Quote Originally Posted by zimmerwald1915 View Post
Sorry, Psyren, I didn't think you wanted the full block quote. And thanks Lilet for reminding me. The relevant bit of commentary begins on the page facing strip 412...

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"I then [after clearly establishing each character's location] made certain to isolate characters who could change the intended outcome of events [of the Battle of Azure City] away from the action - and I needed to establish that I had done so before the events in question transpired. That's why the war was by far the most well-planned story I have yet written for OOTS, with full scripts prepared for almost the entire war before it began.

"One of the prime offenders in this area was Vaarsuvius. The unfortunate truth is that a high-level D&D wizard is enormously powerful and can manage effects that would have nullified most of the plot twists I had planned. A wizard could have blasted Xykon from afar or given Roy a flying spell (or at least a feather fall), all of which would have derailed my planned death scene. If I had created the physics of the OOTS world from scratch, I would have simply not given Vaarsuvius any capabilities that could interfere with the plot, but one of the great writing obstacles I face is that it is the game rules that set the boundaries of my characters' power. My readers know what a wizard of V's level should be able to pull off, and when he/she fails to display such powers in a do-or-die situation, they (rightly) cry foul. And so I wanted V out of the way of the others. I still wanted him/her to get the chance to unleash his/her magic on the battlefield to full effect - just, you know, over there. The opening salvo (the titanium elementals) therefore effectively separates V from the rest of the party, and they remain apart for the rest of the battle."


Whether the objective that a character that is separated from the group for the sake of preserving the plot still gets to affect the story in some way has been preserved is, in my view, debatable.
Thanks a ton for quoting this.

Though come to think of it - it looks like V didn't prepare Fly that day anyway, so it's not like he would have been able to save Roy regardless.

I can see where Durkon would prevent less story problems - not because his magic is less powerful (though in some ways it is), but because regardless of what he prepares that day, the Giant can simply have him burn it off for additional healing by making the Order take additional damage. So Durkon ends up avoiding all the sticky "why didn't he prepare X?" questions that V runs into. And even though he can't spontaneously heal anymore, now Durkon needs to prepare healing spells manually, which again is a great narrative dial to tweak his power.

So I can see where V runs into trouble. Hell, V even knows Polymorph, but we have yet to see him use it in a fight despite its strength. Polymorphing into something nasty could have helped him take on Z for instance, given that Z prepared his complement to weather magical assaults but not physical attacks.

It is unfortunate, but I maintain that the benefits of using a predefined magic system can outweigh these drawbacks - the Giant doesn't have to explain that counterspells exist for instance, or magic can be dispelled, or that it can't be used while bound and gagged etc.