OOTS #1264 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Dragonus45]

Heck yea Modrons! This is gonna be fun.

[Blue Griffin]

What is the other side of his family? I don’t remember what’s his full lineage is.

[Fyraltari]

Oh this is great! nobody reads the user license agreement. Poor Redcloak.

So what is that thing? The Lawful equivalent of a Deva/Fiend? And it takes a part of your soul to summon that? That sounds more like a Fiendish thing. Then again, I suppose bureaucracy is soul-crushing.

Can someone explain to me the joke the roach makes in the third panel? I'm guessing it's base-ball related?

What is the other side of his family? I don’t remember what’s his full lineage is.

He's a Lawful Evil Cleric. He's been leaning hard on his Evil spells, but he also has Lawful tricks up his sleeve.

[Kark]

I'm glad that Mike Wazowski still continues to get work, even if this kind of work is the exact opposite of his previous line.

[hamishspence]

I love the joke on legalese.

So what is that thing? The Lawful equivalent of a Deva/Fiend? And it takes a part of your soul to summon that? That sounds more like a Fiendish thing. Then again, I suppose bureaucracy is soul-crushing.

I figure it's just "XPs are part of the soul"

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/gate.htm

XP Cost
1,000 XP (only for the calling creatures function).

EDIT: Ninjaed.

[Nibelung]

So what is that thing? The Lawful equivalent of a Deva/Fiend? And it takes a part of your soul to summon that? That sounds more like a Fiendish thing.

Gate consumes XP to be cast.

[Ionathus]

Oh my gosh. I never would have expected modrons to make another appearance! This is awesome!

[ellindsey]

What is the other side of his family? I don’t remember what’s his full lineage is.

Not his literal family, but his alignment. He's Lawful Evil, and rather than summoning Evil creatures, he's summoning Lawful ones.

[dancrilis]

I wonder if Redcloak will pay attention to the agreement or if this will come back to mess with him.

[JustAnotherSoul]

I wonder if they're going to point out Redcloaks fallacies here too xD

[Peelee]

I wonder if they're going to point out Redcloaks fallacies here too xD

Why? I woudlnt expect them to have an encyclopedic knowledge on Redcloak's behaviors and statements.

[glowface]

What is the other side of his family? I don’t remember what’s his full lineage is.

Not literal family. These are kins of Redcloak spiritually. Well, alignment-wise.
These are not sharing his evilness (as fiends do). They share his lawfulness.

These are modrons, the otherworldly embodiments of law and order. The same way fiends are epitomes of evil, angels (such as devas) embody goodness, or slaads are incarnates of chaos. They are quasi-mechanical creatures, living in Mechanus (Nirvana), a clockwork plane of existence. They are very hierarchical, with somewhat geometric-shaped creatures representing various levels in the hierarchy. Monodrons are the most simple (such as the Terms of Service chanter here), duodrons above them, tridrons above, then quadrons, pentadrons if I remember correctly.

The main guy is way up in the hierarchy. It's one of their leading entities, who aexist in finite numbers. I may be wrong, the big guy may be a Secundus, one of the four seconds-in-command of the whole modron society, effectively rulers of huge sections of Mechanus, subordinate only to Primus himself.

[Dame_Mechanus]

Why? I woudlnt expect them to have an encyclopedic knowledge on Redcloak's behaviors and statements.

They're entities of pure Law, not pure Logic. So long as he abides by the terms being chanted there's no reason to point out further inconsistencies.

Although that feels like a fun punchline in and of itself.

"Aren't you going to argue my actions are illogical?"
"Hey, buddy, they're your gated planar allies."

[mucat]

I wonder if they're going to point out Redcloaks fallacies here too xD

That was my thought too. Nothing like a modron to shine the searing light of logic on Redcloak's tangled self-narrative.

[Duncun]

Can someone explain to me the joke the roach makes in the third panel? I'm guessing it's base-ball related?

It is baseball related. Usually, if you have the lead, you bring in your best relief pitcher in the 9th(last) inning in order close out the game. But sometimes you will bring them in earlier in the game in order to protect the lead if you feel you are going to lose the lead thereby giving you a better chance at winning even if you don't have your closer in at the end.

