OoTS #516

[Deset Gled]

Teleport lets you bring 1 Medium or smaller creature per three levels; no discount for Small (or smaller) creatures. Tsukiko's wizard caster level is at least 18; she must be a boss fight for the Order.

Of course, I suspect Haley's Azurite buddies aren't 13th level, so this mini-Order is under strength, and this is a really tough fight.

D'oh. Good catch.

I don't think the author follows the rules that closely.

I would like to think he does. Either way, that arguement isn't going to stop anyone from nitpicking.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Teleport lets you bring 1 Medium or smaller creature per three levels; no discount for Small (or smaller) creatures. Tsukiko's wizard caster level is at least 18; she must be a boss fight for the Order.

Of course, I suspect Haley's Azurite buddies aren't 13th level, so this mini-Order is under strength, and this is a really tough fight.

BUT you forget she could have a the Practiced spell caster feat and/or be using sudden empower or empower metamagic feats to increase the number of undead she could teliport

 

[Squire James]

I haven't seen her slinging around anything close to an 8th level spell yet, so I'm guessing she's level 13-16 and Rich missed or deliberately ignored the Teleport limit. I suppose she could have slipped a few Wayfarer's Guild levels in there somewhere (they had a special ability that doubled number of creatures teleported), though why she'd do that rather than more Mystic Theurge levels is beyond me.

As for the strip, I'm a little irritated by the success rate of evil compulsion spells against paladins. They should be making their saves MUCH more often than this strip and the "bouncing ball of doom" seem to indicate! Another paladin who didn't think of using Protection from Evil when going on a mission to fight a bunch of evil guys...

 

[ppz]

As for the strip, I'm a little irritated by the success rate of evil compulsion spells against paladins. They should be making their saves MUCH more often than this strip and the "bouncing ball of doom" seem to indicate!

I believe the issue with the bouncing ball of doom was that each paladin had to make a save each time the ball passed them. They all eventually failed.

Failing the dominate person on the first attempt is a little disheartening, though.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Failing the dominate person on the first attempt is a little disheartening, though.

QFT

Between that and the whole one sword swing to her THREE attack spells action disparity (and how the hell did he whiff?), one of the worst comics in a long while for me. Course, I despise Tsukiko with a passion and want to see her get the ignominious death she deserves (as opposed to say...Miko's major plot point exit), so my views may differ from others'.

 

[Plane Sailing]

BUT you forget she could have a the Practiced spell caster feat and/or be using sudden empower or empower metamagic feats to increase the number of undead she could teliport

No variable component in the spell, so empower won't work...

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

She used a scroll prepared by Xykon for such a contingency -- or something similar. If she were 18th level, she would be leading her own army rather than working for Xykon after being released from prison by the Sapphire Guard.

Also, an 18th level caster with a horde of wights would have an excessive CR for 2 PCs of Haley and Belkar's level mixed in with some NPC cannon fodder.

Rich is pretty good at staying approximately within the rules, since that is one of the underlying premises -- not only are they in an RPG, but the characters know it!

 

[Tiberius]

Failing the dominate person on the first attempt is a little disheartening, though.

Eh. 1s happen just as often as any other number (assuming a fair die, etc.).

 

[SPoD]

QFT

Between that and the whole one sword swing to her THREE attack spells action disparity (and how the hell did he whiff?), one of the worst comics in a long while for me.

Well, if you actually base your opinion of the comic on how closely Rich follows a round-by-round combat format, you probably should give up reading. He's never really worried about it before, and the strip used to be a lot more closely tied to the rules than it is now.

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As far as failing the save, doesn't everyone realize that this guy is (at most) a 6th level NPC paladin, trying to save against a 5th level spell cast by a 13th level MT? Even if he has 14 Cha and 14 Wis (doubtful), his total save bonus is around +6. Her save DC is a minimum of 17, and possibly much higher. The maximum chance of him making this save without unusually high stats is 45%.

Everyone seems to forget that the paladins of the Sapphire Guard are second-string NPCs, that are much lower level than the heroes of the story. Yes, a paladin should usually make saves against threats OF AN APPROPRIATE CR, but Tsukiko and Xykon were NOT the right CR for the Sapphire Guard. The OOTS is much higher level than Thanh or anyone who was standing in the throne room (except possibly O-Chul, who made his save).

This was not a fair fight being depicted here, this was a rout from Round One. And like most DMs, Rich usually doesn't bother playing out each round of combat between two unevenly matched NPCs when no PCs are within sight. He decides which side is stronger, and they just WIN. Then he thinks up a funny way that they might have won, and tells it to us. Then we laugh. Which is far preferable to him wasting a few dozen panels showing a legitimate-to-the-rules (but not at all funny or entertaining) D&D fight.

Because it's not really a D&D campaign, it's a story. And in stories, the author determines who wins any fight anyway.

 

[Squire James]

I KNOW we're dealing with low-level paladins against high-level effects here! And I KNOW it's a story too, and that Rich is not bound 100% by the rules. I'm just annoyed at the rather consistent failures of paladins in the strip, particularly in areas where paladins in general should excel (such as Will saves against compulsion effects). It's not like Rich isn't stacking the deck enough against them already...