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2009-12-09, 09:46 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Marut-2 Avatar by Serpentine
New Marut Avatar by Linkele
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2009-12-09, 10:44 AM (ISO 8601)
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2009-12-09, 11:30 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Panel 9 seems pretty definitive. If she was falling straight down it wouldn't look like that (unless it was a zoomed-out view, in which case we'd be able to see the tower nearby). Also bear in mind that in order to get outside the tower, Miko was knocked through a solid rock wall. As was her full-grown warhorse. Either way, it was no love tap.
Although....how did the monster catch up so quickly?Last edited by Shale; 2009-12-09 at 11:34 AM.
Originally Posted by The Giant
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2009-12-09, 12:28 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Drinking that many potions would take a while, and we don't know how long Miko was there getting ahold of herself. Also, if she had fallen "one or two squares" from the tower, I believe Rich would have drawn in the tower. The fact it is nowhere to be seen, combined with the "Miko flying" panel is what makes me think that she's been flung far.
Not that it matters that much. As far as I know, there is no way to set a number to MitD's strength, since there are no rules in D&D for punching people through stone walls from which we can definitely say "he must have at least 28 STR" or something like it.
Edit:Whatever makes you think that is a magical darkness? IIRC, Magical darkness comes later, under the umbrella. That said, it is clearly a comment about not seeing the gates, which from that moment onwards becomes MitD's running gag, so it can be understood to be a Rule of Funny overcoming MitD's darkvision, and so I noted.
Unless the people that think he caused the rain inadvertently are right. Or, as Selene pointed out, MitD didn't fall asleep at all.
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Can someone find me the link where MitD wants to help RC with zombie raising?
Nevermind, found it.
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About psionics: in SoD, when RC is springing MitD out of the circus, MitD sees a bucket of stew, and pushes the box downwards to grab it (pg. 90). The whole scene is fairly ridiculous, of course (the bucket ends up held to the box by a rivet), but if he had psionic powers - particularly to hold things without touching them - would he need to do all this? What I'm saying is: how far does psionic abilities to hold things stretch?
Thanks,
Grey WolfLast edited by Grey_Wolf_c; 2009-12-09 at 01:15 PM.
Interested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
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2009-12-09, 01:32 PM (ISO 8601)
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2009-12-09, 01:35 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Damn, I missed that. Sorry. In the early thread, that strip is constantly referred to in the darkvision aspect but is dismissed because the scrying ball could have it "built in" (they are watching the dwarves, which are in full darkness). So I overlooked the small print. I'll remove the darkvision comment, then.
Grey WolfInterested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
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2009-12-09, 07:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
I just want to say, Thank-you, Grey Wolf. The new thread looks great.
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2009-12-10, 12:02 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Maybe it's
SpoilerRoland St. Jude?
Hehe. Oh wait...never mind. He never sleeps.Homebrew
Please feel free to PM me any thoughts on my homebrew (or comment in the thread if it's not too old).
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2009-12-10, 03:58 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
I didn't say they sued. They sent a C&D, and although the site wasn't shut down after all, it did have to stop using the dinosaur logo. Here is the case (scroll down to Davezilla): http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/200...dzilla-terror/
And that is mentioned in the Wired article as the reason they haven't gone after them.
Google "godzilla lawsuit." You'll come up with many cases (one of which will be the pink godzilla/gorilla one that HotandCold mentioned).
Bleh. It's better that Peter Jackson ditched him when he made the movies.Done here. Thanks, friends.
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2009-12-10, 07:33 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Uhm... those are totally seperate matters.
Toliken not revealing what Bombadil is and Jackson having no time(!) to add him into the movies really has nothing, nothing to do with each other. As I understood it, Jackson did want that section in, but it just did not it - and would only have confused the viewer (for example, that Tom can wear The Ring without any apparent consequence etc).