[hamishspence]

The main guy is way up in the hierarchy. It's one of their leading entities, who aexist in finite numbers. I may be wrong, the big guy may be a Secundus, one of the four seconds-in-command of the whole modron society, effectively rulers of huge sections of Mechanus, subordinate only to Primus himself.

4 arms and winglike things suggests a Quarton, two ranks down from a Secundus. Maybe a Quinton.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Quarton
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Quinton

EDIT: On closer inspection, that guy has at least 5 arms - not sure what has that.

[Sniper Jo]

I actually fully laughed out loud at "what gate?". Very unexpected callback.

[ellindsey]

4 arms and winglike things suggests a Quarton, two ranks down from a Secundus. Maybe a Quinton.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Quarton
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Quinton

It looks like it has five arms to me. Which as far as I can tell doesn't match the description of any modron, unless it's a Quinton and the fifth arm is actually its tail.

[hamishspence]

It looks like it has five arms to me. Which as far as I can tell doesn't match the description of any modron, unless it's a Quinton and the fifth arm is actually its tail.

After re-checking - that seems like the most plausible explanation so far.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I have to admit, I am not familiar enough with what Redcloak might be summoning to even guess what it is supposed to do to help.

Could someone with more knowledge of the source material help a guy out, and give me your best theory as to what it's probably going to do?

I thought it would help Redcloak find the path forward, but that's only based on context, not knowledge of what the lawful creature Red might have summoned can do.

[JustAnotherSoul]

They're entities of pure Law, not pure Logic. So long as he abides by the terms being chanted there's no reason to point out further inconsistencies.

Although that feels like a fun punchline in and of itself.

"Aren't you going to argue my actions are illogical?"
"Hey, buddy, they're your gated planar allies."

Modrons are beings of unwavering logic and order. Each modron holds a rigidly fixed position in modron society and obeys the orders of its superiors without question. They lack a sense of individuality, referring to themselves as "we".

From this wiki referencing the setting book https://dungeonsdragons.fandom.com/w...lement-17-23-8

My recollection is that they are beings of law, but embody law as logic.

[DaOldeWolf]

No one ever wants to read terms and conditions. Singing them still sounds annoying.

[dancrilis]

4 arms and winglike things suggests a Quarton, two ranks down from a Secundus. Maybe a Quinton.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Quarton
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Quinton

EDIT: On closer inspection, that guy has at least 5 arms - not sure what has that.

I am not sure if Modron's are in the public domain - so like Sunny being a creature that looks like a beholder but is different these might not actually be modrons and as such might not match up with modron physical descriptions.

[hamishspence]

As I recall, Manual of the Planes had a free web enhancement with stats for low-ranking modrons.

[St Fan]

Am I the only one getting Minions vibes from the one-eyed Modrons?

[GooeyChewie]

Can someone explain to me the joke the roach makes in the third panel? I'm guessing it's base-ball related?

Yes, it is baseball related. A “reliever” is a pitcher who is brought in late on the game to replace the starting pitcher. Ideally your starting pitcher gets the opposing batters out quickly and does not need to be relieved until very late in the game, if at all. Relieving your pitcher in inning 7 is considered early and probably means the opposing team is doing well, forcing your pitcher to throw more pitches.

[faustin]

That was my thought too. Nothing like a modron to shine the searing light of logic on Redcloak's tangled self-narrative.

Maybe that's included in the "cost" mentioned, and the other main reason Redcloak doesn't like to summon them.

[Coppercloud]

Thank you, Giant!

I, for one, definitely didn't expect this, and I can't wait to find out what the consequences will be.
Also, in a single comic we have white, pink, red, black and grey speech balloons. Just add an archon and a few gods and we'll be set.
Besides, unless Redcloak reached level 18 since this strip, he just cast both his 9th level spells. I wonder if this spell scroll (?) will play a role if he ends up in need of more spells.

[mjasghar]

Thanks Rich
Oots Modron March ftw