OOTS #352 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Grim Greyscale]

XD. I loved the "boobs" joke. It had to be done. Good job.

Edit: Woot, first post!

[Rama_Lei]

Yes! Love it! first page!

[Flabbicus]

Good ol' dwarven ingenuity.

[Mattaeu]

brilliant. indeed. brilliant.

[LTDave]

Boobs!

And Woot!

[cheebie]

Durkon is now officially my hero.

Hooray side effects!

[WoDHells]

That's weird, I just entered the site and it still was 351...
Let's see...


edit... HOLY CR4P!!!
:O

[Bilbo27]

awesome--can't wait to see the effects of the BOOM

edit--oh yeah woohoooo 1st page!!

2nd time ever!

[Dragon_Rider]

Now that was a good comic. I had my doubts about the last one, but that was a nice, well laid-out, suspense-filled, climatic comic. With, of course, some boob humor.

Can we please stop with the stupid "1st page" crap... really, its rather annoying.

[TheLastOfTheFallen]

Boobies!

Genius comic, I loved it. :D

[BelkarsDagger]

*BOOM* That panel was awsome...

[Keldar]

Durkon wins. Awesome.

At least now we know where he went. Julia's lines were great, too.

[xyzchyx]

YAY!!!

Durkon is my new favorite!

Woah... first page. Cool

[musicnerd]

i love roy's sister! the boobs stuff was great :D
omg, my first post ever and it's on the first page! ;D

[Arian]

Yep, he's high on my list as well. :-)

[The Extinguisher]

Wow. I go to the site, old comic. I go to the forums, then BAM! New comic. Funny though.

[Lerch]

i love roy's sister! the boobs stuff was great Cheesy


Boobs are almost always great (unless they go to the knees)

[TinSoldier]

I didna' even realize it was Durkon until half-way in. Most of Julia's monolgue was meh, but Durkon with the "BOOM" was great! Yay for Durkon!

Why is V smiling? Does he know that the sonic-ness of the lightning can still hurt Leeky and the trees?

Looking at the comic again, it isn't the lightning that is so bad but the thunder. Go Thor!

[TinSoldier]

Oh, and I notice that V is holding his hands over his ears in the last panel.

[Gopher]

Heh took me awhile to understand why that worked. Brilliance.

[Gamaliel_the_Bard]

WAY TO GO DURKON!!!!


BOOM!

Roy's sister may be having thoughts of becoming a cleric of Thor now.

I love how "V" knew something was up, she was smiling.

[Nazzo, the 102nd]

Looks like that V and Durkon really made up a cunning plan. At least to me. And this explains the reason for V shouting SONIC out loud -- he was telling Durkon what to do. That's why he/she/it is smiling, that's why he got his ears covered.

EDIT: And why Durkon is calm. :D

Heh! OOTS are the best! Hooray!

[Gamerofthegame]

BOOM!

HEADSSSSSSSSSSSSSHOT!

Very nice.

[MetalKelt]

OMG, that was great... The first comic where I truly laughed uncontrollably.

EDIT: Woot! (insert random obligatory 2nd page comment questioning your parentage)

[jamwno]

Heh, i didn't get the whole lightning -> sonic thing until i looked at the forums. Nicely done.

Also, i like how Durkon's eyes turn white. A nod to Storm from the X-men is my guess.

[a1057soul]

awesome Giant!
BIG BADABOOM!!!

:-)
Dan

[Dawnstrider_Moogle]

Holy crap!

SONIC!!

[aryeh88]

wow, that was AMAZING! way to go for dwarven ingenuity.

[ref]

yay! SONIC! That was clever! ;D

[Maxhavoc]

Control weather doesn't do THAT much damage :)

EDIT: It also can't do sonic damage. Weather cannot produce sonic effects. I'm kind of wondering how that worked.

[TheWanderingLlama]

The "It always works with my teachers" line was too great. Did anyone expect Durkon to actually save the day?

[jomac2k]

You can do that with Weather Control? That's bad ***! (language protection for the kiddies) Durkon is awesome, way to face his fears, kinda.

[Hyrael]

Ok, thats it. of all the characters of all the strips, I officialy hate Julia the most. She's worse than Miko, because at least miko had some nice angstyness and tragedy.

Maybe It's the inflated self-opinion, the brattyness, the casual throwing of insults like "loser" and "lame" jsut strikes at something in me. Asymetrical Runt ticks me off to, because i like pompey (what can I say, he's a kindred soul). the "Boobs" thing pissed me off too, for some reason. I guess I just need to purge all those high school memories. I can remember way too many girls just liek that.

This is a great strip, I loved the dramatic scenes, but i find myself more angry than awed. Im angry at a friggin stick figure.

great job, rich. you have elicited a genuine emotional response from me.

[Tawkis]

sonic indeed....

Silly tree huggers never win

[Taren]

...C-could someone explain to me how that worked?

I mean, I get the idea that Durkon was using the abilty to control the weather to create a lightning bolt...with the express intent of creating a sonic boom...or a loud noise of SOME sort, anyway....

But I'm not honestly sure how that translates into the trees exploding. Can there be lightning THAT powerful?

Don't get me wrong...I liked this comic. But at the risk of revealing my ignorance, I have absolutely no clue how he pulled that off.

[theKOT]

I loved the pacing. Durkon's spell wouldn't have had it's full effect if we hadn't been left in suspense for a while. I didn't find any of this funny, but it was enjoyable. Bravo. 8/10.


Julia seems to be one of those insufferable people who can't live without people giving her attention and doting over her. Anyway, could Durkon hear her, or was he in a trance?

[Fishies]

Sonic thunder...

[Argus]

One quibble: If that was four miles out, the thunder should have taken 20 seconds to arrive, not 4.

[opsomath]

That was...SO awesome. I don't know how RB elicits this kind of response with a freaking comic, but I got chills at the special effects panel.

And it looks like the Greenhilt family is just prone to "comeuppance in mid-self-absorbed-rant."

I expected the come-from-behind retaliation on this one to come from Elan, honestly, but I suppose that's been done.

Of all the characters in this comic, Durkon's the one who I actually respect the most. It is very cool that he finally lives up to the power of a level 12-13 magic user...now just waiting for it to happen with Elan.

[Finwe]

...C-could someone explain to me how that worked?

I mean, I get the idea that Durkon was using the abilty to control the weather to create a lightning bolt...with the express intent of creating a sonic boom...or a loud noise of SOME sort, anyway....

But I'm not honestly sure how that translates into the trees exploding. Can there be lightning THAT powerful?

Don't get me wrong...I liked this comic. But at the risk of revealing my ignorance, I have absolutely no clue how he pulled that off.


Well, if somehow he was able to find the eigenvalue for living trees, and was able to control the thunder to have exactly the right frequency, then its possible that he could shatter the trees. I don't think wood is brittle enough to do that, Sure was awesome though!

[Tmabbbb]

Finally, Durkon gets to be the hero. And Julia's lines were hilarious.

[Haarculaneaum]

Oh come on now,
with all the rules out there changing this energy into that energy. . . Control Weather could do it simply.

Also, if one were praying to

um

THOR

the god of. . .

oh yeah

THUNDER,
it's possible that Thor would trade an "ineffective" lightning bolt for a very effective sonic boom.

Haar

ps this is not to discount what a stupid effect "sonic damage" is. . . friggin WOTCers played too much Street Fighter 2, if you aks me.

[theKOT]

Well, if somehow he was able to find the eigenvalue for living trees, and was able to control the thunder to have exactly the right frequency, then its possible that he could shatter the trees. I don't think wood is brittle enough to do that, Sure was awesome though!
Besides, there are several different types of trees there. They would not all have the same frequency. But I'm willing to look past impossibility for the story's sake.

[DocZoid]

Great comic, a nice treat for me before I hit the hay.

[Molary]

Once again, when the **** hits the fan and the situation is grim, SEND IN THE DWARF!!!

Dwarf + Treants = Toothpicks

8)

[charik]

I've got to say, I had no idea that this was going to happen, even though we've seen Durkon use Call Lightning in a similar way before, in the intro section to DCF.

As to how it works, I imagine Durkon dumped all his spellcasting ability for the day into a special Control Weather to create a supercell storm for what is obviously the greatest lightning bolt ever seen. The DM of the comic decided that this was excellent role playing and chose to give him an wonderful result.

And as for hating Julia's behavior, she's role playing her character in a consistent manner.

[Nazzo, the 102nd]

I just noticed that Durkon is holding a scroll...

[TinSoldier]

I loved the pacing. Durkon's spell wouldn't have had it's full effect if we hadn't been left in suspense for a while. I didn't find any of this funny, but it was enjoyable. Bravo. 8/10.


Julia seems to be one of those insufferable people who can't live without people giving her attention and doting over her. Anyway, could Durkon hear her, or was he in a trance?theKot -- You need to start a thread with all of your ratings on them. Even if you haven't rated all of the comics at least rate the ones you have rated so far.

