Oots 439

[Drowbane]

It's all graphic references to a certain Dark Elf Who May Not Be Named.
Check the covers of his recent books.

When did Drizzt Do'Urden become part of the Cthulu Mythos?

And yea, I saw the Belkar/Drizzt paralel too in his moves. I considered it cool imagery though.

 

[KB9JMQ]

Er, that is indeed how you do it. The total EL of the encounter may be different, but the XP award is still based on 6 x CR of an individual hob. Which would be zero, and is probably a better indication of the difficulty of the fight than the EL.

Well, guess I didn't get that at all. I have been playing how long and never interpreted the rules that way.
So even if you use resources and take damage you may as well as not had the encounter at all?

 

[hong]

Well, guess I didn't get that at all. I have been playing how long and never interpreted the rules that way.
So even if you use resources and take damage you may as well as not had the encounter at all?

Well, you do get the satisfaction of pwning a mob. Doesn't that count for anything? WHAT ARE WE HERE FOR ANYWAY???/

 

[Sammael]

Hong is right regarding the EL/CR thing. However, I think every DM worth his or her salt would award an ad hoc award to Belkar in this particular case.

 

[ajanders]

When did Drizzt Do'Urden become part of the Cthulu Mythos?

And yea, I saw the Belkar/Drizzt paralel too in his moves. I considered it cool imagery though.

You can name him, but only if you want to be taken away by the lawyers.
The spoooky lawyers.

 

[MarkB]

Just goes to show the value of good leadership. It'd only take one sensible bad guy to shout "Grapple him, all together!" and Belkar'd be toast.

 

[Sammael]

A 1st level hobgoblin has +2 to grapple. If 8 hobgoblins tried to grapple Belkar at the same time, one would roll, and 7 others would use the "aid another" action. They need to roll a 10 on the grapple check to grant the +2 bonus, for which they have a 65% chance; in other words, the average bonus they'd provide is +9 (+2 x 7 x 0.65), for a total grapple modifier of +11.

On the other hand, Belkar is small (-4), but he has something like 11 levels of ranger (+11) and at least one level of barbarian (+1), and he was shown in previous comics to be fairly strong for a halfling (so, at least a Str 10... if not more). When he rages, he gets another +2 from Str increase, for a total of +10. They'd be evenly matched, but Belkar uses light weapons, so he'd be able to stab hobgoblins while grappled, whereasthey wouldn't be able to do much of anything to him (he has a lot of hp).

 

[Klaus]

Hong is right regarding the EL/CR thing. However, I think every DM worth his or her salt would award an ad hoc award to Belkar in this particular case.

Agreed. In this case, even if the hobgoblins aren't worth any XP by themselves to Belkar, the DM could (and should) award bonus XP to Belkar's player for roleplaying the little bastard.

 

[MarkB]

A 1st level hobgoblin has +2 to grapple. If 8 hobgoblins tried to grapple Belkar at the same time, one would roll, and 7 others would use the "aid another" action. They need to roll a 10 on the grapple check to grant the +2 bonus, for which they have a 65% chance; in other words, the average bonus they'd provide is +9 (+2 x 7 x 0.65), for a total grapple modifier of +11.

On the other hand, Belkar is small (-4), but he has something like 11 levels of ranger (+11) and at least one level of barbarian (+1), and he was shown in previous comics to be fairly strong for a halfling (so, at least a Str 10... if not more). When he rages, he gets another +2 from Str increase, for a total of +10. They'd be evenly matched, but Belkar uses light weapons, so he'd be able to stab hobgoblins while grappled, whereasthey wouldn't be able to do much of anything to him (he has a lot of hp).

The ones in the grapple can't do much to him, but the ones outside it can stab at him freely, and he's now flat-footed. And he's not going anywhere, since to escape the grapple he must beat the grapple checks of each opponent who's grappling him.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Beheading = Critical + fatality.

Anyway, this strip was every kind of awesome.

Exactly. This isn't a game with hit location rules. Someone goes down dramatically, or gets killed by a coup de grace, whoops, there goes their head -- or whatever else the DM decides.