Major character who has only appeared on 1 page in the entire OOTS saga

[Gurgeh]

Not necessarily, though it is possible they chose the same barred schools as V. Or, in universe, that V chose the same barred schools as A.

This is the point I was trying to make, phrased better. Not that I don't appreciate the 3.0 history lesson, but Aarindarius being an evoker is not grounds to assume that they've barred conjuration.

You could construct a plausible scenario where A had been operating under 3.0 rules and decided to take the "only one barred school" path, and *perhaps* speculate that V's strong preference for Disintegrate means that A also used the spell (and thus didn't bar Transmutation) - but it would be nothing more than a plausible scenario; not really grounds to draw conclusions from.

Also, yes: V has both conjuration and necromancy barred - this is strongly implied during the soul splice and has also been explicitly mentioned on the forums. The C&L geekery thread has the relevant links.

[Mightymosy]

Spoiler: Start of Darkness

Show

No, which is odd; we never see or hear of Fyron's son except by Roy's exclamation that Xykon killed him, IIRC.

Maybe Rich is going for some Obi Wan Kenobi variation here?

Roy:You said Xykon killed your master's son?
Eugene: well, it is true....in a certain sense. Fyron was like a father to me, I felt more like a son to him than to your grandfather. Living with him was the best days of my life. He made me a happy, good person. When Xykon killed him, he killed that part of me, and I was forced to become a vengeant lonely adventurer, just like you. I tried to have children to fill the void later, but what do you know? You just became like your grandfather, actually ENJOYING this stupid bound by honor instead of enjoying everything I could offer you. I had the means and was willing to send you to a wizard school and live the happy life Xykon took away from me, and instead you chose to hit people with a big knife.



Unfortunately, that doesn't provide an answer to who the mystery ally may be......


Maybe MitD WAS DRAWN once on a page without us realising that it was him (read 709 for the "hint"), and MitD is the new ally?

[Metastachydium]

I think the whole joke there is that Tiamat has five heads and all of them are yelling at the IFCC. I don't think it's a secret sleight-of-hand joke so that Rich could set up his note in the commentary at the end of book six.

?
(EDIT: I get it. You're talking about the stuff coming out of the telephone in no. 667. I wasn't referring to that (although now that you mention it, the green and orange blobs are of about the right colour), I was merely pointing out (as did, I think, others before) that the speech bubbles of the two entities from the end of Book 6 look like the speech bubbles of chromatic (half-)dragons, which belong to Tiamat's portfolio.)

They talk about him a few times, but he's introduced here, and stays with the orcs at the end of that strip, and we don't see them again, so I don't think we see Giggles again...



Tiamat's been seen on loads of pages hasn't she? At least once in the prequal books that I recall off the top of my head, here Thor shows her, here there's a statue of her (I don't know if that counts), here the Oracle Invokes her image, etc. And that was just a cursory check of where I remembered her. There could be more I've forgotten.

Certainly, that's the main reason why I suggested characters I believe to be her AGENTS, the two lizards who got the Oracle back on his feet. They came up before in the thread, but so far as I could tell, those who mentioned them were not really serious about the whole thing – basically, that is why I made an attemp to bring some better sounding argument for why we should consider them.

[b_jonas]

Peelee, you are indeed making me doubt that Vaarsuvius has Necromancy as a barred school now. The others refer to the statement by the Giant for how he chose the soul spilces:

I need three evil souls to represent the three parts of arcane power V doesn't have (conjuration, necromancy, and spontaneous casting)

Maybe that implies that she has necromancy barred, but I'm not so sure, because an earlier statements by Giant don't suggest as such. I'm not talking about the post about Evan's Spiked Tentacles of Forced Intrusion, that one doesn't really tell anything about whether she has Necromancy barred or not. I mean this very old post:

V cannot cast spells of 7th level or higher as far as we have seen. And so far, all teleportation spells have been suspiciously absent from the elf's repetoire. The rest, just aren't in his spellbook yet.

That one seems to imply that he only has conjuration barred. And since Vaarsuvius chose her barred schools in D&D 3, if choosing only conjuration as barred was allowed without some other drawback, then she probably only has one barred school.