[storybookknight]

I think the "BOOM!" panel is among my favorite OOTS panels thus far. Singularly impressive from Sir Durkon.

Looked like he got that off a scroll - I wonder who from?

[EmeraldFire]

At the beginning I thought that Durkon was simply saying something like "Tha trees are here, tha trees are here," quite a surprise when his eyes went completely white and in comes the uber lightning.

I also liked V's smile when she sees the lightning, nice comic giant :)

[roguemomof7]

Yaaay Durkon! Durkon to the rescue! Guess all that fear of trees energy was spent learning how to best destroy them, especially large groups! ;D

And I thought that you could tell how far away lightning strikes by the estimate of one second=one mile distance, so there would be a second's delay after the lightning flash for every mile of distance the listener was from the lightning. Or so I have heard.

"...two Mississippi, three Mississippi" LOL! ;D

[charik]

Ooh, looking back at the comic, I finally noticed how the background sky kept getting darker as Durkon was chanting.

[MetalKelt]

And I thought that you could tell how far away lightning strikes by the estimate of one second=one mile distance, so there would be a second's delay after the lightning flash for every mile of distance the listener was from the lightning. Or so I have heard.

"...two Mississippi, three Mississippi" LOL! ;D

Heres where I am a bit unsure... I was under the impression that it was approximately 1 second per 1/4 mile... let me quickly calculate...

speed of sound at sea level = 340.29 m / s

1 mile = 1609.344 meters

350.29/1609.344 yields 0.217660115

therefore, almost a 1/4 mile per second, so technically durkon shuld be counting to about 16, but for the humor value sound travels as needed (and 4 is a funnier number than 16)

[Kinneus]

Go. Durkon.
There's a certain phrase I'm thinking of... what is? Oh, it's right on the tip of my tongue. Ah, of course.
PWNAGE!

[Tmabbbb]

Sorry for posting again in the same thread, but I just noticed something: The lighting shaters Leeky's staff. This might have dispelled the protection from fire and lightning, thus making the trees vulnerable.

[Begle1]

Heres where I am a bit unsure... I was under the impression that it was approximately 1 second per 1/4 mile... let me quickly calculate...

speed of sound at sea level = 340.29 m / s

1 mile = 1609.344 meters

350.29/1609.344 yields 0.217660115

therefore, almost a 1/4 mile per second, so technically durkon shuld be counting to about 16, but for the humor value sound travels as needed (and 4 is a funnier number than 16)


Obviously the atmospheric density is different in OOTS-land. This might explain how dragons fly and sound waves are capable of doing that much damage... ;)

[BiggusGeekus]

This strip delivers the awesome!!!!

[Fuu]

These most be the strangest way to make a sonic atack. Durkon saved the day, now least wait to see how much time take them to find out Elan is messing. Great one Giant and Julia was great too (the "boobs" joke is someting to remenber)

[sakusha]

:o...
...:o...
......:o......

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!! GO DURKON!!

That was freaking AWESOME!!!!! I saw Durkon's eyes and was seriously thinking he'd somehow harnassed the power of Thor (like an Avatar or something) but I guess this is close enough! :D:D:D:D

[Solara]

"Look! Boobs!"

"Don't you like boobs? Don't you want to pay attention to the girl with boobs?"

ROFL! I am very tempted to make that a sig. I absolutely love Julia...talk about the complete opposite of Roy, and for a True Neutral she sure does remind me of Belkar on occasion. (Er...except for the fact that she's never brutally murdered anyone for fun. And Belkar wouldn't be able to effectively use the boobs joke as an attention getting device, though it's just bizarre enough to be hilarious to imagine him trying...)

The 'catatonic gay dwarf' line was pretty good too. :D

And I have to admit that Durkon's usually my least favorite of the bunch, but wow did he really get his moment to shine here! :) At first I assumed he was paralyzed with fear and muttering about scary trees that wanted to eat him or something.

When the lightning hit I'm ashamed to say it took me a second to figure out what the point was, but then I saw Durkon counting and remembered how the thunder delay worked.

In hindsight that smug little smile on V's face when the druid mentioned the four miles was even more awesome. That's some very quick thinking there, though I wonder if he thought of the fact that he was already injured and lying directly under all these heavy trees that were fixin' to be asploding into hundreds of pointy pieces...

[5tephen]

Durkon.
Da-Man.

(I am worried about collateral damage to the city, though. A thunderclap lour enough to splinter wood at 4 miles? Yeesh.)

[The Demented One]

Holy hell, that was amazing.

[evileeyore]

Durkon has rocketed right up to number 2 on my favorite main character list, just below Vaarsuvius. He just needs to get a few more lines and he might the top.

[Felistor]

Booyah! Durkon is my new hero. Who da DWARF!

[TarSheva]

Scroll in one hand and holy symbol in the other... And Durkon saves the day! Outstanding! :o

Abso-freaking-lutely loved V's expression! Perfect!

[Winged One]

I love it when nobody spots foreshadowing. :)

[oowatie]

YES!! Now THAT'S the way to illicit a sonic attack! Go Durkon!

Loved V's grinning when the lightning struck. And the "Look! Boobs!" line was classic ;D

Excellent comic, Mr. Giant.

[Fishybugs]

Finally....

Durkon gets a chance to kick some serious tree butt.

Loved it.

Thanks Giant.

[ElfLad]

So... where in OotS-land is this "Mississippi?"

Also, this was so Durkon's moment in the sun/overcast thunderstorm. Durkon's been my favorite character for ages, so this was awesome.

[Cain_Maris]

That was freaking brilliant.

Also loud.

This comic rocks.

And Mississipi (it's plural) are probably found in the bestiary, not atlas.

[Sky_Schemer]

Wow. This is quite possibly the most beautiful strip to date. It's just rich with detail. The gradual darkening of the sky. Durkon's low mumbling and still pose. The look in his eyes as the spell takes effect. The lightning and then the thunder. V's expression before it hits.

Absolutely stunning.

[Shatteredtower]

Um, while it was impressive and all... how would it avoid causing massive property damage to the city?

Also, if it's doing that kind of damage to trees, what's it doing to low-level types, such as the average member of the local constabulary?

I don't mind taking myself out of the rulebooks for the purpose of the comic strip, nor out of the realm of realistic physics for that purpose, but when a sonic burst of energy can shred wood, not even humour explains why nothing and no one else is seriously hurt.

Eh, I guess I'll just chalk it up to DM ex machina: If the DM thinks it would be fun to allow it and wants to ignore the full consequences that come from allowing it, just let it go.

[Flame_Drake]

HOLY CRAP!!

Giant, you just made my day.

Drake

[ElfLad]

Just noticed, Leeky's staff got sundered.

And Giant, thanks a lot for the timing on this one. I'd just made a splash panel in my latest comic that I was reasonably proud of, and you had to go and draw at least two awesome splash panels in this strip. Damn your superior skills!

[humanpylon]

Ok so the rules part of me admits yeah Weather Control probably can't do that. However the part of me that loves a good story says FREAKIN SWEET!!!!! And that part's a lot louder right now ;D

I loved the smile on V's face especially. And I loved Durkon's eyes going white. I can almost here a "click" when it happens.

Also I agree with whoever says that Julia is like the typical annoying high school girl that we all hated...although mostly because she never showed us (or me anyways) any attention. Now that I'm older of course I see that I'm better off without, but at teen years it's a different story.

[Destro_Yersul]

Wow. Just wow. That was awesome on so many levels. I particularily liked that the sky kept getting darker and Julia didn't even notice.

[fusama]

Totally awesome comic!

I do wonder what the concentration check must have been to avoid being distracted by Julia...

[firespitter]

I love OOTS. Great comics, Giant. I look forward to each strip the way I used to look forward to Bill Waterson comic strips. Stiring and funny. And as always, clever enough to make me ROOT FOR THE OOT!

[Ironers]

Durkon is the best, hands down.

And Julia looks to be cut from the same cloth as her father. Roy is coming across now as the black sheep in a family full of self-absorbed ingrates.

[Felinoid]

Can't believe I'm the first to trot this out...
Roy's sister has boobies! :D

Reminds me a bit of another webcomic strip where the end of the conversation went something like this:
Girlfriend: You're doing all the chores this week for scaring me like that.
Boyfriend: What?! You can't do that!
Girlfriend: Boobs.
Boyfriend: Okay, you can do that!

As for the time mistake, I contend that the bolt struck less than a mile out and the gnome just doesn't have a good sense of distance / wasn't looking when it happened / whatever.

And finally, a small quibble. Somehow, this just doesn't seem like it should be taking up two pages, but I can't really find anywhere to snip it. There are the action panels, Julia's ranting extends the character, the panels where Julia just stands there show the waiting for a response (instead of just demanding an answer non-stop without leaving a space for an answer as some women are prone to do), and even the over-sized panels can't be shrunk because they're meant to impress upon you the size of the lightning and the size of the sound. The only thing I can really point at is the very first panel being a bit extraneous, but taking out one panel messes up the scheme, and as it is, it kind of fits.

