Class and Level Geekery III (some [spoiler]s)

[Porthos]

Actually, Owl's Wisdom didn't exist in 3.0, but the similar Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, and Endurance spells did all give 1d4+1.

Owl's Wisdom (along with Eagle's Splendor and Fox's Cunning) was in Tome and Blood.

[Chrismith]

Also, on Tsukiko's putative arcane necromancy spells, she's made wights, which aren't available from the Animate Dead/Create Undead line. They are, however, available from Enervation, an arcane-only spell (and from Energy Drain, but that's a 9th-level spell). So if she's playing strictly by the rules, she can't have barred Necromancy.

I think undead creation is, like teleport, one of those things that Rich bends the rules on for story purposes. Remember that Redcloak "made" an Eye of Fear and Flame, a Huecuva, and a Death Knight, and those aren't strictly available for creation either (though Redcloak might get special undead creation powers from the Crimson Mantle).

[Kish]

Actually, Owl's Wisdom didn't exist in 3.0, but the similar Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, and Endurance spells did all give 1d4+1. There are many ways that that instance could have been fudged by a single point, including a 3.0-like version of Owl's Wisdom or a DM forgetting what level CSW was for a ranger, so Belkar's wisdom is probably 9.

As someone who finds Belkar with a Wisdom one point below average only marginally more plausible than Belkar having average Wisdom--which is to say, not plausible at all--I'm very glad Wrecan's kept it at simply "less than 10."

[RMS Oceanic]

I think we can estimate Belkar's dexterity from bonus material in Dungeon Crawlin Fools:

Spoiler

Show

There is a strip saying that Belkar should be better at hiding than Haley, since they both have ranks in hide, but Belkar has a racial dex bonus and a size bonus to hiding. Despite this, Haley out-hides him. While this could be a lucky roll, I think the main factor is that Haley's dex is higher than Belkar. Assuming they have the same ranks in Hide, Belkar's total modifier should be smaller than Haley's, despite his advantage. Ignoring ranks in the skill, Belkar's modifier to Hide must be at most +4, since we know Haley's is at least +5 due to her high dexterity. Taking into account that Belkar gets a +1 size bonus to hide checks, we can assume he gets +3 from dexterity, leaving him with a Dex of 16-17.

Admittedly, this theory makes a lot of assumptions, but I think it makes sense. Any takers?

[Glorfindel]

Halflings get a +4 bonus to their Hide checks (due to size modifiers) (and a racial +2 bonus to Move Silently). Ignoring the +2 Dexterity bonus they get ...

I think you're confused with the +1 size bonus to AC and attack rolls.

[RMS Oceanic]

Halflings get a +4 bonus to their Hide checks (due to size modifiers) (and a racial +2 bonus to Move Silently). Ignoring the +2 Dexterity bonus they get ...

I think you're confused with the +1 size bonus to AC and attack rolls.

Whoops. Then under that revision, Belkar has a dexterity of 10-11.

[Chronos]

There's also the possibility that we're wrong about Haley's feats/special abilities, and that she has Skill Mastery in Hide. And even without that, I don't think that we can just arbitrarily discard the possibility of it being the luck of the dice. Four d20 rolls (one for each Hide, one for each opposed Spot) gives a lot wider spread than 4 or 5 points. Haley likely does have a higher Dex than Belkar (if for no other reason than that she prioritizes it higher), but I think it's a stretch to assume that Belkar's dex is merely average.

[Wrecan]

I don't think we can assume they have the same ranks in Hide. Haley, as a Rogue, gets a boatload of skill points, and likely has Hide maxed out. At 14th level, with her estimated Dex, she has a +22 on Hide checks.

Belkar gets +6 (size and race), not including his Dex and Skills. That's a 16 point-gap. Undoubtedly, Belkar has a Dex bonus (I'd say +3) and some ranks in Hide, but I'd be surprised if they closed the gap. As a ranger, he can max out 6-Int skills and as Barbarian 4-Int. I assume as a ranger he's maxed out in Climb (+15), Jump (+15), Tumble (+15) and cross-class Intimidate (+7) and then spread the remaining skills amongst Hide (+9), Move Silently (+9), Profession (gourmet chef) (+4) and Craft (Trapmaking) (+9) (and maybe others). This assumes an Int +0, when he might even have an Int penalty. As a Barbarian he probably shored up his Intimidate (no longer cross-class) (additional +8) and left the rest of the skills as is.

On this estimate, Haley gets a +22 to Hide and Belkar gets +18. Quite simply, Belkar had to spread some skills a bit thin to get that Intimidate bonus.

