Results 61 to 90 of 835
-
2023-03-09, 10:40 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2004
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
A child could have seen it.
Probably not me as a child, and definitely not me as an adult. But I'm sure there are a number of children who would have gone "they have to go through all the dungeons to find the prize!"Orth Plays: Currently Baldur's Gate II
-
2023-03-09, 10:43 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2016
- Location
- Seoul
- Gender
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
Also, hindsight is +20/+20. If that hasn't happened yet though I don't expect a lot later.
Cool elan Illithid Slayer by linkele.
Editor/co-writer of Magicae Est Potestas, a crossover between Artemis Fowl and Undertale. Ao3 FanFiction.net DeviantArt
We also have a TvTropes page!
Currently playing: Red Hand of Doom(campaign journal)Campaign still going on, but journal discontinued until further notice.
Extended sig here.
-
2023-03-09, 10:43 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2020
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
[Raging.] What statue? There is no statue!
Could that be a job forAquamanEugene? Not likely, but hey.
Why would they? Oona is mostly interested in preserving the flow of monsters, a philosophy that seems to clash with "exterminate everything and hope it all grows back". Lots of shallow dives also sounds less resource-intensive.
Let's see. Girard's was encased in a pillar. Serini's accessible, but it might take more effort than Serini herself can manage if it takes getting through all dungeons within a timespan. In other words, half the Gates were left out in the open and the other half were made quite difficult but not impossible to safely access.
More importantly, everyone was ultimately on board with the "let's split up, never to meet again" thing. Whta kind of maintenance can a Paladin, a Rogue or a sub-epic sorcerer do on something made by epic and arcane and divine magic? The whole "maintenance required" argument rests on a very shaky foundation. I'm not seeing it.
-
2023-03-09, 10:48 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2018
-
2023-03-09, 10:48 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2016
- Location
- Seoul
- Gender
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
Oh, I was misremembering, Shojo only talked about why Dorukan put a self-destruct button on his Gate.
Serini did say that she's opposed to destroying her Gate because hers is the last, but honestly I doubt that.Cool elan Illithid Slayer by linkele.
Editor/co-writer of Magicae Est Potestas, a crossover between Artemis Fowl and Undertale. Ao3 FanFiction.net DeviantArt
We also have a TvTropes page!
Currently playing: Red Hand of Doom(campaign journal)Campaign still going on, but journal discontinued until further notice.
Extended sig here.
-
2023-03-09, 10:48 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2010
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
I don't think it's maintenance as much as the ability to destroy the gates. Remember that unlike the other gates, Dorukon's gate was destroyed through a self destruct button that its creator left behind - clearly he assumed there would be a need for him to destroy the gate.
That point was brought up at the trial in Azure City. The scribbles made it intentional so the gates would be accessible to be destroyed if needed.
-
2023-03-09, 10:49 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
- Location
- Birmingham, AL
- Gender
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
Thin, easily tearable lead sheet (as we see Roy tear it easily).
Dorukan, Soon, and Girard could have built theirs into walls or floors. Serini could have encased hers in the multidimensional stone mountain. They didnt, despite these things being presumably quite simple to do.
So, again, citation? Because aint nobody says that in the comic, to the best of my knowledge. If you can prove me wrong, please feel free to do so.Last edited by Peelee; 2023-03-09 at 10:51 AM.
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 1
-
2023-03-09, 10:53 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2020
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
Actually, Shojo said they are equally baffled by the self-destruct rune.
Dorukan's was weird on many levels; Soon's point was not accessibility but (as per Hinjo) some kind of "moral lesson" to rulers and Girard's was built into a wall. Of sorts.
-
2023-03-09, 10:54 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2021
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
Because the gates exist physically and can't be moved, there's only so much you CAN do to protect them and render them inaccessible.
Someone suggested encasing them in thousands of tons of stone or concrete. Great. I have a spellcaster with fifth level spells who can deal with that. I bet i could do it with second level spells if I really put some effort into it.
Ultimately, that's kind of what Serini did. She encased the gate in some kind of bulwark of dimensional stone that, we don't know the particulars of, but seems to prevent easy teleport, phase, passwall, location, etc like effects to bypass.
Let's say she just stopped there. Encasing it in thousands of tons of dimensional stone. Let's assume that stone shape and other magic for altering stone also doesn't work. Great. Now I'll get to it with a team of enthralled dwarven miners and some alchemical bombs.
This entire dungeon set up IS a way of delaying the person. Because they see it and they think, "aha! I can solve this by dungeon delving" and waste time doing that when they could just blow their way to the center if they weren't distracted.
It's really quite clever.