[kits.dm]

Giant, brilliant comic. [1]

Love your work.



[1] I have this theory that Durkon doesn't actually cast Weather control, but Miracle instead. And y'know Miracle is one of those wonderful plot fixing spells. ;)

[wellington]

Either the DM is giving Durkon major license, or else Durkon and his player are doing some brilliant rules-lawyering. Time for a bit of dorkery.

According to the inverse-square law, ANY undirected blast of sound would have negligible effects on the trees from such a great distance; it would be spread out over a wide area.

However, what does the phrase "Control Weather" mean? You can manipulate a lightning bolt, which is a discharge caused by the weather, not an atmospheric condition in itself. So shouldn't you be able to manipulate the thunder, too?

Therefore, a caster with either great skill or divine aid could direct it to an area of his or her choice. Why should an electric discharge be favored over the sound?

Ye gods. I'm channeling Vaarsuvius.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Umm... isn't Weather Control like a 7th level spell? As in you need to be like 13th to be able to cast it? Granted, he had a scroll, but IIRC, casting off of higher-than-you-can-cast scrolls can lead to some extremely unplesant effects if you screw it up.

Then again, it was great joke, so the fudge on the rules is more than negated by the funny-factor.

EDIT: I wonder if Roy's Sister has the Great Cleave feat as well? That would account for her great cleavage...

[battleburn]

Wow...


That was totally wicked!!!11


They aren't going to be to happy. I doubt the city buildings have such a good protection from sonic themselves.

Ow, Leeky's staff broke :o wow again

[EmeraldRose]

oh......wow...........wow............wow.......... ..oh man!


did I say wow?




wow.....



(also, per my husband...more wow)

[Elcaz]

Loved V's smile too. S/He just knew what was coming one second before it happened. Though Julia did the funny bit in this one and the last panel had no punchline it can't all be just jokes. At some point there has to be action and plot advancement. Great job giant.

[Krytha]

damn.. I had something to say but then I was blown away by huge thunder bolts and I lost it. Durkon rocks? This is a lot less exciting than what I was going to write. Oh yeah.

WHAT WOULD THOR DO??!!!


Holy moley.

Anyway, V looked particularily pleased in the second to last panel and of course, Durkon is not going to let anyone forget how real a threat trees are.

[Fillbert]

Wow.... where do I even begin..... wow.......

Take that you stupid trees.....

[Mr._Blinky]

That was awesome! But really, at that distance would the thunder actually be enough to split tree trunks? I mean, I'm no expert on physics, but that seems highly unlikely to me.

[Krytha]

I didn't get that it was the sonic shock that cracked the trees until I saw the forum. Darn. Anyway,

M-M-M-M-MULTI-KILL

[Xylo]

Sweeeeet!!! ;D

I also thought Durkon was scared in a stupor at the beginning, but I really should have known better. Durkon may not like trees, but I can't recall that he's ever frozen up over them.

And I would pay attention to Julia. The Ren Faire is shut down for the season, I'm cleavage-deprived.

Edit: M-M-M-M-MONSTER-KILL, KILL, Kill!

[humanpylon]

Giant, brilliant comic. [1]

Love your work.



[1] I have this theory that Durkon doesn't actually cast Weather control, but Miracle instead. And y'know Miracle is one of those wonderful plot fixing spells. ;)

Actually that's an interesting idea. How about this theory: Durkon being freaked by the trees drags out his Miracle scroll as a last resort. Durkon doesn't have Control Weather (either didn't pray for it or isn't high enough level whatever) but Miracle can duplicate other spell effects so Durkon asks for Control Weather. Thor knows Control Weather by itself wouldn't harm the trees, but knows what Durkon really wants to do and tweaks things a bit, either because he likes Durkon, he hates trees, or he just likes destroying stuff.

[Mr._Blinky]

...or he just likes destroying stuff.
If it were a Miracle, I'd go for this reason.

[rosebud]

I officialy hate Julia the most. She's worse than Miko, because at least miko had some nice angstyness and tragedy.Ah, the joys of teen queen. Don't worry, I'm sure Julia has some nice qualities beyond her "tatas".


Maybe It's the inflated self-opinion, the brattyness, the casual throwing of insultsIf you're imprisoned for several weeks, I'd expect one to have some disrespect for the captors.


Im angry at a friggin stick figure.Wonderful, it is. :)


Control weather doesn't do THAT much damageI believe there was a GOD involved. Take your pick -- Thor or The Giant in the Playground. (A park kinda counts as a playground, yes? :))


Also, if it's doing that kind of damage to trees, what's it doing to low-level types, such as the average member of the local constabulary?Perhaps it's only harmful to magical wood. As the enemy of Dwarvenkind in a world with Gods, it's as good an excuse as any. :)

[TinSoldier]

Um, while it was impressive and all... how would it avoid causing massive property damage to the city?

Also, if it's doing that kind of damage to trees, what's it doing to low-level types, such as the average member of the local constabulary?

I don't mind taking myself out of the rulebooks for the purpose of the comic strip, nor out of the realm of realistic physics for that purpose, but when a sonic burst of energy can shred wood, not even humour explains why nothing and no one else is seriously hurt.

Eh, I guess I'll just chalk it up to DM ex machina: If the DM thinks it would be fun to allow it and wants to ignore the full consequences that come from allowing it, just let it go.If you look at the comic then you can see that it did have an affect outside of just Leeky and the trees.

It could certainly have caused lots of damage outside of just the bad guys.

[Aerysil1]

The guy in the hot air balloon has to change his pants, I bet.

Seeing all the ships and blimps tilted cracked me up :)

[Abthek]

wow... that was a great strip... lol


V's look in the third to last frame... priceless

the "boobs" joke.. priceless

the white eyes.. priceless



for everything else... see Durkon... lol


very nice comic giant... this one acctually made me laugh out loud..

[Daracaex]

Two things that need to be said:

1. Great cleavage must run in the family
2. I wonder what the concentration DC was to avoid looking at Julia?

[Ronfar]

Here's my explanation for how the sound did so much damage in a localized area:

Constructive interference.

The sound waves from the multiple bolts, reflecting off of buildings and other objects, all added up to one big freakin' BOOM right at that spot. As Thor is a God, he can set up the situation so that he gets as big a BOOM as he feels like.

It's just barely plausible enough to qualify as a legitimate tactic under D&D physics. ;)

[Elftist]

I absolutely love Julia...talk about the complete opposite of Roy, and for a True Neutral she sure does remind me of Belkar on occasion. (Er...except for the fact that she's never brutally murdered anyone for fun. And Belkar wouldn't be able to effectively use the boobs joke as an attention getting device, though it's just bizarre enough to be hilarious to imagine him trying...)


So, where is it established that she is true Neutral? I've read each comic a few times by now, but maybe I missed this detail?

I, like others posting, really enjoyed the details in this strip. I wasn't even sure that was Durkon in the first frame where he is pictured, but everything gets a bit clearer with with each new panel.

[Wanderer]

Umm... isn't Weather Control like a 7th level spell? As in you need to be like 13th to be able to cast it? Granted, he had a scroll, but IIRC, casting off of higher-than-you-can-cast scrolls can lead to some extremely unplesant effects if you screw it up.
Well... since folks have calculated in the past that V is around level 13 or 14 or some such, I see no reason why Durkon couldn't be there as well.

Anway. For all the naysayers, this worked because it was too freaking cool not to. One of those times when the DM is so impressed by your plan to get out of the impossible situation that he decides to give you a little leeway.




So, where is it established that she is true Neutral? I've read each comic a few times by now, but maybe I missed this detail?

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0343.html

[TinSoldier]

So, where is it established that she is true Neutral? I've read each comic a few times by now, but maybe I missed this detail? Here. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0343.html) Last panel.

http://www.snotling.org/modules/Forums/images/smiles/goblin-ninja.gif Simu-ninja'd!

[MetalKelt]

So, where is it established that she is true Neutral? I've read each comic a few times by now, but maybe I missed this detail?

To quote Julia, "I'm True Neutral. I go both ways."

From OOTS 343

EDIT: Curse you TinSoldier, I would have answered first if it wasn't for you and those meddling kids!

[Platinum_Mongoose]

AWESOME!

Yeah, that about sums it up.

[Dabble]

WOW!

All I can say really, Loved the Last Panel, so we could start a debate saying the lightning was 1 mile away if we really wanted to, but why bother.

I keep thinking of Marvin the Martian, Where was the Kaboom? There was supposed to be a hugh Kaboom!

The light in Durkon's eyes was really cool as well.

Julia? well she was kinda annoying, but hey, I'll give her a chance.

[Constructor]

BOOM!

Laugh out loud funny. I thought for sure Durkon was going to be paralyzed with tree-fear and muttering whatever the dwarvish equivalent of "Hail Mary" is.

Super cool.

Simon

[Sol]

i love durkon.

[battleburn]

So how did he get to the roof unseen ???