[Chronos]

Do we ever see Belkar using Intimidate (or more precisely, using it effectively) before he took his barbarian level(s)? He could have kept his stealth skills maxed as a ranger, and then dumped all of his barbarian points into Intimidate. Hide and Move Silently are cross-class for a barbarian, so he's certainly lagging behind Haley now, but Dungeon Crawlin' Fools would have been before he multiclassed.

[Deuce]

There is the idea that Belkar could have a (small) Int bonus. A 12 (+1 bonus) would give him enough points to keep Hide and Move Silent maxed out. We would have to accept that his poor decisions are based on bad wisdom, but he does show some degree of smarts (tactics when fighting Miko). Even some of his "dumb" moments, like not knowing Durkon would need diamonds to Raise him (or that he'd lose a level for that matter) could be chalked up to 0 ranks in Spellcraft or Knowledge:Religion.

[Wrecan]

Do we ever see Belkar using Intimidate (or more precisely, using it effectively) before he took his barbarian level(s)? He could have kept his stealth skills maxed as a ranger, and then dumped all of his barbarian points into Intimidate.

Belkar only gets 4+Int points per level and he had enough Intimidate ranks to cow Skullsy from Hostile to Friendly for a long while. At the time, he had only 1 Barbarian level, so that would have been no more than 4-5 ranks in Intimidate if he took none as a ranger. Plus he has no Charisma bonus and a -4 size modifier. Even for a coward like Skullsy, I don't think a d20+0 is going to cut it (creatures defend against Intimidate with a d20+HD+Wis+save bonus vs. fear effects). And Belkar managaed this in less than the minute normally required, which -- if you analogize to Diplomacy -- incurs a -10 penalty. I'd be surprised if Belkar had not been buying cross-class ranks in Intimidate as a ranger.

[Kurald Galain]

Plus he has no Charisma bonus and a -4 size modifier.

Make that a +4 size modifier. Belkar may be small, but Skullsy is tiny.

Somehow I doubt Belkar has a synergy bonus from Bluff

[Chronos]

At the time, he had only 1 Barbarian level

Probably 2. He already had his first barbarian level as of when the party fought the hag, since he raged against her. Some time after that, Vaarsuvius gives Miko an invoice for a caster level 12 Fireball, so Belkar's first barbarian level was presumably CL 12. By the time of the Battle of Azure City, Vaarsuvius (and probably Belkar as well) was level 13, which means that Belkar had a chance to pick up a second barb level. If we assume an above-average Int and an 8 Cha, that means that he could easily have a +13 on his Intimidate checks versus Skullsy, and he probably got a circumstance bonus on top of that for having already defeated him in combat.

[Kimpire]

And Belkar managaed this in less than the minute normally required, which -- if you analogize to Diplomacy -- incurs a -10 penalty.

The comic does a cutaway; we can't know that it was less than a minute.

[Wrecan]

The cutaway says "Two Rounds Later". He didn't get his full minute.

[moleytov]

No circumstance bonus to intimidate for having just decapitated the EoFaF then?

[RMS Oceanic]

Tsukiko also knows Cold Orb.

[TroyXavier]

Looks like she has no ranks in spot either.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

How many spells Has Tsukiko cast now? She should be past her reasonable limit.

[Glorfindel]

Remember that she's a Mystic Theurge, they don't have a reasonable spell limit. Her spells suck by the way, she can't even hurt a kitten ...

[Tempest Fennac]

Assuming she has a character level of 13 with all but 6 of those being MT levels (while assuming 3 Wizard/3 Cleric as the other levels), she should have at least 6 4+1 4+1 3+1 3+1 2+1 Cleric spells (assuming she gets domin slots from MT levels. If not, take the 1s off all but the 1st and 2nd level spells) and 4 4 4 3 3 2 Wizard spells (assuming she isn't a specialist or Domain Wizard).

[Glorfindel]

We have evidence that she cast the following spells today:

unknown buff spells (#512), probably low level
unknown arcane spell in the 6th panel of #518, probably burning hands
5D: Flame Strike
4D: Cure Critical Wounds
5A: Teleport, Dominate Person, Quickened Lesser Acid Orb
4A: Electric Orb, Fire Orb, Cold Orb
3A: Fly, Lightning Bolt, Fireball
2A: Invisibility

(D = divine, A = arcane)

[lord_khaine]

this would also suggest that belkar has found a animal companion.

