OOTS #603 - The Discussion Thread

[Raging Gene Ray]

When I saw the title, I immediately thought it would involve Belkar recognizing Hank the Halfling Accountant as someone from his village/caravan/whatever-community-OotS-halflings-live-in and lazily throw a dagger in his eye.

But it turned out to be much better.

[Selene]

Hey, Celia really does draw both eyes the same size accidentally! Please don't kill her, Giant. Cut Roy a break for once.

[Mercenary Pen]

Personally, I reckon that Celia's going to end up destroying the staircase with lightning- forcing any thieves guild members without ranged attack to fall 6-10ft to land flat on their faces... I mean, since Pete sold them out, they have no good reason to worry about looking after his house for him, do they?

[David Argall]

Personally, I reckon that Celia's going to end up destroying the staircase with lightning-

But then how do they get out? Celia would be an easy target if they tried to fly. I suppose the cleric can Food and Water them ok, but they are doomed if they stay in the basement.

[Random221]

Hy, do you know what I am waiting for? DING!!!

C'mon, they have been fighting for about 300 strips and no levelup. It is really time now!

Ah, how mutch arrow Haley has? No big deal... I suggest they should use Belkar as a weapon. Make him think anything seriously evil and the Mark of Justice will wipe out all thieves with one 'wawe'

[TheNovak]

I don't think we've actually seen every time the group has dinged. The last time we did see it, it was Belkar...who, looking back at the post-Dungeon of Dorukan strips, was a little behind the rest of the group in XP, leading to his need for a roleplaying bonus. Ergo, Haley either dinged before him or at the same time, but we didn't actually see it happen.

Then again, OOTS seems to have some strange XP rules, so maybe not. For instance, there was poor Shelby the Dragonslayer in the bonus strips for Book 2; he managed an extremely lucky crit and thus received all the XP for the kill, even though others were present and involved in the battle. The others were displeased.

[Solmi]

I laughed for the first time in a long time at this strip.

[banjo1985]

Nice strip this one. I like Mr Unamed Cleric Man already.

[Aenghus]

I think this is Haley's equivalent of the Scouring of the Shire. When she left she was low level, but now she's a pretty powerful adventurer. The rank and file of the thieves guild don't know this as they remember her when she was a kid and will underestimate her. Haley herself hasn't quite realised how much more powerful she is either.

As someone else said, Haley won't be threatened till she faces Crystal.

Now the action has been turned up, it's unlikely that any major slowdowns will get in the way of the action, I think. Whether the sending works or not, I see much of the party reuniting fairly soon.

[Lokasenna]

I don't think we've actually seen every time the group has dinged. The last time we did see it, it was Belkar...who, looking back at the post-Dungeon of Dorukan strips, was a little behind the rest of the group in XP, leading to his need for a roleplaying bonus. Ergo, Haley either dinged before him or at the same time, but we didn't actually see it happen.

Then again, OOTS seems to have some strange XP rules, so maybe not. For instance, there was poor Shelby the Dragonslayer in the bonus strips for Book 2; he managed an extremely lucky crit and thus received all the XP for the kill, even though others were present and involved in the battle. The others were displeased.

Since Belkar leveled up in Azure City, I would assume Haley has done so at least once in the same period, probably more. However, she has lost at least one level on screen, here. Possibly more off screen by other wrights.

[Laurentio II]

I think this is Haley's equivalent of the Scouring of the Shire. When she left she was low level, but now she's a pretty powerful adventurer. The rank and file of the thieves guild don't know this as they remember her when she was a kid and will underestimate her. Haley herself hasn't quite realised how much more powerful she is either.

Crystal knows in details Haley's level. She is her nemesis, and levels everytime Haley does. Ding!

[pjackson]

Then again, OOTS seems to have some strange XP rules, so maybe not. For instance, there was poor Shelby the Dragonslayer in the bonus strips for Book 2; he managed an extremely lucky crit and thus received all the XP for the kill, even though others were present and involved in the battle. The others were displeased.

I think the xp was probably shared between him and Red Cloak and Xykon - but since Shelby was so much lower it dinged him.

[Fraxinus]

Interesting comic! I must say I do like Haley's sudden "seek and destroy" attitude we can see near the end!

[factotum]

When I saw the title, I immediately thought it would involve Belkar recognizing Hank the Halfling Accountant as someone from his village/caravan/whatever-community-OotS-halflings-live-in and lazily throw a dagger in his eye.

I would be surprised if Hank dies here, considering that he helped Haley out back in OtOoPCs...admittedly, ISTR them saying they were even back then, so it's possible that won't stop it.

[Mercenary Pen]

But then how do they get out? Celia would be an easy target if they tried to fly. I suppose the cleric can Food and Water them ok, but they are doomed if they stay in the basement.

Not necessarily. As things would stand, they have all the terrain on their side, meaning that even the toughest guild thieves are going to have difficulty on the way in. With the staircase destroyed, there's room for people to either drop to the floor and provoke an attack as they stand up again OR snipe from the exit, not both. There's no point in Haley and co trying to leave via the only exit until all of Bozzak's people have bitten the dust, because there's probably an ambush set up the other side of the doorway in case she does exactly that... They'll have to wait until after everyone's gone down before escaping in any case, at which point flying becomes a moot point (apart from Celia refusing to carry Belkar out so that he can't puke all over her).