[Nashua]

HOLY CRAP is RIGHT!
THAT WAS AWSOME! I was scrolling down the comic on my small inset screen thinking, okay, a mildly funny boob joke..hohum...then KABOOM! :o
Wow! Durkon ROCKS! And here I thought he was one of the lamer OotS characters.

[theKOT]

And finally, a small quibble. Somehow, this just doesn't seem like it should be taking up two pages, but I can't really find anywhere to snip it. There are the action panels, Julia's ranting extends the character, the panels where Julia just stands there show the waiting for a response (instead of just demanding an answer non-stop without leaving a space for an answer as some women are prone to do), and even the over-sized panels can't be shrunk because they're meant to impress upon you the size of the lightning and the size of the sound. The only thing I can really point at is the very first panel being a bit extraneous, but taking out one panel messes up the scheme, and as it is, it kind of fits.
I think you may be missing the point of this:
Pacing. Seeing the closed door closed, the pauses and all of those things are building up a sense of anticipation, before you are rocked out of your chair by the second half. The only reason it takes a full two strips' length is the unbelievable splash pages, anyway.


You know, it may have been kind of cool to have just seen Durkon's eyes and then had to wait till wednesday for the second half. I LOVED this, but that might have been a cool cliff-hanger.

[Stone_Wolf]

So how did he get to the roof unseen ???


There's a ladder (or what looks to be a ladder) leading off the roof just to Durkon's left while he's chanting.

[Nightfall]

Can we please stop with the stupid "1st page" crap... really, its rather annoying.

I agree...it's infantile. Let's focus on the comic itself, not on whether the comment made the first page of the forum.

By the way...great comic, Giant. Wish my Triona could have cast Weather Control with such discipline and accuracy. Unfortunately, she was an accident waiting to happen....but that's another story. ;)

[Galathir]

That. Was. Awesome.

Great comic! Oh how I like divine spells.

[Devils_Advocate]

Does thunder loud enough to shatter trees really count as a "general tendancy of the weather?" Ah, well, it wouldn't be the first house rule we've seen in OOTS. Or maybe the fact that Durkon worships the god of THUNDER has something to do with his success with this spell? ;) Especially if Thor is aware that one of his clerics is on a mission to save the world, in which case he might be watching Durkon kind of closely.

Obviously, this wasn't trivial for Durkon to set up, but as the comic's title indicates, it was well worth it.

- Scroll of Control Weather: 2,275 gp.
- Altering local atmospheric conditions: 10 minutes.
- Destroying an army of animated trees: Priceless.


And this explains the reason for V shouting SONIC out loud -- he was telling Durkon what to do.
Ohhhh, so THAT'S how Durkon knew to attack the trees with sound.

Clever.


Looked like he got that off a scroll - I wonder who from?
Obviously, it's one of the scrolls that Durkon bought back in Azure city, as he said he was going to (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0296.html).


And Mississipi (it's plural) are probably found in the bestiary, not atlas.
Ah, the dreaded mississippus. But of course...

It might have been funnier to have Durkon use something dwarfier with the same number of syllables: "One pint 'o lager, two pints 'o lager..." But then some readers might have been confused about what he was doing; this way it's more obvious that he's timing the thunder.

[Beleriphon]

It might have been funnier to have Durkon use something dwarfier with the same number of syllables: "One pint 'o lager, two pints 'o lager..." But then some readers might have been confused about what he was doing; this way it's more obvious that he's timing the thunder.

No, the Mississipi is funnier largely because its an anachorism.

[Starhawk]

Wow. Just... wow!

Long time lurker, first time poster. This comic lured me out to post my applause.

I wanted to believe that Ray saw the trap. I wanted to believe our heroes were clever enough to get out.

V's smile proved it for me. She knew.

And that "BOOM"! I simply adore Durkon. I did before. Now it's confirmed.

Beautiful comic, Rich. I'm really looking forward to seeing more.

[Dire_Weasel]

It has been shown in past comics that the verbal component for any spell is the name of the spell. In the one panel we can read, Durkon says -- or finishes saying -- "Control Weather" seven times. There are seven other panels in which Durkon is doing nothing other than, presumably, saying "Control Weather". Which means that Durkon has likely cast Control Weather at least 49 times. I'd say that's more than enough to do what he did. The real question is where he got enough slots to cast Control Weather 49 times.

[Delcan]

POWER!!!

This comic had me pumping my fist in geekish glee. Rock on, Durkon, rock on!

[SumGuy]

Go Durkon! That was AWESOME!!

/yay boobs!

[Mr_Samedi]

Durkon proceeds to add another piece of evidence as to why he is, in my opinion, the most powerful member of the Order of the Stick.

[Yogi]

I think it's probably a modified control weather which deals sonic damage. Of course, this is a heck of a lot of sonic damage with a .8 mile radius (despite what Leeky said, 4 seconds = .8 miles.) Probably a Miracle.

And thus Julia finds the only man (besides her brother) who isn't attracted to her. Ah, the dramatic possibilities.

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

It has been shown in past comics that the verbal component for any spell is the name of the spell. In the one panel we can read, Durkon says -- or finishes saying -- "Control Weather" seven times. There are seven other panels in which Durkon is doing nothing other than, presumably, saying "Control Weather". Which means that Durkon has likely cast Control Weather at least 49 times. I'd say that's more than enough to do what he did. The real question is where he got enough slots to cast Control Weather 49 times.

No, control weather has a casting time of 10 minutes. Since spells with a duration of instantaneous (or one round, as we've seen from Pompey) only need the name to be said once, it makes perfect sense for Durkon to have been chanting for the last 7 comics.

V is smiling because he made his Spellcraft check. However, I'm surprised he doesn't cover his sensitive elvish ears...

Of course, nothing that that druid could do would be capable of granting the treants total immunity. Durkon would probably be able to handle them all with a single casting of call lightning.
Oh, right, Durkon uses lightning bolts like V.

[xyzchyx]

Either the DM is giving Durkon major license, or else Durkon and his player are doing some brilliant rules-lawyering. Time for a bit of dorkery.

According to the inverse-square law, ANY undirected blast of sound would have negligible effects on the trees from such a great distance; it would be spread out over a wide area.One word... Magic.

[denelian]

BOOM!


hehehehe ;D

EDIT - Durkon was casting from a scroll

[TinSoldier]

V is smiling because he made his Spellcraft check. However, I'm surprised he doesn't cover his sensitive elvish ears...He does cover his ears in the last panel. Just look at V.

[reorith]

these recent comics remind me of the power codzilla... *works on cleric build*

[Hyrael]

Durkon is the best, hands down.

And Julia looks to be cut from the same cloth as her father. Roy is coming across now as the black sheep in a family full of self-absorbed ingrates.

Roy's still pretty self-absorbed, just less so than the rest of his family. But he carrys it off well, and it doesnt stop him from being likable or a ok person.

[Lykan]

This... Is my favourite... OotS... Ever...

Control Weather FTW, beyotch!

[Hyrael]

It has been shown in past comics that the verbal component for any spell is the name of the spell. In the one panel we can read, Durkon says -- or finishes saying -- "Control Weather" seven times. There are seven other panels in which Durkon is doing nothing other than, presumably, saying "Control Weather". Which means that Durkon has likely cast Control Weather at least 49 times. I'd say that's more than enough to do what he did. The real question is where he got enough slots to cast Control Weather 49 times.

Like someone else said, i think he made a special deal with the DM, and blew every spell slot he has for the day, to cast the spell.

[EscherEnigma]

Hey. The gay dwarf line is funny. On a side note, I actually frustrated a DM once because he had an NPC try to get my character (who WAS in fact gay) distracted by just such a thing.

Oh, and as for my take on what the heck just happened: another vote for the 'too cool NOT to have worked'

[tiroskassie]

Oh SNAP!

The dwarf just got bad ass on us! :o

[gooddragon1]

@ the guy with the inverse square law citation: true, but you have to realize that most lightning strikes aren't strong enough to cause a tidal wave or span a city, this one should by rites have deafened everyone in the city who was outdoors and caused some of the people in the blimps to go into shock.

Kinda reminds me of the designator from incoming: final conflict, does no damage on impact... 3... 2... 1... Strange humming noise... massive disintegration. this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMVnUMgQod4) also came to mind

[Fri]

I might say HOLY CRAP!

that was the greatest turnaround ever after the turnaround in the battle of pelennor field with that legendary rooster.

[Devils_Advocate]

Sorry for posting again in the same thread, but I just noticed something: The lighting shaters Leeky's staff. This might have dispelled the protection from fire and lightning, thus making the trees vulnerable.
Nah, that wouldn't have any effect on spells already cast from the staff. Besides, it's THUNDER, not lightning! The lightning is way off in the distance!

Still, if is a magic staff, losing it should be a signinficant hindrance to Leeky.


