OOTS #1242 - The Discussion Thread

[bunsen_h]

To be fair that gladiator was just a level 1 Commoner.

Do we have a clear indication of whether or not Bloodfeast made its saving throw to retain its original HPs, memories, etc.? That would make a big difference in terms of how even the fight would be. Mr. Scruffy has more attacks and better potential for doing damage, I think, so I suppose it could be a more even fight than might otherwise be the case even if Bloodfeast still has the HPs of an allosaur.

[Thermophille]

Do we have a clear indication of whether or not Bloodfeast made its saving throw to retain its original HPs, memories, etc.? That would make a big difference in terms of how even the fight would be. Mr. Scruffy has more attacks and better potential for doing damage, I think, so I suppose it could be a more even fight than might otherwise be the case even if Bloodfeast still has the HPs of an allosaur.

Would Bloodfeast still have its BAB from being an allosaur? It would explain being able to hit a vampire's AC.

[Fyraltari]

Haley obvious means "boys" in the sense of pre-marriage males; which is everyone except V and herself.

You heard it, folks: Minrah is a(n untransitionned) trans man.

[RatElemental]

Wonder if there's a prestige class for petrified dwarves...
Also nice to see Minrah being low-level effective and Bloodfeast being suspiciously intelligent.

Well there's renegade mastermaker which lets you slowly turn yourself into a living golem. That... almost fits?

[Reboot]

Would Bloodfeast still have its BAB from being an allosaur? It would explain being able to hit a vampire's AC.

No: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/balefulPolymorph.htm

Considering that he was an animal to start with, the only things that would make a difference from making the saving throw are HD & HP. BAB is specifically excluded.

[TerrickTerran]

Never knew how much I'd enjoy an emotionless Belkar but I do.

[Psyren]

The Fear spell is listed as mind effecting, and I can't see anything in any of the other spell descriptors (confusion or crushing despair etc) don't seem to have anything specifying that they exercise mental control. I don't see any distinction in the spell descriptions.]

Fear doesn't provide any kind of control. You can't choose where they run, what abilities they use to escape, when they stop running and cower instead etc.

Confusion is in a similar boat. Pro:Evil is not Mind Blank.

[Skull the Troll]

No: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/balefulPolymorph.htm

Considering that he was an animal to start with, the only things that would make a difference from making the saving throw are HD & HP. BAB is specifically excluded.

Excepts he's probably forgotten being a allosaur at this point. Imagine full-sized Bloodfeast trying to scurry under the couch! :)

[Chauncymancer]

Does PfE freeing Elan imply that Sunny is Evil?

You heard it, folks: Minrah is a(n untransitionned) trans man.

Minrah is the subject of this sentence, so obviously excluded from the described group.

[PattThe]

Haley obvious means "boys" in the sense of pre-marriage males; which is everyone except V and herself.

Q: "What separates the men from the boys?"
Haley: "Commitment."

[bunsen_h]

Excepts he's probably forgotten being a allosaur at this point. Imagine full-sized Bloodfeast trying to scurry under the couch! :)

Per the SRD, the affected creature has to make a save only once to avoid forgetting about its prior life right away. It isn't clear how quickly an animal might be expected to lose its memories just on the basis of having fairly limited cognition. ("Am I a lizard dreaming that I am an allosaur, or am I an allosaur that dreamed of being a lizard?")

I have a vague recollection of a book mentioning a really large pet that used to hide in a small location when it was a baby, which never grasped that it was no longer able to fit in there, and caused havoc whenever it tried. But the recollection is refusing to come into focus for me.

[Nith]

Question for those of you who know DnD better than I do: Does Elan have to keep the clasp on to not fall back to the magic effect or can he saefly take it off now that it has cured him?

[Yuki Akuma]

He needs to keep it on until the Charm Person SLA expires.

[TheNecrocomicon]

Fear is a Mind-Affecting spell

I must not fail my save against Fear.

Fear is the Mind-Affecter.

Fear is the low-level spell that brings Total Party Kill.

I will face my Fear spell.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past, I will roll the d20 to determine its effect.

Where the Fear spell has been cast, there will be nothing.

Only my PC will remain.

[Nith]

He needs to keep it on until the Charm Person SLA expires.

I'm sorry, SLA?

[hamishspence]

Spell-Like Ability.

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAb...lLikeAbilities

[ff7hero]

I must not fail my save against Fear.

Fear is the Mind-Affecter.

Fear is the low-level spell that brings Total Party Kill.

I will face my Fear spell.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past, I will roll the d20 to determine its effect.

Where the Fear spell has been cast, there will be nothing.

Only my PC will remain.

*golf clap*

[Riftwolf]

Question for those of you who know DnD better than I do: Does Elan have to keep the clasp on to not fall back to the magic effect or can he saefly take it off now that it has cured him?