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2009-12-10, 07:59 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Yeah, but so's mentioning Bombadil at all. Tolkein never intended to reveal the nature of Tom Bombadil at the climax of his story. He was always supposed to be an enigmatic bit-player. Rich, on the other hand, has had the monster's big reveal planned for some time, and since he's decided to save it till near the end I tend to think he might have something a bit special in store. I'd prefer to see him go through with it than chicken out to satisfy a few people who think they understand the story better than its author.
Last edited by Nimrod's Son; 2009-12-10 at 08:04 AM.
Please write all sarcasm in blue text. All metaphors should be marked in red text and for any split infinitives, please use green. Thank you.
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2009-12-11, 01:01 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
In reference to GW's post about the MitD's Str
since there are no rules in D&D for punching people through stone walls
I don't seem to have the supplement with me at the moment, but it says something along the lines of "If you want to bull rush some on through a railing (or wall in this case) you need to make a str check with a DC= the break DC of the object to break through."
Beasically, if you were next to a wood railing, i could punch you through it with a DC 20 str check. (from the DMG)(this is in addition to me succeding on my bull rush)
If you apply this to a wall that is certainly Superior or Reinforced masonry, we come up with a break DC of 35 or 45. If we assume the MitD rolls high, (a 20) and that the wall is of only superior masonry, he must have a Str score of at least (35-20) +15, this mean his Str is at least 40... AT a MINIMUM.
In my opinion although, this is a case of Plot/Cool trumping rules, because he most likely rolled lower than that, and that the walls (Of a Major Nations Guardpost) are most likely Reinforced Masonry, means his Str score is upwards of 60-70...
Secondly, a Huge monster with Str 60 has a Str score of 76 at Colossal size, (60+8(Garg)+8(Colo)) which basically rules out EVERY monster in the game. (but we already knew that didn't we?)Last edited by CrosisBlackwing; 2009-12-11 at 01:02 AM.
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2009-12-11, 02:02 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
No, really? Um, duh?
I'm saying Bombadil, Goldberry, and their whole section of the story, were an ill conceived vanity ploy by the Professor, because his publishers wouldn't buy his other work which Bombadil was written for, originally. That whole section was completely unrelated to the rest of the story, and breaks canon with the Silmarillion (and every unfinished/lost tales version of it, as well). I'm further saying that the books would have been better off had Bombadil been left on the editing room floor, just as the movies were.
And forgive me, but your statement seems to contradict itself with the bit about he wanted it in but it was confusing. Then he didn't want it in, did he? Plus, time? Really? He spends two years filming 12 hours worth of movie and you think he was worried about time?
Exactly! Irrelevant bit player the story would have been better off without =/= major character who plays an important role in the plot line.Done here. Thanks, friends.
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2009-12-11, 06:38 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Uh? Why the aggression? Bad breakfast? Or is just too much someone disagrees to something you said? Anyway... no offense taken.
I like Bombadil very much, even when the motive why he's there is simply "Tolkien liked the character". He adds a sense of mystery that is supposed to be a dominant aspect of Tolkiens world but that gets lost somehow as we can read so much about the backstory in the Silmarillion (note that Tolkien possibly never considered the Silmarillion to be something to get published).
He spends two years filming 12 hours worth of movie and you think he was worried about time?
To draw the line back the the Monster in the Dark:
This is not about the authors intention about a revelation of the true nature of a certain mystery. This is, at least from my point of view, about the question if a revelation would be "good" or if it would be "better" (whatever definition of "better" is used) not-to-reveal the thing at all.
But even that aspect/question is a bit moot from my point of view, as I already stated that I'd like to see the revelation, even if it MIGHT(!!!) turn out, in retrospect, it would have been better not to reveal it.
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2009-12-12, 02:01 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Aggression? Where did that come from? Would you have preferred "thank you, Captain Obvious"? Because I can't for the life of me fathom why you responded to my post about not liking the character with...
...which had nothing to do with what I said, and seems blatantly obvious to me.
