OOTS #1238 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Metastachydium]

Riftwolf, you are a genius.

[RMS Oceanic]

Beauty's in the eye of

[Windscion]

Yeah, I did not...
See That Coming.

(The Beholder bit. The ambush was kinda telegraphed.)

[Ruck]

Not a bad plan, but I get the suspicion that Serini might be underestimating the Order's capabilities here.

Also, cue speculation that the beholder is the same one as #32 and it ends up being the "unexpected ally."

[Rogan]

Awwww...
That's an adorable little monster!

Can I get one as a pet? Or at least one made of plush, for cuddling?

[dancrilis]

So far this is being a fairly successful ambush - and nice to see that Serini has lots of friends.

[Psepha]

Oh my GODS, I did not see that coming.

Though now that I think about it, Haley did promise they'd call.

[Fyraltari]

Took me a while to parse that "Mimi shut the door" wasn't an order. Does anyone know what Mimi is exactly? And what was holding Elan in place?

Also, I guess that shoots down the theories that "Orange" would be related to the MitD.

Also, also:

[Windscion]

Awwww...
That's an adorable little monster!

Can I get one as a pet? Or at least one made of plush, for cuddling?

Eh, you could get a plush pumpkin and draw eyes on it.

Fyr: Mimi is probably a mimic.

[Alaris]

For a fighter-type, Roy sure has a terrible Fortitude Save. He seems to go down to Poison at every opportunity it's used.

That said, it's going to be an interesting fight in the dark, with magic turned off.

[Bisqwit]

So uh, am I correct in understanding that Sunny’s vision projects an antimagic field of some sort?

[RMS Oceanic]

For a fighter-type, Roy sure has a terrible Fortitude Save. He seems to go down to Poison at every opportunity it's used.

That said, it's going to be an interesting fight in the dark, with magic turned off.

To be fair this also took down O-Chul, who probably has the best fortitude save this side of epic. She's just that good.

[Shining Wrath]

A pet beholder? That's epic level mount, right there.

And yes, things are going south rapidly for the Order. V more or less useless, Roy down, Haley blind. But ... dwarves resist poisons pretty effectively.

[kierthos]

So uh, am I correct in understanding that Sunny’s vision projects an antimagic field of some sort?

Yep. Central eye of of a Beholder (at least a standard one) is an anti-magic cone.

[Alaris]

To be fair this also took down O-Chul, who probably has the best fortitude save this side of epic. She's just that good.

That's fair. I hadn't thought about that.

And it is most likely epic poison, since she is 21+.

Aww well, Roy wasn't going to do much against the flying Beholder anyway.

[Fyraltari]

Eh, you could get a plush pumpkin and draw eyes on it.

Fyr: Mimi is probably a mimic.

Makes sense, thanks.

A pet beholder? That's epic level mount, right there.

Hey! Adopted children are neither pets or mounts!

[RMS Oceanic]

So uh, am I correct in understanding that Sunny’s vision projects an antimagic field of some sort?

Yes, beholders have Anti-Magic cone and a broad range of spells which accomodates for Elan's enforced shenanigans

[GeneralVryth]

An Anti-magic field is a fun new wrinkle to see how the Order gets out of.

[zql]

damn friggin parody as fair use!

[Psepha]

For a fighter-type, Roy sure has a terrible Fortitude Save. He seems to go down to Poison at every opportunity it's used.

That said, it's going to be an interesting fight in the dark, with magic turned off.

Let's be fair here, that poison even took down Ochul and he must have sky-high constitution

EDIT: RMS Oceanic beat me to it lol

[Shining Wrath]

So uh, am I correct in understanding that Sunny’s vision projects an antimagic field of some sort?

Yes, the central eye of a beholder projects a cone of antimagic. The other little eyes do various things - petrification, disintegration, that sort of fun stuff.

[Ruck]

Not a bad plan, but I get the suspicion that Serini might be underestimating the Order's capabilities here.

Also, cue speculation that the beholder is the same one as #32 and it ends up being the "unexpected ally."

The more I think about it, the funnier it would be if it was, and a running gag down the stretch was the comic constantly breaking records for longest time between callbacks.

Didn't catch the anti-magic field at first; that makes Serini's plan better, although I'm assuming it can't really succeed here (but I'm also assuming they'll have some opportunity to state their case).

[kierthos]

Let's be fair here, that poison even took down Ochul and he must have sky-high constitution

EDIT: RMS Oceanic beat me to it lol

Plus, Roy isn't your bog-standard dumb as a sack of rocks fighter. Don't get me wrong, he's strong, and he's tough, but he's definitely (stat-wise) the most well rounded character in the party.

And all it takes is failing one save. Unless he's faking, but there's no real advantage in doing that, that I see.

[Linneris]

Also, cue speculation that the beholder is the same one as #32 and it ends up being the "unexpected ally."

That's almost certainly it. Rich, you're a genius!

I wonder if anyone's considered the beholder from #32 in the guessing thread.

[Psepha]

Hang on... if memory serves, Elan knows Neutralize Poison - there may be hope for Roy yet! Just need to sort out that antimagic field

[kierthos]

Hang on... if memory serves, Elan knows Neutralize Poison - there may be hope for Roy yet!

They're in an anti-magic cone. No spell-casting is possible while that's still active.

Now, Haley probably has some non-magical, pointy way of making it blink... but she has to be able to see it. Or at least target it effectively.

[pendell]

...
I call DM shenanigans.

Wayy back in the first book a ten-eyed creature was ruled off-limits because it wasn't SRD. For Rich to introduce one now is unexpected, yes, but it's unfairly unexpected because it's a creature the DM previously ruled out of bounds.

I suppose there really isn't any reason he can't use a be- or whatever homebrew suspiciously looks like a 3.5E beholder. (a holderbe? A redloheb? ) and the original strip was simply a parody joke. Even so, I don't like this development. As a rule, the strips are funny because Rich finds a way to surprise and delight us while remaining in the confines of the rules he's established for what we are to expect. For him to pull something out of left field like this makes it hard for me to continue suspending disbelief. It makes it too obvious that the author CAN pull anything out if he wants to, and that makes it harder to believe there are any stakes to this outcome.

Be that as it may, I think I'm going to like Serini. She seems pretty good at befriending monsters and the relationship she has with 'Sunny' does suggest a fair amount of love there.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Psepha]

They're in an anti-magic cone. No spell-casting is possible while that's still active.

Now, Haley probably has some non-magical, pointy way of making it blink... but she has to be able to see it. Or at least target it effectively.

Yeah forgot about that on my original post lol. Hope someone has a sunrod or something

[dancrilis]

Reviewing it the beholder was foreshadowed.

Panel 1 the pictures have a beholder beside a small person.

Also interesting Serini has access to anti-magic on demand and still thinks Xykon is unbeatable - which might say a lot about how out of depth The Order are.