OOTS #908 - The Discussion Thread

[Incom]

O_O

Anyone translate the pisco-thingy's text bubble?

[Kim]

It looks like the crustacean summon is speaking in Miskatonic, a free font that appeared in Questionable Content a few years ago. Can anyone read the speech bubble well enough to see what it says?

Also: Yay Durkon! RIP, Zz'dtri. :(

[Zach J.]

Holy crap. He killed Z! I thought Z and Nale would both get away... woah. Just... woah. O_O


Also, hilarious at the end. That's probably gonna have to take some getting used to. Maybe Z can learn to heal so Durkula can be the main nuker X_X

Durkon will still be able to heal. He'll just have to prepare Cure spells from now on.

Great strip. Durkon's always been my favorite character and his turning into a vampire has only made the guy more interesting.

[Ivrytwr]

Aw yeah!
Gonna miss Z. Obviously Durkon is not fully back. Funny to see the bumbling good-natured help.
Time to save Haley.
Gotta wonder how Durkon and Belkar are going to greet each other.
The one thing Nale doesn't run short on is arse-saving retreats!

[Admiral]

Also, minor art complaint: there's a stray bit of beard in the first panel of this comic that extends into Durkon's mouth and is sort of driving me nuts.

That's one of his fangs.

[Tock Zipporah]

Wonder what the demon said as it left. Something along the lines of "I don't need to put up with this <stuff>."

*Roger Murtaugh voice* I'm getting too old for this...

[sotanaht]

That's correct. The Cure Moderate Wounds was converted to an Inflict Moderate Wounds per the fact that all vampire clerics channel negative energy.

So just because hes a vampire and not necessarily because vampire Durkon is evil aligned then?

[SavageWombat]

It looks like the crustacean summon is speaking in Miskatonic, a free font that appeared in Questionable Content a few years ago. Can anyone read the speech bubble well enough to see what it says?

Also: Yay Durkon! RIP, Zz'dtri. :(

I think Aaron Williams used that in PS 238 for some of his aliens, too.

[Jiggs]

Ouch that hurt; and I am a bit surprised by Durkons new ruthlessness.
Maybe the vampire component will be a stronger issue in the future but as for now, as Durkon is saying to Roy "the world is still hanging in balance"

[Porthos]

Has Malack ever touched any living creature directly while healing them?

Perhaps this is why he never did, and would use the staff instead.

I also imagine this is another purpose of the Giant inventing Mass Death Ward- a means to have Durkon given a way to safely heal the Order, as well as be free of the worry of all negative energy/level defects.

Clearly not the same Durkon. Friendly, but still... This is going to be interesting.

EDIT: super ninja'd. Ah well. MDW still helps the Order in this way.

Well, we know that Malack prepared healing spells for his party. So he must be able to cast them if he prepared them ahead of time. Durkon probably was trying to convert one of his spells to CMW and just forgot to read the fine print.

But the staff angle works as well.

[Forikroder]

so i guess this measn Durkon jsut lost his Thors might then

[Chessgeek]

What is the strength bonus for becoming a vampire again? Breaking someone's neck with one hand is obviously not an easy feat.

[destiny919]

I'M SO HAPPY! Durkon's still Durkon, he's just a bit south of Neutral . . . I wonder what that will mean besides probably contributing more to his willingness to kill Z and Nale, and his inability to use positive energy healing spells?

[Felhammer]

Vamp Durkon is scary!

[Math_Mage]

Also, minor art complaint: there's a stray bit of beard in the first panel of this comic that extends into Durkon's mouth and is sort of driving me nuts.

It's not that the beard is in his mouth, it's that his fang extends out from his mouth over the beard.

Wups, ninja'd.

[El Grapadura]

Love it. Puts the million post alignment debate to rest pretty quickly, haha. "No more evil than Belkar" is a pretty succinct description of where he stands. Very well executed, and a lot of potential to explore the character, group dynamic etc. just makes me wonder what it will be like when the time comes to part ways...

[Tsyndrome]

I especially like the smoke rising off Roy in the last panel. Nice touch.

[Ezekiel]

I love Nale's expression when he realizes he's alone with a very strong vampire

[Grey_Wolf_c]

What is the strength bonus for becoming a vampire again? Breaking someone's neck with one hand is obviously not an easy feat.

+6. If he started out with STR 16 (not unlikely, given his main melee approach), he is now strength 22 - he is unlikely to have boosted STR in his level-ups.

