OotS #440
- Thread starter Felix
- Start date
Agent Oracle
First Post
Okay, according to the death Knight Template, I think i know how the Death knight survived there.
For starters, he has a spell resistance 16+1 per character level (making his SR minimum of 24)
Secondly he can cast Fireball as a 20th level sorcerer once per day.
Now, can you voluntarily fail your own check to overcome spell resistance, like you can voluntarily fail a saving throw? If he can, he can use it as a space-clearing burst, centered on himself.
Anyhow, unless someone arrives soon to back up V, s/he's about to take really, really heavy damage.
So, if you were a 13th level caster, how would you stop a single, extraordinarily tough opponent from murdering you before you can say "five foot step"?
Actually, I've thought of this.
1. Force cage. No save, no SR. If it was good enough for Xyklon
2. Delayed blast fireballs four of them, set at the outside corners of the force cage, set them to detonate in decending time durations (5 rounds, 4 rounds, 3 rounds, 2 rounds...) \
3. On the last round, run like hell and drop the forcecage....
Problem is, unless he has four scrolls of "delayed Blast Fireball" he's not going to have enough 7th level spells to pull that off...
For starters, he has a spell resistance 16+1 per character level (making his SR minimum of 24)
Secondly he can cast Fireball as a 20th level sorcerer once per day.
Now, can you voluntarily fail your own check to overcome spell resistance, like you can voluntarily fail a saving throw? If he can, he can use it as a space-clearing burst, centered on himself.
Anyhow, unless someone arrives soon to back up V, s/he's about to take really, really heavy damage.
So, if you were a 13th level caster, how would you stop a single, extraordinarily tough opponent from murdering you before you can say "five foot step"?
Actually, I've thought of this.
1. Force cage. No save, no SR. If it was good enough for Xyklon
2. Delayed blast fireballs four of them, set at the outside corners of the force cage, set them to detonate in decending time durations (5 rounds, 4 rounds, 3 rounds, 2 rounds...) \
3. On the last round, run like hell and drop the forcecage....
Problem is, unless he has four scrolls of "delayed Blast Fireball" he's not going to have enough 7th level spells to pull that off...
Last edited:
frankthedm
First Post
Actually he had to eat the damage...Agent Oracle said:
A creature’s spell resistance never interferes with its own spells, items, or abilities.
I don't think he was unroasted; his cloak got shredded when he fireballed. He probably made his saving throw, though, and he might have had a Resist Energy cast on him by Redcloak before he left.
And I can't believe anyone would want to see a multi-strip fight between (as Belkar might say) Shlubby McNo-Name the old human fighter and an unnamed death knight. I mean, this strip focuses on second-string characters (like Miko or the Linear Guild) more than enough as it is, I'd rather it not devolve into long scenes featuring fifth-string characters battling each other. If the General dying needed to happen on-screen for some reason, I'd rather it not take more than 3 panels, thanks. He just wasn't important enough.
Oh, and that General is no better than a 10th level fighter--he only got two attacks in panel #4 with a full attack, and he is dressed in grey (like the soldiers), not white-and-blue (like the paladins). A 10th level fighter (or less) alone against a death knight is going to die really, really quickly, especially after he takes a fireball in the face.
And I can't believe anyone would want to see a multi-strip fight between (as Belkar might say) Shlubby McNo-Name the old human fighter and an unnamed death knight. I mean, this strip focuses on second-string characters (like Miko or the Linear Guild) more than enough as it is, I'd rather it not devolve into long scenes featuring fifth-string characters battling each other. If the General dying needed to happen on-screen for some reason, I'd rather it not take more than 3 panels, thanks. He just wasn't important enough.
Oh, and that General is no better than a 10th level fighter--he only got two attacks in panel #4 with a full attack, and he is dressed in grey (like the soldiers), not white-and-blue (like the paladins). A 10th level fighter (or less) alone against a death knight is going to die really, really quickly, especially after he takes a fireball in the face.
Last edited:
WOW - the amount of thought that goes into this reminds me of HS lit class. We would pick apart Shakespeare and Yeats as if they were frogs in MS. One kid had the nads to ask "Are we putting too much thought into this? Imean, maybe Shakespeare really just meant what the Macbeth was crazy"...
Got a good laugh, and he was sent o tthe principaL.
Same deal here... how do you know Rich is putting this much thought into each strip? and that we are just overanalyzing everything...
Got a good laugh, and he was sent o tthe principaL.
Same deal here... how do you know Rich is putting this much thought into each strip? and that we are just overanalyzing everything...
TwinBahamut
First Post
Why on earth are the only two possibilities those absurd extremes? Die the moment they enter combat or stick around forever? Is that the only choice?(Psi)SeveredHead said:
Further, I dislike how everyone is exagerrating my position.
I am not advocating some kind of long term plotline, or some kind of complex and deep characterization of the old dude.
I am not saying the guy should have some kind of grand fight against the death knight that takes up even a few panels, let alone a few whole strips.
I am not even asking for ths guy's name.
All I am saying, is that it would be nice to have allied NPCs actually help the Order of the Stick in some minor capacity, or maybe live through a single fight and live to tell the tale or retire. It would be more interesting if, for example, this guy lived through this, owing his life to V, and returned the favor at some later date. Or, he could simply vanish and never be seen again once his bit part in the story was done.
Instead, the moment a character is no longer useful to Mr. Burlew, he just kills them off, even going out of his way to kill them off. I mean, if this guy is so unimportant, why waste a panel on killing him in the first place? Why not just ignore him for now and focus on V? He served his purpose as V's straight man already. Killing him is just a cheap way of making this throwaway henchman seem badass and making V's situation seem dire, but it is just poor writing to always fall on the exact same trick to achieve that.
TwinBahamut
First Post
Off topic, but there is no way you can put too much thought into Shakespeare. It is too fun. After all, before you simplify Shakespeare that much, you have to at the very least throw your mind into the gutter and read as much sexual innuendo into the lines as humanly possible, because yes, every time Shakespeare says "sword", he is not reffering to anything metallic.Balgus said:
Similar Threads
