David-Belkar vs Goliath-Vamp

[lenon3579]

The vampire that our beloved Belkster (well, my beloved at least, he is my second preferred character from the strip, losing solely to Tarquin) found on the top of the mountain is probably a Goliath (with vampire template)... a giant attuned to the stones with face designes that matches.

And Belkster is without his daggers.

And Goliathula is a nameless character. As someone pointed on the thread about the strip, he is there only to show the way that Belkar prepared himself to chase a vampire and to shine out his awesomeness.

And yes, Belkar prepared himself. The cape, the feather fall ring. He almost certainly is carrying some stakes.

When I realized that the vamp-guy is a Goliath and someone pointed the fact that all halflings are proficient with slings I immediately remembered our old guy David, from Christian Mythology, and his one-hit sling to fall down Goliath.

So Our Beloved Sexy Shoeless God of War will take a sling and kill Goliath with one hit.

But vampires are immune to critics!

Yeah, to normal critics... not to a critic from a slinged stake through his heart. :smallcool: :belkar:

[Reboot]

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0745.html

[lenon3579]

Yes, I know.

But a pebble will do little against a high-level Goliath Vampire Cleric with full health.

So the stake... same principle, just different material.

[ChillerInstinct]

You know, if it turns out that Belkar went full van Helsing and started carving makeshift stakes out of parts of the Mechane that no one noticed were missing, I wouldn't be displeased.

The beautiful mental image of Belkar throwing a maelstrom of Mechane railing pieces with anti-Vampire epithets carved into them aside, I don't think Belkar's going to try to win this fight on his own... but that doesn't mean his throwing weapon proficiency is off the table. He just has to lure the Goliath into the line of sight of the Mechane. The second V, Bandana, or anyone who happens to look overboard sees ANOTHER Vampire going after him, they'll realize SOMETHING is terribly wrong. Belkar's very injured right now, so direct combat would probably be fatal, but if he were to throw snowballs at the Goliath to get its attention...

We also know that the Mechane has access to a weapon that would probably be both functional as a stake while being accurate enough to snipe a target as big as a Goliath if V can't do the job for whatever reason... (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0933.html)

[KorvinStarmast]

When I realized that the vamp-guy is a Goliath and someone pointed the fact that all halflings are proficient with slings I immediately remembered our old guy David, from Christian Mythology, and his one-hit sling to fall down Goliath.
Hebrew/Judaic. :smallwink: But yes, the allusion stands out.

So Our Beloved Sexy Shoeless God of War will take a sling and kill Goliath with one hit. One hopes.

But vampires are immune to critics!Vampires are immune to crits, or critical hits. If the Twilight idiots are any indication, vampires are NOT immune to critics (especially movie critics!)
Point of order: this vampire is not a Philistine. :smallbiggrin:


Yeah, to normal critics... not to a critic from a slinged stake through his heart. :smallcool: :belkar:
I don't think that word means what you think it means. As Teddy Roosevelt once said

It's not the critic who counts (http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7-it-is-not-the-critic-who-counts-not-the-man)...

[Spartakus]

I already asked this in the discussion-thread but why is the giant that recently belonged to the creed of the stone a goliath and not a stone giant?



Vampires are immune to crits, or critical hits. If the Twilight idiots are any indication, vampires are NOT immune to critics (especially movie critics!)


The fact that they made more then one book/film suggests otherwise.

[KorvinStarmast]

I already asked this in the discussion-thread but why is the giant that recently belonged to the creed of the stone a goliath and not a stone giant?

The fact that they made more then one book/film suggests otherwise.
Hmmm, they were going to make more than one movie from the get go, so on that score we may not agree, but the books I think you are right about.

[Vinyadan]

I already asked this in the discussion-thread but why is the giant that recently belonged to the creed of the stone a goliath and not a stone giant?

He has stripes on his face. His equipment looks large, but Goliaths can use weapons one size larger of them because of their powerful build. He does look very tall for a Goliath, however, but not that tall. He's about a whole head taller than Roy. He could be a stone giant, but the stripes make me think of a Goliath, and he looks less than 12 foot tall. Stone giants have bonuses when catching thrown rocks: that would be funny for Belkar.

[Johnnyjester]

The new vampire probably is a stone giant and not a Goliath, though.

