Serini is a moron

[danielxcutter]

(Sabine, you mean)

Thank you, fixed.

[Rynjin]

15th-17th level? I was under the impression that it was closer to 14th-15th level. I don't remember her using any 8th-level spells.

Yeah. Fun fact I just learned: 3.5 Ancient Black Dragons only have a CL of 11...not even enough to cast 6th level spells.

They were probably just adjusted up one CL to make it possible (or Rich just forgot, didn't know at all, or didn't care because it doesn't really matter).

[danielxcutter]

Yeah. Fun fact I just learned: 3.5 Ancient Black Dragons only have a CL of 11...not even enough to cast 6th level spells.

They were probably just adjusted up one CL to make it possible (or Rich just forgot, didn't know at all, or didn't care because it doesn't really matter).

I really just think the ABD took additional Sorcerer levels. Maybe Rich borrowed Loredrake from Eberron too.

[hungrycrow]

Yeah. Fun fact I just learned: 3.5 Ancient Black Dragons only have a CL of 11...not even enough to cast 6th level spells.

They were probably just adjusted up one CL to make it possible (or Rich just forgot, didn't know at all, or didn't care because it doesn't really matter).

She also cast Finger of Death, so she was at least CL 14.

[hamishspence]

I really just think the ABD took additional Sorcerer levels.

That is, I think, what "a passion for the arcane arts, even moreso than others of my kind" is supposed to mean.

https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0627.html

[danielxcutter]

That is, I think, what "a passion for the arcane arts, even moreso than others of my kind" is supposed to mean.

https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0627.html

Yeah, that's why I thought so.

[Ionathus]

I actually think a serious assault in the real world is a pretty good equivalent to what Hilgya did to Durkon (counting both the murder and the resurrection; otherwise that changes the calculus).

I mean, when you think about it, she rezzed him more times than she killed him. As long as she finishes the sequence by rezzing him, she can do as many murders as she wants and still come out in the positives!

Hack fantasy ethics with this one weird trick -- philosophers HATE her!!!

[Sindeloke]

Do we know how old the silver dragon was, actually? Maybe they had lucky rolls and Xykon had bad ones.

That does tend to go around, in this setting. As Bacon Elemental points out:

They proceeded to burn an assload of high level spells/psionic mojo just catching up, lost their wizard to his own optimisation in the first round of actual combat, and were carried hard by their psion remembering that the Order is physically incapable of making save-or-suck saving throws and one-shotting the entire party with a mass stun effect.

The DM of this universe has stepped back from obvious railroad plots since Miko's time, but has made no secret of rolling with weighted dice ever since. It's something we should probably account for when we're talking about optimization; it's actually not smart for "players" in this setting to invest in boosting spell DC, for example, even though that's usually one of the best uses of your time in 3.path, and it's inexcusable to not spend spell slots on Mind Blank if you can cast at sor/wiz 8.

Which actually means that Belkar getting that clasp is the smartest thing anyone in the party has ever done. The fact that he isn't lording that over V every second is surely a sign of character growth.

Second, I find Malack's ECL a horrible comparison. I find CR to be much more reasonable; it's not like anyone considers the frost giant clerics as epic threats.

ECL is terrible and badly tuned in general, but vampires are one of the worse offenders. It's too bad that it took them until so late in the system's life cycle to figure out racial class levels; vamp would have been a strong contender for a 6-10 level "racial" PrC.

[TooSoon]

The ABD was likely a level 17 sorcerer, though you could crib it as a level or 2 less:
https://forums.giantitp.com/showsing...&postcount=135
That gives them so many casts of AMF that not only is Xykon not going to have 14-16 uses of Superb Dispelling, but he would assuredly die if he used it that many times. He's also getting grappled during the time this is happening, and the Dragon will have crushed him into a fine powder before 16 rounds expire.

Miron not using Horrid Wilting from a distance made no sense. Basically the Vector Legion was handed the L by the plot. I have no difficulty thinking they were approx. level 20, Tarquin by himself was effortlessly fooling around with the whole order (minus V), and they were about level 15-16 at the time anyway. Tarquin's arrow catching feat technically pegs him as Epic, but people find reasons to ignore it because they "don't like the idea of listing him as Epic".

[Forum Explorer]

The ABD was likely a level 17 sorcerer, though you could crib it as a level or 2 less:
https://forums.giantitp.com/showsing...&postcount=135
That gives them so many casts of AMF that not only is Xykon not going to have 14-16 uses of Superb Dispelling, but he would assuredly die if he used it that many times. He's also getting grappled during the time this is happening, and the Dragon will have crushed him into a fine powder before 16 rounds expire.

Miron not using Horrid Wilting from a distance made no sense. Basically the Vector Legion was handed the L by the plot. I have no difficulty thinking they were approx. level 20, Tarquin by himself was effortlessly fooling around with the whole order (minus V), and they were about level 15-16 at the time anyway. Tarquin's arrow catching feat technically pegs him as Epic, but people find reasons to ignore it because they "don't like the idea of listing him as Epic".

And Roy's Mage Slayer feat (or whatever you want to call it) won't work if his opponent just takes a 5-foot step back. Oh, and I'm pretty sure you can't interrupt an implosion spell mid cast.

The comic plays very fast and loose with the 3.5 rules. While it might be fun to try and build the characters from the comics, it won't actually give you much of an idea on what characters will actually do.

[Bacon Elemental]

I'm pretty sure you can't interrupt an implosion spell mid cast.

I think Implosion requires a full round of concentration to implode each character, without a free on-cast implosion, no?

[Darth Paul]

The DM of this universe has stepped back from obvious railroad plots since Miko's time, but has made no secret of rolling with weighted dice ever since.

Where does it say that he rolls dice at all?

Authors don't have to decide what happens in their stories by what the odds are; if they did, there would frequently be no story at all, since so many plot twists involve chance meetings, freak accidents, mysterious coincidences (and are frequently lampshaded as such). This frequently mirrors real life, since things happen against the odds all the time. If they didn't, then nobody would have miraculous recoveries or tragic accidents.

As for "rolling dice", we have to accept that good or bad rolls happen all the time. People get on hot streaks and cold streaks. I have frequently beaten 1/8000 odds by rolling a 1, 3 times in a row. Once it cost me my magic weapon (fumble, roll "Injure self, break weapon" on fumble chart, epic fail save to not break magic weapon). If it happens at a dramatic time in the narrative; well, isn't that what combat is supposed to be? A dramatic event?

At least it's still about the comic. They're usually about Star Wars by now.

Point taken, objection withdrawn