MitD XV: The Other Dark One

[Peelee]

I know there’s been plenty of discussion about MitD being able to speak Common, but has it been mentioned that he is also able to read?

Strip 195, panel 8

Generally, only barbarians cannot read or write the languages they can speak.

[Schroeswald]

Quite true. Fortunately, I can wave my hands and do magic tricks!

Posts moved to current thread.

My brain is so messed up that I assumed this was still the same thread and I was rereading everything even after seeing the stuff was moved for some reason until I had to change pages.

[Squire Doodad]

Generally, only barbarians cannot read or write the languages they can speak.

So a Spanish speaking barbarian can read the entirety of Shakespeare, but not the original Don Quixote?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

So a Spanish speaking barbarian can read the entirety of Shakespeare, but not the original Don Quixote?

No, they cannot read either. They need to spend two skill points to unlock the ability to read and write, at which point they can do so for all the languages they speak.

Illiteracy
Barbarians are the only characters who do not automatically know how to read and write. A barbarian may spend 2 skill points to gain the ability to read and write all languages he is able to speak.

A barbarian who gains a level in any other class automatically gains literacy. Any other character who gains a barbarian level does not lose the literacy he or she already had.

(link)

Grey Wolf

[Squire Doodad]

No, they cannot read either. They need to spend two skill points to unlock the ability to read and write, at which point they can do so for all the languages they speak.

Grey Wolf

Sorry, I forgot to blue my text.

[Peelee]

Sorry, I forgot to blue my text.

You, sir, are no Tobias Fünke.

[Nail]

I think I mentioned this in passing before, but have we considered WHY the Monster was in the jungle? Was it just a random encounter or did it have it's own reason for being there? I'm actually asking, I haven't read it yet.

[Peelee]

I think I mentioned this in passing before, but have we considered WHY the Monster was in the jungle? Was it just a random encounter or did it have it's own reason for being there? I'm actually asking, I haven't read it yet.

Neither, as far as I can tell.

[Squire Doodad]

You, sir, are no Tobias Fünke.

I even read it in the voice hahaha

I think I mentioned this in passing before, but have we considered WHY the Monster was in the jungle? Was it just a random encounter or did it have it's own reason for being there? I'm actually asking, I haven't read it yet.

From what I can tell, it seems to have just been there because he was born there/his father moved there shortly after his birth, or something to that effect.

He's probably in the jungle for what amounts to a "Our home ran out of food. There is plenty of food here, so we traveled to here" decision by an ancestor.

[Particle_Man]

Yes, it does. But Huge is already larger than MitD is. We'd need to take away strength, not add it.

GW

Would the dungeonbred template help here?

[catagent101]

Would the dungeonbred template help here?

Rich probably made the template (at the very least he has said he wrote the chapter it was in) so it would probably violate Rich's statement that he didn't make up MiTD. As for the template itself, it doesn't increase Strength so the Aboleth, mage or otherwise, is still insufficiently strong.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Would the dungeonbred template help here?

That also reduces strength, on an already too weak creature.

GW

[Jasdoif]

Would the dungeonbred template help here?

That also reduces strength, on an already too weak creature.

Well, applying dungeonbred and increasing size category through additional hit dice would clear the strength threshold...But somehow, "a larger-than-normal instance of a smaller-than-normal creature" really feels like grasping at straws.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Well, applying dungeonbred and increasing size category through additional hit dice would clear the strength threshold...But somehow, "a larger-than-normal instance of a smaller-than-normal creature" really feels like grasping at straws.

... and at that point it'd still bee too big for MitD.

So it'd have to be a child version of a larger-than-normal instance but bread in some dank dry cave so that it stunted its growth.

I'd say it was a bit unlikely, but I lived through the psammead era, so if anyone wants to pick it as their entry for Crusher's list, I don't think it'd even be in my top-10 unlikely suggestions of the thread.

Grey Wolf

[Fyraltari]

Oona is a beastmaster.

There are also good odds that others of his kind live inside Kraagor’s Tomb and that’s where Oona knows what size they usually are from.

[Xhosant]

There are also good odds that others of his kind live inside Kraagor’s Tomb and that’s where Oona knows what size they usually are from.

I'll play the bard card and say the reveal would be anticlimactic if we have (recently, even) seen said creature but stronger.

[Fyraltari]

I'll play the bard card and say the reveal would be anticlimactic if we have (recently, even) seen said creature but stronger.