Because we can fairly assume in "Comic #1012" that the representatives High priests of the demigods are of a race matching their deity. So a fire giant and a frost giant should both be depicted here. And the guard shown in "Comic #0994" is roughly of the same build, albeit of a different complexion.

My money's still on the Belkster, however, he didn't survive this fall only to be shown in three strips then killed by a no-name NPC... and I hope he goes as "carelessly" as in Blind Pete's den against all of the thieves (but I don't think this will be as easy now as it was then)

(Sorry, can't post links yet...)

[foobar1969]

Assuming the human is about 6', Mr Mottled is a little over 8', slightly tall for a goliath but still shorter than an ogre, much less a giant.
http://s7.postimg.org/jr94fv8vv/oots_goliath.png
His weapon is about 8' long with an extra thick handle, exactly right for a maul scaled to 200%.

[Fitzclowningham]

The hammer would only have to be a bit over 5' long to make contact with Durkula in the shell. Just sayin'.

[goodpeople25]

The fact that they made more then one book/film suggests otherwise.
Well the protection from blank spells are well-known to have quite the utility for their level. And protection from editors/critics is no exception. Thankfully it does have its limits, Large amounts of potential profit is probably the focus.

[lenon3579]

Hebrew/Judaic. :smallwink: But yes, the allusion stands out.
(...)
Vampires are immune to crits, or critical hits. If the Twilight idiots are any indication, vampires are NOT immune to critics (especially movie critics!)
(...)
I don't think that word means what you think it means.

Oh, that made me laught... hahahahah

Yes, sorry, I meant crits or critical hits. Or crítico, in Brazilian Portuguese. Thus the mistake.

Ah, yes, in that language, my native one, the words for critical and critic are just the same. That made the pun a lot funnier to me, when I realized it.

[Emanick]

You know, if it turns out that Belkar went full van Helsing and started carving makeshift stakes out of parts of the Mechane that no one noticed were missing, I wouldn't be displeased.

The beautiful mental image of Belkar throwing a maelstrom of Mechane railing pieces with anti-Vampire epithets carved into them aside, I don't think Belkar's going to try to win this fight on his own... but that doesn't mean his throwing weapon proficiency is off the table. He just has to lure the Goliath into the line of sight of the Mechane. The second V, Bandana, or anyone who happens to look overboard sees ANOTHER Vampire going after him, they'll realize SOMETHING is terribly wrong. Belkar's very injured right now, so direct combat would probably be fatal, but if he were to throw snowballs at the Goliath to get its attention...

We also know that the Mechane has access to a weapon that would probably be both functional as a stake while being accurate enough to snipe a target as big as a Goliath if V can't do the job for whatever reason... (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0933.html)

You know, I don't say this sort of thing very often, but I suspect that this might actually be better than whatever plot development The Giant has lined up.

[KorvinStarmast]

Oh, that made me laught... hahahahah

Yes, sorry, I meant crits or critical hits. Or crítico, in Brazilian Portuguese. Thus the mistake.

Ah, yes, in that language, my native one, the words for critical and critic are just the same. That made the pun a lot funnier to me, when I realized it. In English, critical has multiple uses. One is regarding criticism (see below with critique) and the other has to do with being of great consequence or great importance.

Critique is likely the analog (cognate?) of the word that led to the Portuguese critic which I suspect was the German word kritik though they may have both come from a Latin or root.

Vampires have no stake in this discussion of meaning.

[littlebum2002]

And yes, Belkar prepared himself. The cape, the feather fall ring. He almost certainly is carrying some stakes.

Can you please explain why, in this scenario, Belkar didn't use these stakes on the vampire he JUST fought a few minutes ago?

[KorvinStarmast]

Can you please explain why, in this scenario, Belkar didn't use these stakes on the vampire he JUST fought a few minutes ago?2 or 3 reasons:
1. It was a wolf at the time.
2. Disabling the vampire so that it will sit still long enough to drive a stake into its heart is a common problem as seen in various vampire movies and stories.
3. Belkar's reflexive combat mode is two weapon fighting. He'd need to hurt wolf vampire enough to get it to switch back to vampire mode before driving in a stake.

All of the above with a caveat: my familiarity with 3.5 vampire rules is not strong.