Umm... isn't Weather Control like a 7th level spell? As in you need to be like 13th to be able to cast it? Granted, he had a scroll, but IIRC, casting off of higher-than-you-can-cast scrolls can lead to some extremely unplesant effects if you screw it up.
Casting off of scrolls of a caster level slightly higher than your own isn't really all that dangerous. Durkon has at least a 90% (probably 95%) chance of making the caster level check; and even if he failed it, he'd still have at least a 90% chance of avoiding a mishap. So that's at worst a 1% chance of a mishap. And even if there were one, it wouldn't be any more powerful an effect than a spell of that level, so a group of characters one of whom will be able to cast such a spell himself in a few levels have a pretty good chance of being able to weather (heh) such an effect.

Now, in this particular case, one of the potential mishaps might be a random change in the weather. But given the unlikelihood of a mishap happening at all, and then the further unlikelihood of the mishap being a random weather change, and then the further unlikelihood of the random change being seriously harmful... Well, multiply it all out, and it's (guesstimating here) something like a 1 in 10,000 chance of leveling the city with a tornado versus a 100% chance of the city being invaded by an army of trees.

I don't think we have to guess at which one Durkon would regard as the greater risk. ;)


Here's my explanation for how the sound did so much damage in a localized area:

Constructive interference.

The sound waves from the multiple bolts, reflecting off of buildings and other objects, all added up to one big freakin' BOOM right at that spot. As Thor is a God, he can set up the situation so that he gets as big a BOOM as he feels like.
Ah, yes, I remember Thor working through such "coincidences" in The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul as well. That WOULD be just like him. ;)


Roy's still pretty self-absorbed, just less so than the rest of his family. But he carrys it off well, and it doesnt stop him from being likable or a ok person.
Hmm. I think you might be on to something there. As Haley has pointed out, Roy generally uses the party to fulfill his personal quests... including their current mission to rescue Julia, come to think of it. After all, he's the leader of the team, and the one who hired them all to help him in the first place. And yet, unlike Eugene and Julia, he manages not to be a huge jerk.

... Y'know, Roy is actually a pretty good leader, now that I think about it.

[Illsbane]

Best Durkon moment EVER! XD Whoo, now that was mixing great power and great scientific knowledge. Go, go, Durkon!

[CockroachTeaParty]

I personally liked the part where Durkon's eyes turned white when he finally opened them. Reminded me of X-men. Sweetness.

[Dragon_Rider]

I never noticed that, thanks CTP! Its does make it looke like Storm from X-men.

[Calamity]

Woah! :o

Mental note:
Don't ever mess with Durkon.... ever...

good comic ;D

[Martok]

YEAH!!! Go Durkon!!

Also I loved the little smile on V's face. I think he knew what was about to happen.... ;)

[Nerd-o-rama]

I always wondered what a spell with a ten minute casting time would look like in OotS's Verbal Component=Name format.

This combined with boobs, an X-Men sight reference, and physics (as well as extra length) makes this an excellent comic.

[Adeptus]

Go Durkon!!

[Natsilani]

I think I might have woken up our neighbours laughing! ;D

Edit: I love the fact that V seems to realize what is about to happen, judging by the smile on his/her face.

[mmm_grape_juice]

So someone finally found a way to use sonic damage. Genious, absolutely genious. Especially the white eyes thing, like Storm from X-Men.

[verloren]

Durkon saves the day again.

Check out the grin of V's face, he knew what was comming.

[Pheldagriff]

Control weather doesn't do THAT much damage :)

EDIT: It also can't do sonic damage. Weather cannot produce sonic effects. I'm kind of wondering how that worked.
omg, a magical lighting doesn't have a thunder. Magical water isn't wet...

omg, the giant cares about his story contradicting the rules

[Jachra]

ps this is not to discount what a stupid effect "sonic damage" is. . . friggin WOTCers played too much Street Fighter 2, if you aks me.
Welllll, one could take the definition of sound to a higher conclusion and say it's the level of disruption on par with shock waves that rend living things to pieces. What that'd do to the town and the people in it...

Remember, kids, it isn't 1 mile per second. Lightning is always a helluva lot closer. As I recall, it's only 1/5 of a mile per second.

[TheDRaconicLord]

2 words to describe this comic:

HOLY CRAP!!!


I need no more to discuss the TOTAL PWNAGE this comic was. I rest my case.

[Hototo]

Hilarious. But I'm thinkin that Roy's sis is just a little too hung up on her boobs.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Hilarious. But I'm thinkin that Roy's sis is just a little too hung up on her boobs.
In case you hadn't noticed, those things can get their possessor pretty much anything she wants. Especially on the internet...but I digress. Julia's simply used to using her appearance to get what she wants, like many attractive amoral people.

[Cythraul]

Hilarious. But I'm thinkin that Roy's sis is just a little too hung up on her boobs.

And she is 16... most girls at that age are!

Awesome comic - in both ways!

[WarriorTribble]

@ the guy with the inverse square law citation: true, but you have to realize that most lightning strikes aren't strong enough to cause a tidal wave or span a city, this one should by rites have deafened everyone in the city who was outdoors and caused some of the people in the blimps to go into shock.

Kinda reminds me of the designator from incoming: final conflict, does no damage on impact... 3... 2... 1... Strange humming noise... massive disintegration. this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMVnUMgQod4) also came to mindHeh, you reminded me this short of thing happens all the time in the ps1, and above Final Fantasy series.

[Dene]

Awesome comic ;D And there was me thinking that Durkon really was in a catatonic state ::)

[moosalini]

hey there
First time poster, long time lurker.
Just wanted to wonder where the lightning bolt actually came down?? we know over the water...but any ships there? The Giant does like to play with plot lines over a period of time, right?
Wonder how this is going to play out over time? ??? ;)
Thanks
Moosalini

[bexie]

What kind of girl calls her boobs ta-tas anyway?

Bless Julia. :)

"C'mon, this always works with my teachers..."

!!!!

Heh.

[Freelance Henchman]

Dwarf Cleric FTW!!!!!

[TreesOfDeath]

SONIC!

[Mr_Shrubber]

Holy norker toes. :o I'd forgotten that high level cleric spells kick serious ass. Go Durkon!

<insert>geeky yet knowing BOOM-stick reference</insert>

Just one thing though: How did Durkon know that Leaky and his Trees of Striking could be affected by sonic? Did he stick around long enough to catch the tail end of Leaky's speech?

[Edtharan]

I have a solution to both the distance/time problem and the sonic damage range problem.

It is simply that the bolt of lightning arced over the city, close to the park to strike 4 miles out to sea. If the lightning was closer to the city (the 0.8 miles or so) as it arced over the city means that the timeing would right and also the dispersion of sound would be less (so a louder BOOM).

Also by having the sound from lighting arcing over head, Thor could have manipulated the lightining bolt so that the sound outside the area of that park would cause the thunder to have destructive interferance, so little or no sound (compared to the big boom) would be heard. Scientits today can do this. They can, with several speakers, produce sounds in such a way to create a sinlge point where a person can here the sound and it can't be heard anywhere else in the room (they can then even move it around the room to follow a person).

[Kingrat]

Fantastic comic. I have to applaud the Sonic strike from Ligthning, brilliant!

[ibitak84]

Yay, the druid is back & talking! So is Durkon. Though my favorite part was V's grin, too.
For what's happening according to rules, see here (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=comics;action=display;num=1159252324 ) for my take.

[Eldhrin]

Brilliant! Brilliant!

Durkon's obviously been reading The Tree-Fighter's Handbook - probably required reading back home.

[Treguard]

I swear the first thing I heard in my mind when I saw Durkon's eyes open was the sound of a Ghostbuster's photon rifle powering up. ;D

[ekimekim]

i wonder what would happen if Julia tried using that boobs trick on belkar...

"Is your sister, in fact, a hottie?"
"Smoking or otherwise?"

[tis_tom]

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D!!!

WOOOOO! GO DURKON!!!!!!

Ahh.. I feel so happy now that V is saved, I was worrying for him/her! (except maybe he's damaged his/her highly sensitive elven hearing :-|)

[Calsan]

BOOOOOOOOM!

Though I knew he was casting from the start, made sense. First I thought it was Call Lightning. But then I read it, Go Durkan. And the sister she was real fun hehe. (allways works with my teachers snicker ;D)

[team56th]

While Durkon did some sweet heroic job, in this strip V also shines. His evil smile is better than ever.

[Quixoto]

Not wanting to have to read all twelve pages of comments first, I was just wondering if anyone else was reminded of the first X-Men movie.

"Know what happens when a treant gets hit by lightning?"

Durken's eyes even turned white too.
Sooo cool!

[LE4dGOLEM]

Now THAT'S a Sonic Attack!



"Know what happens when a treant gets hit by lightning?"


Bah. THey stole it from Brian Clevinger (http://www.nuklearpower.com/daily.php?date=010317)

[shailas]

Well done, Rich, most gratifying.

As for folks asking how Durkon could do it..well, it's needed by the plot. ;)

Besides, I'm going with Miracle and specific requests to Thor on the effect desired.

[Mercutio01]

Durkon must have one hell of a concentration check. I'm pretty sure I'd fail it...