In addition, we know Vaarsuvius continuously has difficulty with acquiring gemstones for her spells. In addition, Vaarsuvius respects Durkon and knows that Durkon hates the undead, so it may be for that reason that she restrains herself from creating undead servants to help her. Are there other useful necromancy wizard's spells that she could use then? Harm, Inflict Critical Wounds, Speak with Dead are cleric-only; Circle of Death consumes gems.

[hamishspence]

IIRC, 3e Evokers only had to ban one school if they chose Conjuration or Transmutation, 2 schools if they picked from a set list, or three schools with no restriction. The "any two schools except Divination" was not third edition, but 3.5. In strip 340, V mentions Conjuration as their banned school, singular, and that when they chose Conjuration, Teleport was still Transmutation, both of which heavily imply that V has a single banned school under 3e rules, not two under 3.5 rules.

I wouldn't rule out the possibility that V was forced to choose a second banned school during the 3.0-3.5 changeover, and picked Necromancy.

This:

I don't know a damn thing about those three characters other than, "I need three evil souls to represent the three parts of arcane power V doesn't have (conjuration, necromancy, and spontaneous casting)

is sufficient to convince me that "The Giant made V ban necromancy as well" is the simplest interpretation.

[RatElemental]

Peelee, you are indeed making me doubt that Vaarsuvius has Necromancy as a barred school now. The others refer to the statement by the Giant for how he chose the soul spilces:

Maybe that implies that she has necromancy barred, but I'm not so sure, because an earlier statements by Giant don't suggest as such. I'm not talking about the post about Evan's Spiked Tentacles of Forced Intrusion, that one doesn't really tell anything about whether she has Necromancy barred or not. I mean this very old post:
That one seems to imply that he only has conjuration barred. And since Vaarsuvius chose her barred schools in D&D 3, if choosing only conjuration as barred was allowed without some other drawback, then she probably only has one barred school.

In addition, we know Vaarsuvius continuously has difficulty with acquiring gemstones for her spells. In addition, Vaarsuvius respects Durkon and knows that Durkon hates the undead, so it may be for that reason that she restrains herself from creating undead servants to help her. Are there other useful necromancy wizard's spells that she could use then? Harm, Inflict Critical Wounds, Speak with Dead are cleric-only; Circle of Death consumes gems.

Well Belkar did get hit by the update, his weapons shrunk. It's possible V got to keep whatever necromancy spells were in their book but I'm pretty much on team "V has necromancy barred."

As for useful necromancy spells a wizard might want, especially a blasty one like V used to be, well...

Disrupt Undead, Touch of Fatigue, Cause Fear, Chill Touch, Ray of Enfeeblement, False Life, Spectral Hand, Ray of Exhaustion, Vampiric Touch, Bestrow Curse, Enervation, Waves of Fatigue, Undeath to Death, Finger of Death, Waves of Exhaustion, Clone, Horrid Wilting, Symbol of Pain, Symbol of Fear and Symbol of Death come to mind.

[Peelee]

I wouldn't rule out the possibility that V was forced to choose a second banned school during the 3.0-3.5 changeover, and picked Necromancy.

This:

I don't know a damn thing about those three characters other than, "I need three evil souls to represent the three parts of arcane power V doesn't have (conjuration, necromancy, and spontaneous casting)

is sufficient to convince me that "The Giant made V ban necromancy as well" is the simplest interpretation.

I'm on board this this train of thought.

[b_jonas]

As for useful necromancy spells a wizard might want, especially a blasty one like V used to be, well...

Disrupt Undead, Touch of Fatigue, Cause Fear, Chill Touch, Ray of Enfeeblement, False Life, Spectral Hand, Ray of Exhaustion, Vampiric Touch, Bestrow Curse, Enervation, Waves of Fatigue, Undeath to Death, Finger of Death, Waves of Exhaustion, Clone, Horrid Wilting, Symbol of Pain, Symbol of Fear and Symbol of Death come to mind.

Thank you, that's a useful list. Many of those don't require gemstones and could have been useful to Vaarsuvius, so yes, she probably has Necromancy banned since strip #1 then.

[dancrilis]

Bit surprised it hasn't been raised before (or my searching has failed me) - but maybe Tenrin Thundershield will have a chance to show up.

He seems to have two appearances - so might not count - but one of them was crayon (which I am not sure counts as an appearance) the other was a flashback.