[littlebum2002]

2 or 3 reasons:
1. It was a wolf at the time.
2. Disabling the vampire so that it will sit still long enough to drive a stake into its heart is a common problem as seen in various vampire movies and stories.
3. Belkar's reflexive combat mode is two weapon fighting. He'd need to hurt wolf vampire enough to get it to switch back to vampire mode before driving in a stake.

All of the above with a caveat: my familiarity with 3.5 vampire rules is not strong.

But all of these can be problems with the new vampire as well :smallconfused:

It can also turn into a wolf if it feels that will protect it from the stake.
It will also have to be disabled so that it will sit long enough to have a stake driven into its heart
Belkar's reflexive combat mode is still 2 weapon fighting.

It would just seem pretty poor storytelling to have a character fight a vampire only to reveal a secret weapon that he didn't use against a similar vampire minutes before despite still having it on him.

[dmc91356]

Well, let me offer an alternative that would allow Belkar to have stakes now and during his earlier fight:

The stakes need to be used when he has a chance to actually get a benefit out of them. So, he needs to damage the vampire enough to gain some sort of combat advantage and plant a stake in the heart of the vampire.

In looking over his fight with HPOH, Belkar never had that opportunity.

Perhaps his impending fight with the goliath vampire will go better for him . . .

YMMV.

[dtilque]

In English, critical has multiple uses. One is regarding criticism (see below with critique) and the other has to do with being of great consequence or great importance.

Critique is likely the analog (cognate?) of the word that led to the Portuguese critic which I suspect was the German word kritik though they may have both come from a Latin or root.
From Greek via Latin (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=critic)


Vampires have no stake in this discussion of meaning.

You've gotten to the heart of the matter...



Well, let me offer an alternative that would allow Belkar to have stakes now and during his earlier fight:

How about he found a bush on his way up the mountain and broke off a couple branches. That would explain him having one now and not earlier. Not that I think this is necessary.

[Pyrous]

From Greek via Latin (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=critic)


Compare with critical (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=critical&allowed_in_frame=0).



You've gotten to the heart of the matter...


But we still have to deal with the bulk of the problem.



How about he found a bush on his way up the mountain and broke off a couple branches. That would explain him having one now and not earlier. Not that I think this is necessary.

If it were necessary, it would be critical to the situation at hand, rendering it useless.

[2.5 cats]

I'm actually pretty scared that Belkar is going to lose. His promise to get in digs on Roy for "(not) dying for a whole arc" strikes me as one of those things you Just. Do. Not. Say. when you want to live. Also the fact that he's still wounded--how easy would it have been to say he chugged a potion between the fall and now?

[8BitNinja]

https://wickedraven.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/history-first-reported-critical-hit.jpg

David: History's first recorded Paladin/Ranger/Bard too

[KorvinStarmast]

David: History's first recorded Paladin/Ranger/Bard tooIIRC, isn't he also the first fallen Paladin? (There is that small matter of Bathsheba (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier/2014/04/27/david-and-bathsheba-bible-story-summary-lessons-and-study/)?)



You've gotten to the heart of the matter...
Well played sir, also on the Greek to Latin and so on.

[8BitNinja]

IIRC, isn't he also the first fallen Paladin? (There is that small matter of Bathsheba (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier/2014/04/27/david-and-bathsheba-bible-story-summary-lessons-and-study/)?)


Well played sir, also on the Greek to Latin and so on.

He is, but he got better, even though he killed one of his guys that I would also consider a Paladin, in fact, I drew up a list of people listed in the Bible as D&D characters

But that was wayyy after he killed Goliath, which I guess would be more Smite Evil than a crit

King David is one of my favorite people in history (probably 2nd most favorite)

Sorry Roland, you're not on that list

[rodneyAnonymous]

If The Iliad or Beowulf got called "history", people would double-take.

[littlebum2002]

If The Iliad or Beowulf got called "history", people would double-take.

You beat me to it, I was just gonna say that Odysseus was my favorite historical character

[dtilque]

Compare with critical (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=critical&allowed_in_frame=0).

Critical at that site immediately references critic (which is what I referenced), so you took a step backwards in finding out what language the word ultimately derives from.



Well played sir, also on the Greek to Latin and so on.

Thank you.

[Pyrous]

Critical at that site immediately references critic (which is what I referenced), so you took a step backwards in finding out what language the word ultimately derives from.

