OOTS #1014 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Mordae]

That could be a really painful way to go... being bitten to death by a thousand rodent teeth...

[ThePhantom]

Well, at least the sense of pain will let V know that something is very wrong down there.

[Origamite]

Are we going to get a vampire-tiger?
(Also, love the quip about Bloodfeast's mini-ed but still dinosaur teeth being sharp.)

[YossarianLives]

I love Mr. Scruffy slaying the rat in the third panel.

[Lexible]

Rats. Why did it have to be rats?

[Lord Ruby34]

I love Blackwing. Really, sometimes that bird is my favorite character in the comic.

[Abd al-Azrad]

I'm impressed that a vampire can cackle and drink blood at the same time. Must be one of their ridiculously broad set of powers.

Also, we still don't have a reliable counter to a vampire cleric in the OotS-verse, do we? They seem almost impossible to put down, or even slow down, without special circumstances in our heroes' favour.

[KorvinStarmast]

The line about an airship being infested with pigeons was very good!

There are two mechanical issues about this

1. The TP globe turning gaseous? (Is attunement not a 3.5 feature?)
2. And more pressing ...Once the vampire leaves, why would the rats remain? He summoned them, as vampires can, but doesn't he need to be around to direct them? (Then again, if he summoned hungry rats maybe it would not matter).

A discriminating rat epicure would like an answer to the following question:

Does an elf wizard's familiar taste like chicken?

[Mith]

I hope Blackwing survives.

[Porthos]

Raven Boy Who Cried Wolf reference.

Exquisite.

[Psyren]

Dang vampires, even with no spells they get all tricky...

Poor Mr. Whiskers, I hope he's okay

But how can V save them? A blast would risk frying our furry friends and a swarm is tough to deal with otherwise.

[Giggling Ghast]

That's actually a pretty dire situation.

I think being eaten by rats is pretty high on the 'worst ways to die' list.

[Peelee]

Rats. Why did it have to be rats?

I believe you win the thread.

[Shekinah]

I love the little "No fair!" that the vampire exclaims when the rats get stomped on. I mean, vampires are always known for playing by the rules.

[Flemkopf]

Wow, I hope that our favorite tiger is all right. That would be a really painful way to go, getting all the blood sucked out of you and then getting eaten by rats. Speaking of which, can animals become vampires? Do the become vampire spawn? Do they just stay dead?

[Abd al-Azrad]

1. The TP globe turning gaseous? (Is attunement not a 3.5 feature?)
2. And more pressing ...Once the vampire leaves, why would the rats remain? He summoned them, as vampires can, but doesn't he need to be around to direct them? (Then again, if he summoned hungry rats maybe it would not matter).

1. I'm betting it's something like, "The subject and all its gear become insubstantial, misty, and translucent." Vampires turn to mist as per Gaseous Form, so I presume that as soon as it picked up the orb, the orb became a possession of the Vampire's, and is now part of the spell's target.

2. The summoned Children of the Night must serve the summoning Vampire for one hour. The Vampire could easily just leave them with a simple command ("attack everyone you see") and then leave those as standing orders. You are correct that the Vampire can't direct them to take new actions, but they'll continue to follow whatever they were last told to do until they succeed.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Uh oh, poor Blackwing.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Uh-oh. Yeah, this is bad. And actually really nightmarish to contemplate. If nothing else V will absolutely notice Blackwing being attacked!

Ah, this brings back memories of when the wizard's familiar was attacked by another familiar in the middle of the night. That was astonishingly tense for a scuffle between a weasel and a snake.
EDIT: I also just noticed the pigeon reference--hah!

[Alex Warlorn]

One is a familiar and the other is an animal companion, they can handle one stupid Rat Swarm.

[Draconium]

I think that our favorite tiger will be all right - his eyes aren't X-ed out, are they? Though I really do hope that the pets survive the rat attack. They're some of the best characters.

[KorvinStarmast]

1. I'm betting it's something like, "The subject and all its gear become insubstantial, misty, and translucent." Vampires turn to mist as per Gaseous Form, so I presume that as soon as it picked up the orb, the orb became a possession of the Vampire's, and is now part of the spell's target.

I guess that's a "no" on attunement. Good enough, he need not use it, just include it in his kit. Thanks.

2. The summoned Children of the Night must serve the summoning Vampire for one hour. The Vampire could easily just leave them with a simple command ("attack everyone you see") and then leave those as standing orders.

Thank you, makes sense and good to go.

As to Blackwing, I think that this weekend the beer and wings vendors at the various arenas for gladiator contests need a new flavor:
Black Wings.
(@Lord Ruby34: Nobody loves a drama queen).

[Professor Gnoll]

Surely such a commotion will allow the rest of the Oots to smell a rat?

[Lord Torath]

Aww, poor Whiskers! But no X's in the eyes, so he's still alive! But the ultra bauble's been stolen!

[KorvinStarmast]

Surely such a commotion will allow the rest of the Oots to smell a rat?

Only if they didn't bathe, or ate a load of beans before this summons.

[grandpheonix]

Round 1 v teleports in.
Round 2 v cast chain lightning.
Round 3 his soul gets grabbed again.

[Abd al-Azrad]

One is a familiar and the other is an animal companion, they can handle one stupid Rat Swarm.

And the two others are an animal companion and a Tyrannosaur. There are tons of hit points for those rats to burn through before anyone is in mortal peril.

Still though. Not fun being eaten by swarms of vermin.

[Telwar]

One is a familiar and the other is an animal companion, they can handle one stupid Rat Swarm.

I suspect the cat could handle the rat swarm by himself; while rats can dogpile (sorry) a cat in numbers, Mr. Scruffy's got what, 8 hit dice? He should be fine, so long as Belkar's alive.

...which he is, I can't imagine that he'd be killed off-screen.

[Alfa]

A tense situation made with rats (when the PCs are over level 15 probably), awesome. You cannot forget such classic monsters even at high levels.

[KorvinStarmast]

I can't imagine that he'd be killed off-screen.

I can, but with the content stretch required to achieve the objectives stated, the interlude to examine in detail the Belkar versus Gravity situation is more likely.

More importantly, Rich saves some of his best wisecracks for Belkar. This situation is a great set up for at least one outstanding wisecrack on the way out the door. It's just not a Belkar moment without a wiseacre remark.