[Shatteredtower]

Can anyone tell me where we're getting "same casting time as spell" from?

In the 3.5 version DMG, on pg 213, second paragraph under the heading USING ITEMS:

"Activating a magic item is a standard action unless the item description states otherwise. However, the casting time of a spell is the time required to activate the same power in an item, whether it's a scroll, a wand, or a pair of boots, unless the item description specifically states otherwise."

This means that it takes ten minutes to cast sending from a scroll, and a quickened action to cast a quickened magic missile from a scroll, not a standard action for both.

Sorry for the delayed response: didn't have my DMG handy until this morning.

As things would stand, they have all the terrain on their side, meaning that even the toughest guild thieves are going to have difficulty on the way in.

The Guild can always try to smoke them out. Even if the cleric has enough protection from fire spells to go around, that still offers no defense against asphyxiation. Sure, there are spells to deal with that problem as well, but I've never seen a cleric prepare them that wasn't expecting an encounter with bad air. (A guy on healing duty at the temple has little reason to expect it would be handy "just in case".)

It's not like Pete's going to want to gripe too loudly about property damage to the people that kept him from regenerating his eyes for all those years.

[spectralphoenix]

The Guild can always try to smoke them out. Even if the cleric has enough protection from fire spells to go around, that still offers no defense against asphyxiation. Sure, there are spells to deal with that problem as well, but I've never seen a cleric prepare them that wasn't expecting an encounter with bad air. (A guy on healing duty at the temple has little reason to expect it would be handy "just in case".)

It's not like Pete's going to want to gripe too loudly about property damage to the people that kept him from regenerating his eyes for all those years.

Can they? Smoke rises, so I don't think they could get smoke into the basement without actually going down there and setting a fire.

[R.O.A.]

what stops them dropping flaming sticks or shooting down fire arrows?

[Scarlet Knight]

Bozzak probably figured he could surprise Haley and have everyone file down the stairs and set up in the basement before storming the secret rooom. Of course, he sends down the expendable people first just in case, but he probably wasn't planning on fighting down the stairs.

Bozzak(aside) : Ok, Hank, who's next?
Hank: um...Toby . Seems the profits from dog-fighting have dropped the last quarter..
Bozzak (aloud) :Toby! You get the honor of first kill today!
Toby: Gee, thanks, Boss! I won't let you down!

[Shatteredtower]

Can they? Smoke rises, so I don't think they could get smoke into the basement without actually going down there and setting a fire.

Smoke also follows the path of least resistance. Seal the exit, and the smoke has nowhere to go. Sure, the fire will eventually consume all available air, but that also kills the defenders.

[Monsterknuffel]

Progress !!

Thank you Giant, for that small step forward.

[Eorek]

I have a feeling V's gonna come in the nick of time to save the day

[Eorek]

I laughed for the first time in a long time at this strip.

Ha, same here!

[Taekwondodo]

is anyone else glad we've got back to hayley? it was starting to drag a bit. Like no-name Loki cleric do you think he joins band now V has flown off?

[Laurentio II]

Smoke also follows the path of least resistance. Seal the exit, and the smoke has nowhere to go. Sure, the fire will eventually consume all available air, but that also kills the defenders.

By the time the smoke start filling the bottom part of the house, he already polluted the air enough to choke the fire.
But anyway, do you really want to try to smoke a sylph? Because there is some relative chance that she has some air spell of sort. Likely.

[Shatteredtower]

By the time the smoke start filling the bottom part of the house, he already polluted the air enough to choke the fire.

Mundane fire, possibly. Either way, the air has been polluted enough to be trouble, especially if you then seal the entrance entirely.

But anyway, do you really want to try to smoke a sylph? Because there is some relative chance that she has some air spell of sort. Likely.

Considering how few core sorcerer spells allow targets to breath polluted air (limited wish and wish), it's not likely at all.

[nleseul]

"Activating a magic item is a standard action unless the item description states otherwise. However, the casting time of a spell is the time required to activate the same power in an item, whether it's a scroll, a wand, or a pair of boots, unless the item description specifically states otherwise."

This means that it takes ten minutes to cast sending from a scroll, and a quickened action to cast a quickened magic missile from a scroll, not a standard action for both.

And the description for spell completion items does specifically state otherwise: "Activating a spell completion item is a standard action and provokes attacks of opportunity exactly as casting a spell does." (From the SRD as previously quoted; don't have my books on hand to look up page references.)

[Shatteredtower]

And the description for spell completion items does specifically state otherwise...

Doesn't matter. The passage I quoted states that it has to be the item that specifically states otherwise -- not the category of the item.

[nleseul]

Actually, looking more closely at the admittedly contradictory rules here, you're probably right. Never mind.

[Arcadius798]

i wonder just how many crimes the ******* guild commited...

anyway, great job rich