OOTS #1203 - The Discussion Thread

[Quizatzhaderac]

I'm thinking there's an "expanded rule-set" thing going on here.

3.5e poisons have an effect immediately or an independent one minute later.

O-Chul had no immediate effect and effect 1 after (what seems like) less than a minute. The voice suggested there would be a second effect some time in the future.

Lien passed out immediately.

In real life, puncture poisons build increase rate of damage for about a minute, then slowly decrease the rate.

On TV, poisoning has a series of stages with vague periods of time to progress from one to another.

IMHO, we're clearly working with something like a TV variant of the rules. For example: there's a range of failures on the DC roles that determine the time each effect takes to happen.

[Algeh]

I just noticed that in the third panel Durkon is frowning and facing in a different direction from the others, and after that we see the other five members of the Order re-corporealize on the ledge, but not Durkon.

It’s probably nothing, just coincidence - can’t fit every character in every strip - but does anyone thing Durkon might have gone to try to talk to one of the members of Team Evil?

I know this is from pages and pages ago, but I'm just catching up on this thread, and it seemed like a good point not much discussed yet. Since Durkon, as far as I can tell, also wears either armored boots or regular boots, we also can't tell from Belkar's comments whether or not he's present. We also haven't seen Minrah on the ledge yet, who would be the most likely second character to go off with Durkon. Of course, we've only had a few panels so far, but it seems like Durkon would usually be casting True Seeing to help search at this point.

[tawnyterror]

I'm not articulate enough to discuss plot elements so I will say one thing- I love that V wears "ridiculous little wizard slippers".

[KorvinStarmast]

I am not sure if this is an artifact of how the drawing tries to depict depth, but I recall Go boards being square, and the Go board between Elan and Hinjo looks to be rectangular. (9 squares left to right, and it seem to be 10 or 11 deep)

NVM, just zoomed it up and counted again. 9 x 9.

[BaconAnger]

I'll be the first to admit that I haven't been keeping up with the forum theories very well, so I'm super willing to bet I'm not the first to say this, but... I'd like to admit I'm pretty excited to meet who I'm pretty sure are War and Pestilence, from the scene where they kidnapped O-chul.

And maybe the new death lady? who beat the old death in a wet t-shirt contest? IIRC?

[InvisibleBison]

And maybe the new death lady? who beat the old death in a wet t-shirt contest? IIRC?

You don't become Death if you beat Death in a contest, you get to stay alive.

[factotum]

You don't become Death if you beat Death in a contest, you get to stay alive.

Depends. In Piers Anthony's "Incarnations of Immortality" series, where entities like Death and Mother Nature are actually humans who take the jobs on for a while, the way to become Death is actually to kill your predecessor. (The main character in the first book is about to commit suicide when the old Death appears, and he's so horror-struck that he shoots Death instead of himself, thus becoming the new incarnation of Death).

[Ron Miel]

Can we be sure Death actually lost the wet T-shirt contest? Maybe the judge was Tsukiko.

[danielxcutter]

Can we be sure Death actually lost the wet T-shirt contest? Maybe the judge was Tsukiko.

Why would -

*googles "Wet T-Shirt challenge"*

OH. Well, to be fair Tsukiko isn't really into girls...

[Fyraltari]

Really? Because I heard she did both.
It’s actually not that hard to tell when they’re just a skeleton.

[danielxcutter]

Really? Because I heard she did both.
It’s actually not that hard to tell when they’re just a skeleton.

I think she said it's hard to tell because it was just bones, actually?

[Fyraltari]

I think she said it's hard to tell because it was just bones, actually?

Nope, she said "It's hard to tell when they're just a skeleton" which considering how long she spends in the company of the living dead sounds like a lie.

[danielxcutter]

Nope, she said "It's hard to tell when they're just a skeleton" which considering how long she spends in the company of the living dead sounds like a lie.

Well, her usual "children" are more fleshy types like wights...

Actually, what skill would be relevant? Heal?

[Fyraltari]

Well, her usual "children" are more fleshy types like wights...

Actually, what skill would be relevant? Heal?

Isn't animating skeletons where every necromancers start?

[danielxcutter]

Isn't animating skeletons where every necromancers start?