If you read KorvinStarmast's post, you'll find that he is in doubt if critic and critical comes from the same root.

As your link only elucidates (is that the right word here?) the origin of the word "critic", I thought (is this the past of think?) it was best to link the other word, because yours doesn't clarifies it. (Clarify, that's the word I was looking for.)

My link is only to clarify the origin of the other word. It happened that my link links to yours, because the words have the same root and this answer the doubt. Sorry, if my link is more useful than yours, or if I didn't understood Korvin's post.

[Emanick]

If The Iliad or Beowulf got called "history", people would double-take.

Unlike, say, Achilles or Odysseus, historians are pretty sure David existed (a quick survey of Wikipedia, which generally errs on the side of citing skeptics when it comes to religious literature, confirms this). The disagreements are mostly over how accurate the biblical account is, not over whether or not it's describing a fictional person. If nothing else, real kings are generally better at having their exploits recorded and retold than imaginary ones are.

In any case, this is a topic that probably can't be pursued much further without veering into rule-breaking territory, so I suggest we return to discussing Belkar and the goliath vampire.

[137beth]

You beat me to it, I was just gonna say that Odysseus was my favorite historical character

Hippolytus (from Euripides' play Hippolytus) is my favorite historical character.

[8BitNinja]

You beat me to it, I was just gonna say that Odysseus was my favorite historical character


If The Iliad or Beowulf got called "history", people would double-take.

What are you trying to say?

[KorvinStarmast]

What are you trying to say?
Grendel's mom has got it goin' on!
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZLfasMPOU4)

[Emanick]

Grendel's mom has got it goin' on!
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZLfasMPOU4)

Grendel’s mom has got it goin' on
Grendel’s mom has got it goin' on
Grendel’s mom has got it goin' on
Grendel’s mom has got it goin' on

Grendel, can I come visit late tonight? (late tonight)
We can swap some tales till the morning light (the morning light)
Did your mom get back from her village raid? (village raid)
Is she there, or is she trying to hide from my blade? (hide from my blade)

You know, I'm not the fearsome Geat that I used to be
I’ve got my soft side, buddy can't you see

Grendel’s mom has got it goin' on
She's all I want and I've waited for so long
Grendel, can't you see you're just not the beast for me
I know it might be wrong but I'm in love with Grendel’s mom

Grendel’s mom has got it goin' on
Grendel’s mom has got it goin' on

Grendel, do you recall when I tore off your arm? (off your arm)
Your mom replied by swearing mortal harm (mortal harm)
I could tell she liked me from the way she glared (the way she glared)
As she murdered men like a grizzly bear (a grizzly bear)

And I know that you think it's just a fantasy
But since your dad got stabbed your mom could use a guy like me

Grendel’s mom has got it goin' on
She's all I want, and I've waited for so long
Grendel, can't you see you're just not the beast for me
I know it might be wrong,
but I'm in love with Grendel’s mom

Grendel’s mom has got it goin' on
She's all I want and I've waited for so long,
Grendel can't you see you’re just not the beast for me,
I know it might be wrong but oh oh
(I know it might be wrong)
I'm in love with (Grendel’s mom oh oh)
(Grendel’s mom oh oh)
I'm in love with Grendel’s mom

[KorvinStarmast]

Grendel’s mom has got it goin' on
She's all I want and I've waited for so long,
Grendel can't you see you’re just not the beast for me,
I know it might be wrong but oh oh
(I know it might be wrong)
I'm in love with (Grendel’s mom oh oh)
Nicely done song parody. Two thumbs up from this music critic! :smallbiggrin:

[Emanick]

Nicely done song parody. Two thumbs up from this music critic! :smallbiggrin:

Heh, thanks. I actually wrote it several months ago (and had it performed by some college friends, what's more).

Now I'm just trying to figure out what the odds were of someone else on this forum having the exact same idea. They can't be THAT good, surely.

[multilis]

Forget about what those Holey Brotherhood clowns say, Belkar's still got a prophesy. Belkar's gonna die.

But now the twist! RIP Belkar? NO! No rest for those cheating wickedness!

Belkar's going to rise up and start blood sucking. But with his protection from evil he will be nobody's thrall. But sadly he will still be not much longer for this world, for there is another world just a rift away.