GW

Edit: Hah! Porthos, Zach J., thou hast been ninjaèd!

[Porthos]

What is the strength bonus for becoming a vampire again? Breaking someone's neck with one hand is obviously not an easy feat.

+6 IIRC. .....

[Zach J.]

What is the strength bonus for becoming a vampire again? Breaking someone's neck with one hand is obviously not an easy feat.

The vampire template adds 6 strength to the base creature, but I think Durkon breaking Z's neck was just an example of a coup de grace.

[Connington]

So Durkon's clearly evil. But he's feeling friendly. He's also prophesied to bring death and destruction to the Dwarvish lands. So I'm thinking Roy is going to have a lot harder time keeping Durkon below the green line.. Besides the typical bloodsucking, I imagine he's going to have some words with his former holy brothers about exiling him. And by words I mean murdering all of them. (I'm not very good with euphemisms)

[Tock Zipporah]

I guess Vampire Durkon forgot that since he is evil his spontaneous spell conversion no longer produces cure spells.

But that being said, he is free willed now. He doesn't have to be evil. Why is he letting his vampirism affect his personality? So why isn't Vampire Durkon good now?

He's free willed, but he's still powered by negative energy, which is like walking around with a tainted soul. The negative energy is bound to influence his behavior (such as making him mercilessly snap Z's neck instead of taking him prisoner), but his core personality should remain the same.

[Anarion]

It's not that the beard is in his mouth, it's that his fang extends out from his mouth over the beard.

Wups, ninja'd.

I'm not convinced. If you look at the close up in panel 3, you can see white marks showing both fangs, but there's still an extra gray line from the beard extending into the mouth. It's not really a mistake, since there's no reason for his beard not to be a bit shaggy, but I just find it bothersome.

[The Recreator]

That's correct. The Cure Moderate Wounds was converted to an Inflict Moderate Wounds per the fact that all vampire clerics channel negative energy.

Is that because vampires are Always Evil? Or is there something fundamental to vampirism other than alignment (at least in the OotS setting) that causes them to channel negative energy?

I figured I'd ask because the concept of an "Always" alignment description in the Monster Manual has been a subject of great importance in previous OotS comics, and I think understanding this could help shed some light on Durkon's upcoming character development.

[HalfTangible]

Didn't know vampires energy drained on touch. Malack didn't do that, did he? He could heal Elan, for example.

That isn't what's happening here.

He tried to spontaneously cast a cure spell, but he's a negative energy cleric now, so he ended up casting an inflict spell.

Is that because vampires are Always Evil? Or is there something fundamental to vampirism other than alignment (at least in the OotS setting) that causes them to channel negative energy?

I figured I'd ask because the concept of an "Always" alignment description in the Monster Manual has been a subject of great importance in previous OotS comics, and I think understanding this could help shed some light on Durkon's upcoming character development.

Even if Durkon weren't evil now (he's a vampire, he kinda has to be), he's undead. Positive energy causes him damage.

[Yendor]

It looks like the crustacean summon is speaking in Miskatonic, a free font that appeared in Questionable Content a few years ago. Can anyone read the speech bubble well enough to see what it says?(

I've looked at it, but can't make out most of the letters clearly enough.

[Perseus]

And in this small little way when Belkar dies we will still have a brutal evil little bugger to keep us entertained and murderlate stuff.


Edit: Always in D&D doesn't mean always... It means like 95 percent.

[Amarsir]

Edge of my seat for these next few comics and getting to know the new Durkula. I've always admired The Giant for choosing to make his comic explore the meaning of alignment. And this idea of "What if a truly Lawful Good guy suddenly turned Evil" is such an interesing idea that really, words can't express.

[Felhammer]

What is the strength bonus for becoming a vampire again? Breaking someone's neck with one hand is obviously not an easy feat.

You get the standard assortment of powers (Blood Drain, calling swarms of vermin, the power to Dominate, the ability to drain energy, the ability to create Spawn, Alternate Form (Bat, rat, etc.), Damage Reduction, Fast Healing, Gaseous Form, Resistance, Spider Climb, +6 STR, +4 DEX, +2 INT & WIS, +4 CHA). Interestingly, Vampire Clerics gain access to the Chaos, Evil, Trickery and Destruction Domains. The latter domain has a special ability called smite which gives you a +4 bonus on attack rolls and a bonus on damage rolls equal to your cleric level.