I mean, you usually don't really care about what gender they were before dying, and you can also make zombies with that spell just fine. Considering her tastes, she might have started with those.

[Fyraltari]

I mean, you usually don't really care about what gender they were before dying, and you can also make zombies with that spell just fine. Considering her tastes, she might have started with those.

She clearly is into skeletons, though.

[danielxcutter]

She clearly is into skeletons, though.

Hmm, point taken.

[Peelee]

Nope, she said "It's hard to tell when they're just a skeleton" which considering how long she spends in the company of the living dead sounds like a lie.

Unless it is hard to tell when they're just a skeleton. Maybe it's easy to tell if you see skeletons drawn by a talentless hack of a sketch artist.

[Fyraltari]

Unless it is hard to tell when they're just a skeleton. Maybe it's easy to tell if you see skeletons drawn by a talentless hack of a sketch artist.

It's true that even the most observant may have trouble with them.

[danielxcutter]

It's true that even the most observant may have trouble with them.

I mean, Tsukiko is literally incapable of seeing highly visible doors. I wouldn't be surprised if such a weakness also extended to not being good at noticing things like that.

[Fyraltari]

I mean, Tsukiko is literally incapable of seeing highly visible doors. I wouldn't be surprised if such a weakness also extended to not being good at noticing things like that.

I meant Redcloak needing the necklaces, I wasn't making fun.

[danielxcutter]

I meant Redcloak needing the necklaces, I wasn't making fun.

I didn't think you were. And now I just realize that could have been taken as you saying I was unobservant.

Still, even if Redcloak is not an expert on the undead, I don't think it's terribly easy to tell either way.

[Fyraltari]

I didn't think you were. And now I just realize that could have been taken as you saying I was unobservant.

Still, even if Redcloak is not an expert on the undead, I don't think it's terribly easy to tell either way.

Isn't Redcloak supposed to have a very high Wis making him very perspective? Yet he is unable to differentiate the skeletons even though they'd have varying heights and cranial features*. Because as Peelee pointed out this is a stick webcomic. Which also explains why Tsukiko can't tell the difference between a male and female skeleton.

Spoiler: *Take a look at Peter Capaldi's skull vs another one. You can tell the difference

Show

[Peelee]

I wasn't ven aware that Peter Capaldi was dead.

[danielxcutter]

I didn't know there was someone named Peter Capaldi.

Also, there is a difference between male and female skeletons, but I don't think it'd be easy to tell at a glance even for an undead expert like Tsukiko.

[factotum]

AFAIK, the main difference between male and female skeletons isn't the skull, it's the pelvis--the woman's skeleton will have a much wider hole in the middle to make room for babies to make their way out.

[Fyraltari]

I wasn't ven aware that Peter Capaldi was dead.

He's not, the BBC just needed his skull for Doctor Who for a bit.

AFAIK, the main difference between male and female skeletons isn't the skull, it's the pelvis--the woman's skeleton will have a much wider hole in the middle to make room for babies to make their way out.

Yes, I was just using the skull pictures to show that one does not need to be an expert to be able to tell two unrelated skeletons apart.

As for determining a skeleton's anatomical sex, a look at the tailbone is more than enough.

Spoiler: Look at dem bones

Show

[Peelee]

Spoiler: Look at dem bones

Show

Nice pelvic bowl. [/gabe]

[Rogar Demonblud]

AFAIK, the main difference between male and female skeletons isn't the skull, it's the pelvis--the woman's skeleton will have a much wider hole in the middle to make room for babies to make their way out.

Well, it's really that the pelvic bones form more of a cradle to help carrying the weight of the baby safely and more comfortably. Hence the phrase 'child-bearing hips'.

[Snails]

Well, it's really that the pelvic bones form more of a cradle to help carrying the weight of the baby safely and more comfortably. Hence the phrase 'child-bearing hips'.

Safe for the baby, but I am not sure how comfortable that is for the mother.

While your point is mostly true, the bigger factor is the engineering compromise between being an upright walker who has to carry the weight of bladder and intestines and baby, and having a space big enough for a baby with an enormous head to pass through.

Quadruped females generally have a much easier time giving birth, in comparison.

Male human hips can be optimized for running and walking. It is one of the reasons that men are faster runners. (But, weirdly enough, women do just as well as ultra-marathoners.)