[Chrismith]

We have evidence that she cast the following spells today:

unknown buff spells (#512), probably low level
unknown arcane spell in the 6th panel of #518, probably burning hands
5D: Flame Strike
4D: Cure Critical Wounds
5A: Teleport, Dominate Person, Quickened Lesser Acid Orb
4A: Electric Orb, Fire Orb, Cold Orb
3A: Lightning Bolt, Fireball
2A: Invisibility

(D = divine, A = arcane)

Here's the list I've been keeping:

Fly (Arcane) - Off-screen - 3rd
Teleport (Arcane) - 513 - 5th
Flame Strike (Divine) - 516 - 5th
Lightning Bolt? (Arcane) - 516 - 3rd
Dominate Person (Arcane) - 516 - 5th
Cure Critical Wounds (Divine) - 518 - 4th
Fireball (Arcane) - 518 - 3rd
Burning Hands? (Arcane) - 518 - 1st (Or Scorch (SpC)?)
Invisibility (Arcane) - 518 - 2nd
Electric Orb (Arcane) - 518 - 4th
Fire Orb (Arcane) - 519 - 4th
Quickened Lesser Acid Orb (Arcane) - 519 - 1st->5th
Cold Orb (Arcane) - 522 - 4th

She's not at all beyond a reasonable number of spells; the biggest issue is that she's now cast 3 5th-level and 3 4th-level arcane spells. This doesn't really change anything -- it allows for the same options we had before:

• Arcane caster level 10 with a specialty
• Caster level 10 with an Int of 20
• Caster level 9 with a specialty and an Int of 20

If she's a specialist, she's either a Transmuter, an Enchanter, or an Evoker (the last one seems most likely, considering how many of those spells she cast recently), and she's banned Abjuration and Necromancy. As plenty of people have pointed out, it's unlikely that she's banned Necromancy, but until we actually see her do something that requires an arcane necromancy spell, we can't rule it out.

[Glorfindel]

I see I forgot Fly :)

[Amon Star]

Looks like she has no ranks in spot either.

Sorry to nitpick, but it takes Search to find Secret Doors. You also have to deliberately look for them, unless you have some sort of special ability.

[Arteyu]

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0279.html
Does he require Shot on the Run to throw his dagger at Miko?

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0359.html
Even though nothing supports it at the moment, perhaps Improved Shield Bash might be a feat he took? He is the only member to use a shield currently, so it would seem in his best interest to maintain its AC when he decides to attack with it.

[Wrecan]

If Mr. Scruffy is Belkar's animal companion now, then his stats would probably be as follows:

Mr. Scruffy
True Neutral, Male Animal (housecat) 4½ HD
Attributes: (1 point to add)
Str ≥5
Dex ≥17
Con ≥10
Int 2
Wis ≥12
Cha ≥7
Feats (2): Stealthy, Weapon Finesse^B...
Skills (7): Balance 0 (+11), Climb 0 (+7), Hide 0 (+17, +25 in tall grass/heavy undergrowth), Jump 0 (+11), Listen 2 (+3), Move Silently 0 (+9), Spot 2 (+3)...
Abilities: Cat skills (use Dex, not Str, on Climb checks, +4 racial bonus to Climb, Hide and Move Silently, +8 racial bonus to Balance and Jump), devotion (+4 to Will v. enchantment), evasion, link, low-light vision, natural armor +2, scent, share spells, Str/Dex +2, tiny size.
Tricks (9): Attack, Come...

[Wrecan]

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0279.html
Does he require Shot on the Run to throw his dagger at Miko?

No. That may have happened at the end of his turn. It's unclear.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0359.html
Even though nothing supports it at the moment, perhaps Improved Shield Bash might be a feat he took? He is the only member to use a shield currently, so it would seem in his best interest to maintain its AC when he decides to attack with it.

It's possible. But that one shield bash isn't enough to support the theory. To use the shield bash effectively, Durkon would really need the Two Weapon Fighting Feat (otherwise he is -10 to hit with the shield), and that requires a 15 Dex which Durkon doesn't have. All Improved Shield Bash does is let you bash with a shield and keep the shield bonus to the AC.

So I think it unlikely that Durkon gained special Shield Bash training of any sort. I think the shot on the gnome was just done for flavor.

[Kurald Galain]

It's possible. But that one shield bash isn't enough to support the theory.

It's hardly the first time he's done that.

Then again, shield defense bonuses in D&D are nearly irrelevant (well, except if your shield is magical) so I don't think Durkon would mind losing that +1 to AC for one round.

If Mr. Scruffy is Belkar's animal companion now, then his stats would probably be as follows:

Wait, so a cat can carry at least twenty-five kilos worth of gear? Yes, I see that's correct according to RAW, I'm just pointing out the silliness thereof.

(edit) You forgot Trick: Come.