[Sereno]

"Know what happens when a treant gets hit by lightning?"

Durken's eyes even turned white too.
Sooo cool!

Someone else mentioned it, too ... but I thought the same thing!

Of course, it wasn't exactly the lightning that blew the animated trees apart.

Has no one mentioned how freakin' huge that lightning bolt was? That was NOT the normal lightning you could get with Control Weather!

I'm chalking it all up to Durkon's devotion to Thor (God ' Thunder and all that). Despite the fact that he's seems to be casting from a scroll, he's still holding his holy-symbol and appears like he might be praying....

[DeepChild]

Someone may have already mentioned this (I don't care to read all 12 pages before I post), but what a concentration check by the cleric! Just a great comic all around. I loved seeing the holy smackdown tear it up. Though I must express my sympathies to those poor sailors who got a front row seat for the show.

EDIT: After looking up a few inches I noticed someone did indeed mention it.

[Ronald_saveloy]

That's it! Now I understand what happend two months ago. There was a strong Storm outside and when lightning struck not very far from our home, the thunderclap caused a precious vase to shatter.

DAMN YOU DURKON! YOU MADE MY MOM CRY!

[Quixoto]

Now THAT'S a Sonic Attack!


Bah. THey stole it from Brian Clevinger (http://www.nuklearpower.com/daily.php?date=010317)



Actually, I heard that line was created by Joss Whedon, who also wrote the Wolverine/Cyclops exchange:
"It's me."
"How do we know?"
"You're a ****."
"Ok."
Arguably, the best and worst lines of the movie.

[Blaznak]

Ok... this strip was freaking cool.

I am not sure WHERE to begin? Julia going UP, not just out... CLEVER!
Julia going for help against the mystery guy, including the great "boob" lines!
Durkon getting off a nifty spell!
The evil druid WAAAY the freak over confident...
Durkon's eyes lighting up.
The way the storm must be HUGE to make the sea and sky boil like that.
V's sly grin.... does it REALLY know what's about to happen or is V just knocked silly?
Julia's expression of disbelief
The big BOOM! (including cracked staff and all...)
But how is "Miss'ssippi" figured in? Is it an ancient dwarvish counting word? Grin!

LATER!

[fithi]

*snicker* Durkon gets revenge upon trees, as well as saving V's butt. Awesome!

And Julia being her egocentric self... great!

I definately enjoyed this comic, well done!

[GKBeetle]

All I could say when I saw that comic was "Holy Crap!" Great comic and awesome side effect of a huge lightning bolt. I loved it!

[Freelance Henchman]

I dont know if you actually have to say out loud the spell name in D&D, but Durkon murmuring weathercontrolweathercontrolweathercontrol... is hilarious.
Way funnier than some cheesy made-up "magic words" or whatever.

[baltor85]

Yay! The sight of killer trees doesn't make my favorite character dumb! That was good thinking actually. I figured it out like right after Leeky mentioned protection from lightning. Clever.

[Solmage]

One word: Awesome! 8)

[Sanctu]

Wow... I must say: awesome comic. It's been really good, this one was amazing, though, for set-up and everything else. The sweet, knowing smile on V's face as the lightning strikes 4 miles away. The interaction between what's-her-name and Durkon. Very nice.

Just wanted to chime in.

(The "first page" stuff has been discouraging me for reading these topic.)

[Frozen_Northman]

Very much enjoyed the comic. My explanation for the apparent disparity with the actual speed of sound is this: Durkon simply takes four times as long to say "Miss'ssippi" as other people, it not being a native dwarven expression, and hence difficult to pronounce.

Well, that and the fact that special effects always move at the Speed of Plot. A well-known scientific fact established in the show, Babylon 5.

It's also easy to understand why Durkon isn't distracted by Julia - she's not a dwarf. Durkon is grounded in traditional dwarf values, which means he probably isn't interested in having to look up at a set of boobs. (It causes neck strain.) And while having a beard isn't mandatory, it probably counts for bonus points.

In a more serious vein, I am really enjoying the dramatic tension from the back-and-forth in this battle against the Linear Guild. The day ain't saved yet, though Durkon gained a lot of ground. Elan is still held by Nale and Thog, Belkar needs to find a way of dealing with Yokyok, and Roy and Haley need to prevail over their respective battles.

[baltor85]

Ok... this strip was freaking cool.

I am not sure WHERE to begin? Julia going UP, not just out... CLEVER!
Julia going for help against the mystery guy, including the great "boob" lines!
Durkon getting off a nifty spell!
The evil druid WAAAY the freak over confident...
Durkon's eyes lighting up.
The way the storm must be HUGE to make the sea and sky boil like that.
V's sly grin.... does it REALLY know what's about to happen or is V just knocked silly?
Julia's expression of disbelief
The big BOOM! (including cracked staff and all...)
But how is "Miss'ssippi" figured in? Is it an ancient dwarvish counting word? Grin!

LATER!

Haven't you ever heard? After lighting strikes, if you count how many Mississippi's you can get in before the thunder, then you know how far away it was. Like each Mississippi is arund 5 miles or something, I dunno. I forgot how far each was lol...

[Jevanyn]

One word: SWEET!

Not bad for a catatonic gay dwarf, eh?

[hr]
Geek Squad = Schlemeils on Wheels?
New Orleans = N.O.'s renewal

[Xenon]

so, the phobic reaction of a preist of a god of thunder, is to get the worlds biggest thunderclap(sonic) to smite his phobia... im wondering what side effects his shockwave will have? heh :)

[TreesOfDeath]

One word: SWEET!

Not bad for a catatonic gay dwarf, eh?

[hr]
Geek Squad = Schlemeils on Wheels?
New Orleans = N.O.'s renewal

Erm gay? Hes had sex with a female.
Sheesh not every hetrosexual goes into a trance near b00bs

[Taliesin]

Mmmm. Good comic.
Why are we seeing a green, malevolent-looking eye in the middle of the second O of BOOM?

[Albion]

HAHAHAAAHHH! Hell yeah!

1: Nice expression when saying "Look! Boobs!" ;D
2: I KNEW you wouldn't let 'em down, Durkon, ol' buddy!! :D
3: Great one! :)

[Gamebird]

I'm with the side that says, "Huh?" This comic goes a little too far outside the boundaries of D&D. It's like hearing a joke in a language you don't understand and then being expected to laugh at the punch line. "I don't get it" comes to mind.

If he'd tossed in some teaser to indicate the spell being cast was actually Miracle (like the word "Miracle" on the scroll Durkon was holding) then it would make more sense.

As it is, I don't even have to roll to disbelieve.

I liked the boob joke. I like the idea that Durkon lays down the critical smackdown, especially against his hated foe, the trees, and his diametric opposite in the guild, the gnome druid.

(There's just too many issues with that though.
-- Control Weather doesn't do targeted damage.
-- If it did, then why isn't V toast as well?
-- If it conforms to some wildly powered-up version of Control Weather, then the whole town is toast.
-- Lightning, in D&D, does not do accompanying sonic damage.
And so on.)

Does anyone else wonder what's up with Xykon right now? It's about time for him and his zombi hordes to arrive. If the spell was a wildly over-powered version of Control Weather, and the town is toast as a result, and then Xykon shows up on the scene with his army...

I'm sure we'll all be intrigued by the result.

I'm glad to see the comic going up more often. And I liked the X-Men/Storm homage.

[SteveMB]

I figured it out like right after Leeky mentioned protection from lightning.
Now, we see if Leeky himself is protected against lightning/fireballs/spiked tentacles of forced intrusion/etc... ;D

[Orzel]

Lol. He counted with Miss'ssippis for seconds.
That was all kinds or good.

Reminds me of a custom spell I made long ago. Moob's Greater Boom.

Very nice comic.

[Quixoto]

Does anyone else wonder what's up with Xykon right now? It's about time for him and his zombi hordes to arrive. If the spell was a wildly over-powered version of Control Weather, and the town is toast as a result, and then Xykon shows up on the scene with his army...


They're in Cliffport. Xykon's headed to Azure City.
You're right about this comic bending a lot of D&D rules though. However, I don't think the amount of disbelief you have to suspend is that incredible. I mean, I guess you could just call this a Deus Ex Machina, literally, but don't you think it's about time Durkon did something this cool?

[Aliquid]

Since when has the world of D&D followed the laws of physics? I find it amusing when people argue how something wouldn't work, and use real world science to explain why. Using that logic, virtually every single spell wouldn't work.

We are talking about Thor here... God of Lightning. Lightning doesn't behave based on laws of physics, it behaves exactly as Thor wants it to behave.

[Max_Sinister]

Great strip. I had expected too that Durkon simply had run away... and the Giant gave us even a hint...

@TreesOfDeath: Durkon's not gay, Julia just unfairly assumes he is, because he's not interested in her at all.

[Yrogerg]

I don't know if it's been said yet, but...



Sonic!!! ;D

[Silmarwen]

AWESOME!

just, AWESOME!!!