Ultimately, we have two truths:
Because the gate exists and can't be moved, there is no perfect defense that can't eventually be bypassed or blunt forced through. Each scribbler built the best defense they could with the resources they had with the design philosophy of "destroy what we can, delay what we can't"
This is a self-aware stick figure d&d parady universe that is bound by certain laws of how such a universe works. One such law is "great prizes are guarded by dungeons that can be delved through"
-
2023-03-09, 10:55 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
Interested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
-
2023-03-09, 10:59 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2021
-
2023-03-09, 11:04 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
- Location
- Birmingham, AL
- Gender
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 1
-
2023-03-09, 11:12 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2021
- Gender
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
A child could have seen it that's what makes twists like these work, they're obvious when you know the answer. It's the tomb of Kraagor the Barbarian, in what universe is the solution anything other than conquer all the dungeons? Wish I was in that one cause I didn't see this coming.
-
2023-03-09, 11:21 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2021
- Location
- France
- Gender
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
That is an excellent plot twist.
But also, that means that if they hide one of the doors, then Team Evil will fight through all of them and will not find the Gate. Now, how to do that? Painting crosses doesn't work anymore. Illusions to make the door invisible? Come on, that's a quinton we have here. It has True Seeing at will. But there is one weakness in Team Evil's method: they skip the doors they already fought through. Do they remember these doors? Absolutely not, they just go in, look to see if there are monsters left, and go back outside.
That leaves a hole: if the OotS goes through, what, the 13th door from the end and fights through the first room (they can definitely do that. Even if they're not as strong as Xykon+Redcloak+Oona, fighting half a dungeon when Team Evil was doing 5 per day is quite reasonable), then when Team Evil goes there, they skip it. No illusion here, and Pass Without Trace may be doable if they increase Belkar's Wisdom (alternatively, hope they don't ask Oona to scout in every dungeon).
Then, they do all the doors, and notice that the Gate wasn't there. Of course, Redcloak gets angry, and understands that it was all a shell game, eventually finds the backstage, and goes there with Team Evil, just in time for an actual ambush and the final battle.Resurrecting the Negative LA thread, comments and discussion are very welcome!
Nice find! Have a cookie!
Do you want to build monstrous characters with reasonable LA? Join the Monster Mash! Currently, round XII: One-Punch Monster!!! Come judge single-strike entries!
-
2023-03-09, 11:22 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2015
- Gender
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
Yeah, but I still want to know how it works.
In particular, though, I want to know if/how bypassing the swap-overs and going backstage affects this.
It's been suggested quite a few times, but I struggle to understand what it would add to the story. Or, to be more precise, I think it would devalue MitD's journey if he finally switched sides because of something to do with his dad, rather than because of his character journey and making the decision he ultimately feels is right regardless of whatever the people around him tell him, either way. I suppose that doesn't preclude him showing up somehow, but I struggle to imagine what real, effective narrative role he could play beyond a reunion.
(Admittedly, a bit of that resistance is because the idea often comes up in the MitD thread, so my first thought is usually "Okay, but how does / would that point to a particular species?")
On another topic, really enjoy Serini immediately recognizing that Vaarsuvius is intelligent enough to have accurately deduced the answer.Last edited by Ruck; 2023-03-09 at 11:22 AM.
-
2023-03-09, 11:29 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2021
-
2023-03-09, 11:30 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
- Location
- Birmingham, AL
- Gender
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 1
-
2023-03-09, 11:34 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2012
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
> Goat-smacking fleece folders!
GASP! Such language!
-
2023-03-09, 11:38 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2012
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
That is almost always the case no matter what, because one generally stops looking when one finds what one is looking for…even when the last place you look happens to be the first place you look.
Did you mean something like "You have to look at every place, and the door will be at the last place (out of all possible places) you try?"
-
2023-03-09, 11:40 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
It would continue to be character development. For example, if his dad is more of the kind of monster RC and Xykon where expecting (pre-lowered expectations). Assertive, for example. Or independent-minded, chaffing under Serini's imprisonment (and shortly thereafter under the Quinton's imprisonment). I wouldn't expect his dad to be the catalyst for the heel-face switch, just another stepping stone in his journey towards internalizing that his "friends" are not his friends.
Teal deer, more character development is more good.
GWLast edited by Grey_Wolf_c; 2023-03-09 at 11:41 AM.
Interested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
-
2023-03-09, 11:44 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2014
- Gender
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
Two questions come to mind.
1) How in the nine hells does team Evil have enough spell slots for all the doors? Surely they will need a break soon?
2) Doesn't bypassing monsters with walls of force like the quinton is doing cancel their progression? Surely you're supposed to defeat all monsters properly like a barbarian would, not stroll around in the safety of a force bubble?Yes, I am slightly egomaniac. Why didn't you ask?