Not in its current form, certainly. We'll have to agree to disagree on Tom. I didn't like him when I was 12 and first read LotR. And, well, now I'm 40 and I've found no reason to change my mind. IMHO, even a genius needs an editor.
As I said, 12 hours of movie already. What's another 1/2 hour spent listening to some guy sing about how jolly he is?
Also, it's not like Jackson would have come out and said "oh yeah, the character sucks so we ditched him," when he was trying to sell the movie to hardcore Tolkien fans.
Well, now it's my misunderstanding, because you lost me with whatever point you were trying to make there.Done here. Thanks, friends.
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2009-12-12, 05:04 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
The MitD is soul spliced! That's how he has such a diverse array of powers
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2009-12-12, 08:02 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
My Dream Larva theory also needs to be mentioned in the opening post.
Pro:
- CR well into epic.
- Very strong.
- Very hard to damage short of epic.
- Large size fits under the umbrella.
- Appears different to everyone, explaining how it can be ugly and beautiful at the same time.
- Worst Nightmare affects only those seeing it the first time, not subsequent times (the goblin family at the circus who were repeat visitors) making hiding it in magical darkness particularly sensible.
Con:
- Immune to mind-affecting effects. (But a specific interpretation of Worst Nightmare could get around that. If the thing Xykon fears most is not immune to mind-affecting effects, perhaps Xykon could use mind-affecting spells on the MitD.)
- The sight of it is a save-or-die. (But perhaps a very young one doesn't do that yet.)
- Always Chaotic Evil. (But upbringing can change even dragons and the MitD is obviously an impressionable child.)
- No Earthquake. (But perhaps high strength is enough.)
- No Wish/Teleport. (But the transportation of O-chul and V could perhaps be explained with a Dreamscape that doesn't work like it should or Sending that doesn't work like it should.)
On Sending:
Grappled victims may be
physically sent into a nightmare, at the dream larva’s option,
on the dream larva’s next action after establishing the grapple.
Victims must make a Will save (DC 43) or be apparently swarmed by thousands of worms making up the dream larva’s body.
The victim is actually cast into a shrieking maelstrom of dream where it can take no actions but observe.
The victim physically returns 2d4 rounds later,
apparently ejected from the dream larva’s body (but appearing even if if the dream larva has left or is otherwise absent).
The victim of the nightmare has taken 4d6 points of temporary Wisdom damage, but is otherwise free to act on the round it returns. If the victim takes more Wisdom damage than it has points of Wisdom, the extra points are instead treated as temporary Constitution damage.
Yes, I know I'm rules-lawyering Sending out of recognition. However, considering our lack of options and the general tone of OOTS, I think abusing loopholes is a valid option.
BONUS: If the MitD is a dream larva, he could, as an Abomination, really be the son of Snarl too.
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2009-12-12, 09:30 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Not guessable. See Section 1a
And it is, and has been for four days now...
Grey WolfInterested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
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2009-12-12, 09:58 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Oh, it looks like it has been added there since I last looked. My bad. Well, at least the Sending rules-lawyering is new. It's eerie how well it fits into the circumstances of the strip.
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2009-12-12, 10:20 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
I would venture that for the word "eerie" to apply, you'd need a few fewer "well, they were being grappled, if by Xykon counts" and, "it says they come back, it doesn't say where" and, "it doesn't say the nightmare and wisdom damage aren't optional" and, "we don't know Vaarsuvius and O-Chul didn't go through a dream for 2d4 rounds before they appeared and landed on Hinjo"-style arguments.
If you're willing to hit it with a hammer that hard and selectively, it's not surprising at all that it winds up looking like a nail.Last edited by Kish; 2009-12-12 at 10:27 AM.
Orth Plays: Currently Baldur's Gate II
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2009-12-12, 10:41 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
It's still pretty unlikely that the fight ended with Xykon grappling BOTH V and O-chul at the same time, especially considering that Xykon is a caster and grappling is normally an anti-caster tactic instead of a caster tactic. I can't recall a single instance of Xykon grappling anyone during the strip. It just so happens that the Sending exploit doesn't work unless the targets are being grappled by someone else.