[Deckmaster]

Mmmm. Good comic.
Why are we seeing a green, malevolent-looking eye in the middle of the second O of BOOM?

Dude, that's a leaf.

Best comic in awhile! Keep up the great work, Rich.

Oh, and uh...

BOOM!!!

[firespitter]

I think a few people are just way over-analyzing the spell Durkon cast. I mean, Rich has a pretty good knowledge of rules for "the game that shan't be spoken" and probably every resource book from chainmail on up.

Rich's specialty is coming up with game mechanics changes. I think we need to just accept that the "control weather spell" in OOTS is simply a different spell then what you're used to.
Control weather (in the game that shall not be mentioned) is a bit of a crap 7th lev spell anyhow "effects can not be directed". And Rich making the OOTS version allow directionalizing a "sonic boom" from a powerful thunder clap; point A to point B isn't all that earth shattering (though it was a bit tree shattering).

Those of you citing physics that sound travels in all directions and is non-directional and thus would have damaged buildings, boats, citizens and trees for miles around, simply suspend your disbelief. Directing a sonic boom makes as much physics sense as controling a lightning bolt which almost always seeks the shortest path to ground. That's what the spells are; Magic. Quit over-analyzing it and trying to pigeon hole each and every spell.

Accept the comic strip for what it is. Love it, hate it, or indifference. Keep up the good work Giant. Awesome story-line....love the line drawings...and there's a chuckle in every strip!

A more important canundrum for you is, why the h**l isn't OOTS in my local news paper, when that inane "family circus" single-frame-anti-funny-not-even- cute crap gets syndicated for the past 30 years?

[Felinoid]

I think you may be missing the point of this:
Pacing. Seeing the closed door closed, the pauses and all of those things are building up a sense of anticipation, before you are rocked out of your chair by the second half. The only reason it takes a full two strips' length is the unbelievable splash pages, anyway.

Actually, I didn't miss that at all, if you'll notice what I said about not being able to take any of the panels out. It just doesn't feel like it should be two full pages. One and a half, yes, but not two. Though that's probably the fault of the splash pages as well... Meh. As I said, it's a small quibble. Didn't really detract from the initial enjoyment, but I wouldn't hope for repeated enjoyment because of it. My loss, I guess. :-/

[DwaggieBard]

In the case of the sonic boom... when a supersonic jet makes a sonic boom, it actually does not go in all directions. But then agian, it's made in a different way.

I'm not quite sure about it, but lightning creates a boom either by extremly rapidly expanding the air, or creating a vacum when it suddenly isn't there. Normally this would make the boom go in all directions, but if you were to create a special kind of lightning bolt, that was created in a certain direction... It might work, but let's just go with...

It's magic, okay? :o

[battleburn]

Firespitter, I did say buildings must have been destroyed, I didn't say sounds can't be aimed.
I specifically said they could be in the #345 thread.
But the lightning was outside of the city and it did take 4 seconds to arrive at the location. Meaning in a straight line from the source to the park, there has to be a lot of destruction. Unless you claim that the soundwave didn't make any noise until it reached the park.
Frankly, magic or no. I think that is a little far fetched.

[DwaggieBard]

That's true. I suppose if you were really in denial you could say that the lightning was high in the sky and so could project sound downwards.

Anyway, I've come up with a new theiry: next comic. The police are not going to be happy about this.

[The_Ferg]

Durkon with bright white eyes like that is pretty scary. Could you imagine an evil one with red eyes? That would be...terrifying.

[_JM_]

You can't say much about Durkon's tactics for the simple reason that it has to work that way for the plot to work. It wouldn't really work in OOTS for Durkon to wipe out half a city (with resulting angst and seeking of redemption).

Quite liked Julia's increasingly frustrated attempts to draw Durkon's attention (good Concentration on his part to both be able to make the prayer and to avoid the effects of Julia's Taunt attack).

I was actually expecting Durkon to save the day but I'd been thinking back to OOTS #111 both in terms of Durkon remembering how he had rebuked Belkar for the fact that he’d “abandon’d yer post in battle” and in terms of the solution. Trees protected against magic? Okay, THOR’S MIGHT and smash them into pulpwood with a huge hammer then.

This was much more dramatic, less angsty, and funnier.

[Luizeu]

I didn't think she would have that kind of attitude

[TheQuestionable]

I didn't think she would have that kind of attitude
I don't believe it's your comic, is it? Rich can do what ever he wants with his characters that he made. Besides, she somewhat new. You're really not going to understand the way she ticks because of reading six strips she's appeared in. All the main characters are performing action I wouldn't expect them to do. Then agian if they weren't odd at times that would make them predictable...which is a very boring story-line to follow.


That was actually the funniest and coolest (if that's even an actual word) new comic I favor. It was unpredictably hillarious.

P.S. This is for all those who take the time to read every post in a OOTS comic discussion...*Clears throat*...Hahahaha, what losers. You wasted twenty minutes of your time reading repeated non-sense.

[firespitter]

I'm not sure I was referring to anything you stated, Battleburn. Some of the mechanics comments might have even been in a different thread. And to backpeddle further, I myself, contemplate game inaccuracies to the strip, but I don't verbalize them. I guess I just find some of the comments disparaging to the great work of Rich. When people quibble about rules of the game or make half thought comments "Impossible spell. The strip would have been okay otherwise."
BTW, I have 5 ranks in "Wild Cartoonist Empathy".

[Aliquid]

I'm not quite sure about it, but lightning creates a boom either by extremly rapidly expanding the air, or creating a vacum when it suddenly isn't there.Don't be silly. Thunder is created by Thor's Hammer. Everyone knows that.

It's magic, okay? :oExactly! :)

[Elurindel]

Man, little miss Greenhilt has some serious narcissism going on.

[Woodlock]

BOOM!!

Go Durkon!

Woohooo, page 15. :)

[Em]

My high school's full of Julias. :-/

[humanpylon]

What kind of girl calls her boobs ta-tas anyway?



A couple of my college classmates did, but usually only when they were making smartass comments.

[EloquentRune]

Death to Trees


awsome... page 15 baby

[GypsyThorn]

I apologize in advance if this has already been posted. I really don't have time to read fifteen (!) pages of comments, most of which are related to two other things....

I suspect Durkon (who, being my favorite character, is diametrically opposed to Belkar, my least favorite) probably had a normal or enhanced control weather on the scroll. He directed several lightning bolts to strategically strike spaced out from the grove. The sonic effects, individually not damaging, then combined as they reached the grove to be intense enough to shatter trees (and the druid's staff). If he was sufficiently advanced in control weather, he might have even figured out the necessary frequencies of the thunder to resonate in such a way as to maximize the impact on living wood.

V of course figured this out a panel earlier. Thus the sly smile and the hands already placed over the delicate elven ears.

[JennyMasters]

BOOM!
Hahhahhahahahahaha!!!!!! ;D

Thank you so much for this comic, its so wonderful.

[Felinoid]

Aye. I've always speculated about how to kill someone with a sonic boom from a jet (variable speed so that ALL of the sound reaches a specific point at the same time), but I never got around to making the equation for the speed over time. Mostly because it would involve too much geometry (and possibly some calculus) and have altitude as a third variable. But I do think it would be possible to arrange multiple sound start points so that they all intersect at one point. OTOH, I'm not sure how much of an area effect it would have.

[GypsyThorn]

... OTOH, I'm not sure how much of an area effect it would have.

I believe the area of effect would be two or three trees and a gnome.

[chibibar]

the good thing about magic is that you could "place" the effect or at least know where to place them when casting your spell.

Consider the Durkon great fear of trees, he probably have though of many ways to rid the trees if it was attacking him (aka Thor's lightning like he did back at bandit camp) I'm sure he heard about the sonic weakness and knows a lot about thunder and lightning (he is a priest of Thor afterall) so it wouldn't be too hard for Durkon to place the spell at the right place :)

I love it!

[sakusha]

Maybe it's just because I hang out with my sister who plays a druid-zilla, but here's the first thing I thought of ...

If anyone cares to read the Call Lightning spell, it specifically states that you get tons more damage during a storm. Usually, divine casters *make* their storms using Control Weather. This could make a whole ton of damage.

Now try Chain Spelling it to get an "area of effect" of multiple trees and one druid. Then use Energy Substitution for the Sonic Effect.

Yes Durkon has a scroll in his hand, probably of just Control Weather but I'm going to go with a Chained Sonic Call Lightning (perhaps a Miracle Spell, as has been suggested) in the middle of a storm by one seriously badass dwarven cleric. And the cinematic effect? BOOM!

[Thortok2000]

AWESOME.

I love the build up and the climax. The grin on Vi's face as she's laying there was a nice touch. The darkening sky in the background.

Awesome, awesome storytelling.

[GypsyThorn]

Maybe it's just because I hang out with my sister who plays a druid-zilla, but here's the first thing I thought of ...

If anyone cares to read the Call Lightning spell, it specifically states that you get tons more damage during a storm. Usually, divine casters *make* their storms using Control Weather. This could make a whole ton of damage.