Free haiku !
Alas, poor Cookie
The world needs more platypi
I wish you could be
Originally Posted by Fyraltari
-
2023-03-09, 11:44 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2013
- Gender
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
I know someone made a similar argument against "What if Belkar and Serini are related". Was that you too? I like your sense for good story over random plot twists.
Also, I want Roy to wake Serini up a third time before this is over. It will be amusing.
This quinton can create a functionally infinite number of forcewalls with just a thought, letting us contain the defenders and walk past them.Last edited by enq; 2023-03-09 at 11:47 AM. Reason: how many natural 1s can I get when trying to paste a url???
I predict that Belkar will not die evil.
Typically editing my trivia questions to add hints approximately 12, 24 and 36 hours after posting them.
-
2023-03-09, 11:47 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2006
- Location
- Meridianville AL
- Gender
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
I'd considered it and dismissed it, because anything that opens the way after you do all the dungeons has to be added, and why make it POSSIBLE to get to the gate by doing the dungeons when you don't have to make it possible to do it that way?
In hindsight, I can see a reason, there's plenty of informational magic and the oracle out there, someone could have a way to ask, "How can I find Kragor's Gate," that gives a true answere; and if you just bury it in a mountain of dimensional stone, then they get "dig right there", if you put in a bunch of dungeons then they get, "Run the gauntlet".
-
2023-03-09, 11:49 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2021
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
1> they aren't casting any spells. they are walking in, having the quinton push every thing up against the walls with walls of force, walking to the end, and walking back out. They think they are looking for the gate, they don't realize yet that they are checking off each door to get through "the gauntlet"
2> We don't know yet. My personal guess is the "lock" saying they've been through that dungeon is either tied to stepping over and back again through the swapover, or some other hidden marker point they pass when they get to the last room in any given dungeon. Although "having to kill everything" fits thematically with the Kragorr approved gauntlet, at this point finding that out would cancel out the "peril" of what team evil is doing and I don't think the story will do that. I think we have to assume that team evil's current strategy is working by whatever criteria the dungeons are using to determine one has completed it. Narratively, as Elan would say.Last edited by Wintermoot; 2023-03-09 at 11:50 AM.
-
2023-03-09, 11:49 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
Not if "progression" is measured, for example, by reaching the last room of each tunnel. That would just mean Serini didn't think of someone summoning a creature with infinite force wall spells when she set up the progress check, or even if she did, she didn't know how to check "is every creature I put in the tunnel dead" and ahd to go with the approach she could build.
GWInterested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
-
2023-03-09, 11:52 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2006
- Location
- Meridianville AL
- Gender
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
-
2023-03-09, 11:56 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2009
- Location
- Argentina
- Gender
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
For someone who English is not his first language. Can you please explain what is the revelation in this comic?
To what kind of Gauntlet is Roy talking about.
I only know a Gauntlet is like a glove.
So I would appreciate for someone to help explain this comic.
Thanks!Used to be Halfling Rogue/Ranger/Shadowdancer...
Miss that character a lot...
-
2023-03-09, 11:58 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Location
- Dallas, TX
- Gender
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
Very true. Good point.
["Reddie and Bones"?]
Oh, good point. Well done! Go, MitD!
Correct. But Serini said she could give a time estimate without this information. Therefore this possibility is not the truth.
: Now, there are several intriguing mechanisms by which this could be the case, such as —
I conclude from V being cut off that Rich believes that revealing the mechanism (or possibly that even inventing the mechanism) will not improve the story. So he has V state that it can be done and moves on.
Or possibly, he decides that it will make a great reveal later in the story.
Either way, there is no answer until Rich decides that there is one, decides what it is, and decides to tell us. Until and unless that happens, the final dungeon is revealed by Schrödinger's Mechanism.
I once took a class on stage combat. The instructor demonstrated a move in which the sword went over the opponent's head to attempt to hit the off side. I asked, "How doesn't he just hit the head at that point?" The instructor responded, "Because then the fight would be over."
Why would people provide clues to getting into their treasure?Because the author wants the story to end when it's supposed to.
Why do bad guys build unnecessarily slow and escapable death traps for James Bond?
Why are D&D encounters CR-appropriate?
Why does the Riddler send Batman riddles to his crimes?
Why do only six Old West villains attack the sheriff who has a single six-shooter?
-
2023-03-09, 11:59 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
- Location
- Birmingham, AL
- Gender
-
2023-03-09, 11:59 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
Re: OOTS #1277 - The Discussion Thread
A gauntlet also means a series of hard tests that must be taken one after another.
GWInterested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est