[Ron Miel]

one of them was crayon (which I am not sure counts as an appearance)

It certainly does.

[dancrilis]

It certainly does.

Why is it certain?

He appears in a story told by a guy who didn't know him and who wasn't there for the events in question - he is not really appearing in the story as much as appearing in a story (for that appearance at least).

Does Thor conjuring the image of The Dark One count as an appearance by The Dark One - I could see the logic of saying yes but I wouldn't call it certain.

[Baine]

My vote is for Random Bugbear, although that's mostly because I think that Orange Voice might actually be Roy's Archon. I know, its crazy.

[Sonata Arctica]

Could it be Solt Lorkyurg? https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0539.html

He fits the one-page criteria
He also is a named character, which makes him a far stronger candidate than many
He would be so unexpected that it makes him possible Rich-wise
It would also be really funny to have him teamed up with Belkar, his own murderer!

[Metastachydium]

Could it be Solt Lorkyurg? https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0539.html

He fits the one-page criteria
He also is a named character, which makes him a far stronger candidate than many
He would be so unexpected that it makes him possible Rich-wise
It would also be really funny to have him teamed up with Belkar, his own murderer!

And in what way, exactly, could Solt become an important ally of much anyone?

[Peelee]

And in what way, exactly, could Solt become an important ally of much anyone?

He would be useful if Team Evil recruits a colossal slug.

[Metastachydium]

He would be useful if Team Evil recruits a colossal slug.

I'm not entirely certain he peddles that kind of spice, you know.

[Peelee]

I'm not entirely certain he peddles that kind of spice, you know.

If he didn't, then he'd surely be salty about it at that point.

[Ron Miel]

Could it be Solt Lorkyurg? https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0539.html

It's unlikely to be anyone dead.

[Lexible]

Celia's ex-boyfriend's dryad... um... friend; the wood recipient.

[Metastachydium]

It's unlikely to be anyone dead.

…unless the new pawn of the IFCC teams up with the Order for the first half of the book. „Vessel” is a term that they are known to have used in reference to a body with no soul in it. (Not that I see Solt's body as an agent of the Archfiends.)

[Bilbo Baggins]

Solt Yorklug will return and kill Belkar as revenge for taking his candy bar.

[Riftwolf]

Celia's ex-boyfriend's dryad... um... friend; the wood recipient.

Durkon would never ally with one of them leafy wankers.

[Particle_Man]

I won’t read through the whole thread so this may have come up, but if Belkar really pulls off his redemption arc, then the little angel (that presumably once sat on his shoulder and has since been treated for some PSTD issues related to being around Belkar and his stabbing victims) may finally get some peace and may have pulled off a success not entirely dissimilar to that of Durkon with respect to his vampire.

https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0435.html

[dancrilis]

I won’t read through the whole thread so this may have come up, but if Belkar really pulls off his redemption arc, then the little angel (that presumably once sat on his shoulder and has since been treated for some PSTD issues related to being around Belkar and his stabbing victims) may finally get some peace and may have pulled off a success not entirely dissimilar to that of Durkon with respect to his vampire.

https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0435.html

Belkar is trying to help him get his act together (panel 12).

[Precure]

Belkar is trying to help him get his act together (panel 12).

He's talking about Gontor?

[dancrilis]

He's talking about Gontor?

Huh, weird ... everytime I have read that I have read Belkar saying 'myself' and 'my' rather then 'himself' and 'his' and thought it was a callback to the two fiends, a slaad and an angel scene ... but apparently it is not on closer inspection.

[Rogar Demonblud]

So I guess you now need to make a post in the Things I Didn't Notice thread.

[Lexible]

Durkon would never ally with one of them leafy wankers.

Very well then: Belkar's tailor in Uncivil Servant.

[HeroErix]

It's unlikely to be anyone dead.

Does that mean I have to throw away my thought of it being Nale's ashes which only appeared in #914? I was thinking they would travel all the way to the north pole and land in Redcloak's eye at a crucial moment.

[Metastachydium]

Does that mean I have to throw away my thought of it being Nale's ashes which only appeared in #914? I was thinking they would travel all the way to the north pole and land in Redcloak's eye at a crucial moment.

…
Nale's ashes are a separate character now?