Now try Chain Spelling it to get an "area of effect" of multiple trees and one druid. Then use Energy Substitution for the Sonic Effect.

Yes Durkon has a scroll in his hand, probably of just Control Weather but I'm going to go with a Chained Sonic Call Lightning (perhaps a Miracle Spell, as has been suggested) in the middle of a storm by one seriously badass dwarven cleric. And the cinematic effect? BOOM!

Sounds like that's just the ticket! Kewl....

(Edit: And Rich didn't even have to think of that before he drew the strip! All he had to do was put out the effect, and someone would think of a way to do it!!!)

[Draz74]

Various comments:

The biggest issue seems to be the spell Durkon uses. My theory is it's not "Control Weather" from the SRD, but a domain-specific spell called "Weather Control." :D In any case, note that the huge lightning bolt, the sonic/lightning damage difference, and a bunch of other details can be explained away as fluff. Mechanically, I approve of the theory that Control Weather was just a set-up for a Chain Call Lightning. (And the Thunder domain seems to include Energy Substitution: Lightning/Sonic as a domain power.)

Julia's my least-favorite character too. Her epithets for Pompey are actually amusing, but her lack of respect for Roy and her general attitude ... :P

Clever of Durkon to look for a ladder as fast as possible ... trees can't climb ladders!

I really thought Durkon was in too much shock to move. I'm glad I was wrong, especially in light of a reminder about his "abandoning your post" speech. That's so cool that he was saying the spell's name over and over the whole time.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned this hidden gem: "My life never ceases finding new and exciting ways to disappoint." Yep, she's Roy's sister, all right! (See #234.) Actually, I think this might have been the funniest part of all.

As far as the white eyes: those seem only natural. Magic from V=pink, Miko=blue, Leeky=brown, Xykon=dark gray, Zz'dtri=green, Durkon=white. And some magical effects are just based on eye color instead of flashes, like all of Sabine's abilities. Still, the white eyes were particularly dramatic this time for some reason ... along with the very flavorful darkening of the sky. :)

I think Giant heard some of the complaints about Durkon flopping in every major battle but one. (First down vs. LG last time, refused to fight Miko, etc.) And he decided Durkon's time of redemption had come!

Double-length strip: people are COMPLAINING? Adding more panels is GOOD, not BAD. Panel conservation is not important! Heck, more panels doesn't even drain natural resources like it would on paper!

Lightning bolt of doom over Cliffport: Sweeet.

V's smile: This really puzzled me. I really doubt this was a plan that Durkon and V put together, shouted or otherwise. But I like the theory that she made her Spellcraft check. Nice to see she has faith in what Durkon is doing with his time this battle.

Leeky's staff broken: Weird. Makes it seem almost like this battle will be all we ever see of him. Though I actually predict he'll use Wild Shape to escape the scene.

EDIT: I forgot one really cool part! Remember in Azure City, before they left to see the Oracle, Durkon was really worried about having time to buy some scrolls? And his task just didn't seem all that important at the time? Now we're sure glad he had time to go pick out some good scrolls for emergencies, aren't we?

[Spiral]

Registered just to give kudos for this fantastic strip. They say timing is everything, and Durkon timing the seconds to the effect just sets the whole thing up perfectly. If this was a WWE PPV I could just imagine what the crowd would be chanting. Julia's not far off. ;)

[charik]

I really thought Durkon was in too much shock to move. I'm glad I was wrong, especially in light of a reminder about his "abandoning your post" speech. That's so cool that he was saying the spell's name over and over the whole time.
I'm reminded of V's comment when the trees were first animated, and Durkon suggested running away: something about him understanding the first part of the plan. No doubt they had arranged before hand that whosever opposite they faced, that one would fall back while the other would engage in delaying actions.

[wellington]

I wasn't saying that the inverse-square law made this impossible; I was saying that if you overrode it by directing the sound, the boom would be much bigger, locally, than one would expect.

Yes, using physics to show that this trick couldn't work is ridiculous. But trying to come up with a way that it could work, given as little physics-tweaking as possible, is fun. The first is nerdy pedantry, the second nerdy amusement.

Also, the thought of Durkon's player frantically arguing acoustics with the DM is kind of funny in itself.

[Rex Idiotarum]

"Screw it, my god is Thor, the thunder god, if he can't make trees explode at the sound of thunder, then who can?" I think this would be considered devine intervention, as any other devine spell is.

It's not about physics, because the gods created them, and the gods can bypass them like monsters in a dungeon full of traps.

Praise Thor!

[WeaponMasterLDO]

Great comic. Who uses sonic damage anyway? ;D

[BunBunBot]

Maybe the wall around Cliffport just happens to be elliptical, and just maybe the Park is at one of the foci.

[Atanuero]

www.rich.burlew.youaremighty.com

www.leeky.windstaff.justgotowned.com

Just in case he didn't read my other post with these.

That was probably either my favorite comic or one of them.

[AyuVince]

Lol.. Atanuero, these links rock.

Who da dwarf!
Durkon!

BOOM!

[Heloisa]

Great... just great!

:D

[Tussy the Druid]

*sob* My tree like bretheren..... why giant?!?

[the_tick_rules]

i noticed a talk about the physics. Yeah it'd require nothing less than a god to generate a lightning bolt that could do that and any sonic force powerful enough to snap trees four miles away would destroy the city, my only response is COMIC strip. I liked when she was showing off her chest to try and get durkons attention, funny stuff. at least she's honest about showing them off lol.

[theswarm]

SONIC!!!

[firepup]

And then there were no trees.

[skreweded]

Every once in a while, there is a time, deserving of that one word.....



PWNDNOOB!!!

;D

[Querzis]

Even if physic, logic and D&D rules make me think that what Durkon just did is totally impossible without destroying the entire city, that comic was really cool. Go Durkon, you are the best!

[Dudukain]

Uggh.. "This always works with my teachers" is practically a perfect description of what went on in my old school

[Rpgfish]

Good Durkon for keeping his spell concentration going with someone behind him saying boobies.

And I want to know whether V was dazed and confused right before the thunder got there or if he/she knew what was going on. He/she didn't look to happy when it hit, but I guess that is common among people taking sonic damage.

[rellyjean]

Hi there! I'm yet another lurker that just had to register in order to go

!!!! HOLY CRAP YAY GO DURKON BOOM!!!!!!!

I was too busy squee-ing last night to have a coherent response. AWESOME. Just freaking awesome.

My take on V's smile: Yeah, I think s/he had figured out the sonic effect that was coming, but more importantly: the uberstorm means that Durkon's back in the game, and about to dish out an ass-whuppin'.

I think the "control" part of "control weather" wasn't so much a specific "I'd like a lightning bolt of X size, over here, that can do Y damage" as it was "I want a massive sonic boom right here, pinpointed on those trees." And this isn't a normal Control Weather with the massive amount of divine influence he's got working for him here. Asking THOR to use THUNDER to DESTROY THINGS? Yeah. I can just imagine Thor going "Buckle up, kids, we're gonna have some fun."

But then, I'm also a big believer in DMs going, "Okay, that works because it is far too freaking cool not to."

And Miss'ssippi is clearly where Vin Diesel (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0119.html) is from.

[Marsh-mellow]

Durkon kicks ass!!!

[Ezbez]

It's not about physics, because the gods created them, and the gods can bypass them like monsters in a dungeon full of traps.

I'm loving the simile!

[Lord Fullbladder, Master of Goblins]

Best. Strip. Ever.

[malcolm]

Boobs and Boom, what could be greater?

[divine]

freakin awesome

[LordOfNarf]

Proof that weather based spells don't suck, and clerics are more than healbots, i just kind of wonder how durkon knew they were vulnerable to sonic, since he had already run away screaming, or maybe he guessed.

Anyway, I loved the comic YAY!

[firespitter]

Someone stated it before that it might be why Varasuvius was shouting SONIC! at the top his/her lungs, when s/he had not actually memorized the spell.
I really like the fact that the spellcasters say the name of the spell as the audible component. <chuckle> It reminds me of boffer combat with the wizards running around a field screaming "Fireball! Fireball!".

[Finwe]

Someone stated it before that it might be why Varasuvius was shouting SONIC! at the top his/her lungs, when s/he had not actually memorized the spell.
I really like the fact that the spellcasters say the name of the spell as the audible component. <chuckle> It reminds me of boffer combat with the wizards running around a field screaming "Fireball! Fireball!".



Or, the ever famous "Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt!"

[charik]

Good Durkon for keeping his spell concentration going with someone behind him saying boobies.

And I want to know whether V was dazed and confused right before the thunder got there or if he/she knew what was going on. He/she didn't look to happy when it hit, but I guess that is common among people taking sonic damage.
Oh, V knew all right: unlike Leeky, V had the good sense to cover the ears before the sonic boom hit, hopefully preventing deafness. If Leeky suffers deafness from the thunder, he'll have to make checks to cast spells with verbal components, putting him at a disadvantage in the finale.