I had earlier come to hold a dream larva a strong candidate on other grounds, but for the first time I paid good attention on the Sending ability instead of trying to explain the escape with Dreamscape which has severe problems.
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2009-12-13, 03:37 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Rather minor point, seeing as it doesn't matter a lot, but one notices that in panel 9, if you look closely, the little arms and legs are pointing down, where in panel 10 she lands headfirst, indicating that she probably took a parabolic trajectory. Plus the mountains don't change, so probably not a zoomed out view. Again, rather minor, but it's good to be able to say more-or-less what happened.
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2009-12-13, 08:34 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Since it slept directly after teleporting V and O'chul and said it became sleepy after causing the earthquake we can assume that doing tough abilities makes it sleepy.
I won a thread. Am I pathetic to list that in my signture? Yes. Of course I am.
Awesome avatar is awesome. And made by yldenfrei.
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2009-12-13, 08:53 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
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2009-12-15, 01:52 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
We don't have to assume that, we have evidence that it is true. What he have to assume is that he does require sleep even when he has not used his powers. I believe it is warranted, but it remains an assumption, and wrote as much.
This has been brought up before, and I will admit I can see it happening, but MitD has been shown to get sleepy (and possibly hungrier) after the earthquake, lending weight to the theory that he is actually sleeping. Also, he looks exactly like when he was sleeping in SoD, so if he is faking it, it is indistinguishable from the real thing.
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In another order of things, I have finished combing the 50 pages of the old thread, and hopefully have included every supported idea in the lists (I did skip a few ideas that where only ever mentioned by name, with no explanation given).
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Finally, I have also finished Don't SPlit the Party. Unfortunately, Rich states that he has given out enough clues about MitD, and did not put anything new there (party pooper that he is). He did kill the "four words" nonsense, once and for all, though. That said, he has a throwaway reference to angels and devas not making alignment-breaking actions (as opposed to Celia, they are "embodiments of Law or Truth"). Not that the angels/devil idea for MitD hold much water, but clearly Rich sees them as embodiments of their respective moral opposites, and so very unlikely to be turned to the opposite camp by either Xykon or O'Chul.
Hope that helps,
Grey WolfLast edited by Grey_Wolf_c; 2009-12-15 at 01:58 PM.
Interested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
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2009-12-15, 02:34 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
No Sun Wukong or Tao Tie in the one-off or joke sections? Aww
Sun Wukong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_wukong)
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Pros: Male
~human-sized
Loads of Str; casually wields a 7,500 kg staff (~16,535 lb). Also has been shown to be able to shrug a mountain off of him.
2 golden eyes! (....though, those eyes essentially have permanent detect demon)
As a monkey, has arms and legs!
Tough/resilient (at the most relevant level: mortals attacking him have their weapons simply bounce off)
Can eat a lot (once ate clean heaven's orchard of immortality peaches)
Can make it rain on command, sorta. What he does is project his spirit up to the heavens and Intimidate-the-hell-outta a dragon king into making it rain, then he goes back into his body. He does this very quickly, actually; within few seconds?
Daoist magic; clearly defined examples of his powers include shapeshifting, jumping/flying 54,000 km in a single bound, and transform his hairs into objects or even clones of himself. But there's room left open for more powers, and Daoism is incredibly vague. Some form of D&D porting or Wish can be included, and I wouldn't blink.
Neutral: Are D&D monkeys expected or unexpected to be able to speak? Are monkeys ugly, beautiful, or meh? Although among monkey-kind, he did get the title of 'handsome monkey king'.
Cons: Born from stone formed from chaos
Sleep schedule's more or less like a normal human/monkey's
Has not been shown to eat adults; actually, once he started on the journey to the west, he has to be a vegetarian, being converted to Buddhism and whatnot (pre-conversion Sun Wukong shouldn't have such a limitation...)
