OOTS #1203 - The Discussion Thread

[bunsen_h]

Do we know for sure what the properties of "multidimensional stone" are, apart from being a thing that Xykon can't ghostform through?

[Turin_19]

Therkla <3 <3 <3

[Breccia]

And I love Therkla's cameo!

Indeed, the ninja in the corner of the window was an excellent fun touch.

[Dion]

He's probably been putting skill points heavily into Survival since here:

https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0213.html

That was my thought too. I like how he’s been taking the whole “be useful to other people” thing seriously and slowly learning how to do ranger things.

[Alex Warlorn]

Incredible. Belkar put ranks into Tracking.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Incredible. Belkar put ranks into Tracking.

He may have, but that's not needed to explain this.

He may or may not still have 0 ranks in survival and a negative wisdom modifier, but at level 15 his favored enemy bonus became +8, one of his favored enemies is humans, and the paladins are humans. The standard DC for tracking on hard ground, including bare rock, is 20, maybe with a few +1's for time passed, but that would still give a success with a 15 or so rolled. Hard, but not exceptionally so.

[Dion]

Do we know for sure what the properties of "multidimensional stone" are, apart from being a thing that Xykon can't ghostform through?

Well, it probably has multiple dimensions. At least two, and maybe as many as three or four.

Which is an interesting complement to OoTS world, which has slowly evolved from about 1.5 dimensions to about 2.5 dimensions, with few comments from the characters.

[Windscion]

Which is an interesting complement to OoTS world, which has slowly evolved from about 1.5 dimensions to about 2.5 dimensions, with few comments from the characters.

Wait, I thought this dimension was 3.5?

[Ruck]

I do think Roy's line in panel 1 of page 2 is important, but I still have not figured out a single plausible theory about how the dungeon / gate might be trickier than it appears, or what secret there might be that is necessary to actually finding it.

[Oddstar]

He may or may not still have 0 ranks in survival and a negative wisdom modifier, but at level 15 his favored enemy bonus became +8, one of his favored enemies is humans, and the paladins are humans. The standard DC for tracking on hard ground, including bare rock, is 20, maybe with a few +1's for time passed, but that would still give a success with a 15 or so rolled. Hard, but not exceptionally so.

Also, he specifically says that what he has found are scuff-marks from armor boots. Steel sabatons will scrape or scuff rock without too much difficulty. So the DC would probably be less than 20, maybe even substantially less, under these specific circumstances.

I'm about 75% sure Elan got what the game's called and did that routine because he didn't want to play it's what he's supposed to do.
The remaining 25% are cause Elan is an idiot.

In all seriousness, I get the sense that Elan is cleverer than he initially appears. The thought first occurred to me when I was reading his argument with Vaarsuvius after the death of Kubota. He seems to argue quite intelligently (against, incidentally, the member of the party with the highest intelligence score) right up until the moment when it is more useful for him to be stupid, that is, when not understanding V's threat was a good way to defuse the escalating situation. Then suddenly, he was dumb again. Almost as if he were playing dumb, rather than being dumb. And that's the thing, a lot of his stupidity is often very convenient, as if he were playing dumb. And it takes a fair amount of intelligence to be clever and witty enough to come up with puns and quips on demand in the middle of a fight.

[understatement]

I think someone mentioned this earlier, but Belkar's comment about the halfling footsteps would serve as pretty great foreshadowing if it is Serini. Which I am still betting on.

[skim172]

Technically, the full Japanese name is igo. Sometimes spelled "Goe" in modern tourneys to avoid just this situation.

Oddly enough, the game originated in China and arrived in Japan at least a thousand years later, but it was the Japanese name that went global.

The Korean name is baduk, which confusingly is also used as an affectionate term for a stray dog.

[137beth]

The return of Elan's silent singing!
And, does his line in the last panel actually mean "it went on like go for an hour and a half?"

[Fincher]

Another reason Belkar might have put points in survival is Durkon not casting Endure Heat on him back in the desert. But I'm guessing him tracking successfully here is meant to reflect him being a serious member of the team.

[Psyren]

Therkla cameo in the last book, you made my day Giant.

Do we know for sure what the properties of "multidimensional stone" are, apart from being a thing that Xykon can't ghostform through?

Teleportation requires dimensional travel too, so it probably stops that also. It may even block them from scrying inside each one (Teevo or otherwise.)

[Lvl 2 Expert]

But I'm guessing him tracking successfully here is meant to reflect him being a serious member of the team.

Seems like a solid assumption.

[The_Weirdo]

The "Go" joke reminded me of this bit:

[Fyraltari]

In all seriousness, I get the sense that Elan is cleverer than he initially appears.

To quote Doctor Who: my dear, nobody could be as stupid as he seems.

[JumboWheat01]

I spy a ninja assassin in the background of that flashback.

[ebarde]

I doubt anyone would mistake their own prints that they just made, while in a marching order for someone else's. Especially cause if there was another halfling, there would be 2 sets of footprints, so Belkar would have needed to have detected everyone's prints but his own

[Elenna]

Big "who's on first" energy

I came here to say "But who's on first?!", but I was sadly too late.

Darn, I was too late!

Okay who else tried to wipe Blackwing off the first panel on their screen?






Just me?

That would require me to have noticed him in the first place...

[hungrycrow]

The only thing that would make this better is flashback Elan wearing a mysterious eyepatch.

[Emperor Time]

Agree that the Therkla's cameo was a nice touch. And it funny that the misunderstanding lasted for an hour and a half. Also the game of Go has intrigue me, ever since I read a manga about Go which was called Hikaru no Go.

[Doug Lampert]

I just had a thought. Maybe Monster Hollow is all multidimensional because it's at the north pole? I mean if Santa and his elves can hang out invisibly at our north pole, maybe their north pole naturally acts as a nexus? Does make me wonder about the south pole, tho.

It's simple really, the DM's map of the world is on flat paper, and is not Mercator projection.

Since in D&D land the map is the territory, this means that at the North Pole there's a lot more space than it looks like.

[Fyraltari]

The only thing that would make this better is flashback Elan wearing a mysterious eyepatch.

Ooh, that’d have been nice.

[Sniccups]

The game is named Go. It's called many other things [...]

Thank you. I was so hoping someone would reference this.

[Ron Miel]

Then again I'm impressed by Belkar's abilities to find tracks on bare rock.

That's what makes him the world's best tracker under 4 feet.

[Rogar Demonblud]

I wonder if this is also a hint that he put a point into Wisdom at level up, finally removing that penalty.

[Peelee]

Technically, the full Japanese name is igo. Sometimes spelled "Goe" in modern tourneys to avoid just this situation.

Oddly enough, the game originated in China and arrived in Japan at least a thousand years later, but it was the Japanese name that went global.

The Korean name is baduk, which confusingly is also used as an affectionate term for a stray dog.

The history lesson is interesting, but I'm unsure what relevance it has here - the full Common/Azurite name is Go.

[whitehelm]

Hinjo only has himself to blame. "The name of the game is Go." Is that so hard? Maybe add a pause or some air quotes if necessary.