I was thinking more that encountering said creature could be part of the reveal.

It also might be good to have introduced the creature to the reader first to avoid the reveal being anti-climatic due to most people not having a clue what the answer actually means. (Vaarsuvius « Wait! Is this a [insert obscure creature from obscure supplement book from 2004]! This is unbelievable! » 99% of the readership « I have no idea who that is. »)
But I have no clue how The Giant could do that without either giving the game away or grinding the plot to a halt by introducing a dozen likely monsters in quick succession.

[Mightymosy]

There are also good odds that others of his kind live inside Kraagor’s Tomb and that’s where Oona knows what size they usually are from.

I think MitD's being in Kraagors dungeon would be a nice story idea

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I think MitD's being in Kraagors dungeon would be a nice story idea

I wouldn't be surprised if MitD's dad was one of the creatures Serini captured and stuffed in the dungeon, myself, but historically, most people that are expecting some variation of this have proposed a comely member of the species of MitD's preferred sexual expression.
Yes, I mean "a girlfriend"
Grey Wolf

[Crusher]

I wouldn't be surprised if MitD's dad was one of the creatures Serini captured and stuffed in the dungeon, myself, but historically, most people that are expecting some variation of this have proposed a comely member of the species of MitD's preferred sexual expression.
Yes, I mean "a girlfriend"
Grey Wolf

So, if MitD is a Black Slaad, they'd find a... fetching, healthy, implantation-vulnerable Deva, perhaps?

Edit - I don't even know if Epic Slaads *can* reproduce.

[Hardcore]

I wouldn't be surprised if MitD's dad was one of the creatures Serini captured and stuffed in the dungeon, myself, but historically, most people that are expecting some variation of this have proposed a comely member of the species of MitD's preferred sexual expression.
Yes, I mean "a girlfriend"
Grey Wolf

Given how dangerous it would be to go monster hunting I figure she just bought them with cash.

[Xhosant]

Is there a spreadsheet or something somewhere featuring some basic stats like DR and Strength, along with stuff like Environment and release date?

((I have found the second half, but it can only narrow down that far))

[Tvtyrant]

Have we ruled out Black Slaadi? Has a father, check. No Mom needed, check. Adult is huge, check. Has teleport abilities, check. CR25, super strong, chaotic, Weaponbreaker and strength 43 for two roles to break things. Even has Stunning Fist, explaining the effect on Miko.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Have we ruled out Black Slaadi? Has a father, check. No Mom needed, check. Adult is huge, check. Has teleport abilities, check. CR25, super strong, chaotic, Weaponbreaker and strength 43 for two roles to break things. Even has Stunning Fist, explaining the effect on Miko.

Black & White slaads have been in the FBS for forever.

GW

[Fyraltari]

Black & White slaads have been in the FBS for forever.

GW

The zebra slaads are the most chaotic of all slaads.

[Peelee]

A theory I liked for a bit was a white slaad, who would turn into a black slaad quickly after revelation, and this still effectively be shadowy.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

A theory I liked for a bit was a white slaad, who would turn into a black slaad quickly after revelation, and this still effectively be shadowy.

The theory is that he'd turn into a black slaad because of the revelation - the XP of it would level him up to Black, so effectively he drops the umbrella, it's a white Slaad... which immediately evolves back into inscrutable shadows as it becomes a black one.

It wasn't supposed to be a serious suggestion when I made it, but I have to say, it has grown on me. There is a nice funny payoff of the kind that would appeal to Rich, I think.

Grey Wolf

[Tvtyrant]

Black & White slaads have been in the FBS for forever.

GW

No one ever said I wasn't pants on head oblivious.

I think the arguments for Slaad are pretty strong, along with them being iconic enough that MitD doesn't seem obscure or opaque as a reveal.

[Fyraltari]

MitD doesn't seem obscure or opaque as a reveal.

Booooooooooo!

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I think the arguments for Slaad are pretty strong

I mean, it checks the boxes fairly well, but the parenting/development is a bit of a stumble. It takes literally centuries to reach white slaad evolution, and as a species, they don't do parenting. It was an open question if Rich would mess with that, but we have seen slaad reproduction in-comic, and it works as RAW, so, if anything, it is a bigger issue than it was a while back. And it'd depend on the hunters believing that slaads talk random nonsense just like Elan does, because there is nothing surprising about a slaad speaking common, AFAIUI.

Grey Wolf