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Tao Tie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Tie)
- In one theory, is a reference to Chi You http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_You)
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Pros: Near infinite hunger! Eats people!
Hideous to humans!
(as Chi You) is a god of rain, depending on who you ask; he's got the rain thing covered regardless
(as Chi You) also a god of war, depending on who you ask; covers the strength thing
(as Chi You) looks like half man, half bull; head covered with/made of iron
(as Chi You) is implied to be part of a race
Neutral: (as Chi You) also 'knows magic'. How....vague. Can be a con if deemed too vague.
Cons: Too little info on this one
(as Chi You) ate only stones and pebbles?
(as Chi You) shouldn't be surprising when it comes to speakingLast edited by Somewhere; 2009-12-15 at 02:37 PM.
Thanks to Meirnon for the avatar
One Punch-Man: I became the hero I had always dreamed of being. But how can it be that, even though I should be satisfied, I feel so empty?...
Gag manga story by One, artwork by Murata Yusuke of Eyeshield 21 fame
Spoiler
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2009-12-15, 03:14 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Has use of a Polymorph spell been considered much? I admit that I'm a little hazy on 3.5's polymorph rules, but I believe the subject of such a spell (at least, a beneficial one) retains their mental abilities. The effect could then be made permanent through the Permanency spell, right?
If I'm not way off base with my assumptions, I thus propose a very young djinn polymorphed into a baby terrasque.Last edited by TheNovak; 2009-12-15 at 03:15 PM.
"Thus, we are all composed of stardust, or if you're feeling a tad more cynical, solar excrement." -- Dr. James Kakalios
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2009-12-15, 05:05 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Again, great job pulling everything together, Grey Wolf. I may have missed it, but if I didn't, can you edit the first post to include:
Rich determined what MitD is by strip 100, though nothing in the previous strips contradict it.
So, whatever MitD is, it must have been created or discovered before 2005, as per the date strip 100 came out (in 2004)
As more time passed, (and a new edition of D&D) we will propably get more and more newer concepts like: A tarrasque from the fourth edition, using fourth edition rules.
It would work, because there is a precendent of using 3rd edition rules against 2nd edition monsters. But 4th edition came out after 2005, right?Last edited by Forbiddenwar; 2009-12-15 at 05:12 PM.
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2009-12-15, 05:56 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
There were quite a few "joke" entires as I went through the pages, and I decided to restrict it to the funniest ones, by my standards. The fact I ended up with "rock" (beats scissors, looses against paper), a lolcat and the gazebo probably speaks volume about my (lack of) taste in humour rather than anything else, but there were too many only marginally funny ones that I simply didn't feel comfortable adding.
I will add those to to the one-off ideas.
I have no idea if that is even possible by the rules, but given Rich's opinions on the matter of polymorph, I'd say it is very unlikely he thought up such thing.
I have been wondering where to put that kind of info. I've finally bitten the bullet and added it as "notes" in Section 1a, together with pointing out that "guessable" does not mean "famous".
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By the way, no-one has helped me with my questions on psionics (here). This is coming from the comment that maybe we are over-thinking the whole "MitD can't be psionic due to RC's off-hand comment". If we assume rule of funny, and don't discard psionics due to it, a few other things need to be addressed, such as why MitD didn't simply levitate the bucket instead of tipping the box. I don't know a thing about psionics, so I can't judge this myself. Is there somewhere I can go to get the basics of psionics?
Also, if we allow psionics, what teleportation psionic could be responsible for the escape?
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Oh, and one more thing. I've been looking for RC's comment that he knows what MitD is. I distinctly remember RC saying it, and I'm pretty certain it's in SoD, but after going through it several times, I still can't find it. A little help, please?
Thanks,
Grey WolfInterested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
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Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
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2009-12-15, 09:42 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: MitD II: Lighting a candle in the Darkness
Everyone's a little bit racist!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbud8...eature=related
(may be NSFW)