In short, no. The clasp suspends the effect, not cured it. Think of it like putting your hand over the lens of a flashlight. You haven't switched the light off, you've just stopped it from lighting up the room. If you move your hand away, the torch lights up the room again. A spell like Dispel Magic would switch the flashlight off.

[Nith]

In short, no. The clasp suspends the effect, not cured it. Think of it like putting your hand over the lens of a flashlight. You haven't switched the light off, you've just stopped it from lighting up the room. If you move your hand away, the torch lights up the room again. A spell like Dispel Magic would switch the flashlight off.

Thank you!

[Reboot]

In short, no. The clasp suspends the effect, not cured it. Think of it like putting your hand over the lens of a flashlight. You haven't switched the light off, you've just stopped it from lighting up the room. If you move your hand away, the torch lights up the room again. A spell like Dispel Magic would switch the flashlight off.

Of course, Elan *has* Greater Dispel Magic as one of his spells. Firing off an area dispel wouldn't be the worst of ideas right now - if he makes the roll, it gets rid of the Charm on himself, Fear on Belkar, whatever-it-is on Scruffy, Slow on V (although V would need extra spells to get back up, which he seems to be prioritising) and gets Haley her bow back.

[JonahFalcon]

Of course, Elan *has* Greater Dispel Magic as one of his spells. Firing off an area dispel wouldn't be the worst of ideas right now - if he makes the roll, it gets rid of the Charm on himself, Fear on Belkar, whatever-it-is on Scruffy, Slow on V (although V would need extra spells to get back up, which he seems to be prioritising) and gets Haley her bow back.

Elan has Neutralize Poison, which is his first priority with V.

[bunsen_h]

Of course, Elan *has* Greater Dispel Magic as one of his spells. Firing off an area dispel wouldn't be the worst of ideas right now - if he makes the roll, it gets rid of the Charm on himself, Fear on Belkar, whatever-it-is on Scruffy, Slow on V (although V would need extra spells to get back up, which he seems to be prioritising) and gets Haley her bow back.

Just as long as it gets Durkon back into action, to do the healing that would be necessary from being underfoot with Bloodfeast back at full size in a confined space.

[danielxcutter]

Greater Dispel Magic's not enough for undoing petrification. Besides, a single area dispel isn't nearly enough to reliably undo any of the effects Sunny's done; it's more likely to just zap one of their own buffs.

[Yendor]

Besides, a single area dispel isn't nearly enough to reliably undo any of the effects Sunny's done; it's more likely to just zap one of their own buffs.

Well then, that's obviously what will happen next. And it will be... before... V... can... explain.

[danielxcutter]

I hope not. I want to see the Order actually being competent.

[Peelee]

I hope not. I want to see the Order actually being competent.

Meanwhile, I want to see an entertaining scene without demanding exact moment-by-moment constant winning by the Order in every strip from now until the end of the comic.

[danielxcutter]

Meanwhile, I want to see an entertaining scene without demanding exact moment-by-moment constant winning by the Order in every strip from now until the end of the comic.

Don't have to win to be competent. I'm thinking of stuff like the dining hall fight, where they went down from a few blown saves but still went out swinging and did well before that point. Instead of cheesing it with Sunny's AMF and then incapacitating most of the Order with a hail mary like it's been so far.

[Peelee]

Don't have to win to be competent. I'm thinking of stuff like the dining hall fight, where they went down from a few blown saves but still went out swinging and did well before that point. Instead of cheesing it with Sunny's AMF and then incapacitating most of the Order with a hail mary like it's been so far.

What you define as "competent" sounds to me like "never failing". And you want it in each and every strip. I suspect you're going to be frustrated with many strips if you take each one piecemeal and only analyze how they are doing in that strip alone, when they are meant to be part of a greater whole.

Or, more simply: you called the last strip "ground into paste", while this strip shows that was merely a setback for them to overcome. Fight ain't over, dude. Let it happen.

[danielxcutter]

Ugh. No I don’t want them “never failing”. I just want them to put up a fight like they are now before they get captured and the IFCC butts in or something instead of the entire fight going like 1241.

[Fyraltari]

Ugh. No I don’t want them “never failing”. I just want them to put up a fight like they are now before they get captured and the IFCC butts in or something instead of the entire fight going like 1241.

So you are complaining because the fight is going the way you want it to?

I think it's worth taking a look at how The Giant writes fight scenes:

For battles, I almost never [script the entire scene in advance], though I often have an idea of the end condition—what needs to happen for it to not be a fight anymore. Then I sort of wing it strip to strip until I get to that result. For example, when I started working on the showdown outside the dwarven council chamber, I didn’t really have anything planned out except for the end part inside the room. The inclusion of the giant death worm was entirely spur-of-the-moment, as was the personality I gave him and the fact that he ate Kandro (I expected Kandro to die, I just hadn’t worked out how). I’ve found that overplanning the battle scenes tends to make them feel like foregone conclusions, while scripting by the seat of my pants makes it more likely that the action will take some intersting twists and turns before it gets to the end.