose in it."

Those are both valid responses. But tactically, is there any reason for Durkula to wait on casting the shell? Especially since it could've cost him his life and therefore thwarted his mistress?

[hroþila]

As he says quite explicitly in #1011, he was quite confident that he could kill Roy and remove him as an obstacle for later in case plan A failed. The way I see it, the moment he thought he might actually lose, he brought out the Antilife Shell.

[ChristianSt]

Yeah, for me it seems pretty clear that HPoH thought Roy couldn't defeat him and wanted to kill him. Since that didn't work out too well he switched to plan B (in that case not running away, but to go into the shell).

[Lord Stoneheart]

Lurky: "Missteps aside, I was still hoping to knock Roy off the board in case we needed the next phase"

Presumably, Lurky has backup plans to serve Hel in case the vote goes in a way that's unexpected, and the world doesn't get destroyed. And having Roy dead would make those plans easier to carry out.

And also from a non-tactical standpoint, Lurky probably finds actively killing Roy to be more enjoyable than standing inside an antilife shell for however long and taunting him.

[Cizak]

The longer he just stands in it, the more time he gives Roy to come up with a way to deal with it.

[NerdyKris]

Also we would have missed out on that entire fight scene, including Roy's revelation and whatever is going on with the starmetal sword.

[factotum]

I thought he'd made it pretty clear that he wanted to kill Roy for whatever reason. He can't do that if he's standing in the middle of an anti-life shell, at least, not as easily as he can if he doesn't have a ten-foot gap between himself and his target.

[Quild]

For the same reason he does not turn/stay in mist form: Because he's tired of watching Roy's smug self-righteous face all the time. (#1009, second panel).

[Porthos]

Rich is already on record as having at least one of his characters using their trump card last instead of first. And, like that fight, maybe "Durkon" didn't want to use it in case he needed it later. While it might be sub-optimal, it could always be converted into an Inflict Critical Wounds spell in an emergency.

And that's not even counting the fact that he wanted to kill Roy. Harder to kill him behind that shield (though not impossible). :smallwink:

[Roland Itiative]

There's little reason for him to have used the spell at first.

He likes killing, he hates Roy, Roy is a nuisance that he wants to get rid of if the "next phase" ends up being necessary, he was pretty confident that the big stupid fighter would be no match against a vampire cleric one-on-one (and he was right, Green Glow Ex Machina notwithstanding).

It would be pretty out-of-character if he did choose to hide instead of killing.

[Majin]

Durkula knows that if Hel's plan fails, Roy might try to take him down. After the moot ends, Roy could get help from rest of the Order, but right now he's fighting alone, easier to deal with him now.

[Adun]

I think Durkula wanted that large bag of xp that a nearly epic fighter is.

[factotum]

I think Durkula wanted that large bag of xp that a nearly epic fighter is.

I doubt it. He was already pretty high level before becoming a vampire, and now he *is* one that +8 level adjustment means he can wave goodbye to gaining any more levels until he's earned far more XP than Roy's death would provide.

[Noodz]

To be pedantic, yes, he could have used the shell as his opening spell. The HPoH could then safely snipe Roy with spells, or he could even just keep on trying to dominate him until it worked (like V did to the young black dragon). While effective, that also means the battle would be a lot more boring.

[SaintRidley]

I think Durkula wanted that large bag of xp that a nearly epic fighter is.

Even if Roy and Durkon were of equal level before Durkon was vampirized, Durkon's current effective level is enough above Roy's that Roy offers no experience if defeated. Vampire level adjustment is that ridiculous.

[Alias]

Even if Roy and Durkon were of equal level before Durkon was vampirized, Durkon's current effective level is enough above Roy's that Roy offers no experience if defeated. Vampire level adjustment is that ridiculous.

Base challenge rating assumes 4 person party. If a character is alone the CR of the encounter increases, by 4 if I remember correctly. So it's an "easy" encounter, but there still is XP to be gained.

[Psyren]

The longer he just stands in it, the more time he gives Roy to come up with a way to deal with it.

But that's also more time for the demigod reps to get there and end the stalemate, more time for Durk's fast healing to work etc. The clock is against Roy here, at least as the situation is presented.

[SaintRidley]

Base challenge rating assumes 4 person party. If a character is alone the CR of the encounter increases, by 4 if I remember correctly. So it's an "easy" encounter, but there still is XP to be gained.
Not how it works. Challenge rating is fixed in 3.x to the monster. It's just that CR 14 is supposed to be a reasonable challenge for a group of 4 level 14s. A CR 14 monster does not become CR 18 just because there's one PC.

[Tvtyrant]

He wanted the XP from killing a party member to craft scrolls with.

[Zwiebelchen]

There are actually many reasons for that:


Why give up a spell slot early that you can turn into an inflict wounds spell at any time if you are not even sure you need it?
Many of the supernatural vampire abilities, like blood drain and level drain are touch attacks. Throwing up the Anti-life shell prevents Durkula from using these abilities, as the shell would vanish if he moves too close to Roy (= forcing a living creature into the shell).
As such, using the anti-life shell early would mean he can only use ranged spells and can not use many of the supernatural vampire abilities... and the number of ranged cleric spells that can kill a highlevel fighter is extremely limited

[SaintRidley]

He wanted the XP from killing a party member to craft scrolls with.

As noted, his level adjustment makes him too high a level to gain xp from Roy.

[thereaper]

It's also worth noting that characters in this story (particularly spellcasters) often do things in a very suboptimal way because they are not infallible. They make tactical errors when under pressure (or, put another way, whenever the plot requires it).

[War-Wren]

It's also worth noting that characters in this story (particularly spellcasters) often do things in a very suboptimal way because they are not infallible. They make tactical errors when under pressure (or, put another way, whenever the plot requires it).

This.

And also when it matches their character. Case (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0634.html) in point (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0678.html)... V is not the munchkin, optimising type, but a living breathing person, with a fragile ego and belief that his/her magic is the answer.

HPoH is not so fragile, but he is an arrogant a-hole, who just wanted to smash Roy into the ground and thoroughly trounce him. Yes, the optimal response would have been;

Roy: "DURKON!!!":smallfurious:
HPoH: Anti-Life Shell :smalltongue:

But then there's no drama for us, and no chance for the HPoH to prove how feeble Roy is, and how powerful the HPoH is... course it nearly went horribly wrong, but such is (un)life :smallsmile:

[Kornaki]

Why give up a spell slot early that you can turn into an inflict wounds spell at any time if you are not even sure you need it?

Why give up one spell slot that early when you can burn eight in the fight with Roy instead? I don't understand.

[Forum Explorer]

Tactically, Roy might be an obstacle later on. Killing (and vamping) him now would remove that possibility. But if the demigods don't vote for Hel, and there's no guarantee they will, (particularly since it's possible that something has stopped the demigod clerics from entering.) the HPoH will need to defeat Roy anyways.

As is, he's hoping that the demigods will vote in Hel's favor, and that'll be the end of it.